Through me

Remember the lady staff who broke down on the day before Good Friday? She came this morning, pale and weak, lips all cracked, tired and confused, but there was a smile. She handed in her resignation.

When I shared with my hubby, his immediate response was, "Have you been putting too much pressure on her?" That spoke something?

I remember her husband also said the same thing, "What type of job that your company is giving her that made her carry so much pressure?"

While I know I am not guilty of that, I am guilty of not being sensitive enough to note of the pressure she put on herself for being the "always-ready" and "super efficient" in her duties and responsibilities!

So today, I pray -

Through me
let there be kind words, a warm smile, and a caring heart.

Through me
let there be a willingness to listen and a readiness to understand.

Through me
let there be dependability, steadfastness, trust and loyalty.

Through me
let there be compassion, forgiveness, mercy and love.

Through me
let there be every quality I find, O Lord, in Thee.

Pastor's Business Card

I have moved to a new home. A home too far for my eldest brother to pick me up for Sunday Worship Service.

I have yet to find another church ... So, I missed the Easter Service yesterday...

Will this happen? Just for a laugh!


A new pastor was visiting in the homes of his parishioners. At one house it seemed obvious that someone was at home, but no answer came to his repeated knocks at the door.

Therefore, he took out a business card and wrote "Revelation 3:20" on the back of it and stuck it in the door.

When the offering was processed the following Sunday, he found that his card had been returned. Added to it was this cryptic message, "Genesis 3:10."

Reaching for his Bible to check out the citation, he broke up in gales of laughter.

Revelation 3:20 begins "Behold, I stand at the door and knock."

Genesis 3:10 reads, "I heard your voice in the garden and I was afraid for I was naked."

We shall live on

I started a column in The Borneo Post during the election time called "From the sidelines". Here is one for Easter, The Sunday Post

TODAY is Easter Sunday, a day filled with hope.

We rejoice because of the promise that God’s goodness and truth shall reign throughout the Earth.

The darkness is cast aside, finally. We shall live on. That’s part of Easter’s triumphant message.

But what is really the greatest message of this Christian festival, celebrating the resurrection of Jesus Christ.

Easter reminds us that in the risen Lord, we have an endless supply of power to love. That is what Easter is all about – that we have life and an ability to love.

Sarawakians had been to the polls on April 16. After a week of triumphant celebrations for the winners and soul-searching and regret for the losers, the joy and the nightmare should now belong to the past, and life has to go on.

It’s time to stop squabbling over the losses and trumpeting the victories.

Fulfilling promises

The government should now live up to its manifesto framed and committed to during the election. It’s time for the opposition to fulfil their promise of “change” to the people.

Of equal importance now is for the people, including the opposition, to cooperate with the government in ensuring good governance and transparency through constructive, rather than destructive, discourse.

Undeniably, some governments are hard to live with. There are policies we do not agree with and people who we think are incompetent or even untrustworthy and weak. There may be a hierarchy of self-serving officials who we do not like — and we call them cronies.

The rule of the game remains the same — “majority” wins. Remember, the electorate have given the government a two-thirds majority mandate, and we have to accept it, and support government in fulfilling its manifesto.

The most efficient government will not be able to perform if we elected them into office, and spent the next five years criticising them on whatever they wanted to implement and do. Sadly, this has become the political culture of our country in recent years.

Fitting gesture

But what’s more fitting on this Easter morning than for fellow Christians to turn the Bible for guidance on how they relate to the government in the common endeavour to ensure peace and harmony in our beloved the state.

Through sloth, the roof sinks. And through indolence the house leaks.

During the election campaign, a candidate pointed out that a blocked drains could not be cleared up just by pointing at it. It may have sounded a bit crude but this is actually the wisdom of The Searcher who in Ecclesiastes compares a nation to a house.

If you house is leaking, and you keep on complaining without taking real action to fix it, it will still leak. In no time, the roof sinks in and it can be disastrous.

Ponder further the analogy of the “blocked drain.” The inference is that politicians (including the elected YBs) should be industrious and conscientious in finding solutions to the problems that affect the people.

Coming into the picture is the “dredging councillor” who laboured for the past two years to clear the drains in his constituency. In fact, he had done so was even before he was elected, and though he lost in the polls, his efforts have not been in vain. He has laid a firm foundation for flood-free days for the people.

Likening a nation to a house, without the foundation of hard work, when the roof sinks in, the house leaks. Then the nation becomes insecure, and subjected to invasion from within and beyond its shores.

The Searcher goes on: “Even in your thoughts, do not curse the king nor in your bedchamber curse the rich for a bird of the air will carry your voice or some winged creature will tell on the matter.”

Today, we hear people cursing the government of the day more than ever.

Just two days ago, the government introduced a “1Malaysia email” for all. All of a sudden, the Internet was flooded with “No” to the RM50 million project. The government is being ridiculed no end over what is essentially a private sector initiative.

So, the many “boo-boos” hurled at the Searcher’s wisdom – even in your thoughts, do not curse the king – are not altogether unexpected.

This is not about getting punished if you complain about the government (king). The lesson here is that our constant complaining about all kinds of problems — some real some perceived — creates a condition that spreads dissatisfaction and distrust of the government. This can be dangerous!

The observation is that there are more hate messages and allegations than constructive suggestions to the 1Malaysia email project.

Surely, there are other means of conveying our disagreement to the government. Send an email to the Prime Minister. Send another to Pemandu. They are just a click away!

