All truths are easy to understand once they are discovered; the point is to discover them…

I was just reading (and reflecting) about how hoping against hope (or how killing desire on a horizontal level) can eventually close off our desire for God. Does this monologue ring a bell? – “If I expect nothing, then I won’t be disappointed”. Looking back, there were times where circumstances happened to be a little too overwhelming, where you get so sick and tired of going about your day, feeling like a douche. Killing desire seemed to make sense – after all, better not to hope than to hope and be hurt, no?

With the benefit of hindsight (and hopefully, a little more maturity as well), expecting nothing (significantly lowering expectations counts too) wasn’t the answer at all. Not even close. Instead, by doing so, we’re subconsciously committing suicide – inadvertently giving up all hope.

“Hope deferred makes the heart sick, but when the desire comes, it is a tree of life.” – Proverbs 13: 12.

The loss of hope is, undoubtedly, one of the worst things that can happen to us spiritually. When problems arise, hope sustains us by holding out the promise of better days to come – the light at the end of the tunnel, the silver lining behind every cloud… It is “the memory of the future” – the anticipation that since we’ve risen above past problems, so will it be again.

“My soul still remembers and sinks within me. This I recall to my mind, therefore I have hope.” – Lamentations 3: 20-21.

The picture above happens to be a famous painting called “Hope”, by the artist George Frederic Watts – clearly, the blindfolded musician is close to losing hope. But even with one string remaining, she plays on, unperturbed.

“The Lord is my portion, says my soul, therefore I hope in Him!” – Lamentations 3: 24.

Just some food for thought really. Hope (no pun intended) you’ve been blessed. Take care and have an awesome week ahead! (:

Sigh…

A thousand apologies for the lack of updates, or rather lack of interest (and yes, I do realize that it has been over a month since I last updated). All the same, do watch this space… There should be one coming right up… Keyword: should.

Goodnight and good luck people! (:

Greetings! The weekend before last was spent back home, and what a remarkable couple of days it was; though there really isn’t much to write about it, I still felt that it was time well spent – family, food and fellowship – what else is there at home? Then again, it kinda made my journey back a little more depressing than it usually is, but let’s skip that part for now…

Anyway, the Liverpool squad (except Steven Gerrard, which is such a pity, really) is in this part of the world at the moment as part of their pre-season exercise – the Reds take on the national team (note that I didn’t begin spelling national team with capital letters; unworthy opponents, I believe). I’m not complaining though. At least the rest of us fans get to soak up the atmosphere (positive thinking… yeah right!) and watch the bloody game. Haha. Oh by the way, I managed to get a glimpse of Torres and Carragher earlier today! Unfortunately, I didn’t manage to sneak in an autograph, a picture or even a handshake, though for a moment or two, they were actually just a couple of feet away from me. Besides that, I am supposedly assigned to write a match report, or an article about Liverpool coming over at least. Part and parcel of being a new writer for a LFC news website.

All in all, everything else is pretty much in control. I am participating in two runs within the next three weeks or so and I have a Young Working Adult camp coming up in mid-August. Well, details soon to follow… I hope. :D

Once again, apologies for the long wait… I have been busy somewhat – not extremely busy, but busy enough which justifies the lack of updates (or maybe I just don’t like to admit laziness on my part). Either way, work has been pretty decent so far. Though it’s not something that I look forward to every day and besides feeling like a total loser every morning when I wake up to prepare for it, I still think that it’s manageable and at times, even enjoyable. Lol. Guess having ridiculously low expectations (or no expectations at all) helped quite a bit!

