Where hot air rises...

Yup, that’s the California Fitness gym sauna.

Since last week, I have occasionally taken time to sweat out at the sauna after a cardio &/or weights training workout. I find that it’s an excellent way of sweating out the dirt trapped in my skin pores.

There are 2 different sauna rooms – one made out of wood & the other made of clear glass. I have not gone into the glass room, coz I prefer the wooden one. To me, it looks so much more homely compared to the glass room that looks like a greenhouse filled with steam. *Laugh*… but maybe 1 day I’ll just pop by to check it out. =)

Through a few instances at CF gym, I discovered that God has an interesting way of using me at times. For example, I found out that I’m able to start out a conversation with lonely people there. Lonely, as in they go to the gym alone. Somehow I find that this category of people naturally open up to me quite easily.

Last Saturday, after I went for Suhaimi’s Body Combat class, I met this Malay guy in the sauna. Both of us were alone in that wooden sauna… & somehow my heart twitched a bit & I felt compelled to make conversation with this guy.

Thus, I started a casual talk with him, with much caution as I didn’t know how he would respond. At first, I could see that he was nervous & didn’t want to talk much. But I displayed body language that says that I’m just relaxing at the sauna & I think that started to make him feel more at ease.

It’s interesting that I always begin with asking the person whether he has just joined the gym. This question always works! *Laugh*. Soon, this Malay guy shared that he’s working at the Inter-continental Hotel just across the street & this is his first week here. I asked for his name & he told me to call him ‘Ju’. I can’t remember his full name, but that’s the short-form. After a short chat, I decided to go off for my shower.

This happened again today. That’s why I said, it’s quite interesting how God can use me in a place like the sauna. I went for Christina’s Body Combat class & noticed this Chinese guy wearing a red basketball shirt & red shorts. He was entirely dressed in red & looked like a secondary school basketball player! It was a short few minutes break, so somehow this Chinese guy started talking to me.

It’s odd how we continued our conversation because I asked if he’s about my age & that caused him to laugh & he replied that he’s 32. He said, “Thank you ah...” happy that he still looked young. But I really thought he was my age or younger.

We exchanged names (his name is Kelvin) & he started sharing that he is working in the manufacturing industry. He also plays basketball & volleyball. He also used to practice Taekwondo & long-jump. I was shocked that someone this busy & working in the west side has the time & energy to come to this Bugis gym!

We became friends within that short while & he invited me to join in at the gym on Saturday afternoons, if I came by. You see, God opened up opportunities for me to talk to ‘lonely’ people.

Today’s Body Combat class was pretty tiring & at the last 10 minutes to the end of the session, I was huffing & puffing as if I was climbing Mount KK again. Don’t know why my stamina seemed to have dwindled today. I thought I was breathing much better already, since I have been attending weekly Body Combat sessions.

Anyway, I decided to skip my weights training & stretch off at the sauna before taking my shower. While I was there, a few guys came in & out. Then after about 10 minutes, this very skinny Malay guy walked in. He was really skinny & didn’t look like he had much flesh on him, except bones.

As he walked in, he smiled at me, so I returned the smile. Once he sat down, he started to ask me if I was a full-time or part-time member. In my mind, I was confused – what full time, what part-time? After clarifying, I found out that he had signed up for the 6 weeks trial at $20. So that was what he was referring to as ‘part-time’. I still don’t see why this should be called ‘part-time’, but that’s not the point of discussion anyway.

It’s very strange. People somehow start talking to me out of the blue at CF today. Out of the blue, this skinny Malay guy (he told me to call him ‘Ahmad’) started telling me that his legs have been experiencing occasional pain & feel weak. This has lasted for about 1 year & the western doctors that he went to couldn’t diagnose the problem, as the X-rays didn’t reveal anything wrong with his legs.

Ahmad shared that he’s quite lost at what to do. My heart cringed when I thought of asking him to come to church for the Wednesday healing service. But I hesitated because he was Malay. I wasn’t sure if it was appropriate to ‘jump the gun’ this early when I have just spoken to him for 2 minutes.

So after listening to him, I suggested that he consult a Chinese doctor to treat his legs, as it could be a bone problem which western doctors cannot detect through mere X-ray. Surprisingly, he was quite open to this topic & even clarified if I was referring to TCM – Traditional Chinese Medicine.

