I talk to God about everything … I even ask for a parking place

I talk to God about every thing in my life. I tell Him about my ups and downs. I tell Him when I am hurting and lonely. I tell Him how thankful I am that He is part of my life. I talk to Him all the time ….. I talk to Him about my work, my finances, my health, my dreams and desires. I ask Him to search me and know me and lead me in the path that is right for me. I always pray that His will alone be done in my life and that He will use me to glorify Him alone.

Another thing I also ask Him for is a parking place whenever I drive to work in Hospital Kuala Lumpur. If I am 5 minutes late, the parking near to my office will be filled and I really hate double parking and blocking another car … so usually I will end up parking at the farthest parking near the football field where it takes me about 10-15 minutes to reach my office by walking. Yesterday morning, I was frantically praying for a a parking place as I about 5 minutes past 730 am to reach the hospital…… drove near the covered parking and I noticed an empty spot but I thought it was reserved for someone else as there was a yellow label on the floor and there was a Toyota Vios following very closely behind… after I passed the spot only I realized that “Hey I have parked there before !!! ” Oppss it was too late to reverse as the Vios was already squeezing into the parking place…. and I smiled to myself ….. God answers prayers but sometimes I am just too blind to see the answers and the blessing. I said a prayer of thanks to God for the parking place and for blessing the Vios driver and I asked Him to make me more alert and more receptive to the way He works and be alert when He answers my prayer.

Matthew 7:7 Holman Christian Standard Bible

Keep asking, and it will be given to you. Keep searching, and you will fine. Keep knocking, and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and the one who searches finds, and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened.

Day 2 : Asansol Part 3 after the orphanage visit

After the orphanage visit, we walked back to the home where we are staying. On the way we notice a peculiar sight which a common practice in India. Notice the things on the wall of the house ?

A closer view of the things put on the wall….. erm they are actually dried cow dung … which they will use later as firewood to cook their meals. A very innovative way.
Back home after 15 minutes to a yummy lunch …. fresh vegetable salad … very nice
Mutton curry with rice.

After lunch we took a short nap and decided to go out shopping before we go to Darjeeling tomorrow as our schedule was quite packed.
One of our local Indian friends drove us to town for some shopping. There were a lot of alleys like this one packed with shops.
The side walk was crowded with people and shops.
We managed to get some kurtas ( for guys ) and curidas ( for girls ) at the Mohan Shopping Centre.
Made a new friend at the shop …. anyway I gave up buying new clothes as they just did not have the size for me …. really need to lose weight 🙂

A reminder to myself

I like going through my old posts to remind myself of how far I have come in my life … and also a reminder of how faithful God is to me.

I have been reading a lot of blogs lately and made some new blogger friends …. and it amazes me how creative they are. Some can really pour their heart out in words. Some can take breathtaking photos of nature, things and themselves…amazing. Some are very creative with photoshop ( I only know how to do the sharpness, levels, resize and put my watermark). Some can really cheer others up with their candid post. Some are very imaginative and very descriptive. Some can blog about anything under the sun. Some just ramble. And I realize that I am not one of them … I can never blog like them … I was telling Twilight Zone that I should stop blogging as I felt that I had nothing much to share …. I was not up to par with the others. I don’t get many hits and I don’t get many comments.

After going through my old posts … I was reminded again why I started this blog at the first place. I realized that this is me .. take it or leave it and that I should never compare myself with the other bloggers as all of us are special and unique and we each have our own stories to tell. So I will be myself and remain true to why I started blogging at the first place. It is a reminder of God’s goodness and faithfulness to me because I tend to forget sometimes how far He has walked with me in this journey called LIFE.

Thanks for visting me and dropping a line or two. And thanks to my silent readers as well …. do drop a line or two so that I can get to know you too.

From my previous post in 2005

Why do I blog ?

Posted by sbanboy at 11/08/2005 03:17:00 PM Labels: Life, Me, My walk with God

Hmmm was thinking about this question the whole day…. I was reminded why I blogged … I started off wanted to tell of the goodness of God in my life … yes in all my imperfection He loves me so unconditionally.

