mugz n buzz

Swansong

2009-06-30T11:52:00.002+08:00

"By extension, swan song has become an idiom referring to a final theatrical or dramatic appearance, or any final work or accomplishment. It generally carries the connotation that the performer is aware that this is the last performance of his or her lifetime, and is expending everything in one magnificent final effort." (Source: Wikipedia)

A Swansong is one's final work or accomplishment. The last one. The final one.

This is our swansong.

It's been 2 years plus now since we started this blog. Many thoughts and ideas, many concerns and issues, many hopes and dreams have all been penned (a.k.a typed) here. We started this of as a place to express these things and hoping that it would be a place where we would be challenged, and a place to respond with our hearts.

We hope this has been the place for you.
We hope you have been challenged.
We hope that all that has been penned down here will be something that you can return to and think about over and over again.
Our hope here also is that some of the things that you have thought about or thinking about from the posts here won't remain stagnant, but be worked out in your life and the life of those around you.

My friends, its time to move. Time to move from our comfort zones. It's time to live.
And may God's Word always be our guide in whatever that we do. His Light unto our feet.

Mugz-N-Buzz will stop here for now till there may come a time to revive it again.

Cherring each and everyone one of you readers on...

Price Tag

2009-04-01T09:04:00.002+08:00

Yesterday, I heard a true story of a new Christian who was previously involved with vice activities. He left his old way of life to be a disciple of Christ. He not only gave up his large monthly income, but also began to practice abstaining from alcohol. Whenever he hangs out with his friends, they make fun of him for these two things. He simply says “Now I am a Christian, and Jesus says cannot get drunk.”

Have you counted the cost of being a disciple recently? We’ve had the Easter crucifixion replayed so many times in our minds that, as shocking as it is (the scary medical details; the violent scenes from the Passion movie; one of our church uncles drawing a beard, taking off his shirt and acting as a very Asian looking Jesus), we lose sight of Jesus himself and don’t ask Him or ourselves, “What will it cost?”

Strip away all the old layers of details and scenes, and return to that first Easter. Stand at the foot of the cross. What is the price Christ paid? Like the story I was told, can we hear Jesus asking us to pay a price? What is it that ‘Jesus says…’ to you?

Christ came to me the night he was betrayed,
Took my hands in His, asked “Will you obey?
Will you pay the price, when I have paid mine?
Through thick and thin, through test of time”

What are your thoughts on that first Easter? What will it cost you to be a Jesus disciple in your own community?

Sweeping Things Under The Carpet

2009-03-17T12:22:00.003+08:00

I was hungry,
and you formed a humanities group to discuss my hunger.
I was imprisoned,
and you crept off quietly to your chapel and prayed for my release.
I was naked,
and in your mind you debated the morality of my appearance.
I was sick,
and you knelt and thanked God for your health.
I was homeless,
and you preached to me of the spiritual shelter of the love of God.
I was lonely,
and you left me alone to pray for me.
You seem so holy, so close to God
but I am still very hungry – and lonely – and cold.

I read this in John Stott’s ‘Issues Facing Christians Today’. This poem was written by a homeless woman to a country vicar whose response to her appeal for help was a promise to pray for her. I felt it was borderline hypocrisy, this vicar. Then I thought, “I’m just like him!”

It is a major concern among us Christians today that many of us do not bother about our social responsibilities. Sure we’re very much involved in evangelism. We see eternity as far more important than our physical world right now. Good. But if that means neglecting our social responsibilities as Christians then I think we’ve gone off-balanced! Maybe, evangelism and social responsibility goes hand in hand. Maybe, our idea of missions (and missionary identity) ought to be stretched.

When confronted with the thought of social engagement, it would seem that what many of us do best now is to hide behind a façade of Christian ‘holiness’, hoping we wouldn’t have to get our hands dirty. Hoping a prayer or something will help solve the problem. And if the problem persists, we convince ourselves we have done everything we could. It’s like sweeping things under the carpet so it looks as if we’ve dealt with it, when really we’re just fooling ourselves.

Dear friends, do you think you’ll get anywhere in this if you learn all the right words but never do anything? Does merely talking about faith indicate that a person really has it? For instance, you come upon an old friend dressed in rags and half-starved and say, “Good morning, friend! Be clothed in Christ! Be filled with the Holy Spirit!” and walk off without providing so much as a coat or a cup of soup – where does that get you? Isn’t it obvious that God-talk without God-acts is outrageous nonsense?
James 2:14-17 (The Message)

Come and share, how did we become, as someone put it, so ‘heavenly minded to be of no earthly use’? How have we swept the social problems around us under the spick and span carpet of, apparently, our Christianity? And if you are currently engaged in social issues, come and share with us that too.

Movie Review-KAMI

2009-03-13T01:43:00.001+08:00

I watched the movie Kami last year. It was an intentional decision to watch a local movie. It was a good movie. Simple, straight to the point. ‘Kami’ is a movie of 5 Malay friends who live through the struggles of being teenagers in KL There are scenes of drug addiction, broken families, delinquencies, rejection and so on. But what kept me focused is actually in their friendship.

At first I thought that the movie focuses on the Malay community in KL but as I pondered later it was actually a typical problem for all peoples living in the big cities. Though our friend would not portray all these problems in one go but there are problems. And it is across the board – every race, religion, family background and economic standing

And what keeps me wondering is what actually ‘Good News’ is for us? Have we made evangelism into a fit all formula? You have friends with problems. How is Jesus Good News for them? Do share.

Our Majority Neighbours

2009-02-17T00:34:00.003+08:00

Being Malaysians and having lived in Malaysia for so many years now, it’s not surprising that every where we go, we are bound to see our Majority Neighbours around. In our campus, in our hostel blocks, in the apartment we stay in, in the housing area we are in, at the places we eat, at the post office and banks, everywhere! It’s no way we can escape it. But sometimes we do tend to turn our heads away from them; sometimes we automatically shut our eyes and ears towards them. Sometimes we also tend to make statements like “Aiya, they are like that wan la. Cannot help already”. Why? Perhaps it is the many prejudices we have towards them. Perhaps it is because someone with lower grades preceded us in a better university. Perhaps it is because of the political situations our country is in.

Stop. Listen to ourselves. Many times I myself have been caught red-handed generalizing our Majority Neighbours. But, really, aren’t we a lot like them too? We are as human as they are human too. We have needs just as they have needs too. We are broken just as they are broken too. We struggle with our studies just as they struggle too. We have fun and are crazy just as much as they have fun and are crazy. So then what makes us think that we are more of a human than they are or perhaps some may say, we are treated less of a human than they are?

I have a few Majority Neighbour good friends myself and I can very well say that they are just as human as I am. They are not like some robots that have been sucked into some kind of system. Some of them are in fact very nice people! They struggle just as much as I do. They work their way to succeed just as much as I do. They strive for spirituality and God just as much as I do. They cry and have fun just as much as I do. So yea, I’m just as much like them as they are like me. Sometimes we may think that they are the most privileged people in Malaysia. But in actual fact, many are not happy with the “privileges” given to them. They don’t have a freedom of religion. They don’t have as much of an opportunity in the secular world as we do because of the prejudices they face.

Perhaps it’s time we get thrown off of our seats to get to know our Majority Neighbours who sits next to us in class, or those who stay in the same block as us. Maybe even start by giving someone of the Majority Neighbour, who works in the post office, immigration office, post office, a smile to cheer their day up! Come back then and share your experiences with us. Perhaps you have already been a friend to our Majority Neighbours. Come and share with us your experiences too!

Outpost - Time Running Out

2009-02-02T14:44:00.003+08:00

I wish I had done much more in my university days.
I wish I could spend more time doing something good or helpful for the community in my campus.
I wish I knew more close friends of different races.

I wish, I wish, I wish...

There are so many wishes we hope to fulfill but time is ticking. Let’s not waste anymore time. By the time u know it, you are already graduating and moving to the next phase of your life. It doesn’t matter now whether you are still a student or already working. Each of us are stationed somewhere to guard, to protect, to do something good and to complete our mission.
Stand up, and fulfill your mission well!

Share with us good things you did for your campus or workplace and what you hope to do or achieve.

Jekyll and Hyde

2009-01-18T00:01:00.002+08:00

Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde[1] is a novella written by the Scottish author Robert Louis Stevenson and first published in 1886. It is about a London lawyer who investigates strange occurrences between his old friend, Dr. Henry Jekyll[2], and the misanthropic Mr. Edward Hyde.
The work is known for its vivid portrayal of a split personality, split in the sense that within the same person there is both an apparently good and an evil personality each being quite distinct from each other. The novella's impact is such that it has become a part of the language with the very phrase "Jekyll and Hyde" coming to mean a person who is vastly different in moral character from one situation to the next.
Sadly this duality is often found in churches, CFs and any where the Christian body is located. Clearly this is not something unusual for Paul has vividly described of his own struggles in the book of Romans in the Bible. But Paul did not end with a voice of defeat. Rather if you continue to read, he offers hope to live a real authentic Christian life which is anchored in Christ and not in our own abilities or good intentions.
We need to break out of this weekend Christian mould and fully embrace the liberty as God’s children. Not that I’m advocating immorality or freedom to do whatever we feel like doing. Far from that! What we as the Living Body of our Lord Jesus Christ should strive for is to stop any kind of pretension and desire to live holy, authentic Christ like lives. By doing this others will see that true transformation is possible.
Please do not feel discourage if you fail for our Lord is ever gracious to forgive if we truly repent. The temptation will always be to retreat back to our comfortable weekend Christian mould. We must resist that! Remember it is Christ that has brought you out of sin and given you the Holy Spirit to live out your new life. You’re not fighting this battle alone. Further more we as Christians should always offer grace instead of condemnation to our brothers and sisters in Christ.
The struggle to live an authentic Christ like life is not easy. There are times of victories and also times of failure we rather hide or even forget. These are real stories of God’s work in our lives. Please share these stories with us so that others will be encouraged and inspired.

