two more weeks

2 more weeks, my visa expires, I don't have my passport with me, even if the immigration officer going to kick me out of the country, I still need my passport to go back. Probably because of the change of immigration rules in April, application for visa has increased. You can probably understand that my situation is not so comfortable.

TW said I was on a limbo.

Then I remember a song .....

I never thought you were a fool

But darling, look at you

You gotta stand up straight, carry your own weight

These tears are going nowhere, baby

You've got to get yourself together

You've got stuck in a moment and now you can't get out of it

Don't say that later will be better now you're stuck in a moment

And you can't get out of it

I will not forsake, the colours that you bring

But the nights you filled with fireworks

They left you with nothing

I am still enchanted by the light you brought to me

I still listen through your ears, and through your eyes I can see

...

On Monday, as we were doing a Global Action training, I was asked to read a verse, it was suppose to be Matt 13:8, but I heard Matt 8:13.

13 Then Jesus said to the Roman officer, “Go back home. Because you believed, it has happened.” And the young servant was healed that same hour.

When I got to that verse, I've got o shock. Go back home? are you serious? the verse is definitely applied in a wrong context.

When I turned to Matt 13:8.

8 Still other seeds fell on fertile soil, and they produced a crop that was thirty, sixty, and even a hundred times as much as had been planted!

Me and another friend in OM are starting a book table ministry in the city of Carlisle, once a month, to give away free books. We've got a team of people expressing interest of helping out in the ministry.

It sounds like telling me that the seeds has been sown and will multiply.

I find this very amusing. God has a very good sense of humour of telling me something.

These were just my thoughts, I am in the situation, I naturally read the "signs" in a way that is biased, can't help it.

Staying or Leaving?

6 more weeks my visa will expire. I am putting an application to extend my stay in UK for another 6 months. If God's willing, I will stay. OM wants me to stay as they are short of hands . I will let Him decide if I am staying. I am not just sit and wait for things to happen, at least I've made my visa application. Sure enough, there are work to be done in OM. The task seems very big and may not be able to get it done for another 6 more months.

I was very encouraged by Mark, an OMer from the ships office who spoke to me one morning. He affirmed some of the my gifting of recruiting and encouraging people in the office as added value. He also encouraged me to stay on longer whether in OM or any other ministries. I don't think he's trying to "sell" me the ship's ministry.

What are my thoughts about visa extension and another 6 months in OM if the application to extend fails, this could be any where else in OM. I would say I leave this to Him.

Relationship

I've been in church long enough to learn lot of jargon. Christianity is not a religion but a relationship. There's nothing wrong with that statement. But how many people who said that really understand what it means? We the evangelicals know how to "defend" our faith with that statement. My question is that how many people really understand that? How many Christian has the life style to back it up? I believe people who experience that relationship will have that passion to back it up. One doesn't have to "squeeze" out that light of Jesus because one can't hide that light that shine from him/her.

So what do we mean by having a relationship?

Oh well you talk, get to know each other, you share your joy and sorrow, you basically open yourself to each other. You give and you recieve.

So how doest that work with Jesus?

Oh well ... you give your life to Him, you take Him into your heart.
You open youself to Him, He reveals Himself to you.

Political Correctness

The whole world has gone mad. Everybody is so sensitive about political correctness. You were not allowed to say anything that may potentially offending another person. People are now afraid to speak about truth because of that. You want to be a nice and pleasant person. On the other hand, all the TV programs that are being put on air are getting worse and worse. Swear words are not being censored, sexual explicit contents material are being broadcast and so on. Aren't these materials offensive? The supposedly "open minded" people would say, 'if you don't like that switch the channel.', and at the same time, these "open minded" people are the people who get offended when certain truth is spoken about them. Sad, sad, sad.

New year resolutions for 2007

Don't tell me you never make new year resolutions because you never achieve them. I have achieved some of them, not every one of them was achieved, 2 and a half out of four. I consider that not a bad effort. I can't take any credit of the achievements, it was God. The other one and a half that fail was my own effort to try hard.

