Yesterday I bumped my car into a pole at the parking lot. As a result, there's quite a big scratch on the front bumper of my car.
How did I manage to do it? well, I misjudged the position of my car to the pole. There's a soft and small voice inside me saying stop and reverse. I did stop but instead of reversing I continued moving forward and.... yep, the screeching noise. I laughed and thinking to myself, "WOW... I misjudged."
I relied heavily on my understanding, on my past experience, I was so confident of myself able to make the turn and park my car with such impossible angle.
Lesson learned? I learned that I shouldn't rely so much on my past experience, and with regards to my spiritual life, I should be careful once I feel comfortable with my life, cause satan can creep in under my skin and take my focus away from God. Satan knows God better than me, and he knows the bible better than me. I should never be so confident that I can do a lot of things. I can only do things when God gives the permission and He is with me.
And tonight at Prayer Meeting, I learned that before I discipline others, i need to discipline myself. Oh LORD, teach me and help me to discipline myself. I need you so much o God.
Tuesday, June 22, 2010
Sunday, June 20, 2010
God's help
Tonight, God really made me speechless.
I've been thinking of catching up with Bong in HK. He used to be in our church and served faithfully till he went back to HK. And guess what? He was there at church. I couldn't believe my own eyes and quickly told him that I'm going to HK. He said he will accompany me to eat and sightseeing.
More than that, I also found out that Clara, one of the girls from Judah 2 (I think) will be in HK when I go there next month. WOW... I can't believe God just brought all these people to me tonight.
On the other hand, I will have to let go my plan to visit Christine in Philippines as I don't have enough time to go there. Next time I guess. And Brunei, I think I will have to discover Brunei myself as no one there that I know can take me around apart from my friend's parents. I feel bad if I have to waste their time taking me around. So yeah, hopefully I won't have any problem spending 9hr in Brunei by myself.
ah... I'm still in awe, still hard to believe that Bong is here and Clara will be in HK when I'm there. Oh ya, did I also tell you that I have spoken with Jong Yong and Hui Min who are holidaying in here right now? I'll be meeting them again in Spore next month, ahahha..... man, no such thing as coincidence. Thank you God for your help. :)
I've been thinking of catching up with Bong in HK. He used to be in our church and served faithfully till he went back to HK. And guess what? He was there at church. I couldn't believe my own eyes and quickly told him that I'm going to HK. He said he will accompany me to eat and sightseeing.
More than that, I also found out that Clara, one of the girls from Judah 2 (I think) will be in HK when I go there next month. WOW... I can't believe God just brought all these people to me tonight.
On the other hand, I will have to let go my plan to visit Christine in Philippines as I don't have enough time to go there. Next time I guess. And Brunei, I think I will have to discover Brunei myself as no one there that I know can take me around apart from my friend's parents. I feel bad if I have to waste their time taking me around. So yeah, hopefully I won't have any problem spending 9hr in Brunei by myself.
ah... I'm still in awe, still hard to believe that Bong is here and Clara will be in HK when I'm there. Oh ya, did I also tell you that I have spoken with Jong Yong and Hui Min who are holidaying in here right now? I'll be meeting them again in Spore next month, ahahha..... man, no such thing as coincidence. Thank you God for your help. :)
Saturday, June 19, 2010
Bible discussion on prayer
Yesterday night I led a mixed-gender bible discussion on prayer.
Everyone knows what prayer is about and how to pray and etc, etc. So yesterday, trying not to give them unnecessary stuff, I cut the chase and just got to the bottom of it, how to pray effectively.
Since we didn't have enough time, I asked them to really participate and share their experience with everyone.
You know what? It was one of the most awesome bible discussion I ever had in my life. It's oh... I don't know how to describe it. Everyone was so open and they just shared their experience in prayer and their struggle with their faith in God.
It blew me away instantly. One of the girls said this, "I realised that the more I pray, the less confidence I have on myself. Because I know that actually, I can't really do much."
How true, we are actually nothing, we can't even do anything without God's permission and help. ah... I thank God for letting me serve such awesome people in His house. Thank you LORD.
Everyone knows what prayer is about and how to pray and etc, etc. So yesterday, trying not to give them unnecessary stuff, I cut the chase and just got to the bottom of it, how to pray effectively.
Since we didn't have enough time, I asked them to really participate and share their experience with everyone.
You know what? It was one of the most awesome bible discussion I ever had in my life. It's oh... I don't know how to describe it. Everyone was so open and they just shared their experience in prayer and their struggle with their faith in God.
