Sunday, March 31, 2013

Good Friday and Easter Sunday

So it's Easter Sunday today and I'm encouraged again to share. By the way, I found that when I've something in my head, I must blog it out immediately or else I would just let it go and you guys won't get to read what's in my head.  

Ok. So what is Easter Day to you all? Hmm, well, Easter egg and Easter bunny, these are quite significant items on Easter Day huh. But to me, I never know about what's Easter Day also before I came to know Christ. 

Today I'm gonna share a little bit about what I know about Good Friday and Easter Sunday before and after I came to know Christ. Just so you know this is my second year celebrating these significant events, praise the Lord for that. 

Like I've shared before, I only know Jesus by His name before I am found. So when I only know such a great person by name, for sure I won't be able to know about Good Friday and Easter Sunday. N because Good Friday is not an holiday in peninsular Malaysia and Sunday is surely a holiday, I'm not even alert that these significant day existed. Lousy me I know. 

So after I came to know Christ. I spent my first year of Good Friday and Easter Sunday back in KPC. There was a Good Friday Night Service in KPC last year and I attended, not proper thing happened there as I'm not alert of "What I should do" and "What I should not do" as a Christian that time. I partake the Holy Communion where it was suppose to be received by people who have been baptized only. Thank God I was not persecuted, just joking. But that's how I learn more about Christianity and therefore I really praise God for what He had done in my life. For Easter Sunday, I attended the Sunday Service I went giving Easter egg at Eng Ann. Overall I know what these days are but I did not take it to the heart. 

This year around, I'm at Sarawak and it's holiday here, praise God for that. I rested enough and prepared myself physically because I'll have a half night prayer meeting going on in church that night. Don't know how it'll work but 4 hours of prayer meeting just worried me because I'm afraid I might fall asleep half way praying. That night, a video was shown, an animated cartoon of how Jesus Christ was persecuted, suffered and nailed on the cross. Its really sad to see it because I respect Jesus a lot and when someone I respect is going through those suffer, I felt the pain too. 
Next day, joined Lifegroup with the brothers and was asked "What is Good Friday and Easter Sunday to you before and after you came to know Christ". Everyone have to share their thoughts and I was the last to share. As the other brothers are sharing, all the picture in the video flows into my head. When it my turn to share, I told the brothers about the video that's in my head and say "God has given me too much, so much that I can't give back. Good Friday and Easter Sunday to a day to remind us of how Jesus has died on the cross for our sin, so that we can be set free and have eternal life." As I share, eyes and throat felt uneasy because it's really sad to have all the image in my head. But again, I'm really be reminded that what God has done for us. In other way I tell myself I must give more to God, even though it's impossible to give back everything but I want to give Him more. 

Today, its Easter Sunday and praise God because He has brought a lot of new faces to church. To know more about Him and to understand more about Easter Sunday. Praise God for the new faces because the seed have been sow and there might be time where the seed will grow to shine for Him. 

For myself, I just want to declare here that there's never one moment that I'm sad or blame God for bringing me into this family of God. Because of the grace and mercy I'm here and I'm who I am today. I really have the urge to grow super fast spiritually but I think God has His time and plan for me and I'm gonna keep persevere on till the day my purpose is reveal to me. 

So that's all from me, its random, its not drafted, its just thought in my head so its messy but thank you for reading up till here. I hope my sharing can encourage you a bit. Below are three things that I've learned during today Sunday Service. If you are interested in knowing more about what behind these three statement, do let me know so that I'll be able to explain to you in detail. 

1. Its never too late for miracle.
2. Its never too late to start believing.
3. Its never too late to start over.

Blessed Easter Sunday to you all.
Thanks a lot for reading and I really appreciate your time. 
May God bless you and your family members.


Best Regards,
Pangky Pang

Sunday, March 10, 2013

Grateful for the plan of God

As I'm really encouraged tonight to share what I've gone through. So here's another post. Enjoy your read.

So I've arrived at Sarawak for my second semester for 3 weeks now. It's been a really good time spent so far. Because I've celebrated 2 friends birthday, played bowling in university, went out of university for several times, joined more church events, and joined Hope Kuching lifegroup launching event as well. Pretty fruitful right? Yes, it is very fruitful indeed.

Do you know that I don't want to study biotechnology at all? Because my interest wasn't in this field but still I'm placed here to further my study in resource biotechnology. N you know la, when you are not interested in a particular subject you are not gonna do well, so am I. I only got a 3.0 result for my previous semester. Pathetic or not? But nothing is gonna change if I don't make a different in myself. So I've decided to try harder this semester and see what can I do. Do pray for me.

