Christian Song List

There have been moments in my life where I was just so overcome with emotion (love, joy, peace, etc.) that it could only take a song to pour them out. It is not the songs themselves that gives me these feelings, but rather, they express all the love that I feel between God and I. It is during those inexpressible moments that I find myself lost in His love.

Waiting Here For You 
by
Passion Band

Through It All

by

Hillsong

你爱永不变 (Your Love Never Changes)

by

Unknown

Give Me Jesus

by

Jeremy Camp

Great Is Thy Faithfulness

by

Chisolm and Runyan

Oceans Will Part
by
Hillsong

Spirit Fall

by

Passion Band

Overshadow Me

by

Mary Alessi

在你荣耀中

by

Unknown

New Things

Busy busy busy... I've been busy, but in a fulfilling and even kind of way.

This has been a weekend of adventures and new discoveries for me. I love that there are still so many hidden treasures in Singapore left to discover! Some people complain that this island is too small, and that's true to some extent. But the beauty of it being small is that you can get from one place to another relatively quickly. 

Friday night, I went skating with a group of skating buddies as usual. Instead of going to Chinese Garden like we originally planned, we went to Clarke Quay & Marina Bay Sands instead. This time, Uncle Chuan brought us upstairs to a spot I'd never been to before. From the roof of The Shoppes at MBS, we were able to see a whole new perspective of the waterfront area and the hotel.

It was really fun looking down at the people strolling by the water and singing stupid songs like "对面的 女孩看过来“ ("The girl over there is looking at us"- it's a popular and stupid song from the mid 90s). 

Sadly, only the ah peks (old men) looked up at us. 

Saturday morning, I made my way all the way to the west side of the island- Jurong West. I went there to help Annie move in her apartment. 

Jurong West is a really ulu (backyard) part of the country. Hardly any people used to live here when I was little. I remember streets void of cars and people. There was no MRT line coming here back then and Jurong Point was half its current size. 

Today, Jurong is still less crowded than other parts of Singapore. However, it has turned into a PRC (People's Republic of China) town. I'd say out of 10 people walking on the street, 6 would be PRCs and 4 would be Singaporeans. It's like being in another country. 

I really love HDB estates that are quiet. 

That Saturday night, I finally did what I've been wanting to do for the longest time: skate from Punggol to East Coast Park. The whole trip of 16 miles (25.6km) took me slightly under 2 hours. I was skating with a lady I had met off of Gumtree.sg. She accompanied me for three-quarters of the journey before heading home near Kallang. 

That was my first time skating at the Punggol Waterway area. 

I really really wish I'd taken pictures or something. The place is gorgeous and I think the government did quite a good job upgrading the paths and canals there. One thing is for sure- that won't be my last time skating there! Next time I'll bring my camera though... 

This Sunday's HOB was the first Sunday without the Hanes around. They've gone back to the US for the summer to visit friends and family. The whole house felt so quiet and empty without them. I never realised how much Kim's laughter usually filled the house until she's gone!

This week we watched a video sermon on the Israelite's forty years sojourn in the desert. We talked about what "being in the wilderness" means to us Christians as a place of testing. 

Three ideas that spoke right to me this Sunday:

"Unshakeable faith is faith that has been shaken."

"Tests are not simply for failing or passing, but rather a mark of where we are and where we need to go from there."

"As long as we learn from each test, whether we fail or pass."

I guess these ideas resound with me right now because I've been feeling like I keep failing the tests God gives me. It's so reassuring to know that God brings us to the wilderness to mould us, not to have us fail. Even if we fall, He will lift us up as long as we keep leaning on Him and Him alone for strength, direction and renewal!

The difficult thing is really going to the feet of Christ each time we fail. That's when I feel the most inadequate. But no matter how inadequate and low I feel, I cannot stop returning to God's throne of grace and mercy. The moment I stop asking for forgiveness, I stop struggling with sin. The moment I stop struggling, I start becoming numb. With time, this numbness turns into hardening of my heart. 

I never want that to happen.

Anyway, moving on... 

After House of Bread, Annie and I went to Jurong Point where she introduced me to one of the best places I've ever eaten at since I've come back to Singapore. 

The above foods are from a food court stall called 西北人家 and you can tell from the long line of PRCs that their authentic flavours are gold. 

The best part? I can't believe I'm only paying $5 for a bowl of noodles that's bigger and way better than the $15 dishes at Crystal Jade. 

I'm already planning to go back there for dinner sometime this week. 

Simply amazing!

Ottoke?

If people at my workplace don't consider me as a Christian, have I already become a stumbling block to them? 

The reason I ask this question is because my boss said something to me yesterday that got me thinking. He said that he knows a girl that might "actually be more Christian than [me]".

More Christian? I thought aloud to myself: is there such a scale to measure who is more Christian than another?

A few minutes later, while still conversing, my boss then said that he felt like the way I was talking to him was as if I didn't think he was a Christian. He then asserted that he IS one and that only God can judge.

I suppose that means he felt judged as I was talking to him.

Still, 1 Corinthians 5:12 says "What business is it of mine to judge those outside the church? Are you not to judge those inside?" 

