Widows...

Many times, we hear people trying to look for the life extending potions or elixir of life to have added years into their lives or to make them able to walk a few extra years but I say to thee, we all have to die one day. No amount of elixir of extended life herbs or spices or even some hardened birds saliva pieces are going to help one bit in making the heart pump a little extra longer. It is all in the hands of our Creator. When the warranty on the pumps of our hearts are up, it will stop pumping and that's it. I know that what you are thinking is that why am I writing such a morbid and despicable topic, right? The fact is that we all have to die one day eventually but what about the living? How do they cope? How do they get by when the crowd had thinned out? Worst still, who are there to support them - financially, spiritually and mentally? I am talking about widows in our midst of our faith foundation. You'll probably say, " What about them? They have children. Let the children take care of them." We conveniently toss the widow back to the children and biblically say that it is rightly so that the children took care of the widow and wash our hands clean to move on to the next building project or raised funds for other projects or better still, get involved in more money -making project machinery in our churches today. That's how hardened our hearts have become because of the numerous fund-raisers we do in churches today.
Today, I want to lend my moral and spiritual support to the neglected widows in our churches today. They are no less human like us but they have seemed to be the forgotten lot. Let me remind you of a very old Chinese saying that sounds like this : One mother can give birth and take care of 10 children but it is not sure if any of the 10 children can take care of one mother when she is old. How true this saying has become today. As always, any group of people who needs help financially will automatically be a burden to our little faith empire today, isn't it? I speak this with much sarcasm and chagrin towards our little faith foundation. Why? Aren't widows human beings too? Why are widows being shunned to one side in our churches today? Yunno, I am not going to say that all widows are not well to do. I have seen many whom have done well, moved on in their life, struggled, be successful and so on. My question is what about those who faced hardship or whose husband did not leave a penny to their name or bought any life insurances or those who were fleeced by their own children constantly? What about them? What about those who needed spiritual & mental support and encouragement? What are our plans for such widows? How can we extend our hands of help? Have we ever extended any help at all?

Again, we all gather like all good men & women during funeral services , shed some tears, say some nice things during Wake Service and even attend the final ceremony but then, we leave the widows to fend for themselves - for better or for worst. Many widows I know are financially alright after struggling to keep the family afloat but what about those who really needed help? Are there any plans to help them or are they a financial burden to the church financial structure or worst still, threatening the layer of fat in our church current accounts today?

Tell me honestly, how would you cope if our spouse pass away today? Ask this question seriously to yourself? How would you cope emotionally, spiritually and financially? Ask this question to your conscience and answer this with all your heart. We dare stand at the pulpit and shout so much that we want to be the father to the fatherless and what not but we neglect to see the needs of the widows in our own backyard. What a shame indeed! Mind you, we have widows whose husbands were driving forces in helping out the church in many ways and in those 'glorious' days, calls would come to seek their help , asking for financial help and sought favours from them but when they passed away, the calls mysteriously stopped and some have been told to take a bus to church or find your own way to church on Sunday! Such hypocrisy happened and don't give me that shameful dumb look! This is the same group of people whose husbands gave their whole hearted support when they were "needed" but when they passed away, everything seemed to pass away too! Somehow, the Malay proverb, "Kacang lupakan kulit" very aptly described it all.

I say this to you - the widows needs a listening ear. The widows needs a word of encouragement and support. They need to have spiritual guidance and help. They need to have focus and good discussion on their future. They need caring hearts to care for them. Where are we when we are needed? Is it because it doesn't concern us means we don't bother about it? Look, some of these widows are financially strong and cared for by their children but what they really need is care. How have they been cared for? Has our religious institution look into this matter or this is another "burdensome" group in our churches today?

The church is in such a position to help these widows and in turn, these widows will help those struggling widows - young or old after having going through some solid support during their difficult times. This would help strengthened the Body of our faith foundation and at the same time ensure a good continuity of genuine support and love. This is the foresight that churches should have to ensure the growth in love, care and concern. There is no point in shouting and preaching about love, care and concern if we don't even raise one finger to shoulder or spare an ear to listen to the pleas of the widows. Putting it in plain perspective - all talk no action one! I hit a raw nerve, didn't I ?

