The Puzzle

A father wanted to read a magazine but was being bothered by his little daughter, Kelly. Finally, he tore a sheet out of his magazine on which was printed the map of the World. Then tearing it into small pieces, he gave it to Kelly, and said, "Go into the other room and see if you can put this together." He was sure that would keep her busy all afternoon! After only a few minutes, Kelly returned and handed him the map, correctly fitted together. The father was surprised and asked how she had finished so quickly. "Oh," she said, "on the other side of the paper is a picture of Jesus. When I got all of Jesus back where He belonged, then the World came together.."

"The Lord will guide you always;
He will satisfy your needs in a sun-scorched land
and will strengthen your frame.
You will be like a well-watered garden,
like a spring whose waters never fail.
Your people will rebuild the ancient ruins
and will raise up the age-old foundations;
you will be called Repairer of Broken Walls,
Restorer of Streets with Dwellings."

-Isaiah 58:11-12

was basically thinking through some stuff while brushing my teeth in the morning. and this came to my mind: keeping the main thing the main thing.

not something new, but yeah, it's like something finally snapped within me. what's my 'main thing' at this very moment, or rather, season in my life? do i know what is that main thing so that i can keep it the main thing?

right. feels confusing isnt it. interestingly, today's sermon brought me to explore philippians a lil more. and an a-ha moment occurred.

philippians 3:5-9

is all about focus. absolute focus. and it means, 'letting go of nice things that don't matter', as defined in the maxwell leadership bible.

Paul had a sharp focus. he discarded not only the things he once counted as gain, but he would rather lose it all if that allows him to gain intimacy with Christ.

Jesus told Martha- "only one thing is neccessary".

quoting from the maxwell bible- people base their decisions on a variety of things:

1. The Ultimate: first things first.
2. The Urgent: loud things first.
3. The Unpleasant: hard things first.
4. The Unfinished: last things first.
5. The Unfulfilling: dull things first.

Paul exemplifies a leader who focused on the Ultimate everyday. how about us? how about me?

i have a tendency to do the loud things first, and even sometimes, dull things first.

so what can i do?

as suggested by john c. maxwell.,

1. Work on yourself. -You are your greatest asset or liability.
2. Work on your priorities. -Fight for the important ones.
3. Work in your strengths. -You can reach your potential if you do.
4. Work with your colleagues. -You can't be effective alone.

great life lessons to learn from Paul.

going a little cross-eyed with doing up the darebin blog. but praise God, at least what was supposed to be put on it turned out readable. haha. hope to add more stuff along the way! a stepping stone!

check us out @ www.hopedarebin.blogspot.com

i promise you i have decided and am convicted today that IT is not my stuff. i seriously think that i have not much of a "rapport" to say with htmL, xmL, or whatever Ls. haha. i hate it when it goes out of alignment and they tell me that the codes are "not closed properly". WHAT's not close properly; WHERE's not close properly, i have no idea! haha. man. i need some dummies course.

but anw, praise Him. it manage to fall into some alignment somehow.

now i shall go do something else- cutting the pork belly into cubes as instructed by Atom, and marinate them. so she can cook tmr's church dinner. haha

now, that's another task i think i will take a long long time. hmmm.

with God, all things are possible. -matthew 19:26.

yea, amen. haha.

Something about worship.

"The authenticity of worship resides not in the composer of a song, but rather in the heart of the singer”-Batsirai Chada

how true.

i say,

the authenticity of worship resides not in the composer of a song (or worship leader, christian artistes etc.) , but rather in the heart of the worshipper.

i stumbled upon shenteng's and peiru's blog on missions. was previously on a sleepy mode, and when i viewed their testimony online, i am so touched by their hearts to do something great for Jesus!

and i went on to read their blog- chronicles of ecuador. Christ is indeed working in their lives over there, and using them greatly to impact the south americans!

and of course, their support and encouragement for each other in Christ's work! sweet!

the verse peiru quoted spoke heaps too- 2 Cor 12

9But he said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness." Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ's power may rest on me. 10That is why, for Christ's sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong.

You are my delight!

we were walking across the road aft lifegroup at uni a couple days ago, and the university security van drove past us.

and it read "obama university"

novel ways to communicate the news. :)