Behold, I Stand at the Door and Knock.

During the height of his fame as a Highland evangelist, the Rev Mr Lachlan MacKenzie was asked to visit Aberdeen, and to preach in the Old Parish Church of St Nicholas. At the evening service the church was filled to its utmost capacity, and there was eager anticipation on the part of the worshippers. When Mr MacKenzie ascended the pulpit a titter went through the congregation when they beheld a man wearing a rough homespun suit, with long shaggy hair (so unlike the usual clergy of that time). But the moment he gave out his opening Psalm, a solemn stillness seemed to pervade the audience, and his opening prayer solemnised the people. The "reading" was the third chapter of Revelation, and he chose as his text the 20^th verse - "Behold, I stand at the door and knock; if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him and sup with him, and he with me."

Standing erect in the pulpit, Mr MacKenzie commenced his sermon thus:

Once upon a time there lived in our Highlands a great Duke. He had a large estate, was very rich, and had everything in this world to make a man happy, if that were possible, so far as worldly gear was concerned. He was a widower, had an only child, a beautiful girl, who had a very sweet disposition, was very kind to the poor, and was beloved by all around. When she was 20 years of age her father said to her, "My daughter, next year you will become of age, and I intend to ask to the castle here, for a week's festivities, all the young nobles of the land. I expect that many of them will be asking your hand in marriage, and I beg of you to see that you make a good choice, for your happiness in your after-life will depend on the choice you make. I might also say that, in case anything should happen to me, I have made my will, and everything I possess in this world at my death will belong to you."

The time soon came for the celebration of her 21^st birthday, and while her Ladyship was in her room with her maid dressing, in preparation for the reception of the guests, a loud knocking was heard at the back door of the court. One of the men-servants, on going out to see who was making such a noise, found a beggar man on crutches. The man-servant ordered him to go away. "Don't trouble her Ladyship today," he said, "she is very busy, and a great many guests are coming shortly to the castle."
But the beggar answered that he would not go away until he saw her Ladyship.

Thereupon the door was slammed in the beggar's face; but he took up one of his crutches and laid on to the door, making such a noise that it brought back the servant, who threatened to put the dogs on to him if he did not go away. To this the beggar only replied that the dogs would not frighten him, and he would not go away until he had seen her Ladyship.

To try and frighten him the servant went to the kennels, and at once the dogs set up such a terrible howling that the noise reached her Ladyship's ears; and she sent her maid to find out the meaning of it all. The maid returned with the information that it was a poor, lame beggar man who wanted to see her Ladyship, and he would not go away until he saw her. "Very well," replied her Ladyship, "I will be down presently. Tell him to wait till I come."

Shortly afterwards her Ladyship went down (followed by a retinue of servants, in case any harm might come to her). Seeing the beggar, she asked him kindly, "Well, my good man, what do you want?" He bowed, and then said, "I have come to ask your hand in marriage today." Her Ladyship looked at him steadfastly for a moment, then stepping forward, said "Very well. Here it is."
The beggar approached, bowed low, and taking her hand in his, kissed it, adding "And on what day will you marry me?" To which her Ladyship replied, "This day twelve months hence."
On hearing her reply, the beggar gathered up his crutches and hobbled away, greatly to the relief and delight of the servants standing around, who thought that she had got rid of the beggar very quickly and easily.

During the week of the festivities many of the young nobles asked her hand in marriage, but all of them got the same reply, "I am betrothed already."

Many began asking who the 'lucky fellow' was, but no one could tell. The servants, overhearing the conversations amongst the guests, began to wonder among themselves if it were really true that she had given away her hand in marriage to the beggar.

At last it came to her father's ears that she had been asked by many, and all had been given the same refusal, and that she had already given her hand in marriage to a beggar, with a promise that it should take place in a year's time. Her father was heart-broken.

"Is it true, my daughter, that you have given your hand in marriage to a poor beggar man?"
"Yes, father, it is quite true, and it will be alright."

