~~~~~Being sure of My Faith~~~~~

It was Alpha day again... Well, for now, my Saturdays are always spent in church... Anyway, for today's Alpha Course topic, it's about on how can I be sure of my faith??

The first is the word of God... We must not trust only our feelings which can be changeable and may even be deceptive at times but rely instead on God's promises... In Revelation 3:20 says: Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with him, and he with me... In Matthew 28:17-20 says: When they saw him, they worshiped him; but some doubted. Then Jesus came to them and said, "All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age."... In John 10:28 says: I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one can snatch them out of my hand... Therefore, Faith is equals to taking God's promises and daring to believe them...

Second is the work of Jesus... We cannot earn God's forgiveness, but Jesus Christ died on the cross so that we might be reconciled to God... In John 3:16, it shows that God loves us and died to prove it... In Isaiah 53:6 and 2 Corinthians 5:21, it shows that He took our sins upon himself...

Third is the witness of the Spirit... When someone becomes a Christian, God's Holy Spirit comes to dwell within them... Romans 8:9 says: You, however, are controlled not by the sinful nature but by the Spirit, if the Spirit of God lives in you. And if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Christ... Firstly He transforms us from within, our characters (Galatians 5:22, 23) and our relationships... Secondly, He brings a deep, personal conviction that I am God's child (Romans 8:15, 16)...

Well, that's my Saturday for all of you... Hope all of you enjoy and will find this inspirational while you're reading this... But for now... This is JoNaThAn... signing out*...

~~~~~Let's go, CANADIAN!!~~~~~

I went back to Great Eastern, again... I went there for my farewell lunch but actually it wasn't only for me but also for XF who was leaving on that day too... Big thanks to all those who paid for our, Canadian pizza, farewell lunch... Thank you to Jeanette, Magdaline, Amanda, Yi Shan and Jocelyn...

In the evening, I finally went for my Bible Study session after so many weeks of absence... We studied on The Seven Seals and it was on the book of Revelation 6-7... It was interesting to know about the Four Horsemen as they represent God's mercy... Until today, they are given authority over only one-fourth of the earth...

Well, that's about it for today... Now it's time for God of War 2... I'm going to enjoy it... But for now... This is JoNaThAn... signing out*...

~~~~~The Visit!!~~~~~

It was the day that I decided to finally go catch the movies I wanted but before that, I wanted to go somewhere... In the early hours of noon, I had already left my house and was on my way to take the MRT... Where was I heading to?? Let me give you all a hint... I alighted at Raffles Place... Well, the answer is obvious... I went there to visit my Great Eastern colleagues... I wanted to give them a surprise but I arrived there at around 1:30pm and their lunch time was at 1pm... I went to look for them at the places where we would usually lunch out but they were nowhere to be found... My guess was that they bought back their lunch and ate in the GE's pantry... So, I decided to have my lunch at Banquet before going up to look for them... I really miss the western fried rice there... Later on, I went up to look for them... It was great to see all of them again...

Soon after that, I took the MRT back to Tampines to watch the movies at Century Square... It was 3:30pm at that time and I bought the ticket for "300" that was screening at 5:15pm... I couldn't possibly walk around for 2 hours so, I looked at the other movies that was screening earlier... Surprisingly, "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles" was screening at 3:45pm... So I decided to watch TMNT since I know that it was going to end around the time "300" starts... Well, I still prefer the cartoon for TMNT as for this one, the turtles looked much thinner... The best part of the scenes I found that the animation and graphics were cool was when Leonardo had a duel with, his brother, Raphael... My rating for TMNT, out of 5 stars, I give it a 2 or 3... For "300", it was very bloody but the storyline was excellent... It showed how they fought as a team... Can you just imagine, going out to war and only having 300 soldiers with you and you're going against over 1 million soldiers?? People would say that's suicide but not for the King of Sparta, Leonidas... When King Leonidas knew that it was only a matter of time they would live, he sends back Dilios to tell the story of the 300 men to the Spartan people... At the end, King Leonidas and the 300 men died but this showed that the Persian army, who defeated a mere 300 Spartans a year earlier with great difficulty, would now be terrified to face 10,000 Spartans and 30,000 Greeks from the other city-states... This I would rate, out of 5 stars, a 5...

Well, after a long day at the movies, it's time for me to sit back, relax and enjoy a time on my Playstation2... But for now... This is JoNaThAn... signing out*...

TMNT & 300


TMNT & 300

