A Just And Merciful God

• This post, is in response to dear Dan, who asked a question in comment to my post, :("However, this angered the Lord and caused the city to be hit by a plague" if God is all that great and sacred,shouldn't he be willing to forgive all that we do? shouldn't he willing to accept our flaws? why must God ask for something in return? why can't he bless us and love us irregardless of whether we trust him or not..?)
• I am really glad someone had actually read my blog, thought about it and posted a question. Not sure from which part of the bible did Dan got that verse from as there were many cities hit by a plague, but it doesn't matter. I believe he is just showing that God did got angered and punished some people for their sins.
• So Dan asked me, shouldn't God be forgiving and accept our flaws if He is all great sacred? Yes, in fact, God is forgiving and has accepted the fact that we are all imperfect. All of us are sinners, God understands that full well. Thats why He prepared for this by sending His own son Jesus to die on the cross for all of our sins. In fact, by sending His son to die for us, God has already shown that He has already forgiven us for our sins. Let me show you how. In the old testament of the bible, that is before Jesus took the sins for us all, people who sinned against the Lord would be burnt, swallowed by the earth and most commonly, stoned to death. That isn't too forgiving compared what we have now right? We don't see people getting punished by God for their sins anymore, no cities get burnt or hit by a plague because of their sins, no one gets stoned to death for committing adultery. No. God has in fact already forgiven us.
• Let me give a real life example. Lets take sins as a crime, which it is, and that would make us all criminals as we are all sinners. We face the judge in court and we are sentenced to a fine. We got no money to pay and thus will need to go to jail. Just as we are getting pulled to jail, someone comes into the courtroom and offers to pay up the fine for us so we don't have to go to jail. That person is Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ has already put up His life to pay for our sins so that we don't have to go to hell. That in fact is an act of forgiveness by God already, as in John 3:16 say "For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life."
• So you would ask me, if God is forgiving and accepts our flaws, why do us christians still preach about hell? Shouldn't everybody go to heaven coz God has already forgiven all of us? Well, thats very logical. However, this isn't entirely true. You see, God has given Jesus Christ to die for us, and thus taking our sins so that we can be free and go to heaven. This is a gift to us. God gave this free, as a present. But why are people still going to hell? Thats because these people didn't accept this gift. People didn't accept Jesus Christ as their Lord and saviour. You see, if someone gives you a present and you rejects it, do you think you will get to keep the present? Of course not. If you rejects Jesus Christ, then of course you will not receive this forgiveness and salvation that Jesus Christ has brought with His death.
• Ok, back to the courtroom example. Say the person offers to pay up your fine, and you say "no I do not need you to pay my fine for me." Do you think the person will still pay up for your fine? No way. It works the same way here.
• Then you ask me, why do God have to punish those who sinned then? Why must God even punish people? Why did God create hell anyway? My answer is simple, God is a just God. This means that He has justice and simply cannot let those who are not repentful and sinful get their way to eternal life in heaven. My God is not a God who slacks and just let people off in their sinful nature. My God has His principles and is just, and therefore must punish people who sinned. It is just like the judge in the courtroom, He has to be just and issue punishment accordingly so that He is not seen as corrupted and without principles. Would you want to serve a God who lets murderers, rapists and thieves who has not repented of their ways to get the same salvation as you? Of course not. Because you will say that it is unfair as you have been a kind person all your life. God understands that. God don't let the crooks go free without paying for their sins. And the only way to pay for our sins is through Christ, or to go to hell ourselves, its our choice.
• Why must God ask for something in return? Why can't He bless us regardless of whether we trust Him or not? This is interesting. Did God ask for anything in return? Did God say that you must give Him $1000000 for Him to bless you? Of course not. God simply asked for us to trust Him and have faith in Him. It works in a very simple way. Let me give an example to illustrate this. Say your car broke down and you cannot figure out how to fix it. Some guy walks past and offers a helping hand. And your reply is "Are you sure you can fix this? You don't look like someone who knows how to fix this. I think I better do it myself." Do you think that person will help you to fix the car? Of course not. He will just walk off because you did not have faith and appreciate his help. Same thing with God, how can God bless you and help you if you do not believe that He can do it? That is why I say that we must have faith and then God can help us. And yes, regardless of whether we trust Him or not, God has already loved us, thats why He gave us His son to die. "For God so loved the world..." John 3:16 didn't say for God so loved the christians. No. Its the world. God loves everyone, regardless of whether they trust Him or not.
• So, I hope that after reading this, many doubts about God can be clarified. And please, if there are still any doubts, feel free to comment. Don't hold it back. Don't procastinate. Everyone deserves to know the whole truth so that they will get a chance to be saved as well.

