Jeans and Round Neck T-Shirt

I don't have much problem with attire or rather I don't have much problem with what I wear. Now people (my wife especially) would say that I have no gift for attire and that I lack the 'taste' of fine dressing (like I am a salad or something). So I don't pay much attention to what and how I dressed (Ahhhh now that begin to make sense with how I looked huh? Frankly I always thought that with my 'looks' heck, I looked good with what I wear J or no matter what clothes I put on, it's not going to help much L). So, I have been happily going to functions and church meetings and whatever occasions dressing the way I felt and driving my wife up the wall and sometimes even sending her off to the moon.

However, lately I have also recognized that the way I dress would in a way reflect how I view a function. For example if I dress like I am going to bed when I am going to church to worship God, no matter how worshipful my heart and soul and spirit is at the moment, my attitude, at least outwardly is wrong. But we are not concern with outward appearance, are we? True to a certain degree. I agree that even the songs say God is looking to our hearts but how we groom ourselves for an occasion does reflects on how we view the occasion. Try going to meet your in-laws (or future in-laws which I did by the way) in your pajamas. You are not going to do that, right? You want to make a good impression. So we will usually whipped out our best clothes and we dressed to kill.

In YWA, we once had a discussion on attire. We postulated that on one sunny Sunday morning, the Oversight came out with a directive that we cannot wear jeans for Sunday worship. How would we react? Well, the YWAs reacted with surprising objections. It was as if the Oversight had taken away their right to breath. As if wearing jeans was the reason that they go to church on Sunday. Well, I might be a tad melodramatic here but you get the picture. We were actually discussing on the proper attire but it branched off to submission to elders. So the question is actually will we comply or not? Do we submit or not? Now, you would argue that blind submission is wrong, that if the elders asked us to come to church in our birthday suits, we will do that also. I agree with you that we do not submit blindly but in this case is not wearing jeans tantamount to blind obedience category?

What's the point to all this? Well, I recently was reminded in a gentle way that as people who lead or start of the morning worship, I should consider not wearing round neck tees and jeans. So, question is should we take the 'suggestion' and dress appropriately? Well, truth be told, I do think we should. I think, yeah let's not quibble over the small issues, we are here to worship God and let's do that. If by dressing appropriately, I can encourage others to worship and not hinder them, then I had done my part as the person to lead off worship. Yeah, let's dress appropriately.

Katan

PS: The funny thing is this, I don't even have a pair of jeans. Hmmmm, maybe should start getting a pair to wear, then I don't have to start of the worship session. Bears considering….

Thinking Out of the Box

What does the phrase 'thinking out of the box means'? Simply put, it is the ability to solve a particular problem or to approach a particular problem from an angle never before considered. The solution could be simple, elegant and yet effective. A good example would be the various antics of Mr. Bean. Although many of his antics are created for laughter purposes but it illustrates the solution of problems from a perspective that is not normally considered.

In the working world, with the advent of info technology and innovation, the ability to 'think out of the box' is highly regarded in some industries. The same goes for EY. We always challenged the EYs to think out of the box. We encourage them to approach problems and come out with solutions that are, well 'out of the box'. We sometimes do get great results and sometimes we get some great "Mr. Bean's" solutions too.

Case in point, a group of EYs was asked to paint the benches outside the library recently. So the EYs with much gusto had finished the painting and were now tidying up all the paint utensils. One of the youth, let's call him/her AAA ask another youth, let's call him/her BBB to go get some old newspaper to clean up the paint brushes. BBB was to ask from Uncle Jimmy or Auntie Jo for the old newspapers. So our BBB went to the mission house and unfortunately could not find Uncle Jimmy or Auntie Jo. So what did BBB do? Displaying the 'thinking out of the box' concept, BBB went to look for newspaper. BBB took some money from AAA and went over to Salim and bought some newspaper. Figuring that they need quite a lot of paper, BBB bought two newspaper and thinking further that it just would not do to buy from only one publisher, BBB bought a copy of the Star and News Straits Times just to be safe. Cool, huh? Thinking out of the box in this problem of getting old newspaper, BBB bought two newspaper (which will be old the next day) using AAA money (hey, AAA asked BBB so AAA has got to pay, right?) So is this a cool 'out of the box' problem solver or a Mr. Bean wannabe…J? Any votes?

Katan

Birthday toast for...

Today is another special day for a sister who is in our midst. Yes, she may not be in Ipoh right now. But her face will definitely be in our mind (at least mine) when this day comes. Check it out!

~Guess who is this cute little girl?~

~Do these eyes look familiar?~

~Here comes our birthday girl!!!~

Yes! It's our one and only AMELIA!!! Happy birthday girl! You're a year older and a step closer to maturity. Big girl already, must "sang sing". Have a nice day! God bless..

