In Times of Trouble

I came across a daily online bible message that a friend sent to me quite sometime ago. It brought great comfort and meaning to me. As time goes by we tend to forget the blessings that we get undeservingly and yet when things goes wrong, when we are troubled with sorrow and turmoil in life, we tend to blame God either directly or indirectly without knowing it. Who are we, as God's creation have the right mind to be angry and blamming others in our times of troubles? Sometimes we wait for God to do someting because there is nothings else that we human hands can do. Only God is capable to "turn a MESS into a MESSage", "a TEST into a TESTimony", "a TRIal into a TRIumph", "a VICTim into a VICTor!".

Message taken from YL:

Waiting for God means power to do nothing save under command. This is not lack of power to do anything. Waiting for God needs strength rather than weakness. It is power to do nothing. It is the strength that holds strength in check . It is the strength that prevents the blundering activity which is entirely false and will make true activity impossible when the definite command comes.
--G. Campbell Morgan

If we refer to Isaiah 40:31 says:

31 but those who hope in the LORD
will renew their strength.
They will
soar on wings like eagles;
they will run and not go weary,
they will walk
and not be faint.

Message taken from ML:

Did you know that an eagle knows when a storm is approaching long before it breaks? The eagle will fly to some high spot and wait for the winds to come.

When the storm hits, it sets its wings so that the wind will pick it up and lift it above the storm. While the storm rages, below the eagle is soaring above it. The eagle does not escape the storm, it simply uses the storm to lift it higher. It rises on the winds that bring the storm.

When the storms of life come upon us ... and all of us will experience them ... we can rise above them by setting our minds and our belief toward God.

The storms do not have to overcome us, we can allow God's power to lift us above them. God enables us to ride the winds of the storm that bring sickness, tragedy, failure, and disappointment into our lives. We can soar above the storm.

Remember, it is not the burdens of life that weigh us down, it is how we handle them.

Message taken from JL:

Not to discourage but truth from His words recorded.
Problems of life cannot be resolve or overcome. Why?
1. If the trials comes because of our own sins, it is the result of it.
2. If the trials is permission of God, is to mold/ sanctification to us.

Support.

Job
He did not overcome or solve the mystery. Even at the end of his trials getting double bonus from God, he will never able to forget the the happiness time with his beloved family. Nothing can be replace even the bonuses from God.
He persevere...but he did not overcome or solve the mystery until when he face God.

Romans 5
1 Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, 2 through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand. And we rejoice in the hope of the glory of God. 3 Not only so, but we also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; 4 perseverance, character; and character, hope. 5 And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom he has given us.

(Notice the word "suffering"... very clear that Christian will go through suffering. Suffering that will never able to understand, getting answer, overcome or resolve. The meaning of perseverance is commitment, patience, endurance.)

What shared from YL quote is true... Power of perseverance to do nothing...
and ML... only if we understand the purpose of storms than life goes on with God.

We usually say "in life, there are ups and downs". But when we are always in the "down" part all the time for a very long time, we tend to forget where we are now. Isn't it? I think it is really very important to remember to point our focus back to the Creator. Then only everything will fall back into placess in their righful timmings and maybe even can be like Job, receiving double bonus....

Another bad day to start with

This morning go to work as usual, my mom will send me to the Wangsa Maju Putra LRT on her way to her office there. I will take the LRT from there to Bangsar station where I will wait for the free feeder bus to take me to my office at Mid Valley. All goes well if the Putra LRT is working fine, and I will reach my office around 9am.

However, this morning when I reach the Wangsa Maju station there were already alot of people queuing up before the ticket swap enterance which were temporary blocked passenger away from comming in to board the train. And surely seeing this, I know that the Putra line LRT system having technical breakdown again. Not going to just stand there and wait, I just walk over to board a bus to KL, which can take me to Sogo to take a KTM commuter train instead. It was 8am at the time I board the bus. About 35mins later, I reach Sogo but I got down on the wrong stop (this is my 2nd time taking this bus, hence the mistake). I was supposed to get down on the next stop which is nearer to the way to the KTM commuter train station. So I walk the long walk.... not bad for an early day brisk walking exercise ehh.. I think...haha...

