The True Meaning of Christmas

Hi Everyone,

Christmas is the time where we receive presents especially children. Giving presents itself is not wrong but we also need to remember the real meaning behind Christmas. We need to know why Christians celebrate Christmas.

We celebrate Christmas to welcome the birth of Jesus Christ. Jesus was born in a manger through the virgin birth of Mary in Bethlehem about 2015 years ago. The birth of Jesus came through Mary, a virgin who was pledged to be married to Joseph. Before they were married, Mary, a virgin¹, was pregnant through the Holy Spirit. Joseph, who was faithful with the law wanted to divorce her quietly when he heard about her pregnancy as it was shameful  for a lady to be pregnant before marriage. After considering this, an angel of the Lord appeared to him informing him that the baby his wife, Mary is conceiving is from the Holy Spirit. She will give birth to a son and they are to give him the name Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins.^2,3

I became a Christian by trusting Jesus as my God and Saviour during Easter 10 years ago. He is perfect and has no sin yet he bore the burden of our sins and chose to die on the cross for our sins, because of His deep and wide love for us. Jesus, who in very nature God, gave up his rights as God to fulfill the Father's will of saving mankind from sin. We are supposed to be at the cross to receive our punishment yet Jesus took them all. On the third day, He rose from the grave and sit at God's right hand. His resurrection proves that He has conquered sin and death. He died for all our sins regardless of who we are. All our sins are forgiven and we are made right in His eyes. We are saved by grace through our faith in God. He taught us to imitate Him, to be who He wants us to be. As we walk with God, we will bear his likeness and the fruit of the Spirit.

<sup>Below are the references to the birth of Jesus in the Bible. All of the verses are in the New International Version (NIV) translation.

Here are some related Bible verses that describes how God loves us:</sup> 

John 3:16
For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. (John 3:16, NIV, Bible Gateway)

Romans 5:8-9

⁸ But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.
 ⁹ Since we have now been justified by his blood, how much more shall we be saved from God’s wrath through him! (Romans 5:8-9, NIV, Bible Gateway)

Ephesians 2:8-9

⁸ For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— ⁹ not by works, so that no one can boast.

(Ephesians 2:8-9, NIV, Bible Gateway)

1 John 4:16-19

¹⁶ And so we know and rely on the love God has for us.

   God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in them. ¹⁷ This is how love is made complete among us so that we will have confidence on the day of judgment: In this world we are like Jesus. ¹⁸ There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love.

 ¹⁹ We love because he first loved us. (1 John 4:16-19, NIV, Bible Gateway)

Galatians 5:22-23

²² But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, ²³ gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law.

(Galatians 5:22-23, NIV, Bible Gateway)

Through our faith in God, we learn to be generous and kind. We are also told to be a cheerful giver. We can give Christmas gifts and yet we also need to remember the birth of our Lord Jesus. We can also remember the needy and help them as well during this period. We can pray for them so that they can find hope and peace with God.

I would like to share some Christmas songs with you this year:

Chris Tomlin - Adore

Chris Tomlin feat. Kristyn Getty - Silent Night

Chris Tomlin - Joy to the World - Unspeakable Joy

Paul Baloche - Hark The Herald Angels Sing



Avalon - We Are The Reason

Christina Perri - Happy Xmas War Is Over

That's all for now. 

Cheers,

Roger Koo

¹ Bible Gateway passage: Luke 1:26-38- New International Version

² Bible Gateway passage: Matthew 1:18-24  - New International Version

³ Bible Gateway passage: Luke 2:1-21  - New International Version

Merry Christmas!

Hi Everyone,

Merry Christmas! to all. Enjoy the holidays. Below is an e-card for you. Please click the DaySpring E-Card to go the e-card. Thanks.

DaySpring E-Card

Here's another e-card that I would like to share:

Another e-card that I would like to share below. Please click the link below"

DaySpring E-Card

Cheers,

Teng Joon

Let's Look Back at the Events of 2009

Hi Everyone,

2010 is approaching. Once again, the new year is here. Let's take a look on what has been happening in 2009. From the economic downturn to sports and scandals, 2009 has been a good year with several shocking revelations.

