senseless killing

i woke up at 1245pm today. greeted by fresh chaos in Mumbai (Bombay), and followed the tense situation on the local & cable tv stations. theres enough chaos in the world already to keep reporters busy and i believe countless sleepness nights. what in the world is happening?

yay. Jesus Christ is coming soon. We can all be righteous again! We can be liberated in our constant struggles with sin! We can be with our Father forever without any sadness or worries again!!

People are getting more and more corrupt, God has given them over to sin. How disgusted i felt when the guys in army hacked a harmless komodo dragon or lizard into 2, just for the sake of fun in Australia. You know how senseless and murderous they all looked? All of them surrounded a single tree which the frightened creature was parched atop, and they proceeded to chop the tree down, then gave chase to the creature and then hacking it to death. If causing death isn't enough to satisfy their animalistic ravenous hunger, to dissect the poor corpse will do the job. Its only completed when they take a photo with the head of the creature in a victorious pose. I felt so sick and disgusted and angry. Right down to my stomach. But i realise its the state of humans in this present age.

Years ago, my bible study teacher answered a question posed by another person on whether killing an ant is considered a sin. She had this reply, 'you have to ask yourself why you want to kill that ant. If that act is done out of no reason, then it reveals the character that you have. whether its unwarranted anger, or you're just being cruel and have that kind of murderous thought.'

I muttered a prayer to God as i followed the updates on tv throughout the afternoon. Please if you're reading this, do just remember the world and its people in your next prayer.
Bangkok, Mumbai, financial crisis (people who've lost their jobs, people who're worried about the future, governments who're under pressure to rescue...)

So while the tv is switched on, I continued to read my book...... today is rest day...
vin

some reflection

i'm back home from an exhausting 6 days! Can't believe that i didn't even go back home after i left my house on Saturday morning at 7. Ever since then its been mostly shuttling between different places and making Bedok Camp my resting place for the nights.

came back from the camp (y fc). you know i look back at my days back then when i was a youth among others like Chris, Gerald, Ben, Geok etc, and we'll be student participants for these camps and for other events and activities. I'm thankful, for the good guidance that God has provided me through our group leaders or mentors. You know the group leaders will sit down with me and talk, and they'll always dispense godly advice.

So now moving on years later when i'm no longer a student (i miss those careless days), when i'm a group leader in the camp, i found myself sitting down with individuals at the end of the day and talking through with them what they'd learnt, and also from what i'd observed about them. i found myself being a dispenser of godly advice, and to challenge and provoke them to change their ways to please God. I found myself praying for them, and helping them to see which areas in their lives need some alteration, and working through with them how they may mature from something they've learnt thats new to them which had sprouted out of the camp activities, (e,g, approaching strangers, good character like discipline)

So i thank God for providing me with someone in my younger days to always ensure that i won't deviate far away from the truth. Its really important to be with Christians everytime (in those days, i'll meet that 'someone' most saturdays.) who you know that can look out whether you're on the correct path. When after a week in school when you've maybe skewed a little because of all that the outside world including peers that may influence you, that 'someone' can nudge and influence you back to the right track. So its really important to stick with the right group of friends.(but thats not saying that we ignore all our other friends)

now whats up next. 2 days of rest. i hope to catch up with a few students who i havent met for some time.
saturday: another guard duty

oh yes. I've got myself an IPod nano! at a great great steal of $40. haha.. my good friend bought the newest version of IPod for himself in Australia and he sold me the one that he'd been using. I dont really listen to music or need/want an IPod, but getting one will make my lengthy bus rides to and fro camp more bearable. He's sold it to me with all his songs inside, not a lot, mostly John Mayer. I plugged it into the computer speaker at the office yesterday and i kinda like his music.

I missed High School Musical sadly. Whatever.
I've been enjoying reading the 2 books which i've borrowed from my friends when we were in Australia. I'm halfway into the 2nd book now.
& watching Million Dollar Baby made my heart tear. Its so heart-wrenching. Its one of the 3 DVDs which i've purchased in Australia.

Vin

remember remember, V for vendetta?

Remember V?
V for Vendetta.

I've finally finally finally watched the movie, and thats after i've read the book, got myself all amused by it, and slotted the book neatly in between others to let itself be dissolved in time, treasured but forgotten.

I borrowed the DVD from one of the platoon guys (whose house i visited last night for the gathering), and his room was a collage of the past, present and future movies. He has movie posters plastered on his walls up to each of its corners, and a library of DVDs.

