It's all about giving

As I was wrapping the Christmas gifts for my beloved brothers and sisters in Christ, a silly question popped up in my head: Why do we need to wrap the presents we bought for people?Aren't they a waste of paper and effort since the recipients will eventually tear them apart and focus what's inside the wrapping paper instead of admiring the patterns on the wrapping paper itself?I managed to question myself this way this year because I have to wrap these presents myself instead of just asking those sales girls/guys to wrap them.After a few hours spent in wrapping those presents, I finally realized wrapping presents is an easy task if I want to wrap it fast and it would like look 'kiam chai bui'.Well what's outside doesn't really matter right since what's inside that counts, right?? Haha

As I ponder upon myself, how many people really appreciate those gifts that you gave them?When the gift was wrapped, most of us are excited of what gift would it be and all those enthusiasm automatically starts to flood our veins as we look forward to unwrap the gifts we received.Then if the gift is not what we expected it to be or is suitable for us to use, we tend to show a small frown and lets out a quiet sigh to show how much we appreciate that gift and reluctantly says 'Thank You' just to show some respect and manners.I don't believe everyone is like that or am I pointing any fingers around but it's just a hypothesis of human behavior on how most people would probably react in these situations thus I used myself as a test subject hence my hypothesis.

Before I went on any further, I checked my attitude in the light of Scripture and found out that my attitude was extremely self centered and ungrateful.How can I grumble and expect others to give me what I want and not think about the giver's financial standings and heart?People give out of a good purpose to cheer me up and to tell me that I'm someone in their life yet I have ruin such thought when I focus myself on the gift.How wretched am I if I were follow what my instinct tells me and allows it to determine my attitude!

The Bible tells us of the greatest gift mankind would ever receive which is forgiveness of sin through Jesus Christ. There was no outward adornment that makes the Lord Jesus Christ a beautifully wrapped gift since the Bible describes Him as a man that had his visage marred than of any man.He was neither popular or wanted in the society nor appreciated who He was.Only a handful of people realized that He was the greatest gift of all when they realized what was really needed in their lives.Not money or fame or prosperity because all these will soon perish and fade away but what is eternal.What then is eternal?They saw Jesus as the one who is able to reconcile mankind with God through the giving of His life!Did Jesus came to rule and lay down harsh commandments that makes our life miserable?Or did He came as a dictator, commanding us to give ourselves to Him without question and deals with us like slaves?If that was the case, Christ would not have died and we will all remain in our sins!

There was once, when I watched some Chinese film that depicts a rebellious son seeking for forgiveness of his father when he realized that he's done nothing but wrong to his father, and when the father willingly accepts his apology and forgives him of all that he has done, my heart felt joyful as I faced that in my life as well just as I ask the Lord Jesus to forgive me of all the sins that I have done and return back to Him while He's willing to accept me and forgive me.This is the greatest gift of all that God gave us.This gift of love that would sometimes seems to be just like any gift to me but yet sometimes it seems to be a mind boggling thought as I consider that gift a little closer.We will not appreciate the gift if we have not come to realize what we really lack and need.

I have learn t that even in giving presents to people, I would prefer to get them something that they need instead of something that they want.Of course this would need a lot of interaction between that individual but that would in turn strengthen the friendship as well.It's always satisfying to see the smile in your friend's face when they received your present or better still, a teary eye.Haha well, that for me is the joy of receiving and the joy of giving.It doesn't need to be expensive or branded but that item alone can cheer up and benefit that individual for a long time if it meets the need.

All in all, have a blessed holiday season and have a blessed New Year 2008!

Penang Food Review : Little India

Last Saturday, Jeff took a bunch of us to try out some Indian food in Little India, somewhere near Beach Street. Jeff told us that he's taking us to an authentic banana leaf Indian food that tastes better than Banana Leaf (Passion of Kerala). Thus we drove down to Little India hoping to feast on some hebat Indian delicacies.Upon arrival, we parked our car along Beach Street and we walked into Little India, it's rather similar to China Town just that this time it's filled with Indians.


(Some sceneries inside Little India)



(Luckily we walked..look at the jam inside Little India..You wouldn't want to be stuck in them.)


Ah..After walking quite a distance, we reached our destination, Restoran Daun Pisang Sri Ananda Bahwan.Although at first I was a bit skeptical of that place but that thought vanished as soon as I started trying out the food.


