Spanish Armada triumphs

First Europe, now the world

Two of the world's most under-performing teams in modern football have finally reached the position they have all been fighting for so long. History will definitely be in the making as none of teams had won the World Cup before. For Nederland, they were never able to reach the final since a double attempt in the 1970s. To do so for the third time with a number of recognizable global talents in their team provided them with probably the best chance to break their duck in lifting the World Cup trophy. For Spain, they had just broken their hoodoo to reach the semi-finals and this was their first ever World Cup final that they're involved him. The Spanish similarly had a fantastic favourable chance to add a star to their crest with what seems to be the golden generation at their possible maximum potential. With a world-class keeper, established defenders, intelligent midfielders and a dangeros marksman, the Spanish armada looks set to be world conquerors after establishing their foothold in Europe 2 years ago. I backed Nederland since they're my 2nd personal favourite national team

Nederland and Spain carried with them the tag of being the advocates of fast attacking football and it was expected that the final encounter between them will produce plenty of attacking action from end to end. However, it turned out to be a cagey match with physical challenges flying everywhere. Referee Howard Webb was flashing yellow cards like they were coming from a waterfall. Although the Dutch were responsible for the majority of the cards being flashed, I still felt that the Spanish were reacting excessively and that the referee has in a few occassions missed blatant Spanish fouls on the Dutch.

In any case, the Dutch could be en route to win their first major trophy if not for Robben's miss of the century when he went one-on-one with Casillas. Incredible. I have no idea how Robben could miss that with the goalie at his mercy. He could have made history. That miss came back to haunt Nederland as the Spanish settled the deal with an Iniesta late goal in extra-time. Anyways, Kudos also to Casillas for making several excellent saves as he keeps a clean sheet for every knock-out game. Santa Ike, as he was hailed, truly deserves to be standing there to lift the World Cup trophy as captain after lifting the European cup two years ago.

That concludes the whole month of tournament as the late nights ended and people return back to their daily routines as they await for the opening of the Premier League.

Singular Spanish kill

Puyol is mobbed after scoring the sole winning goal with his head

Paul was right afterall, to the dismay of all the German fans around the globe. I would say he's in grave danger of ending up in one disgruntled Deutsche dinner plate very soon..haha. Trivialities aside, it's time to dissect to see what went wrong for die Mannshaft this time. From the start, it looked to me that Deutschland is gonna be in plenty trouble given the amount of Spainish possession. The Spanish wasted no time in laying siege to the German goal and pushing the Germans to their own half. Such was the domination of the Spanish that Deutschland had ZERO shots within the first 30 minutes and they did not have any opportunities to venture out of their half. It's not that the Germans were bad at their game because they intercepted and defended quite well at times, but the Spanish had taken offensive and forced the Deutsche players to play at the Spanish tempo. Spain dictated play for the majority of the game with their fast-paced quick passing and the Germans struggled to keep with such a tempo. The Germans were made to look sluggish once again like how they did during the Euro 2008 final.

The dominating factor for Spain was their midfield once again as it seemed to me that they stick to their positions very tightly this time. It gave the illusion of outnumbering the Germans where for every corner Schweini or Poldi spins, there will be at least 3 Spanish players chasing after him. The Spanish must have realised that for the past few games or so, the Germans benefited from large empty spaces and by overcrowding the midfield, they would have difficulties playing the through balls for their counter-attack or to create anything for that matter. With the Spanish not leaving their positions to close down players, the Germans were frustrated countless number of times whenever they want to get their ball forward. The receiving man at the front is probably marked by a bunch of red shirts or the ball who have been lost in the little space that they had. The Germans were not comfortable with playing at such tight quarters at all and they struggle to make anything out of it.

The outstanding player for me from Spain is Pedro who literally ran Mertesacker, Friedrich, Boateng and Lahm ragged as they tried to chase his silky moves. Although he was selfish towards the last few minutes of his play, his time with the ball had rattled the German composure and their mentality as he digs deep into their territory. Constant pressure is the style that Spain had adopted to keep Deutschland on the edge as they were not spared any chance to settle on the ball. Actually, I didn't expect Thomas Mueller's absence to be of such a problematic weight to Deutschland but given the run of events, that was the case. Piotr Trachowski clearly could not fit onto the giant shoes of Mueller in connecting Schweini, Poldi or Ozil to Klose and his presence was largely non existent there. What I felt is that Schweini, Poldi and Ozil had occassionally got into some great positions but they lack one person to connect the final pass to Klose. This left Klose stranded like a no-man's island in the middle and with him lacking the pace to sprint, he was never gonna be able to dribble past the Spanish wall. I thought that Tony Kroos made a better replacement than Trachowski himself. Mueller would obviously make a big difference because he was more adventurous in his runs and is willing to take the risk and most importantly, was the linking chain.

