Life is so short... cherish it

I have read an article, rather a Christian tract. The provoking question being shown is, what is the most important thing in this Life. Suggestions given were: money, fame, honour, health, etc... but the final answer given is: Life itself. All these will have meaning to your life, as long as you have your life. When your life ended, so is all the enjoyment.... isn't it true?

There are a lot of funny mottoes that we hear:
One life... live it... (mobile provider)
Let life be more alive... (cigarette)

all these are aiming at 'extracting' more enjoyment in your life, because you only live this life once. While we disagree with the indulgence sense in the tone, we do agree on the notion that we only live this life once. ONCE. There is no repeat, nor replay. Once you ended this, that's it.

Last night, a friend of mine from overseas was sharing with me. A relative of his was dying of liver cancer and counting the last moments...
this posting is truncated, to read the full posting, click here

Easter Events 2008 in BBPC - Moundy Thursday

BB Easter Events - Moundy Thursday - Kamis putih

Moundy Thursday is not a celebration. Indeed, how can we celebrate an event that marks the last Supper of our Savior, our Lord? No, Moundy Thursday is an event of preparation, it is an event conducted to Remember. During the last supper He had with his 12 disciples, He broke the bread and share the wine with them. He commanded them to do this in remembrance of Him.

One interesting thing to note is this, if the Lord commanded the disciples to conduct the holy communion in remembrance on Him on Moundy Thursday, why most churches and Christians today conduct the holy communion on Good Friday instead? The answer is pretty simple, because what Jesus did on thursday was merely a shadow of what is going to happen on friday. His actual die on the cross, is the very act of sharing his body and blood with all of us.

to read complete blog, click here:

Easter Events 2008 in BBPC - Pre-Easter Sunday 6

Pre-Easter Sunday 6 - A New Beginning (Genesis 8 - The Rainbow)

This is the palm sunday. Palm leaves were given to all congregation members.

For the drama part, Adel has finally, through the comfort and encouragement of the family and friends, found her hope back. She prayed to God and found her hope and faith again.

to read complete blog, click here

Easter Events 2008 in BBPC - Pre-Easter Sunday 5

Pre-Easter Sunday 5 - Compassion behind the Punishment (Genesis 7: The Flood)

For the drama, the time actually does not move from here. The comfort given by the mother from the previous sunday was continued by the comfort from the daughter, Thea, who sang the song "Trust His heart" together with the accompaniment of the Magnificat choir. It serves as a calling to all the congregation, that no matter how bad our condition is, God is there for us.

I have posted the lyric at the bottom of this blog article. Please read along, (and sing along if you can!) and may this song comfort your heart as well.

This drama is linked to the story in the Bible when God caused the Flood to happen to wipe out humanity, except for Noah's family.

To see pictures of this blog and the song lyrics, please click here

Easter Events 2008 in BBPC - Pre-Easter Sunday 4

Pre-Easter Sunday 4 - Uncontrollable Wild Horse (Genesis 6, the wickedness of mankind)

The further development in this week, is Adel could not contain her own misery anymore. She go out partying, drinking, in order to forget all the pain she went through. Of course, this does not help. She even resorted to take drugs, whether it is anti-depressant or ecstasy, it is up to the audience to interpret. After that she fainted, what happened during her unconsciousness, is also up to our interpretation.

The highlight is this: her condition worsened mentally and physically. Below is the scene of her mother comforting her for what happened.

To add to the touch of this crying sin, in which the actress really cried and tears flowing freely, a singer sang this song "Jesus will still be there". I post the lyrics at the bottom of this blog, try to reflect on the meaning of the song.

To see the picture and the lyrics of the song, click here

Easter Events 2008 in BBPC - Pre-Easter Sunday 3

Pre-Easter Sunday 3 - The Broken of Harmony (Genesis 4:1-16, Cain and Abel)

The quarrels between Martin and Adel intensified. The dream of Adel to have a perfect marriage is now broken. Though they already have a daughter Thea, this does not keep the family together. Worse still, Martin has started not to go home, for in home they always quarrel.

This is likened to the worsening condition of humanity after the fall of Adam and Eve. Their next generation, Cain and Abel have to suffer as well. Where in the case of Adam and Eve, they were deceived by the evil, in Cain's case, he knowingly chose the pass of evil and killed his brother.

To see pictures of this posting, click here

Easter Events 2008 in BBPC - Pre-Easter Sunday 2

Pre-Easter Sunday 2 - The Bitterness of Sin (Genesis 3, punishment after the Fall)

Adel and Martin are married. Adel did live in luxury, has big and beautiful house, nice clothing but her marriage is no where near perfect. Martin is not a good husband. Adel accidentally read 'flirtatious' sms from Martin's HP and know that Martin has affair. To Martin this is perfectly fine. For Adel, this is the beginning of her pain, the consequence of her 'decision'.

To see pictures in this blog, click here:

Easter Events 2008 in BBPC - Pre-Easter Sunday 1

Easter is definitely one of the most important event for us - Christians. We celebrate Easter, because, without Easter Christianity has no meaning.

Yes! Easter is more important than Christmas. For Christmas is about the coming of our Savior, Easter is about the moment that Jesus become our Savior by dying on the cross bearing the sins of all humanity.

In our church, BBPC, we started to have a series of events from the Lent - 40 days prior to Easter (excluding sundays), starting from the Ash wednesday, Pre-Easter sunday 1 - 6, which is the Palm Sunday, and following that will be Moundy Thursday, Good Friday, Silent Saturday, Easter Sunday.

In this blog, I will try to post some info regarding all these events in short and simple manner. Hope you will enjoy it!

to read full posting, click here

Warrent Buffet's interview

There was a one hour interview on CNBC with
Warren Buffet, the richest man who has donated $31 billion to charity.

