chronicles of young

The reddish tint - or blood moon - happens due to "the effect of all the sunrises and sunsets all around the planet reflecting off the moon, which I think is really lovely," said NASA astrophysicist Michelle Thaller. - From CNA   Well, I think so too. Read this explanation a few times, and it just sounded so beautiful but inconceivable at the same time.    Moment of being caught in wonder.    

The best kind of holiday is the one that allows you to reflect and be refreshed, and that was exactly what the Jogja trip did for me. Significantly, I think I had the conclusion to the prayer requests I asked of my colleagues for a few months at morning devotions (I admit I hadn't been very faithful in praying by myself- value of community experienced). The main tension/question experienced in the transition from student to professional was: Am I doing enough for the kingdom of God? Well I do think it's fallacious to say that this will be the tension one faces in transiting to work because this tension is supposed to stay throughout our lives as we seek greater love. Two threads of thoughts (trying to be more organised here) culminated from thinking during the long car rides and that 3 hours alone together with my 2 dear INFJ friends: God demands much of us, mortal man made in His very image. To be like Christ is an uncompromising perfect standard, yet fitting for a...

It's a wonder I haven't written anything about wonder before this. Peebo reminded me again about how wonderful and wonder-full small things can be: Okay he's not exactly small but you get my point (right?). I scribbled down yesterday as I was struck again by that wonder after I had a long session with a youth: It's a wonder that I am allowed to touch lives and impact them like this. It's a wonder that these youths who have been through so much allow me to enter their personal world as they share.   What bravery and trust it must have taken. Who am I to ask all these probing questions? Such is the wonder at, and the wonder of social work that I think should be kept alive. It'll be a scary day when I look at social work and take it for granted. To take these stories for granted, to take such privileged access for granted.  We also do well to wonder at the everyday beauty around us- lady helping senior with her grocery up the slope, the tender care ...

He asked me, "Son of man, can these bones live?" I said, "O Sovereign LORD, you alone know." Ezekiel 37:3   Read-typing these verses with Broken Vessels playing in the background. How apt.  It is strange how I didn't feel that momentous passing of time until now, December and 31st, the last day of 2017. (Thank God for the marking of time)  Amazing grace, how sweet the sound, that saved a wretch like me! In the days leading up to Christmas, I was literally dreading having to get out of the house and face people. Looking back at my planner, it is a blank and I can't remember much of those days either. Just that weariness and slight despair. Ah, I know why. Emotional week it was, with 3 deaths of people I know/relatives of people I know. And with stuff happening at work. And so many things to settle for camp and things I have to go for. Including camp, which was these daunting 5 days in which I have to be strong, to be loving, to be more t...

I'm really quite zapped after having a super intense conversation which happened after a long day of team bonding. But writing these down to process my emotions and thoughts (one advice on how to use my top strength which is Intellection) I am not a team person. I am self-centered and if I were not a Christian I would be one major asshole. Yet today as Psalm 46 was read for devotions, I choked when it came to me to read verse 3. Angry, indignant of how I perceived the Psalm was used like that to apply to the pending upheaval and to smoothen things in the team. And then broken also. Broken because P. rightly, very edifyingly pointed out that everyone in the team has mostly good intentions. Broken because of my own resistance as I closed off and retreated into my self-centered state.  Also because v4 is something I hold close to me (that's personal): "Ada sebatang sungai yang alirannya akan menggembirakan kota Allah, tempat suci khemah Yang Maha Tinggi." A rive...

LSP is peeking out behind night sky Christmas is 23 days away! Strangely quite excited. Not because I have anything planned on Christmas day, but now that I think about it, the entire season and its feels.  Don't we all have moments where everything feels in sync, where you feel so congruent with where you are and what you are doing there and then? I had many such moments during the 2015 Christmas month-  Choruses of Gloria in excelsis Deo in what feels like perfect harmony as we stood under the highway named euphemistically "Downtown" Dancing in Nepalese traditional clothes at Temple Street Hikes with friends And in 2016 too; though it was a more subdued mood and I wasn't thinking about Christmas at all-  Like the day when I cried when listening/singing "Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing" and yearning for shalom The mornings and nights at Anntic  December this year is gonna be busy and tiring I expect...

Random thought bubbles in my head:  Through Kairos I realised that diversity in unity really excites me. I love how God's mission is for all ethnos, to bring out the beauty of each culture as they turn to worship Him. Drawing from the last session of Kairos, to illustrate my future in light of the Kairos experience: Hmm but at the same time I feel like I have romanticised diversity- thinking about how it was hard for me to really recognise and affirm the different strengths of people I am working with. It was really great to interact with people who are not Chinese, not Christian for this week (i.e. different from me). It's refreshing in a way to hear different views about things, to be challenged in my views, and observe a different way of seeing things from the other person's shoes. Below is the drawing of my favorite place, done when we did group Interactive Drawing Therapy. Does that mean I can be comfortable anywhere as long I can have a nice bubble and ...