Category: faith

business, charity, christianity, faith, in Christ, life, love, of God, relationship, singapore, society

Prelude to EL Hannora Thrift Shop

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Commit to the Lord whatever you do and He will establish your plans.  Proverbs 16:3 NIV

The first 2-years of marriage, me and my husband Gnex like many married couples have undergone transformations and adjustments. Meaning, we realized our differences in attitudes, way of doing things, careers, outlooks, and a long list… leading to lots of fights.

We’re grateful for our friends, family, and our brothers and sisters from Moriah AG who constantly include us in their daily prayers, being there when we needed a breather.

In the end we realized that… putting God in the center of our marriage is the only way to make things work.

One time, while I was in Kuala Lumpur for business, I’ve asked my mentor and also my business partner how he and his wife made their marriage work? They’re married for 20+ years; there are still fights yet they’re still together.

I wondered and asked myself

“Don’t they get tired?”

And so I got curious how did my mentor made things work.

And he told me this:

“In marriage, you have to accept that both of you are different. You cannot drag your husband to all the things that you want and he cannot drag you to all his ways. It’s a matter of keeping both of your identities. In time, the crazy love that both of you feel while dating leading to marriage will wear off. Both of you will need space to keep identities. You will soon realized that being married – the love and excitement will soon wear off; the gap between the two of you will grow bigger. You have to find that common ground that both of you enjoy. Nurture that common ground and it will hold your marriage. Always give respect with each other and both of you must always remember the boundaries. I believe that’s the essence of keeping the love alive in marriage. Always remember, when the boundaries are forgotten, the sense of respect will die; love will die; marriage will break, like a glass that’s very hard, close to impossible to repair.”

I was stunned.

My mentor is non-believer but at that time I felt that God himself was talking to me.

God will always be there when you need Him the most.

I reflected on what my mentor told me. I combined it with prayers until I received the message of opening a thrift shop dedicated to God. I told my husband about it. We discussed couple of times until I gained his support.

I asked my husband: “So, what would be the name of the thrift shop?”

My husband Gnex: “Since it will be dedicated to God, why not choose from this list.”

He iMessaged me the list of names God is being called. I looked at the long list of names and thought “Wow, God has tons of names – from Jewish, Greek, you name it. My eyes were growing tired.”

Until I saw the name “EL Hannora – it means awesome God.”

I told my husband, “the thrift shop will be called – EL Hannora Thrift Shop.”

Usually, in the business world, you have to first study the market and identify if there are demands. If there are no existing demand, you have to create the demand so you can create the market where you will get the competitive advantage.

In our case, we placed faith above all things. It’s when I understood what really faith is.

After we registered the business, it’s then I realized that God has guided me to use the tools and everything I learned in my study of MBA. My husband’s passion is motivations and preaching Christianity while my passion is business and arts.

EL Hannora thrift shop has become our common ground. When God provided us with our needs, we committed the thrift shop revenues to support charities across the globe.

Business startups has always been challenging. Even our faith based thrift shop were hit with challenges too. We received disheartening and unsupportive comments from fellow Christians. We came to a point that we wanted to give up.  But…

God will always be there when you need Him the most.

While we see our Christian brothers and sisters lack of belief and faith in us, we always remind ourselves that God has given His faith in us. Persevere no matter how tough it is.

We changed our business model. And business started to flow in. We bowed our heads and followed what we believe God is leading us to.

Right now, EL Hannora thrift shop is still thriving. We will continue to persevere. Last 2014, EL Hannora Thrift Shop revenues helped couple of outreach programs in Philippines.

My husband is always supportive of me. And I’m always grateful to God for him. While I searched for that common ground for me and my husband, God made it as a tool for us to discover ourselves, taught us patience, perseverance, hope, faith, and love – the tool for us to reach out to our brothers and sisters regardless of whether they’re Christian or not.

In my next articles, I will be writing The Joy of Giving which will be written in few parts. It will describe how EL Hannora Thrift Shop see the joys and smiles of different people in the times of giving.

Thank you to our resellers and buyers, who supported us all through out the journey. We will always be grateful for your support and hard work.

Til next time. Au revoir.

