How do you Treat others?

Last Thursday night after a day of hard work on the project I am on, I got on the bus and right at the end at the last row of seat was a man seated like a king. He was sitting with such strive in his posture with the body straight up, his eyes gazing, two legs spread wide apart that the 2 seats besides him were left empty. Not because people do not want to sit but only because he was seriously hoarding the other 2 seats with his legs. Then I reflected on myself, “Do I live in a way that there is no consideration for others?”

The bus went by a petrol station and I saw a man with his hand tucked on his hips supervising 4 Indian car washers who were polishing his BMW. Never have I seen in a car wash that there are 4 car washers needed to attend to a car. Then I asked myself, “Just because we are paying for the service of others, does it gives us the right to lord over them?”

After which I recalled about my friend who in the afternoon did a heroic act not out of pride but selfless sacrifice. As we walk pass a large canal (picture of the canal can be found on the right of the blog titled “Can you see it?”) and to our surprise, there was a dog in it. Without a thought, he just climbed down from the side ladder of the canal and proceeded to rescue the poor dog out of the puddle of dirty water the dog was in despite he having to go to a class later. Then I pondered to myself, ”How many of us will go out of the way to the extend of dirtying ourselves to help others?”

“Greater love has no one than this, than to lay down one’s life for his friends.” John 15:13

He, who made the above statement did exactly as what He had said as He laid down His life for all mankind 2000 years ago.

Do you know Him? Do you know He really loves you?

The Brevity of Life

“Man is like a breath; His days are like a passing shadow.” Psalm 144:4

One of my friend was diagnose with a heart problem – “Wolff-Parkinson-White” last week. It is genetic and causes rapid heartbeat. Life still pretty much goes on the same except that there is a risk of sudden death which is relatively low (incidence of 0.6%). However, being me, I started to put myself in the shoe of my friend and asked, “How will life makes a different then?”

Living in a considerable blessed and safe country, do you find that many of us have actually taken life for granted? Just last week, there was the news of a gentleman who got married and the following day after marriage, he was found dead at the hotel lobby. The gentleman happens to be one of my acquaintance’s friend. Small world, isn’t it? It is a tragic in which no one would have expected it. It only goes to show that life is just so vulnerable as the next instant anyone of us can be gone! The question then lies with, “How many of us live as we are living each day as our last?”

I have to come clean and say that I yet to fully grasp it daily and thus, should I have to live with the consciousness of a heart problem, perhaps I might? But must we really resort to such a situation to be so? You might ask, “Is there really such a need?”

Supposed we live as such, many of us perhaps will no longer be caught in the rat race of the city life? Or no longer let the petty little issues of life bother us? Or learn to treasure others in a greater extent? Most importantly, we will start to see things in the light of eternity?

Living this life is important but preparing for the next is perhaps more important. Not being prepared and having the mentality that you will always have a next day, putting off decision after decision is as good as gambling because the truth is life can be taken away in a blink of the eye. Why take the gamble then?

At the end of it, all of us still have to ultimately face this question which we all tend to avoid – “Are we ready when the time has come to depart from this life?”

Are you?

define LOVE

“Just like the teddy bear lying on the sea shore, so are the view of True Love slowly disdain with time by the views and deceits of the world.”

“… and they live happily ever after.”

This is the common ending of the fairy tale stories which we have read so many times in childhood after the prince having overcome many obstacles finally was able to save the princess destined to him from the hands of the evil ones. This is also the ending which many when in their marriage have desired to accomplish once they finally ring the wedding bells but I have seen many of my friends ended otherwise. So, what exactly went wrong?

I used to conclude in the younger days of my observation that the generation of this age no longer knows how to love. Or should I say we perhaps love ourselves more than anyone else which results in many failed marriages. Love is the essential key in a marriage. It is not only the essential key in marriage but also the key to all kind of relationships in life.

