Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes

Hotel de Ville, Lyon

Part 3 of our vacation was in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region. We drove 5 hours from Sarlat-la-Canéda to Lyon, the capital of the region and the second largest city in France. This was going to be our base for the next 2 days, and where we catch out flight back to Paris and onward to Singapore. I don't enjoy driving in big cities, so we booked a place just slightly outside of the city centre. I made a reservation for dinner and we took the bus into the city. For some reason, I though that it was going to be a short walk from the bus interchange to where the restaurant was - possible because it looked like a straightforward straight ahead direction. It turned out to be a couple of metro stations away! But it was a blessing in disguise because we came across a marché de Nöel and also got to see the Fête de Lumieres. Mistakes don't have to be bad. At the

Fête de Lumieres, Lyon

marché the kids had their candy floss, a chocolate coated mashmallow and a ride on the carousel. We bought a mini Gâteau à la broche, and would have sampled a lot of the food had we not made the dinner reservation.

Monsieur P, rue de Royale

After the long walk, we were all ready for our dinner at Monsieur P. The P is not for Detective Poirot but for its owner and chef Florent Poulard. The place came highly recommended on Tripadvisor. For starters, I had this amazing  beetroot salad, so good that even my son enjoyed it. I had Pollack for the mains and a fantastic Chestnut mousse and Clementine sorbet for dessert. Great food and friendly service. I was looking for the French gastronomique experience in a child friendly restaurant and that was exactly what we got. Completely satisfied.

When we got back to the apartment, we realised that there was no hot water for our shower. We had suspected this before we left for dinner but thought perhaps the water would get warmer if we let it run a little longer. The heating in the apartment also wasn't great. I messaged the owner and told him that we will move to another place tomorrow and asked him for a refund for that 2nd night. I am still waiting for the refund. The entire family ran in and out of the shower very quickly that night.

Palaise l'Isle, Annecy

All packed, we drove out to Annecy the next morning. Perfect weather, the sun was out. We walked to the lake and took a quick stroll around the Vieille Ville. We had a delicious brunch at a creperie called Quai No. 10, situated along the Thiou Canal and a stones throw away from the iconic Palaise l'Isle. The owner of the creperie told us that he just got back from a trip to Bali and Singapore. A vacation swap. Annecy was gorgeous even in winter.

Chamonix

We drove on to Chamonix, but not before we accidentally drove through the Mont Blanc Tunnel and into Italy! We should have driven on for another 50 minutes to reach Aiguille du Midi. Instead we turned back to Chamonix, and discovered that the cable cars from Chamonix  up to Aiguille du Midi were closed for a few weeks. With no mountains to climb, we went to a forest for a stroll along a river. Later we had Italian for dinner (that would be the second Italian encounter of the day) and a walkabout the town centre. The weather forecast indicated a 100% change of snowing at 7pm and they kids kept a lookout for it, but it did not come. The snow finally came about 7am the next morning. So we got to experience light snowfall for about an hour before we drove back to Lyon to catch our flight.

7 days seemed short but it felt like we did a lot during that short period of time. And we felt God's presence with us throughout the trip giving us special glimpses of the wonderful world that He created.  

Until the next time France, au revoir et a bientôt.

Dordogne

Château de Beynac

I've never heard of Dordogne before I started my planning for this holiday. And it took me a long time to decide if I should visit the region in winter. Would everything be closed? This place is known for its wonderful cuisine but will any restautants be open? The Gabares will not be operating along the river and it would be too cold to kayak. Not a wine enthusiast and it would be way past the grapes harvesting season. But the research that I did suggested that Dordogne is a bit like the Cotswolds in England, beautiful in any season.

It was an 8 hour drive from Mont-Saint Michel to Sarlat-la-Canéda. I didn't want to be searching for our accommodation in the dark when we arrive, so we decided to start off at 7am. Driving through French villages in the dark on the left hand side of the road was quite an experience. My two sons were excellent navigators throughout this holiday and thank God for journey mercies. I would probably stay the night in Loire Valley if I do the same drive again in the future. We managed to arrive in Dordogne Valley when the sun was still up and the autumn colours of the region were amazing. Felt excited about spending the next few days here.

Medieval town Sarlat-la-Canéda

We stayed in the heart of the medieval town. The orange-yellow hues of the limestone buildings and small lanes were quaint. Many shops were closed during this time of the year but we didn't have too many issues finding food. We had an exquisite dinner at Hotel La Couleuvrine on the first night. Sarlat makes a good base for people exploring the Dordogne Valley, because it has a lot of amenities including large supermarkets and, ahem, McDonalds just a few minutes drive out of the medieval part of town.

The next morning, we drove 30 minutes to Font-de-Gaume. This is the only remaining cave in France containing pre-historic polychrome wall paintings that is still open to the public. Less than a hundred tickets are available each day and they have stopped taking advanced booking since the beginning of this year. Everyone who wishes to visit have to be personally present to buy the ticket. I read that in summer, visitors line up as early as 7am even though the office only opens at 9.30am. We arrived at 9am and were first in the queue - the advantages of visiting in winter. Thibaut, our English speaking guide was very friendly and knowledgeable. It was surreal to stand just inches away from something that was painted more than 17,000 years ago. Don't miss this when you visit Dordogne. Later we drove by La Roque Saint Christophe, a pre-historic human settlement in the face of the limestone cliffs. We also came across one of the many goose farms in the region where the famed Perigord foie gras comes from.

Lino, our truffle hunter

We visited Château de Beynac after lunch. Purged on a cliff next to the Dordogne river, it used to be home to Richard I, King of England. The castle is not as well maintained as those in Loire Valley, but it offer a stunning view of the Valley.  We did a truffle tour in St-Cyprien the next morning. The tour was hosted by Edouard who gave us an excellent introduction to the fungi. My daughter loved playing with Lino, the truffle hunter. With his help, me managed to gather close to 400g of Perigold black truffles which sells at the current market price of about EUR750/kg. The tour was lots of fun for the kids and helped all of us appreciate the wonders of God's creation, including those well hidden under the ground. 

Brantôme

We spent the rest of the day driving around the region and ended up in Brantôme. The town is encircled by the La Dronne river and is known as “Venise du Perigord Vert”.

I am so thankful that I chanced upon charming Dordogne when researching on the holiday. Next stop, Lyon.

Normandy

Étretat

Our recent holiday in France was so short that I didn't have a chance to blog. 7 days with short daylight in the winter, lots of driving and much to experience. I got back to work the day after the holiday so that I could quickly get over the jetlag and have been trying to finish up the photobook of the holiday. Unfortunately I did not realise that Apple had stopped the Photos printing services until I finished compiling the photobook. At first I thought that I had chosen an outdated template so I painstakingly transferred the photos to another template. I realised later that I had to update my Mac OS and use the Mimeo photo app extension to convert my template. I thought I was finally seeing the light at the end of the tunnel when I realised that the photos loaded onto Mimeo were blurry. I have been trying to find other alternatives for the last 2 days - extremely frustrating, and completely disappointed with Apple. When frustrated with Apple, Keep Calm and Blog. 

We flew Airfrance to avoid CDG Terminal 1; I don't mind iconic, so long as it is updated. It took more than an hour to get out of the airport and another hour to sought out the car rental - they couldn't tell me where the hand break was. The kids prefer nature so we didn't plan for any time in Paris, which turned out to be a blessing in disguise. We did see gilet jaune protestors during our trip but they are mostly at roundabouts slowing down the traffic. Our first stop was Étretat. It was raining heavily most of the morning, so the chances of seeing the white cliffs weren't good. Everyone was hungry so we had to find a place for lunch. By the time we finished lunch, the rain had cleared and we were treated to a beautiful view of the limestone cliffs. The kids played on the pebble beached for awhile. To my surprise, the family was adventurous enough to take the hike up the cliffs that inspired some of Monet's paintings. 

Bayeux

It started to rain again when we got back into the car. We decided to head to our hotel in Bayeux and defer the visit to the D-Day sites until the next day. Château de Bellefountaine was an excellent hotel. There were even black and white swans on the grounds and a river running through it. It was unfortunate that the hotel dinner was fully booked because the menu looked amazing. We had a light dinner in Bayeux instead and managed to take in the beautiful Christmas lights in the city. There were no takers for the Tapisserie de Bayeux, which depicts the Norman conquest of England. 

We had an early start the next morning. After breakfast, we checked out and headed to Arromanches-les-Bains. This is the historic location where an artificial harbour was built by the Allied forces to unload heavy equipments on D-Day in June 1944. You can still see remnants of the floating structure along the beach. After that we drove to the Normandy American Cemetery &

Normandy American Cemetery & Memorial,
Colleville-sur-Mer

Memorial in Colleville-sur-Mer. More than 9,000 American soldiers were buried here. Many died as soon as they got off their battleship. A sea of white crosses and Star of David across the cemetery was a solemn reminder of the sacrifices of so many to free Western Europe from the grasp of tyranny. There were balsam veteran's wreath place at the foot of each headstone. The American flag was flown at half mast to remember President Bush Snr who passed away the day before. At the centre of the memorial is a bronze sculpture named "The Spirit of American Youth Rising from the Waves" with inscriptions that bring great hope to the families of the fallen soldiers: "Mine eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord".

