Stretch your brain

Yesterday during lunch, (alamak, have to solve math problem for him again) my boss sent me this email:

The following is among 10 math questions given to Sec One students at Hwa Chong about a week ago. Can you solve it ? ( I can’t …… )

• To celebrate the 2009 Math Festival, a teacher set up 2009 numbered lights in a row
• The lights are originally switched off
• The first student went up to all the lights that are multiples of 1 and switched them on
• The next student then went to switch off all the lights that are multiples of 2
• The third student then went up to the lights that are multiples of 3, and switch them on if they are off, or switch them off if they are already on
• This process continued until the 2009th student, who then switched on or off the last light
• The teacher then asked another student to count the number of lights that remain switched on
• Q : How many lights did he count ?

Try it, it is not that difficult as it first seem to be.

Envious over how others spend their Money ?

Imagine getting a lot of criticism about how you spend your own money for a holiday?

Recently a civil servant got a lot of bombardment after writing about his family holiday in Paris. The holiday was estimated to be about $45,000 which was spent mostly on attending a cuisine cooking course.

Read this:

'A senior Singaporean civil servant has been reprimanded for publicising his family’s vacation at a top French cooking school when his country is suffering from a recession, a minister said Monday.
"It struck a discordant note during the current difficult economic circumstances when it is especially important to show solidarity and empathy for Singaporeans who are facing uncertainties and hardship," Defence Minister Teo Chee Hean said in parliament.'

Do you have a right to spend your own money and tell the world about it? Also, do you have a right to judge others on how they spend their money?

I did read this civil servant's article in the Life page of the Straits Times. Yet it did not occur to me at that time to criticize him of the huge money spent on such a cooking course. It was only after reading all the criticism in the blog that made me realized that what we do and say about money does make people envious or jealous.

Pastor David has always asked me to preach on his behalf when it comes to passages that talk about money, like 2 Cor. 9; 1 Tim 6. I have now come to realize that I should stop preaching about money. It is a sensitive issue and really nobody likes to hear such a message. Full Stop.

Working together - Understanding the Senior Citizen

Going to Sarah Activity Center last Saturday was sort of good for some of us. We really got a chance to see how the old people live. I mean, one day we will be old. But then I hope I will not accumulate alot of unwanted things in the house and make it so smelly. The cleaning and painting did sort of change the flat some what.

For me, the HDB flat that the senior citizens live in was a reflection of my childhood days when I first stay in such a small flat with 9 people all squeezing in a half-room flat!! That was 39 years ago.

I think it is good to for us to work together on services like this. Glad that Peter Soh and Judy did the co-ordination.

Doing Good to others?

Ever since I came back from the Malaysia Trip, I have been working and studying on the Book of Titus. This is one book that is called Pastoral Epistle and since I am no a pastor, I must
say I didn't pay much attention to it..., until Pastor David call me to prepare Bible Study for
the youth.

Reading and meditating on this book has sort of help me alot to be more conscious of peole around me. The Apostle keep on mentioning about "doing good" as a Christian testimony. The question then is, "How often do we do good to someone?"

I have finally finished writing the Bible Study material for the youth. Phew!! This time round, I have included discussion, fun, looking at real life situations, and included some spiritual self evaluation for the youth to work on. This is goner to challenge them alot!! Hope they responsed positively and look at themselves squarely. I hope 2009 is going to wake them up spiritually.

As for me, time to move on to reading and doing others things before the year move on to more work!!