callings and such

i wanted to blog about something else altogether... but j unli tagged me in this note on fbook and i thought it was a fabulous read to share

here's an excerpt cos it's too long a post on blogger:

"In my case, if I had not been directed by the Lord into teaching, I would never have imagined I could teach. I was a rather introverted type of person, not always at ease in the presence of others. I was frequently tongue-tied, not given to asserting my own views or volunteering my opinions in conversation. In a class of some 35 peers, I knew about five intimately, although I was on friendly but shy terms with the others. I read avidly, but seldom discussed my thoughts with others. Most of the time I kept my feelings to myself. Only at home did I relax with parents and younger siblings. Nobody could be less suited for teaching than myself, judging from my visible traits.

However, my experience has shown that, if the Lord intends a person to assume a particular role, He will give grace and equip him for it. The person will grow on the job. God will provide him with the necessary talents and abilities to discharge his responsibilities in a way which manifests His blessing. The vocation is the situation where God's spiritual gifts for His service will be endowed and enhanced. All this will be a Christian's lot, provided that he does not, in the first instance, so discount himself and feel so discontented with his position that God cannot use him with any degree of effectiveness."
Choosing teaching as a vocation: a testimony
~Dr Ruth Wong Hie King (1918 - 1982)


wow.
even if you don't normally read things - click on that link and read the article it will surely bless you

elitist food for thought

haven't been doing my own bible study recently... which is probably why my mind has been going off at weird hours of the day thinking about random things in life.

and so today i cracked open my bible finally (yeah i open it during sermons but that doesn't really count) and found myself at ecclesiastes (how apt.) as the last stopping point in my quest to read the bible from one end to the other in a year (it's been about 2 years lol.) and found this:


Then I turned myself to consider wisdom and madness and folly;
For what can the man do who succeeds the king?—
Only what he has already done.
Then I saw that wisdom excels folly
As light excels darkness.
The wise man’s eyes are in his head,
But the fool walks in darkness.
Yet I myself perceived
That the same event happens to them all.
So I said in my heart,

“ As it happens to the fool,
It also happens to me,
And why was I then more wise?”
Then I said in my heart,

“ This also is vanity.”
For there is no more remembrance of the wise than of the fool forever,
Since all that now is will be forgotten in the days to come.
And how does a wise man die?
As the fool!
~Ecclesiastes 2:12-16 (NKJV)

or if you want it in plain english:

And then I took a hard look at what's smart and what's stupid. What's left to do after you've been king? That's a hard act to follow. You just do what you can, and that's it. But I did see that it's better to be smart than stupid, just as light is better than darkness. Even so, though the smart ones see where they're going and the stupid ones grope in the dark, they're all the same in the end. One fate for all—and that's it.

When I realized that my fate's the same as the fool's, I had to ask myself, "So why bother being wise?" It's all smoke, nothing but smoke. The smart and the stupid both disappear out of sight. In a day or two they're both forgotten. Yes, both the smart and the stupid die, and that's it.
~Ecclesiastes 2:12-16 (The Message)


'both the smart and the stupid die, and that's it'
i love that. puts things into perspective so nicely.
what am i living for huh. isn't it fantastic if every step i took could be used by God to add to His kingdom? that's some purpose to be living for. =)

a step-by-step guide to life

'LIFE! - for dummies'
'how to live life 101'

would be something nice to have.

or where i'm at right now... a manual titled 'how to live life in the middle' might be better.
starting things is easy - 'hey cool, i've got an idea, lets do this'.
ending things is even easier - the end, feel happy, yay it's over.
but when you're in the middle and you aren't moving at all -.- zzz.


Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom also we have access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God. And not only that, but we also glory in tribulations, knowing that tribulation produces perseverance; and perseverance, character; and character, hope. Now hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit who was given to us.
~Romans 5:1-5

does 'doing nothing' count as tribulation? hmmm.

you can't walk back into yesterday

i've been thinking about roots... and how i simply don't have them anymore - especially when i'm in sg

what i have are memories of two years past - or at best perhaps the half-grown ones of london. being 'home' is a frightening thing. especially when i realise that my old inner circle has stopped being just that.. and that everyone is kind of on the periphery.

