One FAMILY?

Recently, one Christian friend of mine was invited by his friend to attend a Catholic Cell Group. Out of curiousity, I asked him the about the CG, how he felt and whether it was worth his visit.

To my suprise, he gave me a long list of positive answers. He said that the Catholic CG was very interesting. The people there spoke in tongues, had holy laughter and even slained in the Spirit. They are very charismatic and they hardly ever mentioned about Mary. Overall, he said the CG was very interesting and since the visit, he's not so prejudiced anymore.

So now that Catholic has become so parallel, almost similiar to Christianity, does it mean that we are now one big family? Do we, Christian accept them like how we accept other Christian denominations? Are we one now? Are we running the same race? I wonder.

Elated

After a heavy lunch and a good time catching up with old friends, I found myself drowsing into slumberland right in front of my computer. My short nap was rudely interrupted by a phone call from one of my college friend. Sometimes, I just don’t understand why some people just have the special ability to call you at the wrong time. They are just so gifted.

He asked me about my CIM results. I jumped up. No. He must be wrong. The results will only be out on the 28^th, not today. I explained to him. I know because I was dreading for that particular day, to see my results, especially the last day of my exam when I fell horribly sick. I don’t know how I fared. I dread knowing it.

To add the matter worst, he told me that he failed all his subjects. My heart just dropped. I quickly made a call to another classmate and found out that he too failed a few subjects. Oh no. I ran over to the Administrator’s secretary to check whether there is any mail for me. None. Phew. I ran down to the guard house to check whether there are any new mails. And there are. Lying on the table was a few envelopes and I noticed the larger one, an A4 sized envelope, addressed to me. I grabbed everything and went up to the office.

I caught myself praying to the Lord, begging Him to grant me good results. (don’t you think it’s little bit too late) J As I was sitting in front of my pc with my hand clutching on the envelope, I told God, “Let Your will be done” and opened the letter.

Yes. God is good. I passed all my subjects. I almost cried. He has granted me my heart’s desire. Suddenly, I felt like I’m a spoilt brat. I don’t deserve it. I don’t think I could do it without God. I thank Him again and again. I feel like hugging God, thanking Him for what He has done.

I am elated. I was lost for words. I just want to find someone to share my joy. I saw my friend nearby, gave him a big bear hug. He returned me with a punch. Haha. I don’t mind.

This is the day that the Lord hath made, and I will rejoice and be glad in it.

Thank you, Abba!

Fateful Day

I never thought this could happen to me. Sigh. But it did. I was caught by the police for running in a red light just a few kilometers outside my house.

What I want to emphasize is not the summon that I got, but the over zealous concern those policemen have got and I must say that they were really enthusiastic in extending a helping hand to a poor victim like me.

From the very moment I got down from my bike and handed over my IC and driving license to one of the officer, he started to bombard me with questions like "Macam mana?", "Kamu tahukah kena bayar berapa untuk saman ini?","Kamu mampu bayarkah?" and there goes a whole list of questions for me, pausing from time to time, as if waiting for me to say something, or perhaps asking for their "help".

Tired of the whole process and questioning, I just told the officer "tulis-lah", hoping that he will just issue me the summon and get done with it. However, he did not. Another officer approached me and started the questioning all over again. Sigh. You see, I was right that they were indeed very concerned policemen.

They really thought that I would turn to them and ask for their "help". Frankly, I was tempted too. But I took my stand. I can almost imagine what my friends will say when I told them about this... "Huh! Why didn't you just pay him RM50.00 and get done with it?".."look at the mess you've yourself into"... "and now you got to pay RM300.00"... bla bla bla....

RM300.0 is a bit too much for me, and with my college's exam fees due in few weeks time, plus that my bank account is not too healthy at this moment, I've got every reason just to settle it among the police. But the fact that I am a Christian, I chose not to. I chose to pay the summon.

I'm proud. Not because that I've committed such offence, but by the grace of God, I managed to stand firm and not compromise.

An ode to friendship!

"Friends, use them or lose them." Haha. This quote from Alvin can never fail to crack a smile on my face. Come to think about it, it's not totally untrue. In fact, I myself had a few experiences, some quite bad experiences where friends just stop being your friends when they realize that they have not much to squeeze from you.

The word "friend", I think, has been one of the most misused words in the entire world. We have girl-friends, boy-friends, close friends, best friends, internet friends, icq friends, friendster's friend and maybe blogger friends. Sometimes, we get so used to the word "friend" till we have forgotten what a friend really is, the real definition of friend.

I have been blessed with many friends all through my life and I must say that I cherish every one of them. However, I do realize that sometimes, err.. most of the time, I may have taken them for granted.

