Gone were the days

"If the world's ethical standards fail to rise with the advances of our technological revolution, the world will go to hell. Let us remember that in the horse-and-buggy days nobody got hurt if the coachman had a drink too many. In our times of high-powered automobiles, however, that same drink may be fatal...."
-Wernher Von Braun

Such really is the case, as I conclude while edging across the border between adolescence and adulthood, if you consider the early part of my life as 'horse-and-buggy' days.

It appears that we gotta wise up, my friend.. haha

Excellent excuse

One day a boss decided to check out his employees.

He found one of them skiving without being detected.

"Why aren't you working, Sam?"asked the superior.

Attached to the reply was the excellent excuse,"I didn't see you coming."

Har Har

Spoilsport

There was a time when winning in the sports I engage in is all the matter. It was of paramount significance that I reach the top spot on the podium. At least that was all that the voices around me were telling me to.. 'you have to win'.. 'work it out'.. 'slog!'.. 'focus on it'..

Be enslaved to it.. When winning is all that matters, there can be no grace perpetuating.

I still enjoy competitions now really. I'd continue to give my best for sure, but now it's not just for a silly spoil.. Call me a spoilsport for not wanting to win then.. but excellence does not equates to winning..

"How can you continue to do your best if you do not want to win?", he insisted,"You no longer have passion for the game."

"I merely reserved my passion for a greater purpose." I told him.

because you can enjoy playing without trying to win..

Afterall, the victory belongs to Him ha

Transition

The train reaches it's final destination,

but your journey has yet to be concluded..

The jetplane touches down,

but you know your feet will soon be off the ground..

The car hits the brakes and stops-

This junction has heavy traffic.. any wrong turn spells heavy consequences..

(Some clarity needed.. Audible hints appreciated..)

Time to start executing plans!

..

bahaha

Bobo Tan

As times go by I've began to identify my little pet's functions and capabilities ( it didn't come with an instruction manual) :

- It is usually the first one to greet me at the door with several high decibel 'hellos', followed a few sniffs and then proceeds to scan the stuffs that I brought home to complete the security checks( Although I would see it more as trying to see if I brought any food home). It will occasionally lick my leg, if I'm not wearing long pants, to round off the welcoming gesture..

- It is without any doubt a burglar alarm. Haha I think I can save my breath on this one.. It's interesting to point out though, that it is easily triggered..

- It is my personal leg trainer when I'm at home. It does its job by tugging on to my leg when I'm walking around. I need an illustration to show this.

There.

- It is sometimes a miniature heater in my sleep, whether I prefer the extra warmth or not. But for most of the time it's during chilly mornings, I'd wake up finding this heater popping out snugging near my abdominal area.. It probably needs some warmth itself too

- It has this function which I have yet to determine whether it's beneficial or otherwise, and that's to scratch the door when the door's closed and when it wants to enter to do spot checks.

- It is most frequently my make-shift pillow. Ok..

It is in all times my friend(awww), unless when food or bones come in between us of course.. haha.. Sometimes, I would just spend time doing nothing and let it come onto my lap and start giving it doggy massage.. R&R.

I'm still trying to figure out many other functions.. as well as looking out for the owner's manual.. I must have left it somewhere..

prudent lavishness

“Again, the Kingdom of Heaven is like a merchant on the lookout for choice pearls. 46 When he discovered a pearl of great value, he sold everything he owned and bought it!"

-Matthew 13:45-46

Not so dainty nightouts

I remember that my objective was the announcements( And that one really failed), but all I could recall was pop charts, GM, all-star, and Jack Barwu!

I'm sure missing these times together...

you're Mine

"... I paid a huge price for you:

all of Egypt, with rich Cush and Seba thrown in!

That's how much you mean to me!

That's how much I love you!

I'd sell off the whole world to get you back,

trade the creation just for you."

-Isaiah 43:3-4

Much was said figuratively, only to have even more actuated into reality.. to prove this post's title true..

Good things come in trios, usually

Finally gotten my in-ear monitors(IEM) for stage usage. Why did I mention that good things come in threes when there's only a pair of them( like I've got 3 ears haha)? It's because in each earpiece, there's generally three drivers( or simply speakers) to provide sound- one for lows(bass), one for mids, and one for highs(treble).. This makes the sound more whole, and gives this piece a 'undeniable range' as stated in the packaging haha. It provides 25dB of sound isolation thus making it ideal for stage use. The clarity of this monitors is superb. I am able to hear Ps Andrew flipping his bible pages.



