Relfections of the week
Another busy week... felt drained. Somehow I can't seem to keep account of where my time went.
Sunday
Church, visited Lan to say farewell... she's going to Paris for exchange. Well, my prayers for her. May this exchange give her sometime to ponder upon life and to appreciate all God has given her... Most importantly, God, please watch over her... no one will know how she is doing spiritually... keep her close to You.
Dad, mum and Joep left for Phuket. May God use them mightily there to bless the people. MAy they also be encouraged by seeing how God is moving in that place. To read more about what is happening in phuket... I'm really glad to hear how the church is growing there. The tsunami in 2004 has really opened a spiritual door. People are just entering the kingdom!
Monday
Class from 8.30 to 5pm..none stop! Lunch was provided as the lesson cover fine dining and it was our practical seesion. I was totally in a dilemma... firstly I wanted to fast (had the prompting to do so to pray for my parents and sister in phuket)... Secondly, there was prawns and quarter a chicken. How am I suppose to eat those with a fork and knife? Well, thank God, in His great wisdom, I was fasting.. so that was my excuse... but food was wasted... well, at least I didn't have to eat.... it would be impossible and I'll look like a total ****.
After that rush to church prayer meeting...by the time I came back it was 9pm...
Tuesday
Class 8.30 to 2.30pm. Again no break. Another class 4.30 to 6.30pm and after that rush to VCF FT to raise funds for MEET. Another tiring day... Thank God, we managed to raise a few hundred $ with some love gifts. Another $9k plus to go...Well, I think I will trust God to provide for everything we need.
Wednesday
Attempted to do my work which was accumulating since Monday.... but just no mood... just couldn't study effectively.
Had to prepare BS and class for 4 hours! I really hate the new system where seminars are now 4hours! How are we suppose to absorb everything? *duh*
CG at night. It was a good time of sharing. But ended quite late... have to work on timing...
Thursday
Interview with our Japanese Christian at 9am! What an ungodly hour but no choice. Our team die die have to do this interview and it was the only time we could slot in.
Anyway, the 2 hours spent was really beneficial. We learn so much more about the Japanese culture, what they value (group harmony, success), religion (is a ritual, a hush-hush thing because of their history.. will post up the details after my group has consolidated our research),
Christianty in Japan (we got to hear why it is such a hard ground), how do we approach them when we're there etc...
Rushed back for tutorial... only to find out that I didn't prepare before hand! Aiyo, must have forgotten to do my readings before class... blur blur.... k, need to back up! Some how I giving more time to studying Japanese and other stuff than studying.... must be the slacking mentality of mine. haha.. the two law modules I have seem to have so much less readings than the previous ones and they are literally spoon feeding us in class! heheeheee
Evening was our CF prayer meeting.... somehow I don't understand why is it so hard to get people to pray... Wonder how much time are we really setting aside to pray, to intercede for the lost... I'm thinking why aren't we as effective as the early church or great men of God in history...its because these people spent hours on their knees daily in prayer... not that they had nothing to do... but they sacrificed other things in order to pray. Who said that Christianity was free? Only salvation is. The rest requires a price. I think this mentality of "a relationship with God" is really causing some of us to take our walk with God lighlty. If it was a relationship and not religion, then why are we not investing our resources into it? Time to wake up! It breaks my heart to see Christians living mediocre standards... myself too at times....
But I came back to my room that day, and something just overwhelmed me... won't share it here, but God was really real at that moment. I repented of something I knew I had been procrastinating... I surrendered an area of my life I know had not been really dealt with yet.
Friday
Free day! Yippee... spent the morning doing Japanese homework and trying to remember all the hiragana. Jap class in the afternoon...Went for CG... which surprisingly, we talked about finances (tithing and giving to God etc)when sharing was over... wanted to voice what I think, but I think my idea may be a bit radical (for first time hearers, but not unbiblical) and because I have not started earning yet, I may not really be in a position to say anything...
But my thoughts (in short) are everything we have belongs to God... We are just His stewards. Its not that we give to God 10%. All belongs to God, the 10% is just a minimum... We should not have the mentality that 90% is ours to spend as we like. Rather, as I have read from great men of God (like Hudson Taylor, George Muller and Rees Howells), they gave everything. What ever they needed they asked from the Heavenly Father. They died leaving very little money but in their lifetime they managed Millions of pounds. How come? They always saw that all they had was God's... My pastor once challenged us:
One managment guru has billions of dollars to give away (can't remember his name but he's one of the riches man on earth). Problem: He didn't know who to give it to. Cos he couldn't trust them to manage it. And you know whom He gave to finally?
Bill Gates, the richest man on earth. Why? Cos he knew Bill Gates could be trusted.