I would say that the German crime of the night was not their defending because I thought that they did well to disrupt several world-class Spanish attacking moves which ordinary teams would have easily succumbed. Their losing factor was their inability to fashion and materialise any sort of attacking chance for themselves. Instead, they rather sit out and were contented to wait for Spain to make a mistake for them to capitalise on. They were waiting for their counter-attacking chance. This was never gonna happen because the Spanish had kept it tight for the entire field with short passes. A defensive team can sit out and defend all day long but given the frequent rate in which Spain were attacking with their shots, the law of probability states that surely one stray attempt will go in and that was what happened with Puyol's header which was the most unglam finishing of all. Spain left it late, and the Germans in the end had little time to change the course of their fate. There is no way a team could win if it does not fashion chances on its own even with a good defence. It's basic - a win requires at least 1 goal and that was what the Germans failed to achieve at the end of the night.

Kudos to Spain, they deserve their final spot because they played better overall and no surprises there as many had expected that they had the quality to reach that far. It was already anticipated by many that Spain will be in the final but Holland certainly came as the surprise package after beating Brazil. For Deutschland, it will be a time of reflection for the young players and a time to pick themselves up in time for the 3rd place-off. It's yet another 3rd place attempt, always the case of so near yet so far. Time to finish whatever remains well. Whatever happens, this World Cup 2010 Deutschland team can look back in pride in that they were the side that pumped four goals each into Australia, England and Argentina. A decent campaign for the Germans overall, just the lack of gas to finish the final portion of the tournament. This I felt was a tragic end for such an exciting side with lots of potential. In any case, all the best for Deutschland as they chase the consolation prize of a 3rd place medal :)

Precision defending and quickfire raid

A third goal for Deutschland from Friedrich and it's game over for Argentina

Team Deutschland found themselves up against another major footballing nation and this time they were a much better deal than the English. Argentina has performed rather well in the tournament so far by winning all their games and defying the critics regarding the managing style of its enigmatic manager, Maradona. The atmosphere prior to kickoff was electricfying as both sides started to play mind games by mudslinging each other in the media. The Germans started the ball rolling by pointing out that the Argies were sore losers while the South Americans accused their European opponents of dishing out a lack of respect. The Argentinians were still agitated over the way they had lost to the Germans 4 years ago and were determined to make amends this time. It is a tight call but somehow before the match, I just had the feeling that the German tactical organisation would triumph again on a shabby plan of play Maradona had for his team. It is a well known fact that Maradona is no believer of tactics and he has even tell his players like Messi to do anything that he thinks fit on the field because that was the kind of freedom he wanted even when he was a player. As such, Argentina's victory as of far could only be attributed to the individual flair and talent and not the management skills of the coach.

This is quite unexpected but Deutschland stormed to a superb start within the first few minutes. Schweinsteiger delivered a superb free kick cross into the box which Mueller connected with a diving header. 4 goals now for the young lad whom many did not take notice before this World Cup. There were individual glimpses of Messi's brilliance in the first half but none of them could result in a goal. The Germans looked more likely the one to score the second goal in the first half but a glorious missed chance by Klose denied them the oppportunity. It was a narrow lead that the Germans held on with 1-0 at half-time. The second half saw a more desperate Argentinian side as they launch barrage after barrage of attacks and pinning the Germans in their own half. However, the Germans held their ground and in the 67th minute, a determined Mueller refused to let his fallen body hinder the opportunity to release the ball to Podolski who duly passed the ball to Klose for an easy finish. Kudos to the superb teamwork display and unselfish play there. The Germans had the time of their lives again at the 73rd minute when Schweinsteiger slither and waltz past several defenders (attackers actually..lol, how did Higuain and Di Maria ended up trying to close down Schweini instead of the defenders?). Schweini finished off his move by passing it to Friedrich to apply yet another cool easy finishing. To send Argentina in the dumps, a counter attacking move in the late minutes of the game enabled Klose to raise his tally 14 World Cup goals, equalling Gerd Mueller's record and one shy of Ronaldo.

