Merry Christmas to All

Today is the jolly season and I would like to wish all my readers a Blessed and Merry Christmas! It is just like another day for me with the usual activities - eating, napping and logging to the computer to play around. I also added this blog to PPP and just claimed it for future sponsored posts. Later on, I need to submit and email 2 sports quotations which need some measure of calculations as the size is not standard. My youngest sister has gone to her church friend's house for a Christmas lunch and she sang in the choir this morning. She also went to church last night at the Cathedral of the Holy Spirit. I did not attend church as I just came back from KL yesterday.

God has been blessing me with more than enough

In the past, I have been struggling to keep my jobs but it was short lived. And I was staying alone in Singapore which add to the pressures of life. Now, I am happily settled at home staying with my parents and they are both healthy in their golden years. I am blessed to have such parents who took me back when I had to start all over again in Penang. In between I rested for 1-2 years doing nothing and later started my web design business from home. I did earn some cash from clients around the world and it was a steep learning experience. At that time I was very good with Macromedia Flash and earned US dollars creating Flash animations for a USA client. Now if you ask me to do Flash, I must say that I have forgotten how to do it and leave it as that. It was also the time, I was introduced to receiving money through Western Union - the fastest method of payment internationally.

Cute Animals Christmas Song

I found this Youtube video online and it is rather funny. Just watch how they animals mime the song with musical instruments this coming Christmas. I simply love watching this video and the creator is rather talented using computer graphics to make it all the more interesting. And yes, the sound system in my computer has been repaired, thus I can listen to nice music and songs from Youtube. Have a Fantastic Christmas and a Wonderful New Year in 2010.

Missed Church Again

I missed church again last week as I was having a nagging back ache for almost a week. I suspect there might be muscle tear when I was trying to lift heavy weights while stepping up a steep stair in the garden. I am now self medicating after dad bought some medication from the pharmacy. Even as I rest, I have to be careful not to break my titanium spectacles like I did a few years ago. At that time, my titanium specs was rubberband thin and extremely light, which was bought from Paris Miki. It was expensive and my heart ache when I broke the fragile frame while sleeping.

This time, I hope my back will heal quickly so that I can be more mobile and work more efficiently. Moving around is now a problem as I cannot stand up immediately without pain at the back. And to compound the problem, my gmail account was hacked into a few days ago when I inadvertently gave out my email password to world wide web. Little did I suspect that the con artist use the internet to fish for email details and use it to solicit money from all my contacts using my name. Well, I have recovered my gmail account and changed the password already. The con artist was very well prepared - he knew Google is going to block my email and even directed all incoming mails to another email of his!

Did not attend service last week

I did not attend last week's service as I had backache. Pastor Yeoh preached on the persecuted church. My friend who is a very motivated Christian, attended the service alone. And the local church has stopped giving out weekly bulletin to save money. Common, how much is 1 piece of bulletin that they cannot afford to print out every week as they used to. I think they are getting to have the cheap skate mindset even though it is a rich church with at least 3 million in the coffer. And to think that I have contributed thousands in the past few years of my tithes and offerings every week. So, I have decided to just give offering and not tithe anymore - I could save up a lot of money in the long run and perhaps pay a downpayment for another apartment unit for rental.

Tags : Penang church, tithes, church offerings, cheap skate, persecuted church, bulletin

Book of Proverbs

The book of Proverbs is a book of God's ordained wisdom to humankind. It teaches us to work until the day we die and not to be slothful, otherwise you have nothing to eat. There are many verses that talks about being diligent and to leave an inheritance to your children's children so that they will not starve. Your future generations will be blessed. In the book of Malachi, it tells you to tithe 10% of your income to your local church to be blessed as it is God's money after all. Giving an offering is easy because there is not fixed % of the amount but tithing is not for everyone - only for the enlightened and those who want to give back to Jesus.

Been Bless with a Job

Early this year, I read of the many stories of retrenchments, lay offs and unemployment by the millions worldwide. I must say that I have been blessed with a work at home job since February 2004 until now. Needless to say, I met my boss from the internet - initially he was my web site client and now I am assisting him in his sports building business. The web site that I designed has generated many enquiries which became clients for us. I guess this is God's providence for me because for an unlikely person to email me from the internet turned out to be my boss for the last 5+ years. Time flies and we have completed more than 100 different sports courts all over Malaysia.

