Converted!

Dear Diary,

This may be old news but it is still very much in my mind. =) Last night, after the P-Medicine seminar at the Medical Alumni, my mum told me that my paternal grandmother has accepted God into her life. I was overjoyed but surprisingly all I did was to smile. It has been such a long time. I think my family has been telling my paternal granny about Jesus Christ for more than a decade, furthermore she admitted that she was once healed in a Christian church when she was a young lady. Then again, she always dismissed the thought of accepting the Christian faith. She had the concept of universalism and that religious differences did not bother her at all. The crunch came when my aunt passed away weeks back as a new Christian and it really rocked the spiritual aspect of my paternal family. Maybe most of them have come to the age where they contemplate the eternal aspects of life. The material, the prestige, the luxury and comfort of this world will surely stay here when you pass from this world to another.

I think this breakthrough really gave me that spiritual encouragement that if I persevere, some of my closest friends can eventually know God. Admittedly, I have lost faith over time that I can convert some of my friends. This incident is surely going to give me the much-needed spiritual boost. I am going to pray for the conversion of some of the most cherished people in my life! Pretty incredibly, a Muslim came to my pharmacy and talked to my pharmacy assistant about Islam. Well, he quoted the bible and stuff like that… and suggested the need to do charity and give alms for the forgiveness of the crimes and sins we commit. I took him to task on that. I was very patient with him, listening and reasoning with him. Despite his denials, I am quite sure I drilled into his mind (and maybe even convinced him) we need the grace of God for salvation and we cannot earn our salvation. Doing a good deed can never compensate for the bad deed that is committed. A bad deed needs punishment and only when someone takes the rap for you, you are not going to escape unpunished. I think I never really evangelise to a Muslim since I stepped out of secondary school and this incident is pretty interesting, haha… =) Frankly, I think we really need to remember the Muslims and not just ignore them just because they seem “un-evangelise-able”. They need Jesus Christ as God, just like any others.

Anyway, I guess so many of us are so bogged down by our work. Stepping into the working world is like a double-edged sword. It may have its benefits but the negative points are just as numerous. Yesterday, I had lunch with my former classmates now in a rival retail pharmacy chain at PastaMania. We complained a lot about our work but somehow the ventilation session was almost therapeutic! Later in the evening, another former pharmacy classmate who is now in another industry told me his working life. Gosh, he is incredible to be still sticking to that horrible job. When I returned home, my youngest sister spent more than an hour confiding to me about her adaptation process in her new corporate job. It is difficult and office politics is as real as reality! Errr… what a phrase, isn’t it? I think I am very fortunate indeed, although I am beginning to sense the challenging time ahead.

Okay, just a light-hearted thought. What is the most memorable movie you ever watched? Frankly, when I thought of that question… one movie flashed in my mind. Ironically, it was not the Oscar-laden “Lord of the Ring”… but a movie which I actually did not understand most of the plot initially. I only knew the meaning of the movie after I read more about it days after watching the movie. I watched the movie with a friend during one of my most stressful days… in fact, just 1 or 2 days before a major exam paper. That movie is “The Matrix Reloaded”. I will always remember that movie… think it is coming to free-to-air television on Channel 5 soon. May catch it again. =)

Goodnight!

God Bless,

Andrew