So there I was, stunned and shocked. Not knowing what to do or how to break the news to my parents. I remember my friend quoting his parents (who liked me), "Amen my head ah.. Christians I thought should be good one. Now they are holding their bible on one hand and holding a knife on the other. They don't have a heart of compassion at all. No chances?!" I felt so much comfort in that comment, knowing that his parents feel for me. His ideas also sunk into my head bit by bit as I grew away from the Christian faith, trusting Christians less and less. Actually my anger was more to the school than to Jesus/God.

So I broke the news to my parents, my dad came and appealed to the new principal. He was on the verge of tears, can't remember whether did he actually cry. Yet, the principal's reply was a firm no. So off we went to find new schools.

Stop 1: We went to the school just next to my house (Bukit Batok Sec Sch). Saw the discipline first and he asked where I was from. I replied SJI and he exclaimed that he was from SJI too. *Hope*! But in the end, he subtlely said that the school was too good for me and told me to leave down my name that they will contact me if they have a vacancy. So we waited for about a week. No calls, no nothing... And our search continues..

Stop2: Swiss Cottage Secondary. It is a good school, we must be crazy to think that they'll accept me. Talk talk talk.. Same procedures as stop 1, "leave down your contacts, if there's a vacancy we'll call you." So we were cleverer this time, didn't go home and wait for letter but went to another nearby school: Dunearn Sec.

Stop3: Every stop's an adrenaline rush session. This one's x2 the action. The principal Ms Dorothy Tay (if I remember correctly) spoke to both me and my father and then asked me if I went to Swiss Cottage and WHY there 1st. .................................... Jialat. So I went blabbering away: "Erm... Cos it was more on the way cos it is easier for the taxi to make a right turn etc etc" All bullshit. Well, game over. Same procedure again and we went home.

We stopped for a while to try to assess our options and consulted some of out family members. So happened that one of my cousin from my father's side, Yonglin, had a primary school friend who studied in Dunearn and was the Top student for Science (physics or whatever) for the O levels for the school and he said maybe we can try the school again with his help.

Stop3A: So there we went again. This time round with our reinforcements. My cousin's a good-looking nice chap too. Guess I needed them to cover me up. The principal was overjoyed to see my cousin's friend and kept chatting with him etc. Then he appealed my case for me. (What a distance relationship. Imagine him replying to the principal's question: "So how are you related to him?" -> Ans: "He's my friend's cousin" ..................

So Ms Tay called me in again and signed me in. With the exact subject combination I had at SJI. She then asked to help her take a photo with my cousin's friend which I agreed with gratitude overflowing in me. I was grateful to her then but now I am grateful to Jesus! I dunno if she, my cousin's friend or my cousin were Christians at that time, but looking back, it was certainly a gift from God. A redemptive gift. Why? -> "Spectacular coincidences" and God's perfect timing. The way things happened were as such: we revisited the school on the last day of the principal! She was going to be transferred to the primary school (Hong Kah) next to the school as the principal and that day was her last day at Dunearn. On her last day, seeing her favourite student coming back to visit her, why shouldn't she do a good deed? I'm that opportunity! I couldn't imagine where I'd be now had we been late for a day. Thank you Lord Jesus for your perfect timings!

Devotion: Think back on your life, and the little people God has provided in your life and blessed you. Have you given them a second "thank you" after their help? Do you only thank the person and not thank God? Remember that God is certainly with us everyday of lives. "And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose. "(Romans 8:28 NIV). So Have faith in God. He knows what best for us. So much more than our limited mortal minds can think!


Song: "Trust His heart"

Verse: (can't remember all, sorry)

Our Father knows what's best for us, His ways are not our own.
So when your pathway goes dim, and you just can't seem him, remember He's still on the throne..

Chorus:

God is too wise to be mistaken
God is too good to be unkind
So when you don't understand
when you can't see His plans,
when you can't trace His hand,
trust His heart...

_____

How meaningful...

ps: I should call my cousin now and meet up with his God-given friend which helped salvaged and change my life!

So life continued for me, like a vessel lost in a whole wide ocean. I was enrolled into St Joseph's Institution (SJI) for my secondary school education where I joined NPCC (National Police Cadet Corps) for the 1st two years. I joined not knowing what to expect when my form tutor walked in one day and asked who hasn't gotten an ECA (extra-curricular activity) yet and that NPCC was looking for more recruits. So in an attempt to get me "out of trouble", I joined the club with my friend. However, there seems to be some issues about his nationality being a Malaysian and I ended up in the club alone without friends. 2 years past and the only achievement I got from the ECA was only a first-aid batch, no rank, no nothing. No genuine friends too.

The year 1997, Secondary 3 and I quit NPCC to join the Drama club with my classmate because our crush on our form teacher who was the teacher-in-charge. I could remember my 1st role during one of the trainings as a pregnant woman giving birth. Didn't know I could act!

U know, teenage years - the rebellion age. I stole, played skateboard. couldn't be bothered with school work etc. I feigned I had a stomachache in my final exams on the day of my E Maths paper and History paper. Funnily, instead of not taking into account these 1.5 subjects, the school still counted my results based on the 8 subjects I took, hence equating these 1.5 papers as 0 (zero). Could remember the down look of my assistant form tutor as she walked into my class and told me she need to talk to me outside my room...