I said yes & he started to share that there are Malay doctors who also treat in a similar manner, but he didn’t like it coz these Malay doctors tend to get superstitious & claim that there are ghosts in his bones because he may have accidentally stepped on something that he shouldn’t step on.

I smiled in my heart. To me, this is a sign that he’s not so staunch in his Muslim teachings & practices… which means that he may be open to hearing the gospel! But I wasn’t sure yet, so I didn’t bring up this topic.

I couldn’t remember the name of the Chinese clinic that I went to, near Paya Lebar MRT station & I didn’t know how to describe the directions to him. Ahmad decided to give me his pager number which I keyed into my hand-phone. Then I think he realized that it was pointless coz giving me his pager number would only require him to call me back. So he decided to ask for my hand-phone number. I thought about it & gave it to him, coz it shouldn’t be too bad, since I didn’t give him my address & home contact number.

I tried to arrange a day & time to meet to pass him the clinic appointment card. And he was grateful, but told me that he will call & arrange with me again, coz he’s working 7 days a week, from 7am – 7pm. I felt sorry for him, but he told me that he needed the money. So I told him to call me, if he’s free to come by CF gym on one of these days.

Of course, it’s important that I stay cautious until I’m able to trust him. But as for now, I believe this happened for a reason, so I decided to recommend the Chinese clinic to treat his leg condition. Hopefully it would help him. If not, I’ll ask if he would like to come for the Wednesday healing service. Just ask in faith, then see how he responds.

It’s interesting how God works… even in a sauna… *Laugh*.

The Spook Show

The highlight of this Sunday was this special performance at Suntec City convention halls 601 – 603. It was a magic show titled ‘The Spook Show’, performed by Senior Pastor Lawrence Kong & his daughter Priscilla from Faith Community Baptist Church (FCBC).

What’s unique about this magic show is that is performed by a church pastor! Some spectators would have wondered - Why in the world would a church pastor want to perform a magic show? Do Christians believe in magic?

Well, Pastor Lawrence’s intention is simple. He wanted to use his 25 years of experience in performing magic tricks, to prove to the audience that magic is not magic at all, even among the spirit mediums, chanters, witches, wizards & all. Of course, the spiritual realm is real. Yet not everyone who claims to tell the future or speak about some mystery should be trusted. In fact, they should not.

In short, not everything is as seemed. Pastor Lawrence shared that there was this man who did many years of study in the US & found that 90% of the occult practices are deceptions! As many as 20 million of such mediums attempt to con people into giving money, so as to communicate with the dead or seek what to do in his / her life. Even wishing wells are a source of deception to those who choose to believe in the futility of such superstition.

Pastor Lawrence shared that Satan attacks our physical body, our soul & our spirit. In each of these 3 aspects, with the help of his daughter, he demonstrated some of these ‘magic’; for example (i) spirit doctors - mediums who attempt to perform surgery on patients with their bare hands, drawing blood from the affected areas, (ii) levitation – ability to lift up the physical body of another human being & move it around, (iii) psychic power – ability to move, bend or change the shape of a solid object e.g. industrial spoon. It was truly amazing!

At the last part of the performance, Pastor Lawrence even acted out a scene where he summoned an arch-demon from hell & to make it reappear in a glass chamber. Of course, this was also acted by another member of the church. This arch-demon became unstoppable, until all this had to be stopped by calling upon the name of Jesus! I remember this scene because Pastor Lawrence later shared that he got the church to pray very strongly against these real demonic forces, even though he was just acting this out, to pose an illustration to the thousands of spectators. Thank God, there were no spiritual complications that resulted.

At the end of all these ‘magic’ acts, Pastor Lawrence concluded with a sermon to explain the importance of walking in the light as Christians & not to dabble with the spiritual unknowns. There could be consequences, as a result of such folly.

Before the show ended, Pastor Lawrence invited everyone to bow our heads & close our eyes, even if it is just a sign of respect to others who choose to respond after hearing God’s word. And this is the part that I like best – he asked every Christian to repeat the words of the sinner’s prayer out loud, so that the new-believers who decided to commit their life to Jesus would feel more comfortable & belonged in the family of believers! I found that a very good act of easing the discomfort & warm welcoming gesture to those new believers!

