Be Thou My Vision

Be Thou my Vision, O Lord of my heart;
Naught be all else to me, save that Thou art.
Thou my best Thought, by day or by night,
Waking or sleeping, Thy presence my light.

Be Thou my Wisdom, and Thou my true Word;
I ever with Thee and Thou with me, Lord;
Thou my great Father, I Thy true son;
Thou in me dwelling, and I with Thee one.

Be Thou my battle Shield, Sword for the fight;
Be Thou my Dignity, Thou my Delight;
Thou my soul’s Shelter, Thou my high Tower:
Raise Thou me heavenward, O Power of my power.

Riches I heed not, nor man’s empty praise,
Thou mine Inheritance, now and always:
Thou and Thou only, first in my heart,
High King of Heaven, my Treasure Thou art.

High King of Heaven, my victory won,
May I reach Heaven’s joys, O bright Heaven’s Sun!
Heart of my own heart, whatever befall,
Still be my Vision, O Ruler of all.

i think i posted this song before...way way way back. thought i post it up again. very nice hymn. :P

21

Lolz. I have arrived at THE age…21. (well...in about 2 hours time) :P The age where I am supposed to be a full-fledged adult and no more a teenager. Okla…young adult la. :P Though this is a time to celebrate, I also decided to think a bit-think about the past 21 years.

As I look back, that God indeed has sustained me for 21 years. Many events have taken place throughout my life and God indeed has seen me through. So..yeah…here I am. :P I have been shifting house since God alone knows when…and I am still shifting around. Man…like a nomad. :P I sometimes just pray and hope for the day where I can finally settle down in one fix spot of a house and not move anymore. But of course, if God so wills I move for the sake for His message…well…master says servant does. I am sure he will provide.

As I look back also, I also consider my relationship with people. Because of moving around, my friendships tend not to last long-it grows cold after awhile. So, I really appreciate those friendships that I have. Yeah. Sometimes it seems like my actions or words don’t ring of appreciation. That I have myself to blame. I don’t know how or when emo-ness got to me and weird, dark thoughts come to me. During these times, I have not behaved well or even said things or did things that hurt those around me. So, for those whom have been on the receiving end, I apologize. Just to let you know that I indeed value all of you who I call my friend and you who call me your friend.

What else…yeah…still single. :P Got turned down twice and turned away one. Maybe it was for the better. You know who you are. ;) But still friends, of course. :P Haih…

Another thing I realize is that I have not mastered any tools of any trade. Really…I don’t have skill in any practical stuff, be it in music or in other areas. I guess it is my bad again. I have not taken effort to master anything. Well…they say you are never too late to learn, right? Well…now thinking of being able to do something well. Something practical for life or can use in the world. What do I like? Hmm…computer games? :P Well…it is practical probably to impress people and to relieve stress. However, I do play computer games but I admit I am not good at that either. Even though I play and ‘practice’, I can never seem to master any game nicely. I come to accept this and just play for the fun of the game. It is less stressful this way. :P Hmm…I do have some interest in photography. I do take snapshots with my digital camera. Not exactly sharp and clear but I guess just to store some memorable scenes. The more pro cameras are too expensive, even the cheapest and most budget of the lot. May get one next time when working but until then, no no. :P Well…any other suggestions? :P

Hmm…my spiritual walk with God. Hmm…I have indeed have my up and down times. Sometimes I feel close to Him, sometimes like he is not around. Sometimes I am willing to trust him all the way, sometimes I doubt his character. I won’t say it was smooth sailing, even all those 21 years. Born into a Christian family, I went to Sunday school and knew all about Moses, Noah, Jesus, etc. But God was not really center of my life. I did not read the Bible for myself. I did what I wanted to do. The turning point in my life you can call it cliché. It was at a youth camp where I committed my life to Christ. After that day, I had a great desire to read the Bible. I dug out my bible from the store room (yes, it was not even on the bookshelf) and started reading. Reading and reading. Chapter after chapter, book after book. Re-reading it over and over again. Read Revelation about 5 times through. It is a fascinating book even though the symbols remain a mystery to me till today. :P Somehow, verses tend to stick it my mind even though I do not make much of a conscious effort to memorize. But no doubt I still made effort to memorize verses. Oh…and I started to like sermons also. Can learn so much about God’s word through those speakers up there. And God became the center of my life. In a sense that I became more conscious of His presence with me and trying to do the things that I know pleases Him (from the Bible). So…yeah…and continue until now I guess. You can say this is my personal testimony.

O well. Quite a long post. Guess I’ll end here. Can say this is probably my first real personal post in this blog. So…yeah. :P

Soli Deo Gloria! (All glory to God alone)

Ad majorem Dei gloriem. (For the greater glory of God)

Dominus Illuminatio Mea. (The Lord is my light)

Soviet Dreadnought from Red Alert 3

lol. this is a unit from the Soviet faction of a game i am playing now, Red Alert 3. yeah...i know it has been out awhile but...who cares. :P

some of the lines this unit says quite nice...:P

"Dreadnought and her crew are ready"
"Enemies of the Union shall burn"
"The seas will run red"
"These waters belong to Russia"
"We will fight to the last man and rocket"
"A majestic sight we must be" (my favourite...:P)
"If Lenin (?) could see us now"
"The waters tremble beneath us"

lolz. :p

I am a Friend of God...?

