make someone happy today!

because she needed something to smile about.

because all budding professional photographers need one.
surprises make me happy. go, surprise someone today! =)

love ministry.

january 15, 2011. peacehaven outreach event.

Peacehaven.

Such a beautiful name. A similarly lovely place to match those syllables. It’s not as sad a place as I’d expected it to be. Some of them were pretty funny and easy to talk to; of course, there were some who responded far from the ideal way. But thank God for favour – their eyes would light up with simply a smile, a “hello Auntie ni hao ma?“, a kind pat on the back. Not to mention being brightly decked in reds and pinks helped bring the atmosphere up a notch as well.

I focused my attention for the entire morning on Auntie YJ and Auntie J.

Auntie YJ is a cheerful old lady who communicated in Mandarin with me; in stark contrast, Auntie J is an English woman who couldn’t stop telling me about her life. For that I am deeply grateful to be at the receiving end of their sharing.

I suppose Auntie YJ is one of the luckier folks – to have her daughter visit her regularly. I had the chance to meet her and explain where we were from and what activities we were going to have. It was a great ease and joy talking to Auntie YJ – I find this deep connection between us very heartwarming.

As we were told not to bring up topics about their lives, it took me a while to get accustomed to the surface talk while attempting to establish a close connection to the elderly. Auntie J, however, began rambling about her life even before I formally introduced myself. She talked about England and Wales and her family. And even though I was trying my very best to make out her ramblings in strong English accent, I managed to fit the pieces – she is probably the last in her family to be alive, with the death of her husband and her brother. My heart broke. And as A says, loneliness is the worst feeling to overcome – I didn’t want to think about how one fine day we may all just end up being one of the last of our friends to remain alive, although A and I both exclaim, “hopefully we would all be raptured by then”. Haha.

The day ended well, and I thoroughly enjoyed myself despite having to worry about the safety of the elderly and to attend to their every need constantly. I failed to realise how exhausted I was until K came to pick me up and I suddenly felt soooo spent.

I thought about how God dropped that vision in me in 2009 and it never left, that I could be so filled myself doing what seemed like sacrifices and energy-consuming activities. It dawned on me just how much God will equip you with the wisdom, the strength, and all the skills you need for what He has called you to do. I may not be the best friend, best girlfriend, best daughter, or even the best Christian around, so when God has called me to love people I knew it was going to be His enlargement for me (still a very long way to go!). He knows exactly just how much I disliked evangelism the way I first saw it as and asked me to be an evangelist anyway, except in the best way I can ever see it as: To show God’s love to others through me.

Even though Project Love never took on further projects, I am still grateful for the continuing opportunities to reach out to the needy, to fulfil the very mission that PLJB sets out to achieve: Love God, love people.

I do and still believe that this love ministry is the best ministry ever.

seek ye first.

june 28, 2010. ymca proms.

It was a weekend I had been looking forward to.

There was so much joy in the atmosphere – it was an enjoyment, not a hint of service. Thank You Jesus.

These weeks have been an abundance of blessings so tangible I don’t even know where to begin or how to translate my emotions and thoughts into words – not to mention how tough it is to string these words together, only to realise that these dots, they join together, to form this beautiful picture. I wish I can show you in canvas and paint how beautiful this picture is, but this canvas is in my heart. All I can say is, I realised just how much I’ve undermined the importance of prayer – to bring my requests and my struggles to the Lord before anyone else, because He is the Almighty, and what man cannot do, He can. Above all else, to transform hearts, renew minds, refresh our souls and turn situations around. This is the victorious living and the abundance life we talk about – and it comes only by seeking Him FIRST, before anything else, or even better, without anything else.

P.S. If you are interested to volunteer with YMCA, CLICK HERE to visit the website.

Hello, I am still here.

you might have thought this blog is dead,

but i have not stopped what God has called me to do since years back.

I simply stopped making people do what God has called ME to do.

For the next few entries I will be sharing what I have been doing in Outreach Ministry, and what I received from there. And I hope you will do the same, too. =).

Be blessed.

- serene.

 

It’s time!

been thinking of PLJB, how dormant it is, and how much I miss it.

Work has been insane, lots of people issues. We tend to forget how to love.

Let me share with you a devotional which came into my inbox just today:

November 9, 2010
It’s Time to Do Something!
Mary Southerland

Today’s Truth

1 John 4:11 “Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.” Friend to Friend

I could not tear my eyes away from the television screen as the 33 miners began to emerge from the depths of what could have been their mass grave. The men had been trapped for more than two months in the collapsed Chilean copper mines nearly half a mile underground. Everything I have read or heard about the tragedy is extraordinary.

