Tomorrow is Cup Day. That’s Melbourne Cup to the uninitiated. It is the biggest day in Australia’s racing calendar. That’s horse racing to the uninitiated. To the totally uninitiated, The Melbourne Cup is a horse race. It is considered a marathon event of horse racing in terms of expansiveness and a 100 metre sprint event in terms of glamour. Winners of this race are traditionally placed alongside great sporting personalities of this country. This year’s hot favourite is Makybe Diva. The horse, that is. That’s her name. The jockey is Glen Boss and he too, will attain superstar status if he wins tomorrow. Of course there’s the small matter of whether this horse will run at all tomorrow. Apparently the track is too hard for a champion thoroughbred like her and there is real risk of injury if she runs tomorrow.
Anyway, the context of the above gaffe is – in Melbourne, it’s the first public holiday since the Queen’s birthday way back in June. Five months is a heck of a long time (for this still-very-Malaysian-person) between public holidays. Add to that the fact that the weather has definitely thawed out and you start to see people up and about in their T-shirts and shorts, and you get a resulting holiday mood. In fact most people packed and left by Friday afternoon, with many having left on Thursday afternoon. Most return to work only on Wednesday.
Holiday mood is bad for those not on holidays. You turn up for work but feel like you should be out there enjoying the blue skies and warm weather. Especially on a Monday. So here I am, in office on such a day. Two hours after getting in I’m fixing myself a cup of coffee and deciding to take a few minutes off and write this stuff.
I am still worried about a few things happening at work. Will come around to that at some point I guess but right now, I only want to record this worry. I don’t know if this will be sorted out in the right way…
Yesterday was a healing service in church. The praise and worship session was fantastic. I really kept my mind and heart on God and worshipped Him. I left all of my worries with Him as the service got under way and felt like God was there for me and accepted my worship.
As usual, in such a service there was prayer session at the end. I sat at my place, as I usually do and prayed on my own. Quietly. Elysia and Theresa left and joined the people in the kitchen to prepare the cakes and drinks as I stayed on. I then decided to “go up” for prayers. I did this for 2 reasons mainly. One was to avoid being asked to. I simply wanted to pre-empt this exercise of having someone “encouraging” me to “go up” for prayer. After all I have no plans to leave the church – wanted to remain in this one so I should “get with the program” I guess. The other was – why not? Just go and have pastor or his wife pray for me. I sure could use more of it. After all, it has been a wonderful morning of connecting with God and it felt right to continue seeking Him and be prayed for.
Julie (Pastor’s wife) prayed for me. I was afraid she would get some message about things I have been worried about and give me some unsought for news/message. I felt however I had to face whatever was coming and also felt with God’s help I will be able to deal with it. She prayed and I felt even closer to God. What she said in her prayers gave me much to think and be encouraged about. I thought about them for the rest of the day, as I do now. Anyway after she was finished with me and moved on to the next person (I did not fall down as in most people prayed for), I simply knelt down and prayed further. Even after returning to my seat I continued praying and before leaving the hall I knelt down and prayed again. I continued to feel like drawing to God in prayer. I don’t know if this means I need to draw strength from Him for some forthcoming events but I know I will always need to draw close to Him. I hope this feeling of needing God never fades. It is when I feel weak and draw close to Him that I truly feel my cup running over. Cup day tomorrow? I hope to spend some time praying.
Ante 