Switchfoot and Politicians

Two hotly anticipated near-future events. Switchfoot concert this Saturday and national election sometime in March, probably.

Switchfoot has a song titled "Politicians" and I really like the message in it. Especially the chorus which starts:

I pledge allegience to a country

Without borders, without politicians

Watching for my sky to get torn apart

Yeah, a world limitless, without politics. And the cry of the ancient prophet for our sky to be ripped apart, for Him to show up against the enemies (Isa 64:1).

I've also come to appreciate the second part:

We are broken, we are bitter

We're the problem, we're the politicians

Watching for our sky to get torn apart

C'mon and break me

C'mon and break me

Yeah, we're the problem....we're the enemy! All of us, unfinished works in progress. Need much shaping and reshaping. And breaking, when necessary.

Wonder if Switchfoot is singing "Politicians" this Saturday?

Bonuses! Increment!

Wow! Last Friday I received 2 months' bonus. We normally get just before Chinese New Year, not end of the year like most company. And today I received a letter of increment, from the big big boss himself personally. Though it wasn't much (<5%), it was still a nice touch by my employer.

My colleagues thought we'll not get bonus this year due to so many uncertainties. I'm the only contract staff here, yet I've no worries unlike all the other permanent staffs. I somehow knew it'll come and I testified about it last month. I also foreknew it'll be bigger this year, and sure enough I got double! (Bonus is normally 1 month)

And the increment I received today is the icing in the cake!

But really, it's not all about money.

Sometimes my lack of worrying is quite worrying. But with such an amazing God on our side, tell me, how can we not rejoice and let go?

Prov 10:3 - The Lord does not let the righteous go hungry...

Now, should I worry that my extended contract is expiring this June?

Wars and Dreams

Was listening to a worship compilation album of various artists while driving to work early just now. Many ways you can appreciate an album. The songs and their meanings are beautiful. But I can't help but wonder how much struggle and pains did they go through to put together something like this. Maybe their first compilation album was all nice and wonderful, but this is the second one.

Lately, I've been remembering my dreams when I awake...at least for a couple of hours. The forms, colours, sounds and rhythms. They're a good place for knowing the conditions of the soul. For listening to the desires and longings, inner turmoils and conflicts. Everything you face in the waking world will soon cover all that and they remain hidden until you pay attention the next time.

I remember this morning's dream, or dreams. I like those with singing ones. Not often, but I had one today. Like a musical, everyone suddenly burst out in a chorus. Can't remember what song but it was a worship one. And there was the Word...

I was comforted by a simple chorus I heard just now:

Kau kekuatanku

Kau penghiburku

Kau tepati semua janjiMu

Di setiap langkah aku kan berserah

Membri'kan hidupku bagi Mu

Dream

This morning I had quite a few dreams. In one of them, I was skydiving with Sherene. It was exhilarating from up there! And you know what? We almost didn't pull out the parachute in time!

While driving to work this morning, heard the news from the radio announcing this Wednesday will be a public holiday for FT as well. I thought I was dreaming...until I caught the next news 30 mins later. Woohoo!!! I get this Wednesday off!

TGIF

Always love Fridays! I mean the day, not the restaurant!

When I was in school, Fridays were CF & ISCA days (school Christian Fellowship & church's youth group).

Now we have YAF (Young Adults Fellowship) cell on Friday nights! Don't mind all the labour as long as I can taste the goodness of that brotherly & sisterly fellowhip. To see the delight in the faces of these amazing bunch of people. And once more, my delight to serve His food to them.

Tomorrow is gonna be one busy Saturday. Especially at night when I'm helping Sherene to host a slumber party for the Rangers' Adventure Group (I think). It's gonna be interesting!

Impian Morib

After the GY camp post-mortem last Wednesday, Wuan Chin invited me with a few people to go on a little roadtrip the next day (public holiday). To check out a potential YAF Retreat venue. Her sis' friend had highly recommended this venue: Morib Gold Coast.

"Gold Coast" sounded like wow. But, the word "Morib" brought back memories of dirty beach, muddy sea water. I've not gone back to Morib since Port Dickson appeared, like decades ago. Forgotten that Morib still exists.

We (Sherene, Wuan Chin, Jeff, Nick Aaron, Hermann & myself) drove there after Bah Kut Teh breakfast in two cars. After 45 minutes drive, we arrived at Morib beach. The beach looked horrible. Hermann bluntly said that if we decide to have the retreat there, he'll boycott it. Not only that, he'll tell everyone to boycott!

We knew that that wasn't the place....we were going to "Gold Coast", remember? So we asked the local people where was this "Gold Coast". But they gave us a "huh?" kinda look. Said they never heard of it. We said that this is the latest "happening" place in Morib.