(Remember,remember Sri Ananda Bahwan, the place that serves good Indian food..)

As I stepped inside the restaurant, there's so many dishes of Indian delicacies that when you go to normal nasi kandar stores such as Kayu, Kassim Mustaffa or Subaidah, you would utterly despise their effort.Hehe Well seriously, look at the dishes below and then compare them with what you get from the local nasi kandar stores.There's so much of variety that it put most of the indian restaurants to shame.








All the 3 photos above are just side dishes to be honest with ya.You will get to order their standard dishes from the menu.Believe me, those dishes are very good and worth the price.It is not spicy at all as I'm a person who cannot take hot and spicy food else my face will turn red immediately!So I'm a good indicator for the kepedasan level for food.




The two dishes above are mutton and chicken.To be honest, both of them tasted OK only in my opinion.The muttons are served in mild curry and its meat are not as hard as rocks.It's just ngam ngam for me.As for the chicken, the portion is quite weird as they served 2 pieces of chicken only for 5 person present there.So we had a hard time splitting up the portion for everyone, thus in the end only Sin Yee and me ate the chicken.



Here comes the bomb: Cauliflower! Who would have thought cauliflower could taste so nice! As I sank my teeth in one of those, there's an 'explosion' feeling inside your mouth as the cauliflower burst open and spreads its juice around your taste buds.This is one of their famous dish there so remember to order them when you eat there.



Next, the fried ikan bawal hitam covered with non-spicy curry rocks! It is one of the best fried fish I've ever eaten in an Indian restaurant.The crunchy skin and the smooth texture of the fish meat goes along very well with the curry plus there was no 'chau sui' smell in the fish making it taste good.Everyone walloped the fish so quickly that even though it was the last dish to arrive, it was the first dish to finish!



Finally, the fried brinjal (I don't think I spelt that correctly..hmm) was also one of the best side dishes we ordered.I guess no one loves brinjal if it was steamed since it doesn't really taste nice if it's done that way but if it's fried then it's a whole new different taste.This is also a must try if you ever visits this place.



Ahh..habis makan..100% satisfaction guaranteed but no refunds if you don't like the food here.Maybe you just don't like Indian food at all if you find this place lousy.:p


(ARGHHH...Die fishy die!!)

Scavenger Hunt Version 2

On the 25th of November , our youth had a scavenger hunt similarly like what's been done before earlier this year. (Some of you would wonder why the title says Version 2, well that's because this is the second scavenger hunt that took place and recorded in here.The first one was not recorded though...) In this scavenger hunt, the participants first be required to find their drivers of the day since this hunt requires driving around Pantai Jerjak area up to Bayan Lepas area to gather the hunted items. The method of gathering the hunted items are mostly done by taking a picture of the acquired clues along side with a scavenger member. Most of the hunted items are places and some to-do-things in the location highlighted in the clue given by Jeff and myself.



(the gathering of the Penang hiong drivers)



Each car would consists of 3-4 participants and all of them are randomly selected according to our unbiased selection. (hehe..we're trying to be fair for all the groups so that the groups are equally divided within their wisdom,knowledge and enthusiasm..so that most of them could get most of the clues right unlike the last time..will blog about it next time..) After that, we will distribute the clues to all of the teams and they will get started with it right away.



In this blog entry, I will be focusing more on this group below :


(Most wacky group and most semangat group)



Why?The reason why I chose this group to blog about is because they had a totally different hunting clues from the rest of them.Their clue had some wacky ideas and odd jobs to do compared to the rest of the groups.Hmm..You would be wondering why right?Well, we did it on purpose since the girl in white which is Sin Yee is celebrating her birthday on that day so we thought of making fun of her in this game.kekeke.Oh ya, there's another twist for this team.Each of them are supposed to wear a party cap throughout all the hunts.They must appear wearing the cap in every photos taken by them.


Ok, now for the first clue, this group was supposed to find the exact place of the photo taken below and then take an exact photograph of that place alongside with the team members.

(Nice view of Equatorial Hotel from the side of the hill)

And here's what they took...



(we asked them to pose as superman but I don't think they know who superman was...Cuz they look like Ultraman more than Superman to me..Compare with photos below..)







