I was having an unplanned chat with a friend who's studying in US. And the topic somehow evolved to this - being "unequally yoked". The bible is pretty clear on this, and I don't intend to launch into a theological essay on why one should not be unequally yoked, and what the bible says about this. It's easy to tell someone who's a believer, to not date a pre-believer. What if, the person started dating this person before he/she became a christian? And therefore now, the partner is a pre-believer?

That precisely was the concern in the conversation. The bible is clear yes. But does it mean he breaks up with her because he is now a Christian but she is not? Six years. That's a very long time. Feelings are strong. It's a struggle for both sides. For the guy - should he give up on the relationship because one should not be unequally yoked? Doesn't that mean he's giving up on her salvation? For the girl - when I dated this guy, we shared the same religion. Now suddenly he's of another faith. How can I accept this and where do I go from here?

There are no easy answers. I told him to pray, and ask God for wisdom and for God to speak to His heart on this. I shared a few testimonies from people I know, which I will briefly mention here:

1) Both were pre-believers. The guy found God, accepted Christ. The girl struggled for awhile, tried to visit church. He struggled with what to do. Eventually after some time, the girl received Christ. They should be planning their wedding soon.

2) Both were pre-believers. The girl found God, and was convicted that she shouldn't be unequally yoked. Broke up with the guy. The guy was heart-broken. Some time later, he found God through another friend. Accepted Christ. Through a twist of fate, he met the girl again. They eventually got back together and are now married.

These are happy stories, but there are also those that go the other way.... the boy is a believer, the girl is not. The guy broke up with the girl. On her own, the girl found God, and is now a believer, but they never got back together.

Moral of the story? God works in miraculous ways. We cannot foretell what the ending of the story will be. We can only trust Him. All I know is this. One man can never be another man's saviour. The believing partner cannot save the pre-believing one. Only Jesus can.

I feel that the story below summarises God's heart for us very well. And this was what I shared with my friend as well. Will we hold on to our plastic pearls? Or trade them for the genuine ones that the Father longs to give to us?

Believe it or not, this is the FIRST time I've actually been to the parade. It's quite an experience I must say, being there in the stadium. The atmosphere was amazing, and one can't help but feel patriotic just seeing the sea of red and white.

Thank God we got in fairly easily, and we got a great view. We were seated in the zone just beside the VIPs! We had some very "onz" motivators trying their best to cheer us on, and get us into the spirit of NDP. We TRIED to particpate by clapping with our "clapper sticks" but they ran out of air so easily, we ended up blowing them up more often than using them. :s

The colours parade was fairly boring, except there was someone who fainted from the Union sector. The performance was not bad really, quite colourful, and interspersed with fireworks. I must say that this year's parade used up quite alot of fireworks. My kiddos were great! They performed in the first item. Of course, we could spot a few who were out-of-line, but to me, they still did a fantastic job!

Looking at the huge crowd there, I can't help but wonder when we will be able to see the entire stadium filled up with Christians in the same way, for a Christian event. Maybe GDOP. That'll really be fantastic.

So that marks the end of NDP 2006. We took 1 hour and 30 minutes to get from the stadium to Kallang MRT! No kidding! Of course, we had very enthusiastic policemen who were cheering us on, telling us to enjoy the night breeze whilst we were stuck in the human traffic jam. :)

Photos are up on multiply.

I just visited a colleague at hospital. She just had a major operation and was recovering very well. We went there to be a blessing, but ended up being blessed by her immense faith in the Lord.

She shared with us how God saw her through the valley of the shadow of death. How God's promises were the only things that sustained her. How God sent many blessings her way, from people, the operation, the room etc. Her joy permeated through the hospital room. It hardly sounded as if it came from someone who just went through a major operation!

I was reminded of my tendency to whine and to complain, even though the Lord has blessed my life with so much. And here is someone lying in the hospital bed, who may have little to give thanks about, but yet found so much to give thanks for! It put me to great shame.

May we never forget His grace and love upon our lives, no matter what circumstances may be.

Here are some short excerpts of the mating rituals of the three pairs of bettas aka Siamese fighting fish that I'm experimenting with.

Pair 1
Male was placed into breeding tank last Thursday, and the female was released into the plastic separating container last Saturday. The male was immediately interested, and started encircling the tank, and trying to poke at the female. The female seemed interested too, as she kept flaring at the male. Just yesterday, the female was released into the tank. The male reacted almost immediately, chasing the female round and round. Then he slowed down, and try to chase/coax her to the breeding nest. She seemed traumatised, and was perpetually trying to flee from his attempts, and hide under the moss. He will then squirm underneath the moss and chase her upwards. Their behaviour seemed to resemble some male/female human behaviour where the male is extremely excited and is saying, "Let's just get on with it!" whilst the female is saying, "No! I barely know you!"

Anyway, I went into the lab today and was rewarded with the sight of the two of them spawning. The female was docilely stationary beneath the nest, whilst the male wraps his fins around her and squeezes out the eggs and fertilises them, then picking up the eggs in his mouth, gulping air, and spitting the eggs into the bubble nest. The process kept repeating, with the female helping the male pick up eggs occassionally, until the female was depleted of eggs. Then the male tried to kill her, and I decided it was time to remove her.

It'd be two days before I know if the spawn is successful. Hopefully it is then I'll see baby bettas. Any takers?

Updates on pair 2 and 3 to follow...

Yesterday night saw extreme unitedness from Mer, JonQ, Ian and myself. United in one purpose - cheering Germany on. We were chatting online whilst watching the match, and groaning and Germany's sub-standard performance during the first half. We shared common devastation when Argentina kicked in the first goal 4 minutes after the second half, and went hysteric when Klose matched the second goal some time later. Mer was commenting that we were united by world cup. Maybe so. It doesn't take much to be united in this sense. You just need to be on the same side. Supporting the same team. And of course, you'd had to bother about watching Soccer in the first place.

Weirdly some people thought that the only reason I was watching the match was because I betted. Oh come on. I never bet. Not in my life. I had to tell those jokers that I watched the Japan/Korea world cup as well, and this was NOT the first time I was watching soccer. I am just not fanatical enough to stay up late to watch those 3am matches, and I do not have cable at home.

Back to the topic of unity. What then causes people to be united? What causes unity? To be united in a common cause? Then you need a stated purpose/cause first right? In order for people to be united. If there is no goal, no purpose, no apparent cause, people will not be united. There needs to be a factor or factors to gel people together. Something which they believe strongly in. Only then, will they have the passion to unite together in support for that which they believe in.

You'd think that ever since we had the new taxi companies emerging taxis would have been more readily available. In fact, that was the rationale for having a new fleet of taxis, and new operators. But lately, or is it just me, taxis seem to be rather scarce. Oh sure, you see them around. But they zoom past you even when they're empty or when the blue light is litted up. Reason? They're ON CALL, or they're waiting to be on call.

Well, I can hardly blame them. During peak hours, the "on call" surcharge is $4 for some companies. Especially after 10pm, when company employees start to be able to claim for their transport home, taxis frequently not pick up passengers, but wait for calls. Those who are desperate for cabs, have little choice but to pick up the phone and dial the hotline.

I wonder if there'd be a day where taxis will not be able to be flagged down, but everyone will be forced to call for a cab. Seriously, that day may come. With this phenomenal arising, we can have 10 more taxi companies, but it makes no difference to the scenario on the availability of cabs. Personally I find this very irritating. Maybe because I'm stingy, and don't see the point of paying $4 extra for a cab ride that typically costs between $5 - 7. But sometimes we're left with little choice, especially if you're rushing to work and you're running late. Why do we feed this "habit"? If less people call for cabs, the taxi drivers will probably realise that they make better money by picking up passengers along streets.

I've had many a taxi driver complain about waiting in vain for passengers who dialed for a cab. Reason? One dials for a cab, and sees a free cab, and so choose to take the free one instead. After all, besides the issue of conscience, one has no obligation lawfully to wait for the dialed cab. Or worse, some people may call all the taxi companies, and see which cab arrives first. Guess that's the risk the drivers have to take, if they want to earn that $4 so much.

I don't blame them. If I were a taxi driver, I might be like that too. Or maybe, I'd weigh the pros and cons. On second thought, maybe I should just buy a car. :(

Life is like a train ride it read. We get on, we ride, we get off. We get back on and ride some more. There are accidents and there are delays. At certain stops there are surprises. Some of these will translate into great moments of joy, some will result in profound sorrow.

When we are born we first board the train, we meet people whom we think will be with us for the entire journey. Those people are our parents.

Sadly this is far from the truth, Our parents are with us for as long as we absolutely need them. They too have journeys they must complete . We live on with the memories of their love, affection, friendship, guidance and their ever presence.

There are others who board the train who eventually become very important to us in turn. Those people are our brothers, sisters, friends and acquaintances whom we will learn to love and cherish.

Some people consider their journey like a jaunty tour. They will just go merrily along. Others will encounter many upsets, tears, losses on their journey. Others still, will linger on to offer a helping hand to anyone in need.

Some people on the train will leave an everlasting impression when they get off. Some will get on and get off the train so quickly, they will scarcely leave a sign that they ever traveled along with you or ever crossed your path…

We will sometimes be upset that some passengers whom we love, will choose to sit in another compartment and leave us to travel on our own. Then again, there is nothing that says we cant seek them out anyway. Nevertheless, once sought out and found, we may not even be able to sit next to them because that seat will already be taken.

Thats okay everyones journey will be filled with hopes, dreams, challenges, setbacks and goodbyes.

We must strive to make the best of it no matter what…

We must constantly strive to understand out travel companions and look for the best in everyone.

Remember that at any moment during our journey, any one of our travel companions can have a weak moment and be in need of our help.

We too may vacillate, or hesitate every trip hopefully we can count on someone being there to be supportive and understanding.

The bigger mystery of our journey is that we don’t know when our last stop will come. Neither do we know when our travel companions will make their last stop Not even those sitting in the seat next to us.

I know I will be sad to make my final stop. My separation from all those friends and acquaintances I made during the train ride will be painful. Leaving all those I am close to will be a sad thing. But then again, I am certain that one day I will get to the main station only to meet up with everyone else. They will all be carrying baggage…most of which they did not have when the first got on the train.

I will be glad to see them again, I will also be glad to have contributed to their baggage… and to have enriched their lives, just as much as they will have contributed to my baggage and enriched my life.

We are all on this train ride together. Above all, we should all try to strive to make the ride as pleasant and memorable as we can right up until we can make the final stop and the leave the train for the last time.