An Honour.....

When I wrote the article entitled "A Touch of Lives" on 25November, 2008, I didn't know that a few lines from the article would appear on some special Penang net tv. So , imagine my utter shock and elation in seeing the lines appearing on the special focus main page. I didn't know about this until my good friend, Vive gave me a call and told me about it. Anyway, I give all glory and honour to God for allowing me to feel and write my honest and humble experience in serving in the Big Party in Tabernacle of Praise [ TOP ], Penang. It was truly an amazing experience! An experience I would cherish in my heart always! It was serving God at the best!

Yunno, you can see this special video presentation of the Big Party at : http://www.penangnettv.com/

To me , the pastor, Pastor Geoffrey Yee and the people of TOP who had served diligently at the Big Party are the ones who deserved the most honour and accolades! God bless you, servants of God! Keep up the serving heart and be blessed always!

P/s If you are visiting my blog, please do leave a comment. I would appreciate that a lot.

Ryan...Oh Ryan...

Hmmmnnnn.... I was back in Seremban with the family over the weekend and what can I say about my favourite nephew.........Pure bliss! Funny it may seemed, he seemed to be crying a lot nowadays but he's one intelligent boy. Approximately 15 months now, he is really intelligent coz' he gave us all a spin in the head sometimes with his shrill shrieks of crying but at the same time, his smiles can melt the hardest heart around!!! That's call intelligence and super duper smarty!
Ah Yes! He is virtually stuck to his mother, Jade, like a sticky glue while he is also sticky towards my mother-in-law. Could see him throwing some baby tantrums [ boy, he can really spread his lungs a bit when he screams! ] and so on but overall, he's quite adorable, actually! Yeah, fascinating kid actually. You see, m-i-l was consoling him that it was raining outside but he kept pointing outside with tears streaming down his cheeks. So finally when mil brought him out, m-i-l told him it was raining. At this point , he pointed to the hanging pink umbrella, man! To me , this is one clever dude-lar! But we didn't take him out and so, he screams-lar! I like that, actually! Spunky, smarty and give the lungs some good workout! We consoled him by playing with him but the Barney and friends disc seemed to do it's job most effectively. Between sobs and some baby language, he'll be sitting down to see the Barney show then it'll all quieten down soon after. A few good pat on the back by Jade and soon, he'll be asleep! Then, it'll be some peace and quiet again in our kingdom. Two hours later , the king is back and he roars again before smiling again to his subjects - us, the king's people! Great kid...eerrrr...king with some tantrum issues! Ha.....ha......ha.......
After all being said and done, Ryan is a really wonderful kid. His smiles are captivating and he's really a fun baby to play with. He really is a bundle of energy when you play with him. He can be really a heart wrencher when he takes his small pillow and puts his head down on it as if he's sleeping. That's really nice!
Christmas present.....hmmmmmnnnn...... two and half feet long with 0.3mm diameter and light brown/dark brown in colour item commonly known as "revival of the annual nature" or the ROTAN! Ha..................ha....................ha.........

He has grown up and we are already missing him! Sigh! We miss him!~

Naughty Act.....

While in Tesco superstore during break, I decided to answer nature's call at the Men Washroom. So, there I was together with about 7 to 8 people crammed in a 10'x10' enclosure filled with permeating assorted smells waiting for a chance to douse off our internal fire. I tell you, holding out can be a painful experience but a wait is still a wait. Anyway, together with the men in the washroom came this two tiny tots of probably 6 and 7 year olds joining in the mad pack of men.

These two sneaky boys were practically a nuisance in the washroom ~ knocking on doors and practically trying to touch everybody. [ Tsk...tsk....tsk...where did they learn their manners from, I wonder! ] Incidentally, one of the three hanging urinals was out of order and they actually took a peek at it and laughing their heads off.

Then came the turn of this elderly gentlemen in front of me who took to the front urinal. These two goon boys went over and actually took a peek at his pecker - lar! They then spoke in Mandarin and I translate :~ " Uncle's pecker look like the small sea cucumber!" said one fella while the other fella said and I quote ," Doesn't look like it had a lot of water!" Then they burst out laughing! Imagine in a public toilet, near the urinals and these two rascals were making fun at the old man! The worst part was that they were peeking at the old man's freaking pecker, man ! [ To me, that's private and off limit totally, dude! ] The old man was mad and rightly so too and giving the two boys a good shelling! But still, they were smiling and laughing all the way.

I thought it was funny in a way but major disgraceful in another! Sure would like to meet these boys parents and tell them what their boys did! Embarrassing an old man and making disgraceful remarks! Sheesh! These two goons should be caned hard and so should their parents too! Manners , people! Manners ~ teach the young ones manners!

Where have decency and manners gone too, right? So, the next time you go to the washroom and used the urinals, make sure no one is peeking at your pecker,man! Also, beware of these tiny goons!~

A Reflection....

Last night, Soon Ling and I attended the wake service of one Mr. A.C.Nonis. In all honesty, Soon Ling and I don't know this man but we do know his son, our friend, Dr.Joel and his spouse, Anna. I came to know that Mr. A.C.Nonis was a teacher, a Scoutmaster and a man of few words. I was really astounded by the number of people who turned up for the wake service. I couldn't imagine such a crowd at a wake service. There must be something good that this man had done to deserve such a crowd at his wake service. After mingling and listening to the words of sharing from Dr.Joel, granddaughter, Mariel and Anna. I was awe struck by what I have heard about this man. I was told that he led a very simple life, a man of principles and a man of few words but he was a man where action speaks louder than words. Obviously, he impacted many people's lives by the huge numbers of flower stands with words like "Deepest Condolence " from Class of 57, 69 and so on. I had the opportunity to speak to one Uncle Lee who was a student of Mr. A.C.Nonis in 1957 and he was Uncle Lee's English teacher! He had really good words for this man. Wow! Look what a simple teacher can do to affect the lives of his students!

