Loaves+Fishes Apr-Jun 2014

1. 1Chia Tze Yong shares her traditional Teochew Png Kuay recipe.
The Covenant Community Methodist Church Magazine
THE TAN
COMMANDANTS
LIVING
OUR
FAITH AT
WORK
The Way
to Grow
Independent
Learners
MICA (P) No: 104/03/2013
LOAVES+FISHES
APRIL/JUNE 2014
Exclusive
Interview with
NICK
VUJICIC
THE
PARADOX
OF PRAYER

2. THE TALE OF
TWO BRAINS
A Special Evening for Married Couples
Come spend time with your beloved over dinner and
an evening's special programme.
Highlights include:
A sumptuous Chinese dinner
Live music
'A Tale of Two Brains' DVD presentation by Max Gungar
Renewing your marriage commitment to each other
Saturday, 16 August 2014
7 pm
Temasek Club, 1 Portsdown Road
Dress: Smart Casual
$50 per couple
Register by Sunday, 3 August 2014
Limited places
ORGANISED BY CCMC FAMILY LIFE MINISTRY
BRETTDAVIESCCBY-NC-SA2.0
PORTRAIT:JuanitaLagunaCCBY-NC-SA2.0,BREADARTGENERATEDATwww.breadartproject.com
Stir Up A Hunger
(Matt. 5:6, Ps. 51:10)
Day to night, You can turn the dark into light.
You can take a soul that was lost and turn it around.
Lord, on my own, my heart can turn as hard as a stone,
But You can make it tender again with Your love.
Stir up a hunger,
Stir up a hunger in my heart.
Nothing will satisfy me,
Nothing else will do.
Stir up a hunger,
A hunger in my heart.
Stir up a hunger in my heart
For more of You.
•
Paul Baloche and Rita Baloche

3. 4 5
CONTENTS
FATHERHOOD
Influencing Generations,
Impacting Nations
6
LIVING OUR
FAITH AT
WORK
16
COLLEAGUES, FRIENDS,
CHRISTIAN SISTERS
A journey of friendship and faith
20
THE TAN
COMMANDANTS
A father and son team
12
FATHER'S LOVE
Exclusive interview with
Nick Vujicic
10
First of all, then, I urge that entreaties and prayers, petitions and thanksgivings, be made on behalf of all men, - 1 Tim 2:1
CCMC PRAYER ENCOUNTERS
TUESDAYS
19 August
16 September
12 October
11 November
_
8 pm
Youth Hall
OLIVERPENGCCBY-NC2.0

4. 6 7
Loaves + Fishes is published
quarterly by Covenant Community
Methodist Church
Level 4, Methodist Girls’ School
11, Blackmore Drive
Singapore 599986
Tel: 64669652 Fax: 64667470
Email: admin@ccmc.org.sg
www.ccmc.org.sg
MICA (P) No: 104/03/2013
Printed by Oxford Graphic
Printers Pte Ltd
EDITORIAL
COMMITTEE
Editor
Rev John Benedict Foo
Editorial Advisor
BG David Koh
Managing Editor
Goh Eck Kheng
Members
Chong Cheh Hoon
Leanne Pattiselanno
Artists
Abigail Goh
Gillian Goh
Contributors
Chia Tze Yong
Michelle Chian
Anita Fam
Rachel Hau
Michelle Lee
Lee Shu-Lyn
Ling Kin Yew
Stephanie Low
Ngui May Yee
Dennis Peacocke
Manfred Seah
Phoebe Seah
Seow Jin Kiat
Bill Syrio
Jason Wong
ON THE COVER
Luke and Tim Tan
ention “Transformers” and almost all thoughts will
inevitably centre on the transforming alien robots that
have invaded our big movie screens with a series of
science fiction films, the first having been released
in 2007 and the latest just this year. The name is derived
from these robots’ innate ability to transform themselves into
various forms to serve their specific purposes. Where we once
viewed a transformer as simply that electrical apparatus used
for stepping up or stepping down the voltage of an alternating
current, the prevalent view now pertains to that species of
sentient, living robotic beings (albeit fictitious) that originated
from a distant planet.
So, why this talk about Transformers? That’s because
we Christians can somehow look at ourselves as being
‘transformers’. Our Christian DNA requires us to transform.
The Bible shows us that we are involved in the process of
transformation. Our minds are being transformed. Part of
Romans 12:2 tells us that we are to “… be transformed by the
renewing of our minds….” Our lives are being transformed. 2
Corinthians 3:18 says we are “… being transformed into the
same image [of Christ] from glory to glory….” Our physical
bodies will also be transformed. Philippians 3:12 explains that
it is Christ “… who will transform our lowly body to be like His
glorious body….”
We’re told that the transforming power of the gospel of
Christ can effect a total transformation of our hearts and
characters. When we obediently follow Christ and seek to
live out His teachings and commands, we will experience an
absolute transformation. We become more like Christ.
As God’s community here in CCMC, our desire to be Christ’s
disciples calls for that transformation to occur in us. Are you
transforming? Join us as God’s people of CCMC to become
‘Transformers’ for God for His highest glory!
Rev John Benedict Foo
GOD'S
TRANSFORMERS
REGULARS
Ask Abigail 39
Crafts for Kids (pull out)
Crumbs 48
Good Things 40
Getting to Know You 45
Kitchen 46
Manga Hero 36
News Bites 42
SOAP 15
Songs & Singers 38
Food for Thought 44
To the Point 19
THE PARADOX
OF PRAYER
28
LOAVES+FISHES FEEDBACK
Loaves+Fishes wants to hear from
you on a number of levels.
We are looking for people to
join our editorial committee to plan
and publish the magazine.
We are looking for people to
contribute to the magazine on an
ad hoc basis. If you have a recipe to
share, a testimony (short or long)
to give, something to publicise
in the Good Thing pages, news
to report, a Christian principle to
edify our readers with, or any other
piece of writing, we say "thank
you" to you in advance.
SPENDING TIME
WITH GOD
32
We also want to hear from
you about what you think about
Loaves+Fishes.
Tell us what you like and what
you don't. Tell us about what you
want in future issues. Is there
an article about a particular
subject you'd like? Let us know. Is
there a word that you would like
illuminated by the Word through
the To The Point Bible study page?
Let us know too.
Help us make this magazine
always relevant to you. Email us at
ccmcloavesfishes@gmail.com.
GROWING
INDEPENDENT
LEARNERS
24

5. 8 9
arthly fathers are privi-
leged that we are given
the same title as our
Heavenly Father. We, His
children, call God “Father”.
When we as men get married and
have children, our children call us
“father”. Have we wondered why
our wives don’t get this privilege?
Have we wondered why God would
share this title with us earthly
fathers? Have we considered the
awesome responsibility that comes
with carrying the title and role of
“father”?
My understanding of the impor-
tance that God places on earthly fa-
thers is something that has grown
over the years. I first learned it by
observing my own earthly father
working hard to feed his eight
children (I am number 7), his wife,
and his mother. Not only that, but
he also inadvertently supported a
village in China as my grandmoth-
er used to secretly save the spare
money that my father gave to her,
and sent it back to the relatives in
the village they had come from.
Many years later, when I
started work as a prison officer in
the former Changi Prison, I saw
firsthand the impact of fatherless-
ness. Initially, my conversations
with long-term prisoners were
more about trying to match the
tattoos on their bodies with the
gangs they belonged to, finding
out where they got their drugs,
and where they hid their guns or
weapons. After satisfying this cu-
riosity, my interest began to focus
on their backgrounds, their lives,
their childhood days and growing
up years. I started to “see” dots
becoming patterns – consequences
to children resulting from break-
down in parents’ marriages, harsh
parenting, physical and emotional
abuse. I saw fatherlessness on
the faces and in the lives of many
inmates. As the saying goes, “It
is easier to build boys than to fix
men.” Many of the prisoners did
not have fathers to help build their
lives. Instead of the hearts of their
fathers turned towards them as the
Lord instructed in Malachi 4:5-6,
their fathers had either turned
away from them or turned against
them. At times, I seemed to hear
the Lord say, “If we can turn hearts
of fathers to their children, then
we can close down at least half the
prisons in this nation.”
From prisons, I moved on to
work with abused children and at-
risk youths. For six years, I saw the
pain caused to children and to fam-
ilies as a result of fatherlessness.
I came to know of children being
beaten so badly that they ended up
in hospital. I often wonder why a
first world country like Singapore
can have such brokenness. Why is
it that the richer we get, the poorer
we seem to become?
God’s solution for society
Why did God give us dads the title
of “father”? What was He thinking
about when He entrusted us to car-
ry this same title that He has given
Himself? This was what I “heard”
Him say to me one day: “Society
sees fathers as the cause of many
social problems. However, I am
sending the spirit of Elijah to turn
hearts of fathers to the children.
Fathers SHALL BE the solution to
these problems.” In fact, I heard
Him say, “Fathers have ALWAYS
been MY solution to the nations.”
There are two key Bible passag-
es through which God has taught
me the importance of fathers. In
Malachi 4:5-6, we are told that
when the hearts of the fathers are
turned to their children, the land
will not be struck with a curse.
That means when fathers are in-
volved in their children’s lives, the
land and the society that they live
in, and are part of, will be strong.
It is interesting to note that God
sent the prophet Elijah to turn the
hearts of the fathers. As I sought
understanding on why God used
FATHERHOOD
Influencing Generations,
Impacting Nations
Jason WONG
Elijah and not other prophets, I
received the following revelation.
Firstly, when we speak of Elijah, we
usually also think of Elisha. Elisha
was so inspired by what he saw in
the life of Elijah that he asked for
a double portion of his spirit (2
Kings 2:9).
How many of our children can
look to their earthly fathers and
ask for a double portion? Children
who are abused and neglected
DO NOT need and DO NOT want a
double portion from their fathers.
Children need heroes and good
role models. If not, our children
will look towards the world for he-
roes to worship. If each generation
receives a double portion and a
double anointing from the previ-
ous generation, the nation will be
transformed in no time!
Secondly, Elijah was sent be-
cause it was God’s desire to “father
the fatherless” in our midst. During
the time of famine, God sent Elijah
to a widow’s house (1 Kings 17).
This widow and her fatherless
son were living out their last days
when God sent Elijah to care and
provide for them. When the son
died a physical death later (1 Kings
17:17), Elijah was present to raise
him to life again. This represents
the hopelessness that is tangible
when fathers are not around, but
God will send spiritual fathers and
father-figures to these fatherless
families and “raise these children
from their death”, restoring the
destinies of these children.
Thirdly, Elijah was sent to
confront Jezebel and the false
prophets who had brought down
the whole nation of Israel with
their idolatry and Baal worship.
There are forces in this nation that
are seeking to destroy families, the
very foundation of our society. The
forces that attack marriages and
families are growing stronger each
day, partly because we have done
nothing to confront their influ-
ence. God warned us in Revelation
CarrieKellenberger2CCBY2.0

