Precious Ties going going...

When I was staying with my parents, I had to endure many hours of story-telling by my parents.... yep, that's how I know the names of all their friends...

What strikes me most is not the exhaustive list of friends names and how they have spent time together, its the relationship that my parents have with not only their friends, but also their friends' family as well.

That bit of "relationship" (亲情) is hard to explain in english, the ties that my parents used to have with their friends' family is amazing, it feels like they become an extended part of the family also. When it comes to festivals etc, they would exchange phonecalls, gifts, bringing smiles and warms the heart. Such gestures cannot be replaced by money or time.

Today, I asked myself, how many of my friend's parents or family do I actually meet or keep in touch with? Barely a handful. However, what I noticed in this handful is that, we have a closer friendship, one that spans across just one generation, bringing higher awareness and understanding in our friendship. You see, if you friend becomes cranky one day, you may not know why, but if their parents start showing some signs of stress or shares their situations with you, you can clearly understand why your friend is so cranky and you can better comfort your friend. :)

Perhaps having a deeper relationship with a friend's parents sounds a little absurd in today's world as the personal relationship between two seems to be distant by many distractions.

What about some of those friends who has physically left the country for one reason or the other? What are you doing to keep those friendships alive? Are there moments that you think of these friends but never got to tell them about it? Go call your friend and tell them about it now!

We had a pair of friends who stayed in Europe for a few years and they called us frequently whenever they wanted to speak to someone with a familiar "accent" (ha ha, it should be called singlish or slang perhaps?). Because of our time difference, we often got calls in the early morning or late nights, sometimes, due to our own tiredness, we want to yell "#$%#$@#" over the phone as we pick it up, but with that familiar voice over the other side, with that warm "hello, we are thinking of you, so we called you," all the tiredness melts away and turn that few mins into a real-time talk cock session, bringing the distance to a zero.

These phone calls made me realised that those who left our country for whatever reasons, do most certainly miss home. And whatever they can lay their hands on something from home would be treated like a treasure. So do send your overseas friends some gifts from home from time to time. You will be giving them that extra boast!

Have a lovely new year my friends!

Old dust, new helper!

Our estate is getting dustier than we would like it to be... just to show you how MUCH dust each room can accumulate...

The bedroom:


The living room:



And of course it doesnt help that Jen is losing hair like leave being shed by trees in autumn (its the MSG in instant noodles, it stopped after the instant noodles stopped also, so please do NOT take so much instant noodles for those of you who are reading this at home... see if you are scared already or not...)

This bunch was from a few sweeps across the scalp in one seating...


So since we cant be always running after our fallen hair and the silly dust that accumulates, we "hired" a new helper... Maria. enjoy her little video!

Snoopy Cloth Bags @ Isetan!

This was an intersting find!







Only problem was that they cost $12.90 for the small ones and even MORE expensive for the bigger ones, I'm not prepared to pay that much for a cloth bag even though they have my favourite comic characters on them... ha ha ha... its good to know that there are others who do share my joy in just seeing them.

T3!

Yes, our T3 is opening soon!

When the news came on tv for visitors to go check out our latest terminal, I was pretty excited as I've seen its construction over the past year (as I've been sending and receiving my home VIP to&fro the airport). So I was excited to go check it out!

Then! by some mere co-incidence, I ended up in T3 without really intenting. And since I was there, I might as well take some shots with my Linus :)

I was fooled into thinking that I was at some new wing of the T2 when I saw these men working hard at the counters with these "fake lugagges"


I peeped and saw the famous T1 tower from the windows and thought for a moment, the direction is really wrong if I was really at T2... hmm....


Which means I must be at T3! ha ha ha

Do you know that you can SEE the arrival guests checking out at the customs in T3? Cool right?


take a closer look...


So I still need to take the sky train to T1 from T3... sigh... And I thought that there was a direct walkway between the two.


And did you know that there's a different train to go to T2 from T3 as well? I wonder why dun they just build one train track to move between all 3 terminals? Most of the international terminals with more than one terminal usually just have one train, save $ and confusion... strange.


here's a short clip of my "exploration" of the new T3 ha ha ha

Christmas 2007

This year's Christmas was a bitter-sweet one.

I had resisted doing many of the "traditional" things this year including wrapping the presents (kindly taken over by Ad), writing the cards (which ended up in last min scrumbles to a few words instead of my usual essay), organising parties and getting people drunk....

Somehow this Christmas feels lot more sober than the previous Wow times.

However, on the eve of Christmas, while delivering Christmas carols & mass (to the best of my ability) to the rest of the congregation, I felt what it was like to welcome the birth of Christ. To receive a baby born under very humbled conditions. Not in a hospital, not in a home but in a manger.

The last place that anyone can think of a man as great as he would be born in. (And we often complain about the hygiene blah blah blah that we are "subjected" to. What about Christ?)

It was indeed the highlight of this year's Christmas for me, the rest of the celebrations can and will go on but the light in my heart is renewed, rejuvenated.

Happy Birthday Baby Jesus.

One chorus which touched me this Christmas:
We were the reason
That He gave His life
We were the reason
That He suffered and died
To a world that was lost
He gave all He could give
To show us the reason to live

What about you? What was Christmas like for you?

Forgiving In An Unhealthy Situation

by Jon Walker

Today, December 10th, former National Football League (U.S. football) quarterback Michael Vick is scheduled to be sentenced for his conviction related to gambling and illegal dog fighting. Because Vick’s conviction raises important questions about forgiveness, I’m offering a short, downloadable Bible study on the subject at www.gracecreates.com – jw

Jesus said, "Father, forgive these people, because they don't know what they are doing." (Luke 23:34a NLT)

~~~ ~~~ ~~~ ~~~

In writing about forgiveness, several readers have asked: “What about forgiving within an unhealthy relationship, one that is toxic and dysfunctional? Should you continue in the relationship when the person just keeps doing the same thing over and over again, never changing his behavior?”

To quote my sister, “Forgiveness isn’t the same as stupid!” It doesn’t mean we’re to act like doormats, allowing evil to run rampant in an abusive relationship. Loving our enemy does not mean excusing his behavior.

To echo the civil rights activist Martin Luther King, we need to understand the difference between non-resistance to evil and non-violent resistance. In any toxic relationship, we strive to resist the abuse with a peace-filled, godly response. This includes establishing healthy boundaries where you’re less vulnerable to abuse and, if God directs, it may mean ending the relationship (much easier said than done when the abuser is a parent, a spouse, or a child).

Regardless, the act of forgiveness does not require you to keep taking the abuse, and it doesn’t mean you must remain in the abusive situation.

Jesus shows us that forgiveness can be immediate when he forgives those who were crucifying him – during the very act of crucifixion: “Father, forgive these people, because they don't know what they are doing.” (Luke 23:34a NLT)

As we mature in Christ, God will teach us to forgive constantly, even instantly. But it’s a learning process, so don’t take off on a guilt trip if you’re unable to do that now. Fall upon God’s grace and let him move you closer toward forgiveness. It may – probably will – take time to fully receive his grace to forgive, and God can work with that. The first step may simply be to let God soften your heart. Our hearts have a tendency to become hardened in difficult relationships.

Again, let me stress, the softening of your heart toward the abuser is not the same as saying it’s OK to keep taking the abuse, and it’s not the same as saying you have to stay in a situation where you are being or may be abused.

Forgiveness is not the same as agreeing with the behavior of the abuser.

What now?

· Remember the enemy is the enemy – The Bible teaches that when we’re in conflict, the real enemy is not the person we face. The real battle we’re in is against Satan’s unseen spiritual forces of wickedness. (Ephesians 6:12) The enemy wants us to think the battle is ours alone, and that causes us fight as if we’re separated from God. Our goal should be to trust that God is in the battle. (1 Samuel 17:47)

· Through prayer, bless those who abuse you – With your prayers, you can bless people who continually hurt you. They’re in bondage to their own sins, and although that doesn’t excuse their behavior, it does give you insight into how you can pray for them. God intended these relationships for good, yet they’re stripped away by alcohol or anger issues or other counterfeits Satan uses to destroy true fellowship and family. Pray for them to become the person God always intended.

· Take a firm stand – You need group to support you in an intervention, and you may need a mediator present, but the Bible teaches God’s light can penetrate the deepest darkness with hope for restoration and reconciliation. This can provide a quicker path to healing. Regardless, you need to take a firm stand against the abuse, and you may need others to help you do that.

· Should I stay or go? – I’ve seen abusive relationships over the years and know it would be naive to suggest that an intervention, sprinkled with some prayer dust, will suddenly change everything. Some people respond to confrontation; some are crushed by the love of God invading their heart. But many, many people remain toxic and abusive, even when confronted in love, even when forgiven, even when drenched in God’s grace. You may very well need to end the relationship, as difficult as that may be. It’s not your job to change the person, so don’t consider it a failure on your part if he or she doesn’t change when confronted with God’s love and truth.

© 2007 Jon Walker. All rights reserved.

Tonight

Tonight was a happy sad occasion where I got to meet up most of my family and extended family in a "celebration" of our grandfather's passing of 20yrs. Yep, Grandpa passed away suddenly one monday night 20yrs ago, the year when I just finished my PSLE, we were looking forward to the annual dinner with Beijing Duck...

That evening is still pretty clear in my head after 20yrs, Grandpa told us to pick up something from him and when we arrived, he was still doing his sums told us to wait for him. While waiting, he had a cough and laid back to rest. So we thought that he was tired and had to take a nap. We waited for around 20mins and never did we realised that the cough was a heart attack. Grandpa passed away before our very own eyes.

My world of comfort, fun, security changed from that moment onwards. Grandpa has left many legacies behind and we continue to discover them when we talk to our elders.

In my conversation with a cousin, I noticed something was not right with her and upon further probing, I realised that she's divorced from her young marriage of barely 3years. My heart sunk for her, to see that sadness and knowing that there's nothing I can do for her at this point. While she learns to pick herself up, I can only pray for her to have the strength to move on, to stay strong.