tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-43748667840344084672023-11-16T15:01:42.154+08:00rummagedbinjcwyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16535774472562197691noreply@blogger.comBlogger203125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4374866784034408467.post-21599049407306463262017-12-18T01:10:00.004+08:002017-12-18T01:10:59.859+08:00A beautiful reflection from Dietrich BonhoefferDietrich Bonhoeffer, writing from his prison cell to Renate and Eberhard Bethge on Christmas Eve, 1943, fifteen months before his own death by execution:
There is nothing that can replace the absence of someone dear to us, and one should not even attempt to do so. One must simply hold out and endure it.
At first that sounds very hard, but at the same time it is also a great comfort. For jcwyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16535774472562197691noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4374866784034408467.post-8476493380423505832017-12-17T23:41:00.002+08:002017-12-17T23:41:34.767+08:00Idealistic RuminationsSaw a Facebook video of a gang-related murder today.
A bit shaken inside.
Created a small sense of urgency in idealistic and realistic me.
To use the resources I have to help Malaysia become a safer place one day.
Such that these incidents become less "normal".
That safety like in Singapore would be the new "normal".
One day.
I hope.
I feel that I am called to keep my citizenship for the jcwyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16535774472562197691noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4374866784034408467.post-88898634572587195482017-12-17T02:25:00.002+08:002017-12-17T02:25:49.157+08:00Nights'la fa mi do do re.... fa mi do do... la la do so... fa fa mi la so fa...
Is it from a k-drama? or a song at a wedding dinner?
Like the tune.
The freedom tune.
The give up tune.
But what am I giving up really?
Giving up on God or on self?
___
Maybe I should write a collection of stories to share. Probably of my own mistakes. And of stories that made me stop to think.
So that if anythingjcwyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16535774472562197691noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4374866784034408467.post-37802100706275032612017-12-16T23:50:00.001+08:002017-12-16T23:50:47.760+08:00A give up rantAhhh. Reset tools are not working.
I like stuff that soften hard hearts.
Right now I think the heart is hard (alert: prepare to fall hard).
I think (hope) I am close to getting a good enough job offer and I am neglecting interview preparation for a possibly very good job. Sigh.
I have no more spirit. No more energy. It has been two weeks. 10 days worth of annual leave! How am I going tojcwyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16535774472562197691noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4374866784034408467.post-26309041451562181882017-12-14T12:22:00.000+08:002017-12-14T12:22:59.227+08:00Reset toolsWhenever I hear Spirited Away, I am reminded of how *playing* music helped me to reset emotionally when I was younger.
But now, I can't play the same musical instrument.
Have to switch from keyboards to maybe voice.
A lot more verbal empathy and encouragement words and tones and stories.
It is different.
Doesn't have quite the same childhood impact.
But way way way more versatile.jcwyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16535774472562197691noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4374866784034408467.post-61093686029265147502017-12-08T00:41:00.000+08:002017-12-08T00:41:29.723+08:00Reflections on a grand wedding weekendI enjoy grand weddings! Usually the venue, the food, the presentation, etc are pretty.
Draws both admiration and envy.
I feel that the way they organize the wedding events are often a reflection of their personalities.
Some don't talk much, but appreciate luxury and grandeur.
Some talk a lot and are more fun, under-appreciate guests' comfort.
Some talk deep stuff in a boring way.
Some jcwyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16535774472562197691noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4374866784034408467.post-64137933051048509792017-11-27T23:01:00.001+08:002017-11-27T23:01:15.977+08:00Reflections on abuse and closed communitiesObservations
"Tan told Annie’s colleague that she was “fully OK", that she was acting “like a child", and that she tended to “exaggerate over small issues”. - An extract from a news article on a legal abuse case.
Also recently read a TGC article about a documentary on Hasidic Jews' insular community - and the people who left these closed cultures with pain and trauma.
Reflections
From a jcwyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16535774472562197691noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4374866784034408467.post-34000530017234274742017-10-26T10:56:00.004+08:002017-10-26T10:56:55.163+08:00Psalm 84:11For the LORD God is a sun and shield; the LORD bestows favor and honor; no good thing does he withhold from those whose walk is blameless.
