The Great Adventure

Going to the airport in 1/2 hours’ time… have mixed feelings about the long long flight…
I’m headed to the US… final destination Indianapolis, Indiana. Will be there for a Global Music and Creative Arts Ministry Leaders’ Summit, hosted by Keynote (our US counterpart ministry).

On one hand, I know I get to ‘rest’ a little from the hectic and packed schedule the past 2-3 weeks.. it’d be a little ‘breather’, where I get a little bit more space for think time etc. Yet on the other hand, I know I’d be confined to a fairly small space for almost 20 hours… (Just few days back I already almost couldn’t ‘tahan’ a 3 hour flight to Macau with Lil!!)

Anyways, I’d appreciate your prayers for me, as I’d be traveling alone this time round. Will be transiting in LA… stay one nite there (to break the journey), and then leave the next morning for Indianapolis. Please also pray for Lil and the kids. I know I’m gonna miss them a lot… considering that it’s quite a long trip overall. (Will be back Nov 11th)

Today I received news that I’ve been quietly hoping for a while. However, it was not a frantic ‘If-I-don’t-get-it-I’ll-die’ kinda waiting… I’ve come to a place of surrender… leaving the whole issue to Him, knowing that He knows what’s best for me.

Yes, I’ve been hoping that this current in-camp training with my army unit, would be my last one. And today, we looked at the MR list and there was a ‘Yes’ next to my name! I couldn’t believe it first… Anyway, MR basically means that we go into Mindef Reserve (in layman terms, it simply means we no longer have the yearly in-camp trainings obligation anymore!)

For most (if not all) men in Singapore, these are the letters they most wish to hear…during their NS days… beside ROD or ORD! =) For me, it’s been long time coming… I’m almost hitting 40, and I’m only just finishing my commitment to National Service. Most of my platoon mates are only about 30, and they’re done!
(This is mostly due to the fact that I deferred quite a number of times, plus I was studying abroad a good 4 years)

Then in the evening another pleasant surprise. I received my long-service award- which bascially honor servicmen for 10 years of faithful service to the nation. In a nice red box, was a beautiful gold-plated medal, plus a nice Hamilton watch, and little SAF tie pin. I’m no SAF fan per se, but I felt good… and appreciated to receive this gift from them.

Somehow, there’s bittersweet feelings… Somehow I felt ‘sad’ that this could very well be my last time wearing the army uniforms, firing the SAR21 (rifle), going out into the jungle etc. At the same time I’m glad it’s all ‘over’. Unless there’s a real war, those who MR will prob be just civilians from now on…

So this is my last in-camp training.. and quite a relax one at that.
Today is Day 2, and even though I failed my 2.4k run (by only 3 seconds), my spirits are high.
It was cool also to be able to re-connect with some friends, and trust God for PDA encounters. I’m praying for more of those…

One more day, and the movers are coming!! Yieeks… we’ve not finished packing!

Despite all our efforts, (and my wife has worked SOOO hard! Thank u darling…) we’ve yet to finish up packing up all our stuff. It’s amazing to see how much stuff we really have in the house! And how much stuff we don’t really need. We’ve taken this opportunity to de-clutter… but I must admit that it’s not been easy.

I get really stressed when I have to pack my things. I’m really bad at decided whether I should keep things or throw them. I get too sentimental when I begin lookin all my things (some dating back to Poly days…) But today’s packing, I was literally throwing things. If I paused for an extra second or so, I might have decided to keep it!

Actually, I’d much prefer if Lil packed it for me, that way I don’t see what she’s throwin away. hehe….

On Tuesday nite, we were involved in a rather serious car accident…

We’re just very thankful that in spite of the seriousness of the accident (it was a 4 car pile up; we were the 2nd car, and we were hit twice from behind)… we didn’t sustain any injuries.

In fact, moments before the accident I (Simon) remember turning back to the kids, and asking Zach to put his seat belt properly. And Josh’s lap belt, which is usually kept quite loose, was properly tightened this time! Praise God for his watch care and protection over our lives.

We were quite shaken up initially (kids were crying for about 5 mins after the accident) but then when we calmed down, we were quite relieved that everyone was ok. And that the main cabin of the car was still intact, and no broken glass etc.

By his grace, we’re all doing fine. Lil and I went to see the doctor the next day, our necks were slightly strained, got headaches off and on. Doc says to just monitor…, but overall seems ok. In the morning God provided a doctor friend fr church (a pediatrician actually!) who came over to our house to check up on our kids. She says they look fine too. In fact, today the kids went out with with Pat and family (and some others) to East Coast in the afternoon. Zach had a fall, and had to go to NUH A+E, but he was alright, just a big bruise on his forehead and near his left eye.

Anyway, do pray that as the accident repairs get sorted out, cos’ in a chain collision like that, it’s quite complicated, and the lawyers of various car workshops would have to ‘fight it out’ to figure out who to ‘blame’ etc. What’s worse is that last car in the chain is a malaysian vehicle (which is sometimes impossible to make a claim from)

Thanks to many for your concerns and prayers…