Us VS God

• Many a times, we get into a struggle with God. Its not that we have grown cold in our faith, its not that we are losing our faith, its just that some priorities get in front of our God. And these priorities might not be bad. They don't have to be drinking, smoking, clubbing, gambling etc. They can be healthy activites such as simple work or studies. I take one example: we say we cannot go for a church activity because exams are near and we have to study. Reasonable. Logical. Acceptable. Thats for the "exams are near and we have to study" part. Yet, by doing this, we are quite showing that we do not trust that God can pull us through, and we are simply doing what we can by ourselves to help ourselves. Yes, we still pray that God can help us, but we are sacrificing time that used to be set for God to be used for our studies, just to be a fail-safe.
• I am not saying that studying for exams is wrong. It is important to study for exams. It is definitely needed to prepare ourselves for the exams. However, we ask ourselves one question - will God help us more? Or will our own studying help us more? If we have faith in God, then of course we will choose the former one. Note, I am not saying that we do not need to study, thats coz God only helps those who helps themselves. What I am saying is that why do we want to sacrifice time that used to be for God, to be used for our studying? How much can we exactly put into our head in that few hours that we decide to use for studying?
• Studying for exams is very logical. It is important. Yet many a times, God works in very illogical ways. I take the example of Joshua chapter 6 from the bible. The Israelites were told to march around the city of Jericho for six days, with priests and horns. Then on the 7th day, they will have to march 7 times around the city and sound a loud blast so that the city wall will fall. Ok, totally illogical here. Instead of charging straight into the city to attack, they are told to march around with all their men without doing anything? I am sure the enemies in Jericho must be laughing at them when they saw the march. "What clowns" they must have said. Yet, as we read on, we saw the walls of Jericho eventually fell as the Israelites did what they were told to. It is because God does not need to be logical to work things out. God just needs us to trust in Him.
• We must stay trusting to God always. It is very important. We see in 2 Samuel chapter 24 that David counted his men, just to see how strong he was. However, this angered the Lord and caused the city to be hit by a plague. In 2 Samuel 24:10, we see that David actually exclaimed that he had sinned greatly. Why? Seeing how mighty your army is very logical thing to do, what? Why is it a sin leh? Well, it is simply because by doing that, David is seeing how powerful he is capable on his own, and is relying less on God. Isn't this the same thing when we decide that we need to rely on our own strength rather than relying on God for our studies?
• Lets get this straight. I am not saying that we should all give up our studies and just go serve God everyday. No. I am just saying that even when we need to make more time for studies, that time cannot come from God's time. We need to have faith that when we actually spend our time to serve God, God will help us even more and pull us to even greater heights. That is the faith that we must have. Yes, studying on our own will only get us so far, thats coz its still our humanly abilities. But studying and relying on God will get us beyond our limits, thats coz the strength of God is limitless and His arms never fails to reach us when we trust in Him.

Track And Field - Evangel Style

• Yesterday, which is 9th september, was the 1 day special track and field event for Heart.Sports Evangel. Ya, its called Track and Field and Supergames. So basically theres the normal running events - 100m, 200m, 400m, 800m, 4 X 100m, 4 X 200m, both men and women. Each region sent 2 person to run per event. As for supergames, I am not too sure what are the games but theres Tug-Of-War, and some other telematches and a poison volleyballoon game.
• So, I basically skip the details as I did not pay much attention at the event. But I do know that region B, my region, managed to clinch 1st for 800m (by Commando Cedric) and 4 x 200m. Impressive results. Also, Region B won all the other regions to win champion for the Tug-Of-War event. Power heavyweights like Chester and Derrick definitely added much strength to the region's pull. Chester even wore jungle boots (when Ton asked him to bring boots, Chester didn't know he meant soccer boots) and looked like a gold miner.
• As for me, I represented the region for the 400m event with Chun Seng. Started off very slowly, I was last for half of the race. Then at the halfway mark, I start to put one gear up, then another gear, then another gear. Untill eventually I managed to catch a 2nd for the region. I was glad. The guy who got 1st was really good, he didn't slow down. Hehe, I learnt the wait then kill techniques from the documentaries I watched whereby the lions will wait for the prey to tire down then pounce for the attack. Also learnt the pushing gear technique from Weihong who paced me earlier in the morning and taught me some tips on running.
• Another note is that the Melvin really did very well. He ran pretty fast for 200m but due to the cramp track, was only able to make it about 3rd or something. He also helped to win the 4 X 200m for region B! And the thing is he wasn't even supposed to run as he was reluctant to come for the event, but after much persuasion, he came. Then the guy who was supposed to run for 200m didn't come, so put Melvin lo. Wah, he surprised everybody.
• So the event was concluded and region B was declared the overall winner of the event. Yeah! Region B managed to get champion for supergames and a close second for the track events against powerhouse region A. Felt really nice to know that we did well.

