Born of the Spirit

John 3:6 (AMP)

"What is born of [from] the flesh is flesh [of the physical is physical]; and what is born of the Spirit is spirit."

Essential Upgrades

2 Peter 1:5-7 (NLT)

"In view of all this, make every effort to respond to God's promises. Supplement your faith with a generous provision of moral excellence, and moral excellence with knowledge, and knowledge with self-control, and self-control with patient endurance, and patient endurance with godliness, and godliness with brotherly affection, and brotherly affection with love for everyone."

Updates

Well, it seems like I haven't been doing any updates for the past one month. AY0809 Semester 1 is over and the holidays came and now holidays are going to be over this coming Wednesday. Fast! Time slips away without you noticing.

AY0809 Semester 1 was rather exciting with 5 modules plus the time consuming, strength draining Final Year Project 1. I can conclude that though tiring, semester 1 has been rewarding. During this semester, I have gotten closer to some classmates and of course good results. Just on Monday, the results were released and God has done it again, 6As inclusive of my FYP. Even as I compared all my semester results, I saw a trend and the conclusion is, in God it's always from glory to glory.

Two more days and here we go again. There are many things in my mind now, and soon it will be posted here. Til then!

Cheers,
Desmond

Through It All

Jeremiah 29:11 - "For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the Lord, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope."

Even as I began to ask God to manifest His thoughts towards me, He started leading my imagination to a wonderful image.

In the vision, was a beautiful picture of a dad sending his boy to school. Even as the child entered into the classroom, the dad stood by the windows of the class watching his dear boy by the side, ensuring that he would be fine. To the boy, after parting with his dad at the door of the class, the presence of his dad watching by him could be felt strongly, though not seen.

With this impression, I was led to another thought. This time, I saw myself in several occasions. One was when I was in primary school, where I was so naughty, constantly being punished for giving problems to my teachers and bullying my classmates. Another one was in secondary school, so lazy, not studying all the time. One funny one was me doing all sorts of crazy things for this girl whom I thought I will marry. A depressing one was where I lost all directions in life, wandering all over the place. A joyful one showed the time when I first came to know God, critical in attitude, but touched by His love.

Though all of the scenarios look so diverse, with happy and unhappy ones but the common thing was, my Father was there looking through the window ensuring that I was fine through it all. This time round, I am assured that He will be there too.

Updates

It's been some time since I last blog and I must say that this period is the busiest of all my entire 3 years in Republic Polytechnic. FYP submission is just around the corner and I have been spending the last entire week coding and writing reports til late into the night.

However I must say that I am rather pleased with the accomplishment of my group. For the majority of the school, everyone is doing web applications and if they can shun any project requiring the use of Java they surely will! For my team, we are a little adventurous. We undertook a project that enables users to share images and chat on a peer to peer network. The entire project is Java based and utilizes JXTA for the networking portion and Swing for the GUI portion

The process of developing the application is tough, very tough but it's tremendously enriching! I have definitely enjoyed the fruits of it and I am looking so forward to the day of presentation! I will be back blogging more and I promise more down to earth stuffs. LOL!

--
Sent from Gmail for mobile | mobile.google.com

Title-less

Unbounded is Your power, Lord
All things You have accomplished
Those things which appear to be impossible to me
They are very possible for You
The very second I have no strength
It's your love that is perfect
The moment I believe
The miracle is real
Not by might, nor by power
but by Your Spirit, oh God
The moment I believe
The miracle is real

Broadband on Mobile and Essential Softwares for your E61i

Recently, I subscribed to Singtel's broadband on mobile, and it's has been working wonders for me! At just $22.42, I am given a limit of 50 gb to utilize every month (It's really impossible to even use 2 gb on your mobile device). With it, I am now able to surf, IM and check my emails on my E61i all over Singapore. Don't belittle these functions because they surely come in useful and can even help you save up on communication costs if used in a smart way. Some suggestions:-

• MSN Live

With MSN Live on my handphone, chatting with all my online contacts has never been easier. But the amazing thing is not just common instant messaging. Did you know that it can turn your handphone into a 'walkie-talkie'? How I do it, is to send voice clips over and vice versa receive voice clips from the other party that I am communicating with. Although there is a latency of about 10 seconds due to data transfer, but it surely does come in handy when you need to communicate non urgently. I fully utilized this function together with Jason during the last zone camp, when one of us is in Singapore and the other in P.Ubin. In this situation the conventional walkie talkie doesn't work due to the distance, however as MSN Live sends data via network, the distance did not matter at all.

• Twitter

As I shared in one of my previous posts that Twitter is able to send your updates to the devices of the people following you. One great way is really to use it to send free SMS. With Fring, you are able to utilize it just as if you are sending a SMS. Very convenient! However, make sure your counterparts do not reply to the number that sent the 'tweets' as it is an international number.


With just some brainstorming and creativeness, your E61i can become a powerful tool that makes communication more affordable and life more interesting.

