Tuesday, October 27, 2009

Two Gatherings With Students

Last Monday before I dismissed my first class, a student suggested that we went for a drink at "Jonker Walk Cafe". As I had never been to this cafe, I thought it might be very far since its name sounded like it was located at the tourist area.

When I followed my students out of the city campus building, I realized the cafe was just opposite it at the corner of the Hang Tuah mall. Later, I was told that they had chosen this one because it was not crowded like other more popular cafes at Hang Tuah road. No wonder a worker was standing outside full time to attract the staff and students from our establishment with a discount of 10 percent...

In class, the boys were always noisier than the girls. But in the cafe, they were quite reserved. Not only they talk little, they also ordered little.

The girls, once in an eatery, would immediately forget about the diet. Almost all of them took a dish with a drink each.

Many of them had not even had time to take their breakfast before the 10.30am class. It was unthinkable for me who had never missed my breakfast every day at 7am when I was a student, whether I had an assignment to submit or a test to sit for.

Although we were not chewing the baguette in the classroom like the other group, I enjoyed this gathering nonetheless.

On Thursday, it was the final French class with my second batch of TESL students. After one and a half year, I finally succeeded in moving them to organize a meal. When I arrived at the classroom, only a few boys were there. So I assumed the girls were on the way to fetch dishes prepared by themselves based on French recipes but was told that they had actually asked outsiders to cater the food. I began to realize that not all girls were as passionate in cooking as my former student of the previous batch of the TESL students to the point of sacrificing her sleep.

I was giving back test papers when others came with containers. The room was filled with the nice smell of spaghetti tomato sauce. There were also French fries, mushroom soup, drinks etc.

The most mouth-watering dish was no doubt these hotdogs envelopped by melted cheese.

I had bought buns earlier and left in the fridge in my house, which hardened very fast and did not soften much in the cold air conditioned building. Haizam who had brought his own big bowl as if to eat ramen was the first to take a bun dipped in the lukewarm mushroom soup. After ten minutes, he was still having a "hard" time to munch it! All of us were seated around the tables joined together, savouring the food and watching their role plays in French saved in CD and projected on the big screen.

At the end of the gathering, two boxes of ice-cream were brought in for our desserts. I wished the buns were as soft as that melted ice-cream which tasted like mousse.

Towards the end of the semester, I appreciated these students more than the beginning. I thanked them for their attendance, punctuality and active participation. They were among those who made my days at city campus.

Saturday, October 24, 2009

My Brother Built A Free Wall For Me

When Dad was around, he came to this house at Paya Rumput four times. He was satisfied with everything except for one: the wet kitchen wall which I was sharing with my neighbours who had not yet moved in. He thought the wall was low and that it was easy for a perpetrator to suddenly jump over it to harm me while I was near the stove. I knew he was very concerned about my safety but I personally did not consider it a potential danger. So I never bothered to find a contractor to do the extension.

Three years after Dad passed away, the next-door house which was attached to mine was finally occupied by an Indian family. For weeks, their conversations in Tamil or English reached my ears clearly when I was at the kitchen, even the dining room. When my English or Malay speaking visitors were around, we had to lower our voices. I started to feel the inconvenience that noise was invading my house through this kitchen wall.

One day when I came back, I suddenly noticed this wall was extended double in height with bricks but the floor was dirty with traces of cement. Having had experience with my back Malay neighbours who had also not informed me of anything before they started the extension work of their wet kitchen, I had learned to be tolerant. I did not plan to make any complaints to these Indian neighbours. I just wanted to let them know that I preferred to have their workers coming over to paint my side of the wall when somebody was around. As I was out to work during the week, VC was the best candidate to deal with the male workers.

A few days later, the wall was covered with cement. VC told me that an Indonesian worker, who was under a Christian contractor, had recognized his Sarawakian accent and asked him which church he was attending. When VC mentioned Calvary Life Assembly, he was surprised to learn that the Indonesian worker also used to be in the BM congregation when the church was located at Bukit Baru. Not only this brother in Christ knew Ps Albert, he was also familiar with other Calvarites of the BM service. What a small world!

