Women Stuck on Toilet Bowl for 2 years

Today's sermon at City Harvest Church was about INDECISION!

Can u imagine this?

There was a women in Texas, who was stuck to her toilet bowl! Being glued in the same position for 2 years, her fats grew stuck to the bowl.

Her boyfriend said that he tried to coax her out, but she always put it off - Until they both realized that she was now STUCK!

Inevitably, the Police were called in, to rescue her from her smelly ordeal!

Procrastination is our No. 1 enemy!

That's why successful people are those, that are able to follow through with their everyday decisions.

Athletes become Olympic champions, because they make a decision to train daily!

Winners used to be losers, who made a decision to never give up!

Here are 9 steps that can help us to overcome procrastination:

1. Activate Your Planner
2. Break down Large Tasks
3. Create Datelines
4. Deal with the mess
5. Encourage Yourself!
6. Face your fears
7. Goals review
8. Hang on & don't give up!
9. Initiate things now!

And lastly:

If you thought that I was joking about the lady in the toilet bowl, check out the news report below:

HDB Flats, Divorce & Proximity

DO YOU KNOW YOUR NEIGHBOR?

Frankly, I don't even know his name! Not his first or last name!

As Singaporeans, most of us grow up in HDB flats. We see our neighbors every day, if not every other day.

Sometimes, we watch their children grow up, sometimes we even take the same bus to school or work together...Unfortunately, that may be all we know about them.

I just stumbled upon a revelation:

 

PROXIMITY IS NOT INTIMACY!

 

We may share a bed with our spouses. We may go to the same office with our colleagues. We may go to church every week. All these everyday activities do not guarantee intimate relationships with anyone!

Last year, I went for my Reservist in-camp training, and I realized that most of my peers suffered from broken marriages and were in the midst of having a divorce.

I realised relationships left on their own, do not work themselves out.

Relationships require purposeful commitments from both parties!

Today, when I reached home, I purposefully spent 1 hour of my time, playing hide and seek & 'goofing' around with the kids.

If I want a good relationship with God, my wife and kids, I need to make time for them.

BTW, before I go, here are some videos.

My wife likes the 1st one and I prefer the 2nd one.

SMS - Text Messaging Beyond the ordinary me

Imagine a new message comes in on your HP and u see this:

 

CU L8r @ *$ k?

 

My reaction - "What on earth is this?"

My wife's - "Is your friend being vulgar?"

If this is how u SMS, Congratulations! U are part of the millennium generation!

For the rest of us, u are probably born in a time when there was NKOTB, Westlife and 'Smash Hits' was part of your weekly diet.

Being in a nation where mobile phones have at least 95% penetration, SMS messaging or "Texting" is part of our everyday lifestyle.

But who would have guessed how SMSing can morph into something filled with various short forms.

Just the other day, I asked my youth - What is TPY? (Toa Payoh)

Another one that confused me initially:

Meet u later at PS? (My initial thought - P.S? - is that Pang Sai?)

Man...there are just so many short forms...& it's getting harder to keep up.

As an Aspiring Youth Pastor & at the same time, needing to stay relevant for my children, here are some other important acronyms that I picked up the past week.

1. POS (Parents Over Shoulder) - so must be discreet

2. PAL (Parents are Listening) - so I am going to lie rite now

3. P911 (Parents Alert) - Better be careful!

In case you were wondering, what is:

 

CU L8r @ *$ k?

 

It means - See you later at Starbucks, ok?

Blog - Collages with Photoscape & Scrapbook Flair

Quite recently, a few of the readers have been asking me how I managed to get the collages going.

For those of us who are "Photoshop" dummies, the good news is that there are freeware programs to help you post nice collages without much technical knowledge.

For example: Do this earlier collage regarding Nathan's Chicken Pox

I managed to this collage easily through programs such as Photoscape and Scrapbook Flair.

Basically, these programs have templates in the program, where you don't really need to know how to layer (Photoshop) and basic enough for computer dummies like myself.

