believing

What started off as just-another-thursday turned out so much better than expected. Well, my day didnt start out good. I had a bit of a hangover from last night, and it was Thursday. Thursday is better than Wednesday but doesn't feel quite like Friday. Like a day-mood, mood-day crisis. Prof Koch came to visit at Brocade today. I was pretty curious to see who he was, since we have been corresponding via email several times, and phoned twice. He is nice in person. Through the day i was literally bombarded with emails, I felt like blocking all of them so they couldnt see me on Outlook, and so they couldnt send me mails.


It is such mind clutter to get forwarded mails, or get CC-ed to random mails. It left me abit struck as to which to do first,cause almost everyone of them came with a Kiv, or a followup-needed, or a Urgent-tagged. Hmm..like a little person living in a snow-globe, and the snow-globe got shaken up. Dizzzy dizzy.


So middle of the day, i was ploughing in the air-suspended workflakes. I managed to get MOST of the things completed, save except for the hotel venue which i didnt get it down to confirmation status. Was a little bit frazzled by that because the catering sales people from Intercon did promise a reservation in the morning...only to call me in mid-day to fly me an aeroplane because apparently, another company called to make reservations. I felt so pang-sehed.


Swissotel was fully booked, fullerton was too ex, budget was stretched way too much for comfort. Some hotels really have jump-off-the-building prices, it would have been easier to get the buddha to jump-over-the-wall. It is hard not to balk at the plus-plus-pluses they add to the bill. Random stuff like rental of mics, of chairs, of tables, or whether you want round table setting, banquet setting, boardroom setting, conference setting. It all sounds like the same thing but mean different things. The prices had us bursting like a patient who had lap-band surgery, but in a sudden bout of eagerness, severely overate right up to the throat. Not too great a feel.



Six has so much to wait for. On days like these, the sheer anticipation of six was good enough. When i was about to leave, i asked Janice which church she attends. She told me New Creation. I said ah, Suntec Convention. She said ah, correct. I said ah, really? Charismatic? She said hmmm, not really. I said City Harvest is the one.


Then it just continued. We were supposed to leave at six but we chatted till everyone left the office, right up till eight. Before this, i thought of Janice as a corporate high flyer who is cordial and nice to everyone, but probably don't really think much of interns. The talk really did change my perception of her. More than anything, i felt so much closer to her than before. She shared about her Christian walk and how tumultous it was in the past 5 years, where she went through a rough patch, and when she started questioning God why would he want to put her through these trails.


It was all very private and you could see that those were issues that got to her. Several times within the 2 hours, i noticed her eyes were a little red. She said that her personal goal was not to reach another career peak, but to be a blessing to the environment. Those were her exact words. A blessing to the people at work, to the family, and to the social contacts. She also said that her post and ability was something that God has bestowed upon her. It just reminds me of a Christian book that i've read before that says that people who have positive self-esteem, are confident of their God-given abilities, but yet not arrogant about this, because they realise that all that is theirs, is all that God has been merciful to bless.


It really really struck me deep. Her life has really not been easy. Her trials were difficult. Despite the odds, she held on for 4 yrs and still praised the Lord even though things weren't looking up for her. For me, i am glad that we did have this meaningful conversation. And i don't believe that encounters as such happen randomly. I mean i can't find any explanation to justify how come there was Ivon and Janice that i manage to meet. Really, i am feeling that this internship has more to learn than the basic marketing know-hows, and i know all this happen with a purpose.


Cause the odds against chanced encounters are stacked up way to high. The only way to explain this is the greater purpose that He has in mind.