... It's the timeof the year ... carols are ringing ...

Yes .. Nov is ending and the last month of the year is starting .... and yes ... its the time of the year that I blast my Christmas songs ..... both in my car as well as in my room .... this year, I have to admit that I am slow ... I used to start my Christmas songs -- officially 1 Nov .... where did I learn all this ... I remember how Fred used to listen to Christmas songs ... as early as Oct!!! Guess, its something that I caught living with them! .. :0..

So,what was Christmas like ... those days?

Christmas has always been FUN time back in Sitiawan .... I recall carolers coming to our house in Sitiawan Estate past midnite or wee hours of the morning ... cos our house is so tercampak 1 corner .. they always make it their last stop .... and in those days ... we will have Mom's church coming ... earlier days .. we will have even the New Road Chinese church (Mom attended their church plant in Spg Dua) and Paul Ling's church. So, carolers will greet us in our pajamas and sleepy eyes .... we dont lock our main door but just shut it ..leave the porch & living hall lights on. I remember one year ... I did not wake up till the carolers started singing .... so, our house was invaded by them because they will open the door of our house and gather in the hall to sing. The will dress in white .. and some groups will wear a hear gear (hollow made of shining silver ... eeerr that thing la ... made into a hollow) ... so, they are angels bringing the Good News to our homes.

There was one year I spent Christmas in sister's house .. I must have been 8 or 9 years old then ... Christmas is gala time for their house ... with Christmas tree and lots of food prepared to serve the carolers. There were many carolers from different church that came ... I can recall clearly Pioneer Church ... wah .. their group ... no joke ... the Santa Claus is really dressed up and carries a bag with goodies to give away to kids in the home ...

As I grew older, I was introduced to caroling ... as early as 12 or 13 ... i was still in MIF ... Mrs Tay will bring us around in her car ... and in Mrs Koh's car ... that was the time I started to learn and memorize all the carols ....

In MYF days ... caroling is FUn FUN FUN !!!!! Once school hols start, we will start our caroling practice ... everyday ... Mon - Fri ... we will learn and memorize the songs and learn new songs ... we will also learn up our liners that we need to recite ... you see ... caroling in Sitiawan Wesley MYF is just not singing songs ... but we always have a narration to go along with it .... like a story ... songs ... Scripture reciting and the prayer .. we will gather in House of Grace as early as 5pm ... and we will start our caroling as early as 6 or 630pm ... nearby houses (Kpg Koh area) we will cycle or go on motorbikes ... but places that is far ... we will then take the bus .. we will go as far as Ayer Tawar & Lumut for caroling ..... oooo ... those days was really FUN! The fellowship among the MYFers during those days - GREAT! And m I right to say that sometimes relationships blossom during those days ...

By the time caroling reached Nee's era ... the tradition is still as strong as ever .. she joined the Chinese church caroling ... and this is where she will come back with LOADS of goodies from the houses she visited ... from Lux or May soap (dozens of it) .. towels .... to toothpaste ... and there was even one year ... Kpg Koh Cili Sos ... hahaha ...

As time move on .... I moved out from caroling .... somehow it just died ... but it came back when I came to JB ... 2 things I enjoyed ... Christmas in Spore ... for 2-3 years, I manage to catch the Acapella carolers in the shopping mall ... one year was in City Hall when I was shopping with LN & Cynthia ... they are great! Later in CCC I remember carolers went to City Square, Pelangi Mall and once the last year, I joined the Young Adult's carolers in Danga Bay ... and I found out .. the carols that I memorized during MYF days ... I can still remember the lyrics ..

This year ... there is no caroling for me .... just a youth camp is waiting for me just before Christmas ... from now till 25th Dec .... Christmas songs will be blasting from my pc & car ... and i simply LOVE Cliff Richard's Christmas songs ...

Kari Ikan Masak Lemak (Fat Fish Curry?? hahahha)

I learned this new recipe from Lilian (she's a superb cook!!!) yesterday ... I thought I better pen it down before I forget the recipe ....

