The people around these days have so much animosity for each other, it really saddens me. What would seem as a friendly greeting from a stranger could be met with comments that the person greeting is crazy and doesn't know who he's talking to. C'mon man, just harmless attempts to brighten up the day for one another can be met with such far-fetched accusations? Of course, it doesn't happen all the time, because at the end of the day some people would recognise that effort and return you the favour.
Well anyways, I randomly pushed my finger through the book during the weekend, and it led me to the Parable of the Good Samaritan(Luke 10:25-37).
This story really struck me hard, in that it portrayed the Jewish priest and Levite as being cold-blooded people who'd rather walk the other path than to help the dying man lying on the original path.
Because Jesus spoke this parable to a Jewish lawyer, who wanted to test Jesus and justify himself, I suppose this parable is used to highlight that this priest would rather go to all lengths to keep the Law of Moses, and save the hassle of doing all the cleansing for the dying man with blood on his skin(Leviticus 15:1-15) and nursing his wounds, than to do what is morally right in both God and men's eyes - to offer first aid to the dying man. Hence this shows the blind faith of the Jewish people in that time. (I don't know about the Jews of today, but this is lifted off the Bible)
In this, the Samaritan fared much better than the priest and Levite. This must have been a shameful thing to an expert in the law, because Samaritans were despised by Jews, yet a person whose background and heritage were treated as inferior to the Jews could actually be much kinder to his neighbour. From this, I see that the Samaritan indeed showed love to the dying man by taking all the trouble to treat his wounds with oil and wine, bring him back to the inn, and ensured that all his needs were met by paying for his lodging. Now, isn't that good when you have someone to take care of all your needs when you are at your worst?
As Christians, we do in fact enjoy this benefit of the grace and mercy of the Lord, in that he loves us enough to die on the cross for us, paying the price of sin in order to redeem us, just as the Samaritan paid the money to the innkeeper, so that we may be taken care of. We didn't deserve it, just as the man did not deserve any help from the good Samaritan, but he did so willingly, just as God provided for us, and still is to this day, providing for our every need.
Even though the Samaritan had so much to carry that he needed his donkey to carry it, he took the trouble to attend to a dying man, which isn't a small feat in those days. Indeed, loving our neighbour is sometimes tough - he may hurt you so badly you couldn't even walk, but Jesus was able to love us even though we sin against Him. While we were still sinning, He died for us as an ultimate example of loving our neighbours as ourselves.So, what better way to learn how to love our neighbours than through Him?
Monday, July 28, 2008
Sunday, July 20, 2008
Intensive Study Time - no time for mistakes!
It's getting harder day by day. You get tired of studying after a few hours of studying when you could've put in more. The lack of time for extra study has its toll on my sleeping hours these days. You hardly have to relax, and considering all the church activities that I'm gonna miss in favour of studying, not to mention the upcoming tests that the teachers are going to throw at us. Man, this is intensive...
...or maybe not intensive enough. Something ought to be done for more effective studying than just staying in school and just studying, studying and studying. I find that I can't concentrate in school, partly because of noise and socialising with fellow classmates and stuff, and a Mathematics teacher who can't really keep the class in control once everyone goes restless with the practice papers. Sometimes the stuff they throw at you takes more time than what is needed.
For now I think I'm gonna stick to the ten-year series, since there's only so much I reckon that I can do for now until then...
...or maybe not intensive enough. Something ought to be done for more effective studying than just staying in school and just studying, studying and studying. I find that I can't concentrate in school, partly because of noise and socialising with fellow classmates and stuff, and a Mathematics teacher who can't really keep the class in control once everyone goes restless with the practice papers. Sometimes the stuff they throw at you takes more time than what is needed.
For now I think I'm gonna stick to the ten-year series, since there's only so much I reckon that I can do for now until then...
Tuesday, July 15, 2008
Something really challenging
Well now. I've got just a measly 39 more days to the preliminary examinations, so the call to fully make use of the time left is there. More tests, of course. But homework needs to be done, even more so in this period of time. Ms Tay said that the revision would only work while the homework is done. I totally agree.
Anyways, here's a rather profound question: Why must men suffer on earth?
Non-biblical answers:
Anyways, here's a rather profound question: Why must men suffer on earth?
Non-biblical answers:
- We are fated to suffer.
- Suffering makes us learn where we've gone wrong.
- Suffering consists of birth, old age, illness and death, and these are unavoidable. To end suffering, achieve nirvana by following the Eightfold Path
- Theories about suffering, etc etc...
Biblical answers:
- Because of the Fall of Man when Adam ate the forbidden fruit of the tree of knowledge of good and evil and sinned against God. Since then sin has caused curses to befall on mankind.
- God's using suffering to punish you for something you've done wrong.
- Suffering is a means of a test of faith in Jesus Christ.
However, I'd pretty much prefer this answer, though: Jesus Christ, being the Son of God, came down from heaven to suffer for our sakes. Think about this: God, being God of everything for all eternity, came down to earth as a man, which is, in my opinion, one of the most humbling acts of all, and to suffer and die for our sins when He didn't need to. There's no reason that an almighty and omnipotent God should even be hurt by the floggings of men, and the pain and bleeding on the cross. But he did it.
He did it for our sakes. He doesn't want us in hell, where we aren't supposed to belong anyway. Sin will ultimately separate ourselves from God and cursed to go to hell after our earthly bodies die off, but thanks to Him bearing all of what was supposed to be OUR curses on the cross, those that believe in Him should not perish but have everlasting life(John 3:16).
Even Jesus Christ suffered on Earth for our sakes, what more us for His sake then since we love Him?(doesn't apply to those who still reject Christ at this point of time, but He's still willing to receive you when you receive Him in your life today)
Seriously though, having His presence sometimes brings the unanswerable questions answers that bring it to full circle. Really, He has taught me many things in the past two months.
Wednesday, July 9, 2008
Smacked right in the face - wrong purposes of studying, I'll admit.
Okay, I'll be honest with myself.
I studied a lot, but I did so half-heartedly, just wanting to get over and done with the Mid-Year Examinations. Because of this, I lost sight of my goal towards the As and I ended up with Bs and Cs for my results. Of course, there was quite some difficulty in the Biology, Physics and Chemistry papers, and that everyone scored badly for them. I however, simply wasn't mentally prepared to get so low a mark.
Why all that bad grades? I found that I am studying just for the sake of getting an opportunity to make it big out there and earn money, but then I found that what I'm working for in my studies is just to let my parents have a better life than what they're working so hard for. If that was so, why bother to study so hard? I could just get an average grade, get into average school, get into average university and get an average degree to earn an average income and feed my parents...
That was what I thought. But this low results and Kevin's words, though soft and casual, woke me up. Why am I doing all this for?
"Don't do it for your parents - they won't care shit about what you're gonna be when you grow up. Do you honestly think they'll follow and guide you for the rest of your life? No - just study to glorify God." He struck a chord in what I was vexed about, the whole time I was studying during the June holidays. I now find that the reason that I'm studying this whole while was just something very temporary.
Given my father's character and what he's done for the family so far, I don't think he deserves much, other than simply for the fact that he's my father. My mom, slogging just to keep us alive, is the one who deserves the bulk of the pay I'm gonna get when I get to work. But then, who am I really gonna work for ultimately when they and the people around me start going off to, touch wood, the grave?
Pondering over this for a while, I start to think: "Yea, the grades are mine, not theirs." Who's gonna care about what I'm getting in the future when nobody else is around? Only Jesus would. He died on the cross, gave his life for me, so why shouldn't I give him what he expects of me - to get better results to glorify His name, rather to please men? It is impossible to please everyone, so I reckon I'll just please God instead. Given His high standards for me, I'll do much better for the preliminary examinations, for ultimately, I will trust in Him to give me strength and discipline to do better.
If anything in particular, I declare that Jesus will be my guide in my academic success from this moment on, however He is much more than just help for my academic successes, you understand... So far I've not met any God who is gracious enough to help me out in academics, other than Jesus.
I studied a lot, but I did so half-heartedly, just wanting to get over and done with the Mid-Year Examinations. Because of this, I lost sight of my goal towards the As and I ended up with Bs and Cs for my results. Of course, there was quite some difficulty in the Biology, Physics and Chemistry papers, and that everyone scored badly for them. I however, simply wasn't mentally prepared to get so low a mark.
Why all that bad grades? I found that I am studying just for the sake of getting an opportunity to make it big out there and earn money, but then I found that what I'm working for in my studies is just to let my parents have a better life than what they're working so hard for. If that was so, why bother to study so hard? I could just get an average grade, get into average school, get into average university and get an average degree to earn an average income and feed my parents...
That was what I thought. But this low results and Kevin's words, though soft and casual, woke me up. Why am I doing all this for?
"Don't do it for your parents - they won't care shit about what you're gonna be when you grow up. Do you honestly think they'll follow and guide you for the rest of your life? No - just study to glorify God." He struck a chord in what I was vexed about, the whole time I was studying during the June holidays. I now find that the reason that I'm studying this whole while was just something very temporary.
Given my father's character and what he's done for the family so far, I don't think he deserves much, other than simply for the fact that he's my father. My mom, slogging just to keep us alive, is the one who deserves the bulk of the pay I'm gonna get when I get to work. But then, who am I really gonna work for ultimately when they and the people around me start going off to, touch wood, the grave?
