Hi guys!! Yes, I have been missing for a while thus the update! For you guys out there who do not know, I am currently studying in the UK. I shall skip the “how’s UK” part in the post as any of you who are interested to know can always drop me a message on Facebook.So why the UK? As an A levels student, it is only normal you apply for the UK since you are doing a UK equivalent of form 6. Moreover, i was going to study economics, so UK was a suitable place. I just applied and left it there. No real decision was made yet, just the application form handed in. Many months down the road, I graduated from college and the time for university intakes were around the corner. It was either study locally for a year and then transfer or go overseas straightaway. Typical me, I barely spent anytime during my post-A levels period to seriously consider about my further education. So when the time came to decide, I was obviously not mentally prepared to go and was feeling a wee bit comfortable here. I checked out Nottingham's transfer programme and it looked good with the 1+2 thing. My plan seemed almost set.
So why go? A few days before the deadline for my decision, I decided it was time to seek God as this was an important and heavy decision. As I prayed, the thought kept coming to me, “Go”. My reaction was, “WHAT?! You can’t be serious. There are so many things I can do here for You”. I continued praying that day and the same answer came. I ended that day with telling myself that it cannot be true and I shall continue seeking tomorrow. The next day, I got the same answer but a little more expounded. The answer told me I must leave my comfort zone, my friends and family, and learn to depend on Him. After that day, I was terribly depressed. The depression lasted a few days. I had many thoughts about just forgetting what I heard and stick with my original plan. It would have been so much easier, in a sense of mental and physical preparation to stay, but I decided to go in the end.
Reaching and settling here was not the easiest of task. I was literally friendless for a few days. Never before have had I felt such a feeling, discounting my first day in primary school that is. Being a people centered guy, that sucked. From time to time, I would ask God why I was sent here. Fast forward to today, I DO have friends now, yaaaaaaay! Almost all of them are non-Christians so their perception of most things are very different from the bunch of friends I use to hang out with back home. I guess another reason I am here too is to be out of the salt shaker. Looking back in hindsight, I spent a wee bit too much time back home with my Christian friends. It is always more comfortable to hang out with like minded people. As our call for us to be salt for the earth, we have to be first sprinkled out of our little salt shaker.To conclude, I am quite sure God has a bigger reason for me being here than the few things mentioned, I just do not know what it is yet. All I can do is to seek His will and have faith that it will be revealed in due time. Yes, I have found a church here. It is a free denomination church. So far so good from a theological point of view. It is a small church like back home with friendly people.
Big chunk of the church consists of students. Keep me in your prayers that will not give fall to the temptations of the world and that my focus is set on God to keep up in this race we have been called to.
“But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness and all these things will be given to you as well” Matthew 6 : 33
Cheers!! \/
- Alex Tan
Image taken from: http://lavirtuosity.com/?p=139
After the awesome holiday season, for most of us, we would have just started school again , gone back to work, and for the a few, it’s just the beginning of our exams.
Daily routines aside, the year 2011 can also be a new start to us seeking to deepen our relationship with God. It could be through a regular quiet time, prayer, and commitment to finish reading the Bible within a year. Admittedly, it isn’t easy and we may struggle with it. However, we can start by setting a few goals, and gradually increasing the difficulty of it as the year goes by. Also, take the time to share with a brother or sister in Christ any difficulties you might be facing so that he or she can encourage and support you through it. Finally, don’t allow occasional slip ups to make you feel like a failure. Instead, use them to motivate you to go one step further.