Blast from the past

dear kerryn, i think u will be happy to know that your previous post is not something new... 7 years (!!) ago, yours truly blogged about what you mentioned. I will reproduce it below and hopefully, it encourages you that you are not alone! :D

love, debra

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October 2, 2003

you know what? im all ready for a post about life. at last! haha.

you know how sometimes life… no, God… just works so miraculously? haha if my friend reads this she’ll be quite amused. but i needta share it. so there i was sitting in front of my comp… invisible on icq. there i go being anti social again. then i see my fren! so shud i msg her? i did. and we started chatting… and then i apparently “inspired” her personal statement… or so she claims but lets just take her word for it :) anyway i read it and it was good. so if i didnt make the first step… this whole chain of events wouldnt have occurred! and im sure many other stuff happen to us in very much the same way. ahhh the beauty of life.

but you know sometimes u feel so down and out. then suddenly it seems that life is meaningless and full of crap. and no one really seems to care at all. especially during the prelims… when all i did was stay home to mug. wake up mug eat a bit mug. mugmugmug. i really feel that singapore’s mugging society is exerting a negative externality on our lives. pardon the economic jargon. but seriously, other parts of our lives get distorted. suddenly our whole focus is on the 4As… well not tt for me but yeh. what happens to our families… friends… pursuing what we like? suddenly all that has to be put on hold cos we wanna muggggggg. maybe im exaggerating a little here but that was how i really felt then. like my life had to be put on hold cos i need to mug man.

then i have to remind myself… hey life is so short. the one hour of mugging probably wouldnt yield as much marks as the happiness u get frm doing something u like for awhile. seriously… then u think of the times u wanted to pon sch to mug… did ponning school actually help much?? and for that u forgoed time spent with ur class. “in the long run we are all dead.” forgot which guy said that but the econs s pple prob know. now thats like my fav quote i ever received frm econs. its so apt. sometimes i really wish i had the courage to do what i want. i wanna quit sch and go pursue my dreams!! oh wait. then i realise that in this whole lifetime of mine… ive been so busy keeping up with this fast paced society that i no longer know what i want to do! it was easy saying i wanna be a vet, a teacher (now i cant believe i wanted to teach…. and eat chalk and get snide remarks frm my students?!)… but in the end they vanish. cos reality is most of the time not what we idealize it to be. (hahaaa just like a pc market is never really quite applicable to the economy.)

oh well so i guess thats where faith comes in. for people with religions… a light shines at the end of the tunnel. in the long run… we wont be all dead cos most religions believe in an afterlife.. er if im not wrong. hee ok dun kill me if i generalised that. ah but u see most pple our age dun have religions! ok maybe i generalised that too. what im trying to say is… with all that mugging and stuff… has anyone started to think about the meaning of life?? i kinda went thru that stage last yr. i dunno… perhaps we r too comfortable in the material world we live in. everything is so seemingly perfect. why spoil it by thinking about the end of days. or what happens after that last breath u take. i know some cynics who scorn religions. they think that its just a way of trying to escape from reality and the brutality of life. hm maybe it is, maybe it isnt. we will all find out… in the long run.

you know somehow i dunno whether to post this post. haha. what the heck i will.

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Need to stop this ranting habit once I get a chance to blog

Seems like the further into JC I progress, the less motivated I am to mug. I hate that word. To mug. It's so... factory-like. Like a production process, not a journey of self discovery or learning. As if the greatest our human minds were made for are to absorb and memorize information without really contemplating its true meaning and purpose in our lives and world. My teachers call me a mugger. I beg to differ. They don't know me.

