Once discovering Tumblr, I realised that it provided an easy-to-use platform for what I had been doing all along.

That is why I opened a new account today.

I will now be microblogging over here for short entries. Ie, things like photographs I like and minor, trivial musings. I refuse to go over to Twitter. (Not yet, anyway.)

This blog will stay for the longer entries. (: I love this place too much to leave.

P/S: For those who use Google Reader, you can now start a new subscription. YAY!

This was the very verse that rang repeatedly in my mind during Sat’s service.

Isaiah 1:18

“Come now, let us reason together,”
says the LORD.
“Though your sins are like scarlet,
they shall be as white as snow;
though they are red as crimson,
they shall be like wool.

I was attempting to figure out why God uses “Let us reason together”.

The Message Version says,

Let’s argue this out.

The NLT says,

Let’s settle this.

After reading Isaiah 1, I realised that God is truly a God of Reason.

Clear arguments are presented throughout the front part of Isaiah and these are well supported with examples. Verse 18 is the start of the conclusion (v18-v20) which later unveils the conditional basis of God’s forgiveness.

It kinda reminds me of the persuasive presentations and emails we’ve been writing in 214. The human mind does respond to reason, huh?

I received the following smses from the brothers in NYCB1 yesterday night.

We kena bully by sisters!
- XXX XXX XXX

We want to cry already.
- XXX XXXX

We no more face already. T.T
- XXXXXXX

I really couldn’t stop laughing. Oh well. Good job, sisters of B1! (:

And I heard they trooped off to play L4D afterward. Wah, all of you are cooler than me. HAHA.

What a rollercoaster ride it has been this week.

Cathy commented before that I am a person who wears her heart on her sleeve. That is true. I struggle to mask my annoyance, struggle to hide my irritation and struggle to conceal my fatigue.

Lately, I’ve been attempting to do what I would call – “Go nuts and you won’t think about the problems“.

Some of the stupid / silly things I’ve done this week:
- In the midst of meeting an assignment deadline, announce to people around that I have a craving for Paddlepop
- Buy a pencil box from 7-11
- Pretend that my computer mouse is my hamster
- Change 2 names in Wee Boon’s iPhone contact list to ‘God’ and ‘Jesus’ (EPIC FAIL.)
- Add a new entry to Tifen’s HP contact list called “Mother Mary” and instigate the person involved to sms her “Have you seen Jesus lately?” (They proceeded on to have an extremely entertaining conversation.)
- Act as though Huimin’s lion pencilcase is alive (DING DING!)

For the record, I don’t think my strategy worked. The problems remained.

While my peers are frantically counting down to the start of exams, I find myself preoccupied with worries about people in my life. What am I going to do about your passivity? How come you’re immersing yourself in a cloud of negativity and desolation? You mean you got yourself a new girlfriend just like that?

Maybe I care a little too much for my own good. And I need to compartmentalize my thoughts in a healthy manner.

Gotta let go and let God.

Chermaine posted this lovely poem that I recall doing practical criticism on during JC lit. (I misssssss studying literature and run-on lines and the use of capitalization.)

The art of losing isn’t hard to master;
so many things seem filled with the intent
to be lost that their loss is no disaster.

Lose something every day. Accept the fluster
of lost door keys, the hour badly spent.
The art of losing isn’t hard to master.

Then practice losing farther, losing faster:
places, and names, and where it was you meant
to travel. None of these will bring disaster.

I lost my mother’s watch. And look! my last, or
next-to-last, of three loved houses went.
The art of losing isn’t hard to master.

I lost two cities, lovely ones. And, vaster,
some realms I owned, two rivers, a continent.
I miss them, but it wasn’t a disaster.

Even losing you (the joking voice, a gesture
I love) I shan’t have lied. It’s evident
the art of losing’s not too hard to master
though it may look like (Write it!) like disaster.

- Elizabeth Bishop

This is very true. Don’t we have the nasty habit of walking around in our ‘kitchens’?

This happens when we get trapped into our little village of NTU and we find ourselves being consumed by the deluge of deadlines. And it seems as though school is all there is to our pitiful lives.

I refuse to live for such an existence. It is pathetic.

Jesus, help me live for something Greater.

I have much to thank God for today:
- Monchichi who realised something was wrong
- The morning sms conversation with Timothy Yeo
- A long, lovely lunch (alliteration!) with Lifelong Friend
- Lala’s concerned questions at HQ
- Completing my BM212 assignment
- Being surprised by Whipped Cream Cone Icecream (forgot the name!) & Paddle Pop (Thank you Hongyao and Sengkim.)
- The one who always smses me cartoons accompanied by encouragement
- Laughing out loud at Brenda’s attempt at BOOMZ
- Phonecall from my mum
- The fellowship at Guofeng’s birthday celebration (:
- Tifen & her rubbish with Trendyzone
- Wee Boon’s heartfelt sms & his persistence even though I don’t reply his msgs sometimes
- Having happy talk with Cassie in hall

The mention of people dropping out of the race just made my heart grow cold today.

After being in Hope for close to 8 years, I don’t even dare to count the number of leaders I’ve witnessed leaving God. I’ve served with some of you very closely and I’ve even cried over the way you broke God’s heart.

(And you dear, I’ve been worrying about you for the past month. Your blog speaks volumes about your current state. What can I do but pray?)

There are times where I even get angry when people leave. It’s as though nothing matters. Don’t you care that I care? Don’t you realise that you are severing something that binds us? Doesn’t this friendship matter to you?

To be honest, I’ve grown somewhat cynical towards promises that people tell me and I know that there is absolutely no guarantee that one will last the race.

It’s painful to first run with people in a particular leg of the marathon together and then watch them give in to (insert problem here) when they need to take another route that is different from yours. They are deaf to your cheers, your pleas and even your reminders of God’s goodness / grace / mercy / love.

I cling onto the knowledge that God himself searches for His runaway sheep.

Ezekiel 34:11

For this is what the Sovereign LORD says: I myself will search for my sheep and look after them.

I have not much
To offer You
Not near what You deserve
But still I come
Because Your cross
Has placed in me my worth

Oh, Christ my King
Of sympathy
Whose wounds secure my peace
Your grace extends
To call me friend
Your mercy sets me free

And I know I’m weak
I know I’m unworthy
To call upon Your name
But because of grace
Because of Your mercy
I stand here unashamed

I can’t explain
This kind of love
I’m humbled and amazed
That You’d come down
From heavens heights
And greet me face to face

Here I am at Your feet
In my brokeness complete

[Luke 5:18-20]

“Some men came carrying a paralytic on a mat and tried to take him into the house to lay him before Jesus. When they could not find a way to do this because of the crowd, they went up on the roof and lowered him on his mat through the tiles into the middle of the crowd, right in front of Jesus.”

I wonder how many of my friends would have forsaken the chance to meet Jesus because of my disability. I wonder if I would go to such lengths to help my friend meet God when he is completely unable to do it on his own.

I chose another unorthodox nail colour again. Don’t squeal when you see them!

This week
Tomorrow: AB213 Presentation (Yes, our agony is coming to an end!)
Wednesday: BM212 Presentation on Anti-sites
Thursday: Written in-class test for AB214 + BM212 Assignment 3 deadline

I am listening to this once again. I <3 the harmony & the guitar.

Dating Delilah. Listening to the audio book was refreshing! (: I want clean hands AND a pure heart. Purity is a process.

I wish you came today. As I heard the word of God being imparted, I couldn’t help but think that this message was for you.

God is close to the brokenhearted. And if your heart is breaking in godly sorrow, He is close by.