Pondering over this for a while, I start to think: "Yea, the grades are mine, not theirs." Who's gonna care about what I'm getting in the future when nobody else is around? Only Jesus would. He died on the cross, gave his life for me, so why shouldn't I give him what he expects of me - to get better results to glorify His name, rather to please men? It is impossible to please everyone, so I reckon I'll just please God instead. Given His high standards for me, I'll do much better for the preliminary examinations, for ultimately, I will trust in Him to give me strength and discipline to do better.
If anything in particular, I declare that Jesus will be my guide in my academic success from this moment on, however He is much more than just help for my academic successes, you understand... So far I've not met any God who is gracious enough to help me out in academics, other than Jesus.
Tuesday, July 8, 2008
A great injustice to a man who doesn't deserve it
Recently Uncle Hin, our tenant, got kicked out of our house by our father. Apparently, it was said he was not giving my father the due respect he gets for being the landlord, and were already fighting a cold war.
The cold war, from what I've heard from Mom, happened when Uncle Hin lent my father his CDs to watch, and that my father left scratches on the discs, so Uncle Hin went to get a replacement. However, my father misunderstood it as him not wanting to borrow the CDs to him. Given my father's "addiction" for watching home-bought movie CDs, it broke out into a cold war that lasted for quite a couple of years. From there, many quabbles and temper outbursts led to what happened last week.
I wasn't at home that weekend, due to preparing for my examinations at my grandma's place(where I usually live in). But from what I know, my father was angry because Uncle Hin didn't even greet my father or ask him to eat, which was a common sign of respect in Chinese families. Moreover, my father was even told by my mom to carry his food to the living room so that he can enjoy his food and watch TV at the same time, which was how he usually has his meals at. Because of this, he was way well pissed off because it seemed to him that he was treated more like an outsider and Uncle Hin was behaving more like the man of the house, when my father is the actual landlord.
This turned the cold war "hot", and Uncle Hin, a person who has a proper family to feed in Malaysia, and never owed us rental, had to leave. In fact, WE were the ones who owed him a favour of fetching my sister home everyday after work from my grandma's place ever since our maid, who had served under us for a long period of time, left us.
Obviously, everyone was distraught, even Uncle Kelvin. "Your father always never thinks of what people has done for him, and the consequences of doing so," he commented. "Now see what happens - $500 per month income now lost for nothing!"
My family isn't well-to-do anyway, and my dad, from what I see, never brings back any money from his taxi-driving, but squanders his money elsewhere on his bling-blings like handphones, good food for himself or on his cigarettes and CDs. My mom is the only one supporting this house, I reckon, since most of the family expenses were from her own pockets. Needless to say, a woman with only a fixed salary of $1500 per month working under my aunt, and subject to GST and rising taxes and prices, that extra $500 is extremely important to us.
Unless my father realises that he didn't do any shit in keeping our family together and alive, he's gonna continue being a failure in life... As for why I'm making this statement, I'll put it up on my future posts - it's got to do with my family history, and probably too wordy to put within one single entry.
The cold war, from what I've heard from Mom, happened when Uncle Hin lent my father his CDs to watch, and that my father left scratches on the discs, so Uncle Hin went to get a replacement. However, my father misunderstood it as him not wanting to borrow the CDs to him. Given my father's "addiction" for watching home-bought movie CDs, it broke out into a cold war that lasted for quite a couple of years. From there, many quabbles and temper outbursts led to what happened last week.
I wasn't at home that weekend, due to preparing for my examinations at my grandma's place(where I usually live in). But from what I know, my father was angry because Uncle Hin didn't even greet my father or ask him to eat, which was a common sign of respect in Chinese families. Moreover, my father was even told by my mom to carry his food to the living room so that he can enjoy his food and watch TV at the same time, which was how he usually has his meals at. Because of this, he was way well pissed off because it seemed to him that he was treated more like an outsider and Uncle Hin was behaving more like the man of the house, when my father is the actual landlord.
This turned the cold war "hot", and Uncle Hin, a person who has a proper family to feed in Malaysia, and never owed us rental, had to leave. In fact, WE were the ones who owed him a favour of fetching my sister home everyday after work from my grandma's place ever since our maid, who had served under us for a long period of time, left us.
Obviously, everyone was distraught, even Uncle Kelvin. "Your father always never thinks of what people has done for him, and the consequences of doing so," he commented. "Now see what happens - $500 per month income now lost for nothing!"
My family isn't well-to-do anyway, and my dad, from what I see, never brings back any money from his taxi-driving, but squanders his money elsewhere on his bling-blings like handphones, good food for himself or on his cigarettes and CDs. My mom is the only one supporting this house, I reckon, since most of the family expenses were from her own pockets. Needless to say, a woman with only a fixed salary of $1500 per month working under my aunt, and subject to GST and rising taxes and prices, that extra $500 is extremely important to us.
Unless my father realises that he didn't do any shit in keeping our family together and alive, he's gonna continue being a failure in life... As for why I'm making this statement, I'll put it up on my future posts - it's got to do with my family history, and probably too wordy to put within one single entry.
Tuesday, July 1, 2008
Doing a quickie
Ah, finally back to blogging after a hard week's work in school, preparing for Mid-Year papers. I still have 2 more papers to go, both of which I'm going to sit for tomorrow, so I'll have to go back to studying right after this quickie post.
As usual, we gathered up to put our bags at some corner so that people wouldn't find and steal stuff from our bags, before going on to the exam hall. Skipped breakfast for the whole week - wow, didn't know I could last till 11am without food. So, just to sum up what I've been doing this whole period of absence from this blog:
As usual, we gathered up to put our bags at some corner so that people wouldn't find and steal stuff from our bags, before going on to the exam hall. Skipped breakfast for the whole week - wow, didn't know I could last till 11am without food. So, just to sum up what I've been doing this whole period of absence from this blog:
- Prayed for His wisdom, knowledge and quick-wittedness before and after studying, and also before and after the papers.
- Studied, studied and studied.
- Ate, slept and drank.
- 2 hours of computer games per day
- 2 hours of TV everyday
- Set the alarm for 5.45am everyday
- Slammed the alarm clock a couple of times(hey, this one's durable!)
- Worried about examinations, but fell back to God's promise of victory
...okay. Gotta go back to studies again. Will be updating again soon.
Thursday, June 19, 2008
The true reason
Just a few hours ago, my friend Kevin and I were waiting for bus 31, to go home after school. During the waiting and journey, we talked about how Wei Chiat was having the wrong mindset about studying and how this leads to him being always going to be a follower instead of a leader. Sad to say, it turned out that his attitude and having mixed with him for some time led us to think that he's gonna fail in life - though by all means we may be very wrong about it.
Then we talked about how he, being a Christian, has only two ways to realise his ill attitude - either the Holy Spirit reveals it to him while he's alive, or on Judgement Day, when everyone sees his or her own life in front of their own faces after their physical deaths. Later on, Kevin asked me this question that he asked the Lord the other day. It got me really stumped:
"Yea, it's unfair right? I mean, why do some people who do lots of bad stuff like conning people of millions of cash, killing and robbing each other, but at the end of the day are saved because they believed in Jesus Christ, and people who don't seem to sin at all by indulging in these vices don't acknowledge God and are condemned to go to hell ultimately? Like people like Jin Meng, good in studies, rich, morally sound, but aren't Christian. It's just so unfair!"
"Uh, because of sin?" I was brainstorming.
"Actually, no. We still sin all the time, what."
"Uh... I don't know." I was stumped.
"Actually, the answer is very simple. Because they don't acknowledge God."
"Don't acknowledge God?" I was gagged.
"Let's put it this way. You know God is our Creator and Father, right? Not acknowledging God is like not acknowledging your own father. Put yourself in God's shoes - you are His child, and He is your Father. Even though you might do all sorts of things, he has no reason not to forgive you, as long as you repent and seek his forgiveness, simply because you're His child. Tell me, then - would He rather forgive a child that recognises Him as his Father, or forgive a person out there who doesn't even acknowledge his own Father?"
Actually, he's quite right, now that I think of it. Not acknowledging your own earthly father is bad enough already - showing utter disrespect to him and dishonouring his(or the family's) name. What more a heavenly Father up there, who created you and was there for you even before you were created in your mother's womb?
Clearly, the 10 Commandments say "Honour thy father and mother." Not honouring His name, instead choosing not to acknowledge him as who He is, our Father who art in heaven, is clearly sin. (Then again, if the 10 Commandments weren't there we wouldn't know what's sin.)
He later quoted on the story of Ananias and Sapphira and how they lied about the money from the sold property. They both died not because of lying to men, but because of lying to both God and men. We may lie to men, but we cannot lie to God - He sees us like an open book.
"Whenever I read into this story, it scares me, man. They lie once, and they died - on the spot. What more, if we lie so many times in our lives - and do even worse things than just lying! It's really a miracle that we're still walking on our two feet even after doing all those things," he exclaimed.
"Well, it's gotta be by His grace for us, then."
After the conversation and we both set for home on separate paths, it soon struck my mind - so much Bible knowledge, but so little use for that! It was then that I realised just how much I know about Jesus Christ, our Lord. Sure, I know about him - he did miracles, he taught that He was the way to Heaven, he died for our sins to redeem us from them, but how much do I really know Jesus as my Saviour and Lord?? How much do I really know about God as our Father?
The answer - very little.
