After church service that ended at 6pm, I went to visit another church in the city. Actually it's not a church service, but it's a presentation by an indonesian church held at a presbyterian church in city about christianity in indonesia.
I should say that I haven't seen to many indonesian christian in one place, ahhaha... It was truly an eye opening visit. I thank God for my friend's friend who invited me to come. Not only I got to meet more indonesians, but also got to taste some very nice authentic indonesian cuisines, uh... I miss indonesian food.
The youth from the indonesian church sang some indonesian christian songs and showcased their ability in playing angklung, it was so beautiful. Straight away it came to my mind to ask my pastor to invite them to play in our church, maybe for our multicultural fiesta next year.
ah... I long to see my church getting more involve working together with other churches.
Sunday, October 25, 2009
Monday, October 12, 2009
To be a leader, one must be a servant as well
I am serving as a leader of a small group of young working adult in my church. And in the company I am now working at, I am also required at times to use that authority as leader when requiring assistance or help from others of lower working level position.
Frankly speaking, I am still struggling to humble myself before people (especially in church/Life-Group). I am not like many leaders in my church where they are so humble and down to earth. The way it works in church and in my company is quite different. In my company I expect people to do what I want and deliver what is required of them, in a simple term, I have the right to be served. But in church or if I can kindly use the term the kingdom of heaven, as a leader I need to serve instead of being served.
And that's one of my struggle till this very moment, to continually humbling myself and serve my friends, and if possible without people noticing so that I won't have anyone complimenting the works I have done.
Tonight I cooked quite a beautiful food as dinner for the guys in the core team of my group (4 of them). As I have shared, I don't really like to serve people, so when I went shopping I was thinking if I should just cook noodles for them or something nice. Then I said to myself, I shouldn't think so much of the money I spent as I have never been in lack financially (that God always provide). So I cooked a nice seafood pasta.
Tonight, we actually had training for the people in timothy class (those we're training to join the core team in our group) to lead discussion. So after dinner, I quickly washed whatever I could before the discussion. And after discussion, I washed the rest of the plates and glasses.
I was so tempted after discussion to ask one of the guys to wash the rest of the dishes, but then I felt the holy spirit asking me to complete it and said, "Do you want to be a good example to them? You need to learn to serve as a leader. Since you already cooked dinner for them, why don't you complete your serving tonight by also washing everything?"
I was like, ah... *sighing*
Yes, then I remember an occasion where Jesus said that HE came not to be served, but to serve.
Strangely enough, I felt so satisfyingly awesome after washing all the dishes. How true it is, to be a leader, one must be a servant as well. In the kingdom of God, the only way up is down. When you humble yourself, then God will lift you up.
The reason I shared this with you is not so that you know I've done something great, in fact it's actually nothing, but just to say that I feel for you if you also have the same struggle as I do. But continue to learn to humble yourself. I'm still far from being such a humble person, let alone a humble leader. So I hope I can encourage you to continue to serve others.
Frankly speaking, I am still struggling to humble myself before people (especially in church/Life-Group). I am not like many leaders in my church where they are so humble and down to earth. The way it works in church and in my company is quite different. In my company I expect people to do what I want and deliver what is required of them, in a simple term, I have the right to be served. But in church or if I can kindly use the term the kingdom of heaven, as a leader I need to serve instead of being served.
And that's one of my struggle till this very moment, to continually humbling myself and serve my friends, and if possible without people noticing so that I won't have anyone complimenting the works I have done.
Tonight I cooked quite a beautiful food as dinner for the guys in the core team of my group (4 of them). As I have shared, I don't really like to serve people, so when I went shopping I was thinking if I should just cook noodles for them or something nice. Then I said to myself, I shouldn't think so much of the money I spent as I have never been in lack financially (that God always provide). So I cooked a nice seafood pasta.
Tonight, we actually had training for the people in timothy class (those we're training to join the core team in our group) to lead discussion. So after dinner, I quickly washed whatever I could before the discussion. And after discussion, I washed the rest of the plates and glasses.
I was so tempted after discussion to ask one of the guys to wash the rest of the dishes, but then I felt the holy spirit asking me to complete it and said, "Do you want to be a good example to them? You need to learn to serve as a leader. Since you already cooked dinner for them, why don't you complete your serving tonight by also washing everything?"
I was like, ah... *sighing*
Yes, then I remember an occasion where Jesus said that HE came not to be served, but to serve.
Strangely enough, I felt so satisfyingly awesome after washing all the dishes. How true it is, to be a leader, one must be a servant as well. In the kingdom of God, the only way up is down. When you humble yourself, then God will lift you up.