Messed Up Interview

Well, this is a rather old clip but I just forgot to put it up. Theres actually supposed to be an interview with an IT expert on some case between Apple Music and Apple Computers over some music downloading thing. Thats not the main point. The thing is, they mistook this guy in the video as the expert and just brought him ON AIR. Note he is no expert, and he has no idea what the heck was going on. He then gave a "FACE OF HORROR" and went on answering the questions as if he was an expert. Funny guy, he's just so calm when answering the questions, even though the answers were just out of point. Even the interviewer was caught in a shock and could not talk properly at the end of the clip.

Don's 10 Rules To Good Leadership

1. Lead by example. Do what you want your followers to do. Don't do what you don't want your followers to do.
2. Put yourself on the line. Take all the shit when it comes. Don't ever try to push the blame.
3. Share the rewards. When theres a reward, share it with your followers, don't enjoy it yourself.
4. Serve. Being a leader is to serve the followers, not the followers serve you.
5. Never focus on the position. Don't focus so much on you being a leader, focus on how you can serve out your duties.
6. Be proactive. Thats how you lead a group. A passive leader is basically dead.
7. Sacrifice. Your time, your resources, sacrifice, you know you need to.
8. Always be the first to try things out. If you have something new to try, don't make others do it for you.
9. Do the most work in the group. Thats how you can make the group work.
10. Leading with a whip works only on the outside. Leading with a heart works on the inside.

Count On Me Singapore

Well, no idea when this one came out. Old video, not exactly great singing but still... Count On Me Singapore!!!!! Wooooo!!!

Bronze!

• Today marked a significant day in my life. I got another medal for a race. Yes, I have got other trophies before from my other events such as cross country in my secondary years, but what made it significant today is that this medal could easily be the first and the last one I receive in my time in the junior college.
• 3rd for running the 8 x 100m race event. Relay effort, team's glory, but no doubt still a race, still I felt good about it. Well, my team, which is made up of people in my class, trained abit, specifically about 5 minutes a week after PE lessons. Well, some effort. For me, individually, I had a 9km cycling lap around CCK just 2 days before the race. Still, some effort la.
• So on the event day itself, which is today, its time to give it our best. Well, we are definitely not fantastic runners and we certainly are far from the best runners in the school, but we want to make it worthwhile. How to make it worthwhile? Giving it our best. Last year, my class took part in the same event but a small mistake caused the whole team to fall, we were last. This time, we gave it all we had.
• Well, details aside, we managed to make it 3rd, even after a small confusion between another person in the team and me. This means we got ourselves bronze! I was so glad, finally I get a medal in the JC, something at least for me to remember. Nothing much, comparing it to all the gold and champions in the other more exciting events, but still, it is a medal. And it is still something. And I got a box of chocolates. :)
  

Mr Strong Words

Check out this video interview with George Gallaway on the Israel-Lebanon war. If we can absorb this, I tell you, our GP arguments will be solid ah!

Crumpler-er

On 15th August 2006, I officially became a crumpler owner. Yes, crumpler bag. I join in the ranks of many others to own a crumpler bag. Its my first crumpler and jeez, its probably the most expensive bag I have ever bought. The bag is called Team Player, and its big. Big enough to store so many things! I have always wanted to own a crumpler, to see how it is like, why the heck it is so expensive. And yep, its good. Comfortable, theres this weight reduction thing as well, supposed to be durable and it looks pretty cool too. And yes, it gives you the 'crumpler feel' when you carry it. Haha! Maybe its just because of the price!

