verse 1

How can I express how good You’ve been to me
The things You’ve made me see, Lord
How can I explain how much I’ve been redeemed
Your Grace has set me free, Lord

pre-chorus

All I want to do is praise Your name
Your Mercy just makes me want to sing

chorus

You are holy, holy, Creator You are holy
You are lovely, lovely, Father You are lovely
You are worthy, worthy, of our praise, You are worthy
You are holy, holy, and You sent Your Son for me

verse 2

What can measure up to Your love for me
Everything fades away when You’re here
Who can comprehend Your Grace and Your beauty
You make my every care disappear

verse 3

Where can I hide, from Your loving gaze
Sometimes I feel unworthy, Lord
But You will never judge me, cos I’m held in Your grace
I will stand in faith , Lord

When I was a young boy growing up in church, I was always taught that the Bible is the true, infallible word of God. And I believed this in my heart. However, in school, and in the scientific journals which I enjoyed reading (yes, I am a bit of a nerd) It always seemed that the Bible was wrong. It seemed to contradict science. And science has to be right, right? This was when my faith started to waver. Even history books seemed to say that the Bible was very erroneous, and sometimes when I read the Bible itself, it seemed to contradict itself! Like something which happened in Matthew seemed to contradict what happened in Luke! Man, this shook my faith so much that I began to trust science and human logic and intellect more than Jesus, the Saviour I grew up with! I forgot all the wonderful moments I shared in the presence of the Lord, the happiness He brought me. Now, I thought maybe science would bring me happiness, the quest for “truth”. How wrong I was, it only brought me misery and fear. Well, this was a trying time for me, but it was ALL good. Let me just say this. It might offend some, but I really dont care. If anyone has blind faith in Jesus, not once using their intellect to reason out objectively what the Bible says, his/her faith is bound to be shaken up, just like mine was. Faith is good, don’t get me wrong, but BLIND faith, is very very dangerous. Cos when the world comes along and starts questioning your beliefs, you don’t know how to stand up for your faith, stand up for the gospel of Christ.

Okay, now for the Law of Contradiction. Basically, the law is a logical law. If something says A is B then says A is NOT B, it contradicts itself. However, if something says A is B and then says A is C, it doesn’t necessarily contradict. Let me give you an easy to understand example. If I say John (supposedly there is only one John) is a boy, then I turn around and say John is NOT a boy, I have just contradicted myself. But if I say John likes football, and then I turn around and say John likes basketball, I haven’t contradicted myself. He could like both! Now many “scholars” like to say that the Bible, especially the 4 gospels is full of contradictions. Let me give you a biblical example (I took this from www.carm.org a christian site which argues for the faith) This scene is the tomb in which they buried Jesus whom they crucified 3 days back. In Matt 28: 1-2 it says that AN angel descended from heaven and rolled away the stone enclosing the tomb. In Mark 16:5 it says that in the tomb it says that they saw a young MAN sitting at the RIGHT. In Luke 24:4 it says that there were TWO MEN in the tomb. And finally in John 20:1-2,12 it says that there were TWO ANGELS in the tomb! Now a lot of these facts seem to contradict, but the Bible never contradicts itself! Most of the time, it’s just that we don’t understand the situation clearly enough. I quote this from the site:

There is no discrepancy at all. An angel of the Lord moved the stone and was sitting upon it outside (Matthew 28:2). The two men (Luke 24:4) were angels (John 20:12). Mark 16:5 presents the only potential issue and it isn’t one at all. If there were two angels in the tomb, then there was at least one. This one was on the right. Therefore, we see that there was one angel outside and two on the inside of the tomb.

See?! It’s actually pretty simple. What seems to contradict, most of the time just needs a little more reading into and objective thinking. God gave us a brain! We should learn to ask questions, and this will help to build our faith! This is just one very simple example. There are tons more at www.carm.org if you have any questions about the Bible. Just remember that the Bible is never wrong, and never contradicts itself or science. It’s just our understanding that needs to be worked on.

