Who Would Have Known?

A cry was heard, a baby's born
The little boy in a manger lay
A mother's care, a father's love
To guard against all despair
And as they look into His eyes
Did they realise?
That He was meant to die
Give life to all mankind

While other children laugh and play
He went to teach in the sacred place
Told the people He has come
To share about the Father's grace
And as they gazed into His face
Did they realise?
That He was meant to save
And to show the Way

(Chorus)
And who would have known?
That He would change history
Cos through His sacrifice
He could change our lives
Jesus, His arms are opened wide
To draw us to His side
If we believe in Him
He'd forgive all our sin

And as He grew into a man
Upon the truth He took stand
He mingled with the fishermen
Sinners could not comprehend
And as they listen to His voice
Did they realise?
That He was meant to be
The Messiah on Calvary

He took our sin and all our shame
Stretched His arms on that fateful
Torn and scarred with tears of love
That cane freely from His heart
And as we call upon His Name
We should realise
We'd see Him face to face
On that final day

Let All The Nations Shout Praises...

Who is there like you among the gods?
The Holy One who sits on the throne
You wrap Yourself in light as a garment
You speak and the mountains tremble
The clouds are Your chariots
The stars light Your way
You are Lord
You are God

Let all the nations shout praises
To the King of Kings
And Lord of lords
Every heart will sing
Let all the people give honour
And glory to Your Name
Your righteousness
Proclaimed through all the earth
Hallelujah

Who is there like You O mighty God?
Exalted high above all else
The heavens declare Your majesty
You ride on the winds of power
The earth sings Your greatness
Creation is amazed
By Your love
By Your grace

The One and Only Hockey Match...

Finally succeeded in orchestrating a meeting with Tomasina, a friend I haven't seen for almost 20 years (since 1987)!!! Brought back such memories of stern teachers, notorious students, choral speaking, the stage drama that became a comedy etc. One of the highlights of these recollections was a hillarious hockey game we had to play as Form 3C1..during the Interclass Sports Tournament after the SRP exams...

Being class monitor then, I was given the task of assigning everyone to a team..no problems coming up with a chess team (being more of the..er..'nerdy' bunch)..netball went to the 'kongsi gelap'..slight hitch with badminton..even managed to scramble up the girls for table tennis..and the REST..made up the hockey team!!! In order to tackle the huge task ahead, we had to firstly learn how hockey works (only 2 out of the 11 had any inkling)...

Important lessons learnt or figured out on our own (unfortunately, we didn't have 'The Complete Guide to Hockey for Dummies' then):

• There is such a thing called 'back stick' and the referee will blow the whistle should anyone be caught using that (which happened every other minute during our games)
• If you hit the 'ball' (or puck) against an opponent's legs, it belongs to you..cos that's technically called an 'obstruction'
• You can rival gophers and develop the art of hole-digging in the field
• The hockey stick is quite sturdy to lean on when you need a rest..and decide to watch others run up and down the field instead
• It's handy to have a goal-keeper who can block half the size of the post

Alas!..No, we didn't win but we only lost 1-0 to a team that had a few school and championship players..not bad considering the odds and the severe lack of practice and experience we had! 3 cheers for 3C1 indeed..HIP HIP HOORAY!!!

Inspiration..Incubation..Birth of A New Song!

We had our 4th 'Tunesmiths' meeting on Monday 8 Oct...it dawned on me that song-writing can often turn out to be a long-drawn and ardous process. Beginning to discover what 'brooding over a song' means. Technicalities aside, there are many other considerations..asking questions such as..is the melody too repetitive?..too complex for people remember?..are the lyrics too cliche?.. should it be past tense, present tense or past participle??? To be honest, it's already quite an effort coming up with one verse, what more TWO!!! Ha ha ha ha...and of course, we must try to maximise the use of such promising chords..sustained 4th..augmented 5th..diminished 7th..plus the 2nd, 6th, 9th, 11th and 13th notes..

And finally..VERY IMPORTANTLY..the whole debate about whose baby it was?..should it be 'a baby's born, a cry was heard'..which came first..the chicken or the egg??? You go and figure this one out..ha ha ha!

"A cry was heard, a baby's born

Bringing hope for tomorrow

A mother's care, a father's love

Against all fears and sorrows

But could they smile upon their little child

Knowing He would die THAT day

Gave His life to set me free"