The week of festivities ended rather abruptly, everyone being greatly disappointed at the news of her betrothal to the beggar.

During the year her father time after time called her to his side, saying "Oh, my daughter! oh my daughter! comfort me. Tell me it is all a mistake." But her answer was always the same, "It is quite true, and it will be alright."

At length the year passed by. No preparation was made for the marriage, and on the day appointed her father sent for her, and said "You see, my daughter, there is no one coming."
"Oh, but he will come!" she replied.

One o'clock chimed, yet no appearance of anyone coming. About two o'clock in the afternoon, however, a great noise was heard coming over the hill towards the castle. Everyone in the house rushed to the windows, and what they beheld was a wonderful procession of pipers, drummers and horsemen, in large numbers. Up to the front door of the castle came a guard of prancing horsemen, who lined both sides of the avenue. Wheeling around, they drew up, each horse facing the other and forming a guard of honour.

Then, last of all, came a beautiful prancing steed, with a noble rider on its back. On reaching the steps leading to the doorway of the castle, this rider threw himself from the saddle, ran up the steps, and embraced his beloved.

Who was he? The King's son!

That morning twelve months before he had disguised himself as a poor beggar, and came in that way lest he should be too late. Recognising his eyes, she knew who he was, and kept his secret. So all were glad at the end.

Mr MacKenzie then repeated his text, "Behold, I stand at the door and knock; if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him and sup with him, and he with me."

Who is standing at your heart's door tonight, my people? Who is standing at your heart's door and knocking tonight, my people? A beggar! One of Whom it was said, "The foxes have holes and the birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man hath not where to lay his head." A Man whose faced was more marred than that of any man. A beggar knocking at your heart's door tonight, seeking admission. If you will give Him your hand in marriage, He will make you a Queen, for He is the King of Kings and Lord of Lords!

Have a blessed Sunday all.

Day by Day.

Wow, what a busy day. Had luncheon with the Board of Governors of the school, then GBE CA Forum, then OCIP Sharing.

And yes the busy and crazy and stressful period is coming soon cause project submissions and no study break for MST. Really taking things one thing at a time. This week's problem? This week worry. Next week's problem? Next week then worry.

So woah. The luncheon was a gathering of all the Directors, Senior Directors and the Board of Governors of the school.

Was greeted by this name tag at registration. There was a short time of cocktail first. Had a casual chat with the senior director of estates and the principal about the annoying AV system in use at the food courts and the really limited study space that we had in school.

Group photo before we went to sit at our tables because I had a hunch that I would have to rush off as soon as the luncheon ended because burden GBE Forum.

Last but not the least, just a special mention to my table partner sucram tay for taking care of me during the luncheon. From pulling the chair to scooping me food. And for awkwardly laughing together when the table of Directors were talking but we just couldn't really contribute much to the conversations. HAHAHAHA.

So the luncheon ended exactly at 2. I flew back to union, got my stuffs, and then flew all the way to T2268. Wow, rushed so much my legs felt on the verge of cramping. Thankful that GBE went sort of smooth. I think I didn't make sense 40% of the time during the Q&A session because I either couldn't understand the question asked or I didn't read up enough to answer that question. Smoked my way through most of the time. Oh my gosh. But yeah. Ok cool. Cause GBE is over.

Went for OCIP sharing after that. Even though it has been almost more than a month since the trip, but when the video played during the sharing session, so many fond memories during the trip resurfaced in my mind. So a mini throwback.

Baby steps.