 

christianity, faith, in Christ, life, love, nature, of God, oman, photoblog, photography, psychology, relationship, salalah, society

Photoblog: The bushes of God’s revelation, Dhofar Oman

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Exposure: 1/500 sec. F/11. Focal 70mm. ISO 400. Title: “The bushes of God’s revelation.” Dhofar, Oman. December 2010.

While growing up back home, I always watch the Ten Commandments movie during the Lenten season whilst there’s no TV channel broadcast – no shows, except for the Ten Commandments and the Life of Jesus of Nazareth.

The story of Ten Commandments always starts with Moses and God’s revelation. In this time, God revealed and spoken to Moses through the burning bush.

“I AM THAT I AM.”

Such powerful words that have always been taught during my religion and theology classes in school – from primary school until my university days. However one thing I won’t forget is that bush – that variety of plant imprinted in my mind and prayed that one day I would see that.

Having lived in the slum of Cebu and the slum of Manila, I’d never imagined settling overseas with a wonderful Christian husband let alone travel to couple of continents including the Middle East. When I reached Oman in 2010, the first glimpse of the country made me felt I was in the movie. And the wind blows my hair and my cheeks relived my childhood days of watching the Ten Commandments, Exodus, and Jesus of Nazareth.

I never realized my prayer when I was a child would be answered. After almost 30 years it does. God, truly answers prayers.

My road trip experiences combined with watching the sunset beside the beach in Oman with my eldest brother together with friends made me appreciate to be at peace with nature, with life, and with God.

And the picture of the bushes above will keep as a reminder that the true and ever living God exists. Ask the 2 Billion Christians across the globe and you will hear different testimonies and acclamations about God and our Lord God Jesus Christ.

If you’re looking for a church in Singapore, me and husband cordially invite you to visit Moriah Assembly of God at Vivo City Cinema Hall every Sunday at 10AM. See you around brothers and sisters.

In Christ.

christianity, culture, faith, love, psychology, relationship

From A Dollar To Hundred Times Fold!

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“Give, and it will be given to you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken together and running over, will be poured into your lap. For with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.”

Luke 06:38 NIV

It is unknown to many that our third sibling battled cancer for the last two years. When our mother passed away last January, she casually told the rest of the siblings that she will will be next. It never occurred to my mind that her statement will happen. And so, be told.

In the hubris of our youth, death is a black mark that we don’t spoke of.  And to grieve is a parcel that all of us will receive. Death is part of life and the subject of grief normally caused numbness in the brain; a subject most people will deny.

As we succumb to the black hole with the passing of loved ones, hard as it may seem, God has always been there overseeing the process and ensuring that we will overcome the loneliness, anguish, and confusion.

It took a while before I realized and recall how God helped our family during the passing of our third sibling.

One benefit of compartmentalization is your ability not to cry nor show sadness to your customer as you receive the Facebook messages that your sibling passed away. I was in the middle of customer systems setup and testing when I learned about my sister’s passing. I hold on to my composure and waited few hours; burst my tears as soon as I reached the hotel.

A day after, I traveled back to Singapore. In the flight, I was seated with Caucasian married couple. There was a flight delayed due to one passenger who checked in with luggage and decided not to take the flight. The budget airline flight stewardess started to offer the drinks to us but it came with a fee.  The wife, who was having tough time understanding the Malaysian accent, mistakenly thought the drinks come free so she ordered coffee. The husband was asleep at that time. As the flight stewardess asked for payment, the wife was astounded. The husband awoke and started to look for Malaysian Ringgit only to find out that they were short of currency. Alternatively, the flight stewardess advised them that they can pay with Singapore Dollars. As they started to look for another set of currency, they started to panic. They were only a dollar short.

I spoke to the stewardess and handed her a dollar. The sheepish couple started their argument until I told them not to think about it. It’s part of traveling to foreign countries. Some practices we’re not used to; we will pick it up along the way.

The couple’s name was Dave and Misti, both Americans but relocated to Italy due to Dave’s work. As we’ve started our descend to Singapore, the three of us started to talk about so many topics. They wanted to treat me at Starbucks Coffee, but I have to declined as my husband will be waiting for me at Changi Airport. We had very good discussions and laughter; an experience I’m grateful as it let my mind off from grieving.

