Comfort for God’s People

1 “Comfort, comfort my people,”
says your God.

8 The grass withers and the flowers fade,
but the word of our God stands forever.”

18 To whom can you compare God?
What image can you find to resemble him?

31 But those who trust in the Lord will find new strength.
They will soar high on wings like eagles.
They will run and not grow weary.
They will walk and not faint.

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Those are some of my favourite verses from the passage of Isaiah 40 and how this passage relate to us.

We can say life is like a continuous documentary showing the hollow actions of people trying to live without a biblical hope, as one looks onto God as the only defense and refuge. We unquestionably live in a strife-ridden world, one torn by wars, by earthquakes, by diseases and incurable illnesses, by injustices and corrupt governments run by money-is-never-enough-in-accounts’ politicians.

How much despair and injustice life can be? How much can one handle thorns and weeds in life? But the truth is biblical comfort through the Word does not simply chop down the thorns and the weeds that cause us pain. It digs around in the soil of our lives to loosen soil around the roots, and then we have to pull out the roots instead.

Where is God? In times like this, we kept questioning with our face tilted up, facing the heavens and questioned repeatedly “GOD, Where are you?”.

The good news is God cares about our hearts. That is no doubt. Nevertheless, man is responsible to come to God by faith and to choose the right path (read: His path). Whatever problems and discomforts you have, keep on pouring to Him. He listens and He cares. He surely cares for you and me.

I remind myself daily about to emphasize on finding comfort by keeping our focus on the Lord. FOCUS! Yes, the word is Focus.

Regardless of the difficulties and storms ahead of our days, God definitely cares. Regardless of how much we could not comprehend His ways, God definitely cares.

Isaiah 40’s ending stresses about God’s care and desire for His people to experience His comfort. As it says for those who trust in Him will find new strength and they will soar like eagles!

Are you ready to soar like an eagle today?

The show premiered on July 26, 2010, and is slated to air for 20 episodes five nights a week. Hence, my couch is going to be on fire again.

How can I miss such series with such interesting cast? This modern series drama follows the lives of three women — Jackie, Miss Cash, and Bibi, portrayed by Maggie Cheung Ho-Yee, Michelle Yim, and Joyce Tang respectively.

This drama revolves around the cosmetics industry and how women struggle to win the hearts of clients, bosses as well as life partners.

女人最痛 — Coming back to this title, what hurts women most? What is the most painful thing on earth to women? I debated with my mum on this as we watched the 2nd episode of this series.

First thing that came into my mind was labour pain. The amount of pain women have to go through after 40 weeks of pregnancy at the delivery room is simply unbearable and unmeasurable. Mum definitely agreed with me undoubtedly but that is just a form of physical pain.

Mum said the most painful thing on earth to women will be 男人变心. It means when a man changes his heart for the other. I immediately felt the sharp pierce in my heart when she said that. 男人变心 is definitely a powerful phrase as I could feel the pain as my mum explained why it is painful. It is no doubt one of the greatest pain one have to go through.

I guess I have said enough for this blog entry. It is time for the readers to deliberate what is painful and what is not.

It was an engagement gift from him. I love how the purple roman numbers blend nicely with the black background.

After all, my previous watch is aging. And my mum has always loved big watches, so I gave the previous watch to her.

Now I can’t stop staring at my new watch.

He received a new watch too. Yes, it’s another Seiko madness. It was a gift from the mom as a token of “Welcome to the family”. I seriously went gaga over him when he wore that watch. I was almost drooling each time he lifted his left wrist towards me. >_<

It looks like a pair of watches for couples, but they are not. Mine’s a Seiko Criteria Chronograph while he’s wearing a Seiko Tachymeter Chronograph.

Anyway this is not a paid advertorial for Seiko. I am just shouting around that I love Seiko.

If you do not have money, you better shut your d**n mouth up. You are only allowed to open your mouth when you have your ATM non-stop rolling.

I always deal with such antagonizing people.

Money — Love it or hate it. Everyone needs money to survive in this modern society. Everything is placed with price tag. Love it or hate it, this is the truth.

Without money, you can neither buy food nor rent a room. Without money, you can’t have a solid education. Without money, you can’t pay bills. You can’t even have a proper wedding without money!!

We don’t have money. You have to do your college locally. Or perhaps, go through STPM. Only rich people can send their kids overseas.

When you have the ka-ching, they will adore you and worship you. They will treat you like kings and queens of the world. When you are in financial crisis, they will run away and proclaim that they have not known you. Worst still when you are in debts, the amount of ruthless stares and merciless criticism will pile up unnecessarily. Of course, there are a few exceptions where I have wealthy friends but with a down-to-earth personality and do not despise your socioeconomic status.

Some may argue that money cannot buy love. Well, if your daughter is dating a son of a business tycoon, I am sure you are waving green lights for her to proceed. You will definitely go against till kingdom come, if she is dating a man who comes from a family background of debts.

It’s all about money, money, money, money, money and money!

No money no talk. If you have money, then we talk.

