Dec 2004..it was supposed to be high monsoon season..but it was burning..n humid..n the mozzies were out as normal..n my section under PT Lim n mi were with the other pioneers getting ready to do a little demolitions exercise..i can't tell where or wat types of explosives were being used or else i'd be arrested for breaching the Official Secrets Act but i can say it was a life-changing experience...i sobered up pretty fast to the ever present realities of wat it is we were training for in NS..i mean, the process started why i first set foot on Pulau Tekong on Day 1 of BMT...n SISPEC was like getting exposed to real command stuff..but that day in Dec 2004 was when most of it came together..
i miss Damien's sometimes annoying tone but he was always very realistic n practical...they were all very very mature..n many of the pple i've encountered at uni are not....there is an old saying..to the childish all things are childish...n to the immature, all things are immature..such ppl only view the world thru a narrow minded n small vision..i really really miss that kind of clear, practical, wats next kind of thinkin from the army sometimes...no nonsense, direct, rough n tumble..dun like it ya can blah blah blah blah..n after the job, we'd have a smoke aroun the yellow box..n though those were dark days for my faith, they did refine my character
i'm missin Singaporeans..esp those from a combat background..sometimes, in life, a little clear headed no nonsense is good..even at uni...n especially college..man..i think i need to hang out with some Singaporeans here more...rite Johnnie?;)
den again, it might be better if i found pple that i'm on the same level with...or aroun this age...all due respect to my younger peers n frens...but i do need some frens my age sometimes..i dun feel the need to stick closely to a certain group of frens or hav to form a clique...i will be equally frenli to all but i dun think i need to purposely be close to pple..i think i need to translate that reality into concrete terms in getting a car...haha
- As Joshua built on the work of Moses, leaders of today – the ‘Joshua Generation’ – must build of the foundation of previous generations to move our nation forward.
“The final thing that I think the Moses generation teaches us is to remind ourselves that we do what we do because God is with us. You know, when Moses was first called to lead people out of the Promised Land…the Lord said I will be with you. Throw down that rod. Pick it back up. I'll show you what to do. The same thing happened with the Joshua generation.Joshua said, you know, I'm scared. I'm not sure that I am up to the challenge. The Lord said to him, every place that the sole of your foot will tread upon, I have given you. Be strong and have courage, for I am with you wherever you go. Be strong and have courage. It's a prayer for a journey. A prayer that kept a woman in her seat when the bus driver told her to get up, a prayer that led nine children through the doors of that Little Rock school, a prayer that carried our brothers and sisters over a bridge right here in Selma, Alabama. Be strong and have courage.”
-Barack Obama's Address to Brown Chapel A.M.E. Church, Selma, Alabama, on the Anniversary of Bloody Sunday.
I support Barack Obama as a Southeast Asian because i think he would bring a fresh outlook to government of the world's only superpower..which is wat is needed so desperately and is wat the world, which includes Southeast Asia, definitely wants right now..moderation would be advanced as well as clear-headedness..i think his competitors look tired and worn out, especially Senator John McCain..he would remove a great deal of that evangelical involvement in American politics which gives Jesus Christ such a bad name..more on that in a minute..and he might ensure that the United States is less flippant about foreign military intervention..
However, as a Christian with a Christian conscience, i find that i cannot agree with his attitude towards faith ..while pluralism is a reality of our increasingly pluralistic world, it is against the nature of my Christian faith to compromise and accept, as a given, plurality in any, and every, situation..i would have to tearfully say that Christianity is different from the other religions even as i would continue to fight for tolerance of these same religions in the world..it goes against the grain of everything i have always held fast to, liberte, equalite, fraternite..i always have and always will, support the French Revolution and everything it stood for...Monarchy is evil and Republicanism is the only way of government until Jesus returns..Terror is tyranny without Virtue and Virtue is powerless without Terror..Liberty must be bedded on a mattress of corpses..the tree of Liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants..Now is the time when the sun-shine patriot and the turncoat republican will be revealed...yet i cannot turn against my faith..the Christian is different from the world..Christianity is different from 'other religions'...Christianity allows me to tolerate other religions even as i disagree with them..but Christianity is not equal to other religions...neither are all religions one homogenous soup...
As such, i think that Barack Obama has unwittingly, misquoted scripture in applying Joshua to the fight for freedom...it is about God's Providence yes, but it is not an iron-clad guarantee that God approves of what American or Obama is doing..we run the danger of putting words into God's mouth that He never says..the idea that America is the same as God's Promised Land for Israel in the Old Testament is a very bad, and mistaken, assumption..
i think that Christians should not try to 'force-fit' scripture to justify their own ideas and actions...Respect the Bible and please lets not use it as a political tool...which brings me t the crux of wat i want to say...politics is a dirty, very wicked game that manipulates and twists and turns cruelly for a person's own benefit...wat part can a Christian have with this? oh, of course a Christian should be involved and concerned about our world and our nations...oh, it is even possible for a Christian to be a politician..but lets not think for a minute that a Christian politician is any better than a non-Christian politician..the weight of history, from Constantine's Rome, to Calvin's Geneva, to Cromwell's England..and now (supposedly) evangelical and born again George Bush Jr..seems to be on my side...
am currently listening to Coldplay's latest album, Viva La Vida Or Death and All His Friends..significant change in style from where they used to be..much edgier, raw-er and darker...still melodic and with all those complex harmonies..but they've definitely matured in a direction i admire and enjoy even more..
i dun really like dis..Wintercon starts tm and i've got some responsibilities yet i'm feeling dark and angry again..not a good sign at all..
watchin the Watoto Children's Choir in action today really was an enriching and rewarding experience..and a gd talk with my fren(u noe who u are) was a pleasant surprise.. reminded mi once again that pentecostal christians do hav a heart and soul..as well as a social conscience..mayb my Disillusionment wif that movement is heal-able after all..i still dun like said movement's false optimism and denial of reality though..
as for Singapore, Grandma still isn't very well but she's really old and has had a good life..wat more can one ask? i onli pray that she does noe the Lord and that when she goes, she'll go in peace without a great deal of pain..n i really miss having good conversations with Kumu..we really need to talk about the last 6 months man..you'll always be my good confidante and bro whom i relate to best..and i wish Kian, Richard and myself had more time together..man, wif u guys beside mi, goin to war would be much more reassuring..haha..i mean that, really..n it does disappoint mi to noe that everytime i head home, i find out how much of everyone's lives i'm missing..
Wintercon is today n i'm lookin fwd to it..even if i've got to take care of some kids who r first-timers..(these noe who they are)..hahahaha..cajoling infants is really not my strongest point..;) mayb i shd try caning instead........
the Grace of God abounds to the chief of sinners...that drives mi on and allows mi to take watever comes my way this sem..not because i'm worthy and deserving, but because i'm evil n sinful yet inspite of this God showed me His unmerited grace and favour..and God's grace lights fires in men that are not easily extinguished...
