Smthg worth thinking about...

In a German prison camp in World War II, unbeknownst to the guards, the Americans built a makeshift radio. One day news came that the German high command had surrendered, ending the war—a fact that, because of a communications breakdown, the German guards did not yet know. As word spread, a loud celebration broke out.

For three days, the prisoners were hardly recognizable. They sang, waved at guards, laughed at the German shepherd dogs, and shared jokes over meals. On the fourth day, they awoke to find that all the Germans had fled, leaving the gates unlocked. The time of waiting had come to an end.

And here is the question I ask myself: As we Christians face contemporary crises, why do we respond with such fear and anxiety? Why don't we, like the Allied prisoners, act on the Good News we say we believe? What is faith, after all, but believing in advance what will only make sense in reverse?

I Feel This Way...Rite Now...

When my heart is overwhelmed
I will run into Your open arms
When i dun no wat to do
Jesus my first love, i look to You

Come and hold me and guide me
You walk beside me
Take me to fly with You

I'll run, jus like an eagle i will soar
And foreva i will give to You my heart and soul
I know, Your love will neva let me go
In You i find my strength, my hiding place

LoRd...heAr OuR CrY,,,

Hmmm..after 10months...i finally had the chance to lead worship in DR. Yeah... I just love this job of leading pple into worship...i just enjoy being in the presence of God...n see pple who are hungry being filled...

I tink i'm going to be honest...i hope you guys dun mind me...its jus tt for the past few years being apart of DR...and a worship leader, a person so passionate abt the music ministry...i have tis burden upon my heart...a burden for the music team....a burden for the worship team....and most of all...a burden for the youths in DR.

Time and time...whenever i get up on the platform to lead worship...i struggle to comprehend how some youths seem so ignorant abt the presence of God? How can these youths jus stand there while everyone is jus entering into God's presence and not respond to the Holy Spirit?

Jus had an opportunity to lead worship today...i knew tt it was going to happen...the same kind of response would come from those significant few...but i was desperately praying...believeing tt God will have his way.

Was i not believing hard enough? Was i expecting too much from the youths, from God? What can i do to improve tis situation tt our youth group is facing...an attitude of ignorance towards the One and only God?

Cheryl

WAiTinG Sux...buT StiLL...

Having come back from Thailand...I'm facing a period of nothingness...spiritually speaking......not so much of having lost the sense of wanting to grow spiritually...but not sure where to begin becoz life is just full of uncertainty and complications.

Its now 2:17am in the morning...I'm unable to sleep...WhY? Thoughts...hate it when that happens...my body is tired and sick but my mind is working like a 24hr hawker centre in Singapore..hehe..u dun get tt in Australia.

Manage to really spend some quality time with the BIG GUY...and i tink i really needed this QT wif Him...jus thinking abt how i can really make my future work and other issues in life...and at the end of the discussion wif the BIG GUY...i've concluded tt what I'm experiencing now is..well simply...WAITING!

I mean...we wait all the time...but how many of us know that waiting in God terms can be like waiting from 1 day to 5years..or 40years (let's hope tt doesn't apply to any of us). I was telling God how hard it is for me to be waiting all the time...not being filled in on what my future will be like or what His purpose is for me...etc...and this is what He had to say:

Waiting is either to build your character...or a way in which I [God] tell u that u need to take a rest. And i'm like...building my character..okay, that i can accept. But asking me to rest...how can...life is so short...there is so many things that i want to do for myself and for you [God]...how can i possibly rest. And even then...rest for how long? He replied:

1) Wait Quietly: "Be still and know that I am God"...and i will make you become the instrument of my purpose...u need the strength to fulfill the job i have for you...RELAX!!

2) Wait Hopefully: "No one whose hope is in You will ever be put to shame...you are God my Savior" (Psalms 25:3, 5)...Biblical hope is the confident assurance that God's inchage no matter what.

3) Wait Obediently: takes place by aligning my actions as closely as i can with scriptural principles and asking God to adjust my attitude.

So for those of you who are like me...waiting without any direction, feeling really lost and hopeless...i hope this will encourage you all to keep waiting purposefully for God's plan is not to harm you or to shame you...it is so that you can always be ready to be all that He wants you to be.

In the mean time...i will try and wait purposefully...but also praying desperately hard for another answer besides "WAIT"!

God bless,
Cheryl

Lesson 1: Mission trip to thailand

What a great opportunity the eight of us had...to be able to go to Khon Kean...the fourth largest city in thailand....to be able to minister to the 36 kids who unfortunately are HIV positive.

The time spent at that home really made me see how God plays a role in the lives of these young innocent kids who probably are still too young to know what's right from wrong.

I had already spent a day and a half with the kids...playin wif them...screaming wif them and watching tv wif them...and it was one of those moments where there was no extra distraction and u start asking yourself those "WHY" questions: why do these kids have to suffer from this disease..when they are so innocent and pure?

I asked myself that question and voiced it out to Helen, an australian lady full of compassion, who was part of the mercy foundation who helped these orphans. And she said this....

Even though thhese kids have this unfortunate disease...when they didn't deserve it...the fact that there are in this home...still breathing...its a miracle in itself. She continued telling me that many of these kids were probably 2 or 3years of age found abandoned or left beside their dead parents on the streets. Many, becoz of the disease, were very very sick and mulnorished. She also added that most of these kids were specially brought in..noone actually goes out there to hunt for kids. So in that sense...these children were actually God sent to be taken cared of.

There was tis kid called CAPTAIN...he was 5 years old when he was brought into the home by Helen. Everyone was shocked that she brought him in becoz of his condition. When he was brought in...he weighed only 9kg. That is probably the weight of his bones. He was very very sick and mulnorished. But still Helen said that he would be alright. And true enough...i saw him, now 11years old and he is one of the big brothers in the home...leading his younger brothers. What a leader he has become.

There are other amazing stories of these kids who could easily have died in an instant becoz of their low immune system...but yet...God sent pple to take care of them and give them a chance to live. Helen was saying that before, kids had no motivation to live as long as into their early teens. Most of them would die by a tender age of 9years old. But becoz of God's love...teams from ard the world coming to visit them each month...and heaps of prayer from the staff...they are seeing a change in the lifespan of these kids. Many are now entering their early teens becoz they've got something to look forward to each day.

God's love was really in that house. They would have morning and afternoon devoution each day...singing praises to God...and recieving lots of love from the staff. My prayer is that they will continue to live life to the fullest and that another miracle from God would cure them from this disease.

Just two days before we left...there was a praise story that two girls who were diagnosed as HIV positive...now at the age of 3 and 5, have been diagnosed as HIV negative....tt's a miralce...PRAISE GOD...

Matthew 19:26
" Jesus lloked at them and said, 'With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible'."

Cheryl

Land of Smiles...

What a trip to Thailand......what an experience.........what a ride.......what a great spiritual awakening moment for many of us....

...Wat an AWESOME GOD we serve...

Cheryl