The Importance Of Honesty, The Power Of Integrity

George Washington once said "I hope I shall possess firmness and virtue enough to maintain what I consider the most enviable of all titles, the character of an honest man." I agree with him totally. To be called an honest man is a very important trait that everyone should have. It is easily "the most eviable of all titles" as being honest allows you to walk with your head up high without trying to hide anything from anybody. That is the importance of honesty. Psalms 119:1 in the NLT version of the Bible tells us "Happy are the people of integrity, who follow the law of the Lord"

Being a person of integrity is very important. When you are a person of integrity, you do not hide anything from the people around you. Sometimes it may seem to be alright to just act as if you are a great person, someone who is strong and perfect in his life. Well, it may be alright untill a test comes in your way, when a storm blows into your life. You will be put in a spot then, you will not know what to do and all your acts will just fall apart. When that happens, you will realise that it is so much better to just have integrity and accept that you have your weaknesses. When you accept your own weaknesses, God will help you to overcome these weaknesses. In such a way, it is very important to have integrity as it would also mean that you have humility to accept your own weaknesses.

Honesty is very important as it also builds trust. To be dishonest is also to be destroying the trust of the people around you. How many of us trust someone who has cheated us? I believe there is hardly anybody who would say yes to that. To lie to someone would mean to damage the trust the person have in you. You may think that it is alright to just lie to the person as he would never find out about it and it does not have much effect anyway. But think again. Our lies always catch up to us. We can never hide from our lies ever. It always comes up and catches up to us. We often just use another lie, and then another lie to cover up the previous lie. But we can never run. One day when our lie gets revealed, trusts will be damaged and we can only hide our face from our friends. None of us want that to happen.

All of us have lied before that is for sure. But we must make a concious effort to make ourselves tell the truth all the time. We must keep a check on what comes out of our mouth, on what actions we do. When was the last time you told a lie? I honestly have forgotten. But its not because I have not told a lie for a long long time. Its because I have forgotten to take check on what I say. Are you in the same situation? If so, then we have probably formed a habit of lying. Colossians 3:9~10 says "Do not lie to each other, since you have taken off your old self with its practices and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge in the image of its Creator" This specifically tells us to put off our old self and put on the new one. Here we can see it as taking off our old clothes and putting on a new one. It simply implies that we should put off this bad habit of ours and put on a new habit that the Lord has given unto us.

But of course it isn't as easy as it seem. Many a times we find it hard to put off these old clothes of ours as we are so used to them already. We attempt to take them off but never really take them off completely. Its like leaving one dirty sock on, or just taking our clothes off halfway. This is where God comes in. We need to ask God to help us with the changing of our self. Why? This is because this new self is "renewed in knowlege in the image of its Creator." This new self comes from God. And it is God who will help us with changing of our self and put on the new self.

Therefore I pray and encourage all of us to seek the God to put away our old self and put on the new one. That all of us can learn to be truthful and be man and woman of integrity. Being honest will truly benefit us in the long run and integrity pleases God. Let us all have the most enviable of all titles, the character of an honest man.

Still in Christmas Mood

Ah, just woke up from sleeping and its 28th December 2006!! Gosh, the past 4 days has been like constantly going out for me. My pocket is so dry now!! Geez, I have really spent over my budget and the week is not even over yet. I wonder how am I going to manage.

Well, I had yet another great day yesterday. Been having great days since christmas eve, haha. The christmas mood is still alive in me, muahaha. Pretty cool huh, so lets blog down the 4th great day in this Christmas Season and that is, 27th December 2006.

Its wednesday but theres no soccer as everybody was still celebrating Christmas. Soccer was postponed to Friday instead. So the day was given to Christine who asked. Haha, so rare that people would date me so I guess I just have to accept it :P

The plan of the day was to watch "Night At The Museum". Was supposed to meet at 12pm, then I postponed it to 1pm at Yishun due to a lack of sleep in the night. So I was reaching Yishun when Christine sms me say she will be late. I just took the train on to Dhoby Ghaut where we were supposed to watch the movie as there was more things to do there while waiting.

