Showing posts with label one. Show all posts
Showing posts with label one. 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?

Stay with us for more news

Wednesday, April 29, 2009

God's Kitchen

It is way past midnight (oh yes, my BEDTIME too!) and I’m still wide awake. The reddish grey cloud outside is already hinting that rain is inevitable while the accompanying cool breeze is saying amen to that! Lovely…

I can’t help myself from munching the hot potato PIK-NIK “Shoestrings” while writing this…it is so addictive I’m beginning to think that if I don’t stop now I’ll continue eating it like an Eat-To-Sleep Chewing Machine! Oh don’t worry, I don’t do that all the time…and my current weight is still bearable…so it’s okay…

By the way, there’s a SMALL bowl of Cruzer’s Daybreak Salad waiting for me in the kitchen!

Hmmm…anyway, I’m just thinking…

If again tomorrow night I can’t sleep, despite the perfect weather, will I drug myself with more junk food or will I turn to the solid spiritual food? Shhh…I know…

Yes; lately, I’ve been so challenged and healthily bugged by the word of God written in Joshua 1:8. It says…

“Do not let this Book of the Law depart from your mouth; meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do everything written in it. Then you will be prosperous and successful”. (NIV)

You see…too many of us, me included, I’m pretty sure we’ve came across this scripture too many times we overlooked the lamb-chop-like juice of truth it contains. Often time I realize I’d focus more on the “God’s Promise” part of the scripture neglecting the “My Action” part. It is as though I was too hungry I couldn’t wait for my lamb chop to cook I ate it raw – far off from His plan for me to enjoy the meat well done.

The thing about me (and probably you too) is that I don’t really love waiting and I want what I want right here right now. That’s how I am sometimes. I wanna be prosperous and I wanna be successful and I want them both fast, minus having to go through any hurdles. It is like I’m demanding for the profit but totally choose to forget about the investments! It doesn’t work that way, right?

But God being the fair Boss, His strategy is different – always! Not that He loves to withhold His promises, but in my own opinion, He is just not a fan of having to fork out salary advances to any of His servants. Unless faith actions are constantly and sincerely shown, He can choose to delay in delivering the desires of my heart…and He will not surprisingly do just that!

The whole experience of being enlightened by this simple verse has really caused me to dig in whatever I read so much deeper with the quest to find a fresh revelation and the whole package that comes with it. Like those who serves in the oil and gas industry, they dig deeper not with the goal to find out more about dinosaurs or fossils they knew ever existed; their prize – the oil and gas itself! Likewise, my attitude is not to just read whatever that is visible but beyond.

That’s just one of the things I learned…would love to share more juice with you again next time…perhaps in one of my other sleepless nights. Til then, enjoy what I’m leaving behind for you…

Cruzer’s Daybreak Salad Recipe:

Chicken Sausages with Cheese and Chili – raw, sliced to your hotness;

Onions, sliced thin enough to remind you of the unnecessary fat you might gain;

Tomato, sliced to the number of hours you have left in bed;

Carrots, sliced enough to shut your Parrot mouth;

Coral Leaves/Lettuces, generously green enough to remind you Jude is a vegetarian;

Sprinkles of coarse Black Pepper, as desired as you would tiny sweet moles on your face;

French Dressing, poured to perfection to romance your taste bud.

*would be nicer with Parmesan Cheese & Croutons!

Best paired with: Iced Lemon Tea chilled at -2°c.

Total Preparation Time: 7 minutes

Accompanying Soundtracks:

Nightminds by Missy Higgins

Water Feels Warm by Electralow

Hide Me by Grandad Bob

Tuesday, April 14, 2009

1a.m. NEW WEBSITE LOOK

What a crazy month March turned out to be for us at 1a.m.! We are currently in the midst of fine-tuning a project we dreamed of embarking months ago called Change Your World, among others.