Photoscape - On the right, u can see the basic photo templates available. With a basic drag and drop function, making a collage is really simple.

Scrapbook Flair -  Basically both the programs (Photoscape & Scrapbook Flair) can stand alone. But I decided to merge what I have done in "Photoscape" and I added the blue texture background, in the  "Do I have Chicken Pox" graphic.

Scrapbook flair provides a lot of great backgrounds, and embellishments, which I used for Nicole's cookie making post. 

The program provides basic templates and allows free play as well - as the software gives you a clean empty surface to exercise your creativity.

If you haven't tried both the programs before, you should give it a try. It's definitely a lot of fun.

Mileage - How to increase fuel savings?

Just last week, FUEL PRICES went up again!

Paying above $2/liter is really getting a bit pricey for us drivers, especially when u drive a mini MPV. Coupled with the fact that one is the family "Ah-Mat" (Driver), going from the office, to the kindergarten, and to home again, driving is therefore getting more and more expensive.

 

Recently, I just read a local article about improving fuel efficiency:

1. Properly inflated tires will make your average tank go a further 60km.
2. Aggressive braking and acceleration will lower your fuel efficiency by at least 33%
3. Travelling above the speed of 95 km/h decreases fuel efficiency significantly
4. Remove excess weight from the trunk. Take out your golf clubs and any unnecessary stuff from the boot.
5. Change your engine oil and filter regularly
6. Idling even for a minute will waste fuel. Cars with larger engines waste more fuel at idle, compared to smaller cars.

What really caught my eye is Point 6!

Through Interviews with  local Singapore drivers, the press managed to interview a cost conscious Singapore driver.

In the interview, he reiterated some of the fuel saving techniques he employs.

Here, Mr X said that in order to save fuel, at every traffic light, when the engine is idling, he will always turn off the Air Conditioner in the car. Doing this is will therefore improve Fuel efficiency.

Can u imagine doing this at every traffic light?

With Singapore, being such a small island, and with traffic lights at every corner, the on/off switch on his air conditioner must be overworked!

Even though the driver says that he will only do this when he is alone in the car...this particular method of fuel savings is a bit excessive for me. 

I think all these 6 points are great. But just like in many issues in life - balance is the key to life!

Personally, I don't think my wife will be very impressed with my fuel saving techniques, especially when I turn off the air conditioner at the traffic lights! 

Blogging with Style

Today, I just discovered a new way of Publishing my works on my Blog.

Ok, call me sua-ku (Country Bumpkin), but all this time I have been using blogger to publish my works.

Only thing about blogger, is that it limits the fonts that u can use.

Now:

I can Type, Like this, & write using different fonts!

I can Bring in A Creative Element, and explore my Writing

using different FONTS!

COOL RIGHT!

You can google the program 'Windows Live Writer' & try out this new interface.

It is based on a WYSIWUG (What u see, is what u get) editor, so it makes things really easy and it has all the nice toolbars that u find on Microsoft Word.

Wait...there is more!

When u insert a picture in the blogger editor, the picture ends up on the top of the post, even though u inserted it in the middle.

Using this editor, u don't experience these problems!

In fact, the editor functions exactly like Microsoft Word & your pictures appear where they should be

PTL!

I am sorry, but this is something really 'Refreshing' compared, to the primitive default editor found on Blogger.

Before I go, It's Easter this week!

If u are in Singapore, come an join us this weekend & find out what Easter is all about! City Harvest Church will be having services in Singapore Expo and at Jurong West St 91.

Before I go, I also want to Thank Jia Hao and Shing for helping me with my New Blogskin & for being my Blogging Consultants.

Thanks for making it all possible!

Youtube Video Awards 2007

Was just surfing the net on the weekend and I came across the Youtube Video Awards 2007.

Everyday there are hundreds of videos being uploaded up to ‘YOUTUBE’, so the site is a great way to catch the best of 2007. So, If u guys got time to kill, this site is definitely worth exploring.

