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