With Great Power Comes Great Blogability

40

2010-01-30T06:26:00.001-08:00

I waited patiently for the LORD; and he inclined unto me, and heard my cry.

He brought me up also out of an horrible pit, out of the miry clay, and set my feet upon a rock, and established my goings.

And he hath put a new song in my mouth, even praise unto our God: many shall see it, and fear, and shall trust in the LORD.

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

Yesus adalah Allahku

2010-01-10T21:41:00.000-08:00

Yesus adalah Tuhan. Yesus adalah Allah yang maha perkasa. Aku menyembahmu, Allah.

I've never really done it before. Worshipping God in another language. Recently, this happened.

The Star Online
Friday January 1, 2010
High Court grants Catholic publication Herald the right to use ‘Allah’ word again

KUALA LUMPUR: The Catholic weekly Herald is now free to use the word “Allah” in its publication after the High Court quashed the Home Minister’s prohibition against it using the word, declaring the order as “illegal, null and void.” LINK

In the aftermath, this happened.

Jan 11, 2010
3 more churches attacked
No one hurt in latest hits; Sunday services held amid tight security
By Teo Cheng Wee, Regional Correspondent
LINK

This made me think of worshipping God in Malay/Indo. Its a language that I can speak (although not fantastically well) but I don't use the language to worship God. I worship God in English. I wonder whether English speaking Chinese people (who aren't bananas like me) worship God in Chinese as well as English. I have sung a couple of Malay/Indo songs in church before. I couldn't think of one with the word "Allah" in it.

I went on YouTube to look for one and I found one by True Worshippers, the Hillsong of Indo.

Its pretty interesting to worship God in Malay/Indo.

I sometimes wish I was back in Malaysia. Its been an exciting couple of years for my country and I've been away. Not been able to experience the events firsthand. I wonder how the Christians over there feel right now. Do they feel persecuted? I think that's good. It will draw them closer to Jesus.

Now about using the word "Allah" to worship my God, it feels sorta weird but I have no qualms about it. Its a generic word from the Malay/Indo dictionary. It just means "god".

My pastor here in Melbourne is against Christians using the word "Allah" to worship God and he has his reasons for it. But I guess he just doesn't see it from the point of view of native Indo speakers. How would you feel if someday, your country's powers that be insist that you can't use the word "God" to refer to the Christian God and you had to find a substitute word. How outrageous is that?

I guess my pastor fears the word Allah because of the Islamic connotations. To me, its just like the magical folk of JK Rowling's Harry Potter world fearing the name, "Voldemort".

But Harry doesn't. Cause its just a name. Unlike the name of Jesus, the word "Allah" has no power.

When I use the word, I know who I am referring to.

Puji dan syukur kepada Allah.

I Love Jesus

2010-01-07T06:32:00.000-08:00

I love Jesus. And Jesus loves me.

“Jesus loves you” is something you may or may not have heard before. Christians do (on occasion) try to tell their friends, “Jesus loves you”. If you are a Christian, you go to church and your pastor tells you, “Jesus loves you”. It’s a fundamental Biblical truth. Every Christian knows that Jesus loves them. Question is. Do you love Jesus?

Some people try to use Jesus as a cool cultural icon (like Madonna) and wear, “Jesus is my homeboy” T-shirts.

As far as I know, Madonna ain’t Christian. Now if you were to ask a Christian about Christianity, they would most likely tell you, “I believe in Jesus. I believe in God”. That’s all fine and dandy. The Bible tells us that even the demons believe! And they shudder! (James 2:19) What you would rarely hear a Christian say are the words, “I love Jesus”. Why? Aren’t Christians meant to love Jesus? Maybe. But that’s just weird right, to say it out loud? We might weird people off. I mean, you might even think of me as a really weird guy right now. For a guy to say, “I love you” is a pretty difficult thing. It’s just not a guy thing. Maybe some guys say it to their wives and girlfriends. Furthermore, it’s totally not an Asian thing! In Asia, people tend to suppress what they feel and avoid using such expressive words. From my experience of being Asian and living in Malaysia, people tend to act cordially and are not as expressive as Western cultures because Asians are afraid of “losing face”.

