Mid-Autumn Festival Big Party

For this month Big Party the church celebrated Mid Autumn Festival which falls on 3 October earlier. We held it on the 27th September night where more than 330 people attended. The church santuary were decorated with about 70 lighted paper lanterns while Bro. Wilbur together with Bro. KB birth out a big traditional lantern made up of white polystyrene foam.





There were 12 participants, where some uses polystyrene foam plates, aluminium cans and cardboards to come up with various shapes of lanterns.

Curse God, and die

Deprived of possessions, bereaved by the loss of his sons and daughters, and afflicted with a painful physical malady, Job's wife told him to "Curse God and die" - Job 2:9.

So how should we react to adversity ?

First, if you know Christ as your Savior and are faced with a time of trouble, come to the Lord with a prayer of humble submission. In other words, when you pray for healing or deliverance from some disturbing situation, be sure you do so with an attitude of complete yieldedness to whatever God sees best for you. God may allow our affliction to continue and lead us into a closer walk with Him.

Secondly, have confidence in God. Instead of looking upon your affliction as a sign that God doesn't love you, view it as a mark of His favor. Hebrews 12 : 6-7 because the Lord disciplines those he loves, and he punishes everyone he accepts as a son." Endure hardship as discipline; God is treating you as sons. For what son is not disciplined by his father?

Romans 8 : 28 And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.

Finally, we should endeavor to develop our faith while we are experiencing afflection. The Lord wants us to trust Him implicity. And our faith will grow if we study the Bible, obey its directives, and appropriate to ourselves the wonderful truths it reveals about the Lord and His promises.

Isaiah 55 : 8-9 "For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways," declares the LORD. "As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.

[Extracted from "How to Get Up... When you're Down! written by Richard W.De Haan]

Mid-Autumn

God is good all the time, His blessing and mercy never ceases and are new every morning. Blessing came early for this year Mid-Autumn Festival (中秋节) celebration which falls on 3 October 2009. Within a week, we were blessed with 4 boxes of mooncakes despite turning down a regular blesser two weeks ago.

We were blessed with the traditional type such as red bean and lotus seed paste, and the new one from (双胜) Swensen's 'Frozen Delights'. Swensen's pastry skin ice cream mooncakes is a delight for those ice-cream lover as its flavour inlcude durian supreme, hazelnut latte, strawberry peachy mango yogurt, kiwi raspberry, milo, black sesame peanut, mangosteen and sticky chewy chocolate.

traditional mooncakes

Swensen mooncakes with its bag and box

another different variety of mini mooncakes

BLESSED 'MOON CAKE FESTIVAL' to all and happy eating mooncakes.....

Open house

We joined many Malaysians from different ethnic backgrounds thronged the Hari Raya open house of Opposition Leader Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim this morning. This was my first open house visit but the second for the other friends, who visited our former Prime Minister Tun Abdullah previously.

We started at 11-00 am from Penang and travelled to Permatang Pauh in the mainland. We were heading to Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim 'rumah terbuka' at Permatang Pauh. The journey and traffc were smooth but we wasted 2 hours searching and asking around for the correct location as we made the mistake of not getting the full address or location but only relied on the publication from newspaper.

After failing to locate the place, we decide to proceed to Penang Deputy Chief Minister I Mansor Othman open house in Penanti constituency. The event was held at Taman Guar Perahu public field. We managed to meet Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim here. Penang Pas Commissioner Mohd Salleh Man and other state exco were also present among the crowd. The myriad of food served included roti canai, roti jala, fried bee hoon, lemang, mee rebus and raya cookies.
The open house truly reflect the 1Malaysia concept where people of various age, race and religion comes together to celebrate.

Padang awam Taman Guar Perahu

Our group photo with Penang Deputy Chief Minister I

P/S: too bad we didn't get the chance to take another group photo with Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim.

When you're down, how to get up !

When are you down? You are down when you are depressed.

A major depression is a disabling condition which adversely affects a person's family, work or school life, sleeping and eating habits, and general health. In the United States, approximately 3.4% of people with major depression commit suicide, and up to 60% of people who commit suicide have depression or another mood disorder.

The most common time of onset is between the ages of 30 and 40 years, with a later peak between 50 and 60 years. Major depression is reported about twice as frequently in women as in men, although men are at higher risk for committing suicide.

[From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia]

Richard W. De Haan, a teacher with Radio Bible Class wrote that in many cases of depression, it's more of a spiritual than a psychological problem. Many people have invested a small fortune in psychoanalysis, shock therapy, and medication without ever really being helped. But they never will become well until they get right with God. He lists 4 essential steps to overcome depression:-

(1) Accept God's Pardon - You see, a person plagued with a guilty conscience finds himself in a most distressing situation. It is therefore imperative for him to begin the journey out of the darkness of depression by receiving the forgiveness and the freedom from guilt that God so graciously offers.

(2) Acknowledge God's Providence - By this I mean that you must recognize that God has a purpose for your life. He has your eternal good in mind.

(3) Admit to God's Prerogative - Romans 9 : 15-16 ... "I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion."It does not, therefore, depend on man's desire or effort, but on God's mercy.

(4) Appropriate God's Provision - Remember, therefore, that in order to live a victorious life and to avoid the depression of spiritual defeat, you must avail yourself of God's gracious provision.

We all have moments in life when we're down. We get the 'blues'. The psalmist cried, "Why are you down cast, O my soul? Why so disturbed within me? Put your hope in God, for I will yet praise him, my Savior and my God. (Psalm 42:11)

I have finished the race

For the last 2 weeks, I attended 3 wake services, a relative and two church friends. The youngest was in her early fifties and the oldest were in their early eighties. Death rips apart life's closest bonds, leaves hearts broken, ushers in loneliness, and open floodgates of tears. In the valley of grief, the only way to keep going is to trust the compass and map God has given us. You may think the Bible is too dated and old-fashioned to be of value. But the compass of God's indwelling Spirit and the map of the Bible are timeless - always pointing us in the right direction.

Our Lord is faithful and merciful High Priest (Hebrews 2 : 17) who has tasted death for everyone (2 : 9). He is the One who said, "I will never leave you nor forsake you" (13:5). His promise to be there for us is the bedrock of our security in an unstable world shattered by grief.

John Brantner writes, "Only people who avoid love can avoid grief. The point is to learn from it and remain vulnerable to love".

John 5 : 24 "I tell you the truth, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life and will not be condemned; he has crossed over from death to life.

2 Timothy 4 : 7 I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith.

Man was not made for the present, and the present was never intended to satisfy man. Man's life on earth cannot and does not fulfill the eternal longings of man. This principle continues throughout his existence and even up to the point of death.