Life, Travel, GRACE

As I watched "Schindler's List" for the second time, I sensed and grasped a different point of view as compare with my first time of watching (which was about a year ago). The story still refreshing and aspiring. There was an one-arm old man who proudly professed he was an essential worker. Towards the end of the movie, the worth of the workers (or the people) had become the theme. The main actor (Oskar Schindler) tried to save all his workers from the holocaust. As I reflect with our current market force, have we really appreaciate the "worker(s)". Have we take for granted all the contributions? Be it direct or non-direct. How do you treat and relate with your colleague, superior and sub-ordinate? A moment to ponder and excogitate.....

1 Sam 15 -> Saul lost his kingship. He disobeyed God's command. He begged for forgiveness....trying to fix thing back. It's too late. Gen 39 -> Joseph lost the trust from his master. He submitted to God. And he was blessed. These two examples from the bible clearly described how men respond to loss (in this case with immediate effect). Our society put their motivation rooted in desire and fear. Desire for wealth accumulation, fear of losing etc. These two, however, can be wisely use together with love - a biblical way. Desire to be holy, fear of God and of course love is the greatest of all. We should prepare ourselves how to face loss of motivation. As the principle applied, love should encompass in our response and action. It is however not easy to apply when the real difficulty arises. Peer support somehow will play a role. Our response should be trusting and submissive to God's authority. Not forgetting desire to be with God and fear of God's command. Our mo

We started off with the first danger that each of us will face: the danger of loss. Each one of us will face loss (or losses) in one of our life stage. Be it loss of your love one, job, motivation, influence etc. Our response to loss somehow will either build our character or destroy us from growing. The group members agreed that different stages of life have different potential or probable loss. Student may feel the loss if they fail the exam. Worker may feel the loss if they do not get employed. And the list goes on. We shall see how can we learn from the response of Saul and Joseph when they encountered loss (1 Sam 15 and Gen 39).

The book of Nehemiah recorded the account how Nehemiah brought back his people and rebuilt the nation. In Neh 1-2, we were told how Nehemiah received the vision and mission. Surely it should have come from the heart and prayers. With the vision he had, he planned. He recruited his people for the vision and mission. He shared his vision with the people. Coincidently, some of them already had the same vision (Neh 1:11, Neh 2:18). God was at work! Another interesting insight is why Nehemiah requested materials for rebuilding the wall and not labor force from the king. In the context of MU ministry, we believe God will prepare his people for the campus vision. Further study on Neh 3-6 revealed the obstacles during the rebuilding of the wall. Attack and threat from enemies as well as internal problem were some of the hindrances. However, it was Nehemiah response that overcome these obstacles. The main principles: be steadfast, stand firm and remain faithful to the calling or mission. B

As we evaluated God’s promises, the book of Isaiah shed some insight and thought. We first studied Isa 40. The passage serves as a reminder who God is and who we are (our creation and crave for the most high). We ought to be humble as God controls everything. A quick look into Isa 42-43 with cross-reference to Eph 1-2 give a bigger picture of God’s purpose for us. We are predestined (Eph 1:5) to be God’s witness and perform ‘good works’ (Eph 2:10). Similarly, God is at work as he prepares ‘delivery’ for his people. And He is doing ‘new things’ (Eph 43:19) as promised (Eph 42:9). What is ‘good works’? An agreeable statement by John Stott: expenditure of energy which brings self-fulfillment, benefit to the community and glory to God.

As the nation was celebrating Deepavali and Hari Raya, most of the people had a whole week off. Having a long break, it is wise to use the rest day to produce true fruitfulness. Four activities which we should cultivate in our leisure time includes relating to creation, ourselves, other people and God. With these principles, the MU Nav members had gone for a retreat during the long off days. The purposes of the retreat were to review and get insight from the Scriptures regarding current ministry situation besides having fellowship and fun time among each other. The retreat was held at Istara condominium, PJ. Night view of KL and PJ as seen from the condo

As we live our life in this fallen world, we are exposed to all sort of "dangers". Danger brings different meaning and experience to each individual. But the danger which we fear the most are the ones we do not see until it is too late. No doubt satan brings good disguise until the victim slowly entrapped into sweet temptation. Each one of us have dreams. Our dreams somehow change along the course of life. Most of the members felt that perspective and dream change as we follow Christ. Dangers come in whether we know it or not. If we are not aware, dangers will destroy our dreams. The members believe the prominent danger that Christians are facing is danger of dream. Christians tend dare not to have big dream (big dream for spiritual work). This could be due to biblical values which have molded the perspective of each Christians. Martin Luther did have a big dream. There are five dangers to be explored: danger of loss, danger of sin, danger of freezing, danger of witdrawal and