A Friend In Need, Is A Friend Indeed

People rarely quit simply because of adversity, but rather because of the lack of encouragement during times of adversity.

2 Cor 7:5-6

5 For when we came into Macedonia, this body of ours had no rest, but we were harassed at every turn-conflicts on the outside, fears within. 6 But God, who comforts the downcast, comforted us by the coming of Titus

Communication

Communication is essential in every relationship. When one refuses to communicate, it is indirectly bringing death to that relationship.

An interesting story about relationships that lacked communication:

A man was elected to be a Minster of Parliament and was to give a speech before his constituency. Thus he spent a great deal of time in preparation for his speech. The faithful day came for the minister to deliver his speech and his entire family was there to support him.

That very night before the minister's wife fell asleep, she began to think in her mind,"Well, today my husband gave a great speech and the entire audience was greatly motivated. However something seems to be wrong... What could it be? Ahhh! I know, he was pulling up his trousers all the time! His trousers must be too long for him!". She turned and look at the minister and realized that he was deeply asleep. Thus she decided that she will go and alter the trousers and not wake him up. The minister's wife took the trousers and began to cut off a portion of it. After which, she placed the trousers back to where she took it and went to bed.

At about 2am in the morning, the minister's daughter woke up. She started thinking, "Dad gave a wonderful speech today, but I just feel that something seems wrong. What could it be? Ahhhh! I know, I know! His trousers was too long for him! I remembered seeing him constantly pulling it up. I better do something about it." The daughter looked into her parents' room and realized that both her father and mother were asleep. She decided not to wake them up, she took the trousers and went ahead to alter it. With it, she cut off a portion and placed the trousers back. After which she went to bed.

At 4am, the minister woke up from his sleep. As he had to deliver another speech at 8am, the minister began to evaluate how he had performed the day before. He thought to himself, "Yesterday, I gave a good speech. The audience were excited and greatly motivated. But, something seems to be wrong. What could it be? Yes! I was pulling up my trousers constantly. It was too long for me! I better do something with it!". He looked at his wife and daughter and realized that they were fast asleep, thus the minister decided not to disrupt their rest. He took the trousers and cut off a portion of it and place it back to where it was originally placed.

At 6.30am, the entire family woke up and the minister began to dress up to go for his speech. By now, he realized that his trousers has become a pair of bermudas! However as time was crucial, there was no time for him to get a new pair, he went ahead with it. At 8am, the minister started delivering his speech and told the audience, "You must be thinking that I look funny, wearing a pair of ultra short trousers to give a speech.". He began to tell them what had happened throughout the night and he commented, "My family loves each other alot, however because we failed to communicate, this happened.".


Although this story is not a true one, but it does indeed reflect many of our relationships. We often love and care for the people around us, but we fail to communicate or express it out. Eventually, it led to many funny happenings and even misunderstandings. All these can be avoided, if only communication take place.

Part of loving is to communicate and to express it out. Start communicating today! :)

Welcome to Holland

A poem by Emily Kingsley, a parent of a special needs child.

"I am often asked to describe the experience
Of raising a child with a disability,
To help people, who have not shared that unique experience,
Understand it
And imagine how it would feel.
It's like this
When you're going to have a baby,
It's like planning a fabulous trip to Italy;
You buy a bunch of guidebooks and make your wonderful plans-
The Coliseum, Michelangelo's David, the gondolas in Venice-
You may even learn some handy phrases in Italian.
It's all very exciting.
After all the months of eager anticipation,
The day finally arrives.
You pack your bags and off you go
Several hours later, the plane lands,
The stewardess comes in and says
'Welcome to Holland'.
'HOLLAND!?' you say. 'What do you mean, Holland?
I signed up for Italy.
I'm supposed to be in Italy.
All my life I've dreamed of going to Italy'.
But there has been a change in the flight plan.
The important thing is
That they haven't taken you to a horrible, disgusting, filthy place
Full of pestilence, famine and disease.
It's just a different place.
So, you must go out and buy new guidebooks.
And you must learn a whole new language.
And you will meet a whole new group of people
You would never have otherwise met.
It's just a different place.
It's slower paced than Italy;
Less flashy than Italy.
But after you've been there for a while
And catch your breath,
You look around and you begin to notice
That Holland has windmills;
Holland has tulips;
Holland even has Rembrandts.
But everyone you know is busy coming and going from Italy,
And they're all bragging about the wonderful time they had.
And for the rest of your life you will say
'Yes, that's where I was supposed to go;
That's what I had planned'.
The pain of that will never, ever go away,
Because the loss of that dream is a very significant loss.
But if you spend your life mourning the fact
That you didn't get to Italy,
You may never be free to enjoy
The very special, the very lovely things about Holland."

11 Rules to Life

An excerpt from the book "Dumbing Down Our Kids" by educator Charles Sykes.

Rule 1 : Life is not fair - get used to it!

Rule 2 : The world won't care about your self-esteem. The world will expect you to accomplish something BEFORE you feel good about yourself.

Rule 3 : You will NOT make $60,000 a year right out of high school. You won't be a vice-president with a car phone until you earn both.

Rule 4 : If you think your teacher is tough, wait till you get a boss.

Rule 5 : Flipping burgers is not beneath your dignity. Your Grandparents had a different word for burger flipping: they called it opportunity.

Rule 6 : If you mess up, it's not your parents' fault, so don't whine about your mistakes, learn from them.

Rule 7 : Before you were born, your parents weren't as boring as they are now. They got that way from paying your bills, cleaning your clothes and listening to you talk about how cool you thought you were. So before you save the rain forest from the parasites of your parent's generation, try delousing the closet in your own room.

Rule 8 : Your school may have done away with winners and losers, but life HAS NOT. In some schools, they have abolished failing grades and they'll give you as MANY TIMES as you want to get the right answer. This doesn't bear the slightest resemblance to ANYTHING in real life.

Rule 9 : Life is not divided into semesters. You don't get summers off and very few employers are interested in helping you FIND YOURSELF. Do that on your own time.

Rule 10 : Television is NOT real life. In real life people actually have to leave the coffee shop and go to jobs.

Rule 11 : Be nice to nerds. Chances are you'll end up working for one.

The Race

"Quit! Give up! You're beaten!"

They shouted at me and plead.
"There's just too much against you now. This time you can't succeed!"

And as I start to hang my head in front of failure's face.
My downward fall is broken by the memory of a race.

And hope refills my weakened will as I recall that scene:
For just the thought of that short race rejuvenates my being.

A children's race-young boys, young men-how I remember well.
Excitement, sure! But also fear; It wasn't hard to tell.

They all lined up so full of hope each thought to win that race.
Or tie for first, or if not that, at least take second place.

And fathers watched from off the side each cheering for his son.
And each boy hoped to show his dad that he would be the one.

The whistle blew and off they went! Young hearts and hopes afire.
To win and be the hero there was each young boy's desire.

And one boy in particular whose dad was in the crowd,
Was running near the lead and thought: "My dad will be so proud!"

But as they sped down the field across a shallow dip,
The little boy who thought to win lost his step and slipped.

Trying hard to catch himself his hands flew out to brace,
And mid the laughter of the crowd he fell flat on his face.

So down he fell and with him hope --He couldn't win it now--
Embarrassed, sad, he only wished to disappear somehow.

But as he fell his dad stood up and showed his anxious face,
Which to the boy so clearly said: "Get up and win the race."

He quickly rose, no damage done, --Behind a bit, that's all--
And ran with all his mind and might to make up for his fall.

So anxious to restore himself --To catch up and to win--
His mind went faster than his legs: He slipped and fell again!

He wished then he had quit before with only one disgrace.
"I'm hopeless as a runner now; I shouldn't try to race."

But in the laughing crowd he searched and found his father's face:
That steady look which said again: "Get up and win the race!"

So up he jumped to try again --Ten yards behind the last--
"If I'm to gain those yards," he thought "I've got to move real fast."

Exerting everything he had he regained eight or ten,
But trying so hard to catch the lead he slipped and fell again!

Defeat! He lied there silently --A tear dropped from his eye--
"There's no sense running any more; Three strikes: I'm out! Why try?"

The will to rise had disappeared; All hope had fled away;
So far behind, so error prone; A loser all the way.

"I've lost, so what's the use," he thought. "I'll live with my
disgrace."
But then he thought about his dad who soon he'd have to face.

"Get up," an echo sounded low. "Get up and take your place;
You were not meant for failure here. Get up and win the race."

"With borrowed will get up," it said, "You haven't lost at all.
For winning is no more than this: To rise each time you fall."

So up he rose to run once more, and with a new commit
He resolved that win or lose at least he wouldn't quit.

So far behind the others now, --The most he'd ever been--
Still he gave it all he had and ran as though to win.

Three times he'd fallen, stumbling; Three times he rose again;
Too far behind to hope to win he still ran to the end.

They cheered the winning runner as he crossed the line first place;
Head high, and proud, and happy; No falling, no disgrace.

But when the fallen youngster crossed the line last place,
The crowd gave him the greater cheer for finishing the race.

And even though he came in last with head bowed low, unproud,
You would have thought he'd won the race, to listen to the crowd.

