You give and take away

As I was worshipping today, I was reminded of a long forgotten verse that I prayed to God many years ago as a young Christian.

Proverbs 30:8-9

'Keep falsehood and lies far from me; give me neither poverty nor riches, but give me only my daily bread. Otherwise, I may have too much and disown you and say, 'Who is the Lord?' Or I may become poor and steal, and so dishonor the name of my God.'

Be it in studies or in work, no matter how hard I work, I've never been the best (in the area that I wanted). Often I've been close to being the best but never good enough to boast.

On the other side of the coin, I am reminded of how God faithfully provides for me and my family. There was a time when my whole family was left with $50 to spend probably for the week. My mum was carrying me in one of her arms and holding my brother's hand with the other. She was walking to the hawker centre to buy dinner for the family when the $50 note flew from her hand into a monsoon drain. When you have no money to eat, saying grace before meal really becomes a thanksgiving for His provision. Thank God for my parents who brought my family through those really difficult moments.

When you take time to reflect on what He has done in your life, will you praise Him just like the chorus of this song, Blessed Be Your Name - You give and take away, my heart will choose to say 'Blessed be Your Name'!

6R twins

Anything wrong with this pic??

My left eye

I have never thank God for my sight. I have taken for granted that seeing with my eyes is a daily routine that doesn’t require special effort. That’s probably the reason why I did not do anything for a week when my left eye was red. My left eye grew from tiredness to discomfort and swelling. I finally decided that my natural immune system was unable to deal with my problem and went to see a private doctor. I was immediately referred to a specialist at SGH. The specialist drew 2 concentric ovals on the paper and a dot in the inner oval to indicate that there is a slight scratch on my cornea. He gave me the assurance that I should be alright in a week’s time.

Instead of recovering, my left eye reached such irritable state that I can barely keep my left eye opened for long. A week later, my specialist saw me the second time. I went through the routine eye check and found that my left vision had deteriorated. The specialist muttered when he scanned my eye through the scope, ‘These weren’t there…” He drew 2 concentric ovals again but this time, he dotted all over the inner oval. “I will refer you to a cornea specialist.”

Honestly it wasn’t an easy time waiting for the cornea specialist. A lot of thoughts came into my mind during the two hours and of course my greatest worry was that I would become blind. At that moment I started praying. I read the book of JOB and a verse (highlighted by my wife many years ago) struck me – Job 2:10b ‘Shall we indeed accept good from God, and shall we not accept adversity.’ Before I can finish reading the next chapter, my name was called and I embarrassingly tried to keep my Bible before entering the room.

What the cornea specialist said struck me… ‘I don’t know what was your condition a week ago, but what I can see now is that there are a lot of tiny spots on your cornea, not large enough to be scraped off but they look like they are healing. ‘ Is that You God? I was given another 3 days mc plus Good Friday to rest my eyes and an appointment 2 weeks later for follow-up.

I went home with greater discomfort because of all the probing into my left eye. That night I certainly did not sleep well. The next morning, I woke up and looked into the mirror. To my amazement, I saw an almost good lucid left eye with small traces of pink staring back at me. My left eye had seemingly healed overnight! Thank God!

While I might have credited it to God’s healing, some of you would say it is the work of the medicine. After all, God gave wisdom to doctors to perform acts of healing. Thank God nevertheless!

Thank you people who have prayed for me over the last few days as well as those of you who have been very concerned and comforted me in one way or another.

Job 2:10b ‘Shall we indeed accept good from God, and shall we not accept adversity.’

6n visit

RCLF - random pics

Release of 2007 GCE A level Results

While it is easy for me to rejoice with those who did well, my heart goes out to those who didn't. Just like the lyrics of Kanye West's 'Stronger' - now that don't kill me can only make me stronger, take time to reflect or mourn but promise yourself to bounce back and plan for your next move.

Overall I'm proud of your results. Well done 6A, 6N and 6R!

RCLF closing ceremony video