My Journey, My Thoughts, My Reflections

Monday, 18 February 2013

Songs that meant something to me

I know I had not blogged for a few days now basically because I was quite busy organising some of my previous posts and extracting information.

The following are songs that I had posted that meant something to me and Josie and I’m just consolidating them together. There will definitely be a few more songs that I will post and these are songs had significant meanings especially for Josie. For today, I leave you with “HOW GREAT THOU ART” because it was the song chosen by both Josie and me for our wedding and because God is indeed great in our lives and especially now in verse 4 where it says “When Christ shall come with shout of acclamation and take me home - what joy shall fill my heart!”

I wish these songs could be used for my funeral. It may sound a little morbid and seem like I am giving up the fight but that is not so. It is just that these songs bear significant for me that I wish others to hear these songs and read the lyrics and to know that God and Jesus are in these songs.

In God We Trust!!

O LORD MY GOD!

(HOW GREAT THOU ART)

Russian Hymn

Verse 1:

O Lord my God! when I in awesome wonder

Consider all the works Thy hand hath made,

I see the stars, I hear the mighty thunder,

Thy pow’r throughout the universe display’d:

Chorus:

Then sings my soul, my Saviour God, to Thee,

How great Thou art! How great Thou art!

Then sings my soul, my Saviour God, to Thee,

How great Thou art! How great Thou art!

Verse 2:

When through the woods and forest glades I wander

And hear the birds sing sweetly in the trees;

When I look down from lofty mountain grandeur,

And hear the brook, and feel the gentle breeze;

Verse 3:

And when I think that God His Son not sparing,

Sent Him to die I scarce can take it in.

That on· the cross my burden gladly bearing,

He bled and died to take away my sin:

Verse 4:

When Christ shall come with shout of acclamation

And take me home - what joy shall fill my heart!

Then shall I bow in humble adoration

And there proclaim, my God, how great Thou art!

Posted on 07 Sept 2012

THE FATHER'S HEART

The Father's heart never changes,

From the beginning to the end.

Son of Heaven decended,

Saved us all for eternity.

Cause the Father's Heart, longs for us.

Joy of my desire,

Jesus my Lord,

Jesus my Saviour,

The Father's sacrifice.

This is one of the very few song/lyrics written by me. I have no music to it though.

Posted on 10 Sept 2102

IN GOD WE TRUST

Michael Sweet and Robert Sweet

Posted on 17 Sept 2012

GOD YOU REIGN

Words and Music by Lincoln Brewster and Mia Fieldes

Posted on 29 Sept 2012

LORD YOU ARE ALWAYS HERE WITH ME

Words and Music by BO & ELSA JÄRPEHAG

Posted on 02 Oct 2012

JESUS LOVES ME, THIS I KNOW

Anna Barlett Warner and William Bradbury

Posted on 03 Oct 2012

STANDING ON THE PROMISES

Words and Music by R. Kelso Carter, 1849 – 1928

Posted on 08 Oct 2012

HOSANNA

Words and Music by Paul Baloche & Brenton Brown.

Posted on 24 Oct 2012

IN CHRIST ALONE

Words and Music by Keith Getty and Stuart Townend

Posted on 24 Oct 2012

AWESOME IN THIS PLACE

Words and Music by Dave Billington

Posted on 18 Nov 2012

牵我的手 主耶稣

演唱/作词/作曲：苏世民

Posted on 25 Jan 2013

MY HOPE IS BUILT ON NOTHING LESS

Author: Edward Mote (1834)

Posted on 29 Jan 2013

HOW WONDERFUL

Words and Music by Gabriel Finochio, Nathaneal Finochio, Joel Augo and Matthew Crocker

Posted on 03 Feb 2013

BLESSED ASSURANCE

Phoebe Palmer Knapp (1839-1908)

Public Domain

Posted on 06 Feb 2013

BATTLE HYMN OF THE REPUBLIC

Words by Julia Ward Howe

Music: Traditional Republic American Melody / Melody attributed to William Steffe

Public Domain

Posted on 10 Feb 2013

爱，我愿意

专辑：彩虹下的约定

歌手：赞美之泉

简介：暂无

Posted on 14 Feb 2013

HOW DEEP THE FATHER’S LOVE FOR US

Words and Music by STUART TOWNEND

Friday, 15 February 2013

Email to send general comments

Dear Friends,

I was told that some of you still have problem posting comments and some would prefer to not to post “public” comment but sent mail to me.

