I can only imagine

 I have known this song since I was in the teens but I never grasped the meaning of the song until today in our afternoon prayer meeting at COCM. We read the passage from Revelations 21 and then sang it. I was struck by the picture of one day meeting my Saviour and a deep longing for the day when I finally see God. We often live our day to day life just by the day to day. We focus on the struggles of today, the frustrations of the challenges we face now, or the pleasures we want to pursue to make us happy at this moment, and the successes we would like to have in the next few years. But we rarely remember to look forward to what we are to look forward to the most--an eternity with the Glorious and Almighty God who loves us so much that His plan for those He loves is to give up His Only Son Jesus Christ to give us hope for today and for eternity. It is good to imagine that day. That day when we will meet our Saviour. What a glorious day that will be.
Revelations 21: 1-6

'Then I saw “a new heaven and a new earth,” for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and there was no longer any sea. 
2 I saw the Holy City, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband. 
3 And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Look! God’s dwelling place is now among the people, and he will dwell with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God.
 4 ‘He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death’ or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.”

5 He who was seated on the throne said, “I am making everything new!” Then he said, “Write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true.”

6 He said to me: “It is done. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End. To the thirsty I will give water without cost from the spring of the water of life.'

Greenwich & Hyde Park with the Tan family

Vinsie and family came all the way from the other two sides of the world (US and Malaysia/Singapore) to Europe for a family vacation and their first stop was London so I had to visit and join them for a weekend. They rented an airbnb apartment in Greenwich, so I spent some time with them there and in central London. It was a special experience for me to travel with a big family because I come from a small family of three usually. Here are some of my favourite photos from the weekend. 

I enjoyed being in the company of this sweet and generous couple again after their wedding in Singapore this past December. 

We walked all the way up the hill to see the Royal Observatory and to enjoy a higher vantage point.

We did pay to go in to see the actual line, but we were pretty much at the Meridian line already. The line which represents the Prime Meridian of the World-Longitude 0º. 

"Every place on Earth is measured in terms of its distance east or west from this line. The line itself divides the eastern and western hemispheres of the Earth" 

 Then, we went into the National Maritime Museum briefly.

It is the world's largest maritime museum, filled with inspirational stories of exploration and endeavour at sea and packed to the gunwales with intriguing objects and fascinating galleries. 

I couldn't help but think about how ships was the only way my part of the world was connected to this part of the world. 

After the museum, we headed to Greenwich market for some food and looking around

Jeff and Jesi being happy with their salmon and cheese bagel

Trying the ramen burger (it was yummy) 

Our dessert was a tasty churros with half and half filling of dulce de leche and chocolate sauce, coated with cinnamon sugar. Yum.

 Walking to Hyde Park from Knightsbridge (aka where Harrods is at)

B & V in their matching Uniqlo jackets

Our bunch in Hyde Park. This would be Kaysee explaining that we can see the London eye from here

 Biking by the Serpentine lake

 Purple flowers

The Diana Memorial Fountain

Bertrand wanted a picture in front of the memorial but Vinsie wasn't sure if she was invited to be in the photo but she decided that she would be anyway. ;)

Then we headed to the flower walk after a short break of eating snacks at the picnic tables at the Albert memorial. 

 Family photo in Hyde Park

Adam and Kay See leading the way for all of us

Kensington Gardens