Global Corporate Challenge 3

The Global Corporate Challenge ended today. See my previous blog entries for details.

Our team has consistently been the team with the most steps within our firm for the duration of the challenge. However, in the past 10 days, we have noticed that the second ranked team of our firm has been slowly creeping up to us. They actually overtook us on the second last day, and we dropped to number two.

Some of our team members were very upset by this, and we vowed to each do at least 30,000 steps on the last day to try to push us back up to the number one spot in our firm.

I walked over 33,000 steps on the last day, mainly done on the treadmill at home at night. It was tiring. It didn't help that I had a medical procedure a few days before. Some team members did 44,000 steps on the last day. All went well. On the final day, after we submitted our steps, we ended up being the number one team in our firm again.

To be quite honest, I didn't really care whether we won or lost as this is not so important to me. But the thing that kept me going was the fact I don't want to let down my team.

Walking can really be beneficial. I should actually incorporate regular walking as part of my daily activity. Maybe I can do it if I sleep earlier and wake up earlier. Or maybe I am just too plain lazy.

If I can wake up earlier, I should also be spending time with God first thing in the morning. Maybe I should stop writing and actually try doing all this.

Gratitde 2 - reflection

Thank God that no major issues came out of the medical procedure and they have now fixed a relatively minor problem in me.

This whole experience brought me to realise a few things:

1. Life is short. We don't know when we will be taken away. Are we doing what God wants us to do at this point in time, or will we regret living our lives when we are on our death-beds? What do we want others to remember us by after we're gone? Should I do more for God? Full time ministry?

2. In this moment of crisis, I realised that my faith may not be as strong as I thought. I even questioned whether God was punishing me for my sins through this incident. This is a wrong perception of God - there may be no basis for adversity in our lives - look at Job. What is important is how we deal with God in times of adversity.

3. Thank God for the support that others have shown me. In times like this, it is very hard to tell people what is happening. Even when I tell people, some people would have no response or an inadequate response, which would upset me even more. There are some instances in life which we must face alone, and others can't really help us. However, the empathy I have received from a few people I greatly appreciated.

4. God has shown me that He was in this with me during this time through different events such as:
(a) my dream two nights before the procedure, where the song "You Rescued Me" was being sung in my dream, an indication that God will rescue me from this (which he did);
(b) the arrival of an email from a friend at a really desperate time where he was able to calm me down with words of encourage and support;
(c) my family arriving back two days before - the presence of people in the house helps to ease my mind off things;
(d) a friend who guessed the exact procedure I was having and told me about his experiences with the same procedure and his evaluation of the expected result, giving me some sort of comfort;
(e) a call on the night before the procedure from a woman who gave me valuable insight and support; and
(f) understanding from people at work allowing me to take time off to help me get my mind off things.

Gratitude

So much things have been happening in my life lately, the most significant being the potential for the discovery of a certain serious illness in me. The pending medical procedure happens in a few days time and I have been quite worried about it lately and the potential result that comes out of it, to the extent that I am not able to work properly. The whole anticipation has been so tense and stressful.

Have I lived out my life in a way which God wants me to live? Even if it turns out to be something treatable or minor, I will still need to think about how I should live the rest of my life. If not, then it may be too late. Have I made use of my time here? Have I used all the gifts that God has given me? How do I face Him?

Its hard for me to tell people about this, so if you are reading this and I havn't told you, don't take it to heart.

To those who have given me encouragement and support over the past few weeks, my appreciation goes out to you. It has been hard, especially when my family is not here at the moment. I thank God for providing me with support from the most unlikely places.

What is life? What is death?

What is life? What is death?

A living person can be regarded as dead.
A dying person can be regarded as living.

Doesn't all life end with death?
Isn't death a gateway to new life?

A living person rarely thinks about death.
But death is only a breath away for the living.

What is life? What is death?