Fact is not Truth

Last Sunday, amidst lots of stuff said in front of the pulpit, these four words were mentioned casually but it stuck in my head throughout the entire week. How could a fact NOT be the truth?

Fact – Knowledge or information based on real occurrences.
Truth – Supreme reality and to have the ultimate meaning and value of existence.

As I pondered upon these words, the confusion began to unravel and I began to see its underlying meaning. Allow me to explain a real-life scenario that brought light to this contradicting phrase.

Scenario:
Person A had taken off due to a certain circumstance. Person B feels the betrayal and loss of Person A. While coping with the loss, Person B had taken the initiative to contact and care, however there was no response. The nagging question was, “Why isn’t there a slight bit of response to my efforts to reconciliation?”

Fact for Person B:

• Person A was first in the wrong for taking off.
• Had taken the initiative for reconciliation (being the party that was in hurt).
• There was no response from Person A.

Fast-forward a couple of weeks at a local supermarket; the two sighted each other from a distance. Person A felt anger and hurt as Person B decided to steer off to a different direction to avoid direct contact. The nagging question was, “The incident happened so long ago. Is it so difficult just to come on over and greet me like a decent human being?”

Fact for Person A:

• Person B is unforgiving and immature by steering off.
• Taking off was just as difficult for both parties. Why be regarded as a lesser being for deciding what was thought best?

Truth, (perhaps?):

• Though armed with good intentions for reconciliation, whenever in contact with Person A, Person B was very condescending. Feeling the rebuke instead of support, Person A responded negatively when contacted.
• Person B did not want Person A to feel awkward with a direct confrontation, remembering the previous negative responses. However, this action had caused feelings of continued rejection.

Viewing the situation based on facts would bring about feelings of hurt and anger. The truth; however might not be what the facts had presented. Reacting to facts births forth self-righteousness and a judgmental spirit because one is unable to see the full picture.

Let us treat others with the same amount of grace Christ has given us. May the truth set us free…

I Love Promotional Vouchers

Purchase 1: RM10 voucher for 2 sessions Yun Nam hair care for Mummy
Purchase 2: RM18 voucher for 2 sessions Sensualite slimming for self

And so, last week… I brought mummy to the Damansara Utama branch for her first hair treatment session. Dad demanded for me to accompany her throughout the entire time, for fear that she would take things one step further and sign off my entire inheritance to the Hair Care Centre *giggle*

Firstly, the consultant took out some charts and explained all that we needed to know about hair - hair follicles, hair loss diseases, hair loss preventions *snore…* Secondly, they did a hair analysis and explained that mummy’s hair loss condition (there were 3 small completely bald patches which was very unusual) could be either due to stress or a fungal infection. It was quite interesting when they did that scan, cause we could see the scalp condition up close and the way the hair grew in groups of 3-4 strands per opening. Thirdly, they gave her this treatment that was extremely smelly *urgh!* Yun Nam’s products uses traditional herbs that well, looked like sand on top of her head. So, yeah… like planting hair *LOL* Luckily, mum was alright with the smell, I think if it were me, I wouldn’t tolerate it for even a minute and would’ve washed it off with my Pantene in an instant.

What about my slimming session? Sigh… sis was with me as I purchased the voucher but only said this AFTER I paid, “Hey, you realize you need to get naked, right?” *stoned*

This week, after dropping mum off for her second Yun Nam session, I dropped by Sensualite for my first slimming session. Firstly, they took my weight and height. Referring to my previous reading, I’m glad to report that my height is indeed 171 cm, and not 170 cm :P and I’ve successfully lost 2 kgs since July 20th :D Secondly, they took out lots of charts (like at Yun Nam) and explained all I needed to know about one’s body - fat, cellulite, water retention *snore…* Thirdly, she did a body analysis which I had to *ulp!* strip. Fourthly, I was ushered into a spa cubicle (which was really relaxing I must add), proceeded to give me a aromatic salt scrub in between the spa experience and ended with a nice, hot bath *heaven…*.

Then, the interesting part starts. She hooked me up onto some kind of a machine that basically worked my muscles like crazy. Apparently, the machine was doing the exercise for me; sit-ups, running, rowings. I was thinking how it would be possible for that to take place, but after waking up today with sore stomach muscles… yeah - I believe in that machine :P Other parts of my body felt fine, perhaps it was because I’m already jogging regularly.

