Jeremy speaks: "Our Marathon to God."

Jeremy is our brother, full of joy and inspiration. He brings smiles to everyone's faces and glory to God with his excitement for His word.

Hi Campus, Hope u all have a great day! :) Certainly this is the 2nd week of yr 2008, hope everything is well and good for u all.

Well, i feel like sharing something with all of u, so here i am. :)

It's been 7mths since im baptised!! haha. i can still remember the day i was baptised, 27th may 2007. whenever i look at my watch, i will count the duration of me being a christian. haha. i feel this is indeed something im proud of. Im sure all of us can still remember the day we got baptised right? lolx.

Well, i wanna share something abt this 7 mths of walking with God & i wanna start by sharing a personal experience during run-a-movie.

We started the run later than most participants. Though we started late, but i felt it's ok, cos i wasnt going there to win but to have a good run. Indeed the starting was good! I felt like the wind, weightless and felt like i could run for long distance. it was great to overtake some of the runners too, felt a sense of achievement. Viewing the scenery and feel the wind at my face definitely refreshes me.

but as the time ticks away, i slowly felt the lactic acid building up in my muscles. then breathing rate starts to increase per minute the burden on my leg is increasing and i dont feel that weightless anymore. at the same moment, my body starts to burn, as metabolism increases and i started to perspire and every now and then i have to wipe the sweat away to avoid feeling the irritation when the sweat touches the eye. the bottom line is i felt the weight of running the 8km.

As i turned at the 4km mark, my brain starts to give way. my body starts to tell me to give up and to walk. But luckily i still have my logic. logic tells me to continue running because it is the only way to keep running. once stop, it will be difficult to start again. so i kept on.....

nearing the 6km mark, my logic gave way. my logic together with my body starts to scream at me to stop! to take a breaklogic reasoning with me to stop and walk. telling me reasons like 'i've no committment to keep running' and 'this is not a fitness test, why so hard on myself' and so on. frankly speaking i was very near to submitting to the idea of walking and my stride shorten by half.

at this time, a thought occurred to me. I told myself this. 'if God tells me now that if i am able to finish the run without stopping he will guarantee a place in heaven for me. If i stop, my place will be taken away, will i still wanna stop?' i then kept running, though difficult, but i cont to run/jog but not to walk, not to succumb to the idea of taking the easy way out. At some point after that i heard people cheering me on and offering me drinks, and i went on...

i don even know how long it was when i realised i was nearing the bend to the ending point. i suddenly felt strength and power that had already eluded me flow all over my body. i was able to sprint all the way till the end and finish the race.

Brothers and Sisters, i feel that this account is very similar to our walk with God. initially, after our baptism, we are very fired up and wanna do a lot of things. loving people, reaching out to our dear ones, hoping they will be able to join us in the kingdom. And we may at one point felt that we are at the top of the world, felt like with God we can do everything --> we were in love with God.

i believe everyone of us in some point of our life will have felt that pursuing God is burdensome. so many committments and there'sso many things to do. This walk with God seems endless and that we started to find ways to tell ourselves to relax and take the easy way out. 'Why do QT, aiya i prefer using the time for myself.' etc. at some point of time we may even feel like throwing in the white towel and just don't care abt our spiritual growth (just like the temptation and idea of walking)

Satan is just like the lactic acid, working his way to make us feel tired, make us feel like giving up our love for God. But... everything may fail, but God's love will never fail. He is mighty and He is more powerful than Satan. In my weakest, He's there. All we need to go is to call out to Him. (just like my reasoning to keep myself running)

We arent in this alone, there are pple around us to give us motivation and support us as we run, giving us 'drink' and cheering giving us their support. Our walk with God is like a marathon. Keep it up when we are feeling charged up and fired up. Call out to God when we are weak.

Exodus 15:13 - 'In your unfailing love you will lead the people you have redeemed. In your strength you will guide them to your holy dwelling.' Indeed God will guide us to heaven. Let us remember why we fell in love with God. Let us rejoy together after the race and support each other before we get to Him.

Quote from Wee Keong :- "Can i have an Amen to that?" :)

That's all!Phew!

it is a long email, hopefully u enjoy it. happy reading.

With love

Jeremy