~~~~~Emo Sunday~~~~~

Yesterday, I went for the Alpha course in the afternoon... I guess my Saturdays will never be boring again... Going to church on Saturdays, instead of staying at home and doing nothing, it's more than a blessing from God... The topic was, "Why Jesus had to die?"... The main reason was; He died for all of our sins... Everyday, we sinned and the only one that will forgive you and me is Jesus Christ... John 3:16 says: "For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life." Can you see what God is doing here?? He sent His Son to die for us... That's truly an unconditional love that none of us have but, that doesn't mean we shouldn't strive to do so... Later that evening, I had W Cluster Bible Study session... It was another meaningful time of worship... The question that will leave all of us thinking was, "Why aren't we falling face down in the presence of God?" In Acts 9, it talks about Saul's Conversion... Acts 9:3-4 says: As he neared Damascus on his journey, suddenly a light from heaven flashed around him. He fell to the ground and heard a voice say to him, "Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?"... It shows the fear he had for God... Now ask yourself this, why isn't this happening in today's context??

Now, for the present... This morning, I went for YMPACT service... When I was worshipping after a while, I suddenly felt emotional and what came to mind was what I posted last week... After Holy Communion, I had no idea what I was going on with me... Anyway, thanks bestie for sitting beside me this morning... I'm glad to see that you're feeling better now... After that, I went with my family to have lunch at Tampines Mall Kopitiam... Since it was still very early, we decided to go to the newly opened Giant and on the way; we'll take a look around at Courts Megastore... While we were at Giant, it was so packed that we had to mosh through to walk around... We left after a few minutes of walking around as even if we wanted to buy anything, the queue was like so freaking long... So we made our way to Courts Megastore... I didn't explore much but what caught my attention was the game corner... They were advertising on Playstation 3, Xbox 360, PSP and others... I was so keen to get my hands on the Playstation 3 and finally, it was mine... I sat there playing Gundam for half an hour and the graphics was so clear and real... I can't wait when Metal Gear Solid 4 releases... We made our way home after that...

At the moment, I'm not in the right mood to do anything so I'm just going to end here for now...

Well, I'm going to play Pro Evolution Soccer 6 now... I'm playing fixture 20 at the moment under the league corner... So that's about it... But for now... This is JoNaThAn... signing out*...

~~~~~Farewell!!~~~~~

It's difficult for me to describe the feelings I'm feeling now but, what I can say is that, this week would be known to be one of the most memorable ones I'll ever have...

Let me start off with last Sunday... I was completely well enough to go to church that morning... After that we had Bible Study session on the book of Romans... It was a self-reflection topic as from what I had been through the whole week, I really needed that... After that, I got separated with my small group members and when I messaged my bestie, they were already on the bus... I had been ditched... Hey you all, no worries alright... I actually had other plans in mind too... So I called Randy and asked him whether he was free to play pool and guess what, that was a wake up call for him and it was already 12pm... Anyway, I made my way to Downtown East NTUC Resort first and since he was still on his way, I decided to play soccer at the arcade... I guess the only game I like playing there is soccer... Randy came at around 2pm and I was still playing the game... So he decided to play King of Fighter... Soon after that, we finally went to play pool... What a rare sight it was as I won Randy at the very first game... Was it by luck?? Maybe it was but I really missed playing pool with him as the last time was before CNY... The final score was 10 - 4 and I guess you all should know who scored more than the other... It was already evening when we left so; we went to Mr Prata to have our dinner... We made our way home later on... Thanks Randy for coming... I appreciate it dude... =)

Well, starting Monday, it was going to be my last week in Great Eastern... A new temporary stuff, female and my age, came to join the company... She's the friend of my colleague...

On Tuesday, during lunch time, I went with my colleagues to buy stuffs at Cold Storage and beside it, there was a Christian shop called "Acts Lifestyle"... So I decided to look around and I saw that they were having an offer on some of their CDs... It was, buy 2 and get 1 free... Then, I noticed that Planetshakers had that offer so I decided to get 3 of their albums... I only paid 44 bucks and it was worth every cent of it...

Now for Wednesday, there was another temporary stuff joining us again... Guess what, it's another female temporary stuff... So there are 6 female temporary staffs in total...

Yesterday, I had lunch with my Sis as a farewell treat... She wanted to pay for all but I refused and paid half of it... By the way, we dined at SPIZZA... I recommend all of you to try and like what Michelangelo would say, IT'S AWESOME!!

Let's get back to the present... Today was my last day at Great Eastern... I had no idea what was going through my mind... I felt happy but sad at the same time... I had no control of what I was feeling at all... One moment I was laughing and the next, I was emotional... Well, I guess I'm really going to miss all of you there... It was enjoyable and entertaining having lunch with all of you... Thank You and Take Care... I may drop by to have lunch with you all one of these days so, keep a lookout...

That's going to be it readers... I can't go on further or else I'll be sitting here and shedding tears... But for now... This is JoNaThAn... signing out*...

Magdaline and Me


Xiu Fen and Me


Jeanette and Me


Zainab, Me, Nancy(supervisor)


Me and Yi Shan


Jocelyn and Me

