21:01
Love and Sacrifice
This evening, a friend sent me this video. In the interview, Jaeson talks about his history in drugs and stealing, how he walked away from that, and walked into a life of love and sacrifice trusting that God would be able to satisfy his every need. At one point he says
Sexual temptation, abstinence, is not something I’m just trying to control, or something I’m trying to resist. It’s a battle, it’s a war, it’s a fight to be won. So really, when you look at purity, you don’t look at it as, “oh, I’m missing out on something.” Rather, I’m fighting for something. I’m fighting to give my future wife, my future family, my children, the very best. To give them my whole heart, to let them know that I saved myself for their mother, and I love her that much that I would not give myself to anyone else but her. For her, and for my children.
It’s actually the second time I’ve listen to Jaeson and I wept both times. Despite his status as an actor, musician and writer, he exudes true humility, passion and a sense of realness. It is truly the right video at the right time as I burn the bridges to my past. The fight for my future, my wife, and my children starts now.
Love, by Jaeson Ma:
02:42
Bring Me Back
God, will you bring me back, bring me back to ten?
God, will you bring me back, bring me back to before all this started?
God, will you bring me back, bring me back to before I ever stumbled into SM?
God, will you bring me back, bring me back to before my innocence was stripped from me?
God, will you bring me back, bring me back to fifteen?
Back to when I met my first love and fell in love day after day?
Days we shared with such intimacy and openness
Days when history was all unwritten and I thought I could change the world
God, will you bring me back, back to when each step was a step of life?
Perhaps time will never turn itself back. But perhaps all this has happened for a reason. Maybe it is so that when I walk out, I may understand deeper truths that I would never fathom had I never entered. Maybe it is so that I would gain some wisdom in this time, with which I may help someone someday. Or at the very least to be able to empathize with another person in this subculture.
17:37
Business Luncheon with Paul Ji
On Friday 23 Sep, I had the opportunity to attend a business luncheon with Paul Ji organized by the Marketplace. It was my first time attending a business luncheon and I found it to be insightful though I didn’t have much networking to do. I even went under my yet-to-be-registered company heh.
From the Marketplace’s website:
Paul Ji (季小立) started his business at the age of 11. By the age of 24, he was already making USD 1 million dollars per day, buying a new car and starting a new outlet per week. He could afford almost anything that money could buy except the very woman he loved. He prayed, “I am willing to lose everything to win her heart…” This one prayer changed his life…
Paul Ji, 38 years of age, a Mainland Chinese, was once the wealthiest Chinese in Brazil. His current project is building the largest multi-billion-dollar mall in Zhejiang, China. Come and learn from a man’s amazing journey of love and entrepreneurship.
Paul’s family migrated to Brazil when he was very young, I think during the revolution? Coming from Wenzhou probably gave him a leg up with entrepreneurial DNA implanted in him. There was once he wanted to sell a certain kind of shoes, but he had no cash, and as he borrowed cash from his mum, his mum would only permit him to buy a different type of shoes. So he went with his mother’s option, made profit from that, and then bought his own stock after that. I guess that must have been his first business at 11.
Later in life he had a girlfriend whom he didn’t really enjoy because she was always keeping tabs on him. However there was this girl whom he really liked, so he decided to take her out in a car with two doors because 恋爱里面是没有第三者的. His previous girlfriend would bring her dog along sometimes. He then took the girl he liked on an around the world trip, during which there were some problems with the business, but it didn’t matter to him.
The main talk was about branding. In ancient days, when an agreement was made, the parties took a cow, cut it in two, and walked between the two parts signifying that should anyone violate the agreement, then let that party be as the cow. People later used wax seals, branding an item as theirs. This later evolved into signatures, and the weight of the agreement rested on the reputation of the parties.
在他的定义里，发财的人就是把财发给别人的人。
包围着品牌有四个关键的部分－－品味、品质、品格、品行。
The most important thing is the brand concept, the DNA. The brand is a commitment to the buyer about the product. China is a 1.5 billion marketplace of love.
Luxury comes from the word lux, meaning light, love.
Branding is a dream. Do you have faith for your dream? Or is it just a daydream? 可靠、可信的爱的原则。
Question 1: What does it mean to brand oneself in the context of working in a company?
Answer: 我们必须顺服，有真诚、智慧. Submission -> follower of a mission.
谁可以作老板？有体贴客人的心的人！
Question 2 asked by a lady who had refined herself over the years: I work in the construction industry, and sometimes colleagues do not have the same standards of character. What would branding mean in this context? Should I lower my standards?
Answer: Let your dream lead you. If you come to see a place saved, is it necessary to maintain high standards in all areas? Choose one dream for life. Jesus Christ. The church is here for society. 我们现实的梦 -> 王所看见的！我们是嫁给王子的。
Question 3: As a social entrepreneur, what can I do about the conflicting impressions of others? Some see us as a social unit, some see us as a business.
Answer: If you are a prince, even if others think you are a beggar, you are still a prince.
Care about how others feel. If you are a prince, you can lower yourself as a beggar and servant too!
Question 4: Husband and wife teams?
Answer: Depends on the mission. Is the wife equally committed to the mission, or may she be reaching her limits of what she can contribute? Relationship comes first.
The business grew 50x with his wife around, and another 5x after firing her.
16:14
Taxi Driver in JB
Today I took a taxi, and chanced upon the same taxi driver who previously drove me before. We thus struck conversation with our existing relationship. I realized that taxi drivers aren’t all that bad refusing to go by meters and things like that.
He asked me for advice on whether he should buy his child a laptop to bring to class at secondary 2, which I felt may be a little risky in Malaysia. I also wasn’t sure of how helpful it would be, given the recent article I read citing a case study where the introduction of technology into a certain area didn’t result in an improvement in test scores.
I also found out that his taxi rental is ridiculously cheap at RM120 a month, and he said that if he works hard he can bring home about 4-6k after tax and (house?) rental.
He shared of how he and his wife separated over a difference in personalities, and I urged him to find back his first love with her. It reminded me of how we are all real people living in a real world with real problems. That if we would just open our eyes and look around, we will see needs that can be met everywhere, just like what Bill Wilson said.
I don’t know if the taxi driver would take my advice, and I don’t know if I’ll ever meet him again. But hopefully, maybe, my one small bit of encouragement can make a dent in his decision scale.
01:41
China 1854 and Today
I just finished watching http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bWcyMK8EmCc a few nights ago. The video is a little poor, but if you strain a little you’ll catch most of it.
The film outlines Hudson Taylor’s story from his arrival in Shanghai in 1854 till the death of his first wife Maria in 1870. The pains he went through, the establishment of China Inland Mission (n.k.a. OMF International), and the examples of how he trusted for God’s providence in everything from financial needs to finding a mate. Even in times of desperation, he refused to take up loans, believing that God will pay for God’s work. Today he leaves behind a rich heritage of thousands of missionaries who have in like manner given their lives for the work of the gospel in East Asia.
Fast forward 157 years to today, and we see a very different China. China today is the second largest economy in the world; yet per capita, it ranks at 95-100 depending on whose chart you use. In many ways, it is still a world of its own, separated by socio-political boundaries. Within its geographical and cyber domains, you will find substitutes and replicas of everything you can find elsewhere. It may possibly even be the only country that could sustain itself in the midst of a global crisis.
While the Chinese now don western clothing, some fundamentals do not change. People today have the same basic needs as 157 years ago. The fundamental human need for love and community, to know that there is someone out there who will truly stop and listen. Perhaps especially more so with the stresses placed on the society with rapid development in cities across the country.
For the most of you reading this going to China, your first thought would be to fly. Yet I know of a friend who spends about 3 full days traveling from her home to study in Shanghai every semester, starting off with one night in her province’s capital followed by an almost 48 hour train journey to the eastern city of Shanghai. I’m not sure how many would contemplate taking a train from New York to LA. It is a journey that sounds intriguing in itself that I would want to experience in my lifetime, and I hope to write about my story The 4,222 km Journey.
It is no doubt that the entry barrier today is so much lower than 1854. Affordable air fares, no more 6 month ship journeys. However the amount of dedication that it will take to reach this great nation is no lower, with the population having more than tripled since then. I believe that eye has not seen, nor ear heard, nor mind conceived the things which God has in store for those who love him. The future is going to be so glorious :)
15:09
Transfer of domain from Godaddy to name.com
After years of hesitation, I’ve decided to bite the bullet and transfer eccentri.cc from Godaddy to name.com. In a way it’s a little nostalgic to do that as I used to be a big fan of Godaddy, till they started doing some things that gave me a sleazy impression of them. Well or at least of the founder. During the most of the process Godaddy has been pretty helpful actually so I’ll give them some points for that. This is just an outline of the process for me, which took approximately 10 hours in all to complete. Decided to start the domain transfer last night with no idea that it could take a few days on average. I think this time delay mechanism is to prevent people from stealing domains too easily.
- Went to https://manage.name.com/domain-transfer to get started, only to find out that I needed an auth code (ok I knew this was involved somehow) from Godaddy.
- Logged in to Godaddy, but the only intuitive option was for the auth code to be emailed to me. I clicked on the link a few times and never got any email. Not sure whether it was a technical fault or otherwise. Ended up using the download option from http://help.godaddy.com/article/1685 to download the auth code in a csv file. Unlocked the domain at the same time.
