Monday, February 28, 2011

Panama Updates (4)

Dear all,
Thank you for your prayer support.

Thanksgiving:
1) 20 students @ Panama IEC Music Camp, they learnt music and Jesus at the same time... Many parents and other families enjoy the closing ceremony which included a drama done by the campers... :P
2) Sharing @ Alliance youth fellowship re: Messages in games
3) Karen arrived safely in Panama
4) Toronto STM for Music Camp safely arrived in Canada

Prayer items:
1) Please continue to pray for Youth Ministries in different Panama churches
2) Lung, brother from the Alliance youth fellowship have his problem changed from brain infection to lung infection. Although not in lift threatening situation, still critical. Please continue to pray for him and his family.
3) Our schedule
Feb 28: Alliance Youth fellowship
Mar 1: Visiting brothers and sisters at Arraijan (a city around one hour drive from Panama)
Mar 2: Panama IEC youth fellowship leaders training
Mar 6: Preaching at Living Water Alliance church
Mar 7: Leaving Panama for Toronto


For more updated photos, you can click *here*...





Monday, February 21, 2011

Panama Updates (3)

Dear all,
Thank you for all the support.

Thanksgiving:
1)Sharing @ Alliance youth fellowship was wonderful. We talked about how to utilize the media and internet to encourage the fellowship among the fellowship.
2)Almost 40 people attending 10th Anniversary of IEC Daniel fellowship, which started because of the Panama youth camp.
3)With the guidance of the Holy Spirit, I share His words at IEC Spanish (using English, of course!), IEC Cantonese, and Iglesia Evangelica China de Arraijan, a city around 45 mins drive from Panama City.
4)Enjoying Amador, the great harbour front of Panama city, with the STM from Toronto.

Prayer items:
1)Father of the youth pastor of IEC passed away last Friday (18th) night, please pray for Pastor Louisa and her family.
2)A brother from the Alliance youth fellowship, Lung, was admitted into the emergency Sunday (20th) night. Out of life threatening situation but still critical. Please pray from him and his family.
3)Music Camp @ IEC, Feb 21-25. 20 kids camping at church to learn more about music and God.

For more updated photos, you can go here: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=276047&id=514761224&l=81e9b95bba

Thanks
kelvin




Men and Women

One day, there was a catastrophic event that caused all living creatures on Earth to die. To sort things out, everyone went to heaven.

God said, "I want the men to form two lines. One line for the men who ruled their women on Earth and one for the men who were ruled by their women."

The line of men who were ruled by their women was 1,000 miles long, and in the line of men who ruled their women, there was only one man.

God said, "You men should be ashamed of yourselves. I created you in my image and you were all whipped by your mates. Only one of my sons made me proud. Tell them, my son, how did you manage to be the only one in this line?"

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"I don't know," the man replied. "My wife told me to stand here."



"Joke of the week - www.TBS.com"




Thursday, February 17, 2011

Panama Updates (2)

Dear all, thank you for your prayer support.

Thanksgiving:

2011 Panama Youth Camp:
The camp was very thankful. The 120 kids are great. There are some challenges during the camp, like without running water or fridge is not cool enough. But God definitely got His hands there and many of the kids willing to committee or re-committed themselves to Christ.

Here are some pictures:
Camp album 1/2 http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2004510&id=168600074&l=b34a8fc43e
Camp album 2/2 http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2004526&id=168600074&l=6aa66a79e1

If you have Facebook account, you can see some pictures and videos thru these links

Camp album 1/2 http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2004510&id=168600074
Camp album 2/2 http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2004526&id=168600074
Talent Show http://www.facebook.com/video/video.php?v=10150107000081225
Campfire / sharing night http://www.facebook.com/video/video.php?v=10150107085466225

Alliance Youth Fellowship:
Monday night Valentine's gathering got around 30 people. Pray that they are being encourage about true love by Pastor Howard Ngan of NTCAC (Toronto).
I had a chat / training with the leaders on Tuesday. Definitely we can see the potential and ability in their hearts, just their confidence is lacking a bit. Please keep praying for them.
We will have another training session this coming friday, and most likely next friday too.

IEC (Panama Chinese Church - Iglesia Evangelisa China de Panama) Daniel Fellowship:
Almost 40 people showing up in the past two meetings. Around 30% are Panama-grown, Spanish speaking. Wonderful spiritual sharing and instructions from the youth leaders.

Here are some prayer request:

(1) My schedule ahead
-Feb 18 Alliance Youth Fellowship leaders training
-Feb 19 IEC Youth Fellowship 10th Anniversary
-Feb 20 IEC Chinese Worship
-Feb 21-25 Music Camp @ IEC
-Feb 25 Alliance Youth Fellowship leaders training

(2) Panama Youth Ministry
As different churches putting more effort in youth and 2nd generation ministry, there are more and more attending churches in Panama, Panama City and other gospel stations around Panama.
However, at the same time, challenges surfacing during these growth.
-Rev. Beltran is a missionary from Columbia. He is now the pastor of Alliance Church serving all Spanish-speaking congregation. His wife has been diagnosed with some kind of tumor in her body, fortunately, latest news is those cells are not cancer.
-Pastor Esther, the pastor of Living Water Alliance, is also the pastor of the Alliance Youth Fellowship. She was diagnosed with Lymph Nodes Cancer and is now being treated in HK. Pastor Michael, her husband, will head back to HK in March to take care of his wife.
-The Alliance plans to build a youth centre to help out with the youth ministry in Panama. Original budget was about $400k. However, due to the inflation rate and other unexpected cost, that might cause to a increase in the building cost. Please pray for the financial supply.
-Among those trained leaders of the IEC Daniel fellowship, most of them either getting married or moving back to China. The next generation need time to develop their potential to pick up the ministry. Please pray for the development.

(3) Other STM
- Calgary West Alliance (Living Water Alliance)
- North Toronto Alliance (Panama City and Chitre)
- A group of youth from Toronto (IEC Music Camp)

Please keep us in prayers.
Thanks
Kelvin




TheStar DiManno: Unlike Forsberg, some guys just don’t know when to quit

Rosie DiManno

2011-02-16 06:11:00 PM
Here today, gone tomorrow, back the day after that.

Or a year later, or four years later — or in the case of Martina Navratilova a decade later, 47 and an aging baby-boomer heroine with a first-round win at Wimbledon in 2004, oldest tennis player ever to take a professional singles match.

Breaking up with sports is the hardest thing to do for elite athletes. Whether Hamlet-like — Favre-like — indecisive about retirement or fleetingly firm in hanging ’em up, only to reverse themselves as time goes by, it is an often agonizing and discombobulating adjustment to civvy street.

They pine for the cheers, they ache for the existence left behind and they genuinely miss what they used to do so well. Few attempt comebacks for the money. What most yearn for is the person they once were.

Glory days, they will pass you by, as Bruce Springsteen sang. Retrieving them is usually a mug’s game.

Only a handful manage to seize again the shimmery éclat that was: Michael Jordan, the first time he had a re-think, picking up his career where he left off and leading the Chicago Bulls to three straight NBA championships; George Foreman, a serial comeback artist but especially in 1994, 45 years old when he knocked out Michael Moorer, 25, to become the oldest boxer in history to capture a heavyweight title; and Roger Clemens, revising retirement plans in a last hurrah with the Houston Astros, winning the 2004 Cy Young Award in the process. (Leaving aside, for the moment, that ignominious appearance before a U.S. House committee probing steroid use in baseball.)

At the other end of the spectrum, there was Stephane Richer — admittedly, not remotely in the same league as the aforementioned stars — who re-retired in 2009 after precisely one (1) practice with the Washington Capitals. Sometimes reality bites hard. And quick.

Lance Armstrong announced Wednesday that he was done with competitive cycling, wryly calling it “Retirement 2.0’’. In an interview with Associated Press, the 39-year-old teased: “Never say never’’ about perhaps changing his mind down the line, then added: “Just kidding.’’

Is he?

His comebacks have been legendary — first from testicular cancer and then, following seven straight Tour de France titles and a subsequent four-year withdrawal from competition, a return to the circuit in ’09, though never reclaiming the grandeur and hounded by accusations of using performance-enhancing drugs.

More ill-advised were the unretirements that damaged legacies: Muhammad Ali, who sadly demonstrated that being the “greatest of all time’’ doesn’t make you immune from the ravages of time, losing back-to-back decisions to Larry Holmes and a then-unknown Trevor Berbick.

Bjorn Borg, still using a clumsy old wooden racket, was handed his hat by one young player after another after a decade away from the courts. And Mark Spitz, the most gold medal-decorated swimmer in history until Michael Phelps came along, tanked when, at age 41, he tried and failed to qualify for the Olympics.