When he eventually asked all the new believers to come forward to be prayed for by the church, it brought a smile to my face to see groups of people going forward. At first I was hesitant, wondering if some of these people are the friends of those who just became a Christian. Then I realized – even if there was just ONE person who choose to come to Jesus, the angels in heaven will rejoice & we should too! It takes an act of faith, as well as courage for new believer to come forward & indeed, they need all the claps of encouraged from the rest of us.

All in all, it was a very good performance, with the right intention to convincing people not to believe in superstitions & witchcraft; but to come to Jesus!

I’m thankfully to God who allowed Rebecca’s colleague Yonglin to invite us for this evangelistic performance that is held yearly by FCBC. As Yonglin mentioned, it is true & good that Christians would also move into the media arena to take back what Satan has been trying so hard to corrupt, influence & deceive! I believe God is at work & will do a mighty work in bringing even more people back to Him! To God be the glory!

Supercharged Endorphins!

I had never imagined that I could get so hooked to something like this.

Body Combat - That’s the name of the game for me right now.

It is an aerobics exercise routine that combines several forms of martial arts (Tai Chi, Karate & Kickboxing) into a high intensive fitness workout. This is one workout that leaves you dripping with sweat, tones up your muscles & pumps power-packed adrenalin into your body! Or what I would call it as “Supercharged endorphins”.

Recently, Rebecca & I signed up for a membership at California Fitness: Jackie Chan Sport Club (Bugis Junction). All thanks to our gracious heavenly Father, we managed to obtain this membership without paying the processing fee (i.e. $50 less). I remember that we were quite apprehensive at first, but never did I realize that this could be a start of my career interest in the area of sports.

Having lost my job recently, I began searching my mind & my heart as to what really suits me as a career / job. I also prayed occasionally, as well as speaking to my close friends, family and girlfriend.

During these few weeks, I have been attending the Body Combat sessions at California Fitness (CF). I must say that since then, I haven’t been more hooked to any other sport in my life. At first, it amazed me to realize that it’s actually possible to combine aerobics & martial arts into a single power-packed workout!

In the past, I used to think that martial art is separate and very different from aerobics. Martial arts involve punching & kicking; whereas aerobics involve moving on the spot, stretching, hopping, etc. I mean, what kind of exercise is that? Must be for girls only… which is also true because I noticed that aerobics programs on TV show mostly females. On the other hand, martial arts attract more guys & lesser females.

Now I thank God that someone actually came up the idea of combining both forms of exercise together & call it Body Combat! This form of exercise is widely known & practiced worldwide. A series of 25 techno re-mix soundtracks are used everywhere, with a total of 10 different workout patterns in each soundtrack. That packs a hefty 250 exercise routines! I’m impressed!

Some say that martial art is violence. Wrong. Martial art is only violence when used with the wrong intentions. In fact, one doesn’t need to learn martial art to beat others up. I’m pretty sure not every secret society gang or street bully must master martial art before intending to do harm.

Looking on the good side of things, martial art can be used as a form of self-defense, especially for females. And the best part is – you don’t need to don a martial art attire to learn & practice the martial art. You also don’t need to get into all the complication issues of engaging in spiritual meditation, prayer, etc. It’s basically some sort of a dance routine. Just that it allows you to learn simple martial arts in an aerobic fashion, at the same time having fun with the mass of regular Body Combat goers around you! It’s just like a beach party, just that you are not dancing disco, but aerobics exercise!

When doing exercise routines, the personality of the instructor is VERY important. And that’s how this guy added to my craze over Body Combat. Suhaimi. Oh boy… this guy is great. A super power-packed Mike Tyson that can just blow your brains out!

Suhaimi is just the man for the job. Although a bit stumpy, but he’s very fit & stylo when it comes to Body Combat exercise routines! I think he has a confidence & charisma which other instructions don’t have. I really admire him.

He’s like a supercharged powerhouse when it comes to his Body Combat sessions! Precision, power & style is what I can conclude of him. Truly the best I have seen so far.

To develop & tone up my muscles, I also balance up with weight training after every Group-X session. The sauna is also a good place to relax, let out the dirt in my skin pores & maybe even a short chit-chat with someone inside.

After these recent weeks of experience at CF, I began to discover my interest towards gym fitness & sports. I was astonished to hear that both my Mum & Rebecca’s Mum are supportive of me taking up the Singapore Sports Council Fitness Instructor Course (FIC)! This course requires me to take the Basic Exercise Course (BEC) & CPR certification first, but I believe it’s worth the time & effort to learn these things.