6. 10 11
2:20 that we must not tolerate the
spirit of Jezebel – “But I have this
against you, that you tolerate that
woman Jezebel, who calls herself a
prophetess. By her teaching she is
seducing my servants into sexual
immorality…” Fathers, like Elijah
of old, have to rise up and confront
the forces of evil, by turning away
from immorality and turning their
hearts to their wife and children.
Called to bless the nations
Another passage that we can draw
important lessons from concern-
ing the importance of fathers is
Genesis 18:18-19. We often hear
politicians and family-life edu-
cators state that “Family is the
basic building block of society” or
“Family is the bedrock of a nation”,
or “When family goes, the nation
goes.” Is this biblical? Is there a
passage in the Bible that confirms
this? In fact, not only does Genesis
18 speak of this truth, it gives em-
phasis to the role played by fathers.
Genesis 18:18 records that God
appeared to Abraham and said
to him, “Abraham shall become a
great and powerful nation, and all
nations on earth will be blessed
through him.” What would you do
if God told you that you would be
a great nation? In fact, not just any
great nation, but one that blesses
the nations around you? Well, I
would probably go for a Masters in
Education since we all know that
building good schools is important
for nation building. Maybe I would
also do a PhD in law, as we need
good laws to govern a nation well.
A postgrad degree in Business
would be most helpful as we need
to build a strong economy to create
jobs. What about establishing a
strong military force to defend
the nation? What about training
in Public Policy, and so on? There
would be so many important areas
to learn and master in order to
build a strong nation that bless-
es other nations. But wait, is this
God’s strategy to building a strong
nation? Well, His ways are not our
ways, and His thoughts are not our
thoughts!
The secret to building a great
and powerful nation lies in verse
19 – “For I have chosen him, so
that he will direct his children and
his household after him to keep
the way of the Lord by doing what
is right and just, so that the Lord
will bring about for Abraham what
He has promised him.” The secret
is responsible and intentional fa-
therhood! The secret is for fathers
to teach their children and their
children’s children the ways of the
Lord! It is clear from this passage
that fathers are God’s secret weap-
on to positively influence genera-
tions and impact nations!
When we direct our children
in the Word and the ways of the
Lord, our children will bring these
truths into the various spheres
of society – the schools, the arts
and media, the government, the
business sectors, the communica-
tions field, and of course, their own
families. Instead of being adversely
influenced and contaminated by
the prevailing pop culture and the
spirit of lawlessness so evident in
today’s society, our children will
be able to bring transformation to
every sphere of society with godly
and kingdom values.
Without the hearts of fathers
turned to their children to impart
God’s truths and help them to find
and fulfill their destinies, the land
will be struck with a curse. This is
evident when we read the preced-
ing verses of Genesis 18:18-19 and
the verses that follow after.
“When the men (angels) got up
to leave, they looked down toward
Sodom...” (Gen 18:16) Then the
Lord said, “The outcry against
Sodom and Gomorrah is so great
and their sin so grievous that I will
go down and see if what they have
done is as bad as the outcry that
has reached me” (Gen 18:20-21).
When God revealed to Abraham
what it takes to build a strong
nation, He was actually on His way
to destroy two cities. What sins did
the people of these two cities com-
mit? Jude 1:7 tells us that “Sodom
and Gomorrah and the surround-
ing towns gave themselves up to
sexual immorality and perversion.”
And what was the perversion? One
of these is recorded in Genesis
19:4-5, “Before they had gone to
bed, all the men from every part of
the city of Sodom – both young and
old – surrounded the house. They
called to Lot, “Where are the men
who came to you tonight? Bring
them out to us so that we can have
sex with them.”
God has warned us that sexual
immorality and perversion will
destroy cities and nations. He has
also revealed to us that turning the
hearts of fathers to their children
will build a great and powerful na-
tion that blesses other nations. Are
the fathers of this nation ready to
rise up and be counted, to make a
stand to defend and protect our in-
stitutions of marriage and family?
Are the fathers of this nation ready
to do whatever it takes to fight for
the destinies of our children and
the future of our nation? My desire
is for fathers to hand over a Sing-
apore that is better and stronger
than the one that we received from
our fathers. We owe it to our chil-
dren and our children’s children to
ensure that this is so. [+]
Jason Wong founded the Dads for
Life movement in 2009. He has held
positions of Deputy Director Prisons
and CEO of SCORE, where he found-
ed the Yellow Ribbon Project 10
years ago. He was formerly a Senior
Director in the Ministry of Social
and Family Development, working
with abused children and at-risk
youth. Married to Donna, they have
two teenage children.
The Elijah 7000 movement is a ground-up initiative by
fathers to reach other fathers so that they can together
accomplish strong marriages, a positive future for their
children, resilient families and a godly nation.
This corporate effort aims to honour God’s blue-
print for His people by mobilising dads to be more
involved and pro-active in taking the lead in the church
family. Its mission statement is “To turn hearts of all
fathers to their children.”
About 700 fathers gathered at ACS Barker Road
on 31 May 2014 to launch the movement with a God-
led sharing of vision and fervent prayers. Helmed by
Jason Wong, founder of Dads for Life movement and
Yellow Ribbon project, Elijah 7000 plans to organise
equipping workshops, prayer gatherings, family
activities and more.
Visit www.elijah7000.org for details and updates.
CarrieKellenberger2CCBY2.0
(( FATHERS, LIKE
ELIJAH OF OLD,
HAVE TO RISE UP
AND CONFRONT
THE FORCES OF
EVIL, BY TURNING
AWAY FROM
IMMORALITY
AND TURNING
THEIR HEARTS TO
THEIR WIFE AND
CHILDREN.
))

7. 12 13
Nick Vujicic
FATHER'S
LOVE
an exclusive interview by MICHELLE LEE
Nick Vujicic was born with a rare
condition called tetra-amelia
syndrome which resulted in
him having no arms and legs.
He turned his disability into a
strength and now travels the
world giving motivational talks
and spreading the gospel.
Nick married Kanae Miyahara
in 2012 and their son, Kiyoshi,
was born the next year.
In an exculsive interview with
Loaves+Fishes, Nick shares about
what Christian fatherhood means
to him.
How has your understanding of
God deepened since you became
a father?
When my wife Kanae was
pregnant with Kiyoshi and I felt
him kick, I loved him. I loved him
even before I saw him. I had tears
in my eyes, saying to my wife,
"Baby, I love him." I never saw
him smile, he never did anything
to make me love him. I just loved
him because he was mine. So that
helped me understand the father's
love that God has for us because we
are his children.
The Bible says He knew us even
before we were born. I can relate
a little bit to that because I knew
Kiyoshi's name before he was
born. So, I am very thankful for the
unconditional love and the new life
God has for us.
How is this understanding
shaping your relationship with
your son?
It helps me to be a better father.
There is no better father than our
Heavenly Father. He is the most
patient, the most caring, most
forgiving, most self-controlled.
I know I am not going to be a
perfect father, but I want my son to
be happy. I want him to know Jesus
and I want whatever God wants for
him. Although my parents did not
know what God had for me, God
always has a plan. All I need to do
is to encourage Kiyoshi about this.
I still want to discipline him so
he's not a spoilt brat. I want him
to be thankful for what he has, to
work hard, save. Also, I am not
going to bully him. And if he gets a
B at school, or a C at school, that's
okay. I had Cs and Ds at school
sometimes, but I am happy and
successful.
You don't needs and As or Bs,
but you need Jesus.
I'll push him, but at the same
time, I'm not going to push him
that hard.
How would you define Christian
fatherhood?
Being a father who knows God
has helped me so much. I can't
imagine being a father with my
own wisdom, in my own strength,
and my own patience. Fathers need
God's patience, God's wisdom, and
God's strength.
Without God, I can't even be a
good husband.
It's like picking up your cross,
denying yourself and following
God. So, you need to love more
than you are loved, forgive more
than you are forgiven, and be more
patient than the patience you
receive. It's striving to becoming
the best that you can be because of
God's love.
So, it's about reminding yourself
of the promises of God and in
reading the Word.
When I'm home, my wife and
I always read the Bible together
in the morning for 20 minutes
to 45 minutes no matter what is
happening. We have coffee, Kiyoshi
runs around, and we read the Bible.
I read out loud and we pray for
each other. That's how we start the
day. We see the benefits and the
blessings and the presence of God
when we do that. [+]
(( THERE IS
NO BETTER
FATHER THAN
OUR HEAVENLY
FATHER. HE IS THE
MOST CARING,
MOST FORGIVING
AND MOST SELF-
CONTROLLED.
))
Michelle Lee, is 13 years old and
attends OC.
bothpictures:OFFICIALNickVujicicFACEBOOKFanPage

8. 14 15
((HE DOESN'T
TALK. OR MAYBE
I DON'T ASK
THE RIGHT
QUESTIONS….
I KNOW IF HE
HASN'T THOUGHT
OF IT, HE WILL
THINK ABOUT IT. I
CAN ACCEPT THE
SILENCE. ))
fter more than ten
years of CCMC church
camps, this is the first
time that we have had
a pair of father-son
camp commandant and youth camp
commandant – Tim and Luke Tan.
Luke, Tim's middle son, was
interviewed on the Sunday after-
noon of camp, while Tim suffered
through more than eight hours of
conversation/questioning during the
long drive back to Singapore from
Cameron Highlands.
The interviews are loosely
stitched together here.
Luke, how did you feel when asked
to be youth commandant while your
dad is overall camp commandant?
Luke: I thought it was a conspiracy.
I just thought it was fascinating that
I’m camp commandant while Dad is
camp commandant too – especially
since he’s been commandant before.
Tim, how did you feel when you
found out that Luke was going to be
youth camp commandant?
Tim: I had a good laugh. I thought it
would be a great experience for him.
Luke, did you receive any guidance
from your dad?
Luke: Besides relaying information
from the adult camp committee to
the youth, not really. We just picked
it up as we went along.
Has he shared about serving God
through servant leadership?
Luke: Yeah, he has. He’s talked about
it to all three of us. What he ex-
pressed was to go for what we want
to do, what we can do, and how to
connect what we love to do in a job
and what we can do for God.
Has it been easy to get along and
work together on the same project?
Luke: Yeah, it has been easier be-
cause he realizes that I have respon-
sibilities and he’s willing to give me a
certain level of trust.
Interviews with
Tim and Luke Tan
by Stephanie Low
What are some of the challenges
you faced while working with each
other?
Luke: Only one thing so far. Some-
times if he gives really quick in-
structions, he does not finish his
sentence, so instructions can be
haphazard and utterly confusing for
everyone else.
Tim: Ya lor, communication lor. He
doesn’t talk. Or maybe I don’t ask
the right questions. So what I don’t
understand or don’t know is wheth-
er he knows the answer or not,
or whether he has thought of the
issue or not. But I know it registers.
I know if he hasn’t thought of it, he
will think about it. I can accept the
silence.
How have you been blessed by
working with each other? Were
there any enriching moments?
Luke: I guess it has made us talk
more. We don’t really chat and stuff.
This has helped us to keep each
other in check, and what’s going on
with each other.
Tim: I know he has a different side
to him now. I already know he is a
very caring person, but I wasn’t sure
about his leadership qualities. Every
time he came up to me to ask me to
make this announcement and that
announcement, I would get some
things wrong because I didn’t get the
full picture from him.
I also like it that he plays soccer
because the other boys don’t. He’s
not really sporty but he’s a natural
at golf. He also likes trap shooting
(shooting clay pigeons). You get
shotguns and all.
What is your favourite memory of
Luke?
Tim: I only remember the tragic
moments, like when he slipped and
broke his wrist at Lake Tahoe. I had
to be in the hospital for six hours.
There’s a few lah, I can’t decide.
One is when he caught his first fish
when he was about 10. He kept
asking me “Are there fish?” It was
THE TAN
COMMANDANTS Left: Luke, aged 4
Right: Tim, aged 7
SANDYCHIAN

