The life of Kathryn Kuhlman

W3 presented this media presentation last sat. Was great to know people liked it.

Let me know how you think of it ok?

Would appreciate feed back :)

- The Freedom Writers -

- = The Freedom Writers = -

I watched this movie just now, a one great movie which I haven't watched in a while.
To me, this movie was fabulous... You can read more about the plot here However, just thought of giving this a thought. When you see the below pic, what do you think of?


You might have just saw an image of some funny old man with a huge nose, wearing a hat with the star of david.

And how about this?



Some black kid with big lips?

The first pic is actually a picture of a Jew which people drew before and during the Holocaust. And the second is one which some kid did for funnn....

You might be shot at if you produced those pictures during that time.

I'm glad I live in Malaysia. Although we live in a multi-cultural society, I guess it wasn't as bad as the Jews living in Italy, Germany etc, or the African Amerians in America getting some racial prejudice every single day.

Hilary Swank acted as Erin Gruwel in this film. Teaching is indeed a noble job. A job which gives you the ability to impact people, or just fill your pockets with 'easy' money everyday. haha... Anyway heres the picture of the true Erin Gruwel. I encourage you to google her. She has a very inspiring story to share :)

I always remember that teacher Lee Tian Ying (Lee Lao Shi) from my primary school giving me a bear hug when i went on MC for almost a week after getting chicken pox...

I remember my Junior Middle Two teacher Chen Lao Shi who always encouraged and believed I could do it after the year I failed my grade and had to retain and repeat my Junior middle 2 (Form 2) for another year.... (In which that year, i obtained a 80% average for the whole accademic year and 2nd in class)

Maybe I could consider teaching?? heheh... You'll never know! :)

P.S. I actually own a Home schooling center in Johor Bahru. (By name only lah.... my parrents running it) do contact me if you are looking for a place where lives will be changed! Contact me for more info ;)

~Birthday Wishes~

DEAR SARA!!!

I've never written a poem to anyone before,

and this is the poem is the first I have written for anyone! haha, Hope you like it!

Dear Sarah,

God gave a gift to the world when you were born—

a person who loves, someone who cares,

who sees a person’s need and fills it,

who encourages and lifts people up,

who brings joy to someone who had a bad day,

Your jokes, I remember always made my day.

I’m in awe of this spoilt friend I first knew,

To this cheerful princess I now know.

Another year has come and gone;

The sands of time keep trickling along.

Your now one year younger to heaven,

And I must say, you’re now hot like an oven.

I wish you the happiest of birthdays,

And I hope this day will be your happiest yet.

-Big Jon-

Have you ever come across an event like this?

Airport security event

Customs Official : 'May I know your name?'
Passenger : 'Batman'
Customs Official : 'What's your name!?'
Passenger : 'My name is Bat-man'
Customs Official : 'Trying to be funny? What's your surname?'
Passenger : 'Super-man'
Customs Official : 'So you're telling me your name is Batman Superman?'
Passenger : 'Yes'
Customs Official : 'Arrest this guy'

When they had him in custody, he was asked to show his identification card:

What a name... :)

My Nephew - Emanuel

Have you ever had the excitement to see a new life born in your family? Well, i had the opportunity to have one today. I'm in Singapore at my sisters place and she just gave birth to a child called Emanuel (with the single m)

Matthew 1:23 23 "Look! The virgin will conceive a child! She will give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel, which means 'God is with us.' "

I feel its really a joy, to see a new life grow up. Emanuel, you will grow up to become a fine young man! Just looking at your pictures make me smile :)

The most beautiful country ever!

I was once told... That theres always a sunny day after a storm. This a pic taken from my trip in Nepal. I was thinking over the things that happened in May this year. And seriously I think i miss Nepal.

Malaysia's Political Tsunami

Unable to sleep in the wee hours in the morning, I decided to do something which i always wanted to do. I started to flip to Malaysiakini, and started the read post by post in detail.

I came upon Lim Kit Siangs Blog, about him writing a letter to our Malaysian PM & Cabinet which was a very good read. First thing on the list was the remarks of that infamous Ahmad Ismail. He called us Chinese migrants, and untrustworthy Malaysians. In my point of view, as a chinese, it does hurt! But never in my 24 years of life had i ever imagined that I was a migrant in this country. For him to mention that statement and still unwanting to appologize really scares me. Do the Malay people actually think the same way as Ahmad Ismail do? Or was he hurt by chinese in the past which triggered him to say that?