Practice to Notice

2009-01-02T12:02:00.002+08:00

“Our culture has influenced us to see, hear, and notice certain things and ignore others. We tend to notice temporal things like new cars, consumer products that will improve our lives… – isn’t it amazing how we can notice discount? We notice people’s faults and sometimes enjoy poking fun at those faults… We notice successful people yet fail to notice that behind the veneer of confidence and certitude are often brokenness and dysfunction. As people who desire to live more intently in tune with God, the challenge is to retrain our eyes, our hearts and our ears to see life differently from what the world puts on our platter. When we begin to see life differently and more deeply, I believe we will find ourselves challenged to live more faithfully, passionately, and intentionally…”

The above are excerpts from a book titled Spotting the Sacred by Bruce Main.

Living in the city, one cannot escape the reality of being stuck in queues. I found myself at the post office waiting to be served. So I decided to read the book mentioned above. As I was reading the part about children, the lady beside me started to complain about the rowdy kids that a couple brought, to her companion. She scoffed at how the parents brought the whole family and was having an outing there. The children were loud, noisy and basically there were just being… themselves. Irritation began to build within me when all her comments were just disapproving the children and the parents. I finally decided to put away my book and look at the children. Sure they were loud; sure the kid cried but soon he was himself again.

Yet I realized they were spontaneous, speaking their minds, contented, and curious even with what seems to be an outing to the post office. They were alive compared to the lady beside me that could not see beyond the irritating, energy sapping children. I must have waited almost 30 minutes when my turn came. I was told my documentation was incomplete hence I could not proceed. I found myself holding my tongue. Instead of fuming at my mistake or blaming the personnel for time wasted, I became aware of how less alive I’ve become as compared to the children.

A mundane trip to the post office became a lesson about life and God calling me back to live- that was spirituality for me. A call to notice, that even in the ordinary, God is at work and continues to call us, if only we will retrain senses to notice such lessons wrapped in ordinariness!

Have you any stories or people to hold up that could help us to retrain our senses? Let’s help each other to notice the sacredness in the ordinary… that’s spirituality!

Let's Celebrate!

2008-12-16T17:29:00.005+08:00

Today is the 16th of December 2008. That's exactly 15 days to New Year's Day!

What are you going to do as you close this year? One thing we can do is to think of a person or persons whom we'd like to thank, and actually do take the time to thank them. We may want to thank them for their friendship, or because they did something nice for us this year, or to celebrate them even though there was a squabble between us.

Speaking of celebrating, I'm reminded of a book I read called 'Can You Drink This Cup?' by Henri Nouwen. In it, one of the things he talks about, among others, is the importance of holding our own cup - the act of looking in and reflecting on our lives.

"Just living life is not enough. We must know what we are living. A life that is not reflected upon isn't worth living."

He goes on to say that "the cup of life is the cup of joys as much as it is the cup of sorrow"
But what I will remember the most from this book is found in the following paragraph:
"We say to each other: in Latin, 'Prosit' (be well); in German, 'Zum Wohl' (to your well-being); in Dutch, 'Op je gezpndheid' (to your health); in English, 'Cheers'; in French, 'A votre sante' (to your health); in Italian, 'Alla tua salute' (to your health); in Polish, 'Sto lat' (a hundred years); in Ukrainian, 'Na zdorvia' (to your health); in Hebrew, 'L' chaim' (to life). The best summary of all these wishes is, 'to life'. We lift the cup (of life) to life, to affirm our life together and celebrate it as a gift from God. When each of us can hold firm our own cup, with its many sorrows and joys, claiming it as our unique life, then too, can we lift it up for others to see and encourage them to lift up their lives as well. "

Henri Nouwen encourages us not only to reflect on our lives, but also to celebrate it. And so, as year 2008 comes to an end, are you willing to hold your cup and lift it up, saying "to life"?

Waiting...waiting... waiting...

2008-12-05T14:54:00.003+08:00

Do you find yourself caught in a state of curiosity where you find yourself wondering what would happened or when things would happen? Sometimes our hope to take control over things causes curiosity to kill us. We seem to find it difficult to wait and see what would happen. Of course things would be much better if we have an assurance from someone to tell us that things would be alright.

So who is the person whom you can confide in? Who can you ask for assurance from? Are you in a place of waiting - unanswered questions you have, dreams you are clinging to, situations you are in, etc?

As the year is coming to an end and next year seems uncertain, let us remember to wait upon Him and His Word for assurance. Let us end this year and start the New Year together with Him and wait in anticipation for what God has in store for us in year 2009!

King David said in Psa 62:5 "Let all that I am wait quietly before God, for my hope is in him."

Movie review: 10 Promises to My Dog

2008-11-24T15:55:00.003+08:00

A man’s best friend has always been associated with a dog. A dog will walk alongside us on our roller-coaster journey of life. “10 Promises to My Dog” is a movie about the friendship of a 14 year old girl, Akari and her dog, Socks. Socks was first found at the backyard of Akari’s home. Akari’s mother approves of it on the condition that Akari keeps “The 10 Promises” – the 10 commandments of owning a dog. Hence begins the 10 years friendship filled with joy as well as setbacks which put Akari’s commitment to fulfill “The 10 Promises” to the test. “10 Promises to My Dog” is not merely just a movie about the friendship of Akari and Socks. It is a journey of two new and excited best friends, and how their lives intertwine in such a beautiful and mysterious way. But as time goes by and as Akari grows up, she was very much distracted by life, career and love, hence having Socks neglected. It shows us how often we are excited about something new and fresh but later on taking it for granted, realizing what is truly important when it’s usually too late.

This movie reminded me of the many forgotten first loves I had. It’s so natural to be excited over something new and fresh and yet so easy to forget about it when life happens, hardship hits and when love distracts. This immediately reminded me about the times when I had many exciting encounters with God when I was young. I remember the excitement I have when He answered my prayers. I remember the excitement I have when I was just spending time with Him. I remembered the excited young me, with nothing to worry about and would just make promises to my God. But along the way as I grew up, I start forgetting. I start forgetting the kind of excitement and first love I had for my God. I began to be more busy, more distracted and then leave my God aside. I didn’t disown Him, but I just did not really include Him. I slowly forget about my promises to Him. Of course, God being Himself and always being with us wouldn’t let go of us so easily. Time and time again He would always remind me of Himself, His unfailing love and His faithfulness and I come back to Him again.

Were there times in your life where you have been excited about your Christian faith and your first love to Jesus but later on forgot about it? Were there promises to God that you have made but have forgotten about it? Come, tell us your story and how you overcame it or still overcoming it. J

Take someone home

2008-11-07T14:04:00.006+08:00

The year end holiday season is just around the corner. :) Any plans for spending time with your family? Or planning for a short vacation for yourself? Going anywhere?

Why not do it the other way round? Instead of going on a vacation, why not invite your friends to your home? Or invite them to spend Christmas with you? You can host them for a couple of days - show them around your hometown, go sight-seeing, chomp on local delicacies, bring them to your church, and so many other things you can do. At the same time, you can share your family with them, as well as your lifestyle and culture. You may even learn a thing or two about them and their culture.

Some of our friends may not be able to go home for the year end and Christmas holidays, especially those from East Malaysia or other countries. This is a good opportunity for them to visit other places in Malaysia they have never been to. (Note: All of our hometowns do have something to offer. We just need to open our eyes and ears.) You can also invite those from other states within Peninsula Malaysia. It will be an eye-opener for many. And for us, hosting our friends is a good way of learning how to show hospitality to others.

Are you up for inviting/hosting a friend to your HOME SWEET HOME?

A Servant's Heart

2008-10-20T11:49:00.003+08:00

Towards the end of every semester, without fail, passionate appeals are made, “Who wants to serve? Who can be leader of this ministry or that portfolio?"

Is the word ‘service’ becoming too much of a cliché? It would seem when everyone is talking about serving God or service, it’s inevitably linked to some ‘position’. Even the idea of 'servant leadership' sounds as if God called some of us to be leaders and it’s a progression from servant to leader.

The truth is that God calls ALL of us to be servants. Period. The biblical image is one of servant, not leader. While there is a place for leadership role but the fundamental identity of the believer is that of a servant.

Did you know that the Greek word for servant, ‘doulos’ can also be translated as slaves?

Turing the Power Scale Upside Down!

“I am among you as one who serves.” Luke 22:27

Jesus called them together and said, “You know that those who are regarded as rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their high officials exercise authority over them. Not so with you. Instead, whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first must be slave of all. For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.” Mark 10:42-45

He has set the example. All who claims to follow Him must count the cost and carry this cross to follow Him. It is not about greatness, but servanthood. God calls us first as servants. This radical service to God and to each other is the mark of discipleship and a sign to the world that the Kingdom of God is here, among us…

Mother Teresa once said that we can do no great things, only small things with great love.

