TRY FINDING JOY IN THIS MESS

Now that my sisters are back in Singapore and most of my friends are back for the holidays, I'm all alone in Melbourne. Life seems to be pack with no activities, leaving me with lots of quality 'me-time'. A good thing? Probably. But we all know that too much of a good thing isn't that good too.

Seeing that I had time to spare, i chose to continue reading "The Barbarian Way" by Erwin. As i was reading the second chapter, something he wrote caught my attention. He introduced John the Baptise and how he was close to getting his head be-headed. John decided to inform Jesus. And instead of dropping everything he was doing at hand, Jesus said (in Matt 11:6) "Blessed is the man who does not fall away on account of me".

In lay man terms it probably means, "John, i'm not coming through for you. I'm not getting you out of prison. I'm not sparing your life. Yes, i have done all these miraculous things and can easily save you from the mess that you are in. But i choose a different path for you, which is different from others. You'll be blessed, John, if this does not cause you to fall away." Then the verse that Dan mentioned during this month's youth leaders' meeting (James 1:2-3) "...when troubles come your way, consider it an opportunity for great joy. For you know that when your faith is tested, your endurance has a chance to grow".

Personally, life may seem complicated and confusing. Decisions seem to be dependent on so many circumstances, which is making life even more difficult. In times like these, most of us would try and clothe ourselves with self-pity and continue to lead our miserable existence. Fortunately, after reading those two verses, I was really encouraged to see the good in everything that happens. After all, a close friend of mine said that life is too short and that we should learn to live every moment of it. I hope that as you have read this, you feel encouraged to pick yourself up and out of the current mess you are facing. I have to say though, it makes it so much easier for me, personally, knowing that there is some big guy up there watching over me and guiding me. If i make a wrong move, he would somehow rescue me.

Be blessed,
Cheryl

YESTERDAY, TODAY, TOMORROW P2

Something else to think about:

"Walking the path today, impacting the generations of tomorrow"

YESTERDAY, TODAY, TOMORROW

Here is something for you to think about:

Every "yesterday" was informing the "todays" of my life and that every "today" was formulating consequences that would become influential for the "tomorrows"

FUN MOMENTS

In the last week and a half, i had the luxury of spending my holidays with my awesome sisters from singapore and baddy friends. From Karaoke to a trip down Sorrento. It was ballistic!!

Nick trying to act cool, Tin being a doof-face, me, Jen who still can't smile with her eyes open, and Si Yun who....yeah si yun!

Gary, who is famous for his "funcky town" solo, Tin, and Nick, still trying to be act cool but in vain, Si yun and Jen.

A lovely girls group pic @ Karaoke at Glen!!

On Saturday we had an awesome cook-off: battle of the sexes iron-chef!!

Jen, Si yun and Pam (my mei mei)

While some were sober enough and had heaps of fun...

Others weren't that fortunate.....Oops!!

Down at Sorrento...........8 gals in a beach house!!

We went cherry-picking........had heaps of fun!!

Had many late nights...playing 'games', sharing super-lame...errmmm...jokes and watching the tennis masters series till 5am despite some of us not being that sober....

All in all...........it was a fantabalistic time with everyone. Hope my sisters from singapore had an awesomeness time.....if not "KILL ME NOW"...............peace!!

FOLLOW YOUR HEART

In life, we are faced with many life-changing moments where decisions have to be made in order for us to move forward. At times, the answers are obvious and straightforward. Other times, things are just not that easy. Such situtaions becomes more evident especially when we are at a crossroad of our lives and force to make a milestone-decision that could possibly make or break our future: should i continue studying or find a job? Or the typical question: is he/she the one for me? The common thing to do then is to try and analyze the situation, weight the pros and cons, and then decide on an appropriate outcome. But there are times when logic isn't enough.

Have you ever been faced with a delima where one moment your head tells you to do this, and the next moment your heart tells you to do otherwise? Which do you listen to? The objective or subjective part of you?

In movies you constantly hear people say, "what does your heart tells you?" My question to you is: how often do you allow yourself to listen to your heart and eventually follow it? Is it right to follow your heart or is it wrong because of its subjectivity?

Recently i came across this quote: "Jesus the King came to fight for your heart. If He has won your heart, then to follow your heart will always lead you to follow the heart of God."

After reading that quote, i ask myself the same question i asked you. Why shouldn't i not follow my heart? Afterall, God has won my heart and He is in it to stay for the long hauls...so why worry? I don't know, call my naive but maybe we ought to give ourselves some credit and trust ourselves a bit more when it comes to listening to our hearts and follow what it says. Psalm37: 4 says "delight yourselves in the Lord and He will give you the desires of your heart".

God bless,
Cheryl

DAY @ DANDENONG

The day @ Dandenong started out having branch @ PIE IN THE SKY....7 pies + 6 raisin toasts + 2 bowls of chips = ideal pig's lunch

Then we head up to the Observatory, thinking that we could walk off all the junk we ate. Did it work?? You can decide for yourself. At the observatory, we errrmmm.........this is kinda freaky to say but, errmmm.....we met two really weird asian guys. Dunno why they were always following.

What is even more scary is that they casually join in our group photos. Seriously, how weird can australian asian men get?? Dodgy stuff man!!

After walking.......for less than 30min....we drove down to Ms Marples for a 'sinful' afternoon-tea. When i mean sinful....i mean sinful....even by a guy's standard gary's stnd). But we all still had a great time at the end of the day.

Just want to say a big THANK YOU to Jen for the great entertaining car rides up and down Mt. D. And also to Gary and Wing (who were not that dodgy afterall) for joining us and making the day so much more enjoyable. THanks once again. We had fun!!

Peace out,

CHeryl