She told me I have to find another school because I failed my overall results. Now you might think: Did Jesus not care for me anymore? Why did He allow this to happen? Isn't He the greatest redeemer of all time? I did not think about all these at that time because there was simply no god in my life, let alone turning to Jesus for help. But the best thing I am going to share to you is that Jesus doesn't leave us AT ALL. Everything in our lives, like mine, are going according to His perfect plan and He is always out there trying to bring us closer to Him every minute. He is the only pro-active god in the world. He loved us first because He created us first. Nothing we do can ever repay Him for his goodness and blessings showered on us. Like Casting Crowns' "Who am I?" The lyrics go: "who am I, that the Lord of all this earth would care to know my name, would care to feel my hurt... Not because of who I am, but cause of what He done, not because of who I am, but because of what You are.."

How true! What had "He done"? God has allowed His only son Jesus to come down to earth to live amongst us, only for a sole purpose, for Him to die and atone for all our sins and to reconcile us back to Him. The bible wrote, "For God so loved the world that He gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life." (John 3:16 NIV)

So who is God? Who is the "You" in the above song? He is God and He is love. He first loved us when He created us. Together with the music we love, He was the creator of EVERYTHING. We are imprinted with God's signature because we were created in His image. What a privilege! "So God created man in HIs own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them." (Genesis 1:27 NIV)

Devotion: Think about everything little thing you love in life. Be it an activity, a person, an equipment (like your drums!), music or simply just nature. Now remind ourselves that God was the creator of all of these. Isn't He a great God? (both literally and figuratively!)

Greetings to all!

My name is Zong Geng ('Pakerdee!'). I am a drummer and I have been playing drums in my church's (Eternal Life Baptist Chuch www.elbc.org.sg) worship ministry ever since I was baptized on 16th April 2006.

In this blog, I want to share with you how important Jesus is in our drumming and our music and to remind ourselves how He is both the Creator of us and of music. (So theoretically He would be the greatest drummer EVER!)

I hope to gather all the drummers and musicians in Singapore who has the desire and passion to play for Jesus through this blog and to share our personal testimonies of how Jesus has changed our (musical or not) lives. I also pray that though this site, we can all become closer to one another and to Jesus in our friendships of eternity. Through our music, may we fulfill the Great Commission left by Jesus before He ascended to heaven and that is to "go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the the Son and of the Holy Spirit" (Matthew 28:19 NIV). What a great privilege if we could be used by God in this manner, through drumming, through music!

Like what Salvatore shared in his DVD, "music without Jesus ain't fun". This is certainly true. Drumming for Jesus fills me up with so much joy and direction that I can only bow down to Him and to worship and thank Him. So today, let us "Sing to Him a new song; play skillfully, and shout for joy." (Psalm 33:3 NIV)


The following is my testimony of my (music) life (as of Jan 2007):

I was born into a Buddhist family and yet my parents chose to give birth to me in Mount Alvernia Hospital, a Christian one, on 16th November 1982. The hospital wouldn't seem like a natural choice because it was not the nearest to my house. I stay in Bukit Batok (the west) and the hospital's in Toa Payoh (North-Central). Little did I know that under the unknown prayers of the Christian doctors and nurses, my life with Jesus began. The prayers probably started when I had to stay in the hospital for extended weeks because of some health conditions like G6PD where they had to do tests. Thankfully I was discharged and like life on earth, was a miracle from God.

Next, I was enrolled into a Christian (Presbyterian) kindergarten and subsequently, after successful balloting, into its affiliated, next-door, primary school, Pei Hwa Presbyterian. Thinking back, even this email is a miracle because I knew so little English at that time that I couldn't even pronounce 's'. Therefore my teacher Miss Bao became "Mee Bao". I could still remember my 1st English lesson in Primary school where I couldn't understand, let alone read a single English word. Thanks to Jesus, now I am undergoing my last semester in NUS, majoring in History (minoring in China Studies) in the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences.

During my primary school days, I got to know Jesus and also music. We had special dedicated lessons for the bible where we learnt about biblical stories like how Jesus fed the 5000 etc. During assemblies, we sang songs of praise and worship to God too. My 1st hands on experience on music was probably the recorder which I sucked at. Can remember one of the music teachers, Mdm Yap, as the fiercest teacher in the school and we called her all sorts of nicknames like *censored, censored* I don't know if she had an impact on my initial distaste for music but the next big thing was my enrollment in violin classes in school. I enjoyed the violin lessons, not cos of the music but because of the fun things we did in the studio like "giaping" (holding) the violin between your left cheek and jaw bone and your shoulder and jumping around. That was really fun!

Then my parents enrolled me as a private student of one of the teachers who stayed near me (can rem he stayed on the 25th floor! Real high up there..). Without my friends, I gradually lost interest. making matters worse, my father, a bass harmonica player (he claims himself to be the best of his trade in Singapore), forced practices on me. I practised till I cried (it's true! I even have a picture of that. Now u know how Zehk4 Akh4 my parents were when they forced me to take picture knowing I'm crying!) and I started to hate the violin and music.

My father's family was a family of artistic people and musicians: 2 of my aunties were and still are piano teachers and many of my cousins played the piano. One of my cousin majored in dance at La Salle. Under their influence (yes, those who know me know that I am VERY easily influenced by people around me, especially my friends), I had this enthusiasm to learn the piano but was rejected by my dad who said that there were too many pianists in the family and I should learn something different. Hence, the violin again. I played my squeaky violin for 5 years and was never even good enough that my violin teacher recommended me to take an exam. So I guess music was not in my genes.