An old widow shared with me this quip when I was younger - "When you laugh, the whole world laughs with you but when you cry, you cry alone." BTW, my mother is a widow too and I do understand what I am talking about !~

A Jolt.....

Today I want to touch on a variety of subjects which will probably bring some blood oozing/gushing out from the guilty ones or it will bring a lot of joy to the down-trodden/faithful/unfortunate ones. Well, you've guessed it. I prefer to make the "silent" majority happy for this time. For years now, I have seen how the influence of money had corrupted the very institution of faith that I believe in and it is not improving as the years go by. Yes, I would be a fool to say that money is not important in our daily lives but at the same breath, I believe that money not spent on the poor, the needy, the widowed and the less fortunate are itself an inexcusable sin that we all have to bear - from the top to the bottom of the food chain. Sure, we shout and use words to lunge/lash out at the congregation for not putting up our monies, gifts and givings in faith but in the same breath, we hoard the money we receive - put in a fixed deposit for future use, konon [ BTW, I am told that God doesn't need our money because His pavement/walkway is made from precious jewels and precious valuable stone! So, does He need our money? I don't think so ! ] and make the congregation pay some more all under the cloak of financial plans to fill up the coffers or to satisfy one individual dream, needs, cronies and extravagant spending. BTW, it is always about money these days, isn't it? This is the pinnacle of my grouse today and by the way, no one's faith is going to be derailed just because I write something which is not in tune with the pompous ears or eyes today! Anyway, I don't give a two hoots too if you want to know! Enough of fence sitting, get out of your bloody chair and start living right before God. Enough of getting guilty inferences for not giving, badgering and even character assassination plots. Support what is good by all means but stop making excuses and lame lamentation for inexcusable lavishness on personal empire building and building spending!

Build and affirmed lives - not bank accounts! You can start by spending on God's ministries and stop cutting budgets and move the monies elsewhere. From my observation and discussion with various individuals from different churches, this is what I found out. If a ministry is given an allocation of RM 500 a year, I see no reason at all for any ministry to progress or even be motivated to work and shoulder responsibilities! I dearly hold those people at the top of the food chain responsible for any failings because you won't even feed your mom or dad with a RM 500 budget a year, would you? [ Mathematically for those of us who are not so sound in our figures, that comes to RM 41.67 per month! ] lest giving out such paltry sum for the leaders in ministry to work within this budget! When are we going to wake up and start building lives? Please, people & leaders, splash some cold water on your faces and WAKE UP!

Like I have said many times in my writings, it is more blessed to give than to receive but then again, we need to be aware of what is going on. Blind allegiance and blind submission are just some instances of happenings that are hindering our walk with the Father. This is rampant, ridiculously & down rightly inhumane! Why would you support something or decision which is not right and call it right? Just call your shots - let you 'yes' be 'yes' and let your 'no' be 'no'! That's what my Bible says - I don't know about yours, anyway. There is a major trend of building family empire at the top and big bucks spending on making the place of worship such a posh place while serving the purposes of God has taken a back seat. Armed with big buildings, mega congregation and a big fat layer of fixed deposit account in the bank(s), the people of God had turned arrogant, proud and lost our focus on His purposes and HIM. We get sucked up and caught up in so much hype that we constantly say to ourselves, " Never mind, we will always have the poor among us. The Word says so,mah! So, it is okay if we throw a few dollars or loose change into the bag and we have done our part!" What nauseating sacrifice we bring onto the altar of God and this is not even helped by the people at the top who are supposed to guide us through! No wonder, we see no miracles, do no miracles and even feel no miracles. What we have is the artificial flavouring of " feel good" channel and a world of make believe and plenty of make-up and make-up artists!

Imagine this scenario, if God, in all His glory and splendor , trades in the splendor to rag clothes and filthy stench, walk on the street today as a pauper, no one would know him lest give a two hoots to him. The same is said if he walks into churches today,I would bet my very last dollar that he would be asked to sit at the far end corner or even asked if this was his first time in the church. He would probably be asked if he would come again or worst, he would be asked to leave the place and get a shower too when the stench is unbearable. Who will actually take the trouble to take this pauper to the toilet, wash him up and get him back into our place of worship? I pose this question to you and may you answer this with all honesty in your heart!