~~~~~Up and Running~~~~~

I'm finally, sort of, cured from my serious flu... My high fever was the hardest to take care of as for me not to perspire, that felt very uneasy... I had to keep on taking paracetamol every 6 hours and I had this numbness in both my ears due to all the medication I was on... Anyway, I am feeling much better, physically... For this week, I conclude that this was one of the worst weeks in my life due to some personal reasons and all but I shall not talk about that as it's just going to bring back all those emotional feelings... I'm sure you all understand what I mean... Don't worry people, just keep on praying and whatever the outcome, we'll just have to do with it and live life the way it is...

So for last Sunday, I didn't attend church due to my flu... I had biscuits with Milo for breakfast and chicken rice for lunch... As for dinner, I had rice with some other dishes... The most irritating part when I was on medication was that, everything I ate was tasteless... All the food tasted so bad and all I wanted to do was to sleep, sleep and sleep even more... I could hardly do anything...

On Monday; I stayed at home instead of going to work due to the same reason... I had biscuits with Milo for breakfast and lunch... That was most probably the only food that had some taste... As for dinner, my Mum bought for me McDonald's and it tasted so bad... I couldn't even enjoy the French Fries with my condition...

As for Tuesday, I didn't go to work again but I decided to go to my Grandparents' place... I just couldn't stand anymore staying at home and not going out of the house... I really needed a breather and some walking...

For Wednesday, I was feeling much better but I wanted one more day of rest so I didn't go to work once again... My medicine was dried out and my fever was gone finally... I had only my lozenges left...

Now for Thursday, I finally went to work and you should have seen how many stacks I had to scan... I only managed to scan 214 policies, which was a good start after getting well...

Yesterday, I went to work but I didn't go for Bible Study session again as I wasn't allowed to stay out too late since I am still on the road to recovery... Well, I managed to scan 204 policies at work as I had no idea why my nose kept running... I kept on sneezing...

Well, going for Alpha course, at my church, with my Mum now... This is my first time going for Alpha course and I can't wait to see how it'll turn out to be... But for now... This is JoNaThan... signing out*...

~~~~~Home for the Weekends!!~~~~~

My illness wasn't getting any better and I actually woke up at 10am on a Saturday... I was awoken by this fire feeling burning within me... I realised I had a fever but it wasn't that bad as I wasn't shivering, only felt very hot... That reminds me of Ghost Rider but anyway, my Mum woke up a few minutes after me and she accompanied me to the doctor... Thanks Mum... So when the doctor checked my temperature, I couldn't believe what I heard... He said my temperature was 38.7 Degree Celsius... No wonder I felt that I was breathing out hot air... So he prescribed me with, paracetamol, flu medicine, cough mixture and lozenges... I am feeling much better now after taking my medication regularly... I don't feel anymore chest pains while coughing...

Well I hope that I'll get well soon as it's not a joy to be sick, especially when you have a fever, you really have to put in the effort to take care of yourself... Take care of yourselves people, those who are sick as well... But for now... This is JoNaThAn... signing out*...