Here are some very interesting aspects of his life:

1. He bought his first share of stock at age 11 and he now regrets that he started too late!
2. He bought a small farm at age 14 with savings from delivering newspapers.
3. He still lives in the same, small 3-bedroom house in midtown Omaha that he bought after he got married 50 years ago. He says that he has everything he needs in that house. His house does not have a wall or a fence.
4. He drives his own car everywhere and does not have a driver or security people around him.
5. He never travels by private jet, although he owns the world's largest private jet company.
6. His company, Berkshire Hathaway, owns 63 companies. He writes only one letter each year to the CEOs of these companies, giving them goals for the year. He never holds meetings or calls them on a regular basis. He has given his CEO's only two rules.
1. Rule number 1: Do not lose any of your shareholder's money.
2. Rule number 2: Do not forget rule number 1.
7. He does not socialize with the high society crowd. His pastime after he gets home is to make himself some popcorn and watch television.
8. Bill Gates, the world's richest man, met him for the first time only 5 years ago. Bill Gates did not think he had anything in common with Warren Buffet. So, he had scheduled his meeting only for half hour. But when Gates met him, the meeting lasted for ten hours and Bill Gates became a devotee of Warren Buffet.
9. Warren Buffet does not carry a cell phone, nor has a computer on his desk.

His advice to young entrepreneurs:

'Stay away from credit cards and invest in yourself and remember:

1. Money doesn't create man, but it is the man who created money.
2. Live your life as simple as you are.
3. Don't do what others say. Just listen to them, but do what makes you feel good.
4. Don't go on brand name. Wear those things in which you feel comfortable.
5. Don't waste your money on unnecessary things. Spend on those who really are in need.
6. After all, it's your life. Why give others the chance to rule your life?'

Why I buy books from Amazon

I envy the americans because of Amazon.

Why?

1. They can purchase things cheaper, faster through amazon, and offered free shipping too!
2. Most of the books that I use in school are produced in US

Take for instance, the new Greek text book that I am about to use next semester are:
Greek Grammar Beyond the Basics by Daniel Wallace - list price 45 USD
Greek Idiom in New Testament by Stanley Porter - list price 70 USD

If I were to buy these books in Singapore, I will need to pay the list price, add conversion loses, and add some profit made by the book shop. Even if I buy the book from SBC book shop, the price will still be very high. SKS sells Stanley porter for 95 SGD!!

The best thing about Amazon is this, they buy the book in bulk from the publisher, and secured some huge amount of discount. They bypass the middle merchants and can earn quite a bit despite the discounts they give to the online buyers.

Daniel Wallace is sold for 30 USD before shipping
Stanley Porter is sold for 44 USD before shipping

after shipping the price is still cheaper than buying from bookshops here. Hey, I don't need to pay 7% GST for buying books online (count it as the shipping fee).

so friends, if you are staying overseas, in UK or US, and you still purchase books conventionally, you may try to consider online shopping. You will be surprised by the savings you can make.

Pisang Goreng Lover... Beware!!!

JOHOR - SOME hawkers in Johor Baru are literally cooking popular snacks such as goreng pisang and keledek with melted plastic, creating a health scare, a news report said.

The News Straits Times reported recently that e-mails on the unethical practice have been circulating to warn people of the potential health hazards of eating extra crispy fried snacks or even chicken.

The e-mails describe how some hawkers had been seen adding plastic straws and bottles into boiling oil before frying their snacks.

The snacks would then remain crispy for several hours. Factory worker Rauf Hamdan, 24, was cited by the newspaper as one of the 'witnesses'.

Mr Rauf said he saw a goreng pisang seller in Johor Baru throw a plastic bottle into boiling oil.

"When I asked the hawker about it, he just said matter-of-factly that his customers had not complained of any health hazards from eating his goreng pisang."

"He also said this 'recipe' was now popular among many hawkers like him."

Plastic bottles are made of polyvinyl chloride (PVC) which can cause various forms of cancer and birth deformities if ingested.

According to the e-mails cited by New Straits Times, the trend allegedly started in Thailand, for frying ikan bilis and onions.

It spread to Kedah and Perlis, then the rest of the country, the report said.

Another witness said via email that his uncle had allegedly seen a goreng pisang seller adding plastic drinking straws into hot oil in Perlis.

According another e-mail, a hawker in Cameron Highlands allegedly melted a five-litre empty cooking oil bottle in boiling oil by stirring it in, New Straits Times reported.

Similar accounts are spreading among blogs.

The Consumers Association of Penang research officer T. Subbarao said that the agency would launch an immediate investigation.

Sorry for being absent for so long

Dear all,

Sorry for being absent for so long from blogspot.
reason is, I have been very busy with my studies in SBC.
I have little time left to cope with many assignments
and on top of that, I have many other ministries to cope with...

The past one week, I found my mood to write post and networking back..
in fact, I have tried to work on the Yuwie, well.. dreaming that I can get some money from there... guess what, for the month January and February, I was being paid 4cents :)
well, 4 cents is definitely not alot, but it may grow exponentially.. some day..

for those who are interested, you can click here. A short video will be showing how yuwie works, and if you sign up there, you will be signing up under me.

a few short update for me:
1. Study: I am still performing good in school. Albeit, without much joy. I am trying to enjoy, or else the study will not do me good
2. Church ministries: Busy as ever, or busier
3. Relationship: Getting along well with my little lamb. Some small arguments, but healthy ones to get to know one another better
4. Financial: a bit tight... (this is an understatement)

oh yeah.. I am glad that my blogspot counter has reached 2000. Thanks for your support guys..!!