A best friend

SSAMBAP

Lunch at Ssambap Korean Restaurant in Bayan Baru, Penang.

Privilege to grow old

Unforgiveness

The weak can never forgive, forgiveness is the attribute of the strong - Mahatma Gandhi.

Forgiveness is a choice you make.

The roots of unforgiveness are very dangerous, they grow deep below the surface and take hold deep within us.  Staying angry at someone who has hurt you is like taking poison hoping that your enermy will die.

Anger is linked to unforgiveness.

Anger, bitterness, resentment, and unforgiveness are the leading causes of different kinds of sickness and disease.

Spirit of unforgiveness can be passed down as curse.

Anger is like a weapon we carry with us so we can lash out at people who appear to be on the verge of hurting us.

If we do not forgive we will be miserable and our soul will be poisoned with the malignancy of bitterness.  When we forgive someone who has hurt us, we are actually doing ourself a favor.

Forgiveness can be healing balms and protective factors that will enable us to deal with the disease that may result from abusive relationships.  If someone has hurt you deeply and you fail to forgive them, you are allowing them to injure you a second time.  

Our unforgiveness hurts us more than it does anyone else.  God never asks us to do anything unless it is going to ultimately be good for us, so we should trust Him and learn to freely forgive.  Forgiving another does not mean that we condone their actions or justify what they did to us.  Rather, forgiveness is releasing another from our condemnation when they do not deserve it.  As the apostle Paul so clearly states, "Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you." Ephesians 4:32 (NIV)

Jesus came that our sins might be forgiven and we would be restored to an intimate relationship with God through Him.

Daughter

Why Christians Absolutely Should Not Celebrate Halloween

Why Christians Absolutely Should Not Celebrate Halloween

Many Christians celebrate Halloween. Some churches and pastors even do. I recently saw a church advertising they were having a Zombie Run. Seriously? God's House? This pastor does not celebrate Halloween and neither does her church.

In a spirit of full disclosure, when I was a brand-new believer, I allowed my son to go trick-or-treating. Part of the reason was because my husband was not yet saved and insisted we do. The other part was because I didn't see the harm in it. After all, many Christians I respected did it, so as a new Christian I justified that it must be OK. Right? Wrong!

As I grew closer to the Lord and gained more knowledge of His Word, I began to feel convicted about Halloween. I had thoughts like: God is a God of life, but Halloween focuses on death. Should I celebrate a holiday where people decorate their front yards with tombstones?

The Scriptures tell us to put away deeds of darkness (Romans 13:12) and that light has nothing in common with darkness (2 Corinthians 6:14). Is celebrating a dark holiday something a child of the light should be doing?

I had been delivered from fear and panic attacks and knew that fear comes from the enemy. Should I participate in a holiday that has fear as its very foundation?

Witchcraft is clearly detestable to the Lord (Deuteronomy 18:10-13). Shouldn't something that glorifies witchcraft (just take a walk through the Halloween store) be detestable to me as well?"

Halloween is a sacred, high holiday for Wiccans (the official religion of witchcraft). Is this a holiday Christians should celebrate alongside Wiccans?

Is it cute when we dress our kids like the devil (or witches, ghouls, scary characters, etc.)? Isn't it, well, demonic?

What if my child dresses in a wholesome fireman costume? Romans 16:19 says that we need to be wise to what is good and innocent of evil. If I let him participate in Halloween, even while dressed as a fireman, aren't I sending him a mixed message by allowing him to participate in a celebration of evil?

The Lord said in 2 Corinthians 6:17, "Come out from them and be separate ... Touch no unclean thing ..." Doesn't God want His children to be set apart from the world and from sin and evil? Aren't we supposed to be peculiar people?

My extended family thinks it's ridiculous that we not allow our son to dress up for Halloween. Should their opinions matter to me more than God's? Shouldn't pleasing God be my utmost concern?

If there is even a question in my heart and mind that it might be wrong, shouldn't that be my first clue? Why would I continue to do so with even a lingering thought that it is wrong?

Does Halloween bring glory to God? No! It glorifies the devil! Nuff said.

So as a new believer, saved only two years, I responded to the conviction of the Holy Spirit, repented of displeasing the Lord and put a stop to Halloween. And as a pastor, after observing firsthand the amount of destruction that the enemy brings into peoples' lives when they give him a foothold, I am even more convinced I made the right decision to close the door to the enemy and on this evil holiday.

Setting aside a day to celebrate evil, darkness, witchcraft, fear, death and the demonic brings disdain to God. Period. A Christian celebrating Halloween would be like a Satan worshiper putting up a nativity scene at Christmas while singing, "Happy Birthday, Jesus!" The two just don't go together. Jesus has nothing in common with Satan (2 Corinthians 6:14), and neither should we.

So, what did we do instead? Hide in the basement with the lights off? Hustle the family out of the house? No, darkened homes are the enemy's victory! Where does your light shine the brightest ... in the darkness!

