Embarrassing Email Mistakes?

Have you ever hit send on an email only to realize moments later that you sent it to the wrong recipient? What about that feeling of terror for accidentally sending a text message to a wrong person?

That could be embarrassing. But this one, which I had read long time back, is disastrous!

A Minneapolis couple decided to go to Florida to thaw out during a particularly icy winter. They planned to stay at the same hotel where they spent their honeymoon 20 years earlier. Because of hectic schedules, it was difficult to coordinate their travel plans. So, the husband left Minneapolis and flew to Florida on Thursday, with his wife flying down the following day. The husband checked into the hotel. There was a computer in his room, so he decided to send an email to his wife. However, he accidentally left out one letter in her email address, and without realizing his error, sent the email.

Meanwhile, somewhere in Houston, a widow had just returned home from her husband's funeral. He was a minister who was called home to glory following a heart attack. The widow decided to check her email expecting messages from relatives and friends. After reading the first message, she screamed and fainted. The widow's son rushed into the room, found his mother on the floor, and saw the computer screen which read:

To: My loving wife

Subject: I've arrived Date: April 6, 2006

I know you're surprised to hear from me. They have computers here now and you are allowed to send emails to your loved ones. I've just arrived and have been checked in. I see that everything has been prepared for your arrival tomorrow. Looking forward to seeing you then. Hope your journey is as uneventful as mine was.

P.S. sure is freaking hot down here!

But not all mail sent astray is disastrous. See how God works in my case.

I have had quite an embarrassing time in recent weeks for flooding the first pastor of my Church, Rev David MacDonald with mails not related to him. I was creating a group for my Girls' Brigade contacts and accidentally adding him to this group. I started off sending a group photo taken during the annual general meeting. Then, the group members responded with "reply to all" on comments and thanks. Later I sent out the minutes of the meeting to the same group. I also sent out requests for articles and photographs in the newsletter. And the mails go round and round with Rev David in the list for each of the mails. (pix: yours truly with Rev & Mrs David MacDonald)

Finally, Rev David broke his silence, in a nicest way and it was in fact, an answer to my prayers while I was at the crossroad on my ministry. Rev David wrote -

Many thanks for sending the GB information including the lovely picture we recognised a number of faces which brought back happy memories of last year. I notice Dr Lau continues as Chaplain please give him my greetings if and when you meet him again .) You will be interested to hear that yesterday I spoke at our local Methodist Women's Fellowship on the role of womenfolk in today's Sarawak Church. Needless to say I talked a little about your own fine contribution to the work both in Wesley Church and of course GB involvement and also in Christian witness through your daily work. When preparing the talk on Monday Audrey said 'Don't forget to mention your kindness in staying up all night to print off the CD discs of our visit! ...I didn't forget! After the meeting quite a few of the womenfolk said how they had been encouraged by what they heard.

I then took all the GB information to our 1st Ponteland G.B. Captain Caroline Dodds who works in an office next to the Church. She was so pleased to receive it especially as she had written to the national GB HQ asking to be put in touch with another company. So this is an answer to prayer!

Keep in touch - we are always so pleased to hear the latest news from Sibu - You are daily in my thoughts and prayers and give our warmest greetings to the Wesleyans - may Easter be a time of great blessing.

Audrey joins in sending love and greetings.

God works in mysterious ways and turning all things for good. Romans 8:28

Having shared how God works for those mails which have gone astray, I also wish to share that Google has added a “panic button” to their list of email services. For five seconds after hitting ’send’ on an email, you’ll have the option of retracting the message.

The Google designer who came up with the idea says that five seconds is generally enough time to save yourself from your most embarrassing email mistakes. Maybe it takes hitting that ’send’ button to realize the error of your ways?

Delighted!

A trip to Kapit is always a delight.

Yes, here I am again!

It's about the express boat journey where you see, smell, hear, feel, touch and enjoy God's creation.

It's about the people who are so simple and contended.

It's about the food, simple yet satisfying.

It's about the fish, so fresh and sweet!

I am always loaded with happy feelings back home!

Stimulate Me

The economy needs stimulation. So, globally, there are stimulation plans, one after the other. From Obama's Stimulation Plan to Najib's 60b Stimulus Plan, it has not improved my confidence to spend more. Or it has not stimulated me, neither has it stimulated my 13-year-old son.

After his Jie-jie (sister) left for Australia, Chris has been very careful with his spending. Gone are the days when he would want a treat at Pizza Hut or his favourite eating place, Sweet Family for his sweet and sour pork. He has settled with an old handphone of his dad after he "machine-washed" his handphone. He has not wanted a trip to shopping mall to pick up some movie DVDs. He has also refused my offer to buy him some new shirts or pants!