Mont-Saint Michel

Our final stop in Normandy was Mont-Saint Michel. I've had wanted to see this place for a very long time. And 2 years ago, when we visited the Loire Valley, I did consider driving here but was dissuaded by the hotel owner. I am glad I took his advice, because our eldest son wasn't with us for that trip.  Now we got to see this amazing place for the first time together. We could have joint the free English speaking tour at 3pm, but we were far too hungry, so we started off with a wonderful lunch at La Mère Poulard. I am glad we filled our stomachs first because the walk up to the monastery required quite a bit of energy. But the climb was well worth it because the monastery and the view of the top was astounding. It's unbelievable how hundreds of years ago, people managed to build such an huge structure so high up.

Nightfall at Mont-Saint Michel

The one advantage of travelling in winter is that you don't have to wait too long for the evening lights to come on to illuminate the buildings. We decide to go for crêpe de banane and wait for the sky to darken. And what a sight we were rewarded with - it was like a picture perfect postcard. We stood there in the dark for at least 1/2 hour taking many photos. After that, I was thinking of taking the 2km walk back to the hotel, but it was getting cold so we decided to hop onto the free shuttle bus instead. It didn't feel like I got enough of the place. Definitely worth another visit in the future.

Despite the rain and change of plans, we managed to do quite a lot in Normandy on the first 2 days of our vacation. Next, we were off to Dordogne.

The Message

I bought a copy of The Message after I stumbled across a Youtube video of a meeting between Bono, the lead singer of U2, and the late Eugene Peterson. The latter was a preacher who developed The Message, a modern rendition of the Bible. Parts of The Message was published in earlier years, but the full version became available in 2002. I have come across abstracts of it every now and then, but have never taken interest to it because it didn't seem to have the authoritative ring and punchiness of the New International Version (NIV). The Message paraphrases the Bible by using modern words and context.

In the youtube video, there was a segment where Bono reads from Psalm 40:

"I waited and waited and waited for God.
    At last he looked; finally he listened.
He lifted me out of the ditch,
    pulled me from deep mud.
He stood me up on a solid rock
    to make sure I wouldn’t slip.
He taught me how to sing the latest God-song..."
Psalm 40: 1-3 (The Message)

That piqued my interest in The Message. "I waited and waited and waited..." resonated with me because I often feel like I am waiting and waiting and waiting for something or other!  I was conscious that I already have a few copies of the Bible at home and wondered if this was a impulse purchase. Will it make me love reading the Bible more? Can it help me understand the Bible better? Is it going to make Jesus sound like a hippie? Well why not buy a copy to find out - so I gave in to my impulse.

This is its rendition of Isaiah 1:13-17

Quit your worship charades. I can’t stand your trivial religious games: Monthly conferences, weekly Sabbaths, special meetings— meetings, meetings, meetings—I can’t stand one more! Meetings for this, meetings for that. I hate them! You’ve worn me out! I’m sick of your religion, religion, religion, while you go right on sinning. When you put on your next prayer-performance, I’ll be looking the other way. No matter how long or loud or often you pray,
I’ll not be listening. And do you know why? Because you’ve been tearing people to pieces, and your hands are bloody.
Go home and wash up. Clean up your act. Sweep your lives clean of your evildoings so I don’t have to look at them any longer. Say no to wrong. Learn to do good. Work for justice. Help the down-and-out. Stand up for the homeless.

This is like God walking into a busy church today. "Meetings for this, meetings for that. I hate them! You've worn me out!" You have no excuse for thinking that those words were just for the Jews of the Old Testaments. The paraphrase takes the essence of the message and serves it to you piping hot. The picture in my head wasn't religious leaders in white garbs putting up a pious performance, but of men and women like ourselves treating church like weekly "religious games". 

I read its rendition of John 3 where Nicodemus, a Jewish religious leader meets with Jesus to speak to him alone. Jesus tells Nicodemus that he needed to be "born again". And quite honestly, there a some portions of some verses in that chapter which aren't so easy to understand. But the elaboration in the The Message helped me to understand it better:

"Jesus said, “You’re not listening. Let me say it again. Unless a person submits to this original creation—the ‘wind-hovering-over-the-water’ creation, the invisible moving the visible, a baptism into a new life—it’s not possible to enter God’s kingdom. When you look at a baby, it’s just that: a body you can look at and touch. But the person who takes shape within is formed by something you can’t see and touch—the Spirit—and becomes a living spirit." ~ John 3:5-6 (The Message)


So, I am enjoying myself reading The Message. And it is helping me to better understand some verses. I gave my copy to my son today and I pray that he will hear God speaking into his life. I am going to get myself a replacement copy tomorrow, perhaps a NIV - The Message parallel Bible.

Prayer

One of the more difficult things to get my head around is prayer. What is it for if God knows my every thought, even before I think it. And in Romans, it even says that God would teach you what you ought to pray: 

"In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us through wordless groans. And he who searches our heartsknows the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for God’s people in accordance with the will of God." Romans 8: 26-27 (NIV)

What is prayer actually for?  I remember reading 2 books on prayer. One explained the different things that prayer is but it didn't give me that 1-minute explanation that I needed. If something is going to be of use to me, it has got to be simple enough for my goldfish memory to remember. I didn't manage to finish the other book - perhaps the 1-minute answer is at the end of that book. It bugs me to do something that I don't fully understand. 