Reached Dhoby Ghaut and just walked around Plaza Singapura for around 30 mins. Walk here walk there, shop for soccer boots, watch VCD. Ah, eventually someone tapped me on my shoulders, Christine has arrived!! Haha, so we just went straight to The Cathay to buy the tickets for the movie. Time for the show was 3.10pm and it was still 2.20pm. That makes like 50 minutes time for us to kill. So we just walked around in The Cathay which was quite boring as there was very little shops in there. Eventually we decided to just rest at "Ben 'N' Jerry's Ice Cream" and have some ice cream to eat. Ice cream was really nice and the place's atmosphere was good too. Apparently there was some problem in making our waffle so the waitress was apologising to us constantly and we got water as well. When the ice cream came, she said she gave us extra ice-cream to say apologise for making us wait. Muahaha, more ice cream, i don't mind.

So ate ate ate and Christine just took pictures of the place. Haha, time was killed and its like 3.05pm already. So we packed up and went up to the cinema. Christine wanted to have hotdog and we went down again to buy the hotdog. Then went up to the cinema. Reached the theatre and the show was already starting. Found our seats and sat down to watch. Haha, its nice. The movie is nice. I like it. Christine said she will give it 5 stars. I don't know how many I will give. But I say its nice. I don't mind watching it again, which I most probably will as people are asking me already.

After the movie we went to Plaza Singapura. Turns out that Joshua was in the vicinity as well so we just went to hunt for Joshua. Kinda like a hide-and-seek. Abit like "we are going to catch you but you won't see us" kind of thing. Combed the enitre mall but could not see a sign of the cute boy. So Christine decided to call Joshua and guess what, he's in the cinema watching a movie. No wonder we can't find him!! So it can't be blamed on our tracking skills...

Well, then we just walked and walked and Christine said she wanted to get flowers. So we went to the florist and she bought 3 flowers. Her favourite Gerbras. I think thats how it is spelled. 2 was for her G12 members and 1 was for herself. So I just payed for the one she gave herself and it become I gave to her already. Haha. Thats a weird way of giving flowers. Of course I have to go through the motion of taking the flower from her hand and then giving it to her again to complete the whole ceremony of giving flower. Then she gave it back to me to hold it for her.

Then it was photo-taking session and Christine just takes alot of photos of herself and flowers and keeps on deleting them. She tells me she is having a bad hair day and is totally unsatisfied with the photos. So not many survived her deleting process. I think only a few managed to stay in her phone.

After that, met Zihao at Northpoint, followed by Luke. We are supposed to meet for dinner. After a long discussion, we decided to have dinner at some thai restaurant in Yishun which I have been to before. Luke then suggested that we go to a different place thats in Sembawang Shopping centre. So ok, we said fine and boarded the shuttle bus to Sembawang Shopping centre. Reached there Luke brought us to Giant. Crap, he then says that he was here 5 years ago and the restaurant was here. I mean like, 5 years ago?!?!?! Ah, we went in a hunt for the restaurant, hoping it moved to somewhere else in the shopping centre. It did. We found it at the top floor of the shopping centre. And its the same as the one in Yishun. -_-"

Food is the same and I ate alot of rice. 3 bowls! Wooh! I love it. Coz rice in the restaurant is free flow, I think. They don't charge us for it. Lol. Well, at least I satisfied myself :) Then went to meet Christine at SAFRA Yishun to play pool with her. I teamed up with Christine against Zihao and Luke and we beat them 5-0, or 4-0. Haha, anyway we beat them. Yeah yeah!

Then spent the night with Zihao as he camped at my place. We watched a film by Royston Tan about some gangsters in Singapore. Its quite a sad film as it shows the miserable life the gangsters go through despite seeming to be tough and all. After that we chatted and then slept at around 5am.

Well, woke up at around 2pm. Lilin called me while I was still asleep and she was shocked to find that I was sleeping untill so late. Haha. Hai, its raining again today. Actually wanted to go swimming one leh. Sian, I haven't been swimming for 1 week alr and this will be my 2nd week without swimming. Gosh. I need start going to swim soon. Rain rain please go away!! Soccer tomorrow. At least some sports. And soccer again on Saturday!! Finals against region D, must do our best...

