God Answers to my previous post!

God actually answered my previous post within 24 hrs!

Just had 2 fruitful meetings today! A nice time catching up with my mentoree max, and guiding him in setting goals for the year! (Got to actually apply the conversational coaching skill which i learn at the recent pre-ctc course few weeks ago)

And then next up was my appointment with Pastor Alvin just awhile ago... and i believe God really set up that divine meeting! As after meeting up with various people over recent mths seeking advice on what i sld do next after I ORD, i didn't really had a firm idea of where to exactly, except those 2 options which i narrowed down....

And then...today the light and path just opened up! It is a door which i have not really looked into for awhile after being so fixated on walking solely into just sports ministry in church, and than pastor Alvin brought up a particular job opening which was just there so nicely for me to step into next! And I didn't know what blocked me into seeing this door initially...And as the conversation went on... my heart was just saying. "Go and step into that OPEN DOOR, as the passions and desires that has been in my heart all this while is something God has place into me all this while!" And this role in church wld allow me to marry both my current greatest passion in serving the youths in church and still do sports ministry as a secondary role! In my heart, I was so excited to say YES to GOD and walk into that open door! And i believe that wld actually be an area which I can fully serve God with my gifts and talents that he has given me! =D

SOOOOO EXCITEDDDD!!!!

Alrighty... gonna pack my bags now...for my new life in SAFTI from tmr onwards for the next 5 weeks also as i start of my Company Tactics Course! =)

Where sld i go next?

One of the biggest questions that has really been on my mind for quite a while is what i would do after i ORD on 12 May 2011...

I have 2 options... to extend a 6mths contract in the SAF and be an OCS instructor? or the second option is to work full time into sports ministry in church...

I have been praying and seeking different opinions from many people in church, in sports ministry and fellow officers in the army. And right till now i don't really have a firm idea of which path i would take next...

1) The temptation of continuing in a force as a short term full lieutenant regular, as a diploma grad wld actually get me abt $2500 a mth! which is quite a hefty sum compared to other jobs one cld take as a fresh grad! And the pragmatic side of me would see it as possibly saving up before i go into full time ministry in the future.

2) The other part of me is to just go right into my passion which God has place in my heart, which is to really dedicate the next 2 yrs of my life full time into sports ministry before i go into a bible college. And even though one won't really earn much, a former coach of mine have actually encouraged me to go right into it and to trust that God really can provide for my needs, and i don't have to worry abt money which is what mainly me consider the former.

Dear Lord, Where do you want to sent me next? I believe i'm ready to step into the area you want me to go! =)

2010 REFLECTIONS... & 2011 NEW YEAR RESOLUTIONS!

Reflections of 2010

2010, certainly has been a really happening year...going on 2 overseas training exercises and Commissioning as an Officer in the SAF on 19 June 2010. And starting my new NSF tour as a platoon commander in a unit. Besides that, got to complete an 21km Army Half Marathon in September followed by one of my life time to do list, which was completing a FULL MARATHON, and i actually did it in 5 December 2010, completing the Singapore Standard Chartered 42.125km marathon in 5 hrs and 1 min with hardly any training. At the end of the day, i wld say 2010, sure has been an exciting year! Definitely seeing how God move in my time in army as well as in my sec 2 grp.

My NEW YEAR RESOLUTIONS of 2010!!!

1. To grow CLOSER and MORE DEEPER and SPIRITUALLY with the Lord! (Well i believe so)
2. To go into FAITH adventures with the Lord where i have never been before! (Well i believe so)
3.To reach out to at least 15 friends! (Yes! A lot of opportunities came by this year in the army)
4. To COMMISSION as a SIGNAL OFFICER!!!! (YESSSSSSS!)
5. To lead my sec 2 grp (G.E.L) to be closer to the Lord!.. (YESSSSSSS!)
6. To see the Tchoukball ministry in Wesley Ym grow! (YESSSSSSS!)
7. To see my small grp God's Clay and Crosstrainers mature more in Christ! (YESSSSSSS!)
8. To continue to live each day with the JOY OF THE LORD! =) (YESSSSSSS!)

