Paul Long's Ramblings

Too close for comfort ....

In the STAR Malaysia news today .... Kartika's whipping upheld by the Syariah court. So now what happens next? How will it be done? When will it be done? Country must bring back its talents says Najib . And I wonder what exactly are these incentives that the government will offer to keep the talents at home? MIC will not allow any other Indian parties to join BN . Because they are the only ones who can bring in the Indian votes for BN? Indian parties advised by Najib to back BN . Whether or not they are in BN. I am confused. If they are not allowed to join BN, then could someone explain again to me why should they support BN? Oooh ... more interesting is the NST ... Lat cartoon gallery !!! I miss Lat cartoons! Now this is one aspect of Malaysia at its best

Just posted up my latest Pastor's Notes which is basically the lyrics of a song and a youtube video! It's a great song that when I first heard it in the 90s made me cry ... rediscovering it again in video form was a blessing. But I know that despite how powerful the song may be, posting about it now might open up a huge can of worms ... But hey, it is a great song so I will take the risk ... Here's another youtube video of another song by this singer / writer. I have this song on CD and it is very moving. Nice to find a youtube version. Hmm ... it seems you can find almost anything on youtube nowadays ...

Boy, can I identify with these two comic strips ... Half full (in my mind because I know I need to be optimistic) but still full of backwash :-( * In reference to politics in the world ... Now when it comes to my sermon preparation .... it's all over the place ... so much but wrong time! :-)

Interesting article full of sacrasm but I doubt the current Malaysian government will ever go the way of the Taliban simply because it's all about MONEY, SEX AND POWER. What troubles me the most is the thought of all the scandals eventually becoming old news and swept under the carpet. Anyway, the article from Malaysia Today 1MALAYSIA. PRINCIPLES NOW! Posted by admin Tuesday, 22 September 2009 21:57 By Hakim Joe It is a sad day indeed when the government and religious organizations start to turn one cheek but forget to turn the other cheek. Malaysia is after all a multiracial and secular nation. The federal constitution does not state that Muslims cannot do this or that but the government itself is trying to regulate their lives en masse and henceforth affecting the lives of the other one-third population of Malaysia who are not Muslims. (Read article by RPK “ Go all the way or no way” at http://mt.m2day.org/2008/content/view/26055/84/ .) When the government initially (but lat...

Just posted up this Sunday's Pastor's Notes And this comic strip panel has nothing to do with the devotion. I just think it is funny and wanted to share it :-)

Some fun comics that was in my inbox ....

Last week was a busy (as I expected). The four magic shows went relatively well. The good to me were was I think we made over $2000 which will come in very handy for our junior subsidies for our 2010 magic convention. Will know the figures at our next meeting. Also, we had 2 juniors perform and they did well. The not so good was for me the lack of professionalism of some performers (in particular a guest performer). For a supposed professional, he had no stage presence and made so many basic mistakes and blunders that made so many of us cringe. Despite setting aside a day to set up and have a full dress rehearsal, not everyone took this seriously and this to me affected the quality of the show. It made the job of those of us who worked on the support (lights, sound, stage) very tiring. I think this is something most performers do not understand. Those of us in the background help make them look good, especially those who require music and special lighting and effects. Even seemingly ...

Posted up this week's Pastor's Notes . Related to prayer and rejection.

I have a busy week ahead. Busy in part due to some unexpected appointments added to my list of to do stuff, as well as my taking leave for 2 days for my "stage manager" commitment. It looks to be an exciting week though :-) I read somwhere a long time ago that Martin Luther or John Wesley (well, one of those giants of the faith) was quoted as saying something along the lines of "I have so much to do today that I need to spend an extra hour in prayer to accomplish all I need to do! I don't think that's how the quote goes but the concept was something that got my attention. Unfortunately it is one of the things that make sense but not too often practiced in my life. Which is strange as it is something that from my little experience actually "works". As ugly as it sounds, "Pragmatic spirituality" is attractive :-) So I guess I should end this blog post prematurely and do something else more spiritually pragmatic?

It's been a busy but nice day. And even as I wrote this blog, I am enjoying winding down the day watching one of my favourite movies - Fifty first dates . I've seen the show twice already (on Astro ). There's so much I like about the show, despite some stupid slap stick scenes with Rob Schneider and some weird supporting cast. It helps too that I have been a Drew Barrymore fan since her debut in ET. It's not just a great love story of a guy for a girl and his willingness to sacrifice everything for her. It is also her great love for him and her willingness to sacrifice for him. Then it is equally about the great love her family and friends have for her and the sacrifices they make for her, and how too she cjooses to sacrifice for them so as not to be a burden to them. And background sub plots too revolve around friendships that Henry with his friends. Many memorable scenes, funny as well as moving .... " Nothing beats the first kiss" :-), The scenes with th...

Another thought provoking piece by Soo Inn. Thanks "Yoda!" :-) GRACE@WORK MAIL 37/09 September 11th, 2009 Edition. This ecommentary is sent out free but your donations help this ministry in its commitment to bring truth to life. Details below. (Grace@Work Mail is a ministry of Graceworks: www.graceworks.com.sg ) Commentary: Not Another Leadership Seminar By Soo-Inn Tan Think of a few leaders you admire. How many of them were effective leaders as a result of some formal leadership training they received? Ruth A. Tucker has this to say about leadership training: [Enrolling in a seminar to learn how to be a leader is as unfeasible as taking a seminar to learn how to teach . . . Teaching elementary piano lessons, for example, requires a different set of skills than teaching calculus . . . If leading covers the categories of everything from playground monitor and supermarket produce manager to president and pope, then there is no effective way to teach leadership . . . training...

