Thursday, August 28, 2008

Public Merdeka Worship Service

Attention All.

Please be informed there will be a Public Worship Service at Mahkota Parade this Merdeka Sunday at 7pm onwards. Service will be conducted in 4 languages - English, Chinese, BM and Tamil. Let's all come and worship the Lord openly. May the Lord's presence draw all men unto Him. Amen.

Awesome.


Monday, August 25, 2008

Michael Guglielmucci is just a man



"...Mr Guglielmucci (Mike's dad), who established Edge Church International, an Assemblies of God church in Adelaide, said Melbourne-based Michael had made a full confession to his family about his past, including revelations about the 16-year porn obsession and the lies over his supposed battle with terminal illness..."

Read the statement released by his dad here. Other related news here.

A shocker just recently announced all through Australia (and the whole world), this is the Big one. I was speechless. I was thinking hard about what to think. As I read the updates the following days, I realized one thing. He's just a man. A man with flaws like many other men. Many have judged him, criticized him. Much of what has been said (negatively) about him... well... we may think he deserves it... but I realized that anyone could have been him. Any pastor, any leader, any mentor, any evangelist... anyone. Maybe even me.

Across time, men of God fall for some primary reasons: sex, money, fraud, pride... the list goes on. The Bible has warned us all. Mike's situation is really complicated... his actions has caused a wave of hurts and confusion. And this may just be the beginning of this wave... but in all of this, we should remember that all man falls short of the glory of God. That's why Jesus is our only hope. And Jesus is Mike's only hope at this time. Pray for him. Although he is now surrounded by this "unforgiving scandal", he has seen the light. And he had the courage to confess. Had the courage to say he is flawed. The repurcissions are endless. Unforgivable at times maybe. Everyone thought highly of Michael Guglielmucci. I have. We all did. He was that guy from Planetshakers. He did that concert here in Melaka for the first ever HUGE Camp Malaysia. But he is just a man. God is God and no one amounts or equals Him. Man fails. Our pastors, leaders and mentors might fail. Maybe not in such a publicly humiliating way but as humans, we are somewhat doomed to failure at some point, for whatever reasons. Jesus is the one who deserves all glory, all power and all fame. I guess in spite of this, God is still in control. And perhaps at this point, we realize that He is the One that matters and not our devotion and attention to our "idols" that we make out from our Christian super heroes.
This is nevertheless not an excuse for anyone. We are called to a path of holiness. We are expected to keep our lives in line with the Word of God. His Word is our life compass. We are accountable to Him that we may be worthy testimonies of His greatness, His salvation and His holiness.

Pray for the church. Pray for those in hurting as a result of this. Pray for the Guglielmuccis'. They are devastated. Even Mike is. Pray for all of us. Pray that our churches will not have to walk this path. What will become of Planetshakers or Hillsong in light of this? It depends on the Christians. It depends how forgiving and how far-sighted we all are. God is the focus, not men. In spite of mens failure, God still reigns.

Lord have mercy.


Tuesday, August 12, 2008

Lebuh AMJ... whatt???

I live in Melaka. I am in my thirties now... Oh God!!!!... and as time has passed, there are many changes that have happened in Melaka. One of them is the many name changes of our roads. Road names that we knew when we were younger are no longer the same. Some roads however are new roads and therefore they get new names. One of which is this one below.

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So what the heck is AMJ? This is the link road passing Tesco and Melaka Sentral. Can anyone enlighten me what does AMJ stand for? I can't figure it out. It's not like LDP - we know its Lebuhraya Damansara Puchong... AMJ??? what?? i can imagine this... if I have a friend from let's say, KL, and he gets lost in Melaka, and he calls me and says "hey. I'm now in Lebuh AMJ and I don't know how to get to Jambatan Hang Tuah". Let me just bet with you that if you ask anyone from the ages of 30 onwards, a large percentage of them might not know what the hell this guy is talking about although they have lived here all their lives. Is he talking about roads in Melaka? For the benefit of all... Jambatan Hang Tuah used to be known as Bailey's Bridge. Now its currently under renovation.

Some of the road names are unheard of. They have sultan and datuks names all over them. I don't see the significance. And I don't know why new Tamans have to end with Indah. You go look around every new taman. 90% of them ends with Indah. Wahh... so beautiful (Indah in BM means beautiful).

??


The Dog Formerly known as Diego

Meet Jiego (pronounced "Gee-eh-go"), or sounds like Diego. Or... rather used to be know as Diego.

My neighbor owned this fine Labrador Retriever
but because of work, was unable to care for the dog. So, the only thing to do was to hand him over to someone else to care for. And in came my brother in law. He loves dogs. So, now Diego lives in KL with him and the family. He loves it there. And he has a friend there as well named Jessie... as the name suggests, Jessie is female.... hmmm.... Party! Party! So, there are 2 dogs there in the house.

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That's how he lies down. He's very playful and friendly but likes to bark at strangers. If you get near him he'll pounce on you and tries to lick your face.... ughh... disgusting.

Jiego - Why the name change? We wondered too.... so I asked my sister. She said well... because both her sons names begin with "J". Duhh.

The Messy Hairdo - The Origin

Ever wondered how that messy hairdo style came about?


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nice.