Lawatan ke Langkawi

Setiap kunjungan atau lawatan ke Langkawi tidak dipisahkan melihat keunikkan serta kecantikkan helang ini. Binaan helang ini terletak beberapa minit dari Jeti Kuah. Ia dirasmikan oleh bekas Perdana Menteri Malaysia, Tun Dr Mahathir pada April 27, 1996. Ia juga salah satu daripada mercu tanda terbaru dibina di Langkawi dengan ukuran 12.6mx21.6m memakan belanja sebanyak RM 12.5 juta.

Pulau Langkawi yang merangkumi antara 104 pulau-pulau kecil, merupakan pulau terbesar.

Pelbagai tempat yang menarik pelawat-pelawat baik dari dalam serta luar negara. Pantai-pantai yang tersergam indah serta alam semulajadinya menarik pelbagai pelawat kembali ke alam semulajadi.

Keindahan Pantai Cenang tersergam indah sewaktu terbenamnya matahari. Saya kesini setiap lewat petang melihat keindahannya.

Tempat peringatan Mahsuri ini terletak di Makam Mahsuri. Langkawi terkenal dengan banyak lagenda seperti yang tercatat dalam Hikayat Maha Merongwangsa, Mahsuri dan pelbagai mistik

Saya berkesempatan mengambil gambar bersama dengan dua orang yang berpakaian Melayu :

Saya berasa gembira disamping bekerja saya dapat bersiar-siar di Langkawi. Semasa saya berpusing-pusing di pulau itu, saya nampak ada sebuah gereja Cina dan sebuah pertubuhan Kristian di Langkawi. Pujilah Tuhan kerana adanya nur di kalangan saudara seiman kita di Langkawi.

Christian Yi Xian Jackson

Dalam bulan ini sahaja, saya melawat 3 kawan yang dianugerah dengan cahaya mata. Lebih-lebih lagi bagi pasangan Leon dan Alicia dikurniakan dengan anak lelaki pertamanya. Namanya ialah Christian Yi Xian Jackson.

Leon yang berketurunan Serani dan isterinya Alica berbangsa Cina... i pun tak tahulah bangsa apa anaknya itu. Walau bagaimanapun semua manusia adalah ciptaan Tuhan serta memerlukan kasihNya.

Leon akan menyambut secara rasmi Hari Bapa. Leon ...selamat hari bapa dan selamat hari keluarga kepada keluarga Leon.

Semoga Leon, Alica dan Christian berada dalam sihat, gembira dalam berjalan dalam kasih Tuhan. Amin

Tell Me the Stories of Jesus

Picture courtesy from CDPC Website

The above picture is taken during CDPC Family Camp 2005. Children eagerly listening to stories. This is their natural response. Upon their natural response we must built on it by equipping them well the stories in the Bible and lesson that they can learn from it. Well children are fast learner and response quickly. In my Sunday School class, the stories of Bible especially the story Jesus is at their finger tips. If you tell the story wrongly, children would know it and correct you.

Besides children ministry e.g. AWANA or Sunday School, parental guidance and home disciplines are always the main foundation. Based on Malay saying, "Kesedaran sivik bermula dari rumah ". Home is the main base bringging up children. A good home, where Christ is loved and His word is preached, father and mother loving one another, loving their children is the basic foundation in shapping their children.

Biblical values must be teach to children. Children must be taught well so that they would not forget those lesson which they learned. aAongside with songs, crafts and games can enhanced the biblical teaching into their mind.

I believe both parties parents and church (Sunday School and AWANA) play their important part in upbringing of our children to Christian values.

William H. Parker wrote this hymn in 1885, "Tell Me the Stories of Jesus" for his Sun­day school stu­dents at the Chel­sea Street Bap­tist Church, New Bas­ford, Not­ting­ham, Eng­land. He got the inspiration to write this hymn as his students in his Sunday School keep asking him, "Tell us another story". As he reflected, he came out of this hymn. A creful study text shows the important events of Christ from Galilee to Calvary.

Let us pray for our children and also those who are in children ministry that they draw strength from God and to build and impact the lives of children.

Tell me the stories of Jesus I love to hear

Tell me the stories of Jesus I love to hear;
Things I would ask Him to tell me if He were here;
Scenes by the wayside, tales of the sea,
Stories of Jesus, tell them to me.

First let me hear how the children stood round His knee,
And I shall fancy His blessing resting on me;
Words full of kindness, deeds full of grace,
All in the love light of Jesus’ face.

Tell me, in accents of wonder, how rolled the sea,
Tossing the boat in a tempest on Galilee;
And how the Maker, ready and kind,
Chided the billows, and hushed the wind.

Into the city I’d follow the children’s band,
Waving a branch of the palm tree high in my hand.
One of His heralds, yes, I would sing
Loudest hosannas, “Jesus is King!”