“Who wants to serve?” or perhaps more accurately “Who wants to be a servant?” Any takers?

To run or not to run...

2008-10-07T11:29:00.004+08:00

“When you hit the water, reality will hit you. You're not dead yet, but will you live?”

God was dealing with Jonah, but He was keeping him alive too. Disappointed and running away from God. YET, when times got bad, God still heard him.

Then there’s the people of Nineveh who understood their lesson - you sin, you die.

As Christians, there is a danger for us to think: "Oh, I'm past that already. I'm already saved." If you've notice how hard Jonah struggled, you might already realise that your struggling has just begun. God is not content to leave you as you are. Jonah is a story of a passive man facing a very active God. A God who is telling you to look beyond your own salvation.

“I'm glad you're saved, Jonah, what about this great city? My heart is bigger than yours, and I want you to care more than just a plant. As my messenger, I will look out for you.

But before you teach others, I will teach YOU. The lessons that you bring to others, must pierce your heart first. Every day, you and I will check if you are going the right direction, and I CARE enough to stop you when you choose to go the opposite direction.

You will see moments of grace, when you stop running and come to your senses. I will show you how it's done - how to care for people who are different than you, hateful to you, even. You will find moments when you will feel very strongly about something, and you may be WRONG about feeling it.

You will have moments when the sacrifice seems too much, and I will show you how shallow your heart is, to care so much for things that are so small, so temporary, when there are bigger things, things that matter more in eternity - and these are worth Me working with You to reach out to.

As I make you fit to be My messenger, your lessons will help you see My heart. In my relationship with you, I want to bring you to other people whom I also care for. And when you deal with them, I want you to turn to Me.”

Jonah had his call and a message to bear. And a people to tell it to. It’s been less than a month since we heard the message of Jonah. How easy we forget, that we are Jonah many times over. We are Jonah when we….

We invite you to help each other recall.

WARGANEGARA: MALAYSIA

2008-09-23T13:57:00.008+08:00

I am Malaysian. Born, bred, kindergarten, school, university. All – in

Malaysia

.
But does that really make me a Malaysian?

I am Malaysian. I love to eat all the kinds of food that we have here. Satay, Char kuey teow, Nasi Lemak, Banana leaf rice. Food available 24 hours.
But does that really make me a Malaysian?

I am Malaysian. I love the weather. Not too hot, not too cold. The sun is bear-able, the rain can be tolerated.
But does that really make me a Malaysian?

I am Malaysian. The variety of people. Malay, Chinese, Indian, Sikh, Kadazan, Iban, Dayak, Asli, etc.
But does that really make me a Malaysian?

I am Malaysian. I don’t plan to migrate overseas. Malaysia is my home.
But does that really make me a Malaysian?

I am Malaysian. Despite the arguments people have, I have freedom of worship. I get to go to church regularly and meet up with my Christian friends.
But does that really make me a Malaysian?

I am proud to be Malaysian, even though the political situation doesn’t seem to be going well, racial issues are on the rise, and not forgetting the inflation rates.

But what really makes me a Malaysian? Is it because ‘I’ enjoy life here and am comfortable? Or is it because God has placed me in this country Malaysia for a reason – so His Gospel will be known throughout the world including Malaysia, even though the situation is tough?

We just celebrated Hari Malaysia on Sept 16^th. We celebrated 45 years of the formation of MALAYSIA. I am Malaysian!

So my friends, what about you? What makes you a Malaysian?

Do dreams come true?

2008-09-02T18:12:00.004+08:00

'Nation' awareness has never been as high as now, among students, not since the AUKU came into place (for the uninitiated, go ahead and google it :). Having experienced the most unexpected results during the March 8 General Election and witnessed the crushing defeat of BN in the Permatang Pauh by-election, calls for change of better governance, transparency, racial reconciliation, a Malaysian Malaysia is actually being dreamt off.

It's been 6 months since then and we just celebrated Hari Kemerdekaan (or is it Hari Kebangsaan?). We also need to face up to the realities that to leave the fate of our country in the hands of the politicians would not suffice. We too have our responsibility to shoulder. September and the months ahead are bound to be exciting times. It's time to rise, to be counted.

What were some of the things that you've thought of, maybe few months ago, but have yet to take actions? Or if you have, how's the progress been?

The STUDENT world is bigger....

2008-08-19T11:09:00.003+08:00

The student world is bigger…..

How big? Well, at the just-concluded EARC (East Asia Regional Conference) in Tokyo, Japan, 14 countries, 360 participants came together, representing only a fraction of the millions of students in East Asia.

What’s the big deal? In the course of the conference, each country’s student movement shared about their own unique circumstances. All together, it was a wonderful mix of stories ranging from persecution, to apathy, to underground victories, to resourcefulness in finding ways to worship God under watchful eyes, to ignorance towards nation and region, and history.

The call was to start rebuilding. Start rebuilding just as Nehemiah did. But it has to come with personal mourning, confession of sins, and a love for God’s kingdom.
At first glance, it doesn’t seem fair to ask a persecuted student to rebuild anything as compared to a student in a country where there is religious freedom. But all came to see that in whatever circumstances, we are called to extend beyond our little world and to use our youthfulness to rebuild our country, our region, our world.

The call to rebuild, unified students from many countries. It also opened our eyes to the fact that although we may have different ways of worshipping, different ways of living, different cultural expectations, we all served the one God. And just imagine, if ALL CHRISTIAN STUDENTS lived their whole lives, all for God, what an earthquake to the world’s society that would be.

The Christian student world in Malaysia may not be very big, the Christian student world in Thailand, Indonesia, Japan (less than 1% are Christians) may not be very big. But the world’s Christian student movement is bigger. Will we commit ourselves and our CF – the Malaysian student movement – to this bigger movement of earth-shaking potential? How does that change our perspective of our CF?

Red and Yellow, Black and White

2008-07-31T23:02:00.002+08:00

I remember singing the song “Jesus loves the little children, then “red & yellow, black & white” when I was young (I think I was 5 years old then). All I knew at that time was Jesus loves the little children but it didn’t occur to me about the ‘difference in colour’.

Now, as I think of that song, I give thanks for two very good friends of mine, who are of different skin colour from me. We share many things with each other, from our struggles to things we go through in our families. They also are my friends who saw me through the difficult times. I treasure their friendships a lot.

Hey, it’s possible to build good friendships, not just the ‘hi and bye’ kind or online buddies, but deeper friendships with people of ‘different colour’.

Feel free to share your thoughts about this.

“I see the beauty in the tones of our skin” (D.C. Talk – Coloured People)

Stoppp....!!!

2008-07-22T18:07:00.003+08:00

A friend once advised me to journal, saying “It’s the stop that keeps you going.” I found what she said to be true. Pausing to stop and reflect allows me time to consider my next step.

But this ‘stop’ is more than just journaling. It’s a lifestyle of stopping so that we can keep going. It’s a habit of taking time off consciously to recover, uncover and discover.

To recover is to stop to rest physically, to recover from a long day’s work or a tiring week. When we are busy, the first thing that decreases is the number of hours we sleep. There’s nothing really wrong with that, but we must learn to schedule in sleeping time later. Let us not be caught as persons who have to fill up every hour of the day with activities.

To uncover is to be silent before God and ourselves in order to lay bare and allow different concerns/worries/issues/events to surface. To think about what caused us to make a certain decision, why did I feel like that, why did that event/person affect me in this particular way? To uncover is to remove the many masks we’ve hidden behind so that we can see more clearly the feelings, thoughts, and experiences deep within ourselves.

To discover is to be able to see things in a new light, in a fresh way; to be recharged and re-energized; able to make sense of things. When we stop to reflect and be quiet, we find a sense of motivation, desire, and hope to go on, or to go a different direction. When we stop to reflect, we notice new things about ourselves, others, and the situation/circumstance we’re in. Often times, we miss the chance to notice what God is doing in our life, because we’re too busy to stop.

Have you made time for “the stop that keeps you going”? What are some discoveries that you’ve made about yourself or God lately?

Chronicling Our Lives

2008-07-07T03:49:00.002+08:00

A word.
A phrase.
A drawing.
A picture.
A person.
Something that stays with you.

These are some of the examples of journaling. Journaling is not about writing a whole days events down. It’s not a diary. It’s just capturing a one or two a few things that remains with you for a particular day/moment. It can come in many forms

We always ask the questions like ‘what has God been up to in my life?’ or ‘has God been working in my life?’ Do you know that the Bible tells us that we are God’s poimea? Ephesians 2:10 says that we are His workmanship (poiema)… He is at work at all times in our lives, but do we notice it?

Come my friends, start jotting something down. Start capturing moments. Start taking snapshots of what’s going on in your life. Start ‘chronicling’ what’s been happening. We are His poimea and He is at work. A chronicle captures all the necessary moments in one's life. By journaling, we are able to capture and chronicle what are the happenings in our lives, and we may come to realize the things that God may be up to in our lives. After all, we are His poiema, His masterpiece. He IS at work in HIS masterpieces, US.

