Silent Hill: Shattered Memories. Paul Scanlon. King David, King Saul.

My brother’s a crazy fan of the Silent Hill series, a horror game, and the latest one… Shattered Memories. Is the only one I’ve ever played.

Well… semi-played. My brother wanted me in so I indulged him, he did all of the gameplay while I made the personal choices. Why so? At the end of the game, there’s a psychological profiling of the player.

Every player gets a different profile and if a player tries to do something different in the game, make different choices… the profiling is almost always the same.

Which was what he wanted me to see. The game was finished real quick because he knew how and where to go. But when it came to the profiling, I was pleasantly surprised to see that it was quite apt.

(Except for the bit that says “Lousy in bed?” – I reject in the name of Christ – I make my own bed every day when I wake up!)

So, what happened this week was Paul Scanlon – a 1st generation Christian pastor from England, visited our church for the 2nd time.

He shared a good message and I think most people enjoyed it at the very last bit (for service 1, anyway) when he linked the offering with season ticket holders of the English Premier League.

One thing that stuck to my head, however, was something he preached.

“Every journey is made up of stages. Every stage has a lesson.”

He mentioned something about recording the stages in life – either metaphorically speaking with memory or recording it down via some other means.

My mind quickly linked to a previous lesson I learned about one difference between King David and King Saul.

King Saul was the first King Israel ever had and King David was the second. Saul, however, went to the “dark side“. King David had the habit of recording down his time, psalms, revelations with God.

Today, we’ve got the ability to record down our thoughts onto digital format where it virtually lasts forever – unaffected by time, wear and tear… save for the occasional hack attempts.

Some people have the habit of recording down every boring nook and cranny of their lives. Others, would only record down significant events in their life… which is rather unlikely as we, being creatures of habit, without regularly posting won’t record down something significant [/tangent]

Now, if we made it a habit to record each stage in life, the little parts going on in our lives… the good, the bad, the ugly and it happens to be an open blog… what would a psychologist say about you?

How would you feel if you blogged regularly, being your true self… and you get psychologically profiled?

It could be interesting – but it could also be terrifying.

Interesting for those who accept everything about themselves. Terrifying for those that don’t.

Everyone only wants to hear what is good to them, nobody wants to hear the truth. You know – “You can’t handle the truth“. (The bit about lousy in bed is not the truth. It’s a lie.)

So, if I happened to be profiled… What would it say? Interestingly enough, Chinese New Year is edging close and I actually found a personality-based analysis of mine whilst spring cleaning. It’s done way back in 12 June 2007. I won’t state it all here (and bore you to death) but here’s a gist of it…

Style Name: COMMUNICATING PLANNER
Primary Traits: Passive and Open

A steady, amiable type of person, relating to the DISC factor of Steadiness, can be described as a Planner. People of this kind are patient and persistent, dislike change, and like to take time to plan carefully before acting (hence the name of the style)

• Overview: Patient, Steady, Amiable, Sociable
• Values: Support (and Attention)
• Seeks: Time (and Approval)
• Avoids: Change (and Isolation)
• Under Pressure: Compromises (may also attack)
• Best Approach: Patient, Supportive
• Strategy: Promise (also responds to People)

Overview:
Asher enjoys the positive attention of others and is very much at ease when meeting with new people. Extrovert and outgoing, he places happiness and personal fulfilment above purely material considerations, and works at his best on a social level, rather than in a position where accuracy and precision are required.

In his general dealings with other people, he will prefer to avoid conflict, but when placed under pressure (especially if his social standing is threatened) he will react intensively.

Personality Adaption:
An examination of the changes in Asher’s personality profile shows that he is making quite a large adaptation to meet the needs of his current working environment (or, at least, his personal understanding of those needs).

Advantages:
The factors of Asher’s personality are, in strict terms, too close together to make definitive statements about his approach.

Disadvantages:
While he operates effectively on a social level, this sociability will tend to detract from the effectiveness of Asher in a practical sense.

Communication Style:
Friendly and open to others, Asher’s highly communicative profile means that he values positive relations with other people for their own sake, and is genuinely concerned with others’ feelings, especially in relation to himself.

Decision Making:
Asher sees decision-making as a matter of careful consideration of possible effects.

Organisation and Planning:
Asher’s patient, quiet style can often lead others to overestimate his organisational and planning abilities.

Motivation:
This extremely outgoing personality likes to be the centre of attention; Asher must feel that his colleagues, and others, both like and respect him if he is to feel comfortable in a situation.

Managing Style:
Because of his general lack of assertiveness, Asher will often find management positions difficult.

Style of Management Required:
Asher thrives on excitement and new experiences, and will soon lose motivation if placed in undemanding or repetitive work.

Sexuality:
Excellent in bed as Asher makes his own bed.

Okay, so I made the last one up. But the rest are all true. Of course, I’m not typing out the whole report here. That’s for me to know!

Watch out world – Singapore has a new batch of Firewalkers!

In this post, I’m going to recount the time I spent during Tony Robbins “Unleash The Power Within” 2009 4-day weekend seminar held at Hall 2, Singapore EXPO.

