..my battle stance..

There's always that new old stuff that I didn't know.. Like the english origin (at least melody-wise) of that song selamanya cinta. till my eyes are shut by the sand of time.. I will dream with you. good nite crazy world.

GOD DOES know how to JOKE! of all days, I reach Malachi 2 TODAY. Awesome. Well.. I have not read bible back to back a lot. Heard many preachers quoting the words 'God hates divorce'. But where did that verse come from? I didn't really know. So let me log it today. It's from Malachi 2:16. Didn’t the Lord make you one with your wife? In body and spirit you are his. And what does he want? Godly children from your union. So guard your heart; remain loyal to the wife of your youth. For I hate divorce!” says the Lord , the God of Israel. “To divorce your wife is to overwhelm her with cruelty,” says the Lord of Heaven’s Armies. “So guard your heart; do not be unfaithful to your wife.” (Malachi 2:15-16). But... why does it have to be today? It is a cruel joke on me. That He would speak about marriage to me, today. Or so it seems to me. Well God Almighty.. I have no idea.  And I am totally shattered here. But it doesn't change the truth that.. You are t...

well... probably the only important thing that's left unsaid is this. that I forgive you.

I have not been to too many weddings this year. those 'wedding years' were over. which is good. and bad as well. because I was soo outdated with the angpao rate, I accidentally gave a very, very, er.. 'substandard' angpao to one of my friends. It was combination of my ignorance and unpreparedness cash-wise on that day itself. Still feel paiseh till now. But since we are not that close, also awkward to do anything about it afterwards. sigh.. Well.. if by some far-fetched possibility you read this blog, I just want to say sorry. And I would love to treat you dinner to partially make u for that hah. the last wedding I attended was that of Owen's. It was great in a way that it brought back so much memories. Almost like a recap of my 14 years journey here. All those familiar heartwarming faces :) Anyway.. of those couple of weddings I attended.. there was one that particularly stood out. It was my sembawang friend's wedding. or rather, kebaktian ucapa...

I should have gotten my hands on the latest invention that was said to be the next big thing after light bulb. Yeah.. BBM for Android. Why? Because I have a couple of clients in Indonesia who use only blackberry phone. Because I can then advertise my bb pin on my online marketing platform targeted at Indonesians. And above all, because it's free. But I have resisted doing so. Till today at least. The hype is just too much for me. Seriously, do we really need to be THAT connected?? oh well.. even our anti-social-media friend Ms Lo has embraced instagram. I am giving up hah.

If you have 30 mins to spare, you might want to watch the following video. I don't know what's the real agenda of the folks behind this video, but I am quite sure there are some truths in what they are saying. The world is running on debt indeed. We do not necessarily know what to do to make a difference now. But at least, we should remember that there is something horribly wrong with the whole system today. We may not see a great collapse today or next year. But who is to say that there won't be 'Great Depression' in our era? A wise king once said.. "there is nothing new under the sun". What has happened could and would happen again. "Yet once more I will shake not only the earth but also the heaven." This phrase, "Yet once more," indicates the removal of what is shaken, as of what has been made, in order that what cannot be shaken may remain. Therefore let us be grateful for receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken...

Well.. we all know this guy, right? Probably.. the greatest worship leader that our country has ever produced thus far. At least.. exposure-wise. A regular in Hillsong Conf, well respected by people like Darlene, Israel, et al. Despite his small frame, this guy is Huge. But when you attend his local church, you will see how 'ordinary' he is. One day, I was at his church when he was preaching. He shared with us about how his wife was often amused by his popularity. Coz as he put it, he was really.. really.. an ordinary guy. Nothing special. If you don't know any better, it will sound like a fake humility. Seriously.. he is probably the Most Famous Guy there is when it comes to Indonesian Gospel. But he was saying the true. His church has so much talent that if you simply talk about talent, he was indeed 'nothing special'. In terms of voice, there are some younger WLs with better techniques. In terms of music instruments, his guitar is, ...

