Philip's Dream Team

A lot of negatives have been written about teenagers. But I just want to say there are a lot of positives too. Heather is 13 this year, so as parents we are of course concern about the many influences surrounding her. But we never bargained for the influences that she has on us.

In the car, unconsciously we begin to play Taylor Swift’s and Jonas’ Bros songs and we would be tapping away .

Fashion wise , she would help me look thru clothes in the stores. What is cool and not so cool. Absolutely nothing to do with the weather. She is especially particular about daddy’s dressing. Philip likes to tease her. He would tuck in his shirt, pull up his pants and belt them high up and pretend that he is going out. Heather would freak out!!! DADDY . You look so dorky!!!!!

On the other hand, she loves to tease him too. Last week, I bought her a ¾ top and it is supposed to be worn with tights or jeans. She naughtily wore it on its own and paraded in front of Philip, cheekily teasing, “ Look dad! Mom got this for me from KL.” Philip must have gone pale coz he bounded up the stairs looking for me asking why I got her such a short dress!!!


Recently I had to change my specs so we trotted to the optometrist and she had the final say in the spec frame…. insisting that the one she chose is trendy. So I took her advice!!!!

We have a lot to learn from our teens. As parents it is our duty to guard and teach them but we should also have the joy of letting them influence us.

Whatever happened to “Malaysia Boleh” ? I am still grinding my teeth over the decision to switch the teaching of Maths & Science back to BM. I thot Malaysia Boleh means we are capable of moving forward . I didn’t realize it also means that we can move backwards.

How are we able to compete in this global borderless age when our citizens don’t have good English ? So many students who come to my workplace for their training and placements can’t even string a few proper words together in English. When they finish their research I balked at their research papers coz the presentation in English was so poor.

I always tell my staff that unless they improve their English, I will never let them attend any conferences and seminars abroad. All the good conferences are always in English. What is the point of attending seminars presented in English if you cannot understand??? What a horrendous waste of money. Yet I see that happening many a times.

Few years back, Philip and I went to attend a Music Therapy seminar in KL. We noted that some people who attended couldn’t understand English, so they were always the last to arrive everyday and the first to leave. They spent their time over long breakfasts and lunches!!!!

So when are we going to stop this atrocious decline in English? I hope very soon which means today. We cannot afford another generation of bad English. Malaysia Boleh means in our population we will have people who can teach English and our students will also be able to learn English well.

It’s high time we shine again in our English.

May the words of our mouths,
and the meditation of our hearts
be pleasing in Your sight.
Let our hearts be cleansed and purified.
Lord, Your Name be glorified.

May the thoughts of our hearts
be made obedient to Christ,
Lord let Your Kingdom come.
In Your Name we serve,
By Your grace we stand
Lord, Your Name be glorified.

The Angels singing, and H'vens proclaiming
Singing Holy Holy, Holy is the Lord,
The lives we're living,
In all we're doing,
Let them be pure and holy,
Holy unto the Lord.


We are living in a time where holy living is rare. Celebrities are showing the world that they are still being adored and worshipped with careless living and even ‘weird’ lives. However, this is not a time to cast stones. At the end of the day, do you think God is pleased with the way you live ? The Bible says that we need to be holy (at least we try), because our God is a holy God. Holy living starts with the thoughts of our hearts. What comes out from the meditation of the hearts are our words and our actions. Let’s draw near to God today, listen to His words and ask the God of holiness to change and purify us so that the testimony we carry will bear Christ-likeness.

As high as the heavens are from the earth,
so great is Your love for me.
As far as the east is from the west,
so far have You removed my sins.

Your love, O Lord, is better than life,
I'll give You praise for evermore.
Your amazing love fills this heart of mine.
You knew me right from the start,
Your plans for me are always perfect.
I will live my life to give You my best.

God’s love is one of the most splendid things in this world. Because of His love, we can carry on our lives with great confidence. As I ponder upon God’s love for me, I was reminded from His word that He knew me even before I was born ! Can you imagine that ? As parents, we know our children even before we heard their first cry, we could hear their heartbeats when they were in the womb, and we could even “see” them through some high-tech monitors. Like wise, God heard our first heart beat, and He saw how we were formed in our mother’s womb. Words cannot fully describe God’s love.The Bible used big words like heavens and earth, east and west to try to describe it, and even that still fall short of the vastness of His love. But there is one thing we all need to know: He loves us, and it pleases Him every time we draw near to Him and worship Him. Let’s give Him our best today !