Some links that might interest:

1. Singtel Broadband on Mobile
2. Mobile One Broadband
3. Starhub Mobile Data Services
   

E61i

I have been using E61i for about a year and it is still continuing to amaze me with it's amazing capabilities. In the next few posts, I will write about how you can use your E61i to enhance your productivity and tips on using it as well. Stay tune!

Twitter - A Great Way To Stay Connected

Twitter, a free social networking and micro-blogging service that allows users to send "tweets" or updates to the Twitter website, where updates are instantaneously posted on to the user's profile page and also delivered to other users who have signed up to receive them via SMS, instant messaging and etc.

Personally, I felt that this service is exceptionally useful especially in groups that constantly need to update members within with new information. Simply by logging on, typing in a 140 character length text and clicking update, anyone who is 'following' you will be notified immediately through the means they have chosen to receive updates. Did I also mention that it is FREE?

Imagine this senario:-

In a cell group of 20 people, everyone subscribe to Twitter and is a follower of the rest in the cell group. If there is a message that needs to be passed on to everybody, going through Twitter saves you 20 SMSes. In a month, this method can easily help you save up to 100s of SMSes. Cool right?

Suggested way to implement: -

1. Get everyone in the group to create an account with the group's name as initials. For e.g. N363_Desmond or MJ_Desmond
2. After the creation of account, start 'following' others in the group.
3. Start sending "Tweets"!

Easy as abc! Technology certainly helps to save time and maximize productivity!

Counting Down - 246 Days

Another 246 days or to be specific, 16th February 2009 will be the day in which I will be embarking on another phase of my education journey. This time round, the difference would not just be in the level of knowledge I am going to receive but mainly the difference in location; Melbourne: 6076 km away from home, from church and from friends.

Having personally been to Australia, I guess that I did not really enjoy both trips there. Probably the main reason, is going there with the Singapore Armed Forces and the destination was some 'ulu' place called Rockhampton. In addition, the lifestyle there did not really excite me. Being a typical Singaporean and City Harvest member, who lives a fast paced life running from place to place and having late nights, the thought of seeing empty streets at around 5pm daily, with shopping centres closing at 4pm except on Thursday 8pm and doing gardening on Sunday certainly is beginning to strike fear within me.

The thought of being away from church, the zone and my cell group is also a thumbs down. I guess that apart from home, they are the people that are constantly on my mind. To calculate, being away for 10 months from February to December, I would probably miss so many big days and major events; Easter, Emerge 2009, etc. :S

However, I guess on the brighter note the chance to do a fast tracked degree from one of the top universities in Australia does not always come around, especially when it is going to help me win back time which I have lost previously. As I look at coming back home during December 2009 and commencing with my career, I am greatly excited! I certainly hope that I can perform as well or even better during my stint in Monash as compared to Republic Polytechnic.

Greater Is He Who Is In You, Than He Who Is In The World

Laminin, a protein in the human body that is vital in making sure the overall body structures hold together. Reminded me that indeed Greater is He who is in me, than he who is in the world. What a coincidence, anyway a wise fellow once said coincidence is when God choose to remain anonymous.

A Friend In Need, Is A Friend Indeed

People rarely quit simply because of adversity, but rather because of the lack of encouragement during times of adversity.

2 Cor 7:5-6

5 For when we came into Macedonia, this body of ours had no rest, but we were harassed at every turn-conflicts on the outside, fears within. 6 But God, who comforts the downcast, comforted us by the coming of Titus

GSync

Symbian 60 users, have you ever felt frustrated with the speed of your mobile phone device? Most of the time, the amount of SMS/MMS messages that are stored on our mobile phones actually take up precious memory space and even chalked up lots of processing power. However the issue is that many of these SMS/MMS messages contain important information and we would love to keep them for reference. Well, fret not! GSync by Psiloc is here to save the day!

GSync is an intelligent, convenient and unique way to backup all your SMS/MMS messages. GSync allows you to automatically archive all of your SMS/MMS messages on the Gmail™ account. The SMS/MMS messages appear as e-mails, are marked as read and labelled as SMS/MMS. Messages exchanged with the same people are grouped into threads. It even separates your sent and received messages very cleverly.

An example of a MMS message after being processed by GSync:

However, good things don't come free. The software comes with a 10 day trial period, after which it would cost SGD26.70 to activate it.

(PS: If you are thinking why my gmail interface look so cool, well you can leave me a comment and I will teach you how :D)

Big Bang!

It's time to Build A New Generation!

Baby For Sale On eBay!?!?!

Just read up on this in the news and I thought some people are just ridiculous.

BERLIN - GERMAN police are investigating a couple after they offered their eight-month-old son for sale on internet auction site eBay.

Renee Beck, a police spokesman in the Bavarian town of Krumbach west of Munich, said on Saturday the 23-year-old woman told them it was only a joke.

But he said police were nevertheless continuing their investigation and the baby was put in state custody.

