Last supper with Pei
Me and Beng checking out our new BUFF head gear (really good!!! especially if you are an outdoorsy person)
With Zach at St. Joseph Oratoire (apparently only 5 in the world)
With Dominique at the peak of Mt. Royal
One of the greatest things I’ve learnt here is understanding more the rhythm of how God works in my daily lives. What kind of things His likes and dislikes. How He would want me to respond to things, people and situations.
In the area of relationships between me and my hubby for example; the inner workings of things… about the trust issue, understanding more of unconditional love, setting oneself apart for the other half, about commitment a.k.a conviction to go through the ups and downs of life together no matter what.
Other than that, I’ve learnt that when I develop a desire for something (anything), to be able to say with integrity that I have fully given that desire to God to work it out, it would mean not to be ATTACHED to it, not to be affected or feel a NEED for it in order for me to be happy. That is a true surrender. It is for me to say, whether I receive ‘this’ or not, it is all well with my soul. I believe God just loves that type of surrendering all unto Him. He loves knowing that our relationship with Him is the most important thing in our lives, and none of this ‘little things’ can shake our confidence and trust in Him.
It is the sense of solitude, of focus that I amazingly found throughout my time here (in the midst of living in the sincity of North America, this alone is a miracle). It is a feeling of being set apart for something bigger than life itself.
But as the days go by, the feeling of discovery has brought a sense of delight into my soul. A feeling like I have accomplished something. It is not tangible, nor measurable, but I know it is real. It feels very special because for the first time I understand what it means by achieving something in ways that cannot be seen nor measured. I have acquired knowledge and understanding. It is not in material form, nor is it a success in ministry or career. It is very liberating. It is a feeling that our lives are worth much more to God than pure statistics; of how much ‘results’ we can produce for Him.
It is a very nice feeling knowing that God DOES care about those little details…. They are often called PROCESS. I love it. It leaves you with a feeling that ‘everything is under control’. Not yours of course, but His. It compels joy to come out of you and it is really tangible in that sense. People can see it. You know it. It is an obvious thing.
Almost at the end of my big trip, I’ve come to some conclusions; that uncertainty is not as scary as it is commonly perceived and that God is a much better planner than I have often given Him credit for…
In one of the Peanuts sequences Lucy is frightened because it has been raining and raining. She wonders if there may be a repetition of Noah’s flood. But Charlie Brown tells her about God’s promise and the meaning of the rainbow. Much relieved, Lucy says, “You’ve taken a load off my mind.” To which Charlie replies, “Good theology has a way of doing that.”
“Scientists Fear the End of the Human Race Within Thirty Years,” reads a recent headline. There’s not much comfort in reading a thing like that, is there? And how about air pollution, water pollution, race riots, war, overpopulation, drug addiction, corruption in government, starvation, depletion of natural resources? Our best brains do not know the answers to life’s greatest questions: Where did I come from? Why am I here? Where am I going? The scene can be very depressing.
But Charlie Brown is right. Good theology, Biblical theology, has a way of taking off our minds the load of defeatism, fatalism, and pessimism which weigh down so much of our generation. Based on fixed and final truth, good theology gives a man a center of stability in the midst of perplexity.
And it doesn’t beat around the bush. It goes to the heart of things. Starting with Jesus Christ, it tells us that He is the mist dependable of realities. We can be sure of Him. He is not vague at all. He lived on earth; He lives now; and He draws us to the magnificent conclusion that God loves us and that His purposes can never be frustrated. Even death ceases to be a problem when considered in the light of the resurrection of Jesus Christ. Concerning Him, Paul says that God “has given assurance to all men by raising Him from the dead.”
Good theology is honest enough to tell us the real truth about ourselves. Human wickedness is behind the unhappiness of man. Can man go against God and make sense out of life? Can life ever get on a sound basis without repentance and conversion? Only Christ can take the load of sin and give us peace.
The Christian bets his life that Jesus Christ is right. The prize is everlasting life.
Captured from Get With It, Man! By Michael Horban, CA 1974
by JR Vassar, Pastor of The Apostle’s Church NYC
The most important thing you can do in 2010 is cultivate a devotional life that facilitates the intimate nearness of God. You won’t accidentally get close to God. So, for 2010, I wanted to encourage you to embrace a focused intentionality in your devotional life. Here are some things I have been thinking through with regards to my devotional practices in 2010.
