Tuesday, March 20, 2007

Thanksgiving

Thank God for a fruitful last week!

1) Settled our wedding banquet at The Pines! :)
We learnt a lesson about ourselves during this adventure – that we actually are quite concerned about how we feel about the place and how things look.

Here’s the initial story: amazingly both our parents were willing to not have a banquet so we had originally wanted to go for a simple solemnization and buffet. Hehe.. so we were actually quite disappointed with ourselves for succumbing to temptation the moment we signed for it. But I guess we really like the ambience at The Pines, and comparing the prices, it is really quite worth it to have a banquet there. I think our parents and friends will enjoy the ambience and food too. Heard it’s good. :) Anyway, though we will be spending more on the banquet, we hope to plan a good program for the wedding that’d express our thanksgiving to God and all our friends. That’d make sure the money is well-spent. :) Praying that God will guide us in this and that the wedding will be memorable and impactful for all who attend!

2) Signed up for a pretty good bridal photo package in JB. :D
Thank God for helping us to keep costs low for this! At this moment, we are really quite pleased with this incident because we had specificially prayed for a good studio with good service, good photography, nice gowns and a good rate. And when we went JB to look around, this studio just so happened to be having a promotion! And God really answered our prayers for all the 4 points above! Our hearts were filled with thanksgiving and gladness because we also felt that we had learnt our lesson from the banquet and grateful that God helped us keep to our budget. :D Yeahz!
If the service is good throughout the entire process, will recommend this studio to those getting married next yr. :) Can earn privilege points.. haha..

On hindsight also, I think we prayed much more for the bridal studio than for the banquet. Lesson learnt – be more prayerful!
Action point – pray for every part of our weddings plans. Best if in specific details!


3) Had a fruitful shepherding with my two sheep.
We discussed about how we can keep God’s righteousness and be wise in some of our work situations. For e.g. if in order to achieve the end result, we cannot reveal A during the process, how shd we respond when we are asked whether we are A? should we say no? Wouldn’t that be lying? [For confidential reasons, I am unable to provide the exact example… heh..]
It was an interesting discussion. After that we also discussed through some of the questions they had about the OT – such as Numbers 22, why was God angry with Balaam for going with the princes of Balak when it seemed that he did agree to it initially?
It was a refreshing time to delve deeper into the Word and learn from it. :) We shall have it more often.

4) Exercised.
Played badminton with ST during my leave and also on Saturday. This Monday I also went jogging. Yeah! Thank God for ST. :D He helps to discipline me to exercise and keep fit! Finally I see myself getting down to fulfilling my New Year resolution of exercising regularly!

5) Also, God has blessed me in my family
They (all of my immediate family- father, mother and brother!) now know I am planning to go Ecuador and do not have violent objections! In fact my parents seem quite supportive. My brother is quite shocked and I think I really surprise him with this decision. He has lots of questions- why South America? Why Ecuador? How will you find a job? They speak Portuguese don’t they? (Explained that they speak Spanish and I’m learning it now. Very fun! :) ) God help me to continue wisely in my planning so that their worries will be allayed and that this may even be an opportunity to bring them closer to God!

6) Two of my very good friends – Huaqiang and Sarah are in courtship! Woohoo!~
Very happy for them! Their story – how God brought them together, is an amazing one as well – about obeying God and listening to His perfect timing. :D

Ok, I have more thanksgiving points actually. But I must learn to keep my blogs shorter.

Started photoshoot today. So far so good. Pray for physical strength, creative ideas, efficiency and everything to be smooth!

Saturday, March 10, 2007

The Pursuit of HappYness

I watched The Pursuit of HappYness on Thursday with Liyi and Sharon. A very-worth-it, touching and meaningful show to catch. =)

Simple synopsis:
A rags-to-riches story based on the real life story of Chris Gardner. An unsuccessful salesperson who becomes a single parent to his 5 yr old child and then ends up evicted and homeless with his child. His chance comes when he is offered an internship at a prominent stock-broking firm but the internship is a no-pay job for 6 months…

Main themes: Pursuing your dreams, faith and determination, a father’s love.

You can read more about the show and the actors (Will Smith and his son, Jaden) as well as the real Chris Gardner from this Oprah Winfrey website:

http://www2.oprah.com/tows/slide/200611/20061122/slide_20061122_350_101.jhtml

It’s the kind of show that has scenes that will make you feel for the actors and think about people or events in your life…

Some of the scenes that really touched me and/or made me reflect (not in chronological order or any order of importance):

1) Chris Gardner and Chris junior, homeless and staying overnight at the subway station’s toilet. Chris Gardner pretending it’s a game with his son and they’re staying in a cave for the night… and then weeping when his son falls asleep.
The thoughts and feeling of failure as a parent… as well as the feelings of shock, desperation and despair at the sudden losses..

2) The quarrels and unhappiness between Chris’s wife and him before she left. The worries about money, survival, providing for their child…
Made me reflect and ponder about the difficulties of marriage life. The vows to be with each other in sickness and in health, in poverty and in riches.. and how when you really face the toughest circumstances that are so real and so painful, will your commitment to your vows waver?
Yet another area we so desperately need God to help us with.

