Great pair of headphones!!!
No need for any enhancements on my player. The sound that it produces is wonderful.
Don't need to jam earphones into my ears(and dig out the ear-wax).
Plus there no need to pump up the vol, cos it does reduce a significant amount of ambient noises.
I simply love it
Old Man Sam | 3:49 PM |
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Thought I could have a good time of interaction playing card games (specifically Bang) with my cousins.
So rushed down to Orchard, hoping to get a copy of the game.
Alas..... they did not have the stock for the games I wanted.... :(
However I met Dzaki. Didn't recognise him at first. But he recognised me when I walked into the shop (Heh... all thanks to my youthful looks).
Small world, small world. My former NTU floorball mate.
After graduation, he worked in serveral game shops before landing in Paradigam Infinity.
Anyway, looked around the shop, saw some guys with super-weird dressing playing wargames.
I admit that I've a stereo-typical view of wargamers. That is they are geek-ish.
But what I saw were these guys with weirdo haircuts, wearing goth-like tops and cursing which punctuated their sentances.
Oh well..... weirdos......
Managed to get a game, Chez Guevara:
Also got the Settlers of Catan - Event Cards. (Heh.... The draw of a Settlers addict
After getting the game, was furiously reading the rules & gameplay on my way home.
However, all my hopes were dashed when they were all glued to the TV.
Oh well, if you can't beat erm...... continue to read the rules and understand the game :P
Gotta start praying for my cousins and try to build bridges with em.
Old Man Sam | 11:09 PM |
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Was the subsitute bassist cos there were no available musicians. So in a way am called out of retirement from being a bassist.
To think that the last time I played bass was like.......donkey ages.
But thank God for granting me the skills today to worship him with my playing.
To enjoy worshipping him this way.
All Glory be to our King
Old Man Sam | 11:26 PM |
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We first started with Saboteur
Then 'upgraded' to Bang!
Our lives were 'changed' when Settlers of Catan was introduced to us. And we thought that nothing could beat that.
How wrong we were when we played Cities & Knights of Catan (the expansion set to Settlers). Now we are addicted to this game.
Coming soon.... Citadels
Old Man Sam | 6:52 PM |
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You chose the cross with every breath
The perfect life, the perfect death,
You chose the cross
A crown of thorns You wore for us
And crowned us with eternal life, You chose the cross
And though Your soul was overwhelmed with pain
Obedient to death You overcame
chorus:
I'm lost in wonder, I'm lost in love
I'm lost in praise for evermore
Because of Jesus' unfailing love
I am forgiven, I am restored
You loosed the chords of sinfulness
And broke the chains of my disgrace,
You chose the cross
Up from the grace victorious
You rose again so glorious,
You chose the cross
The sorrow that surrounded You was mine
"Yet not my will but Yours be done" You cried.
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Heard this song while on my way back from playing boardgames with some of the guys from church.
After that, the song just played on and on in my head.
So I did a google on it and came across the composer's blog and read how he composed the song:
Prior to a trip to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia in September 2002, to be involved in a Soul Survivor conference, Mike Pilavachi and I had decided to extend our time in Malaysia to include a three day break in Penang, an island situated about 4 hours drive North of Kuala Lumpar.
The main reason for doing this was for me to spend time writing songs for my forthcoming album and for Mike to continue work on his new book.
I would however be lying if I said that the sunshine and beach were not also very appealing reasons for going!
The first morning at the hotel, whilst Mike swam in the pool (slacker!), I did my usual thing of sitting down with my guitar and wondering where on earth to start when writing a new song.
After sitting quietly for a while and being very tempted to join Mike, I decided instead to flick through my lyrics book to see if I could get any inspiration.
I find keeping a lyrics book is a great way to combat writer’s block. Basically just write down anything that you find striking or inspiring. A line from a film, a dream, a song whatever, even if it seems unimportant, you never know when it might come in handy.
After a few seconds, I stumbled across this line, which I had written down some months before: 'You chose the cross with every breath, the perfect life, the perfect death'.
To be honest, I can’t even remember how that line came to me. I think it was in a worship time whilst I was in the congregation, but it didn't seem particularly fresh - just something in my mind that struck me as interesting so I wrote it down.
As I started reading over that line and thinking on it, I just started singing it out on my guitar. I didn't really have a great revelation for the melody. I guess it just flowed out as I played it over and over. The chords I happened to be playing at the time seemed to fit with what I was singing. It also seemed a nice idea to repeat the line 'You chose the cross', which obviously began to determine what sort of song it was going to be, but also triggered my thoughts to Max Lucado’s book called 'He Chose the Nails'.
Sometimes, that's the way it works. A line or a phrase leads you further to other sources of inspiration and so on. This was a helpful resource to stimulate ideas and a fresh outlook on an old theme.
The second part of the first verse was also inspired by a line that I had written down from an old hymn; 'For us you wore a crown of thorns; A crown of life for us securing' I really liked the double use of the word crown and the imagery of his crown of thorns being symbolic of the crown of life that his death and resurrection would purchase for us.
Another line I had written in my writing book (in fact on the same page) was 'Lost in wonder, love and praise'.
