take it to the limit?!?

that's the topic which i'll be speaking on in a scf in rawang this friday. it's basically about the component of physical intimacy in boy-girl relationships; how far is too far kinda thing. tricky in the sense that we can't tell youth, "this far and no further!" but rather, help them understand what the real heart of it is: our heart for God. and having a heart which wants to please Him above all else, it's really up to them to decide their own limits.

apart from that, am perparing to preach at bethel baptist church this sunday; it is a time of ngashing of teeth. the ngashing was more vigourous and intense the first time round, but it's still happening this second time. =)

in reference to previous posts about our bouts with flu, i'm glad to announce that chenmay and i are both more or less fully recovered already. thanks be to God who's the Ultimate Doctor.=)

and, to end this short post, selamat datang to josh lim, choc freak, eunice, serene, weixun, jinshan, ethan, peiling, and meng yee. fuu yoh! datanglah beramai-ramai, ya!=D

the last of the mohicans...

...or rather, in this case, the last of the prayer update emails. i reproduce it here:

Dear friends,

Some of you may have noticed (whether with joy or sorrow, I’ll leave it to you) that I haven’t been sending out my monthly prayer update email since the beginning of the year. My humblest apologies! This was because of a mixture of busyness and laziness; at some times I was too busy to get the letter written, and other times I was too lazy. A lot of things have happened in the interim; for one, I got married! =P

Well, what I’ve done is, I’ve started a blog at siehjin.blogspot.com. you can check it out if you want; there will be updates on my movements and ministry prayer requests there from time to time. So, no more prayer update emails from me (for now anyway). I’m hoping that the blog will be easier to sustain, and I plan to update it at least once a week. At the moment I’m posting to it a few times a week, but I’m not sure how long that frequency will last. So I’ll leave it up to your initiative to come check out the blog and support me in prayer, ok? =)

One of the advantages of the blog is that it’s more interactive than this kinda prayer letter. If u do visit the blog, please do leave a comment or a note on the chatterbox. I think that this is a great way to keep in touch! =)

Ok, since this is my last prayer update letter I might as well let you know what I’ll be up to in the coming month. Upcoming ministry engagements that you can pray for with me:

1. Preaching at Bethel Baptist Church – this is only my second time preaching to an entire church’s congregation! (usually I minister only to youth). So, please pray for me as I prepare to speak on 1 July!

2. Trip to Taiping – we’ll be taking some SCF meetings, a YF Meeting, and some church meetings in Taiping from 20-22 July. Please pray for me as I liaise with key people there and work out logistic arrangements for the team, as well as prepare for the speaking engagements there!

Thank you so much for supporting me in prayer. I believe that your prayers make all the difference in whether my work is effective and powerful, or not. And I pray that just as you have blessed me by your support and prayers, so may you be richly blessed by God.=)

God bless,

siehjin

since i took so long to type it, i decided to post it on the blog =P you all also supposed to pray for those two items wan ma. =) hopefully more ppl will drop by since i sent this out...

in the meantime, a big hug of welcome to charlene (one of the 1st ppl to chat on the chatterbox, and i forgot to welcome her! oops!), praise, akmj, petertok, and kenneth!=)

invitation to refreshment

sometimes, when i'm down or i've sinned, i doubt God's love and forgiveness. i fear the wrath of an angry God. (yes sis, i'm not immune.)

i worry about what God would say to me if i were to meet with Him. i hope that He would comfort me, forgive me, hug me. but i'm afraid that He would judge me, condemn me, reject me.

last saturday, we started our class on Pastoral Leadership with a meditation on Matthew 11:28-30:

"come to Me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. for My yoke is easy and My burden is light."

and these were my thoughts (best read, in my opinion, slowly and thoughtfully):
- He loves
- He accepts
- He forgives
- He unburdens
- He sets free
- He redeems
- He gives rest
- He teaches
- He transforms
- He harnesses
- He works: in us, thru us, with us.

may i remember this next time i'm down. and i hope that you were refreshed, as i was, by this sometimes-too-familiar passage. =)

from reading on the bus to work

Hast thou no scar?

No hidden scar on foot, or side, or hand?

