A woman's Touching Speech

There were 10 men & 1 woman hanging on to a rope that extended down from a helicopter. However, the weight of 11 people was too much for the rope. So the group made a decision that one of them had to jump off.

However, there were no volunteers from the men. Finally, the lone woman volunteered. She gave a touching speech, saying that she would sacrifice her life to save the guys, because women were so used of giving up things for their husbands and children.

When she finished speaking……….all the men started clapping.

Something to share……

Hi guys. We may have a good laugh of the joke but that’s the high price we have to pay when we loss our focus and divert our attention from what we are doing.

In a crucial situation, we must have the discipline to ignore distractions and reject bad influences that might put us in a very risky position.

Nonetheless, concentration requires discipline and plenty of practice to acquire the art of focusing our mind and energy on what we are doing. Don’t ever get distracted! A person must always stay focused and concentrate on what he/she does in order to achieve the best results (or to survive).

Once we let go our hands, that’s the end of it. We FALL and we are DEAD!

A Nice Chrismas Story

There was once a man who didn't believe in God, and he didn't hesitate to let others know how he felt about religion and religious holidays. His wife, however, did believe, and she raised their children to also have faith in God and Jesus, despite his disparaging comments. One snowy Eve, his wife was taking their children to service in the farm community in which they lived. They were to talk about Jesus' birth. She asked him to come, but he refused.

"That story is nonsense!" he said. "Why would God lower Himself to come to Earth as a man? That's ridiculous!"

So she and the children left, and he stayed home. A while later, the winds grew stronger and the snow turned into a blizzard. As the man looked out the window, all he saw was a blinding snowstorm. He sat down to relax before the fire for the evening. Then he heard a loud thump. Something had hit the window. He looked out, but couldn't see more than a few feet. When the snow let up a little, he ventured outside to see what could have been beating on his window.

In the field near his house he saw a flock of wild geese. Apparently they had been flying south for the winter when they got caught in the snowstorm and couldn't go on. They were lost and stranded on his farm, with no food or shelter. They just flapped their wings and flew around the field in low circles, blindly and aimlessly. A couple of them had flown into his window, it seemed.

The man felt sorry for the geese and wanted to help them. The barn would be a great place for them to stay, he thought. It's warm and safe; surely they could spend the night and wait out the storm. So he walked over to the barn and opened the doors wide, then watched and waited, hoping they would notice the open barn and go inside.

But the geese just fluttered around aimlessly and didn't seem to notice the barn or realize what it could mean for them. The man tried to get their attention, but that just seemed to scare them, and they moved further away. He went into the house and came with some bread, broke it up, and made a bread crumb trail leading to the barn. They still didn't catch on.

Now he was getting frustrated. He got behind them and tried to shoo them toward the barn, but they only got more scared and scattered in every direction except toward the barn. Nothing he did could get them to go into the barn where they would be warm and safe.

"Why don't they follow me?" he exclaimed. "Can't they see this is the only place where they can survive the storm?"

He thought for a moment and realized that they just wouldn't follow a human. "If only I were a goose, then I could save them," he said out loud. Then he had an idea. He went into barn, got one of his own geese, and carried it in his arms as he circled around behind the flock of wild geese.

He then released it. His goose flew through the flock and straight into the barn -- and one-by-one, the other geese followed it to safety.

He stood silently for a moment as the words he had spoken a few minutes earlier replayed in his mind: "If only I were a goose, then I could save them!" Then he thought about what he had said to his wife earlier. "Why would God want to be like us? That's ridiculous!"

Suddenly it all made sense. That is what God had done. We were like the geese--blind, lost, perishing. God had His Son become like us so He could show us the way and save us.

As the winds and blinding snow died down, his soul became quiet and pondered this wonderful thought. Suddenly he understood why Christ had come. Years of doubt and disbelief vanished with the passing storm. He fell to his knees in the snow, and prayed his first prayer:

"Thank You, God, for coming in human form to get me out of the storm!"

Something to share….

To the children, Christmas is the day they receive gifts from Santa Clause.

To some companies, Christmas is the day of exchanging gifts among the employees.

To the working people, Christmas is just another Public Holiday.

To all Christians, Christmas is the day to celebrate the birthday of Jesus Christ who was born in Bethlehem 2000 year ago. It’s about God’s love for this world that he gave His one and only Son that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life. (John 3:16)

“Christmas isn’t Christmas
Till it happens in your heart
Somewhere deep inside you
Is where Christmas really starts
So give your heart to Jesus
You’ll discover when you do
That Christmas is really Christmas
……..For you!”

MERRY CHRISTMAS 25 DEC 2007

“THREE WISE MEN CAME FROM COUNTRY FAR
TO SEEK FOR A KING WAS THEIR INTENT”

“CHRIST WAS BORN IN BETHLEHEM
MANY YEARS AGO”

“JOY TO THE WORLD!
THE LORD IS COME
LET EARTH RECEIVE HER KING”

“HARK! THE HERALD ANGELS SING
GLORY TO THE NEWBORN KING”

“CHRISTMAS ISN’T CHRISTMAS
TILL IT HAPPENS IN YOUR HEART

SO GIVE YOUR HEART TO JESUS YOU’LL DISCOVER WHEN YOU DO
THAT CHRISTMAS IS REALLY CHRISTMAS….FOR YOU!”

Wishing you a blessed Christmas and a Happy 2008 New Year!

It's The Incorrect Answer That Decides!

Two planters applied for a GM post in a plantation company. Both of them had the same qualification. The firm gave them a test to determine which one to hire. Each missed only one question.

The MD called the first candidate and said, “Sorry. We choose to offer the other applicant.”

“Why? We both got 9 questions right,” queried the one being rejected.

“Yes, but our choice isn’t based on the correct answers. It’s on the question you both missed,” the MD replied.

“How could one incorrect answer be batter than the other?” the applicant inquired.

“Simple,” said the MD. “For question number 5, the other guy put down, ‘I don’t know.’ You wrote, ‘Neither do I.’”

Something to share….

The above joke tells us that no matter how brainy a person cheats, somehow the truth will reveal. To cheat is no better than to steal. Both actions are dishonesty.

In Proverbs 10:9, it was written, “The man of integrity walks securely, but he who takes crooked paths will be found out.”

For my fellow planters who had worked with Mr. Tony Chew Kong Yoon, can you remember the two important words he used to remind us? O Yes. If you do recall, our "Xifu" had taught us to build a solid reputation of HONESTY and INTEGRITY while developing a good working knowledge in plantation management.

A planter who is sincere, straightforward, reliable and trustworthy in his job will achieve his career advancement in plantation industry in years to come. He will eventually reap the fruit of being recognized and appreciated from the seeds of honesty and integrity that he has sown over the years.

Right Decision/Experience/Wrong Decision

During an interview, a reporter asked the CEO of a Plantation Group of Companies for the secret of his success.

“Two words.”

“And what are they?”

“RIGHT DECISIONS”

“How are right decisions made?”

“One word.”

“What is that?”

“EXPERIENCE"

“How do you get experience?”

“Two words.”

“What are they?”

“WRONG DECISIONS”

Something to share…….

Do not worry of making wrong decision for a decision made is better than no decision made. However, do not be fooled by someone who tells you that by not making decision is also a decision made. How do you feel about a person who says,” I’ve decided to make no decision.” Absurd and ridiculous, isn’t it?”

In life, you have to go through the progress of making many wrong decisions or mistakes in order to gain experience. Do bear in mind, not repeating the same mistake is of paramount importance.

I once heard, “Knowledge comes from experience and experience comes with age.”

In Proverbs 10:14, God says,” Wise men store up knowledge.”

How true it is that as we grow older, we have gathered a lot of experiences by making mistakes through many failures. Nevertheless, we must dare to fail to gain experience. Once we have acquired sufficient experiences, then we become wise and knowledgeable and are able to make right decisions.

A wise man once said, “I've learned that whenever I decide something with an open heart, I usually make the right decisions.”

Another wise man said, “It’s the confidence of making right decisions that separates the men from the boys and what separates the achievers from the non-achievers is the success of making right decisions.”

No doubt about it. Successful people (or achievers) always make right decisions!

Root Cause of Problem

A man feared his wife wasn't hearing as well as she used to and he thought she might need a hearing aid. Not quite sure how to approach her, he called the family Doctor to discuss the problem. The Doctor told him there was a simple informal test the husband could perform to give the Doctor a better idea about her hearing loss.

Here's what you do," said the Doctor, "stand about 40 feet away from her, and in a normal conversational speaking tone see if she hears you. If not, go to 30 feet, then 20 feet, and so on until you get a response."

That evening, the wife was in the kitchen cooking dinner, and he was in the den. He said to himself, "I'm about 40 feet away, let's see what happens." Then in a normal tone he asked, 'Honey, what's for dinner?"

No response.

So the husband moved to closer to the kitchen, about 30 feet from his wife and repeated, "Honey, what's for dinner?"

Still no response.

Next he moved into the dining room where he was about 20 feet from his wife and asked, Honey, what's for dinner?"

Again he got no response so;

He walked up to the kitchen door, about 10 feet away. "Honey, what's for dinner?"

Again there was no response.

So he walked right up behind her. "Honey, what's for dinner?”

;

;

;

;

;

;


"James, for the FIFTH time I've said, CHICKEN!"

Moral of the story:

The problem may not be with the other one as we always think, could be very much within us..!

Something to share…….

Talking about problem solving, very often we are confused of the real root cause of problem. We tend to point finger to others, forgetting that there are three fingers pointing back to us. By the way, this coincides with Confucius’ saying, “Think thrice to act!”

The Plantation Manager always thinks that the unsolved problem lies on his Field Assistant, but the main problem could be that he just knows how to delegate but fails to follow up and follow through to see that along the way he not only needs to monitor the whole situation and progress, but also needs to make further decision for remedial action to be taken in order to turn the situation around so as to get the problem solved.

How true it is that the root cause of problem could be the Superior who just knows how to talk and tell others what to do without him being totally involved in the operation to solve the problem!

Tale of Wooden Bowl

I guarantee you will remember the tale of the Wooden Bowl tomorrow, a week from now, a month from now, a year from now.

A frail old man went to live with his son, daughter-in-law, and 4-year old grandson. The old man's hands trembled, his eyesight was blurred, and his step faltered. The family ate together at the table.

But the elderly grandfather's shaky hands and failing sight made eating difficult. Peas rolled off his spoon onto the floor. When he grasped the glass, milk spilled on the tablecloth.

The son and daughter-in-law became irritated with the mess. "We must do something about father," said the son. "I've had enough of his spilled milk, noisy eating, and food on the floor."

So the husband and wife set a small table in the corner. There, Grandfather ate alone while the rest of the family enjoyed dinner. Since Grandfather had broken a dish or two, his food was served in a wooden bowl!

When the family glanced in Grandfather's direction, sometime he had a tear in his eye as he sat alone. Still, the only words the couple had for him were sharp words when he dropped a fork or spilled food.

The four-year-old watched it all in silence.

One evening before supper, the father noticed his son playing with pieces of scrap wood on the floor. He asked the child sweetly, "What are you making?"

Just as sweetly, the boy responded, "Oh, I am making a little bowl for you and Mama to eat your food in when I grow up." The four-year-old smiled and went back to work..

The words so struck the parents so that they were speechless. Then tears started to stream down their cheeks. Though no word was spoken, both knew what must be done.

That evening the husband took Grandfather's hand and gently led him back to the family table. For the remainder of his days he ate every meal with the family. And for some reason, neither husband nor wife seemed to care any longer when a fork was dropped, milk spilled, or the tablecloth soiled.

Something to share….

What have you learned after reading this Wooden Bowl tale, my young friends?

Do you remember how much your dad and mum had cared for you when you were a little child? How many suffering and anxiety your parents had gone through while bringing you up from childhood? How much love they had given you to see you through into adulthood? How much hope they had put into you when you finally got settled down to have your own family?

Don’t you think it’s your turn now to care and love them when they attain old age?

Don’t ill treat your aging parents who have sacrificed so much for you for there may be wooden bowls waiting for you too when you grow old.

Please be reminded of God’s warning in Proverbs 20:20, “If a man curses his father or mother, his lamp will be snuffed out in pitch darkness.”

Thus, it is wise to bring joy to your father and don’t be foolish to despise your mother(Proverbs 15:20)Be dutiful to your old age parents while they are still alive! God says,“ Parents are the pride of their children.” It’s too late for you to act when they are gone from your life. You will miss them and feel regretful in the rest of your life!