Sickness... a blessing in disguise?

Into the 9th week of my course in SBC...
and finally, a sickness kicked in.

A sickness in the second half of the semester where a lot of assignments are due?
I am supposed to hand in a Missions paper today, prepare for greek quiz tomorrow. I have a group assignment meeting this afternoon and another mission meeting tonight in church. All these are canceled, because of my little sickness.

I slept at 12.30 last night. At 2 am, I woke up with a bloated stomach. I felt a lot of air inside. Not long after that, I went to puke. Apparently the food that I ate earlier in the evening were not digested properly. From then on, I was in the state of half sleeping half waking up to puke. I tried to drink some water but anything that comes in, goes out a few minutes later. Had some diarrhoea in the morning. My temperature was 37.8 centigrade. I feel floating.

I went to see a doctor and was given some medications and 2 days MC for rest. The charge for all is $30 (a significant amount since I am not working now). The doctor advised that I should eat nothing other than porridge. I sent emails to cancel all the appointments for the day. I ate the medicine and went to sleep.

Thank God for the many hours of sleep. I wake up at 5 pm to eat the porridge i bought in the morning. My appetite is coming back and there is no more puking sensation.

Perhaps, this is the only way that I can gain some rest. Studying in SBC is definitely tough, and coping with other duties and responsibilities in church is making it worse.

I thank God for this blessing in disguise.

A Yellow Ribbon

Nobody is perfect in this world. Also.. nobody is blameless in this world.

I am not talking about your criminal record, whether it is:
- shoplifting
- causing the death of someone, directly or indirectly
- molest or rape
- embezzling the organization fund
- drug traficking/user
- or something politically wrong against the government

but most of us did some of these:
- look at a woman at lust
- envy someone for what he/she had
- surf some questionable websites
- lie of some fact that doesnt exist
- download or some prefer the word 'sharing' music from the net

The end result of the crimes or not-so-good thing that we did, may put us in jail or some sort of punishment. If you are young, you end up in some kind of homes. If you are of age, then you will end up in jail terms.

What if there is no second chance given to those who had a criminal record? As it is the case, in the society, most people look upon the ex-offenders in a very biased manner. It is the general perception that those people are not to be trusted. And in order to protect us and our family/wealth, we keep away from them.

But is it right to do so?
Let's reflect on ourselves. Do you ever think that the 'hidden' sins that we committed are not known to anyone? God knows everything. And by right, all of us should be punished. The wage of sin is Death with a capital D. It is eternal punishment.

But God is merciful to us. He loved us. Not only did He sent us His Son to died for us and wash away our sins. He is always waiting for us to return to Him whenever we strayed away. He is like the Father of the wayward prodigal son, He is always ready to give us a second chance.

The sinners always have the tendency to sin again, as do the ex-convicts, but it doesn't mean that they don't deserve a second chance to earn back their trust. The process is slow and may not be that straight forward, but let's give them a chance and welcome them back to the society.

If you think that you deserve a second chance from God, as God's representative on earth, we should give the ex-offenders second chance also.

I am wearing a Yellow Ribbon now. And I can imagine God is also wearing a Yellow Ribbon - for me, for us. Let's support the Yellow Ribbon Project.

A packet of pocket tissue

haaa.. haaaa.. chiu....

How much would you be willing to pay for a packet of pocket tissue?
it depends...
depends on the brand...
depends on the quality...
depends on the quantity ...

I was having a runny nose on last sunday, and my spare packet of pocket tissue was used up. So I went to guardian to look for tissue paper.

$1.95, Guardian soft handkerchief. 12 packets x 8 x 4 ply
It is a bit too 'luxury' for me if I buy this, as now I am without income, so I searched for other option.

$2.95, Guardian soft handkerchief. 20 packets x 10 x 3 ply
This one is of relatively poorer quality, but still a very good. Since there is no other option I opt to buy this one.

