Tell God You Love Him by Talking to Him

Many years ago, before I got baptised, I witness a friend/mentor's commitment towards Christianity. Her love for God shows up in her every move. She places Him before her every decision. She relies heavily of His commands and feels truly loved by Him. She is one of those folks that will light up a crowd with her wit and intelligence. She does well in her job, taking every project or job assignment as a challenge for herself. She has the most loving & understanding boyfriend/husband that one can ask for. She is definitely a shining example of someone every young girl desires to be.

So I asked her, why does she need/love God so much when she already have such a perfect boyfriend/husband?

Her reply was:"Man can at times fail us. But God never fails us."

I was too young then to fully appreciate the meaning of her words. As time passed by, there are times when certain expectations were placed on men and it hurts so much when they fail me. And I remember this sentence that my friend shared.

So here's a cool start to having a different friend with God. Just chat Him up!

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May 31, 2009
Tell God You Love Him by Talking to Him
by Rick Warren
"I love the Lord because He hears my voice and my prayer for mercy. Because He bends down to listen, I will pray as long as I have breath!" (Psalm 116:1-2 NLT).


One way to worship God is to talk to Him.

When you really love somebody you don't just want to spend time with that person, you want to talk with him or her, also. Think about two teenagers falling in love; they're on the phone all the time.

They talk and talk and talk. They're getting to know each other. That's how you get to know someone—through communication. If your spouse never, ever talks to you, you have every reason to start wondering, "Do they love me?"

And that's why we show God we love Him when we talk to Him. What do you talk to God about during this kind of worship? Anything that you'd talk to your best friend about: your hopes, your fears, your dreams, your anxieties, the things you're proud of, the things you're ashamed of, your goals, your ambitions, your hurts, your cares, every part of your life. You come to God and you talk to God about anything and everything.

The Bible says, "I love the Lord because He hears my voice and my prayer for mercy. Because He bends down to listen, I will pray as long as I have breath!" (Psalm 116:1-2 NLT). If you don't feel close to God, there's a simple remedy for that: start talking to Him! He has invited you to talk with Him; He wants to talk with you. Prayer is not some duty that you have to do. It's a privilege that you get to do. You get to talk to the Creator of the universe.

You may be saying, "I'd like to have more prayer time with God. I'd like to talk to God. I just don't have the time." Then you're too busy. You'll never have the time; you must make the time to pray. If your Christian life has become routine, dull, and joyless, then take that to God and talk to Him.

Jen's Stash *giggles*

SBS Bus!

I would like to see SBS being fined repeatedly for having delayed bus services. Especially in down town area where its always packed with people getting around. How can the bus take so long to arrive?

Please Don't Buy This Dress...

New Signage at Train Stations!

This is so much better! Got icons to help you identify the location quickly!

Another World in SG!

Its interesting how different parts of Singapore can constantly spring up with something new.

Here, under the MRT track at Boon Lay, I was amazed by the thousands of bicycles neatly piled up against each other.

And they looked very similar, how would you identify which is your bike? Its tougher than owning a car and getting lost in the mega car-parks.For cars you can make use of the car alarms to "listen" to where your car can be. How do you find your black bicycle in the sea of thousands of other black bikes?

What about during the peak hours when everyone is rushing to & fro work? Wont there be a "jam" to park, secure their bicycles? hahaha

Cutie Pies

She is sooo adorable that you wanna squeeze her and put her in your pocket and bring her home!



This pic is more than 2 decades old and back then, I did kinda squeeze her lots, (cant fit her in my pocket) but brought her home anyway! ho ho ho

Your Friend S-H-A-R-O-N

Got one of the thousands tele-marketing calls again. This time they were a little bit more creative, they found me a friend named Sharon. Here's the conversation:

Telemarketer (TM):"Hello, good afternoon, may I speak to Ms J please?"

J: Yes speaking?

TM: Ms J, your friend referred you to us, we are from True Yoga, we are very happy to offer you 1 week FREE trial at True Yoga.

J: (tempted to say YES immediately, FREE leh, my kinda of cool. But this is also like the 1001th Free trial i've been offered, so abit more cautious)
What is the name of my friend who gave you my name?

TM: Oh let me check, (flips paper in the background for 0.01sec). Its your friend Sharon.

J: Sharon? Sharon what? What's her surname?

TM: Oh surname ah, (flips MORE paper in the background) we do not have that data with us. Its just Sharon.

Wont it be strange that for a member to register, they have to pay quite abit of registration fees, subscription fees etc and they wont have their member's surname? Even donkey forms in most places would require you to give them your NRIC. They don't have the member's surname?

If its an authentic phone call with an authentic recommendation, there should be more details. What's there to hide anyway?

J: I don't have a friend by that name.

TM: (in shock) You don't have a friend called Sharon? Its S-H-A-R-O-N! (yes, she spelt it out for me)

J: Nope, not one that will give you my particulars and do not dare to admit it anyway.

TM: Oh okay, thank you very much then.
*hangs up quickly*

How fake can this be?

They gave me a pseudo friend ha ha ha

And she was not the first one to do so. The last one gave me a friend with a local dialect name which I really dun have a friend by that name ha ha ha Like di-gum for them eh?

So for all those reading here, please do kindly drop a note to me if you were pressurized to give my name to any organization, for any purpose, for any free trials, freebies etc. Its only courteous to do so if its a friend that you are pushing to these telemarketers.

But I know for much certainty that my friends are sensible enough not to put my name down on these forms. Because they are nothing but a nuisance!

Things occur for a reason

Yes, I firmly believe that things do occur for a reason, sometimes reasons. Most times, beyond our comprehension.

This morning, when I opened my inbox, I received a chain of emails depicting the pain that a friend is going through with her continuous stream of emotional torment. A close member of the family fell ill for the past month, arrangements has to be made from sending her to hospital, check-ups, post-discharge care, hiring a maid for the first time and then dealing with a runaway maid!

It may sound funny on hind sight, but for now, my friend is really just feeling emotionally exhausted welcoming the end of the nightmare.

Its a familiar situation I recall back in 2001 when my world seems to just turn upside down. I started the year resolved to finish my MSc with a bang and write it up into some life-long achievement book. On the first day back in the lab, I received a phone call from my sis's house in the mid-morning. (Always NOT a good sign to receive an unexpected call) Turns out that there's serious shit there occurring, took our family many months to come to terms with it, deal with it and move on with it.

Few months later, one of the nights when I went out partying with my friends and received a phone call from mum (again NOT a good sign), telling me that my dad had been sitting on the toilet bowl for the whole night with some vomiting. Being chinese, they popped some bo zhe pills and it did not help with the situation. So I headed home early that night and went to check on dad. His face was rather pale and we thought that it was just dehydration. My dad could still climb down 4 flights of stairs to our vehicle so that I can drive him to A&E.

The moment we arrived at A&E, he turned even more pale! There was a doc nearby and saw him in the state and quickly found him a wheelchair and whisk him away for the checks. Yes, you guessed it, it was an heart attack! After his ultrasound scan, 3 of his major arteries were blocked. Ballooned him in the middle of the night.

The following month, my mum got a mild stroke after having to take care of my dad from his heart condition.

The month after that, I went for an op...

Feels like a house full of sick people!

The morale was pretty low in the house. No one could see the light at the end of the tunnel. We were waiting to see what other shit will fall into our laps. We really just have to keep moving forward to get our minds out of all the darkness, finding the right kind of emotional support that fits our needs.

Moving from those dark years, we have all grown to another new level of understanding.

We know our physical limits. Mental limits (how much shit we can take before we fall apart).
We know what kind of emotional structure keeps us in check (be it a tub of ice cream or a bottle of beer, or some real good bitching with some friends, hey, whatever works for you man!)

And most of all, I've learnt to be more human when someone else is in some kind of shit. Brings out the humanity side of me.

In another incidence, one of our friends bought a new car! Being a new driver, he was fairly careful on the road, sticking to speed limits (I've not seen anyone MORE anal about the speed limits than him! He's car never felt what was like to travel beyond 80khm before I took over the wheels! ha ha) So you would think that this guy would be accident free on the road right? Well, not so much, he had 2 tyre punctures, 1 died battery on his way to VOTE during the last GE, 1 accident involving motorcyclist crashing into his boot (his car was stationary @ traffic junction), threw both the rider & passenger off his car, with a huge dent in the roof + smashed rear windows. I think all these occurred in the first YEAR of his driving experience! Such a nightmare! Never knowing what you're going to get when you get into your car that day.

But hey, his experience at changing tyre came in handy a few years later when he was traveling overseas in the desert. Tyre puncture in the middle of a desert where there's NO mobile phone signals! He was cool about changing the tyres all on his own! Damn cool if you ask me!

So my dear friends, if you feel like u r in alot of shit right now, know that it occurs for a reason. Know that you'll survive!

Did You Know?

I wanted to FAINT!

Loving my new Timbuk2

We fell in love with the sturdiness of Timbuk2 laptop bags about 3yrs ago. This happened when we were in search of a laptop bag for Ad (AGAIN!) as his 3rd Samsonite laptop backpack was wearing out under the tremendous stress that Ad puts it through. Besides his laptop, Ad has his 1L water bottle, charger, brolly + tonnes of other stuff in his bag that at times, we are surprised that it exists! ha ha ha oops... hopes he dun kill me for being too "revealing".