I really hope to expand my horizons in the sporting industry in Singapore. If I have the money, I may even take up the course to become a certified Personal Trainer. I’m not sure if this is God’s plan, but I’m praying that He will open up opportunities for me, if this is what’s best for me.

After National Day 2005...

It was the 10th August 2005; the day after National Day 2005. That day marked a turning point in my life with regards to my employment at StarHub Ltd.

To be honest, it’s not that I didn’t see this coming. Somehow I knew it could possibly happen; yet even if it did, I didn’t expect it to be so soon.

Looking back, I remember that I was grumbling & sulking to Rebecca at the playground near her home on the late evening of National Day. I recall that I was very unhappy with the stress of my job & my immediate supervisor – Gladys Thio Siew Gek. She has really been a terror at this point in my life.

I remember yelling out to God while sitting at the playground, telling Him to just let me leave the company, as I’m very tired of working in this job & especially under Gladys. And guess what? He did answer my prayer! Well, I wasn’t exactly praying, but I was just venting out my frustrations about my job. But God heard it.

The next day, when I came to the office & opened my email, I saw this Microsoft Outlook meeting invitation sent by Gladys, scheduled for the 3 – 4pm time slot at Triton meeting room. The title stated ‘Evaluation’ & the required attendees were I & Elaine Loh from HR. Wait… I stopped for awhile... I thought to myself, “HR? Why is HR suddenly in the picture?”

Then I realized. There can only be one agenda – evaluation of my probation. And with HR involved, Gladys was making this meeting official & it could only mean either I passed or failed. But from the looks of what she’s been saying & how she’s been treating me all these 5 months, it just didn’t make sense that she would confirm me. I mean, there might be a very, very, very slight possibility because I’m holding a very crucial role in StarHub as the Internal Account Manager. But my gut feeling told me that’s not it. Gladys isn’t going to confirm me.

My mind started to panic. I couldn’t really concentrate on doing my work properly. My mind was rapidly browsing through each & every corner of my brain, trying to speculate what kind of result it would be. I also noticed that Gladys didn’t look at me even once that entire morning, so I sensed that something was wrong. I was confused, tensed & at a lost of what to do. And I also didn’t know what Gladys would ask & say… or how I should compose myself & respond at the meeting. What’s more with HR around.

Ong Chee Keong (a fellow colleague & office CG member at Da Vinci) was sitting just a few office cubicles away from me. I quickly sent out an SMS to my office CG mates – Raymond Tan, Alvin Lee & Chee Keong. When the SMS was received, I noticed that Chee Keong suddenly straightened up at his desk (coz I could now see his head) & looked around. He looked stunned at the news.

In Chee Keong’s case, he made a few blunders regarding international switches, thus resulting in top management scrutinizing the cause of such costly mistakes. After a few instances of such mistakes, he was told to leave by his immediate supervisor Lynn. Another reason was also because the top management didn’t like him & found it too risky to allow him to handle these international switches, which caused downtime at customers’ end. My guess is also that his mistakes may have partly affected his department scorecard & nobody wanted to suffer a loss of individual bonus or promotion because of his errors.

But that’s the way the corporate business world works. Keep those who are valued & do away with those who are not contributing up to expectation.

Expectation is a scary word. Of course, expectation can be for the good or for the bad. Yet it has its consequences solely because Man made it out to be that way. I think many things in life are caused by Man’s own making. Something good bestowed by God may be used for the detriment of someone else.

For example, females are given keener senses than men. Females are thus better able to understand & read people better than men. With this added ability, females are supposed to be better able to handle interpersonal relationships with people, further adding on the fact that females are also more relational than men.

However, it is sad that I have begun to see the ugliness of female behavior in the workplace. Do not quote me on this, but I began to suspect that quite a large portion of office politics begin with females. Being chatty & relational is good, yet the nature of comments & criticism made may bring about indirect & quietly unseen consequences to people or the culture of the department.

It is even sadder to hear female colleagues & church members telling me that they would rather work with men because men are more objective, open & straightforward. That’s so sad! Why have females become this way? That’s like one of the most ultimate example of misusing what God has given to them.