Besides this, there's a lot of changes I want to make in my life now. But all of it wasn't easy because they're all habits. If you know what is a habit, you will know how hard to make a changes to it. For example, folding the blanket every morning I wake up (I don't do that since I was young). Brush my teeth before I go to bed (Sometime I don't do it when I'm home). Wash the clothes everyday to save money (I used washing machine to wash my clothes most of the time last semester). Manage my financial in university (Not a wise spender all this while). Yeah, that much of stuff. You might ask, why need to change all these little things? Its because all these are related to my discipline, my attitude, my responsibility and my future. When i couldn't be responsible of my bed right now, how am I gonna be resposible for my family in the future? When I don't learn to manage my expense now, how am I going to manage my finance when I started working. These little thing might look nothing but it makes a lot of changes in ones life. Therefore I want to make these changes to prepare myself to be a better person in the future.

On my spiritual growing side, like I have said in my previous post. Amazing things happened when you chose to give more to God. See, I made the decision to give God more and therefore I joined church activity since I got back to Sarawak. N there goes a BGR (Boys Girls Relationship) forum happening in church on that particular Saturday night. Yes, I do struggled in this issue but I've never really look at what's God's view on BGR. This forum do open my eyes a lot. That 1 thing that I've learned is "Instead of looking for the right 1 God has prepared for you, let's prepare yourself to be the right 1." A very valueable lesson I have from the forum. The I started joining prayer meeting, and here I learned more about prayer and have a stronger faith in believing the power of prayer. For Sunday service, I was given a chance to perform a dance during our CNY special service, and was given a year long task today which is to collect and compile all the photo taken in church during special event. As these opportunity poured in, I've got more joy because I know in everything I do I'm doing it for God and to glorify His name. Also I'm given an oppurtunity to be the vocalist for next Friday prayer meeting, I'm not familiar with this so do pray for me.

So far I guess this is all I want to share with you guys. Hope you enjoy reading and my writing doesn't bored you. Have a great week ahead.

God bless you.

Regards,
Pangky Pang

Patience

Hi readers, just to let you guys know that I don't update my blog frequently but when I did, it's not out of because I'm too free, or because I felt like doing it. But its because that particular story I want to share mean a lot to me.

So if you followed me on my Twitter account and still awake to read my tweet in the midnight recently, then you seriously need to change your habit of sleeping late. Haha, just joking but its true, at least try sleeping a little earlier than that la. Me? I insomnia, different case :) Ok, back to twitter, if you have read those you might have seen tweets about changes, about God, about life and stuff. Yes, I'm boring like that. Problem? Well, if it sounded boring to you guys then too bad because its what going through my mind.

Before I start the main story for today's blog just wanna give you guys a little preview on what happened before this story comes in. As you might know I've believed in Christ for 2 years coming. Along the walk in Christ up till today, a lot have happened. Like I went to church camp for the 1st time in my life, I joined fellowship every Friday in KPC back in Klang. I joined a few Sunday service only due to my family disapproval. I came to Unimas, Sarawak to further my study and now I'm serving in Hope Church Kota Samarahan. These things happened in 2 years time and all I can say, time flies really fast. But I have a struggle, I grow so slow in Christ. WHY??!

This really is hard because seeing people grow so fast and I'm like so slow. Is it I don't have enough faith? Is it that I don't pray enough? Is it that I'm too sinful? Is it that God don't love me enough? Why?

But I guess I've found an answer to these questions, Patience. To be patience is to be able to believe in God's timing. How can God don't love me? Because it is written in the book of John 3:16. It says, For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not be perish but have eternal life. Yes, God loved me, I'm very sure with that. The reason I grow slow is that I only give him my small amount of commitment. Like 20%? Or maybe 30%?

My focus last semester when I'm in Sarawak wasn't completely God, but life, fun, freedom, enjoyment and many more. I only see God on Sunday service, that's like what? Less than 10% of my time in a week. How God is gonna give me more when I only give Him that little? All this question stucked me during my semester break and I found that particular answer. Therefore I promised myself, that I want to give more to God this coming semester. So when I'm here, I tried to join Friday prayer meeting, Saturday lifegroup, and Sunday service. Make it so far and I'm gonna say, amazing things happened when you chose to give God more.

Long stories from above but here comes what I want to thank God. As of this week, I'm officially a member of Hope Kota Samarahan. Then I've created a better bond with my church brothers and sisters through the time we spent together during our weekly activities. N I'm chosen to run a simple lifegroup as a chairperson for the 1st time today. These little things might sounds pointless but to me it means a lot. Because these are the things that God has provided me to serve Him more. N I'm more than grateful to be able to serve Him.

I believed God has a plan for me here in Sarawak and I'm ready to tell God that, "Challenge accepted!"

Thanks for reading. Just for you to know, I typed all these out without drafting anything, so it might be very messy but I guess you get the idea of the post right? If its too messy that you can't get what I mean, let me know and I'll improve in the future. Thank you for your time. I might not know who you are but I appreciate you very much as you read through this boring pictureless post. Thank you.

God bless you.

