Faith produces courage

This morning at about 5.50 am when I was about to cross Jalan Gasing to SFX, a group of at least 4 motorcycles (all with pillion riders) pass by and suddenly one of the pillion riders alighted and came towards me with a small object probably a knife in his hand. He was smaller built than me and in the dark I was not too sure if it was a knife. Anyway I cried out " Tuhan" Apa lu mahu? at the same time holding my daily missal to shield myself as well as to knock him if he attacked me. I was angry but also relatively calm. Fortunately for me my Tuhan really heard me as a lorry driver who saw the scene started horning and the attacker then decided to run and all the motorbikes turn back towards the Federal Highway. I thank God for protecting and keeping me safe.

I was sort of anticipating trouble because yesterday morning another parishioner Josephine told me a biker tried to rob her when she stop at a traffic light. She escaped by choosing another longer route to Church but she was disturbed. Can we not expect to be safe anymore in our own homes. Yet we are told that the crime rate had dropped. I think it is probably most victims are fed up of making police reports knowing little will come out of it.

I am thankful to God and pray that he continues to afford us protection. I also pray for these extortionists that they realise what they do is wrong and should start looking for a more moral and legal way of looking for money. Thank God or giving me the courage to shout loud and confront the attacker and keeping me safe

Listening is a dialougue's best ingriedient

Dialougue is means of communication that requires participation from all parties. As we talk out our ideas, we would like the other party to listen. Similarly when the other party is responding or speaking out we expect full attention too. We often experience people shouting out their ideas with no one actually listening. Sufficient time needs to be allocated and all opinions considered and analysed carefully. No one has the monopoly of knowledge and each person have their own story or perspective. I am sure dialougue is a useful tool and should be used or all relationships. Cheers and carry on communicating

My Mum the Courageous Gem of a Person

I would like to pay tribute to my mum today as we celebrate Mother's day. Mum brought us through tough times but we never hear her complaint. She worked very hard and when we were poor she found means to put food on our table that we grew up happily not even realising how courageous she was struggling to bring us up. Even when we had scarce resources Mum did not hesistate to help others less fortunate than us. She is ever loving ever compassionate and never fail to find opportunities to share her love and whatever we have with her friends, siblings relatives. Her tolerance level was fantastic and her patience immaculate. Truly Mum you are our superhero. We love you Mum. happy Mother's day

Preseverance

Preseverance is defined as staying on to fight your battle. A symbol of preseverance is the "Ant" It is a tiny creature but you can observe them carrying weights twice their size. They fall, they struggle but eventually do succeed in reaching their destination. Dont give up so easily. You will face many challenges in life but such challenges allow you to develop skills to solve your problems.

To quote Vince Lombardi " Football is like life, it requires preseverance, self denial, hard work, sacrifice, dedication and respect for authority"

Will

Will refers to a strong desire to do something positive. What we often hear is "Where there is a will there is a way" We should develop the desire to achieve success or overcoming challenges by sheer willpower. As a youth we desired to be taller and thus will ourselves to exercise by jumping higher and higher in our high jump sports event. Some children chose to gain a greater height by playing basketball.

I remember too when I was weak in certain subjects or when we got miserable results in our monthly tests, we will ourselves to work harder by spending more time trying to understand the subject. Inevitably our strong will will drive us to achieve the success we want.

A few of our friends we know came from Chinese medium schools and when we first met them their spoken and written language in English was atrocious. Today however one such friend is on his way to obtain his Doctorate in Philosophy after obtaining a Master's degree. I attribute his success again to sheer will power.

I thus suggest that whatever situation we are in, we can overcome with our strong will and of course dont forget the little prayer

Courage

Courage is the absence of fear. Most of us want to be known as courageous yet each one of us have our own inbuilt fears. For some the fear could be due to an earlier experience eg she had been bitten by a dog as a child and now fear all dogs. We need to instil courage by conquering fear. Confront your fears and you will be will overcome them.

One of my greatest fear is the fear of public speaking. I was tongue tied in my growing up years even though we had a very solid education in St Joseph School Johor Baru. In my later years I learnt to address bigger crowds and courage seemed to have flowed through.