Well, I've been thinking of moving on from this site.
Tonight I got the chance to sit down and browse all my friends' blogs and looked at the features their blogs have.

I just signed up and it's still under construction, ahhaha.... I actually don't wanna let you know first, but if you can help me improve the look of my blog, I appreciate you greatly. Here's the address (mind the mess):

http://reminiscing-all.blogspot.com/

:)

Check this out.

Wealth is not the key to happiness.
Man... I was stunt. This guy who wrote the phrase in his book (quoting from different people and sources) said that we need to rethink how we live our life. He mentioned that hard times help bring people closer to one another, comforting and help each other, the stuff that can bring happiness in individual's life.

http://www.news.com.au/story/0,23599,24461383-5007146,00.html

What shocked me is that most christian didn't know that all the stuff he was talking about were already written in the bible. More than that, God didn't just talk about any happiness, He was talking about the joy of living this live to the fullest, when we have Jesus in our life and walking in His ways. It's ironic how many christians (especially men) talk about God so much, but never want to serve in the church and in the community, and instead, they keep working hard accumulating wealth as much as they can and say, "Mate, somebody's gotta earn a living here, and not everyone is called to serve." Or, they'll say, "Look, I'll just work hard for about 5 years or so to reduce my home loan, then I'll serve in church and community." Lo and behold, the classic story would be after 5 years, the guys is married with kids, own 3 houses (1 to live and the other 2 for investment) and managed to pay off the first house home loan (the other 2 houses loan's payed by the tenants). When you ask the guy to serve, he'll say, "Mate, I have to work hard to feed mhy family and reduce the other 2 home loans." 5 years down the track, you'll find him owning another 3 houses, 2 luxury cars plus a luxury boat and working 6 days a week 15hr/day. At this time, his life is still far from comfortable. By now his mindset is to save as much money as possible so he can retire very early (at the age of 40).

Now that's an example of a very successful man, graduated from uni at the age of 23 (earning $30k pa), married at age 27 (earning 60k pa) to a beautiful loving girl, got kids (lovely and obedient) few years later and work hard till 40 (earning more than 200k pa). He got everything what he wanted by age 40. At age 45, he started serving in church and community. Nice life, hey?

The funny thing is, the story above is the dream of most men (including me) but very few men could reach such dream. The saddest thing is, many men walked away from God when they tried hard to reach such dreams, because they have to make a firm choice at that time, to pursue their dream or God's given purpose. Btw, how can they know that their life will be full of happiness, have a happy family when they're never home, never spend time with family, when they had to work such long hours 6 days a week for at least 15 years? If happiness is measured by wealth, then all the poor people will never be happy. Only the wealthy can be happy. But what do you reckon, is it true?

There's nothing wrong with accumulating wealth as much as possible, but we should not find our security in wealth, our security is in God, the maker of heaven and earth. Seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and everything else will be added unto you. And this include joy in life.

Everyone has been asking me about my new job, what my role is and how it is going so far. Everytime they asked me that question I found it difficult to answer, simply because of my job title. But through this title, I actually learn a lot, especially about myself as a child of God.

It's quite difficult to explain about my job, but I'll do my best. I work in an consulting engineering firm in southbank, analysing all the projects they have from finance point of view. I work closely with most of the project managers/divisional group leaders and my mor (manager once removed) is the area director or the second in charge of the brisbane's office (it's a medium size international company). My real job is to do budgeting/forecasting of each projects and do regular health check on the projects that we have, by reviewing the performance of each project managers.

Now these managers and divsional group leaders are way more matured (in age and field experience) than me, they're like in either early 40s or early 50s, only a couple of them in their late 30s, and few of them are already in their late 50s. So, by right my title should be commercial analyst. But my actual title is commercial manager, ahahha..... I ask my manager why my title is commercial manager. Simply he said "You need a level of authority when you review their (the project managers) performance, and the title gives you that authority."

I hope you're not confused.
Now, deriving from that, while I was thinking about it, suddenly I remember about the authority I have over satan/demon (the authority that all believers have as a child of God through faith in the name of Jesus - when casting out demons). I don't know about you, but many times I doubted myself when I had to spiritual attack, or when I saw someone being possesed by the devil. I questionned myself if I have and can exercise that authority that comes from God.