Lastly, I felt like a turkey being prepared for thanksgiving dinner. She err… 'glad-wrapped' and then covered me up in an electric blanket and proceeded to cook me till I felt like a prune. This… I did not enjoy at all, due to my low tolerance towards heat *grr…* Need to remind myself that for the 2nd slimming session, my ‘cooking’ time must be shortened. Nice body moisturizers, though. Oh yes, after the whole thing, she gave this calcium drink that was supposed to increase the metabolic rate – nice, cocoa drink *yum…*

All in all, the experience was quite enjoyable and relaxing. The only 3 negatives were:

• For a short moment, while she was scrubbing me, I felt a bit err… ‘gay’. Definite awkward moment - 2 girls in a bathroom. Thank goodness she was very professional which made me feel at ease throughout the entire time.
• Felt faint after the hot treatment 'cooking session' – probably caused by my low sugar and low blood pressure :(
• The entire thing took about 3.5 hours (minus trial consultation time) – gee, for a normal working person… who has the time to spare 3 whole hours on a weekly basis??? Probably only some rich housewife can afford to do so…

Honestly, I don’t believe that these sessions can make a person slim down. After each session there’s a significant reduction in weight and centimeters – but that’s because they rid your body off water retention by drying you up like a raisin with their spa and thermal treatment. But then again, I really shouldn’t be complaining. After all… it’s was only RM18, right? *grin*

Normally, it would cost about RM200 per session. Breaking it down, that’s about 70 bucks per hour. *mmmmhhh…* The weight lost will happen as the nutrition analysts educate their customers on proper eating habits, which comes with a structured meal plan. Set your expectation right - Sign up for such programs expecting to lose weight by learning how to eat healthily and go for their slimming treatments for ‘relaxation’. *nods*.

Not ready for male attention

How does it feel to get picked up by a guy, really?
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Initial feeling: Awkward… Shy… Weird…
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Followed by: Uncertain of what to do… Afraid of what he might do…
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Proceed to: Search for backup. When fail, run and hide as fast as possible.
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When already in a secure location: Erm… it feels kind of flattering, actually.

Well, *gurgle* I don’t have any recollection of EVER garnering any male attention. *ponder ponder* Well maybe, I’ve not been getting any every since I’ve had a steady boyfriend :P So yeah, *sigh…* now I’m single… and erm… available. And now suddenly...

Situation 1: Cable car line up with Jess and Christine in Genting
Unexpectedly, there were lots of travelers from Middle Eastern countries that weekend. The lines were really, really long (about 3 times of TGV cinema ticket line up in 1 Utama) forming a snake-like lineup. When we were in line, there was this ‘uncle’ who flashed me a smile and said, *“Ni hao mha?”. I thought he was kind of nice for trying to speak Mandarin and all, so I replied with a, “Hao…” I kept to that opinion until ‘snake formation lineup’ met in the middle again and he flashed me another smile with another, “Ni hao mha?” I was like, “Huh?”

When it happened for the THIRD times… *groan* It certainly didn’t help with Christine and Jess was snickering along going, “Hahahaha… the line’s still a long way to go-leh…” and “Ahhh… Middle Eastern guys like tall, fair girls wan” *shakes head* After that, I just kind of stared into space whenever we met in the middle :P

Uncle very scary :(

Situation 2: Dinner at TB Corner. Damansara Perdana
Guy: Are you Jane?
Me : Err…no. *maybe he mistook ‘Juan’ with ‘Jane’?*
Guy: Oh, sorry… I thought we met in Australia. Were you ever in Australia?
Me : Uhh… yes. I was studying there *Do I know this guy?*
Guy: Ahh… we met in Sydney, remember?
Me : Err… I was in Melbourne.
Guy: I’m a graphic designer *insert small talk* So, what do you do?
Me : mumble…mumble..
Guy: So, do you have a business card with you?
Me : Err… no. *what would a graphic designer want to do with an IT consultant?*
Guy: Oh, a mobile number’s fine… I’d like to give you a call…

Suddenly, the light bulb flicked on *duh-h... after such a long conversation, how stupid can one get?* and I frantically tried to call Chun How and Kelvin for backup. *sigh…* Chun How was in Penang and Kelvin had already gone back to Cheras. I don’t think my dinner digested very well… *burp*

Guy also very scary :( And to think this happened when I was in T-shirt, shorts, and without an ounce of make-up *shakes head*.