I think I got the answer I was looking for today. Let me qualify this by saying that this is my view of prayer. There isn't a Bible verse that describes it this way. I am not entirely sure a pastor or theologian would agree with my illustration of what prayer is. All it is is a 1-minute explanation to myself, which helps me to pray with the greater conviction.

So for me, prayer is sticking my brain into God's realm. The rest of the body is here - the eyes, ears, mouth, the whole body, but the brain is with God. The brain off-loads everything to God, and takes wisdom from Him. The brain receives the power to believe and directs the body to take the right action. When the brain is tired and confused, it finds rest and peace. The brain is in conversation with God, offering God the open door to our lives. Our brain has an opportunity to see God's perspective, and can see how God is involved in a situation. Our brain understands that God is always in charge.

When someone mistreat you, the body may feel all the human sensations, but the brain who is connected to the heavenly realm releases it to God. It is able to focus on God's beauty rather that the temporal nuisance of this life. We see the God-possibilities rather that be limited by our human capabilities. We pray for miracles and what seems impossible because we know that our God is able.

To stick our brains into God's realm, we need to allow His Holy Spirit to put our head in the right position. It is not a matter of us trying and trying harder. Even when Jesus was with his disciples, they didn't know how to pray for healing. And they fell asleep when they ought to be praying for the challenging times ahead. But when the disciples received the Holy Spirit, they began to pray boldly. The book of Acts tells us this over and over again - it is by the power of the Holy Spirit that the miraculous happens. 

Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. ~ Philippians 4:6

Conversion Stories

Our church is doing a sermon series on the book of Acts, The Acts of the Apostles, to be precise. Written by Luke, who also wrote the eyewitness account of Jesus in the Gospel according to Luke, Acts talks about how the Good News of salvation spreads to "all Judea and Samaria and to the ends of the earth" by the miraculous power of the Holy Spirit. The early followers of Jesus, mostly Jews, were persecuted and martyred for their faith by their brethren Jews and the Romans, but their faith stood firm.

This morning's sermon was on Act 9 about the conversion of Saul, a Jewish persecutor and murderer of Christians. This was recorded for us:

"Meanwhile, Saul was still breathing out murderous threats against the Lord’s disciples. He went to the high priest and asked him for letters to the synagogues in Damascus, so that if he found any there who belonged to the Way, whether men or women, he might take them as prisoners to Jerusalem. As he neared Damascus on his journey, suddenly a light from heaven flashed around him. He fell to the ground and heard a voice say to him, “Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?”. “Who are you, Lord?” Saul asked. “I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting,” he replied. “Now get up and go into the city, and you will be told what you must do.” (Acts 9: 1-6 NIV).

The encounter transformed Saul from a hater of Christ into Paul, the most prolific missionary in church history. He was eventually imprisoned and beheaded by the Romans, but not before he wrote a few more books of the New Testaments which are commonly referred to as the Prison Letters. Paul's life and his death is recorded to for all the skeptics who come after him.

Listening to today's sermon reminded me of the movie, The Case for Christ, which I watched about a week back. The movie is based on a true story of a Chicago Tribune award-winning journalist turned pastor, Lee Strobel. Lee was a born skeptic and was distraught when his wife became a Christian, so distraught that he set out to disprove the claims of Christ. Much like Paul of Tarsus, Lee wanted to settle the score with the Christians. He put his investigative skills to use and spoke to a number of experts in their fields of specialisation. On his journey to disprove the death, crucifixion and resurrection of Christ, he ended up face to face with the truth of Christ. 

In the face of truth, both men comes to the realisation of God's love. God took a chance on us - "But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us." (Romans 5:8). Today, we live in a world that is very hostile toward God and what God stands for. Yet when we push Him out of our lives, He remains quietly at the door of our hearts waiting expectantly for us to open it again. He gives us grace even when we choose to take a different path. He continues to pursue us even when we've made it clear to Him that He is not welcomed to our part of the neighbourhood. 

This is how much God loved the world: He gave his Son, his one and only Son. And this is why: so that no one need be destroyed; by believing in him, anyone can have a whole and lasting life. God didn’t go to all the trouble of sending his Son merely to point an accusing finger, telling the world how bad it was. He came to help, to put the world right again. 

 ~ John 3:16-17 The Message

Dream

I can't remember exactly when I had this dream, only that it was during the period when I was recuperating at home after my hospitalisation. Unlike my wife, I almost always forget my dreams when I wake up from sleep. But I remembered this one and I have been thinking about it ever since. It was a simple dream - it was cold and dark except for a tiny spark of warm orange light in the distance. Although I could not see my immediate surroundings, it felt as if I was in a forest heading slowly toward the light. It felt as if I was sitting in something that was rolling smoothly on a winding track towards this light. All this was happening without any sound and in slow motion. 

After awhile it seemed like I had stopped moving and the light was moving towards me instead. Still a distance from the light, I realised that the light was Jesus seated on a throne with His nail pierced hands resting on his knees.  Behind the throne were two winged-creatures. At that point it occurred to me that I was perhaps leaving this present life and headed towards the next life. But it wasn't fearful at all. Instead it felt like I was reaching my destination. I recall making sense of it in my dream - that after all the twist and turns in life, this is all that really matters. And then I woke up. 

I do believe God speaks through dreams and it has certainly happened to me once before many years ago. In that case, I received a confirmation of what the dream meant from an independent source right after I woke up.  Even as I write this paragraph, I just thought about a message I received out of the blue from an ex-colleague about 2 weeks back. This was some time after I had my dream, so it hadn't occurred to me that they may be related until now. It reads:

"The Lord prompted me to pray for you. Know that He is near and always there to lean on. His grace is sufficient. Amen... I was reading Philippians and God is wonderful. He reminds me that salvation wrought by self has nothing to glory about. But only his grace freely given to mankind is priceless and gives all glory to Him. Verses in chapter 4 urge us to remember to be joyful because the evil one comes to steal, kill and destroy our joy in Jesus. Let our mindfulness be evident to all. Victory belongs to the Lord. Be encouraged Brother." It is followed by the verses from Philippians 4:4-7.

Is it related? Not sure. There are some parallels. Am I going to be up against something beyond my human abilities yet again? I don't really want to. Too much of that over the last couple of years. But even so, I wish to encourage anyone out there who is dealing with something that seems difficult or unbearable  - that Jesus said, “I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep." (John 10:11). Whatever it is that you feel that you cannot handle, I hope and pray that you will receive "the peace of God that surpasses all understanding".  Whether you are dealing with an illness or with bullies; anxiety or emptiness about the future; losing someone you love or losing the love from someone; being victimised or marginalised; feeling alone or feeling overwhelmed. Cast away your fears and do not let yourself be heavy laden. Like David who removed the heavy armour that got in his way, draw on God's strength as you face your Goliath. 

4 Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice! 
5 Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near. 
6 Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. 
7 And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.
~ Philippians 4: 4-7

Recovery

Three weeks of discomfort, then a couple of days in the hospital, followed by a full week of home rest and daily hospital visits for IV antibiotics. The big day came last Wednesday when the catheter was meant to be removed. After carrying the urine bag around for more than a week, I was ready to have it removed. But at the same time, I was concerned that I may still have issues going to the toilet once it is removed. I also read that patients may experience urinary incontinence. I actually went to the pharmacy to get "pouches for weak bladder" (there doesn't seem to be a term for the product) ahead of the doctors appointment.

So the urologist explained the procedure. Before they remove the catheter, they will infuse (made it sound like an exotic fruit tea) me with saline to test if I can go to the toilet after the catheter is removed. The infusion was cold and woke up my bladder pretty quickly. I was meant to be infused with 300ml of saline but my bladder was already feeling very full at 150ml.  As a compromise, we agreed on 250ml - well what else could I do, I was lying down flat feeling pretty vulnerable. When it was time to take the catheter out, I was assured that it would not be anywhere as uncomfortable as when it was fitted in. Honestly, it is debatable. And the special instruction was to keep the saline in. I got through that somehow, and they gave me the measuring jug to empty my bladder. All 250ml came back out, so no blockages. And I also don't have urinary incontinence.

I am still on medication for several weeks more. A day after having the catheter removed, the doctors ran some tests and confirmed that the markers for inflammation and infection have come down significantly. That meant that I could switch from the daily IV to oral antibiotics. There will still be follow ups with the doctors and a scan in a couple of months to confirm that my prostate has fully recovered. The previous MRI showed that my prostate was twice the average volume which explains all the pain and discomfort I had experienced.

After close to a month of dealing with this issue, I felt a great sense of achievement to be able to go to the toilet. Honestly, we have to thank God for all the simplest things in life. Intricately stitched by the mighty hands of God, every part of us is a miracle. We are reminded of the miracle of life when we see a newborn, but we can sometimes forget that our body is a miracle every single day. Current influences suggest that we are inadequate and we should despise our bodies. It makes us feel as if we can do better than what God has already done.  We can lose sight of what we are designed for and to give thanks for that.

While I was waiting to see the doctor on Thursday, over a cup of hot chocolate, I gave thanks to God for the miracles that make life look so simple to us.

Getting Discharged Today

After 5 days in the hospital, I get to go home today. Will finally see the sky and some greenery I hope. I am still waiting for the urologist to discharge me so timing is a bit of a variable. The tests that he ran 2 days ago did not yield any bacteria cultures so I will not know what bug I actually caught. Vicious but shy. But since the symptoms are lessening, we know that the antibiotics are working. As I have developed prostatic abscesses, I will be kept on antibiotics  for a few more weeks. 