I hear thee sung as mighty in the land,

I hear them hail thy bright ascendant star:

Hast thou no scar?

~o~

Hast thou no wound?

Yet, I was wounded by the archers, spent.

Leaned me against the tree to die, and rent

By ravening beasts that compassed me, I swooned:

Hast thou no wound?

~o~

No wound? No scar?

Yes, as the master shall the servant be,

And pierced are the feet that follow Me;

But thine are whole. Can he have followed far

Who has no wound? No scar?

Amy Carmichael

i think i don't have wor. how like that?

Paul said in Galatians 6:17, "i bear on my body the marks of Jesus." he was referring, i think, to actual physical scars from being beaten, whipped, stoned and so on in the course of his ministry. well, in terms of actual physical scars, i definitely don't have any because i've never faced that sort of persecution.

how about in soul or in spirit then?

there are some parts of me i'm trying to crucify, that persist in coming back to life from time to time. perhaps when some of them truly die, i will bear some little scars in my spirit. but these potential scars seem so insignificant, compared to the wounds of Christ.

i'm afraid that this might be a rather dangerous prayer to pray, but i'm going to pray it anyway:

"Dear Lord, may i be one who bears, in my body and/or in my spirit, the scars of Your sacrifice.

In Jesus' name i pray (gulp),

Amen."

p.s. the weekend of studying Pastoral Leadership was great! much new things to assimilate and learn. and i didn't have to pine away after The Wife after all: she came for dinner with my sis and i, stayed over at my sis's place, and sat in on sunday's class. having her with me really made my weekend. =)

p.p.s a very warm welcome to lordson, james (ong?), nicholas, and kelvin. =D and if there are any lurkers around, please do leave a note or a comment somewhere so that i can welcome you too! =)

welcomes! =) and SCF stuff...

ah, i forgot to do the 'welcoming all the new readers' thing in the last post! sorry. =P

so anyway, better late than never. a big fat WELCOME to lingfong, lisa, joshua, nienie, emmy, chara, and juvin!!! =)

i'll be going off soon to visit Sri Cahaya's School Christian Fellowship (SCF). not speaking, just visiting. i used to speak about once a month here, but since one of the committee member's church has stepped in to help, they haven't invited me back. so yesterday, i invited myself.

it's great that churches want to get involved in this schools's work ministry. i mean, definitely SU doesn't have enough workers to adequately support every SCF. so the more help there is, the better. but there are some concerns, because SCF is an interdenominational ministry, and when churches come in to help, they inevitably bring their own denominational bias and doctrine with them. this is something to be watchful for.

of course, you could say that we SU workers also each come from a church and each have our own denominational bias. but at least we are conscious of the inter-d nature of schools' work, and will take extra care to make sure that christians of all creeds and colours will not be offended or confused by what goes on in the SCF. church workers may not have that paradigm.

note: this is not meant to disparage the church or church workers who're helping out in Sri Garden or any other school. it is just an observation of a possible pitfall in school's work ministry.

so anyway, i'm going back to Sri Garden today and i hope that the SCF has not become a mini-church or a church YF. this is a struggling SCF, apparently it's been opened and closed a few times in the past years. so do pray that they will grow and gain momentum, that christian students will rise up to be committed to and involved in the SCF, that the school will be blessed with a strong christian presence. and that the precious inter-d balance will be maintained, even though it's now primarily supported by a single church.

got to go liao. tata! =)

p.s. i'm back from the SCF liao. =) it seems to be going alright, except that the students are involved in so many activities that the SCF is often on high (or not there?) on their priority list. please pray for the teachers and church workers invloved in the work also, for energy, love, and wisdom to do it well.

