This is kind of a lame title for a post, but I do feel like I want to blog during the last day of the year. I wonder if this is one of those days where blog entries suddenly peak (apart from 1st of Jan).
Swee Yee and Lin Zhi are coming over to my house to count down with myself and Jerome. There's a lot lesser of us than expected but then again it's not always about numbers. I hope we have end the year and start a new one in a meaningful way together. And tomorrow - it's hello 2012! Come to think of it a whole lot of chemicals in my lab are going to expire when the new year comes in.
Next year campus is going to lose Simon around mid-year. He's going to study theology and serve God in a different way from now. Personally I think I'll miss Simon a lot. He really made a difference to my campus life. I always look to various people at different stages of my life for someone whose light I can follow, and I'm thankful I've always met such persons. And I think in Singapore I've always looked to Simon the most. How he loves the Word of God and has sacrificed so much time and energy to prepare Bible Study for us. How he lives the Word of God by relentlessly serving, and loving, and by just being there. How he is so passionate and so serious when he delivers BS messages. And even his FB wall posts is a daily reminder of how I should not stray from the Word of God, from my responsibility to share the gospel, from living a life of love, from admiring the bigness and awesomeness of God as who He is.
I'm really thankful for Simon and thankful to God too, for having big plans for him elsewhere where he could touch the lives of others too.
Wai Pheng is getting married in around two weeks time. I think I'm really blessed to have time to attend both her wedding ceremony and the dinner. It was Wai Pheng who brought me (and many others including Jon) to GLCC, and I am glad I came to this church. Wai Pheng has a special place in my heart - and I sincerely hope that she will have a wonderful marriage life.
Last night during our Romans Bible Study we discussed on how people are reluctant to talk about sin when preaching the gospel. They always preach about love, joy, peace in your heart when they talk about Christ, but that's not all what God is, and when you're not describing God as a whole, you're not describing Him as He is. God is also a righteous God, a holy God who abhors sin. And God's righteousness and holiness is part of who He is, making Him beautiful, magnificent and beyond compare. That's why if we do not deal with sin properly in our lives, we are in great danger - for God desires Christians to pursue after holiness.
So many times we tailor the gospel for listening ears in hope that it will be easier to accept. We blur out the uglier parts and emphasize on what people feel that they need in their hearts. But the gospel is for a listening heart - and I believe if we preach the full gospel as it is, the Spirit will grant understanding; and blessed are those who accept God in His terms, not on their own.
There are still many big and little issues I will have to spring-clean in my life and my prayer for 2012 is that I pursue holiness, pursue love, and have steadfast faith in Christ at all times.