The wall still needed to be painted but VC was no longer available. So I had to approach the workers by myself one day after I came back from work. The Indonesian man was the one who responded to me. The fear to let a male "stranger" enter my house was gone as I knew he was my brother in Christ. And it was nice to talk about the church members we both knew.

When I passed some kurma (dates) and bottled water to all the workers next door, the brother thanked me with a grin. I started to thank God for sending me to the BM service, so that I had opportunities to befriend more people easily.

If Dad saw this two-time higher wall now, he would also smile broadly.

Friday, October 23, 2009

Flood At Taman Paya Rumput Indah

Yesterday at dusk, I had a rare chance to take a short stroll nearby after these two busy months. I was surprised to find out there was some drainage work going on for the road behind my house. Cars had to be parked at the roadside instead of the porch because the tiles of the entrance were temporarily broken to give way to the digging. As I was curious, I approached a lady standing outside her house to find out what was happening. She told me that the drains were being deepened after their kitchens were attacked by the flow of water due to recent downpour.

Lastly, she said, "We had never imagined that this taman could be flooded!"

I also had never thought of associating this disaster with Taman Paya Rumput Indah because the whole residential area was situated at such a high ground level. I used to tell others that if it were flooded, whole Melaka would be under water. Yet, the flood had truly happened to my neighbours living so close to me. Ironically, their houses were also facing another big drain.

I remembered six years ago when I was at the sales office, the estate agent told me that many buyers had brought their fengshui masters to the empty land to help choosing their future houses. And those who did not want to face neighbours opposite them had to pay RM7,000 to get the view of the field. I only trusted God to lead me to an ideal house according to His will. The only opinion I asked from the agent was the position of the sun to make sure that my living room would be filled with the morning sunlight, not the afternoon one. And I simply picked one based on the map as if I were playing Monopoly.

After I moved into this house and I looked at other houses of the same type, I realized the location of mine was the best. Even today, I still think the same. As it is not on the main road, few cars pass by. It is not a dead-end road unlike the other one on the other side of the field. It is not a long road either, so I could join the main road very fast. Not only my road is higher than those behind, my house is also exceptionally higher than many other houses on the same road. From my house, I can still see the field but it is not too near. Therefore, noise of people having outdoor activities there do not reach me.

Mum sometimes thinks that I should have taken one of the houses on the road behind, as there were a lot of Chinese residents. But I am actually very grateful that God has placed me to be surrounded by Malay, Indian and Baba Nyonya neighbours who neither keep dogs, sing karaoke loudly, nor burn papers which fly over to my front yard.

And there is one more fact to convince her: no flood.

Wednesday, October 21, 2009

An Interesting Tuesday Afternoon At Calvary Care Home

Last month, Albert P, who had taken over the leadership of Calvary Care Home as a volunteer, asked me if I could spend fixed time with the boys so that they would not idle in the afternoons. As I was already visiting the boys on Tuesdays when I was free, so his request was just nice to let me commit myself to be there on a more regular basis.

It was one week left before the final exams for some of them. I felt a bit sorry when I reached there twenty minutes late with a big vanilla custard loaf for the boys' snack, thinking that those who were serious with their studies would be already in front of their books. Actually all were having a meeting with Albert right in front of the house. John had gone back to be with his biological family after his PMR examinations. When the discussion about the management of their pocket money was settled, Albert sent the younger ones into the study room while the elder ones stayed to continue their conversation with him.

Wilson took the bread to the kitchen to cut it into slices and served everyone. In this home, the spirit of sharing was strongly present.

The boys arranged their own desks and chairs, and started doing their own activities: drawing or doing homework. Since it was towards the end of the school year, those who had sat for UPSR examinations some time ago were already in the holiday mood. I was standing next to David when he suddenly asked me to look at the ceiling on the right. At first I refused, thinking that they wanted to play a trick on me. As they kept urging me, I raised my head. Another boy shouted "A snake!". The moment I noticed its shadow, the boys were rushing out to see the reptile. So I quickly followed them.