The urologist will still keep the the catheter in so I will go home proudly carrying the urine bag. I will be resting at home for about a week before I part ways with the urine bag, that is if I no longer have issues urinating on my own. I will have to make daily visits to the hospital to receive the IV antibiotic. For this arrangement to be feasible, I will be switching to a new antibiotic, which only requires 1 dose a day rather than 3. I also need to be fitted with a long IV line in my arm. Not looking forward to that. 

In times like these, I am again reminded of how vulnerable we can be. When we are well, we can act as if nothing can stop us. We can spend too much time focusing our energy on acquiring more. We expect everything to work at the Singaporean level of efficiency. We form the view that if things in our lives are not what we expected, we can get them to perfection. In reality, life is full of ups and downs. There has been huge advancements in science and medicine, but a tiny bug can wreck havoc and turn a grown man into a groaning man. I for one know that am more vulnerable than I think of myself and I need God.  I need God's help to see the vulnerabilities in others and be an encourager. I need God's help to strike a balance in my life so that I don't find myself chasing after meaningless things. I need God's help to see that whether I am winning or losing in this life, I am always winning in God's eye. 

In today's world, there are so many angry voices against the existence of God or the belief in God. There is so much hatred towards the name of Jesus, because His church and followers have abused or been disobedient to His teaching. We place our hopes on what humankind can achieve if we can all work together, a big if.  We are losing sight of how vulnerable we really are and are too quick to write-off the existence of God. Yet God shows great compassion despite our human condition, and we see that clearer when we are vulnerable.

As a father has compassion on his children, so the Lord has compassion on those who fear him; for he knows how we are formed, he remembers that we are dust. The life of mortals is like grass, they flourish like a flower of the field;

the wind blows over it and it is gone, and its place remembers it no more.

But from everlasting to everlasting the Lord’s love is with those who fear him, and   his righteousness with their children’s children-

with those who keep his covenant and remember to obey his precepts.

~ Psalm 103: 13 - 18 (NIV)

Instant Responses

I just finished a bowl of Beehoon Soup for breakfast. With time on my hand, I am thinking back to the last weekend when the pain got unbearable. I had done some tests on Friday and met the urologist to run through the results on Saturday. He gave me a muscle relaxant to help me urinate. It was rather troubling that on Saturday night, despite taking the muscle relaxant, my condition felt worse. I googled and it seems that this medication takes up to 4 days to be fully effective. So although I was in pain, I felt it was reasonable to give it some time. 

I didn't have much sleep that night, and there was a point in the night, I felt really sorry for myself and asked God why I had to deal with so many incredibly unpleasant medical issues. Wasn't it enough to have been hit by lymphoma 2 years back? Don't I get an immunity card after that episode? All the doctors I saw in the last couple of weeks had to ask me the standard questions to rule out STD, and despite not having done anything wrong, I have ended up in such pain. Feeling sorry for myself must have made me momentarily sleepy, as I dozed off before hearing an answer from God.

On Sunday night, my condition worsened. And each time I tried going to the toilet, I was praying that I would be able to empty my bladder. You don't find this kind of prayer in the Methodist hymnal. They were raw and demanding, seeking instant response. And I felt that something was going to go very wrong soon if this continued. I could feel and see my abdomen bulging due to my overstretched bladder. I knew for sure I would not be able to get through another night like that. That was when I contacted the urologist.

Yesterday afternoon, after having had the chance to rehydrate my body, I went for an MRI. The results confirmed that I did not have prostate cancer. I didn't think that it was cancer, but it was good to have a confirmation. However, the MRI did show that I have abscesses in my prostate. From what I read, these can be, well, dangerous. The urologist said that if it had been 1 large abscess, he would remove it. However, I have multiple smaller ones which made the risk -returns of such a procedure non-viable. I will have to rely on the antibiotics to do its job. 

Last night, I laid in bed thinking what if I had been able to pee more easily on Sunday. Would I have called the urologist? I remember thinking about all the meetings I may have to miss if I had to go to the hospital on Monday. I even looked through the calendar to see what may be a better time to go to the hospital. God didn't leave me any options but to call the urologist, and He didn't leave me any options but to get myself to the hospital soonest possible. He needed me to be started on a stronger antibiotic and to stop the vicious cycle of toxicity that the worsening condition was creating. God wanted me to use my common sense.

I sometimes look for quick fixes when none can be offered. God is the Great Physician and needs us to cooperate with Him to get the best results. 

Ate Alone Tonight

I had dinner by myself tonight. I didn't have much of an appetite but the Chicken Rice was pretty good, so I managed to finish it along with the Acar and the vegetable soup. Good choice. This wasn't my first time having a hospital meal. I had them when each of the kids were delivered. Those were definitely better times to be in a hospital. Those are the only times people would ever want to come to a hospital.

