Who am I - Casting crowns

Who am I?
That the Lord of all the earth,
Would care to know my name,
Would care to feel my hurt,
Who am I?
That the Bright and Morning Star,
Would choose to light the way,
For my ever wandering heart,

Not because of who I am,
But because of what You've done,
Not because of what I've done,
But because of who You are,

I am a flower quickly fading,
Here today and gone tomorrow,
A wave tossed in the ocean (ocean),
A vapor in the wind,
Still You hear me when I'm calling,
Lord, You catch me when I'm falling,
And You've told me who I am..
I am Yours.

Who am I?
That the eyes that see my sin,
Would look on me with love,
and watch me rise again,
Who am I?
That the voice that calmed the sea,
Would call out through the rain,
And calm the storm in me,

Not because of who I am,
But because of what You've done,
Not because of what I've done,
But because of who You are,

I am a flower quickly fading,
Here today and gone tomorrow,
A wave tossed in the ocean (ocean),
A vapor in the wind,
Still You hear me when I'm calling,
Lord, You catch me when I'm falling,
And You've told me who I am...
I am Yours, I am Yours.

I am Yours,
Whom shall I fear?
Whom shall I fear?
'Cause I am Yours,
I am Yours.

"A friend loves at all times" (Proverbs 17:17, NIV).

Babe Ruth was one of the all-time greats of American baseball. For years he had been the idol of sports fans. Time, however, took its toll. I read how, in one of his last games, he began to falter. He struck out and made several misplays that allowed the opposing team to score five runs in one inning. As he walked from the field, he was greeted with an enormous storm of boos and catcalls from the stands. Fans shook their fists.

Then a little boy jumped over the railing and, with tears running down his cheeks ran out to the great athlete. Unashamedly, he flung his arms around his hero's legs and held on tightly. Babe Ruth picked him up, hugged him, set him down, and together the two of them walked off the field hand in hand.

An unknown poet wrote:

I went out to find a friend,
But could not find one there.
I went out to be a friend,
And friends were everywhere!

some people measure their life by the success which they have achieved in different fields in their lives. i measure my life by the decisions in which i have made. whether at that single moment, the decision which i have made will advance growth in me (be it socially, emotionally, physically, spiritually). human beings have this natural tendency to look back, to ponder about whether they have so called made the right decision, to think back on the times when they might have acted out of their impulsivesness and question about the various possibilities which could have occured should they have chosen the other choice instead. This elusive 'the other choice' which bugs many people for years and years ahead.
even to someone's death bed.
you know, i was watching this show called 'boomtown: weasson and smith' at 3am in the morning on channel 5 (not because i chose to watch this show, in fact, i accidentally chanced upon it by flipping channels upon the ending of another show. 'forced', in a way, to watch tv in the wee ungodly hours of today due to a sister wanting to finish her project and my bed being right beside our dear adorable computer:). it's quite a good show, the plot, the twists, the cinematography, worthy to be praised. i was watching this show and this show actually showed quite a lot of flashbacks. flashbacks which occur to show the past of individual characters in the show itself. and it struck me somehow that when you're about to die, you don't really ponder about successes, you ponder about the decisions you have made, and of course.. the elusive 'other choice' which you might have made.
for me, i've made some choices which caused me tinges of regret. i've made others that allowed me to accelerate forward in life. and yet some others which allowed me to discover more of myself and to learn things i have never ever imagined myself to learn.
still contemplating about this choice i've made 2 years, 3 months and an average of 23 days ago... amused at the circumstance in which i was in, amazed at how far this decision has brought me and certain that this is still the choice which i would have chosen should i be able to turn back time to that moment again.

-some say it wasn't worth the things we went through
i said it ain't worth losing you-

you. no. You.

