o v e r f l u o

"We live in a world where experts tell us we have a sleep debt bigger than the national debt. An estimated 24,000 people die every year in car accidents caused by sleep deprivation and fatigue. Lack of sleep causes people to argue with spouses and friends, do subpar work, be less loving and more irritable." –From sorry-I-forgot-to-note-the-source Okay, goodnight!

Have you heard of the new game which has knocked Candy Crush Saga from Apple's #3 grossing games spot? E started playing and downloaded it for me and now, I'm quite hooked. The game is... ... Fallout Shelter. Every few minutes I check my phone (granted that today is a Saturday where I'm not in the office) to collect energy, water, food and more. The more I get, the more rooms I can build in the vaults and the more residents I can have. It's addictive. I keep wanting to collect and build more. It reminds me of the one other game I used to play this obsessively – Snoopy's Street Fair. It started with one colleague playing it, then a few of us other colleagues downloaded it, and soon, we were all playing it on the way to work and on the way home. There was this drive to quickly log in and "tap" the characters/items to collect something, gain points or build up our site. How do we get so addicted to such games? What drives us? It could be the d...

I see a generation rising up to take their place With selfless faith, with selfless faith I see a near revival stirring as we pray and seek We're on our knees, we're on our knees When this song first came out in 2007, I was a teenager. I always sang it as a youth, thinking – yes, my generation. This generation of late teens/young 20-somethings. But as I sang it today, I thought – hey yes, my  generation now, as mid/late 20-somethings. My generation – the generation I grew up with, served with... my generation has its own revival to make. I sing it for my generation too. Sure we talk a lot about youths being the "prime stage" and in many ways that is true, but let us not forget that every generation has its own impact to make, and different impacts at every stage of life. I see a generation rising up to take their place With selfless faith, with selfless faith I see a near revival stirring as we pray and seek We're on our knees, we're on our knees...

Years ago at my first full time job, the CEO gave everyone a book for Christmas. The book was "The Little Red Book of Wisdom" by Mark DeMoss.  It is a great book with bite sized wisdom. In it are 23 wise tips for life, backed by an easy-to-read 4 - 8 pages of explanation for each tip. It's very easy to digest, and possible to apply. I recommend it. Here are a few of my favourites which I subscribe to: Buy some stamps (reclaiming the lost art of letter writing) I've always loved writing, so much so that a big part of my job involves writing. I've also always loved receiving letters and have been encouraged by written words, and so have always put effort to paying that forward. Technology isn't everything (learning to use it wisely) Sure there are times I do so much on my phone it gets bad for my eyes, but there are also times where I can completely put away my phone and not not attend to it. I think it's good to not always have to be "on dem...

Yesterday evening I volunteered at a kitchen which provided dinner for the homeless. Under direction of the chef I buttered bread, chopped rockmelons and strained vegetables. We then served a meal of rice, mince meat and potato stew, mixed vegetables and bread, accompanied with a dessert of banana bread, fruits and custard. We sat down to have dinner together. Honestly I was shy at first because well, I generally can be in an unfamiliar environment. But the guys my friend and I sat with were pretty chatty. It was interesting to hear what they had to say and I would call it a cultural exchange of sorts. There's not much I can share as some of what they shared was quite personal, but here is a mish mash of some thoughts: We all have different circumstances, many of which we cannot control. It's tough when you have a bad record that stays in the system and doesn't get erased. It's necessary for people who never truly want to turn from evil ways - and we have to keep...

"You can't get a cup of tea big enough or a book long enough to suit me." – C. S. Lewis Sometimes I think I am more into the idea of tea than tea itself. The association that tea is appreciated when you have spare time, is a drink that relaxes you, a drink that is to be enjoyed slowly rather than gulped down just to quench your thirst...

Many people have heard of Sunday school. Most have no idea where it came from. In 1780 a Jesus-follower in Great Britain named Robert Raikes could not stand the cycle of poverty and ignorance that was destroying little children, a whole generation.  He said, "The world marches forward on the feet of little children." So he took children who had to work size days a week in squalor. Sunday was their free day. He said, "I'm going to start a school for free to teach them to read and write and learn about God." He did, and he called it "Sunday school." Within fifty years, there were 1.5 million children being taught by 160,000 volunteer teachers who had a vision for the education of a generation. Sunday school was not a privatized, optional program for church kids. It was one of the great educational volunteer triumphs of the world. From Who Is This Man: The Unpredictable Impact of the Inescapable Jesus, by John Ortberg