And Happy 2nd Anniversary!!!

Yeah, its 27th December and its my blog's 2nd year in function!!! Yep yep yep, my first post was posted on 27th December 2004 and 2 years later, it is still functioning! Today is the day www.jellydrink.blogspot.com was born 2 years ago. Isn't it wonderful, I can't believe 2 years has gone by like that. This 2 years has seen me go through alot of things and also comprises of my entire JC education. Woh!! Praise God for being with me throughout these 2 years! God is really wonderful.

Well, lets talk about 26th December 2006. That is, yesterday. I went to Geralyn's house for a christmas party. Met Bright and Jing Er at Admiralty MRT and then took a bus there. First time going to her house so I have absolutely no idea how to go. Eventually reach our destination despite of the rain. Hehe, so much food was available!! There was cakes and tarts. Well, I only ate the chocolate cake. Muahaha.

Then came the real food. Wah, there was really alot. Pasta, chicken wing, bread, mutton, some mixed veggie, baked ham, and some other stuff. Really alot! Hehe, ate untill I so full la. Then we played "Taboo". Muahaha, I don't really remember the score but it was really fun. Had a great time. Then some people came into the house to sing christmas carols. Woo, we were quite shocked to suddenly see so many people coming into the house. I think there was about 20 people lo. Haha. Well, it was fun as we joined in with the singing. Great time. Hehe, very happy to know that the true meaning of Christmas was still alive even among the celebrations and the party. Turned out it was Geralyn's father who invited the church people to come and sing christmas carols. I could sing for the Lord!! So happy.

After that we continued playing "Taboo" and then switched to playing "Truth Or Dare" later on. Well, it turned out that no one really bothered about the truth so it turned into "Dare Or Dare" later on. So its like if the bottle points to you, you have no choice but to do the dare. Haha, thank God everyone was understanding and sporting at the same time, so it was really enjoyable.

Was 11.15pm when we decided to leave. Went to take bus and reached home only like 12 plus. Lol, really late. But really enjoyed myself. So meaningful. Still got plans for tomorrow!!! Muaa!!! I am such a busy man, hehe :)

Merry Merry Christmas!!

And I must say a merry merry christmas to everybody before it is too late!! Today is Christmas Day, the day my Lord Jesus Christ was born onto Earth to embark on his super mission to save everyone here!!! Yep, thats Jesus's birthday if you were wondering, so we are all going to rejoice and be merry and celebrate His birthday together!!!

Well, had a GREAT christmas day today. It was really a very meaningful and blessed christmas!! Well, woke up at 12.30pm to confirm with everybody about whats the plan and then went to meet Melvin at 2.45pm. Wah, he was super late la. So I met the Khong family first: Lilian, Lilin and Alex. Met up with them, I was eating Ramly burger and then we had a drink at Macs. Well, eventually met Melvin and Christine and zoomed to East Coast Park. Yeah yeah!! The starting of my wonderful day!

Arrived at East Coast and then rented bicycles. Took a Double-Bike with Lilin as she was not familiar with biking and had alot of fun. Its quite nice to cycle on the "lorry" rather than the normal bikes as I already have my own bike at home le. So its something different. I totally enjoyed myself. We were singing worship songs while cycling, so cool!! Wooh, fantastic. So we cycled and cycled untill like 7pm then returned the bikes. Wow, everybody must be quite tired after cycling. So I lent my shirt to Lilin and Melvin to change as their shirt were very dirty. Well, my shirt then ended up on Christine who also dirtied her shirt but had her own shirt. Lol, turned out that my shirt was too big for Lilin. Haha, am I that fat? No way!! I am only muscular. Muahaaha :P

So after that we were just in Melvin's car deciding where to go. After a long time on the road going in rounds, it was decided that we would go to Yishun as Christine wanted to go off already. So we went to Yishun to send Christine off, then Melvin said he needed to return the car to his dad so he went off as well. Haha, the survivor thing was starting again. People were getting elimated one by one!! So its back to Lilian, Lilin, Alex and me again. Hm, its always us!! Nvm, I like to be with Khongs anyway. So we took a bus to Woodlands Causeway Point as the Pizza Hut at Yishun was pathetically without any christmas atmosphere at all. Ate our christmas dinner at Causeway Point Pizza Hut and there was Christmas atmosphere :) Hehe. Had a great great great time at dinner. Good food and good company. Ate and fellowship untill about 10pm. Then we decided at go off as it was getting quite late already.

