this coming sunday, the whole family will be sending charis, our eldest daugther, to intec (international education center) in shah alam as she enrols for the 1 year adfp (american degree foundation program).
charis is one of the few fortunate ones as non-bumis to receive a jpa scholarship from the government to do her university studies overseas. the government has offered her four years in the U.S. where she will be doing biotechnology.
i will also be preaching in ekklesia church usj in the morning. so, we will elave in 2 cars, go to shah alam where my family will be and i proceed to usj to preach first, and upon finishing, i will proceed back to shah alam to catch up with the family.
Comments
many of my daughter's indian friends in school who also scored straight 11A's did not receive a jpa scholarship (and even after appeal through mic president datuk samy vellu).
charis has always been a high achiever from young days and very disciplined in her studies. she doesn't need us to push her to excel. she knows what she needs to do to compete to get a jpa scholarship.
with the scholarship, it is a whole load off our backs. the scholsrship doesn't cover the whole costs. jpa gives an allowance each month while they pay the fees. usually, the parents will have to fork out the balance (depending on the place of study, cost of living etc). thankfully, where charis is staying is in section 18 of shah alam and just next to the food courts, shopping malls, banks, fast food etc.
we have a friend from j.b. whose son is also here at intec on a jpa scholarship to do medicine. he also applied for asean scholarship but did not get it. we were told if he got the asean scholarship, most probably he won't get the jpa. so, in one sense, charis also did not get the asean scholarship (which would have killed her chances for the jpa).
Any truth in this, rabbi?
but then, still difficult to evaluate. how to measure success? to one person, this may constitute success whereas for another, it does not.
generally, i believe children of christian believers are already blessed because of the faith of their parents. and since, following the argument, parents who are serving God f/t, the whole family is in a sense 'blessed' as blessings may come in different forms. for f/t people, blessings come in many forms. thankfully, it also sometimes come in physical forms like this.