I love watching movie, all sorts of movies (but not so much on the horror ones).
Anyway, I watched Madagascar 2 last w/e with the guys in my group. I'm not gonna talk about the movie, rather I'll talk about what I've learned from that funny movie. It's so funny I can still giggle and laugh every time I remember few scenes from the movie that's just... ah... I don't know, you just have to watch it.
Alright, besides the funny scenes, there are few things I learned from that movie.
1. Fatherhood
2. Friendship
3. Love (friendship, opposite sex and family wise)
Of the 3 points above, I'll just touch briefly on the friendship side. There's this scene where Alex (the lion) hurt Martin (the zebra) when he said that he couldn't recognise Martin when he was surrounded by other zebras. The scene that touched my heart was when Alex apologised to Martin saying (somewhere along this line) sorry and how much he cherished their friendship all these times and that he wants him back.
A lot of times, be it knowingly and unknowingly (as iron sharpen iron), we would definitely step on each others' toe. But there's more to friendship than just having fun together, it goes beyond the good times, cause it also goes through the thin and thickest times one can have in life. It seeks to develop one another, lift one another up, celebrate each others' achievement, comfort one another during the down time, and gives the bigger piece of chocolate because he loves chocolate so much.
Man... truly I say this, I seek that kind of friendship, both with my christian and non-christian friends. With christian friends it may be easier, but with non-christians it may be a bit challenging. But despite the differences in our beliefs, I still want to build that kind of friendship with them. ah.... I hope I can grow in my relationship with all my friends to a new level.
Wednesday, April 29, 2009
Tuesday, April 28, 2009
A Father's Love
Andy sent this link from youtube about this father who went the extra mile for his son. hmm.... I don't know how to describe it, while watching it, I just lost it. I haven't cried for so long, and this clip touched my heart so much I wept straight away.
His love for his son enable him to do a lot of things, even pushing the boundaries of his own physical abilities on doing many things. Just to see the smile on his son's face, he goes all the way doing marathon and triathlon over and over and over again, with him.
ah... my understanding of God's love for me is really limited. This clip helps me understand a little bit better of God's love for me, sacrificing Jesus on the cross for me, and always willing to go all the way with me, carrying me through the most difficult time of my life.
His love for his son enable him to do a lot of things, even pushing the boundaries of his own physical abilities on doing many things. Just to see the smile on his son's face, he goes all the way doing marathon and triathlon over and over and over again, with him.
ah... my understanding of God's love for me is really limited. This clip helps me understand a little bit better of God's love for me, sacrificing Jesus on the cross for me, and always willing to go all the way with me, carrying me through the most difficult time of my life.
Thursday, April 23, 2009
The case of concern
I'm feeling quite funny at the moment, as in surprisingly awkwardly funny, in a good and positive sense, if you know what I mean.
OK, let me explain to you.
Just received a phone call from someone 15mins ago. Me and another friend are actually reaching out to him. Anyway, he knows my jobless situation. Not that I talked to him a lot (met him last month and only spoke to him 3 times), but when he called me just now, I was so surprise that he's been trying to find a job for me online, through 'seek.com'.
So when he called me, I was like 'WOW'.
He rang me and mentioned that he found few jobs at seek.com that I might be interested in and encourage me to apply.
He's a pre-believer (I'm starting to call non-believer as pre-believer) and the concern that he showed me just blew my mind away. I felt that God is using him to encourage me to continue to apply for job and not to lose heart.
Oh man... I praise God for the concern this guy showed to me.
OK, let me explain to you.
Just received a phone call from someone 15mins ago. Me and another friend are actually reaching out to him. Anyway, he knows my jobless situation. Not that I talked to him a lot (met him last month and only spoke to him 3 times), but when he called me just now, I was so surprise that he's been trying to find a job for me online, through 'seek.com'.
So when he called me, I was like 'WOW'.
He rang me and mentioned that he found few jobs at seek.com that I might be interested in and encourage me to apply.
He's a pre-believer (I'm starting to call non-believer as pre-believer) and the concern that he showed me just blew my mind away. I felt that God is using him to encourage me to continue to apply for job and not to lose heart.
Oh man... I praise God for the concern this guy showed to me.
Monday, April 20, 2009
The call to 'being relevant'
Alright, let me just shared this while I still have this at the back of my mind, ahahha....
Yesterday when driving someone back home, while talking to him I reminded myself again about my passion for my friends (non or pre-believers) to be saved. We were actually talking about something else, but I ended up sharing about my conviction to reach out to all my friends and the struggles I had (and many christians had as well).
Anyway, I believe as christians we need to learn to be relevant to non-christians. And for that to happen, we need to put the effort. By gaining information and if possible, experience the things that can help us to be relevant to them (not at the expense of our faith, or so long as it does not contradict the Word of God).
I found one of the main causes why many christians struggles in building friendship with non-believers is because they could not relate with them (non-believer), because they don't know what to talk about in casual setting/atmosphere. So when christians meet new people, they struggle to have a decent conversation, hence when their friends talk about something (say sport), they pretend to listen and pray hard in their heart for the conversation to end soon and find ways to share the Gospel. I am guilty as charged as well, many times I've done this.
Please note that there's nothing wrong to find ways so we can share the Gospel as quickly as possible. But be mindful that when do that, we might miss the point. Here's a point for you to ponder;
"How can a person listen to you when you don't even to listen to that person?"
Communication is always 2 way.
A good listener is someone who listens attentively and able to give feedback when/if required. One won't be able to give feedback if one does not know anything what-so-ever regarding the things that is required for feedback, and this is the part where christians need to be relevant by gaining information (and understanding as much as possible) about what's going on around them.
Knowing and understanding the things that go on around us can also help us to deliver the message of Salvation in a better way so it becomes is easier to understand for non-believer.
Yesterday when driving someone back home, while talking to him I reminded myself again about my passion for my friends (non or pre-believers) to be saved. We were actually talking about something else, but I ended up sharing about my conviction to reach out to all my friends and the struggles I had (and many christians had as well).
Anyway, I believe as christians we need to learn to be relevant to non-christians. And for that to happen, we need to put the effort. By gaining information and if possible, experience the things that can help us to be relevant to them (not at the expense of our faith, or so long as it does not contradict the Word of God).
I found one of the main causes why many christians struggles in building friendship with non-believers is because they could not relate with them (non-believer), because they don't know what to talk about in casual setting/atmosphere. So when christians meet new people, they struggle to have a decent conversation, hence when their friends talk about something (say sport), they pretend to listen and pray hard in their heart for the conversation to end soon and find ways to share the Gospel. I am guilty as charged as well, many times I've done this.
Please note that there's nothing wrong to find ways so we can share the Gospel as quickly as possible. But be mindful that when do that, we might miss the point. Here's a point for you to ponder;
"How can a person listen to you when you don't even to listen to that person?"
Communication is always 2 way.
A good listener is someone who listens attentively and able to give feedback when/if required. One won't be able to give feedback if one does not know anything what-so-ever regarding the things that is required for feedback, and this is the part where christians need to be relevant by gaining information (and understanding as much as possible) about what's going on around them.
Knowing and understanding the things that go on around us can also help us to deliver the message of Salvation in a better way so it becomes is easier to understand for non-believer.
A challenge for leaders
I just came back from (we call it) leadership training, where we trained a couple of people to rise up to be leaders in the group, in particular leading discussion (the short term goal we want to achieve).
Tonight we talked about Paul's letter to the believers in Ephesus (Eph 6:4), where he wrote this particular message and addressed it to the fathers.
During the discussion, using the principle from that passage, the discussion leader mentioned how important it is for leader/s to spend time with their members (in our case, outside the normal church, life-group meeting time and shepherding), like going for dinner together after church or simply staying back after LG meeting to joke around. Spending time in casual manner.
He likened the relationship between a leader and members to a relationship between father and his children. If the father never spend time with his children, how can the children build the bonding and relate with their father.