I learned a whole bunch while I was there – watching Tony Robbins teach and helping some people out of their own personal problems LIVE in front of a crowd of 5,000 people from 16 countries. He spoke to and helped a Japanese wife who couldn’t give birth by helping her to see that her happiness does not lie in a child that might never come; another 22-year young Hong Kong woman discovers why she is constantly depressed and over-emotional and how she’s trapped herself into a never ending cycle.

Here’s a quick video I made about my Firewalk experience. Enjoy!

As for me, there were 2 things in particular that I would like to point out here.

1. “Who We are Today is the Result of the Choices We made Yesterday,
Who We Become Tomorrow is the Result of the Choices We make Today”

That simple statement sums up a lot of the things that we do to ourselves – because of our own limiting beliefs and thoughts, we often tend to hold ourselves down. Not letting us go forward and doing what could be better for us… because we are afraid. Afraid because of fear… fear of failure, fear of success, fear of unknown, fear of loss, fear.

There was a session where we had to write down what were the negative decisions we made before and how it has benefited us in anyway.

I wrote that I had decided that I will avoid making mistakes others make by learning from theirs – while this has benefited me in terms of not having to experience what pains they go through… I also lose that exact experience. Without the experience, I won’t know how precious and important it really is!

Then I recalled something amazing…

When I was 15 years old (that’s 10 years back), I…

• was lonely,
• got angry easily,
• was pretty vulgar,
• was very violent,
• spoke my mind and hurt people without knowing it,
• had no understanding…

The good thing is, I went to City Harvest Church and started to change but I do believe I was 15 when I said… “I don’t want these anymore! I want friends! I want to be happy! I want to laugh! I want to enjoy life to the max!” and I decided to change my life.

10 years down the road to today… I see the results of that decision. Wow. Time flies. I am who I am today because of the decision made 10 years ago. Of course, I had a lot of help and support from the folks at church, but nevertheless, the decision started from within me.

(Thank You God)

And the second thing is… hrmm, what was the second thing?… Oh yes…

2. “Learn to Burn Energy like Coals, not Lighter Fluid”

Huh? What’s this got to do with anything?

You see… attending this seminar took EVERY OUNCE OF ENERGY outta me. I was completely, utterly, spent. When Tony said “Go to level 110, go berserk” – I took it literally (part of the whole ‘enjoy life to the max’ mindset I got going). And physically went ape-wild.

So, being already physically worn down due to the high-level activity and being sleep deprived, I caught a bug from one of the members. I met that members’ friends on day 3 and they told me he was down with fever.

Day 3 was 50% screwed because I caught that fever. It didn’t catch on strong until I did another activity by Tony Robbins.

It’s quite like a “deliverance” seminar I’ve experienced in church – without the laying on off hands and casting out of demons and stuff.

After that “deliverance” effect, I was 110% overspent on energy and I almost collapsed. The last time I felt that physically worn out was during my army training days at the Standard Obstacle Course (S.O.C.) training.

The energy we’ve got to burn can be used in 2 ways… either we burn them like coals – where it’s slow, constant but long-lasting. Or like lighter fluid, a huge powerful burst but gone almost instantaneously. To go further in life, one’s gotta maintain the energy so one does not burn out too early!

Tony’s been doing this type of whole-weekend seminars (with only 1 break for the whole day) for the past 32 years and it amazes me how much energy he’s got. The only other people I know who could possibly be on par or higher is Pastor Kong Hee.

So as it turns out, I missed out on day 4 totally as I had to recover at home… I had fever and I lost my voice. Nevertheless, I got what I needed during the 3 days.

Asher “FIREWALKER” Aw

Photo by spike55151Some time back, I had a bit of a revelation – it goes something like this…

Whenever anyone buys a house, a car, or anything and they pay in installments, they are expecting a return for their money. So they continuously give and give… but what happens when they stop paying/giving? Will the car come? Will the house be built? Don’t think so.

So it got me thinking and this revelation came.

Is that how we give our tithes and offerings? Many people stop giving their tithes and offerings because they don’t see the point of giving their money and getting nothing back in return.

Is it because they don’t know what they’re giving for in the first place?

Back in the days when I worked as an assistant manager for a company and I was doing some interviews, one guy told me “I gave up Christianity because I keep giving but I get nothing back. But the very first day I joined another and gave, suddenly, I got something when I gave my offering there!”

Short-sightedness?

What if the continuous tithes and offerings are down payments and installments but just when you’re about to receive the whole package, you gave up and go somewhere else? So the manufacturer/owner only gave you in part of the complete package… of what you rightfully deserve.

God loves a cheerful giver.

Can you imagine going to someone (a property agent or the constructor) and saying… “Man, I want the house but I sure hate paying for it” and you hand the money over? What kind of reaction should one expect from that? That’s about the same when people give their monies to God.

Imagine if you say “Man, I CAN’T WAIT for the house – when will it be finished? Could you hurry up?” Will it be better accepted? Depending on the tonality of how you said those words, you could either imply excitement to get the house or just asking for it to arrive/complete faster – which many people often pray for.

