You

Last night in the cell group meeting I was attending, the main topic of the day was "Remembering your First Love", talking about how we should remember our first encounter with Jesus, because that is a good reminder of why we do what we do for God. A brother in Christ added that that alone was not enough; we should have frequent encounters with Jesus; every week, every day, every hour. Those encounters would boost, energize and fire you up to face any challenge at all just when you feel like everything's crumbling down and you're on the verge of giving up.

Interestingly enough, after I got back home I went online and chatted with a friend of mine for awhile via MSN messenger. She was my former classmate during secondary school. What I could say about her? She was terribly fierce, rough, rude where she blindly swore all the time. She seemed pretty hopeless in the academic field as well; sleeping in class being her usual routine, she would fail one or two subjects for every exam or test. Recently, we met up with a bunch of other classmates, where I learned she had actually turned over a new leaf and had been hardworking; something was definitely up. In the conversation window there was a link to her latest blog and instinctively I clicked on it. I went on to read her recent blog posts and I started to notice through her various entries that she was indeed a different person altogether. I felt even more so when I saw links to Christian music and scripture verses there! With all these I for a moment doubted if I was reading her blog; I thought it might have been someone else's! It was obvious that she was already a committed Christian. Curiosity most surely got the better of me and I asked her when did she become a Christian. With that, she told her story of how she in April this year accepted Christ, how she had come to believe in our awesome God and changed so much for the better, so much so that now she had enough control of herself not to swear whenever she was going to! Not to mention her drastic improvement in her studies was a direct result of her faith in Christ! I was baffled and could not say much to her, in awe of what had happened to her. I truly felt joy in my heart. Just amazing. She had never been the same since. I honestly hope that she'd always be the way she is now for the rest of her life.

Before I went to sleep that night I connected the two happenings; there we were as a cell group talking about first encounters with God, and this friend of mine actually told me her very first encounter with God, which inevitably changed her life. Encounters with God are refreshing, encouraging, even life-changing. The question is, how? Do we have to wait for God to come? Do we have to atone for the sins that we committed before we can encounter Him? Is it that certain events must take place first, or we have to be in a particular circumstance or be holy to be able to encounter God? The answer to my raving in the form of all those questions is, no.

The amazing testimony of my friend who gave her life to Jesus recently; indeed she experienced freedom, blessings and many other good things that God has given. It was through her encounter with God that she is a changed person. But, what enabled that encounter? It was because of her decision and the step of faith that she chose to take. It was because she finally faced the truth and invited God into her life, and subsequently allowed the Holy Spirit to fill her. The moment she received, God's blessings snowballed into her life.

During Jesus' time, He invited many people to follow Him. Did all of them do as they were told? Apparently not. Remember the rich young man in Matthew 19:16? The last words Jesus said to him were, "Then come, follow me." after telling him to sell all of his possessions leaving him penniless, of course. The young man went away sad, according to Matthew's gospel, and there was no mention of him ever again. He chose to return to his own life of wealth. He chose to reject Jesus. And Jesus didn't beg him to come back. Jesus just let him leave, as God has graciously given us the liberty to make our own choices and decisions. On the other hand, when Jesus called James and John to be his disciples, Mark 1:20 says they left their poor father in the boat and followed Jesus! Whatever convictions or reasons they had, they chose to follow Jesus. They eventually became two of the twelve disciples and had literal encounters with Jesus all throughout the lifetime of Jesus.

There is a chinese saying '万事具备，只欠东风' which when translated sounds something like 'Everything is in place and ready, what's left is the east wind'. In ancient times people made preparations in order to set sail, but without the wind large ships could go nowhere. They needed the strong east wind for setting sail to be a reality. It is the same with encountering God. God has already planned everything so perfectly that in every circumstance, it is possible to encounter God.

"For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life."

~John 3:16 [NIV]

Notice the word 'gave'. The Bible doesn't say 'For God so loved the world that He is going to give His Son.' No. Jesus Christ, the only Son of God had already died on the cross; our sins have already been atoned for. By His blood, we are cleansed of our iniquities and transgressions. It is done. Everything is already prepared. Why, Jesus stands right at the door!

"Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with him, and he with me."

~Revelations 3:20 [NIV]

Just as Jesus called the people of His time, He still calls us today. Well, if you want to you can choose to ignore him and leave the door shut. Or, you can open the door, invite Him in and have fellowship with Him as fellowship while eating. Are you willing to open the door? To let the Holy Spirit into your life? To love God and obey His commands? To allow God to use you? Are you willing to have an encounter with God? Because Jesus is already at the door. For those of you who have not accepted Christ, no one is stopping you except you. If you're thinking parents are an obstacle or this is not the right time, think again, because Jesus said 'follow me'; that's it. As Jesus has taken away your sins, all that's left for you is to believe (John 3:16). Just take that step of faith, and you will never regret encountering God. And for Christians, the same applies. Nothing or no one is stopping you from encountering God except you. Since the Word is God, you can encounter God daily by reading His word. You also can fellowship with Him daily through prayer. All you have to do is allow the Holy Spirit to work in you, and, like my friend, you'd never be the same again.

You are that east wind. The choice is yours, really. It all depends on you.

Blackout

One night at approximately 11:35 PM, things run as usual in a hypothetical family: the 2 elder brothers are watching their laptops enjoying a certain anime, their younger sister already in pyjamas and all prepared to go to bed as she has school the next day, their father watching some random television program waiting for the midnight news and their mother ironing clothes. And then a massive power failure occurs: the sounds of laughter from the laptop, the noise from the television, the whirring of the fan, and everything else collapses abruptly- utter silence suddenly strikes the house. Simultaneously at that moment of time, the house experiences absolute darkness. The whole neighbourhood, for the matter. All sight and hearing stops. It almost tastes like death.

In fact, the blackout not only extinguishes all visible light, it halts practically all of the activities in the mentioned home: the TV's out, so are the plugged-in laptops, the iron, the A/Cs, the fans and fluorescent & night light bulbs, the pump in the aquarium, the fridge- everything. To top all of that, since midnight's just around the corner, the pitch-black surroundings gives all of them a taste of what it's like to be blind. Their sense of sight is taken away from them whether they're ready for it or not.

That's not all. As time progresses, the heat starts to take a toll on them, who've been enjoying years of the A/C and fans' taken for granted services. They are perspiring profusely for the first time in a decade. In such an undesired situation, they cannot do anything, since everything seemed to require electrical supply. Trying to sleep is a terrible torture, with sweat rolling down every part of their bodies. For you smart alecs out there, it so happened that the family did not have back-up generators. Under such a circumstance, one of them has to feel his way through to the cabinet which contained candles and a lighter, and when a single candle is lit, the whole house is illuminated to a great extent, exaggerated by the fact that it was pitch-black before.

In the aforementioned setting, the source of power was electricity. Similarly in most houses today, it is the same. Electricity runs everything; it enables most, if not all activities in the house to be carried out. Viewing our lives, God is that source of power. God enables everything in our lives to run- and run smoothly, be it our school, work, relationships or finance. Being the source, He gives us the energy, strength, power, skills and talents to do the things we do each day- for His glory. Yet, we do not always do things to glorify His name; most of the time in fact, we abuse what we have received for personal gains and pleasure. This of course grieves God. However, He who possesses the power to give, possesses the power to take away also; at any time at all, without warning, as He pleases. When that happens, it would be very much like experiencing a blackout, where everything stops abruptly. We lose our jobs, relations with others are severed, etc. and that might or might not taste like death. With our eyes veiled by darkness, we cannot see a thing, and fumble in the darkness. With no where else to turn to, we finally turn to Jesus, to God and cry out to Him. We finally pray after a decade of self-sufficiency. With a broken and repentant heart, we allow the Holy Spirit to fill our lives again, and let God take the wheel. We would be in the process of lighting up the candle. Then, Jesus would be like that freshly lit candle, illuminating our lives so brightly so that we might see again. This time however, we do not see the materials and objects of this world, but we view the eternal glory that He has promised to all who would love and obey His commands. We would no longer be caught up with the bustling and busy, yet meaningless activities of this world. We would do everything unto the glory of God. This would most definitely require a change of heart.

