Snow

Snow.

We keep singing the song that says, "Washed as white as snow"
Funny.

I've always sang this song with conviction, but I've never really seen snow.

But today.
The snow fell like a blanket over everything.
And it kept falling.
Fast and slow, each dancing to its own rhythm.
It was beautiful, and hypnotic - and with Michael Buble crooning in the background, it felt like Christmas all over again. ( the TV sort, heh )

Apparently there is no single snowflake that looks like the other. That's flabbergasting news, if you know how snow falls - like rain, but it's ice. and it's soft.

And it's white. White! So white.
In fact, I won't stop at saying snow is white in colour.
I'd go as far as to say that White is the colour of snow.

"...though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red like crimson, they shall become like wool." - (Isaiah 1:18)

"For we've been redeemed and we are washed as white as snow. "

Amen.

The Space in Between

סלה
Selah

Selah notes a break in the song and as such is similar in purpose to Amen in that it stresses the importance of the preceding passage.

Also : "to hang", "to reflect", "to meditate", "to rest", "to connect"

To be still.

Today as company of the Logos Hope, we take a Selah - to connect - to move from one season to another.
From Project Mode -> Ministry Mode.

Poiema

When Christoph Römhild, a Lutheran pastor in Hamburg, Germany, sent Carnegie Mellon Ph.D. student Chris Harrison a list of 63,779 cross-references between the Bible’s 1,189 chapters, the two became enthralled with elegantly showing the interconnected nature of Scripture.

The bar graph that runs along the bottom represents all of the chapters in the Bible. Books alternate in color between white and light gray. The length of each bar denotes the number of verses in the chapter. Each of the 63,779 cross references found in the Bible is depicted by a single arc - the color corresponds to the distance between the two chapters, creating a rainbow-like effect.

Take note that the strand coming down right in the middle is the longest chapter in the Bible - Psalm 119 - which extols the riches of the Word of God, heh.

The rainbow is also the "sign of the Covenant"

Graphic by Chris Harrison, Carnegie Mellon University.

PSSC

We got it! :)

Thank YOU, thank you. 

Now let the voyage begin. :) weeehoo!

ETD Koege : 19th Feb.

With Christ in the vessel we can smile at the storm

it's probably a good time to give an update about the 'situation'.
We're still fixing up the bits and pieces, ticking off the list that will enable us to get the PSSC.
( it's the word that is SO on our minds that it literally roles off people's tongues ) Like, if you want to say "PST", it comes out "PSSC", and so on and so forth.

I hope we get it soon. And then we can finally move on!
For me it's been just a little over a month to wait, for some people, it's been 8months? And for others - this journey started 5 years ago.
So it HAS been a long wait, and the launching of Logos Hope into ministry would be much anticipated.

The good news is, this Saturday has ALREADY been 'ear-marked' as our PSSC Celebration. The announcement was, "We might not be able to sail immediately after the PSSC, but we will celebrate our PSSC." The PSSC would open doors to all the other documents necessary for sail, and optimistically, we'd sail as early as Thursday ( yes, next Thursday! ). It has been a long journey. Trying, needless to say. On many counts. Thank God for perseverence.

This weekend is expected to be our last weekend here in Koge, and we are already changing our schedules to prepare for ministry!
Notices like : "Make sure your cabin is ready to sail. Everything that needs to be bolted down should be, we don't want stuff falling all over your cabins and breaking. Pillows may be fine, but your mother's vase from home will not." "Make sure all vaccinations are present.", "You would be given seasick tablets when the time comes.", etc are being made so I guess the moment really IS coming.

I'm glad. It's about time. And I can see the community's hearts and minds being more focused on prayer and on God's purposes. There have been little ripples of prayer and worship and reverence here and there - and I really think - it's about time.
We are probably not totally ready for what is ahead, but at least we got our focuses right, and that is most important.

So yea, I will let you know when we sail. When it's finally confirmed.
And when that time comes then internet access may be not-so-present, and things like that.
I'm still reachable at Michelle.Ding@gbaships.org at all times though.
Our first journey will be a short one ( about a day ) and it should be to Sweden.

So yea, to HOPE.
We're all hoping very much now.

God, be our Peace-maker, but also be our Pace-maker.

Mailing Information

This came in the internal mail :

NOTICE

With immediate effect, please do NOT send any more mail to our address here in Denmark. Anything arriving here after we leave may end up getting lost, or be returned to sender. Could you please therefore let all your supporters, friends and family members know, that as of today they must please NOT send anything else to this address, but start addressing your mail and packages as follows:

(Your Name)

MV LOGOS HOPE

Alte Neckarelzer Str 2

74821 Mosbach

GERMANY

- NB: they must CLEARLY INDICATE the name of the SHIP, otherwise your mail/packages could end up on the Doulos! :-(

Reason is : We're sailing soon! I'll update more on that soon.

Commercial Break

Where will you be this Valentine's Day?

If you're in the Klang Valley, go here! I would've.. :)

Dear members and friends of Bangsar Lutheran Church (BLC),

The BLC Learning Committee will be introducing a new class for those whom are interested.

It is called "Life Shapes: Living as Jesus Lived", based on a book with the same name authored by Mike Breen and Walt Kallestad, this interactive study course seeks to help us live lives of faith that can be more purposeful.