Are you able to see what He is up to in your life? Grab your materials. Start chronicling. Do u want to allow God's poiema to unfold for you to see? Then it's never too late to start.

Walk The Talk

2008-06-17T16:29:00.002+08:00

Whether you realized it or not, we’re reaching the half-way mark of the year! 6 months have already passed us by. Perhaps it is good for us to pause for a little while and ponder how the past 6 months have been for us…

If you have journeyed with us on our blog since the beginning of the year, you would remember that we took a look at our identity as Malaysians. Remember the weeks before March 8? Remember the excitement in our political scene? Everyone seemed to be talking about the state of our country and longed to see changes. Now that the excitement has sort of died down, are our eyes still open to what is happening in our country, or are we back to our own little world? Do we still long to engage our society and do our part as Malaysians, or do we think that we’ve already done our part when we cast our votes on that day? Surely there’s more to being a Malaysian than doing that…

We were also challenged to live out our identity as missionaries on campus. Have you committed yourself to being one by putting your signature on the MI Card? How has it been thus far? Is there any progress in reaching out to the International students in our midst, after reading the experiences of one of them on our blog? Have we become more sensitive to their needs?

Perhaps it is also a time for us to pause and reflect on how our relationship with God has progressed in the past 6 months. We remembered Christ’s death and God’s power in raising Him up from the dead during the Easter season. What does all this mean to us? Is it just a theological truth that we were taught and celebrate once a year, or does this fact that God made Christ Lord of all the earth affect the way that we live our lives, the way that we make decisions when we stand at the crossroads of our lives?

We invite you to pause as we reach the end of the first half of the year and think through some of the things that were mentioned on this blog or what God has opened our eyes to in the past 6 months. Perhaps this is the time to pick up again the things that we were determined to do and ask God to help us do them…

Holiday... God?

2008-06-06T12:01:00.004+08:00

Holidays… Days free from work that one may spend devoted to rest or pleasure days filled with family, hometown friends, home-cooked food, family business, lazing away, visiting places……What is your holiday full off? Mine's full of food, lying on the floor and reading story books. Full of doing nothing important, full of 'no plans' days. It is really a time to put aside the usual routine of life and fill it with 'other things'. So what are these things we put aside during our holidays? Our studies, our work, our campus friends (since everyone 'balik kampung'), maybe even our church activities? MAYBE ALSO OUR GOD? How many of us feel as if we leave God behind as we start our holidays and when we return to campus, we 'pick up' God again? It is as if we go into a cocoon from the 'spiritual world' for the holidays and 'reemerge' when the semester starts again. Where is God in our long holidays? We go home, stay home, do all the holiday things, and come back to campus feeling that there was something 'missing' or not quite fulfilling in our holidays. Ever felt that way? I have. Till I went on a holiday with some friends who kept bringing God into the picture, who actually brought their Bible along….and read it….that I saw how God is everywhere. Even in my holidays!! Why don't you try 'packing' God with you as you embark on your holiday, wherever that may be. Where is GOD in YOUR holidays? Come share with us your holiday experiences…..

Super Hero? You, Me or .....?

2008-05-15T12:48:00.005+08:00

I’ll like to think that life is like how this movie started- by propelling one to ask what happened and then the story unfolds.

Why? In that way, we maintain a certain curiousity to life and are always interested and interests makes us want to be involved.

The first ‘real’ question was when Dr Yinsen, his fellow captive asked John, “Who do you have to go home to”*

That was like ‘bang!’ and he realized - nobody.

The second was during Dr Yinsen’s dying moments, “Make sure you make your life count.”*

In that epiphany moment for John, which a sacrifice of a life was a means to it, he realized the sum of his life at that moment – he had everything yet strangely nothing.

So armed with an awakened conscience, John decided to reform his life and to think through what really matters. Betrayal and intrigue are added, as the cause that he was now fighting for, is set against a backdrop of wealth and power. And with wealth and power, we’ve read and seen enough to know humans will never be immune to these temptations, rise another powerful villain.

Iron Man’s theme about a superhero, “A hero with a list of character flaws”* who rights the wrong that has been done, add the good looks and of being born privilege, will certainly sell the movie. Perhaps that is why Hollywood is able to reach many more than we do – it reads the people well and feeds into their ‘needs’. After all, once in a while, we too would like to be a hero.

But ours is also a story etched against a backdrop of injustice, power, wealth and privilege for the selected few. But unlike the story we don’t have a suit that can help us right the wrongs. That the Bible tells us that God is the superhero ultimately. Ironically his suit is human beings and his timing? As long as the history of mankind exists.

While I already know the ending to that, I still can’t wait for the final frame.

Watched any movie recently? Shocked at how you’ve ‘connected’ with the movie? Why not take time to soak in why it stirred you and pen it down. Those are the moments something within is resonating, don’t let it pass you by.

*All quotes from the movie is a reinterpretation of the writer’s point of view

Berdiri Di Persimpangan Jalan (Standing @ The Crossroad)

2008-05-02T11:15:00.003+08:00

Ada seorang pengembara yang berjalan di tengah hutan. Setelah sekian lama di dalam pengembaraan itu, dia sampai di satu persimpangan jalan yang dia tidak tahu ke mana arah tujuan seterusnya atau jalan yang mana harus dia lalui. Dalam masa yang terdesak itu, dia teringat akan nasihat yang dia dengar sebelum memulakan pergembaraan tersebut. “balik lah kepangkal jalan”.

Kadang-kala kita lalui perkara yang sama di dalam kehidupan kita seharian. Banyak perkara yang memerlukan kita membuat keputusan yang tepat dan munasabah. Kerana setiap keputusan yang bakal kita ambil akan membawa

kesan kepada kita. Kesan samada baik atau buruk bergantung kepada keputusan yang kita ambil tadi. Seperti pengembara tadi, dia mempunyai pilihan untuk memilih salah satu jalan yang ada di persimpangan itu, tetapi yang pasti setiap keputusan atau jalan yang akan ditempuhi bakal tidak diketahui arah tujuannya. Atau dia membuat pilihan untuk mengikuti nasihat yang dia dengar sebelum ini, “baliklah ke pangkal jalan”. di sini, peribadi kita sendiri memainkan peranan untuk membuat setiap keputusan. Ambil contoh, cerita Nehemia dalam Kitab Nehemia. Memegang satu jawatan yang terpenting di dalam Istana (Pembawa minuman di Raja), tetapi akhirnya membuat keputusan meninggalkan jawatan tersebut. Perbuatan Nehemia ini adalah tindak balas daripada apa yang berlaku kepada dia secara peribadi. Dalam erti kata lain, rasa yang tidak tenteram dan kerinduan yang teramat mendalam kepada tempat asal nya-Yerusalem, membawa dia sanggup membuat satu keputusan yang terbesar didalam hidup dia. Yang pasti, hubungan doa dia dengan Tuhan dan keterbukaan dia terhadap raja atau tuannya membantu setiap keputusan yang di buat oleh Nehemia.

Begitu juga dengan kita sebagai seorang yang percaya kepada Tuhan Yesus Kristus. Pengelaman kita dengan Dia secara perbadi membawa kita kembali kepada Nya dan keterbukaan kita untuk berkongsi permasalahan kita di dalam membuat keputusan amat membantu apa-apa keputusan kita dipersimpangan jalan itu. Perasaan yang tidak tenteram dan keinginan yang begitu ketara di dalam peribadi Nehemia beserta sokongan daripada tuannya mendorong Nehemia percaya bahawa keputusan yang dia buat adalah betul dan tepat. Perasaan yang tidak tenteram itu dan keinginan yang teramat mendalam terhadap tempat nya-Yerusalem itu adalah doa peribadi Nehemia. Sama seperti pengembara tersebut, yang pasti akan melihat kembali kepangkal jalan melihat pengelaman-pengelaman yang dia lalui sepanjang jalan dan membuat keputusan berdasarkan apa yang ada disekelilingnya untuk meneruskan perjalan tersebut. Ya keadaan sekitar pengembara itu mungkin boleh membantu dia di dalam membuat keputusan tersebut…

The Student Chronicle

2008-04-22T11:56:00.002+08:00

Have u heard of the Chronicle of Narnia? What about Spiderwick Chronicles? Weren’t they pretty good movies. But have you heard about The Student Chronicle that is to be released in June 2008? No it’s not a movie. Read on to find out more.

“Generally a chronicle is a historical account of facts and events in chronicle order. Typically, equal weight is given for important events and less important events, the purpose being the recording of events that occurred.” (Source: Wikipedia.com)

The Student Chronicles encompasses pages to journal in, mini-calendars, real-life stories of students and graduates, questions to reflect upon, and many more. It will be a perfect companion for you as a student, on your journey throughout university/college life. It has been prepared for a maximum of a 3-year journey throughout your student life. It will allow you to jot down and remember some of the things that you have been up to during university/college life. (But this is not a diary!) It will be a good guide to see what God has been up to also in our lives.

We’re excited and can’t wait for its release!!! Are u ready for The Student Chronicle?

