What I'm Doing in the New Year!

 #1. Building my Running Distances

Doing longer run since the beginning of 2022. The progress is good. I have completed 3 runs for the distance of 10km, 2 runs for 11km and last Sunday 16 January, managed to complete the 12km run.

The challenge is not the distance but it’s about the recovery after the run. How long do I need to rest & recover before repeating the same distance? For 10km run, I can do it on alternate days without problem. For 12km run, I will need to rest longer (>3 days) if I want to maintain of 6:10/km pace. I may try to do it twice in a week for January and February and see how I progress. With daily chores on hand, the recovery is quite slow. This is a big improvement from 2 years ago, when I struggle to run longer than 12km. Even then, I could only do it at a 7.00/km pace.

#2. Reading the Bible

I also started reading on the Book of Ezekiel, one or two chapter a day. In my reading, I learned about how angels (cherubim) looks like in Chapter 1. The glory of God also appeared to Ezekiel. Rainbows and haloes (verse 28) surround the Almighty. So, that may be the reason we always see angels with a halo.

Prophet’s life are very tough. Ezekiel has to live & act out the vision he saw. God asked him to lie down on the left side for 390 days (as bearing for Israel’s sin) and then lie down on the right side for 40 days (as bearing for Judah’s sin). Personally, I don’t like to sleep or lie down on my side. I prefer to lie down flat on my back and face the ceiling. This is my most comfortable sleeping posture and also for best recovery after a hard run. Better still, if I have a good pillow to raise both legs. So, I imagine how tough it will be for me if I am to do what Ezekiel has to do by lying on the side. Another frightening thing for Ezekiel is that God ask him to bake his bread with human dung! Imagine God asking me to do that!! Ezekiel had to plead with God and He changed it to cow dung. Still a tough life for him to do that for 390 + 40 days.

Another important lesson learnt from the reading is that prophets are often asked to eat the scroll that God gives. Jeremiah, too ate the Word of God.

Your words were found and I ate them,
And Your words became a joy to me and the delight of my heart;
For I have been called by Your name,
Lord God of armies. (Jer 15:16)

The word of God is sweet, as honey in the mouth. The more we eat and chew on it, the stronger we will be to meet any crisis or challenges in life. The Psalmist also declare that God’s Word is also more desire than pure gold.

They are more desirable than gold, yes, than much pure gold; Sweeter also than honey and drippings of the honeycomb (Psa 19:10)

Eating God’s Word is to experience Him - meditating, think, feel and encounter Him is my life. This is the beginning of living a God-Presence life. Otherwise, Bible reading is just a chore for head knowledge.

There are many metaphors in this Book of Ezekiel. In the funeral song (chapter 19) that God told Ezekiel to sing, Israel is depicted both as a lion and a vine. The rebellion nation of Israel is given the story of two eagles (Chapter 17) representing mighty nations of Babylon and Egypt. Also, Judah is an unfaithful wife (Chapter 16), breaking away from God, even after being rescued and groomed to perfect splendour and beauty.

Another important teaching in the reading of this Book is the judgment of God on the sins of the people, priest and leaders. One question speak to me is that what idols are we harbouring in our hearts. Anything that take our thoughts, or become our centre of focus in life is deem as idols. Here calls for honest and soul-searching.

 

#3. New Testament in the original text

Last night, I was watching a Youtube that discuss on “How Badly was the New Testament Corrupted?” It’s a long 2 hour seminar presentation by Dr Daniel Wallace. You can google it yourself as it is about >2 hours long. He presented a scholarly research on the New Testament and show how much work was done to check and verify the ancient texts. All the copies that were hand written (that’s how ancient people reproduce many copies) and sure prone to spelling errors, missing words, or even a sentence. One thing for sure is that, none of our English Bible is the actual word of God. It’s just a translation or interpretation of the original text. So, it is best for us Christians to be able to read the New Testament in it’s original text – Greek. And for that, I need to take out my Greek grammar book and start revising again. And then start reading the New Testament. Slowly but surely…. (At least will read the 1st Epistle of John & Gospel of John).

So, how's your start of the New Year 2022? January is coming to en end. Let's make good use of your time - Kairos' moment! :)

 

Agape

Time - Durations or Opportunities?

 “You’re on leave today?” My neighbour asked as we stepped into the lift of our HDB (Housing Development Block) block this morning.

“No. I have stop working. I have retired?”

