Chinese New Year 09 ... in Alor Setar

 
 
 

Its really been one festival after another from Hari Raya, Deepavali, Christmas, and now Chinese New Year is here and will soon be gone... its been one makan after another... disastrous on the waist line for sure!! We had a breezy fast drive balik kampung on the eve itself, making the trip in 4 hrs flat, but the return on the 2nd day was a torture for me driving, it was stop, go, stop, go with all the cars on the road heading back to the big city for work...
Alor Setar was hot, hot, hot with not a single drop of rain. CNY eve was a surprise, for we were invited to a 'family' get together at a local hotel... we had expected just the immediate family, but found ourselves seated amongst 25 other tables of relatives we had never seen before...from my eldest bro-in-law's side of 4 generations.. don't ask me who's who from where... i don't remember!! And they are talking of organizing a bigger one next year!!
We bumped at my 2nd sis' place this time, since she had room to spare. Her govt. low-cost 1 storey terrace house had been cleared of all idols since my youngest niece became a Christian and the Chinese altar in front mysteriously caught fire by itself one day.. my sis had the insight to tell me she tinks the idols will not be 'comfortable' with this Christian God and therefore she agreed to the removal; tho she herself hasn't committed to receive Jesus yet. I am thankful that at least she and my eldest sister come to church for that one time in a year... to 'give face' to my brother the preacher-man. This year, he was really preaching at the Alor Setar church; a message in keeping with the time, he talked of new clothes for the new year; of how God stands ready to clothe us with precious garments of salvation and His very own robe of righteousness in Jesus Christ, if only we would discard our own clothes of self justification and recognize that it is by grace that we are saved, not of ourselves or of our works, so that none can boast before God.. i was desperately praying God, touch my sisters' hearts today, today, draw them into the saving knowledge of Jesus Christ, but it wasn't the time, I guess. Tho they listened with their ears, tho they came up for prayer, but they didn't want to commit yet...i cannot understand why anyone would not want to receive God's love and salvation, my heart is grieved but i guess that's the amazing nature of God, that He would allow us the freedom to choose to reject Him, so that when we commit, it is really out of love and not compulsion, that we come to Jesus becoz we want to really,really, for no other reason than we believe He is who He says He is, the great I AM, who alone is able to save. So i guess i gotta pray some more and love some more...I can only stand on His promise that when one is saved, the entire family shall be saved one day in His good and perfect time....

... now we are back in KL... my eldest already started work. Praise God she is settling well in her new place at Jobstreet. God is truly showing her favor; in the midst of recession and cutting back jobs, within a month, she had some 5 job offers. She starts the new year with a new job, new car, an expensive lap top and a boss who happens to be my cell member, her short story is going to be published this Feb 10 by MPH in an antology called Urban Oddysey..... such is the provision of a God whose plans are always to prosper and never to harm us...my no. 2 princess finished her 1st year semester with excellent top grades; she's earning money from her on-line fashion review blog at diaryofane-shopaholic...my son moved up a notch from bottom to 2nd from the bottom of the class ...and i guess he's right when he reminds me hey, that's an improvement, besides he's already in the best class mah... hai... the indefagtible logic of youths!
And so... to God be the glory for all things going well in my family..in the midst of so many things going wrong...in society, in the world about us; the Bible says it clearly, the days are short and evil; worse things are in store for this earth. Yet it is in the darkest of shadows that light shines brightest, and dispels it. It is when we are down in the deepest valleys that our eyes can look up to the highest mountains with hope that there is a new dawn coming over the horizon...
the dawning of every new day when the Son of Righteousness shines His light into the darkened hearts of men to lead them out into everlasting life. For such is the God of mercy and compassion who wishes none to perish but all to come to repentance and eternal life in Christ Jesus... we don't need to wait for new years to come around once in 365 days..... every day is a new beginning, if we choose to open our hearts' doors to let His light in...for Jesus said, " I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.." John 8:12

xxxxxfor more CNY pix, check out http://picasaweb.google.com/laisaikhoon xxxx

Another Makan??!