'She says it was a joke,' he said. 'That's not yet clear. Detectives are investigating on suspicion of child trafficking.'

A number of people called authorities across Germany after seeing the offer on eBay that read: 'Baby - collection only. Offer my nearly new baby for sale because it cries too much. Male, 70 cm long.'

The opening bid was 1 euro ($1.57). There were no bidders during the two hours before the offer was removed, police said.

The mother was quoted in Bild newspaper saying: 'It was only a joke. I just wanted to see if someone would make an offer. They've taken my son to hospital and I've got to take psychiatric tests next week.' -- REUTERS

Visual To-Do List

As the saying goes, "A picture speaks a thousand words" and having camera phones so easily available, it can be a great idea to have a To-Do list that has its contents represented by photos instead of words. Furthermore, snapping a photo of a task that needs attention takes much less time than penning it down and it makes life much more interesting too, since people are visually oriented.

One way to implement a Visual To-Do List:

1. Create a To-Do folder within your phone.
2. Begin snapping tasks that need to be done (Packing your desk, an uncompleted project, toothpaste that is running out, etc).
3. Upon every snap, transfer it to the To-Do folder.
4. Have a look at the To-Do folder from time to time to ensure that tasks are completed.
5. Upon completion of every task, delete the photo.

Simple as that. This idea is not unique as there are people using it already. Do go try it and let me know if it works for you.

Being 'Right' and 'Wrong'

Peter came from a family where there was much conflicts and quarreling. Because of it, he was very troubled and tried various ways to try to solve this problem within his family. However, there was no result.

On the other hand, Peter have a friend, named Ryan. Ryan's family hardly quarrel and were always very understanding towards each other. Thus Peter decided to seek the advice of Ryan and he asked, " Ryan, tell me what is the secret behind your family? As compared to many others, you guys never seem to have much conflicts and would always seek to put yourselves in each other shoes. How did you all do it?" Ryan answered, "It is very simple. It is because your family possessed all the right attitudes while mine having all the wrong ones."

Upon hearing the reply, Peter got upset as he thought Ryan was trying to be sarcastic. Ryan quickly explained himself, "Don't get me wrong, I was not trying to be sarcastic. Let me give you an example. If there was a glass of water placed on the table by my wife and I accidentally spill it, I would quickly go to my wife and tell her that it was my fault and I am the person in the wrong. Upon hearing my apologies, my wife would also apologize immediately stating that she is in the wrong for placing the glass of water at a place where it was not easily seen thus causing the spillage. We have all the 'wrong' attitudes because we chose to admit our mistakes. However in your family, the problem lies in that everyone always thinks that they are 'right'. None of you would want to give in and apologize when something goes wrong. That is why there are always so many conflicts."

Bobby Lee Waihong would always say in Hokkien, "Saying sorry would not cause you to lose a part of your flesh...". True!

Communication

Communication is essential in every relationship. When one refuses to communicate, it is indirectly bringing death to that relationship.

An interesting story about relationships that lacked communication:

A man was elected to be a Minster of Parliament and was to give a speech before his constituency. Thus he spent a great deal of time in preparation for his speech. The faithful day came for the minister to deliver his speech and his entire family was there to support him.

That very night before the minister's wife fell asleep, she began to think in her mind,"Well, today my husband gave a great speech and the entire audience was greatly motivated. However something seems to be wrong... What could it be? Ahhh! I know, he was pulling up his trousers all the time! His trousers must be too long for him!". She turned and look at the minister and realized that he was deeply asleep. Thus she decided that she will go and alter the trousers and not wake him up. The minister's wife took the trousers and began to cut off a portion of it. After which, she placed the trousers back to where she took it and went to bed.

At about 2am in the morning, the minister's daughter woke up. She started thinking, "Dad gave a wonderful speech today, but I just feel that something seems wrong. What could it be? Ahhhh! I know, I know! His trousers was too long for him! I remembered seeing him constantly pulling it up. I better do something about it." The daughter looked into her parents' room and realized that both her father and mother were asleep. She decided not to wake them up, she took the trousers and went ahead to alter it. With it, she cut off a portion and placed the trousers back. After which she went to bed.

At 4am, the minister woke up from his sleep. As he had to deliver another speech at 8am, the minister began to evaluate how he had performed the day before. He thought to himself, "Yesterday, I gave a good speech. The audience were excited and greatly motivated. But, something seems to be wrong. What could it be? Yes! I was pulling up my trousers constantly. It was too long for me! I better do something with it!". He looked at his wife and daughter and realized that they were fast asleep, thus the minister decided not to disrupt their rest. He took the trousers and cut off a portion of it and place it back to where it was originally placed.

