Exodus 15:13
In your unfailing love you will lead the people you have redeemed. In your strength you will guide them to your holy dwelling.
It is with great sadness that I hear of the news of a fellow commander who departed us after a 1 1/2 year battle with Lymphoma on 4:30pm of 24 May 2013. The feeling is heavy because of the courage and fighting spirit that she possessed throughout the arduous journey and more so when she recovered briefly to come back into the ministry to help out in this year's youth leadership camp, in-spite of the fact that there was a risk of infection and she still wasn't in her full strength.
How many would have stopped doing what she did in her condition, but her heart was always to serve. How grateful I am to be able to have the chance for her to be there in this last camporama and youth leadership camp.
Evelyn was one feisty character with a similar nature to mine. When we first met, I recall the sharp tongue of hers and insistence of getting things met her way. How very like me! But instead of repelling off each other like most situations where people of similar feisty nature, we ended up as kindred spirits when it came to matters of getting things done in a administrative efficiencies.
It is very heartbreaking to constantly lose friends in life who live with so much zest and contribute so much more than the others who amble on aimlessly or walk with downtrodden paths. I sometimes wonder why God takes them back instead of the many who waste their lives away or those who don't even seem to contribute much. Surely, the precious time given to the productive would reap more than that given to those who do not live to redeem their time. But, that is where God is above all and in my saddened condition, I have also recognised that this time we possess is but temporary and to be lead to heaven is indeed a better option.
Time will go on, memories will slowly fade from a sharp remembrance to a mellow forgetfulness. Evelyn, you are missed greatly and will be every time we meet to organised camp, there will be a gap that you have left behind. Yet, I must also remember that every one that goes before me in heaven is only a forerunner whom I must someday meet.
For everyone that departs before me is a reminder to live my time on earth well and responsibly. I owe it to them and God to live righteously and be accountable for the added time placed in my hands.
With tears and my love, thanks for every sharp witty comment and laughter that you brought my dear commander Evelyn. You are deeply missed.
M.
24 May 2013
21 May 2013
Focus on fighting for something positive and redemptive
Romans 15:5-6
May the God who gives endurance and encouragement give you the same attitude of mind toward each other that Christ Jesus had, so that with one mind and one voice you may glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.
A post from Dr Tim Elmore raised this point that we are prone to fall at the very thing we try to do to help others avoid
"What is it that makes us so prone to fail at the very thing we try to help others avoid or overcome? Have you noticed this? Leaders, including myself, can be vulnerable to submit to temptation, moral failure and even crimes…and not just any crimes or failures…but ones that revolve around an area we’ve studied, experienced, focused on and become preoccupied with. So strange. "
He raised the key point of the need to be conscious and alert if our job focuses on fighting against something negative and doesn’t include fighting for something positive and redemptive. Medically, it can be linked to our Reticular Activating System, in the back of our brains. Our R.A.S. has one primary function: to cause us to move in the direction of the dominant thought of the moment.
This is how it is described in a document which explains how the RAS works in psycho-cybernetics:
"There are some interesting points about your RAS that make it an essential tool for achieving goals.
First, you can deliberately program the reticular activating system by choosing the exact messages you send from your consicous mind. For example, you can set goals, or say affirmations, or visualize your goals. Napoleon Hill said that we can achieve any realistic goal if we keep on thinking of that goal, and stop thinking any negative thoughts about it. Of course, if we keep thinking that we can't achieve a goal, our subconscious will help us NOT achieve it.
Second, your reticular activating system cannot distinguish between 'real events' and 'synthetic' reality. In other words it tends to believe whatever message you give it. Imagine that you're going to be giving a speech. You can practice giving that speech by visualizing it in your mind. This 'pretend' practice should improve your ability to give the speech.
What we need to do is to create a very specific picture of our goal in our conscious mind. The RAS will then pass this on to our subconscious - which will then help us achieve the goal. It does this by bringing to our attention all the relevant information which otherwise might have remained as 'background noise'."
The key bit I believe is really how Dr Elmore and this last paragraph above states, that we have to ensure that we create a positive specific target that we focus our life and mission on, but it should most importantly be a positive God centric thought- not just that of a crime-ridding crusader. If our dominant thought in life is just fighting against the bad stuff, what we focus on will sure get our attention and eventually move us to action and we may well fall into the same sin of what we fight against because we become so entrenched in everything about it.
To prevent us from also falling into the same trap of sin and corruption that we fight against, we need to recognise a need to shift our focus on the positive redemptive work of Christ and be preoccupied with something good to replace the wrong. So, if our goal is to glorify the Father, our RAS will make us function to amend all that is wrong to achieve that goal. (May sound complex and confusing but I'm simplifying it to focus on God's redemption, than to be a sin changer)
What is your dominant thought of the moment?
M.
May the God who gives endurance and encouragement give you the same attitude of mind toward each other that Christ Jesus had, so that with one mind and one voice you may glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.
