Dinner at Home

Hong Kong Kailan

Sweet and Sour Fish

Beansprouts with Sliced Pork

Raw 'Pork Skin' with Fish Cake

'Pork Skin' with Fish Cake

1 Borneo

Sophia Tsen and I went to 1 Borneo after the Memorial Service.

We went straight to Michi Japanese Restaurant located a C306 & C307, Concourse Floor for lunch.

Sophia had Nabe Soba with Tempura.

I had Soba with Sushi.

After lunch we went window shopping. There were a lot of people at 1 Borneo today and because Christmas is coming soon, I find that more people were buying things as compared to the three times I was there previously.

At Tune Store, both os us fell in love with this set but ...

look at the price! We sure have expensive taste!

The Christmas decorations were ok for KK standard. Only that I feel the colours should be more distinct.

I bought some things from Daiso Japan for the children for Christmas while Sophia bought a dress from Nichii.

Before we proceeded for afternoon tea, we were entertained by a three man band playing Christmas carols at the Centre Atrium.

We went to Old Town White Coffee. I had hot cholocate while Sophia had white coffee with Ipoh ‘Sar Ho Fun’ (noodles).

Memorial Service for EL

I woke up quite late this morning and was only 5 mins early in arriving at church for the Memorial Service.

The thing that stood out the most about EL was that she never complained about anything in her life and these last two years when she was sick, she never complained once. She hid her pain to herself. What a great testimony she gave through her life.

Her funeral service was conducted by Rev. Aster Soong as Rev. Lee Tak Vui is on leave. The MC was Alice Thien while Sophia Tsen played the piano.

EL’s three favourites songs were Still, Complete and Blessed Assurance which we sang.

Still

Verse 1

Hide me now under Your wings

Cover me within your mighty hands

Chorus

When the oceans rise and thunders roar

I will soar with you above the storm

Father You are King over the flood

I will be still and know You are God

Verse 2

Find rest my soul, in Christ alone

Know His pow’r, in quietness and trust

Complete

Here I am oh God

I bring this sacrifice

My open heart

I offer up my life

I look to You Lord

Your love that never ends

Restores me again

So, I lift my eyes to You Lord

In Your strength will I break through Lord

Touch me now, let Your love fall down on me

I know Your love dispels all my fears

Through the storm I will hold on Lord

And by faith I will walk on Lord

Then I’ll see beyond my calvary one day

And I will be complete in You

Blessed Assurance

Blessed assurance Jesus is mine

O what a foretaste of glory divine

Heir of salvation, purchase of God,

Born of His Spirit, washed in His Blood.

Chorus

This is my story, this is my song,

Praising my sa – vior all the day long

This is my story, this is my song,

Praising my Savior all the day long

Verse 2

Perfect submission, all is at rest

I in my Savior am happy and blest

Watching and waiting, looking above

Filled with His goodness, lost in His love

Verse 3

Perfect submission, perfect delight

Vision of rapture now burst on my sight,

Angels descending bring from above

Echoes of mercy, whisper of love

Her younger aunt shared about EL’s life. Her brother CKM came back from Sydney two days ago when he heard that his sister had pneumonia. Doria Tai who is one of our church members shared of two memories she remembered very distinctly when she heard of EL’s demise. Firstly, was that EL had a beautiful wedding dress for a beautiful bride. Secondly, was when she her first son was born. Finally EL’s husband GL shared about her faith, love, hope, perseverance, etc.

Indeed EL had fought the good fight of faith, she had finished the race, she had kept the faith. Now there is in store for her the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will award to her on that day ... (2 Timothy 4:7)

At the end before the cortege proceeded for burial, Paul Liew, Dr. Roland and Dr. Cecilia Chia, and I had a chance to talk to CKM for a while.

God’s Way is Always the Higher Way

I have been thinking about the last sentence of my last post for a long time ie. waking up at 3a.m. and allowing God to minister to me and vice versa. I have not had that for a long time. The problem now is during those times, I am usually in bed by 10p.m. Whereas now eventhough I plan to sleep early, I cannot sleep until after midnight. But one thing I can say about God is eventhough He is the same yesterday, today and forever, His methods of doing things are not the same all the time.

Last night I did not go to dreamland until slightly after midnight. I woke up middle of the night and when I looked at my mobile phone clock, the time was 3.05a.m. The first thing that came to my mind was I telling God that He was 5 mins late. But the God I know so far, is never early or late. He is always on time. Later I realised I had set the clock yonks ago 5 mins early so God was indeed right on time.

If the flesh is to overrule the spirit, who is the right mind would want to wake up at the wee hours of the morning to spend time with God? I would rather continue sleeping. This is when the words in Matthew 16: 24 ‘He must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me’ is at work. The Christian life is a life of sacrifice and God can only do extraordinary things in our life when we get out of our comfort zone and in this case my warm bed. What is my teeny weeny bit of sacrifice of sleep as compared to what God has done for me? My salvation cost Him His One and Only Son.

