voiceless

I have lost my voice. It is very sad and frustrating. Trying to conduct lessons with no voice makes my plight even worse. G'ah!

Anyway, listen to James Blunt and his Back to Bedlam is the album de la semaine.
Quite gorgeous music from one who fought in Kosovo

hmm

In response to the bo-liao defacing of my tag-board... Hey boys, outside of class u can monkey about all u like but I appeal to you in all sincerity to clam up when I am trying to conduct a serious discussion in class. Or at least pipe down and contribute seriously. You are just short changing urself and the classmates about you. Hope I don't have to get nasty with u all cos I don't but too much of it and you may cross the line and all the idle chatter in today's lesson just about did it.

update

School's been decent so far. Many things have happened and the students constantly keep me on my toes intellectually, which is good. Hope I improve as I go along and I can remember their names (!) very very soon.

Handsome people 

pray

We are in the season of fasting and prayer. It was kicked off with the Prayer Concert: Day of His pOwer at the Sing Expo yesterday. Interesting points of note were that Winston Hodge was there. I said Hi and I really think its important that the head of my school finds it worth while to find time to pray for the nation and hopefully his school as well. RJ has always been blessed in this way, with godly leaders. Also, Paul Lee was one of the co-leaders of worship. Way cool.

Came back with an enlarged vision to reach people in my block. I shall smile more at them. The presentaion on East Timor was also moving. Hopefully more will be done. I will see what I can do

mystery

Wanna give a shout out to Timmo. Maybe it is a mystery eh boy. And don't quit bathing. You may have more pimples to write about.

School starts on Monday with COMMON TEST!! ZZZ... Well, gives me another week to prepare lessons/ surf net a lot/ catch up with stuff/ make new friends in the staff room/ stone. Hopefully in that order.

What a bum holiday. I may have been caught by evil Traffic Police dude standing on overhead bridge. Must check letter box carefully for the next few days.. Grrr

Kim's Hokkien Mee is nice. But what sort of hawker fries Hokkien Mee for 12 hours a day in a long sleeve shirt and wearing a gold Rolex?!?

feel

Just realised, looking arn the M Group table, that everyone there was either going to get married or already married. It was a taste of reality that I soon will be moving away from this group (interest and emotionally) in a way. Not physically moving away, but definitely I see the gap between singleton and smug marrieds. Nobody's fault, its just the way life is and people are. Once you enter another phase in life, things change and things move. They never stay the same, so the lesson to learn is to treasure the time you have today, boys and girls. They will never last as long as you hope them to.

Just a few random thoughts and updates again.

Reading a book by the late Mike Yacnonelli on 9 foundations for youth ministry. Things like the Bible, Veracity, Authenticity, Audacity, Humility and the like. Its good to read stuff to focus you once in a while, with people who have gone thru what you are going through. Not the best book in the world but appropriate for this time in life.

Went to Orchard Road and got ignored by the London 2012 people. Grrr.... They didnt want to gimme their free T-shirts though I am a self-professed Anglophile. Haiz.

Realised not getting any younger... Haha...

EvP

Just received the Events Vs. Process book that I ordered from Abundant Life. Bradford to SG in 2 days, must be a record. I finished it in 2 hours. That must be another record.

Paul's teaching was that we must adopt a process-driven approach to our Christian living rather than an events-approach where the believer is always seeking for the next quick fix of God to move him on in His Christian life. Life changing events, like falling under the spirit and such, must be regarded as part of a wide life-moulding process. If not, events by and of themselves, provide no foundation to withstand the storms in life. These storms will reveal who we are as believers.

Certainly,this is refreshing teaching that is counter to the instant-faith generation of the 21st Century. Scanlon goes on to urge the reader to seek the supernatural rather than the spectecular. As "nothing happens by chance" (Daniel Foo), it is all part of a process to grow us as believers and the supernatual should be incorporated into the process or it should kickstart one. We should not be junkies for the prayer line and altar call. People who do not go through the arduous process to deal with their problems will often come back to be prayed for again because they simply refuse to deal with problems that require a process to correct.

This is indeed an eye-opening read for people hooked on quick-fix Christianity

Tim acting cute. 

The one who is hilarious in his blurness but with a great heart and the conscience of a disciple. Thanks Duane-o 

The one who gives me both joy and grief and teaches me a lot about life... The charismatic enigma and a real blast to lead. Thanks Es 

continuing on

Here's a vain attempt to try to sustain blogging for more than just a moment's fancy.

Nothing much happened yesterday, really. More marking of GP scripts with all the ecstasy and agony that that brings. I would have to say that certain groups of people being agony to GP teacher's everywhere but I guess that's what we are here for: to improve their lot in life but elevating their English standards. Sigh... A Herculean task indeed.

Read some pages of Aldous Huxley in prep for next term. It would make a decent flick, Gatacca-like. Slept through most of the afternoon.

Watched Saw at night. Interesting show, kinda like CSI meets Se7en with a smaller budget and less-sexy leads (no Brad Pitt). Interesting twist-ending that actually seems very improbable. Getting The Last Samurai tomorrow. Now that should be real fun.

Cow

Another check in this week after a long while.

Camp seems to have gone well, with a few exceptions. Nice to see DLB had fun and hopefully they learnt something positive from the whole experience. Quite proud that so many of them made time for the camp and I think thats a reall good testimony for them as a group and as individuals.

I hope he learnt something as well about being a leader and as an individual. It is opportunities like these that will have help him develop as a person of he wants them to.

My Zen Neeon is now a cow, how nice!

LAPD Camp 2005 

Update

Just an update. Bought a Zen Neeon cos it looked nice. Settling into RJ nicely. Sold the laptop and got the one issued by the school. Marking GP papers. Life is pretty nice now.

raffles again

Its nice to be back in the family again. Starting 24 May I will be known as an RJ GP teacher. This is what I asked for and its by God's grace that I am here in this position, ready for anything to be thrown at me. Its not gonna be easy, but I need to know his provision. So, Kaiping, Mark, Jen, Chuan En, Zhong and Darryl, guess I will be seeing you all soon then.

posting

Still waiting for Mr. Postman to lay the news on me as to where my final posting is. I am a bit anxious a bit at peace, knowing that God is in control, yet not being able to contain my anziety totally. I guess being human, this is natural after all. A few people already know their postings:

Eugene: Anglican High
Fau/Kevin: MJC
Sami: YJC
Pam/Yitian: CJC
Yiwen: ACJC (biggest surprise since the casino announcement lol!)
Karen: AJC
Adrian: SRJC
Angeline: NJC
Soon Yi/ Reny / Sheika: VS
Dawn/ Grace: Bedok Town

Leave it to God cos He holds my hand

satisfaction

These are the things that people can find satisfaction in:

1) Spouse/ Girlfriend/Boy Friend
2) Friends and Family
3) Achievements and Success
4) Possessions and Money
5) Feeling of peace and contentment

But none of these are the same as finding joy and satisfaction in the saving grace of Jesus Christ. People may say we are crazy, or even presumptious that our God is the only god there is. But after what we have seen heard and experienced, can there be any other?!?! Don't hide it people, live proud and love loud, that you may be a tiny reflector of His light in this fallen world of others. Only He is permanent

Satisfaction

Just don't get people who say they are touched by the Holy Spirit but they act as if nothing has changed in their life. Not just in their character, but in the decisions they make and their priorities. Yes it will be a struggle with carnality always, but it appears that carnality always wins out so easily. I don't want to keep people with hype or with empty threats or pressure. If their delight in God is not 100 percent then they will never find satisfaction at all in whatever they do. That is for sure.