Updates

Wow, has it really been more than 2 weeks since my last post? Where has all the time gone?

So much has happened since then. I had to stop training for an entire month - essentially sincce the NUS (National University of Singapore) Biathlon - and am finally easing back into training. I am not quite back to race fitness yet, but getting there SLOWY. This week I hope to get back to my full training week - 2 runs, 2 swims, 1 strength training, and 1 long brick. As usual when my training level drops, I start thinking about adding/replacing new go-after kit, so keep your eyes on this space, I am receiving my latest "go faster" kit for the bike this week! :-)

On the home front, the latest news is that R2 fractured his elbow last Saturday night. The lil' guy was playing with some friends after dinner and running with much abandonement when he fell awkwardly. One look at the right elbow and it was pretty obvious that "something is wrong" - there was a lot of swelling and it looked like something was jutting out. So we rush to the A&E (Accident and Emergency) ward of the children's hospital where they confirmed that he has a fracture just above the elbow joint. They were a little concerned as the fracture is very near the joint, but there was too much swelling for proper diagnosis to be done. So they put a full splint on him and we are to go back for consultation with the orthopedic specialist on Thurs.

We were graced with a miracle at the A&E: The poor guy was clearly in pain and was not a happy camper at all for the entire period after he fell to while we were waiting at the A&E. He was cried and complained of intense pain, and finally settled down but his face was screwed up in pain. While waiting, we prayed over him and Mrs Nitrox also text'ed some of her "Mummies support group" to pray for R2. Literally within seconds of laying hands on his elbow and asking the Holy Spirit to come and heal him, he went from being in pain and miserable, to being his usual cheerful self. The doctors were amazed that he was so "cooperative" even when the splint was going on - they warned us that it might hurt, but all R2 was concerned about was not getting the plaster on his shirt! :-) PRAISE GOD! The doctors can't be sure if the fracture needs to be re-aligned (hence the need to come back to see the orthopedic specialist on Thurs when the swelling has come down). But, encouraged by the miracle, we are trusting by faith that the Lord is healing his little elbow, and continue to pray that R2 will receive 100% restoration in his right elbow without surgery. Please do continue to agree with us in prayer too!


Since coming back from the A&E, R2 has been pretty much his normal cheerful self (as you can see from the pictures). He does complain of some pain now and then, but it is more like 3-5/10 level of pain (right after the fall was 8-10/10, and after we prayed for him at A&E it went down to 0-2/10) . Most of the time, he is reporting 0/10 in terms of pain, so we are not even giving him the prescribed pain meds - Ibuprofen - just children's Panadol once so far. Encouraged by the miracle, we are trusting by faith that the Lord is healing his little elbow, and continue to pray that R2 will receive 100% restoration in his right elbow without surgery. Please do continue to agree with us in prayer too! Our God is indeed an AWESOME GOD!

More Puddles, More Mud

I guess the Bedok Reservoir Park is now our favourite bike track - perhaps until we manage to find some place with even more mud. :-) Here are the boys showing off the "leopard spots" on the back off their shirts from riding through the many puddles.

In the words of R2, "Papa, when I am riding through the puddles, I forget that I am not on training wheels anymore!". (We just took off his training wheels last week - despite some rather vocal protesting.

Yao Ming in 20 years

Based on my own intense Internet research (being on leave and not being able to train does these things to ya), Yao Ming (left) better be careful or he will end up looking very much like ol' nitrox (right) in another 20 years or so. :-)

I'm on leave

It's school holidays this week so I've taken leave to spend more time with the boys. :-)


On the training front, I'm still recovering from the flu and hacking out green stuff, so it's another no training week. :-(

Korah's Rebellion

Numbers 14-27 (6 days in my http://www.bibleinayear.org/ reading plan).

The nice thing about reading through the Bible is that it makes it easier to understand what I am reading through the context of the chapters preceeding. Take Korah, for example, his life story spans from chapters 3 to 26 and it would have been easy to miss the context of his rebellion against Aaron & Moses if I was not reading through the chapters.

