February 2013

On 2 February this year, we celebrate our son's 24th birthday.  Thank GOD for His grace and mercies in seeing Renfred through all these years. 

 

Renfred loves good food.  In our family, we always asks the birthday person to choose where and what he/she would like to eat on their birthdays. 

 

This Japanese Restaurant is at Novena Square.  A bit pricey but the food was authentic and very good.  As long as the birthday boy is happy, we are happy ;)

He decided on this small piece of cake to share amongst the 3 of us as we already had a nice meal earlier.

We saw on his Facebook that he liked this watch so we went shopping for it and got it for his birthday present.  When we told him how we decided on this present, he said he did not even know about this watch.  Then how on earth did we see that he liked this watch on facebook????? ;(

A simple card but powerful card for him - "The LORD is his Banner"

As his actual day falls on a Saturday and he had to go to church for a youth leaders' meeting that day, I baked this huge Blueberry Cheesecake for him to celebrate and share it with them.  Glad that they loved it :)

 

We are thankful to GOD for blessing us with two lovely, talented and sensible children; Renfred and Eliza.  Since birth we have dedicated both of them to the LORD.  Renfred is a German name meaning "mighty but peaceful", and thus far he has lived up to it.  He is very special even my parents and siblings could sense it.  But there's a lot he has to learn in life.  We know GOD has a wonderful plan for him and by His grace, we will journey and support Renfred as long as we live. 

 

The LORD bless and keep you, our son

The LORD make His face shine upon you

The LORD be gracious unto you and give you peace.

Love, Dad & Mom

 

Surrender - Peom written by Peter

Dedicated to my wife and prayer partner who has been praying faithfully that I learn to surrender to the Lord each part of my soul I'm still desperately clinging onto to claim as my own.
May you be bless and may you also learn the sweet joy of surrendering areas of your life to Him as He places His gentle finger there and patiently waits for you to submit to His perfect will:
Written as I meditated over what He has done for me on Good Friday.
...
Surrender, A word of negative connotation
Of retreat, failure and frustration
Yet You chose it in the incarnation
To bring us eternal salvation

You left Your heavenly glory and splendor
To live a life of simple surrender
You proved it in the Garden of Gethsemane
When You will to die for humanity

The way to the cross was paved with choices
Many a clamouring, enticing, competing voices
But You gave heed to none of them
And in silent surrender was condemned

What You went thru I can never understand
No matter how hard I try to comprehend
The allegation and accusation of wrong
The scorn and sickening slap so strong

They spat on You and struck You hard
And in all these evil I took a part
The scourging strength of every strand
The whip, Oh, my God! it was my hand!

Cruel crown of thorns You wore
Wicked taunt of royalty You bore
It must have hurt You to Your core
And yet You took on much, much more.

You struggled with the punishment and pain
Who would know the sorrow and public shame
Still You surrendered to the will of Him above
To demonstrate and display divine, enduring love

The way of the cross You walked alone
Heavy beam, jeers of crowd, blood stained stones
At last to the place of skull You came
You showed Surrender is serious, it’s not a game.

Hard spikes hammered You to the cross
As You carried all our dark, evil sinful dross
You could still have ended it all
If only to Your Father You would call

To the greatest agony - separation from Him - You did not yield
But in total obedience You surrendered to His will
With sorrowful sighing of the soul You breathed Your last
But this is present to me, not the past.

Your will aligned, Your soul surrendered
Thus to You the ultimate victory He handed
You live again, O Lord Jesus, forever more to reign
Leading to the heavenly home all the chosen saints.

So help me to obey and to surrender
To I, me, my and mine, to never pander
To flee the darkness and to fight the sin
To die to live, to surrender to win.

God be praised.
Peter Loh
26Mar12, Tuesday
In Residence, Radisson Hotel, Rm 304.
Bandar Seri Begawan, Brunei

What are some lessons learnt from the study of Leviticus

Thank GOD for a group of dedicated facilitators, we have the opportunity to study Leviticus Precept Upon Precept.  Must admit, it got a bit dry here and there as we all know, it's about the old covenant and laws the 5 types of offerings ; Burnt, Grain, Peace, Sin, Guilt offerings, etc.  But thank GOD for perseverance.  As we plough on, we began to see and learn more and more of the GOD we worship, the GOD who saves.
 

Knowing Who GOD is, helps me to always fall back to Him whenever the road on earth gets tough.

1)  He is a GOD who Saves and gives Hope.  He saved the Israelites out of Egypt and gave them a land and through the lineage of Abraham, came JESUS CHRIST, Who atoned for our sins in order that we can be forgiven and be redeemed to our Creator, our Heavenly Father.  He declared the year of Jubilee where everyone is to return to their own property.  The land belongs to GOD and He has allotted the different tribes different areas of the land so in the year of Jubilee, everything should be restored, signifying debts forgiven, slaves (the Israelites were once slaves in Egypt) set free. Lev 25:23-24

2)  He is a GOD who Cares and Hears us when we cry out to Him.  He is not a created being but the Alpha and Omega, the Everlasting Father, the I AM.  He wants to be our GOD, and initiated a covenant with Abraham so that through Israel, many nations will be blessed and have salvation through the LORD Jesus Christ.  In Lev 25 GOD wants His people to fear and obey Him so that they could live securely in the land which He has given them.

3)  He is Holy and wants His people to be holy too.  Because He is Holy, He had to institute the above offerings so that He could dwell amongst His people.  The Bible says all have sinned and fall short of the glory of GOD in Rom 3:23.  He wants us to worship Him in His ways and on His terms, not ours.

4)  He is a GOD who Considers and Thinks ahead for us.  He did not insist that everyone who sinned had to bring an ox or sheep.  He thought of the poor and allowed turtledoves and pigeons as offerings from them.

5)  He is a GOD who is Meticulous and Specific in all He does.  That's why the universe with its galaxies, stars, planets and moons are holding well together because GOD made them (Gen 1: 1 In the beginning GOD created the heavens and the earth.).  He taught the Israelites what is clean and what is unclean, warned them about immoral acts, etc.

6)  He is a GOD who Forgives and has Compassion In Eze 33:10-19 GOD wants to forgive the Israelites.  He wants them to turn from their wicked ways and live.  Our GOD is not a sadist who likes to see people suffer. He knows the wayward hearts of His people and how weak we are that He gave us His laws and commandments to guide us in our daily living.

7)  He is a GOD who Provides.  He declared Sabbath day for the Israelites and the land and said He would provide - Lev 25 : 20-22.  Wow, what an awesome GOD we serve!

The above are just some of the characters of GOD observed through studying the book of Leviticus. There are many more, such as - He is a GOD of Love,  He is a GOD who Heals, He is Sovereign, He is Faithful, He is Merciful, etc, etc :)  Dig them out for yourself by studying His Word :)

Am looking forward to digging into the book of Hebrews next week.  We will be learning more about JESUS CHRIST, the Son of GOD, our Great High Priest.  Join us? :)

Silver Wedding Anniversary

Half a Jubilee.  How time flies.  We celebrated our 25th Wedding Anniversary yesterday.  25 years back, on March 12, we got married in Galilee BP Church where Rev Philip Heng officiated our wedding.  At that time, we do not have sophisticated equipment and we were not well off so everything was as simple as we could afford.  Thus we had our church wedding ceremony and sermon recorded on a cassette tape.  Peter got the tape converted and we listened once more to the entire ceremony and sermon as part of our celebration.

 





We held our dinner at a Chinese Restaurant in Furama Hotel, somewhere in Chinatown.  No hotel room to stay in, nothing fanciful like a montage, etc.  Just a simple dinner.

 

Even wedding photography was taken by a friend's husband.  Could not afford professional photographer so no fanciful backdrops, etc.  Just simple pictures.  I sound like I wish we had a more elaborate wedding with nicer everything.  To be honest, yes, once in a blue moon, when I feel lousy, I wished there were nicer pictures, a more elaborate wedding to remember by.

 

But I am always thankful that we started our marriage with GOD and by His grace will end with GOD when we have completed our journey on earth here.  That's where "till death do us part". And more important than the elaborate wedding, etc, is our love for GOD, for one another and for our children to grow stronger each year; building up and loving each other, living lives that pleases GOD and ending well.

\

On the 11th night, Pete sent this bouquet of 25 stalks of roses plus this cute teddy bear to church where I had my Precepts Leviticus Class.  He wanted to give me a surprise.  So sweet of him, right?  Wait, there's more to come... he planned the entire 12th March programme ....  The class sang us a "Happy Anniversary song"  :)

 

"Dearest Mommy and Daddy, "Happy 25th Anniversary"

Wish I could be there but I'll be back before you know it."

Lots of love, Eliza xxx"

What more could you ask for?  Eliza used the money she made by selling some of her art works, to order online this beautiful pot of Blue Iris to be delivered on night of 11th March, immediately after I returned from my Precepts Class.  And she said she did her homework -  this 25th Anniversary Flower combines many of the best characteristics of a long and happy marriage, faith, hope, wisdom, valor and promise.  How sweet and thoughtful of her. 

 

 Eliza also timed her delivery of this parcel from UK so well that it arrived yesterday.  We only opened our mailbox this morning.  After reading all her notes and messages and the Zines she made, I could not stop crying.  I missed her so and when I think of the times when she's alone over there writing all these cards, I wish I could be there to stay with her, to be there for her and to look after her. She truly deserve all that we have given her.  I miss you and love you Eliza.  We are so touched with what you did. Thank you.

 

I rearranged the lovely roses into a vase and took a picture
with Pete as he sat on the sofa ;)
 



Actual day : 12th March.  Pete's programme started with a walk at Lower Pierce Reservoir Park.  Pete showing a "I love you" sign :)

 

He said this was what we did on our actual wedding day - we went to Marina Park to take some wedding pictures.

Nice and serene place for solitude too :)

Took a close-up picture of a butterfly sucking nectar.

 

Then we proceeded to the Roti Prata shop nearby for our breakfast ;)

"Love one another with a pure heart fervently" from 1 Peter 1:22 was our wedding verse.  Pete gave me this card with a Huge Ang Pow for 25 years but I only took 10% as a token and returned the rest into his bank.  He also gave me the diamond pendant, shown above, saying that pendant has significance - it represents from silver to golden and said he look forward to the next 25 years as husband and wife. 

 

"For my wife, A love note from me to you.  So on our Anniversary, remember that no matter how complicated or busy our days may get, one simple, timeless truth is forever in my heart "I love you".  Happy Anniversary.  It means so much to know that you're always there for me.  You're a wonderful person and the best friend I'll ever have, and I just wanted you to know how thankful I am to be sharing life with you."

 

I bought Pete a pair of clipped on bicycle shoes and changed his pedals to clipped on pedals.

 

Could not find a suitable card so I made one myself :)

 

Pete arranged for a body massage at Shangri-La Chi Spa and a High Tea to follow.

 

Could not resist these yummy desserts ;) 

We ate so much that we had to cancel our candle light dinner.  Will reserve that to celebrate with our children when Eliza is back.

 

Last event of the day - a visit to Labrador Park (where Pete used to stay when he was young). 

This place has changed quite a bit. 

Like this picture - taken by me of course ;)

The main reason for going to Labrador Park was really to see the sunset.  I know, my husband is a romantic guy but I am a practical gal ;)

Our Wedding Vow:

"I, Peter Loh Y M take thee, Irene Tan L W to be my wedded wife

(I, Irene Tan L W take thee, Peter Loh Y M to be my wedded husband)

To have and to hold from this day forward.

For better, for worst, for richer, for poorer

In sickness and in health,

To love, to cherish from this day forward

Until death do us part."



A short testimony

On our way to visit my MIL today, I was complaining to my husband about our present situation in church and blaming GOD for not acting yesterday or the month before. 

Being really a spoilt child of His and impatient, making a big fuss, My Father in heaven overwhelms me with His love by letting me eat one of my favourite fruits - Buah Duku. 

After parking the car, we went to the hawker centre nearby to have lunch.  On our way, there's this shop selling Bauh Duku when it is not easy to find this fruit as not many fruit stalls carry them. 

My heart just melted, even though it may be a small thing to many people, but my Father in heaven knows me and I could not help but seek His forgiveness for my bad attitude.  Cannot help tearing as I think of His patience and love.  He cares even for a mere human being - how I feel and what is happening to me. 

This is why even though I get hurt by Christian brothers and sisters, by His grace, I still continue to cling on to Him, for He is the only reason why I am still a Christian. 

The love of God is greater far
Than tongue or pen can ever tell.
It goes beyond the highest star
And reaches to the lowest hell.
The guilty pair, bowed down with care,
God gave His Son to win;
His erring child He reconciled
And pardoned from his sin.

 

Chorus:

O love of God, how rich and pure!
How measureless and strong!
It shall forevermore endure
The saints’ and angels’ song.



 

V2

When hoary time shall pass away,
And earthly thrones and kingdoms fall;
When men who here refuse to pray,
On rocks and hills and mountains call;
God’s love, so sure, shall still endure,
All measureless and strong;
Redeeming grace to Adam’s race—
The saints’ and angels’ song.

 

 

V3

Could we with ink the ocean fill,
And were the skies of parchment made;
Were every stalk on earth a quill,
And every man a scribe by trade;
To write the love of God above
Would drain the ocean dry;
Nor could the scroll contain the whole,
Though stretched from sky to sky

More personal insights into GOD's Word

Today's QT is from Exodus 3:1-10.   I prayed that GOD's Holy Spirit will guide me into His truth so I not only learn through humans who share with us what they have learnt from the Bible.  And GOD opened my eyes to see what He did with Moses, who was defeated with his own rescue mission for his people and had to run away to Midian, stayed, married and lived as a shepherd there :

