Not a big one.
Just one bottle of sparkling-wine.
Well, I drank two glasses of it—-mixed with water, that is

Another PhD student friend of mine did his Qualifying Examination last Friday.
Could not be there throughout the presentation as I had a group meeting.
But at least, he passed and he even celebrated it in a BBQ gathering on Saturday evening.
Congratulations, Zilong!

Intelligence can be inherited but wisdom can only come from God.
Proverbs 30:24-28
Sometimes, God teaches wisdom through the animals He created.

1.) Ants: preparation
Ants work hard during the summer so they can have plenty food during winter.
It is said, “During summer, think winter.”
We should prepare our future ahead of us.
Children and youth should prepare for adulthood.
Young adult should prepare for marriage and later life stage.
Winter can also speak of eternity.
Hence, we should prepare for our eternity too.

2.) Rock badger: habitation
They are feeble animals.
However, as weak as they are, they make rocks their habitation for protection.
All men and women of God have their weakness.
Yet,  they find protection in Christ, the solid Rock.

3.) Locusts: unification
Satan’s strategy: to divide and conquer.
If the church/family is united, they become unstoppable.
Individually we are weak but together we are like a mighty army of God.

4.) Spiders: determination
Spiders have a desire to be in king’s palaces.
They refuse to quit rebuilding their web even though it is destroyed times and again.
Satan’s strategy: to fill our mind with hopelessness.
Yet, we should cling to God’s promise and refuse to back down.

Hmm, a very applicable sermon to me.
When it comes to myself, I should work hard and prepare for the future.
When it comes to relating with others, I should stay united with them.
When it comes to relating with God, I should abide in Christ forever.

You can download his sermon here:
http://theinkroom.com.sg/fresh-word-2012-sot-graduation.html?___SID=U

DISC is a one example of personality test.
It stands for Dominance-Influence-Steadiness-Compliance.
I happened to take one free online test conducted by 123test.

http://www.123test.com/disc-personality-test/

I took to the test and here is my result.

It turns out that I am a SC type; I scored high for Steadiness and Compliance

According to the website, high S score indicates people who:

• are usually patient, calm and controlled.
• have a high willingness to help others particularly those they consider as friends.

Generally they have the ability to deal with the task in hand and to do routine work with patience and care.

Also, high C score indicates people who:

• are usually peaceful and adaptable.
• tend not to be aggressive.
• tend to be cautious rather than impulsive.
• avoid risk-taking.
• act in a tactful, diplomatic way and strive for a stable, ordered life.
• are comfortable following procedures in both their personal and business life.

They prefer sticking to methods that have proved successful in the past. They have a high acceptance of rules and regulations.

Hmm, that describes me the most!
I am a peace maker, after all

It was a milestone for the Bible School students as last weekend was their graduation service.
After 7 months of hard work, they celebrated their victory.
Truly, the church is proud of them.

  

Pastor Kong, Sun and Pastor Tan handed over certificate to the students.

  

  

The school awarded some students due to their outstanding academic achievement.
Best attendance, team, academic, minister of the year and best overall performance.

  

SOT students who were attached to my CG.
Congratulations Rini, Anna and Ravi!

Was invited to attend a baptism service somewhere at Holland Village.
Pastor Yock Kiang was there to lead the service.

  

The venue. One of the church members has super big house with swimming pool inside.
Hmm, that inspires me to have a big house too!

  

The Holy Communion items and service timeline.

At the end of the service.

  

Baptism began.

  

Some gifts for the baptism participants: candle, salt, apple, sunflower and cakes.

  

  

Some lunch before attending the church service.

 

Hmm, I myself was baptized back then in Indonesia with baptism name of Daniel.
Congratulations, Jorim!

A KFC refreshment after CG meeting as a farewell dinner for the SOT students.
This weekend is the graduation service for them.

