Showing posts with label amazing. Show all posts
Showing posts with label amazing. Show all posts

Monday, June 1, 2009

1a.m. MAY ENCOUNTER

There is amazing development in what God has been doing or speaking to us in our journey in wanting to do Change Your World (CYW).

On May 3rd - 5th , the team went away for 3 days just seeking God on why “Change Your World”. One of the reasons why we did that is because we’re not sure if it was really God or us being man trying to be heroes. To be honest, there are too many uncertainties and these are just a few things on how we felt:

  1. We are nobody in Malaysia - no one really knows who 1a.m. is.
  2. We don’t have the finance as it takes at least half a million if we want to do 14 States. Yeap our church is too small and do not have such finances to run this.
  3. We are a small church and the amount of man power needed to do this needs what maybe Hillsongs or Planetshakers kind of capacity. Maybe we are too ambitious.

But after a burning bush experience with God, I am not only fired up but the whole band is totally consumed by what God spoke in our retreat. This is the summary from Cuzario, Neil and Kelvin.

Two weekends ago we set for the mountainous hiding place, away from the city, to seek and hear from God hoping that He would reveal His immediate action plans for us in 1am as we unfold yet another new and interesting chapter of our ministry.

This year He is entrusting us with a 2-year project, our biggest so far, called Change Your World; due to kick off in August. Honestly speaking, though fully driven by our childlike faith (as always), we didn’t quite have the clearest picture of what the whole thing should be like. Crazy ideas were aplenty and scattered everywhere but pieced together the effect of braving the approximately 18 degrees centigrade Malaysian winter for a latte night at Starbucks, close to 6000 feet above sea level.

Things weren’t the same after we got our caffeine shot that night

Early the next morning as we battled against our growling tummies, God began to speak to each one of us mostly through His living Word, some pictures. The next few paragraphs are just a few of the amazing things revealed to us

In Luke 5:5 we observed that despite the many hours of trying, Simon did not grunt when Jesus told him to drop his net on the water for what would probably be one of his last attempts that night. Without complaining he did exactly as told saying, At Your Word (some translations because You say so) I will let this net down. Just like Simon we, for most of the time, have no slightest clue of what it takes to labor for or partner with God we come to a dead end without knowing it; typically choosing to stop, drop everything, quit, forget about it and never ever make a come back. But Simon was not a quitter. Instead, as a reward of his obedience, he was able to have the last laugh that night catching most likely his biggest catch in his entire fishing career. More than that, he was able to share the spoils with his buddies too! Being in the boat with Simon, we can’t but so wanting to emulate his feat and of course his great servant hood attitude. We want to obey Gods command like Simon did, believing in His every word without any hint of doubt. It didn’t require much and there’s nothing to lose, really. Because He said so, we will go

Moving on to verse 17 of the same chapter, the sentence that caught our attention was, the power of God was present.

Well, in all honesty, this is our truest desire for all the things we do in our ministry. Never in our mind will we ever take pride in the things we are doing or called to do. Our up most prayer is that for His power to be present so evident that others can’t deny that it is truly by His work we are able to execute everything put into our plates, be it in our small productions or gigantour concerts! All we are about is bringing His presence to every single life around us.

Lastly for this entry then He showed through one of us an image of a compass, one that has a hand as would an analog clock. Clockwise, the hand ticked beginning from the North proceeding to the East; then making a way passing the South at the six o clock mark before wrapping its not-so-complete cycle up in the West. Frankly, none of us knew what this exactly means (and yes, we are still trying to decipher the illustration) but in my humble opinion, I felt that this could probably be the route He wants us to take for this tour. As far as my geographically-challenged mind can go, I remembered we first introduced this tour in the Northern part of our country followed exactly by another state in the West. The third stop was a city in the Southern part of Peninsular Malaysia and the next, but not the last just yet, was in yes you got it right it was arguably to the West (actually North, depending on where and how your standing position is while reading this) of the previous city! So there you go, need me to say more?

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Friday, February 6, 2009

Sound of Silence

I don't really have a title watsoeva but this is basically wat i went thru d last 2 weeks o so...d 1st is me, d 2nd part is when God came into d picture...



Engulfed by total silence I didn't know what to say…


Jotting my thoughts down on paper was totally outta the question…


As though it's gonna help translate what's exactly been piling up in the core of my dented heart...