It is mid January, I am still in the middle of sorting what I want to be/do this year. Few things came to my mind.

1. Live life to the MAX.

The thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy: I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly. (John 10:10)

I want to live the life that what Jesus promised, live the aboundant life He promised. I am not talking about physical thing. I want to live the cutting edge life that will impact people around me whenever I go.

2. Consist ant Prayer Life.

I want to pray more, I don't pray enough. To help me start, I will attend the mid day prayer meeting everyday in the OM office when ever I can. NOTHING works if there is no prayer. I want to see the power of prayer. I want to get closer to GOD through my prayer life.

3. Celtic Tin Whistle

I bought a Tin Whistle end of last year. I want to learn to play the Tin Whistle, what I really mean is that I want to learn how to play the Celtic mood with the instrument. The sweet tone of this simple instrument has such power to sooth the hearts of people. I want to use it to worship God, to lead people to His throne. Off course it is the Holy Spirit who leads people to worship Him.

I can only come up with 3 up to this point. I may add more if I come up with more.

Prayer

I have been wanting to write this for a very long time, but did not get around to it. I have been in church long enough to notice when people pray, they tend to end each of the sentence with the word "Lord". The word gets used so much, it almost becomes like a comma or a fullstop. I was just looking at the book of Psalms, phrases like "O Lord", "O God" appear many times but never the frequency of someone who pray like what I mentioned before. Sometimes, I wonder if we are praying to a PERSON or to thin air? So, don't go into curise control with 'babbling words' when you pray.

7 “When you pray, don’t babble on and on as people of other religions do. They think their prayers are answered merely by repeating their words again and again. 8 Don’t be like them, for your Father knows exactly what you need even before you ask him! (Matthew 6:7-8)

Joy in the City Birmingham 2006

What a way to finish the year 2006. I participated in OM LUKE (Love United Kingdom Evangelism) outreach in Birmingham right after Christmas. The team consists of 40+ people from 14 different countries, 4 of them including me are from down under. It's good to hear from Aussie accent English once again. The outreach is very short, 27 Dec - 3 Jan, yet we were so encouraged by the testimonies we heard.

During this short week, we did many things together. Street evangelism where we gave out tracts and talked to the people on the street. I've learnt that it is not as hard as I thought it was. Birmingham is a melting pot of many cultures. There are a lot of Muslims who live here and most of them are very open to talk about their faith.

Open air performances were done in the public area, face painting to attract the kids, sketch board message & etc. One Muslim man I've spoken to believes in Jesus Christ is a prophet. I asked him does he believe everything that Jesus said? He said Yes. Then I asked him, Jesus said, ' I am the way, the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. ' He was caught off guard, then he told me he believes every best part of humanity. I gave him a gospel tract and asked him to read it. On other occasion, I got to pray for the people I talked to.

Not all conversations went positive, one man who picked up that react from me. Stopped, after reading it, shouted at me quoting scriptures. The conversation went wrong when he started telling me some obscure theology about we are cells of God. His face was getting really close to mine and I could smell his alcohol breath. One team member came to the rescue and he left. Later, I've found out that other team members had similar experience from the same guy.

OM LUKE is partnering Birmingham Christian Centre for the outreach. BCC is part of the Elim Pentecostal churches in UK. Majority of the congregation members were from African and Jamaican backgrounds although there are many other nationalities represented in the church. The style of worship was very different to what I used to. I have never heard the song, 'You have made me glad' sung in a gospel style, very different. It was like Whitney leading worship.

What encouraged me during that week was that some non-English speaking background members working with LUKE. One of them told me that her English is not as good but believes that God brought her here for training and equipping her for the ministry back home.

Carlisle city centre - Christmas Light Display

The main attraction of the light display in Carlise city centre is this. Wise men visiting the new born King and Mary.

I think it's nice to have the real story being told in the light display rather than some fat guy dressed in red suit.

Costa, one of many cafe in Carlise. I've tried they coffee, I think my niece can do better. 

This is the tourist information centre building. 