Money — Love it or Hate it. Who can argue about this?

Talking about 1-Malaysia which our current Prime Minister campaigned about, I believed we have practised this concept long ago. We do not need his constant reminders or campaigns to tell us to live muhibbah (in racial harmony).

My schoolmates and I are colour blind since then and the legacy lives on today.

Mr Prime Minister, it is time for you to practise what you preach.

It is definitely the time to think of the WHEN WHERE WHAT WHO HOW.

And of course the sweetest part will be…

Needless to say, it’s time to crack my brains!

Has life been hard to deal with lately? Has everything that was once a safety zone suddenly turned to uncertainty?

Some of us can be anxious about our future, our health, our families, or our work. Sometimes we struggle with pinpointing the exact cause of anxiety. However, God tells us that we do not need to be anxious about anything.

We are pressed on every side by troubles, but we are not crushed. We are perplexed, but not driven to despair. We are hunted down, but never abandoned by God. We get knocked down, but we are not destroyed. (2 Corinthians 4:8,9)

But we are all humans. Both you and I may throw a thousand or a million questions for ourselves to answer.

Are things changing for you? Are you afraid of change? Has something happened to you that threatens your peace of mind?

And the questions will never stop coming until we throw all these back to God’s hands.

God controls the future. We do not need to worry since God is our Father. God is the object of our faith; and finally, we don’t need to worry because God knows and controls the future.

That ultimately reminds me of Matthew 6:31-34. What we do not know of, will be taken care by our dearest Heavenly Father.

God is definitely in control.

Some may have crossed the finishing line while some struggled jumping over the hurdles.

Some may not have taken the first climb, while some are on its way to conquer the peak.

So where do we stand now?

As the title mentioned, I spent my Labour Day weekend at Koh Lipe (Lipe Island) in Thailand. Never heard of it?

Koh Lipe is a small island in the Southern part of the Thai Andaman Sea and it is very near to our Langkawi island.

Koh Lipe is vastly known among the foreigners (read: Caucasians) and the locals. Malaysians hardly knew about this deserted island and I, for one, had to find out about Koh Lipe from a friend who googled about it.

I know many of you will ask ‘How do you get there?’ or ‘Is there a direct flight to Koh Lipe?’ and so on.

The quickest way from Malaysia is through Langkawi Island, the cheapest via Pak Barra. During the low season, Koh Lipe can only be reached from Pak Barra.

From November until May there are several ferries a day from Langkawi to Koh Lipe. Click here to find out for the ferries time table. However, most ferry companies use a different port on Langkawi Island. I took the boat from Telaga Harbour Park which is about 10-15 min drive from Langkawi International Airport.

The boat ride to Koh Lipe takes less than 1 hour. When you arrive on Koh Lipe you will have to go through the immigration first. The captain of the boat will give you the instructions of what to do and where to wait.

There is no pier on Koh Lipe. Local Chao Ley (Sea Gypsies) will come with their longtail boats to pick you up from the ferry.

They will take you to any beach on the island for 50 Baht (not included in your ferry ticket!). Please do not wear sneakers when you are at this point. You wouldn’t want your shoes to be drenched in salt water upon reaching the shores.

Once you reached the shore, do not stare at the beach first.  Remember to pick up your passports from the immigration counter.

Koh Lipe is known as “Maldives of Thailand” and I strongly recommend you to visit this island before it is flocked by overcrowding tourists like the ones in Phuket.

There are 3 main beaches on Koh Lipe: Pattaya Beach, Sunset Beach and Sunrise Beach.

The most popular one will be Pattaya Beach.

There are dozens of resorts and places to stay all over the island, and because of Koh Lipe’s small size, it’s easy to stay anywhere and go to any beach in less than 15 minutes.

Sita Beach Resort is one of the best resorts available in Koh Lipe, providing the best facilities like swimming pool, water heater showers, complimentary wireless Internet and many more.

With the stunning spectacular view of the open sea, I believe you will hardly spend time in the room.

Like me, most of the time you will be staring at the aquamarine waters and the white sandy beach. But be careful; do not overcook your skin under the sun. Be sure to apply sunblock before you get out of your room.

You may also hop onto the longtail boat and the local gypsy will take you to nearby islands for Snorkelling. If you go on a group, it cost about 550Baht per person. But during the low season (May – September), there will be no group outings. Hence, you need to rent a private longtail boat for 2000Baht and you will be the boss of the boat.

The local gypsy will take you to known spots for snorkeling and enjoy the colorful life in the sea.

Before you leave this island, take a stroll across the island to Sunset Beach and fall in love with the sunset here.

Koh Lipe is no doubt the perfect choice for a relaxing getaway. All you need to do is to save up about RM1,400 for the entire cost of the trip.

Guess what? Unlike Phuket or Krabi, Koh Lipe is NOT that commercialized and you can enjoy the every bit of the island in awe.

Can’t see it?!?

Let me zoom nearer!!

Can you please tell me which ass**** dump that on my neighbour’s window?

You tell me what that is!!!