Thursday, December 11, 2008 @ 4:12 AM

on the train home...

It's been such a long long day.. my back is aching, my legs are weak, but I'm so refreshed by the CLs prayer meet at America Room. It is so cool how God can make his way through to assure you of what He wants to tell you. Though sometimes you do not understand, or ignore Him, God has His own miraculous ways to make you get it.. :)

I had my first mid-term paper today - Sports Media Marketing! Hm, yeah some laugh at me for my sardine-packed notes and all (and yes, I am still quie bothered about the blank spaces on it! HAHA!), just for this 20% thing of my total grades, but I am so very determined to get a higher GPA this time round! I have to go university! Wheeee :)

Know what, God sure protects and guides His children in every way! I believe most of you have had experiences like.. God helped you answer certain questions and stuff, yeahh... common blessings probably? BUT I DON'T CARE! I will still share of His faithfulness and leading in my exams! HAHAHAH..

In case you didn't know, everyone will be given a 10 minutes reading-of-exam-paper-time before the actual starting of the exams. When I went into the exam room, I looked around. My friends were either so engrossed in their reading of the paper that they totally didn't know of my presence, or were smiling at me, looking so confident.

Rewindddd.. before I went in, I was with Yanyu and Jeslin, and was telling them how nervous I was, having butterflies in my stomach.. But I know deep down, there was this assurance that God will help me through it, though the little preparation as compared to most people (I think? I spent most of my time re-copying the notes..), I don't know how it was going to be, but God will have His way.

Ah hah! Back into the exam hall.. man, when I saw their responses, I do not know how to react and feel.. whether to feel even more nervous that they were confident, or what. Ah anyway, I just smiled and sat down. I started reading the questions. Wow.. Amazingly I could answer all the questions... UNTIL. The last one. It weighs 12marks. I went, "OH MY GOODNESSSS, how?" My mind was blank, I totally couldn't recall of that pre-event evaluation thing. Tsk tsk tsk. I could feel my heart coming out.

TICK! The clock struck 11:00am. I did my MCQ in less than 3 minutes, question 2.1 and 2.2 in 20 minutes or so, and I'm stuck. I racked my brain so much my mind started to wander off.. hahahaha. It was 11:32am. No! I cannot let go and give up on this question. I was crying out to God.. "God, You must help me!!!!!!!"

And, I started writing bits and pieces of stuff down.

"Time's Up! Pens down, stop writing, I will be going around to collect your papers.." The typical invigilator's sentence-of-the-day. I was.. I don't know how to say, but very uncertain about my paper.. I looked into my friends' eyes and shook my head.. "How ah, 12 marks fly away.. What's the answer for the last question?"

Lisa: "Oh! That one! Erhh.. I put the 'identify' thing.."

With that, my eyes lit up. "THE 100 POINT SCALE THING IS IT???"

Felicia: "Yeah yeah, that one."

Oh my goodnesssssss!!! I wrote stuff which I wasn't sure of, and it's the right thing I'm supposed to write down! WAHHH.. thank God man!! :D I have one more paper tomorrow, yay! HAHAHAH..

Some things I saw on the train on my way home:
1) There was this girl (I guess at the age of 16 or younger) with her boyfriend. Yikes, she was wearing this super short denim skirt, and yet she sat so unglamly, if you know what I meant. To all girls: Please do take note of how you sit, self respect know!

2) Overheard a conversation between this young couple. Not that I'm promoting such relationships now, but HOW SWEEEET and creative:)
Girl: "Hey, choose a number between 1 to 4."
Boy: "For what?"
Girl: "Your christmas gift."
Boy: "Wah, so exciting one ah?"
And the guy started choosing and changing his numbers... Okay it's wrong to eavesdrop, but still HOW SWEEEEET! If you think your relationship (friends or family members) is getting stale, you can probably whip up something new to you know, surprise that person. I'm sure it will work :)

3) Personally I avoid sitting at the 'Priority seat', and I notice less people sit there too! Finally, I see Singaporeans becoming more considerate. More and more people are giving up their seats to the elderly and needy, awwww. That's good that's good :)


Yes, that's all! Will post photos the next time! Off to bathe and studyyyy :D

Monday, December 1, 2008 @ 3:57 AM

this post is also on east blog :) it shall be a stand-alone post!

I repeat: BE WARNED! THIS IS A SUPER LONG POST!

Surfed through the TV channels searching for something to watch, and HBO’s movie – ‘Daddy’s Day Camp’ caught my attention.

Here’s a short synopsis of what it is all about:”Dads Charlie Hinton and Phil Ryerson take over running a summer day camp at Driftwoods. Armed with no knowledge of the great outdoors, a dilapidated facility, and a motley group of campers, it doesn’t take long before things get out of control. Up against threats of foreclosure and declining enrolment, Charlie is forced to call on his estranged father, Col Buck Hinton, to help bring the camp together and teach everyone about teamwork, perseverance and the power of forgiveness.”

Sadly, this movie has been horrifyingly badly graded by its viewers. Rated between grades of C- to F by Yahoo movie critics, 70 out of 71 voters voted it a rotten movie at www.rottentomatoes.com, and an average user rating of 2.2 out of 10.