The side streets are not being neglected, actually I quite like the alley. 

Christmas in Carlisle. 

The shopping mall is being decorated by beautiful light. 

2 - months

It has been 2 months since my mother went home. Things are getting back to "normal". A friend asked me how am I doing since mum has gone? I don't really know, sometimes I still think I can go back and visit her in Adelaide. I did not try hard not to think about she has gone, nor that I've tried to think of her too much.

As Christmas approaching, the memories of mum come back. I remember everyone will try to be where mum was whether be in Melbourne or Adelaide. Where everyone would just enjoy mum's cooking and each other's company. Since she had the stroke, she was bound to her bed, we made every effect to go back to Adelaide to celebrate Christmas with her. There are times when we took turn to see her at different weeks, so that she did not get overwhelmed by all of us at one time, and next week no one was there for her.

This Christmas is going to be different without mum, something for the family to get used to.

You nourish our hearts in our yearning,
You dignify our souls in our struggles

You harmonise our grief and gladness

You make melody from fragments of chaos

You align our spirit with creation

You reveal to us the grace of God

You calm us and delight us and set us free to love and forgive

Our lives are richer because of who you are

Farewell DC!

I've received an email from Aus found out that my pastor David Collins has passed away and went to be with the Lord. He has been battling with cancer since end of last year. He has been very dear to our congregation, Twilight, and we have been praying for him faithfully. DC is no longer suffering with the pain. I remember early this year when he posted a song by MercyMe, I Can Only Imagine, on his blog. This song was written by the lead singer of the band to commemorate the passing of his father. What would his father do when he sees Jesus. One can only imagine. Right now, DC needs no imagination anymore.

It's hard for me to deal with 2 deaths since I've got here in Carlisle. But like I said it before, I will say it again, it is by the Grace of God that I can stand here and declare that God is good and still is.

One month since ....

It has been one month since my mother passed away. Time moved so quickly for me this month. ON office has moved to a new location, I moved out from the wrist's and moved into curries Road. I've decided to make Elim Community Church the church that I go to in Carlisle, joint a cell group, will be joining the worship team once I get the approval from the senior minister. Everything is still new to me. Seeing new things every week, learning new things every week. Honestly I don't want to settle comfortably and if I do I will be chatting into the comfort zone. I want to be living on the edge.

As I reflect how I got here in Carlisle, it has not been an easy journey. Somehow God allowed these incidents to happen for a purpose. Now, it sounded cliche and religious but what else can I say? Knowing that '... all things God works for the good of those who love him,who have been called according to his purpose.'

Now, let see,

I love HIM, I can only love God the way I know I can and continue to learn to love Him more.

I have been called for His purpose, everyone has and is.

So "ALL things"? Including some obstacles that were placed during my preparation? The nasty things said by someone? YES ... All things! They are for the good for me? The passing away of my mother is a good thing for her as she is no longer suffering in her imperfect body, that I understand but what about the rest?

I know this verse in my head, I guess I will only understand this somewhere in the future.

GOD is so BIG, I am so small. I cannot grasp all these things at the moment but somehow He will show it to me a right time. Right now, I just have to take it by faith and by His grace I will accept it.

"So help me God, to put my faith in You."

p/s, I am going to put a tribute to my mother on the blog, just give me sometime, when I am ready.

Walkers Marmite

Walkers is a snack food company like the one in Australia, Smiths, known for their potato chips and variety of flavors. Then there's Marmite and Vegemite. The black stuff that "everyone" like. One day when I was shopping here (Carlisle) in the supermarket, my flat-mate showed me the chips with Marmite flavor. Yes ... The UK Vegemite chips, I mean Marmite Chips. Too good to be true? Yes ... Check this out.

I bought the 6 pack home to try it out. Believe me it knocked my socks off. Wonder if they would make them available in Australia? Chips with an Aussie twist.

Speaking of Vegemite, U.S. has halt the import of Vegemite.

Hopefully, by the time I come back to Melbourne, I will get to see Smiths Vegemite Chips.