If it could be a color, pitch black would have well painted my disturbed mind…


Saving precious words for deep conversations seemed to be a valid excuse for the prolonged silence...


The silence I befriended and grew fond of…


Who would have thought the lowest decibel could be far greater in volume than the sound of a roaring thunder?


Unexpected occurrence…you left me baffled…



Silence…



Uninvited yet persistently it came, breaking the silence…


As though written in the air I heard every word whispered…


Tearing the separating veil this gentle voice reached for my reshaped heart…


A tone so calm coated in shades of the bluest deep ocean…


Words of comfort and hope it bestowed upon me without restraint…


None of which came cheap but I got 'em for free…


So real were they silence was kept at bay, waiting to just fade away…


Who would have thought silence could effortlessly be erased simply by letting the voice speak?


Predictably unusual…I'm mystified…


You broke the ice…



Cuz1am

Thursday, January 22, 2009

WAKE UP SCREAMING!!!

‘YYYARGH!!!!’


Wake up screaming..sometimes that’s what I do..Well…not really like yell at the ceiling and jump up run into toilet to wash up, but that would be cool…just freak out my roommate once in a while.

RECORDING FOR RELENT HAS BEGUN!!!!

Well…for drummer Cuzario to be exact…I did the guide tracks though…and...some other things…things…Do keep us in prayer…My turn comes when I come back from CNY in KK…

Which means I have to practice without my normal equipment at home…

Anyone wants to sponsor me a rig or two? (another guitar would be nice…)

ANYWAYS…

Yesterday night I took the guys out (Cuz, Dan, Neil, and Kel) for a steamboat buffet dinner on me…since it’s better to give than to receive…we had the most…um…weird experience of eating in Yuan (yes the chicken wing place…it’s not all that..if you go there JUST for the chicken it’s ok…but the buffet stuff suck so much it can clean the house…) where people just QUEUE UP to get them wings…and in the end return disappointed because they only have ONE on their plate and about 6 thousand other wings on the floor because people just can’t…um…make them go to their plate.

And Daniel made spicy ice cream fudge!! Check it out!!

It’s so gruesome and awesome and endearing in a way we had to blog about it…

(I’m really not into this way of blogging…it’s just not my thing…)

Anyway…ingredients are:

Yam ice cream

Vanilla ice cream

Corn ice cream

Tom yam soup

Chicken breast meat

Chicken gizzard

Chicken heart

Fungus (black and white)

Egg

Some overcooked Veg

Onions

Shrimp

Shrimp Shell

Chilli with lime and some other condiments

1 extremely experimental Indian

1 Indian saliva

1 Filipino saliva

It’s intriguing yet disgusting at the same time so it was a bet on fire!

RM100 bucks to the guy who finishes it…


No one barely even looked at it..


And since Kel was there he decided to do some discipleship with us…as he usually does:

Came a time when he ask:” What do you think is your life message? “

You know…like…if you were on stage suddenly and a group of people wants to hear what made you who you are…what made you do things the way you do…what speaks most loudly in your life that you believe in it and you don’t have to prepare a full length sermon to tell of your message….

I felt my life message is kinda obvious that time…music has always been my thing…and I wanna use this God given talent and use it for his glory…

I want to be such an influential musician that I can grab people’s attention,

and then God will take over from there.

Then Kel ask an extremely simple question:

“Then what?”


Those are two words that changed the way I think…”Then what?”

Really there are so many possible answers…But only one will matter to God…

I thought and thought and thought for the next few mins…

“WHATS NEXT!?”

I screamed in my heart…like I do waking up…nothing…

Nothing rang in my spirit…

Nothing sounded the bells in my head…

Nothing made the Jude inside respond…

Can that be it?

Play music and….and…what’s the next sentence?

GOD!!! HELP!!!!

I DON’T KNOW!!

Never in my life I felt so uncertain..

I need God more than ever now…

I need his directions even more clearly laid than ever…

I need his wisdom more than bread…

I need his grace more than the song meant…

I am weak…

Frail..

Brittle as hair..

Momentary as vapour…

Small as insignificant….

Where was my confidence..

Where was my zest..

Where was my passion..


I went home…bamboozled as monkeys on branches…Went to bed asking God..

“What now God?’”

“And then WHAT God?”

“I need you…”

I’m probably the only one in the band that listens to weird music (when I say weird, I mean things that scream, have weird odd time signatures, 45 min length songs, saxophones bleating and nose blowing a tower full of cabbages in upstate downtown sunrise!), I was listening to the song ‘A Small Spark Vs. A Great Forest’ by Norma Jean..

