A Special Day - 31.1.2007

In my previous blog, I mentioned that a life changing event happened to me. You must be wondering by now what exactly is this life changing event?

31.1.2007 is actually the day that I proposed to gnelia to be my beloved GF.

Several weeks before 31.1.2007, I've already decided to propose to gnelia; after much thought and prayer. I've even bought a small but meaningful gift that I would give to her during my proposal. The most difficult part of proposing is to find the suitable time and date. I was contemplating on this for a while, until a God-sent opportunity arised.

Gnelia was graduating from her Dale Carnegie course on 31.1.2007, and the next day's a public holiday - Thaipusam. Also, I recalled that gnelia mentioned that her buddy's husband once recommended that guys should do important things on easy to remember dates, so that when their GF asked many years later, they would be able to answer. Example, "Honey... When's our first wedding anniversary", or "Darling... Do you still remember when you proposed to me?" Failing which, there might be dire consequences. I heeded the advice, and thought that 31.1.2007 is simply perfect.

I took 2 days of leave (Wed and Fri) so that I can travel back earlier to Klang to attend gnelia's DC graduation.

On 31.1.2007, I travelled to Wisma UOA2 , near Petronas Twin Tower. The graduation was supposed to start at 7pm. However, because I was so unfamiliar with KL roads, I left around 3:30pm, thinking that even if I got lost, I would have sufficient time to find my way to Wisma UOA2. Before that, I was using Google Earth to try to find my way to Wisma UOA2. I also printed out maps, asked for directions from my sis, etc. I wanted to minimize the risk of me losing my way helplessly in KL on such an important day...

Thank God, everything went smoothly - traffic was pretty smooth, and I managed to find UOA2, and parked my car by 4:30pm. Now that I've reached UOA2 2.5 hours earlier, I decided to explore the UOA2 building and its surroundings. I wandered all over UOA2, and crossed over to Crowne Plaza Hotel. All this while, trying to find a suitable place to propose to gnelia. After much walking, I pretty much convinced myself that Crowne Plaza had the best setting. Thereafter, I walked a little more until gnelia called me around 6pm, while I was near Starbucks/Aquarious.

She told me that she had a short break, and wanted to grab something to eat. We walked over to KLCC and bought Aunt Anne's pretzel. She had Almond, while I had cheese, and a lemonade. After that we parted again, and I explored a little bit more (went to Novotell) before going up to UOA2, to the DC Training Center.

The moment I walked into the class, ML greeted me BY NAME, and shook my hand. JC also greeted me BY NAME. I was quite surprised as to how they got to know my name without me telling them. Must be gnelia... =P (Later I found out that it wasn't her either, might be her coursemate). Anyway, I took a seat, and observed the class being conducted by JC. I found that JC's a pretty good instructor, his English's fluent, clear, easy to understand, and he introduced humor quite frequently, and at the right time; making the class lively, and interesting.

I think I learned something about communication and leadership skills too by just being an observer. There're several major "drivers" that they talked about, let's see if I can still remember... 1) The Rock = Confidence, 2) Crackling Teeth = Communication, 3) Conductor = Leadership, 4) Book = Networking, 5) Panadol = Stress Management, 6) Fireworks = Enthusiasm/Passion.

When I joined, JC was still going through the course content with the DC students. Once that was done, we had a "makan" session before proceeding to the graduation. The graduation wasn't as straight forward as I thought. All the students had to give like a 5 min talk on what they'd learned about the course, and what they envisioned doing in 2007. The session was interesting, but long. By the time everyone took their turn, it was already 9pm. I was a little worried that it'd be too late for the proposal by the time the graduation ended; I really wanted to propose on 31.1.2007 in Crowne Plaza.

Good thing the whole graduation ceremony ended around 10:30pm. By then, I was quite worried, because there's only 1.5 hours till midnight. Gnelia wanted to bring me to Murni in Damansara for supper. Due to the lack of time, I changed my mind to propose in Murni. We travelled to Murni from KLCC, and reached there around 11:30pm. To my horror, the place's soOoOo..... PACKED! How am I supposed to propose to her in such an environment? Gnelia suggested that we sit inside the shop, where there're some seats. I looked, and wasn't amused at all - stuffy, wet, noisy, with people walking back and forth.