Well I guess most of my new year resolutions in 2010 has somewhat been met! Especially doing a full marathon which i never imagine doing it this year initially.

Here comes my New Year Resolutions for 2011...

1. To grow CLOSER and MORE DEEPER and SPIRITUALLY with the Lord
2. To go into FAITH adventures with the Lord where i have never been before!
3. To reach out to at least 15 friends!
4. To get a Driving License!
5. At least get a B grade for my Company Tactics Course (CTC)
6. To spend more time with my sec 3 grp (G.E.L) , and to bring them closer to the Lord & plan a small grp retreat for them!
7. To take my first step into full time ministry in church!
8. To see the Tchoukball ministry in Wesley Ym grow!
9. To see my small grp God's Clay growing closer together & deeper through the Word.
10. To continue to live each day with the JOY OF THE LORD! =)

My goal of the year 2011 would be...
" I want to live my life WORTHILY of my Calling for Christ!"

NEW YEAR EVE 2010 & 2011

Started my New's Year's Eve by catching up with some old friends from my IAD course at East Coast ASTON's, It sure been ages since i last saw some of them! Like nearly 2 years?

God's Clay New Year Eve Dinner

(As usual like every year, we had our God's Clay New year eve dinner gathering! This time it was a little smaller grp, but it was nice and cosy as we had a nice fellowship at moonie's place)

WATCH NIGHT SERVICE

(Had a nice service and reflection on the sermon on living our life Worthily to our Calling!)

THE NEW YEAR 2011

Join Google God small grp, as we bought back alot of pratas, Famous Bak Chor Mee and Carrot Cake from Thomson, before we head to Keith's hse to chill and played some halo & bridge through the night till abt 5 plus am!



(Matt Woo new puppy!)

What a nice new year eve & first few hrs of new year eating good food & fellowship! =)

Going back to camp in few hrs time for manning duty of this new year weekend!

December holidays!!!

It sure been an eventful Christmas holidaysss!

(MINI TRP Crusade gathering at WRPF Christmas play, Captivated by Love)

(Made Killer brownies for our small grp with vyan and charles)

Monday- 1 DAY SMALL GRP RETREAT

(lunch at this lunhc time 50% discount La Nona restaurant!)


Wedsnesday- TEAM MANASSEH OUTING!

(BOWLING!)

Movie at CATHAY! Gulliver's Traveler!...


(Hangout at Ben & Jerry!)

Thurs

Morning...

(10 km run around almost the entire singapore river with Janine & sean, the scenic marina bay sands skyline)

Afternoon...Crosstrainer Sec 1-3 Camp comm meeting


(So proud of my mentoree max who is more than ready to lead this new bunch of crosstrainers!)

Evening...

Sports & Wellness Meeting at the Kunalan's hse, once Fastest man & women hse in Singapore!

ROCK CLIMBING ADVENTURES

The tiring yet pretty fun rock climbing adventure at SAFRA Yishun!
(Good thing we had some rock climbing pros nearby to help us in the tiring of knots!)


(We all finally manage to reach the top of this 5- 6 Storey high Safra rock wall!)

A new perspective to Coaching & Facilitation

Over the past week I attended this Pre-Company Tactics Course (CTC), on coaching & facilitation from 15-21 Dec. It was a 5 days course, where we were exposed to skills on conversation coaching and facilitation. What made this whole course so insightful and memorable was the really experience facilitators that conducted the course. The course was experiential, enjoyable and very practical, experiencing first hand coaching our self, doing the various activities that helped us internalised the skills in coaching.

We were split between the NSF & Regular group and was the only Signal NSF there. As the course went by, we were allowed to very vulnerable with one another as we had many opportunities to just share our lives with one another. At the end of this week course, the friends we made here, just gave me an extra motivation as we reunited with one another again as the actual CTC begins come Jan 2011.

Reflections:
One of the biggest take away I got from this course was that "Coaching is NOT telling, its how the coach ask leading questions to the coachee so that he will begin to find the answer within himself and take ownership of it."

John Whitmore define coaching as "unlocking a person's potential to maximize their own performance, it is helping them to learn rather than teaching them"

THE G.R.O.W MODEL (Adapted from john Whitmore book Coaching for performance):

It's about going through this 4 steps in a G.R.O.W chronologically with your coachee/mentoree...