… or maybe it’s just me.

“Dear God, send me your blessings… faster, like now?”

So, it’s the 1st day of this month and it’s time to tithe. Whenever I tithe and give offerings, I remember that I’m putting a down payment and I will eventually be receiving my due rewards.

How do you view your tithing?

I was just having dinner with a long time buddy, Jeremy, and we were on the topic of being a Christian when a particular thought crossed my mind… I asked him: “What are the significant moments in your life that kept you going on as a Christian?”

To my surprise, he said “I’m not too sure”.

I proceeded to ask him about it because getting through life, I personally believe that certain memories and events in our life form who we are, what we believe in and how we live – so it was rather surprising to know my buddy was not sure what kept him going.

To describe it in another fashion, I related to him how life is like climbing a mountain. As you get higher, you “mark” yourself climbing up… mountain climbers would take a stake and “impale” it into the solid rock/ice surface – creating an anchor.

They then latch their ropes onto that anchor and keep going. In the event they fall/slip, these anchors would hold them and secure them from falling.

So, it came as a bit of a surprise that my friend here apparently did not create his anchors for his Christian life. But as we talked, I discovered that he – unlike me – had created his anchors in movable terrain. He created anchors in people.

Interesting.

For a person like me, I am who I am today because of the events in my life that I remember, of the information I learned from people/books/circumstances. That’s what kept me going on climbing my personal mountain. If I were to slip, my memories and my knowledge which have anchored me, would keep me safe and falling to doom.

For Jeremy, it was the people whom he has met in life who were always there for him. Believing in him and persisting with him despite knowing his flaws.

So, if he were to fall… he would rely on his “anchors” of people – though it moves… it also grows.

For me, if I were to fall… I would rely on my memories of knowledge and events – not so much on people.

How about you? What are YOUR anchors in life?

As City Harvest Church (CHC) celebrates it’s 20th Anniversary at the Singapore Indoor Stadium (I absolutely love the tagline by the way), I was once again reminded of my starting days in City Harvest.

This year marks me as a Quarter-Century Young Man As A Decade Old Christian! Meaning – I’ve been in City Harvest for 10 years exactly.

After watching the recollection videos of CHC and chatting after the service ends, I asked some people like my cell group leader Kelvin Guo if they remembered their first days in CHC. He says he can vividly remember it… as can I.

I came to church at the age of 15 and I believe I was the last group of street witnessing victi… uh… success stories before CHC decided to do away with it and apply the Caring System. I came after keeping in touch via email with my then cell group leader, Jairus Yuen – who today has gone on to greater heights as zone leader.

Getting saved – when the altar call was given… my neighbour (if memory serves me right, it was a brother named “Yao Cai” – I can remember because his name sounds like “Medicinal Herbs” in Chinese) asked me if I would like to go down. I went to the altar call but… get this… I had no idea why I was going down.

When service ended, I was congratulated and was told I’m now a Christian.

“Huh?”

That quick? That quick.

Ever since then, I’ve just been attending church and service regularly. If there was any event that “sealed the deal” for me to become a Christian, I believe it was the day when Pastor Kong was praying for some kind of anointing to come upon the young of CHC.

Again, I “gong gong” went down to the altar call – not really knowing what was going on. I lifted my hands (as he commanded) and I prayed (as he called us to) and I did accordingly. But then, I suddenly felt something different. I peeked open my then closed eyes and noticed that I’m standing all alone… right in the middle of the front of the stage while everyone around me was “slain”.

Then, suddenly, Pastor Kong came upon me and laid hands on me.

But he wasn’t alone.

3 other church helpers were there and as their hands supported me while Pastor Kong prayed – I felt myself being lifted from the ground. My feet was off the ground all the while Pastor Kong prayed really hard – his hands upon my head and as my head was tilted back, I recall a bright light shining in my face but most amazingly… a tear dropped from my face. I was crying.

I also recall saying in my head… Wait a minute, why am I crying?

I believe it was the power of God.

Now as I write this blog post, I believe I was “injected” with the Holy Spirit during that moment of laying of hands.

Nowadays, I don’t know if something like that will ever surface again because Pastor Kong is now much more sharper than he was… back then, everything was raw and on unfamiliar ground – today, he’s a Powerhouse for God!

• I clearly remember the days in Hollywood Theatre, Tanjong Katong (today, it’s been taken over by Sheng Siong Supermarket).
• I clearly remember the days of heading to cell group.
• I clearly remember the days starting out in ministry (from Bookstore, to Choir, to Drama today).
• I clearly remember the good times and the bad times.
• And most importantly, I clearly remember God working in His own way… reaching out to an unknown, blur, no-idea-what’s-happening 15 year old boy… through his servants.

His love for me has realized into my being saved into his family.

So with this post, I want to say… Thank You God. For loving me. Thank You… for changing and moulding me. And thank You… for City Harvest Church.

Happy 20th City Harvest Church!