Surrender
Finally the day is here for me to leave. Don't really know what to expect because it's the first for me, but I'm putting everything into God's hands.
I'm glad too that I can leave behind my responsibilities and work. During yesterday's Corps meeting, we all agreed to postpone the soccer tournament because up til now, we've yet to tie down a venue when it's only a week away. So now it's either on 1st April or 15th. Hopefully it's on the 15th coz I'll be back by then. Quite guilty of not doing a better job before leaving, but again God has let me see how blessed I am to have those officers always backing me up. Now it's not only Gerwyn's and my crap, it's now everyone's crap haha. It's always good to have David as a fellow officer. He throws back the shit that zone throws to us. Haha.
Alot of people actually forget that I'm after all, only 17. I keep getting comments from people that they got the impression that I'm 20 odd. Pretty cool. But yes, I reckon I still got lots to learn at a tender age, so continue to treat me like a young boy.
Attended Miracle Service at Tampines Lighthouse on Saturday with Joy. It's cute the way they go up to give testimonies. Haha. Really very cute. Finally got to see Wei !! Okay lah handsome lah. Haha secret secret. And the Pacer I imagined in my head looked totally different from the Pacer I saw. Pacman. Not being mean or what, but honestly I pictured a great looking guy from his voice. Not that he's really bad looking anyway.
Today in church was great. "I Will Sing" is such a ministering song. And it's true. "I will sing, I will praise, even in my darkest hour, through the sorrow and the pain." The guest pastor prayed with the Spirit and many fell flat to the floor crying. Could see that Esther was kinda surprised, being a young Christian and all. Haha.
Was thinking about everything that I've been able to do for God, and I feel so blessed. It's amazing how much God has allowed me to do for Him. Looking at how young I am in Christ, I've been super fortunate. But I know that's the way I want it to be. I grow more that way. In fact I can't imagine a life where I'm serving God in only one area. Especially if it's boring to me. Say maybe an usher or someone doing the sound. I know in the end, it's all for God and these jobs are important no matter how insignificant they seem to be. But I know it's not for me. I need something bigger to keep me going.
So far I've been able to serve Him as worship leader in church, evangelistic works in school, mission trip overseas, and when school reopens, I'll be a Discipleship Group Leader, teaching year 1's the Word of God, and the latest is that one of the staff in Campus Crusade, who is also my leader in the mission team, has invited me to help him pioneer a church of youths. So much is there to be done, how can I possibly lead a boring Christian life ? Praise the Lord.
Okay, I'll be gone tomorrow. Maybe you can come surprise me by coming down and sending me off at Golden Mile Complex at 10 am ?? Haha. I'm sure the rest of my team members will have supporters seeing them off except me. So sad. Okay lah, SMS will do. Haha. Just pray for me then. Bye.
Use me well oh Lord my God.
signing off at 11:56 PM
Randomically
Just a couple of photos to show you how my arm looks like after the blood test last Thursday. Fantastic ah ? I took these photos like today. Needed something to pass the time. Quite bored actually. No one to take pity on me and sayang my bruise. Sigh.
Today's blog entry gonna be so random coz I just want to blog before I leave for 2 whole weeks. Rubbish just comes to mind.
The Mosaic Festival at Esplanade is so cool lah. I'm one who loves all kinds of music so it's like paradise. But I've been busy so can't actually spend time there. And the one and only show I wanted to watch is JASON MRAZ !!! Darn it his tickets are sold out and even if I had tickets I wouldn't be able to watch it. I can't watch it coz it clashes with worship practice, and God's always first. So... Jason Mraz please come back to Singapore again soon okay please ??!?!
Today was rehearsing our skit for our Malaysian trip. It's so funny. See it's a mime, and knowing me, I can hardly keep a straight face and I laugh at the slightest thing so 3 quarters of the time I was bursting out laughing. HAHA. Since it was a mime, alot had to depend on our facial expressions, and we had to show a wide range of it. I could only show laughter HAHA. Clement looked so cute and funny playing Jesus !! My gosh my stomach really ached from the laughing.
Acer of Fujitsu ? Fujitsu or Acer ? Computer or laptop ? Laptop or computer ? Headache headache. SP offering laptops for the year 1s' and I'm thinking of getting one myself. I think I'll get Fujitsu since the rest also getting that. Agreed ?
Saw this pair of lesbians in the Mrt today. They were almost all over each other. Yuck. They looked only like 14 years of age. Fortunately they weren't pretty at all or I'd have killed myself. Then I recalled I saw a pair of gays in the Mrt too after extending my passport yesterday. Double yuck.
The oreos I had just now were weird. I don't know. I normally get rid of the cream and eat the biscuits with milk, but I just noticed that the cream seemed quite little from usual. Heck doesn't affect me anyway.
