At Your Feet O Lord

At Your Feet O Lord

The day begins with yawns

Not knowing what awaits

Except chores, piles of work

Straining for time and life

@ At your feet O Lord

I choose to be with You

I journey in Your Word

Attentive to Your Spirit

In daily journeys, I find

Life is kind and also hurts

My soul, body and mind

But still one place I berth

@ At your feet O Lord

I choose to be with You

I journey in Your Word

Attentive to Your Spirit

At the end of the day

Drained and squeezed dry

Most times no drive to pray

Knowing Emmanuel, I cry

@ At your feet O Lord

I choose to be with You

I journey in Your Word

Attentive to Your Spirit

I Am So Blessed

I'm so blessed to have You walk with me

I'm so blessed to have You talk with me

I'm so blessed, I'm so blessed

I'm so blessed to have You give me life

I'm so blessed to have Your presence with me

I'm so blessed, I'm so blessed

I'm so blessed to have Your listening ear

I'm so blessed to have You hear my prayer

I'm so blessed, I'm so blessed

I'm so blessed to have You hear my cry

I'm so blessed that You are patient to let me try

I'm so blessed, I'm so blessed

An Over-squeezed Bag

A swing of the bag, the water bottle uncapped and the drinking water drenched the things in the school bag. That was what happened on the morning with a really overly and tightly squeezed bag with a water bottle in between. 

The choice made to simply get everything in into a single carrier. The outcome was drenched books for school and slightly later arrival in school. 

Doesn't it remind me and us of something? Doesn't it remind me of the same that goes into each day of my life? Fully packed schedules and no space for other things. 

No space? After wiping the bag, mummy quickly placed the books into an additional bag so that the things are now spaced out in different bags. The bottle topped up and hand carried. The same goes for our lives. The choices to make to space out is needed so as to give a breather to daily life and ease the pain of carrying a burden of heavy school bag. 

In the process of it, choose also to smile and talk through the process after all is cooled down. Precious lessons can become precious teaching moments for both parent and child. 

How Did The Ice Become Ice?

The surrounding was cold. No one talked with him. He was left alone. No one made the warm move to initiate the ice breaking conversation with him. 

The condition was fitting for him to become Ice. Isn't true for our relationships. 

As You Walk With Me

I thank You for the gift of life today. We thank You for the breakfast and beverage too. Nice simple coffee. 

I thank You for providing me warm clothes and daily work. I ask of You to guide my steps to and fro in my journeys. I seek Your bountiful blessings to be remembered throughout the day, whether through creation or through the circumstances which nothing is happening without You knowing, permitting and purposing. 

I thank You for walking with me to work, traveling on the train and bus with me. I know You walk with others too. May their hearts be warmed by Your life. You are life. 

Who Cares About Those Outside?

You can see it on their faces. You can see it in their eyes. "Why be bothered about those outside!" "I am already in the train on my way to work. They can get on the next train. No effort on my part to make space for them to get in."

"Why move in!" "Ok, don't look at those trying to board and standing at the bus stop" "Their agonizing faces make me guilty." The call of the driver to move in for those at the front squeeze of the bus to the back doesn't seem to make an inch of movement. 

Isn't the kind of attitude we have with regards to those outside the boat or outside of Christ our Savior? Heck care responsibility. 

Who else did Christ die for?

How wide did God's love cover?

Praise God for His Mighty Acts

God's Mighty Acts

1. Creation

2. Gift of Life

3. Gift of man and woman

4. Gift of pleasure & enjoyment

5. Gift of worship

6. Daily blessings

7. Gift of His presence

8. Gift of Knowledge

9. Gift of community

10. Gift of Christ & the Spirit

Good Busyness or Bad Busyness?

How do I know or measure if my busyness is good or bad?

This may be just one of the ways to decide if we should get engage in the next busyness. 

We can ask the following questions. 

1. Does the busyness get you to grow and learn and you feel energized through the process?

2. You do not feel drained after the event but wanted to do more?

3. Does the activity refresh you and not consume or squeeze you dry?

4. Does the event not add an additional burden to your daily flow of life i.e. family time, exercise time and rest time?

If the answers to the above are Yes, it is likely you are in good busyness. If the answers are mostly No, it is likely you are in bad busyness and it is time to rethink involvement and say No to them as needed. 

