Encounters

Book lover. Swimmer. Have fun-er. Believes that age does not stop a person from having fun.

[encounterswithpei]

Encounter with infatuations

It has been a long time since I had this feeling.

Infatuation

An intense but short-lived passion or admiration for someone or something.  

Yup. In my case, the statement includes: with no basis of relationship whatsoever.

Physical attraction. Purely based on outward appearance. 

Yet most of the time you just can’t help yourself to notice him; and somehow secretly hope that he notices you too.

Humans. Feelings. Emotions.

So, how would I describe infatuation?

It really caught me by surprise when I start to notice this feeling in me.

It’s exciting at times

But also frustrating and disturbing!

My thoughts are mostly occupied by that person.

I become extremely self conscious!

But above all these...

I do not know how to handle it. Yikes!

And it hinders me to build a friendship with that person.

Yup, still clueless of how to handle. this.

Ecclesiastes 3: 1-8

For everything there is a season,    a time for every activity under heaven. 2 A time to be born and a time to die.    A time to plant and a time to harvest. 3 A time to kill and a time to heal.    A time to tear down and a time to build up. 4 A time to cry and a time to laugh.    A time to grieve and a time to dance. 5 A time to scatter stones and a time to gather stones.    A time to embrace and a time to turn away. 6 A time to search and a time to quit searching.    A time to keep and a time to throw away. 7 A time to tear and a time to mend.    A time to be quiet and a time to speak. 8 A time to love and a time to hate.    A time for war and a time for peace.

May I come out stronger than before through this season.

[encounterswithpei]

Encounter with the Future

I feel very anxious when I do not have a Plan B.

Or Plan C, Plan D, and Plan E.

And I can’t imagine if I do not even have a Plan A to begin with.

Despite being a planner as I am, I am left plan-less at this present stage.

So many questions and uncertainties that I do not have the answer to.

Yet, I have made a choice to stand up to the call.

A new phase of life. A new story.

Psalm 119:105

Your word is a lamp for my feet, a light of my path.

[encounterswithpei]

Encounter with the man I loved

在你离开的前两天，我允许我自己肆无忌惮地凝望你...

你的脸，你的表情，你的动作，你的手，你的背后...

因为我知道以后我不会再有机会这样做了.

你说你是一个坏男人，因为你伤害过很多女生..

我想对你说，对我而言，那些伤害，都只是成长的过程.

当中的眼泪，伤痛，纳闷，都只是我成长的一部分.

我的成长，我自己负责，而不是让你觉得内疚与自责.

因为这些伤痛，无论在那时候多么地刻骨铭心，终究会被时间冲淡，终究会被更好的爱情而痊愈.

现在的我，清楚地记得你的样子..

十年后的我，可能需要花上一些时间才能想起你..

现在的我，会无时无刻关心你的状况...

十年后的我，可能隔上好一段时间也不一定会向你嘘寒问暖...

现在的我，对你念念不忘...

十年后的我，可能已经找到了我的幸福，很快乐地生活中...

我想说的是，不要因为你的内疚感阻止你去寻找属于你自己的幸福...

到社会工作时，请你多多主动地跟其他女生聊天，互相认识对方!!

遇到喜欢的女生时，请你务必要鼓起勇气去争取你的幸福!!

因为我一定会继续寻找属于我自己的爱情，就算你已经离开了...

我一直很烦恼，是不是因为我不够爱你，所以才会那么洒脱地放手...

至今我还没有找到答案，但我知道的是，我不想成为你寻找幸福的绊脚石...

因为我在意，所以我更希望你可以幸福...

对我而言，你真的是一个满不错的男生... :)

我会为你祷告，你能够找到一个能够让你敞开心房的女孩，不用再独自承受一切..

开心，幸福的生活.

[encounterswithpei]

Encounter with a song.

Yup. Am being sentimental here, bear with me please. =)

成长痛

我们之所以成长，是因为痛。

也正是痛，才能促使我们成长

By the way, this is the song that I’m talking about.

[encounterswithpei]

Encounters with Loved ones

It is when you witness a person’s smile disappears slowly...

Until you see no smile on him anymore.

Especially when that person is your loved one,

You will hear the sound of your heart breaking. Literally.

Our actions; will either make or break a person.

Our decisions were never only about us and ourselves.

For as long as we are in a community, the decision we make will affect the people around us. 

This particular encounter has given me a red alert.

Reminding me to think, think and think again! Before I make any decisions.

Frankly I do not appreciate the heart breaking part.

But then again, a broken heart allows us to grow and to learn as well.

What say you?

[encounterswithpei]

忙碌只能暂时让烦恼麻木，但不能让烦恼消失。

Encounters

[encounterswithpei]

Encounter with the Heart

Feelings.

Fleeting yet sustaining.

Sometimes we follow them, sometimes we despise them.

It can be the best feeling,it can be the worst that we wish we would not feel again.

Yet above all that, feelings are what make us human.

To love at all is to be vulnerable. -- C.S Lewis

Short but precise.

To give our hearts at all is to be prone to hurt, rejection, disappointment.

Also to be prepared to expose to the ones we love and cherish, our true selves.

All our strengths and weaknesses. Everything.

After multiple wounds and disappointments, our hearts are in pieces.

We may think we will not, or rather, we cannot love anymore, until a love that is far more powerful and precious than earthly love comes our way, chasing us.

Yes, it is the love of God.