We found Timbuk2 laptop backpack really durable, after using it daily for more than 1yr, its strap is still in great condition! The strap is one of the first things that get worn off, thus making the heavy weight too unbearable on the shoulders. So for the past few years, we were contented to keep changing his laptop backpack every 8-12months depending on how "painful" they get and how much pain Ad can bear with daily.

In addition to its ultra durable strap, not worn out after 3yrs, its also got great capacity for loading up things! I get amazed by how much there is inside the bags. I have travelled with a camera bag inside (dSLR camera bag that fits 1 body, 2 lenses + other cleaning tools), my jacket, scarf, 1L water bottle, light toiletries bag, wallet, keys etc. Its amazing how they can all fit inside the bag + not weight the tonne that they are supposed to. As you can guess, I've inherited Ad's older Timbuk2 backpack as its not in the "professional" color that he would like it to be. On discount mah! It was cheap! Cannot chose :P

I inherited it only because Ad found another similar bag that was even CHEAPER! ha ha, this was 1yr later... boy was he happy!

I've been drooling at the prettier totes to add more girly twists to my bag collection. Not forgetting my 1st Timbuk3 ladies Tote laptop bag which is called the Marina, its a snug laptop bag that allows enough things in the bag without weighing a tonne.

So when I saw their beach totes, I was drooling non-stop. But I was not convinced at the price point. I told myself that its way too expensive for a beach tote!

Fortunately for me, Ad heard my countless cries of excitement for their beach totes and he kept an eye on cheap bargains for them hee... So finally, after like what feels like an eternity, he got me my new beach Tim tote!



I was hesitant about its capacity when I first saw it. It looked like it had alot of small compartments with a huge central space inside. You know how open spaces actually look smaller than it actually is? Yah, this is one of the cases hee.

I was totally bowed over when I can fit in as much if not MORE stuff in this red tote than Ad's giant laptop bag! ha ha ha It feels like its got a hidden capacity that doesn't say NO to you when you load it up. So I just kept stuffing and stuffing and stuffing things in it. Then weight distribution on the shoulders strap is amazing! I wonder how the folks at Timbuk2 does it. How can it feel lighter than its actual weight? Doesn't make sense to me but I'm happy with it :)

Love the adjustable longer strap with it too! I threw my laptop in it with a slim laptop casing as this tot does not come with any laptop compartments and used the tote's longer shoulder strap for my slim laptop casing when I needed to separate them! Its like a bonus! ha ha

One last thing which I love about Timbuk2 bags are their very functional, very thoughtful compartments. For cards, for mobile phones, for PDAs, for pens, keys, zipper for important documents etc. Makes it very easier to use the bag and know exactly where these small items are in your bag inside of having to fish around for your staff pass...

Loving it!

Cat Walk!

Yes, finally, after years of telling my friends who obese cats, it IS possible to walk your cats!!

Dun pamper them anymore!



hahahahahaha :P

Rediffusion still in Vogue!

I was blogging about mum and how rediffusion was their source of entertainment back in the days when most were too poor to own other expensive electronic devices.

Then we realize that our friendly neighborhood laundromat listens to the Rediffusion to get by his day!! Woah!

He rocks man!!



He is a hardworking man, he spends his day buried in the neighborhood's dirty laundry, only surfaces to do pick ups or drop ins. There's a door bell at the front counter which he installs for us to "ting-dong" him when we need his services. Now we know what keeps him grooving all these years!!

Pie Kia!

I recall one of our early trips out with our Godson BabyA (not so baby anymore now) and we were all taken over by his "hokkien slang" when we tried to teach him a few hokkien words.

Here's the recap of our hokkien lessons...



Now, some humorous Singaporeans even opened a food chain to delight our hokkien roots with some attitude!

Orchard Central: When will you be opened?

Always exciting to have a new place to explore on this tiny island of SG. So when news got round that Orchard Central is almost ready, I took the opportunity to snap some shots! I think I saw a giant Nike sign behind some glass doors.... wooo.... soon soon... In time for GSS? hmm....

Yummies!

Ad did it again!

He served up Boon Tong Kee standard chicken rice after 2.5hrs of intensive preparation & cooking.

Together with "ling-lok" (lemon coke in cantonese), its just yummy beyond words!

Do you need $?

These notices sprouted out on the "green" fences along the very popular pedestrian walkway in TP Central. its amazing how entrepreneurial some folks can be to capitalize on the various situations. During SARS, people were buying face masks in tonnes to stock up and "fry" the prices of the masks. During poor economic downturns, they offer loans with "little" strings attached. Sounds very dubious if you asks me. But to someone who is desperate for some cash, someone who is at their wit's ends, this notice may come as a saving grace to them. That is if they can survive the high interest returns rates, at hopefully a reasonable repayment loan terms.

Good luck folks!

Our 1st Fishing trip!

