The Lord has been good to you (me)

Psalm 116:7

Be at rest once more, O my soul, for the Lord has been good to you.

Because of a friend's contact, I had a meet-up with a headhunter today. Nothing interesting, but I could afford the time during my lunch break. The meeting was rather dull and the prospective role being pitched didn't make me sit up in much interest, much less jump in excitement. 

Then I came back to the office and my colleagues started sharing with me the latest rumors about the possible restructuring and how only 3 will survive. Weirdly, that never seems to unnerve me. Instead here I am telling colleagues what farewell present I wish to get, should the axe falls and I'm affected.

Of course, that is just a silly thought when there are more pressing things to worry about when one loses a job. But hey! that's the beauty of life when you don't over commit and have no debts or liabilities to worry about. 

More important than that, it's always important to remind ourselves that there's no storms in life to fret over because in every circumstances, the Lord has always been good. I hope you too will know that- should you be facing a trying circumstance.

M.
 

God's time and what He decrees

Genesis 21:1-2

Now the LORD was gracious to Sarah as he had said, and the LORD did for Sarah what he had promised. Sarah became pregnant and bore a son to Abraham in his old age, at the very time God had promised him.

I did an incredibly stupid thing today that makes me want to hit myself in the head. Arrrgh!!

My office is undergoing a massive restructuring and my role will be diminished. During such corporate upheavals, everyone is seeking out options because they don't want the rug to be pulled under them and find themselves jobless or in a crappy role.

Being very me, I did not bother to do anything until an ex-colleague who transferred to another business sector told me he can help me if I want to explore anything in his sector. Then, a dutch colleague told me on the same day of the available role in that sector and strongly encouraged me to look out for my own career. There was so much advice given from both parties that I was overwhelmed by what they said about me being the right person for the role and I really appreciated their attempts to help me.

So, I spent a considerable amount of time last night doing up a customised solid CV that would make the application for the role effortless. I went through it again and again and when I finished it and emailed it to myself, I felt so good.

Today, I sent it out and was quite pleased with myself for doing something. Felt great that my life had such a clear open door being done for me to explore an opportunity. That is until I got back my CV in the email as a CC recipient because it was sent to the big boss. Horrors of horrors, I realised that I attached an old CV! This would not be able to play up my strengths and only made me look like the wrong candidate to be considered! Gosh, I'm so annoyed at myself for the blunder because I'm a very thorough individual and this was really going to blow any opportunities I had. Added to that was the sheer waste of time last night!! (Grrrhhhh!)

So, now I'm sitting here growling at myself in annoyance. No one to blame but myself. But one thing I do firmly recognise now is this: If the opportunity arises for me to be shortlisted and I do get the role, it's really not because of any credit of mine. I submitted a crappy application that any ordinary person would have written me off. Only if this is God's plan for me will I see it come to pass.

I guess, it's similar to how God will fulfill Abraham's wishes for a son. Only in His time and at His sovereign bidding would things be done. So it shall be for my career.

M.      

Kept by God

Mark 10:14

“Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these."

Last night was a good night. I had a last minute dinner appointment and after I finished dinner I bumped into JiHeng. He was one of the initial batch of ER's whom I had in living springs and he had left the church after less than a year as the family was switching church.

This was a very pleasant boy to have. Smart and chatty, creating lots of noise with his fellow Raffles schoolmate - YongEn. The day I found out the heartbreaking news of him leaving was the actual day and I was concerned of his well being since many teens who leave church for another may not fit into the new place and may end up not attending church.

The conversation we had was a few brief sentences, and it really warmed my heart to see him and know he's ok. This chance encounter made my day because it speaks of God's covering on him and I'm grateful for lives that are kept.

How often we depart from a place or bid farewell to others and we say a prayer of God's blessing and yet, down the road, things go awry. It often makes me think prayer doesn't do much and can be a depressing thought. But last night, I reveled in the goodness of the moment to know that there are successful prayers and God's goodness in many lives.

God, keep many of the others I no longer see regularly because as children, they belong to you.

M.   

Jesus' coming back

1 Corinthians 15:52

In a flash, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed.

How useful it is to be tested on memory verse and then be thrown in a situation where you have the opportunity to quote the verse! Makes you feel all smart and proud that the memory was not in vain, as the exact word of God could be given, instead of the usual paraphrased gibberish sentences.

I had quite a nice, albeit early, dinner appointment last night and as the conversation veered around the world. We observed that the sunset sky was in a really peculiar shade of orange, blue hue. (I only found out later, that there was also an amazing sighting of rainbow in various locations!) So, as we took in the unusual sunset colours of the sky, I could help but attribute it to my nonsense theory of the end times and end of the world.

This eventually led to the hair-raising topic of what if we are left behind when the rapture happens. It's a terrible thing to happen, but with the world experiencing an unprecedented number of natural disasters, it is but the beginning of the signs. The bible does say, it is only like the start of birth contractions.

Much as we have our regular life and its pursuit of pleasures and dreams to fulfil.  Better stay alert and be ready because Jesus is coming back someday and pretty sooner than we possibly think.

M.

The Lord provides

Genesis 22:14

So Abraham called that place The LORD Will Provide. And to this day it is said, “On the mountain of the LORD it will be provided.”

The JLTA has ended and as the joy simmers on with the campers and commanders alike, I'm grateful for how God's hand of grace is extended throughout the JTT camp I was in-charge of.

It's truly a miracle to behold as God opened the door for us to use the toilets of the NPCC campsite. In addition, for him to provide each of us with a 1.5L bottle of mineral water. I really cannot imagine being stuck in the campsite with no water to shower and to wash our cooking equipment.

Everynight, we had cooling sea breeze as we stood by the beach in worship and services. As we hiked, there was clouds to shade us from the scorching sun that I experienced in the last JTT.

Not that God provided everything to the point of perfection, that will happen someday in Heaven. but when you view the entire trail with simple eyes, just as how we should with our life's journey, it's really amazing how God always provides more than enough comfort to ease us through the uncomfortable moments. He does not need to go that extra mile, but we're blessed that He shows his love by doing small acts that matters significantly.

M.

You fighting or not?

2 Timothy 4:7

I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith.

This is the season of funerals, it seems. The past weeks, there have been many who have passed away. Incidentally, I've been reading the obituary section as of last year because of age. Often I glimpse upon an acquaintances whose loved one passed away.

In many Christian obituaries, I see the quote above and just today as I chanced upon the quote in a young entrepreneur woman's obituary, I asked myself what was the good fight or race that she had?

Someday our life will expire, and while we don't know the exact date and time, I really wonder if many of us will be found faithful to know what we are called for and to endure in the fight of faith. How easy it is to be tired, exhausted or simply exasperated by what life throws at us. Meanwhile, a good reminder to be fighting and not slacking, so that this sentence will be true of our lives should the day it needs to be printed on our own obituary.

M.

complain...complain ...complain

Lamentations 3:38-40

Is it not from the mouth of the Most High that both calamities and good things come? Why should the living complain when punished for their sins? Let us examine our ways and test them, and let us return to the LORD.

Oh, I really can't stand whining people or people who just live to complain. That is perhaps the key reason why I can detect a Singaporean a mile away when I'm overseas. Ok, so I'm exaggerating, but boy do we whine and complain a lot. 

Nothing seems to satisfy us, and in today's young generation the whining is ever so present and in greater measure than I would be able to tolerate. Over the past few days, I've had a couple of encounters with stressed young adults who openly share their thoughts without recognising that its laced with complains and it really hits me like a blast of unexpected cold wind.

The fact that today's social media is propagating everyone to whine and lament online is not helping. Quite honestly, I don't need to know or am I interested to have the complains posted. Even if I attempt to skip past the posts, it's still a pain to have it out there because so much of the whining are pitiful attempts to be attention seeking or just deluded that they are victimised by what comes through in their life.

We all have choices to make in life. Often, what you encounter now is simply a result of something we have elected to do or a process that God wants us to go about. Even if things aren't a consequence of sin and life seems to hurl lemons at us, I only wish more will learn to take it and also to shut it up. 

If you have an issue with life and you're whining about it, don't go about whining and complaining to the rest of the world. Who amongst us are living in a perfect world without issues? Learn to recognise that those who overcome it on their own often bring much glory to their maker.

Meanwhile, I'm seriously ignoring the self-pity-party whiners who are annoying me to death. Life doesn't suck, you just chose to look at it that way.

M.