Just to say "Hi", to those who do read this blog.

I shall count the days to see how long people will not read.

It's been a while. Maybe due to the Back-to-school fever?

Ok, that was random. Now to the main point.

Firstly, a congratulations to Jien Hui, Felicia and Alicioa, and to God be the glory for the good results you have obtained by His grace! Ok, Jien Hui, maybe that result was not good to you, but thank God that you got it still good!

Secondly, I wish all here a very blessed Chinese New Year! May all extended family conflicts be resolved upon family gatherings tomorrow and the day after, and may the Lord strengthen the bonds of the family. Families with weak ties only accelerate the end times even faster than before, where "Father will turn against Son ,and the son will turn against Son; Mother will turn against Daughter, and Daughter will turn against Mother...."

That sure is a horrible ending, so let's do our best to strenthen whatever family unity there is.

Thridly, while we may be goin gou tot celebrate CNY tomorrow, I pray that we wil remember a few things:

a) While going to visit our relatives, do remember to pray 

"May the mind of Christ my saviour

  Live in me from day to day

  By His power and love controlling

  All I DO and say"

and let the mind that was in Christ be in you, that you will not let the spirit of greed manifest itself in you (*hint*hint*)

If you think that I'm doing this to tease nay of you, do rememebr that many of you have unsaved relatives; they'll be keeping an eye on your behaviour, so do be mindful of yourself!

b) When collecting 红包, please do remember:

农历新年不是收红包的日子。反而，它就是感谢耶稣的日子。而且，我们不是为了钱，而是为了家庭才会在农历新年团结。到家里的时候，请不要马上向人家讨钱！

c) When we go about our festivities, do remember God throughout the day. it's not "Thank God it's Friday", or "Thank God It's Festivities", but "Today, God Is First".

d)-(i)When we count our $$$, please  remember to bring the tithes in God's storehouse, and test God to see if He will not rain His blessing upon your life!

d)-(ii) While you're at it, it'll be greta if you can try out what i did in Beijing.

记得我去年还在北京的时候，有个小比赛，最棒的答案会得到一笔钱。那时，多谢上帝，我赢了冠军。可是，我开始这个比赛之前，答应过了耶稣：“上帝，如果我迎着个比赛，我答应把20%的钱您，而不只是10%。” 没有想到，我真的赢钱。

记得最后一次去教堂时，有一个美国的牧师讲了“给贫穷人”的这件事。虽然，我们很少看到这么一个清官，但是它并不是说明新加坡根本没有“家境贫困”的一回事。如果讲到中国或者印尼，家境贫困的家庭司空见惯。也许，我们已经太幸福了，也忘恩负义。

打开红宝石，记得要感谢夜宿，也要记住把奉献给教堂。我希望大家也能把一小小笔钱给家境贫困的家庭，应为这就是耶稣为我们树立的好榜样。

("yay! my chinese is not so bad!")

Well, that's all folks.

God bless!

农历新年快乐！

上帝祝福你！

林彝宏

" God does not ask about our ability, but our availability. God wants us to be victors, not victims; to grow, not grovel; to soar, not sink; to overcome and not to be overhwelmed."

My family happened to be eating with my mum's cell member, so er, ya. chatting until like now and so the story goes.

Once again, I wish everyone a Blessed New Year ahead, and may the Lord make 2009 a certainly bright year to come, in an uncertain & dark time (Ok... I sort of copied that from Bro. Bobby Michaels, and the Straights Times... ha ha)

Speaking about chatting, I was talking to Aunty Helen, my mum's cell member. She was just remarking how shocked she was that I was taking 9 subjects: (Trip Science, Trip Humans-His, Geo, Lit, Eng+Chi+I.Math), and I happened to talk about the parable of the talents.

Well, the servants who had x number of talents, ( where x is not equal to 0, x>1)

Imagine that you were interviewing one of these servants, let's say the second guy. When you ask him why he wants to spend so mch time doubling his original amount, what will he tell you?

He'll say "You know what, I have been given two talents by my master, whom I serve and love dearly, and he's going to a faraway place to be crowned lord. When I know that he'll be coming back in splendour, I wanted to give him the best, so I worked hard to increase the amount he has entrusted into my charge. As a result, I not only gained interest, I doubled my original sum. Of course, my master was well-pleased with my work. It's ok that I could not earn five more like my first pal, but at least I do what I can."

Before I continue, isn't it funny that the Bible does not use the word gold, silver, money or even jewels? It uses the word talent, which is precisely what my next point is all about.

Interestingly, this same rule should apply to our lives. You may think that you've got nothing good to praise God for, but has it may now occur to you that you are more "talent-ed" than you now know.

If we were to take every day as a blessing, we will learn to be grateful for hat we have. Now let's take every thing we are good at as a talent, how many will you have? As I was telling Aunty Helen earlier (pun intended), if I am good at all nine subjects I'm currently studying in school, then I will have 9 talents to invest! Isn't that more than that mentioned in the parable?

Likewise, we should also adopt a similar attitude about what we do with our life. Currently, I have only suggested the idea of the subjects we take in school as talents, I have not taken into account the other "genuine" talents, like piano(music), dancing, artistic abilities, singing, good at languages, attitude of good cheer, joke-creating, encouraging people, and tons more. Now take around five minutes and start counting. It probably won't take you a minute before you can start to see how much God has blessed you, right?

In life, when we recognize that God has entrusted us with x talents (where x is not equals zero,   -11), and because we love God we ougth to give Him our very best, we will work hard to invest our talents so that they are no longer talents but become full-fledged abilities. For example, God has blessed you with good piano skills, and you work hard, finishing off diploma or grade 8. 

The last statement about the other servant who got five and earned five more is this: Some may have received more talents from God than you do, but it does not really matter, because God gives according to the ability of the person to manage a number of invested talents. You should still work hard at those talents to give the full glory back to God, because God does not count the number of talents you have, but what you do with those talents He has given you. It's perfectly fine if you have only one talent, but if you do it well, God will be just as pleased.

Likewise, to those who have been endowed with plenty from God, when much is given, much is expected in return. The servant who was given two was expected no less, and you won't see the one who got five getting only two extra.

The year 2008 has just left, with 2009 waiting to be written out in your story. You may have had wasted your 2008 away, but it's alright. What matters now is what you plan to do with your 2009. Are you going to "enslave" all those talents God has given, or do you intend to lt time waste away?

This is just how I see my God-given talents, and that is why I'm "crazy" enough to take so many subjects in sec 3. Because I recognize how much God has given me, I don;t want to waste any of them, and become a very unproducive christian. Hence, I do my best to expand my base and develop my talents.

If you desire a talent from God, you may also pray and ask Him for it, who knows? You may get that deal!

I pray that God will create more opportunities to let our talents be put to good use. Economists and politicians say that 2009 is going to be a very dark year, and that times are now uncertain; But I'm sure that if we hold this view fast, 2009 will be very much brighter, full of hope and opportunities, all because we are certain that our God-given talents will be put to good use and make life better.

God bless! (I gotta sleep too...zzz)

Gideon