Testifying of God's protection

as i was chatting with mich last night, somehow i mentioned that i was shot in 1996. she said she's never heard me talk about this before. i said there was no opportunity, but thought i should record it down as a testimony of God's protection for my life.

it was july of 1996. i was on the thai-myanmar mountainous border teaching as a way of short-term missions. (the mentioning of the region's name or the people group might be sensitive so i won't mention the specifics) i started to go there in 1995 and went about 2~3 months every year until 1999. it was a boarding school made up of many orphans and child soldiers. that region has never been very stable with lots of wars and fighting. i think at the time we had about 1,000 students in the school.

i remember it was an afternoon after the students have taken their mid-term exams. many kids were playing outside of their dorms. i had just finished grading exam papers and was walking back to the teachers' dorm from the classroom area. i had to pass a little hill where the students' dorms are. as usual, i stopped to chat with the kids. i peeped out the corner of my eye and saw one of my 4th grade students holding a pallet gun (since they also hunt for birds, small animals and for the protection of the school in case of fighting). i joked with him: "what are you doing? going to shoot me?" then carried on talking to the other students.

all of the sudden... "bang!" everything went grey before my eyes. i fell to my butt and there was a loud ringing in my head. i felt warm liquid coming out of my head (not realizing it was blood). i was carrying a backpack so everything was flowing down between my shirt and my bag. they didn't realize how much blood i was losing until they took off my backpack. students rushed over. soon, teachers came also. everything was in a mess... i was shot by the small iron pallets that actually scraped thru the lower right of my head.

very quickly, they brought the stretcher. 4 or 6 of the older and stronger students carried me by foot to the local hospital (not like our modern hospitals but of mud floor and grass or tin roof). even with the half running/walking thru the small hills, they made it there in about 20 min. but... the missionary doctors from taiwan were not around. they had gone to a new place to explore the possibility of building a newer and nicer hospital.

my fellow teacher friends started praying... please bring the doctors back quickly.

in my mind, it seemed like 5 minutes, but people told me afterwards that it still took them maybe 30 minutes before the docs came back. once they were back, they put me in the very simple concrete made operation room and sew up the wounds. i think there were 7 some stitches.

i was also told afterwards, if the shot had been lower or more to the left, or if the docs didn't come back as soon as they did, i would have died.

the strange thing is... i felt a lot of peace all through out the event while others were more worried for me.

after i recovered, i've asked God many times "why?". one night about a month after the accident, as i was having prayer and devotional time with some students (from that same dorm), i felt rather frustrated with the naughty students still not paying attention in classes. i told them i don't know why God spared my life and let me endure the difficulties i continue to face. i would rather die and be with the Lord. they cried. so as we read "our daily bread" for that day, the passage mentioned was Phil 1:21~26. i could identify with paul's longing to depart and be with the Lord, yet at the same time, the Lord was keeping him on earth in serving Him and His people.

looking back, i'm thankful of God's protection and know that He has a purpose in keeping me on earth, right here, right now. i'm also thankful of all that i've experienced, learned, grew since then. i believe God has more in stored in the days to come...

new life, new beginnings

just came back not long ago from visiting a friend who gave birth yesterday afternoon. actually there were two births yesterday both at KK women and children's hospital. both are boys and first-born child. so going to visit the cole baby in the evening with a couple of other friends...

although i've seen new born babies numerous times, i still got a kick out of being with good friends in their first day of being parents and seeing the little guy sleeping so soundly even with all the nervous chatters around him. the mother looked so satisfied and stable with her little one beside her even though there are some adjustments in breast feeding, but the grandma and dad were more anxious than the mom telling her to do this or that...

my friend was sharing that she thought giving birth was tough but nobody ever told her of all the adjustments and "pains" that follow right after... as i was leaving, i was reminded to pray for them, their adjustment, baby's health& growth, for the parents/grandparents to have wisdom in knowing how to take good and proper care of the little one. this is also one of those things in life that require lots of dependence upon God (actually what doesn't require this?)... but was also thinking that parenthood does come with lots of responsibilities... maybe also lots of joy (since i've yet to have my own family...)

started reading this book how people grow yesterday... so this visit to the new baby reminded me of growth again. maybe will share another time.

just felt so excited... amazed... by life, by God's creation and gift...

MBTI result for tigger

so i finally had time and gave in to this test...

result? i'm ENFP (Extraversion, Intuition, Feeling, Preceiving)

not sure how that compare to others.

a little "interpretation" from the experts... ENFP is

just reading a little makes me feel that maybe i've changed. always thought i'm more introvert than extrovert? keep long relationships instead of keep having new ones? maybe my intuition is working differently today. :P

Psalm 103 (NLT)

Read this for my QT this morning. Somehow reading a different version brings a fresh feeling to the words. Just want to share with you...