I have set up an email account for such purposes. If you wish to email me, kindly send the mail to: davidyuejourney@gmail.com

Cheers and Many Blessings

David Yue

In God We Trust

Thursday, 14 February 2013

Music, Worship and Ministry

Blog Entry #125

Music, Worship and Ministry

Music is a very interesting thing. Short of searching out and typing out the various aspect of Music, I ask that you go to Wikipedia to reads about the definition and various aspect of music (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Music).

As part of music and in the modern context, I’d included the soundman as an integral part of worship within the “House of Worship” and I had written about it in one of my blog “Do all to the Glory of God” but I guess you can include the soundman within a wider context of modern music as well.

Music has the ability to move us and create certain emotions in everyone and much of it I guess is also dependent on our background and the type of music within our cultural context of where we grow up in but universally, music is emotive and cognitive and can generate much in terms “drive” where it can push us along certain line of thoughts and emotions. An example is the 1985 song “We are the world” done for the African famine relief that stir up such emotion (at least for me) that you cannot help but “feel” for the people in Africa that were suffering one of their worse famine.

Within the Christian context, music is also used in the worship of God and personally, it is also a mean of declaration of our faith, our believes , our relationship with God and much more. Last Sunday, other than the Chinese song “爱，我愿意”, the other song that touches me was “How Deep The Father’s Love For Us” by Stuart Townend.

HOW DEEP THE FATHER’S LOVE FOR US

Words and Music by STUART TOWNEND

Verse 1:

How deep the Father’s love for us,

How vast beyond all measure

That He should give His only Son

To make a wretch His treasure.

How great the pain of searing loss,

The Father turns His face away.

As wounds which mar the Chosen One

Bring many sons to glory.

Verse 2:

Behold the Man upon a cross,

My sin upon His shoulders.

Ashamed, I hear my mocking voice

Call out among the scoffers.

It was my sin that held Him there

Until it was accomplished;

His dying breath has brought me life.

I know that it is finished.

Verse 3:

I will not boast in anything;

No gifts, no pow’r, no wisdom.

But I will boast in Jesus Christ;

His death and resurrection.

Why should I gain from His reward?

I cannot give an answer.

But this I know with all my heart;

His wounds have paid my ransom.

Again, it is one of those songs that I had sung many times before but it was something that I do not take great notice of and again, cancer has the effect of changing one’s perspective in life including the meaning of songs that we hear. Search for it in YouTube and have a listen to the song. It is written and sung like a “hymn” which is fine for me as I loved hymns.

The song spoke about many things that I had written about in my blogs and is a confirmation of my feelings for God and thoughts and reflections about Him. For me, there are 4 significant portions of the song that spoke to me and are sort of my heartbeat as well; O how it says:

· “How deep the Father’s love for us, how vast beyond all measure that He should give His only Son to make a wretch His treasure.”

· “It was my sin that held Him there until it was accomplished; His dying breath has brought me life. I know that it is finished.”

· “I will not boast in anything; No gifts, no pow’r, no wisdom. But I will boast in Jesus Christ; His death and resurrection.”

· “Why should I gain from His reward? I cannot give an answer. But this I know with all my heart; His wounds have paid my ransom.”

O how I wish I could write and play songs such as this and take it as my worship of God, of my declaration of Him and His nature, the good and merciful God, the One that would save a wretch like me. Alas, I can’t but God had placed people like Stuart Townend in our midst to write such songs that would also become our heartbeat. However, as a soundman, I considered myself as a “musician” in the context of the band and thus this is my worship of God as in “playing” a song.

