Tuesday, March 31, 2015

My Princess

For my daughter Audrey’s first birthday, my wife and I planned to have a small celebration with a few friends and family members at home; instead we ended up with a cupcake-themed extravaganza at the restaurant her grandparents manage. Admittedly, it was probably more for everyone else’s benefit. Audrey spent much of the time observing the proceedings warily from the safety of someone’s arms and flatly refused to pose for photos by her lone candle, despite (or because of) much encouragement to do so.
People talk about how fast time flies, and I feel it really does. Maybe that’s because I’m getting older. When I was a child, days, weeks, and months—not to mention years—seemed to pass so slowly; now it seems like only a few weeks ago that I first met Audrey. I remember that day so well, along with all my first impressions and emotions as I watched the nurse give Audrey her first bath, and then her falling asleep in my arms for the first time.
Before she was born, I often heard parents talk about the joys of having children, but I wasn’t convinced. I believed those parents truly thought they were happy, but I didn’t understand how. Weren’t their lives more stressful, tiring, and hectic than before? Didn’t they have less free time? Weren’t they embarrassed by their children turning over a plate of food, frazzled by their children’s whininess when they were tired, annoyed by their clinginess or repeated petty disobediences? I was sure I would be. While I enjoyed being around other people’s children, I felt I valued my time and comfort too much to ever have any of my own.
Now, however, I can’t imagine my life without Audrey. Every smile, every peal of laughter, every new discovery she makes, every new toy she masters, every animal sound she learns fills me with deep happiness and gratitude for her presence in my life. Her latest discovery is that a piercing shriek is an effective way to get my attention when she wants me to play with her or read her a book, but even that doesn’t take away from the love I feel for her or the happiness she brings.
One would think that our heavenly Father would be embarrassed by our lack of wisdom, frazzled by our constant need for Him, and annoyed at our limitations. But God never gets fed up with us or tires of having us around.
Psalm 127:3 ESV / Behold, children are a heritage from the Lord, the fruit of the womb a reward.
Proverbs 22:6 ESV / Train up a child in the way he should go; even when he is old he will not depart from it.
Ephesians 6:4 ESV / Fathers, do not provoke your children to anger, but bring them up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord.

Monday, March 30, 2015

Being Social

“Who are you here to see?” the petite dark-haired nurse asked as I sipped tea in the waiting area and scrawled in my journal.
“My nephew,” I answered with a smile. “He’s asleep, though, so I’ll wait.”
“Oh, he really needs visitors. He’s still a child,” she said in her motherly way. Although my nearly full-grown teenage nephew now towers over me when he’s not wasting away in a hospital bed, I still remember his chubby cheeks and legs when I first held him at three months old.
The nurse, like the kindly orderly outside his bedroom who showed me how to wear the plastic cover-all robe, spoke of my nephew with affection. “We’re concerned about him. Some days, nobody visits.” I nodded in agreement, even though he was in quarantine and on chemotherapy, so it wasn’t as though we all could just waltz in at any time.
A little later, during the course of a conversation with my nephew, he gave me his cell phone number and said he’d love for more people to call him. Now, even more than before, excuses seemed feeble. How hard could it be to pick up a phone?
I was sickly as a child and into my teens and twenties, and I remember being confined to my bed while my more robust siblings and friends rushed around enjoying fresh air and sunshine, bikes and playmates. The sense of frustration at my body’s failure to operate properly was pretty hard to deal with, and any visits by people to check how I was doing meant a lot. I certainly experienced feelings of isolation during my illnesses, but now that I’m healthy, I find myself making excuses. “I don’t know him that well.” “He probably doesn’t consider me very cool anyway.” “Why would he want to spend time chatting with his aunt?”
In our modern world of zipping around, trying to balance work and children, housekeeping and pet care, errands and other obligations, we must be living in the most time-challenged era ever. But when we meet Jesus someday, He isn’t going to say, “You were busy, yet you still fit in time to read that great novel or to paint your toenails. Good for you!” He kindly arranged our priorities for us two millennia ago when He said, “I was hungry, thirsty, a stranger, naked, sick, and in prison, and you looked after Me.”1 Lesser things tend to fall away with that kind of clarity.
Ephesians 4:32 ESV / Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you.
Romans 12:15 ESV / Rejoice with those who rejoice, weep with those who weep.
Matthew 7:12 ESV / “So whatever you wish that others would do to you, do also to them, for this is the Law and the Prophets.

Sunday, March 29, 2015

Love God, Love Those he Loves

The expression “Love me, love my dog” came to life when my wife and I got a puppy—a first for me. We adore Sophie and she adores us. Actually, she adores everyone. She is not only one of those hyperactive toy breeds, but also one that is famously sociable. She starts wagging her tail as soon as a new person enters her world, and within a second or two her tail is wagging the rest of her so hard that she nearly comes unglued. If the new person so much as acknowledges Sophie’s existence, she gets even more excited and eager to “bond.” This is when we find out who loves dogs and who doesn’t.
I’m about to make a larger point, but before I do, another little story that I think most parents will be able to relate to. When my children were small they acted, well, childish. They whined and cried over the littlest things, spilt more food and drink than they swallowed, broke stuff out of clumsiness and curiosity, and as soon as they were old enough to understand boundaries, began pushing them. I loved them anyway. They could be annoying, even aggravating, but they were only children, after all, and this was all part of the learning, maturing process. Plus they were mine. What really annoyed me was when others let their annoyance show. “Love me, love my children.”
In that context, the connection between the two rules for life that Jesus said encompass all the rest—love God, and love others1—becomes clearer. “Love God, love those He loves,” which is everyone. If we truly love God and believe that He created us in His own image, as the Bible says, we will love and respect each of His creations enough to try our best to understand and accept him or her—faults, foibles, and all.
Matthew 7:12 ESV / “So whatever you wish that others would do to you, do also to them, for this is the Law and the Prophets.
Romans 12:10 ESV / Love one another with brotherly affection. Outdo one another in showing honor.
Philippians 2:3 ESV / Do nothing from rivalry or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves.

Payer Request

1. Please intercede for Corps family Bro Dave, Lily and Daniel.

2. Please intercede for our Territorial Leaders Colonels Lyndon and Bronwyn and Lieut. Colonels Paul and Evelyn for wisdom and empowerment as they lead us forward.

3. Please intercede for our Singapore and Malaysia cadets who will be Commissioned and Ordained during the congress. Pray for Cadet Tan Bee Yit and Bee Geok, Cadet Tan Wee Keong and Joyce, Cadet Kayathrih and Cadet Carmen Ng.

Announcement

Good Friday Service
Date: 2nd April 2015 / Venue: Worship Hall
Time: 8:00pm (Thursday)

Easter Sunrise Service 
Date: 5th April 2015 / Venue: YMCA
Time: 7:00am (Sunday)

Easter Service 
Date: 5th April 2015 / Venue: Worship Hall
Time: 10:30am (Sunday)

MOMEMTUM
"Celebrating the Past, Embracing the Future"
Singapore 80th Anniversary Celebration
Date: 3rd - 5th April 2015
Venue: Singapore Central Corps Auditorium

Territorial Music & Arts Camp 2015
Date: 9th - 13th June 2015
Venue: Eagle Ranch Resort Port Dickson
Fees: RM160 until 20 April 2015 / RM210 after that.
Closing Date: 4th May 2015.

Saturday, March 28, 2015

Day by Day

“You have trusted [god] in a few things, and he has not failed you. Trust him now for everything. You find no difficulty in trusting him with the management of the universe and all the outward creation, and can your case be any more complex or difficult than these, that you need to be anxious or troubled about his management of it?”—Hannah Whitall Smith (1832–1911)
Life is often pictured as a journey. Step by step, day by day, we travel along a road that is uniquely ours. Although we sometimes share our joys and griefs with others we meet along the way, nobody else’s journey is exactly the same. The one thing that we do have in common, however, is the possibility of a life companion and counselor who will be with us each moment. God says, “Call to me and I will answer you and tell you great and unsearchable things you do not know” and “I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go.”
If you look back at your journey through the past year, particularly times when you struggled, you can probably recognize situations that could have played out better had you prayed for guidance and followed the path that God indicated. But don’t worry! It’s a new year, fresh with new possibilities.
Take a few minutes to think about your daily routine. Perhaps you could start a prayer diary, or make a plan to read through the book of Psalms or the Gospels, or take five minutes when you wake up or before you go to sleep to think about the good things in your life and thank God for them. Whatever you decide, make it a resolution and stick with it, for you have “a friend who sticks closer than a brother.”
Day by day, and with each passing moment,
Strength I find to meet my trials here;
Trusting in my Father’s wise bestowment,
I’ve no cause for worry or for fear.
He, whose heart is kind beyond all measure,
Gives unto each day what He deems best,
Lovingly its part of pain and pleasure,
Mingling toil with peace and rest.
—Lina Sandell (1832–1903), translated from Swedish to English by A. L. Skoog
Jeremiah 33:3 (NIV) ‘Call to me and I will answer you and tell you great and unsearchable things you do not know.’
Psalm 32:8 (NIV)
I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go;
I will counsel you with my loving eye on you.
Proverbs 18:24 (NIV)
One who has unreliable friends soon comes to ruin,
but there is a friend who sticks closer than a brother.