Praise the LORD, I tell myself;
with my whole heart, I will praise his holy name.
Praise the LORD, I tell myself,
and never forgfet the good things he does for me.
He forgives all my sins and heals all my disesases.
He ransons me from death
and surrounds me with love and tender mercies.
He fills my life with good things.
My youth is renewed lilke the eagle's!
The LORD gives righteousness
and justice to all who are treated unfairly.
He revealed his character to Moses
and his deeds to the people of Israel.
the LORD is merciful and gracious;
he is slow to get angry and full of unfailing love.
He will not constantly accuse us,
nor remain angry forever.
He has not punished us for all our sins,
nor does he deal with us as we deserve.
For his unfailing love toward those who fear him
is as great as the height of the heavens above the earth
He has removed our rebellious acts
as far away from us as the east is from the west.
the LORD is like a father to his children,
tender and compassionate to those who fear him.
For he understands how weak we are;
he knows we are only dust.
Our days on earth are like grass;
like wildflowers, we bloom and die.
The wind blows, and we are gone--
as though we had never been here.
but the love of the LORD remains forever with those who fear him.
His salvation extendes to the children's children
of those who are faithful to his covenant,
of those who obey his commandments!

The LORD has made the heavens his throne;
from there he rules over everything.
Praise the LORD, you angels of his,
you mighty creatures who carry out his plans,
listening for each of his commands.
Yes, praise the LORD, you armies of angels
who serve him and do his will!

Praise the LORD, everything he has crated,
everywhere in his dkingdom.
As for me--I, too, will praise the LORD.

my favorite cable tv network

during this trip back to the US, i had plenty of time to catch up on what's popular (esp with my sisters) on tv. i was introduced to the world of the food network (it's like heaven for all you foodies out there). :P

amongst all the cool reality cooking shows, my favorite is the "ace of cakes". whoever came up with this show is a genius. the creators of amazing, untraditional, anything-you-ask-for wedding cakes are the most unexpected group of fun, young, playful people. check out the website and see what i mean...

then there were...
iron chef america
paula deen
throwdown with bobby flay
good eats with alton brown

i think the other shows are also pretty interesting but these are the ones that made some impression...

after watching my fair lady...

(warning: this is going to be long...)

went to watch my fair lady at the esplanade on Wed night with a friend and her sister. it was my birthday gift... really belated.

i wanted to watch it i guess because of the wonderful songs, the love story, and of all the good memories of watching the movie version.

well, the staged version is pretty different.
1. i thought the orchestra wasn't that great (not very in tune)
2. the sound system wasn't doing it's justice to all the singing and dialogs
3. no subtitles (hard to understand those weird brit lower class accents)
4. it's not the movie *grin* and audrey hepburn is not the main lead *grin again*

besides these "complaints" that i have, somehow i never noticed how strange this musical/play was written. i have been fascinated particularly with the ironies of ===>>>

1. the experiment to turn a lower class lady into an upper class princess --> purpose being giving her a better life. yet once she obtained the statues, she was miserable because she didn't know what to do with her life anymore. so the same old questions i asked myself after short-term missions to the mountains--do all these modernization, progress, education, truly help people with their deepest needs in life?

also... that struggle within for those who have turned from poor to riches... maybe you are not as happy as before. life has become more complicated than you would like, yet at the same time, you are not so willing to let go of the comfort and the statues that followed... (eliza's father expressed this opinion as well, i believe)

2. the almost too much of a real life relationship scenario displayed through the show... (ok ok... not ALL relationships) the professor who was proud of being a bachelor and (almost) woman hater. after 6 months of interaction with a genuine and lovely girl, he finds feelings that he never had before. at the same time, he's still unwilling to budge and admit publicly of his feelings and attachment for her. actually the same goes for her where she found herself having great difficulty to leave from his presence although she's sung how she hated his guts and wished him dead. i was thinking that if i pick any couple that i know and look into the mundane interaction, i probably would see the same dialog... "where's my slippers?" "there... *throws them across the room*" (sensing the cynic in me... ^_^)

but in "my fair lady"? usually in movies and shows, the "perfect" or "ideal" relationship is displayed but how weird (that i've never noticed before) to see it on stage.

hmm... guess these are the two things that i wanted to blog about... any discussions on these 2 subjects or even just the show is very welcomed. ^_^

(and i still love the songs in there) :D