Challenge: Can the church today be trusted with such money?
Sunday
Church, visited Lan to say farewell... she's going to Paris for exchange. Well, my prayers for her. May this exchange give her sometime to ponder upon life and to appreciate all God has given her... Most importantly, God, please watch over her... no one will know how she is doing spiritually... keep her close to You.
Dad, mum and Joep left for Phuket. May God use them mightily there to bless the people. MAy they also be encouraged by seeing how God is moving in that place. To read more about what is happening in phuket... I'm really glad to hear how the church is growing there. The tsunami in 2004 has really opened a spiritual door. People are just entering the kingdom!
Monday
Class from 8.30 to 5pm..none stop! Lunch was provided as the lesson cover fine dining and it was our practical seesion. I was totally in a dilemma... firstly I wanted to fast (had the prompting to do so to pray for my parents and sister in phuket)... Secondly, there was prawns and quarter a chicken. How am I suppose to eat those with a fork and knife? Well, thank God, in His great wisdom, I was fasting.. so that was my excuse... but food was wasted... well, at least I didn't have to eat.... it would be impossible and I'll look like a total ****.
After that rush to church prayer meeting...by the time I came back it was 9pm...
Tuesday
Class 8.30 to 2.30pm. Again no break. Another class 4.30 to 6.30pm and after that rush to VCF FT to raise funds for MEET. Another tiring day... Thank God, we managed to raise a few hundred $ with some love gifts. Another $9k plus to go...Well, I think I will trust God to provide for everything we need.
Wednesday
Attempted to do my work which was accumulating since Monday.... but just no mood... just couldn't study effectively.
Had to prepare BS and class for 4 hours! I really hate the new system where seminars are now 4hours! How are we suppose to absorb everything? *duh*
CG at night. It was a good time of sharing. But ended quite late... have to work on timing...
Thursday
Interview with our Japanese Christian at 9am! What an ungodly hour but no choice. Our team die die have to do this interview and it was the only time we could slot in.
Anyway, the 2 hours spent was really beneficial. We learn so much more about the Japanese culture, what they value (group harmony, success), religion (is a ritual, a hush-hush thing because of their history.. will post up the details after my group has consolidated our research),
Christianty in Japan (we got to hear why it is such a hard ground), how do we approach them when we're there etc...
Rushed back for tutorial... only to find out that I didn't prepare before hand! Aiyo, must have forgotten to do my readings before class... blur blur.... k, need to back up! Some how I giving more time to studying Japanese and other stuff than studying.... must be the slacking mentality of mine. haha.. the two law modules I have seem to have so much less readings than the previous ones and they are literally spoon feeding us in class! heheeheee
Evening was our CF prayer meeting.... somehow I don't understand why is it so hard to get people to pray... Wonder how much time are we really setting aside to pray, to intercede for the lost... I'm thinking why aren't we as effective as the early church or great men of God in history...its because these people spent hours on their knees daily in prayer... not that they had nothing to do... but they sacrificed other things in order to pray. Who said that Christianity was free? Only salvation is. The rest requires a price. I think this mentality of "a relationship with God" is really causing some of us to take our walk with God lighlty. If it was a relationship and not religion, then why are we not investing our resources into it? Time to wake up! It breaks my heart to see Christians living mediocre standards... myself too at times....
But I came back to my room that day, and something just overwhelmed me... won't share it here, but God was really real at that moment. I repented of something I knew I had been procrastinating... I surrendered an area of my life I know had not been really dealt with yet.
Friday
Free day! Yippee... spent the morning doing Japanese homework and trying to remember all the hiragana. Jap class in the afternoon...Went for CG... which surprisingly, we talked about finances (tithing and giving to God etc)when sharing was over... wanted to voice what I think, but I think my idea may be a bit radical (for first time hearers, but not unbiblical) and because I have not started earning yet, I may not really be in a position to say anything...
But my thoughts (in short) are everything we have belongs to God... We are just His stewards. Its not that we give to God 10%. All belongs to God, the 10% is just a minimum... We should not have the mentality that 90% is ours to spend as we like. Rather, as I have read from great men of God (like Hudson Taylor, George Muller and Rees Howells), they gave everything. What ever they needed they asked from the Heavenly Father. They died leaving very little money but in their lifetime they managed Millions of pounds. How come? They always saw that all they had was God's... My pastor once challenged us:
One managment guru has billions of dollars to give away (can't remember his name but he's one of the riches man on earth). Problem: He didn't know who to give it to. Cos he couldn't trust them to manage it. And you know whom He gave to finally?
Bill Gates, the richest man on earth. Why? Cos he knew Bill Gates could be trusted.
Challenge: Can the church today be trusted with such money?
posted by Sueanne Low at
1:31 PM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home