I can believe that we've come to the end of another semester already. It's not that strange that all good things (and bad things) must come to an end.  One should be very careful what one asks for, because he/she may get it at a time not wanted. For example, I've been crying out for a vacation. As the hour drew near I sat down to do some accounting. Then it hit me: I HAVE ONE WEEK BEFORE MY EXAM AND I KNOW NOTHING! I've been accused of being overly dramatic (guilty here) but I think we all get the point. Sure, vacation is fun - building things, burning stuff, going to the beach - but to get vacation, one must take pre-vacation questionnaires. It's all fun and games when you know you're on the road to an A+ but when you're scampering frantically up? no down a steep slope to the jaws of death that tends to give a different response. Somehow you just wish time would stop and you regret your decision or do something about it. So as the days turned to weeks and weeks turn to daze, we'll have our last write before we go our separate ways.

As I hinted, school's ending. Last week we pretty much wrapped up all the lectures and got the benedictions from our teachers. No more Principles of Marketing, no more Caribbean Civilization, no more Financial Accounting 1, no more Abstract Algebra, no more Analysis and Maths Methods. All done; exams are here.

On Thursday I went to visit my friend Laura at YWAM. The last time I saw her was the last week in September. For those of you who don't know, YWAM is within normal walking distance to my house. It's roughly a mile downhill. Now don't jump in my neck just yet and tell me how bad I am, I really didn't have much excuse besides ignorance. It was really good to see her again. I heard that the speaker was really interesting so all the time I thought about that night, I thought she was playing a joke and she or my brother was the speaker. I'm driving and driving, expecting this really great surprise. When I arrived, they were praying so I stood outside until they were finished. As I walked in to meet Laura, my eye caught this tall, slim figure with glasses and locks standing before everyone.

*Gasp*...could it really be? Wow...

Immediately, my mind raced through time to the days when I was short and bony (I mean the beginning of those times, not last month). I remembered songs like...well let me not say that...and let me not say that one either....and...and...wow. Each memory just flashing in great vividness all in that one moment. I stood there wondering, "Did he notice me?" I stood there, trying not to stare into the speaker's face while trying to hide and peep from behind a pillar in the room, all the while this guy is speaking. I could not believe it, Andy was in Barbados. As I sat, I was just thinking that Laura does not know what she just did.

The talk was on idolatry and it was cool. To sum things up, idolatry was defined as "taking something good and making it ultimate" (his words adopted from Keller). Therefore, power is good, reputation is good but reputation should not be ultimate. The thing that you continually sacrifice to is your idol. If you think you need it to define you, it's your idol. And it's so easy for something to become an idol. All you need to do is to love it until you seek to feed it, to keep it surviving, until it becomes ultimate; then you'll realise you have given it your worship. Now the thing is, when you realise that you're committing idolatry, you shouldn't be scared - actually you should be glad that God is still nudging you into the right direction. The real point of fear is when God does nothing; when he gives you over to these things (as he did in Romans 1:24)...dread that day and pee your pants...no just don't go there.

So I finally saw my friends. Like Abraham and his grandfather, like the Israelites, it took me 40 years to get to the promised land and when I finally got there, I was glad.