commitment and priority is not a spoken promise



it all lies in the action and how you give your time for that commitment and priority..





this is what i'd like to share with everyone after reading Matthew 19:16-30

i realised this is something very real in ministries...

we obey God like what the rich young man did.... but when asked of practical actions/commitments from God... we think twice of our own gain or our own interest before we give that commitment or priority..



often... we commit to the Lord... speaking of our undivided devotion to Him...

then when circumstances come...we think FIRST about our own activities... we think FIRST how we want to spend time with our friends or our loved ones... or even, as wayne shared with my group over youth last sunday... we think FIRST of the things we want to do... we don't want to waste our time.. so we find OTHER things to do... rather than what we SHOULD do...



there's nothing wrong with fellowshipping with friends and spending time with out loved ones...

but there's definitely a couple of scenarios where we struggle between what we want to do and what we can actually offer up to God...

i'm sure its quite familiar when u hear the holy spirit prompting u to do something.. but yet we ignored or we procrastinate it to a later time...

well it boils down to priorities and commitment to God...

i'm sure our God is an understanding God.... he will definitely set aside time for us to have fun and enjoy ourselves... but He will definitely be delighted when certain things we do it for Him and we really put into action this commitment we have made to Him...

imagine you have a child and he's got so many things in school... having fun playing soccer in his CCA.. or studying... but yet he fork out time to help you do housework because he has promised that he will help you out...

i'm sure it will put a smile on your face...

i'm sure God, our father, will have a similar smile on His face too...



serious... it's not just a spoken commitment in a ministry...

no matter we are serving as a role in ushers, projectionists, musicians.... or even serving as a church or youth leader... or ANY kind of ministry...

how much we are willing to give up our time, our own personal pleasure, our time with people...

for the things that really matters...

as uncle Tony has reminded.... kingdom business...



in real business.... you can't say "I'll want to make money.. i want to know more clients..." and yet you say this.... and then you rather use the time to meet clients to chill out with friends... or you sit back and do nothing....

there's action to be taken



this is the same for ministries... for example... we say that we want to see youth fusion grow... we can say we want to see unity... we speak of how we want to go out to proclaim Jesus and evangelise....

we can say all these with perfect zeal and passion...

but it is really just lip service if no action, no commitment, no priority is given...





whether we are ready to give up our time for Christ... as Jesus said in Mark 8:34 "Then he called the crowd to him along with his disciples and said: "If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. " "



notice that it's not written "If anyone would come after me, he must only take up his cross and follow me" nor is it written "If anyone would come after me, he must only deny himself and proclaim he believes in me"

nope... Jesus put it across as deny himself... which is something which can be a spoken proclaimation or a spoken commitment...

and he also said "to take up his cross and follow me"... which is something that needs action...



in Mark8:36 to the end of the passage.. it clearly speaks of why there's a need for such a commitment...and why the priority in kingdom business...

simply because the things in this world can never be compared to what the things God can offer...





for me personally, i m taking some time to evaluate myself before the new year arrives on my individual ministries as well as personal commitments, promises i have made to God in the past year.

Why not you, whoever is reading this, take some time to think and ponder about this issue too?

I'm sure it will be a wonderful time of seeking and re-commitment of new things, or even past promises to our Heavenly Father. =)

it was pouring when i left temasek towers at 6pm just now...

i made a quick dash to tanjong pagar mrt station and crossed the underground tunnel to the other side of the road to take 700 back home..

on the bus as i stared out of the watery blur window... i remembered when i was young... my mum let me and leong go out and play in the rain a couple of times...

we would run around the block... or play at the playground.. of cos for a while only... not like a few hours..

i would stand in the rain (yea..pretty heavy one) and open my mouth to catch the water...then spit it all out.. haha

i would tilt my head up and try to keep my eyes open as the rain fall from the sky

when we reach home...my mum would tell both of us not to tell my dad that she let us play in the rain..



my old house/estate really brought me lots of great memories..

i remembered when i was young.. we had swimming lessons... mum would let us go out to swim after it had rained cos the water is warmer... serious.. but i still cant really apprehend why after it rains the water is warmer.. haha..

we would have survival "trap water" lessons where everyone would jump into the water fully clothed in our pajamas and with our pants tie two knots at the end and make a float with it...



ya.. i've also tasted water from fire hydrant before...

i remembered once when the fire hydrant was leaking a little..

then i put my mouth there and let it drip into my mouth...

it taste horrible! i think there's some kind of chemical or if not.. it's just some sewage water bah..

haha... lesson learnt.. but it was still fun..

anyway i also learnt that most fire hydrants wont start bursting out with water when u "uncap" both the sides like what happens in cartoons.. u know what i mean rite? haha... it's the panel on the floor beside it... where you have to remove the cover and use some rod to reach beneath to turn on the water...



i've also used a nail cutter with this small "knife" to try to cut off some jackfruits from a tree in my estate...

i couldnt wash off the sticky liquid or whatever u call that, which oozed onto my hand... hahah



ya.. of cos.. the mango tree which my mum planted bear fruits every year and the security guards and cleaners will creep around to use bamboo poles to poke them down...

and the late nites... really late nites... mignights where i would go jogging around my estate when i was in secondary school...

