Solitude

90% is reality for me, 10% is mystery for you

2008-04-09T14:17:00.005-04:00

We use to take this test in our Career development class or Psychology class to find out who you are...so this is who i am based on Carl Jung...

I want to know the truth and get down to the bottom of things. It’s an internal life, living in the head, theorizing constantly about how things work. I can link many thoughts and shoot off in multiple directions at once in an attempt to clarify and explain things really well or to try to represent the fullness of who I am and all the different things I can do and can’t do. I like to design—not just implementation but the stuff before that. There is a goal, a theme, and I start from that and work through the specifics one by one, keeping the whole thing integrated as I go, until I come up with “the elegant solution.” Often when I talk to people they only get from me a few steps—one, thirteen, a hundred. That’s all that gets verbalized, and what’s very clear to me either I’ve forgotten or find unnecessary to say out loud, which can come across as confusing at times.

I am very knowledge and big picture oriented. I want to bring everything that can be known into understanding a problem or situation. I enjoy working with those who think like I do but verbalize better. We can end up leaping forward rapidly and building off of ideas, asking questions with an answer in mind but wanting to verify things and learn more. If I am knowledgeable in that area, I always have something to add, to help better understand the idea and add something new. Although sometimes, even when I know we agree, people feel like I am trying to challenge them, which is frustrating because I am just doing it out of excitement. I try to understand all the variables and possible influences and then apply as broad a range of information as I can bring to the problem, to impact why the problem exists. I am interested in developing new skills and trying new ideas with those skills, and I am a good team member, and yet sometimes a little group work can go a long way. Most of all, I love to learn.

Central for me is honesty and integrity, especially intellectual integrity. If it’s not an honest approach to the issue at hand or to the relationship or organization, then it becomes an illusion—it only appears to have substance. I respect people who are genuine, honest, and open and doing what they are good at and what they enjoy and are up front about what is important to them.

I have a penchant for clarity. Some people say I’m hairsplitting, but there is value in precision.
I don’t like sloppy thinking, waste, and redundancy, and I am uncomfortable with sending out something that isn’t as good as it can be, but it has to go out anyway. I like things thought through. Incompetence just sets me right off. I have very little tolerance or patience, especially if the person is above me or isn’t really trying. I don’t think I push people any harder than I push myself and most people probably push less, which is where conflict comes in. Some people say my standard may be way out of whack and I assume the other person is competent. I like to avoid conflict at all possible costs, but if it reaches a point where I can’t go anywhere unless this gets resolved, then I will jump in and take care of it. That takes me a long time and I will go miles out my way to avoid that. It’s an ongoing decision between fairness and not letting people walk all over me.

There is this constant balancing act between self-confidence and questioning myself. Sometimes I feel secure and comfortable about knowing and thinking about and recognizing a lot and knowing how to learn new skills and ideas and concepts. But I have an almost instant ability to detect limitations—not knowing enough, picking out what’s missing, adding in an always-present feeling that it’s not quite right, and not knowing everything there is to know with insufficient time to learn everything that is important.
I can be seen as too unfeeling, too quick to start into work with not enough basis laid out for the day, and I’m not much for the personal amenities or socializing. Yet it is important that others are aware they are important to me. It’s not the first thing, but it’s in my awareness. I tend to try solving personal problems all by myself. Then sometimes I wind up without accurate information from others or about how it will affect others. I believe there must be an answer or a solution if I can just figure it out.

Wanna know who you are?

go to http://www.mypersonality.com/
then find detailed explanation of your personality type in: http://bestfittype.com/

What's your purpose in this life?

2008-04-07T15:04:00.009-04:00

What's the purpose of your life? Do you know your destiny? When will we discover? and if we have discovered it, how can you be sure that's from God and not from your own desire?

This post is just my train of thoughts. This is too great a topic for a simple brain of mine. And i'm at the moment too much awake from excessive laughter with Rey. So this i need to deplete my brain's power haha. ok ok serious again now *put on serious face*

God has a purpose for each one of us, correct? so, what it is left for us to choose to discover it or not. Some of us feel compelled to draw ourselves nearer to the calling of our life. Some of us deny the calling with one reason or the other. I believe God has put in us a longing to do something, a passion to make something happened. To be a generation that makes a difference.