Woh! It was really very wonderful and meaningful and blessed christmas day!! I loved it so so much. Lol, some interesting things. Christine gave me a mirror with some words on it and I just put it up on my wall. The thing is I didn't know there was a glow-in-the-dark christmas tree on it so when I off the lights to sleep, haha, I was quite shocked to see something glowing. Plus I wasn't wearing my specs so it was very blur and I got quite a shock. Lol, after that I laughed at myself.

Busy Busy Busy And Packed Packed Packed Days Days Days

Finally I have some time to blog!! The past 3 days has been so packed for
me that I could not even catch a breath. Basically christmas has taken up a
whole chunk of my time and I was really very busy!! Well, thank God christmas is
finally here and everything has been settled, so AMEN!!

Well, Thursday was my secondary school chalet day. Went to meet some of my old friends at Jurong East and then headed towards pasir ris for the chalet. Reached the chalet and just crapped with everybody like how I used to in secondary school. Haha, really enjoyed myself. Was really glad to see the people there like Izhar, Xiuyi, Boon Chong, Haoyu, SweeChing, Helios, Sulaiman, Jihan, RenShing, Benjamin. And of coz people like HuanJian, SohXiong and Jinyan were also there, but they were not as missed as I have been seeing them all the while. :) Well, had a great time BBQing at the chalet and gobbling down lots of food, and also played PS2 in the chalet. Great!! Had a great time messing around with GTA: San Andreas. Well, stayed over and the next thing I know was that it was Friday morning.

So basically the whole of Thursday was spent just at the chalet. Friday came and we went to have Macs and then went to the arcade at Downtown East. Note that I do not have enough sleep as the whole night was burnt chatting with each other. After chalet, we all went home and I needed to pack my bag to prepare HOF Blue Christmas already!! Needed to help Chester out with the blue drink. So I took a very short nap at home and then rushed out to meet Chester. Went with him to get the ingredients for the blue drink and then went to church to prepare the drink. Wah, everything was in a rush. And before we know it, HOF was already starting. So I quickly changed up and went to HOF.

Had a great time at "I'll have a Blue Christmas". Some people were really dressed very well as they have rented interesting costumes from costume shops. You can see people wearing cowboy style, Victorian style, Winter style, Startrek style, Jedi Style etc etc. I must say Lilian really caught my eye with her very fanciful dress! Woh, I have not seen her so beautiful before. Really gorgeous. It was some princess dress and she really suited it. Pity she did not win the Best Dressed G12 Leader thing, I think coz she changed halfway through. Well, I just wore a blue overall which is meant to be an engineer on board a ship. But I got all sorts of comments from people who were trying to guess what I was wearing. Some said I look like an astronaut, some said I look like a plumber... -_-" After HOF I stayed back to help to clear up and before I know it, it was already 11.45pm!! So I quickly rushed off with my sister to catch the last train back. Managed to catch it, AMEN!! Well, I reached home and I immediately fell asleep. Was so so super tired.

Woke up to find that it was 1.33pm!! Its Saturday afternoon and I needed to be in church by 2.15pm for Heart.Sports!! Oh man, I quickly rushed out and bathed and all. My mum just had to buy me lunch at this time so I quickly gobbled down the food and rushed off for Heart.Sports. Reached church by 2.45pm but thank God the game was not starting untill 3pm. So I quickly changed up and prepared for the game. Opponent was Region A, the strongest team of all. Played Center Midfield again and the field was super muddy. I ran and splashed mud all over myself. Eventually got used to it and didn't bother about the mud anymore, just went in and played my best. Managed to hold Region A with the score of 2-2. Then we went into penalty shootouts and by God's grace we managed to win them by the score of 4-3!!! Praise the Lord!! We are finally in the finals and vouchers are just within our reach!!! Was so happy. After that went out to eat with Luke and Melvin and then met Christine and Alex and then go home already. Went home and quickly prepared all my presents which I had to give and did all the wrapping and every special thing I needed to do. Woh, thank God I completed everything by 4am and could go to sleep. Another busy day, totally spent.

