¬10 Feb 2007¬

It has been an enjoyable day for me. I went to school for Mentoring Club meeting and was told that I will be in-charge of games for the BBQ, which will be held at East Coast Park, on 24^th March 2007 (Saturday).I saw a handful of familiar faces such as Tat Heng, Adeline, Yue Sing, Junda, and Jing Xian, in the BBQ committee. In the midst of planning, we came up with several games which include Dog & Bone, Musical Chair and many more. Some of them were very quiet and most of them did contribute to the planning of the imminent BBQ. After finalizing the details of the BBQ, Alister and they rest of the committee came and asked what we had discussed. Alister suggested each of us say something and I was asked by Junda to start the ball rolling. I did what I was asked of. The details were quite short and before others had a chance to say, I had already finished what was supposed to be said. I left for cellgroup meeting right after the meeting. Not being abel to reach on time, I sms-ed da jie, telling her that I’ll be late. I reached there at about 2.15pm and the people who were there were Hui Xiang, Terri, Hui Li, Gerade, Heidi, Charis. Without much further ado, the meeting started. Wee Qin, Felix and Li Qin came late. Rudi had to go for his Dragon Boat Training and as a result, he was late too. At about 3.45pm, we left for Singapore Expo for service. Heidi did not alight together with us, as she had something else to attend to. We reached there at around 4.30pm and went straight to Hall 8. The service started soon after we had settled down. Time flies and soon the service ended at around 7.40pm. Terri, Hui Xiang, Hui Li, Gerade, Rudi, Felix and I eventually stayed for dinner at Foyer 3 while the rest went home. We left at around 10pm.

¬7 Feb 2007¬

Today, I met up with Nicholas, Chet Hong, Pearlin, Priscilla and Jeremy. It has been ages since I last saw them and it was great to see them once again. Priscilla had to go for badminton practice and hence she was late. We left Century Square without her. Nicholas wanted to there in search of a cobbler to repair. To his dismay, there was none and Jeremy suggested going to the Central as he wanted to withdraw money. So we did. To our surprise, there was a cobbler shop. Nicholas had his shoe handed over to the store assistant and we made our way to Yoshinoya to have our dinner. Before going there, Nicholas went to Life bookstore and Precious Thoughts to buy gifts for his friends. Once we reached Yoshinoya, we looking for seats. We found the seats without much effort. We settled down and ordered the food. As tomorrow will be my birthday, I was told by Nicholas that the meal will be on him. Soon, Priscilla came. Could not resist the temptation of the nice aroma of the food, the rest eventually went to place their order. Surprising, all of us order the same set meal – Teriyaki Chicken. I was having fever and wanted to take panadol to keep my body temperature in control, but I did not have mineral water with me. Priscilla volunteered to buy one bottle for me. After taking the panadol, I felt much better. Moments later, Chet Hong came presenting me a cake, while they rest sang me a birthday song. They bought me a shirt. I was asked to make a wish and in the midst of it, the wax from the candle (on the cake) started dropping on the cake. After that, we took pictures and stayed there for a while before going home. We bided farewell at the interchange.

¬8 Feb 2007¬ - My 18th Birthday !!!

This is the day I have been looking forward to. It is my 18^th Birthday. Woke up at around 10am, I started studying for the exam (Engineering Maths) the next day. I had 3 past year papers to do, of which there were approximately 20 questions for each paper. I continued studying till around 5pm and left home to meet up my cellgroup members at Vivo City. I could not find them initially, but I was told to call Hui Xiang. I called and asked her where she was. The place was big and I had a hard time finding her. She passed the phone to Heidi as she was not wearing specs at that time (could not see clearly). After much description of the landmarks, I did find them eventually. Only Heidi and Hui Xiang were there as Seetoh and Hui Li went to Café Cartel to buy pizza. Sis Hui Min emerged moments later and start conversing with us. Soon, Seetoh and Hui Li came and they brought with them the food (2 Pizzas and sushi) they had bought. Terri and Amelia came minutes later and we started eating.

