Friday, October 15, 2004
blessed birthday Zongren, may the Lord continue to bless and keep you safe.. sigh.. dunno why everything when we go hup choon to eat.. you're always not available..dunno what field camp la, guard duty, posted out for one month.. haa.. there'll come a day whereby we can eat ,brother.. meanwhile, we'll eat for you.. ar.. the mee goreng.. haa
Iris.. blessed belated bday to you too.. thanks for the e-cards you send.. i'm sure you've received mine way before your bday .. haaa
shared devotion this morning.. haa..
when i looked at the sea of polka dots, i could see that many of them are so tired... zombified.. looking at their half-opened eyes, i wonder how they could stand there without falling asleep :)
<<< devotion shared this
It’s good to know that by today, exams will be over for all of you. I’m sure that you all are really relieved.
Can you imagine going to Mac’s at Serene Centre and when you eat the fillet-o-fish, you find it completely tasteless or when you go home to have dinner and realise that your favourite dish, maybe sweet and sour chicken is tasteless? What’s missing is the food is salt.
Salt is very essential in bringing out the flavour in our food.
Salt, other wise known as Sodium Chloride, (Mrs Pillai, I still remember my Chemistry) is so plentiful and is one of the most easily obtainable and least expensive of our necessities. Yet without them, our food will be tasteless.
Salt makes up 0.28% of the human body by weight. In the olden days, salt served as money at various times and places. Salt also had military significance. For instance, it is recorded that thousands of Napoleon's troops died during his retreat from Moscow because their wounds would not heal as a result of a lack of salt.
In fact Jesus once used salt as an example to bring out a point.
Matt 5:13, it reads
‘You are the salt of the earth; but if salt has lost its taste, how can its saltiness be restored? It is no longer good for anything, but is thrown out and trampled under foot.
Another bible version reads Matt 5:13 like this,
Let me tell you why you are here. You’re here to be salt-seasoning that brings out the God-flavours (God-character) of this earth. If you lose your saltiness, how will people taste godliness? You’ve lost your usefulness and will end up in the garbage.
God tells us to be like salt that has an impact on people and situations in our daily lives, to make things different.
There’s also another verse about salt. it says, Let your speech be seasoned with salt
What does it mean to allow our speech to be seasoned with salt?
Salt enhances the flavour of the food we eat, likewise our speech needs to be enhancers of our relationships with one another.
We can build up our relationships by choosing words that encourage and not hurt.
Salt is also preserving in nature. We preserve eggs, vegetables and other stuff so that they can last longer.
Likewise our speech needs to be preserving. I certainly hope that no one after talking to you will feel like ending his/her own life but instead, walk away knowing that he/she has found more strength after talking to you because the words which you used gave him/her more assurance and confidence.
Salt also has healing effects. Do the words that we use heal people or do they hurt people? I know that you girls are good counselors to each other, that often your friends turn to you for advice and help when they do not know that to do. Does our speech help people to see that there’s hope in their bleak situations or do we just agree with them that they’re not going to make it, that not only our words don’t heal, it even kills, that we are just so critical and quick to tear other people down, to crush their self-esteem so that we can make ourselves look better and look more superior.
Jesus told us to be the Light and Salt of the world and the bible tells us to season our speech with salt, let’s use our speech to be enhancing, preserving and healing.
You know many times when we hear something, it goes one ear in and another ear out.
There was once after teaching in CF, I shared with the CF girls about this book written by CS Lewis called "Screwtape letters". It about a devil uncle writing to his devil nephew, teaching him how to discourage Christians and distract them from their relationships with God, you know like giving him tips.
The uncle devil told the nephew devil that it is okay for Christians to go to church, to hear the Word, to attend one hundred and one Christian meetings and in our case, hear one hundred and one devotions, he said that it’s ok and harmless JUST AS LONG as the Christians don’t act upon it, just as long as they forget about it, to allow it to enter one ear and out through the other ear, to let them know that they are being good just by listening and not doing.