LKS, also mentioned about the way UMNO will be dealing with his case. Last year, many of us did flip to youtube to watch the video of Wee Meng Chee rapping "Negarakuku". I did watch it, and to be honest, i really did enjoy that song as it was very catchy and did portray the current situation in Malaysia. The Malaysian government did not like it at all and made it such a big issue whereby his citizenship was taken away from him (even though he appologized). I'm quite eager to find out what will happen to this Ahmad Ismail. I pity our PM Abdullah as he is right now stuck in the middle. Every decision he makes will be a crucial move to his political career.

Racism... Will this always be an issue in Malaysia? Whereby the chinese and indians become 2nd class citizens and see all our top talents migrating to other coutries? Or will we one day, beat Singapore, Taiwan, Hong Kong and Korea towards a Nation which strives to succeed. I do hope we achieve that some day.

To be honest, sometimes at work I really get disappointed by the malay clients I meet. Most of them ask me for some money if they were to give me the contract. But of course as a Christian I will never give. Its confusing sometimes, you love them, but you don't love them. You hate them, but yet, you also don't hate them. I may be racist at times, and this genuine love seems to be just an act. I'm in no position to judge anyone, as me myself is racist. But God is the eternal judge, and he does judge fairly ;)

btw, here's the link for the articles i read
Part 1 & Part 2

Our Colour!

Was thinking about this today... It was really meaningful.

By this all will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another. —John 13:35

In Thailand, the people greatly love and admire King Bhumibol (Rama IX), who has led them for over 60 years. To display their respect for the king, the Thai people wear bright yellow shirts every Monday, because yellow is the official color of the king.

As we seek to live for our King, the Lord Jesus Christ, we should also show our colors of allegiance and appreciation for all He has done for us. But how? What are the “colors” that declare to the world that we serve the King of kings and Lord of lords?

The night before His crucifixion, King Jesus told us what our “colors” should be when He said, “By this all will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another” (John 13:35). His disciple John echoed this when he wrote, “Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another” (1 John 4:11).

When we display Christ’s love for our fellow believers, it is more than just kindness or care. It is one of the most tangible ways we can show our love and devotion for the Savior.

As we interact with fellow Christ-followers, let’s be sure to show our colors. That will honor our King before a watching world. — Bill Crowder

The dark knight

THE DARK KNIGHT
This movie is a hit! I've already watched it twice, and the storyline is still fresh inside my brain!!!
To me this movie was class, as the story was perfect and the casting was perfect. This movie consisted of a crusading hero (Christian Bale) and a sneering villain of Joker (Heath Ledger), but what surprised me most was the role of Harvey Dent (Aaron Eckhart) , a prestigious district attorney who played the hero of locking every villain in jail in becom.



THE TWO FACED HERO/VILLAIN
His fall at the end of the story reminded me about a two-faced heart. He quoted saying that "You either die being a hero or you live long enough to see yourself become the villain." He lived long enough to see himself become the villain. Harvey Dent and Two-face
is a big contrast of Chance and freewill, good and evil, hero and villain, justice and chaos, sacrifice and suffering. Two face would rather put his faith in "unbiased chance" than our human freewill. He even quoted saying "You thought we could be decent men in an undecent world. But you were wrong; the world is cruel, and the only morality of this world is chance"


The people involved involved in Jokers two ship experiment showed great humanism by showing that we humans do have a freewill, and from that freewill comes something good.
One ship consisted of prisoners, and the other consisted to normal passengers. Both had their chances to blow each other up. Both ships came to a conclusion that they should blow up the other ship to save their own lives. But yet as the clock struck twelve, nothing happened. They left their lives to chance, that the other ship would not blow them up. This reminds me of the chinese proverb, whereby it says that 人之初,性本善.
Are we really born with something uncorruptable? whereby we do have some good inside all of us?
Joker showed exactly, how to show the worst face of humanity, but yet forgetting that good always triumphs over evil.

And lastly, the movie ends with the unconvincing hero, the main character of the movie, the dark knight. I felt that he transends this superhero to become an everyman, conflicted and troubled by pain and brokenness in life. He is like us, everyday trying to find his identity while trying to maintain some morality.

His bat symbol was even broken due to his sacrifice. Gotham had rejected their only surviving hero. Batman quotes "Sometimes, truth isn't good enough, sometimes people deserve more. sometimes people deserve to have their faith rewarded." Truth isn't good enough?Many of us prefer to build our lives, our significance on things that are not true; we place our faith in the goodness of humanity (when humanity has not been good to us). We insist on believing that being successful and family-oriented will bring us true happiness (while money corrupts and families divorce). We place our faith in a lie, a lie that temporarily rewards our faith, only to crumble seconds later under the weight of truth-sized hope. The truth isn’t good enough because we have been believing lies.


