I am currently re-reading a book of the above title that I bought in 2005. It was written by Amy Givler, a medical doctor, who was struck with Hodgkin's lymphoma, a cancer originating from white blood cells with symptoms of painless swelling of the lymph nodes in the neck, armpits, or groin. She chronicled her journey from receiving the news of having cancer to undergoing treatments until her remission. She mentioned that no one really gets "cured" of cancer; doctor usually tells a patient that he is a "survival" or under "remission". This was a kind of book she wanted to have as she went to the library searching for answers when she knew she had the dreaded illness. One that would point HOPE to those who think that cancer sounds the death knell of those who have been struck with it.
Two incidents happened yesterday that prompted me to pick up this book from my shelf again. One sister in church shared with me that her recent regular check up had revealed a growth in her intestine with other nodules around it. She went for an MRI and is awaiting result - could this be a relapse of what she had gone through last year? I prayed for her and told her not to confess negatively, even though relatives had suffered similar fate. Breaking generational curses is so vital in this instance. The other incident was an email from a colleague who shared that her doctor had told her she is most likely to have cancer. Again, she's also awaiting confirmation of report. I've not heard my colleague complaining of anything untowards where health is concerned, so this news comes as a surprise to me. I mentioned that I would be praying for her even though she's not a believer.
And yesterday, I was also reading Isaiah 38 as part of my Scripture reading for the day. Verse 1 tells us that King Hezekiah became mortally ill, so much so that God had to send Isaiah with this message, "Set your house in order, for you shall die and not live." Talk about a death sentence when one hears the word cancer in today's context; that was probably the Old Testament equivalent of receiving a death sentence. But noticed what Hezekiah did; he didn't submit to the word spoken by the prophet. He began to weep and supplicate before the LORD. God answered his prayer by adding 15 years to his life (v 5). Now that's like a remission of the death sentence given earlier.
In her book, Amy said that cancer is conquerable in our day and age, when diagnosed early. In the past, nine out of ten physicians favoured not telling patients they had cancer, as the chances of a cure is very slim. Nowadays, life-prolonging treatments are available for nearly every type of cancer. The trend in cancer is very good news indeed. In the 1950s, only 35% of people with cancer lived for at least 5 years. By 1974, the rate has improved to 50% and in 1998, it was 62%. Many of the 62% will go on to live their expected number of years, with the cancer under remission. What's more, as believers in the LORD, we can pray to God as Hezekiah did and expect Him to answer us graciously.
Do read this book if you want to know how to go about ministering to those stricken with cancer.
Monday, February 28, 2011
Saturday, February 26, 2011
Presenting our requests to God
I was reading Isaiah 36 and 37 this morning. Chapter 36 talks about the threat of the King of Assyria against Judah. Sennacherib, the King of Assyria, sent his Chief of Staff, Rabshakeh to put fear in the hearts of the Jewish people. Isn't this what the devil is trying to do all along? He is the master of deception, putting up all kinds of half-truths and lies to make people fearful or anxious. Let's take a look at the deception spoken by Rabshakeh:
1. He equated the high altars that Hezekiah removed with that of the LORD's (36:7).
2. Overstating the strength of the Assyrians (36:9).
3. Putting the LORD on the same pedestal as the gods of the heathen (36:19-20).
I was talking to a Buddhist colleague recently and he was trying to paint me a picture that all religious paths lead to the same God. And certainly we can see this playing out in the internet whereby there are teachings trying to marry the different scriptures of the various religions. So we can see that people in our day and age are putting Christ in the same pedestal as other religious founders.
King Hezekiah did the right thing when he heard the taunts of the Assyrian King - he humbled himself in sackcloth and sought the LORD (37:1). He sent his emissaries over to Isaiah the prophet (37:2). The prophetic word given by Isaiah was very encouraging, "Do not be afraid ... I will make him fall by a sword in his own land." (37:6-7). And that's what we need in times when we are really down and out - to hear a word from the LORD that would strengthen us and keep us going in life. This word can come from the still small voice of the Holy Spirit residing within us or it could come from God's people speaking into our lives or it could come directly from God's Word.