I’m not trying to criticize guys or Asians here. I’m a male Asian myself! I found saying “I love you” and saying it to Jesus a very difficult thing from a young age. I was probably 5 or 6 years old in Sunday school and there was this song with these lyrics, “Touch your finger to your nose, bend from your knees and slowly touch your toes, and when you come up slowly start to sing, and sing to the Lord, ‘I love you’. I love you. I love you. Sing to the Lord, ‘I love you’.” Now I found this song the hardest song to sing because I would feel really weirded out and icky singing this song. It’s just not a manly thing to do. I’d rather sing, ‘Shine Jesus Shine’. But amazingly, after all these years, the lyrics are stuck in my head.

Fast forward 14 years. I’m on the bus with this guy from church. His name is Peter. We are on the way to Youth Camp. I’ve never had any peers with whom I could have a D&M (deep & meaningful) talk about God before. We’re Christian but no one talks about God outside Bible Study. Ironic, huh? He tells me I should read this awesome book by Philip Yancey called The Jesus I Never Knew. Suddenly, we connect on a deeper level. We weren’t really friends before, just acquaintances. Now we are what my dad likes to call “spiritual friends”. Months later he proceeds to share one of his struggles with me. He said, “I’m perplexed. The Bible says we should love God. But what does that mean? From what I understand, love is a feeling I have for my girlfriend cause she’s hot”. (I may have modified his sentence for comedic effect). He then tells me that he consults Pastor Phillips who gives him a satisfactory answer. Love is an action, not a feeling. Case closed. Now is that correct? Can women love (feeling) God because they are more emotional and ‘touchy-feely’, while men only love (action) God?

Now, I’m not saying Peter’s pastor is wrong here. But I am confident that his answer is only partially complete. I believe that we are called to love God/Jesus with both feeling and action. Now I’m not saying we have to go around and telling every single person, “I love Jesus”. In fact, I think it’s more important for Christians to tell people that “Jesus loves you”.

Now I believe that it’s customary for people (Christian or not) to look for love in the wrong places. Even when they look for love in the right places, they tend to be over-reliant on a single person for his/her love.

This is bad.

Why?

God made each and every one of us to have a loving, personal relationship with him. If we love anything, anything at all, be it boyfriend, girlfriend, wife, husband, mom, dad, son, daughter, grandpa, grandma, best friend, dog, cat, MORE than Jesus…

We won’t be fulfilled. We won’t be satisfied. Because we’re not made to live that way.

Every Christian out there knows that Jesus loves them. Not all of them experience Jesus’ love. I believe that this links directly with the fact that they don’t love (feeling) Jesus. I am open to correction, but from my experience, the more I love Jesus, the more I experience His love. Now I can hear some of you disagreeing. You say I’m limiting God. You say God can make us experience His love regardless of whether we love him or not. I don’t deny that. God is God. He can do as he wishes. But I also believe that God is not one who forces his love & intimacy upon a person who does not want it. It has to be a two way thing. It has to be reciprocated.

Now I can still hear guys saying, I can’t ‘love’ Jesus. He’s a man. I’m a man. That’s just wrong (sorry, assuming you’re heterosexual). Now, guys think of your best mate. If he left you to go somewhere far away to pursue his career, would you miss him? Would you occasionally wish for him to be around so you could play football together? If your best mate gives you a CD that he knew you wanted for Christmas, do you feel happy? What are these? Feelings, no? So if you can “love” your best mate, think about this. There’s this other guy out there who took a tremendous beating, got spit on, humiliated, endured torture, and died a horrific death just so you wouldn’t have to die.

How can we NOT love him?

iTunes Store, I am come

2010-01-05T18:23:00.000-08:00

For Christmas, a friend gave me a $20 iTunes gift card! I have done it! I have made the final step. Passing from darkness into light. Passing from a life of illegal downloads (Napster, KaZaa and Ares) to a life of legal downloads (iTunes store). My sin is abated, my conscience can breathe freely. I am not a pirate!

Buying my first song on iTunes was like a baptism of fire.

I bought the song I've been wanting to get all year but couldn't, Paper Planes by M.I.A. Possibly song of the year.

Sri Lankan-British rap superstar, M.I.A. is proof that Asians (or at least someone of Asian origin) can succeed on the global music scene.

I spent a whole day reading up on the songs of the decade and I bought a combination of old songs that I had lost and new ones.
$20 will buy you 11 songs on iTunes!!! Yaay!

1. Paper Planes - M.I.A.
2. Crazy -Gnarls Barkley
3. Chicago - Sufjan Stevens (His best song for sure)
4. Idioteque - Radiohead (Apparently best Radiohead song of the decade)
5. Maps - Yeah Yeah Yeahs
6. Seven Nation Army - The White Stripes (Best White Stripes song)
7. The Funeral - Band of Horses
8. Since I Left You - The Avalanches (Melbourne band!)
9. 99 Problems - Jay-Z (Kanye became a prick so I had to change my favourite rapper. I don't listen to rap so I only have enough space in my music world for one)
10. Us - Regina Spektor (Andrew my brother made me watch 500 Days of Summer which was good and this was one of the theme songs)
11. Fell In Love With A Girl - The White Stripes (A song under 2 minutes, the first White Stripes song I ever heard. I heard it in a clothing store in Mid Valley and I was like... these guys sound like the Beatles of the new Millennium. They're awesome)

P/S: Thanks Kallie. =)

I Love Jeans

2010-01-05T17:09:00.000-08:00

I kinda like fashion. I wouldn't say that I'm "fashionable" but I like to dress well and as far as possible, stylishly. In 2009, God put me in a position that taught me how to live on less. I almost said poverty but that would be an insult to people who are really poor. But yeah, I had to learn how to save money because not having a PR (Permanent Residency) means its very hard to get a permanent job or a job in my field in Australia. So I had to always job-hop and save. Thankfully, my dad and mom are kind and gave me a fair bit of money to survive. So I had to cut down on expenditure. Things like rent, food, transport, mobile and tithe (giving to God) are essentials and non-negotiables. My areas of interests or what I would now call luxuries are what I had to cut down on. Previously I would spend money on music, comics, books, magazines and clothes. Incidentally, 2009 was also the year I put an end to pirating music once and for all! I succeeded! Its amazing to finally accomplish one of your new year's resolutions. It never happens for me. So I had to make a difficult choice. Many loves but I can't keep em all. This was the verdict.

IN: Comics, books (Christian books -99% of the time, crucial for spiritual health)
OUT: Music, Magazines, Clothes

I still bought some CDs but only if they were really cheap. I bought no mags as far as I can remember. I also created a new rule for buying clothes. No buying clothes unless they are necessary, extremely awesome yet reasonably priced or a wardrobe staple.

So I bought 1 white shirt for work which unfortunately is ruined by paint. Still working on cleaning the paint off.
For clothes, I just love shirts. Shirts are awesome. But I have more than enough shirts so I could not justify buying any shirts this year except for the one for work.
I also love cardigans and vests/waistcoats. I have cardigans in all my essential colours (black, brown, grey, white and red) and waistcoats in black and grey.
I'm not such a huge fan of pants but I know how crucial getting good pants are. I love jeans. Shirt and jeans combo is my favourite look. The dressy shirt casualed down by jeans. Now I have a few necessary jean colours.
1. Blue (DUH) - I prefer the dark navy.
2. Black
3. Grey
4. White

Brown would be cool as well but not essential. I have brown slacks and corduroys. My most loyal trooper, my Zara Blue ones who have served me for years were dying because of an unmendable hole in one of my pockets. Trust me, I've tried mending it several times.

The idea with jeans is to get a good pair that will last forever. In my humble opinion, there is no point buying cheap jeans from sub-par brands that will not last very long. That's because jeans are the hardest working troopers in my wardrobe. So, brands like Just Jeans, Jay Jays and Cotton On (No offence to fans of these brands, I have bought stuff from there too), generic jeans won't cut it. Besides, the material isn't as good. Yes, that's right, designer jeans actually have better material (most of the time). Furthermore, generic jeans brands may not have the style or cut that I want i.e. not stylish enough.

