-----

It burns, because it's true.

_Wong.

Remember...

Ecclesiastes 12: 1-8 (NIV)

  1 Remember your Creator in the days of your youth,
before the days of trouble come and the years approach when you will say,
"I find no pleasure in them" --
2 before the sun and the light and the moon and the stars grow dark,
and the clouds return after the rain;
3 when the keepers of the house tremble,
and the strong men stoop,
when the grinders cease because they are few,
and those looking through the windows grow dim;
4 when the doors to the street are closed and the sound of grinding fades;
when men rise up at the sound of birds but all their songs grow faint;
5 when men are afraid of heights and of dangers in the streets;
when the almond tree blossoms and the grasshopper drags himself
along
and the desire no longer is stirred.
then man goes to his eternal home and mourners go about the streets.
6 remember him-- before the silver cord is severed,
or the golden bowl is broken; before the pitcher is shattered at the spring,
or the wheel broken at the well,
7 and dust returns to the ground it came from,
and the spirit returns to God who gave it.
8 "Meaningless! Meaningless! Meaningless!" says the Teacher,
"Everything is meaningless!"

*By far one of my favorite chapters in The Bible.


_Wong.

World Visions

Bangladesh: Sumaya’s new life

---

By Lipy Mary Rodrigues


Sumaya Aktar, 11, cannot recall her parents’ faces anymore. She lost them at an early stage in her life, one after another. Her father Mohamad, a driver, died in a road accident when she was a baby. At 5, Sumaya lost her mother, Selina. When Sumaya became an orphan, she became homeless. Nobody wanted to take the responsibility for her. Sumaya’s life became a floating ship without any destination.

The little girl was sent to a relative’s house to work as a maid servant. She does not remember that time in her life as happy. A short time later, one of her uncles learned about the street children drop-in-centre that is run by World Vision Bangladesh. He left Sumaya there.


Sumaya became a member of the Street Children Drop-in-Centre in Dhaka in 2006. Now she is part of a large family atmosphere led by a woman she refers to as her mother. At the centre, she lives with 12 younger girls whom she calls sisters.


After coming to the centre, Sumaya got the chance to go to school. Now in Grade 6, Sumaya has become a leader.


“Sumaya is senior to all daughters in my family. She is very responsible towards her own duties as well as responsible to the other sisters,” says Merina Ma, who runs the centre.


Sumaya is a star student, whom Merina describes as “brilliant.” She sings and she paints.


“My Sumaya is very gentle and benevolent, she never misbehaves with others. She is a little hero in my sweet family,” says Merina. “I do believe that she will be an established woman in future.”


“It is true that I cannot remember my real parents anymore,” says Sumaya. “My father died when I was only six months old and mother expired at my age of five. Sometimes I feel sad for that.”


But she also counts her blessings. “I am lucky enough that I have my Merina Ma here,” she says. “I have got my family back through World Vision. I know there are still children like me who have neither parents at home, living on the streets like a refugee.”


Her dream is to be highly educated and to work for the orphan street children who have lost their parents and home forever.


Sumaya, a light of hope, a little hero, has started her journey to remove all the darkness from her place on earth.


Photo by Lipy Mary Rodrigues.
©2011 World Vision Bangladesh
http://www.wvi.org/wvi/wviweb.nsf/updates/26CC22FD10D09635882578C4004EE186?opendocument

_Wong.

I don't need drugs, I got the Most High.

One women's addictive lifestyle;

 "My name is Krystal, I am 29 years old and the mother of two sons, ages 5 and 10. Growing up both of my parents were addicts. They separated when I was 6 months old. At the age of 14 my dad picked me up for the first time in years and when he dropped me off he went and robbed a bank-- his way of saying goodbye for a while. At the age of 24 I became addicted to pain pills and lost my kids, house, business, and went to jail all within a week. When I lost my kids I finally broke and went into a deep depression. Before I knew it, I was in the hospital about to lose my arm from injecting heroin. One day I called my Daddy for help and he handed me a crack pipe and told me to smoke it, that it would help ease my withdrawals. This sent me to the streets to earn the money to support my new habit. I just wanted to die. I cried out to God and told him I can't live with the pain of the hurt I caused my kids and I did not want to be an addict anymore. I was tired. I did not know how to deal with the pain when I was sober. Then God put a family in my path to help me and they did. They sent me to Teen Challenge. I have been there for 9 months and it has been the best thing I have ever done. I have hope now. I believed there was a God but I never knew him. Now I have an intimate relationship with Him. I know He is going to restore my family in His timing. I want to live! I have an unexplainable peace in my heart and soul."

Though we may not know what it is about drugs that leave so many coming back for more, we now know what can make them stop. Being on a God High is like no other and if you are someone or know someone who is struggling check out www.teenchallenge.cc 

_Wong.

Sharing the Good News.

-------- Here to spread good vibes and not the scum of this world,

-------- The love of God and not the dirt the wind whirls.

-------- Here to leave hope, enlightenment or a new view,

-------- This purpose to fulfill and to devoutly execute.

     _Wong.