The Craftsman’s Forge

Wahh… very seldom see such red ink! courtesy of a 360 point drop in the Dow Jones last night.

Some Pictures from Palawan Beach at Sentosa. We were there with the kids just a couple of weeks ago. I like in particular the freeze capture of the water in the air. Nice…

We were away in Putrajaya for the last couple of days for church camp. And BOY….. was it a wonderful wonderful wonderful time we had. The lord showed up (as expected), and really dealt with us as a family (unexpected).

I think this is the best thing that has happened to us as a family for a long long long long time. This is a real milestone for us, and I’ll explain shortly. We came not really expecting much, and the sessions started out pretty much that way. But by the time it got to the last session on Thursday, God had our attention. By Friday, we were crying our eyes out.

You see, God has been speaking to me for a number of weeks and months now prior to church camp. He had been leading me to a point where I had to acknowledge that there were a number of things that I needed to redo and reset right again in my life. One of the most important thing was to allow God to be the Lord of my life again. This was played out after I watch Flywheel and Facing the Giants.

He reaffirmed major themes in my life, in our journey together as a family, and this was a common occurrence over the last 2 months. I then began a regular regime of waking up early at 5 am every morning, going on my elliptical machine, and listening to my daily audio bible (To the one year bible) as I exercise. Of course, being excited about learning more and getting ready for the stock market helped getting me up in the mornings. I found these activities to gel very well together.

So, when we went for chruch camp last week, the idea that God still had lots to deal with me was very very far from my mind. I had merely wanted to get the family of on a retreat, enjoy ourselves at the pool, enjoy company of good friends, meeting with God for wonderful worship and listen to good sermons. Having God sweep us off our feet, digging deep, uncovering our vulnerabilities and meeting us face to face wasn’t on our agenda.

But, He loved us too much to let us get away. I realise now that my success depends not only on God, but how far I am able to move as an anointed child of God, depends heavily on Christine as well. Did anyone tell me this? No. But I sure experienced it. The topical study we did at church camp was on Exodus 1, the simple story of Moses, and the speaker, Pastor Tan Soo Iin illustrated the few chapters to show us how God dealt with Moses. From being an upstart, to a failure (relegated to the desert for 40 years) before being called by God to redeem His people from Egypt.

When I heard the first sermon, I thought it had to do with me being an upstart at my career. Being good at what I do, etc. Boy.. was I wrong. God channeled me towards my family instead. I was an upstart in my family. I thought I did so well as a father, as a husband… boy.. Did God pull the rug from underneath my feet! I realised that I had failed as a father and as a husband. I didn’t spend enough time with them.

Then… when I thought things were already completed, God also dealt with Christine, and on Friday, we realised that there was so much pent up frustrations. Mainly because I wasn’t doing my job as a husband and as a father. Christine being the wonderful long suffering wife, kept silent throughout, deciding to keep the peace instead of inciting any quarrels. The problem with that was.. when the bubble bursts, all hell broke loose. And on Friday, it did.

When that happened, God began working through both of us, and dealing with our emotions, and hurts, frustrations, and He picked up the pieces and put them all together again.

Today, Christine and I feel like we are complete newly weds. There is a bounce again in our stride. No more cynicism. No more sarcasm. A lot more encouragement, a lot more partnership. I now am beginning to discover my children once more. What a wonderful privilege fatherhood is.

Finally, when we got back on Friday evening, I thought God had dealt with everything. Not so…. On Saturday morning, God dealt again with something close to my heart. My career. I knew that God wanted my job. By that, I mean that He wanted full control. I had for some time felt that I needed more challenge, and a new job, and had begun to look around. There were some opportunities floating around, but on Saturday, one of them closed decisively, and I knew God had done that.

Instead of feeling upset or depressed, I knew God was challenging me to finally bury my career and job. I’m going to symbolically do that soon, but I have already surrendered my career to Him. No more looking around for a job. If something comes up, and a window or door opens, it opens. Otherwise, this place is where God has called me to be, and this is where I would continue to stay.

Until the next time God pulls a fast one….

Do you think food prices have peaked? The UN food index as this BBC report shows, seems to indicate so.

BBC Report

This is really really funny! I know my ex-colleague Chris Yeo would absolutely love this.

This is hilarious . Enjoy and have a good laugh!

The Smiths were unable to conceive children and decided to use a surrogatefather to start their family.
On the day the proxy father was to arrive, Mr. Smith kissed his wife goodbye and said, ‘Well, I’m off now. The manshould be here soon.’
Half an hour later, just by chance, a free-lance baby photographerhappened to ring the doorbell, hoping to make a sale.
‘Good morning,Ma’am’, he said, ‘I’ve come to…’ ‘Oh, no need to explain,’ Mrs. Smith cut in, embarrassed, ‘I’ve been expecting you.
‘ ‘Have you really?’ said the photographer.
‘Well, that’s good. Did you knowbabies are my specialty?
‘ ‘Well that’s what my husband and I had hoped.
Please come in and have a seat’.
After a moment she asked, blushing, ‘Well, where do we start?
‘ ‘Leave everything to me. I usually try two in the bathtub, one on the couch, and perhaps a couple on the bed.
And sometimes the living roomfloor is fun.
You can really spread out there.
‘ ‘Bathtub, living room floor? No wonder it didn’t work out for Harry and me!
‘ ‘Well, Ma’am, none of us can guarantee a good one every time.
But if we try several different positions and I shoot from six or seven angles, I’msure you’ll be pleased with the results.
‘ ‘My, that’s a lot!’, gasped Mrs. Smith.
‘Ma’am, in my line of work a man has to take his time.
I’d love to be In and out in five minutes, but I’m sure you’d be disappointed with that.
‘ ‘Don’t I know it,’ said Mrs. Smith quietly.
The photographer opened his briefcase and pulled out a portfolio of his baby pictures.
‘This was done on the top of a bus,’ he said.
‘Oh, my word!’ Mrs. Smith exclaimed, grasping at her throat.
‘And these twins turned out exceptionally well - when you consider theirmother was so difficult to work with.
‘ ‘She was difficult?’ asked Mrs. Smith.
‘Yes, I’m afraid so. I finally had to take her to the park to get the job done right. People were crowding around four and five deep to get a goodlook
‘ ‘Four and five deep?’ said Mrs. Smith, her eyes wide with amazement.
‘Yes’, the photographer replied.
‘And for more than three hours, too.
The mother was constantly squealing and yelling - I could hardly concentrate,and when darkness approached I had to rush my shots. Finally, when the squirrels began nibbling on my equipment, I just had to pack it all in.’
Mrs. Smith leaned forward. ‘Do you mean they actually chewed on your,uh…equipment?
‘ ‘It’s true, Ma’am, yes.. Well, if you’re ready, I’ll set-up my tripod and we can get to work right away. ‘ ‘Tripod?’
‘Oh yes, Ma’am. I need to use a tripod to rest my Canon on.
It’s much too big to be held in the hand for very long.’Mrs. Smith fainted…..

