The Bible as the living word of God

During a family Bible reading, we came across Proverbs 25:2 which say “It is the glory of God to conceal a matter, to search out a matter is the glory of kings.”
The verse resonates with me because I teach Computer Forensics and during the lab lessons, I give my students related puzzles to solve.  They enjoy solving the puzzles so much that they will ask if there are puzzles for them to solve when they are in the lab.  The element of uncertainty astounds and excites some of them.
I have seen all kind of responses the moment they solved the puzzles – punching the air, shrieking in delight or just a cynical smile.  My pride and joy is to catch and savor these moments. I will ask the student who solved the puzzle to share his solution with the class.  And that is the glory of the kings.
To hide something is also an art.  If no one could solve it then it serves no purpose, I must as well give them a lecture.  On the other hand, if it is so easy that one look and everybody could solve it then it would not bring out the joy of the kings.
A few days later, a colleague told me that he felt a little lost after he is no longer a module leader.  He had been the module leader for as long as I could remember.  My immediate response was to tell him to give his successor a free hand and not to interfere. Then I remembered Proverb 25:2.  I shared with him and I told him, he is the seeker now and God will reward him with the glory of the kings when he finds it.
I shared my story with my lunch partner and added my 2-cent worth that Proverbs 25:2 is applicable to our search for our purpose in life.  My friend was indignant.  He said as a Christian, there is no need to search. Only 2 things matter for a Christian – number 1 is to glorify God and two to enjoy God.

Laos Recce Trip (18-25 Dec 2011)

Laos Recce 18-25
Day 1 (18 Dec)
Day 2 (19 Dec)
Day 3 AM (20 Dec)
Day 3 PM (20 Dec)
Day 4 (21 Dec)
Day 5 (22 Dec)
Day 6 (23 Dec)
Day 7 (24 Dec)
Day 8 (25 Dec)

Batam (26 Oct, Deepavali)

Click here for the album.

Benny's Wedding at Raffles Marina (15 Oct)

ECE YEP March '12

The SoE-ECE division is organising 3 YEP trips to Laos(Vientiane), Vietnam(Hue) and China(Yunnan) during the March '12 vacation. Miss Auyong and I will be leading the Laos YEP.  For more information see:
China YEP
Laos YEP
Vietnam YEP
Application form

Eureka 2011

ECE ran an event called Eureka 2011 on 25 Oct 2011, Tuesday.  We invited some secondary school students to our campus for some fun competition.  I was very impressed by a group of girls from SCGS.  They were obviously very intelligent. I was manning a Jeopardy (Trivia game quiz) booth as part of the fringe events.
When this group of 6 girls came to my booth, I divided them into 2 groups, 3 against 3, to play the game.  The leader of one of the groups was very interesting.  I don't know her name, let's called her Mary.  She was able to come up with very good distractor to confuse her competitors.
Let me give you an example.  It was her competitors' turn to answer and their question was to identify a device and it was a Linksys wireless router.
Mary's opponent said, "Linksys."
I said, "No, that is the company."
She said. "I know. I know."
I could see her thoughts converging and the answer is going to come up anytime.  But just before the connection could be made.  Mary prompted, "Modem".
Her competitor retorted, "No, it is not modem."  She went on repeating it a few times.  I could see the agony on her face as she was thrown off balanced by Mary.
In the end, Mary won comfortably.  I was so impressed by her that I offered to let her choose any of the NP souvenirs.  Then came surprise number two.  She scanned the collection of colorful highlighters, CD albums and shoe bags; shook her head and said, " I have no need for any of them."  She started to suggest to her friend, "You play squash, you might need a shoe bag."
I am very impressed with this little girl because she is way ahead of me in coming up with good distractors ( a skill I needed to come up with good MCQ) and her maturity: she goes for needs not wants.

YEP Leadership Training II at Pulau Ubin, 1-2 Oct 2011

Other than sandflies, sitting and sleeping on wooden floor, I love the Pulau Ubin experience.  It was so intense that I am still thinking about it long after the trip.