Success: doing the most what you do the best

Ecclesiates 5:10

"Whoever loves money never has money enough; whoever loves wealth is never satisfied with his income"

This story from Max Lucado says it all.

A businessman bought popcorn from an old street vendor each day after lunch. He once arrived to find the peddler closing up his stand at noon. "Is something wrong?" he asked.

A smile wrinkled the seller's leathery face. "By no means. All is well."

"Then why are you closing your popcorn stand?"

"So I can go to my house, sit on my porch, and sip tea with my wife."

The man of commerce objected. "But the day is still young. You can still sell."

"No need to," the stand owner replied. "I've made enough money for today."

"Enough? Absurd. You should keep working."

The spry old man stopped and stared at his well-dressed visitor. "And why should I keep working?"

"To sell more popcorn."

"And why sell more popcorn?"

"Because the more popcorn you sell, the more money you make. The more money you make, the richer you are. The richer you are, the more popcorn stands you can buy. The more popcorn stands you buy, the more peddlers sell your product, and the richer you become. And when you have enough, you can stop working, sell your popcorn stands, stay home, and sit on the porch with your wife and drink tea."

The popcorn man smiled. "I can do that today. I guess I have enough."

Examine your perspective toward life and be contented. 

M.

It's not mine to begin with

1 Chronicles 29:3-4

Besides, in my devotion to the temple of my God I now give my personal treasures of gold and silver for the temple of my God, over and above everything I have provided for this holy temple

King David fought many battles and reaped the spoils of it. Coupled with the ribute paid by many defeated nations, he amassed a lot of riches. However the bible states that it was all stored for the creation of the temple of God—gold for the gold work, silver for the silver, bronze for the bronze, iron for the iron and wood for the wood, as well as onyx for the settings, turquoise,  stones of various colors, and all kinds of fine stone and marble—all of these in large quantities.

The context of the passage here is of an old David addressing an assembly of people as he seeks of their support to assist his son Solomon in the construction of the temple of God.

David had amassed alot of stuff to build the temple, but still he offered to give out of his own resources, because he recognised the truth that all the riches that he possessed was not his to begin with. He was just a steward of the provisions which God had provided to him.

I know it's hard, but it is true wisdom and liberty when we recognise this truth. The hundreds, thousands, millions of dollars which we have to finance our lives are not permanently ours. It's only awarded to us to be stewards of, so the harder we hang onto money, the further from the truth of the matter we are.

May we not be a slave to wealth, because our wealth is but an interest free loan to our lives.

M.

"But who am I, and who are my people, that we should be able to give as generously as this? Everything comes from you, and we have given you only what comes from your hand. We are aliens and strangers in your sight, as were all our forefathers. Our days on earth are like a shadow, without hope. O LORD our God, as for all this abundance that we have provided for building you a temple for your Holy Name, it comes from your hand, and all of it belongs to you." (1 Chronicles 29: 14-16)

God be with me

1 Chronicles 4:8-10

Jabez was more honorable than his brothers. His mother had named him Jabez, saying, "I gave birth to him in pain." Jabez cried out to the God of Israel, "Oh, that you would bless me and enlarge my territory! Let your hand be with me, and keep me from harm so that I will be free from pain." And God granted his request.

I've heard about the prayer of Jabez, but when it was shared to us at the leaders conference, some part of the prayer resounded loud and clear as if it was the first time I heard it true and loud.

What a terrible thing it is to be given the name "pain" and to live life with such a name. I have an ex-colleague who wanted to name her soon-to-be-born son "anakin" and I gagged at the suggestion because how many parents will some day make fun of her darth vader inspired named son.

The cry of Jabez to God cannot be more honest and heart-felt to me, and many of us included. We all want to be blessed! But this succinct prayer covers all that we will need for our life. For the almighty God to bless us and be with us! Afterall, with God for us, who and what can come against us?

As the cry of Jabez was read out and exhorted, I couldn't help but to cry out in my heart. God bless me and be with me throughout the entire of next year and my life forever. I cannot and don't want to live/trudge through life by my own strength.

M.