“And though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing.” I Cor 13:2b

If love is the essential key to marriage, why is it that so many have failed to love then? Perhaps it is because we have a disillusion of what love is all about? We have been reading too many romance written by great novelists be it the present or of the past into having a wrong expectation of an experiential life about love. Even authors of the past have confirmed this truth in their writings:

“Writers of novels and romance in general bring a double loss to their readers; robbing them of their time and money; representing men, manners, and things, that never have been, or are likely to be.”
Lady Mary Wortley Montagu, 1689-1762
British Society Figure, Letter Writer

“And what's romance? It is a usually a nice little tale in which you have everything as you like it. In which rain never wets your jacket and gnats never bite your nose and it's always daisy-time.”
D.H. Lawrence, 1885-1930
British Author

We have been greatly duped by the screens we have been watching and have mistaken love to be even lust just to please ourselves for a moment of the pleasure which will only lead to further emptiness and disgust in life. TV drama series and movies of this age has only brought more pollutions to our mind sending the message that it no longer matters if relationship can be taken lightly all for the sake of fun or one can just betray one’s partner due to the consummation of the selfish desires within. And believe me, the list can just go on and on of what we have mistook love for.

So, why don’t we look at what is LOVE then?

“Love suffers long and is kind; love does not envy; love does not parade itself, is not puffed up; does not behave rudely, does not seek its own, is not provoked, thinks no evil; does not rejoice in iniquity, but rejoices in the truth; bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never fails.” I Cor 13:4–8

This is the best expression of love and to cut the explanation short, the opposite of what is written of the above is definitely not the definition of love. However, one may question, “How can we be able to love as what is written above then?” The truth is we CAN’T. Not till we have developed a relationship with the Author of the above. It will only be by knowing the Author then will we be able to have a better understand of what the Author is writing about. Make sense?

The Author is none other than God Himself in which He has chose to reveal His love towards us with the Bible.

“Greater love has no one than this, than to lay down one’s life for his friends.” John 15:13

Jesus Christ has demonstrated this love towards us when He came to this world 2000 years ago and demonstrated this SELFLESS LOVE towards us by laying down His life for us on the cross so we can enter into a relationship with Him! Have anyone ever done that for you?

He sure did!

Thus, if you so desire to truly love as He has loved us, why not come to a personal relationship with Him so that He can teach you how to love?

Looking Beyond

“The frog said to the other frog in the well, ‘We have the biggest reservoir in the world!!!’. But it is only because all the water that they have ever seen is the one they are living in.” Rei

4pm – I was struggling if I ought to continue with the topic which I had wanted to write since the week before but yet just couldn’t find my brain and fingers working well with it. Took a 15 seconds time out, said a little prayer and here I am writing on the contrast of the lives of people just by reading the paper today.

I read with much regrets how the ex-president of Seoul had committed suicide due to corruption scandal involving his family and how the police might put charges of fraud against him. How this man had put in “tireless effort “ for the country in the past years and retired last year in the rural home town only to commit himself to such an end.

I also read with sadness about the state of Colombo where houses were shattered, vehicles fell to its side or overturned due to the shelling of the warfare between the government and the rebels. The result of the war in which at least 7,000 were killed and at least 300,000 people living in refugee camp which people are staying in tents.

Then I read of how our government is putting in $68 millions boost for the students. How the government is aiding families with kids still going to school to cope with the recession which has hit globally. How blessed!

The contrast between the 1st and 2nd account – there are people who are fighting to survive and yet there are people who simply take their lives. Some people take their lives out of the pressure they created in it and some out of purely the root reason of the emptiness of live.

The contrast between the 2nd and the 3rd account – While other people are suffering in a condition beyond our imagination, there are also people who are ignorance of how blessed we are in a condition that people can never imagine.

I am not making comparison here but am challenging all of us (myself included) to look beyond being the frog in a little well that we might be in.

It is simply because of how blessed we are that we sometimes no longer count our blessings. We take it for granted that there will always be enough food and go on wasting it out of the abundance. Sometimes, do we not buy things not out of necessity but just out of “wants” or maybe it is just “cheap” to us?

“Beware! Guard against every kind of greed. Life is not measured by how much you own.” Luke 12:15

It might be because we are living in a country of access, we are never satisfied with abundance that we have. Or maybe it is because of our upbringing, due to the competitiveness of the system, we have developed the attitude of wanting to be better than anyone. Regardless the case, do you not realize that at the end of all that you can contained or have attained in this lifetime for yourself alone, you will not be able to bring it along with you when your time is up?