I realised, my doubt came from my personal walk with God on a regular or daily basis. If I dont walk closely with Him, I wouldn't grow in my spiritual life, and this will affect my faith, hence I wouldn't have that confidence to use that authority that I can use as a child of God. It starts from a simple hunger for Him and obedience to His Word. Having the title Prince before my name (being a child of the King of Heaven) would not do any good if I don't live my life as Prince. I need to live my life according to God's way every day of my life, and only by doing so people (and the devil) can distinguish me from the rest of the crowds. And only by walking in His way, no weapons formed against me will ever prosper, for my Father in Heaven is my biggest supporter, my King and my Lord.

I grew up in a traditional christian family.
In the church where I spent all my sundays when I was in indonesia, the word divorce was very seldom mentioned, cause it's a taboo, same as the word sex. The church will not accept divorce. And I grew up believing that there is no problem/issues that can not be solved, no mistakes/offences that can't be forgiven., and the married couple must stay married till the day they day, doesn't matter what's going on in their life, because they've chosen to be together in the first place. So they must work things out together.

And now I realised I've been quite naive, in a sense.
Marriage life is more complex than what I've been told, or what I've pictured in my mind before, especially for those who don't walk closely with God or who don't have a good and healthy relationship with God and their spouse.

When I went back to indonesia last month to give a surprise visit to mum and dad, I was shocked to discover that mum was busy to help my aunt with her separation case. I never thought that it could happen to my family. Mum was literally crying when she shared what has been happening in the last couple of years with my aunt and her husband. He has betrayed her so many times, yet she didn't lose hope, until he became violent and told her that he has another child.

ah.. My heart was crushed upon hearing it. Mum told me all these because she had to go to my aunt's place (2hr by flight) and help her with the separation process. In indonesia you need to take separation time before the actual divorce. That's the reason why she couldn't matchmake me (though she already has 2 girls to introduce to me). I was happy that she's busy, but it bothered me so much that a man could do such thing.

After mum told me everything, my heart was filled with anger. And in my mind I already sinned by thinking all horrible things I wanted to do to him, making him sorry for making my aunt so sad. Then at night, when I couldn't sleep, I felt God was saying that He also felt so sad whenever He looked at His children betraying Him over and over again, living their life according to their sinful nature, walking away from Him.

Then I said, one of those children of His is me. I remember many ocassions when I disobeyed Him completely, when I refused to listen to Him, or even when I put Him second place. ah... By now, I couldn't hold it any longer and I just cried out to Him, asking for forgiveness. I know what it's like being betrayed by someone you love, but as to the extend of how bad my aunt has experienced, I wouldn't have a clue. The damage has been done and she has suffered so much that she almost took her own life. Right now I could only pray that God can help and comfort my aunt during this hard time, and that He can bring her husband back to HIS path again.

I just watched 'the mummy' at I'pilly cinema. Went to the goldclass theatre with few friends followed by dinner.

I should say that I really like it, apart from the price. Considering tonight I only had to pay $1 in total (for 4 people), I felt it was an awesome experience, ahhaha... Not sure about the rest, but I like the big seat and gap between my row and the other row, or the seats behind and in front of me. But if I have to pay the real price of $37/ticket, man... not sure if I'd like it that much, ahahha...

However, now that there's this deal with magnum ice-cream where you can upgrade your ticket from the normal ticket to goldclass, I wouldn't mind paying $15.50 and watch some really nice movie there. My friend said that he also wouldn't mind paying $15.50, and would love to go there again, ahahha... so yeah. I reckon going there with a big group of friends would be very nice. hmm... maybe I should organise a movie session. Anyone interested? $15.50 for a goldclass movie ticket?

Alright.. Amy sent me this video clip and asked me to send it to all my friends from Hong Kong, or those who can speak cantonese. Since I don't really know who comes from HK or who can speak cantonese, why don't you take a look at this clip and/or send it to your friends, apparently it's a very nice song. Please copy and paste to your browser.   :)

http://au.youtube.com/watch?feature=related&v=I1ZznSn2JQ8

Hello... I hope you're doing fine, just as I am.

