DAVE & GID

2 weeks ago when I started on the book of Judges, one of the first things that struck me is: what makes Gideon so special?

The name "Gideon" first appears only in the 6th chapter of Judges, in verse 11. Prior to this, it was NOT mentioned in any of the books at all. Nothing about him or his life or his character or his growing up years or his favourite food.

What made me puzzled, is how ordinary Gideon seemed.

Gideon was just threshing wheat in the winepress of his father, Joash, when an Angel of the Lord appeared, spoke to him, and proclaimed promises to him. Just like that. WHAM-BOM-BAM!

And so, after the question mark has hung in my head for days, I posed the question to a friend last night. "Gideon." he replied, "Least of the least. Chosen to be one of the judges to deliver the children of Israel. Showing, and using the weak to shame the strong, as long as one is willing to be used."

"Just like David...?" I clarified.

"Yah."

(Had wanted to ask how did he know Gideon was the least of the least. Lucky. Just found it in verse 15 this morning)



I went to bed later that night. Gideon, strangely, was still lingering in my mind. Since days have passed the last I read about Gid, I revisited the passages again. Having read though the passages not too long ago, this time round was relatively easier; because some parts of the passages still look familiar.

I skimmed through the passages, this time picking out the important gists in each. Then, I noticed something which I didn't the first time round.

Gideon was threshing wheat in the winepress of his father, Joash, when an Angel of the Lord appeared and spoke to him. "The Lord is with you, you mighty man of valor!" (verse 11 - 12)


Gideon said to Him, "O my lord, if the Lord is with us, why then has all this happened to us? And where are all His miracles which our fathers told us about, saying, 'Did not the Lord bring us up from Egypt?' But now the Lord has forsaken us and delivered us into the hands of the Midianites." (verse 13)

Oh! How joyful and positive of Gideon. How merry he sounds.

Then the Lord replied, "Go in this might of yours, and you shall save Israel from the hand of the Midianites. Have I not sent you?" (verse 14)

I don't know about you. To me, this conversation sounds like a monologue; each in his own world. It sounds as though Gideon had not spoken at all. Either that, or God had chosen not to hear at all.

And what is this "might of yours" that God was referring to? Gideon sounded as optimistic as a withering flower and as hyped up as a hibernating bear. The total opposite of gung ho David.



Later on in the story, in verse 27, Gid. took ten men from among his servants and did as the Lord had said (i.e. to tear down the altar of Baal). But because he feared his father's household and the men of the city too much to do it by day, he did it by night.

I took a double take. If it is written as "he did it by night because it was a wise decision to make" or something along that nature, it would sound so much more pleasant to the ears. BUT! Gideon did it by night because he FEARED the people. The reason behind the action was wrong in the first place.

Great. Now he sounds timid as well.



Soon, the people learned that Gid. was the culprit who tore down the altar, they were after his blood. Gid, then, asked God for His assurance and affirmations. Twice. And he received it. Twice, too.

The first time:

Gid. said, "If You will save Israel by my hands as You have said - look, I shall put a fleece of wool on the threshing floor; if there is dew on the fleece only, and it is dry on all the ground, then I shall know that You will save Israel by my hand, as You have said." And it was so. (verse 37 - 38)

WOW! This is like a confirm-guarantee-chop-chop answer from heaven. Totally amazing and miraculous, isn't it?

What then, did our dear Gideon do?

"Do not be angry with me," he said, "but let me speak just once more: Let me test, I pray, just once more with the fleece; let it now be dry on the fleece, but on all the ground let there be dew." And God did so that night. (verse 39 - 40)

The profile portfolio?
Gideon: Pessimistic. Timid. And now? Doubtful as well.

Wonderful.



But, I realize, God doesn't see as we human do. Gideon sounds like a scardy cat. God looks beyond that.



When Gideon felt God has forsaken His people and doubted Him, God sees beyond that and still believed in Gideon. Why then, would God affirm him time and again ("mighty man of valour!", "Go in this might of yours")?

When Gideon, still full of doubt despite the first fleece of wool sign, God allowed Himself to be test yet again and fulfilled the second sign just as Gideon has requested. Not once, but twice.

It only sends one clear message: What we couldn't believe initially, God believes on our behalf. And draws us out slowly until we're ready.



Eventually? Gid defeated the Midianites, and led Israel for forty years. He had 70 sons, and died at a good old age.



David and Gideon. Loud and soft. Confident and uncertain. Brave and timid. Gung ho and fearful. Faith and doubt.

David and Gideon. Different as day and night.



One area they have in common?
Being the least of the least, humble, always seeking God, and willing to be used by Him.

AHHHH....

The only choral groups which I've ever supported (read: fan) in this life of mine are: Backstreet Boys, and DBSK.






If DBSK disbands, I'll be so sad, so sad, and so sad.

So SAD.

THE 10K RULE

You know what?

It takes 10,000 hours of practice to be a master in something.

This means that your dreams, your aims, and what you want to be good in, are only 10,000 HOURS AWAY FROM REACH.









As so are everybody's.



Herein the difference lies:
Would you step out? Would you make the sacrifice and keep to it? Would you maintain the self-discipline? Would you lurch into the deep? Would you persevere on? When things are not comfortable, would you still trust? When the going gets tough, would you still keep on keeping on?



Everything - more or less - always boil down to this:
It's not really about CAN you, but WOULD you?

One word: Willingness.

OSTRICHES

I've always liked ostriches.

I ADORE their disproportionally-sized small heads and big eyes.

Cute!

They look so awesomely clever. In a quirky and dorky way.

1.5hrs + 0.40hrs = 2.10hrs

Chemistry (CS1) batch; [January 2009 intake!]

Thursday was the very very very last day of the talk. This means that officially, our last day in campus as a trainee is drawing to a close. The next - and last - time we'll be back in campus would be on the 20th Jan 2010; for the Investiture Ceremony. This feels a little duh! Because my last graduation convocation was like, on the July of this year, which is, like, only 4 months ago? And now, graduation ceremony again? DUH.

Anyway, on Thursday, the talk ended at 1pm. A whole batch of us adjourned down to JP for lunch. It was quite horrible, because it was lunchtime. To make it worse, this is the last day of our trainee days. This implies that my group is not the only group to decide on a "farewell" lunch at the neighbouring mall. Uh-oh.

After much ado, we managed to get a seat for 10.

The service was horrible. Our ice water took ages to come. As so did our beverages and snackers. We only got to tuck into our main course after a good 1.5 hours of waiting. By then, we were contemplating canceling our orders after polishing off the beverages and snackers. I mean, hello, munching on snackers and sipping our single glass of beverage for a good 1.5 hours just to wait for the main courses is ridiculous! And throughout the entire 1.5 hours, no waiter came forward to refill our iced water. We had to contend with the only SINGLE glass of beverage which we've each ordered. JX ended up going up to the counter and refilling his himself. He came back, and noted that they are seriously understaffed in there. There were just about 3 or 4 serving staffs handling this heavy lunchtime crowd.

Anyway, after 1.5 hours, our main course finally arrived. We had to wait for a few minutes more while they bring us some chilli sauce. We arrived at 1.30pm, but only got a taste of our main course at 3pm (!!!). That makes it 1.5 hours of waiting. Afer devouring off our main courses, MY noted that we took 1.5 hours to wait for a meal which we finished eating in 40 minutes.

(note the empty glasses)

Bored with all the waiting!

In the end, we got cheeky. There were no feedback forms on the tables, and we reasoned that they must have already known that the service here leaves much to be desired and thus scrapped away with the feedback forms altogether. Nevertheless, we still offered our customer feedbacks, though.

(I asked Ahmad to strike off the "we understand" part; because I certainly don't understand. This is the F&B and service industry. They should hire more help instead of keeping customers waiting - simple as that. Ahmad jested back and lurched into his theory of how teachers should be encouraging blahblahblah)

Everyone at the table was just so fascinated with the "customer feedback form"!

PACKED WEEK

This week has been a PACKED! week.

On Monday, there was a talk in campus at Boon Lay from 8am - 5pm. This means waking up at 6am, leaving the house at 6.30am, and reaching back home at 7pm. Slept at 12am plus that night.

On Tuesday, the talk continued from 8am - 11.30am (had to wake up at 6am again! Shucks!). After lunch, the whole lot of us had to adjourn to HQ SCE army camp. Finished at 5pm. Loitered around Jurong Point after that, and went for a seminar session at 7.45pm. Reached home at near 11pm plus. Showered. Dinner. Online. Hair dried. Slept at 1am plus.

On Wednesday, the talk - as usual - started at 8am (woke up at 6am again! Shucks, shucks!). It - as usual - lasted until 5pm. After which, I met up with TR, Mel, and KX at Orchard Ion at 5.40pm. Shopped, had dinner, and shopped again. Reached home at 11pm plus. Showered. Dinner. Online. Hair dried. Slept at 1am plus.

Today, Thursday, is the LAST day of the talk! Again, it started at 8am (shucks, shucks, shucks!); ended at 1pm. Since this is the last time we'll meet, we adjourned for lunch at Jurong Point - and ended up in a restaurant which service is, well, horrible (shall talk more about it in another post!). Finished lunch at 4pm. Shopped for birthday gift. Left JP Boon Lay station at 5pm and headed down to Simei. Fell asleep throughout the train journey. At 6pm, when I was at Tanah Merah Station, PH called and woke me up from the slumber. Dinner was canceled. Alighted at Pasir Ris Station and took the bus home instead. Reached home at 7pm.

