OXymoronic (Happy?) New Year

Since Monday, Chinese around the world have been bidding each other a new year of prosperity, abundance, wealth, longevity and happiness. The Ox has booted out the Rat but no one it seems is hitting the bull's eye and charging towards those things. Despite the well-wishes, this year's fancies seem to drift like cotton in the wind. Don't they know an 'economic tsunami' has hit and more wicked aftershocks threaten to cause even greater destruction?

No wonder people dread reading the newspapers, it's bad news cover to cover. Yesterday's papers reported how an African-American man took the lives of his family of seven after he and his wife lost their jobs. The pressure was just too much to handle. Seems like they'd rather be spared the shame and guilt of being unable to provide for the family. The incident may be isolated and further investigation into the killings is underway. Regardless of the motivation for the murder, 'prosperity', 'abundance', 'longevity' and 'happiness' remain deeply buried and elusive for this family and millions of others around the world.

As I read the news on air this morning, the number of workers being made redundant continues to climb steadily. The unemployment rate is rising as sharply as losses incurred by banks and businesses. Governments are making calls for their economies to make more concerted effort to pull the world economy out of the doldrums and to get the markets moving (in the right direction) again. The effects on the macro scale has finally been felt by the man in the street, whose impact will stretch for a long time to come.

Almost overnight, the things that people held on to for security and as strategic pieces to grow their money - their shares, their life savings, investments and property, took a beating. Your possession may remain intact but numbers count for nothing when they lose their value. When values are drastically slashed, the wrist for some will be next on the edge.

Happy New Year? Hardly. If money, investments, savings, property and assests have been motivations for us, the phenomenon currently gripping the world clearly proves nothing physical and tangible in this life is worth holding on to. Nothing is secure.

God's Word tells us in 1 Timothy 4:17

Command those who are rich in this present world not to be arrogant
nor to put their hope in wealth, which is so uncertain,
but to put their hope in God,
who richly provides us with everything for our enjoyment.

Where is your hope in a world where the only thing of value is your soul and your destiny?

Organisations that rely heavily on charitable donors to help meet many social needs they're striving to provide for the beneficiaries they serve are bracing for tough times. They fear the giving will stop. What then lies ahead for the people whose basic needs have yet to be met? The verse that follows in Chapter 4 of 1 Timothy reads,

Command them to do good, to be rich in good deeds,
and to be generous and willing to share.

It's the new year and it may be time again to do a stock take. Where is our hope? What matters to us? And how can we bless others with what God's blessed us with in these challenging times?

Remember the story of the wise man (who built his house on the rock) and the foolish man (who decided the sand was to be his home's foundation)?

Well the floods came and only one house stood firm.

Which house on the left is befitting of yours?

Deepening FB leads to Rising FB activity

Have you felt the FB (financial brunt) of the economic crisis that looks to be worsening by the day? The economists have been hard at work and seem to chorus that things are going to get much worse before it gets better. But the growing revelation of just how bad this recession will be may have some payoff on FB (Facebook) activity.


With more time on your hands, less work in your In Tray, and less money in your pocket, the economist in me predicts a steady rise in online activity on the popular, free-access social networking website Facebook. Will it see a tapering of? Not anytime soon.

With layoffs expect to climb especially after the Lunar New Year, times are bad. Consequently, I predict more action on FB for these reasons:
- there'll be more postings of people's status expressing victimisation of the global downturn
- there'll be more interest in finding out how your friends are coping and if they're in the pool of the latest round of company layoffs
- there'll be a rise in the number of notes being written in reflection of the sweeping effect of the recession
- there'll be a hike in messages, wall scribbles and the sending of virtual gifts as friends rally to lend moral support and encouragement to those deeply affected
- moods will increasingly swing from :o) to :o(

Facebook keeps people in touch and is a wonderful tool for friends and family to band together to ride out the turbulence together.

Disclaimer: This blogger isn't being paid by Facebook for the indiscreet promotion of the networking site.

Slumped by the Slump? No...

The economic crisis which until last Thursday was something 'out there', 'remote' and 'distant' hit home and heart on Friday. This recession will be the second slump I'll be experiencing since the SARs episode of 2002/2003. Just like previously, only God can keep me secure and protect me against a complete fall-out from the turbulence gripping the world.

My colleagues (more than 2,500 of them) and I were told of the company's new measures to cut operationg costs. We'll be compelled to work four-day weeks every fortnight from April (which marks the beginning of a new financial year) and to go on enforced leave for up to three days a month. While work days will be scaled back, the workload won't be lessening.

As the tough times get tougher, I see the blessing in being able to take a couple more days off each month to rest, to retreat, to recharge and to realise than I can still rejoice given the circumstances.

Philippians 4:4 says, "Rejoice in the Lord always, and again I say, rejoice!"

Into The First Day of Twenty-O-Nine

I wouldn't have realised we were into the new year had my dad not nudged me from the right. I had my head bowed in contemplation, waiting for the wine to be served to those seated on my pew. That was when my father leaned over during the Holy Communion and elbowed me, half gesturing to the front. I raised my head and read "2009!" projected on the retractable screen. Almost at that second, the church bells chimed with gusto to usher in a brand new year!

There was a reassuring sense of calm; I felt at ease being in the Lord's house in the final moments of 2008 and entering the new year with Him by my side. Wanton parties and relvery may whisk us away for those moments, but sooner or later, we've got to face up to what the new year may throw at us.

What comfort to know that I have committed 2009 to my loving Father in Heaven and He will watch over me for even His eye is on the sparrow!

May your hope this new year be in Christ...and Christ alone!