Who would imagine that Tiger Woods, the world number 1 golfer who has such a clean image suddenly involved in an accident? This event led to him confessing that he had relationship with other ladies even when he is married. His image was suddenly gone. Well, here are some of the top events in 2009:

News

1. Barack Obama became the 1st African-American  inaugurated as U.S 56th president on 20th January. (Source: http://thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2009/1/20/nation/20090128134237&sec=nation)



2. U.S President Barack Obama was awarded the 2009 Nobel Peace Prize on October 2009 for his efforts in strengthening international diplomacy and cooperation between peoples (Source: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/8298580.stm)
   



3. Earthquake with a magnitude of 8.0 hits Samoa just before the Padang earthquakes happened. It killed 22. Several areas triggered tsunami warnings after it happened. Source: (http://www.cnn.com/2009/WORLD/asiapcf/09/29/samoa.earthquake/index.html)
   



4. 2 earthquakes with magnitudes 7.9 and 6.8 respectively hit Padang on 30th September 2009 and early October 2009. It triggered a tsunami warning. About 230,000 people died. (Source:www.smh.com.au/...earthquake...padang-in.../20091001-gdel.html)



5. MCA made headlines this year during the EGM when President Datuk Seri Ong Tee Keat narrowly lost in a vote of no confidence in his leadership and Datuk Seri Chua Soi Lek becoming a normal MCA member. Then followed by the presence of a 3rd faction which has no confidence in the current president and deputy president. Later President Ong comes out with the Greater Unity Plan in which some of the CC members rejected it. The CC members who rejected it now wants to hold fresh polls. 13 CC members have resigned so that fresh pools can be held.



6. Cigarette packs now costs RM6.40 per pack minimum



7. Credit card holders will be charged a tax of RM50 for principal and RM25 for supplementary card holders effective 2010. This was introduced by Datuk Seri Najib during the October budget to curb overspending and reduce debts.



8. Yasmin Ahmad, Malaysia's film maker passed away on 25th July 2009. She was remembered as a film maker who produced advertisements that capture the essence of racial harmony in Malaysia. (Source: http://thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2009/7/25/nation/20090726030133&sec=nation)
   



9. Michael Jackson, the King of Pop, 50 and Farah Fawcett from Charlie's Angels have passed away on 26th June 2009. Michael Jackson was due to start his 'This Is It' tour in July around the world. (Source: http://thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2009/6/26/nation/20090626082443&sec=nation)
   

Scandals

1. Teoh Beng Hock, Ean Yong Hian Wah's political aide was found dead in the afternoon the next day after he was interrogated by the MACC
2. Rape scandal in Sarawak involving the Penans
3. Mohammad Saiful Bukhari accused Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim of sodomising him in 2008
   

Health

1. Influenza A (H1N1)
2. Meningitis outbreak at Malacca in May 2009
   
3. Dengue and Chikunguya cases are on the rise
4. Leptospirosis outbreak with 2 Myanmar nationals died at Juru detention centre at Seberang Prai, Penang (Source: http://thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2009/5/19/nation/20090519114600&sec=nation)
   

Technology

1. The Sony TX1 with the shooting panaroma feature was launched



2. The Olympus PEN E-P2 camera was launched last month
   



3. Olympus PEN camera celebrated it's 50th anniversary this year. A limited edition PEN camera was launched again a few months ago.
   



4. The new IPod Nano 5th Generation with a video camera and radio capabilites was launched in September this year. I just bought my IPod Nano in January this year and a new model was launched 8 months later.
   



5. The new IPhone 3G(S) with a 3.2 Megapixels camera, copy and paste feature and 3G speed wireless access was launched in the middle of this year



6. 2009 saw the emergence of netbooks with the main feature of surfing the net. These netbooks are using Intel Atom processors.
   

Sports

1. Tiger Woods sex scandal after his car accident near his home. He was said to have a relationship with a waitress, Rachel Uchitel. A few days later, he confessed to have the relationship and other girls began to appear. Seemed he had a lot of relationships before even while his wife, Elin was pregnant.
   



2. Michael Schumacher signed a deal to be one of the F1 drivers for the Mercedes Petronas F1 team. It is his F1 return after 3 years of retirement



3. Lionel Messi was awarded the Fifa World Player of the Year award



4. Manchester City's former manager, Mark Hughes was sacked after his team's 4-3 win over Sunderland. Roberto Mancini replaces him as the new manager. Mark Hughes did not know about his sacking until after his team's win over Sunderland.