I especially liked the short film section, where I voted for this film entitled “My First Crush”.

The feelings and the emotions portrayed here are just so real…it really brings one down memory lane, to when we all had our 1st crush!

Things were just so unpredictable…so fragile. How things have changed…where today, I have got a wife who is so dependable & the love of my life J

Anyway, I hope u guys enjoy the video too!

Games Galore at the Hideout Cafe

Last Saturday, 3 of my CGs hung out at the 'Hideout Cafe"

Based on the "Settler's" cafe idea, where u don't just "SIT & ROT", the establishment provides interesting games that help you break the ice!

What I really like about the place is that the management is really accommodating!

Situated at Bedok, the place is easy to find.
Hey! It is situated at the Hawker Center next to the famous Bak Chor Mee Stall. If u are a food connoisseur, u definitely know what I am talking about!

The café only opens at 1pm, but the boss (Sebastian) was really nice, and he allowed us to come in at 12pm to set up the place early.

As we wanted to start off the meeting with Praise, we were allowed to shift the furniture around, so that we could have more space.

After our normal CG activities, we played a game of Bible Charades. The boss (Sebastian) was the MC for the day, and did an awesome job hosting all of us! He gave clear instructions and had no problems captivating our interest, even though we were 60+ strong. Thumbs up to the BOSS!
For the 2^nd round of games, we pitted against each other in Taboo, Mad Gab and Quelf.

We had fun trying out some new games & enjoying each other's company.

BTW, CG E462 came in 1^st for the games, and they received complimentary vouchers from the café for doing so well! Also - A really BIG Thank YOU to the cafe, who allowed us to stay on longer than our stipulated time.

How can this be Chicken Pox?!?!?!

It started with 3 spots at the side of his forehead, then another 3 across his chest, then 3 on his right arm...

We found it a little strange. But Nathan was still his usual self. That was Friday night.

On Monday, he started having a fever in mid-day. It was about 38 degrees. By 8 p.m., it went up to 39.4 degrees. He was cranky, and also a little restless. We started to give him luke-warm bath in our room.

(From experience, we learnt a feverish child hates baths. So the bath tub goes in front of the TV, they get the treat of watching cartoons, while we try to give him/her a bath.)

Ohh... it was still a tough job. Imagine 2 adults, 1 struggling toddler, AND another "I-wanna-help" toddler (Nicole). It was quite a scene.

Well, the temperature didn't drop. After 3 baths (over a period of 3 hours), and 2 doses of fever medication, we decided we better bring him to see a doctor. At that hour (past 11 p.m.), there was only the A & E department to go to. We went to Mt A, which was nearby (and didn't cost too much!).

This was what happened:

1. Staff nurse checked him first. Upon seeing the spots (or rather, glancing at them), he concluded, "It's Chicken Pox!"

2. We were immediately assigned to another room, away from everyone. Kept in isolation.

3. The doctor came. He put on a mask, gloves and wore the yellow protective covering. I felt like we were back to SARS days!

4. Looked at Nathan, patted his spots and said, "Yes, it's Chicken Pox"

5. I tried arguing that the spots were FLAT, no bubble. He said "the bubbles will appear soon".

6. Prescribed a $80 bottle of medication that's Anti-Chicken Pox Virus. Supposedly will speed up recovery process.

7. Gave specific instructions that fever will remain. Just keep sponging!

Well, who ever argues with a doctor? Even though deep deep down, we totally disagreed with him. We went home, faithfully gave the $80 medication, monitored his temperature, sponged a few more times. Decided to wake up early the next day, and go see our regular Pedaetrician.

To cut the long story short, our regular PD saw him, took a torch to scrutinise the spots, and concluded, "it's definitely NOT chicken pox!" ?!?!?!?!?!? Well, Nathan just caught a viral rash, which causes fever. We were told to watch his fever, which should go down soon, and was given anti-biotics.

Well, the next day, Nathan's fever totally subsided, and he broke up into rashes ALL OVER his body. He could have been a poster boy for the Infectious Disease Department. We went to see the doctor again, and he was diagnosed with False Measles or Roseola. Totally harmless, just a viral rash which affects children under 3 years old.

Today, Nathan still has some spots. But otherwise, he's back to his active self. We really wanna thank God for healing, for wisdom and discernment. Can you imagine if we continued with that $80 medication for something he didn't have?

CHEAP SALE: Anyone wants to buy anti-Chicken Pox virus medication? Only 8ml used!

What happens if u are forced to have only 1 Child

Since 1980, China has implemented a 1 Child Policy -where every family is only allowed 1 child.

What are the effects?

1. Having a 2nd child is seen as a status symbol . Forget about Louis Vuitton. Get a 2nd kid!

If u can afford the fine, it shows that u have made it!

Currently, if u have a 2nd child in China, authorites are threatening to raise fines to as high as 1 million yuan (S$200,000).

2. Men are having marriage difficulties.

• With 120 females for every 100 male, there is a 20% sex ratio imbalance.
  
  
• For men - If u look like Homer, not well-educated, and not in a well paying job - expect to be a bachelor for the rest of your life.
  

3. Little Emperors

Children are overly doted on. Many families spend half of the entire family's income on the only child.

Who would have thought, that having children would have such important implications for society!

On a lighter note:

Check out this Cantonese-speaking Indian Comic who is a hit in Hong Kong. He is a real hit with his bilingual stand-up comic. Enjoy!

Prison Break

Recently, I have have been hooked on the series "Prison Break"

It is really very exciting and the plot is as good as "Shawshank Redemption"

My wife's boss passed us the whole of season 1 on DVD and we were hooked!

We were up till 2am in the morning, and my wife was still asking me to put in the next disk. She did the same thing to me at 3am (Btw, my eyes were already closing at this point!)

I reckon that it is better than Korean Drama and any Cantonese Soap Opera that u have watched!

In the series, the hero of the show Michael Scofield decides to break his brother out of jail. Lincoln Burrows (Hero's Brother) is on death row for a murder he did not commit. To break him out of jail, Michael (the hero) has to get himself thrown into jail. In order to plan for his escape, he tattoos the blueprints of the prison on his body. Only thing is that it is so elaborately done (like the tattoos found in ED Hardy and Miami Ink), that u will have to be a mad man to decipher it.

The series is a real cliff hanger and u will enjoy every minute of it.

If u are interested to watch this series, u will be glad to know that piracy is still rampant in China.

This means that u can watch the series for free, especially if u have a broadband connection. :)

Just click on this link

U can also click on the trailer below, to get a glimpse of the show:

Ps. Kong Hee preaches about Servanthood

This week, Ps. Kong continued preaching about servanthhood

2 points that really impacted me today:

1. Servants look into details

Luke 16:10-12

10 He who is faithful in what is least is faithful also in much; and he who is unjust in what is least is unjust also in much. 11 Therefore if you have not been faithful in the unrighteous mammon, who will commit to your trust the true riches? 12 And if you have not been faithful in what is another man's, who will give you what is your own?

Many people don't pay attention to details. They find it 'too micro', and their excuse is that "I am Big Picture person!"

However, I realised that in life, successful leaders are those that look into the details.

Even Top CEOS who look at the 'Big Picture', have secretaries who look into the workings of every policy - highlighting the importance of details!

Many people rubbish details, and declare details as too time consuming. But top leaders consistenly look into DETAILS!

I believe that this is why the Bible coins the term "faithful in what is least, is faithful also in much."

In fact:

Excellence is the attention given to details that leads to superior performance

2nd thing that really impacted me is this: Servanthood is about relationships

- It's about how we serve one another.

Many people don't want to serve their leaders, CG members and friends because they feel that they are better, more senior and more knowlegeable.

But if Jesus the perfect Son of God can serve us (Imperfect people), how much more do we need to serve!