When I was also running past Albert and the elder boys with my camera, I said, "It looks like I'm joining them more than they're joining me!" Albert laughed. Mark was tackling the tiny snake with a stick. Wilson also gave a hand. The rest were watching.

They did not take a long time to pull the snake down to the floor. Compared to the one I had seen last year, this one was much thinner.

There was a little blood on the snake's head. To make sure it would not survive, Paul sprayed pesticide and lit a fire with a lighter to burn it at the same time. The poor thing was motionless after these numerous attacks.

God assures us that man has dominion over every creeping thing that creeps on earth (Genesis 1:26). So I did not grieve for this lifeless fellow who had a body, a soul, but no spirit.

The boys approached me, holding the dead snake's tail with fallen leaves with the intention of frightening me. I fled towards Albert, whom I liked to call "Principal" since he was the head of the care home. He commanded the boys to stop bullying me and go back to the study room.

Mark and Luke went back to their seats to continue drawing. I asked Daniel to take out his mathematics exercise book. Before he could settle down, Paul, Matthew, David and Luke came to him.

When I had arrived at the home, I had noticed Daniel's face looked a bit different than usual but I did not pay attention to him. When I took a second glance of him, I realized his eyebrows were missing! Albert told me what had happened: The previous day, Daniel began to cut one of his own eyebrows a bit by himself out of fun. The naughty Paul helped to remove the rest of the hair above Daniel's eyelid. When Albert saw the boys' nonsense, he did a radical job to shave the other eyebrow of this youngest child of the home to teach him a lesson.

When I was in the secondary school, my friends used to spread the saying that those who were without eyebrows would see ghosts! I never believed that. I thank God for giving me bushy eyebrows that I did not have to spend time using any cosmetic product to make them darker. Thus, I did not have an eyebrow pencil in my bag to lend to Daniel. Now thanks to Luke's black drawing pen and Paul's artistic talent, Daniel had a pair of artificial eyebrows! When the boys dragged him out towards Albert, all of us burst into laughter and gave compliments to his new look.

Now Daniel was finally able to solve his mathematics problems one after another without disturbance. Mark still focused on his drawing. Luke joined three other boys to play the aeroplane chess on the floor at the back.

When it was almost 6pm, the elder boys were still chatting with Albert and William

while the younger boys had left the study room and started to play outdoors. David

and Mark were very excited to show me their fish.

If we had left the snake alone, it might be a great threat to all these vulnerable creatures in the water.

When I was leaving with my car, the boys took the corpse of the snake from the lawn and put on the wide screen to scare me again. Albert who was also going off asked them to throw it into the dustbin. Despite a cough he was suffering from, he was still willing to spend time having conversations with the boys. And he told me, "Basically, these boys just want to talk to someone." How blessed we are to be their listeners and care givers.

And I thank God that I only remembered those boys' smiling faces when I went to bed that night, not the reptile.

Tuesday, October 20, 2009

Death Is Swallowed Up In Victory

Yesterday, I was reading "Our Daily Bread" posts of the past four days and came across the one for Friday 16 Octobre, the day I went back to Batu Pahat after one month's absence. Since access to Facebook was blocked by both campuses during the working hours, I did not sign in to the website for weeks.

After I reached home, I surfed Internet and went to the website of this popular social network again. Ping's most recent message was something like this: "I was very down, so I came here to release my feeling. But I was shocked to learn that my good friend's boyfriend had been killed. Who is more sorrowful than she now?" Among her good friends, many were married. I had little idea of whom it could be.

