Start Of A New Family Journey

Over the past three weeks our family had been rather busy. A hive of activities as our daughter became engaged to be married to someone she met while studying at the same university in the United Kingdom. They have known each other for about four years now and because of the physical distance separating them, they decided to settle down next April 2010.

Officially they were engaged to be married on March 28 Saturday when both sets of parents met over lunch and we discussed what we felt best for our children and agree with them that they will be married on April 03, 2010 Saturday. So now that the date has been set, a series of activities will have to be initiated over the next couple of months.

After the wedding, our daughter will be emigrating to leave in Birmingham, UK, as our future son-in-grace is working with Deloitte's PPL and waiting to secure his UK PR (he is a Malaysian Chinese with Sarawakan blood) and so will have to start planning her packing in addition to getting things organized for the wedding. In fact there will be three sets of celebrations - wedding lunch in Singapore followed by a family dinner over at Sibu in Sarawak and culminating in a wedding dinner over at Kuala Lumpur - spread over 8 days and can get pretty hectic.

And how did the family take the news? well, there were smiles all round as both sides were very supportive of the pending union. In fact the troop i snow working on the logistics for the Event next year. And I dare say that the wedding will draw everyone tighter together as it will become the focal point and we do need this event to do just that. So come Saturday April 03 the families will come together to celebrate the union with a church wedding in the morning followed by a wedding luncheon at Pan Pacific Hotel and then those family members who were supposed to travel to Kuala Lumpur the following Saturday for the wedding dinner will do so.

So we are looking forward to celebrate the blessed union between Mr Joshua Ting and Ms Adeline Li come April 2010. Congratulations beloveds.

What's In A Memorial?

Today marks the 3rd anniversary of the passing of my earthly father back to the Lord and even as we enter into the Holy Week, I am being reminded of what the Lord instructed the children of Israel to do - to build memorials as a testimony of the goodness of our Lord.

In the Old Testament, memorials are in visible forms - stones raised one on top of another to form a column or markers placed at strategic locations to mark boundaries or festivals to remind them of the goodness of the Lord. And in the New Covenant, we have one very prominent memorial - the Cross of Jesus Christ. Each year, the Church celebrates the sacrifice of our Lord on the Cross and worships Him for His atoning death and in three days, we will be doing just that on Good Friday.

Good Friday is meant to be a time of remembrance of the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ and it is for joy and thanksgiving that we are to observe them. I do not, for once, believe that the Lord meant for us to be so solemn that we cannot even share moments of joy by having a meal together or perhaps even celebrating a wedding. I believe each day we are to live our lives in celebration of the finished work of Christ on the Cross - that we are wondrously saved by that one atoning death and there is nothing more to be added.

Our lives are meant to be a reflection of that grace we have in Him - so live life to its fullest in the divine health that His precious Blood had redeemed us for and stop accepting the lies that the devil throws in our direction that we suffer because of our ancestors. Indeed, when the Lord died on the Cross, He did not die for specifics but His death avails for everything and it spans across the time continuum because God lives outside of time.

Basking In The Love Of Our Lord & Savior Jesus Christ

Recently I had been rather busy being caught up in work - definitely a blessing from the Lord at such a time as this when people around me were trying to look for things to do and keep them occupied.

Indeed, I have two consulting projects going concurrently and another regular monthly training project. And the Lord, for good measure, landed two very quick training projects onto my plate this month. And so, I was just sharing with my beloved wife that I have work almost every day and that the Lord had added joy to my situation (last year around this time I was struggling to find work to occupy my time) and how blessed and loved by the Lord I felt.

And all these times I consciously kept my focus on believing the Lord for His abundance of grace on my situation. Every time I encountered a challenge, I chose to believe that the Lord will grant me the break-through and indeed, He had been faithful to bless. And as long as I stayed focused on Him, I noticed that the burden became lighter and soon the blessings came as in a flood gushing down the channel.

So, what am I trying to say here? that I just sit back and do nothing but believe that He will come through for me? No, I am saying that the Lord looks upon our hearts and sees our faith in Him. Faith is the only currency in Heaven and when we have that currency, we will be abundantly supplied. So I would encourage you to look away from your situation and look towards the Lord and see Him in His love for you. If He chose to set aside everything and give you His VERY BEST (His darling beloved SON), how much more will He be willing to grant us His blessings.

What's With A Name?

A few days ago, a friend of mine brain-stormed with me some possible names for his new business and that started me thinking how important it is to have the right name, not just a good name. I went through this situation three years ago when I started my own company. Granted that two friends gave me suggestions but ultimately I had to make that decision for myself.

Abraham had a name change when he was 99 years old (Genesis 17:5) because the Lord wanted to cause a radical change in his life. The Lord promised him an heir but the son Ishmael whom Hagar bore him was not supposed to be the one and one can imagine how he felt. With the name change, Abram was now to be called Abraham which means 'father of multitude' - a radical change seeing that he did not even have a son or for that matter any children. And I can imagine his wife Sarah calling him, "father of multitude" every time and in the physical he had no children to go by as acknowledgment. It must have been very trying for both of them.

Well, God is One who will always deliver and to the last iota. One year after his name change, Abraham finally became the father of a son through his own beloved wife and the rest, like they say, is now history - the nation of Israel - literally multitudes.

So what am I implying? That the name we use on ourselves and on others will definitely be important. The name we give to our children will directly or indirectly influence their lives whether we like it or not. I recall the reason I gave myself for choosing a name to call myself after I received the Lord into my heart back when I was a teenager was because I was impacted by the brother of the Apostle Peter. In the bible you will only find three references of Andrew (besides his name appearing in the list of Jesus' disciples): -
1. he was the one who introduced his brother Peter to Jesus (John 1:44)
2. he introduced the boy with the five loaves and two fish to Jesus and He fed five thousand men with the gift. (John 6:8)
3. Philip introduced some Greeks to him and he in return pointed them to Jesus at the Feast (John 12:22)

Andrew resolved to be one who will point others to our Lord Jesus and I decided to be like Andrew and hence the choice and I am still resolved in my heart to continue with that.

2009 - A Dektos Year

Since my last post on Feb 07, so many good things had taken place.
1. I have been kept busy in my business - running two project concurrently and doing training courses
2. more business opportunities have opened up
3. Great news on the family side of things

At the end of December 2008, Pastor Joseph Prince of New Creation Church, my senior pastor, heard from our Lord Jesus and proclaimed that this year will be the acceptable year of the Lord and he went back to Isaiah 61:1-2 and Luke 418-19 to check out the original text to find out what exactly was meant by the phrase 'acceptable' and he came across the Hebrew "Ratsah" which simply means 'be pleased with, to be favorable to' (as in Isaiah 61) and in the Greek "Dektos" as in Luke 4.

Now the Greek word is more amazing. In 'dektos' one gets the meaning of "the most blessed time when the salvation and the free favors of the Lord profusely abounds". And so when I heard that, I told the Lord that I want to be in that dektos position to be able to receive His super-abounding profuse blessings for my family and I for this year. And I am already beginning to see this taking shape and form in my life, to the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ.