Wednesday, October 18, 2006

Restraining a suspected peeping tom outside the female washroom in NTU

On Wed 18 Oct 2006, around 1647 hours, as i was walking along the corridor leading to TR50 at N2 B4 for cg, i received a phone call from B that A felt that there was a man in the same female washroom as her.

I went to the toilet immediately and I saw B and A outside the toilet. They said that there was a man in the toilet. B tried to kick the door open, but apparently, the man was crouching and leaning against the door. I told them to immediately call campus security as well as for reinforcements. I braced myself up as I await the person to open the toilet door.

Hold and behold, the man opened the door when i was alone outside the toilet. I spread my arms across the door and asked him what he was doing in a female toilet. He said that he had stomachache. I asked again and he gave the same reply. I told him that we will wait for the campus security to come.The moment he heard the word 'security', he started to panic and wanted to run away.

Instinctively, I grabbed him from behind and bearhug him. He put on a slight struggle. I tired to pin him against the ledge that was adjacent to the toilet. Then B arrived. I asked her to take a photo of the man in case he manage to break free. Of course, he got more agitated. Then A arrived with reinforcement of 2 male students. I slowly let go of my grip around him and explained the whole situation to the people at the scene. I demanded for his matriculation card, which i passed to B and we waited for the campus security to come.

When they arrived, they confiscated his handphone and attempted to check for evidence. ( of course they did not find any, who would be so stupid to retain the evidence in the handphone camera?) After that ,we went to the campus security office to write a report before going back to CG at TR 46.

Thank God that A was not harmed physically, though she was a bit flustered at that point of time. thank God that she had the holy prompting from God to look up when she did not hear any sound after the person had entered the cubicle adjacent to her, and rushed out of the toilet. Thank God I was early in arriving at TR50 so that I was able to get to the scene. Thank God for the strength to restrain him with the technique that my classmate Aaron has taught Thank God , I only occurred mild abrasion on my elbows only and no other physical harm. thank God that the man was not carrying any dangerous objects or harmed me in any other ways. Thank God that the reinforcement came fast so that the man did not dare to do anything funny like running away. Thank God A is not really emotionally or psychologically affected by this incident.

The man turned out to be a 3rd year MAE student poly direct entry,. If found guilty, he would most likely be kicked out of ntu.The thing is that we do not know whether he was guiltily of the act of voyeurism or whether he has the intention to, but did not succeed. That, only God knows. May we not ruin an innocent person future if he genuinely had a stomach-ache


Lesson learnt/ Implications

- To really trust God prompting and guidance in such situation. To turn to God first. I too was deciding in my mind how to react if the person open the door and wanted to run away.

- To inform our sisters to be alert at all times, and not let their guard down, but that needs to be balanced with not being paranoid.

- Brothers to escort sisters back to hall if only sister is alone. Min 2 sisters to return back to hall after late night studying

*** To organize basic self defence lessons for everyone...can get my classmates to teach us a few techniques...

Sunday, October 15, 2006

The Promise - Ezekiel 36:24-32

Sermon by Jasmine Poon. Supernatural Life 1 of 7

God promises us 3 things...

1. God promise us a NEW HEART

"The heart is part of the being where we 1. desire 2. deliberate 3. decide.'

1a. Let us beware of 3 types of weak heart

(i). A hardened heart > Heb 3:12-13

(ii). *A tired and weary heart > Deut 1:11-12

(iii). A condemed heart > 1 John 3:21-22


1b. how to develop a NEW HEART

(i) INPUT : Spiritual diet > *Reading the word of God

(ii) OUTPUt :

- *Repenting of our sin
- *Worshiping the Lord
- * Sharing with people about Jesus Christ

2. God promise a NEW SPIRIT

'The Holy Spirit is necessary to make sure that our 'knowledge of God' is transformed to our 'experience with God'

Jas : "Are we looking out for the wrong thing first? We look at the Holy Spirit for his power, but often we do not look for the Holy Spirit'

2a. How can we know the Holy Spirit?

(i) Holy Spirit Baptism
(ii) Eagerly asking the Holy Spirit to come into our lives

3. God promise us A NEW PROVISION v28-29

'With god vision, come god's provision'

Asking god to improve our lifes so that we can bless others

Recall : Jabez Prayer > 1 chronicle 4:10 - Enlarging my teritory

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Ed 's Reflection and application points

This sermon come so timely at a point when I am feeling down.