My White Zaras were surviving due to minimal use. In 2008, I bought Grey Grabs (a local Melb brand primarily for girls which are awesome and serve me well).

I had to replace my Blue Zaras so I bought the cheapest "designer" jeans you can find on the market. Cheap Monday.

They cost about $90 and they are one of the sturdiest jeans around.

When you think of designer jeans you may think of jeans with big flashy logos, designs and insignias. That's totally not my thing. I want designer jeans with a hidden or no logo. With no embellishments. Skinny but not TOO skinny. Recently my friend Chang bought Tsubi jeans from David Jones for a reasonable price so I got excited. Tsubi is Australia's best designer jeans brand. I could justify buying proper black jeans cause my $20 Cotton On ones were used mainly for work (at cafes and Myer stockwork). I went to DJ to check it out. They were nice but not 100% what I wanted. They were a bit too skinny and there were minimal insignia adorning the jeans. I bought it anyways cause I liked it. But on the way out, I saw another pair lying on a rack. They looked brilliant. Exactly what I wanted. Skinny but not too skinny, perfectly black, no insignia and the material felt superb. The brand: superfine.

Probably not as famous as the Japanese Superdry. Japanese like their flashy jeans. superfine was as minimalistic as can be. I put them on and they felt amazing. Perfect fit and they are the most comfortable jeans I have ever bought. They are incredibly expensive as well, worth more than $300. But I bought it for more than 50% off so it was great value. I think its because the brand is obscure that people did not buy it as much. Just what I love. Indie jeans brands. Everyone usually wears Levi's, G-Star or Nudie (the most overbought designer jeans brand in Melbourne). Kelvin even asked me why I bought Cheap Monday when I could have bought Levi's. I'm like... I like the brand.

I've never blogged about clothes before but that's how much I like these jeans.

Teng. I love indie designer jeans.

'Superfine are a London based company making minimalistic, rock and roll jeans with a real London attitude. One of the first pioneers of the skinny jean silhouette. A bit punk, a bit purist, the label has led the way with clean looking denim, free from branding and embellishment. Focus has been fit and fabric and keeping the details hidden. It is stylish in its simplicity'. (Paraphrased from www.superfinelondon.com) In short, no one will even know I'm wearing designer jeans except for those in the know. Which is awesome cause I can't stand jeans with a huge "GUCCI" or "AX" plastered on its butt. I do believe that you need to spend some money to be stylish but not much. All you need is a few key purchases. Instead of buying anything and everything that looks nice, I have a plan for my "look". I only add elements that work with my "look" and will only buy clothes which are essential and will enhance my look or give it a new dimension.

The Kooks wear superfine.

P/S: I believe God is active in all spheres of life, even jeans shopping. If I had not seen the pair of superfine on the rack on the way out I would not have been this fulfilled. I truly believe it was God who made it possible and it is not a coincidence. God wants me to have jeans that are awesome cause He loves me. Amen.

Best Movie of 2009

2010-01-05T16:59:00.000-08:00

2009 was a crappy year for movies. Or so I thought. The year before there was Iron Man and The Dark Knight. This year, Transformers 2 and GI Joe crashed and burned (although to be fair, I haven't actually watched T2). Its the second last day of the year. I go and watch this new movie, Avatar. James Cameron's first in a dozen years since Titanic. Apparently, its awesome. Apparently.

Like I said for the Dark Knight in 2008, the hype is true. Its awesome! I like superheroes so I prefer the Dark Knight. But if the box office figures are anything to go by, this movie is HUGE. Already the highest grossing opening weekend EVER, beating The Dark Knight. Already THIRD on all time money list, after Titanic and LOTR: Return of the King.

Tarouk Makhto! Orange flying beast! This movie is awesome!

With only a day left of 2009, I change my mind. Maybe 2009 wasn't so bad after all.