Blessed Christmas!

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Here’s wishing all our dear family & friends around the world a God-blessed Christmas season. We’ve been so blessed to celebrate our first Christmas in the U.S. Our 4 months here in Orlando has been nothing short of amazing.. in light of God’s grace & mercy. It’s taught us time and again what it means to ‘lean into Him’ to depend more on Him each day. We’re thankful for the prayers of the saints (back home in Singapore) as well as many others around the world who love us, and care for us. We are indeed so blessed. So thank you dear ones who are reading this. =)
Enjoying God’s blessings through family and friends.

Who or What have I been worshippping?

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Psalm 73:23-26

Yet I still belong to you;

You hold my right hand.

You guide me with your counsel,

Leading me to a glorious destiny.

Whom have I in heaven but you?

I desire you more than anything on earth.

My health may fail, and my spirit grow weak,

but God remains the strength of my heart;

He is mine forever.

What comforting words these are last Wednesday morning… as I found myself still feeling the tears and pain of Bataraa’s son passing. It was rather strange…but as I pulled into the gas station to put gas, tears welled up in my eyes. I thought about what they might be going thru right now in Mongolia. I feel like writing him, but I don’t know what to say.

I listened to Tim Keller’s podcast on ‘Worship‘, on my way back (from dropping the kids off at school) I was reminded that it’s really in times like these when it reveals our true worship.

Psalm 95 shows how the psalmist chose to ‘give worth’ to God even in spite of his external circumstances. Which made me ask, how do I grow to see (or make) God bigger in my life? Instead of being caught up with all the twists and turns this life offers.

We all worship something. For me, I’ve been worshipping ‘settling down well’. That’s been my (primary) focus, not God. I can justify it all I want…with good reasons for all I’m doing etc. but the fact remains the as I examine my heart, plus look at the way I’ve been orienting my activities, getting adjusted & comfortable has been my god.

 

The Journey so far…

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The journey so far… we’re on our very last 2 legs of our ‘Great Adventure U.S. Road Trip’. (We’ll be in Orlando on Fri pm)

About 2900 miles traveled so far. It’s been quite a trip, with many precious memories for our whole family.

Apart from the 10 days we were in Colorado (for the US Staff Conference), we’ve been living out of the luggage for the most part… so we’re quite lookin’ fwd to settling down in Orlando (finally!) =)

Satisfy our needs in a sun-scorched land…

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“Dry skin, cracked lips, parched throats…
as we drove thru the dessert and flats of Nevada and Utah.
Woke this morning, and I re-read this timely promise from God:

The Lord will guide you always;
he will satisfy your needs in a sun-scorched land
and will strengthen your frame.
You will be like a well-watered garden,
like a spring whose waters never fail.”

Isaiah 58:11 (NIV)

Leaving on a jet plane… today

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Hi dear friends,

Yes we are finally leaving for the USA… today, July 13th! And we know we will certainly miss many of you!!

When you remember or think about us, would you take a moment to pray for us?

You can use this simple ACE guide =)

A – Adjustment; to the new culture, environment, roles. Please pray especially for the children – adjustment to new school (they have been homeschooled here in Singapore.)

C – Community. That the Lord will provide good friends for all 5 of us, and a community that can provide support and encouragement during our term there. Also that the Lord will lead us to the right church for us

E – Enriched. That this will be a year of deep growth for each of us, in our relationship with God, with each other, and with others. We are excited as well as scared because of the unknown ahead of us, but we know our God is faithful, and we will cling on tightly to His hand.

We will have many days of travel ahead of us, so please pray for protection and journey mercies too. Here’s a quick summary of our itinerary:

  • July 13th, 5.50pm. SQ 2.    Depart from Singapore. Arrive in San Francisco.
  • July 15 – 18.    Drive from SF to Colorado.
  • July 18-26.      US Staff Conference in Ft. Collins, Colorado.
  • July 27 – Aug 5. Drive from Colorado to Orlando, Florida. (visiting some friends & supporters along the way)

We are thankful that the Lord has provided all of our one-time financial needs, through the giving of many of you.

Thank you so much for praying! We appreciate you!

The Lord bless and watch over each of you, till we meet again!

 

Much Love,

Lillian, on behalf of the family

Follow us on our adventure on Facebook  – http://on.fb.me/gr8adventure

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Online Filter Bubbles

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I just came across a very thought provoking video from TED talks, by Eli Pariser

What if all we’re getting from the web is merely highly filtered ‘information junk food’, and not the kind of information diet you should be getting.

Watch it. It is sure to set you thinking about how you use your web, and what shapes our thinking….

Online Filter Bubbles

 

The Great Adventure heads West…

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… or maybe East… depending on which direction you fly. 😉

Yes, our Seow’s Great Adventure (the journey of following & serving Jesus) is going into the next lap.

God-willing, we’re headed as a family to our CCC World Headquarters in Orlando, Florida USA.

We’ll be involved in a 1-year program called the Lake Hart Stint, LHS  (There’s a big lake next to our HQ, called… u guessed it! Lake Hart!) 🙂  It is a special leadership & personal development opportunity for senior staff of Campus Crusade, and we’re blessed to be accepted for this. We’ll more about LHS in a future blog post.

Meanwhile, please read more about our journey & the story God’s writing in our lives in our latest newsletter.

 

Dowload here: The Great Adventure – April ’11

The Significance of Prayer to Service

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I was looking through some old notes, and came across this short excerpt from Ps Ed’s book on ‘Growing Deep in God’ that I feel is a very timely reminder for me.

“Without the power of God, the Church is as powerless as a man armed with a rubber band, in the face of a charging rhinoceros. They are many ways to work for God, but only one way to work with God; through humble and contrite prayer. God moves in answer to prayer. Oswald Chambers was right on target when he wrote, “Prayer does not equip us for greater works… prayer is the greater work.”

The highest calling of Christian leaders in the ministry is prayer. A spiritual leader who is not praying has abdicated his primary job description from God. Prayer cannot be divorced from spiritual leadership. In fact, concerning prayer and spiritual leadership, the godly J.Oswald Sanders goes further to say, “In nothing should the leader be ahead of his followers more than in the real of prayer.”

In this matter of spiritual leadership, the apostles of Christ understood their apostolic priorities. They said, “But we will devote ourselves to prayer, and to the ministry of the Word” (Acts 6:4). It is spiritually instructive that prayer precedes the ministry of the Word.

Being precedes doing. Prayer precedes preaching. There is an Old Testament example of this priority. The prophet Samuel said, “Moreover, as for me, far be it from me that I should sin against the Lord by ceasing to pray for you; but I will instruct you in the good and right way” (1 Sam 12:23). Intercession precedes instruction.”

An excerpt from ‘Growing Deep in God’  – Edmund Chan. p.44