Ingredients :

A) To pound or blend them together into a paste
Small onions (10)
Garlic (whole garlic)
Ginger (1.5")
Kunyit (1") - yellow ginger (ahhh?? )
Lengkuas (slightly less than 1")
Dry chilies (20-25)
Serai (lemon grass) - 2-3

B) Baba's Fish Curry Powder - 2.5 tablespoon (add water and make it into paste)

C) Coconut milk (100-150g or 1 coconut)

D) Curry leaf

E) Vegie : 4 big tomatoes (choose yellow ones ... not so ripe so that it brings a little sourish taste to the curry), ladies finger (and I think we can add tau-po pok)

F) Fish (ikan kembong --small ones taste sweeter .. think we can also use tenggiri or other fish)

Steps :
a) Heat up the oi in wok
b) Add (A) in and stir fry it till fragrant .... till the oil surface
c) Add curry leaves in to fry & (B) .... Baba's curry powder
d) Add water .....
e) After bringing it to boil .... add tomatoes ... and ladies finger ...
f) Add salt to taste ...
g) Add the fish
h) Add the coconut milk ....
i) Gently stir it ... try to bring the vegie to the top and leave the fish at the bottom to cook it. Be gentle so that we don't crush the fish meat ....
j) Final adjustment to the taste before dishing it out to serve once the fish is cooked

1st Class Reunion ..... 17 Nov 2010

We had our 1st class reunion yesterday at Angie's place .... thanks to Sam & Pris who graciously organize it .... Angie's condo .... wow .. clocks all over ... from all over the world ... from all spectrum of time line .... no wonder she's never late for class!

It was a time of GREAT fun ... laughing .... its really good to be back in "class group" again ... with all the uncle's nonsense ... jokes .... stories ... fellowship .... but most of all ... it was good to gather again just to share how have our journey been .... as well as our prayer request .... Sam led us to a meaningful time of worship .... (yo .... u got to get back leading worship la ... anointing man!) .. and just to pray for one another ....

Who came : Uncle Steven (hahahha .... with him around .... u're never short of stories .... and he shared on how he met my cousin Jonathan ... hahahha ... cool!) ... Uncle Pat, Lian Kuan (with his 2 kids .... though I really thought I saw little Tu jumping jumping around .... and with his blue Crocs slippers), Chris (with his wife and gal ... she has really grown so tall - pretty --- huge eyes!!) ... Sam, Lily (eerrr ... think its her 1st time joining the English class group ... hahaha ... y she's in the group ... "i dono" ...), Pris & Vic (the love birds ... ;-) .. jia you!!!) ... Jelin & Diana ... Samadi & hub ... oooo .... Lawrence ... Peter (who rushed in from JB [???]), Pei Yi and off course ... me me me ... ooo yea .. not forgetting our host whole steamed CRABS for us!!!!

Yup ... we had LOTS of food .. the star of the night was off course the crabs ... Lian's cheese cake .. and gor-ki ... really there were gor-ki-ies .... :0 .... did some one almost drop one??? hehhee ..

The take of the night :

It's really the grace of God that He had saw us through past 4-5.5 months of ministry. Many of us are very much struggling to adjust, settling down in the new life routine, new working environment.... new people .... balancing the ministry demands and we are all still on the journey .... its only by God's grace that we survived ...

Yes .... life and ministry is tough ... and we are glad that God gave us one another .... as support group .... to know that we are not the only ones who are struggling with the struggle of expectations of church members .... fear of offending people ... fear of taking risk for the Lord ... juggling demands of ministry verses our personal intimate relationship with God .... we are NOT alone ... we have one another ... and we have God ... the One who called us ... to be set apart to serve Him .... for extension of His Kingdom .....

From the sharing .. we gain strength that the God who called us will be faithful to us .. and to our calling .... 2 of personally shared that just 2 weeks ago ... they thought of giving up but it was God who reaffirmed their call and strengthen them ...