9. 16 17
LOUISE WONG
The 'How' of an Example
S: Titus 2:7
In everything set them an exam-
ple by doing what is good. In your
teaching show integrity, serious-
ness.
O: Paul taught Titus that integrity
and seriousness/earnestness are
also qualities or 'how' that form
part of the example/teaching and
not just the content.
A: Looking ahead, being an ex-
ample also depends on the 'how';
integrity, seriousness and earnest-
ness are also important compo-
nents of setting an example.
P: Lord, I pray that you give me the
sense of integrity and earnestness
to do good, so that I may be the
example that You've destined me
to be.
PS LING KIN YEW
Be Disciplined
S: Proverbs 5:23
For the lack of discipline they will
die, led astray by their own great
folly.
O: If we're not disciplined, we'll be
led astray probably by our sluggish
ways (6:9-11).
A: I need to be disciplined like the
ant (6:6-8), doing the right thing at
the right time.
P: May I be disciplined, O Lord!
Help me discern when to do what,
and do it. In Jesus' name, Amen.
NGUI MAY YEE
No Place for Spiritual Arrogance
S: Luke 13:30
And behold, "some are last who
will be first, and some are first who
will be last."
O: At the door of heaven, there will
be those who come to The Lord
later but will get into the Kingdom
of God before us.
A: This verse reminds me to serve
God in response to His grace, and
not serve him in order to get into
His kingdom.
P: Lord, help me to serve out of
loving you, with gratitude for my
salvation.
SOAP
SEOW JIN KIAT
Anyone Can Be Great
S: John 13:14-17
Now that I, your Lord and Teacher,
have washed your feet, you also
should wash one another’s feet. I
have set you an example that you
should do as I have done for you.
Very truly I tell you, no servant is
greater than his master, nor is a
messenger greater than the one
who sent him. Now that you know
these things, you will be blessed if
you do them.
O: Jesus' death on the cross is the
ultimate act of "washing of feet".
And in so doing, provides reconcil-
iation with God inspite of our life
times of wrong doings and sins.
What a relief to be freed from the
impossible task of earning salva-
tion through good deeds! That said,
through the daily grind of life, it is
so easy to forget the feeling of re-
lief and joy experienced as a result
of accepting Christ. How then can
we continue to remind ourselves of
this precious gift?
A: This passage provides a solu-
tion. Jesus tells us that we will be
blessed by serving one another
and, in this context, serving fellow
brother and sisters in Christ. What
better way to remember Jesus' gift
than through service in a small
group – helping and walking with
fellow members through life's
journey?
P: Dear Jesus, thank you for the gift
of salvation and the joy it brings.
Thank you too for the opportuni-
ties to serve. May you give me the
character to always serve joyfully,
using my treasure, time and talent
wisely, so that fellow brothers and
sisters in my small group will be
encouraged in their journey and
not stumble. Most of all, thank
you for my small group, an envi-
in Tioman, on our favourite boat – a
wooden Terengganu fishing trawler.
He was so happy, so elated. So he’s
hooked on fishing since then.
Luke, what is your favourite
memory of your dad?
Luke: When we used to go sailing
a lot with the whole family on the
open sea; being on holiday in Malay-
sia, and we would put our phones
away. Now, we go about once a year.
Describe your dad.
Luke: He doesn’t seem to like discus-
sions, but I get a feeling he enjoys
talking – when he’s the one talking.
He is a bit long-winded, especially
in his briefing, whether for church
camp or family talks and stuff. He
certainly prefers to do things.
Tim: That’s because no one talks.
Ming Ying (Tim's wife) keeps quiet;
the boys don’t talk.
Describe Luke.
Tim: He seldom smiles. When he was
a baby, he smiled a lot. Very happy
baby. Now, he’s the grumpy one.
I see Luke as a person with a
heart – very caring. He’s the 'daugh-
ter' I never had. (Don’t say that.)
Sensitive new age boy. He’s a man!
He’s going to the army in 2-3 days!
Our baby’s going to camp.
I heard you guys did the photo
shoot for the magazine.
Luke: Someone said Dad looked
quite mushy because his arm was on
my shoulder.
Tim: The photographer made me
do that! But I always like to do that
when taking pictures with Luke be-
cause I know he hates it.
Has your relationship with each
other been changed by this project?
Luke: Not too much, I guess. I don’t
think so. It’s the same.
Tim: Too early to say. But he ap-
proached me because he needed
something done so of course I was
happy about that. We’re always
telling him if he needs something,
just ask. He’s very independent. He
won’t even ask us to send him if he
has to go somewhere; he will just
take the bus.
What was your relationship like in
the past?
Tim: Terrible. I don’t know. Ask him. I
was a non-existent father. Perpetual-
ly at work, travelling. Because I work
from home now, I get to see them
more. Prior to that, I only saw them
at weekends.
I got to spend more time with
them when we went together on
trips – when I took them on long
trips to the US, sailing trips. One of
the best things we did was to climb
Mount Ophir as a family when Matt
was 8 with a couple of families from
Blest West small group.
Luke: He was not an absentee father
but he was gone for long periods of
time. The longest was for about a
month.
He did not take his faith seriously.
This was before Disciple Class, prob-
ably the year before the last, maybe
before. He got quite flustered quite
easily. He would get quite angsty,
raise his voice, speak very curtly.
Tim: He’s spot on.
Luke, has your attitude towards
your dad changed?
Luke: Yes, only because I’m quite
happy he’s taking his faith seriously
and he’s referring more to his Bible
somewhat.
If your dad could start doing
anything and it could be done right
away, what would you want it be?
Luke: Spend more time with his dad
because Grandpa's getting old. He
needs more stimulation. We’ve been
trying to play golf with him. Hope-
fully, Dad can spend more time with
him.
Tim, what do you wish for Luke?
Tim: Short answer – for him to be
happy. Easy answer.
I’m hoping that one of them will
be a pastor. This has been on my
mind for the last year or so.
I want them to walk the Christian
walk. If they can get into Christian
entrepreneurship, that would be my
dream.
Would you like to work with your
dad again?
Luke: This church camp would be
known as the Tan family church
camp, that’s for sure. I don’t think it
would be too much of a trouble. Not
that we should, just for the record.
(During church camp, Luke an-
nounced his and his dad’s official
opposition to leading future church
camps.)
What’s one thing you’ve always
wanted to say to Luke?
Tim: This will take till the submission
date for your article. Okay lah, make
your story easy. Be all (to somebody)
you can be. I don’t know what else
to say to him.
Luke, what is something you’ve
always wanted to say to your dad
but have not had the chance to do
so up to now?
Luke: I want to totally thank him for
bringing up all three of us. A lot of
the things we’ve learnt from just
watching him help us to lead people.
[+]
Stephanie Low was on the church
camp committee in-charge of the
youth programme for the camp.
If you do not do daily devotions
or meditate on Scripture each
day, try the Life Journal Reading
Plan, also known as SOAP.
The acronym stands for
Scripture, Observation, Appli-
cation and Prayer. It's an easy
system that connects you to
God's Word.
Give it a go and hear the Lord
speak to you personally.
ronment of love where there are
opportunities to put your Word
into practice. For "everyone can be
great because anyone can serve"
and You, through grace, generate in
us the love to do so. Amen.

10. 18 19
he best way to evan-
gelize anyone any-
where is to simply live
our faith. Our most
effective witness as
individuals, a church, or a company
is to embody evangelism as a life-
style rather than a contrived pro-
gram. People sense the difference
between the authenticity of our love
for them in Christ and our targeting
them as part of our "soul-winning"
endeavors. As in all things, only the
real deal works.
Permit me to point out four ma-
jor issues surrounding the impor-
tant matter of effectively sharing
our faith at work. While there are
obviously other related issues, here
are the ones I feel are most relevant:
1. Our faith and worship must be
demonstrated through our work.
2. More than words, our lives
witness to our faith.
3. Loving people necessitates
bringing God into our conversation
with them.
4. All of us must be trained and
constantly growing in our skills of
"fishing" for men and women.
Let us now examine each of
these critical issues in order.
Our Faith and Worship Must Be
Demonstrated through Our Work
Most Christians believe that the
word "worship" describes some-
thing we do at church services
when we join the congregation in
singing, but "worship" means much
more than that. The Hebrew word
itself describes a heart attitude far
more than a particular action.
To worship God means to revere
Him, honor Him, and submit our
lives to Him. That is what the word
literally conveys in the original lan-
guage. In other words, to worship
God is to posture ourselves in rev-
erence before Him in the totality of
all we do in life. Worship is then a
lifestyle, in the Christian reality, and
((OUR MOST
EFFECTIVE WITNESS
AS INDIVIDUALS,
A CHURCH, OR
A COMPANY
IS TO EMBODY
EVANGELISM AS A
LIFESTYLE RATHER
THAN A CONTRIVED
PROGRAM.
))
by Dennis Peacocke
Living Our
Faith at Work
true worship draws the Holy Spirit
into any activity or environment.
As I point out in my book, Doing
Business God's Way, work is a holy,
eternal calling. Therefore, our work
should be an act of worship before
our Master who ordained it to be
so. To "evangelize" is to invoke the
presence of God into the interaction
of human beings, especially among
the yet unsaved. If then, my work
is done self-consciously as an act
of faith and worship, I can expect
God's presence to attend it and
call attention to it. Our first form
of evangelism in the workplace, or
anywhere else, is the incarnating of
God's pleasure in our obedient, ex-
cellent work as a demonstration to
all men of the manifest reality of His
presence and life.
More Than Our Words,
Our Lives Witness to Our Faith
Since most adults spend more time
at work than anywhere else, it is
my conviction that the workplace
ought to be the most opportune
setting for believers to draw others
into their eternal destiny in God. It
is the "evangelistic" context with
the greatest potential. It is precise-
ly for this reason that our spiritual
enemy has made the workplace "off
limits" to the Church in terms of
adequately training people how to
successfully display Christ there.
There is, however, even a more
taxing problem than being inade-
quately trained by the Church, and
it is this: At work, people see the
real us; they read our faces more
than our tracts and listen to our
soulish nonsense more than our
"religious conviction." If we're not
"living our faith at work," no other
"witness" sufficiently counteracts
the real us we have put on display.
It is for this reason I am so excited
about the Holy Spirit's growing fo-
cus on Christ in the marketplace. It
is going to force millions of believ-
ers to put up or shut up or at least
shut up until they grow up.
ABIGAILGOH
You are our letter, written in our
hearts, known and read by all men."
~ II Cor 3:2

