Life...and Death

Have you ever seen anyone grasping for breathe in their dying minutes? Till now, holidays have been such a blast. I've seen nothing but smiles , heard nothing but laughter. There is life everywhere. Meeting up with friends, going places....I could've said I was in cloud nine, till yesterday when I was brought back to mother earth.

Yesterday I witnessed the death of the son of one of our church members. He'd been suffering from an illness for some time now. Mom and dad rushed to the hospital upon hearing he was in critical condition. I tagged along out of boredom.

I'll never forget his face. He had become blind and could hardly move his limbs. They said he's unconcious, but it clear he was grasping for breathe. As if every breathe he inhales drains out every ounce of strength he has left. There was a feeling of sorrow and dread everywhere. The few church members who were around had worried and solemn faces. Mom was close to him. She read Psalms 23 to him as tears just ran down her eyes. An hour after we arrived, he passed away and went to be with the Lord. He was only 28.

Sometimes in the midst of these times, where everything seems fine, where most of the people I know are enjoying themselves, we have to be reminded that there are suffering and sorrow happening elsewhere. It also reminded me that life is fragile. Yesterday night one of our church elder said that we are spiritual beings in an earth pilmigrage. ' Turn our eyes upon Jesus, look full in His wonderful face, and the things of the earth will grow strangely dim, in the light of His glory'. It's heartbreaking when you see the mother crying and sobbing ' He's not gone..He's just gone overseas...He's not gonnne..'

Jesus did not promise a bed of roses, but he promised that He will never leave us. I'm so glad that I have Him to be with me. Even though I might get a bed of torns instead of roses, Jesus will reach out His hand, hold mine and guide me through it. It's all about Jesus. It's so easy to forget Him during happy times, and come crying back to Him when we face tough times. I've fallen to this situation every so often. Traveling so much in these few days have given me time to evaluate and to reflect upon my life. To those who are reading this, I encourage everyone to take a breather, sit down and reflect upon our lives, to re-evaluate our purpose of living, our priorities. Don't let the activities of holidays take over our mindset. It's good to also take a personal retreat with God, to find back our first love. :)

The Lord giveth, the Lord also taketh. Let's not take our lives for granted. Think I'm being like a preacher? Try looking at the body of dead young man at the prime of his life not think of all these. :)

Redang Trip

I never quite believed in clear, blue seas and fine, white sands. To me, it seemed like a thing in the past, something which we'll only see in pictures,post cards, movies. e.t.c. Since I visit Penang quite frequently, the oily, murky and brownish waters of the penang shores have further enhanched my belief that I'll never be able to see the beauty of God's creation again. But it all changed when I step foot on the island of Redang.

Coming only after 2 days of rest from the crazy-hectic-one-week-camps, the five of us traveled and met up at the Kuala Terrenganu to embark on our journey to Pulau Redang. Five? Yea, me, boss, kevin, ah harm, and zhan qiang. Yes, belief it, baby. One of the so called 'gods' of our engineering faulty, who so happen to score another 4.0 gpa last trimester.

To cut the long story short, I'll just highlight some moments of our trip. Due to the dial-up connection I now currently have, uploading pictures will take longer than to drag a turtle to Mars and back. I'll upload it once I'm back to the cyber desert.

We took the boat there, slept most of the way when suddenly the loud humming of the motor died down. I opened my eyes, and low and behold, the beautiful island of paradise. Light blue waters greeted us, and if u peek out the window, you could see the rich marine life directly. It's like going to the local pet shop, buying all their gold fishes and beautiful fishes, dumping them into a swimming pool and looking at it. So clear, so beautiful.

Palm and coconut trees gave the perfect scenery for the beach, and the sand, oh the sand. Just simply marvellous. White, soft and fine. It's like walking on flour. Looking across the horizon, you could experience nature at its best. Simply breathtaking and incredibly beautiful. It makes you forget the worries of your life, and heck, even yourself. And if this isn't enough for your eyes to feast on, there are also, >:) *ahem*, two-legged 'natures', walking around, erm...'at it's best' too. :p Truly a paradise, it truly is. ;)

Well, to cut the sequence of events short, I'll go straight to the highlight of the trip itself. Snorkelling. It was my first time. One is suppose to rent a snorkelling mask and life jacket. But trying to be macho, I opted for the mask and flippers instead. Turned out to be a good choice. :P
I could move around more easily and much more faster. After putting on flippers and mask, I took my first dive, and paddled into the clear waters of Redang Island. The experience was overwhelming.

Everything was as clear like a swimming pool that's just being cleaned. I could see the sand. As I swam deeper, sudddenly there it was. Marine life. Beautiful corals lie beneath me, and I could see schools of fishes, of different colors and types, dancing all around me. I could almost touch them. The fishes swam around me, as though welcoming me into their world, as if I were one of them. I could see fish feeding on planktons beneath the corals, and big ones patrolling around as though they own that territory. I've always been into wildlife. Call me old fashion, but I always love to watch documentary shows on wild life. And now to be able to be among them, to experience them, it was something which words cannot describe. Fantastic is an understatement.

For the next 2 days we spent most of our time snorkelling. As part of the package, they would bring a boat and bring us out into the open seas for snorkelling experiences. It's a bit scary for people like me without life-jackets, when you look into the water you can't see where the floor of the ocean is. I had to depend on water treading when water started leaking into my snorkelling mask. Panic, and your life is gone. Marine life is much richer in the open seas of course, and if you happen to bring some bread, you'll get scores of fishes swarming over you, where they'll try to nibble the bread you have in your hands and sometimes bite your fingers instead. Don't worry it wasn't painful. It was exihilirating, the experience.

One more highlight of the trip was turtle sighting. We were on the fishing boat back from the snorkelling spots when suddenly the captain shouted turtle sightings. We all cramp to the side of the boat, squinted our eyes to spot it. It's like landing lottery if you spot one. You can't see it for a while....then.....suddenly. Whoa!! You spot a small head bobbing of the water for air, whalla!! The entire shell is revealed. Then it dives again as quickly as it emerged.

All in all, I've truly enjoyed this trip. 3 days and 2 nights is just perfect. No more, no less. I didn't leave reluctantly, I left truly satisfied with this valuable memories. If anyone were to go again, I'd do it again. I'd even opt for scuba diving. If I can find the funds of course. ;)