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April 25 what song are you?Have you ever experience moments where you are so caught up in a song that you thought the song sings all about you or as if you were the writer? I noticed many people like to use songs to represent their identities or more common, their feelings. When things around you seem so beautiful, you thought of the song “What a wonderful world” by Louis Armstrong. When you have just received your straight As result slip, you keep singing Jaclyn Victor’s “Gemilang”. You dedicate Sarah Brightman & José Carreras’ “Amigos para siempre” over the air to your best friend. “Graduation” by Vitamin C is a must sing during all Form Five’s Majlis Perpisahan. When the girl you adore so much decided to be your girlfriend, you overjoyed with Ah Niu’s “大肚腩”. When you had an argument, you thinks that Fish Leong’s “勇气” says it all. When you are in the critical stage in your relationship, you try to comfort yourself with Stefanie Sun’s “我不难过” but the worst is when you start singing Leo Ku’s “爱与诚”… Many people got so carried away with the songs and kept dwelling upon them. As the result, the happy gets happier, the dreamer continues dreaming, the high spirit gets higher spirit but at the same time, the broken hearted will keep feeling sad, the depressed will have an even harder time. I have personally experienced moments where I got so caught up in songs that I felt that my life will end up as what the story of the songs say, even though there weren’t even the case. Well, these songs are no doubt meaningful, but they are often written to express certain feelings and thoughts. (Some are just the matter of writing skills and have nothing to do with the writer himself/herself). What I am trying to say is we need not get so caught up with these songs as if they are the only “ones” that understand us. There is nothing wrong with feeling the songs and appreciating the writers’ skills but there is no need to be so emotional about certain stories or feelings in the songs until we adopt them as our personal anthem… April 18 GraceI Am In Need Of Grace
I used to stand tall,
Hoping and believing that I will not fall,
Loosing focus I have build a wall,
With my Father whom I love my all.
Sinking, drowning are among my fears,
Hear no more, Your voice is numb to my ears,
Grieves overwhelmed along with tears,
Forgetting the promises I have made those years.
I am in need of grace,
With open arms will You embrace?
Will Your glory shine upon my face?
Will You lift me again to a higher place?
Oh God, will You hear me pray?
Will You let me stay?
Once again to You I lay,
My life with love You pay.
I wrote this some time ago when i was depressed.
Last week was Easter Day. We sang the song My Redeemer Lives. This song suddenly reminds me about God's grace. Redeem means to make free of blame or bring back into favour. We are all fallen and unworthy. But God, the Redeemer has paid a price for all our sins. MY redeemer, My means personal.. Jesus is personal, He can relate to everyone personally. Same as saying my father, he can be my brother and sister's father but he is indeed my very own father. On top of everything, He lives! He is not dead two thousands years ago and cannot redeem anymore. He lives yesterday, today and forever. That means His grace is even more abundant.
But he said to me," My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness." Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ's power may rest on me.
-2 Corinthians 12:9- April 17 PrayerThis is a little exercise on creative worship I had with some youth during a youth service last year. I think this is a very fine start of people expressing themselves through writing...I believe there are more to what we can do as long as we are doing for the glory of God. And to those who are involved, it serves as a remembrance of your creativities...thank you guys...
Prayer Heavenly Father hear us as we pray That Your great work be revealed in this place Our crowns all to You we lay So that Your glory and power we can embrace
Through life's trials We may sometimes fall Yet Your love never fails Help us through it all
An offering we're meant to be To know You and fulfill Your desires Again we come on bended knees Our lives on the altar, send Your fire
Millions of us await Your coming To draw us back to sing Your praise From the altar Your presence flowing That all may know Your saving grace
This is only for You, my Lord and my King I lift my voice to worship You You are my all, my everything This prayer of mine, make it ever true
Don't forget upcoming Experimental Ground 2nd wave on 02/06/2006
April 04 guitarI was supposed to look for a notebook one evening and I came across a little box with a message attached to it in the drawer that I’ll probably open once in three months... I remembered clearly that it was a 18th birthday present from two of my dearest friends few years back. It was a new set of acoustic guitar strings... Having no idea on what was the content of the message, I opened it... this is how the message goes...
kangkang, Putting the strings into the right place is just the same as placing our lampstand at the right place and using our gifts and talents for their true purposes. And the Master knows just where and how to place each one. As the Master tunes each string each strings in, the strings must be willing, stretchable, submissive, and obedient, till each one blends with the rest. And when they don't, what we'll see is a broken string, and an uncomplete guitar. When we, the guitar, is tuned for some time (strummed & plucked), we go out of tune. It's then too we must allow the Master to examine us and do whatever changes needed. Together with a fine tuned guitar and the Master's touches, it produces heavenly music. The Master gets the glory, not the guitar.
There are more to the message but I’ll keep that for myself...hehe... Well, even though it was something that I’ve received long time ago, but it brings a fresh meaning to me once again. It simply reminds me of my very own first guitar. It was a free gift, a complement for purchasing an organ (the musical instrument if you a wandering which part of the body...) 7 years ago. I begin to pick up guitar by self- learning since then.
There are many times that I couldn't care much about the quality of the strings and the sound. I just continued playing, strumming and plucking. My sifu (yes, you know who you are) always tell me that I need to replace the strings because they are rusted and the sound is no good. I wasn't a good student and therefore did not do what was told until he has to get for me a whole set of new strings on my birthday... Thanks anyway.
The little message up there brings a lot of truth... wrong strings, bad sound... unexamined guitar, low quality... unfixed guitar, no use... same goes with our lives... We have to have check points in our lives as days passes to check whether we are in tuned... As what I have learned in youth service last week, spiritual growth is the evidence of Christ living in us. We have to be willing to grow as the strings must be willing to be tuned to be in its best potential...
This first guitar has been my good companion for a long time. It is not a branded one and can't be placed on platforms... (but it was there anyway...just as how far our Master can put us inspite of our lousiness...) I used it when I was happy, sad, wrote few songs with it... One thing I regretted the most is I was careless one day and I hit the guitar to the spinning ceiling fan...ouch! It cracked right in the middle of the handle and the body. I was so sad then... my dad fixed it for me later... till then it was abandoned...
Just yesterday I held the guitar in my hand, retuned the strings abit. It can still function quite well! I am going to give it away to someone very soon. Well, I hope you (yes, you know who you are) will take good care and make full use of it properly. It brings lots of memories, thoughts and feelings to me... hope it does the same to you.
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