"A generous man will himself be blessd, for he shares his food with the poor." Proverbs 22:9

Will you open our eyes and look beyond where you are? Will you start to look out for all the little blessings that you might taken for granted and give thanks for it?

Will you learn to treasure the little that you have and in turn be a BLESSING to others by sharing with them what you have instead of wasting it unneccessarily?

What are You Living for?

“Just as the number in age goes up and never comes down. So it is with TIME. It slips us by and never returned. Are you too busy for the wrong reason?” Rei


3rd of May 2008, it was work as usual, but the headline on the newspaper had an impact in my heart as a Cyclone had hit Myanmar the previous day in which we saw many thousands dead, homeless or helpless. Perhaps then even as I can recall now, I have tried to live life as it is just by following up with the news and having a sense of sympathy for the people. But on the 12th of May, the plates of the earth moved again. This time it is China, Si Chuan. It was a horrendous sight as we see many young lives taken, homeless, disabled or orphanage due to a major Earthquake. My steps grew heavy as I stepped out of the door having read the headline with many thoughts running through. But once in the office, I had to be back to the usual self as I battled through the day once again in the corporate world of sales with a team I was leading. It was just the usual routine in which the clock ticked away late into the night with myself all exhausted, longing to be in bed and putting all my thoughts or feelings away.

The next day, as I was having lunch with one of my colleague and I asked if her husband is fine as he works in China that I came to the realization – “My dad is in China!” Yes, he is not staying with me and we don’t communicate frequently. Even so, that was not a reason for me to forget that he is in China. Shocked – I was. I remembered tears were piling up at the tip of my eyes even though I did not cry. Those tears were not because of shock, it was simply because of disappointment. Disappointment with myself as how can I forget my own dad’s where about?!? I quickly picked up the phone and tried to make contact with him but both the China and Singapore number didn’t work. It was only in the later part of the day that I managed to contact him to know that he is safe and sound and just returned to Singapore! At the end of that uneventful day, I was frustrated with myself. I had to face the question which had been asking me for the past 2 months or should I say be avoiding for the past 2 years or more – “What am I doing with my life?”

As the news of the tragedy continued to escalate, at the end of the month – I left my job (I have state clearly that this is not the main reason why I left my job then though it did play a part of it). It is not that my boss doesn’t pay me well. In fact, I must say I must be thankful for the salary given as it almost doubled my previous employment (not to mention I still had commission and bonuses). Within a short period of corporate working experience and with the qualification I possess, I must say I went up the corporate ladder rather fast to attain the position I was at and I was thankful for it. But it was also clear to me that I know how I have chose to allow myself to be robbed of the time and energy in things which I know one fine day, will just be of no value and vanished away. Was it worth it all then? In addition, have I become a salve to money or follower of the trends of the world? Isn’t there a more meaningful way in which I can devote myself in?

Don’t get me wrong. I am not saying that we have to quit our job or it is not good to work. In fact, we are made to work! We should also give of our best at work but work should not be all that there is in life. We do not live only to work! It is the balance we have to attain that matters. Is your work getting so overwhelming that your mind thinks only about work? Is all your time so consume with work that you have time for nothing else? If it is, it is a major out of balance! It will be good for you to question about the motivation in which you are working for? It is perhaps good to take time and sit down and re-evaluate your life. I am not cursing you but think with me. At death bed, is work all you want to recall at the final moment of life? Are you going to regret over the people you have failed to treasure more?

You have to remember that all that you can attained, be it wealth or accomplishments or recognition or success cannot be brought along with you when it is time to depart from this world. In this world that we are living in, it is so often said, “Time is money”. Time is indeed the greatest commodity in our hands because it can never be reverse.

“See then that you walk circumspectly, not as fools but as wise, redeeming the time, because the days are evil.” Ephesians 5:15,16

How can you spend time more meaningfully then? Would you then invest your time more wisely in the light of eternity?

When Death passes you by Twice

“Death is such a taboo only because we do not want to touch base with reality but death is only real in life” Rei


“Death” – perhaps is a word we often avoid talking about especially in our culture. It is also a word we do not want to think about which create the ever popular mentality of “Eat, drink and be merry! Let us just live as each day passes by!” But the reality is death can knocks at our door anytime without us knowing and in the next instance, we might not even have time to bid anyone goodbye.