For those who usually commute by the KTM commuter train, there bount to be the possibility of train schedule discuptions due to technical difficulties and of sort. Well, for the bad start I had this morning, thank God the KTM commuter train service came on time, and at last I can reach my office just slightly after 9am. With all the walking and commuting in this hot and hummid morning, I was sweating all along the way...phew... what a morning....

Hope the day gets better for me today!

Material things

I am usually not the kind of a material girl. I only buy the things I need and occasionally buy the things I wanted. Currently thinking of a few items on my mind and I decided to blog it down today. Most of the item I have already longed for it for quite some time now....

Things I need:

• Handphone (Sony Erricsson brand prefered) - my current handphone is 3-4 yrs old and having problem already)
• Another pair of shoes for dinner
• Accessories to match my wedding dinner dress
• Hair accessories for the wedding dinner
• A dinner pouch maybe
• More money (haha...who doesn't need this?)
  

Things I want (not important to have):

• A new pair of jeans
• Some new outfit for work and leisure (who doesn't like shopping for cloths?)
• A new handbag
• A notebook computer

That's all that I can think of for now. I swear there are more, and surely the list will keep adding up in my mind later...haha...

Weddings everywhere.......

It seems that there seems to be a lot of wedding announcements coming to me now a days. Just for the past 4-5 months I have already attended 2 wedding dinner invitations of my friends. And just around the corner, this coming 7th July is my sister's wedding. Wow... it's almost slightly over 1 more month to go until the big day. See how time flies..... I haven't even decided which dress to wear to the dinner.

I am going to make it a little different than the usual wedding dinner I attended. Usually, I would just put on a nice dress, some very light accessories like earrings and necklace, and just put on some mascara on my eye lashes. Not really calling it a makeup at all. And I will let down my hair as usual, with my permed hair it already looks a bit messy but that's how permed hair usually look like so I don't have to bother tidy it up by accessorizing it. But that's the usual preparations that I made without much effort at all. That's me. Lazy to do anything to enhance my looks. However, this time for my sister's wedding dinner, I am going to have my friend who is sort of a makeup artist to do the makeup for me. And I am going to the saloon to have my hair done nicely. Hopefully I won't look too different from my usuals....haha...

Hmm...thinking of it, my sister is 3 years younger than me and she is getting married first. Now a days, it is very seldom that people get married early in life. The norm now is when they are in their late twenties or early thirties only they decided to tie the knot. I am one of them. I wonder how my wedding day would be like. I do have some ideas of it but it needs a lot of convincing work to do. In fact, I am a little reluctant to plan about it because to me, it just seems to be a lot of hassle and there would be a lot of arguements hence disappointments coming along the way. So, I think I am going to do it one thing at a time. Have to force myself to do it, especially asking questions which may lead to arguements later on. But existing problem can't be left unsolved or at least have to attempt to solve it the best way I could.

SmOkE oR nOt To SmOkE

How many of us, unmarried singles who don't smoke but has a bf/gf that smoke? Here I would like to share my thoughts and feelings regarding this topic which has long been in my heart and mind for so long.

My dad smokes. My mom does not. So, what's the problem with that? Some may ask. Well, it has every reason that makes it a problem. First of all, smoking does not promote good health to the smoker. Secondly, it affect the health of those who do not smoke when they breath in the smoke, which we called them 2nd hand smoker. Note that, 2nd hand smoker has a faster and higher risk of having lung cancer. These 2 are the worst problem come from smoking. Other than that, would be the waste of money and time. Since smoking has no benefit at all, it would be like burning your money away little by little.

