Friday, February 22, 2008
KEITH BACK FROM MISSION TRIP AND THROWN STRAIGHT INTO JC!!!!!!
its been so crazy and hectic i have no time to do anything else.
last day of mission trip. freaking tired. boarded plane at 2.30 singapore time (12am indian time) and took 4hour 30 min plane ride back.
touched down at 7am.
cabbed to cj for first day of orientation.
IS THAT CRAZY OR WHAT. i was lacking about 16 hours of sleep or more in total from the whole 10 day trip man. and then no break...
but i was expecting it already... i think i handled it pretty well!! prayed about it and my mindset changed that morning immediately. it was like "ok, no more india, its your new school, your new life now." and i'm still fit to go for worship prac tomorrow morning and then fusion after that. Hopefully the vp wont screw me for missing out on orientation's finale night...
oh well my group was just getting to know each other better.. most of them seemed unfriendly at first... then after that everyone seemed very friendly... all at the same time. i doubt i'll see them much though... i'm taking arts now.
life sucks.
but with God its good.
life isnt about victory,
victory is achieved at the end.
and everything before that is a race. run it, dont stop.
wise words from christabel and da ye.. ahha my trackers dudes.
i look at my choices. AC, CJ, POLY. all 3 routes spell trouble for me. trouble, emoness, sadness, loneliness. its a common destiny so long as you are studying. life only rocks when there isnt school..
at first i wanted poly so much. and then i wanted jc so much. and then i wanted AC so much. til i asked myself what is it in AC that i want?
friends? when i had all of them in fairfield and yet life was still horrible???
ENVIRONMENT? when i'm so aware of the inferior complex i'm prone to? when there's always the BABE AND HUNK complex going on in ac?
GOD? when obviously i know God's always with me wherever i go, its not up to the school to determine how much of God i should have...
of course, it had to be the girl. and then if its for a girl its really not the right reason.
somehow, i feel refreshed and comfortable in cj... its like every morning, i take 151/154 to neverneverland. its only 30mins away. i go down a super long road... get to see girls from ny i think. short sleeved girls. then hc nerdy guys (not everyone's nerdy of course). and maybe some nj dudes.
and then a whole lot of ulu-ness. lotsa trees on both sides.
and then POOF cj!! the school in neverneverland! and after school i come back home from the neverneverland... hahaha.
30mins just nice to do qt in the morning... its pretty refreshing sometimes...
honestly, i should be happy i'm not starting off on a bad note in cj.. everyone's pretty ok. at least catholic values are somewhat close to christian's...
the people... well the j2 guys are still vulgar/explicit/ naughty but i suppose its the same in every school? tetesterone filled dudes. so long as i'm ok i think thats ok... Ac is sure to have more. so i am happy to announce that i can... willingly lay down everything thats in ac. almost... except.. the girl. but if its impossible, i pray it'll be fine with me...
ever since the first girl i seriously liked, i told myself the next girl i'm gonna seriously like has to totally blow me away and must be a really really special person. and i think i found her. but then now, i learned its not up to me to decide, but really who God picks...
so everyday i go about denying myself, my earthly desires, and everything... but when it comes to the girl. its super difficult... i gotta like.. think with a Godly mind, not with my human mind.
its really not easy to understand, i know i know. but its my blog..
looking at which school i am in now, which church am i in and all the other things.. i think my chances are really low... i might as well just give it a "no" for now, and move on. hopefully, if its ever possible, i may be able to find another girl more special then very special...
ok, for the india trip!! i have no pics at the moment! (i'm sure it sux looking at pics on my blog anyway)
but the church "rays of peace" in chelinkerac (spl error), bangalore is really THE CHURCH.
every week, miracles happen.
every week, u can be sure there are converts.
and i'm so honoured to be able to serve there as a sharer of the faith and in worship as well... Pastor Mark and his team of indian guys are really the best..
its crazy how he actually formed his church... it was almost like a fairy tale.
can u imagine God calling you to leave singapore, and go to... ahbudhabi. in the... south west region. the first village nearest to the sea. (i just mean God calling u to somewhere very specific)
and its just so totally random the way the village name pops up in front of ur face.
you have no money, a just-married-to wife, and your family,church and friends are all unwilling to support you.
the Pastor actually left his hometown and journeyed by pure child-like faith to this village chelinkerac. he had only 2 sing dollars worth of indian currency. he faced trials, rejection, opposition. and the worst of the lot, physical persecution.
thats right, he had been stoned, kidnapped, and everything... for the sake of God's work in that village. he didnt share it with us at first, because he though it would scare us... but it really opend me up to hear it from the person himself..
God provided him a house, and money to start of his ministry just like that. the whole village was hindu, and he was the only christian living in the village...
today, 20+ years down the road, there's the church, 2 other branch churches in bangalore and hindu converts worshiping God with all their hearts... i witnessed it and saw for myself how the spirit flows ever so freely in their lives, in their worship and in their prayers...
heard how the church was totally God given, the building and equipment.
saw for myself how demons were driven away by the church. and cried after that...
heard how loud the church sang when we were leading worship and halfway, all the power went off. my guitar was unplugged and yet the church worshipped even louder, to give the team and i even more support. Is God ruling in other countries more powerfully then ours?? is it because we have so much of the world that we dont need God that much? and these poor people have nothing but God???
if thats the case, why not let us all give everything to them, and be as lowly as them so as to achieve the richness of God?
but no, i'm not ready for that... nor am i called to that yet. i have to honour God with whatever i have now... i have a higher expectation of my service to God now. i'm driven to honour him more than i have last year.
just wanna thank my sponsers from Agape and Aldersgate, as well as a few relatives... u made my trip possible, and i will definitely share what happened with u all in detail once i settle down properly in jc! (i did my journal daily in india, so i should be able to recall everything accurately) thanks sheow en, for coming down to send me off at 6 in the morning and to give me a last min 100 buck angpow... even though its been 2 years since we were in BB together. be assured i have learned much, and my faith has been built in those 10 days:)
with the mission trip ending, trackers is going to end too... i will definitely miss all of them... though somehow for this few days i havent been. maybe God is helping me to be less emo? and to just focus on settling down in jc first? i thank him for giving me just a slight cough.. it could have been much worse because of wet games and all...
if anyone wants a slight story of my india trip, do let me know so i can share with u, and build ur faith like how it has built mine! its really a once in a lifetime experience and realisation that God is so real, so dramatic, and drastic... it makes believing in fire coming down from heaven onto the alter, the parting of the red sea and the story of jonah very non-fiction. i mean i believe, but its just totally different when u witness it for yourself... because our God is a creative, awesome, and wondrous God... he does things in ways we cannot see or imagine. and we have to believe it in a faith that is real, not just blind.
havent blogged about the stress building up in ministry... i think this is more than enough for a month... another time!!
to may: thanks for your support and encouragements... though its rare a bb madam would sms an ex bb boy, but really thank you so much:) hope u love ur frog.
Posted by keithc at 8:39 AM
