29 March 2009

Went to church this morning and as I look at the congregation and get used to the loud music they play, I am beginning to feel "at home" at FCC. Worship was splendid and the message today is about being overloaded and overworked and talking about finances and how we manage it in these difficult times.

The gist of the message is this:

1. We must trust God for courage to face our problems (Ecc 7:14)
2. We must have wisdom to plan our spending (James 1:5). And how do we do that? We have to:

• prioritize our needs and goals
• prepare a workable plan
• practice keeping good records

3. We must trust God to give of our tithes (Lev 27:30)
4. We must reduce our debt and increase our savings (Prov 22:7) - Fundamentally, one should live by the 10-10-80 formula which is, 10% of your salary goes to GOD, 10% for savings and 80% to live off ie. fixed expenses, hobbies etc
5. We must trust God to have time to check our heart (Matt 6:21)

Well, I am sure this message brought home to many who's in some form of financial crisis one way or the other. And if you are one of them, I hope that you'll find Pastor Bill's message appropriate and will use it as a tool towards the future of your financial freedom.

After church, we came home to fetch Sam to her youth service which is at 11am. Then, Ed cooked kung pao frog legs for me (my favorite dish) and broccoli and I had 2 plates of rice for lunch. The food was so yummy, thank you dear.

In the midst of Ed's cooking, he saw a butterfly that was struggling in our swimming pool. Yeah, 1st the birds, then the mass suicide worms (I totally forgot to mention that), then the mallards, frog and now butterfly. Hmmm.. our pool sure attracts all kinds of species doesn't it?

So, I went outside to help it out by scooping it with the net. Then, I allowed it to rest on the palm of my hand. Told Ed to go get the camera but he was too busy cooking so, with the butterfly resting on my palm for its wings to dry, I went back into the house, went upstairs to retrieve the camera and Ed took a shot of it. And all these time, it was still resting on the palm of my hand. How cool is that? It didn't attempt to fly away although I assumed its wings was dry enough already. Once the photo was taken, I transferred it to the flower and oh, what a beautiful sight it is that the butterfly is once again, in an environment where it can feel safe and flutter away when it's all ready to spread its wings again. Ed says this is a monarch butterfly but I think it's not. Anyone out there who's a butterfly enthusiast that can attest to it based on the pictures below? Well, if you know.... let me know by placing a comment. Thanks.

Here's the pic: