The other side of wrong

I guess life is inclining more toward the wrong side these days. Questions like "What's wrong with him, her and the world?" or "What did I do wrong?" often pop up in our daily conversation. On the other hand, good things seems to fade away in silence.

Debugging was one of my daily routine through out my Uni lifes. Spending those hours trying to locate the bugs in my program (I was an IT student back then) has made me into a super-critical monster when dealing with mistakes. Believe me, this would happen to you after searching thoroughly for days; only to find a mislocated comma. I believe everyone must've experienced these kind of quest just as simple as looking for an error in a calculation.

Watching the 'Bones' TV series yesterday, I was so touched by the reality that even a dog could manage to only see the good side of a person. The episode was about a dog named Ripley, who simply follow his master's order to attack another person. That person died and ironicallyRipley was put down. The intriguing part is the fact that his owner raise Ripley for a dog-fighting show, sew his wound carelessly only to put him in another dog fight and yet he loves him until the end.

And that's exactly how God sees the good in us no matter how we mistreat Him. So when will we start looking at the other side of wrong? Lets do our best to only see the good in people :)

"Even if you have been banished to the most distant land under the heavens, from there the LORD your God will gather you and bring you back" Deutronomy 30:4

Never Mind

Brothers love, brothers hurt
Sisters encourage, sisters dissapoint

How many of us have ever been dissapointed or hurt by our loved ones? The more we love them, the deeper the impact.

Me, myself has quite a forgiving personality. If someone run into me or step on my feet, I would sincerely say "never mind". When a waiter brought a dish which was not exactly what I've ordered, I'd still generously offer my "never mind". In short, I am the type of person who never mind those who jump the queue in front of me.

Lucky are those passerby in my life, coz I ain't that forgiving to those aren't. "They should understand me more!" "They should know me better!" Such thoughts keep pumping my adrenalin, turning those little incidents or misunderstanding unto unforgiving acts..

Never mind is the word we normally offer to passing-by people in our lives. But this word doesn't seem popular when it comes to those who stay permanently on our sides. I wonder how much 'never mind' stock God has, considering how naughty and unthoughful we are. Furthermore I wonder how could we offer such a tiny sum to the ones we love...

"Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy. " Matthew 5:7 (The Beatitudes)

Getting through the maze of L.I.F.E

Living each and everyday may feels like wandering inside a maze looking for the exit. Not knowing whether we should turn right or left at the junction, we choose to depend on our guts. If we're lucky enough, we'll find a promising paths, else dead ends are unavoidable.

Now as a Christian, I often think shouldn't we get a better life than that? I mean, we have a BIG God after all thus I demand a better life.

To get through a maze, there's a method called "The left-hand method". Simply place your left-hand on the left-hand wall upon entering the maze and follow that wall all the way around. The principle is to never remove your hand from the wall.

Lets carefully observe how we live our lives till this moment. The left-hand method would not work if we let go of the left-hand wall. It requires us to stick to the left-hand wall no matter how long we have to walk around and the number of cul-de-sacs we met on the way. The same principle goes for our lives. We ought to hold on to Him no matter how long we have to wait and the number of obstacles we have to face.

If after a few cul-de-sacs, a man decided to let go of the left-hand wall then he may get lost in the maze. If he doesn't wait patiently while following the wall all around, then he might let it go and trapped inside the maze. If he thought the other path is more promising than following the left-hand wall, he might be up for a wild goose chase.

The truth is we do have a better life than those who get lost and trapped inside the maze. God is our left-hand wall, the only way to the exit. Wait patiently, fight for your faith in Him no matter what!

"My soul, wait in silence for God only, For my hope is from Him." Psalm 62:5

What's your flavour?

Have you ever thought about how do we tell the difference between sweet, sour, salty and bitter?

I vaguely remember a picture of the tongue showing the location of the four taste buds. Sweet and salty near the front, sour buds on the sides and bitter on the very back of it. Always thought where on the tongue the material lands is the answer, apparently not so..