Last w/e I went out clubbing with my friends after dinner celebrating his b'day. Yep, I went to a nightclub. It might not be the best place I should be at, but I did anyway and I'm not gonna write down the struggle I had in my mind before I decided to. So forgive me if I have offended you just by writing this.

Moving on, I should say it was a pretty good nite as I really enjoyed the company of friends whom I've known for quite a long time. At the nightclub, after a couple of minutes standing and chit-chat we all went to the dance floor and danced. Yes, I danced too, though only for a very short time, and I danced with my friend, who's the birthday boy, with people giving us that strange look (cause 2 guys holding hand dancing together), ahhaha....

Now, when I danced with my friend, I really enjoyed it. Perhaps because I was dancing with him celebrating his birthday. But after that, when I danced by myself (when he was dancing with others) I felt kinda weird, ahahha... I asked myself why I danced. I know it sounds strange, but that's exactly what happened.

Then I remembered the story of king David who danced before God when the ark of covenant was brought from the house of Obed-Edom to Jerusalem. He was dancing so hard because he was so happy to be near the ark of covenance that represent God's presence, and the fact that the ark was about to stay forever in Jerusalem.

Then all of a sudden I wanted to dance for God, but I couldn't, because the music played was some music with lyrics not related to God at all, ahahaha.... I felt quite weird at that time, hahaha... But anyway, I stopped dancing and just watched them (my friends) dancing. I enjoyed looking at them having fun dancing together, ahahha....

ah.... I should say it was a good nite.

Right now, I'm actually in the midst of cleaning my room.
But when this song just played in my laptop media player, it made me stop and think about my life in the past. Where there seemed to be no way, when there seemed to be no hope, when there seemed to be nothing at all, Jesus was there and He came to the rescue when I cried out to Him, asking for help. It's comforting to know that He will always be there for me. ah.... thank you Lord.

If you don't have the CD, have a look at youtube. Here's the link (please copy n paste to your browser): http://au.youtube.com/watch?v=MOb8ihacSM4&feature=related

Cry Out To Jesus (by Third Day)

Verse 1
To everyone who's lost someone they love
Long before it was their time
You feel like the days you had were not enough
when you said goodbye

And to all of the people with burdens and pains
Keeping you back from your life
You believe that there's nothing and there is no one
Who can make it right

Chorus
There is hope for the helpless
Rest for the weary
Love for the broken heart
There is grace and forgiveness
Mercy and healing
He'll meet you wherever you are
Cry out to Jesus, Cry out to Jesus

Verse 2
For the marriage that's struggling just to hang on
They've lost all of their faith in love
They've done all they can to make it right again
Still it's not enough

For the ones who can't break the addictions and chains
You try to give up but you come back again
Just remember that you're not alone in your shame
And your suffering

Chorus
Bridge
When you're lonely
And it feels like the whole world is falling on you
You just reach out, you just cry out to Jesus
Cry to Jesus

Verse 3
To the widow who suffers from being alone
Wiping the tears from her eyes
For the children around the world without a home
Say a prayer tonight

Chorus

I was on the airplane flying from Brunei to Brisbane.

I just finished my lunch. Feeling itchy in my throat (because of the flu), I asked the guy (air-steward?) for a cup of tea, with no milk. He came back with the tea. Then I asked, "Could I also have sugar please?" "Oh, there should be one in your cutlery's pack there" he replied. So I reached into the already opened cutlery pack, poured the sugar into my cup and stirred it.

What happened next was somewhat shocking.
I never had such a salty tea in my life. When I sipped the tea, it was so salty. And in the state of shock, instead of sipping a bit I ended up sipping so much and I burnt my tongue, because the tea was pretty hot. It was hot, and tasted disgusting. I wanted to throw the remaining tea in toilet, but thought to myself that I better come clean and ask for another one.

So I called the guy back and told him what had just happened. He smiled. But I could see that he's trying hard not to laugh. So he came back with another tea and sugar, and a word of encouragement, "It's alright sir, it happens all the time." I thanked him for the tea and smiled. He went away with a cheeky smile.

Hey, what's up.