Concurrently, we are also in the last phase of upgrading our main website temporarily replacing it with the Change Your World website. If you would like to explore and check out the content, simply log on to our existing address at www.1am.com.my; you might just find something that will trigger your curiosity.


Just a little snippet of what you will find:


Facebook: Join us here and be a part of the 1a.m. community;

Twitter: To get instant updates about what we are up to;

Wordpress: To get details of our daily chores;

Indieheaven: Listen to our music and find out more about other Christian musicians near you;

Merch: Buy our merchandise;

Youtube: Watch our videos; Embed our new promo video to spread change!!!

Nominate Your City: Invite us to come to your city.


Well that is all we have for you this round. Have a great day! God bless..

Thursday, January 29, 2009

RISE of the LEADER


So it was a Friday afternoon, I had an Intro to Business class and my word, did I enjoy this class.


A little side note here.... when I was in high school I purposely chose the science stream coz I hated Business. Who would have known that I'll be learning a bit on Business in college again...wahhhhhhhhhhhhh ... definitely not me.


I kinda felt like Jonah where you like try to run away from what your suppose to do or face only to find yourself submit to whatever you are running from =)

Anyway, You got to love God coz for whatever reason you think ain't worth knowing is worth knowing In God's Eyes!


In other words, just move with the flow knowing that God is in Control!!!


We had this game which the teacher kinda like asked us to play in a room with 5 students (The rest must be running away... hehehe). It was a "Survival simulation game".

Now I don't know if it’s true but it’s the same game that companies use when hiring managers. In short the scenario is that you along with your people where in a plane, crashed landed somewhere up north of Canada (How north can you get?!?! =p), its cold, 25 below zero during day time, 40 below zero at night, the nearest town 20 miles away. So you and your surviving buddies manage to salvage a couple of things in the plane....


WHAT DO YOU DO?


The list are (not in order)


A ball of steel wool

A small axe

A loaded .45 Caliber pistol

Can of Crisco Shortening

News papers (One per person)

Cigarette lighter (Without Fluid)

Extra T-shirt and pants for each survivor

20x20 ft. piece of heavy duty canvas

A sectional air map made of plastic

One quart of 100-proof whiskey

A compass

Family-size chocolate (One per-person)


Try doing this and see whether you are manger material =) (Comment or email me personally if you want to know the answer to this)


Anyway, I did mine... And guess what?!?!?!?!


I'll be the first one to die in the COLD!!!! Oh man, that just dropped the nuclear bomb in me and I can hear God say "..... ... ..... . . . . ..."


In other words, sometimes (or most of the times) I get the best of me (overconfident side) to act upon my life rather than listening to Him first and consider the thoughts of others.

When I thought about it, ask me whether my fellow "plane crashers" where part of my survival plan, I'm ashamed to say "NO".

Wow that was an eye opener, heart opener, can opener (however you want to call it) for me. I can see my "humble status" rising as it left a scar in my heart and mind as it’s gonna be one of those memories that you'll never forget. I can be very selfish.


But you know what.... Praise God! He reminded me that He is the perfector of our Faith!

Don’t ever think “that because things are going great for you everything is ok”. We need Jesus all the more.

I'm still amazed with this scene in my life. I still have a lot to learn. I thank God that He's never given up on me despite how many times I feel like giving up.


“A thousand times I failed still your mercy remains,

should I stumble again, I'm caught by your Grace" (plays at the back of my mind when writing this =) )


So I "died" in managerial skills but that’s all part in Leadership training so I guess I'm in the right class in life.


To be a leader is to go through failures not because you’re destined to fail but destined to learn so that you can be a better leader not for yourself, but for God and others.


Rise up!


Neil1am

P.S HAPPY CHINESE NEW YEAR EVERYBODY!!!

