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.

"Hope for the Hopeless"

hope[1, verb]
1 : to cherish a desire with anticipation
2 archaic : TRUST
hope[2, noun]
1 : to desire with expectation of obtainment
2 : to expect with confidence : TRUST


Ever hear the phrase, 'Hope for the Hopeless'? To live without a purpose. To see no tomorrow. To find no redemption. That is how the hopeless live.

Based on no grounds, their optimistic side proves weak as they fail to persist at the false hope of a brighter tomorrow. To keep an optimistic view is always good. But the truth is, the hopeless do not base their optimism on hope, rather on what they hear in fairytales and in storybooks; that "..tomorrow will be a brighter day" or rather what I'd like to call a hope based on no grounds. For they do not really believe it. Still, they are desperate for any form of hope to keep their lives hanging by that thin thread.

Some give up and find no reason to live. They resort to self-inflicted pain which often times they claim they do for the reason of wanting to feel something, to remind themselves that they are still alive. Others find comfort in hurting their bodies with drugs and an overdosage of pills.

The truth is, even without being in a tight fix, we all subconsciously need some form of hope to pull us through every day. Little things like hope of being able to wake up to see the faces of our loved ones or big things like hope of having your boyfriend/girlfriend fly home safely to celebrate your 2nd anniversary or just normal everyday things like hope for a good day tomorrow.

Hope starts from trusting, in confidence, that things will get better. Of course we do not put our trust simply in nothing. That would not give us hope, or rather it would not last very long.

Hope lies only in one person, and that one person is Our Great King. With Him in our lives, everything can be made possible if the intentions are right. Believe that your God is a great one. Believe that He will save you from every downfall, every mistake, every sin. Lift up the thoughts that keep you awake at night. Lift up the pain that stakes through your heart everytime you take a breath. Lift up the squabbles and shouting that goes on at home every night, that has left you afraid. Lift up that relationship with your partner that has gone sour and has left you bitter and cold. Ask Him to set you free. Free of the bondages that chain you so tightly and weigh you down so heavily. Just lift these simple words to Him:

"Lord, I lift up my burdens to You in confidence that You will share the load with me and make everything better. I pray this is Your most gracious name, Amen."

He requires no explanation, nor a long story of what has happened or what you need Him to change. He listens not to the words that come out of your mouth but rather to the words in your heart. So don't feel reluctant to ask Him for assistance as not much needs to be said. Whisper Him a little prayer. For though He is a BIG God, He can hear every little prayer from each one of His children. And in a heartbeat, He will be there. Not to watch you carry the load alone, not to stand there and watch you fall but to lift that burden off your shoulders in a breath and set you free.

"I am the good shepherd, and know my [sheep], and am known of mine. As the Father knoweth me, even so know I the Father: and I lay down my life for the sheep." --John 10:14-15

That's how much He loves YOU! That's how far He's willing to go for YOU! HIS SHEEP! HIS PEOPLE! So doubt not His willingness to share your burdens, to share your pain, to share your sufferings! For He is a compassionate God. A merciful God. A God of grace. A mighty God, willing to lay His life down for you and me.

A very wise person taught me this and I wanted to share this with all of you as well, in hope that it may too touch your lives as it has touched mine. When caught in a tight fix we often find ourselves saying, "Oh my God, I have a BIG problem!". Well, next time you find yourself in such a situation, try saying this instead: "Oh my problem, I have a BIG God!"

May God continue to shower His never ending blessings on all of you and I wish you all a very blessed and prosperous Chinese New Year!~

A Purpose Driven Life

Subject: An Interview with Rick Warren

This is an absolutely incredible interview with Rick Warren, "Purpose Driven Life" author and pastor of Saddleback Church in California. His wife now has cancer, and he now has "wealth" from book sales. In the interview by Paul Bradshaw with Rick Warren, Rick said: People ask me "What is the purpose of life?" And I respond: In a nutshell, life is preparation for eternity. We were made to last forever, and God wants us to be with Him in Heaven.

One day my heart is going to stop, and that will be the end of my body-- but not the end of me. I may live 60 to 100 years on earth, but I am going to spend trillions of years in eternity. This is the warm-up act- the dress rehearsal. God wants us to practice on earth what we will do forever in eternity. We were made by God and for God, and until you figure that out, life isn't going to make sense. Life is a series of problems. Either you are in one now, you're just coming out of one, or you're getting ready to go into another one.

The reason for this is that God is more interested in your character than your comfort. God is more interested in making your life holy than He is in making your life happy. We can be reasonably happy here on earth, but that's not the goal of life. The goal is to grow in character, in Christ likeness.

This past year has been the greatest year of my life but also the toughest, with my wife, Kay, getting cancer.