p.p.s i can't go home tonight cos i have to study Pastoral Leadership.
boohoohoo! =(

i can't think of any creative titles at the moment

hullo friends! =)

i'm in the office at the moment, eating jam and bread for dinner. i have a meeting at 8.15pm, which explains why i'm not at home in the loving arms of The Wife. =(

just some news about my dad: he went in to Queen Elizabeth Hospital this morning for surgery, to remove to offending salivary gland. the main risks of this surgery were:
a) the risk of anaesthesia
(there are always risks when they put you to sleep)
b) the risk of nerve damage
(lots of nerves in the neck; if they had cut one, he'd end up with a lopsided smile)
but thank God, the surgery went smoothly with no mishaps. =) there were 4 stones, the biggest was 3cm in length and 1cm in diameter! imagine that!=P

so, once again, thank you all for praying. do continue to uphold him as he recovers from surgery. =)

in other news, chenmay went for another checkup today and got another 2 days' MC. she feels better, but the blood-test says she's supposed to be worse. so please keep her in your prayers.

right, hv to go for meeting now! ciao guys! [and girls!] =)

the coming week

Breaking News (just came to me by sms): chen may went to see the doctor today, and is diagnosed with a viral infection! she's been given an MC for today and tomorrow. so, she didn't catch the bug from me, after all. now, let's hope that i don't catch the bug from her. =)

this week, i have a Young Writers' Camp planing meeting on wednesday. do pray for this camp, especially for camper recruitment. and if you know any young people who are interested in writing (there must be some, lookit all the blogs!) please let them know that this camp exists. camp dates are 18-21 august, and camp fees are RM 160 before 31 july. the camp form can be downloaded from www.su.org.my.

apart from that, this weekend (fri-sun) i'll be having classes about Pastoral Leadership. this is part of my Masters of Christian Studies with Seminari Theoloji Malaysia's Theological Education by Extension Programme. this is the second module i've been for; the first was Biblical Interpretation and i'm still wrestling with the four assignments that i have to write for that course. =P hopefully the lecturer for this next course will be kinder. =)

the sad thing about doing this theological study thing is, i will be separated from The Wife over the weekend. Aaaaarrrgh! the pain! the suffering! well, that was a little melodramatic, but in actual fact it is true that i will miss her. and since she is that wierd, emotional thing called 'a woman', i guess she probably will miss me as much or more. sigh. everything has a price, and in this case it's more than dollars and cents.

apart from that, i will be having Dinner with The Sister (it rhymes! hahaha!) on saturday. am looking forward to catching up with her. =)

that sums up the coming week. God bless all of you, my readers! [over the weekend, only one addition: welcome, Christina.=)]

early to bed, and early to rise...

makes a man healthy, wealthy, and wise! =)

and this will be a health-wise post, about the health of me and mine... but before that! i have a happy announcement to make!

*trumpets sound* ta-ra-ta-ta-ta!

the readership of this blog has increased by 250%!!! woohoo!
welcome, charis, ling, jonathan, florence, and guojeng. =D

*trumpets sound* ta-ra-ta-ta-ta!

back to the normal blog post =)

as i was saying, health-wise. the chesty cough mentioned a couple of posts ago has more or less cleared up! looks like u ppl's prayers are really powerful. thanks for praying! and yes, feel free to feel guilty if u didn't pray...=P

the infection is definitely gone [yellow phlegm = infected, clear phlegm = not infected. i know this cos my dad's a doctor, heheh] though some nasal congestion and throat irritation still remain.

however, chenmay (that is, The Wife, hahaha!) has fallen sick instead... she probably caught the bug from me, and i feel bad about it. last night she was feverish, her nose was leaking, and she was aching all over. and worse still, she's working today. so please do pray for her speedy recovery, k.

and, my dad is also facing some health stuff too... he has a stone in his salivary gland. and it's blocking the duct, causing pain and swelling. he's been surviving on a liquid diet for 3 days already, and is exploring options for surgery if the condition does not improve. please pray:

a) that the stone might move so that it does not fully obstruct the duct;
b) or that the stone might dissolve itself miraculously;
c) and for my dad to have wisdom to know what course of treatment to pursue if neither (a) nor (b) occurs.

thanks gang! may all of u be blessed with good health... u never fully appreciate it till u lose it. =)

sniff, sniff... hmmm, what's that smell...?

aaaahhhh... it's the smell of a new blog. =)

welcome to my second post, my 2 dear readers (at the moment, only kimmi and my sis). =P

this time, just a short note to let you all know what i'm up to over the weekend. normally i would try my best to take saturday off, as it doesn't make sense to travel 2 hours to work and 2 hours back just for half a day of work. however, this week, The College is making The Wife work a full day on saturday (altho she speculates that she might be able to sneak away after half a day). therefore, not wanting to stay at home alone, i will be going to work on saturday.