Come to think of it though, by disagreeing with the 1Malaysia e-mail project, we are actually showing that without it, we can still touch base with the government through other channels.

Act in love. Show courtesy, kindness, patience, and understanding. Whatever it takes, you can show it. That’s the essence of Easter.

“Let no debt remain outstanding except the continuing debt to love one another, for he who loves his fellow men has fulfilled the Law.

Wait for three days

This is a recycled post. Yes, it was posted in my blog in 2005!

It was not a good day yesterday. One of my staff, whom I regard as an perfectionist, broke down. Little did I know how much pressure she put on herself for always deliver whatever I asked for from the news achieve she kept! I was shocked! She said she was possessed by devil and insisted on having a "bomoh" to treat her.

It was Maundy Thursday. I told her the story of Easter.... As I prayed, I felt the peace and she calmed down with the peace and love of Jesus, too. When we reached the hospital, she was extremely calm and was just the normal self. I thank God for His mercy, love and power.

It was really not a horrible day, right? Just wait for the magic three days. I am sure after the magic three days, she will be back to work as normal with the peace of Jesus...

Guideposts was one of the magazines that I read during my school days. It was introduced to us by one of my sixth form teachers. I read that in school library during those days. Many years later, when I married my husband, I read Guidepost again. My mother-in-law has a good collection of Guideposts and Readers' Digest.

Now, I read part of Guidepost online! I am always warmed by the stories in the magazine. Here's one for Good Friday -

It was a beautiful spring day, and a sense of peace stayed with me as I left the cathedral on Easter Monday morning. I paused for a moment on top of the steps leading to the avenue, now crowded with people rushing to their jobs.

Sitting in her usual place inside a small archway was the old flower lady. At her feet corsages and boutonnieres were parading on top of a spread-open newspaper.

The flower lady was smiling, her wrinkled old face alive with some inner joy. I started down the stairs—then, on an impulse, turned and picked out a flower.

As I put it in my lapel, I said, “You look happy this morning.”

“Why not? Everything is good.”

She was dressed so shabbily and seemed so very old that her reply startled me.

“You’ve been sitting here for many years now, haven’t you? And always smiling. You wear your troubles well.”

“You can’t reach my age and not have troubles,” she replied. “Only it’s like Jesus and Good Friday . . . ” She paused for a moment.

“Yes?” I prompted.

“Well, when Jesus was crucified on Good Friday, that was the worst day for the whole world. And when I get troubles I remember that, and then I think of what happened only three days later—Easter and our Lord arising. So when I get troubles, I’ve learned to wait three days . . . somehow everything gets all right again.”

And she smiled good-bye. Her words still follow me whenever I think I have troubles. Give God a chance to help . . . wait three days.

A woman's place

It is freezing cold in the office .... I still have few stories to clear before I call it a day.... I still have not decided what picture to use for the front page. So, I decided to go for an "email break". Well, the Prime Minister is going to give all Malaysians another email account... I really do not need another one. Can I reject, can I ask for exchange like income tax rebates?

Here i a story - just to share ...


There is a cute story told about the Governor of Texas, then Mark White.

Governor White and his wife were driving through the open Texas countryside one-day, out for a relaxing drive and talk

The couple happened to be around the area where Mrs. White grew up, and as they pulled into a gas station to fuel up and check out the car, Mark noticed a little nervousness with his wife. He didn’t say anything, but when the gas station attendant came out to their car, Mark began to notice what was really going on. Both his wife and the attendant looked surprised to see each other, and they acted with that awkwardness that two people have when they’ve been close in the past, but weren’t anymore.

Governor White pretended not to notice this. They finished at the gas station and continued back down the highway. The car fell silent and neither said a word. For a long time they remained silent, and all the while Mrs. White kept looking out the window, staring off out into the distance. Mark was considerate and patient with this silence, and he continued to drive in the silence. But after the silence had gone on for almost an hour, he interrupted, trying to break the silence.

“Honey, I couldn’t help but notice how you and that gas station attendant looked at each other. You were involved with each other at one point, weren’t you,” he asked?

“Well, yea,” She responded, quietly.

“Well, I guess I know how you feel. You were probably thinking about that and needed some space, right,” he continued?

“Yea,” she said again.

“I guess you were probably thinking about how different your two lives had become. I guess you were thinking that if you had married him, then you’d be the wife of a gas station attendant now, instead of my wife. Right,” he said?

“Well, No. Actually I was thinking that he’d be the governor now.”

Palm Sunday

It is Palm Sunday. It was our Lord’s last week when he entered Jerusalem. They call it “the triumphant entry”. In the eyes of the world, the way to bring the King to the city would be different. Probably, luxurious cars led by a grand band, guarded by police cars would be how the world would visualize a King entering a city triumphantly.

But, our Lord chose to ride into the city on a jackass, on a donkey!

Our Lord probably would have referred to it as a Day of Sorrows. It was the day that he went into the temple for the second time in his ministry to clean out the money-changers in his Father’s house. It was the day that he went up the Mount of Olives. He looked over the city. His heart broke in yearning over the wretched city. And he cried out those unforgettable words, “O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, killing the prophets and stoning those who are sent to you! How often would I have gathered your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, but you would not!” (Luke 13:34)

One week later, he was nailed to a cross outside that very city’s gates where the multitude greeted him with “Hossana in the Highest”.

Were the multitude the ones who now cried out, “Crucify him, crucify him!”?

This is a very propitious time for us to consider the cross -

Near the cross, O Lamb of God,
bring its scenes before me.
Help me walk from day to day,
with its shadows o’er me.