"Then I heard what sounded like a great multitude, like the roar of rushing waters and like loud peals of thunder, shouting: "Hallelujah! For our Lord God Almighty reigns." (Revelations 19:6)

A fine balance

Ephesians 4:26 (NLT)

Don’t use foul or abusive language. Let everything you say be good and helpful, so that your words will be an encouragement to those who hear them.

In Max Lucado's book, a love worth giving, he states the following:

"There's also a test for the tongue. Before you speak, ask: Will what I'm about to say help others become stronger? You have the ability, with your words, to make a person stronger. Your words are to their soul what a vitamin is to their body. If you had food and saw someone starving, would you not share it? If you had water and saw someone dying of thirst, would you not give it? Of course you would. Then won't you do the same for their hearts? Your words are food and water! Do not withhold encouragement from the discouraged. Do not keep affirmation from the beaten down! Speak words that make people stronger. Believe in them as God has believed in you."

The truth behind the word of God and what Max Lucado says of our need to affiirm other brings out the conundrum and the wisdom that I need in life to manage the words I say. 

It got me thinking of the way which I am to speak to some of the charges under me. Over the past 2 years, I've wrestled with the need to balance between being my usual self or more mellow and affirming when I do follow-up and counseling. It is partly attributed to a mellowing with age which allows me to restrain myself, but I reckon it is also the reality of being more resigned. Afterall, I can possibly only help so much and I often struggle if i should say what is needed or choose to back-off and not say anything more.

Left to my own devices, I'm a fiery, confrontational, irritable and very instructional when I deal with lives. I can't stand to beat around the bush, endure individuals who are uncommitted, whiny, needy or with weak resolution. I rather say things once and let it be, not repeat it again and again. I also prefer to shoot off the mouth and be blunt when talking to idiots, bums or scums.  

However, it is hard to have a one size fits all approach and expect everyone to be able to take the hard draconian attitude. Over the past 2 years, as i serve in living springs, I'm hardly in-character because it is not my church, nor am I in charge. Through it, the Lord has brought much changes to how I teach and talk. I can see myself being pulled to see the spectrum opposite of harshness. It is a very out-of-character experience as sometimes I find myself lapsing into a silent, passive, and resigned bystander. Not that it makes me irritable or feel a lot better, but I have learned through various occasions that being too passive and silent often results in one being very stand-off and disengaged from the situation. This would leave the individual and situation unchecked and unresolve, often spiraling into a worst condition than if I chose to confront. But, if I had exacted the in-character draconian style, the end result is likely to also explode into an equally terrible mess.

It is truely a fine balance in how we are to talk to others. Over time, I have come to realisation that the best of intentions we have cannot be better than allowing the spirit of God to guide us in how we are to use the words of our tongue. Too much fiery anger or passive observation is not going to cut it, the fine mix of how much of each element can only be dictated by God. So that that our words and its tonality will be an encouragement to those who hear them.

M.

"The tongue has the power of life and death, and those who love it will eat its fruit." (Proverbs 18:21)

Only a thing of beauty

2 Kings 25:8-9 On the seventh day of the fifth month, in the nineteenth year of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, Nebuzaradan commander of the imperial guard, an official of the king of Babylon, came to Jerusalem. He set fire to the temple of the LORD, the royal palace and all the houses of Jerusalem. Every important building he burned down.

This verse accounts for the final destruction of the Temple of God and the kingdom of Judah. When the temple was built, the bible records it in as an amazing work of art. 7 years was spent constructing it and if you read the description in 1 King 6, one cannot be amazed at the lavishness of the materials used to build the temple of God.

Yet, what is a thing of beauty if everything else doesn't reflect the the same values. Judah was corrupt and did evil in the sight of the Lord. So evil that 2 Kings 24 records that "the LORD was not willing to forgive".

As I listened to the passage of how the temple was destroyed and plundered. A sense of regret filled me as I recognised that the temple was only a thing of past beauty. It didn't mean anything to God anymore. 

What about us? Are own lives a thing of beauty without the presence of the one true God? 

M.

The word of the LORD came to Solomon: "As for this temple you are building, if you follow my decrees, carry out my regulations and keep all my commands and obey them, I will fulfill through you the promise I gave to David your father. And I will live among the Israelites and will not abandon my people Israel." (1 Kings 6:11-13)

The Lord of my Sabbath

Mark 2:27
The Sabbath was made to benefit man, and not man to benefit the Sabbath.