God's Favor and Grace

We no longer live by the old 10 commandments that follows the law that causes bondage, sickness and weakness. We now live under God's favor and grace in the New Testament after Jesus' resurrection. It is no longer doing to please God but done by Jesus so that we can have our covenant with our Heavenly Father. Jesus was born poor so that we can be rich, he was lashed with 40 strokes so that we can be healed, he was forsaken, so that we can call God our Abba Father. Jesus received curses so that we can get his blessings as a child of God. So it is not by merit or work that we earn our place in heaven but to proclaim that Jesus is our Lord and Saviour can we get to heaven for eternity - and that is a very very long time.

Don’t Grow Up Depressed - Listen to Pastor Joseph Prince’s Message CDs

Children who have been caned a lot unnecessarily will grow up being depressed adults. So parents, the more caning you do, the more harm you bring to your child. The old fashioned mentality is that the more caning they get, the better adults they will become. This is no longer true. Research has shown that depressed and unhappy people tend to fall sick and even get cancer. Hence, cancer is linked to depression. One way I unwind and relax is to listen to Pastor Joseph Prince of New Creation Church message CDs. This guy is really funny and humorous. Plus the fact that he is very annointed by God and very humble despite his popularity around the world. And indeed New Creation Church is the best church in Suntec City, if not the world for Protestants. I simply love to hear Pastor Prince preach a good sermon. It is cathartic and better than any other feel good medication. Just Google around for Pastor Joseph Prince and you will find a lot of resources.

Psalms 1 and 2

Today's preaching was on the book of Psalms 1 and 2 from the Old Testament. I love reading Psalms as they guide you to live a prosperous and fulfilled life. I have also decided to continue tithing to church as a responsible church member. If no one contributes, how is the church going to feed its people, send money for missions and continue saving for the church building fund? I guess it takes revelation and a passionate love for Jesus to be tithers. Most other people are just tipping God with their offerings and I also noticed some don't give at all. My friend who became a Christian in 2004, the year the tsunami strike, has been tithing faithfully to church every week because he believes it is our Heavenly Father who prospers him to find favour with potential clients. That is why the company has projects month after month and the workers are happy working for us with continual work every day.

Tithing Matters

I have stopped tithing 10% of my income to my local church and last Sunday, at the pulpit, the church secretary who gave the sermon commented that there will be no income for the staff if people stopped tithing. I still continue to give offerings every week when I attend church service on Sundays. As I need to safe up for my golden years and considering the inflation rate in say 20 years time, the value of your savings will depreciate so much that you might not have enough to tide you through your life time. I hope to save up at least 80% of my income every month while times are good. But there is no guarantee that it will be like this for the next 15-20 years until my retirement later on. I am already in my late thirties and the key person running the show is already in his late fifties. I pray that God will grant him the strength to continue to helm the company employing about 10 workers with families to feed.

Preaching Bondage and Law

Yesterday's preaching in my local church was dry, and boring, not to mention the deacon preach law and bondage. I feel more stressed listening to it than before coming to church. After listening to Pastor Joseph Prince of New Creation Church, Singapore preach, I feel more liberated with the true teaching of grace and favour. The other churches don't match to this very annointed preacher who also received word of faith to heal people. And Georgetown Baptist Church turned away a potential RM50,000 donation just because it was to be from Penang Turf Club. And to think that BGC needs money in the millions to build its new church for RM10 million with barely half collected - it was foolish of them to turn away money such as these. God can turn unrighteous money into blessed money, so why turn down a good opportunity?

No One Picks Up the Telephone at Penang SOCSO

I have paid the worker’s SOCSO company contribution for April 2009 and until today, 12th of May, I have yet to receive a receipt and form for May payment from them. SOCSO stands for Social Security Organisation that was established in Malaysia to make monthly payments to workers becoming disabled in the course of their employment. It is like a form of insurance. Today, I tried to contact the numbers that I have in the SOCSO letterhead and they have changed to a new number that is non-contactable at all and simply send a thank you message and hang up when you select all the options! Even the operator number leads to automatic message with no one to pick up the phone! I don’t know who is the director or head of department for SOCSO but they sure try to find ways to automate their telephone calls with no single person to pick up calls and attend to enquiries. This is surely the ‘makan ular’ (lackadaisical) attitude of the staff who is missing in action! Typical of the Malays who are so lazy, and depend on the UMNO government to take care of their needs to the exclusion of other races. I am still wondering how sincere is the government in advocating 1Malaysia concept.