Let’s not fall into this trap. Let’s act upon what God has asked us to do. Let’s apply this in our lives. Let like our speech be enhancing, preserving and healing. This could mean complimenting a friend or a colleague genuinely or to say "please" and "thank you" so that your friends will know that they are handled with love, care and respect. We can also tell our parents that they are deeply appreciated even though there are times whereby we hit out easily on them because they are the closest to us.
yesterday dot, susanna & juanita came by my table.. then dot asked what the capital of china is.. of course all of us said beijing.. then dot exclaimed and said that she had initially answered as beijing but later on, changed it to taiwan.. muahaaa... i think this girl thousand of years didn't watch news..
went to pulau bukom yesterday to check things out, whether we could use it for LJOY/JOME retreat.. quite a cool place.. haa.. aircon switched on continuously.. cos i think they said that it's free.. p.bukom's actually an oil refinery plant and is restricted but we went to check out the chalet, opened only to the staff there.. one of our LJOY parents brought us there.. yipeee... *yahui lobbying - need a break.need a break,need a break,need a break,need a break..okie i think you know wad i mean*
yeah.. the details for e-life 2004! are finalised! woah..25 & 26 Oct 2004. please pray that the Lord will continue to use this as a platform for many to receive Him :)
Ps Fu-man will be sharing on monday and Ps Glenn will be sharing on the 2nd day.
hey all cf com members :) miss all of you.. meeting on the 20th Oct 2004 - shalom rm at 2pm. many things to settle ar.. haa
CF resumes this coming thursday, 21 Oct 2004 :) see ya...
E-life! 2004 community praise team.. there'll be a practice on the 19th Oct 2004. prisca and priscilla will inform you abt the timings soon.. will be held in joy rm :)
{7:46 AM}
Tuesday, October 12, 2004
smss girls...
all the best for your papers!!!
study hard, rest well.. and commit everything to the Lord :)
please drop by to have a chat if You're too stressed... haa.. will gladly give you a fruitella!!! haa
{4:06 PM}
Thursday, October 07, 2004
Blessed birthday, Daniel Toh! Oi.. I heard about your wilderness experience last Sunday.. certainly hope you’ll find ur way via car to sjcp soon.. miss u n ur corny jokes ar
went to send clarence off to NS last Friday.. didn’t know wat 2 get him so joe, susan and I bought him superhold hair gel! Haa.. well.. we were all laughing our heads off when we gave him.. I think he won’t be needing it for a long time..
while at pasir ris bus interchange, I noticed a guy who's also about to enlist.. he was there with his family. And an army officer actually stopped him and asked him to buy another pair of new jeans. Ha.. this joker's jeans was really worn-out, had this really stylish tear at the left knee of the jeans and his reply was – "huh? Only 5 minutes?"
well, most prob he thought he was enlisting into his grandfather’s army..
went to Vincent’s officer convo last sat.. woah.. think he really looked smart.. haa.. he was with the colours.. so I could identify him pretty easily, used pee’s super power camera to zoom in 10x at him haa. So kiasu..
joe told me about an officers’ tradition that the first person to salute an officer will get ang pao.. I did it to vince only to find out that the tradition is no longer in practice.. sianzz
was pretty crossed with someone lately.. haa.. I think I have not been this cross in a very long time..
and joe would always say.. "ar.. take holy communion already ar.. must forgive.."
the beauty of liturgy to remind us what to do, stuff that often when our heads know wat to do but our hearts lead us to the do just the opposite..
went to TTC dinner last Friday and saw susanna.. haa.. wa, she wore a skirt.. with sports sandals!! Aiyoh.. anyway, was really glad to see her .. keee..
during the dinner, rev barry instigated ( I repeat, instigated) me to help him pull a joke on my dear ms susan ling.. shall not tell you all what happened if not I think I’ll not be able to get my pay anymore.. susan’s the accountant. Can’t get the money without her… haa..
{1:55 PM}
Wednesday, October 06, 2004
hey hey! thought that i'll copy and paste my sharing for chapel this afternoon..
talked to a dear girl just now.. what she told me really encouraged me alot! i thought to myself, if only it was just her who was touched by God, all the stuff i did was worthed it! God, you're amazing!! all glory to you.. *muacks*
gal on msn: -
u neo me and my fwen was gna volunteer 2dae but we were tooo damn paiseh but lucky neva volunteer hahah
gal on msn: -
somroe wad u ask them dooo.. ahhh hahaha
yahui says:
actually quite embarrassing...
yahui says:
not that bad what..
yahui says:
haaa.. you all can do it one lar...
gal on msn: -
hahaha/.. make one mre nxt wk damn fun!!!
gal on msn: -
nice blogg.. hahaha
gal on msn: -
mine nice?
yahui says:
i'm still checking.. something;s wrong with my server.. haaa
yahui says:
fun ar? you mean the games?