While this monitors are amazing, I'm actually more amazed at God's providence.. How I gotten this is just unbelievable.. CT found this offer selling it at the amount 2/3 the price of brand new one. So I met up with this guy selling the stuff( and he turns out to be Jason too!) and as it turns out, He bought this in a package deal with a amplifier that is the most expensive amp I've ever known. And that's why he could sell it so cheap.. He can literally earn some income with this package that he paid for.. He's not a musician so he didn't really enjoy listening with the IEM.. And the other thing is when I decided to buy, the tax rebate came, so I don't have to starve after buying it.



Overall, I'm really thankful to have this wonderful IEM.. Haha this is gonna last me quite a while, unless they come out with one that has 4 drivers in it.

Ode.. with, the guitar

After listening to a handful of other fellow levites and their lack of musical accompaniment in their homes, I'm left with thoughts of gratefulness-that I'm blessed with such a lovely instrument that is ready for me as and when I am, that it's sound is intensely backing me up as I carry on with my pursue after Him.. yet gentle enough to let me hear God whisper into my ears..

I'm not trying to say that you can't worship God just by yourself and that you need to have a full orchestra to initiate your time spent with God.. but I'm saying that I'm thankful for this piece of relatively expensive wood, which I sometimes take for granted, in enabling me to generate higher decibels of noise in my tiny, bedroom worship sessions. haha.

Angry..not

I never knew I will react this way...

My dad came back yesterday night and shared with me that he got into an accident. While he is not sure of who's at fault, he confirmed to me that the other party was 4 young men and a lady- And they were least polite to him. They even made him signed something that acknowledges that he was at fault.

I flew into rage.. Well not exactly, but you can literally spell out anger from my face. I immediately came up with all the reason to back up my act. I began to summon the 4 men in my mind and started punching them.

Then I remembered-My anger can never make things right in God's sight(James 1:20).

The truth is, it grew worse.. Even my dad got the hint and comforted me by saying that the driver later apologizes for his disrespect, something which I think was just being said to calm me down.

My conclusion is that I was not at fault in being angry with those bunch of young adults, but I was wrong to harp on it.

And that is my biggest weakness-I'm a professional harpist. Yeah, I'm sure those around me are able to relate to that.. And that's also probably why I picked up guitar so fast.. haha.. But yeah, I guess I'm still learning to control, to stop harping when the piece of music is not right, when it's not glorifying His name..

haaaa.. I feel a heavy weight taken off my shoulders.. I feel.. free..

Surrender

There's freedom in surrender,

so I'm raising my white flag.

Not to opposition, but to my greatest Ally.

An irony it is for me to do that in any facet of this alliance,

but it was me who started it.

Blatantly displaying my mediocrity, executing frivolous battle plans.

So I'm raising my white flag with joy,

Because there's freedom in surrender.

I hope my white flag won't be blocked by the clouds. There's been quite a few floating around these few days.

Lol

"Laughter can conceal a heavy heart; When the laughter ends, the grief remains."
- Proverbs 14:13

I hope laughter stops doing that haha..

Where Joy and sorrow meets

"For the kind of sorrow God wants us to experience leads us away from sin and results in salvation. " - 2 Corinthians 7:10

Friends

" A friend is always loyal, and a brother is born to help in time of need"

-Proverbs 17:17

Talk... Chisel... Control... Chisel...


Chisel.

Kris

I'm not idolizing, but just looking through his AI journey has been inspiring

On how he changed to the better, but one thing that didn't change,

was the joy to watch him perform

singing some simple 4 piece acoustic 'bedroom' songs

Well, he's not trying to impress, but be himself

Plus, he can play guitar and piano.. and sing.. lol.. again, not idolizing!

experiment no. 10234153

Mum told me not to play with fire..

Boss told me otherwise.

hahaha!

Pleasure in worship

"In his book prayer, Richard Fraser speaks of stepping-stones along the path of learning to adore God. Ultimately, adoring God involves gratitude, magnifying Him, and "foot-stomping celebration"( LOL I laughed out loud at this one), but these must be grown into, and our hearts must be taught. A good first step is simply to make a habit of watching small things in nature... This does not mean analyzing but rather discovering the pleasure in simply observing and participating in nature." - Solo

How do you learn to worship Him? One thing I have learnt is to find pleasure in doing so. And I do so by making myself know that it is worth it, and most importantly, knowing that it pleases Him. I learnt also to worship not by hard, but by heart. " Our hearts must be taught.."- And this teaching.. and learning on our part, never ceases.

Psalm 34