God did not give us a spirit that makes us afraid...

"God did not give us a spirit that makes us afraid but a spirit of power and love and self-control." 2 Timothy 1:7 (NCV)

Friend To Friend

A cloud of terror hung over the Valley of Elah as snarling threats and vile promises spewed from his mouth. The intimidator strutted along grassy slopes swinging an enormous club, his mammoth, ironclad feet pawing the ground like an irate bull, ready to attack. The huge, ugly monster was Goliath, a nine foot giant, the pride of Philistia. He wore massive armor; a bronze coat weighing 200 pounds, a solid iron spear, a heavy bronze helmet. The target of his ranting and raving was a frightened, helpless group of Israelites, cowering in their tents. For forty agonizing days, Goliath had come, taunting them, promising certain destruction and doom. The Israelites, paralyzed with fear, had given up all hope of escape, resigned to their tortured fate at the hand of this Philistine monster.

Then came day forty-one! I am certain, as the sun inched its way over the mountains that morning, that neither Goliath nor the Israelites had any idea just how different this day would be. A young handsome teenager stepped into the valley of fear, fresh from the presence of God. David, the youngest in a family of eight boys could not believe the scene before him. Tossing the giant's threats and obvious advantage aside, David refused to accept what he saw. Instead, he chose to believe what he knew in his heart; this giant was going down! With simple but certain faith and unreserved confidence in God, David stepped through the fear, ushering in the mighty presence and power of God. Goliath not only met David that day, He met the Lord of Heaven and Earth. And the giant fell! Giants always fall in the presence of God!

We stand on the threshold of a new year -- a new beginning! If you are like me, you face 2009 with mixed emotions. Personally, I am thrilled that I survived 2008! There were certainly moments when I wondered if I would. I am so excited about a fresh start, a brand new set of days overflowing with new dreams and unmarked possibilities. But I also know that this year is crammed full of the unknown as well as a giant or two. And if I am brutally honest, I have to admit that the unknown fashions a pocket of fear in my heart where questions and doubts thrive.

The good news is that what lies ahead is no surprise to God. In fact, He has already been where we are going. That reason alone empowers us to face every tomorrow with hope, knowing that whatever touches us passes through His hands, with His permission. It is not God's plan for us to dwell in fear or for fear to rule our lives. He has already set in motion the defeat and fall of every giant that we will ever face. Our responsibility is to step through our fear, facing every giant in God's power and with His promises. The Holy Spirit will guide the path of His truth to its destined mark, taking down the giants lurking in each tomorrow.
He is the same yesterday, today and forever! The days ahead are saturated with the memory of Goliath's fall and trust in Almighty God, the Giant Killer! So then, my friend, I ask you, what is there to fear? Happy New Year!

Let's Pray

Father, I want to thank You for Your goodness to me this past year. I confess that there were times when I focused on the storm instead of on You. I allowed fear to overpower my faith. Please help me begin this New Year in faith, with my eyes on You and my glance on the circumstances. I want to face every giant in Your power alone, walking straight through my fear in faith. Right now, Father, I surrender to You and the plan You have for me in 2009.

In Jesus' name,
Amen.

Source; January 29, 2009 Hope for Tomorrow Mary Southerland

Red packets n ang pows..

I went to an open house the other day. Well.. many older and married couples attended the open house.. so being the younger one.. or more accurately mentioned: the UNMARRIED ones... i get to get all the ang pows!!

It's good.. coz there's money inside!! secondly.. coz... ppl thinks that you're still young!! and thirdly... coz you may think you're still young!!! (propagating self-cheating here.)

but it's bad.. when you compare yourself to all the children around you.. hey.. i'm already an adult.. well, it's chinese tradition n culture - so they say.

so the turn came to a young couple distributing the ang pows.. suddenly she handed one to me. I was taken aback. Huh? Who from? "Us," she pointed to herself and her husband. C'mon.. you're even younger than me!

So I refused the money, oh.. i mean the red packets... but after some practical thoughts.. i thought, wat the heck, it's money! haaa... wat's in the content... hehe...

But after more thoughts, i still figure that wat i did was appropriate. No ang pows from someone younger than me. Married or not.

it's yet another New Year!!