Then we talked about how he, being a Christian, has only two ways to realise his ill attitude - either the Holy Spirit reveals it to him while he's alive, or on Judgement Day, when everyone sees his or her own life in front of their own faces after their physical deaths. Later on, Kevin asked me this question that he asked the Lord the other day. It got me really stumped:
"Yea, it's unfair right? I mean, why do some people who do lots of bad stuff like conning people of millions of cash, killing and robbing each other, but at the end of the day are saved because they believed in Jesus Christ, and people who don't seem to sin at all by indulging in these vices don't acknowledge God and are condemned to go to hell ultimately? Like people like Jin Meng, good in studies, rich, morally sound, but aren't Christian. It's just so unfair!"
"Uh, because of sin?" I was brainstorming.
"Actually, no. We still sin all the time, what."
"Uh... I don't know." I was stumped.
"Actually, the answer is very simple. Because they don't acknowledge God."
"Don't acknowledge God?" I was gagged.
"Let's put it this way. You know God is our Creator and Father, right? Not acknowledging God is like not acknowledging your own father. Put yourself in God's shoes - you are His child, and He is your Father. Even though you might do all sorts of things, he has no reason not to forgive you, as long as you repent and seek his forgiveness, simply because you're His child. Tell me, then - would He rather forgive a child that recognises Him as his Father, or forgive a person out there who doesn't even acknowledge his own Father?"
Actually, he's quite right, now that I think of it. Not acknowledging your own earthly father is bad enough already - showing utter disrespect to him and dishonouring his(or the family's) name. What more a heavenly Father up there, who created you and was there for you even before you were created in your mother's womb?
Clearly, the 10 Commandments say "Honour thy father and mother." Not honouring His name, instead choosing not to acknowledge him as who He is, our Father who art in heaven, is clearly sin. (Then again, if the 10 Commandments weren't there we wouldn't know what's sin.)
He later quoted on the story of Ananias and Sapphira and how they lied about the money from the sold property. They both died not because of lying to men, but because of lying to both God and men. We may lie to men, but we cannot lie to God - He sees us like an open book.
"Whenever I read into this story, it scares me, man. They lie once, and they died - on the spot. What more, if we lie so many times in our lives - and do even worse things than just lying! It's really a miracle that we're still walking on our two feet even after doing all those things," he exclaimed.
"Well, it's gotta be by His grace for us, then."
After the conversation and we both set for home on separate paths, it soon struck my mind - so much Bible knowledge, but so little use for that! It was then that I realised just how much I know about Jesus Christ, our Lord. Sure, I know about him - he did miracles, he taught that He was the way to Heaven, he died for our sins to redeem us from them, but how much do I really know Jesus as my Saviour and Lord?? How much do I really know about God as our Father?
The answer - very little.
Tuesday, June 10, 2008
Just a little thought for thought
While taking a break from study time, I recalled a conversation with my aunt over why people are racist. I was talking about the period of time that I've been spending in My Saviour's Church since around February or March until now, and how Uncle Yiye had some of our Tamil church friends into his condo the other Sunday, and used the facilities in it at the request of Uncle Kelvin. Probably to him they were probably "uninvited guests," as it seemed that Uncle Yiye was telling us not to invite other "geh-leng kia"s for tennis or swimming.
Firstly, there's something I don't quite like about them going about their "when you grow a bit older" statements. Why the procrastination about telling me about the things, when you could just explain the stuff in detail? I ain't a kid anymore - surely telling me about a few incidents wouldn't bring the topic off-centre or something. Why, adults are people whom we're told to turn to when we don't know about stuff, and you tell us to wait and experience it for ourselves to find the answer. More often than not, when we actually do reach working age, we would've already forgotten the question we're asking now by then, so how's that for a change? To me, "when you grow a bit older" is simply telling me "Forget about the topic altogether; Let's talk about something else."
Secondly, why deem the people bad when what you see is only in the workplace? I'm glad for myself that I brought this topic up, because I get to see from all angles and views over how Tamils in Singapore live, in the workplace, outside and at home.
Sure, I've learned in school that we shouldn't be stereotyping people all the time - but what I see is just the opposite! Sure, I've only been with the morally and socially upright Tamils, but there's bound to be black sheep around too, since nobody's perfect anyway. I mean, just look at the Chinese society of our own. There's robbers, thieves, conmen - but that doesn't mean we don't have Chinese judges, policemen, lawyers, doctors, etc.
My point is - They're just human like us. They have different skin colour and language and culture, but they bleed the same way as we do. For their first visit to their condo, and not even giving themselves a chance to talk and make friends with them and living among them... That doesn't give me enough reason to judge them by their race.
What, we Chinese must stay purely Chinese? Like the Aryan superiority theory that Hitler made up to persecute the Jews, nearly 70 years ago? Look at Hitler, then look at ourselves. You'd be surprised what people do without thinking back at their actions and speech.
Me: "But they're quite alright, what. They're still people, human like us, what. Why?"
Uncle Yiye: "They're not that goodie-goodie like you think they are."
Me: "But why? I've been around with them for so long, and they don't seem that bad as you've put it."
Aunt Wanyin: (cutting in) "Aiyah, Ah Boy, what you see in your cellgroup is only just one portion of a whole lot of people of other races."
Uncle Yiye: "Yah... so limited! Wait till you go to the workplace, or JC and work with the other races, and you'll see what I mean."
Me: "Whalau, you all very racist leh..."
Aunt Wanyin: " ...'Cos we've haven't had quite a good impression of them in the workplace, as neighbours, as friends... Anyway, bottom line is, you'll know why people are racist when you grow a bit older and have worked with them for some time."
Firstly, there's something I don't quite like about them going about their "when you grow a bit older" statements. Why the procrastination about telling me about the things, when you could just explain the stuff in detail? I ain't a kid anymore - surely telling me about a few incidents wouldn't bring the topic off-centre or something. Why, adults are people whom we're told to turn to when we don't know about stuff, and you tell us to wait and experience it for ourselves to find the answer. More often than not, when we actually do reach working age, we would've already forgotten the question we're asking now by then, so how's that for a change? To me, "when you grow a bit older" is simply telling me "Forget about the topic altogether; Let's talk about something else."
Secondly, why deem the people bad when what you see is only in the workplace? I'm glad for myself that I brought this topic up, because I get to see from all angles and views over how Tamils in Singapore live, in the workplace, outside and at home.
Sure, I've learned in school that we shouldn't be stereotyping people all the time - but what I see is just the opposite! Sure, I've only been with the morally and socially upright Tamils, but there's bound to be black sheep around too, since nobody's perfect anyway. I mean, just look at the Chinese society of our own. There's robbers, thieves, conmen - but that doesn't mean we don't have Chinese judges, policemen, lawyers, doctors, etc.
My point is - They're just human like us. They have different skin colour and language and culture, but they bleed the same way as we do. For their first visit to their condo, and not even giving themselves a chance to talk and make friends with them and living among them... That doesn't give me enough reason to judge them by their race.
What, we Chinese must stay purely Chinese? Like the Aryan superiority theory that Hitler made up to persecute the Jews, nearly 70 years ago? Look at Hitler, then look at ourselves. You'd be surprised what people do without thinking back at their actions and speech.
Wednesday, June 4, 2008
An episode of PC death
Being without the computer for the last 14-odd hours sucked. And it sucks like hell. The power supply unit broke down - it just up and kaput! - though there wasn't smoke or anything resembling it blowing up. Because I had an appointment with the dentist this morning, I didn't get to press the power switch until after twelve in the afternoon.
"Tick, Tiak. Tick, Tiak." No power. Shit.
I pressed it a few more times, this time also experimenting with the restart button. Nothing happened. Shit. Whatever the hell happened, it can't just up and die just like that, surely something must be wrong! I rang Uncle Yiye up.
"The PC I think die liao," I told him. "Press the power on-off also nothing happen, no light, no sound, no nothing."
He came up afterwards in the evening, came to fix the computer and declared the power supply unit dead, and we had to look for a replacement before Uncle Kelvin comes back and finds it totally defunct and unable to reclaim the stuff inside the hard disk. He brought the batteries to run the motherboard, but that didn't help either - it had nothing to do with it anyway.
The speakers are well and running - nothing wrong with it.
The parts all look okay, just dusty. No burn on them - nothing wrong with it.
The circuit breaker in the consumer unit wasn't tripped, indicating there wasn't any short circuit - nothing wrong with it.
The power switch was turned on, but there wasn't any humming although the mains switch was turned on - something must be wrong with it.
It couldn't be anything else, since everything within the box was okay, so we deemed the power supply unit condemned. Now, here came the problem: How were we going to get a decent power supply unit box replacement at such short notice? Sim Lim Square seemed quite a far-fetched idea, since it would mean going there on a Saturday to buy one. The LAN gaming shop downstairs suddenly seemed like a very good idea, and we proceeded to buy one for $40.
Though it was quite good, it didn't have enough power supply outlets to connect to all of the PC fans, and we ended up having to forgo the side one. Let's just hope it doesn't overheat, otherwise...?
"Tick, Tiak. Tick, Tiak." No power. Shit.
I pressed it a few more times, this time also experimenting with the restart button. Nothing happened. Shit. Whatever the hell happened, it can't just up and die just like that, surely something must be wrong! I rang Uncle Yiye up.
"The PC I think die liao," I told him. "Press the power on-off also nothing happen, no light, no sound, no nothing."
He came up afterwards in the evening, came to fix the computer and declared the power supply unit dead, and we had to look for a replacement before Uncle Kelvin comes back and finds it totally defunct and unable to reclaim the stuff inside the hard disk. He brought the batteries to run the motherboard, but that didn't help either - it had nothing to do with it anyway.