Now for the Bible contradicting science. Let me just say this first and foremost. Science is based on human understanding and perception of the world around us. We try to formulate theories to explain what we can see, or experience. That is essentially what science is about. God, the creator of the heavens and the earth, created science. The Bible is God’s word. So how can the Bible contradict science? It’s simply that science is not advanced enough to explain God, or his work. In Isaiah 55:8-9, God says “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the LORD. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts.” I love this verse! It’s quite sad when humans keep trying to unexplain God, and disprove him when the basic human intellect is incapable of even scraping the surface of what He has created! Let me tell you, if you put your faith in something as shakey as science, you’re gonna be like a grass swaying in the wind, or like the man who built his house upon the sand, when the tides come, you’re going to be swept away! Why not put your faith in God, who never wavers, build your house upon the Rock! For example, in secondary school, science teaches you that electrons orbit the nucleus of an atom in a planetary like structure. Did you know that this is wrong? And has been for ages! Then you go up higher and you learn about orbitals and spdf shells. But did you know that now people are believing in other models of physics! Now there’s quantum physics and relativity, constantly battling it out to find out which one is right. Honestly, sad to tell you this but, SCIENCE DOESN’T KNOW! It’s so scary to base your faith in something which keeps changing with the times, isn’t it?

Well, I’m not saying that science is bad. No, no, science is good to learn and understand our world around us to help ourselves and others. Technology is not evil, science is not evil, it’s just that when you put your faith in it entirely, it’s very dangerous. Sometimes it will seem to contradict God’s word. But most of the time, it’s not advanced enough to explain God and His works.

Just a little fact, did you know that many famous scientists were men of great faith in the Lord? And a lot of their discovery helped the world immensely! Oh, and the theory of the Big Bang, isn’t all evil. Now, most of you probably just got a big shock that I said that. Hey, the Big Bang theory does help explain creation! It’s just that the majority of the population has no idea what in the world it actually is about. The Big Bang is essentially just the creation of matter from energy. Basically, something from nothing. In Gen 1:1 it says that God created the heavens and the earth. Heavens being our universe, and earth being, earth, lah! Well, so doesn’t the big bang explain this? creation? What’s wrong with that?! It’s both scientific and Biblical. That’s one thoery of science I really like… I even believe there might be the Big Crunch! But probably sooner than predicted, this is probably when Jesus will return!

It’s so much more comforting to base your faith in God, and his word. And use science as a tool to help understand our world, but only as a tool. Don’t base your faith in it. I hope I made that clear in this super long post. I hope it blessed you!

Well, that’s something I used to dislike. I used to get all irritated and think to myself “Well, what does he/she know, I’m the one going through it!”. And then after a while, I’d start thinking to myself, “Well, maybe it isn’t really that big of a problem”. But deep down inside I would always be bothered by the problem and somehow, I never fully trusted that God could pull me through.

Now, I guess humans react that way because of their imperfections. They see things through their own eyes, and however much they try to “put themselves in your shoes”, it never really matches up to how you feel. Well, that’s where our Heavenly Father comes in. He knows our every thought (you might like to read Psalm 139:1-4) and to him, no problem which is big to you, is unimportant to him. He will never go “come on now son, that problem is too small for Me to handle, I’ve got much bigger issues like Global Warming!” He knows even the numbers of hairs on your head! Now how many people actually know the number of hairs on their own head?! Well, God does, cos He created us, feelings and all. So he knows what you’re going through. And he wants to carry you through, if only you’d stop struggling!

