Fathers, Do We Honor Them?

I heard this sermon sometime back. Although I do not have a good relationship with my father, I myself hope to be a good father when my turn comes around. Whether we are religious or not, I feel that there are many things we could learn from this sermon. I am not religious but even so I feel that there is many that we can learn from religions the world over.


When God revealed himself to us, he did so through a family.
Which is why i speak to you of Joseph, the forgotten man of the Christmas Story.
We know much about Mary, and the Christ child but the Bible makes few references into the life of Joseph
Therefore, he remains somewhat of a mystery, much as many of our own fathers do.
But, we do know that Joseph was a gentle father and a courageous man.
He saved his family from hurt by taking them on a dangerous journey to Egypt.
Taught his son his own trade, as fathers do even today.
Joseph died before Jesus grew up to become a man and begin his ministry.
Yet, Joseph still belived,
"Blessed are those who believe that he will find the broken-hearted and free the captives"
At his best, a father is the solid foundation of a house, his support taken for granted.
At other times, he may need shoring up himself.
He may be tired, he may be impatient, he may be mad at his own problems.
But always, the father looks beyond the here and now.
He keeps one eye trained on the next generation.
So, as a necessity, he is a man filled with hope.
Hope that a knowing god watches over the univese.
Hope that justice will prevail.
Hope that we will be reunited with our loved ones.
As Saint Paul said, abide by these three: Faith, Hope & Love.
The greatest of these is Love.
So when we give thanks to the father for our blessings, let us not forget Joseph or our own fathers.
That they not be forgottened this Christmas.

Day 038

injured!

i am too injury prone or i just do not learn my lesson. after last weeks foray back into soccer and realising my knees hurt then, i still joined my campmates for another round of soccer today. arggg.

also, heard from the grapevine that somebody did a "superwoman" from my granny's block today. ouch! bless the poor soul. i wondered what made her do it. I did not see anything but guess she must have did it either very early in the morning or did it while i was away at soccer and the police must have cleared the scene up before i returned. still, i feel that life is precious and no matter what we should never treat it lightly.

Day 037

physically drained

not so young anymore. after last night's late night out with the gang after the grad dinner, my entire was aching and i simply had no more energy today. argggg!

Day 036

The Final Hurrah!

Graduation Dinner. A final hurrah for all of us after all these years. Also a good chance for all of us to see each of us dress to the nines. Especially so the gals, after all thse years of professional wear or just plain t-shirt and jeans.





















Day 035

CONVOCATION!

convocation is finally here. today, my peers and i had our 10 seconds of fame as we went up the stage to collect our degree folder. 3 years of undergraduate studies and S$20000 of tuition fees was what we exchanged for our 10 seconds. hahaha.










Day 034

travelling continuously

taking the MRT too much can play havoc on your physical health. arrg! feeling so drained from all that MRT travel.

Day 033

hope

I am no Christian but I felt that the following message brings hope. Hope that no matter what happens, someone is with or thinking of us. Christian or no Christian, that one person I am certain of, is our mother.

In a time of great hardship, a star appeared brighter than the rest, giving us hope that God is with us. That no matter the depth of the darkness, God's love shines in the night.

Day 032

missing you?

It has been a month since Sweetie left Singapore. From seeing her almost every other day during the first 5 months of the year, her absence has made me miss her alot. Whenever I am out there on my own, my thoughts would invariably wander to her and think about how she is getting along. A girl this good you do not often meet and a girl this good is not often single. Whatever happened to the Law of Averages?

Day 031

body aching, knees in pain

arggg! looks like my knees are failing me. again! had thought that i was feeling better and headed to a game of footie with my campmates in the morning. now my knees are hurting again. damn!

Day 030

chinese dance

hmmm......attended my friend's chinese dance performance at suntec city today. it both confirmed and denounced my usual thinking of what chinese dance is all about. andto think that she later told me that she had only rehearsed the dance once! what!

Day 029

more thought

never ask someone to do something that you are not willing to do yourself. have you been guilty of doing the opposite of the above?

Day 028

random thought

the world belongs to those who gives it the most hope. are you part of that hope?

Day 027

training

attending training is both interesting and boring. lecture boring, classmates interesting. hahaha!

Day 026

lazy people

some days i just love sleeping in late. it just feels so good to be able to laze around for abit. it is so wrong but feels so good. damn! the better something feels good, the more morally wrong it is. hahaha!

Day 025

another test

took another test today, again falling asleep at the computer. hahaha. got to stop falling aslepp during test, not good. even if i passs, still not good. heez.

Day 024

day of rest

finally i get to rest my aching feet. love this job but the standing is really killing me. at least today i get to rest at home. it has been too long since i had to stand for such long hours.

Day 023

tired legs, injured knees

arggg! an entire day of standing, coupled with my set of injured knees is wrecking havoc on my physical health. pain. pain.

Day 022

Looking Afar

Sweetie has settled well into Shanghai for a while now. Unfortunately her laptop has problems connecting onto the network within the rented apartment. Thankfully she got nice housemates and they lent her their laptop for her to go online. Work is pretty tiring over there but it is the same almost everywhere. Heez.

Day 021

long day

started work today.....well......in a way the work is not really difficult, it is more of presentations after presentations. hahahaha.

Day 020

spending money again

haiz. back to school to collect my transcript and certificate today. spent $100 just to get a acrylic version of my certificate. haiz. dunno why i want to get it also.

Day 019

waiting

world cup is over and it is another 2 months till EPL is back again. weekends are going to be so boring again. haiz.

Day 018

FORZZA ITALIA!

YES! Italy has won the WORLD CUP! For once they have not let me down. I can not say I have been a life long supporter of Italy but ever since I saw the exploits of Robberto Baggio at World Cup 94, I have supported Italy ever since.