Couple of days later, we had our Moriah AG caregroup scheduled. I decided not to attend and have requested our caregroup to pray for my sister’s eternal repose. It’s better to isolate and seek God; a moment grieving people need the most. My sister’s passing was painful to us but the deep cut went to her family – her husband and her children some of them are still in primary school. My brother in law supported my sister all through out and battling cancer back home can immediately wipe out savings and assets if you’re not covered with proper insurance. My brother in law’s properties were mostly gone and our siblings can’t help much in the interment as we’re just recovering financially from our mother’s hospitalization and interment expenses.

The following day me and my husband Gnex attended our church service with Moriah AG. To my surprised, one of our caregroup brothers talked to me and handed me a white envelope with our caregroup’s condolence money for my sister’s family. Flabbergasted with teary eyes, I thanked my caregroup for being there. It meant so much for my sister’s family; not only for the interment finances but also to the kid’s allowances as they’re still schooling.

In the end, God proved His faithfulness and showed His mercy to our family during difficult times.

Ever grateful. Ever thine. Ever loved.

From a dollar to hundred times fold.

Til next time. Au revoir.

christianity, culture, faith, life, relationship, society

Life Or Death Or Exodus: Christians at the Middle East

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A call to public!

A benevolent tears from fellow Christians!

A call for prayers.

 

When me and my husband were on our way back to Singapore from my Penang consulting assignment, I decided to get a Time magazine for April 21, 2014 issue. In the flight I was digesting the reason why I bought the magazine:

                                                                          Credits: Time Magazine: http://www.time.com

 I immediately flicked my fingers to the article that caught my attention. And sure enough, I can’t help not to be teary when I started to read the article. Our Christian brothers and sisters in northern Syria are on utmost distress. Faith, which is supposed to give comfort to the human soul are now tormenting them. For them, being a Christian would require paying 650 Syrian pounds as protection (Baker 2014). It can only be equivalent to USD 4, but when there is no stable economic resources, even this can be tantamount to huge amount for people living in the war zone. If they cannot pay, it can only mean conversion to Islam or face the consequences through the sword (Ibid.). While a number of Christian population have fled the region, those who were left behind are facing the fear of giving their lives or an ‘exodus’ of their faith when the economic tides are low. I often ponder,

Just how deep is our Christian faith that we’re willing to give our lives and die for Christianity?

How far would you go?

photo 1                                                                      Credits: Time Magazine: http://www.time.com

Here’s a call for prayers. A call for all denominations of Christianity. Roman Catholics. Eastern and Oriental Orthodox. Protestants. Anglicans. Pentecostals. Independent Churches. And all other denominations that I haven’t name due to my limited knowledge of Christian study and history.

Let’s pray for our Syrian Christian brothers and sisters. Let’s pray for all our brothers and sisters in the Middle East facing the crossroads of retaining their lives or die in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. That God would defend them from the hands of corrupt Muslims and Islam extremist.

Islam is a religion of peace. It’s only when human take matters into their hands through a twisted ideology and hunger for power comes the extreme group which aims to justify the use of violent Jihad. Requesting our Muslim friends to help us pray that Christian lives in Syria would be spared from monetary obligations and tyranny.

 

Reference article from Time Magazine dated April 21, 2014 – Unholy Choices by Aryn Baker.

 

Til next time.

Au revoir.

 

 

 

 

culture, faith, life, love, relationship

In Memoriam: Jovita Regis Ipanag

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She was born in 1933. Her mother is a Filipino and her father with Spanish blood – Regis.

In her teenage years, World War II has broken. Like majority of her age group, education during World War II is scarce. She wasn’t able to finish her primary school. She was the eldest daughter in her family; she looked after her younger siblings while helping her parents the best she can. Nearing her 20th age, she fell in love. But her parents favors someone whom they know can provide her a better life. She stand on her decision to follow her heart; instead, she married the man she loves.

Her marriage gave her 9 children; one of them died. Stricken with poverty, the family was able to breakthrough. Like many of my countrymen, working overseas is one of the best way alleviate poverty. And so does our family. She did the best she can and be the best mother to us. She lived the life of a homemaker, so she can take care of her kids. And when we were sick, she always have the best medicine – Royal True Orange with egg yolk to drink and there’s always Skyflakes to eat. Life is simple back then.

I was sickly among her kids. Since the day I was born, my first month is celebrated in Cebu hospital. During the time of sickness, I remember her carrying me until the age of 10 so I can go to the toilet and move around our home. All the things a mother would do for her children. Even though she didn’t finish school, she did all she can to help our father. I remember helping her to make ‘Ice Candy’ and ‘Yelo’ (home made Ice) and we sell it to kids and neighbors during late 1980s.