Habakkuk 3: 8  Was it in anger, Lord , that you struck the rivers      and parted the sea? Were you displeased with them?      No, you were sending your chariots of salvation! 9  You brandished your bow      and your quiver of arrows.      You split open the earth with flowing rivers. 10  The mountains watched and trembled.      Onward swept the raging waters. The mighty deep cried out,      lifting its hands to the Lord . 11  The sun and moon stood still in the sky      as your brilliant arrows flew      and your glittering spear flashed. Oh I am in love with this worship song every time I read it. We often quote verses 17-19, which I believe inspire the Desert Song. But the earlier verses are also very, very, powerful. Before the prophet was his fallen nation. There was no economy recovery ...

Tanah Airku.. tidak kulupakan. After some years of declaring my love for my country over facebook & twitter, I decide to stay quiet on the 17th. At some points you just feel that it means so much more than some writings on the wall. Or some anniversary routine. been almost a month here. in jakarta. so much going on. life has somewhat picked up here. and i have picked up journal-ing again. which feels great. nothing beats the feeling of actually writing with pen on a physical paper. typing and laptop, at some points.. just don't cut it. maybe the writer in us, the creativity in us.. somewhat is lost amidst the boring sound of typing, the convenience of backspace / undo button, you know.. learned this when I was reading 'Steal like an Artist', a good book. A part of me that has been half dead for so many years.. Is now half awake.

I have long been wondering about the issue, or rather the biblical truth of tithing, first fruit, etc. So if you never have issue with the above issue.. you probably won't need to read on. let me first admit that the 10% is indeed not easy. the first fruit is of course even more challenging. I truly admire those who faithfully and cheerfully give. Bless them! And they probably won't need to read on as well. I am convinced that as they sow generously into the Father's field, they will reap bountifully too. The question here is more towards the way today's churches instruct their members to tithe. How not tithing is similar to robbing God of His right, and the curse/blessing that goes with it. Is this teaching .. biblical ? a quick googling will lead us to various write ups. Some for, some against.. the teaching. Some point out that tithing is part of ceremonial law (along with those clean/unclean food, etc ). It is, firstly, meant for the Israelites. Wh...

I was thinking about Mary suddenly. Jesus' mom. Her life.. it was quite incredible, isn't it? No wonder that some of our friends would look up to her in such a special way. Think about it. From Genesis to Revelation.. has any woman ever conceived in such a way? by the Holy Spirit? which literally means.. God? I can't even imagine what that really, really means. If you watch anime, you probably know this show 'Beelzebub'. Well that baby was totally not normal. Only the characters in the show would believe he was human. But Jesus? He was born a baby. Human. I suppose Mary would have expected a glow in the dark baby at least. But there he was.. warm and tiny, in her embrace. Baby Jesus. And I suppose baby Jesus needed breastfeeding as well. So their relationship would've been truly.. that of a mother and child from day one. to try imagining Mary.. on one hand a normal mother, and yet on the other hand, doing her best to grasp this grand p...

so this song returns..

Hosea 3:5 They’ll come back chastened to reverence      before God and his good gifts, ready for the End of the story of his love. (MSG) they will come trembling to Adonai and his goodness in the acharit-hayamim . (CJB) and they shall come in [anxious] fear to the Lord and to His goodness and His good things in the latter days. (AMP)   I pray that God will help me each morning.. to start the day with bended knees and humble heart. That I will start the day in the fear of the Lord. And before anything else.. that I may come to His goodness with reverence and awe.

Watched Man of Steel 3D in Jakarta over the weekend. I must say that some of the effect were cool. But for me.. 2.5 hours is way too long for anything except les miserables. And LOTR Return of the King! We had quite a headache by the time the movie ended. Lotsa fighting, brute force fighting.. So much so that I forgot whether or not the man of steel got wear his trademark red underwear. and having checked the poster again, I realised that he betrayed his underwear #$#@%@#$ this is blasphemy. how could he forsake the very thing that makes Superman, Superman? speak of identity crisis @_@ No wonder I felt that something was missing. Oh yeah.. Bistro Baron at Plaza Indonesia.. turned out nicer than my expectation. We loveee their mash potato. Soo... gooddd...With truffle I suspect its gonna be even better. We are sucker for truffle+potato combo. The roast chicken also good! And will end the post today with this clip (Yeah I know we all know this song..) beyond roma...

for the uninitiated.. we have a neighbor next door. a nice lady called michelle. she would have been one of the pretty girls when she was younger. quite incidental that we got to know her name around the time we watched that life-changing movie.. "you are the apple of my eye". she could have been andreas' fallback plan if it doesn't work out with michelle chen. well.. been almost 3 yrs. with probably less than 2 hour total of chatting time between us. only occasional hi, have a nice day, and bye.  so.. one day.. just recently.. she knocked my door. (the last time she did that was to borrow my chairs). looking for me. ehem.. and told me that life changing news... "I am pregnant". ..... In case you wonder..  she wasn't asking me to be responsible for this. Of course I am not the father. So why was she telling me this? Coz she was thinking of looking for new place to rent. Well life changing for her lah.. I mean. so far we only know ...

Well.. he got her "maybe" reply on twitter. Not sure if she really meant it when she said she would check her schedule.. She never went with him. But Nina Agdal went. I dunno what it takes to court an American swimsuit model like Kate Upton. But apparently this kind of video works. Maybe it's his "Jew card", as someone pointed out. But it's worth a try.

For whatever reason, I find my interest in movie rather unpredictable lately. Iron Man 3 to me is.. good.. but not fantastic. But simple low key movie such as Silver Lining Playbook left deeper impression. Furious 6.. it was a fun ride. But.. too 'unreal' to me. I mean.. yeah.. no one expect 'reality' in this kind of movie.  *spoiler alert but still..  I can't accept that part where Vin Diesel jumps and catch the girl midair and somehow.. still manage enough momentum to fall where he fall. You know.. from Physics point of view..  and I can't accept that the scriptwriter has to kill the Israeli chick. Remind me of GI Joe. Is it the trend now to kill off the most good looking character in the movie? But I must say that the movie is memorable. Why? Next to me were an Indian couple. the guy was heavily tattooed, with solid build. Almost like Vin Diesel feel.. but shorter, and uglier. There was this part where the movie reveal the 'traitor...

This is taken solely from wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Great_Gatsby "First published by Scribner's in April 1925, The Great Gatsby received mixed reviews and sold poorly; in its first year, the book only sold 20,000 copies. Fitzgerald died in 1940, believing himself to be a failure and his work forgotten. His work, spearheaded by The Great Gatsby, experienced a revival during World War II , and the novel became a part of high school curriculum in the following decades. The book has remained popular since, leading to numerous stage and film adaptations. The Great Gatsby is widely considered to be a literary classic and a contender for the title " Great American Novel ". The book is consistently ranked among the greatest works of American literature ." Pardon my ignorance but for a moment when I saw the preview I thought, "Could this be the story of the guy behind that hair wax brand?" I mean.. look at di caprio's well-o...

Do you know that oolong tea (without sugar, milk, and bubble of course).. can increase your metabolism? And thus.. helping you to slim down? Thanks to brother John who generously shared this tips. No wonder I would feel hungry after drinking 1-2 big cup of oolong tea at night. I knew that oolong tea kinda neutralise the fatty stuff that I am eating. But I didn't know it increases metabolism. If you only eat fruits + drink oolong tea.. you gonna slim down like.. fast and furious. But I assume that's as good as killing yourself so.. maybe just for the dinner? Either way.. oolong is good. Pokka oolong is great (I am not paid to say this). So.. stock some at home.