My department consists of all females, with me being the only male. That’s already scary enough for me, without even considering the nature of the females in my department.

My supervisor Gladys is a quick-tempered, highly objective & domineering woman. She demands her way of doing things & ever-ready to spring a remark on something or someone (mostly on me). In short, she’s a tyrant to all those working under her.

Serena Ong is diplomatic, resourceful & quick-thinking, after being exposed to a year or two of overseas study at Australia. She’s good at numbers & is the kind who can add jokes & spark in a group setting.

Chai Poh Lin is a bit more reserved, yet easily irritated when she picks up the phone & found that the caller had put down at the same time. She laughs loudly when amused & keeps a lot of document records in hardcopy. She has the most files in the department, mostly bulging with paper. Most of the time, the office printer is full of her print-outs.

Lina Poon (a recently joined temp staff) can be self-assuming at times, rolling up her eyes when she makes her presumptions about people & things. Sometimes she is right, sometimes she’s not. She’s can be quite ‘bo-chup’ at times, obviously turned off by unfamiliar jargon. Just 2 - 3 weeks into the job & she can tell me that she don’t intend to stay on.

All 4 females have their distinct personality & it’s not easy for a guy like me to respond acceptably to their ways. Yet these personalities are not the worse that I have seen so far in StarHub.

Chee Keong’s case aside, I can say that I’m not exactly welcomed & well-liked in my department. Firstly, it’s because it’s an all female working environment (what do you expect – admin work) & girls have their own kind of talk & way of talk.

I remember one time when we went for lunch at Jack’s Place at Parkway Parade. Like every rare occasion of lunch together, it was very awkward for everyone to start a conversation going. Somehow the conversion wondered off to hobbies & interests of each person.

Gladys likes traveling; Serena likes traveling & shopping; Poh Lin likes costume jewellery & shopping. At that time, Lina has not joined us yet. While each was sharing, the others had things to share about that person’s interests & likings. However, when it came to my turn, I started off by saying that I liked mountain climbing (at that time, I had just recently returned from Mt KK). And that brought silence to the group. They didn’t know what to say… & I didn’t know what else to say too. It was terribly awkward.

Anyway, Gladys hasn’t been satisfied with my performance all these 5 months. I have worked very conscientiously & diligently every day; working overtime 3 out of the 5 working days each week. I have worked & stayed till as late as 8:45pm & most of the time when I leave, there’s only a handful of people left working on that entire floor.

Despite several weekly one-to-one meetings with her, I still find her expectations & the demands of my job too overwhelming. The drastic change from mobile to network was honestly enough difficulty for me to pick up. Plus my upper-study Celia Liu didn’t exactly teach me much, except how to fill up application forms. Furthermore, all these technical jargon was absolute ‘Greek’ to me & I had to ask & figure out many, many things on my own.

To be honest, time is necessary to pick up all these things. Often it’s also not that I’m slow, but the role of Internal AM is just too occupied with too many things! All sorts of departments in StarHub come to me to get work done. I have only 2 hands, 1 body & 1 brain. There’s only so much that I can do within that 8.5 hours at work. Of which, often I work an average of 9 – 10 hrs a day; sometimes 11 hrs. And it’s saddening to see 85% of the staff going home at 5:30pm sharp.

I believe that this role would be better managed if there were more than 1 person handling it. As it is, the external AMs handle their customers, sales & enquiries, leaving the business support staff to handle the provisioning process. I’m the only internal AM & I have to do BOTH roles. It’s just not feasible. Work will never be finished & being only a 1-man team would only further delay other internal requests.

I believe Gladys understands this situation, but she’s stubbornly insisting on me meeting her tip-top expectations regarding all my duties in this role. Even after 5 months, I just couldn’t handle it all. And mind you, her expectation means a turn-around time of 24 hrs. That’s 1 day response time. Not to forget that my face-to-face enquiries, emails, faxes & calls come in continuously throughout the day. There is no cut-off time. Even when I’m not in the office during the weekends, these things still keep coming in. Thus explaining why Monday & Friday are my busiest days.

Since I couldn’t meet Gladys’ expectation, she decided that she didn’t want me around anymore. This explains the meeting with HR.

When I entered the meeting room, Elaine’s face was sunken. I knew from that observation that it’s not going to be a successful probation. Up till today, I still can’t figure out how the senior HR executive could look even more downcast than me. Thankfully, I was prepared for the outcome, as I already guessed it.