Happy Easter Sunday

Yesterday was Easter Sunday and my church in Georgetown Baptist Church put up a wonderplay play with a short movie of the Passion of Christ showing Jesus before his crucifixion. It is also a time to forgive previous grievances and hurts done by others. Easter is to celebrate the resurrection power of Jesus when he died at the cross and he is now alive in Heaven. One day, when all Christians die, they will reunite in heaven and stay there for eternity - which is a very very long time. While it is better to stay in heaven where there is no sorrow, pain or death, it is good to make ourselves useful here on here promoting the Kingdom of God by preaching to our loved ones so that they can be saved from eternal damnation in hell and by tithing.

New Creation Church Raised S$19 million in 1 day

The senior pastor of New Creation Church (NCC) is Pastor Joseph Prince, a very annointed preacher. His church managed to raise Singapore dollars $19 million in 1 day for the new building fund. Previously S$100 million has been paid for the land that was bought for the new church building. This is nothing but God's grace in such difficult times as these where millions are jobless and retrenched, yet NCC is prospering in Singapore. It was out in the local Singapore newspapers and many naysayers gave negative comments about it saying it was a cult, etc. Whatever the unbelievers may say, NCC is one very good church to attend.

20 million are Jobless in China

According to the news, about 20 million people are jobless in China. Although the Singapore government has admitted that it is in technical recession, the Malaysian government still refuse to admit that it is in recession and still paints an optimistic picture of the nation's economy. That is why the system is transparent and honest in Singapore but not in Malaysia where corruption is rampant and this begins with the leaders and those in UMNO. Sometimes I wish for an honest Chinese to be the prime minister of Malaysia like Singapore and give equal opportunities to all ethnic races based on merit and not on skin color. The recession might worsen before it recovers in late 2010 as predicted. And for those who are jobless, I wonder how they manage their lives right now.

Going to Langkawi in a Short While

I am going to Langkawi by Firefly which was booked and confirmed last night. It takes about 30 minutes to arrive from Penang Airport to Langkawi's Airport. We need to take measurement for a sports court for a customer before flying back the next day on Sunday. Most likely, we will stay overnight in Langkawi after doing the necessary. This is a short business trip. And I just found out from my sister that a return trip by boat is about RM100 plus. Had I known that earlier, we would have taken the boat and save us about RM620 for 2 persons return by flight plus airport tax.

Financial Meltdown

Since late last year, we have been bombarded with a slew of news of job cuts, credit crunch, lay-offs and financial meltdown of big institutions like banks that have been around for more than 100 years. Millions will be jobless this year as more and more companies retrench their staffs especially in USA, Europe, China, Singapore, etc. Malaysia is not spared from this punishing economic woes though the government refuse to admit that recession has come to our shores. Every day, as I read the newspapers in business section, I see more job cuts everywhere and people are getting desperate. Families with young children to feed are turning to the parish priest of our local cathedral of the Holy Spirit to share their stories in the hope of securing new employment. According to Pastor Joseph Prince, prosperous economies previously will be awakened while developing nations will rise up.

Happy Chinese New Year 2009 to All

This Chinese New Year, I will be in Haadyai with my family for 4 days 3 nights. My second sister came out from Suchou in China to be with us this CNY and to celebrate as a family doing things together. We plan to do some shopping for clothes and go for massages which are so affordable. The three of us will treat our parents sumptuous dinner, one for each night during this occasion. A chartered van will come pick us up from our home in Penang and drive up north to the same hotel that we have stayed last year, also for CNY. I would like to take this opportunity to wish all my Chinese readers, "A Happy Chinese New Year 2009"!

Life is too precious

When you are over the age of 50, go for blood pressure check up to see the systolic and diastolic figures. It should be 120/80 which is normal. Anything above and much higher than this figures spells CVA (cardiovascular accident) which may lead to stroke or heart attack. Life is too precious to take chances and the risks are increased if you are a smoker, above 50 years of age, drink alcohol or have high cholesterol levels. You should also go for complete blood test to check for cancer, blood glucose, liver function, etc. As we age, we need daily medication to keep us going and to keep the engine in good condition.