Oh my wandering heart …. so easy to stray from Him … from the One person Who alone can fill the void/emptiness in me … but yet I sometimes go around looking for substitutes to fill that aching void inside … that is what I realise as I started reading other blogs …. all of us hurt and all of us have an emptiness within which need to be filled ….. we try to fill it with many things (alcohol, drugs, sex, chocolates, whatever to numb the pain) and yet we are not satisfied …. yeah we go looking for the next “fix” …

We all want to be loved and to love and we will do whatever to get that sometimes … I have done it too … made a fool of myself … a fool for love … just to belong … just to feel wanted ….. little did I know that I needed to realise that I belong to God … and that I need not jump around and do things to win His heart as He already loves me anyway … and that assurance gave me to peace to start loving myself and this enable me to love others with no string attached …. yeah He gives abundantly….

Yes it hurts … life hurts …… love hurts ….. when we make ourselves vulnerable to others … we get hurt …. but hurt we must if we are ever to truly appreciate love … yes we all need to go through it …. in the end do we want to continue to love and get hurt or shut the whole world out and keep to ourselves …. no man is an island and we all know that and feel that …. I am single and there are times I feel really lonely … due the nature of my work … when I am free .. my friends are not .. when I am working … my friends are free …. and I work also during public holidays … but life goes on … yes the world still spins round and round…..

Well back to the reason why I blog… I am very forgetful and when I go through hard times I sometimes forget that God had brought me through so much in life. And this blog is a reminder to me about how far I have come in life … yes still a long way to go … unless some mishap occur in my life … duh …. yes it is a reminder to me that whatever hard times or trials or headache or obstacles …. I will finally get throught it someday …. like after winter there is always spring … yes there is always light at the end of the tunnel … therefore I will continue to blog to remind myself to move on with life and not lose heart at setbacks because tomorrow is a new day and there is always hope when I dont give up …… Life is meant to be lived to the fullest with it sweetness and bitterness … and in the end I will emerge stronger … and wiser … hopefully …. so come let’s walk together, you are not alone … I am your fellow traveler ….

I love school holidays

I love school holidays !!!! I can get out of my apartment at 705 am in USJ and reach Hospital KL at 745am which is amazing … otherwise it would have taken me one and a half hours on a normal day …. yippeee I have one month of “less” jam while driving to work. Though driving back from work is the same chaotic one hour plus plus long drive. Yesterday I was stuck in the jam from Sunway Pyramid and it took me ONE HOUR to reach my apartment. I am glad that I have a Perodua Kenari where I can just squeeze in and out of jams….too bad it could not fly me back.

Yippee Petrol price down to RM2 !

Yippee …. good thing I did not pump petrol yet … today stated in the Star newspaper that the petrol prices had dropped to RM 2.00 !!!!! the link is here. I wonder if it will drop any further.

Anyway it is good for me as I will be driving to Johor and Singapore to meet up with some friends over the weekend. There a couple of friends in Singapore who I have not met face to face but I have I known them for 7 years !!! We all met while playing the online game .. Ragnarok. Now they have migrated to World of Warcraft . ( I am taking a break from WOW for now )

Day 2 Asansol .. part 2 – to the orphanage

Oppss … this picture was supposed to be posted in the part where we stopped for tea on the way to Asansol …. you can see how “clean” the kitchen is … 😉
After we have rested for a while after breakfast, we walked over to the orphanage….. consciously staying clear of the cow dung all over the road.
The orphanage is about 10 minutes walk.

An Indian lady hard at work carrying back firewood for cooking
The kids in their classroom



The kids performed a few songs for us … and all of them are very talented.
Me the photographer for the trip 🙂 and my friend as the camera man

Praying fervently
Managed to hang out with the kids after the performance …. they are so innocent. Most of them are unwanted kids and some are just picked up from the streets so that they can have shelter,food and a place to call home. Makes me thank God and appreciate the fact that I have a family and a place to call home.