Show me that scene in the garden, of bitter pain.
Show me the cross where my Savior for me was slain.
Sad ones or bright ones, so that they be
Stories of Jesus, tell them to me.

The Necessity of Prayer

by EM Bounds


"IN any study of the principles,
and procedure of prayer,
of its activities and enterprises,
first place, must, of necessity, be given to faith.
It is the initial quality in the heart of any man
who essays to talk to the Unseen.
He must, out of sheer helplessness,
stretch forth hands of faith.
He must believe, where he cannot prove.
In the ultimate issue, prayer is simply faith,
claiming its natural yet marvellous prerogatives --
faith taking possession of its illimitable inheritance.
True godliness is just as true, steady, and persevering
in the realm of faith as it is in the province of prayer.
Moreover: when faith ceases to pray, it ceases to live.

Faith does the impossible
because it brings God to undertake for us,
and nothing is impossible with God.
How great -- without qualification or limitation --
is the power of faith!
If doubt be banished from the heart,
and unbelief made stranger there,
what we ask of God shall surely come to pass,
and a believer hath vouchsafed to him
'whatsoever he saith.'"

Keindahan langit mencerminkan kekuasaan Tuhan

Permandangan ini diambil sewaktu kami (saya dan rakan sekerja saya) dalam perjalanan pulang dari sebuah sekolah yang terletak dalam penempatan FELDA di Kota Tinggi, Johor. Permandangan langit di waktu lewat petang tersergam indah. Kawasan di mana foto itu diambil ialah kawasan estet. Begitu indah langit sewaktu matahari terbenam.

Mazmur 19 : 1-2

"Langit menceritakan kemuliaan Allah, dan cakrawala memberitakan pekerjaan tangan-Nya; hari meneruskan berita itu kepada hari, dan malam menyampaikan pengetahuan itu kepada malam"

Dari Mazmur di atas, melihat permandangan indah dapat membantu kita dalam renungan harian kita pada Tuhan.

Kita harus menghargai kejadian Tuhan
Melihat permandangan indah seperti pergunungan, laut, langit atau berjalan-jalan di tepi pantai sememangnya membuat kita terfikir ... "mesti ada sesuatu atau kuasa yang lebih tinggi dari saya sendiri". Melihat keindahan alam membuat kita terfikir adanya Pencipta yang mencipta keindahan alam ini. Bila kita terfikir atau merenungi sesuatu keindahan, kita mendapat ilham atau wahyu yang semulajadi. Baik yang Kristian atau tidak, keindahan alam ini menjadi petanda atau wahyu semulajadi adanya Pencipta. Melalui penglihatan (tidak perlu adanya kata-kata) cukup untuk menghayati kebesaran Pencipta alam ini.

Permerhatian
Kita kena membandingkan permerhatian kita dan orang lain dengan apa yang tertulis dalam AlKitab. Manusia boleh mengeluarkan pelbagai ilmu atau hipotesis. Tetapi jikalau bercanggah dengan apa yang tertulis dalam AlKitab, dikiranya tidak betul.
Contohnya kawan saya berkata kejadian alam serta manusia adalah melalui evolusi. Ini bercanggah dengan AlKitab walaupun dalam logik saya mengatakan dapatkah perubahan evolusi ini menjadikan atau membentuk sesuatu yang begitu indah serta mengekalkannya mengikut hukum alam. Biarkanlah dia seorang professor, jikalau pemerhatiannya bercanggah dengan AlKitab sememangnya tidak betul.
"All truth is God's truth" - ungkapan dalam Inggeris ini haruslah kita fahaminya. Kalau sesuatu itu betul, ia memang benar. Kita kenalah bandingkannya dengan wahyu diturunkan Tuhan (Firman Tuhan) untuk memastikan kebenarannya.

Visitation to Bandar Melaka

Our journey continues. This time we are visiting the famous building Stadthuys. This building was built by the Dutch. This place is the residence for the Gabenor Dutch until 1824. This building was an administrative building. It was built in 4 stories on a terrace of St Paul's Hill.

And in the middle of this building there is a Anglican Church, called Christ Church Melaka.
It was Sunday that time. We went in to the church. It was so traditional like. I manage to share with my friend about Christ sacrifice based on the Last Supper picture that was on the main sanctuary. We are not allow to take any photo inside.

We also went to a ruin old Protuguese church, St Paul. In there you can see a lot old tombstones which were the final resting place for Dutch and Protuguese nationals.

The statue above is to commemorate St Francis Xavier who was a regular visitor to this church between 1545 to 1552. When he died, his body was interred here for nine months before it was exhume and was taken to its final resting place in Goa, India.

