Asahan adventure....

As far as I could remember, Mdm.Chin, Ivy's mom had always invited the commanders and my family for fruit fest in her Asahan home. Somehow, every time, plans are made, they would get derailed by some matters which would come up to hinder our trip there. So, when chance upon the opportunity to look for a camp site in Asahan and an offer of a camp site there, I guess, I simply wouldn't want to miss that opportunity. Moreover, the gracious invitation by Mdm.Chin was a little hard to resist because she has always been nice to all of us and I love her genuine motherly love she had for all of us - the commanders . Afterall, all of her children had been a Royal Rangers boy or girl and her support was indeed tremendous. Together with Errol, SLing, SYuen, Ivy , Mdm.Chin and myself, we left from Melaka and headed towards Asahan.
Along the way, we really had a good time of sharing jokes, laughter and great talking time. Cruising along the new highway to Asahan , we were met with rows and rows of oil palm trees and plantations. Before long, we ended up at Mdm.Chim eldest sister place and we were then shown the place to our camp site. However, we were told that the family had turned the place into a swiflet home and we were there to enjoy the durians. Wow, it was such a big site and there were numerous durian trees amidst the oil palm trees.It was a bungalow in the midst of an orchard but it had been turned into a bird house. Well, we were not dissapointed and we were very appreciative of the great hospitality shown by Ivy's eldest auntie. Just like Ivy's mom, always with a smile, cracking into laughter and speaking in a language none of us could understand - Hakka except for Ivy and her mom. Occassionally , she would speak in Mandarin and we would somehow managed to communicate with her though my Mandarin is quite half-past six but we got through communication barrier. After the durian orchard, we went to the chicken farm. I kinda enjoy and feel at home with such an environment - rustic, way back from modern conveniences and fresh feeling. There were rows of chicken shed and they were nicely maintained. I've seen worst farms before and so, comparatively, this farm is clearly better maintained than the ones I've been. We also cracked open a few durians at this site, enjoying the taste of durians plus the poultry farm smell as well. It was really a fun time there. We ate our hearts content over the durians that had been placed in front of us. Then it was off to visit a potential annual camp site at the foot of Gunung Ledang. Nice breeze, nice weather, nice view too. Pricing was not bad and certaintly a place of interest for sure. We then stopped by at Ivy's third aunty's place and another round of durian galore was in hand. I must say that my durian quota for the had definitely been filled by this trip. We even given some durians to take home and that was really mighty nice of this family. I guess, they had plenty and bountiful harvest this year. So, blessing some to others seemed to be the order of the day. The good part - we needn't pay for the durians. It was given to us as a blessing.

I guess, that's what simple living mean to these people. They have so much and they just continue to bless others. I am grateful to Mdm.Chin for continuing to bless us and introduce us to her family members. I guess, I was rather shy for having eaten so much durian and receiving blessings from them. Most of time, we have to pay for it even in the name of helping this fund and that fund. So used to pay for everything and when people bless you , it feels kinda awkward. Gee, I guess, I must learn to change my mindset too from paying mentality to a more blessing mentality, isn't it?

I guess, I have had a stupendous day of fun today with Ivy and her mom, Mdm.Chin together with Errol, SLing and SYuen. Driving back towards home, again, we shared some nice thoughts and had some terrific conversations and exchange of ideas. It was honest, straight forward and fun. Now, I have a new prayer item on the list for Mdm.Chin and Ivy! Will be praying hard each day and probably rally help from friends to pray for them too!

What is it all about? It is strictly ...................................................... fun!~

Pure hospitality...

The other day, I was invited by one of my close friend and good colleague, Teo, to have lunch at his house. At first, I thought he was joking as at times like these, I thought the culture of inviting friends over for lunch is dead and buried. Anyway, he sounded serious and I readily agreed because it was a genuine invitation and I am all for good food and good fellowship. You see, Teo and I had been friends ever since we started working in our present "hazardous" occupation. Thank God, we are still having our jobs, anyway! Suffered mental anguish and numeorous heartaches but we still survived!

OK, so , the three of us namely Teo, Goh & myself travelled back to Teo's home to sample some nice home-cooked meals. It's nothing grand or extravagant but it's really nice. The cross mixture between curry and asam fish wet our palate and appetite while kangkong fried with garlic simply permeates the aroma of mouth-watering fare. We also had fried eggs and chicken which we bought from our friendly, Nam Wah Chicken Rice shop. The food spread was simple but nice. Really thank God for simple meals like this. We talked, ate and laughed. We enjoyed the simple meals under the sweltering heat and perspiration from the heat and the curry-assam mix. You see, Teo lived in a modestly renovated low cost house with basic facilities together with his ageing mother. Like I said, he doesn't own any fancy or flashy things - simple, modest and honest lifestyle. The best part is that this is one humble person and someone I can really relate to. He once said to me this : " When you have the least of things, it is the most of everything you have." That is living in humbleness.

In our ever changing and fast moving lifestyle today, I appreciate a lot at his gesture of lunch invitation. Again, it was not the food but that heart of sharing that moment of hospitality. His gesture of hospitality simply outstrips and ripped apart all the hoarding & selfish mentality we have in our society today. His life that day leaves a greater impression in my heart than all the preaching done on our Saturday/Sunday services!