Its been super long time since i took the boat out to the sea. I remember my sis used to bring me along for her company's leisure activities which also involved fishing on a bumboat. Those were fun days when we planned our logistics, food, drinks, lunch, fishing line, bait etc. Waking up at 5am in the morning to catch the early bus to the Boon Lay interchange to wait for the other fishing members... Gosh, I think 2 decades has past us by!

Here's our short fishing tale on a newer, much well-loved Sea Bird!


High tech fishing reel now, gone are the hand reels where you have to reel your fish in manually!











My first and ONLY catch for the day! Thankfully it came quite early at the start of the day, hee hee.

What do Moles on your Face mean?

Came across this today, cannot resist the humor involved in this blog site that discuss about pigments on your face that relates to your future.

If I understand it correctly, it means that you are currently experiencing certain situations and therefore caused your body to product pigments on certain areas of your face/body. So if you STOP experiencing those situations, these pigments may gradually be reduced?

Or because you removed these pigments from your face/body, therefore the experiences will go away?

Sounds pretty ironical. But I did have a good laugh anyway! hee



Click here to be entertained

My funky mummy

Mother's day is round the corner. Many would be scratching their heads wondering HOW to celebrate, to show their mothers their appreciation blah blah blah.

It's almost a routine to DO IT! If you don't, it means that you have somehow magically stopped loving your mother (according to the mass media).

But honestly, how many of us, actually sit down and have a heart - heart chat with our mothers. To really tell them how we feel about our growing up years, their parenting skills (which is not much for mine) etc? (I'm still finding the courage to share them with my mum! ha ha ha ha)

My mummy is a pretty, cheery person who loves a good company. Just look at that cheeky grin at 70yrs old. Besides her playful personality, she was a pretty harsh mother who do no hesitate to bring out the cane or yell at the top of her voice. (her voice still rings in my head sometimes). She came from a tough family that favors boys over girls, growing up was not easy. Yet, she commented that she was lucky that her dad allowed her to go to school! Even though it was just night school for primary education, she impressed her teachers and principals enough for them to award her a full time Pri 6 certificate!

60+yrs ago, parents are KINGs over their children, they decide what they eat, where they sleep (often on wooden planks or mats off the floor), what kind of work they do (if they even have jobs). Education was not high on their priorities as they live from hand to mouth. Mum was indeed fortunate to have attended school but this was not without some sacrifices. She has to help out with her dad's rattan cane factory, that uses manual labour to bend the rattan canes into furniture of various shapes and sizes. There are processes that ranged from simple to difficult. At 9yrs old, she started at the bottom of course. This explains why my mum has lovely chubby fingers today. For the hard labour that she's put in at a young tender age. How many of our kids at 8yrs old today has lifted a finger to even help out at housework today? Arent we a fortunate bunch?

At 6, mum has learnt to escape from the Jap invasion upon hearing the sirens, at times jumping into ditches or drains if she don't get to the bomb shelter in time. There were days, weeks when she and family hide in the bomb shelters to wait for safety. I would imagine all that to be really traumatizing for a 6yr old in today's context. Counseling would even be recommended.

For a person who had endured so much physical hardship in her childhood, she has learnt to smile pretty often and find solace in great friends. She often shares her tales of parties, social dance sessions, hi-tea, motor-biking days with me until I told her that I also wanna ride a bike... ha ha ha

She also survived through numerous technological changes, from using kerosine lamps for light to having fluorescent bulbs. From fetching water from the well, to having piped water.
From shitting into a giant bucket a distance away from the house, to having private flushing toilets.
From the listening to story tellers on the streets, watching street operas, to rediffusion, to radio to black/white tv to color tv to LCD HD tv.
From verbal messages usually from running from one home to another to having written mail, to telephone to mobile phones. (She has yet to comprehand sms or internet... still fuzzy to her ha ha ha)

Yah, she's quite a hero to me.
(but she can still get on my nerves when she does what she does.... being anxious!)

So here's to my funky mummy and all the other wonderful mummies (+/- all their shortcomings), have a blessed Mother's Day. Know that your kids loves you more than they will ever say! More than they can ever show. :P

Random shots

Ad trying to capture one of his favorite shots of the sun shining through some object. Its tough man! But always fun :)


hehe, just snapped this off the airport after clearing the customs. Maybe its not so tough to get the sun behind something interesting? :p


Had to wait for the crowd to clear out of sight of the camera. Thank God for the clear blue skies too!


Its always fun to snap kids at play. These two young gals were playing boat with their toy storage! I was wondering why they emptied their toy storage boxes in excitement only to discover their new "toy". Cool, wish I was a kid again! So I could jump in and joined them hehe....


Churches with traditional architecture always woah me. Be it day or night, there's something serene about the church.

My kind of fun!

Re-living the HK energy!