Life as Advent

(Written by Charlie Lowell, taken from "Peace is Here: Christmas Reflections by Jars of Clay")

"For we know that the whole creation has been groaning together in the pains of childbirth until now."-Romans 8:22

Every Christmas I'm reminded of the longing I felt growing up as I would anticipate this special day. And while I recognise that I was more excited about opening gifts than anything else, the longing is still appropriate. The days leading up to Christmas- Advent, or "waiting- are about anticipation, reflection, feeling the weight of the coming of the Christ-child. And though we immerse ourselves in the spiritual practice of waiting, we know that Jesus has already come. It's this tension that we live in; the in-between, the already and the not yet.

This season of Advent is a reminder of the broader groaning and anticipation we experience all life-long, for the restoration of this broken world. The Christian journey is a long-term advent- a patient longing for renewal and destination, for Restoration, when there is finally no curse and our souls are at rest.

However, lest we feel like we are stuck in a waiting room, remember that Emmanuel means God With Us. Christ has come, and we have a present peace and assurance through Him. May the hope of God-becoming-man bring us strength and joy today as we wait amidst the brokennes of this "groaning world." May the peace of Jesus bring light to the darkness that threatens to overwhelm.

The Burden of Hope

(Written by Matt Odmark, taken from "Peace is Here: Christmas Reflections by Jars of Clay")

"But Mary treasured up all these things and pondered them in her heart."-Luke 2:19

Christmas comes each year with its dangerous invitation to hope. Yet for most of this invitation feels more like an inconvenience and a burden. In our busy-ness, we consider the burden of Christmas ourselves, even as Mary herself pondered the meaning of all of these things. I wonder how many of her personal hopes and dreams were on the altar at this moment. Surely this was not the life that she had dreamed for herself, and who could possibly understand the road that she was about to walk? Who would go with her? As she began to consider all that she would lose along the way, the invitation to hope must have felt callous and farfetched.

If you are like me, this is where most of my adult Christmases have been spent, burdened and heavy under the Hope that promises much but asks for everything along the way. Maybe this is your story this year; maybe your losses have been deep and painful. Maybe you stand in the reality of every Christmas from now on being a bitter reminder of those that are no longer with you. You grieve things that have been lost along the way.

If this is you, take courage from Mary, who somehow found a way to move from deep pondering and introspection to singing. Singing! Somewhere along the road the question of her life ceased to be "If you knew me and loved me, God, how could you ask this of me?" Somewhere along the way her hope was unfettered from all those good things that she had hoped her life would be and became anchored to God's hope for her.

"For he has been mindful of the humble state of his servant. From now on all generations will call me blessed."- Luke 2:48

The Art of Compassion

Who are CompassionArt?
"We are a global community, an underground adventure, a map being drawn as we speak that connects wealth with poverty, art with hope, compassion with despair. We are starting with 12 of the best known Christian recording artists, creating an album and a book, with all proceeds and royalties doing to break poverty's hold. But we're not stopping here; CompassionArt is evolving to connet, inspire, and release compassion all over the world."

If there is only one CD you're going to buy this year, it oughta be the CompassionArt cd, which is out in Christian stores everywhere. All proceeds and royalties are going directly to charity...the songwriters and their record companies are not getting a dime. Its a powerful movement that joins the dots between art and compassion....something that a lot of creative types have been struggling with I think.



The CompassionArt Trailer


A live performance of "So Great," one of the songs in the CompassionArt album, by Chris Tomlin, Christy Nockels, Israel Houghton, Paul Baloche, Steven Curtis Chapman and Michael W.Smith. (they ran out of guitars, so poor Chris didn't get to play. he makes a really cute MC though. hehe!)

Singapore Flyer

And now, after my cuzzie's kiddy digi cam shots....we have the professional shots by Jason. haha! He's getting so good at photography. Awesome pics!

[Photo Credit: Jason Widjaja]

Family Time!

L-R: Aeron (too cool for pics), me, Auntie Rena, Auntie Pauline

I spent a lot of time with my aunts n cousins from Sabah last week. They only come about 2-3 times a year so I make sure we hang out more when they're around. :) Last week we had a little field trip....and went on the Singapore Flyer. haha! Yeah, super touristy! Yeah, that pic above shows us on our way up. We were a bit hyped initially...until it hit us how slowly the thing travelled. haha! Here are some pics taken by Sabrina my cuzzie...

It was a cloudy day.

This is Emerald, Sabrina's fren, holding some hotel in her hands.

Em and Sabby

Esplanade and the floating platform

My aunts! :)

Cuzzies: me, Aeron, Sabby, Emerald

Sabby tries to be a hobbit

Yeah, the things I have to put up with from Aeron.

Not real one...its a miniature

Some shiny Christmas tree we saw on our way to dinner

The gals doing their touristy thing

Dinner at Food Republic, Suntec. Its funny how we even GOT to Suntec. 7 of us....loaded into the car, with Emerald on Auntie Pauline's lap. It was quite a feat. Insanely uncomfortable, with us being in super contorted positions. When the car went over a hump, all of us screamed "OUCH" in unision. haha!

Sabby is an alcoholic at 17. I tell you it runs in the family. haha!

Taking pics with my mentos handphone charm. Everyone loves it.

My family celebrating Sabby's bday. :) That's my grandma laughing on the left. :)

Seizing the Gift of Courage

I thought this excerpt from Gary Haugen's exceptional book, "Just Courage," was really quite profound. It's power to stir the human spirit lies beneath how truthful Haugen's insights are. It's a beautiful piece of writing that helps us to rediscover the original shape of our soul. May we all find the courage to be who we're truly meant to be. :)

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"Deep within all of us there is a yearning to be brave. And like all of our deepest, truest and best yearnings, it comes from how we were made. Courage- the power to do the right thing even when it is scary and hard- resonates deeply with the original shape of our soul.

