Nicely put quote,

“Work as if everything depends on you and pray as if everything depends on God.”

To all Married Couples, Courtship Couples and Singles

Love this story (C&P). As much as I knew this story has touched me, i want to share it with all of you. Hopefully it is telling you something too. God Bless.

When I got home that night as my wife served dinner, I held her hand and said, I've got something to tell you. She sat down and ate quietly. Again I observed the hurt in her eyes. Suddenly I didn't know how to open my mouth. But I had to let her know what I was thinking. I want a divorce. I raisedthe topic calmly.

She didn't seem to be annoyed by my words, instead she asked me softly, why?I avoided her question. This made her angry. She threw away the chopsticks and shouted at me, you are not a man! That night, we didn't talk to each other. She was weeping. I knew she wanted to find out what had happened to our marriage. But I could hardly give her a satisfactory answer; she had lost my heart to a lovely girl called Dew. I didn't love her anymore...I just pitied her!

With a deep sense of guilt, I drafted a divorce agreement which stated that she could own our house, our car, and 30% stake of my company. She glanced at it and then tore it into pieces. The woman who had spent ten years of her life with me had become a stranger. I felt sorry for her wasted time, resources and energy but I could not take back what I had said for I loved Dew so dearly. Finally she cried loudly in front of me, which was what I had expected to see. To me her cry was actually a kind of release. The idea of divorce which had obsessed me for several weeks seemed to be firmer and clearer now.

The next day, I came back home very late and found her writing something at the table. I didn't have supper but went straight to sleep and fell asleep very fast because I was tired after an eventful day with Dew. When I woke up, she was still there at the table writing. I just did not care so I turned over and was asleep again.

In the morning she presented her divorce conditions: she didn't want anything from me, but needed a month's notice before the divorce. She requested that in that one month we both struggle to live as normal a life as possible. Her reasons were simple: our son had his exams in a months time and she didn't want to disrupt him with our broken marriage.

This was agreeable to me. But she had something more, she asked me to recall how I had carried her into out bridal room on our wedding day. She requested that everyday for the month's duration I carry her out of our bedroom to the front door ever morning. I thought she was going crazy. Just to make our last days together bearable I accepted her odd request.

I told Dew about my wife s divorce conditions. She laughed loudly and thought it was absurd. No matter what tricks she applies, she has to face the divorce, she said scornfully.

My wife and I hadn't had any body contact since my divorce intention was explicitly expressed. So when I carried her out on the first day, we both appeared clumsy. Our son clapped behind us, daddy is holding mummy in his arms. His words brought me a sense of pain. From the bedroom to the sitting room, then to the door, I walked over ten meters with her in my arms. She closed her eyes and said softly; don't tell our son about the divorce. I nodded, feeling somewhat upset. I put her down outside the door. She went to wait for the bus to work. I drove alone to the office.

On the second day, both of us acted much more easily. She leaned on my chest... I could smell the fragrance of her blouse. I realized that I hadn't looked at this woman carefully for a long time. I realised she was not young any more. There were fine wrinkles on her face, her hair was graying! Our marriage had taken its toll on her. For a minute I wondered what I had done to her.

On the fourth day, when I lifted her up, I felt a sense of intimacy returning. This was the woman who had given ten years of her life to me. On the fifth and sixth day, I realized that our sense of intimacy was growingagain. I didn't tell Dew about this. It became easier to carry her as the month slipped by. Perhaps the everyday workout made me stronger.

She was choosing what to wear one morning. She tried on quite a few dresses but could not find a suitable one. Then she sighed, all my dresses have grown bigger. I suddenly realized that she had grown so thin, that was the reason why I could carry her more easily. Suddenly it hit me, she had buried so much pain and bitterness in her heart. Subconsciously I reached out and touched her head.