May I say we can look at life as in having appointments which is indeed so if you put life into careful observation. Just by looking into a day, you know you have different appointments at different time slot. Take for examples, going to work or going to school itself is an appointment. Having lunch with someone is an appointment. When it is time to go home, it is also another appointment. And so it is, we all have this final appointment which we cannot avoid – “Death”.

I started off the day crossing path with a coffin as I made my way to the first appointment of the day. I started the evening when I am done with another appointment witnessing the same coffin being decorated and with relatives of the decease mourning as they make their way from floor to floor giving the decease in what it seems to me to be a final “farewell “. But a final “farewell” to where? Deep in our hearts, we all know that life does not really ends when we thought it has ended. At least, I know as I recall I was already searching for an answer to this question in my childhood days.

Why do people always have to mourn with so much grieve when one’s life has come to end? Is there no better way to bid goodbye when death knocks at the door of someone you are familiar with? There is, only if you possess the hope of meeting them at a joyous place again. This hope which generates peace in your heart can only be attained only if you yourself are sure of your destination which you will be at the end of the journey to this life. Do you know where you will be then in eternity? Do also bear in mind that eternity means forever. Where will you spend eternity?

It dawns on me then on how often we might have taken the “choice” of life for granted. The privilege to choose is God’s best gift to life. We choose how we want to live this life but we also do choose where we will want to spend eternity. It is because of the opportunity and ability to choose, we have to make a decision in this life because of what Jesus has done for us on the cross.

“For God so loves the world (you) that He gave His only begotten son (Jesus), that whosoever believes in Him (Jesus), shall not perish but have eternal life.” John 3:16

As Good Friday draws near, will you take some time to examine the suffering that Jesus had to go through for us so that we can be sure of our final destination when the curtains draw on us. If having done that, it is then back to a choice in life, “to believe” or “not believe” or “not doing anything about it”. Even in choosing “not doing anything about it”, you have already made a choice in it as in “not to believe”.

If you realize by now, we are all accountable for the choices we make in this life which we have to answer to. But this is perhaps the most important choice each of us has to make which we will be all accountable to at the end of it all. The power of the ability to choose lies in your hand. Do you realize you have with you great power in your hand? Will you choose life instead of death then?

Life Blog Begins

“The “me” I am now is because of the past choice I have made defiantly. By His grace, the “me” that I will be is because of the choice I make in Him (Jesus) who first loved us”. Rei


It took me a while to decide – “To start or not to start?” After all, it has always been a past time or perhaps a part of life. Just that it has been scattered in different color and sizes of books, or just a few pieces of paper chucked in different part of the room? Perhaps even traces of it can be found in part of the cyber world of today, or even in different part of the world through letters send? A record of bits and pieces of life experiences at different stage of time I have been given so far. Where there were accounts of woes, of confusion, of feelings, of thoughts, of silliness, of many unaccomplished resolutions, of love and many more that there is of me today. Of course there were many gaps which I did not choose to pen it down. Thus, the main concern is not exactly above I supposed.

If “To start or not to start?” is not the question, what is it then? The question is - “How long will this last? “ Starting off anything always brings you a sense of excitements. It is always refreshing to do something new even though sometimes it requires a bit of courage to step out of your usual routine. However, it is when you continue with it, when time goes on, life gets busy, in the midst of it, will you find time to continue to devote on it? To be able to persist on is liken to running a long marathon – it is never an easy task. It requires much endurance and patience as you carry on with the task. It is especially so in moments when the sea of life gets stormy, when there might be a road block in front. Then comes the test – “Will you still continue on or drop out completely of it all?”

The question then leads me to - “How will it end”? A task simple as it is, but why are there so much thought behind it? Perhaps with time that slipped me by, I have come to realize that it is not how much I have accomplished as yet but how I have been faithful to the little things in life that counts as I continue to press on to finish the race. Having a goal to ends well in mind will only helps you to strive on and be faithful to the little things which you are being called from Him.

This is where the story is written - A story of the past, of the present and perhaps anticipation of the future. A story of a normal pilgrim’s walk through the days of his time on this world till his last appointment with death shall come. When will it be? I do not know but neither does anyone except for He who is sitting on above. Are you living as if it is your last in the light of eternity? Life is a choice. Choose Life!