But if a well-dressed man strolls into our institution today even though he doesn't have one dime to his name, people will greet him or even welcome him with infallible open arms because he "looked" proper, a man of stature and he smells nice too! This is not an example of fiction. This is reality. Face it and know that we are so obsessed with how we look each Sunday and dressing up to kill the eyes around us that it has become a norm for all of us. We judged the book by its cover whether you like to hear this or not unless you have the compassion/wisdom that had been instilled in you by God. Search our hearts, thump our hearts and petition our hearts. Does wearing short pants and slippers to our institution unacceptable to God or to us? Does the next person who smells bad offends us or offends God? The list goes on, my friends. Of course, there will be defenders of the universe that says that we are to dress our best and finest, smell good and give our very best to God but isn't it being mentioned that what is on the outside is the least importance to God than what is in the inside? Like I said earlier, that's what my Bible says!

Ah! The other thing is that we constantly proclaimed that we have a shortage of leaders. We speak out like a sore thumb in the middle of our fiery address in saying, " The workers are few but the harvest is bountiful". But we do nothing to raise young leaders but keep sticking to old horses who have probably a few good years in their life to serve or worst still, we punish our old leaders further by pushing them to one corner and never giving them an opportunity to step up the plate. I am no saying that the old leaders are not good but they have served well and if they want to continue, by all means, they should be given every chance to serve but it is the young leaders that I am more interested. A blend of old and new would be ideal. Sadly, we still have the same old horse tightening the rein rather than letting go and training new leaders. My question is simply this:- Have we devised plans to groom leaders or stuff leadership roles down the throats of the people we "think" can work in such roles or plainly "yes man only club". How could leaders ever progressed if their entire limbs attached to their body are being gagged or tied up with instruction and what not rather than progressing from the rank and file and developing creative ideas? Leaders are trained and built from the various ministries. They should be nurtured, built, refined and groomed for leadership. There has to be succession plan for the ministries. Yes, I agree strongly that no one - man or woman is indispensable as it is God's ministry - not an individual right to hang on to power and position. Today, we have people holding on to power like some prized possession. Look, we are all going to grow old an die eventually one day - that's for sure and we should get the young people to take over our leadership roles. That's why plans would have to be devised to ensure this. My grim reminder to all of us is just this : Let us never forget that the world is an ever willing teacher to our children and our youths today. The world's attraction simply outstrips the half-baked bread that we serve in our faith foundation today. We must serve hot bread and proclaim living bread each time or else our youth/youth leaders will fall like snow flakes in the midst of the piranha-infested society we have today. Maybe my readers are thinking that I am writing about a certain organisation but let me tell you that this is not about a certain organisation but it is something happening generally in our faith foundation in our country today. As always, I gained nothing and I seek nothing from expressing what is in my heart. Only the love for God's people.

For goodness heaven sake, stop shifting the blame, own up your mistakes and WAKE UP!~

Expertise learning curve...

For the last few days, I had the privilege to work with a few special people in one of the works where I am helping out. The people whom I am working with are forensic specialist. They try to avoid using the tag "forensic experts" on this occasion as the expectations are way too much for anyone to actually shoulder that nice sounding title. Just like if you are good at what you are currently doing, you are actually a specialist in your own esteemed field. Like wise in the last few days, I had the privilege of working with one very experienced forensic guy. So, when I have the opportunity to learn from the best, I just couldn't resists nor let this opportunity drop by.
Yup, to me, just because you are good in your field doesn't mean that learning stops. An old wise friend of mine used to tell me that there is no end to learning and gathering of knowledge. There is always something fascinating to discover each day and might as well learn from the best, right? As usual, when I got a call to attend to this , I scampered quickly out of my seat and headed straight to the site to meet these fellas. So, it is really nice to be able to speak to Khai and Bob at the site. After the formalities and pleasantries, I told Khai that I am still seeking knowledge and I want to learn as much as possible from this experience. He took one look at me and burst into laughter telling Bob, the new guy that they should be learning from me. Anyway, Khai and I have worked on a few jobs before this and we knew each other. We always share our information we gather and it helped us to get on with our job pretty easily. I have always respected Khai for his excellent work on details and great deduction mind. So , this time, it is no different. Anyway, we shared information on the potential task ahead of us and we each knew what to do. Though our tasks were constantly met with frustrations, some form of lung exercise by screaming and gut-pulling disappointments [ sometimes, fringing on pulling out our most important commodity - our hairs ! ] , we slowly made progress and hoping for a breakthrough in our task.

