Thoughts… off the shower

Heard something like this from an uncle some weeks ago:
…filled with the SPIRIT but not grounded in the WORD - one gets puffed up…
…well-founded in the WORD but devoid of the SPIRIT’s power - one dries up…
…empowered by the SPIRIT and grounded in the WORD - one will grow up…

How very interesting, and also quite true.  Reminds me of something Ken-Kwan used to say (something like): "Spirit-filled without the Word is fanaticism".

I am immediately thinking of that famous passgae on spiritual warfare and the armour of God (Eph 6:11-18)… those elements of the armour are generated/derived either by the SPIRIT or the WORD, or in conjunction.

Helmet of Salvation - the Word is preached to us, it takes root & grows in our spirit; the Spirit convicts us of sin, guiding to God’s salvation
Breastplate of Righteousness - righteousness is of the Lord, which has been credited to us, through the acceptance of the Lordship & Saviourhood of Christ, which without the ministry of the Word and the working of the Spirit will not come forth
Belt of Truth - the Holy Spirit is the "Spirit of Truth" who will guide us into all-truth
Shield of Faith - the seed of faith is planted by the ministry of the Word, the Spirit nourishes the seed and encourage it to blossom
Sword of the Spirit - "…which is the Word of God…" (Eph 6:17 KJV)
Sandals of the Gospel of Peace - this is the Word of God which proclaims glad tidings to a world ruined by sin, reveling in sin
Prayers with ceasing - we pray in the Spirit, in accordance with the Revealed Will of God (which is the Word)

Since we are to "put on the full armour of God" (as opposed to parts of the armour), we have to allow both the SPIRIT and the WORD to work in our spirit to create this beautiful armour, that will help us fight each spiritual battle.

Let there be no mistake.  Through the ages of church history, where there had been an unreasonable emphasis on either the "Empowerment of the SPIRIT" or the "Firm Foundation of the WORD", to the reduction of the ministry of the other, the church will decline into either "over-emotional fanatics - seldom referring to the Revealed Will of God within scripture" or "dispassionate scholars - often rejecting the advances of the Spirit, relegating God to a position of awkward aloftness".  We must guard ourselves against any extremes.

A disciplined life in the careful study of the WORD of God must be balanced with the full-reliance on the power & guidance of the Holy SPIRIT of God.  As flawed and as divisive as man can be, we must strive for this which is best for us - remembering that God had intended this in the 1st place.

There is yet another article on News.com.au regarding the Housing market in Australia, this time declaring that 4 in 5 Australians feel that houses are overvalued, while more than 50% believe house prices will fall in the next 3 months.  If you’re interested, read it here.

As a home-owner, this is probably not good news… but then, who are the people surveyed?  Where do they live?  We’re told they are News.com.au readers, and I have a feeling the vast majority of them are from the eastern states.  Now, the article tells us that the house prices in ACT, NSW, Victoria have fallen in the 1st quarter of 2005, but those in Adelaide, Brisbane, Darwin and Perth rose in the same period.  What does that tell me?  …that I’m not in so much danger as yet?  Truth is, if you’ve been looking at house prices in Canberra, Sydney & Melbourne, you would have been thinking: those prices are ridiculous!  And there you go: they are probably indeed ridiculous…!  But, hey, I’m not an expert in this field (just a concerned, thinking interested party) - don’t take my word on this.

What of us, in South Aussieland?  Well, a quick survey of house prices in my suburb and the surroundings tell me that prices have remained stable (if not increased), as compared to what I paid for my house in February.  This brought a bit of relief… but then, these panned-out or appreciated house prices may be due to the fact that the S.A. government has decided to eliminate stamp duty on homes.  How does this affect?  In my opinion, it does.  Without the need to consider stamp duty (I had to fork out around 5% of my offer price for the house), potential home buyers will possibly think: gee, I’ve got this much more money to contribute to my offer price - thus, probably driving a false increase in house prices.  Having said that, this withdrawal of stamp duty is not a one-off or short-term measure, meaning the increase is not to be considered false… hmm… do I make sense?

In any case, I just hope that house prices will increase… if not now, at least in a few years’ time… I expect the value of my house to increase by at least 15% in the next 4-5 years!  If not…. *sigh*

Many years ago…  got a girlfriend yet?  got a girlfriend yet?

2 years ago…  getting married yet?  getting married yet?

Currently…  having baby yet?  having baby yet?

Oh well, I guess such is life, if you live it the traditional way: birth (cry, feed, sleep), childhood (play & school), adolescence (college/uni & BGR), adulthood (career, partner, marriage, family), middle-age (children-woes, retirement fund), old-age (retirement, enjoyment), death (the end of physical expression).