11. 20 21
Loving People Necessitates
Bringing God into
Our Conversations with Them
Real love, rather than duty-driven
"religious love," mandates that be-
lievers live their faith enough to le-
gitimize their verbal sharing of it. If
you love me, show me; then tell me.
Our grand problem as believers is
that we simply love ourselves more
than our neighbor or, in this case,
our co-workers. I am sometimes
amused by the quest for a so-called
"Christian business." By that, many
believe that if you are basically hon-
est, pay your taxes, have some Bible
verses on the wall and no Playboy
magazines in the men's room, you
have a "Christian business." Good
start, but no cigar.
While we should discuss this
issue in much greater depth, my
comment on "Christian business"
is this: How is the love of Christ
and the living out the principles of
His Word permeating the business
from top to bottom? The law of love
in the heart of believers covers peo-
ple in prayer and seeks non-plastic
ways to share God's love, life, and
gospel with them. We should be
praying and seeking ways to find
genuine opportunities to demon-
strate and speak the truths of the
gospel with those in the workplace
– ways they can see and with words
that don't reek of religious plati-
tudes or preachy superiority. This
observation leads us to our final
point of this essential discussion.
All of Us Must Be Trained and
Constantly Growing in Our Skills
of "Fishing" for Men and Women
Jesus told Peter in Matthew 4:4,
and by implication to all believers,
that He would make Peter a "fisher
of men." Fishing requires skill and
a great deal of focused attention if
one wants to be truly successful. As
a general rule, Christians tend to be
lousy fishermen.
This issue takes us into the heart
of one of my main passions: How
do we as believers successfully get
into the "public conversation"? The
world is having a conversation, and
we aren't in it because unbelievers
are not focusing on what we believ-
ers want them to be discussing. The
world is talking about economic
security and prosperity; we want
them to be talking about their af-
ter-lives. They are talking about
taxes and national defense; we
want them to be talking about the
scriptures. They are talking about
job security, crime, and education;
we want them to be talking about
Jesus, heaven, and the anti-Christ!
Let's deal with it, Christians, you
catch fish using their food (bait),
not the food we want them to be
feeding on!
In order to fish with bait the
world's fish are biting on, it will
require believers to do a glorious
thing. We must study what the
scriptures say about crime, edu-
cation, taxation, national defense,
building successful relationships,
and economic prosperity deep-
ly enough to intelligently get into
their conversation and evangelize
like Jesus did. We must practice
spiritual jujitsu and use what peo-
ple give us of themselves and their
real concerns and then gently lead
them in the direction of Christ us-
ing those concerns. This kind of
biblical evangelism in the market-
place will not only "catch" the at-
tention of the unbelievers, it will
impact and transform believers in
remarkable ways. We will actually
learn the scriptures as they relate
to here-and-now-reality and how
God wants to release His Kingdom
and will on earth as it is in heaven,
prior to Christ's return.
The Spirit of God is pressing
the issue of understanding biblical,
economic realities and the ministry
of believers in the workplace with
a powerful and growing insistence.
This necessitates a much deep-
er knowledge of the scriptures, a
fundamental change in the way
local churches equip their people
for broad-based ministries, and a
much more elective level of general
evangelism. From a more historical
perspective, here is what excites
me - Martin Luther ushered in the
revelation of the priesthood of all
believers, and now the Holy Spirit,
using the marketplace, is ushering
in the ministry of all believers! Go,
God! [+]
Dennis Peacocke has gained inter-
national respect as a strategist due
to his unique way of applying bibli-
cal solutions to the many challeng-
ing issues facing families, churches,
business, and government. A former
business owner, Dennis is the found-
er and president of Strategic Chris-
tian Services, a leadership organiza-
tion dedicated to demonstrating the
relevance of Christianity to every
area of contemporary life. He has
authored three books: Winning the
Battle for the Minds of Men, Doing
Business God's Way, and The Em-
peror Has No Clothes. Dennis and
his wife Jan reside in Santa Rosa,
California. They have three adult
children and four grandchildren.
This article originally appeared
in the July 2002 edition of Business
Reform magazine and is reproduced
with permission.
by PS LING KIN YEW
REST FROM WORK
Genesis 2:2-3
By the seventh day God
had finished the work he
had been doing; so on
the seventh day he rested
from all his work. And God
blessed the seventh day
and made it holy, because
on it he rested from all the
work of creating that he
had done.
REFRESHING otherS
2 Corinthians 7:13
By all this we are encour-
aged. In addition to our
own encouragement, we
were especially delighted
to see how happy Titus
was, because his spirit has
been refreshed (rested) by
all of you.
Philemon 1:7
Your love has given me
great joy and encourage-
ment, because you, broth-
er, have refreshed (rested)
the hearts of the Lord’s
people.
Rest
To The Point
GIVING ONESELF REST
Mark 6:31-32
Then, because so many
people were coming and
going that they did not
even have a chance to eat,
he said to them, “Come
with me by yourselves to a
quiet place and get some
rest.” So they went away by
themselves in a boat to a
solitary place.
REST AND STILLNESS
Psalm 46:9-10
(God) makes wars cease
(rest) to the ends of the
earth. He breaks the bow
and shatters the spear; he
burns the shields with fire.
He says,” Be still, and know
that I am God; I will be
exalted among the nations,
I will be exalted in the
earth.”
REST FROM SIN
Isaiah 13:11
I will punish the world for
its evil, the wicked for their
sins. I will put an end (rest)
to the arrogance of the
haughty and will humble
the pride of the ruthless.
REST FROM BURDENS
Matthew 11:28-30
"Come to me, all you who
are weary and burdened,
and I will give you rest.
Take my yoke upon you
and learn from me, for I
am gentle and humble in
heart, and you will find rest
for your souls. For my yoke
is easy and my burden is
light.”
Original Word
in Hebrew:
Transliteration:
shabath
Original Word
in Greek: ἀναπαύω
Transliteration:
anapauó
Exodus 34:21
Six days you shall labor,
but on the seventh day
you shall rest; even during
the plowing season and
harvest you must rest.

12. 22 23
Colleagues, Friends,
Christian Sisters
Lee Shu-Lyn and Michelle Chian
share their journey of friendship and faith*.
As I moved my things to a desk
next to Shu’s, I remember seriously
thinking it was perhaps time to call
it a day. I had been curious about
a front-line job, after having spent
most of my career as a technical
specialist. So when the opportunity
arose, I had asked for a transfer
to a client-facing role, without
prayerful consideration, and got it.
However, being a latecomer to the
private banking industry, without
a portfolio of clients, one of my key
performance indicators was how
successfully I was able to prospect
new clients and grow the assets
in my book. The networking this
necessitated was an antithesis to
my introvert nature, and I had found
it very stressful. What on earth
could I have been thinking when I
made the switch? Nonetheless, the
right question to ask turned out to
be “What in heaven could God have
been thinking to allow it?” God, in
his goodness, had provided just
enough clients for me to always
stay just under the radar screen in
each round of downsizing.
And so I sat next to Shu, and over
time, we got to know each other a
little better. I learnt that she hated
gooey food and ate very badly,
so I would feed her dry biscuits
across the aisle just to make her
eat something. She helped to
smoothen my path through back-
office wrangles and taught me to
be mindful of my “suffer no fools”
countenance, which could be
quite uncharitable towards other
people. I also wondered why this
seemingly Perfect Person (she
was beautiful, talented and great
at her job) allowed herself to be
bullied so much and was so hard
on herself, and I tried to support
her. Somewhere along the way, I
learnt she was a Christian but she
didn’t seem to have a home church.
She had been visiting Toa Payoh
Methodist Church since her then
P6 daughter had tuition nearby on
Sundays. So we became friendly
Shu-Lyn: Michelle and I met 11
years ago in DBS. We didn’t interact
much in the course of our work
there, and I left before the year was
over. I went to UBS, where she also
joined a few years after. Our initial
roles in UBS again didn’t give us a
chance to interact. I would like to
think that God finally forcefully
brought us together – for my sake.
I was a newly promoted Desk
Head when Lehman Crisis came.
Another Desk which Michelle was
under folded and Michelle joined
my Desk. She was the most senior
team member on my Desk, so she
sat next to me. I recall moments
through the crisis when I would
go up to Michelle and ask: “Have
you experienced a situation like
this before…. What are some best
practices you can share with me?”
She was always honest, candid, and
neverunnecessaryinhercomments
and views. So, even though I was her
Team Leader, she was my God-sent
wise-counsel, guiding me through a
stressful period at work. Through
this. I finally got to know Michelle
as a friend.
Michelle: Groan, not the energizer
bunny…. This was my first thought
whenIfoundoutthatmyteaminthe
bank was going to merge with Shu’s,
and she would be my new boss. In
the aftermath of the Great Financial
Crisis, amidst wave after wave of
restructuring and retrenchments in
the financial industry, my previous
boss had not survived but I was still
left standing.
Shu was then (and still is) a very
successful private banker who had
become a team leader – her job
was to coach her team to attain
ever-increasing expectations of
new client relationships and sales
targets, and to create opportunities,
e.g. through various activities and
events, for her team to prospect
new clients. Double groan, there go
my evenings as well…
((so, even
tought i was
her team leader,
she was my
god-sent wise-
counsel, guiding
me through
a stressful
period at work.
THROUGH THIS, I
FINALLY GOT TO
KNOW MICHELLE
AS A FRIEND.
))
SANDYCHIAN
* Michelle and Shu-lyn answered
email interview questions
independently. This article is an
amalgamation of their replies.

