Before and After...

Before...

... and After. (though not much difference)

... the intended look...

Something as Simple as Knowing a Name

It was a sunny day in that little street in that little town beside a little lake. The girl was standing on the sidewalk outside her house. She had just moved to the town and had yet to make any friends. She was soaking in the new surroundings, the different houses, and the trees arrayed along the street.

She was an introvert by nature and was quite content being by herself but in her heart she wanted to be make new friends as soon as possible.

The paper boy cycled past. He was going through his daily rounds of delivering the evening paper when he noticed the little girl. He wondered whether she was lost because he noticed she was looking around. He decided to offer his assistance since he knew the town like he knew the back of his hand.

"Hi," he greeted as he brought his bicycle to a halt.

The girl was surprised but elated to have the opportunity to meet someone. "Hello," she replied timidly.

"Are you lost?" asked the boy.

She shook her head. "I just moved here and I stay in this house," she pointed to her house behind her.

"Oh! That's cool." There was an awkward silence as the boy was unsure how to proceed. After a short pause he spoke, "So what's your name?"

"Janoah," she replied.

He was surprised to hear such a unique name. He had to ask her to spell it out so that he would know how to pronounce it properly. He admitted that he was not very good with uncommon names.

"I'm Evan." After introducing himself he remembered that he had to continue with his rounds so he bid her good bye and cycled along down the road.

As the days passed Evan would see Janoah around town but it was always during his rounds and she always seemed occupied walking along by herself or with friends so he did not stop to say hello.

Although he was the first friend Janoah ever made, the meeting with Evan was soon forgotten. Through all the unpacking of her belongings, going to the new school and making friends with the neighbours that meeting with Evan was forgotten albeit not on purpose on the part of Janoah.

One day Janoah was walking on her way home from school. She was feeling a little sad and lonely because she had no one to go home with on that particular day. It just so happened that Evan was cycling along the road coming from behind her. He recognized the girl to be Janoah and he decided that it would not hurt to say hello.

"Hi, Janoah," he greeted as he started to match his cycling speed with her pace of walking.

A look of utter surprise was evident on Janoah's face but there was a hint of happiness in her face. She was shocked that someone knew her and she felt happy because of that fact.

"How do you know my name?" she asked.

Evan laughed.

"I met you about a week ago when you were looking around outside of your house."

"Oh yeah," said Janoah, as realization began to flood her memory, "but I forgot your name."

"Its Evan," he replied with a smile. "I guess I'll be seeing you around then."

"Ok!" she replied cheerfully and with that Evan continued to cycle down the road ahead of her.

That short meeting really encouraged Evan. It did not bother him that his name was forgotten but rather he could not forget that hint of happiness in Janoah's face. He was just glad that he was able to brighten someone's day even by something as simple as knowing a name.

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Although I'm a believer in remembering people's names I still forget sometimes. Praise God that I have the mind of Christ and I would have improved memory.

Vanity

Don Staple and Aladdin were taking the train one day...

"Hey, Aladdin. I'd like to introduce you to someone I recently met. His name is Vanity."

"Oh my gosh! The Vanity? I've known him for the longest time. We're very close."

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Just got my hair done after almost 3 months of letting it grow freely. Still not enough to change to a totally different hairstyle but according to wise counsel its good enough for an intermediate phase.

I think it was my first time getting my hair done at a hair stylist because barbers have always been my friend. Would not have gone in by myself so thank God I have Jimmy and Alvin Lim to accompany me. They were the ones who helped me pick a style from the style book from the salon and will be closely monitoring my hair's progression.

Also bought wax for myself for the first time. I have used hair gel for all of my teenage life (and even starting to use it was a milestone) but they helped me pick out the type of wax. I did not know that the colours of the container was for different kinds of hair and style. I always thought the colour was for variety.

I guess I'll see how much of a difference wax and a trim has done. I'm going to be "tested" by Alvin and Jimmy on it.

Kindergarten Playground

It was recess time in that little kindergarten in that little town beside a little lake. As always the little boy looked out longingly into the playground from a window.

There was a little girl playing in the sandbox. She was making a sandcastle using only a pail and a toy shovel. It was a rather impressive sandcastle considering her age, but the little boy was not looking at her.

There was a little boy who was bravely playing on the slide. The moment he reached the bottom he would immediately stand up and make his way up at the ladder and slide down once again. It was quite daring considering the size of the slide and the size of the child but the little boy was not looking at him.

He was looking at another boy who was playing on the swings. The boy was laughing heartily, happily swinging away higher and higher.

The boy looking out from the window sighed.

"It must be fun to play on the swings and go higher and higher," he thought and he continued to look on.

The teacher noticed the boy looking out from the window. He made his way and squatted beside the boy.

"Do you want to go play outside?" the teacher asked, putting his hand on the boy's shoulder.

The boy turned to look at the teacher and then looked down.

