Author andrewong2024

Being His Church- A Servant to All

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Even though I am free of the demands and expectations of everyone, I have voluntarily become a servant to any and all in order to reach a wide range of people: religious, nonreligious, meticulous moralists, loose-living immoralists, the defeated, the demoralized—whoever.

I didn’t take on their way of life. I kept my bearings in Christ—but I entered their world and tried to experience things from their point of view.

I’ve become just about every sort of servant there is in my attempts to lead those I meet into a God-saved life. I did all this because of the Message. I didn’t just want to talk about it; I wanted to be in on it!

1 Corinthians 9:19-23 (The Message)

Let’s Be a Church Without Walls

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This is a beautiful song that never fails to move me.

I am sure it will serve as a reminder for us (His Church) to stay true to our call- to be His Hands and Feet in taking the Gospel and His love to touch our broken and hopeless world.

Today, is there someone you know that you can be a friend to?

“Does Anybody Hear Her?” is composed and sung by Casting Crowns

Are You Addicted to the Internet?

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Try the short quiz below (link provided below) to find out if you’re an Internet addict. 

I was quite relieved with my results. Ha ha…


42%  

Average@Internet-User.com (41% – 60%)
You seem to have a healthy balance in your life when it comes to the internet and life away from the computer. You know enough to do what you want online without looking like an idiot (most of the time). You even have your own Yahoo club or online journal! But you enjoy seeing your friends and going out to enjoy life away from your computer.

The Quiz at Quiz Meme! 

 

The No.1 World-wide Addiction: The Internet

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Here are a compilation of news that illustrates the growing prominience of the Internet has in our lives around the globe. Some good and some bad.

This only reasons that we cannot avoid it, but need to embrace it in order that we can master it to use it approriately or be mastered by it.

  1. British Addicted to Internet
    Over a quarter of British Internet users are addicted to the Internet, according to recent research conducted by TNS Global Interactive.
  2. Women prefer Internet to Sex: Survey
    Nearly one out of two women would rather give up sex for two weeks than go without the internet, according to a survey.
  3. Internet De-addiction Centers Open in China
    Chinese hospitals are to open specially designed psychiatric units to treat internet addicts which a recent survey has shown to be a whopping 42 % of the youth who are addicted to the net.
  4. One in Eight US adults addicted to Internet
    A study from Stanford University School of Medicine in California found that “problematic internet use” was present in a sizeable portion of the population.
  5. Online Sales expected to rise 17% in 2008
    Online spending is expected to rise a robust 17% this year, despite a sluggish economy that has bruised many brick-based retailers, according to an annual survey to be released Tuesday.
  6. 10 per cent British kids have had online sex chats
    A new poll has revealed that about 10 per cent of British kids have had sexually explicit chatting on the Internet.
  7. How Obama’s Internet campaign changed Politics
    The Obama campaign’s use of the Internet has been cited as playing a large role in upending how presidential races are fought.

Penetrating the Media Space

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Since 2006, I chanced upon this gift of writing incidentally through blogging and my work.

It is through this passion and flair for writing that I discovered more of His calling for me- to be salt and light in the media space or arena.

Writing for His glory

At that time, I really did not know how I was to get in. I just prayed and took each step by faith as it unfolded with each day. And of cos, writing hard each day too.

Though after two years I know that I’m still very far from completing His vision, but I’m  amazed at how He has built the in-roads for me to penetrate into the media space as a writer.

It has to be God’s leading as these in-roads appeared out of nowhere for me. It was certainly not due to my own capabilities.

The 90/10 strategy

Besides it being a ministry, I am beginning to see how God is leading me towards this as possible career in the near future.

In spite of the general not-so-good views of writing as not being a lucrative or ideal job in Singapore, I think otherwise.

Based on the 90/10 rule explained by Robert Kiyosaki, I see more opportunities for me to enter into the 10 per cent as a writer. I foresee that this path will be further backed with the emerging trends of the Internet.