14You are my friends if you do what I command. 15I no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know his master's business. Instead, I have called you friends, for everything that I learned from my Father I have made known to you.

In many contemporary Christian songs today, one phrase we keep on saying is that we are God’s friend. It’s my guess that they pulled it out from the verse above which can be found in John 15:14-15. However, I noticed that they tend to quote, or sing, only half of it but neglect the other half. Take for example this song entitled, “I am a friend of God”.

VERSE:
Who am I that you are mindful of me
That you hear me, when I call
Is it true that you are thinking of me
How you love me, it's amazing (Who am I Lord)

CHORUS:
I am a friend of God
I am a friend of God
I am a friend of God
He calls me friend

Verse

BRIDGE:
God Almighty
Lord of Glory
You have called me friend

All sounds good, right? However, look at John 15:14 again closely:

14You are my friends if you do what I command.

Yeah. We are only Jesus/God’s friends only if we do what He commands. As for me, I don’t see that implied anywhere in the song above. So, we think we can simply call ourselves friends of God just like that? For me, I do not think so. We have to remain in Him always, obeying His commands and depending on Him. That was what was written in the previous verses in John 15 prior to verse 14. We have to abide in Christ, that is, to be totally attached and committed to Jesus.

I listen to a sermon recently and the speaker said illustrated abiding in Christ with marriage. When two people enter into marriage, they are united and the two become one. Likewise, we must abide in Christ so closely as that (although we do not become one with Christ but the intimacy is just as in marriage).

This is what is implied in verse 15 as well. Jesus has made known what he learned from the Father to us and this is recorded for us in the Bible. If we are really God’s friend, we would take effort to know what Jesus has made known to us. How to do that? Read the Bible, of course. Study it. Think about it throughout the day and how it applies to your daily life. Live it out. The Holy Spirit will teach you everything and reveal things in the word.

Therefore, do not think you can call yourselves God’s friend for nothing. We are not God’s friend for getting emotional high at electrifying worship sessions and see who can jump the highest. It is not how many church activities you go to. The question is: are you abiding in Christ and obeying His commands?

Soli Deo Gloria!

Games I Play...with a NDS Emulator!! XD

lol...while i think about a personal post, let me post a bit about some games I play. This time, the platform is the Nintendo DS. As I do not have a NDS, I am using an emulator to play it on my com. Below are some of the titles i play.

MEGAMAN STARFORCE DRAGON


ah...this game involves one to think quick and to be efficient with the keyboard. :P below is a screenshot from my game. basically i have to use those cards at the bottom half to defeat the enemies in front. I can only move left and right to dodge attacks or block (but some attacks can't be blocked). the cards will refresh after a set interval. quite nice game:P



FINAL FANTASY TACTICS ADVANCE 2


lol. the box cover not that nice:P anyway, the screenshot below explains a lot. basically, i control a clan with members (duh..:P) which are added as the game progresses. each character can master moves from weapons held and are used to defeat enemies in battles. its like a turn-based game where each character moves one at a time. in the screenshot below, i am selecting units for a confrontation. highlighted is a Hunter. refering to the top half of the screen, to his left is a Trickster and to his right is a Flintlock.




lolz. thats all for now. i got other games also...will post later. :P

Thoughts....

Comfortable, "Feel Good" Christianity is Satan's counterfeit, resulting in:

-Much praise singing but no worship of God
-Much praying but no connection with God
-Much serving but not for Christ
-Much church-going but have no evidence of being Christlike in character and behaviors

Taken from Rev. Dr. Chew Tow Yow's sermon entitled "Discipleship--Being Totally Attached to Jesus"

Something Different

well...quite awhile since I posted a proper update. Hope that you all like the songs I posted up in the interval. I talked to one of my friends that day and he said my blog is like a sermon blog...all religious stuff and long walls of text. So I thought to add a personal post...this post. :P

actually...i don't know what to write.:P i am holiday now. spend most of my time at home on the computer. hehe. catching up on games.:P and i recently just got a DVD drive with write capability. finally i can buy dvd games and watch dvd movies. wakakakaka. yeah...very sad right? dvd drives were out like ages ago but my com just got it a few days back. haih...better late than never. :P

well...i end this entry here. :P so the main point: i finally got a dvd drive! wakaka.

Pater Noster (The Lord's Prayer)

LATIN
Pater noster, qui es in caelis:
sanctificetur Nomen Tuum;
adveniat Regnum Tuum;
fiat voluntas Tua,
sicut in caelo, et in terra.
Panem nostrum cotidianum da nobis hodie;
et dimitte nobis debita nostra,
Sicut et nos dimittimus debitoribus nostris;
et ne nos inducas in tentationem;
sed libera nos a Malo.

ENGLISH
Our Father, who art in heaven,
Hallowed be thy Name.
Thy kingdom come.
Thy will be done,
On earth as it is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread.
And forgive us our trespasses,
As we forgive those who trespass against us.
And lead us not into temptation,
But deliver us from evil.