We had a vocals training workshop throughout the weekend at church and since I'm the drummer both for the workshop and Sunday service, I stayed overnight at Pastor Vic's house together with the rest. In the morning, I was half-asleep because Friday night was a movie night out at Seremban to watch Alice in Wonderland. I nearly woke up late to fetch people in the morning but we did make it on time to be in church for the Saturday practice. After practice on Saturday, we proceeded on for a lunch at a restaurant at Banting main town where Sister Helen gave a treat for the March babies (Grace, Gerald and Pastor Vic). It was a scrumptious meal and all of us ate till we are extremely full. Lol, we were joking in that nobody should jump around during vocals training lest all the contents of the belly are expelled. Hamster Lerdie drove us back from the restaurant back to church and Alvin Tan fell into a state of nausea after the ride..haha.
We had fun during the games during vocals training and we had some good food again during dinner where we ate at the church itself. The session finished quite early at around 8.30pm and afterthat, a bunch of us went to McD to grab something to bite. We took the opportunity to head for this pesta at Banting which was happening just right beside Macs. That pesta looks pretty similar to the annual one that was held in Sungai Dua, Penang. Lol..we took the opportunity to snap some whacky photos at one shop that sell shades. We reached Pastor Vic's house at about 11.45pm. I used Maddie's laptop to log in to Facebook to settle my daily business there and afterthat, I just crashed to bed and slept almost immediately till the next morning.
We had bak kut teh for breakfast in the morning. While I was preparing to go out, I heard a familiar tune from Sesame Street. Well, I thought that the two chipmunks are playing it at the house piano so early in the morning. However, to my angstly 'horror', I realised that it was coming from phone in my pocket! Grrrrrrrrr..it was the iBan alright, trying to initiate some form of 'payback'! Service was a video message this time. Pastor Vic brought up an interesting point of reflection where he pointed out that the deficiencies in one's family can be nullified and made perfect by the family of God. Sometimes, the reason why God may place a person in a deficient family is so that he can be a testimony to the others.
Anyways, on the way back to campus, Hamster Lerdie got a second try to drive back and since it's a longer journey, the endless patter of orisons can be heard resonating throughout the car..lol. But she managed to do it it well and brought us back to campus safely, with one exception for a panic moment where she accidentally shifted from gear 4 to gear 3 to hear the roar of the engines. =p
Sunday, 21 March 2010
Friday, 19 March 2010
I'm a witness!
Something random came into my mind while I was handing up one of the admin stuffs to the student government body at my campus yesterday. One of the objectives for the establishment of the CF was stated to be maintaining Christian witness in the campus and that kinda sound confusing to one of the people there. That got me thinking on the term "witness". I think that the term is a such a common usage among Christians that at times, many do not stop a while to ponder on what it actually meant.
In secular terms, the usage of 'witness' is associated very closely to law where it has two meanings. The first being a person who observes the signing of the legal document while the second is the person who is qualified to give evidence to a criminal case in court. The more popular usage is the second meaning, especially when it refers to people who have seen a crime in action. Well, the word 'witness' in the secular sense does not really carry a positive imagery and it usually attaches a neutral or negative feeling to it. Afterall, if you're called to court to be a witness, it ain't fun at all and it's far from striking a lottery ticket.
However, if one were to read the Bible to discover the meaning of witness in the Christian context, he will discover that the usage there is one of a positive imagery. The usage of the word witness can be found in Acts 1:8 where Jesus said to his disciples," But you will receiv power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth." So, what is this Christian witness? What does it really mean to be a Christian witness? How would you explain the term to someone who doesn't hasn't heard of the term witness in the Christian context?
