The first wealth is Health

I rather be healthy than be wealthy.

Yesterday, I went for a full body health screening. While talking to the doctor, I asked him about some discomfort at my lower part of my body and sought his advice. His suggestion stroked some fear in me. Perhaps at my age, I should not be exerting too much force and carry heavy load too often. This has weakened my muscles. It may be a warning signs for me.

To be healthy, I have always exercised regularly, careful of my diet, and have adequate rest. Now, I need to add another factor – avoid exerting too much force on my body. In my work, I occasionally have to carry those heavy and bulky equipments around. Perhaps that is the cause of my weaken muscle on the lower part of my body.

I will have my health review with the doctor next week. Pray for God's protection.

It’s better to be safe than sorry.

Being Thankful

It’s amazing how a prayerful and thankful attitude make life all the more different.:)

But it’s not going to be easy especially when facing a seemingly insurmountable task that is beyond our control. After writing my Monday (previous) post I decided to be thankful. What better way to do that than to memorize God’s Word? So I type the verse Phi 4:8 on a small piece of paper:

Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things.

Let’s face it, my problem is true (real). I need to response fast to the customer’s request for 2 product samples within 2 weeks. Buying the material takes 3 weeks. Would I be able to give them what they want in a short time, knowing that I don’t have the materials to do what they require? Only God is in control. And to get to HIM, I need to pray… (and be thankful)..

While praying, I realized that I needed to tidy up my office. It’s full of junk accumulated over the past 10 years working in this company. It’s like that kind of prompting inside me: “Clean up your room!!”

And guess what? As I was cleaning up the mess, I found materials among the junk that I could use to build one sample!! OK, not exactly what the customer wants, but at least close to their requirement and specifications. :)

That was what happened on Monday when I decided to “Be thankful in all circumstances”. The week kind of went through smoothly and I managed to get the sample built, tested over temperature of -30 degree to +70 degree Celsius. It will be shipped out today. Also, I might be able to complete the other samples as well next week. (God just bring people to help you when you pray!)


God just “open doors” when we pray and be thankful in all circumstances.

Praise the LORD (PTL)

Stress here, stress there... Stress Everywhere!

It has been a tough week. Probably, this week going to be quite stressful.

Finally, I received the crystal oscillators (after 6 months of waiting) from my supplier and continued to work on my project. I tested some and it seemed to work to about -20 degrees. The testing procedure is very tedious and we have to use Liquid Nitrogen to cool the cystal oscillators down to that temperature. Unfortunately, most of the crystal oscillators are not working well at about -15 degrees Celsius even though we specified to the supplier that we wanted the crystal oscillator to function properly to -30 degrees Celsius. As the products are going to the United Kingdom, I am getting very concerned. The thoughts, “Rejoice always. Pray continually. Give thanks in ALL CIRCUMSTANCES” kept appearing in my mind. Perhaps, the LORD wants to teach me to be thankful?

This morning, as I opened my email, my boss forwarded a mail from a potential customer wanting me to send them 2 sample products for their evaluation in 2 or 3 weeks times. Suddenly, my stress level shot up.

My mind shouted: “I don’t have the material to build the samples!”

There you go, any stressful week ahead. How should I answer the boss and the customer? Would I loose a very good business opportunity?

How would I “rejoice always, and give thanks in all circumstances”?

Surely, I will pray continually.

A worship service that is so … different!

“What do you think about today’s worship service?” I casually asked my 16 years old daughter yesterday as we were on our way home.

“Eh, it’s so … different!”

“What’s so different?”

“Just different, lah!” She still couldn’t find the words to describe the experience we had in this church's service.

Yesterday, we had an opportunity to visit a church near our home. My first visit to this church was May last year. The feeling of Spirit’s presence was just as strong as it was then. The worship bulletin did not have any mission statement or purpose, the theme for the year or any announcement. There was no need to remind worshippers to worship God “in spirit and in truth” on paper. It was written in every hearts that are present. The songs still linger in my minds as I am writing this. The whole service ministers to the hearts. Perhaps that was what my daughter meant when she said, “It’s so different”. She was sitting between me and my wife. I could sense her complete attention during the service.

The worship handouts just contained the outline of the sermon, wonderfully and clearly layout. There were also insert of the church mission activities. When I saw the sermon outline, I knew we were going to have a dynamic speaker even before he spoke. The topic was on revival. This grandfatherly preacher was able to swings our mood as he injected humor to make us laugh and illustrations to bring tears to our eyes. At the end, hundreds came down to response to the altar call of re-commitment to Christ.

I left the worship service wondering why I am still staying with my presence church after 24 years there.

The Dark Side of Men

Another big sex scandal has happened, similar to that of Tiger Wood.

Except that it is now in our shore – Singapore. It involved a successful Singapore film- maker who has received many awards from the Singapore government, one equivalent to the UK knighthood title. We would be calling him Sir Jack Neo, except that it is written in a Malay title: PBM. (Why would Singapore want to give a title that nobody understands??). Also, the saga gets juicier because Jack Neo portrays himself as a moralist.