Even though it seems like school just started but believe it or not, project submissions are due very soon and then before you know it, after all those crazy presentations, mid sem tests comes right up, straight after our submissions. -cries-

Financial Analysis and Management. The textbook they make us buy is so thick and heavy. Every time you see me doing my FAM tutorials at home, I have to use both my textbook and lecture notes. But the thing is, you see, my table is too small to have my textbook, lecture notes and foolscap all opened up in front of me. So I have to place my textbook on my laps. But because I take so long to do my FAM tutorials, and the textbook is so heavy, my laps always get numb when I do my FAM tutorials halfway. That's why I detest doing FAM tutorials so much. To make things worse, I probably only understand 10-20% of the whole syllabus that has been taught so far. How far is MSTs away again? 2 weeks.

Economic Analysis. Every time I talk about this, I can't help but regret taking up this Advance Module. Not like it's gonna give me an advance standing in my university education. It just helps me to be ahead of my peers should I decide to continue with my Business studies in university. If I didn't take up this module, I would have my Mondays ending at 1pm instead of 5pm. Wow Hui En. ECAN is by far the most challenging economic-based module I have taken up. So many new terminologies, theories and graphs. But I'm coping alright. I hope...

Consumer Psychology. It feels like Fundamentals of Marketing ALL.OVER.AGAIN. It is like the levelled up version of FOM because it teaches us to understand the buying behaviour of consumers. But either way, both modules wants us to come up with marketing strategies. I got quite badly scarred by FOM. It just takes one 6 module credits to mess up your GPA and then you get less than a 3.9 wow. CP this sem is 4 credits but still, I can still see the shadows of FOM. Halp.

Global Business Environment. When you first listen to the lectures you'll think that it's nothing much. All pretty much common sense, if not general knowledge in the business environment globally, duh. But then you will realise soon enough that all your initial thoughts were the biggest mistake in your semester because NO, GBE isn't a bed of roses. The project work forces you to read so much. It's as though the lecture notes is at primary school level but the project wants a baccalaureate level from you. And don't get me started on the tutorials because at the final exam, we'll be having a written paper that's gonna constitute 50% of the overall grade. How you'd study and answer the questions in the paper would be safe to say it's as similar as studying and taking your human geog paper. I'm so done with this module...

Fundamentals of Electronic Business. Wow, finally a project based module that doesn't sound so intimidating... until you realise that you'd be taking up a 30% heavy written paper at the end of the semester. That means everything from day 1 will be tested. It's a whole different story if they are gonna give it to you as a mid sem test instead.

Business Law. Probably the most useful module I'lll ever take so far. But it's really tough. So much reading up. And the way you got to answer your questions have to sound really professional. It's as though writing a mini argumentative essay by answering every single questions in your tutorial. And you know, the thing I hate most is reading, and the thing I'm bad at most is writing. Lol HuiEn  what should you do with your life.

Social Innovation Project. Must I elaborate further? A 2 credits module that makes you spend more time on it than a 6 credits module. And if you mess up your SIP, it messes up your GPA cause it keeps you from that perfect 4, period.

I am evidently struggling this semester to keep up with my studies. Have less than 10% knowledge of what I am supposed to know for this upcoming MSTs. LOL. This is really bad. Must maintain my GPA. It wasn't easy to pull up my GPA last sem. I can't afford to let it go down this semester. Oh the stress.

School aside, finally visited On The Table with brother recently. Ordered their double scoop ice cream + waffles. Pistachio and earl grey. I took iced Chai latte while brother had the non ice one. HAHAHA. But I would say that the non ice one is nicer than the iced one.

Finished our waffles and soon got tempted by the cakes so....

It was basically sponge cake with lychee buttercream and roasted pistachios.

A mandatory narcissistic photo of a classic pose before I end this entry.

His way is best.

The past few weeks has been filled with so much drama. It was a rough emotional roller coaster for me. But here I am talking about my life recently.

