Lest I forget…all of Your goodness, the blood You have shed…

        Before I begin, I wanna wish all my friends and family out there a very Merry Christmas! A big shout out to everyone who supported me through 2006. Those of you who were not afraid to tell me the things I need to hear, those of you who spent hours praying for me through tough times, those of you who took the extra step so that I didn’t have to, those of you who took care of me - I wanna say thank you from the bottom of my heart. May God continue to bless you and your families abundantly.

        Christmas. Indeed, it is the most wonderful time of the year. Christmas
trees, roast turkey, reindeers, santa, presents, shopping, and jingling
bells. The list goes on and on. But I’ve just been thinking a little about Christmas and the one person that makes Christmas different from any other religious festival…Jesus.

        For me as a Christian, Christmas is the time of the year when I celebrate the birth of my Lord Jesus Christ. In the gospel of Matthew, it is written about Jesus:

"The virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel, which means God with us" - Matthew 1:22

The person who wrote the statement above was one of Jesus’ deciples, and hence lived during the same time as Jesus. He was merely recording what had happened.

        But about 600 years before that, a prophet by the name of Isaiah had already prophesied the birth of Jesus:

"For to us a child is born, to us a son is given…" - Isaiah 9:6

        To some, Jesus maybe a distant deity or a good moral teacher…but the Bible is clear about who Jesus Christ is. The Bible was not a book written by someone who had too much time on
his hands…neither was it written because the people of Israel needed
story book as entertainment.  It was written by many different authors
and was written as a record of Israel’s history. Time and again
the Bible points out the person of Jesus.

"For God so loved the world that He gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believes in Him will not perish but have eternal life" - John 3:16

        During Christmas, we celebrate the birth of our Saviour. With Him, comes the gift of salvation from God in Heaven. A gift that cannot be bought with all the money in the world. A gift paid for with flesh and blood.

        So, on this day I wanna say, "thank you" to God in Heaven…thank you so much for your priceless gift…and Happy Birthday to my precious Lord Jesus!

Hey all,

        Before I begin, I wanna wish my dad a very Happy Birthday! Thanks for being the great dad that u are! May God continue to shower His grace and blessings over your life

        Sorry I haven’t been updating my blog lately. You see, lotsa things have been happening lately. Well, for one, I bought a new car!!! Woot! I bought a 2004 Toyota Camry Altise Sport on the 23rd of September. It has a 3.0L V6 engine and is pretty huge. Best part is…it’s black. I love the car so much but it gets dirty pretty easily since it’s black. keke…It’s a really handsome car and I’ll post up a picture soon.

        That brings us to the 2nd part of my post. The reason I don’t have a picture of my car up yet is because a few days after getting it, I busted my ankle. lol! So I can’t be bothered to go out and take pictures. So how did it happen?? Lemme guess…the 1st thing that comes to mind must be capoeira! Well, guess again…it was kinda like this….

        That morning, I was rushing to go for my community placement and initially wanted to wear my brand new leather shoes. But I was late, so I just used my old pair of leather shoes which I’ve been using for the past century (soles have all worn out!). Later that day, I finished my class at uni, and it was raining. So, I was running to a friend’s car. Seconds before reaching the car, I took a wrong step and entered a world of pain! hahaha….I know a lot of people think I’m crazy, but through this event I learned that I really AM crazy. You see…most people would have been either crying or cursing, but I found the whole situation hilarious for some insane reason. So I was laughing all the way. Yups….all the way to the medical centre.

        And this is the even more hilarious bit…Warning to anyone who lives on the Coast! DO NOT go to the medical centre at Market Square, Varsity Lakes! A friend drove me there and I entered hopping on one foot. After waiting for a while, a man walked by mumbling something and then walked away, not even looking me in the eyes. So I just ignored him. Moments later, he came around again, looked at me irritated, and said in a harsh voice, "Come in!" Only then did I realise he was the doctor. So anyway, I picked up my shoe and hopped over (without any help from him!). When I entered he told me to lie down. He examined my foot and after causing me more pain, he said, "I dunno what’s wrong. I don’t think u broke a bone though. U need an x-ray". I then asked an innocent question that he seemed to be offended by, "In that case shouldn’t I get a CT scan or MRI?". Glaring at me like I was a total idiot, he simply replied, "U need an x-ray". Okay….So I just sat there as he bandaged my foot (btw, his bandaging was terrible. No technique at all!), then quoted to me RICE (Rest, Ice, Compression, and Elevation). He asked me to elevate my foot with a pillow whilst sleeping. Since the air seemed a little tense, in the midst of my pain, I cracked a joke and said "Oh, haha…even if I tried that, I prolly move too much in my sleep to keep my leg up". His reply was shocking…he rebuked me and said " I’m just telling u what’s best for u. If u don’t want to follow it, that’s up to u!" I was stunned beyond words. The worst part was when he said, "Don’t bring your x-ray to me. I close in 5 mins". I mean….what the???? haha…But thinking back, it was pretty funny