Let me clarify that I never intended for this post to come to this. All I wanted to to was to just lament about how fleeting feelings are and how we are closely attached to it.

Yet as I was writing I realized that my thirst to be loved can only be fulfilled by the love of God, judging by the fact that how fragile love seems to be these days.

Although I know the truth, it is still head knowledge to me at this stage and I’m still very much distracted by romantic love. 

Hence, I hope that in the near future the love of God for me will saturate my heart completely.

So that by then I can share with you more. =)

[encounterswithpei]

Unless I understand the meaning of grace, I cannot accept fully the grace that is offered by Christ.

Encounter with God

[encounterswithpei]

Encounter with the Youths

It has always been a challenge, or rather fear, for me to connect with youths. 

For my perspective on present generation youths bear the image of rebelliousness, arrogance and stubbornness. Not that I’ve met youths who act that way, but I’ve heard stories, from friends, and friends of friends.

Right. How reliable my facts are. And though I’ve met youths with wonderful personalities, deep down in my heart, I still believe that youths in general bear the image I described previously.Well, little did I know that my opinion towards them would change, 360 degrees of change.

The encounter started with me volunteering to become one of the facilitators for a youth leadership camp help by a school. The camp mainly catered to high school seniors who will be sitting for an important national exam coming November. The goal was to motivate the students and give them encouragement, and the goal giving to the facilitators by the trainer was -

Engage with the students as much as possible.

Clear enough. But in reality my heart was beating fast and butterflies was in my stomach. The horror! It made me wonder why I said yes in the first place, but alas, there I was in the hall, waiting for the students to file in.

So, I was assigned to a group of eight students and the first thing that came into my mind when I talked to them was, the age gap does say a lot! I was having hard time by just attempting to talk to them in the beginning. 

Thankfully, things began to shift.

As the sessions proceeded, students were asked to share more about themselves and I was given the privilege to listen to their stories. And why would I say that it is a privilege?

It is through hearing their stories that I begin to understand a little about them, the youths.

I was quite surprised that some of them were very open to share about their personal lives, even the not so good side of their personal lives. And after hearing their stories, I realized that the youths are not what they seem to be.

To go into their hearts, one will need to have ample patience, with a huge portion of tender loving care.

I guess many failed, because their patience ran out even if they’d just started, including myself.

Yes, it may be a challenge to connect with the youths. But if we can impact the life of even one youth, his future will open up to another horizon of unlimited possibilities and opportunities.

So...Youths. They may seem arrogant. They may seem nonchalant. They can be rebellious. They can be playful. If only, we could spend more time with them. If only, we could listen to them more. If only, we take their opinions to heart and recognize their worth. They can really change the world.

In conclusion, I believe in the youths. And I can’t wait to work with them again. =)

[encounterswithpei]

Sometimes, even being who we are is a luxury

An Encounter with ‘Belle’

A conversation with my friend, Belle, reminds me how lucky I am to be around a group of good people.

[encounterswithpei]

So, why ENCOUNTERS?

Because I believe that every encounter in my life deserves to be recorded. So are yours.

The reason---

When we encounter new things, we realize that we have learned something new and there is so much more to learn.

When we encounter people, we will leave a piece of ourselves in them and they in us. We learn from each other.

And when we encounter God,we experience a transformation of our hearts and minds that transcends all understanding.

encounter (ɪnˈkaʊntə,ɛn-/)

unexpectedly be faced with or experience 

meet (someone) unexpectedly.

Encounter comes when we least expect it. 

Encounter comes in different forms(things,people,God). 

Encounter brings out different emotions in us(joy,sorrow or even confusion).

Encounter brings out the best and worst of us.

Encounter makes us grow.

Recording my encounters allows me to reflect on my growth, both spiritually and mentally.

And to remember the good, as well as the not so good encounters in my life.

To me, encounters, be it good or the not so good ones, are precious and full of surprises.

Because you’ll never know how the encounter will turn out, 

and knowing that God is full of creativity, 

Every encounter will have its own signature, 

and it will always come to us unexpectedly...

No matter how many times we have experienced it.

[encounterswithpei]

How it all started.

So here I am on my first attempt on achieving my recently awakened dream.

At the age of 24,

With about 11 weeks left till I’m finished with the last semester of my engineering degree,

I decided to pick back up my dream, my interest, my passion ---

Journalism. Writing. Expressing. In words. *tadaa*

For many years I have been living in the world of numbers, formulas and logic.

Until very recently God had reminded me of the passion I have towards words and language, 

that gave me the courage to take on the unknown, to pursue that passion.

Many have said that I’m too late, that I should just stick to what I’m doing now.

Usually, I would have agreed and followed what others told me to do.

But this time, I took on the YOLO attitude --- ‘YOU ONLY LIVE ONCE’

Many have said that I’m too late, that I should just stick to what I’m doing now.

I once said the same thing to a senior of mine who too had graduated from an engineering degree and am currently studying law.

‘Isn’t it too late?’ I asked.

‘It is never too late to pursue what you love to do.’ He replied.

I never understood then, until now.

I started off with the wrong mindset,

of getting good grades, a good degree, and a good job.

I’ve never really considered what I’m really good at, what my strengths are, how can I unleash my full potential and the gifts that God has blessed me with,

Until now.

I know this post is getting a bit long-winded,

but I really hope that you, who happened to stumble upon my page,

would know the story behind Encounters.

How it all started.