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

Monday, December 22, 2008

The year that was 2008 - Jude


Since joining 1a.m. on the 17th Feb 08 ( YES EXACT DATE.. )


My journey has been a most exciting one though its only a short amount of time. I remember being exposed to the different fields of work, like managing an entire academy, to overseeing the whole musical department as music director in training, things I'm not good at, but which 1a.m. had the confidence (or audacity) to entrust me with. But it is by God's grace the academy and music team is still surviving! (insert laughter here)


But really, journeying together with 1a.m. has really broaden my view towards God, from God only being my comfort and provider, to God being BIGGER THAN ALL MY PROBLEMS, and seeing him in a bigger worth. Being my 1st time away from home, often times I go to God for a "home security", which is good cos I i believe he wants us to go to him as often as we are able to.


But as God slowly reveals to me himself more and more, I felt God saying "MY PRESENCE IS BETTER THAN ANY HOME ON EARTH". So kinda like God became bigger than any castle mansion made. God has been so gracious even before I joined 1a.m. and I realized that often times I only acknowledge Him whenever He provides, intervenes in my problems, or when he delivers me from my grief.


Being with 1a.m. has open my eyes in worshipping Him, and honoring him EVEN WHEN HE SEEMS TO BE QUIET, or when things doesn't go MY WAY. God is always in control of everything regardless of different situations that we face. My heart has always been music, playing music, and anything to do with music, and when God gets involved in the music it just makes it even better. I've always wanted to play better, improve in my skills, learn everything possible, JUST so that I can equip myself. But...slowly God change me, as I journey with 1a.m. I now realized doing all the work, practicing 100 hours a day, trying to play faster than that speeding bullet, became secondary as MY HEART WAS MORE IMPORTANT ABOVE ANYTHING ELSE.


God changed me from WANTING TO BE ABLE TO PLAY EVERYTHING TO EQUIP MYSELF to WANTING TO IMPROVE MYSELF SO THAT I'M ABLE TO SERVE HIM BETTER.


This year has been awesome, 1 year flew by without me noticing the red light.

Throughout the year I met many a challenge, most of them made me feel extremely inadequate. I specially remember one of them where my playing styles completely differ from the current band members.. ( I grew up listening to classical, jazz and Prog Metal and music like Japanese pop...yes, worlds apart... ) Everyone was either...rock...or...not-classical-not-jazz-not-metal kinda thing... So a lot of times it was extremely hard for me to gel with them, to play skillfully up to an expectation, ( everyone thought highly of my musicality's apparently ) and being a musician it's hard to change instantly and suck in your pride. But I thank GOD for THE AWESOME journey He hooked me up in '08, for being such an AWESOME GOD, for BEING SO REAL, and walking me me thru all the moments where I felt I'm inadequate, cos that's where i feel him the most. Of course God is slowly changing me as well musically, at least now know jazz is not the band's thing :) ....


I look forward for '09 to come, cos I know God has in store for me MORE AWESOME THINGS that He wants me to experience.


It's been good being a guitarist for God, I regret nothing...

Tuesday, September 2, 2008

Malaysia's Independence



The independence of Malaysia is different from much of the independence of other countries. What makes it so different? It is a peaceful independence achieved by holding talks with the British. No other country has ever done that before Malaysia. Addtionally, the Malaysian independence was realised by three people with different culture and religion. It is amazing how independence was gained that way. On the glorious day of 31 August 1957, Allahyarham Tunku Abdul Rahman proudly declared the independence of Malaya (now Malaysia) by shouting out "Merdeka" seven times at the Merdeka Stadium.

1a.m. is proud to be Malaysians and we believe that God has great plans for our nation. Please pray for us as we declare our 51st independence day.

Please go to our 1a.m youtube website to view our song “Malaysia Shout Your Praise” and you can download the song for free also at our website at www.1am.com.my .



God bless

1a.m. team

Friday, August 29, 2008

Malaysia Shouts Your Praise - Music Video/ Testimony

Here is 1a.m's new music video

This just came out last week. A collection of pictures showing what Malaysia's all about. A reminder that we should love our country. God Bless Malaysia!



