"For I know the plans I have for you," declares the LORD, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future."
[ Jeremiah 29:11 ]

 inspired by Jesus

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Tuesday, September 27, 2005

11:21 AM

doing duty these days is pretty relaxing. i actually went swimming! hahaha... yes... with some of the HQ people..

i went to the toilet 7 times! perfect healing, really. and i actually had my lunch without any pain! that was like, totally miraculous! pastor preached a really powerful sermon on sunday that really impacted me...

then there was the perfect blackout - 7 times in total. hahaha. and i was so eagerly anticipating the monday night mega-movie on ch5, incred*ble tales and ANTM! bleah. in the end, the first blackout hit at 1944 hrs and by the time the electricians were done, it was 2221 hrs. then came the second, the third, and fourth, and so on... until we hit a total of six blackouts by 0116 hrs. at approx 2am i opened my eyes and wondered why the ops room was dark. at 0404 hrs, the cookhouse people complained that there was no light! hahaha... another blackout... praise Jesus... let not my heart be troubled... so i handed over duty and i'm bumming at home now. mwahahaha!

going to meet dearie for tea later! whee!

beloved kai is in Christ at
 11:21 AM

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Sunday, September 25, 2005

11:16 PM

finally, a chance to blog. was on duty yesterday. the days are passing me by!

today's sermon was fantastic. shalom shalom. i must get hold of the sermon tape! thinking back i feel that yes, i've let my heart be troubled countless times needlessly (duh!) and today's message was really timely. it's centred around the verse from John 14:27, on how Jesus gives His shalom (peace, health, prosperity, blessings, you know, the works) to ME! and how i get this shalom in me to really kick in is to not let my heart be troubled by not worrying about tomorrow (Matt 6:34) or the days after, for there will be enough grace to weather tomorrow... tomorrow!

saw a celica get pulled over by 2 traffic policemen, blocking the car from the front and back like some kind of escort motorcade. now, that was what i really thought it was! turned out that the policemen pulled over the driver over some traffic offence.

brother edwin said i look like i will be a safe driver. ha.

sister liya said i look like i drive.

hallelujah! heh.

beloved kai is in Christ at
 11:16 PM

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Wednesday, September 21, 2005

1:49 PM

i'm here in s'pore having given the overseas excursion a miss.

feeling better. seems like e doc got the correct diagnosis - acid reflex, i.e. conc. HCl from stomach backflow into the oesophagus (is that the correct spelling?) and blah blah blah.

my God says i was healed. by the many stripes that Jesus took, each and every one of those stripes gave me my healing! i'm completely healed! i'm the righteousness of God in Christ! Christ in me, my healing :)

beloved kai is in Christ at
 1:49 PM

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Tuesday, September 20, 2005

2:35 PM

put the organisation before self.

that's what i always hear from you idiots up there. go on, keep on exalting the core value of care for soldiers but where's the care for commanders? there is NONE. zilch. i have reported sick only TWICE in my one year odd so far and both times were with legitimate reasons. must i be hospitalised before you bungling moron have compassion and sympathy and realise i am really unwell?

there have been countless times i have put the cursed organisation before self. but when it comes to health, i think it's best to be selfish. i don't intend to die in training or peacetime and under the really sweet-looking banner "died for country". know what i say? NO. so many cases of servicemen dying mysteriously and the circumstances look the same for them as it is for me now. must something drastic happen before you take the organisation and shove it up your mouth, choke on it, then take action?

beloved kai is in Christ at
 2:35 PM

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Monday, September 19, 2005

3:27 PM

Dr D: You have RTI (respiratory tract infection).

Dr L: You have a gastric problem, maybe an ulcer somewhere inside.

Q: Who do I believe?

A: Jesus. :) By His Stripes I AM HEALED!

God: What problem?

"For I will restore health to you and I will heal you of your wounds," declares the LORD.

beloved kai is in Christ at
 3:27 PM

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8:10 AM

one of my friends passed on to be with the Lord yesterday. how apt that during campus it was preached that we should be happy and rejoice for those who have passed on early - they are in Heaven with Daddy! dunno what exactly happened but guess time will eventually tell...

i rebuke this breathing difficulty in Jesus' mighty name. by His stripes, i was healed! :D

beloved kai is in Christ at
 8:10 AM

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Tuesday, September 13, 2005

6:40 PM

dear Daddy God,

bless me more than those around me. what has happened has happened and according to Your will and not mine. into Your hands, i commit my driving. and i pray, O Lord, for Your strength to carry me through this and emerge victorious. You who gave up Jesus on the Cross to purchase for me righteousness forever; You are my Daddy, and i am Your most beloved son. i am the righteousness of God in Christ Jesus. i am seated on Your right hand with Jesus, with all my enemies as my footstool.