---
*blameless = upright = with integrity
Remembering God's promises
in times of uncertainty,
to change fear to faith.jcwyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16535774472562197691noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4374866784034408467.post-17050301737040680402017-10-25T23:51:00.002+08:002017-10-25T23:51:31.805+08:00WritingI'm so glad
Just to be back in a place
Where I desire to write and feel comfortable with writing online.
Liberty
Flow
I love words a lot more this year.
Words that are chewed and savoured.
Not every place is like this.
There are places where only the meaning behind the choice of words should be smelled.
But the words had to be disposed
Or be prepared
Eat knivesjcwyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16535774472562197691noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4374866784034408467.post-54737844195430575682017-10-25T23:32:00.001+08:002017-10-25T23:32:28.777+08:00Reflections Looking at some of my old friends profiles.
Was reminded of days when there was a certain kind depth in our weekly reflections together.
Often, there was a depressive undertone, a sadness, a cynicism
We empathise, sometimes
We build up each other, sometimes
Other times, we do not
Especially, when forgotten
The group is too big isn't it
Regardless
I appreciate the authenticity,
the courage, jcwyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16535774472562197691noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4374866784034408467.post-81887091404525592402017-09-28T09:35:00.003+08:002017-09-28T09:35:55.584+08:00Prioritize what is said
I notice some crowds are keen to hear me out at times. Some crowds have limited bandwidth.
In cases of limited bandwidth, it becomes a decision of
- saying more things that hit some of the right notes - enough to make up for the noise.
- saying less things that have a higher chance of hitting the right notes - this is sometimes by trial and error, sometimes by reexamining what I wanted to jcwyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16535774472562197691noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4374866784034408467.post-87127404391599486452017-09-28T00:08:00.002+08:002017-09-28T00:08:58.688+08:00Living and Trying and Failing and Failing and Being AliveSometimes.
It's easier to just give up. And take the conventional way. To be lazy. To be comfortable.
But no. I must get up. And stop being lazy. Try a different approach. And work hard at the new approaches, with the new lessons and feedback.
Sometimes.
It's easier to be quiet. To not bother about articulating or relating well. To follow "built-in" strengths and weaknesses. To not bother with jcwyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16535774472562197691noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4374866784034408467.post-55360792967086424632016-04-03T00:25:00.000+08:002016-04-03T00:25:21.647+08:00Quote of the daySince I visited the school today, I have more quotes to add!
"Education should cultivate the man and transcend the making of a livelihood, so that 'it may be useful to them in all their after life..." William F. Oldham
As written in a corner of the school:-
"Oldham's noble and simple vision for was to establish an institution to impart to the young in Singapore the education of the mindjcwyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16535774472562197691noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4374866784034408467.post-62378806178349750122015-05-29T02:04:00.001+08:002015-05-29T02:04:19.257+08:00FairnessIt is funny how people like to call a person a fanatic just because they can quote Bible verses in a heartbeat.
It is funny how people who call others imposing are imposing their own views on others, without much explanation.
It is funny how people call others rude, when they are twice as rude for ignoring polite requests altogether.
It takes hard work for relationships to work.
It os funny how jcwyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16535774472562197691noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4374866784034408467.post-39203332049678814532014-11-23T01:27:00.000+08:002014-11-23T01:27:51.496+08:002 Cor 5.7It's been a while.
I wonder how disappointed my old self might've been.
I wonder where the sense of fierce hope left.
I wonder where the charity, clarity, appreciation and energy left.
Whatever the case, press on. This life is not my own. We walk by faith and not by sight.
The tapestry has yet to unfold.jcwyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16535774472562197691noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4374866784034408467.post-80304224092766098952014-03-18T09:03:00.000+08:002014-03-18T09:03:03.567+08:00Screwtape on HumilityScrewtape examines the virtue of Humility:Your patient has become humble; have you drawn his attention to the fact? All virtues are less formidable to us once the man is aware that he has them, but this is specially true of humility. Catch him at the moment when he is really poor in spirit and smuggle into his mind the gratifying reflection, ‘By jove! I’m being humble’, and almost immediately jcwyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16535774472562197691noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4374866784034408467.post-1253475515042722822014-02-03T23:58:00.002+08:002014-02-03T23:58:49.556+08:00Thankful for Olafur Arnalds I don't understand why Jesus would die for useless, despicable people: others and myself included.
