Inside Out; Outside in

I was reading the texts from my Strategic Management textbook yesterday and came across this very interesting article and phrase.

'Inside out' and 'Outside in'.

The textbook gave an account in the context of organisations who plan and strategically for their goals, which are having the best product ever, excellent efficiency and productivity. Yup, they are the best, no way the system is gonna fail. Or is it so? Today we see many organisations getting stronger and bigger and meaner. However, their business is not getting any better. A glance across the profit return of the companies listed on the stock exchange will tell you that, their businesses are earning menial profit. Why? Why is General Motor the once leader of the world industry is now facing threat of bankruptcy and not even the US government is in position to pull it out of its hot soup. They all have this problem. They are looking from "inside - out". Business is about satisfying the customer. And if the the great product or organisation does not satisfy the customer, nope, it is not gonna stay in business very long. My textbook described this phenomena as if that these organisations have each a 'key', and they are looking for the 'lock' that match thier key. Not sure if they are going to be very successful in finding that 'lock'.

The answer is in looking from "outside - in". It is about satisfying the customer and understanding what does the customer wants? The correct attitude should be, "Right, yes, we got it, and yes, we will tweak our product and organisation to satisfy you Mr. Customer". This would be liken to having the 'lock' in place, and now we fashion our 'key' to match and unlock this stubborn lock. Looking from 'outside - in'. Looking from the customer perspective, not our.

I looked back at our Christian walk with the Lord. Have we been looking 'inside - out' or is it 'outside - in'? Have we been telling the Lord what we wanted and please Lord, do fulfil our wants. Or have we treated the Lord as the esteemed and Ultimate Customer, looking 'outside - in'. Being in-perfect ourselves, we need to fashioned ourselves to satisfy the Lord. Just how much have done that?

Lord, we have failed you many times, we had become the customer and treat You as if You are there to satisfy our wants. Now we repent and change. We will treat You as our customer, we will satisfy Your wants according to Your Word in the Bible.
Amen.

A Heavy Week - Thank You Lord

Wow, it sure is a very heavy week on this first week of June. It seems that everything is arriving at the same time together this week. Aaahh... Lord have mercy.

Last Tuesday, after a very long day at the workplace, I was truly tired out. But I was scheduled to drive my maid to the airport at LCCT, Sepang the same evening. Her flight was at 0655 hrs the next morning. That means I would have to reach there by 0455 hrs. The journey would take me four hours. I got my wife and Joseph my youngest son to join me. We took off with the maid at 0000 hrs. It was a very challenging journey, it would means that I would have to drive all night during our usual sleeping hours. I started well, driving slowly and steadily, but my eyelids got the better of me within the next half an hour. Wow, I really struggled to remain awake and to drive on safely. The truth is the body was so tired and I actually drove in a semi conscious state all the way to the airport. It must been so dangerous and I could have dozed off a dozen times. To make things worse, we met heavy rain in the midst of the journey and visibility was poor. I stopped at every R&R to take some fourty winks. The fourty winks sometime added up to a hundred. We reached the airport at about 0415 hrs. Still good timing! We spent about one a half hour in the airport sending the maid off and then make our way back to Kluang. That will be another 4 hrs on the road. Boy, I really had not sleep. Even with the daylight now, the return journey was as bad as the night journey. I was really tired out and was still driving in that semi conscious state. Reached Kluang finally at 1100 hrs.

How I did I survive that journey? Only God knows. I truly convinced that God has been merciful to me on that night and had sent a dozen His angels to watch over me and my car.

Thank you Lord.

WORD - FAITH

Today, I researched on the Word-Faith movement. It is labeled as a cult movement. Googled on "Word-Faith" and out came many familiar names. I was visibly upset by the reports I read. I was sad that the church is so naive and sometimes so take things for granted. Even to the point when God is challenged, many times we prefer to stay ignorant. Last week, pastor preached that we are in constant battle. Yes, I agree, we should not relax, surely the enemy comes prowling as a roaring lion waiting to devour all he can.

1 Peter 5:8
Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour:

Cults have been around for ages. The enemy comes to steal, kill and destroy. He is the deceiver of old (Rev 12:9). I just cannot accept that our beloved church is being infiltrate by the enemy right under our nose.

Need to research more. Will pray. Please join me, fellow soldier.

Mozart on Guitar

CRIME @ YOUNG AGE

(Excerpt taken from MNPN prayer New #11 dated 30 April 2009)

While we are constantly reminded of the rise in overall crime occurring in the country,the worrying fact is the increasing crimes committed by children who are under 18 years old.

Facts as reported by media

• IGP Tan Sri Musa Hassan said criminal cases involving juveniles, aged between 13 and 18 y/o, have been on the rise.
  
• There were 2,218 cases last year, compared with 1,836 in 2007 (1/4, Star Online). These cases involved 3,725 students of which 3,629 were between the ages of 13 and 18. They were linked to serious cases such as murder, rape and break-ins.
  
• Tan Sri Lee Lam Thye, vice chairman of Malaysia Crime Prevention Foundation, said 295 students were caught in the first two months of 2009 (5/4).
  
• In Pahang, a total of 202 students were arrested in 2008 for 147 criminal cases, ranging from rape amd molest to rioting and extortion.
  
• In the first two months of 2009 alone, 51 students were detained for involvement in 25 cases (22/4).
  