3) In the early part of the show where Chris Gardner speaks about his own family where he did not even know who his dad was until he was 28 (if I don’t remember wrongly), and how he made it a point even at a very young age that when he has children, he’ll be a good father to them and teach them that he’ll be with them all the time. And in the show, his fatherly love is really touching- teaching his son to believe in dreams, going without food so his son can have one piece of pizza, buying a sweet with the little money they have, bathing his son at night.. etc. etc.

Reminds me of the late night conversations I used to have with my dad when I was young.. I think I’ll miss this quite a lot when I go overseas.. Fills me also with a gratefulness to my dad for the love and protection he gave me as a child.. that helped me to grow up more secure in family love. Thank you Daddy!
Reminded me also of Shenteng telling me recently that he would want to be a father who’s close to his children because his father is a more traditional Chinese father who isn’t very expressive in love. (this is a change for ST who really doesn’t really like children…haha.)
Think it is also a good reflection time to think about God’s fatherly love for us that is also tender, sacrificial and all-giving.. Thanks Dad (my heavenly one)!

The show is also very inspirational and thought-provoking on the themes of how man needs hope to dream and determination to live it out, as well as what happiness we are pursuing for in life. =)

I think Chris Gardner fought hard for his happiness. One that was actually through the entire tough process, there with him- love and protection for his loved ones, his son. One that is not dependent on money, though he really had to scrape for it. I believe his ultimate happiness came from a satisfied heart knowing that he loves his son, he didn’t give up and he succeeded in providing for his son and that dreams actually can and do come through.

There’s nothing too hard that we can’t live through. Hope that some of us who feel like giving up at the worst moments and pits of our life will find inspiration from Chris Gardner’s life and persevere on. Nothing is impossible with God.

Thursday, March 8, 2007

Being Streetwise . Wedding Plans

Just had a lunch meeting with my department and the new graphic designer and copywriter that we’re working with for our new catalog. Somehow I don’t feel quite pleased or satisfied with how I led the meeting. I guess I really still have lots to learn about being street-wise and able to connect with people from different backgrounds. Both the GD and the copywriter come from ad agency background and have a very different charisma to them. Trendy, a little punk, tough, confident, street-wise most definitely! They’re friendly, but perhaps I feel a little intimated. Need to grow in confidence. Heh..
I think this thing about growing in being streetwise or otherwise as I put in my appraisal form (yes! My big boss is actually doing an appraisal with me next week! Amazing. First time my co. is doing appraisal.. hahaha…God help me be wise during the appraisal. And guide my boss and I such that we may both improve), I need and hope to grow in handling business relationships.

Yesterday, Shenteng and I went to take a look at Golden Horse Awards Bridal and Studio at Yishun St 21. I must say the service is really good, like what the blogs and forums at Singapore Brides say. (I found one bad comment on another forum and Shenteng read lots of good comments at Singapore Brides forums.) she was also able to give a reasonable price near to our budget with the main things that we need! She also taught us quite a few things about gown selection, hiding scars, make up, choosing shoes and considerations for choosing a studio. :) I’m rather tempted to take them up… haha. But we’ll be shopping around to take a look at a few more places, including JB before we make our choice next week. Pray for a good studio with beautiful gown selections, good service, no hidden charges and good number of photos within our budget! :)
I was previously quite apprehensive and ‘sian’ about having to go through a bridal shoot coz I know it’s tedious (from work experience.. and somemore the time to take the wedding photos is in June, when I just finished 2 months of photoshoot at work.. :p ) Yesterday’s visit to Golden Horse Awards made me excited about photoshooting for my wedding haha. I actually spent some time thinking about what kind of shots would be nice before I slept. Thank God though the excitement made it hard for me to fall asleep. Haha..

P.S. Wanna take this chance to affirm Shenteng! Thanks for being so initiative and supportive in the wedding planning. Researching online, reading up on wedding planning and housing, liaising with the various people...etc. I believe many guys out there are not so keen in doing so much planning and meetings.. J Thank you! :D

P.P.S. I’m thinking I should be more active in taking photos and learning to upload photos onto this blog. Realize it makes the blog much more interesting. Look at Ps Jeff’s food hunts @ his blog and all the children from Sharon’s CNY visit.. haha. Idea idea!

Wednesday, March 7, 2007

Earthquake felt..!

Today's headlines in the CNA e-mail news I receive reads:

Powerful Indonesia quake kills at least 71
Posted: 07 March 2007 0237 hrs

Extracts from the article:
PADANG, Indonesia : A powerful earthquake struck the Indonesian island of Sumatra on Tuesday, killing at least 71 people, flattening buildings and sparking panic in the streets of Malaysia and Singapore.

Officials said the death toll was expected to rise in the latest catastrophe to hit the beleaguered nation, and hospitals were quickly overwhelmed with the rush of wounded. Many people were feared to be trapped under rubble.

