this is a music video of Mercy Me performing their 2005 hit “homesick”. if memory serves me correctly, the song is honouring the soldiers in iraq. very touching song.
homesick
October 23rd, 2006 by liensermon notes!
October 22nd, 2006 by lien[note : today's sermon i feel applies to everybody. the speaker is from my church's mother church!]
Series : Romans 9-16
Topic : Growing Deeper in Love (Rom 12:9-21,13:8-14)
Speaker : SP William Lee (bartley christian church)
1. Introduction
Background of the Roman Church - a mixed community
- gentiles and jews
New Identity, New community and New perspective
Importance of Sincerity in our love
2. The Look of Love - Our Attitudes
a) Sincere love rejects evil, cleaves to what is good(rom 12:9,amos 5:14-15)
b) Sincere love retains spiritual passion for God(rom 12:11,philippians 3:14)
c) Sincere love rejoices inspite of difficulties(rom12:12,james1:2)
3. The Life of Love - Our Actions
“Love, without action, is insincere”
a) Sincere love respects others above ourselves(rom12:10a,philippians 2:3)
b) Sincere love prays for others faithfully(rom12:12b,philippians1:3)
c) Sincere love responds to the needs of others(rom 12:13,1 peter 4:9-10)
4. The Lavishness of Love - Our Forgiveness
a) Sincere love understands God’s mercy(rom5:8,colossians3:13)
b) Sincere love lives at peace with others(rom12:18,mark9:50)
c) Sincere love returns evil with good(rom12:21,mathew5:44)
5. Conclusion
” Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil, but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perserveres. Love never fails”
1 Corinthians 13:4-8(NIV)
so tired!
October 21st, 2006 by lienhave you ever had the feeling that you know that you’re awake and yet kinda spaced out too?
that’s been my mode for the whole day today. and of course, once i’m out in space, friends bump into me when i’m wandering about aimlessly looking half-dead.
i wonder what they must’ve been thinking.
church signs :)
October 17th, 2006 by lien
hmm
October 14th, 2006 by lieni just joined a cell group after being MIA from the cg scene for 3 years-ish. there were plenty of reasons why i chose to go back now, but i must say the main reason was the fact that i’m now in not one but TWO church ministries(yay superlife and 1st aid!).
anyways, my cell is made up of people all older than me. which effectively makes me the youngest there. but i’m pretty alright with it. cell group is not all about age you know. and besides, whenever jokes are made about being old, i won’t be targetted! haha.
we discussed quite a number of things and one good point brought up was how during cell we should be able to speak freely without being ‘politically correct’ or ’spiritually correct’ all the time. which is something everyone should think about!
there have been times when you talk to someone and because you don’t know the person all too well or the person is not the same religion/gender as you, you’re particularly concerned about whether your speech is PC or SC.
but in a cg, we’re all a big big family in God so we should be comfortable enough to share without inhibitions(but within reasonable limits lah)!
for example things that we’ve experienced in life that God has blessed us richly in are definitely share-worthy without having to care if the event was a particularly risque one in the first place or that we don’t have any bible-references from the lesson God gave us. why? cos God’s already involved, He’s all the answers you need combined in one great Being 
i definitely have a good feeling about cell group.
and its all thanks to God.
mindless post.
October 8th, 2006 by lienno particular direction. just gonna blog randomly. RAN DOM LY.
do you know that singaporeans often mispronounce two words?
they are ‘watermelon’(woh-ter-meh-lerm) and ‘melbourne’(mell-berm). its almost as though we have a country full of people who don’t like to open their mouths very much(quite the contrary, actually).
this is daniel vosovic from Project Runway 2(where chloe dao was crowned winner!). isn’t he sooo pretty??? my friends get really annoyed everytime i see pretty boys and force them to look and agree with me. but sometimes also quite demoralising to have a boy prettier than you lah. lol.
this is me posing with the male patients’ toilet urinal. yes i was bored enough. i cropped this picture. it also features my junior chundi(i pronouce her name as chan-dee just for fun but she acherly responds. so obedient hor, chandee? ;)) but the photo already quite blur so no point putting(is there such a word?) her side here too. a male patient sauntered in after this shot and we hurriedly dashed out of the loo.
don’t really fancy my uniform. the material is a heat conductor i tell you. i sweat like crazy when the sun is up. which is disgusting. but not as disgusting as when one toilet got choked with faecal matter and toilet water(and progressively increased in volume with every flush!)
