God's (un)Will(ingness)

Well, what do you know... the excitment was mounting for us to go to the states.. In fact our flight would have been flying off on the 4th May in 3 days.. but well, the whole swine flu saga was becoming all too 'in our face' to ignore. There are people with different view points, that the situation is still under control, that the outbreak at this point is mild, and the fatality rate does not even match up to a fraction of the typical influenza cycle each year. Some think its all hype and too much media exposure, however, we are travelling with Elijah, and being at the stage of development he is, where he is starting to grab at things and put things in his mouth, we decided just yesterday, 29th April, that it would be sensible and responsible for us as parents to cancel the trip. At the same time, Cathay Pacific decided to allow us to re-route our flights with no case for any refund at all (because we had discounted tickets) , although I learnt later that SIA allowed passengers going to the US to cancel their flights with full refund, even on discounted tickets. Well, we know which carrier to take if we ever go to US again.

But yes, we had much to thank God for, for example, for the fact that we hadn't booked any legs of our flights and hotels in New York and Montreal (some may call it tardiness, or procastination - but in this case it turned out to be a blessing) so we had much less to cancel. Also, thank God for our friends in Pittsburgh, the Kohs, who were all ready to receive, with Charis even preparing a very nice welcome card for Elijah. Tat Koon helped with our hotel bookings for our road trip and thus helped us to cancel it as well. So what has happened is that we have re-routed our flight to Japan, and are now heading to Japan on the 7th May and will only be back on the 21st.

I guess we are still reeling over the shock of the aftermath of the travel changes. And are wondering why not? Why didn't God allow it, we were so close and yet so far now! But anyhow, we trust that God has our best interests at heart, and hopefully what we are doing is in His will. But at the bigger picture perspective, I guess, i learnt that I have to let go of my stresses and worry of our little inconvenience and change in plans, and reflect and pray perhaps for some of the victims of the swine flu, who fell undefended in Mexico!

Again, let's pray that God will speak through this pandemic, and remind us among other things, that there is a God above our medical and scientific advances.

Praise God from whom all blessings flow!

Acceptance!

I have been checking my email relatively regularly recently, just awaiting any news from Singapore Bible College with regards to my application there. And yesterday, as i checked my mail, saw an email with the heading 'acceptance letter'. I really did not know what and how to feel. It was a sense of relief, as i had for many moments, wondered what would happen had i not gotten accepted, but always pushing the worry aside and told myself to trust God. On the other hand, the there was a overwhelming sense of excitement and a little dread, you know the 'first day of school' feeling, that I always had in my school days, worrying if i had forgotten anything. all at the same time, the excitement was there, and a sense of reality hitting home, and realizing that it was no longer a faraway lofty thought, but a reality. This would indeed be the first baby step toward ministry and hopefully toward a wonderful journey of learning and fellowshiping with God and his people.

Thank God for his merciful hand in allowing for this, together with all my other life experiences, allowing it to culminate to where it is today. Praise God indeed.

At least now when i tell people i am going to bible school in July. I won't have to say maybe anymore. =P

some pictures of us on the Singapore Flyer

Just posting some pics that we took while on the Flyer, we managed to get some tickets for free, so we rushed for the opportunity one evening, after work (while I was still working in Suntec) it was a good experience, and I think Elijah enjoyed it thoroughly. He does not seem to have a fear of heights, as he was perched at the edge of the glass window which overlooked the nothingness below. He seemed attracted to the bright lights and the night view of Singapore, as mentioned earlier, the pictures are pretty bad.. due to the fact that it was night, and it started to drizzle a little later.