The scoreline was just mind-blowing. Neither Michael Ballack nor Angela Merkel would have thought that such a scoreline was possible but it happened. The Argentinians were made to look like amateurs in the face of cold, hard clinical finishing of the Germans. It's not just their finishing that's impressive. I would say that their defensive is top-notch precision as they intercepted balls in a timely fashion and the tackles were cleanly executed. Ball distribution was wisely done in that eventhough they had less time in possession, they made sure that their passes count. In facing such organised gameplay from the Germans, Maradona's slipshot approach to tactics management and organisation was exposed. Individual talent fell short as the Argies ran out of ideas in breaking down the solid German defence that seems to be impenetrable. On the other hand, the Argentinian defence failed to organise themselves well and I lost count of the number of times where Lahm could crept up unmarked and unapposed down the right wing and had a free cross into the box. Schweini was particularly outstanding in pulling the strings as the midfield playmaker/general with his 2 assists and deservedly so named as man-of-the-match. He may not be free-scoring as he did like in the past, but his holding midfield role nevertheless ensured that the ball distribution to the attackers is in top condition. The class of 2006 is showing maturity over here.

The Germans clearly did their homework in restricting their opponent's talisman Messi either on the wingside or have him shoot outside the box. The calmness and composure displayed by the Germans whenever they needed to get rid of the ball out of their own half deserves applause and it was the same calmness that enabled them to aim accurately for the killing blow. The performance of Deutschland in this match echoes ever more resoundingly that there's no 'I' but the star player is actually the whole team collectively working as a unit with clear communication and understanding with each other. The way they are passing the ball seems to show that they are not desperate for personal glory but are happy to let their better positioned teammates to seal the deal. To provide a total 4-0 demolition job of an Argentinian team that seemed to be on high morale is no ordinary feat and they have indeed deserved their spot in the semi-finals for the wonderful football that they play.

Der Mannshaft had indeed exceeded everyone's expectation on how far they would go and now the only team that stands in their way for the final berth is Spain, their opponent from the European final in 2008. I think that Deutschland would have a better chance this time considering that the Spanish weren't playing their best football around in this tournament especially with Torres misfiring and the majority of the deliverance of goods depended solely on David Villa who had rescued them time and time again from the past two knockout matches by scoring the winning goal. Deutschland on the whole, I would say, would be the more complete team but questions are raised in that one possible weakeness is that the inability to score first for Deutschland may be damaging for their morale as shown by the Serbia match. Nevertheless, after observing Spain in their match against Paraguay, I would say that while the attacking range of talent is impressive, Deutschland may just expose the lack of speed in the backline 4, especially Puyol who looked like he's gonna struggle like Matthew Upson in keeping up with the speedy German counterttacking moves. Here's hoping that Deutschland would turn out triumphant to have another chance at being Weltmeister :)

Deutschland rampages to quarters

Thomas Mueller celebrates his brace with the Mannschaft after putting in the 4th torpedo

Despite both camps trying to downplay the hype that is surrounding the match, it turns out to be living up to its name. The sequence of events unfolded in the most dramatic fashion ever with controversies and exciting football combined together in one lump sum. In one of the most exciting match-ups in this World Cup, a lot emphasis has been placed on the historical meetings between both sides. Both coaches have stressed that there has to be dissassociation from political and military rivalry and focus more on the football. Deutschland v England is more than just a knock-out match as it involves bragging rights and a revelation of the current state of the national teams for both sides, particularly England.

Deutschland stormed off to draw first blood with Klose beating the English defenders in a run-up and slid in the ball into the goal before Calamity James had a chance to get to it. Another break in the 32nd minute allowed Podolski to smash in his 2nd goal of the tournament. Two nil up and the game is as good as over for England. However, one can never rule out the English determination in attacking to regain back lost ground. The Germans had a concentration lapse while defending a corner which resulted in Matthew Upson clawing one back for England. The German lapse continued and minutes later, Lampard smashed a ball in but it ricochet in and out of the goal mouth. The referee refused to allowed a goal, prompting a furious barrage of appeals from the English. It's a repeat of the Caroll incident. Videos replayed had showed that the ball had went past the goal line and the English were indeed unfairly denied. The score remained 2-1 in half-time and I do agree that England should have gotten the goal. However, I did hope that in the second half, Deutschland would at least score one more or keep the goal margin above 2 goals to nullify the effect of the controversy and to emphasise the fact that the Germans do deserve to go through based on the football they were playing.

My wishes were answered in the 2nd half as the Germans went on to score two more via Thomas Mueller, the man who incidentally scored one of the Bayern goals to boot Man Utd out of the champions league..lol. The 2 goals in the 2nd half were the result of a counter-attack move by the Germans after the English had pushed up too deep into German territory in desperation to get the equaliser. In fact, the first two goals in the 1st half were also products of a counter-attack break. The pace that the Germans were running were terrifying, and their accuracy on goal was ruthless. I can't believe I'm saying this, but the Germans are teaching the Brazillians and the Dutch on how to play counterattacking football in this tournament! The speed of the Germans in approaching the English defence ripped whatever gameplans Terry and Co may have in mind. Truly awesome football from the Germans.

The English may argue that that their team may stand some chance in winning the game in that they won't push so deep recklessly for the equaliser if they had been given earlier. But that's an absurd argument because it's an equalizing goal..it wasn't a winning goal. The score may just stay 2-2 and in the end, they may end up on the penalty shoot-out platter with the Germans winning over all the same. Much has to be said about the state of the English players in the tournament. Wayne Rooney ended the World Cup campaign with zero goals to his name, a far cry from the young wonderkid that announced his arrival in the 2006 World Cup. Emile Heskey was almost non-existent in the match itself, it's a big wonder why he is still in the team-sheet. The English defenders were not fit at all and were half the time chasing and struggling to keep up with younger German legs. The midfield is rigid, clumsy and running out of ideas to break the opposition defence and attacking play (note Barry especially). Perhaps to some extent, they missed having an effective anchorman to help out with the defence where in 2006, they had Owen Hargreaves.

Compare this to the Germans who did some renovation of their team from 2006 and took some risk in including internationally unproven young players in the Bundesliga. Gone were the more established names like Ballack (from injury), Metzelder, Frings, Schneider and Borowski and in comes the German kids like Thomas Mueller, Mesut Ozil, Sami Khedira, Badstuber and Jerome Boateng. Ozil and Mueller in particularly had impressed in the tournament and were clearly the creative lifeforce of the rejunevated German team and they played as if they had came from Brazil. With experience coming from Schweinsteiger, Lahm and Klose, Deutschland had a good balanced mix in the team. Honestly, the Germans do not boast the individual star power that is present in England. None in the German team I would say is regarded as worldwide superstars like Lampard, Gerrard or Rooney. Their most publicised team-member is probably Ballack and he's not even in the team. But the most admirable features of the German team are that they play as a cohesive unit and seem to operate with communication and understanding with each other. This makes them as a more formidable force in short-term cup tournaments because these competitions are won with the effort of 11 men working together and not solely on individual flair. I would say, Deutschland deserved this victory thoroughly even in the face of the controversial goal being denied simply because they were the better side at the end with the better footy work.

On a side note, I noticed that 2 footy adverts were strangely accurate about the turn of events. The first being Adidas' Jose+10 World Cup 2006 ad where Lampard was chosen to mimick a parody of the 1966 Final 3rd Goal with Oliver Kahn and here he was 4 years later debating such a goal in South Africa. And remember Nike's Write the Future? It turns out to be a reality and Rooney can become the bearded man in the trailer eating canned food, much to the delight of Fabregas and co..haha xD

Next stop - A rematch from 2006 World Cup - The Argentinians are next and hopefully, there are no post-match melee encounter afterthat involving Heinze..lol

Knockout starts

Hero Ozil is mobbed by the Mannshaft after his super strike

The group stages have ended and the final 16 teams are up for battle in the first round of knockouts. As expected, France ended their campaign miserably in similar fashion to the one they had in 2002. The team unrest naturally spells disaster for the French and host South Africa had managed to exit the tournament in a much dignified manner with the win. The English team morale was on the verge of collapse too, especially with news of a coup by Terry over a few mugs of beer. Nevertheless, they succeeded in salvaging a one goal win to progress through and so did the US who topped the group thanks to hero Donovan. With the Germans going through after Ozil's super strike and England failing to clinch first spot, it's Operation Sealion this Sunday as the traditional rivals meet once again. Beckenbauer will surely be rubbing his hands in glee to launch a few mortar strikes at the English camp. I must say this time, I'll be siding with the Luftwaffe against the RAF.

Things were not so rosy for the Italians as they follow suit with the French in being one of the biggest flops of the World Cup. The defending champions finished bottom of the group and failed to register a single win for the 2010 campaign, a remniscent of the French team in 2002 who were the defending champions during that year too. It was a dramatic match against Slovakia especially in the last minutes but the Eastern Europeans managed to run away with a 3-2 win with an equalising goal from Italians being denied.