The Savior of Gotham
This bat becomes the savior of Gotham. A scapegoat. This dark knight, not one in shining armor, shows a truth, a truth that we all need someone to bear our sin, and also our refusal to stand on this truth, choosing to believe what movies and magazines portray life. We ourselves are in need of a savior, a hero who can identify with our humanity and bear our burden. Someone who will take our sin into his own hands, that we might be known as righteous. Contrary to the dark knight, we need a faith greater than what we can manufacture, to find a God greater than man-made philosophy. We need a God-man...

Sold out at the altar of 'Malay unity'

(JL : Thought this might be a good read) JULY 25 — I was not planning to write about Malay unity this week, but after a little talk I just had with my father, I've decided it's imperative to underscore yet again the very real effect so-called "Malay unity" has on Malaysian society.

Malay unity as it is presently understood is fundamentally undemocratic, and fundamentally a threat to Malaysian unity. The notion that it is not just okay but morally right to prefer one Malaysian over another because of his or her racial identity undermines everything that the concept of a Malaysian stands for; it justifies racism, communalism and separatism.

In the first place, I cannot see why anyone would believe that the Malay community or Malays as individuals stand to gain from uniting behind one political party or one ideology. Malays are not a single-minded, homogeneous lot, any more than the Chinese or Indians are. To ask a Malay to subjugate his own individual beliefs to the tyranny of the Malay majority is ridiculous, and completely undermines the democratic right of individual Malaysians, Malay or not, to freedom of thought and expression.

If a few Malay strongmen believe they can really subjugate their fellow Malays and fellow Malaysians to the yoke of one single ideology, one single belief system, they will have to face the consequences sooner or later. We know what single-party and single-ideology countries turn out like; even the few successes like China are forced to tolerate differing viewpoints, if not differing political parties.

You cannot force a man to believe something he does not have his heart in; there is no reason to think a Malay will stop thinking and stop believing in something simply for the sake of "Malay unity".

But enough of this focus on the Malays; this is just one side of the delicate equation as far as national unity and social cohesion are concerned. I want to relate something personal, something that affects untold numbers of Malaysian families, including my own. Many Malays often wonder why non-Malays are so reluctant to offer this country their loyalty; hardly any are ever actually serious in their wonderment.

My mother is not a Malaysian. She is a Filipino, although with a partial Chinese heritage. My parents met while they were pursuing their post-graduate studies in Thailand . They tied the knot two decades ago; they have brought into the world and raised four children, all of them Malaysian citizens. Over a decade ago, my parents made the conscious decision to bring their three children back to Malaysia , and have their fourth born there, because they wanted us to know our roots. My mother has lived in this country for 12 years, and spent close to 19 years of her life raising Malaysian citizens; she has learnt the national language, made Malaysian friends, and settled herself here. If this is not the loyalty asked of Malaysian citizens, I don't know what loyalty you expect from us.

For the past 12 years, my family has made an annual pilgrimage to the Immigration Department, because my mother is not entitled to reside in Malaysia . Every year, my parents swear before a Commissioner of Oaths that they are still legally married, and on this basis, they renew my mother's "social visit pass" at the Immigration Department. A social visit pass, for the mother of four Malaysian citizens, the daughter-in-law of another two Malaysians, the wife of yet another Malaysian, and friend of many more!

A long, long time ago — so long I cannot remember, but about a decade or so — my mother applied to the Immigration Department for a permanent resident visa. My parents personally put all the necessary paperwork together, and my mother invested a lot of her time — time which could have been spent looking after her four young Malaysian children, or contributing to the Malaysian economy — in learning the Malay language. To this date, the Immigration Department has never even acknowledged receipt of her application.

My parents initially followed up on the application, but were told by the officers to await an official letter from the Department. They waited. And waited. Ten years on, they are still waiting.

Last year, my mother applied for a Canadian tourist visa. The process went without a hitch, until we came to picking up her passport. A Canadian embassy officer appeared and enquired about her "social visit pass". My mother confirmed that yes, in spite of everything, this wife and mother of Malaysians has yet to be allowed to stay in Malaysia . The officer shrugged his shoulders, as if he were used to seeing this sort of thing, and replied, "Okay, just checking!"

On the drive home, my father reflected on the ludicrousness of it all. If he were to die, if they were to be divorced, my mother would have no right to stay in Malaysia , no right to be the mother of Malaysians. A decade on, my family was still waiting.