He's Not There

2008-04-04T12:54:00.002+08:00

After the curtain has been drawn, the last stage light put out and all the casts wiped off their make-up and hung their wardrobe, the recent Easter play will become just another buzz word for the next few days. Or should it be? What does Easter really mean to us? Have we made it to another ritual play, a yearly staple adding on to the already many ‘Christian things’ we need to do? Two thousand years ago the scenario was not much different. From the Triumphal Entry of Jerusalem right till the Crucifixion, the breathtaking pace of the drama as it unfolded left very little room for the people present to make sense of all the going on. The after taste of the drama varied. For most it was another gruesome end to a good man, for the disciples it was a sledgehammer blow to their dream and for the religious elites it was pure relieve from the thorn in their flesh. But what is the aftertaste of the recent Easter for you? Just like the two disciples on their way to Emmaus, all too often we left the ‘Play’ going back to our daily struggles, hardly could recall what the ‘Message’ of the ‘Play’ is (Luke 24:13-32). We left feeling disillusioned and disappointed. Where is the power?! Where is the New Kingdom?! Have we also forgotten the ‘Message’ today? Unknowing to the two disciples, Jesus’ presence was not far from them. Like them, though we may not recognize Him in our midst, He is there. Let us not be too quick to reset our eyes to our daily struggles. Linger on a little longer. Listen to what the ‘Lone Traveler to Emmaus’ has to offer. And in doing so, we too may be able to echo the same words the disciples said two thousand years ago, “Were not our hearts burning within us…” The Message of Easter is still relevant and powerful. It was never meant to be a Shakespearish drama. It was meant for you.

Every Votes Counts

2008-03-18T14:08:00.004+08:00

“Every vote counts!” this used to be a cliché is Malaysian politics until the 8th of March 2008. With this single vote many Malaysians finally understood what it means to have a voice in our country. It also meant that everyone had a path in actually determining the future (the next five years at least) of our country. It was a euphoric moment for many of us. Finally we can see and hope for accountability in our legislative process.

But as the dust begin to settle, reality strikes back. Is our contribution just limited on that one vote? Do we or can we be more involved in the running of this country? Or do we just go back to our normal religious contribution of just praying and fasting for our leaders? Do not doubt the importance of praying and fasting but surely there is more that we can do.

Do share on how you think we can contribute to this country. Be creative as many of us really want to know of our place in this country.

World Full Of Strangers

2008-03-03T12:54:00.007+08:00

“Sadly enough, making friends with local Malaysian students in my university (I don’t know if it is true for others) has been a very difficult and frustrating effort to most of us, the blacks. During the first few months of our arrival, we were so excited at the thought of having new friends and thought that we could adapt easily. But unfortunately, making friends with Malaysians has not been very easy. Standing before our course-mates often times get them scared. Many a times they leave the road for us when they see us coming towards their direction. We would often ask ourselves, “Why? What have we done?” What makes the situation worse is the fact that some fellow Christian students, sorry to say, behave the same way towards us. This is the thing that pains me the most.”
“Some of us got to find out that before our arrival, the local students that were supposed to study together with us went to the school authority and told them that they don’t want to learn together with us. They were so serious about it that the school just had to grant them this request and they never learnt with us. We were taught separately for the first two semesters of our foundation programme. They did everything possible to see that we didn’t have anything in common with them. When it came to group assignments, they would want only the Malaysians to be in their group and us, the non-Malaysians, to be on our own. There was no good interaction with local students. We were all alone and we feel so rejected.”
We, Malaysians, are often warned not to talk to strangers, and the media portrays the Blacks as being aggressive and dangerous. All these often shape the way we view and treat them. But Jesus calls us to live a counter-culture life, and He leaves us an example to follow – He reached out to those who were rejected by others. What did Jesus mean when He asked us to “Love your neighbours”? Have we forgotten that the international students are also our neighbours?
I was told by some international students that they would very much appreciate it if we could just acknowledge their presence by giving them a smile or just talking to them when we see them. However, the sad reality is that we often see the international students being segregated from the local students.
Come let us follow the example of our Lord Jesus, by reaching out to the international students in our midst and welcoming them. Let us share with them the love that we ourselves have experienced through our Lord Jesus Christ.

MI Challenge

2008-02-16T22:25:00.002+08:00

The MI. CARD is a small, name-card sized card that basically helps a student commit to one thing: being a missionary on the campus. Carry it in your wallet, next to your IC... one tells you "I'm Malaysian", another says "I'm Missionary". It is a pledge, a commitment. Take care and give thought then, when you make the choice to put your signature on the card...but imagine the impact if every CF member lived to serve and to reach those in their social circles on campus! Together with strategies or plans in CF, the card helps us say "Hey...know what I am? A missionary." and to live and act with that consciousness. Available from your staffworker now.

Something Fishy is a training on friendship evangelism. Evangelism that's not hit and run, that's not the crouching-tiger-hidden-dragon kind of waiting to pounce on unsuspecting victims. It's evangelism with soul, built into the lives we share with our friends on campus. Wanting them to know Christ, yet letting them make sense of Him through their own stories, their own experiences. And along the way, we learn a bit more about ourselves and our own journey in the faith. Interested? Every region has got one planned (check them out under the regional calendars on our FES site), so pencil those dates down...on second thought, write them in bold marker, and make sure you don't miss it!

* Are you itching to be reaching, are you raring to get going? Ask your staffworker for more about the above.

Snapshots of Life

2008-02-04T14:55:00.000+08:00

“Fold your hands, bow your head, close your eyes and we’ll pray”. That was the way I was being taught to pray from the time my little 5 years old feet first stepped into Sunday school. There’s nothing wrong with praying with your eyes closed. But through the years, I felt something is missing in my prayer life – my spiritual life. Somehow I was being conditioned to think that spirituality is always formed in the closet of solitude with my eyes tide shut away from the distractions of the world. So I grew up unknowingly crippled in the art of seeing – contemplative seeing. My serendipitous discovery of photography has ‘opened my eyes’. God is everywhere, in everything, among everyone. We don’t need fancy digital cameras to take snapshots of life or to help us practice contemplative seeing. We just need to paused (Selah). In his book The Contemplative Pastor, author Eugene Peterson wrote in the closing of Chapter 7 “… and we find ourselves in the solid biblical companionship of psalmist and prophets who watched the “hills skipped like lambs” and heard the “trees clapped their hands,” alert to God everywhere, in everything, praising, praying with our eyes wide open…”

Mourning Our Times

2008-01-22T16:01:00.000+08:00

“The Word became flesh and made His dwelling among us …”

It seems that in the past few months, our country is reaching boiling point. Everything seems to be ready to explode – crime, corruption, demonstrations, rising cost of basic items and freedom of religion and so on. We all know about it and we all talk about it. It affects us, and most of the time it makes us angry. As Malaysians we want to live in a peaceful and harmonious context. And this context is getting eroded day by day.

One major issue lately was the Hindraf issue. Though most of us do not agree with the way this movement demonstrated for its cause, we all agree that there is marginalization amongst all races in Malaysia.

But most of us stop at just disagreeing and accepting the follies of our country. How many of us actually did something after we realized that marginalization is a problem for our country? How many of us actually went out to our neighbourhood and actually did something to stop the rot? When we say our country is in its boiling point, don’t we realize we are part of our country?

Jesus engaged the world by dwelling in the world. And it took him all his earthly life to see, empathize and take action for all the needs of his society. We all know that dying on the cross was not the only thing he did for us. He lived amongst us.

We need to hear more stories of people engaging the world today. We need to hear of people trying their best to make Malaysia liveable. We need to do our part. Do share with us some real stories of people trying to engage our society. Only then can we see the hope of the gospel realized in real lives.

Looking Ahead...

2007-12-31T11:36:00.000+08:00

Changes. It’s inevitable.

'Development; at what cost?'

'Blatant disregard for the environment.'

'Exploitations of foreign labourers.'

'Suppression of the voices.'

'The old and weak despised.'

'A purposeless generation.'

'What will we be remembered for?'

50 Years of independence shaped the nation. History says we have achieved much. Our elected representatives say we should maintain status quo to ensure the next 50 years is just as successful. The media plays to the tune of a harmonious country and progressive nation.

But is everything REALLY all right? How sure are we that the pact our founding fathers worked out, will work in the changing decade and shifting values? Crime has reached an unprecedented stage. Diseases, natural disasters, human carelessness and greed make a ‘normal day’ read.

What role will you be playing in writing the next 50 years? God forbid that if we keep silent or remain in apathy, history itself will convict our generation for allowing things to deteriorate.

But what CAN we do, where we are?
Do we even care?

(Photos courtesy of BBC News, LightFrame.lee and Joshua3.com.)

Silence of Christmas

2007-12-17T13:11:00.000+08:00

"When is Christmas ever silent?" we ponder.
Carols and jingles mingle aloud in malls,
There's Santa with his bagful of wonders.
And not forgetting the myriad stalls

Selling trees and trinkets and tinsel
To go with wrapped goodies we scatter
Round the twin altars of Pine and Mistle-
Toe. It takes a while before the other,

Yes, the insignificant other part
Of the season comes to mind.
If at all. "...till it happens in your heart."
Do we forget when, or why, or with Who,
"...Christmas really starts..."

The little babe buried 'neath the season.
Has the quiet loud night lost its reason?

Carried Away?

2007-11-30T22:00:00.001+08:00

"Whooosh!!! Can’t stop…need to hurry for Christmas practice."

"Byeeee!!! Gotta go finish this last 2 assignments first."

"Eh…coming for the Christmas party? I’ll be acting…seeya there!"