Sure, He put people in different socio-economic contexts, different genes, different blah blah blah. Whatever, it does not make it any more acceptable.
Rarhhhh. I feel so much frustration and hate recently.
That said, to quote a friend, empathy is probably an antidote against limbo-like jcwyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16535774472562197691noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4374866784034408467.post-70259520891975245562014-01-15T13:56:00.004+08:002014-01-15T13:56:52.803+08:00Article on Homosexuality: The Idol Behind Same-Sex Desires
The Idol Behind Same-Sex Desires
by Jonathan Parnell on January 14, 2014
I don’t speak as an outsider when I say same-sex attraction is often tightly bound up with idolatry.
Contrary to heterosexual desires (a desire for what we are not, and
cannot become), same-sex desires are cravings for what we want to see in
ourselves, but lack. Often a powerful emotional over-dependency,jcwyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16535774472562197691noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4374866784034408467.post-90738182858009301222014-01-09T19:40:00.001+08:002014-01-09T19:40:53.087+08:00LKY: On the importance of speaking or writing wellNews @ AsiaOne
Keep it clear, keep it simple
A speech from MM Lee 30 years ago still holds true today when it comes to clear, clean written English. -ST
Sun, Mar 01, 2009
jcwyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16535774472562197691noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4374866784034408467.post-40243203448053348642014-01-09T19:37:00.001+08:002014-01-09T19:37:06.051+08:00C. S. Lewis On the seven deadly sins.
TO ARTHUR GREEVES:
10 February 1930When I said that your besetting sin was Indolence and mine Pride I was thinking of the old classification of the seven deadly sins: They are Gula (Gluttony), Luxuria (Unchastity), Accidia (Indolence), Ira (Anger), Superbia (Pride), Invidia (Envy), Avaritia (Avarice). Accidia, which is sometimes called Tristitia (despondence) is the kind of indolence which jcwyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16535774472562197691noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4374866784034408467.post-67875626765601611332013-11-27T01:04:00.002+08:002013-11-27T01:04:54.674+08:00Living my default, and not seeking His face"Most lives are lived by default. You are not unhappy. You are just bored and you don’t even realize it"
:(
jcwyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16535774472562197691noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4374866784034408467.post-28708941035956811202013-11-25T11:38:00.001+08:002013-11-25T11:38:31.005+08:00Seeking His Face
One thing have I asked of the Lord, that will I seek after:that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life,to behold the beauty of the Lord and to meditate in his temple.
Psalm 27:4
http://www.desiringgod.org/resource-library/taste-see-articles/what-does-it-mean-to-seek-the-lordjcwyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16535774472562197691noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4374866784034408467.post-32414676063366268892013-11-22T15:15:00.000+08:002013-11-22T15:15:01.006+08:00Take who seriously
" ...take no one seriously except God. You may find that the first person you must be the most critical with, as being the greatest fraud you have ever known, is yourself."
~ Oswald Chambers,in Utmost for His Highest
Indeed, I do find myself the most inconsistent person in the world.
Thankfully God is better than expected.
jcwyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16535774472562197691noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4374866784034408467.post-27917129157212115152013-11-22T11:22:00.005+08:002013-11-22T11:22:50.564+08:00Progress
We all want progress. But progress means getting nearer to the place where you want to be. And if you have taken a wrong turning, then to go forward does not get you any nearer. If you are on the wrong road, progress means doing an about-turn and walking back to the right road; and in that case the man who turns back soonest is the most progressive man.
~ C. S. Lewis in Mere Christianity
jcwyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16535774472562197691noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4374866784034408467.post-14770288551998102282013-11-21T23:50:00.003+08:002013-11-21T23:50:49.867+08:00All that is gold does not glitter
All that is gold does not glitter,
Not all those who wander are lost;
The old that is strong does not wither,
Deep roots are not reached by the frost.
From the ashes a fire shall be woken,
A light from the shadows shall spring;
Renewed shall be blade that was broken,
The crownless again shall be king.
~ J. R. R. Tolkien in his fantasy novel The Lord of the Rings.
jcwyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16535774472562197691noreply@blogger.com0