I believe that leaders must endeavor to spend time with their members. Yes it's challenging, but it's part of the package of being a leader. To hear it coming from my member really encouraging as when he shared it, I could feel his sincere heart.
ah... it blesses my heart to see people rising up. And I need to rise up as well.
Tonight we talked about Paul's letter to the believers in Ephesus (Eph 6:4), where he wrote this particular message and addressed it to the fathers.
During the discussion, using the principle from that passage, the discussion leader mentioned how important it is for leader/s to spend time with their members (in our case, outside the normal church, life-group meeting time and shepherding), like going for dinner together after church or simply staying back after LG meeting to joke around. Spending time in casual manner.
He likened the relationship between a leader and members to a relationship between father and his children. If the father never spend time with his children, how can the children build the bonding and relate with their father.
I believe that leaders must endeavor to spend time with their members. Yes it's challenging, but it's part of the package of being a leader. To hear it coming from my member really encouraging as when he shared it, I could feel his sincere heart.
ah... it blesses my heart to see people rising up. And I need to rise up as well.
Sunday, April 19, 2009
Where art thou O My Passion
Dunno how to say this correctly, but in the last couple of years, my QT (quiet-time) has not been that fantastic. Most of the times it's me who did the talking.
Before and during OC I felt the conviction to revisit the way I do things, including the way I do my QT. I realised that there things that I need to change ASAP if I really wanna experience God to the fullest, I need to stop talking and start listening. Not that I don't listen to God, but I need to really be still and quiet, so I can listen to Him, and this actually relates directly to my passion for Him, to have an open and healthy communication with Him.
Considering that my group will embark on a new journey of book discussion titled "Too Busy Not To Pray", what better time than now to make some changes in my own QT, aye. ehehhe... So yeah, I'm making some changes as to the way I'm doing my QT.
Here's a quote for you:
"Wanna move a house, call a removalist. Wanna move a mountain, call God"
But here's the thing, it takes more than just saying a prayer, it takes faith (accompanied by deeds) to have the mountain in your life be moved. Good nite. :)
Before and during OC I felt the conviction to revisit the way I do things, including the way I do my QT. I realised that there things that I need to change ASAP if I really wanna experience God to the fullest, I need to stop talking and start listening. Not that I don't listen to God, but I need to really be still and quiet, so I can listen to Him, and this actually relates directly to my passion for Him, to have an open and healthy communication with Him.
Considering that my group will embark on a new journey of book discussion titled "Too Busy Not To Pray", what better time than now to make some changes in my own QT, aye. ehehhe... So yeah, I'm making some changes as to the way I'm doing my QT.
Here's a quote for you:
"Wanna move a house, call a removalist. Wanna move a mountain, call God"
But here's the thing, it takes more than just saying a prayer, it takes faith (accompanied by deeds) to have the mountain in your life be moved. Good nite. :)
Hello
Heilo....
been a while, hey.
First thing first, I'm still alive, so thank God for that, though there's so many things I need to sort out with God, my life that is.
Secondly, internet has been slow at home, so I can't really post anything since 2 wks ago, hence the reason why I haven't been posting anything.
Now that internet is back (the speed that is), I just want to say hello to you, ahhaha... so yeah, hello...
What's been happening with me? Well, I'm still jobless and yes, still believe that I will get a job soon. Other than that, I went to OC09 last w/e, it's in Philip Island Melb. Will post what I've learned there.
Okie dokie, will post lotsa things starting from tomorrow. Have a good rest tonight. Happy Sunday. :)
been a while, hey.
First thing first, I'm still alive, so thank God for that, though there's so many things I need to sort out with God, my life that is.
Secondly, internet has been slow at home, so I can't really post anything since 2 wks ago, hence the reason why I haven't been posting anything.
Now that internet is back (the speed that is), I just want to say hello to you, ahhaha... so yeah, hello...
What's been happening with me? Well, I'm still jobless and yes, still believe that I will get a job soon. Other than that, I went to OC09 last w/e, it's in Philip Island Melb. Will post what I've learned there.