Friday, March 27, 2015

Aim High, Finish Strong

I read an article in a running magazine that explained how caffeine could enhance a runner’s performance in a race by diminishing the perception of fatigue. I tried it in a marathon, and sure enough, not only did I set an all-time personal best, but I did so after expending precious energy conversing with a fellow runner during the entire first half of the race. Had I realized that my tongue would be stimulated along with my legs and had I focused more on the race, I’m sure I could have finished even faster.
In that instance and in others since, caffeine provided a boost that translated into a few minutes’ difference in my race time. I don’t take in extra caffeine during my normal training. If I did, it wouldn’t have the same effect during a race. Also, without a solid base of fitness upon which to apply it, no amount of caffeine would set any records. In order to benefit from that extra boost, I had to put in many miles of training week after week, adhere to a healthy lifestyle day in and day out, and really enjoy running.
I didn’t start my running career that way. At first my motivation was rather shortsighted. I had recently recovered from a very bad cough and didn’t want to get that sick again. Over time I discovered the following principles, which are motivational experts’ bread and butter because they can be applied to almost any area of life:
1. Set small, reachable, short-term goals. When I first began running, my goal was to put on my running shoes, get outside, and run a little every day.
2. Don’t beat yourself up when you fall short. You will have bad days and bad spells; everyone does. Negative self-talk about a disappointing performance is more damaging than the “failure” itself.
3. Be flexible. Adapt to changing circumstances. Expect surprises and flow with them.
4. Aim High. Small, achievable, short-term goals are necessary, but so are large long-term ones. Dare to dream an impossible dream.
5. Nourish your dream. Why is this goal important to you? Why do you believe it can be done? Why do you believe you are the person to do it? Write down your answers, collect inspirational and motivational quotes and anecdotes that support your answers, and review them in times of crisis and self-doubt.
6. Have patience. When clocking your progress, watch the hour hand, not the second hand.
Philippians 3:13-14 ESV / Brothers, I do not consider that I have made it my own. But one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.
Matthew 6:33 ESV / But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.
Luke 10:27 ESV / And he answered, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind, and your neighbor as yourself.”

Thursday, March 26, 2015

Through the Fog

Changes are awfully unsettling for me. I like my little nest, where everything is just so and nothing jostles me too much. I like routines and schedules, the comfort of knowing what’s going on—both immediately and in the future. Change can be exciting sometimes, but mostly it’s really tough. It’s tough leaving behind stuff I know and love, and it’s tough not knowing what’s ahead.
Not long ago, my husband and I found ourselves moving away from family and friends. We had good reasons for the move, and we knew where we were going, but of course much of the future was still a big blank. And that was scary.
Our trip took us through mountain roads at night, and as we drove, thick fog set in. There were no lights or houses lining this stretch of road, and to make things worse, it soon seemed that we may have taken a wrong turn. Great.
I squinted into the fog, leaning forward against my seat belt, trying to see where we were going. I couldn’t see any signs, and I got more and more worried that we were going the wrong way. As I said, I don’t like uncertainty.
My imagination went hyperactive, creating all kinds of awful scenarios, like being lost in the mountains or sliding off the edge of a steep cliff. Each scenario was worse than the last.
Finally I quit trying to see through the fog and settled back in my seat. I looked over at my husband, and he was confidently driving on, not worried about the fog but just slowly following the road immediately in front of us. I sat back and willed myself to relax—and sure enough, we eventually got safely through the fog and back on to clear roads, and we made it safely to our destination.
My life at the time was like that dark and fog-clouded road. All I could see was what was immediately before us, like headlights only illuminate one patch of road at a time. But God is my driver, and I can trust Him. He has a perfect driving record, and He’s always gotten me safely to my destination before. Even though I have sometimes thought we were lost, He always knew exactly where we were.
When God led the children of Israel through the desert, they didn’t have a map or a compass or a smartphone with built-in GPS telling them when to turn. They didn’t even know where they were going. All they knew was that they were supposed to leave Egypt.
While it could not have been fun being slaves in Egypt, maybe it was tough for some of the Israelites to leave the only life they knew. Maybe some of them had friends in Goshen, and at least they had had food to eat and a place to live.
But as they obeyed and followed God, He took care of them. When they ran into a dead end at the Red Sea, He opened a road for them right through the water. When they were hungry, He dropped food from the sky. When they were thirsty, He poured water from a rock. When they didn’t know which way to go, He put a cloud in front of them to lead the way.
Yet even after all that, they still doubted God. I never understood why; it was obvious that God had been with them all along. Why would they question His abundance and care after He showed them again and again what He was capable of? But then, I do the same thing. God has never failed to provide for me and guide my life, and yet I still end up fretting when the future isn’t clearly mapped out.
Proverbs 3:5–6 tells us to “Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct your paths.” Even if everything is dark ahead, if you feel like you’re in a fog and you don’t know which way to go, if you acknowledge God, if you turn to Him, He will guide you. He will keep you on the right track and bring you through to your personal Promised Land.
As I was getting ready to make this big move, I came across a Bible verse that I couldn’t remember ever having read before—Jeremiah 29:11: “‘I know the plans I have for you,’ the Lord says, ‘plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.’” Now that’s a promise! He has plans for each of us. He is going to prosper us. He wants to give us hope and a future. Isn’t that great?
The future still isn’t totally clear, and I know it may never be. I’m not sure how everything is going to turn out in the end, but that’s okay. I know who is in control, and I know His plan is perfect.
1 Peter 2:9 ESV / But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light.
Acts 2:38 ESV / And Peter said to them, “Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.
Proverbs 3:6 ESV / In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths.