On many other occasions I have sat by the window(yes really) and thought about what I want from my life. And mugging my minutes away seems like such a waste of time. I don't like letting my grades or leadership achievements determine my worth. Surely we're better than that. I don't like to have to care about whether my results are stable or fluctuate, by how many percent they've grown. All I need to know is that I have learnt something about this world I'm living in and that that is slowly helping me to build on my knowledge bank. I don't want to fit my answers into the formats and limits of essay topics. If you had to set a limit then that isn't a true answer, I feel. By limiting, you're suppressing opinions that do not fit into the equation, your equation. And by suppressing opinions, you're not letting others express how they truly feel just because you feel its out of the topic.

A friend once told me why she doesn't read anymore. She said that she loves books and she loves language. But by reading one book, that would pull you magnetically into its world for hours, you'd be wasting time that would be better spent on mugging. Again. That dreaded word. Really? Reading is a waste of time? Just because I do not choose to invest my time into bettering my grades doesn't mean it's a waste. I find more meaning in reading than in memorizing your stupid technical phrases. It would be more pragmatic to do the latter, of course. Those who mug more may see greater visible returns in results, but if isn't what makes you happy, then what's the point?

There's this popular question that Chinese teachers in secondary school used to like to ask. They ask us, "Do you study for yourself, or for your parents?" Hard question to answer. It's like the existentialist theme all over again. Is your duty to yourself, or to society? Which do you focus more on? It has often been suggested in Kafka's 'The Metamosphosis' that one needs to have a balance of both in order to finds happiness and success in life. And now, after years of thinking, I finally have an answer.

First, let us make clear what 'studying' means. And because this isn't an essay, I'm sure I have the liberty to define it as I like. Studying for me encompasses two main components. There is the learning and real accumulation of knowledge, where we truly feel empowered by what we learn and slowly construct our own opinions not for essays or for answers, but out of personal convictions and principles. The second part of studying is pure mugging. Senseless memorizing and practising just to give them what they want. Methodological and systematic.

(Disclaimer: Most of how we mug nowadays is a mix of both components because you cannot have the second without first having at least a bit of the first, I find. But the second form is more prevalent because it is more advantageous results-wise)

Now, to answer the question of who I study for, I learn for myself, and I mug for both my parents and for my future(because if I don't mug now, there would be lesser opportunities in the future for me to accomplish the first form of studying that I mentioned above). I'm not quite sure if you get it, because I have a tendency to spout things that don't quite make sense to others and I have no other way of explaining it in a way that would be more coherent. This is how I can best articulate my thoughts.

Maybe you think that this is just how I console myself for not doing as well as my counterparts in school. I can actually agree. But then again, I do not want my happiness to depend solely on grades. How sad would that be? There so many other things in life worth celebrating but because we never stop to look or listen, we miss out on all these simple pleasures. It's the same way I never quite understood why people like to bring their office-working habits back home. Efficiency is important in the corporate world, that we all know, but is there any real need to enforce it at home as a value? Sometimes you just have to slow down and let things take its course. Don't rush, focus on quality, not speed.

But like so many other times, this is just wishful thinking on my part. I need to stop being so idealistic yet my personal principles disallow me to.

*looks up at the wall of text*

Crap I can't believe I ranted that much. I'm supposed to be doing vectors now ugh.

"Life goes on."

Hello guys, I won't be in class this coming Sunday again. I know no one cares but I'll still say it anyway.

You don't know how much it pains me to miss Sunday School! I wish I had Sunday School every day instead of Math lectures, instead of PE, instead of Geography(Okay, maybe only for the topics I don't like). Can we have remedial Debra?

On another note, if your personality is anything like mine, and you're desperately in need of some discipline and motivation to study, then looking up poetry online on Google is not the way to go.

Seriously. Love poems are amazing.

(Emily Dickinson and Robert Frost are my two favourites <3>

Anyways, have fun to all of you in church camp! *waves* I'm just trying to, you know, jive this blog up. Not really helping, but still. It's comforting to see new posts, even if they're all by me.