“Oh, few years ago, I stopped work for 7 months and was so bored that I came out of retirement and went back to work.” My neighbour told me. He just could not find anything meaningful to do with his time.

……

Not me. As they say: “Time flies”, when you are busy. Or like my neighbour: “Time crawl”, when you are bored.

But for me, I say: “Time is life”

Every day is an opportunity to serve the family; grow stronger physically; talk to God; learn new things; meditate, reflect and journal / blog; or reach out to people when they talk to you, like this neighbour. I see this conversation as a “Kairos Moment”, which we happened to meet. Was that a divine appointment? In the Greek vocabulary, Time is either Chronos (cronoV) or Kairos (kairoV). There is another Greek word for time actually, that is seldom heard by preachers but learnt during my Greek Class. It is Hora (wra) = hour. Jesus used it when He said: “The hour has come…”

Time is the only resource God has given to everyone who has breath. So long as you has life – all living things, you are given 24 hours each day to live, enjoy, bless others, serve others, and do meaningful work or to just relax. The choice is yours, but don’t abuse it or it will cause your life and soon you are dead; and time is taken away from you.

 

#1. Chronos Time – A duration of a period

Chronos time refer to a date of an occurrence; like my birthdate and the duration of my school days. The year 2020 is a chronos time that we will all remembered as the COVID year.

 

#2. Kairos Time – A moment of opportunities

Kairos Time is usually use a time with a purpose, as a time that is used with qualities. Chronos marks quantity; while Kairos as quality. It is the time wisely used and fulfil certain objectives and purpose. It can be said a time well used. Chronos time will always pass by, but when we capture that moment and use it meaningfully or wisely, it becomes a Kairos Timing. (Just like when you meet a friend and start talking meaningfully; or see a person in need and seize the opportunity to bless him, etc).

¹⁵ Be careful then how you live, not as unwise people but as wise, ¹⁶ making the most of the time (Kairos), because the days are evil. ¹⁷ So do not be foolish, but understand what the will of the Lord (Ephesians 5:15-17 NRSV)

In Eph 5:15-17 Apostle Paul tells us how to be wise with our time:

(1) Be careful how we live;

(2) Understand the will of the LORD for us.

In simple words, don’t use your time for evil thoughts, words or action (then it became “the days are evil” verse 16). Occasionally, I fall into this trap by being angry for too long, or worry the whole day, etc. These are days of Chronos time. However, there are days of Kairos time, when I deliberately worship God and meditate/memorise on His Word, even as I was jogging along the beaches of Pasir Ris Park. An hour or two like this is always time of blessings. Also, when we choose to use time as Kairos and not chronos, then, my speech to people will usually be courteous and polite because I choose to make it a Kairos moment, which in a way is also the will of the Lord for us as Christians. Even in sickness and home-bound, I can set a period of time to pray and reflect as I rest and recuperate. In resting and relaxing, I choose to quietly recite a few memorized Bible verses.

The point of being Kairos is to be deliberate /careful in our thoughts, words and actions. We decide not to let the situations control our emotions or actions but rather, let the will of the Lord (that is, Bible values and principles) decide how we should behave at any moments. And so, we need to know the Bible well enough to live right, and use our time wisely until it becomes habitual. It will be life long process. So, may God helps us!

Of course, we can also spend chronos time without feeling guilty. I still play my Jigsaw Sudoku games every day (the more difficult it is, the more time it is used up). It is a way of relaxing and sharpening my reasoning.  I still jog normally and watch people along the way on some days. We don’t need to keep our “Spiritual Bow & Arrow” taut and tense all day. Jesus told His disciples to go somewhere just to rest & relax after a day of ministry.

…

And so the next time you talk to someone, may this short writing trigger you in your conversation and turn the Chronos timing into a Kairos moment.

God has surely triggered my thoughts today to reflect. Ephesians 5:15-17 just pop out of my head.

 

So, how do you use your time? Would love to hear from you how else can we use our time wisely.

Agape

WHY?

"WHY?"

My friend John Foppe was born with no arms.
But John never asks the question,
"WHY do I have no arms?"
The question he asks is,
"WHAT can I do with my feet?"

Having watched John eat with chopsticks, I'd say,
"Almost anything!"

When tragedy strikes, or when we lose everything, 
or when a lover walks out on us,
the question we usually ask is "WHY?"
"WHY me?"
"WHY now?"
"WHY did she leave me for a loser?"

Asking "WHY?" questions can send us in circles.
Often, there is no answer to "WHY?"
Or it doesn't matter why!