Even a much persuaded trip to Popular Book Shop two nights ago only got him to buy two books. When I suggested that there was a newest book by his favourite author, he held on the book for a while and put it back and said, "May be next time. Times are bad."

Perhaps, this is a wild dream. But Chris seems to say, "If the money is given to me in the stimulation plan, I shall be stimulated to spend more to stimulate the economy."

We are no economists and we seem to sound stupid. But Noble-Prize-Winning Paul Krugman actually thinks so. Read here.

Stimulate me? If given a small fraction from the stimulation plan, I promise I shall spend the money to stimulate the economy by doing this -

1. Get a new laptop for myself - I gave my prized-sony to Rachel to bring to Australia
2. Bring Chris for a treat at Pizza Hut
3. Get Chris a 100g-bag of Famous Amos whenever I pass by Kuching International Airport
4. Get Chris some new shirts and pants as he has lost quite a fair bit of weight and is pulling his pants up now and then
5. Officially tell Rachel that she could eat out once a month in Australia and charge to the supplementary credit card

Will you also spend if stimulated?

Gold Medal Week

We were asked to rate "How had our week been?" with four choices -

1. Gold Medal Week
2. Silver Medal Week
3. Bronze Medal Week
4. Booby Prize Week

All my cell group members rated their week with a "Bronze", except for one, yours truly - a Gold.

How would you rate your week?

(pix taken in Adelaide)

My Mother taught me about Friendship

I have always pondered on my late mum's words about friends. She said, "We can't say we have no friend. The key to friendship is giving. My friend is the one whose needs I meet. If this is the key, then, we should have many friends for there is no end to meeting the needs of others."

In my mother's teaching, friendship is not something which occurs on my behalf or something someone extends to me. A friend is someone to whom I give, someone I want to share life with.

That is what a friend is.

What has your mother taught you?

(Thanks to SAHM for sharing "Things my mother taught me.)

Food in Friendship

Rachel (daughter) once remarked, "Your friendship or relationship is so much about sharing of food." Now that she is in Adelaide, I think she appreciates more about this "foodship" and would probably say that one of the mother-daughter connection is also "foodship". Just yesterday, she texted me,

"Mummy, I have bought onions, carrots and broccoli, bean sprouts. How to cook? I have tomato sauce, salt, chicken stock, eggs and corn flour."

Aha! I called her. She said, "It's so cheap. 14 sticks of carrots for A$1. Now, I just want to get rid of those carrots in my fridge."

Back to my "friendship". Sandra and I have been friends for over two decades. Ours is great friendship in our own ways - from little secrets to food, in riches and poverty - yes, we went through together. She stays in Kuching. I stay in Sibu. Now that I travel almost like every week to Kuching, we meet more often. It could be just a quick lunch or a drop-off at airport or at times, we have the luxury of enjoying some rich hot chocolate in a nice cafe late into the night!

Last Friday, we shared food. I bought some "kong-pia" - plain and some stuffed with meat. And she shared with me meat loaf that she made the night before. When I said it's yummy, she stopped at Choice Daily on the way to airport. And there, I got some ground beef and minced pork and even a loaf of bread! That's all I need to make that delicious meat loaf.

That's a delightful business and food trip!

Back home, I was even more delighted to read Jomel's Meat Balls. That was exactly a mixture of pork and beef!

And so, on Saturday, with the warmth of friendship - that of Sandra and JoMel - I mixed the ingredients! Now, meat balls or meat loaf? I decided to steam it instead of pan-frying.

So, I have a loaf of in Sandra's way in my white bread (mang-tao). I made my own dried noodles topped with the meat. I made some spagethi (I used angel hair) the JoMel's way!

More Pumpkins

I love this story of an elderly couple who loved to invite young couples to their house for dinner. They liked to bridge the generation gap and usually had fun during the dinner.

During one of these dinners, a young husband noted how gracious and loving the old man was to his wife, calling her "Darling", "Honey" and "Pumpkin".

While "Pumpkin" was in the kitchen getting coffee, the young man said, "I am impressed with your love for your wife. I think it's wonderful that after all these years you call her those loving pet names."

The old man leaned over and whispered, "I have to tell you the truth. About ten years ago I forgot her name."

That joke gives me more than a giggle! It reminds me of my increasing inability to remember names. Last week, the Kopitiam talk of the community page in The Borneo Post welcomed the absent-minded to the world of a new perspective and enjoy the humour of life this way -

A group of friends were talking about how absent-minded they had become as age caught up with them.

One said she was returning home one sunny afternoon to find her living room unusually dark. She opened all the windows and found that it did not brighten the room at all. She went to switch on the lights, and as she passed by a mirror, she looked at herself wearing sunglasses.

Another housewife is not faring any better. She was making omelette in the kitchen when her son walked in. She wanted to ask if he wanted the egg dish. She saw him playing game on his handphone and she asked this instead: "Do you want to eat handphone?"

