Facts about sheep - Psalm 23

Today I learnt some facts about sheep from my pastor:

Fact 1: Sheep fear they do not have enough to eat. They regurgitate their food and store them up

"The LORD is my shepherd, I shall not be in want. " - Psalm 23:1

Fact 2: Sheep are afraid of water because they are poor swimmers (Pastor: "Look at their legs and you will know.")

"he leads me beside quiet waters" - Psalm 23:2

Fact 3: Sheep needs the shepherd to restore them to their original position when they are turned over. Their legs will become numb and wobbly

"he restores my soul." - Psalm 23:3

Tiramisu @ Jean's Place

Went to Jean's place to make Tiramisu cake for the first time, as spontaneously suggested cos Lennon was supposed to bake it for the CG. Well, he did better by teaching us how to do it online. With his step by step instructions online, we managed to make our very first Tiramisu cake and it tastes really delicious! :) It inspires Tracy to want to learn to bake other cakes :P Good job bro!

The look of satisfaction ... we made it!

Oscar - Jean's dog, the center of attention :)

Jean hard at work, putting the cocoa powder. Final step to the receipe. Still looking good :)

Trying to whisk 5 egg whites by hand till it's fluffy. Yup, by HAND!

Mission accomplished! Look at how thick it is !!

Winning smile... 'This is the last one...After this, I am going to relax."

Proverbs 22:6

"Train a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not turn from it." - Proverbs 22:6

I look at him as he wear his socks, one by one, slowly but carefully in a certain manner. After that, he did the same with his shoes. I asked him, 'Who taught you how to wear your socks and shoes?" He answered, ' My mother.' I smiled to myself.

There are many things which we have learnt at different points in our childhood days like wearing shoes, tying shoelace, making milo, cooking maggi mee. I can't quite recall when exactly did I first learn that skill but somehow, somewhere I picked it up. Now we do them effortlessly (almost). How we picked up a skill determines how we use it in our later years.

As a young christian, we feed on spiritual milk and when we grow up, we feed on solid food. When are the times we first learnt about the basic foundations of the WOG and from who?

"For this very reason, make every effort to add to your faith goodness; and to goodness, knowledge; and to knowledge, self-control; and to self-control, perseverance; and to perseverance, godliness; and to godliness, brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness, love.For if you possess these qualities in increasing measure, they will keep you from being ineffective and unproductive in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ." - 2 Peter 1:5-8

The bible talks about making the effort to grow and in increasing measure. When we are not deliberate in our growth, we find it difficult to capture the essence of the quality we want to grow in. If we want to grow in the area of love and yet we do not seek ways to do so, we might grow in this area through random chances and not in depth. At times we do not even know how and when certain of our values are birthed. However, if we read up on it, ask people, make sense of our experiences...we are then able to get a clearer understanding of love and derive our values of it, which continues to grow in increasing measure.

Your 5 minutes with Someone

I had an enjoyable 5 minutes phone conversation with someone at work today. She is a teacher of one of my children from the Home. My child has not been attending school and she called to find out what happened. After knowing that the child has not returned back to the Home, she asked for her address, wanting to pay her a home visit. I later realised that the teacher is supposedly on MC today but she went back to school to cover her colleague's duties. I asked her why she wasn't at home resting and what she answered surprised me...


Her: I am covering my collegue's duty as she is not around...Have u been to our school?
Me: Yes, I have been to your school
Her: That must be why u enrolled her (the child) into this school right?
Me: When I came to the school, I find the teachers very friendly and the students helpful
Her: This is why I love the school so much and why I return even though I am sick (passionately)
Me: ok...
Her: How is she (the child) feeling about the school?

I was impressed by her dedication to the school and the students, that she feels strongly for the students. It may be a short 5 minutes but it left a deep impression in me. Makes me wonder about the 5 minutes we spend with others daily, in our work, when we are outside etc. There are many people we will only meet once in our lives and how much influence do we have in that meet-up? In The Tipping Point, Gladwell talks about the 3 kinds of people: The Connectors, Maverns and Salesmen. "Sprinkled among every walk of life, in other words, are a handful of people with a truly extraordinary knack of making friends and acquaintances. They are Connectors."

When Jesus came to earth, he met many people, spoke to them and influence them deeply. Despite his short 3 years of ministry, he was able to impact many people and touch their lives. I am sure for each 5 minutes he give to each person he met, he shared his heart and added much value to them.

6 Things to Grow in 2009

I was reading a blog entry and stumble upon 41 things that ministers should do... Find it refreshing and true. Narrowed it down to 6 things I would like to grow in the year 2009. Here goes...

1. Learn from other people. Look out for those who have continued to grow, develop and learn. Be a lifelong learner. Read. Ask others questions. When you are with other people, look for the opportunity to ask good questions. Resist the temptation to spend the bulk of your conversations talking on and on about your church.

16. Cultivate and nurture your friendships. Friends are so important. Good friends have a way of replenishing a person’s soul. Sometimes, my days are very, very stressful. I have found that a brief phone call to a friend or lunch with a friend can be refreshing, like a mini-vacation in the middle of the day.

17. Remember that there is no substitute for face-to-face communication. Yes, e-mail, text messaging, and other forms of communication are all helpful. Yet, they do not take the place of actual conversation with people who are right in front of us. I once heard of a family who spent an evening together — sort of. Throughout the evening, they e-mailed one another. Hmmm. I’m just not sure that is an adequate substitute for real conversation.

25. Each weekend, take time to review the previous week. Pray about the previous week and the upcoming week. Review all of your to do lists, your project lists, and your calendar. (David Allen’s book, Getting Things Done, has been very helpful to me in this regard.)

26. Take care of your body. The whole person needs care and preventive maintenance. It is amazing how some of us can be so attentive to our souls and then ignore or even mistreat our bodies. We are whole persons.

28. Develop at least some friends outside your congregation. This is one of the most important things that I have learned in the last twenty years of ministry. These friendships have nurtured and encouraged me in many ways.

(Taken from http://godhungry.org)