Life, like any other, has its shares of ups and downs. And mine is not any different. All I can is, the last two weeks of my life, has been, so far, the worst down period during my time here in London. I cannot even count how many days and nights I have cried out to the Lord asking Him, "Why?" Yet, at the end of the day, I can still say, "God is good, God is faithful. Blessed be Your name."

It is always difficult to praise God when one is going through problems or tough times, especially when one does not understand why certain situations happen, for example, death, redundancy etc. And in these situations, it is natural to look for someone to blame. In most cases, God becomes the scapegoat. However, we always have a choice of how we can choose to response:
a) We can choose to be angry and bitter with God, and dwell on it or
b) We can choose to continue praising God and move on with life.

I chose the latter. Why? Because:
a) I did not want to let my bitterness kill my joy,
b) I did not want to dwell on the past,
c) Something worse could have happened to me and it did not,
d) God brought along the right people to pray, support and encourage me,
e) Most of all, God loves me and He sacrificed His son, Jesus, on the cross for me.

Despite what I went through, indeed I can still say, "Blessed be Your name". The song below by Matt Redman best describes my exact feelings now.

Blessed Be Your Name
In the land that is plentiful
Where Your streams of abundance flow
Blessed be Your name

Blessed Be Your name
When I'm found in the desert place
Though I walk through the wilderness
Blessed Be Your name

Every blessing You pour out
I'll turn back to praise
When the darkness closes in, Lord
Still I will say

Blessed be the name of the Lord
Blessed be Your name
Blessed be the name of the Lord
Blessed be Your glorious name

Blessed be Your name
When the sun's shining down on me
When the world's 'all as it should be'
Blessed be Your name

Blessed be Your name
On the road marked with suffering
Though there's pain in the offering
Blessed be Your name

Every blessing You pour out
I'll turn back to praise
When the darkness closes in, Lord
Still I will say

Blessed be the name of the Lord
Blessed be Your name
Blessed be the name of the Lord
Blessed be Your glorious name

Blessed be the name of the Lord
Blessed be Your name
Blessed be the name of the Lord
Blessed be Your glorious name

You give and take awayYou give and take away
My heart will choose to say
Lord, blessed be Your name

Praise the LORD. Praise the LORD, O my soul. I will praise the LORD all my life; I will sing praise to my God as long as I live.

Psalm 146: 1 - 2

Here I am Lord

This song used to be on the top 10 list in the hardware hidden in my brain. However, due to infrequent usage like so many other songs, I had forgotten about it until it was sung in church today. I was reminded of the promise I had made to the Lord so many years ago when I first heard Here I Am Lord. As I renew my convenant with Him today, may you make this your prayer too and tell the Lord, "Here I am".

I, the Lord of sea and sky
I have heard my people cry
All who dwell in dark and sin
My hand will save:

I who made the stars and night
I will make the darkness bright
Who will bear my light to them?
Whom shall I send?

Here I am Lord
Is it I Lord?
I have heard you calling in the night
I will go Lord
If you lead me
I will hold your people in my heart

I the Lord of snow and rain,
I have borne my people's pain,
I have wept for love of them,
They turn away.

I will break their hearts of stone
Fill their hearts with love alone
I will speak my word to them
Whom shall I send?

Here I am Lord
Is it I Lord?
I have heard you calling in the night
I will go Lord
If you lead me
I will hold your people in my heart

I, the Lord of wind and flame
I will tend the poor and lame
I will set a feast for them
My hand will save:

Finest bread I will provide
Till their hearts be satisfied
I will give my life to them
Whom shall I send?

Here I am Lord Is it I Lord?
I have heard you calling in the night
I will go Lord
If you lead me
I will hold your people in my heart

"Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, "Whom shall I send? And who will go for us?" And I said, "Here am I. Send me!"

Isaiah 6:8

The greatest love letters of all

Happy Valentine's Day everyone!

When I was much younger, I used to think that Valentine's Day was a very special and important day only for couples, and I would dream of the perfect Valentine's Day celebration - a romantic candlelight dinner followed by a quiet walk on the beach. This went on for many years every time February 14 came along. However, there was only one problem, someone was missing. I did not have that special someone to celebrate all this with. And well, I still do not but I believe God has prepared him for me and when the time is right, he will appear. However, I digress.