Day 017

Sleepless Nights Over Soon

Come tomorrow 2am, the finals of the world cup will be played and therein lies the last game of a tournament. A tournament not billed for its exciting games but for the rashness and countless dives and simulations. This world cup was more a show of who could win the best actor award than which team had the better discipline and camaraderie. Haiz.


Day 016

Wondering

Went cycling with Malcolm for a short while today. Stopped by at Pasir Ris Park and wondered about what lies for us from here on. Him wondering about his work condition, me wondering about other stuff. Looking at the kids having so much fun at the playgrounds kind of made us reminisce about our childhood days. The swings, the spider web, the slides, see-saws, round-abouts. Ahhhh......those were the good old days, when life was simple.

Day 015

Again?......Haiz

Once again the Singaporean government has clamped down on things they do not want to hear. Or rather, things which hit too close. All the talk about listening to how the citizens feel, how to extend help to the citizens but now...... When CONSTRUCTIVE jibes (not even CRITICISMS) which are exactly how most Singaporeans feel comes along in a tabloid column, they clamped down on it and strike it off. Heck! We do not even have full time MPs or ministers, many of them still holding down various posts outside of their RESPONSIBILITIES to their CONSTITUENTS! AND WHY THE BLOODY HELL ARE THE PEOPLE WHO OKAY THE RAISE IN PUBLIC TRANSPORT FARES PEOPLE WHO DO NOT EVEN TAKE BLOODY PUBLIC TRANSPORT OR ONLY WHEN THEIR PRECIOUS CARS ARE IN SERVICING? Look at ComfortDelgro, SIA, SMRT and every other public transport company in Singapore. I understand that they have to maintain profits but the moment they lose abit of profit only, their immediate knee jerk reaction is to raise BLOODY PRICES! AND DO NOT EVEN SAY IT IS A WELL THOUGHT OUT REACTION BECAUSE IT IS NOT! If not why the bloody hell you think the pilots were making all the noise a couple of years ago?! Raise prices and cut their pay. Hey! They are humans too, they also have a family to feed! LISTEN TO THE PEOPLE ON THE GROUND FOR GOODNESS SAKE! Even the cabbies themselves feel that it is wrong to raise the commuters fares and that it would be more conducive for the taxi companies to reduce their rental fees. Will losing a couple of millions be so much out of the bloody TENS OF MILLIONS THAT YOU ARE MAKING?! The one at the losing end would be the cabbies as commuters will just shun them! But do these taxi companies care? HELL NO! They just have to sit back, rent out the taxis, make it look nice by providing subsidized fuel for the cabbies and laugh all the way to the bank! They do not care if the cabby has passengers all day or not! Why on earth are petrol prices rising? It is because we have China who is making rapid progress and thus need more fuel, which is understandable. However, we have the so called BIG BROTHER (BIG BULLY more like it), the great ally couple of hours due west of the Greenwich Meridian Line, hording fuel just so that their precious people can have fuel at the same bloody rate for their cars while the rest of the world suffers. BLOODY POLLUTERS! Maybe if they did not have such an itchy backside and poked their finger in everything, you think they will even be at the crosshairs of every single terrorist outfit out there?

Day 014

Tired

2nd time during this World Cup season that I decided to switch off the TV after some less than interesting performance, only to have the only goal of the game scored moments later. Argggg! Getting all tired for nothing.

Day 013

Italy WON!

Overslept the match this early morning but was happy to find that Italy won the match. OH YES!

I wonder how is Sweetie settling in Shanghai now. Hmmm......wonder if she is getting in any football matches over there.

Day 012

Waiting

I refuse to pay Starhub Cable to watch the World Cup because I feel it is unfair to be penalized by them just because they bidded outrageously against Mediacorp for the World Cup broadcasting rights. It is their own fault that they paid so much more and I will not condone their actions and refuse to be lured into a hole they dug for themselves. Anyway, the semi-finals and finals of the World Cup are back on the free-to-air channels as of tonight's match. Pay so much for what?

Day 011

Taking A Break

Yesterday's exertions has made me dead tired today. Some aches but not as bad as last week's. Ooooh! Got to exercise more, getting too fat already. Hahaha.

Sweetie's in Shenzhen today as her exchange programme just about wraps up. From here on, she will be flying off to Shanghai tomorrow and meeting up with the rest of her fellow GIP-mates to begin her pre-GIP activites.

Day 010

When Bored......Cycle

Was feeling very restless at home today and went on a cycling expedition. From Bukit Merah, I headed over to East Coast Park before heading for Changi Naval Base then Tanah Merah Ferry Terminal. From there, I headed on to Changi Beach cycling next to the runways of Changi Airport.

While along the runway, I saw a gal who looked a lot liked Sweetie from the side and from the rear. I was kind of intrigued as Sweetie is supposed to be arriving in Shenzhen today. Hmmm......However on my return journey, I saw the gal again and realised that it is not Sweetie.

By the time I reached East Coat Park after making my turnaround at Changi Beach, my butt was aching and my knees were sore. I decided to head over to Sentosa then to soak in some sea water. The sea condition at East Coast were too choppy for my liking and I did not feel like risking it.

I was literally struggling when I reached Sentosa's Tanjong Beach. At least the water did much to help soothe the aches. Ahhh. I have been away from my cycling expeditions for too long and doing a long journey like this today can be considered suicidal. Ah well. I need the exercise.

Day 009

Shopping - Bane or Joy?

Was chatting with Sweetie earlier and apparently she has been bitten by the bane of all males and the joy of all females, SHOPPING! Oh dear......

Day 008