The speakers are well and running - nothing wrong with it.
The parts all look okay, just dusty. No burn on them - nothing wrong with it.
The circuit breaker in the consumer unit wasn't tripped, indicating there wasn't any short circuit - nothing wrong with it.
The power switch was turned on, but there wasn't any humming although the mains switch was turned on - something must be wrong with it.
It couldn't be anything else, since everything within the box was okay, so we deemed the power supply unit condemned. Now, here came the problem: How were we going to get a decent power supply unit box replacement at such short notice? Sim Lim Square seemed quite a far-fetched idea, since it would mean going there on a Saturday to buy one. The LAN gaming shop downstairs suddenly seemed like a very good idea, and we proceeded to buy one for $40.
Though it was quite good, it didn't have enough power supply outlets to connect to all of the PC fans, and we ended up having to forgo the side one. Let's just hope it doesn't overheat, otherwise...?
Sunday, June 1, 2008
Honesty is the best policy
Today's sermon was very timely when it touched on honesty as pleasing to the eyes of the Lord.
We offered Brother Chris and Sister Osheana a ride to church, since both of them are also our own brethren and Uncle Daniel went to fetch other fellow brethren to our church, all the way from Pasir Ris to quite a distance, possibly from Potong Pasir or Bukit Batok. During the journey I noticed this stench that very much resembled cigarette smoke reeking in Brother Chris's shirt. To be honest, I was quite put off by that, and kept quiet since nobody was actually talking about anything much at that point in time.
"Hey Chris, how's your work?" Uncle Steven asked, while on the way.
"Mmm, okay lah." came the reply.
Being sensitive folks, we talked among ourselves, speculating over what happened to Brother Chris in his newfound job. Having to pay room rent because of being kicked out of his own family for his faith in the Lord, having a job was definitely very precious to someone in his predicament. To speak about it in such a casual tone, and not adding any more to it hinted that something bad must have happened to him.
Church service was good(it always was), but it was now better because Pastor Bennett gave us some Bible scriptures to study on our own, saying that we will be blessed by the verses, if only we took some time to meditate on them. I haven't been memorising much recently, so this served as a good reminder to me that it was high time that I should be reading the Bible more seriously.
During lunchtime while Brother Chris went to buy some fried kway-teow, we then found out from Auntie Noreen and Uncle Daniel that he got the sack after the first day of work, just for being like 5 minutes late for work, both when coming to work from home and after lunch. Later, it was then that I was told about some employer who didn't want to employ him just because he was a Tamil. One employer even called him "Geh-leng kia"(a Hokkien term for calling Tamils, possibly racist) in the workplace, so he threw that job down.
"Eh, like that also never pang-chance for him ah? Mana eh sai?" I exclaimed upon hearing such things. It just dawned on me - racial and religious harmony is just very hypocritical in Singapore; they should just simply say it's racial and religious tolerance. Where's the harmony, if racism can just run rampant in the workplace like that?
After discussing about the matter on how to help him, I offered to try to get my friends to hook up a job in the newspaper for him, but it seemed impractical given my age and that I haven't even taken my 'O' Level papers yet. "Well then, is there any practical way I can help out?" I asked.
"You just pray for him, lah," Auntie Noreen replied with a smile. She was right - I couldn't do anything much for him yet, except to just lend a listening ear to him and asking the Lord to help him through everything he's having trouble with.
Just then, Uncle Kelvin received an invitation from Uncle Yiye to take a dip in the swimming pool at his condo, and the rest of the big family got invited too. How nice of him to allow such a large group of us go there. Thanks Uncle Yiye!
After lunch, we decided to hang around Uncle Steven's house, since Brother Chris wanted to view the vacant room that Uncle Steven offered to put him up in, and Uncle Kelvin had to have a haircut downstairs too. At around 2.30pm we foursome were having fun talking.
It was later on in the afternoon when both Uncle Kelvin and I packed the swimming stuff up into my bag and coming down back to the car when Brother Chris became candid about his smoking problem and his background. Due to it probably revealing too much personal info, this shall be written about again after getting his approval first.
In any case, he told me later that whatever was happening in the house between my grandparents and my uncle was that my singing of praises of Christianity in front of them was actually literally scaring them off into their own ancestral worship, and I got some useful advice off him. After talking a while, this verse struck both Brother Chris and me:
The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge: but fools despise wisdom and instruction.
- Proverbs 1:7
The second part may seem harsh on some people, but this verse has a whole lot of meaning within itself, just as Brother Chris said about it when he mentioned that this is one of his favourite verses in the Bible, during the journey. I couldn't agree more - I'll share more on this verse on my later posts when the Lord has taught me more through it.
We offered Brother Chris and Sister Osheana a ride to church, since both of them are also our own brethren and Uncle Daniel went to fetch other fellow brethren to our church, all the way from Pasir Ris to quite a distance, possibly from Potong Pasir or Bukit Batok. During the journey I noticed this stench that very much resembled cigarette smoke reeking in Brother Chris's shirt. To be honest, I was quite put off by that, and kept quiet since nobody was actually talking about anything much at that point in time.
"Hey Chris, how's your work?" Uncle Steven asked, while on the way.
"Mmm, okay lah." came the reply.
Being sensitive folks, we talked among ourselves, speculating over what happened to Brother Chris in his newfound job. Having to pay room rent because of being kicked out of his own family for his faith in the Lord, having a job was definitely very precious to someone in his predicament. To speak about it in such a casual tone, and not adding any more to it hinted that something bad must have happened to him.
Church service was good(it always was), but it was now better because Pastor Bennett gave us some Bible scriptures to study on our own, saying that we will be blessed by the verses, if only we took some time to meditate on them. I haven't been memorising much recently, so this served as a good reminder to me that it was high time that I should be reading the Bible more seriously.
During lunchtime while Brother Chris went to buy some fried kway-teow, we then found out from Auntie Noreen and Uncle Daniel that he got the sack after the first day of work, just for being like 5 minutes late for work, both when coming to work from home and after lunch. Later, it was then that I was told about some employer who didn't want to employ him just because he was a Tamil. One employer even called him "Geh-leng kia"(a Hokkien term for calling Tamils, possibly racist) in the workplace, so he threw that job down.
"Eh, like that also never pang-chance for him ah? Mana eh sai?" I exclaimed upon hearing such things. It just dawned on me - racial and religious harmony is just very hypocritical in Singapore; they should just simply say it's racial and religious tolerance. Where's the harmony, if racism can just run rampant in the workplace like that?
After discussing about the matter on how to help him, I offered to try to get my friends to hook up a job in the newspaper for him, but it seemed impractical given my age and that I haven't even taken my 'O' Level papers yet. "Well then, is there any practical way I can help out?" I asked.
"You just pray for him, lah," Auntie Noreen replied with a smile. She was right - I couldn't do anything much for him yet, except to just lend a listening ear to him and asking the Lord to help him through everything he's having trouble with.
Just then, Uncle Kelvin received an invitation from Uncle Yiye to take a dip in the swimming pool at his condo, and the rest of the big family got invited too. How nice of him to allow such a large group of us go there. Thanks Uncle Yiye!
After lunch, we decided to hang around Uncle Steven's house, since Brother Chris wanted to view the vacant room that Uncle Steven offered to put him up in, and Uncle Kelvin had to have a haircut downstairs too. At around 2.30pm we foursome were having fun talking.
It was later on in the afternoon when both Uncle Kelvin and I packed the swimming stuff up into my bag and coming down back to the car when Brother Chris became candid about his smoking problem and his background. Due to it probably revealing too much personal info, this shall be written about again after getting his approval first.
In any case, he told me later that whatever was happening in the house between my grandparents and my uncle was that my singing of praises of Christianity in front of them was actually literally scaring them off into their own ancestral worship, and I got some useful advice off him. After talking a while, this verse struck both Brother Chris and me:
The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge: but fools despise wisdom and instruction.
- Proverbs 1:7
The second part may seem harsh on some people, but this verse has a whole lot of meaning within itself, just as Brother Chris said about it when he mentioned that this is one of his favourite verses in the Bible, during the journey. I couldn't agree more - I'll share more on this verse on my later posts when the Lord has taught me more through it.
Saturday, May 24, 2008
Disasters strike anytime - cherish your own loved ones while you still can!
Been reading the news these days, and it's very negative. The earthquake at China killed many, Cyclone Nargis killed many, both left many homeless. Natural disasters are on the rise these days, so many so that you never know when a disaster might hit us. So far, Singapore has been a reputable safe spot from many disasters, since it's nowhere near the Ring of Fire, safely at one tetonic plate to be free of earthquakes(tremors maybe, but never earthquakes, yet), nor cyclones at sea yet.
It's morbid, the news. I mean, there's people dying, both young and old. Pictures and videos of the victims and survivors were disheartening. With China's one-child policy, it is indeed a devastating blow to many families whose only sons and daughters get devoured mercilessly by a ugly force of nature.
China's in the news, big time. Look at the Tibetan protests, the Dalai Lama hoohah, Beijing Olympics 2008, and carcinogenic(cancer-causing) Ma-Ling brand canned luncheon meat. Earthquake just had to make things so much worse in China, I can already see myself shedding a tear right in front of the computer screen, producing this blog entry.