Effective people ask "WHAT?" questions.
"WHAT do I learn from this?"
"WHAT am I going to do about it"

When the situation is really desperate, they ask,
"What can I do, just in the next 24 hours, to make things better?"

The happiest people don't bother about whether life is "fair".
They just make the most of what they have.

And is life fair? Probably not. But it doesn't matter why!

Stay healthy

High blood pressure! The test showed 160/98. I am 40mm Hg higher than normal. It was a shock. :(

My first instinct was denial; I have been jogging so much and feeling very fit and energetic. Then, it dawned on me that maybe I am not eating properly. I need to read up more on blood pressure, what causes it and how to prevent it from going up further. OK, so daily intake sodium should not exceed 1500mg for my age. If you are younger and healthy, then less than 2400mg is acceptable.

The five foods that help to reduce blood pressure are:

Fruits – banana and berries

Vegetables – celery and broccoli

Cereal - oatmeal

For the past few weeks, I have been very mindful of what I eat. I began to look at all the food labels for their nutrient values. Sodium and sugar are all killers. I didn’t know that berries jam and milo drinks have so much sugar. Will avoid these. The worst culprit is instant noodle. It has 1710mg for one serving! No more instant noodle from now on.

Another thing I found is that consuming calcium will strengthen heart contraction and this helps to reduce blood pressure. I have been drinking Soy milk with high calcium regularly now, in addition to fresh milk.

OK guys, see you now. Got to go for a jog! Let me know how are you keeping yourself healthy.

Agape!

The Right Focus

We are often distracted and discouraged when we see better competitors and challenges ahead.

Focus on the goal, not the obstacles.

A few days before the cross country race, my daughter found out that only the top 15 of each level will get a trophy. There were more than 300 runners in each level and also there are many athletes among here peers. As she is not actively involving in any sport in school, she got a bit concern and sent me an SMS:

“Bad news. The cross country only top 15 get price for per level… And plus all the sport, so many already.”

In a race, it is not about your competitors, but yourself. You are running against the clock. So I told her to just do her best and enjoy the run. Winning is secondary. Focus on the end point and sense your performance along the way … start slow, build up and end strongly.

During the race day, I prayed for her. I hoped that she learnt a vital lesson from this run. The lesson is to do her personal best.

After the race, she texted us:

“EVERYONE I GOT 10 POSITION FOR CROSS COUNTRY THANK GOD”

I am happy for her.

As I reflect on this, a verse came to mind:

1 Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, 2 fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith. For the joy set before him he endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. (Hebrew 12:1,2)

In life, there will always be better competitors, insurmountable challenges, difficulties and trials. All these will test my faith. The way to run this race of life then is to fix my eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith.

Agape

Good sermons are hard to come by

After missing so many good sermons for the past 20 years (?), the last 2 months of Sunday sermons have totally changed my life perspective and bring me closer to the Almighty.

Some people, if not, most people from Bethany may be thinking that I have backslided. Received an email lately:

Hi Mark

Its a long time since I last saw you in church. Hope everything is well with you. …

I hope you will return to church although I do not know what problem you are facing. From my own personal viewpoint, I believe it is very important to fix our eyes on Jesus and do not let happenings affect us. Ultimately it is to the Lord that we will answer when we meet HIM.

Brother Mark, I hope to see your family again. I will pray for you all.


My reply:

Thank you for your concern. We are fine and doing well.

… I am attending a church near my house that provides thought-provoking, soul-searching and practical sermons every Sunday. I wouldn't want to miss such sermons, yet.

Blessings

Yah, I have learnt alot from the sermons and the style of delivery, structuring, and oratory skills. Each Sunday is a different speaker. This month March, the church is inviting well- known Singapore Speakers - Rev Dr Edmund Chan, and Rev Dr (Bishop) Solomon, Then we will have Gordon MacDonald from the USA coming. We have read his books, now to hear him speak.

Problems? No! ... Growing? YES!! :))

How exciting!

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 :)

Lesson learnt: Be Gracious & Meek

I have a nervous week. Thank and praise the LORD! My Shepherd leaded me through.

Yes, nervous because I needed to account to my customer why I am delaying his project due to the late arrival of the crystal oscillators which I ordered since last September (see post on Feb 19 – Waiting …Hoping … :( or :) ? ).

Also, I was nervous because my team had a presentation on a new design to make to the bosses. It is a sort of an accountability presentation. Will there be fire and storm??

