S.O.S

S.O.S God,
my physical strength fails me.
Only you can talk through
to one who is blind-folded
and refuses to take off the blind-fold.

Its agonizing to be the onlooker.

S.O.S to the King
is my daily call
to HIM.

Hope

"Why art thou cast down, O my soul? and why art thou disquieted in me?
hope thou in God: for I shall yet praise him for the help of his countenance."
Psalm 42:5

Words

Words. They can bring life, or they can kill... seemingly harmless but lethal if used wrongly. Bright Lights meeting today was about this topic.

"Let the words of my mouth, and the meditation of my heart,
be acceptable in thy sight, O LORD, my strength, and my redeemer."
Psalm 19:14

I learned about how words can hurt and words that we should avoid like, bad words, harmful words, false words, proud words and inappropriate/unnecessary words. There was something trifle about bad words (besides the literal vulgarities) that I didn't really take note of before which is, a good word used in a good way can also be misused in a bad way. In a way, they are puns, but more often self-created bad puns made popular.

Instead of using bad words, we should choose words of truth, words of love, words of grace and words of forgiveness. (Eph 4)

For me, the real test comes when I'm angry; the internal response in my heart comes out into an external one. To speak words of the above of truth,love,grace and forgiveness is not going to be very easy if my proud nature persists...(it still does), especially in trying situations but pruning isn't comfortable is it?

Chinese songs

Recently, I was asked to type chords for the Chinese service on the soft copy from the hard copy. It's quite interesting because I tend to pause for each song to read the lyrics which are so meaningful and beautiful. The organ was used a lot by the Chinese service and that's why, even though there were proper notations, some scores still had the cipher notation (thanks to Lynn, I finally know the proper term for the 'numbers' I usually call it. :) ) written above the black notes! Haha, I saw one score which even had a term similar to con brio , it was written in brackets; 坚定有力地.

Chinese is cool. :)

East Coast Park

I went to East Coast Park today with some classmates. :) It's the first time I took public transport there. The ride was really long... Anyway, the weather in the morning wasn't very optimistic to begin with... dark clouds loomed and it rained, not cats and dogs but it rained. Weather forecasts predicted cloudy skies and basically wet weather. M. and I prayed for the rain to stop and decided to go ahead with cycling. When we reached there, it didn't rain yet though dark clouds hovered above. We had lunch and than rented our bikes. About 10 mins cycling, the raindrops started falling, in a drizzle at first and then in a sudden downpour, forcing us to take immediate refuge in a shelter nearby. We took refuge twice when the rain was heavy but at other times, when there was no rain or when it was a heavy drizzle (about the rest of the time), we rode on. In the later half of our ride, I couldn't stand the rain so I held my umbrella with my left hand and cycled with my right hand holding the handle. It wasn't too bad actually, :) I thought I wouldn't be able to balance at first. It's so fortunate that M. 'forgot' to take a picture of me doing that because well, it'll look funny. :D My worst fear was that I couldn't brake in time if I were too get too close to a cyclist or had to squeeze through narrow spots between cyclists so I rode slower than the rest, behind them. (they weren't holding umbrellas)

Thank God for the good time of fellowship and cycling and for no accidents. There were some close shaves when K. and I came close to falling due to some people suddenly braking in front of us but we managed to keep our balance. :)

Overall, it was fun but I would prefer cycling when it's sunny, or just after it rains. :D

Performance

Went to watch my brother, Francis perform at SP today with his school band. The different aspects of the band were presented quite interestingly. :) The percussion was great...rhythm was kept consistent and the players all concentrated on their parts well. (I'm siding the percussion...haha, Frans) It's the first time I've seen Francis performing 'live' with his school band, usually I just hear him talking about it at home, practicing his rhythms on the drum pad, listening to recordings over and over and trying out tunes on the piano to play on the glockenspiel. He has band euphoria. :D
I thought that some parts were quite contained though...but overall a job well done. Oh, the singing by the vocalist was powerful and she was great too. :)

Sunflower

The bud
reflects in splendid green hues
against the sunlight.

As each day passes,
a petal unfolds.

Each unfolds,
yellow, soft and fragile.

A flower blooms,
the hidden beauty revealed.


All in His perfect timing.

Grace

Think about His love,
Think about His goodness,
Think about His grace
that's brought us through.

For as high as the heavens above,
so great is the measure of our Father's love
Great is the measure of our Father's love.

Phillip Yancey's book, "What's so Amazing about Grace?" has recently got me thinking about grace. The above, are part of the lyrics to a song that played in my head when I woke up in the morning about 2 days ago. Oh yeah, there's another one:

Why have You chosen me
out of millions
your child to be
You know all the wrong that I've done
O how could You pardon me,
Forgive my iniquity?
To save me, give Jesus Your Son

God's grace is so awesome and yet honestly, I rarely praise God for that and forget that He gives grace and I too should show grace to others.

Iris folding

I folded this iris following instructions from a craft magazine I borrowed from the library. At first, I thought that I wouldn't really do it... but I did! :) Usually, I just fantasize and say that I would do it when something inspires me and then, I don't or I procrastinate and soon, it becomes forgotten. Looking at the finished iris is definitely rewarding. :) So what exactly is this iris thing?
Quoting the magazine, "Iris Folding originated in Holland. It's a technique in which you fold strips of three or four coordinating papers depending on your design and then arrange them in a pattern to resemble the iris of an eye or camera."

The 3D look is pretty cool, the person who invented this craft is so innovative! I had lots of fun despite it being a little meticulous. :D

Music

"Without enthusiasm nothing real comes of art."

Robert Schumann
Rules for Young Musicians

"Always play as if a master heard you."

Robert Schumann
Rules for Young Musicians