Ping was also back from Johor Bahru a few hours later and told us about the incident which had just taken place earlier on the same day. Her friend SL's boyfriend was surfing Internet alone at a 24-hour fast food restaurant in Petaling Jaya at 4.30am when his laptop was snatched by a man. As SL's boyfriend was chasing after the man, the snatch thief's accomplice suddenly appeared and stabbed him in the waist three times. Both perpetrators managed to escape with their car. The victim was so seriously wounded that he died in the ambulance on the way to the hospital.

According to Ping, SL had been together with her boyfriend, who was a Christian, for seven, eight years. She attended the church service regularly and thought of getting baptized after their marriage planned for next year. A snatch theft shattered their dream to buy a house and start a family together.

I did not know SL well, nor had I ever met her boyfriend. So I did not follow Ping to the wake service in Grace Presbyterian church that night. The next afternoon I wanted to go with Ping, but the trip was cancelled because SL was not around. I thought of Teo Beng Hock's wife who must be still mourning for her late future husband's sudden death. I was somehow glad that SL was surrounded by Christians who could comfort her with God's word.

The author of that post of "Our Daily Bread" seemed to predict the physical death of SL's boyfriend. Ping said that SL's boyfriend had been a very kind person. The news report also mentioned that he always offered help to others, even strangers in need. His kind acts were the best testimonies of God's love. I imagined at his memorial service if all those who had been blessed by him were gathered to pay tribute to this follower of Jesus, there would be so much praise to our Lord.

Now what I can do for SL is to hold her in my prayer and hope that she continues to grow spiritually in the midst of her suffering. The Bible says that the body "is sown in weakness, it is raised in power. It is sown a natural body, it is raised a spiritual body... However, the spiritual is not first, but the natural, and afterward the spiritual... Flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God; nor does corruption inherit incorruption. We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed... The sting of death is sin, and the strength of sin is the law. But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ... Therefore, my beloved brethren, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that your labor is not in vain in the Lord." (1 Corinthians 15:56-58 NKJV)

Whether we die in an old, young, sick or wounded body, God has promised to give us a glorious body one day. Death is swallowed up in victory for those who have faith.

Monday, October 19, 2009

Outing By Bus

Three weekends ago, VC suggested that we went outing to town by bus. It was two days after my first car accident. I knew he was worried that I might have phobia about cars. I actually did not mind driving, but I thought it was a good idea to use the public transport since it was still the Aidilfitri holiday and the road must be crowded with vehicles.

During my earliest year in Melaka, I used to travel by bus. After I got my own transport, I still liked to relax in an express bus all the way back to Batu Pahat or hop into a domestic bus to go to Melaka town. One of the reasons I chose to settle at my present residential area at Paya Rumput was that the invisible bus stop was within the walking distance from my house. As time passed, I preferred to take the steering by myself to go everywhere without wasting time in waiting for the bus.

After around fifteen minutes under a tree at the road side, I was in a "Tai Lye" bus again. The first day I came to Melaka to report duty in 2003, I remember I was sitting in their empty bus along the long village road to the unknown Lendu campus and suspecting if the driver was purposely misleading me to that remote area with the intention of kidnapping me. I was relieved when it finally stopped to take another passenger on the way.

The "Tai Lye" bus still gave me the same impression with its noisy engine and high speed on the road. There were also many exotic faces as foreign workers were some of the main supporters of the public transportation in Melaka.

Recent years, I went to Melaka Sentral

to either pick, drop visitors or pay bills. This time, I took lunch at a restaurant with VC inside the building before we took another bus to Mahkota Parade.

Several youngsters were smoking in the bus. I wished I were brave enough to give them health advice. So I just committed them into Jesus' hand with my silent prayer, hoping that one day they would know that Jesus loved them and wanted their bodies to be the holy temples. I suddenly felt that the children at Calvary care home were indeed blessed ones. Although they were not living with their parents, they were cared by other Christians all the time. Those boys in the bus might see their parents every day but they seemed to be neglected.

