Football match at Reebok Stadium (Bolton vs Villa)

26th April 2009 - I travelled to Reebok Stadium to watch the Premier League match between Bolton Wanderers and Aston Villa. Enjoyed the experience. It was great to watch the match from up close. We were sitting right at the midfield just behind the throw in area. I had a great view of the throw in and corner kicks. It was a relatively warm afternoon and the sun was shining right on our face. I guess I got a tan now, just on the face though..LOL.

Here are some videos and pictures:

Photos link

Walking with God...

The road ahead seems to be a little gloomy, but I thank God for showing the way. Although it sometimes felt as if I am walking alone, God is standing by my side all the time. I never realise he was behind me as I was dashing ahead, moving too fast, not according to His pace but mine. Only when I fall down and look back, I saw His face with His arms wide open, ready to pick me up again. All this while, He has tried to bless me, walking behind me, standing by to make sure I stand up again every time I fall.

The path of righteousness is an arduous one. There are so many shortcuts along the way. Sometimes, I felt tempted to try out of curiosity, to use the short way, away from the Father. Time and time, He calls me back. I can always hear him calling me back to the right way, but like a child being called by mommy for dinner while he is still enjoying a game, I too can be hearing but not listening. So how do I stay tune to his voice? I must love God with all my heart and my soul. 

I am not a child anymore now, however I still miss my parents very much. This was because a strong bonding of relationship has developed between me and my parents. We lived together, sharing ups and downs. Eventhough I used to get beaten up and mocked at whenever I do wrong, I looked back realising those are their ways of making me stronger to take up responsibility and to be someone useful in the future. I am thankful for the canings and harsh words (eventhough it is not applicable to our society now). The same goes to our relationship with God, if we live with him daily, wherever we go we will feel his presence. From my perspective, he is always talking to me. Whether I am hearing or listening is another question. I pray to be ever listening and not hearing. 

"Faith is when death no longer appears to be a threat, faith is not just believing without seeing but understanding the nature of the right path and walk by it. Just like a blind man feeling his way using a walking stick, as he practices walking with it daily, he cannot walk and felt lost without it. That stick becomes his faith"

Productive day at last

I washed my car today and even had it waxed. Saved myself 5 pounds. It was a good day today with the sun blazing over my Nissan Almera. It took me about 1.5 hours to wash up the whole car. In and out. It is shining now, at least for the next few more days before it start raining as we head towards the weekend. Instead of being my usual self, logging on facebook for the whole day, I decided to go for a jog today. So basically 20 minutes of jogging and 40 minutes of walking. Have to stay in shape before I turn into an uncle. : P Moreover, I am still single, so this is an investment my future as well, actually no, I will be joining a 40 miles charity walk next month. hahaha...now I will treat myself with Xbox 360 for an hour before taking shower, reading bible and then off to bed.

Yesterday, I went to visit Alex again, this time he is in a jolly mood, hiding himself inside the toy house, awaiting to surprise us. Thank God he is beginning to gain appetite and willingly take medication when asked by his mom. Will continue to pray for his healing and ask God to bless this family. Spent about 2 hours at the hospital having KFC feast with bros and sis before going back home. Here are some pictures taken at the hospital.

Nice and quiet Saturday..

As we approach Spring, how beautiful is the beaming sunshine blasting through my house windows. The beauty of His creation is indescribable. As I move on to another day, pondering upon my next steps, my next plan. There is so much I dreamed of doing. Doing some useful voluntary job while waiting to travel back to sweet home Malaysia. However, procrastination is not helping. I drag my feet as I get through life everyday. Seems I have come to a standstill. I am not contented so I intend to take this time to learn more. Be it playing guitar, reading bible and etc. 

While waiting to depart back to Malaysia, I worry whether I will have enough to fund myself for the next 2 months (worst case). I am not working full time, thus the pounds keep diminishing as the days go by. Just like a full bottle of water with a hole at the bottom, water keeps flowing out and soon it will dry out. Therefore, I had to be frugal, keeping the water in as much as I can, gingerly stubbing my finger into the hole. Keep telling myself that this episode of my life will cease soon and a new chapter (working life) will begin. 

I thank bros and sis in fellowship for providing support and words of prayer when I needed them most. I will keep the faith and ponder upon my next episode in life.  I eagerly awaits the blossoming of spring flowers the start of my next dream. 