The Whole Idea Of FAITH

• A friend and I had a chat during one of the breaks when I was in college about a week ago. Both of us being christians, we started discussing about our religion and God. Then she asked a question which I might have thought of, but never really taken note of. She asked me, "If God already know the future, and that He know what is in stored for us, why does He still want us to go through life, why can't He just place us all in the future, coz its gonna happen anyway, isn't it?" I was shocked for a moment. She was right, at least partially. God does know our future, how we will be like and where we will all be. She was right in saying that God has the ability to just place us all in where we were supposed to be. God can do everything. God can even brainwash all of us and turn us all into christians, serving Him with no complains. God can do all these. Why didn't He?
• This set me thinking. And soon after, I began asking God these questions. The answer? Faith. Faith is what christianity is all about. According to dictionary.com, faith is: Confident belief in the truth, value, or trustworthiness of a person, idea, or thing. Thats faith in the eyes of the world. To have trust for something. To trust that this post will be posted on the internet is faith. But thats according to the world. To christians, what is faith? Well, I copied this from my outreach programme: Faith is not mere intellectual assent, Faith is believing that Jesus Christ is our key to salvation, Faith is the Key that opens the door to heaven.
• Yes, faith = trusting Jesus Christ for salvation. If God brainwashed all the humans and made them all christians, we won't have faith, coz it is built in us, it is not faith. What God wants in all of us is real faith that He is real, that He will be able to save us all, thats why He gave all of us a free will. A will to choose.
• You see, Ephesians 2:8 says "For it is by grace that you have been saved through faith - and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God" It is through faith that we have been saved! Faith is the key to salvation. Believing in Jesus Christ is the key to salvation. And to see the faith in us is the reason why God does not brainwash people, it is the reason why God does not skip the process of living on Earth for us. It is to see the faith built in us, to see the faith in us that we can trust and believe something which we cannot see. In John 20:24-29, it is said that Thomas did not want to believe Jesus rose again unless he see Jesus. Eventually, Jesus appeared to him and said "Because you have seen me, you have believed; blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed." Yep, that is exactly what faith is all about.
• Then you ask me, why bother about faith? Why is God so concerned about people having faith in Him? Well, all I can say is, that God is concerned about our heart. He loves us all and wants all of us to go to heaven to be with Him. But we need to deserve it. Thats where faith come in. Faith is the key to heaven, as I have said earlier. When we have faith in God, we can be in heaven coz God knows our heart. Faith is the best thing that we can offer God, thats why it is the key to heaven.
• Why is faith the best thing we can offer? Matthew 8:5-13 tells us about the faith of a centurion, who has so much faith in Jesus as he told Jesus that Jesus need only to say the word so that his servant can be healed. This is so great that in verse 10, it said: "When Jesus heard this, he was astonished..." Wah, Jesus astonished leh! Can you make the son of God astonished? Only by faith can you do that! Faith is such a wonderful thing!
• That is why we as Christians focus so much on believing. It is because only by truly believing in your heart that Jesus can provide you with salvation that you can truly receive slavation and go to heaven. It is not just the mere act of accepting Christ as your Lord and saviour, faith is a very important component afterall!

Interesting

I saw this somewhere. Interesting. Check it out.

• • BIBLE = Basic Instructions Before Leaving Earth
  • God always answer our prayers, but sometimes, His answer is "No".
  • God's methods are man, and man's method should always be God.

A Nation Celebrates

9th August 2006, Singapore celebrates its 41st year of independence. Perhaps
many Singaporeans has already been desensitized by all the seemingly identical
and repeated celebrations that happen on this day, such that 9th August holds no
significance at all to the people of the nation. But we must think, know and
remember the significance of this day, of this independence, in order to fully
understand why many people, including yours truly, hold this particular day
close their hearts.

9th August 1965, thats exactly 41 years ago. A time of turmoil for an island
of people. Led by then Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew, Singaporeans faced a period
of time that could easily mean the end of an entire nation. Singapore, a part of
Malaysia at that time, faces seperation from the peninsula due to differences
that could not be resolved by both parties. Lee Kuan Yew, knowing that Malaysia
would be vital to our survival, could only weep as he announces this seperation
to the nation. No one thought good of Singapore. Lee Kuan Yew himself probably
foresaw what problems could come in the way of the country now that it is by
itself, but he had one thing in mind - he was not going to admit defeat.

So after that fateful day on 1965, the prime minister then and minister
mentor now set plans to work things out. Everybody looked at how Singapore
struggled to climb out of the pit that we were in. Unemployment, a lack of a
defence force, lack of investments, poor housing, poor education, high crime
rates, poor organization of the city, lack of health services, lack of food etc.
Everything that a poorly managed country can face. It was definitely a deep low
for Singapore. But no, Lee Kuan Yew won't take it this way, the rest of
Singapore won't take it lying down as well. Singapore, as a nation, was
determined to pull themselves out of it.