Ok, after that, they headed off to Bukit Jambul Hill as they are required to hike up that hill which is different from the rest of the groups as they are not needed to hike any hill. :P



The funny thing was, they didn't plan to do that last but they did it immediately according to the clues given. Note: The participants are able to plan their route in order to capture their hunted items and not go according to the exact order that the clues appeared. So in this case, they hiked up Bukit Jambul hill at 4pm! Wahlau gila man..If I was in that group, I would be sunburned till death!



Here's some photos that they took to prove that they conquered the top of BJ hill:


(Obviously, Samuel have not been exercising after his recent weight achievement to 95)




(Even though slim-shady Tin is slim enough, BJ hill took a toll on him)


(Imagine a group of people taking photos with party caps on top of a hill at 4pm++....This is what it would look like..no need to imagine..)

Next stop: Coconut station. Bonus clue : Sin Yee was required to find a coconut stall and drink the whole coconut with photos taken as evidence.She managed to find a coconut stall right on the foot of BJ Hill.

(Ahhh...fresh nuts...(in Pudge's voice))

After that, they drove down to Lake Plaza situated around Parkview Towers, Alpine Towers and Hillside Towers.They are supposed to look around the lake to spot another clue that leads them to the right answer.Justin and Sin Yee found it as it was behind one of the benches in the lake.We purposely put the clue in the final few row of benches so that they need to walk quite far to find it.Hehe

(Wet Paint.Do not Touch.Obviously they don't heed the warnings...)

(Group photo in SMS cafe~Sin Yee was busy keng-ing sou with some mat romeo~)

(FUSION!!Dragon ball fusion!)

After all that, they drove down to Tesco Extra and Sin Yee was required to write a signboard and held it up for people to see.The message that she held up was to announce to people that Jesus is the only way to God and in order to believe in God is to repent and receive Him as our personal Savior.I'm glad I did received Jesus in my life because that's the greatest thing that ever happened to me. :)

(Eyur..mama why the malay chea chea there looking at us smiling so cunning one..I scared scared lah..)

Next, the group headed to the bus station situated in Pantai Jerjak.They are required to count the number of traffic lights there...Personally, I had a hard time counting all of them as well..you can give it a try if you like..

(wah..so many traffic lights..chiak lat loh..)

(after one hour...still counting...)

After that, they are required to state the price for the ferry ride to Pulau Jerejak thus they headed to the pier to find out the cost.

(Amoi, lengchai bo..~)

Gold Coast in Penang...

(Halo guard, ini ausstraliak ka?I mau pegi Go coast..)

The next activity required the group to do some tracting in Queensbay Mall.Sin Yee managed to tract to a hot 'chic' in Nandos.(I guess most of us seen this hot 'chic' before when we dine in Nandos Queensbay right...)

(Abang..eh, kakak..ambik ini sat dan pose kat kamera ok tak? Ok~~)

Unknown encounter of the Digi-manz..THAT was not part of the clue..

(Yo,I'm with Yellow mellow man~!)

Finally the hunt ended in Sungai Nibong Gospel Hall where all of us gathered.We managed to organize a suprise birthday party for this lil girl and made every team to get her some fruits since she loves to eat fruits so much.(Sure pandai pangsai one..)And we had each of them buy birthday cards for her.Aww..she was suprised of course..but most of all, happy.All the eyes was on her and I felt that she loves that attention given to her until....

(Which one to start first ar...hmm..watermelon,banana,grapes,or apples..)

A dog showed up!

(oh no, me caught red handed with muffin~!)

And all eyes were upon this cute puppy...Muffin..

(You think I'm dumb coz I don't bark?Well, I'll pee on you as soon as I get down..&#@%)

Everyone started taking turns hugging and cuddling the cute thing..

(3 black dots...)

Sin Yee merajuk..

Justin gets bashed by Sin Yee..

Justin gets cubitted by Jon..

Then the attention returns back to dog..


(so cute..notice he's sticking out his tougue..)

(Stop playing with me........)

(sien face..)

Well, that's all for the scavenger hunt and this post is dedicated to Sin Yee since she's the main character of the day.Hope that she enjoyed herself being amongst our Youth group.God Bless.

Are you WORLD enough?

As I was strolling alongside with Jonathan in PC Fair this afternoon, just wondering how much have the computer industry changed ever since I bought my gaming computer last 3 years ago.Much to my amazement, as I looked at all the pricing for processors, hard disks, graphic cards and RAM dropped tremendously because of the vast availability of products and much competitors.I can even see that there are many competitors for our sole broadband provider, Tmnet with the other up rising competitors such as Maxis and Celcom.Actually there's another one,PenangFon which allows the usage of broadband without applying for a Telekom phone!


