Passion Cafe

Passion Cafe

This a testimony of a friend who dares to dream. Come and share this dream as the cafe officially opens on 23 May, 2005, from 3pm - 6pm.

Here's a sample of what they serve:
Nasi Lemak
Chinese Fried Rice
Pineapple Fried Rice
Kampung Fried Rice
Tumeric Fried Beehoon
Fried Kuey Teow / Mee Tom Yam
Fried Kuey Teow

Butter Dory
Angel Hair Parshroom Spaghetti
Turkey Carbo Maccaroni
Pesto Chicken Spaghetti
Spaghetti Bolognaise(option of spicing it up with chili)
Spicy Thai Spaghetti

Fish & Chips
Cajun Fish
Cordon Blue
Cajun Chicken
Lamb Pie

They also serve gourmet coffee, tea and other sensational drinks at a fraction of the price you pay at Coffee Bean and Starbucks. :)

Love: No Regrets

Love is about giving of ourselves. It is giving without expecting any returns. It is the nature of love to give and serve the object of love. God is love and it is in His nature to give and serve. He came to be servant of all, that is Lover of all. Some people are afraid to love because they are afraid that love will cause them to lose themselves. God says he who loves his life will lose it, but he loses it will find it. Love must be expressed because unexpressed love has no value, like a cheque that's not signed.

In my life, I've had a few soul-friends - people who've touched me in the very core of my being and I know I'm never the same again. However God has arranged it in such a way that these bossom buddies of mine should enter my life only for a season. Somehow we've had to move on and simply be content with great memories. It's not easy. I've come to accept the transcient nature of relationships. People come into our lives and people go. That's a fact and I try not to expect things to be otherwise. I am learning how to hold friendships loosely. They say the older you get, the harder it is to make friends. I can imagine why, especially if we allow painful experience of the past to breed cynicism and fear in our hearts. We will then choose to remain apathetic and detached, seeking to 'protect' our hearts.

I believe there's a difference between holding friendships loosely and being detached. For me, being detached has to do with not letting our hearts get involved, care too much or care at all. However I seek to give myself fully to loving those around me for as long as I have them with me. At least when the time comes for us to part ways, I can say that I have no regrets because I did not withhold love. I hold them loosely in the sense I know that these friendships are not things for me to possess but rather I'm merely a steward of these friendships and friends.

We live only once and there's no knowing what tomorrow holds, thus I want to love with all my heart; passionately giving my all, my best.

Yes, people come and people go. My prayer is that we will leave each other better people as a result of the impact we've had on one another.

Against All Odds

In my earlier post, I mentioned that I was not sure if I would be granted a student permit to begin my studies in June due to the fact that I've not received the official letter of acceptance from the College. Is it weird that despite both the College's attempts to send it to me via the post, it has simply not come? Well, not really, not for Malaysian postal system anyways. ;D

I saw this as an opportunity for God to work in this situation. I could have emailed the College to have it sent to me again via courier so that I could present it to the officers when they called me in. I didn't. My friend asked if I was putting out the fleece! Whatever it is, God came through against all odds. They granted me a student permit, with effect from 3 May 2005 (!) and I am required to enter Canada no later than 15 August 2005! So much for my idea of possibly delaying my departure to September. God has spoken loud and clear - go and don't tarry.

So far things have been amazingly smooth in the whole process. God's favour? Undeniably and I am truly grateful for that. Where does this lead to? Don't really know, for now. All I know and truly believe is that it will lead me closer to Him and His will for my life.

Perhaps I don't sound elated or as excited as I should be. I am excited but am also keenly aware that there are a lot of things I'm leaving behind. This is not easy. Never thought it would be. Right now, I'm feeling completely heart broken. Had to make some tough choices in aligning myself with this decision. It's taking the life out of me (one of my favourite expressions) ... for now but I know this is not a permanent state and will eventually get over it. :-p

Anyways this incident with the student permit, in a sense, has given me the one assurance I need - that He is already there, in the future. Amidst all the uncertainty I can be sure of this one thing, that He is with me. That's all that matters.

Then Moses said, "If You don't go with us personally, don't let us move a step from this place.
(Exodus 33:15)

Ps: Happy 05-05-05! Not auspicious or anything like that. Just me being naturally sensitive to numbers.

Real and Relevant Faith

Is my faith real? Does my life reflect what I preach? Am I preaching the Gospel or simply my version of it? Does my life as a Christian match what I read in the Scripture? Are people put off by what I say because my life doesn't match up and they cannot relate to my faith? Have we set ourselves up by preaching some kind of happy-all- the-time, prosperity message only to find that we cannot reconcile when things don't quite work out the way we thought it would? When people observe Christians behaving and relating to one another, will they see any difference being a Christian? How do we fare on issues of morality, integrity, character, and in terms of being gracious, kind, generous, patient, etc? Earlier I posted the question on whether the list of Beatitudes is a prescriptive or descriptive list. I guess it troubles me a great deal that my life seems far from being able to live up those standards. How do I close the gap??