And it's not just the Chinese calamity - look at Myanmar's Cyclone Nargis disaster, over a hundred thousand people(estimated) fell victim to it: people losing their homes and family members. Wrath of nature - that's what we get whenever we answer nature's call faithfully every morning?
It didn't just hit them Burmese and Chinese alone - just look at the soaring rice prices, and the possibility of eating bread or potatoes as staple foodstuffs just might be very possible. Singapore suffered severe food shortage during the Japanese Occupation... maybe it's time to go back to eating lalang grass, rumoured to have high vitamin content?
It's a good thing that in Singapore there's still plenty of food around, but then, it's really high time to learn how not to waste a single morsel of food, given the disasters going around and the soaring rice prices. Looking at the food shortages in pockets of Asia, food seems much more valuable than ever...
It's morbid, the news. I mean, there's people dying, both young and old. Pictures and videos of the victims and survivors were disheartening. With China's one-child policy, it is indeed a devastating blow to many families whose only sons and daughters get devoured mercilessly by a ugly force of nature.
China's in the news, big time. Look at the Tibetan protests, the Dalai Lama hoohah, Beijing Olympics 2008, and carcinogenic(cancer-causing) Ma-Ling brand canned luncheon meat. Earthquake just had to make things so much worse in China, I can already see myself shedding a tear right in front of the computer screen, producing this blog entry.
And it's not just the Chinese calamity - look at Myanmar's Cyclone Nargis disaster, over a hundred thousand people(estimated) fell victim to it: people losing their homes and family members. Wrath of nature - that's what we get whenever we answer nature's call faithfully every morning?
It didn't just hit them Burmese and Chinese alone - just look at the soaring rice prices, and the possibility of eating bread or potatoes as staple foodstuffs just might be very possible. Singapore suffered severe food shortage during the Japanese Occupation... maybe it's time to go back to eating lalang grass, rumoured to have high vitamin content?
It's a good thing that in Singapore there's still plenty of food around, but then, it's really high time to learn how not to waste a single morsel of food, given the disasters going around and the soaring rice prices. Looking at the food shortages in pockets of Asia, food seems much more valuable than ever...
Thursday, May 22, 2008
Combined Family Service-cum-Picnic Day on 18th May
The outing at Pasir Ris Park for a whole of 12 hours, from 9am to 9pm, was significant. It was my first trip with the rest of the church as a family of God. Here, we witnessed many baptisms, which was heartwarming for me, seeing people going back to Jesus Christ.
In the morning, I woke up without the alarm. Packed the stuff the night before, so by morning the things were already done, and we set off to the beach at 8am. Reserved some seats for Uncle Daniel and his family, but they came late, at around 10am, an hour after the service started. It turned out that he had made several trips to bring Auntie Noreen's sisters here as well, resulting in them coming late together as one family.
Morning sermon, about the family as designed by God Himself. After the sermon everyone was stuffed, due to the hot weather, and the limited ventilation underneath the tentage. The weather wasn't the problem actually - the grass was, respiring and giving out carbon dioxide as well. As carbon dioxide is a heat-trapping gas, it was no wonder the tentage was an inbuilt furnace, given the numbers of people that were there.
It was hot, it was boring, it was stuffy. No sports, no swimming, no football. Now I saw the purpose of bringing the guitar, again, as Uncle Daniel, Uncle Kelvin and I sat under the nearest tree singing Chinese worship songs, hoping to spread His love through the songs to the passers-by. It was then that Uncle Yiye and his family came along, being told of our performance to be held later at night, but ended up coming too early.
In any case, the games started, and we were appointed to Orange Team, which ended up the last team. However, we didn't play for nothing - they gave us a tidbit prize which consisted of a bag of Mamee noodle snack, cookies and a sweet. How nice, even losers get some kind of consolation prizes.
The rest of the day after the team games was virtually boring, as there was practically nothing to play or interact with, other than talking to people, playing kapadi(a traditional Indian game that resembles sumo-wrestling) in the mud, or playing soccer with a small football. I thought, no kick, playing with such a small ball! I went later to talk to the fellow brethren watching the soccer game, and then took a shower.
The door was unlocked as the bolt got knocked off, and the floor was barely clean, with mud and sand at all the four corners of the cubicle, but thank God I managed to shower successfully with the help of Uncle Kelvin holding the door from outside, maintaining bathroom privacy in such a public place. After getting out of the showers, the sight of the Married vs Singles football match was already starting, and the first thing I thought to myself was "Why on earth did I hit the showers in the first place? What a waste!"
Eventually I gave in to the urge to play in the fresh new clothing, fully expecting myself to go dirty and sweating in blue jeans. Pastor Bennett was there, and it was enjoyable. Though I was merely playing as a goalkeeper, the tension was there whenever the ball came close, which was often. Caught 2 balls, let in one. Married Team won over us, the Singles Team.
Performance started after dinnertime, and it was then God's mercy and grace truly shone in my life at that moment when a blow of stomachache hit me when the land breeze blew against me near the tentage. The urge was there, nature was calling...
I can't answer now. I can't answer now. If I did, I'd be cocking-up the whole performance item and waste the effort that we've put in to prepare the programme as one whole cell group. "Lord, please protect my underpants, lest I shit myself during the performance," I prayed in desperation as the throbbing gut started to already slowly let out gas stealthily.
The medley went well. Made minor blunders with the change in key, and finished the playing perfectly. Guess what happened - I made a run for the toilet without any toilet paper, still thinking in my mind, Hallelujah Lord for answering my prayer.
"Oops," came the exclamation when I was already at the toilet bowl letting go of that atomic bomb to answer nature's call. "Alamak, what to do?" I groped around for my phone, my only hope of getting out of the toilet, yet remaining clean in the bottoms at the same time. If only I could shout "Hallelujah!" loud enough that the people in the tentage could hear from the toilet that I was in, more than 200 metres away from it.
Mishaps happen all the time, but that ultimately didn't spoil the fun the other programmes had in store for us, and of course there's the exhaustion. What mattered to me even more was that we, as a cell group, could serve God in a practical way by offering a performance programme, to which they were lacking in items for. Praise God for all that!
In the morning, I woke up without the alarm. Packed the stuff the night before, so by morning the things were already done, and we set off to the beach at 8am. Reserved some seats for Uncle Daniel and his family, but they came late, at around 10am, an hour after the service started. It turned out that he had made several trips to bring Auntie Noreen's sisters here as well, resulting in them coming late together as one family.
Morning sermon, about the family as designed by God Himself. After the sermon everyone was stuffed, due to the hot weather, and the limited ventilation underneath the tentage. The weather wasn't the problem actually - the grass was, respiring and giving out carbon dioxide as well. As carbon dioxide is a heat-trapping gas, it was no wonder the tentage was an inbuilt furnace, given the numbers of people that were there.
It was hot, it was boring, it was stuffy. No sports, no swimming, no football. Now I saw the purpose of bringing the guitar, again, as Uncle Daniel, Uncle Kelvin and I sat under the nearest tree singing Chinese worship songs, hoping to spread His love through the songs to the passers-by. It was then that Uncle Yiye and his family came along, being told of our performance to be held later at night, but ended up coming too early.
In any case, the games started, and we were appointed to Orange Team, which ended up the last team. However, we didn't play for nothing - they gave us a tidbit prize which consisted of a bag of Mamee noodle snack, cookies and a sweet. How nice, even losers get some kind of consolation prizes.
The rest of the day after the team games was virtually boring, as there was practically nothing to play or interact with, other than talking to people, playing kapadi(a traditional Indian game that resembles sumo-wrestling) in the mud, or playing soccer with a small football. I thought, no kick, playing with such a small ball! I went later to talk to the fellow brethren watching the soccer game, and then took a shower.
The door was unlocked as the bolt got knocked off, and the floor was barely clean, with mud and sand at all the four corners of the cubicle, but thank God I managed to shower successfully with the help of Uncle Kelvin holding the door from outside, maintaining bathroom privacy in such a public place. After getting out of the showers, the sight of the Married vs Singles football match was already starting, and the first thing I thought to myself was "Why on earth did I hit the showers in the first place? What a waste!"
Eventually I gave in to the urge to play in the fresh new clothing, fully expecting myself to go dirty and sweating in blue jeans. Pastor Bennett was there, and it was enjoyable. Though I was merely playing as a goalkeeper, the tension was there whenever the ball came close, which was often. Caught 2 balls, let in one. Married Team won over us, the Singles Team.
Performance started after dinnertime, and it was then God's mercy and grace truly shone in my life at that moment when a blow of stomachache hit me when the land breeze blew against me near the tentage. The urge was there, nature was calling...
I can't answer now. I can't answer now. If I did, I'd be cocking-up the whole performance item and waste the effort that we've put in to prepare the programme as one whole cell group. "Lord, please protect my underpants, lest I shit myself during the performance," I prayed in desperation as the throbbing gut started to already slowly let out gas stealthily.
The medley went well. Made minor blunders with the change in key, and finished the playing perfectly. Guess what happened - I made a run for the toilet without any toilet paper, still thinking in my mind, Hallelujah Lord for answering my prayer.
"Oops," came the exclamation when I was already at the toilet bowl letting go of that atomic bomb to answer nature's call. "Alamak, what to do?" I groped around for my phone, my only hope of getting out of the toilet, yet remaining clean in the bottoms at the same time. If only I could shout "Hallelujah!" loud enough that the people in the tentage could hear from the toilet that I was in, more than 200 metres away from it.
