Following Christ is not as straight forward as I thought. It can be pretty messy. There’s actually a book called Messy Christianity by Mike Yaconelli, a very good read. The cross was stained with blood and plasma, and resurrection doesn’t mean reversal (despite what some preachers have said). We are to count the cost of …
For the longest time since I was invited to ponder on the last days of Jesus, I found myself reluctant to go deep into the garden of Gethsemane. It was too much for me. Gethsemane was a place of intense struggle. It was where Jesus sweated blood. Hematohidrosis is a medical condition arising from extreme …
As an Asian and a first-generation adult convert, I wasn’t brought up with the traditions of Christmas. I vaguely remember as an adopted child, being brought to my natural parent’s house, and they had carolling there. I remember being baptised on Christmas day 1981, in Faith Lutheran Church, Penang. There was one Christmas when I …
Five years on… It has been 5 long years since Pastor Raymond Koh was suddenly taken away in February 2017, yet it seems like just yesterday. So much has happened since. We now know Pr. Raymond was abducted by the Special Branch of the Malaysian police, just like the Shiite activist Amri Che Mat, in …
In early April, I went back to physical church for the first time in 25 months! It was a strange surreal experience, like travelling back in time. A contrast to those lockdown months of a hundred virtual encounters, of faces lined up in rectangular boxes, muted and unmuted, only to disappear after an hour or …
Gratitude is the memory of the heart. I love this definition of gratitude, which I have been using for the longest time. You may think that I coined this phrase up, ah.. but I am not that clever. I borrowed it because I love the connotation of bubbling joy welling out of a grateful heart. …
Yes, gratefulness is what I am feeling, as I write, as I treasure those memories of past and present. My heart was strangely warmed when I listened to how John Cheah patiently taught his little ones (his write-up here) how to pray “our Father” to our Father. Angels must have pricked their ears at the …
What’s so special about this Yellow-vented Bulbul on a lamp? Well, to me it is special, because this is my hailing bird! About a year ago, on 16 November 2020, I was woken up with a strong inner prompting to go watch the sun-rise downstairs. And so I heeded. I took the lift from the …
Laughing Out Loud! Most of us will make out that is what LOL meant! Some older folks like me will remember that it was also Lots Of Love! Here, in this article, I will take it to mean Labour Of Love! LOL indeed! This notion sparked off when a friend told me she slept only …
I turned and saw … I must have used this phrase a few dozen times now, ever since I took up that weapon of vivification – that gift-camera, about 11 months ago, shooting celestial bodies and everything that moves! I turned and saw two eyes staring at me. There she was, a beauty among the …
