there are always two options~

Yesterday evening, while I was at work I suddenly found myself in a situation I have never really found myself to be in before. I surprisingly found myself dealing with a situation where one of my juniors was sitting at her cubicle in a secluded corner sobbing herself to oblivion.

I had to use one word to describe what I felt at that point in time, it would be.............................. perplexed. I found myself trying to figure out what to do with her and what to say. At that point in time, I had two major concerns:

1. Making sure I used the correct words when I spoke to her at that point in time to make sure she doesn't go from tear dropping to a full blown sob; and

2. Making sure I could motivate her and not make her full more horrible than she already was feeling.

With the lack of new joiners these days coupled with the fact that it is very much an employee's market these days in terms of job hunting and job availability, if she decides to leave because of what I tell her, I may well find myself explaining myself to my boss as to why she decides to leave the firm.

My point in respect of this post is really about what happened to her and what caused her to break down and cry. Also, highlighting the fact that stress management is important in any part of one's life. Because personally, I think this is a good reminder to all of us that none of us and I mean absolutely none of us are immune or invulnerable to stress. For one simple reason - we are only humans. Flesh and blood built in with emotions and the ability for independent thought.

Like any other problem, before one can fix it, one had to ascertain the cause of the problem first. So I had to ask her what was causing to have this breakdown in office in the middle of the work day.

It's like apple pie!

Apple pies..... one of the many God's miracles in our lifetime. I might be exaggerating a little bit here but you have to admit that apple pies really taste good. Even apple pie made at McDonald's are pretty good albeit a far cry from good old home made cinnamon crumble apple pie with a tinge of strawberry syrup on top of it, and finally finishing it off with a warm cup of coffee or tea. You might want to check your mouth to see if you have a dribble of saliva leaking out the side of your mouth.

If you want to go get an apple pie, I'd appreciate if you finish reading my blog post first considering I brought up the craving in you, it's the least you could do right?

Enough of apple pie cravings. Let's talk about something seriously involving you, me and a metaphorical apple pie (again, please do not run off to get yourself an apple pie if you happen to see the word, "apple pie" popping out in this post frequently.....).

Alright, alright, back to the main topic.

In this digital age we live in, the flow of information is virtually limitless, branching out more and more opportunities for us to do things differently. Some wonderful examples can be seen in the world wide web - e-discounts, e-coupons, instantaneous information from a couple of clicks of the mouse, e-books, and the list goes on. It has affected us in a way that it opens up our mind to a plethora of information and mind blowing out-of-the-box opportunities.

Whilst supporters of the digital age preach trillion of opportunities, detractors claim it has made the share of profits smaller due to the increased competitiveness. In a nutshell, the number of slices in the apple pie has increased but at the same time each individual slice has become tremendously smaller than what it used to be.

So when an individual slice of apple pie becomes smaller, what would you do then?

Here's what a famous photographer, Chris Orwig said in one of his books:-"You can divide people into two categories. One category, 'Life is like an apple pie with a limited number of slices - get yours while you can.' The other category says, 'Life is like an apple pie with a limited number of slices. If you run out of slices, find another apple tree and bake another pie.'".

So life's like an apple pie! Which category would you want to be in?

walking by faith

Sitting down in the hospital waiting area, slumped in the chair, Jeremy was soaking up what he heard from the doctor. Confused and grieving were probably the only words to describe how Jeremy felt. He had just heard from the doctor himself that he only has at best, 6 months to live for he has cancer of the stomach. At 30 years of age, Jeremy could only think one thought - it is unfair.

Having only started embarking on his journey as an infant pastor, he wasn't worried about dying to early. He was worried of not being able to complete his calling to be a pastor to reach out to those who haven't heard the word of God. Jeremy didn't worry about dying at 30 because he walked by faith and deep down in his heart, he knew if 6 months was all he got to live, that must have been planned by God.

The 6 months the doctor predicted, to Jeremy was the 6 months worth of precious time God gave him to reach out to those he had no opportunity to have heard the word of God. He felt it in his heart that he was going to be driven by faith to reach out to as many as he could.

6 months an counting, Jeremy went to almost every village and uncommon rural areas to speak the word of God and to provided social services - providing education in make shift schools, educating them about personal health, providing stationery and basic needs to those rural areas. Any other free time was used to spread the word of God. Jeremy was relentless in his effort, fueled by the faith he had in God. As the days passed, with the clock ticking, Jeremy could feel his strength slowly being siphoned from this body like a leaking bottle of water but those around him saw a greater fervent in his efforts to spread the word of God.

Towards the end of the sixth month, Jeremy was already bedridden after the cancer slowly spread to the liver. Even while he was confined to the bed in a pitiful state, he never gave up and all the nurses could only watch in wonder has he continued to have weekly cell group sessions in his hospital ward. Some curious onlookers would join in and sometimes nurses doing the night shifts joined in to listen to what Jeremy had to say. Even kids who were in the junior wards would pop by every now and then to absorb some inspiring words of God, channeled through him as a servant of the Almighty (as Jeremy always put it). In a matter of weeks, Jeremy pretty much became the in-house pastor at the hospital he was confined to.

