Justice Pao

Today was my second time watching an accident happened right in front of my eyes. It happened around 10.10am. Between a car and a motorcycle. (That time I was riding a bicycle on my way to my friend, KY's house.) The motorcyclist was wrong because it was moving in the wrong lane and the driver din't noticed her when she turned left. Thank God there was no other cars around and she was not injured very badly but I felt very sad for her =( There were a number of people(there was a roadside durian stall nearby) who came to help her and carried her besides the road and called ambulance for her. I tried to help her by bringing her things for her. The driver who banged her was a woman and the first thing that she did was shouted at the girl. I thought: Helloooo! She is on the ground crying in pain and the first thing you do is shout at her?! Sigh, this kind of people also got=.=!

Sad thing aside, I went to play badminton that morning with my badminton 'kakis'. I really like playing badminton with them as this was a time where we can enjoy a good game together. Thank you my best friends^_^ you know who you are ;-) Another sad thing is that KY lost his motorcycle keys and we tried to find it everywhere but still no sign of it. In the end KY's dad came and brought him his spare keys. I felt so sorry for him as there were other keys attached to his motorcycle keys...

In the evening I was lazing around at home and I on the TV to see if there was any good programmes to watch. In the end, I decided to watch 'Justice Pao' on TV2. For those who don't know who is Justice Pao, he is a famous judge during the Song Dynasty. He is famous because he is not partial and fair when he decides a case. He has unique facial feature, a crescent on his forehead. And that show is in mandarin.

In that particular episode, the King's mother was sad when her son did not come and received her when she returned to the palace. When the King knew about it, he wanted to make amends so he asked her to come to his royal palace. The King and his advisors were there including Justice Pao. When the King's mother finally came, she came in with her eyes closed. The King was puzzled and asked her: "Mother, why are you not opening your eyes and look at me? Is there a problem with your eyes?" And she replied:"There is no problem at all. I did not open my eyes because when I came back you did not received me and you did not even look at me. You have not acknowledge me as your mother so how can I look at you now and acknowledge you as my son? I am not your mother and you are not my son!" From this the King quickly bowed down(when the King bowed down, everyone in the room also bowed with him) in front of her and begged for her forgiveness.

The King's mother shed a few tears and finally opened her eyes for just a few seconds. Then she quickly closed back and said:"No... how can I forgive you so easily? This does not do justice for the countless mothers in the world. If I had forgiven you so easily, then no mother would dare to give birth to a child anymore. I have suffered labour for you in my belly for 10 months, I was accused falsely, rejected by my household, betrayed, persecuted, and cast out to live outside of the palace for many years... I suffered so much... and everything that I did, it was for you." When she said this, a few of the officials around the king was already shedding tears. The king then begged her to punish him and promised her that he will accept any punishment.

The king's mother thought for a while and saw Justice Pao in the corner and asked him:"Will you judge for me the punishment for a son who was not filial to his mother?" Justice Pao was stunned. The king told Justice Pao to do as she said. Justice Pao then went back and thought about it but couldn't seem to find a solution to the problem because haven't in the history of the chinese that a king is punished before. He sought the advice of a wise counsellor and he got the answer.

The next day, Justice Pao and the King and his mother was in court. The law at that time states that if a son is not filial to his parents, he will be punished either by imprisonment or be whipped. It is also stated that every man is equal in the sight of law, so even a king can be punished like a normal citizen. The punishment would also be the same. And he gave the judgement that the King be whipped 20 times! Hearing this, the King's mother was stunned and from the show you can see that she feared for her son. The King remain calm and accepted the decision. However, Justice Pao said since the law states that no officer can whip the king, he ordered that the King's royal robes be removed and whipped. After this decision the mother forgave the King and they were happy again.

So that's the end of the story, sorry if I din't translate it that well but I think you would understand better if you watch it. I can only hope and pray that judges in Malaysia can be partial and fair and not be political in their judgments... (sigh)

P.S. Sorry ya no pictures to show =p

Motive of Our Commitment

At last I am back in my dear old hometown, Bukit Mertajam for the Raya break! Took a night train and arrived at 5am this morning. Felt kinda sad that I will have to go back to KL on the 9th of Sept because my parents are going down at that time so I have to follow them.(which means I will only be in Penang for like 4 days only >_<) After reaching home, I had 2 hours of sleep before being woken up for church.