I told gnelia that I've something for her, and really want to give it to her before midnight. So I whisked her back to the car, switched on the lights, presented her the gift, and proposed to her. The answer that I got was a gentle yet convincing YES!

I was so happy and relieved then! We didn't end up having our supper in Murni that day. We had it in a nearby restaurant instead.

31.1.2007 was truly a special day instead. My life has changed because I've proposed and received the affirmation from my life's partner. Life would never be the same again... 31.1.2007 was also the day I gently held the hand of my GF, and I pray that I'll never ever have to let go.

The Return of the Blogger

Hello Bloggie! It's been 4 months since I last logged on, that's 1/3 of a year! You must be wondering what I have done, and where I have been. I've actually done quite a lot in the 4 months time frame, and have experienced a life changing event. I did not blog all those down because of 2 main reasons (as usual) - Business, and Laziness - bad combination...

Since I can't remember most of the details of what I've done over the past 4 months, I'll just list down the major ones up till 30.1.2007.

Moving House

If you read my previous blog entry, I kept asking when can I move to my new house. Well, I've finally moved into my new house somewhere in the end of November. It was not easy, as I had to complete all renovation works before December 1, 2006, so that my brother-in-law (BIL) had a place to stay when he returned from Germany. It took me a mere 1 month to complete all renovation, painting, cleaning, and moving. Boy was it tough, as I had to work in the day time while completing those at night or over the weekend.

But thank God, I have a Mom who's in the "Superwoman" category. A little bit about my mother to give you an idea why I call her "Superwoman". When my sisters and I were younger, my Mom had to work full time as a government servant, and still take care of us. Not only did my Mom cook all sorts of tasty dishes/food for us, and do the usual house chores; she was also the "engineer" in the house. If there's painting, carpentry, plumbing, or other miscellaneous house maintenance that needed to be taken care of, my Mom would be the one who figured out how to take care of those. I remembered that She'd even climb the roof to fix the leaking rooftop. Is she "Superwoman" or what? I sincerely do not know how many mothers out there could actually do what my Mom did for us. Thanks Mom.

Back to getting ready the house... My Mom helped me tremendously. Not only did she help me with the painting, but also with the curtains, and many other taxing tasks. Because of her, I'm able to move in to my current house in such a short time. Again, thanks Mom.

Christmas / New Year

Christmas and New Year was special this year because I've found someone to celebrate it together with - my dear GF - gnelia. At this point, she's still not my GF, but a special friend, someone that has a special place in my heart. I met up with gnelia several times during the Christmas/New Year period, and always enjoyed meeting and chatting with her. I even sent her to the airport when she travelled to Cambodia on New Year's Eve.

Weekends on January

Due to unforeseen reasons, I travelled back to Klang every week in the month of January. On some weekends, I didn't plan to travel back, but because my BIL had something to do, I tagged along. I am glad that I did because I get to spend time with gnelia, to understand her more, and to confirm that she's the one that God has prepared for me - my life's partner.

中秋节快乐！我几时可以搬家呢？

Yesterday was 中秋节, and thanks to our "friends" in Indonesia, it was a very hazy day. The visilibility dropped significantly, thus I can't even see the 月亮! Air quality was also bad, I think I can smell the haze, and it's actually causing some uneasiness to my respiration. These inconsiderate, unscrupulous people are really ticking me off. Is the Indonesian government so incompetent? Or are they simply ignorant? Give me an army, and I'll conquer that country and put an end to this once and for all.

Anyway, I didn't end up carrying the lantern and walk around my Taman, just went for badminton, sent my dirty clothes to the dobi shop, quick dinner, and also spent some quality time chatting online and not so fruitful time playing games online. I slept around 3am I think after reading a little bit more of 倚天屠龙记 by 金庸.

I woke up around 8:30am today morning. You must be wondering.. "You're not working, why are you getting up so early, crazy ar you?" No... I'm not crazy, and it was not for exercise. I made an appointment to meet up with the developer's site supervisor and contractor for my new house at 9am. Please take note of the time... 9AM October 7, 2006.

