20191231- Into 2020!

Gen 9 :13-16 I have set my rainbow in the clouds and it will be the sign of the covenant between me the earth.  Whenever I bring clouds over the earth and the rainbow appears in the clouds, I will remember my covenant between me and you and all living creatures of every kind.  Never gain will the waters become a flood to destroy life.  Whenever the rainbow appears in the clouds, I will see it and remember the everlasting covenant between God and all living creatures of every kind on the earth"

Photo : Taken in Nov 2019.  Holding the bowl of pond water beholding this rainbow in JB.

Awesome rainbow

Bidding 2019 goodbye, I suddenly remembered about the horrific Hong Kong protests, mob madness and wide spread destruction.

Knowing that we live in a sinful world is one thing.

Watching the reality of the throngs of Hongkongers in the streets marked with destruction is another.

Have I ever in this day dreamt that this would happen to Hong Kong? Never!

As I remembered Revelation 22:20 "Yes, I am coming soon" Amen. Come Lord Jesus.  Maranatha! Aramic word of our Lord has come.

Yes, this Dec once again reminded me of His Birth.  Advent.

Reflections

So with the turmoil in this world, the raging fires in California and now in Australia, the quaking of the earth in intensity, perhaps indeed I am living in the TIME where I may perhaps witness His Second Coming..... If I am still around on this earth.

So beholding this rainbow reminded me of

• His Faithfulness
• His glory
• His awesomeness
• His promise
• His love

Despite the woes & suffering I see around the world, at least there is this HOPE of a better place in the future prepared for those who Know Him.  

20191218-Nagano Shiga Kogen, DisneySea, Joypolis@Odaiba !

19/12/19 - 24/12/19 @ Shiga Kogen Ski (Ichinose ; Prince Hotel -South)

19/12/19 : Arrived Tokyo and transferred to Shinkasen train to Nagano directly. (about another 2-3 hours journey by train and bus to Resort)

Initially was disappointed with the lack of snow at Shiga Kogen! Was told that this winter was one of the worst snowfall :( Climate change! 

But thank God, on Day3 snow came and made the ski more pleasant!

Created Olaf!

GIVING THANKS!

God is so good and faithful. We missed the free shuttle bus from our Prince Hotel on the last day to Ichinose! So in the end we flagged down this bus driven by ROBERT , a ski instructor from Russia.  What an angel sent by the Lord. Kind man who helped us load up and down our skis stuff.  "Here in this winter place, we need to help one another. Because this is a mountainous place.  Survival" Well said by Robert and we learnt that the bus can be earlier but never late.  We saw the bus earlier but did not board thinking it should come in another scheduled few minutes.  How wrong we were!

Above at West Prince - ended playing with Snow! Happiness!

24/12/19 - Left for Toyko, Shinagawa.

25/12/19 - The kids picked Odaiba for visit.  

Never heard of Gundam! (We oldies only know Ultraman!)

So there stood that giantic robot!

The rest of the afternoon from 4pm was spent at Joypolis! It was great fun even for the adults - riding the Transformers (all the rotation made some sick afterwards !) and all the 3D rides.  Awesome!

And can you imagine we were stuck inside for 5 hours!! My specs almost fell out twice in the 360 degree G-storm ride - snow vehicle in snow!)

26/12/19 : Went to DisneySea in Maihama. About 1 hour train from Shinagawa.

For the first time in more than 20 years after visiting Disneyland Japan, thrill rides remained fun!  With P running to and fro catching the Fastpass and Lottery (First time knowing such a thing to "cut down' Q time)  Whatever, the ave wait time was still about an hour.

Enjoyed these rides

• Toystory
• 20000 under the sea
• Aladdin flying carpet
• Sinbad
• Founder's ride
• Raging fire ( And J managed to ride 3X via the single lane!!!)
• Terror Tower
• Mermaid show
• Finale ending display of Fireworks!

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So another ski gone.... J knees were not holding well this time.  Could it be our last ski for the rest of our lives?? Hmmm....

Always thankful to witness snow and snow fall and seeing the snow flake in that awesome shape never fail to awe me.  What an awesome Creator God!

20191210_Beautiful Night Scene of Singapore @MBS - Bumboat Ride! Bicentennial Christmas at St Andrews Cathedral

10th Dec 2019 : View from our Bum Boat A MBS (laser Lights at 8PM)

Panaroma View at Suntec City 

 Panorama view at MBFC (Financial Centre)

 A glimpse at the Art Museum from the waters

Bird's eye view from the mouth of the Spore River

After the simple dinner at Merchant Court Hotel from 6:15-7:20pm, the coach took us to Clark Quay for the BumBoat Ride.

Surprising the crowd was pretty good for a Tue evening! Long queque but fast moving as there were about 12 boats which could take 30-40 per boat. 

Amazing view from under the bridges.
By about 8pm, we arrived at MBS just in time to catch the laser lights!

We hardly get to see MBFC from the waters...so here are the great vantage views.

The bum boat ride was about 40 min to and fro.

Thereafter, we hopped on to the coach again to our next destination!