Recently, I was forced to give some serious thinking about the word "friends" when a few of us in ISCA were preparing for a farewell for one of my very close buddy, Joel Chan. The many years of friendship has done nothing but to make me feeling more blue thinking that he'll will be leaving us for his studies in Arkansas soon. Thinking back through the years, Joel has done everything he could as a friend. When I came back from Genting for my 4 days holiday , he applied from his parents special permission for late night outs with me. He bought ring ring card so that he can call me (was barred from calling me coz my phone number appeared too often on his phone bill), he took the effort to send me snail mails, tried everything possible to keep in touch, but how about me? Have I done my part? Did I take his friendship for granted?

I also realize this horrible innate habit of human only to appreciate people or things after it has gone or no more. How many times we find ourselves saying "Oh, how I miss the times we had in secondary school!", "..if only I could spend more time to care for my girlfriend." ,"...if I only knew how to appreciate my mum", or the most common one when we hear an eulogy …. “ if I could spent more time while he was at his deathbed” This shows that we, being human always have the tendency to take things for granted, especially those who have been around us for some time.

For my case, I must seriously reflect on the friends that God has blessed me. Have I treated them as what I ought to or have I been minding my own business all these while. Must I wait for something to happen to them only I start to realize how important they are to me? NO! I mustn't! I mustn't take them, any of them for granted.

One thing that I have learned some time ago that is to treat friends as if that is the last time you are going to see them. Then you will learn to appreciate them more. Then perhaps, you would stop making fun of him or her. Perhaps you would remember to say thank you or sorry. Perhaps you would tell him or her how much you treasure the friendship.

Friends are one big thing in our life. They are the ones used by God to shape us. They are also the ones who stick by us through the good and rocky times and never gave up. They build us. They encourage us. They believe in us. We can't go far in life without them.

Seriously, I must do something. I am so lousy in keeping touch with my friends that I almost got a heart attack when I heard news about them.

Some got married. Some already with children. Some sacked from work. Some died. L

Oh ya, I didn’t even know that the friend that I see almost everyday had his driving license suspended for two months.

Oh God, help me to be a friend.

A Complete Fiasco

Recently, I was given the privilege to babysit a young boy and his grandpa as the boy’s parents were away for a meeting. 4 days 3 nights … I thought to myself… it shouldn’t be a problem. After all, all I have to do is make sure that everything turns out ok. I should be able to handle it. No hassle at all.

Ok. To cut the story short. I failed. I failed miserably. It turned out to be a complete fiasco. Read along and you’ll agree with me.

Day 1 – I was supposed to be there at 4.30pm so that Isaac (the boy) can go for his tuition and his 90 something years old grandpa won’t be left alone at home. However, due to some unforeseen circumstances L I managed to reach the doorstep at almost 8pm, just in time to join
Isaac with the dishwashing. Thank God that his tuition was cancelled (or was it intentionally coz I wasn’t around) and apparently, he managed to prepare the dinner all by himself, had dinner with his grandpa and now clearing up. It was then I realized that I was horribly late. Mission failed.

Day 2 – Once bitten, twice shy. I decreed not to repeat the mistake, hence headed straight home right after work. I arrived at 5.45pm. Not too bad after all. Since it was still early for dinner, I allowed Isaac to watch the 6pm show with me for a short while. However, the short while turned
out to be not that short and we ended up having dinner at almost 8pm. Isaac later told me that his grandpa wasn’t too happy for the late dinner. He usually eats at 7pm sharp. Sorry, grandpa L Mission failed.

Day 3 – To make up for the last few days, I decided to make some nice breakfast for Isaac and grandpa. I fried eggs and sausages to add on with their usual bread and cornflakes. Sent Isaac to school. Went to work. Reached home on time. Prepared dinner on time and just before I give myself a little pat on my back for a job well done, Isaac complained that he had a tummy ache this morning in school. Gosh. The only thing he ate was my breakfast and the two slices of Gardenia bread I prepared for his recess time. And I don’t think those two slices of bread could cause more harm than my fried stuff in the morning.

I dismissed the whole thing and warned Isaac not to take too much curry in future. I even tried blaming the packet of Cheezels he took yesterday.

Just as we are about to sleep, I realized that there is no bread left for tomorrow’s breakfast and also Isaac’s food for recess time. Talk about “Sudah jatuh ditimpa tangga”. It was already close to 10 and I can’t leave Isaac alone with his grandpa at home. However, I thank God for Angeline, the good Samaritan who willingly drove all the way to deliver me the much needed bread. Isaac stayed up to wait with me and we ended up sleeping at 11 something, close to 12, way way past his normal bedtime. By the way, he is having his exam this whole week L

That's it. My first babysitting experience. Indeed, it was quite an experience to me.

Nevertheless, I had loads of fun with Isaac these few days. I truly enjoyed the many light-saber fights, pillow fights and also not forgetting the times of devotions and praying together. Through the days, we got to know each other better and became good friends.

Besides, I have also learned many valuable lessons. I’ve learned to be more responsible. I’ve
learned to be more reliable. I’ve learned to be more punctual. Last but not least, one ultimate lesson that I learned and realize is that parenting is not that easy as I thought and I am definitely far from doing OK :(