For me, a Christian witness is someone who has a personal encounter with Christ. Jesus' disciples at that time were of course the closest witnesses since they had seen and be with Jesus at that point of time. That included also people who had seen his miracles and were touched by it 2000 years ago. They were convinced and convicted by what they have seen. But that does not mean that people of this age cannot be a witness of Christ at this age simply because they didn't see him in person. In fact, each Christian himself/herself is a witness for Christ because they would see the presence of Christ manifesting in many different forms during their lifetime. Be it transformation of lives, healing or blessings, I'm sure that each Christian had been touched by the Lord in many ways. The word "testify" comes into play too because just as testify is related to 'witness' in the secular sense, it is the same in the Christian context. A Christian witness who has seen the goodness of the Lord manifesting in many ways with his own eyes would similarly be overflowed and be so amazed by what he has seen that he has to testify to the world of the things he had seen and experienced. A Christian witness will not be quiet because he is simply overjoyed and is excited to tell the world what Christ had done for him. I'm proud to say that I'm one such witness! :)
In secular terms, the usage of 'witness' is associated very closely to law where it has two meanings. The first being a person who observes the signing of the legal document while the second is the person who is qualified to give evidence to a criminal case in court. The more popular usage is the second meaning, especially when it refers to people who have seen a crime in action. Well, the word 'witness' in the secular sense does not really carry a positive imagery and it usually attaches a neutral or negative feeling to it. Afterall, if you're called to court to be a witness, it ain't fun at all and it's far from striking a lottery ticket.
However, if one were to read the Bible to discover the meaning of witness in the Christian context, he will discover that the usage there is one of a positive imagery. The usage of the word witness can be found in Acts 1:8 where Jesus said to his disciples," But you will receiv power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth." So, what is this Christian witness? What does it really mean to be a Christian witness? How would you explain the term to someone who doesn't hasn't heard of the term witness in the Christian context?
For me, a Christian witness is someone who has a personal encounter with Christ. Jesus' disciples at that time were of course the closest witnesses since they had seen and be with Jesus at that point of time. That included also people who had seen his miracles and were touched by it 2000 years ago. They were convinced and convicted by what they have seen. But that does not mean that people of this age cannot be a witness of Christ at this age simply because they didn't see him in person. In fact, each Christian himself/herself is a witness for Christ because they would see the presence of Christ manifesting in many different forms during their lifetime. Be it transformation of lives, healing or blessings, I'm sure that each Christian had been touched by the Lord in many ways. The word "testify" comes into play too because just as testify is related to 'witness' in the secular sense, it is the same in the Christian context. A Christian witness who has seen the goodness of the Lord manifesting in many ways with his own eyes would similarly be overflowed and be so amazed by what he has seen that he has to testify to the world of the things he had seen and experienced. A Christian witness will not be quiet because he is simply overjoyed and is excited to tell the world what Christ had done for him. I'm proud to say that I'm one such witness! :)
Tuesday, 16 March 2010
The sound of cars colliding
For once, something exciting happens in this long stretch of mundane studying hours. At 6.05pm, Stan was focused in going to his equity class when he was involved in a rather amusing accident. Ok, I was driving straight along the main hostel route and thinking about what to write during the pressurising 45 minutes essay practice at c;ass on incompletely constituted trust. It was the usual drill to class and then I saw this red Iswara coming out from the dining hall car park. I saw it coming and was thinking that standard traffic protocol would mean that he has to stop for me to go first since it's my right of way.
As I was moving forward, I could feel the red car moving dangerously too close to me. TOO dangereously close. So I started sounding my horn. 2 seconds passed the junction, I thought he had stopped to let me go when I heard a loud crash coupled with glass splinters. I felt the impact vibration for the back of my car and I knew that either his vehicle or mine is really screwed. The feeling of being crashed is surreal. I stopped my car, got out and I saw that his car's entire front bumber fell off. At first when I looked at the rather severe damage at his car, I thought that I'm gonna kena already. But after thinking a while, I realised that he's the one at fault who crashed into me because I was going straight and he should be stopping for me. I discovered later that the left back passenger seat door of my car had a huge inward dent on it.