Since we did not have to think of the parking fee, we took our time to have cendol for dessert,

take a rest to digest the food,

then visited our favorite shops separately, met again to watch a movie at Dataran Pahlawan. Then we walked to the road side next to Mahkota Parade to catch our bus back to Melaka Sentral before another trip with the last "Tai Lye" bus of the day.

Thanks for your invitation, VC. I really enjoyed the day!

Tuesday, October 13, 2009

Two Car Accidents Within Ten Days II

I was hand washing my dirty clothes when Phoebe telephoned me to bring forward our appointment to 7.15pm instead of 7.30pm to follow them to the combined cell meeting. She was too busy with her work to prepare a dish for the pot bless that she had decided to buy something on behalf of her family on our way to Ayeh Keroh.

I looked at the clock. Not much time left. So I left aside my clothes soaking in soap water, quickly washed my hair and took a shower. I had cooked agar-agar early in the morning, which cooled down and solidified throughout the day. I just had to cut it into small cubes and put in a container. Then I was ready to go.

With the heavy evening traffic, it would take me at least twenty minutes to reach their house at Cheng. I did not like to be late for appointments. But I kept reminding myself to care for the safety of other road users, even when I was in a hurry. After the previous accident, I was more fervent to pray for God's protection before I started a journey.

While I was heading towards Cheng Heights traffic lights, I had an opportunity to accelerate as the car in front of me was running quite fast at some distance away. Other cars must be blocking its way, for it suddenly braked. As my car was not following it too tightly, I managed to avoid touching it. Then I heard another braking sound. From the car retro mirror, I saw a white car with its front lights on was approaching me at a high speed. I was wondering if it would be able to stop on time.

"Bang!"

Within ten days, two cars ran into mine! This time, the sound was not so loud.

Vehicles were filling the three lanes in front of the traffic lights. Our side was still red, but my first thought was "If I argue with the driver, I'll disturb other road users and cause more congestion. I'll just bear whatever damage to my car." Again, I did not get down from my car. Neither did the driver behind me from his/hers.

As I was staying on the third lane which was leading to the right turning and U-turn, we were moving more slowly than the two other lanes. When there was an empty space on the left, the car behind me shifted to the second lane.

I horned at the car, stared at the driver while he was driving past me. He also turned his head to look at me with no facial expression. I suddenly decided to memorize his car plate number in case I wanted to report to the police. While I was doing so, I felt that the Holy Spirit reminded me, "Last week when you were involved in the other accident, did you hope that the driver also jotted down your car plate number with a bitter heart?"

I immediately asked the Lord for forgiveness and thanked Him for His mercy. I also prayed, "Father God, I forgive the driver now and please bless him in Jesus' name. After all, You're the owner of this car, not me." Joy came back to me. After a short while, it was green light again for me to move forward and take the turning. Phebe's house was in the first residential area on the right.

I only examined the back of my car when I finally parked it opposite Phoebe's house. There was only a small scratch.

When Phoebe and her husband Jeremiah heard my story, they assured me that I could just give them a call if I encountered any problem in the future. And I had this fresh testimony to share during the combined cell meeting to praise the Lord!

Monday, October 12, 2009

Two Car Accidents Within Ten Days I

I was not keen to blog about the first accident which had taken place twenty days ago until the second one occured a week later.

During the Aidilfitri break, I was back to Melaka during the week. Thursday morning, I sent my car to the service centre at Cheng for a regular check-up. After that, I went to nearby Bintang supermarket to buy ingredients for pizza, as I had promised Johanan to bake one for dinner with his family. When I did not get everything I desired, I also drove to Tesco hypermarket to fulfill my shopping list.

To go to Agape care centre from the city campus, I usually turned to Ong Kim Wee road. This time from Tesco, I used another road to reach the centre. I had taken the opposite direction once. Since it was the day time, I decided to try the unfamiliar road again.

When I judged that there was a left turning to take, I started to put the signal and slowed down. I was about to turn into the junction when I realized it was not the one I drove past the previous time. So I cancelled the signal light and went on. Suddenly, I heard a "bang!!!" like the sound of broken glasses. The driver of the car which was stopping at the junction had knocked the left side of my car.