- Thankfully I had re-registered starserve.info prior to this as my domain admin contact would have been unreachable otherwise.
- Put the auth code into (1) and waited.
- Noticed advice on (1) that the domain should have sufficient validity to complete the transfer, and started to panic as my domain was expiring in 4 days. Contacted name.com to find out that the ball is in Godaddy’s court.
- In the meantime I made a record of all my DNS records
- Received an email from name.com to the domain administrative contact email to verify that I wanted to transfer the domain. Clicked the link to go ahead with that.
- Received an email from Godaddy informing me that I could either accept the transfer immediately or do nothing, in which case the transfer would automatically continue in 3 days time. Of course I didn’t want to wait, so I decided to give Godaddy a call to see what I could do to expedite the process.
- Ended up going through Godaddy’s domain manager to accept the transfer immediately.
- Domain showed up in name.com shortly with a few more emails from Godaddy.
- Set up new DNS records immediately.
Overall the process was fairly smooth and I’m glad I finally did it and now have all my domains under one roof :)
12:17
Test of Patience
It’s nearing four months since I returned to Singapore, yet interviews have been few and I haven’t got work yet. Sometimes I question myself, whether I think too highly of myself. Most of the positions I have been looking at require experience more than qualifications, which sometimes leads me to question the usefulness of my four years of studies at the ANU.
Yesterday I had the opportunity to meet up with a fellow ANU graduate and senior from high school over coffee. He shared with me of how he spent seven months looking for work, and how the position that he got wasn’t one he applied for. He empathized with feelings of despair when others with lesser qualifications are holding better positions. And he encouraged me to entrust my career to God. Isn’t that a wonderful instance of learning to trust God with my life?
The road ahead is still uncertain, and at times frustrating when I can’t stay with my parents. Bringing to mind more tragic stories like that of 《红莓花儿开》 makes me realize that I’m still pretty blessed to be able to spend so much time here though it is not on a stable basis. Truly there is only one way forward and it cannot be walked without faith.
01:36
Love of Two Fathers in the Little Things
Just upgraded to WordPress 3.2. I never really paid attention to upgrades but this one caught my attention with the different UI. Feels old style typing in a fixed width font that looks like Monaco after typing with variable width for so long. Let’s see how it goes.
Today I would like to share a tale of how my two fathers showed me love. I try my best to go jogging with my dad in the evening whenever I am in town, before I get work which may prohibit me from doing that due to working hours and/or tiredness. I now understand the value of financial independence and how it truly allows you to choose the work that matters the most to you.
So, as is my custom, I went jogging with my dad in the evening. However on the way, I got hungry and realize that I had no cash with me, which means that I couldn’t buy a snack on the way back. We continued on our jog, and amazingly my dad spots a $1 coin on the road back. That was just enough to buy one plain prata for 80¢ at the shop opposite my house. My dad shared with me how he used to cook simple canned food with egg in his secondary school days, and it was lovely to experience a touch of his love.
I’m also thankful to my father in heaven for providing for me. Small as the matter seems, he provided for me right at my time of need. Indeed God may not be early, but he is never ever late. Just as no sparrow falls to the ground apart from God’s will and he does not forsake the righteous, he cares not just in the big things but also in the little things.
So blessed to have two loving fathers :)
12:11
Making Progress
Sometimes what you hear may not be what matters are. And perhaps some matters don’t even have a definitive definition! My friend told me a fairly wise thing last night, that in an argument both parties are right—at least in their own eyes. And some things isn’t always about being right or wrong either. Haha and my friend said something else too—that whenever you feel that you’re experiencing the greatest stress, think about it as the halfway mark of your next biggest obstacle. And fear not he who can kill the body but rather fear He who can kill both our body and soul.
And a tweet by Ps Kong: 因為祂活著，我能面對明天！因為祂活著，所有恐懼都離去！
Amen! No matter how bleak the future looks, he holds tomorrow in his hands :D
22:35
Small Stuff and Big Stuff
Earlier I was chatting with a friend re the STB dispute, and he made the remark that “in life all this are small stuffs, we are healthy … can eat .. can walk .. can jump, PTL!!”. How true! Thank God that I can finally release the mental burden of the case.
Tonight during dinner the thought of the North-South Korean situation came to my mind, and it suddenly adds perspective to the dispute with my neighbour. I thought about the millions of Koreans stranded on either side of the peninsular, families split apart by few who hold the power in their hands. I thought about the amount of grace that the South has continually given to the North, not just the financial and material cost of numerous humanitarian aid packages, but the repeated “slaps on the face” every time the North responded with belligerence.
Truly, there are far bigger issues to invest our time in.