I used to think that life was hills and valleys- you go through a dark time, then you go to the mountain top, back and forth. I don't believe that anymore. Rather than life being hills and valleys, I believe that it's kind of like two rails on a railroad track, and at all times you have something good and something bad in your life. No matter how good things are in your life, there is always a bad that needs to be worked on. And no matter how bad things are in your life, there is always something good you can thank God for. You can focus on your purposes, or you can focus on your problems. If you focus on your problems, you're going into self-centredness, which is my pain to get your focus off yourself and onto God and others. We discovered quickly that in spite of the prayers of the hundreds of thousands of people, God was not going to heal Kay or make it easy for her. It has been very difficult for her, and yet God has strengthened her character, given her a ministry of helping other people, given her a testimony, drawn her closer to Him and to people.

You have to learn to deal with both the good and the bad of life. Actually, sometimes learning to deal with both the good is harder. For instance, this past year, all of a sudden, when the book sold 15 million copies, it made me instantly very wealthy. It also brought a lot of notoriety that I had never had to deal with before. I don't think God gives you money or notoriety for your own ego or for you to live a life of ease. So I began to ask God what He wanted me to do with this money, notoriety and influence. He gave me two different passages that helped me decide what to do, 2 Corinthians 9 and Psalms 72.

First, in spite of all the money coming in, we would not change our lifestyle one bit. We made no major purchases. Second, about midway through last year, I stopped taking a salary from the church. Third, we set up foundations to fund an initiative we call The Peace Plan to plant churches, equip leaders, assist the poor, care for the sick, and educate the next generation. Fourth, I added up all that the church had paid me in the 24 years since I started the church, and I gave it all back. It was liberating to be able to serve God for free. We need to ask ourselves: Am I going to live for posessions? Popularity? Am I going to be driven by pressures? Guilt? Bitterness? Materialism? Or am I going to be driven by God's purposes(for my life)?

When I get up in the morning, I sit on the side of my bed and say, God, if I don't get anything else done today, I want to know You more and love You better. God didn't put me on earth just to fulfill a to-do list. He's more interested in what I am than what I do. That's why we're called human beings, not human doings.


Happy moments, PRAISE GOD.

Difficult moments, SEEK GOD.

Quiet moments, WORSHIP GOD.

Painful moments, TRUST GOD.

Every moment, THANK GOD.

This is beautiful and food for the soul. A friend sent it to me, I shared it with you, now pick someone you want to bless. God loves you and so do I, have a blessed Lord's day!

Adapted from an email courtesy of a good friend of mine. Thank you, my good friend. Hope that it will touch your life as much as it touched mine.

http://www.purposedrivenlife.com/ : A site by Rick Warren himself. Drop by and take a look if you feel the need to do so =)

God bless.

I don't know how to love Him.

Sometimes we find it hard to love someone. How to love them. How to show them. So how do we love the one who loves us so unconditionally?

1 John 4:19 "We love him, because he first loved us."

1. Find out more
Find out. Read the bible. Learn more about the Lord. Learn of all the great things He's done and what lengths He has gone to for us. The Bible isn't always easy to understand so try to purchase those in simple and modern english. Try to seek your youth group leader or if you are not part of a youth group, a parent or your Bible teacher on the verses or just about anything you don't understand in the Bible or about God.

Get involved in a youth group. Take part in talks and seminars. This will help you to understand Him more. Be open and do not hesitate to confront your youth group leader on anything that questions your understanding and faith in God. By knowing Him, you will love Him.

Just like in any normal relationship, we must first know our partner in order to truly love him/her. We would usually take the initiative and go all out to understand and find out more about our partner. And with each excrutiating detail revealed, we find that the love we have for them grows stronger and stronger. It is the exact same thing with our Lord Jesus Christ.



2. Power of Praise
Praise and worship the Lord for all that He has done. Shout of His greatness to the world and proclaim that He is God. Contradict not the words you sing in your songs of praise, but live by them and sing them with all of your heart and soul. Go for concerts, presentations or other events that give you the opportunity to praise Him whole-heartedly without distractions nor daily disturbances. Devote those few hours to Him and only Him. You will find that as time gradually passes, the praise and glory that you give to Him through all this helps you to appreciate Him so much more than you already do. This subconciously helps you to grow in faith and love for Him and after time you'll find yourself singing praises to Him in the shower or at school or anywhere else for that matter, for His greatness overwhelms you.

Of course, we cannot expect this process to be a fast one. Everyone discovers Him at their own pace. Its not so much of how fast you fall in love with Him, rather how long it will last.

1 John 4:15 "Whosoever shall confess that Jesus is the Son of God, God dwelleth in him, and he in God."



3. Don't find time, MAKE time!
Always make time for the Lord. Make time to thank Him for every little thing, for every big thing and for every other thing. Greet Him a good morning as you awake in the morning. Stop what you're doing for one second to look up to Him and just acknowledge His presence by sending Him a smile.
Though rushing through a busy day, never forget to make time for Him. To say a few words to Him. To devote at least 10-15 minutes to Him each night. Tell Him about your day ;). Confide in Him. Cry with Him. Laugh with Him. Or just sit with Him and let Him know "I'm here, Lord."

