Becoming a Go-to Person

READ: Luke 7:1-10

When he heard about Jesus, he sent elders of the Jews to Him, pleading with Him to come and heal his servant. —Luke 7:3

“Would you pray for my sister?” the burly worker asked awkwardly. I eyed him suspiciously.
Months earlier, muggy August heat intensified emotions in the pre-strike atmosphere of the assembly plant where I was working that summer. Managers drove production at a frenzied pace and union members resisted. During breaks, we were coached by union officials on slowing down our output. My faith and idealism got me in the doghouse because I didn’t think God would accept anything but my best effort. I naively tried to explain.

My co-workers’ response was harassment, and this burly worker asking for prayer had been the ringleader. An undesirable task? I got the assignment. Off-color jokes had me as the star.
So now I greeted this prayer request with suspicion. “Why me?” His answer jarred me: “Because she’s got cancer,” he said gruffly, “and I need someone God will hear.” The bitter rancor between us eased as I prayed for his sister.

Like the centurion in Luke 7, people in the storms of life don’t waste time or mince words. They go directly to the people whose faith they’ve tagged as real. We need to be those people. Do our lives mark us as a go-to person in touch with God?

— Randy Kilgore

Even the hardest of souls might ask for help when someone they love is at risk.

For me, I think I ever meet these situations too. Got a friend, he still not yet believes in Jesus. Amazingly, he will ask me to pray for his godmother because of her cancer. Besides that, one day he feel no peace because he feel got something follow him back home. He asks me to pray for him too, for peace and safety. The main point is not what the problems are, the main point is when a people got problems, no matter he or she is a believer or not, they will know Our God can help them. That's why they find us.



Tavia

Who Is In Control?

When we look around us today, we see many people reading self-help book or participating in workshops which they think will empower them to change for the better. "Self-improvement" and "self-fulfillment" are popular catch words. Truly, 'change' has become fashionable these days.

Also common are sayings such as "To change the way you are, change who you think you are" or "Whatever you want in your life, the key to success is to transform yourself". The overarching idea here is that we have the ability and the power to take control our lives, to transform it and to determine our own destiny.

What am I giving up?

As we enter into the first Week of Lent, many of us are also determined to experience some form of change. One of the main ways we try to achieve this is by practicing acts of self-denial. And so, the question that is often asked is, "What am I giving up for Lent?"

It is, no doubt, an important question. The difficulty arises, however, when we start to think that self-denial itself, that is, what or how much we want to give up to God, is what Lent is all about.

But lent is not only about self-denial. It is mainly about us being transformed by God, especially in those areas of our lives where we are acting irresponsibly. Acts of self-denial are means by which we empty ourselves so that God can take control of our lives.

The temptation to take control


In the Gospel reading this Sunday, we read how the devil tried to tempt Jesus to achieve or obtain whatever he wants by his own power (Matt 4:1-11). The devil was trying to tell Jesus, "Don't depend on God. You have the ability and power to take control of your life and to determine your own destiny."

Jesus, however, denied himself what was promised by the devil - physical possessions and pleasure, power and authority - not because he wanted to show how good he was or what great self-control he had. Rather, Jesus knew that his very existence and mission on earth depended on his emptying himself totally so that God can take complete control of his life.

So, the question for Lent is not "what am I giving up: but instead "what can I do to allow God to transform me?" The answer depends greatly, of course, on who we think is really in control - God or us.

by Dr Steven Selvaraju

This is another great article, it asked us a very interesting question, 'what are we giving up for lent?', is it how much we give up for God, is what Lent is all about. Matthew 6 teaches us to be humble, to give charity without publicly, to pray privately without the need to boast like the hypocrites, to forgive people, and to not seek praises form people when fasting. when God sees what we do in private, He will reward us.
This article challenge us to think differently, instead of "what we can do for God", we should be asking "what God want to do through us" God is in control of our life, and let God's will be done.

Let us pray for the victims of Japan tsunami and also pray that may God's will be done

Love,
Lionel

Japan Earthquake. A Different View

As you all might know, yesterday, a magnitude of 8.9 offshore quake struck at noon and triggered a massive 7 meter tsunami that hit northeast coast of Japan. The quake shook dozens of cities and villages within the radius of 2,100 kilometers, even the tall buildings in Tokyo swayed.

As a Christian it is right for us to pray to God. Pray to repent and ask for God's help. Pray to understand and be inline with God's will. Pray to invite God to do His will through us. Ultimately to have faith in God and in what we prayed.

There are a lot of people in social network sites that asks people to pray, for the victim of Japan, for the country, for everything... which is a great thing.

But suddenly this morning I saw a post, its a prayer that looks something like "Satan, you may disturb Japan by causing earthquake. But you can't lay your dirty hand at my hometown because The Guy whom Jesus Loved are there.... flee to hell Satan, in the name of Jesus!"

It got me thinking, and this might be controversial, but is this earthquake really Satan's work? Aren't there Christians in Japan too? Don't Jesus love people in Japan too?


Yes this is the strongest quake that Japan has even seen for the late 1800's, but now I challenge you guys not think that this earthquake Satan's work, but it is God's will.



Before you guys starting to make any assumption to rebuke my statement, please give me a chance to explain why do I say this? After I saw the picture of during and the aftermaths of the tsunami, it is very sad and depressing, but earthquake is actually quite common in Japan

We will never truly understand God's divine plan, and why all these catastrophe happen. But we should pray and have faith that, whatever happen in Japan or at anywhere in the world, God have His reason and it is His will that it happened. And pray may the His will be done.
We should pray that the faith of the Christians in Japan will not crumble in this incident, but make them stronger in faith and believe in God and seek God for guidance.
We should pray that after this incident even more people will turn to Jesus.


We should believe that God's plan is great and after this incident good things will arise. Continue to pray brothers and sisters, pray that helps will come to Japan, pray that God's will, will be done

God bless everyone, continue to have faith in God

Love,
Lionel

Lent

Hello everyone, today is Ash Wednesday, and its the start of the Lent season. For those who don't understand the meaning of Lent season, I had planned to write a whole post about it, buuut I figured that a video means so much more than words :P

Plus this video has explained Lent season quite well in just 1 minute! Now I know inti student widi is very VERY slow, but be patience and try to load it and watch. Trust me, it's worth more than the 1 hour time we spend on checking friend's status in Facebook ;)



Hope you guys understand something from this video.

Numbers 19:9, 19:17
Jonah 3:6,
Matthew 11:21
Luke 10:13
Hebrews 9:13
Ash Wednesday is a day of repentance , and Lent is a time for transformation.

So let us repent, transform and come back to the heart of worship. God bless, everyone :)

Love,
Lionel

It Happens On the Inside

Another article that I got from my church bulletin:

The theme that the Church invites us to reflect for the month of March is 'Mission for Transformation'.

This theme is especially relevant for us since it is during this month that we will enter and journey into the Season of Lent, beginning with Ash Wednesday. The very spirit of Lent is connected with transformation, as we are called to turn away from sin and return to God with all our hearts.

What is transformation?

Many people think that 'transformation' simply means 'to change'. Yet there is a difference. Let me illustrate this with an example.

Imagine you are standing in front of the mirror and you notice that your shirt does not match the color of your pants. So, you remove the shirt and put on one which you think is more appropriate. This is change.

Now, imagine you are standing in front of the mirror and you become aware that you are not happy with the way you usually dress. You feel the clothes you wear do not suit your personality or express who you really are. And so you decide to change the way you dress. That is transformation.

Change therefore, is something that usually happens on the 'outside'. An event takes place, may affect us for awhile and in time is forgotten. It may or may not lead to transformation. Transformation often happens on the 'inside'. An event, an insight or an experience affects us so deeply that it bring about a sudden or gradual but significant change in the way we believe, think or behave. We are never the same again.

The willingness to change

Another difference between 'change' and 'transformation' is that while 'change' may be something that is forced upon us or entered with reluctance, 'transformation; requires from us the sincere willingness or desire to change.

