Here's an amazing video I found from Eileen's blog.. check it out.
Amazing what God can speak through a 13 year old. Such wisdom.
As Eileen said:
"Wisdom does not necessarily comes with age, but with God."
Wow. Another wise word. Haha.
And here's an amazing story of how God changes lives: By Mr Lee Xinhong.
Check his blog at http://fintel.blogspot.com/2007/12/nacl2-i-love-you-my-brothers.html
Ha.. for you who really want to know where this super zai guy (top accounting student with GPA 4.0! NUTS! Haha) gets his motivation from, and even where he started out, check it out. And you'll see that you can identify with his weakness, but as the Bible says, God's power is made perfect is our weaknesses...
Apart from we can do nothing.
Well Xinhong you made the fire burn inside me again. Your testimony is a reminder even for me that God is still working in me as He works through me. Jia you.=)
I recently came back from the Breakaway camp myself. I didn't participate though; I was helping the committee members with their organizing and execution.
I think I had a great experience just helping the leaders and working together with them. People like Sheryl, Xiaoting, Quanhan and Annie..which I probably worked a little closer with.. it's really an honour to work with them. These people who lead a group of youths to young adults are probably much more capable than the people you see around, in University or anywhere else.
But yet, they're not the people whom you see, throwing their weight around, using their influence to get what they want; they're the people who really go down on the ground and serve. Tie balloons la, put up decoration la, clear rubbish la.. but yet it's so much a given that people don't really notice or mention anymore. Such a heart of service, I have no problem doing the most grunt kind of work with these people around. Ha...
I think they all understand and know in their hearts, in the kingdom of God, the way up is the way down.
As I'm typing my blog, got back my Marketing grade. Not v satisfactory. But well.. my mind will be far away from it in about 5 mins. Nonetheless I'm also looking forward for next semester to start. I think the modules I bid for are really interested..
And really after changing my major to Management, I just really think to myself.. am I crazy to do that? It's like quite a stupid thing to do. I can get a stable job in Finance paying $5k a month at least and lots of career prospects, but yet.. I choose to go and do management which probably give me a job that pays much lesser and having less prestige.
Foolishness.
1 Cor 1:27-29
But... God has chosen the foolish things of the world to put to shame the wise, and God has chosen the weak things of the world to put to shame the things which are mighty; and the base things of the world and the things which are despised God has chosen, and the things which are not, to bring to nothing the things that are, that no flesh should glory in His presence.
Haha well I shall have no more self-doubt. I don't believe and will not stop believing that life's success comes from grades or from the major that you're taking.
Nonetheless I'm really dissatisfied with where I am know. I just look at the way I spend a day sometimes and I feel really pissed with myself. I can't believe I'm letting time go away like that. I really need to push myself to go faster and work harder. *roar* and after reading Xinhong's blog. Well. ROAR! Run run run.. Haha... I think I'll print out your testimony and stick it next to my com so that I'll get perpetually dissatisfied!! =P
Wednesday, December 12, 2007
Friday, December 7, 2007
The million dollar question
I recently wrote an email to some of my Exco after my encounter with Yee Loong, my tax professor, who is also the Director of Taxes at Deloitte and Touche.
Instead of re-writing, let me do some cutting and pasting:
I asked him a question," Prof, how important really is grades in the working world?"
I think this is the million dollar question we all want to know isn't it? Haha.
I can't remember the whole conversation but here are some gems I caught:
"When we pick a person for an interview, we don't just look at grades. We also look at the amount of participation in school activities. However, if the person doesn't have much else, we will just use the grades to gauge. It's just good to get you an interview. After that it is really up to how well you do in the interview process."
"We don't care about past performance. While the government sector thinks otherwise, but in the private sector, we pay according to the person for his performance during the year. It doesn't matter if you're a Summa Cum Laude ( First class) or just a person with a general degree. When you're in a job we don't care if you've got 5 As for your A levels or your GPA in university for that matter. You are graded according to your performance for the year."
"In the business and working world, it's all about EQ. How you relate to people, how you talk with people. Intelligence is definitely not a gauge of success."
Well, he just confirmed what I always have sensed in my heart. I just never got around to asking an employer until today. And a successful one at that. He even shared a story:
" I had an old student whom contacted me recently, she graduated 3-4 years ago. She said she wanted to ask me a tax question. I thought she just filed her tax returns wrongly and needed help, but it turns out that her husband ( who was 29 years old) wanted to know if the 12 million dollar business he just sold was taxable! This guy struggled through university in NTU, failed almost every semester and had to retake alot of tests. He worked at ST Engineering for 3-4 years but didn't like the job so started his own business. At 29, he sold a 12 million dollar business. And now at 36years old, he's comtemplating selling a 50 million dollar business!"
Wow.
But the point is: This is how important grades are. This is how important your dean's list is. Your Summa, Magna or whatever Cum Laude. At best, it gets you the interview. That's it.
It's important to work hard. We should. But grades should never be our pursuit. It's a perishable crown. Like a lifespan of 5 years? Your dean's list works for you till you graduate and it ends there.
It is important we excel, but let's put the things of God, the things that are eternal first. It's easy to want to run after what everyone else is running, but what they don't see is that: There's nothing at the end of the race. You can throw everything else ( Your ministry, your family, your relationship with God, with friends) away trying to get that nice looking GPA on your resumé, but there's nothing at the end of the rainbow.
*Cut*
Okay la, for the people who want to work in banks I guess your GPA matters more. But no matter what it is, the relevance of your grades still end at the interview. After that no more use.
Can't believe we're spending 4 years trying to do that. Amazing what culture can disillusion you with.
Instead of re-writing, let me do some cutting and pasting:
I asked him a question," Prof, how important really is grades in the working world?"
I think this is the million dollar question we all want to know isn't it? Haha.
I can't remember the whole conversation but here are some gems I caught:
"When we pick a person for an interview, we don't just look at grades. We also look at the amount of participation in school activities. However, if the person doesn't have much else, we will just use the grades to gauge. It's just good to get you an interview. After that it is really up to how well you do in the interview process."
"We don't care about past performance. While the government sector thinks otherwise, but in the private sector, we pay according to the person for his performance during the year. It doesn't matter if you're a Summa Cum Laude ( First class) or just a person with a general degree. When you're in a job we don't care if you've got 5 As for your A levels or your GPA in university for that matter. You are graded according to your performance for the year."
"In the business and working world, it's all about EQ. How you relate to people, how you talk with people. Intelligence is definitely not a gauge of success."
Well, he just confirmed what I always have sensed in my heart. I just never got around to asking an employer until today. And a successful one at that. He even shared a story:
" I had an old student whom contacted me recently, she graduated 3-4 years ago. She said she wanted to ask me a tax question. I thought she just filed her tax returns wrongly and needed help, but it turns out that her husband ( who was 29 years old) wanted to know if the 12 million dollar business he just sold was taxable! This guy struggled through university in NTU, failed almost every semester and had to retake alot of tests. He worked at ST Engineering for 3-4 years but didn't like the job so started his own business. At 29, he sold a 12 million dollar business. And now at 36years old, he's comtemplating selling a 50 million dollar business!"
Wow.
But the point is: This is how important grades are. This is how important your dean's list is. Your Summa, Magna or whatever Cum Laude. At best, it gets you the interview. That's it.
It's important to work hard. We should. But grades should never be our pursuit. It's a perishable crown. Like a lifespan of 5 years? Your dean's list works for you till you graduate and it ends there.
It is important we excel, but let's put the things of God, the things that are eternal first. It's easy to want to run after what everyone else is running, but what they don't see is that: There's nothing at the end of the race. You can throw everything else ( Your ministry, your family, your relationship with God, with friends) away trying to get that nice looking GPA on your resumé, but there's nothing at the end of the rainbow.
*Cut*
Okay la, for the people who want to work in banks I guess your GPA matters more. But no matter what it is, the relevance of your grades still end at the interview. After that no more use.
Can't believe we're spending 4 years trying to do that. Amazing what culture can disillusion you with.
Tuesday, December 4, 2007
The power of prayer. Ha..
I just got back my Corp Reporting grade.
Worst grade ever in SMU! 2.5 years of it! 5 semesters.
B-.
Hah... REALLY pulled down my GPA.. 0.5 like that.
But the problem is I was feeling okay. Haha. I was praying 1 hour before my internet got fixed and then before I checked it.
The presence of God was still upon me. Still got the anointing. So when I saw the B-. No sadness. No nothing.
Ha.. Prayer is powerful. Maybe after the anointing lifts you'll start hearing me rant about it. Haha. But not now.
Time for facebook. =PPP
Worst grade ever in SMU! 2.5 years of it! 5 semesters.
B-.
Hah... REALLY pulled down my GPA.. 0.5 like that.
But the problem is I was feeling okay. Haha. I was praying 1 hour before my internet got fixed and then before I checked it.
The presence of God was still upon me. Still got the anointing. So when I saw the B-. No sadness. No nothing.
Ha.. Prayer is powerful. Maybe after the anointing lifts you'll start hearing me rant about it. Haha. But not now.
Time for facebook. =PPP
Monday, December 3, 2007
My most borrowed book is…
NOT faith…
NOT on financial excellence…
Not on leadership..
It's....
NOT on financial excellence…
Not on leadership..
It's....
a book on DATING: Boy meets Girl! Haha.
And it’s been borrowed until become jiam chai( battle-scarred) already. *Roar* my precious book is gone already, I'm going to bite!
But well, at least it’s getting good mileage. Hah…
Amusing, but practical la. Boy Meets Girl is a book on how a couple should deal with a relationship from the time of courtship till marriage. It touches on how any guy and girl should maneuver in a way that a courtship is purposeful and is moving toward something real, rather than just getting steady for the sake of feeling good and high..
I was telling my cell leader the other day; we’re really all at this age where it’s time for the birds to meet the bees, so it’s best that we address the topic before MTV gets to their heads.
And in fact, I think it’s a good thing that my friends start getting it from me. Haha at least everyone’s trying to find out God’s opinion on their second half rather than trying to understand a relationship through soap operas, fairy tales or MTV, I think it’s good to get a mature, godly perspective on how to approach a relationship.
I remember Xiaohui ( Don’t kill me if you read this) that day was also buying the audio CD by pastor on ‘Choosing the right partner for life’. HAHA. Caught in the act on buying! She told me not to laugh when I saw the title of the CD.
But I’m glad she wants to know, and I asked to borrow it when she’s done. Heh.
Anyway when I thinking about it one day, I realized that there’s one thing that really makes a girl attractive to me. It’s her spirituality.Clarification: Not her religiosity, but spirituality.
I realized that when I see a girl wanting to lay down her life for a cause, making a decision to love God more, taking more responsibility in the cell group. The attractiveness factor goes up. This is what Mingli told me before, that spirituality does make a person more attractive.
So well, anyway, I think that applies to every guy in church in general, not just me. Of course, besides the spiritual side, we look at the natural side as well. Like.. Same height or not, physically attracted to each other or not. The usual. Haha.
But back to it! Yes! It's a superb book for anyone who's ready for a serious relationship, whether you're Christian or not. Don't learn how to do it the wrong way from TV, learn the right way from people who have done it right!
My book's still on loan though, and someone just 'booked' the book again. When will I ever see that book again. Haha...
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