the 3 months spent at 'home' are strange. time is mostly spent building relationships... the old as well as the new, sometimes as if the old ones never existed (only that i'm haunted by what was.) and yet, simply because it's only 3 months, it's so difficult to invest anything more than the occasional meeting.

perhaps it's just me being afraid to get attached to anything/ anyone... and then have to up and leave almost immediately. it's somewhat the same in london - knowing that at the end of the 3 years the relationships would very likely degenerate into short meaningless conversations over msn at odd hours of the day. i'm supposedly coming home (??) but treating it as home gets more and more difficult as time passes. it's simply 'another country' to get used to... cos home as i remember it, is long gone.


sometimes i don't wanna say anymore 'hello's...
just so i won't have to say so many 'goodbye's

$$ goals

1. to be a parent who never has to tell my kid how much things cost - but only teach the value of money... to always give and never receive from my kid

2. to be able to give away cars (or something to that effect) - this means 6 figures? hehe

[sometimes... i really really hate the fact that i'm at home... and yet there's no way that i won't have to face this at some point or another]

read the bible like medicine

but if i've got a headache i don't put a band-aid on my head... if i cut my finger i don't stick an asprin in it! so you need to apply the word like medicine!

-well i'm really having a rough day, i think i'll read the word
-no what are you having a hard time with?
-well i'm feeling so - i'm discouraged

well okay, then you get it out, and you get in the concordance - and you look up the word discouraged, and you look up the word courage, and you look up all those scriptures, and maybe you look up the definition of the word, and you think about it and you pray about it - and and the word is like medicine that will help you get well in that area!

Don't just read it out of some kind of obligation - you're not doing God a favour when you read the bible. He already knows it.

It's something you do for yourself. Amen?

Stay awake and keep your clothes on
Joyce Mayer (sermon)

this seriously tickles me

what's 'natural'?

we were reading this for cg last friday:
As Peter traveled about the country, he went to visit the saints in Lydda. There he found a man named Aeneas, a paralytic who had been bedridden for eight years. "Aeneas," Peter said to him, "Jesus Christ heals you. Get up and take care of your mat." Immediately Aeneas got up. All those who lived in Lydda and Sharon saw him and turned to the Lord.
~Acts 9:32-35

what caught me was that for 8 years... no one ever said to the man 'you should not be sick. go get your healing'. it was normal, perfectly normal to walk past an invalid - perhaps the same way it's perfectly normal to walk past the homeless on the streets of London. yet it wasn't at all normal for Peter. he saw something wrong with it and moved to address it - how? by proclaiming the healing of God.


today what caught me was this:
Moses was one hundred and twenty years old when he died. His eyes were not dim nor his natural vigor diminished.
~Deuteronomy 34:7

why is it natural to wear specs/ contacts? the people in the bible with God's blessing of health were incredibly old before they were described as having 'dim eyes' and 'could not see' i bet Jesus had perfect eyesight.

so no. i'm not gonna accept wearing specs for the rest of my life. even though my degree and my astigmatism is double that of most people's

44 years of independence

today's the day to be patriotic...
so.

happy birthday Singapore!

44 'pathetic' years of history
but an amazing pace of economic growth
and peace - somehow

it still strikes me as incredibly weird that the multi-purpose hall below my block can be used for two weddings and two funerals within a short period of 2 weeks.

uniquely Singapore indeed.

2 days of brainwashing

dad: what's this course you're going for?

me: uh... they basically tell us what the government is doing and have activities to think of what else they may be able to do and run through the thought process behind the policies that are in place

dad: oh... basically brainwashing all you scholars la

me: heh.


that said... i learnt alot about what is being done (probably cos i don't keep up with news that much) and understanding the rationale behind the policies is rather useful - good to know what you can make use of in the future. haha. but all our difficult questions were taichi-ed. so much for making a difference.

win liao

i've been acting like a tourist in singapore.

everyone should try it one day. it's really fun... hehe. the photos have all gone up on fbook - and it's an album that will keep on growing i think.

singapore does have its quirks... whether we appreciate them... (whether some of it is suppressed by the gourment) is another matter altogether. we're so quick to go from one paper qualification to another, i wonder if people stop to feel what SG is really like.

moments like these i just stop and think that it's such a shame - we take for granted this place we've lived in for most of our life. the place where being patriotic occurs once a year (hurrah.) with a grand parade and the sudden sprouting of flags in the neighbourhood.