I think I'm gonna sue that nurse for giving me that beautiful bruise. Hmm who knows she may have snapped my veins into 2. Argh so ugly.
Here's a song that I like.
The splendor of a King
Clothed in majesty
Let all the earth rejoice
All the earth rejoice
He wraps Himself in light
And darkness tries to hide
And trembles at His voice
Trembles at His voice
How great is our God, sing with me
How great is our God, and all will see
How great, how great is our God
Age to age He stands
And time is in His hands
Beginning and the end
Beginning and the end
The Godhead Three in One
Father Spirit Son
The Lion and the Lamb
The Lion and the Lamb
How great is our God, sing with me
How great is our God, and all will see
How great, how great is our God
Name above all names
Worthy of all praise
My heart will sing
How great is our God
How great is our God, sing with me
How great is our God, and all will see
How great, how great is our God
How Great Is Our God
-Chris Tomlin
signing off at 11:57 PM
How Great Is Our God
I took a blood test on Thursday to check for immunity against Hepatitis A & B and it totally sucked !! The nurse pushed that thick needle into my arm but no blood flowed into the tube, so she twisted it all over the place, then plunged the needle even deeper into my arm !! Not like my vein so small lah !! It was buldging out for her, but she still so lousy. HAHA. And until now, there's still a big patch of internal bleeding on my arm. Amazing.
I think this is gonna be a long entry coz I've got lots to say. Anyway March Camp just ended and I've got quite a bit to share about it. So much of thanksgiving and glory I want to give to God.
On Friday morning, I went to Yishun Park for our gen12ii mission trip team retreat. We split up and spent the morning in quiet time with God. It's always satisfying to be in the presence of God and His children worshipping Him.
After that I rushed home to get my camping bag, and after getting off Ang Mo Kio Mrt Station, I realized I left my keys at home !! It was already in the afternoon and my only hope of anyone at home was da ge. So I called home, hoping anyone at all will pick up the call, but nothing came. I was getting so so nervous because if I were to get locked out of home, I would be late for camp and it wouldn't be very nice because I was heading it. So I just kept asking God please please help me. At that point in time, as I was making the call and walking towards home, I saw da ge walking towards me going to work. That feeling was indescribable. It was as if God planned everything to perfection. So I asked da ge if he could pass me his keys. Really praise the Lord so much.
I reached MSHS on time and after officer final briefing was done, the camp was ready to begin. I gathered a number of officers to pray for the camp, even non believers and I was quite glad they willingly agreed. Only Justin, Eugene and I were Christians among the officers. I started in prayer and Justin closed and that was when the journey began.
The first incident happened that night. I actually lost the classroom key that the teacher-in-charge passed to me !! I thought it was in my pocket but it just disappeared. Because of this, the cadets had no proper place to store their camping bags. I really panicked. I searched everywhere until I conceded that it really was lost. The worse thing was that it was already later than 10 pm. It was dark and difficult to find a single key. But I was quite touched to see many of my fellow officers helping me out. They willingly walked all over to find the key. First Aloysious walked with me around the school. Then Thomas. I soon realized even Yongren walked the entire school including down to the primary school alone. Wah I'm really so thankful for them, made me feel so blessed. However we still couldn't find the key. At first I kept asking God why He made me lose the key, but I realized it was my own carelessness and I was blaming a faultless God. I kept asking God please let me find the key. I told God You wouldn't know how happy I would be if I were to find that key. I would be filled with so much joy. I was feeling much better and I trusted God that we will be able to find it sooner or later, or worse come to worse, apologise to the teachers since I made a mistake. I was still able to keep joking about keys the whole night. Haha.
The following day, we searched all over again, from morning until afternoon, but still to no avail. We had no choice but to report it to the teachers. To make matters worse, I fell ill. I felt so lethargic and weak in the morning. I decided to take my temperature in the afternoon before the urban hike, and it recorded 38.6 degrees !! Gerwyn was so funny he gave me another thermometer to try because he didn't believe it. Again it was the same result, so he decided to pass 1 to Eugene to try and the other he tried on himself. HAHA. Talking about Gerwyn, he's so freaking funny he never fails to make me laugh like crap. Not meaning it in a offending way, he's a total idiot lah HAHA. Anyway, I decided to continue hiking because wo bu fang xing, but my junior officers insisted I stay in school to rest. So I did and I left everything to them. So Gerwyn and I were the only officers left in the school during the urban hike, and we had to look after the cadets camping bags coz there weren't any classroom to put their bags as I lost the key. During mid afternoon, Mr Ganesh came and told me that it's alright we lost the key, but try our best to find it before he reports it to the General Office. When he left, I immediately turned to Gerwyn and said, "Don't worry, must have faith, by hook or by crook we will find the key". I was putting alot alot of faith in God in saying that sentence especially to a non-believer, but I still said it. To be honest, deep down, I conceded that it was impossible to retrieve the lost key. What happened next was amazing. As I was walking along the corridor of the classrooms, I realized a lady approached Aloysious (A few groups returned from hike already). She passed him something and hurried off. So I walked towards him and asked what she wanted. Aloysious then held the "lost" key in front of me. That amount of joy was so immense. He told me that NCC found the key and knew it was from St.John's, so they passed the key back to us.