So when speaking of Lent, we could see it as a period that is forced upon us by the Church or into which we enter reluctantly because of the 'usual' obligations it entails. Or we could enter into it a willingness to allow God to truly transform us on the 'inside' in His way and in His name.

Yes, Lent for us this year can be just another event on the Church's calendar or become a significance journey of transformation. The choice is up to us.

by Dr. Steven Selvaraju

This article is very meaningful and interesting... to me at lease. It talks about 'change' vs 'transformation'. We often try very hard to 'change' our lifestyles, to 'change' our attitude, to 'change' the way we talk... we even change that God will 'change' us. But through this article, we understand that 'change' is often outside, forced, and won't last long. What we should do pray to God is to be 'transformed' from the inside out, willingly, and always.

May God bless us, and with His great love, transform us from the inside out to be disciples of God and fisher of men.

The Necessity For Dialogue

Got this article form my church bulletin:

The word "dialogue" derives from two roots:"dia",which means "the word", or more specifically, "the meaning of the word." Thus the image one gets is of a river of meaning flowing around and through those who are participating in the dialogue.

Dialogue is one of the most effective means in the struggle against negative conditioning, prejudice and fanaticism. But in order for any dialogue to be effective, certain qualities are needed: Sincerity, humility and interest. Sincerity is needed because this is what moves the heart. Humility is needed because this is what makes one person value another. Interest is needed because it is the source of all question.

In his book, Dialogue, the Art of Thinking, William Isaacs writes the following:"Dialogue is altogether a very different way of talking. Generally, we think of dialogues as "better conversation," but there is much more to it. Dialogue, as defined, is a conversation with a center, not sides. It is a way of taking the energy of our differences and channeling that energy toward something that has never been created before. It lifts us out of polarization and into a greater sense of the commonalty, and is thereby a means for accessing the intelligence and coordinated power of groups of people."

Why dialogue?

Firstly, by engaging in dialogue with others we can reduce tensions, conflicts, and even wars. It is known that through the ages, religious, cultural, and ethnic differences have led to misunderstanding, hostility and conflict. The root of conflict is ignorance and ignorance is the source of prejudice. To get to know each other through dialogue is essential for the establishment of world peace.

Secondly, in today's world there are over 6,000 communities and as many distinct languages. Such differences naturally lead to a diversity of vision, values, beliefs, practices, and expression; all of these naturally, deserve equal respect and dignity. Through dialogue, we can promote better understanding of and creative cooperation among cultures and religions, while acknowledging and accepting their differences.

Thirdly, technology has expedited globalization and made distant countries seem like neighboring towns. Progress in communication and transport technology during the 20th century has enabled us to overcome geographical boundaries and has revolutionize our way of living. the world is now linked to such an extent that local event cannot take place without having an impact on the international community and vice versa. the world has become like a village. But this village is very diverse and includes many cultures, faiths, and traditions.

The Imam And The Pastor

Today my church showed this video after the mass. Very inspiring and touching(and a touch of humour), it shows the idea that "dialog is better that dealt" .Sorry I can't find the whole 39 minute documentary, this is just around 10 mins. But hope you all will still get the message of this video:

God bless you all in this starting of a new week, Don't forget to check out the ICCF shirt too :)

Love,
Lionel

ICCF T-shirt Pre-orders~

This is a limited edition shirt, so book now if you want :)

ICCF

Take It All !

Good morning everyone :)

Ever burdened by worries, studies, waking up early for 8am class (like me =.=) or anything at all?
Well lets start of the day with this great song that I heard recently. :D

Lift your burdens and all we are today to Him, TAKE, TAKE, TAKE IT ALL! :D

My God I'll only ever give my all :)

Love,
Lionel

Everything

Here's an "Everything" skit performed by our big bros and sis from ICF of Nilai :D

Nice right? Right? :D
Hope you guys enjoy this video as much as I do. Most of all, learn and know that with God everything is great :)

Creatig Space, Hostility to Hospitality

Hello everyone, read this article from the church's bulletin, just feel like sharing with you guys:

Conflict and turmoil occurs when there is a lack of tolerance for the space of others or where their boundaries are not respected. Within a multi-cultural and multi-religious environment where common 'space' is often shared, we need to ensure that the respective space and boundaries of each individuals or religious faith has to be respected and guarded from unreasonable invasive impingement.