Anyways, I don’t quite know what else to update about so yeah, have a blessed week and take care! (:

This moment of time a week ago, I was drowning in self-pity – work would officially begin the following morning, and convocation would be less than 24 hours away. I just couldn’t seem to put everything into perspective, and besides, the future (the next three years) didn’t excite me at all. It was just awfully selfish and pessimistic to be honest. I totally ignored the fact that I am rather fortunate – A job pretty much guaranteed for 36-months (at least), a decent place to stay, enough to eat, and a loving family despite being a good 500 miles away…

So, Monday it was and the journey began… along with my struggle to accept reality: being posted to an “alien” department was no consolation – my expectations were shot down and they didn’t just fall to the ground, they buried themselves. “God surely has a purpose there for me!”, I thought to myself but still, I wasn’t willing to believe that. I wanted some form of justification, I was rationalizing. It’s ironic that my previous post was about being patient and trusting Him in everything and here I am forgetting all of that in just a few days. It’s ironic how I managed to pose an argument weeks ago on how we can never define God by logic and here I am, trying to make sense of His ways.

Either way, convocation was next and I wasn’t the happiest graduate – I barely clapped, I completely ignored the pledge, I wore smiles for photograph sessions… To make matters worse, my family would be leaving for home and I would be stuck behind in misery. Everything just felt out of place. What remained of the week wasn’t much better though – It was still head versus heart, fantasy versus reality… I so wanted to see that the glass was half full but I couldn’t.

Fast-forwarding to Sunday, it was a lifesaver, literally… A slap in the face. Since the whole episode began, I earnestly sought for direction and reassurance, but my Sunday experience was just phenomenal! The speaker read from Isaiah 40: 28-31…

28 Have you not known? Have you not heard?
The Lord is the everlasting God,
the Creator of the ends of the earth.
He does not faint or grow weary;
his understanding is unsearchable.

29 He gives power to the faint,
and to him who has no might he increases strength.

30 Even youths shall faint and be weary,
and young men shall fall exhausted;

31 but they who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength;
they shall mount up with wings like eagles;
they shall run and not be weary;
they shall walk and not faint.

Deep down inside, I knew that God wanted to get His message across and I began trembling almost immediately as tears began streaming down my face… I was having a “high-low” moment – High from my discovery and my answered prayer, low from not being able to trust Him as my Creator.

Anyway, that’s all for now. It has been another lengthy one and besides boring you, I hope it encourages you as well! I do have a fair bit more to share but I feel that this isn’t the best time. So til then, have a brilliant week alright! Over and out. (;

Dearest blog,

I’m awfully, awfully sorry to have neglected you for the past few weeks or so. I know that it hasn’t been the busiest time but so much has been happening in recent weeks that I do get a little confused whenever I plan to share how things are with you. But still, I hope that this would suffice… (:

Okay, where do I begin… Oh! You know, I made a trip back to Singapore about two weeks back to get my employment pass done and to move to a new place (Yes, again). I touched down at about six p.m. and I had pre-arranged to move some stuff over at about nine. Anyway, things weren’t going well, not at all. In fact, I was on the verge of going mental. Firstly, I received a couple of smses that weren’t the least encouraging. Apparently, we were shortchanged of over a thousand bucks despite being told otherwise.

Secondly, while I was rushing to get all my packing done within two hours, I realized that I lost my only set of house keys! Frantically, I began turning my unpacked stuff upside down, and unpacking my packed stuff inside out, all to no avail. I was distraught. It wasn’t just a set of keys. It meant not being able to leave the place for as long as I remained locked in, it meant not being able to move to the new place. Well, to cut the long story short, I managed to get them back – I had left them in the keyhole on the way in. Yeah, laugh all you want but these kinda things do happen I guess… It’s just rather unfortunate that it had to happen on an extremely busy day. But then again, things like these wouldn’t happen if I had time to spare would it? Either way, I guess that experience taught me alot. Nothing about house keys and absent-mindedness though. I figured that patience and trust were the real deals here. You see, it’s in times like these where we usually try to be in control over everything, it’s in times like these where we are focused on the problem, not the solution (or even potential solutions)… But it’s in times like these as well, where we begin to ask God for peace and for divine intervention. After that, patience and trust is pretty much all up to us isn’t it?