Some of you may not know, but a few days before the camp, I had problems convincing the school teachers to set the nite walk at MacRitchie cemetary. It was on and off, on and off. We decided to continue holding it at the cemetary, but at the very last minute, Friday morning while having my team retreat at Yishun, I received news that the PE HOD in school disapproved us of holding the walk at the cemetary. Those were last orders so we had to comply. We had to hold it in school. But it turned out to be a blessing in disguise. Because the nite walk was directly after the hike and dinner, dinner had to be cooked outdoors at MacRitchie. But we all know, it rained so crazily heavy in the evening time. Because of the last minute change, the cadets were brought back to school to have dinner instead and nite walk to be carried out in school. Just nice, they reached back, the rain came. I wouldn't dare imagined what would have happened if we the nite walk was still at the cemetary and it poured so heavily.
Now, here are my exaltations and testimonies to God. I know my God takes good care of me and loves all of us. Firstly, he made me lose the key to know the feeling of losing something and the extreme need to get it back. And how much joy it would be to finally find that something. I realized that was the same with God. We're all lost, and He's slowly searching for each one of us, until He has found us. And how joyful the Lord is when the lost is finally found !!
"Or suppose a woman has ten silver coins and loses one. Does she not light a lamp, sweep the house and search carefully until she finds it ? And when she finds it, she calls her friends and neighbors together and says, 'Rejoice with me; I have found my lost coin.' In the same way, I tell you, there is rejoicing in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents."
Luke 15:3-10
Secondly, God gave me so much of problems in planning the nite walk, all because He knew the future and wanted to protect me and the camp. If it were held at the cemetary, there would be chaos. And most importantly, had the nite walk continued at MacRitchie, none of us would be in school when the lost key was found by NCC. What meticulous planning by God.
Thirdly, God made me sick, so that I would stay back in school during the hike, and in turn was able to say that sentence of faith to Gerwyn about finding the key no matter what. It came true and I'm sure it would have made him believed, if not stirred up.
God also made me lose the key, not because He was bored. Not because He was playing a harmless trick on me. No. His ways are higher. He made me lose the key, so that His glory will be seen by all the officers. In fact, for all the numerous problems he gave me, losing the key, making me sick, changing the nite walk location, all in all, was for Him to let his glory shine. And I'm sure, my friends, in one way or another, learnt something about my wonderful God. For the sake of His glory and honour, I would even willingly die if He asked me to.
You should have seen me going around the officers going on non-stop about God did this God did that because of this because of that. Until Derek told me "OKAY OKAY please enough". HAHA. Go link to Derek's blog and you'll know what I mean haha.
On Sunday I left camp for a while to attend service at Tampines Lighthouse. Joy invited me to watch her dance. Haha. Anyway it was a refreshing break from the camp and they had this "talk-show" thingy going on after P&W. It was quite funny especially the crazy guy playing maple.
So finally camp was over on Monday, I returned home to rest. I was supposed to have street evangelism at Bugis with my team, but I was so drained out and still had slight fever so I stayed home to sleep. Then I had to attend the Commissioning Night at FooChow Church where all the teams and supporters gather to commission all the mission teams for their trip. Great stuff.
Praise God for everything. His work is always glorious and wonderful.
signing off at 7:09 AM
Shake the milky way
Finally had a haircut last Thursday after donkey months.
The last time I got my hair properly cut was way back last year, when I was forced to on my OTC passing out ceremony. Haha. Well, because of the upcoming camp I had to cut, or Boss will ngiao me. It was quite a scary experience at the salon actually. The lady apparently didn't get what I want. Scary. I told her I wanted it short. Something so simple she didn't get. Started to style a funky hair-do. I told her to please get rid of my fringe. Haha. And with wax at home, I could style it til it looks alright. The wonders of wax.
Yep, I got baptized on Sunday at Changi Beach. It was pretty weird at first because there were so many "spectators" looking, wondering what on earth we were doing. Felt quite uncomfortable, but I thought, if this is all planned by God, maybe He just wanted the few of us to be baptized in the glory for all to see.
The waves were rushing and it was quite funny coz I couldn't stop moving. The waves were swaying us to and fro. Haha. Praise God.
