:: solitary ::

In Your presence, that's where I am strong
In Your presence, O Lord my God
In Your presence, that's where I belong
Seeking Your face, touching Your grace
In the cleft of the Rock
In Your presence O God

I want to go where the rivers cannot overflow me
Where my feet are on the rock
I want to hide where the blazing fire cannot burn me
In Your presence O God

I want to hide where the flood of evil cannot reach me
Where I'm covered by the blood
I want to be where the schemes of darkness cannot touch me
In Your presence O God



You are the peace that guards my heart
My help in time of need
You are the hope that leads me on
And brings me to my knees

For there I find You waiting
And there I find release
So with all my heart I worship
And unto You I sing

For You alone deserve all glory
For You alone deserve all praise
Father, I worship and adore You
Father, I long to see Your face

For You alone deserve all glory
For You alone deserve all praise
Father, I love You
And I worship You this day



Jesus Christ, I think upon Your sacrifice
You became nothing, poured out to death
Many times I've wondered at Your gift of life
And I'm in that place once again
I'm in that place once again

And once again I look upon the cross where You died
I'm humbled by Your mercy and I'm broken inside
Once again I thank You
Once again I pour out my life

Now You are exalted to the highest place
King of the heavens, where one day I'll bow
But for now, I marvel at Your saving grace
And I'm full of praise once again
I'm full of praise once again

:: Sabbatical ::

Hmm it didn't occur to me that I'm taking a Sabbatical. It just dawned on me last night. =) Years ago Esther lent me a book on Sabbath, says something like, Sabbath is of course about God, but also, taking time to do what you've always wanted to do, not rushing to get something accomplished... eg. spending time with family, pick up a hobby

from dictionary.com:
Sab⋅bat⋅i⋅cal   /səˈbætɪkəl/ Show Spelled Pronunciation [suh-bat-i-kuhl] Show IPA Pronunciation

–adjective 1. of or pertaining or appropriate to the Sabbath.
2. (lowercase) of or pertaining to a sabbatical year.
3. (lowercase) bringing a period of rest.
–noun 4. (lowercase) sabbatical year.
5. (lowercase) any extended period of leave from one's customary work, esp. for rest, to acquire new skills or training, etc.

Been meeting up with friends, and yesterday I went fishing!! With my brothers.. hoho.. Praise God for the wonderful weather!! Didn't rain, but was cloudy so it wasn't hot at all. Although we didn't catch any fish, we learnt many stuff. For them, it was their first time assembling a fishing rod, and casting the line. Jimmy thought he had never been there, but he learnt that the familiar place is called Labrador Park. For me, I've learnt that the bus from Harbourfront to Labrador Park only operates on weekends. We learnt that...

1. It is the experience that counts. It didn't matter we didn't catch any fish.
2. Labrador Park is not a good place to fish. We shall go elsewhere next time.
3. You must look at things at different perspectives, at some angles the water look very clean, but when you reach the beach it's different.
4. And time will tell. At certain times when the tide is high you cannot see how dirty the beach is, but when the tide is low you realise.

hahaha can tell that we had a good time there la. =)

I really dunno what's next. Keeping options open, and picking up design jobs to feed myself.

:: Fervency ::

Last night I was pondering on children's ministry in general. I'm not sure is it deception or not, but I think it's a useless ministry.

I myself grew up in a Christian environment, and I feel that I don't have a conversion story that I could share with pre-Christians, that they can relate to. Converted Christians have a before-and-after testimony which is more convincing and real to other pre-believers.

I was having dinner with Franza and Maple, both of them are converted Christians. So we asked each other about our testimony. There's just this gap between us (them and I), as we were brought up in a different way. I can never understand how it felt to bow down before idols. They say you can sense the difference, the peace, the first time you hear about Jesus, such that you want to come back again. Of course there are also people who have heard of Jesus and felt nothing. But those who did, those whose lives have been changed ever since, boy, they make such powerful witnesses.

And I think that the young people who were brought up like me, we are just too... stuck up? We think we know the word of God already, having Bible verses drilled in at Sunday School, but we grow up with less interest and fervency in truly understanding the Word of God. But people who hear about the Bible for the first time (at the age they start to think and question things), how they hunger and thirst for more!

Perhaps I'm being too critical, but I feel that I need more fervency and I question myself why there's such a lack.

:: US Election ::

The world's focus is on America now, as they have their election day.

One American-born HK artiste I admire very much discussed American politics a lot on his blog. He's totally in support for Obama. It kinds of influence me too... because I think this artiste is really wise, you can tell from the way he explains in details.

Yesterday I read a news article about Sarah Palin receiving a prank call a day before the election day. She was duped into discussing politics and family with comedian posing as French president. I'm not sure about the full content of the phone call, but i think she held her integrity in the conversation, as in she didn't reveal anything that would possibly damage her reputation. I'm pretty impressed about that. (I'm just not sure if it's because the conversation was about irrelevant stuff)

At the end of the news article, it goes: "Obama campaign spokesman Robert Gibbs, commenting on the prank, said: 'I'm glad we check out our calls before we hand the phone to Barack Obama.'"

I wonder if that implies that IF Obama had been pranked-call as well, would he reveal something ... damaging to his reputation?

:: The Pursuit of Happyness ::

YAY I've finally caught The Pursuit of Happyness... And it's so worth it to catch it on DVD because of the special features and behind-the-scenes!

I wasn't so happy about the ending because it ends describing the success of Chris Gardner's career, as though that is the source of happiness. I was expecting his wife to come back to him, or he'd find another woman who is willing to take care of his son. Of course his wife was not right to walk out of him during the toughest time of his life.

But I realise that this is a true story, and things do not happen as perfectly as I wished. And I realise that this is a story of a single father working hard to provide for his son, not about a family sticking through thick and thin.

Through the behind-the-scenes, I learnt that the man who passed by Will Smith at the ending was Chris Gardner himself. And that making this movie, walking through all the places where he suffered, was like re-living his past. It hurt damn a lot, but it also helped to heal his soul. Sometimes I think we should do that often. What we have become today, we ought to attribute to the pains we suffered in the past. Every thing in the past has caused us to become what we are today. Like for me, my dad's teachings, the time I was so poor I wore the same seriously-undersized school shoes until it wore out, and many many experiences, has caused me to feel for the poor and want to do something for them.

But I'm missing home now. I want my own room, my own space, so much that I cannot hear where God is calling me next. Having to be asked to move out so many times has made me unwilling to stay here any longer. I've learnt that I'm not so adaptable after all. I've been very pampered at home after all. Suddenly I feel like I'm not cut out for the field after all.