13. 24 25
but I would not say close. Then Shu
took a few months of personal time
off; I thought to myself, “PSLE Tiger
Mom.”
Shu-Lyn:Intheyearmyeldestchild
Alysson did her PSLE, I handed
over the Desk to a new hire and
took a sabbatical of five months.
Due to family circumstances at that
time, the kids and I started visiting
different churches looking for a
new spiritual home. I am not sure
if Michelle knew I was seeking a
new church, but she knew Alysson
was admitted by Direct School
Admissions into MGS, and thought
it would be a good idea to introduce
some MGS mothers to me. She
invited me to the 2011 Christmas
service at CCMC.
Michelle: When she returned
to work, I heard some rumours
about her, and decided to speak
frankly to her to clear the air. She
finally shared with me about her
difficult personal path over the
previous few months, which she
had borne alone. I felt sad that she
didn’t tell me earlier so that I could
have at least walked the path with
her. However, we became closer
after she opened up more to me
and began to ask me to pray more
specifically and actively for her and
her family.
When her daughter decided
to go to MGS (yay!) over SOTA, I
suggested to Shu that Shu might
want to come to CCMC to get to
know more people in the MGS
community, and it was also close
to her home. She came with her
children for the Christmas Day
service in 2011. I then kind of
“adopted” her and her children, and
tried to make them feel at home in
CCMC, and introduced her to other
people in the church. They became
regular visitors, but not quite
integrated into the church family.
((WHEN HER
DAUGHTER DECIDED
TO GO TO MGS
(YAY!) OVER SOTA,
I SUGGESTED TO
SHU THAT SHU
MIGHT WANT TO
COME TO CCMC
TO GET TO KNOW
MORE PEOPLE
IN THE MGS
COMMUNITY.
))
Through our bank’s social events, I
knew Shu was a talented musician
and could sing really well, but for
some reason had stopped leading
worship some time ago. I heard that
CK needed more worship leaders
and I encouraged Shu to volunteer
for that. But mostly, I just tried to be
a loving friend to her.
Shu-Lyn: I loved the “atmosphere”
when I attended CCMC. In contrast
to the four previous modern/
mega-styled churches I grew up in,
there is a certain “non-statement/
normalness” about this church
that makes it very welcoming and
inclusive. I also liked the Methodist
structure, which I find very sure
and secure.
Most important to me, my kids
were comfortable here (they were
less so in the other places we
visited). I was allowed to engage at
a pace I was comfortable in, which
is important to me as I prefer to live
a more private life. Michelle was
great. She was always around for
me, and I know she was watching
(and still watches!) over my
integration from a distance, but she
gave me the space to make CCMC
my own home.
Michelle: Then I had a strong
feeling that I should invite her
to the June 2012 Church Camp. I
was surprised when she agreed
to go without her children who
were occupied that weekend. I
remember the day she was to fly
to KL she became ill and I rushed
to get some remedies for her in the
morning before setting off to camp
by car, praying that she would still
make it to camp because I felt that
this camp would be a breakthrough
for her. I was really happy to see her
show up that evening.
On the second day of camp,
Shu somehow got recruited to be a
back-up singer in the worship band.
When I saw her go up on stage to
lead worship for the first time in
CCMC, I wept with joy. I felt that she
had crossed back to the Promised
Land to which God had called her
previously, and finally accepted
the Lord’s gift to her of “a crown
of beauty instead of ashes, the oil
of joy instead of mourning, and a
garment of praise instead of a spirit
of despair”. (Is 61:3)
Now, as she blesses and
ministers to our church community
with her gift of leading praise and
worship, and her children have
begun to follow in her footsteps in
the OC and CK worship bands, and
her family has become part of the
CCMC family, I realise why, against
all natural odds, God had kept me in
the bank as long as He did – because
there was this one wandering
lamb which the Shepherd was
determined to bring back to His
fold. All He wanted me to do was to
love my then office neighbour as I
would like to be loved.
Shu-Lyn: As one of my efforts to
integrate, I signed up for Church
Camp in June 2012. I remember
falling sick two days before camp,
and had second thoughts of
attending camp. Within minutes
of knowing my condition, Michelle
drove over to my home with three
litres of cranberry juice to help me
get better! Her care touched me
and even though I didn’t feel like it,
I made it to camp!
At camp one morning, I sang
backupforworshipimpromptu,and
through that got to know campers
from the worship ministry who
invited me to serve. But I resisted.
Even though I have pioneered, led
and served in cell and worship
ministries before, I had for many
years felt most unworthy to even
worship at a one-on-one level with
God.
But I knew I needed to take firm
steps back towards my relationship
with God. Back from camp, I felt
the priority to first seek out a cell
group. I was led to Soul, with cell
leader Miriam Wun, and cell to ALL
the 9 am worship vocalists and
other most sincere, hospitable and
charming souls!
Sometime later, CCMC organized
a Saturday seminar on the topic of
worship which I attended. A couple
shared their ministry journey, and
it reminded me so much of my
own ministry before. The message
recounted the story of the woman
with the alabastair jar who had led
a sinful life. Jesus did not find her
unworthy to be at his feet; he not
only allowed her to worship him,
he even made positive mention of
her worship. That touched me and
silently broke me as I sat there. I am
able now to worship my God, and
am available to serve in worship in
whatever way I can for his purpose.
I really feel so blessed now being
part of worship services at 9 am
and CK.
My kids and I are very close,
and being new to church, they
naturally stuck with me at service
every week. Michelle encouraged
me to integrate them into OC and
CK respectively. She introduced my
kids to their peers, and for each new
friend they made, she would tell
me who their parents are! It took
a while to happen, but I thank God
that they are both attending OC and
CK now. It warms my heart to see
them find own their Christian circle
of friends, and thank God for his
provision and guiding hand upon
their lives. Alysson and Reuben
now also play for worship at OC and
CK respectively. God is faithful and
good indeed!
CCMC has been a Christian
home to my kids and me now for
2.5 years. I thank God for mercifully
reeling me in from my period of
self-exile. I thank God for Michelle
for her single invite to a Christmas
service that made such a difference
to three lives. [+]
((that touched
me and silently
broke me as i sat
there. i am able
now to worship
my god, and am
available to
serve in worship
in whatever
way i can for his
purpose.
))
SANDYCHIAN
SANDYCHIAN

14. 2726
hen we were first
asked to co-write
this article, our in-
stinctive reaction
was to politely decline and wrig-
gle ourselves out of the situation.
The plain truth is we were not
confident that we could contribute
meaningfully on the topic, as our
children are nowhere near the
independence to warrant us to
share. Furthermore, there are many
experienced parents, professionals
and educators in CCMC whom we
believe are more qualified to give
their views.
As an introduction, we have
three young children: Faith (S1),
Ashley (P5) and Sean (P2). Our
family joined CCMC from Paya
Lebar Methodist Church in 2007,
shortly after Faith was registered
at MGS. Like most, we embarked on
parenthood desiring the best for
our children with the hope of nur-
turing them to become ‘high-quali-
ty’ individuals.
We believe in raising independ-
ent learners simply to ensure that
they are competent and capable
of looking after themselves; and
resilient to overcome adversity yet
maintain positive social mind-sets,
attitudes and relationships. Early
investment of time and consider-
ation by parents to instil sound
character attributes in children will
help alleviate anxiety years later or
stress over the latter’s well-being.
Proverbs 22:6 states – Start chil-
dren off on the way they should go,
and even when they are old they
will not turn from it.
Our family background
Both Phoebe and I come from big
families with humble upbringing
in KL, Malaysia. Being amongst the
youngest brood in our respective
‘mega’ families by today’s norm, we
shared everything, and our clothes,
books, toys and other things were
hand-me-downs. Our older sib-
lings often acted as our surrogate
parents or guardians for much of
our growing years when our par-
ents worked to upkeep the family.
Consequently, we had plenty of
freedom since young to choose
and make decisions for ourselves.
We were also taught responsibility
early, as we helped with domestic
chores and made do with little
resources to get on with life.
In fact, I left home at eighteen
to pursue my tertiary studies in
the UK. Those were indeed trying
years, as I had to juggle between
studies and part-time work to
partially finance my college fees
and subsistence. My friends then
often quipped that I had a long-
term industrial attachment, both
as cook and cleaner, throughout my
student years in college, followed
by grad school.
As for Phoebe, her family could
not afford to pay for her higher ed-
ucation so she joined the Malaysian
national carrier at eighteen. She
kept to the same vocation until we
got married 10 years later. To me,
she has done well and earned her
degree from the university of life!
Under such circumstances, we
grew up quickly and accepted the
notion that the secular world truly
did not owe us much, unless we
were competent and capable to
look after ourselves. Looking back,
we benefited a great deal from
the independent living, and felt
blessed to be given the opportuni-
ty to experience such unique life
journies at a relatively young age.
This backdrop was foundational to
who we are today as it influences
the way we think, our triggers,
value system, habits, preferences,
and ultimately our approach and
parenting style.
Role Modelling
and Our Partnership
In his Father’s Days sermon
entitled “Like Father, Like Sons”,
our LCEC Chair, David Koh, spoke
succinctly about the importance
GROWING
INDEPENDENT
learners
by Manfred & Phoebe Seah
ABIGAILGOH

15. 28 29
(( YOUNG
CHILDREN ARE
GENERALLY
IMPRESSIONABLE
– MONKEY SEE,
MONKEY DO –
AND THEY ARE
CONSTANTLY
TUNED INTO
OUR ACTIONS
TO LEARN AND
MODEL AFTER.
))
our family time together is sacred.
We figured early that the best gifts
we could give our children are our
time and availability.
Raising Independent children
In wanting the best for our chil-
dren, we often indulge in doing
things for them instead of letting
them learn on their own. When
Faith and Ashley were still little,
Phoebe used to spend numerous
hours each week fussing about
their homework, especially the arts
and crafts assignments. Often, she
ended up finishing the girls’ work
for them. Not surprisingly, the girls
learnt nothing, and worse, became
overly reliant because mummy
was the person to fix it! Sounds
familiar? We have since put a stop
to such unwise interference and
life went on without major set-
back. Overprotecting kids only fuel
their anxiety and, worse, develop
an entitlement attitude in them.
Whoever spares the rod hates their
children, but the one who loves
their children is careful to disci-
pline them (Prov 13:24).
In growing independent and
resilient learners, there are some
key character attributes which we
ought to develop in children from
young. We should first encour-
age, make them feel that they are
worthy before they are expected to
embrace these important traits.
Competence
Provide them with the belief
that they are competent and capa-
ble of taking care of themselves.
This goes beyond academic excel-
lence, balanced with simple day-
to-day life skills and knowledge.
Encourage them to exert their best
in all endeavours, with particular
focus to develop their strengths.
Teach them how to fish instead of
fishing for them. Being competent,
consistent and socially aware will
help them gain credibility, which
reinforces self-belief of the child.
Respect
Show them respect and con-
fidence in their abilities. This
will boost their self-esteem and
awareness. Teach them manners,
gratitude, and how to respect, hon-
our and be considerate to others.
Fathers, do not exasperate your
children; instead, bring them up in
the training and instruction of the
Lord (Ephesians 6:4). Give them
your time and availability, prefer-
ably undivided attention; listen to
them intently to train them how
to communicate and express their
feelings.
Responsibility
Allow them to make decisions
early in life, but demand account-
ability so that they learn to take
responsibility for their action,
mistakes and failures. Help them
have clear understanding of what
is expected and hold them account-
able for delivering their end of
bargain. Teach them to do the right
thing, even if it will cost them.
Self-control
Guide them to exercise self-con-
trol over their lives. Giving them
age-appropriate freedom helps
them to define and learn their own
limits. Refrain from excesses or
extravagant living, but teach them
how to share, have simple needs,
and appreciate the value of money
and how to manage their resources
early. Do not withhold discipline
from a child; if you punish them
with the rod, they will not die.
Punish them with the rod and save
them from death (Prov 23:13-14).
Positive attitude
Inspire optimistic thinking to
deal with stress and disappoint-
ment in life. Refrain from nagging.
Share with them that failures in
life is a given, but it’s about how
we get back up. Explain that failure
is never the end of the world and
emotional management is key to
resilience. Affirm all wins – big
and small – and always encourage
opportunity to bounce back for any
temporary setback.
Love
Show them how to love prop-
erly: parental love and respect
for each other, and parent-child
relationship in the family. Treat all
children fairly with no favouritism.
Teach them about God, and His
eternal love. Help them to trust
and obey God, and how to pray
regularly. Love bears all things,
believes all things, hopes all things,
endures all things (1 Cor 13:7).
Conclusion
The Godly principles grounded on
competence, respect, responsibil-
ity, self-control, positive attitude
and love in our children will devel-
op a deep sense of independence,
security and confidence that will
prepare them well for a lifetime.
In his sermon “Loving God
is to Obey and to Teach” (1 John
5:3a; Deut 31:12-13), Pastor Kin
Yew reminded us that to love God
is to keep His commands and to
teach His children. Therefore, we
have the appointed responsibility
purposed by God to nurture our
children to become independent
and resilient individuals, and be
committed to helping them be-
come the person they were born
to be.
Phoebe prays daily for and with
our kids, for them to be rooted
firmly in faith. God’s grace is all
sufficient, and if not for His power
to influence, no parenting theory
or application would help to raise
good children befitting His will.
Finally, Faith, Ashley and Sean
are still very much work-in-pro-
gress! We certainly hope to meet
God someday and be given a
thumbs-up for doing a reasonable
job – at least for trying our best
in developing and growing three
young ones under our watch! [+]
of positive role modelling to our
charges. In essence, good and effec-
tive role modelling is key to raising
responsible children.
Everything starts with us par-
ents. Our children are constantly
watching our moves, even when
we think they were not looking or
listening. We can preach and talk
all we want, but if our subsequent
actions are inconsistent with the
instructions prescribed (ie. walk-
ing the talk), we lose credibility
immediately. Young children are
generally impressionable – mon-
key see monkey do – and they are
constantly tuned into our daily ac-
tions to learn and model after. They
would pick up our mannerisms,
follow how we speak, love, respect,
handle difficult situations, manage
conflicts, deal with pressures, and
share our trust and faith in God.
So, have we created and fos-
tered a warm, loving, safe, relaxing
and fun atmosphere conducive for
healthy spousal and parent-child
relationships and trust at home?
Today, as our children are bom-
barded with a multitude of dis-
tractions in school and through
social media, preserving a healthy
home and family setting is critical.
Children pay particular attention
to how parents deal with situations
and each other on the domes-
tic front, and how much mutual
respect, honour and love we show
and express to one another.
There was a period I had to
travel overseas frequently for
work, and hardly spent time with
the family. During my absence,
Phoebe used to share stories
(almost ritualistically) with the
children about me, my work, travel
activities etc so that we remained
constantly connected. She also
insisted that I call to speak to the
children every night before their
bedtime, wherever I was on the
globe. Phoebe used these oppor-
tunities to reassure them that they
are precious and well loved, and
Manfred heads the Small Group
Ministry in CCMC while Phoebe is a
teacher in Covenant Kids.