gal on msn: -
haha okieee
yahui says:
haaa.. i'm glad you enjoyed it!! haa..
gal on msn: -
da songs were damn nicee... tooo.. and yeahhh da games sooo farnee lar... rica
gal on msn: -
u neo when u told me da storee 2dae bout da father da boy in da bus sayin those unfaithfull wors...
yahui says:
huh? why?
yahui says:
aiyoh.. they sickos right?
gal on msn: -
i was havin a fite wf my father... and usually i feel soo frustrated wf him.. soo like i learned a lessson i called when i got home and apologised... and said i and he should tok. and all.. and im sorrie for bein so rude. he was soo happii wow!! he buy for me chcolate... sooo hapiilurf my dad...
gal on msn: -
hehehe
gal on msn: -
thaxx for da great chapel 2dae i guess if it werent for u to tell da story of what happen i wouldnt have realised my love for my father
gal on msn: -
thaxx for sharing
yahui says:
i;m really glad that you're learning from it..
yahui says:
you know you're a really sensible girl!
yahui says:
as in you practice what you learn.. some ppl just like hear it then they forget about it..
yahui says:
i'm PROUD OF YOU!!! yeah...
gal on msn: -
yeahhh
yahui says:
praise God really.. i mean he must have done something in you..
gal on msn: -
im soo hapii tooo...
yahui says:
wah.. chocolates.. so sweet of your dad!! heee
gal on msn: -
i was praying sooo hard when u was praying jst nw.. i jst felt like bein reali.. well alnd all
gal on msn: -
yummy my fave chcolate.. bounty!! ahhh hehehe
yahui says:
wah!!
gal on msn: -
he was soo hapii and da hapier he felt make me feel soo worthy
chapel 6 October 2004
2 mondays back, I went to stay overnight at my Uncle and Auntie’s place to look after my cousins because my uncle was hospitalized due to some colon problems. I went out for a teaching session in the evening and when I got back, my cousins told me that my youngest cousin actually told them that he’ll prepare breakfast the next day for me.
He said that he’ll prepare bread and that he’ll spread peanut butter and jam on one side of the bread and on the other, margarine. And that’s not done yet, he also said that he’ll "a-chiu" on it, that is to sneeze and then charge me $8 to contribute to the monthly installment payments for the house.
When I heard that, I didn’t know whether to laugh or to scold him. At this young age of 6, I can see that this young boy is devoted to his family and that he was trying his best to help out the financial situation despite his young age.
Let me tell you another true incident. I was in a bus the other day and I overheard a group of students talking very loudly among themselves. One guy, I think should be like Secondary Four, was exclaiming that his father has this particular HP which is limited edition, meaning only 105 handphone of that particular model available in Singapore.
Then all his friends was like "Wah".. then the same guy said, "I can’t wait for my father to die, because when he dies, I can take all his money!"
All his friends actually laughed when he said that.
I don’t really understand why that guy said that but I know that if he’s my son, I’ll be really sad.
When I posted this on my blog, there was this St Margaret girl who tagged me. This girl lost her dad at a very young age and she really missed him. She tagged something like "wah so horrible, I’ll rather have my dad than to have all the money in the world"
Today’s topic is devotion to the family
Before I continue, I’ll like to invite 2 volunteers to help me.
Volunteer One: Take Transparency Markers and Draw on the Transparency, with the OHP switched on, according to whatever is being described to her.
Volunteer Two: With the back facing Volunteer One and looking at the audience, to describe the picture to Volunteer One.
I have this picture here - it’s made up of shapes.
This whole exercise talks a lot on communication and mutual understanding.
It’s very important to have communication with your family members. When I say communication, it doesn’t mean to shout and argue with them, rather to help them understand how you feel and also understand what your family members want or feel.
One funny thing I observed about communication is when a parent ask his/her teenage child, very often the child will just mumble.. I call this this Jay Chou syndrome, in other words, the mumbler.
When talking to friends, I think you all can talk about anything.. see each other in school from 7-3plus, still can go back to chat on the phone or msn.. but when your dad/mom ask you something, the answer is. I dunno. Maybe, yes, no.. see first.
I’m aware that years in the secondary is one of self-discovery, of understanding and gaining your own identity and friends, my stand is, go ahead and explore but exercise good judgement and balance, dun do things that will make your parents lose trust in you.
Just 2 nights ago, I was conferencing with 2 other St Marg girl. One of them was pretty depressed because her mom didn’t allow her to do something. She asked me how and what to do cos she really want to do that thing a lot.