At 6.30am, the entire family woke up and the minister began to dress up to go for his speech. By now, he realized that his trousers has become a pair of bermudas! However as time was crucial, there was no time for him to get a new pair, he went ahead with it. At 8am, the minister started delivering his speech and told the audience, "You must be thinking that I look funny, wearing a pair of ultra short trousers to give a speech.". He began to tell them what had happened throughout the night and he commented, "My family loves each other alot, however because we failed to communicate, this happened.".


Although this story is not a true one, but it does indeed reflect many of our relationships. We often love and care for the people around us, but we fail to communicate or express it out. Eventually, it led to many funny happenings and even misunderstandings. All these can be avoided, if only communication take place.

Part of loving is to communicate and to express it out. Start communicating today! :)

The Lee Family

My family portrait taken during Chinese New Year 2008

Catching Fish

"If you want to catch fish, you shouldn't cast your nets in the bath tub."

- Reinhard Bonnke

Welcome to Holland

A poem by Emily Kingsley, a parent of a special needs child.

"I am often asked to describe the experience
Of raising a child with a disability,
To help people, who have not shared that unique experience,
Understand it
And imagine how it would feel.
It's like this
When you're going to have a baby,
It's like planning a fabulous trip to Italy;
You buy a bunch of guidebooks and make your wonderful plans-
The Coliseum, Michelangelo's David, the gondolas in Venice-
You may even learn some handy phrases in Italian.
It's all very exciting.
After all the months of eager anticipation,
The day finally arrives.
You pack your bags and off you go
Several hours later, the plane lands,
The stewardess comes in and says
'Welcome to Holland'.
'HOLLAND!?' you say. 'What do you mean, Holland?
I signed up for Italy.
I'm supposed to be in Italy.
All my life I've dreamed of going to Italy'.
But there has been a change in the flight plan.
The important thing is
That they haven't taken you to a horrible, disgusting, filthy place
Full of pestilence, famine and disease.
It's just a different place.
So, you must go out and buy new guidebooks.
And you must learn a whole new language.
And you will meet a whole new group of people
You would never have otherwise met.
It's just a different place.
It's slower paced than Italy;
Less flashy than Italy.
But after you've been there for a while
And catch your breath,
You look around and you begin to notice
That Holland has windmills;
Holland has tulips;
Holland even has Rembrandts.
But everyone you know is busy coming and going from Italy,
And they're all bragging about the wonderful time they had.
And for the rest of your life you will say
'Yes, that's where I was supposed to go;
That's what I had planned'.
The pain of that will never, ever go away,
Because the loss of that dream is a very significant loss.
But if you spend your life mourning the fact
That you didn't get to Italy,
You may never be free to enjoy
The very special, the very lovely things about Holland."

6 Years & Counting

6 years ago on the 28th of April, I stepped into City Harvest Church for the first time. From then on, I never look back. What an amazing 6 years of adventure with God, having known great people and my life changed totally. Awesome!

Indeed God's plans are always higher than our own. A plan to 'rescue' a close friend eventually led to salvation and a life changing experience. These 6 years, never a moment have I ceased to be in awe of God's call towards me into His family. Prior to knowing God, I was a person with no direction in life. Having failed in school, I didn't know of what I can expect in life. Temporal glory was all that filled my mind, thus I became a bartender and led a messed up life - living only for the moment.


Eventually after a few events, I came to church and little did I know that my life was about to change at that instance. There I met a tremendously powerful woman who became my cell group leader and her name is Marlin.



Under her leadership, I grew to know God and was really discipled in many areas of my attitude and character.


Without Marlin's persistence and love, I would not be doing what I am doing now. Thus, I am really appreciative of this mentor God has placed in my life.

However, things did not just end here. God continued to bring in even more wonderful people into my life. During October 2005, I was transferred to E369 to come under my current leader and zone supervisor, Ming Jin. I must say that this is one of the greatest thing that happened to my life. Under him, I learnt many things and grew tremendously as a person in terms of confidence and also my relationship with God. One of the most significant thing that really touched my heart was on the day before I reembarked on my studies, Ming Jin dropped me a call personally and encouraged me to study hard and do well. It really meant alot to me and till now I still keep it in my heart as a motivation to do well.



In MJ Zone, I got to know another powerful woman who also made a huge difference in my life. Her words are always full of love and encouragement. She is none other than Darryl, Ming Jin's wife. Just by spending a lunch break or even a short conversation with her is enough to inspire me to believe that I have the ability to attempt any impossible task and take on the world with boldness. Having been in her cell group for a mere 6 months brought about so much impact into my life and I must say it was such an enjoyable time learning under her.



Apart from this powerful couple, God gave me great friends that I know I can rely on in this wonderful family. Every week, I would look forward to meeting them and spending time serving God together.

The goodness of my heavenly Father did not end here too, I was also given the privilege of leading a wonderful bunch of God-loving people, N363.



Beyond just relationship and character-wise, I am also blessed beyond description in my school results and I must say God turns things around. Initially I thought that I am a failure in studies and would never even get a basic diploma , but because of His grace I am now even given an opportunity to do a fast tracked degree next year.

