It's a Sunday...

I don't know why I suddenly decided to blog about today, maybe it's the guilt from not updating this blog for ages! :D Oh well, either way, please enjoy this post about my Sunday!

Woke up today around 8.40am for church. I had to get to church by 9am for our final music practice before Sunday. Yeah I know sounds kind of dramatic but it's not really a big deal! Been serving for awhile now as a back up singer and worship leader (and still lovin' it) so I'm kind of used to the routine of waking for practice. But... sleeping at 5am this morning really didn't help the process. I really got to get my biological clock to work on normal hours again. The holidays sure messed it up =.=

I ended up reaching church at about 9.15-ish. Yeah I was late but I wasn't the latest! :D Today's songs pretty nice and the theme was about God's presence. The theme threw me off a little because I've been ignoring God for the past week. It's not that I was too busy, but I'm just feeling guilty about some things and I didn't felt like approaching God. I know I'm not supposed to be feeling condemned but I just did. But as the worship progressed it was easier and easier to enter into His presence and it felt great. The sermon today was awesome too because I felt it was talking directly to me. My pastor preached about being honest with God about how you feel today. And I think that's exactly what I needed to do.

After church the youth worship team stayed back for a short practice session for our upcoming Youth Sunday where the whole service will be taken over by the youths. I'm not worship leading this round though because we felt it would be good to get the younger worship leaders to give it a try. But I am preaching though! So if you're free on the 19th of October come over to my church and you'll get to hear my first official sermon! :D

Moving along... after our brief music practice it was lunch time and so headed to the nearby food court. The food there's pretty cheap and affordable but the best part is; my favourite cyber cafe is just upstairs 8D. Normally we would go for badminton on Sunday evenings but since we had to help out with transportation for tonight's Vietnamese service, a few of us played DotA instead! :D

After 3 long rounds of DotA, I came home to change my clothes and to check on my Kancil Awards entry (more about this in a later entry :D) before heading down to Shah Alam to transport the Vietnamese migrant workers to church. After that I came home and cam whored a little! But I do have a valid excuse! Err.. ermm.. my hair is black and I'm wearing a bright green shirt! This kind of abnormalities just needs to be photographed! And here's the result...

Yea I know it's kind of lame to only have one pic but it's the only one I liked!

And that leaves me where I am now. Blogging about my average Sunday! Hope you enjoyed it (I don't how you could have enjoyed reading this but I hope you did anyway)!

My sister

I love my sister. Today I went to Pyramid with my family for dinner and shopping afterwards. After awhile me and my sister parted with our parents so we could do our own shopping. It's amazing how we can do practically everything together. I followed her to buy shorts and lingerie while she followed me to shop for 3/4 pants and shoes. Ok so the 3/4 pants and shoes are no big deal but the lingerie? I don't think a lot of brothers and sisters can match that! :D

Like I said, we do a lot together and we love it that way. We watch tv, we go out to eat, we shop, we run errands, we play computer games (such as RO, PKO, 2Moons and last but not least DotA) and the list goes on and on. We've said to one another that our sibling relationship isn't exactly normal, but I think both of us wouldn't have it any other way.

We weren't always that close, but nearly losing my sister once a really long time ago changed that. I wont go into details about it though. All I know is, I never want to lose her again without making lots of great memories before that (not that I ever hope to lose her). But anyway, ever since that day, we've done our best to improve our relationship. One complaint I'm getting from her though is that I'm lecturing her more often these days! I guess no matter how close we get the big brother instinct will never change.

So this post is for you baby sister. For all the great times we share together laughing, teasing, gaming, shopping, crying, comforting, advising, arguing, reconciling. Every moment we share irregardless of situation, makes me glad to be your older brother.

Our matching bracelets.

Serious cam whore moments.

Weird cam whore moments.

Loving from the start...

and loving now and forever.

Guitar Hero Madness

This is my current obsession and PS3 gratification for the time being. Yes people, I have joined the league of Guitar Hero freaks and am one with the masses of wannabe rockers with little (or none) REAL guitaring skills. Yes yes I know, it sounds lame in theory; simulating guitar playing with only 5 notes and a strum "button" (who strums a button?). But don't knock till you've tried it, 'cause it is... (dramatic pause) AWESOME!

I owe it all to a good buddy from high school who introduced me to this beautiful piece of musical simulation. He has a PS3 as well but it was out of comission so he allowed me to borrow his Guitar Hero game and the guitar controller for about 3 weeks. I was hooked at the first note.

About a week ago, my mum gave me an advance on my allowance so I could get my own Guitar Hero! I decided to buy the Aerosmith version of Guitar Hero because it was new and the guitar looked pretty awesome.

Awesome ain't it?

But after playing it for a bit, I kind of wished I bought Guitar Hero 3 instead. The Aerosmith version was pretty cool because it combines a documentary about Aerosmith with the career mode. But the song selection was pretty... meh. Too much old school rock. Thank goodness I can swap it with my high school buddy for his Guitar Hero 3 (that's what friends are for; trading games you don't like :D).