THE GROW MODEL:
GOAL
-Positively stated
-Evidence
-Context
-How Controllable (Scale from 1-10)
-Worthiness (purpose, benefits)

REALITY
-Past Success (what worked?)
-Past Set Backs(What didn't work?)
-sources for support
- obstacles/challegnes
-Our strengths & Weakness
-Self Acknowledge

OPTIONS
-Magic Wand
-Aternativees
-Support
-Resources
-Pros & Cons
-Suggest Carfeully (Permission)

"E.g. If you were_____ what wld you do?"

WAY FORWARD/ WHAT'S NEXT'S?
-Taking the next step forward
- One commitment that you want to take back
-Actions, By When
-Possible obstacles faced
-Support request
-Coachee to Sum up

(The 2 certificates i got at the end of this 5 day course!)

Crosstrainer Retreat & WESLEY YM CAMP 2010

December has past in a flash... with 2 key events of the year just over... with the recent crosstrainer retreat happening in early December where we have formally handed over to the new crosstrainer heads Glenn and Max and a whole new young XT comm.... And after serving in Crosstrainers for over 4 years, God has placed circumstances and opportunities which led me to move fully into the Ymove comm currently along with the sports & wellness comm under the main church.

(The new XT heads Glenn and Max leading the 2011 Crosstrainer Planner!)

WESLEY YM CAMP 2010 @ PGP 16-19 DECEMBER
This year came into ym camp back as a"HAPPY CAMPER" after going for 5 ym camps since 2005. This year i cldnt serve much as a GL or Mentor, or XT due to me going in and out of camp the first 2 days due to my pre-ctc course which I needed to attend. However, i know God place me with a particular grp of youths in TEAM MANASSEH for a purpose to enjoy the whole camp experience with as well as to minister too... sadly with Janice(GL) falling sick early in the camp and needed to go home to rest, and with bobby(Mentor) needed to spend most of the time in worship practice,which only left Liwei (AGL). So in the end i believed God has still intended me to serve in this area, by just helping them lead the grp.


TEAM MANASSEH!!!

This whole paragraph will be all out to you guys in manasseh! I really believed God has specifically place me to this grp to really share my life with! I really treasure the camp experience that we all go through together, going thru all the dirty messy games, playing all those Chinese games which i never imagine ever even learning to play "MAO ZHUA LAO SHU", "QI WA something something diao sui" , going thru all the sharings and devotions together,listening to God's Word thru the sermons preached, and just worshiping our Lord together will be memories which I will remember for a looooong time.

As shared to the grp on the final night, i really hope from the bottom of my heart, that we will all continue to pursue the Holiness that God has called each and everyone of us to be. To be THAT KING IN THE MAKING. And i really hope that we will really keep that daily Surrender to our Lord and keep our commitments at Camp! Will strongly urge each of you all to continue to do your daily quiet time with the Lord, those post devotional materials are a good follow up, so pleaseee do them! And remember when camps all over, and when you get back to daily life, the challenge comes when we are away from likeminded Christians, So how do we keep the Faith going? And that's by really keeping the spiritual discipline of reading His Word each day and spending time with Him. And all i ask, is for each of you reading this to start small. Just 5mins a day first...and slowly but surely increase the time.... Remember this "We Walk By Faith, Not By Sight. 2 Corinthians 5:7 "

The Vision from God
Anyways the other thing that i really want to share was a vision which God impressed on my heart during the 2nd night rally worship time. It all started when yangshen approach me to pray for him after the pre-service prayer as he will be leading the worship session during ministry time. And I rmb as i prayed for him during worship, God showed me a picture of him, leading worship on stage with the rest of the phileos team and the youths kneeling down in a posture of Surrender to our Lord. I just took that impression by Faith and text yangshen after the worship session before the sermon that he not need to worry as I sense strongly that God will be leading him when he leads worship during the ministry time later, and all he needed was to let God do His work.

