Inspired to write down a thoughtful blog entry of thanksgiving to God after reading Yufen's blog on her spiritual bday:

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Just came back from dinner with Weizhu. It was a very heartwarming and refreshing time catching up with him. What a joy and blessing, how God brought us together as friends and brothers in Christ over these years - and how He helped us grow and grow.

I remember: back during the JC/NS ministry days, one of the most interesting memories is of the two of us walking back to Kreta Ayer People's Theatre one Sunday afternoon, when our church was originally there, and we espied Julian talking to the DMM team. At that time, both of us weren't in the DMM team, but we decided to go over and say hi to them. I still remember Julian's sharing - it was about the blessings of obedience to God and consequences of disobedience, and even the Bible passage he expounded on: "If you obey the LORD your God... you will be blessed when you go in and go out..."

And... Weizhu, me and two other brothers all went through the same JC-NS ministry. The time of NS ministry was especially memorable... lots of memories come back to me here.

And the funny thing is that... it seemed to me at that time in our lives, WZ and I were the slowest growing Christians in the JC-NS ministry. Actually... we weren't growing at all, if I remember correctly. The other two brothers became leaders in the ministry. But... I guess... fast-forward to today... surprisingly, WZ and I are now in the Adults ministry, and serving God happily (yes, I mean it - happily, joyfully :)) in our various areas of life. Whereas the other two bros are not in this church anymore. Actually I think one of them left God already. But the other went to another church.

And I can only sit here and marvel at the sheer grace of God. How He chose people I considered to be the "last", and made them the "first". And I believe, how He made Weizhu my shepherd, I think, partly to humble me for looking down at Weizhu in the past. And how He used Weizhu to help me understand what really was the core essence of following Jesus. "Keep your desire for God central," that's what WZ told me before. And hee, how by God's grace and mercy, after I responded to His mighty humbling, He also lifted me up again, and used me to bless and impact the younger ones in the NUS ministry.

And I've come to understand now (after so long!) that the truly impactful Christian life is NOT in a ministry title, NOT in a set of skills or talent, NOT in an obscene abundance of Bible knowledge alone... but simply in a heart that has a continual abiding relationship with Jesus Christ.

John 7:37
On the last and greatest day of the Feast, Jesus stood and said in a loud voice, "If anyone is thirsty, let him come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, streams of living water will flow from within him." By this he meant the Spirit, whom those who believed in him were later to receive.

I think must gratefully thank God for the NUS ministry - it was a very powerful catalyst of transformation in the four years of our lives - he and I not just grew. We experienced a genuine life transformation. Perhaps we could say together with the apostle Peter when he wrote, "We did not follow cleverly invented stories when we told you about the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but we were eyewitnesses of his majesty." Because we have clearly seen how Christ showed His glory and majesty in redeeming our two poor lives, both physically and spiritually. Two thousand years later, we too are eyewitnesses of the Majestic Glory, Jesus Christ indeed. And "we" includes you and me TODAY. :)

(And hee, WZ also found his sweetheart from the NUS ministry too. Haha! Praise God for all His goodness and grace! :D)