Oh! Talking about trust, you know, something rather absurd happened just recently… Well, I’m pretty sure that you do know about that swine flu “pandemic” don’t you?  And I’m certain that you are aware that my graduation ceremony is going to be held this coming Monday as well, right? Anyway, two days ago, I received news that the ceremony would be postponed until further notice. I shan’t get into the reasons behind that major decision – I believe that it’s partially sensible and partially stupid, though I figure that you have already found the link between sick, cute pigs and the why they’ve decided to do away with such events for the time being. Well, it was a series of unfortunate events, really. We had plans to go down from the weekend, we had hotel rooms booked, et cetera… Nonetheless, in the past 12 hours or so, it has all been overturned. Thank goodness that the organizers have finally come to their senses!

Okay. I really should stop here. It’s been a long one and I bet you have more interesting things to do. I’ll write again soon alright! Take care and love much! (:

Updates from a place called home:

Employment commences in a month, Graduation coincidentally falls on the same day – May 11th to be exact. I haven’t poured much thought into it so watch this space. I shall keep all ye faithful posted once I’ve spent enough time dwelling on it.

I’ve been home for a couple of weeks now with nothing much on the agenda besides the odd book, some films and a fair bit of traveling around the country, especially in the week(s) to come.

Oh, the Chelsea game was really disappointing – a rather dismal, below-par performance leaving us with the uphill task of needing to score at least three goals at the Bridge. Oh well, can we do it? Why yes, we can! (Note: I am honestly optimistic about it). Lol! (;

Anyway, y’all have a good Easter! Over and out.

At. Long. Last. The league double over our hated rivals, the gloating rights til the next fixture, and the immense joy at the expense of their humiliation. Pride comes before a fall? Indeed…

Sure Man. United still remains at the top of the Premier League table. And yes, there’s that four point gap as well but let’s not focus on that for the moment. Instead, let us bask in their hanging heads and shattered egos before allowing reality to bite again. Either way, whatever happens come May, we will never ever forget today. Walk On! :D

The past week has been the highlight of my break so far – three weeks and counting…

I went for my Pre-Employment Medical Checkup last Thursday and as it turns out, I’m not as healthy as I expect myself to be – a urine test detected traces of blood cells in my pee, so I’ll need to go back for a repeat checkup sometime next week. Also, my right eye didn’t do very well in reading the Snellen chart, which is another bother. Hopefully, my cells will straighten themselves out by the next test.

Sectional Retreat was next. After Entelechy (an East District event), the few of us headed down to the Retreats’ venue for the night. The next morning, each cellgroup was briefed on the main agenda for the Retreat which was a well-organized Persevering Race – all three groups were made to visit four different locations along the North-East Line, completing as many tasks as possible within the given timeframe. After four to five gruelling hours in the 30 degree heat, our group ran a good few hundred metres before being informed that unfortunately, we were the last group to arrive. It wasn’t much of a concern really, the whole purpose of the race was to persevere and I thought that every single one of us managed to exhibit some form of perseverance. Oh and it turned out that we won the race (winners are determined by the number of points earned), which was a pleasant surprise in the end. (:

The last three days were spent in Batam (an Indonesian island south-east of Singapore). Given the fact that our reservations fell during the non-peak period, we were blessed with suites instead of the normal rooms. We managed to engage ourselves in somewhat unfamiliar activities. All in all, sunburns aside, it was a trip worth making – I am too lazy to include the details of the trip at the moment so if you really can’t wait, feel free to indulge yourselves in the specifics here!

Oh and Elaine! Lol! I am obliged to mention about beating battering Real Madrid on Tuesday night! Totally kick-ass performance! Let’s hope for another at Old Trafford Toilet as well! Wouldn’t miss it for the world! Haha.

Alright. Til the next update (hopefully, with pictures). Take care people! Peace out. (: