Where to Start?

So much have been happening since I've last posted! Where do I start? Hm... I'll try to summarise.

My dad came to town for the RBC Ministries Intl Conference and I spent the last 2 weekends with him and the others. It's been a good time.

My mom was supposed to fly in on Sep 17. Unfortunately, her older brother, my uncle is in critical condition in the hospital. There was a virus that attacked him and he was pumped with strong antibiotics. However, years of drinking heavily have rendered his kidney and liver incapable of clearing all the toxics and thus his body is full of toxic that has to be drained out of him by tubes. He also has to go to dialysis every 2 days to give his body a fighting chance. As my uncle is a bachelor, my mom has to be there to take care of him and also give support to my grandmother who is very worried and anxious.

The good news in all these is that my uncle FINALLY accepted the Lord into his life, after years of stubbornness. He was also baptised and my mom has been reading the Bible with him everyday and praying with Him. It makes me think. When we get so proud and think we can rule our own lives, God has to hit us over the head with bricks to get us to pay attention to Him and realise our weakness and mortality. This happened to my uncle, I think. Years of God's gentle prompts went ignored and thus God had to do something drastic to get his attention. Of course, my uncle's choice to be an alcoholic also contributed GREATLY to this problem.

I don't know if I'm being mean and evil, but I feel that my uncle deserves it. We have told him for years that his body is being damaged by his drinking, but he chose to ignore our warnings. Now that his choice has led to this consequence, I kinda feel that he has been asking for this for years. I am more worried for my grandmother and my mom. My mom has to go to the hospital everyday to feed him and take care of him. She also has to take care of my grandmother and make sure she eats and sleeps and don't worry herself to illness. My mom is very tired. And I feel bad because none of us are there! My dad and I are here in the US, my brother is over in Australia. None of us are there to help shoulder the burden and support her emotional and physically.

My mom said that maybe the Lord has allowed us to be away when this happened because it makes the others in the family step up to the responsiblity and tasks. If we were there, we would be doing everything. My auntie and her husband flew down from Malaysia and have been there since. My other uncle visits him every night, even though he is very tired from work. My cousin helps to take care of stuff. If we were there, we would be doing all of these. So even though it feels like horrible timing to me, there is no stuff thing as horrible timing in God's plan.

Well, on to nicer news. I got an on-campus job with the Web Maintenance Crew. We maintance the school websites, build it, correct it, stuff like that. It pays quite well, compared to other jobs on campus. I start tomorrow (Monday) from 1 to 5pm. My other time slot is Friday at the same time.

I have a few items I would like you all to pray with me:

1. Pray for my uncle. That in this time of pain, he will grow in the Lord and learn to trust and obey Him.
2. Pray for my mom that she will have physical and emotional strength. Most importantly, spiritual strength. Pray that God will carry her through this as she leans heavily on him. Pray also for God's wisdom in her, to deal with the medical issues,t eh insurance and others.
3. Pray for my grandmother that her health won't deteoriate because of this. Pray that she will learn to quieten her soul and trust God.
4. Pray for me as I take on this new job. Pray for a good testimony in my work ethics, words, thoughts and actions.