The newly renovated Raffles Hotel which was re-opened only in Aug 2019.

Some of the tourists went to the LongBar for their Singapore Sling. But for the rest of us - we had a mini-tour of the place.

A stay in this place would cost more than S$1k! WoW.  This reminded me of our stay at Mahaphajit Hotel in Surabaya! Built by the same architect of Raffles Hotel - and we paid only S$150 thereabout! (Same design concept)

By 10pm, the tour was over!

MANY THANKS TO SY & C and Little Anna for the excellent invite of this night tour cum dinner!

We played tourists in our own little home of Singapore.

And guess what?

The RAIN started pouring when we were at Raffles Hotel!

So thankful to the Lord Jesus for holding back this downpour while we were on the bum boat at the Singapore River!

Not only did we enjoy a cool breezy nite ,we manage to take clear excellent night shots along the way!

GOD IS GOOD , ALL THE TIME!

Little Red Dot is celebrating bicentennial in 2019.  Sir Stamford Raffles set foot on shore in 1819.  So 200 hundred years has passed us by.

On 13/12/19, St Andrew's cathedral celebrated bicentennial Christmas too with some major VIP and other interfaith religious leaders being invited (800 over guests) And our PM leeder was invited as the Guest Of Honour (GOH)

Well located in the heart of the city centre of red dot, St Andrew Cathedral was also the site of many historic events.  Today it is also an icon tourist attraction.

I remember back in 2015, this same PM  was invited as 'GOH" to our Day of Jubilee Prayer at the Sports Stadium. Red Dot celebrated her 50th independence. And that new stadium boast of housing 55,000 people.

The above Handel Hallejujah Chorus - reminded me of who the actual real Guest of Honour 'GOH'should always be.

I am a 'Goh'. 吴 So in such important events like this, to me, this "GOH" shall always be YWHW and no other man.  In my heart, this Goh muay will always have Him not as a guest, but permanent resident King in whom I give all honour and praise to. 

My family surname 吴 (ko-Tian "WU")- oh yeah? with my mouth 'KO'  , may I remember to honour the King of the Heaven or the God of the Heaven "TIAN"   ! He is the One who deserves the Hallelujah!

20191209-长 Fish Growth in a Year! Fishy Reflection or 2019 ending (Chang2 and Zhang3) 长

11 mths passed me by and my fish had grown (长) leaps and bounds and in length (长)!

JAN - DEC 2019!

Above taken in Jan 2019

Above taken in Dec 2019

The new 11 fish had grown 长（Zhang3) to as long as the old 7!

They are now at least 9 inches long 长Chang2)!

When the 11 new fish came, they were less than 5inch long.

I forgot to measure the length of the 7 old fish back then.

But 11 months later, these new 11 grew to as long as the old ones - now 9 inch thereabouts.

I wondered - why did the NEW young ones grow faster? What happened to oldies like Koila, Koile, Koili, Red Head and Lihao, Lily, Litu?

In fact new Zebra, Fed & Red Dot seemed to have overtaken the old ones in size!

Reflections:

Perhaps the old are just too accustomed to the pond environment.  Too contented and so stunted growth.

Whereas the newbies were happily flexing their scales from their little sheltered pond to a bigger new pond and hence it grew in length. FDD too. (Fei Dui Dui)

Interestingly, I just realised that the word“长”in Chinese can mean "long" as well as "grow"

Perhaps this applies to our own little walk with the Lord Jesus.

As we approach the ending of 2019 in another 21 days or 3 weeks' time, we want to spend some time reflecting on how this year had passed us by?

• Have we "grown" to be more like Jesus -coming to such unity in our faith and knowledge of Jesus? Eph 4:13
• Have our walk with Him been closer and sweeter in the grace & knowledge of our saviour Jesus Christ? 2 Pet 3:18
• Have we turned our past disappointments into divine appointments ? Col 4:12 - becoming more matured that we fulfil God's will for us.
• Or have we become 'obese' aka FDD like some of the old fish and become stagnant in our spiritual journey? Stunted growth - Hardened or jaded life? Nightmares striken by the real and not reel horror live action of the prolonged HK drama of mobs and rioting ?

GROWTH - is a process.  It is not an overnight thing. 

Like those new fish - it took them about 11 mths to catch up in length with the older 7 fish.

We invested in lots of fish food - some cheaper ones and others - pretty expensive kinds where they 'guaranteed' the vibrancy of the koi colours!

So just like these fish, in order to grow we need that spiritual food that comes from none other than the WORD of God.

The B.I.B.L.E which many known it as Basic Instructions Before Leaving Earth -is the key that guarantees the compass for our life in this journey.

In the world where so many troubles can be seen around of late, we are reminded to stay focus on YHWH - He is the WORD.

The word“长” -also means Forever, Always, Constantly. 

Hence, in order for us to GROW, we must always remember YHWH - He is the One who is Always Forever changes NOT and the Constant who Constantly changes NOT....长..长..长 What a paradox ?! We need to change to grow into more like Him who changes not.

Beautiful song about our Unchanging God.