and catching a 1998 world cup midnight match's 2nd half with a security guard in his guard house when i went out to get some midnight snacks during half time...



such nice memories... :)

really thank God!

sharing what i've done for my attachment company so far:



asia.cnet.com



- the top search bar. The drop down list selection will automatically change to the respective pages when you click the different channels. (eg. you click "I.T. manager", and the search drop down list for that page will show "I.T. manager". same search box but dynamic drop down list) It's my first shot at php scripting... nearly killed my brain as i attempt this new language



asia.cnet.com/services/bm/



- Bandwidth meter. Grabbed the java coding from cnet US site. cut and paste, cut and paste.. haha... again more php scripting as well as editting html tags. this took me 2 days.



currently helping the revamp of http://www.gamespotasia.com

copying templates and editting html.. the current site really sucks... haha

well... almost the whole of the tech side ppl are at it to come up with a new look and organised structure



tiring... but well...

it's the experience that matters...

i guess it's sort of a warm up for my FYP...



the weekend's here... great... time to loosen up those wrists... ha :)

knock knock



hear God's knocking



time to wake up

You’re so real



My god You’re so real

So real to me

My god You’re so real

I’ve got to believe



Cos You’re always near

And You speak with tender love

Whisper in my ears

That You love me dear



And I know that You care

You guide me with Your hands

Cradled in your arms

I know You are there

You’re so real God

You’re so real God

i'm back from my first day at work



not that bad... but not that slack...

my 2 reporting officers are on holiday -_-"

so one of the staff took charge...



only me and this other guy from my course there..

i know this guy by name... shaun...maybe only hi-bye...

then he kept talking and talking like i m the only human being around...

keep saying he very nervous... blah blah blah



ok.. back to the guy who give us our duties...

we started off with html... without dreamweaver nor any html software...

we used notepad!

it took me some search on the net to refresh my memory...

soon it was quite a breeze for me...

especially it's just drawing tables and doing alignment and stuff...



then shaun didn't know how to...

or his mind is just shut off

he kept asking me how to how to...

then i was going like tee-dee and tee-ar telling him that tr is for drawing rows and tr is for the column and stuff...



can u believe it?

he spent the whoooole day... from 10am till 6pm... drawing tables only... O_O!!

and he began to irritate me when he was going "eh zhongfa... i ask u ar..." for the 1000000000th time...

i finished my part shortly after lunch break and the guy gave me some books on PHP... to learn...

he set up a temp admin account for me to try out the PHP coding...



i was like -_-

i know nuts about PHP.... though PHP's style is somewhat similar to ASP.net... and when i read thru.. i do understand what PHP is about... but it's just... a different kind of language... different kind of syntax...

but well.. try out abit here and there... not tat bad lah... :)

at least it's not some java programming...



tmr's work is not tat siong... we're supposed to do review on asia.cnet.com.. come up with some evaluation i supposed...that would take up half a day...hahaha... :) great!



well...so much for day 1 =)

have been visiting singapore drummers circle almost everyday

same goes for musicians forum



limb biskit will be down in singapore on 3rd Dec...

john otto is prob the only talented musician in that stupid band...

he's jazz trained.. lol :)

but well... limb biskit's music don't thrill me one bit.. ha ;)



steve smith's drum clinic 30th Nov this month

music plaza's staff (note: i din say music plaza) is bringing him in...

i think zildjian should be helping to rope him into singapore i guess

if not i can't think how a couple of singaporeans can manage to invite a world class drummer in...



ok.. time to go for music prac...

i'll be helping out logistic today.. heh heh

taking a 2 week break...

the trivialization of God



are u subconciously, unknowingly part of it?

i'll renew my covenant with you

here's my heart and soul and mind for you



It is you that i treasure

It is you i long to see

It is you Lord i surrender

this life i have in me



there's no other joy i will seek

that can replace you in my heart

there's no other one i will bow

cos i know you are the only

you are the only one

come on fellas...

place yr bets...ermm.. i think we're not supposed to bet.. haha



well.. i can tell u... give it 2 more months?

friendster will be in the dumpster..

soon

it has been like this for counter strike(this took a couple of years), warcraft, starcraft, whatever craft....neopets (if u guys still remember)

gunbound will be next to go down...



so.. stop wasting yr time in front of that comp reading testimonials that are limited within the circles of cyber world...

it's so unreal in comparison with the real thing...



go on out and catch some fresh air!

inhale the wonders of our God!

david benoit... jazz pianist..

i was caught by his piece "Watermelon Man"...

it's really nice!

i finally manage to get a decent hook of drum tuning last sat...

the way to do it proper and get the right sound..

last week's tuning was one of my most satisfied.. :)

prob with more practices, would be able to tune em even faster...

still craving for a 10" tom to go with the current setup... a smaller and higher pitched tom! :) hehe...



yeah.. but of cos the shell's tuning range isn't fantastic at all...yet not exactly terok..

mahogany and basswood..

no wonder they call tama rockstar(yea... the brand & model of WAC's drumset in case u guys dunno) mid-entry/semi-pro kits



now i know why settle for maple or birch - nothing else

i discovered that classical and jazz has a calming effect on me when i study or do assignments

i think i m beginning to like other kind of music other than "straight-rock-straight-pop"...

listening too much of a certain kind of music nv does any good to any musician, i was told