In saying all this, I am also kind of ashamed that I should find solace in songs more than in the God's Word directly. However I do find comfort in knowing that what I know of God and of the Scriptures had carried me thus far and that the songs that I had posted in my blogs are reflections of my inner feelings and thoughts about God, declarations of my faith in Him, His mercy and Grace and acknowledgement of His work in my life and so I quote the line in the song once again that says: “I will not boast in anything; No gifts, no pow’r, no wisdom. But I will boast in Jesus Christ; His death and resurrection.”

In God We Trust.

Sunday, 10 February 2013

爱，我愿意 (Love, I’m Willing)

What a lovely day, the first day of Chinese New Year.

We went to church this morning as out Vicar had reminded us last week that during the Chinese New Year, we visit out parents to wish them well, to have a full and bountiful year ahead. Although our Father does not lack anything and in fact is full of every blessings, we “visit” Him this day to honor Him and “pay our respect” to Him as out Father in heaven.

We were glad that we went for service as our Vicar preached about honoring our parents and it is a reminder to me and Josie that despite whatever that may happen at home, the tension and sometime stressed with living with our parents, they are still our parent and deserve our honour and respect as God had taught us and commanded in the scripture. It is the only commandment that comes with a promise.

Exodus 20:12 (NASB)

“Honor your father and your mother, that your days may be prolonged in the land which the Lord your God gives you.

During the service, the following Chinese song was sung for the offerings.

爱，我愿意
专辑：彩虹下的约定
歌手：赞美之泉
简介：暂无

十字架上的光芒   温柔又慈祥
带着主爱的力量   向着我照亮
我的心不再隐藏   完全地摆上
愿主爱来浇灌我   在爱中得自由释放

我愿意降服   我愿意降服
在你爱的怀抱中   我愿意降服
你是我的主   你是我的主
永远在你怀抱中
你是我   你是我的主

Trying to translate the lyrics with the help of Google translate and Josie plus some of my own input but I think the essence of the song is in the language and the meanings and feelings cannot be fully captured in English.

The radiance of the cross Gentle and kind

With the power love of the Lord Shining upon me

My heart is no longer hiden Yielding to You completely

May God's love immerse me Setting me free with Love

I am willing to surrender I am willing to surrender
In Your love’s embrace I am willing to surrender

You are my Lord You are my Lord
Forever in your embrace
You are, You are my Lord

The song brought tears to Josie and me and I bent over to Josie and whispered that this song is our heartbeat and she smiled that knowing smile with tears in her eyes.

Have a listen to it at:
http://www.zanmeishi.com/song/100.html
or
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=82dkVH6l4Ug

A friend sent the following to us and he probably got it from someone else and I google it and found it on http://www.facebook.com/101PowerfulAffirmations/posts/496405127072637 and it is attributed to:
Yee Shun-Jian, Founder & Chief Happiness Officer, http://101PowerfulAffirmations.com/

A Christian's interpretation of nice Chinese new year blessings and proverbs:

心想事成 Ps 37:4 God will grant us the desires of our heart

万事如意 Rom 8:28 In all things God works together for the good of those who love Him

岁岁平安 Phil 4:7 The peace of God will guard our hearts and minds in Christ

事业有成 Jer 29:11 God knows the plans for us to prosper us and give us a future and a hope

步步高升 Eph 2:6 God has raised us up with Christ and seated us with Him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus

金玉满堂 Prov 15:6 The house of the righteous is filled with treasure

红运当头 Deut 28:13 God has made us the head and not the tail (as a result of Jesus' shed blood)

笑口常开 Ps 105:43 God brings His people out with rejoicing, and His chosen ones with shouts of joy.

May God truly bless you with many blessings in this New Year.

In God We Trust.

Saturday, 9 February 2013

The Significant Holidays

Today is the eve of the Lunar (Chinese) New Year.

As I looked at the holidays, there are 4 holidays that has significants for me:

· Christmas

· Easter

· New Year

· Lunar (Chinese) New Year

Christmas is the celebration of Christ’s birth. It is the moment where Christ gave up His God-hood and became man that all men may know him and obtain salvation.