So the problems were tackled one by one. The HDB was set up and all
Singaporeans were housed up in their flats. National Service was made compulsory
and Singapore had its own defence force. Primary education made compulsory and
we saw ourselves educated. The plans just rolled out and we see the knot in our
nation getting untangled.

Right now, look at ourselves. 41 years later, from being looked down and
trying to save our own lives, Singapore has grown to be world class, being
leaders in industries, and helping others in need. And now, we are becoming a
global city. This didn't come easy. It came with trials, turmoils, and
difficulties. And this is the reason we celebrate.

What makes a nation? Is it the place? Is it the government? Is it the
resources? No, its the people. We, Singaporeans, make Singapore to be what it
is. A nation cannot function if it is not united. That is why we have these
celebrations. To remind us of where we come from, and to celebrate our success
today. To keep us united, for it was unity that helped Singapore from becoming a
3rd world country to a 1st world country.

I love my country. I love Singapore. I am proud to be Singaporean. And 9th
August always have a special place in my heart.

Marlin does it again!

• Yes, we did it again! 5-a-side field soccer champions! Woohoo! It was a 1 day event and there were a total of 12 matches, 3 match per team and 15minutes per game. Knockout system so that means you need to win all your matches. If you lose once, you won't be champ.
• So we start off with the qualifying part. Against C1. We are called B1. 2 teams per region so there B1 and B2. Won this one 2-1. Oh yeah, I am the goalkeeper. The guy 'oleh' me, putting the ball into the goal through my legs. Aiyo, so paiseh lah... Thank God we got 2 goals :)
• So we are into the major semi-final. The loser go to the minor semi-final, they fight for 5th, 6th, 7th and 8th position. The winner fight for 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th position. And in the major semis, we won again by 3-1! Yeah! We scored 2 goals from freekicks, pro la! And that 1 goal I conceded turned out to be an own goal from one of my defenders. Aiya... nvm la, still managed to win. :)
• Now, we are into the major final. This means we fight for 1st or 2nd position. Alright, this game was really stressful. I was already feeling the pressure even before the game started. Then I went in to do my thing. Came an opportunity for my opponent. My defence was open and I was the only thing between the opponent and the goal. The guy shot and aimed to 'oleh' me again. It didn't happen, I learnt my lesson and it hit my legs instead. So no goal for them. Then the same thing happened again. I was left by myself. The guy shot up and I just raised my hands. It hit my hands! Wah, thank God, turned out to be pretty nice save. After that, I was replaced by Chun Seng as goalkeeper so I hanged up my gloves early. Then we scored a goal from a freekick! But the opponent also scored a goal shortly after that and we went into penalty shootout.
• Each team gets 3 shots and winner to the best of 3. Both teams got their 1st goal. Then the opponent missed their 2nd while we got ours. After that, we scored again and it was over! We won 3-1 on penalties. And yes, we are the champions, again! Food vouchers!!!! Alright! :o)

Past vs Present

Compare this
guy to











This guy....



They are about 17 years apart. 2 picture says a thousand million
words.

The Gents

• No, its not the toilet I am referring to here. Its a special group of men. Actually, only 3 men. Officially, they are: Melvin Kwok Zhan Hao, 19, Singapore polytechnic student, son of a boss, muscle man and faithful member of Evangel. Luke Phua Kay Kiat, 19, Republic polytechnic student, NCC officer, musically inclined and faithful member of Evangel. Don Ang Meng Hui, 18, Pioneer junior college student, Scout venture, blogger and faithful member of Evangel. What a team!
• So what is Gents? According to Mr. Melvin Kwok, member of Gents, it is: G-Gentlemen, E-Special, N-Noble, T-Trustworthy, s-Suave. Well, according to Mr Ang, member of Gents, it simply means: Gentleman. Mr Luke Phua did not have any comments regarding this issue.
• Gents, est 2006 1st started when a group of guys went for a "Gents Night" at blk 925 coffeeshop. Apparently, only gentlemen could join the event. I forgot exactly who was at the event. It is roughly 1 or 2 weeks later when Gents was officially formed. Since its formation, the Gents have produced 1 mtv and is planning to join in singing contests. Gents love singing for some reason. Gents only sing christian songs.
• Gents are expected to be gentlemanly at all times, and this means to be courteous, polite, generous. Even though we have alot of fun, Gents never forget to do work for God. We work as a team to evangelise and outreach as well as encourage each other. Gents also help each other to grow in the Christian faith. It is a very important policy for Gents to be God-seeking.
• Also, Gents like to take picture. The Gents have taken quite a number of shots since its formation and one of the most important picture is the one we took at Ocean Leagues Super Captain Ball final. All members of the Gents fought very hard so that they will be able to take the winning picture for the tournament. Ang Meng Hui got winded after a collision with a random short gangster, earning a yellow card in the process, Melvin Kwok sprained his ankle and Luke Phua got sweaty. Apparently, the Gents were so excited about taking the picture that only they stood up when the whole team sat down.
• And thats for the Gents. Do take note that the Gents is very exclusive and will not accept new members easily. Thank You.

