can you sleep while the wind blows?

Years ago, a farmer owned land along the Atlantic seacoast. He constantly advertised for hired hands. Most people were reluctant to work on farms along the Atlantic. They dreaded the awful storms that raged across the Atlantic, wreaking havoc on the buildings and crops.

As the farmer interviewed applicants for the job, he received a steady stream of refusals. Finally, a short, thin man, well past middle age, approached the farmer. "Are you a good farm hand?" the farmer asked him.

"Well, I can sleep when the wind blows," answered the little man.Although puzzled by this answer, the farmer, desperate for help, hired him. The little man worked well around the farm, busy from dawn to dusk, and the farmer felt satisfied with the man's work.

Then one night the wind howled loudly in from offshore. Jumping out of bed, the farmer grabbed a lantern and rushed next door to the hired hand's sleeping quarters. He shook the little man and yelled, "Get up! A storm is coming!Tie things down before they blow away!"
The little man rolled over in bed and said firmly, "No sir. I told you, I can sleep when the wind blows."

Enraged by the response, the farmer was tempted to fire him on the spot. Instead, he hurried outside to prepare for the storm.

To his amazement, he discovered that all of the haystacks had been covered with tarpaulins. The cows were in the barn, the chickens were in the coops, and the doors were barred. The shutters were tightly secured. Everything was tied down.Nothing could blow away. The farmer then understood what his hired hand meant, so he returned to his bed to also sleep while the wind blew.When you're prepared, spiritually, mentally, and physically, you have nothing to fear. Can you sleep when the wind blows through your life? The hired hand in the story was able to sleep because he had secured the farm against the storm. We secure ourselves against the storms of life by grounding ourselves in the Word of God. We don't need to understand, we just need to hold His hand to have peace in the middle of storms.

A friend of mine sent this to me today, and I enjoyed it so much, that I wanted to put it as my blog entry. I hope you enjoy your day and you sleep well.

God be with you always. =P

Running Here & There

Oh yes, that is what I will be doing on 17 Sep and 3 Dec. There will be two more runs for me after AHM before the end of this year. The first one is Running for Hope. It is a run which raises fund for cancer and it certainly is more meaningful and "less selfish" in nature. Will be running for 9 km at Sentosa and I feel as I am running I will be quite happy as I am running for hope as the name of the run implies. =)

Here are the details if you too are interested to join me...

http://www.runforhopesingapore.org/

The second run is the much publicised Standard Chartered Singapore Marathon 2006. In my opinion as I was telling one of my brothers, it is a more self-centred run. haha. Because I will say I run it because I want to prove to myself and others that I can do it. Hmm, so in a way "more selfish" lah... haha.

I will not run the full marathon but only half marathon as I feel that I have not trained enough. However, as I was looking at the running route, I was very much tempted to run the full 42.195 km! So all serious runners, let us all be training for the full 42.195 km next year and get the finisher's T-Shirt together, shall we? =)

Anyway, I have already registered for the half marathon so for those joining me this year, go and register before tomorrow to get Early Bird Price. Here are the details:

http://www.singaporemarathon.com/en/

Another 30.1 km to go.

What's cooking, YA?

Yesterday, besides going for the AHM, my church ministry had a simple potluck and mini cooking competition among all the cell groups. Here are the five famous dishes cooked and prepared by various cells. =)

And the winner of the mini cooking competition is ......... (drum roll)

All of us (even the judges) really tell ourselves that "I Can't Believe You Prepared That!"

21.1 km

Today marks a milestone of my life. I have completed a half marathon of 21 km! Managed to clock a timing of 2 hr 42 min 46 sec. This is my first half marathon and I must say that it is definitely not easy man. My left leg started to cramp at the 14 km mark and no choice, like what one of my brothers told me, I have to walk and could not continue to run. Therefore, I must admit that after the 14 km mark, I have walked and ran a bit till the end point. Okie, let me show you all the Finisher Medal which I have gotten after the run. =)

I have finished the race!

44 Days

44 Days to a new chapter in life.

I must say that these 133 days of my life is indeed memorable and full of presents. =)
Got lots of stuffs for me to keep for memory sake and even a video disc.

Gone for two interviews and one more to go. Do not know why but feeling excited to go for interviews and just to express myself. Furthermore, the interviewers so far has also been discussing about Christ with me. Therefore, I feel this is a good chance for me to indeed live out a testimony for Christ even in the midst of job interviews.

Although I have been letting God down again and again, too ashamed to face him.

Rise and Shine

The sun is up and a new day dawns but...

I haven't wake up yet!

Hai, has been trying to wake up really early these days so that on Sunday, I can wake up early to go for AHM. However, I have been failing again and again...

Need to wake up by 3.30am... will try to wake up at 4.30am first tomorrow morning.

Ok, I will go to bed now...

zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz...........

老妈，生日快乐！！！

妈妈，我爱你。

让我来给你一些烟花来庆祝一下。。。

A Living Inspiration

Dear Brothers and Sisters In Christ,

Allow me to share this wonderful real story of Nick Vujicic who has touch thousands of hearts around the world.