And then... after the sermon Pastor Terrence ask the youths to response to God by kneeling in a form of Surrender to God. And when i stood up to the side.. i saw the almost exact same vision i saw happening in reality! I was just standing in amazement at the side of what God was doing... And as i stood up,I was strongly led to pray specifically for couple of my youths kesley and robin... where i found out later from kes that he actually prayed for me to go to him. And i believe it's really was the Holy Spirit that prompted me to the both of them in the midst of the 300 over youths there.

(This picture was similar to what was impressed on my heart, with Yangshen at the centre of the stage leading the worship in the ministry time and the youths actually kneeling down in surrender before our Lord... still looking for a clearer picture which shows the full image i saw)

An Exciting Treasure Hunt

I woke up on a Sunday morning in camp today (where normally i wld be in church), I went ahead to do my usual routine on a weekend morning in camp, by boiling 2 eggs in my mess tin, and waited for it to boil. I open up my daily devotion and spend a nice 30 mins or so doing a personal quiet time with God. And today's message seemingly reminded me of an exciting treasure hunt we go through each day we open His Word...

I remembered once, God taught my how we sld open our bibles with ANTICIPATION, imagine if you know God is going to speaking to you, you will definitely be on ALL HEARS and be ATTENTIVE to it! And is so like when we open the bible, HIS WORD, as we know that what you are about to read is DIRECTLY WORDS from GOD to us... and today it sure was...

Below is an extract from my daily devotion- Selwyn Hughes 12 December 2010

"My goal is that they may be encouraged in heart and united in love, so that they may have the full riches of complete understanding, in order that they may know the mystery of God, namely, Christ, in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. I tell you this so that no one may deceive you by fine-sounding arguments. For though I am absent from you in body, I am present with you in spirit and delight to see how disciplined you are and how firm your faith in Christ is. Colossians 2:2-5"

There is enough truth in these glowing words to feed our minds and hearts for a whole year. The point Paul has been making is that no essential truths are withheld from anyone who belongs to Christ.

"All the treasures of wisdom and knowledge" are hidden in Him. But it is hidden truth. Our Lord conceals as well as reveals. You know and you don't know. But what you don't see spurs you on to continuous discovery.

This perpetual discovery has become the most thrilling thing in my life. Every day I feel there is some new surprise to be found up ahead. Christians who go from week to week without ever opening up their Bibles and focusing on some aspect of God's message to them must live dull lives. I fail to understand how they can exist without delving into the treasures of wisdom and knowledge that are found in Christ and revealed to us in the Scriptures.

"This unfolding revelation of Christ," says one writer, "puts a surprise around every corner, makes life pop with novelty and discovery, makes life well worth the living." The Christian life is dynamic, not static. The more you know the more you don't know, and what you know sets you on fire to know more. The more we know of Christ the more we want to know, and this discovery will go on forever. We will never go beyond Him. Never.

My 42.195 km Marathon journey!

5 December 2010

NACLI
Woke up at 3.10 am in my room in NACLI! (in the middle of the last night of the sub-ministry retreat) Just timely, as I woke up Kheng and Hans just entered my room. With Kheng kindly helped me with a some tapping on my sprain left ankle and led me to some full leg stretching.

Abt 4am...head of the the common area seeing some of the youths still hanging out late in the wee hrs of the morning. Before I met up with steph as we drove off to orchard road...

ION ORCHARD
Met up with Chuen kiat at the entrance of ION orchard. He has been my running buddy since SOCC days, also for AHM and now this stand charted run!

Anyways, we did some stretching before the run, as we head of to the starting line from the back of the sub-6 area.

4.50am
The starting line outside ION Orchard! As everyone prepares mentally for the long 42.195 km marathon!

For the first few km i was telling chuen kiat not to go to fast as i didn't want to aggravate my left sprain ankle, where previously I felt this extreme pain when I did my own tapping on my preparation runs 2 weeks before this marathon. But in the end, I really THANK GOD for everyone who prayed for my left ankle, as MIRACULOUSLY it did not ache up at all through out the run! This is really the power of prayers as normally any old pains will ache up especially in such a long marathon!

We started of with a pretty decently good pace as we hit our targeted time by the 10km mark of 1 hr 10mins...

10km- 1 hr 10 mins

By the 17km mark, chuen kiat decided to run ahead instead of running at my pace. As I really wanted to conserve all the energy I cld as I strategies of having a short walk at every 100 plus or banana break.





21km- 2 Hrs 26 Mins
















At this stage I was thinking that it's as though i've completed an Army half marathon and now need to do another 2 X of this half marathon!! (Bad thought!) 

By the 30 Km mark the extreme fatigue sets in! And you can sense your legs aching up and you get so tempted to just walk!.. by this time... i took a longer walk at my usual favourite 100plus break... and sprayed my legs with the salon pas spray!


32.5km- 3 Hr 30mins




36km- A special MOMENT that hit me!

Around the 36 km mark towards to marina barrage i had this 1 second vision of a scene in Hebrews 12:1-2 hit me.... ¹ Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, ² fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith...

When I entered the underground sheltered area of the barraged, and there were people cheering you on inside. It suddenly felt like the great cloud of witnesses cheering us from heaven! As we ran the race for God! And in a moment, i just felt so touch by God that i almost felt like crying just thinking about that... in that instant i suddenly felt so much more motivated as I thought of the many more life lessons in this marathon...

38Km- THE TORTUROUS last 4km!

Around the 38 km mark towards uphill of the sheares bridge... I encountered the worst EXTREME cramping's of my life! I could feel from ankle up to my thighs this super super tightness when I move my legs in a certain direction. I was suddenly spamming my salon pas spray until it was totally empty and rubbing it like some "gundu" trying to shake of the cramps. I knew if I stop to walk the cramps wld just collapse fully on my leg and i might never ever complete the rest of the run...














The last 2 km more to go!... this was where I grabbed the counter-pain creams from the volunteers from the side when I finished my own bottle of spray and spammed it on my legs for the last part! As i so wanted to complete it and i had like 20mins more to complete the last 2km to get a sub-5 which was my personal target.


In the end, on the running chip it clocked 5:01:52 Hrs. My cramps was so bad that i had to limp back the last 100 m to the finishing line
The race result 2257 out of abt 19000 runners and 1540 position for the Singapore ranking...



The emotion on my face was literally showing the insane cramping pain I felt in the last 4km! It was so bad, I literally limped to the finishing line for the last 100m. And from the looks of the photos, it seems im the only one who was not smiling in this photo finish.









The Full marathon finisher shirt was worth the torture! But I doubt I wld run another 42.195km run again unless I feel a good purpose for it! 

My conclusions of this marathon, felt the strain on my knees once I reached the 30km plus mark and i won't want to experience such extreme cramps again. And when your legs starts aching together with the sun scorching over you adding on with the demoralising construction site area after the 30 km mark... it dampened my mood for awhile.

Besides the torturous part of the marathon , looking back 2010, I would never have thought I would actually signed up for this Full marathon. This crazy thought came in the midst of walking in full battle order for 72km in taiwan in march, and thinking to myself if I cld do this now, won't a 42km run in just a singlet and shorts be so much easier, and only just 5hrs of torture. And just timely with the 21km AHM in Sep, and the peer pressure from my friends to sign up for this race during my joint term in ocs, I just thought! Let's do it! :)

Well at least i can say, "my childhood dream of completing a full 42.195km run in my life is fulfilled!"

Preparation for the Long Weekend!

Today had one of the best breaks I had at home in a long while, just doing all the things i needed to get done before i leave for my the sub-ministry retreat this weekend at NACLI followed by my first ever 42.125km Marathon!!!
-Finish the 4000 words Pre-CTC essays!
-Finish preparation for my sharing at the Crosstrainer retreat
-Manage to settle the necessary budgeting for the Tchoukball ministry/ Crossroad tournament!
-Manage to prepare the bible study session with my Sec 2 grp on sunday!
-And most of all got a well deserve rest for my ankle, which i'm still nursing to recover by sunday! Pls pray for my ankle to heal! =)

Preparation for the big race!!!! And my race bib with the verse that i wrote for the back of my tee!

MAH BOW TAN CUP 3RD PLACE!