Ah well, I'm playing hard mode right now which is the second hardest mode. You have to play all 5 of the buttons in hard. I still can't pass all the songs yet (ok more like, I can't pass a good portion of the harder song). But practicing and (eventually) succeding is half the fun. I guess that's all for now. Go to get back to rockin'. I want to pass Through the Fire and Flames by the end of this month :D.

Keep on rockin' dudes.

PS: I think I'm losing motor function in my left hand from Guitar Hero strain *gasp* D:

Prose for the emo

Reaching but just not grabbing,
Swinging but just not catching,
Breathing but just not living,
Loving but it's just not happening.

Reaching for something I shouldn't,
Yet failling at something I should,
I wanted one that I couldn't,
Whilst hurting one that I could.

Doing stupid things at stupid times,
Writing stupid words and stupid rhymes,
Hoping they'll somehow make a difference,
For my sins, mistakes and crimes.

I can be emo too. Bite me.

Mike Guglielmucci Controversy

If you're a fan of Hillsongs or Planetshakers you'll no doubt heard of the controversial news about Mike Guglielmucci's fraud. But if you haven't then here's a link to do some reading up: http://www.news.com.au/adelaidenow/story/0,22606,24212817-5006301,00.html

Like many others I was completely shocked when I heard one of my favorite song leaders was a fake! I mean this guy wrote songs like Big, Evermore and recently Healer. To think that the same guy is a porn addict and a fraud! Wait a second... you know, it's not all that hard to imagine come to think of it. I mean, sure he's a pastor and worship leader for one of the biggest churches in Australia but he's still human. But I guess when you're in such a position people expect a lot more out of you; or are more excitable when you fall.

Some article headlines on this case are distasteful; no, disgusting. One of them wrote "Porn-again pastor tells of his addiction and shame". Come on people, give the guy a break. Why is everyone so itchy to label Mike Guglielmucci as a porn addict? He has a struggle with sin, a rather "bad" sin but so what? So do hundreds of thousands of people throughout the world. At least he has identifies it as something he needs to come clean about. At least he's still listening to the Holy Spirit's convictions. At least he did something about it.

I know a lot of people are upset over monies donated for his cancer treatment. But work is being done and the monies are being sent back. He could have just kept silent and got away with it. After all, eventually he could just say that God miraculously healed him! I'm glad he came forward, I really am. Not because I'm "excited" about the fall of a "holy" man, but because I'm seeing a human taking a step against sin.

As for the songs written by Mike Guglielmucci, I'm going to continue singing them and worshiping with them. They're great songs, inspired by a Holy God but written with fallible human hands. Wait a minute, that sounds kind of familiar. I think there's a book we read that's written the same way too.

To do or not to do

"I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do." Romans 7:15

I think these words of Paul pretty much sums up what I'm feeling right now. I also now understand why it goes on to say he feel "wretched" (well in the NIV version anyway). I want to do God's will. I want to live for Him. But I keep doing stupid things and making stupid decisions. I know what I should be doing, so why? Why can't I get myself to do it. I really hate being the way I am.

God I just wish I could move on to feeling "more than conquereous" like in Romans 8. I want to move on... I really do...

I guess I should be glad that I feel all this guilt over the stupid things I do. It's a sign of someone who's a "slave to righteousness". Being a slave, I guess I can't help but want to do what it right.

God I really need your strength. As I make the choices that lead to holiness, I pray that the power of your salvation will help me to stick to what is right. I keep falling down, over and over again. But I pray you'll help me to stand up again and keep running for You. In the name of my Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ. Amen.

Passion KL 2008

I went for the Passion Tour on Sunday (3rd August) and all I can say is... WOW!!! And I LOVE JESUS SO MUCH!!! Thank you God for loving us so much!!! I want to love You the same way!!!

I haven't attended many rallies since I entered college. You know how it is, rallies always felt more like a high school kind of thing with inter school cf rallies and so on. But when Passion was in town, my Senior Youth Leader said it's something you just can't miss. I'm always a little skeptical about rallies because they feel too hyped up, kind of like a rock concert (which I hated to see happen). But I felt obligated to go, so with some doubts at the back of my head I went anyways. All that doubt was BLASTED out the back of my head after the night was done.

To be honest I've been In a slump in walk. Just a little while back I felt like I was just starting to pick myself up again. I did my best to love God with everything within me, pray more, read His word daily, listen for His will for me and I even joined in the nationwide prayer and fasting movement. It's always not easy to start climbing out of a slump but then Passion came along and supercharged my fire for Jesus. Their worship and word was so full of anointing from God (Chris Tomlin, Charlie Hall and Louie Giglio we're leading the worship and word by the way :D). There was such and overwhelming presence from God that I was left sobbing my eyes out after the sermon and worship.

Thank you so much Passion for the wonderful difference you all made in my life. I'm going to do my best to live a life that makes Jesus famous!

If you all want to find out more about Passion you can check out their website at www.268generation.com or check our their blog at www.268generation.com/blog

Signing out,
Josh