A post from Dr Tim Elmore raised this point that we are prone to fall at the very thing we try to do to help others avoid
"What is it that makes us so prone to fail at the very thing we try to help others avoid or overcome? Have you noticed this? Leaders, including myself, can be vulnerable to submit to temptation, moral failure and even crimes…and not just any crimes or failures…but ones that revolve around an area we’ve studied, experienced, focused on and become preoccupied with. So strange. "
He raised the key point of the need to be conscious and alert if our job focuses on fighting against something negative and doesn’t include fighting for something positive and redemptive. Medically, it can be linked to our Reticular Activating System, in the back of our brains. Our R.A.S. has one primary function: to cause us to move in the direction of the dominant thought of the moment.
This is how it is described in a document which explains how the RAS works in psycho-cybernetics:
"There are some interesting points about your RAS that make it an essential tool for achieving goals.
First, you can deliberately program the reticular activating system by choosing the exact messages you send from your consicous mind. For example, you can set goals, or say affirmations, or visualize your goals. Napoleon Hill said that we can achieve any realistic goal if we keep on thinking of that goal, and stop thinking any negative thoughts about it. Of course, if we keep thinking that we can't achieve a goal, our subconscious will help us NOT achieve it.
Second, your reticular activating system cannot distinguish between 'real events' and 'synthetic' reality. In other words it tends to believe whatever message you give it. Imagine that you're going to be giving a speech. You can practice giving that speech by visualizing it in your mind. This 'pretend' practice should improve your ability to give the speech.
What we need to do is to create a very specific picture of our goal in our conscious mind. The RAS will then pass this on to our subconscious - which will then help us achieve the goal. It does this by bringing to our attention all the relevant information which otherwise might have remained as 'background noise'."
The key bit I believe is really how Dr Elmore and this last paragraph above states, that we have to ensure that we create a positive specific target that we focus our life and mission on, but it should most importantly be a positive God centric thought- not just that of a crime-ridding crusader. If our dominant thought in life is just fighting against the bad stuff, what we focus on will sure get our attention and eventually move us to action and we may well fall into the same sin of what we fight against because we become so entrenched in everything about it.
To prevent us from also falling into the same trap of sin and corruption that we fight against, we need to recognise a need to shift our focus on the positive redemptive work of Christ and be preoccupied with something good to replace the wrong. So, if our goal is to glorify the Father, our RAS will make us function to amend all that is wrong to achieve that goal. (May sound complex and confusing but I'm simplifying it to focus on God's redemption, than to be a sin changer)
What is your dominant thought of the moment?
M.
06 May 2013
I have no life
Job 22:2
Can a man be of benefit to God? Can even a wise person benefit him?
Over the weekend, I wanted to head out to Isetan to review the luggage that was available for sale. However I wasn't to because by the time I got out of my morning lazing moment, when the clock struck noon it was another typical weekend which was packed with meetings and serving in the ministeries. It was already a feat to have been able to squeeze in the chance to trade-in my old digital camera for a new model.
On sunday, before I headed off to church, I realised that I didn't have time to shop for the luggage as it would be a packed back-to-back program. True enough, by the time my last meeting ended, it was 9:15pm and time to eat a late dinner.
Truth be told, I sometimes tell myself that I seem to have no life on the weekend. While the average joe is busy doing weekend stuff to relax from the work days, I'm actually busy working or sometimes I tell myself working to be busy.
I'm not sure if I would have bought the luggage if I had the chance, because I would have like to upgrade the old luggage of 18 years. I would sometime just want to have tons of time time to aimlessly do stuff, but I know myself, and too much personal time would have made me do nothing. I am a task oriented character who sometimes feel that I do stuff to exist and be important.
The beauty of introspective days, and to chance up the scripture like the above, is to set in place the importance of ourselves. We are of no benefit to God and woe to us if we dare think that we are the ones who are of absolute importance to be the ones to do the deeds of God.
I may think I have little life on a weekend, but I must remember that God is above all of my sense of importance and the time of my being.
M.
Can a man be of benefit to God? Can even a wise person benefit him?
Over the weekend, I wanted to head out to Isetan to review the luggage that was available for sale. However I wasn't to because by the time I got out of my morning lazing moment, when the clock struck noon it was another typical weekend which was packed with meetings and serving in the ministeries. It was already a feat to have been able to squeeze in the chance to trade-in my old digital camera for a new model.
On sunday, before I headed off to church, I realised that I didn't have time to shop for the luggage as it would be a packed back-to-back program. True enough, by the time my last meeting ended, it was 9:15pm and time to eat a late dinner.
Truth be told, I sometimes tell myself that I seem to have no life on the weekend. While the average joe is busy doing weekend stuff to relax from the work days, I'm actually busy working or sometimes I tell myself working to be busy.
I'm not sure if I would have bought the luggage if I had the chance, because I would have like to upgrade the old luggage of 18 years. I would sometime just want to have tons of time time to aimlessly do stuff, but I know myself, and too much personal time would have made me do nothing. I am a task oriented character who sometimes feel that I do stuff to exist and be important.
The beauty of introspective days, and to chance up the scripture like the above, is to set in place the importance of ourselves. We are of no benefit to God and woe to us if we dare think that we are the ones who are of absolute importance to be the ones to do the deeds of God.
I may think I have little life on a weekend, but I must remember that God is above all of my sense of importance and the time of my being.
M.