Divine Courage

Craig Groeschel is becoming one of my favourite preachers. He's sharp, current and innovative. Here, he talks about his book, "It," and what it takes to build a successful ministry. Interestingly, its the courage to fail. Check out this video for some awesome, liberating teaching- "Try, fail, learn, adjust!" Craig's little son is soooo adorable in the video too. :)

Daley Hake Tours with Chris Tomlin

Daley Hake is probably one of the best photographers around. Here he captures moments from Chris Tomlin's "Hello Love" tour.

Daniel Carson on electric guit and Jesse Reeves on bass

Daniel Carson with Matt Gilder on keys in the background. I love how much texture Daley Hake has in his photos.

Keeping The Faith

"God's love is meteoric,
his loyalty astronomic,
His purpose titanic,
his verdicts oceanic.
Yet in his largeness nothing gets lost;
Not a man, not a mouse, slips through the cracks.

How exquisite your love, O God!
How eager we are to run under your wings...
You're a fountain of cascading light, and you open our eyes to light."
- Psalm 36:5-9 (The Message)

More Of that Swell Dude....

On msn last nite:
================
Mich: I met someone who named her guitar "Joel Houston"! We had such huge laughs. (Ahem! not revealing names here, but the aforementioned person knows who she is. :p)
Glenn: Is the guitar hairy?
Mich: *feeling a mixture of rage and disbelief* I want to hit you!
Glenn: You can't reach me. Hur hur!
Mich: *drats*

"Break Free" (Acoustic Arrangement)

Oh man, this video cracked me up big time! Anyone serving in the worship & music min should watch this! Look out for the fabulous big ending! haha! Gotta give them props for their creativity.

p/s: I suspect the original songwriters (Joel Houston, Matt Crocker & Scott Ligertwood) would totally love this crazy new version.

Songs For You, Truths For Me

"You Make It Real" by James Morrison

Remember "Say it with music" on 98.7FM? We used to call in and dedicate songs to our frens. :) Well, I wanna dedicate this song to my lovely fwens. I went to bed last nite and woke up this morning with a flood of msges from you guys. Thank you for your love. :)

"There’s so much craziness surrounding me
There’s so much going on it gets hard to breathe
All my faith has gone you bring it back to me
You make it real for me
Well I’m not sure of my priorities
I’ve lost sight of where I’m meant to be
And like holy water washing over me
You make it real for me..."- 'You Make It Real' by James Morrison

Creating The Right Vibe

Check out HighLife's (RiverLife's varsity/poly/NS ministry) new cell night poster. Happening right? All thanks to Amy, our HighLife pastoral staff. Great job gal! :)

For the past 2 weeks, HighLifers got free coffee from the church in these cups as part of the HighLife cell night publicity blitz! Cool right the cup? I also want to be HighLifer! haha! In fact, I so wanna-be, I even have the cup on my office table. Thanks Amy! Hope the first cell night of 2009 goes well this Sat! :)

He Makes Me Laugh

Gotta love this shot....we shld all grab a fren and take a photo like this. HAHA!

I'm.in.love. *sigh*
This was taken in Kuala Lumpur. Joel doesn't know how to spell KL properly- he wrote it as "Kuala Lumpa" haha!

I read this on J.T.H's MySpace profile:
===================================
Movies: Yes
Television: Television steals your life...and mine
Books: I like Macbooks

Hurhur! He so funny lah! :)

Just Breathe....

I had one of the worst days of all time today.
It started with a phonecall that made my heart drop,
then my mum started one of her verbally abusive rants.
I escaped to the office for some quiet (ironic eh?),
And tried to stay afloat and not cry at my desk.
Just when I thought I had pulled through,
the day seemed determined to turn into a full-fledged nightmare
with a distasteful meeting on the bus on my way home.

So there I was feeling absolutely low and grossed out,
But thank God for all my precious fwens who showed their concern, and tried to cheer me up.
Please pray with me that tmrw will be ok.

The Sunshine Of My Life

This is my Dawnie....in whom I am well-pleased.

haha! It seems like Dawnie (keyboarder/synthesizer/singer-songwriter extraordinaire/1st class gf) is getting quite famous cos I mention her quite frequently on blogland. And people in church are like, "Oh! Is this THE Dawn??" haha! So today we were joking that she should just write a column on my blog! Wouldn't that be the cool folks??? Watch this space. :p

"He's Just Not That Into You"

Last nite, Dawnie & I headed to Cathay, Downtown East for a little movie outing. We caught "He's just not that into you" with its stellar ensemble cast of Jennifer Aniston, Ben Affleck, Drew Barrymore, Jennifer Conelly, Justin Long, Scarlett Johnansson and Bradley Cooper (he was Will, in Alias). I must say the casting was fabulous. I've never seen an audience so involved in a film, identify so much with, and root so hard for the characters. You could hear the whole cinema collectively go "awwww" or "Nooooo, don't do it!!!" or "what a jerk!" etc.

