many thanks...

Sorry for the "long silence" these last two weeks. I want to thank each one of you who have persevered in your prayers for me and others affected by this situation. I've been thinking alot about the future and what I'll probably want to do when all this is over. Meanwhile, even as I wait for things to move, I've decided to spend my time and energy more constructively. I've been buying and reading some books, and will soon start a certification course in Neuro-Linguistic Programming. I hope I'll be able to apply some of the learning personally and that this learning can also open options in the future. I may also be taking a certification course in DISC, a Behavioral Analyst program and in MBTI. For those of you who know me well, you'll probably understand that I love to work and to be on-the-move all the time, and that I don't particularly enjoy being "in limbo" for a long stretch. Hopefully all this can give me a better focus as I wait for things to unfold.

Book Recommendations:

• An Introduction to NLP Neuro-Linguistic Programming : Psychological Skills for Understanding and Influencing People
• The Universal Language DISC
• I'm Stuck, You're Stuck: Breakthrough to Better Work Relationships and Results by Discovering your DiSC Behavioral Style
• Gifts Differing : Understanding Personality Type
• Please Understand Me II: Temperament, Character, Intelligence

Please support Presbyterian High School Carnival!

Just helping out a fellow mission school by publicizing their upcoming carnival.

Here are the details...
Theme: Harmony in Diversity
Date : Saturday, 23 July 2005
Time : 10.00am to 8.30pm
Place : PHS Campus
Nearest MRT Station: Yio Chu Kang
Aims :
to enhance racial harmony; to inculcate an appreciation of different cultures; and to raise at least $100,000 for the funding of site lease for PHS.

If you would like to purchase tickets, make tax-deductible donations or have some queries, do contact Miss Lem Chen Chen at 64543722 (Tel.) or lem_chen_chen@moe.edu.sg (Email).
Incidentally, the current Principal of PHS was the former Vice-principal at ACS(BR).

contentment & happiness...

We often say...

that we don't have time to do what we want or should, but what about those who are in the final stages of cancer?
that we have to go to school each day, but do we think of those who have no school to go to because of poverty or war?
that our family never gets to go for holiday overseas like our neighbours, but aren't we glad just to have family close to us?
that have to drag our feet to work every morning, but how do the jobless live their days?
that we have to walk so much everyday, but have we thought of the boy who has celebral palsy?
that our peers have got their 1st million and we've problems paying our housing loans, but have we thought of those who have lost their homes because of natural calamities?
that our mums are always nagging at us, but what about the orphans who would be happy just to have a mum to call their own?
that our relatives have a 42" Plasma TV whilst we still have the 15 year-old 25" TV, but have we thought of the blind who would be happy just to be able to read the newspapers?
that we often have problems and that they are always so big, but how about those who are terminally ill and a cure can't be found?
that we have so little in life, but don't we have God and those who love and care for us?

Let us count our blessings and be thankful for what we have today!!

suffering and faith...

In his book "In the Eye of the Storm", Max Lucado says this about suffering and faith...

A season of suffering is a small price to pay for a clear view of God.

Faith is not born at the negotiating table where we barter our gifts in exchange for God's goodness. Faith is not an award given to the most learned. It's not a prize given to the most disciplined. It's not a title bequeathed to the most religious.

Faith is a desperate dive out of the sinking boat of human effort and a prayer that God will be there to pull us out of the water.

During this testing period, I come to a point where I realise where human efforts end and God's grace begins. Most of our lives, when we work diligently and with good intent, we are often able to achieve our personal goals. But there are times where, hard as we try, we fail and fall flat on our faces. It's then that we learn that failure can often can be the beginning of faith.