I was stunned. Was it my fault or the driver's? I had no idea. I was the one who confused him/her in the first place but when I changed my mind to go straight, I remembered I did not see the car moving forward. My car stereo was still playing a worship song. I only had one thought at that time, "I don't wish to argue with the driver. I'll bear whatever damage to my car. Now I only want to reach my destination as soon as possible."

Without stepping down from my car nor even looking at the other driver, I continued my journey. The person did not horn at me. Either he/she panicked or was having peace of mind like me.

I would be lying if I said that I was not worried about my car. After I had made another turning, I stopped at the road side to have a look at my vehicle. A plastic bar on the front passenger's side had fallen off and there were some slight curves on the two left doors.

I was relieved on the spot because I had imagined worse. I thanked God, continued driving, recognized more landmarks and finally arrived at the centre in less than three minutes. SH invited me to join them for lunch and noticed that I was sweating all over the face. When I recounted my car accident, she comforted me. She had been a victim of snatch theft several months ago and lost her belongings including her one-month salary and spectacles. Compared to her case, what happened to me was minor. Important was that we were safe and sound.

The whole afternoon, I was able to spend time with the children and chat with another volunteer MF in a calm spirit. In the evening, my pizza turned out quite successful despite extra water I had added in the flour to make the dough.

I only checked my car doors the next morning. Both front and back left doors could be still opened without any problem. Since I bought this car, I had been considering it a means of transport rather than something to boast about. I could still drive it, give others a lift and fetch things anytime. Many people in this world could not even afford a car.

I am waiting for a day to send it to the workshop for repair. I thank my colleagues and church friends for their advice. When I am old, I have one more story to tell.

In case the driver is reading this entry, I would like to apologize for any inconvenience I caused to you. May God bless you.

Monday, October 5, 2009

Combined Cell Meeting

Last Friday, we had a combined cell meeting. Our Cheng cell was supposed to be combined with the Masjid Tanah cell. But as there were too few people, the Ayeh Keroh 1-Batu Berendam combined cell invited us to participate in their pot bless.

The gathering was held at Bro Laurent's house. It was an opportunity for me to have fellowship with other brothers and sisters in Christ whom I only knew by faces when I saw them during the service at Calvary Life Assembly (CLA) every Sunday.

The evening started with an opening prayer before we helped ourselves to the dishes bought or cooked by each of us. There were about twenty of us while the food was enough for more than thirty persons. I had prepared agar-agar for dessert which many appreciated.

While we were eating and chatting, the host Bro Laurent was singing and playing music for his guests at the spacious front yard, which created an open-air pub atmosphere. Later, Bro Michael also join him to play the guitar.

After the meal, several of us shared testimonies to thank the Lord and to encourage one another. The following karaoke session was very amusing and entertaining. All of us sang familiar folk songs together.

It was the first time I learned the Nyonya version of "Rasa Sayang":

Rasa sayang eh rasa sayang sayang eh
Hei lihat nona jauh rasa sayang sayang eh
Terbang terbang batang kemuning
Terbang sampai di hujung batang
Saya umpama si payung kuning
Sambut menyambut tuan datang
Rasa sayang eh rasa sayang sayang eh
Hei lihat nona jauh rasa sayang sayang eh
Pecah dulang raja didaik
Pecah terempas di tudung raja
Bulan terang cuaca pun baik
Kita berjumpa bersukaria
Rasa sayang eh rasa sayang sayang eh
Hei lihat nona jauh rasa sayang sayang eh


We also sang English oldies like "Que Sera Sera". Men, ladies, parents and singles took turns to sing different parts of the song. Of course, we did not forget to sing praise to the Lord, whose love had united us from different backgrounds.

I was the youngest among them after the 3-year-old Jaden. Other church members of about my age usually joined the young adults' cell. But I enjoyed a lot being in the home cells with the presence of my seniors who were humble and faithful in their walk with our Lord.

