Christ Lover.

900m above sea level; and we landed at Tribhuvan Airport.

Throughout the five-hour flights, Thai Airways provided only musical entertainment that I was interested in; and thus I took to planning my music video project. Surprisingly, there were songs played that had exactly the same message as loving the world, such as “Put Your Hearts Up” by Ariana Grande.

In my many nights in the Nepalese wilderness, I roomed with Jong, a brother in Christ who plays the cajon, piano and guitar. Talented guy (: When it rained heavily at night, there was once when Ming Shi roomed with us too. And the three of us would sit under a night light and did QT together for a few nights. As it was pitch quiet, we prayed and read God’s Word together just whispering because any louder and adjacent rooms could hear us. So there I was with two brothers in Christ, as newly-made friends.

I chanced upon Ecclesiastes 5 on one of the nights, and the following day God just showed me the story behind it - where God’s omnipresence is found in every molecule of living, breathing life - in the forestry, mountains, everywhere there is God.

I also recall of one evening where we trekked up a deadly exhausting trek. It was at Tatapani, where I suddenly felt feverish and fatigued, with those acute body aches. Simply whispering a prayer, I was cured of fever within ten minutes, while the rest of the camp was still pretty much still recuperating from fatigue. My brains began working like with crystal-clarity.

On other nights, when I read through James 2 to 4, there were also subsequent revelations on things like judging people (we were put to evaluating each other’s Johari windows, where you should accept people’s opinions of you), the power of the tongue (when the slip of the tongue really got some people into serious fights). Even during one of the many reflection times that they gave us, I saw this old Nepalese farmer plowing away at her soil, and just how it’s done really gave me a visual understanding of Luke 9, the parable of the sower. God just kept on talking to me.

While the trek was nearing to an end, I was even prompted to approach my teacher, to ask if he had a need to be prayed over. He ended up telling me about his parenting of three children, and we asked the Lord for wisdom and discernment in his raising of his children.

Throughout the course, the Annapura Himalayan Mountain Range never failed to awe me. And the verse from Mark 11:23 kept coming back as I saw the snow-capped mountains. “For verily I say unto you, That whosoever shall say unto this mountain, Be thou removed, and be thou cast into the sea; and shall not doubt in his heart, but shall believe that those things which he saith shall come to pass; he shall have whatsoever he saith.” Praise God.

God really does bless us with the people He places in our lives, especially from the body of Christ.

My awesome neighbours are one such group of people. Knowing a bit about my family situation, they have just done so much to try to reach out to my loved ones - Yixun, my mom and dad. Just this evening, uncle Paul spent well over a lot of time talking to my dad about my dad’s pet topic - currency. He hopes that God will speak to dad through mainstream topic conversations. Aunt Cherlyn just came and she’s talking to my mother. They’ve just finished their cell group, and it’s 10pm already. I pause and think. How often do people really care? Honestly, not very many people care too much. It’s tragic but true. It’s also true that I’m just blessed with such great neighbours, who have, ever since we moved in 12 years ago, tried to do so much to bring us closer to God. Praise the Lord (:

My project group is yet another group of people. Five of us who thought it’ll be good to jam at music that exalts the Lord, we got together not long ago and started planning for this music video-cum-music album project, which is quite a tall order. Seeing as such, upon committing it to God’s hands, we’ve got the mentorship of five professional, seasoned mentors who are from different parts of the body of Christ - in ministry music, in cell leadership..you name it. With them, and our school, we’ve got every fraction of expert advise and technique we need. What have we done to deserve as such? We are just blessed, blessed, blessed.

It’s the many small things that keep on counting. Simple text messages that contain one verse and one-line teachings can just remind me of how, for instance, we are more than conquerors, through Christ who gives us strength to do ALL things. The simple fact that my family’s in improving shape, the peace in the household, the rest in my brother’s sleep, the laughter of my octogenarian grandparents just remind me that God has never left me nor forsaken me. Life is beautiful. Today, is a good day.

“Hi, just thought I should share a little magic God worked in my day yesterday evening!

I was scheduled to meet my juniors who responded during the TGIF after band practice at 6pm. By right, of the 4 people I had to meet (cos for the next 1.5 weeks in Nepal I won’t be contactable at all), one (Howard) cannot turn up and another (Yun Chuen) was hesitant to show up. (Perhaps I could start intro-ing their names slowly..) 

Practice ended at 6.30pm instead, and to my surprise, all 4 of them wanted to stay and not only that, one other random friend of theirs wanted to stay to listen, and it’s already not his first time doing so (I had had previous sessions)..