In conclusion, it would take me an infinite amount of space to jot down how thankful I am to God for the second chance to life and I know I can never be grateful enough for the wondrous things that He has done for me and to the people that came into my life. 6 years have passed, and I know I can look forward to an even glorious 6 years ahead.

Happy Mother's Day

Today is Mother's Day and I would like to take the opportunity to salute all the mothers all around the world.

My mother is a very strong and special woman who has made an amazing impact in my life. Her love and grace for me is so great that it overlooks all my weaknesses and failures. In order to see me succeed in life, she underwent much hardship and I would really want to appreciate her for that. Anything God does through me in this lifetime, I see it as her reward; for all the seeds she sowed with her life and heart.

Recently I heard something very interesting and I made a little amendment to it. It is said that there are 3 critical issues in our life that we cannot afford to procrastinate in doing them, as follows:-

1. Believing in the Lord Jesus Christ and accepting Him as your Saviour.
2. Being filial and honor your parents.
3. Be successful.

Point 1 is exceptionally crucial but I would want to emphasize on the other 2 points on this Mother's Day. It is very important that we as children not forget the hardwork and love that our parents sowed into our lives and it is only justifiable that we be filial and honor them at every possible instances. Time just passes us by unknowingly. A true fact is, there is just a limited amount of times that we can express our love towards our parents while they are still alive. By procrastinating, time is ticking away fast. Therefore, let's seize the moment!

Linking the last point to the 2nd, my opinion is that being filial also means that everyone of us have the responsibility to be successful while our parents are still alive. It is because, for everything that they have done and gave to us, it is to see us be happy and successful in the things that we do. Furthermore when one succeeds in life, then he will have greater capabilities in taking care of his parents. Thus, working and studying hard is not just about ourselves but really part of repaying the effort our parents have sown in us.

To end, something interesting that I found:

THE IMAGES OF MOTHER

At 4 years old we say: "My Mummy can do anything!"
At 8 years old: "My Mum knows a lot! A whole lot!"
At 12 years old: "My Mother doesn't really know quite everything."
At 14 years old: "Naturally, Mother doesn't know that, either."
At 16 years old: "Mother? She's hopelessly old-fashioned."
At 18 years old: "That old woman? She's way out of date!"
At 25 years old: "Well, she might know a little bit about it."
At 35 years old: "Before we decide, let's get Mum's opinion."
At 45 years old: "Wonder what Mum would have thought about it?"
At 65 years old: "I wish I could talk it over with Mum."

[Author Unknown]

"But Who You Say That I Am?"

Recently I came across this verse in the Bible and began to start meditating and thinking about it.

Matt 16:13-15 (NKJV)
13 When Jesus came into the region of Caesarea Philippi, He asked His disciples, saying, "Who do men say that I, the Son of Man, am?" 14 So they said, "Some say John the Baptist, some Elijah, and others Jeremiah or one of the prophets."

Jesus over here was asking His disciples about who the people think He is and the reply that they gave differed. Some say John the Baptist, some say Elijah, etc. Isn't this very true? In modern context, to some Jesus is their Savior, to some Jesus is someone who they look for in times of need and to some, Jesus is just one of the gods among the many gods in the various religion.

Continuing on with the story,

Matt 16:15-16 (NKJV)
15 He said to them, "But who do you say that I am?" 16 Simon Peter answered and said, "You are the Christ, the Son of the living God."

Jesus' question back to the disciples is what He is constantly asking us. Instead of listening to the opinions of others, He is us asking point blank - who is He to us individually. Like Peter, we need to be able to identify Him as the Christ, Son of the living God. With the correct identification, the next question that should come up to us should be this:

Matt 27:22 (NKJV)
22 Pilate said to them, "What then shall I do with Jesus who is called Christ?"

After establishing the fact that Jesus is King in our lives, what are we going to do with Jesus? To some, they still place Jesus in the same league as their worldly issues. To some, they remain indifferent.

However, my suggestion is to treat Him like a King irregardless of situation.

Wireless Communication (C341) - What a Chore!

C341 sure bores me. The module description differs from what I am touching on. Every week, it is covering wave theory and more wave theory! This week, the lesson objectives are Analog & Digital Modulation, Sampling & Quantization. Sounds so exciting and this is the fourth week only. Help.

Singtel's MIO Mobile

Wikipedia: "Mobile VoIP will become an important service in the coming years as device manufacturers exploit more powerful processors and less costly memory to meet user needs for ever-more 'power in their pocket'."

Nowadays as people travel more frequently, a need to stay in touch economically with family, friends and colleagues back at home has surfaced. Voip or Voice over Internet Protocol is a technology that has the ability to provide such service at low cost. If you have not been living in caves or hanging around with the Flintstones, you would probably have heard of such services like for example, Skype.