Amen.

beloved kai is in Christ at
 6:40 PM

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6:32 PM

i failed my driving test. again. the tester had two claims. the first, that i nearly crashed into a cyclist who, at the last moment, decided he wanted to cycle across the pedestrian crossing despite the red light for him and i just managed to brake in time to avoid him. his fault became my failure. the second gripe was the fact that i wasn't driving fast enough. maintaining 40-50 kph isn't fast enough on the roads? with so many traffic lights that kept changing, what's the point of rushing to the traffic light to wait? might as well travel a little slower and travel more smoothly with green lights waiting. maybe next time i'll try 110 kph.

3rd time already.

beloved kai is in Christ at
 6:32 PM

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Sunday, September 11, 2005

10:57 AM

look it's a plane! no it's an arty shell! 

beloved kai is in Christ at
 10:57 AM

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band of brothers. 

beloved kai is in Christ at
 10:56 AM

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the aftermath of the war. 

beloved kai is in Christ at
 10:55 AM

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looting the dead... 

beloved kai is in Christ at
 10:54 AM

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cover me! 

beloved kai is in Christ at
 10:54 AM

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en route for battle! 

beloved kai is in Christ at
 10:54 AM

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the annual 21km run was held today. to all my 'G' wing instructors out there, all of you CHEATED me! you told me i'd run only once... hahaha... so this time i really took my own sweet time running with some of my platoon guys. we were really moving at a leisurely pace, even stopping for a long toilet break. here's a suggestion to all those conducting ahm in the future: STOCK TOILET PAPER IN THE TOILETS!!! there were half a dozen guys grumbling in the toilet that there wasn't any toilet paper but praise be to Jesus, one of my guys actually had tissues!

there wasn't any proper army-level warm up coupled with a conducting and safety brief like last year. it was, apparently, better organised last year. maybe they had toilet paper too but i don't know cos i didn't take a toilet break back then. but hey, i'm sure the budget for the event allows for toilet rolls to be stocked!!! i can't imagine the mess those guys had to endure throughout the run without cleaning up! now that's sick.

met loads of ppl at ahm!

beloved kai is in Christ at
 10:05 AM

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the week(days) has finally come to an end.

it all started with a 3D2N tour package around LCK area doing, quote unquote, our core business and also to be professional infantry soldiers. we waited and waited and waited for the reservist Bn to attack us but in the end? our superior terrain and tactical acumen (yeah right.) saved us an ENTIRE battle - they didn't even engage us or come close to even sniff my guys.

there was IPPT on thursday and Bn 6km run on friday. guess what? i conducted them (not out of free will), but nonetheless, i enjoyed the experience and learnt a lot on conducting runs. anyway, the coordination and paperwork completely swamped me and left me drowning in mountains of work. thank God for ppl like h*rry who know what to do and BOTHER to impart some knowledge from having conducted previous such activities.

so here i am, blogging after 2 driving lessons today. the afternoon one was pretty ok. the night traffic got heavier and it got a little harder to drive safely. did i mention i also drove on the same night i returned from outfield on wednesday? that was amazing and totally by mercy that i didn't crash the car somewhere along the test routes.

the same two phrases keep coming back to me in the light of having to do so much last minute paperwork conducting all that crap.

When you fear, you have forgotten how much God loves you.

and.

For when I am weak, then I am strong.

truly, it is when i cannot, God is more than able and even more than willing to turn it into a 'can'. i feared that the run would be messy and look shoddy and last minute. then i let go, knowing full well that if i were to continue worrying (yes you got it right, worrying! this is the first time in a long, long time since i worried!) i wouldn't be able to sleep peacefully thinking there's so much left undone. but hey, it turned out fine today. the only negative point was the fact the coy strength of 110ish became 30ish for the run. heh. and the driving revisions thus far? i was so tired from the outfield and paperwork but yet at this time God says His beloved son (ME! ME! ME!) IS STRONG!!

and so i survived the week to tell the tale(s) behind it.

final note.. congrats dear for making the exco :) it's all by His grace!

beloved kai is in Christ at
 11:25 PM

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the bulk of 02S23 - mugger 'tude. 

beloved kai is in Christ at
 11:24 PM

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service today was fantastic! it was yet another journey of discovering righteousness... that i am the righteousness of God in Christ! now that's heart knowledge... not head knowledge! Daddy, keep reminding me of that... i want it to sink in and be heart knowledge to me! it's so easy to fall back into self-righteousness and self-consciousness, thinking "oh i shouldn't have done that" and "oh i shouldn't have thought of that". but hey, at the end of the day, i'm still the righteousness of God in Christ and no one can ever take that away from me! it's really reassuring to know that my position before God cannot change! nothing i do can make God love me less! He loves me with His perfect, everlasting love :)

today's blog topic is good service. heh. in just two days (yesterday and today), i have encountered enough bad service to last me a month and also experienced good service at a place i usually dine at. let's start from the top. not too recently, the vision of a vibrant, modern, new-age city was revealed to all of us with the projected new skylines and buildings that will forever transform this little red dot into a really huge, enterprising country that screams "VISIT ME!" with that came the need for good, courteous attitudes from our service industry. yesterday, while dining at this particular place (let's call it SnT), i was really shocked by the standards of service. i had to wait an hour for my food and the reason? i overheard them saying they FORGOT! they actually forgot!? now, i wasn't being a very hard customer, was i? all i did was remind them to check on my food every now and then. if i really wanted to be hard, i would've cancelled my order and demanded to see their manager. but no, i decided to extend the overflowing grace of God to them. but the response from the staff wasn't exactly heartwarming either - they were pretty much lost and didn't know what to do. they were curt and offered cold replies. and guess where this restaurant was? in the middle of sunt*c city! that's appalling. if we're to offer hospitality to customers, i don't think we're going to see any significant increase in tourism or any boost to our economy from the tourism sector. i'm really thankful that there's going to be a repackaging that aims to transform the attitudes of our service people. there's a lot to be changed!