Then today, Sunday came. It is Christmas eve and I went to church with my mum, my cousin and my uncle for the Chinese service. Then went to have breakfast and then go for the English service. Compared to each other, I must say that the Chinese message was alot more lighthearted than the English one, but both were very good. Gave the presents that I have prepared and received alot of wonderful presents as well. Heee :)

After church my friends and I went to eat lunch and then I went back to church to find people. Well, then I went out with Lilin to meet Lilian and Alex. And then we met Joel and gang and went to orchard. When we were at orchard, only Joel and Alex were with us. Then we went to watch a movie "Charlotte's Web" and only Joel was left with us. Then after the movie Joel left us so it was just back to Lilian, Lilin, Alex and me again. Well, went to have dinner at Yoshinoya and went home. Hehe, had a great time with Khong people. They are really great people. What a wonderful Christmas Eve.

Wo wo wo, now that was really busy wasn't it. Hehe, its not over yet. Christmas is tomorrow and I have plans for it as well. Even after Christmas on Boxing Day I also have things planned. I guess I am not as free as I might think I am. Hehe :) But I figure out that I probably should blog as I won't have much chance anymore!! Muahaha.

And I wish everyone a Merry Merry Christmas!!! God bless!!

God Is Good

God Is Good!!!! Wah, my prayers were answered totally!! Today is a really good day. It did not rain!!! The rain has finally stopped!! Oh yeah!! Its really good. I woke up in the morning to find that is not raining anymore. Muahaha. I was like, "God, You are so so good." It was so super sunny la!! I was really glad. God answers prayers. So I woke up in and went to school for soccer. Wednesday is soccer day :)

Oh ya, check out what I found yesterday night.

According to this weather satellite image, you can see the storm (indicated by orange and red zones) centered around Singapore. So this is whats causing the the non-stop rain. It is reported on the news that the rain could go on untill Friday. And that some areas in Singapore are already badly flooded. I saw one pic whereby half the taxi was in the water la!! Scary. But well, God held the rain for today :)

So today was good. Went to school at about 11am to play soccer. It was super sunny and I got very tan. Its not that I am not tan enough already but it just can't be helped if I keep doing sports in the sun... Nvm. So I had a really good time playing soccer, then spoiling my soccer boots.

Oh ya, and my friend gave me the 1st christmas present for the year. And its Adidas. And its something which I like. Its something which I have been wanting to get. God is good!!!!

After soccer, Khalis, Izzat, Bright and I went to Lot1 Long John Silver's for lunch. Had a treasure meal (its the most worth it, I think) and then went to play pool with the gang. Played pool halfway then need to rush off to prepare for G12 already. Wah, it was 6pm when I went off. Everything need to be done by 7pm. So I quickly went home to grab my presents, went to NTUC to get all the BBQ equipment with Ton then quickly carry the things to the pit to set up everything. Rush rush rush. Thank God everything was still in order.

Well the BBQ was really good. We had a great time worshipping, then Ton taught about having peace, then we fellowshipped. Woh! There was so much food. So we ate untill we were really full. Then some people came and want to sell ice-cream to us. They turned out to be Joshua's friends so Ton bought some ice-cream for them and blessed them with our BBQ food!! Cool. Then some other people came and wanted to sell ice-cream also. But we got ice-cream already so we just blessed them with our food. Isn't this great? We can actually be a blessing to the people around through our G12 BBQ!! Its such a wonderful idea. There was chicken wing and otak and beehoon and fishballs that Weihong bought, and random fried food that Linton cooked. Great night.