Go this from Teresa Kok's blog ... Letter to The Straits Times (Singapore) from a Malay Singaporean September 10th, 2009 by Press Office Letter to The Straits Times SEPT 3, 2009 I am a Malay Singaporean and I am proud of it though the label “Malay Singaporean” often seems to make little sense to people outside of South-east Asia. In my travels to other countries and in my current place of residence in the United States, I am often quizzed as to the meaning of this label. “You mean, you are Malaysian?” I am asked. Or: “I thought Malays are Malaysians?” My answer, each time, is “no”. Regardless of how often I have to repeat myself, I try, each time, to explain the differences between Malay Singaporeans and Malay Malaysians. I say that history had united us and then separated us. Political leaderships and national policies have made us very distinct from one another. This was not always the case. For many years after Separation, the racial and religious identities of Malay Muslims i...

Just posted this Sunday's Pastor's Notes . It makes reference to a comic strip :-)

I have not been blogging the last few days as among other things , I have been busy. I am taking a couple of days off next week so I want to be sure I do not fall back on things I have to do. Taking off to do my part for my local Magic club's annual show . It's important to me to do this as I need to ensure my mind is now just totally wrapped up with church / ministry related matters. It feels great to be able to do something different and at the same time know that my efforts are appreciated and do make a difference. However this does not meant that I see my involvement with my magic club as something unspiritual (or of little spiritual significance). Building relationships and friendships with different people is to me of spiritual significance. One of the things that I believe the so called traditional evangelical church of today is missing a strong relationship component. Not the time to try to expand too much on this but I do not want my life (or that of my local churc...

Reading Malaysian politics has been depressing. All the flip flopping and stirring up hatred ... So it was nice to find new comics in the local library that provided something light and breezy. Borrowed a spider-man graphic novel- a compilation of The Amazing Spider-man #546-551 which included a couple of specials. (BTW, different cover from the one on this post - which I copied from somewhere on the internet ...) And I like it very much because it returns the spider-man storyline back to the good old days (late 1960s) It's a new spidey but also the old spidey . I like the direction that the new executive editor Tom Brevoort is taking the title. A consolidation of the three spiderman titles back into one title and while there are five writers (at least from the graphic novel compilation I am reading - which is already a few years old ...) they are writing within some broad guidelines. What I like is that they have used a dark and moving storyline of the "One More day...

It's that time of the year again. The local magic club I belong to, located on the North Shore (North of Central Auckland) will be having our annual magic show. Our Club has just received from the government an official "Charity" non profit status in recognition of the fine work it is doing to promote the performing arts, and our focus of working with children and teens. Much of the credit for the success of the club goes to two professional magicians / entertainers - our President Mick (the one holding the rabbit - whose name is Samantha), and our secretary BJ (the hungry looking clown). Together with Mark (the one with the cards and dove), who is a semi-pro working his way to becoming a full time entertainer (and anuimla trainer?), these three will be the anchors of our annual magic / variety show. They will be supported on stage by a few other acts from a couple of other professionals as well as a group of of juniors (people under 20). One of them will be "th...

I hate it that my blog seems to be more and more on politics .... But isn't this the worse kind of political double speak and outright hypocrisy. I think the videos speak for themselves (see the second one). They didn't know about the cow's head?!? If BN wants to commit political suicide I pray it is not at the cost of people. All this talk about shedding blood etc should not be taken lightly. For those who don't understand Malay ... go here for summary report.

I wonder what this will mean in terms of Marvel comic book storylines .... Disney catches comics giant in $4B web LOS ANGELES - Walt Disney is punching its way into the universe of superheroes and their male fans with a deal announced today to buy Marvel Entertainmentfor $4 billion (NZ$5.8 billion), bringing characters such as Iron Man and Spider-Man into the family of Mickey Mouse and Toy Story. The surprise cash-and-stock deal sent Spidey senses tingling in the comic book world. Read the report here ... and here ... --------- More news of violence in school ... Though I suspect this kind of thing makes the news because it seldom happens. One of my church members works at Lynfield College. My NZ cousins studied there ... Police to speak to teen beaten up in school invasion Police will today speak with a 14-year-old boy who was beaten by a group of armed teenagers who stormed his Auckland school while he was in class. The boys, from various schools, entered Lynfield College in Mt Ros...

From a newsletter by William Willimon ... bonus is I learnt a new word :-) - " curmudgeon" which means a crusty irascible cantankerous old person full of stubborn ideas ... Traditional or Contemporary? It’s always nice to hear that something you aid was helpful to another Christian. When that Christian is an Episcopalian, it’s wonderful. While the Rev. Bennett doesn’t say all that could be said on the debate of “contemporary vs. traditional” in Christian worship, it was interesting to see her Anglican perspective on the worship of the church. G. K. Chesterton once said that being a "traditionalist" means a determination not to automatically dismiss any man's opinion outright just because he happens to be your father. The buzz these days in the church is whether you attend a church that has "traditional" or "contemporary" worship. William Willimon, former chaplain at Duke University and newly elected Methodist Bishop of Alabama, (not known to...