I had heard this phrase used years ago at the church I grew up in and I think it might even have been in an old song, but I thought it might be a cool theme for a celebration song at some point, so I had jotted it down.
Again, as I began to worship using this phrase as a response to what Jesus has done through the cross, I just started singing the complete chorus melody progression.
To be honest 90% of the chorus just flowed out in one go and just took a bit of time to finalise the two last lyrical statements; 'I am forgiven’, ‘I am restored'.
That was about as far as I got in that sitting. The pool was way too tempting! The only hard thing was making sure I remembered the melody until I got back to England as I didn’t have any way of recording it with me!
When I got home and assessed what I had so far it became clear that although I had a good starting framework, the song was far from being complete. I have tried to learn, that this is when the hard work begins.
The inspiration is over and the perspiration starts. The temptation can be to stop crafting the song too early and settle for a good song when you could be onto a great song!
Frustratingly, I knew I needed another verse and a pre-chorus that would really set the chorus up. Without a form of pre chorus, it felt like there was not enough tension building into the chorus.
In the hope of getting some further inspiration for a second verse and pre chorus, I started reading the gospel accounts once again of the time running up to Jesus' death and resurrection.
The revelation of Jesus actually choosing the cross and the fact that he could have decided against it, given his fully human limitations, led me specifically to his time of emotional agony in the garden of Gethsemane.
Matthew 26:38‘Then he said to them, 'My soul is overwhelmed with sorrow to the point of death. Stay here and keep watch with me'.
Luke's account even describes Jesus as sweating drops of blood in his terrible anguish. (Luke 22:44)
Yet in the midst of his overwhelming pain, Jesus' heart was to do the will of the Father who had sent him.
Matthew 26:39'Going a little further, he fell with his face to the ground and prayed, 'My Father, if it is possible, may this cup be taken from me. Yet not my will, but as you will.'
What amazing obedience! Even to death on a cross!
As I pondered on these verses, I really felt like I wanted to tell this amazing part of the passion story as part of the song. Hence the pre chorus’:
'And though your soul was overwhelmed with pain, obedient to death you overcame'; 'The sorrow that surrounded you was mine, yet not my will but yours be done you cried'.
Honestly, I was pretty shocked when these lines flowed out.
They felt like real gifts from God that expressed exactly what I wanted to say but staying true to the text using half rhyme.
I also really wanted to have a reference in the song not only to Jesus' death, but also to his glorious and victorious resurrection from the dead. After playing with a few ideas for the direction of the second verse, this seemed like a good direction for the song to go in.
Other ideas that I had were lines such as:
You drank the cup of suffering, Your Father's will you chose for me You chose the cross
But in the end I settled on what is now the second verse.
Finally, after using the song a few times in worship, I decided to repeat the line at the end of the chorus, ‘Because of Jesus’ and that turned into quite a nice spontaneous refrain for the song which I now use most times when I'm leading with this song:
Because of Jesus Because of Jesus I am forgiven I am restored
Old Man Sam | 12:55 AM |
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- Opening the heart to talk
- To balance career and God
- Being passive
- Maintaing integrity of manhood, one that God had intended
- Leadership at home
- Culture of overt sexuality
- Changing social mindset/perceptions of masculinity
- Temptations of the world
- Living godly lives in workplace and home
- Remaining true to God, His church, family, community and workplace
- Age old problems: Power, Lust & Greed
- Lack of real passion for God
- Knowing their role as head of his God-given family
- Balancing work family responsibilities in an increasingly pressurizing & uncertain work environment
- Remaining faithul to God, spouse and children
That's where iron sharpening of iron comes in.
That the men of God will rise up and fight for God's glory
Old Man Sam | 10:18 PM |
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Ash Wednesday: February 21
First Sunday in Lent: February 25
Palm/Passion Sunday: April 1
Maundy Thursday: April 5
Good Friday: April 6
Holy Saturday: April 7
Easter Sunday: April 8
Ascension: May 17
Pentecost: May 27
Old Man Sam | 4:18 PM |
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Sigh..... got to remember that no one is perfect.
People will disappoint you (varying degrees).
There are times where I feel like strangling them.
But guess that's not me to speak up & let my temper fly.
Or maybe I just want to see them burn by not pointing out the stuff that bothers me
That's where grace comes in.
Why do you look at the speck that is in your brother's eye, but do not notice the log that is in your own eye?
But there's also the duty of Christians to build each other up.
Then again, it's the front put on by other people that puts you off.......
Gotta ask God for wisdom. The evil one only seeks to stir up hatred.
Father help me.......
Old Man Sam | 10:39 PM |
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No numbers to boast about.
They came from all walks of life.
No status to boast about
They expressed their need to connect with other men
No heroes to place on the pedestal
It was really encouraging to see normal men(not just the ones that we label as "holy holy") come for the meeting. To a young chap like me, they have certainly gained much more respect from me.
Why? Cos they dared to stand up/step forward, acknowledge their weakened manhood and seek to re-establish the integrity of manhood and role of man which God has intended.
I want to learn from & journey alongside with these men.
Old Man Sam | 12:25 AM |
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