Well, then I reached home and was so full and tired after a whole day of activities. Wonderful day. Thank God for the weather. Hm, I can't relax yet. Theres still "I'm going to have a Blue Christmas" on Friday which I need to help Chester with the Blue Drink thingy then theres my secondary school class chalet tomorrow!! Oh man, busy busy busy. But I like it :)

Its been raining... raining...

The weather really is pathetic. I am writing this blog on the 2nd day of the non-stop rain. Yes, non-stop rain. The rain has not stopped a single moment since it started monday morning. If I am not wrong, it has been pouring for more than 30 hours already!!!!

Well, it was pouring yesterday but I didn't really bothered about it coz I wasn't having any plans to go out. The only place I went yesterday was my grandma's house and the rain didn't really affect much of my plans. I was only hoping it would end by Tuesday and it usually would coz rain don't last that long normally. But it didn't. I woke up today to find that IT IS STILL RAINING!!!! Oh man!!

Its bad to rain today coz today is when I do alot of things. First off, I could not go and swim coz of the rain. TUESDAY IS MY FAVOURITE SWIMMING DAY AND IT HAD TO RAIN?!?!?!? Nevermind... So I waited at home untill 5pm then went out to do some christmas shopping. That is, to shop for christmas presents. Well, I went to Junction8 Bishan and burned a $100 hole in my wallet. Jeez, and I didn't even buy for alot of people... So I am really broke now. BROKE. No no money. I hope I can find money somewhere and buy even more presents for more people...

Well, after shopping, I went to book a BBQ pit for my G12. Hey hey, gonna have a BBQ for christmas tmr for G12!! Thats a really cool idea. So if you are reading this and you have no plans for wednesday night, please come to Stagmont Park and look for people who are doing BBQ!! Its us!! ITS FREE!! Hm, BBQ pit is expensive also. $10 booking fee and $20 refundable deposit. But I am sure it will be great. Plus Ton has learned the BBQ chicken wing skill from Pastor Nic and Pastor Lim... muaahahahaa. Food won't disappoint. :) Ahhhh, really really need to pray that it won't be raining tmr night!!!

Hm, then I had dinner. Hehe. And I came home. ^_^

2 days in the week

Well, its another week gone and I am inching closer and closer to christmas, then to new year, then to... NS!!!! Wa, time is just zooming past me like a speeding car and I can't even catch up.

So lets just talk about yesterday and today.

Well, yesterday, which is Tuesday 12th December, I went to swim again. I love swimming on tuesdays coz the pool is closed on Monday to change the water so the water is relatively cleaner on Tuesday. :) So i went to swim and swam for 2 hours non-stop again.

Well, some really interesting things happened at the pool this time. I was just swimming my laps and this kid who I think is about 15 or 16 swam beside me. At 1st I didn't really bothered about him and jus continued on with my laps. Then I realised something really weird. Everytime I touched the wall, he will start with me! Wa, obviously he trying to compete with me lo! But really, his breaststroke really not bad, quite close to mine. So I got really sick of this guy and just switched to frontcrawl (also known generally as freestyle). Lol, managed to just get him away from me. Then after that I make sure I don't swim beside him already. One funny thing I noticed is that although his breaststroke was pretty good, his frontcrawl looked kinda weird. Nevermind about that. :)

Then another thing happened also. I was just swimming and I saw this $2 note floating in the water. Haha, I didn't expect to find money in the pool lo! I figured out it could belong to this guy nearby as he was wearing shorts and seemed to be looking for something. So I swam over and wanted to get the note for him. Then he found it and grabbed it and then looked at me as if I was trying to steal his money. Haha. Weird guy. I mean who would bring money with him to swim de la! Thats quite... unusual. :P

Ok, so after swimming I went to my grandma's house to eat. Well, my grandma jus had some surgery on her eyes so I just go over to encourage her lo. Its very easy to make my grandma happy, jus turning up at her place and eating the dinner that she cook can alr :) My uncle, aunties, cousins were all there as well. Lol. My uncle commented that I looked like my dad. Huh? No lo!! Don't anyhow say ah... he also said that I look fit! Muahaha. Yup yup. :P Hehe. Then my grandma asked me how did her eyes look. I thought about it for awhile then said, "it looks really small." I didn't know what else to say, lol. So after spending time at my grandma's place, my cousin drove me back lo.