When will we ever learn? When will we ever learn?

Just a point to ponder...

"Imagine life as a game in which you are juggling some five balls in the air. You name them - Work, Family, Health, Friends and Spirit and you're keeping all of these in the air.

You will soon understand that work is a rubber ball. If you drop it, it will bounce back..

But the other four Balls - Family, Health, Friends and Spirit - are made of glass. If you drop one of these; they will be irrevocably scuffed, marked, nicked, damaged or even shattered. They will never be the same. You must understand that and strive for it."

Inspiring...CLAY

Yesterday was a kinda hectic for me as I was up for helping out in CLAY [ CLA Youth Ministry ] inaugral meeting, serving communion and running a Royal Rangers meeting all in the fine morning of Sunday right through the early evening of the day. Though I know that it was going to be a hectic day, I just prayed for strength and I know I would be in good hands. I just want to remain humble and give thanks to the Lord for His strength in me and my fellow leaders. Many times, I have heard preaching on the need for helping this ministry and that ministry or even give here and there but the fact is this , get up from the seat first before you are going to do anything. The problem with all of us is that we want to help and so on....bla..bla...bla....but we won't even raise out precious little butt off the chair to actually do anything. It is always nice to suggest this and that, say 1001 things but when it comes to actually taking the trouble to help out or do the work, mysteriously & mind bogglingly, they all seemed to be categorised as "missing persons". Heard of that phrase before? Well, something for you to ponder...... I leave it to your imagination,ok?

Anyway, helping out the Youth Ministry is a short term commitment but it is very real for the three of us [ Errol, Steven and myself ]. For me , especially, I really want to see the youths grow up knowing, trusting and serving God. I also believe very much that these youths are our future and investing in them the great values of Godliness is equally important. Coming back to the event, we were there for the support , to inpsire and to help out in whatever way we could for the ministry. It was certainly a marvelous feeling knowing that it started out on the right note and it was a glorious day for fun , fellowship and food. The youth leaders did very well to cordinate the entire event from the starting to the end. There was great cordination from the team but still a long way to go from a well-oiled organisation but overall, there was great potential and great hearts. What a day! For me, I had to dart out from one service to another and at the end of the day, I had carried out what I am supposed to do in the very best of my ability. By the time, I get to the RR Meeting, it was exhausting and I almost fell asleep while doing discussions with the leaders on camp details and plannings. You bet, it was tiring but I was very happy. Happy that at least, in a very small way, I had contributed or play a part in helping out. But the best present from God was when I drove home that evening with my children, JWee and SYuen in the car.

JWee said to me, " Dad, now I know why you are a leader." I was puzzled at first. Then he continued, " It gives me great satisfaction when the children learned something from me today. When they did the activity right, I was happy and they were happy. Then I remembered all that had been taught to me earlier by the commanders. It is a great feeling, dad. I am glad that I am able to teach the children." You can say that I was rather speechless but I was glad that he understood what it meant to be in leadership - to teach, reach out and inspire. For many years, I had humbly received plenty of accolades and thanks from children, parents and leaders whenever we had carried out camps , learning skills and Bible lessons but none beat the joy of hearing it from the mouths of your own children. Today, I am teary-eyed as I recalled what my son said to me. I thanked all the leaders and friends, past and present, who have invested their time, energy, love and support to my son and daugther. I want to say that their efforts of investing their lives, time and resources were well worth it!
It certainly drove away all the tiredness I had felt throughout the day and bring a lot of good cheer to this ol' heart of mine ~

Beh Tahan !

Yesterday, after finishing some work , I headed out to the supermarket to get some things for myself when I chanced upon a very sentimental scene. Here was a mother and a daughter walking hand in hand pushing the cart towards the food display counters. You could see that the daughter was in fact not normal, thin and a disabled person. She had a small towel with her but she was happy to tug along with her mother. I was about 5 steps away from them and I see the love shared by this mother and her daughter. I don't know why but I was along tagging along as I looked at the food stuff on the counters.

Out of the blue, came another shopping chart, another mother and her daughter butting in front of my cart, doing their shopping. Well, I said to myself that I've seen all sorts of people in life and I would like to brand a five alphabet word [ Trust me, it is not a nice word! ] to describe her but I restrained myself thinking that I still have the circled lighted ring around my head. Anyway, I just walked along, minding my own business when I heard the mother and daughter talking about the slowness of the other mother and disabled daughter in front of them. The mother passed remarks like " Walk so slow... aiyoo, move to the side-lah. If you know you have a disabled daughter, just keep her at home-mah." and showing spoilt brat tantrums. It tugged my heart when I saw the other mother quickly took her daughter to the sides allowing the other mother-daughter monster tag team to pass them. As I walked nearer to the earlier mother-daughter, I heard the teary daughter telling her mother," Why are people so mean to me, mom?" The mother replied," It is okay, dearie. They don't understand you like I do. Mom loves you, ok?" Then , she wiped the tears off her daughter's face. She then noticed that I was at the back of her and she wanted to move aside. I told her that she need not do it. I then plucked up my courage and told her that she is a wonderful mother and turning to her daughter, I told her that she is special and that she should be proud as I turned to walk away with my cart. As I turned back to catch a glance, I saw both mother and daughter hugging. That's the most beautiful and emotional scene I have ever seen.