Communication was cut off with much of the area close to the epicentre of the 6.3-magnitude quake, so there was no immediate way of knowing the extent of the damage there, they said.
...
In Singapore, which is rarely hit by quakes, hundreds of people cleared out of their office skyscrapers and raced into the streets - some of them weeping and screaming - when the ground started to tremble.
...
Indonesia, an archipelago of some 17,000 islands, sits on the so-called Pacific Ring of Fire, where continental plates meet - and where earthquakes are a regular and often deadly occurrence. Indonesia was the nation worst hit by the earthquake-triggered Indian Ocean tsunami in December 2004, which killed some 168,000 people in Aceh province on the northern tip of Sumatra. Some 5,800 people were killed and 33,000 others injured in a massive quake that rocked Java island in May last year. Two months later, another quake on Java killed more than 600.


-----------------------------
My two-story office which is now cement and false walls on zinc planks (in my intepretation) felt the tremors also. I was in a discussion at a meeting, and perhaps due to the excitement in the product development meeting.. I didn't really feel the tremors. It was only when I came out of the meeting (shortly after the tremor) that my colleagues told us that there was an earthquake and they felt it, with some friends and relatives from the Shenton way area calling to confirm and saying that people were evacuating in Shenton way.

"Woah!" was my response. My first thought was of my two sheep working in the city area and sent some smses to find out how they were and what the situation was like there. Second thought was of how the country (didn't know it was Indonesia at that time) must have been super terribly hit if S'pore felt it so strongly.

Thankfully, my sheep were fine and there was really no damage in Singapore.
I remember experiencing a tremor maybe 6-7 years back, around the middle of the night. It felt like the entire building was swaying. Really quite a scary thought. I was then watching television with my Dad and afterwards, we discussed a little about what we should do if there really was an earthquake in S'pore. The conclusion was something like this: “If you have time, run out of the building. Rem to take the stairs, not the lift. If you do not have time, hide under the table, preferably with a soft blanket.” And I remember a thought I had- That's another reason why you should stay on higher floors. The lower you stay, the more stories and pile of concrete you have on you when there's an earthquake. Harder to rescue.

Memories and funny thoughts aside, the incident reminded me and brought in me a deeper sense of compassion for people. (Proof once again that many times, Man require so-called bad or negative things to happen, to trigger their deeper senses of life, purpose, love and understanding of priorities in life.)

Firstly, it reminded me of a verse I read recently–

9 When you hear of wars and revolutions, do not be frightened. These things must happen first, but the end will not come right away."
10Then he said to them: "Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. 11There will be great earthquakes, famines and pestilences in various places, and fearful events and great signs from heaven.

- Luke 21: 9-11

The number of earthquakes and natural disasters and their increasing magnitude of destruction in the recent years are a sign that the end is indeed drawing near. Questions that come to mind would be “Am I living my life purposefully, the way that God would want me to, so that should the end come so unexpectedly, I can say that I live without regrets, I’ve run the race, fought the good fight?” “The people in my life.. do they know how important they are to me?” “My friends, my loved ones, how can I bring them to experience Christ’s love?” Important questions that we often miss out asking while living our daily routines…

Secondly, I pray that those experiencing hurt and pain in their lives will find God’s comfort and love. After going through the flood at Thomson last December, it has helped me to appreciate and empathize more with disaster victims. The devastation you see of what used to be your office/home/belongings, the shock and the sadness you feel, that whelming of emotions including the need to plod on, to find faith & strength to move on despite the trauma. These feelings somehow also link my thoughts to some of my friends who are going through depression. I hope that in my little ways, I can help ease their pain and provide some support and pray that God will help me to show them that He loves and is the source of our hope and strength. Showing love can be tiring.. being loving is difficult.. but it is so needed in a hectic world like ours..

“God, I need you. Help me to live life the way you want me to. Thank you!”

Saturday, March 3, 2007

sTaR sHiNe.. a ReaSon fOr liVinG.

mY fiRst bLog.. mY fiRst pOst!

Interesting... I was supposed to sign in to post at our caregroup blog.. how did that lead here? haha.. well, I've wanted to start a blog for sometime now.. never begun. Guess God lead me here. :)

Named this blog StAr sHiNe... a ReaSon fOr liVing. A little philosophical you may think? hehe.. a few reasons:
1) I love stars... enjoy the mysterious and magical feeling they give, and the reminder of how small we are in the midst of such a huge universe (when you look at a night sky full of stars).
2) my nick is nottistar. Since uni days when i used this nick in my school dj project, i've somehow grown into it.. hehe. Quite representative of me, playful... cute... (hey why are you puking? it's true! i'm a natural.. hahaha), and yeah, once again, i like stars.
3) I hope to live out the passage in the Bible labelled "Shining as Stars"- Phil 2:12-18. To shine like a star for Jesus wherever I am.
4) The part of "Reason for Living" came somehow.. as i feel many of us are searching for this reason, a purpose in our life. I've found that reason in Jesus and hope that God may use me to help others find this reason as well. :) Just like in the song I love.. "We were the reason".

sTaR sHiNe... a ReaSon fOr liVing...
God help me in writing this blog, and hope all enjoy reading it. :)