Author andrewong2024

My Memorable Movie Outing

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Right after that funeral service, my dad and decided to catch a movie.

Our first moving outing

Honestly, I can’t recall when was the last time I watched a movie with my dad.

I believe it was our first which made our movie outing a memorable experience for both of us.

Apart from that, it was also made memorable because of the movie. We watched Slumdog Millionaire.

I hardly ever write reviews on the movies I watched. But because this movie was really good, I will share briefly on it.

Slumdog Millionaire

Using a unique story structure and scenes weaved around a Mumbai teen, Jamal who finds answers towards his quest in winning “Who wants to be a Millionaire?” from various encounters growing up in the slums.

What I truly appreciated about this movie was the honest presentation of the poverish state of the Mumbai slums. The movie gets under the skin of the city on every imaginable level.

Personally, it showed how low man could stoop in order to climb out of poverty in a dog-eat-dog world. Instead of rejoicing that Jamal was finally reuniting with his childhood love, I was left burdensome on our fallen state.

I strongly recommend this dazzling movie in getting a good glimpse of our real world under the bondage of sin and poverty.

An Unread Eulogy

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Last Friday, I attended a funeral service. It was my dad’s ex-boss.

The deceased was a Christian. And for the last 15 years of his life, he was battling with the Parkinson disease.

A little about him

I heard for most of his battle with this incurable and degenerative disease, he had questioned God countless of times on why he was made to suffer like this.

For a person who didn’t smoke, drink or gamble and being a person of high standing in society, it was understandable difficult to accept the reality of his plight.

In spite of this, he held on and fought on.

My eulogy to him

Though I do not know him, but I salute this man and brother-in-Christ for his resilience in his faith that has also kept his family together through the tough times.

On his departure, he left behind his wife, only son and three beautiful grandchildren. But more than that, I believe he left behind a spiritual legacy for his next generations to follow in his faithfulness to God.

“Blessed is the man who perseveres under trial, because when he has stood the test, he will receive the crown of life that God has promised to those who love him.”

James 1:12

His battle in life may have ended, but in truth, it has only just begun as he has gone to receive his eternal reward from our Maker.

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My Read of the Month:

Title: The Present : The Secret to Enjoying Your Work And Life, Now!
Author: Dr. Spencer Johnson, M.D.
Published: 2003
Genre: Motivational/Self-improvement
Ratings:2.0 out of 5 stars

This book is written by the bestseller author that gave us “Who Moved My Cheese?”. Similarly, the author attempts to help readers rethink about their outlook in life and empower them to live their lives fully.

In “The Present”, Dr. Spencer shares about how The Present is made up of three parts. He uses a metaphor of a tripod supporting a valuable camera.

The tripod with its three supporting legs are: Living in the present, learning the past and planning for the future. Remove one leg and the tripod topples. But supported by all three, it works. And so will our work and life.

Being not in the present, we will not be aware of what is going on. Not learning from our past, we are not ready to plan for the future. If we have no plan for the future, we are adrift.

A good read to gain self-awareness, but not deep enough to really provide the necessary insights to live this principles out.

Who should read it: Anyone who desires or needs help in having a quick evaluation of his/her life and priorities.

Memoirs of a Marketplace Minister

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Some time ago I had been praying for God to use me more at my workplace as His minister.

An answered opportunity

An opportunity presented itself when one of colleagues wasn’t feeling too well. I knew this was an answered prayer.

I plucked up my courage, and offered to pray for healing for her. To my relief and joy, she agreed!

I prayed for her and we committed her recovery to the Lord’s Hands.

Looking out for others

My desire is not just to do well at work , but also to be a friend to my colleagues.

In regards to that experience, I believe she was healed as she was able to carry on her work for the rest of the day. Glory to God!

I am also thankful that I could exercised my faith and love in being “a church without walls”.

Like Jesus, I pray that I will become more caring and sensitive to the needs of others around; finding a need to meet it, and to finding a hurt to heal it.

Our Ministry of Love

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Therefore if any person is [ingrafted] in Christ (the Messiah) he is a new creation (a new creature altogether); the old [previous moral and spiritual condition] has passed away. Behold, the fresh and new has come!

But all things are from God, Who through Jesus Christ reconciled us to Himself [received us into favor, brought us into harmony with Himself] and gave to us the ministry of reconciliation [that by word and deed we might aim to bring others into harmony with Him].

