Paul Arrives Downunder

My passion blows swift
It is a rushing wind
A love so strong,
Yet lost in Its sense.

I want my love
To love your inner being
For better and worse
To fall deeper with you.

The past week has been utterly hectic for me. I led worship and bible study for Studentlife on Tuesday and Wednesday. My Tuesday was literally packed to the minute. I had a lecture and a prac till 12, then i had to RUSH all the way to the Old Geo building to lead worship which was meant to start at 12pm.

It was a completely new experience. As i walked into the lecture hall, i began to realise the full extent of what I had gotten myself into. The hall was filled with ~30 people that I didn't know. I didn't have a mic. All I had were my two trusty friends: Chris on his guitar, and Jane on her keyboard. I had my guitar too. It's terribly hard to lead worship with no mic, and un-amped guitars. Yet it's terribly easy to just let the Lord take full control - I could feel the presence of God so strongly in that worship session. Sure, the music wasn't great and I sounded like a dolphin on crack, but I'm sure God was pleased. That's all that matters.

I think the highlight of my week was our game against the Mighty Mauritians. Right after the worship session, which ended at 1pm, I rushed off to the hockey pitch for my futsal match at 1.20pm. Tommy, Jase, Jono, Daz, Nigel, TWang were already set to take on the aggressive Mauritians. These guys totally thrashed us 4-0 in the past, and we simply stood NO CHANCE against them. They made us look like school boys chasing after butterflies.

Well, we started the game off with the intention of sitting back and trying not to lose by too big a margin so as to save our shame. Unexpectedly, I had a fortunate break and managed to slot the ball home in the first 5 minutes. Daz, Jono and Tom Wang really stuck their bodies into every challenge, they chased every ball like dogs on heat! Consequently, Jono and T Wang suffered substantial injuries. Soon enough, Tom Wang converted a second and we were 2-0 up! lol! We continued to dominate most of the match to seal a 2-1 victory over the Mauritians. Booyah! :) But this will go down as one of my biggest victories.

I led the Studentlife bible study on Weds. Joce and Aud came along to give me some support. I reckon i did a rather poor job. I don't know what got into me that day. I had PBL that morning, but i just didn't feel like talking AT ALL -.-"" I think it was fatigue.

Paul, my funny cousin, just arrived from Singapore on Weds for a 3 week holiday. People think I'm lame and extremely eccentric, but I think Paul surpasses me by leaps and bounds in this area. He's always full of funny jokes and corny stories! haha! We got a chance to have a kick at Fungus soccer last night. I've never played soccer with Paul until the start of this year. He's actually pretty good. Dan Lim, Paul and I combined to pull of some awesome stuff last night - can't wait for the next Futsal session!

Hearing From God

This week's been a very eventful one.. it fully deserves the credit of my 500th post!

"Honest question; where are his balls?"
- Audrey Tan Hui Ya
-

"Ball sense -If you touched me in the balls; I'd be able to sense it."
- Tommy Wu something something
-

"So... do you touch others or do you touch yourself?"
- Audrey Tan. In response to my response to her initial question

-

God put 2 strong passions/ crazy ideas in my heart on the way to the city this Monday. As I was fighting my fatigue in the back seat of my Odyssey, half asleep, i thought about:

1) CIA Welcome for Fungus
2) Setting a trend with Christian Tees

When I was at the rally, I realised that there wasn't a lot of excitement leading up to it.. I was just "going through the motions" - a situation which i absolutely detest. And the fact that it was my final year at Fungus began to dawn upon me, and I wanted to do something before I left.

On that night, Tim (Chris's friend) came to speak to me. He asked me a rather probing question (and i believe God made him ask it): "So how's it like being a Fungus leader?"

I wasn't stumped. I knew my answer; but I definitely was rather disappointed at the realisation of the severity of my response.

"Average," I said. "Very average. I've been a very normal leader."