In fact, at the end of the film, Dawnie went, "that was the best film EVER!" And I laughed and asked, "of all time???" And I think she said yes! Ok, I'm not sure I would agree with that, but I certainly think it's probably going to be one of the best films of the year, and this one is going down as a romantic-comedy classic. :)

Yes, I know the guys will dismiss it as a chick flick, but seriously...it's a great film for anyone who has ever dated/is dating. It's even rather educational with the writers' insighful and sharp observations of why men/women behave the way they do. (I certainly went home with less fuzzy illusions of the other sex.) It's a movie that will make you laugh, cry, melt, recall some dull ache, reflect and ultimately, hope....that one day, you will be "the exception to the rule." :) Watch the movie to understand what that means!

25 Things I Hate About Facebook

What a funny parody of the "25 random facts" note that everybody's been posting on Facebook! But like it or hate it, Facebook is here to stay, and it's revolutionized the way we communicate. (By the way, I really hate facebook chat. The pop sound that the alert makes drives me mad. haha!)

Cow Sense

Qn: Why did the cow cross the road?
Ans: To get to the udder side. :)
[Joke Credit: Sam Yuan.]

This goes out to my dear fwens whom I spent V'day with, eating the fantabulous ice-cream at "Udders," beside United Square. :) I dunno when we'll actually get to take part in the ice-cream making class there...but I'm looking forward to it.

Listening To The //Remix

"Let me tell you why you are here.
You're here to be light, bringing out the God-colors in the world.
God is not a secret to be kept.
We're going public with this, as public as a city on a hill.
Now that I've put you there on a hilltop,
on a light stand
—Shine!"
- Matthew 5:14-16 (The Message)

This is why I love The Message version of the bible.
At every turn of the page, I get blown away by the fresh, bold and edgy interpretations.
It reads with a certain rhythm that feels like urban poetry.
Reading the bible has never rocked this much for me!
I urge you to listen to the remix too. :)

"Sing, Sing, Sing!"

This happened quite unexpectedly during the combined band and choir rehearsal last nite. I thought it was so funny as nobody saw it coming.

*Seng conducting the choir for "All Because of Jesus" by Fee. One of the lines has a tricky ending and the choir is sounding a bit messy there.*
Seng: It's alright, I cue you all in there ok??
*shows some hand gestures and ends with a kindly smile*
Choir: *nods appreciatively with wide smiles*
Seng: You all wait long long ah! Go home and practise! *laughs with great satisfaction*

HAHAHA! Seng shows his true colours there.
Isn't it amazing how Singlish has that remarkable ability to melt walls and make that immediate connection between people?

//Pause//

I'm right smack in the middle of crunch-time with my writing assignments. But a girl needs to humour herself with life's frivalous joys to keep herself sane and happy. So, indulge me....:)

1) Dawnie can read my mind. She can read the reviews in the newspapers and predict which movies I'll wanna watch. Way to go gf! haha! (The movie in question is "He's just not that into you". Yes, the chick flick. But have you seen the stellar ensemble cast??)

2) Guitar Ben is going for the Coldplay concert, and paying $250 for top-tier tix. I'm insanely jealous. And have I mentioned that his band is sponsored by Gibson guitars?

3) Life has a way of throwing unexpected/unwanted curveballs at you (ok wait, make it cannonballs), BUT I'm learning to treasure each day as a gift from God. Thank you Berno for the reminder! :)

4) John Mayer won the Grammy for "Best Male Pop Performance" for his song, "Say"!! But that meant poor Jason Mraz lost out in the same category for his breezy number, "I'm yours". Awww poor Jason. But look at what John had to say of Jason in his blog!!

"I think Jason Mraz wrote, recorded and SANG one of the best songs of 2008, and I hope this makes it back to him..."


What a sweetie right?? John's such a great guy! When is he ever going to make it to S'pore???

Anyway, then this ridiculous conversation with Abi ensued:
=======================================================
Abi: John or Jason?
Mich: How many times are we going to go through this?? It's Joel of course!
Abi: You can't choose Joel. He's not one of the options.
Mich: Abi...Joel is NEVER out of the picture. You know this means I'll end up cheating on John! (I would choose John over Jason)
Abi: You cheater!!
Mich: Well, it's YOUR fault. You forced me to choose John when Joel is my true love.
[Joel/John/Jason/Jeremy (Camp)....why do all of their names start with J??]