I quietened down myself and waited upon the Lord. When I could not hear anything, I proceeded to worship Him and then had my daily devotion. I allowed His Word to speak to me. As I started to confess my sins, i weeped. I told God no matter how wretched I am or how many times I have sinned against Him, and in spite of all my weaknesses and inadequacies, He is so real to me. God told me He does not look at me that way. I have been sanctified through the blood of Christ.

Normally when something bad happened to us, we will automatically ask God, ‘Why me?’ and blame Him for all our sufferings. In this instance I was asking God the same question. He told me He is not trying to single me out. He wants a close relationship with all His children.

I also weeped for all my friends who do not know the Lord yet. I am praying earnestly for their salvation.

After being a Christian for about 30 years, the Christian walk can become rather mundane but that is not what I want. I do not want to lose sight of His reality in my life.

Of course I have to admit that I have been lukeward towards God lots of time. I may be attending church Sunday after Sunday but that was done out of mere duty and not because I wanted to worship Him with all that I am. My daily walk also became a chore.

But I thank God that He has been real to me in many ways. He has not ceased to amaze me. This reality is not limited to the ways described as follows. They are only some examples.

1. For 8 years before I obtained my driver’s licence, I depended on the bus to go to work. I can testify that during this span of time, I was only late for work for less than five times. This also applied to getting wet due to the rain on the way to work.

On any morning if I woke up and the rain was coming down, I would pray to God that the rain will stop or come down not as heavy so that I would not be wet. Of course sometimes my prayers were not answered but I can still thank God for that day.

On occasions when I had to take the bus to go somewhere and with my history of migraine, I would pray and ask the Lord that the sun would not shine as brightly on that particular day. God did not disappoint me.

2. Due to the busyness of my work, sometimes I forgot instructions given. Usually God is so faithful and He would remind me about them when I woke up the next day or even later on on the same day.

This morning when I woke up He reminded me that I did not take out the rubbish when I left the office yesterday evening. Since tomorrow is going to be a public holiday, the rubbish is going to stink.

3. When I had major decisions to make in my life and eventhough God had already spoken very clearly the steps for me to take and when I hesitated, He will re-emphasize or speak to me again through dreams. But one thing I have to caution is that sometimes dreams can also not from the Lord. On one occasion, due to my own impatience and not waiting more directions I followed what was in my dream and ended up getting hurt. That was a big lesson to learn. Therefore if a dream is from God, it will truly come to pass. That one did not come to pass.

I have never seen any visions in my entire life but I believe God will grant this desire of my heart soon as I continue this journey of faith with Him.

4. I have heard a lot of testimonies of people praying for parking space and on how God answered their prayers.

I have never had much of this kind of encounter because I usually like to be early when I go anywhere. And therefore finding a parking space is usually not a problem. Even for work, we all have designated car park so there is nothing to worry about.

But today after Canaanland Celebration, I decided to go to the hairdresser at Karamusing Shopping Complex to get my hair done. Usually I would park the car near the SESB car park. I was so happy when I saw from a distance that the car park was so empty. But on closer inspection, the car park had been blocked and the public is disallowed to park there.

Before I even started to pray for a parking space, I saw there was an empty lot right in front of me. PTL! God is indeed good to me!

What I am trying to say is that God really desires to have a close relationship with us. Yesterday during devotion time, the writer of The Daily Bread has this to say re. Enoch –‘Enoch’s walk with God reminds us that it is possible for all of us to enjoy intimate communion with the Lord. Let’s commit ourselves to walking faithfully with Him every day.’

And I am telling you IT IS INDEED POSSIBLE IF ONLY YOU TAKE THE TIME TO DO IT. There is no short cut, there is a price to pay. But the fulfillment of knowing you can walk so intimately with God far outweighs anything else in this world. God only speaks to those who take time to listen to Him. He is not after our doing, He is after our being. Afterall we are human beings, not human doings.

My heart continues to yearn for the glory of God in my life. Recently they are some people who commented that they can see the glory of God when they look at me. I am not trying to boast but I never share anything with them before. They are the ones who commented about me.

All I can do is give all glory and honour back to God who is the only one who has the rightful place in my life. No other can come close.

So who say an ‘old’ Christian life cannot be exciting? It can if only we yearn for His presence more than anything else in this life.

Lunch at Double Up

Today I had lunch with RV, the mother of the trainee/intern/university student JLVZ.

Since it was a hot day, I suggested to her to have lunch at Double Up. The previous time (July 2008) when my ING Insurance Agent DL wanted to discuss business and at the same time bring me there for lunch, it was closed due to renovation.

The restaurant has been shifted from the front of the building to the back. When we entered the air-conditioned section ie. the bar with pool table, there was no other people there except two waiters. This is probably because a lot of people do not know the restaurant has been re-opened once again. The restaurant is smelly due to cigarette smoke. I would not go back there again.

After checking the menu, RV ordered Spaghetti Bolognese while I ordered Grilled Chicken Chop.