the most fascinating wound i’ve seen to date is a deep forearm laceration. an foreign worker(speaking of foreign…why do we call angmohs working here ‘expatriates’ and not ‘foreign workers’ as well? same same what!) got his arm sliced by a saw so deep i could see the tendons and muscles. i was very excited initially and even more so after i saw the wound. to think that the house officer was reluctant to let me see it. i am not as squeamish as most girls okay!
recently my eyesight has been wonky. no, not the serious kind. its when i don’t pay attention to words and i mistake them for medical terms. like the word ‘prostrate’. i saw it as ‘prostate‘. and i saw the word ‘auxillary‘ as ‘axillar‘. sigh.
some ‘facts’
October 8th, 2006 by lienthis is to be yet another tongue-in-cheek post. so therefore, don’t take everything i say here seriously can? thanks!(why am i thanking you? HAHAHA!)
1) doctors do not take kindly to student nurses unless they(the student) is female and they(the doctors) are two male doctors who need a chaperone for examination of a female patient.
2) connections may backfire on you sometimes, but the other colors it brings out in people can be quite…enlightening.
3) most of the haze can be traced back to the forests of kalimantan.
4) malaysians are not taking MM Lee’s remarks well and even have a panel investigating it despite the fact he already sent a long apology to their PM.
5)the haze as at 11pm 7oct06 has a PSI of 140.
6)MIPO stands for Minimally Invasive Plate Osteosynthesis.
7)scrubbing your hands takes on a new meaning in the OTs.
8 ) cows(esp white ones) are sacred in India
9) i like shah rukh khan better than amir khan because the former ages better.
10) do not attempt to flush toilet bowls choked with faecal matter. the bowl will fill up even more with water+faecal matter.
11) i can assume that some of you tried to picture 10. and felt sick.
12) also, some of you said/thought to yourself : “Assume means making an ass out of u and me!”
13) my chinese is really bad and is worsened by my garbled enunciation thanks to having retainers in my sublingual region.
faith on a vehicle.
October 1st, 2006 by lien
took the above picture en route to sengkang. i know its not exactly the most shocking thing ever, but don’t you think its pretty ? 
:)
September 21st, 2006 by lienafter a 4 week ‘break’ from sunday school duties, it was great to be back there again
one of the boys apparently missed me alot. when it was time for the kids to go for their toilet breaks and my colleague asked them to ‘hold hands’(as per normal kiddy practice), he asked quietly
“can i hold your hand?”
i don’t know why some people don’t like kids.
cos the very boy i just mentioned is usually a very mischievious boy who after the toilet break started laughing at the other kids’ colorings -_-”
be!dazzled review
September 17th, 2006 by lienwhat : be!dazzled a cappella concert
who : various a cappella artistes
when : 16/9/06 , 7.30pm
where : victoria concert hall
************************************
okay, admittedly, i went for only one reason the main reason why i went : to see Juz-B live.
and of course to support local artistes lah. 8 days said that there most probably won’t be another SI due to lack of talent. there ISN’T a lack of talent. its just that these people can’t be bothered with commercial fame!
first half of the concert was like NUS+Amateurs. it was okay.
however i was impressed by temasek sec’s group. even though they were only 13-15 years old, they were very good. the lead singer spoke like a girl(can’t be helped anyway) but his voice was not bad.
the 2nd half was fantastic. it was like they were saving the best for last.
it kicked off with this guy who beat-boxed. since i hardly hear beat-boxing i was impressed. on the website the fella was supposed to be Ryan Chan but i think the fella onstage was malay cos after that this malay rap group came on and called him ‘Zul’. i think. but regardless of moniker or race, he was excellent. the rap group did give me a shock when they started rapping to a tune from Les Choristes.hmm.
after that came singapore’s only female acappella band called Nanu. they had a token guy there for beats. their banter with the audience was rather ’PG’ and one of them was especially funny, joking about the ’smoke’ that the crew kept going on.
verve enharmonics and key elements revved the crowd up into loud cheers and clapping that sustained thru out their songs. what to do, they were the best.
juz-b was last. wah…i waited so long leh. haha. their beat-boxer guy, in their own words, was “somewhere in the sea lah, south china sea” doing coast guard duty so they had one fella from Mi Lu Bing(at the very sight of him, some girls kept screaming his name WeiQi(thanks to davina from verve enharmonics. i don’t know why i remembered his name as shao wei.really -_-”). he looked suitably embarassed. lol) to replace him. yes i’m very biased i think that other than verve+key, juz-b brought the house down and even prompted a male member of the audience to proclaim his love for them really loudly.
it ended at 10pm ++, after an encore of ‘qing fei de yi’.
i give it a 8.5/10
(minus 1.5 for certain members of the audience who 1) clapped randomly to make the song clap-along sound stupid 2) sing along to the song ‘my immortal’ like they were part of the group 3) screaming like crazy and standing up, effectively blocking the people behind them…)
not caring.