Yup yup, then wednesday came. Wednesday is officially soccer day as stated by a friend of mine. So I cycled to school at 11am and jus played soccer untill about 2pm. Wah, then when I was cycling home, it started to rain abit. Thank God by the time I reach home still haven't downpour. Had a super spicy prawn noodle lunch (really spicy!!) then just stayed at home lo. Actually wanted to play basketball with another friend but by that time, it was already downpouring and having a thunderstorm already. Hai, so stayed at home and played maple lo.

Well, then have to go G12 already. Ahh, everybody is so busy so only left me can songlead. This is my 2nd time songleading in a row already leh!! -_-" Nvm, I love to sing anyway, muahahahah.

A Bad Morning

Haha, the guy in this video really is having a bad start to his day. Just when you thought it was bad enough for his car to be covered in ice and snow, see what happens next... just look at him as he keeps on pressing the button in disbelief...

Praising God In The Storm

You would probably have realised the new blog song which I have put up here. Its called "Praise You In This Storm" by Casting Crowns. All of us face storms in our life at one time or another. The storms can be big storms, or just small storms, but they all make life difficult for us. Why do we have storms in our life? Why does God allow these storms to come into our lives? Well, in the 1st place, no one, not even Jesus said that life would be easy. Life isn't easy, thats for sure. But another thing that we can be sure about is that God would be walking through it with us.

Its very easy to praise God for the things He has done for us when everything is sunny and fine, when things just seem to be perfect. Its easy to praise God when we are not facing any storms in our life. But what about when we are facing the storms in our lives? Do we praise God in this storm? Yes of course, thats because when God allows a storm to come into our life, He has a reason for it, and He will either calm the storm for us, or He will just ride through it with us. God will never leave us in the storm. Thats why even in the storm, we will praise God, because we know that He is with us.

There are 2 main reasons why God puts a storm in our life.

One reason is to change our stubborn thinking and mindsets, so that we can walk in His direction. This can be seen in the example of Jonah. You see, Jonah was running away from God's calling of going to Nineveh to preach. He got onto a ship and then faced a violent storm. Well, its a long story, but eventually Jonah was thrown overboard the ship into the sea as he is identified by the sailors for causing the storm as he has incurred God'd wrath. But well, that was not the end of Jonah. In Jonah 1:17, it says "But the Lord provided a great fish to swallow Jonah, and Jonah was inside the fish three days and three nights." Isn't this wonderful? God did not let Jonah die in the storm. God was riding with Jonah through the storm, sending a big fish to help Jonah keep alive in the storm! Well, to cut the story short, after spending the time in the fish stomach, Jonah finally soften his heart to God's calling and went to Nineveh to preach against it, thus saving the entire city from God's judgment. You see, this storm that God puts Jonah through was obviously aimed at softening Jonah's stubborness against the calling of God. Aren't we like Jonah sometimes, refusing to listen to the will of God and thus facing a storm that God put in our life? I myself admit to this. But do not be disheartened, God put this storm in our life only for our own good, and He will ride through it with us.

Another reason why God puts a storm in our life is to make us depend on His power. Many a times, when we are so blessed and have lived a sunny life for too long, we get a little complacent and forgot God's blessing upon our life. We will tend to feel that we do not need God in our life anymore. When this happen, God will put a storm in our life to remind us that we still need to depend on Him as we are not as great we think we are. In Mark 4:35~41, we see that Jesus and his disciples were in a boat when a storm caught them. At that point of time, Jesus was still asleep. So the storm was really violent and the disciples got scared. So they woke Jesus up and Jesus rebuked the winds, calming the storm in the end. After that, the disciples were rebuked for having no faith because they were afraid. In this case, the storm was calmed. All that was intended was for the disciples to learn that they had to depend on Jesus and for them to realise their own state of faithlessness. I believe that before this, the disciples were probably thinking that they were mighty and strong in their faith. The storm made them realise their weakness and made them lean onto Jesus for help. This is true in our lives as well. Sometimes we will face storms in our life to make us realise that we are not as great as we thought we are and we eventually still need to go back to God for His strength and protection. But we do not have to fret, because God is in control all along and the storm will eventually be calmed.

