We are Seagulls...

Time and tide waits for no man...so goes the ancient over-used adage. So does the fact that the Tag-board on my blog has an expiry date...and the last time I left it on the shelf, it expired and shutdown for me (resulting in all conversations going *POOF*). Yup.

The coming of the New Year has made me have some great resolutions:
1) Devote more time to studying the Lord's Word, to understand His graciousness better.

2) Read MORE widely (from international terrorism journals, to weapons sources, to fairy tales and popular novels). Just finished Bravo Two Zero by Andy McNab...a must read for those who are convicted that the Iraqi regime of Saddam were 'helpless victims' of an evil tyrannical ruler. Not only does it paint Saddam's cronies in a blacker light (there IS BLACK LIGHT), with accounts of the horrific torture that the POWs under their charge went through following their capture.
Have moved on to Angels and Demons by Dan Brown…Joseph lent it to me last week after I asked him what the big deal about Brown’s novels is all about. Well…I must say that his works are truly a great example of how fiction can be woven into fact so well, that the two become an almost-seamless blend of tales.

3) Devote a fixed time in my daily timetable to revise my work diligently (like I’ve been doing for the past semester…for those friends of mine who’ve realized my ‘disappearance’ from the PGP scene). DILLIGENCE is a great way to begin pulling one’s CAP.

4) Fulfill my promise to God on working up my fitness. The story behind this was…abt three weeks ago, on the day of my IPPT, I prayed to God and told him to give me the power and energy to perform well in my IPPT…following which I promised to work hard to get my fitness up to mark for my next year’s challenges (i.e. Overall health and wellness, Marathons, Biathlons…etc). Yup…the coming sem will see me not only mugging a lot, but also running a lot (esp at night, when I’m really zonked out from staring at thick never-ending stacks of readings). Yup…any of u wanna join me…just give me a buzz/msg and meet up to run! =)

Oh yup…during the New Year’s sermon I attended…noted down an inspirational quote for us all to ponder.

“Do all things without complaining and disputing, that you may become blameless and harmless, children of God without fault in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation, among whom you shine as lights in the world, holding fast the word of life, so that I may rejoice in the day of Christ that I have not run in vain or laboured in vain.” Phillipians 2:14-16

Yup, basically what that means is to be a Counter-Culture rather than a Sub-culture in the face of impending corrupting evil/idolatry. “Shine as stars” while others' incandescent lights die out when the electricity supply gets cut.
Jonathan Livingstone pronounced this thought clearly through his story of “Seagull”. In it, the seagull which once grappled and wrestled with other lesser birds like mynahs for scraps of food realized one day that it was made for greater things. One morning, it soared above the sea, and tasted the morning dew for the first time – and found that this surpassed taste of dead rats and rotting scraps down below.
Perhaps, we too – have been too much like the seagull of Livingstone’s conception, my friends. We’ve been caught up in conflicts and issues which are simply not worth our time. Rather than fighting with the crows and mynahs over scraps, and feeding ourselves from hand to mouth…we should think of doing bigger and greater things. Taste the first morning dew. See the first rays of the sun as it creeps over the horizon in the East.