Just 9 months ago, I received a Nokia E61i from an uncle as a gift. This phone is awesome and one of the most used feature by me is probably the ability to connect to wireless access points. With it I check and reply my emails, do instant messaging and most important of all make VoIP calls. VoIP calls on your mobile save you big bucks, no kidding! Currently I am a Singtel user and I subscribe to their Mio Mobile plan, which require me to pay a mere $10 on top of my subscription fees. With this service, I can make unlimited amount of VoIP call to any local number(when I am connected to a wireless access point and the fact is you can easily find one nowadays with the Wireless@SG network implemented all over Singapore). Just last month, I made a total of 36 hours of outgoing call (34 hours estimated to be VoIP) and my total phone bill came up to approx. $50. Cool!

I would highly recommend that you get this service (especially CGLs), if you have a wireless enabled phone and that you are on the Singtel network. The money that you save for an entire year, can easily cover your year-end retreat + shopping. LOL!
More details of the Mio Mobile plan: http://home.singtel.com/mio/mio_mobile.html

Safest Place To Be In

Just read about this and thought it was interesting.

Did you know that being part of a church gathering is the safest place to be!

Statistics tell us:

1. Do NOT ride in automobiles: they cause 20% of all fatal accidents.

2. Do NOT travel by air, rail, or water: 16% of all accidents happen on these.

3. Do NOT walk on the streets or sidewalks: 14% of all accidents happen to pedestrians.

4. Do NOT stay home: 17% of all accidents occur in the home.

5. Only .001% of all deaths occur in worship services in church, and these are related to previous physical disorders.

Hence, the safest place for you to be at any time is church!

The lesson is: Spend more time in church! IT COULD SAVE YOUR LIFE!

Dell XPS M1330

I really need a new laptop... My old beat-up Fujitsu S6240 is driving me crazy by the day. After sending for servicing at Fujitsu's service centre, now it's only running at 512mb of RAM instead of the initial 1Gb. Well done, Fujitsu.

Anyway, I have been looking around and a classmate recommended me to get the Dell XPS M1330, in which I went online and tried to 'build' my own. Here are the specs:-

1. Intel(R) Core(TM) 2 Duo Processor T7250 2.0GHz, 2MB Cache, 800 MHz FSB
2. Genuine Windows Vista(R) Home Premium 32 bit (English) DVD Media Included
3. 13.3" UltraSharp Widescreen WXGA (1280X800) Display with TrueLife (2.0MP Webcam)
4. 4GB (2X2048MB) 667Mhz Dual Channel DDR2 SDRAM
5. 160GB SATA 7200RPM Performance Hard Drive
6. Internal 8X DVD+/-RW Combination Drive with dual layer write capabilities
7. NVDIA(R) GeForce(TM) 8400M GS with 128MB GDDR3 dedicated graphic memory
8. Intel(R) 4965AGN Wireless-N Mini-Card
9. Dell(TM) Wireless 355 Bluetooth Module

It cost only $2244.86! One of the highlights is the hard drive that is running at 7200RPM! Fast read and write capabilities. If finances allow, I would get a 9-cell battery too (+$308.16). That would be like running on steroids. Let's hope this will happen in the near future.

Any kind soul would like to donate to Buy-Desmond-A-Dell-XPS fund, please call 1900-912-BUYXPS. LOL.

11 Rules to Life

An excerpt from the book "Dumbing Down Our Kids" by educator Charles Sykes.

Rule 1 : Life is not fair - get used to it!

Rule 2 : The world won't care about your self-esteem. The world will expect you to accomplish something BEFORE you feel good about yourself.

Rule 3 : You will NOT make $60,000 a year right out of high school. You won't be a vice-president with a car phone until you earn both.

Rule 4 : If you think your teacher is tough, wait till you get a boss.

Rule 5 : Flipping burgers is not beneath your dignity. Your Grandparents had a different word for burger flipping: they called it opportunity.

Rule 6 : If you mess up, it's not your parents' fault, so don't whine about your mistakes, learn from them.

Rule 7 : Before you were born, your parents weren't as boring as they are now. They got that way from paying your bills, cleaning your clothes and listening to you talk about how cool you thought you were. So before you save the rain forest from the parasites of your parent's generation, try delousing the closet in your own room.

Rule 8 : Your school may have done away with winners and losers, but life HAS NOT. In some schools, they have abolished failing grades and they'll give you as MANY TIMES as you want to get the right answer. This doesn't bear the slightest resemblance to ANYTHING in real life.

Rule 9 : Life is not divided into semesters. You don't get summers off and very few employers are interested in helping you FIND YOURSELF. Do that on your own time.

Rule 10 : Television is NOT real life. In real life people actually have to leave the coffee shop and go to jobs.

Rule 11 : Be nice to nerds. Chances are you'll end up working for one.

The Race

"Quit! Give up! You're beaten!"

They shouted at me and plead.
"There's just too much against you now. This time you can't succeed!"

And as I start to hang my head in front of failure's face.
My downward fall is broken by the memory of a race.