Meanwhiles, I'll sulk here in sunny humid Singapore and try to fill my mind with theories and concepts about the global production chain, the rise of China and India, tertiarisation, possible armed confict between China and US, and sigh, TOYOTA(the most meaningless, I find). On the other hand, studying has been really rewarding lately because I learnt about the IMF and WTO and how they, as supranational organs created to deal with global financial and trade issues and disparities, have not exactly been super successful. THAT was the only interesting thing I felt I learnt. Other than that, I don't want to learn about why firms and governments work the way they do in the economy. It disgusts me. Everyone's just out for their own profit and monetary gain and I go round and round in circles driving at the same point. Tedious. Boring.

But as Robert Frost says, "Life goes on."
(Yeah I went to look up quotes too. I'm obsessed with this stuff)

I really miss Sunday School :(

Greetings once again!

This is in response to Huihan's post. If you guys didn't know, I was at my friend's church yesterday being the moral support of my other non-Christian friend who wanted to visit her church :X Not a very mind-blowing experience, I actually find that their church service is largely similar to ours, give and take minor things like the sequence of certain things and the fact that she's in English service.

BUT the point here is that I really Really REALLY missed Sunday School! Yes, I truly did! You guys have no idea HOW much I look forward to Sunday School every week, it being the only lesson where I can learn without the academic pressure weighing down on me and also where I learn about stuff that's interesting and really makes me think and reflect. It's one of the few meaningful activities that are present in my life. I do treasure it(and I hope I won't have to change class next year as well). And pffft, there's no Sunday School this coming sunday because it's church camp. *sobs*

I really think we should have a class outing, like, get to know each other OUT of sunday school, you know? But well that's just my idea and if you're for it too, then keep it in mind and we'll try to bring it up during the next sunday school lesson.

I am honestly so bad at self discipline. I suck at it. I resolve to do something, but that's as far as it goes. It remains a plan, the actions don't get carried out. I always end up day dreaming, it's like an escape mechanism that automatically kicks in whenever I'm in situations where I'm unhappy or feel confined in. And it sure doesn't help that one of the things I hate doing during studying is organisation and consolidation of information. I hate fragmenting them into little sections, I hate compartmentalizing them. In fact, most teachers despise and discourage this act of separating information into clean little blocks because it hinders flexibility.

But then, they demand clear structured essays which they insist is the only way that clarity of thought and intellectual capacity can be shown on paper. And because I can never structure things properly, I end up sectioning off my bits of information from each other and hating myself for being so inflexible during essay-writing. Why is narrative writing inferior to analytical, structured writing? WHY? I actually find that the latter is the one writing style that limits your creativity, which in turn restricts your ability to think freely and properly and come up with your own opinions. Opinons that you have not because you need to show an opposing side or an 'on the other hand' in essays, but REAL opinions that you feel for and will fight for, and will defend to the very end.

Sometimes I think the entire thing contradicts itself. Actually, I still do, but let's not go there.

I need to stop digressing.

Oh, I've added one more issue to my prayer list - the ongoing genocide in Darfur, Sudan. This is the first time a genocide's ever been officially termed and acknowledged to be a genocide while it is still going on. There are humanitarian aid workers and peacekeepers trying to end it, but somehow the remoteness of the area and the lack of cooperation is proving to be a real problem. As far as I know, there's been some peace treaty or ceasefire or something along those lines that was drawn up and signed, but action hasn't really been taken. Sigh, is there really any more need to add to the destruction and suffering in this world? History really repeats itself.

Hey kerryn, you missed out point #2. But anyway that isn't the point, the point is to tell you how there are only 2 sad people keeping this blog alive and that there are only 3 students in class today :/

By the way, just to blog to hope everybody's doing fine (but mainly to revive this blog because I know Kerryn will be excited to see an update, but sorry to disappoint you 'cause the content is going to be just plain boring. It's too late for my brain to function haha) and that everyone will come back soooooooon.

Hope the upcoming week will be a fruitful one!

For the sake of the blog's revival...

I know no one is going to see this, and no one will reply, but I will post for my own self-amusement and satisfaction anyway because blogging is the only fun I have :)

Random fact:
North Korea is the world's top persecutor of Christians, for the 8th year running. They also have a pretty large base of underground Christians. Nice, kudos to their faith, courage and determination!

(If that isn't relevant enough to us I don't know what else is)

Well... I think that we've been hearing so much news of disasters and genocides and epidemics that nothing fazes us anymore. So when we come across something like religious persecution happening in a country in our own continent, we just shake it off and say, "Oh, it's just another one of those things." Well, globalisation has both positive and negative effects, but at LEAST we know about stuff like that, now we just need to start demanding that some action be taken, or even better, if we have the means to, to personally take action.

Sometimes I wish I could have the control of the funds of a mega rich corporation just for a day. Then I'd be able to wield enough economic influence to enact some sort of social or slight political change. OR I could even donate some of the money. That's one of my fantasies. Wanna know what causes me to fall down? Thinking and daydreaming about stuff like that, that's what. Ok, well, and a thinking of a whole load of other nonsensical crap as well, like what sardine ice cream would taste like etc etc.

I need to stop ranting on about this.

And I WILL continue to post because it pleases me to see new posts every few days, even if the only eyes reading them are mine. Self reliance fail, much? Well so does North Korea's Juche ideology that is partially the cause of the widespread starvation in the country now. Ok, I really need to stop this.

God Bless!
(And yay I've been disciplined enough to do my QT regularly and I feel different already. I should so have started earlier :P)

-Kerryn (who else)

I like GP, and stuff I found out about North Korea so please pray for the country!

oh dear we completely forgot to invite yuxun. i just did haha, at least, i HOPE i added the correct email.

haha GP. its quite fun don't you think? except i almost always fail my content because i have no input of facts and i just have opinions that deviate from the main question. WELL. the last GP question i did was "Boundaries that separate people are not only shown on maps. Agree?" i think i went a little off topic but i still passed, phew for that. Gp is fun though, less stressful than any other subject and you can talk about anything you like, you have so many options.

post, people, post! a class blog can never have too many posts :)

-Kerryn


PS. Huihan, the fact that there was a model essay on how religion still plays a large role in society roday does not make that a fact. If it was a fact it wouldnt even be in GP because the whole point of GP is to debate conflicting/differing opinions and views. Even though I also feel that religion plays a large role in society today. I think its kind of broad though. What kind of societies? Traditional, conservative, modern, developed, secular?

Sighs contradictory to the title, I find GP kind of meaningless now. I mean, what ind of argument is it when all youre usually supposed to do is to address the issue in a different context and environment and discuss how the various factors lead to various outcomes? It becomes set, like a format, and that's quite disgusting really. It ruins the art of the entire thing.

PSS. I was also reading up on North Korea in between doing this stupid crazy killer Math quiz online for school, and DID YOU KNOW THAT

1. Gulags exist in North Korea(no surprise there. political prisoners in a communist/socialist state are common no?). Those gulags are considered to be one of the worst forms of violations of humans rights ever, and most of the world is stilll blind to that. Their existence was doubted for awhile, but then there were testimonies of escaped gulag prisoners and also satellite images that proved them to be very real indeed.

3. Prisoners are all made to witness executions, and the executions can be more brutal than animal slaughters because the prisoners are told that they're not even fit to be humans. In fact, many North Korean escapees say that to survive mentally/psychologically, they had to stop thining of themselves as humans.

4. And while the poor toil and sweat for the Dear Leader Kim Jong Il, the elites(high up in the ranks of the Party) splurge on luxury.

5. Those caught escaping are executed. Some who commit certain ridiculous crimes are either incarcerated or executed, and even their entire family clan is wiped out to stop the seed of dissent from spreading. Oh dear.