After eating, I was told by Seetoh to accompany him to throw away the leftover. While walking back, Terri came and started saying how beautiful the sceneries were. I was told to take out my specs and Seetoh started covering my eyes, leading me back. When I opened my eyes, I saw a cake with 1 candle on it. It was not lighted successfully initially. So, they re-lighted it. Some of them even shouted “replay!” They sang me birthday song and I was presented the card and gift they had prepared for me. We went to Long John Silver after that and stayed there for quite a while before going home.

¬7 Feb 2007¬

Today, I met up with Nicholas, Chet Hong, Pearlin, Priscilla and Jeremy. It has been ages since I last saw them and it was great to see them once again. Priscilla had to go for badminton practice and hence she was late. We left Century Square without her. Nicholas wanted to there in search of a cobbler to repair. To his dismay, there was none and Jeremy suggested going to the Central as he wanted to withdraw money. So we did. To our surprise, there was a cobbler shop. Nicholas had his shoe handed over to the store assistant and we made our way to Yoshinoya to have our dinner. Before going there, Nicholas went to Life bookstore and Precious Thoughts to buy gifts for his friends. Once we reached Yoshinoya, we looking for seats. We found the seats without much effort. We settled down and ordered the food. As tomorrow will be my birthday, I was told by Nicholas that the meal will be on him. Soon, Priscilla came. Could not resist the temptation of the nice aroma of the food, the rest eventually went to place their order. Surprising, all of us order the same set meal – Teriyaki Chicken. I was having fever and wanted to take panadol to keep my body temperature in control, but I did not have mineral water with me. Priscilla volunteered to buy one bottle for me. After taking the panadol, I felt much better. Moments later, Chet Hong came presenting me a cake, while they rest sang me a birthday song. They bought me a shirt. I was asked to make a wish and in the midst of it, the wax from the candle (on the cake) started dropping on the cake. After that, we took pictures and stayed there for a while before going home. We bided farewell at the interchange.

~A story to remember~

A group of frogs were traveling through the woods and two of them fell into a deep pit. All the other frogs gathered around the pit. When they saw how deep the pit was, they told the two frogs that they were as good as dead. The two frogs ignored the comments and tried to jump up out of the pit with all of their might. The other frogs kept telling them to stop, that they were as good as dead. Finally, one of the frogs took heed to what the other frogs were saying and gave up. He fell down and died. The other frog continued to jump as hard as he could. Once again, the crowd of frogs yelled at him to stop the pain and just die. He jumped even harder and finally made it out. When he got out, the other frogs said, "Did you not hear us?" The frog explained to them that he was deaf. He thought they were encouraging him the entire time. This story teaches two lessons:

1. There is power of life and death in the tongue. An encouraging word to someone who is down can lift them up and help them make it through the day.

2. A destructive word to someone who is down can be what it takes to kill them. Be careful of what you say.

Speak life to those who cross your path. The power of words....it is sometimes hard to understand that an encouraging word can go such a long way. Anyone can speak words that tend to rob another of the spirit to continue in difficult times.
Special is the individual who will take the time to encourage another.
Be special to others.

~My Family~

The picture above was taken on 7th January 2006, the day when my brother enlisted for Ns. For as long as I can remember, that was the last family photo taken. At times, I'll ask myself this question, " Is it so difficulty to buy one day of their (my parents) time?" Lost in a sea of confusing emotions, sometimes I'll burst into tears, wondering when the next family outing will be. I did try asking them but most of the time I'll get the same reply, " No time ". That is the only answer they can give me, I guessed. I did all I could, but still i get the same respond. Perhaps I only have myself to blame, not being a filial son at times. Year 2006 will soon be coming to an end, with Year 2007 on the verge of approaching. In 2007, all I hope for is to have regular outings and interactions with my family. Perhaps, all these will never come to pass, who knows.