Easter is the celebration of the resurrection of Christ and is the preceded by His crucifixion. The crucifixion and resurrection of Christ is central to our Christian faith for without the Resurrection, there is no salvation.

New Year to me is just a regular holiday but I always look forward to it because in the Christian calendar we celebrate the New Year with the Watch-night Service on the eve of the New Year. It is during the Watch-night Service that we give thanks for the year past.

The Lunar New Year’s significant is in the ushering in of spring, where we “wash way the old” and “usher in the new”. Therefore, in conjunction with the New Year where I give thanks for the past year, in the Lunar New Year I usher in the New.

In my previous posts, I had given thanks. Now with Christ in me, I usher in the new because Christ had made me new. We look forward to all things new including a new Pancreas.

Wishing all Happy Chinese New Year and In God We Trust.

Wednesday, 6 February 2013

Mystery of Faith

In my last post, I wrote about the mystery of what we call “faith” that is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen (Hebrews 11:1). As I had written a few times in this blog space, I do not believe in coincidences but in everything God has His plans and purposes. Ever since my last post, I was thinking about what to write and I was contemplating about writing on the topic of “Mystery of Faith” but I could not think of what to write for the content.

Josie more or less “forced” me to subscribe to this particular blog-site, http://lthomason.wordpress.com/ and I received daily the devotion of Lori Thomason. Honestly, I normally skip and file away the devotion mails from Lori Thomason but today for some reason I thought I’ll just read the opening of paragraphs of her devotion and then file the mail away. Guess what? When I opened the mail, the 1^st paragraph reads:
Now faith is the assurance (the confirmation, the title deed) of the things [we] hope for, being the proof of things [we] do not see and the conviction of their reality [faith perceiving as real fact what is not revealed to the senses]. For by [faith—trust and holy fervor born of faith] the men of old had divine testimony borne to them and obtained a good report. Hebrews 11:1-2 (AMP)
(This is from Lori's post dated 6 February entitled "Nothing Ventured Nothing Gained")

Needless to say it got me really excited and I shouted to Josie and asked her to come and read the mail. She was also very surprised and thank God for the confirmation because yesterday, we were (or rather I was) talking about Hebrew 11:1 and what it meant to me now as opposed to what it meant to me before I had cancer.

Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen. Hebrew 11:1 (NASB)

I had written many times about faith, hope and sovereignty of God. Before my cancer, I thought I understood the verse and subscribed to it and believed in it but feels that I do not fully grasp the intricacy or the deeper meaning of the verse but after the discovery of the cancer in me, the verse took on a totally different meaning. It is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen. There is simply no need to read deeper into this verse and now I take the verse as is literally and without embellishment. It is exactly as what it says. Lori Thomason also wrote “Faith is most definitely an adventure. But to have the blessed assurance, confirmation…” and I had ended my last blog with the hymn “Blessed Assurance.

To quote Lori further:

“We must become convinced that God is real, Jesus is His Son, His Spirit lives in us and Heaven is our next home. Such a conviction becomes reality only when it is received as a fact even though not revealed to the senses.”

“God is real. Jesus is His Son. His Spirit does live on the inside of all who call on the Name of Jesus to be saved. These are faith facts that should be the basis of your life if you desire Eternal life.”

“Maintaining genuine faith in God requires testing. God allows trials to come in order that we may evaluate our faith in the Lord and see if our true intentions. This is so very important. It is not fun or anything that we desire, but absolutely necessary.”

“To join the faith adventure requires that you believe God is GOOD! His unfailing love, faithfulness and goodness are a part of every promise that the Lord has for your life. Do you believe God is good? The Lord is good not only in the sunshine but also in the rain. He is good in the light and even in darkness. God is always good and His Intentions for your life culminate in the fact that He is good! His Mercy is a direct result of this truth. Faith will never mature fully in anyone who does not believe that God is always good and live life celebrating His Goodness.”