16. 30 31
((we generally
think of prayer
as something
that influences
external events.
But Scripture
and the prayer
warriors among
us testify to the
power of prayer
to bring internal
growth.
))
Find my keys, Jesus," Tim
prayed. He had been a Chris-
tian for only a week—not
much time to formulate
a theology of prayer. He retraced
his steps. The keys were not there.
What was he to do now? "Jesus,
please help me find my keys," he
continued praying. Days went by.
"Jesus, please help someone find
my keys and return them to me."
Instead of confident presump-
tion, the tone of Tim's prayers
increasingly took on an air of
humility. Instead of a focus on his
needs and agenda, he developed an
openness to God's intervention, on
His terms.
By the time someone found and
returned his keys a week later, Tim
had come to realize that prayer
was much more than an intercom
system at a fast-food drive-in.
Besides marshalling the help of
a compassionate God, prayer is a
means God uses to change us.
When I ask people about the
primary influences that alter their
actions and shape their lives, they
rarely mention personal prayer.
Maybe this is because we generally
think of prayer as something that
influences external events. But
Scripture and the prayer warriors
among us testify to the power of
prayer to bring internal growth.
Jesus certainly felt the need of
His Father's influence. Many have
used Mark 1:35 to illustrate Jesus'
commitment to prayer. After an
extremely hard day and night of
teaching, healing, and exorcising
demons, He got up "very early in
the morning, while it was still dark,
– left the house and went off to a
solitary place, where he prayed."
But the thing that fascinates me
as much as Jesus' commitment to
prayer in this situation is the in-
fluence that particular prayer time
had on His life.
Its impact becomes apparent
when Peter and the other disciples
finally find Jesus. They tell Him,
"Everyone is looking for you!" (v.
37). And what does Jesus say –
"Well then, let's go for it"? No, He
says, "Let us go somewhere else."
In effect He tells Peter, "I can't
be controlled by other people's
agendas. I am about My Father's
priorities."
And what were His Father's pri-
orities? Verse 38: "Let us go some-
where else – to the nearby villages
– so I can preach there also. That is
why I have come".
People wanted Jesus, the mira-
cle worker. And what a temptation
for Him – steady work, adoring
fans, little or no flak, a ready outlet
for compassion, a lot of excitement
– not things normally associated
with the more mundane task of
preaching.
But what gave Jesus the
strength to resist the agenda of the
crowd and the temptation to spend
His time on urgent pressures
rather than important priorities?
Simply put, it was the time He had
spent alone with His Father.
Reflecting on the influence of
such time with the Father, John
White writes in The Race:
"We are influenced by the peo-
ple we associate with. The more
powerful or the more distinctive
the characters of people we rub
shoulders with, the more time we
spend with them, the greater the
likelihood of change. It follows
that if we spend time daily in the
company of our Creator God, a
profound impact will be made on
our existence....
"Our values alter once we start
meeting regularly with God. Some
things that once seemed important
shrivel and lose their fascination,
while others swell in significance....
We will see people differently. We
will pity people we once feared; es-
chew people we once cultivated; pray
for people who once enraged us."
Jesus knew that private time
with the Father made the differ-
ence between going along with
THE PARADOX
OF PRAYER
by Bill Syrio
artworkbybanksy(AlbertoEliaViolanteCCBY-ND2.0)

17. 32 33
the flow or controlling the flow.
Whether it was sorting out how to
use His time, choosing His disci-
ples, or committing Himself to en-
dure the crucifixion, a realignment
of perspective was in order. And
if Jesus needed the course of His
life shaped through the practice
of prayer, how can we do without
such influence?
Here we confront the paradox
of prayer. We desperately need it
and yet we desperately avoid it.
Why?
MORE WITH LESS
Our culture does not support a
pace of life that naturally cultivates
prayer. Our tempo is more often set
by McDonald's and Macintosh. And
while God listens to our hurried
McPrayers, they will do little for
us in terms of opening our ears
to hear Him or inviting the kind
of profound impact of which John
White speaks.
Jesus did not live in a fast-paced
culture like ours, but He faced an-
other, more significant time issue:
three short years to complete the
story of salvation.
Just thirty-six months of min-
istry meant that a lot of people
would go unhealed, untaught, and
undiscipled. But at the end of His
life Jesus could still declare, "It
is finished." He had not accom-
plished all He could have; but He
accomplished all He needed to.
Discerning His priorities within
the quiet confines of communion
with His Father made that crucial
difference.
Jesus' dedication to prayer
came partly from realizing that
prayer gave Him more time, not
less. It helped crystallize the im-
portant priorities and dissipate the
merely urgent ones. While we may
never fully understand how prayer
affects God or how it adds power
to the outworking of His inten-
tions, we do know that the practice
of prayer helps us.
DOING WHAT
DOESN'T COME NATURALLY
Such alteration doesn't happen
overnight. And that brings us to
another reason behind our lack
of prayer. It is hard work. You
would not think prayer would be
difficult – didn't God create people
for fellowship with Him? Prayer
should involve a perfectly natural
link of intimate communication,
shouldn't it? And sometimes, to be
sure, praying does bring the kind
of immediacy that comes through
in a crystal-clear phone call.
But the breach of fellowship
initiated in the Garden of Eden has
brought the curse of frustrating
toil to more than just our vocation-
al pursuits. Prayer requires us to
concentrate, to stretch our atten-
tion span and yet not see much im-
mediate feedback. This is exhaust-
ing work – mentally, emotionally,
physically, and spiritually.
I find very few who express a
natural inclination for prayer. For
most of us, it can be harder work
than almost anything else we do.
Realizing this has actually been
one of the best discoveries of my
Christian life.
My avoidance of prayer is sim-
ilar to my avoidance of any hard
work. By nature I am inclined to
take the path of least resistance.
We all are. But just as it is foolish
to think we can obtain a quali-
ty education without effort, or
excellence without discipline, or
wisdom without perseverance, or a
good relationship without invest-
ing time, so we will not be suc-
cessful at prayer without paying a
price. The greatest goals demand
the greatest efforts. So where do
we start?
HABIT-FORMING PRAYER
Let's face it, a private time of
prayer – and its complementary
discipline of personal Bible study
– will be more likely to occur if
we plan it. I recommend sched-
uling prayer after something you
do regularly. I swim early in the
morning on Mondays, Wednesdays,
and Fridays. It dawned on me a few
years back that afterward I could
automatically go to a local restau-
rant for orange juice, a raspberry
danish, and prayer. Since we are
creatures of habit, why not build
some quality habits?
Because I find disciplined
prayer more difficult than a hard
workout, I'm more likely to skip
prayer than to skip swimming. So
I put the activity I'm most likely
to complete into my schedule and
let the automatic routine carry me
through my prayer time. Others
may use an activity they really
enjoy as a reward after they've
completed a time of prayer. Not
that prayer is punishment – I'm
just realistic about human weak-
nesses!
Include times to meet for
prayer with other Christians in
your schedule. Often I find corpo-
rate prayer will "jump start" my
own prayer life. But whether it's
personal, one-to-one, or group
prayer, the key is putting it on the
calendar. You will be most likely to
pray if it's a part of your schedule.
PRAY "BIG"
Whenever you pray, work on "pray-
ing big." The refreshing develop-
ment of conversational prayer that
came in with the "Jesus movement"
of the early Seventies was built on
a desire for more intimacy with
God. People were tired of asking
God to "bless all the missionaries"
and wanted to get specific. But
such intimacy can immerse us in
a pattern of detailed prayer that
limits us to the simple concerns of
making it through the day.
Sometimes when praying, it
is better not to concentrate on
specific requests. Instead, allow
a passage of Scripture or a hymn
to focus your attention on larger
concerns. Try using Acts 1:8 as a
model for big prayer. On successive
days of the week pray for your
"Jerusalem" (your neighborhood
and work situations), "Judea" (your
city and state), "Samaria" (the
nation), and "the ends of the earth"
(the world).
Paul's prayers in Eph 1:17-19
and Eph 3:14-21 provide anoth-
er helpful model in praying big
without losing a sense of intimacy.
He asked God that Christians at
Ephesus "may have power, togeth-
er with all the saints, to grasp how
wide and long and high and deep is
the love of Christ, and to know this
love that surpasses knowledge"
(Eph 3:18-19). Wouldn't you love
to have friends praying those kinds
of prayers for you?
PRAY THE PSALMS
I use the psalms in my attempt
to "pray big." As I read slowly
through a psalm, I pray its words
at the same time. The psalm acts
as my meditation guide merging
Scripture, my thoughts, and prayer
together. Such prayer greatly
expands my sense of God's pres-
ence and helps immerse me in His
larger concerns.
The Psalms have been the
prayer book of the Church for
centuries. They are aptly termed
by one Church father as the gymna-
sium of prayer. Praying the psalms
can become a focused workout,
increasing our muscles of faith for
spiritual warfare.
KEEP IT FRESH
Once you have built a healthy
habit of scheduled prayer, what
do you do when boredom sets in?
When you feel like your prayer life
needs a major overhaul, it may be
helpful to find a prayer partner to
encourage you. Together you could
formulate a prayer plan. Consider
beginning with the Psalms or other
Scripture as a guide to "big prayer."
Or, try implementing some
small changes. I have found that
walking while I pray helps to keep
me fresh and alert. Try praying out
loud and raising your hands. Add
singing, a prayer list, or a journal.
Pray over ideas you have read
about in Christian literature. Use
the requests in the Lord's Prayer
on subsequent days as a stimulus
for prayer.
Whatever you do, realize God
wants the opportunity of these
private prayer moments to shape
you. As God's change agents in this
world we must first be changed,
and prayer is a primary means the
Lord uses in that process. Prayer
can give us new direction, new
motivation, new attitudes, new val-
ues. Nothing less is fitting for new
creatures in Christ.
“Prayer is a most profitable
and expedient means of obtaining
purity of heart, the eradication of
sin, and a receptiveness to virtue.
Not that you should imagine that
the purpose of your prayer is to
tell the Lord what you want; for he
knows well enough what you need.
Rather, the purpose of prayer is to
make you ready and able to receive
as a clean vessel the grace that our
Lord would freely give to you.”
~ Walter Hilton [+]
Bill Syrios operates a real estate
investment company, Stewardship
Projects, which is based in Eugene,
Oregon. He was formerly an In-
terVarsity Staff member working at
the University of Oregon.
This article is reprinted with per-
mission from Discipleship Journal.
((while god
listens to
our hurried
mcprayers, they
will do little
for us in terms
of opening our
ears to hear
him or inviting
… profound
impact.
))
ARTWORKBYBANKSY(SteevHiseCCBY-NC-SA2.0.jpg)