Today's church sermon was so good that I decided to put it in my post! And the sermon was preached by non other than Pastor Khoo himself. =) The passage today was taken from Romans 12:1(Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God's mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God—this is your spiritual act of worship.) The title is 'Motive of Our Commitment'. He started by saying that people can be committed to certain things(e.g. work) for various reasons. Those various reasons are:

a) Commitment out of fear

-he gave the example that some people study hard because of the fear of the word 'F'. If you know what I mean ;-) He said that even Christians do that. They often have this paganistic view of God. And they think if they do something wrong God will punish them. And that we tend to see every problem as a punishment from God.

b) Commitment with ulterior motives

-Often than not a worker is committed to his company because he wants to get a promotion. In the same way, many people worship their God in the hope that God will bless them materially, or give them good health, etc.

c)Commitment as payment of vows

-Sometimes we 'bargain' with God and when God fulfilled it, we then return our part of the bargain. For exp, "If God heal my illness, I will serve Him for three years."

However, those reasons should not be the motive of our commitment! According to Paul, his answer is THE MERCIES OF GOD! Our commitment should be motivated by a deep gratitude to God for his mercies. But why did Paul used the word 'appealed'? That is because commitment must come from a WILLING heart! Real commitment cannot be forced.

Then Ps. Khoo gave an illustration which I think is really good. Here goes: One guy asked a missionary this:"Why do you, a good man, give up everything for God?" The missionary replied:"First of all you made two mistake in your question. The first mistake is that you call me a good man. Now if you know how sinful I am, all the lies that I have told, all those wrong things that I have done and how I still struggle each day with sin, you won't be saying I'm a good man. Your second mistake is what have I given compare to what God has given me?"

There are times when we think that we have served enough. And when we start to think that God owes us something, we become calculative. "We have done so much, why are we not receiving anything?"

Then Ps. Khoo moved to the second part: 'The method of our commitment'

1)Present your bodies to God.

-but why 'bodies' and not just 'yourself'? Answer: Commitment is using our physical bodies for God's purposes.

Third part: "The manner of our commitment"

The Greek translations reads: Present your bodies as a sacrifice - living, holy and acceptable to God.

1) We should be throbbing with life for God.

-Our mind should be actively thinking of God's work.

2)It should be Holy, that is set apart equal for God exclusively.

-In other words, we cannot serve 2 masters.

-Ps. Khoo gave us the example of a husband and wife. He then asked: "Who among you would like to share your spouse with another person?" Of course you would not want that. In fact, you would demand that your spouse belong to you exclusively! So is it unreasonable for God to expect this commitment? God is not that harsh. He does not file for a divorce. Instead He still loves us just the way we are=)

3)It should be acceptable to God, that is, doing what God wants us to do.

-We do what our boss tells us to do but we give God lesser than that.

-Therefore, we should do what our Master requires us to do.

Conclusion:

When you think of what he has done for you is this too much to ask? this got me thinking about my commitment to God. Am I serious towards Him? Am I putting my whole mind and body and soul for God?

Anyway, after church, I met up with Beatrice for lunch. Had a good chat=) Then, I followed my parents for shopping in Jusco, Seberang Perai. So in another conclusion, IT'S GOOD TO BE BACK!!! ^_^

Korean Friends

Anyeong haseyo! Early this year, around March, I received an email from a Korean girl inviting me to a free korean class every week. (Before this there were some Koreans who came to Malaysia for a short mission/study trip and I get to know some of them. Then one of them pass my email address to the Korean girl who was offering free Korean classes.) At first I was a bit skeptical but then I thought: "why not?" since its free =) Furthermore, I was addicted to a Korean drama called Princess Hours and it somehow triggered my interest to learn korean =p

So I went ahead. Little did i know that I will be making several Koreans friends whom I admit are the one of the nicest people around. The first korean class there was only me and another girl, Lee Sun (2nd year Engineering Faculty). The korean class was held in a condo and it was owned by a korean couple. When we finally met, the korean girl introduced herself as Miso(not her full name) and she looks more like a Malaysian than a Korean. She is cute!