The details are as follows:

Format: Two 3-hour sessions spread over 2 Saturday mornings
Venue: BLC
Dates: 14th and 21st Feb 2009
Day: Saturday morning
Time: 9am - 12.30pm (Half hour break in between)
Facilitator: John Cheah (and guest appearance by Rev. Sivin Kit :-) )
Session types: Classroom presentation, interactive seminar, small group discussions
Target participants: Open to all (Natural next step for catechism class members) 
Rough guide:
Session 1
- Introduction
- Shape 1: Learning from Life
- Shape 2: Rhythm of Life
- Shape 3: Balancing the Relationships of Life
- Shape 4: Defining the Priorities of Life

Session 2
- Shape 5: Knowing Your Role in Life
- Shape 6: Praying as a Way of Life
- Shape 7: Practising the Principles of a Vital Life
- Shape 8: Living a Life with a Mission
- What next?

For more details about LifeShapes, visit www.lifeshapes.com
For some insights to the shapes we will be visiting, go to www.lifeshapes.com/shapes.cfm

If you are interested, kindly email your reply to John Cheah at johncheah@gmail.com latest by the 12th Feb 09 in order to facilitate preparation of materials and refreshments.
Hope to see you there!

Note 1: Refreshments will be provided during the break 
Note 2: A small handbook will be provided during the first session

Items to bring: A Bible, your own experiences and plenty of smiles.

God bless.

We live on borrowed time

A real audio song on a blog!

I don't think I've ever done this. 

but .. 

Markus. 

(1985 - 4th February 2009 ) 

A voice and 'song' we will no longer hear. 

A man of passion and vision. 

Too suddenly taken away. 

A great loss. 

How unreal. 

I always thought "There'd be time, there'd be time. I'd see him again."

So many conversations that were postponed to a more "convenient time" 

But now, time is no more.

:( 

Frail.

Death always puts life into perspective. 

Are you ready?

The opposite of love is not hate, it's indifference.

The opposite of art is not ugliness, it's indifference. 

The opposite of faith is not heresy, it's indifference. 

And the opposite of life is not death, it's indifference.

-Elie Wiesel- 

In his life and now through his death, ( death! it's hard just stringing that sentence.. ) Markus certainly lived. May his heart and passions and the many causes he strongly believed in live on through the hearts of the many he's touched during his brief stay here. 

We will miss having you on this plane, Markus Ng. 

Sometimes you have to be broken

to know what it means to be full

Sometimes you gotta fall

to know what it means to stand up tall

So when you're ever there

when life seems unfair

when you've hit the floor

Remember, the only way to go is up

So grit your teeth

clench your fists

one thing for sure

You're gonna come out stronger

Fix your eyes on the hill

for wisdom, strength and will

- Strife, Markus Ng ( March 2005 ) 

Friends in the journey

Sometimes we run after our dreams,
and sometimes our dreams find us.

Sometimes we stumble upon them, and they knock us off our 'chairs'.

We suddenly find an immense passion inside of us that we wonder how we'd ever live without it. 

Maybe it's like falling in love. 

Some people find it in politics, most in music, yet others traverse the world for the perfect shot, and for one particular person I've grown to love : it's photojournalism.  :)

This post is dedicated to that person, and also to the "chasing of our passions, living our dreams."

While I was "jumping" and finding myself ( it's a very bizarre feeling)  travelling across continents to a land I've only before this seen on postcards and TV, and finally made 'home' in a floating ship with 350 people from 40 different countries -- 

this person also had adventures of her own. Getting handpicked to attend a big photography festival, winning an award there, and finally - being featured in one of my favourite ( and i think best ) Malaysian magazines - it's been an amazing journey ( that I believe is just starting! ). We started talking because of the magazine anyway so it's been good to watch the things that have transpired over the past year & a half?  Divine appointments, oh how I love them! :) 

But more important for us, and many more young-ish adults like us - is the 'task' that looms ahead, the stories that need to be heard, the story that needs to be told. I believe ( with all my heart ) that our purpose in life is to be good stewards of the time, talent, treasure, and people that has been placed in our lives. If you think about it - none of those things are infinite, or constant. And it's up to you at any moment, to make the most and the best of what you have. 

And this story NEEDS to be told. If only to make us look beyond ourselves, to be thankful of what we have - and to realize that there's still so much that's lacking - and so much more need in the world. 

I have been to Cambodia once, back in 2005, and everytime I think about the place, I cry inside. It was my first ever trip out of Malaysia and it definitely set "things in perspective". It is a land that's still suffering heavily from its past, and you can almost feel the heaviness in the air. 

At least I did. 

So do get yourself a copy of the February issue of OffTheEdge. Read the article, "War,Food, Tourism" by Yong Yen Nie. At all good newsstands. Only RM6, it'll be worth every cent. I wish I could get me a copy here but everything's in a language I don't understand. @-@

I'll try attach the article here as well. Click! 

Thank you, Yen Nie, you're an inspiration. 

And definitely a great friend to have 'on the journey'.

Thanks for letting me be a part of it too. I'm so proud of you! :) 

To chasing our passions, living our dreams. 

To good stewardship. 

To fellow pilgrims in this thing called life. 

August Rush

"music is all around, all you have to do is listen."

we just watched the movie and it's beautiful.

it's the kind of movie that lifts up your spirits, and gives hope. :)

sometimes in the mess and confusion of our existence, it's good to dream a little, to hope, and to listen to the music that is life.

i recommend it. highly. :)