Testimony of Malaysia Shouts Your Praise

Tuesday, April 1, 2008

April moving forward

How is everyone doing? Well we're in our 2nd quarter of the year.

We're still in our season of taking a break on touring but as June approaches we're getting ready to kick-off our tour which is "Worship Brings Change Tour" More details will be posted up including tour dates as well.

PRAY with us as we head to towards this journey, including for open doors in other Nations.

We are also in a process of recording our 3rd album - all I can say is that its different, so keep us in prayers.

On the mean time, enjoy reading our Blogs posted up every week.

God bless

1a.m.

Saturday, January 5, 2008

Are YOU Fresh?

Neil3Are YOU Fresh?

Are you Fresh? Ok, lets rephrase that into “do we keep ourselves fresh” or “what keeps us fresh?” or “ what refreshes us?”

This blog was meant to be out a fews months back during one of our church worship team practice. So this is what happened.

We had our band practice with the 3rd team where every week we practice on how to “move prophetically” in the spirit during songs. We aren’t there yet but have seen and heard a lot of improvements over the months of just “moving in faith” in this area.

Well I can’t really explain much of how and what we do during practice but I can tell you testimonies where people (musicians and singers) during our practice are just “refreshed” after a long day of work through worship.

It was a confirmation for what God has placed in my heart after hearing every ones heart through a prophetic song or a word (testimony)

It was when we were singing “Majesty” by Delirious? that I began to sing words such as “Humbled by your grace so free, humbled by your love so free, humbled by your power, awesomeness… etc…” These are words that we normally hear or read of everyday, every week through times when you have your devotion on your own or fellowship with your friends, and you know what? Though we’ve heard them over and over again, it never fails to amaze us, strengthen us, encourage us, rebuke us, build us, refresh us.

We can read the New Testament from Matthew to Revelation and read the whole thing again from cover to cover and still get something new out of it. Why? Coz His words are alive, It never fails to amaze us!

I was reminded of a story in the book of John which spoke about Nathanael’s encounter with Jesus :-

48"How do you know me?" Nathanael asked.
Jesus answered, "I saw you while you were still under the fig tree before Philip called you."

49Then Nathanael declared, "Rabbi, you are the Son of God; you are the King of Israel."

50Jesus said, "You believe because I told you I saw you under the fig tree. You shall see greater things than that."

Nathanael was "blown away" during his encounter with Jesus.

What is it that God amazes you? What "Blows" your mind?What is it that God has “told” you today through His word, His Love? There maybe a lot of things that He may have told you that had left you standing amazed but let me tell you this… “You’ve not seen anything yet

Just like Jesus Said "You shall see greater things than that".

For now…. I encourage you to hear from God and allow yourselves to be amazed by Him.

Neil1am

Happy New Year!

Wednesday, January 2, 2008

Happy New Year

Happy New Year!

A new year, a new start. We have no idea what the year has in stored but we know God does.

We'll make sure that we'll keep you updated in whatever God has been doing in our lives,devotion, ministry, tours, etc.

We're excited. Hope you are too!

1a.m.

Friday, December 28, 2007

The Greatest Gift Testimony

This is a testimony for "the Greatest Gift" song
_______________________________________
neil2The Greatest Gift Testimony

First of all, Merry Christmas to everyone. I assume everyone is having an awesome time together with Friends, Family, Spiritual Family etc...

Well I'm alright. Christmas day can be pretty pressuring especially when it comes to buying gifts. I couldn't breathe when I was buying gifts. I had a list with my friends of the people who had blessed us this year and man, every time we would shop for someone, a "name" would pop up and the list kept growing and growing and our cash kept decreasing and decreasing. Wahahahha!!!!! Guess what, I just realized I still missed some people out.

At the end of the day, it's the thought that counts. If I spent, I spent to bless. Which is a good thing cause I was and still am pretty much a receiver than a giver.

Anyway, what did you get for Christmas? If you look back and think of the gifts you've received all the years of your life during Christmas, what would be the best gift?