        So what is wrong with my ankle?? Well, I sprained it. No bone fractures, but I think there’s ligament damage and I had to be on crutches for the past 2 weeks. But during this time, I’ve just seen the best come out of some of my friends in the Gold Coast, and of course my beloved parents who came up to visit me. They’ve been really really sweet helping me in any way possible I feel so blessed! *Happiness* Anyway, a giant thanks to everyone who gave me a hand when I needed it and those who showed their concern. Muchas gracias!!

     Hey people! Uni for me has started again and I gotta seriously kick myself into study mode…ugh!

     Well, yesterday I did a capoeira performance in uni with the Bond Uni capoeira society. Also present were a few people from the Zambiacongo team: Mestre Luizinho, Instructor Adam and Formado James. It was heaps of fun and from the compliments we received from the crowd after the show, and the number of sign-ups, the classes may get much bigger this semester *Happiness* I actually caught a video of the performance using my camera, but its 140MB…apparently Youtube can only hold up to 100MB. Sigh…Neway, here are a few pics, although the video shows us pulling off some pretty crazy moves…

That’s me, Ash, and Rungano…Ash and Rungano are med students that just started doing capoeira

Me vs Instructor Adam

Yasmin vs Anna (Yasmin is also a med student, and has been doing capoeira for about 2 years)

Formado James vs Anna (James teaches the capoeira classes at Bond Uni…his acrobatics is pretty good)

    Anyway, recently whilst I was back in Sydney, I had a chance to catch up with the Usyd capoeira club, and boy, have they improved!!

The class, with Instructora Gaivota trying to strangle me!

Tony and Dave (a.k.a Gung Fu -the angmoh that is more asian than most asians). If u can’t figure out what’s happening, well, they are hanging horizontally just using their arms! Insane rite?!?

Sarah doing a version of queda de rins (standing on kidneys)

Andrew Meyes (a.k.a. Envergado) doing mortal (back sommersault)

Gung Fu again!

And that’s moi (a.k.a. curumim)!

And whilst I was in GC, this happened!! 0_0 That’s winnie and Gung Fu…I’ve known them both for years!! but I’m so happy for them

Kogarah Bed Racing
        These are just some funny pics from the Kogarah street festival where the main event was a bed race to raise money for charity. I had a great time with my mom.

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Amazing Friends
        A giant "Thank You" to Aaron, Ashley, Darrel, Nydia, Melissa and Jeanne for hanging out with me last Saturday! Just wanna say u guys are amazing and I’m honoured to do life with u.
I appreciate u all for taking time out cause I know for most of u, it’s exam week. Really touched…=)

From left: Jeanne, Melissa, Nydia, and Ashley

For some reason, no one took pics of the boys…hmm…lol!
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Who am I? (inspired from the song "Who am I" by Casting Crowns)
        That’s a question that recently caught my attention. "Who am I?"
In the light of eternity, I am, but a ‘vapor in the wind’, ‘a flower quickly fading’, and ‘a wave tossed in the ocean’….

Yet…

For my empty promises, I’ve received His blessings…

For my wandering heart and adultery, I’ve received His faithfulness…

For my ungratefulness, I’ve received His forgiveness; a second chance…

For my pride, I’ve received His mercy…

For my foolishness, I’ve received His divine guidance…

For my inability, I’ve received His favour…

For my idolatry, I’ve received His holiness…

For my torn heart, I’ve received His un-failing love…

For my broken body, I’ve received His healing…

For my troubled spirit, I’ve received His hope…

For my insanity, I’ve received His peace…

For my weaknesses, I’ve received His strength…

For my sins, I’ve received His grace and eternal life…

and having nothing of true value to give in return, I’ve received His only Son…

   Truly I am nothing but a vapour in the wind…but I’m thankful that I have someone that places value on my life. Someone who catches me when I’m falling. Someone who protects me when I’m hurting. Someone who saves me when I’m drowning. Someone who watches over me when I’m sleeping. Someone who chooses to light the way, even when I go astray. Because of that someone, the sun shines for me, and life is worth living =)