The Brazil vs. Portugal match turns out to be a stalemate with both sides cancelling each other out but it's good enough for both to progress to the next round. Since Spain topped the group, they'll set up an interesting derby against neighbouring Portugal. David Villa scored in the crucial match against Chile to ensure that he's at 3 goals alongside with Gonzalo Higuain. Anyways, it's great to see two Asian nations South Korea and Japan advancing to the next stage and I hope they'll go far too for Asian pride sake..lol.

Given the manner in which the teams are arranged, I have calculated that at least one semi-final berth will be awarded to an underdog team, and the 4 of them in contention of this exclusive place are Ghana, America, South Korea and Uruguay. If England had topped the group, they would have taken America's place and by all means, have an easier route to the semis. This would also mean that if either Brazil or Holland do their job well at least till the quarterfinals, they would have an easy ticket to the final. On the other side, there are congested giant spots with Germany, England and Argentina all squeezing to compete for 1 semi-final spot while the other spot hinges on the outcome of the Spain vs. Portugal match. It is early, but the winner of the Spain vs. Portugal match will most probably make it to the semi-finals. As one can see, there's alot at stake for the giants even in the round of 16.

Oh well, I'll be hoping that Deutschland will improve on its erratic performance in the last 2 matches and hopefully, the English are still confused and distracted by the little coup by John..lol.

Lacklustre Giants

The World Cup torunament has so far been rather unconventional, filled with upsets and doesn't seem to follow any sort of plot. If there's one tournament which follows the twists and turns of a Lost episode before you can say "Ahhh!", this is it. From the start, it was filled with some unfamiliar faces such as New Zealand, Slovenia, Slovakia, Honduras, Algeria and North Korea. They are not really the typical bunch of nations which many expect to be playing regularly in world tournaments. But they are there and some of them are not allowing the giants to roll over them that easily.

It seems that this year's World Cup is filled with lethargic legs, especially those from the major footballing nations. It's not only 1 or 2 giants that are underperforming, the plague of lethargicness can be seen spreading all across to the other camps. The French were outrageously bad, where they had a goalless draw with Uruguay and this was followed by a defeat to Mexico. To compound to their problems, the team spirit was already horrible from the beginning and the dismissal of Le Sulk Anelka from the camp drew a revolt from the rest of his teammates. Words like shameful and disgrace were rained down on the French team and even if they were to get to the next round, they will pose little threat to others considering that their morale has been shattered thoroughly. Perhaps Irish retribution had indeed struck the French in the hand..haha

Argentina had been modest with their 1-0 win on their opening match and seemed to pick up further pace with a 4-1 rout over South Korea. They along with Holland, are the only favourite giants to have picked the full 6 points. Even for the Dutch, they are playing effective football in grinding out wins instead of the attractive Total Football that they used to play. I would say based on current form, only the Dutch and the Argentinians seemed to have any good chance to progress beyond the 16.

The Germans looked exceptionally solid in their opening match. They were the best performers in the first round of matches with a 4-0 win and many thought that they would do the same against the Serbians. But alas, the dismissal of Klose seemed to have dislodged the Germans psychlogically and Podolski even missed the penalty which could have redeemed them. An absolute dissapointment in the Serbian loss and I only hope that they could bounce back against Ghana, which will not be easy.

The Italians and the English can easily ranked alongside with the French to compete for the titles of the worst performers. It's the same old story for England where they are bound to dissapoint in tournaments in the silliest of manner. Robert Green had a nooby slip of a ball which allowed the Americans to equalise while the second match against Algeria ended in a goalless fashion. In both matches, the fingers were pointed at Wayne Rooney for his inability to bang in the goals. Perhaps Nike's Commercial on "Write the Future" was true for the first instance, Rooney did Roo-In. The Italians had a draw against Paraguay and instead of mopping up the Kiwis in the 2nd match, they were also held to a draw, with the Kiwis taking the shocking lead first. Imagine that! Of all beings, New Zealand had held the defending champions to a draw!

