Faith Noodles

Photo and words by my aunt :) "Where you go, I will follow," said the flower to the shoe.

Did you notice the lady behind you at church? Her husband just left her for another woman, her children don't contact her any longer, she's just been diagnosed with leukemia and she's at church for the first time because a flyer in her postbox caught her eye. No, you didn't, because you were too afraid to step out of your 'safe zone', and all you wanted to do was to remain there. Did you notice the sullen eyes of the young man sitting on the park bench? He just graduated two years ago, is still looking for a job, his parents have only condescending words to say to him and his girlfriend of 4 years just left him because she couldn't stand his defeated attitude towards life anymore. No, you didn't, because you were too afraid of the discomfort you would feel if he ends up rolling his eyes at you if you dared to genuinely ask him, "how's it going?" Did you notice that woman with the crinkled brow that sat next to you on the bus? She's...

I just got fined $280 for  parking at a tow away zone. Given the circumstances, I felt it was really unfair and I am doing what I can to contest that. I am reminded of something challenging I read recently. And now I am being challenged to live it out. Even though this is such a huge fine, "This is (still) the day that the Lord has made; let us (still) rejoice and be glad in it."  Psalm 118:24 (I added the words in the bracket) C. S. Lewis once said: “The great thing, if one can, is to stop regarding all the unpleasant things as interruptions of one’s ‘own,’ or ‘real’ life. The truth is of course that what one calls the interruptions are precisely one’s real life—the life God is sending one day by day; what one calls one’s ‘real life’ is a phantom of one’s own imagination. This at least is what I see at moments of insight: but it’s hard to remember it all the time.” All these unpleasant things in my day are "sovereign deliveries", part of God...

Today, I ran my first half marathon. I have been training (painstakingly) for it for 3 month, and to be able to run it after training so hard for it felt amazing (especially when I overtook big guys haha). Timing was ok only la, but I was able to run all the way if you don't count in my stops at the "hydration stations". There were 7 stations through out the run, I must have stopped at 5, and each time I would drink 1 cup of water and 1 cup of powerade. What I really loved was that people would get up at 7am just to cheer us 10,000 half marathoners on - we had people clapping and cheering for us as we ran, and even dogs wagging their tails as we passed them. Tried to pray as I ran, mind kept getting distracted - but when I could focus, it was just so fun and special talking to God as I enjoyed the crisp cool morning air and breathtaking views of the sea and city. It felt AH-MA-ZING to cross the finish line. Very sore as well, no doubt. Need to eat lots of protein t...