Wednesday, March 25, 2015

Little Green Steps of Progress

One day Joe broke his arm. They said it was par for the parkour he practiced. Joe was a traceur. He lived in a world that consisted of one giant obstacle course, climbing and leaping, escaping and reaching, vaulting and rolling across his busy cityscape. Joe pushed himself on his runs, sometimes over cars or walls, sometimes across rooftops. Sometimes too far. Destiny watched him from afar, eyeing his toothpick arm and waiting for her chance.
On the morning when he broke his arm, Joe had gone with a couple of friends on a practice run for a home video they were making. A few warm-up moves gave Destiny her chance.
Joe ran up a small wall, perched on the top for an instant, then leaped out into space. His fingers closed around a horizontal metal bar in front of him, a bar that was supposed to stop his fall.
A bar supported by rotting wood.
The wood gave way, and Joe fell backwards.
The dusty ground broke more than his fall. He scrambled to his feet clutching his left wrist, which was bent down and then up in a sharp “Z.” Someone called the paramedics.
Joe woke up in the hospital, eyelids still heavy from the sedatives they’d given him. A white plaster cast from his wrist to his elbow sheathed his badly dislocated wrist and the two fractures in the radius.
For four weeks, Joe struggled with his disability. He learned to type with one hand, to live without daily showers, to let other people button his shirts and tie his shoes and wash his dishes.
After a month, the cast came off. Finally Joe was free. He spent ten minutes scratching and an hour and a half in the bathtub.
But all was not back to normal. After 29 days of disuse, the muscles in his left arm had shrunk and atrophied. His arm was now half its original thickness, and the skin hung like plastic wrap over his mended bone. The slightest attempt to turn or straighten the arm sent shockwaves of pain through his body.
Heat therapy helped to loosen the shriveled muscles, and he was able to pivot the wrist a little more each day. Soon it was time to start strength therapy. After a month of stockpiling cobwebs in the darkness under Joe’s bed, his old 35-pound dumbbell again found itself in the center of the room, squinting at the light. He grabbed at the handle enthusiastically with his left hand and heaved. Nothing. He strained. He sweated. He gritted his teeth and chewed into his tongue. He breathed muffled threats at the stubborn iron mass. The weight just sat there grinning. Tactics would have to change.
Joe borrowed a small expandable dumbbell from his sister (for a paperweight, he told her). It was tiny and covered in green plastic. Joe made sure no one saw him as he snuck it into his room.
As he struggled with his little green “paperweight,” he could hear his friends grunting under the weight of giant barbells, heaving and thrusting as they exerted themselves silly. He ignored the distant manliness.
It was hard work at first—even with such a ridiculously small plaything—and every lift pained him. But as the days went by and he ignored the ache in his wrist, it began to go away. Soon Joe had mastered the little green toy.
What pride he felt when he added two more little green disks. He still wasn’t strong, but he was getting strong. The solution would not be to crush himself with unrealistic expectations. It would be to start small and work up.
Soon he had added all of the little green disks to the dumbbell and was flinging it around like a house in a tornado. The iron dumbbell under the bed surrendered eventually as well, subjugated by determination and a few little green steps of progress.
Joe still has a ways to go before his arm is completely back to normal, but he knows that it won’t help to grizzle about the things he could once do with his arm. Instead, he looks back at how far he has come and ahead to complete recovery one day.
And when that day comes, well, I might just go out for another run.
James 1:12 ESV / Blessed is the man who remains steadfast under trial, for when he has stood the test he will receive the crown of life, which God has promised to those who love him.
Romans 5:3-5 ESV / More than that, we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.
Galatians 6:9 ESV / And let us not grow weary of doing good, for in due season we will reap, if we do not give up.

Tuesday, March 24, 2015

What’s the Point?

