When I fall down You pick me up...

Can you imagine? It's about 5pm, and I still have work to do! ~ Unbelievably so! And my table is MESSY. Papers, books, calculator, scissors, Bible, calendar, memo pad, church care-takers duty-list, a pile of unlabelled Worship Enablers rosters, Alpha Course name tags, etc, etc... strewn higgledy-piggledy all over my desk.

Alamak.

I was sitting in Mcd's today for a quick lunch, watching the kids romp around the slides, screaming in excitement, with their anxious parents watching just on the fringe of the play area just in case their precious little ones tripped and fell.

Those amongst us who have become parents know - how even the smallest tumble of their kids can momentarily shock and cause the heart to drop a few beats. How the heart pains at the sight of fresh wounds on scraped knees.

One odd thought stuck in my head.

I don't think God ever watches any of His children fall down, without compassionately reaching out a hand to help him up again particularly when he calls for help. I don't think He stands at the side and merely remarks, "Stand up and walk!" while His child howls in pain and distress.

I have fallen many times myself. And each time, if not for the strength God gives, I wouldn't have gotten up myself.

Psalm 37:24 - '...though he stumbles, he will not fall, for the LORD upholds him with His hand.'

Psalm 40:1-2 - 'I waited patiently for the LORD; He turned to me and heard my cry. He lifted me out of the slimy pit, out of the mud and mire; He set my feet on a rock and gave me a firm place to stand.'

Psalm 107:6 - 'Then they cried out to the LORD in their trouble, and He delivered them from their distress.'

Isaiah 40:29-31 - 'He gives strength to the weary and increases the power of the weak. Even youths grow tired and weary, and young men stumble and fall; but those who hope in the LORD will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint.

The Lord upholds. The Lord turns and hears our cries. The Lord lifts us out. The Lord sets our feet on solid ground. The Lord delivers. The Lord renews strength.

Those are the promises of God indeed!

So those of us, who are in the slimy pit, mud and mire - wondering how to get ourselves out of the sticky mess we've made... Call out to the Lord! What makes us think that we can stand up again by our own strength?

It can only be by the power of the Lord we stand. For He raises us up.

Isaiah 41:13 - ' For I am the LORD, your God, who takes hold of your right hand and says to you, Do not fear; I will help you.'

Nauseous...

I've been having a nauseous spell in the past 2 days or so... More so when I drive long distances, in the sun... or whenever the ride is bumpy for that matter. Felt like puking after dinner. My head was spinning and aching a little too.

I drove to MBTS alone today. With alot of encouragement from Pig and Ben. Haha. The ultimate challenge was not driving around the Batu Ferringhi bends or talking to the registrar. It was driving up the terribly steep slopes. I screamed, as my car crawled up those slopes with my right foot grinding down hard on the accelerator. Think I remember breaking out into cold sweat too. Felt as if I was on some roller coaster ride. You know those steep climbing parts before the nose-dive?

Oh man. Did I ever mention that I have much fear of heights?:P

Monday, 9/2/2009

Sleepy Monday.

Went for breakfast with Ben (I had Pan Mee, after what seemed like ages! - think the last time I had it was with tailo Kean Yew, back in Asia Market, Air Hitam)...then I had to pump petrol into my car in Bayan Lepas area. Guess what?? I walked away with the receipt, and my car's gas tank filled to the brim...but I forgot to pay! Until, the petrol station attendant yelped at me. *Paiseh nia* Ben, being Ben laughed out loud and told me to blog about this. So there, I did!

Then Ben's motorbike needed servicing today. And being a big bike, there's only so few places in Penang that offers the kind of service it needs. Since we had to send it to Bukit Mertajam (that's on the mainland), it became a Wong family event... Some big shot bike! I felt as if I was sending someone off overseas! It must have felt really honored. Haha. We also drove so that Ben would have transport back, since he's leaving the bike over in Bukit Mertajam for a few days.

Oh man, I don't know how I managed to travel to-and-from BM everyday back in my med school days certain weeks, for rotations. It was soooooo tiring. Firstly, it was the motion sickness - which I'm more susceptible to in the hot weather. (I'm usually not that motion-intolerance.) Then, the sun was so bright and glaring, so that I was squinting all the way over Penang Bridge. *Pengsan*

BM's the same as ever. Crowded with buildings, dusty roads, lots of cars rolling all over the place and HOT. It did manage to trigger some memories of our ENT and psychiatry rotations back in PMC...especially when we drove past BM Hospital - of my groupmates, the wonderful doctors that taught us, the yummy roti murtabak at the Hospital Canteen, our parking woes... My goodness. I have to say, hats off to those who sacrificially drove us in their cars everyday to and from BM! I know I always fell asleep before we got onto the Penang Bridge (I was one very tired med student and we had to bertolak early in the mornings, to beat the morning traffic jam, ok!) only to crankily wake up when we arrived at our destination - but hey, these people...they had to drive and were never able to catnap during the journey when it was their turn to drive. Esther, bring my housemate, had one extra job to do, apart from driving to BM - she had to knock on my door to wake me up every morning - coz I am not a morning person, and I had an annoying habit of turning off my alarm clock, whenever it rang. Period.

Our morning conversations always went something like this...

Esther: Knock, knock! Gracey, I'm done with the bathroom...
Me: *Groans and grunts* Really?!? *Stretches and yawns* Coming...

*Shudders and solemnly remembers friends..*

Anyway, our big-shot bike is now safely in the workshop at Bukit Mertajam... and I've been sleeping since we were back on the island. (Ben had to go back to work in the afternoon). I pula, ehem, *embarrassed grin* conked out and slept from 1 something...to 5.30pm. Some lazy-bum.

On being lukewarm...

Watched Red Cliff 2 with Ben, Wai Lim and WL's girlfriend (I only know her as -Er...) last night. Superb movie. Absolutely loved it!Anyway, thought of the day...

I realized recently that it is very easy for us Christians to be lukewarm in our walk with God... something which God warns us to take seriously.

Revelations 3:15-16 - 'I know your deeds, that you are neither cold nor hot. I wish you were either one or the other! So, because you are lukewarm—neither hot nor cold—I am about to spit you out of my mouth.'

God hates lukewarm-ness.

Indecisiveness for what we stand for. Reluctance to give full commitment to living our lives for God. Selective-obedience. Half-hearted serving. Believing in the 'prosperity gospel' and refusing to relate to the sufferings of Christ. Etcetera. In other words, with one foot in the faith, and the other hanging in the worldly realm. Anything less than the commandment, 'Love the Lord with all your heart, mind, and strength.'

Scary thought, huh.

Having said that, I'm pretty thankful God is a gracious and merciful God. Giver of many second chances, to those truly repentant at heart - who earnestly long for a change of heart. It doesn't matter if you've been lukewarm for a long time. God does despise anyone who is broken and contrite about the condition of his or her heart. In fact, He invites us to confidently draw near to His throne of grace in that time of need...so that we can have yet another life-transforming encounter with the Author and Perfector of our faith. Such is a love unfailing.

May we often reflect on our lives, and not give way to lukewarmth!

TGIF!

Ah! I'm so happy! Long weekend!

I've decided to go green this weekend. Wear an article of green whenever I go out. I'm going to colour-code my weekends from now onwards. For one thing, it makes laundry much easier. I usually do mine after the weekend - imagine my dilemma when I have 1 piece of green clothing, and the rest are say black. No baju to accompany the green one into the soap suds (I hate cross-dying my clothes! I have unfortunately done so, countless times, and I don't want to remember how many white t-shirts I've dyed purple/gray during my Dublin days), so it usually doesn't get washed until more green clothes go into the laundry basket... Kinda poor thing, don't you think? To stay unwashed for more than a week?

I understand how distressing it is not being able to take a proper bath for days. Blearggh.

Phew, finally finished my report... and I've got most things ticked off my to-do list too. Praise God.

To worship again...

Who is like You, Lord - my God?
The mighty things You do...
Be my strength and heal my heart,
make it whole again for You
I want to worship You,
undivided free.
Lord speak those words of truth,
of Your love to me,
restore what has been lost...
I want to worship You.