On the very last day, where he laid pale on his bed, gasping for breath, he knew God was coming to take him home. He simply waited in bliss for the angels to come and take him back to God whilst singing hymns of praise and worship. Even at that stage, Jeremy kept on saying one thing repeatedly - "One more Father, please let me save just one more before You call me into your arms. One more........". As he repeated that line over and over again until his very last breath, he told the doctor he could see two beautiful angels by his bed and said, "ah Doc. The angels have come to get me. Worry not as I feel no pain but internal bliss as I go back to my Heavenly Father. Thanks for everything.......". On that very day Jeremy passed on, his family was present by his side, members of the church were there, nurses who took care of him were there, nurses who heard the word of God from him were there, kids who he preached to were present, even the janitor who mopped the floor who passed his room every evening was there. Most of them, if not all of them had tears in their eyes.

6 months of life to Jeremy was like a gift from heaven. In that 6 months, Jeremy walked by faith:-

Converting more than 50 people;

Touching the lives of almost everyone on the same floor as him in the hospital, giving them words of grace, inspiration and wisdom;

Saying more than 300 prayers for new born babies in the hospital;

Ministering one wonderful couple of nurses at the hospital, who studied in the same university, worked in the same hospital and fell in love with each other;

Gave hope to more than 150 old folks at the senior citizen side of the hospital; and

When on to be with the Lord knowing he did all he can for God in the 6 months God gave him.

-----------------------------------

P/S:-

I never really understood what walking by faith was all about and neither did I really understand how some people can have such strong beliefs in the unknown and blindly put their trust in the most abstracts of things.

But when I heard about young Jeremy, it was not just an eye opener but it was a real life example of "walking by faith". Really putting your absolute trust in your belief and letting it drive you to where it points you.

Don't get me wrong as I am not trying to promote Christianity here because I have complete respect for the religions of others and have no intention to belittle the plethora of religions that are out there. My point is that there are things, objects, items or beliefs that can drive us - you and me into doing the things we do so passionately with absolute conviction, which simply leads me to conclude that sometimes we simply need something to believe in to give us the drive, whether if its love, passion, interest or even God and I think that is probably what it means to be walking by faith..........

two strings, one beautifully knot ~

It's the time of the year! When the girls look into the eyes of their partners, red cheeks blushing, teary eyed, swallow a gulp of saliva, heart beating like a bullet train and sheepishly say, "yes...." to, "Will you marry me......?"

Right this moment, I am seated in a church waiting for the bride and bridegroom to walk in. Having to wake up at 630 in the morning, I am having to focus all my energy to stay awake because I am the best man and ring bearer. Can't be caught sleeping right? Especially when I am seated right in front of the pulpit.

Marriage is when two people become an item for life when both man and woman decide they want to live together for the rest of their lives. Its not something that's decided overnight and its not something that one should take lightly. Its a decision for a lifetime. Personally, I think it can be scary but today, its about two of my friends who decided they want live together for the rest of their lives, loving each other and caring for each other. These two people are Max and Jennifer.

Its a love story that started as early as 14 years ago if I recalled rightly when Max met Jennifer who learned piano from Max's dad, who happens to be my piano teacher as well and that's how I know the both of them. =0) But honestly, I never really knew about the both of them as an item simply because Max hardly spoke of it and I never asked. In fact, it came as a surprised to me when Max told me he was finally going to tie the knot because all these while, I was never really certain if Max ever wanted to get married being so focused about achieving his life goals and constantly aiming for financial freedom. So when Max finally broke the good news to me, I was very happy for him and Jennifer. It was probably one of Max's greatest life's moments.

Jennifer wasn't just an average girl learning music under wings of Max's dad, she has always been the woman behind Max. The one who brought Max back into believing in the faith of his life and God's plans for him. Something so strong that it wasn't just a miracle, it was almost all planned for Max to grow up being close to rebellious against his dad, backsliding for faith, becoming a software developer who decides to become what I would believe as a successful real estate negotiator and finally getting married to Jennifer - his best friend, a pastor, a music and ballet teacher, his wife.

Having known Max for about fifteen years, I think its pretty safe to say I have seen Max matured into who he is now with all the falling down in between to become the man he is now. It may look like something off the silver screen, but I promise you it is true - Max being the black string, who struggled against the will of his father for him to become like every other average joe drawing a pay cheque; Jennifer being the white string, who stayed true to her faith believing that God will provide all that's necessary for her.

When the black and white strings finally met, it was when the 6 steps for a shoelace knot started to bind itself slowly and surely. Now that the knot is tied, it was really a matter of two strings, one beautifully knot......

May Max and Jennifer live happily together from hereon till the very end of the world.

when time stands still

A week ago, I had a lucky chance of going to Perhentian Island as part of my firm's department trip. The fresh air, clear skies, clear waters, abundance of fishes were refreshing sight for me. Being away from my office was a really BIG plus point! =0)

It was about a 45 minute boat ride from the jetty at Kota Bahru. Landing on the island for the first time in my meager life, I felt rejuvenated. The refreshing sight of the sea and nature was simply an awesome sight. The horizon was blue with numerous islands surrounding the sea.