Why this should be so, however, is not outwardly obvious. Indeed, apart from the inexplicable and indelible imprint of our maker, it's not clear why it should matter to us that we should be brave. Why is it so beautiful to see someone do the right thing when it is hard? Why on the other hand should there be such shame about our cowardice? Why should it matter so much to my inner being that I do the right thing rather than the safe thing? It's a mystery, but there it is, pointing relentlessly to the nature and delight of the One who made me.

God offers to change us, to grant us courage and to drive out the gathering of small fears.

Who we truly are and were meant to be is evidenced more by our yearnings than by our history." - Gary Haugen

A Gift For A Music Geek

"Music is an outburst of the soul."-Frederick Delius

I'm pleased as punch about my new bday cum Christmas pressie from Dawnie. She gave me a "music journal"! I know you can't read the words cos its actually inverted...but it says, "MUSIC TO CHECK OUT: A Do-It-Yourself Music Guide." So cool right? It helps you to keep track of new tunes you wanna hear, write your own music reviews, and create different playlists. Plus there's a resource section with a list of websites/stores/radio stations to explore, quotes on music by famous pple like Shakespeare and Leo Tolstoy...and a nifty pocket in the back to store concert tix! This lil notebook has thought of everything. :)

The review pages are my fav section. Apart from the normal info like artist/album/genre...there's also a section for you to write "fav tracks" AND "fav lyrics"!!
Finally, you score your ratings by "guitars" instead of stars (see above). 5 guitars being the top score. haha! Awesome. Thanks Dawnie! :)

I was telling her that it feels like the perfect souvenir from the movie, "Nick & Norah's Infinite Playlist," which I watched yesterday. It was a pretty nice movie....I loved the characters. :) And it somehow made me wanna live in New York. haha! It was quite funny how the people in front of us were laughing SO LOUDLY. Having a crowd that was so into the movie definitely made watching it more enjoyable.

OH! And the last song that was playing during the credits made me and Abi laugh out so loud. The song opens with the chorus, which goes, "you can kill me now, you can kill me now, if it makes your life better." I guess it reminded us of how emo and dramatic we can get. Plus, the lead singer sings it in a very quirky, chirpy manner (very Indie)...which made it all the more hilarious.

Notes from Randomland (Pt 2)

1) I just had Carlsberg beer at a kopi-tiam in Tampines with Dawnie, Arun, Jeremy and Ricky.
I feel like an Ah Peh. haha!

2) Apparently my blog inspires people to buy things. Dawnie and Shirley ended up buying the Benefit Eye make-up kit and the Sarah McLachlan cd that I blogged about. And many people have been asking me about "Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist". I should be paid for this marketing.

3) I.don't.want.to.work.anymore.
I just want to hang out at Timbre @ Old School with Dawnie, Andie and Muffin (and twinkly lights) on Christmas Eve.

4) I just realized Dawnie was mentioned in all the above points. I must heart her a lot. :)

5) If they had a CCM quiz show or a Christian version of "Don't Forget The Lyrics"...it would probably go something like this.

Mich: Who said this and in what context? "It's an upbeat song that you don't have to dance to......erm, unless you jump really high." (25 marks)
Glenn: *immediately* The song is "In the mystery" Correct?
Mich: Yes, that was fast. haha!
Glenn: Eh...it was said by Joel Houston/ Matt Crocker (I think).
Mich: WRONG! Only Joel.
Glenn: Crap. Errr....oooohhhh...hahaha! Dang.
Mich: Minus 10 points.

We are sick people. haha! That quote came from the Hillsong "Saviour King" dvd by the way.

6) I was on the mrt with my cousins, when I started to play "air keyboard" quite unconsciously. I had the Christmas set stuck in my head!!! I didn't realize until I noticed them staring at me with weirded out looks. haha! I freaked them out.

7) I had my FINAL training session cum vocal department meeting with my coaches today. Worship was beautiful (we sang "Till I See You- by Joel!! and "With All I Am")....God spoke really clearly through us and to us, and His presence was remarkably tender and ministering. We had a wonderful time of sharing and learning...and then I wanted to end by praying for them. They surprised me by praying for me after that....and all this while, I pretty much had my emotions under control. But after they prayed, I couldn't help it...I cried. It has been such an honour and joy serving alongside these ladies. :) [Then I whined about smudging my lousy Bodyshop eye-liner. haha! Pls buy M.A.C instead gals!]

So sweet can die!

I read this from Glenn Packiam's blog (he's a Worship Pastor from New Life Church, and is a founding member of Desperation Band) and totally melted. He's actually M'sian but currently resides in Colorado. His kids are half indian, half ang moh. So cute lah!

"The other night, our two girls, Sophia (3) and Norah (2), somehow ended up in our bed right around midnight. It was fun for the first 10 minutes, but then I was ready to go to sleep. But I was too tired too really do anything about it…and Holly wasn’t moving either!

As I lay there half-asleep, wrestling with whether or not to strong-arm the kids and restore control in our house, I heard Sophia whisper to Norah, “Love you, Norah.” “Luvoo Fia,” came the reply. Tears welled up in my eyes. It was the most beautiful little scene. Surely God was in this place…and I almost missed it!

Then the girls started tickling each other, and screaming and giggling, and eventually I needed to get Norah back to her crib. But what if I had reached for control sooner? I might have missed a little piece of God’s activity."

Pencil Box?? FAIL!!

Check out Jason's pencil box with a rubber band to prevent the pencils from falling out cos the catch is broken. Cannot make it. haha! Somebody needs a new pencil box for Christmas....