The first part of this two-fold task calls for the creation of space. What does it man to 'create-space'? God gave us to choo0se between right or wrong, to freely accept Him as well as the reverse. It is only within such space that allows for the true freedom that one can speak of Love.

We can also find strong correlation between creating space and extending hospitality. "Hospitality is not change people, nut to offer them space where change can take place." - Reaching Out, Henri Nouwen. Such hospitality, according to Nouwen, transform hostility to friendship.

Creating space also means taking risk, especially the risk of becoming vulnerable. When persons are defensive and guarded, then relationship with others are often hindered if not made impossible. Creating space means learning to trust the other.

Ultimately, when we create space for others to be themselves, we also create space for God. God is our ultimate Host - the one who provides common space for all humanity to meet, interact, dialogue and commune.

But creating space alone is insufficient for fostering interfaith harmony. Creating space needs to be matched by respect for limits and boundaries. If one fails to respect the limits of space created, then one can either lose one's own identity to the other or wholly absorb the identity of the other into ours. Failure to respect limits and boundaries erode the uniqueness of each religious tradition. Failure to respect space is often the cost for strife and conflict.

As Christians, it is our mission to continue working for interfaith harmony through authentic dialogue and collaboration with others. It is a challenge to constantly take the risk of making space for the other whilst ensuring that the space of everyone, including ours is respected and defended.

Hope you learn something from this article and try to apply it in your lives.

God bless everyone, have a great week ahead :)

Love,
Lionel

Situation In China...

Let us pray for our brothers and sisters from other countries. May they have the strength and courage to fight the good fight and remain faithful to Jesus Christ who is the Way, the Truth, and the Life. Amen

Announcement 08/02/2011

Sorry guys since this week is test week. ICCF is not going tot have gathering or prayer meetings.

But hope you all will not seize to praise and worship God. Keep up the prayers.
Be in line with God's will, keep calling out to God on behalf of others and ourselves

May God bless you all with overflowing wisdom, grace and love, in this test weeks. All the best fellow Intians :D


God is good all the time, all the time God all is good

With greatest love from,
ICCF

Commenting How To...

Many people have asked how to leave comments on this blog, so I have come up with a step by step tutorial on how to leave comments:

1. Click on the "comments" that appeared in the bottom of each posts you want to coment:



2. After clicking it, a window will pop out which looks something like this:



3. Then its just the matter of leaving your comments(for this example "Hello").
4. After that, type out the word that appeared below the comment box (for this example is the word "under")
5. Then choose your identity (for this example I chose to write a nickname. You can choose other options too, but I find the 3rd option is the easiest. The 4th is for the people who wants to remain anonymous (don't want to be known of their identity))

Hope this helps, any questions, you can email to iccf email : iccf2008@live.com

Have a great day everyone, God bless :)

Love
Lionel

Hosanna

Hello everyone, welcome back from Chinese New Year Holiday :D
I must admit, it's kinda short tho :S

But lets put everything aside now, I want to start off the week by sharing this magnificent and powerful song by Israel Houghton, called Hosanna(Be Lifted Higher) with you guys

I know Inti's line is very VERY slow, but let it load. Trust me its worth the wait :)

May God bless you all it this blessed week. Hope you all do well in all of your tests

Love,
Lionel

Saint Agatha of Sicily

For all the Catholics out there, today is the celebration of a feast in honor of Saint Agatha of Sicily.

Agatha is a Christian saint. And her memorial is on 5th February. She was and still is truly a child of God. To read more about her life, please click on her name above.