I just came back from dinner with JP, my lovely big brother though he's younger than me, ahahha..... OK here's my update. When I was in Indonesia, I actually wanted to eat all the yummy food I could get my hand on, but too bad I couldn't do it due to few factors. I couldn't eat this yummy frog meat because not many restaurants sell them anymore, and the one which sells them is located very far from my house, so couldn't go there. But I managed to eat another yummy food, it's the dog, ahhaha.... I know many of you will get upset, but hey, it's yummy.... uh, so spicy man, ahhaha... I don't know what kind of dog it was, but I should say it's pretty tasty, ehhehe...

My last night in Jakarta spent with family (with the absence of mum, spending time with my aunt) pigging out eating seafood celebrating my younger sister's b'day. Man, I think I'm getting old. I couldn't take such hot and spicy food anymore. After consuming those spicy seafood, as soon as I got home, I had quality time in toilet. I felt my bum so hot afterwards as if there's fire burning back there, ahahha... sorry for the language. So what's the lesson to learn? DO NOT eat so much chilli or very heaty and spicy food, not good for you.

But highlight of the day should be my trip to JPCC (Jakarta Praise Community Centre). I visited the youth service of the church (thanks to Lukas, my x-shep who's been asking me to visit his church when I go back to Jkt, though he's currently somewhere in US) in the afternoon last Sunday. It was awesome. The visit to that church completes my encounter with God outside Australia (if I can say it this way). So refreshing. During his preaching, Sydney Mohede sang the song (forgot the title) 'You're awesome in this place mighty God', and another song that goes something like 'I just want to dwell in Your presence, and I don't want to go far from your presence'. ah... it was so beautiful.

Man... He is truly awesome. My 10-day trip has been such a blessing to me, to my soul and spirit. I asked God to let me be a blessing (to make an impact) to at least 1 person during the trip back to Jakarta. But instead of making an impact in people's life, I have been so much blessed by many people, even those I never met before (thanks to Justin, Sharon and Cait). Seeing what God is doing everywhere I go, really blessed my heart. It helps me to see Him in a better way, I have better understanding and greater exposure to what He's doing outside Brisbane, this corner of the world. Truly, He is awesome in this place, in Brisbane, Brunei, Jakarta and every part of the universe.

Good nite. :)

I'm back.
Physically exhausted but spiritually refreshed.

Tomorrow will be my first day at the new company. I shall update you with my holiday stories tomorrow night, otherwise wed night cause I'm not sure if I can survive after prayer meeting tomorrow to pen down all my holiday stories, hahaha.... okie dokie, good nite and sleep tight.
:)

It was such a sad but beautiful day.

Had my farewell at the office this morning. My boss only invited few people, but close to 40 people turned up, including a couple of advisors from the business banking. Man.. I never imagined that this day would come, where I had to apologise to everyone for all the mistakes I've done, thank them for their help, support and understanding and to say goodbye to all of them.

ah... I should say this goodbye was one of the nice one. I've built relationship with many of my colleagues, as well as my boss and manager. The sad part about my leaving is that during my employment term, I didn't see any salvation at all. I asked and questioned God a lot of times till I realised that I don't have to be the person who reap the harvest. Maybe my part is to sow the seed and someone else will harvest the fruits.

Today, I made sure I gave all the glory to God. I never openly mentioned God in front of all my colleagues, but today I did it, ahahha... I was a bit scared at first, but after I said ,"Well, I thank God for giving me the opportunity to work here....." everything became so smooth, and the fear was gone. It's truly one good experience I had today.

I don't know what my future holds, but 1 thing that I know is that, He holds my world in the palm of His hand, and He will never leave me nor forsake me. So I shall not fear anything, for my God is with me. Thank you Father for everything. Goodnite. :)

Alright, I'm going to visit my neighbor country this Friday arvo. Will have dinner and breakfast there before continuing on to Jakarta. Now, I've got no clue what-so-ever about this country, so if any of you know places of interest to visit, please do let me know.

Here's some information that I could gather from various places:
1. Population: 381,371 (july 2008 est), of which 66.3% malay, 11.2% chinese, 3.4% indigenous and others 19%, and where 67% of the populations adopted muslims to be their religion, 13% buddhist and 10% christians.
2. Area: 5765 sq km
3. Independence: 1 Jan 1984 (given by UK), but they celebrate national day on 23 Feb because it's the day the british end their protection over the country.