How funny, it still got me all emotional and hooked to it. And definitely, it is not a waste of my 1hour and 29 minutes! Below are just some things I was reminded about:

1. “To win the battle, you first need to believe in the success of the mission” – quoted from Col Buck Hinton.
Isn’t it so true… that in whatever that we are doing, be it winning the schools, shepherding, or fighting our own personal battles with the evil one, we ought to first have faith and believe that it can be won or overcomed! Many times its been repeated that to complete CG08, ‘If you don’t believe that it can be done, you have already lost half the battle’, yet again there are times we get discouraged and start to doubt whether it is possible. Just like any competition, if we don’t believe that we can win, we might as well don’t start anything at all; otherwise everything we’ve worked hard for will go to waste. So, believe, have faith in our God, that whatever promises we claim from His Word, they will come to past! Do not lose hope; do not give up, stand firm. CG08 will be completed!

2. What happened in the show: The kids who went for Driftwoods camp has been constantly attacked and demoralised by the kids from Canola camp. They were humiliated, looked down upon, treated with little respect. However, Col Buck Hinton took this chance to pull the Driftwoods kids together, used it as an opportunity to build teamwork. He encouraged, empowered, directed, and led them to counter-attack Canola.
Turn your discouragements to positive motivation! Leaders, continue to always instil hope and belief in your people! When all fails, you are their last glimpse of hope! Continue to affirm and encourage, because sometimes all they need is a little push:)

3. What happened in the show: Due to the lousy start-up of Driftwoods camp, there were a lot of bills that piled up. It came to a point when the government sent people to go to Charlie Hinton’s house to calculate auction value of his furniture. His wife was angry at first, but ended up giving her full support. Another incident was that a kid in camp was afraid of sleepovers because he had a tendency to wet his bed at night. Instead of laughing, his instructor, Phil Ryerson, comforted him by sharing his own experiences and gave practical advice.
We don’t just work as a team, but a family. Always look out for needs to be met, be open in sharing, learn to understand and empathise with each other’s experiences.

4. “You’ve got the best dad ever. He may be a little more protective over you, but that is because he loves you” – quoted from Col Buck Hinton.
Ahhh… Know that God our Daddy is always looking over us. Follow in step with His ways and plans, though we may not understand, for they are never to short-change us or harm us, but always for the good of us. Obey despite understanding!

5. What happened in the show: In the Campers Olympiad, Canola has been cheating their way through in all of the obstacles, but Driftwoods emerged victorious!
Remember: Victory always belongs to us! No matter how bad the situation is, at the end of the day, the one who remains the loser is – S.A.Tan.


A few days ago, I was talking to a poly classmate, Adam Esoof Piperdy.

Adam is a successful young businessman. His family started out this Emcee/ DJ company called ‘Unearthed Productions’, and it has been clinching many deals since it’s been launched. He is rich. He held a high leadership position back in secondary school days as President of Peer Support Leaders. He always had been achieving good grades – 11 points for L1R5 and current GPA of 3.3+. He is super influential.

Florence: “Hey Adam, what do you plan to do in your future huh?”
Adam: “When I’ve had enough, I’ll just devote my entire life into volunteering work and just die there.”

Adam: “Eh, I heard that the second coming of Jesus is gonna happen soon. Like got all the financial crisis stuff going on, and the disasters…”
Florence: “Yea! You believe that it will happen?”
Adam: “Yeah. I believe that there is a God.”

Adam: “You know what?”
Florence: “What?”
Adam: “I never knew I would be doing all this know. (He is talking about his successful career) I really got to thank Mr Oh (Temasek teacher). Without his belief in me, I wouldn’t be where I am today. It only takes one person to belief in you to make magic.”

Florence: “What are you busy with huh?”
Adam: “Work, and I will go back to Temasek to help out in the school events.”
Florence: “Huh, why?”
Adam: “I want to invest in the youth. I do not like the idea when people say the youth are young and ignorant when they are so full of potential!”

Well.. I don't know how and what you think or feel.. But I think that it certainly is such a waste if people with so much influence, who believe in the potential of the youth, and yet do not use their talents to serve God for a greater eternal cause.. There surely are like many many thousands millions of people like him, who need God in their lives!

What do you think?


Testimony!
All the while, Shirlene’s parents did not support the idea of her becoming a Christian. There were times when she cried and were so afraid that her parents might stop her from coming to church and stuff. There was once when she ‘backslided’ (very long time ago) because her parents objected her from attending any church activities. But! Thank God she is back!

Not only is she super supportive and initiative (she is planning for an EA stayover/ designed an EA1 shirt by herself etc.), I really admire her fervor in bringing people to come to know God! Ever since she decided to commit to the KOG, she has been asking her friends to come and join us for service. She never gave up asking, and finally, week after week, she has brought 4 visitors for service. Of which, 2 of them converted! She is also someone who is ever grateful to God… in her first caregroup, she was already dying to share 3 testimonies to the group! ALSO, she was holy spirit baptized last Thursday! Wow…

On Saturday, she wrote me this short letter:
“Hello florencechenxiaosi!
Know what? My parents never go against me for going to church, they actually encourage me to find out more about it. My dad even said that at this age is good for me to find out more before making the decision. OMGee! My dad encourage me to go! :O He knows that it would help too in my growing life! Really thank God for that! Phew!”

I’m truly inspired and encouraged by her life. So amazed at how much God can do in her and through her. Thank God for you Shirlene!


Love,
FlorenceChenXiaoSiEustacia :)