So I have received the email about my posting in China for my upcoming OITP some time back in end October and I was posted to Chengdu. Never, ever did it ever crossed my mind that I'll get posted to Chengdu. I ranked Shanghai, Suzhou then Chengdu as my last choice. Forgive me if I sound rather superficial here, but I wanted to go Shanghai quite badly because I thought that Shanghai was the most prestigious out of the three provinces. I wanted to experience upbeat, busy city live. PLUS, Chen Xuedong and Wu Dawei are all based in Shanghai. I wanna go there and see my handsum bois. :( Even if I didn't get Shanghai, I thought at least, I would end up in Suzhou, where I could take the bullet train up to Shanghai during the weekends and explore a little of Shanghai.

At the very least, I was hoping to end up in the same province as Hayley then we could be roomies. All my fantasies all crushed that instant (since I really enjoyed myself while watching Tiny Times too).That's why I was so, so, so disappointed when I got Chengdu at first. Cause it sounded like a really boring place. The fact that it has the lowest cost of living out of the three gave me the impression that life over there would be more country side-ish, not as developed and all that you can think of. The only thing there we all can think of when we first hear the word Chengdu is PANDAS. We can't think of anymore. But it's a whole different thing when we hear the word Shanghai. And not to forget, I don't know ANYONE who are going to Chengdu with me. Means I have to make new friends. Haisssss.

But. But. But. There is always another side of the story when we all say but. I went for the OITP meeting today and our LO started off by asking the group of us going to Chengdu, "Alright, before the other lecturer starts the briefing, I want to know if any of you is strongly against going to Chengdu?" So one girl asked "Can we know how are we allocated?" Then the LO answered "Actually, if you all realised, you all are the bunch of people who have better results than the lot of people that's why we put you all in Chengdu. And you all are going to be the pioneer batch going to Chengdu." Yep, SB has been doing the Suzhou-Shanghai thing for 15-20 over years already. We are going to be the first batch of students going over to Chengdu this coming March. He carried on by telling us that the companies we are going to be attached to were more renown than the companies our peers, who are going to Shanghai Suzhou, are going to be attached to. 3 out of the 4 companies in Chengdu are NMCs. And if everything goes as planned, our accommodation would be better than those going to Shanghai Suzhou. Cost of living is the lowest out of the three, but the standard of living is as good as Singapore. Air is much better out of the three also. And all the while he told us "Go there with an open mind, and you will be pleasantly surprised."

Thankfully though, we are more or less settled with our rooming. Realised that there was this girl I talked to during the advance module that I'm taking. And the other 2 girls who are her classmates are relatively nice and friendly. So.... yep. Hope all things go well over there.

And to think I was slightly depressed that I couldn't go to Shanghai. I thought that the companies at Shanghai didn't pick my resume. After dad telling me about what I could expect at Chengdu, I was still feeling a little sore over how I didn't get to go Shanghai, but I spent a few days thinking through and I was starting to be alright with the decision because I told myself to trust in the Lord, and that I am placed in Chengdu for a reason.

Turns out that those whom I've talked to, who are going to Chengdu, all weren't really keen on going to Shanghai, and that Chengdu was either their first or second most preferred choice. Honestly, I think I was the only one who put Chengdu as my last choice. But through all these, it was able to let me see that how short-sight men are and that God's way is far more superior than all of us combined. God only gave me nothing but the best for me. And recalling on today's incident, I feel really blessed and thankful. Truly, even though we may not see it now, but His way is best.

That aside, finally squeezed out some time to go back to Bread Yard with my Vitamins. Miss BY's Hokkaido milk bread so, so much. Even though it was a really short less-than-an-hour with them but it was just so great to see them, have a meal with them, and catch up on life outside church with them.

HAM AND CHEEEEEEZE.

It was also to give my bestie a belated birthday lunch treat. Even though I'm a few weeks late, but nonetheless, I'm always thankful for you in my life. Thankful that you're always there for me, thankful that you're always keeping check of my spiritual health, and thankful that you've stayed. Even though we are contacting each other lesser and lesser as we get busier and busier, but you're just always a text away and always keeping me in your prayers. May you continue to grow in the Lord and continue to hunger and thirst for the Word of God. Happy Birthday!