5) I have decided. I have resolved. To make everyone HEART THE WORLD with my writing.
haha! I'm just short of singing, "heart the world, make it a better place, for you and for me and the entire human race!" I'm not in some hippie/trippy mood...there is a story behind this- something about Dawnie not caring about the plight of the drowning polar bears, and burnt koalas in Melbourne. And me being me, is appalled with her and wants to make her heart the world. But that's a story for another day. haha!

FAIL!

I want this new Threadless t-shirt! It's titled "Fail" for obvious reasons. Super hilarious!

The Next Generation

A blog post by Craig Groeschel that I felt was both thought-provoking and encouraging, especially for those who are serving in youth/ young adult ministries. By the time he made his final point, I was getting the chills. :)

==================================================================
"The Next Generation" by Craig Groeschel

A lot of people believe the next generation will very difficult to reach with the Gospel. I disagree. From my perspective, the coming generation is positioned to be reached and shaped for Kingdom greatness. Let’s build a foundation for our discussion on reaching the next generation.

Here are a few of my observations of the coming generation:

• Their world is smaller and their perspective is broader. Because of technology, most have been raised with a global mindset. My best friend lived across the street. Their best friend might live across the ocean.

• They have a wider definition of “friends”. To me a friend was someone you spent time with and confided in. Today a friend can be someone you may not have ever met before they clicked on your Facebook page and asked to be your friend.

• They’re more experiential. Most in my generation were into accumulating possessions. Many of the younger generation are into accumulating experiences. I read about other countries in school. Many in this generation have visited the countries I read about.

• Most have been under-challenged. Many in this generation have been given much yet they’ve been challenged little. They have more potential than most realize.

• Their world is gray. I was raised believing in absolute truth. Many in the up- coming generation believe truth is relative. “What is true for me may not be true for you.”

• They’re searching for a cause. This generation is looking for something (anything) worthwhile to live for. When they find a cause, they’ll go to extreme measures to make a difference.

When you put all these differences together, I see a generation ready to know Christ and the power of His resurrection.

Why I Love My Fwens

1) They deliberately do stupid things like cutting into my path to annoy me. (ERICAAAA!!!)

2) They help themselves to my food without asking. Heck! They would even offer it to others!

3) It is an unspoken understanding that their music is mine and vice versa! :) Yay!

4) I can sms a random, meaningless "Lalala" sms to them, and receive an equally frivalous reply.

5) I can ask them for money without feeling embarrassed! hahaa! (Abi: I did it to Erica!)
"I don't have money. *mournful pause*
Do YOU have money?? *hopeful look*"

"The Story"

"So you write the title

I'll write the chapters
We could read a story of love gone disaster
You write the moral
And I'll write the lesson
We could read a love that kept us guessin' "
- Tristan Prettyman, 'The Story'

Kidult?

I'm starting to realize that quite a few of my closest fwens are younger than me, or those who are older, are very playful and young at heart.

The truth is....I like hanging out/ serving in church with youths. Ok, initially I thought I was just socially retarded or something...but Dawnie protesteth, and said that I'm just going through a different season than my peers who are coupling or starting families. Grown-up topics can bore me quite a bit to be honest (e.g. investments, house hunting/ renovations, wedding preps etc.) But hanging out with the younger ones, brings out the crazy, fun-loving part of me which is just dying to come out from my introverted core. And yes, people who don't know me well enough don't realize that I'm actually quite drama and ridiculously random. So maybe I'm a kidult (as opposed to adult)? haha!

Ok but in all seriousness, I think I would love to mentor some youths in the worship min, God willing of course. I see so much beauty and potential in them. [And yes Sam, I always feel so proud of you when you're up there worship leading, or even in the congre worshipping with your arms raised high in abandon. :)] I would love to help draw that out even more, and to just journey along with them. It's so important we build into the next generation. After all, I only got this far with the help of some amazing mentors like Jenny Ho and Michelle Poh. They were people who believed in me, even willing to sponsor voice lessons for me, and guided me when I was a blur youth who didn't know what to do with her giftings.

Let's see how God leads in this area. :)
Sam Yuan said something really sweet when I was talking to him about me being a kidult: "Stay the way you are ok? :)" haha! Yay!

