The Great Rat Hunt

Yesterday night at my bunk, I was awoken at midnight to find my bedframe moving. At first I thought I was part of one of those army ghost stories but nothing could be further from the truth. The moving of my bedframe was followed by cries and screams of, "RATS! RATS!" After shaking off the cobwebs I discovered that my bunk mates found a rat running around the bunk and wanted to capture it. So began 1 CDO BN 5th Coy Det 2 vs the rat. Here is the low-down.

The rat took us entirely by surprise.
Score. Rat (1) ; Det 2 (0)

The rat made 12 grown manly men scream and whine like girls.
Score. Rat (2) ; Det 2 (0)

It took 12 men 45 minutes to catch a single rat. Mostly because we were trying to catch the rat and run away from it at the same time, which complicates matters. I hope you understand, it was quite huge and we were scared.
Score. Rat (3) ; Det 2 (0)

The rat was responsible for the instant remodeling of the bunk. Mostly because we were throwing pieces of furniture around to either block the rat's way or get it out of our way. It was messy.
Score. Rat (4) ; Det 2 (0)

The rat die, but it did not die in vain. It died a matyr. Now all rat-kind knows how easy it is to topple mankind from its place as the dominant species on the earth. They are now making plans to that effect.
Score. Rat (5) ; Det 2 (0)

Suffice it to say the rats won. I fear for the human race.

Total Perspective Vortex

"The Total Perspective Vortex, in the fictional world of Douglas Adams's The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, is the most horrible device to which a sentient being can be subjected. Located on Frogstar World B, it shows its victim the entire unimaginable infinity of the universe with a very tiny marker that says "You Are Here" which points to a microscopic dot on a microscopic dot. The machine was originally invented by one Trin Tragula in order to annoy his wife. Because she was forever nagging him for having no sense of proportion, he decided to invent something that would show her what having a sense of proportion really meant. Unfortunately the shock of being placed in the Vortex destroyed her brain, but Trin Tragula's grief was tempered by the knowledge that he had been right and she had been wrong. The Total Perspective Vortex had proved that in an infinite universe the one thing sentient life cannot afford to have is a sense of proportion."
commentary on Douglas Adams' Book "The Restaurant at the end of the Universe"

Imagine this. I am a tiny microscopic speck of dust on a planet called Earth which is a tiny microscopic speck of dust in a galaxy. The galaxy in turn, is just one galaxy among the countless millions in the universe. From this perspective, I do not think I am worthy of the attention of the God who actually created the seemingly infinite universe I live in, in fact I think it might be quite forgivable if he actually forgot me. Instead of being in the center of the universe, I am actually at the point which is furthest from it. No wonder when Douglas Adams was creating a torture device for his book, he created one which tells us where we stand in the universe, insignificant and pathetic. But get this.

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

The God who created this universe loved us so much he was willing to make the ultimate sacrifice for us. We who are so insignificant with regards to the universe he created, and not to mention rebellious. Perhaps Douglas Adams was wrong, we can afford to have a sense of proportion, it is in fact very healthy I think. Especially when I have a God who loves me to death... Literally.

They Can't Take That Away From Me

The way you wear your hat
The way you sip your tea
The memory of all that
No, no, they can't take that away from me

The way your smile just beams
The way you sing off key
The way you haunt my dreams
No, no, they can't take that away from me
We may never, never meet again on on the bumpy road to love
Still I'll always, always keep the memory of

The way you hold your knife
The way we danced 'til three
The way you've changed my life
No, no, they can't take that away from me

No they can't take that away from me

More Than Words

Lost for words? Yup me too...
:)

Passover

The Passover Seder

Lots of people wrongly assume that since we are in the period of the new convenent, most of the things that are in the old testament are obsolete. When I tell some of my Christian friends I was doing a Passover they asked, "Passover? What is that?" It is sad but true that something so significant and important in both the Christian and Jewish faiths is being neglected by us Christians.

Do Christians know about the story of Passover? Do Christians know that the first holy communion ever conducted was conducted on Passover which was recorded in the Gospels? If we do not know the answers to those two questions then I think we are missing a very important part of our Christian faith. Therefore I encourage everyone to be curious not only about the Passover but the rest of the Jewish festivals. I pray that you will see God's plan of salvation for you and the rest of the human race in it.

Code scmode

I have been bombarded many times with questions like this, "is the Da Vinci code real? What do you think of the gospel of Judas?" The very concept of Christianity seem to be in question with recent historical "revelations" of what actually happened in the closing periods of the life of Christ and whether he had left descendants on earth.

So how should we as Christians react to this onslaught? I have a few suggestions. Firstly, I don't think we should fear these so called revelations. As the rabbi Gamaliel (Gamaliel is the teacher of the apostle Paul) said in Acts 5:38,

"For if their purpose or activity is of human origin, it will fail."

The fact is that throughout history there has been countless amount of people or groups who try to question what was written in the Bible. Some of them fell from grace when they were discovered to be fakes, others just simply faded away with time. The point is that the Bible has survived such onslaughts and will continue to survive them in future. Heaven and earth will pass away but the Word of God will live on forever.

Secondly, we should not be surprised that such things are happening because Paul put it in no uncertain terms in 2 Timothy 4:3 & 4 that,

"the time will come when men will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear. They will turn their ears away from the truth and turn aside to myths"

Paul also provides the solution to this problem in 2 Timothy 4:2,

"preach the Word; be prepared in season and out of season; correct, rebuke and encourage with great patience and careful instruction"

and in 2 Timothy 4:5,

"keep your head in all situations, endure hardship, do the work of an evangelist, discharge all the duties of your ministry"

so let the so called experts argue what they like about these matters, we must not let these matters bother us such that we cannot do the work that the living God has instructed us to do.

Lastly, whatever gospels you might have read whether in the bible or not, keep in mind that the most important gospel is the gospel of YOU. You are the salt and light for God, you must shine for Him so that more will come to know His love and His salvation. The Bible is as good as dead if the people of God are not there to live it, to live by its standards and make it come alive. Only through the gospel of YOU that your friends, family and people you know will come to know the Bible, the Matthew, Mark, Luke, John etc... And the Christ that loves them so much that He is willing to make the ultimate sacrifice no matter what people like Dan Brown might say.

Code scmode.

Priceless

Nasi lemak at Changi Village: $2.50

Sugar cane drink: $1.00

Empty beer bottle: $0.00

Photo of Dominic allegedly smoking and boozing away: priceless