I spent the night before crafting out the message from scratch. It was like making curry from the raw ingredients as opposed to ready-made ones you buy from the supermarkets. Hence, there was a sense of self-satisfaction and also a greater sense of conviction as I gave the word. The message was about the renewing of the mind as based on Romans 12:1-2. It was a simple yet such a powerful message. And I’m eager to give a summary of what was spoken about yesterday.

The main idea of the message is to handle pressures and expectations in life the ‘God-way’ through embracing God’s word. I taught that an individual is faced with all sorts of pressures and temptations everyday and how he manages it will determine his thought life, decision making, response to situations, values & standards and self-esteem.

Three common pressures that most people face:

1. The inclination to please people so as to obtain acceptance or love. In the midst of doing so, one often experience a conflict of interest amongst people who differ in their attitudes and beliefs.
2. The inclination to look better than others (via physical appearance, work performances, fame) to obtain self-security. This becomes dangerous when one’s identity, life’s purpose, security are subjected to the perception of others.
3. The inclination to acquire materials so as to obtain self-worth. This happens when one measures himself based on the fatness of his bank account. But Bill gates is worth forty billion.

How one handles these pressures are crucial because they will either:

1. Make or break you in life
2. Cause you to have a healthy perspective on life or a warped mindset
3. Cause you to become vibrant, positive and passionate or miserable, depressed, easily upset and perpetually complaining

The solution is found in Romans 12:2 – Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.

I expound on this verse and derive three main points:

1. There is a pattern of the world. And it is important for the believer to identify it.
2. Transformation is personal. It is a personal decision that not one cell leader, pastor or even Christ Jesus himself can make for the believer.
3. A promise of blessing is awarded. The believer, having obeyed can testify to God’s good, pleasing and perfect will.

There are three parts to this verse – the problem (pattern of the world), the solution (transformation) and the reward (the blessings). It’s pretty straight forward isn’t it?

Transformation involves the renewing of one’s mind and can be summed in three steps.

1. Knowing the word of God -not just the God of the word.
   You can’t develop the right thinking unless you first know exactly what you should be thinking right about. Hence the importance of devotional time.
2. Embracing biblical principles and putting away negative qualities
   Use the word of God as a filter. What the world says that does not align itself to God’s principles is better off thrown away.
3. Tap on the Holy Spirit
   An intellectual decision to change is not effective. You need a co-partnering with the Holy Spirit for genuine transformation to occur.

Some examples when dealing with pressures, temptations and expectations

1. World says: You’ll never survive in this global economic crisis.
   You fend off this fallacy and lie with Philippians 4:19: Jehovah Jireh my provider – God will meet all my needs!
2. World says: Nobody loves or care about you. You’re fat and ugly.
   You fend off this fallacy and lie with Jeremiah 31:3 and Pslam 139: God loves me with an everlasting love and I’m fearfully and wonderfully made.
3. World says: You’ll never succeed. This task is too difficult for you.
   You fend off this fallacy and lie with 2 Timonthy 1:7 and Luke 18:27: God did not give us a spirit of timidity but a spirit of power, love and self-discipline. Things which are impossible with man is possible with God.

Well, that’s pretty much the main points which I spoke about. I was so encouraged when a member feedback to me that the message spoke to him. Then, I knew that all sacrifice spent on preparing this was worth it.

Anyhow, here are some of my favourite shots taken recently.

Charlene checking out my inbox.

Pizza at Alphonsus’s with the freshies.

With Cassie. Everyone thinks she’s darn hot but I think Charlene’s better.

Outside the bubble-tea store with the German freshies! A cup of bubble-tea here can cost four bucks.

Sneaky Jo with her King of Hearts. The game allows the bearer to issue a forfeit.

Suds by the Bell Tower – the icon of Perth. It really rings like a bell. Ding Dong.

Perth City. The Orchard Road equivalent of Western Australia.

Von and Htet – the perpetual cam-wh**es. Might be doing a photoshoot with them next week!

Preparing Hainan chicken rice. Sud’s the master. And I cooked my first Hainan Chicky today!

Spices for the chicken. It’s pretty simple really.

Freshies having fun. Alot of fun actually!

Playing Cassanova.

Christine and Christina, our German mates. Christina’s a hottie!

Alphonsus possibly sharing a lame joke.