Like I said, though we may be on different path of investigations and substantiating of evidences and facts, we had one common ground - the TRUTH~ I guess, we hit it off at the task because the three of us were interested in the truth of what had happened. The first few hours were strangely filled with mountainous barriers of rubbles, dirt and dust particles which could fill your lungs within seconds. Countless strings of Cantonese obscenities spew out from me [ but they seemed futile as the clearing team made up namely of Banglas, Vietnamese and Indonesians! ] but then , it was more rubble, more dirt and more dust. It was as though hampering works were on-going so that we would not uncover the ugly truth. [ Malaysia Boleh-mah! ] Anyway, at the end of our 3 days collaboration, we took to our hearts that we had tried our best and tried various other channels to gain our ultimate findings - the truth to what could have possibly happened. We succeeded in another channel and that was more than satisfying for us as truth seekers. The common jargon out there namely " you may find the truth but you may not like what you find" is absolutely true but we take heart that we have , at least, carried out our job in the very best of our capability and our ability.

After all, I believed firmly in sleeping well at night unlike some people who would probably be squirming on theirs beds on what we had uncovered!~ Yiiiiiiipppppppppppeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!

"Pants on the ground"...

I've always enjoyed American Idol since Day1 and Season 9 is no exception. I know that this is the show with great human drama, great vocals, great stories plus some great entertainment moments. Yeah, it's a singing competition show but the drama is really incredible. You can just see every available human reaction in this show. The reality is there is always the joy of getting into the next round of competition and the bitter & agony feeling of defeat. Not forgetting the thrills and spills of colourful words and censored device bleeps everytime a sour grape losses a spot. In true competition spirit, there must winners and there must losers. I am totally against too much ego feeding and too much sugar-coat encouragement that sometimes you think you are good when you can actually sound horribly wrong and hit not a single note right! Well, I am speaking about musical notes-lah! Well, some contestants just can't get that in their head when it comes to this!I must say that Simon Cowell does sound annoying at times but at least he is being honest and truthful about talents - Honestly, of all the judges, I like him a lot. He doesn't give a two hoots to anyone except telling the fact as it is. Well, that's what it should be, folks. Afterall, they are trying to unearth America's best singing talent, right? Just like most of you, I , too, will break into the songs sometimes whenever I hear great songs being sung....Well, I am not a crooner nor claim to have any talent in singing but we all have our moments in the bathroom during showers, right? Remember, holding the bar soap or the shampoo bottkle and pretending it's the microphone? Sounds familiar? Tsk!Tsk!Tsk! Don't look so innocent and angelic, ok? Anyway, it is fun to sing our lungs out, right?

As I missed the back portion of yesterday's show, I decided to watch it this morning and I just couldn't stop laughing my brains and lungs out. When contestant 103519 - General Larry Platt came out to do his own rendition of "Pants on the ground", I rolled on the ground, " pa ling tau" laughing and having a good time. I could have sworn that I've not had a great morning like what I had today. It's been a long long long time since I had such a great morning. It really started my day right! Yunno, General Larry Platt didn't sound awful. He sounded quite good actually but he's 62 years old and he is struting his stuff like he's in his 2o's, man. While many of our 62 year olds would probably be rolling in the graves or having to hold on to a walking stick or support, this man just came on the set, confident and did his stuff. Well, he is famous alright by now by such a brave display for a 62 year old man! I guess, that's they beauty of music - even a 62 year old man can come up with some simple lines for his gig, man. For all of you who missed his performance, go to youtube and see it for yourself. It's original and it's a fun thing for this sweet man. Boy, I will never forget this man for what he did. He has got to be real brave to do what he did on National TV.

Mr. General Larry Platt - I salute you! BTW, it was a great morning and it's good to have a hearty laugh in the morning. It helps to boost your day and get you into a great start mode. " Pants on the ground" , "Pants on the ground", "Looking like a fool with your pants on the ground."..................

Hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaahhahahahaa.

Blackout... a different outlook

The other day, I came back from work - physically and mentally drain and to make the matter worst, there was an electrical blackout at my taman. It would have been a natural reaction on my part to let go a few colourful words of "wisdom" and at the same time get into my moody mode but instead, I decided not to participate is such state of situation anymore. Hey! We all have to change in one way or another and change at one point of our life, right? Nope! This is not my New Year resolution either. I just wanted to start"anew" in my life. I wanted to be ........... able to react differently to the situation around me. That's all. I am forthright and honest about this and I am sure this change will make me a better person.

So, when I saw SLing & SYuen sitting at the porch enjoying a net of small tangerine, it was a potrait perfect of peace and fun. We have never done this before and I thought it was a swell idea by SLing & SYuen. So, I decided to join in the fun , went to the front small storeroom , took out a camp chair and just enjoyed the moment of bliss. SLing suggested that I had dinner at the porch which I gladly did. With a plate with spoonfuls of rice [ gotta slow down on the rice thing! ] , a big dose of cabbage and a good spread of " tempra chicken", it was heavenly. Somehow, dinner tasted real good that day. I even suggested that SLing light up the candle holder we have at the porch area which illuminated so much light. As the daylight faded fast as the hour went by, it was time for us to get into the comfort of our home. Usually, there would be a good breeze but that day, somehow, the breeze were not forthcoming.

Yunno, after the cleaning up and so on, we lighted up a candle in our living room. The light that was from the single candle drew so much clarity in a dark environment. Imagine , just one light from the candle could bring so much difference - just like our lives too, right? Think about it~ let us be light in the midst of the darkness around us and we will be okay. BTW, being in the light also meant being bold, strong, speaking the truth amidst all the sugar-oated messages/statements, standing up for what is right and just , helping others along the road to the heavenly realms and being one who is able to speak without fear nor favour.

That night, I realised too that the more modern facilities we get stocked up in our home and the more dependent we are to our electricity supply, when things like breakdown or blackout appears, all seemed like lost and totally unusable. It is like having a headless chicken running around in the midst of utter confusion. It is back to basics. Maybe God wants us to be that way- going back to basics and putting our focus back to Him in these last days. Afterall, sound system, new organ, new mixer, new projector, new building and all the modern facilities seemed useless when you do not have any electricity supply to power it up. Probably the generator would help for a few hours but that too is temporary power, right? BTW, I am writing figuratively for all of us to digest and digress.

It is funny that one night of blackout can mean so much to me! Somehow, the heavenly message I received into my heart is this : ~ Back to basics ! Focus on HIM ! ~

Zoo Fun..

Today was our 1st Royal Rangers meeting for the year 2010. In keeping up with our fine tradition of starting the new year with a resounding approval, we took the children and the adults to Zoo Melaka. There were about 28 of us and we didn't waste much time after our lunch to board the van and cars ; headed towards our joy - Zoo Melaka. There was a lot of noise in the van as we took about 15 minutes to reach our destination. I guess, you have to expect some form of noise pollution when you put about 14 tiny tots with different personalities & characters together in one sweet van. There will be endless chatter of excitement, teasing and all that. Like I said, it was lucky I have about 6 others bigger boys and girls accompanying them or else, the voices of these younger one would blow the fuse of my eardrums! I was really amused when one of the bigger boys asked me if he was like that when he was smaller. I replied , " Yup, you were also exactly like these tiny tots when you first joined the Royal Rangers Ministry!" He just shook his head and said, " Now, I can imagine and understand what you leaders have to go through!" I guess, it's payback time for these bigger boys and girls! Well, all this is done in good spirit and in jest. Sure! These young ones are going to make a lot of noise because they are excited and in the group. This will probably excite them even more especially with the group spirit and all that. Then, young leaders were then assigned to take care of the smaller one and off we go into the zoo. There was indeed plenty of changes happening in the zoo especially the front section of the zoo whereby a new tank with two baby crocodiles were situated. Overall, the set-up was nicely done while there were plenty of new animals around. I guess, I was captivated being able to see the almost extinct red panda in our Melaka Zoo. There was also rhinoceros and zebras located at the front section area and one of the rhino was having a leak at that time and it brought a lot of laughter to the children. I was really happy for the children seeing their smiling faces and their quirky laughter. It makes it all so poignantly beautiful indeed. There were Seladang, tigers, Ankole, deers, birds, cybara, ducks, wildebeest, porcupine, primates, eagles, herons, marmoset, lemurs, otters, crocodiles & alligators, iguanas and so much to see.

