Hi. I am appleaddict. Loved by my Maker. Valued by Him more than I know. I am the apple of His eyes. So are you! :) I thank Him for creating me and giving me chance living on this Earth, be who I am. With His love, I will treasure life and live to make a difference before I leave this place, to finally see my Maker.
Thursday, April 30, 2009
Hallelujah
Now I've heard there was a secret chord That David played, and it pleased the Lord But you don't really care for music, do you? It goes like this The fourth, the fifth The minor fall, the major lift The baffled king composing Hallelujah
Hallelujah...
Your faith was strong but you needed proof You saw her bathing on the roof Her beauty and the moonlight overthrew you She tied you To a kitchen chair She broke your throne, and she cut your hair And from your lips she drew the Hallelujah
Hallelujah...
Baby I have been here before I know this room, I've walked this floor I used to live alone before I knew you. I've seen your flag on the marble arch Love is not a victory march It's a cold and it's a broken Hallelujah
Hallelujah...
There was a time you let me know What's real and going on below But now you never show it to me, do you? And remember when I moved in you The holy dove was moving too And every breath we drew was Hallelujah
Hallelujah...
You say I took the name in vain I don't even know the name But if I did, well really, what's it to you? There's a blaze of light In every word It doesn't matter which you heard The holy or the broken Hallelujah
Hallelujah...
I did my best, it wasn't much I couldn't feel, so I tried to touch I've told the truth, I didn't come to fool you And even though It all went wrong I'll stand before the Lord of Song With nothing on my tongue but Hallelujah
1) No matter how "small" you think the society thinks you are, you have to believe and be confident that you have a great call (the cleaner). That confidence can't be bought, can't be taught, but is to be grown in your time with the Lord.
2) It's true everyone is given a chance to know Christ. But not all will be willing to choose the narrow path. It's not a matter of God's calling. It's a matter of whether we wanna hear and do something about it. (And I am a firm believer in this. Very firm)
Today, the media is filled with so many things that are unacceptable, but have made them acceptable over time. You know when you go into internet, ads at the side, waiting for bus, the ads at the bus stops, tv, movies, etc. Sometimes the pictures are just too lusty for the eye. I've been reminded today that in order to fully become a pure vessel, we need to examine our standards again. What is acceptable and what is not.
Desire for pure things only.
Do not be deceived. God is pure, we need to be really pure too. The grace of God is able to help us to change and to make the right adjustments in life. Imagine us as a cup of tainted water, as long as we're willing for God to do something to our cup of water, our lifestyle, what we're pouring into our lives. We need to pour ourselves out to God and He'll help us purify our hearts in the purest state. But first, we need to make a decision.. We must be willing to filter. It's hard to do in this "modern" society. However, He can fill us with His eternal joy, in exchange for the temporal things. Soap operas too hard to lose? Movies? What we read/ watch? Come to God and He can enable us. There's a price to pay to pursue a godly pure life.
Just some random testimonies.. haha. taking a break from studying my computer vision.
Was jus talking to mom on the phone. And she was testifying how the Lord did miracles in her business. She was saying whenever she's in the shop, there are not many people buying from her shop, but when she goes out to serve the Lord in counseling and visiting, her business become so good. I think she's been worrying about finances because she wants to send my sis overseas for study.. that's why sometimes she's taking the burden herself. But the Lord is good. He's showing her that if she takes the kingdom matter to her hands, He will take care of the rest.
Such weird, but amazing kingdom principle.
Sometimes people may say, ah... I dun have time for cell group.. I dun have time for church. Work is killing me, I need some rest. Or... study material is piling up.. I need to study. Well.. I need to study hard to make God proud isn't it?
But God works in the most powerful way that we can't comprehend! Whenever we sow time into the Kingdom, He gives us the quality rest we need. He gives us the effectiveness and peace for studying. He blesses us with whatever we need. That's why we need to learn to trust.
Well, I've been taking matters into my own hands too. Like I was worrying about studying for Computer Vision because it's such a hard subject. I was losing faith. But after a friend pray for me, even though at that time I din have faith, I really feel that all those materials have started to register in my understanding. How did it happen? Dunno!!