God created the Sabbath for our benefit and to prevent burnout. My Sabbath happens to be the point of contention because the events of the past weeks have made my weekends to be more tiring than refreshing. There are always people to meet and talk, counsel or entertain. Increasingly, each weekends have been a blur of busy activities filled with disappointment as I work with others around me. In spite of the situation, I often need to handle myself maturedly and prevent myself from snapping or just giving up. This takes a very heavy toll on me and on Monday's I end up crawling to work, looking terrible and too feeble to do much.

Every day of the week, it's either work at office or do work in church. Honestly, the work at office is less draining as it doesn't involve the act of imparting into lives and without the emotional and spiritual aspects.

In one of the weekly e-newsletter from Ps rick Warren, he states that the Sabbath is the antidote to burnout and the stress-filled world we live in as pastors and leaders and quoted this verse. It ministered to me when I told myself that man wasn't created for the Sabbath but to have a day which the Lord presented as a gift to man.

In the midst of my demoralised, tired condition on Mondays, I can't help but recognise that my Monday's have been designated as the Sabbath of my life. For the past Monday's, I've received adequate protection from the Lord from major work issues and seek solace through putting on my headphones and soaking in the worship songs being played. For this really simple restful moment, I'm blessed that the Lord is the Lord of my Sabbatha as He provides a Sabbath for me to rest, even though it is at work.

M.

"In vain you rise early and stay up late, toiling for food to eat for he grants sleep to those he loves." (Psalms 127:2)

See you in heaven!

Psalm 96:11-13
Let the heavens rejoice, let the earth be glad; let the sea resound, and all that is in it; let the fields be jubilant, and everything in them.Then all the trees of the forest will sing for joy; they will sing before the LORD, for he comes, he comes to judge the earth. He will judge the world in righteousness and the peoples in his truth.

No, I'm not dying or going to die. Yesterday, a childhood church friend based overseas popped into church during the service and I couldn't help but squeal in sheer joy before giving him a hug. Yes, I am quite sure I squealed so loudly that everyone in the midst of singing heard me. The last time I was so overjoyed was during my OCS commissioning parade when I squealed in delight with my buddy because we made it successfully as officers. Thereafter, my close collage mate also appeared in front of me uninvited and gave me such a wonderful surprise congratulation.

I can't describe the giddy feeling of joy felt when you meet a close friend after many years, but this is truely joy which bubbles from the inside and causes you to beam with a wide smile. Yesterday, I had to stop myself from yakking and had to refocus myself to worship God.

What dawned upon me as I pondered the moment was the joy which will be in heaven someday when we go up and meet all the friends and family who have gone up before us. It must be a wonderful feeling to meet up with many of the individuals in a beautiful setting and knowing that we made it! Heaven will truly be full of individuals rejoicing, squealing, screaming in sheer delight as one by one old friendships are renewed and we cannot wait to chat with each other.

I really cannot wait to go to heaven, and I also want to make sure that I make it there and not drop out of my christian life's journey. More importantly, may you and many of my friends and close ones will also be found in Heaven someday rejoicing with me.

M.

"Or suppose a woman has ten silver coins and loses one. Does she not light a lamp, sweep the house and search carefully until she finds it? ⁹And when she finds it, she calls her friends and neighbors together and says, 'Rejoice with me; I have found my lost coin.' (Luke 15:8-9)

What’s in your hand?

Exodus 4:1-2

Moses answered, "What if they do not believe me or listen to me and say, 'The LORD did not appear to you'?" Then the LORD said to him, "What is that in your hand?"

"A staff," he replied.

What’s in your hand? It is a simple question which we often don’t think too much of it.

In layman terms, it actually means what do you have or what have you been given? There is lots, such as your talents, time, ideas, physical abilities, personality, resources, spiritual gifts, experiences…

As a youth, I was surrounded by extremely talented friends. Everyone was musically talented, and all I knew was I could talk and had a fiery personality. I did well in school, but wasn't the most brilliant, just the top 20% cohort at best. So when I was told that God had given me talents and that he could use me, I really doubted and would ponder what I could really do.