Three more giants have yet to play their 2nd match. Brazil will play shortly in a few hours time and although they had won 2-1, it was said that their performance was nothing to be proud of considering that the North Koreans had put one into te net and they were expected to bang in more than 2. Well, one could argue that Kim Jong Il's men had spent 6 months in a training camp doing military style exercises but it cannot be disputed that the Brazillian midfield is lacking in creativity following the underperformance of Kaka. The Portugese with Christiano Ronaldo were unable to garner a win against Ivory Coast and it remains to be seen if they are gonna rip the North Koreans apart. The last group probably contained the biggest earth-trembling shock of all times with the Swiss running away with a 1-0 win over heavy favourites Spain. This is no Rafael Nadal vs Roger Federer match but it makes no logical sense how a Spanish team with tens of shots could not put one behind the net when the Swiss only had a small miserly amount of chances. Xavi and co would have to make their chances count if they don't want to exit the tournament in the most ridiculous fashion.

Oh well, there's still plenty of time for more shocks to come. If the giants continue their lacklustre performance, we might as well get a Slovenia vs New Zealand World Cup final...haha.

Psalmist Generation Worship Conference 2010

I chanced upon the advert for this conference by chance actually. Psalmist Generation came to be the main band at our ICF rally and I'm really interested to get to know more about them. So, what better way than to check out their home base in Ipoh, which happens to be Lerdie's church too. I've signed up for sound operator training also, to get some knowledge on how to operate the sound machines. I had the opportunity to have a good night's sleep and had a fresh morning on the next day. My first taste of Ipoh food came at one of the kopitiams just outside the place I am staying and I had a hearty lunch of a Duck Drumstick Herbal Soup Noodle over there that leaves me craving for more..lol.

The conference's registration period was until 2pm but it starts only at 4pm. So, to kill time in between, we went to the nearest shopping center for the air-con and also Lerdie's old house and waited there till it was time to go. It was fantastic to see an old friend from ICF, Nic Soon at church too..haha. Anyways, the conference is divided into two types, one being the combined session and the other is workshop training. I find the sound training rather interesting although it was quite technical. I did discover the mysteries on what kind of sounds does the subwoofer produces and why music sounds better with the bass emphasis from the subwoofer. Not only that, an original non-mp3 music clip that is plugged into an audio machine could be divided into its different instruments. I also had an opportunity to check out the photo workshop at the last session.

Overall in the conference, I picked up a few important pointers and summary from the speakers. Firstly, a new song does not neccessarily mean renewal if it is not sung with a renewed heart. With that being said, an old hymn from the past will still be relevant in today's world when it is sung with the right heart. This is because the underlying foundation of all Christian songs is God's love, and no matter what musical style it is in, the message is still there. The other thing is that God never cease to amaze us during worship and surprises us in many little ways.

We had around 5 combined sessions and the most significant session for me was on session 4, which was Saturday night because it was there that I felt that God had touched me personally. Since Camp Cameron, I'm quite impacted and impressed by Barnabas, who is also known as the Son of Encouragement because it speaks alot about my life. In many ways, he had quietly supported Paul in building and supporting him up although alot of them has been behind the scenes given the little amount of mention of Barnabas in the Scriptures. It was also Barnabas who introduced Paul to the other Apostles and was able to see his potential although the rest were suspicious of him. Without Barnabas, Paul would not have been the great theologian he was and he was even willing to submit to Paul's leadership although he was the teacher and the person who made him.

As I said before, I've always find myself working in organisations in such a way that I work behind the scenes providing vital support to the main person leading and overseeing the whole organisation to ensure that things run well. I find myself often as the second person supporting the leader - the Merlin behind King Arthur, the Gandalf, the Obi-Wan, the Tun Dr Ismail, the Ryan Giggs and of course Barnabas. I will step up when there is a need, but never at the forefront. There are times when I do aspire to be at the forefront leading instead and I did ask God where do I stand in His ministry with me doing much of the behind the scenes work. For some reason or so, the name Barnabas sort of ran through my mind throughout Saturday night and I asked God whether it was His will or His calling that I'll be the Barnabas of my generation. I needed answers and confirmation. And the most amazing thing was that within 5 minutes, the Pastor suddenly spoke about Barnabas! There were so many examples he can be using but he had to use Barnabas! It felt like a train that went "Wham!" in my face on the speed of God's answer. Truly, God never fails to amaze me in many ways..haha. I thank God for the answer he has given me on Saturday night and I'll continue to strive my best to be the son of encouragement to those around me.

It's a wonderful conference and when I look back on the past few days, I can only say that God had provided the way for me to come and even provided for my needs after the conference. Ipoh has fantastic food, and I did get to taste the taugeh white chicken rice. Since Lerdie and her family needed to leave Ipoh on Sunday, I went to stay one night with my godmother before fetching mama from the bus-station on Monday morning. The next 1 week or so will spent on holidays with my family :)