Referring to a true story I heard from a friend, there was a poor, dirty, smelly man. A beggar, who used to sit outside church everyday during mass. The congregation did not welcome him, what more like him even. Everyday he would go into the church right before mass began and he would sit on one of the church pews and look up to the cross. After a short while he would leave again and return outside. A woman, curious with his actions, one day after long observation of his strange routine decided to confront him and ask him why he would spend a few minutes in church right before mass and then leave to wait outside. He answered her this. "Everyday I will go inside the church, sit down and look up at the cross. I would tell God that I do not know the Our Father, nor do I know the Hail Mary or Glory Be but Lord, I am here."

A while later the woman noticed that the man had stopped coming to church. She found out later on that he had been admitted to the hospital for reasons regarding his bad health. She decided to go see him one day and found him smiling in the hospital bed, looking fresher than ever. She asked him why he was so happy lying in a hospital bed.
He told her that earlier on someone had visited him. A man dressed all in white and the man said, "John, I am here."



4. Ask and you shall receive
Seek Him! Ask Him for strength. Ask Him to guide you on your journey to discover and love Him more. Ask Him to help you love and understand Him more through time. Let Him know that you want to know Him better. That you want to love him more. For we are weak without God. And we are lost without His guidance. And we need help. Help to go through this life. A hand to hold us up and to support our standing. Pray and ask Him for all that you need to get through this life. Want it with all your heart. Want Him with all your heart. For if you really want it, He will grant it.


Hebrew 4:16 "Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need."



It's never easy to fall in love with someone who's not physically there for you. And no one said that there wouldn't be obstacles along the way. But never let go. Find Him. Seek Him. Love Him. Need Him. Speak to Him. Ask Him. And once you've found Him, NEVER LET GO! I have come to find out that all this while it was not I who has been holding onto Him, but rather HE had never let me go.



1 Corinthians 13:13 "So now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; but the greatest of these is love."

I can only imagine..

Emmanuel; God is with us.

When you're sitting in the car looking up at the sky, you find yourself pondering, are You there, Lord? Most times we feel so empowered by the Lord and filled with the Holy Spirit. But there are also times, whereby we fall short of faith and let ourselves go. Times when we wonder, do I really believe in Him? Its nothing about Him not answering your prayers or calls. No. Just a thought.

When we attend Praise sessions, you'll find when you look around that everyone around you has got their hands raised up as high as the eye can see. Some singing at the top of their lungs, shouting praise. And praise God for that. But sometimes we find ourselves standing there, wondering. Why aren't I doing the same?

God our Father is always there, whether or not we feel His presence. And just knowing and believing He is there, lies in faith itself. Faith in God. Faith in trust. Faith in belief. Once you've established that beautiful relationship with the Lord, the sun seems to shine brighter and life is all the worth living because we are lost no more and have found direction in our lives. For we are all lost. Lost from all direction. Lost from all hope. And often times we lose our meaning on earth.

We often hear of people setting off on life journeys to discover their inner selves. To discover what life is all about. And what their purpose on earth may be. And to that I say Kudos! Unfortunately for a 17 year old, theres only so much you can do and so far you can go. So instead, why not seek Him. Ask Him. Turn to Him. He bares ALL the answers! To short or long questions. To the simple or the complicated. Ask Him and He answer.

‘Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock and it shall be opened unto you :for every one that asketh receiveth and he that seeketh findeth ; and to him that knocketh it shall opened.'-Matthew 7:7-8

He will bring so much meaning to your life. To devote your life to the One who gave YOU life. I find that to be my purpose. Its time to step up and make a difference. To dare to be different!

'Let no man despise thy youth; but be thou an example of the believers, in word, in conversation, in charity, in spirit, in faith, in purity.' -1 Timothy 4:12

And to those who are confident that they believe in the Lord but feels like they fall short of appreciation for the Lord, fear not. You are not alone. We all fall at times. We as humans bare imperfection, thus hold weaknesses.

'Now the Spirit speaketh expressly, that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits, and doctrines of devils..' -1 Timothy 4:1

But let not weakness get in the way of your relationship with God. Seek Him and ask Him for strength. To not let weakness get the best of you and to guide you along every step of the way.

Our Dad and King will lead you on your journey through life. He will free you of all bondages that hold you down. Just nevet let go of Him for He is always holding on so tightly.

Music Video:I CAN ONLY IMAGINE (by MercyMe)

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p/s the video may work better on Mozilla Firefox if you have it. If not feel free to visit this site, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-sw9RnNRrjU.