The afternoons were warm but simply so nice to bathe in the sun for a while taking in the freshness of it all. Totally enjoying it might be understating how much I enjoyed it. I got a good glimpse of sunrise, afternoons and sunset.

5.30am in the morning, watching the sunrise with my camera, tripod and patience almost felt like time stood still for me. It even gave me a good camera jump shot to express how time stood still for me....

Afternoon, my senses were treated to everything clear - water, skies, wind, air, sand .... you name it!

When evening came, the view of the sun setting in the horizon made time stand still as you are paralyzed by the beauty of the clouds encapsulating the orange sun against the dark blue clouds with the reflection showing on the surface of the vast sea.

When nature kept throwing all its beauty at me to feast on, it captivated me deeply. As I took it all in with all my five senses and my camera, it really felt like one of those moment when time stands still..........

harmony of opposites

Do you remember the time when your school teacher first introduced to you a magnet? You'd probably be wide eyed when your teacher shows you how it can stick to metal stuff and at the same time lift or pull lighter metal stuff. You must be lying if you said you were not amazed by the magnet's capabilities!

Besides the metal attractive capabilities, you'd probably remember how one side of the magnet will be grey and the other end will be red to annotate the north and south polarity of the magnet bar. Not to mention how the metal dust will move in the shape of the magnetic field of the bar when you place it in the metal dust.

When the metal dust move around the magnet to demonstrate the magnetic field, it can really be amazing watching the metal dust form itself around the magnet. What you probably would have since would likely be something like this:

Picture from here

I am not trying to demonstrate or teach you about how a magnet works but I think I can somehow relate how we ourselves are similar to that of a magnet. Opposites may differ but there are things around the opposites that compliment the two opposites like how the magnetic field beautifully encapsulates the magnet.

If you may, you can even see it has how the surroundings bind the opposites to complete the circle of nature. Love holds a man and woman in a relationship, water keeps us hydrated whilst fire lets us cook our food, rain ensures enough water supply for the world whilst the sun allows for the greens to photosynthesize, black and white colours makes up for wonderful photos, oxygen for us to breathe and the carbon dioxide we breathe out is absorbed plants that make oxygen for us............

I guess there is a truth to the statement, 'opposites attract' and maybe its the hidden surroundings of the opposites that create the attraction - the harmony of opposites?

like a spinning top

Have you ever seen a spinning top? How the top player will unleash it from its strings and see how it just keep spinning and spinning and spinning until it finally stops spinning and falls still on its side. Have you ever wondered how amazing it is? I have seen a top being spun by a professional top player and I've got to admit its quite a feat to let it spin for minutes!

A spinning top can metaphorically describe two things. At least the two immediate things that spins into my mind. Number one, how a spinning top can represent the world and number two, how a spinning top can represent our lives.

I think you can very immediately understand how I metaphorically link our world to a spinning top just by how our world physically spins during our every second living in this world. Its just like how much energy our world has, spinning itself around the sun.

I am not sure if you figured out how I relate our lives like a spinning top but let me take the liberty of explaining how I see it. Have you noticed how a top almost spins aimlessly around the floor it is spun on? If you haven't, you can easily search it on YouTube. If you have, you might already know the direction I am heading towards. The spinning top is you and me whilst the floor the top spins is like the world we are in. The energy we exert out in the world - for some its the energy is trying to keep our jobs, for some its the energy spent reaching out for the next level, for some its the energy spent taking care of the family, for some its the energy spent on staying healthy, and you can already tell there is an infinite ways we exert our energy.

There something else to take note too - its the top that spins around the floor. That's just like us revolving around our world and not the world revolving around us. Like a top that's spun on the ground, there is no guarantee we end up where we want to be just like a top that's forced to spin on uneven, undulating ground.

Now, when we take a step back, you are going to see how a top, the world and us are alike. When the energy runs out, everything just stops. A top falls to a stand still when all its kinetic energy is used up. The world official dies when it stops spinning. We will be lifeless once all our energy is used up.

The world we live in isn't infinite. Everything is finite in quantity and someday when we finally drain it of its resources, it'll stop spinning in that sense and that's when we finally arrive at the end of the world. The earth as we speak about it is a ball filled with resources that bring us our food, water, electricity, etc........ but as we abuse it, it will bite back us we the increasing number of natural disasters which signifies the drastic changes we have forced our earth to undergo.

We like our earth don't run on infinite energy. The harder we fight for what we believe in or are we set out to do, the faster we get tired and burn out. Just like how we can throw a top to spin as hard as we can, the energy keeping the top spinning will eventually run out. A pace too fast for us to handle will only spin us out of control into a crashing stop.

Like a spinning top, we should preserve the world for us and for our generations to come. Like a spinning top, its not how about how fast its spins, its about how long it can keep spinning.

So how long will you spin?