Another thing that has always troubled me is to see how many Christians have fallen over the years. Some of them grew up with me in the youth fellowship and served together as leaders; they were once very fervent and used greatly to win others to the Lord. Today I know a few who have walked away from the faith, want to have nothing to do with the church and even chosen to convert to another faith! I dare not boast of where I am today for I know not where I will be tomorrow, save for the grace of God.

This post was not written because I had answers to give but to provide food for thought. Do these things trouble you? Would you like to respond?

More stuff to chew on from this article:
The Evangelical Scandal

Personal Post

The past two days have been a bit rough and stressful. Besides helping my friend with her father's funeral, my little brother had to visit 2 different doctors during this time. He has a very bad sore throat and my mum's been quite concerned about his health. Things have been a bit tensed at home. To top it off, I met with a nasty car accident yesterday. The worst I've had so far and the car is in pretty bad shape. Will have to claim my insurance. Sigh. Guess I am grateful that both parties did not suffer any serious injury (I hope). Taking some muscle relaxants for my neck and backaches. Expect them to disappear in a couple of days. Hope it's not anything as bad as a whiplash.

Have lots on my mind and many things to look into with my imminent move to Canada. Yet to hear from the Canadian High Commission with regards to my student permit application. I have applied to begin my studies with summer school in Regent. The college has informed me that I have been accepted to begin my studies in June. However having said that, the letter is simply not forthcoming despite both the College's attempts to post it. So far I've only received the official letter of acceptance for the September intake, which I have submitted in support of my student permit application. Just have to wait and see. If I am only granted a student permit to start later, it will mean deferring my departure. I guess since I've asked Him to be in control, this would include His timing in this matter.

For now, I'm just keeping my fingers crossed that Liverpool will beat Chelsea at the Champion's League semi-finals tomorrow morning - with more than one goal margin!!

Ed: I think this is one of my more personal posts...

Tribute to a Friend

Last weekend I had the privilege of being with a close friend of mine through her father's last moments. It was tough watching someone close to you lose a loved one. She was very attached to her father and I know she will miss him dearly. As the only child, I knew that she meant everything to her dad and he would have given his life for her if it was required of him. Words cannot express the lost my friend is feeling now.

As I sat and listened to different stories recounted by family members of how uncle took care of his nieces and nephews like his own children, I was amazed. He assumed the role as their father figure when their father died (he had 7 siblings) and looked after everyone of them, to the point that my friend refers to some of her cousins, as 'sister' and 'brother'. A teacher and government servant for many years, uncle may not have been rich materially but he gave fully of himself and I believe he was truly rich.

I am so thankful that in the last few years of his life he came to know the Lord. He loved the Lord tremendously and was always eager to come for Sunday worship service even when he was feeling very ill. At times he got up as early as 4am to get ready because of his limited mobility. He always coveted prayers and spiritual blessings. This is indeed an amazing change coming from a hardened self-made man that he was for so many years. He never wanted anything to do with the Christian faith and used to stop his family from attending church! This is a miracle only God can wrought in a man's heart. I praise God for His grace and mercy in each of our lives. I know it is grace that helped uncle finished his race and finished it well, full of faith. As I look ahead, I don't know how many days I have left and how much of the race I have the opportunity to run. I pray for His grace to keep me and help me finish well.

The Christian Mind

Some excerpts from The Christian Mind to ponder on... the loneliness of a Christian thinker. ;-p

It is not lonely to disagree with other people. It is not lonely to meet in the same field of discourse with men and women who reach conclusions that contradict your own. But it is desperately lonely to occupy field of discourse which no one else will enter, even if you are surrounded by people who have reached exactly the same conclusions as you yourself.

Idealists are the most tortured people in our midst. … But idealists – those people who insists on logically relating principle to practice, end to means, purpose to process, goal to route – we have no time for them. Literally no time. There is too much to do. Their misgivings would slow us up, prevent us even from making a start. Besides they would set us all at each other’s throats in fierce controversy if once they were allowed a sober hearing. The best thing is to shut them up.

In our culture generally, we are rich in scholar but poor in thinkers. The nature of our modern educational system is such that this happy combination arises ever more rarely (combination of first-rate scholar and first-rate thinker). ... Potential thinkers are being turned into mere scholars by the pressures of conformity so strong both in the educational world and in society at large. The thinker challenges current prejudices. He disturbs the complacent. He obstructs the busy pragmatists. He questions the very foundations of all about him, and in so doing throws doubt upon aims, motives, and purposes which those who are running affairs have neither time nor patience to investigate. The thinker is a nuisance. He is a luxury that modern society cannot afford. It will strive to keep him quite, to restrict his influence, to ignore him. It will try to pretend that he does not exist.