Is there any hope for us in the club in the realm of name retrieval or not so absent-minded? Reality says I will experience more "Pumpkins" along my journey, and eat more "handphones" during meals and searching high and low for glasses when they are actually sitting on my nose!

But, dear Lord, may I always remember that -

The eternal God is your (my) refuge, and his everlasting arms are under you (me).
- Deuteronomy 33:27

The heart matters

We are facing continually worsening times. In my own works, difficult circumstances are not short of supply everyday. However, if I look at the recent cases of different pathologists' reports, marching on for the cause of English or mother tongue, the raintree, the sleeping beauty and many others, probably, my difficult circumstances are as small as turtle eggs!

I was sharing with a learned professor on what's becoming of our society, he said, "This indicates that the system is breaking down."

I beg to differ. God unfolds to Prophet Jeremiah the root cause to the miseries, heartaches and injustice and evils in life. In the book of Jeremiah we watch the death of a nation. The Kingdom of Judah was slowly falling apart under the infection of evils which had spread across the land, from the King all the way down to the common people.

In just two lines, God unfolds,

The heart is deceitful above all things,
and desperately corrupt. (Jeremiah 17:9a)

We know how deceitful our heart can be. It is clever. It is crafty. It can always appear one way when it is quite another! I confess, I am guilty of that often.

And how corrupt are our hearts? A major surgery performed by the best heart surgeon would not save the diseased heart! I was sharing with a friend yesterday on her heart surgery some few years back. She said that the surgeon gave her a 99 percent recovery, while asking her to ignore the 1 percent uncertainty. Still, there is one per cent of uncertainty with the best surgeon!

Indeed, no system of government, of philosophy, of psychology, of education, will ever serve to eliminate the wrongful, evil failing of the human hearts!

And,

Who can understand? (Jeremiah 17:9b)

God's solution?

I the Lord search the mind and try the heart,
to give to every man according to his ways,
according to the fruit of his doings." (Jeremiah 17:10)

We reap what we sow. That will be another story, another day.

Proverbs 31 Women

In Proverbs 31 King Solomon holds up a woman as the supreme example of one who lives a life pleasing to God. This chapter is known around the earth for its exaltation of godly womanhood.

Sharing with all my women friends Proverbs 31 today - being our Day! Happy Women's Day.

10 [c] A wife of noble character who can find?
She is worth far more than rubies.

11 Her husband has full confidence in her
and lacks nothing of value.

12 She brings him good, not harm,
all the days of her life.

13 She selects wool and flax
and works with eager hands.

14 She is like the merchant ships,
bringing her food from afar.

15 She gets up while it is still dark;
she provides food for her family
and portions for her servant girls.

16 She considers a field and buys it;
out of her earnings she plants a vineyard.

17 She sets about her work vigorously;
her arms are strong for her tasks.

18 She sees that her trading is profitable,
and her lamp does not go out at night.

19 In her hand she holds the distaff
and grasps the spindle with her fingers.

20 She opens her arms to the poor
and extends her hands to the needy.

21 When it snows, she has no fear for her household;
for all of them are clothed in scarlet.

22 She makes coverings for her bed;
she is clothed in fine linen and purple.

23 Her husband is respected at the city gate,
where he takes his seat among the elders of the land.

24 She makes linen garments and sells them,
and supplies the merchants with sashes.

25 She is clothed with strength and dignity;
she can laugh at the days to come.

26 She speaks with wisdom,
and faithful instruction is on her tongue.

27 She watches over the affairs of her household
and does not eat the bread of idleness.

28 Her children arise and call her blessed;
her husband also, and he praises her:

29 "Many women do noble things,
but you surpass them all."

30 Charm is deceptive, and beauty is fleeting;
but a woman who fears the LORD is to be praised.

31 Give her the reward she has earned,
and let her works bring her praise at the city gate.

A Father's Heart

No sex.
No drugs.
Don't smoke. Don't drink.
The family is always there for you, no matter what.

Yes, the engineer's instructions are always short and precise! Those are words from a father to a daughter who has been given wings to fly.

I remember Rachel commenting, "Arrgh... Daddy is so horrible. But that should make me terrified and remember always."

Horrified or terrified, I know children are awed by a father's heart. What does a father's heart look like?

A father's heart has a humility that seeks to lead as a servant.
Some hard words - but it ends with something gentle.

A father's heart has an affection that communicates unconditional love.
What a tremendous blessing a father can give to a child - words which are worth remembering!

Thanks for being that father to Rachel and Chris. Happy Birthday!

Sweating over a red capsicum

Many years ago, Richard Carlson wrote this book called "Don't Sweat The Small Stuff". I got hold of a book and did really think "it's all small stuff" for bad news, difficult persons and even disappointments. Life indeed has been a lot easier, bad news seem easier to be taken, people seem a little kinder and disappointments are not blown out of proportion.