When the food came, we were extremely satisfied with our choice.

Spaghetti Bolognese

Grilled Chicken Chop

Sauce for the Chicken Chop

We chit-chatted and RV shared with me about her son’s first week at work. He is learning new things, which is good to hear. He was shocked when the boss told him that atthe moment we are having low season because he can see that everyone seems to be extremely busy. He is also so surprised that the office toilet is so clean. So RV commented, ‘maybe Spinxie has high hygienic standard and make sure that the cleaner does the job properly.’ I do not know whether to laugh or to cry. First of all, the company does not belong to me. I am not the boss. Secondly, yes I do have that kind of standard but I do not impose them on other people. Maybe when the toilet has a certain smell that is beyond my tolerance (afterall I do not share my ensuite toilet with anyone else), and if the cleaner is around, I would ask him or her to clean it. Sometimes when neither of them is around, I resort to do it myself because my degree of tolerance is at the maximum.

RV treated me lunch this time round and I willingly promise to return the favour soon after the bonus has been given out. And we will include her son the next time round.

When we were about to leave, an old couple turned up for lunch.

Demise of a Friend

EL and I belonged to the alumni of Overseas Christian Fellowship (OCF) (Australia). She studied in Macquarie University but our path did not cross until a couple of years ago eventhough we attend the same church.

I know her husband GL and her brother CKM better than her.

When I first joined Basel Church, I played badminton with her husband GL. GL has a great sense of humour, the happy go lucky type of guy. He was in OCF Melbourne.

As for her brother CKM (he was in OCF Adelaide), before I even touched down in Sabah back from Down Under, I heard of him from our OCF Australia advisor Ps. Merrilyn Teague. She specifically told me to pass a written message she sent by snail mail from Adelaide to Wollongong to give to CKM. When I arrived back in KK, I called CKM and passed him the message. Only later we got to meet each other since we were attending the same church.

On 25 June 2007 both EL and GL with a few other friends were invited to have potbless dinner at Dr. Peter Ong’s house. We had a great time and EL shared her testimony. In spite of all the sufferings she had gone through, she still chose to praise and thank God for everything. I think that speaks a lot about her relationship with God. I do not know if I could do that if I was in her shoes.

After all these times of sufferings, EL was called home to the Lord at 2.45a.m. on 6 December 2008. Her memorial service will be at BCCM KK on 8 December at 9a.m. She left behind her husband GL and two children.

Yesterday Sophie Choo called me and told me when she comes to KK next week, she will prepare the type of outfit to wear to a funeral. When I heard that, there was a voice telling me ‘EL will not be around by then.’ I did not share with Sophie what I heard because this is not the kind of thing one shares with others.

(Another time when someone close was going to have a miscarriage, a voice told me at 3a.m. on the same day before it happened).

Not Moving so Die Already

This morning Contractor Wong (CW) came to the office to deliver some documents for the boss to sign. He came back in the afternoon to collect the docs to be delivered to the client’s office.

CW has a great sense of humour and therefore I like to joke around with him.

Spinxie: Good afternoon. It is afternoon and time for tea. So where is my afternoon tea?

CW: Hehehe (Can see his teeth) Opps I forgot

KK came out from his room and joined our conversation.

KK to CW: Your partner LWC changed his car.

Spinxie: Yeah, I also want to have a new car.

CW: What for you wanna have a new car? You cannot even drive.

Spinxie: Without a licence also can own a car. Just get someone else to drive.

CW: Like that also can?

Spinxie: Of course can.

CW: What car do you wanna change to?

Spinxie: *thinking hard*

CW: You wanna have a lorry? Or a pickup? Haha Anyway why do you want to have a car? You cannot even drive? I always see you walk.

Spinxie: Have you seen me walked recently?

CW: Come to think of it, I have not seen you walking for a long time. You must be driving to work then.

Spinxie: Oh, you finally figure that one out.

CW: I have engaged Architect so and so to draw my new house for me. Later on I will engage you guys to draw the structure and civilworks Plan for me.

Spinxie: Where is the location of your new house?

CW: Penampang.

Spinxie: Why did you engage Architect so and so?

CW: You heard of him?

Spinxie: Ya, we have one project under him. Long time no news already and the project is not moving, die already.

CW to KK: Have you heard of him?

KK: No, I have not heard of him.

Conversation cut short by phone call. Meanwhile, CW was talking to KK while Spinxie was on the phone.

After phone call …

CW: Project die already?

Spinxie: Ya la, not moving so die already.

CW: Oh I see. Anyway time to go.

Bonus

Not our bonus but someone else’s bonus.

Usually Petronas and The Star give out 6 months bonus per annum.

Today the office boy who works for a construction firm told me he is going to get 4 months bonus while his colleagues who are based at sites will get not only 6 months bonus, but 7 months!

But the down side of thing is that he is on call 24 hours a day. He is not allowed to switch off his mobile phone at all and if he missed a call, he has to call back the boss as soon as possible.