        Hey everyone, I’m announcing an engagement!! NO, not mine!! haha…=) Just in case u didn’t know already, Joshua Ratilal proposed to my sister, Priscilla, last Friday night (25th August) and she said yes. (Duh!) So, to Josh and my dearest sister Pris, CONGRATS!!
        So spread the good news around. The date of the wedding is yet to be determined, but it’ll most prolly be sometime next year. keke…I think love is in the air. All of a sudden all the girls wanna get married. haha…I wonder who’ll get married next? Either Daz & Nydia or Aaron & Ashley. Hmm…tough one. Anyway, I’m gonna put up some pics of their engagement weekend
        I thot the "I love you" flower petals were really sweet. Well done, Joshy! And what’s more romantic than the Sydney Harbour bridge and Opera House as background. In the last pic, God decided to include a rainbow. As some of may already know, the rainbow represents God’s blessings and promises. There are 7 colours in a rainbow. 7 is the number of perfection. And indeed, although neither Josh and Pris are perfect people, but they will make a perfect couple. Because they’ve centred their relationship on a perfect God! Have a blessed week!

Dear friends, below is a true story by my friend, Angeline, from Malaysia. It’s the story of how God healed her father when the doctor said he only had a couple of months left. It was on her blog Angie’s Blog and I got her permission to copy and paste it here cause i thot it was just amazing. Please take time to read it:

Life and Death

Some or most of you may already know that I’m a Christian. I believe in God, more than anything in the world. There’s no doubt about it. Being a Christian means to have a personal relationship with God. I know by this point, some will choose to argue and some will agree. Many times, people will ask me "Why did you become a Christian?" I was a non-Christian many years back. The first 10 years of my life was spent doing religious ceremonies that I didn’t like or understand. It was just a religion to me. Something that you put in the "Religion" field whenever you fill up a form. I didn’t really understand what I was doing or why I had to do certain things. All I know is, I was borned into that and I simply followed.

So the question is "Why did I become a Christian?"

Imagine this. I was 10 years old. At that time, the only thing that was probably in my mind was to be no.1 in my class or what cartoons will be showed on TV that day. Life and death? I hardly know the meaning of it. Everything in life was ok. I have good parents and a brother. I even had grandma who was staying with us at that time. When you are 10, your world seems to be perfect.

One day, my perfect world shattered. I cannot fully describe to you the emotions I went through as a 10 year old. My heart broke. My dad, who was healthy and all … suddenly was admitted to the hospital. He wasn’t involved in an accident but he suddenly became paralyzed. He was suffering from muscular dystrophy. His muscles were slowly being eaten up and we didn’t even know. Doc told us "He has only 3 months to live. So, make him happy. Bring him on holidays. Give him what he wants to eat. Because he is going to die".

I mean, what da! We were all in tears when we heard that and for me, I wanted to just slap the doctor. I mean, what a thing to say! I know he was just telling the fact, but that isn’t the truth. I was devastated.
After that, my dad tried many things. Mediums, bomohs, temples hidden in the jungles, acupuncture, therapy .. you name it, he tried it. But did he get better? No. He got worst instead. We were at losing grounds already. Nothing worked. Nothing helped. I saw my dad from a healthy man to a sickly man - half the size he was before. It was just terrible.

One day, as the whole family was busy preparing for some religious day, my dad was in the hall, sleeping. Or so we thought. We were so busy that we didn’t even realized that he actually died! Yes, he died! And we didn’t even know until our aunt, who came to visit my dad - tried waking him up. We all started panicking, crying hysterically, .. all in a frenzy. We didn’t know what to do!

Then all of a sudden, my dad woke up with tears in his eyes. He told us that he had died and was in this really dark place. But all of a sudden, he heard my aunt’s voice and that brought him back.
And you may be asking again, "What has that got to do with you becoming a Christian?"
You see, this aunt who came to visit us, is a Christian. She had been trying to share the gospel with my family for years. And everytime, my dad would make fun of her and sent her home crying. And on that day, when my aunt came, she "felt" like she had to come visit us and try again - never gave up on us, thank God.
And so, God gave my dad a second chance. A chance to evade death and live.
The story doesn’t end here. After that incident, the whole family believed in Jesus. And my dad?? From paralyzed, he went into a wheelchair. From a wheelchair, he used crutches to get around. From crutches, he changed to a walking cane. And from a walking cane …. he is walking and running, as though nothing had hit him before. The doc got a shock of his life when my dad went back to the hospital to show him that he didn’t die.
If you don’t believe me, go take a look at my dad now. He being alive and well, is already proof.
And that was 14 years ago.
So, why did I become a Christian? Simple. Because He is real.

