The weekend tat pass me by..

*PS: NEW music! On ur speakers man! Its bossa nova (Brazil Jazz) kind of music!

Church was all right on Sat (29/10).. it seems tat every sermon in Youth service is like boring at first, but somehow, it gets interesting in the middle portion, and at the end of it, I juz realise tat God is actually speaking to me in more ways than one! This always never fails to amaze me! The following are some pointers of the sermon tat is being preached on Sat (23/10) Youth service:

----------------
Speaker: Pastor Patrick Chiow
Scripture Reading: Philippians 3:12-14
Sermon Topic: Winning The Race

1. Devotion (Philippians 3:12)

(a) Exodus 19:4 - "You yourselves have seen what I did to Egypt, and how I carried you on eagles' wings and brought you to myself."

(b) Set aside for God, so tat you wld devote yourself to Him.

2. Direction (Philippians 3:13)

(a) Live a life looking forward - my future, present & past

(b) Forget wat lies behind and press on.

(c) Forget our past = We cannot change our past, but God can change the meaning of the past.

(i) Genesis 45:3-8 - "Joseph said to his brothers, "I am Joseph! Is my father still living?" But his brothers were not able to answer him, because they were terrified at his presence. Then Joseph said to his brothers, "Come close to me." When they had done so, he said, "I am your brother Joseph, the one you sold into Egypt! And now, do not be distressed and do not be angry with yourselves for selling me here, because it was to save lives that God sent me ahead of you. For two years now there has been famine in the land, and for the next five years there will not be plowing and reaping. But God sent me ahead of you to preserve for you a remnant on earth and to save your lives by a great deliverance. So then, it was not you who sent me here, but God. He made me father to Pharaoh, lord of his entire household and ruler of all Egypt."

(d) Look forward

3. Discipline (Philippians 3:14)

(a) "Pressing on to win the prize"..

(b) Keep the flame burning for the Lord, walking, serving and loving the Lord.

(c) The eternal prize tat God has prepared for us, requires us to have discipline.

(d) Trials & temptations are inevitable, but if we have the discipline to juz press on, God will see us thru' it!

----------------

After church, we (Ryan, Catherine, Joshua & Jonathan Gouw, Li Ching, Peiqi & myself) went to Hotel Le Meridian Food Court to have our dinner. The rest of the youths were having the Youth Camp mtg and therefore they did not turn up. I had some real authentic Thai dish which I've always wanted to savour it in Singapore., and thenk goodness, I saw it in the foodcourt! The dish is actually "Pork Omelette served with Rice".. I had this dish when I was in Thailand for a mission trip with ForeRunners (which was abt a yr ago).. This dish in Thailand is so common.. Its like anywhere on the streets you can find this dish, and its super nice lah! In Thailand, it is usually served with ka pow (fried chicken/beef with basil leaves and chilli padis), and this is like a very common everyday dish for the Thais.. it so happen tat I saw a Thai national eating it, so I went round the whole foodcourt to find it, and I finally did after like 5 mins of walking round the foodcourt! However, I was a bit disappointed in the dish lah.. becos' one thing is tat it is quite salty and oily.. No doubt tat this omelette shld be oily in nature (as it is in Thailand), however, the one I ate in the foodcourt was more salty and lesser pork, compared to the version I ate back in Thailand! This is something which I dun understand; even though it's a Thai cook who cook this, but then how come the dish taste so different? Haiz.. oh well.. Cat & Ryan tried some of my omelette and they said tat its not bad.. but then I told them the difference and they was like 'ok' (can't blame them becos' they have not tried this dish before!).. so ya.. but anyway, I was quite happy with the dinner on Sat lah.. at least I get to reminiscence the nostalgic taste of Thailand (to be exact, its the food lah! hehe..) all over again! =)






Photo courtesy of Simon Seow, a member of ForeRunner. He took this when he was on a mission trip recently in Thailand! This is his fave dish too, and its also mine =).. anyway, this is the usual set dish in Thailand loh. =).. so this is the exact set of wat they usually serve in Thailand.. ka pow with pork omelette (in Thai, they call this dish/set, ka pow kai)













Then we were like dun want to wait for the rest of the ppl to join us, becos' believe it or not, at 2100, they were still mtg! They have started like an hr back and they said they've got lots of things to discuss and achieve at the end of the mtg! So ya.. so its like since we have no other planned activites after dinner, then we all leave our own separate ways after dinner, and therefore, I took a cab (which cost me $11.30 mind you!) frm Orchard to my camp.. so in other words, I booked in at abt 9.30pm and this is like the most early book-in I ever had since I enetered my unit! Anyway, I was like going back to bunk, bathe and brush my teeth, and by 2215, I was fast asleep on my bed! I was tat tired! I simply dun koe why I'm so tired..

So I slept like frm 2215-0630, and woke up for mounting duty yesterday. Yesterday duty was even though look quite slack on paper, but then, the timings for my duty was like real tiring lah! When I went into the restroom in the morning after my shift has taken over, I cld not sleep, becos' it was like 0900.. how u expect me to sleep? Anyway, did some fatigue duties (which are not actually assigned to me, but I help out lah, becos of short of manpower), and by the time my fatigue duties were done, its time for duty! So there I did duty, and in the end, I did NOT slept a wink in the morning.. then came nightfall! Repaired and fixed up the air-con unit at my duty location for this morning, and thank goodness the air-con unit worked or else, I wld be suffocated in there this morning. Then the duties juz start streaming in.. and wat a way to end the nite where my phone batt was dead! I went to sleep at abt 2100 (after staff parade) and set the alarm at 2240 and my duty was supposed to be 2300.. but becos' of the dead phone batt, my phone alarm did NOT ring! However, I woke up juz in time for duty (2300 lah!), and I took over the person abt 10 mins late in the end.. explained to him the situation and thank God he is understanding lah!.. man.. its not good to have ur phone dead at the crucial moment!

Then came the wee hrs duty loh.. my duty schedule was such tat I did my duty frm 2300-0300 (but kenna 'jia' for close to 15 mins, so by the time I sleep, its like 0330 liaoz), slept till 0545 and woke up to do flag raising at 0600, and followed by my dismounting duty which is frm 0600-0900. After the last duty at 0900, then I can dismount.. this is so 'shiong' lah!.. so actually for the 24 hrs duty, I juz slept for 5 hrs! and tats really not a lot of sleep! Haiz.. =(

Then went with KC to go and buy stuff for our private dinner event at my bunk tml, becos' tml my grp P1 mah.. so by the time I'm back, I went to eat my lunch, and then, slept all the way frm 1300-1700! Fwah! Such a good sleep I have sia! but then, as I type this post, I think I'm still quite sleepy lah! see.. told ya I'm seriously lacking of sleep!

So its me bking in tml to camp loh.. and bking out on Hari Raya! then I have my so call long public holiday leave.. but the bad thing is tat the wkend (Sat to be exact) have to mount duty.. sianz.. =(.. I tired liaoz.. *Yawnz*.. goodbye ppl!

** I'm still counting down the days LEFT to serve.. its 352 DAYS to ORD!!

0815. Sembawang Air Base.

Fatigue after duty,
<<< abriel >>>