As usual, Gladys went straight to the point. She began with a silly opening question of how I think I’m coping with my job. Duh… does it matter what I think, since she already decided? Bo3 Liao2…

I said that I’m coping alright. At that moment, Gladys jumped in & blasted off her few sentences that she didn’t think that I’m doing alright. She said that my best is not enough & I’m not able to meet the requirements of this job. FINE… you have said this before. Nothing new…

I still can’t imagine how fast the meeting ended… & how short & sweet Gladys concluded the whole thing. After these words, she just jumped straight into the main climax & told me that she has decided to ask me to leave. She instructed me to tender my resignation by the next day & clear out 2 weeks from tomorrow (which is 24th August 2005).

Up till then, Elaine did not say a word, but just kept her head bowed down. I was shocked. I knew that it would be this outcome, but I never expected everything to be blasted off by Gladys. Why is she commanding all these instructions?

I was especially pissed that she demanded my resignation letter immediately the next day. What’s the hurry? Too eager for me to leave? Elaine began telling me the standard procedure of employee clearance. And that was it. The meeting was all over in 10 minutes! I was stunned. That fast. Gladys really wanted me to leave & she meant it.

When Elaine asked if I had any last questions, I asked if it’s possible to request for an internal transfer. Her reply was that it’s too short a time & it won’t be possible. In my mind I was thinking – why not? Even Chee Keong had a chance to apply for a few positions within StarHub, even though his interviews weren’t successful in the end. But at least he was given a chance to try. Why can’t I?

All these thoughts raced in my mind within that few seconds. But I decided not to pursue this matter, since both are not keen on helping me in any way. Staying on in this company with such people wouldn’t be of any benefit to me anyway. Better still that I left. And leave I will. So I thanked Elaine & quietly walked out of the room. My heart didn’t cringe when I left the room, as I felt pointless to stay on.

I went home that night feeling quite depressed. I really did put in my best effort in my job… but there’s only so much that one person can do. Let Gladys find her star employee then. I’ll just serve my remaining duration & leave the company.

My office CG mates were stunned at the news. Chee Keong told me that StarHub has just lost another good employee; and a Christian too. But it was Gladys’ choice, not mine.

The next day, HR called me up to remind me to submit my resignation letter. I was pissed, but didn’t show it. I just told Elaine that I was very busy with my work at that moment & asked if I could submit at the end of the day. She insisted to know what time, so that got me really pissed, so I quickly put down the phone, typed a simple resignation letter, put into an envelope & put it on Gladys’ table.

My heart was saddened while I was typing that quick, short & sweet resignation letter. I had never typed a resignation letter before. Not when this is my first job, first probation & first resignation… all within a short time span of less than 6 months. And Gladys was smart. She made sure that my last day was the day before I went on my 2-day Telco course. She’s really sharp & determined to deter me from even that. What a calculative heart.

I still remember how my heart cringed again when I finally put the envelope on Gladys’ table. I didn’t even tell her. I just left it there. She saw it, glanced through, made a photocopy & went down to pass to HR. From then on, I tried to ignore her as much as I can.

Chee Keong had to leave one week before me. But the difference is that he was given a full 6 months before his eventual assessment. I only had 5 months before early termination of employment. He was given 2 weeks of free time (paid) during office hours to look for jobs before he left on the last day. I was slogging till my last day & even left after Gladys had gone home. Can you imagine? That was my last day!

Yup, during the last days at StarHub, I was still rushing many things at work. Most people would probably just ‘bo chup’ & let things screw up on its own. But I didn’t. Although I did leave earlier on the remaining days, I still worked OT on 1 or 2 of the days, plus my last day. I had many things to hand over & teach before I could leave. And finally I did.

It was sad to clear my desk & table of my belongings. I suddenly felt abandoned & unwanted in this company. I wondered if my department colleagues felt a sense of lost of seeing me go… or were they apprehensive because they had to cover my work, until Gladys employed someone to take over me. That lady better be a super high achiever, if not history would repeat itself.

Although I did leave Da Vinci building feeling uncertain & down, nevertheless, I know that I had left with the respect of those whom I have worked with. Of course, I would not have managed to please every single one of my internal customers. But every single one that I spoke to (before I left) told me that I was doing well & didn’t screw up their work. A few came up to me to wish me all the best & shook my hand. I didn’t see a single one of them who was eager to see me go. Not one of them. Not a single one.