The correct answer is how the material reacts chemically. Salt, for example, allowing sodium ions to enter the taste buds. A chemical reaction releases calcium ions which then send the message to the nerve cells and finally a signal to the brain that it's salty.

Now and then, what kind of material are we? What reaction do we release? Do we send the sweet signal to people's taste buds? Sourness? Or even bitterness?

It's certainly naive to think that we're definitely sending the sweet signal; only when we land on the "problem-free" areas. The essence of sweetness will only take place when we release "His love" to the lifes of those who are hurting, dissapointed and problematic. Don't you agree?

“You are the salt of the earth; but if the salt loses is flavor, how shall it be seasoned? It is then good for nothing but to be thrown out and trampled underfoot by men”

Matthew 5:13 NKJV

To be a better me

Sitting behind me in the bus this morning were an old man and a young woman. The old man asked the young woman what time it was. She took her mobile out of her handbag and said "It's 10 to 9". He thanked her and told her how efficient it was nowadays where everyone has a mobile and no need of watch.

Later on, he continued the conversation by asking her whether she watched the Beijing olympics. They chat for a while on how glamorous it was. The conversation switched to paralympic after a while. Apparently she didn't watch the paralympic so the old man started telling her a 'lil bit of story.

He said "There's a young man who won the gold medal in butterfly stroke swimming championship. And guess what, he has no arms!". The young woman was surprised and so was I. I was trying to imagine a butterfly stroke swimmer without arms back then. "Moreover", he continued. "... that swimmer is a record-breaking machine. Everytime he race, he finished the race by few seconds faster."

I won't qualify myself as a sport person but I do know a few seconds difference does matter in sports. But what I do not realise before is the effort to attain those few seconds. For this man who has no arms (after doing some research I then know his name is Igor Plotnikov) to actually become faster by seconds must've meant sweat and tears. Not mentioning his opponents are those who are disabled but still has their arms attached.

How about us then? How much effort are we willing to put to be a better person? To change ourselves is surely a great challenge for anyone to take. Yet Christians swore themselves to be just like Jesus. Now, what have we done to be closer to that goal? Can we put more effort to gain a 'lil bit more patience? Are we willing to die to our flesh to be a 'lil bit more compassionate to those difficult people?

Imagine me without YOU

Woke up on my bed not knowing what the time is, I decided to stay in bed doing nothing at all. 15 minutes past, I looked around and found no clock around me. Then I continue my 'simply doing nothing' activity.

Lets imagine how we would live without the existence of time to guide us. We won't know when to sleep, eat, go to work etc. Then I imagine how I would live if I don't have God to guide me. It would be the same, wouldn't it? I simply wouldn't know why I should do this and should not do that. It's gonna be life without a purpose..

Surely all of us are so blessed to have God around to guide us. Lets hope that more and more will come to know Him.

"I once was lost, but now I'm found. I once was blind, but now I see."

When thank You seems to be the hardest word

When I got off the bus, I always say "thank you" to the bus driver. That's my way of always be thankful of the smallest thing. No matter how sleepy or tired I am, I manage to maintain my goodwill of saying "thank you". But one day, I was so pissed off that I was thinking how could the bus driver deserve my "thank you" when I was in such a bad circumtances.

Have you ever felt like i felt? So pissed off 'til the thought of noone deserve my "thank you" overwhelmed me?

The Bible says to “give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus” (1 Thessalonians 5:18).

How should i thank You for something that makes me unhappy? One thing for sure, God is magnificent. He purposedly said, in all circumtances not for all circumtances... He did not ask us to be thankful for the things that makes us unhappy (even though we can if we want..) instead He told us to be thankful in any situations.

Now, what should we be thankful for then in that tough circumtances? How 'bout this..

I thank You for Your unchanged love that would remain true no matter

what kind of struggle I currently have.

Am I a Martha?