And hope refills my weakened will as I recall that scene:
For just the thought of that short race rejuvenates my being.

A children's race-young boys, young men-how I remember well.
Excitement, sure! But also fear; It wasn't hard to tell.

They all lined up so full of hope each thought to win that race.
Or tie for first, or if not that, at least take second place.

And fathers watched from off the side each cheering for his son.
And each boy hoped to show his dad that he would be the one.

The whistle blew and off they went! Young hearts and hopes afire.
To win and be the hero there was each young boy's desire.

And one boy in particular whose dad was in the crowd,
Was running near the lead and thought: "My dad will be so proud!"

But as they sped down the field across a shallow dip,
The little boy who thought to win lost his step and slipped.

Trying hard to catch himself his hands flew out to brace,
And mid the laughter of the crowd he fell flat on his face.

So down he fell and with him hope --He couldn't win it now--
Embarrassed, sad, he only wished to disappear somehow.

But as he fell his dad stood up and showed his anxious face,
Which to the boy so clearly said: "Get up and win the race."

He quickly rose, no damage done, --Behind a bit, that's all--
And ran with all his mind and might to make up for his fall.

So anxious to restore himself --To catch up and to win--
His mind went faster than his legs: He slipped and fell again!

He wished then he had quit before with only one disgrace.
"I'm hopeless as a runner now; I shouldn't try to race."

But in the laughing crowd he searched and found his father's face:
That steady look which said again: "Get up and win the race!"

So up he jumped to try again --Ten yards behind the last--
"If I'm to gain those yards," he thought "I've got to move real fast."

Exerting everything he had he regained eight or ten,
But trying so hard to catch the lead he slipped and fell again!

Defeat! He lied there silently --A tear dropped from his eye--
"There's no sense running any more; Three strikes: I'm out! Why try?"

The will to rise had disappeared; All hope had fled away;
So far behind, so error prone; A loser all the way.

"I've lost, so what's the use," he thought. "I'll live with my
disgrace."
But then he thought about his dad who soon he'd have to face.

"Get up," an echo sounded low. "Get up and take your place;
You were not meant for failure here. Get up and win the race."

"With borrowed will get up," it said, "You haven't lost at all.
For winning is no more than this: To rise each time you fall."

So up he rose to run once more, and with a new commit
He resolved that win or lose at least he wouldn't quit.

So far behind the others now, --The most he'd ever been--
Still he gave it all he had and ran as though to win.

Three times he'd fallen, stumbling; Three times he rose again;
Too far behind to hope to win he still ran to the end.

They cheered the winning runner as he crossed the line first place;
Head high, and proud, and happy; No falling, no disgrace.

But when the fallen youngster crossed the line last place,
The crowd gave him the greater cheer for finishing the race.

And even though he came in last with head bowed low, unproud,
You would have thought he'd won the race, to listen to the crowd.

And to his dad he sadly said, "I didn't do too well."
"To me, you won," his father said. "You rose each time you fell."

Now when things seem dark and hard and difficult to face,
The memory of that little boy helps me in my race.

For all of life is like that race, with ups and downs and all.
And all you have to do to win, is rise each time you fall.

"Quit! Give up! You're beaten!" They still shout in my face.
But another voice with me says: "GET UP AND WIN THE RACE!"


Prov 24:16
16 "For a righteous man may fall seven times
And rise again"
NKJV

Sugar Cane Juice from Sugar Canes

Hard pressed.

JXTA - New Toy For AY0809

3.20 am, struggling with JXTA Shell. :(

Promises Follow After Expansion

About 3 months ago, I had an invitation to an event where there were many successful people attending. Initially I was not exactly very comfortable to go, in fact I felt inferior. I could almost imagined the people there saying, "25 years old and you are still in Polytechnic?". Having this thought in mind, I was struggling between attending and not attending. God is good, He always brings about illumination which leads to breakthroughs. He simply spoke about the importance of knowing our identity.

Everyone of us need to know our identity.

Knowing it will give us a sense of belonging and confidence.

When we know and trust who we are in Christ, we will have the confidence of who we are now and who we are going to be in the future.

Have the mindset and capacity according to who we want to be in the future regardless of who we are right now and who we are in the past.

• Millionaire in the future? Think like one now.
• Top student in the future? Think like one now.
• Leading a great cell group / connect group? Lead like one now.

We can afford to do it because of our confidence brought by the knowledge of our identity.

It is necessary for us to increase and expand in our mindset and capacity because God would never give us what we cannot handle.

• For e.g. An immature person or a child will not be able to handle a million dollars. Sooner or later he will lose it, regardless how huge the amount is. However given to a person with sufficient capacity and the correct mindset, this million dollars might become two or three or even ten million dollars.

It is always:

1. First the expansion then the inheritance -

• David had to fight the bear, the lion, Goliath and wait many years before he inherited the promises of becoming king.