Cam-who*ring with a DSRL. It is actually possible.

Passion booth outside the library. And Mel’s my new flatmate now!

Alp really to strike.

Suds playing Federer.

Mark on guard.

Alp taking a forehand.

I like Wing’s blue scarf!

Jovan with the German mates.

Outside Garden City, the shopping mall nearest to school.

Simba and his chick. Look who’s at the background!

Simba on action – check out his music here http://www.myspace.com/truindeed7

My hundred and fifteen dollar tee with Tim.

Alan entertaining some metro-sexual dude.

Suds feeling his baby. His baby with Alan.

Jo took this shot. Love it!

Girls and bears. An affinity boys don’t understand.

Alp teasing Eunice.

A captain’s ball and touch-rugby game at the Uni field.

A jump shot.

A flying shots this time.

I’ve been taking photos for over six months and these are what I’ve observed: Anyone with a budget and a good set of knowledge can take good photos. You do not need a tremendous pool of talent since skills are typically acquired through personal experience and individual learning. Of course, humility, diligence and the ability to exercise common sense are important traits to develop.

This shot was taken at the steps next to the outdoor stage. I used a 0.6 second exposure time which caused the waters to look pretty clear. The horizons were a little tilted though.

The same shot but with a zoom, an out-of-focus and sepia treatment applied. I usually employ a sepia effect when the colours are crappie. Trick!

A similar shot to the first but with a 20 second exposure time. Notice how the waters look different?

This was Clarence doing his thing. Applied a blue tint to its shadows and a yellow tint to its highlight to create a strange but interesting feel!

Applied with a ‘Direct-Positive’ effect to increase the contrast and saturation.

The best photo of the collection! – IMHO. Applied some tinting.

An incredible shot with minimal aesthetic.

The ghostly effect created by the long exposure time.

I need to warn Clarence to never do that pose again.

Trying to strum the tripod. Smartest thing to do.

A friend posted this photo on facebook and I thought I thought this was kinda funny! Picture was taken in a MRT station.

Join the KELMO fan site to hear some of my songs!

Ping has been pushing me to record more songs mainly because I’ve been pretty complacent after producing the first album. Ha. I promise myself that I must produce the next compilation before next year!

Some listings to anticipate:

• Alan Chong Song
• Bedtime Story
• Seventeen
• Gotta Ask Her
• Christmas Gift
• Guitar Instrumental (Untitled still)
• And I Wonder
• There I’ll Be

And I’m currently mastering Logic Express 8!

Caution: This post is going to be bandwidth heavy!

Shot was taken out of a window outside Highland hotel. Scenery was beautiful as the sun was setting. The time was approximately 6.30PM. The hotel’s window had a lock which didn’t allow me to open the window fully but I still manage to slide my fat lens across an opening to capture this. The coolness of the air added a punch to the whole experience. Wicked!

To the left of the moutains (previous image) were these blocks of hotel apartments. The cable car lines stretched all the way down to Kuala Lumpur and take those narrow roads alongside the moutain and you’ll be literally living life on the edge! I like the nice contrast between the green foregrounds and the blue backgrounds of the the skies and moutains (or hills?).

I don’t know but since when the word ‘youngsters’ has evolved into ‘younglings’? It reminds me of the Starcraft’s grotesque zerglings though.

I also don’t understand why people are apologetic when they do not update their blogs – I prefer calling it weblogs actually. From time to time, I’ll chance upon statements like,

“I’m so sorry I’ve not updated for so long!” or

“Feels like a century since my last update, I’m terribly sorry because I have been so busy”

It seems like bloggers have subconsciously subjected themselves to an obligation to entertain their readers like a weekly magazine. I make no apologies though I was inclined to do so after discovering that the previous post was published a month ago. During the recent months, I’ve been taking lots of photos as attested by my facebook gallery – I have more than a hundred albums! And my D90′s shuttercount has crossed over 18,000! That is pretty insane considering I only bought my camera just six months ago. For those who are wondering, a camera’s shuttercount tells you how extensive a camera has been used. Each shot you take piles on to the statistics, so technically, I’ve clicked over eighteen thousand times!

I got this information from the site – http://regex.info/exif.cgi/exif.cgi Tells you everything you need to know about your shot such as lens type, exposure program, hyperfocal distance and lots more. Check it out!

Not bad eh!