In a marriage where a husband smoke, the wife who does not smoke will need to worry about the health of the husband, on top of worring about her own health due to being 2nd hand smoker. If they have children, the amount of worries would be much more greater. Alot of questions will come to the mind of the wife. Such as, "What if my husband fall ill due to smoking, and there would be a big financial difficulties will fall on the family", "What if I die young", "What would happend to my children if they lost their father?"... etc..etc.. the worries goes on and on... Even, when I was young, I would started worying about my father's smoking habits. No doubt, it has given me restless night. Thinking deeper on the problem of smoking partner, it can distroy a marriage if not careful and if the smoker doesn't take the initiative and determination to quit smoking.

If you are not a smoker but you are dating a smoker, you may want to reconsider your relationship. If you are having a wonderful relationship no matter what and you do not mind having a smoking partner, well, think about the future. What if he/she really fell sick? Do bear in mind that the kind of sickness meant here are smoking related sickness. These type of sickness like lung cancer can be avoided and prevented. You do not need to go through the pain and suffering of having seeing someone we love fall sick and helpless. Or seeing your children fall sick, contacting asthma because of breathing cigarette smoke since born. Or experiencing the sickness yourself and you need to die young because of being 2nd hand smoker.

Many smoker who started smoking are unable to quit although they tried countless times. Some may succeed, but fall back again. Most of the time, they just succeed in a period of time, and then fall back again. Because smoking is also a form of addiction like drug addiction or alcoholic addiction. If your bf/fiancee promise you that they will quite smoking and stay off from smoking when they get married, then pray that they stay true to their promise. Pray that God will give them strength to fight the temptation. Pray that they themself will not only rely on their own strength but rely on God's mighty strength also. Pray that after they have stay clean from it, they will continue ro refrain from it for the rest of their life.

If you are not a smoker but you are dating a smoker, better pray now that God will give you wisdom to make decision on how you want your future to be like with the person. I choose to presevere, continue hoping, continue praying, continue trusting no matter how many times the trust has been easily broken. I do not know whether the outcome will be good or bad but I trust God that everything happen, happen with a cause and it is meant for our good. I believe God will show me the answer soon when the time is right. I can only hope that my "foolishness" will not turn out to be a complete urter foolishness. So, what's your choice?

Siew Lee's Wedding

Siew Lee is one of my college mate that I did not keep in touch for so long. We first know each other since we first started our Diploma course. In a blink on an eye, that was 10 years ago. We had many times grouped up together for assignments and projects. And had enjoyed our lunch and gossiping together with Lyn Yen. Those were the days where we were so care free, only need to worry most about our assignment due date and exams schedule. After graduation, someone from our batch of college friends always organize gatherings, and I got to meet her on a few occations back then. The gap was more than 6 years, since I last met her until recently on her wedding day.

It does not come as a surprise to me when I receive her wedding invitation which were sent through e-mail. As someone told me earlier that she is getting married soon in March 2007. I didn't know that I had the privilage to attend her wedding as we did not keep in touch for so long. I certaintly would not want to miss it. On top of congratulating her on her wedding, I had used up the opportunity to meet up with the rest of the college mate, that we were a whole bunch of friends who used to hanged out together. Some brought their partner, but I did not.

30th March 2007 @ Imbi Palace Restaurant

Surprise morning

It's Wednesday morning. Go to work as usual. While taking a lift to my office I accidentally bum into Siew Lee. Wow.... what a co-incidence. We haven't met in ages since we graduated I think. A few weeks back, I receive a wedding dinner invitation from her which is held this Friday night. On the way to work I was thinking what to wear to her dinner..... and just out of a suddent I saw her there at the lift lobby.... haha.... She hasn't changed much, so I recognize and sure it was her therefore I greeted her. She was surprise to see me too... though I was afraid that she doesn't recognize me but I think she do. We have a little chat in the lift and she told me she has been working here for just over a year now, at 8th Floor Menara IGB, Mid Valley. While I was here since year 2003, left the company for a year and came back April 2006, we haven't met before here at Mid Valley. How ironic that I was looking forward to met her this Friday. Well, it's good to know that she's working here at Mid Valley. As my work department now shifted down to the 9th floor from 19th floor and 18th floor previously. Sigh....... 2 days more to Siew Lee's wedding dinner and I am still thinking of what to wear.....