Andrew told me to talk about prayer, how to pray, and a bit on the sermon on ‘Keep Calm and Pray’..yeah the one Terence missed! :X So I sat them down just along the corridor and we began to talk. In previous sessions, I had to meet up with each one of them individually (so I need to make 4 arrangements weekly), and their responses were passive. This time round, I could genuinely feel God present amidst the discussion, where they would laugh, add on one-liners to stuff they already know (like some biblical stories here and there), smile, or just nod in agreement. The whole session lasted only half an hour, but it was really fruitful and just different.. their attitudes were different! 

Also , there were many instances where random phrases just dropped into my mind, like I’d end up talking more about God’s grace, His unchanging love, and how Man’s conviction has to collide with God’s intentions, which are always for the good.. it even became a part-sharing of the simple simple fact that “God loves all four of you.”

Prior to the meeting, Andrew had already said he would pray and fast for the sake of this meeting, and unlike previous sessions I spent way more effort committing everything into God’s hands. Yun Chuen was actually in a split decision as to whether he wanted to follow Christ at all or not, but praise God he has been open to the Word! I’m really certain that God was moving in their midst during the meeting. Praise the Lord :D

As of now, there were a few incidents that occurred in my family, or in my personal life, that made it pretty obvious that something’s trying to distract me and pull me away from focusing on God, which was never an easy task to begin with ._. My workload’s been distracting me, my non-satisfactory grades are another, some cynical remarks made by my friends about Jesus, my parents’ temperament, my grandparents’ situation and Yixun’s situation, my health condition…  but God! Please please do keep me in prayer especially in consolidating my four juniors, as well as for Joel and Mattheus who will be going to Taiwan while I’m exiled to Nepal.. I believe our cell are victors in this fight, while we continue to grow stronger internally and only then exponentially (: Praise God for His awesome plans for our cell! To God alone be the glory!”

It was like living nightmare of sorts. Last year’s project work required sophisticated and unexplored techniques to complete.

Rather expectantly, I failed the Pday semis; whereafter I completed this project with the help of a few friends as cast. Then I had to face steps to take that were unheard before, such as film composition (the green screen thingy you see in movies)

As the project work was heavily graded for my higher art subject come EOYs, I was desperate for a solution. And amidst all the numerous rendering I had to do on my old laptop, I asked the Lord for walking me through this toiling burden.

There God was, in my late nights of modeling and post-productions, where I felt less and less fatigued at the prospects of meeting the submission deadline.

Frankly speaking, I was rather satisfied with the final outcome, but not for long. After submission, the final film just seemed to look more and more amateurish. Much to my surprise, my AEP teacher decided to submit that film for the Animania competition earlier this year.

The results? God has blessed the work of my hands; it came as a first runner-up! Short and simple, yet praise-worthy for God (:

Have you ever seen a rainy sunset?

Earlier at dinner, there were rain clouds shrouding the sunset skyline. The evening palette was pink and purple. God told me, “Look at the rain clouds.” It was just like all the bullshit I am facing. The troubles, the deadlines, the stress.

Then I felt God told me, “In a minute you would see, rain pouring down, just like how your troubles would give way and Me coming to wash you clean.” But it didn’t rain.

Instead, the rain clouds sojourned into the east, away from the sunset skyline as a large rainbow was left in its trail. God then said, “I will take all your troubles away and leave a beauty in its wake.” I thought back, chewing on bits of fish, at how significant this was. Look at the story of Noah’s Ark, where God flooded the earth for forty days and nights, but on the last day, as the ark settled on Mount Ararat. God painted a rainbow in the sky as a covenant of blessing with all the flesh of the earth, that He will never again flood the earth at such a scale ever again (Genesis 9:8-17).

Let me remember this day, praise God :)

Have you ever sought to hear God’s voice before? I certainly have.

As of recent, I’ve been struck by many stress bombs. Just at lunch in the Kovan heartland earlier today, I was walking and saw two people whom God spoke to me about.

There was this small kid who was prancing and singing to himself. God told me, “Learn from his heart” for he was worry-free, and just delighting in his joys in such a child-like, innocuous way.

Then I walked on, and there was this thin middle-aged man who was holding this large bag with squashed drink cans in it. God told me, “Learn from his heart” for however insignificant to us, he has a purpose in what he’s doing; and even though the going is tough, he just knows he cannot give up.

Very easily I just forget that God holds my world in His hands. I just forget of all his promises that called blessings over me. I just forget of who I am in Christ, and just cave in and succumb to stress just too easily. God, when I lose my way, when I forget my name, remind me of who I am.