pride?

Today was my last day for my dad's trip. He's heading home to Seremban today at 2pm. Unfortunately I couldn't send him off because I had to serve in church this morning...

During dinner, mum told me something that made me probably regret my action. She said dad was most likely hurt by what I said the previous night though he didn't show it... for the actions that I made.

What happened last night was that dad gave me $300NZD just a present before going off,something he normally does before he goes away each trip. I told dad that it was fine since I've finished uni and he doesn't have to give me anymore pocket money. And plus I remembered that I had some money I collected from the ATM machine yesterday. You see, dad paid for my flight from KL to Mel initially saying that I can avoid extra credit card charges because he had a Malaysian credit card.So I promised to pay him back the next day...

So I gave him the pocket money back plus the amount of money I owed him for the flight ticket. Maybe there was pride in me because I knew that I didn't want to depend on my dad so much more especially because I had finished uni. I saw some male ego of mine today. Anyhow I did not mean in anyway to offend you, dad. If I did I apologize. It's probably the stage where I want to be independent of myself and stop depending and relying on you. So that was what I was thinking last night...

I know the efforts and sacrifices you have to made to provide the best to your family, something that I will learn too very well from you to provide for my family in the future. But I love you dad, you're an awesome guy. Though I know you don't show it obviously, but deep down I also know that you love me, and I love you too. But guess what, my God loves you too. And He can be your God if you accept Him into your heart. I'm continuously praying for your salvation Dad. One thing that I fear the most, is that you not being able to go to heaven with us. And if its not heaven, its the other end people will end up...hell... and hell is not a really nice place.

John 14.6 says:
Jesus said, "I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one can come to the Father except through me.

Through him...No other religion said that they are the only way to heaven where we are given eternal life. But Jesus said: " I am THE way!" I think I told u many time, but Jesus came to die for our sins so that we can have that direct relationship with God. God loves us so he sent his son to die for us. But Jesus is not in the grave... After 3 days, Jesus rose again from the grave. And the bible says that He is now sitting at the right hand side of The Father.

Christianity is not a religion dad, its a relationship. Jesus is real. its not just some statue that people worship. God has been amazing in my life and I really want you to experience the same goodness that I have experienced from God. Anyhow, I have prayed and will continue to pray frequently for you (and your salvation). I believe God will slowly reveal Himself to you. Thank you for being a great dad to me!

I love you Dad.

Hmmm...

I don't know exactly what i'm feeling...
but i think its anxiety...yikes

Part Time Job

I applied for a part time job as a tutor for a gifted child just about 4 hours ago and just got a call from the mother. Apparently this very gifted 3 and half year old child is able to read materials for a 7 to 8 year old child. On top of that, he is also able to do basic math and little bit of multiplication and subtraction.

I offered to go over this Saturday to see if I would be able to help. Hopefully all goes well. She is offering 20AUD an hour.

Mum said it might not be worth cause my traveling time is about 2 hours or slight more, through and fro. But I really do hope i get this part time job cause it would definitely help me learn more about children, especially extremely gifted ones like this.

By His stripes we are healed

"Yet it was our weaknesses he carried;
it was our sorrows that weighed him down.
And we thought his troubles were a punishment from God,
a punishment for his own sins!

But he was pierced for our rebellion,
crushed for our sins.
He was beaten so we could be whole.
by his stripes we are healed ."
Isaiah 53:4-5

Praise the Lord, my soul, and do not forget how kind He is.
He forgives my sins and heals all my diseases.
He keeps me from the grave and blesses me with love and mercy.
He fills my life with good things, so that I can stay strong and young like an eagle.
Psalms 103:1



My Father, Lord, and King, and Friend, I thank you for carrying our sins, illness and diseases onto the cross, that you died for us burdening of those yucky stuff because you love us so much. I have faith and believe that by Your stripes all believers are healed. I have faith and believe that no weapons formed against us will proper. I have faith and believe You have heard our prayers and have seen our tears, therefore, You will heal us.Let us hold on tightly to Your word and declare victory over our lives each day! Wohooo..

purity

Let not your heart be troubled: ye believe in God, believe also in me.
John14:1

Whatever is bothering my thoughts and heart right now I commit it to you buddy.

