We went to St Andrews Cathedral Christmas Eve service. Phillip Jensen talked about grace as the center of Christmas. In his talk he quoted (I think) William Wilberforce:
You are not being generous until your generosity damages your luxurious lifestyle.
I couldn’t find the exact quote or confirm that it is indeed Wilberforce’s from the net, so leave a comment if you know this.
It was a profound statement nonetheless.
On Matthew 6:8, the Father knows what we need before we even ask. People asked me what’s the point of prayer if God already know what we need or what we are going to ask, the question can be answered in different ways. But at least in this passage, it’s clear that Jesus teaches us to pray, even though he affirms that the Father knows our need before we ask.
Another thing that struck me when reading the Lord’s prayer is how short and to the point it is – to be contrasted with the pagan babblers who heap empty phrases.
This afternoon we came back from FOCUS Church Camp 2010. The topic this year was on Suffering and Glory.
We were looking at Romans 8 for our 4 bible studies during the camp. And there were also 4 talks on different topics regarding Suffering and Glory.
A few people have asked me how do I find church camp, being a person who doesn’t answer well for questions asked on the spot – I gave a generic answer, which was usually along the line of “it’s ok, it’s good” – it’s an honest answer, but I wish I could elaborate more.
My experience going there as a family – well it’s tough with two energetic boys (how can another family survived with 4 kids – it’s supernatural :)), but we sort of expecting it. We know that we’re coming not for the fun part (although we did have some fun).
It could’ve been SO much tougher for us as family, but God was kind enough to give us just enough so that we’re not overwhelmed by the children, especially Lina. One way that God answer our prayer was the creche. The creche was run during the bible studies, talks and elective times, it was run mainly by the pastors’ wives and pastor’s two daughters – there were some people helping out but it was the pastors’ family that’s most of the times.
And I just can’t thank them enough, what a godly example they have set. My only hope is that in the next year camp, they’d ask some more people to help out as well so they don’t have to bear the burden of serving themselves – I know Pelita grads would love to help out as indeed some of the girls have volunteered in some of the days.
Some people have also helped us with the kids outside the creche time and we would like to thank God for their kindness and generosity.
I’ve always regarded Church Camp as a good time to get to know new people (in my case Pelita students) and also having deeper conversations with people. This year I haven’t been able to do much, but at least I think I spoke to every Pelita PFN guys.
I’m also thankful that bible studies didn’t go as bad as I thought they would. To be honest, the bible study has caused a lot of stress on me. Mostly because I struggled on understanding the passage itself and partly because I couldn’t understand the studies well – why certain questions were asked and why they were answered in such a way – I should’ve gone to the bible study meeting – but I forgot to ask about it (being not in the leadership team anymore – I’m kind of out of the loop from these meetings).
Because I was quite burdened with the study, I have spent a lot of my time on the camp, preparing for them – which I don’t think was a wise thing to do, I skipped electives, I skipped fun night and challenge time – and by doing so I was actually being a stumbling block because I realized now that I have encouraged others to do the same. I need to repent and rethink how my action influences others. People might have legitimate reasons for skipping those, but for my case, I didn’t really.
On more positive note, as it turned out, I actually learned more from the group than by own preparation. Perhaps it’s a way of God humbles me, God through his word in the bible can speak for himself, He doesn’t need me (or the leaders for the fact) to get His point across to people in the group.
On personal level, talking and thinking about suffering for few days, kind of troubles (disturbs) me. The more days you have lived in this fallen world, the more chance that you experience suffering yourselves or meet people who suffer – and it just makes the whole suffering thing so real – it’s not just an intellectual discussion, people have suffered, are suffering and will suffer. As we learned from Romans 8 – it’s to be expected being part of Creation and much more for being a follower of Christ. But suffering is to be seen in the light of the glory ahead.
We, the follower of Christ, will be adopted as sons of God, will be conformed to the likeness of his Son, will be liberated from the bondage of decay. God is for us, nothing will separate us from the love of God in Christ. This is the reminder that I got.
I read Revolution in World Mission a couple of weeks back. The book was written by K.P. Yohannan, who founded the Gospel for Asia (GFA).
I actually not quite sure how the book ended up on my bookshelf – apparently Lina ordered it (not sure why and how) – but yeah, it’s been sitting there for awhile and one day I just feel like a read and so I read it.
Continue reading
One of the things that I am doing on my break is to meet up with some brothers from Pelita. Although during the catch up, we usually do talk about life in general, there are a few topics or questions that I try to talk through to with them.
One of the questions that I ask is: “Do they have close friends / brothers whom they can trust and talk to if they are facing any difficulties in life?”
Looking at myself (being a worker and a married guy) – I think it’s very easy for us guys to isolate ourselves from the rest. Sure we go to church and bible study weekly – we might even play sports together. But do we care much about other brothers and the flip side of it – do we share our struggles and worries in life with our brothers enough?
I am trying to think through the later. If we are a Church of Jesus Christ which characterized by love – then shouldn’t guys be comfortable sharing their life with (some) brothers? From my observation I don’t think we have that in Pelita, well at least not among the graduate guys.
And I wonder why that is? Is it a problem of trust – do us guys not trust other people? Are brothers not trustworthy? Is it a matter of – “I have a wife / partner now – I don’t really any more friends” – is this a selfish thought? Is it a problem of pride, arrogance and self reliance – “Being a macho man means I can deal with all problems that life throws at me – I really don’t need anyone else to help me”. Are we guys just bad at being open?
Do the married guys have people to talk to if they are having problems in their marriages? When the guys are feeling down or even perhaps having a depression – do they talk about it?
What do you guys think? Is the above true observation of our brothers or is it just me thinking too much?
For me personally, I really thank God that there are guys in Pelita that I really can trust if I need their support and prayers.
I really believe that people are God’s gift for each other and it’s a sad thing if you are a Christian guy at our church and you don’t have anyone whom you can talk to when you are facing problems in your life – find someone – heck talk to me even 🙂