If you do, please comment! So that I kinda know who my readers are.

Plus, I just renewed my web hosting – Gotta keep my RM80 worthwhile for at least another year!

Actually, it’s rather chilly here.

We had a boys’ night out one time, and 2 points came to our discussion:

1. Pastors/Service Directors/Emcee chiding/reprimanding church members for giving too little.

2. Can your pastor drive a bigger car than you?

For point 1, it was inspired from an event that I attended in my university days, where the pastor was ‘encouraging’ people during offering time. He went: “Please give! If you’re just gonna give 1 or 2 Ringgit from your pocket, you might as well not give. Please put that money back in your pocket.”

My thoughts were that if he sincerely directed it to people who had much more than a Ringgit, it was ok. But, for a student who only has RM5, RM1 represents 20% of his lunch money. This is what the Good Book has to say:

Mark 12:41-44

⁴¹ Jesus sat down near the collection box in the Temple and watched as the crowds dropped in their money. Many rich people put in large amounts. ⁴² Then a poor widow came and dropped in two small coins.^[j]

⁴³ Jesus called his disciples to him and said, “I tell you the truth, this poor widow has given more than all the others who are making contributions.⁴⁴For they gave a tiny part of their surplus, but she, poor as she is, has given everything she had to live on.”

So, lesson learned – Do NOT reprimand people for giving too little. Some encouragement is fine, especially if it’s for tithes (the 10% that God wants – Numbers 18:26), but telling people off because they’re giving something that seemed small in absolute value is just downright awful. End of the day, it’s up to people themselves if they really want to give or not. God will deal with them if they’re not giving enough.

On to point 2.

I personally think it’s great if your pastor can drive a bigger car than you. Or if he lives in a bigger house, or has a better phone. If God intended to bless him that way, it’s fantastic. Scripture says:

1 Corinthians 9:14

¹⁴ In the same way, the Lord ordered that those who preach the Good News should be supported by those who benefit from it.

So yes, bless your pastors!

On the topic of humility for pastors, I guess he/she just needs to know when to draw the line between necessity & extravagance.

I’m done with my random blog post.

17 days into the brand new year, and I have already attended 2 weddings, which makes it a record 4 in 6 weeks. That’s about 1 wedding every 1.5 week.

I love even numbered years. 2006, 2010, 2012, 500008730. You get the idea. Somehow, having a digit that is even makes things more (for lack of a better word), complete. So it’s appropriate that the world ends in 2012, as this will prove things here are complete and done with.

When travelling in an odd numbered group, there will be 1 person who most probably have to sit alone on the tour bus. When going kayaking, someone in the group most likely will be stuck with some drunk redneck whom you don’t even know, and end up turning the kayak over. And imagine if you have 3 children, one of them for sure has to sit that roller coaster ride at Sunway Lagoon by him/herself with another parent’s kid who might just be the bully that you were in high school. Only thing is that you don’t want your child to go down that illustrious path of becoming a bully. Thereafter, your kid gets wedgied by the bully sitting beside him in the roller coaster just because your kid wasn’t a bully.

You know what could be worse? You, the parent having to sit through the roller coaster ride with your lonely kid. And your roller coaster ride is just a mild example. How about having to sit through a movie such as Never Say Never? (Hopefully I’ll be wise not to let my kids know of the existence of a certain Mr Bieber). Do you people see the implications of an even numbered digit now?

My unborn son/daughter, if you happen to sit alone and get bullied by a random stranger on a roller coaster ride in the future, I apologise in advance for the possibility a night of drunken stupor resulting in me not thinking straight at all.

Now, I just need to step foot on that little piece of land, and I can have a badge certifying that I’ve visited all of the country.