Transcribed testimony

This is the transcribed version of Gabriel's sharing. For the shorter version/ the main points, please see the post directly above this, or click here. Or you could click here to download the audio file.

Good morning church! I just want to start by wishing all of you a happy Chinese New Year... I made it in time because today is the 15th day right? Haha :)

For those of you who do not know me, my name is Gabriel, and I am up here today to share my testimony and my thanksgiving. Many of you would know that i recently went for an operation, but just to provide some context.. some time at the beginning of this year I discovered that I might have a growth in my brain area, my brain region. I found out because my vision was affected. It was suspected that the growth  might have been pressing on my optic nerve. Subsequently it was identified to be a benign cyst and eventually it was surgically operated on and removed about  2 weeks ago. Thankfully the cyst was in a position where the operation could be done through the nose which is why you don't see any visible scars, because they went through the nose. But you also would be able to tell by my slightly more than nasal voice.

Yesterday grace was asking me 'how come after the operation you become so softspoken?' I didn't become more softspoken!! haha it's just that it's a bit more difficult ot talk now. the op went smoothly and i have been recovering well. I want to take this chance to thank God for everything that he has done throughout the whole period, for placing ppl in my life to help me , for placing ppl in my .life to pray and encourage. for how everything fell into place at his perfect timing. I just want to thank God for his mercy and goodness. I also want to thank the church for praying with me and for being such an encouragement to my family and myself. I want to thank especially the elders and the pastors who were praying and encouraging us all the way from the beginning. I also want to thank all of you who have shown love in one way or another either by visiting me at the hospital, at home, or dropping me an sms, whatsapp, and just coming up toask me how i am doing. I was just sharing in the 1st service just now that my mom jokingly said to me yesterday 'wa, how come you suddenly got so many mothers in church' thank you for all your concern, my family and myself would like to express our deepest appreciation for all your prayers and concern.

I also want to take this opportunity to share that through this whole experience , the most difficult part was not the op itself, but was the period of uncertainty when I first found out that I had a growth in my head, and not knowing what kind of growth it was. it was difficult to ask questions like 'would this growth be cancerous?' and because it was affecting my vision, 'would I eventually go blind?', 'would I require a major operation?' so these were very real questions that I was asking and it was frightening to know that something was growing in my head, it wasn't something that I faced before. So it was worrying. i meditated on Philippians 4 : 6-7. the passage reads "do not be anxious about anything, but by everything, by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be known to God and the peace of God which surpasses all understanding will guard your heart and minds in Christ Jesus."

And as I prayed, 4 comforting truths came to mind, and i would like to share it with you. Firstly, I was reminded that God who created me knows whatever is in my head better than anyone else can know. Since he is in control, I do not have to worry. Secondly, God who is willing to give his Son up for me loves me more than anyone else can love me. Since he is in control, I do not have to worry. Thirdly, God who cured me of my worst possible disease, which is sin, through Christ Jesus, is able to cure me of any other disease. Since he is in control, I do not have to worry. Lastly, even if God allowed the worst possible scenario to occur, Ii know that this life is not all that is, in Christ i have everything from now to eternity, and nothing can change that. Therefore, God is still in control, I do not have to worry.

It was still a struggle, I still definitely wanted the medical results to show that there was no problem, but I chose to believe that even if it didn't turn out that way, God knew what he was doing. and whatever God is doing, it's always good. and because of that, I believe I experienced that peace that transcends all understanding in Christ Jesus, and I did not despair and I was able to continue living life normally during that period of time. And so I thank God that he allowed the growth to be a benign cyst, and I thank God for the operation that went smoothly, but most importantly I would like to thank God for Jesus Christ, for because we believe in him, we shall not perish but have eternal life. And so can I invite everyone to sing the song 'In Christ alone' together as a church, because it speaks of how Jesus Christ is our hope, our life, our strength, our all in all. Thank you.

My magical hair

Haven't been blogging for a while, so here's a short random blog post about... my hair.

When I was living in the US, my hair did magical things overnight. Some mornings I wake up and my hair is in an incredible state of disarray.

I had many more photos but most of them were deleted accidentally, so I am left with these. Enjoy.

[caption id="" align="alignnone" width="288"] This ain't so bad yet..[/caption]



[caption id="" align="alignnone" width="288"] How does my hair become like that seriously. This almost looks deliberately styled.[/caption]



 

That is all

Snowball

No, this is not a blog post about how much I love the snow or throwing snowballs (I do love these two though). This is a blog post about how the tiniest and seemingly most insignificant events and decisions in my life seem to just snowball into the most amazing and wonderful things.