Celebration Nite

What do we have to celebrate about? Well, plenty of things. Chiefly among those are our good health, our family, our friends, our youth fellowship and numerous other things that God has indeed blessed us with. So what's with the celebration night then? What are we celebrating of? Although we have many things to praise God of but on the night of June 7, 2008, what precisely are we praising God for?

People, on the night of June 7, 2008, we will be praising God for the growth of our Youth Fellowship, not so much in numbers but rather in the spiritual maturity of our youths. It is indeed a great blessing from our Lord that he has enabled, nurtured and blessed our youth fellowship in the area of the spiritual growth. We only need to compare our worship session a year ago and today to see the progress that we had achieve by the grace of God. In additional, several of our youths have also taken another step of obedience in their walk and had decided to go for baptism. So on the night of June 7, 2008, we will be celebrating the growth of our youth fellowship with a baptism service as well.

The program of the night area as follows:

•7:00pm Introduction (An introduction of EY to the parents - do invite your parents for this and for the rest of the night also)

•7:30pm Dinner (Catered and since we are celebrating, the dinner is on the house)

•8:30pm Worship & Message

•9:15pm Baptism

(Candidates are: Shireen Raj, Steven Raj, Eliza Lee, Shireen Chow, Henry Chow, Bernice Ong, Daphne, Xie Li, En Li, Mei Chan)

So, let's us come together and celebrate the goodness of God. Let's invite our parents and friends for a wonderful time of praising God and witnessing the baptism of our brothers and sisters. All the 'ex-EYs', we welcome you as well. If the taikos and taichehs could make it back in time, the EYs will appreciate it.

See you on the night of June 7, 2008.

Come on and Celebrate!!!

Katan

A Poem of EY

A Journey That Never Ends
By Steven Chang

Elim Youth or EY we called ourselves,
A group of young Christians in Elim Gospel Hall,
Lead by someone who called himself "The Saint",
Uncle William Chang is his real name,
"No need to work?!", that's his favourite phrase,

It's never a one man show in EY,
He's the engineer for the success of EY,
And he's Tan Kian Aun,
With the help of a lovely wife, Mrs. Winnie,
the only lady in EY,

Think of goat's hair, think of him,
Think of PDA phone, think of him,
Liew Kar Wai the owner of these things,
We need to pay for almost everything in this world,
But we can get free medical advices from Dr. Eric Yeoh,

One Way Jesus, You're the only one that we would live for!,
Wan Wai! Wan Wai!,
You're the only girl that Kok Ming would dream of!,
Kok Ming and Wan Wai,
As it is in the story, Beauty & The Beast,

She talks, she craps, she advices,
She is blessed with a talented tongue,
No wonder Jennifer Chang opted PR as her job,
He's cool, calm, and definitely a good listener,
No wonder Chris and Jenn are so in love,

All of us in EY love eating good food,
But we definitely can't eat without her guidance,
Yian Yan the food science student,
Then if guidance is never enough,
We have Jin Ann who is actually very good in cooking,

He's the guy that can never stops playing and fooling around,
He's the one that brings noisiness and laughter thus making EY livelier,
He's Clarence Choong,
He's the youngest PHD holder in the world,
Goh Cheng Fai our EY professor,

She’a cheerful girl, a girl that will never be shy to talk to anyone,
Daphne Choo is a girl that everyone loves,
She has the prettiest and sweetest smile,
A smile that brightens up everyone's day,
This lovely girl is Tsuey Xin,

We can always see him wearing a Man Utd jersey wherever he goes,
He loves football a lot and he's a die-heart Man U fan,
This guy is Andrew Chun,
He got one of the most macho name in EY,
Matthew Labrooy that's how his name sounds,

He does not like any particular sports,
But he love sports, confused?,
Vincent Chan just loves to exercise,
He can't sing or dance like Ricky Martin,
But he got a name of Ricky Tan,

Our country’s future best Biology teacher,
Cikgu Bio, Cikgu Alan Wong,
But all of us call him Fei Wong,
No doubt she’s very thin,
Michelle Tan the chicken little,

He's the guy that would stand at a corner like a stone,
Doing nothing but rehearsals for his own self-made MV,
Kevin Koon the 20 cent,
Tallest in the EY room,
Adrian Goh the giraffe,

He's the best in scoring goals in whatever games
Kent Lee the Chicken King,
Whenever we go to the beach,
Whenever we look at the waves hitting the sea shores,
We will think of Wai Kit with his belly wave,