Please take care of it for me. thanks. Amen.

Note of Appreciation

Thanks for being an awesome friend of mine.
Thanks for all the encouragement.
Thanks for all the compliments given.
Thanks for caring.
Thanks for giving.
Thanks for just being you.... =)

long life

So, you want long life ?

Ephesians 6:1 states

Children, obey your parents because you belong to the Lord, for this is the right thing to do. "Honor your father and mother."

This is the first commandment with a promise: If you honor your father and mother, "things will go well for you, and you will have a long life on earth!!."

How cool is that ?

So friends, if you want to be successful or long life, start of by honoring your parents. LOL. bless u.

Wolfman

Just got back from a movie with a friend I seldom get a chance to talk to...
She didn't want anybody to know I went out with her, so she's anonymous.
Rated R16, the movie was full of gore.LOL
I enjoyed it though I think she was hiding her face through out the movie (sometimes emitting whining sounds)
LOL..poor thing.

But definitely not the worst horror movie I watched....lol



Anyway it was a fun night and I enjoyed the company.
Couldn't imagine staying at home on a Friday night =D

Encouragement and Reminder

I had a pretty long chat with Richard through msn just now. It was then that I realize how much my family health history has affected him. Being told that I have a high chance of getting a certain illness was not easy for me. I realize that it also affects others who care. Since young, my mum has been very careful with my food intake. As the saying goes, prevention is always better than cure.

Besides being very careful with my own health, I have learned to not fear BUT trust in God. I would like to share a few verses that I hold on dearly to. I do hope it will help you too, Richard, not only with what you're worrying about concerning me but also in other areas of your life be it now or in the future.

I no longer worry.....nor fear. Cause I have the peace of God. I know He is taking care of me. Being at peace and staying calm despite what the doctors say, having faith in God and trusting God.

"Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus."
Philippians 4:6-7

Your father knows what you need before you ask him. So do not worry, saying 'What shall we eat?' or 'What shall we wear?' For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Today's trouble is enough for today.
Matthew 6:8b, 31-34

I have given on life to God and I believe He has and will continue to take care of me... I know that in times of troubles, sickness and trials, He hears my prayers and will protect/save/help/rescue me from any harm...

When the righteous cry for help, the Lord hears, and rescues them from ALL their troubles.
Psalm 34:17

Those who love me, I will deliver; I will protect those who know my name. When they call to me, I will answer them; I will be with them in trouble, I will rescue them and honor them. With long life I will satisfy them, and show them my salvation.
Psalm 91:14-16

I am reminded always that my God is always with me.. despite of what I think and feel. I am reminded to be strong and be of good courage. In times of sorrow and sadness, God is with me and that He strengthens me. I also know that even in my weakness, I am made strong.

Be strong and courageous; do not be frightened or dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.
Joshua 1:9

So do not fear, for I am with you; do not be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you; I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.
Isaiah 41:10

But he said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness." Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ's power may rest on me. That is why, for Christ's sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong.

2 Corinthians 12:9-10

Last but not least, the short scene below explains very bluntly how great and awesome our God is. Why should we fear and be afraid when we have God on our side? Have faith, for faith as small as a mustard seed moves mountains! what more the sickness/illness/disease we experience....

"A furious squall came up, and the waves broke over the boat, so that it was nearly swamped. Jesus was in the stern, sleeping on a cushion. The disciples woke him and said to him, "Teacher, don't you care if we drown?"

He got up, rebuked the wind and said to the waves, "Quiet! Be still!" Then the wind died down and it was completely calm.

He said to his disciples, "Why are you so afraid? Do you still have no faith?"

They were terrified and asked each other, "Who is this? Even the wind and the waves obey him!"