Okie dokie, will post lotsa things starting from tomorrow. Have a good rest tonight. Happy Sunday. :)
Monday, April 6, 2009
Wednesday, April 1, 2009
Learning to praise God
There's so many things I'm learning at this period of time with my jobless situation. But 1 thing that is so challenging for me to do in all honesty is to praise God.
I know it may sound ridiculous, but it's just the truth.
As I'm writing this, I'm actually learning to praise God from the bottom of my heart in my current circumstances and in my brokenness. I am learning to praise Him in my prayer, declaring His goodness, praising Him for His awesomeness.
I have been praying so hard for Him to open the floodgate of heaven to bless me with a job as I am getting desperate day by day. But I realised that in my quiet-time, I never really praise Him. I did praise Him, but not really.
It's like this, when I just woke up I would speak in tongue and pray, "God, thank you for letting me live today and thank you for what you're about to do today." Then I would continue with my prayer list, it's almost like a routine where the words became almost meaningless.
But tonight I felt the need to praise God, simply for who He is. And while praising Him in my prayer, I felt the Holy Spirit asked me if I really mean it, and I said yes, I mean it. And He showed me my current situation and asked me again. Then I stopped and pondered upon it, and I said, "Yes, He is worthy of all praise, cause my praise to Him shouldn't be affected by my circumstances." After that intimate moment, I realised that I haven't been praising Him. I felt so discouraged looking at myself.
ah.... it's actually not easy to praise God when you sort of don't have anything to thank Him for, because we need reason to praise Him. But that's exactly what I'm learning right now, to praise Him even when I'm going through challenges, to praise simply for who He is. I am no God, I am His creation and He is the God, so I praise Him.
I know it may sound ridiculous, but it's just the truth.
As I'm writing this, I'm actually learning to praise God from the bottom of my heart in my current circumstances and in my brokenness. I am learning to praise Him in my prayer, declaring His goodness, praising Him for His awesomeness.
I have been praying so hard for Him to open the floodgate of heaven to bless me with a job as I am getting desperate day by day. But I realised that in my quiet-time, I never really praise Him. I did praise Him, but not really.
It's like this, when I just woke up I would speak in tongue and pray, "God, thank you for letting me live today and thank you for what you're about to do today." Then I would continue with my prayer list, it's almost like a routine where the words became almost meaningless.
But tonight I felt the need to praise God, simply for who He is. And while praising Him in my prayer, I felt the Holy Spirit asked me if I really mean it, and I said yes, I mean it. And He showed me my current situation and asked me again. Then I stopped and pondered upon it, and I said, "Yes, He is worthy of all praise, cause my praise to Him shouldn't be affected by my circumstances." After that intimate moment, I realised that I haven't been praising Him. I felt so discouraged looking at myself.
ah.... it's actually not easy to praise God when you sort of don't have anything to thank Him for, because we need reason to praise Him. But that's exactly what I'm learning right now, to praise Him even when I'm going through challenges, to praise simply for who He is. I am no God, I am His creation and He is the God, so I praise Him.
Rescue
You are the source of life
I can't be left behind
no one else will do
I will take hold of you
I need you Jesus to come to my rescue
Where else can I go
There's no other name by which I am saved
Capture me with Grace
This world has nothing for me
I will follow you
ah... I've been playing this song over and over again.
Nothing good is in me, even my own heart deceives me, and my thoughts lead me to destruction. So many times, no, all the time, I am helpless, I do not even know what to do. O God help me, rescue me, no one else can help me but you. Grab me and do not let me go. I do not need anything else, only you. I need you Jesus, come to my rescue.
I can't be left behind
no one else will do
I will take hold of you
I need you Jesus to come to my rescue
Where else can I go
There's no other name by which I am saved
Capture me with Grace
This world has nothing for me
I will follow you
ah... I've been playing this song over and over again.
Nothing good is in me, even my own heart deceives me, and my thoughts lead me to destruction. So many times, no, all the time, I am helpless, I do not even know what to do. O God help me, rescue me, no one else can help me but you. Grab me and do not let me go. I do not need anything else, only you. I need you Jesus, come to my rescue.
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