It blew me away instantly. One of the girls said this, "I realised that the more I pray, the less confidence I have on myself. Because I know that actually, I can't really do much."
How true, we are actually nothing, we can't even do anything without God's permission and help. ah... I thank God for letting me serve such awesome people in His house. Thank you LORD.
Friday, June 18, 2010
Employment n Faithfulness
Approximately 2 months ago I became very aware of the situation in my LG (life-group), a quarter of the group are unemployed. I also realised a friend from another group is still unemployed. The situation is actually pretty disturbing, as they are my good friends and I know them personally.
To see them unemployed for quite a long time really heart-breaking. But what touched my heart so much is that they are still faithful to God and continue to serve in LG and church.
If you want to see the real character of someone, observe them during the darkest hour of their life, when they are at the bottom pit of life. I thank God for having friends who have such great character. I won't name names here but if you read this, you know who you are and I thank God for you. I pray that God will bless you with a job soon. Hang in there, and please don't lose hope.
:)
To see them unemployed for quite a long time really heart-breaking. But what touched my heart so much is that they are still faithful to God and continue to serve in LG and church.
If you want to see the real character of someone, observe them during the darkest hour of their life, when they are at the bottom pit of life. I thank God for having friends who have such great character. I won't name names here but if you read this, you know who you are and I thank God for you. I pray that God will bless you with a job soon. Hang in there, and please don't lose hope.
:)
Monday, June 14, 2010
The need to acknowledge others
I went to a friend's place to have lunch with few friends.
At lunch, I talked to this friend of mine who I haven't spoken to lately, even though we go to same church service. Not even a hi-bye kind of greetings.
Anyway, he mentioned to me that I have a gift from God that not many people have, the ability to connect and relate with others so easily. He said, I'm a people person and people are comfortable with me.
The challenge is, as I chose to stay low and avoid the crowds, people felt neglected or forgotten.
YES, I actually decided long time ago to be low profile, or to try to stay low and avoid the crowds as much as I can. And I made a point that I won't personally go to people to greet them. However, I should admit that I did not realise that my action has made people felt forgotten or even neglected, especially those who don't have many friends in church.
Frankly speaking, this is one area that I still need lots of improvement. He said that it's actually not that hard/challenging. All I have to do is just to smile and greet people genuinely. The smile I give to a person is enough to acknowledge that s/he exist and I notice it. He then said that people in general want to be acknowledged, to know that their existence matter. Now if I don't acknowledge their existence, they will feel neglected or forgotten.
Yes everyone needs to grow up and be matured, but some people take a bit longer to grow, and we as the more matured ones need to put just a little bit more effort to help them grow, by... at the very least, smile to them and greet them.
Thank you my friend, I will make some changes. :)
At lunch, I talked to this friend of mine who I haven't spoken to lately, even though we go to same church service. Not even a hi-bye kind of greetings.
Anyway, he mentioned to me that I have a gift from God that not many people have, the ability to connect and relate with others so easily. He said, I'm a people person and people are comfortable with me.
The challenge is, as I chose to stay low and avoid the crowds, people felt neglected or forgotten.
YES, I actually decided long time ago to be low profile, or to try to stay low and avoid the crowds as much as I can. And I made a point that I won't personally go to people to greet them. However, I should admit that I did not realise that my action has made people felt forgotten or even neglected, especially those who don't have many friends in church.
Frankly speaking, this is one area that I still need lots of improvement. He said that it's actually not that hard/challenging. All I have to do is just to smile and greet people genuinely. The smile I give to a person is enough to acknowledge that s/he exist and I notice it. He then said that people in general want to be acknowledged, to know that their existence matter. Now if I don't acknowledge their existence, they will feel neglected or forgotten.
Yes everyone needs to grow up and be matured, but some people take a bit longer to grow, and we as the more matured ones need to put just a little bit more effort to help them grow, by... at the very least, smile to them and greet them.
Thank you my friend, I will make some changes. :)
Thursday, June 10, 2010
Losing the plot
Had a great time talking to my housemate just now. Amazingly I felt I was preaching to myself.
He's my housemate and member in my LG. I noticed he has such a huge heart for people. He would go the extra mile when people asked for help and he wouldn't complain when they made his life harder. What concerned me the most is not how people would take advantage of him, of his kindness, but more so on the part where he can lose the plot.
The great commandment is not to love others as we love ourselves, and then to love God. But it is to love God, and then to love others as we love ourselves. God comes first, not others.