It was God [personally present] in Christ, reconciling and restoring the world to favor with Himself, not counting up and holding against [men] their trespasses [but cancelling them], and committing to us the message of reconciliation (of the restoration to favor).

So we are Christ’s ambassadors, God making His appeal as it were through us. We [as Christ’s personal representatives] beg you for His sake to lay hold of the divine favor [now offered you] and be reconciled to God.

2 Corinthians 5:17-20 (Amplified Bible)

Because You Believe (因为您相信)

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Just to give you a sneak peek of Andrew’s song, I managed to record a small part of his performance during the CHCSA’s appreciation dinner.

Enjoy!

This clip featured the chorus portion of his mandarin song titled- Because You Believe (因为您相信)

Reunited after Six Years

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Meet another Andrew a.k.a “Siao Kiat”.

In one of my entries in my old blog, I  shared briefly about his story and his inspiring song that won him a Yellow-Ribbon award.

Saved by His grace

Some time ago, he was finally released after six years of imprisonment. We met recently and were reunited.

Over our meet-up, we managed to update each other and fill up those missing links between us. It was a very meaningful time.

I found out that he had dedicated his life fully to God.

He shared with me how the grace of God melted his cold heart and broke him down like a weeping baby as he listened to some carols. That was during Christmas in 2006.

In short, that’s how he gave his life to Jesus.

Comrades in Christ

The other delightful news was realising he was also worshiping in City Harvest Church!

Just yesterday, I attended an appreciation dinner by City Harvest Community Services Association (CHCSA) upon his invitation.

As he was a grateful recipient of their prison outreach, he was there to testify and also perform his self-composed song- Because You believe. I was there to show my support.

The verdict? I can only exclaimed that he sung extremely well. He is a gifted singer.

In the past, we were comrades for a wrong purpose. But now, we are comrades in Christ and shining along side for His eternal purpose!

 

 

 

 

My Experience with Prayer that Works

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Last week, I participated in a week long of corporate prayer.

This was an hour session either in the morning (from 6:30am to 7:30am) or in the evening (from 6pm to 7pm).

And of cos, I went for the evening sessions. Ha ha…

Prayer works

I must admit that embarking on this corporate prayer meet was a very energised experience. I could almost instantaneously feel the difference as I immersed myself more into prayer.

The more obvious changes were at work where I noticed how I found favour with my work. My relationships with my colleagues also improved.

I believe the change started with me as I drew nearer to God through prayer that renewed my heart and spirit.

Prayer at work

One remarkable incident that happened during one of the mornings when I was on my way to work.

As I was approaching my office, I prayed to God that He might used me at work to touch lives with His love. I did not know how He would do it, but I told Him I was willing to be used.

Less than a minute later, I saw one of my colleagues who was waiting for the elevator waving cheerily at me.

I didn’t expect that from her as she is usually in a dull mood. And though we were on friendly terms, but we were not on that level of friendliness.

But what surprised me was what she asked after we exchanged greetings.

“You go to church right?”

“The next time, can I go with you?”

Wow… really didn’t expect God to answer almost immediately! Amazing!

Now my next prayer is for her to experience the presence and love of God with the congregation. Amen!

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My Doodling:

I’ve been experimenting with my Twitter lately, Trying to add it to this site but with no success. Can anyone advise? Anyway, check out Pastor Kong Hee’s Twitter. His bio reads- guy with a famous wife. KNS rite? Ha ha…

God is a Natural Giver, not a Taker

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Last week, I was greeted with a pleasant surprise from my mum when she told me of her intentions of blessing me with a certain amount for my marriage plans.

The Arise & Build

Prior to this news from my mum, I had actually pledged to God an amount for the Arise & Build project by City Harvest Church (CHC) in last November.

I recalled I was contemplating on the prompted amount (by the Holy Spirit) to give. Apart from this being the largest one-time giving I would ever be giving, I was also weighing the practical aspect of my marriage plans.

But in the end, I decided that God’s kingdom had to come first, not mine. Thus, I gave in faith to His vision.

The divine surprise

Moving back to last week. I found out that my mum was going to give 50 per cent more than what she had originally intended. And the surprise was that the increased quantum was exactly the amount I had pledged!

How coincidental can that be?!

In fact, this is not the first time I have experienced God’s blessings through my giving in faith. But I will save the others for future sharing opportunities.

Finally, I would like to say that this experience has shown me another aspect of who God is; that He is not a debtor to man.

With this deeper understanding that His nature is that of a giver and not a taker has increased my level of trust in Him.