The reason I shared this with you is not so that you know I've done something great, in fact it's actually nothing, but just to say that I feel for you if you also have the same struggle as I do. But continue to learn to humble yourself. I'm still far from being such a humble person, let alone a humble leader. So I hope I can encourage you to continue to serve others.
Sunday, October 11, 2009
Bad news
I received 2 news which I considered bad news within 24hrs.
Don't worry, nobody died. But it struck me pretty hard because it involves 2 of my friends. For the sake of sharing let's just say both of them are guys. 1 is a guy who found that God is not relevant to him (especially in his current life situation) and the other one found that he has no purpose in life.
The situations that they face are completely different, however they have similar if not the same spiritual issue, that is trusting God.
It saddened me because the guy number 1 say Albert, wants to leave church, and guy no 2, say Andreas wants suffered depression and wants to commit suicide. I haven't spoken to both of them for a very long time and to hear such news really saddened my heart. The moment I heard the news from another friend, I quickly asked myself, did I play a part in their life to lead them coming to such conclusions? in other words, have I done enough to help them grow in God? And sadly the answer is no.
ah... I don't know how to help them, but I will surely intercede and ask God to reveal to them His plan for their life. I don't want to lose my friends, not this way.
Don't worry, nobody died. But it struck me pretty hard because it involves 2 of my friends. For the sake of sharing let's just say both of them are guys. 1 is a guy who found that God is not relevant to him (especially in his current life situation) and the other one found that he has no purpose in life.
The situations that they face are completely different, however they have similar if not the same spiritual issue, that is trusting God.
It saddened me because the guy number 1 say Albert, wants to leave church, and guy no 2, say Andreas wants suffered depression and wants to commit suicide. I haven't spoken to both of them for a very long time and to hear such news really saddened my heart. The moment I heard the news from another friend, I quickly asked myself, did I play a part in their life to lead them coming to such conclusions? in other words, have I done enough to help them grow in God? And sadly the answer is no.
ah... I don't know how to help them, but I will surely intercede and ask God to reveal to them His plan for their life. I don't want to lose my friends, not this way.
Sunday, October 4, 2009
The case of satisfaction
In this life, everyone wants to be satisfied. So do I.
I'm not sure if you've heard of this phrase, but some said that the way to man's heart is through his stomach. I personally can say that it's quite true, as I can be quite irritated and restless when I'm hungry. After a good meal, I feel so satisfied.
I know that satisfaction comes through different avenues. But let's stick to food (solid food) considering it's one of the main and basic needs for human being (after water).
Ps Wilson shared yday at our church anniversary that Jesus was satisfied when he does the will of God (John 4:34). He got me thinking at that time. I'm very easy to satisfy. Man... if you want to satisfy me, give me a good food.
Then I asked myself, "Do I have the same passion as Jesus'? Will I be satisfied when I do God's will? Is it food that sustains me and give me satisfaction or is it God? Is doing God's will more important than food?"
I'm not talking about fasting food just to do God's will, to preach the Gospel to all nations till I die (from starvation), but I'm talking about priorities, what keeps me going.
ah... food can surely satisfy me, and that's because I have a hunger and longing for food. The question is, do I hunger and thirst for Him, to do His will, to see people saved and His Kingdom come in my lifetime. I am still far from it, I know I don't have such strong passion like my pastor or even most leaders in my church, but I hope God can help me increase my hunger and thirst for His will.
I'm not sure if you've heard of this phrase, but some said that the way to man's heart is through his stomach. I personally can say that it's quite true, as I can be quite irritated and restless when I'm hungry. After a good meal, I feel so satisfied.
I know that satisfaction comes through different avenues. But let's stick to food (solid food) considering it's one of the main and basic needs for human being (after water).
Ps Wilson shared yday at our church anniversary that Jesus was satisfied when he does the will of God (John 4:34). He got me thinking at that time. I'm very easy to satisfy. Man... if you want to satisfy me, give me a good food.
Then I asked myself, "Do I have the same passion as Jesus'? Will I be satisfied when I do God's will? Is it food that sustains me and give me satisfaction or is it God? Is doing God's will more important than food?"
I'm not talking about fasting food just to do God's will, to preach the Gospel to all nations till I die (from starvation), but I'm talking about priorities, what keeps me going.
ah... food can surely satisfy me, and that's because I have a hunger and longing for food. The question is, do I hunger and thirst for Him, to do His will, to see people saved and His Kingdom come in my lifetime. I am still far from it, I know I don't have such strong passion like my pastor or even most leaders in my church, but I hope God can help me increase my hunger and thirst for His will.
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