Remember, God is the source of our lives, of our very beings. Let us learn how to understand, appreciate and cherish that fact. Let us use our lives to glorify and please Him, because when we do so, we can be assured of no blackouts; only an everlasting light.

"I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing."

~John 15:5 [NIV]

体贴

"多用一点心，多加一份慧心，多注意一下别人的感觉，多观察周遭人们的一切，在适当的时候，表达自己的关心、同情，这不仅仅是一种最高贵的品格，也是一份令人愉悦的体贴，一份令人难忘的温柔。体贴令人舒服。"

【摘自南洋商报，《百字专栏》- 陈强华】

For the benefit of the non-chinese speaking/reading readers, here's the (pretty literal, but I've tried my best) translation, in English:

"Use your heart a little more; add a little more wisdom; notice the feeling of others a little more; observe whatever is happening to people around you a little more; at the right time, express your concern and sympathy; these are not only deemed the most noble characters, but a type of care and concern that makes people joyous and delighted; an unforgettable gentleness. Showing consideration puts a person at ease."

[Excerpted from an article in the NanYang SiangPau newspaper]

Self

Have you ever pondered on what might virtually be the root cause of unhappiness in your life?

Many things contribute to unhappiness- financial issues, relational problems, quarrels, disappointing outcomes. One would have this feeling that is very hard to swallow when he is dissatisfied or sad. And that is rendered natural. But, digging deeper, what contributes to that sadness? What exactly, drains oneself of peace and harmony? Is it because of what happened? Or the implication of it?

You might not be getting my point, which I do not expect you to, as of now. Giving examples and analogies are still one of the best ways in breaking down and making clear of a subject to a targeted individual, which happens to be you, the reader. So let's view an example, shall we? 2 lovely 5-year-old girls are playing together with say, dolls. A particular doll catches both their eyes, and both want to have it. Being only children, they've probably never come across the words 'compromise' or 'negotiate' and none of them is willing to give it up. Then things start to get ugly. From pulling each other's hair to landing mighty punches, it seems the girls have transformed into monsters. Not-so-innocent feelings such as bitterness, anger and rage explode into the scene. My question: Why? One might answer, because they didn't get what they wanted. Being fussy here, I wouldn't settle with that slightly inaccurate answer. Yes, they didn't have their way, and they weren't happy. But having one's way means satisfying self. Me. "I want to play with the doll so that I can satisfy myself, so that I can have fun. The priority is me and since there's only one doll, I will have it first and I don't care about what you think or feel." Notice the number of 'I's, 'Me's and 'myself's, with only one 'you' word. The answer? Selfishness.

A great guitarist is encouraged by family and friends to join a talent-time competition. By all means, he stands every chance to make it to the top 3, with the ripping guitar skills that he has. Yet he's having doubts about it. He's worried if there are people out there who're better than he, though they are in fact way out of his league. He's fearful he would make a mistake while playing. Still, he wants to join the competition because he simply has the interest. This becomes a big problem to him- when there is none to begin with! He worries all night and is down because he cannot make up his mind. Why? Because if his 'worst nightmares' came true - If there are people better than him or he makes a mistake while playing - his reputation would be at stake. He would have destroyed his own image in front of the crowd if he lost the competition. He would have essentially hurt himself. Since that possibility exists, he'd rather not take it. I mean, one can never put oneself at risk can he? By oneself I do not exactly mean one's life, but his ego, pride, self-image, etc.

How do you think Satan became Satan? Already in a highly respectable position as archangel, he was not satisfied. He was so self-centered and so full of himself that there was no room for God inside him any longer. God, who created him, was insignificant compared to himself. Only by being God himself would Lucifer be slaked of his monstrous selfish desires. He felt that only then could his self be exalted to the highest degree possible. He was thrown down to Hades.

Last example. Guess who? Me. No it's not a joke. Me, the writer. What happened? Well, it is quite apparent that I have not typed in a long time, and I didn't type as smoothly as I used to. I was struggling for words and flow, and I was getting frustrated. And then I thought, why was it that I'm feeling agitated? And the answer was right in front of me- the big title of this post. I will be very frank with you. I was actually pursuing a flamboyant style of writing with impressive vocabulary. For what? So that people would admire my piece of writing. For SELF.

Loving oneself is not wrong, it is the right thing to do. However, that can easily turn into selfishness, when we give attention to and care for nobody but ourselves. Through the above examples, we can see that selfishness leads to quarrels, arguments, fights, scarred relationships, low self-esteem, doubt, worry, fear, frustration, agitation, devastation, desolation, destruction. It even extends beyond that. The love of money is the root of all evil, they say. But why would people love money? To use that money to buy anything and everything for self-gratification. Therefore selfishness is how greed entered world's history as well. In fact, the saying mentioned above was inaccurate; the unhealthy excessive love of self is the root of all evil. As long as one is self-centered, evil is bound to lurk. Selfishness is the root of all evil.*

*After further consideration, the love of money is still a root of all kinds of evil (1 Timothy 6:10), reason being yes at first the pursuit of wealth is for self, but there's somehow a way things happen that in the end one gets enslaved by the love of money and is controlled by it, thus Matthew 6:24. In this case, the pursuit of money is no longer for self, but it has become one's master.
-05/11/2011

Let's face it. Let's face the ugly truth. We all know we are cruel, selfish people. Yes, even I, the writer, forgot about the essence of what I was writing when selfishness took over for that moment. But you know what? I will confront this ugly side of me. I am not going to hide or forget about it. After all, I typed this post for a purpose. To convey the important message to you(and me). That does not require bombastic words; simple English will do. The focus is definitely not on me. The focus is on you, getting the message. And if I can admit this flaw of mine and start changing myself, you can do the same.

But of course, we are definitely not alone. Thank God for Himself, the Holy Spirit and His ever-relevant Word! I would emphasize on relevant; believe it or not, the Word of God is especially relevant today! We had the 10 Commandments, but Jesus ingeniously yet at the same time precisely summarized them to 2. Take a look:

"Jesus replied: 'Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: Love your neighbour as yourself.' "

~Matthew 22:37-39 [NIV]

When we start focusing our thoughts on something else, naturally we will think less of ourselves. And Jesus says the best things to occupy our minds with are God and our neighbours. To love both God and our neighbours, we place them above ourselves in terms of priority. As we serve them, we will find out there is so much more joy when we focus on others rather than ourselves. The following verses cannot make it any clearer to us:

"Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves. Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others. "

~Philippians 2:3-4 [NIV]

I believe Paul wrote this because he knew that caring for others not only benefits them, it benefits ourselves even more! Give it a try where you are right now. Whenever you become angry or agitated, try tracing the source of it. Chances are it's your selfishness. Stop caring so much about yourself and start being in others shoes and caring for their welfare. Life will change for you. By transferring our thoughts and attention to others, we escape from the snare of selfishness, which would, trust me, save us so much trouble in life.

***

Lord, You know all thoughts; everything in my heart is laid bare before You. There's no point in trying to hide from You, and so I confess my sin of selfishness right now. Forgive me for being selfish according to Your grace and mercy, and rescue me from being self-centered to the point of no return. I commit and surrender myself wholly to You almighty, awesome God, my Lord and my Saviour. Use me for Your glory; all glory is Yours, and Yours alone. Amen.

Life's good

• It's good that I'm disturbed by the jarring construction sounds and noises while I try to get an afternoon nap; it shows my ears are sensitive and working.
• It's good I'm eating such lousy food in a random restaurant; it shows my taste buds are functioning.
• It's good the rubbish truck has to pass by my house when I'm home; it shows I can still smell.
• It's good I feel the scorching heat of the sun while outside; it shows I have legs and am capable of even walking outside.
• It's good I'm always being nagged and barked at by my parents; it shows they're still alive and well.
• It's good I have to go through the hassle of combing my very messy hair each morning when I only have 3 minutes before I'm late for work; it shows I still have hair to comb.

Life is good. Thanks God for being so good to me!