We decided to drive further to look for it ourselves. We eventually found it. Guess what? We saw a board at the side of the road, beside a contruction area. It said that Morib Gold Coast is still under construction. Won't be ready in two years' time! Wonderful!! Was thinking I should have gone to movies with Benny & Wei Loong instead.

Wuan Chin was beginning to feel bad, having led us this far...for nothing. We decided to check a resort we saw earlier just to fill our time before heading back to Klang, so that the trip was not wasted.

Impian Morib. That was the name of the place. From the outside, it looked kinda classy, for Morib's standard. We went in to check it out. Thought of just walking around and make some enquiries. No harm right? Thank God we did. Cos we were slowly seduced into making serious considerations.

After making some initial enquiries at the reception, we headed straight to the swimming pool area. It was beautiful! They have a pingpong table, a goalpost in one corner, sand area for beach volleyball/futsall. Saw three BBQ pits and then the beach. The beach was still awful. But nevermind, everything inside the resort was just great.

Then we walked up to the conference halls. There were two halls: one huge and another smaller one. They were equipped with stage, mics, speakers, OHP, whiteboard, flipcharts, tables & chairs. Only thing missing was LCD projector. We could imagine having our 'Relationship Enrichment' seminar there.

Next we talked to the Sales Coordinator, Cik Siti. She sat us down at the restaurant (quite a decent one) and explained to us the different packages and details. Things looked quite good actually, including the price. We asked for a short tour and she kindly obliged.

There were two types of rooms: Deluxe and Superior. We first saw one of the deluxe rooms. We were kinda impressed. It had one double bed and one single bed, dressing table, TV with astro, fridge, nice bathroom with shower and little sitting area beside the window. From the window, we could practically climbed out straight to the pool. The Superior rooms were just ordinary, but decent enough. Next she showed us the gym. It wasn't big, but the equipments were quite new.

After the tour, everyone was in favour of having the retreat there. The price will be above RM200++ for 3D/2N per pax. Not bad for a venue so near with wide variety of possible activities. Breakfast, lunch and dinner are Malay-style buffet. One of the dinners would be pool-side BBQ. Free-flow and served by the staffs. Transportation cost and duration is minimal.

We chilled out at the pool area playing "bluff" and snacking "kuaci". All in all, We had an enjoyable and fruitful afternoon there.

Let's take a look at some pictures captured:

Beach volleyball


Jeff making himself comfortable

Gorgeous pool

Table tennis, anyone?

Tortooises

Restaurant, dining area

Utensils nicely arranged

Conference hall. Why Hermann, you didn't take pictures inside?

Rooms

Window. Shortcut to the pool!

TV with Astro

Checking the shower

No idea what they were doing


Could this be our venue for YAF Retreat 2008??

GY Camp Committee Appreciation Dinner

Had our dinner last Saturday at Carey Island. It was a good one although I wish more of them could join us. Only 20+ of us went.

The evening started with the '9-plates' guessing game which slowly evolved to '12-plates', the 'telepathy' version and its variations. Ps John and I had fun acting and misleading the rest. Haha! This was good cos the game distracted their minds from the hunger in their stomachs. We were waiting for the USJ group to arrive.

Soon the USJ bunch arrived and so did the food. It was delicious and I thought the marmite chicken was the tastiest dish. The crabs were not bad, and many enjoyed the prawns. Crap! Thinking of it makes me hungry now!

We even celebrated Sherrene's 24th b'day with a cake (brought by Bernice). She was sporting enough to stand on the chair and gave a b'day speech.

The Magic Eye thing was hilarious, I tell you! There was this Magic Eye '3D' poster on the wall and all of us stared at it, some could see the dinosaurs, some took eternity but saw nothing! Brian, I hope you didn't have nightmares of dinasours that night. Ahaha!

It was indeed a good and fitting closure to this mini-journey with my planning team. The camp wouldn't be what it was without the strength of unity shown in this team. Though the team was huge (some questioned that), it was necessary. Alot more were called but some rejected. I'm glad for the ones who had responded to the call and challenge. I'm sure they are also glad that they did, after looking at what was accomplished in the end. And all the fun and wonderful fellowships that came together with that.

The million dollar question is "Who's the next chairman?". Yeah, I've been asked that many times. I think I did well to hold back the answer. Well, you all just have to wait for a little while longer. Ps John will announce it very very soon.

It was shocking and sad to hear Hosanna's "announcement" during last week's post-mortem. Especially after what we've been through and all we've built. But I'm sure things will work together for good. It's our sovereign Lord who holds all things with His hands. I can't and I won't see it as the end.

Now for some pictures...I nicked these from Zlwin's blog.