"Sorry!! Can’t join you guys for mamak today. Got church caroling practice…"

Does the lines above sound familiar or similar to what we have been saying to our friends this end of year season?

Where have our time all gone? Assignments, Christmas preparations, camps….all good things in themselves. But are we being too carried away? Busy ‘being busy’, what are we ourselves leaving in our friends? Or even with our families?

Leaving behind “hurrying”? “Rushing”? Christmas presents? Songs?….Or even hurried goodbyes shouted to our friends after the last exam paper is over as we rush off to other things?

Ever wonder that our friends and family may miss us?….Miss our simple unhurried presence.

You and I have hope of leaving behind something with our friends and family. But in our busyness, what are we REALLY leaving behind?

What does your end of year season look like?

Come share with us what you are REALLY leaving behind…

Contend For The Faith!

2007-11-15T23:01:00.000+08:00

Life goes on. Even when life gets twisted and distorted and contorted, life goes on. Even when truth tellers cease and falsehood abounds, life goes on! When wrong seems right, and Christ is made to be a superstar or a real moron, life goes on.Faith goes on, in its out of world experience.

Yeah you have seen the past posts in mugz-n-buzz. Today, we no longer have servants as our leaders, we have CEOs. Today, we no longer call for a counter-culture, we immerse ourselves right in what is offered today and make no difference. Today, because of our lust for wealth and health, we buy into anything a preacher says, as long as we stand to benefit.

We desist a gospel that calls us to be humiliated, to suffer or to sacrifice. Christ has been made mute, ineffective and ridiculous, because we Christians have not fought for the real Gospel with our lives. I urge you to CONTEND FOR OUR FAITH!

Will you voice the wrongs you see? Many are being led astray. The Bible is no longer our final authority, but what man says seems to count more. You may have your story to tell where the truth has been violated, ... this is your forum!

Enough! Who is going to stand up and stand out? Who will speak out? Or are we as usual going to cower and fit in?

Health and Wealth

2007-11-07T15:13:00.000+08:00

Recently there was a story where a mother of twins died because she refused to receive blood during her delivery which had complications. She was from a Christian group which people would call extreme. This group however would just call themselves people who are exercising faith in the Healer.

There also has been many stories about Christians who believe that in giving to the church, they would receive back manifold. Have you heard about one speaker who promised the return of gold fillings in a person's tooth if he gave money to the 'Lord'?

These might be stories from one extreme but i am sure there are also so many other stories that state healing and material blessings as a direct consequence of faith in healing and in giving.

How do you view these stories that crop out every now and then? What is your view of giving and trusting God in faith?

Be Free to Celebrate

2007-10-20T21:25:00.000+08:00

Celebrations……
When I thought of celebrations, I thought of food, wearing new clothes, playing mini fireworks, meeting relatives and a time for reunion.
I’m a Chinese Christian and naturally when I thought of celebrations, I thought of Chinese New Year and also Christmas.

But wait……I’m also a Malaysian.
I remembered when I was in my secondary school; I was invited to my Malay friend’s house to celebrate Raya. That’s how I discovered what is nasi himpit. There are several invitations to friend’s house for Raya and Deepavali when I was in my secondary school, but now is lesser.

Are we free to celebrate with our friends who are not of the same race and religion?
Are we cutting ourselves off from celebrating with our friends who are not of the same race and religion?

Come and share with us some of your experiences.

Rise of the CEOs

2007-10-08T22:55:00.000+08:00

What is the most successful model of leadership these days? What most easily comes to mind when leadership is mentioned? Prime Minister? President? Donald Trump? CEO?

Leadership now is about who is most powerful, who has the power of decision, who ultimately controls. CF leaders, church leaders, Christian leaders….all begin to look like what is out there. Power, commanding loyalty, and one-man shows have become very attractive. There’s hardly any place for team.

Come, take a look around us. What type of people are we choosing to be our leaders? Maybe we have fallen into the trap of looking for CEO-like characters

“…Instead, whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first must be slave of all. For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve,…” (Mark 10:43-44)

Where has the true servant Jesus talked about gone to? Is now an era where servanthood is no longer ‘in’? Isn’t the Bible’s model of a leader outdated? Would we even want to respect such a person if he could be found?

CEO vs servant? You choose and you tell us how it should be.

Are we too immersed in culture?

2007-09-21T12:02:00.000+08:00

We have always had this teaching where “we are in the world but not of the world”. This statement has given us our identity and mission in the world. Yet the tension of this statement comes when we try to define the world we reside in. The simple definition of culture is ‘the integrated system of learned behavior patterns which are characteristics of the members of a society and which are not the result of biological inheritance’. We all behave in such a way as all peoples in our society because this is our culture. Sometimes we do not even know if how we live is good or bad simply because we have become too immersed with the culture we are living in.

Attempts to integrate culture and Christianity often fail simply because we have already made distinctions or judgments about contemporary living. We have divided culture as secular and Christian living as holy. Therefore it is difficult to integrate them.

Yet the bible gives us a cultural mandate in the very beginning of creation. We are to ‘steward’ our society as God has placed us here. This is seen in the term ‘subdue’ used for Adam’s role to the place he was living. And we are called to be ‘creative’ in our stewardship as seen in the fact that Adam had to take care and name all the animals of the garden. In other words, the cultural mandate that God gave Adam and also to us was to creatively steward his society in order to transform it for living.

Adam’s call was not so much just for selfish reasons or for the sake of doing it simply because God wanted him to do so. The transforming act was simply because God acts for transformation. We are made in the image of God and therefore act as he does.

The question here is “are we agents of transformation of our culture today?” Or “are we just people who live in the world and deny strongly our involvement in our culture simply because we are not of the world”? How can we steward our society creatively? When we begin to not see the purpose in doing this, we actually deny the identity of being made in God’s image in ourselves.

Do you see being agents of transformation of culture as one of the roles God has given to us? What are some examples of being these agents? Do share and encourage us.

TO TERRIFY, OR BE TERRIFIED

2007-09-02T15:11:00.000+08:00

"Got Your fire in my bones, but how come ah'm a-leaking in a well.

Plain lost all'a mah friends, yeah, God, dis pain surely's hell.

See, ain't be too long till 'em Babylons come,

No! We can't flee, but till God's full wrath is done.

What kinda pit You dug for me, what kinda hole is this misery?

What kinda song is this curse on my own, what kinda blues is this sad melody?"

When I look at Jeremiah, I honestly think he would make a great blues musician. I can imagine him shrouded in dim light; his anguished, primal lyrics giving voice to the raging torment in his soul. Branded a traitor by the very nation he shed broken-hearted tears over, he brought prophecies that were the opposite of peace and prosperity and ultimately proclaiming and having to see for himself the unrepentant nation of Judah carried off into exile.

I can see him demanding of God why his cup was so bitter. Demanding why the words weren't the fluffy, feely-goody kind that the people were flocking to. He saw the rot in God's people of the day and spoke out loud and strong against it. He wasn't a blues musician; he was a prophet. What did it cost him to be God's mouthpiece in his day? What was the cost of Truth? What is it going to cost us in THIS day, when we speak honest truth?

Jubilee. Yipee, We Are 50!

2007-08-08T21:00:00.000+08:00

The term ‘Jubilee’ means celebration or rejoicing! And this is exactly what we Malaysians are commemorating as we rejoice over our 50^th year of independence. Many moving recollections, documentaries, striking stickers and apt taglines (“Satu Warisan, Satu Matlamat” or “One legacy, One Destiny”) tug at our hearts and call us to celebrate and build up our nation.

In Leviticus 25:10, the 3^rd book of the Bible, the Jubilee year was a call to “consecrate the 50^th year and proclaim liberty throughout the land to all its inhabitants.” My heart feels the prick of conviction amidst these celebrations. Have Malaysian Christians really been a part of this nation, caring for its welfare and proclaiming liberty to all?

Missing voices! Christian voices are missing in building our nation. One Legacy? Christians are no different and are caught in their prejudices against the races too. Imprisoned! Yes, we lock ourselves in our own comfort zones. One Destiny? Huh? ‘Christians are only concerned about heaven and that we are of no earthly good’ or so say our harshest critics.

I think we have failed. “Tanah tumpahnya darahku”, is just a song! Who cares? Do you?

Reflections on the hermit crab

2007-08-01T01:11:00.001+08:00

Hermit crabs are small, cute & interesting pets. They salvage empty seashells to protect their soft abdomens from harm. They move about carrying their shell. When you go near a hermit crab, be sure not to make so much movement, they will curl and hide inside the shell because they are afraid.

Don’t worry; I’m not here to promote hermit crabs :)

Sometimes, our lives are like a hermit crab. We hide in the shell, not just to protect our own self, but hide our true self from people around us. The environment around us doesn’t allow us to be who we are. We can’t live up to the expectations and we can’t trust what’s outside. We are bound to be vulnerable if we reveal our true self.

Do you feel that you are like a hermit crab – sometimes afraid to come out, sometimes not wanting to come out?

Do you also feel that sometimes you could be the one not giving people the space to make mistakes and be who they really are.

Do feel free to share.

SPOT THE CHANGES ......