When we trust God however, it doesn't mean we slack off. But we need to study hard, work hard. But we need to also consider this one thing... What is your will for me today God? Do you want me to bless a sister/brother? Do you want me to seek Your face today? Do you want me to be in fellowship, so that I can be encouraged or be an encouragement?
Start to put the priorities right in our lives and see the wonders of God taking place.
if you are going to some places you don't know for the first time, you can check how to go, how long it will take, how much it will cost, and when you click at the camera, you can see 360 degree view of that place. isn't tt convenient?
I was supposed to hand in my project on Sunday midnight. My project mate and I discovered that there was a small mistake in our program, which caused a disastrous problem. That wrong variable used caused the entire data to be invalid. We have already realised that the data was weird, but really couldn't point out where was the mistake. And at 1130pm, we realised it's that variable used wrongly!!!
And then both of us spend the rest of the night running through our MATLAB simulation again. Until 5-6am. Then continued the next morning, and altering the report, until 2am yesterday. What a weekend! But thank God, for His grace we were able to do it and resubmit. We really had to put in extra effort because we were given 10% late submission penalty. But I'm still thankful for everything. For my project mate who was willing to go through the pain together. Though both of us were tired and quite in shock. At the end of it, we could still laugh. Not bad.
Then my mom also was very concerned. How sweet. Even my grandpa know about it and asked me how was my project. Awww. My grandpa is so sweet...
But one thing I realise is, no matter how big the storm is, Jesus is always in the boat. He's not sleeping. He just wants to see our faith arise. We don't need to panic and wake Him up. He will never leave the boat capsizing, and He will calm the storm.
just received my grade for arts gem module. b+. I am super happi. :D
"The ground of a certain rich man produced a good crop. He thought to himself, 'What shall I do? I have no place to store my crops.' "Then he said, 'This is what I'll do. I will tear down my barns and build bigger ones, and there I will store all my grain and my goods. And I'll say to myself, "You have plenty of good things laid up for many years. Take life easy; eat, drink and be merry." '
"But God said to him, 'You fool! This very night your life will be demanded from you. Then who will get what you have prepared for yourself?'
"This is how it will be with anyone who stores up things for himself but is not rich toward God."
(from Luke 12)
"There was a rich man who was dressed in purple and fine linen and lived in luxury every day. At his gate was laid a beggar named Lazarus, covered with sores and longing to eat what fell from the rich man's table. Even the dogs came and licked his sores.
"The time came when the beggar died and the angels carried him to Abraham's side. The rich man also died and was buried. In hell, where he was in torment, he looked up and saw Abraham far away, with Lazarus by his side. So he called to him, 'Father Abraham, have pity on me and send Lazarus to dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue, because I am in agony in this fire.'
"But Abraham replied, 'Son, remember that in your lifetime you received your good things, while Lazarus received bad things, but now he is comforted here and you are in agony. And besides all this, between us and you a great chasm has been fixed, so that those who want to go from here to you cannot, nor can anyone cross over from there to us.'
"He answered, 'Then I beg you, father, send Lazarus to my father's house, for I have five brothers. Let him warn them, so that they will not also come to this place of torment.' "Abraham replied, 'They have Moses and the Prophets; let them listen to them.' " 'No, father Abraham,' he said, 'but if someone from the dead goes to them, they will repent.'
"He said to him, 'If they do not listen to Moses and the Prophets, they will not be convinced even if someone rises from the dead.' "
(from Luke 16)
Don't wait till death is knocking on our doors to realise our Heavenly account book is zero.
This day came so fast.. I was just thinking how my FYP was going to wrap up. And this week I'm done with my FYP (well.. just have to update my supervisor, and do final draft). And today I attended my last lecture in NUS. It was a Video Processing class. Gee. I miss going to school already. Maybe because I dun wanna take exams so fast hhahahhaa. Sometimes I really dread exams, cos you have to mug really hard and have to study nonstop, about something you just picked up less than 4 months ago...