Our son came in at the moment and said, Dad, it's time to carry mum out. To him, seeing his father carrying his mother out had become an essential part of his life. My wife gestured to our son to come closer and hugged him tightly. I turned my face away because I was afraid I might change my mind at this last minute. I then held her in my arms, walking from the bedroom, through the sitting room, to the hallway. Her hand surrounded my neck softly and naturally. I held her body tightly; it was just like our wedding day. But her much lighter weight made me sad. On the last day, when I held her in my arms I could hardly move a step. Our son had gone to school. I held her tightly and said, I hadn't noticed that our life lacked intimacy.

I drove to office... jumped out of the car swiftly without locking the door. I was afraid any delay would make me change my mind... I walked upstairs. Dew opened the door and I said to her, Sorry, Dew, I do not wantthe divorce anymore.

She looked at me, astonished and then touched my forehead. Do you have a fever? She said. I moved her hand off my head. Sorry, Dew, I said, I won't divorce. My marriage life was boring probably because she and I didn't value the details of our lives, not because we didn't love each other any more. Now I realise that since I carried her into my home on our wedding day I am supposed to hold her until death do us apart. Dew seemed to suddenly wake up. She gave me a loud slap and then slammed the door and burst into tears.

I walked downstairs and drove away.

At the floral shop on the way, I ordered a bouquet of flowers for my wife. The salesgirl asked me what to write on the card. I smiled and wrote:I'll carry you out every morning until death do us apart.

The small details of our lives are what really matter in a relationship. It is not the mansion, the car, property, the money in the bank,blah..blah..blah. These create an environment conducive for happiness but cannot give happiness in themselves. So find time to be your spouse's friend and do those little things for each other that build intimacy. Do have a real happy marriage!

If you don't share this, nothing will happen to you, but if you do, you just might save a marriage.

We all live in an interesting times, aren't we?

We all live in an interesting times today. The society that we are living in today is no longer confined to a limited parameter of land we are literally standing on, or the kind of conventional thinking we used to have decades ago. Instead, humans become more and more knowledgeable. Information is easily grasped, despite of its validity and realibility. Not only have we become more complicated in our thinking, beliefs and values, we begin to influence others with our beliefs, philosophies and theories. In the end, we end up pondering over one question, what is the truth? Where is the truth? Who is at fault here?

The same thing goes to our Christianity faith. Over the past few decades, we can't help but to see various churches have come to birth like never before. We begin to see more and more denominations coming out. To me, I don't know how and where they come from. Neither do i know each of their histories. What possibly could they be thinking? Who knows from where they have drawn their doctrine, knowledge and wisdom? And what justified their doctrine or ideology as something wise to the society? And looking at the situation and society we are living in today, i personally don't think it's going to get any lesser or better. Just look at the example of Gay Church we have today in Malaysia, Who is at fault? Where is the truth? and if it's wrong, who are we to say that it's wrong?

Probably, i can give my own 5-cents worth of sharing on my own side. For years, friends of different religious backgrounds have approached me and asked me of my faith in Catholics. I have to say it'd never been easy to give firm answers. And i tell of what i know and what i believe. What i'm not sure of, i keep quiet, and use it as a question to find out later.

And when people started to question me of its doctrine like why like this, why not like that? for example, why you have pope? why you have different denominations? why you play rosary? why you have Eucharist? why you pray to Mother Mary? Is she really that significant? bla bla bla, i often shared with them of its historical backgrounds. Why histories? What's big deal about it? Simply because in histories, we begin to explore where doctrines came from, and the reasons for their existance.

The Catholic church has existed for the past 2000 years and it has every reason for doing what they are doing today. (this also includes some of the wrongdoings they've done in which they especially Pope John Paul II made several apologies.) Some friends of mine have shared with me that we should move towards believing in the universal church. But where is the universal church? Catholic church is one universal church if some of you are not aware of. The word 'catholic' is derived from Greek καθολικός (kata-holos)," or more colloquially, "universal." (Catholic Answers, 2007).