Halloween is the one day a year when neighbors come to your door expecting to receive something. So give them JESUS! Our family chose to give God the glory and the devil a black eye by reaching out to our neighbors with the gospel of Jesus Christ! "You are the light of the world ... let your light shine among men that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven" (Matthew 5:14-16).

So stop justifying why it is fine to celebrate this demonic, worldly, evil holiday. There are no muddled lines or gray areas about it. A committed follower of Jesus Christ should not celebrate Halloween.

[Extracted from - Jamie Morgan, the pastor of Life Church (Assemblies of God) in Williamstown, N.J., and the Life House of Prayer (24/7 prayer)]

Friends

True   F R I E N D S :

F ight for you

R espect you

I nvolve you

E ncourage you

N eed you

D eserve you    and

S tand by you

An often quoted piece of wisdom says that there are friends who come into our life "for a reason, a season, or a lifetime".

The friend who is in our life for a reason may be there to provide support through a challenging phase, and then disappears when his work is done.

Those who are friends for a season bring great joy through shared experiences, but only for a period of time.

Lifetime friends, meanwhile, continue to be part of our life through the years, and grow together with us as we learn life's lessons together.

[Extracted from Sunday starters by Soo Ewe Jin -30 October2016]

Aristotle "Without friends, no man would choose to live, though he had all other goods."

Important of Christian fellowship

The Christian life has two relationships : the vertical (God-ward) and the horizontal (man-ward).

If a Christian walks in the light and is in fellowship with God, he will also be in fellowship with others in God's family. It is easy to talk about Christian love, but much more difficult to practice it.

This is one reason why God established the local church, the fellowship of believers. "You can't be a Christian alone" - a person cannot live a complete and developing Christian life unless he is in fellowship with God's people.

Fellowship comes from the Greek word, KOINONIA, which means “to share in common.”  Christian fellowship is more than attending Church — it is “assimilating” into the body of believers, becoming “one” in worshipping, loving, caring and sharing.

Not only does the Bible say that “fellowship” is the evidence of walking in the light (1 John 1:7), but it also says that “loving the brethren” is evidence of that walk.  “He who loves his brother abides in the light, and there is no cause for stumbling in him” (1 John 2:10).  This shows that there is a strong, inseparable relationship between “fellowship” and “loving the brethren.”  Consequently, it appears that fellowship is intended to be the practice of loving the brethren, which helps keep us in a right relationship with Christ so that His shed blood can continue its full cleansing effect!

Fellowship with the brethren is an exercise of love bringing us toward spiritual maturity.  Your relationship with the brethren is the thermometer that measures your spiritual temperature.  Your degree of love toward the brethren is the gauge that shows our love for God. “...If we love one another, God abides in us, and His love has been perfected in us” (1 John 4:12).

Day Trip to Sitiawan

Mee Suah Manufacturer

A day trip with 'Cheah' family to Sitiawan.

Lunchtime

Famous dish

Teatime

Dinner

The birth of " CHOOKIES "

 

Kueh Bangkit or Tapioca Flour Cookies

Peanut Cookies

Melting Moment Cookies

Ngaku or Arrowhead Chips

Pineapple Jam Tarts

Salted Eggs Cookies

All storms will pass ...

In every storm, our first instinct is to look for shelter.  When we cannot find shelter, we may just stop where we are, and pray for protection.  Some are prepared to drive right through the storm because they believe they will eventually exit into better weather.

It is the same with our life journeys.  How well prepared are we to weather the storms in our life?  I believe we can better handle the storms in our health, our career, or our relationships, if we are grounded in the real foundations that sustain life.

A tree may take a long time to grow, but if it is planted right, it will have deep roots that anchor it well.

All storms will pass, and that includes the storms of life.

"Adversity is like the period of the rain ...  cold, comfortless, unfriendly to man and animal; yet from that season have their birth the flower, the fruit, the date, the rose and the pomegranate." - Sir Walter Scott.

Hong Kee Bamboo Noodle

The shop speciality is its 'bamboo wantan noodles'. The noodles like all wantan noodles are made from wheat flour but the difference here is that the kneading of the dough is with a long bamboo pole. The dough placed on a counter is pressed down with the bamboo pole, turned over and pressed again. This process is repeated several times. Apparently, this way of kneading makes the noodles more springy for a good bitey experience; in Chinese this is called Q-Q.

Curry Octopus

The shop also offers barbecued pork belly (Char Siew), roast pork (Siu Yuk), pork trotters, chicken leg stew and wantan dumplings.

Handmade Wan Thun Noodle

Other noodles served include Yee Fu Mee, Hokkien Char, Mee Sua Koh, Fried Venison Hor Fun and Oyster Noodles.

Roast Char Siew

Fried HorFun

Water View Restaurant - Dannok, Thailand

A day trip to Dannok by car took us about 90 minutes.  Dannok [aka Sadao] is a small town on the border of Malaysia, in the Songkhla Province, Southern Thailand.

We spend the whole Malaysia Day eating and shopping.