Guess I’ve not said this before, so here goes:  MARRIED LIFE IS GREAT!  See, the best thing is that one doesn’t have to make his way home late at night, just to spend that extra 1 hour with the girlfriend… cos, you’re in the same house… yeah!  And also, there’s someone here to share the house-work with… (80/20 - she 80%, I 20%… hehehee)  …plus many other perks… and privileges… and responsibilities… and issues… and pressures…

Went with Laine for a birthday party 2 weeks ago… a special one - it was Alice’s (Laine’s close friend through her uni days) son’s 1st birthday! YEAH!  Was a nice time spent… seeing about 5 little 10-18 months-old babies crawling/playing/crying… hehehee… a very different sight.  One thing about Alice is that she is a straight-forward person, so, as you’d expect if you know her, the 1st question she asked Laine and I is this: when are you having a baby?  …right!

I wonder how many people out there, who know us, are just waiting for us to annouce that we’re expecting a baby???  But, no worries, it’s not a secret that Laine and I will definitely have babies… in fact, we’re looking forward to being relatively-young parents!  So… maybe next year?????  hehehee… depends…

Anyways, back to Alice… she and Martin (her husband) will be trying for a 2nd baby next year… and has INVITED Laine and I to do so too… becos… they can then have pre-natal classes together!!!  *sigh* …girls… oh, and of course, the 2 babies can grow up together as the bestest of friends… well planned, well done!

Oh well… who knows?  "Children are a blessing from the Lord…"

A revelation…. (having looked at my friends’ blogs)

My posts are soooooo lllllloooooooonnnnnnnnnggggggggggggg!!!

Oh well… I blame it on my brain… too long-winded… not capable of concise thinking… feels compelled to explain/ talk about everything… VERBAL DIARRHOEA…

                       …can bear with me?????

                                                            …thanks…

Credit cards… do you have one?  Are there advantages of having one (or two)?

DISCLAIMER: the below are purely my personal understanding and thoughts of the credit card market in Australia, and should not be based on solely for advice on credit cards.  I have no intention to direct/lead/influence people into any particular actions.  I also have not received any benefit/incentive to mention the specific credit cards below.

In my opinion, it’s a good thing to have a personal credit card (not a sub-card of your dad/mum/husband/wife/neighbour…), provided you don’t be careless about it.  This is because you can start building your credit reference – which in future could make it easier for you to borrow for a car or a house or a boat, plane, island etc…  Also, (a little tweety bird whispered to my ear that) if your credit reference is substantial (eg. very good for more than 3 years), you can ask for your credit card company to provide a credit reference letter to bring to another country, when you decide to migrate.

Here in Australia, there is now a huge interest in the "no frills, low-rate" segment of the billion-dollar credit card market.  Was it last year that Virgin Money introduced the Virgin MasterCard (with their "mates rate" & "mates rewards")?  Recently, John Simmons (for those of you in Oz, the ockerish bloke of "at Aussie, we’ll save you" fame) launched the Aussie MasterCard, promising low interest rates (well, at 9.99%, that’s the lowest I’ve seen).  And today, I read that GE (that huge conglomerate of a multi-national corporation, selling everything from white-goods to credit) and Wizard Home Loans have a new joint venture: the Wizard Clear Advantage MasterCard, offering no annual fees, no transaction fees and 0% balance transfers for 6 months… a very good deal I must say… infact, I think i’ll go for this!  There you go, 3 low-rate credit cards that I hope will give the major banks a run for their money!

Okay, I hear you say "what talking you?" re: the credit card features… allow me to give my unqualified definitions:
- Annual Fees: you pay a fee every year to the issuing company to keep using your card.
- Balance Transfers: you have an outstanding amount in credit card A, and on getting a new credit card (B), you transfer that outstanding amount in A to B.
- Interest Rate: this is the percentage that is used to calculate the "cost of borrowing money" (you are actually borrowing money from the credit card company when you put a charge on the credit card).
- Interest-free Days: a specified number of days (from the day you put a charge on the credit card) that interest is not calculated or charged to your credit card.  This is usually expressed as a (for example) "up to 55 days interest-free" - which means if you put a charge on the card, you have no more than 55 interest-free days for that particular charge.  So, if you charge $100 on the 1st day of the credit period, you have 54 (I believe) days that no interest is charged; whereas if you charge $100 on the 20th day, you only have 35 interest-free days.  Since credit cards usually have a period of around a month, the "due date" on your card statement is definitely the 55th day since the beginning of the related period.
- Rewards Programme: this is like your frequent-flyer programmes, you charge $1 on the credit card, the card company allocates a point (or 0.5 or 2 points, depending on the specifics of the programme) to your rewards account.  There is usually a fee to join and maintain this rewards programme.
I think I’ve had enough, shall not go on much further with more "definitions".