Fed up with it all, my father decided that if his wife could not have a home here, he would make sure she and our family could have a home elsewhere. Two years ago, he applied for permanent residency in New Zealand . Today, before any of us have even set foot in New Zealand , the Kiwi government has welcomed us and given us the right to stay and reside in New Zealand for as long as we like, without any preconditions. We have no prior ties to New Zealand , and they welcome us with open arms; my mother has a rich 20-year history with Malaysia , and to this day, her request to stay here has yet to even be acknowledged.

This story is alas far too common; years ago, my father was warned by an acquaintance that his wife had waited in vain for 10 years for her permanent residency to come through. Earlier yesterday, he decided to check with the Immigration Department, just to see if they had ever done anything about my mother's application.

He got the same brush-off of a reply: "Tunggu suratlah!" As he left the office, he overheard a Mat Salleh woman berating a young officer, in fluent Malay: "My husband is dead already, what should I do now? I have been living in this country longer than you have been alive!" Not far off, an Indonesian construction worker was conspicuously brandishing his approved application for a work permit, entitling him to reside here.

This sort of thing is no bureaucratic accident; this is intentional racism. This is the product of "Malay unity". What good is this talk of how Pak Lah is selling us out to the Singaporeans by giving them cheap sand, when right under our noses, the government is selling our citizenship birthrights out to any old Indonesian, while denying Malaysians the right to live in peace with their spouses, their families? When you endorse this idea that the end of Malay unity justifies the means, this is the result.

I don't begrudge legal Indonesian immigrants their right to live and work here; they are doing a job nobody else wants to, and they are often unfairly scapegoated by a Malaysian society not willing to examine its own fractures and divisions. But I have lived for years with the shame of being a citizen whose own country will not even let his mother stay, in spite of everything she has done for her Malaysian family.

It's easy to mock people like us for saying things like "I will never die for this country"; it's hard to accept that this country has never given people like us a reason to die for it. When my family migrates to New Zealand , they will not be looking back wistfully; they will be looking forward to a future where my mother is not forever in legal jeopardy, forever at risk of separation from us. The last thing on their minds will be a country obsessed with small-minded "Malay unity", obsessed with worshipping its keris-waving heroes while ignoring the countless non-Malays who gave their lives in apparent vain for a country which will not recognise the ideal behind their sacrifice.

John Lee is a second-year student of economics at Dartmouth College in the United States . He has been thinking aloud since 2005

MY Famous Secondary School!

oh yeah~

Thats my school! The school i spent 7 of my teenage years in!

There it goes:-

JOHOR BARU: Teacher Seng Woam Guei was commended for her bravery when she protected her student from an attacker who was armed with a hammer and a spanner.

The 48-year-old teacher of Foon Yew High School received injuries in the forehead that required nine stitches in the attack last Friday. The Junior Year Two student also suffered head injuries.

Yesterday, Deputy Education Minister Dr Wee Ka Siong witnessed the presentation of a letter of commendation to Seng by the school Committee of Management chairman Tan Wee Hiong.

“I do not consider it a heroic act. It is my responsibility to protect my students. Any teacher will do the same,” said Seng, who was honoured with the Outstanding Teachers Award in 2005.

The assailant, a 17-year-old student of the Chinese independent school, has been suspended pending police investigations.

Dr Wee described Seng as a good example of a caring and responsible teacher.

Earlier, he chaired a dialogue attended by officers from the state Education Department and the school authorities.

He said he viewed the incident seriously as the school was known for its strict discipline, tight security and good reputation since its establishment in 1913.

“This is an isolated case. So far, there is no evidence to suggest outsiders were involved in the attack,” he said. However, he advised that a thorough investigation be conducted as a precaution.

On July 18, the 17-year-old rushed into a classroom on the ground floor at 1.30pm and attacked the 15-year-old, purportedly over a misunderstanding.

The attacker was overpowered and handed over to the police by school authorities.

So for those of you who are thinking which ah beng school i came from, well thats it ;)

God given dreams

Dreams! A word that makes me come alive! Since young, i used to dream alot. Many people call me a dreamer, and there is even one person who told me that i remind him of Joseph in the bible ;)

Well, today my heart is pounding... I'm feeling excited! I'm overjoyed over the message i heard in City Harvest Church today. Everyone of us have a God-given dream! It says in Acts 2:17 "And it shall come to pass in the last days, says God, that I will pour out My Spirit on all flesh; your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your young man shall see visions, your old men shall dream dreams."

Our ability to dream is a God given gift, and in the last days when the Holy Spirit comes upon a person he/she will dream a dream that it is so enormous that it will stun the world! But yet how do we as Christians know whether a dream is from God or not? Well, from Tommy Barnett's book titled 'Reaching your dreams', he states that we will be able to know if it's God's dream if:

1. It is bigger than you.
2. You can't let it go.
3. You would be willing to give everything for it.
4. It will last forever.
5. It meets a need that nobody else has met.
6. It brings glory to God.

