Paul Long's Ramblings

An example of  Malaysian politics at its "best" (please note the sarcasm). What I find sad is that this is not even an example of the the worse kind of political rantings. It's sadly quite normal and what's depressing is that no action will be taken against such people.

*Sigh* I am going to switch on the blogger "moderate" post feature as getting comments three times in Chinese from someone I don't know is irritating me ... Have some people really got nothing better to do?

Accidentally came across this youtube video of Allan Yong. Been a while since I have seen him use this kind of dummy. Nice .... I am more used to seeing him with his more basic puppets like this.

Not been blogging much as I have just been too busy and too tired. "Busy" I can handle pretty decently. Kind of get used to juggling and learning how to better manage time and resources. But it's the tiredness that is slowly getting to me. A big source of the problem for me is that my restless leg syndrome problem has been rather severe for the past few weeks. It is quite "maddening" NOT to try and relax so I can sleep. For a number of nights I have had to exhaust myself before I can fall asleep. And unfortunately I can't sleep in late so I have been getting up very tired. But the good news is that the biopsy of my polyps shows that my stomach and intestines are clear! :-) Tiredness obviously affects productivity so it is a bit harder to cope with busyness especially when there are a couple of "crisis" situations thrown into the mix. But at the same time I find a lot of strength in 2 Corinthians 12:9. The context may be different but the reality ...

Nice article on " Why I don't tweet" by Skye Jethani Some months ago I sat down for breakfast with Ed Stetzer while we were both in Phoenix for a conference. Afterwards Ed “tweeted” about our meal together and commented that for some inexplicable reason “Skye isn’t on Twitter.” He gave me some playful grief about it on our drive to the conference, and since then others have asked why I don’t Tweet as well. So I decided it was time to finally show my cards. ONE First of all, I don’t believe Twitter is evil, wrong, or in any way immoral. And I’m not condemning my many friends who love to Tweet. But it’s not for me. Here are the top 10 reasons why I don’t use Twitter (not that there’s anything wrong with it). My life really isn’t that interesting (and in most cases, neither is yours). Unless you are “The Most Interesting Man in the World” from the Dos Equis commercials , I really don’t care what you’re doing at any particular moment. Let’s be honest, most of life is munda...

My latest foray into my culinary world. My beef noodles.... Simple and easy to make and for me a beef lover, simply delicious :-) I made the stock a few months ago and froze it. Also froze a lot of the the meat (home made corned beef). Then yesterday, Jennifer took it out, I put it in a pot, added water (as it was super thick stock), threw in some cabbage and when the mix started boiling, tossed in the frozen beef to thaw it, then removed it. I let the soup simmer for a while, then got out some rice noodles (bee hoon), placed it in some hot water, drained the water and all ready to eat. Guess the presentation needs some work but for me, it's the taste that matters :-)

It looks like a busy week again. Looks like I will be busy every night ... except Sunday night. Plus side is more visitation planned ... :-) Looking forward to having dinner tonight with a new family that has joined our church. Appreciate very much their dinner invitation. Anyway thought I'd post up some photos updates of my garden. First is a photo of my "serai" (lemon grass) plants. From one small stalk, I have separated the plant into three bunches. I transplanted two bunches near the side of my house and left a huge third bunch in my "sand pit". Second is a photo of my Feijoa tree. Not yet two years old too and while both trees are still very small, both are starting to fruit. Way faster than it is supposed to fruit so I am very happy especially since after one year the trees looked as if they have not grown at all. I would attribute its good health to daily watering and regular fertilizing etc. Now that I am seeing the "fruits", I am glad I put i...

Just posted up this week's Pastor's Notes. To read, click HERE

Nice inspiring story reprinted on the Malaysia Today news portal . How I wish this was about Malaysia even though technically the vast majority of non "Malays" cannot be considered immigrants as many of us have been in Malaysia for many generations - myself personally a 3rd generation and my sons 4th generation Malaysians. Sad about the "brain drain" due to a lack of appreciation and highly limited opportunities ... I like it here in NZ as though the latest reports show that generally Asian immigrants are not as well accepted yet and are not assimilating well, this is not the case for me and my family. We are thriving here.... America’s Real Dream Team When you mix all of these energetic, high-aspiring people with a democratic system and free markets, magic happens. If we hope to keep that magic, we need immigration reform that guarantees that we will always attract and retain, in an orderly fashion, the world’s first-round aspirational and intellectual draft choice...