11-12 Nov and 19 Nov, we had our annual Mah bow Tan Tchoukball competition, held at Tampines East CC. This was the second year since i first join my first ever tchoukball tournament also in this tournament one year ago where we got the runner up place.

This year we sent a couple of teams Represented by THE CROSSRUNNERS 1 & 2...as we coincidently met in the 3/4 placing, and CROSSRUNNER 2 where i was playing end up with 3rd place after a close intense match up!

My God Reigns

I experience God's presence at GAP today! Thanks Matt for leading this song! Was really ministered by it... and its amazing to just keep dwelling in God's presence when you know God is there when you pray!

My God Reigns
- Matt Hooper & Jock James

I have a hope so sure
An anchor for my soul
My peace in the worst of times
I trust in God alone

Let every voice declare it now

My God reigns
His love will never fail me
My God reigns – He’s ruling over all
In all my Life
In every situation I know
My God is greater
My God is over all

By faith I have believed
And on this truth I stand
No power in life or death
Can take me from His hand

Above all sickness, above all fear
Above every heartache here
In earth and heav’n – My God reigns!
Above all power, above all thrones
The greatest love I’ve ever known
Today, forever, my God reigns!

MY NSF JOURNEY

Below is a sharing of a bit of the experience of my NS Journey thus far after my S1 ask a few of us from our company to write up our experience on our journey as an NSF for some army internet portal. As i wrote this write up, I actually thought back what an enjoyable, memorable NSF journey thus far, which is making me consider even more if i should extend a short term contract in the SAF before I continue my Full time calling into seminary in the future...

I still remember the day where I was just a fresh graduated from Temasek Design School, who aspire to serve full time in a church after he finish his 1 Year 10 months of national Service and was full of zeal to experience the whole army life.

I was enlisted in the national service on 13 July 2009, where I was posted to BMTC School 2, Leopard Company Platoon 2. And that was where my whole journey started.

Looking back in my Basic Military Training (BMT), it sure was one of the key moments where I grew a lot from a fresh recruit to become a private after 9 weeks. I met great friends which I still keep in contact today. We all came from different backgrounds; with different values and experiences in life, but one thing that unite us was the common purpose of serving the nation in this period of our life.

After BMT, I was posted to the Officer’s Cadet School (OCS), as the 77/09 batch where I was posted to Tango Wing. The environment and regimentation here was of a much higher standard, where there were a lot of moments in my first 3 weeks confinement which I just felt like giving up.

My OCS buddies in my first term.

Service term past after 3 mths and soon I was in my Professional Term where I was posted in the Signal Officer Cadet Course (SOCC) where we were trained to be Signals officers. We went through all kinds of mental and physical challenges over our journey, even having the chance to go for 2 overseas trip. In the end, I ended my course well and was given the Sword of Merit, which was something I never ever expected to get initially when I first step into OCS. Everyone here was great leaders in their various ways, but I personally believed the value of The Spirit of Excellence which I kept to since I step into BMT was where it got me today.

After 9 month, on 19 June 2010, we were commissioned by the President and became Officers of the SAF. Going through the grueling 9 months in OCS certainly has taught me a lot and molded my leadership and character as a person.

Commissioning Parade!

Right now as a junior officer, I’m currently posted as a platoon commander of signal specialist and men. Unit life sure is very different compared to the training school environment which I was use to in my first year as an NSF. As an officer one really has a lot more responsibility. One needs to take more initiative giving instructions, overseeing the operations, and looking after the welfare of your men. And like what it’s said in our Officer’s Creed, we are answerable to our men training, moral and discipline. At the end of the day, it is so different compared to a trainee life where most of the time we are just taking orders, right now its real people and operations that we are dealing with.

I cannot mention much about the operations that we do as a lot of it is classified, but I can say I’m really the fortunate few who get to experience real urban operations and go to places where one would never ever imagine being involved in as ac civilian. Aside from operations, as an officer you really get to work with all kind of people too from your various bosses, fellow platoon commanders, the specialist under you and the men which you train during their Unit Induction Programme (UIP).

Besides all the tough trainings and administrative things one need to do, there’s always the fun times as well when we are on standby during weekends in camp. We get to play games with our men, cooked food or just watch movies.