6. People flee North Korea usually NOT because they are oppressed or do not like the dictatorship etc, but because they are STARVING and dying from hunger

7. Back to the gulags, there are at least an estimated 200,000 prisoners there. Believed to be more. And about 20-25% die there each year

8. And even more horrific, new born babies of prisoners are killed right after being delivered, and before delivery, induced abortions on those prisoners are also common.

9. Similar to the Nazi concentration camps, biochemical experiments are being tested on the prisoners, and you can bet that the results are never pretty

10. Prisonerss usually escape to China at the China-North Korean border because the demilitarized zone between North and South Korea is too heavily guarded. Some who escape successfully get married to Chinese but because of China's strict system, they're not registered citizens. They would never bother registering because if found out, they'd get deported back to North Korea by the Chinese authorities. Thus, their children are not registered as well, and once you aren't registered in China, your children have no rights to education and other welfare.

Do you see WHY Humans Rights is so important now?

North Korea is so going on my prayer list tonight.

In reply to the class photo

May I just say that Yuxun looks super tall as always? And yes kerryn for an avid blogger, a dead blog is just wrong.

But then again...

I am really surprised when I click blogger and see this as the most updated blog among all the blogs I have haha.

Anyway just to share some random facts with you guys (which I stumble onto a lot when I was/am revising for GP. Oh common test D:)

1. Males suffer from suicide more than females do.
2. It may be possible to produce a human egg from a male's stem cells (i.e. a homosexual couple can actually have a child with equal genetic makeup from the parents).
3. Religion still plays a large role in society today (I have a model essay on this o.o).
4. In America, some colleges celebrate 'pi' day (14 March = 3.14) by eating pies.
5. It's 3 more days to June holidays (I CAN'T WAAAAAAAAAAIT).

Sigh :( School life is tough. The end.

im here im here!! (:

The class photo of may 2010

This is for anyone who has been coming to our class blog faithfully and wanting to see a new post.
YESSSS YOU ARE NOT SEEING THINGS ITS A NEW POST!

(Sighs this blog is dead, we so need to revive it)



This is our very very nice class photo, and I will always remember this as the day that I was feeling high for some reason, and spilt some pretty embarassing things I didn't mean to actually say in front of the class, hur hur. But oh wells.

Since I'm here I shall take the opportunity to say God Bless Everyone :D

And if anyone from the class is reading this, UPDATE PLEASE, as often as you wish. A class blog shouldn't be dead, its just wrong.

Submission :S

Hi guys, I just felt like blogging here for awhile, even though I've still got to so some research, disgusting research. *retches*

Anyway, my research topic is, currently(don't know it it'll change), on house churches in China. FOr those who know me well, you'll know that I have a strange fascination with people or groups that have the courage to defy authority, for a cause they believe is good. SOmething about their non-conformism(ugh, vocab) and passion that drives their actions just awes me, maybe it's because I don't have any courage myself.

I've been meaning to reflect on our sunday school classes every sunday and post my thoughts here, although I usually end up with more questions than answers, and even if I DO answer some questions, they usually aren't very logically sound anyway, because I'm not a very rational person to begin with.

Today's lesson was about the evils of society, and thereafter we dove into the theme of 'submission'. Submission for me takes 2 forms, to submit through actions, and to submit with your heart. I always thought that when the Bible said submission, they meant the former, because how is it possible to streamline your thoughts with that of the authority's?

There's the problem of having more than one opinion to submit to, those of which might even clash with each other(say, your father and mother have different opinions and things they want you to do). What do you do then, supposing they both mean well?

And then there's also the difficulty of submitting with your heart. For me, because I jsut can't seem to stop questioning everything, even my own thoughts, so arriving at a conclusion sometimes takes monthsm, years, and even then I question my own conclusion. So theoretically speaking, to submit wholeheartedly, I must need a lifetime then, even for the most mundane issues.

Somehow I still don't understand submission. What do you mean, to submit? Today, someone pointed out that submission is also to agree with the other party. But what if you really really don't, and have strong reasons to believe so, even if you don't say it outright?

In that scenario, which I often face, I always thought submission was to accept the other persons views, yet still keep your own. FOr instance, to agree that their points make sense, and to agree about the issue from their perspective, but also to agree about it your own way, from your perspective. You can agree with both can't you? I often do, it's how gray areas form. Is that still submission then? And then, what do you agree on? DO you agree that a certain thing is right? Or do you agree that the other party means well and hence you have to submit.

I know you should talk things through with the other party then. And people ask, well Kerryn, why don't you just clear up the misunderstanding between the 2 people and all will be fine? Such an easy way out for compeldx situations. It's not as simple. It's not as easy for me to get my points across because others always seem to misinterpret them or find them absurd when they can't understand what I mean. It's not that they find that my points don't make sense. THey don't even really get what I'm trying to say, and just guess and assume my intentions, which lead to even more misunderstandings. And I've already tried to articulate them the best way I can.

For me, the meaning of submission is still quite vague. In my system of values, submission merely meant to give in, to give way. But sighs, it's so hard to be a good person, when even the definition of good is being questioned.

Well, that was cathartic.

hello!

Hi everyone, this is Huihan here.
Oh yes I know Kerryn will be happy to see someone still alive and actually posting here.

Yup anyway, the previous blogskin is horrendous (with all the bandwidth exceeding and stuff), so I changed it to this. You can change it to something else if you guys like, seeing how I just retained all the basic things and yeah.

And welllll good luck to those who are still having their 'A's! (I just checked my senior's personal message and I don't think it ended haha.)

See you all this Sunday! :)

Dead Sea Scrolls Exhibition

Hello Peeps.

Theres a Dead Sea Scrolls Exhibition at the Arts House from 27 August to 20 September, anyone interested? Maybe for a class outing or something. Prices are pretty steep, but it'll be a good experience. If not, does anyone want to go with me? (At most I go alone or something)

More information on this website :

http://www.livinglegacy2009.com/eng/index.html

Have a nice day!

(Ok, that was a bit random)

Psalm 84

Psalm 84 (New International Version)

For the director of music. According to gittith. Of the Sons of Korah. A psalm. ^a]">[a]

¹ How lovely is your dwelling place,
O LORD Almighty!

² My soul yearns, even faints,
for the courts of the LORD;
my heart and my flesh cry out
for the living God.

³ Even the sparrow has found a home,
and the swallow a nest for herself,
where she may have her young—
a place near your altar,
O LORD Almighty, my King and my God.

⁴ Blessed are those who dwell in your house;
they are ever praising you.
Selah

⁵ Blessed are those whose strength is in you,
who have set their hearts on pilgrimage.

⁶ As they pass through the Valley of Baca,
they make it a place of springs;
the autumn rains also cover it with pools. ^b]">[b]

⁷ They go from strength to strength,
till each appears before God in Zion.

⁸ Hear my prayer, O LORD God Almighty;
listen to me, O God of Jacob.
Selah

⁹ Look upon our shield, ^c]">[c] O God;
look with favor on your anointed one.

¹⁰ Better is one day in your courts
than a thousand elsewhere;
I would rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God
than dwell in the tents of the wicked.

¹¹ For the LORD God is a sun and shield;
the LORD bestows favor and honor;
no good thing does he withhold
from those whose walk is blameless.

¹² O LORD Almighty,
blessed is the man who trusts in you.

The choir will be presenting a song based on Psalm 84 next week. Listen out for the lyrics and the tune. Personally, it really touches my heart and brings out the yearning in my heart for heaven, where God promises no more tears and suffering, and the enjoyment of His presence forevermore.

And since this was so, I read up a little on the Psalm. I hope I can explain a bit of it to you guys and let you guys appreciate the Book of Psalms in the Bible... which is really the outpouring of praises and prayers to God from the David and other Israelites.