King Hezekiah presented the letter of threat to the LORD (37:4). He praised God as the creator of the heaven and earth and prayed that all kingdoms may know He alone is the living God (37:16-20). Isaiah sent to Hezekiah another word of encouragement, "Because you have prayed to Me ..." (37:21). God sent His angel into the Assyrian camp and destroyed 185,000 people and also the eventual death of Sennacherib (37:36-38). I believe we should also pray like Hezekiah of old that all the nations may know that the LORD God is the only living God, and there's none like Him. I mentioned to my friend that Christ is coming back to judge the world and that's where the separation of the sheep and goat would take place. There are currently wheat and tares growing side by side and we can't tell the difference between one and the other. Many religious people will claim that we are all alike in our outlook, but ultimately judgment day would prove otherwise.
1. He equated the high altars that Hezekiah removed with that of the LORD's (36:7).
2. Overstating the strength of the Assyrians (36:9).
3. Putting the LORD on the same pedestal as the gods of the heathen (36:19-20).
I was talking to a Buddhist colleague recently and he was trying to paint me a picture that all religious paths lead to the same God. And certainly we can see this playing out in the internet whereby there are teachings trying to marry the different scriptures of the various religions. So we can see that people in our day and age are putting Christ in the same pedestal as other religious founders.
King Hezekiah did the right thing when he heard the taunts of the Assyrian King - he humbled himself in sackcloth and sought the LORD (37:1). He sent his emissaries over to Isaiah the prophet (37:2). The prophetic word given by Isaiah was very encouraging, "Do not be afraid ... I will make him fall by a sword in his own land." (37:6-7). And that's what we need in times when we are really down and out - to hear a word from the LORD that would strengthen us and keep us going in life. This word can come from the still small voice of the Holy Spirit residing within us or it could come from God's people speaking into our lives or it could come directly from God's Word.
King Hezekiah presented the letter of threat to the LORD (37:4). He praised God as the creator of the heaven and earth and prayed that all kingdoms may know He alone is the living God (37:16-20). Isaiah sent to Hezekiah another word of encouragement, "Because you have prayed to Me ..." (37:21). God sent His angel into the Assyrian camp and destroyed 185,000 people and also the eventual death of Sennacherib (37:36-38). I believe we should also pray like Hezekiah of old that all the nations may know that the LORD God is the only living God, and there's none like Him. I mentioned to my friend that Christ is coming back to judge the world and that's where the separation of the sheep and goat would take place. There are currently wheat and tares growing side by side and we can't tell the difference between one and the other. Many religious people will claim that we are all alike in our outlook, but ultimately judgment day would prove otherwise.
Wednesday, February 16, 2011
Musical Instruments
The most common musical instrument is the use of our vocal chords to make melody and music. That's why the psalmist is able to say, "I will sing praise to God as long as I live." (Ps 146:2) with the additional exhortation, "Sing to the LORD a new song." (Ps 149:1) Churches all over the world would congregate together either on the Lord's day or other days of the week to sing praises unto the LORD. In some places, where the government regime is oppressive, they sing a capella, without any real musical instruments accompaniment. Whether we sing with or without musical instruments, what's important is that we sing praise songs with praising hearts. I was reading today in Isaiah 29 that we can come near to God with praise in our mouths, but our hearts can be far from Him (v 13).
Apart from our vocal chords, musical instruments like the keyboard, guitar and drums do help to enhance the worship atmosphere. There was a period in time when certain segment of the Christian community view the guitar and drums as instruments from the pit of hell, which should not be used. With the arrival of the charismatic renewal in the 1960s, many churches have been enlightened and warmed up to the use of instuments in their worship services, albeit some traditional liturgical services are still retained. The psalmist in Ps 150 encourages us to praise God with the trumpet, harp, lyre, tambourine, flute and cymbals, a mixture of string and wind instruments.
Not only in praise & worship, the Bible also mentions musical instruments in the context of warfare and prophecy. In warfare, Isaiah mentioned that the blows the LORD lays on the Assyrians would be to the music of tambourines and harps. The psalmist adds, "Let the high praises of God be in their mouth, and a two-edged sword in their hand." (Ps 49:6). We must never underestimate the power of praise and worship in routing the enemy of our souls, just like what King Jehoshaphat did when he sent a choir of singers into battle (2 Chron 20). When being inquired about a matter of great importance, Prophet Elisha asked for a harpist before he could prophesy to the three kings who came to him (2 Kg 3:15). Music, as we can see, is very integral to the life of the people of Israel; and it ought to be in ours as well. We have been called to declare the praises of Him who has called us out of darkness into His marvellous light (1 Pet 2:9).