Issues Of The Head

• If you had watched the World Cup final which saw Italy win their 3rd world cup through penalty shoot-outs, or if you have been following the news, you would have known that something major happened. No, its not the Azzuris winning the world cup, or the way Zidane scored the penalty. Its still about Zidane, but its about him head-butting Materazzi, the italian player who scored the equaliser and eventually scoring the last penalty that cost France their world cup.
• For those who don't know, it was 20 minutes into extra time, 10 minutes before the penalty shoot-out when Materazzi fall onto the ground. No one knows why, but referee stops play. The 4th official then goes up to the referee to speak to him. Zidane gets red card. Video replay show that Zidane planted his head into Materazzi's chest, hard. It was like that dinosaur famous for head butting each other.
• Of course, the question we want to know is, why? Why did Zidane do that to make his career end in such a way? Why did he do that to leave the French team fighting desperately without him? Why?
• Many people call Zidane irresponsible, rough, violent, senseless. That his actions cost the French their world cup. But is he all that? We must look the issues from a different point of view.
• First of all, let us all know that this is his last game as a professional footballer. Who don't want to end his career on a high? I am sure everybody, including Zidane looks forward to finishing their football career on a high, without a card. If so, why did Zidane do that?
• I am sure he knows that when he headbutted Materazzi, a red card would be coming his way. An experienced player, great footballer, Zidane definitely knew the rules. He was definitely mature at the age of 34. With all these in mind, something real bad must have caused Zidane to do what he did.
• What happened? Lip-readers speculate that Materazzi called him "Son of a terrorist whore", but Zidane claimed yesterday that it was not the case. Instead, he claimed that Materazzi insulted his mother and sister.
• Zidane's story: Apparently, both players were groping each other in the penalty box and Materazzi was pulling Zidane's shirt. So Zidane said that if he wanted the shirt, he could have it after the match(people exchange jerseys in views of friendship). Then Materazzi insulted his mother and sister. Materazzi repeated it and Zidane walked away. Materazzi then followed Zidane and repeated what he said again. It was then that Zidane lost his cool and ram his head into Materazzi.
• Materazzi's story: Apparently, they were getting into alot of physical contact. Zidane then looked at Materazzi with an air of pride, saying that if he wanted the shirt that badly, he could have it. Materazzi said he then insulted Zidane but not his mother.
• Should Zidane have done that? I say yes. Zidane did something wrong, but its something that Materazzi deserved it. No regrets by Zidane. He was just concerned about his pride. Not just his, his family as well.
• People say that he should have kept his cool and just accept it, coz its the world cup final and the cup is at stake. But should he? If he did, he is showing that what Materazzi said was right, and his family pride will be compromised. There are things that you can swallow down but there are some that you just can't. Zidane is very proud of his family and I respect him for that.
• Its not that Zidane's action is one that he should be proud of, but its not one to be regretted either. Yes, what he did would have misled many children watching the worldcup, but isn't the wrestling doing a better job at it? Besides should children learn that it is ok to insult people's family and get away with it? That is ok not to respect people because you want to win a golden trophy?
• There are things bigger than football. Yes, it is the world cup. But so? Must you swallow insults directed at your family just because you want to win a trophy made of gold? So you are saying your family is smaller than a cup that comes once every 4 years?
• Many people blame Zidane for losing the world cup. But is that the case? Did he cause France to lose?
• Wait, now think about it. Who brought them to the finals in the first place? Who led the team to victories after victories? Who scored the goals? Who scored the penalty in the final so that they are draw to Italy in the 1st place? Zidane. Its Zidane that helped them to win and get this far. Now why do people want to blame Zidane?
• Yes, what Zidane wasn't right. But it isn't too wrong either. He simply knew that his family was before football. Zidane has given much to football, football is a big part of his life but this is just too much.
• Besides, Italy is playing very cheaply. Knowing that Zidane will react to such insults, it is only normal to think that they will try to throw Zidane off the pitch by making him get a red card. Yes they did it. They won the world cup by doing this. But I am definitely no convinced.

Glory Being Unto God Alone

• 'The king of Sodom said to Abram, "Give me the people and keep the goods for yourself". But Abram said to the king of Sodom, "I have raised my hand to the Lord, God Most High, Creator of heaven and earth, and have taken an oath that I will accept nothing belonging to you, not even a thread or the thong of a sandal, so that you will never be able to say, "I made Abram rich." (Genesis 14:21-23)
• Here we see that after a battle, the king of Sodom wanted to give Abram the loot. However, Abram rejected the loot. And we can see that the main reason for this is that no one will be able to say they made Abram rich.
• This is one thing that we must learn. That we must always seek God in all the needs of our life. Sometimes, blessings may come not from God, so we must be very alert as to not accept them. Why? So that all glory will be unto God and no one else when our needs are met.
• It may sound very stupid. Imagine your financial situation is very tight, you need money badly. One of your friends struck lottery and decided to give you some money to help you out. You did not ask for it, it was a volunteery action by your friend. Will you accept it? I believe many people will. But we need to be alert here. This blessing is not from God, therefore we must not accept it. How could striking a lottery be from God? We need to pray hard and seek God, and when God bestow His blessings upon us, all glory will be unto God alone.
• Why must we be alert in this? Because the devil, Satan, can bestow "blessings" into our lives too. Take note here though, these "blessings" are not real blessings, as they do not come from God. Because they do not come from God, they will not have a positive effect on our life.
• You see, if we start to accept lottery gifts, we will soon forget that our blessings should come from God. We will stop giving glory to God, but give glory to lottery instead. God will not bless us through gambling. Thus, we will start to be further and further away from God. This is what the devil wants to achieve and we must not let it happen!
• Therefore, we must be alert when we receive blessings, so that we can give all glory unto God, and that no one can say that other things blessed us. We must pray hard for God's blessings and know it when it comes. Accept only God's blessings so that no one, the devil included, will be able to say that they have made you rich instead of God.

Giving Blood

• Yesterday, I gave blood at the Evangel's 12th Blood Donation Drive. On official note, this will be my 3rd time donating blood. So what is blood donation? Well, blood donation is just having a needle poked into your arm and then see your blood flow down a little rubber tube into a bag. Many people think its painful, but they are not getting the real story. IN fact, blood donation is just that little bit of pain. Getting a cut on your finger is worse than blood donation, so go imagine.
• So my day starts off with waking up at about 1pm to go to church with my mum for the blood donation. Wanted to take a cab but took the bus, then train, then bus instead. Reached church and registered. The woman at the counter asked me if I ate my lunch, I said no. Well, turned out that I needed to eat before I donate, so I went to the cafeteria at the church to grab a bite. Ate 2 puffs and milo. Then I went on.
• After the registration and the consultation with the doctor, I had to test my blood. This is super familiar coz I had it twice in my previous blood donations, and once at the CMPB medical screening. What they did was to poke my finger with a stapler and then drew blood from there. Then they dropped a drop of my blood into a liquid and see it sink. It is supposed to see the amount of iron in there. Oh ya, the stapler don't hurt at all, its like a red ant that bites your finger, serious!
• After the blood test, I had to wait for my turn. Waited a long time coz the queue was so long! Looks like evangelites are pretty enthusiastic about giving blood! Then its my turn. I don't know why everytime I donate blood, they always choose to draw it from my master hand, my right hand. But nvm. So this is what they did. They squeezed my upper arm with the blood pressure thingy then gave me a toy to squeeze with my hand. Then they applied iodine on my hand and then, poke a needle inside.
• This needle is not the one that draws the blood. It makes your hand numb. When they place it in my arm, there is this burning sensation, but thats all. Scraping a knee is worse I think. Then my hand is numb. So they place this thick needle in. This one draws the blood. Its painless, coz my hand is numb. So the put it in my arm and blood flows into the tube then into the bag. They took some bottles of my blood as well.
• Apperently, they took a rather big bag of me blood. It was a huge bag. I was quite shocked but never really bothered about it. Then the nurse plucked out the needle and put bandage on the spot. And I am done. I relaxed for abit then went to the cafeteria and grabbed a bite. The whole procedure took less than 10 minutes.
• After that, I went to have lunch with my mum. And then, I had my blood donation hang over. I always experience this after blood donation. A headache and feeling very lerthagic. Very tired and sleepy. But its just me. I don't see other people feeling the same thing. So I needed was a sleep. I had a sleep and was fine again. Played FIFA and then blogged. :)
• So my note to people out there. Don't be scared about donating blood, its quite painless. It won't take too much time and it won't kill you. You will still have enough blood. It won't leave much scar on you, and you will feel good after donating. In fact, red blood cells die by itself even when we don't donate blood, so please don't let them go to waste. Donate blood. Your blood won't be able to cleanse sin like Jesus's, but it can surely save lives!

