20100221
It was a Sunday and Aunt Nancy, Stephanie and me went to Sunday service. The church’s name was Full Gospel Church JB (FGCJB) and it is the biggest church in Johor state I guess, judging by the size and number of people attending the services. We went for Chinese Service and to be honest, I felt a little new, because I think this was my second time attending a Chinese Sunday Service. At first I was a little lost, because I’m not used to preaches conversed in Chinese but few minutes later, everything started to roll in.
The sermon was, well… compare to the non-point-formed-Hope-Stuttgart type, about 3 phases of Christianity. At first Pastor Albert Cheng (was it he?) shared about misconceptions of Christianity and holiness, including things like:
Holiness = dress codes + cool music + …
which, sadly, were something as viewed by the normal society. Then he went on and talked about the pursuit of holiness and what people, even some churches themselves, had the wrong idea over it, that the churches resemble more of the world than they resemble to God.
That brought him into his points of why we have the misconceptions:
1. Our attitude towards sin is often self-centered and not God-centered.
2. We misinterpreted Galatians 2:20
He then talked about biblical definition of Holiness based of 1. Peter 1:15-16.
But just as he who called you is holy, so be holy in all you do; for it is written: “Be holy, because I am holy.”
Then he talked about 3 stages of personal holiness and this part really opened my sight:
The first stage is salvation. This stage is about conversion and confession that we are sinners but we are all saved because Jesus has paid the price for us (salvation of our being). This also the stage where we learn to trust in Christ.
The second stage is presentation. This is the consecration part where we set ourselves apart as sacred and not to be influenced by negative elements of the earthly world. It’s a par where we give our gratitude to Christ – the presentation of our body to Christ.
The third stage is transformation. Through our conducts and characters, we are transformed into Christ-like person. This involves our obedience to God. It is the transformation of our behavior.
--
Personally, I felt blessed of this sermon. I’m probably still stuck at somewhere around the borderline of first and second stage. I should start working towards the second stage, and that’ll be one of my this year’s resolution. =)
After the sermon Stephanie went with her friends for Chinese New Year Visiting, so Aunt Nancy brought me to look around the church area and briefly told me of the history of the church: from the construction approval, then objections by the Muslims, they tried to find any illegal act in the process (which they found nothing), redraw of the structure so that it won’t be sooooo gigantic, until today, where the building stood there and extending construction on its way. Apparently the Muslims felt challenged when there’s this huge building standing up, comparing to their medium sized mosque. But still, FGCJB did nothing illegal behind the process, and they reduced the original plan, just not to provoke the Muslims in any way. So it’s like good job for the administrators of the Church =)
Then we went for some Wantan Mee and pork rice rolls (猪肠粉). According to Aunt Nancy, the rolls is actually one of the best in Johor Bahru area, and yes, I agreed with her, judging by the number of customers at the Kopitiam. After that we went back and had rest. Then we went to Jusco while I continue to look for a pair of badminton shoe. We went for Japanese Shabu Shabu at Arashi, while watching lion dance at the shop opposite. Skipped the price again. =P
Arashi Shabu Shabu
Aunt Nancy got her house gate’s remote control fixed and we walked around while waiting for Stephanie to call. After she called we went to pick her up, and went to Danga Bay.
Danga Bay
It was supposed to be tourism spot but that day the place was very quiet and hardly saw any people except those couples dating there. We walked along the bay and then we went back to where our car was parked and drove to Korean Garden Club Restaurant. I’ll skip the price part, but the food was seriously nice!
the food very nice. Price also nice. LoL.
The alcohol from Korea was damn expensive (MYR 50 per bottle) so I canceled my order.
Anyway, after that we went to the Zon, where there was a hotel and duty-free stuffs available. But it was night time already and I guess everything closed except those KTVs and clubs. Nothing much to see actually, except this:
Oh that’s my cousin’s name =)
So we went back and sent Stephanie to her grandparents’ place at Johor Jaya and we went home.
20100222
Early morning (9++ am actually ;P ) Aunt Nancy brought me into Singapore and to her office. After settling some stuffs she fetched me to NUS to meet up with Binghan. While waiting I quickly browsed through xda-developers and flashed my phone to the latest ROM for master cook Xanny. Then we went to see the Merlion
The baby Merlion
The big Merlion – GPS Photo took =)
Trying to be <del>cute</del> creative but guess I failed. Haha.
And saw a bunch of Germans cycling pass by. And saw this ‘durian’ too.
Then Binghan brought me to QQ Noodle House and had a taste of quite-alike Kolomee.
I had sudden feel of proud to be Sarawakian =)
Wet Kolomee (which actually the name don’t really make sense: ‘干捞 or dry’ in 'wet’???)
Kolomeee =)
After we’re full we went to Orchard Road. See the CCTV. Although they cannot match those that you can see in UK, but still, that’s a lot.
From Orchard Central to Takashimaya to Paragon to Ion Mall and she’s on the wall at Burberry!
Emma Watson and Burberry
I love the water work =)
Ion Mall
Then went back to KentRidge hostel at NUS. Later that Aunt Nancy came and picked me up and we went shopping =) Went to Queensway Shopping Center and bought my SGD140 badminton shoe. Then I tried Gayang Laksa. Yum yum and we went to Stephanie’s grandparents’ and stayed there.
Oh and I was headache that night and took a panadol. Which the next day got a ‘lecture’ from 公公 for just eating ONE while supposed to be TWO for grown-ups. Compliment I guess? Haha.
20100223
The next day morning I planned to take bus to down-town to meet up with Daniel, but the public transportation still as lousy as before. I waited for like 50 minutes and in the end couldn’t take it anymore, called a cab and reached City Square (CS), just in time. After met up with Daniel we went to buy KTM train tickets to Tampin to meet up with Michelle. After having everything done, we went back CS for drinks. I had honeydew milkshake.
my favorite honeydew yum yum =)
We discussed a little of the Campus Alive (CA)’s ice-breaking game and watched “Percy Jackson and the Lightning Bolt Thief”. Personally I find that the movie built up too fast and the director tried to squeeze every possible scene into the movie so it was like a little fast-forwarded Harry Potter + all those Greek myth stuffs (Zeus, Poseidon, centaurs etc) and it was weird. But still, a lot people likes it. I wonder. LoL.
Then we met up with Daniel’s brother and we went for karaoke at Neway inside CS. We extended the time without being charged and I told 婆婆 that I’ll be back around 4pm but I didn’t tell her about the extension so she was worried and called Stephanie and Aunt Nancy, thinking I might got myself lost in Johor Bahru LoL. Aunt Nancy called me, and after we gave up singing she picked me up, and ask if my that friend brought me to eat JB Bakkutteh (肉骨茶) and I told her that he didn’t hear anything about BKT other than in Klang o.0
Anyway, we went back and had dinner at grandparents’ house. I apologized to 婆婆 for making her to worry about me =(
But oh well. That’s for part 2 for now.
-------
More pictures are available at:
No comments:
Post a Comment