For me, sleep has always been hard. Yes, sleep. Some people might be thinking now “sleep? How hard can that be?” See, exactly proves my point. And I used to get so annoyed when people would say that to me. I can lie in bed for 4 hours, sometimes even throughout the night, tossing and turning, even feeling extremely tired, but not being able to fall asleep. And this is a test of faith for me, cos I like to fight. Fight in the sense as try my best in everything I do. Use my effort. And as you can probably deduce, trying to fight to sleep isn’t very relaxing, in fact it works me up even more. Let me give you an example of one such night. Let’s say I’m really exhausted, and I’m thinking to myself “ok, I’m gonna fall asleep instantly when I hit the bed”. Then I go to bed, say my night prayer (routine-ishly) and close my eyes. This is when it gets tough. I just can’t fall asleep! So I would think to myself, what’s wrong with me, what can I do to make myself sleep? Is it because of my faith? Is it not strong enough? Am I doing something wrong? And I used to try every trick in the book. Never worked for me. So one day, I just heard this voice on the inside of me. The voice said “Roi, why are you trying so hard, why are you using your self effort to do something as natural as just sleep! Why don’t you just rest in Me. Rest in My finished work, know that I know your every lying down and waking up, and just let Me work, man!” Boy, it was hard to let go. I felt as if I would lose control if I just surrendered to God, somehow I didn’t have the right perception of God. Finally, I came to the point where I was just so frustrated one night, and I just cried out “God, do whatever you want. I can’t sleep Lord, but you can make me sleep. You can be my sleep, my rest!”. And man, that night I had a wonderful sleep, I even woke up early the next morning in an exceptionally good mood! Praise Jesus!

Well, what I’m trying to say today is, all off us have issues, problems, big, small, long term, short term. And I know, some of these issues can really get to you, disrupt your peace. Satan can even come along and put thoughts in your head such as “you see, no one cares about your problem, I don’t even think God cares!” Well, don’t listen to those thoughts! Know, with certainty, that God is on your side! He wants to pull you through! Just let him! It’s kinda hard saving someone from drowning if that person keeps struggling with his own self effort! And no problem is too small for God is notice, and no problem is too big for God to handle. Hallelujah!

Well, I think I should stop my rant here… till next time, God Bless you!

After many many tiring hours of just sitting in front of the Mac and fiddling with the keys and guitar, Rest In You is almost complete! In fact I’ve released a full version of the song, but its not finalised cos i have to do some volume tweaking and I’m thinking of adding a bit more fill-ins into the song. But for now, please visit my myspace, the link is in the previous post and download my song! The quality may not be fantastic… but hey myspace is free…can’t complain.

I pray that this song will bless you! Have fun!

I’ve created a MySpace account to share my music, so please visit it!

Roi Cheng’s Music

I just uploaded a song I composed yesterday out of some strange Bluesy inspiration, called Blues Express… hope you guys like it! Rest in You is also up on the site, but it’s still very in production… and I’ve still got to add the strings, bass and piano in. Hope to get the full version up by this week!

I’m thinking of releasing my songs in 2 seperate albums, cos the genres are so varied. The Blues Express will probably come under my “Funkatabulous” (don’t ask) album, and Rest in You and other Christian Worship songs will probably be in an album called “The Journey”.

I will update again soon… till then, please enjoy my music!

VERSE 1

When there are storms around me
And with my carnal eyes I see
That no one’s listening
There’s no one bothering

VERSE 2

When I’m trying so hard to believe
And it seems like nothing’s changing
I’ll still put my faith in You
You who will bring me through

CHORUS

I rest in You, My Lord and Saviour
There’s nothing more I can do
You’ll carry me through, oh great Redeemer
I place my trust in You

When I am weak, You are strong, Jesus
You know every grief that I have
I’ll come out stronger, when I’ve picked up the pieces
But now all I’ll do is rest

Rest in You my Lord

VERSE 3

Amidst the crashing waves
My focus is on Your Grace
I will walk through this trial
It will only be for a while

VERSE 4

As long as my eyes are on You
I will never sink through
I’m running to You Lord
Forsaking my fears Lord

I just came back from Aussie to find this neat feature added to my Apple TV! And apparently Apple is adding this YouTube streaming feature to their upcoming iPhones as well.