Well, Chris is one person God used to speak to me. Another unexpected figure is Pete's friend, whose name escapes me! x.-" Anyway, I spoke to him during one of the rehearsals. He asked if I wanted to go outside for a walk. He pulled out a fag the moment we stepped out into the fresh air and confessed that he smokes a box a day. We had a convo which had me absolutely baffled at numerous points.

Here's what I got out of it: He was thrown outta the house and disowned by his parents at the age of 14 because he wasn't hardworking, he then went on to start a car factory with his cousin which really took off. He now owns 5 car factories importing and selling cars from Italy, Japan, Amercia and other parts of Europe. He spends 3 days a week bossing his 40 workers around. He was part of the 2nd best break dancing crew in Australia, and frequently took part in famous dance comps. However, his crew disbanded not too long ago and he lost interest in breakdancing ever since. He has a red sach in Shaolin Kung Fu and used to teach kids at some martial arts school. He currently lives in a house on the most expensive street in Toorak. He's only 20.

I didn't take too much of a fancy towards him, and i can't help but to think that he's lying. Regardless, he said something that really got me thinking... and i have reason to believe that God spoke to me through him.

"If you want to do something, just go out and do it. Most people study and wait till they get their degrees; then they do what others tell them to."

-1-

These things really got into my head that Monday morning. I was in a daze, but there was a World War going on in my head - it might have been a dream. About CIA. We had a core leaders meeting months ago about how we can motivate the CIA members and to make CIA an integral part of Fungus. We talked about having a Welcoming Room for the newcomers where ice barriers can be broken through board games, electronic games, or a warm coffee and a heart to heart chat on comfy bean bags. I thought that was a great idea. I went a 1/4 of the way, but i failed to get it done.

I can picture a lounge-like room that everyone can chill out in before and after fungus for quality fellowship. Hopefully, the games would break cliques and initiate conversation with those that are a little more shy. I can imagine all the CIA members wearing the CIA logo proudly on their CIA T-shirts hosting the game booths, serving coffee and drinks, and warmly welcoming newcomers.

Well, not anymore.. i want to see it done, and i will do it. I know it will cost quite a bit to get electronic games, or to provide coffee, or to buy bean bags, etc. Whatever, I'm willing to do anything to fund raise. I'll chip in and beg others to chip in. Something has to be done to spice Fungus up again, something has to be done to re-motivate our CIA members. I long to see the day that everyone will be so desirous to join CIA, to speak to newcomers, and to genuinely get to know one another.

-2-

The other idea was radical. I went to shop at the Essendon DFO last week and bought a pair of Billabong jeans that had a fancy tag on it with the brand name "Billabong" fancily grafittied on it. The idea came to me that it would be feasible to have insane grafitti of the powerful, life-changing Word of God on T-shirts!

I know that there are plenty of "Christian Tees". BUT, the reason why we all don't wear them is because of either one of, or a combination of the following:

1. Quality
2. Size: they never seem to fit well
3. Marketing: we never hear or see the good ones advertised

Imagine if the Quality was as good as the branded ones and if the sizes fitted PERFECTLY. Marketing is pretty straight forward. It would be cheap cuz we won't be profit-oriented. I could imagine everyone in Uni wearing Christian Tees with fully-sick grafitti biblical truths on them! It would be a crazy fad.. and lots of people would be wondering who Jesus is!

All we need is:

• Most importantly, God
  
• A high quality clothing manufacturer
• A group of creative designers

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I had my Hep B vaccination this Monday. I walked out of the Microbiology Dept in the medical wing of Melb Uni and sat down in the cool breeze just staring at the barren trees and the vast white sky. I began to wonder what defines true greatness in man. I thought abt the doctor that just gave me the vaccine, and I thought; all Doctors, and other health professions can, and ever will do is to cure diseases and fix problems. They're a secondary solution to the real problem.

JESUS is who people really need. It saddens me how corrupted and disfigured our society is. It pains me how people reject Jesus, the one who loved us so much that he suffered and died for us. I want to see Jesus glorified... because He deserves it.

That's what drives me.