Have a no exemption time and place to meet with God. If you do not schedule in focused time with God, everything else in your life will schedule it out. Have a time and place and treat it as an appointment with the most important person in the universe. And, keep it; no excuses. It might be morning, evening, night, whatever. Just pick a time that you devote to seeking God with uninterrupted focus. If you have to put it on your calendar, do it.
Have a plan. What will you do during that time? The obvious answer is that the time will at least include contemplative bible reading and prayer. But, what will be the content of that contemplative reading? There are several options and no one option is best or right. You need to find what keeps you engaged and maybe even mix it up a little. Here are some options that some friends have shared with me on Twitter:
The M’Cheyne Reading System. Robert Murray M’Cheyne was a minister in the Church of Scotland from 1835-1843. He died at the age of 29 but left an amazing legacy. This is a plan he developed. The esv.org site explains this plan as “featuring four different readings for use in both family and personal devotions. Each day has two passages from the Old Testament, one from the New Testament, and one from either the Psalms or the Gospels. In one year, you read the Old Testament once and the New Testament and Psalms twice.” You can subscribe the RSS feed and have it delivered into your google reader every day.
Customize Your Own Reading Plan. If you want to customize your own reading plan so that your reading is heavier in one area than the other, you can use this website and have your customized plan emailed you to every day.
Choose Individual Books. Some prefer to stick in a book and go deep with it for a season. For instance, you might want to spend a month or two in the Gospel of John focusing on the glory of Christ. It is a good idea to alternate between OT and NT and different genres. Again, which plan you choose is not the most important thing. Don’t stress over it. Just have a plan.
Begin your time with prayer and confession. Confess your sins to the Lord and ask him to cleanse your heart (of things you have done and things you have left undone) and open your eyes to behold wonderful things in his word (Psalm 119:18). You want a heart that is open and responsive to God and confession and prayer postures us in that way.
Read out loud. Maybe it is just me, but if I don’t, I get really distracted.
Look for Gospel patterns. As you read, realize that Jesus and the Gospel is The One Story of the Bible. Look for Gospel patterns, grace on display, as you read. Especially in the OT. Every story has Christ as the ultimate hero. For example, don’t read the story of David and Goliath and leave your devotional time “ready to face your giants.” Realize that you are Israel in the story, not David. You are weak, powerless, cowering before your enemies of sin, Satan, and death, and you need an anointed King to defeat your enemies and cause you to rise up in hope and courage. Jesus is the true and better David, and he is the point of the story of David and Goliath. Look for these patterns in everything you read and rejoice in what God has accomplished for you in Jesus. We don’t have devotions and pray in order to avoid the guilt of not having devotions and not praying. We have devotions and pray to know Jesus and his Gospel, and revel in all that he is for us and all that he has won for us.
Journal your thoughts and prayers. Journaling helps us process what we are reading and learning from the Lord. It is good to go back and read your journal to remind yourself of how God has been at work in your life in the past. Get a moleskin or a cheap equivalent and just do it for a season and see if it helps you.
Realize that this is a community project. You need to share what God is saying to you and have others share what God is saying to them. Consider doing one of the above plans with a group of people, a spouse, a roommate, or your church staff.
Don’t give up. I have missed meals in the past, but never gave up on eating. I just made sure I did not miss the next meal (and usually made up for it). You are going to miss days, often times multiple days. Repent of your neglect of God and press on in knowing him. Your righteousness is not in how consistent your devotional life is; it is in Jesus Christ who is constant and ever faithful. So, relax and pick up where you left off.
The beauty and joy of 2010 will not depend upon your circumstances, but upon your experience of the One you were made for. As much of him that you want to experience, you will experience. He promises to reward those who diligently seek him (Hebrews 11:6).
Ever heard of how the heart longs for some things totally contrary to what we have? It is snowing outside my window, and throughout the whole day, this is all I can think about… Being in our beloved BALI ISLAND with my family.