"Follow my fingers, Brian...."

I'm an INTJ

Did the MBTI (Myers-Briggs Type Indicator) course last year, but I've just received the full report of my Type today!

I'll write more on MBTI one day but for now, I'll just copy & paste from my report here.

I'm an INTJ - Introverted Intuition with Thinking Judging:


THEME
The theme of the INTJ is planning. INTJs devise strategy, give structure, establish complex plans and outline sequences of events in reaching distant goals dictated by a strong vision of the organization. They thrive on putting theories to work and are open to any and all ideas that can be put to use.

WORK LABEL
Strategist

BASIC CHARACTERISTICS
- An original thinker
- Interested and innovative
- Single-minded concentration
- Unimpressed with authority
- A naturally high achiever

STRENGTHS
- Pragmatic
- Conceptual
- Autonomous
- Tenacious
- Analytical

OPPORTUNITIES FOR GROWTH
- Be sensitive to others' needs
- Take care of routine details
- Learn to yield to others' points
- Take time to smell the roses
- Try to be more empathic in relationships

TO FUNCTION AT THEIR BEST
Support for ideas and projects. Freedom from routine and mundane details. Problems to solve. To see ideas worked out and applied.

MAY BE FRUSTRATED BY
Routine, redundancy, being sidetracked by others' needs and opinions. Being told what to do or how to do things.

MAY IRRITATE OTHERS BY
Refusing to yield. Being overly demanding or insistent on having their own way. Arrogance, skepticism and hair-splitting. Moving too fast. Lack of execution.

THEY VALUE
Logic, ideas and ingenuity.

ON A TEAM
They analyze the alternatives.

MANAGEMENT STYLE
The management style of INTJs is likely to be planning oriented. They are the visionaries who find applications for theories and models to achieve long-range goals and outline all of the steps necessary to get there.

IDEAL WORK ENVIRONMENT
The ideal corporate structure is one in which they have opportunities to devise and implement long-range strategies aimed at the efficient and effective use of the resources of the organization.

VALUES
INTJs value the theoretical, seeking insight, understanding, comprehension, knowledge, genius and precision. They also prefer communication which is precise, to the point and not superfluous.

ATTITUDE
INTJs need and want to know why things are the way the are. They cannot accept any phenomenon at face value. Even though their basic attitude is one of skepticism, they insist upon clarity.

GENERAL SKILLS
INTJs are skilled at analysis, seeing differences and creating categories. They are superb strategists. Their original thinking combined with their verbal skill contributes to their success.

DRIVING FORCE
The INTJ has a very high need for achievement. However, the achievement is most often measured by standards set by the INTJ, not by society or the organization. They also have a constant drive for competency.

ENERGY DIRECTION
Within the organization, the energy of INTJs is directed toward change and the development of long-range strategies to effect that change. Turn ons are logic, a calm atmosphere, justice, coherence and accuracy.

AUTHORITY ORIENTATION
INTJs want the person in charge to be knowledgeable and competent. Authority is not granted by position. They will question authority and test it, especially in their own area of expertise.

ROLE PERCEPTION
INTJs tend to be directive in relationships, that is, they are quite comfortable structuring others' time and tasks. Also, they have a strong need for autonomy.

CONFLICT RESOLUTION
INTJs may be quite outspoken, yet the typical INTJ prefers an atmosphere of calm and self-control. Conflicts are to be resolved logically and rationally and emotionalism avoided.

MODES OF LEARNING
INTJs learn by conceptualizing, abstracting common properties and developing categories. They are adept at learning abstract ideas and less adept at learning by association and rote.

BLIND SPOTS AND PITFALLS
INTJs may overlook the human element in the drive for action that will achieve the goal. They may be perceived as intellectual snobs, with little patience for those less endowed with abstract intelligence.


Is this accurate? Many points are. For some, I've to reflect further. A few points may appear to contradict other tests I've taken before. But no test is perfect. MBTI is one of the better ones. Tell you why next time.

This may help YOU to understand me better, but don't try too hard, ya? ;)

Yes! Switchfoot's Coming! And I'm Going!

Googled "Switchfoot Malaysia" and it's confirmed they're indeed coming to KL. And I immediately booked two tickets. This is a no-brainer for me. I mean come on, it's Switchfoot, the band whose songs that have a massive influence in my life for the past four years or so. And Sherene loves their songs too. Jon Foreman is a brilliant songwriter. There are simply so many Switchfoot songs that I love but I'm gonna write about one now.

My life in 2007 could be summed up in one of Switchfoot's songs "Awakening" from their latest album "Oh Gravity". This was my theme song for 2007 (2006 was Switchfoot's "Happy is a Yuppie Word", a deeply profound, "Ecclesiastical" song). I loved this song since the beginning of 2007. Must have listened to it like a thousand times by now. Ok, maybe I've exaggerated just a little here.