2007-07-18T11:53:00.000+08:00

Aiyoh! So easy to spot one the noobs! Newbies! Babies! Whatever name they go by. They come into campus, they look scared. Haha. They dress like kinda of formal. They look fresh and with big eyes, and always believe the seniors. They look like kinda of out, overdressed and oh so young and fresh.

See them a few months later. They have changed. They have blended in. They even tell jokes and play pranks on the seniors. Wah! Easy to spot the changes in them. Just give them 3 months.

What about you and I? Can you spot the changes? We too, while having looked 'old' for a while now, have been changing. Can you spot yours? Tell your story, and we promise not to report it to the Malay Mail!!

Rev It Up

2007-07-03T18:59:00.000+08:00

Vrrooommmm……vrroommm……its time to pick up the speed.

Huh? Pick up speed? Your soul must catch up with your body lah.

I can already see your body in campus. Where’s your soul?

Where are you now? Ya ya I know you gonna say “in campus lah”.

Holidays are a thing of history. Last sem is lagi deeper in history. But it is this semester that matters. How will this semester be any different from any other semesters?

YOU decide, and YOU tell us how….

Taking a Break

2007-05-11T19:42:00.000+08:00

Hi there,

We will be taking a break, but no worries, we will start posting again in July.
Stay in touch and do write your comments on the previous posts. :)

We will be seeing some of you who've signed up for Camp Cameron,
S.T.O.M.P - Students Together On Mission Partnership
and also S.W.E.E.P - Social Work Exposure and Embracement Program.
Pray with us ya :)

For those who haven't signed-up, there's still next year
& POTs - Professionals of Tomorrow coming your way on October 12-16, 2007.

See ya

The @lias

2007-04-30T23:13:00.000+08:00

a•li•as (ā'lē-əs, āl'yəs)
noun
a name that has been assumed temporarily.

Adv

Also known as;


Psssst!!!! Psst!!! What’s YOUR alias? I’ve got mine all ready
for the switch. What about you?

What’s your alias as you switch between the world of your
campus to the world of your hometown (with your family)????
For some of us, holidays means becoming someone else because
of what our families back home expect us to be. For others,
holidays means a dip in our spiritual walk, a real fear of
backsliding in our faith because the people who walk with us
in campus won’t be around us in our holidays.

Do we dread going home because the risk of falling into
temptation, wallowing in old mud (old habits) is greater?
Do we forget our good resolutions to live our lives according
to His Word? Do we forget our good resolutions to honour our
parents, to reach our friends, to stand up for Christ no
matter what?

Psst….Psst….. what’s YOUR @lias for the holidays? You can
safely share your @lias here anonymously. Maybe if you were
someone with an ex-@lias, and have found a way to be yourself
while on holidays, come share how you threw away, your @lias.

Addict?

2007-04-12T23:35:00.000+08:00

I saw him. He was trying not to look desperate. I saw her too. She was hiding it well. Addicts in daylight. Undiscovered and unrecognized. No needle marks, no dead-looking eyes. In fact, I couldn't even detect the nervous tremor in their arms.

Who me? Erm, yes! The 21st century addict is not hooked on drugs (some really are). Hooked, yes! But to what? For many of us, our lives are filled with holes. Even knowing Christ, we cannot seem to cover our big gaping holes. Deficiencies mostly from the past ~ a lack of love, a lack of self-worth, a lack of dignity, a lack of ------! There is a hidden stream running deep within many of our lives. Driving us to be perfect, to attain higher, to move from one person to another in relationships, to seek success economically and materially. We need to feed these addictions to survive the inner voices that taunt us. Outwardly we look smart, happy and vibrant. Inwardly we are afraid that nobody loves us, or we are going to be nobodies, and depressed. Are you an addict?

Calling all addicts and ex-addicts. This Addict's Anonymous is for you to tell your story. Give voice to your "addictions" (love, material things, attention, status, etc). Share your pilgrimage of sorrow and maybe too of hope!

Born to Porn: Phase or Fact or neither?

2007-04-01T21:52:00.000+08:00

Face it, how many of us can say that we have never come across pornography sites before? If you’re in a public place, probably like me, you’ll quickly close the sites out of embarrassment. But will the situation be different if it was in the confines of your room?

Maybe what began out of sheer curiosity has now become something that we’ve tried to give up time and again, but failed. We don’t talk about it in our Christian circle for fear of how they would label us, especially if we are leaders.

We want your take on this issue.
What are some of our struggles?
How we can help each other?

Do feel free to write anonymously

The Invasion of the Locusts

2007-03-15T14:43:00.000+08:00

“Tell it to your children,

And let your children tell it to their children,

And their children to the next generation”

Children’s rhyme overheard in a Malaysian padang*.

Original text from Joel 1:2.

Hi everyone! When I heard theses lines above being sung as a child’s entertainment in the neighborhood padang*, I was taken aback. Besides these lines being straight out of the Bible, the original tone was not a light one, but one of warning and judgment from God for Israel’s failure to heed His calls as a nation. What a reversal, agree?

It got me thinking, what are we, as Christians, doing that might invite God’s judgment upon us? Any ideas people? Our pursuit after material things without a thought of God being in the picture, our condescending attitude towards the people around us, how we pigeonhole God and Hid word into the smallest corner of our lives, our sectioning off our hearts and our souls so that some part of it can be UN-yielded to Jesus?

Well we may or may not have our own views on the above. Still the second thought that crossed my mind was how we think so little (literally!) of our country and how little we remember it in prayer. We gripe and complain about the everything from the education system to the road conditions. Have we been praying about these things? Have we been praying and upholding our leaders? We need to pray against powers and principalities of darkness in this land, amen?

*padang = playground

SELAH

2007-03-01T01:46:00.000+08:00

an isolated word found in certain psalms (e.g. Ps3, 4, 62 etc)
has uncertain meaning.
Most likely though, it is a liturgical notation
that calls for a brief musical interlude or
for a brief liturgical response by congregation.
Therefore ‘selah’ may mean “stop and listen”.
Source: NIV Study Bible: Psalms: Authorship & Title. Zondervan.
Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia: Selah.

Is it possible to have SELAH moments in our busy, hectic
and chasing after the wind kind of life?

I can go a full day without drinking water.
Yes, I am thirsty, but am in too much haste to stop and drink.
Off course I feel my lips dry,
and my throat longs for the running water through them,
but I only allow myself a quick coffee or a canned drink
which I can grab when I am passing by some where.
But I need water! I long for water!
Is there time to walk to the fridge and fill a glass and sit and sip?
I am thirsty, how about you?

Continue to read on "here" It's worth it!!

HOW COME? .... Who Will Go For Us?

2007-02-14T10:16:00.000+08:00

Revelation 3:17-18
You say, 'I am rich; I have acquired wealth and do not need a thing.' But you do not realize that you are wretched, pitiful, poor, blind and naked. I counsel you to buy from me gold refined in fire, so you can become rich; and white clothes to wear, so you can cover your shameful nakedness; and salve to put on your eyes, so you can see.

These words to the Laodicean church caught my heart. Something resonated. Often how we think of ourselves may not match what others think of us, ... especially what Christ thinks of us. They thought they were rich and didn't need a thing. In effect, they were pitiful, naked, blind!

Blind?
Hmmn ... even without a statistical survey I wouldn't be wrong in saying that 95% of Malaysians are blind! We were not born with that condition; but our fears, our hardness of heart, and our wanting only happy things has struck us with a great blindness.

A Great Blindness?
Yes, How come we keep getting hit every few years and months .. and still have not learnt? JE, SARs, Bird flu, Tsunami, floods? What did we do? We were rocked for awhile, then sighed a relief that we weren't terribly affected, and forgot all about it. Same with the conditions of our socio-economic imbalance and injustice. We see the rising crimes, the unequal distribution of resources, the discrimination. We feel violated. Then we go our way, thanking God we weren't terribly affected. How come?

How Come?
How come the effect didn't move us enough to do something? Where are the Christians and the CFs, helping to clean out the remains of the terrible floods? Where are we in talking with the flood victims and holding their hands? The same happened in all the issues I mentioned above. We sent our money, we prayed a prayer, and stayed on in our comfort! We have cut ourselves off and are unwilling to get our hands dirty. We do not want the inconvenience of not having easy answers, struggling the long fight against injustice and discrimination. We have left the Lord's question to Isaiah (Isaiah 6:8), "Who will go for us?," unanswered.

Who Will Go For Us?
Jesus called the church in Laodicea to buy from Him gold refined in fire, clothes to cover their nakedness and salve to put in their eyes. I am calling myself and you to this, too. My friend, we cannot pretend any longer that we are rich. We must answer the call, "Who will go for us?" in Malaysia, into our society, into people's lives. We need to be out there, pouring out our lives into our nation, society and other people's lives. The newspapers reported that they needed 1500 counselors to help the flood victims to walk through their trauma. We may not all be counselors, but we can hold hands, can't we? Will you go?

Maybe you have a different view, or your own heart's concerns. Do share, yeah?!

You Tau Kah?

2007-02-01T17:26:00.000+08:00

Do you know who your neighbour in campus?

Looking back at my campus years……
I remember when I first stepped into the campus; I was given the opportunity to meet so many new friends, as we were all going through the same phase together. Staying in campus gave me the opportunity to get to know my friends – their different backgrounds, hometown, course, religion, race & even language. I remember having 3 groups of friends. The first group were friends that stayed at the same block as me. We went for lunch & dinner together. The second group of friends were my Christian friends in Christian Fellowship and the third group of friends were my course mates. I don’t know about you, but I searched for a place where I could belong. I found it in my group of friends where I felt comfortable and could just be who I am.