This puts me in a predicament. If my boss is claiming to be a part of the holy universal church of God, I should be subject to his judgment and vice versa. But this gets more complicated...

He later proceeds to say that some people are in the camp of taking Scripture as Law and he thinks I am one of those people. (I told Eileen I wasn't sure if this was a compliment or not), but one thing is for sure. He distincts himself as one of those people who do NOT consider the Bible as absolute law. Instead, he believes only in loving God and loving others. While I agree with his last statement, I somehow sense that he believes in "Love God & Love others" as much as people believe Obama is a Liberal without understanding what being a Liberal means. 

The irony of it all? I don't know what to say to him because I used to be just like that. Seeing and hearing, but never understanding. 

If you're gonna ask me how I know he doesn't understand? This is how: 

"My brothers, can a fig tree bear olives, or a grapevine bear figs? Neither can a salt spring produce fresh water" (James 3:12)

"By their fruit you will recognise them. Do people pick grapes from thornbushes, or figs from thistles?" (Matthew 7:16)

I know because of the fruit he bears. 

"The acts of the flesh are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery; idolatry and witchcraft; hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions and envy; drunkenness, orgies and the like. I warn you, as I did before, that those who live like this will not inherit the kingdom of God. But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentlesness and self-control. Against such things there is no law. Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires." (Galatians 5:19-24)

These were the very same verses that woke me to my blindness. 

I just can't believe how I used to live in the world and professed to be of Christ, yet I did not resemble anything like His offspring anymore than I look like the child of a blue-eyed Swiss. Now I feel like I'm meeting someone as exasperating as I am. Maybe my boss frustrates me because we are so much like each other. Stubborn, always think we are right, need to argue until we are right...... I see now the depth of patience that others needed to have when they were around me! 

But what now?

I don't know why this week seems so spiritually tough, but even as the battle rages, I will pray and trust that God will put the right words in my mouth and give me courage to speak at the right time. Over all this, I pray I will put love because love speaks louder than any language in the world. 

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One more thing.

I was quite bothered when I looked at my calendar and realised that there was hardly any green (I use green to mark anything I do that concerns Jesus Christ). The greens were mostly all on the weekends. Most of it was orange (work-related) or pink (fun stuff like skating). 

Perhaps I've been spending too much time focusing on the wrong things. It's time for a shift!

Back in the U.S., there was so much green. What happened? I don't know. But I'm gonna make space for God now.

Sloppiness In Spiritual Life

I'm about to write a post that may not make sense to non-Christians.

First topic: spiritual warfare.

Are we as Christians aware that we are in a battle every single second of our lives? 1 Peter 5:8 says "Be self-controlled and alert. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour."

YOUR ENEMY... 

I heard something interesting on this Youtube video today. Pastor Jeremiah asked the audience: what is the opposite of God? Most people would probably say "Satan" or "the devil" right? But in reality, the opposite of God is not Satan. See God has no opposites because God CREATED Satan. The devil is a creation, just like we are creations and he cannot be compared in the same plane as an All-powerful, All-knowing, Omnipresent God. Satan is not all-powerful, not all-knowing, and he is certainly not omnipresent.

But he is a strong adversary.

Can you defeat a lion with your bare hands? If I saw a lion, I'd probably try to run away instead of fighting it.

Or, I could just give up on the spot and be indifferent to the lion hunting me. If he eats me he eats me. So what? I'll just die and go to heaven, big deal.

I'm not sure if that mentality works in our spiritual life.

When we decide to become indifferent to the devil's wiles, we become lazy and sloppy. We no longer feel like picking up our weapons or training for battle. We no longer have the energy or drive to polish our armour or tighten our sandals. We just want to lie in a big grassy meadow and think about fighting..... tomorrow...

Soon, our sloppiness begins to show.

The sandal thongs become loose over time, our weapons become dulled and our armour becomes rusted in small places. When the enemy suddenly launches a major coup and we hurry up to arms, he aims first for the rusted and weak spots in our armour.

For the normal human being Christian, sloppiness in our spiritual life may mean making excuses for our thoughts, our actions and the things or people we surround ourselves with. We justify un-Christian movies or videos with all kinds of reasons, maybe even dating a non-Christian. We tolerate the things that nailed Jesus Christ to the cross in the first place. That tolerance becomes indifference. Eventually, we just don't care anymore.


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I do know some Christians who walk around proclaiming "victory on Calvary", "victory through Christ" without really grasping what it means to be in a spiritual battle every day of their lives. I can recognise them, because I used to be one of them.

How can you have a victory if you have never fought or felt the need to fight? (I am talking about spiritual matters here)

Some battles are very obvious. Like a cancer patient literally fighting for his life day to day in treatment or rehabilitation.

But what about those internal battles against sin?

Many years ago, I remember hearing something that stuck with me throughout the years- if you find yourself being tempted less and less, do not congratulate yourself. The devil is winning.

Life may be good right now, but we cannot be complacent. What the bad guy wants more than anything is for you to lose sight of the true purpose of why we are here on earth (share the Good News, love others and love Jesus Christ). We are not here on earth to build successful careers, make a famous name for ourselves, or to just have a good ol' jolly time.

Take note.