V for Vendetta, goodness me, is superb. I love every minute of it. it just explodes with goodness.

oh anyway.
I found out that Hard Rock Cafe is going to open their own in Doha! Happening right.

ok, i have a crazy schedule ahead of me right until next wednesday and it starts tomorrow. Please pray that i may have energy and stamina. it goes like this:
thursday report back to camp for duty.
friday join in yfc camp whole day, tasked to lead song :/ and be station marshal at dustbins along Orchard Road :)
saturday michelle's wedding lunch, church.(i dare not slot any meeting in between these 2 as i'll have a mad rush) dinner appt with a friend whom i've not met for over a year, report back to camp for sunday's duty
sunday 24hr duty
monday straight into yfc camp2 till wednesday.
(tuesday report back to camp for another 24hr duty)

Vin

a day out at home

Had a tiring day yesterday. Left home at 7, went to the East, did a walk through of town (part of the yfc camp program), then joined a platoon gathering at one of the guy's place at the North, and finally back home at the North-West past midnight.

i've realised that i've reverted my body clock back to what is perceived as normal & healthy after Australia. I will now feel sleepy when the time reaches 10-11pm, when before that i'd no problem staying up late till 2am.

glad to be back home. So far its been all play. But I've got some work to do already. Mostly ministry matters.
Vin

Thank You Lord

you know, during my time in Australia, i'm really grateful & thankful to God, coz the Lord has shown me that He's there with me in many ways. I was sharing with ShaoNing ytd that He's reminded me of His presence in both obvious standout and not so obvious subtle ways. Its so amazing. you know its like when you actually enjoy that closeness with God, looking forward to living everyday with Him, you can get to see in so many ways how the Lord is showing you and telling you that He's there in every single thing. I guess thats made possibly easier during my time in Australia coz the doors leading to us being distracted and brought away are shut. Unlike in Singapore when we can always access the internet, reach for the handphone, be with our friends & families, indulge in habitual doings that can make us feel good, or occupy ourselves with normalities that fill up our schedules which we sometimes dread doing.

So in Australia when i can be only concerned about the tasks at hand, when instead of proper buildings & tarred roads i'm greeted in the mornings with blue skies, fresh cool air (at least for 10days until the smog emission from forest fires polluted the air) and the brightest of untempered sunshine, i can better focus on the relationship between Father & me coz there's not a lot of things can chip your attention or concern away. Its just me, the Father, work. Can you see how connecting them together has been made less difficult? And the Father expanded that scope to open my eyes to see His beauty, experience His grace, feel His presence. Remembering the Lord in all I do, while fixing my eyes on Jesus.

So my heart is filled with thanksgivings. I thank Him even in little delights like sightings of kangaroos & wallabies. Utter delight. Thank God for the heli rides which gave me the chance to awe at the vastness of land. Thank God for walking under starlight. I've never seen so much stars in my life, trust me not even in Malaysia. Thank God that i got my hands on a book that i've been dying to read. Its unbelievable. It happened that the guy who slept beside me in the tent brought the book to read. For the past few months i've pondered about whether i should go ahead to purchase it, and the intent almost came to implementation as I came closer to the date when i would depart for Australia. Coz I heard that its advisable to bring our own form of entertainment to Australia. Since I do not own a PSP, I-Pod, I'd really wanted to get that book to bring along. I'd walk into MPH Raffles City, stare longingly at the book, give long exaggerated thoughts, run my fingers over the book cover, and try to disconnect what my heart was telling me from logical rational reasoning. This happened like 4-5 times. So to think that I'd find the book there was so coincidental. He finished reading it a few days later and lent it to me. Thats not all, a few days later I found my good buddy reading another book from the same author. Needless to say, I borrowed the book too and both books are now with me at home. yay!!

Sometimes thanksgivings arise from more macro stuffs which can only be seen in the bigger scale of things. Like how the Lord flashed a rainbow on our return from our final outfield exercise, and on that very night it finally rained, it was a frightening storm with howling winds which threatened to tear down our sturdy tent, it poured like its finally releasing what it'd been held back from the days leading up to it. Thank God coz on the nights before that, when we were still outfield, we felt like 10seconds of raindrops, and I prayed that God would hold the rain.

Vin

precious lessons from memories

There are so many things i wanna remember from the training trip, that i want to hold on to, that i want to stash away into a compartment in my memory within my easy reach. If in any case i need it in the future, i can fish out the lessons from God in my memory, and it serves to remind, guard, and guide me for the rest of my life. I think that can be considered growing in wisdom.



I'll spill some of those memories here, portion by portion, as much as i can remember or my memory can contain.



Thankfully i had the good sense not to trust my memory's capacity to actually do the counting of my blessings, because too many times i've told myself that i wanna remember the goodness of God but end up forgetting it. So i'd decided to go with the time-consuming way of writing them down. I did it almost everyday, sometimes immediately after an encounter, other times i would empty what i'd stored up at the end of the day. In this way i can not only remember God's blessings, but also remember how sweet it tasted.



I watched 4 movies in 12 hours yesterday - 1 in the local cinema coz we had too much time to spare for too little things we could do, 3 on the ride back home coz i was too excited to sleep. I was quite disappointed that High School Musical wasn't showing yet. Hope that i'll be able to catch it back here.



vin

i never walked alone

By the grace of God, i've returned home after spending nearly a month in Australia. During which i've experienced the wondrous blessings from the Lord and encountered how the Lord has shouldered my burden when i'm weighed down by the massive load, protected me from submitting to worldly pressures, and walked by my side in each step that i'd taken.

Praise Him for He is worthy. His blessings are limitless.

Thank the Lord for all your prayers, i do pray that the Lord's blessings may extend even more bountifully to you guys.
vin