Ice Candy. Photo Credits to: http://www.foodipino.com

She have undergone the hurdles of married life. At one point, I recall when I was 12 years old that she wanted to break the marriage, that she couldn’t take it anymore; but then, she decided to stay. I overheard her conversation with her friend, she stayed as she doesn’t want me to grow up from a broken home. And she loved our father so much to break the marriage.

So even when our father passed away, remarrying never crossed her mind. She rather spent her time with her children, her grand children, and great grand kids.

Our mum and dad..
Our mum and dad..

She embraced getting old with her own style of feminine grace. Always well groomed with her classy outlook and nature. Even when she stayed in the hospital, doctors and nurses can’t help but to praise her fashion sense and her tidiness.

However, all good things has to come to an end. Our physical body degenerates and accept that one day, our once strong and healthy physique will shake hands with frailty and deterioration. Until the time our body will cease to perform and embrace death.

Life is real! Life is earnest!
   And the grave is not its goal;
Dust thou art, to dust returnest,
   Was not spoken of the soul.
               ~ Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

She left us last January 2014 at the age of 80. It was only few weeks before her 81st birthday and we’re praying that we would still celebrate with us.

Sadly, she rejoined God.

Her last request was that she and our father will be buried together. She carried her love to our father until the grave.

It is then I realized how the vow of marriage is fulfilled – Til death do us part.

Few weeks ago, on March 5th, the family celebrated her 40th day of passing. It is our customary belief that on the 40th day, the soul of our departed loved ones would crossover and rejoin God.

She will always be in our hearts. She was a daughter to her parents, a sister to her siblings, a mother to us. Amazing woman who undergone the challenges of life – her own personal self, her married life, her family.

The death of our father last May 1993Family photo when our father passed away – May 1993
When our mum passed away January 2014Family photo when our mum passed away 20 years later – January 2014
Photo Credits: Geraldine Ipanag
To a great woman. Our mother. Not only that we owe you our lives but our entire being.
This is in memoriam of Jovita Regis Ipanag. We will always missed you Nanay Bita.

My mum Jovita

This is the song she used to hymn with us.

Cheers.

P.S. This article is the toughest one I’ve written in my life.

Til next time. Au revoir.

christianity, culture, faith, life, love, photography, relationship, singapore, society

Walk by Faith. Walk by Moriah.

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We often wondered the existence of God.

How spiritual are we?

How can our emotions linked to our spirituality?

Why is it that positive people have the most fruits and happiness? While the opposite lives on angst and depression?

Why does our decision and judgement affects not only our lives but also of others?

Why do our lives intertwine?

Like a child, we asked humongous questions until we see ourselves in that breaking-free ultimate question,

WHAT IS OUR PURPOSE?

At first, I thought of correlating faith with Maslow’s Hierarchy of needs. And that religion will only play role on a person’s love and belonging, self-esteem, and self-actualization phases of life. Until I proven myself wrong.

In this walk of journey I’ve seen a lot of wealthy, career, and successful business people who still feels empty. Some achieved success in their younger years; while others passed their mid-life and still on ‘catch 22’ in building their dreams. While the irony of all is that people living below the middle-class possess more happiness. They are more grateful for small gestures that they receive.

One thing we can’t deny is the linkage of spirituality to God’s existence. Happy people at most keep constantly thanking God for all the blessing He bestowed upon them. While struggling people still awaits for their experience with God. Waiting that God will awe them in wonders. While others does not believe in God’s existence.

Interestingly, Pew Research Center on Religion reported approximately 84% of the world’s population in 2010 believes in God based on their religious affiliations. The remaining population on the other hand have either neglect the idea that there is God and others have decided to abandon the notion and turn up to irreligion.

One admiration I have for Singapore is the freedom to express religion or faith due to its cultural diversity. Here in Singapore the common religions are: Christians, Muslim, Hindu, and Buddhist. On another perspective it attracts the foreigners – immigrants mentality to move to a country where their religion is openly spoken. It gives them the sense of belonging.