I waited... it was 9:30AM, no one showed up, not even the site supervisor. The contractor's an uneducated retard, so I give him a little bit more allowance. (Ok, that may sound a little too harsh, but I'm not exaggerating at all, and I'm not repentent for saying that!) Why? Because the first time I met him, not only was he rude to me (who's the customer), but also say silly things like "We have different level of education, so I don't want to waste my time talking/explaining to you, blah blah blah..." Oh give me a break, and be reasonable. It doesn't matter if a person has little or no education, but it's all about the attitude and mindset. The fact that he promised to be onsite at 9am, but did not without explanation or proper notification, just goes to show his character and values (none I believe). 华人最讲信用，他连这么基本的做人道理也不会，那不是丢了我们华人的脸，也枉称为人!

Anyway, I was disappointed because the site superviror's no where to be seen! I called him, and he said that he's on the way. Why does Malaysians have to be like that? Don't they know anything about accountability? I think this is why Malaysia's so slow in developing and catching up with other developing nation... Mindset, and attitude! If you say 9am, be there at 9am, not 9:30, 10, 10:30am, or worst.. FFK! If you can't make it on-time, CALL to inform others that you'll be late, don't let people just wait for you unknowingly. That's very irresponsible, and rude! Especially if the people waiting for you are your customers!

The site supervisor showed up round 9:40am, but the contractor's still nowhere to be seen. I waited, and waited, and waited... By 11:15am, I gave up. I called up the developer's manager and expressed my utmost dissatisfaction, and wanted a satisfactory explanation/follow-up to today's situation. Failing which, I'll hold the developer accountable as well, cause I can only assume that they accept the contractor's behavior by condoning his actions, or they simply do not care about customer's interests, despite promising during sales that any defects will be taken care of promptly.

The reason why I'm waking up early to deal with these unhonorable people is because I've been delayed from moving into my new house for 2 months because of the contractor's incompetency in fixing the defects that I've identified in my new house. They claim that the defects have been fixed, but everytime I check, they're still there! Makes me wonder if they're just giving me lame excuses and trying to ignore me; trying to delay as much as they could until I'm worn out, and say to them "Ok... give me the keys, I'll fix the problem on my own, and on my own expense! Please.. oh please give me the keys, I beg you... Oh developer. I know I've paid RM200K for this, and I'm the customer, but I beg you... please... give me the keys... give me my precious...." Duh........ Customer service anyone?

Anyway, I've given them an ULTIMATUM. I want my keys this Monday, I don't care if the problems are not fixed. I'll fix them, and they'll pay for them. Failing which, I'll make sure they understand that ONE angry customer would tell 10 friends that their houses are bad, and 10 friends would tell 10 friends, 10x10x10... You get the idea....

Hopefully this would pressure them into doing something meaningful to solve my problems, and let me move in soon!! Anyway, enough about that. Let me end with some nice quotes on 中秋节 that I found on the web:

• 悠悠的云里有淡淡的诗，淡淡的诗里有绵绵的喜悦，绵绵的喜悦里有我轻轻的问候，中秋快乐!
• 年年圆满如意，月月事事顺心，日日喜悦无忧，时时高兴欢喜，刻刻充满朝气，月圆人圆花好，事顺业顺家兴！
• 秋夜，秋风，中秋月。天明，月亮，汝更靓。秋风月，中秋夜，思乡切。
• 网缘！情缘！月圆！中秋夜语寄相思，花好月圆情难圆。带去问候和思恋，心想事成愿缘圆。
• 海上明月共潮生，千里相思随云去，遥寄祝福千万缕，化作清风入梦里。中秋快乐！
• 清风带去我的祝福，明月捎走我的问候，送你一丝风儿，赠你一缕月儿，风月无边，人间有情，中秋快乐
• 秋江潮水连海平，海上明月共潮生，花好月圆人团聚，祝福声声伴你行。祝你中秋愉快,靓丽一生!

Eventful Weekend

I decided to travel back to Klang with my friends last weekend as I had not been back for 3 weeks. The trip back to Klang was rather "short" because I slept in the car for pretty much the whole trip. I didn't do much Friday night because my buddy's too tired, and was occupied with "Black Hawk Down." Nonetheless, I managed to spend some quality time with my family members.

Saturday was quite an eventful day. The first thing I did after waking up is to go play with Jaynie, my cute baby niece. The angelic smile on her face when she saw me was just PRICELESS. Her smile and enthusiasm in her small little cradle just made the trip back even more worthwhile than it already was. I spent quite some time with Jaynie before going to my PC and print out the music sheet for Yiruma's "Kiss The Rain" (a really nice piano piece). I tried to play the piece through once, but boy was it hard. The notes in the "Kiss The Rain" were so high up (several octaves higher than usual) that I had difficulty reading the notes, as I don't usually play those notes in a normal piano piece. What to do? I've gotten rusty, so had to get a pen and write down the alphabet for the notes, C, D, E, F, G, .... After some extra effort, I managed to play the piece once through, though with many unnecessary pauses and hitting the wrong notes. The only comfort that I had was, I'd only get better the next time I play it.

After having some homemade yam cake, I rushed for Young Adult Fellowship at Jason's place. The meeting was pretty casual. Jason threw a thought for discussion on what it means to live a joyful life to all the Young Adults. We shared, and discussed about the topic for the next hour or so. Jason shared about his ordeal in Vietnam. I shared about how I bumped into this Hispanic ex-motorcycle gang member who claimed that he had turned over a new leaf, and made me part with USD80 when I was on business trip in US. Uncle Beng also shared very very briefly how he parted with some money and still trying to get it back. I don't think I'll elaborate further just in case Auntie Alice so happens bump into my blog. Hehehe.... =P

The YAF meeting ended around 12:30pm. I had to rush to Subang Jaya for the capoeira class in Celebrity Fitness. It was already 1:00pm by the time I reached CF, and the class had started. Nonetheless, I jumped right in and learned some new capoeira moves. Still find it amusing that those aunties who're well over 40 trying really hard to execute those capoeira moves requiring much agility and nimbleness. I spent about 2.5 hours in the gym before heading home to help out with babysitting Jaynie.

I've got to admit, babysitting a newborn is seriously a mega difficult task. If Jaynie's sleeping soundly or behaving all's good and well. However, if she starts crying, the headache and frustration starts. Reason being, you can't really figure out if she really needs something like food/drink, diaper change, sleep, pacifier, etc, OR... she's simply trying to be difficult or naughty. Yes, baby can be naughty and throw tantrums also. If she cries because she needs something taken care of, it is still manageable. However, the latter is harder, because you'll have to carry her around until she's sleepy, or satisfied, whichever comes first. Else, you'll have to carry her around for hours. You must be wondering, why not just put her down? Of course I tried that, but she would start crying instantaneously, how interesting...

Saturday night was pretty quiet, went for Mamak with my buddy WT, and played online game for the rest of the night. I also received news from dear gnelia that she's been elected as the VP of her YM. Was happy for her and promised to buy her a nice lunch/dinner, even if it meant that I had to wash plates to pay for it. =P We decided to have lunch the next day at Central.

After Sunday Worship, met up with Gnelia at Central for lunch. I was prepared to buy her an expensive lunch. However, she was not feeling too well, so she only ordered Seafood porridge and a cup of drink. I on the other hand, ordered the cheese rice which is twice more expensive than the porridge. Silly me... I was supposed to buy her an expensive lunch, not myself. We had an enjoyable lunch together before parting. She had to rush back for a badminton game, and a wedding dinner at night. I went back and helped babysit Jaynie a little before getting ready to travel back to Kulim.

The travel back to Kulim wasn't too bad, slept a little, and chatted with my friends to help ease the 5-hour journey. Reached Kulim around 11pm, and cleaned up a little before heading to bed. There goes my weekend... Another week awaits me, will the annoucement be made this week? Will my counterparts survive the onslaught of the efficiency exercise? Or rather, will I be one of the unlucky ones? Only God knows, and I'll leave it to Him...

I can't acces my blog anymore =(

For some weird reasons, I'm not able to access my blog anymore. It has been more than 2 weeks I think. I've sent an email for help from the blog owners/admin, but no reply yet... I hope that they didn't accidentally deleted my blog, or worst, intentionally did.

Or maybe this problem will go away after I publish this new blog entry?

Drive to Ipoh + A Walk Down Memory Lane

I left Klang today around 7:30am together with my Mom, Dad, and younger sis for Ipoh to pick up my niece, baby Jaynie, from Ipoh. She was left at the care of the grandmother previously. However, due to unforeseen turn of events, Jaynie's grandmom's health problem came back to torment her. Therefore, she could not take good care of Jaynie, and requested for my mom's help.

We reached Menglembu, Ipoh around 10:30am and wanted to have brunch at Eastern Ocean Restaurant in Menglembu, as they serve prett decent food at a decent price. Unfortunately, it was not open until 11:45am. So, we went to have Dim Sum first at a nearby restaurant. Dim Sum in Menglembu's really nice and affordable, the "Har Kau" actually had 3-4 big prawns in them, can you believe that?!?