18. 34 35
he title "Spending Time
With God" immediately
brings to mind the idea of
attending church services
and personal devotion. The image of
Bible study and prayer also comes to
my mind. Indeed, God is Spirit – He
is omnipresent. He is everywhere
and hence, He is with us at all times!
Spending time with God is therefore,
about us being aware of His pres-
ence, about man building a relation-
ship with his heavenly Father. The
quality of our relationship depends
on how much time and effort we
spend in nurturing and cultivating it.
After giving it further thought, I
figure that spending time with God
involves some of these basic ap-
proaches of prayer, studying the Bi-
ble, worship, service, and fellowship.
Spending Time With God In Prayer
Prayer is an intimate time when we
communicate with God. Looking at
the examples of Jesus in the Bible,
our Lord consistently made deliber-
ate effort, going out of the way to
spend time with God.
• In solitude – Very early in the
morning, while it was still dark, Jesus
got up, left the house and went off
to a solitary place, where he prayed
(Mark 1:35, also in Luke 4: 42-44).
Once when Jesus was praying in
private and his disciples were with
him, he asked them, “Who do the
crowd say I am ?” (Luke 9:18).
One of those days Jesus went out
to a mountainside to pray, and spent
the night praying to God (Luke 6:12).
• Jesus urged his followers to pray
in private.
”But when you pray, go into your
room, close the door and pray to your
Father, who is unseen. Then your Fa-
ther, who sees what is done in secret,
will reward you.” (Matt 6:6).
What a wonderful privilege we
have in this period of grace, that we
are able to confess our sins, inter-
cede for others, make petitions, pour
out our hearts to Him directly and be
cherished by Him!
Spending Time With God In His Word
While we may find God speaking to
us through sermons, pastors, spiritual
leaders, Christian music, books
etc., the Bible is always our primary
source. God speaks to us through His
Word! It is vital for every Christian
who desires to grow spiritually, to
dedicate a substantial amount of time
in reading, reflecting and meditating
on His Word. Personal devotions,
small group Bible study, guided Bible
study programmes such as the Bible
Study Fellowship, Disciple Course,
Precept Upon Precept, SOAP etc,
provide excellent platforms for a be-
liever to learn and know God better!
Our Lord Jesus participated in
learning the Scripture during his
formative years (Luke 2:41-51).
• The Spirit of God is found in His
Word.
In the beginning was the Word,
and the Word was with God, and the
Word was God. He was with God in
the beginning. Through him all thing
were made; without him nothing was
made that has been made. In him
was life, and that life was the light of
all mankind (John 1:1-4).
For the word of God is living and
active, sharper than any two-edged
sword, piercing to the division of soul
and of spirit of joints and of marrow,
and discerning the thoughts and in-
tentions of the heart (Heb 4:12).
• Through His Word, God sancti-
fies us and equip us to serve Him.
All Scripture is breathed out by
God and profitable for teaching, for
reproof, for correction, and for train-
ing in righteousness (2 Tim 3:16).
Spending Time
With God In Serving / Giving
The book of James urges all believers
to be engaged in serving God.
But be doers of the word, and not
hearers only, deceiving yourselves
(James 1:22).
Likewise, Mark 10:45 – For even
the Son of Man came not to be served
but to serve, and to give his life as a
ransom for many.
Ngui May Yee
SPENDING TIME
WITH GOD
When we serve God, we are ef-
fectively giving our time, energy and
resources in the building of His king-
dom, for the benefit of His people. It
brings us out of the cocoon of passiv-
ity, ushers us into a world of active
faith in our Sovereign God.
For we are God’s handiwork, cre-
ated in Christ Jesus to do good works,
which God prepared in advance for
us to do (Eph 2:10).
Each of you should use whatever
gift you have received to serve others,
as faithful stewards of God’s grace in
its various forms (1 Peter 4:10).
Those who have served well gain
an excellent standing and great as-
surance in their faith in Christ Jesus
(1 Tim 3:13).
We are each created with a spe-
cial talent to fit God’s specific pur-
pose in this universe. Discovering and
putting our talents into His service is
both challenging and exciting! By giv-
ing and offering our services (money,
time, energy, efforts), we are turning
our devotion away from the world
and towards God. There is no better
way of life than to live for Christ!
Spending Time With God In Worship
Worshipping God is a time we sim-
ply turn our attention away from the
worldly affairs, come into His pres-
ence and focus on Him, in praise,
thanksgiving and adoration.
We can worship God in many cir-
cumstances: either alone or in an as-
sembly, in our personal quiet time or
in a group/family/church setting. We
seek to be still in His presence, know-
ing that He is God. Singing songs of
praise, hymns, giving thanks, con-
fessing our sins, pray, soaking in His
Word, rededicating our lives, renew-
ing our commitment to Him and so
on, do help us to put God in the right
perspective and to experience Him in
a greater capacity and grow in our re-
lationship with Him.
On the other hand, there are or-
ganized spiritual retreats which offer
us opportunities to withdraw from
the hustle and bustle of our regular
clockwise:StephenPlat,SeanMcGrathbothCCBY2.0,flightsaberCCBY-NC2.0,Wikimedia

19. 36 37
life, bringing us into extended periods
of worship and reflection, allowing us
to refresh and recharge in the Lord.
Therefore, I urge you, brothers,
in view of God’s mercy, to offer your
bodies as living sacrifices, holy and
pleasing to God – this is your spiritual
act of worship (Rom 12:1).
Psalm 100 captures the essence
of worship beautifully:
Shout for joy to the Lord,
all the earth.
Worship the Lord with gladness;
ComebeforeHimwithjoyfulsongs.
Know that the Lord is God.
It is He who made us,
and we are his;
We are his people, and sheep
of his pasture.
Enter his gates with thanksgiving
And his courts with praise;
Give thanks to Him and praise
his name.
For the Lord is good, and his love
endures forever;
His faithfulness continues through
all generations.
Spending Time
With God In Fellowship
Spending time with fellow Christians
is meant not just for social interac-
tion, but also for encouragement as
well as providing accountability for
our faith.
As reasoned in the book of He-
brews, we assemble with other be-
lievers not just for ourselves, but for
the sake of other Christians ‘let us
consider one another’.
And let us consider how we may
spur one another toward love and
good deeds. Let us not give up meet-
ing together, as some are in the habit
of doing, but let us encourage one
another – and all the more as you see
the Day approaching (Heb 10:24-25).
But if we walk in the light, as He is
in the light, we have fellowship with
one another, and the blood of Jesus,
His Son, purifies us from all sin (1
John 1:7).
Summing Up
In practicing all of the above, the sin-
gle most important factor that we
need to guard is probably our heart
attitude towards God. Be still and
know that He is God. We need to be
still, shut out the noise in the world,
then we are able to hear God's voice
(Psalm 46).
Spending time with God requires
us to put God on the throne of our
hearts. Failing which, our prayers may
become self-centred, our Bible study
may become self-seeking, our service
may be a platform for self-glorifica-
tion, our fellowship may degenerate
into gossip or meaningless chatter
about worldly pursuits. The result of
such activities may hold little or no
value in the eyes of God. Hence, we
need to make deliberate efforts to
place God as the prime focus in or-
der to build a meaningful relationship
with Him and be an effective disciple
of Jesus!
Do not conform any longer to the
pattern of this world, but be trans-
formed by the renewing of your
mind. Then you will be able to test
and approve what God’s will is – his
good, pleasing and perfect will. (Rom
12:1)
Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the
author and perfector of our faith,
who for the joy set before Him, en-
dured the cross, scorning its shame,
and sat down at the right hand of the
throne of God. (Heb 12:2)
May the presence of God be with
you always! [+]
Ngui May Yee and her husband,
Francis, have been worshipping in
CCMC since 1995. They have two
teenage sons, Sean and Ian. May Yee
serves in CCMC as a 9 am Sunday
school teacher and organist for the
11 am service.
((we need
to make
deliberate
efforts to
place God
as the prime
focus in order
to build a
meaningful
relationship
with Him…
))
TomasMunitaforCenterforInternationalForestryResearchCCBY-NC2.0
SPIRITUAL RETREAT
30 October to 1 November 2014
Venue: To be annoucned
Retreat Director: Rev Barnabas Chong
Register with Raymond Chow
raymond.chow@ccmc.org.sg

20. After three days,
God commanded the
fish to vomit Jonah
onto land.
Then, Jonah
obeyed God
and went to
preach to the
Ninevites. They
repented and
God forgave
them, but
Jonah was
angry that
God spared
the enemy of
Israel.
Outside Ninevah, God
provided a vine to shelter
Jonah from the hot sun.
However, the next day, God
sent a worm that ate the vine,
making it wither.
JONAH
The prophet who thought he knew better than God.
Manga by GILLIAN GOH
God spoke to Jonah, commanding
him to preach repentance to the
city of Nineveh. Being a stubborn
fellow, Jonah did just the opposite
- heading directly away from
Nineveh on a ship to Tarshish.
Jonah "ran away from the Lord."
Jonah took
matters in
his own hands
and told them
to throw him
overboard.
First, they tried
rowing to shore,
but finally tossed
Jonah into the
sea. The water
immediately
became calm.
In response, God
sent a violent
storm which
threatened to
sink the ship.
The terrified
crew cast lots
and concluded
that Jonah was
responsible for
the storm.
Growing faint in the
heat, Jonah selfishly
complained about the
withered vine.
God scolded Jonah
for being concerned
about a vine, but not
about the lost people
of Nineveh.
Jonah was swallowed by a great fish
sent by God. In its belly, Jonah cried
out to God in repentance.