Now here's the interesting part about its government. Apparently the government provides for all medical services and free education through the university level and subsidizes rice and housing. Sultan Hassanal Bolkian is the monarch ruler where his family has ruled the country over 6 centuries.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brunei
http://www.tourismbrunei.com/facts/facts.html
https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/bx.html#Econ

Now the question is, where should I go when I get there? hmm....

Man, let me say this, I definitely have made the right choice of accepting Jesus into my life to be my Lord and Saviour and serve Him and His people in this church. How true it is, that we (all the believers) are 1 family in Jesus.

Just y'day night I caught up with my friend and she asked me what's been happening in my spiritual life. Then I just shared what happened to me on Sunday. She said a very simple thing but struck me right in my heart. She said, "Hey bro, don't worry about it. We are a family. We're not supposed to judge each other, or look down on one another, even after one of us made a mistake, a big one too. We're supposed to build one another up."

Right after she said that, I remember few people who really encouraged me that night and the following day. Man... I thank God for letting me to be in such a great worship team last Sunday. You guys rock. You all are very understanding. You guys are such humble people. Hey Lem, thanks bro for your encouragement and Cintia, thanks for reminding me again about what worship is about, it's about HIM.

Thank you Lord for blessing me with such wonderful family. There's so many areas in my life that I need to change, fix and improve. If it's not for your grace, blessing me with such wonderful family, I wouldn't have been able to make those necessary changes in my life, to be a better man, to be someone you have created me to be.

I was blown-away by that statement, and I myself said it at dinner y'day after church service.

I must have heard it somewhere, otherwise it must be the HS.
I was sharing with my friends (people from my lovely group) about my struggles in obeying my parents especially my mum who can be quite demanding sometimes. But I found as I tried to obey her, things working out quite nicely, as if God is granting my heart desire (which can be quite different from my mum's).

I've written this in here long time ago, but let me just share it again. My mum serves in her church (traditional church, like a presbyterian church) as a minister (or as an elder/leader). So she knows God and the bible. But because of the many negative things that happened to charismatic churches in indonesia long time ago, she's so against me attending my current church. She's in indonesia and I'm here, and she thinks that my church is not a good church without even having any knowledge about my church. So it's prejudice to the core. At that time I told God that I desire so much to grow in this church but I also want to obey my mum. So I asked Him to speak to her. After that, I told my mum that I'd obey whatever she said as long as she thinks and prays before she gives her verdict.

1 month later, she called me. In tremble, I asked her what her decision is. At that time, I decided to obey her if she asked me not to attend this church anymore. That's the risk I was ready to take, not attending this church. She said God didn't tell her that this church is not a good church, but God didn't tell her either that this church is a good church. So she will leave that decision to me, considering I'm matured enough to make the decision and I'm the one who's here, not her.

Not wanting to jump into conclusion, I asked her, "So... can I go to this church?"
She replied, "If you think you can grow in that church, then by all means, go to that church and serve."

Man.. I tell you, I was screaming in my heart so loud that I was almost deaf. I thank God for giving her such wisdom. And now, she always asked me how my spiritual life been, if I'm still serving in the church.

Truly, everyday is a test of faith. And faith is the basis of christianity, that is putting my faith in Jesus, My Lord and Salvation. The economist said, the higher the risk, the greater the reward. I think I've got more than I could bargain for. Having my faith in Jesus is more than just having the key to heaven. When I put my faith in Him, I find the purpose of my life and the satisfaction of living this life to fullest.

Yes the road is long and winding, but hey, I can see the road better now and it gets easier to travel that long and winding road, because I have Him as my guide, my encourager, my banner, my healer, my light, my God and my Saviour.

Yes, I feel like sighing now...

I thank God for what happened today at church. If I can say it this way, it's actually such a terrible day for me. But I thank God for that, cause I learnt my lesson, the hard way.

