World Cup

After a month of late nights (in my part of the world), hangovers and nail-biting matches, Italy has finally won the coverted World Cup to stamp their place as World Football Champions for 2006. With that win, they are 2nd only to Brazil in the number of times that a country has won the World Cup.

I wonder how many of you out there got caught up in the football fever. While I am not much of a football fan (I was more interested in Wimbledon tennis which was playing at the same time), I found myself unconsciously wanting to be part of the game too. Everyday, before I leave my home for work, I would turn on my TV to make sure I was updated with the scores and the scorers of the latest game played. It just felt so "uncool" to reach the office and not have anything to talk concerning the first question that will greet me in the morning "What do you think of the game last night?"

Then, of course, there is that "harmless" in-house betting which repeats a specific pattern... that no one can actually predict anything! At the start of the game, many thought the Brazilians would make it to the finals but they did not even make it to the sem-finals. The Germans looked very strong but they only managed 3rd place.

In the office, there were some "clue-less" ladies who would bet lunches just for the fun of it. They chose Italy. Of course, they did not know anything about football but they made the choice based on one factor - the players were HANDSOME!!!

With all the strategist out there, weighing every ounce of weakness and strength of each team, they were not any better than a few ladies that were more concerned about nothing more than the locks of hair on their head.

"Why are you always so happy?" - Part 4

Year after year, surveys all over the world has shown that the most important thing that a person needs is LOVE. The world may give us an impression what people want is MONEY, GIRLS and POWER. But this is not what the surveys show. Polls done on a people from all sorts of background, whether rich or poor, showed that the NUMBER 1 THING THAT THEY WANTED WAS TO BE LOVED AND TO LOVE THEMSELVES MORE.

The fourth reason and the GREATEST reason why I am always so happy, is because I wake up everyday knowing that the LORD OF THE UNIVERSE loves me.

When I look at myself honestly, I do not actually quite like myself. I wish I can control my temper a little more, I wish I can less lazy, I wish I had more courage to do what I want to do, I wish, I wish I can love others more, I wish...

But knowing the Lord Jesus Christ changed all that. I realised that even though I am not perfect, yet God still loved me with an unconditional love that He was willing to come down from His Heavenly comfort and glory to pay for my sins on the cross.

I realise that I am precious afterall. I mean something to not just anybody but to the GREAT ALMIGHTY GOD.

Imagine the president of your county calling you personally and saying that he cares for you and that he is willing to do anything for you. My! You will not believe your ears! At first you may not believe it but when you realised that it is true, you will be the happiest person on earth. You will feel secure. You will feel important. You will feel special.

That's what God did for all of us. He called on us personally by coming down to earth and told us that he cares for us and proved that he was willing to do anything for us by actually dying on the cross for us.

The bible says "For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosever believes in Him, should not perish but have everlasting Life."

Everyone needs LOVE. God wants to give you LOVE. Receive it, my friend, and you are on your way to being HAPPY.

"Why are you always so happy? - Part 3

As you look at the world around you, what do you see? Do you not see people who are poor, who are jobless, who are deformed, who do not have a house to stay, who have no love, who are addicted to drugs, who are oppressed...

The third reason why I am always so happy is because I am grateful for what I have and am. No matter what is my difficulty or problem, I have a house, I have a job, I have 2 hands and 2 legs, I have friends...

Take a moment to consider all the blessings that you have. For most of us, I think we should be very grateful for what we have, don't you think? And when you are grateful, you will be happy.

"Why are you always so happy?" - Part 2

Another reason why I am always happy is because I know of a particular statistic which I shall explain in a short while.

When I was young, I was a great worrier. I used to have a very case of sweaty palms because I was anxious about a lot of things all the time. In fact, when I was younger, I used to hate shaking hands with people because I was afraid that my cold and wet hands would put them off. There was a time when I even contemplated going for surgery to cut a nerve near my spine so that I would not have sweaty palms. Now I am cured of this problem - without having to spend a cent!

One of the reason for the "cure" is that I hardly worry anymore. Let me tell you why. I found that

90% of the bad things that we worry about, never come true.
even if the bad things do come true, 90% of the time, it is never as bad as we imagined it to be.
even if it turned out to be as bad as we imagined it to be, we could not have done anything about anyway.

So I told myself a long time ago - Why worry? Why waste my energy on things that has 90% of not coming true? Why waste my energy on things that 90% is never as bad as I think it would turn out to be?

No, I rather spend my energy on doing other useful things like my work, helping the poor and disabled, writing this blog...

Like the famous McBrian song goes - DON'T WORRY, BE HAPPY!

"Why are you always so happy?" - Part 1

Someone asked me 3-4 days ago why I always look so happy. She also wondered how can someone look happy when we are faced with disappointments and difficulties.

I could not answer her there and then but it made me think.

It is indeed true that I am always seen smiling. Many people have commented about that and there were a few who wanted to know the secret behind my perpetual smile despite my fair share of difficulties.

The first image that came to my mind as I pondered this question was a young girl I saw in hospital. She was born with Brittle Bone Disease or Osteogenesis Imperfecta. It is a disease where every bone in her body was soft and because of that, most of them are broken and they cannot heal. She was born that way and she was deformed and could only lie in bed. Yet, this was one of the happiest girl that I have seen in my life!!! While many people would have been bitter and even curse God, she was there in the hospital bed, telling me about the goodness of God!!!

I must say that that left a very unforgettable impression in my mind and I think it must have made me realise that people can be happy despite of their circumstances.

Which is true if we look around us. We do see people who face the greatest difficulty with a smile but there are others who whine and grumble at the smallest thing.

I can think of at least 4 reasons why I am always so happy.

The first reason is this - that HAPPINESS IS A CHOICE. If you are unhappy, no one is forcing you to feel not happy. The only person who decides whether to be happy or not, is yourself.

The next few reasons will come out soon. In the meantime, do feel free to read the rest of my blog :-)

Set Your Mind on Higher Things

I am currently reading a best-seller by Joel Osteen. The book is called Your Best Life Now.

He actually had a section on Set Your Mind on Higher Things. Just thought that I will quote something that he wrote in that section:

If you are depressed, you must understand, nobody is making you depressed. If your're not happy, nobody is forcing you to be unhappy. If you're negative and you have a bad attitude, nobody's coercing you to be bored, uncoorperative, sarcastic, or sullen. You are choosing to remain in that condition, and the first step out of that mess is to recognise that the only person who can improve the situation is you!

Some people say. "Well, my circumstances have me down. You just don't know what I'm going through."

Actually, your circumstances don't have you down. Your thoughts about your circumstances have you down. On the other hand, you can be in one of the biggest battles of your life and still bge filled with joy and peace and victory - if you simply learn how to choose the right thoughts. It's time to think about what you're thinking about.

How true! The book continues to tell us why it is not good to have thoughts that constantly mop the floor but rather it is a great advantage to set our thoughts on higher things.

What thoughts are you thinking today!

Bitterness

There are some of us who are always grumbling about this and that. They never seem to be happy enough.

I have found a great prescription for those with a grumpy spirit. Go visit an orphanage.

Did that this Sunday and the orphanage I went to was for those children who were disabled and mentally challenged.

If not for anything, just consider how perfect our body is. We can keep our head upright without any effort, but not for these children. We can do wonders with our hands and legs but these children need help with even feeding themself.

For everything, there is probably some good things and some bad things that could be said about it. Question is - why focus on the bad? Does it do you any good? Nay, rather it shortens your life.

Someone has said that bitterness is the poison that we eat in the hope of poisoning others.

Hope that you are not poisoning yourself. Cheers!