Sea of Faces

Sea of Faces
I see the city lights all around me
Everyone's obscure
Ten million people each with their problems
Why should anyone care?

And in Your eyes I can see
I am not just a man, vastly lost in this world
Lost in a Sea of Faces
Your body's the bread, Your blood is the wine
Because you traded Your life for mine

Sometimes my life it feels so trivial
Immersed in the greatness of space
Yet somehow you still find the time for me
It's then You show me Your love

And In Your eyes I can see
And in Your arms I will be
I am not just a man, vastly lost in this world
Lost in a Sea of Faces
Your body's the bread, Your blood is the wine
Because you traded Your life for mine

If only my one heart
Was all you'd gain from all it cost
Well I know you would have still been a man
With a reason
To willingly offer your life

I am not just a man, vastly lost in this world
Lost in a Sea of Faces
Your body's the bread, Your blood is the wine
Because you traded Your life for mine

Just one in a million faces

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In the midst of preparation for Good Friday, I have found this song to be quite suitable for the occassion. It speaks partly of how God willingly traded His life for all His people. And even if He was giving His whole life up for only a single soul, He would still do the same.

It was my first time in a long time, today, that I attended the children's liturgy again. My family and I had decided that Sunset Mass would be more practical for us so we decided to attend mass on Saturdays instead from now on. A good friend of mine extended her most sincerest invitation to me to join them in helping out at the Children's Liturgy.

Upon attending the liturgy, I was both amused and very shocked, and a little ashamed as well if I may add. When it comes to The Bible, I think I must shamefully confess that I know close to nothing about the Scriptures and how things played out back then in Jesus' time. Sitting amongst children at the ages of 8-12 today, I was absolutely astounded to see how much they knew about the Scriptures, who was who and what was what. Even more than I, sad to say. It was, on the other hand, quite refreshing seeing children know so much about His Word. A good example and a faithful motivator to push me to read up more on the scriptures.

The liturgy teacher spoke of how Jesus faced Jews and Pilate and how He was ridiculed and tortured before His prolonged death on the cross. She emphasized strongly on how he suffered and experienced great pain in the process. She, later, then instructed us to lift up our hands as high as we could and keep them up there for as long as we could afford to. Kids being the over-energetic little critters that they are of course managed to keep their hands up in the air for awhile. But later on another one of the liturgy teachers challenged us all to stretch out our arms, as Jesus did on the cross, for an hour during Good Friday next week just to understand a teensy tiny bit of the pain that Jesus had to go through when He died for us.

What He had gone through was much worse than simply lifting your hands up in the air fora few measly hours. No, it was much much more worse than that. The sharp pain in His hands from the nails, the stinging pain of thorns on His brow and the great weight that pulled Him downwards, ripping His ribs apart, made it all the more difficult for Him to endure the cruxifiction. And it was not a short and easy death either. He had to hang up there for hours before He finally died.

I'm not saying we should constantly mourn over His death, living life dismal and bleak. Just remember His noble deed. Thank Him always and never forget Him.

This song is not only for those who need a reminder of how He died for us. It is also for those out there who feel small and insignificant to the world. It is for those who have forgotten His love for us. It is for those who feel their problems overpower them and it is all too much to swallow. It is to remind us all that the world is a vast piece of land, that it will turn its back on you someday, that it cares so little for your needs and cannot attend to your every cry. But at the same time lives a God who is there and can attend to your every need. Who died for you just so you could enjoy all the good things in your life right now, so you could go through this great experience of which is life and through it hold onto some very important life lessons that you pick up along the way. Lessons that draw you closer to Him and bring to you a greater understanding of Him.

So grasp to your limit, all the lessons that you encounter in your life. Hold on so tightly to the one and only God who will set you free and sees you not only as just another man in a sea of faces but as a shining star in His heart. Forget not this God and the sacrifices that He has made for you. Give thanks to Him always and love Him to the ends of the earth.

I wish you all a blessed Holy Week in advance. May we all experience a little bit of Christ in all of us through this blessed week.

Review of Deeper '07

Last night, I attended the Deeper '07 youth rally which was held at the Good News building located at Green Heights (somewhere near the Kuching airport, behind the row of shoplots). The youth rally was organized by a group of passionate and God-loving youths. The turn-up was quite impressive with 300-400 youths at least and the rally started almost precisely on the time stated. The hall was surrounded by a slamming surround sound to match the staggering music that was played by the oh-so-talented young musicians. The youths were more than just pumped up for God and had been the most enthusiastic bunch that I had ever seen. The worship was lead well and the choice of songs seemed to have fit the environment of the night quite nicely. I'm not quite sure about the other participants there, but I definitely felt that the topic that was discussed by Pastor Chris Long had really related to me.