As we love God (and we put it into practice), we will naturally love others and ourselves as well. But when put all our focus on helping others, meeting their needs we can put ourselves in a dangerous position where we get so busy spending time with others (reaching out, helping and caring for them) that we forget to love God, to spend time with Him, to commune with Him. When we do that, we can lose the plot, of why we're doing what we're doing, because we will be disconnected from God.
It is not easy, but there has to be a balance between spending time with God and spending time with others. We can not spend all our time with God and not a second with others, if it happens there's something wrong, because the heart of God is to see people come back to Him and enjoy His love.
He's my housemate and member in my LG. I noticed he has such a huge heart for people. He would go the extra mile when people asked for help and he wouldn't complain when they made his life harder. What concerned me the most is not how people would take advantage of him, of his kindness, but more so on the part where he can lose the plot.
The great commandment is not to love others as we love ourselves, and then to love God. But it is to love God, and then to love others as we love ourselves. God comes first, not others.
As we love God (and we put it into practice), we will naturally love others and ourselves as well. But when put all our focus on helping others, meeting their needs we can put ourselves in a dangerous position where we get so busy spending time with others (reaching out, helping and caring for them) that we forget to love God, to spend time with Him, to commune with Him. When we do that, we can lose the plot, of why we're doing what we're doing, because we will be disconnected from God.
It is not easy, but there has to be a balance between spending time with God and spending time with others. We can not spend all our time with God and not a second with others, if it happens there's something wrong, because the heart of God is to see people come back to Him and enjoy His love.
Sunday, June 6, 2010
Caring for others
Last Tuesday morning, 1st June 2010 at 5am, an old friend of mine passed away, she's my friend from primary school.
I didn't know what really happened until I received an email from my friend on Thursday explaining the death of my friend. A nurse found her dead hanging from the ceiling in her hospital room. It was her second attempt, and she made it.
The news hit me pretty hard as I never expected any one that I know (whether close or far away friends) to take their own life. As painful and hard it can be to survive, let alone live this life to the fullest, there is always hope, there is always a way out.
The news opened up my eyes to another perspective about caring and loving others. It's not enough for us to just tell people how much God love them, and that God has a plan and purpose for them and that we'll help them grow in God. NO, it's more than that. I really need to spend time not only to teach them about God and His Word, but also putting the effort n time to help them with their life, to be with them in good times and bad times. It is not easy and requires a lot sacrifice, but it means nothing compare to losing them to some tragic death.
No one should ever suffer alone by themselves. We were created to love God and one another. No one should lose hope, no one should take their own life because they could not find a way out.
I didn't know what really happened until I received an email from my friend on Thursday explaining the death of my friend. A nurse found her dead hanging from the ceiling in her hospital room. It was her second attempt, and she made it.
The news hit me pretty hard as I never expected any one that I know (whether close or far away friends) to take their own life. As painful and hard it can be to survive, let alone live this life to the fullest, there is always hope, there is always a way out.
The news opened up my eyes to another perspective about caring and loving others. It's not enough for us to just tell people how much God love them, and that God has a plan and purpose for them and that we'll help them grow in God. NO, it's more than that. I really need to spend time not only to teach them about God and His Word, but also putting the effort n time to help them with their life, to be with them in good times and bad times. It is not easy and requires a lot sacrifice, but it means nothing compare to losing them to some tragic death.
No one should ever suffer alone by themselves. We were created to love God and one another. No one should lose hope, no one should take their own life because they could not find a way out.
Tuesday, June 1, 2010
The heart of God
Street Evax (evangelism on the street) is really frightening, but it's satisfyingly fulfilling.
Met this guy from Mexico on Monday night, t'was my first time after so long, and he said he's been thinking about God and had been having the urge to pray. Coming from catholic background helped me and Esther and Anita to explain what salvation is, and that God loves people, regardless of what they've done in the past.
The heart of God is to see people saved, living their life to the fullest right now and go to heaven and spend time with Him forever.
ah... I miss street evax. Next week they won't have it, but they'll have it again afterward. Hope I can make it again next time.
Met this guy from Mexico on Monday night, t'was my first time after so long, and he said he's been thinking about God and had been having the urge to pray. Coming from catholic background helped me and Esther and Anita to explain what salvation is, and that God loves people, regardless of what they've done in the past.
The heart of God is to see people saved, living their life to the fullest right now and go to heaven and spend time with Him forever.
ah... I miss street evax. Next week they won't have it, but they'll have it again afterward. Hope I can make it again next time.
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