September 14th, 2006 by lien[note : the theme of this post is 'Not Caring'. i just used the blogger as an example, okays? and if you is sensitive and cries easily, don't read this post lah. unless you give me your address and i can send a packet of tissues to you as a token of appreciation]
a friend alerted me to a certain famous blogger’s latest post. apparently that blogger was disgruntled at the lack of intellectual readers to her blog. so out of sheer boredom and mild curiousity, i went to go see what the fuss was about.
i was surprised man. for once she really made a point. she brought up the issue of steve irwin’s death and how people starting putting up tortises in their msn nicks and encouraging others to do the same.
frankly, to me, it IS sad that he died cos he left behind two young kids. but think about it. it happens to others everyday. its just that the world pays more attention to him because he was a larger-than-life celebrity whose pet cause was animal conservationism.
for example,if a “Mr Tan Ah Soo”, an ordinary and conscientious JC tutor with 3 young kids were to die of a heart attack while teaching, would his students even care to put up perhaps ‘nerd’ icons on their msn lists and ask everybody else to do so because he was a great teacher?
i’m NOT insinuating that those who bothered to put up the tortoise emoticons were being fake. maybe you really care about irwin’s death, i may not know that.
but if you try to force your ideals on someone who doesn’t care…well… it may end up making them irritated instead of interested.
caring firstly takes a whole lot of interest to begin with. and then some. and what if you get the person interested in your ideals but it turns out screwy and he/she starts to care about crushing your ideals instead because he/she realises that he/she hates it?
not caring can sometimes make you feel better. not caring about things that aren’t of great importance, to be specific. its just like how i’ve been not-caring about the above mentioned blogger’s blog posts until the one i just mentioned. cos when her blog posts are made of fluff and such or lies, why should i care and make myself get angry?
if you don’t care about negative stuff and encourage others not to care about negative stuff too, soon everybody would ‘not care’ about the negative proponents.
and since there wouldn’t be any fuss about whatever silly things that they are trying to promote, sooner or later they would stop. now, ain’t this a great suggestion to care about?
[ here's something you might wanna care about : how good your hearing is!]
serm0n p0ints
September 10th, 2006 by lien[note : these aren't very good notes. not that the content of the sermon was bad(it was fantastic, but the fact that i may not have copied down all the important points. sorry hor. and erm, i don't have the title of the sermon. my reflections and corrections are in italics.]
Speaker : Sy Rogers (he speaks pretty fast but his words rang thru and thru. for more info on his background click here. he is a pastor who specialize in helping people with sexuality problems)
*there are 3 Appetites a person has
1)Food (for the body)
2)Truth (for the mind)
3) Love (for the soul)
*Counterfeits to those appetites include(there were 3, but i missed out the first one)
- philosophies that promote ideals that do not lead us/reconcile to God
- sex is the 'substitute bread' for non-sexual love
Proverbs 27:27
*What is Love? (ways to build healthy relationships)
1)Acceptance
- when you accept a person for where they are and what they are
- Romans 15:7
- one of the greatest psychological wounds a person can get is rejection
2)Accountability(being answerable to the 'Boss')
- Mathew24+25, Luke 21:34 & 12:35, 1st Cor 3:13-14, 2nd Cor 5:10, Hebrews 5:13 & 10:31 &13:17, James 2:12 + 2:1-2 + 4:11 + 5:8-9
- Lack of love = not caring
- about Christ's 2nd return
- we must be sober, vigilant and focused
- any situation that we mishandle always brings about casualties
- do not break(or even try to) break boundaries
3) Affirmation
- insecure people often doubt their own value
- therefore they resent it when 'God gives othes but not myself'
- the grass may be greener on the other side, but how people got their green grass may have been a long and arduous journey. anyway, green grass never stays that way forever.