Thank you Dr. Ng KW yet again! Allah Word: The Bare Historical Facts Presented By nkw Allah Word: Facts and Time-line “Why do you want to fight the Malaysian government over the use of the word Allah?” This question crops up now and then in our discussion groups. The inquirer may be well intentioned, but he is obviously ill-informed. The best answer to this question is to present the facts of history which show clearly that it is not the Malaysian Church that wants to fight the government; it is rather the case of the government pushing the Church with one demand after another until the Church’s back is pressed against the wall. The Church has no option but to appeal to the Court to seek redress and justice. I refer to the recently document ( Allah-word & the Alkitab: Fact Sheet ), just released by the Christian Federation Malaysia (CFM) on 15 March 2010 - documenting how the government has been unrelenting in its harassment of the Church for the last 30 years. To read the rest of...

Not Breaking the Bruised Reeds Some of us tend to do away with things that are slightly damaged. Instead of repairing them we say: "Well, I don't have time to fix it, I might as well throw it in the garbage can and buy a new one." Often we also treat people this way. We say: "Well, he has a problem with drinking; well, she is quite depressed; well, they have mismanaged their business...we'd better not take the risk of working with them." When we dismiss people out of hand because of their apparent woundedness, we stunt their lives by ignoring their gifts, which are often buried in their wounds. We all are bruised reeds, whether our bruises are visible or not. The compassionate life is the life in which we believe that strength is hidden in weakness and that true community is a fellowship of the weak.

Have not been blogging for a while as just too swamped with work and some personal matters. Got bad news from Wei Hong on my birthday - Dr. Cheah Wing Yin's accident . Am glad that he is recovering and I trust that no more specific news updates is good news. I wonder why though the driver who hit him was not arrested for crashing into someone in the emergency lane. ... Ministry has been super busy and I am glad the next few weeks looks to be more relaxed so I can catch up on my visitation. Extra busyness is due to a couple of emergencies and a lot of unexpected new work. A lot is related to the coming Cambodian mission trip. I will now be doing 8 hours of special classes with the young adults taking a year off for Bible cum ministry cum practical training. The difficulty is always in trying to make sure I find the right balance between using simple English and yet not over simplify the subject matter. Notes are always difficult to prepare for such projects especially for the subj...

Just posted up my Pastor's Notes. To read, click HERE

I feel so tired today ... yesterday's flu / allergy (or whatever it was) with its sneezing bouts and runny nose really drained me. God is good though as I recovered enough to attend my Home group meeting and then only "crashed" when I got home. I have so much to do today and I kept thinking I need to start the day being quiet and try and be still and listen to God first. So this quote from Henri Nouwen (at the end of this post) was especially helpful ... a reminder that in my busy-ness with so much to do, I need to remember to take time to really listen ... not just to God but to others and not just rush to complete my many tasks. Important as my tasks may be (and yes, some of them really are :-)), learning to better listen will keep my feet on the ground and remind me that ministry should be first people oriented not task oriented. Though of course often the two go together ... The importance of listening also came home strongly to me yesterday and today. I called a ve...

Report from the STAR SPM: 214 students scored above 90% for all subjects PUTRAJAYA: In the 2009 SPM results announced Thursday, 7,987 students obtained all As in the subjects they took, said Education director-general Datuk Dr Ahamad Sipon. He said that under the new scoring system introduced for the 2009 examinations, 214 of the those students who scored all As scored above 90% (A+) in all their subjects. So this means only 214 got straight As and not 7,987? If 90% is an A+? What exactly is the percentage that qualifies for an A grade? And what about A-? And what does a student need to get a B?