The driver who came out of the red Iswara looked at me and I looked at him. The whole bumper of his car came off and I started off by telling him that I had horned to tell him to stop but he didn't. He asked me whether my car sustained damage and I just pointed the dent to him. He lamented back that his car is worse off than mine. Based on the accent that he was speaking, I gathered that he is a China boy. AO Security was surprisingly very quick at the scene as they passed me some forms to fill up and while I was filling up, attention was building up with people around the walkways starting to stare at both the cars. Oh well, 5 minutes of fame then. I was getting quite annoyed at that time too because all the repairs will take some time and there goes my nasi kandar on the next day. Ah, I was thinking that if only I were 10 seconds faster or slower, I would not have be on a collision of fate with China boy.
In the end, the China boy agreed to compensate for any damages that my car had sustained but he insisted that I bring it to his friend's garage to fix. I don't really bother where he wants it repaired as long as it is repaired and restored. Hmmm..at least he's not making trouble. But even if he tries to, I'll make sure that he'll know that he picked the wrong car to bang on that day. I learn later at night that Jan Vy and Evelyn actually heard the sound of the collision from their hostel block. Woah, I didn't expect it to be so loud but news of it sure spread fast. Some people were surprised to see me smiling while I was there. Actually, I was trying to contain my thoughts on the absurdity in how the China boy can actually ram into me when I'm moving at 10km/h. In any case, I hope that I can settle the car repairs as soon as possible. Interesting episode but it's annoyingly a waste of time.
As I was moving forward, I could feel the red car moving dangerously too close to me. TOO dangereously close. So I started sounding my horn. 2 seconds passed the junction, I thought he had stopped to let me go when I heard a loud crash coupled with glass splinters. I felt the impact vibration for the back of my car and I knew that either his vehicle or mine is really screwed. The feeling of being crashed is surreal. I stopped my car, got out and I saw that his car's entire front bumber fell off. At first when I looked at the rather severe damage at his car, I thought that I'm gonna kena already. But after thinking a while, I realised that he's the one at fault who crashed into me because I was going straight and he should be stopping for me. I discovered later that the left back passenger seat door of my car had a huge inward dent on it.
The driver who came out of the red Iswara looked at me and I looked at him. The whole bumper of his car came off and I started off by telling him that I had horned to tell him to stop but he didn't. He asked me whether my car sustained damage and I just pointed the dent to him. He lamented back that his car is worse off than mine. Based on the accent that he was speaking, I gathered that he is a China boy. AO Security was surprisingly very quick at the scene as they passed me some forms to fill up and while I was filling up, attention was building up with people around the walkways starting to stare at both the cars. Oh well, 5 minutes of fame then. I was getting quite annoyed at that time too because all the repairs will take some time and there goes my nasi kandar on the next day. Ah, I was thinking that if only I were 10 seconds faster or slower, I would not have be on a collision of fate with China boy.
In the end, the China boy agreed to compensate for any damages that my car had sustained but he insisted that I bring it to his friend's garage to fix. I don't really bother where he wants it repaired as long as it is repaired and restored. Hmmm..at least he's not making trouble. But even if he tries to, I'll make sure that he'll know that he picked the wrong car to bang on that day. I learn later at night that Jan Vy and Evelyn actually heard the sound of the collision from their hostel block. Woah, I didn't expect it to be so loud but news of it sure spread fast. Some people were surprised to see me smiling while I was there. Actually, I was trying to contain my thoughts on the absurdity in how the China boy can actually ram into me when I'm moving at 10km/h. In any case, I hope that I can settle the car repairs as soon as possible. Interesting episode but it's annoyingly a waste of time.