21. 40 41
Dear Abigail,
Over Sunday lunch, my wife and I
were discussing Dr Carl Wieland's
recent presentation in church about
creation, evolution and the Biblical
account in Genesis.
Our five-year-old son was with us,
and we did not think he could follow
our points about Adam and Eve and
how God expelled them from the
Garden of Eden.
I suppose he didn't because, later
that day, he gave his mother his
drawing of a car with three people
in it. The driver, a bearded man, had
two passengers: a man and a woman.
When asked, my son said that it was
a drawing of God, Adam and Eve.
When questioned further, he
said that he just drew what we were
talking about. What did we say to
mislead our son?
Puzzled
Dear Puzzled,
In your discussion, did you and
your wife say that God drove Adam
and Eve out of the Garden of Eden?
Speedy help from yours,
Abigail
Dear Abigail,
I have been thinking of approaching
the altar prayer team after service,
but I worry that others will think
badly of me.
Shy
Dear Shy,
In preparing to answer your
question, I asked the altar min-
istry prayer team to tell me who
they have prayed with and for
what. They refused to tell me even
though I was persistent. Imagine
that! They refused Abigail!
However, after I changed tack
and asked about the range of
prayer concerns, they were more
forthcoming.
Among other things, the team
has rejoiced with expectant par-
ents, encouraged kids bogged
down by exam stress, supported
those who are reaching out to
friends and family, and prayed for
those who are ill.
So, unless you are carrying a big
banner proclaiming the reason why
you wish to have prayer support,
no one will know.
Don't be shy. Be eager for bless-
ings!
Prayerfully,
Abigail
Dear Abigail
I overheard some people chatting
after Sunday services about enjoying
a spiritual spa. It sounded so good.
Where is this resort?
Stressed
Dear Stressed,
CCMC has organised spiritual spas
in Johore and Changi.
Treatments offered include the
following:
Massage: I laid me down and
slept; I awaked; for the LORD sus-
tained me (Ps 3:5).
Destressing: Come to me, all you
who labor and are heavy laden, and
I will give you rest (Matt 11:28).
Oil therapy: To bestow on them
a crown of beauty instead of ashes,
the oil of joy instead of mourning,
and a garment of praise instead of
a spirit of despair (Is 61:3).
Detox: The Lord will surely
comfort Zion and will look with
compassion on all her ruins; he
will make her deserts like Eden,
her wastelands like the garden of
the Lord. Joy and gladness will be
found in her, thanksgiving and the
sound of singing (Is 51:3).
Meditation: I will meditate on
your precepts and fix my eyes on
your ways (Ps 119:15).
Relaxation: Be still, and know
that I am God (Ps 46:10a).
The next spiritual retreat is
from 30 Oct to 1 Nov. Please con-
tact Raymond Chow (raymond.
chow@ccmc.org.sg ) to register.
Refreshed,
Abigail
ASK
ABIGAIL
ABIGAILGOH
Songs & Singers
40
What would you do if your life were whipped out from under you and in
a flash you went from the life you knew to standing face to face with our
Creator? How would you answer for yourself and the life that you’ve led up
till now?
The song Galaxies by Owl City, a one-man electronica project created by
singer, songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Adam Young, is based loosely
on the space shuttle Challenger’s tragic explosion in 1986. The song takes
a first-person perspective of the shuttle’s flight commander and what it
might have felt like to be “suddenly taken from reality into eternity in a
split second”. The lyrics of the song are a “vivid portrayal of the idea that
even amidst tragedy, victory can be achieved through Christ and through
Him alone” making it a veritable anthem for anyone trying to walk the
straight and narrow.
Young certainly knows a thing or two about trying to keep focused on
living a God-centred life even while numerous worldly temptations and
distractions stand in the way. Plucked from obscurity and launched into su-
per stardom, Young went from his day-job at Coca Cola and making music
in the basement of his parents’ Owatonna, Minnesota home to becoming a
platinum-selling crossover Christian artist in 2009 with the album "Ocean
Eyes" and mega-hit song, Fireflies. Much like the flight commander who had
the world literally at his feet, reality to Young is one of fame and fortune
with endless possibilities and yet, he stays decidedly, and very wisely,
grounded in his faith. He sings “Hercules, you've got nothing to say to me,
‘cause you’re not the blinding light that I need” in recognition that being at
the top of the game and being powerful by the world’s standards does not
immunize you from disaster or troubles. The only real way to survive the
precariousness of worldly success is to know the Lord and have an intimate
walk with Him.
Just as the lyrics “Dear God, I was terribly lost” parallels the journey of
Young’s own life “before I came into a saving relationship with the Lord”,
it also echoes the same feeling of desperation and loneliness we feel when
we go through hard times. Amidst darkness and hopelessness, we gain this
awareness of how small and helpless we truly are and how much we need
God as our guiding light to lead us through. Above Him, there is nothing
truer and surer. Just as David wrote in Psalm 23:1, “The Lord is my shep-
herd, I lack nothing”.
Galaxies reminds us to keep on our toes and to be ever aware of where
our “telescope” is pointed because it is so easy to lose track and wander
off the narrow path. Like Young who makes it a point to read God’s word
daily and surround himself with great people, so too should we be diligent
in keeping our eyes trained on God so that our choices, desires, inspira-
tion and actions align with His. Even as we may find ourselves bracing
for impact, we can rest assured that even if the sun went dark, we can be
courageous and unafraid because our North Star would “never leave us
nor forsake us.” (Deuteronomy 31:6). The message of the song is clear: God
is the saving grace of the galaxies and if we have him, we do not have to
endure the terrifying realities of life on our own. [+]
GALAXIES
OWL CITY BY LEANNE PATTISELANNO
OWLCITY

22. 42 43
do you HAVE
GOOD THINGS TO SHARE?
Send your recommendations to
ccmcloavesfishes@gmail.com
Good ThingsGood Things
POCKET FUEL
Perhaps your Instagram
feed is getting predictable –
photo after photo of people
in perfectly-flattering posts,
equally perfect-looking food, and
perfectly-filtered landscapes.
Or perhaps you don’t even have
an Instagram account. If you’ve
barely gotten past setting up an
Instagram account and are looking
for something worth following, or
you simply want another way to
be reminded of God’s word daily,
check out Pocket Fuel!
SAFELY PLUGGED IN
The media entertainment offerings
out there can be a maze, if not be-
wildering when parents try to suss
out suitable content for whole-
some family fun.
Award-winning Plugged In
(www.pluggedin.com), a Chris-
tian portal for safe entertainment
choices online is a Focus on the
Family site designed to 'shine a
light on the world of popular en-
tertainment while giving families
the essential tools they need to
understand, navigate and impact
the culture in which they live'.
Covering a wide genre of enter-
tainment – movies, videos, music,
TV and games – Plugged In gives
insightful reviews along with
well-researched articles and
culture clips to spark Christian
dialogue in growing the desire
to follow the command in Col
2:8 – See to it that no one takes
you captive through hollow and
deceptive philosophy, which de-
pends on human tradition and the
elemental spiritual forces of this
world rather than on Christ.
There is also a nifty mobile
app when you need to check in a
jiffy if a particular movie or media
product is suited for your child.
Worried about undesirable pop-
ups? Plugged In, in partnership
with Clear Play and Net Nanny,
provides safe and useful monitor-
ing resource tools to mitigate the
problem of unwelcome intrusion
by online predators and their kind.
Movie Night is another popular
tool kit designed by family experts
to guide parents in opening up
conversations with their children
through well-crafted discussion
pointers to differentiate what is
good, bad and harmful. Do check
this web portal out and be plugged
in as media savvy parents!
|| Chong Cheh Hoon
GOODNESS GRACIOUS
I first stumbled upon Gracesmiths
while I was at a flea market, not re-
alising it intentionally incorporat-
ed Biblical references until I looked
past the visually-appealing covers
of its notebooks.
What I like about Gracesmiths
is how it rather subtly incorpo-
rates themes inspired by the Bible
without focusing too much on
doe-eyed angels and other more
conventional figures which tra-
ditionally come to mind. I found
Gracesmiths’ logo interesting as
well, as it’s meant to look like a
gift ribbon to show how tying gifts
can be a parallel to how God’s love
and grace tie up relationships and
bonds between people.
Gracesmiths offers a range
of items, including notebooks,
decals, and jewellery, which can
be purchased on its online store
(gracesmiths.com). Unfortunately,
they have rather limited stock of
some of their products as many of
their items are handcrafted. But
then again, if you’re looking for
something special, like a croissant-
or fish-shaped pouch, Gracesmiths
is a good place to look. Not only is
it Singaporean and God-inspired, it
also supports social initiatives like
Saught, a social business which
creates products from landmines
and unexploded ordinance to sup-
port sustainability in post-conflict
countries.
|| Rachel Hau
The Pocket Fuel Instagram
account offers daily devotions,
in the form of meaningful Bible
verses in attractive and striking
typography designs, lovely
backgrounds and appropriate
captions.
The picture above shows
Proverbs 31: 25 that struck such
a chord in me that I used it as my
phone wallpaper for a while.
If you want to see (and read
more), why not follow Pocket Fuel?
If you’re looking for something
more tangible (and are also willing
to fork out some money), the
people behind Pocket Fuel also
sell phone cases, shirts and even
shower curtains.
|| Rachel Hau
SPORT FOR SOCIAL GOOD
The SportCares program was
launched in late August 2012
under Vision 2030: Live Better
Through Sports. SportCares is an
initiative to help improve the lives
of underprivileged children, youth-
at-risk, needy seniors, people
with physical and/or intellectual
disabilities and the disadvantaged
in our community.
Using sport as a means for
social good, SportCares links up
underprivileged beneficiaries with
passionate volunteers and commu-
nity-spirited donors. Its flagship
football program – Saturday Night
Lights (SNL) – has been able to
help 300 youths develop good val-
ues and a sense of purpose.
SportCares has also served to
bring together communities, rais-
ing funds to help people live better
through sport and by promoting
volunteerism through its Young
Mentors Programme.
For more information on this
meaningful programme and vol-
unteer opportunities, go to http://
www.sportsingapore.gov.sg/about-
us/sportcares or SportCaresSG in
Facebook.
|| Leanne Pattiselanno
TRANSLOCATED JAPANESE
This neighbourhood Japanese
restaurant operated under a
different name in Sunset Way. Since
moving to 16 Chun Tin Road, it has
been aptly renamed Tenza, which
means 'translocation' in Japanese.
Tenza stands out as one of
the few mid-priced Japanese
restaurants that serves fresh grated
wasabi with sushi and sashimi.
Another excellent point that is
evident even before your orders
arrive at your table is the friendly,
efficient and discreet service.
Certainly, the staff says
irasshaimase enthusiastically as
you step into the space defined by a
long bar (well stocked with a range
of sake) and two rows of tables,
but the waitresses fade away,
reappearing only when required.
The quality of the seafood is
a notch up from the average, and
is served properly chilled so as to
enhance textures and flavours.
You will find all your favourite
fare here, and also specialties like
tiny river crabs and marinated
fugu (pufferfish). No wonder it's
popular for family meals out as
well as for couple time.
|| Goh Eck Kheng