Poundland,Carlisle

Before I came to Carlisle, I thought this city will be something like a Tintinara. Where is Tintinara? I am here to talk about Carlisle, go look it up in the internet. To my surprise, it is bigger than Tintin. It's more like Ballarat or Geelong for those who came from Melbourne. For those who are not, go look it up in Google. This is a city in the county of Cumbria in UK. It's a city with a lots of history. Carlisle used to be a Roman station in 875AD.

The city has got one MacDonald Restaurant, one KFC and too many, really way too many mobile phone shops. I was told KFC just came in not too long ago. And apparently, it's one of the favorite restaurants in town. So I thought I checked it out. I could not believe that the waiting time is 20 mins. There's a queue at the door. You're kidding me? Oh, come on!

There's a what we called in Australia the $2 dollar shop. Right here in Carlisle, you have the Pound Land. Everything here is 1 pound. Yes, that's right, 1 pound. Very cheap, in fact I actually bought an umbrella here. So far, it is still working well. When I walked out from the shop with the umbrella and I walked past next door, the shop was selling it for 99p. DOPE! ... Just kidding it was selling for more than 3 pounds or something. I also bought my coat hangers there for 1 pound. I don't think I need a Prada coat hanger, so they are just fine. This is suppose to be an easy job for the shop assistant at the check out centre. But they still scan the merchandise, why border? Everything is 1 pound. What's else is in the shop? Things that you would expect to see in a 2 dollar shop. Not sure, what else I am going to get from Poundland. One thing for sure, there's no Prada, Chanel or Armani.

Aira Force, Lake District

Okay, from Matterdale the Hebron families went to the Tea Room for afternoon tea. We the OMers chose the cheaper alternative, we went to Aira Force. We parked our car in the next free parking area and walked to the Aira Force. This is not the "May the force be with you" kind of force if you are wondering. It is a waterfall. The place was owned by a rich guy in 1780's as a hunting lodge and planted a lot of native plants. The walk in the park was totally different experience from the Matterdale one. It was like walking in the woods that was described in some books. It was equally beautiful. Some of the plants are very unique, here are just a few of them.

What does this look like to you? ->

Face of an old lady? Go Figure.

<- In order to survive you need to stretch a bit. As a result of that, it gives you a bit of character - persistent, patient, perserverance. If you are under a bit of stress, hang in there.

Matterdale, Lake District

The weekend just past, I was invited by one of the OMers, Timotheous who attends the Hebron church here in Carlisle for a family hike around Lake District. I have not been exercising for the past few weeks, I figured out it would be a good start for me in this city.

Matterdale is located in Lake District 30 minutes away from Carlisle. The track was an easy one since it was a family walk, it should not be difficult for the kids. Friends you see on the picture are Christian and Daniela K and Timotheous P. They are from the OM office, Chris and Dnaiela are from Austria and Timo is from Germany.

The country side is just so beautiful and it's green all over. The weather on that day was perfect, not too cold, may be it was because we were constantly moving and had warmed up.

The houses along the walk still retained their original state when they were first built. It was just beautiful. We stopped over at a few places, one of them was the Matterdale church. This church was built in the 1573, that's what they told me. It was just amazing. Inside the church building, there's no electricity and therefore the candles were used for meetings at night. Must be interesting to meet under the illumination of the candle light. As I walked through the door, there are some new song books. Someone told me that there are still people who meet here on a regular basis. The door of this church is never locked to allow people to visit. To visit a historic building like this always makes you feel surreal. You think you probably in the movie, Braveheart. I am so glad that this part of the history is kept and maintained so that the future generation will appreciate more of their heritage. As Australia is a very young nation, there's not such building of this age.

The walk/hike took about 2 to 3 hours walk. The scenery was just spectacular as oneof the friends told me that it has one of the most beautiful countryside in England. You would probably start asking question about wehre is the Lake? I asked them as well. The lake is acutally at the side or behind the hills. We did not get to see it because the track did not lead us to the lake. I enjoyed the walk very much as much as I enjoyed the scenery.