Thursday, 11 March 2010
ICF Rally: More to Life
Luke 14:15-24 - When one of those at the table with Him heard this, he said to Jesus, ‘Blessed is the man who will eat at the feast in the kingdom of God.’ Jesus replied: “A certain man was preparing a great banquet and invited many guests. At the time of the banquet he sent his servant to tell those who had been invited, ‘Come, for everything is now ready.’ But they all alike began to make excuses. The first said, ‘I have just bought a field, and I must go and see it. Please excuse me.’ Another said, ‘I have just bought five yoke of oxen, and I’m on my way to try them out. Please excuse me. Still another said, ‘I just got married, so I can’t come.’ The servant came back and reported this to his master. Then the owner of the house became angry and orders his servant, ‘Go out quickly into the streets and alleys of the town and bring in the poor, the crippled, the blind and the lame.’ ‘Sir,’ the servant said, ‘what you ordered has been done, but there is still room.’ Then the master told his servant, ‘Go out to the roads and country lanes and make them come in, so that my house will be full. I tell you, not one of those men who were invited will get a taste of my banquet.’”
The climax of our one-year term at CF is here. It is something that we had in vision when some of us became the committee. The day that we had been anticipating was finally here yesterday. The publicity posters were already up for two weeks and notices were posted all over at Facebook. At the night before, we spent the wee hours in the morning setting up the backdrop. We sacrificed sleep but we knew that it would be worth it at the end. On the next day, all the CF-ers took turns to work round the clock to set up the MPH and making sure all decorations and chairs are in place. The PA System came and the sound was very neat. When the band from Ipoh came to soundtest during practice, it was superb. Every beat of the drum just sounded good. I've never recalled myself hearing such good audio pickup on the stage at campus.
We opened the doors at 6.30pm. People from other colleges also came, KTT, Mara Banting and INTI Subang in particular. Our very own college people also came and by 7.30pm plus, the MPH was around 3/4 filled. We had a great time rocking out with the Psalmist Generation to praise God. The drama skit headed by Lynne was done very well too and I pray that the message in the drama there is read by all those who are there. When Pastor Chris Long came on stage, quite a sizeable amount left the MPH but we continue to believe that God will touch those who are willing to remain there. During the altar call, almost more than half of those that remain actually came forward to dedicate their lives to Christ. I believe that it's quite an encouragement and testimony for many of the CF-ers who were there that night becoz some of us were really amazed at God's hand at work during the rally. All this would not have been possible without His help. A really big thank you also to all those that are willing to serve on the day and help out at the rally. :)
The climax of our one-year term at CF is here. It is something that we had in vision when some of us became the committee. The day that we had been anticipating was finally here yesterday. The publicity posters were already up for two weeks and notices were posted all over at Facebook. At the night before, we spent the wee hours in the morning setting up the backdrop. We sacrificed sleep but we knew that it would be worth it at the end. On the next day, all the CF-ers took turns to work round the clock to set up the MPH and making sure all decorations and chairs are in place. The PA System came and the sound was very neat. When the band from Ipoh came to soundtest during practice, it was superb. Every beat of the drum just sounded good. I've never recalled myself hearing such good audio pickup on the stage at campus.
We opened the doors at 6.30pm. People from other colleges also came, KTT, Mara Banting and INTI Subang in particular. Our very own college people also came and by 7.30pm plus, the MPH was around 3/4 filled. We had a great time rocking out with the Psalmist Generation to praise God. The drama skit headed by Lynne was done very well too and I pray that the message in the drama there is read by all those who are there. When Pastor Chris Long came on stage, quite a sizeable amount left the MPH but we continue to believe that God will touch those who are willing to remain there. During the altar call, almost more than half of those that remain actually came forward to dedicate their lives to Christ. I believe that it's quite an encouragement and testimony for many of the CF-ers who were there that night becoz some of us were really amazed at God's hand at work during the rally. All this would not have been possible without His help. A really big thank you also to all those that are willing to serve on the day and help out at the rally. :)
Tuesday, 9 March 2010
Advocacy Completed
I had just completed my advocacy session in the morning. I dedicated only about or two for the preparation yesterday and I would say that advocacy is much easier than mooting itself eventhough it requires more impromptu speech. It was a matter of preparing several questions and on my part, a rousing closing statement. The interesting thing is that I get to wear the lawyer robes with the bip for the first time. Haha..I had to wear both my blazer and the robe and it was extremely stuffy. Fortunately, the moot court was well air-conditioned enough to prevent myself from melting.
