A Burmese Hari Raya

We had the priviledge to visit a burmese family for Hari Raya. Their children come to our Sunday School. We had a good time getting to know them better, their children were friendly, hospitable and made us feel very much at home.

Some of their stories are really touching, and I can’t share all of them here, but here are some that I can.

The man in the background of the picture below, he lives in Ampang as a municipal worker. He is a relative visiting the family we were visiting. He has  a wife and two children in Burma. He has not seen them in 17 years. The oldest child, is 17.

Titus giving apples to the children

This pretty girl here in the next picture loves to learn, but the government has refused entry of foreign children into our local schools. So she stays at home and helps mum look after the other kids.

The eldest girl and Sophia spent some girl-time.

They are our friends. We had a good time.

 

They served us some really, really, really, hot beef curry and nasi himpit. It was awesome. Did I mention it was hot?

The next time you meet someone underpriviledged, take time to talk to them, more importantly, listen to their stories, there’s just so much to learn!

I wish the Lord’s Supper was a tad more quiet

You must think I’m crazy. The usual lament heard is usually “I wish there was less silence during the Lord’s supper”, but here I am wishing the opposite.

I find myself, and i think it happens among the other brothers too, where in trying to ‘avoid’ being too silent, we rush and hurry to think of what song we can sing, what scripture we can read, or what words we can pray.

But where’s the worship?

There are some Sunday’s when we are contemplating some very profound aspect of the Lord, like His holiness, His pre-eminent glory, but I find we are busy jumping at the next song in the song book that has the word ‘holy’ or ‘glory’, and I’m left wishing we could have a few minutes of  selah to pause, contemplate, worship.

Having a two year old next to you does not make it easier either.

I believe we should not be too afraid of having a few minutes of silence. I know people say and teach that the spirituality of the church is evident by how quiet the Lord Supper is, but that is not a catch-all. You can somehow know… I can’t explain it… but you just know when a period of silence is there because the saints are worshipping, or because the priests have come without offerings (by priests, I refer to all the christians present).

How youth kill time

I happen to be an inactive member of a youth community hosted at Youthsays.com, a supposedly buzzing online youth community that’s full of activities and interaction.

Recently while trying to unsubscribe myself to its endless email notifications, I logged into the website and had a bit of a browse to see what I’ve been missing, and I was pleased to see a ‘Most Recommended Thought of the Week’ runner. Excellent, I can catch up on what’s ‘hot’ on the youths’ minds. This is what it read…

Recommended thought of the week

Roughly translated, it says:

Hi gang.. wanna lose your boredom? lets play ‘join the sentences’, i mean lets join sentences to make a great story. So I’m starting with just 3 words, “jie follow Ali”…

Nothing really bad with this, except I found it quite intriguing that this would turn up as the ‘Most Recommended Thought of the Week’ – meaning in the whole week, nothing else sparked youth participation more that this ‘join the sentences’ topic.

It baffles me that youth have nothing more constructive to say to each other.

Why many term Vista a failure?

Because it hates success.

Check out the error message I found in my Event Log today.

Something failed because something else was a success? No kidding.

Just in case you’re wondering why I’m bothered with the event log… Its an occupational disease. I’m a programmer. I can’t help checking Event Logs. They draw me inexplicably.

Titus and his new swimming pool!

Soo Aun and Cheryl gifted Titus with a pool for his birthday last week. We tried it out on Saturday. When the boy saw the pool filling with water he was ecstatic, shouting “swimming pool! swimming pool!”.

He had loads of fun with the water and his toys. He even wanted to bring his die-cast metal car into the pool. Haha!

Anyway, these pictures should tell the story better…

A cool dip in the noon heat

Introducing mr duckie!

Splish splash!

Almost got me into the pool as well