And some of the lyrics that got my attention (besides being a cool song):

Rip this tongue out by the root.
Shake the walls of this pale grave.
A blaze, a blaze is set upon the hills.
An open grave from which a great forest will rise, the fire collapses.
The corpses I've made.
This should not be.
Oh, how we curse.
The tongue is a flame.
Let there be grace.
Fight fair.

I wanted to be like the small spark..igniting the WHOLE forest…letting the world know how awesome is my God..

Oh how we curse ourselves…I speak of things I know not of myself..LET THERE BE GRACE…


In this season of Chinese New Year to come…I pray God will show more grace…and slowly reveal “WHATS NEXT”…

I want my life message to spark the great forest out there…But until then…I’m in need of him..more than ever…

What’s your life message?

…

“then what?”

Jude1am

Tuesday, January 20, 2009

FALL-LOW or FOLLOW?


Wasabi!!! How’s everyone’s weekend? Good I hope.

We just finished our 7 Day prayer and fasting as a church.


Let me break it down spiritually and physically.


- Physically I was hungry =p. Lost some kgs so it’s a good thing hahaha.


- Spiritually it was great. In a nut shell in conjunction to what I feel God spoke to me personally and ministry wise (which is the year 2009 is the “make it” or “break it” year) I felt God spoke to me about “starting right or miss out”. I mean think about it, if we start our day right with God (quiet time) the rest of the day would be perfect. Not that you won’t have challenges along the way but the strength, peace, grace, mercy, love etc of God is with you as you go through your day. Why? Coz you started your day right. Now this about this, how much more if you start youryear right?


I went to TGIF the other day with PC (Pastor Cat).

It was a dinner blessed by Roger, the dad of our youngest 1a.m. intern whose name is Eu Wyn, and had my favorite Jack Daniel Burger! It was amazing. I want to thank Manchester United for if it wasn’t for them thrashing Chelsea 3-0 I wouldn’t be eating at all… hahaha. Seriously.... Thanks Roger!!! You Rock!!! Man Utd Vs Intermilan next ;-)


Well today starts the 1st week of our Change Album recording. So it’s official. Cuza goes first so do keep him in prayers that he delivers the best in him for this album.


Yesterday me and Jude were doing guide tracks (What are guide tracks? They are songs that should not be heard online due to bad recording. For drummers only =p). We did a video blog, so you’ll probably see it online soon.

It short, the change album will be coming out in the middle of the year so please be excited!


Anyway, I led worship last weekend and had a conversation with God based on Ps 23.

Now most of us know what Ps 23 talks about. It’s where it famously starts with

“The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not be in want”.

One of my challenges this year that I agree to work on is really pray and grow deeper in terms with the word of God. So I read onwards and stumble upon verse 6 where it goes

“Surely goodness and love will follow me all the days of my life...”


I paused for a while and chatted with God a bit and asked Him “Why couldn’t goodness and love go ahead instead of following?” Not that I doubted His word but I guess its just one of those ways you use if you want to hear God speak back juicy stuff. You got to ask questions! =)

So I asked and He immediately replied (Love Him=)) and this is what He told me to think of.

In life, we move forward. Our life moves forward not backwards.


Imagine if goodness and love do go ahead of us, in other words we follow. Now there’s no guarantee of what life may bring tomorrow or maybe the next few hours so if we fall somewhere we “sort-of” miss out because goodness and love was ahead of us. Its like having 2 of your best buddies run a head of you to get movie tickets where along the way you tripped over the pavement and there was no-one behind you to help you out because your buddies are in front of you.


But lets say, the same incident as the first, goodness and love follow us all the days of our lives that when we fall, we sure won’t miss it.


Wow, to me that was comforting. I hope it is to you too.


I don’t know where your journey is today but be at peace that you won’t miss out the goodness and love of God. And even if you feel like it’s ahead of you or you’re falling behind, know that our God the Father is watching, turns back, picks you up and puts you on top of His shoulders.


That’s the God I love and that’s the God I serve.


Neil1am

Thursday, January 15, 2009

F(e)asting to CHANGE!!!

Happy New Year to all those that are a bit slow on the dates. Like me, my new year was postponed due to a fever that I got from my younger brother. A day before New Year! It’s sad but I loss a lot of weight, so that’s something to be happy about.