After a semi-light Dim Sum, we went back to Eastern Ocean and had our lunch. Hehehe... I think I gained an extra kg or two today, because of this. We had pork hand, fish cooked with minced ginger, noodles, and waterchesnut dessert. The food was decent as expected. =)

We went to pick up Jaynie from her grandmother's place after that, and went straight back to Klang. The drive back was quite challenging, as I was tired after long hours of travelling, and it was raining cats and dogs pretty much the whole journey back. It rained even heavier when I reached Klang around 4:30pm.

After unloading/unpacking Jaynie's baby stuff, it was already 5pm. Thereafter, my family spent some quality time together, with Jaynie keeping us occupied most of the time with her needs/demands. I never realized how hard it was to take care of a baby until my sister gave birth to Jaynie. If the baby's needs are not met within relatively short amount of time, she'll cry and cry and cry; with each cry more significant/immense than the previous ones, until her needs/demands are met. Trust me, it's not easy to figure out what they want by just listening to the cries. It's mostly trial and error. Therefore, I would like to take this opportunity here to salute ALL mothers! =P

After dinner, I was browsing through some old contents in my computer, and I found pictures taken from my university days. They really brought me down memory lane, reminding me of people, places, and things that I encountered years ago. I don't think I changed much, except I looked a little younger. =)

Here's me, with the FIRST ever snowman that I built when I was studying in Pennsylvania, USA.


I was thinking of posting more... but since I have a Neutral Expert personality, I changed my mind. =P

High EQ vs Efficiency Exercise

Last Monday, I attended an interesting class called EQ for Innovative Leadership. I was one of several privileged engineers selected by my manager to attend the class, as the class wasn't held often, and seating was limited.

EQ stands for Emotional Quotient. Whilst IQ (Intelligence Quotient) mesures one's intelligence, EQ measures one's ability to sense, understand and effectively apply the power and acumen of emotions as a source of human energy, information and influence.

Before the class, I took a survey based on the LEONARD (Let's Explore Openness, Neutral, Analytical, Relational, and Decisive) that tries to categorize my personality based on how high I scored in Openness, Neutral, Analytical, Relational, and Decisive. After completing the test, I ended up being categorized as a Neutral Expert. Link: http://www.leonard.com.my

Strengths of a Neutral Expert is summarized as follows:

• is a good listener
• likes moderation
• likes to do things in a way acceptable to others
• is accommodating to others' requests
• is a calm person
• value being part of a team
• try to think well of others

Weakness of a Neutral Expert is as follows:

• get hurt easily by others
• need acceptance from others
• lack confidence in self
• avoid confrontations with othes
• is not a goal-setter
• is too easygoing
• tend to be self-conscious

I have to say that I agree with most of the strength and weaknesses listed. These psycho things can be very true to an extent it's scary. Anyway, I really enjoyed the class, as I learned a lot about maintaining high EQ, and being innovative. In addition, I also learned how to be a good husband/parent. Not sure why he touched on those, I guess it helps us boost our EQ if we have a healthy and happy family. =)

One interesting point that he touched on is about husband and wife relationship. Humans have TWO basic needs - Social-Emotional Security, and Significance. Social-Emotional security is the feeling of socially accepted by someone, the feeling of belonging. Significance is the feeling of being valued, and being important. The wife would usually focus more on Social-Emotional needs, while he husband on the Significance.

In a healthy relationship, the husband should give the wife the feeling of security and beloging, i.e. Social-Emotional security. In return, the wife who's socially and emotionally secured would make the husband feel important and valued, i.e. Significance. If for some reason, the husband neglects the wife's needs, the wife's social-emotional security will be affected. Depending on the wife's tolerence, she may live with it for a while. However, analogus to a petrol tank that's full, tolerance has its limit too. Once the "petrol" in the petrol tank's empty, then "hiccups", and for more severe case, "breakdowns" will start to appear. This signals the start of the husband's problems and nightmares. =)

How do you sense a "breakdown" or problem is occurring in the relationship? The class instructor gave a very interesting and humorous example. If one day, a husband came home, and the wife started nagging, and bring up stories that happened years ago, and made a big fuss out of it, that signals a "hiccup." A husband who's low in EQ would join in the foray, and end up drinking bitter wine at the bar, and sleeping in the living room. If not handled properly, the problem could worsen and the relationship could end up in a "breakdown".