I would not be writing this, if he did not profess to be attending a Christian church. His whole family is attending City Harvest Church, the largest church in Singapore with a congregation of about 33,000. So, even those who claim to go to church and worship God also fall by this deadly sin.

After so many sex scandals – Tiger Wood, John Terry, Ashley Cole and now Jack Neo, it’s high time we men be honest with ourselves. We all have a dark side inside us. Let’s not pretend. I like Dr. Jason Wolfe’s website cartoon (Humorous but actually true)

http://www.wolfescape.com/Humour/MenWomen.htm




No, I am not blogging to attack any of these people but to reflect as a man, what God is speaking to me about all these sex scandals like I am reading from the Bible in 1Samuel Chapter 11.

First, whatever happened to them can also happen to me when the circumstances are right. Even the most godly man is not exempted from such temptation. King David, the man after God’s heart fell into it. There is another man who also faced the same temptation but overcame it strongly with the strength of God. It is Joseph, the son of Jacob in Gen 39.

The young Joseph of not more than 30 years old, when tempted with sexual sin, replied: “How then could I do this great wickedness and sin against God” (Gen 39:9). Sexual sin is not just a sin against my wife, my family or other girls. It is a sin against God.

So what is the different in circumstances? One has all he can get – a king – rich and powerful and lives only to please himself. Another is a slave, struggling in an alien land, serving to please his master. So the circumstances are when one gets money (lot of it) and fame, then the sexual dark side starts to creep out. Even if we are not rich and famous, this dark side is still in all men.

So what should men do?

Unfortunately, most Christian men avoid talking about it all together. We want to keep secrets. And so our discussions are never personal, always about politics, economy, careers, work, hobbies …, never about our inner self, never transparent. Dr. Larry Crabb, in his book, “The Silence of Adam” calls it the monster lurking inside us, guys. And I fully agree with him that to overcome this monster, men must share secrets. Share it with one person with whom you can trust and uphold in prayer. It sure will break the chain of bondage by this monster.

I like one of his statements:
“Fathers encourage by leading the way, by walking ahead of us on the path. Brothers encourage by sharing our struggles, by walking with us.”

Isaac, our brother-in-Christ, once mentioned about the accountability group that he attended with the missionaries when serving in Yunnan, China. He wondered why our church did not have one. The truth is … we like to keep our privacy and hide our secret and dark side. But those who confess their sins and pray for one another are most often the ones on the path of overcoming this dark side. (read James 5:16)

I have much to share but will just stop here. Any of you guys who are reading this and want to have a personal talk, do feel free to call me :)

Friend No More :(

For some unknown reasons, this facebook friend of mine removes that friendship.

And I am still trying to figure out why and what I did that broke off that facebook friendship. Perhaps it was something I posed that she felt offended? Or was it my reply to her husband's wall-to-wall comment that she disagreed? In the first place, it was she who extended the facebook friendship to me.

Her husband and I have a very close friendship since University days. We were room-mates, Bible study mates, jogging mates, all kind of mates you can think of. And I was his best man during their wedding. Something though, I don’t really know her well to guess why.

It puzzles me what causes friendship to terminate.

I am still trying to figure it all up. This is my very first encounter.

Have you experience situations like this?

Chasing our Dreams & our Happiness

Yesterday, the boss walked into my office to discuss a business opportunity. In the midst of the conversation, he sigh, “I am very stressed up with the company’s businesses”

11 years ago, the boss together with a few of us started this electronic company. We wanted to chase our dream. We believe we have what it takes to compete globally. Life has always been stressful since then. It is difficult to compete with the big multi-national companies. But, thank God, we are never in the red.

But are we happy?

This morning, as I read Our Daily Bread on Ecclesiastes 2:1-11 , I feel that true happiness is not self-seeking. The whole passage is about the “I” (mentioned 18 times), “my” and “me”. And at the end of all the achievement,

what I had toiled to achieve, everything was meaningless, a chasing after the wind; nothing was gained under the sun. (Ecc 2:11)

I received this story from a colleague:

Some time ago, at the Seattle Olympics,
nine athletes, all mentally or physically challenged,
were standing on the start line for the 100 m race.
The gun fired and the race began.
Not everyone was running, but everyone wanted to participate and win.

They ran in threes, a boy tripped and fell, did a few somersaults and started crying.
The other eight heard him crying.
They slowed down and looked behind them.
They stopped and came back… All of them…

A girl with Down’s Syndrome sat down next to him,
hugged him and asked, “Feeling better now?”

Then, all nine walked shoulder to shoulder to the finish line.

The whole crowd stood up and applauded.
And the applause lasted a very long time…

People who witnessed this still talk about it.
Why? Because deep down inside us, we all know that the most important thing in life is much more than winning for ourselves.

The most important thing in this life is to help others to win.
Even if that means slowing down and changing our own race.

"A candle loses nothing if it is used to light another one.”


One of my most cherished quotations was written in my autograph book by my Primary 6 teacher before I left that school:

Only one life, it will soon be past.
Only what’s done for Christ, will last

Agape :)