After a long distance call and talking to the supplier of the crystal oscillators, I took a few days to pray for wisdom how I should answer to my UK customer of the frequent delay of the project which we promised to deliver. I also prayed that my customer be gracious to me and not penalize my company for the overdue. After much prayer, I decided to be honest and state the situations, giving them the assurance that I will do my utmost best to expedite the work. God is good, the customer is quite gracious and there is no penalty or cancelation of the project. Now I need to honor my words and praying that my supplier of the crystal oscillators will deliver their goods next week as promised.

Still waiting … and hoping.

Then in the mid-week, the presentation wasn’t that smooth as I would hope to. This is a team work project (and is still on going). One of my junior engineers did make an honest mistake and the computer simulation of a part of the design did show some potential problem. Perhaps, he did not realize it. I didn’t spot it either during the preparation of the presentation. But during the presentation, it appeared quite obvious to everyone! (Why is it that when something is not right it seem so obvious :(??)

At that point, one of the Vice-president started to attack the engineer. And it got quite merciless. It was like what Jesus said, when I read today’s devotion on Our Daily Bread Matthew 20:20-28

Jesus called them together and said, "You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their high officials exercise authority over them. 26Not so with you. Instead, whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant,(Mat 20:25,26)

Reflecting back on the week, the LORD seems to speak me to be gracious to people. In life, there will always be mistake, delay and hold-up. How should I response to such situations?

Be gracious when others are at fault.

Be meek when I am at fault.

Why Blog? - Journeying Through Life

It has been a week since I close down this site, and just keep it to myself. No sure when will I open up to others. Maybe, never.

My initial plan to set up this site was to promote interaction and sharing. At least, I start a topic and keep the ball rolling. But it turn out that only one or two are commenting, abate only once in a long while. Others attitudes are just "Great, now I know!" without a single comment on this blog. They take this site as peeping into others lives without sharing or disclosing their thoughts. Such a selfish attitude. That is the last thing I want to avoid. This blog has promote selfishness, so I need to close it.

"Hey, my blog is not for people to come and "know" about things :( " It is about sharing and connectng with one another. Mute readers are not welcome!! :( Go, start your own blog.

But seriously, blogging has taught me to glaze at every moment of life more intimately and reflective. Reflective of what God is doing in my every moments. I became more observant of things around me, more careful in listening to some remarks, more proactive to some actions. All these so that I can blog about it and learn from the journeys through life.

So, blogging will continue. ...

The “Cannot Make It” Kid

Being in the elite group also has its struggle. They measure against one another whether they “make it” or “cannot make it”. Those who can’t are called the CMI kid.


Last Friday night, I had a gathering with 2 of my closest friends in one of their house. We know each other since NUS graduate school days more than 19 years ago. No, we don’t meet every Sunday, only once or twice a year. Still, I consider them best of friends. Even though we rarely meet, I know that I can count on them when I am really in need or help. And they are from the elite group, very successful in their careers and lives. They are also evangelical Christians. However, they see themselves as the “Cannot Make It” - CMI kid.

You see, one of these friends came from the elite schools – RI and ACS. There is a saying among the elite that “The RI boys rule Singapore and the ACS boys own Singapore”. So this elite group measure themselves by whether they rule Singapore – politically successful or own Singapore – successful bankers and wealthy businessmen. This friend has classmates like the Law Minister, the Transport Minister and the Minister in the PM offices to measure and compare to. As such, he sees himself as the CMI kid, even though he has a big house, and is a top civil servant.

I spent the 4 hours listening to their “elite” talk, mostly in silence. The phrase - "CMI kid" kept repeating didn’t know for umpteen times.

As I left the big 5,000 square foot, 3-storey house almost before mid-night, the CMI kid thingy was lingering in my mind. If I were to compare to them, I am nothing, just an alumni of a neighborhood school and living in a HDB flat. Probably worse than a CMI kid.


Driving in the still silence of the night, I heard my serene spirit whispering to me:

“You are a CMI kid – Certainly Make It (to heaven) kid”. What a blessed assurance.

Is there such a thing as CONSCIENCE?

Integrity – that’s the word that I keep thinking for a quite a while now.

Living in truth and honesty don’t mean much to people so long as they can get what they want, sometime at the expense of others. Wonder how their conscience feel?

Well, about 4 months ago I recruited a fresh poly graduate as my Engineering Assistant after the previous staff tendered his resignation. So far, all these young workers just can’t persevere in engineering work. Engineers live a dog life, at least mine is like that. I fight problems almost everyday.