The Five Love Languages

Of late, talk about Gary Chapman's "Five Love Languages" has been surfacing during our church staff devotions. It's a great tool in helping one understand how other people are wired, how they express their care and how they like to be appreciated. I took this quiz a long time ago, but recently, I think my results have changed so I decided to take it again. You can scroll down to see my results.

Just an hour or so ago, Dawnie and I spent some time talking about "The Five Love Languages", along with other personality profiling systems, over a leisurely supper. That was right up our alley, cos "quality time" is the primary love language for both of us. haha! Gifts rank lowest with her though. So now I GET IT why I get this very blah, unexcited response from her when I present her with a gift! hahaha!

Anyway, feel free to drop a comment on what your love language is...so I know ya a little better! :)

====================================================================
The Five Love Languages

My primary love language is probably
Quality Time
with a secondary love language being
Physical Touch

Complete set of results

Quality Time: 10
Physical Touch: 8
Words of Affirmation: 6
Receiving Gifts: 4
Acts of Service: 2


Information
Unhappiness in relationships, according to Dr. Gary Chapman, is often due to the fact that we speak different love languages. Sometimes we don't understand our partner's requirements, or even our own. We all have a "love tank" that needs to be filled in order for us to express love to others, but there are different means by which our tank can be filled, and there are different ways that we can express love to others.

Take the quiz

John Mayer & Elmo

I screamed when I saw this on Abi's blog! (yes, I'm a major groupie) Watch this and see if it doesn't make you smile. Hehe!

Random Asides:
=====================
1) It's 3 more weeks before we breathe the same air as Jason Mraz! Woohoo! [He who is missing the concert has to watch the dvd.]

2) I found out that the table-tennis table in RiverLife was autographed by Coldplay! I'm serious! (what a funny piece of trivia rite?)

3) I'm currently accepting contributions for my "Viva La Vida Fund: Send Mich to the Coldplay Concert." Any amount that God impresses upon your heart would be greatly appreciated.

4) I have no time or energy to blog at length, so make do with these bite-size posts ok?

Write Love On Her Arms

I love my fwens....I really do.
Thanks for letting me bare my heart to you,
Thanks for standing by me and praying for me...
I know you are because there's a supernatural amount of peace
that's guarding my heart and mind.

God seems to be showing how much He cares through you,
and even through people I don't know so well.
I was stunned when I received a surprise blessing from someone I just met today.
I can't believe she believes in me after just one meeting.
What a precious God moment that was.

"God made my life complete
when I placed all the pieces before him." Psalm 18:20 (The Message)

Fly Kite @ Seng Kang

I was walking out of the Seng Kang Swimming Complex when I spotted a magical scene in the heartlands- a colourful party of kites fluttering gaily in the sky. Apparently, Seng Kang-ers LOVE to fly their kites....after all, we have lots of wide open spaces. haha! Pity about the cloudy sky...couldn't really capture the kites properly.

Little Steps

What a beautiful moment captured on photo! Photo credit by D'art Photographie, a website I check out frequently along with Daley Hake's.

How

"First felt the undertow a few days ago
Like a rug pulled out from under me
How do you lock eyes with someone who is invisible?
The only thing I know for sure is this peace..."
- 'Top of the World' by Bethany Dillon

Where's Fluffy??

For those of you who've watched "Nick & Norah's Infinite Playlist." :) Dawnie & I are looking for Fluffy!

"My Love Goes Free"

Take this next post with a huge dollop of humour k? I know this may sound morbid...but if I die suddenly, I want YOU, my dear fwens to know that I would like you to have the following items.
Show my mum this blog post if she decides to hold her own garang guni sale.

And so I bequeath unto thee....

1) Abigail- all my scarves, vests/waistcoats, shades, my dvd collection (movies + box sets), my Chris Botti live dvds, any threadless t-shirts she wants (cos we wear the same size), my dvd player + TV (if she wants it), any other books on my bookshelves that have not been bequeathed away.

2) Muffin- my Macbook (poor boy is trying so hard to disguise his PC as a Mac with all the chiong Mac applications/widgets.), my I Heart Revolution poster, my autographed Corrinne May cds + Kavin Hoo cd.

3) Glenn- my entire music collection on the iPod, external hdd, and cds (unless otherwise stated), my Christian Literature collection, my Hillsong dvds, August Rush, Glen Hansard + Marketa Irglova Live in concert dvd (er, which he actually bought for me), my keyboard (so that he can finally learn to play it), and sponsorship of my Compassion kid from Philippines, Dharine. haha! (it's a blessing to give eh?)

- is also to hand over the poem that I write for Joel. haha!

4) Berno- all my bibles and my soft toys (including Mumble and Mr Potato Head), my The Little Mermaid dvd (which triggered my interest in singing as a child), my Crumpler laptop bag, and my diamond cross pendant.

5) Andie- My Jane Austen box set, and prized John Donne poetry anthology, "Poems of love" (my most beautiful hardcover book yet, with exquisite silver etching. Acquired from my fav bookshop in Oxford St, Sydney.)

6) Dawnie- my black acoustic guitar, Lex (in remembrance of our bond through acousticky music), my music stand, my female folk singer music dvds (e.g Sarah McLachlan, Lilith Fair, Jonatha Brooke , Sheryl Crow etc), my Sarah McLachlan score book, my Italian cross pendant with grey pearls and inscription, "Ubi Amor Ibi Fides" ("where there is love, there is faith"), and matching grey pearl earrings. Also my diamond solitaire ring + Sony Ericsson 8mp camera phone (for the trigger happy one).

7) Nigel Old Soul- my condenser mike (in remembrance of all the recordings he has done/we are about to do together)

8) Shirley- my white pearl earrings, and whatever Benefit cosmetics she wants (e.g. Benetint)

9) Cheryl- my Take That cds, my Westone single driver in-ears (just change the foam), my preppy laptop bag, my entire file of music scores (with written harmonies), and all my resources on vocal techniques (books/cds etc.)

10) Jason- Poof the dragon (so she still has the company of Jiggy, her bigger brother, who is in Jason's care), my acid jazz/funk cds (e.g Incognito, Tower of Power, Lee Ritenour) and my John Mayer + Dave Matthews band + Sting music dvds.

11) Steph- my LOTR box set (novels), and the browsing copy with written notes, and my Honours thesis

12) Sam Yuan- my Lea Salonga and musical theatre cds (e.g Les Miserable, Miss Saigon etc).

13) Erica- all my long skirts and earrings

14) Danny- my LOTR dvd box sets

Meetingitis

Its been meetingitis this whole week with meetings packed back to back from 9am-5pm each day.
I think we've only been getting work done when we're at home in the evenings. The meetings have been fruitful and its been really good getting to know different staff members better. But my brains are fried and I'm only mid-way through the week. ha!

I realize that when I'm super tired, listening to easy-listening, feel-good pop music from the 90s like Take That and The Corrs, eases my mind. haha! I have half a mind to dig out my old Boyzone and PJ & Duncan cds. haha! (don't you dare mock me!)

Yeah..so as the talented Gary Barlow once said...."All I do each night is prayyyyy, hoping that I'll be a part of you again someday!!!"

Blah Out Loud

I went to the Serangoon Swimming Complex today and it got increasingly crowded as I did my laps. Must be the post-CNY-i-overstuffed-on-bak kwa-and-pineapple tarts crowd. Mich does not like having to "plan" her route and execute tricky manoeuvres in the pool. You know...in order to "siam" people?

What made it worse were the jokers who insisted on doing backstroke in the MIDDLE of the pool, where the serious swimmers are doing their laps. Some more, cannot swim straight lor! (imagine random flailing arms) *slaps forehead*

Hilarious Fwens Make My Day

Over msn:
==============
Guitar Ben: Hey hey!
Mich: Hey u! I heard about your upcoming slot on "Live and loaded" (Channel 5 tv show which showcases local bands)
Guitar Ben: Yeah man....I'm so nervous about it!
Mich: Why leh? Not your first gig what
Guitar Ben: Afraid of 1) Screwing up. 2) Looking fat on tv
Mich: HAHAHA! Which one you more afraid of?
Guitar Ben: 2)
Mich: I KNEW IT!! You damn girl lah! You have ONE WEEK to lose weight.
Guitar Ben: Yah, I'm going to eat nothing and run 10km everyday.

=====================================================================
Sometimes my dear fwens are so beyond random, that even I (the ultra random one) get taken aback.

Over sms:
===========
Mich: *sings Dawn's song lyrics to Dawn* "I had to throw my faith in something, I could not see (echo: i could not see-eeee)"
Dawnie: Eeeeee Haaaa!!!
Mich: HUH? Why got karate chop one? haha!
Dawnie: It was meant to be random...Cowboy's whoop of joy!

Muffin: *out of the blue* My new media lecturer just said he has problems breathing...so scary lah!
Mich: *confused...thinks Muffin meant to msg his NUS fren* HUH??
Muffin: Yeah, my new media lecturer said he can't breathe properly and feels like fainting. And that he probabaly ate too much bak kwa!
Mich: This is beyond random!