I started attending Moriah Assembly of God (one of the Christian churches of Singapore) early 2012 while me and husband were still dating. A small community of Christians where the walk of faith is rather intimate. The community knows each other and the essence of  caregroups give more intimacy to the faith. My husband and I believes we all belong to a church. It’s just a matter of time to find your church. And we both felt it; we both belong to Moriah.

With our busy schedules, we do our best to attend the church service; caregroup, and other means of fellowships. Needless to say, Moriah church played a big role to our marriage and now our married life. I reborn my Christian faith in Moriah; and during our wedding ceremony, our Moriah family helped us and our Pastor Simon officiated our wedding.

As we grow, age, and continue our walk of life, we need a church. We need a church family that will walk with us in growing our faith and experience God in our lives. Experience God, experience Jesus, experience the Holy Spirit.

Last June 2013 I attended my very first church camp through Moriah in Phuket Thailand. With God’s financial blessings, me and my husband able to listen and further grown our faith through the church.

Our Moriah family. Church camp 2013 in Phuket, Thailand

My husband with our youth Amanda

While the kids were busy admiring the beauty of nature..

The camp is very active.

And the kids are attentive to the game masters..

We were divided to teams where camaraderie starts to kick in!

Excellent service! Where we held our camp…

Our Moriah Youths graced us with their talents for dancing…

The fun and laughter where all generation gaps were forgotten..

And here’s another one..

Our youths happy faces..

A game is a competition regardless of age.. Uncle Alan showing off with his moves..

The church camp may have last only for few days but what we’ve learned and experienced was a leap of faith. Science cannot disprove God’s existence. The more we resist spirituality, the more unhappy we become.

Leading back to our question, What is your purpose in life? It’s simply being happy. But we dragged ourselves in societal norms and rat-race competition that we wined up living a complicated and overstretch life. We forget to appreciate the beauty of nature and the people surrounding us. We stopped growing personally and spiritually.

If you want to be happy, start putting smile in your face when you wake up each morning. Paired it up with a silent gesture of giving ‘Thanks!’. I always believe that we could have just died in our sleep but God gave us another morning to be with our loved ones. Accept that you cannot control life and you need God to be with you. If you have a Christian friend whom you have constantly rejected the invitation, why not give it a chance?

If you’re a fellow Christian and feels hungry for God’s words, you can always open your stashed and dusty Bible in your home. Alternatively, through smart phones, electronic Bible are in various digital application stores –> the word of God is always within reach.

As for me and my husband, our faith, like our lives… is a constant journey. We’re walking by faith. And we’re walking by Moriah.

As we wanted to share it to everyone, if you feel the need to be connected to a church, feel free to join us in our worship every Sunday in Golden Village Cinema, Vivo City, Harbourfront Singapore from 10AM – 12PM.

Til next time. Au revoir.

christianity, culture, faith, life, love, relationship

“God will provide”

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Disclaimer: This article is a living testimony of how God provides as we put our faith and trust in Him. This article do not insinuate negativity towards the entities mentioned in this blog.

My hubby Gnex and I just attended our caregroup session (Moriah Assembly of God) last saturday. We had a very interesting discussion.

Faith in God leads to trust and obedience. Three key words complementing each: Faith, trust, and obedience towards God.

We’ve shared our own testimony which happened recently:

After my hubby and I got married on my birthday, it is to our hearts intent to stay in my husband’s workplace. Teen Challenge has been an instrument for us to meet, started our dating, and later on settled down. My hubby Gnex has a biggest bond with Teen Challenge, God’s ministry close to his heart. It is where he started anew, it is where God touched his heart and reformed, it is where we had our Christian wedding ceremony.

We professed our intention to be living staff to Teen Challenge; that I can stay with my husband while he’s serving the ministry. We prayed that our heart’s desire will be granted. After series of conversation in different forms, we finally had the response. Our request to stay in Teen Challenge was declined. We were never informed of the reason. Our hearts were crushed.

Christmas of 2012 came. With our low morale, we decided to accept things as they are and searched for our rental space. We took it as a message that ‘This is what God wants. And so be it Lord.’

Christmas is all about giving and sharing our blessings. Instead of lingering towards what happened, we decided to serve God and shared our blessings to the residents of Teen Challenge. My husband’s passion is to serve the people. We had the Christmas pot-luck, thanks to other fellow staffs who contributed and the residents experienced their exchange-gifts. We felt happy and fulfilled in the end. I remember telling my husband, “This Christmas I missed my family; but the emptiness was fulfilled by seeing the residents happy.”