Anyway, looking back now, I laugh at myself for being so silly - silly for thinking that Valentine's Day is only for couples for I could not have been more wrong. While it is common for us to see couples expressing their love for each other on this special day, there is also nothing wrong to express our love to our family members or friends. For all the fuss couples around the world make over Valentine's Day, the whole essense of this day is to celebrate love, and love, as we know, comes in many forms. However, one of the greatest forms of love that we often forget is the sacrificial love of God who loved the world so much that He sent His one and only Son, Jesus Christ, to die on the cross for the sins of the world (John 3:16). And along with His love, He also gave us the most wonderful "love letter" of all - the Bible.

While greeting cards are usually used by couples to express their love to one another, the Bible is God's way of expressing His amazing love to us. The words of the Bible tells us of the "love letter" God sent to us 2,000 years ago in the Person of His Son, Jesus Christ (1 John 4:10).

The purpose for Jesus coming to earth as Man was to die, to be sacrificed and to give His life for ours. This was all part of God's plan and it was written in red - written with "the precious blood of Christ, a lamb without blemish or defect." ( 1 Peter 1:19).

Long before a day in February was set aside to celebrate love, the world received a love letter - a precious love letter that changed everything.

"Nothing speaks more clearly of God's love than the cross of Jesus Christ."

Our Daily Bread, 14 February, 2009

A white Chinese New Year - many firsts!

Note: My apologies for this overdue update of the London snow fall. It had been a busy week and I just managed to resize my photos.

While I enjoyed a white Easter last year, this year's experience of winter was not a just a white Chinese New Year but a VERY VERY white Chinese New Year

It all started after I had attended my church's evening service which ended at about 8pm, and when my friends and I came out from church, we were all greeted by beautiful white snow gently falling from the sky. As we left church to make our way to a restaurant to have dinner, we had a mini snowball fight all the way as we walked. Ah... my very first snowball fight

After dinner ended about 10.30pm, I made my way to the underground station but had to take a different route using the Docklands Light Railway (DLR) instead of the London Underground because Jubilee line, which is my usual train line, was not working during the weekend. Thinking I was save from the snow since it had stopped snowing in Central London, what usually took me 45 minutes to get home became one hour and 45 mins! And I did not reach home till 12.15am (Monday morning)! Why? All because of the snow! Since most of the the DLR stations are in the open, I ended up being stuck in the DLR train at Limehouse station for nearly half an hour and then at Westferry station for another 10 minutes because the tracks were covered in snow and track points were not working.

Finally, an announcement came saying that the train could not go any further than Westferry station and so I had to get off, and walked to the nearest bus stop. However, after five minutes, it looked like no buses were coming, and I decided to follow the crowd and walked home. The good thing was it was only a 10-15 minutes walk home. Even so, by the time I got home, my shoes were soaked and my toes were freezing! An interesting experience for my first walk in the snow. And here are some photos during my walk back.

From left: My view from inside the train - the Limehouse DLR station all covered in white.; a close-up of a 'clean' and white train track.

From left: Commuters trying to contact family or friend to inform them of their situation and think of other means of transport; the view from Westferry DLR station as I walked down the stairs.

From left: 'White' walk home: the ground all covered in snow; the weather was so cold that my footprints turned into ice within second!

From left: The snow mobile for the 21st century?; A night winter view from my room window.

The next morning, I was greeted with more snow and I felt like I was in winter wonderland when I looked out my room window. It was so white, so clean and so beautiful! And with all this snow, how could I let it pass without having made a snow angel? So, I braved the cold and made my very first snow angel. I will let the photos tell the story.

From left: A 'white' greeting when I woke up; my back garden turned into winter wonderland!

From left: Strong winds toppled the rubbish bin and heavy snow fall turned it into a 'snow bin'; trying to walk in four inches of snow.

From left: Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow; playing with snow.

From left: My attempt at making a giant snow ball; is it a bird? is it a butterfly? No! It's a snow angel.

From left: Snow angel print: The snow angel has awakened; a snow angel's view.

This winter has been a many firsts for me - first snow ball fight, first experience walking in the snow and first snow angel made - and it will be a winter I shall never forget!

新年快乐！！！

Today is the first day of the new Lunar calendar, and Chinese (as well as Koreans and some Vietnamese too) all around the world will be celebrating to usher in the year of the Ox.

I will be out of town (or more like city) for two days as I will be visiting my friend in Virginia Water, Surrey later in the afternoon and spending a night with her. And on Wednesday, I will be going for a day trip to Leicester with a friend from work. So, I will be back to write when I am back in town.

Here's wishing a Happy New Year to all my friends near and far who are celebrating Chinese New Year! May you always have good health, happiness and success.