Regards,
Pangky Pang

Sunday, December 30, 2012

Testimony, a story worth sharing :)

So I was given the opportunity to share testimony on today's Sunday service in HOPE KS. It was quite a last minute thing for me because I only got the message from church brother yesterday and I have not prepare anything yet. But looking at this as an opportunity to serve and thinking I do have something in mind to share, I agreed to share on the next day. So this post in basically about how I came to know God, and how He bring me into this amazing family of Christ. 

For your information I come from a non-Christian family, so Jesus Christ was just a "logo" for Christian before I know God. 

At the year 2010, I was invited by a new friend to join this Christian event known as the "ISCF Rally". This was the first Christian event that I ever attended in my whole life, and this was the first time ever I came to know more about Jesus Christ. I basically don't remember much about what was preached that night but I remember I was moved, but thinking that I need to consider about what my family will think and so on, I did not do anything at all. When I came back from that event, I started reading some of the bible verses on twitter posted by different people. That's what I did for that whole year. 

On the following year, I was invited again to join "ISCF Rally" and by God's grace, I accepted Christ that night. I don't really remember what was preached *again* but that night I just know that I needed God in my life and I give in to Him. But nothing really change after that night, life goes on like normal, I don't pray, I don't have a bible, I don't go to church and so on. But our amazing God is just so amazing, He didn't let me go away from Him after that night, He sent my Christian friend in form 6 to come and talk to me. These friends of mine, they taught me about prayer, taught me about bible and encourage me to join their fellowship and Sunday service. Initially I was reluctant to join their activity because all this is a whole new different thing in my life and I wonder my family members will not be happy about it, therefore I hold back from joining them. But they never give up on me, they still sms me every week to ask me whether am I joining their Friday fellowship and I'll find all the reason to not join them. 

Then there comes one of the worse part of my life, my father was in and out of hospital for times because of his health condition, and my family was falling apart. I live in fear every night, fear of my parents argument, fear of my father health condition, fear of unable to continue study for some reason. There comes a night that when I was so helpless, I remember Jesus, I remember prayer and I started praying. From there, I was given peace in my mind, and I started praying ever since. That was the only thing I did as a "Christian" at that point of time. Then God is so amazing that He answer my prayer, he not only gave me peace but also to my family. Not immediately obviously but from time to time. 

After realizing what God has done for me, I know I also need to do what He want me to do. So I decided to join my friend in their church which is Klang Presbyterian Church. I started joining their camp, which was the first step I took to grow in Christ. Thank God also, he not only placed me in a group with all my form 6 friend who encouraged me, he also gave me a very good teacher which I look up to, Uncle Jacker. With this group of people, I can easily share my thoughts and ask freely whatever question that I have in mind. The camp was an eye opener for me, I know a lot more about God and Christianity. When I came back, I told myself that I want to know more about God, so I joined Friday youth fellowship at KPC and know God more. Due to family issue, I still don't join any Sunday service.*once or twice only as far as I remember*

Just when I got to know that I'm coming to Sarawak to further my study. I'm worried at that point of time, because all the time I'm in Klang, I was brought up by my friend. What happen when I'm coming here alone, it's like I'm lost. But my friend told me, don't be afraid, pray and God will provide a way for you. They also prayed for me as well. Just when I'm in Unimas, I was quite lost but again God brought me His people, Brother John and Brother Peter, they are Unimas graduate and yet passionate people to serve the Lord in HOPE KS up till now. These brothers came to ask us to join their "new-intake" dinner, that time I was like "Wow, God has sent me His people again", prayed and thank God for it. Then thanks to Thomas, the only Christian I know back in Klang to accompany me to join this event, I set foot into HOPE KS for the first time. 

HOPE KS is the church first church I joined in Sarawak and it's the church that I have been all this while here. Praise the Lord for the amazing people that I met here. There are the church leader who's unimas graduate and serve in HOPE KS up till now, and also all the brother and sister who's from Unimas and UiTM. Then at here, I was given a lot of opportunity to serve God, be it in any way and I'm still looking forward to serve the Lord more. 

The reason of this post is to remind myself how God has brought me this far. And the truth is that I'm really thankful for God. Church asked us to find word to thank God today and I was out of word, because of the love that God has for us that is so amazing that I just can't put it to word. But I know that God he know what I have inside me. To you all out there, always remember that God has the best thing for you. What you've planned and prayed might not happen but know that its not happening because God has something better for you in His mind. Have faith in Him. 

Here's a verse that I want to share with you all, it's a verse that really connect to me since the day I know Jesus up to today. It's also one of the verse that I so appreciate that I memorizes it.

Jeremiah 29:11 
"For I know the plans I have for you," declares the LORD, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future"

Thank you all for reading this lengthy post, and I appreciate you who read up to this line. Thank you and may the good Lord bless you. 

Regards,
Pangky Pang