We also saw God's long lasting love and patience at work in our lives ... He is ever patient to wait for us to response to His work in our lives .... we saw a "repent" Lawrence ----- 1st time he handed in all his papers days before the deadline!!! And we also saw how God brought some of us through the process which we went through during our time in TTC ... but if we did not respond to His molding ... we will still be in the same process ... net2 .. there is NO moving on until we pass the "test" or "work" that God wants to do in our lives

Uncle Steven ... Pat .. Lawrence will be graduating coming May ... like how God led us ... and opened the door for us ... all of us .... He will open the door when we are ready and at the right time .... so ... we will continue to uphold our brothers and sister (Samadi) in prayer as they wait for God's door to be open .... He will surely lead us all the way!!!

So .. let's not stop meeting together like this and let's continue to pray that :

".... God to fill you with the knowledge of His will through all the wisdom and understanding that the Spirit gives,¹⁰ so that you may live a life worthy of the Lord and please Him in every way: bearing fruit in every good work, growing in the knowledge of God, ¹¹ being strengthened with all power according to His glorious might so that you may have great endurance and patience, ¹² and giving joyful thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of His holy people in the kingdom of light ..." (Col 1: 9b-12)

Till the next time ..... remember my dear brothers & sisters .....

"The One who calls you is faithful, and He will do it ..." (1 Thes 5:24)

p/s : yes .... why no pix???? .... cos the one who brought camera got super excited when see the food .... forgot to take pix!!!see la!!!! guess who???

Happy Depavali ..... Memories from Sitiawan Estate

I currently live next to an Indian family house whom I saw busy preparing for Depavali - painting the house .... cleaning the garden ... and late last nite the lady was washing porch .... and then .... firecrackers ... loud and lot .... this brings back memories of growing up in a multi-racial community - which becomes even more interesting during festive times ......

I remember getting excited over Depavali more than CNY as a child ... why .. because of the excitement of my neighbors ... Depavali is a bigger thing for us living next to an Indian community than Chinese New Year .... :0

Baby's sister and Prema's mother will be busy making the Depalavi cookies and muruku a month before Depavali -- and like many other households in the estate I grew up, they will paint their house or even buy new furniture for their homes... they will paint/draw or use colored/dyed rice their front floor with images of flowers etc. Surround their house / fence .... they will place little lights that is lighted over kerosene oil or place candles .. Depavali is a celebration of lights .. so on Depavali eve, they will light up these lights .... for perhaps a week or so ....

My Indians little friends will be thrilled because its the time of the year where they will new clothes ... this is the only time that many of them will get new set of clothes ... but there are some unfortunate ones that will not get them .....

On Depavali evening ... the air is thicken with the festive mood .... the final touches in their homes, final shopping .... by 6-7pm .... our neighbors (my friends -- all of them are kids like me) will be coming to our house ... with a round tray in their hands ... they will yell my name on top of their voices at our gate ... cos the distance from our gate to our house is very far away ....

Yes, its tradition that our neighbors will come to our home bringing their goodies (kuih raya) on their trays ... and we in return will put a palm full of sugar on their tray as a gesture of appreciation. On the right season, we may even give them rambutans or cempedak from our orchard .... so, what do they give us -- LOTS of yummies .... different types of muruku ... round2 dono what small balls (2-3 types of flavor or types of flour) ... and ah-ci-muruku (beehive) ...

In the morning, we will start our home visitation as early as 9am ... we will go from house to house to "bai-nian" ... hahhaha ... this is where we will enjoy our dhall curry .. mutton, chicken curry with tosai or idlis served on banana leave ... and we eat with our fingers .... eeemmm .... interesting .... yummy ....

Well, Happy Depavali to all my old friends back in Sitiawan Estate .. wonder if they still live there ... wonder if they are still around ....

p/s : Mom called me ... and wish me "sin-nian quay-lerk, sin-nian-huak-chai" (translation : happy new year .... new year prosper) ... pengsan!!! Yeah .... its Depavali .... Indian New Year!

We God Ran : Let The Word Minister to you ....

Wow ... the power of this song ...... listen to it ( ...http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NBzcOGydUaA&p=838B2CBEB8FB2DA1&playnext=1&index=32) and let the words speak to you ....

