Retreat 6-7 Mac 2010

Went to a church retreat cum teacher training last weekend at Rembia. Its mainly for Sunday school teachers and as the name suggests…supposed to be a time of reflection…having some private and personal with God..but since we so seldom see each other and share our thoughts on teaching…it soon became more like a socializing and sharing forum…haha..but anyhow..it was a good experience as the teachers ourselves are of a great mix of people..the youngest being 17 years old while the eldest maybe in his 50s..the site was very nice considering we just have to pay rm10 for 2 days 1 night…and all meals were included…and the food is super nice..the best ever in a camp! And I have joined at least 20 camps before..we were fortunate to have Fr Paul with us…who is a quite open-minded and bright young priest with sporting character and good sense of humour. I had learnt quite a bit and it was overall a good day out A summary of what I learnt:
Lies: When too often we lie with good intentions…sooner or later it will be abused.
Temper: It’s human nature but minimize on committing sins with it
Relationships (Any kind): To persevere, we have to sacrifice time & effort, even though it is a one-way traffic
All things: To be moderate, contented, to give freely, not to be too judgmental
Good or Bad: Depends on intention
Challenges: The cross is tailor made for each one of us, if its for us..it will somehow be bearable
Most powerful instrument: Prayers and bible
But someone who does not know, and then does something wrong, will be punished only lightly. When someone has been given much, much will be required in return; and when someone has been entrusted with much, even more will be required. (Luke 12:48)--that includes money, talents, positions, powers, health etc...

Road safety

Has been spending quite a lot of time in my car lately..since I have to travel 19km one way every day to work..that’s about 40min at least at a speed of 60 to 90km/hr….i have seen a number of road accidents too…some involved deaths…how often do we check my car…how often do we drive dangerously……how often do we sped….maybe we should be more careful next time

Art of communication

In today’s world, where communication is so convenient, to communicate, we often use phone calls, sms, msn, blog, facebook or email. Basically we communicate without seeing each other face to face. It’s true that people at the receiving end might perceive the message conveyed wrongly since despite knowing the content of the conversation…the tone or facial expression is lost in translation. But if we look into it closely..they are not entirely lost. In a telephone conversation…we can actually notice the speaker’s expression..whether they are impatient, happy, excited, bored etc. In written messages…we can sense that when we look at the use of punctuation, eg !, ?!, :) , :(, CAPITAL LETTERS etc…whether the message is a short one, long one, the use of words…all these hinted on the tone on which the message were to be conveyed. Whether we like it or not…these sort of non-face-to-face communications are here to stay…it’s our way of life in fact and makes our life so much easier, time saving and let us manage our time better, at the same time help us connected with others. It’s up to us to try our best to ensure the message conveyed correctly..by paying extra attention when writing them..or when conveying them verbally. It’s after all an art that needs to be practised always..hopefully to perfection.

To live

Ever thought of the purpose of life? Ever thought that there might be a greater purpose to our living than ourselves? In short…besides staying alive to fulfil whatever of our own agendas…There is a greater cause …ie to live for someone else…We are here for a purpose…it would be very selfish to think of just ourselves…we are here for others as well…eg a mother is here for her children and husband…a cleaner is to keep places tidy for others to stay healthy and work in sickness-free environment..so when we feel down and felt that the world won’t even notice us if we’re gone or if we are not getting the things we desired from the world…do remember that maybe we are created to serve others…and not to be served. And this might be the purpose of life.

Pursue the Virtue of Contentment

Got the following from a yet tyng. thanks yet! actually its not an easy life these days..to have a job that we like doing is not easy..most of the time we do it not because we like it..its bcos we have to feed ourselves or others..but when we have the choice...or when making choices for ourselves or our children...money vs passion have to go into consideration...its a tough call...anyway...i guess the most important thing is to execute our daily job with great passion...we have to try to see the significance of whatever we are doing...eg a toilet cleaner cleans so that to minimise infection of diseases to toilet users, so that whoever that goes to toilet won faint, and whoever leaves the toilet don smell, and gives everyone a good feeling after leaving the toilet etc....then we will be able to accomplish great things:) and ya...bout contentment...im always so not content...sometimes the dreams can blind us from appreciating the things that we have..always pursuing for the things that we don have..ya, its a balance...i guess by the end of the day...we can be sad for the things we failed to achieve..but at the same time we have to be happy for the things we did achieve and possess:)

Pursue the Virtue of Contentment
by Max Lucado

A businessman bought popcorn from an old street vendor each day after lunch. He once arrived to find the peddler closing up his stand at noon. “Is something wrong?” he asked.
A smile wrinkled the seller’s leathery face. “By no means. All is well.”
“Then why are you closing your popcorn stand?”
“So I can go to my house, sit on my porch, and sip tea with my wife.”
The man of commerce objected. “But the day is still young. You can still sell.”
“No need to,” the stand owner replied. “I’ve made enough money for today.”
“Enough? Absurd. You should keep working.”
The spry old man stopped and stared at his well-dressed visitor. “And why should I keep working?”
“To sell more popcorn.”
“And why sell more popcorn?”
“Because the more popcorn you sell, the more money you make. The more money you make, the richer you are. The richer you are, the more popcorn stands you can buy. The more popcorn stands you buy, the more peddlers sell your product, and the richer you become. And when you have enough, you can stop working, sell your popcorn stands, stay home, and sit on the porch with your wife and drink tea.”
The popcorn man smiled. “I can do that today. I guess I have enough.”
Wise was the one who wrote, “Whoever loves money never has money enough; whoever loves wealth is never satisfied with his income” (Eccles. 5:10 NIV).
Don’t heed greed.
Greed makes a poor job counselor.
Greed has a growling stomach. Feed it, and you risk more than budget-busting debt. You risk losing purpose. Greed can seduce you out of your sweet spot.
Before you change your job title, examine your perspective toward life. Success is not defined by position or pay scale but by this: doing the most what you do the best.
Parents, give that counsel to your kids. Tell them to do what they love to do so well that someone pays them to do it.
Spouses, urge your mate to choose satisfaction over salary. Better to be married to a happy person who has a thin wallet than a miserable person with a thick one. Besides, “a pretentious, showy life is an empty life; a plain and simple life is a full life” (Prov. 13:7 MSG).
Pursue the virtue of contentment. “Godliness with contentment is great gain” (1 Tim. 6:6 NIV). When choosing or changing jobs, be careful. Consult your design. Consult your Designer. But never consult your greed.

From Cure for the Common Life
Copyright (Thomas Nelson, 2006) Max Lucado