basic DNA

Today is the 1st day of my 2 day course at NIE. It's called basic DNA Science. Thought it would be a pretty boring course, but it turned out to be quite ok, plus we had some interesting hands-on activities. I came a little late due to a traffic jam n the video had already started. It was telling us about DNA n how a normal human being has 46 chromosomes altogether, anything more or less n we would be in trouble. Another point that caught my attention was something the person doing the voiceover said. He mentioned that a human being's n a plant's DNA was abt 45 % similar while a human's DNA is 99% similar to a mouse, n it seemed like all the DNA found in different species came from the same ancestor. To me, it seemed like everything just fit together like a puzzle, of course, that's because this "ancestor" is God! Our Father in Heaven created everything on this earth, we all have the DNA of our Creator. Our lecturer later explained to us how scientists had took more than 20 or 30 years to figure out what DNA was made up of n how it was actually a pretty simple process, to the scientists, when it was figured out at last. It really makes me think of human beings in general. Many of us set out thinking about things in a very complicated manner, when these things are actually very straightforward n simple. We as humans just like to complicate matters. Going for this course today also allows me to marvel at God's creation, how He managed to form every living thing in such an amazing way, especially when we had an activity on extraction of DNA from a banana slice, where the DNA was so visible after we allowed it to settle into the mixture of some chemicals for a while. It was really cool seeing the strands of DNA come to the surface of the mixture. Although i'm not much of a science person, i would say that i have found this course to be more enriching than i thought it would be.

A relaxing Saturday

Yesterday was a really nice n relaxing day for me. The day started with me attending bro kelvin n sis jun-er's holy matrimony. i thought it was a really sweet process...the matrimony. They had a very nice powerpt slide presentation with a really nice n sweet song playing to it, n Pst Derek had a good message as well. I really enjoy attending weddings, cos everyone looks so happy n cheery n the whole atmosphere has a very sweet feel to it..that's how i would describe it..hee :) Well this is the 1st wedding out of 3 that i will be attending during these 2 months. The next 2 will be in dec n they'll be my colleagues' weddings. Hope they'll be as nice as the church weddings i have attended this yr :)

Later that night, we went to catch the latest Harry Potter movie. Being a great fan of the Harry Potter books, i was really interested in catching the movie n i was pleasantly surprised n happy that meiling suggested catching it after dinner. This latest part is much darker than the previous ones, but nevertheless i thought it was pretty good still, though at certain parts i would get a shock cos things would just jump up unexpectedly. It was really interesting watching the way things were presented in the movie, parts of the Quidditch World Cup n the entrances made by the students of the other 2 schools that were taking part in the triwizard tournament cos they were pretty huge parts in the book. And there were very funny scenes as well especially when the boys were trying to invite girls to the yule ball. I guess it would be a must-watch for harry potter fans. I'll be attending a course for the next 2 days, hope it'll be good.

It was I & E Day on Fri n oh my, it was a REALLY TIRING day too, even though it was the last day of school, for the children at least, cos teachers still have to come back next week. I & E stands for Innovation & Enterprise. It was really tiring for us the teachers cos all the P1s n 2s were running around the classes viewing the different demos by each class n also trying to get pupils to come to their own class to watch the performances. From the looks on their faces, i guess the kids enjoyed themselves VERY MUCH...haha..at the expense of the teachers. Every day, i just feel like teaching saps so much of my energy n at the end of the day when it's time to leave, i feel so drained. At times, i do wonder if this does affect my performance when singing in the choir. Especially this fri, cos i was feeling so tired n yet still trying my best to be as excited as i could. i dun really know what i can really do now to make myself look more excited..so God please help... give me revelations to guide n help me..

Coincidence?..Nope, God's plan :)

Today was my 2nd day at the NE Seminar..really took me a lot of effort to keep awake thruout the whole session today..n honestly, i think i miss my kids...even though i spend quite a lot of my time yelling at time..ha...but the food was gd though..hee...my mum always says all kinds of food tastes good to me anyway even if others dun find it nice..i guess i'm just someone who's easy to please food-wise :)

Then i rushed off to NTU to collect my degree scroll by cab...thanks sabie for calling the admissions office for me :) ..got there at abt 5.30 but when i saw the notice pasted on the table saying that collection of degree scrolls was only up till 4pm, my face just dropped. Thankfully a nice lady came up to me n when i told her why i was there, she helped me get it anyway. Really thank God that i hadn't wasted my taxi fare for nothing, cos i need my scroll by tomorrow..or rather today looking at the time i'm writing this blog.

After that i headed off for BS in church, this time i managed to get into the auditorium..finally! after 2 weeks in overflow room :) ...i still love being in the audi itself, cos that's where the presence of God is still the strongest n we are just so much nearer to Pst Kong, a great man of God n one can just sense the anointing of God flowing out of him...which is wat he talked abt today.. something that i want n need so much of every day..in fact all of us need it..i won't say too much now so i dun spoil your expectancy of his sermon today ;)

When i got inside the audi, i spotted 3 empty seats that weren't booked yet near the musician side in the 1st row, so i hurried there n booked all 3 seats, hoping some of our members could sit together..but no such luck cos the rest of them were not in church yet n B4 was already really crowded...so i gave up 2 of the seats to the cg nearest to me..who was getting quite kan chiong cos they didn't have enough seats for their member n leader...i understand booking of seats in our church..n just then their CGL arrived...n surprise! it was my sec sch classmate Angie! :) Coincidence? Nope God's plan...really thank God He sent someone i knew to sit beside me...not that i mind sitting alone cos i really don't n sometimes i love having time alone to myself...but i was really happy to see her cos i hadn't seen her for sometime,we had a chat abt what we were doing now..remember last time in sec 2 used to go to her house to watch HK dramas in cantonese..though i dun understand a word but i just like the sound of the language..really weird huh?..haha...

Then after BS ended, i met another old friend, this time from my primary school, her name is caiying. I found out from her that she's been attending CHC since April. Hmmm...today seems like a walk back into my past...really pray that God will use me to reap a harvest for Him too...greater courage n anointing Lord...greater anointing from You...

I was watching the 2pm svc online just now n i must say that Pst Ulf's sermon was awe-inspiring as usual.

The message was a bit similar to Fri night's, it was about our calling from God as well, but this time he had a slightly different focus. He spoke about how God would send people to help us fulfil our calling in Christ, and how God would send His angels to help His people to fulfil their calling. Pst Ulf had other stories to say this time as well. He was telling us about how God spoke in his heart to preach about bringing the Jews back to Israel and there was once when he was preaching this message in a particular church n the worship leader was looking at him throughout the whole svc with his mouth wide open. So after the svc, Pst Ulf went up to the man to ask him why he was looking at him in that way during the svc. And the man said he had seen a vision of a light shining down from Heaven, n from that light came a golden carpet which rolled itself out n then some angels (dun remember how many he said) appeared n positioned themselves around the stage. Wow! i guess i would be in awe too if i ever saw such an amazing sight. But what really hit my heart was the revelation that God would send His angels to go before us, to help us, whatever the situation we are in, to help us to do God's will in our lives.

I'm BACK...finally :)

Finally i'm able to post something! After 2 weeks of not being able to go online at home, i actually feel very thankful for being able to use the Internet again. Although people frequently say it's bad and pollutes the mind with not so good things, but it all boils down to how we use it. A tool by itself is not bad, it's what we use it for that determines if it's good or bad. It's just like money, money by itself is not bad, it's what we use it for that determines it's value; if we use it for our tithes, for donations to charity, to buy food to replenish our bodies, it's GOOD money; but if we use it to do unlawful things, for instance, buying drugs that are harmful to our body, it becomes BAD money.

Hmm...wonder how those thoughts that i just typed came to my mind..guess it must have been a prompting of the Holy Spirit, God revealing things to me, cos honestly, i hadn't planned on writing those things at all.

A man plans his way, but it is God who directs his path.
Read this verse before somewhere in Proverbs. Don't really remember the references though, it's something i think i really need to improve on, there's a tendency for me to remember the verse but not its reference.

It is true that we may plan and think...i wanna do this n that by a certain age and then move on to do this by another age, but really God may have other plans.

For me, i remember, i always planned to furthur my studies in NUS in Arts and Social Sciences and get a degree straight after i finished JC. But my A level results weren't gd enough to qualify me to go to any uni at all, so i retook my A levels. But i still didn't do well enough the 2nd time round and my parents did not want to send me overseas to do my degree. So very reluctantly, i signed on with MOE as a teacher and went to NIE. And i was only admitted into the diploma course then, n during the orientation talk the lecturer was telling us that only the top 10% would be considered for the degree course after our 2 yrs in the diploma course. What chance do i have of being in the top 10%? i thought to myself. And of course, my 1st semester there, i wasn't a very happy person either.

But God had other plans. Sometime in my 2nd semester, when i felt really down n felt i couldn't handle my situations anymore, i just thought of sabrina n asked her to bring me to church n she suggested going to City Harvest. It didn't really matter to me which church i went to, so long as i got to go. Things really started to change from there, n i'm really proud to say that i've never stopped going to church ever since my 1st time in CHC, (even though it was really hard at first cos i didn't really know anyone at all, n sabrina went back to her old church for a few months, but i think God used that experience to make me a stronger person :) ) . Slowly, God revealed things to me n He gave me a vision that i could actually get into the degree course. It seemed unbelievable at first, but i decided to put my trust in Him. It wasnt a smooth trip all the way, but i continued to trust Him. And i did get to do my degree in the end! And now i just graduated this July! :) All in all, it took about 4 years before i got accepted to do my degree! It certainly took me a much longer time than my other sec sch n JC classmates to be accepted into uni, but it has certainly helped me to appreciate the chance to study for a degree. I guess that's why i felt a particularly strong burden for those who wanted to upgrade themselves when Pst Kong said he wanted to pray for them, cos i answered a similar altar call by him about 2 yrs ago. And just a month after that, i got a letter from NIE saying i was accepted into the degree programme!

We cannot fathom the mysteries of God, but we can trust in Him, that what He has in store for us is ALWAYS good, n not evil.