After this combined cell meeting, I can call more people's names when I see them and shake hands with them at CLA.

Friday, October 2, 2009

No More Yoga Sessions For Me

Recently, I received a forwarded email:

---------------------------------------------------------------
Hi friends,
On Wednesday, I attended a talk by an ex-yoga teacher, Mdm Poh Shon Choy, who had sold her yoga center (earning lots of money giving yoga lessons) and severed all ties with yoga. She urges us to inform relatives, friends, family members, etc., not to get involved at all.
Many claimed that they only join to keep fit, only doing the exercise poses and not meditation.
Christians think it is OK so long they don't participate in the Meditation part. Mdm Choy explains that the central of Yoga (originated from Hinduism) is the spirit of Kundalini (spirit Of snake or cobra).
Yoga poses are actually animal poses (e.g. camel, rabbit,). All these look very normal and harmless, stretching and exercising.
But the danger is, once a person does such poses, the spirit of Kundalini (the snake is in a coiled position) is stimulated or aroused.
As the persons goes from basic to intermediate to advance stage of yoga lessons (still not meditation yet), the coiled "snake" will be aroused further. It will rise and rise further.
There are 7 centres in the human body -
Starting from the navel.The final centre is the part between the eye brows (known to many as the third eye). When the spirit is aroused to the final centre, the third eye will be opened.
This is called the full enlightenment.
The first thing the person sees is demons. For some, they will become insane seeing such horrifying demons.
For others, they are not afraid -And will have the power to fore-tell other people's health, problems, luck, etc (like a fortune teller).
In fact, they manipulate and control other people.
The meditation part will come in very subtle.
Mdm Choy said she was approached by a couple who found Her contact from the yellow pages and told her they wanted To teach her new things about yoga.
She was very keen and sat under their teaching. She learnt how to meditate and it must be done in odd hours of the day (past midnight).So she tried. She actually felt a wriggling feeling in her stomach! She also mentioned that her third eye was opened. She could see her own aura (electric fields in all human beings).
Her turning point came when God caused her spiritual eyes to open - she witnessed a lady being delivered, wriggling like a snake on the floor. Mdm Choy thanked God for being gracious to her, she took 1-2weeks to be delivered.
She knows of a lady who took 3 months to be cleansed!!
It is a sad thing, there is even yoga lessons For children.
In the States, a Methodist started the Christian yoga. However, there are some believers who still continue, saying that they find no harm after doing yoga for 3 years.
Mdm Choy says it is our soul that is in danger. The evil one will try all ways to ensnare/trap Christians.
Someone in the class raised a question - if we have The Holy Spirit, how can the spirit of kundalini be aroused?
Mdm Choy replied our God is a holy God, the Holy Spirit will be grieved and will depart. God cannot be mocked.
God's spirit left King Saul when he disobeyed God. To God, rebellion spirit is witchcraft.
We are not against yoga teachers, yoga students but we are fighting against powers, principalities in the spiritual realm.
Let's be on guard, be aware!
---------------------------------------------------------------

I had attended Hatha yoga classes for a few months in 2007. When my free time of the following semester did not match with the lessons time, I stopped going to the centre and only practised some poses at home occasionally. Later, I bought a set of two VCDs on self-learning Yoga but hardly finished watching them even once.

Last year, I learned that Christians are not encouraged to practise yoga as it had originated from the Hinduism. Since then, I decided to obey God. The articles "Does Yoga Conflict With Christianity?", "Relaxation Or Occult?" and "Is Yoga Compatible With Evangelical Christianity?" sent by my cell group member further strengthened my mind not to resume any yoga lessons in future. And I finally threw the two VCDs into the dustbin last week when I was tidying the house.

If you wish health to your body and nourishment to your bones, fear the Lord and shun evil (Proverbs 3:7-8). This is a lifelong lesson that you can learn anytime, anywhere with Jesus Christ.