5. Malaysia's Women badminton team won the gold at the 25th Sea Games held in Laos a few weeks back after a 32 year wait



6. Malaysia's football team emerged champions at the 25th Sea Games held in Laos by beating Vietnam 1-0 in the finals.
   



7. Serena Williams was handed a point penalty on match point at U.S Open during her game against Kim Clijsters. She was angry with the umpire and said something in this lines: "I'm going to shove this ball down your f------ throat". She also continued to scream to the official with a jabbed finger and with more profanity and threats (Source: http://sports.yahoo.com/ten/blog/busted_racquet/post/Serena-Williams-berates-official-loses-match-fo?urn=ten,189028).
   



8. Roger Federer regained the number 1 ranking from Rafael Nadal on 6th July 2009 (Source: http://www.atpworldtour.com/Tennis/Players/Top-Players/Roger-Federer.aspx?t=rh)



9. Manny Pacquiao, the six time U.S boxing champion is scheduled to fight Floyd Mayweather in March 2010 but was cancelled due to Floyed insisting that Manny goes through blood tests first to check for doping. (Source: http://thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2009/12/28/sports/5373273&sec=sports)
   



10. Andre Agassi admitted in his biography that he took crystal meth and lied to ATP to avoid a ban



11. Michael Phelps was photographed using marijuana. He later admitted to taking it and apologised to everyone. He is now making a comeback in the swimming arena



12. BMW and Toyota decided to pull out from Formula One this year



13. Renault's F1 team boss, Flavia Briatore was found guilty to deliberately told it's former F1 driver, Nelson Piquet Jr. to crash his car so that Fernando Alonso can win the race at the 2008 Singapore Grand Prix. Renault has been suspended for 2 years and Flavia Briatore has stepped down as Renault F1's team manager (Source: http://thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2009/9/23/sports/4763347&sec=sports)
    

Cars

1. Kia Forte was launched at Paviliion KL last month (Source: http://paultan.org/2009/11/25/kia-forte-here-in-malaysia-amazing-value-for-money/) . It won the Car of the Year award and Car of the Month Award (August) with American car website, NADAguides.com. (Source: http://blog.autoworld.com.my/index.php/2009/12/10/kia-forte-picks-up-coty-award-from-nadaguides-com/)
   



2. The Toyota Camry facelift model was launched a few months ago. It remains the number 1 executive car after Honda Accord with the latter closing in the gap. Difference of slightly more than 1K cars sold
   



3. Ford agress to sell its Volvo business to a Chinese automobile company, Geely for $2 billion (Source: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/8428066.stm, http://biz.thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2009/12/17/business/5319250&sec=business)



4. Toyota Prius was the top selling car in Japan for 5th consecutive month in a row in Japan (Source: http://biz.thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2009/10/6/business/20091006133323&sec=business)



5. Toyota Prius 3rd Generation was launched in Malaysia on 4th August 2009 with the price tag of RM175K. Now we can save the environment by buying a Toyota Prius but it would much too expensive for most of us. Similar to a Toyota Camry 2.4V price. (Source: http://paultan.org/2009/08/04/rm175k-toyota-prius-now-available-in-malaysia/). Honda Civic Hybrid's selling price was also lowered to RM128K this year from around RM160K previously.
   

Movies

1. Sherlock Holmes (December 2009) 
2. Nine (December 2009)
   
3. Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Squeakuel (December 2009)
   
4. Bodyguards and Assassins (December 2009)
   
5. Avatar (December 2009)
6. The Princess and The Frog (December 2009)
7. A Christmas Carol (November 2009)
   
8. The Twilight Saga: New Moon (November 2009)
9. 2012 (November 2009)
   
10. G-Force (September 2009)
    
11. The Final Destination (August 2009)
    
12. G.I Joe (August 2009)
13. Ice Age 3: Dawn of the Dinosaurs (July 2009)
14. Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince (July 2009)
    
15. UP (June 2009)
    
16. Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen (June 2009)
17. Star Trek (May 2009)
18. Wolverine (April 2009)
19. Slumdog Millionaire (February 2009 - Malaysia)
    

Entertainment

1. Taylor Swift won more than 30 awards this year for her work in the Fearless album. Love Story, You Belong With Me, Fifteen and Teardrops on my Guitar remain her top songs for this year. Congratulations to Taylor Swift



2. 2009 also saw Lady Gaga being as good. From her first single from her album, Just Dance, she continued to dominate the charts with songs such as Bad Romance, Eh Eh (Nothing Else I Can Say), Paparazzi and Poker Face



3. The band Boys Like Girls had a duet with Taylor Swift in their song, Two Is Better Than One



4. Tony Braxton made a comeback with her song, Yesterday



5. Whitney Houston made a comeback with the album, I Look To You since 2002 (Source: http://www.rollingstone.com/rockdaily/index.php/2009/07/15/whitney-houston-debuts-i-look-to-you-songs-album-cover/)



6. Paula Abdul will not continue her contract with American Idol as a judge in 2010
   

These are among the main highlights and news of the year 2009. The biggest news still making headlines is the Tiger Woods scandal with AT&T also withdrawing their sponsorship.