Your Purpose or Your Problem?

Rick Warren (REMEMBER HE WROTE-PURPOSE DRIVEN LIFE)

You will enjoy the new insights that Rick Warren has, With his wife now having cancer and him having "wealth" from the book sales. This is an absolutely incredible short interview with Rick Warren,

"Purpose Driven Life " author and pastor of Saddleback Church in California .

In the interview by Paul Bradshaw with Rick Warren,
Rick said:

People ask me, What is the purpose of life? And I Respond: In a nutshell, life is preparation for
Eternity. We were made to last forever, and God wants us to be with Him in Heaven.

One day my heart is going to stop, and that will be the end of my body-- but not the end of me.

I may live 60 to 100 years on earth, but I am going to spend trillions of years in eternity. This is the warm-up act - the dress rehearsal. God wants us to practice on earth what we will do forever in eternity.

We were made by God and for God, and until you figure that out, life isn't going to make sense.

Life is a series of problems: Either you are in one now, you're just coming out of one, or you're getting ready to go into another one.

The reason for this is that God is more interested in your character than your comfort.

God is more interested in making your life holy than He is in making your life happy.

We can be reasonably happy here on earth, but that's not the goal of life. The goal is to grow in
Character, in Christ likeness.

This past year has been the greatest year of my life but also the toughest, with my wife, Kay, getting cancer.

I used to think that life was hills and valleys - you go through a dark time, then you go to the
Mountaintop, back and forth. I don't believe that anymore.

Rather than life being hills and valleys, I believe that it's kind of like two rails on a railroad track,
And at all times you have something good and something bad in your life.

No matter how good things are in your life, there is always something bad that needs to be worked on.

And no matter how bad things are in your life, there is always something good you can thank God for.

You can focus on your purposes, or you can focus on your problems.

If you focus on your problems, you're going into self-centeredness, "which is my problem, my issues, my pain." But one of the easiest ways to get rid of pain is to get your focus off yourself and onto God and others.

We discovered quickly that in spite of the prayers of hundreds of thousands of people, God was not going to heal Kay or make it easy for her.

It has been very difficult for her, and yet God has strengthened her character, given her a ministry of helping other people, given her a testimony, drawn her closer to Him and to people.

You have to learn to deal with both the good and the bad of life.

Actually, sometimes learning to deal with the good is harder.

For instance, this past year, all of a sudden, when the book sold 15 million copies, it made me instantly very wealthy.

It also brought a lot of notoriety that I had never had to deal with before. I don't think God gives you money or notoriety for your own ego or for you to live a life of ease.

So I began to ask God what He wanted me to do with this money, notoriety and influence. He gave me two different passages that helped me decide what to do, II Corinthians 9 and Psalm 72

First, in spite of all the money coming in, we would not change our lifestyle one bit. We made no major purchases.

Second, about midway through last year, I stopped taking a salary from the church.

Third, we set up foundations to fund an initiative we call The Peace Plan to plant churches, equip leaders, assist the poor, care for the sick, and educate the next generation.

Fourth, I added up all that the church had paid me in the 24 years since I started the church, and I gave it all back. It was liberating to be able to serve God for free.

We need to ask ourselves: Am I going to live for possessions?

Popularity?

Am I going to be driven by pressures? Guilt? Bitterness?

Materialism? Or am I going to be driven by God's purposes (for my life)?

When I get up in the morning, I sit on the side of my bed and say, God, if I don't get anything else done today, I want to know You more and love You better. God didn't put me on earth just to fulfill a to-do list. He's more interested in what I am than what I do.

That's why we're called human beings, not human doings.

Happy moments, PRAISE GOD.

Difficult moments, SEEK GOD.

Quiet moments, WORSHIP GOD.

Painful moments, TRUST GOD.

Every moment, THANK GOD.

Judah Ben-Hur

It's a beautiful Sunday morning, 4th February 2007. I went to church at KL Baptist church (KLBC) as usual with my mom and Aldrin but this time Yung Han (my brother) came along. We had a memorable day at church because we had the opportunity to witness the performance outreach by David M. Sanborn, "co-director and star of the multi-million dollar hit musical, Judah Ben-Hur, who performed his one-man show about King David, SONG of the SHEPHERD." He also performed a song together with his mother Ellen (Director, Associate Producer, USA)



"With his impersonations of Arnold Schwarzenegger (as Goliath), Keanu Reeves, Sylvester Stallone, Gene Kelly, Sean Connery, Jim Carrey and more than a dozen others, you'll see why this one-man show has already won the hearts of some 50,000 people on four continents - and why critics call it "passionate, hilarious...truly breathtaking."*" (*Dan Duis, WCTN-Radio)


What critics have said about Sanborn:

"Sanborn performed a very entertaining one-man show, singing & playing several roles wonderfully." - MTV (on MTVAsia.com)

"This man is someone to watch out for: his powerful voice and acting skills were apparent to all." - TODAY Magazine

Through his performance, I have been reminded of God's great love for all of us. And we should not be afraid to follow His plan and allow Him to be the center of our life. There would be pain and sufferings but God will deliver us if we really put our faith and eye on Jesus, we will see his deliverance and answers to our prayers. Because God created us and the universe, He said "it is good".

David were to travel back to U.S for the rehearsal this Tuesday, as Jesus in this 11 months time, which is why he's growing a beard for the role. I hope he will have his safe journey back home with his mom and that I would have the opportunity to see his performance again in the future. May God bless him and his family.

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Today's church bulletin announcements "Back by popular demand - Pilgrimage to the Land of the Bible (April 26 - May 4)". This would be a trip to The Holy Land, Israel. I wish I had the financial capability to go. If not this time, maybe God will allow me to go next time if He so permits.

About Jojo

Jojo is the center of our love life now. Since the day she came into our life, we have been busy keeping ourself, if not each other busy in taking care of her. She is 3 months old then. It's like taking care of a baby, an addition into the family....so to speak. Yes, she's part of our family. Like someone very dear to our heart (at least to us both). We call her our beloved "daughter", our "little princess".

Birthdate: 21st December 2005
Type: Australian Silky Terrier
Likes: Eating (especially not her dog food), playing, sleeping, sunshine in the morning, and eating......
Dislike: Bathing (she'll hides away if she knows we are going to bath her)
Fav. Food: Cheese, fried chicken, meat balls, eggs, practically interested to eat anything except her own food.
She's cute, joyful, playful, loving, food lover, intelligent & very good at jumping.

Here are the picture of her at age 3 months old.



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At 6 months old.

At 6 months old, her fur is long and fluffy... but alot of tangles because we didn't comb her at all. We started to nick name her "Little Bear Bear".... Took her to professional groomers for having her nails cut, fresh bath and grooming of course.

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At 10 months old.


Clean cut look. We had to take her to the pet groomer to get all her fur cut off because she had an ugly tangled fur all over her body.... poor Jojo was quite unhappy after she had her fur cut off. But she's ok after Daddy gave her a kiss... At first she had cute yellow ribbons on top of each of her ears but we took it down because she's uncomfortable having it tied up tightly around her ears. Didn't got the chance to take her picture with the ribbons on her. She looks very cute with it though.

Yet to take her picture after her fur grown back. So, comming up next is picture of Jojo after her fur grown back nice and beautiful......

Catching up.....

It has been more than a month ago that I first set up this blog but haven't got the opportunity to use it yet.... Will continue to keep posting when I have the opportunity. I hope to make this blog a nice and interesting place to keep memories and sharing.

Greetings

Hi, this is my first day and first time creating this blog. Hope this will be a wonderful and meaningful place for sharing memories, thoughts and love in my/our life.