Make Good Use Of The Time That Is Given To Us

Melbourne is forecasted to reach 38° maximum today. Bush fire warning has been alerted throughout the state of Victoria. People are advised to keep themselves hydrated and stay indoor if necessary. However, I won’t be surprised to find the evening news reported some mishaps happen at the beach where people would be suffered from heat stroke, this is no joke as it could be fatal.

A lot of us constantly putting ourselves in danger deliberately even though we are fully aware of the risk prior. People are complaining about how their freedom have been taken away from them when they didn’t even try to comply with the safety rules in place. In a not so serious situation, how often we found ourselves cursing inside our car while stuck in the traffic jam even though we know that would be the case if we chose to drive in that direction at that particular time?

Unfortunate things do happen which are not due to our fault and we have no control over them. But, we can reduce the unhappy incidents in our lives significantly by making the right choices. A lot of people suffered from poor health in our modern fast paced lifestyle. But is it really unavoidable? We can choose to have healthy diet and lifestyle but most of us just waste too much time on social media or binging on Netflix. Entertainment is good when we need to have some break but it cannot be let to take over our lives. Sadly, most have allowed their lives to be completely determined by which movies they should watch in the evening.

One of my favourite dialogue of all time from a movie is in Lord of The Ring when the wizard Gandalf advises the Hobbit Frodo: “All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given us.” Such a powerful advice to give especially when someone has doubt about themselves! Don’t take things for granted, GOD gives us this moment for a reason. Start making good use of this gift and stop wasting our lives on unnecessary and sometimes dangerous activities.

Stay safe in this scorching heat.

气象预测墨尔本温度今天将达到38 °。全维多利亚州都已被视为火灾重区。建议人们多喝水，必要时呆在家里别出门。但是，如果今晚新闻报道有人在海滩上发生不幸事件或中暑，我不会感到惊讶。

即使我们事先已充分意识到风险，许多人还是会不断将自己置于危险状况之中。

确实世界上有很多不幸的事情是我们无法控制的。但是，很多时候在通过做出正确的选择，我们可以大大的减少我们生活中一些不开心的事。我们现代的快节奏生活中，许多人都因身体不好而遭受痛苦。但这真的无法避免吗？我们可以选择健康的饮食和生活方式，但我们大多数人却大多时间浪费在社交媒体上，或者在Netflix看一部接一部的戏。我们千万不能让娱乐占据了我们的生活。

我最喜欢的电影对话之一是在《魔戒》中，巫师甘道夫（Gandalf）和霍比特人Frodo的一番对话：“我们所要做的就是决定如何处理我们所拥有的时间。” 千万不要认为每件事情都是理所当然的，上帝给我们这一刻是有原因的。我们要开始善用这份礼物，停止浪费我们的生命在不必要或者危险的活动上。

The New Normal Sunday

In the past, I'll be getting ready to drive 20 minutes from home to attend the 10.30am service at church. I'll be turn on radio via wifi to listen to my favourite Malaysian radio station 988 while driving. This time is also my favourite segment which the DJ broadcasts all the classic old songs from the 80s and 90s.

Fast forward to today when the whole of Melbourne is still in Stage 4 Restriction Lock Down, I'm sitting at home eating my breakfast, typing these words, watching the rain drops dripping from the leaked gutter above me and of course still listening to my favourite station, currently playing the classic from Anita Mui. I'll be attending online worship in a short while.

How life has changed overnight due to Covid-19. Churches are empty and everyone is worshiping from home. At least there is no more excuse not to go to church on Sunday! Well there is always some people managed to come up with creative excuse every now and then.

All the GOD fearing Christians believe that the universe's every moves is being pre-planned by the Great Almighty. Therefore let's take this opportunity of more time that is made available to us during this pandemic and ponder upon this question: 'What is GOD's plan in all this?"

The excuse of not attending church is now being taken away from us as we can worship through internet from home. Unless someone come up with a lame excuse that his/ her computer broke down every Sunday morning! So no more excuse and we have to face GOD out in the open now. If anything, I think we now have the rare opportunity of being frank with ourselves and sincerely get to know GOD during this trying times. Ask Him what He wants from you out of this pandemic. There must be a reason why we suddenly have so much time at our disposal.

For me, the message I get is that I need to share my spiritual experience and that's why I'm writing this post now. We have to allocate this time fully to GOD. There are so many ways we can do that. We can sing and worship Him, we can fully immerse ourselves in the Bible, we can listen to sermon online, we can express our gratitude by listing all the good things around us on a piece of paper, we can refrain from having a bad feeling to anyone during this time and so much more. It is really not much to ask considering that we only reserve one Sunday morning to Him. If all the above is too hard for you, then at least stop thinking about your work, hobbies or entertainment during this time. Just find yourself a nice and quiet place to sit down and meditate. Use this precious moment to calm yourself down and just enjoy the wonderful experience while meditate to focus on GOD.

Don't waste this free time that is now available to us. Use it wisely. Don't ask what you want, ask what He wants instead. Happy Worship!

Gossip Malaysia: Malaysia's Big Cover Up

Public attire has become a hotly debated issue in Malaysia in the last two weeks after several women were forced to cover themselves with a sarong or towel after being told to cover up if they wanted to enter government buildings.

While the spread of Islamic conservatism is widely noted in Malaysia, what is worrying to some non-Muslims is how they have apparently been subjected to the cover-up rule in government buildings.

Questions are also being asked if there is a new "sarong policy" in place.

Deputy Chief Minister of Penang P. Ramasamy tweeted on June 10 that there was a "sarong policy" that was a "deliberate and systematic attempt to impose Islamic dress code on non-Muslims". The tweet has since been deleted.

Consider these cases.

On June 8, a middle-aged woman, Madam Suzanne G.L. Tan, was denied entry into a Road Transport Department (RTD) office in Selangor for wearing a skirt just above her knees. She was allowed to enter only afater she put on a sarong that was provided. The security guard said she was following orders.

"I do not know if I should laugh or cry," Madam Tan said in her Facebook post that went viral.

On June 16, a young woman was forced to wear a towel to cover her shorts to gain entry into the Sungai Buloh public hospital in Selangor.

The security guards said they were following instructions from the Health Ministry.

On June 22, reporter C. Premananthini and Selangor resident Tan Lee Fong were barred from entering the Selangor State Secretariat building for wearing skirts deemed too short.

The State Secretariat building is the heart of the Selangor government, which is run by federal opposition parties including the Chinese-dominated Democratic Action Party. The two women were made to wear sarongs.

And earlier on May 7, businessman Steven Ng claimed he was denied entry to the Kuala Lumpur International Airport's lost and found baggage office for wearing knee-length pink shorts and sandals.

Mr Ng had to put on long black trousers and shoes provided before he could claim his luggage.

In all the cases, the various top officials apologised and said there is no "sarong policy".

Transport Minister Liow Tiong Lai said: "We should not impose unnecessary guidelines on a dress code for the public."

To be sure, signs that say "dress codes for visitors" can be found at most federal government buildings to remind visitors to be modestly dressed. But there was hardly any enforcement before.

The president of civil service employees union Cuepacs, Datuk Azih Muda, said the guards were following the rules, and that the public should not sensationalise the issue. He said the aim of the dress code is to help people dress modestly.

A worry for non-Muslims is whether Malaysia's rising Islamic conservatism could lead to more sarong incidents.

Responding to the hospital incident, former prime minister Mahathir Mohammad said last Thursday that Malaysia was "sliding backwards" and becoming more like Saudi Arabia.

The Sisters In Islam group said: "Religious conservatism in Malaysia is crossing the line as now Malaysians face restrictions on their freedom of movement because of dress codes."

Source: AsiaOne 

See also: 'No Shorts At Airports'