The miners survived the early days by rationing food and working together as a team. Each man was assigned a job, one of which was to maintain peace and harmony until they were rescued. The selfless mining supervisor who insisted on being the last to leave his underground prison showed the world what it really means to put others first. I was amazed at the selflessness of the rescue worker who became the initial guinea pig for the rescue capsule and then chose to stay behind – alone – while the world celebrated above.

I wonder how long it will take us to forget. How long will we remember that the world came together to save a group of strangers? Will the powerful lessons of their rescue make any difference in the way we treat each other?

We all know what it is like to be trapped in a pit of some kind. It is probably not a collapsed mine, but pits are all basically the same.

Our world has collapsed under the weight of fear and pain.

No one seems to care. In fact, a lot of people have written us off as a lost cause.

People are too busy to recognize or understand our hopelessness.

Darkness prevails and rescue seems impossible.

We are wounded, sick and tired.

Civil war rages in our soul as we struggle to obey God instead of giving in to sin.

I truly believe that every day is filled with divine appointments – opportunities to rescue people who are trapped in some kind of pit. We miss the emptiness reflected in the eyes of the sales clerk or simply choose to ignore the homeless man begging for money so that he can buy food. After all, we are in a hurry and have more important things to do. The sales clerk would probably be embarrassed if I said anything and that homeless man would probably just use the money I give him for drugs or alcohol.

The ringing phone is someone in need but we don’t care enough to answer. Our neighbor does not know God but her life is a mess and we really don’t want to get involved. Instead of taking action and doing what we know God wants us to do, we decide that it is enough to pray for that neighbor and leave the messy part of God’s work to someone else.

I am so guilty of walking away from someone in need instead of running to their rescue. I am in pain, too, and my pain is more important than theirs. I may not actually say those words but I don’t have to. My actions are blatant illustrations of my own egotism and self-absorption.

I do not want to be like the priest who nonchalantly strolled by the wounded and bleeding man lying on the road. I want to be like the Good Samaritan who stopped and saved the wounded man’s life. I want to be “God with skin on.”

One day, just as rescue workers descended into that Chilean mine, Jesus Christ will descend into this broken world and rescue us from the pit of human frailty. Until then, let’s be His hands and feet. Let’s love Him so much that we just have to do something about it.

Let’s Pray
Father, I come to You today with a heart of praise for the way You meet every need in my life and how You constantly rescue me from the darkness. I want Your heart, Lord. I want to be Your hands and feet to the people You place in my path. Give me eyes to see their need and the courage to do something about it. Please guard my heart against pride and selfishness. I want to please and honor You alone.

In Jesus’ name,

Amen.

Entry #6: Neutral doesn’t get you anywhere

You cannot live the life God created you to live within without being ambitious. The reason your heart leaps when you see greatness is that your spirit is drawn to it. The reason we can experience the vicarious exhilaration of a great victory or an amazing accomplishment is that the human spirit resonates with greatness.

The future doesn’t happen by accident; it happens through engagement.

We were created to strive for progress and to pursue it with passion. It is God who designed us this way. He made us creative, and he makes us responsible. Somehow there are many of us who have missed this point. We have allowed human history to be shaped by those who are distant from God and hostile toward people.

Evil never looks for permission.

Tyrants never consider the appropriateness of their actions. One of the great tragedies of human history is that while those who are motivated by greed and power and violence have forged the future of their liking, too many of those who long for a better world have sat passively by, watching and wishing the world could be different.. Sometimes it has been indifference, but often we think it’s God’s job to fix everything. Sincere people have deferred their responsibility while waiting on God to do something, but it has created a spirituality that lacks initiative and engagement. This goes against the nature of the human spirit, and it goes against the way God has created us. We might actually conclude God is apathetic and indifferent just because we are. God created us to engage, solve problems, meet needs, do something with our lives. He made us to get involved and expects us to act. That’s why someone like Mother Teresa helps us believe in God.

Human compassion reflects God and moves us toward God.

-           Soul Cravings, Erwin R. McManus

I think the reason behind every inertia to start something stems from what we see as endpoints. We see the results of a successful major project and wonder how we are able to raise that sum of money, gather the huge numbers of people, look for so many resources. Recently it has been reiterated to me the concept of faithfulness – to be faithful in the small things that God has given you, to not despise the days of small beginnings. Faithfulness just by sticking through the small obstacles in life are what I call “God’s little tests of faith” to build a platform for greater things to be added unto us.

We drop a little of His kingdom every day, and we can’t even fathom how much more God will do to those little mustard seeds.

I discovered (Red) recently, and realised that it has been an ongoing project for 3 years now. I was eager to find out what started this project which snowballed into a $140 million project involving 4 million people. I wasn’t aware of its beginnings, but I sure do know it didn’t start from what I see as this endpoint.