Later on, I will be visiting a little child (Alex). The poor little one scarred himself as he fell onto a hot puddle of oil. After having undergone I think 3 operations, he is gettting better now. I pray Father god in heaven will bless him, I ask Father that you provide speedy healing. Take away his pain father, replace it with love from bros and sis. 

Work Permit approved

Hi all,

I received good news on Good Friday, my work permit was approved and all I need to do now is just travel back to Malaysia and come back to UK. This means I still have my old job and permission to stay in this country. YaHOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!

Will keep you guys updates as I go...

MEC 2009 --> Who am I?

Wonder what I did during Easter this year? Well, I joined the Midlands Easter Conference. It was a really great experience. I received so much from this retreat. It is a 4 days event full of time for sharing, devotion, meditation and talks. This is a Christian event organised by Christian students from Warwick University. There is so much fun and I met so many friends throughout the event.

Here are some pictures:

As there were about 140 + ppl joining this event, all of us were put into groups. Each group was lead by a leader who guides us in times of sharing and devotion. I was privileged to be in the "Priest" group. To summarise, this is a fun, joyful, mischievous, silly and funny group. On the first day of sharing, we had to use the little chapel eventhough we were assigned a classroom for it. This is because the room was deadlocked. As in other chapels, you expect to feel cool as soon as you get inside it, it was pitch dark as we move closer to the altar. Pretty scary I must say. It was pin drop silence...untill.....we got there!!! The chapel suddenly became alive with our laughters as we started giving each other nick names. We had Juggernaut Jon, Jet Jon, Bubbles Bert, Rainbow Rich, Joyful Jewish Jennifer, Jelly Belly Janice, Crispy Chrissy, Cat Christy, National Nicholas, Wonder woman Winnie and Demented Daniel. What a lovely and silly bunch of bozos to hang out with. We shared, played, sang and prayed together during these 4 lovely days. It was a great experience. Never had I been so silly ever since I left secondary school. We were dancing with all the nicks given to us. Rainbow will have to wave his hands upwards to form the shape of a Rainbow, Cat will have to do the catwoman gesture, Jelly Belly will need to pull her belly eventhough she do not seem to have one and etc.

Some videos were uploaded on FB which I will leave it as a link at the end of this posting. The worship sessions was great. Each church who participated had a chance of leading the sessions. It was an inspiring and stunning experience. I was touched by the dedication and efforts of worship teams and organising committee to bring us closer to God. His voice was heard throughout the retreat during talks, worships and sharing.

I am already missing each and every of the group members. Most of all I miss the grand fellowship with bros and sis in MEC.

Here are the links to pictures and videos I uploaded:

Pictures 1
Pictures 2

Videos:

Trip to Newcastle and Edinburgh

After weeks of boredom sitting at home, I decided to embark on a trip to Newcastle and Edinburgh. The journey to Newcastle take about 3 hours and another 2.5 hours from Newcastle to Edinburgh by car. I decided to drive as I was going with my sister and another friend. Thank God the journey was a success and we had so much fun.

We started about 8 in the morning towards Newcastle. The sky was blue but with thick patches of clouds. It was drizzling along the way but as soon as we reach NC, the sun was blaring through my car windows. Without wasting much time, we jumped onto the Hop on Hop off bus. The whole route only cost 4 pounds and we can use it as much as we want for 24 hours. We spend the whole afternoon in NC. Towards evening, we headed off to Edinburgh leaving beautiful NC with many of its fantastic bridges across River Tyne.

Edinburgh is like a gem in a Queen's Tiara. The castle situated on the top overseeing the whole city was a spectacular view. With the many attractions around it, we had to make use of the Hop on Hop off bus again in Edinburgh. This time it cost us 15 pounds but we get to use it on all 4 buses running different routes. Meaning we had 4 routes at our disposal. There are so many historical streets like the Royal Mile. Some pubs were named The Last Drop where the last public execution (by hanging) was executed. The buildings were old and some streets were still cobbled. It was a sunny day but suprisingly windy. As the buses were "topless", the experience on the top was not a good one. We had to put on our hoods as it was just too windy and cold.

I only get to upload a couple of pictures here but if you need to look for the rest of it then here is the link to it on facebook.

Click here for album in FB.