Isn’t life intriguing, interesting, rich, full of surprises and can never stop to amaze you? After experiencing both the beauty of the snow and the tropical island, it left imprints of the awesomeness of God’s creation deep in my heart. One of those things that renders me speechless…
Filed under: Journaling, Random Thoughts, Series of events, Useful stuff I learn from others
It is the 1st of January 2010. And I am so thankful to God to be alive and for the privilege of having a relationship with Him.
Re-tweeting Darlene Zschech: ‘Here’s to a decade of radical love demonstrated through radical obedience…’ I pray that this can be my life for the decade ahead.
Many people about my age would be dreading the fact that this year I am going to be 30 years old. The illogical subconscious mind starts to worry with things like: what have I accomplished so far? Am I now ‘old’? Will this generation think I am becoming irrelevant?
Well, temptation is always there and will always be there for me to yield to the negatives and the useless, unproductive thoughts. It’s not what I want to have. Not this year, not any year as long as I’m still alive (so help me God!!!).
My husband always reminds me every time I feel discouraged and discontented about something in my life, that millions of people would kill to live the life I am living. And he is actually right. How many people cannot imagine themselves alive in their 30ies or 40ies or whatever age it would be? How many cannot see their future with hope and peace and assurance that somehow it will all work out wonderfully?
Unsure about what the future holds, but very grateful indeed…
“…your eyes saw my unformed body.
All the days ordained for me
were written in your book
before one of them came to be.”
Psalm 139:16
Filed under: For your Information
The UN’s verdict is in: Canadians have the fourth-best quality of life in the world, behind top-rated Norway, Australia and Iceland. And Canada again surpasses the wealthier United States, which has slid from 12th to 13th place between 2006 and 2007, the last year for which international data was tabulated. Canada’s position is unchanged since 2006. The figures are tallied by the United Nations Development Program’s annual Human Development Index, which analyses the statistics of 182 countries. At the bottom of the scale is destitute Niger. Only a cut above is Afghanistan, in spite of billions of dollars of development money.
Filed under: Journaling
After a roller-coaster ride of being stressed out and tired, emotionally and phisically, which led to being sick also, I finally can say, ‘Praise you in the storms, Lord. And praise you for taking me out of it too’.
ropped CVsFiled under: Useful stuff I learn from others
by Rick Warren ——————————————————————————– The Church is the most magnificent concept ever created. It has survived persistent abuse, horrifying persecution, and widespread neglect. Yet despite its faults (due to our sinfulness), it is still God’s chosen instrument of blessing and has been for 2,000 years. The Church will last for eternity, and because it is God’s instrument for ministry here on Earth, it is truly the greatest force on the face of the Earth. That’s why I believe tackling the world’s biggest problems – the giants of spiritual lostness, egocentric leadership, poverty, disease, and ignorance – can only be done through the Church. The Church has eight distinct advantages over the efforts of business and government: 1. The Church provides for the largest participation. For example, about 100 million people in the United States went to church this past weekend. That’s more people than will attend sporting events in the United States throughout this year. The Church is the largest force for good in the world. Nothing else even comes close. 2. The Church provides for the widest distribution. Consider this: The Red Cross noted that 90 percent of the meals they served to victims of Hurricane Katrina were actually cooked by Southern Baptist churches. Many churches were able to jump into action faster than the government agencies or the Red Cross. Why? The Church is literally everywhere, and Christians who could provide help to the Gulf Coast communicated with Christians in need of help so relief could be sent immediately. 3. The Church provides the longest continuation. Why? Because it’s the Church that Jesus established, and it is indestructible. The Bible calls the Church an unshakable kingdom. In Matthew 16, Jesus says, “I will build my Church and all the powers of hell will not conquer it.” All the powers of hell – in other words, no hurricane, no earthquake, no tsunami, no famine, no pandemic, no army will ever conquer the Church established by Jesus Christ. 4. The Church provides the fastest expansion. In one country that is closed to traditional Christian missions, more than 60,000 house churches have been started in one province by the work of lay people, no different from the people who fill your church sanctuary every weekend. ——————————————————————————– Why is fast expansion important? If you’ve got a problem that’s growing at a rapid rate, then you need a solution that will grow even more rapidly. For instance, HIV/AIDS is growing at an incredibly fast rate in the world. Yet thank God the Church is outgrowing the disease, so more and more believers can help minister to those with HIV/AIDS. If we’re going to tackle global giants like poverty, disease, or illiteracy, then we must be part of something that’s growing faster than the problem. The Church is doing just that! 5. The Church provides the highest motivation. We’re motivated to keep at the hard work of ministry because we love God, and our love for God compels us to love other people. It is love that never gives up; it is love that keeps moving forward despite the appearance of impossible odds; and it is love that outlasts any problem. 