I believe campus is a place where we are given the opportunities to reach out by just being a real friend to people around us and sharing with them the journey we go through. Do you know that Christian Fellowships exist for its NON-MEMBERS? If we are so caught up being only with Christian friends, organizing activities that only builds our own members up, then we’ve got it wrong.

Do you know who your NEIGHBOR in campus is?
- course mates, room mates, apartment mates, project/assignment mates, lecturers, tutors, cleaners, admin staff and the list goes on-

Can I challenge you to open your eyes and see the needs around you - the people in your campus. Come let’s build genuine friendships with them, inviting them to know our lives and our stories. Let us learn to receive their lives and their stories, creating a place where they feel safe & allow them to be themselves.

Let us re-examine ourselves & our CFs……Do you know who your neighbor in campus? You Tau Kah?

You Dare Meh?

2007-02-01T15:10:00.000+08:00

Honestly, I wish it was a plea instead of a dare. But Christ himself was unapologetic in this tour-de-force of counter-culture. 3 chapters out of the 1189 chapters in the Bible: that’s just a small fraction. 0.25231 % to be exact. Yet, the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5-7) is Christ saying potently “See, this is how you should live. This is the pattern of your Legacy”.

The question is: “You dare meh?”

You dare meh? To capture the SHOCKING SPIRITUALITY of being blessed for things that are weak and useless; of the poor in spirit, of the mourners, of the persecuted. (Matt 5:1-16)

You dare meh? To pursue the AUTHENTIC RIGHTEOUSNESS where anger and lust spell murder and adultery, where exacting justice meets its match in God’s perfection in loving even our enemies. (Matt 5:17-48)

You dare meh? To possess an AUTHENTIC RELIGION of no more charades and masks, but only to stand alone before your Father in giving, prayer and fasting. To possess a heavenly treasure and leave behind earthly worries. (Matt 6:1-34)

You dare meh? To enjoy AUTHENTIC RELATIONSHIPS with men and with God to “do to others what you would have them do to you”. (Matt 7:1-20)

You dare meh? To embrace AUTHENTIC COMMITMENT and choose the small road and the narrow gate, to build your life on, and ONLY on, the foundation of Christ. (Matt 7:21-29)

Dietrich Bonhoeffer’s (1906-1945) study of the Sermon on the Mount carried the title “The Cost of Discipleship”. It was to cost him his life as he died in a Nazi prison for daring to be counter-culture. Prevailing culture with its blend of materialism and moral relativism does not parade itself as blatantly as what Bonhoeffer had to stand up to, yet Marva J. Dawn recognises how this culture creeps into our lives and the life of the church. She lists some of its effects: Postmodern Pluralism, The Loss of Truth in Postmodern Times, The Loss of Authority and Mentoring in Postmodern Times, The Loss of Community in Society, The Quick-Fix Mentality and the Breakdown of Disciplines and Practices and The Rejection of the Actuality of “Sin” (M.J. Dawn, Unfettered Hope, 2003). Run a checklist of these with our lives, it sounds awfully too familiar, doesn’t it?

It’s time to live Counter Culture, Christ has shown us how, but it’s going to cost us. It’s going to cost us being popular, common, conventional, regular, standard and usual. The Sermon on the Mount provides a blueprint for leaving a true legacy behind: a shocking, peculiar and authentic legacy. “For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also” (Matt 6:21a). Will you READ it? STUDY it? LIVE it? You dare meh…?

LEGACY LIVE!

2007-01-15T20:22:00.000+08:00

Oh please! It's not a t-shirt, neither do we want it to be a bumper-sticker kind of empty doxology. It's who you are!! It's what you leave behind as you live your life. It's a calling hanging over your head. It's your name tag as God's missionary on campus and beyond.

Yup, that's the only thing that doesn't change. Your status might, your financial success might, but your identity remains ~ MISSIONARY ON SITE. And right now, your site is your campus.

I laugh my head off (that's why I'm the headless one!) when Christian students in campus tell me they want to go on missions. How blind we have become ~ the missionfield we have been sent to, we do not want to acknowledge. Do you know how many failed missionaries we produce at our annual convocations in our campuses?

What do we do? We live our lives well. We touch other lives. We fight for others' rights. We go out of our way for them. We share with them Jesus' love and sacrifice for them. With every passing day, every week, every semester and every year, ... we leave behind legacies. "Live" in and through our lives.

Come on, this is your missionary news letter. Share your success and share your obstacles. We must challenge each other on. Remember, it is "Legacy Live!"

WORDilicious Investigators

2007-01-15T20:03:00.000+08:00

Agatha Christie, Sherlock Holmes, Magnum P.I. They are a club of their own. Private investigators who never fail to surprise you with a twist to their investigations. These days in Malaysia, the numbers of private investigators are increasing. They investigate threats, investigate frauds, but mostly they investigate desperate wives' fears of their husbands having affairs. It's a thriving trade.

Happily we have started our own Wordilicious Investigators! Launched officially as an enterprise in 2006, this is our second year running. But we are old hands at this, many have done the same over the years under different names ~ and it is WORD-delicious! Hungry anyone?

B.U.R.P.
After meals, burps are in order. Many of my friends and you included often give a satisfied burp after a hearty meal. I hope to hear you burping after a WORDilicious one. That's what W.I. is about, men and women who 'eat' God's Word, letting it digest into their system, transforming into a loud B.U.R.P. Building Up Radical People! :)

WHO INVESTIGATES WHO?
Often, those who study their Bibles, "Wordilicious Investigators" think they are called to investigate the Word, dissect what it says and put it together again in a way that makes sense. I beg to differ! I believe we are called to allow the Word to INVESTIGATE us. It questions our living, our conscience, our mission, our values and our compassion. The Word investigates our lives and calls us to allow our lives to be answer to its questions.

EAT HIS BOOK
Hurry! Hurry! Your time in campus is running out. If not now, then when? When will you sign up to be a Wordilicious Investigator (W.I.)? Investigate the Word, or rather let it investigate you. Come together under the Word as WIs. Discover that Acts, Haggai, Zechariah, Revelations and the rest of the 66 books are waiting to investigate your life. Eat His book and live. You may look foolish going against the way society is going, but you will sure be a radical disciple.

What do you say? What is your story about B.U.R.P.; about Who Investigates Who; about Eat His Book? Chip in your say, tell us the cost, challenge our simple view or decry the Word as a boring, unalive book. Investigate and be investigated!

Feeling old in the new?

2007-01-01T01:48:00.000+08:00

A Happy New Year to you!!!! How did you see the old year out and the new year in? There's just this excitement and anticipation surrounding the ushering in of a new year huh?

Some years, I find myself caught up in the general expectant atmosphere, other years, I find myself saying "same ol, same ol..."

Do we feel old in the new year? Been there, done that......What's different? New Year resolutions? What's that but just another glorified promise to ourselves to do something we haven't been able to do for the whole previous year? What makes us think we can accomplish it THIS year?

For some of us, ‘new’ simply means another semester starting. Anyone started thinking of all the work ahead already? Some have already started semester! And already wallowing in assignments. Is there really anything 'new' in a new year? Or is it just old tired minds and spirits in tired bodies entering a new page of the calendar? Is there hope that there is really something new for us?

Maybe there is hope for some of our problems. We see things clearing up in this year. Some instances of reconciliation? Graduation? Starting work? Starting a new course? Making new friends? Making a new start or new promises?

What if we don’t see how certain problems can be cleared up in this year? Painful and hurting relationships continuing just the same, having struggled to juggle things last year, this year (with the promise of more assignments) may be worse!!

How are you entering this new 2007? With hope, and something to look forward to? Or with a sense of resignation, that things are just gonna be the same, no hope for improvements.

Come, have your say about what entering a new year mean to you. Share with us how YOU are entering 2007. Or maybe you have some tips on how best to enter this new year. We’d like to hear them.

Mugz-n-Buzz

2007-01-01T01:43:00.000+08:00

Hello there!!! Have you grabbed a mug? Then join the buzz!! We have our mugz, and are ready to buzz with you. This blog is for you to buzz with us.

Come lets talk and comment about the happenings we see around us, what's happening to people, what we hear as we walk in campus.
We can't 'buzz' on our own, so, do feel free to drop a 'buzzie'(comment) and let's hear what YOU have to say.

Mugz-n-Buzz was born to share our thoughts and to hear YOUR thoughts on different issues, trends and challenges of our day. Our hope and dream is that this will become a spot which widens your life experiences through the buzzing of your peers. We also hope to be where you are, to see what you see, to hear what you hear, and to feel what you feel.

So, treat this, as an invitation to be a MugzBuzzer. Have YOUR say in this place.

Ps..Let’s give each other the freedom to have our say while respecting differences. And may this place be one where we encourage and build up each other.

Check It Out!!!!

2006-10-16T13:43:00.000+08:00

Look familiar? Yeah!!!! The Wordilicious Investigators Conference also saw the launch of the new Legacy Live tshirt.
Next up, look out for the lauch of the Mugz-n-Buzz blogspot in January!!!!