When I turned 60 last year, I did some soul searching. I clearly hadn’t achieved all I could or should have in my life so far. Was I therefore a failure? Give me a minute before I answer that.
I’d gone through some changes recently and was now at a place both geographically and career-wise that was not what I had had in mind. I wasn’t unhappy, but I wasn’t entirely pleased with my circumstances either. I felt like I was becalmed at sea, no wind in my sails, monotonous stretches of ocean in all directions. The horizon was in sight, but that didn’t help. I couldn’t decide which point on the horizon to aim for, and even if I could, I had no means to propel myself towards it. What and where was my purpose in life?
For all my adult life, I had dedicated myself to varying degrees to achieving what I understood to be God’s purpose for me. I had thought I had a fairly good idea of what this was, but now all bets were off. I had primed myself for great things, but now great things seemed a pipe dream.
As I reflected on my own life and the lives of others, I realized that there are some people who most of us can agree were great—not necessarily because we approve of everything they said and did, but because they had an impact; in some objective way their lives and achievements were great. But were these relative few the only ones who had fulfilled their destinies? For that matter, is there any such thing as destiny? Are our lives supposed to be fulfilling in themselves? Are we supposed to be satisfied at the end of it all? Is that the point? Or is there something else at work here?
Saint Paul wrote, “If only for this life we have hope in Christ, we are of all people most to be pitied.” When I meditated on this verse in the past, I had looked at it from Paul’s first-century perspective. We all know that there were copious amounts of persecution directed at the first Christians, to whom Paul was writing. He meant to encourage them that their brief lives here were not the final word or the whole story.
Life is often compared with school. I can remember grumbling along with many of my classmates about being stuck in school when we wanted nothing more than to get on with our lives. It seemed as though we would be stuck there forever, while teachers kept trying to cram more lessons into us. But school wasn’t meant to be the culmination of our lives. It wasn’t our destiny. It was merely a training ground, an opportunity to garner knowledge and skills that we could apply later.
I now believe that we are not supposed to peak in this school we call life. This life is only a stage. Yes, we are to gain all we can from it, but we don’t have to worry that we have somehow missed our destiny if all we have to show are some scars and hard-won wisdom.
What, then, are we supposed to accomplish here? What does God want or expect from us in this life? What is our purpose? This is how Solomon stated it: “Everything you were taught can be put into a few words: Respect and obey God! This is what life is all about.”
We are works in progress, but if we can look at ourselves in the mirror and honestly say that we are trying to live our lives that way, then we are doing what we are supposed to be doing. Fulfilling this is our destiny. That is the point.
1 Peter 2:9 ESV / But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light.
Proverbs 16:4 ESV / The Lord has made everything for its purpose, even the wicked for the day of trouble.
Romans 8:28 ESV / And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose.

Monday, March 23, 2015

Hope Eternal

“We rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us” (Romans 5:3–5 ESV).
This is one of my favorite Bible passages, but for the longest time I had difficulty understanding how “character produces hope.” I followed up to the “endurance produces character” part, but how do the difficult experiences that forge character make us more hopeful?
The cynic in me felt that it was more likely to be the other way around. I realized that life was going to throw me some curveballs. I didn’t expect things to be all sunshine and roses. I didn’t think of that as a bad thing, but it wasn’t exactly “hope.”
It dawned on me recently that I frequently settle for a superficial meaning of the word: “I hope we have good weather tomorrow.” “I hope things work out for you.” The way the word “hope” has come to be used, it can have an almost fatalistic ring to it. The things we hope for may or may not work out, so especially when we have little or no control over the outcome, we might as well “hope,” because that’s about all we can do.
But the apostle Paul is not talking about the wishful thinking kind of hope here. He’s talking about hope of the Gospel. It’s hope that is grounded in faith in God’s love and loving plan for us personally and for humankind. In his letter to the Hebrews, Paul writes, “We have this hope as an anchor for the soul, firm and secure.” It’s when we face difficulties and the bleak, blank times of life that hope in the deepest, truest sense shines brighter, stronger. This is how the deepening and shaping of our character produces hope.
Then we won’t shrink from the trials of life or be apprehensive in times of uncertainty. The hope that “does not put us to shame” will never let us down. Why? Because it comes to us through God’s love, which “has been poured into our hearts.” From that love springs faith, hope, and yet more love. It’s a beautiful, perfect cycle, an ongoing exchange of hope and trust that God has given to carry us through life, closer to Him.
Romans 5:3-4 ESV / More than that, we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope,
Hebrews 10:36 ESV / For you have need of endurance, so that when you have done the will of God you may receive what is promised.
James 1:2-4 ESV / Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.

Sunday, March 22, 2015

The Journal

When the thought first crossed my mind that I should make a New Year’s resolution to keep a daily journal, I immediately dismissed it. Too many past resolutions had fallen by the wayside, and I could foresee ending the year with a journal full of empty pages. I also didn’t have time for another project, I told myself.
However, I had recently completed a counseling course in which keeping a journal was a requirement. The instructor had emphasized making a habit of recording thoughts, ideas, plans, experiences, worries, fears, and victories. It was an important step toward self-awareness, he explained, and that is crucial to being able to help someone else sort out their problems.
I decided to give it a fair try, and I’m glad I did. I chose a journal that had a thought-provoking quote and Bible verse at the bottom of each day’s page, and I committed to spending 15 minutes each day writing in it. Here are some of the benefits I have already experienced:
Keeping a journal helps me to better understand my strengths and to identify self-defeating or negative mindsets and habits.
It helps me uncover discrepancies between what I think and how I act—wanting to lose weight but finding excuses to not exercise, for instance.
Writing about difficult or sad experiences helps me understand and come to terms with what happened, which is a necessary part of the healing process.
Noting what I’ve prayed for each day and keeping a record of how those prayers were answered has strengthened my faith.
Writing about situations with people I have a hard time getting along with has helped me uncover and avoid the patterns that lead to misunderstandings and bad feelings.
At the end of each month I review and summarize the highlights, which gives me a better idea of how things are going, what challenges or obstacles came up and how they were resolved, which prayers were answered, what progress was made toward my goals, which decisions or plans I followed through on, etc.
Looking back I can wholeheartedly say that journaling was worth the effort. The filled-out pages of my 2011 journal are now a treasure chest of ideas, thoughts, lessons, revelations, achieved goals, and answered prayers.
Philippians 4:13 ESV / I can do all things through him who strengthens me.
John 14:15 ESV / “If you love me, you will keep my commandments.
2 Corinthians 5:9 ESV / So whether we are at home or away, we make it our aim to please him.

Prayer Points

1. Pray for General Andre and Commissioner Silva as they travel to KL and then to Penang.
Pray for all our Salvationists in Malaysia who will share fellowship with the General.

2. Pray for every Corps and Center in Malaysia, for colleague officers and all involved in TSA ministry.

3. Pray for God's Kingdom to come and HIS will be done in Malaysia.

Announcements

General's Visit to Penang
Dinner at Penang Children Home
Date: 1st April 2015 Time: 7:30pm
All are welcome!

MOMEMTUM
"Celebrating the Past, Embracing the Future"
Singapore 80th Anniversary Celebration
Date: 3rd - 5th April 2015
Venue: Singapore Central Corps Auditorium

Territorial Music & Arts Camp 2015
Date: 9th - 13th June 2015
Venue: Eagle Ranch Resort Port Dickson
Fees: RM160 until 20 April 2015 / RM210 after that.
Closing Date: 4th May 2015.

Saturday, March 21, 2015

Gain by giving

You may have noticed the contented aura, even radiance, of people who make it a habit to give.Whether it’s time, money, help, friendship, or encouragement, they always seem to not only be content themselves, but to have enough to share with others. Jesus explained how this can be so: “Give, and it will be given to you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken together, and running over, will be poured into your lap.” (Luke 6:38 NIV)
If we give to others, yield to their wishes to make them happy, or put their needs above our own, we can sometimes feel like we’re losing out. But we’re not really. God sees such unselfishness, and He will reward it. You never lose by giving.

The trade up
A story is told of a well-to-do lady who had become a Christian late in life. One day she was walking along a city street accompanied by her granddaughter. When a beggar approached them, the lady listened to his tale. She then took a bill from her purse and placed it in his palm. At the next corner a Salvation Army volunteer was waiting, and the lady dropped a gift into her kettle. Her granddaughter looked at her with curiosity and then said: “Grandma, I guess you have lost a lot since you became a Christian, haven’t you?”
“Yes,” said the lady, “I have. I have lost a quick temper, a habit of criticizing others, and a tendency to spend all my spare time in frivolous social events and pleasures that mean nothing. I have also lost a spirit of greed and selfishness. Yes, indeed, I have lost a good deal.
“And what I have gained is invaluable!—Peace of mind; power in prayer; a Friend who is always with me, who knows, loves, and protects me; fulfillment and richness in life that I never knew existed; faith that allows no room for fears; a promise of a wonderful heavenly home when I’m through with this earthly one—and much more! Yes, I’m happy about what I’ve lost, and what I have gained is priceless!”

The Bank of Heaven
“Take this to the poor widow who lives on the edge of town,” the old German shoemaker told his young apprentice, handing him a basket of fresh garden vegetables. The shoemaker worked hard at his trade and cultivated his little garden patch to make ends meet, yet he always seemed to be giving away what little he had.
“How can you afford to give so much away?” he was asked.
“I give nothing away,” he said. “I lend it to the Lord, and He repays me many times. I am ashamed that people think I am generous when I am repaid so much. A long time ago, when I was very poor, I saw someone even poorer than I. I wanted to give something to him, but I could not see how I could afford to. However, I did give, and the Lord has helped me ever since. I have always had some work, and my garden grows well. Since then I have never stopped to think twice when I have heard of someone in need. No, even if I gave away all I have, the Lord would not let me starve. It is like money in the bank, only this time the bank—the Bank of Heaven—never fails, and the interest comes back every day.”
God may not always reward you in mere dollars and cents; His reward may be in the form of protection from accidents, misfortunes, or serious illnesses that would have cost you a hundred times more than anything you may have given. But in whatever way it comes, He will reward you.