At the end of the day, the journey has certainly been fulfilling as a platoon commander. Besides operations and trainings, I believe the influence one has to his men as a platoon commander is so much more intrinsic than getting awards or bonuses. And the experience you get here in this time serving the nation full time is what I believe we will remember for life, so do treasure your time if your still serving the nation in this period of your life. What ever vocation or appointment we hold, I believe we will look back and still remember the experiences that we get in our 2 years in national service.

The divine opportunity which God provided me to seize!

I didn't really plan this but this 3rd entry seems like a continuation of my previous 2 posts

My initial post was as Sharing about "Seizing your divine moment"... followed by "Don't miss that opportunity" from a devotional that i read...And now recently i feel inspired to share something which happened to me last weekend...

¹⁵But in your hearts set apart Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect,1 Peter 3:15

The day started in my bunk on a saturday morning in camp, when i got a call that i needed to stand in as a duty officer for the camp as the previous CDO did not turn up and i was the last resort replacement...at the start i was thinking whats the odds of this happening as i was supposedly already manning in camp... but i just decided to continue and do it...and as the day past... i started to recall that maybe God has a purpose and plan for me being on duty that very day...I was praying in the office, for an opportunity that i can just seize...

...and slowly the afternooon past... and by night a second duty clerk came to change shift... when he came into the office we just started some small chat and i somehow that small chat started to become a pretty deep discussion abt the Faith that i believed in and even had some new insights of certain End times topics which i wld share later through our discussion.

It all started with the usual questions of what i plan to do after I ORD?...and it was where it led me to share my testimony of how i became so devoted to Christ which led me one day choosing to go to a bible college after i ORD...he then started asking a lot of questions ...which led to me to share a whole bunch of topics...like abt spiritual gifts,why there is a Creator,questions abt a Greater Being that sets the laws and morals of the world and also abt Faith...

I can tell this guy that i just met was an intellectual guy who wld probably succeed in the world we live in. Someone who have a drive to succeed in this secular world, who aims to earn a lot of money in the future. I guess there was a curiosity in him which led him to ask a lot of questions pertaining to Christianity... one of it was abt what he heard abt the End times...

So I just shared some of my 2 cents thoughts to it, one of it was relating to a speculation of barcodes and 666 which i once heard abt of...where it states that the mark of the beast wld have the number 666, and that in all barcodes they have that number too. And that was predicted in Revelations too, that one day people would have such mark implanted in their right hands and foreheads, and one need such a mark to buy or sell things.

"16 It also forced all people, great and small, rich and poor, free and slave, to receive a mark on their right hands or on their foreheads, 17 so that they could not buy or sell unless they had the mark, which is the name of the beast or the number of its name.18 This calls for wisdom. Let the person who has insight calculate the number of the beast, for it is the number of a man.[e] That number is 666." Revelation 13:16-18

The scary things about this is...such implantation are already happening in the world, and now its almost going into this cashless society where everything is by scanning of cards? Ez-link? Cash cards? and soon everyone in the world wld have such a barcode which will be implanted in one's hand or forehead?

For full reference to the link that both of us found on the inet while having that conversation....(Do read this is quite mind blowing)

http://www.av1611.org/666/barcode.html

Look at any barcode you have....will you think twice wld you think twice that it will be the mark of the beast to come?

Although all this are just speculations... the coincidences of all these seems to fit to well...and i believe somehow just from those conversations abt the End times, led to us referring to the Bible where i believed had led him to be convince that maybe what the bible all says really is the TRUTH. At the end of the day, I cld sense that he was kinda convinced by it,which led him to want to read a bit of the book of revelations from the bible that was in front of me at that point of time.

Well i dunno if this guy i met that day wld stumble across this post... but i do pray that the long conversation I had abt the Faith i believed in wld have watered a seed that was already planted in his heart years ago when he last step into a church. Although he was still very skeptical then, somehow... i'm praying that what was shared to him that night wld have moved in his heart and soon one day acknowledge that there really is a Greater Being out there who cares and LOVE us and all he needs is to received and accept the GRACE that is given freely to him.