For now, I think I’ll stop at 2 examples *sigh…*. These stuff is so foreign and scares the living light bulbs out of me. I don’t get it. Why’s the attentions starting now? Whatever happened during the past 7 years? Well for starters, I look and feel and same (am aging, but surely that’s a minus point? :P). Do I suddenly have some neon-sign above head going, “AVAILABLE”? *scratch head* Whilst it’s kind of flattering and all, but a huge part of me would rather things return to normal. Normal… as in… being securely attached whilst having only to focus on things of God and things at work - in an air-headed, easy, sort of way.

Yeah… I really do feel things are kind of spinning out of control at the moment… Trying to adjust at work; between training in RHB, support at Alam Flora, internal projects at Phileo. Trying to adjust in church; new leadership, new cell group, maintaining relationships with my old cell group. Trying to adjust at home; *think I’ll keep this personal*. Trying to adjust to single-hood; there’s these pangs of loneliness especially on days when I’m down with some kind of illness and need a good bear hug. Sigh, I think I want to move back in with mum and dad. But then, it’s a toss between ‘loss of freedom’ and ‘gain of tender loving care’ :P

Juan screams, “STOP SPINNING, WORLD!!!!!!!” please… *sob sob*

And then, there’s that scary guy colleague at the office who…

:P

Conduct training at RHB Bank, Bangi

*download email*
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*receive email*
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*30 unread emails?* <- I normally get about 5 unread emails in my corporate account

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*open e-mails*

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Manager: Juan, help to print the training materials for Monday, k?
Juan: *gulp!*
Manager: Thanks a million, else I would’ve needed to come in on Saturday :(
Juan: *sighhh…*

And so, it was a full day of printing and binding stuff. Really puts new meaning to ‘highly paid secretary’…eheheheh. Not that I’m complaining ;) My manager’s a dear and I absolutely love working under him.

The trainings are going to be from 15th August till 3rd October. So, from next week onwards, I’m off to my new client site in Bangi. It’s going to be a busy month and a half, as there’ll be materials to prepare and trainings to conduct. Hopefully, I would be getting Internet access. Else, I’d be ‘blog-deprived’ and ‘Messenger-deprived’ *sniff sniff*

P/S: You have been warned. World of Juan might be on hold for awhile…

Fresh Air up in Genting Highlands

Had a great 3-days with some girl friends up the highlands. Jess, Christine and myself went up on Day 1 and met Janelle and Sean I (coincidently there for some conference :P) *whee!*. Heidi and Joo Na joined us Day 2 *double whee!*. If anyone's grubby hands has some free Awana vouchers, now’s the PERFECT time to make full use of them. I couldn’t believe the air quality as we descended the highlands.

Me: Eh? How come the fog’s getting thicker as we descend?
Christine: Whar…
Jess: Don’t wind down the windows! That’s not fog! It’s HAZE!

The stay at Awana includes complimentary passes to cable car rides… It’s like we were in Heaven for 3 days… cool, misty, fresh…


And then, I came home to this… *cough* *wheeze* *uek*


Makes me wanna jump onto a car back to Genting. At least we get good food…


Heck- I’d play more Scrabble and Taboo just to escape from bad air :P


Maybe we’ll just go for continuous round trips on the cable car?


Or, we can have another round of RM10 2-hour karaoke with on-the-house dinner and drink…


Oh, what I would give now to sip hot chocolate out in the chilly weather…


Well, we could try to find weird deco around the hotels… Can you believe those cylinders are actually filled with stuff like dried bihun and ikan bilis? *puzzled*


Ahhh… belles posing for the camera…

Just a couple of pointers to prevent haze-related ilnesses (extracted from an e-mail):

• Close all windows and doors to your bedroom. Boil a kettle (electric) of water in the room and allow the steam to fill the room. Allow 10 - 15 minutes for the fine water vapor (steam) to collect the pollutants / particles in the air and settle down. After this the room should contain healthier air.
• Usage of face and surgical masks are of no use if they are not regularly changed as they can act as a base for bacteria to grow and result in other infections. Only very close fitting masks that do not allow air to enter through the sides of the mask are effective.
• Limit all outdoor activity as far as possible e.g avoid outdoor sport or physical activities.
• Always wash / bathe as soon as you return from outdoors. This will minimize eye / skin irritation. For minor eye irritation try using over the counter eye drops e.g Eye Mo.
• Use your car air-conditioner when traveling in the car.
• Drink a lot of water.
• Smokers are advised to quit smoking.
• Those who suffer from diseases such as flu, bronchitis, asthma, conjunctivitis, heart diseases or chronic lung diseases should seek immediate treatment at the clinic or hospital if their condition worsens.

We got back into town around 11 in the morning and I thought, 'Ahh... there's time to go to gym this afternoon.' Figured that since the gym was air-conditioned, it was safe to do some cardio exercises. Boy, was I wrong. In just 15 minutes, I was already gasping for air *puff puff*....sigh, I thought I could work some calories off those Mr Potatoes that I had for the past few days :P

Lord, please give us rain.

Road Cruisers

Colleague: Let’s have mamak for lunch.
Me: Ooo… I’ve been yearning for that for a few days dee… *salivating*
Colleague: Let’s go!!
Me: *ponder ponder* I packed cucumbers and carrots for my lunch wor…
Colleague: *scratch head*
Me: OK… OK… I'll forget healthy diet for a day. Let’s GO!

Stepped off the office Phileo II lift and guess what greeted me? PC Pro Malaysia Cruisers – for those who are not familiar with what it is, it’s a PC magazine. Got myself an inaugural 2005 issue and my eyes lighted up when the guy screamed from the top of his lungs, “HP iPAQ Pocket PC… HP iPAQ Pocket PC… who wants an iPAQ?” Yeah I got an iPAQ alright; an iPAQ k-e-y-c-h-a-i-n *LOL*.

The freebies I got

Browsing through the magazine, a chuckle arose as I read an article, “If it’s broke, it ain’t broke” by Ross Burrige. The guy was checking his e-mail on his mom’s dinosaur computer and the Windows 98 Update revealed that it was completely unpatched. He started to panic as he imagined the unending possibilities – hackers getting his mom’s online banking username and password, virus attacks. And so, he upgraded – the whole works of formatting the drive, installing Win XP. But what was his mom’s only reaction? “Where are my orang utans?” – previously, the pictures of monkeys were set as the background of her desktop.

Then again, how many of us believe that ‘prevention is better than cure’ and actually take the time to do something about it? To install the latest OS patches; update latest virus patches (the very least)? Only when something breaks down suddenly, then we’ll see how important it is.

Eih, I think I got a bit carried away with techno-talk. Back to the topic of Road Cruisers. The last time I came across these freebie-givers on the road were with my colleagues after lunch – Carltex station in Glenmarie. The road Cruisers were from 98.8. Funny thing was – none of us actually spoke Mandarin, much less actually tune to the channel. We were just raising our hands when they asked whether we wanted anything and couldn’t answer a single question. The only we COULD do? Dance some Indian dance to win some KFC vouchers *embarassing but all of us had a good laugh* Hey, our team were placed No 3, k? *grin*

The devil was in the parking lot

The devil was in the parking lot, of my local church today.

He was standing there with sticks, an old Bible, and some hay.

So I ask him “What’s your purpose, why is it that you’ve come?”

He smiled “To burn the church down, it just seemed like it’d be fun.”

Then he spread the sticks, and hay around windows, and the door.

And I looked at the devil puzzled, “So what’s the Bible for?”

“The pages burn quite nice and you don’t use it.” He snapped as a reply.

I was angry, but he was right, and I hung my head to cry.

Then remembering the fire, I fell down to my knees.

“God send us rain, we need it now.” Was my urgent, helpless plea.

So He sent one drop, and it landed right here in my hand.

“We must have more.” Was my response, or should I say demand.

The devil laughed “There is no more, and look here comes the crowd.

To watch God’s house burn up, and probably cheer about it loud.”

And I stood there in the parking lot, defeated, without a clue.

Then God whispered in my ear, and I knew just what to do.

I walked into the crowd, to those staring at the blaze.

And looking at my single drop, I shouted, “Praise God, the church is saved!”