I guess, the best part of the trip was the elephant ride for all the young children. They gleefully agreed to do the elephant ride while it was still within our budget to give them a ride of their lives. I was told that the elephant's name was Honey and she is from Thailand. Such a huge animal with a such a gentle name. I guess, what brought a lot of cheer to my heart was were the smiling faces of the children. It brought a lot of good cheer to my heart. I guess, in a ministry such as ours, it is good to have a great time with these young lives. I wouldn't be surprised that one day, these young ones would grow up and talk about this ride even when I am no more on this earth. Such is the impact we can do for the lives of these young ones!
To me, what ever is done today had been the norm in the Royal Rangers Ministry. My leaders and I want to impact lives by reaching , teaching and keeping children for Christ! We need not do it by the books but we certainly can do it with the lives we share through activities like this where we introduced the beauty of God's creation and getting the children to appreciate God's creation. Tell me the truth- how many parents actually have the time to bring their children to zoo nowadays or share some classic times like riding on the back of a Thai elephant on a Sunday afternoon? Hmmnnnn..... guilty as charged , right? Well, this is not taking you on a guilt trip, ok? I am sure we all have our own reasons - one way or another. The leaders and I just want to bless these children's lives - no ifs , not buts , no hesitation! Just do it! Many times, as leaders, we procrastinate a lot and by then, lives are lost and catching up time is equally lost. That is why ministries are important. Each ministry in our church today serves different functionality but one to bring up a God-fearing and loving children in our society today. That's why I have been in this ministry for the past 10 years now seeing lives being touched by God and changed by God, seeing young boys & girls grow up as leaders and later start their own family imparting to their children the very same ideas and principles we have taught all these years.

Like I have always said, to me, seeing the joy on the faces of the children is itself a reward to my humble heart. To hear a boy/girl asks " Comdr. Ivan, when is the next meeting?" with his/her sweaty, smiling and rosy cheeks brings lots of good cheer to my heart and soul. That is the indication that I am serving the Lord in my fullest capacity and ability. I take heart that I have made at least one boy or one girl smile and be happy by my presence today. To me, no one can rob that reward and satisfaction from my heart today! BTW, my leaders and I are tired to our bones catching up with the children's pace but with God's help, we will do our best!~

My Community Message...

"Rern" [ Mandarin - I hope I got this right! ] - Endure

Changes..

Today, I just want to render my heartiest thanks to friends from afar and near who had been concerned of my family well-being amidst the unfortunate incident which rocked our pivotal faith foundation and our nation today. Yunno, these friends of mine know that I am a Christian and that meant a lot to me. I will stand up and be accounted for as a Christian and be part of the Christian citizen of this country statistic. I was deeply touched when a Muslim friend ( husband and wife ) of mine from my school days called me up to offer his support and concern over what had happened and condemned the senseless donkeys [ that's what he said, actually! ] We chatted for an hour and it rekindle my faith that there are plenty of good Malaysians around except for those who has no regards nor respect for other Malaysians in this beloved nation. From this call, it triggered off other calls from more friends and friends from other religious faith. I am overwhelmed by their support, care and concern. They are truly beautiful Malaysians.

When I went to the church prayer meeting yesterday night eventhough I was quite late, dressed still in my work clothes, I could see men and women of faith praying and petitioning to our Lord to continue to bless this nation of ours. I was on my knees thanking the Lord for His strength in all of us. As the attending people prayed for our nation, the tone was total forgiveness for the perpetrators and also for God, the Father to love and protect the people irrespective of race, colour and creed. We prayed , intercede and petition fo God for calmness and peace to prevail. We prayed for blessings upon the people of this nation and also upon our leaders. There is simply no banners, no posters nor demonstrations here - just the heart and soul of the Christians praying their hearts out for this nation of ours where you and I live in. This is what Christians do - be on their knees, be prayerful, be aware of the needs of the poor and needy, be conscious of the needs of the people around us and to know that God loves us and that we should shine that love to others around us.