Therefore, we should praise God even in the storm. Reason being in the fact that God puts these storms in our lives only for our own good, to make us learn, and that He is always looking after us, either by riding through the storm with us or by calming the storm in the end.

2 Days Worth Of Exercise

Yesterday and today was really tiring for me. I had exercises and sports
done in the 2 days, and now, I feel real tired and my muscles are aching. All
these done for my pre-NS training which should prepare me for the army when I
enlist on 12th January 2007. And to keep FIT!

Well, yesterday, I went swimming. It wasn't much, I swam for 2 hours
non-stop and I don't know how many laps. At the end of the day, my right calf
decided to cramp and so... I have a little limp right now. Its not that bad
really but I can still feel the cramp now. But well, I feel a little darker
now... not that I am not dark enough... I am just getting closer and closer to
the dark side... as in colour.

Today is a very packed day. In the morning I went to play soccer with my
friends, then cycling in the afternoon then basketball in the evening. At night,
during a basketball match, my upper thigh cramped and I could not even bend my
leg. So I had to back out from the match and just rest on the side. It was
pathetic. Eventually the cramp subsided and I could walk again.

And now, I am just sitting on my chair and blogging. With a right calf that was cramped and a left upper thigh cramped as well. In fact, both my thighs are on the verge of cramping again so I shall not exert myself anymore. Ah, I feel much fitter now! Muahahaha.

Submission

People who know me well enough would know that the past week had been quite a whirlwind for me and that my mood had been in the pits over the weekend. Right now, I am really quite messed up and I do not know what to do with the situation that faces me. This pushed me to look closer at what exactly happened that caused this mess. I turned to God for answers. And God answered.

It was not as if I stopped seeking God or what. It was not as if I wasn't following His will. It was all good at first. Everything was fine. It seemed as though things were going to turn out great. And now this. Things just seem to have taken a wrong turn, a bad turn. And I wonder why.

I prayed very hard to God, seeking answers from Him, seeking comfort, seeking guidance. And all three He provided. And I realised what exactly happened.

When this all began, I was really seeking God's guidance, walking close to Him on what I should do. Its almost as if I was just one step behind, following God's lead. Things went well, I admit. I was really happy. Its a happiness I have never felt in a really long long time. At that point in time, I thought everything was going to turn out just fine. God was really blessing me.

Then, I let my emotions got the better of me. I got impatient. I wanted to see this will of His be fulfilled, and fast. But God wasn't planning for that. His plan was not for this time. I do not know when it will be fulfilled and I was just afraid that at the end of the day it will be gone. I couldn't see the future, I couldn't see the whole road. So I took one step ahead of God. I ran faster and faster. I thought if I could run fast and far enough, I would be able to see His will fulfilled earlier. I could hear God telling me softly, "No, now's not the time yet. Don't go so fast." I didn't heed that advice of His. I was thinking that if it is God's will, then it is God's will, then it will all turn out right. But I forgot one thing.

God's will comes with God's timing. Everything must go according to His plan or it will not turn out right. I didn't realise that. I was in the heat of emotions and just went ahead of God. Well, at first it seemed all right. Then I started to mess up a little. Then more. Untill I created such a big mess I did not even know what to do. I just cried like a little child. God was still behind. He said "Look, didn't I told you? Now get up, you need to move on."

I learnt my lesson. I dare not run ahead of God anymore. Right now, I just want to stay beside God, walking just beside Him, letting Him lead the way. I want to hold His hand like a little child and not let it go, because I know He will bring to great things. I do not know if the mess could be salvaged or not. Maybe I have missed His will in this one rash action of mine. I don't know. All I know is I am going to let God lead me, and walk just one step behind Him. I am going to submit this entirely to Him, letting God take the lead and guiding me once again. Perhaps things could go back to how it was before, and this will could be fulfilled.

Just submitting to His lead now...