A Funeral

The world is small when you compare the whole universe with it. A life is small when you compare the whole worlds population with it. But when a life is lost, is causes a lot of sadness in the hearts of many people.
Recently, my friend's sister passed away. I attended the funeral wake. It is sad to see the sadness that my friend feels. I can feel the sadness that he feels. It brings tears to my eyes to see him sad. I have known him for more than 10 years and he is a very close friend to me. When alone, we usually feel the sadness most. That is why when I am there during the funeral wake, I tried as much as possible to keep his mind away from the sadness that he is feeling, talking about old times and all the happy times that we experienced when we were younger. All the happy moments when we went for parties, when we had BBQ's and all the times when we made a fool of ourselves, mainly me making a fool of myself... haha.
I want to comfort him as much as I can but due to my work commitment, I am sad to say that I cannot spend 24 hours there. I am still tied with my commitment to my work. It is not always that I get to see him because he is now working in Brunei and already married and hopefully expecting his firtborn.
I also shared with him my experience in being able to accept Christ into my life. I really thank the Lord for being in my life. Praise the Lord. At first he is a bit sceptic about me being a Christian because I was a sinner last time. But after a while talking to me and listening to me, he finally accepted me as I am. I thank the Lord for that. I only pray that one day I will also be able to lead him to accept Christ into his life. Not only him but many more people that I know and will come to know in the future. Peace to all who are in Christ and Grace be with all of you.

Harry Potter again ... ??

I came by this picture early this morning as I was surfing through the net and checking my mail. It's been a while since I actually went through my Harry Potter collections, namely all the Harry Potter books that I own. I find that the picture this time shows a grown up Hermione Granger with Professor Slughorn behind her. July 15th .. I have to wait till then to watch the movie. I always look forward to the Harry Potter movies even though a few of them have let me down but still I continue to anticipate and look forward to it. HAH!! Imagine someone in his 30's still looking forward to kiddy movies. I don't mind people critisizing me because of this because I like the movies and the whole franchise. It lets me reminiscene about the times when I was a kid. I can just let my imagination flow freely and let myself enjoy 2hours of worry free time engrossed in the movie. It's really fun being a kid again even though it's only for a short time. When I was young, I don't think much about my life. I just live it as it comes. No worries because others are worrying about my life for me. Now that I am in my 30's, who else is there to worry about my life for me but me? I really thank the Lord for letting me know how precious one's life is. We have but one life and how we live that life is up to us. To do good or to do evil? The choice lies in our hand. Do good and seek God's kingdom and receive His blessing, that is the choice I choose. I still have a lot of things which I need to keep away from and there are many sins that I have comitted which I have to face. Right now, I place my life in the Lords hand and let what may come, I will accept all. What I can do now is to put in 100% of my effort in whatever I do and leave all the rest in God's hand. I just pray that I do not cause people to stumble and that I will be able to keep away from sinning. Praise the Lord for his Glory and Blessings in my life. Peace to all who are in Christ and Grace be with all of you.

My Water Baptism

Ever been to a Church where you spend the whole day there? From morning till afternoon? No? Well, don't be surpised if I tell you that on Sundays I am not available till late afternoon because I spend my time in Church. Surprised? Don't be. That is because we are the Hope of God Church where our vision is to fulfill the great comission by building strong and biblical people and to plant strong and biblical Churches in Penang, Malaysia and all over the world. It is a great vision and I am glad that I am a part of this Church. I just went through my Water Baptism on Easter Sunday on the 12th of April 2009. The picture on the right shows me with Pastor Zech and Pastor Ken(who is my sheppard) going through my Water Baptism process with me. We had the Water Baptism at Bayu Senja, a very famous place for tourist at Batu Feringhi in Penang Island. That's me in the middle right before I was reborn in Christ. Right before I was sunk into the sea to be 100% wet. A bit of an info here, I can't swim, even though I live near the sea all my life, I was never allowed to learn how to swim by my parents. Anyway, I am a bit of a hydrophobia myself. haha. Some bad experience way back when I was a kid. Anyway, after my Water Baptism, I really feel different as I begun to understand more about my duty to serve the Lord, our God. We have but 1 life afterall. How we live that life depends on us. I quote this from the Bible conference I attended a few weeks back. I know now that I have a great duty to fulfill. There are many chairs to fill in the hall of the Lord and I know that it is the duty of every Christian to fill it. It is from the parable of the Great Banquet. When one of those at the table with him heard this, he said to Jesus,"Blessed is the man who will eat at the feast in the kingdom of God." Jesus replied:"A certain man was preparing a great banquet and invited many guests. At the time of the banquet he sent his servent to tell those who had been invited,'Come, for everything is now ready.' "But they all alike began to make excuses. The first said,'I have just bought a field, and I must go and see it. Please excuse me.' "Another said,'I have just bought five yoke of oxen, and i'm on my way to try them out. Please excuse me.' "Still another said,'I just got married, so I can't come.' "The servant came back and reported this to his master. Then the owner of the house became angry and ordered his servant, 'Go out quickly into the streets and alleys of the town and bring in the poor, the crippled, the blind and the lame.' " 'Sir,' the servant said, 'what you ordered has been done, but there is still room.' "Then the master told his servant, 'Go out to the roads and the country lanes and make them come in, so that my house will be full. I tell you, not one of those men whp were invited will get a taste of my banquet.' " Luke14:15-24.
Blessed is the name of the Lord. The next picture shows me and my fellow brothers of the Church right after my Water Baptism. As you can see, I am all wet. I really felt great after the Water Baptism, so many things which I find hard to understand become so much clearer to me now. I really Praise the Lord for letting me get to know such wonderfull people of the "Hope of God Church" in Penang. These wonderfull people are my fellow brothers and sisters of the Church. May you all receive blessing in abundance from the Lord. Now, I truly commit myself to serve the Lord in body and in spirit. It has always been a pleasure to serve the Lord alongside such wonderfull people. We shall finish this race together and I will meet you all at the finish line. For those who are not Christians who are reading this blog, please do not be offended about the way I write this, it is only a matter of time before everyone accepts the Lord Jesus Christ into their life. Put your faith in the Lord and know that He is always there for you. I look forward to meeting you all in the halls of our Lord when the time comes and let us all rejoice and prepare our hearts. Peace to all who are in Christ and Grace be with all of you.

Your fellow brother in Christ,

Ronnie Khaw

How I came to accept the Lord Jesus Christ into my life

First of all an introduction for myself. My name is Ronnie Khaw and this year I am 33 years old. What I can say is that I have been lost all my life. I don't mean lost as in lost but lost in a manner of having no directions in my life. I thank the Lord for letting me have an opportunity to be able to get to know Him.

Now, how is it that I came to know our Lord Jesus Christ? Well, I guess that it all leads back to the week leading up to that significant day in December 2008. To be exact 13th December 2008. It was a very tiring week for me as I was doing door to door sales after losing my job as an employee of a multi national company. My work was so demanding that I almost did not make it to the Christmas presentation titled "The Promise". But as I promised one of the brothers in the Church that I will come to the presentation and since the Christmas presentation is also titled "The Promise", I kept my promise and went for the Christmas presentation. I actually arrived quiet late due to the traffic. Anyway, as I watched the presentation, I was surprised to find that there are so many talented brothers and sisters in the church who are so good in bringing the presentation to life. Not only those who are acting but also everyone who is involed in it. I really enjoyed the presentation and I was really moved by it. After the presentation, as one of the Church leader was on the stage preaching, I looked back into my life. I found that all my life I have been a sinner. I have comitted so many sins that I could not count it. I really regretted when I thought about all the sins I have comitted. As I closed my eyes that night, I felt a presence in me. The presence was something that I have never felt before in my life. The presence kept prompting me to lift up my hand. "Lift up your hand" - the presence said. At that time, I didn't know who or what that presence is but now if you were to ask me now I can answer that question. As I lifted up my hand, I felt peace and calmness in my heart. I also felt a sense of security for from that moment on, I know that the Lord will always be with me. I have been born again, I am now a new person. From that moment on, the real journey in my life began. That is how I came to embrace the Lord Jesus Christ into my life. After that I met with one of the Church leader who prayed for me and then I was introduced to the other brothers and sisters by another one of the Church leader. I found that we have so many brothers and sisters here in the Church in this great big family of God that I cannot remember all of the brothers and sisters name in one go.

I would like to say that in the months after I have accepted the Lord Jesus Christ into my life, I have seen many wondrous and supernatural work that the Lord my God can do in the Church for me and for many others. I am still experiencing each new day in wonder and amazement at the Glory of my Lord and it only proves to strenghten my faith in Him. Experience each new day as the Lord would have everyone experience it. Peace to all of you who are in Christ and Grace be with you all.

Praise the Lord and God Bless

A brother in Christ,
Ronnie Khaw