Ana Johnsson - We are

See the devil on the doorstep now
My oh my
Telling everybody ,oh just how to live their lives
Sliding down the information highway
Buying in just like a bunch of fools
Time is ticking and we can't go back
My oh my

What about the world today
What about the place that we call home
We've never been so many
And we've never been …
So Alone

Keep watching from your picket fence
You keep talking but it makes no sense
You say we're not responsible
But we are, we are
You wash your hands
You come out clean
But fail to recognize the enemy's within
You say we're not responsible
But we are, we are
We are

One step forward, making two steps back
My oh my
Riding piggy on the bad boys' back
For life
Lining up for the grand illusion
No answers for no questions asked
Lining up for the execution
Without knowing why

Keep watching from your picket fence…

It's all about power, bout taking control
Breaking the will ,and raping the soul
They suck us dry 'til there's nothing left
My oh my My oh my

What about the world today
What about the place that we call home
We've never been so many
And we've never been …
So Alone

Keep watching from your picket fence…

It's all about power, bout taking control
Breaking the will ,and raping the soul
They suck us dry 'til there's nothing left
My oh my

It's all about power, bout taking control(3x)

this song's been revolving around my mind today. hahaha. this and 'all day'. as addictive as linkin' park. though jits will prob differ with me about this song. ah. forgot to mention i heard guan sing for the VERY FIRST TIME in the 6 years of knowing her. *grinz* intriguing.
another song. 'kiss from a rose' from seal.
starting to tire. k. 5.30am. bed, here i come:)

wahaha. i'm still awake:)
jialat:) why am i still awake. i still owe pris bulletin extractions too. wahaha.
a little advert for Y-Hope's website. haha.
just go to yhope.blogspot.com:) erm. without the :)

-i don't care what it cost anymore
'cos You gave it all and i'm following You
i don't care what it takes anymore
no matter what happens i'm going Your way

i'll love You
i'll follow You
You are my, my God
i will read my bible and pray
i will follow You all day

all day
all day now
all day (all day)
all day
all day now
all day!-

still not sleepy. hahaha. stoning perhaps, but not sleepy.

-every point of view has another angle
every angle has its myth-

just finished module selection. hahaha. i'm going to take PL2131 Research and Statistical Methods I (psychology), SSA2215: The Biophysical Environment of Singapore, GEK1006 - Dynamics of interpersonal effectiveness, PH1101E - Reason and Persuasion (Philosophy) and PH2110 - Logic (philosophy). hahaha. not bad not bad. i like my modules:)

yeshterday was the last day of the ACTStrinsic package. ah. Gen-Acts Idol. hahahaha. we didn't win:D but we celebrated with KTV anyway. hahahaha:D everyone was generally in the mood of singing by the time evening reaches:) haven't really gone to ktv ever since the time i went with qing and the rest O_o
ah. excited about university life:)

More to this life --- Clay Aiken

Today I watched in silence
As people passed me by
And I strained to see if there was something
Hidden in their eyes

But they all looked back at me as if to say,
"Life just goes on.."

The old familiar story
Told in different ways,
"Make the most of your own journey
From the cradle to the grave
Dream your dreams tomorrow
Because today
Life must go on.."

Oh, and there's more to this life
Than living and dying
More than just trying to make it through the day
More to this life
More than these eyes alone can see
And there's more
Than this life alone for me

He takes care of his family
He takes care of his work
And every Sunday morning
He takes his place at the church
But sometimes he still feels the need to search
"Life just goes on.."

At night he lies in silence
Staring into space
Looks for ways to make tomorrow
Better than today
But in the morning light
He looks to say,
"Life must go on.."

Oh, and there's more to this life
Than living and dying
More than just trying to make it through the day
More to this life
More than these eyes alone can see
And there's more
Than this life alone for me

Where do we start
To find every part
Of what makes this life complete?
If we turn our eyes
To Jesus we'll find
Life's true beginning
Is there at the cross
Where he died
Where he died

To bring us
More to this life
Than living and dying
More than just trying to make it through the day
More to this life
More than these eyes alone can see

And there's more
To this life
Than living and dying
More than just trying to make it through the day
More to this life
More than these eyes alone can see

And there's more
Than this life alone can be

More to this life

More than livin' and dyin'

More than tryin' to make it
Through another day

"If you want favor with both God and man, and a reputation for good judgment and common sense, then trust the Lord completely; don't ever trust yourself. In everything you do, put God first, and he will direct you and crown your efforts with success" (Proverbs 3:5-6, TLB).

Old habits and old beliefs die hard. For centuries people believed Aristotle's opinion that the heavier an object was, the faster it would fall to earth.