Head. Ache.

• Argh, theres this stupid headache that I am having for about 2 days already. Its like this random pain in the left back brain of mine. What crap. This is bad. IF it continues like this, I might have to see a neurologist. Even worse, sometimes the pain would move to my neck, then to my spine. This is stupid. I wonder what is causing this. Better start asking people to pray for me, and I myself need to add a double dosage of prayer for healing!! I don't wanna die young... :)
• Anyway, about 2hrs and 10 minutes more, we will be witnessing the semi-final match between Germany and Italy. On record, Germany has never ever beaten Italy and the last they met, Italy trashed Germany 4 - 1. Sad. But I have my hopes for Germany. It is their home ground and the crowd is there to make sure they don't lose... I say Germany goes through this time.

Singa the Lion was a good lion...

• and was a very courteous lion, but I think he's by himself for now. A large part of the Singapore population have forsaken Singa as they move on rapidly with their own lives. My point here? Singaporeans have not learnt a single thing from Mr Singa and courtesy is not a word in the Singaporean dictionary.
• Ranked 30th of 35 countries surveyed for courtesy, Singapore definitely did not perform very well. This, despite being preparing for the IMF meeting with 4 millions smiles. What 4 million smiles, all I see are frowns on our cramp little island.
• I got onto the train this afternoon, from choa chu kang to lavender coz I needed to get my passport extended. It was a long journey. And I tell you what, commuters are probably the most ill-mannered people you can find. It starts with boarding the train.
• Yellow lines marked with arrows as to where the people should stand while waiting to board, and instructions to let the passengers alight 1st. Anyone could understand this. Why did SMRT put this instructions? Not so that you will lose that precious sit of yours when you get onto the train, but so that there will be space as you board the train. No, people don't believe that. So when the doors open, the door bargers who are standing directly in front of the door would slam themselves into the people who are alighting. Its like war, with 2 sides slamming into each other. They push and nudge, the people alighting will also push and nudge, the doorway become very cramped, people can't move, time is wasted. The worse thing is, the door-bargers barge into the train with a look as if it is their right of way. When people push them trying to get out of the train, they would give the look as if you have killed their entire family line. And who are these door-bargers? Not just aunties and uncles who don't know what manners mean, but working professionals who know full well that courtesy is very important.
• Then well, you are finally in the train. Packed like a sardine tin. No space to sit, so you will have to stand. Guess who's standing with you. Mr old man who is probably into his 80s. And guess who's sitting on that chair in front of the old man. Mr young adult who is plugged into his earphones pretending the old man did not exist or pretending to be asleep. The old man could only watch as the young adult sits directly below the sign that reads "Please give this seat to people who needs it more than you". Ya, I am suuuuuure that guy can't read.
• Dum dee dum, so the journey goes on. Throughout the ride, I could hear "For the convenience of other passengers, please move to the centre of the car". And I only see myself and a few other people at the centre, a bulk of humans are cramped at the door area. Hey hey, don't worry, theres a reason for this. They are afraid they can't get out of the train! So they want to be as near to the door as possible, making other passengers impossible to get on, or get out of the train. Oh, now we know why they are afraid they can't get out of the train, it is because of people like themselves!
• And its Lavender, I need to get out. I had to say like 10 "excuse me" and pushing around the crowd, pushing against the impatient incoming traffic flow, before I can step onto the platform. And the people I push through to get out, they got very irritated because of my actions, making it seem it is their right to block my way. And I can only wonder.
• So I kept walking, and took the escalator. Then, I saw it. I saw Singa the Lion. He was a small picture on the sign that reads "Please keep left". I thought, "So thats where you had gone!" I look up the escalator, people are on the right side of the escalator.