The psalmist was somewhere else and could not come to God in His temple to worship Him. To the Israelites, it was very important to do so and to someone who LOVED God, it would have been very sad for him and he yearned to be in God's presence. (v 1-4)

In v5-8, the psalmist turns his focus on those who were on pilgrimage worship God. The Valley of Baca was a dry and arid place and was also known as the Valley of Weeping, because it was such a hard and tough road to travel. But the tears of these pilgrims turned it into a place of spring and God blessed them with autumn rain. And finally, they see the God of their soul's yearning face to face-- what a comfort!

v10 is indeed what all of us should feel towards the world-- it is infinitely better to be a doorkeeper in the house of the LORD for a day than to be a thousand anywhere else in the tents of the wicked.

Christians walk the small and narrow way, and often it brings about many pain and suffering. Not just human suffering, but also spiritual mourning for those around us who don't love God and refuse His grace. But this psalm encourages us that God will turn our mourning into dancing; night into day!

My question for you is, do you yearn for the courts of the LORD? Do you echo the pslamist in v10, that it is better to be in the house of the LORD? Do you love God so much and long for His appearing, while hating evil?

I remember you all told me whenever we taught on sufferings that you are still young and haven't been through much. Well, now you are at least a year older. And I believe you are beginning to mature and see the world for what it really is. Let's place our hope in our LORD Almighty. His ways are perfect and His road may be tougher and more painful; but we have an eternity of joy ahead of us. Just us Jesus fixed his eyes on the cross and endured its shame for the joy set before Him, let us also run this race with perseverance and throw away all sin that hinders us!

My prayer for you, and myself, is that we may have this desire for God and love Him so much that we realise nothing is more important and precious to us than God Himself; not His miracles, not His provisions, but in God Himself.

As John Calvin puts it: The chief end of man is to glorify God and enjoy Him forever.Do you enjoy God?

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Anyway, good job at the Bible Quiz today. Hope you all learned much from it, just like I did. (We need to upgrade our level from pr sch... :P)

Okay kiddos, have a good week in school! Remember to come before God daily and seek Him!

- debra laoshi

I leave you with a beautiful youtube video:

Chinese version

the link is HERE!

CLASS OUTING

Hi everyone, here are some highlights of the class outing we had on 14 Mar 09. I dunno what the food faces mean... maybe esta can explain. Hope you guys had fun. Here's to another year of learning and growing together in God's word :)

2009

Don't you think our blog needs an update?

Because I really think it deserves one.

I know you guys come here regularly, don't kid me. We're just too plain lazy to sign in to blogger and update the class blog and after awhile since there's nothing fresh to read, there's nothing to comment on so the tagboard turns stagnant too.

This post is rather meaningless, but its just so I can see something new when I go to the class blog instead of that post from October 2008.



And since is the very first post of 2009, here's what we have to look forward to this year:

1. Prayer schedule. Not sure when its going to be, maybe only when Debra is teaching. Anyhow, we'll have it. If you want the prayer schedule up here please remember to update it weekly because the old one didn't really serve its purpose since we were all too lazy to strike out the names each week. Plus, people are always absent so it keeps changing.

2. QT Sharing from 1-2 people each week, a new activity initiated by Debra.

3. Bible Study on the book of Galatians. Sounds fun. We're got a whole book to look forward to!

4. In-church Bible Challenge thingy on the book of John.


I'm out of ideas and out of stuff to write, so see ya this Sunday!