According to Pastor Chris Long:
There are only 4 essentials in our lives. If you have these, you may not have a million dollars but you will be a rich man. If you have these, you may not have a big house or big cars but you will have a BIG heart. And all this lies but in one bible verse and that is Mark 8:22-26.

What we really need:
1. We all need good friends. (v.22)
In the verse, the blind man was brought to Jesus by his friends. They did not
take advantage of the blind man's inability to see, instead they helped him
and took him to Jesus.

Verse 22: They came to Bethsaida, and some people brought a blind man and begged
Jesus to touch him.

We all need friends to help us through tough times. In the beginning the blind man did not
believe that Jesus could heal him. He followed his friends to see Jesus reluctantly initially,
in the absence of belief. But his friends persisted and brought him to see Jesus anyway.


2. We all need Jesus to lead us by His hand. (v.23)
We all need Jesus to lead us by His hand. Trust that Jesus would never lead
you in the wrong direction. When you don't understand, trust Him. Do not
struggle, instead allow Him to guide you in the path that He wants you to
walk on.

Verse 23 (part I): He took the blind man by the hand and led him outside the village.

We must learn to trust God, in order to walk with Him. Trust that He is your salvation and
that He will never steer you wrong. Give Him your hand to hold and let Him lead. Trust in
His plans and know that when you follow God, you will never go wrong for we are all blind
and lost and so we need direction. God is our direction. He is the one who will point you to
where you should go and where you have to be. He is our guide.

3. We all need to experience the supernatural. (v.23)
Jesus spat on the eyes of the blind man, He anointed cool drool on him. God is
supernatural. He spat in the blind man's eyes because He was trying to create
faith in the blind man.

Verse 23 (part II): When He had spit on the man's eyes and put his hands on him, Jesus
asked, "Do you see anything?"

In the words of Pastor Chris Long, we all need to experience the supernatural. In my
opinion, what it meant by Jesus trying to create faith when he spat in the blind man's eyes
was that He wanted to prove that merely by spitting, He could heal the blind man. But I'm
not too sure. Sound logical to you? What do you guys think?

4. We all need God's second touch. (v.25)
Only after receiving God's second touch, will you see people as people.You will
learn to connect with people instead of just letting the people around you pass
you by while you convince yourself that you don't need anyone and that solitude can be your ideal.
Jesus says look at the fields they are ripe with harvest. Do not wait anymore.
After receiving His second touch, you will no longer see your workplace or
your school just merely as it is but you will see it as a mission's field.

Verse 25: Once more Jesus put his hands on the man's eyes. Then his eyes were opened, his
sight was restored, and he saw everything clearly.

According to Pastor Chris Long, Jesus' first touch gives us the feeling we get after concerts
and rallies, the pumped up feeling. The first step closer to Him. The introduction to God. The
second touch on the other hand is to further grow closer with God, to take a deeper step into our relationship with God. There are different levels in our relationship with God. Our first encounter with God will bring us a step into the shallow part of the pool. As we continue to seek Him and ask of Him, His second touch will bring us deeper in and thus brings our relationship with God to a whole new different level.



Overall, it was a very good experience. It touched many people. Some got the chance to pour out their innermost feelings and hurts to God. Some received gifts. A girl in particular even received the gift of Holy Laughter. It was very enlightening to see so many miracles happen only in one night. The power of God is truly great.

Next year's rally, Deeper '08 should be even more of a blast. I encourage you all to join in as well. On the other hand, St. Joseph's Youth Parish Ministry has organized a youth rally as well, also known as E.R. 07. It is held yearly and the turn up is always amazing. Lead by a group of young and empowered working adults, worshipping God is brought to a whole new level and experiencing Him was never made more easy. So I urge you all to attend the upcoming event. Also, for all those of you who have attended Fan into Flame last year, there will be another one coming up in May which is Fan into Flame II. For those of you who did not attend, it is highly recommended that you join in on this one. Both Fan into Flame I and II are organized by GENREV Live, a Philippino worship team. With a wide range of strong vocals, these Philippino worship leaders never fail to bring the roof down at every event held as they bring youths into great anticipation and an undying passion to serve God. These events are a must go.


Further details on the location and time will be posted up here when confirmed, for your reference. So, keep April and May free fellow youths! You wouldn't want to miss it!