My name is Nick Vujicic and I give God the Glory for how He has used my testimony to touch thousands of hearts around the world! I was born without limbs and doctors have no medical explanation for this birth "defect". As you can imagine, I was faced with many challenges and obstacles.

"Consider it pure joy, my Brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds."

....To count our hurt, pain and struggle as nothing but pure joy? As my parents were Christians, and my Dad even a Pastor of our church, they knew that verse very well. However, on the morning of the 4th of December 1982 in Melbourne (Australia), the last two words on the minds of my parents was "Praise God!". Their firstborn son had been born without limbs! There were no warnings or time to prepare themselves for it. The doctors were shocked and had no answers at all! There is still no medical reason why this had happened and Nick now has a Brother and Sister who were born just like any other baby.

The whole church mourned over my birth and my parents were absolutely devastated. Everyone asked, "if God is a God of Love, then why would God let something this bad happen to not just anyone, but dedicated Christians?" My Dad thought I wouldn't survive for very long, but tests proved that I was a healthy baby boy just with a few limbs missing.

Understandably, my parents had strong concern and evident fears of what kind of life I'd be able to lead. God provided them strength, wisdom and courage through those early years and soon after that I was old enough to go to school.

The law in Australia didn't allow me to be integrated into a main-stream school because of my physical disability. God did miracles and gave my Mom the strength to fight for the law to be changed. I was one of the first disabled students to be integrated into a main-stream school.

I liked going to school, and just try to live life like everyone else, but it was in my early years of school where I encountered uncomfortable times of feeling rejected, weird and bullied because of my physical difference. It was very hard for me to get used to, but with the support of my parents, I started to develop attitudes and values which helped me overcome these challenging times. I knew that I was different but on the inside I was just like everyone else. There were many times when I felt so low that I wouldn't go to school just so I didn't have to face all the negative attention. I was encouraged by my parents to ignore them and to try start making friends by just talking with some kids. Soon the students realized that I was just like them, and starting there God kept on blessing me with new friends.

There were times when I felt depressed and angry because I couldn't change the way I was, or blame anyone for that matter. I went to Sunday School and learnt that God loves us all and that He cares for you. I understood that love to a point as a child, but I didn't understand that if God loved me why did He make me like this? Is it because I did something wrong? I thought I must have because out of all the kids at school, I'm the only weird one. I felt like I was a burden to those around me and the sooner I go, the better it'd be for everyone. I wanted to end my pain and end my life at a young age, but I am thankful once again, for my parents and family who were always there to comfort me and give me strength.

Due to my emotional struggles I had experienced with bullying, self esteem and loneliness, God has implanted a passion of sharing my story and experiences to help others cope with whatever challenge they have in their life and let God turn it into a blessing. To encourage and inspire others to live to their fullest potential and not let anything get in the way of accomplishing their hopes and dreams.

One of the first lessons that I have learnt was not to take things for granted.

"And we know that in all things God works for the best for those who love Him."

That verse spoke to my heart and convicted me to the point where that I know that there is no such thing as luck, chance or coincidence that these "bad" things happen in our life.

I had complete peace knowing that God won't let anything happen to us in our life unless He has a good purpose for it all. I completely gave my life to Christ at the age of fifteen after reading John 9. Jesus said that the reason the man was born blind was "so that the works of God may be revealed through Him." I truly believed that God would heal me so I could be a great testimony of His Awesome Power. Later on I was given the wisdom to understand that if we pray for something, if it's God's will, it'll happen in His time. If it's not God's will for it to happen, then I know that He has something better.

I now see that Glory revealed as He is using me just the way I am and in ways others can't be used.

I am now twenty-one years old and have completed a Bachelor of Commerce majoring in Financial Planning and Accounting. I am also a motivational speaker and love to go out and share my story and testimony wherever opportunities become available. I have developed talks to relate to and encourage students through topics that challenge today's teenagers. I am also a speaker in the corporate sector.

I have a passion for reaching out to youth and keep myself available for whatever God wants me to do, and wherever He leads, I follow.

I have many dreams and goals that I have set to achieve in my life. I want to become the best witness I can be of God's Love and Hope, to become an international inspirational speaker and be used as a vessel in both Christian and non-Christian venues. I want to become financially independent by the age of 25, through real estate investments, to modify a car for me to drive and to be interviewed and share my story on the "Oprah Winfrey Show"! Writing several best-selling books has been one of my dreams and I hope to finish writing my first by the end of the year. It will be called "No Arms, No Legs, No Worries!"

I believe that if you have the desire and passion to do something, and if it's God's will, you will achieve it in good time. As humans, we continually put limits on ourselves for no reason at all! What's worse is putting limits on God who can do all things. We put God in a "box". The awesome thing about the Power of God, is that if we want to do something for God, instead of focusing on our capability, concentrate on our availability for we know that it is God through us and we can't do anything without Him. Once we make ourselves available for God's work, guess whose capabilities we rely on? God's!