God bless, everyone. have a happy holiday :)

Lionel

Happy Chinese New Year 2011

Hello everyone! ICCF would like to wish you all a Happy Chinese New Year :D

May God bless each and everyone of you all abundantly. And as a student, may you all have a great and err.. prosperous year as usual.. :P

Happy Holiday Everyone ^^

With Great Love from,
ICCF

Presidental Address

Dear ICCF members,

      members of the present and those to come - I've been in the ICCF for at least two years during my time at Inti and I can honestly say it was the best part of my life. So many things happened in the ICCF, so many things to learn, so many experiences to share and gain (But then again, my whole life at Inti Sarawak revolved around the ICCF, so I guess it was natural that being in ICCF was very meaningful to me :P)

      I was a committee member, and I guess I will write a little bit for the committees of the ICCF. The first thing I would like to say to all of you is: Congratulations! ICCF stands for the Inti College Christian Fellowship. Unlike other clubs, we are earthly bound to the authority of Inti, but spiritually we are under the authority of God almighty! I guess I can say that this club is the next best thing Inti can offer besides education. Be proud to be a member of the committee of the ICCF. From now on (and always actually) we are all one family under our heavenly Father.

      We are all bound to make mistakes and deviate away sometimes. But as a family, we should help each other. Be supportive, understanding and express love to each other just as you would do with your own family! Only through this unity that ICCF can continue to serve and glorify God.

      Perhaps you will all encounter the inconvenient truth, that is all the committees will shift one day, and maybe you are not ready to face it. It happens to our committees before, and I think the best advice I can give is to pray more and to have faith. Sometimes, by letting go, that you will gain something greater. Worrying is normal, but do keep this in mind, that "greater things have yet to come, greater things are still to be done!"

      Be strong ICCF members! God has always been there with you all and He has been gracefully keeping all of you under His care. ICCF is where you can find shelter, find comfort, and let go of your burdens. Try your best to know and understand God, try to follow His way, because when we go through God, everything is awesome! Pray more and try to make Him your priority in your heart. Build a relationship with God, and then you can build your relationships on Earth.

May God Bless You All. All of you will always been in my prayers.

Love,
Lionel

Annouencement 31/01/2011

Sorry guys, we wont be having any gatherings and prayer meetings for this week.
As you all might have known, its the Chinese New Year break :)

So hope you guys have a great holiday. Go around visiting your friends and relatives, maybe you'll get some blessed ang paus :P

But the most important is, don't forget to keep praising and worshiping God :D
For He is good, and His ways are good; and whoever follows His ways will be blessed abundantly

May God bless you all

With many love,
ICCF

Blessed Parking

Here's a quick and funny testimony :)

Yesterday (29th January) morning, brother Kenny drove me around at k.k. (Capital city of Sabah).

We were finding a parking space in a very very crowded parking area (despite just opposite was a half empty free parking zone). It was in the afternoon, the parking area has a lot of coffee shops and it everyone were having their lunch breaks so the parking place was really crowded. (Well actually Kenny just payed rm2 for the parking ticket and he dun wanna waste it :P)

Annyyways... Kenny prayed out loud, "Lord please provide us with a parking place" (I was praying inside too). But.. after few fail attempts, we starting to doubt whether we will ever get a parking space.

Then Kenny jokingly said "Oh maybe God want to give us a special parking space that wont kena rain or sun" .
After few round driving around the parking area, miraculously we found a parking space! The amazing part is, it was cun-cun under the roof, 1 parking further we would have been under the sky!

How awesome is God! This comes to show that all prayers will be answered! More often than not it is answer in a way that is least expected by us. (In special cases, humorously :p)

So don't hesitate to pray my dear brothers and sisters, When you have troubles (small or big, public or personnel) Seek help from God first, pray to Him for guidance and answer :)

Well.. this testimony is few paragraph short than expected :p
But hope you guys manage to read finish the whole post. And hopefully learn something from it

God bless you all

Love,
Lionel

ICCF Prayer Meeting 26/01/2010

Date : 26 January 2011 (Tuesday)
Time : 8.00pm
Venue : H107

Tonight we're having a prayer meeting :)
Leading it will be by our br0ther Dezs
Please do come and enjoy~