I encouraged her to speak to her mom and get to understand why her mom didn’t allow her to do that thing, that she must have got her reasons doing so. I’m not sure whether she had done it.. as in to ask her mother.. but I hope something good can work out of this.
Communication is very important in keeping healthy relationships cos it’s no point assuming what the other party feels, ask and clarify.. not to confront ar.. but to come together and discuss and work something positive out.
Your attitude in communication is to strive on a WIN WIN situation, the moment you lose your temper, you’re already in the losing end. So remember to keep your cool in communication.
In Proverbs 15:1, it says "A soft answer turns away wrath, but a harsh word stirs up anger."
The other thing about devotion to family is SACRIFICE.
I’m sure that most of you would have heard about this movie - Brotherhood. It’s a korean movie which reflect about sacrifice. I know it’s NC 16 so actually all of you are not supposed to watch it.. let me just tell you what it’s all about.
Yuen Bin, the very cute one is the younger brother. The older brother is that guy, sorry, dunno what his name is. The younger brother was enlisted into the army to fight a war, and this forces the older brother to join the war the save his brother and send him back to his mother. However, without money or influence, the only hope to save his brother is for the older brother to enlist in suicide missions in order to earn the Medal of Honour, which will then guarantee the younger brother’s release.
In the midst of it all, the younger brother misunderstood his older brother, thinking that he was just trying to gain fame and glory. In the end the older brother died and the younger brother only knew the extent of his elder brother’s love and sacrifice only after the death of his elder brother.
Let me also tell you about this true story.
I know of this close friend who just finished her studies in the UK. What happened in this family was that all her life, this friend has always felt that her parents would give all the best things to her brother. She’s often asked to give things up to her brother if not she’ll get huge scoldings and sometimes, even beatings. So we can see her relationship with her parents is not very good and is further strained by her parents’ favourtism towards her brother.
Without the knowledge of her parents, she applied for a place to study in London, UK and when she got selected, she insisted to go and her parents had to sell the flat and move into a smaller one so as to support her in her further studies.
Frankly speaking, I think she is really self-centered, that she placed herself before others, before the welfare of her family members.
The bible tells us in Philippians 2:3, that we ought to place others before ourselves, that we need to show humility and consideration towards others.
I was channel surfing SCV the other day and I came across this chinese channel and I chanced upon this documentary about this particular village in a remote area in Henan, China.
A pair of father and son was interviewed. What happened was, this family of 5 is very very poor and they farm for a living. Family of 5 meaning the parents and 3 sons. It is very difficult to survive, they only kept very little for themselves to eat. The 2 older brothers eventually gave up studying so as to ease the load and to help bring in extra cash.
Still, the father found it very difficult to pay for his youngest son’s school fees, but he didn’t want his son to give up studying just because he doesn’t have the money to pay the fees. One day, he heard that by selling his blood, he can get a huge sum of money. In fact, more than what he can get by farming for a week. So, his wife and himself went to sell blood. They did this many times. With the money, they paid for the youngest son’s school fees and he managed to get into university.
Eventually, the father fell sick and to his horror, realised that he had contracted aids due to the dirty needles which were used to draw his blood.
In fact, the whole village contacted Aids, and hence it was called Ai Zhi Chun, meaning Aids Village.
What happened was that in the 1990s, many poor peasants in Henan province sold their blood, for 45 renminbi. This amount of money can feed a family for a week. So they did this day in and out, hoping to get as money as quick as possible.
The story did not end there. When the Chinese government found out about it. They gave help to these poor families by giving monthly medical vouchers for these people who contacted aids to pay for medical consultations and medicine.
Being unable to work, the father actually sold his vouchers and with the money, continued to support his son in his studies.
Throughout the whole interview, both father and son were crying as they told their story.
Devotion to the family means also sacrifice.
I don’t think your parents will really want you to do anything drastic for them, except the least which we can do and that is to respect and honour them, to love them.
The 5th Commandment – Honour your father and mother for you will live long life.
For girls who have both parents by your side, you’re really fortunate, with divorce rates going up, it’s really a blessing to have both parents with you, treasure and appreciate them, for big and small things.
For girls in single parent family, I know that it’s tough because I am also from one. I know that it’s very difficult and tough but stick to your family, it’s in times like these that you ought to stay closer to your family.
Let’s pray.
end :)
Father you're amazing!
{6:32 PM}