Cheers,

Rogerkoo

Christmas Songs!!

Hi,

Here are some Christmas songs that I want to share with my blog readers, Joy To The World and Feliz Navidad (Merry Christmas in Spanish). These are the YouTube videos that I found:

Joy To The World

The full lyrics for Joy To The World is as follows:

Joy to the World , the Lord is come!
Let earth receive her King;
Let every heart prepare Him room,
And Heaven and nature sing,
And Heaven and nature sing,
And Heaven, and Heaven, and nature sing.

Joy to the World, the Savior reigns!
Let men their songs employ;
While fields and floods, rocks, hills and plains
Repeat the sounding joy,
Repeat the sounding joy,
Repeat, repeat, the sounding joy.

No more let sins and sorrows grow,
Nor thorns infest the ground;
He comes to make His blessings flow
Far as the curse is found,
Far as the curse is found,
Far as, far as, the curse is found.

He rules the world with truth and grace,
And makes the nations prove
The glories of His righteousness,
And wonders of His love,
And wonders of His love,
And wonders, wonders, of His love.

Source: Joy to the World Lyrics, http://www.carols.org.uk/ba27-joy-to-the-world.htm

I have noticed that some singers only sing 3 verses in their covers of this song. The Anne Murray's version in the video above is one of the versions that has 3 verses. The full song has 4 verses in total.

Feliz Navidad

The full lyrics for Feliz Navidad is as follows:

Feliz Navidad
Feliz Navidad
Feliz Navidad
Prospero Bano y Felicidad.

Feliz Navidad
Feliz Navidad
Feliz Navidad
Prospero Bano y Felicidad.

I wanna wish you a Merry Christmas
I wanna wish you a Merry Christmas
I wanna wish you a Merry Christmas
From the bottom of my heart.

Source: Christmas Songs - Feliz Navidad lyrics, http://www.lyricsmode.com/lyrics/c/christmas_songs/feliz_navidad.html

That's all. Enjoy the Christmas songs!

Cheers,

Rogerkoo

The True Meaning of Christmas

Hi Everyone,

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

The season of Chirstmas comes again in December 2009. Just 2 days to go. What does Christmas day signify? Is it signified by Santa Claus and receiving presents? Is it having Christmas parties with church friends, relatives or colleagues only? Is it a time of family reunion and Christmas tree decorating? Is it only when we perform gift exchange?

Well, it is good to have Christmas parties with relatives, church friends and friends. For the relatives, family reunions are good to get updated on what is happening with the family. Even so, we also need to remember the true meaning of Christmas.

For Christians, the true meaning of Christmas is to celebrate the birth of our Lord Jesus Christ. Jesus was born on Christmas day. Without this event, we would not even have Christmas. Why is it so important for Christians? Jesus is our Lord and Saviour who died for our sins and rose again on the third day. Jesus is sinless and perfect and yet he chose to die for all of us.

Jesus showed us the meaning of true love. He loves us unconditionally even to the point of dying for us. During his 33 years life on Earth, he has shown us what it really means to love and to be authentic Christians. He has shown us that we need to show love to others even if it is our enemies. His love is for all people in the world. Just accept Jesus as our Lord and Saviour, confess our sins and believe that he died for our sins and rose again on the 3rd day. As a result of this, we have a changed mindset that everything that we do or say, it is for God's glory. Our lives need to be pleasing to God and not continue to keep on sinning.