Guess what happened?
I led 1 praise and 1 worship song. I forgot which one, but when I led one of songs, I forgot the lyrics. And at that particular moment when I forgot, when I tried to smile, close my eyes and prayed to God asking for miracles (for Him to help me remember the lyrics), the visualiser zoomed the camera in to my face and showed the whole church my face (and I didn't even realise it).

I only found out after the church about it (the camera zooming in to my face).
Man, I felt so embarrassed when people commented about my face, they said I looked funny. Although they said it jokingly, but it was like a thousand needles poking my chest going in to my heart. Dunno if it makes sense. At that time I felt like quitting my involvement with the worship team.

I wanted to go away from the crowds, but there's no place I could find. So in my heart I just kept on asking God to strengthen me. After getting some encouragement from God (and others as well), I decided to learn from my mistake and do better next time. I hope I won't make the same mistake again, forgetting the lyrics. I also hope the visualiser won't zoom in to my face either, ahhaha..... okie dokie, that's all from me for now, good nite.

ahahha... someone said that if we don't learn, we don't grow, and if we don't grow, we'll die. I so agree with him. A friend told me just few days ago to write down whatever it is that I learned during the day or in my life. I used to have a diary full of things I learned, discovered or whatever, but I don't know where it is now, ah... I'll buy a book tomorrow to start again.

Anyway, here's what I learned today.
1. Don't let anything stop you from doing God's work. This morning was actually the first morning I held PM (prayer meeting) in city for those who work in city. ahhaha.... no body came, ahhaha... I got discouraged few seconds, asking God why. But then HS replied me, "So if no one comes, you won't pray?" I was like "HAH???" So I prayed. It was... I don't know how to describe it. It's somewhat romantic, ahahha.... early morning, me and God together. ahhaha... ok, let's move on.
2. Obey your leaders. This is something I'm still learning. I'm a man full of ideas, some ideas can be quite silly though. And since I'm full of ideas, a lot of times I want things to be done or run according to what I think is the best way to do. With that kind of attitude, it's very challenging to obey my leaders. But I'm getting better at it now, consulting my ideas with my leaders and ask his/her opinion and approval. Right now my challenge is to obey my leaders without any question at all, do what they say wholeheartedly without having to question them.
3. Be a good listener. I'm training myself to be a good listener. To tell you the truth, it's not easy to be a good listener. How to be one? I'm trying to just shut my mouth and listen. Only talk when they ask me to talk. To listen to people's stories about their encounter with God is easy, but to listen to people's sorrow and difficulties/challenges can be quite tough. ahahha....
4. Be gracious. I should say that this is one of the toughest area in my life that needed improvement. ahahha...
5. Consistency in prayer life. Man... this is another negative point. Right now I'm doing alright. It's really hard to maintain. I don't know about you, but man... doing QT (quiet-time) every single morning without fail is not easy at all, cause the desperation is not there sometimes. O God, help me to be desperate to be with you.
6. Be desperate. Yes, deriving from previous point. This is one very crucial ingredient in a believer/christian's life, regardless of stage of life. I need to be desperate for Him all the time. The questions I would ask myself: Am I really seeking Him? Do I really want to be with Him? Do I really want to listen to Him? Do I really want to know Him? Do I really want to walk with Him? Do I really want to be used by Him? These are actually quite a dangerous questions, ahhaha.....

Alright, that's all for now. I'll continue tomorrow or whenever I remember, ahhaha... good nite.

Man... I'm so counting down to many things, ahhaha... to the end of my current employment, to a short-trip back to Indonesia visiting my family, to my new employment with this engineering firm in Southbank, to the things God is going to do in my life and the LG people in JOSEPH, and to see many of my friends coming to know Jesus and living their life full of purpose from God, and ah... so many things I can't even pen it down here.

One of the things I'm looking forward to is my first visit to Brunei. I've heard so much about it and I have few friends from Brunei at church. I've been to Singapore and M'sia, but I've never been to Brunei, ahhaha... Though I don't have much time to spend, but I'd do my best to fully utilise it, ahhaha...

This short-trip back to Jakarta is actually my holiday, but I'm hoping that God can still use me during this time. I don't know what, when, where and how it is, but i'm expecting and believing for something to happen, ahahha..... man, I'm so excited.