• Recently, police picked up 23 "punk" and skinhead teenagers in an operation in Pudu. "Most of them were high on alcohol," said Dang Wangi police chief Assistant Commissioner Zulkarnain Abdul Rahman (27/4, NST Online).
  
• According to a recent survey jointly conducted by the Youth Research & Development Institute of Malaysia and Psychology Research & Development Centre of Malaysia, 87% of Mat Rempit were those between 14 and 25. 48.1% of them indulged in illegal activities out of boredom, while 38% did it to fill their time. Another 27.8% due to peer pressure (1/4).
  
• A few days ago, some 20 Mat Rempit attacked and robbed a deaf girl at a petrol kiosk (26/4, Star Online)
  
• Statistics show that the number of girls below 16 engaging in sexual activities has increased. 60% had sex because they "wanted revenge" on their parents (27/4).
  
• Statistics from 2005 to 2008 showed 75% of the rape victims were below 18 and at least 60% of them were below 16.
  
• Boys below 18 made up between 8.4% and 13.6% of the 'rapists' (27/4)

What do people say about the causes of juvenile crime:

• Lack of morals and values are major reasons for the increase in crime.
• Emotional development in young people is being neglected.
  
• The demise of family life and the increase in family violence.
  
• Family breakdown, especially when parents contradict each other, provides no clear moral lead.
  
• Lack of parental supervision and father figure as role model.
• Growing incident of child abuse and child neglect
  
• "Boredom, low self-esteem and anger at the parents lead them to be Hells-Angels."
• Insufficient penalty for delinquent acts.
• Poverty: teenagers commit crime in response to failure to rise above their socioeconomic status, or as a rejection to middle-class values.
  
• Other risk factors: repeated exposure to violence, drugs, frustration or failure in school, delinquent peer groups, and media violence.
  
• Heavy exposure to internet or televised violence may be one of the causes of aggressive behavior, crime and violence in society.

I read the above report with sadness. These younger generation of our is so dear to us and yet we seems to be losing them. Dear Lord, do forgive us.

Angels and Demons

Watch the movie this evening with wifey and some friends. Actually enjoyed it, though it is not as good as reading the novel. Still much better than the previous Da Vinci Code.

Bersyukurlah

Healthy Self Image

We had our Power Point Meeting last night and my, it was a crowd. We continued our lessons from Joel Osteen's book Living Your Best Life Now. This time, it is Part 2 which dwells on developing a "Healthy Self Image". Guess what, I have to lead the discussion again. Oh..oh... how I drag myself to prepare for the lesson. Pheew... I actually pushed it aside until the very last day. Tell you the truth, I actually finally prepared the lesson for the evening, over lunch hour in the office. How lazy can you get, Cheekar, Cheekar???

Well, I am really amazed many times how God can work through the very the weakness of people, like me, and bring glory to Himself. For Him, it always work out while we freak out.

Some salient points from the lesson.

Self Concept:
Self Image - how we see ourselves
Self Esteem - how we feel about ourselves
Self Worth - How we value ourselves

Sum up, a level of self acceptance. I call it a measure.

We would never live beyond the self image we see for ourselves. It is like a measure we set for ourselves, and we will and we surely will live to that measure, be it a good or a poor measure. Hence, we got to make sure it is a healthy one.

The the question is, what is God's measure for us. What image does God sees us? How do our image of ourselves measure up to God's image for us?

Now I realised why the church keep asking us to confess, confess all those goody, goody stuffs. Sometimes sounded fake to me. I guess, in this context, if we confess and believe, we set a healthy self image for ourselves and hence we will live into achieving it.

If we have a healthy self image, we love ourselves and we can also love others. If cannot love ourselves, we too will find it difficult to love others. Richard Innes of ACT International says that we love others the same way we love ourselves.

1 John 4:19 We love because He first love us.

We have to be loved first, and then we can love others. Thus it is important to love one another, that they can also love others. If we cannot love ourselves, we cannot have a healthy self image. Why can't we love ourselves then? It is due to the dark secrets and hurts in us that are not resolved.

Richard Innes offers seven steps to developing a healthy self image for ourselves.

1. Be real, do not live behind a mask or in pretense. People will love our mask and not us.

2. Face the dark side of ourselves. This is the part that we are ashamed, guilty, embarrassed of. The cause of why we don't like ourselves or reject ourselves. It can be rejection, abuse or painful memories, anger, fear, hurt, guilt and grief. These has to be brought to light and dealt with.

3. We need to self-love. Learn to love and accept ourselves.

4. Resolve all unresolved feelings of hatred, anger and offenses.
1 Peter 2:1-2 (TLB) So get rid of your feelings of hatred [anger]. Don't just pretend to be good!

5. Live in harmony with healthy moral, ethical values based on God's standard.

6. Forgive.

7. Ultimately, of love and acceptance, be connected to God, know His love and affirmation. This is through confessing our sins to God, asking Him of His forgiveness and accepting His Son, Jesus, into our heart and soul as our Lord and Saviour.

1Jn 4:12 If we love one another, God dwelleth in us, and his love is perfected in us.

Life

I receive news on Friday morning that Thurai had not died of a heart attack as I posted previously. He too committed suicide and died.

Indeed, only one life chance for all.

Gotta live it right.