When God Ran

Almighty God, the great I am
Immovable rock, omnipotent, powerful, awesome Lord
Victorious warrior, commanding King of Kings
Mighty conqueror, and the only time
the only time I ever saw Him run

CHORUS:
Was when He ran to me, He took me in His arms
Held my head to His chest, said “My son’s come home again”
Lifted my face, wiped the tears from my eyes
With forgiveness in His voice He said,
“Son do you know I still love you?”
He caught me by surprise when God ran

The day I left home I knew I’d broken His heart
And I wondered then if things could ever be the same
Then one night I remembered His love for me
And down that dusty road ahead I could see
It was the only time – it was the only time I ever saw Him run

And then He ran to me, He took me in His arms
Held my head to His chest, said “My son’s come home again”
Lifted my face, wiped the tears from my eyes
With forgiveness in His voice He said,
“Son do you know I still love you?”
He caught me by surprise as He brought me to my knees
When God ran – I saw Him run to me

BRIDGE:
I was so ashamed, all alone and so far away
But now I know He’s been waiting for this day

I saw Him run to me, He took me in His arms
Held my head to His chest, said “My son’s come home again”
Lifted my face, wiped the tears from my eyes
With forgiveness in His voice I felt His love for me again

He ran to me, He took me in His arms
Held my head to His chest, said “My son’s come home again”
Lifted my face, wiped the tears from my eyes
With forgiveness in His voice He said, “Son”, He called me Son
He said, “Son do you know I still love you?”
He ran to me and then I ran to Him
When God ran

.... Stuck ..... Still water is Stale water

I met them 7-8yrs ago .... they we brought to my house by a friend .... at that time her daughter was just 3-4yrs old .. very cute and quiet girl. I remember she was very hungry ... I packed food for them .. the daughter finished all the food including fried chicken .... at that time she was living in the single mom's house provided by the government because she had problems with her husband .. or her husband never came back .... she claimed she believed in God and wanted to follow Him .. she claimed she wanted to give her life to Him ... and to serve Him ...

Today ... after 7-8yrs .... she maybe have gone back to her husband and living with him right now ... at least her daughter has a father .... the man still does not come back every night because she is the 3rd or 4th wife ... she is still in the same shoes ... claiming the same proclamations she declared years ago.... one can see that she is still in the same situation ... physically ... she claims that she still does not have money .. can't support herself ... looking for someone to support (perhaps this is why she went back to her husband -- an old man, completely different race, religion) ... she is debt deep ... her house was auctioned by the bank ... and she is looking for another house .... spiritually ... she's still as stuck as how she was 7-8yrs ago ...

We are used to the saying still waters run deep ... true .... but there is another phase that impacted me shared by Paul David : "Still water is stale water". In still water .... mosquitoes breed .... still water may turn to stale water ....

Like wise in our lives .... are we allowing rivers of living waters to flow in us and through us to others or the waters in our lives have been so still that there is a thick layer of particles that we allow it to come into our lives over time to sick deep at the bottom? If these particles are not stirred to surface so that we know what it is in order for us to remove it one by one .. then the water that is in us will be stale water pretty soon ....

If you feel that there you are stuck in a situation or stuck in your life --- come to God and ask Him to stir the waters in you so that you know what are the things that is causing the blockage .... and then .... deal with it .... work at it to get it removed .... removing it = letting it go or be how it was intended to be in the first place ... once the blockage is removed ... you are able to move on ... rivers of living waters will flow out from you again .... the fountain of live will be found in you.

Jesus said,

"He who believes in Me, as the Scripture has said, out of his heart will flow rivers of living water." John 7:38

... A Tribute to Friends from Old Days ...

As I look back, God has blessed me with good friends at every stage of my journey .... right from kecik2 time, I've got lots of friends and from the pool of friends, good friends .... spiritual friends .... "worldly" friends .... friends for every kind of need and situation I have .. my Father indeed knows how to take care of His daughter ....

