My vote was on New Tiger when HQing mentioned about th boat being more stable if we stepped harder on the footrests, since New Tiger comes with strapped footrests. (Straps hep to keep your feet firm onto the footrest, preventing them from slipping off during the race.) But then later in the day it changed to Old after finding out that we achived a stable journey by 40 minutes, something which we ussually couldn't do onboard the New Tiger.
Hao Qing second about stabability, but he wanted to test out New Tiger during the time trials tomorrow, just to get an accurate feel of which boat's better to race in. I agreed, and so now it's just a matter of time till we see the results. The rest of the time on the water, besides the main training programme, was 10 minutes of free time (yay!), this time it had to spent on practicing non-racing skills (erm, okay).
Examples of such are like Back Water, Draw Water (Left/Right) and Helicopter [Ooo, that one was fun!]. Hao Qing and I even had a chance to switch sides for a while and see what it was like to paddle from each other's point of view! Being Backman was a little more hard in the sense of effort put outside the boat (pulling your strokes, etc.) but a little more slack for effort put inside the boat (kicking [didn't need to worry about tiller], etc.). Hao Qing also felt a bit odd on my seat, and had some trouble in keeping our direction when doing sprints - after 10 strokes, we'd end up turning towards the left, and I'd end up finding myself shouting to the front, "Starboard! Right! Starboard!" when I saw that we were about to colide into the senior Cs.
After packing up, we were debriefed a bit more on what life would be like in Kallang, and what precautions we should - no, must - must take when we're at the river basin. We were also told that after the time trials tomorrow, we'll be practicing capsize drills and revise on how to do self-rescue. This would definitely be required as once you're capsized out at Kallang, swimming back to shore with your boat may take as much as half an hour, depending on how far out you've paddled (This can sometimes even go as far as the center of Marina Bay)
After debrief, I went back home and got out my Bible. After praying the ussual prayer of asking God to show me a verse which could help me around this time in my life, I flipped and ended up on Isaiah 48:17, which says (in the Sunrise Good News version);
17The holy God of Israel, the Lord who saves you, says: "I am the Lord your God, the one who wants to teach you for your own good and direct you in the way you should go.
I gave thanks through my trust in the Lord, and later fell asleep on my bed.
When I woke up at 3pm later, I went to take my bath, eat lunch and then was about to start on the remaining flashcards I had to complete for Mdm Kavita's homework when I stumbled upon my mp3 player. My Mom has been telling me to listen to the sermons she had downloaded into it, and so I thought just one sermon for the day wouldn't do any harm, if not bless me greatly.
The sermon my mp3 shuffled to was about the Authoroty of the Believer - Knowing the Enemy.
In short, it was about how the devil was no joke. This liar has caused the deaths, infections and mis-blessings of thousands around the world through time, all because these people believed in his lies. But at the same time, with the name of Jesus we can rebuke the devil and stop his plans from diverting us away from God's masterplan for you. In James 4:7, it says:
7So then, submit to God. Resist the devil, and he will run away from you.
So all we have to do is to submit to God and His plans and ways, and the devil will run away from you. Run away from you. If memory serves, the New International Version should say 'flee'. Flee. Not even as dignified as 'step back' or 'pardon himself', but pathetically 'flee'. Scaredy cat. And be proud for God that the devil is a looser. Isaiah 14:16-17 shares that the devil is so pathetic;
16Those who see you stare at you, they ponder your fate: "Is this the man who shook the earth and made kingdoms tremble, 17the man who made the world a desert, who overthrew its cities and would not let his captives go home?"
To think that the momment you glance at whoever is causing all the spiritual chaos you'd be surprised that the thingy could actually do all that with just a simple pack of lies, says that the devil really is pathetic. Imagine a crippled fallen angel on a medium flame, dried up as ragcloth that he can't even scream in the pain and skinny enough to see his insides so clearly till you could accurately point out where his liver is, crawling on a hard and rocky floor trying its best to grip onto your mind and make you feel doubtful in your life with God.
Nothing like what movies portray that thing, really. No horns, no tridents, no strength, no muscles, no magical pwers to transform whatever it wants into whatever it wants it to become. Not even the strength to touch a person with his own hands, if there's anything left of them. Just a useless shrip tring to get as many creations of God into joining him in his punishment as possible.
Don't fall for him, I'll leave you with that. Just when you think you've got it all under cover, you may just fall for his next lie. But at the same time, if the thing's really pestering you lately, it probably means he's afraid 'cause he's aware that God's about to bless you with something very soon, so the very more you should rebuke the thing and tell it to flee away.
After the sermon, I did as many cards as I could with Mdm Kavita's homework - 3 more extracts left to cover.
Better get back to somemore work. Will leave you with this: I've Got A Jar Of Dirt!
May God protect and bless y'all!!!
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