All these are confirmation that God is watching over me because by just having read this one post from Lori reaffirms all that I believed in and all that I had written in my blogs. In all these, God did not say I will be healed but in all these I am assured of God’s presence in my life and now I have heard him because he had spoken to me.

As an add-on to the “coincident”, I was at the National Cancer Centre yesterday for a second opinion and while waiting to see the doctor, I looked out the window and saw the new National Heart Center (NHC) building under construction. As part of my job, I had to deal with NHC and before I started my chemotherapy, I was part of the team that is developing medical equipment proposals to NHC and I was quite involved in solution and infrastructure planning within the team. After I had started my chemotherapy, my colleagues were very kind not to “load” me with work but I just received a mail today seeking my “expertise” on one particular matter for NHC.

What do I gather out of these?

God is bringing me through a journey with Him and He had revealed Himself to me. I am grateful and thankful. Perhaps it is a signal that I am nearing the end of my journey and that I will have the opportunity to be involved in the NHC deal/project actively.

I leave you with another Hymn and In God We Trust.

BATTLE HYMN OF THE REPUBLIC
Words by Julia Ward Howe
Music: Traditional Republic American Melody / Melody attributed to William Steffe
Public Domain

Verse 1:
Mine eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord,
He is tramp’ling out the vintage where the grapes of wrath are stored;
He has loosed the fateful light'ning of His terrible, swift sword,
His truth is marching on.

Chorus:
Glory! Glory, Hallelujah!
Glory! Glory, Hallelujah!
Glory! Glory, Hallelujah!
His truth is marching on.

Verse 2:
He has sounded forth the trumpet that shall never call retreat;
He is sifting out the hearts of men before His judgement-seat:
O be swift, my soul, to answer Him; Be jubilant, my feet!
Our God is marching on.

Verse 3:
In the beauty of the lilies, Christ was born across the sea,
With a glory in His bosom that transfigures you and me;
As He died to make men holy, let us live to make men free,
His truth is marching on.

Sunday, 3 February 2013

Encouragement and the meaning of Life

I was talking to a sister in church who is from Sri Lanka. Got to know her because Josie used to be a teacher in Sunday School and she was trying to encourage this sister's daughter to attend Sunday School. Also, they have a young son who is 13 months old (Nathan is 20 months old) and we got to interact when we were in the nursery together.

We got to talk and she told me that she knew of a sister in Sri Lanka (purposely leaving the details out and I hope I got the basic information correct) who had cancer and asked her to read my blog. 2 things to mention in this case and firstly, it is encouraging for me to know that this sister is reading my blog and secondly, that she is recommending my blog as an encouragement to others. I don’t want to misquote what this sister had said except to know that she had though my blog would served as an inspiration and a source of encouragement for the sister in Sri Lanka. I guess in this way, part of the purpose of my blog had been served and all glory to God.

Initially, I had wanted to start the blog only as a mean for disseminating information concerning the progress of my cancer therapy rather than having to answers queries and concerns individually. On reflection and since I loved to write, I thought why don’t I make use of this opportunity to write about my thoughts and again initially, I thought I would just focus on my own thoughts, leaving out the politics (that I still do) and maybe just adding some spiritual elements. Let’s just say that the tremendous amount of support from those around me both emotionally and spiritually had made me realised that I do not walk alone in this journey and it makes me focus on God as well. As the phrase goes, the rest is history.

For those who had followed my blog and/or prayed for me, I thank you and I ask that Jesus will bless you (even if you do not believe in Him) for your concerns and prayers. Through my journey there is always one constant and that is Jesus.

I was reading an article in the paper about a cancer patient and his journey and how he had written many letters to the Forum page. In this article, the author wrote about this person’s (who is a Buddhist) annoyances at the Oncologist whom he had consulted and who asked to kneel and pray with him and I hope I don’t get into any trouble by quoting this person when said in a separate letter that “The sanctity of life has no meaning when life itself has no meaning. People with terminal illness can only look forward to endless misery and suffering”.