The korean couple has 2 little daughters(Sarah and Yurah) who are very cute>.< (Yes, they look really Korean). There was another Korean guy living with them whose name was Peter and he also taught us in the korean class. We started our lesson by learning the 5 basic vowels and we were given a textbook each. The class lasted like 1 and a half hours. After that, we were served with a delicious meal of korean food! And each meal there is always kimchi=) And before we leave, we would sing a korean christian song^^

I really enjoyed the korean class and I was there almost every week(we stop for 2 months during the semester break). Now the class have grown to about 5-6 regular people. Occasionally, we would have a small korean party during the weekends and we would play korean games and enjoy korean food! I enjoyed those moments very much! One thing about the korean class that strike me the most is their hospitality. They are all Christians by the way and Sarah's dad is a pastor in Korea. They are willing to come to Malaysia just to have free koreans class for us and even provided us with free meals. Somehow in my heart I feel ashamed that even our own Christians don't go that far just to evangelize to people from other country. And they took pains to learn English for that very purpose. May God bless them for what they have done!

Pics:

Our first meeting!

Making Kimbab! Korean style sushi!

The korean class(not all are present)

Making korean ice-kacang! (Patbingsu) Delicious^^

Drizzt Do'Urden

I finally bought the 6th book for the Legend of Drizzt: The Halfling's Gem. It's a fantasy book about a Dark Elf, Drizzt and his adventures. So far it has been an interesting read^^ The only thing missing from it is romance but the rest like friendship, adventure and humor(only a little) are present in the book. I'd like to share what Drizzt said which I think was quite good:

"I am dying. Every day, with every breath I draw, I am closer to the end of my life. For we are born with a finite number of breaths, and each one I take edges the sunlight that is my life toward the inevitable dusk.

It is a difficult thing to remember, especially while we are in the health and strength of our youth, and yet, I have come to know that it is an important thing to keep in mind- not to complain or to make melancholy, but simply because only with the honest knowledge that one day i will die can I ever truly begin to live...For only when a person completely and honestly accepts the inevitability of death is he free of the fear of it.

...Perhaps the greatest evil I see in this existence is when supposedly holy men prey upon the basic fears of death of the common folk to take from them. "Give to the church!" they cry. "Only then will you find salvation!"...

...I can only look at it and sigh, for as death is the greatest mystery, so it is the most personal of revelations. We will not know, none of us, until the moment is upon us, and we cannot truly and in good conscience convince another of our beliefs.

It is a road we travel alone, but a road that I no longer fear, for in accepting the inevitable, I have freed myself from it...

I cannot control the truth of death, whatever my desperation. I can only make certain that those moments of my life I have remaining are as rich as they can be.

-Drizzt Do'Urden

STOMP 2010 Part IV

PART IV- Continuation of mission 2

Day 11-13 Rumah Panjang Nanga Buai
I think this is going to be the last part... I think. By the way, I forgot to mention that we went to a multi-level waterfall when we were at the first RP. It was so nice I tell you >.< Can get free massage there somemore. Anyway, back to RP Sg. Pinang. In the morning we had 'mee sedap' for breakfast which was cooked by us^^ it was yummy! After breakfast, we said goodbye to the people in RP Sg. Pinang. As we went back to Pangkalan, I begin to feel very itchy on my hands and legs for no reason. Then I noticed there are many red spots around my hands and legs almost like insect bites. When we reached Pangkalan, we drove back to Betong for a short lunch.
At Betong, we met with Team B! It was so nice to see them again. We were so eager to share our experience but Peter reminded us not to share anything yet because we will have a debriefing when we are back in Kuching. At Betong, we also met several villagers from RP Ulu Akup. When they saw the red spots on my hands and legs, they laughed and explained to me that I was bitten by the sand flies(in Iban they are called 'kerengit')These sand flies are not mosquitoes and they are even smaller than mosquitoes. And they told me the itchyness wont go away for another 1-2 weeks. =.=!
After lunch, we went to RP Nanga Buai. Pastor Tini came with us as well. When we reach there, we have to cross a bridge and walk for 15 mins. At the RP, there was no welcoming party and we live in one of the families. The RP was spilt between SIB and Anglican so we were only greeted by the people who are from SIB.(The Tuai rumah is from SIB) This RP was made mostly out of brick instead of wood and they have electricity all the day! We rested a lot when we were there. In the evening, we get to know the children and played monkey ball with them^^
We prepared the food this time for the third RP. The sarawakian students are really good at cooking! After dinner, we dint go to the church but we meet together at the 'ruai'. As usual, we introduce ourselves and have some fun activities with them.
The next morning, we went to fix a leaking pipe somewhere in the forest.(The pipes provide the people with water) We also cleaned the river from any rubbish. Then we caught some river tadpoles and 'tempuyung'. After lunch, we had a nap. At 4pm we went for gotong-royong at the church. This church is almost similar to the church in RP Ulu Akup.
After dinner, we met again at the 'ruai'. After singing some worship songs, Ps. Tini preached the gospel. Later, we did our sketch, prayed for them and gave our testimony. It's sad that these RP was split just because of different denominations. Sigh... So we prayed and hoped that they will unite and come together as Christians with one common faith.
The next morning, we left the RP after breakfast. I left feeling like we have accomplished something though there is still much needed to be done. It does makes sense since this was only a short term mission trip. We stopped at Betong again for lunch. The journey back home was very long and I slept in the car. When we reach back SHALOM, we were welcomed by some of the FES helpers. I felt so happy when I reach there =) They put up a small banner for us and paste our names at the staircase. It encouraged me so much that I felt like hugging everyone.
So STOMP 2010 ends here. I won't tell you about the debriefing but we had a great time. STOMP has left a very deep impression on me and I might become a missionary one day if God calls me. I hope you guys/gals enjoyed the 4 part series;-)

Photos:


Enjoying lunch at Betong


My lunch^^


The 3rd longhouse


'Tempuyung'-Yummy!


The bridge to the 3rd longhouse


The welcome back deco


Our journey^^

End of Part IV

STOMP 2010 Part III

PART III- Continuation of Mission

DAY 9-10 Rumah Panjang Sungai Pinang
It was our last day at RP Ulu Akup. After breakfast, we went to their church(it was a Sunday) for the last time. After singing some Iban songs, a few of us shared our testimonies. Then we acted out the modern version of the Good Samaritan. I was the Good Samaritan *bangga* hehe.. Anyways, after the sketch we sang the song "Ku Kasihi Kau Dengan Kasih Tuhan"- "I love you with God's Love". After that, Bishop Peter preached a short sermon. Then, we prayed for the people, the young, the old and also the pastor. My heart felt for these people as most of the old people are sickly. (The oldest was 120+)

After praying, we told them that we will leave the RP for RP Sungai Pinang. The tuai rumah however persuaded us to stay for lunch with them. After saying our good-byes, we reluctantly left the RP. They were sad too that we are leaving and asked us to come back again next time. We went back to the jungle track again and my left foot was not healed entirely =( But, it was amazing that it took us only 2 hours 30 min to reach the other side where before this we took 3 hours 4o min. (Please refer to PART II if you are confused)

We took another boat ride which lasted only 15mins. When we reach RP Sg. Pinang, there was no welcoming party. This RP was quite modern considering it was built in the 1990s'. One of the family even have Astro! After tea, we hang around with the people there. Found out that the women folk were quite talkative. This time we did not bath in the river because they actually have a proper 'toilet'. But the toilet is 'open' so you can't actually take off your underwear unless you want to be seen naked =p The toilet is also the place where they wash their clothes.

During dinner, I noticed that they don't serve much meat but they served a lot of vege and fish. This was because they seldom rare chickens compared to the first RP. Most of them are fisherman and farmers. Ohya, I forgot to mention that in the first RP we managed to see the famous cock-fighting. Its a sad thing I din't bring my camera to record it. The way the cocks fight was seriously good. The cocks use their sharp beak and their legs to attack their opponent. The Iban men treasured their fighting chickens and it is one of their favorite past time. One proud owner remarked that his cock has won 5 times in a row!

After dinner, we went to their church. We did the same thing we done at the first RP(eg.introduction) This church is quite new(2002) and it has some modern musical instrument like keyboard and bass guitar! The church is also spacious(can fit around 200 people). The children and the women folk prepared a dance to entertain us. The children are so cute!!! >_<

The next day, we had gotong-royong as planned. Then we helped them fill in a hole that was caused by erosion. After lunch, we had a fun session for the women. We taught them some action songs and one song was in chinese! They were really sporting. We also played the game 'telephone' to teach them the importance of telling the truth.

After dinner, we went to their church again and did the same thing we did in the first RP.

Photos:


The children performing a dance


The 'ruai'- a living area where you can hang out


The corridor


Iban woman with the trademark black pepper


Iban woman doing handicraft


My newfound 'godmother'. She said she had a relative who look just like me^^



An Iban traditional hat


Group picture after gotong-royong with the church in the background

End of PART III