Back at work

Finally back at work ….. so many emails to read and so many deadlines to meet but I am happy …. coz the trip was worth it all. At least for now I know what I need to do for these next few months …. study the word of God, watch my diet and exercise so that I can walk around in my shorts in Bali in March 2009.

Ok back to work 😉

The God Who knows me completely

Psalm 139 (Holman Christian Standard Bible)

Holman Christian Standard Bible (HCSB)

Copyright © 1999, 2000, 2002, 2003 by Holman Bible Publishers, Nashville Tennessee. All rights reserved.

Psalm 139

The All-Knowing, Ever-Present God

For the choir director. A Davidic psalm.

1 LORD, You have searched me and known me.

2 You know when I sit down and when I stand up;
You understand my thoughts from far away.

3 You observe my travels and my rest;
You are aware of all my ways.

4 Before a word is on my tongue,
You know all about it, LORD.

5 You have encircled me;
You have placed Your hand on me.

6 [This] extraordinary knowledge is beyond me.
It is lofty; I am unable to [reach] it.

7 Where can I go to escape Your Spirit?
Where can I flee from Your presence?

8 If I go up to heaven, You are there;
if I make my bed in Sheol, You are there.

9 If I live at the eastern horizon
[or] settle at the western limits,

10 even there Your hand will lead me;
Your right hand will hold on to me.

11 If I say, “Surely the darkness will hide me,
and the light around me will become night” —

12 even the darkness is not dark to You.
The night shines like the day;
darkness and light are alike to You.

13 For it was You who created my inward parts;
You knit me together in my mother’s womb.

14 I will praise You,
because I have been remarkably and wonderfully made.
Your works are wonderful,
and I know [this] very well.

15 My bones were not hidden from You
when I was made in secret,
when I was formed in the depths of the earth.

16 Your eyes saw me when I was formless;
all [my] days were written in Your book and planned
before a single one of them began.

17 God, how difficult Your thoughts are
for me [to comprehend];
how vast their sum is!

18 If I counted them,
they would outnumber the grains of sand;
when I wake up, I am still with You.

19 God, if only You would kill the wicked –
you bloodthirsty men, stay away from me –

20 who invoke You deceitfully.
Your enemies swear [by You] falsely.

21 LORD, don’t I hate those who hate You,
and detest those who rebel against You?

22 I hate them with extreme hatred;
I consider them my enemies.

23 Search me, God, and know my heart;
test me and know my concerns.

24 See if there is any offensive way in me;
lead me in the everlasting way.

This was my pastor’s passage for her sermon today. It never fails to amaze me how God knows me completely … He knows just the right word, the right person to send into my life. And this passage spoke to me ….. deep down in my heart. I was held by God and He will never let me go.

All I can pray was

Search me

Know me

Tell me

Help me.

Feeling blue again

Just been back a couple of days and I already miss the people in India. I have made some great friends. I am really not looking forward to work next week. I am not looking forward to lonely dinners and nights by myself in my apartment. I am not looking forward to the jams in KL. Bills to pay … so much distraction over here …. things are superficial ……. Over there there people had so little but there was contentment and we had each other ….. I was reminded about how to live my life…… I went to India to minister to others and to touch lives, in the end they were the ones who minstered to me and touched my life.

Over here, loneliness is my constant companion….. something which I still struggle with. Maybe someday I will go back again and stay a bit longer if time and finance permits. Until then, I will just have to keep on moving on.

My 2 constant companion

My job during the trip was to shoot photos and I was armed with my good ole Canon EOS 350D fitted with the Tamron f2.8 28-75mm lens and my compact camera, Finepix F100FD.

During meetings, I will usually use my 350D with my flash for indoor pictures. Most of the time when I am in the meetings I will use my finepix f100fd for candid shoots and wide angle shots. I found that it was helpful to have both dslr and compact camera along and because of that I was able to capture a variety of shots. I even managed to take a few pre wedding pictures for my friends who will be getting married next year… as they are also in the team from Malaysia.