Soft in words, humble in action,
Shaun is really a nice guy,
Be fruitful and multiply that's what the Bible says,
This girl loves to have a lot of kids,
Kar Men is this little lady,

Brother and sister,
They share the same similarities,
Tall and thin,
Glenn Low and Amelia Low,
No one will ever doubt that the are brothers and sisters,

She has a lot of nicknames,
But they shall never be revealed here,
Eliza Lee should be thanking her lucky stars,
She's quiet and shy in EY,
Yi Jern definitely has more to learn from,

Miracles and wonders do happen everyday,
They came out from the same stomach,
Shared the same food and nutrients for around 9 months,
And of course they share the same surname,
Chow Yip Kai and Chow Li Qi are twins,

A talkative girl,
Adeline Chang is this little girl,
He's good in ping pong,
Even if he's playing with a broken hand,
And he's Bertine Ong,

We could always see them together,
They do share the same interests,
And they share the same heart,
A heart made of kindness and gentleness,
Bernice Ong and Shireen Chow are very good friends,

He's a guy that you can depend on,
Let it be anything,
Yan Hoe is definitely a great friend to have,
Steven Chang that's how his name sounds,
And words just can’t describe him.

She's another quiet girl in EY,
And of course most of the guys do love girls that talk less,
It's a good thing for you, En Li,
He likes Ronaldo and supports Man Utd,
No wonder Samuel can mix well with most of the guys in EY,

Change of tone...

Our lives are never a journey alone,
We always have God walking with us everyday,
And not to be forgotten our family and friends as well,
Every time when we fall,
We would have someone to pick us up,
And let us stand back on our own feet,
Someone that would lend a shoulder for us to lean on when we are sad,
Someone to listen to our thoughts and advise us when we are at road end,
They are the ones that our heavenly Father gave us,
Someone to guide us in our lives,

The friendship and the relationship that we build upon in EY,
It is not built on the sands of a beach,
It is build on the foundation of God's love,
A love that can never be broken,
This kind of love blooms only once in our lives,
And burns for a lifetime,
It's not about holding hands,
But it's about holding hearts,
Holding it tightly and never let it go,
A love that lasts a lifetime,

Together we share our tears and laughter,
All the times we had together,
Every moment, every second,
We shall cherish it with all our hearts,
There might be times when there are misunderstanding and arguments,
But these are the things that made us grow,
Things that made our memories so wonderful and colourful,
And they are priceless,
It would stay in our hearts whenever and wherever we go,
A memory that will be with us forever and ever,

With all of us growing with God everyday,
When every step that we take is a step closer to God,
Let us hold our hands and hearts together,
Let us share everything that we have,
Be it good or bad times,
Let us not leave anyone behind,
Even when there's death that set us apart,
But we shall still walk together towards the door of heaven,
Till then, we shall meet again,
It is a journey that never ends.

Birthday boy

Apart of a birthday girl, we also have a birthday boy in our midst. I'm sorry for the late post. I couldn't access to the internet. Anyway, better late than never, right? Without further delay, let's take a closer look at the birthday boy.

~Who's that opening and drinking ISOMAX?~

~The superman of EY?~

~Shy shy la..Don't take my photo la..~

Yes! It's Kar Wai, the junior! Haha.. Happy birthday!!! May God be with you always as you grow in Him.

Birthday Shout Out!!!

It's been a while since we had one of this, a birthday shout out. Today folks, is the blessed birthday of our dear sister, Wan Wai. She's good with a frisbee and kids (look how she handled Kok Ming). And we are also discovering that she can also teach. Yay for me and not so much for her. But anyway, HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!! We are glad you are in our fellowship and may you have a blessed Birthday.

She's good with kids

Told u, she's good with kids. Pictures a bit blurry, ok, got a better one

Clearer picture, right? (any reason at all to post this, doc. Any reason at all)

Katan

Programs Clarification?

I never thought that I need to clarify the programs once I uploaded it to the blog but based on the amount of spamming on the chat box, I think it would be the wiser option just to explain some of the programs, just in case.

First up, the celebration nite. What in the world are we celebrating of? Well, many things but first and foremost would be the baptism of the several of our youths. We will be having a baptism on that night of celebration. And since most of the youths parents will be around to witness the baptism, we will also be having a dinner as well. Cool, huh? First makan, then mandi ... well at least for some of us (there is a myth that said if we were to take a bath after dinner, we will get a big tummy... so we will see if the myth is true)

Secondly there is no EY meeting for the following two weeks due to weddings. Both will be in Elim, one in the Chinese Assembly, another in the English Assembly. So in view that all the EY Advisors are involved (plus the EY Advisors wanted to curi tulang) the EY meetings are cancelled. We will still have the BUG on Sundays.

Thirdly, the BSGC trip is kinda confirm. Kinda means if nothing pops up and Uncle Mike still remembers our tele-conversation, then it is on. So mark it on your calender.

Okay, enough said of the programs...

Katan

Buggers Unite!

Bugging is very important. Apart from bugger-shipping with one another,it also helps to build a healthier body, fling away unwanted fat and it helps to release stress, else, this is what will happen...

Beard turn brown, instead of black

Hair turn grey at a young age of 17.

That is why we have buggers as young as 5 years old joining us. After all, prevention is better than cure, right?

However, according to Dr.Bugger, he said that brown beard and grey hair has nothing to do with stress whatsoever. It's more to the genes. Hmm... I cannot not agree because he has halo over his head.

These buggers are spreading the bug fever to everyone else by throwing a flat plate called Frisbee.......

....... or by playing football at the other side of the field. That's how the bugBoys spread their buggerly love to each other.

The beautiful sky and the goal post

Some visuals of the action-packed match:

While some of the bugBoys are busy chasing the ball around, the bugGirls are either playing frisbee with the remaining bugBoys, or busy taking photos.

But their fun was invaded when a few bugBoy wannabes steal the limelight.

Buggers soon got tired of all the running around. Below are worn out buggers resting and savouring ice-creams:

What a buggerful day! I see a lot of new buggers around. Keep them coming!!! :)

10 Reasons why EY ROCK

Someone spammed that question/challenge on the blog and the entire blog went silent. You can literally hear the cyberspace needle drop. Come people, surely we can give the ten reasons or failing that we can at least have the honesty to say "Sorry, dude, EY does not rock". Then Wan Li stepped up to bat, and she hit a home run. Suddenly, the blog is alive again. You can literally hear the cyberspace sigh of relief and we can move on. Before we move on, let's us ask ourselves, does EY rock?

Does EY rock? Is it really happening to the extent that we can say that EY rock? What image comes to mind if we say a certain place or event rock? Does that particular image pops into mind when we think about EY? Well, if that image does not pop into mind, then strictly speaking EY does not rock. So, in an honest self evaluation, does EY rock? Then again, some smart aleck will ask: how do you quantify the 'rockness' of EY? Do we quantify it by the events we organize; the people that attend; the no of people that attends; the speakers; our spiritual maturity; our worship; our activities or a combination of issues? Does pose a sticky problem, doesn't it? For the older folks, we are pretty rocking in terms of our worship and activities but for others we are quite bland. So let us look at this issue in terms of relative. Relative to the EY that we have always known and loved. Because, let's face it, there are some other more rocking youths around. Think back to a year or two ago. Remember the EY then and the EY now, does it rock? Let's start:

The ten reasons why EY rock:

• We are now numbering about high 20s. Something to look forward to. Keep it up and we need to build our very own EYC (Elim Youth Center, remember MYC, the Ipoh Wesley youth center)
• For a long time, we only sing for the sake of singing. How often did we actually worship God with the songs that we sing? Now and lately, I have noticed some of us worship God, lifting hands (albeit shy) and from the expression, we know that there is real worship going on. The first time, I saw it, I got misty eye. (yeah, the great cry baby)
  
• We are going to have 16 going to for a baptism class and from there; at least 7 are committed to go for the waters of baptism. Another misty eye affair.
  
• We recently had an activity where there was 71 people attending. From that number, we are only about 20 plus. The rest were people whom EY invited. WOW
  
• We have good group of taikos and taichehs involved in the ministry work. The working rapport among them is also superb. Man, you should see their makan fellowship.
  
• Our older EYs are now grown up and taking much more responsibility. (Wadefish taking more teaching lessons~ this Saturday, he is sharing on the BGR: the big picture J something to look forward to, maybe we should tape it; Andrew doing a lot of chauffeuring work ~ Thanks dudes)
  
• Our EYs are now also maturing (previous blog) with so many of you serving in so many activities.
  
• Our activities, boy oh boy do we have activities (Trips, EY programs, Night Worship, BUG, other churches youth fellowship). We need to cut down some as we barely have time to have our weekly meetings.
  
• We now have our very own EY room (though if we continue to add numbers, we may need to build a new one) where we could hang and chill (but not kick football).
  
• We now have our very own blog.
  
• Those are the ten items which makes EY rock (in my opinion, of course). Now, this really had to be said even if it is known, it is GOD that makes EY rocks. So people in your prayers do remember to praise and thank Him. To HIM be all glory and praise!!!
  

"How great is our God; Sing with me how great is Our God,…" Chris Tomlin

Katan