A famous Person said:

You can tell whether you are becoming a servant, by how u act when people treat you like one!

Many times, we get agitated when people step on our toes and irritated when they don't seem to take into account our previous 'works'.

But isn't that precisely what a slave is like?

A slave is a person who has no rights, but just willing to serve his master.

Mark 10:44-45
44And whoever of you desires to be first shall be slave of all. 45For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many."

Hey! We got to be better servants!

Prayer Retreat

From Sun to Tue, I was sent to the convent to learn from sisters on the finer points of prayer. It is the Good Shepherd Convent near Marymount convent.

The main thing about this retreat, is that throughout the 2 days, u are not allowed to talk to anyone.

I know..I know..My sentiments exactly! Not very exciting right? And what's worse, it is compulsory! And to add on to that, going for this retreat is a compulsory component of youth discipleship at Trinity Theological College!

Imagine the 2 words: Youth and Quiet. What an oxymoron (contrast). Imagine having a youth camp and no one talks? No games? Just pure silence and listening to the sounds of the crickets......

Basically, they gathered us on Sunday night, gave each of us a room and on Monday, there will be sessions with the Sisters, when they will highlight different types of prayer.

Well, the good thing is that, God did speak to me during the retreat....

After checking in on Sunday night, we woke up at 7am the next day.

We were then asked to walked quietly by ourselves to Macritchie Reservoir. After a whole night of silence, your ears suddenly become very sensitive. The sounds of the buses and cars driving along the road were quite deafening.

Walking around the reservoir, I realised that my heart and my mind started to slow down. Wow! I did not realise that the 'busy-ness' of this world has made my internal clock move so fast.

Sitting on the park bench, I began to enjoy the silence of nature, and how it was broken only by the senior citizens who were out for their morning walks.

In the water, there were many youths who were in their kayaks paddling up and down the reservoir. Many of them were racing, and 3 of them caught my eye.

After their race, the 3 kayaks were about 200m away from me. The 3 seamen were then talking to themselves.

Amidst the silence, their voices travelled across the waters, and I could make up their conversation. That was really suprising, as they were really quite a distance away.

At that moment, I felt an inner voice saying, "When u slow down, u will hear my voice." I was astonished, as in the midst of the silence, God's voice also seemed to be magnified. His voice was so loud... so near...so real!

Amazing rite...u guys should try it one of these days.

Also realized another thing:

Many times when we see, we don't really see. I looked at the people on the kayaks, and I did not really see anything significant. Nothing Struck me.

But instead, what I heard from God really impacted me!

Like what it says in the Bible in Rom 10:17

17So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.

We got to be more sensitive and listen more for the voice of God!

Little Flower Girl

We are so proud of Nicole!

On Monday, she was invited to become a flower girl at our friend's wedding - and she made a successful debut as a flower girl.

Throughout the whole week, we have been gearing her up for the event. We have been telling her that she is going to become a princess!

So Mummy brought her out to buy a princess dress, which she helped to choose. After that, we went to look for a princess shoes. We could not really find one, so we told her that we will get it another day - Nic was so excited about the shoes that she kept on reminding us everyday. She will say, "Can we go and buy my princess shoes?"

On the Saturday before the wedding, I brought her to attend another wedding. At the wedding, I explained to her the role of a flower girl, and I made sure that she could see the flower girl walking down the aisle.

I asked Nic, "Do u want to be a flower girl?" She replied emphatically, "YES!" Looks like she bought my sales pitch! :)

On the Monday itself, I was stuck at a prayer retreat (I will blog about this tomorrow). So mummy brought her to buy the shoes, and to the wedding. Mummy brought her to see me, before they left for the wedding. Here's a picture of our little princess in the car.



At the wedding rehearsal, mummy was worried. She did not seem like she was going to make it. Will she make it down the aisle? Negative thoughts flooded her mind!

Just before curtain call. Standing in front of the bride, Nicole said, "Mummy, I want to go to the toilet?" Oh No! No time already! Is this just stage fright?

Mummy asked Nic again. "Do you need to go now?" Nic replied, "No need!" Sigh of relief!

As the door opened, bubbles were flying everywhere. Loud cheers were being dished out by the enthusiastic crowd. Brave Nic marched down the aisle. I think she was very stressed as the poor little girl forgot to smile (On the video, she is 2nd to go down the aisle)

Nic is so happy with her success. She watched the video of herself at least 10 times. In the video, u can catch her friend dylan as well!

Sun Ho at Beijing Olympics

Check out the latest news on Sun:

As China has been selected to host the Olympics in 2008, China has been busy preparing for the games.

Last Friday, Sun was invited to the Royal Theater inside Beijing’s Forbidden City to sing the Olympic Anthem. She performed before the senior officials of the Chinese Olympic Committee, and many ambassadors and diplomats.

This was the first time the Olympic Anthem, also known as the “Olympic Hymn,” was sung in the Chinese language.

It is a great privilege for Sun, and for a Singaporean to be the 1st person to sing the hymn in China and for China.

It was widely covered by the international news media. Reuters classified as a “Most Watched Video.” Check out the video below.

Get a different perspective by clicking here. This link is in Chinese.

Ps. Kong Hee - Servanthood

Ps. Kong Hee preached a great sermon about servanthood last weekend.

Having a servant's heart enabled Daniel to serve in the courts of his colonial masters.

Dan 1:4
4young men in whom there was no blemish, but good-looking, gifted in all wisdom, possessing knowledge and quick to understand, who had ability to serve in the king’s palace, and whom they might teach the language and literature of the Chaldeans.

Just having the right attitude does not mean that life will be 'smooth sailing'. Joseph faced tough times after receiving a dream from God. But his servant's heart enabled him to find promotion. We must realize that our attitude through tough situations, will bring about the breakthroughs we desire.

I liked the new perspectives that Ps. gave about Rebekah best!

Abraham's servant went with 10 camels in search for a wife for his master's son. He went to a well, and asked Rebekah for a drink of water.

Rebekah did not know about the servant's mission but demonstrated the attitude of servanthood.

She gave the servant a drink and drew water for the 10 camels as well.

This is quite extraordinary when u consider how much a camel drinks!

1 camel drinks 106 liters of water. That means 106 giant 'Evian' Bottles.

The size of the task is even bigger if u take into account another secondary factor. Many people think that the well we are talking about is those where we just throw a bucket in, and pull out the water.

In those days, the wells had steps. So, in order to draw the water, she had to go up and down, a total of at least 30 steps, and do it for at least 53 times (assuming her bucket can hold 20 liters), as she had to feed 10 camels!

Man! She must be 1 tough California Gym Cookie! (But definitely not ugly, as according to the Bible she was very beautiful)

What's more, in Gen 24:61, we see that Rebekah did not come from a poor family as well.

61Then Rebekah and her maids arose, and they rode on the camels and followed the man. So the servant took Rebekah and departed.

Hey! the girl had maids! And yet she was willing to serve!

Can u imagine this? A youth who comes from a middle income family, willing to serve a perfect stranger, and willing to serve the 10 camels as well. Talk about going the extra mile!

It was though her servant's attitude that not only was Rebekah blessed, her family was blessed as well.

Gen 24:22
22So it was, when the camels had finished drinking, that the man took a golden nose ring weighing half a shekel, and two bracelets for her wrists weighing ten shekels of gold,

Gen 24:53
53Then the servant brought out jewelry of silver, jewelry of gold, and clothing, and gave them to Rebekah. He also gave precious things to her brother and to her mother.

It is just like the Holy Spirit today. He is waiting at the well of life. Looking for somebody who is willing to serve him.

Someone who has a great attitude, and willing to go the extra mile!

And when we serve him, not only will we blessed, but our families as well.

Wow! what an inspiring sermon! Lets go all the way with God in 2008!