  

  

Very yummy and crunchy.
As a treasurer (aka fund manager), my job is to ensure CG fund has more than enough balance to buy birthday gifts or refreshment.
I ate plenty chicken popcorns that the next day I refused to eat any meat.
I overheard my friends talking about investment. One friend made 30K loss.
”Don’t try to unlearn a learnt lesson,” my leader advised.
Hmm, wise advice, indeed.

1 Pet 3:9
God has prepared blessings of welfare, happiness and protection for us.
He calls us to be blessed so we can bless others.
We should inherit this blessing.
How do we inherit it? It depends on how we treat others.
How should we treat others then?

1 Pet 3:8

1.) Be like minded.
It does not mean we have the exact same thought.
We may have different thought but we submit ourselves under the Lordship of Christ.

2.) Be sympathetic.
We can understand other’s feeling.
We even rejoice and cry with others.

3.) Love one another.
The phrase here in Greek means “born of the same womb”.
we love one another because we are born in the same family, into the family of Christ.

4.) To be tender hearted.
The phrase here in Greek means “to have a strong bowel”.
We can feel others’ feeling right down to the gut.
Forgiveness and mercy are easier to give.

5.) Be courteous.
We only think of kind of positive thought toward others.
We train ourselves to do so since humans are born selfish.

Hmm, a very good sermon.
I like point number five.. :)

  

A friend had his Qualifying Examination last Monday.
The audience had a good laugh as he went on explaining his work.
”Majid, you’re banned from my lab,” a professor said

In the end, he did pass the QE even though he was reprimanded as well for not understanding certain concept.
Congratulations, Majid!

The news reported on the finding of ancient manuscript, pointing that Lord Jesus saying “My wife”
http://religion.blogs.cnn.com/2012/09/18/fragment-suggests-jesus-was-married/comment-page-34/

So, was Lord Jesus married to human wife? Or, was He unmarried?
In my opinion, He was not married to any human at all.
His only bride is the church.

It is not the first time such news broke out.
When The Da Vinci Code was first published, many people were surprised upon the possibility of Lord Jesus being married to Mary Magdalene.
If I am not wrong, some gnostic gospel express the same possibility too.
However, The Da Vinci Code itself is a fiction and the gnostic gospels are not canonized due to historical reliability.

What is the requirement of a canonized manuscript?
One of it is the reliability of the writer.
What if one day I write “The Gospel according to Jefri”? Will it be canonized to be the fifth gospel?
Of course not. I am neither an eye witness of Lord Jesus’ earthly ministry nor did I interview any eye witness.
In contrast, Matthew and John were direct disciples of Lord Jesus whereas Mark and Luke interviewed other eye witnesses (most likely Peter as Mark and Luke served together with Peter).

But in my opinion, Lord Jesus would never marry Mary or any other woman due to theological reason.
For the following, I shall not include the Old Testament characters like king David or Abraham.
After he had passed away, did king David go up to heaven/Abraham’s bosom even though Lord Jesus had not yet died?
One theologian said that the blood of Lord Jesus was somehow applied to him.
Complicated, isn’t it?
Hence, I shall just limit the scope of thought to the New Testament era.

In Lord Jesus’ time, He was the only Light in the world. He alone was sinless and ‘righteous’ before God.
His disciples, even though they followed Him and learned from Him, were still sinful. They were not saved because He had not yet died for them.
Peter, John, James and Mary Magdalene and others were still ‘unrighteous’ before God.
Apologetically speaking, if Lord Jesus had married Mary (or any other woman), would Apostle Paul then have taught “Do not be unequally yoked. What do light and darkness have in common”?

During His earthly ministry, Lord Jesus was ‘light’ and the rest of the world was ‘darkness’.
However, after His death and resurrection, all people who have accepted Him become ‘light’ and ‘righteous’ before God.

As for this manuscript on the news, I think we can just wait and see the continuation of the news.
Most likely, just like The Da Vinci Code, all this hype will just fade away.