I was admitted this morning for bacterial prostatitis. It started out as Urinary Tract Infection about 3 weeks back. I went to the GP twice but the condition persisted. Eventually the GP referred me to a urologist who suspected I had prostatitis. He ordered urine and blood tests for me, and made me do the DRE - Digital Rectal Examination. It feels even more awful than it sounds. In the procedure, the doctor sticks his gloved finger up the bum and presses against the prostate to examine it and to express prostatic fluids which will be collected from the urine. Traumatic is the only way I would describe it. Several days later, I had to do a transrectal ultrasound which was like DRE Part 2. We are just not designed to have thing

After those tests, I was put on a new antibiotic specifically for prostatitis and a muscle relaxant that is meant to ease the pain when I urinate. Despite taking the new medication, my condition got worse. Over the weekend, I barely caught any sleep as I constantly felt the urge to urinate but all it produced was a lot of pain. Early this morning, I decided that I had to call the urologist. He asked for me to be admitted to the hospital. 

By the time I got to the hospital, I was worn out and in a lot of pain. I could feel a baby bump developing because my bladder was so full. The first thing the urologist did was to fix me up with a catheter which immediately drained away the urine that was jamming up my bladder. He said most people would be able to keep up to 500ml of urine. I had 700ml, and it would have been more had I not limited my water intake due to the discomfort. The catheter provided immediate relief, even though fixing it up was far more horrendous than the DRE or the transrectal ultrasound. I shall leave out the details except for the fact that the catheter and the urine bag will follow me around for a week or so. 

So far so good. When I got to my bed, they set up the IV line to pump in a stronger antibiotic. So yet another catheter, this one on my right hand. All the set ups limit my movements so I've stayed in bed the whole day drifting in and out of sleep. I have been drinking lots of water to rehydrate my body and to prepare myself for tomorrow's MRI. But it makes me feel bloated.

I have to hand it to my wife for putting up with all of hospital procedures each time she gave birth to our 3 kids. She had far more patience to handle all of it. Bless her. 

Thank God for His grace that sustained me through this past few weeks.

Francais

 So I signed up for a French class at Alliance Franciase two weeks ago. It wasn't something I had planned to do, it just happened after I got up from a weekend afternoon nap. The school is between the office and home. Resonably priced and Skillsfuture deductible. If it isn't quite what I expect, it would only be 8 weeks, once a week, to completion. It seems like a better bet for me than a gym membership. And no need to buy special attire, no need to change, and no need to break into sweat, maybe.

Yesterday I attended the first class; Adult - French for Beginners. It felt good to go back to the classroom, getting a brand new set of text and exercise books. I like the smell of new books, and it has been a while since I got myself any. The books came in a tote bag, which also contained a note book, a pen and some brochures. I like freebie welcome packs. Although it was a relatively small class, probably not more than 20 of us, it was quite diverse - locals, American, Philippino, Thai, Chinese, Malaysian, students, finance/banking, pastry chef, secretary, medical technician, engineer, pre-school teacher etc. Everyone was slightly awkward being around people they don't know, but they all seemed ready to dive in. It felt like the first day in Uni except there are no exams involved here, which is a nice.

After we took turns to introduce ourselves in francais, the teacher started the lesson by getting us to read some phrases out loud in whichever way we thought the pronounciation goes. We had to read it out loud, before he would tell us how to pronounce it correctly and what the phrases meant. And that was how the rest of the class went. We give something, before he gave something back. The approach built up our confidence to just give it a try. After about half an hour it became instinctive for us to read out everything in our broken French. With French, you can't just work it out in your head how you are going to make a particular sound, you have to train your mouth, tongue, throat and nose how to get their act together. 

I am still not particularly sure why I decided to learn French. I did feel slightly annoyed that when I was reading up or googling places of interest in France, I would face challenges pronouncing the names, much less remember them. I would be good to know where you want to go. I know that I didn't want to do anything career related. My recent change in role at work is already giving me the opportunity to learn quite a few things, and on-the-job training is my preferred mode of development. 

It seemed fun to learn for fun sake, although there were points in the class where I wondered whether it would be much fun to have to remember the male and female equivalent of each word. Perhaps my brain was looking for a challenging exercise, something which the French pronounciation certainly offers. They say that the letters at the end of a French word are often silent, but not really. It is more like you have to pronounce it half-way. Take for example the word 'non', you have to picture that there is half an 'n' at the back of the word. Or the delightfully bubbly word 'champagne', you have to picture that there is half an 'e' at the end of the word. It is a two-syllable word that can sound like a three-syllable word. 

Maybe it is just the idea that I can take my time to learn something completely new and see where it takes me.  Perhaps to a complicated sounding village in a part of France unknown to me.