Its been about just over a month since I started getting into the stock market. Have made just over a thousand, and more to come.

The journey has been very very fun, enriching and absolutely absorbing. I’ve learnt so much since March, and realise that there is so much more to learn. But, what I have started to realise, is that I’m starting to begin fashioning my own style in trading/investing/speculating.

There is really so much information out there, that one can literally drown if he/she tries to listen to everything.

For example, there are fundamental and technical ways to analyse a stock, micro economic and macro economic factors, intra-day trading, swing trading, value investing, swing trading, etc. I’m still streamlining my methods and style, but I’m happy to note that I’m settling on a style that I’m comfortable with. It’s different when you trade on paper and in real life. Don’t know how to fully describe except through an example.

I remember when I was in secondary school, sometimes I come back home after school and cook my own lunch. Most of the time, its maggi mee or something simple, but I remember there were a couple of times I went to the supermarket and picked out a whole chicken for roasting. The first time I used a knife to cut off the chicken’s feet, my mind went numb when I heard and felt the steel go through the bones and tendons of the dead chicken’s joints. urrgghh….. I felt like I had just murdered someone. But, the second and third time, it became easier and easier.

Same thing with live trading. My first trade with Macquarie Infra and Babcock & Brown, I had absolutely no idea what I was doing. I just put in the money after considering for ages whether I should do it or not. It was just 2 lots each, and they weren’t expensive stocks. Just about 80 cents I think. But…. I felt like I was putting down at stake, a million dollars! Good thing I came out of those trades relatively unscathed.

Even though its only been over a month, I’ve come quite a long way. I no longer have the stress and shakes when plonking money down for a good stock. My heart no longer beats irregularly nor skip beats. I guess a lot of it is also due to the confidence in knowing what to do, what to expect and the exit plans, etc.

Walking to the car after church this morning, Elkan asked his mummy with a stoic straight face “Mummy, we need to go to Seven Eleven to buy some chocolates for daddy, or else he will faint!”. Christine was walking just ahead of me and the girls along the path to the car, just 50 metres away from the church building, and just a mere stone’s throw away from the Seven Eleven store at the mall.

Then he turned to look at me and shouted… “Daddy! you feeling faint right? Right? Right? Daddy!”

Man…. this young man is getting very manipulative. certainly cute at this stage and age, but not good values to grow into. Hmm… will be trying to spend more time with him to impart Godly values.

Wah Lau.. today, the market is just a sea of RED.

This is my watch list of stocks in Singapore. Mostly index component stocks, but still cannot tahan the Dow’s drop. Good thing I saw the signs early, and got out of a pretty good stock. Made a small sum of just under 1k. Not too bad…..

I just went to check my imaginery stocks at Investopedia, and what do you know!

Its mostly turned green.

Whats the lesson here?

Make sure you choose fundamentally sound and good stocks, and ride through the volatility. Over the long term, your investments should appreciate.

Of course, theres a lot more complexity to the business of investing/trading. This is just one of the minor lessons.

I was reading my bible today, and one of the passages was Joshua 24: 1-33. In verse 11 and 14 goes:

11 “When you crossed the Jordan River and came to Jericho, the men of Jericho fought against you, as did the Amorites, the Perizzites, the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Girgashites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites. But I gave you victory over them. 12 And I sent terror[c] ahead of you to drive out the two kings of the Amorites. It was not your swords or bows that brought you victory. 13 I gave you land you had not worked on, and I gave you towns you did not build—the towns where you are now living. I gave you vineyards and olive groves for food, though you did not plant them.

14 “So fear the Lord and serve him wholeheartedly. Put away forever the idols your ancestors worshiped when they lived beyond the Euphrates River and in Egypt. Serve the Lord alone. 15 But if you refuse to serve the Lord, then choose today whom you will serve. Would you prefer the gods your ancestors served beyond the Euphrates? Or will it be the gods of the Amorites in whose land you now live? But as for me and my family, we will serve the Lord.”

Wow…. how wonderful God is. He confirms again and again and again, to show that we’re in His will. We just prayed that prayer yesterday night as a family, to reaffirm our vow both Chris and I took in 1999 when we were married. “But as for me and my family, we will serve the Lord.” Last night, we prayed it as a family….. with an addition of 3 more young lives whom we know God is touching daily.

Lord, you are out of this world.