Though I will miss school.. but I really hope I can graduate.. People always think graduation is a SURE thing. But no, not for me. I have to work hard for it. Some of the modules I am taking this sem is crazy. Computer Vision, I was told was one of the hardest subject in the field of signal processing. And I am also taking Video Processing, which my lecturer said that it is usually a postgrad topic. But I really enjoy video processing. Love the project. Now I certainly understand why most videos always look so blocky, and why it can be compressed so much.. But Computer Vision is really a dreadful module. All the vectors, SVD, 3D coordinate, camera coordinate.. haix. I like the second part of the lecture better.
So, may the grace of the Lord be with me. I wanna graduate!!
Some people want to be prettier.. some people want to be taller.. some people want to be skinnier.. some want to be richer.. I just wanna find a place where I can be myself.
Here are the statistics for internet search on the word "easter" and "resurrection" taken from google trends:
Scale is based on the average worldwide traffic of easter in all years.
For the word "resurrection "
We see the same peak occurring at the same time of the year, but sadly less people are searching for the word "resurrection".
Easter is a pagan holiday.. just like Christmas. 3 days after the crucifixion of Christ, it is supposed to be called resurrection day. Not Easter! Tho the bunnies are cute and the colored eggs too. But it is stealing the true meaning of Resurrection day away. ================================================ From: http://www.history.com/content/easter/pagan-origins Pagan Origins
Easter, a Christian festival, embodies many pre-Christian traditions. The origin of its name is unknown. Scholars, however, accepting the derivation proposed by the 8th-century English scholar St. Bede, believe it probably comes from Eastre, the Anglo-Saxon name of a Teutonic goddess of spring and fertility, to whom was dedicated a month corresponding to April. Her festival was celebrated on the day of the vernal equinox; traditions associated with the festival survive in the Easter rabbit, a symbol of fertility, and in colored easter eggs, originally painted with bright colors to represent the sunlight of spring, and used in Easter-egg rolling contests or given as gifts. =============================================== Deut 12:29-32 The LORD your God will cut off before you the nations you are about to invade and dispossess. But when you have driven them out and settled in their land, and after they have been destroyed before you, be careful not to be ensnared by inquiring about their gods, saying, "How do these nations serve their gods? We will do the same." You must not worship the LORD your God in their way, because in worshiping their gods, they do all kinds of detestable things the LORD hates. They even burn their sons and daughters in the fire as sacrifices to their gods. See that you do all I command you; do not add to it or take away from it.
Yes. Praise the Lord. After months of doing FYP, editting, dragging my feet to my supervisor's office, MATLAB-ing, designing formula. Finally I've handed in my draft thesis and technical paper.
There are times when I just don't feel like touching my FYP. Perhaps it's because I am running away from it. Discouragement plus no confidence = procrastination.
but thank God finally, somehow it's done.
Last month it was a dreadful month because things were not just turning out right for my FYP. Sometimes I'd just call mom, asking her to pray for me so that discussion with my supervisor will go fine. Sometimes I'd just blah blah blah and pour out my heart to my friends. Thank God for friends! Thanks for hearing me out guys.
Somehow whenever I feel so confident walking into my supervisor's office, I'd come out disappointed. But whenever I rely on God more, things turn out to be fine. So conclusion is, no matter how you think you can do things well... always rely on God and acknowledge Him. And when things are not turning out right, hope in prayers.
Studying in NUS has definitely shaped me as a person. I always thought I can do it. But there are times when really I have to admit, I've tried but I still fail to achieve. Sometimes I feel bad, being a Christian underachiever. Hahah. Yes. But I have learnt not to care about going through failures, because it has taught me how to stand up, and how to not look down on those who fail. The only way failure can make you stronger is when you stand up again when you fall.
God is really wonderful. There are times when I wanted to give up on my project. But God reminded me through a book that "successful peole have overcome the temptations to give up". There are times when I fail, but He showed me the purpose of the failure I was experiencing. There are also times I think I let Him down, but He reminded me again that He's a God of second chances. Though it's hard to believe, cos sometimes we're so harsh on ourselves.
The reason I am still breathing today is really Jesus. So I'd forever be a Jesus freak.
