THE SEED

A successful Christian business man was growing old and knew it was time to chose a successor to take over the business. Instead of choosing one of his directors or his children, he decided to do something different.

He called all the young executives in his company together.

"It is time for me to step down and choose the next CEO," he said. "I have decided to choose one of you."

The young executives were shocked, but the boss continued. "I am going to give each one of you a seed today - a very special seed. I want you to plant the seed, water it, and come back here one year from today with what you have grown from the seed I have given you. I will then judge the plants that you bring, and the one I choose will be the next CEO."

One man, named Jim, was there that day and he, like the others, received a seed.
He went home and excitedly, told his wife the story. She helped him get a pot, soil and compost and he planted the seed.

Every day, he would water it and watch to see if it had grown. After about three weeks, some of the other executives began to talk about their seeds and the plants that were beginning to grow. Jim kept checking his seed, but nothing ever grew.

Three weeks, four weeks, five weeks went by, still nothing. By now, others were talking about their plants, but Jim didn't have a plant and he felt like a failure.

Six months went by - still nothing in Jim's pot. He just knew he had killed his seed. Everyone else had trees and tall plants, but he had nothing. Jim didn't say anything to his colleagues, however. He just kept watering and fertilizing the soil - he so wanted the seed to grow.

A year finally went by and all the young executives of the company brought their plants to the CEO for inspection. Jim told his wife that he wasn't going to take an empty pot. But she asked him to be honest about what happened.

Jim felt sick at his stomach. It was going to be the most embarrassing moment of his life, but he knew his wife was right.

He took his empty pot to the board room. When Jim arrived, he was amazed at the variety of plants grown by the other executives. They were beautiful--in all shapes and sizes. Jim put his empty pot on the floor and many of his colleagues laughed. A few felt sorry for him!
When the CEO arrived, he surveyed the room and greeted his young executives.
Jim just tried to hide in the back.

"My, what great plants, trees, and flowers you have grown," said the CEO.

"Today one of you will be appointed the next CEO!"

All of a sudden, the CEO spotted Jim at the back of the room with his empty pot. He ordered the financial director to bring him to the front.

Jim was terrified. He thought, "The CEO knows I'm a failure! Maybe he will have me fired!"
When Jim got to the front, the CEO asked him what had happened to his seed. Jim told him the story.

The CEO asked everyone to sit down except Jim. He looked at Jim, and then announced to the young executives, "Here is your next Chief Executive! His name is Jim!"

Jim couldn't believe it. Jim couldn't even grow his seed. How could he be the new CEO the others said?

Then the CEO said, "One year ago today, I gave everyone in this room a seed. I told you to take the seed, plant it, water it, and bring it back to me today. But I gave you all boiled seeds; they were dead - it was not possible for them to grow. All of you, except Jim, have brought me trees and plants and flowers. When you found that the seed would not grow, you substituted another seed for the one I gave you. Jim was the only one with the courage and honesty to bring me a pot with my seed in it. Therefore, he is the one who will be the new Chief Executive!"

If you plant honesty, you will reap trust.

If you plant goodness, you will reap friends.

If you plant humility, you will reap greatness.

If you plant perseverance, you will reap contentment

If you plant consideration, you will reap perspective.

If you plant hard work, you will reap success.

If you plant forgiveness, you will reap reconciliation.

If you plant faith in Christ, you will reap a harvest.

So, be careful what you plant now; it will determine what you will reap later.

Two thousand years ago Paul wrote to the church at Galatia the same story but with fewer words, "What you sow, so shall you reap" (Gal. 6:7).

We are grass that will wither and die but the incorruptible seed of God's Word will live forever - sow it daily into the life of your family! (1 Peter 1: 23 - 25).

May we cherish and be thankful for whatever God has done, is doing and going to do in every single one of us. Be focus on Him and His Words for He is the almighty and most amazing Creator of all things in the universe.

Hallelujah!

Focus more on the good times, less on the bad times. Afterall, this is life, inevitablly, sometimes its good, sometimes its not so good. But with a
positive outlook and approach to life, then maybe life seems better
afterall.

- Henry (25 March 07)

aiyo y only a few of us toking only? where are the others? talk rubbish also can show some interest in our team discussion ......

forgot what is the feeling,to lose a match and get hype up for the next match. hey team,let get together again , feel the team spirit.

- Wei Liang (07 March 2007)

"To answer my view about loyalty of players, I think its simply about not
giving up to improve for the team. Attendance for trainings and matches
itself is not enough to show you are loyal. Its about making
self-improvement on the field for the team. I'd think a person is very
loyal to the team when he fights hard and grit his teeth to get into the
first 11 by improving himself on the pitch in trainings or matches, and not
those who ll give up halfway because they feel that they just cant break
into the first team."

- David Witarsa (5th March 2007)

Hey guys, I found this post on David's blog and I thought that its very inspirational... so enjoy!!!

Posted by David: June 14, 2006

My life fulfilling trip
Alrightey…my first blog…haha I‘m never really a fan of blogging but I just wanna share a little something to all of my friends…
I’ve just came back from my 3D2N Bali trip. On the last day of the trip, as I was waiting for my tour bus to pick me up from my hotel to the airport. I had a bit a time to go to the beach to enjoy the sea breeze for the last time, well at least for sometime to come….
So there I was, laying flat with my sunny on, looking at the waves roaring to the shore and enjoying the oncoming breeze rushing in from the never ending oceanic view when I noticed a man sitting on the sandy shoreline diagonally in front of me with his back facing me. There he was, with his hat on, dressed simply in dark blue polo-t and accompanied by a rather ruggard and worn-out pair of long pants. There was a large wooden box, flipped open, on his lap. Inside it was full of necklaces, rings, earrings, etc… things that you can usually find in pasar malam stalls…And so I realised he was a small time trader who sells these stuffs…
Equipped with a cloth on one hand, he was wiping clean of all his products… This may be a common scene to some… but before long I found myself even more engrossed with this whole image. And I admit, I peeped through my sunny for quite sometime… At that time, it really gets me thinking… I mean look at this man, he might not be earning much, he may have to go some days trying to sell his jewels in vain, bcos it aint easy to earn considerable profits especially when you are selling “fake” stuffs while many will prefer having brandish ones around their necks or wrists…. Not to mention on how far customers will actually push the limit of bargainings for these “lower” quality goods…But there he was, polishing them, not just ignorant polishing though. He was very diligent in wiping clean every of his stuffs and displaying them nicely on his wooden box… making sure that his products are sparkling clean and neat, hoping to entice more customers…
He might not be earning millions of profits per day, but I can see that he really takes a lot of pride in the thing he does… When he was finished with the cleaning, which easily took him about an hour or so… (cos that was how long I spent laying beat there)…he got up, wearing a big smile on his face, carried his stuffs and approached nearby tourists,... back to having a shot again to attracting them to buy his products by painstakingly trying to communicate in English with them….
Until now I still can’t shake off this live image from my head… I realise even more that life isn’t all about work, money making, big houses, sweet looking cars, blah, blah, blah… Life is more about the simple things we usually take for granted…the things that we are surrounded with and the people that we are blessed with…
If we take pride with everything we do in life, we’ll then find satisfaction and fulfilment of this so often called “sucky life”….
As for me, that very moment was when I started to treasure more the soothing sound of the onrushing waves, the inland gushing winds, to try and breathe in as much fresh ocean air as possible to cleanse my lungs =P
Cos I know not everyday that I can have the privilege to lay dead and be carefree =D
Life aint that bad afterall eh…
A Good Life ain’t there to be achieved… It is already there, laying in wait for each one of us to be able to see it…