It started out with a single man returning home from Africa with an encounter which turned into a vision.

Read more about Bono and the (Red) Project.

on (Red)

David ‘Bono’ Hewson

Bono, the lead singer of the influential rock band U2, is a rock star who is adored and admired by his fans and by people in popular culture. As a musician, Bono has legions of devoted fans around the world. It is on the world stage that Bono has made significant contributions as a socially conscious humanitarian who uses his fame to promote good works, including Produce (RED) a project for AIDS/HIV awareness in Africa.

Bono’s experience with his parents and their differing religions caused him to be deeply suspicious of organized religion, although he had a deep and abiding Christian faith which continues. Bono’s Christian faith has been a large part of his spiritual life, but Bono has largely free from the influence of mainstream religion.

Bono has become an activist who has been involved is a variety of social causes. His work was initiated largely due to his Christian beliefs. Bono’s social activism began in earnest in 1985, when he traveled to Ethiopia with Live Aid with his wife, Ali.

Since the new millennium, Bono has rallied performers to end poverty in Third World countries as a spokesman for the Jubilee 2000 project and has helped to organize the 2005 Live 8 concerts, among his many other humanitarian efforts.

Bono and Bobby Shriver co-founded Product (RED) in 2006. Project (Red) is an initiative that seeks to persuade large companies with global brands to donate profits from specific products to the cause of fighting AIDS/HIV in Africa through education and medication. (Source)

Read more about Bono’s life here.

Tamsin Smith

Tamsin Smith became president of (RED) in March 2006, to help form a team and organization to support the initiative launched by Bono and Bobby Shriver earlier that year at the World Economic Forum in Davos.

Here’s a post from the President of (RED), Tamsin, who just returned from Africa. ~ Colette
————————–

30+ hours traveling back from Africa to California is plenty of time to marvel at these past few weeks of May.

A couple of weeks ago:

Bono, Bobby, Sheila, Len and I went to Gap’s headquarters in San Francisco to get a look at their first full collection of (RED) items. We were all struck by the passion, commitment and inspiration that the Gap team has put into the line. It shows in the clothes and the store experience that they are creating.. There is nothing remotely “mass” about Gap(RED). Each item feels created by the hand of someone thinking about the individual who will wear it. There is nothing anonymous about these pieces…it’s a very organic layering of details, each functional or communicative in some way. A simple, deliberative layering of stories and moods and moments…and a real pride of artistry comes through. The Gap team told us the designers were thoroughly jazzed about working on (RED) collection. The excitement shows. Even the specially-created fixtures that will showcase the line in the top stores look as though they were hand-crafted as an architectural extension of the clothes themselves.

A week or so later:

We converge in sub-Saharan Africa. First stop – the mountain kingdom of Lesotho. For me, this was the most amazing leg of the journey. I’ve spent the past decade on efforts to buoy the economic competitiveness of countries in this region. But no policy debate in Washington DC or Brussels has ever been remotely as compelling as the sight of a dozen factory workers vamping down the runway at the fashion show put on by the Lesotho garment manufacturers association in the 100 percent African t-shirts that they themselves produced. It was a beautiful, beautiful moment, but hardly the last of the trip.

Looking back, I don’t know that we ever passed a person in the street – man, woman or child – who didn’t wave and smile. The vibe was infectious. I think we all felt that incredible energy, so much in contrast our “busy” “stressful” lives in America, London, Dublin… A third of the population in Lesotho is HIV positive and they are fired up about making a better future for themselves. Bono one night recalled a quote that nailed this determination: “Don’t kick the darkness/make the light shine brighter.”

I guess if I could communicate one thing that most struck me in the visits to Lesotho and Rwanda, it’s the honest lack of cynicism. Rwanda went through a horrifying civil war. The first hand account given by one survivor was hard even to hear. And yet, listening to everyone from government officials, health workers, the hilarious guy that runs the coffee processing facility that supplies Starbucks to the beautiful women who make baskets in their spare time to sell to department stores in the U.S., they are determined to succeed.

It’s funny but sitting in the bar my last night in Kigali, I realized that Bono wasn’t the only rock star on the trip. If the commercial equivalent of an autograph is a business card, then the admittedly groovy Leslie Dance of Motorola was the hot ticket that night. Motorola has a legacy of engagement in Africa on business and philanthropic ventures, but it was excitement over the new MotoSLVR for red, and interest in building components of phones and packaging in Africa, that really stirred up the crowd.

Wish I had been able to stay on through to Mali to meet the women who make mudcloth. The Converse mudcloth high-tops for (product) RED are the perfect embodiment of the spirit behind this brand we’re building. What’s deep is cool. Those shoes are the real deal!  (Source)

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