The Parable of Good Samaritan found in Luke 10:25-37 shows us how we should care for others without discrimination. It talks about how a man who was attacked by robbers when he was travelling from Jerusalem to Jericho (Luke 10:30) and he was half dead on the road. The man was also stripped off his clothes and beaten. In Luke 10:31-32, a priest and a Levite went by without helping the half dead man. They were from Jerusalem and yet they did not help the man. Meanwhile, a Samaritan who was passing by saw the man. The Samaritan, whom the people of Jerusalem did not like then helped the man by bandaging his wounds and brought him to an inn and took care of the man. The next day, he gave the innkeeper 2 silver coins, 'Look after him, he said and when I return, I will reimburse you for any extra expense you may have'. (Luke:33-35) The Samaritan has shown kindness to the wounded man. He helped the wounded man even though he was not like by the people of Jerusalem. Therefore, we should also help / love others regardless of race, country and religion. This is the extent of God's love.

There are more lessons that we can learn from God but that is all for now. All His teachings teaches us to live righteously and to live with a purpose to glorify God. By what we do or say, we will be witnesses to everyone we meet. That's all.

Enjoy the holidays. Feel free to comment on this blog post. Thank you.

Cheers,

Rogerkoo

Singapore Trip

Hi Everyone,

I went to Singapore with my family recently to attend a function. At the same time, my family and I also vacationed in Singapore and spent time visiting Orchard Road and Sentosa Island within 2 days. We arrived at Singapore on Thursday and we only have Thursday and Friday to visit the Singapore places of attractions.

When we arrived in Singapore, we were impressed by the efficiency of the baggage system as the airport. Our baggage were ready for collection immediately after immigration. All the baggage were already there when we walked to the baggage carousel from the immigration counters. We then went to the taxi stand and the Singapore taxis are ready for us. Took the Ssangyong van and arrived safely at Somermet on Grand Cairnhill Residences.

Somerset on Grand Cairnhill Residences located on Cairnhill Road is within walking distance to Orchard Road, the shopping street in Singapore. It is just about 2 minutes to Orchard Road from Somerset. We past The Heeren on the way. The taxi stand is located right in front of Somerset as well. Singapore utilises Korean cars for taxis such as Hyundai Sonata Diesel, Ssangyong and Kia with the exception of Toyota Crown. The taxi drivers are quite friendly as well.

Orchard Road is the shopping street of Singapore. Down the street from Somerset, Takashimaya Departmental Store is on the right.

Takashimaya Departmental Store

Opposite Takashimaya is Paragon, another shopping centre which Metro is one of the tenants.

Paragon

We ate at the Din Tai Fung restaurant there known for its Shanghai Siew Long Bao. It was quite nice. 

Din Tai Fung

Further down the road are Tang Plaza and Ion Orchard. Ion Orchard is the newest shopping centre in Singapore having some of the luxurious brands like Louis Vuitton, Prada, Dolce and Gabbana and Dior. The underground Orchard MRT Station is located at Ion Orchard too. The main tenant of the Tang plaza is of course Tangs. There is also an Isetan branch before Ion Orchard.

More shopping centres are found on the left of Takashimaya. Orchard Central is located opposite the road. There are some fashion brands there too. Opposite Orchard Central is the Centre Point. The main tenants for Centre Point are Robinsons and Cold Storage. John Little, another departmental store is located near Centre Point also.

Orchard Road will be lit up at night. All the Christmas decorations will be lighted up. It is a very beautiful sight. Unfortunately, I did not take the pictures of the colourful Christmas lights at night.

These are some of the brochures that we collected during our trip:

The Official Map of Singapore (Can get it at the Airport or major shopping centres or tourist spots)

Sentosa Island Map and Attractions

We went to Sentosa Island on Friday. We took the MRT from the Orchard Road station to the Harbour Front station to go to Sentosa. From Orchard Road, we need to change trains at Dhoby Ghout station to change to the North East (red colour) MRT line to go to Harbour Front station. From Harbour Front station, we took a Sentosa shuttle bus to go to Sentosa Beach Station where the bus stop is located. All are very convenient. In fact, the ticketing officer at the Orchard MRT station came to check with us if we have bought the tickets. Then at Harbour Front bus stop, another Singaporean man told us where to buy tickets for Sentosa shuttle bus (SGD$3 per person) and where to queue up for the bus. They were very friendly to us. The network map for the MRT and LRT systems in Singapore is at this website, SMRT Website - Network Map.

During the shuttle bus ride to Sentosa, we also passed the Resorts World Sentosa construction site. It is about 70% completed. It has an amusement park as well. Below is the site:

Resorts World Sentosa (Genting Sentosa)

At Sentosa Island, the management provides shuttle bus services to travel along the attractions which include Imbiah Lookout, Siloso Beach, Palawan Beach and Underwater World. Not only does the management provides the shuttle bus service, we can also visit Sentosa Island via the MRT at VivoCity, opposite the Harbour Front MRT station. This is the information about the transport services on how to get around Sentosa Island.

