Not Guilty!!

“I, even I, am He who blots out your transgressions for My own sake;
      And I will not remember your sins. 
       Put Me in remembrance;
      Let us contend together;
      State your case, that you may be acquitted.” (Isa 43:25-26 NKJ)

I stumbled upon this 2 verses while making notes on my new Bible last night. Just in a few simple lines, they tell us of our right standing before God.

Even as satan, the “accuser of the brethren”, is constantly using our sins to prosecute us, but Jesus, our Advocate and High Priest, had made a case for us by His blood and the Judge had declared us acquitted!!

Set Free!!

Who’s Your Daddy?

“Even to your old age and gray hairs
       I am He, I am He Who will sustain you.
       I have made you and I will carry you;
       I will sustain you and I will rescue you.” (Isa 46:4)

Truly, this is the heart of our Daddy God. I will always be His child even till my old age. And the guarantee is in His promise, ”I will…”   

A father carrying his kid on his shoulders… like God carrying us.

A Tenth to My Lord!!

Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house. Test Me in this,” says the LORD Almighty, “and see if I will not throw open the floodgates of heaven and pour out so much blessing that you will not have room enough for it. 

I will prevent pests from devouring your crops, and the vines in your fields will not cast their fruit,” says the LORD Almighty. “Then all the nations will call you blessed, for yours will be a delightful land,” says the LORD Almighty. (Malachi 3:10-12)

The above is the verse that is printed on the tithing envelope of my church. It never means much to me until recently.

I think it is no coincidence that blessings have been pouring in when I’ve been more regular with my tithing.

It is so amazing that the world would never able to understand. It takes a revelation by the Holy Spirit to “see” that giving away 10% does not make us poorer. God would protect and multiply our remaining 90%… isn’t that a wonderful deal? 

God don’t need our tithes, but men does need to tithe.

Leave it to the Lord for our Harvest!!

“Second” Deal

It’s been some time since I wrote anything related to magic…

Went to check out a new magic booth last week. It was actually run by the same owner of a magic shop that I frequently visit, but with a bunch of new  demonstrators. As they did not know me, I was treated like a layman, which suited me just fine, as I wanted to see what they were selling to people these days.

There were 2 of them at the booth that day, a guy and a gal, both very youthful looking. The guy attended to me first and proceeded to show me a Svengali Deck. It is an effect where the selected card keeps jumping to the top, and eventually all the card faces in the deck will change into that of the selected card.

After the demo, he tried his best to push me the deck, telling “it is the hottest thing in magic right now…”. And when I told him I actually saw it at 7-11 when I was a kid, he reassured me ” oh, it is making a comeback now.”  Righhhhttt……

I gave him a polite smile, and enquired about another deck. But he tried to dissuade me from that, saying, “it requires a intermediate level of skill”. Righhhhttt again… as I remember the only work required for that particular deck was pulling the cards out of the box. Hmm.. didn’t know that is actually considered an intermediate level of skill to him.

Needless to say, I did not buy anything from him.

Next, the gal came over and proceeded to demo another deck to me. I must say she wasn’t half as skilful as the guy, but at least she didn’t push. And when I asked her to show me a sleight-of-hands effect, she readily admit that she didn’t know any. I decided to reward her honesty by purchasing a normal deck from her (didn’t want to spend too much).

To cut a long story short, I bought a deck with a unique name, “Seconds”. It was relatively cheap, only $1.50 more than my regular decks and the owner told me it had a different “feel” compared to the rest. It was only after I opened the deck, I found out what he really meant by that. It felt different alright… felt much lousier than normal!!

Upon researching, I realized they were called ”Seconds”  because they were actually second grade cards that did not meet up to standards and were repackaged as a cheaper deck in the States. To think they actually had the cheek to sell it at a higher price than a regular deck!!

My God… I would never trust that magic shop again, and never let them rip me off!!

Show Me the Money!!

After losing billions and costing the taxpayers billions more, AIG just did the most incredible thing by distributing more than $100 million of bonues to their top management people.

Hmm… if AIG is looking for able people to bankrupt their company, they should seriously consider me. I guarantee I can do as decent a job as what they did… at least I can’t go any worse!!

Furthermore, I come cheap. Maybe  just need a annual salary of USD$1 million, probably 6 months of bonus, with the use of the company car and the occasional private jet. That’s not even a fraction of what some of the guys are drawing… in bonuses alone!! 

While most of the world are feeling the heat of the financial meltdown, those people directly responsible are happily tucking in the warm corner of their bed, secure with the knowledge of having millions in their banks… despicable!!

Ironies of Life…

Fight!!

No amount of words can describe my feelings after that weekend debacle, so I would use a picture instead.

This was Jose Mourinho telling the Chelsea players to lift up their chins high even as the Blues drew with Arsenal and surrendered their title to Man U in 06/07 season. This was the kind of never-say-die spirit that epitomised the Mourinho era. 

Compared to Chelsea then, we were in a much much better position. Look, the title is still ours to lose,  we are still 4 points ahead with one game in hand … there is still time to lift up our chin to fight!!

We can do it!!! Man U boleh!!!

You can be sure the Hairdryer was in full force over the weekend.

Awards Nite 2009

 Footballer of the Year (Man U)

Ryan Giggs

It sounds wierd but Giggs has been THE revelation for United this season with a string of sterling performances… after nearly 2 decades with the club.   

 

Footballer of the Year (Non-Man U)

Lionel Messi (Barcelona)

The most skilful and exciting player in the world right now, bar none.

 

Local Babe of the Year

 Felicia Chin

Is it just me, or is she getting prettier and sexier? Rumours had it that she went under the knife, but, seriously, who cares…?

 

Local Hunk of the Year

 Christopher Lee

It is not his manly look nor his well-maintained body, but his toilet-cleaning exploits for those poor families that made him a deserved winner. 

 

International Babe of the Year

 Kate Winslet

She may not be drop dead gorgeous, but I think she is what a real woman should be… feminine, curvaceous and genuine.   

 

International Hunk of the Year

 Takuya Kimura

Only he could pull off  those Gatsby adverts with some style and not looking gay. Got me into using Moving Rubber too. 

 

Personality of the Year

Benjamin Linus (Lost)

If I ever want to be a bad guy, I want to be just like him.

 

TV Series of the Year

 LOST

The smartest and the most intriguing TV show I have watched (so far). Just hope the ending will not be a letdown.  

 

Magician of the Year

Lu Chen (or Liu Qian)

Got the whole of China in magic fever after his spectacular performance on CCTV  New Year Eve celebration show… Cyril who?

Book of the Year

 Strong Magic (Darwin Ortiz) 

 It is another book that only magicians would appreciate. Still able to pick up new insights even as I re-read it for the umpteen times.

Cup Sizes

We have won these….

World Club Championship

Carling Cup

2 down, we still have the remaining Big 3 to go…

FA Cup

Premier League

UEFA Champions League

Can we make history and win all 5? I think we can…

But as I always maintained, Premier League is still the biggie for me. If we are not the league champions, every other trophies would be quite meaningless, including the Champions League. No point being the Kings of Europe when you can’t even conquer your own backyard.

As I have done for the past 2 seasons, I shall do it again here…

Man United is the Premier League Champions 2008/2009!!

Man United is the Premier League Champions 2008/2009!!

Man United is the Premier League Champions 2008/2009!!

Man United is the Premier League Champions 2008/2009!!

Man United is the Premier League Champions 2008/2009!!

Man United is the Premier League Champions 2008/2009!!

Man United is the Premier League Champions 2008/2009!!

Amen!!