To an extent, many of us are like Moses. Educated by the Egyptian court as a prince of Egypt despite the fact that he was born a slave, blessed to grow up in the protection of the royal palace even though the rest of the Hebrew baby boys were killed by Pharaoh. Like many of us, Moses never recognised God's hand upon his life and God's purpose for his life. I'm sure that when he fled out of Egypt, he thought he had abandoned all of his life and was now resigned to just living a reclusive life of a shepherd in the wilderness.

Like Moses when he encountered God in a burning bush at the age of 40 years, you too may never know when in life God will call you and ask you to do something for him. When that happens, it is very much like Moses when God will just need us to present what you have in our hand.

Billy Graham once answered a student who once ask him, “what surprises you of life”. He answered, “the brevity of life. It passes by so fast”. If you look at your hands, you'll be amazed at what God can do with what you have today. Don't wait till you are older, wiser, smarter, richer, have more time or am more successful.

M.

Show me, O LORD, my life's end and the number of my days; let me know how fleeting is my life (Psalms 39:4)

I feel the earth move under my feet

Matthew 24: 7-8
Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be famines and earthquakes in various places. All these are the beginning of birth pains.

I always wanted to go to Japan and experience a mild earthquake tremor. Nothing major and life threatening, just to feel the earth shake under my feet.

Yesterday, some 25 hours ago, I got my wish of experiencing what an earthquake tremor felt like. As I sat in my desk, I felt this weird mild rocking motion of forward and backward. Very mild, but yet very surreal because somehow my body just felt weird. Then I heard the many people in office asking if anyone felt the rocking sensation.

Out of curiosity, I also logged into the website just to verify if it was indeed true, because it could well have been some structural defect in my office building. (http://earthquake.usgs.gov/) Imagine my job when I realised a 7.6 earthquake had indeed struck at 6:17pm. It was such an exciting feeling to finally get my wish.

Today, as I log into the same website, I realise that there is really alot of earthquakes which is happening in greater frequency. However, I asked myself has anything happened differently to my life after experiencing my first tremor? Nope.

That is where I'm concerned that in these end of end days, so many things are happening to demonstrate the sign of times, but yet, we are living our lives nonchalantly in status quo because we are so conditioned by the many reports of floods, typhoons, illnesses and other devastating calamities.

How scary it would be on the day which Christ comes back and we are not ready because we loose all sense of expectancy and have been so dulled by the overly frequent bad news we see all around.

Remain alert!
M.

"Therefore keep watch, because you do not know the day or the hour. " (Matthew 25: 13)

The work of God's hands

Psalm 138:8

"The LORD will fulfill his purpose for me; your love, O LORD, endures forever— do not abandon the works of your hands."

A good 4 months is about to pass in my new job. The role has been daunting with increase number of markets for me to handle and new stuff to handle. Worst of all is the politics and frequent dramas of conflicts. Some of which will naturally fall onto my path and result in me looking at the issue and wondering how it will be resolved.

However, I've come to recognition that the Lord has been good to me and I've always had the privilege of Him smoothing every pothole and flattening all the warring tribes before me. There are days which I leave office well dreading the next day as I look at the impending doom before me, and yet, it is all pushed aside for me to tread when the I'm tasked to take the next step.

Truely, if the Lord is for me, who can be against me? I truely thank the Lord God for His hand of grace and mercy on my life.

Praise the Lord!
M.

The benefit of God's covering

This is the prayer of St francis of Assisi (1181-1226) which I chanced upon yesterday as I was looking for quotable quotes to refresh my email signature at work.

Lord, make me an instrument of your peace,
Where there is hatred, let me sow love;
where there is injury, pardon;
where there is doubt, faith;
where there is despair, hope;
where there is darkness, light;
where there is sadness, joy;

It's often quoted in the catholic church and not that I'm advocating chanting prayers, but it really ministered to me as I reviewed the words.

Background: I had this major drama-mama situation in Korea which needed me to get an answer, but the people involved had some feuds with each other and refusing to agree on a project, but also not doing it blatantly which made things even more frustrating. Didn't help that I had a 12 noon dateline to provide an answer and everyone was just not co-operating. To add to it, I had a 12:30pm lunch appointment and my 1-1 session to get the command decision from my boss was snatched by another colleague.