But, yesterday, I sweated over this little red capsicum!

Sometimes back, I blogged about buying things in wet market in one store always. The usual vegetable store did not have any red capsicum. I went to another store and picked three capsicums. 6 ringgit, the store-owner said. I took a second look and found that one of the capsicums was not that perfect, so I changed one. There were three on the scale. I would not be wrong. Because I needed three capsicums!

I got back and found that there were only two in the bags! Two capsicums for six ringgit?

Having seen some previous cases in the market with her on the matter of honesty, I thought I would want to straighten out the matter with her. This morning, I went to my usual vegetable store. I picked two red capsicums of about the same size and it was four ringgit. I put on another one and was told - six ringgit!

I thought, should I confront that woman? It would end up in an argument and she would make a show out of it. It was a real struggle.

This little stuff of capsicum thoughts stopped me -

Each time you resist "being right", or "your right" and instead choose kindness, you'll notice a peaceful feeling within.

And that is a peace within throughout the day!

It's all small capsicum only...

A Mother's Way

Pizza, spaghetti, lasagna - are all not my kind of food. Even risottos do not make its way into my kitchen or even my collection of cookbooks. And no, I have no cookbook of pizza, spaghetti or lasagna.

When did the children start eating pizza? Pizza hut has not been here for too long. Probably, they have seen more of pizza on television than on their plates! But some years back, I went to a cookery class and among many dishes, we were taught to make pizza! At the close of the class, there was an exam (yes, there was), I remember making a pizza and sent over for judging. And lo! My pizza was marked as No. 5 among I think 20 students.

Chris was then probably 5 or 6. He looked at my report card, and said, "Nah, you only got position 5. But you are expecting me to get position 1. But never mind, your pizza is the best in the whole world."

And I not only learned the pizza art, I also learned the art of praising people!

Chris then would have mum's world's best pizza now and then, until he grown too much in the "horizontal" way.

Then came spaghetti. It was Rachel who started cooking spaghetti. I learned about spaghetti from her.

And lagsana? A month ago, Chris joined in our journalists-get-together at a local eating place, The Ark. My evergreen journalist, Raymond ordered food. He ordered a lagsana. That was the first time that Chris tasted lagsana. And he loved it. He was mingling with the ever-cheerful journalists. At the end of the dinner, he told me, "You are all so pro." Pro? "Pro as in professional."

And for that, I know I am going to learn to cook lagsana soon.

Yes, soon, JoMel posted a lagsana recipe and I took that recipe as my bible to the best lagsana in the world. Indeed, in Chris' words - Your lagsana is as "bestest" as your pizza and chicken pie.

What's next?

He came

Recently, I met a very distinguished CEO whom I have known during my course of work four years ago. Among other things, he related to me how Jesus came into his heart, and what happened in his life, his home and his family. It was a very delightful conversation which this CEO ended with - Jesus came.

Jesus came - it did not cause a stir in my heart until I heard Rev Lenita Tiong preached "The journey to the Cross" this morning. Rev Lenita's message was meant to prepare Wesleyans (members of Wesley Methodist Church, Sibu) for the Holy Week. Today is the first Sunday in Lent. Tied in the message were thoughts for Wesleyans as they installed their new EXCO members in the evening service.

This is not a summary of Rev Lenita's sermon. Hers is just too profound to share with my limitations. It will not do her sermon justice. These are thoughts running through a Wesleyan's (yes, I am) little mind while listening, following through the Scripture lesson (Mark 1:9-15) and scribbling notes while she preached.

The thoughts of the changed life of this CEO and the ministry of John the Baptist zeroed in on our need for repentance. The repentance is the place where God meets men. A change of mind, a different way of thinking about ourselves, an acknowledgment of guilt and our need for God.

Does it not begin with Jesus Came?

I noted "Jesus came" occurs twice in our Scripture lesson. In Verse 9: "In those days Jesus came from Nazareth of Galilee..." In Verse 14: "Now after John was arrested, Jesus came into Galilee..."

Jesus came and He was baptized. Why was Jesus baptized? Even John the Baptist who baptized him says of him, "You don't need to be baptized. Why are you coming to me?" There was nothing in Jesus' life that John had seen which required repentance and confession of sins.

Rev Lenita settled many asking minds. Jesus being baptized was an act of identification. He was associating himself with us. He became what we are.

He humbled Himself!

I remember again the words of this CEO that he was taught that corporate life was lived by the survival of the fittest . "Fight your way to the top, pull others down to achieve what you want."

But when Jesus came into his life - he learned of humbleness and humility.

In Rev Lenita's own words -

May we begin the lessons of humanity, emptying and humbling!