Beauty in the Ordinary

Whenever I think of writing a new entry for my blog, I always think about something special. I want to highlight something extra ordinary, something that made my day beyond the usual.

My life this week was not so exciting. Nothing so big had taken place. It seems like everything was in a slow motion. I didn't feel bad but I didn't feel good either.  I wanted to see something spectacular but things seems going round and round.

However most of the time, it's in the ordinary moments of my journey, that God reveals Himself special. It is when I don't have anything big to look forward into that I begin to look up unto Him with great expectation. It is when I look up to Him that I realized there's  none in this world bigger than He is. 

The richness and beauty of life is not dependent on how we feel about our performance. It can't be measured by the number of events we thought were so spectacular. It's not determined by the moments we considered as very special.

Life is richer, when we learn to find its beauty in the ordinary. Life is better when we find the way to be happy in spite of what we feel, what we hear, what see and we didn't see. Life is fuller, when we experience how God would make us feel special even if things around us were entirely ordinary.

In the Name of Love

During our radio program today, one of our listeners sent a question asking us how many types of love do we have in this world. Is there such a a thing as "good love" in contrast to a "bad love"? This is synonymous to a question whether if there's such a "right love" in contrast to a "wrong love". We may think that it is a very simple question but it did cause us to ponder.

 

If we look around us, if we listen to the stories of people we know, we would begin to realize how many people have been wounded because of this thing called love. Many had unintentionally incurred pain and broke someone's heart in the name of love. Many had been victimized. The word love had been exploited.

On the other hand, we could not also disregard the wonderful stories of those who had found their true love. We could not help but be inspired on how two hearts had found its way to become one. We celebrate with them. Sometimes we even covet their joy and wish for our time to come. We begin to dream and visualize for our true love to come.

Considering the contrasting scenarios, we could rightly assume that love might really be divided into two. It is good for those who had experience its joy and pleasure. Consequently, it is bad for those who had been in pain and been victimized by its sweet promises that turned sour and bitter.

If we are going to believe  and accept that assumption, we are only defining love in the worldly dimension. We need to go back to how our God defines love. If we read 1 Corinthians chapter 13, we would realize how good love is. Verse five says, "love is not rude". The whole chapter described love so positively that there was never a hint of badness in it.

The bottom line is this; love in itself is good. The one who got in loved goes from less than good to being bad and even to worst. That's who we are. Human! Frail and prone to fall and fail. That's why we need God's love to bring healing to our wounded hearts. We need first to receive His love so that we could be given to give away love. He is the perfect example of how to show love. He lay down His life for us, In the name of love. 

The Strength of My Heart

I woke up today with a very low energy. In fact I didn't want to wake up at all. Basically, it's because I stayed late last night. Knowing that today is a holiday, I didn't bother to care so much in getting ready for my monday appointments. I feel that I deserve some rest after a week of getting back to my busy schedules.

I always want to start my day right despite of how I feel. To make that happen, I make it a habit to pray, listen to music and read my bible before going out from my room to start a work and mingle with housemates.

Today's reading was very timely. It's in Psalm 73. Verse 26 had spoke right into my heart. It's an awesome declaration of God's sufficiency in my life in the midst of disappointments. It says, "my flesh and my heart may fail but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever".

I think my flesh is not feeling good. I felt that I woke up at the wrong side of the bed literally. But as I appropriate God's strength over me, I felt like he had revitalized my strength. I was also reminded to take good care of my body. To check on my eating habits and exercise.

Hy heart was also in limbo. I didn't feel any excitement about doing the things I should do. I don't want to go out. I want to be all by myself. But as I felt God's comfort and love, I also got my heart revived. It feels good to know that God understands how I feel, and that his love for me is never ending. It's not dependent on how I feel. It doesn't matter how many times I may fail. Truly, He is the strength of my heart and my portion forever. 

This day is almost over. I could have remained in my bed and missed out the opportunity to experience His strength. I could have allowed my feelings to dictate me and missed out the joy He had offered. But I thank God, for not only letting me get through the day, but for filling each moment with His power. 

I would say it over and over that God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever and ever. Amen!

I Missed Her

I was browsing through the folders of pictures in my multiply account when the feeling of missing Pamela had sank in. It's been more than a month since we have not seen each other face to face. I missed our time together. I missed the merriment of just being with her.

Below are the 10 most memorable scenes I treasured the most in my time with her here;

1. Sitting beside her during our worship time in the church.
   
2. Texting her to ask what's her plan for the day and how she felt about her appointments.
   
3. Crossing the road and seeing her confused as I moved to the danger side.
   
4.  Answering her questions that moved me to deeply ponder.
   
5. Taking pictures to the places we explored together.
   
6. Watching her enjoying my stories and my simple jokes.
   
7. Visiting coffee shops and enjoy the coffee-talks.
   
8. Introducing her to the people around me; my family and friends.
   
9. Bringing her home after a day and a night of fun.
   
10. Praying with her about us and our future plans

How I wish that we could be together. But I lay it all to God in total surrender. He alone has the timetable and the power for the two of us to be together until forever.

Get High

We've got a new song composition. I wrote the lyrics last night and we've put the tune this afternoon. This will be our theme song for our IXTHUS GENERATION's big night on June 27, 2008 dubbed as "Let's Get High".

GET HIGH

Lyrics by dre, music by ge-r and tom 

I.

Does your burden weigh you down?

Life's turning round and round?

You don't know what to do

 Lost on where to go

 

II.

There’s a place where you can go

Where you can be renewed

God is waiting there for you

Are you ready now to go?

Pre-chorus

Come be filled with awe

Fill your life to overflow

Chorus:

Get high, get high with God

Receive His power from above

Get high, get high with God

Feel His comfort and love

Get High! Get High! Get High!

 

Bridge:

Tell everyone you know

 Lead them where to go

(The lyrics above had been edited. The video below was our first attempt of trying to record the tunes. Enjoy our creativity... will post soon the video of the edited version)

 

Rest for My Soul

Last night, I came home with a drained energy. I woke up early for a whole day leadership summit and I went home late from an invitation to facilitate a group Bible study. I wanted to sleep right away to revitalize my strength but my soul's longing to connect with God was so heavy.

I started to play worship songs and found my heart singing. I felt the intensity of my soul's desire to rest in God's presence after a day of hearing intense challenges in the leadership summit and a night of helping the youth group in facing their life challenges.

While continually enjoying the music, a phrase kept flashing in my mind, so I grabbed my Bible and searched where I have read that phrase before. It's in Psalms 32:8 where God said,"I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go; I will counsel you and watch over you".

There are four action words in this passage that I was quiet sure God wanted me to be assured of; (1)He is going to instruct me, (2) he is going to teach me, (3) He is going to counsel me, and (4) He is going to watch over me.

I knew in my heart that those were the words I needed from God last night. I have a lot of things I knew I needed to do. I have a lot of plans that I wanted to pursue. On top of that, I have a number of people that I so desired to grow-to do what they need to do just like what I should suppose to do. But the truth was, last night I didn't know what to do.

But those words were so powerful. It reminded me that even if I think I didn't know what to do or even if I really don't know what to do, God surely knows what to do. I have to constantly ask for instructions. I have to always seek His direction. I need to persistently walk in His counsel. And I have to always believe that He will watch over me, go ahead of me and will fight for me.

As I laid my head to sleep, my heart was thankful to the Lord. My soul had found rest in quietness and trust to my God. 

The Gift of Silence

I'm in the library while writing this blog today. It's not totally silent here. I can hear the sound of the air-con. I can overhear other people's conversation. But at least there's a certain silence that makes me feel relax, peaceful and restful (it's a good place to sleep! I'm yawning now. hehe).

However, there's a kind of silence that's not dependent on the noise outside. It's an inward silence. We may call it the silence of the mind or the silence of the heart. I would want to describe my mind and heart today as silent. I don't even know if my description is right. When I thought about what to write on the blog, I could not think of anything. When I searched my heart for a magical feeling, until now my heart is still resting.

I'm not an alien to this kind of silence. But for the past three weeks, I realized that my mind was so engaged with life's twists and realities. My heart was so captivated with the differing emotions propelled by my reflections and contemplations. 

I like to think that my life was in constant motion. My body was at rest but my mind is filled with notions. My blog had become my pre occupation. It makes my heart wander, sometimes far away.

But today, I started to enjoy the gift of silence. My mind is at peace. My heart is at rest. My body is relaxing.