Yesterday, I went down to Tiong Bahru Macs to meet my gen12ii team leader and staff leader for a meeting. I arrived late and when I sat down, McDonald's dessert kiosk was in front of me !! The first thing that came to my mind was, MILKSHAKES. That $2.20 was worth it man. HAHA. Yummy. It was such a chore sucking up the thick mixture so I gave up, I opened the cap and started licking from the straw. Heavenly.
Talking about gen12ii, I finally managed to complete my support raising. In fact I got 100 bucks more than what I needed. Really thank God for it. But to be honest, 700 doesn't sound difficult for me. I really salute those who have to raise like $2000 plus. I bet I'd be losing my hair over my fund raising if I had to raise $2000. But I'm sure our faithful Father will bring us through.
I want another cup of chocolate milkshake please.
signing off at 10:03 AM
Smell the air
Finally exams are over. Last paper was on Wednesday. A little more breathing space now but not much difference actually.
Been busy over the past weeks with St. John's Annual March Camp planning and Zone Soccer Tournament. Really had to juggle so much. I'm the head planner for both our annual training camp and the bi-annual zone soccer so you can imagine how much I had to overlook, together with exams and the church worship team. Camp's on the 10th March and the zone soccer is 25th March, but planning for both started like barely 3 weeks ago, so we're like rushing like mad. And I'm leaving for Malaysia on the 20th March, don't know how much I'm prepared for that now. So many worldy things to attend to.
Well, God just gives me this uncanny ability to take it all in my stride nicely. I never get stressed or worried. I'm just able to soak up whatever and always find time to day-dream and laze around for hours. Haha. Though there's always something at the back of my head telling me there's work to do, I always leave it for a later time and seem to complete it. Actually that sounds like procastination but whatever. Haha. I'm amazed at myself. Give me a million things to do and I'll go take a nap first, you'll still get your results on time.
On Tuesday I went to Changi Airport to study with my few of my classmates, the 'samba team'. Fun. Haha. After dinner it was all play already. Never a dull moment with them. Went on a tour around the airport. Can't help it when we all live in the West and central areas, except for one. Changi Boy Nicholas was the tour guide. Went from Terminal 2 to 1 to take pictures all over, and pretend we were foreigners. Cool to be Jap for a day. The mood was like there never was any exam the next day. HAHA. 
We know our numbers... 
Then on Wednesday right after our paper, half the class went to Jurong East KBox. Haha it was great. 8 guys singing. From 1.30 pm to 7pm. I had no idea how we manage to sing so long. Anyway most of the time we was just shouting, and trying to hit the high notes that we all know we can never reach, so we just sounded really crap, but what the heck. Haha. Imagine hearing guys screeching into the microphones. Oh man love my classmates. Especially my darlings and dears. Haha. I have a few of them. 
I reckon that looks like a nice CD album cover for a 8 member boy band... keke 
Getting baptized this Sunday at Changi Beach. Now that's something to look forward to. All the anointings that God want to pour over me, I want all of it, not waste one drip of it.
Like I mentioned earlier, I'm leaving on the 20th. Check out our team's website man !! www.team2msia.blogspot.com Our newsletter is in there. It's really incredible. Credit has to go to Samuel for coming up with such an excellent newsletter. Thanks to those who have helped me in my cause financially. Money's not the important thing though. All your prayers are worth more than all the money in the world, so keep praying for me for this trip !! God bless.
I really want to thank God for the words He gave me last Sunday during service. The words that came out from the pastor's mouth really hit the nail right on the head. It really just caught me in time, trying to pretend those things did not apply to me. Hit me right in the heart.
But He was right. There will always be new beginnings. New beginnings can never be avoided. From the moment you wake up to a new day, that's already a new beginning. We shouldn't be living in the past, because all the blessings that come from God are in the present and future. I've been living so much in the past, found it so hard to get out. I guess God really just wanted to push me on. The past really depends on your future, because surely, your future will one day be your past. Live your life in the future such that you'll never regret the memories that one day will be.
The whole time in that church I just couldn't stop uttering words of thanks to Him under my breath. The guest pastor went on to talk about a teenage couple he knew. Talked about teenage relationships and I was guilt-ridden. But God's always there to give us a new beginning. That really helped me. I have a chance to start afresh. It was like God was telling me, "Go on son, you're a new person now. Do me proud."
Who is there but You ? There is no one like You.
signing off at 1:30 AM
Just a couple of photos to show you how my arm looks like after the blood test last Thursday. Fantastic ah ? I took these photos like today. Needed something to pass the time. Quite bored actually. No one to take pity on me and sayang my bruise. Sigh..jpg)
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I reckon that looks like a nice CD album cover for a 8 member boy band... keke .jpg)