Swine flu alert

Been sick since Thurs night. Nah, it hasn't been too bad, just a sore throat, on and off headache and a niggling cough.

I'm actually quite grateful that it has to be during this time of the semester that I'm sick. It would not bode well had it got me a few weeks earlier, with the rush of assignments/mid-sems. It wouldn't be that great a few weeks later either, since it's exam block.

Though, unfortuantely, had to skip a few planned activities over the past few days - a meeting, youth group and a coaching session. Oh, and some revision for Mon & Tues test. Oh well, boo hoo.

I also feel rather awake right now, after a good, quality hibernation today! Feels like I'm repaying back my sleep debt, with interest. Hopefully I'll be fully re-energised after this sickness, ready to race on to finish off my 3rd semester of uni!

Ps. Hope it isn't swine flu, haha!

Silly me

I've noticed in particular stressful times, as I keep grumbling my circumstances, it just simply gets worse and worse. The more I complain, I just keep on sinking, lower and lower...and lower and lower...till I cough and splutter...and when I have little strength to keep my head above the water...then do I look up to my Lord and cry for help.

Amid the howling winds and raging waters, this is when I focus on Him and trust Jesus with my whole heart and mind and soul that I feel calm and at peace. But as soon as I get frightful and look around the gusting winds, I tremble and sink yet again. I wonder why time and time again I just refuse to focus on God and to trust Him that is a BIG God, and a God who provides. Rather, I just get caught up in my circumstances, which only makes the situation worse. Ai yo, silly me!

:)

Uni. Church. Coaching. This routine and their related activities have taken a toll, and I've felt quiet drained lately. I've taken more coaching schools this semester, and probably have taken on too much.

Originally, I asked God to give me more opportunities to earn more money as I wished to go overseas in the near future (and other things). It was really quite amazing how, in response, I was blessed with so many more opportunities for coaching this semester. However, it is interesting that such a blessing can become a stumbling book as I decided for myself what to do, instead of seeking what God wants in my life. Perhaps driven by ambition and greed: a love for money (which is strongly disapproved by Jesus according to the Bible), I kept on saying yes to more schools.

I made the decision on Sunday that I would cease coaching at a few schools. Although I'm on casual, it's not easy at this time of the year for my boss to find a replacement coach and is disruptive for students. But anyways, I explained to my boss my situation. To my relief and joy, my boss fully understood my situation, and told me not to be concerned about finding replacement coaches. By me giving up a few schools, normally I would lose those schools, as the coaches replacing me would usually take the schools the following terms.

To my surprise, my boss praised me for my efforts in other schools (my boss is never present - so I guess he gets feedback from teacher/students), and said that he desired that I re-took those schools when I'm less busy next term, which is an extra blessing! So he reasurred me that those coaches who were replacing me, are only replacing me when I'm stressed :O. The first 8 weeks or so of uni I can take up more coaching, but when it's closer to exams, that's when it gets difficult. And next semester closer to exams when I'm stressed out, I think he said that he'll do the same thing.

Coaching sessions for me start decreasing next week, and after next week, things should hopefully be alot lighter, which is awesome!

So I really thank God for His awesome providence, and the challenge for me now is to remember what I have (the material possessions) is actually His, so I'm merely looking after what He's given me to look after and further His kingdom.

Ps 42:11

Why are you downcast, O my soul?
Why so disturbed within me?

???????????????????????????????

Put your hope in God,
for I will yet praise Him,
my Saviour and my God :) :) :) :D :D.

Plan

Sigh, still struggling to concentrate. We were taught in psyc last year that, goals are more powerful when we write them down and display them publicly. Makes sense. But gonna test this out today :p!

So, I hope to:

1. Finish YF stuff;
2. quickly revise up on the past 3 weeks on Stats, and start the assignment; and
3. (if I have time) finish contracts tute question and make notes and do reading from last week.

Quite a fair bit of work to do. But will look forward seeing how God helps me to be productive for the rest of today :).

Ross

Another Calming of a Storm

I slept straight through my alarm clock today. It was set to 6am. I woke briefly at 6, walked across to my desk, slammed it down, then jumped right back under my cosy covers.

Next moment, it was 9am. Soon, it was 9:30. Now I had Chinese class at 10am, and was due to present my speech at 10:30. Not only did I miss my planned morning practice that I really needed, I was seriously in risk of missing my speech! When I realised this, oh boy was I then awake. Started praying to God for some serious help.

Sprinted to my bus stop, and got there just in time for the scheduled bus, which came late. Had I missed that bus, I would have been seriously late, since I have to transfer - and I'm sure we all know how frequent and reliable the BCC busses are... Anyhoo, long story short, I got to UQ and ran like a highschooler to my classroom, and got there at 10:25pm. Perfect. And the awesome thing, presentations were behind schedule, so I got enough time to recover from huffing and puffing.

The speech went quite well I thought, and so I thank God for helping me through that. I also praise God for showing me again that He continues to provide, that even though I was seriously stressed about my lack of prep and the possibility of being late, He continues to calm all the storms that I face. All I need to do is to take my focus away from the storm, and just look up to trust God as He is there for me.

Another awesome thing is that this situation is just amazingly minute and tiny in comparison to our mighty God. Yet, it does not escape his attention, and He still cares for us :). How amazing is this grace?

Focus. Ross, just focus!

Been finding it quite hard to focus lately. On Thursday night, the beginning of my 4-day weekend, I realised how much work I needed to do. Yet, this weekend has gone in a flash, and I haven't seem to have done much study (or as much as I would of liked). Now, this is frustrating and concering, as work is starting to pile up.

For the past few weeks, I've spent alot of time sitting down and trying to study, but not being productive. Lots of mind drifting. I seem to be more focused when doing assignments, but when I study, my thoughts just wander, my stomach growls, and after eating snacks I get thirsty, and then I just need to stand up and walk around (oh, and I might also add the excessive toilet-ing as a result of too much water after snacks)! I've been studying at home, that might partly explain. That's often my excuse.

I really need to just focus. Any advice?

Now, I really need to finish off my Chinese speech that I should've finished during the weekend. Ai yo, zhen ma fan!

Ross