We had some very "interesting" witnesses from Semester 2. Jonathan himself was Jennifer "Jenny" Tan while Michael took on the role of the inspector and the ballistics expert. Patrick is the accused who is suspected of discharging a weapon in the course of robbery at a shopping center and this offence carries a death penalty in Malaysia. I'm on the defendant side with Jojo, so our job is to defend the accused. It went well for us where we won and managed to get the jury to acquit the accused in the end. It was nerve wrecking to take into consideration and pay attention constantly to what the prosecution had said. One can never be sure how the witness may answer, and so the questioning process really has to be thorough. However overall, I do enjoy the experience of it..haha. For now, this assesment is finally done with and now it's just total focus fire on the final exams.
We had some very "interesting" witnesses from Semester 2. Jonathan himself was Jennifer "Jenny" Tan while Michael took on the role of the inspector and the ballistics expert. Patrick is the accused who is suspected of discharging a weapon in the course of robbery at a shopping center and this offence carries a death penalty in Malaysia. I'm on the defendant side with Jojo, so our job is to defend the accused. It went well for us where we won and managed to get the jury to acquit the accused in the end. It was nerve wrecking to take into consideration and pay attention constantly to what the prosecution had said. One can never be sure how the witness may answer, and so the questioning process really has to be thorough. However overall, I do enjoy the experience of it..haha. For now, this assesment is finally done with and now it's just total focus fire on the final exams.
Monday, 8 March 2010
Come for Rally!
I've been running around really busy nowadays with the rally date coming closer. On my part, there's gonna be an advocacy assesment coming soon. Anyways, for my dear fellow readers who are reading this, the ICF rally will take place at INTI Nilai UC's MPH at 6.30pm on Wednesday 10th March at 6.30pm. There will be a live band perfomance, a drama skit and an inspiring message lined up on that day. Free Admission. Rally T-shirts are are also for sale at RM15 per piece and you can get them either at the ICF booth outside SAO or at our registration booth on the rally date itself. Hope to see many of you there! :)
Tuesday, 2 March 2010
An eventful weekend
It was event filled weekend with lots of activities to do. Let's start off with last Thursday first where my long awaited law magazine is ready to be collected from the publisher. I just wanna thank God that it is finally done and that He's provided the finances to make the publishing possible eventhough we had to pay off the previous semester's debt off. A rough check of the magazine shows everything is in order and this means mass distribution would bring everything to a conclusion.
On the same Thursday, we celebrated Hamster Lerdie's birthday after CG. It was an eloborate plot to "kidnap" her and she really did not expect Rachelle to be involved in the plot..haha. Well, at the end of it all, Hamster managed to made her way to Ice Room where a massive crowd is waiting there. Lol..for a moment it looked as if some Datin is on her way to the place and even the waiters were standing in attention. We stayed there till the shopowner got desperate to close shop and we had to settled the bill quickly..haha.
We had to get up early the next day for Ops Gegar which was held at Methodist college this time. It's great to see a very big turn-out for the event with students from different universities and colleges coming together. It wasn't as air-conditioned as last years, but still there were lots of good lessons which can be gained from it. I think one of the most impactful activities was the one in the reading room where the act of the Bible being thrown on the floor shocked many who witness it. The lesson learnt in there is clear in that whenever we disregard God's word, metaphorically we also threw the Bible away into the dustbin. Indeed, it's a pondering point to consider and reflect upon. Haha..the funniest part during Ops Gegar was when we were asked to write one Malaysian Christian who had made an impact in the country and all of us wrote Bishop Ng. Ops Gegar closed at around 5pm and we returned back, feeling that we are "sedia" to receive the challenges that would be coming ahead.