Mark 4:37-41

Be strong and of good courage my friend. Have faith. Your confidence in our God affects me, for some reason... Let us continue to encourage each other emotionally and spiritually. Let's not fear of what the future holds. Let's not fear of what the devil has against us, for our God reigns over all! Be excited of the future our God has for us for God has plans to prosper us and not to harm us!! woohooo!!! =)

p.s. thanks for all your prayers.. really do appreciate it. =)

Forward Worship

Received an email from Dan who is our young adults, "Forward" worship ministry leader.

Felt encouraged by what he wrote. All I have to say is that I'm still praying and waiting for God to speak to me to move church.

Else, I won't budge...Yup, I'm that stubborn .

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Hi Richard,

Hope you home safe, and had a great time overseas.

Ive Got a gift waiting for you.
Hope to catch you at church sunday morning???


I also would have liked to have gotten together and spoken to you before hand, but with having a busy life and yourself being a global man,
that hasn't happened so far...

I want to say to you that, I have been watching you in main teem for the last year, and i see a great depth of talent there.
I know that you may think that there is a wealth of awesome talent on the team (jakes,steve, carly), but to be honest, I think your are just as awesome, if not more.

I believe you have a real spirit of honour when it come times for preparation, and attitude.
And i realy want to lean on you this year with the forward team. And I realy need you to be one of my right hand guys...... (if there is such a thing).

This year with forward, were re Branding it a little....
Giving it its own style as to offer something different in the life of the church, Injecting more fun into it... Striving to be more creative with both music and the new "Creative" team.

In terms of the band, we have a core list of songs..
And im wanting to try be more creative between songs, and writing stuff.
Also having prayer/devotion time 6:15pm before we start practice...

This time is for us to come together as a team, and go after God's heart beofre we start practicing....

Our next session is next wednesday.. i've got you down on first keys..
Feel free to as any questions, and if you'd like to catch up and chat re FORWARD please feel free.

Hope to see you sunday.

Kind Regards
DC

FORWARD song Core List 2010

Praise:
- Freedom is here
- No Reason To Hide
- Your Name High
- In The Mistery
- Run
- More then Anything

Worship:
- Sing To the Lord
- You Saw Me
- Yahweh
- The Wonder of your Love
- You Hold Me Now
- To Know Your Name
- He Is Lord
- High and lifted up

This wanting to look at:
CCC Oxfordfalls : FEAR NOT
Jesus Culture : I Exalt Thee

p.s. all the above praise and worship are hillsong songs from albums (Faith Love Hope - A Cross The Earth)
Not all are up on the portal yet....

Daniel Conolly
Musician/Teacher
021 049 1849
billydconolly@hotmail.com

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Phew......thank God.

Last night when I was lying on my bed and I was thinking and thinking like I always do when I can't sleep, or more of the cause of the reason why I can't sleep.

Suddenly, I remembered about my trap design job! and the my work progress which I have kept in my pen drive. I jumped out of my bed when I remembered that my pen drive was empty and that I have deleted it by mistake when I wanted to bring an empty pen drive to the China trip with me. Cold sweat ran down my face....

A little panic I went searching for backups on my computer. But couldn't seem to find any because I was a complete EGG to not have any backups despite having several similar incidents like this before. I just do not learn.

But just to cut the story short. My friendly techie had a copy of it when I asked him to check my work for me.Thank God he didn't delete it. Also, thanks to Shannon who attempted to help me recover my deleted files in my pen drive. It didn't work unfortunately. But I thank her for the support.

Feels good to be back

Finally after a few weeks overseas in Shanghai and Hong Kong, I finally arrived back in Auckland. How do I feel ? Even though Auckland is relatively darn boring and requires me a little while to adapt back, I have to say there's no place like home where my family is. I missed them and learn to appreciate them even more.

There's one person I want to thank---> Shannon Choong. She has been amazing person just keeping my blog alive and praying for me so frequently! lol. Thought I wouldn't be able to communicate with her when I was in China but seemed that we have been texting and calling each other very often esp during the end of the trip lol. The comfort of sitting in front my computer is something I missed too. Ahhh...feels good to type again on my sexy keyboard and listen to nice jazz music.

This trip has been an amazing experience. Opened my eyes really wide. God has created such a beautiful country and there's so much out there to be done. I really thank God for this opportunity that he has given me to travel out of my comfort zone in Auckland.

