Life’s journey is never always smooth. There are inevitably potholes to avoid. There’ll be ups & downs as you ride along, or the journey sways you from side to side. Just be bright & enjoy the ride . . . onward, forward, soldier on!
Life’s destination is never in sight to begin with! Log on . . . spirit on . . . to reach your destination you must soldier on.
Focus on the positives . . . however small & insignificant they may seem to wipe out the negatives.
Be thankful for the many small delightful happenings. Sometimes it just takes one little thing to chase your blue away.
For most parts of our life, the reality is only a very small portion of it is filled with real happy moments. So savour whatever there is big or small.
It is most refreshing to see an elderly couple walking hand in hand, or sitting cheek to cheek like they are in love for the first time in their natural lives.
The best things in life are free. Recall when you awoke to the most remarkable sunrise ever and heard birds chirping outside your window. You smelled the morning dew. Later you viewed a gorgeous sunset.
Remember, nobody can cause you to be miserable without your consent.
Don’t Cry! Sing & Be Happy!!
The sweet refrain from an old favourite “Count Your Blessings . . . “ will shake off the doldrums & stress.
If you want to be young & healthy, drink your coffee. Coffee is surrounded by myths, both good and bad. Its ability to invigorate and cause insomnia is absolutely true. Its main effect on the body is stimulation of the nervous system.
No matter what they say about coffee being harmful, moderation is the key to success, doctors say. Research conducted by American biologists revealed that two to three cups a day is more than enough to provide protection for the heart, slightly increase metabolism and even reduce appetite if you have excessive weight issues. Coffee has as much antioxidants as green tea, which means in theory it protects body from cancer and slows down aging.
It’s the antioxidants & not the caffeine that give it the bitterness.
Coffee Plant with Red Berries
According to a legend, coffee was first discovered and brewed approximately in 800 A.D. in Africa. Kaldi, an Ethiopian goat-herder, was frustrated because his goats kept him awake. He decided to find out what made them so lively. He noticed they were eating some red berries of a tree. He took the berries to a local abbot where the entrepreneurial African monks brewed the first coffee that they later used to pray all night long.
Because of its caffeine content, most adamant critics claim that excessive coffee consumption may lead to a heart attack, and there is some truth to it. However, American experts calculated that a lethal dose of caffeine is 10 to 13 grams, which means that you have to drink 23 litres of coffee at a time to die. This is more than a hundred cups. Anyway, such volume of liquid would kill you faster than caffeine.
Caffeine is the best friend of fitness – Two cups a day help to deal with muscle aches after intense exercise, scientists from the University of Georgia claim. It is not required to drink coffee on a regular basis. Just two cups after a training session are enough to restore the muscles.
Coffee is better than wine – Red wine and champagne are considered to be traditional beverages for a romantic dinner. Men might want to reconsider this tradition. It you have some hot romantic after-dinner ideas, give your lady some coffee, researches from the South West University recommend.
They conducted a series of experiments on female lab rats and found out that a dose of caffeine prompts the rodents for more frequent sexual contacts. There is a “but” – the beverage will only be effective provided the lady does not drink coffee on a regular basis. If she is a habitual coffee drinker, you will have to rely on wine and your personal charm.
There is a theory that a dose of caffeine may help men be more active in bed. Caffeine improves the blood flow, which means the blood is carried better to the sexual organs as well. As a result, the possibility of an erection and its duration may increase; therefore coffee can be considered a substance for prevention of erectile dysfunction.
Scientists have discovered that coffee contains potent antioxidants that can fight cancer & numerous ailments, including heart disease and diabetes. According to the American Coffee Association, 54 percent of Americans drink coffee on a daily basis, and they drink, on average, over three cups each. The diseases coffee can benefit include:
• Dementia. Drinking moderate amounts of coffee during middle age — classified as three to five cups daily — can decrease the risk of dementia by 65 percent, according to a 2009 study by Swedish and Finnish researchers.
