#276 volunteering and charity

I seem to be confronted with young men and women representing non-profit organisations to give. These individuals are apparently being paid to do the job. There are the flag days where students are required to give their time to ask for donations for these non-profit organisations. What is volunteering today? Does being a volunteer means giving one’s [...]

#275 farewell to the woman I most admired

On Monday, October 4th, I paid my last respect to the woman I admired most (blog #39 written on March 2008) at Sri Temasek.    Glad it was an overcast afternoon when I had to queue for almost an hour at the entrance of the Istana before boarding a van which brought us to Sri Temasek where we had [...]

#274 water everywhere

I grew up in the 1960s when floods were common place. For the past 35 years or so, there was no flood and I have complimented our first echelon of leaders for solving this longstanding and menacing flood problem to my foreign or overseas friends whenever they sprout negative remarks. Today, and in particular this year 2010, water-level [...]

#273 Is City Harvest Church a social enterprise, financial institution or place of worship?

I had to read and re-read to make sure I had not misread City Harvest Church (CHC) offering loans to needy church members; that some churches gave loans to pastors to pay mortgages on their homes; and instances of offering loans between sister churches — from the afternoon edition of Today! Sacrilegious! How could money given to tithes and the sacrifices [...]

#272 transparency at the new creation church

News received that the New Creation Church pastor Derek Prince has volunteered his services. This indeed is noble on the pastor’s part. According to its church goers, New Creation pioneer leader and deacon Jack Ho said it was a “good time to let members understand more about these businesses”. This would help them “answer with more [...]

#271 begging

Of late I met some strange ways of begging. Yesterday at a bus stop, a Malay elderly lady didn’t flag the bus when the only bus that ply along the road arrived. I was waiting for a friend. When the bus passed by, this elderly lady carrying a ten dollar note on her left hand and fifty [...]

#267 church needs

I do hear this during worship service: we need leaders or volunteers for such-and-such. Why are the clergymen crying out? Why are slips of paper given out to members to fill out areas they can serve?  When the members filled that out, are they approached? Or, has the church minister become mini-god to decide who can [...]

#261 singapore idol 2009

The Singapore Idol gives the wanabes the experience of a journey and gain insights to what it means to becoming a celebrity star. Many celebrity stars in the US actually have to work very hard to get to where they are. The late Michael Jackson is an example in point. He would perfect his art and one can actually feel [...]

#260 s.e.a. games

Congratulations to the Singaporean contingent to the 25th SEA Games held in Vientiane for 10 days — December 9-19, 2009. Singapore won most of her medals from the aquatic sports.   James Wong, the 40-year-old veteran, won gold for the discus event, which is his 8th gold medal for the nation. Will he be honored the best sportsman of the year? The next [...]

#241 food poisoning

The hygiene rating for local food centers is questionable. Previously under the HDB, complaints lodged that the food centers were not as clean and rats found visiting certain areas at dark but there was no case of death reported. However, recently two elderly died after eating rojak (a local salad) and many had food poisoning at Geylang Serai food [...]