after work i have a lunch date with a friend. no, i'm not being naughty, he's a guy. and no, neither of us are gay, except in the original sense (happy). and after that, i will go for youth fellowship back in ppbc.

now that i'm staying in seremban, i will have to be more purposeful and proactive in maintaining friendships with people left back in kl/pj. this includes the friend i'm lunching with, the youth of ppbc, and my sis. i certainly hope that my marriage and relocation will not result in these relationships being broken, and i will do my best not to let that happen.

after yf, it's time to hurry home to the loving arms of The Wife. i'm not sure why i'm refering to her as The Wife with capitals like that. it seems somewhat ominous yet fun at the same time. =)

and on sunday, i will be going to kajang prison to do ministry there. i signed up for this prison ministry thing around the time i first joined SU, when i was relatively free. well, they took almost a year to process my application - they're quite strict about who gets to go in to visit the prisoners - and last month when i was insanely busy (with The Wedding and all) they called me up and said i'm in.

so, this will be my second time in prison. the first time i went, i translated the sermon into bm. translating is harder than it looks; the right words just refuse to respond to the summons of my brain. do pray for a meaningful time of ministry with what is literally a captive audience. they may be in prison, but Christ can set them truly free. =)

right, that's pretty long already for what was meant as a short note. adios amigos! =D

to blog or not to blog...

that is the question.

well, apparently i've already answered it, as this is my first blog post. however, i do not know:
(a) how long this blog will last... sustainability?
(b) how often i will update it, if i do indeed begin blogging
(c) who, if anyone, except me that is, would read it
(d) what to write inside it

i suppose in answer to (d), it would be mostly to tell about my work in SU so that readers (if there are any) can pray for me, especially as my so-called prayer newsletter has been dead and unsent since the beginning of 2007. and also to just jot down any interesting happenings or thoughts i might experience, which i think will be few and far between (my life's not that interesting...heheh). as for (a), (b) and (c), only time will tell...

well, if (d) is what i'm going to do, i might as well start off by saying that i've just had two scf camps over the past 2 weekends... the first one, bukit mewah scf camp, was at the methodist centre in port dickson and will forever be remembered as the camp where i lost my wedding ring. my own stupid fault, for wearing it into the sea. anyway, it wasn't a total loss as the campers could watch my wife and i combing the beach for it over the next day and a half. so i ended up making it into a sort of parable, where i told them that they were far more precious to God than my ring was to me; and if i searched like that for my ring, just imagine how God's searching for them, and how would they respond to Him?

the second one, sri permata scf camp, was at seminari teoloji malaysia in seremban. it was a good camp. the difference between the culture of this cf group and the previous one was interesting. they were noisier, prone to making fun of each other's lame jokes by going 'ha ha ha' in unison, and just... different. maybe it's a pj thing? anyway i stayed up too late on the last night and am paying for it now with a chesty cough. so that's my first prayer request right there: please pray for a speedy recovery. it's no fun being sick. =)

right. that's pretty long already. i will now proceed to ignore the existence of this poor, newborn blog until the urge to post re-emerges. hopefully sometime this century.

p.s. if u happen to read this, do leave a comment. this is so that:
1. i know that there are actually people who read this stuff
2. i can interact with you
3. you can ask questions or whatever
4. you can make suggestions
re no. 4, this blogging thing is totally new to me (in spite of the fact that a certain member of my family is somthing of a celebrity in the blogosphere) so feel free to suggest improvements. which i might try if they aren't too difficult to implement. thanks, all my presently-imaginary-because-no-one-has-read-this-yet readers! =)

p.p.s this post was copied wholesale from http://siehjin.blogs.friendster.com/hullo_sup_p/2007/06/to_blog_or_not_.html at suggestions from 3 out of 4 (that's 75%) of the no-longer-imaginary-readers of that blog.

p.p.p.s sooner or later, either this blog, that blog, or both will die. let's see what happens. =)