This fresh grad was a China scholar. I thought she has a desire to do engineering as I asked her during the interview. Now that she has gotten her Permanent Resident (PR) pass, she tendered her resignation immediately. So her intention to get a job is to qualify for the PR status.

I have spent a lot of time teaching her and training her. At first, I was wondering why a bright student (with good results) can be such a slow learner. I have to keep teaching her the same thing. Now I know, her intention is just to get the PR. That is why she is not interested to learn. Also, she is so prone to take medical leaves and go on leaves; it becomes a liability to the company.

We all like to put on a false front (like this staff), but how does one conscience feel?

Devotional Thoughts: The Input & Output of our lives

People know us by our output, not by our input.

Today’s devotion from The Daily Bread triggers the following thoughts:

http://www.rbc.org/devotionals/our-daily-bread/2009/08/08/devotion.aspx


Input = listening (by our ears), seeing & reading (by our eyes), thinking (by our hearts and minds)

Output = Doing (by our hands), talking (by our mouth & body languages)

It is our inputs that shape our lives. It is our outputs that will shape others lives.

The inputs are our private lives. My daily inputs are the books (including the Bible) that I read, the internet websites that I surf, the conversation that I heard, the thoughts that came suddenly to me, the nature that I observe, the newspaper, … Are these inputs healthy nourishment or pollution to my life (Jas 1:27b)?

You don’t know what my inputs are until, I blog or talk about it. Are my writing and talking timely that lessen stress to you, or encourage you? Or are they words that rub salt to your wounds? Likewise, when I do something, you evaluate them and see whether they are in line with Biblical teaching. Am I a doer of the word (Jas 1:22) and so prove that I am consistent with what I read from the Bible? Do my actions bring about blessing to the needy (Jas 1:27a)?

Beware the input and output of our lives.

You too have your story! :)

We all journey through this world.

Each one has his story, whether he likes it or not.

I love this poem. It brings me down to earth … and helps me in my journey.

Desiderata

Go placidly amid the noise and the haste,

and remember what peace there may be in silence.

As far as possible, without surrender,

be on good terms with all persons.

Speak your truth quietly and clearly;

and listen to others,

even to the dull and the ignorant;

they too have their story.

Avoid loud and aggressive persons;

they are vexatious to the spirit.

If you compare yourself with others,

you may become vain or bitter,

for always there will be greater and lesser persons than yourself.

Enjoy your achievements as well as your plans.

Keep interested in your own career, however humble;

it is a real possession in the changing fortunes of time.

Exercise caution in your business affairs,

for the world is full of trickery.

But let this not blind you to what virtue there is;

many persons strive for high ideals,

and everywhere life is full of heroism.

Be yourself. Especially do not feign affection.

Neither be cynical about love,

for in the face of all aridity and disenchantment,

it is as perennial as the grass.

Take kindly the counsel of the years,

gracefully surrendering the things of youth.

Nurture strength of spirit to shield you in sudden misfortune.

But do not distress yourself with dark imaginings.

Many fears are born of fatigue and loneliness.

Beyond a wholesome discipline,

be gentle with yourself.

You are a child of the universe

no less than the trees and the stars;

you have a right to be here.

And whether or not it is clear to you,

no doubt the universe is unfolding as it should.

Therefore be at peace with God,

whatever you conceive Him to be.

And whatever your labors and aspirations,

in the noisy confusion of life,

keep peace in your soul.

With all its sham, drudgery, and broken dreams,

it is still a beautiful world.

Be cheerful. Strive to be happy.

Why so Busy, ah?

Man is a mere phantom as he goes to and fro: He bustles about, but only in vain; he heaps up wealth, not knowing who will get it.
(Psa 39:6)

A few nights ago, I saw an elderly couple running toward a bus stop as the bus was approaching. I guess they wouldn’t want to miss the bus and had to wait for another 10 minutes or so. I believed the bus driver might have noticed them (like me) running and was kind enough to wait for them at the bus stop.

My first thought was: “Why the hurry?” It was about 9:30pm. I was taking my usual stroll and reflection.

Yes, why so busy ah?

Am I bustling about in life, only in vain?

Anger kills feelings :(

The boss was very angry this very morning. :(

He called for a meeting at 9.30am through email. Not sure when he sent the email but I didn't receive it. Double check, yeah, no email.

The meeting started with a firing squad. Firing at everyone and nobody in particular.

That's how the day started :(