The next day was filled with another activitiy and that was Reuben's MEC team building activity at Port Dickson. It was an adventurous trip which started off with an obstacle course first and I'm very pleased indeed to complete it all successfully with my Blue team! We then had telematches at the beach where we really got sunburnt to the max. It's interesting to see the small mini crabs and hermit crabs crawling over the sandy area during low tide. The treasure hunt was the most exhausting because we had to run uphill many times and I would say we got rewarded with a nice view of the sea from the lighthouse. The only thing wasted was that we couldn't stay up there long enough because it was too hot. Lol..I can't count the amount of drinks or ice-cream I actually bought because it was the weather is so hot that I had to constantly hydrate myself. I guess it is the ice-cream seller or drinkseller's windfall day with over 30 of us patronising their stall whenever we have a break.
Overall, I'm quite happy in getting occupied with the events eventhough I'm once again delayed in doing my revisions. Then this morning, I went to Seremban to collect the Siew Paus and Dominos for our fund-raising sales. Apparently we went too early there and we had to wait about 30 minutes plus or so before we could get our piping hot pizzas. Reuben and me ordered 1 regular pizza each and it was indeed shiok to finish up one whole pizza on our own!
Ahhhh...Anyways, I must really get down on the revision soon as time is running out with every second ticking by!
On the same Thursday, we celebrated Hamster Lerdie's birthday after CG. It was an eloborate plot to "kidnap" her and she really did not expect Rachelle to be involved in the plot..haha. Well, at the end of it all, Hamster managed to made her way to Ice Room where a massive crowd is waiting there. Lol..for a moment it looked as if some Datin is on her way to the place and even the waiters were standing in attention. We stayed there till the shopowner got desperate to close shop and we had to settled the bill quickly..haha.
We had to get up early the next day for Ops Gegar which was held at Methodist college this time. It's great to see a very big turn-out for the event with students from different universities and colleges coming together. It wasn't as air-conditioned as last years, but still there were lots of good lessons which can be gained from it. I think one of the most impactful activities was the one in the reading room where the act of the Bible being thrown on the floor shocked many who witness it. The lesson learnt in there is clear in that whenever we disregard God's word, metaphorically we also threw the Bible away into the dustbin. Indeed, it's a pondering point to consider and reflect upon. Haha..the funniest part during Ops Gegar was when we were asked to write one Malaysian Christian who had made an impact in the country and all of us wrote Bishop Ng. Ops Gegar closed at around 5pm and we returned back, feeling that we are "sedia" to receive the challenges that would be coming ahead.
The next day was filled with another activitiy and that was Reuben's MEC team building activity at Port Dickson. It was an adventurous trip which started off with an obstacle course first and I'm very pleased indeed to complete it all successfully with my Blue team! We then had telematches at the beach where we really got sunburnt to the max. It's interesting to see the small mini crabs and hermit crabs crawling over the sandy area during low tide. The treasure hunt was the most exhausting because we had to run uphill many times and I would say we got rewarded with a nice view of the sea from the lighthouse. The only thing wasted was that we couldn't stay up there long enough because it was too hot. Lol..I can't count the amount of drinks or ice-cream I actually bought because it was the weather is so hot that I had to constantly hydrate myself. I guess it is the ice-cream seller or drinkseller's windfall day with over 30 of us patronising their stall whenever we have a break.
Overall, I'm quite happy in getting occupied with the events eventhough I'm once again delayed in doing my revisions. Then this morning, I went to Seremban to collect the Siew Paus and Dominos for our fund-raising sales. Apparently we went too early there and we had to wait about 30 minutes plus or so before we could get our piping hot pizzas. Reuben and me ordered 1 regular pizza each and it was indeed shiok to finish up one whole pizza on our own!
Ahhhh...Anyways, I must really get down on the revision soon as time is running out with every second ticking by!
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