As Christians today, I dare say that we have lost our focus in God. We erect buildings after buildings and plunder our financial resources on buildings to contain God when we should helping the poor, the needy and be a blessing to the everyday people on the street. This is a wake up call to Christians to heed the call of God to pray, to see to the needs of the people, to bless our nation , to pray for our leaders and to be a blessing to others. We are called to propel God's love and love the unloved. This is what God have entrusted us to do. We need to wake up from our slumber, complancency, aristocratic living, gangrenic lifestyles, "holier-than-art" attitude and examined our purpose in God. I take heart form this experience that God is doing His mighty works of change. A fresh wind of change is sweeping over us and coming our way. Let us be ready for the change that He brings and may we be blessed in every way.

Once again, thank you, my friends wherever you may be! God bless you, Malaysians!

Ugly Malaysians! Forgive them..

My heart saddens and filled with much grief when I came to know that a few churches had been blatantly torched late yesterday night. Though there weren't any congregation at church in that late hours of the night but there is always a watchman in these building. What would have happened if the watchman was trapped inside a flaming building? Who would like to explain to their family members on what had happened? Should there be death before the authorities can act? Do we want to fan more sentiments of religious hatred?

To me, torching a building is a cowardly act, master of all dumbness and doesn't even represent any religion that we practised in our nation today. It is definitely a waste of God's gift to bestow upon these "people on motorbikes" with brains, actually, if you ask me. As Christians, let us not react the way these brainless people wants us to react. Even though this is a blatant provocation and an invitation for us to meet with intimidation and fear tactics, Christians and Malaysians as a whole nation are a mature lot. Let us not be fearful nor afraid of such intimidation but to remain calm and always in prayer. Remember, our Christian faith teaches us to love our enemies and turn the other cheek even with our tormentors. I know that it is easier said than done but we are mature enough to weather this storm. I must say that this blatant attack is not about religion. These attacks are to me, personally, a political boost to a waning support the government had been craving for all these while. The things that will rile up the rakyat is either by fanning the hatred flames on race or creating controversy in religious interpretation. Many educated and non-educated Malaysians of all faith get sucked in and get themselves entangled in such hatred games. At the end of the day, the hatred is so thick that it leads to such momentary act of stupidity and moronity. We have seen this tactical ploy being played over and over again from generations to generations. It is a curse to our nation to have leaders like that and we must pray to break this bondage of hatred & misunderstanding against one another. Historical facts don't lie and we, as good Malaysians - Malay, Chinese, Indians, Sikh, Dayaks, Kadazans, Portuguese and others MUST stand the test of such times in our nation. We must continually stand in the gap in our respective faith to pray for all Malaysians irrespective of race, colour, creed or faith. Let us not be a tool of such dastardly act of ignorance and hatred. Let us promote love , respect and faith in one another.

As a Christian, I stand here today to appeal for my brothers/sisters in the Christ to stay CALM and at peace. I appeal greatly to you to pray and to intercede more than ever even if all of our churches are burnt to the ground today. Like I said many times, the church building doesn't make you a Christian. It is the love of God and only the love of God that will truly prevail. His Grace is sufficient to us! Let us forgive our perpetrators and stand on His Word of Grace and Mercy!

SHALOM & PEACE BE WITH YOU!

Sing chia pore !