My friend usually buy tissue from old uncles or tissues who peddles near HDB flats to sell tissue paper. I commented that sometimes, those people are richer than us. So what? my friend said. So what... I ponder in my heart.

Yesterday, as I was on the way home from the church, I walk through Bukit Batok Bus Interchange. There was this old grandma who always sells pocket tissue at that place. It was late at 10 pm and she was still there selling pocket tissue. Except that this time she was no longer sitting, but standing, holding her basketfull of pocket tissue and trembling as she did so. Her face was of a really tired and panic look.

Without a second thought, I took up a two-dollars note and gave it to her. So what if she is richer than me. So what if the tissue is of poor quality. So what if I have not much money left in the wallet. My only hope was that the old grandma would go home early if she had one. I did not know how many more she needed to sell. But I was glad that I did it, and looking at her smile back at me, it was priceless, all my weary for the day was gone.

Too often, when we want to do an act of kindness, we simply ask too much. When the ratio kicked in, a lot of the time compassion died out. We should not ask: "is it worth it?" but rather we should ask "what would Jesus do, if He is here?" What if He asked me in the end: "Why didn't you buy tissue paper from Me, even though I was tired, cold, hungry in the late of night?"

A simple act of kindness does not require a reason. An act of kindness reflects who you are, not who he/she is. Remember, God loves us, because He is love, not because we are lovely......

I was given 15 packets of pocket tissue for the two dollars. And I will go back for more...

Stress and Suicidal Rate

Stress.. stress.. stress...

A price we have to pay for the growing of economy and the globalization of the world. As nations and countries work together to enhance their productivity and boost their GDP, guess who suffers?

Industrialization and Inventions enable men to produce faster, better in a more efficient manner. Things that used to be done by a team of workers, now need to be done by a push of a button. People need to upgrade to get employed, degree is a must to survive, one degree is simply not enough, worker stress, student stress, parents stress, even children also stress...

What is the side effect of stress? for those who are on the positive side, they see it as a push to do more. On the other hand, people who cannot take it simply fall sick. Worst case, they decide to finish the game their way by committing suicide.

It is amazing, how a primary school student can think of committing suicide. During my childhood, primary school was a time for fun. Yet here in Singapore, every year there are quite a number of kids who committed suicide. Some report says that annually there are over 30 students who committed suicide in Singapore.

One friend of mine, sharing that her sister is very stressed. She is studying in the architecture faculty in a local university. Workload is overwhelming, 3 days never sleep, etc. The shocking news is this: Every year there are 2-3 students from the faculty of architecture who committed suicide. They simply cannot take the stress. Question, what can we do about it? or what can the school do about it? are they going to say something like what some country's vice president who say: "The school is a great success, those who committed suicide are lazy and stupid student"? I hope not.

One another perspective, let's zoom into another country which is much more stressful than Singapore. Japan. Japan is an advanced country. Yet their people are so stressed and as a result a lot perverse things come out from the country. Their life is simply empty, vacuum, and when they cannot take it anymore, they choose to end it. A friend of mine who is a pastor in Japan just shared, that the suicidal rate in Japan is about 33000 annually, about 100 per day! From the past 10 years, the total suicide cases are 300000!!!

No, I am not kidding. And I don't think my friend is joking either. You see, she is one of those who thought of ending her life, but thanks to God, some Christians approached her and prayed for her. She accepted Christ and decided to give her life to God.

Something to ponder about. If we indeed have the saving grace of Christ, do we keep it ourselves, or should we share it with others? When we see our friends or someone is having problem, are we bothered to say hello and ask for what is the problem? We have the hope of life, and let those who are without hope hear from us and gain their hope as well.

Don't let this happen to you, when a friend of you or someone you know should depart from the world prematurely, and the message that he/she left behind is that she felt lonely and no one cared for him/her. What will God says to you then? you have neglected your duty. But if you are the one who is in despair, remember always that God loves you and there are always friends around you ready to help you.