Well, a dreamer like me always dreams. When i'm driving to work, i always think of ways to change the environment of my workplace. I think of systems of the sales department, different pipelines and strategies for improvement. I dream of having my own sales team, whereby every single one of them are successful, knowledgeable, and caring towards clients. I dream of going to different places around the world, teaching people technical solutions towards different kinds of customers, how to identify their needs and offer a solution.

Besides work, i think of my cell group, I dream of a cell group full of members who are vibrant in worship. Cell members who encounter God as their true God! Every single member praying fervently for their friends and family members who are yet to know God! and together as a cell, going out to reach out to orphans, cleaning an old folks home, and genuinely encouraging each other and forming a bond whereby no evil forces can break!

In my family, I dream of my grandmother! I dream of her accepting Jesus Christ as Lord! I dream of the house cleansing ceremony taking place! I dream that instead of hearing chanting of buddhist scriptures first thing in the morning, I will be hearing fervent prayer from a believer crying out to God for the souls of her children who are yet to know the Lord.

I also dream of going into the mission field! Building relationship with locals, setting up a God-centered buisness in the middle of the marketplace. Creating jobs for the locals, and also setting up an organization whereby all money we generate goes to the development of the village we are in. Helping the neighbours who do not have any food to eat, and discipling the local christian believers to take up the challenge to reach out to their own people!

Dreams pour into my mind non-stop. But yet are my dreams a God given dream? By writing my dreams out, it most certainly does. But yet deep down inside... I fear that my dream is not big enough. I lack the discipline to make it happen and I dread the difficulties that i will face in the future.

As i continue to read Tommy Barnett's "Reaching your dreams", He teaches the readers to discover their God given dreams in six steps:

1. Get alone with God - Psalms 46:10 "Be still and know that I am God". From our hectic schedules in life, we must learn to listen to Gods voice.
2. Review your gifts and talents - God has given everyone different gifts and talents. God uses our desire to accomplish what He wants to do on this earth.
   
3. Review your experience - As we grew up, were we brought up different that other people you know? Do you know languages that are unique? Have we had some kind of painful experience that we have overcome that we might be able to counsel people with similar experiences?
4. Decide whats really important in life - Many times, we take too much time on things which are not really important in life. we should narrow down the scope to only focus on things which are really important to us.
5. Begin to export different avenues - If the above steps are done and still do not know where our dreams are taking us, we should explore different ministries, jobs, and other activities until something sparks.
6. Journal your dream - Well... this is the reason why i'm writing this here. Habakuk 2:2 says "Then the Lord answered me and said:"Write the vision down and make it plain on tablets, that he may run who reads it" So therefore i'm writing them down so that it'll be a guiding force in my life.

And as for future posts to come, i hope to find out my new vision and mission statement which will be a guiding force in whatever i do :)

My FIRST serious blog!!

Hello! If you are reading this, good day to you! Finally i managed to start my own blog to post some of my thoughts and feelings at work, church, and my own 'PRIVATE' life :D

I've started a blog 2 years back, but somehow i didn't manage to maintain it. I didn't have internet connection for some time, and decided to delete the whole blog after that.

A few reasons on why i'm starting a blog

1) The main reason is that i want to be known as a person who reflects on his life, his career and his ministry. Reflecting is one area that i do alot! (in my dreams most of the time) but i realized that to be effective in reflecting, i will have to write it down and remember the lessoned i've learned about life.

2) I heard a preacher once say that a great speaker can attract many people when he is speaking. Some might even attract up to 20k people in a week to listen to him. But yet, bloggers can attract 100k clicks on their website per day! As technology improves day by day, I thought that through continues blogging and sharing what God has done in my life, i might be able to impact somebody's life without me knowing it!

3) Alot of times while driving, many ideas come into my mind. Maybe by blogging and putting in all my thoughts into words, i might be able to transform them into action (this is one area that i'm weak in the most) hehe...

4) Last but not least, I want to write about the thoughts of my work, my sales career, and suggest ways to improve the organization i'm in. And maybe who knows, my boss might manage to google my blog and read the thoughts i have in mind.


I hope this blog will be put into good use, whereby i might be able to be a better person and reflect upon my life.

Dear God, I dedicate this blog for your glory and your honor. I pray that this blog will be encouraging and be a useful tool to people who visit this blog. Help me to be a person who reflects and that you'll develop my character day by day through this blog. Amen.