This morning, I attended the funeral service at St.Peter's Church. Again, a good crowd of people were at the funeral service. An array of young to the old to the very old were at the service. As I was about to be seated , I saw the arrival of Joel's eldest daughter, Fleur, who managed to get back from Germany in time to catch the funeral serving. Yeah! She was weeping all the way. Service went on as usual and I just followed what went on though I couldn't really understand the standing up and the sitting down thing. However, I was really impressed by the Eulogy part which was a great tribute to this man, Mr.A.C.Nonis. The Eulogy was beautifully handled by Mr.Peter Suan. Anyway, I could have sworn that I didn't see any dry eyes this morning as the casket was wheeled out of the church heading towards the crematorium.

I guess, the grieving actually starts when the family goes home later, I know it because I've gone through it. However, as I reflect on the teachers who had been such a tremendous impact on my life, I just want to say thank you to the late Mr. Chua Cheng Chye, the late Mr. K.O.Chandy, Mr.Boon Kim Bock [ thank you so much for encouraging me a lot in my younger days in school, sir! ] , Mr.Wong Swee Lim [ a real encourager ], Mrs.Betty Dorsen, Mrs.C.Navaratnam [ I enjoyed the Chapel service ! ], Mr. Phu Ah Kwee [ my Form teacher who actually took the time to advise me! ], Mr. Alex Lim [ hard man but caring at heart! ], Mr.Seow M.L. [ my Add maths teacher who goes really bonkers teaching me! ] and so many other men and women who had been such an inspiration in my life! Naughty and nuisance I may be but I think, I turned out alright,though!

Today, I salute the man I don't know - Mr.A.C.Nonis. All I know, he was an encourager to many people. He was a husband, a father , a teacher, a Scoutmaster and a real human being. That to me, my friend, is reason enough to salute this man!

Here's a toast to you, SIR! ~ In Memory :- Mr. A.C. Nonis [ 1936 - 2008 ]

Birthday Greetings ... Special People!

At this special month of December, I want to extend my heartiest birthday greetings to BA and Alyna, part of my newfound friend/family in Penang!

God bless you both and may the good Lord blesses you abundantly in all ways and always!

One more thing, I miss you guys a lot ~ BA, Alyna, Jessy, Esther, Darien & Deriss !

Happy Birthday! God bless you all!~

An Interesting Quip....

I was passing by a friend's desktop when I saw these fascinating quips:-

Said Also Don't Listen
Listen Also Don't Understand
Not Understand Also Don't Ask
Ask Also Don't Do
Do Also Do Wrong
Wrong Also Don't Admit
Admit Also Don't Correct
Correct Also Not Happy
Not Happy Also Don't Say

I guess, you've gotta translate this to the Cantonese dialect and you'll understand better ~

Anyway, putting it as plain as possible ~ it's a vicious cycle all over again!

Enjoy this ~

A Friend In Need.....

For the past few days in the midst of hectic schedule and good times, I am also buoyed and distressed by a situation my childhood friend from halfway at the other end of the continent is going through. It is the most dreaded situation and a living nightmare of every married couple ~the prospect of a marriage heading towards the rock.

Prior to this, it was during one of my quiet times that I felt that I needed to pray for this couple and I just obeyed. I have learnt during one of my cell group lesson the need for us to to be sensitive towards the Holy Spirit when we are in our quiet times. [ Thank you so much, Bro.Paul Tiong for teaching us this beautiful lesson! ] It was during this time too that I was able to sent an email halfway through the continent to get the message to this childhood friend of mine. I have met and been with this couple for some time and never in my wildest dream felt that they would face such a dilema today in their lives. In fact, there was a time when this couple was on holiday, they were the ones who advised me to be more concern and not take Soon Ling for granted. To me, at that time, I didn't see that I was not treating Soon Ling right and with respect. I took their advices in good faith and the rest is history. You see, relationship between a couple is a funny thing. You don't see the problems in front of you until some one else highlights it to you.

You bet that I am concerned over what had happened to this couple. I could only offer my limited marriage experience and pray that God will provide the rest. I am glad that my close friend acknowledges the sacred vow of marriage ~ "for better and for worst. Till death do us apart" and that God is our witness during our marriage. I know that my good friend is shattered by the initiation of divorce proceedings while I was informed that the two marriage counselling sessions worsened the situation. Honestly, I am not interested to know who is right and who is wrong because blame for failed relationship should not be shouldered by only one party. Both are equally at fault, as far as I am concerned and there is a need for them to seek the best healer in their lives, God, the Father.

Yunno, sometimes, married couples would have to look deep into themselves to understand the true meaning of the union of two completely different individuals to become one in holy matrimony. Many a times, we bring so much garbage and baggage from our previous lives or relationship and dumps them in our married relationship. We need to learn what is important - forgiveness, truth and death to the word "me" and propel the word "we". Look! Don't start finger pointing games because there is no end to finger pointing! Marriage is about sacrifice, patience, adapting to one another and taking stock of the storms in life. Maybe, you would say to me , "It's easier said than done" but I want to say that it is possible. Give it a try. Work out and iron out the issues in your marriage and learn that your marriage is so sacred. Let no one , no thing nor the evil one to come between your respective spouses. Learn to look at the happier times in your life when sharing your life with your spouses rather than dwell on the difficult times. There must be more good than bad in your relationship. Take the good part and make it better while make the bad times a lesson for a better life ahead.

So, today, I desperately appeal to you, my friends wherever you are, say a little prayer in your quiet times for my childhood friend, P & A [ initials only,ok?] so that God would intervene in their lives and heal their marriage! I really appeal to you ~ thank you so much!