2. First the expansion then the victory -

• Joshua had to first expand in his security as Moses' successor before becoming a great conqueror with many victories under his name.
  
• Gideon had to expand in his mindset and his self image before gaining the victory over the Midianites.

3. First the expansion then greatness -

• Jabez had to expand in his character first before becoming honorable in God's sight.

Run like giants today, don't hop like grasshoppers. :)

Fruitfulness

One of the important aspect in life is really fruitfulness. In my opinion, the 3 major areas that we need to be fruitful is in our relationships, the work of our hands and the kingdom of God.

Having looked around, very often we would hear of many different excuses of not being fruitful. One of which would be there is a problem with the 'harvest'.

Just six years ago, I was a person with no accomplishments and no direction in life. When others would come and ask me this question: "Why did you fail in your studies?", the first answer that I would often reply back would be: "I am not made to study. What I was studying was too hard, it would drive me crazy to get to a level to pass them.". In my mind, my failure is due to that which was given to me was an impossible task, something with a problem.

Isn't this very true, many people carry this mindset. Recently God showed me something which gave me a new perspective towards fruitfulness. I remembered clearly the phrase that was impressed within my heart: "Unfruitfulness is a mindset problem, not a harvest-problem.".

Jesus says in Matt 9:36-37

Then He said to His disciples, "The harvest truly is plentiful, but the laborers are few."

Notice, the problem was with the laborers, not with the harvest. In fact, the harvest is good, it is plentiful! Probably, the laborers have a mindset which is either lazy, cannot be done, cannot be bothered. I remembered my mindset when I approached my studies when I was younger was that even before I tried, in my mind I already given a verdict that I cannot do it well, so what for bother. Thus, it made me lazy and not willing to try at all, eventually leading to failure and unfruitfulness.

One of the essential key to fruitfulness is knowing that we are chosen, appointed and given the abilities to produce fruit in all that we do.

John 15:16-17

"You did not choose Me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit, and that your fruit should remain, that whatever you ask the Father in My name He may give you. "

Just a year ago, my mentor shared a powerful truth with me, which has impacted me deeply.

Eph 1:4-5

"just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, "

God has called and chosen us even before the forming of the world and in line with that, knowing that man being imperfect having the ability to fail, He provided us a way out even before we fail.

Rev 13:8

"All who dwell on the earth will worship him, whose names have not been written in the Book of Life of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world."

Notice, Jesus was the sacrifice for us even before anything happened. This is just like God giving us unlimited 'Get out of Jail' cards in Monopoly. He has provided a way out for us in every situation. Thus though we might fail from time to time, but eventually if we continue and not be weary in giving our best, we will end up in being successful, taking away every excuse of being failures in life.

With a renewed mindset, let's start being fruitful!

Penning Down My Revelations, Dreams & Visions

Hab 2:2-3
Then the LORD answered me and said:

"Write the vision
And make it plain on tablets,
That he may run who reads it.
For the vision is yet for an appointed time;
But at the end it will speak, and it will not lie.
Though it tarries, wait for it;
Because it will surely come,
It will not tarry."

If you can't write out what is in your heart, probably you have not really thought it through. Cheers! :)

1st Quarter Evaluation

It's the 26th of March already and a third of the year has just passed by. In my mind, I can only think of one thing to describe how these 3 months have been - a Roller Coaster ride. Here's a recap of some of the highlights: -

• Ended my AY0708 with an Excellent GPA of 4.0 :)
  
• Had a traumatic car accident
• Had a wonderful Easter celebration

Indeed this year, I have went to the peak of the mountain of victory and the lowest valley of death, but nevertheless I stand tall because I am on the shoulders of a Mighty Giant.

In the midst of all these, an encouragement from my dearest Friend keeps me going.

Just 3 days after the terrible accident happened, I was feeling very discouraged and found no strength to do anything. I was waiting at the bus stop for my bus to come and was feeling tremendously edgy. In my heart, I was complaining, angry and feeling sorry for the events that turned out in my life. Then God spoke to me, " Hey, look at the sky." As March 2008 was a month of record rainfall, the sky was overcast with gloomy clouds. I mumbled in my heart, "Ya right! Even the clouds look bad. Things are definitely bad, there's no sun at all! How terrible a situation I am in!" At that instance, I suddenly had a revelation. God impressed within my heart saying, "Surely the overcast clouds are blocking the sun. Things look bad and the rain is definitely coming. However, remember the rain that falls is given the responsibility to water the harvest you are sowing for. And further more, how long can the rain last? Eventually, the rain will run out and the clouds will be gone, the sun is going to come out."

How true it is, no trials or tribulations will last forever.

Rom 5:3-4
And not only that, but we also glory in tribulations, knowing that tribulation produces perseverance; and perseverance, character; and character, hope.

I am indeed coming out stronger, with a greater anointing for the rest of this exciting year, 2008.


PS: Anyway this is my favorite birthday present from my beloved CG, N363! Thanks guys!