Give, and it will be given unto you!
According to legend, there was once an abbey which had a very generous abbot. No beggar was ever turned away, and the abbot gave all he could to the needy. The strange thing was that the more he gave away, the richer the abbey seemed to become.
When the old abbot died, he was replaced by a new one with exactly the opposite nature—he was mean and stingy. One day an elderly man arrived at the monastery, saying that he had stayed there years before and was seeking shelter again. The abbot turned the visitor away, saying that the abbey could no longer afford its former hospitality.
“Our monastery cannot provide for strangers like it used to when we were wealthy,” he said. “No one seems to make gifts towards our work nowadays.”
“Ah well,” said the stranger, “I think that is because you banished a brother from the monastery.”
“I don’t think we ever did that,” said the puzzled abbot.
“Oh yes,” was the reply. “And he had a twin. The one you banished was called ‘Give’ and his twin was ‘It shall be given unto you.’ You banished ‘Give,’ so his brother decided to go as well.”
Matthew 6:19-21 ESV / “Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal, but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.
2 Corinthians 8:14 ESV / Your abundance at the present time should supply their need, so that their abundance may supply your need, that there may be fairness.
Luke 6:30 ESV / Give to everyone who begs from you, and from one who takes away your goods do not demand them back.

Friday, March 20, 2015

The cure for loneliness

Question: How can I cope with the extreme loneliness that I feel?
Answer: If you’re lonely, you’re not alone! Many people today are lonely—especially in cities, where life has been aptly described as “millions of people being lonesome together.” Just living in the middle of a lot of people won’t necessarily relieve loneliness, because loneliness comes from being insulated from others, not only isolated. And sad to say, it is often self-inflicted. People build walls around themselves instead of bridges. So what is the cure for loneliness? Loving others. Consider this true story:
There once was a very lonely woman who was always seeking a new lover, but never finding one that satisfied or lasted or that relieved her loneliness. Why? Because she was always seeking to get love, to be loved! Then one day a friend suggested that perhaps she needed to learn to give love unselfishly for the benefit of another. After years of searching, this thought struck the woman as an entirely new idea. She went out and tried to find someone to make them happy, and soon found what she had been looking for all the time—true love!
So that’s the key, the simple solution to loneliness: If you give love, you’ll get love! If you’re sincerely concerned about others and show them love, they’ll be concerned about you and show you love. As Christians we can also share with others the love of all loves from the Lover of all lovers, Jesus Himself, who alone can satisfy that deepest yearning of every human heart for total love and complete understanding.
Jesus even satisfies that empty, lonely feeling that we all sometimes feel, no matter how many friends or loved ones surround us. The Lord has created a special place in our hearts that only He can fill. Although the body is of this earth and is satisfied with the things of earth, the human spirit, that intangible personality of the real you that dwells in that body, can never be completely satisfied with anything but utter union with the great and loving Spirit who created it.
Jesus wants us to love and be close to others, but first He wants to fill that aching void with His own love. Even when we have someone dear and close to us physically, there will always be that certain deep feeling inside that can only be satisfied by giving Him our whole heart and drawing close to Him!
Genesis 2:18 ESV / Then the Lord God said, “It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him a helper fit for him.”
Matthew 28:20 ESV / Teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”
Philippians 4:6-7 ESV / Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