I had purposely left out details of the articles lest I get into trouble and as a disclaimer, it is not my intention to trampled upon nor disregard this person’s personal thoughts and feelings and at no point am I trying to cast disdain on his testament and the memories that the family and friends has of him and he must be well regarded for the author of the article is a school-mate of this person.

I am not going to comment on that Oncologist’s wish to pray with this person as it is within this person’s prerogative to receive or reject the offer of prayer regardless of religious affiliation. I write what I am going to write only as my personal thoughts, feelings and beliefs but having received the “trigger” while reading the article. I do hope I don’t get into trouble for blogging about it. The following is purely my musing. I do not know the context of the letter that this person had written but I am taking the quote at "face-value".

If life has no meaning then since the day that we were born, there is no meaning for our existence. Perhaps in this case, it is about the “sanctity” of life but then again if there is no meaning to life, then where forth comes the notion of “sanctity” of life. Every life is precious regardless whether they are the foulest of the foul or purest of the pure and again regardless of religious affiliation. From a Christian perspective it is precisely the reason for Christ’s sacrifice that He died once for ALL upon the cross. Perhaps it is true that there are those with terminal illness who are dying slow and painful death while suffering endless misery. I am not at the stage where I can say that I know or experienced or that I am suffering endless misery but my belief and trust in God will carry the day. Am I presumptious? No, absolutely not but therein lie the mystery of what we call “faith” that is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen (Hebrews 11:1) (NASB)

I have seen people passed away from cancer and my mother-in-law was one of them. I know that at her very end, she must be in agony but out of her mouth, not a single word of complain about the pain for she had delivered her life to Jesus. She had seen angels, she spoke Jesus’ name and she knew that she had done her part as mother to her children and daughter of God. There was pain and suffering but no misery for Christ had borne that for her and there was peace on her face when she passed while the rest of us mourned.

What will be my lasting testament? Read my blog… it is all there.

By the way, I had started writing to the Forum page about 3 weeks ago. So far, I had written only 2 letters and one of them was published in the online edition of The Straight Times.

I leave you with this hymn and In God We Trust.

BLESSED ASSURANCE
Phoebe Palmer Knapp (1839-1908)
Public Domain

Verse 1:
Blessed assurance, Jesus is mine:
O what a foretaste of glory divine!
Heir of salvation, purchase of God;
Born of His Spirit, wash’d in His blood.

Chorus:
This is my story, this is my song,
Praising my Saviour all the day long.
This is my story, this is my song,
Praising my Saviour all the day long.

Verse 2:
Perfect submission, perfect delight,
Visions of rapture now burst on my sight;
Angels descending bring from above
Echoes of mercy, whispers of love.

Verse 3:
Perfect submission all is at rest,
I in my Savior am happy and blest;
Watching and waiting, looking above,
Filled with His goodness, lost in His love.

Chemotherapy Cycle #09 Comment #04

I know I have not posted for the last 2 days.

Friday was not a terribly good day as for some reasons I was not able to sleep well on Thursday night. Slept at about 11:30pm but woke up at about 4:30am and could not get back to sleep. Went back to the office in the afternoon to submit my medical claims and at the same time meet my boss for my 2012 performance appraisal. I guess you can say that I was quite “stoned” by the end of the day. I had a good time in the office though, meeting up and chatting with colleagues. On the medical side, I was generally alright, appetite is again good but I had a bit of scare on Friday night when the blood glucose level was close to hypoglycemic at 4.7. Let’s just say I took the opportunity to gobble some sweets.

On Saturday, I had actually forgotten to take my last anti-nausea medication and I was none the worse for it which I guess is good. The only negative thing is that this time around, the tinkling and numbness in the fingers, toes and tongue is more pronounce than all the previous therapy cycles but I think I should be back to “normal” by Sunday and latest by Monday.

Based on the past and especially the last 2 days experience for which I will have to continue to monitor for the next few days, I might need to reduce my insulin injection in the evening as my blood glucose level at night is on the “low” side. Not a bad news.

This post will probably be the last of the “Post-Chemotherapy” updates for cycles 9 and I am looking forward to Chinese New Year.

He is really good to me and my family and so In Him We Trust