We are inviting EVERYONE with open hearts :)


Hope to see you there and God bless~

ICCF Gathering 25/01/2011

A Humble And Giving Heart

Date : 25 January 2011 (Tuesday)
Time : 7.30pm
Venue : H102

Tomorrow we're having a gathering :D
Please do come and enjoy~

We are inviting EVERYONE with open hearts :)
So bring all your friends, friends' friends and even your cousins ^^

God is Good all the time.
All the time God is Good

So see you there and God bless~

ICCF Gathering 18/01/2011

New Year, New Start, New Heart

Date : 18 January 2011 (Tuesday)
Time : 7.30pm
Venue : H102

Hi there everyone! Tomorrow we are going to have our 1st gathering of year 2011!
Do expect some interesting activities in this gathering :D
So come and enjoy ya?

Remember EVERYONE are welcomed :)
So bring all your friends, friends' friends and even your cousins ^^

So see you there and God bless~

Last Gathering of 2010

See the similarities between these two pictures down here?





If you can't, let me help you...

click to enlarge

1 Malaysia...
:P

Pledge: The Truths of Reality

Well, somebody demanded me to write up something for the ICCF blog. So when instructed by a 'representative' of God, I cannot say no - because if I do, I openly disrespect the power of His name. LOL. No offense brother!


Its a learning point that so many use His name in vain nowadays we really need to be careful with our 'Godly' speeches.This is probably one of the reasons why I seldom and hardly ever mention much about God directly in my daily conversations, even amongst conversations with fellow believers of the faith. Well, the fear of misusing, misrepresenting, or simply saying that God is behind this and that is in my opinion, not worthy of my opinions! If God is behind something - that is up to Him, not me. And if so, I will be so cursed if I were to declare in lieu of His glory and power! So, as most old texts would say in my own words - it is wiser to remain silent than to spew out a mouthful of crap.

Well, its not that I don't believe that God actually does have His hands in just about everything. I don't need to believe, because He IS in the middle of just about everything that I could phantom. How? I would love to explain, but that might require me to write a whole book - Well, lets push that on for a future topic for now.


What I was thinking of sharing for the guys or just about any Christian today is, well - like the title says: The Truths of Reality. As a Chinese businessman would say that business seriously kills, life seriously kills too. It just so happened that I was stopping by Blessed Church last evening and Ps. GT Lim happened to be preaching about Joseph and how God was behind everything regardless how bad things could become. Before he shared his message, he was sharing about several personal experiences of dealing with 'hurt' people, as I would term in general.


In this account, he was speaking about innocent young teenagers being put in certain circumstances leading to serious abuse in virtually any aspect imaginable. It was very painful to even listen to such a testimony as he described the details of the events of each victim - I had to close my eyes several times as I held back my tears (Well, its not so much about being emo - but when you had first hand experience to feel and listen what these innocent children had to go through, as they choke to let out the horrible truths - You'd be a monster if you could listen to it and not be moved - and what more if you belonged to the opposite gender, whom could be the only 'kind' to perpetrate such a hideous crime).

And that was the complication of it. I won't describe the details of how I know this - but the human being is a much more horrible creature that it seems to most of us. The kind of things we can do to one another is truly unimaginable. The worst that animals do is to devour their own kind. We on the other hand - are too intelligent for our own good. I was reading up on the Nanking Massacre (It is well known under a more explicit title for what the massacre was mostly about), and you would be left speechless. When Ps. Lim said that even he did not have an answer to deal with such questions (for crimes like those I mentioned above), I felt assured it was not because I was not equipped well enough when I first had to deal with it. I used to think that I was not ready to deal with such things in the past maybe because I did not have proper training, or enough maturity or experience to understand such victims. But Ps. Lim was right - there is seriously no human answer to this. We just can't.