Musical instruments can be very expensive, especially the good ones. When my elder daughter graduated from Yamaha Music School, she decided to continue with learning the piano rather than the organ. Because we do not know whether her interest would be sustained, we got her a second hand piano at under $1000. Later, when we knew that she had a passion and interest in learning the piano we got her a brand new one costing $6500. Likewise for our younger daughter who picked up the violin together with another friend when young. The first violin costs less than $200 and subsequently she was given one by her same friend who bought another violin. Just recently, after passing her grade 5 theory test she was asked to get another violin. Due to her physical features being set and recognising that this would be her last and final violin, we invested in a $3000 violin for her. Even though the investment can be quite heavy, apart from the weekly lessons they had to undergo, we are glad that they have put their musical skills to good use in church.
May the LORD bless those who are using their musical abilities to serve Him. As you do so, know that you're helping the people of God to direct their praise and worship unto Him and to be engaged in warfare and prophecy.
Apart from our vocal chords, musical instruments like the keyboard, guitar and drums do help to enhance the worship atmosphere. There was a period in time when certain segment of the Christian community view the guitar and drums as instruments from the pit of hell, which should not be used. With the arrival of the charismatic renewal in the 1960s, many churches have been enlightened and warmed up to the use of instuments in their worship services, albeit some traditional liturgical services are still retained. The psalmist in Ps 150 encourages us to praise God with the trumpet, harp, lyre, tambourine, flute and cymbals, a mixture of string and wind instruments.
Not only in praise & worship, the Bible also mentions musical instruments in the context of warfare and prophecy. In warfare, Isaiah mentioned that the blows the LORD lays on the Assyrians would be to the music of tambourines and harps. The psalmist adds, "Let the high praises of God be in their mouth, and a two-edged sword in their hand." (Ps 49:6). We must never underestimate the power of praise and worship in routing the enemy of our souls, just like what King Jehoshaphat did when he sent a choir of singers into battle (2 Chron 20). When being inquired about a matter of great importance, Prophet Elisha asked for a harpist before he could prophesy to the three kings who came to him (2 Kg 3:15). Music, as we can see, is very integral to the life of the people of Israel; and it ought to be in ours as well. We have been called to declare the praises of Him who has called us out of darkness into His marvellous light (1 Pet 2:9).
Musical instruments can be very expensive, especially the good ones. When my elder daughter graduated from Yamaha Music School, she decided to continue with learning the piano rather than the organ. Because we do not know whether her interest would be sustained, we got her a second hand piano at under $1000. Later, when we knew that she had a passion and interest in learning the piano we got her a brand new one costing $6500. Likewise for our younger daughter who picked up the violin together with another friend when young. The first violin costs less than $200 and subsequently she was given one by her same friend who bought another violin. Just recently, after passing her grade 5 theory test she was asked to get another violin. Due to her physical features being set and recognising that this would be her last and final violin, we invested in a $3000 violin for her. Even though the investment can be quite heavy, apart from the weekly lessons they had to undergo, we are glad that they have put their musical skills to good use in church.
May the LORD bless those who are using their musical abilities to serve Him. As you do so, know that you're helping the people of God to direct their praise and worship unto Him and to be engaged in warfare and prophecy.
Monday, February 7, 2011
ICT Devices
As far as I could recall, our children did not carry a mobile phone until they were in upper primary. And that was for the purpose of communicating with them since they were already taking public transport back from school. Each of them had a hand-me-down phone or one obtained as part of a free gift, with a pre-paid card inside. At that point in time, a $20 pre-paid card could last between 1 to 2 months, before a top-up was made. It eventually reduced to one month when my daughter had to contact her friends frequently due to collaboration in school projects or as a result of CCA involvement.