Thursday, March 19, 2015

Change the World

Back in 1913, a man about 20 years of age took a walking tour in the rural province of Provence, in southern France. Provence was a rather barren and desolate area at the time, as it had been almost totally denuded of trees due to overcutting and too-intensive agriculture. The soil had then been washed away by the rains, as there were no trees to hold it in place. The whole region had become barren and dry.
Little farming was being done now because of its poor condition. The villages were old and run down, and most of the villagers had deserted the countryside. Even the wildlife had fled, as without trees the protective undergrowth had thinned, food was scarce, and few streams remained.
The hiker stopped one night at the humble cottage of a shepherd, who, although gray-haired and in his mid-fifties, was still very stalwart. The young man spent the night there, enjoying the shepherd’s hospitality, and ended up staying several days with him.
The visitor observed with some curiosity that the shepherd spent his evening hours sorting nuts by lamplight—acorns, hazelnuts, chestnuts, and others. He very carefully examined them and culled out the bad ones, and when he finished his evening’s work, he put the good nuts in a knapsack.
Then, as he led his sheep to graze the next day, he would plant the nuts along the way. While his sheep were pasturing in one area, the shepherd would take his staff, walk several paces, and then thrust the end of the staff into the ground, making a small hole. He would then drop in one of his nuts and use his foot to cover it over with earth. Then he would walk several paces more, push his staff into the dry ground, and drop in another nut. He spent all his daylight hours walking over this region of Provence as he grazed his sheep, each day covering a different area where there were few trees, planting nuts.
Watching this, the young man wondered what in the world this shepherd was trying to do, and he finally asked him.
“I’m planting trees,” the shepherd replied.
“But why? It will be years and years before these trees ever get to where they could do you any good! You might not even live long enough to see them grow!”
“Yes,” the shepherd replied, “But some day they’ll do somebody some good, and they’ll help to restore this dry land. I may never see it, but perhaps my children will.”
The young man marveled at the shepherd’s foresight and unselfishness—that he was willing to prepare the land for future generations, even though he might never see the results or reap the benefits himself.
Twenty years later, when in his forties, the hiker once again visited this area and was astounded at what he saw. One great valley was completely covered with a beautiful natural forest of all kinds of trees. They were young trees, of course, but trees nevertheless. Life had sprung forth all over the valley! The grass had grown much greener, shrubbery and wildlife had returned, the soil was moist again, and farmers were again cultivating their crops.
He wondered what had happened to the old shepherd, and to his amazement found that he was still alive, hale and hearty, still living in his little cottage—and still sorting his nuts each evening.
The visitor then learned that a delegation from the French Parliament had come down from Paris recently to see this new forest of trees, which to them looked like a miraculous new natural forest. They learned that it had, over the years, been planted by this one shepherd, who day by day as he was watching his sheep, diligently planted nuts. The delegation was so impressed and grateful to this shepherd for having reforested this entire area single-handedly that they persuaded Parliament to give him a special pension.
The visitor said he was amazed at the change, not only in the beautiful trees, but also in the revived agriculture, the renewed wildlife, and the beautiful lush grass and shrubbery. The little farms were thriving, and the villages seemed to have come to life again. What a contrast from when he had visited there 20 years before, when the villages had been run down and abandoned!
Now all was thriving, just because of one man’s foresight, one man’s diligence, one man’s patience, one man’s sacrifice, one man’s faithfulness just to do what one man could do, day by day, day in and day out for a number of years.
So if you’re sometimes discouraged with the world the way it is, don’t give up! We read that great empires and governments, armies, and wars change the course of history and the face of the earth, so sometimes we’re discouraged and think, Who am I? What can I do? It all seems so hopeless and impossible! It looks like there’s nothing that one person can do to change things for the better, so what’s the use of trying?
But as proven by this humble shepherd, over a period of years one man can change the world! You may not be able to change the whole world, but you can change your part of the world. You can start with your own heart, your own mind, your own spirit, your own life, through receiving Jesus into your life and reading His Word and putting its principles into practice in your life. Change your life, your home, your family, and you’ve changed a whole world—your world!
Then you and your little family can start trying to change your neighbors and friends and the people you come in contact with from day to day. You can make a special effort to reach lonely, hungry, needy hearts who are seeking love, seeking truth, seeking they know not what, but seeking happiness—desperately seeking to satisfy their yearning hearts that are empty and barren and desolate for lack of the water of the Word and the warm sunshine of God’s love.
You can start individually, personally, just you or your little family, planting seeds, one by one, in heart after heart, day by day, by doing loving deeds for others and telling them about Jesus. You could also give or recommend Christian materials to those you meet, to help them understand God’s Word. Patiently plant the seeds of the truth into that empty hole of an empty heart, and trust the great, warm, loving sunshine of His love and the water of His Word to bring forth the miracle of new life.
It may seem only a tiny little bud at first, just a little sprig, just one insignificant little green shoot. What is that to the forest that’s needed? Well, it’s a beginning. It’s the beginning of the miracle of new life, and it will thrive and grow and flourish and become great and strong, a whole new “tree,” a whole new life, and maybe a whole new world! So why not try it?
If you’re faithful to plant seeds of God’s truth, like the old shepherd that the government rewarded for his efforts, God is going to reward you one of these days when you finally come to your reward! He’s going to say, “Well done, good and faithful servant; you were faithful over a few things, I will make you ruler over many things. Enter into the joy of your Lord.” (Matthew 25:21)
You can change the world! Start today! Change your own life, change your family, change your home, change your neighbors, change your town, change your country. Change the world!
Ecclesiastes 3:1 ESV / For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven:
Philippians 4:6-7 ESV / Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.
2 Corinthians 4:16-18 ESV / So we do not lose heart. Though our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day. For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison, as we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal.