Went to see cows

It's public holiday today. Yesterday was Hari Raya Aidiladha, today is the replacement holiday. Ryan got no school, his dad got no work, so we thought we would go to see some cows today... to commemorate the many that were sacrificed yesterday.

Getting to know the latest addition to the family.

The food, and ambience in Kinabalu Rose Cabin was pretty good. But I did not like the 10% service charge and 5% government tax. The hotel looked like a nice place to stay overnight.

After lunch we went to look for strawberries at Strawberry Park.

Unfortunately, they just picked the fruits the day before. But this photographer managed to find one, and took the shot with his D-Lego dSLR.

OK, now pose with the roses for me.

I might win a photographic contest with my flower shot...

Finally, we went to see the cows. YES!

Next time we go to see real cows in New Zealand, OK?

doulos, diakonos

I got more than what I asked for during my recent menyibuk trip to the Sabah Theological Seminary.

Bishop Hwa Yung of the Malaysian Methodist Church was in town to conduct a Graduation Seminar in STS. What a great privilege to listen to this humble man talk on "God's Servant".

Some main points in his lecture...

• great visionary Christian leaders are always a premium, in short supply
• the Bible talks about training servants, not training leaders
• unless the teaching to be servants is internalised into Christian lives, any talk of leadership tends to encourage self-seeking ambition, which is very destructive
• in Mark 10:35-45, leadership is referred to as doulos (slave, servant) and diakonos (an attendant, a waiter)
• even at the final hours of Jesus' life, all the disciples were still jostling for positions... only Judas had a clear view of what was really going on
• 'meek' leadership: modest and wilful, humble and fearless; confident, yet humble; strong, yet gentle
• a kampung church is as valuable as a city megachurch in God's economy; strive to serve faithfully as servants, wherever God places us (he's talking to the newly-grad pastors)
• our confidence should be built on our identity as a child of God, not on leadership positions
• the concept of the pastor is being a shepherd, not a church CEO
• in choosing leaders, emphasis should be placed on the character, rather than the education, talents, or good looks
• test of humility: do you seek out to do jobs that nobody wants to do, but need to be done?
• there is no limit to how far you can climb as long as do not care who gets the credit
• convergence: ministering/serving out of our BEING, as an out-flowing of our inner life
• need to bring back the seminary model (character training) into Bible school, not the university model (academic scholarship)

In the afternoon, there was the Graduation Ceremony held in the very nice STS main auditorium.

There was a beautiful grand piano on stage. The acoustics were excellent!

Academicians in colourful robes.

Song presentation by the STS choir.

Scrolls were conferred to those who graduated with certificates, diplomas, Bachelor's and Master's degrees. But guess who won the loudest applause? The aunties who persevered through a ten-year course, and the silver-haired grandma who received the Certificate of Attendance for Senior Citizens.

Izac

I want to read Ryan's books.

I can fit into a little basket.

A weekend at Grand Lexis Hotel, Port Dickson

I stayed in the best hotel room ever in my life recently...

And the best part was, someone else paid for it... and the airfare, and the food as well.

I thought they were a bit crazy to book such a gigantic room for a single occupant.

But I must say the beds were really very nice.

There was enough space to park an SUV if you fancy having that second wife in the room.

Nice little kitchenette, equipped with a microwave oven.

Elegant wash basin.

Odd-looking shower, but the flow was great.

And behold, the door opened out to...

...OMG an attached private swimming pool!!!

The view of the rest of the hotel... you can jump into the sea if you're tired of the private pool.

The going rate is RM 540 for off-peak days, and RM 600 for weekends. So the price is quite reasonable actually... if you calculate Chinaman style... pack 10 people in the room, bring own mattress on the floor, bring own cooking utensils... and can dip in the pool all day.

Man, these people really go all out to pamper us while promoting their products.

And they brought us for seafood dinner with abalone, lobster, geoduck, cod fish... but the restaurant was shabby and the cooking was lousy.

Thanks, Sanofi-Aventis. Anymore to come? How about the Burj next time, for a change? That would be really nice.

1Malaysia

I've got West and East Malaysia inside me.

Saya budak 1Malaysia!

The next phase

The view of Mount Kinabalu from my hotel room during the district visit last week.

I will lift up my eyes to the hills. Where shall my help come from?

Psa 121:1

I will seriously need lots of help if I get sent here.

SIB Likas (E) Family Fun Day

Today we had church at the beach, for a change. It's the Family Fun Day!

The turnout was great, and the mood was jovial. There was the relaxed Sunday service held in a tent, mouth-watering aroma of BBQ in the air, the sea breeze, the laughters and shrieks of children... lots of games... and good food.

Ryan was all set to play. Saya jaguh Milo!

Our friend from China kept defending his balloon, forgot to go offensive... and yellow team lost the game.

Older children playing 'eagle catch chicken'.

Playing rough.

In the mean time, Ryan and friends were building something in the sand.

Looks like a sand dune with many antennas.

Time to go for a dip in the sea... and show off my muscles...

Where did that Digi balloon come from?

The art of distraction

Mat Sabu to face criminal charge over communist remarks

Compared to free of charge for Utusan Malaysia and Perkasa's worse remarks.

How much more silly can the government get.

And the Police danced along with the jokers.

Time for change.

Malaysia Day celebration

It was Malaysia Day yesterday, and I was off work. There was this Inter-church Malaysia Day Prayer Rally held in the Holy Seal church, which sits nicely on top of City Mall shopping centre. Interestingly, the sessions were all tri-lingual (Bahasa Malaysia, English and Mandarin, sometimes with Hakka and Cantonese thrown in), and the translators did a really wonderful job.

I always believe that the politicians could never be depended upon to lead Malaysia into true racial unity and harmony. It is the church who should show the way. Why not, look at the Malaysia Day gathering, and you see the true manifestation of 1Malaysia (if only the M group could come)... people of different races and languages coming together, celebrating their diversities and yet seeing each other as equals, expressing a common love for the country. Try finding that in PWTC Convention Hall.

That was Mr. Eugene, a constitutional lawyer who came to remind Sabahans of their rights on religious freedom and native land issues, as enshrined in the 20-point agreement, rather than the distorted version declared by the ruling government. His take-home message was 3S... Stand (on this land... don't migrate... hmmm), Steadfast (don't be cowed), Speak-out (make your voices heard).

There were many empty seats in the morning session. Too much intellectual stuffs maybe.

But the hall was filled to the brim at night!

The night began with a wonderful praise and worship session to set the temperature right.

Then there was our own Pastor Jerry giving the opening speech, and telling us that he was one of the lucky kids who stood on stage on the actual Malaysia Day in 1963, and getting a memorable coffee mug in return.

The young ones who would carry on the baton. By the way, 'young' means under-30s. I have passed my prime. Sigh.

The really cool stuff was a live tele-conferencing prayer with the group in Kuching over Skype. But the audio was a bit off (maybe coz of bad weather), made it sounded like Darth Vader was praying for Kota Kinabalu.

Ryan making new friends and being naughty.

Malaysia-flag bearers marching in.

There were visitors from many countries who bought their own flight tickets to come to Kota Kinabalu to share the joy and aspiration of the Malaysian church. Reminded us that the church is one big global family. When one member celebrates, the whole body rejoices with it; when one member suffers, the whole body cares for it. So Malaysian church, be assured the churches of the nations are looking out for you, even in the midst of persecution in this land.

Pastor Eddie Ma of Hong Kong received tokens of appreciation (a book on 'The Birth of Malaysia' and a T-shirt) on behalf of the visitors from the other nations.

I got a CD of instrumental praise music played using ethnic musical instruments, proudly made in Sabah, Malaysia.

That, was one memorable night in the history of Malaysia.

Grandma came to visit

Grandma came over to play play with me over the weekend.

She brought lots of toys for me and my adik.

Brought me to eat yummy food.

That's New York food in 1Borneo.

And we went fishing for the freshest catch of the day.