Anyways, the most important thing (for anyone who’s thinking of getting a credit card) is to really decide what you want to use the card for, how you intend to use it, and how you intend to pay off that credit.  After deciding on that, you will be able to more effectively select a suitable credit card.  There are just so many types of credit cards out there… be careful!

** hey, if you think I’m wrong on some things do email me to correct… or if you have any opinions/questions… but remember: I’m not an expert, I’m just expressing what I understand of the credit market **

I DISCLAIM ALL RESPONSIBILITIES!!!   :P

Just spent the last 4 days in Melbourne (including spending $65 on behalf of my friend, read previous post)… quite enjoyable…

Friday - woke up @ 5:30am (@^#%^!!!) to go to Adel.Airport, flew into Melbourne, set down luggage at boss’ apartment (he’s in Adelaide), drove his Mercedes 450SL (circa 1980s model) to our Victorian office in the SE suburbs, worked "very hard", drove to Richmond to meet Kev "Zombie" Lim, went to Bismi (Singaporean/Malaysian foodfare, in Brunswick) for dinner, ate Nasi Briyani & Lamb Murtabak & Teh Halia (*yum*), drove 450SL to pick Laine up from Melb.Airport, retired back to boss’ apt for the night…

Saturday - woked up early to pump some petrol (LRP) into 450SL (failed terribly, cos no stations has LRP, gotta use unleaded + this squirt bottle of "valve protection fluid"), picked up IT guy from airport to go to office, worked "very hard" in office to set up network/email etc, have (company-sponsored) lunch with IT guy, dropped him at airport, met up with Laine and her sis (Vee), had dinner at this other pseudo-Malaysian cafe (ate Nasi Goreng & teh halia), spent the night at Vee’s…

Sunday - slept in till 10pm, had "yum-cha" (HK dian-xin, for you Singaporeans) at Sharks Fin Restaurant in Burwood (*yum yum yum*), went to DFO (direct factory outlet) for shopping, returned to boss’ apt to rest, had Japanese food for dinner, walked to Fed-Square & down South.Bank into Crown Hotel/Casino, had (beautiful) coffee & cake at Cafe Zampelli, took Laine to see what a casino looks like inside, went back to boss’ apt, sleep… zzzzzzzzz

Monday - woke up early, big drama (not willing to share details - sorry), had breaky at friend’s cafe, walked around city, met Kev for lunch at friend’s cafe, rested in afternoon, packed luggage, Kev took us to the airport (THANKS, KEV!), reached Adelaide, took cab home, unpack, sleep… zzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

‘twas a nice mini-holiday… I think Laine really enjoyed it, especially being able to spend time with Vee… hmm… should do this once in a while…

Someone I know is selling the cafe in Melbourne he owns… knowing that I’m flying over to Melbourne from this Friday to next Monday, he gave me $100 cash and says: "go spend this $100 at ***** Cafe. I must make sure the cafe reaches the quoted turnover, so that the sale can be finalised".

*ke-ching*  …$100 in my pocket… free lunch (and maybe, breaky… how about mid-afternoon tea too!)  Hmm… time to get some friends to meet up for lunch on Monday…

I can understand where he’s coming from.  It’s not that the cafe is not doing well, in fact, if you were to sit there one week-day morning and see the amount of people going through, you would think this is a great business to own!  But, this guy is "asset-rich, cash-poor"… so, time to cash in on one of his easier-to-sell businesses.  So, a prospective buyer comes along, he’s suitably impressed, and now just have to go through a "2-week trial", to make sure the cafe turns-over as much as promised in the sales-pitch.  And here, I make my bow: a $100-in-hand customer…

*aaarrrrr* …free food and drinks… [think: Homer drooling]

Oh… such is life… once in a while, you’ve gotta get something for free…

Decided to make some slight changes to my blog… that huge, horrible picture of hunky/handsome me on the side has been removed… this should improve the approval ratings for the general look of the blog, yah?

Also, changed the name of the blog: "Thoughts… off the sower"

I think a lot, never mind what I think, I just do.  Especially when I shower.  Look, when you shower, you wet, lather, scrub, rinse… that’s it!  So, alongside the drone-like mechanical movements of my torso and limbs, I cast my mind to a state of deliberation…  Thing is, if I were to write everything I think about down in this blog, I would have to quit my job and be a fulltime blogger!   Which brings me to: anyone interested to sponsor me to do that???  It’s not expensive y’know?  Laine and I just need to pay for our mortgage and car loan, and have probably $1000 cash per fortnight to live on…

I think…… I shall stop now./././////   See you later!   -out-