How many of us watched Lord of the Rings? How many of us remembers the scene where the fellowship were at the gates of Moria? Finding no other way through the snowy mountain pass, the party decided to head for the dwarven caves of Moria.

Do you remember what was inscribed upon the door? "Speak friend and enter" it said. Do you remember Gandalf chanting all sorts of spells? Did they work? No, none did.

No one knows for how long he tried, but Frodo finally got it. "Mellon" and the gates swung open.

For how long have we tried to earn the favour of God? We pray, we fast, we serve, we rave and rant, we try to be good, but nothing works. All that God requires is us... all that He requires is that we speak friend and enter...

Let us then approach the throne of grace with
confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.

Hebrews 4:16

The :d boys came to town yesterday for a one-night only worship concert. It was a great experience... at first, our eyes were cast on the boys as they played and jammed with passion. Then, Martin Smith said " Don't clap for men but for God yeah?" in his british drawl. We took that advice, and personally, I found myself forgetting that THEY were there...

I had to refrain myself from taking my camera out, lest I make idols out them. I know thats the least that the boys would want to become. They really are humble people. They took no credit, and no honour or pride at the amount of applause and cheers they were receiving, but continued to worship and play with fervour, and encouraged us to do the same. I'm sure they must have received the same amount, if not, more cheers and applause everywhere they go, but to still be so humble and level-headed is really admirable. I once read an article on them, and it said that "..they changed the concept of a worship leader leading upfront with his guitar. Rather, it felt as if the whole band were worship leading as well..." Glad to have been able to find that out firsthand.

I have learnt much from them last night. Their loud passion and humility was something that struck me the most, and I guess the highest compliment I could ever receive when playing would be to be told that my presence was forgotten. After all, Christ must increase, and I must decrease.

Thank you Delirious, for coming down to quiet Adelaide.

One of my favourites from them...

Intimate Stranger

I lift my eyes to you

Eyes that have seen a thing or two

Who is this stranger in my life?

I lift my hands to you

Hands that have carried what is true

Intimate stranger be my life

Jesus I love you

Jesus I adore you

Jesus you still have my affection

And my song will be "I love you"

I lift my voice to you

Lips that have cried a prayer or two

Beautiful stranger fill my life

I lift up my heart in praise to

The saviour whose death has made all things new

Intimate stranger only you

Had my first discipleship session with Del yesterday and the first object lesson from him: Generosity. Here's how it went..

Del: So, you want to grab a drink or something?

Me: Ok lor

Del: What do you feel like having?

Me: Anything lah

Del: I'd like something cooler... but thing is, I forgot my wallet...

Me: Ok...I get the hint...

Del: Hey, I'm teaching you something here...

Yup, he sure likes to give practical lessons, looking forward to many more practical stuff from you Del... hopefully they'll be cheaper =)

I've been in a rather pensive mood lately, so anything I blog will sound really random and irrelevant. As such, I'll just leave all those angst-driven thoughts to my journal.

Caught the match between Liverpool and Everton this morning. It was truly one of Liverpool's finest moments, pity their key players were injured in the first half... not that I'm a fan, but when your housemate is an ardent Liverpool fan, you can't help feeling his passion for the team as well. He told me of the rivalry between the 2 teams, and why the match was so crucial for Liverpool. It was an exciting match, actually sat up a couple of times... they won 2-1 and Wei Li skipped Uni just for the match... such dedication to the team!!(??)

In any case, it's Holy Week, the final week before Christ's death and resurrection. I forsee alot more pensive thoughts coming.... well, my prayer is that you'll be able to grasp the depth and width of His love for you this Easter. Someone really cares...

After weeks of waiting, the internet is finally here... not some cheesy 56k dial up, but a whooping 11mb broadband!! Get to finally chat online with Shintya and God pa, got to say hi to Yvonne and Yeng Hooi. This is great... the house is now complete..heheh...

Studying...( I wish....)

Nah just kidding, been trying to utilise my free time to the max, but find that really hard since I'm just soooooo lazy... tried doing my readings and tutes though but always never seem to be able to finish them.

Also officially now undergoing housewife training, with the amount of cleaning we've got to do, and the grocery shopping... and the cooking... ai yo... now I know why my mum needs a maid...

Went hiking last weekend at a conservation park. It was pretty good, very hot though, thankfully no one fainted under the heat... there was also quite a fair bit of water at the Falls, and the rock structures were a sight... but I still think the best waterfall I've ever sighted was the one in Perak during the mission trip phase of Serve.