I even told my department colleagues that they need to ask me something over the next few days, they could feel free to call or email me. Having known the difficulty of being the Internal AM, I also understand that there will be difficulty when they take over my duties… even though it’s shared among 3 colleagues.

I recalled that Raymond shook my hand 3 times & I could tell that he wished that I didn’t have to go. Alvin was quite alright, but Michael had a bit of this longing facial expression when he shook my hand before he left the office. I miss them… but it’s time for me to move on. I didn’t initiate this resignation. I was forced to, so I take it as a sign from God to move on.

I’ll just trust that He knows what’s best for me. I pray & hope that my next job would be better than this & also something that I enjoy & pays a decent reasonable salary for me to support myself, my parents & my future family… & at the same time, being able to give back to God & others.

Miracles Happen!

Our God is one powerful God. Really, He really has power. I mean it – He really has power.

It was a Sunday (7th August 2005) - the day my brother came home from a trip to Thailand with his friends. Unexpectedly, he fell sick with a high fever the next day. At first, my parents thought that it was just a normal fever… just see the doctor & he would be alright. The doctor took a blood test & found out that his blood platelet count was 106,000.

According to my Mum, an average person’s blood platelet count should range from 150,000 to 400,000. Since Mark’s platelet count was quite low, the doctor said that Mark needs to take a blood test everyday to monitor his platelet count over the next 3 days. When my Mum told me about this, I told her that I suspected dengue fever. But we decided to wait & hoped for his recovery.

Over the next 3 days, Mark’s blood platelet count fluctuated slightly. From 106,000, it increased to 108,000; then dropped to 104,000. It didn’t seem much of a change, but Mark’s body began heating up till red. Fever reached as high as 39 degrees & he started to sigh heavily & groan in agony because of the aching in his bones in his whole body. As the days passed, he grew so weak that he couldn’t even take off his shirt by himself.

My parents began to feel miserable as the groaning continued. I didn’t know what to do; but from the way I looked at him, it seemed that he looked quite sick.

I came home late on Friday night & my Mum told me that Mark has been admitted to Changi General Hospital! I was stunned… In my mind, I was thinking – how come suddenly so serious?

My Mum told me that she brought Mark to see the doctor again earlier. The doctor took another blood test & the result showed that his blood platelet count had dropped from 104,000 to 65,000! Worried about the huge drop in platelets, the doctor advised my parents to admit him into hospital.

I was shocked. 65,000? This figure boomed loudly in my head. That’s almost like a 50% drop! It was then that I began to seriously worry. I only studied Biology in secondary school, but even I had not studied anything about it, a drastic 50% drop was sufficient to ring the alarm bells in anyone’s head.

My Mum told me that the hospital doctor would have to give him a blood transfusion, should his platelet count drop below 20,000. 20,000?! That’s like super low already! And I got really angry when my Mum said that this is hospital policy & even private hospitals give blood transfusion when a patient’s count hits 35,000. I was seriously fuming…

I asked my parents why didn’t they stay behind & look after Mark. And I got angry when my Mum told me that it was my Dad who wanted to come home to rest. In my mind, I was thinking – what if his platelet count drops even more during the night? And here we are sleeping away till morning? That’s like how many hours later! Who knows what might happen?

I was very frustrated. How can my parents just stay home & sleep when my brother is in such a condition? I asked them if the hospital allowed family members to stay through the night, but they said cannot. Why cannot? He’s my brother leh! What if something happens to him? My Dad said that there are nurses on duty at night. Then I yelled back, “Are you going to trust those nurses? To them, they are working because it’s their job. But he’s your son & my brother! As if by walking around, they can see if something happens to him!”

My Dad said that even if we are there, we can’t do anything for him. I replied, “As if by coming home to sleep, we are doing something for him! At least if something happens, someone can be right there by his side to do something, or call the doctor or something!”

With that, I stomped off to call the hospital. My Dad got a bit worried & started to change his clothes to go out. A few minutes later, I came back into my parents’ room & told them that the hospital staff said that my brother is not in critical condition. Most importantly, as long as his heart-rate & blood pressure is normal, he is not in serious danger. At least after clarifying, we began to relax a bit.