And yes, I really enjoyed my trip to Aussie for those of you who were wondering. Had a good time catching up with my sis and brother in law and eating lots of nice food. I hope I grew fatter… that was one of my goals when I was there… and I got my driving learners permit too!

I also changed the look of my blog… methinks this design is nicer… minus the Jap-ish picture bar thingamajig above the blog title.

That’s all for now. Catch ya back later!

1) I got myself an AppleTV, and I am totally in love with it. Now I can watch all my episodes of Lost, The Office and House on my tele!

2) Logi came back from the States and we met up! … right before she left for Thailand a few days later Anyway, it was great catching up with her, hearing stories of how she drove her car on the road median in North Carolina. Oops, I wasn’t supposed to tell anybody…

3) I found a lot of cool podcasts (video ones) on the iTunes music store which I never knew existed. I actually managed to find good sermons from Joel Osteen (he’s amazing) which are updated weekly. And yea, I can watch them on my AppleTV… grin. Oh, and they’re free.
4) I managed to get myself a Debit Card, so I can shop online now. And getting prepaid cards for the US iTunes store has never been easier! Now, I just gotta watch my click-happy spending.

5) I submitted my resignation for my job… just to give myself some time to bum at home and enjoy life a bit before zooming off to Aussietralia. I am still working, until the end of June at least. And now I’m just preparing for a few practical exams… at least I’m still useful heh…

6) I haven’t got down to fulfilling any of my New Year’s resolutions. Damn it.

7) I have however, learnt to see through people’s outward appearance to see that some are really self-centered, manipulative and have hidden agendas.

8) My sister got married to a really nice and cool guy called Desmund. I was the best man (aren’t I always), and it was great seeing how happy they are together. I’m going to visit them in Bendigo in June!

9) Manchester United won the Premiership, and nothing else, and they did so rather boringly… they actually didn’t win a single match after being declared the champions.

10) I discovered that I have the ability to fart the most putrid farts the world has ever known, late at night. Okay, this is just a space filler.

That’s it! You people can carry on with your immensely exciting lives now. Stop reading this…shoo!

Surprisingly, it ain’t 2006 anymore. That means that I’m like one year away from going to Aussie to study! Well, in the mean time, its still lab work in St. Francis. Boring? Well, I might be giving tuition to some kids in school too this year, so hopefully my work will be much more meaningful.

Since it’s the new year, I shall write down my New Year’s Resolutions for 2007. Here I go…

1. Gain some muscle mass

Come on, I can’t be a Chiropractor if I’m not strong enough to manhandle people can I?

2. Get closer to God

Yup, especially if I’m gonna go to a new country and environment like Australia! Need his guidance, protection and wisdom.

3. Get into the habit of waking up on time

Ok this one is gonna be hard. But I HAVE TO DO IT! Chiropractors can’t be lazy bones. Pun intended.

4. Update my blog more often

Just for you guys… love ya!

5. Start learning to save money

I can’t be as spendthrift as I was before. No more fancy gadgets and games At least I’ll try to cut down on buying them.

6. Do something in Singapore that I won’t forget

Yup, at least leave Singapore with some nice memories.

7. Be independent!

Start cooking for myself, cleaning for myself, getting around by myself. Come on, I’m 21 this year. Can’t be daddy’s little boy anymore. Should start taking care of my parents instead of them taking care of me.

Yup, I think that’s about it. I’ll review them at the end of the year and see how many I will actually keep.

I shall sign off now, and leave you guys with a nice quote by Dr. Seuss

You have brains in your head. You have feet in your shoes.
You can steer yourself any direction you choose. You’re on your own, and you know what you know.
And you are the one who’ll decide where you’ll go.
Oh the places you’ll go.
- Dr Seuss

God Bless you all and have the best year in 2007!