Personal evaluation on a planned schedule is healthy to decide whether certain activities should be strikes off from the time table. 

There is a time to stretch a bit so capacity can be increased overtime but not over committing hurting our bodies and everyone else in the long run. 

Therefore enjoy life and say no to dragging your feet to your next event. 

Living the Christian Life

The path of faith in Christ is a path of following. As we follow, the sheep listens to the Shepherd. This is where the Bible comes into the relationship with God, with Christ, with the Holy Spirit. 

Read the Bible and hear for His words of encouragement, words of life, words of guidance and words of power. 

We are not alone in the following. There are others already following Christ. Learn from them. Therefore we do not walk alone in this path of life. We have other followers who will journey with us and follow Christ together. 

Do I Enjoy My Christian Life?

Is it a valid question? Is Christian life to be enjoyed or should be filled with suffering and enduring with boringness? 

Faith or belief in Christ, the Living Water, the Bread of Life, the Resurrection and the Life ought to be refreshing, hunger filling and rejuvenated life. 

Is God real then, is the next question? I shouldn't be acting out the joyful life, otherwise that would be hypocritical. 

Is Christ real and alive? Walking by faith as written by Paul in Galatians 2:20 is the way of life for the follower and disciple of Christ. 

My joy is complete when I obey God's word. I relate with the invisible and invincible God. I pray and seek His wisdom and joy and life for my enjoyment, that this enjoyment will not end in itself but overflow to others in a rippling effect. 

Like seeking to overcome the mountaintop experience, may God bless an grant joyful and blessful experience in my seeking after Him. 

The Intangibles of Inputs and Outputs

Inputs and Outputs

The inputs in making dumpling are more than the ingredients. It also includes time, energy and skill and knowledge and experience to make the dumpling nice and delicious. 

The same goes for output. The end result is not only the dumplings and food for the family. The output includes the intangibles like family time in making the dumpling, the experience gained from the process, the community of sharing the food and knowledge gained to others who may be interested to learn. 

Book Review: Title - Second Chances by Max Lucado

Second Chances by Max Lucado

- another good story telling book by pastor and author Max Lucado. In thirty short and long chapters, I found encouragement through the stories unpacked from passages of the Bible as well as from the lives of people who experienced the grace of God. 

Without second chances, we are doomed for destruction and missed the blessings of God. Indeed it is only through God's mercies shown on people do we experience second or third or more chances. I simply must take hold of God's grace tightly before my last breath and live to glorify His name through sharing His goodness and grace. 

Be warned - as you read some of these chapters, you may find yourself in the story - you are or were in a similar state and need to be given second chance. 

Because Jesus Lives

God sent His son, they called Him, Jesus; 
He came to love, heal and forgive; 
He lived and died to buy my pardon, 
An empty grave is there to prove my Savior lives! 

Chorus
Because He lives, I can face tomorrow, 
Because He lives, all fear is gone,
Because I know He holds the future, 
And life is worth the living, 
Just because He lives! 

How sweet to hold a newborn baby, 
And feel the pride and joy he brings; 
But greater still the calm assurance:
This child can face uncertain days because He Lives!

Chorus
Because He lives, I can face tomorrow, 
Because He lives, all fear is gone; 
Because I know He holds the future, 
And life is worth the living, 
Just because He lives! 

And then one day, I'll cross the river, 
I'll fight life's final war with pain; 
And then, as death gives way to victory, 
I'll see the lights of glory and I'll know He lives! 

Chorus
Because He lives, I can face tomorrow, 
Because He lives, all fear is gone; 
Because I know He holds the future, 
And life is worth the living, 
Just because He lives!

Have I Been Growing?

How To See Growth?

I look at the plant, I see the shoot, the young plant, then the height, the branches, the leaves and then the shade. It has become taller day and day and grown taller than me many folds. 

I see the construction. The layout of resources, the slabs of foundation, the panels, the workers, the building planners and the workers executing the plan, one by one, day by day, every step carefully and progressively turning the plan into the purpose. 

I see the baby. The cry, the food, the feeding, the walking, the talking, the playing, the teaching, the cycle, the height, the learning, the leaving and the grown up. They have grown up so quickly. 

Have I been growing?

Reading

Relating

Respirating

Reevaluating

Rearranging 

Daily Discipline vs Sloppy Sorries

Daily discipline takes effort and it is daily work. It says No to many distraction and No to tiredness. It says Yes to learning and to growth. 