As we are walking through this place, my friend told me that it was a good thing that Malaya was colonised before. I agree with him and reasoned out that it is from them we have proper education and standard of living at that time was improved. We shared a lot and told him that is how Christianity was first being heard spread. Missionary came and set up schools to educate Malays and gave them proper formal education. In spite of that they didn't force them to convert to Christianity. Moreover our constitution is based on British system, a systematic law system (Boh Tea's comment). Indeed God has moved Malaya in such that His word is spread and the improvement and establishment of education and law.

On the other side I also agree that these people might have exploited our richness and brought back to their own country.

Finally we both appreciated what had happened in the past that was indeed beneficial to our age today.

Nearby you can see Dutch cemetery. There tombstone became their final resting place. Some of them has biblical scripture engraved in it.

Below is the super zoom of engravement

As we walked down the hill, we can see A Famosa. It was also called as Porta De Santiago which was a Protuguese fort. Built by Alfonso d' Albuquerque in year 1511. This fort was destroyed by William Farquhar in year 1807. Thus the below photo is the remain of A Famosa.

We had our great day visiting Melaka. Tired are we, and we continued our journey to Johor where our work begins.

Jalan2 Cari Makan @ Melaka

Jikalau anda berada di Melaka, janganlah lupa singgah di pernempatan orang Protugis. Di situ adanya medan makan yang menjual pelbagai makanan.

Saya dan rakan sekerja saya dalam perjalanan ke Johor bersinggah di Melaka untuk berjumpa dengan salah satu daripda staf kita, Dolly namanya. Kami seperti biasa membantu staf itu dalam membaik pulihkan komputer ribanya (laptop). Dolly dan suaminya belanjakan kita makan di medan makan itu.

Restoran J & J menjadi tumpuan kami. Medan makan ini terletak bersebelahan dengan pantai. Oleh itu memang banyak makanan laut terdapat di sini.

Medan makan ini kebanyakkannya adalah orang Protugis itu sendiri. Tuan punya Restoran J & J kenal benar dengan Dolly. Oleh itu, tuan punya restoran menghidangkan makanan yang lazat. Kami dihidangi dengan steam crab dan asam fish. Sedap benar makanan tu.

Kami berasa begitu syok sekali makan sambil berbual-bual. Suasana itu diceriakan lagi dengan nyanyian lagu popular Protugis tempatan iaitu Jinkling Nona. Pada hujung minggu atau hari kelepasan am, banyak yang datang dari KL, Singapore mengunjungi kawasan medan makan itu.

Orang-orang di sana amat peramah dan berlawak jenaka. Malam itu memang meriah adanya banyak pengunjung-pengunjung serta lagu-lagu tempatan yang dimainkan.

Di kawasan itu adanya monumen Saint Peter yang didirikan. St Peter pada suatu masa dulu ialah seorang nelayan. Penduduk di situ kebanyakkannya nelayan dan mereka berdoa agar memudahkan rezeki mereka semasa di laut.

Pada waktu malam, di Banda Hilir, kami mengunjungi Junko Walk. Sama seperti di Petaling Street, KL di mana banyak peniaga yang menjual barang-barang.

Semasa kami berjalan, kami nampak banyak rumah-rumah lama yang masih dikekalkan sampai hari ini. Tempat-tempat ini merupakan tempat yang bersejarah. Di sini terdapatnya Cina Peranakan yang dipanggil Baba dan Nyonya.

Inilah keadaan di Junko Walk. Ramai peniaga yang menjual barang-barang

Inilah rumah Cina lama yang masih dikekalkan sampai hari ini buat kunjungan baik dari dalam negara mahupn dari luar negara

Saya dan rakan sekerja berasa amat gembira mengunjungi tempat-tempat ini. Apa yang lebih penting lagi ialah keadaan serta suasana di kerajaan Tuhan. Sesungguhnya kerajaan Tuhan tidak dapat dibandingkan dengan keindahan di dunia ini.

Semoga kawan saya menerima kasih serta pengampunan Kristus dalam hidupnya. Saya berharap saya akan berjumpanya di kerajaan Tuhan pada masa depan nanti.

How good to hold a new born baby

Seng Chee and Sue were blessed again with the arrival of their new born daughter

Praise the Lord for blessing Seng Chee and Sue a new born daughter. They had a son who is 2 years old. Both of them were born in the same hospital, Hospital Putrajaya.

Again both their children were born in a quiet intresting was as Seng Chee shared with me. His son was on 30th March 03 Bed 3 whilst his daughter was born on 05th May 05 Bed 5. i guess you know what i mean here and Seng Chee is asking me what does it means.

As i see the child laying helplessly and need to be nurse by mother, life is yet so valuable in God's sight. Each individual must know God's love in Jesus Christ and they have their opportunity moreover the child is born in a Christian family. Jesus who was once born as a baby and was nurse by His mother became the Saviour for mankind. And in Christ becomes the hope to all mankind. How good to hold a new born baby because of Christ given hope to us.

And to Seng Chee and Sue, Congratulation and may the Lord bless you and your children