If you think I am finished with this, well, think again. Yup, I stalked the monster tag team patiently, went to their back and when the opportunity arises, I had this to say to them, " Don't be mean to others. You are blocking my path too! How does it feel when you get the same treatment, huh?" All the while, I put on my most notorious facial expression you can think of and growing twice as large! They then moved to the side as I strolled past them with a wicked smile on my face! Serves you right, you heartless morons! Somehow, funnily, the day seemed to get better after that little lesson!~

CPR - Learn it !

Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation or commonly known as CPR is an important first aid skill that you could use in times of emergency. CPR is an emergency procedure for people in cardiac arrest or in some circumstance, respiratory arrest. It involves physical interventions to create artificial circulation through rhythmic pressing on the patient's chest to manually pump blood through the heart called chest compression and usually also involves the rescuer exhaling into the patient or using a device to do this to ventilate the lungs and pass oxygen into the blood, called artificial respiration. Some protocols now downplayed the importance of artifical respiration and focus on chest compression called CCR. The main purpose of CPR is to maintain the supply of oxygenated blood to the heart, which are the most essential organs to life and the most vulnerable to damage from lack of oxygen ( hypoxia ). A lack of oxygen to these two essential organs will render you dead! Believe it or not, people! Phew! Now that I have got the definitions over with, let's get on with the experience.
We were indeed privilege and grateful to have both Christian brothers, Mr. Michael & Mr. Frankie to help us out in teaching the young boys & girls regarding CPR and standard first aid. Aided with the half-bodied dummies, Little Anne and Little Frank, they taught the children on the right way to administer CPR and a couple of life saving techniques when the patient is experiencing choking. You could see that the boys and girls were eager to learn and do the practical. I really appreciate the effort put in by Mr. Michael and Mr.Frankie. Smiling, jovial and fun people, they made the adult and children at ease easily but their emphasis on doing the procedure correctly is applaudable and commendable. I am thankful that the learning procedure had gone well and I believe the leaders and children had learned these procedures well and prepared to use it in times of emergency. I can't stress enough the importance of doing this procedure correctly coz' it will save lives.

Mr.Michael also took the trouble to explain the use of a neck brace in recent times to avert any untoward incidents or unneccessary damages to the spinal chords or any other back injuries. He also stressed the importance of calling for medical help or creat an atmosphere of medical emergency first before adnministering the emergency procedures. He then went on to explain the latest procedure to use CCR or chest compression resuscitation. Truly dedicated men of their profession, I am really blessed to have learn these procedures from these fine men. So, all the people out there, get some basics on CPR & CCR coz' who knows, you may save someone's life. Saving a life is important, my friends!~ To Micheal & Frankie, thank you very much !

Blur day !

Yesterday, my world was in total blurriness. It wasn't like my mind had gone senile or moving along the major "uncle" lane [ tak boleh tahan ! ] but I had forgotten to bring my spectacles with me that day. Having phlegm on both sides of the eyes doesn't help one bit while as the accelerated aging starts, [ yup, no elixir or potion or what not is going to make you any younger,ok? ] it sure is frustrating when the vision gets blur. I can summed up my entire day in two words - miserable & frustrating!~

The moment I arrived to work and I couldn't find my glasses , I was like in a hyperventilating mode as I couldn't really see nor read well without my glasses. I tried calming down but it was awfully difficult. Whole day was spent trying to figure words and sentences out. Luckily, I had the trusty magnifying glass to help me "see" that day. Imagine having to pick up the magnifying glass I have on my desk to read everything I need to do for my work. Like I said, it was horrifically difficult but at least, I wasn't exactly handicapped! My colleagues teased me like mad and I was grinning and telling them that one day, they'll be where I am! At that moment I was all ready to apply for OKU status for impeeded vision!~

Well, with all laughters & teasing said and done, I was still in complete blurriness. Everything was smudgingly unclear and I managed to struggle on. It was quite a struggle for me - someone who had somehow had been dependent on the glasses. Yes! Yes! I arrived home safely and I am not blind, yunno. But it was a struggle that I can relate to. I guess, we all need our "spectacles" in life to see our lives clearly and better. We may have been derailed in our life walk, trampled upon by others, at the receiving end of hurtful words , fallen victim to cheats,louts and mischiefs, unfairness, every inconceivable forms of injustice and evilness or even been pushed to a corner until we are covered with complete blurriness due to our tears but there is one permanent "spectacles" in our life and His name is the Lord Almighty! I am thankful that God had rectified that very spiritual blurriness of my life. Let us not take that for granted.~

Yes, I am afraid to lose my sight both physically and spiritually ..... afterall, the natural world which God created around us is truly beautiful and in technicolor. It is just that human beings spoil it at times !~