One Week Before AHM

This is one week before AHM and I am now down with cough, flu and sore throat. Pls do pray that I will recover in time for the AHM on next Sunday. First time running 21km, you see. Hence, I do hope that I can pull through and finish the race. =)

By the way, I will really like to thank a sister who smsed me yesterday before cell this message:

"Hey! Cell later rt? “无论作什么，都要从心里作，像是给主作的，不是给人作的，” hv a fruitful time!"

Yah was feeling very down before cell yesterday due to my sickness but her sms really spur me on. I checked the bible today and was affirmed that this is a verse which comes from Colossians 3:23.

"Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for men."

Furthermore, the brothers were talking about this verse today after service. It is a verse which I can mediate upon for this week. Have a great week ahead!

Army Info

I am going to provide some of my army info so that at least after many years when I looked back at these dates and details, it can give me some fond memories.

Date of Enlistment: 24 July 2001
Date of Orginal ORD: 23 Nov 2003
Date of Disruption: 13 July 2003
Date of Resume Service: 29 May 2006
Date of ORD: 08 Oct 2006

PES Status: E1L3 (Permanent)
Vocation: Sup Asst (GE)
Appointment: ICS2 Clerk / Accoms IC / Comms 2IC
Rank: CPL

Award: Best Soldier of the Month (Feb 2003)

Is God in the picture?

The answer to this question is a resounding "YES!" God is always in the picture. He is always in our midst. We do not have to go further than out of our own residential place to know that He is always around. We just have to observe ourselves. Yeah, just our body will testify that God is present. How? Okay, let me ask these questions.

1. Do you have to always tell your brain to tell your body to breathe in oxygen and breathe out carbon dioxide?

2. Do you have to always tell your brain to circulate your blood flow so that every cell in your body receive the oxygen supply?

3. Do you have to always tell your brain to tell your stomach to digest the food or drink that is consumed?

4. Do you have to always tell your brain to tell your body to eject out all the unwanted waste?

5. Do you have to always tell your brain to remind your heart to continue beating till you die?

The answer to the above questions is the same: NO.

I am not really good in biology being graded only a B3 back in my 'O' levels. However, at least I still remember that all these questions point to some of the involuntary actions in our human body. They are involuntary because they will be automatically "will do", "doing" or "done" every seconds of our lives. We do not have to tell them to do it, they are so called done involuntarily. We do not have to remind them.

This brings to my mind a particular verse in the Bible. Genesis 2:7, "the Lord God formed the man from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living being." God was actively involved when He created us simply because He gave part of His breath to us. The breath of life. And God after creating man remarked His work as very good. (Gen 1:31)

Therefore, God is always in the picture. Although we cannot see Him with our physical eyes, we can feel His Holy presence with us. Just like we can never deny the presence of a breeze because we cannot see it. The reason is we can feel it. To those who feel that they do not need God as they have everything going their way for them, I will like to ask them this, "If you say that you do not need God, how about surrendering this breath of life which God has given you back to Him?" Food for thought.

Walk-In Interview

Today, I went for a walk-in interview. I went mainly to gain some experience in interviewing and to gather what kind of questions they normally will ask. It was indeed tiring as I went directly after coming back from night cycling. I was seriously feeling weak physically and exhausted mentally.

And who knows that I would be thrown an IQ question to test my problem solving skills? In the end, I gave the normal standard answer given by many as indicated by the interviewer. Too tired already, man. Furthermore prior to the interview, I waited for a total of 4 hours plus due to the overwhelming crowd which came for the interview. I was physically drained. =(

Finally, I did get to be interviewed at the expense of missing tuition project (again!) and an appointment with a fellow brother (sorry, I was really going to knock out). Went back home after the interview, bathed and slept for 3 hours. Now my legs are really sored, haha.

Flying the National Flag!

Just came back from NDP and oh boy, I missed the date for posting a blog entry on NDP. Anyway, I just want to wish Singapore a Blessed Belated Birthday. Wah, triple B. Hehe. God Bless Singapore. =)

My Parents & Me

I will like to take this chance to thank a fellow brother in Christ who edited this photo for me. Thank God for my parents because they are the BEST!

Graduates' Evening

August is Here!

1 August.

8 more days to National Day and after that, my weekend will stop 'burning'. haha
68 more days to Operational Ready Date.

This short stint with the army has certainly affirmed me all the more to be proud being a Singaporean. No matter what other people may say, I just want to be myself - A Singaporean proud of Singapore. Simple?

One song which I learnt in primary school during the National Day period many years ago goes something like this:

There was a time when people say that Singapore won't make it,
But we did.
There was a time when trouble seems too much for us to take it,
But we did.
We build a nation strong and free
Reaching out together.........
This is my country.....
This is my flag.....

Still remember this National Day song?
People always say what they want to say but I just live and do things according to myself. I do not have to care what others say. I just need to make sure that my life is able to live in obedience to God and pleases Him.

So brothers and sisters, just be yourself. What others want to say, let them carry on. Never look down on yourself, okay?