It’s particularly poignant when early retirement is imposed on athletes because of injury and they can’t accept that their tickets have been punched prematurely. Some try and try to resurrect halted careers, putting body and mind through exceedingly harsh travails.

Peter Forsberg was arguably the best two-way forward in the NHL until suddenly plagued by a befuddling foot ailment in 2003. The former league MVP, who spent most of his career with the Colorado Avalanche, leading them to two Stanley Cup titles, and two-time Olympic gold medallist repeatedly dipped that foot in and out of unofficial retirement in the years that followed. Multiple surgeries later, he drifted back to Sweden, practising on and off with the Modo junior team, never abandoning hope that he’d one day play again in the NHL.

That day came a week ago.

Convinced that he’d finally conquered the problem that caused his foot to feel like it was weirdly sliding around in his skate, and wearing a specially fitted brace on the extremity, Forsberg approached the Avs in January, suggesting a comeback. The struggling team eagerly said YES!

He began practising with the Avs on Jan. 22, agreed to a $1 million prorated contract and, after a visa issue was resolved, dressed for his first game back on Feb. 11, 3 ½ years after his last one, against Columbus. Though scoring no points, a seemingly vintage Forsberg enjoyed 17:38 of ice time, displaying his familiar puck-handling dexterity.

But the foot hurt afterwards, and more so next game out against Nashville.

On Monday, the usually stoic Forsberg — nickname Foppa — had to pause several times to fight back tears at a press conference where he announced the experiment was over.

Teammates were taken aback by the abrupt decision. On the flight back from Nashville, he’d given no indication what was on his mind during a long chat with captain Adam Foote.

But Forsberg, 37, had promised his fiancee that if he couldn’t adequately defend himself on the ice, he’d pull the plug on his comeback. And he’d regretfully concluded that he couldn’t. And the foot was throbbing. And the dream died.

“We can fly to the moon, we should be able to fix the foot,’’ Forsberg said, attempting humour. More touchingly, he said he felt “like a little kid that had candy stolen.’’

And he conceded: “I can’t do it anymore.’’

Accepting the truth of that, in his heart, puts Forsberg ahead of the game, unlike so many others.




證明你喜歡他/她的17條依據

十七
你經常看他/她的網誌,facebook,blog,無名...等等

十六
當你和他/她打電話打到很晚,他/她掛了電話,你仍然想念他/她,即使電話只掛了2分鐘

十五
你一遍又一遍讀他/她的短信/SMS

十四
你和他/她一起走路的時候,走得很慢很慢

十三
他/她在你周圍的時候,你敢到害羞

十一
當你想到他的時候,你的心跳一會跳得快,一會跳得慢


你聽到他/她的聲音的時候會笑


當你和他/她在一起的時候,你看不見周圍的所有人,你的眼中只有他/她


當你想到他/她的時候,你會聽抒情的慢歌


你想到的全都是他/她


你聞到他/她的氣味就很興奮


你意識到當你看著他/她的時候,你總是在笑


為了見到他/她,你會為他/她做任何事


當你讀這篇文章的時候,有個人一直在你的腦中浮現


你不停的想他/她,以至於你都沒有發現這裡沒有第十二條


你翻上去找第十二條,然後默默地笑自己....

(http://lovediary.thesharestory.com/view/4d5c9a22def47)




Wednesday, February 16, 2011

Righteous

Genesis 6:9 These are the generations of Noah. Noah was a righteous man, blameless in his generation. Noah walked with God

Saying that Noah was "righteous" and "blameless" does not mean that he never sinned. Rather, it means that Noah wholeheartedly loved and obeyed God. For a lifetime he walked step by step in faith as a living example to his generation. Like Noah, we live in a world filled with evil. Are we influencing others or being influenced by them?

Genesis 15:6 And he (Abram) believed the Lord, and he counted it to him as righteousness.

Although Abram had been demonstrating his faith through his actions, it was his belief in the Lord, not his actions, that made Abram right with God. We, too, can have a right relationship with God by trusting him. Our outward actions-church attendance, prayer, good deeds-will not by themselves make us right with God. A right relationship is based on faith--the heartfelt inner confidence that God is who he says he is and does what he says he will do. Right actions will follow naturally as by-products.

Genesis 18:14 Is anything too hardt for the Lord? At the appointed time I will return to you, about this time next year, and Sarah shall have a son."

"Is anything too hard for the Lord?" The obvious answer is, "Of course not!" This question reveals much about God. Make it a habit to insert your specific needs into the question. Asking the question this way reminds you that God is personally involved in your life and nudges you to ask for his power to help you.