TIRED! Byebye!



Oh yeah, the visit to HQ SCE.




We were saying, some of the vehicles and tanks look sooo impressive. Some of them are able to "open up" and morph into something else. It totally remind us of the TRANSFORMERS!

And, yes, one more thing: Investiture Ceremony is happening on the 20th Jan 2010! I'M GRADUATING (again?)!!! Ermmm... My last graduation ceremony was on mid-July this year. It's only 4 months ago! This feels a little... duh?

CONTROL

"The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak.

Which controls your life? The spirit? Or the flesh?"



WOW.



P.S. Rev. Treat said this. Not me.

YOU KNOW YOU'RE AGING WHEN...

1) You start cutting out coupons, discount vouchers, and getting hooked by McDonald's Monopoly game and the likes.

2) Unlike previously - you got bombarded with birthday chalet or party invitations every other day - but now, it's more of hearing out friends' marital woes or relationships problems, encouraging friends who are undergoing marriage counseling, kena-ing red bombs, baby showers and the likes.

3) Your wallet - like magic - gets increasingly bloated. NRIC. EZ-link. NUS matriculation card. NIE matriculation card. Citi card. Citi SMRT card. HSBC card. POSB ATM card. Cash Card. NETS Flashpay card. Popular membership card. AlumNUS card. The Minds member card. Watsons member card. Mount Zion member card. Passion card. Gr8 pal card. HSA card. Organ donor card. Polyclinic card. Private doctor's card. CSC card (not yet, 'cos I've NOT YET gone down to CISCO to get that face shot taken. Aishhh... Shucks!) Oh, yeah, throw in bits and pieces of #1 as well.



Which reminds me, I really ought to get a new wallet SOON (someone please kick me out of this procrastination). The existing one has served me faithfully for, what? 5 years? Practically falling apart into pieces now.

NICHE

"It's not about the bike: My journey back to life" by Lance Armstrong.



I've been reading this book for a couple of weeks now, juggling it along with those that I've bought in early Oct.

Last night, while lying on the bed waiting for sleep to whisk me off to dreamland, a sudden thought dawned.

"Everyone has a talent, do you believe it? 行 行 出 状 元。 There are so many types of jobs and works. Everyone has a talent. It is just a matter of discovering it. Can you imagine that? If a person ever discovers that hidden talent and exercises it daily, of what prominence that person would achieve?" The older brother had once told me this.

It has been so many years ago; so long ago that I can't even remember how old young we were at that time when the conversation took place. Whether had he said that just to dope the silly / naive / gullible me back then; I had - and still have - no idea. One thing is sure though: I still remember this statement up till this day because I had believed it back then. I was half marveling and half despairing at the vast pool of jobs / works of different nature out in the world. Would I ever be able to discover mine? I had thought, feeling like this is nowhere easier than searching for a needle in a haystack. No, scratch that. Make it a ear stick.

Last night, before sleep overtook me, this flashback of memory - like a silent ghost - drifted into the mind out of nowhere.

I know the book written by Lance Armstrong is about his battle with cancer, overcoming it, and going on to win the Tour. Last night, though, I had a different perspective.

Look at Armstrong. He has this talent in competitive cycling. His physical finesse is amazing; he has an aerobic capacity of 83.8mL/kg/min of VO2 max (the average person has 40 - 50), he has a higher-than-normal tolerance for pain, and he has other physical attributes that I would not mention here because, well, you know, the jargon baffles me.

He has this inborn talent for cycling.

However, what if, this same Armstrong is not born in America, but, let's say, Ethiopia? Despite this being the same person we're talking about here - with the same physical attributes and iron mental will - would things have turned out different? Would he have been exposed to the world of cycling and biking in the first place? Or would this talent be buried forevermore?

You?

If you had taken up fashion designing, could you be the second-generation Valentino?
If you had taken up sculpting, could you be the next Michaelangelo?
In the world of competitive swimming, the next Micheal Phelps?
The world of singing, the next Celine Dion?
The world of writing, the next Stephen King?
The next Martin Luther? The next Picasso? The next Issac Newton? The next Da Vinci? The next Beethoven? The next Gong Li? The next Jack Neo? The next Li Jia Wei? The next Bill Gates? The next Warren Buffett?

Nature versus nurture is a common bone of contention and debates. I've always thought it's a mixture of BOTH nature and nurture. The diamond is always there, hidden inside somewhere; it just takes a bit of fire, polishing, perseverance, time, and patience to bring it out.

Me?

It's one thing to be good in some things, but it's another to be excellent and a natural in it.



Me?

I'm still in the midst of discovering my own niche. But, you know what? In this game of searching and hide-and-seek, God is a Master Player.

In the world of chess, He's the chess player and we're the chess pieces. For areas the chess pieces dare not explore, I pray that He extends his finger and give it that extra push of strength and courage.