Mishaps happen all the time, but that ultimately didn't spoil the fun the other programmes had in store for us, and of course there's the exhaustion. What mattered to me even more was that we, as a cell group, could serve God in a practical way by offering a performance programme, to which they were lacking in items for. Praise God for all that!
Thursday, May 15, 2008
Near-Brawl Experience: Some people go too far
It was late Thursday. No, it wasn't late Thursday - the announcement made a few days ago told us that we were supposed to report to school, as usual, at 7.25am instead of the much-favoured 8.25am reporting time during Late Thursdays, when we don't have common tests at that day.
Got the first nasty news of the day: Dr Boon, the school principal, issued a warning letter to the canteen auntie who sold drinks, telling her that she was violating the school protocol of selling healthy food, by selling ham and cheese sandwiches. By now, I had gotten used to the crispy toast with the melted cheese and succulent bites of freshly-toasted ham, and this letter sounded all the more ridiculous and illogical to me when the letter claimed ham to be "meat with preservatives high in sodium."
Hello, are you sure you're talking about breakfast ham, madam? You seem more like describing luncheon meat to me, which I'd have no qualms quarreling over.
Anyway, this disheartening news of yet another favourite breakfast item unavailable in the school canteen soured the enthusiastic mood I had towards playing frisbee, or whatever sport our current PE teacher, Mr Tong, allowed us to play during PE lesson.
We got called into the main school hall for assembly. Sat through the whole of the first hour listening to boring current affairs talk by the health-freak Dr Boon. It was worse than a full sermon - there wasn't anything relevant to us that we could relate to, and she was just there blabbering like some baboon(no pun intended), not to mention that at that point in time, I was still lamenting over the loss of my favourite breakfast item.
PE time. Played Captain's Ball. Dunno what's wrong with Wei Chiat today, after deflecting a ball, I got an angry shove from behind. The next thing I knew, he was already looking for a fight. Yes, you're right. Anyone'd be fired up when being shoved by a barbarian hand, but I resisted. "No hard feelings, classmates." I thought, when there came yet another shove.
"What the, just what the you want from me?" I returned that shove.
"You wanna play like some idiot right?" We almost fought. "You want to keep shoving people, I accompany you for the whole game." Hell, how was I to know he was coming from behind? Animal. Lucky for me, he didn't manage to spoil my mood for the rest of the day. A few minutes later, I finally was rid of him when the teams swopped, and I played with Roy's team.
If I didn't control myself back then I'd have made a scene. And verbal warfare was already going on since last year, which of course makes anyone pissed when prolonged and personal attacks keep coming to you. He tries that again, I'm gonna make sure it's gonna hurt real bad, both physically and mentally.
But then again, he's ain't worth that time.
Got the first nasty news of the day: Dr Boon, the school principal, issued a warning letter to the canteen auntie who sold drinks, telling her that she was violating the school protocol of selling healthy food, by selling ham and cheese sandwiches. By now, I had gotten used to the crispy toast with the melted cheese and succulent bites of freshly-toasted ham, and this letter sounded all the more ridiculous and illogical to me when the letter claimed ham to be "meat with preservatives high in sodium."
Hello, are you sure you're talking about breakfast ham, madam? You seem more like describing luncheon meat to me, which I'd have no qualms quarreling over.
Anyway, this disheartening news of yet another favourite breakfast item unavailable in the school canteen soured the enthusiastic mood I had towards playing frisbee, or whatever sport our current PE teacher, Mr Tong, allowed us to play during PE lesson.
We got called into the main school hall for assembly. Sat through the whole of the first hour listening to boring current affairs talk by the health-freak Dr Boon. It was worse than a full sermon - there wasn't anything relevant to us that we could relate to, and she was just there blabbering like some baboon(no pun intended), not to mention that at that point in time, I was still lamenting over the loss of my favourite breakfast item.
PE time. Played Captain's Ball. Dunno what's wrong with Wei Chiat today, after deflecting a ball, I got an angry shove from behind. The next thing I knew, he was already looking for a fight. Yes, you're right. Anyone'd be fired up when being shoved by a barbarian hand, but I resisted. "No hard feelings, classmates." I thought, when there came yet another shove.
"What the
"You wanna play like some idiot right?" We almost fought. "You want to keep shoving people, I accompany you for the whole game." Hell, how was I to know he was coming from behind? Animal. Lucky for me, he didn't manage to spoil my mood for the rest of the day. A few minutes later, I finally was rid of him when the teams swopped, and I played with Roy's team.
If I didn't control myself back then I'd have made a scene. And verbal warfare was already going on since last year, which of course makes anyone pissed when prolonged and personal attacks keep coming to you. He tries that again, I'm gonna make sure it's gonna hurt real bad, both physically and mentally.
But then again, he's ain't worth that time.
Tuesday, May 13, 2008
Reflection on the movie: Men of Honor
It was nice, it was good, it was everything you'd expect from a show - something bad happens, then gets resolved, then something worse, and makes a good ending when the protagonist finally overcomes the obstacle.
Watched the movie on DVD in school during SEL lessons, which basically is Social-Emotional Learning, that functions very much like Civics and Moral Education, except under a different name. This movie's about Carl Brashear, a young man strong and fit, wanting to be a diver, and goes through all the ups and downs in his diving career.
Later on, his left foot gets cut and mangled by an accident happening while retrieving a H-bomb from under the sea. He later then pleads and pesters the doctors to cut off that foot, seeing that it hindered his career and a prosthetic leg is much more feasible to him. Later on, he tries his best to train and prove himself ready for active duty again as an amputee diver, and succeeds.
Whoa, a feat. The part where the leg got cut off was gory - the scene showed the entire leg severed, and that made the whole class create a big hoo-hah out of it. However, this scene leaves a question in the plot: if the leg truly was cut off by the metal hook, how did they manage to reattach that leg back again in the later scenes? That aside, the movie was well-made. After all, what better way to produce a movie than base it on true stories?
While watching the movie, another question popped up in my mind - what would we have probably done ourselves if we lost our own left legs? Just sit there and whine? That's what many people I know, both in and outside school, are doing nowadays, when it comes to stumbling in schoolwork, office work and other obstacles. Just what's happened to the courageous people who once populated the Earth?
I'm not saying that the people I know are downright chicken-wussies; of course they may be courageous in their own right. It's just that there's lesser of these valuable assets to society. "No pain, no gain" applies to these people very well. I guess that's something worth pondering about, for the day.
Watched the movie on DVD in school during SEL lessons, which basically is Social-Emotional Learning, that functions very much like Civics and Moral Education, except under a different name. This movie's about Carl Brashear, a young man strong and fit, wanting to be a diver, and goes through all the ups and downs in his diving career.
Later on, his left foot gets cut and mangled by an accident happening while retrieving a H-bomb from under the sea. He later then pleads and pesters the doctors to cut off that foot, seeing that it hindered his career and a prosthetic leg is much more feasible to him. Later on, he tries his best to train and prove himself ready for active duty again as an amputee diver, and succeeds.
Whoa, a feat. The part where the leg got cut off was gory - the scene showed the entire leg severed, and that made the whole class create a big hoo-hah out of it. However, this scene leaves a question in the plot: if the leg truly was cut off by the metal hook, how did they manage to reattach that leg back again in the later scenes? That aside, the movie was well-made. After all, what better way to produce a movie than base it on true stories?
While watching the movie, another question popped up in my mind - what would we have probably done ourselves if we lost our own left legs? Just sit there and whine? That's what many people I know, both in and outside school, are doing nowadays, when it comes to stumbling in schoolwork, office work and other obstacles. Just what's happened to the courageous people who once populated the Earth?
I'm not saying that the people I know are downright chicken-wussies; of course they may be courageous in their own right. It's just that there's lesser of these valuable assets to society. "No pain, no gain" applies to these people very well. I guess that's something worth pondering about, for the day.
Sunday, May 11, 2008
Terminal 3 - Terminal human memory work
Oookay. Been there, done that. Went to church and went back to have braised duck. Nice stuff, and of course, slept through the afternoon from 3pm to 6pm, so I'm having a bit of temporal insomnia right now. However it's a good thing, as it gives me some time to type out this entry. Hallelujah.
Went to Changi Airport: Terminal 3 later in the evening at around 7-plus. Explored that area, and believe me - it's majestic. It's so big that you could rollerskate from one end to the other and back, and you'd be exhausted from that distance, especially when there's the risk you might be arrested halfway for doing so for fooling around with the No Rollerskating rules in the airport terminal.
As for the food centres, they were big, but not necessarily many in terms of food varieties within themselves. Kopitiam outlets seem to be very widespread around Singapore, now that I think of it - there's even one outlet downstairs from my flat! Now THAT's food business for you; when you make it big, you get filthy rich quickly, just like Burger King, McDonalds' and other food chains!
Uncles Hin, Teck and my sister went together there, and proceeded to Terminal 2 to collect his complimentary air ticket to fly back to Uncle Hin's house in Sarawak. "Here cannot collect," Uncle Hin later translated the lady at the counter's words. "You gotta buy and collect the ticket at Singapore Shopping Centre(or whatever its name was) at Dhoby Ghaut." After asking around, calling up his company over the ticket, it soon dawned on him that he heard the wrong info - the ticket was supposed to be collected at April 18, but he heard it as May 18(taking into consideration that the month is named by numbers, eg 四月is April, 五月is May, etc).