(From Life Application Study Bible Devotion)




Tuesday, February 15, 2011

我們所需要的神蹟

我們所需要的神蹟
(11.02.02 靈修勵語)

最感動我的神蹟是這樣的:有一位年屆七十歲的姊妹,在主裡領受呼召,差往自己的鄉間建立教會,她忠於主命,就拿著一筆可觀的積蓄,老遠從美國飛返家鄉。到了家鄉,她被安排住在荒僻鄉間的一所簡陋小屋裡。剛坐下來,迎接她的竟然是百多隻蚊子,短短幾小時間,就被蚊子針個遍體鱗傷。終於她忍耐不住,起來收拾包袱,決定連夜趕回美國。就在她踏出門口的一剎那,聖靈在她中心動工,吩咐她留下來。

老婆婆是敬畏事奉神的忠僕,不敢不留,但面對這困苦,又不知如何面對。最後,她只好跪下來,求主憐憫。這一刻神蹟就出現了!聖靈在她心中大大的加力,她勇敢地站起來,就拿起拖鞋,開始打蚊,打了幾個小時,把這個地方所有蚊子清理了。自這第一天的經歷開始,她就在這鄉間倚靠著神的恩典,全力為主作工。

今天正在尋求與神相遇的人,或許聽到上述的見證,會覺得沒有甚麼大不了。因為我們還是喜歡看見那些轟天動地的大能見證,我們要求醫治、靈語、異象和奇特啟示。對於不能刺激官能,平平無奇的事件毫不動心。因為人性就是只喜愛隔岸觀火地去觀賞神蹟,卻不願意去親身承受那背負十字架的生命能力。

然而,這就是今日我們所需要的神蹟!當你願意經歷神,你就要付上代價。首先,神要成為你的神,在你心靈深處以祂的大愛和大能觸動你,叫你將生命完全奉獻給祂;其次,神要用十架的大能介入你的生命裡,要幫助你去面對那些你無力面對的困難,好叫你勝過自己的軟弱,為主的名忍受一切不能忍受的環境。

讓我們重新思想與神相遇的意義,今日,神以祂的大愛切切呼喚你,神要的是你,祂要你真心真意愛上這位與你復和的神。




Monday, February 14, 2011

Valentine's gift

A young woman was taking an afternoon nap on Valentine's Day.

After she woke up, she told her husband, "I just had a dream that you gave me a diamond necklace for Valentine's Day. What do you think it means?"

"You'll know tonight," he said.

That evening, the man came home with a small package and gave it to his wife. Delighted, she ripped off the wrapping paper.

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Under the wrapping paper, she found a book called, "The Meaning of Dreams."

"Joke of the week - www.TBS.com"




Sunday, February 13, 2011

Why are you angry, and why has your face fallen?

Gen 4:6-7
6 The Lord said to Cain, "Why are you angry, and why has your face fallen?7 If you do well, will you not be accepted? And if you do not do well, sin is crouching at the door. Its desire is for you, but you must rule over it."

From Life Application Study Bible Devotion:

How do you react when someone suggests you have done something wrong? Do you move to correct the mistake or deny that you need to correct it? After Cain's gift was rejected, God have him the chance to right his wrong and try again. But Cain refused. The next time someone suggests you are wrong, take an honest look at yourself and choose God's way instead of Cain's.




Monday, February 07, 2011

Panama Updates

Thank God for having me here in Panama.
Things are great and so far so good. I have been going out with the youth fellowship of IEC (Panama Chinese Church - Iglesia Evangelisa China de Panama) for the weekend and we have a good chat.

This coming week (Feb 7-11) will be 2011 Panama Youth Camp. Theme: My Future is not a Dream.
There are 116 kids there, 51 of them are first time campers. Please pray for their hearts.
Also please pray for the message by Rev. Michael Lau from York Region LBC of Toronto.

and here is a list of gatherings / workshops after the camp

Feb 12 Alliance Church Young Adult fellowship leadership training (by Rev. Lau)
Feb 14 Alliance Church Young Adult fellowship Valentines day EM (by North Toronto CAC)
Feb 15 Alliance Church Young Adult fellowship leadership training
Feb 16 Alliance Church prayer meeting (sharing about Youth and Young Adult ministry)
Feb 19 IEC Youth Fellowship
Feb 20 IEC Chinese Worship

And here are some pictures:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=276047&id=514761224&l=81e9b95bba

Thank you for your support.
kelvin