We only need to look to the US to see what Singapore’s development will be like in the coming years. And the Internet will be play a massive role in shaping that future.

Re-thinking Our Economic Expectations

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Recent news have been filled with retrenchments, retrenchments and more retrenchments.

It’s quite disturbing to read how companies have heartlessly ‘axed’ their employees who they deem as excessive expenditure in order to ride through the slowdown.

Judging from the recent comments by NTUC’s Labour Chief, Mr Lim Swee Say who conveniently also happens to be a Minister for the Prime Minister’s Office, it’s clear that we should expect no one to owe us a job or pay check; not even from our government.

I’m not sure about you, but seeing of these unfolding each day has triggered me to seriously think about my career path

Everything increases except our pay

It is not uncommon for us to bemoan how daily expenses for our standard living have rocketed, but the truth cannot be said of our monthly income.

From a globalised marketplace standpoint where Singapore is competing with low-cost labour countries like India and China (without even mentioning our regional neighbours), I think the harsh truth is that by increasing our income level any higher would erode Singapore’s competitive prowess and business appeal.

This is the reality that we’ll need to firstly come to terms and accept. We need to renounce the ‘crutch mentality’ and make best out of what we have.

If we really do have any sort of increment regardless of the economic situation, we should learn to be more grateful.

Nonetheless, salaries do differ exponentially across the gamut of industries available and the type of job we are in. So this might not apply to you if you are in a niche industry like the Oil & Gas or Civil Service working as a Minister.

The way out is…

After managing your expectations with our reality and you find that you are a person that is easily satisfied with whatever you have and have no qualms in having others determining your worth and job security, then you can choose not to take any action.

However, if you desire to earn more and do not want a ‘glass ceiling’ to your income level, then some practical actions might need to be taken in order to get to that ideal position.

From my opinion, I think there two routes we can consider in ‘escaping’ from the system. One of it is to start our own business and the other is to switch to politics and join PAP sales where much of our salary is dependent on sales commission.

I think both these routes are career paths that reward us fairly according ly to our efforts invested and performance delivered.

Maybe some of us can take the opportunity of the approaching year-end by taking a ‘stock check’ to re-evaluate our careers.

We can seize the opportunities that are there for the taking in this situation by planning ahead how we can take our career to the next level in the coming New Year.

Signs You’re About to Lose Your Job

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So we’re in a global economic crisis, our deficit is soaring, and people are being fired in record numbers. Are you nervous that you’ll soon be selling backside?

Well, we can’t entirely remove the anxiety, but we can take some air out of the surprise. Pay attention to these indicators, and you won’t be so shocked when the pink slip comes…

Jokes courtesy of www.talkingcock.com

Jokes courtesy of http://www.talkingcock.com

1. You come in to work, and there’s a tissue packet on your chair.

2. The guy who keeps kapo-ing your food from the office fridge now eats it in front of you.

3. Everyone in the office starts being reeeeally nice to you all of a sudden.

4. Those fish on your screen saver are all now floating upside down.

5. Someone has replaced the motivational poster on your wall with one that says, “Life is Just Lan-Lan, Lor.”.

6. Usually, when you make fun of your boss’s botak head, everyone laughs. Now, they just stand around and fidget silently.

7. Scott Adams pops his head into your office and asks if he can include you in the next instalment of ‘Dilbert’.

8. You reach for the stapler and your secretary pulls it away, barking, “Who say you can touch company property?!”

9. The H.R. Department is squatting on the edges of your cubicle, flapping their arms like a crow and going, “Caw! Caw!”

10. Your friends use to call you “Brudder”. Now they call you “Lehman.”

11. Your name is George W. Bush.

12. You are being tried for wearing a kangaroo t-shirt.

13. You just managed an Olympic medal-winning Singaporean sports team.

14. That terrorist you were supposed to guard is taking a damn long time to shee-shee in the jamban.

15. You are not a Minister, MP or civil servant.