And to his dad he sadly said, "I didn't do too well."
"To me, you won," his father said. "You rose each time you fell."

Now when things seem dark and hard and difficult to face,
The memory of that little boy helps me in my race.

For all of life is like that race, with ups and downs and all.
And all you have to do to win, is rise each time you fall.

"Quit! Give up! You're beaten!" They still shout in my face.
But another voice with me says: "GET UP AND WIN THE RACE!"


Prov 24:16
16 "For a righteous man may fall seven times
And rise again"
NKJV

Promises Follow After Expansion

About 3 months ago, I had an invitation to an event where there were many successful people attending. Initially I was not exactly very comfortable to go, in fact I felt inferior. I could almost imagined the people there saying, "25 years old and you are still in Polytechnic?". Having this thought in mind, I was struggling between attending and not attending. God is good, He always brings about illumination which leads to breakthroughs. He simply spoke about the importance of knowing our identity.

Everyone of us need to know our identity.

Knowing it will give us a sense of belonging and confidence.

When we know and trust who we are in Christ, we will have the confidence of who we are now and who we are going to be in the future.

Have the mindset and capacity according to who we want to be in the future regardless of who we are right now and who we are in the past.

• Millionaire in the future? Think like one now.
• Top student in the future? Think like one now.
• Leading a great cell group / connect group? Lead like one now.

We can afford to do it because of our confidence brought by the knowledge of our identity.

It is necessary for us to increase and expand in our mindset and capacity because God would never give us what we cannot handle.

• For e.g. An immature person or a child will not be able to handle a million dollars. Sooner or later he will lose it, regardless how huge the amount is. However given to a person with sufficient capacity and the correct mindset, this million dollars might become two or three or even ten million dollars.

It is always:

1. First the expansion then the inheritance -

• David had to fight the bear, the lion, Goliath and wait many years before he inherited the promises of becoming king.

2. First the expansion then the victory -

• Joshua had to first expand in his security as Moses' successor before becoming a great conqueror with many victories under his name.
  
• Gideon had to expand in his mindset and his self image before gaining the victory over the Midianites.

3. First the expansion then greatness -

• Jabez had to expand in his character first before becoming honorable in God's sight.

Run like giants today, don't hop like grasshoppers. :)

Fruitfulness

One of the important aspect in life is really fruitfulness. In my opinion, the 3 major areas that we need to be fruitful is in our relationships, the work of our hands and the kingdom of God.

Having looked around, very often we would hear of many different excuses of not being fruitful. One of which would be there is a problem with the 'harvest'.

Just six years ago, I was a person with no accomplishments and no direction in life. When others would come and ask me this question: "Why did you fail in your studies?", the first answer that I would often reply back would be: "I am not made to study. What I was studying was too hard, it would drive me crazy to get to a level to pass them.". In my mind, my failure is due to that which was given to me was an impossible task, something with a problem.

Isn't this very true, many people carry this mindset. Recently God showed me something which gave me a new perspective towards fruitfulness. I remembered clearly the phrase that was impressed within my heart: "Unfruitfulness is a mindset problem, not a harvest-problem.".

Jesus says in Matt 9:36-37

Then He said to His disciples, "The harvest truly is plentiful, but the laborers are few."

Notice, the problem was with the laborers, not with the harvest. In fact, the harvest is good, it is plentiful! Probably, the laborers have a mindset which is either lazy, cannot be done, cannot be bothered. I remembered my mindset when I approached my studies when I was younger was that even before I tried, in my mind I already given a verdict that I cannot do it well, so what for bother. Thus, it made me lazy and not willing to try at all, eventually leading to failure and unfruitfulness.

One of the essential key to fruitfulness is knowing that we are chosen, appointed and given the abilities to produce fruit in all that we do.

John 15:16-17

"You did not choose Me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit, and that your fruit should remain, that whatever you ask the Father in My name He may give you. "

Just a year ago, my mentor shared a powerful truth with me, which has impacted me deeply.

Eph 1:4-5

"just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, "

God has called and chosen us even before the forming of the world and in line with that, knowing that man being imperfect having the ability to fail, He provided us a way out even before we fail.

Rev 13:8

"All who dwell on the earth will worship him, whose names have not been written in the Book of Life of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world."

Notice, Jesus was the sacrifice for us even before anything happened. This is just like God giving us unlimited 'Get out of Jail' cards in Monopoly. He has provided a way out for us in every situation. Thus though we might fail from time to time, but eventually if we continue and not be weary in giving our best, we will end up in being successful, taking away every excuse of being failures in life.

With a renewed mindset, let's start being fruitful!