Beauty and the Beast, the Broadway Musical

Last night was the night. Tim had secretly bought tickets and was going to surprise me.. but I found out! It was great...we got all dressed up to go and watch 'Beauty and the Beast' the Broadway musical. We really enjoyed it. We were amazed at the props and the 3D animation to set the scene..made it really magical.
~

I was disappointed at a few things; the fighting scenes, scene arrangement (some parts of it) and how Beast was portrayed in different places. Yet, despite all that, It was a great experience.

~

This was the first time Tim and I went to a Broadway show and it will not be the last. Loved it. and Tim didn't even get the cheapest seats :) what a dear soul.. We got some rather good seats. So Thank you Hubby for taking me to see the show...muakks..Love you!

SHE (Quoted from Rob Bell's 'Velvet Elvis')

Rob Bell:


One of the central metaphors for God and his people throughout the Bible is that of a groom and his bride. God is the groom; his people are the bride. I like it because it makes the church a 'she'. We need to reclaim this image.


The church is a she.


She's a mystery, isn't she? Still going after all this time. After the Crusades and the Inquisition and Christian cable TV. Still going. And there continue to be people like me who believe she is one the best ideas ever. Inspite of all the ways she has veered off track. In spite of all the people who have actually turned away from God because of what they experienced in church....


But she will live on. She's indestructible, When she dies in one part of the world, she explodes in another. She's global. She's universal. She's everywhere. And where she's fragile, she's going to endure. In every generation there will be those who see her beauty and give their lives to see her shine. Jesus said the gates of hell will not prevail against her. That's strong language. And it's true. She will continue to roll across the ages, serving and giving and connecting people with God and each other. And people will abuse her and manipulate her and try to control her, but they'll pass on. And she will keep going.

``
Wini: I love the church. She is not perfect yet. Lots of flaws yet. She's making mistakes still, getting things wrong sometimes, hurting people sometimes. The church is not perfect because I'm in it. But she's so very precious to God. God has no other plan but to trust the church to keep His love alive and spreading on earth..And I love her...I dream of her being perfect..and I am dreaming on...

``



(The picture is in this post is of my dear friend Winnie and her husband Eugene. Aren't they such a beautiful couple? Such an incredible methophor God uses to illustrate His love for us, His church)

It's ok..pass us by,,we're fine :)

Tim and I had NEVER done this before..I repeat..NEVER. But this will not be the last time..we love it and will do it again :)

Last night, Tim and I thought it would be good to try and go to a movie. So we asked our housemate, Kim to take care of Matt for us. We headed out. (This we had done before...this is not what I was refering to).

However, something I usually wouldn't do was to take along with us a book for Tim and a book for me. Anyway, we would usually get the movie tickets (so we did that) and would go for dinner before going to the movie.

But last night we thought..'Hey maybe we should go to a quieter cafe to eat and just read. (Now this we had never done before. We read but never choosing to sit down at a cafe to read) So we chose one of those cafes in the middle of the mall, with people constantly walking past us.

It was perfect, Tim ordered a nice focaccio bread chicken sandwich and a cold drink and I ordered a cupcake and a hot drink. We ate and drink while we read.

(Tim's read: Orthodoxy by GK Chesterton and My read: Velvet Elvis by Rob Bell)

We really enjoyed ourselves. But what I really liked was a statement we were making. We have been so busy. By choosing to sit down in the middle of the mall and read. We were basically saying to the busi-ness of life 'It's alright, you can pass us by. We're stopping and smelling the flowers :)' It's always nice to go against the flow. Ha! the rebel in me speaking.

We ended the night out watching 'Get Smart' and laughed ourselves crazy. It's such a funny movie. Really worth it.

What a lovely night out with Tim and Jesus. Thanks guys for going out with me :) Love You's!

A house full of boys *sigh*

I grew up in a house full of boys. I could never do anything at home..whenever I exercised, I got laughed at. Once I was doing exercise and got into a rather sophisticated position, Aaron thought it was so funny he chased me around with a camera and asked me to do it again!

Now..it's my son. I was doing some exercise at home and I got into this position (as in picture). My son looked at me and thought it was absolutely hilarious! and he just kept laughing at me. When I changed position, he stopped. When I got back into this position, he started laughing AGAIN!

God, please it's time for some daughters to come along!

The 'Gangster' and the Geek

Just a random thought that came up while Tim and I were on our way to work:

For those of you who didn't know..I was like a 'gangster'- never officially a member of a gang but might as well have been and Tim is and has been a geek. He was a geek who spent all his time in the library doing Dungeons and Dragons. hahaha. It's amazing that God can use anyone...ANYONE! Pick us up and fix us up and use us for His kingdom!

The Geek is taking the 'Gangster' to watch the Broadway Musical 'The Beauty and the Best' next week...YAY!

Once I held Tim and sang '...Beauty and the beast....' . Tim said, 'Yes..but if anyone ELSE calls you a beast I will beat them up!' hahahaha

Seeking Direction from God?

This post is dedicated to my dear Danielle.

Mother Teresa: How can I pray for you?

John Cavanaugh: Please pray that I will have absolute clarity as to how my Calling will work out in my ministry.

Mother Teresa: No, I won't pray for that.

John Cavanaugh: But Mother Teresa, haven't you always had absolute clarity in your ministry?

Mother Teresa: No. I've never had any clarity but what I have had...is trust. And you must depend on the Lord

(Quoted from a sermon by Rev Miles Toulmin)

~~

If God were to give us the blueprint for our lives for the next ten years..we only need to come to Him every ten years to get instruction from Him. But we will get things right..the way He wants it. So why not?

Above us doing the right thing, God desires intimacy with us. He desires that we go and see Him everyday and get instruction from Him everyday. And a baby-step at a time, He will lead us.

Maybe that's why Jesus taught us, when we pray to say 'Give us THIS DAY our DAILY bread.' He wants us to go to Him daily.

I believe that with the thing (can be a really little thing) He has placed on our hearts to do, we should step out in faith and do it as best we can, faithfully. If God has other plans or ideas then we can be confident that He will step-in in as muscular a manner as is necessary to put us back on course. Every closed door and open window we come across are His ways of steering us in the way He wants us to go.

But it's our job to surrender what we may want and to trust that even when things don't seem to be how we way enjoy them, they will work out for our good because the Person behind all these events is our Father in heaven, who loves us to bits and that's who we TRUST.

~~

Sir Cliff Richard- The more we depend on God. The more dependable we find He is.

Prayer- Just a nice 'add-on' or will you hang your life on it?

There's talk that we may need to go to Singapore for work and we had decided that we would take Baby Matthew with us whenever we travel now. I immediately thought of the journey down there. We will be taking the bus.

Matt is one active baby who loves to crawl and cruise around a lot! In brief moments, when TV captures his attention and when he sits and watches TV quietly, I would actually sit it amazement thinking 'Look! Matthew is awake and he's NOT moving!'. But this usually only lasts for a few seconds each time it happens.

Having him on the bus for 5 hours will be a huge challenge. I'm not worried about a screaming baby- I've kind of got used to it but what about everyone else on the bus?? I started thinking what I should do. Can the doctor give him something to 'calm him down and maybe ermm put him to sleep?' haha. Anyway, my boss said..'Aiya..we'll just pray and Matthew will be alright'.

I started to think. Isn't it easy when things are within our control to say that we shall pray and trust God for the outcome. If things are within our control, really.. we DON'T need to trust God right? Therefore the prayer with it, is like a nice 'add-on'. Like the dab of cream on your already-wonderful-ice-cream.

But when we CAN'T do anything about our situation...and when we pray and believe God to come through for us...now that's faith.

One step further..Faith is when we pray for something and God says 'no', we just know without a shadow of doubt that it's because God loves us and has something greater for us. That's surrender and that shall bring us peace.

Trust in the LORD with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding;
in all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make your paths straight. (Prov 3:5-6)

Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. (Phil 4:6-7)

My baby brother looking all neat, tidy and pro...He's single..any taker?

I too feel like a Panda..

yes..I watched Kung fu Panda and loved it. Not intending to ruin it for you (lots of truths in it as if you would look beyond the humour and find them) but would like to draw on one point. It's about a big fat Panda with a great Kung Fu destiny. Very unlikely, yet he did it in the end. Fulfilled his destiny.

You know, I've been training crowds of people on Youth Alpha all over Malaysia now. Lots of them are pastors and youth workers. Many of whom I have previously known and have looked up to. Yet here I am..training them! What would I know that they don't?? Really, I don't speak of this out of pride at all, but out of..'huh? what? why? God, is this a mistake?'

I too feel like a big fat Panda who Kung Fu should be that last he does. My family members can agree with me when I say in my trainings that 'I am not very holy'. I am not! I try, I want to be, but am not! Training pastors should be the last thing I do!

Really I often think I'm quite a shallow person who just doesn't grow up. I look at a lot of the people around me and in my heart, I often go 'Ooohh ahhhh Look at them! so mature! so deep! so knowledgable! so thin! :)' And then I see myself in the mirror and I.......yeah.

When we first moved to KL, I was convinced no one would listen to me. Why would they? Why should they? and yet...they do. The more they do, the more I'm humbled. In my heart, I know it's for these reasons..

"..And who knows but that you have come to royal position for such a time as this?" (Esther 4:14b)

But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong. (1 Cor 1:27)

Somehow, in my heart I also know that it could be that no one else has stepped up to the plate for this incredible position I'm in. When no one would speak for God, God would even make a donkey talk! Regardless, it has been SUCH AN HONOUR...doing what I'm doing, something I can tell my grandkids to impress them (you know? like the way your grandparents would tell you about how they fled the war?).

Till the person with the right calibre respond to the call to take the position I'm in, I shall continue to enjoy the honour and priviledge :) And if/when I'm fired to make way for that person, and I complain, you can all tell me off! :)

Do you too feel small for the position you're in? Take heart..Who knows but that you have come to royal position for such a time as this?

Gratitude..

Here dies another day..

During which I have had eyes, ears, hands

and the great world round me;

and with tomorrow begins another

Why am I allowed two?

G.K. Chesterton

With a treadmill and an ipod, who needs church?

I've been very good...been exercising. Alternating between swimming and briskwalking on the treadmill. However, I've always hated the treadmill...what could be more boring than being on a treadmill? So I must have my Ipod with me. and I listen to sermons (preaching by pastors) while I exercise. It's great...everytime I leave the gym, I feel so encouraged spiritually.

It got me thinking. In Hakka, we are used to this term 'Tang Su' (listen to the book) haha. It means going to church. "So did you 'tang su' last week?" (Did you go to church last week?) If going to church is really just for listening to a sermon, who needs to go to church anymore? We have sermons on the internet now!

I started thinking what does 'going to church' give us that 'being a treadmill with your ipod' doesn't?

• Going to church gives me a community, a family. I meet people who share the same love for God and same love for each other as I do. People who have struggles like you do, people who hang on to the same hope like I do. We greet each other, yak away, encourage and pray for each others..ahh so refreshing. In a world, where many people think Christians are freaks, it's great for the freaks to all gather at the same place :)


• At church, I get to worship God by singing my heart out to God .. again TOGETHER with others who share the same love for God. (I could sing my heart out with my ipod too...just maybe not in the gym, but I'll still be doing it alone)


• At church, I get to give God my offering (in songs, in money, in prayer, in devotion)..again TOGETHER with others who love to do so.


• At church I get to laugh at jokes from the sermon outloud! (Many times in the gym, when something funny comes up at the sermon, I burst out laughing and the people around me thought I was laughing at them) Again at church, I get to laugh TOGETHER with others...not all alone..what fun is a joke when it's not shared? That's why watching a funny movie in the theatre is so much fun!


• At church, I get to express myself freely in laughter and tears. It's not strange to tear up in church while worshipping God, praying, or even at the sermon. But people WILL think I'm nuts if I start doing that at the gym while listening to a sermon in my ipod.


• At church, I get to be myself and still be loved and accepted.. but at the gym, I always have to look nice and sane.


• At church, I get to serve other with the talents and gifts God has given me. I get to give and love and embrace. It's kind of hard to serve another if my 'church' consists of only the treadmill and my Ipod.

As much as being an on a treadmill with my Ipod has been spiritually energising for me...I think that for me...can NEVER replace church :)

Maybe you're a Christian who hasn't been part of a church for a while. Maybe you think you can make it on your own. Maybe it's time to go back and be part of the Body of Christ.

Let us not give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but let us encourage one another—and all the more as you see the Day approaching. (Hebrews 10:25)