1) Decision to play drums

I was actually on the visuals team for my church's worship team, and I was doing visuals during worship practice one day when the rest were having a discussion about the lack of new drummers in the worship team. Having seen me bang around on the drums before (for fun), they asked me to show them what I could do.

Snowballed to...

I am now regularly playing drums for my church's worship team. I can't say my skill level has improved much over the years because I don't play regularly enough neither have I had any form of proper coaching so. Still pretty cool considering how I had never imagined myself playing drums before that fateful worship practice.

 

2) Decision to go for Psych Camp 2010

If you knew me before I went into uni, you would know that I am totally not the rah rah type. I'm chillax and self-conscious, and not the go-for-camp-and-lead-cheer type. Thus I never had the intention to go for any orientation camp when I was entering NUS in 2010.

However, for some tiny reason that I don't even remember, I ended up signing up for Psychology Camp last minute (like literally the week before the camp, and probably got accepted because they have almost no guys)

Snowballed to...

Apart from the great seniors who I got along with well and still kept in contact with, I met the love of my life, szehong, in the camp. It wasn't like we saw each other and Cupid shot us both too - that happened later on, and is another story for another time.



 

3) Decision to go for Arts Orientation Camp 2010

I remember who contributed to this decision - bestie was asking me if I wanted to go O week, and I thought oh well why not.

Snowballed to...

Two years later, I have been a counsellor at 2 Arts Camps and made many many new friends whom I would not have known otherwise. Got to know Nella + Wilbur who I took many modules with and hang out with occasionally. Awesome sauce.

 

4) Decision which almost cost me $2000

This was related to my brief involvement in the world of MLM. The tiny decision I made was to follow my friends to their office just to 'check things out' since I was pretty free.

It snowballed to...

If I had not gone along with them, I would never have committed and got myself into all that mess. I would never have put in $2000 of my money and gone through all that headache after that. If I had just decided to go meet bestie again after the meeting with my friends, I would never have had this life lesson.

I chronicled my experience here: Part 1 and Part 2.

 

5) Decision to go for Union Camp 2012

I didn't even think about going for Union Camp up until after Arts Camp 2012. I learnt that one of my freshies from Arts Camp was going for Union Camp and somehow at that point of time I thought it would be a good idea to go for another camp, I decided to sign up last minute for Union Camp

It snowballed to...

A great few days of meeting yawen, bao, lixia, luomin, and one of the most honest HTHTs I've ever had(which included an ego boost :p). Still keep in contact with those girls and glad to be part of their circle of friends.

 

6) Decision to go for New England Games

I was in the US, and my friend Vince asked me if I wanted to go for this Singapore gathering thing on the day we were supposed to live for New York. I didn't even want to go until the last minute when I had no other plans to leave earlier for NY, and decided to go for it.

It snowballed to...

I finally met the Singaporeans in Boston, after being there for 2 months and not even knowing them. Got to know Aldea, who pulled me into the freshie clique by asking me along with them multiple times, including a trip to NY for the entire Thanksgiving. Also got to know the other Year2s who are an AWESOME bunch of people and had multiple fun outings and dinners and even my first halloween party.





 

7) Decision to go for pingpong

I wanted to join some CCA while in the US, and having heard of the tabletennis club I decided to go for that.

It snowballed to...

Turns out that my roommate played pingpong too and he came along, and played many close games against him. Also met Peter at pingpong, who turns out to be probably the most awesomest person I met in the US.



That's him there on the right. He surprised me with Cheesecake Factory on my birthday when I barely knew him (like met him maybe 3-4 times during pingpong and talked then? bumped into him several times? ) What human being is so kindhearted and sweet one!!??! omg hope for humanity.

Through him, got to know many other people too, including melody (the girl next to him) who is just really fun and nice and she loves the Singaporean accent for some reason.

Hung out with Peter a lot, such as dinnering, gymming, playing cards. Damn I'll miss him. I don't care how gay this sounds.

 

8) Decision to watch Survivor

When I was in Sec 1 or 2, I began to watch this show called Survivor, and also texted my church friend Christabel about it and discussed it frequently.

It snowballed to...

10 years of awesome friendship later, Christabel is my bestie and it's funny how our friendship started off through discussing shows and although we don't discuss shows anymore (I blame her, she's not the TV buff she was before), we're still close as peas in a pod.

And of course, multiple seasons of a great TV franchise :p

 

9) Decision to trade a red paperclip

One fine day in 2005, I decided to trade a red paperclip I had for a fish-shaped pen.

It snowballed to...

Over 10 trades and a year later, I am now a proud owner of a 2-storey farmhouse.

Ok fine this didn't happen to me, but it did happen to Kyle Macdonald.