According to a report I read, in 1589 Galileo challenged Aristotle's teaching. He invited learned professors to the base of the Leaning Tower of Pisa. Galileo went to the top of the tower and pushed off a ten-pound and a one-pound weight. Both landed at the same instant, but the professors still wouldn't believe what they saw. They insisted Aristotle was right.

Once again, here is another case of people believing what they want to believe. It's like the old saying, "Don't confuse me with the facts, my mind's made up."

Some of us avoid facing facts because they're too threatening. Others of us don't face reality because it's not in sync with our feelings. I'm a great believer in acknowledging feelings but I can't always trust my interpretation of them. There are times Ijust need to face the facts, grit my teeth, and do what the Bible says I should or shouldn't do regardless of my feelings. It is much wiser to trust God's Word rather than my feelings.

How foolish it would be to be driving on a highway and disregard a major warning "danger ahead" sign because we don't feel the sign is correct. Maturity recognizes one's feelings, checks them out for reality, and doesn't allow them to control him or her. When it comes to life, if our feelings don't harmonize with God's Word, we'd better follow God's Word rather than make our feelings the voice of authority which can be a very dangerous path to follow, especially when it comes to eternal life and eternal values.

heyhey! back this morning from matriculation camp (Apprentice camp), first part of the whole ACTStrinsic package. lol.
lemme start from sunday morning;)
sunday morning we woke up and met at tamp mrt station. ate lunch together, got to noe the team pple:D my team (we're call SIXY;););) consists of me, michelle, jiexian, qiaoping, kavita, christine, robert, kenneth, huanyan and edwin:) our facilitators are jieyun and johnathan (JJ!) lol. then went to tamp safra and played games. 8 different games:)
very refreshing game actually. hahahaa. some games are just..erm. quite testing on the knees. our knees were a bit wobbly after the games. lol. but we've kinda started to bond:) my team is small (only 10 pple! other teams have 12, 15! 8 teams in all btw.), but we have lots of potential. lol. we have pple who are loud, pple who are soft, agile, smart, new, veteran..blah. lol. and we're all very accomodating pple.
yay!:D
then we had a most altruistic journey thing whereby we actually went house to house (u're supposed to think of wat to do urself, so the things each team does differs:D) to give out coffee packets and encouraged them to drink coffee with their family or to pass on the coffee packet to neighbours. this component wasn't really good, i felt. but i think it gave the organisers time to actually prepare for the night game.
lol. dinner came and went. and we were at aloha changi chalet! the one facing the road:)
NIGHT GAME! lol. it's a trading war;) lots of things. we ran A LOT. we ran from the chalet to changi village then back again 'cos we can't find the elusive shannavar to trade for textiles. all of us had 10 000 spanish silvers at first. wasted 2 game months (only had 12 to finish game). and we kept getting intercepted by our dear adorable pirates. (they really looked the role) ah. we got intercepted by them like.. 6 times:P
anyway as i was saying, we ran a lot. 'cos nidded to get crude oil and rubber and metal (i think) to trade for plastic and alloys and goodness noes wat to make automobiles..of which we will then liquidize the automobiles and earn spanish silvers. ran a span of 5 bus stops over and over. wahaha. the worst thing is tt the whole team is surrounded by strings and cardboards to keep us together. gosh. 2 hours of running. someone estimated we might have ran for more than 4.8km. perfect for dieting pple:P
yay. really wasted the time at first. nvm
and at night! argh. was falling off to sleep (finally!) at 2.30am when they woke everyone up. segment d of apprentice camp. lol. had to do puzzles and read comprehension and solve qns and do tangrams. intention was to train up our skills in being able to think in tired and stressful conditions (required for an entrepreneur). btw, we were all given points for the activites we do. Sixy never went past 4th position. lol
the next day. woke up at 7am to off the aircon, then at 9am to brush teeth. lol.
wahahaa. second day was... BEACH GAMES! got quite touching moments actually. beach games were very physically draining. as they said, it was when we let our muscles do the talking.
very shocked by kenneth and edwin in some segment of the beach games. kenneth actually ran blindfolded into the water. nono. he banged into another person. immediately picked himself up and continued running..but into the water. robert commented later on tt he didn't noe whether to applaud kenneth or to bash him up. the rest of us were just in shock. think nearly cried out.