Subsequently, when the younger one was about to move to secondary school, with anticipated increase in project collaboration, I subscribed to Singtel RedPac plan costing about $10 per month for each of my daughter's line. This plan came with unlimited incoming calls, limited outgoing calls and 150 sms each. I had 500 sms which could be shared with my children, if I don't fully utilise them. With this plan, I still had to top up a fair bit each month, but usually not more than $100. The amount of sms utilised by my children is phenomenal - this is their chief mode of communication, plus of course the excess in outgoing calls used.
Late last year in December, when the Redpac plan has expired, I re-contracted the children's plan to student's plan. That was the only time I bought each of them a new phone (due to their good end of year results) costing a few hundred dollars even with the student's plan. The wonderful thing about this plan is that it comes with unlimited sms but still with limited outgoing calls. Despite each of them getting a smartphone, I didn't sign up a data plan for them because we do not want them to be using the phone to surf the net. It was a great mistake.
When children get their hands on a smartphone, they cannot help but want to connect to the net whether wireless or through 3G network. The former is free when tapping on the home wifi network or wireless@SG, but the latter is charged. Thinking that they were surfing the net through wifi network, our children downloaded many games and went on social networking websites like Facebook. When their bills came, each shot over $300 and needless to say, we were livid. What follows was an intense negotiation with our service provider to waive the charges, pleading ignorance on behalf of our children. To cut the long story short, we managed to sign up a data plan for our elder daughter and had her bill drastically reduced, while for the younger one we paid about $170 and requested that her 3G network be terminated. Her next bill came down to $11, which was a huge relief. The children definitely learnt a painful lesson from this episode.
The elder child has acquired a tablet PC this year for her Integrated Programme in school. This has set us back by $2000. She has been told to ensure the security of her PC as well as to use it responsibly i.e. no gaming in school. Most of the time, it would be used to research information for her school projects. Students are also expected to use mathematical software to help them with exploration and discovery of concepts. We have also recently acquired a Toshiba notebook for our home as our Aspire desktop CPU has "died" and is beyond repair and restoration. Next year, our younger daughter would need to acquire a notebook, and I heard that it's going to be a Mac. Well that's the high cost of raising Gen iY kids, where technology is an extension of their body.
Subsequently, when the younger one was about to move to secondary school, with anticipated increase in project collaboration, I subscribed to Singtel RedPac plan costing about $10 per month for each of my daughter's line. This plan came with unlimited incoming calls, limited outgoing calls and 150 sms each. I had 500 sms which could be shared with my children, if I don't fully utilise them. With this plan, I still had to top up a fair bit each month, but usually not more than $100. The amount of sms utilised by my children is phenomenal - this is their chief mode of communication, plus of course the excess in outgoing calls used.
Late last year in December, when the Redpac plan has expired, I re-contracted the children's plan to student's plan. That was the only time I bought each of them a new phone (due to their good end of year results) costing a few hundred dollars even with the student's plan. The wonderful thing about this plan is that it comes with unlimited sms but still with limited outgoing calls. Despite each of them getting a smartphone, I didn't sign up a data plan for them because we do not want them to be using the phone to surf the net. It was a great mistake.
When children get their hands on a smartphone, they cannot help but want to connect to the net whether wireless or through 3G network. The former is free when tapping on the home wifi network or wireless@SG, but the latter is charged. Thinking that they were surfing the net through wifi network, our children downloaded many games and went on social networking websites like Facebook. When their bills came, each shot over $300 and needless to say, we were livid. What follows was an intense negotiation with our service provider to waive the charges, pleading ignorance on behalf of our children. To cut the long story short, we managed to sign up a data plan for our elder daughter and had her bill drastically reduced, while for the younger one we paid about $170 and requested that her 3G network be terminated. Her next bill came down to $11, which was a huge relief. The children definitely learnt a painful lesson from this episode.
The elder child has acquired a tablet PC this year for her Integrated Programme in school. This has set us back by $2000. She has been told to ensure the security of her PC as well as to use it responsibly i.e. no gaming in school. Most of the time, it would be used to research information for her school projects. Students are also expected to use mathematical software to help them with exploration and discovery of concepts. We have also recently acquired a Toshiba notebook for our home as our Aspire desktop CPU has "died" and is beyond repair and restoration. Next year, our younger daughter would need to acquire a notebook, and I heard that it's going to be a Mac. Well that's the high cost of raising Gen iY kids, where technology is an extension of their body.
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