Hey all,

No, I didn’t have a bad day. Haha…but that was the theme over the past few weekends at church. Btw, I’m currently attending Hope Church, led by Ps Paul and Janine Allen. http://home.austarnet.com.au/hope/

Anyway, Ps Paul’s message this week was based on John 19:25-27.

"Near the cross…When Jesus saw his mother there, and the disciple whom he loved (John) standing nearby, he said to his mother,"Dear woman, here is your son," and to the disciple, "Here is your mother." From that time on, this disciple took her into his home."

Take home message: "Be sure to take care of those near to you". The example was set by Jesus, that although He was having His worst day ever (He was being crucified & all the sin of the world hung on his shoulders), He still took time out to care for those within His reach. How sweet is our Saviour…The following are the main points of the sermon with regard to our roles as neighbours to those close to us:

1. I will be there when you need me most

An interesting fact: The highest divorce rate in the US at the moment is amongst soldiers. This is because their wives were not willing wait for their husbands who were away fighting a war. How sad…especially when the marriage covenant they took vows "love through sickness and health, till death do us part".

"Look out for one another’s interest, not just your own" - Phil 2:4

2. I will choose to be tight over being right

It’s true. Sometimes human nature just drives us to want to be right all the time. Even with relationships at stake. For eg, as Christians, we sometimes argue to convince others about the Bible, but many times, end up scaring people away. Jesus never forced himself into anyone’s heart. But instead loved us so much, that we give ourselves willingly to Him. That’s what separates Christianity from many other religions. That Christ first loved us, and died for us, that we may know Him.

"Above all, love each other deeply, because love covers a multitude of sins" - 1 Pet 4:8

3. I will always be honest with you

Good relationships require honesty & transparency. I think most of us struggle with this one…The Bible calls the devil the father of all lies and the accuser of the brethren. Being dishonest puts us in a similar category to him and makes us subject to his accusations.

4. I will value you for who you are

"…love your neighbour as you love yourself" - Luke 10:29

The point being made was that we should not show conditional love. When God first loved us, He loved us just the way we were. Sinful, dirty, smelly, and what have you…Sure, he wants us to change and become more like Jesus. But if we don’t, that doesn’t mean he loves us any less. Our love for those around us should be no different.

Oh wells, just wanted to share that with everyone. Hope it wasn’t too heavy. Btw, I had Holy Communion today. I wish they had it more than once a month. Twice would be good. Until next time…=)

Hehe…sorry everyone, for not updating u guys…been rather busy with uni work.

On the 19th of July 2006, I went for the Colours of Asia night at uni. It was organized by the Malaysian Society and Thai Society. There were some fun performances (eg lion dance) and some pretty odd ones as well.

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Today, I went to the Bond Christian Connection’s (BCC) Big Day Out. It was a day long leadership/motivational seminar with time out for some meals and fun at the beach. Here are some pics from the Big Day Out:

Just something a friend drew on my hand…but what it says is so true (that I love Jesus!)

In recent days, I’ve been spending more time with God. All in all, I just wanna say this…that my God is faithful and HE cares about the little things YOU care about. The next time you pray, do it with all your heart and truly cry out to Him, for He hears your prayers. There is a promise in the Bible from Luke 18 about the persistent widow:

"…pray and not give up (v.1)…(read the parable yourself)…will not God bring justice for His chosen ones who cry out to Him day and night? Will He keep putting them off? I tell you, He will see to it that they get justice, and quickly. However, when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on the earth? (v.6-8)"

When we pray, we should claim the promises of God for our lives. The Bible is full of promises, and they are for us to use as a constant reminder to God. Not that God has forgotten us…for He numbers the hairs on our heads…but He desires our fellowship and faith in Him.

Adonai, I just wanna say…thank you!

A friend recently gave me a bookmark with a pretty meaningful prayer. Well I dunno about everyone, but at least it was meaningful to me. lol…So I just thought I’d share it with everyone:

Serenity Prayer

"God, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change,

the courage to change the things I can,

and the wisdom to know the difference."

Finally…I’m actually gonna put up pics of my beloved room =)

So here it is:

This is the lovely view from my room (8th/highest floor):

Gold Coast City from a distance…

The only thing I dislike about my room is the fact that it’s right above Don’s Tavern (uni bar). The noise level is pretty irritating on Thurs and Fri nights. Well, at least I’m on the highest floor =)

Top view of Don’s Tavern during the day

hope u enjoyed the pics. feel free to feel jealous