So life continued for me, like a vessel lost in a whole wide ocean. I was enrolled into St Joseph's Institution (SJI) for my secondary school education where I joined NPCC (National Police Cadet Corps) for the 1st two years. I joined not knowing what to expect when my form tutor walked in one day and asked who hasn't gotten an ECA (extra-curricular activity) yet and that NPCC was looking for more recruits. So in an attempt to get me "out of trouble", I joined the club with my friend. However, there seems to be some issues about his nationality being a Malaysian and I ended up in the club alone without friends. 2 years past and the only achievement I got from the ECA was only a first-aid batch, no rank, no nothing. No genuine friends too.
The year 1997, Secondary 3 and I quit NPCC to join the Drama club with my classmate because our crush on our form teacher who was the teacher-in-charge. I could remember my 1st role during one of the trainings as a pregnant woman giving birth. Didn't know I could act!
U know, teenage years - the rebellion age. I stole, played skateboard. couldn't be bothered with school work etc. I feigned I had a stomachache in my final exams on the day of my E Maths paper and History paper. Funnily, instead of not taking into account these 1.5 subjects, the school still counted my results based on the 8 subjects I took, hence equating these 1.5 papers as 0 (zero). Could remember the down look of my assistant form tutor as she walked into my class and told me she need to talk to me outside my room...
She told me I have to find another school because I failed my overall results. Now you might think: Did Jesus not care for me anymore? Why did He allow this to happen? Isn't He the greatest redeemer of all time? I did not think about all these at that time because there was simply no god in my life, let alone turning to Jesus for help. But the best thing I am going to share to you is that Jesus doesn't leave us AT ALL. Everything in our lives, like mine, are going according to His perfect plan and He is always out there trying to bring us closer to Him every minute. He is the only pro-active god in the world. He loved us first because He created us first. Nothing we do can ever repay Him for his goodness and blessings showered on us. Like Casting Crowns' "Who am I?" The lyrics go: "who am I, that the Lord of all this earth would care to know my name, would care to feel my hurt... Not because of who I am, but cause of what He done, not because of who I am, but because of what You are.."
How true! What had "He done"? God has allowed His only son Jesus to come down to earth to live amongst us, only for a sole purpose, for Him to die and atone for all our sins and to reconcile us back to Him. The bible wrote, "
For God so loved the world that He gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life." (John 3:16 NIV)
So who is God? Who is the "You" in the above song? He is God and He is love. He first loved us when He created us. Together with the music we love, He was the creator of EVERYTHING. We are imprinted with God's signature because we were created in His image. What a privilege! "
So God created man in HIs own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them." (Genesis 1:27 NIV)
Devotion: Think about everything little thing you love in life. Be it an activity, a person, an equipment (like your drums!), music or simply just nature. Now remind ourselves that God was the creator of all of these. Isn't He a great God? (both literally and figuratively!)