God bless.

Through their eyes..

Children being young as they are, have very naive and innocent minds. Having not yet been exposed to the natures of the outside world, they live their lives based on what they pick up from their surroundings and judge things based on their own raw perspectives on things. Which is exactly why people often say that when looking for a painfully honest opinion, ask a kid because they have not yet learnt how to lie or pretend. Similiarly, they too have their own perspectives on God.

So, lets look at what they had to say.

- Jane -

- Neil -

- Ruth M. -

- Jennifer -

- Elliott -

- Robert -

- Joyce -

- Nan -

- Ginny -

- Mickey D. -

- Chris -

- Raphael -

- Donna -

- Jonathan -

- Peter -

- Larry -

I guess next time you feel like you're saying something stupid to God you'll think twice. There's never a stupid request or a silly word when it comes to God. So feel free to tell Him everything.

God bless all.

JESUS the Same!

This past month for me has been like rough waves crashing hard into the shore, over and over again. It seemed more like a tsunami but you catch my drift. My first love experience had.. has and still is an insane roller-coaster ride. More like being thrown off the rails of the ride actually. A further, more detailed explanation would prove unnecessary and over-rated. My point is that this downfall of mine really took me by the reigns and drove my life into a brickwall. It seemed to have controlled my all and I eventually allowed it to step all over me.

God's love was never an issue for me. I never doubted His love for me, not for one second. But in the midst of all my confusion and mixed up emotions, I had permitted myself subconciously to take that step away from God which slowly led to bigger steps and a wider gap between us.

I wondered why it had come in the way of my spiritual life seeing as they appeared to have no connections to each other whatsoever. But the truth was, they bore much correlation to each other. More than I thought. I faced several pains, one after another and they all seemed to have pilled up inside like a hill of rice sacks(don't ask me where I get these insane analogies lol). And the more they compiled, the harder I found it to let anything out. I couldn't seem to phrase it all in proper words, so I couldn't describe or tell anyone much about what I felt. It could be said to be the most difficult experience of my life. I began to realize that all I could think, even when in prayer, was about the problem that I was facing. It seemed to have caused me to feel more distant from the Lord and I soon found myself straying little by a little.

A few weeks before my experience, I had attended a Bible study whereby we discussed what it meant by keeping your treasures up in Heaven instead of down here on Earth. We were split into groups of around 5 people each and were asked to discuss all the subjects printed on the sheet. My take on this particular bible verse, which I had just mentioned above, was that it meant that we should not have our priorities be put on an earthly materials but rather focus our priorities on Our Lord. After that, there was a question on the sheet which read "Do you serve two gods?". I saw it in a very square and earthly manner, seeing it meaning as serving for example both Buddha and God or something. But our dear youth group leader, quiet as he seemed, surprised us all with his take on it. He said that probably, reffering to the subject we discussed earlier which was not being able to focus during prayer or worship, the two gods that were referred to in the context represented both God and an earthly possesion. We as humans tend to fall into the trap of putting our most prized possesion first in our life, whether it be a boyfriend/girlfriend, state-of-the-art gizmos, our academics or even our problems.

I realized after pondering for so long that the only reason I had felt so distant from God was because I had been serving two gods. I had permitted my emotions to control me and had put it before everything else and perhaps, even before God. Even upon discovering that, I found it so difficult to lift things up to Him. I found that I did not know how to anymore, it seemed. I did, at least, feel more connected to Him again and that relieved me quite a great deal. I struggled and faced much difficulty attempting to surrender my troubles to Him but there was one difference with having feel connected to Him and not having feel so. After I had felt His presence by my side again, I felt safer. Like I was in my own safe haven. I felt that I, at least now, had a safety net to fall back on. The situation got better and through time, the load began to relieve itself a little by a little.

I cannot say that I am totally okay now, but I have made some amazingly drastic improvements. I have found great comfort in the Lord and no longer feel anymore difficulty in giving my all to Him. I am aware now, more than ever before, that when the world brings me down, no matter what or who it is that hurts me or turns their back on me, my Lord will never do the same.

The closest of your love ones may someday walk out on you. The most precious of your posessions may someday deteriorate. The one who promises to always love you if you ever fall short of love, may someday just stop loving you. On the other hand, JESUS will stay by your side forever. JESUS is eternal. JESUS will always love you. And JESUS is JESUS always and forever. Meaning His feelings for you are everlasting for JESUS is the same yesterday, today and forever.


God bless.