Out to Pasar Malam

Psalm 23

I was reading this Psalm during my devotion and I pray that it would be an encouragement to you as well.

Psalm 23
The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not be in want.
He makes me lie down in green pastures,
he leads me beside quiet waters,
he restores my soul.

He guides me in paths of righteousness for his name's sake.
Even though I walk
through the valley of the shadow of death,
I will fear no evil,
for you are with me;
your rod and staff, they comfort me.

You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies.
You anoint my head with oil;
my cup overflows.
Surely goodness and love will follow me all the days of my life,
and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.

Only for Christ,
Matthew.

My Life in the Seminary

Life here had been great. Besides the opportunity to help out in the kitchen, in which i hope to rule over it one day..muahaha..i had the chance to enrich my spiritual life. I had more time to pray and seek God and I'm determined to finish the bible in a year. Who's with me??haha..it has truly been a blessing too meeting new friends and knowing how God transforms their lives really encouraged me a lot.

The first week I was here, there were 2 snakes killed. It was scary. I was just finished sweeping the floor for campus cleaning when a guy ran to us panting and saying that there is a snake. I quickly rushed to the scene hoping to see one as I have never really had the experience of looking at a snake. It was hiding underneath the drain and I was holding my broom. One of the guy from the rural areas of Thailand saw me and said that I won't be able to kill the snake with the broom. I looked at him and I guess he saw it through my eyes that I was not going to chase after a snake and kill it. Haha.

At the Night Market @ Tanjung Bungah. From left: Tina, Daniel and Me.

Just now, we went to the 'pasar malam' or the night market and both of my friends from Korea and Indonesia fell in love with lok lok. Well, one of my Sandakan friend loved it so much that he is addicted to it right now. It was a truly Malaysian experience for those who had never tried such awesome food.

The Lok Lok Gang. From Right: Kevin, David, Me and Daniel.

Well, praying that we would continue to grow stronger to become brave soldier for God not forgetting who we are and what Christ did on the cross for us. Praise Him for the wonderful brothers and sisters in Christ in my life.

Matthew.

Dedication

This is the first message preached by the speaker during the spiritual retreat camp in the seminary. The message was taken out from Daniel 3:8-18 when King Nebuchadnezzar was going to persecute Daniel's 3 friends; Shadrach, Meshach and Abed-nego for not obeying his command to bow down at the idol he made for himself. There are 3 lessons to be learnt here.

The 3 friends showed faith without compromise. During that moment, they were like eggs against a big solid rock. If an egg were to be thrown over at a rock, it will surely break. However, although the eggs are weak, but if God is there, it will be able to shatter the rock. The speaker told us that it is not by our power and ability that we change lives, it is only through the power of God. When we are most satisfied in ourselves, it gives us an opportunity to be boastful in our comfort zone therefore God won't be able to use us. It is only through the weak that God manifests His power.

The second one was absolute faith in the Almighty power of God. They do not have any doubt at all that God can save them. No matter how tough the road may be or how painful the persecution is, they still have faith in God. Faith is the most important thing that a Christian should have. It is the fuel that keeps us going. It is the strength in the Almighty God. It is something we can't see but we believe in completely wiht our heart. When you are not afraid of this world, the world shall be afraid of you.

The third lesson was faith ready to sacrifice. With the life you have, whom shall you sacrifice it to? If we can give our lives to the Lord just like our 3 friends, wouldn't it be a great honour? The life of Jesus Christ was given to save us and we should model that example. When we meet our Lord Jesus, our lives should be blessed with the love for lost souls. Should not our prayers be like this, "Our Lord, you have shamefully die on the cross so that we can have eternal life. If we can offer our lives to you, what greater glory than that?". It is not possible to follow Christ without sufferings.

Penang Ultimate Frisbee

The Frisbee Team

I can't never believe the day we won a silver for the frisbee tournament. It was like a dream come true. We went there thinking that it would simply be fun fun fun and nothing more. Just to go there, play some games with new friends that we are about to meet and then get back home. However, upon arrival, it was out of our expectations. Everyone were showing off their superb frisbee skill and one team even had a team jersey. I found out later that they were the northern state champions. When we looked at our own team, it consisted of 3 who played once, 1 who never touched the frisbee at all and others who were here just to have fun.

Blane was our team leader and when he asked us to figure out a team name, we came out with names like "Have Mercy On Us", "Noob", "Bum", "Sure Lose" and many more. We had raise our white flags even before the game started.

The first whistle was given and that marked our first game against Revelation 4:12. I'm not sure if it's Revelation or Revolution because the latter was a name for another team. Anyway, we played so badly that the organiser of the tournament has to come and give us some good advices. We lost the first game and then it was lunch time. Got saved by the lunch bell.

After a full lunch of Big Mac and fries, we played our second game. It was against a team from Sungai Petani. Ironically, we won and we guessed it must be the Mc D lunch that gave us strength to fight. Haha. To our disbelief, we emerged out as champion of our group as the other team pulled out as they had to attend a 'kenduri'. I was shocked when they announced the results. In other words, we were entering the semi finals.

Here is another side of the story. Before the game started, I was talking with Wei Yee behind a group of young boys from Bukit Mertajam (they were the northern region champion and you do not want to go against them). We were saying that we should go up and make friends with them. Who knows? We might be able to share the gospel. But, there was one BIG problem. They were in another group and the only chance to interact with them was if we meet them at semi finals. To our horror, we are actually against them in the semi finals. Although we were all afraid but we knew that this was God's plan and praise Him for giving us an opportunity to mingle around with them.

To our delight, we won the semi finals and it was a huge victory. That placed us in the finals against the Dalat school. They were a bunch of crazy people when it comes to frisbee and true enough, the won the finals. However, we were all glad and happy because God was behind all this. It does not matter whether we won or lost but the friendship we gained was priceless.

The Crazy Frisbee Team