Korah was a member of the Kohath clan among the Levites during the time when the Israelites were wandering 40 years in the desert (Numbers 16:1). Korah's clan was 2,750 men strong (Numbers 4:34-35) and their job was to carry (by hand) "the ark, the table, the lampstand, the altars, the utensils of the sanctuary.. [and] the screen" (Numbers 3:31) used in the Tabernacle whenever the Israelites moved. Oxen and carts were given to the other Levite clans to help carry the heavier stuff like the tents, screens, pillars and boards, but Korah's clan was assigned to carry the holy articles in the Tabernacle, and they were to be carried on their shoulders (Numbers 7:1-9).

Numbers 4:5-15 tells us that each time when it was time to move, Aaron and the priests would cover the ark and the instruments in cloth and animal skins. Only after that would Korah's clan move in to carry the stuff. All those years of carrying the holy articles in the Tabernacle without being allowed to see or touch them may have gotten to Korah, because one day, he and his buddies (Dathan, Abiram and On) rounded up 250 of the influential leaders of the Israelite community and rebelled against Aaron and Moses (Numbers 16:1-2). It doesn't pay to rebel against God's appointed leaders of course, and the result was that Korah and his friends were swallowed alive by the earth that they were standing on (Numbers 16:31-33), and the 250 leaders were literally incinerated by God's wrath (Numbers 16:35). In fact, Dathan and Abiram's entire families were also swallowed alive because they did not stand apart from their families (i.e. their families stood with them in their rebellion), but Korah's family was spared (Numbers 26:9-11) because they were not standing united with Korah's rebellion.

This entire encounter teaches me two significant things:

1. We each have our God given ministry and we need to find out what it is and serve. Not all of us will be leaders or pastors, and God certainly doesn't like it when we rebel against the leaders He put above us. This doesn't mean that we should not try to be leaders in our own right, nor does it mean that we are to follow our leaders with blind faith. (In fact, 1 Thessalonians 5:21 warns us to "test all things" we are told/taught.). Instead, we should not take our ministry lightly and think too highly of ourselves, lest we fall into Korah's sin - Korah felt he was literally too good for his ministry and resented the authority of the God appointed leaders over him.
   
2. God judges us by our own sins, not the sins of our family (past and present). Some passages in the Old Testament seem to suggest that God punishes the children of sinners to the 3rd or 4th generation (e.g. Exodus 20:5-6), but if we take into context the entire message of the bible, we will find that God does not visit the sins of our fore-fathers upon us. In this case, it is clear that Korah's family was spared even though he committed a terrible sin, and we can find other passages that similarly support the fact that God judges us by our own sins (e.g. Jeremiah 31:29-30). This is significant for me, because coming from a non-Christian family, many Christian friends have advised me to pray against bondages that my fore-fathers may have placed upon me through the generations of idol and ancester worship. I have always found that hard to accept. Somehow it does not fit in with what I know of Him. And now I know why. Praise God!
   

R1's Chinese Show n Tell

This is a bit long, so I won't blame you for not watching it to the end. ;-)



My literal translation:

Good morning Teachers & Friends of P2C. Today I am going to tell you the story "Si Ma Kwang Smashes the Pot" (Si Ma Kwang is a famous Chinese scholar/wise man who lived ~ 1019-1086.)

Once, when Si Ma Kwang was a little boy, he and his friends were playing in the garden. There was a large pot in the garden which was filled with water. The children played hide-n-seek, and were having a great time.

Just then, one child decided to find a good hiding spot so that the others cannot find him. He decided to hide in the large pot. He was not as tall as the huge pot, neither did he realise that it was filled with water. As a result, no sooner had he climbed up the pot, that he fell in with a loud "SPLASH".

All the kids panicked and ran around, not knowing what to do. Only Si Ma Kwang remained calm - he picked up a large rock from the ground and threw it at the large pot with all his strength. The rock smashed a large hole in the pot and the water flowed out. The child was saved!