I could still remember the vivid memories where I just sat on the chair years ago with a victim sitting across the table - completely speechless, staring blankly across. I didn't know what to say. I didn't know how I could help. All I knew was that - I couldn't. It was one of the most painful experiences in my life - but I was instructed to 'burn this image into your memories' so I could identify them in the future. Yes - this drove me to divulge more into psychology - in an attempt to try to understand the horrid creatures we are. After a long pause, I knew the only thing I could say was, "I'm sorry." Honestly - there was nothing much else I could do. I had no right to try to explain the incident - I had no right to try to comfort the victim. I belonged to the same 'tribe' of the criminals! Imagine the helplessness and despair involved!

As I desperately searched for an answer in just about everything with regards to human behavior, in books, journals, articles, online discussions and more - I found the horrible answer to it all - that it was our very own twisted nature of our minds that we could conceive such horrible thoughts and to be able to actually perform them on another person and actually derive pleasure out of tormenting another. And what more worse to realise that the boundaries between pain and pleasure is that fine (Even in scientific research, pain and pleasure are derived from similar pulses and have somewhat similar signatures - that's why some people can actually learn to enjoy pain). So is are the boundaries between good and evil - I was appalled at the idea that I could, and would be able to actually perform something similar to what I looked up - but I had to accept the bitter truth that it was true. That my own thoughts in my attempts to help could have been easily twisted into one of sadistic torture.

And its true - only God could possibly open up a path to healing. I seriously thank Him for leading me and giving me the words to speak (Though I screwed up a lot too - I was very immature comparatively at this point in time) which well - eventually helped to a certain extent. The healing process is long, tedious, and extremely painful especially when the memories continue to plague our minds - Its been so long, and I hope one day - He will be able to stamp my report as "Completed".

There are many more horrible things happening in the society today. Even the word 'horrible' gives the Truth much discount of the realities that are unfolding behind out streets. We want to help and instigate change, but yet we can't. Somehow, we cannot do anything about it at this point in time. All we can do is to equip and prepare ourselves for the true battle in reality and leave the rest to Him who will fight the spiritual battle for us. I understand that many of us grew up in protected homes, hidden from the calamities of humanity. One day - as we continue to grow and eventually leave the protection of our families, friends, churches, school, college and university - and when we have nobody else standing beside us as we stand by the gates of hell - what will we do?


And that explains a part of me a little bit more - to why I keep emphasizing why personal development is so important. Why we need to be the real deal. Why Christians have no excuse to be 'normal' people if their God is the Highest of the Highest. We will never know when we might be put to the test. We will never know when our next breath might be out last. We may never know when everything we have been trained for the past 20 years of our life has been a preparation for that one-time shot at glory. Therefore, while you still have the opportunity - brace yourselves - and prepare for the worst. The world is only going to get worse. And its only inevitable that the good will get better! With God or not, being more capable, knowing a little bit more, and being a little stronger will be for your own good.

Take heed, for time will eventually draw to an end. Its time to get serious with our lives.

Dezs

Moon Cake Festival Gathering 2010

Tanglong (Lantern) Making Activity :)

If Christians..

Gandhi: “If Christians would really live according to the teachings of Christ, as found in the Bible, all of India would be Christian today.”

Gandhi : "I like your Christ, I do not like your Christians. Your Christians are so unlike your Christ."

Makes you think... if every Christians would live according to the teaching of Christ, not just India, the whole would be Christian today.

It is true that the only real argument against Christianity is its Christians. But we must realize the church is a hospital for sinners, not a museum for saints. (so go to church with a open heart and mind, to be healed and saved, to seek the truth among all the lies; instead of as a tourist, sight seeing, and gaining only memories during their 'tour' )

Ghandi took some of Christ's principles and applied them in his own life. He used peace instead of violence to stop a war and to regain independence for his people. He was quite a remarkable man. (If we took more of Christ's principles and applied them in our lives.. We would be an amazing and blessed men! We will be pleasing in God's view)

So spend some time to reflect on ourselves, as a Christian. Have we done our best to be one, of have we done anything at all? If you don't know, then pray to God for guidance :)

The second week is starting soon, may God bless you all :)

Love,
Lionel