My mind was "playing" it over and over while climbing Mt Kinabalu (my wife told me she was singing it too on her own!) on the 2nd day early morning climb to the peak. I'd also scribbled down some of the verses in my personal GY Camp 2007 journal. That was another "mountainous" journey. I needed the inspiration and motivation. But as I look back now, it's kinda eerie how accurate the song echoes some of the events and my feelings last year...

Awakening by Switchfoot

Face down with the LA curbside endings
In the ones and zeros
Downtown was the perfect place to hide
The first star that I saw last night was a headlight
Of a man-made sky, but
Man-made never made our dreams collide, collide

Here we are now with the falling sky and the rain
We're awakening
Here we are now with the desperate youth and the pain
We're awakening
Maybe it's called ambition, you've been talking in your sleep
About a dream, We're awakening

Last week saw me living for nothing but deadlines
With my dead beat sky but, this town doesn't look the same tonight
These dreams started singing to me out of nowhere
And in all my life I don't know that I've ever felt so alive, alive

Here we are now with the falling sky and the rain
We're awakening
Here we are now with the desperate youth and pain
We're awakening
Maybe it's called ambition, you've been talking in your sleep
About a dream, We're awakening

I want to wake up kicking and screaming
I want to wake up kicking and screaming
I want to know that my heart's still beating
It's beating, I'm bleeding
I want to wake up kicking and screaming
I want to live like I know what I'm leaving
I want to know that my heart's still beating
It's beating, It's beating, It's beating
I'm bleeding

Here we are now with the falling sky and the rain
We're awakening
Here we are now with the desperate youth and pain
We're awakening
Maybe it's called ambition, you've been talking in your sleep
About a dream, We're awakening dream
We're awakening

Switchfoot Coming???

Did I read that Switchfoot is coming to Malaysia, is it a rumour or am I dreaming?

Mengejar HadirMu

Added this song on my left widget. This is a beautiful bahasa worship song, which I've been singing over and over again for the past week as I started my new year. Gonna teach this song to YAF tonight. It's about pursuing after His presence, His glory, in my life.

Mengejar HadirMu by GMB

Dekat padaMu, itu rinduku
Setiap kataku, Kaupun menunggu
Tak kusangka kutemukan
Satu kasih yang abadi
Kini kudatang dan kubawa hidupku

Memandang wajahMu
Mengikuti kebaikanMu
Mengejar hadirMu dalam hidupku
Membawa sembahku
Menyatakan kebesaranMu
Mengejar hadirMu dalam hidupku

One Woman

It's only the first few days of the new year and we probably have the news of the year, according to local news reporters. Talk about starting the new year with a Bang! It's sad to see one of our top national leaders fall because of his involvement in a sex scandal which was recorded in DVD. What a way to end his political career.

This is nothing new. Sexual sin is the most notorious pitfall of leaders. It possesses power to destroy careers, families, reputations, all in one lethal blow. Medias have often meticulously chronicled these scandals year after year.

With such deadly consequences, you would think leaders would never even entertain thoughts of such temptations. Yet we see (time and again) leaders fell spectacularly all over the world, political and spiritual.

Really nothing new. In history, we know that it could take only ONE woman to bring down a great leader and a mighty empire. Rulers who were seemingly invincible in battlefield had fallen without war. I'm reminded of stories from China history and especially one of my all-time favourite: "The Romance of Three Kingdoms".

So the question is this: How do leaders safeguard themselves from sexual sins? How do spiritual leaders build these safeguards in their lives? What about people like you and me?

1st Post

New Beginnings

Happy New Year 2008. In December 2007, I thought that I'll start blogging in the new year. Start writing and make public parts of my inner territories.

Throw 'Em Away

Spent the recent Boxing Day throwing away things from my house. Accumulated unwanted stuffs and things that I thought I couldn't do without. Throw them all away. Not done yet but it was a good start.

Spent Jan 1st organizing our store room. Bought 3 steel shelves for that.

Risk!

And while shopping yesterday, I bought "Risk", a board game I used to love. Been contemplating for a long time. The New Year Day's promotion finally made me buy it. It's a classic strategic game of world domination. It's about daring attacks, courageous defends, calculated risks, cunning negotiations and ultimate betrayals! Loved the adrenaline rush of trying to bulldoze down continents. Not for the timid and narrow-minded. Not about playing safe (name of the game is "Risk").

Played the game when I was a child with my siblings and neighbouring friends. Later played it when I was in the university...would play all night long with my buddies. Gonna organize Risk parties soon. Who's up for it?