tongue tied?

Whats So Good about Good Friday?

Good Friday is actually about this person Jesus Christ who died on the cross. What is so good about this day since it’s a day someone died? Well, it has to do with who Jesus is, why He had to die and the result of His death!

Jesus was sent by God to take the punishment for man’s sin. Yes, for you and mine. What is it that we have done that deserves to be punished? We have all disobeyed God our Creator. We don’t bother about God nor the things He wants us to do, instead we do things that we should not do. Therefore we show no interest in knowing this God (our Creator) and we hurt people and are being hurt by them too. Since God is also the righteous judge, He has to punish us for our disobedience. The punishment is death and separation from God forever.

But God did not leave us in this helpless condition. He demonstrated His love for us by sending His son, Jesus Christ, to take our place of punishment. On the 3rd day, Jesus rose from the dead! This shows that He is the true and living God and that he has the power to save us and enable us to live a life that is right. God has promised that He will forgive us because of what Jesus has done if we admit our disobedience and depend on Jesus to save us. Do you admit your disobedience and trust in Jesus as the only way for us to be reconciled back to God?

♥ vin (haha!)

160308 2000HRS - 170308 1100HRS

came back home this morning! thank God, and i've just received news an hour after i reached home that i only need to book in on Wednesday! I was so happy that i yelped in joy and my mum thought that Mas Selamat has been recaptured. haha... my officer SMSed me later on and in the SMS he typed 'don't scream'. Now i can rest for a couple of days.

Well, i spent the night sleeping in the office, i was the only guy around left in the company last night, when the guys all booked out. So the night snack was my favourite of the lot - Gardenia chcolate bun ($0.75). The guys were all booking out so the night snack was kinda unwanted. So i had like 10 buns to myself which i can enjoy throughout the night, which i took at irregular intervals - when i was surfing the internet, when i was about to go to sleep, when i was reading the day's papers, when i woke up this morning, but nonetheless i'm still not sick of it. Thank God the sleep was peaceful. there's a reason why the duty requires you to sleep in the office, coz you'll have to be prepared to answer a call from the headquarters at 2am to go over to their side to settle the maps. So since the entire company wasn't around, i managed to get some uninterrupted sleep, which is rare for a guy on this duty.

Due to the long distance between home and camp, my route of travel necessitates a transit in a central area, somewhere in between, like city area. This morning i alighted at Suntec and had to walk to City Hall MRT to top-up my farecard. i felt like i was walking along Shenton Way then. Office workers, smartly dressed in their formal do ups, swarmed in one general direction which ain't along mine. i felt triumphant but didn't dare to give them that gaze carrying a i-am-having-off-today message. I walked past toastbox and couldn't resist settling down for a cup of coffee and their thick peanut butter toast. Its highly recommended, you guys should try. its one of the places my parents will confirm go to when they're out in the malls. Anyway i wanted some hot kopitiam style coffee early this morning. I took an enviable seat among the empty tables, a considerable distance away from those rushing to work who could only have their contents handheld in a to-go cup. I proceeded on to read the newspapers that i'd brought back to camp on my previous book-in. i have always inserted some pages of news in my bag for book-in, thinking i will have time to read them but actually i knew i had a slim hope for that to happen. What perfect time to catch up on those articles than to have all the time at your hands, with no upcoming appointments whatsoever in the day to think about. I could now just lose myself in some serious reading, accompanied desirably by the nicest cup of coffee and hot toast of the thickest golden spread of peanut butter.

Among my reads, there is one about adults dumping their children in bookstores and going off for their own shopping, which makes for a disgraceful mess of unaccompanied minors. That was when i remembered my parents doing something similar when i was still young, but out of our common conscious sense, i was actually interested in whats on the shelves. I will make my way excitedly to the magazines sections and get my hands on soccer and wrestling magazines of various names. And i remember the layout of Kinokuniya bookstore to be simple and boring, but there's something in the smell of those Japanese books at the left side of the store that can be rather rustic. Thankfully i will not be considered a nuisanse to the public. i think what feed the children's excitement nowadays will probably be the environment of the children's section itself, its where you'll find objects in outerspace bearing human facial features smiling at you at your feet when you step on their carpeted grounds. Seating area has been positioned in such a manner that its sort of like a childrens' cavern, but sadly our young ones think that its some play area.

Then there is another article about an African supermodel who was suspected to be murdered because of a certain cause (against the ritual of genital mutilation which girls in her native Africa has to go through) that she has been championing for all her life. Its horrible. We need more people to speak up against these ungodly and plainly cruel practises!

Then there is another article about people urinating in public. This morning i encountered a pool of piss on the 7th storey of my block's staircase. My bro actually saw an adult pissing there yesterday, my mum told me.

Then there is another article about someone having a meal alone on her off-day...... well...

i noticed the workers in Food Republic(where toastbox is) are all PRC people, they are the ones going around selling drinks (they have this service)and clearing plates. The chinese girls are like dressed to kill really. They're not bad looking basically, and are decked out in this black china gown with a medium slit from the bottom, and matching make-up. It made them look like they're there to seduce, coz it cuts out a svelte figure of oriental elegance. Kinda like Zhang Ziyi in some Hollywood clip, which always leave me amazed how producers work the art of deception when those swashbuckling Chinese girls prance around in high heels and one piece gown. Not the sort of thing i will see in a Food Court.

I got along the way to Citylink when i was attracted to a song(realised it was Fergie's song later on) they were blasting inside HMV. i listened to JUNO's soundtrack on their headphones :) marvellous collection, befitting for a great movie.

I reached Raffles City and just in time to coincide with the opening time of J.CO Donuts & Coffee. I was like one of their first patrons at 10am. To my delight i bought 3 lovely donuts home :)

whoa, i've been typing non-stop for like an hour? i will update less of these crap and more of my search operations next entry.

Vin

adios!

i said something regarding the orders being increasingly prone to changes ya. And its all going in the direction of South. i'll now have to book-in even earlier at 7pm. No last chance for a quickie (dinner date).

i can feel the heat of the battle.
Vin

if things go according to whats been planned, i won't be home for Good Friday holiday, and my plans to prepare a simple gift for my platoon and fellow commanders will be consequently foiled. sigh, i've been praying about it actually, that through this good friday season more people in camp may know of Jesus Christ. i've drawn up a rough idea of what i'd like to do and give, but i'll need some divine intervention here.

late night movie yesterday was the only mindless entertainment i could afford this weekend. Doesn't matter if its the first time i've ever taken a midnight bus service back home. The past week has been no let up in its unpredictability - all due to that dastardly terrorist. a 2 days outfield mission exercise, which we were hoping for to be cancelled, was one of the most miserable times i had outfield. i received a major shelling for losing both my men & a part of the rifle. My men misplaced his equipment and scurried off to search for it when i was busy trying to establish a message across to my commander using a faulty handset which i'd no idea of its faulty condition then. Then came the downpour. You know i can't take the cold right. You know the feeling that you don't want to move at all coz any movement will cause your skin to make contact with the wet clothings that is wrapped around you, which will send a shivery signal that bites right into your insides. i hate that feeling, but its one that is hard to avoid, and you just wait helplessly for the colour of your hands to be bleached and the skin of your fingers to crumple up, almost as though they're frowning at you.

I'm thankful for God for the Christian students that have committed to share the gospel to their friends this season. Thank God for the materials that have been provided for them. You know what, much to my surprise, a lot of guys out there do not know whats good friday all about. Its true. I went to the streets last Saturday and talked to my men this week and almost half of them know zilch or nuts about whats so good about Good Friday. So i'd like to urge one and all to encourage your Christian buddies to share the good news and for you yourself to share the good news too.

'As long as it is day, we must do the work of him who sent me. Night is coming, when no one can work' John 9.4

jiayou!
'Therefore, my dear brothers, stand firm. Let nothing move you. Always give yourselves fully to the work of the Lord, becoz you know that your labour in the Lord is not in vain' I Cor 15:58

Vin