But this time.. we call it the Lunar or Chinese New Year! yeah.. i celebrate new years coz i like to freshen things up. when things get old, boring n mundane, a new year is a powerful inspiratorfor me to start afresh!

This year, will be different. I will do things in a different way. and things will happen and react and respond in a different way. Amen to that. well.. of course, different, in the sense tat, for the better, not worse.

All fears shall be challenged and overcame. A new day has come. +D

yahoooooooooo!!!

STOP .

A-L-L T.H.E H.Y.P.O.C.R.I.S.I.E.S.



S-T-O-P I-T A-L-L ! ! !

i've been tired lately..

really tired... almost 24 hours a day, i felt like i'd choose to rest and sleep at home.. really tired.
lack of sleep, sometimes..

but now i've found a new remedy - a simple n common remedy which requires some discipline and time, but it's very well-rewarded.

wat's it? i'd call it some stretching exercises, first thing after you wake up in the morn, and the last thing you do before you go to bed. yeah..

this morn was the first time i tried this remedy, well.. eyes-wise, i was tired. but physical and mentally wise, i was excited! and felt refreshed!

hmm.. now the next question is.. how long will this remedy take place...

Hamas vs Israel @ Gaza

We've all heard the ugly reports on Israel attacking Gaza.. The cruelty of Israel.. the inhumane.. BUT, are we blind enough to ignore what's on the net? To ignore the truth on Hamas and Palestine?

A government hiding behind its civilians in times of war is an extreme coward, no doubt about tat. And who's the coward here? Are they the deserving government?

I'm sad for the children of Palestine - they never knew that LOVE existed.. or perhaps, they don't even know that God existed, blinded by the terrorists.

Ever wished to be at two places at one time?

The above phrase sounds so familiar and I believe each and everyone of us - some parts of our life we wished to be at two places at a time.

Well, I've never wished so badly until yesterday - i had two courses in a day, at the same time - one is conducted by Sidang Injil Borneo (SIB) which I really loved and hungered and thirst for, I've attended the first two sessions, and the third one was on the sunday.

Sadly on the same day MSAVA is organizing an oncology talk on lymphoma and osteosarcoma at a nearby location. Ironic - so nearby, but I still couldn't attend both at the same time. As it has been quite seom time since I last attended a veterinary-based seminar, and the speaker was a renowned oncologist, and many polished vets from all around Malaysia and Singapore came to this talk - so I chose to attend this talk.

Decision made. But the grouch was still there - why the same day? sigh...

If yoiu want to see changes, FIRST CHANGE YOURSELF.

There are so many things tat we can learn from the kids nowadays. They teach us very simple, yet logic life theories many a times, if only we have the time and humility to learn from them.

Recently I heard a child, Mandy complaining that she doesnt seem to improve in her exam scores no matter how hard she strived. She's hardworking, but scoring "A" seem so impossible for her. One day, her friend, Jacky offered her another method, which he has been using. Mandy was adamant that her method of study was good, just that she's not gifted, kept blaming on her limited "gifts" from God.

After some lengthy persuasion, Jacky finally slammed his table and exclaimed, "If your method is good, how come after so many years you're still poor in your exams?! I was once as poor as you, a "C" or "D" scorer, but I was willing to change my way! I changed my method. I am not gifted. But I changed."

What he said truly pinched me and I reflected on the majority of the world today. If you want to see the people/ circumstances around you change, FIRST CHANGE YOURSELF. Never lay on the old excuse, "if the world changes for better, so will I." NO. YOU"VE got your perspective wrong.

YOU CHANGE THE WORLD - not vice versa.

You can't be sticking to the "same old me", "tat's not me", "tats not my way" forever. You've got to change. This has nothing to do with giftings.

Learn and adapt from the successful ones. Ironically, many a times, it is not them who are not willing to share their secrets of successes with us - but it is us, who are not humble enough, to open our mind, and learn from them.

Think about it.

PGRM yeah show by Network-J

I went home from work earlier than usual today - there was a Yeah Show at Menara PGRM, organized by Network J. Unfortunately, all words were in Chinese, except for the above words (yeah, show, menara, pgrm) - i can hardly tell you or describe the names and the VIP's names here.

So I went with KL, a church fren - when we're trying to enter the MENARA, oh.. the jam.. we wondered - wat's going on? isn't it just another church event? Seemed to us that the whole KL lots were rushing into the building at one time. Nevertheless, after some time, we finally got our parking lot, and got to the Yeah Show. wow..it was a big hall, at level 4, and it was really crowded - the number of people went beyond full house - they even went to a higher level (extra seats).

The pastor was from Hong Kong - well, he of course speaks cantonses.. and boy.. was he fast and furious with his words and ever changing impersonation!! If i'm not mistaken his name was Lim Enoch. From the beginning, to almost the end of his "sermon" the ppl on the floor couldn't help bursting into endless laughters. Some even rolled on the floor clenching onto their tummy (not literally). Me for one, had jaw ache after the talk - due to insufficient warm-up prior to tat masticatory muscle exercises.

it was fun, tho a bit too far from where i stay. But if they're to hold a second one, i'll invite my frens to go along. Just sitback, relax, and laugh your lungs out. :P

i've got the furminator!

Finally! After ages of waiting.. today the wonderful item which i've been longing for came to my doorsteps.. wrapped in some really nice, insulated packing, hmm.. real nice.. let me introduce.. THE FURMINATOR!!!

(btw, if any of you wanto get a furminator medium (2.65"), i have one to sell off, brand new, not bcoz i'm such a smart businessman, but bcoz i'm not a smart ebay bidder. RM150. see if anyone's interested.)

yep yep, finally. the furminator.... toffee's fur terminator! I had wanted to go off work asap, quickly rake off the loose hair from my toffee... but the rules of nature goes like this, "The more you plan and eager for something, the more things will come in your way."

Today esp. From the beginning of the day I told Ju tat I wanted to go home punctual today. So we got all the dogs n cats ready by 6.30pm. Good, haa? Then came one customer.. after another.. a doggy.. after another...

Until the final doggy which was quite in bad shape - walked in at 7.15pm. What to do? Pets first. So I focused at treating her, and when I had finished, boy, the time was almost 8pm!!

And 8pm was my prayer meet! oh gosh.. forget abt experimenting my favourite furminator on toffee.. guess my anticipation had to queue.. gonna be the last itinery of the day.

grasses + honey = ?

today i had a little experiment. i have spirulina grass, wheat grass n barley grass at home. it's been quite some time since i last consumed either of it. so i decided to take them all at one go.

considering their "authentic" taste which is not so pleasant to the tastebuds, i decided to add some honey, coz negative + positive is supposed to be neutral.

There it go.. wheat grass+ barley grass + spirulina grass+ organic honey = grassy combo. and the taste? well it surely tasted better than ginseng... but i still find it very hard to swallow.

the taste was undescribable.. probably my vocabulary was not rich enough to define it.

i'm still taking gulps of it now coz i've made a 700ml of this grassy combo. will savour the following gulps. oops.

Heaven or hell?

I sent a friend home this afternoon at Taman Beringin, Jinjang. Upon reaching her flat, we were amazed by the scores of ppl crowding the flat's groundfloor. I sneaked nearer and saw the feet of a man, covered with newspaper and some coconut stalks. After some interview with the onlookers and neighbours, I understood that a young man, 17, jumped to his death at 12pm from the 17th floor. The reason? Apparently due to some quarrel with the girlfriend. Some ppl there even posed me the same question, "You wartawan ka? Reporter? Channel apa?"

Hmm.. do i have the reporter look? But i know there's something i definitely have in common with reporters - the "busybody" look.

It was a sad scene - such a young life. Whatever the cause of death may be, the fact remains the same - a soul has lost his life. Where will his soul go after this? Heaven or hell?

I pray that God will have mercy on his soul.

Beautiful cats for adoption... anyone?

Hi there, i need some kind hearted cat-lover who can adopt these 2 beautiful sweet, loving kittens. both are 5 months old, spayed (so they cant give birth anymore). they are actually rescued by a kind cat-lover (whom unfortunately has over 30 cats in her house now!).

these are their pic, we call them Da Lian (ginger one) and Si Si (grey one). Pls ask your family n friends.. money is no issue here.. we just want to find good owners. Leave me a comment if you're keen on it. tx.