What can I say about the kiasuland? Well, they certainly live up to their name, that's for sure, folks! Yup, the folks are snobbish, unresponsive and generally have deaf ears as music blast through their ears with the use of Ipod and what not! However, we do meet up with a few nice ones occassionally and that includes Pastor Lawrence and wife, Evelyn who came to meet us and had a meal at Marche [ We pronounced it as "mar chee" the singlish way-lor! If not, the Indians would have called it " ma char" ] Anyway, you may ask what was I doing there,right? Well, to be honest, my friends and I including our families just wanted to spend a few hours at Orchard Road, Singapore for some window shopping and it's the New Year spirit-lar! Kinda having some adventurous spirit to start the year!
Well, we started out from the CIQ complex to the Kranji station and lastly to the stop at Orchard Road via the MRT. I must say that it was smooth and efficient alright. [ Still having " The next station is _____ . Mind the platform gap. Doors are closing. " ringing in my ears and head. Sigh! ]But one thing I can't stand was the walking from CIQ to ascending the 170 bus to Woodlands and all the mad rush. Other than that, it was quite an enjoyable time for all of us. While travelling in the MRT , we had to wait 12 or 13 stops before reaching our destination. So, while in the train, we made full use of our humour and creative skills to pose for camera shots while we have a blast in the MRT. The Singaporeans who boarded the same train with us would have just winced and showed us their digusted/bewildered faces just like what we would do when they come over to our country. So, it's fair and square-lor! Anyway, laughing our heads off and having fun were the order of the day. Upon reaching Orchard Road, we started our walk to all the places we could think off. We entered branded and posh household names shop and drooled like mad but we managed to wipe off our drool when we saw the prices! After a short memory conversion of the financial exchange rate, it is better we drool than lose our pants later! There were definitely many interesting shops in Orchard Road which is actually the high end part of the country. I wonder if these branded shop names could actually survive in such a place. Looking at the packed departmental stores, I can only presume that there will be business afterall. For us, we were just out for fun and by the way, if you were to do the conversion of currency at some of the prices, you'll probably have a massive stroke or massive haemorrage leaving you to bled unendingly, actually in your bank account & wallet. I guess, if you work in kiasuland and earn kiasu dollars, the prices are alright. So, I am very adamant that my good cold cash could be put in a better place - either Haadyai or Bangkok! When you spent RM 3.05 or S$ 1.25 for a bottle of mineral water, it's time you travel a little further up north.

I guess, we are all here for the fellowship and fun. Spending lunch at Marche was really fun. Though the prices can be shocking for you if you convert but overall, the ambience and the food are really good. Shockingly, I am truly amazed by the food and the interior decor of oak wood timber which is very impressive indeed. Even the toilet door opens for you when you go near it. It gives me the "chuak" feeling when I went in there to put out a small fire in the toilet. Everything is sensor driven, from flushing to the washing of your hands and to the door. Again, the decor is pleasantly nice and conducive for a leak & tweak session! As for food , I ended up with cheese, ham and vegetables topping crepes and a bottle of Australian root beer which cost me a total of S$ 14.80.All in all, my family spent about S$ 85.00 for the lunch. Like I said, don't do the maths or else, you'll probably fly off the building and land squat on the tarmac! BTW, it is not that we eat this way everyday and so, I consoled myself that it is ok-lor. I could swear that my heart missed a beat when I saw the cashier punched in the figures with a swipe of the food card! Look, it is not that I am stingy or whatsoever. It is just that I am quite careful with how I spend my hard-earned money which comes with a lot of stress, hardwork, coughing of blood, stabbing and sometimes, vomitting of blood! [ Tsk!Tsk!Tsk! Clue for the bosses -lar! ] This is said with lots of humour and good cheer! On a more serious note, I really enjoy the variety of meals offered and the great fellowship together with Dr.Nevan ( Sathy's cousin ), Dr.Nevan's friend [ pathologist ] and Pastor Lawrence & Sis.Evelyn. It was a real fun time.

That day, I think we walked around Orchard Road and would tally at least about 7km walk, had loads of laughter before heading back to Bolehland! There were certainly a lot of things to see and to have a good laugh. Quality of life is simply much better here but during one of our pit stop rest, I realised that there weren't many elderly people around on the streets. The streets are crawling and swarmed by young yuppies, PYT and early 40's characters. There is hardly any old people around. I guess, life is different here in Singapore, huh? I wonder if the old folks home are full at this time of the year!

All in all, it was a good day but by golly, my feet hurt so bad from all the walking. All it needs is some hot water soaking, some foot pampering and some love. Pulai Springs Resort, here we come!~

Love Abounds 3 ~ Wedding Dinner!

Awesome wedding dinner reception at Restaurant Pekin Sutera, Johor Baru !~

Love Abounds 2 ~ Church Wedding

Amor vincit omnia~ [ Latin ] - Love conquers all !~