Sloppy sorries on the other hand give excuses for sloppiness. It says Yes to sleepiness and says Yes to distractions. It says No to opportunities and says No to more life together. 

Choose wisely. 

Live wisely. 

When I Lost Money, Did I lose Myself?

When you lose something like money or phone, did you lose anything in the process?

When a spouse loses the partner in life, something goes missing. 

But should we lose ourselves in the process?

Life goes on and the entire tree lives on nevertheless. 

When I lost money, did I lose myself in the process? Did I learn a little bit of myself more to make changes to the way of keeping things?

Evidence For Experiencing God

Let's say you're going to the office to see if your boss is in. You see his car in the parking lot. You ask the secretary if he's in and she says, 'Yes, I just spoke with him.' You see light from under his office door. You listen and hear his voice on the telephone. On the basis of all this evidence, you have good grounds for concluding that your boss is in his office.

But you could do something quite different. You could go to the door and knock on it and meet the boss face-to-face. At that point, the evidence of the car in the parking lot, the secretary's testimony, the light under the door, the voice on the telephone - all of that would still be valid, but it would take a secondary role, because now you've met the boss face-to-face. (Ps Peter Grant)


And in the same way, when we've met God, so to speak, face-to-face, all of the arguments and evidence for his existence - though still perfectly valid - take a secondary role. They now become confirmatory of what God himself has shown us in a supernatural way through the witness of the Holy Spirit in our hearts.

And this immediate experience of God is available to anyone who seeks it?

Absolutely. The Bible says God is knocking on the door of our life, and if we open it we will encounter him and experience him personally. He says in Revelation 3:20: 'Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will go in and eat with him, and he with me.'

(excerpt taken from Case for Faith by Lee Strobel)

Advance Information

Does knowing advance information help or simply cause one to lose one's own self?

Knowing through the announcement that there is a fault ahead in a train ahead, many passengers made changes to their route of travel to work. In their urgency, they rush and knock on other passengers, some with consideration while some without. 

Can not knowing advance information help? Yes and no. I don't like this answer but the feeling is the truth. Knowing in advance does help but create some sense of urgency and rush especially adrenaline rush and in some cases cause unnecessary accidents due to rush and distracted attention. 

Not knowing advance information does help in some occasions. One simply continues to stick to their world of control. Peace. Peace. No disruptions. One continues to exercise patience and know that the respective departments are fixing the issues and faults. For the sake of improvement, an alternative way of working or route is planned out so work still gets done in the long run and praise to God for His wisdom and strength. 

In these days of information technology, many decisions are made based on data analytics and without, one seems to be crippled entirely. Therefore, trusting becomes an even greater challenge for young and old. 

It seems to hinder thinking and continuous improvement to think out of the box; though that itself is a challenge with spiritual implications - causing people to seek out alternative gods and not fix our eyes and trust on the only true God who knows all things. 

But there is another dimension or argument to it. Without advance information that the world is ending (not knowing when, but looking out for the signs) one can make corrections to life goals and directions to correct one's ways and live life more meaningfully and draw others in the same path if possible. Oblivious to the coming judgement and salvation message of Christ, the Savior, one can continue to live in darkness and slavery for eternity past. 

There was a story of lepers who under dead end situations stumbles upon the enemy's campsite that they have left the camp in a rush, leaving behind a great loot to be savored. They had advance information now. What did they do about it? They received in another angle of sight God's bountiful grace, mercies and blessings for a time like this - in answer to their quiet cry for help and salvation. 

More Helps for Bible Reading

The discipline of Bible Reading is not an individual thing, even though putting in the time to read is the basic essential. Given the motivation to know God more as He reveals Himself through the Word in the process of us reading leisurely and intentionally, we can make this discipline both spiritual and also communal. 

1. Ask for someone to be accountable for the reading progress and even better, someone who is in the habit of Bible Reading. Two keeps the fire going. 

2. Assemble lessons learnt and share the many things God has revealed. It could be as simple as sharing the Bible Reading plan, and obstacles faced and how to overcome them and other challenges still battling out. 

3. Appreciate progress by giving oneself a reward. Celebrate by having a feast at a favorite restaurant and include family, share God's revelation through the reading times and invite others to come for fellowship and encouragement. 

Press on.