yet another encounter with poor service today at a stationery shop in sunt*c. the price on an item was clearly marked out but upon scanning at the cashier, it turned out to be more expensive! this was a sale item... now, i'm not a cheapskate but what's the point of pasting a price tag on the item declaring 1 price and later charge another price upon scanning the barcode? that's misleading the consumer! and if they can mislead consumers on one item like that, what more the rest of the items in the shop? that's really despicable. they might as well raise prices and offer larger discounts and end up with products with the same prices before sale. what really irked me was her attitude. upon confrontation, she just pushed it off saying "oh there's already a 30% on this" with that quit-whining-and-buy voice as if it wasn't her fault for misleading consumers! it's terrible that we have to put up with such service.

anyway, the bright part of all this is the fact that the place i had lunch had such good service. everytime i go there, the staff are courteous, friendly, polite and really, they're such good role models of good service! totally outstanding! they should win some kind of courtesy or best service award! this place serves pasta at parkw*y and it's really great. the food's good, the portion's good and above all, the service is fantastic. the above two places should really take a good look at this pasta place and learn from it! then we'll progress... and this vision of a metropolis city? well, it'll come to pass... eventually. but first, let's correct the attitudes of our service industry personnel.

beloved kai is in Christ at
 8:36 PM

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breakfast at YK today morning with dearie... really treasure these little moments spent together. after that i went to meet the guys (in the end only kenneth showed up.. all right you blessed ones who decided not to show up...) for a day of fun and laughter at sent*sa. to my amusement and irritation, it started to pour right after i hit pala*an beach! just cry can... so we travelled back to our area and watched people play in the arcade. now that's absolute total boredom but that's NOTHING else to do in the area! what to expect from an estate that has an elderly population... it's so dead!

campus today! and it was blessed! hahaha.. and to think there was a fleeting thought in my mind to not go initially... with the cosy oh-so-sleepy weather gaping at me and feeling the effects of burnout after a hectic week. but thank You Daddy... for giving me the desire to go in the end... hahahaha... and yes it was a message on righteousness! a message to my heart that i am the righteousness of God in Christ! and i will prevail and emerge victorious over my challenges! all because i am the righteousness of God in Christ. :D

it's been a long time since i last met up with my college class. and i'm glad i showed up today. the service at the restaurant we ate at wasn't exactly fantastic - it sucked horribly and was totally appalling. thank God for His overflowing grace, that i may extend such grace to them. in the end i decided not to bang table and demand an explanation for FORGETTING my order! heh. too nice, but hey, it's the life of grace! :D probably the highest attendance today; with all the usual suspects around and on top of that, half the guys actually turned up! it's a minor miracle considering everytime it's always the same 1-2 guys! hahahaha... photos will be up shortly.

beloved kai is in Christ at
 11:57 PM

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ahhh... finally, some time to catch a breather.

monday was IPPT - a testimony of God's grace and once again, i visited the verse 'when i am weak, then i am strong'. it was really fascinating watching God work, knowing i couldn't possibly get a gold by my own strength but praise be to Jesus, i made it! special thanks to my fellow pc too who paced me.. hahaha..

tuesday was RCO - it was a miserable thought entering the murky waters of the forsaken, filthy reservoir. in the end it wasn't too bad and the slightly wet weather made it all the more bearable. however, it was a big messy event with the stores manhandled (not by us!) and another unit taking over the area to do a night crossing for the CSB badge. what's the big deal about that badge... they're supposed to be trained for urban warfare, not conventional ops!! ahhh well, the things of the army.

wednesday was a 12km run, prep for the half marathon coming up. quite fun going from last man of coy to (almost) front of coy and back and forth. refreshing too. when was my last endurance run? hmmm... think that was a month ago...

yesterday was closed terrain navex. quite fun and relaxing. i think the unit that planted my last CP can't navigate - they were off by at least 150m! swine.. anyway it was yet another busy day with so much paperwork to do. come to think of it, now i can't even recall what paperwork kept me so busy. all i remember is that i'm totally physically drained and in desperate need of rest.

Daddy fill me up, fall afresh on me and rejuvenate me...

"Who satisfies your mouth will good things, so that your youth is renewed like the eagle's." -Psalm 103:5

beloved kai is in Christ at
 3:21 PM

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