Days goes by and the weight on my shoulder become too heavy to carry. Rushing with my work, my study, my family, my life..., world is spinning so fast that I find hard to cope with.

Again and again I always come back to God with all my weaknesses. Tough might define me from people perspective but I know I'm far from being tough when I kneel before God knowing how weak I am. Realising that, I tried to console myself. Convincing myself that it's His plan, it's what He wants me to do. 'Til some point, I reach the 'doubting' point. Is this true? Is it my imagination? Or it is what God wants from me?

Isn't He supposed to test me without going over my strength limit? But again who am I to argue with God? God is God, I am not.

" 'Martha, you are so upset. . . . There is really only one thing worth being concerned about. Mary has discovered it. . . . ' " Luke 10:41-42

This is a wonderful reminder from God Himself:
I once read about a life-sized granite sculpture of Jesus by a Danish artist named Thors Walden. Walden sculpted the body of Christ in such a way that you can't see His face from a standing position. Next to the statute, however, is a sign that reads, "If you want to see the face of Jesus, you must sit at His feet." Sure enough, if you get down at the foot of the statue, you can look up and clearly see the face of Jesus.

When I was running for Him, have I taken the time to sit before Him confirming that He wants me to continue to run.. Am I the Martha who runs and forgotten to sit?

Too good to be true

Do you ever experience the insecurity feeling of losing what we have when everything goes so well in our lives? If not, I have..

I always ask myself why would I have such feeling? Why would I think of a bad thing when everything good is happening? Does that mean I don't trust God enough?

The "Ann Landers" advice column which is regular in US newspaper for 45 years would receive 10,000 letters a month about people’s problems. She was asked, what is the number one problem that people have? It all boils down to anxiety. She said people are afraid of losing their health. People are afraid of losing their wealth. People are afraid of losing their loved ones. She said people are afraid of life itself.

Maybe the question of "What is my treasure?" would reveal the answer I need.
Matthew 6:21 says, "For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also" When we treasure our wealth, health, family, church, occupation above all else, our heart is there. And as we realised we could lose any of it anytime, anxiety has consumed our heart.

God has treasured us by giving His own life for us. We said He is our saviour, in Him we put our trust that everything will be alright. But the big question is "Have we treasured God?"Have we really treasure the One that would never leave us?

When we learn to treasure God far more valuable than the other things we treasure, life would never be too good to be true :)

It's good to be t.i.r.e.d

Glad to be back to my healthy days :)

I've been sick for a week, feeling dizzy and tired for whole 4 days have brought up my spirit to do something BIG for my GOD!!

I'm reading a book called "Jesus, save me from Your followers". When I saw it in WORDS bookshop, my eyes was locked in and I knew immediately that's a book for me. Some of my friends do not get it though when they first read the title of the book.

However, this book is a testimony of a Pastor in US. Telling us about the struggles of dealing with christians leaders and ministers instead of non-christians. There's a phrase which I read when I was sick "When you are tired, do it tired!"

When I was sick, I couldn't do things that I want to do. And it seems like ages waiting wait patiently 'til I'm good to go. As we all know, when we feel un-ease, we delay all the things that we want to do. Excuses lying around for us to grab... when actually we could just make our choice and go for it!

Until few days ago, t.i.r.e.d is what I felt in my ministry life, my work life and other things in my life. I just feel like I'm not going anywhere, so tired and exhausted that I decided to stop everything that I'm doing. I grab the excuse of "before I go on.. I need to fill up my energy first."

"Do it tired" opened my eyes to a new revelation. For these whole time, I says "when u're tired, stop and take rest til you're completely recharged". But here the author says "when you are tired don't just stop but open more to God and your surrounding. It's not an excuse to stop, it is just a state of condition. The same state when you are busy or bored, happy or sad, you just keep going. And even he added that this state is actually an opportunity to free more capacity in your life for God to fill. How beautiful that is.

So it's good to be t.i.r.e.d, empty that space that's not needed and lets God fill it with new things!