~~~~~Aftershock?? Aftereffect??~~~~~

Such a lousy week due to various reasons... Before I start off on the present day, I shall summarise this past week first...

Last Sunday, I had a hard time waking up for YM due to the lack of sleep and not only that, I had to endure the "zombie" body while I was in church... But despite all of the tiredness within me, I told myself I had to go to church no matter what as it's a blessing to be in the Father's house... So during worship, I still had that hyped in me and worshipped with all I got and just forgetting how tired I was... Anyway, I stayed in church till 2pm as we had Bible Study session and had lunch after that... I went back home taking the same bus with the remaining SG mates...

As for Monday, nothing much went on except that 2 new female temporary staffs, same age as me, just joined us... Great, now there are four of them and only leaving me as the only temporary male staff left in that section... Guess what, usually there's a contract staff that would join us for lunch and he was on leave and thus, leaving me to have lunch with all the 4 ladies... I thought that I would feel like "extra" but I was wrong... Although they talked about JC stuffs, I wasn't left out as I had to be the "crapper"... So, at the end of the day, it wasn't a regret lunching with them...

Tuesday was a whole different experience at the office... It was around noon time and suddenly, I had a bad headache and felt very giddy so I thought that I may had worked too hard and needed a break but it was weird when I heard my colleagues saying they also felt giddy... After 5 to 10 seconds, we were feeling better and everybody was in shocked... We had no idea whether we had to evacuate the building or wait for further instructions... Our supervisor then received an email, coming from the security officer, that there was an earthquake in Sumatra, causing tremors around the central parts of Singapore... It was my first time experiencing tremors and no kidding, it was scary and to add on to that, I am working on the 13th floor... For the entire day, I just couldn't shake off that fear and I kept feeling giddy for no reason... Later on, I was supposed to go to Funan the IT Mall to collect a freebie for my Grandfather as he bought a MP3, which comes along with this freebie, an earpiece... Correction, a Sennheiser earpiece... So anyway, I planned to go there after work and guess what, when I reached City Hall and went up the escalator, it was raining so heavily that I could hardly see what's in front of me so, I went back home... What a waste of money on such a freaked out day...

Now for Wednesday, finally it was one sunny day and I could go and collect for my Grandfather... Surprisingly there were only 2 customers they had to serve so, after 5 minutes or so, it was my turn to collect the freebie... FINALLY, MISSION COMPLETE!!

Yesterday straight after work, I went to Simei to cut my hair... Now the weird thing was that last night, I was starting to cough for a reason that I could not put my finger on... So I was chatting with one of my dudes, who went for the Fall Out Boy concert, and he told me that he was starting to feel sick... Upon hearing that, I can conclude that we fell sick due to the concert as we have no clue how much sweat, or even saliva, went into our mouths while we were screaming and enjoying ourselves... Still, it was the most awesome concert...

Now back to the present... I was coughing the whole entire day at the office like as if I was going to cough out blood sooner or later... I had a hard time at the office today... Anyway just now after work, I went to meet Jeremy at Suntec as we went there to view the IT Show 2007... Most of the items there were almost the same as last year's... So, in the end, Jeremy got himself a thumb drive and I got myself a DVD-R CD ROM... Jeremy then went to have dinner with his parents and church peeps and I went back home to have my own McDonald's dinner, which I regretted having with my current throat's condition...