The issue of friendship and I have come very far .... I remember when I was in standard 5 or 6 ... I had a gang that I click with -- we were almost like the team of Famous 5 : Regina Kok (father is a major in the TLDM, she was transfer to KL in form 1), Su Ee, Shirley, Jeje and I. Some how this group sort of like disperse when Regina went to KL. O yea .. there was Evelyn Lian as well ... but she was not that close to us as she lives super far ... her Dad is a manager in one of the estates / plantations before Pantai Remis I think ... cant remember where it is ... but it was far. Went to her house once .... her house has a swimming pool.

Then in form 1 I hanged out with Asma for awhile... she lives in Lekir .... but at the same time, my friendship with Sue Mei begin to develop and takes a spin when we started going MIF together. Suzie came into the picture as well here. We also had Mrs Nagarajah's Maths tuition in command as well. With more common grounds, our friendship begin to grow --- I recall many overnights in Sue Mei's house .... more of the one in Taman Singa and not the one opposite Chung Chen. Sue Mei and I practically went every where together .... then, I met Foong Lun ... in my 1st MYF camp, Convent Cameron Highlands - she prayed for me to receive the gift of tongues and I did!!! way back in my mid teens ... at that time, I really dono what it was ... hahha ...

Then in form 6, I met new friends who became the few that God blessed me with -- who held me in their prayers .... who cried when I cried ... laughed when I laughed ..... Lang Nguk .. who taught me to look at things on the brighter funny side and her famous statement that made a deep impact in my life - friends are like flowers ... it needs lots of sacrifice, nourishment ... lots of sunshine & TLC ... and Choo Leng .. the fusion of cina moi & a white on the outside but yellow in the inside ... but this 2 precious friends and I have journeyed far and wide together ...

In varsity days ... I was close to 2 coursemates - Jane Lee and .. Ai Ling (think that's her name) .. wah ... see if I dont pen down .. I will forget all their names ... but after grad... I lost contact with them. Then off course there was Wui2 ... my twin sister in campus ... both of us looks alike with the same hairstyle .. same style of dressing .... :0 still the same ... thank God that when we met up once a while ... we are still able to share and connect like old days ...

Off course, in varsity ... my friendship with Wendy became closer though I have known her since MYF days. We became closer as we lived together in Charis House in Minden Heights. God send her as a friend who stood by me when I was falling -- she came all the way from Bkt Jalil to Sri Damansara just to hang out with me ... pray for me and brought me to church -- DUMC .. and later the Family Camp in PD ... :0 ... thanks Wendy ....

When I started working ... friends seem to have shrunk .... we do not have time to cultivate friendship ... except for working colleagues .... LN and I lived together for 3 years in Section 10 .. fun times ... right opposite of CK & CY. During this time, I got reconnected with Susie and Jeye .. Jeye was doing law in MU and live in Section 5 -- so ... dinner time ... we always hang out ..

As time move on ... friends seems to set smaller but God reserved some close ones that stick with me through thick and thin ....

Eventually when I left work and started to work in church -- I hanged out with another 5 people ... Felix, Shally, Barry, Dorithy & Doreen ... I seem to connect and click with Shally the most ... perhaps its our background and life experiences .... this Dot .... quite cute la ... she will go the extra mile if u need help .. rber the 1st time she came and visit me in TTC ... betul2 like aunty ... bring Milo (I dont drink Milo but cos of her I occasionally drink it now!!!), instant noodles ... to visit the inmate in TTC "house arrest" .. then .. there was once .. she cooked soup ... brought them all the way from JB .. through the immigrations .... hop off the bus gave it to me .. and hopped on the bus again to go to TCA .. what a friend .. :0 ... God's blessing ....

In TTC, the Lord brought Pris and Li as my hang out buddies and Ah Yi as my prayer partner ... :0 ... and the rest of the class ... whom we fought so much .... cried so much .. laughed so much ... and prayed together .. these are a special group of friends who will be my strength, comfort and counsel as I journey on serving HIm ....

Friends come and go ... some stay ... some go ... one thing for sure ... God will always bring us friends because no man can live as an island ... all of us needs companionship & emotional support!