Reflection on 2004.

So teach us to number our days, that we may apply our hearts unto wisdom.-Psalm 90:12.

As we draw towards the closing of yet another year, it is important to reflect on the last twelve months. It is good to gain wisdom from the past and face the future with courage. Some might say "it seems like only yesterday..." or "how time flies...". But strangely, unlike previous years, 2004 has been a very long year for me.

In 2003, I sat at this computer and searched all of Yahoo's Christian Chat daily, for an honest and trustworthy Christian man or woman in The U.S.A. who was willing to represent this song ministry, across the globe.
In January 2004, I met Cathy in Christian Chat:12. She was the only one who stepped up to the plate.
A man in Nigeria, Africa who had noticed what I was doing for many months in Yahoo's Christian Chat, later made this comment: "I always thought you were wasting your time over the internet". But the very fact that Cathy traveled halfway across the globe to meet us, demonstrates her willingness and faithful obedience in answering God's call.

Cathy is now our sole representative of this song ministry, to the entire U.S.A.

Each day of the year is like Christmas, birthday and new year to me...because each day should be treated as a celebration of life.

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2004 marked the many "firsts" in my life...

Our song ministry's very first visit across the border - to a church in Singapore, was in April.

For the very first time, someone took three planes and flew halfway across the globe to meet us.

It was for the first time in my life, I had been on a double-decker bus.

I received a T-Shirt, keychain and bookmarks from Dawn and Michael Kester in Pennsylvania, across the globe. This was the first time I had received a gift from someone I had met in Yahoo Chat.

Since the inception of this song ministry, I had my first train journey to Singapore in September. It was also the worst travel experience I had in a long time, for I was under a considerable amout of mental stress, due to the fact that this was the first time we were having additional musicians along for a Praise And Worship. I also experienced tremendous physical pain in my feet, back and shoulders for many days thereafter, from lugging around a heavy keyboard musical instrument. Well, as the saying goes "uneasy lies the head that wears the crown".

The recent passing of Lorraine Ong was truly sad. I was later informed that she fell from the third floor of her school window, in Singapore. The doctors couldn't save her. This was the first time I deleted a deceased person's E-mail address from our mailing list at antioch_ministry. The funeral was held in Johor Bahru, Malaysia. May God comfort her family and friends.

This past year has also proven to be the first time for In The Name Of The Father And Of The Son And Of The Holy Spirit© which has become the first ever Malaysian Gospel album to reach out and touch lives in The United States of America.
Christmas Joy© was the second.

For the first time, our Ad was placed in The Kalamazoo Gazette, Michigan and in an Aberdeen newspaper in South Dakota. Our sincere thanks to Mr. Neil Rogers in Michigan and Antonia Rose in South Dakota, for running those ads for us.

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Being in Yahoo's Christian Chat has taught me a whole lot of things.
Not everyone in Christian Chat is a Christian.
I've encountered the hateful, the doubtful, the evasive and the fearful in chatrooms.
There are many who are afraid to give their real names over the internet.
THINK: "If you worked in an office and some stranger called over the phone, would you give your real name? or some fake name?"

I am thankful for those who have taken us seriously over the internet over the last twelve months, even though there were many who were unable to comprehend, that the reason I was searching for Christians in The U.S.A. in Yahoo's Christian Chat, was to inform them about our song ministry.

I have no interest in Yahoo's Christian Chatrooms anymore, as I find it deplorable that so many would treat internet chatrooms like some sort of playground for telling lies.
Well, we can't build a song ministry based on lies, falsehood and deception.

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Well, it has been quite a year, indeed.

What will 2005 hold in store? - Only God knows the future.
Yes, The Alpha and Omega is the beginning and the end. A-men.


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