• Liver disease. In those who drink too much alcohol, those who drank the most coffee — more than four cups every day — reduced their risk of developing alcoholic cirrhosis by 80 percent.
• Heart disease. Research associated with The Nurses’ Health Study found that women who drank two to three cups of coffee daily had a 25 percent lower risk of dying from heart disease. Along the same line, a Spanish study found that men who drank more than five cups of coffee each day lowered their risk of dying from heart disease by 44 percent, and that women who drank four to five cups each day reduced their risk by 34 percent.
• Prostate cancer. A recent study from Harvard Medical School found that men who drank the most coffee slashed their risk of developing the fastest growing and most difficult to treat prostate cancers by more than half when compared to men who drank no coffee.
• Gout. Drinking four or more cups of coffee each day dramatically reduces the incidence of gout, say U.S. and Canadian researchers. Men who drank four to five cups daily lowered their risk by 40 percent, and those who drank six or more cups daily reduced their risk of developing gout by 59 percent when compared to men who didn’t drink coffee. • Breast cancer. Coffee can either reduce the risk of developing breast cancer or delay its onset, according to Swedish studies. They found that coffee alters a woman’s metabolism and produces a safer balance of estrogens. Women who drank two to three cups of coffee a day reduced their cancer risk by as much as two-thirds, depending on the specific type of breast cancer.
• Diabetes. Enjoying six or more cups of coffee daily can cut chances of Type 2 diabetes by 54 percent in men and 30 percent in women over those who don’t drink coffee.
• Parkinson’s disease. Several studies show that drinking coffee lowers a man’s risk of developing Parkinson’s up to 80 percent — and the more the better.
• Colon cancer. A Japanese report found that women who drank three or more cups of coffee every day slashed their risk of developing colon cancer in half. What’s responsible for coffee’s healthy benefits? Most researchers believe it’s the antioxidants (polyphenols or flavonoids) in coffee, but there are hundreds of compounds in coffee that may be partially responsible.
Coffee even protects against mouth cancer.
Overall, its benefits far outweigh its side effects.
We often like to step into IKEA when shopping for home accessories & often found an array of innovative home gadgets that are unusual & functional.
Also they make exceptionable gift ideas without costing you a bundle.
They say ideas are a dime a dozen. The Japanese have by far been the most progressive in this arena. Japanese ideas are simple, practical, aesthetic, innovative & functional.
Don’t have to be tricked by sales gimmicks – for you don’t really want to buy something that you can’t use or give away as gifts lest you should be duplicating what your friend has already have. These would be something unique, useful & appealing.
The homes of the rich & famous seldom escape public eyes. However, some of the wackiest homes of the eccentric often stir up more awe & wonder. One would be amazed & inspired by the concept & imagination of the unconventional builders.
Would you like to live in some of these homes?
Being 727 House –Buying and renovating this Boeing 727 only set back Joanne Ussary $30K. It boasts a jacuzzi in the cockpit, remote controlled doors, and the post-apocalyptic life you’ve always dreamed.
The Mushroom House, also known as the Tree House, in Hyde Park, Cincinnati, Ohio. It was built by University of Cincinnati Professor Terry Brown with the help of his architecture students.
Upside Down House – Poland.Polish businessman Daniel Czapiewski is the owner that makes passers-by think they’re drunk and those inside feel seaside.
Inversion House – Houston, Texas.Instead of demolishing a couple of old studio buildings, 2 artists decided to make them into an apparent vortex funnel.
The American Shoe House was built for Pennsylvania’s self-proclaimed “Shoe Wizard” in the 1940’s to serve as the ultimate advertisement. The South African Shoe House clearly is more modern, being built in 1990 and fitting for Grandma.
Bubble House – France. The Bubble House is still unfinished, but it is a tourist attraction because of its unique design & beauty.
This is the true story of the origin of the famous Manhattan landmark, Waldorf-Astoria Hotel.
One stormy night many years ago, an elderly man and his wife entered the lobby of a small hotel in Philadelphia. Trying to get out of the rain, the couple approached the front desk hoping to get some shelter for the night.
“Could you possibly give us a room here?” the husband asked.
The clerk, a friendly man with a winning smile, looked at the couple and explained that there were three conventions in town during that time.
“All of our rooms are taken,” the clerk said. “But, I cannot send a nice couple like you out into the rain at one o’clock in the morning. Would you, perhaps, be willing to sleep in my room? It’s not exactly a suite, but it will be good enough to make you folks comfortable for the night.”
When the couple declined, the young man pressed on. “Don’t worry about me; I’ll make out just fine,” the clerk told them with confidence and assurance. Rather hesitant, the couple agreed and stayed for the night.
The following morning as the elderly man paid his bill at the check-out counter, the man said to the helpful clerk, “You are the kind of manager who should be the boss of the best hotel in the United States. Maybe, someday, I’ll build one for you.” The clerk looked at them amusingly and smiled. The three of them had a good laugh.
As the couple drove away, the elderly man agreed that the helpful clerk was indeed exceptional, as finding people who are both friendly and helpful is not easy.
Two years had passed. The clerk had almost forgotten about the incident when one morning he received a letter from the old man. The note recalled that stormy night and the old man enclosed a round-trip ticket to New York, asking the young man to pay them a visit.
The helpful clerk in the Philadelphia hotel obliged and one day took the trip to New York where the old man met him and led him to the corner of Fifth Avenue and 34th Street in the fashionable commercial district of Manhattan. The old man casually pointed to a great new building right in the middle of town, a palace of reddish stone, with turrets and watchtowers thrusting up to the sky. Rather an impressive structure.
“That,” said the older man, “is the hotel I have just built for YOU to manage.”
“You must be joking,” the young man said rather amazed.
“I can assure you I am not,” said the older man, a sly smile playing on his face.
The older man’s name was William Waldorf Astor, and the magnificent structure was the original Waldorf-Astoria Hotel in Manhattan, New York.
The young clerk who eventually became the first manager of Waldorf Astoria was George C. Boldt. This young hotel clerk from Philadelphia never foresaw the turn of events that would one day lead him to become the first manager of one of the world’s most glamorous, impressive hotels.
Royal Suite Master Bedroom
The Bible says that we are not to turn our backs on those who are in need, for we might be entertaining angels after all.
And remember:
Life is more accurately measured by the lives you touch than the things you acquire. – Author Unknown
Sherlock Holmes is a fictional detective created by Scottish author and physician, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle.
Holmes’ stalwart partner is Dr. Watson
221b Baker Street, London – the world’s most famous address and the official home of Sherlock Holmes which also serves as a museum! It’s said that even today that people still addressed their letters there.
Sir Arthur Conan Doyle reportedly tells the story of the time when he went on vacation & had climbed into a taxi cab in Paris. Before Doyle could utter a word, the driver turns and asks, “Where can I take you, Mr. Doyle?”
The famous author was flabbergasted. He asked the cab driver if they had ever met before. They had not. It was in fact the first time they had laid eyes on each other. “The how the blazes did you know it was me?” Doyle asked.
The cab driver said, “This morning’s paper had a story about you being on vacation in Marseilles. This is the taxi stand where people who travel to Paris from Marseilles usually arrive at. Your skin colour tells me you have been on vacation. The spot of ink on your index finger suggests that you are most likely a writer. Your clothing is very English, and not French or German. Adding all these clues together, I deduced that you are Arthur Canon Doyle.”
“Good show! Well done!” exclaimed Doyle. “You are a real-life counterpart to my own Mr. Sherlock Holmes!”
“There is one other thing,” the driver adds.
“What is that?”
“Your name is on the front of your suitcase.”!!
In scouting, you learn about the power of observation. This is where the taxi driver applied such skill to practice.
“Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for men, since you know that you will receive an inheritance from the Lord as a reward. It is the Lord Christ you are serving.”~ Colossians 3:23-24
Our life’s undertakings must truly reflect God’s image. It is adamant that men should work, as God Himself personally is involved with work. It is through work that we fulfil our duties and responsibilities and our hope, dreams and aspiration. There is no substitute for work otherwise God would have invented it.
It is not healthy for a person to stay home and do absolutely no work. He soon deteriorates as constitutionally the brain is never or seldom activated. An analogy can be drawn with the use of a computer – a powerful and essential modern day’s tool. But if it just sits on your desk without the proper input of data, it is nothing but a piece of hardware. But when it is functioning, there is such as a term as “animated intelligence” which sets fear in the mind of men that we might be eventually replaced.
I remember living across from a very rich man’s house in Taiping, a Malaysian town, where the eldest son of the household chose not to work except staying home whole day long, without as much as stepping out of the house. He spent his time with a houseful of sisters and aunties. His mannerism reflected that of the feminine – fair right to the bone, because of non exposure to the sun. Even in his speech the feminine way was evident. He was absolutely healthy, nothing wrong with him physically. I believe he didn’t live very long, and what a wasteful life!
Work is designed by God. Through work we integrate with our work mates. We socialise. We are by nature gregarious. We are social being. We are meant to live along with others, for no man is an island. WORK IS THAT ONE GREAT INGREDIENT THAT WE STRIVE FOR. Some people go to the extreme of making work their only objective. Such are the workaholics. There is time for everything, and everything has its own time. Even God rested on the seventh day after His creation of the world that we live in.
The whole essence is to treat work as a hobby. Then it won’t be a burden. It would be something pleasurable and natural. If I may just add one last word – WORK SMART AND NOT JUST WORK HARD. Let work be both a vision and a mission of God’s scheme and purpose. Work for the LOVE of it!
This just goes to show how awesome our Lord is! For all you scientists out there and for all the students who have a hard time convincing these people regarding the truth of the Bible, here’s something that shows God’s awesome creation and shows that He’s still in control. Did you know that the space program is busy proving that what has been called “myth” in the Bible is true?
Mr. Harold Hill. President of the Curtis Engine Company in Baltimore, Maryland and a consultant in the space program relates the following development: I think one of the most amazing things that God has for us today happened recently to our astronauts and space scientists at Green Belt, Maryland. They were checking the position of the sun, moon, and planets out in space where they would be 100 years and 1000 years from now. We have to know this so we won’t send a satellite up, and have it bump into something later on its orbits. We have to lay out the orbits in terms of the life of the satellite, and where the planets will be so the whole thing will not bog down. They ran the computer measurement back and forth over the centuries and it came to a halt.
The computer stopped and put up a red signal, which meant that there was something wrong either with the information fed into it or with the results as compared to the standards. They called in the service department to check it out and they said “what’s wrong?” Well, they found there is a day missing in space in elapsed time. They scratched their heads and tore their hair. There was no answer.
Finally a Christian man on the team said. “You know, one time I was in Sunday school and they talked about the sun standing still”. While they didn’t believe him they didn’t have an answer either. So they said, “show us”. He got a Bible and went back to the book of Joshua where they found a pretty ridiculous statement for any one with “Common sense”.
There they found the Lord saying to Joshua, “Fear them not. I have delivered them into thy hand: There shall not a man of them stand before thee”. Joshua was concerned because he was surrounded by the enemy if darkness fell they would overpower them. So Joshua asked the Lord to make the sun stand still! That’s right – “The sun not to go down about a whole day!” The astronauts and scientists said. “There is the missing day!”
They checked the computers going back into the time it was written and found it was close but not close enough. The elapsed time that was missing back Joshua’s day was 23 hours and 20 minutes – not a whole day. They read the Bible and there it was “about (approximately) a day” These little words in the Bible are important. But they were still in trouble because if you cannot account for 40 minutes you’ll still be in trouble 1,000 years from now. Forty minutes had to be found because it can be multiplied many times over in orbits. As the Christian employee thought about it, he remembered somewhere in the Bible where it said the sun went BACKWARDS. The scientists told him he was out of his mind, but they got out the Book and read these words in 2 Kings. Hezekiah, on his deathbed, was visited by the prophet Isaiah who told him that he was not going to die. Hezekiah asked for a sign as proof. Isaiah said “Do you want the sun to go ahead 10 degrees?” Hezekiah said it is nothing for the sun to go ahead 10 degrees, but let the shadow return backward 10 degrees.” Isaiah spoke to the Lord and Lord brought the shadow 10 degrees BACKWARD!
Ten degrees is exactly 40 minutes! Twenty three hours and 20 minutes in Joshua, plus 40 minutes in Second Kings make the missing day in the universe! Isn’t it amazing? Our God is rubbing their noses in His Truth! References: Joshua 10:8 and 12.13; 2 Kings 20:9-11
Regular reading of the Bible will in time result in enlightenment, giving you that special perception & understanding beyond normal circumstances. The stories & events depicted in the Old Testament are often reversed, reiterated, repeated or redefined in the New Testament. By applying this parallel concept facilitates the interpretation of the Bible & greatly enhances its dramatic impact upon the reader.
Man’s quest for the sky has its roots in the Tower of Babel.
Babel’s founder Nimrod the Hunter (Gen. 10:8-12), a “king of Shinar”, was a ruthless conqueror with ambitious political aspirations. His name “Nimrod” means “let us revolt”. Genesis 10:9-12 shows that Babel was the first of many cities that Nimrod established.
In Genesis 11: 1-9, we learn that up to this point in time the whole world had one universal language – a common speech for all people. The people by then had become skilled in construction and decided to build a city with a tower that would be “a stairway to heaven”. By building the tower they wanted to make a name for themselves and also prevent their city from being scattered.
God frustrated the efforts of the builders at Babel before they reached the point of no return. God thwarted their plans in His benevolent omniscience.
God came to see their city and the tower they were building. He perceived their intentions, and in His infinite wisdom, He knew this “stairway to heaven” would only lead the people away from God. He noted the powerful force within their unity of purpose. As a result, God confused their language, causing them to speak different languages so they would not understand each other. By doing this:
God thwarted their plans. He also scattered the people of the city all over the face of the earth.
Some scholars believe that this marks the point in history where God divided the earth into separate continents.
The people were building a monument to themselves, to call attention to their own abilities and achievements, instead of giving glory to God.
The Tower of Babel is extremely significant to the epic of the Bible. The story is much more than God indiscriminately interrupting an insignificant building project. The Tower of Babel marks the origins of the nations of the earth.
The modern word “babbler” referring to an incoherent individual has its roots here in the Tower of Babel. Since they could not communicate with one another, tempers flared and immediate anarchy resulted. Each person completely unintelligible in their speech to the other, culminating in utter chaos.
A parallel can be drawn between Genesis 11:1-9 and a significant event found in the Book of Acts.
In Acts 2:1-4, on the day of Pentecost . . . All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit enabled them. When the resurrected Christ sent the Holy Spirit to the disciples it confirmed that the “stairway to heaven” sought by the ancients had been established. However, this gateway was not accomplished by human initiative or effort but by the supernatural power & grace of God. The timing & purpose were of God’s determination, not of the people. The Book of Acts details the marvellous accomplishments by the Christians empowered by the Holy Spirit.
And not only were their spirits united, but the language barrier was broken. The disunity initiated by the scattering at the Tower of Babel has begun to be reversed and this time God gets the glory.
Nowhere in the entire passage referring to the Tower of Babel is there found the slightest indication that the builders considered God’s will in their plans. The Bible goes to great lengths to confirm God’s disdain for society’s self-ruling ecumenical pursuits. The Psalmist writes of God’s intervention into the affairs of humanity:
“The LORD nullifies the counsel of the nations; he frustrates the plans of the peoples.” ~ Psalm 33:10. This is simply to say that whatever man proposes, God disposes.
Will the mistakes of the Tower of Babel be repeated by the present generation? Reaching for the sky or global domination amounts to the same thing!
Paul Chong's Blog 