Year 2009 started with a 7-day prayer and fasting, we do this every year but I decided to do something different, I’m going for the Daniel fast, not because my name is Daniel, but because Pastor Timothy the senior pastor of our church made an awesome statement that got me thinking (and also because I rarely eat vegetable. LOL). Seriously.


He said (I quote, not the exact words) Jesus fasted 40 days because that was what needed for His ministry, and Daniel (the dude in the bible) fasted for 21 days because he wants to change that nation. So my question to myself was this,


  1. What am I fasting for and in what capacity of fasting does it require?
  2. What is the amount of magnitude do I want to see change in me and around me?
  3. Am I going to do it? yeEEEAAAAaaaRR~~~~


Take Zack Hunter for an example, he is a 15 year old dude that take the extra mile so abolish modern day slavery. Just like Bono, helping people in Africa. Why do these people go the extra mile to help others? Why don’t they just live in their own comfort? That you ask yourself and find out whether you want to be a world changer or a person just going to pass by without a legacy to pass on (rock and roll hand motion). This reminds me of john Meyer’s song Vultures.


Anyway, back on track, by fasting we die to our body and what seems comfortable for us. I’m not going to say that fasting is easy for me; in fact it is the hardest thing to do for me. I love to eat, hence the body size. I like to play computer games, sleep and yeah… you get the picture. But if I want to see change, a sacrifice of the flesh is sufficient to bring me to another level of my life.


I believe that everyone is meant to live so much more (switchfoot?) than what we are living for. We cannot do great things if comfort is what we desire and not change.


We as a team in 1AM is looking forward to our tour this year, and we pray that we can change your world.


Cheers. Dan1am

Thursday, January 8, 2009

Grace Amazing


This week for the awesome Jude...

Or they call awesome hotness...

Or just hotness...

Or just awesome...


A new year has dawned...a new start to do things differently...

Newer challenges...newer things to learn...ANOTHER CHANCE to make my year glorify God...


Gosh so excited for this year. Relent recording is gonna resume again after a short hiatus. We just practiced and finalized arrangements for our songs...

Not to boast...but our songs are just so awesome...ok that’s boasting but it’s a God given song...so it’s for His glory...

What song doesn't need bells?! WE NEED THEM BELLS!!

Not to mention the tour we're gonna launch into this year...so much God has in store for us its just exciting..


If you dunno what I’m talking about then STAY TUNED!!


It’s the 1st week (2nd technically) but God has already started to reveal so much to me thru my time with him (sometimes I call it a date...lol)...

I remember on a particular Monday (actually that’s just a few days away) I was doing my devotions and the devo book mentioned something about God's grace...


Long story short, this guy was floating in the sea stranded...and almost got killed by sharks...but God's grace was upon him and he survived.


Many a times my surroundings fail my eyes...my existence blurs my heart...my work dulls my senses... and I, in turn fail to see that it was God's grace that made me Jude today...

Are my achievements fueled by my aptitude?

Are my moments of peace fed by my solitary shell?

Is my disposition shaped by my own understanding?

Neither...


WHERE I AM TODAY IS ENTIRELY BY GOD'S GRACE.


I have failed in many areas, yet God's grace pushes me to move.

I have stumbled many a times, yet God's grace picks me up.

I have shut my ears and ignore, yet God's grace spoke through my heart.


I remember during a concert 1a.m. was playing and I COMPLETELY MESSED UP MY GUITAR SOLO... (macam telinga mau koyak bah) no guitar sounded as cheap/weird/tormenting/hancur/all-in-all-really-bad as my guitar that moment... (which I quickly reacted by lowering my volume slightly to avoid further destruction of ears) but the spirit of God moved in the concert, and many people were touched. It wasn't my playing that moved the people (it moved them one step back though...lol)...but God's spirit...


I remember PC saying this so clearly...until now it has been a benchmark in what I do in ministry:


"WHAT WE DO IS NOT A MEASURE OF RELIGIOUSITY,

BUT A MEASURE OF GOD'S GRACE... "


I may be in the worst moments of my life,

be the worst guitarist of all,

be the worst person to have to cut your hair...

but God's grace makes the worst obsolete.


I thank God for his grace that carried me through...and I encourage you guys to give thanks to God for his never ending grace...

If not you even might not have a chance to read this...


God is awesome...


Jude1am