Reason? (1) I did not manage to complete my Instructional Strateges module assignment which was due on Thurs, but til today, I have not handled up yet. My major weakness of procrastination and perfectionism has struck again.

(2) Unmet expectations? Sometimes I wonder if I have too high expectations for the people around me? As I gave a 24min lesson on 'The 5 love language" for my General elective- Voice Production, I was evaluating my own life...

Do i feeled loved? Somehow or another, I just have thoughts and feelings that I feel more loved by my own classmates then with the people in my cg? Is it because I hardly see them at all during the past week?

But as i reflected deeper and ask God, God asked me this question: "Do I love my care group members? How do I show my love?"

I was once again reminded of a simple truth>>> Why am I focusing on 'receiving' love from people. It dawned on me that my focus is fundamentally wrong..I was looking at the wrong thing..I was concentrating on my own need to be loved. Then i realised that other people need to feel loved too.

A question that keeps recurring in my mind > In the midst of my 'busy' life, do i spare a thought for others? Do i take time off my daily work, piling assignments to find out more about people's life, their joys and their struggles. Do i ask them 'Hows their day?' Or am I so caught up in my own world? Similiarly , do i think of God ? Do I seek God first?

My prayer for this week....

"Create in me a pure heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me. Do not cast me from your presence or take your Holy Spirit from me. Restore to me the joy of your salvation and grant me a willing sprit, to sustain me. ( Ps 51:9)

Right now, I know my heart is 'tired and weary' and indeed feeling far away from the Holy Spirit.Dear God , I truely ask for a pure heart once again, to love you and the people in my care group proactively. I ask for your Holy Spirit to reside in me once again. I ray that i will be self disciplined in my quiet time everyday and that I proactively try different ways of connecting and building relationships with the people around me. Indeed, I hold dear to the promises that you have given me.

Saturday, October 14, 2006

Brothers Gender Focused Group at MacRitchie-Bukit Timah Summit

Today, we had the brothers GFG ( Gender Focused Group). We trek from Mac Ritchie to Bukit Timah summit, wash up at Ngee Ann sports complx and had a late lunch at Ngree Ann Polytechnic Alumini Club House.



The brothers > Me, Timothy, Eng Hao, Jonathon, Hongyao, Weilong, Liu Yao and Seeto

Brothers who joined us at the summit > Wenjiang, Jason and Joseph

Interesting memories
(1) The 2 loaves of bread ( which was our lunch) that I 'gave' to a company of hungry aggressive monkeys
(2) EH getting his shoes wet
(3) EH screaming , thinking that a monkey had caressed his thighs

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Wenjiang shared about 'Purpose' at the summit. ( Acts 20 :20-22)

1. We have the capacity to understand what is our purpose in life.

Somewhere along our life, we will ask ourselves.. "what is the meaning of life?"

2. Do we a purpose that we actively pursue?

Is it our studies? Is it worldly acheivements?

3. what is the purpose that God has in my life?

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Paul life purpose was to testify the goespel of god's grace to people.

***Are our lifes (the things that we do and want to do) aligned to God's purpose?

One criteria that we can use to evaluate is this > Does it have eternal value?

Recall: Our worldly achievements does not last and will fade away..

What will others remember me for?

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A passage Wenjinag asked us to reflect on > 2 Tim 2 :3-7

3 Endure hardship with us like a good soldier of Christ Jesus. 4 No one serving as a soldier gets involved in civilian affairs—he wants to please his commanding officer. 5 Similarly, if anyone competes as an athlete, he does not receive the victor's crown unless he competes according to the rules. 6 The hardworking farmer should be the first to receive a share of the crops. 7 Reflect on what I am saying, for the Lord will give you insight into all this.

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Ed : I was reminded of the need to be disciplined and exercising self control. To be disciplined in my daily quiet time as well to step up training for Marathon 42km (3 Dec) Especially during the month og Oct, where there are mounting assignments, the more i need to seek God and to be intentional in loving the people around me. No doubt it is going to be stressful, but we have the assurance that God is with us, and we can boldly look beyond ourselves to meet the needs of others. This is a time where people will be feeling equally stressed; what can we do to serve their needs?

Wednesday, October 11, 2006

Hall 2 visit

I am moving back to Hall life after a lapse of 2 years. I am bunking in with Weilong and Timothy at Hall 2 Bk 8

This is a picture of Me, Weilong and Shihong visiting Rachel and Florence's room (that is above ours) on the day that they moved in...Do you notice something about the picture...Yes....Its so PINK