my 100th post!

wow~ i made it to a 100! a big leap indeed from my 1st attempt which only lasted 2 weeks... and of course, i shall not gloat too much lest i make some amateur feel bad ;p

it's very much like my paper journal. it has taken me years and countless attempts... well, it's not so much of starting (i've always had good intentions) but to keep going... now, i think i need a treasure chest pretty soon to store all my journals. compliments very well with my slight fettish with buying journals. just the other day i got a really nice one frm manna. real good deal too (30% off guys! head to manna~). d current one is pretty cool. just realised tt it matches the colour of my patricks very well. how nice if i could wrap up each completed journal and send it off: "To God, my Father & Jesus, my Saviour... Address: Heaven. With love, Your precious child." (Holy Spirit is here with us eh?) I know God receives each entry and knows each word by heart, it just saves me the trouble of transporting them across the globe ;p

mid-week onwards things have taken a pretty good turn. i feel more "stabilised" at least. praise God for the sun (yes, we talk abt the weather all d time here). One thing i've learnt, don't underestimate the effect of the weather on your mood. it's been so sunny and beautiful tt i'm tempted to go out there and lepak all the time. did a bit of tt on Wed, ran ard campus on Thurs and today...

my darling flatmate made me pancakes for lunch! brunchnish sorta lunch i guess. we've been so busy we hardly ever saw each other even though we live next door (like next room!). busy-ness is a vicious bug tt isolates you and slowly draws u unknowingly away from ur loved ones and stresses u out and depresses u and makes everything seems gloomier. watch out for it k...

she broke my teapot few days back. i told her not to worry abt it. forgot to tell her tt it's a really cheap one i got from Farmers' in Akl while it's on sale. unfortunately teapots here are really expensive when u dunno where to go or u go at the wrong time. wasn't gonna pay $70++ for a same sized one. though i must admit it's pretty flash. guess i'll just live without tea (not bad at all as long as i have my coffee press intact). today... she presented me with a nice steel (arcosteel!) teapot~ ouch. felt quite bad abt tt. but it sure looks good sitting next to my steel Starbucks press. should prob sit them next to my steel BarVista too...

green tea cream frapp @ Starbucks was good~ enjoyed the short catch up with charm. it's amazing how God brings ppl of different personality together and from there, genuine bond establishes. i must admit she keeps my prayer life exciting with her little adventures ;p

one of d rare fridays tt i wasn't stressed abt the evening. am i getting used to it or am i learning to really trust God? Just last night at homegrp we talked abt how to really trust is sthing u have to experience urself. Knowing all the verses and stuff ain't gonna bring u nowhere if u're not gonna let go and let God...

"Molokai - the story of Father Damien" was... hmmmm. pardon my inability to find a word of description tt'll do it justice. d way Father Damien laid down his life for others, and contracted leprosy himself, how he endured life @ Molokai, his love for the lepers, his perseverance, his acts of service for those who need him, despite his sins... it reminds me tt while we can never totally escape the plague of sin in this transition period we're in (but tt doesn't mean we don't try), we can still make a difference to the lives of others ard us if we allow ourselves to...

took a while to compare the nutritional content of the chips i got. yes, i actually did consciously try to get the "healthiest" chips possible, weighing the flavour and the preference of people as well. popcorn's only healthy when there's absolutely nothing added to it ok. maybe next time i should chop up some carrots and celeries and make banana berry smoothies... ;p

i was just thinking how... (excuse me if i don't put these thoughts into words very well)... it doesn't take climactic, ecstatic sorta "high" to make one feel happy. more imptly, it's the peace tt brings joy to your heart. after the bouts of rough sea, u really come to appreciate the calmness of the waters. tt's when u start recognising the work of the Mighty One in the small little things again. Like how my flatmate's got a job offer today (Praise God! been praying for her but dun really know how to encourage her...), how i got a nice flashy teapot replacement (time for a phone replacement/laptop replacement/watch replacement? ;p), the sun, and how everything is just flowing quite smoothly @ the moment? or perhaps with training, u toughen up a bit and it takes bigger waves to give your boat a good shaking... it also came to my awareness of how both chapters of Faith in Lewis' Mere Christianity, when i read it abt a month ago, kinda armed me for some of the things tt came up. I didn't actually realise it until last night when we finally got to discuss those 2 chapters, then i rmbered "oh yup, i rmb quoting those words a number of times before, now i know where it came frm!" (btw, Lewis' MC is a good read...). All these intertextual connections are definitely divine arrangements.

perhaps this is the calm before the storm. perhaps it's just an in-between testing smoothness. on one hand, i question the necessity of trials (big ones, small ones...), the frequency etc... is it just the way i react? tt means i can choose to respond differently? if it doesn't kill me it's gonna make me stronger? but even if i bounce back stronger, it's gonna get harder to break me anyway? on the other hand, i guess i live to testify tt the dark storm does come to an end eventually, and His light will shine into the darkness.This glorious light will penetrate even into the darkest pit and seek u out, wherever u r... press on and be encouraged for our Hope is in the faithful loving God, whom we can call Abba Father!

*sigh of contentment* (though i know not wat i take content in)

let me just enjoy the moment with God...