Here, i am not intending to explain what Catholic faith is all about (i've yet to equip myself for this), neither am i making judgment on any other denominations. As a growing teen, i find it interesting to see how Christianity has evolved over the past 2000 years, how our humanly actions and thinkings have brought us into having different beliefs towards doctrines and ideologies which perhaps made us 'better' or 'worse'. And perhaps, we will continue to question this and probably be never satisfied with the answers we have.

Today also, i have read a conversion story by Dr Scott Hahn from a Presbyterian into Catholicism.

http://www.chnetwork.org/scotthconv.htm

What he wrote was really phenomenal, as he wrote down every step of his journey with Christ to finding Catholic faith. There are some things or doctrines mentioned he shared inside in which i myself don't know. he shared with us the distinction between how Lutherans believe and how Catholics believe, and the different interpretations of 'Covenant' by different denominations. Very interesting! Have a read, and THINK, and have your say.

Another link which you would probably like to look into is my friend Henry Lim's blog. What he did was that he gave a little explanation as to some misconceptions you might have regarding Catholic Church.

Thank you for now.

Below is a Copy & Paste email article on 'How Old is your Church?' i once read long long time ago:

If you are a Lutheran, your religion was founded by Martin Luther, an ex-monk of the Catholic Church, in the year 1517.

If you belong to the Church of England, your religion was founded by King Henry VIII in the year 1534 because the Pope would not grant him a divorce with the right to remarry.

If you are a Presbyterian, your religion was founded by John Knox in Scotland in the year 1560.

If you are a Protestant Episcopalian, your religion was an offshoot of the Church of England founded by Samuel Seabury in the American colonies in the 17th century.

If you are a Congregationalist, your religion was originated by Robert Brown in Holland in 1582.

If you are a Methodist, your religion was launched by John and Charles Wesley in England in 1744.

If you are a Unitarian, Theophilus Lindley founded your church in London in 1774.

If you are a Mormon (Latter Day Saints), Joseph Smith started your religion in Palmyra, N.Y., in 1829.

If you are a Baptist, you owe the tenets of your religion to John Smyth, who launched it in Amsterdam in 1605.

If you are of the Dutch Reformed church, you recognize Michaelis Jones as founder, because he originated your religion in New York in 1628.

If you are a member of the Churches of Christ your church began near the beginning of the 19th century in New England.

Abner Jones, Barton Stone and Alexander Campbell were some of the most well known originators of your religion.

If you worship with the Salvation Army, your sect began with William Booth in London in 1865.

If you are a Christian Scientist, you look to 1879 as the year in which your religion was born and to Mrs. Mary Baker Eddy as its founder.

If you belong to one of the religious organizations known as "Church of the Nazarene," "Pentecostal Gospel," "Holiness Church," "Pilgrim Holiness Church," "Jehovah's Witnesses," your religion is one of the hundreds of new sects founded by men within the past century.

If you are Roman Catholic, you know that your religion was founded in the year 33 by Jesus Christ the Son of God, and it is still the same Church.

Just for Laugh - Ironies of Life

Men:

1. All men are extremely busy.

2. Although they are so busy, they still have time for women.

3. Although they have time for women, they don't really care for them.

4. Although they don't really care for them, they always have one around.

5. Although they always have one around them, they always try their luck with others.

Women :

1. The most important thing for a woman is financial security.

2. Although this is so important, they still go out and buy expensive clothes and stuff.

3. Although they always buy expensive clothes, they never have something to wear.

4. Although they never have something to wear, they always dress beautifully.

5. Although they always dress beautifully, their clothes are always just "an old rag".

6. Although their clothes are always "just an old rag", they still expect you to compliment them.

7. Although they expect you to compliment them, when you do, they don't believe you.

Holiday Vacation

Guys, I'll be away to Penang this Saturday 13th October 2007 for a week holiday until 20th Oct 2007. Will be staying in Ashes' house. No plan of where to go yet during the weekdays. Perlis and Taiping are certainly on the list.

Ciao guys!