"Consider the ravens: They do not sow or reap, they have no storeroom or barn; yet God feeds them. And how much more valuable you are than birds! Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to your life? Since you cannot do this very little thing, why do you worry about the rest?" Luke 12:24-26
Funny how worrying can get you into trouble--I lost my purse yesterday night.
The semester has just started. It is to be my last semester in NUS, and I have a lot on my mind: a university transcript that needs some serious polishing, and a compulsory module for my History Minor which I could not read due to a clash in lecture slot with my physics module, and the heaviest question: What is next?
But there were other more pressing matters that troubled me: among others an expiring passport, a dwindling number on the bank statement, some bills to be paid (yes I have bills). You could hardly blame me for being distracted.
On top of that, I was tired. I had just finished a long day of worrying and 3 hours of band practice for Sunday worship. Some company and an ice-cream before turning-in sounded great. So my friend and I went to the store at a petrol station near the church for my ice-cream, and then we chatted all the way from the church through the short bus ride and back to residential hall on campus were I call home. I was feeling rather cheerful by then, even chatted to the office lady who stayed back late to finish up, and offered a candy to the friendly security guard.
That was when I realise something was missing. Being usually a...how do you put it...care-free kind of girl (I'm contradicting myself, I know), I could be quite careless. An hour of searching and retracing my steps did not produce my big red purse. I was too frustrated to carry on looking. I cried a little, and then made a mental note that worrying did no good. I watched some TV, surfed some facebook, laughed a little, and went to sleep.
But that wasn't the end of my story.
I woke up this morning thinking "breakfast". So I dragged my reluctant piece of art out of bed and dragged my feet to where breakfast was served. The sight of friends cheered me up, and I whispered a prayer of thanks. Thank you Lord that the only things important in my purse were my Student Pass and ATM card. Thank You Lord that I still had my ticket to go home for Chinese New Year. Thank You Lord that I did not need cash for breakfast in hall. Thank You Lord that my morning was free to go lodge a Police report for my missing student pass.
The officer at the police post was really friendly. It took a half hour of pleasant time and casual conversation to obtain the police report I needed to get my Student Pass (and subsequently, my passport) replaced. Thank You Lord.
And then came my favourite agenda for the day--recreational softball with the Angmos at the NUS field. My softball captain Jamil was the one who always join their games on Saturday afternoons, and today I was finaly free to join him at it for the second time.
The Angmos are some of the friendliest strangers you could encounter. They make it easy for you to feel at home with them. No one plays ball too badly there, you either are a pro, or a pro-in-the-making, no matter how long the latter status sticks to you.
So when it was my turn to bat, I hit, and I ran, (at the catcher's instructions, who was technically on my team due to shortage of players =) Really cool to have a base coach on home plate. No seriously.) and ran, and ran my heart out, just to hear a 'thud' of the ball hitting the first baseman's glove as I put a foot on the line where the non-existant base should be. Shit, I thought, and pouted. But then the catcher shouted, "He dropped the ball! He dropped the ball!" I thought he was joking, but the fielders did all sorts of things in agreement and I was given my base. How cute, they were cutting me some slack =).
I parked comfortably on first base while the next batter got ready. That's when the first fielder, a tall man in his middle ages, a belly and some (wise looking =p)gray hair turned to me and said,
"Hi, I didn't get your name."
"Jerusha." (smile)
"Jerusha? Someone named Jerusha emailed me earlier this week."
"Oh really? Wow! So there's more than one Jerusha in NUS!" (my light bulb must have short circuited)
"Appearantly. That Jerusha asked for a webcast on my module so she could complete her History Minor or something; I was mean and I said no."
(Light bulb came on)
"That's me!" (Whoa, this is creeeeeping me out!)
"That's you? (I nodded) Really? (I nodded) I'm that prof teaching HY11101E."
"You are!" (I meant, YOU ARE???!!!)
Just then the ball flew off the batter's high into the outfield. I was hesistant to run, partly due to training, and partly still thinking of a response to the Prof I've just been so abruptly introduced to.
The ball missed the outfielder and hit the ground.
"Run!" I heard someone shout, so I ran. The ball was still not back in the infield when I reached second base so I ran some more. The shock finally hit me about the time I reached third base. Could this really be happening?
"Hey Chris!" Prof shouted across the field to the left fielder, "Ask Jerusha how I was mean to her!"
Iblurtedoutastringofwords in reply, and paused to catch my breath.
"What does that mean?" Chris didn't get me, surprise, surprise.
"She needed my module webcasted because of a lecture clash with her core module, I was mean and said no."
"That's very Tim," Chris commented. "Maybe you should consider letting her pass the module in exchange for her coming every Saturday for games."
Everyone laughed.
I was hoping that he could be serious, after all they were often shorthanded. At the same time I felt like I was wathcing a movie, unreal. I couldn't wipe the huge gapping smile off my face.
"Hey we should talk after this," Prof gestured to me from across the field.
I jumped and called him bluff yet he really was serious about talking, so I whooped like a kid who got her hand in the candy jar, and behaved as such until the end of the game.
Then we talked, and a deal was closed. I get to read my module both missing some lectures and without the webcast. Bottom line, I'm on to business. It happened so unexpectedly it was like getting a present when it was neither your birthday nor Christmas nor New Year. It was an answered prayer, a miracle dropped right out of the sky.
Funny how worrying can get you into trouble. Funnier how God solves your real troubles when you're not worrying at all!