I haven't received the best yet but the Greatest Gift I have.

I wrote a song a few months back called "the Greatest Gift". The song talks about Jesus being the Greatest Gift. If you ask me what was my Greatest Gift, it would be Jesus. Yeah, yeah, yeah, I sound religious and all but seriously He is.

Oh yea, though our production was called "the Gift", the song was never written for the event but we used it anyway . Kelvin added the second verse of the song and now sounds complete.

You see I was going through a time where I felt I was useless. Not good enough to serve in the ministry God called me in. Surprised? Well I guess its just one of those days the enemy tries to lure you down. You have to understand that when I was a teenager, there was a time I asked myself that "What am I gonna do when I become an adult in the working world (This was before I knew Christ). I was never good enough in the things that I do or studied. What I've started, I've never ended. There was one thing though that stayed and had seen improvements and that's the area of music. I've noticed that through out the boy-band era of my life, my ability to write songs, sing and play the guitar has improved. Accepting Jesus in the next few years changed my life and made me want to serve Him with the talents and gifting He gave. If you noticed in some of my mails that I've written, I mentioned "I know nothing but to serve". That is an honest statement because the truth is I really don't know anything else but to serve Him with what I got which is music.

That night when I went back home from one of the worst worship session I led, I came before God asking "am I ever good enough? Do I have anything that's good and am good at?" I was in my bed thinking and in silence I heard God speak that "I have Jesus and the music given to me is what He is gonna use through me". I wrote the song that day and in a week the song " the Greatest Gift" was written. Quiet long to finish a song but I wanted to make sure that this song spoke strong.

You must be wondering why I received the Greatest Gift and not yet the Best Gift. What is the difference? You see, I remember PC(Pastor Cathryn) mentioned that the best gift she received are those that she can't get but given to her and so the same for me. I'm still waiting and that gift is salvation for my family.

To watch the video, click on the link provided below http://carolyong.multiply.com/journal/item/352/The_Gift_-_a_song._You_HAVE_to_see_this

Greatest Gift

Verse 1

I'll sing to the one
who is worthy to receive all blessing, honor and power
I'll sing to the one
who sent His one and only son
The greatest gift, the greatest gift of all

Chorus

I'll sing about the love
about the love I didn't deserve
I'll sing about a Father God
A Father I ignored
Coz now I've learned to love because you love
You showed it on the cross for all
Your the Greatest Gift, the greatest gift of all

Verse 2

When I was weak you gave me Strength
You gave me Hope when all seems lost
Why do you love?
Why do you care for me?
You pick me up each time I fall
You never given up on me
You are my friend
The greatest friend of all

Bridge

Forever Jesus
Lord Jesus
Here I am, Forever I will worship
Lord Jesus
My Jesus
Here I am, Forever I will worship you

1a.m. 2007

Friday, August 31, 2007

Sabah Trip

TjAs a full-time worship ‘minister’, it doesn’t take too much before certain things begin to feel a little dry. Suddenly trying to stir people’s hearts in the presence of the Lord becomes something it should never be; nothing more than a duty, a responsibility that you bear the burden to carry. Even as you get more skilled at playing the songs, or more accustomed to building the environment with your instrument, there is still a stark difference that shows and comes through when you’re not there yourself for God, not tuned in to worship yourself. It’s something that can’t be explained.

Our first concert in Sabah went pretty well by technical standards, hardly any mistakes, the flow went down smoothly, a ‘performance’ by any means in which you’d expect a roaring uplifting of great enthusiasm from the congregation. However, sadly the reality was they didn’t sound much more than polite claps, it didn’t look as if they were ministered to very much if at all. There was something missing that night; it was the tangibility of the Holy Spirit. If there was one thing I learnt this trip, it’s the most important component to any worship service. Too many times we over emphasize the importance of skill, playing the right notes at the right time, and while nevertheless important, we forget the most important part, the part that makes the biggest difference; the Holy Spirit.You could visibly see the difference in environment when it came to our second concert. This time we took the time to prepare our hearts, internally and externally, to make it a point to worship him ourselves, and repented for not doing so in the concerts we did not. Most important of all, we humbled ourselves, that despite all we’ve been through, we still needed God to do anything at all.