We took the Beach Tram at Beach Station and it brought us along Siloso and Palawan beaches. Along Siloso beach, there are grand restaurants, bars and hotels. At the end of the Siloso beach is where the Underwater World is situated. I have been to Jakarta's Ancol SeaWorld and it is better than Underwater World. There are more attractions at Ancol SeaWorld in Jakarta. In Underwater World, you get to see the different sea creatures such as fishes, jellyfish, sharks and giant octopus. There is also a Dolphin Lagoon but there were no shows on that day. Instead, a sea lion show was being performed. The show lasted only 5 minutes. In Ancol, it lasted about 10 to 15 minutes. There were more tricks performed by the sea lions at the Ancol's SeaWorld. Had lunch at the Kowloon Food Express at Underwater World. A ticket at Underwater World costs SGD$22.90 for adults and SGD$14.60 for children between 3 to 12 years old.

After Underwater World, we took the shuttle bus to Imbiah Lookout. There were a lot of attractions at Imbiah Lookout such as Butterfly Park and Insert Kingdom, Tiger Sky Tower (Observation tower), Images of Singapore (history of Singapore), Sentosa Nature Discovery and The Merlion and Merlion Walk.

  Imbiah Lookout

We only went to look at The Merlion. It has the Singapore's Merlion statue and you can take a lift up there to see the island of Singapore. It costs SGD$8 to go up. We only took several pictures there and off we go home after that.

Tiger Sky Tower

Images of Singapore

The Merlion

We had dinner at Jumbo Seafood at Raffles Boulevard on our first day there. It is situated at the Riverside and near Clarke Quay. We were given aprons to wear when the crabs were served. The food are excellent, different from what we usually get from KL.

Me wearing an apron during crab eating

After our Sentosa trip, we had dinner at Dian Xiao Er. It is a Singaporean restaurant serving authentic Singaporean dishes. The signature dish is the roast duck cooked with 10 herbs. The food serve here is excellent. All tasted great and it is not that expensive. Dian Xiao Er is opening a branch at Mal Taman Anggrek at Jakarta. Perhaps, they can consider opening here in Malaysia. We also ordered Claypot Beancurd with Seafood, Tung Po Yuk, Spare Ribs and several other dishes. I recommend this restaurant to you when you are in Singapore. It is located at 203 / 204, Level 2 Marina Square, next to the Marina Mandarin hotel. It is also opposite the Pan Pacific Hotel.

Dian Xiao Er at Marina Square

That's all.

Cheers,

Rogerkoo

Happy Labour Day

Hi Everyone,

It's the 1st May tomorrow! Here's wishing you a Happy Labour Day tomorrow. Selamat Hari Pekerja. Please have good rest, fun and enjoy yourselves for three days. Have a great weekend. For me, I will continue to be very busy the next two weeks. Very busy until 15th May before I go overseas again. Watch out for updates on my blog. Ciao.

That's all,

Rogerkoo

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year

Hi, I would like to wish all readers and followers of my blog a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!. May God continue to bless you in 2009. The actual significance of Chirstmas is that Jesus was born on this day about 2000 years ago. It is a time of celebration for all Christians in the world. I actually fell sick two days ago with sore throat and cold. The sore throat is getting better now. My nose is quite blocked still. May see the doctor tomorrow. Need to drink more water and eat more greens and fruits. This morning, I attended the Gereja Bethel Indonesia (GBI) Christmas service at Taman Anggrek. Communion was part of the service as well. The worship session was good. It suprised me that the song by Chris Tomlin, How Great is Our God is sang here as well. At the end of the service, everyone receives a door gift containing a Breadtalk bread, a 330 ml Danone Aqua Drinking Water and a GBI 2009 Calendar. Of course, it is in Indonesian. Here are some of the Christmas songs and hymns that we normally sing during Christmas:

• Joy to the World
• Silent Night
• O Holy Night
• O Come All Ye Faithful
• Angels We Have Heard on High (Gloria.....in excelsis Deo)
• Hark the Herald Angels Sing
• The First Noel
• God Rest All Ye Merry Gentlemen
• We Wish You A Merry Christmas
• Jingle Bells
• Let It Snow
• Santa Claus is coming to town