I like this story because Si Ma Kwang is a clever boy. When a problem arises, he is able to remain calm and think of a clever solution to the problem. Thank you for your attention.


[ What follows is some questions and answers, soI will spare you the details. :-) ]

Quick update on training end: No training done since the NUS Biathlon, partly due to work and partly because I picked up the flu bug. I seem to have a pattern of falling sick when I visit India - I think the stress and lack of sleep (4.5 hr over-night flight back) got to me. R2 coughing into my face in his excitment to see me come home probably didn't help either. :-) So it's 1-2 weeks of rest for me then (I am on antibiotics). :-(

Confession: I was Impatient with God...

Numbers chapters 1 - 13 (6 days in my http://www.bibleinayear.org/ reading plan).

I have a confession to make and it is related to Numbers 11. Chapter 11 describes how the Israelites "yielded to intense craving" (Numbers 11:4) in the desert and complained to Moses & God about not having meat to eat, despite being provided with sweet tasting Manna daily. The Lord responded by giving them meat "not one day, nor two days, nor five days, nor ten days, nor twenty days, but for a whole month, until it comes out of [their] nostrils and becomes loathsome to [them]." (Numbers 11:19-20). However, God was not impressed with their whinning and impatience, and "while the meat was still between their teeth, before it was chewed, the wrath of the LORD was aroused against the people, and the LORD struck the people with a very great plague." (Numbers 11:33)

This has such a strong parallel to what happened to me yesterday that I cannot call it anything else but a strong wake up call from Him above. For 4 years now, I have been unhappy with my financial situation - in short, I have not been contented with the many blessings the Lord has poured upon me and my family. By all accounts I am blessed with a comfortable life, yet I have been struggling with the worry that I am under-paid, and I have at times "yielded to intense craving" just like the Israelites in the desert. I wanted something (let's call it an "extravagent luxury") that my present finances does not allow. I have been impatient with God, and have been frustrated trying to find the balance between waiting upon Him and taking things into my own hands and finding alternatives. There is of course no such thing as a balance when it comes to waiting on Him. When I am waiting on Him, I am supposed to WAIT. Period. Not make up excuses to "speed things along" nor help God out by running ahead of Him. Yet somehow that is so much easier said than done.

Yesterday morning, I came into some money that was totally unplanned. Not exactly a windfall, but just about enough for me to commit to getting a loan towards the the 1st installment of this "extravagent luxury" I have been wanting. Yet strangely, I just wasn't ready to commit to getting it. I was very happy and thankful for this nice surprise, but there was just no conviction to go shopping. That same afternoon, I heard from Mrs Nitrox that R2 has high fever and threw up. Whatever elation I felt just about disappeared. The rest of the day was a blur, but last night as I was lying in bed, a few thoughts occurred to me:

1. I am guilty of the sin of being impatient with God. Because of that, I came so close to missing out on this nice surprise that He had in store for me. It is only His awesome love and generosity that has brought about this totally undeserved blessing. Like the Israelites in the desert, who were too busy whinning to see His blessings, I am an undeserving recipient of His manna and quail. I am overwhelmed by His love.

2. God also made it pretty clear that despite my sustained whinning, the "extravagent luxury" I wanted wasn't really all that important to me. The reality is that lots of other things more much more important - my family and their well-being being one such example. For some strange reason it is so easy to forget that. I am half convinced that the next time I see a young guy driving a sports car or sitting in business class, I will again forget and start to whine again. Lord, please help me to guard my heart!

3. Maybe I enjoy whinning and complaining about not getting what I want more than the "extravagent luxury" itself. Now that it is within reach, I am basically not ready to take the plunge and get it anyway. What is it about me that thrives when I am curled up in self-pity? How can God Himself see something beautiful enough in something so twisted and wrong that He came to die for me?

My friends, we have an AWESOME, AWESOME God, and we are so priviledged to be loved by Him.