 
 

Yep... just being a typeeecal M'sian - any occassion is a good occassion to eat and celebrate! So it was after countdown on Dec 31st 2008 ....still makan-ing. This time, it was a loooong overdue get-together pot-bless with some good old frens..nay, not frens, more than frens, becoz these few that i can count on my one hand are truly the ones closest to me in the big family of Christ that we all belong to . They are my 'sounding board' for wise counsel, they are my 'pillars' who support me in united prayer to God for they know the heaviest things upon my heart. They are the ones who lend me their ears and their shoulders. Closer than my cell-mates, these are the ones who love me enuf to tell me off when i need to be told off, who shut me up when i need to shut up. And that's more than friendship already... i m so blessed that God sends such people into my life!
We hv gone thru some 6/7 years of time together, joined together by a mutual passion to share the love of Christ to those who don't know Him. Somehow God pulled us together when we went thru a church training programme on evangelism; so i call them my EE (evangelism explosion) kaki. We graduated,and found ourselves working together. Every week end we would all gather with others as like-hearted and minded to visit the local hospitals to minister to sick, lonely, hurting, dying patients. I hv since branched off to do street work, but i thank God every day for these faithful servants who are still at it every Sat, and even now venturing further afield into private homes , to spread the message of God's great love to those in need. I count myself privileged to know these human angels.
So its always a pleasure to meet up for grand makan every now and then. This year, we have not been doing much of that, tho we see each other in church, talk regularly via phone, email , but hai ya, too caught up with this, that and the other to sit down for a proper meal together... until 2009 already rolled in! So we take it as a farewell to 2008 and a welcome to the new year... which is already 8 days old as of now! It was also timely to celebrate my 2 kids b-days, my son turning 15 and my no. 2 princess turning 19... actually i hv to confess i quite forgot about their b-days til my no. 1 reminded me ... bleh, this old mom, really got fuddy duddy brains lah!!

New Year, New You?

So 2009 has officially begun... again i marvel..gee, so fast, one more year gone.... at the stroke of midnite Dec 31st 2008 just passed into history. I was in church, as has been my usual practice these past 8 years, counting down the seconds with a huge bunch of people in God's house. No, we didnt have any fancy fireworks, no fierce parties of revelry, but a celebration no less... remembering God's faithfulness in bringing us thru another 366 days of life and singing out praises unto Him who is worthy. Amongst the crowd was a group of Iranians and another group of Africans to give us some 'international' flavour! We sang our hearts out, we listened for about 2 hours,as individuals trooped up to give public testimony of how God had blessed , protected and provided for specific needs and answered specific prayers. There were touching accounts of miracles of healing, of lives transformed, of souls saved by God's grace and power. To me, there's no better way to usher in a new year than to remember God's goodness throughout the old year and be thankful to Him in all things that has come to past. Becoz as at 12.01, Jan 1st 2009, i m still alive, and well.. and my heart is at peace, filled with hope for the 365 days ahead, becoz He is walking me thru.. again!
Yet I know some people dont bother much about Dec 31st; they cant see wat's the fuss; its just another date in the calendar to mark off. I guess that's true. After all thanking God shld be a daily affair; we dont hv to wait till Dec 31st to be grateful! Still to me, Dec 31st evokes a stirring in the heart somehow, not becoz there's anything special abt the day itself , but more like it's a symbol, a water-shed that represents the passing of the old into the new; there's something final final about it.
Before leaving for church, we had sat down as a family to a simple dinner. For once,both my 2 daughters' boy frens were with us. To me, it was a rare occassion, as we dont get everyone this close all together at one time. And i was moved to gather everybody around after dinner to read from God's word : "Therefore if you bring your gift to the altar and there remember that your brother has something against you, leave your gift there before the altar, and go your way. First be reconciled to your brother and then come and offer your gift" (Matthew 5:23-24)
When i first read this verse a long time ago, i thot how odd it is that God shld require us to go and reconcile with someone who has something against us; not the other way round. I wld hv thot it more logical that i go and ask forgiveness from someone against whom i hv harboured ill feeling or wronged. Yet here it was clearly, God said go reconcile with the person who has something agst me, not me against him/her. Which means if i m aware someone begrudges me, rightly or wrongly, i m to make the 1st move!! Wah, not easy leh, but that's what He said, and that's wat i hv to do, even as I acknowledge He is God...

Thus, much as i was all ready to go to church to thank God and worship Him, yet I m reminded to first make amends. Repentance must come before rejoicing, mourning comes before dancing. So it was that when i checked my heart, i knew before i could come before God, i had to make right with my own family first. I was sure there were things i had said and done to my beloved kids which had hurt them, things which they were keeping hidden in their hearts against me. And I wanted a full release of forgiveness. Again it doesn't mean i wait until Dec 31st to do this. Like thanksgiving, confession should be a daily habit and it is with our family; whenever we gather for family devotion (which is at least 2x weekly) to study the Bible, we freely confess our sins as we pray together.
But this Dec 31st it seemed appropriate for me to make public confession. So I did. It wasn't easy; i had to swallow every bit of my adult pride; saying sorry in public is very humbling. But i thank God I did it; becoz now the past is truly buried.. and i can go to church with a light heart, for i hv done the right thing before God and before man, standing on the guarantee of His promise :
"Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold all things have become new" - 2 Cor 5:17
"If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteouness" - 1 John 1:8-9