"Do you want to play on the sandbox?"

The boy continued to look down and shook his head.

"How about on the slide?"

Again the boy shook his head.

"The swings maybe?"

The boy kept silent.

"It looks like a lot of fun. Shall I take you there?" The teacher held out his hands to the boy.

The boy looked at the teacher's hand. He wanted to reach out for it but he hesitated.

"What if I fall? What if I can't swing as high as everyone else? What if I'm not good enough? What if..."

"Hey," the teacher gently interrupted. "Don't worry. I'll go with you, alright?"

The boy looked at the teacher and into his reassuring smile. He slowly reached out for the teacher's hand.

Hand-in-hand they stepped out into the playground. They went past the sandbox and past the slide until they reached the swings.

"Hold on tight," said the teacher as he sat the boy on the swing. He pulled the swing back a little way and gave it a push. "Now lean forward," he instructed as the boy swung forward. "Now lean back. That's it."

Slowly the boy started to gain momentum. He leaned forward and backward as he was instructed and he too started to swing higher and higher. He let out a the most wonderful laugh like only a child could.

Song Memory Playback of "And Now My Lifesong Sings" by Casting Crowns

In the past two days or so I kept humming a tune of this song but I could not remember the words exactly. It was always, "hmmmmmmmm, I was something and now I'm hmmmmm." Not enough to google the lyrics out. Like I had the tune in the head but I don't remember the lyrics or the rest of the song.

Sometimes it would come back and with a bit more now like it wants to come into remembrance. Today somehow I suddenly remembered an extra line, "And now my lifesong sings..." And it turns out that its also the title. Praise God for Google (or Blackle for those who want to are more eco-friendly).

Let my life be a testimony to You.

First Recorded Dream of 2009

I'm running on F&N Orange Soda this time around.

I used to think so much whenever I have dreams. I would think that any dream I have will have a special meaning because its not often that I would wake up remembering having a dream. Hence on instances when I do remember what I dream about I would think that it must mean something or my subconscious is telling me something that my conscious will not admit.

That was until I had my first dream of 2009. It happened on the morning of January 2, 2009.

Its amazing how in dreams we would know exactly the background information, situation and environment in the dream as if it was something matter of a fact.

In this particular dream I had a girlfriend and I was at her door waiting for her to come out. When she did her father who was going somewhere else offered to drive us to our destination and I felt like I needed to impress him so I offered to drive knowing fully well that I have no license.

I remember driving in dreamland so fearfully because I had no license and was hoping I would not get caught by the traffic police or found out by the dad.

What convinced me that some dreams are just dreams and nothing more is that my supposed "dream girlfriend" was totally random.

But nonetheless, dreams are so fascinating. Sometimes I go to sleep wanting to have dreams of flying because I remember one particular time when I was able to fly in my dream but before I could fly higher and further I woke up.

I wonder if there ever will be a device that could capture dreams...?

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Here's some questions to ponder:

1. What do you do when you run? I think even for Singapore at any time within 24 hours there will be a person running somewhere. I notice that people here have no qualms about running at weird hours. Even at midnight on the 31st of December I saw at least two people out for a run. Anyway, back to the question, personally its a chance for me to think about stuff. Would have wanted to pray in tongues the whole time while running but its difficult to incorporate it into the breathing.

2. What's the most effective position to put the Wii Sensor bar: Above the TV or below it? My bro was playing boxing on Wii Sports and it seemed like the sensor was not reading all the punches correctly. Tried shifting the sensor but ended up just leaving it on top...

3. What's your favourite ice cream flavour? =D Eh, if your sleeping posture is believed to be affected by your personality I don't see how my ice cream flavour theory is too hard to believe.

4. What are the things you would give up if you know God can give you something better? (I plan to talk about this next time.)

1st Post of 2009

Nothing like ushering in the New Year with praise, worship and prayer.

While worshiping I just felt Daddy God giving me a word to run with for the year ahead.

"Keep my eyes on Jesus." I tend to look at my challenges, my failures, my weaknesses and other stuff and although I know that God is for me and Jesus is in me and the Holy Spirit guides me I did not realize that I was still too focused on my problems.

"God, help me through this problem. Help me overcome this problem. Carry me through this problem... This problem... This problem... This problem..."

Instead of focusing on "this problem" He showed me that Jesus is my freedom. Jesus is my everything. Instead of always thinking about the problem and asking God to help me with it, God wants me to see Jesus as my solution and thank Him.

Jesus you are my freedom, you are my solution, you are my wisdom, you are my sanctification, you are my redemption, you are my salvation, you are my EVERYTHING!

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First food eaten in 2009: Red Bean Pancake, Lay's Potato Chips and Chrysanthemum Tea packet drink.

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Ah, gosh. Just realized that this first post falls on 2nd Jan. 12 minutes too late. (-_-)"

Happy New Year!