(hmm..can consider..)


Actually for this quarter's PC Fair, it's all about broadband only from what I see.Every counter I see offers broadband services and will stop at nothing in making sure you stop and listen to their crap.Anyway from my observation, many things are changing progressively fast and sometimes too fast to handle.In the past, if you tell your friends that you own a Pentium PC, most of them would be in awe and starts clashing into your home to have a look.Now if you say you own a Pentium, everyone would ask how much processing speed and tries to compare them with their own.


(this was used 10 years ago)


(after 10 years, it evolved to this..)

In the span of 10 years only, the processing power and speed increased exponentially.The term Megabyte was used just pass 6-7 years ago and now Gigabyte seems to be the trend.Who knows, give it another 2-3 years, Terrabyte would eventually be common as well.Let's look at how computer games evolved..


(This is Doom 1..one of the hottest game in the 90's era)


(Now this is the latest game, Crysis..notice the difference...)

How about another genre?


(Classic game..Starcraft..released on 1998)


(Starcraft 2..Yet to be determined)

Okay, enough of the cyber world, let's take a look at things that are much more down to earth.Just take a look at fashion, during the 90's people are more decent in their dressing and much more considerate as in how much flesh they would expose.As of now, the unwritten norm states that the less cloth you wear, the better you look cuz it would eventually turn more heads.Even as for those games we used to play when we were kids (eg: Pepsi Cola, Hide and Seek, 'Catch the Bottle Caps', 'Police and Thief',etc) compared to what kids play nowadays differs so much (eg: PokeMon Cards, PS2, Computer games,etc).Just in the span of 10 years, culture changes and thus, social norms changes rapidly in accordance with time.

Now, on a more serious note, how about moral values and society norms?How much have it changed to suit the time and culture of modern humanity?Long ago, people refrain from having pre-marital sex and are held as a social norm that only married couples are allowed to enjoy such activities.Plus most of the people actually did uphold that commandment.Most parents of that time are more conservative and made sure that their children follow those commandments. Then as the time passes, society have grown to compromise with that old standard. Co-habitation and pre-marital sex no longer seem strange to the world now, in fact, it's being advertised that having safe sex are recommended instead of abstaining from such sexual activities.As the world continues to evolve, society begins to accept homosexuality as an acceptable community now.Those who oppose such movement will be labeled as bigots and prejudice.

The list of laws increases due to the rapid change of cultural society in order to govern the 'freedom' that the society voted for.I believe the list will continue to grow as the world continues to evolve.Cyber-crime was never heard of only until recently.The definition of right and wrong are always been redefined again and again trying to achieve an absolute justice which is impossible by men.

There is only thing that remain true and capable of defining what is right and wrong; that which is the Word of God, the Bible.The Bible tells us in Jeremiah 6:16

"
16 Thus says the LORD:


“ Stand in the ways and see,
And ask for the old paths, where the good way is,
And walk in it;
Then you will find rest for your souls.
"


The Bible speaks of the old road which means whatever that was written in the past in the Bible defines the truth and those who finds it and walk in it will find rest for their souls.What kind of rest does your soul need?Are you tired of looking for the truth and can't find it in any other place except the Bible?Do you not know that if you know the truth, the truth shall set you free?Free from what?Free from the weariness of finding out what's life is all about.

Jesus said, "If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples.Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free." John8:31-32

The world is changing and advancing every moment but can you find any security in it?Times are changing, opinions of people are changing, technologies are changing and lifestyles are changing.Can we keep up with the pace set before us?Or is it wiser to hold back to the old path as it is written in the Bible?If I were to choose between what man and God would say about the truth, I would choose God even though the truth might sounds terrible and not as nice as it sounds.

What if some did not have faith? Will their lack of faith nullify God's faithfulness? Not at all! Let God be true, and every man a liar. Rom 3:3-4

Where do you stand?Continue to hang on to what man can promise or start putting our trust on what God can promise?The old path or the always-uptodate-path?

"But if serving the LORD seems undesirable to you, then choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your forefathers served ... But as for me and my household, we will serve the LORD."Josh 24:15


I do wish that all of us could echo these words of faith along with me.Amen