The people turned, looking confused, and not knowing what to think.

And I took my drop of Living Water, and gave them all a drink.

Amen.

• The devil has come to destroy the church, let us not give him anymore fuel for his fires.
• When we pray to God to bless the church, be assured He will answer our prayers, but it may not be the answer we were looking for.
• Jesus did not come to earth to save the church; He came to save those that would see the church destroyed. The confused onlookers.

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I was browsing around and came across this poem. It spoke volumes and I thought that it would be shared today. Seems timely for me to stumble upon this poem, even as we go through the 40-day fast for the nation. It reminded me that it’s not flesh and blood that we’re praying against, and that all prayers will not go unanswered. Just that the answers might not turn out to be what our personal expectations are *shrugs*.

The part about the Bible better off being burnt...akakakakakakak... yeah, better than to collect dust on our shelves, huh? *convicted*

Also, about our prayers are more like 'demands'... *double conviction* :P

How deep are his wisdom and knowledge. Who can explain his decisions? Who can understand his ways? As the scripture says, “Who knows the mind of the Lord? Who is able to give him advice?” For all things were created by him, and all things exists through him and for him.

Sorry if I've bored you with this entry, please don't mind me ranting my head off...

1 Cor 14:33-35

Warning: Heavy Blog Item

Me: Hey, XXX just came back from Hawaii preaching in a women’s conference.
Friend: It would be best if she stopped doing it so often.
Me: Huh? Why? She’s a great preacher. I look up to her.
Friend: The bible says that women shouldn’t preach in church. Didn’t you know?
Me: *Kept quiet while having a faint memory of being taught of such verses*

This conversation took place about a month ago over supper with a friend. The thought of having such passages in the Bible was rather dirturbing, but I could not confirm the validity of such teaching, as I couldn’t remember where the passages were in scripture. Last week, reading through the book of 1 Corinthians, I came across these passages:

1 Cor 14:33-35 - For God is not God of disorder but of peace. As in all the congregations of the saints, women should remain silent in the churches. They are not allowed to speak, but must be in submission, as the Law says. If they want to inquire about something, they should ask their own husbands at home; for it is disgraceful for a woman to speak in church.

Whar… if we just read those couple of lines Apostle Paul sounds rather chauvinistic, doesn’t he? Disgraceful for a woman to speak in church? Just by looking at it squarely, made me understand how easily the passage could be distorted and misinterpreted to talk down to women today *pull hair*. I've blogged about this problem earlier; that many misinterprets passages out of context.

1 Corinthians was a letter written by Paul to the church of Corinth that had fallen into disunity. Prior to the letter written, the church in Corinth had actually sent Paul some questions and this letter was an answer meant to correct the abuses within the church. To me, it was disturbing to just take in the passage ‘as it is’ because:

• I know the God I worship does not practice favoritism – thus, no favorites between genders.
• Backtrack to Chapter 11:5 (And every woman who prays and prophecies…); So, we know that women were exercising their gifts in prophecy and prayer in church during the time.
• Fast forward to Chapter 12:27 (Now you are the body of Christ, and each one of you is part of it); We learn that each of us play a part within the body and are given spiritual gifts to exercise.

As I read through the totality of the book, somehow that passage just didn’t quite fit. Unable to figure out the answer, I picked a Life Application Study Bible and this explanation was taken from that source:

In the Corinthian culture, women were not allowed to confront men in public. Apparently, some of the women who had become Christians thought that their Christian freedom gave them the right to question men in public worship. This was causing division in the church. In addition, women on that day did not receive formal religious education, as did the men. Women may have been raising questions in the worship services that could have been answered at home without disrupting the service. Paul was asking the women not to flaunt their Christian freedom during worship. The purposes of Paul’s words were to promote unity, not teach about women’s role in the church.

Ooo… so, it was because of the culture at that time that caused Paul to make such a correction to the church. It was SO MISINTEPRETED :P So that's the reason why Paul wrote, “...but must be in submission, as the Law says” I was wondering why suddenly he was talking about ‘Law’ – actually, he was talking about the culture that it was disgraceful for women to speak in public.

*moment of enlightenment*

Sure is interesting, eh? This book called the Bible. Remind me to have a chat with my friend *wink!*