Just posted up my Pastor's Notes. To view, click HERE What is not stated there is that the idea of just showing a picture of a painting came from Henri Nouwen's book "The Return of the Prodigal Son"

Been a while since I blogged. Usual reason ... :-) But time to quickly post up some pictures of last Saturday's KCC Gala - especially since I have a headache analyzing and commenting on my church intern's assignment on Galatians. It's an additional role have taken on this year - to be the supervisor for one of my young adults who has enrolled in a Bible training institution called Pathways . BTW I am not saying it was a bad assignment! :-) Just that it has been a long time since I did any academic work so I am finding it hard to think in terms of assignment requirements. Doing assignments in the past tended at times to give me "headaches" and it is worse when I examine other people's assignments due in part to my "perfectionist" tendencies. Nothing is ever totally satisfactory to me. Can always do better ... yada yada yada. But the main difficulty is finding the balance between giving helpful advice that allows someone to develop as God has intende...

I have a lot of "nervous" energy today .... multi-tasking with a messier desk than usual. Hence my posting frequently today ... "Ramblings on my last hour" ... heh, realized that almost sounds as if I am going to die! :-( In the last hour ... I realized I have been checking mail (e-mail and snail mail) and replying e-mails, chatting online (gmail chat), checking the local papers ... looking for an advert related to a church activity, updating / syncing my itouch, making and receiving phone calls (mobile and land line), sms-ing, scratching myself (LOL - literally as I have loads of insect bites that is driving me crazy ... seems they are mostly grass flea bites and mosquito bites - a result of my gardening), making posters (for Saturday's church gala), snacking on my lunch (a ham and egg sandwich and a pear), scanning the online news portals ... BTW a nice Nutgraph article by Deborah Loh entitled WHO SPEAKS FOR ISLAM . (Hmm... I wonder if she is related to Re...

Just posted up my Pastors' Notes. To read, click HERE .

Thought this was funny! The story is in the first person BUT it wasn't me! :-) Just telling it as I originally got it! During a visit to the retirement home, I asked the director, "How do you determine whether or not a person should be institutionalized?" "Well," said the Director, "We fill up a bathtub, and then we offer a teaspoon, a teacup and a bucket to the patient and ask him or her to empty the bathtub." "Oh, I understand," I said. "A normal person would use the bucket because it's bigger than the spoon or the teacup." "No," said the Director. "A normal person would pull the plug. Do you want a bed near the window?"

Politically incorrect but religiously correct? Interesting article and I think one not to be taken lightly UK Muslim Leader: Islam Not a Religion of Peace http://www.cbn.com/cbnnews/ world/2010/March/UK-Muslim- Leader-Islam-Not-a-Religion- of-Peace/ By Erick Stakelbeck CBN News Terrorism Analyst WASHINGTON -- The Obama administration has released a review of its strategy in the war on terrorism. The report failed to even mention the word "Islam." CBN News traveled to London to talk with Anjem Choudary, a leading Muslim radical who says Islamic teachings are what shaped his pro-jihad message. Although both George W. Bush and Barack Obama have declared that Islam is a religion of peace, Choudary begs to differ. A Religion of Peace? "You can't say that Islam is a religion of peace," Choudary told CBN News. "Because Islam does not mean peace. Islam means submission. So the Muslim is one who submits. There is a place for violence in Islam. There is a place f...

Suddenly felt the desire to listen to a Michael Jackson song ... :-) Just love the way he sings the chorus! Everyday I sit and ask myself How did love slip away Something whispers in my ear and says That you are not alone For I am here with you Though you're far away I am here to stay But you are not alone For I am here with you Though we're far apart You're always in my heart But you are not alone

Woohooo. Just finished my Sunday sermon! And happy with it too! :-) Ok ... more youth news. Driving age of 16 and youth alcohol limit of zero on horizon I think this is long overdue! I refused to allow my son permission to sit for his Driver's license till he was 17. He has since passed and my not allowing him to drive before he was 16 (learner's permit) has I believe resulted in my having a peace of mind when he drives as I had a year of him practicing driving with me in the front passenger seat! If someone is not considered matured enough to work or vote, how can you let them drive!?! 17 would be a better age to get a learner's permit but 16 is a good start. And yes, please ... zero tolerance on alcohol limits. I think it is ridiculous that many NZers are proud of their binge drinking "culture" and lax attitude towards alcohol consumption! I am still amazed though that here a person can still drive without car insurance! Ok the Herald Report ... New Zealand'...