It's been slightly more than 2 months since i last posted. That's quite long...even my tag box had been deleted (just deleted actually...since i checked it before a few days ago and it was fine)...so I have a clean sheet...a brand new spanking tag box...
I was thinking about it, that has been a reoccuring theme to me for the past few months...He makes all things new...
I actually missed a few birthdays because i had to reformat my handphone when the software crashed and so i lost all my smses ...more than 800 in total, and whatever memory i had painstakingly recorded...yea, i like remembering things...the kind words, the flirts, the encourgements, the arguments...
You know what, interestingly enough I was carrying a lot of burdens and hurtful memories and words...some retained in those sms-es...Some friendships changed...relationships with people change...people change. And now suddenly I'm with a clean inbox...a clean chance to start a new...all the memories forcefully erased. Honestly, deep inside I felt a release...it's a good kind of release...
The past few months have been exceedingly tough for me. For starters, two of my best friends relocated to Penang for work purposes in March. Some of these were people I could count on in my most difficult times...I call it a gut kind of frienship. It's from your gut...the inmost parts of your soul. They left, so it's been a readjustment.
I lost my dog who was with me for 14 years.You won't know how much friends really mean to you until you lose them through distance or circumstance.
About a month ago, I lost my friend to lung cancer. He was my classmate since Alpha in mmu. One of my nicest malay friends. In my group of friends, we were one gang...had a road trip to Genting, watched movies, played futsal, played countless games of bowling and pool sessions. In fact he was my lab partner and we were working on a project for a subject. 2 weeks before the due date, he had to stop and be admitted to the Hospital in Cheras. Soon found out he had 4th stage lung cancer...doctors found out too late. I managed to see him before i left for Jakarta for a mission trip(I was on a delayed flight for a reason...God's reason). Seeing him lying there...dying...it broke my heart...tears was held back.
These kind of things usually happen to uncles, or somebody's friend or relative...but never to your own friends...not at 24. Not to someone i had lunch with a month ago, sipping my teh ais...checking out the pretty girls walking around campus...looking forward to graduating...talking about cars and friends...and our fascination with the scary movie, "Jangan Pandang Belakang"...
Honestly I didn't feel great going to indonesia...life and death situations just makes everything unimportant...what big things was I going to boast about, what great things was i goin to do in indonesia...it all felt unimportant actually...He passed away while i was in Indonesia...i had my personal time of grief.
I can't believe you are gone...
The past few months was also marked with milestones of joy...
I had my last prom...it was the best because I saved my last prom for the best and I swore I will bring the girl of my choice to that prom. And it being around my birthday and also a gig with Hannah Tan inside made it the sweetest March ever.
I sat for my last exam and got pretty good results considering it was two tough papers. I enjoyed my last study sessions in the FES office..nice studyin wif joash, justin, sube, justyne, solomon, tzeh wyz. Thanks for the company...
Finally, it's my convocation...wheee....
I went for my last CF camp...the IF camp which was a joint effort of both Melaka and Cyber CFs. The after camp trip to Seremban was the icing of a great week...awesome.
The macho guys...
The pretty girls.... =D
I went for the annual graduates mission trip this time around to Indonesia. I got to visit a mission school in Bogor above a mountain. I got to see first hand the missionaries who sacrificed comfort to reach the unreached with the Gospel. It touched my heart. I got to see how kind and hospitalble Indonesians are.
Oki
The kindest and most humble of them all...a man gentle in his heart and sincere in his love for God. I saw gratitude in him, his speech. He's goin to Kalimantan with his family to preach the gospel there...it isn't easy. It isn't glamarous work...
Jane, a missionary. I saw Jesus in her. She shared how the work of the gospel wasn't easy. Sometimes she went without a place to sleep, in darkness and without food...away from her family to pay the price of bringing the gospel to the interior. God's faithfulness never failed her...to meet her every need.
I got to play for the Asian Pacific Youth Alive Conference alongside Juwita Suwito and Ah Liang in a stadium before 5000 people. God promoted this small time guitarist. I got a phone call 3 days before flying to Jakarta that the Malaysian team desperately needed a guitarist and the opportunity fell to me...what could i say? Thank You, Lord....i only had one practice session and had to fly off...so i had to practice with my discman throughout the whole duration.
The privilege
The crowd...
The band...
I got to see firsthand how the Indonesians loved Jesus and how they loved their country and their passion for God to touch their nation. I am reminded of how fervent I was when we were all youths...making time for God in our camps and roadtrips to conventions in KL...cross cultural trips like this showed me that God's pretty real over the border. Don't be bound by prejudice...in fact Indonesia has greater religous freedom albeit the press often highlights the extremists and the bombings.
I fell sick towards the end of my stay in Indonesia but i was very well taken care off...i owe a lot to their hospitality.
Made some new friends here and there...
The past few months have been ...
enriching
yea, that's the word...i'm sorrowful yet joyful. =)
PLEASE CHECK THE PG 165 blog...oh please do...... http://pg165.blogspot.com
No comments:
Post a Comment