I was crossed and yet trying to be zen at the same time, but the only result I achieved as the clock ticked was tension. There was when I chanced on the prayer and muttered that in the midst of this messy corporate politics, I am really to be a state of peace because only God is my deliverer.

As I reflected on this, something in me affirmed the fact that everything will work out well at my terms and just a few minutes after 12 noon, I received the answer which I needed and wanted. I can't help me sigh in relief.

Somehow, in all my past experiences, I have always enjoyed the benefit of God helping me solve all my major work issues especially when they were akin to a huge wave threatening to crash over me as I stare helplessly at it. May the covering of God be on you as you stand in recognition of your life as a child of God.

M.

“You will keep in perfect peace him whose mind is steadfast, because he trusts in you.” (Isaiah 26:3)

Happiness

Ecclesiastes 2:26
To the man who pleases him, God gives wisdom, knowledge and happiness, but to the sinner he gives the task of gathering and storing up wealth to hand it over to the one who pleases God. This too is meaningless, a chasing after the wind.

This just struck me as I sit here in my room, lazily on a hot saturday afternoon listening to online christian radio. I'm happy the way i am. The pursuit of wanting to go down to orchard road to look around and possibly buy some stuff just fades away into a lazy feeling imbued with contentment.

This feeling of being happy or rather, this state of being happy is really a blessing. Sure there are lots of things to achieve, nicer stuff to get and experiences to encounter. But that is just a pursuit which is a means to get to a satisfied state of mind. Sometimes, it's really akin to chasing the wind, coz we'll never be satisfied.

Interestingly enough, the bible verse states that God gives "wisdom, knowledge and happiness". I just noted that it's not health or money! But I guess we don't need either if we are happy at any stage of our life.

May I be happy all the days of life.

M.

Impossible is nothing, not with me though.

Luke 18:27
Jesus replied, "What is impossible with men is possible with God."

I'm sorry to say this, but I recently recognise that I find it to be extremely difficult to pray for situations which seem impossible and hopeless to me. So the verse above seems very difficult to comprehend and grasp. While I recognise it and the fact that it is truth, there isn't a deep personal belief which my inner man testifies of.

Some 1-2 weeks ago, I got the email blitz that my former pastor was supposedly with cancer and prayer request for God to do the impossible and heal miraculously. Then, another email came stating that the cancer was a stage 4 (the most fatal stage) and we were told to rebuke it and claim for complete healing. Somehow, I just can't make myself claim that the impossible can be turned around.

In my mind and heart, there is a sense of skepticism as well as resignation that such killer diseases are inevitably going to lead to death. Moreover, it's so widespread nowadays that I'm just being realistic and pragmatic that we should just do what is enough to prepare for the inevitable, rather than pray our hearts out.

Honestly, it does scare me that I'm feeling so resigned, and a seemingly lack of faith. As I walked to work, I muttered to God, please don't place me in such a situation because of my lack of faith or passion to pray for the impossible to happen. I don't want to be honest with myself/you and then be placed in the darkest situation so that you can prove to me that you can do the impossible. Simply because I know that if I'm stricken with a terminal disease, I'm unlikely to cry for healing because I'm too fatalistic and practical. In fact, I'm likely to ask people to pray that it be fast and painless, rather than pray pray pray, fast fast fast..... Too much effort for something which i deem inevitable. However, if this happens to those close to me, now that is a different story, butthe last thing I need is to have God use someone that I care about prove a point to me that he can do the impossible.

As I look back, I have seen a close friend pass on despite her faith and the multiple powerful ministry by others to her. I've also witness in church camp, how many zealous prayers were made, just to have the inevitable happen. In rangers, I've seen the passing of a US leader inspite of much prayers being rallied for. In all these, I've not seen the mega miracle that made me believe that prayers in such impossible cases can result in God turning the situation around, not that I'm really eager to see God prove himself because in his sovereignty, he doesn't need to prove himself to me.

But, before my heart turns cold, hardened by skepticism and my mind conditioned by pragmatic logic, I ask that God, you make your sovereignty seen in the impossible case before me in the life of my former pastor. Not to prove to me, but just because there are those who can testify of your goodness and through it, your name will be glorified.

M.

My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever. (Psalms 73:26)

The source and purpose of success

1 Kings 16:1-4
Then the word of the LORD came to Jehu son of Hanani against Baasha: "I lifted you up from the dust and made you leader of my people Israel, but you walked in the ways of Jeroboam and caused my people Israel to sin and to provoke me to anger by their sins. So I am about to consume Baasha and his house, and I will make your house like that of Jeroboam son of Nebat. Dogs will eat those belonging to Baasha who die in the city, and the birds of the air will feed on those who die in the country."

The story of Baasha is common of the kings of Israel. They ascended to the throne, but never stayed there to do enough good. Once there, we read about how they forgot about God and sinned. They failed at their life's purpose of being successful.

As we live in this competitive country, we all strive to succeed. Albeit, to be top at school, obtain a scholarship, the best job with the highest possible salary, a pay raise, a big house....the list goes on. We won't be raised as kings to oversee God's country, but we will receive money or resources or lives to command. The strive to succeed will be a part of our life's journey and when we do reach there, we may be tempted to forget who helped us do so. Success often sabotages the memories of the past.

The question, however, is after we receive a measure of success. Do we know the purpose of our life and why we are striving to succeed? Or do we end up like Baasha and forget to live a grounded life.

It's not about achieving our own goals and glory. Success is awarded to us for God's glory sake. Yours and my success is not about what we do. It's all about God and how He graciously made us successful, and that no man may boast of his own efforts.

If we can't handle the responsibilities which comes with success, I pray that we'll always remain humbled and simple. Why does God help us succeed? So we can make him known, or as the song goes, for us to "shout His fame".

M.

Praise the LORD, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits (Psalms 103:2)

Losing coz we don't care enough

This issue struck me last week and it reinforced itself this week.

There's always been this unique ER boy in living springs whom I've found quirky to spend a bit more attention to. He's allergic to peanuts, prone to emotional swings, but is also very passionate and musically talented. Early this year, he dropped out because he mentioned of tuition which was meant to allow him to succeed in his O levels. He would attempt to attend the saturday night service, but sadly, that never transpired.

Much as I thought of him, I didn't do much coz I told myself that I was just a helper and lots of other excuses.

Then, last week I chanced upon him online and had a quick chat. Was overjoyed that he was doing well as he had been reached by a classmate and was now attending one of the fast growing church. With much zeal, he shared with me his renewed passion for God and was attending services on both weekends as well as cell.

Happy as I was for him, I felt a tinge of regret as I realised that it was by God's grace that someone reached out to him and he responded. Could that person be me or anyone from living springs? I'm sure. But why wasn't it the case, simply because we didn't care enough to do what was needed to reach the lost.

Genesis 16:7 speaks of how God reached out to Hagar when she ran away from Sarah, despite her pregnancy. "The angel of the LORD found Hagar near a spring in the desert; it was the spring that is beside the road to Shur."

I always question why growing churches and mega ones do so well in reaching out to so many lost youths, and I realised that the issue is not about what people do that is different, but the fact that we need to bother to care about others in order to keep our flock.

This week, another issue closer to home popped up. Much as it is disrupting my life and schedule and making me exhausted, I told myself that I need to respond faster so that the end result will not be something I would live to regret. I would be willing to be a vassel sent to to Hagars in the desert.

M.

Forgetful

Ephesians 3:17-19
"And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all saints, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge."

As I listened to my daily podcast of bible verses, every few chapters of the books of the Pentateuch and book of the prophets keep mentioning of the valiant success and then pitiful failures of the nation of Israel.

It's really sad to listen to the accounts of God's people forgetting God and then suffering the consequences.

It is also then that i came to the realisation that we are ungrateful beings. Short-termed memory, never satisfied, always complaining. These are just some of the key traits found in all of us. In many instances, we receive easily and forget too easily the source of our life and goodness.

I can't tell you how to not be forgetful, simply because I too view myself and recognise the flaws of my wretched life. But I pray we can remember the simple truth that God so loved the world that we were individually loved and saved.

M.

Whoever loves money never has money enough; whoever loves wealth is never satisfied with his income. This too is meaningless. (Ecclesiastes 5:10)

Parting is such sorrow

The last 2 days were dedicated to the round-up camp. During which I deeply pondered why the older rangers didn't attend or even prioritise to attend it. Disappointing as it was to see them make sure poor decisions, during the moment of thought I realised that it was a costly affair to have so many commanders sacrifice their expensive hours being there for the fewer than expected rangers.

As I lazed in the mid morning sun yesterday, it dawned upon me that I sacrificed 1 precious day of leave just to be there and that itself is worth more than $300 per day based on the salary I draw. How incredibly scary to waste away such money just to take leave to supervise kids and occasionally stone by the beach doing tribal, kampong like activities! Especially if I can better utilise it on a personal holiday overseas.

However, as I left the campers last night at midnight and journeyed home, I discovered that I was dragging my foot and my heart was left behind with the companionship of the kids. I had enjoyed myself amidst their laughter, annoying characters and childish innocence and parting was now such a sorrow. I would have sacrifice much just to be back there and not have to go to work.

Today, I came to work with a heavy heart because I really wanted to be there with the kids as they journeyed to the last of the camp's activities. Working really sucked and had little value compared to being there in the camp. Sadly, as a new employee I cannot afford to take that additional day and I also had 2 important meetings to be in. (which I deem as marginally time wasting, based on my current mellow mood)

I cannot imagine why anyone would prioritise any secular life over christian fellowship and being there with the young, impressionable lives. As the night sermon asked: "How much is your life worth?". I come to realise that my secular life is truely expensive in terms of dollars per hours, but it pales in comparision with the value of being there for and with the kids.

As I look at the time, I know the kids are probably screaming in joy playing Nintendo Wii as they countdown the hours to the end of the camp. To be here working, I earned hundreds of dollars. But to be there with the rangers in camp, priceless.

M.

Psalm 84:10: Better is one day in your courts than a thousand elsewhere

I am blessed

I never imagined that I'll write this, but it really dawned upon me sometime when I got my current job offer that I am blessed. To write it another way, my life is blessed.

I am where I am without trying very hard. Sure I work hard and know I do great work. But still, to be in work positions which are specially suited to fit me and to be in places that gives me good salary advancement as well as meet my ever picky needs, how many can truely boast that life gives them a good hand everytime.

Sometime in my last job when there was a christmas & chinese new year celebration respectively, I told everyone that I will surely get a lucky draw prize. I didn't get the best, but I just know that inspite of the odds of getting a prize I just would get something. So, I did get something and everyone also remarked that I'm truely very 'heng'.

For a long while, I have been dying to leave my old job. I tried ways and means to, but I was also very selective because I knew what I liked to do, and what made me enjoy working. Part of the criteria was to avoid having multiple rounds of interview. All of which I received in my current job.

Why am I blessed? As I walked back last week, I realised that in the nine years of working, I've never suffered a salary freeze despite the different economic cycles. In fact, I've seen my salary increase regulary and in a sizeable amount too. I've always enjoyed jobs which allows me to take leave to attend my camps and holidays as and when I liked. Importantly, I'm in a role which allows me to do what I love to do. Even in the worst conditions, when I can't do anything more, God always seem to complete what I omitted or can't do. In times where it matters, I find favour in the eyes of others.

I look at my life and am grateful for being in the place I am and enjoying the things around me because God has given me a good hand of cards to enjoy. I am truely blessed.

M.

Before the mountains were brought forth, or ever You had formed the earth and the world, even from everlasting to everlasting, You are God. —Psalm 90:2

A new phase of life

It's been a long while. Too long
I've been really busy and have finally closed a chapter of my life in S.E. For that I'm grateful that I've finally been given a chance to leave.

As I commence the next phase of life in my new workplace, I do feel that there's a need to simplify how God and His word plays a part of my ever so busy, maddening secular work life. So, I'll try to simplify my postings.

- I've started work in anew place
- My buddy's married and off to his honeymoon
- Desmond's away for weeks in Perth for his flight grading test
- I'm struggling to keep up with understanding what I need to do in my new work place

There's a lot of things in my mind as I attempt to settle down in my new phase of life, but I would trade it all just to see changes in my RA's lives. It's been too long since I saw CGH and Lydia. God be with them and let them know you are there.

M.

“For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.”- John 3:17