Watching Ratatouille is bad for the stomach. Seriously.

Before Ratatouille, we were nice and happy. Tummies were nice and happy too. But after being treated to a gastronomic feast by a rat... we all ended up hungry. ALL. And me? I ended up with gastric. bah.

Still, it was a really really cute show! I love food and I love cooking (and experimenting), which probably explains the gastric. Too much imagination of the rosemary and saffron and... yesh...

And Kevin! If you somehow find your way to my blog, WE ARE GOING FOR RATATOUILLE ONE DAY. maybe can include it in the food hunt itinerary!!!

For the record, ratatouille is not the name of the rat. It's the name of a peasant dish that originated from Nice, France and that features vegetables. It looked super succulent!!! I want to eat it!!!!

"Live on the wages of a pastor."

That was what we were challenging each other to do yesterday. Gospel workers earn their keep from the gospel, just as a shepherd tends his flock and gets milk, just as a farmer grows wheat and gets the harvest. We as the beneficiaries of the gospel work should and must contribute to the wages of the gospel workers. That's what God spoke about when he told Moses about not begrudging oxen their grain at the end of the day... Paul spells it out really clearly in 1 Corinthians 9.

While still in school, Wai had barely enough from us. In fact, he got an average of $1,500 from us a month. And he's our gospel worker. If his church didn't give him an additional $300... and if his wife didn't work... I think the family would have starved.

Then, we challenged each other. During breaks, must we really have that cup of teh-peng or milo-peng? Every day? Could we just cut down on one cup a day, save that 80 cents a day, and thus save $4 a week? What about cutting down 2 cups a day?

But it still wasn't enough. We wanted to give Wai enough so he could feed his family and Maria would not even have to work. So we challenged everyone to give $10 a week. It paid off, but still wasn't enough.

Now that we've graduated, and our new staffworker James has 2 young children, we pay him a salary of $3K. It's not a lot for a family of four. His wife doesn't work - she takes care of the kids.

And so, we're challenging each other once again.

Live simply. Learn to live on the wages of a pastor. Then we can give more to our gospel workers. Why are we, who are earning the big bucks and supporting only ourselves, being so selfish and not paying our staffworker his dues?

It's a struggle, and it's a real struggle. When we say "live on the wages of a pastor", we mean a normal pastor who's not earning royalties on albums or money from boutiques.

God help us all... and God give us the heart to care for our staffworkers.

I think i'm a pretty private person. Now i know that's kinda ironic saying it here coz' this is a public blog and all... but well, yes i'm a private person. And i do not appreciate my msn being given out to someone who i barely consider an acquaintance. Colleagues are fine... msn is like our internal communication method (even more effective than phone and email sometimes!).

Pls, all who read this, do ask me if u wanna give my msn address to someone else. I think that's only polite. Unless you know i definitely won't mind giving it to this person. And yes, i even mind that it's given to some people in church. Try to get my msn too early and frankly, ur on my blacklist.

And lest you didn't get it, i'm a private person prone to extremities. Should i feel sufficiently irritated or harassed, i'm moving to a new msn account and only telling a few people about it.

It's been quite a few weeks since the kidnap happened, so it's time to report it. All matters have been resolved. Involved parties are now safe.

It all happened on a Friday afternoon. Bionicleman had walked one too many times past Mr. Gorilla wondering what it would be like to lift a Gorilla off the table. That fateful day, Bionicleman decided to kidnap Mr. Gorilla. Not only would Bionicleman get to lift a Gorilla off the table, but also send Mr. Gorilla's owner into enough of a tizzy to generate enough excitement on that Friday afternoon to send the hours away.

So Bionicleman crept to the table where Mr. Gorilla resides. He set a camera on timer mode, grabbed hold of Mr. Gorilla by the neck, and posed for the shot of the day. It only took 10 seconds. Then, while holding Mr. Gorilla hostage, Bionicleman wrote a ransom note and left the camera on the table where Mr. Gorilla resides.


Upon seeing the camera and the note, Mr. Gorilla's owner flew into a tizzy. She created petition flags and approached others to help the cause. Below are photos of the supporters of the petition to free Mr. Gorilla.


The petitions were placed at the door of Bionicleman's safehouse, and finally, Bionicleman decided to release Mr. Gorilla.

During his lock-up, Mr. Gorilla realised that Bionicleman was not the mastermind. Upon his release, Mr. Gorilla decided to kidnap the clay tea cup of the mastermind...

But that is another story for another time.

Signing off,
Stealth Protection Committee for Animals Reporter
(SPCAr)