Well, I better go drink lots of water now and turn in soon... But for now... This is JoNaThAn... signing out*...

~~~~~FALL OUT BOY!!~~~~~

Around noon time, I went to meet Lester to play pool at Downtown East NTUC Resort... After an hour or so, we were feeling hungry as we had not taken our lunch so the final score was 3-3... We had our late lunch at Subway...

Later after that, we made our way to the Max Pavilion at Singapore Expo for the FALL OUT BOY concert... Anyway, Lester and I went to meet Caylynn and Siang Kang before we started queuing... It was packed... There were already some warm up moshing even before we entered the hall as everybody was rushing through the gates... I had no idea why were all those people so "kia su" but anyway, when we went in, we were in between the front row of people and center row... Please note people, when it's free standing and it's a concert, it's advisable not to be caught in the middle as I confirm you that you'll get one heck of a mosh... By the way, Jeremy and his Brother joined us later on and guess what, they were actually at the back but got moshed all the way to the front where the four of us were standing... Now back to the concert... They started off with a band from Indonesia but I forgot their name... After that, it was Saw Loser... They were alright but it was slightly way too long... We went there to watch Fall Out Boy, not Saw Loser... Finally, the main stars were out... Fall Out Boy started off with, "Our Lawyer Made Us Change The Name of This Song So We Won't Get Sued" as their opening song... Their second song was, "Sugar, We're Going Down"... There were a whole lot of songs they played but I'm not going to list them all as, I couldn't remember... At last, they ended off with four of their famous songs... To be exact, it's five but I couldn't recall one of them but anyway, the first one was, "This Ain't A Scene, It's An Arms Race"... The second was, "I Slept With Someone In Fall Out Boy And All I Got Was This Stupid Song Written About Me"... Followed up by, "Dance, Dance" and their finale song was, "Saturday"... It was one freaking awesome concert that's worth the 77 bucks, the wait, the sweat and all that moshing... Well, the moshing was way too havoc but we managed to survive at the end, feeling all dizzy, ears numb and jelly legs... Still, I conclude it's the best concert ever... FALL OUT BOY ROCKS!!

Well, it's time for me to eat my very late dinner... So here are some pictures from pool and the Fall Out Boy concert, videos included... But for now... This is JoNaThAn... signing out*...

Lester playing pool


Me playing pool


Indonesian Band


Saw Loser


FALL OUT BOY


FALL OUT BOY


FALL OUT BOY


FALL OUT BOY


Me and Lester

~~~~~Can't Wait!!~~~~~

Last Sunday, I didn't hang in church for long as I had to go for my CNY visiting... So, straight after YM, my Sis and I made our way to our Aunt's house while my Mum took a cab to fetch my Grandparents and cousin... When we were there, all of us played Bingo while my Aunt and Uncle prepared the dining table for the lunch they cooked for all of us... Finally, lunch was served and it was yummy... We stayed a while more to play another round of Bingo and guess what, I won... It was the last round and just to make it exciting, we had to get a full house and I was the second one to get it... First was my cousin but my Aunt said it wasn't counted as he's not supposed to be playing in the first place so I got a grand prize... Ferrero Rocher... The other two cousins of mine got smarties too... Later on, my Sis went to meet her friends at Sentosa while my Mum and I made our way to Tampines Mall... We went there for a main purpose and that was, to purchase the Fall Out Boy concert ticket... Well, to be exact, it was only me who purchased it but anyway, it cost me 77 bucks... It was supposed to be 75 bucks but due to GST, 2 bucks extra... YEAH!! I can't wait till tomorrow...

From Monday till Today, it was work, work and more work... Oh yes, forgot to mention that I'm the only temporary guy staff left in my section... The last guy left on Wednesday and Yesterday, it was another female staff that joined us... Guess what, the new female staff is also the same age as me... Did I mention that the previous lady who has worked for a month already is also the same age as me?? Well, now the three of us are 18 going on 19 but I'm the only guy there... I shouldn't make it sound so "suffering" but well, the truth is that, I don't mind but I got a feeling that it's going to be very quiet again...

So that's my entire week... It's been raining for the past three days and I really hope that tomorrow is going to be one sunny and cooling day.... Tomorrow is going to be an arms race, if you know what I mean... Well, it's the time for me to hold my controller and start playing some games first before I hit the sack... But for now... This is JoNaThAn... signing out*...