So, how? Called up to book another 2 tickets while burning their own pockets just for a house visit to a close friend's home in Sarawak. Ate at Burger King later, and this time, probably they were trying to vent their anger on humongous Whoppers, a Single and another, a Double. It isn't surprising - both Uncles Hin and Teck weighed close to 90kg each when they stood on the luggage weighing scale.
Went to Changi Airport: Terminal 3 later in the evening at around 7-plus. Explored that area, and believe me - it's majestic. It's so big that you could rollerskate from one end to the other and back, and you'd be exhausted from that distance, especially when there's the risk you might be arrested halfway for doing so for fooling around with the No Rollerskating rules in the airport terminal.
As for the food centres, they were big, but not necessarily many in terms of food varieties within themselves. Kopitiam outlets seem to be very widespread around Singapore, now that I think of it - there's even one outlet downstairs from my flat! Now THAT's food business for you; when you make it big, you get filthy rich quickly, just like Burger King, McDonalds' and other food chains!
Uncles Hin, Teck and my sister went together there, and proceeded to Terminal 2 to collect his complimentary air ticket to fly back to Uncle Hin's house in Sarawak. "Here cannot collect," Uncle Hin later translated the lady at the counter's words. "You gotta buy and collect the ticket at Singapore Shopping Centre(or whatever its name was) at Dhoby Ghaut." After asking around, calling up his company over the ticket, it soon dawned on him that he heard the wrong info - the ticket was supposed to be collected at April 18, but he heard it as May 18(taking into consideration that the month is named by numbers, eg 四月is April, 五月is May, etc).
So, how? Called up to book another 2 tickets while burning their own pockets just for a house visit to a close friend's home in Sarawak. Ate at Burger King later, and this time, probably they were trying to vent their anger on humongous Whoppers, a Single and another, a Double. It isn't surprising - both Uncles Hin and Teck weighed close to 90kg each when they stood on the luggage weighing scale.
Saturday, May 10, 2008
Haste Brings Waste
Last night, I was reflecting about the preaching given by Sister Shanthi, which was about the sermon given by Pastor Bennett to the Tamil Congregation. It was about how we should be tactful and patient to things or people around us before doing anything.
Being human beings, we definitely are imperfect creatures. We do things in a rush, especially in school work, preparing for major examinations like GCE 'N', 'O' and 'A' Level Examinations, and of course in everyday office work. We labour, looking for speed and accuracy. More often than not, we tend to go a bit to the extreme, going too fast and losing accuracy, and vice versa. In the end we don't get what we want.
In I Samuel 13:9-14, we see Saul going ahead with the sacrifice when Samuel the Prophet wasn't around, because of the enemies of Israel coming closer and closer to his army to do battle. In Old Testament times, the Israelites sacrificed burnt offerings before battle, and are to be offered to the Lord only by prophets, and since King Saul, the first king of Israel, proceeded without Samuel, and he wasn't a prophet, his position and power was stripped of him by God, and he ended up losing the battle.
This tells us something:
Saul did so in haste because he didn't have enough faith in the Lord to protect his army from the enemies until the sacrifice was offered. Trying to proceed ahead, get done with it quickly, he relied on his own human effort, which we know, always avails next to nothing, wastes time and effort, and ultimately leads to ruin. Even as a king, he is still not spared from human temptations to use our own effort and knowledge, which is of course, very limited when compared to His wisdom and knowledge.
Even prophets are not spared from acting in lack of knowledge and wisdom from God. In I Kings 13, there were two prophets, one younger than the other. God told the younger not to eat or drink, or even go back to where he came from, after prophesying against King Jeroboam because of his practice of idolatry in the previous chapter (I Kings 12). During his journey away from the king, the older prophet asked him to eat and drink in his house. After he refused, the old prophet lied to him that he saw an angel telling him to eat and drink in his house.
Being a prophet too, the younger should have asked the Lord if this were true, but he did not, and was deceived, and ate and drank at the old prophet's house. He ended up being killed and torn apart by a lion.
Even kings and prophets can be deceived or act in haste, what more us normal and common people of today's society? Therefore, the need of wisdom and knowledge to tackle problems is there, but human wisdom and knowledge is always limited. But thank God He's there for us whenever we need help with these! We of course are weak in these areas, more often than not, but Jesus is strong in our weaknesses, so let's ask for Him to grant us His wisdom and knowledge to solve our everyday problems.
Because the foolishness of God is wiser than men; and the weakness of God is stronger than men.
- I Corinthians 1:25
Beyond this line are contributions by Chee Yiliang, a bosom friend of mine, added with my permission on May 11, 10.24pm:
Cited here are two examples of how situations can be completely turned upside down when man gives in to the temptation of making haste. The severity of God is revealed against those who fail to trust Him and trust in their flesh instead.
However, we must note that these two examples are of men under law. Today in Christ Jesus, we are no longer under law, but under grace. Under law, the severity of God is revealed. We, under grace, will not be able to appreciate the grace of God without first knowing the severity of God. Now that we understand the severity of God under law as revealed by Aaron's post, let us no contrast this with the life we live under the grace of God.
Abraham was a man who lived before the law. Now, God had promised Abraham a son through Sarah. To Abraham, this was a total impossibility as Sarah was unable to bear any children. So Sarah decided that Abraham should have a son through Hagar, Sarah's maidservant. Abraham, in his haste to fulfil the promise of God, agreed to the proposal. Hence, Ishmael was born (after Abraham's self-effort). Now, here we can see that Abraham has both given in to temptation of haste and trusted in his own flesh; according to Aaron, he has utterly sinned against God! But you know what? Despite Abraham's sin, God still gave them the son He had promised them. Ishmael, although he was a mistake, God still blessed him and his children with the riches and fatness of the Earth. That is why the Middle-East is SOOO RICH with oil!
If Abraham, who wasn't even in Christ, could receive such benefits, so much more will we, who are in Christ Jesus receive them! For those of you who have fallen to the temptation, today God says to you: "You may have failed me, but I will not fail you!" You see, your unfaithfulness cannot cause God to become unfaithful to His covenant. Despite our unfaithfulness, He remains faithful. Even when you fail Him, there is a superabounding supply of favour (which you do not deserve, but He gives anyway) to prevent the severe consequences mentioned by Aaron from occuring, and even more favour to turn the situation around for your good!
Being human beings, we definitely are imperfect creatures. We do things in a rush, especially in school work, preparing for major examinations like GCE 'N', 'O' and 'A' Level Examinations, and of course in everyday office work. We labour, looking for speed and accuracy. More often than not, we tend to go a bit to the extreme, going too fast and losing accuracy, and vice versa. In the end we don't get what we want.
In I Samuel 13:9-14, we see Saul going ahead with the sacrifice when Samuel the Prophet wasn't around, because of the enemies of Israel coming closer and closer to his army to do battle. In Old Testament times, the Israelites sacrificed burnt offerings before battle, and are to be offered to the Lord only by prophets, and since King Saul, the first king of Israel, proceeded without Samuel, and he wasn't a prophet, his position and power was stripped of him by God, and he ended up losing the battle.
This tells us something:
Saul did so in haste because he didn't have enough faith in the Lord to protect his army from the enemies until the sacrifice was offered. Trying to proceed ahead, get done with it quickly, he relied on his own human effort, which we know, always avails next to nothing, wastes time and effort, and ultimately leads to ruin. Even as a king, he is still not spared from human temptations to use our own effort and knowledge, which is of course, very limited when compared to His wisdom and knowledge.
Even prophets are not spared from acting in lack of knowledge and wisdom from God. In I Kings 13, there were two prophets, one younger than the other. God told the younger not to eat or drink, or even go back to where he came from, after prophesying against King Jeroboam because of his practice of idolatry in the previous chapter (I Kings 12). During his journey away from the king, the older prophet asked him to eat and drink in his house. After he refused, the old prophet lied to him that he saw an angel telling him to eat and drink in his house.
Being a prophet too, the younger should have asked the Lord if this were true, but he did not, and was deceived, and ate and drank at the old prophet's house. He ended up being killed and torn apart by a lion.
Even kings and prophets can be deceived or act in haste, what more us normal and common people of today's society? Therefore, the need of wisdom and knowledge to tackle problems is there, but human wisdom and knowledge is always limited. But thank God He's there for us whenever we need help with these! We of course are weak in these areas, more often than not, but Jesus is strong in our weaknesses, so let's ask for Him to grant us His wisdom and knowledge to solve our everyday problems.
Because the foolishness of God is wiser than men; and the weakness of God is stronger than men.
- I Corinthians 1:25
Beyond this line are contributions by Chee Yiliang, a bosom friend of mine, added with my permission on May 11, 10.24pm:
Cited here are two examples of how situations can be completely turned upside down when man gives in to the temptation of making haste. The severity of God is revealed against those who fail to trust Him and trust in their flesh instead.
However, we must note that these two examples are of men under law. Today in Christ Jesus, we are no longer under law, but under grace. Under law, the severity of God is revealed. We, under grace, will not be able to appreciate the grace of God without first knowing the severity of God. Now that we understand the severity of God under law as revealed by Aaron's post, let us no contrast this with the life we live under the grace of God.