edwin also. had to blow this stupid pingpong ball across the stretch of the beach. then he just kept going...saw tt his hands were red from rubbing against the sand.
oh! lemme share our moment of glory. LOL. there was this last segment on how we have to blow balloons and burst these balloons. we were the first team to finish. kenneth ran to get the scores for us. and when he was running, NO OTHER TEAM SENT PPLe to start running. wahahaa. moment of glory. one solitary person running on sand. first and only event tt happened. tt no one else was fighting to get the top score from the pool in the middle of the beach. wahaha.
after tt was lunch. at 3+4+!!!. lol. then we had to analyse Djokoli's (through a thick stack of info on the country) political, economical and social situation and draw out a proposal for a social entrepreneur project into the country, with a starting capital of S$50k in 2 hours.
i really like the proposal we drew up actually:) we're thinking of setting up a shoe factory in the southern part of djokoli (why southern part. 'cos we read tt most of the terrorists and bombings are from the northern part where the muslims are from the news reports...so being in the southern part, we will have a higher chance of not being bombed and actually allow the factory to survive:) we'll be manufacturing shoes because of two reasons -1)latex is readily available in Djokoli 2)we nid hides to do the shoes and most likely the animals they're importing are cows (or camels 'cos of increasing desertification). lol
we will then market these shoes with a brand name. 'cos our shoes will have unique african design (hand sewn) to appeal to the afro-american crowd in USA. the factory will be labour intensive (to help reduce the 60% pple under poverty line). labour intensive is good 'cos dun have to spend money on training the pple up till very high and the cost of machinery is low. the labour cost is already low. they only get like $12 per month for salary(minimum wage rate)...we'll give them $15 and increase as the factory expands:)
in the same time, we'll be having a two pronged approach. we'll also be setting up a social club in the hub of Sangui (the capital of the country) to help to direct girls who came into the city to work to right jobs. we offer them an alternative lifestyle. they come to work for us, they get more than wat others offer and in the same time, we can train them up. this club is set up also to educate the girls abt their rights, give them a career... we aim to help them break through the mentality tt girls are inferior to males and tt they're only created to marry and give birth. the club will be sponsored by the factory to keep it running.
our ultimate aim after 5-10 years is to train up the pple in Djokoli to be able to actually take care of the factory and the clubthemselves, for ultimately it is their land and they'll understand the situation better as well. also the pple in Djokoli can relate better to their own race of people. We wanna also inculcate the belief that they themselves can actually change the country on their own. they can mould society's thinking. they can make the change.
we kinda modelled it after gen-acts club (whereby the director is Julian Lee, a social entrepreneur himself)... gen-acts has been setting up clubs in Chile, Peru and Equador to help the people in shanty towns, in villages.
cool sia.
anyway. the question and answer section was quite funny. i won't talk abt it.
ahh. cut things short. we got 5th overall for all the sections.
wahaha. then we were supposed to use the points we accumulated to bid for the place we'll sell our things at during the 'Who wants to be an entrepreneur' event and bid for permits for the things we can sell. wahahahahaha. we got 5 permits. wahahhaa. we're the only team to have more than 2 permits. LOL.
our team was on euphoria tt night basically. lol. went for supper at changi village. oh! me and kenneth and huan yan decided to take the same module at the first semester --- history. lol. and for singapore studies as well. LOL.
after supper. we went to the beach. not sleeping 'cos we wanted to catch sunrise. lol. talked through the night. lol. 5 hours+. we talked about quite a lot of stuff close to us. hehe. a lot abt relationships and all. buried feet in sand. i got buried in sand:P whole body. feels good actually. lol. me and kenneth have ard the same sleepy times. 12-1+ is our sleepy time and 5+ is another sleepy time for us. so next time can really study together. 'cos we'll be sleepy at the same time. LOL
yesh. sunrise is nice. but we didn't see much of the sun. lol.
then we went for breakfast at tamp macS! wahaha. first team to set off. started discussing business for sunday there. we're really mad pple;)
mad pple with a vision. yesh.