The next morning, I went to visit my brother at the hospital. He was asleep when I arrived, so I watched him for awhile till the nurse came in to take his blood test. He couldn’t eat, so had to be put on a drip. Being afraid of needles, I winced when I saw the needle stuck on his right hand. Shortly after the blood test, my parents came to accompany him.

Over the next 2 days, Mark’s blood platelets dropped from 65,000 to 43,000, then rose to 55,000. My family & I thought that it’s a sign of recovery, though the platelet count needs to increase till above 70,000 before Mark is allowed to go home. Yet, we were hopefully because his platelet count has begun to rise. My Mum told him to eat more, so that he can recover faster & he did.

After the blood test result was out on Tuesday, it showed that it dropped to a further low of 37,000! We were all shocked, as we thought that Mark has started to recover & regain more blood platelets. The nurse decided to put him on drip for another 3 days & we were all upset about this situation.

Mark was unhappy too, as he is an active person that likes to move around. With this condition, he hasn’t been able to bathe, brush teeth or even step out of bed, as the doctors do not wish to subject him to the risk of getting cuts or internal bleeding. Having platelets of such low level, healing from injury is very much lower & it’s dangerous to move around.

I can understand how miserable it can be, not to be able to move around. He had to lie in bed day after day, not being able to do anything or go anywhere. Even urinating & passing motion had to be done at the bed-side. It was quite a torturous feeling to be in this state & yet not know how long this is going to drag on.

No one expected anything good to happen the next day & we could only hope that his platelet count wouldn’t drop any further. My Mum & I started discussing whether we should transfer him to a better ward, so that he would feel better with air con & also less germs from other patients around. We pondered about the cost & wondered whether it would really be of significant help to him, since his major frustration is not being able to move around or go home.

We even decided to bring my Dad’s laptop to the hospital the next day, along with a few VCDs for him to watch. And while we were all worried for him, God decided to do a miracle the next day. And never did we realize till it happened, the extent of impact of this miracle.

The blood test was carried out as usual the next day. My parents & I were at work, so didn’t visit him in the morning. When my parents went to see him in the late afternoon, they were shocked to find out that the blood test result showed a platelet count of 229,000! They were all stunned. In fact, the patients staying in the same ward as my brother were stunned too! My Mum told me that one of them was saying in Mandarin, “You3 Heng3 Duo1 Xiao3 Peng2 You3 Lai2 Gen1 Ta1 Qi2 Dao3”. (Means there were many young people came to pray for him).

It was truly a testimony for all to see. From a low count of 37,000 to a sudden rise of 229,000! That’s a HUGE jump of 192,000 platelets in a single day! Almost 200,000 leh! A smile broke out across my face when I heard about this magnificent testimony of God at work right at that hospital ward. I’m not sure if that shocked the nurses there, but it did shock all the patients in that ward & the word ‘prayer’ was brought up into their midst.

When my Mum called my grandfather, he was shocked beyond words. He said in Mandarin, “Qi2 Dao3 Ke2 Yi3 Ze4 Yang4 meh?” (Means prayer can do such things meh?). Wah, I tell you… it was truly indeed a testimony for my grandfather who is a staunch Buddhist all his life! When I heard that from my Mum, I just couldn’t stop myself from smiling & a sudden sense of inner joy just burst forth from within! In my mind, it was like “Wow! My grandfather actually saw the power of God in prayer!” Even now as I type this, my heart just feels so emotional about this fascinating news.

God has indeed manifested Himself to all the patients in my brother’s ward & even to my grandfather who stubbornly refused to come to church, even after my grandmother decided to accept my auntie’s invitation to come to church & immediately decided to give her life to Jesus.

I just cried at this point while typing this. Tears kept flowing because I’m just so moved by God’s kindness & work in our lives. I trust that through this testimony of his own grandson, my grandfather has taken one step closer to Jesus Christ.

This testimony is typed down & shared solely to give praise & glory to our most high & almighty God. At the moment when we least expect it, He may choose to do a work among us. He could have given my brother 70,000 platelets & let him go home. But He surprised everyone with a whole lot more - 229,000; making such an impact all around the hospital ward & shocked my grandfather with absolute unbelief. And when he does a work such as this, none can say that it’s any less than a miracle. To His glory alone. Amen.