Abraham was a man who lived before the law. Now, God had promised Abraham a son through Sarah. To Abraham, this was a total impossibility as Sarah was unable to bear any children. So Sarah decided that Abraham should have a son through Hagar, Sarah's maidservant. Abraham, in his haste to fulfil the promise of God, agreed to the proposal. Hence, Ishmael was born (after Abraham's self-effort). Now, here we can see that Abraham has both given in to temptation of haste and trusted in his own flesh; according to Aaron, he has utterly sinned against God! But you know what? Despite Abraham's sin, God still gave them the son He had promised them. Ishmael, although he was a mistake, God still blessed him and his children with the riches and fatness of the Earth. That is why the Middle-East is SOOO RICH with oil!
If Abraham, who wasn't even in Christ, could receive such benefits, so much more will we, who are in Christ Jesus receive them! For those of you who have fallen to the temptation, today God says to you: "You may have failed me, but I will not fail you!" You see, your unfaithfulness cannot cause God to become unfaithful to His covenant. Despite our unfaithfulness, He remains faithful. Even when you fail Him, there is a superabounding supply of favour (which you do not deserve, but He gives anyway) to prevent the severe consequences mentioned by Aaron from occuring, and even more favour to turn the situation around for your good!
Tuesday, May 6, 2008
My Saviour's Church Combined Family Service cum Picnic
Hey fellas, been busy for a while, due to language examinations, so here's an announcement. I'm trying my best not to sound evangelistic(some people don't like it when I invite them to church), so here goes -
The title says it all; There's gonna be a combined family service-cum-picnic on May 18th 2008, and all are welcome. Just show up with the following stuff:
Adults (from 8 years and above) : S$10(not US dollars, duh!)
Children (from 3-8 years old) : S$5
Babies (>3 years old): S$0.00(free!)
Lucky babies, you get a free trip to a picnic. But then again, you might not really be able to enjoy much food and games when you're still on milk bottles, I guess...(no offence to parents intended) But then again, who ever said that babies aren't allowed to be outdoors with their parents?
In case you're wondering, there's no need for NRIC certificates or any form of official identification needed to be brought, 'cos we're holding this picnic at Pasir Ris Park, at a lawn next to Car Park D. There's always people around to ask, public transport and the taxi, so don't come running after me when you lose your way going there... :P
Oh yeah, it's from 9am to 9pm, and early birds get free breakfast when they reach there before 9am.
Of course, other than the usual dull sermons(I write as though a unbeliever would) at the start of the morning, there's games like Treasure Hunt, Football, Captain's Ball, and many games able to keep youself occupied throughout the day. Exercise is good for the body, so why not? Just be sure to drink plenty of water after the games - the weather is very hot lately.
What's more, the next day's Vesak Day, so it's a public holiday, so why not go there and have fun. Good planning on our part, yea?
The title says it all; There's gonna be a combined family service-cum-picnic on May 18th 2008, and all are welcome. Just show up with the following stuff:
Adults (from 8 years and above) : S$10(not US dollars, duh!)
Children (from 3-8 years old) : S$5
Babies (>3 years old): S$0.00(free!)
Lucky babies, you get a free trip to a picnic. But then again, you might not really be able to enjoy much food and games when you're still on milk bottles, I guess...(no offence to parents intended) But then again, who ever said that babies aren't allowed to be outdoors with their parents?
In case you're wondering, there's no need for NRIC certificates or any form of official identification needed to be brought, 'cos we're holding this picnic at Pasir Ris Park, at a lawn next to Car Park D. There's always people around to ask, public transport and the taxi, so don't come running after me when you lose your way going there... :P
Oh yeah, it's from 9am to 9pm, and early birds get free breakfast when they reach there before 9am.
Of course, other than the usual dull sermons(I write as though a unbeliever would) at the start of the morning, there's games like Treasure Hunt, Football, Captain's Ball, and many games able to keep youself occupied throughout the day. Exercise is good for the body, so why not? Just be sure to drink plenty of water after the games - the weather is very hot lately.
What's more, the next day's Vesak Day, so it's a public holiday, so why not go there and have fun. Good planning on our part, yea?
Tuesday, April 29, 2008
Mid-Year Mayhem
Tomorrow's my Mid-Year Exam for Chinese Papers 1 and 2. There's practically nothing much to study about, except that the very best I can do is to read up and memorise as much useful vocabulary as possible on my part, and regurgitate them up at the right places when I sit for the paper tomorrow.
The Lord shall settle my heart with his love and grace when I get to the examination hall. Amen!
The Lord shall settle my heart with his love and grace when I get to the examination hall. Amen!
Sunday, April 27, 2008
Trying out my uncle's laptop
Nice laptop Uncle Yiye has. Though it's hard to type because the keyboard needs getting used to, it won't stop me from telling you guys how great our God is to me today.
Last Friday, Uncles Steven and Kelvin, and I went for cell group. I brought my guitar along, only not to have a chance to play it during the worship session, because they had already prepared the hymns, none of which I could play due to the lack of chord annotations, much to my dismay.
"Oh, God, surely you wouldn't make me bring my guitar for nothing...?" I thought. Thank God, I brought my school's hymnbook to the cell, and when I showed Uncle Daniel the book, we decided to sing some from them. Soon Uncles Steven and Kelvin joined along even though it was really late, around 10 plus in the night, and it just so happened that the following day I was to sit for the Chinese Mid-Year Oral Examinations.
It was really good. We managed to sing a few songs, and I reckon God gave us the time to worship him with the guitar, because the rest of our brethren that were around also heard it, and were complimenting my playing and the beauty of the hymns. We sang Did You Talk to God Above, By the Power of Your Love, and Shepherd of My Soul. Hallelujah, those songs were indeed beautiful.
Today's church service was a joke. So much for giving testimonies in church, and we were discussing so much about what testimony to share up on the stage when we were in the car, and we ended up not being able to share anything as of yet.
Brother Chris and Sister Osheana came as well for the second time, which was a good tell-tale sign that they weren't very happy with how City Harvest Church, the church we initially came from, conducted their Sunday services. To add on to the joy of another two people in the big family of My Saviour's Church, the sermon on God's love from Psalm 103 was very thought-provoking. It was indeed an enjoyable service, and the more I spend time in it in home cell meetings and church services, the more I enjoy myself and it was always in church activities and from praising the Lord, in both my private time and in cell group worships that my soul does find rest in Him.
Last Friday, Uncles Steven and Kelvin, and I went for cell group. I brought my guitar along, only not to have a chance to play it during the worship session, because they had already prepared the hymns, none of which I could play due to the lack of chord annotations, much to my dismay.
"Oh, God, surely you wouldn't make me bring my guitar for nothing...?" I thought. Thank God, I brought my school's hymnbook to the cell, and when I showed Uncle Daniel the book, we decided to sing some from them. Soon Uncles Steven and Kelvin joined along even though it was really late, around 10 plus in the night, and it just so happened that the following day I was to sit for the Chinese Mid-Year Oral Examinations.
It was really good. We managed to sing a few songs, and I reckon God gave us the time to worship him with the guitar, because the rest of our brethren that were around also heard it, and were complimenting my playing and the beauty of the hymns. We sang Did You Talk to God Above, By the Power of Your Love, and Shepherd of My Soul. Hallelujah, those songs were indeed beautiful.
Today's church service was a joke. So much for giving testimonies in church, and we were discussing so much about what testimony to share up on the stage when we were in the car, and we ended up not being able to share anything as of yet.
Brother Chris and Sister Osheana came as well for the second time, which was a good tell-tale sign that they weren't very happy with how City Harvest Church, the church we initially came from, conducted their Sunday services. To add on to the joy of another two people in the big family of My Saviour's Church, the sermon on God's love from Psalm 103 was very thought-provoking. It was indeed an enjoyable service, and the more I spend time in it in home cell meetings and church services, the more I enjoy myself and it was always in church activities and from praising the Lord, in both my private time and in cell group worships that my soul does find rest in Him.
One thing have I desired of the LORD, that will I seek after; that I may dwell in the house of the LORD all the days of my life, to behold the beauty of the LORD, and to enquire in his temple.
-Psalm 27:4
Wednesday, April 23, 2008
Gallstone Aftermath - no more gall!
Went to visit her yesterday after the operation. I didn't reach in time to hear the doctor's report, but it was, well, very successful. Praise God! When we reached there, she was still under the side effects of anastaesia - feeling drowsy. To say that she is indeed a blessed woman is very fitting for her - many people, including my uncles, aunt and mom, went to visit her. It was like yet another family gathering, only that it was because of the gallstone problem.
It took the doctor four holes into the torso, to put the instruments and endoscope for operating on her, to get the stones and the gallbladder out. We couldn't see the gallbladder - it'd be too disgusting to look at, anyway - but at least we got to see the stones. Six gallstones, what do you think of 'em?
It took the doctor four holes into the torso, to put the instruments and endoscope for operating on her, to get the stones and the gallbladder out. We couldn't see the gallbladder - it'd be too disgusting to look at, anyway - but at least we got to see the stones. Six gallstones, what do you think of 'em?
Okay, so here are the gallstones. Notice the greenish-yellow tint at the base of the vial? That's what your bile looks like. It emulsifies the fats in your body, making the fat droplets break down into smaller fat droplets. Kinda like stirring your oily soup until the droplets at the surface break up into small ones, so that more enzymes can act on the fat droplets with more surface area.
The bile is still in the body, don't worry. Just that it's much less concentrated as it has no place other than the gallbladder to store and concentrate it in, so that means that she's gonna start taking a less-fat diet now, or risk complications later on, I reckon.
Oh by the way, Uncle Kelvin went to stay vigil for the night, so he didn't come back with us.
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