- grieve with those who grieve for it shows that they matter enough to you for you to share their grievances.
- you feel affirmed when your pain matters to someone who values you
*You matter to God
John 13
*Value each other as God values you
John 15
Ephesians 5
1 Peter 4
*Love covers a multitude of sins
basically his sermon spoke to me in the sense that i realised God's love is so fantastic because He loves me despite what i've done. His love is inclusive and it never fails. even when you do silly things that lead you along the path of self destruction, He always reminds you that you can always do a U-turn by repenting and trusting Him.
you don't have to be perfect for God to love you you are already perfect in His eyes.
Animal Abusers SUCK!
September 8th, 2006 by lien[note : some parts of the blog entry are meant to be JOKES. if you can't tell the difference, go back to school and ask your teacher to help you]
recently animal abuse cases have been highlighted in the media. and one silly cat-abuser is still on the run, killing innocent kitties by slitting their throats! he/she needs to slitted too! i suggest maybe doing it on the face. we can slit his face in writing like "I KILLED CATS". if no space, just write "KILLER".
i don't understand what is wrong with abusers. what goes on in their minds? what about abusing is so fun? is it the fact that the poor animal is unable to retaliate?
the abusive acts range from the senseless (throwing rocks at animal) to the violent (beating up the animal) and to the murderous (killing the animal).
This is Lilo. according to her bio stats from ASD, she was rescued from a man who was trying to hit her with a stick.
look at her small size. her cute face. the oh-so-melting-eyes. would you want to HIT her? or even think mean thoughts about her?
when i saw her picture, i thought that perhaps she was abandoned as a small puppy or something. i wouldn't know for sure, but the very fact that some silly man was attempting to hit her with a stick pissed me off instantly.
dogs are naturally loyal , caring and playful. it takes quite alot for a dog to get pissed off and when a dog is aggressive, chances are it has been abused in the past thereby ruining its trust in mankind.
maybe we should also hit the man with a stick to let him have a taste of the medicine he doled out. tie him up for good measure too. and ignore his cries for help!!! just like how he probably ignored Lilo's whining! 
he'd feel so good after that. nothing better than eating what you served.
other good punishments for animal abusers should include tying them up and leaving them alone for a few weeks, hitting them, pelting them with objects, poking them and laughing when they squirm, pouring hot water on them, breaking random bones in their body…
the list could go on for ages.(and for the uninformed, the above mentioned 'punishments' are just some of the abusive acts that have been done to animals)
we as humans are so obviously more powerful than animals. bullying the weak is a clear sign of insecurity. there is so much that abusers can do, but choose not to do it and inflict pain to vent frustrations.
if you find yourself harbouring negative thoughts, especially crazy thoughts like wanting to harm something, go get some help. before somebody else has to pay the price for your neglect.
Pictures courtesy of Cat Welfare Society and Action for Singapore Dogs
almost pointless post
September 6th, 2006 by lieni admit it. i love korean movies. i love them ALOT. i've watched a total of 19 movies and almost all of them(if not all) were the typical sappy kind. heh. they specialize in it what!!!
some of the movies that i've watched include
Running Wild
Daisy
My Sassy Girl
My Boyfriend Is Type B
Temptation of Wolves
[shall continue this another day]
belated celebratory post
September 26th, 2006 by lienyep, that's your new singapore idol. Hady Mirza, 26 years old. i knew he was gonna win, but not by a whopping 40% =D . my maid was disappointed. she voted 5 times for jonathan leong(whom by the way grated on my nerves by acting like he already won).
he's versatile and his voice is good. of course its no secret that i was rooting for him ever since jay 'uncle' lim got voted out(wasn't thinking that jay was gonna win anyway. he just didnt have the stage presence and ooomph despite having a great voice).
oh, and did i mention that my 2 sisters were rooting for jonathan too? HAH! screw racist crap or biased viewpoints. i support whoever had the most talent and jonathan's monotonous voice swung me over to supporting hady(only voted once for him and that was enough).
was quite surprised that an estimated 9000 people showed up. didn't think SI2 would be able to pull in such a sizeable crowd(minus the fans and family).
oh, forget about the whole idea of SI. i don't think there's gonna be another season and frankly i'm not disappointed at all, what with the recent onslaught of talent comps.
speaking of talent comps, here's a blurry picture of juz-b performing at the acappella concert i blogged about awhile back.
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