In any case, my room is about 60% packed. My clothes and books are in order, but can't say the same for my table and floor and bed. Still haven't set the frame up.

Lai Ping is also staying over for the week. She's here for some pharmacy seminar and has graciously insisted on sleeping on the sofa. We obliged of course.

Been reading through my posts for the past couple of days, and realised that I'm begining to sound like a depressed, tired old fart... So, in order to combat this, I've decided to compile a list of things I am thankful of.

1) Wacky housemates. Life would really be different without these two boys; Wei Li and Maha.
2) Comfortable house. Not just comfortable, but luxurious. Its a whole lot better than just having a room as in St Ann's.
3) My journal(s). It keeps me sane, reminds me of stuff and makes me look organised and intellectual.
4) Books. We all can count on the wisdom of the experienced, the smart, and the dead from time to time.
5) Music. Jazz, rock, chill-out, worship.. they've been good company and keeps my head bobbing when I'm studying.
6) My guitar. She doesn't complain when I need to vent my frustrations on her... just goes slightly off tune, but thats easily fixed.
7) Being able to wake up. To be given a chance to make things right every new day is something to rejoice in.

So, those are the 7 things I am thankful for, and to top things off, the joke-of-the-day!!

***Little Logan and his family were having Thanksgiving dinner at his grandmother's house. Everyone was seated round the table as the food was being served. When little Logan received his plate, he started eating right away.

"Logan, wait until we say our prayer," his mother reminded him.

"I don't need to," the little boy replied.

"Of course you do!" his mother insisted, "We say a prayer before eating at our house."

"That's at our house," Logan explained, "but this is Grandma's house, and she knows how to cook!"***

There's something else that I wanted to blog down, something that's been in my mind for the past couple of days. I mean, there has been alot of other things, but I journal anyway, so they're more or less thought out. But this one.... its just still floating around in my head. Got to grab hold of it.

It all started when I bought Caedmon's Call "Share the Well", a project they undertook by going to India, Equador and Brazil as a mission team. The songs that were birthed were out of the experiences they had. On the sleeve of the CD is a short sharing on the Dalits, who were part of the lower castes. They were not allowed to draw water from the well, but rather had to beg someone from the higher caste to share, and often, no one does.

I kinda reflected on my own attitudes towards the poor and neglected. I am guilty of being a snob. I am not willing to share the well at all, especially with those who I deem as unfit, namely the Banjars. Interesting that I am willing to go to the ends of the Earth, while all that God wanted me to go was to go home.

What convicted me most was how Christ offered Himself as Living Water to the Samaritan woman in John 4. How selfish I have been! Having the Living Water, yet so unwilling to share it with those who need it. May I truly learn what it means to share this well, especially to the Banjars.

Ooi, don't worry about the books lah, I already managed to borrow one of them from a senior, and will be borrowing the other one from the library once in a while, so don't worry, can survive. And don't worry about me failing just because I got no textbooks, one of my friends will be my tutor in uni, sure pass one heheh...

So don't go around beating yourself silly ok? I never blamed you, just surprised that the package was sent by sea, in fact, I laughed so hard at it!! (still too slack...)

Anyway, bottom line: RELAX!! Everything will be fine... And take it easy on the anime stuff man... Buying the FMA hand clock is a bit extreme... is it really a clock? Or just decoration? Do they sell Al's armour?? That would really be a neat collection..

Just a post to let everyone know I'm doing alright and have already settled into the pace of living in Adelaide. Op:CAS has been pretty good, praise God for the 38 newcomers last Friday. Would now be occupied with the follow up of them... need all the help of current OCFers.. *hint* *hint*....

Just also had a massive clean up of the house, the corridor is now clean, with all our shoes (and my stuff) in the garage. First house inspection tomorrow, hope we all be rated well. Getting used to the routine of cooking also.. which is rather enjoyable, but not the cleaning up. I think we should consider mass cooking for the week or something... saves the time and energy needed. We are slackers after all...

Still has no proper internet access, using the Uni's dial-up service.. have to search for a proper internet provider soon...

Uni has started also, but I still don't have my textbooks with me.. Shin.... please send them soon... don't want to lag behind too far off... My courses are fairly interesting.. and definitely applicable to where I am now... English for Professional Purposes...could do with better speech and writing habits... and also Management.. could do with more management and leadership skills.. and also Financial Economics and Business Finance.. which should come in handy in the future...

Ok.. this update wasn't as short as I hoped but I guess quite alot has happened these few weeks. So till next time