I want to run...
...and not grow weary
I want to walk...
...and not be faint
Lord take my sorrows,
fill me with joy,
heal my pain...
Satisfy...
...my empty places
Take my hand...
...and lead my way
I just want to worship,
worship You again.

25 things about me...

I’ve been tagged. The rules of this thingy go something like this: 'Once you’ve been tagged, you are supposed to write a note with 25 random things, facts, habits, or goals about you. At the end, choose 25 people to be tagged. You have to tag the person who tagged you.' (And therefore I tag Lydia and Pastor Debbie.) And I am going to tag whoever reads this thingy... it's really up to you to do it.

1. I love history. World history, Malaysian history, history lectures, museums, paintings, sculptures, etc - anything that teaches me how people lived and inspires me to learn the lessons they learnt.

2. I love homework. Especially if it's got to do anything to do with writing essays or reviews. (Sounds a little goodie-goodie-two-shoes, don't you think?)

3. I've had freckles peppered all over my cheeks since I was a little girl, and I used to always hate them. (Till one of my brothers told me that they make me unique...)

4. I did gymnastics till I was 16. Then I stuck with modern jazz and ballet through A-levels. I still love dance, as well as all other performing arts.

5. I have mild scoliosis of the spine (as evidenced by a back x-ray) which I didn't know anything about until last year, after I decided to seek treatment for a few previous episodes of bad, prolonged lower back pain.

6. I am listening to one of Robin Mark's CDs. It reminds me of Dublin *Sniff...*

7. I was never a good athlete back in school. Was bad at running, but I used to swim. (Oklar, I still am bad with the running and good with the swimming now. Haha. I only run when I think I am very fat - which hasn't happened for a long time now.)

8. I'm half Cantonese and half Hakka... I'm ok with Mandarin and Cantonese... but my Hakka is very 'pan tong shui'...and I am even worse when it comes to Hokkien! Thankfully, I'm still surviving in Penang with Mandarin and Cantonese. Well, at least I can order food in Hokkien now. Not so bad right?:P

9. I love Jap food. And I mean love. Hehe. Yummmmmm. And Jap buffets. *Drools at the thought of soft-shell crab temaki, Unagi on rice and sushi*

10. I love chocolates. All kinds. And I am trying to stop myself from eating the last one in the box Rachel gave me.

11. I prefer to keep quiet in a big group of people, and listen to others talk. I'm definitely more talkative when it's one on one.

12. I don't like most alcoholic drinks. Don't mind good wine after dinner though.

13. I've never been clubbing, and I never really want to.

14. I am a nature lover. Animals (except for reptiles and creepy crawlies), the jungle, the beach and Discovery/National Geographic channel.

15. I enjoy travelling.

16. I never get angry on the road. And whatever happens on the road stays on the road. I always forget it after I get off the road.

17. I like cooking. But I hardly do that nowadays, because it's tough to cook for just one person. On the days I don't go out or eat with my boyfriend, I eat cereal at home. One layer of sugarless muesli with raisins, one layer of K-flakes, one layer of dried bananas...doused with 1/2 -1 cup of soybean milk. Followed by EPO, lecithin supplements and green-tea. And I sometimes treat myself with 2 pieces of chocolate. Hehe. Can eat this for breakfast, lunch and dinner (not the chocolate of course).

18. I try to exercise at least 3 times a week. Don't work too much/long with weights, because I 'put on muscle' really easily, which makes me look bulky and my arms look big(ger). My theory is that I built alot of muscle back when I did gymnastics and swam - the cells of which hypertrophy everytime I get back into a weights regime.

19. I miss my covenant sisters, who are in Singapore.

20. I love meeting up with my close friends for coffee.

21. I'm trying to cut down on toilet-paper usage without jeopardizing my hygiene levels. Haha. Think my toilet habits need to be a little more environment friendly.

22. My sister, Zoey, is a brilliant pianist...and a very godly girl :)

23. My dad is one of the most generous men I've ever known.

24. My mum is in heaven.

25. I have really weird nicknames... My boyfriend sometimes calls me Tai Lan Chong (big, lazy worm) because I love sleeping. Pig calls me Cookies. And some people still call me Cow or Lembu, because my surname is Moo.

There now, consider yourself tagged!