1)  GOD appeared to Moses (v 2) at Mt Horeb. 
2)  GOD called out to Moses (v 4) 
3)  GOD tells Moses to take off his sandals to protect him as he was standing on holy ground.
     GOD is Holy and in Leviticus, we learnt that if the people of Israel do not obey and worship
     GOD the way He commands, they will die - just like Aaron's two sons in Lev 10:1.
     GOD protected Moses from dying a death of "bu ching bu bai" (not knowing why
     he died) because He was in the presence of a Holy GOD.
4) GOD introduced Himself to Moses (v 6) Even though He is GOD, He has manners and comes
    down to our level of understanding. Moses must be wondering who is talking to him.
5) GOD understands what we all go through - in the past, present and future.  He is Alpha and
    Omega, the Beginning and the End.  Nothing escapes Him.  That's why I am comforted that
    nothing happens to me and to my family by chance.  My Father in heaven knows, He is on
    the throne and is in control.
    GOD told Moses what He sees, how He feels and what He was going to do (v 7-9)
     A) "I have seen the misery of My people in Egypt"
     B) "I have heard them crying out"
     C) "I am concerned about their suffering"
     D) "I have come down to rescue them"
     E) "I will bring them to a land flowing with milk and honey"
    GOD shares information, communicates with His people.  This is one important lesson as   
    leaders, we have to learn - to communicate and share with the sheep under your care so there
    will be unity of purpose.
6) GOD wanted Moses to be involved in His plan.  Wow, what a privilege that was.  GOD can do
    everything by just opening His mouth.  In Genesis 1 we learnt how GOD created the heavens and
    the earth ex nihilio.  So, He could just open His mouth and the Egyptians will die, His people will 
    be set free, etc.  But no, He wanted Moses to be involved in His plan to rescue the people of  
    Israel, His people

 

What an awesome GOD we worship.  Amongst the many characters of GOD, He is One who cares, understands, protects. 

 

O Lord, our Lord,
how majestic is your name in all the earth!
You have set your glory above the heavens.
² Out of the mouth of babies and infants,
you have established strength because of your foes,
to still the enemy and the avenger.

³ When I look at your heavens, the work of your fingers,
the moon and the stars, which you have set in place,
⁴ what is man that you are mindful of him,
and the son of man that you care for him?

Psalm 8: 1-4

 

Personal lesson learnt from Exodus 2:1-10

Last week at Sunday Worship, we sang "Open the eyes of my heart LORD." Today, during QT, the Holy Spirit opened the eyes of my heart to read deeper into Exodus 2:1-10 where I learnt that Moses' mom also exhibited characteristics of discipleship in these verses.  On normal days, these verses are just part of a story I would read from the Bible.  But today, I see :

1)  That she was decisive - she decided to hide Moses when Pharaoh ordered for every boy that was born during that time to be thrown into the river Nile, in order to exterminate all male Israelites - GOD's chosen people.

2)  She instructed (gave directions to) her daughter to watch over her little baby brother at a distance near the Nile when she had to release Moses after 3 months as he was getting too big to be hidden at home.

3)  After GOD gave her the opportunity to nurse and to train her son at home and getting paid for it by Pharaoh's daughter, she again released her precious son to be brought up by Pharaoh's daughter.  She did not hold him back.

The above showed me that as Christian parents, our children are the LORD's blessings and they are for us to train and to nurse up to a certain time when we have to release them to GOD.  For only in His hands and by HIs guidance, would they be able to be what He intended them to be.  As I write this, I am reminded of how we released our dear daughter, Eliza into the LORD's hands when He opened the way for her to study in UK.  With tears in my eyes now, I am able to have peace because I know GOD can take better care of her than we can, He loves her more than we earthly parents do and His Holy Spirit is the best Counsellor for her.  She is in the Best Hands.

As for our son, Renfred, we thank GOD that he is serving faithfully in the youth ministry and has a passion for His work.  So we just commit Him to our Father in heaven and let His Holy Spirit mould him to do the work he is born to do.  

As parents, after doing what we had been doing for the past 23+ years, it is time again to seek GOD and see what is our next chapter. What He wants us to do for His glory.  "Jesus, open the eyes of our hearts, LORD."

Open my eyes, that I may see
glimpses of truth thou hast for me;
place in my hands the wonderful key
that shall unclasp and set me free.
Silently now I wait for thee,
ready, my God, thy will to see.
Open my eyes, illumine me, Spirit divine!

Open my ears, that I may hear
voices of truth thou sendest clear;
and while the wavenotes fall on my ear,
everything false will disappear.
Silently now I wait for thee,
ready, my God, thy will to see.
Open my ears, illumine me, Spirit divine!

Open my mouth, and let me bear
gladly the warm truth everywhere;
open my heart and let me prepare
love with thy children thus to share.
Silently now I wait for thee,
ready, my God, thy will to see.
Open my heart, illumine me, Spirit divine!