Month August 2007

Thaksin secures Man City trials for Thai trio

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BANGKOK, July 25 (Reuters) – Ousted Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, who took full control of Manchester City on Monday, has arranged trials for three Thai national team players at the English Premier League club.

Defenders Suree Sukha and Kiatprawut Saiwaeo and striker Teerasil Dangda will train with the team in Manchester next week, Thai soccer officials said on Wednesday.

Read full story here>>>

No sooner than a month later after Mr Thaksin bought over English Premier League football club, Manchester City, he has made the headlines yet again. This time with him having 75% ownership of the club, he was able to arrange trials for some Thai football players to have a chance to play football in the Premier League.

Wow… that’s amazing! This is a BIG DREAM come true for these Thai players. And this dream would not be a reality without a Thai football club owner “pulling the strings” for this to be made possible.

Can you imagine if a Singapore businessman was to own one of these English football clubs??

That will be the day when we can see our local boys, Noh Alam Shah, Indra Sahdan or Lionel Lewis pitting against the top players, earning those massive pay checks and putting Singapore in greater prominence!

However, taking it from God’s perspective:

IMAGINE how easy and flexible it would be for us global Christians to move for one country to another through our profession in order to fulfill God’s Great Commission if we had in place strategically many kingdom-minded “Mr Thaksins” in Christdom around the world to pull the strings to advance the work of God?

“With God, it is not so hard to imagine” (Riding on Samsung’s IMAGINE punchline)

“For by the grace given me I say to every one of you: Do not think of yourself more highly than you ought, but rather think of yourself with sober judgment, in accordance with the measure of faith God has given you. Just as each of us has one body with many members, and these members do not all have the same function, so in Christ we who are many form one body, and each member belongs to all the others.”

Romans 12:3-5 (NIV)

God is with us, all the time

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Since the start of this week, my two precious nieces contracted some virus that had them running a fever with vomitting and diarrohea.  

Seeing them like this my heart just went aching cos I couldn’t do anything except see and pray. Somehow, they had to go through it on their own and recover from this experience.

Nieces sick

From this I understood a little how God feels when we go thru difficult patches, but just as much as He yearns to intervene, He refrains (out of His great love and wisdom)  even when we blame Him or question His goodness cos He knows that what we’re going thru; that experience though painful, would benefit us much long-term in the end (c.f. Romans 8:28).

And like my brother and his wife who were with my nieces round the clock in spite not being able to do much except assuring them of their presence, it is the same with God. He is with us and never forsakes us especially in our times of need when He seems distant. (c.f. Hebrews 13:5)

His Word is with us and for us; given in the form of the Bible.

Monster Jaime

With our hope in His glory, we will one day see the fullness of His grace and mercy as we look back, just as how my nieces are now towards full recovery and smiling yet once again =)

Back to the basics

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When you have eaten and are satisfied, praise the LORD your God for the good land he has given you. Be careful that you do not forget the LORD your God, failing to observe his commands, his laws and his decrees that I am giving you this day.

Otherwise, when you eat and are satisfied, when you build fine houses and settle down,  and when your herds and flocks grow large and your silver and gold increase and all you have is multiplied, then your heart will become proud and you will forget the LORD your God, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery.

He led you through the vast and dreadful desert, that thirsty and waterless land, with its venomous snakes and scorpions. He brought you water out of hard rock. He gave you manna to eat in the desert, something your fathers had never known, to humble and to test you so that in the end it might go well with you.

You may say to yourself, “My power and the strength of my hands have produced this wealth for me.” But remember the LORD your God, for it is he who gives you the ability to produce wealth, and so confirms his covenant, which he swore to your forefathers, as it is today.

Deuteronomy 8:10-18 (NIV)