Yesterday, when I got back in the night, Zachary run up to me and said…’Daddy, daddy, today I prayed to Jesus, and asked him to come into my heart.. and so now He’s in my heart…’ (He went on to tell me other things but I was so excited to hear this I didn’t pay much attention to it….

So I immediately checked with Lil what happened… As it turned out, sometime in the evening, while Lil was making apple cider vinegar for the kids, Zach was singing ‘I have decided to follow Jesus’… Lil seized the moment, and asked him if he wanted to follow Jesus, then went on to explain what it means to have Jesus in his heart etc. Then Lil asked him if he wants to have Jesus as your God. And he said ‘Yes!’

Then our cute little Zach (still in the kitchen) squatted down, bent over, closed his eyes, and repeated after mommy the simple prayer to receive Jesus into his heart!

After hearing all that, I sat down and chatted with Zach somemore, and went thru an assurance of salvation, as simply as I could. (but found out later that Lil had done it too!) haha… we’re all Crusade trained lor…

Thank you Lord for loving Zach, and for stirring his little heart to respond to your love!
Zach is turning 4 end of next month. And so, he’s received Christ even earlier than Josh and Emily. I led Josh to pray after watching ‘Finding Nemo’, when he was 5. I can’t remember exactly when Em prayed.. hehe….but I think it’s when she was about 4+

Thanks all who took time to sms and asked about the workshop we conducted at GO Forth. =) And thank u especially to many of you who prayed. It made a difference!

It went on quite smoothly! I was very thankful to my team, who played various roles to make it a success. There were about 80 people who attended our session. At the end of it, about 50 filled up comment cards, and about 90% of them said it met their expectations, and that it helped them in one way or another.

For a workshop like that that catered to such a wide spectrum of people (from lay people or anyone with interest in missions, to practioners and pastors) with various needs and interests, the response we got was considered quite encouraging! We of course did get some constructive comments, and hope to improve for the next time we teach/present something like that.

Personally, I was just thankful that I had the opportunity to bless others with what God has been depositing in my heart all this while. I can only trust that whatever I’ve shared (and what my colleagues have shared) has inspired them, and challenged them to take another step in the direction God wants them to take!

Tomorrow, I’ll be leading a small team from my ministry to share, present and teach at a workshop which is part of the GO Forth National Missions Conference– The topic we’ve been given is called ‘Reaching Generation NeXt: Youth, Media and Missions’.

Then next week (25,26th July), the whole CreaComm team will be part of the Hearts Aflame Evangelism Conference . We’ll be conducting altogether 3 different workshops. (‘The Gospel Through Music’, ‘Stories of the Heart (Using short-film for outreach), ‘Making the Gospel Click’ (Internet Ministry)).

These two opportunities, I believe, are truly God-given. Yet, the honest truth is that I feel quite out of my depth (particularly for the parts that I’m supposed to teach/present). It will only be by his grace that I ‘make it’…

I’m treasuring the opportunity, as I prepare, to gather my thoughts and to share with others what God has been laying upon my heart.

It’s our prayer that those who attend these session be truly inspired by God, and more passionate about going out there to be more effective for Him in ‘reaching the changing generations’.

I’m coveting your prayers for me, and also for my team that is doing some of the presentation with me. =)

Thanks so much, I will share more in the next entry

After 18 apartment viewings, from 5-Room to EA (Executive Apartment) to EM (Executive Mansionette) we finally signed and made the deal… for a 149 sqm EA!

How we ended with this deal was nothing short of amazing!

First off, we were actually looking for a 5-Room flat. But many friends advised us to seriously consider leveraging on the HDB concessionary loan (which would mean that we needed to upgrade to EA or EM, cos’ of HDB’s condition for using this special loan) After doing our sums, we felt that this might be a wiser move.

By the 10th or 11th viewing, we actually found something we really like, but it was a little over our original budget. It was a EM in the area we preferred, and we quite liked it cos’ it was very well designed and done up. We had very little to fix up if we got this place. Key concerns tho’ was that it was not as spacious, and had few storage places.

After praying that nite, we made an initial offer… but hesitated to jump at the 1st counter offer from the owner. On Thursday, I was thinking that I might be quite happy to make a final offer of $505k, and we were quite ready to go it!

Interestingly, that very day we decided to view 2 more units.

The very last unit we viewed was at Block 249. Up to this point, we’ve been concentrating on blocks in the 600 or 700 series. This particular ad (which was online) caught my attention, and I decided to check it out. What stood out about this unit was that it was valued at $392k! (Most EA units were valued at at least 450 – 470k).

As we took the lift up to the unit on 5th floor, I reminded Lil that we should probably ‘manage our expectations’. We can’t really expect ‘much’ from a unit that is valued so ‘low’.

True enough, it was no designer house… but it was really well-kept. It was awfully spacious…
3 bedrooms, plus 1 large study room, 1 kitchen, and 1 huge living room. Best part is- they were asking for $425k… Needless to say, we ‘fell in love with it’!

It was a fairly quiet neighbourhood, very windy, and surprises of surprises, the block is right next to the Multi-Storey carpark. This was originally one of my key requirements! which I had forgotten, but God didn’t forget!

So that night we talked and prayed as a family when we got back… and made the offer of 18k COV (Cash over valuation). After a few rounds of negotiation between Peter (our housing agent) and the other agent, we finally agreed on $418k!

The very next day (Friday nite, 8pm), we went down again to ink the deal!

The owner had requested to move out later (cos’ it’s exams time in end October; and their girl goes to a nearby Primary school). We were quite reluctant as first, but God prompted me to be gracious to the their request.

It turned out that b’cos they were open to contra (which was Lil’s hope+prayer all along) we’re actually getting this flat earlier, otherwise it’d be easily another 1-3 months more because we’d have to wait for the 1st deal (the sale of our current house) to go thru 1st, before we can proceed with this purchase.

So if all goes well, we’ll be in our new house (after some fixing and renovation) by end 2008!
We’re truly blessed….