So again, I want to thank my family and friends who have been such amazing people to me during the trip. The Zhang family has been a tremedous blessing to me by having me stay with them for the pass weeks in shanghai.


I miss Lai Fu, the Zhang's pet dog, who has always showed domination over me by humping my leg each time he sees me lol.



I also miss the interesting life in China, and mostly, THE FOOD ! OMG :(



But the one thing that I do not miss is the arguments that happened during the trips between my friends. Tears, swears, and hurt were caused by too much egos between the guys that friendships were just so torn apart so easily. I can't believe an incident can tear apart good friendship which were formed for the pass 4 years. I pray for bonds to be reformed through the name of Christ and so that the devil has no place to destroy such good friendships.



In conclusion, I really wish to go traveling (once I have save up enough $$)again to see the marvelous creations of God across the globe. Well, at least I know Melbourne is next destination =D

Touched

Really didn't expect you to call me... cause you told me you ran out of credit.

THANK YOU SO SO MUCH!!!
Thanks for being the first one to wish me "Happy Birthday!"
You broke my best friend's record!!! LOL

Thanks in advance for the gift too... really do appreciate it.
Thanks for making my day!!!!

btw, i sent you a text after you hung up.. but you had already switched off your phone.

1 more day

I don't know how I feel after you told me .......
maybe am thinking too much again.
Anyway, thanks... thanks for telling. =)

1 more day till you fly back to Auckland, to your family.
I know you already had lots of fun but hope you'll enjoy your last day in Hong Kong.
Will be praying for your flight back home.

3 more days!!!!

SOON, i'm gonna get to hear Richard's stories of his close to a month trip to Shanghai and Hong Kong... Provided he still remembers them. LOL

I got so bored recently that i started painting my nails with extreme colours... I hardly paint my nails and when finally do, i paint them black and classic red. HAHA.. thanks to Sui Li....

5 more days

till I turn 22.....
Dad is going to give me his Nikon D60 as my birthday gift, Ah Ko is going to pay half the price of my Crumpler laptop bag. That's all I know of what I'm gonna get on my birthday.

How do I feel about turning 22?
Nothing really special... I'm just getting older, hopefully wiser and more mature. God has been amazingly great in mercy, love and grace towards me throughout my 22 years of life.

What would I expect in the year to come?
Expecting a lot of changes. Gonna be (not too sure yet) serving in another church, moving out of the current place by mid year, meeting lots of new friends and hopefully make some really really good and close friends I can relate to in Melbourne. Am also expecting myself to maintain or do better in my psychology papers.


Had this really random dream last night...was affected by it the whole day. I pray and hope that dream will never come to past.


Richard sang his heart out today at a Kbox in Hong Kong, have no idea what he did the rest of the day.. But i guess he is probably sleeping as dead as a log on his bed now. LOL. Got a little bit tooooooo used to chatting with him at night that I feel a little uneasy not chatting with him tonight. Not exactly a good thing I guess...

Anyway, I played minesweeper tonight to entertain myself... I think am getting pretty good at it now. I guess I stand a pretty good chance of winning the next time I'm playing against Richard! You better watch out!!!! *hehe*

Bodoh-ness

I bought RM20 worth of iTalk to call Ricahrd. Thinking it would be cheaper than texting or calling him... Never in my imagination would I have thought they would actually charge both ways!!! Ish!!!! NONSENSE Telecom people....

Now I have to think of a way to use up the left over Rm12 in a way that the other party won't get charged.

Things one should meditate on

.... Whatever things are TRUE, whatever things are NOBLE, whatever things are JUST, whatever things are PURE, whatever things are LOVELY, whatever things are of GOOD REPORT, if there is any virtue and if there is anythings praiseworthy- meditate on these things.

Philippians 4:8

A reminder given to me by Pastor Lisa Chin: do not occupy your mind with negativity. Instead, fill it with good thoughts, thoughts that would bring joy, thoughts that would lift one up, thoughts that would help one grow as a person.