***I agree that this post was competely unnecessary.

Joseph’s godliness and God’s faithfulness (Genesis 39 )

Key Lessons

1. Joseph’s godliness
2. God’s faithfulness

1) Joseph’s Godliness

§ Joseph resisted temptation of the flesh

James 1:12-15

忍 受 试 探 的 人 是 有 福 的 ， 因 为 他 经 过 试 验 以 後 ， 必 得 生 命 的 冠 冕 ； 这 是 主 应 许 给 那 些 爱 他 之 人 的 。 人 被 试 探 ， 不 可 说 ： 「 我 是 被 神 试 探 」 ； 因 为 神 不 能 被 恶 试 探 ， 他 也 不 试 探 人 。但 各 人 被 试 探 ， 乃 是 被 自 己 的 私 欲 牵 引 诱 惑 的 。私 欲 既 怀 了 胎 ， 就 生 出 罪 来 ； 罪 既 长 成 ， 就 生 出 死 来 。

Like a fish biting on a hook. Evil desire conceived-> gives birth to sin -> sin, when it is full-grown, gives birth to death. Put a stop to the desire; run away like Joseph did.

Joseph knew that it was against God that he would sin. (v. 9)

§ Joseph resisted the temptation of greater power

He knew that all power came from God and not from men. He sought to please God and not man. He was also faithful to his earthly master and respected that God had given Potiphar his earthly status to rule.

2) God’s faithfulness

§ God was with Joseph when he served in Potiphar’s house (v. 2) and in prison (v. 21).

§ In both cases, God granted Joseph favour in the eyes of his superiors and God blessed the work of Joseph’s hands. Both superiors did not have to worry about the work delegated to Joseph and were in turn blessed through Joseph.

§ God was with Joseph in the “good” times and the “bad” times.

§ God’s plans often bring us through mountains and valleys. But it does not mean He has deserted us. Often, He brings His people through times of despair and pain through no fault of theirs (e.g. Daniel and the lion’s den, David running away from Saul) to mould their faith and teach them, to prepare them for greater things.

Conclusion

God has a plan in our successes and sufferings.

Genesis 50:20

从 前 你 们 的 意 思 是 要 害 我 ， 但 　 神 的 意 思 原 是 好 的 ， 要 保 全 许 多 人 的 性 命 ， 成 就 今 日 的 光 景 。

Application

§ Are there weaknesses you have in which you are often tempted to sin against God? Reflect on them and confess them to God.

1 John 1:5-10

神 就 是 光 ， 在 他 毫 无 黑 暗 。 这 是 我 们 从 主 所 听 见 、 又 报 给 你 们 的 信 息 。我 们 若 说 是 与 神 相 交 ， 却 仍 在 黑 暗 里 行 ， 就 是 说 谎 话 ， 不 行 真 理 了 。我 们 若 在 光 明 中 行 ， 如 同 神 在 光 明 中 ， 就 彼 此 相 交 ， 他 儿 子 耶 稣 的 血 也 洗 净 我 们 一 切 的 罪 。我 们 若 说 自 己 无 罪 ， 便 是 自 欺 ， 真 理 不 在 我 们 心 里 了 。我 们 若 认 自 己 的 罪 ， 神 是 信 实 的 ， 是 公 义 的 ， 必 要 赦 免 我 们 的 罪 ， 洗 净 我 们 一 切 的 不 义 。我 们 若 说 自 己 没 有 犯 过 罪 ， 便 是 以 神 为 说 谎 的 ， 他 的 道 也 不 在 我 们 心 里 了 。

Remember that sinning is like cutting yourself again and again on the same spot even after it has healed.

When tempted, run away. Pray. Remember God’s word in your heart.

§ Have you or are you successful? Do you give all glory and thanks to God, and work for God?

Colossians 3:23-24

无 论 做 甚 麽 ， 都 要 从 心 里 做 ， 像 是 给 主 做 的 ， 不 是 给 人 做 的 ，因 你 们 知 道 从 主 那 里 必 得 着 基 业 为 赏 赐 ； 你 们 所 事 奉 的 乃 是 主 基 督 。

§ Have you failed? Do you realise that God has a plan for you, even in the midst of failures?

Romans 8:28

我 们 晓 得 万 事 都 互 相 效 力 ， 叫 爱 神 的 人 得 益 处 ， 就 是 按 他 旨 意 被 召 的 人 。