To be frank, the 2nd concert wasn’t that much different in how well we played. However, it was how we worshipped, and how we brought worship. The congregation went crazy, they lifted their hands, some bowed, some cried. The difference? It wasn’t us, it was presence of God.It teaches me that you can’t depend on yourself to make a difference in worship.

Make a prayer to God when you minister, we need Him.TJ1am

Kuching Trip

Kuching Trip

It was a journey home for me, back to a familiar territory…my comfort zone, the land I left not too long ago before God challenged me to walk on waters. This time around I didn’t head home for what would normally be a leisure trip for me; it was more of an assignment...the kind that caused us all to settle for nothing less than being totally Sold Out to His call. Secularly, it felt like a Home Coming Concert for me…in my dreams…

Cuzario

The few days spent in the land we call the Cat City has evidently helped me, or us all as a band, unearth some of the needs the locals are desperately seeking help in. For most, they know very well it is about time for them to escalate their worship to greater heights but there is just no clear direction on how to get there. Some are just hampered by the absence of a visionary in their midst. The whole picture is like wanting to drive a car forward but can’t keep your eyes off the rear view mirror.

From our own workshops I personally discovered the importance of being able to gel with people of different generations especially when the only language you and the other person could converse in is music. For the young punks, they’d grumble about the elders for not being able to fulfill their demanding musical needs. On the other hand, the seniors can always be heard nagging about how intricate the music of today’s shocking generation has evolved. More than often, this is one of the main and obvious reasons we seldom see a mixture of age groups being put together to serve in the same band. Imagine the blend of flattering sounds produced should the best of these two worlds are being put together!!!

Another significant moment worth freezing from this trip is when I took the band for a simple dinner with my clan…to the historic spot where I was ejected from my mum’s womb. Though the food was traditionally exceptional (and it was fun witnessing Neil confessed to enjoying something his taste bud has been rejecting) but it was truly the chance for the band members to speak into some of my relatives’ lives that caught my attention.

On one end, Neil was seen paying undivided attention to every word my uncle spat out while Kelvin was caught mingling and exchanging thoughts with my dad. On the other end I saw PC was engaging in a deep conversation with my other uncle who once was a faithful servant in the house of God until the storm in his life struck causing him to not wanting to be associated with church at all. I have no clue what PC said or how God used her that evening but two weeks after that short talk with her, that very same uncle of mine finally found his way back to the church he left more than 10 years ago! I was just so amazed at how God could timely use a deliberate person to defrost a frozen heart!

Overall…convinced with our growing strength and passion, in the course of this trip I’ve seen God helped us unlock doors which were right in front of us (or was it only me?!) but never saw. No details can be confirmed yet but definitely something hot is in the pipeline for the very near future. Somehow we are all so inspired to do greater things as were sinking into 2008!!! Slowly but surely are we gonna be stepping really hard on our spiritual accelerator pedal as we are gearing to yet another exciting new year. That I can be very sure of…

Do what we do best

Do what we do best

NeilBangkok Jazz experience was just cool. It was a good night for the band as it helped us increase our confidence in the things that we do for God. It was also totally awesome. Why? Coz God was present.

After a night of worship concert on Saturday and an opening service of our sister church (ECF Damansara), I can tell you that the band was already tired. Daniel the most since he had to help out with the videos for the opening service and play for Sunday service in the morning.

When we got there, I could hear music from outside, songs being played by other bands. There were about 18 bands all together I believe, and 1a.m. were the second to the last band to perform. The bands present were not bad. Some had skills, some really surprised us with their skills like there was this really young band and man they ROCK! I’m in my early 20’s and I’ve got areas to improve in music but they look like they’re just 15 so imagine with me on how they would be when they reach my age?

