My second post for February. I guess it's fair to say that I've been pretty tired. Fortunately the last 11 days or so haven't been too bad.

Thanks everyone for your words of encouragement over my dad's condition, whether you've done it verbally, through words written down, or words sent through MSN or email. I'm really appreciative of your support and prayers.

My concussion symptoms seem to be going away and my left arm's muscle pull seems to have healed. I hope my concussion symptoms will really go away soon so I can get back to exercising. I miss my weekly soccer times.

Most of last week was spent preparing for International Night. You see, it was Mission Emphasis Week at SBC and I'm in the Student Mission Fellowship. International Night was the responsibility that was assigned to me and I had to work with the Chinese SMF who were the organisers this year. International Night consists of a static country display and a concert. Things went pretty well but by the time the concert came round, I was so tired. All I wanted to do was go home and sleep. But I'm glad I stayed till the end. I wouldn't have wanted to miss all the wonderful items by the presenting countries.

Somehow or rather, the effects of Mission Emphasis Week and International Night carried over to this week. So this week, I've been a little tired. It wasn't helped by two late nights preparing for a presentation and a prayer meeting. I should try to do more work in the day but that's when my concussion symptoms are most active. Argh.

Oh, I have a webcam now. Esther got it for me and sent it from Hong Kong where she had been on a home visit after she decided to get one herself. I never thought of getting one, but now that I have one, it's quite cool. And it's quite a nice looking webcam too, with bronze coloured metal and plastic finishing. It's certainly nice to be able to see Esther and let her see me too.

Had a good talk with a classmate yesterday. She had asked me about my dad and in the process, she told me about what her family went through with her mum's brain cancer. Along the way, she asked me if I had met someone yet (that I might marry). Before you get any funny ideas, my classmate is married! Anyway, I told her about Esther and how we met. I had to adjourn midway through my story as the rest of my classmates began to enter the room. One of them said I looked as if I was a new lecturer, the way I was standing at the front of the room and talking to my classmate who was sitting in the first row. Ha!

Anyway, after class we resumed our conversation and I finished my story. My classmate encouraged me to continue to commit everything to the LORD and told me how having this attitude caused her to find the man who she would marry. Then she prayed for me and Esther that God's will for us would continue to be worked out.

Somewhere during that conversation, I showed my classmate Esther's namecard (my classmate was studying in a seminary in Hong Kong at one time) because she asked me which church Esther is from. When she saw Esther's photo on the card, she commented that Esther must be quite a strong character, to which I said she was quite right. So it was somewhat of a surprise when later that evening, Esther said she was feeling down after talking with her pastor. I say "somewhat of a surprise" because I guess we all face ups and downs in ministry so I really shouldn't be surprised. Anyway, she was feeling down because she didn't think she could meet her pastor's expectations. I figured that cheering her up wouldn't be that easy so I explored with her the roots of her low mood. I directed her to remember that God is the only one we need to account to, and in the end she was feeling a lot better and she affirmed that I had solved her problem.

I felt quite satisfied after that. It's been a long time since I remember exercising my gift of encouragement in such a systematic way. I guess it was a good reminder for me that I was given this gift to help others so I am glad I made that effort. It was quite funny because when I was talking with my classmate, she commented that it was nice to have a conversation like that because most of the time, conversations in school can be pretty academic and mundane, particular among guys. I told her that I'm quite happy to listen and try to help people with their difficulties. So in a way, that night I had to live up to my words! ^_^

If you're reading this and you need someone to talk to, I don't mind listening. I can't promise to solve your problem, but I'll certainly try.

Thank You Lord for all that You have given to me and all that You have given to others through me. ^_^