Majesty

Eyjafjoll, Iceland

It has been more than a week since we arrived back in Singapore. We were in Iceland for 10 days, and another 4 days in Helsinki and Tallinn. A combination of very long daylight, an Icelandic summer that is not too hot to stay outdoors, and having so much to see, meant that I could only squeeze in 1 blogpost in the whole of the 2 weeks vacation. 

Iceland is virtually impossible to sum up, whether in words, photos or videos. I didn't leave a photo hotspot feeling like I've satisfied my urge to completely capture what I saw. I just had to nudge the family along because there were still so much to see. It helps me to appreciate what may have prompted the psalmist to sing "Better is one day in your courts than a thousand elsewhere; I would rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God than dwell in the tents of the wicked (Psalm 84:10).  When we catch a glimpse of the unfathomable beauty of God's presence, we would surely say the same thing.

The country is every geologist's dream. There are signs to provide the scientific explanation or theory for every strange natural structure that we came across. No matter how strange or odd a natural structure seemed, there is an attempt to explain the what, when, and how. I won't pretend to understand many of the things I read, even those written in English. We gain an appreciate that we are just sojourners who are privileged to witness the hand of time. We will never know enough about this world because we were not there right from the beginning of time. We are part of creation, not the Creator. For me, it makes complete sense to attribute these natural wonders to a creative God rather than to claim that everything is an amazing random occurrence. If everything is random, what is the point of science?

On the second day in Iceland, I was jetlagged and woke up to a very bright morning at 4am. We were staying in Eyvindarholar, and behind our cabin were the beautiful snow-capped Eyjafjoll Mountains. Wide awake, I decided to take a walk there. When I saw the full view of the mountains, the first word that came to mind was “Majesty”. I was there all by myself surrounded by these mountains, and the only sounds I heard were from the streams running down the mountains. What a privilege. On the next day, I came back with my daughter to do a 2-hour return hike to Seljavallalaug, one of the oldest geothermal pools in Iceland, at the base of the Mountains. Great memories swimming in the pool with my adventurous girl. 

The sights in Iceland echo the Majesty of our Creator God. We cannot fully put into words what we saw and heard; all we could do was to merely stand in awe and give praise to Him. And from the encounters with the many breath-taking waterfalls, I now have a human appreciation of Revelations 14:2 “And I heard a sound from heaven like the roar of rushing waters and like a loud peal of thunder. The sound I heard was like that of harpists playing their harps.”  

Splendour and majesty are before Him, 

 Strength and beauty are in His sanctuary

~ Psalm 96:6 

Iceland

Flaajokull

We got to Iceland 4 days ago and it has been jammed pack with awesomeness. We picked up our 4WD rental from the airport and headed for the Ring Road. We covered a lot of grounds in the first 3 days - Geysir, Gullfoss, Seljalandfoss, Dyrholaey, Reynisfjara, Skogafoss, Svinafellskogull, Fjallsarlon, Diamond Beach, and Jokulsarlon. My advice to anyone planning a trip here is to give yourself enough time so that you don't have to skip any of these places. Words can't describe these places so I won't attempt to.

We were expecting Day 4 to be slower. There isn't that much to do or see in Hofn itself. We decided to go to a nearby farm which had a petting zoo. Turned out that the zoo doesn't open for another 2 days. But the owner was very kind to let us walk around the farm so the kids got to see goats, sheep, duck, chicken, and a lovely cat and golden retriever. Later we went to a guesthouse which offers horse-riding. The person who offers horse-riding wasn't around so we introduced ourselves to the horses instead. My son who was nervous about touching the horses managed to give one of them a tiny pet on the head. My daughter who is comfortable with horses changed her mind about horse-riding because the horses didn't smell so good. The petting zoo and horse- riding didn't quite go as planned but the visits didn't turn out to be epic fails. 

We decided to spend the afternoon to visit Flaajokull, the smallest glacier tongue in the Vatnajokull National Park. It was a long and bumpy ride on the gravel road leading to the carpark. From the carpark, there is a sign-posted path - meant to be an easy hike right to the face of the glacier. It was easy enough for the kids to do even though they complaint about the distance. After close to an hour of walking we got to the lake in front of the glacier. My wife stayed with the kids who wanted to play at the lake. The glacier looked like it was 20 minutes away from where we were so I continued with the hike. But after 10 minutes, the path ended abruptly, possible destroyed by a rockslide. So I went back to join my family at the lake for a snack. On our drive back, we saw a pack of reindeers.

We rounded off the day with a wonderful dinner at a cosy restaurant in Hofn called Nyhorn. Lamb chop for the kids whilst my wife and I had smoked cod. I would recommend this Scandinavian restaurant to anyone passing by Hofn. The day didn't go quite as planned, but it was way better than I had expected.

Looking forward to the rest of the holiday!