What should a husband who's high in EQ do? When the wife starts nagging, he should STAND there, and LISTEN. Don't SAY or DO ANYTHING! At this point, the wife's not looking for answers. When the wife says "Go away", DON'T. Stand there. This situation does not calls for obedience. Next, reach out and gently touch the wife. She may push the husband away. Again, DON'T give in. Instead, gently HOLD, and EMBRACE. These persistent actions are FOCUSED ATTENTION. When a husband gives focused attention to the wife, he's giving the wife social-emotional security.

Therefore, as husband/wife, it is important to continue to "add oil" in the relationship else, you'll find that there'll be unwanted "hiccups" and "breakdowns" in the relationship.

Wow, I didn't intend to write so much on the EQ class, but it's just so interesting... Anyway, after the EQ class, my EQ's really improved significantly. That really helps with the storm that I am and will be going through in the coming weeks.

My company, just announced that they would conduct massize layoffs of 10,500 employees worldwide to cut cost, and remain competitive in the business. To me, this really contradicts with what we're trying to do about a year ago. A year ago, we're expanding and spending like mad, we were even going to hire 2000-3000 more employees over the next 3 years in Malaysia alone. But less than one year has passed, and now we're talking about laying-off people in the thousands. What are the managers up in the management hierarchy thinking in the first place?!?! Geez....

I've caught wind that my department will be severely affected by this so called "efficiency exercise" aka "firing and layoff people exercise." This news does not go down with me well, thinking that many of colleagues/friends or maybe myself would be selected just scares me. I can tell that many of the employees are not really motivated to work. Everyone's not really in a jolly good mood with the impending layoff announcements that'll be happening, especially those who have bought properties around the area (ahem... myself included). What's going to happen to us, who' going to pay for the house/car/study loans, bills? Should we start updating our resumes and look for a new job? All these questions are just running through everyone's mind.

Am I worried? Of course, I'm but human after all. But, thanks to the EQ class, I'm not feeling miserable, I'm pretty much at peace. I may not be able to control the outcome of this exercise, but I sure can control how I feel. I can choose to focus on the negative things in life, and miserable, or I can choose to focus on the positive things in life, and be happy. Which will I choose? Of course to be happy! =)

In chinese, danger is known as 危机. 有危险，才有机会! Maybe good opportunities will arise from this? Who knows? All I can do now, is pray, have faith, and live a life of high EQ.

Wish me luck!

The Lord's Baseball Game

Freddy and the Lord stood by to observe a baseball game. The Lord's team was playing Satan's team. The Lord's team was at bat, the score was tied zero to zero, and it was the bottom of the 9th inning with two outs. They continued to watch as a batter stepped up to the plate named 'Love.' Love swung at the first pitch and hit a single, because "Love never fails." The next batter was named Faith , who also got a single because Faith works with Love. The next batter up was named Godly Wisdom... Satan wound up and threw the first pitch. Godly Wisdom looked it over and let it pass: Ball one. Three more pitches and Godly Wisdom walked because he never swings at what Satan throws. The bases were now loaded. The Lord then turned to Freddy and told him He was nowgoing to bring in His star player. Up to the plate stepped Grace... Freddy said, "He sure doesn't look like much!"Satan's whole team relaxed when they saw Grace ..Thinking he had won the game, Satan wound up and fired his first pitch. To the shock of everyone, Grace hit the ball harder than anyone had ever seen! But Satan was not worried; his center fielder let very few get by. He went up for the ball, but it went right through his glove, hit him on the head and sent him crashing on the ground; the roaring crowds went wild as the ball continued over the fence . . . for a home run!The Lord's team won! The Lord then asked Freddy if he knew why Love , Faith and Godly Wisdom could get on base but couldn't win the game. Freddy answered that he didn't know why. The Lord explained, "If your love , faith and wisdom had won the game, you would think you had done it by yourself. Love, Faith and Wisdom will get you on base but only My Grace can get you Home: For by Grace are you saved, it is a gift of God; not of works, lest any man should boast." Ephesians 2:8-9

Psalm 84:11, "For the Lord God is a sun and shield; the Lord will give grace and glory; no good thing will He withhold from those who walk uprightly."