ReGreTs...

for the past weeks, i've been living my life aimlessly. having my visions in life lost, things weren't gg smoothly as well. recapitulating the past happi memories, i juz realised how much i missed dem. too bad, we can nv turn the clock back to the past. many things happened of late: reshuffling of e30, semester results, spiritual life, family etc... things juz weren't within my control, my life was far from perfection. christian lifesyle is indeed a spiritual warfare; satan will try all means to get u discouraged (a discouraged christian has limited potential). well, tts life i guess. yeah, hopefully everything will turn out to be fine.

YeAr 2002

The sky was ink black, empty of stars and moon. Unable to get to sleep, I slogged my way to the living room in the late darkness of the night. As I look out of the window just beside me, I found myself witnessing a car accident. A car moving with an enormous velocity was seen crashing into a tree at the roadside. In a moment of sheer heroics, people near-by went rushing to the scene. The seriousness of the victim's injury was still largely a mystery. Family members of the victim lumbered into view moments later. They were crying in anguish, bursting into tears all at once.
Taken aback by what had just happened, one of them called the ambulance. The ambulance came in the nick of time and the victim was carried away by the medics.

That night, there was no place in my heart for rational thinking. The thought of the accident drove every other consideration from my mind. I was lost in a sea of confusing emotions, the debilitating infusion of fear and doubt controlled my mind. That accident reminded me at once how vulnerable life can be. For 17 years of my life, I had experienced joy, sorrow, setbacks and also rejection. In spite of all that has happened, I still remember very distinctly a teacher whom has changed my life tremendously. She is Mdm Fazidah. She was my form teacher when I was in Secondary One. For as long as I live, I will never forget the words she spoke to the class on the first day of school. "The greatest mistake in life is to repeat the mistake you had committed.", she said. I was once a person who did not have a vision in life, all I did were to go home and play computer games everyday. As a result, I did badly for PSLE, scoring an aggregate score of 194. Upon hearing her words, I started to reflect on my life, recalling what kind of person I was in the past. I began having a vision in life: that is to top the class academically. That was the turning point of my life.

Indeed, all work and no play make Jack a dull boy. I topped my class for two semesters, securing 8^th position in the whole level. That year, I received a scholarship worth $500. Time flies, and soon the academic year ended and I was promoted to Secondary Two Express first class (201). It was a dream come true for me. Having my life totally transformed, I could hardly describe the gratitude I had for Mdm Fazidah. She was always there for me when I needed help, giving me advice on handling the setbacks I faced.

It has been nearly a year since I graduated from Changkat Changi Secondary School in 31st December 2005. The four years I spent there had been a meaningful and enjoyable one. Last but not least, I would like to say to Mdm Fazidah, "Thank you for being such an awesome teacher. You're the best teacher whom I have ever met. Thanks a million!"

John

7/9/06

My Sister-in-Christ … Terri

Needing something to take the edge off facing the four walls in my house all day, I switched on the computer, connecting and logging in to my MSN account with the thought of looking for people to chat with to ease my boredom. It was around two in the morning then, most of my friends were busy fellowshipping with their beloved beds except some who were either busy studying for their upcoming examinations or killing their time online. One of those who were online was Terri.

Terri is my Sister-in-Christ and the sort of person others turned to instinctively in times of troubles. Solid and capable, she had served people around her with a distinction and compassion that belied the ferocious history of her generation. More than once, she had solved a problem that might otherwise have troubled me. She brought me to City Harvest Church last Christmas. Having accepted Christ in Mid-January, I recapitulated how my life has been tremendously transformed by the love of God for the past eight months. I brushed the thought aside, an indulgence I could not afford, and whistled softly. Moments later, a strange figured chat-window detached itself from the LCD almost in front of me. It was Terri. We talked about the Holy Spirit, bible study and some other church stuffs. In the midst of chatting, she gave me some advice on handling common life issues. Before long, it was already about 4 a.m. We bided farewell and I went to bed soon after.

8/9/06

John