The horrors of adultery

Adultery- the despised word in a marriage. Movies nowadays play on this theme often as though a marriage that is void of adultery is almost abnormal. We have heard stories after stories about how marriages are being destroyed because of unfaithfulness. It was used to be a "Western" problem but even in Malaysia, the divorce rate had increased tremendously over the recent years and I suspect, the main reason is due to adultery. In christian marriages, we value the sanctity of marriage - couples were taught about it through proper marital counseling before their weddings. Yet, with all this in place, the Christians are not spared. I wrote with much heartache and sadness this time because I have the misfortune of looking at this ugly word, almost face-to-face. It happened to someone that is very close to me. Actually, this was not the first time - she had encountered her husband's unfaithfulness a few years back. It was dealt with then and they had moved on with their lives. Unfortunately, it rears its ugly head again this time and it had become worse than before. She did not want to confide to anyone at first. Who would want to - washing their dirty linens in the public? She had given him a few chances to break up with the lady. He had promised to do so but due to the weakness of the flesh, he had never succeeded. The emotional attachment is too deep. The other party does not want to let go either. I said this time it is worst than before because the other lady is a married woman too. What a big mess! When I got to know about this, I was agitated because I just cannot understand how two church goers can enter into such disgusting and dangerous liaison. What had happened to their conscience? They were counselled to let go but instead of allowing the Lord to guide their hearts, they had let their flesh the free rein. A moment of pleasure will reap an eternity of regrets. If the man would really decide to leave the family, his son will grow up not knowing the true responsibility of a man and a father, and the fruit of despair will be reaped in the next generation. The vicious cycle of bitterness and disappointment thus begins.

How true it is that the Devil is here to steal and destroy. His tactic is to break down Christian families. What can we do to stop it? Even Christian leaders are not spared and their downfall not only harm their own families but it had stumbled hundreds or even thousands of members and church followers. How shall we go about it? The spirit of deception and lust can be so powerful and the church seems to be so powerless. I can only pray that the Lord's mercy and grace will sustain us all. Let the Lord's prayer, "lead us not unto temptation but deliver us from the evil one" help us to realize our own frailty and how much we are dependent on Him every day of our lives. Lord, please help your children this day!

My golfing experience

I have been playing golf for more than one year now. The very first time I went to the green was somewhere in April or May last year. It was the Bandar Utama 9-hole course. I cannot remember my score but it wasn't really golf - that's for sure, but the experience really got me hooked to golf for a while. I realized the coaching lessons really helped me a lot. The iron swings was fairly easy to master but the driving was crazy. I was just using Wood 5 to practise my driving and I was stucked at that stage for a while. I thot I was going to give up then. I always felt a sense of helplessness because I cant even drive more than 100 metres. How am I going to get the ball to cross a pond (some holes have a pond right in front of the tee box)? So, am I going to give up or what? Thank God I did not. I really persevere, of course with the help of Wen Jye. The breakthrough came when I got a new Ping Driver with a 14th loft. Wow, that changes everything. The Driver was really "forgiving" - my balls were flying. I remember the first time I teed off on the green was with Wen Jye's clients (4 flights) and I was in the first flight. It was so nerve-wracking when all eyes were on me (the only lady golfer) to drive. Wow, the feeling was so "good" when my ball fly and cross the pond in hole 10 of the Monterez Golf Club. Every golf game has been really interesting - there were of course some bad times when my short game failed me, but that's part and parcel of playing golf. It is so challenging that you can be scoring so low one day and the next day, you have double pars in almost every hole.

As recommended by David Leadbetter, I just bought a wood 7 to complete my golf set. He said it is an essential club for any lady golfer due to our weakness in getting the distance when we are at the fairway. I have been practising on the driving range but has not try it out at the green yet. I hope to master it and hopefully, my score will get lower than before.

My golf experience had taught me a couple of things. Firstly, I want to say that I was really prejudiced against golfers in the past. I cannot accept that grown up men can be so obssesed with a game that involves hitting a ball across a "field" and under the sun for hours - what happened to their sanity? Now, this really sets me thinking of my other prejudices against other interests and so forth. I think its best to reserve judgement until you try and taste it yourself. Secondly, it had taught me that perseverance does pay - we are not to give up easily but I realized many people do give up easily especially when the interest was not as much at the beginning. The same principle applies with other pursuits of life - we start with passion first and if there is passion, there will be success when you persevere. People give up easily because there is no passion in the first place and naturally, perseverance is not required. The motivation in every pursuit is important. When I first started golfing, I chose to believe that I can master it like everyone else. I crave for the satisfaction of seeing my ball flying straight ahead of me. The end result makes me work hard in the process.

Perhaps we can apply the same principle to our career or business venture, or even our ministry. Do we quickly give up when we encounter the slightest challenge or do we persevere and stay on course in our pursuits? Giving up is always the easiest way out but it was never a biblical response. Therefore, it is good to always evaluate our response in every situation because it speaks so much of our character.