Can't believe how 1st year of Bible College has passed so quickly. I'm still amazed that God has made this possible for me.

2019/2020 Cohort 

First class of the week

Year 2 starts of with a week long intensive week. Not having to travel to and fro from home helps especially with work equally demanding. The extra sleep is a plus point and it's great not needing to navigate through the crazy KL traffic.

Today especially has been a bummer day. My shoe gave way in the morning and I had to go to my car and change them. This was a blessing in disguise as I would otherwise not know that the sheltered parking was dripping water that contained rust on my car windscreen. (horror of horrors) but yes, still bump over the rust stains on my car windscreen which I can only get it off probably over the weekend and I hope it does come off.

Stained glass 

Then I injured my foot not sure if I sprained it or its a muscle pull and had to limp around in office... and it didn't help that I was late for class (again... But even later today) and arrived just after worship ended.

And what more, the 104th Archbishop of Canterbury sat next to me the whole of class time and was eager to be my discussion partner... How nerve wrecking...but awesome!!! More like he was giving me private tuition since I don't have any valuable information to bring to the table. He's so humble and really inspiring. He talks about God with a sparkle in his eyes. 

Interestingly, while walking back to YWCA, I realised I'm not limping anymore. Thank God for that! :)

Interlude - a short period when a situation or activity is different from what comes before and after it

The word wait is an unpopular word in my vocabulary list. Whenever I am told to wait, everything inside of me will look for ways to quicken the process. That feeling heightens when I already have a plan in mind and I am eager to execute it. When I have a lunch appointment and my boss is engaged in a discussion but I need to get the document approve before lunch. My brain thinks of 101 ways to get my boss to sign off the document so that I can go off for lunch. And traffic lights, it always seems as if they just know when you are rushing and flash the red light to keep you waiting. 

There are many other times when I have been asked to wait and trust me these moments of 'waiting' seems forever. If I have a choice, I will choose 'go' rather than 'wait'. But yet the ways of God seems to be the opposite. The Bible is filled with verses on 'wait'. 'Wait on the Lord', 'Wait for the coming of the Lord', 'Wait for the harvest', 'Wait for the vision to be fulfilled'etc. 

The season of waiting is like an Interlude. It is a short period (often time it feels like a long period... too long), that is in between from what comes before and after it. And just like watching musicals or watching the orchestra, the show has been good. I've been enjoying the performance and I dread it when the house lights come on for an intermission. I want the show to go on. I fidget around. I squirm in my seat. I stare at the time hoping it moves faster. I feel restless but however long that the intermission is, the show will resume and the moment the house lights are turn off, my restlessness during the intermission is forgotten. But the question remains , why must there be an intermission? 

The problem stems in my perspective. I look at the period of intermission from the perspective of an audience. I'm sitting in the audience and  enjoying the performance. The intermission is seen as a disruption but if I look at the intermission from the players / the actors, the intermission will be a period that I welcome. It is a time to rest. A time to re-look at the notes that I need to play after the intermission or perhaps the lines that I need to sing out. I enjoy the time on the stage entertaining the crowd but I also know how important the time of intermission is, it gives me the break so that I can advance further. And once the intermission is over, it is show time! 

So now.... when is show time! but meanwhile, perhaps I need to take a pause and re-look at my lines.. 

I would have never thought that at the age of 30 that life would still look pretty much the same. The struggles between understanding everything that goes on in this world and finding my place in this circle of life still continues. The tension with pain, trials are still there. Sadly, even after 30 years I can't say that I've mastered the art of juggling and managing life. Embarrassed to say that my response to what life throws at me have not been 'making lemonade of the lemons'. Wouldn't life experience of walking with the Lord for so many years lead to greater trust in Him? A closer more intimate experience with the One True God? 

Maybe it's because as humans we often forget the mighty deeds and works of the Lord. We have short temporal vision that does not look beyond the immediate. Our minds are stuck and limited to the here and now. For truly, God always come true in His own ways. In His own timing. He fails not and His track record since creation has been consistent. A guaranteed return on investment. 

David a man after God's heart fills the book of Psalms with 'Remember me O God'. Surely, the Lord who led him all the way is with David all the way. He kept David standing all through his life on earth. Personally selecting him from the obscure sheep pasture and making him King. Giving him the honour of honour to be the family that brings the Lord Jesus into this world. Giving Solomon his son the privilege of building the first and the grandest Temple of God. To raise him above all Israel and give him favour. 

Isa 46:9 Remember the things I have done in the past. For I alone am God! I am God, and there is none like me. 

Heb 10:35 So do not throw away this confident trust in the Lord. Remember the great reward it brings you!

Deuteronomy 8:2-3 Remember how the LORD your God led you through the wilderness for these forty years, humbling you and testing you to prove your character, and to find out whether or not you would obey his commands. Yes, he humbled you by letting you go hungry and then feeding you with manna, a food previously unknown to you and your ancestors. He did it to teach you that people do not live by bread alone; rather, we live by every word that comes from the mouth of the LORD. 

Exodus 28:47 For the abundant blessings you have received from the Lord and serve Him with joy and enthusiasm. 

The tendency is to remember and dwell on the things which the Lord has not brought to pass rather than to dwell on the areas where God has given a breakthrough. Even though God may seem to be slow in coming or the breakthrough seems to be delayed but He is the the Lord who bursts through. He will bursts through the garrison / the walls of opposition. 

2 Samuel 5:20 So David went to Baal-perazim and defeated the Philistines there. "The LORD did it!" David exclaimed. " He burst through my enemies like a raging flood!" So he named that place Baal-perazim (which means "the Lord who bursts through")