After Christmas we were busy hunting for our own rental space. As the Singapore property market is a big boom, the rental space has tremendously increased as well. We were faced with the challenge of finding the fund for the first set of cash out – the deposit, the advance, the agent’s fee. We have to be practical, we have just got married; most of our cash flows were out. I saw my husband spending late nights to scout for affordable room rental which will fit our budget while I was busy with work as we were on year end closing for 2012. We didn’t manage to find a room rent. We grew tired and weary; and so we leave it all to God. We took a break and rested.

Out of no-where a miracle happened. God blessed and provided us with a room-rental which we considered to be affordable as compared to others. And God blessed and provided us with the fund as well to pay for everything – the deposit, the advance, and the agent’s fee. Very unexpected, truly a blessing.

True enough, God see and help us through. No matter what circumstances it is, God is always there to help and guide us.

Our friends, we hope that our simple testimony will provide enlightenment to your life. It maybe simple but the most important point is your truly reliance to God in everything that you do.

In the upcoming days, we will be settled to our rental place.

And now, whenever we feel doubt, we always give the affirmation that ‘No worries, as long as our hearts are in-lined with God; God will provide and God will see and help us through.’

After truly relying to God, obeyed, strengthen our trust and faith, we started to see God’s blessings in uncountable ways.

Til next time..Au revoir..

culture, faith, in Christ, life, love, of God, relationship

A Match Made in Heaven

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Finding ‘The One’ wasn’t a smooth sailing journey.

It took a while before we found each other.

I wrote about him last April 2012. It was my last post and went silence in my blog.

A lot of things had happened. We got engaged.

We decided to tie-the-knot on September 1, 2012.

Yes, the very day of my birthday and so does my dad who passed away 19 years ago.

Wedding Day…
My mother’s kiss on my wedding day…

Now, I’m married to my hubby Gnex Ganesan and will be celebrating our first Christmas few days from now.

From hotel to our church…
Wedding ceremony…
Wedding ceremony…

God does has His way of making us meet. We meet in an unexpected place. While I wasn’t searching, I didn’t close any doors in finding that someone.. that someone I’m going to spend the rest of my life with…

And so he came… All the while searching for me… And he didn’t even knew it, until we met and became exclusive.

My husband.. Gnex Ganesan…

Our officiating pastor.. Reverend Simon Ang..

Oftentimes we busy ourselves as an escape of the fear to be with someone. After all the pains, the issues of trust, we decided to just be with ourselves and give up in finding ‘the one’.

Love…

But what if… what if… God is giving you ‘the one’… but you were looking somewhere else… or you were too busy you didn’t realise?

Reflections…
Us…

I hope you will find that someone for you… Someone who will be with you when you wake each morning.. Someone you will argue with the TV remote control… Someone you will kiss when your glad.. Someone who you will make up and make out with after arguments… That someone who will hold your hand until your hair turns grey, the teeth will loose, the blurry sight.. and until you close your eyes and joint your Creator…

My niece and my mother on our wedding day…
Our wedding guest speaker… Reverend Sam Kuna…
We held our wedding in Teen Challenge Singapore…
My mum-in-law.. Ma Maliga..
Mother and daughter..
Our witnesses…
Our family.. our friends.. our pride..
Our cake and cupcakes.. by Sweettooth cake delights..

Time to say goodbye.. Goodbye to singlehood.. Goodbye to the endless and tiring search..

And it’s welcome… to the married life.. to companionship.. to family.. and to eternity..

Til next time..Au revoir..

Credits:

All photo credits goes to Samuel Kwok of Agape Photography

christianity, culture, faith, life, love, relationship

Of Faith. Of Hope. Of Love.

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I started drafting this article last February 14, 2012. I’d like to talk love as suits the occasion of Valentine’s day. I’m always mesmerized of my parents love story. So my Valentine’s day is always dedicated to my parents. Second to the fact that it also falls on my mother’s natal day.

February 14th is a scheduled date with Gnex. Sadly, he fell sick. We barely knew each other that time. However, there is an attraction and chemistry. That we can’t deny.

I tried to finish the article.. No matter how hard I tried, I wasn’t able to. Like any artist, I wasn’t inspired. I didn’t have my muse.

Life went on as usual. I was succumb to the mundane of life and busy schedule. Gladly, Gnex stayed. We started to get to know each other better. And we didn’t stop. We decided to have faith. We decided to place God in the midst.

Love as they say is as perennial as the grass. That’s according to my favorite Poem – Desiderata.

Love grows in unexpected places…

love is always a surprise….

its a treasure to be found..

it’s a gift to embrace…

~ Chic Pencil

I held on to my faith. I held on to God I know. I followed where I was leading to.

Gnex surprised me. He did surprise me a lot. It started as a friendship, getting to know each other, dates,  and it grew… We followed where God is bracing us to… We never questioned, we were always grateful and appreciative.

As we walk on to the next road of our relationship, we have our hands clasps together. There will always be winds that will try to change the course. However, we have God that will calm the sea during its storm.

And finally, I can finish this article. With tears of joy in my eyes, I can publish it and share it with family and friends.

It all started with FAITH by placing God in the midst.. Relying to God’s hands and believing His will.

It’s followed with HOPE. And to never giving up.

And it ended up with LOVE…

Of faith. Of hope. and Of Love.

Love is patient love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It does not dishonor others, it is not self seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.

1 corinthians 13:4-7

And lastly… to the love of my life…

I love you Gnex…

A Blessed Lenten season to my fellow Catholics and Christians in faith…

Til next time. Au revoir.

christianity, faith, life, relationship, singapore, society

A Visit to Teen Challenge Singapore

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Singapore has been known as the fast-moving cosmopolitan in South East Asia. High rise buildings, non-stop trains and buses, and people hurrying up to report to work in the mornings are but the usual scene.

Aside from Singapore’s reputation for being the cleanest city, the country is also famous for security where crime rates are very minimal.

It is not surprising to see Singapore in the 2nd Rank of Global Competitiveness Report from World Economic Forum. From the last year’s 3rd place, the country has overtook Sweden. Though there are a lot of criteria for the said competitiveness rankings; as a resident in Singapore, what’s visible in the naked eye is the country’s initiatives in making Singapore an attractive habitat for the best talents.

Within the buzzing city of Singapore, is the habitat for the different cluster of citizen. The said cluster are those who need understanding, those who need another hand to continue living, those who were hurt like us, and those who need forgiveness from us.

With a very hectic schedule, I was invited by Gnex to come and visit the church service in Teen Challenge Singapore. It was the very nourishment I need with all the concurrent happenings in my life.

Nothing’s more important than hearing God’s words.

So I agreed and went to visit Teen Challenge. It is located outside the central business district – in Boon Lay district.

Teen Challenge Dare Center is a drug and rehabilitation facility. The mission of the organization is to transform the lives of individuals having been addicted to substance or alcohol and restore them back to being the law-abiding citizen and continue living to Singapore society.

It was quite a distant from the city but it was worth the travel. When I reached the place, the folks (residents, staff, and management) are still playing football in the field. While waiting for Gnex, I decided to take a little tour of the area.

The said facility is a calm and quiet place which gives the individual the opportunity to reflect just about anything. Once a primary school, the facility has been transformed to cater the needs of residents who need the nourishment for the soul.

Front office and waiting area.

Residents of Teen Challenge whether walk ins and those mandatory would undergo a program designed by the organization.

I must say I’m impressed with the facility of Teen Challenge. Staff are warm and friendly. With a smile in the face, I met Mr. Dave Chai, the center director of Teen Challenge.

A snapshot of the center’s programs and activities.

Finally, the church service began. Interestingly enough, the church is located inside the center’s facility.

Prepping for the service.

I was fortunate enough to hear Reverend Jim from Teen Challenge’s headquarter who delivered the service that night.

 Singing praises through the worship songs.

 

Worship songs in Mandarin.

The church service was insightful and reflective. It was a very good experience.

It is often that we get swayed by the mundane aspects of life. To gain a different perspectives of life we have to look at our brothers and sisters who need our understanding and support.

Like any ordinary being, the residents of Teen Challenge have undergone hurt and betrayal too. However it is not our position to judge but rather understand  them by giving them second chances.

All comes from Him and all is through HIM…

 For more information about Teen Challenge, please visit their website:

http://www.teenchallenge.org.sg/

Til next time. Au revoir.