6. The Church provides the strongest authorization. When you know that God has authorized you to do something, you don’t worry about failure because God doesn’t sponsor flops. If God says we’re going to do it, it’s going to happen. It is inevitable. In fact, the Bible teaches that God will give us his power to complete the task. This is God’s way – ordinary people empowered by his Spirit. 7. The Church provides the simplest administration. The old wineskin of command and control won’t work well in the 21st century. The organization of the future is the “network.” And there’s no better worldwide network than the Church, where every member is a minister and empowered to do what God wants done. Consider it this way – tens of millions of Christians in millions of small groups that are part of churches around the world can take on the global giants with no other authority than that given from Jesus Christ. In other words, we have God’s permission and we have God’s command to do it. There is no need to seek permission from anyone else. 8. The Church provides for God’s conclusion. When you consider these eight advantages, think about the exponential explosion of ministry when millions upon millions of small groups in millions upon millions of churches organize in such a way that each person can do their part in attacking the five global giants. What do you think could happen if God’s people prayed against these global giants, prepared for action against these giants, and then moved through faith to tackle these giants? We may look at these problems and think, “These are too big! How could we possibly solve them?” But with God, nothing is impossible – and if we all work together as his Church, we’ll see these giants falls just as Goliath fell when faced with David’s obedience to God.
The Church is everywhere in the world.
There are villages that have little else,
but they do have a church.
Rick Warren
——————————————————————————–
Most people have no idea how many Christians there are in the world: More than 2 billion people claim to be followers of Jesus Christ. That’s one third of the world’s population! The Church has about a billion more people than the entire nation of China.
The Church is everywhere in the world. There are villages that have little else, but they do have a church. You could visit millions of villages around the world that don’t have a school, a clinic, a hospital, a fire department, or a post office. They don’t have any businesses. But they do have a church. The Church is more widely spread – more widely distributed – than any business franchise in the world.
The Church has been around for 2,000 years. We’re not a fly-by-night operation. The Church has a track record that spans centuries: Malicious leaders have tried to destroy it, hostile groups have persecuted it, and skeptics have scoffed at it. Nevertheless, God’s Church is bigger now than ever before in history.
Did you know that every day 60,000 new people come to believe in Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior? By the end of today, thousands of new churches will be started throughout the world, and that will happen tomorrow and the next day and the next.
If you’ve got a problem that’s growing at
a rapid rate, then you need a solution
that will grow even more rapidly. For
instance, HIV/AIDS is growing at an
incredibly fast rate in the world. Yet
thank God, the Church is outgrowing
the disease,so more and more believers
can help minister to those with HIV/AIDS.
Rick Warren
——————————————————————————–
Why do any of us do what we do in ministry? It’s not to make money, not to make a name for ourselves and not for duty to our nation. We do it out of love. Jesus stated it as the Great Commandment: “Love God with all your heart and love your neighbor as yourself.” We wouldn’t do the hard work required to tackle these global giants for money, for fame, or for anything else. It just wouldn’t be worth it; we’d quit before the end.
God authorized the Church to take on global giants, such as spiritual lostness, egocentric leadership, poverty, disease, and ignorance. With God’s authorization, the outcome is guaranteed to be successful.
The Church is organized in such a way that we can network faster and with less bureaucracy than most governmental agencies or even well-meaning charities. For instance, the organizational structure at Saddleback, which is based on the New Testament model, holds that every member is a minister. Each person in our church family is encouraged to use his or her own S.H.A.P.E. (Spiritual gifts, Heart, Abilities, Personality, Experiences) to do what God has called him or her to do. There is no bureaucracy or hierarchy. There isn’t a single committee, and the process doesn’t require a long list of approvals.
Since we believe the Bible is God’s Word, we already know the end of history. Jesus said in Matthew 24: “The good news about God’s Kingdom will be preached in all the world to every nation, and then the end will come.” It is inevitable and unavoidable.