Well, as our turn to play drew near, I was in a position that I really needed God. Personally, I was nervous, how would the people react? Will they boo us off stage? Joke about us? You have to understand that we are playing our original songs from our next album and man the songs clearly speaks of our creator, our savior, our God right on the dot. This ain’t switchfoot.

I went back in to listen to the other bands for a while, did my normal stuff to observe how the sound was and just when I was doing that, Doris, one of our church members who came along to support the band came to me and praise the team that we’ll do great but the thing that caught my attention was when she said that “ Do what you guys do best”.

When she said that, I asked myself the same question “What do we really do best? And in a few seconds the answer to that was “Worship”. With that, I found comfort. We may not have the best musicians or vocalist in the world but it is worship that we do best. A responsibility that we as a worship ministry do is bring down God’s presence and man we wanted Gods presence to be there. Guess what? The presence of God was there in fact HE was there watching His kids play. Front row, front seat.

Just before our turn came to play, I gathered the team and reminded them about what we do best. I reminded them to worship God with the talents God had given us and not be distracted by how good other bands were. Our goal was to bring down the presence of God in Bangkok Jazz and there he was.

God was so good were just before our turn came, the band before us were singing praises to the Lord. We were shock coz we thought we were the only Christian band there. Hearing them sing that, I could tell that set the tone for us 1a.m. Personally my spirit man worship and praised God when that song was playing and was ready to do what I’m called to do at that moment, at that time and place. A moment prepared by our God for us as a team.

So here we were. On stage, sound check done and ready to worship in front of different people, cultures and religion. We struck the first chord of the first song (Pour Out) and when the music came out of our instruments, I felt that Spirit of God just explode in that room. (It was like a grenade that exploded).The respond was quiet receiving that they enjoyed it. We ended with our second song and the rest is in the history books of heaven. We came out with a very positive respond that after our “so called GIG” people approached us and said a lot of overwhelming comments. Glory to God! The team gathered together with the people who came to support us outside Bangkok Jazz and prayed to God giving Him the Glory.

I am excited for what the future brings for this ministry, step by step God has opened doors and I tell you, it’s always challenging than the previous which only makes us stronger and better ministers of God.

We did the show to represent the God that loves us by doing what we do best which is “Worship”. People may have not understood what we did but we planted a seed. And in faith, just like a seed, God would cause it to grow and at the end of the day God’s people will reap a harvest.

Worship!

August 07 Onwards

Wow...

A lot of things has been happening and this section hasn't been updated. Sorry for the delayed updates in a lot of things. Will try to update everything as fast as I can.

Heres whats been happening (in short) and what to expect :-

1) The band has toured around East Malaysia, Kuching and Saba. Did a couple of concerts in Kuala Lumpur. The most recent one is @ EFC,PJ. We're gathering up testimonies from the team to be posted up here in the blog soon. Bangkok Jazz testimony will be up as soon as I'm done with this.

2) Win an IPOD promo is out. 80 Gb guys so who knows, if GOd is willing, YOU might get it. Plus loads of other cool prizes to be won like Ipod Nano's, etc,etc...

3) Indieheaven Momentum Award 08 is up so Vote for 1a.m. Oh by the way, the song "Always in your heart" is up so go to FanFaves and vote the song to climb up the charts. www. indieheaven.com

4) 1a.m is in the process of releasing its 3rd album. This will be different as the youth will be taking over. An EP album is planned to be released early next year before the main album so stay tune. Previews, V-blogs will be up in a few weeks so be excited ;)

5) 1a.m future tour dates 08 will be up soon. Please email us early if your local church or some event (regardless of whatever nation) wants to invite us .We will need to plan and arrange dates so that it doesn't clash with what our local church(ECF) is up to.

Thats it for now,so keep logging in.

SOLD OUT

Neil1am