Newsweek Asia 1-2 years ago once said that the generation today is no longer generation that thinks about money but we are much more than that. We are the generation that wants to make a difference. Why younger people nowadays felt more and more drawn to do social work and volunteering? Does God has anything to do with it? Or is it just to soothe their aching conscience? We'll never know the motives behind self-sacrifice (time, emotion, money, etc) but one thing holds true: actions reflects the heart.

Some of us know early on what we long to do through things we like, asking around people who knows you best, trial and error. That may or may not be your calling. To make sure, all you need to do is simply to ask the Maker. He holds the manual of each of us. Btw, if any of you thinks that you are useless, remember that there is always a purpose behind each invention. We would think an inventor stupid if he said his creation serves no purpose. Small though it might be, an invention is there to serve a purpose. God is the Maker of the Universe, if He decide to create you and you are still breathing while reading this, you serve a purpose.

Always be reminded that our primary purpose in this earth is to please God. Our gifts and talents are there for a purpose, don't you think?

So, what if we found out about our calling and it's something we don't like? Will we run from our calling? or are we ready to take up the challenge. To be certain only of God and choose to make all our plans uncertain? It's up to us to choose. Do you want to live a life full of uncertainty but comes with 100% guarantee that the life you choose is the best life if you just let God holds the rein in your life? Or would you choose what you think is the safest path and one day you woke up asking why your life seems so purposeless?

Let me quote 2 paragraph from "God is my CEO" by Larry Julian in a chapter called "From Success to Significant"

Bob Buford believes in something he calls The Law of Unintended Consequences. He explains "People discover in business that you embark with a plan, and even though things often turn out very differently than you planned, they do have a way of turning out. If you never embark, they will never turn out. You have to be in the market in order to capitalize on the upturn. If you are on the sidelines waiting to time your move perfectly, it will never happen. People pursue their calling in the same way. They say ' I will stay in my job now and someday I will pursue my dream'.

Bob understands how difficult it is for people to pursue their dreams, but he believes strongly that it's sometimes as simple as taking a leap of faith. " I choose to believe that it is God who speaks quietly within us," Bob says, "that it is He who put the question deep within. And when we discover the answer, He reveals the meaning He has chosen for us to enjoy; He unveils the goal he has been keeping for us all along. I love how Paul puts in it Ephesians 2: "For we are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good work, which God prepared in advance for us to do."

Okay my brain is about to die liao. It's 3.30am already. So anyone get anything? or am i just increase anyone's confusion :) oh well whatever it is, i'm happy to get everything i want out in writing. Maybe one day i might need to read my own writing to set myself straight + be amazed of how smart i am to write in good english...(not singlish). Me.....A true narcist....

Isaiah 30:19-21 " O People of Zion, who live in Jerusalem, you will weep no more. How gracious He will be when you cry for help! As soon as He hears He will andswer you. Although the Lord gives you the bread of adversity and the water of affliction, your teachers will be hidden no more; with your own eyes you will see them. Wheather you turn to the right or to the left, your ears will hear a voice behind, saying, "This is the way, walk in it"

Mourning

2007-05-29T11:36:00.000-04:00

My 3rd Granduncle just passed away this afternoon at 5pm. Although we are not very closed, he was always the happy-go-lucky granduncle who likes to buy presents for all his grandkids and grandniece/nephew. For some reason, i don't feel very sad but i'm pretty worried about my greatgrandma. She has to see all her sons passed away before her. I just hope she stay healthy after this. She's the biggest reason why i decide to go back for good.

This afternoon my boss questioned me about my career and he might help me if i do have a possibility to stay in China but i have given my final answer to walk away from the corporate life though there might be a possibility to make me a permanent staff in citi (who knows) lots of people might think me dumb huh. I'm just happy that my boss understand me so well to know i might not be suitable for this kind of life. A part of me would be very happy to stay here but the thought of my greatgrandma really tipped all the weigh off. So no more question huh.

Tomorrow i would have to pick up Suity from the airport and i guess she was not aware of her uncle's death. Mom called me 4 hours ago and said she hasn't told Suity yet and mom cried. Haih this is their supposed to be holiday but i don't think the rest of the holiday will be as beautiful as planned.

2 Years of absence

2007-05-22T12:12:00.000-04:00

I was looking through this blog and realized having a blog actually has it's own positive side - i could refresh what happened to me before. I haven't blog for a year ( my other blog is not active anymore i think ...the xanga one)

I'm almost at the end of my journey here in Shanghai. Having the best place to work, the best boss, the best colleagues, the best place to live...everything i never imagine could happened but it's time to get back to reality. New things are waiting for me back home.
I will miss walking around at night without worrying about my safety. Will miss having my friends' house all very near by. This is my final stop or should i say my final playground. everything will be much more serious back home.

Anyway here's a piece of Xintiandi's billboard captured in my mobile. looks like a piece of art huh. The family is coming here this saturday. Mom, Bro, Grandma, Tity and Suity. I got 2 days leave + permission to skip the operational review next saturday. I really do have a great understanding boss. Last week i was back from nothing to do atan to busy atan again. My 2nd boss, Veron, suddenly quit. Until today, i still don't understand what is happening but the fact is HR sent out her termination notice to the whole bank. I guess that's it, what were once my job comes back to me again. But now i'm more prepare with almost a year knowledge of what's going on in the department.

Last week i bought another mobile for myself out of impulsiveness...i guess i'm too fed up with sony ericsson. Me and Carlo went to search for his laptop in Xujiahui last sunday. We met up with Teddy since he's our technical guy. Carlo bought ASUS laptop for his wife and we were waiting for his laptop to be upgraded. So i ask Carlo to accompany me to look for a mobile. I ended up with a motorola (everyone is asking me what's the story with the switch from samsung to motorola) persuaded by Carlo and i guess the phone looks nice too so i bought it - just realized that my boss was working with Motorola before Citi. hahaha

I was contemplating to give my new phone to my brother. I thought he still uses the old nokia phone. He didn't want my phone...after i asked what phone he's using now, he's actually using a much better phone than the moto. chehhh!!! yeah that's my brother for you. Ok this posting is really wu liao. let's see how long i can keep posting again. Will try to get my flobber up and running again. Nitez

What happened to me for a month?

2005-08-28T05:58:00.000-05:00

Allow! bagaimana kabar atan hari ini yo!! excited and cant believe how fortunate i am!! hari ini diajak ama ubie ke JPCC. datengnya telat tapi pas mau masuk ke gerejanya ga boleh abis lagi Praise and Worship. U know who's playing?? HILLSONG UNITED AUSTRALIA!!! wow! gua cuma berdiri diluar aja bisa merinding denger nyanyiannya. 1 stadium penuh sekali orangnya. pas gua masuk tuh udah ga dapet tempat duduk so kita disuruh lesehan hehe. anyway abis hillsong united selesai, tiba waktunya kotbah kan. nah yang kotbah rupanya orang amrik. Sy Rogers dia converted homosexual. interesting banget hidup dia. dia cerita dari kecil napa dia jadi gay ampe di convert balik ama tuhan sendiri. baca sendiri deh kalo mau. ini website dia http://www.syrogers.com/ dia ada kasih liat foto2 dia pas dia jadi cewe pake baju cewe dan hidup sebagai cewe...CUANTIK YO!!!! pas dia nikah juga dia CAKEP!!! reyner kalah rey cantikmu. hahaha dia cerita kalo dia minta tanda dari tuhan kalo dia ga boleh buat operasi ganti kelamin. tau ga tuhan ngapain. 3 hari kemudian, John Hopkins surgery untuk ganti2 kelamin orang tuh tutup gara2 directornya bilang kalo research found that changing your sex is not the answer to the problem and it didnt help. so directornya tutup clinicnya haha gila yah. John hopkins yo! anyway yah kaget lah hari ini ketemu banyak unexpected stuff. troz pergi makan eh ada ari wibowo berjalan didepanku hahaha cakep cakep.

so, sedih juga minggu depan dah cabut ke shanghai. udah mulai deket ama anak2 tempat kerja eh harus pergi. rupanya orang2 kerja topic pembicaraannya rada "dangerous" huahuahuah tapi eyes opener lah. urusan rumah tangga orang bisa didiskusi ria gitu. kocak sih ketawa mulu. ada yang baru nikah dibabat abis2an. oh ya ada 2 orang yang lumayan gua respect disono. namanya pak michael ama bu linda. enak diskusi ttg christianity ke dia orang. pak michael lucu, dia nyanyi2 lagu true worshipper sepanjang jalan ke tempat makan, terus gua bilang pengen beli cdnya. eh dia bilang ntar ke cubicle dia nonton dvdnya dulu gih. nyampe kantor jadi nonton 1 lagu punya dvd. dilanjutin juga dia ok2 aja kayanya haha tapi ga enak banyak kerjaan. yang bu lydia mungkin gua respect dia gara2 dia mirip ama guru sd gua huahuahuaha baek banget ibunya. orang2nya di department itu kompak sih jadi enak ga bosen disono. biarpun kerjaan gua kadang2 rasanya pengen gua click "edit find" di microsoft hahaha biar lebih gampang daripada harus cari 1-1 lembar. efficiency! high efficiency with low bottle neck hahahaha that's my vocabs!

citibank lucu lho itu komputer2 semua ga ada disc slot ga ada disket slot ga ada usb drive semuanya di lock biar susahin kita data transfer jadi ga kecolongan data. tapi sih parah since i'm illegal worker, i dont have net connection lho, no email and everything. so, tiap kali mau transfer data harus bug my uncle untuk email ke orang2 yang gua bantu. serasa uncle gua jadi sekertaris gua. sedihnya yah! i think dia mungkin dah regret decision masukin gua ke citibank biarpun untuk kerja ga ampe 1 bulan hahaha. biarin lah. jadi tau banyak makanan2 aneh. masa ada siomay dalemnya otak2 coba. dri, lo pernah denger ga hahaha.

bbrp hari pertama gua di citibank, gua dikerjain ama orang2 sono. di bawa ke kafe debu. udah rada curiga sih ini namanya kafe debu ato beneran berdebu. terus udah turun lift keluar dari building, kita jalan di trotoar tros samping2 banyak jualan nasgor, mi goreng etc etc. eh tiba2 pak michaelnya bilang, "irene mau makan apa?" gua bengong bentar. OMIGOSH! this is the kafe man hahaha debu beneran. terus udah selesai shock pesen makanan di trotoar, gua jalan ampe tempat duduknya. nah yang ada cuma tempat duduk tanpa meja. troz gua tanya apa kita bakal bawa pulang tah. eh dia bilang "makan sini kok. ini duduk aja" LHO! makan tanpa meja huahauhauhuaha kocak kocak. i much prefer gua duduk di batu2 sih kalo harus makan tanpa meja. menyusahkan duduk di kursi dan harus pegang piring. jadi inget bloomie makan disamping UC basketball court haha ikan bakar pancingan pastur. nyum!

atan merakyat juga lho! naek bus umum, saudara saudara!! bawa laptop lagi. nekat sih yah tapi ya gpp lah daripada nyusain orang suruh jemput sana sini, drop sana sini. rasanya bebanin orang mulu. teros! atan membuat gosip dalem 3 minggu hahaha kacao sih. orang2 sono terlalu stress kali yah ampe menggosipi semua barang. sukur gua ga menerapi solution buat gosip2 yang gua dapet di bloomie. mengingat 4 hari lagi saya kerja hauhauhauha. wokie deh papai semuaaa ntar kalo ada yang lucu lagi gua bilangin lagi yahhh papaiii time for dinner! oh ya baru beli GMB baru True worshipper baru. bagus bagus!

Keren!

2005-07-07T22:12:00.000-05:00

aku dah di sg!!!! hore hore baru pulang 2 hari langsung london di bom. ancur sekali. sodaraku ampe diem di kantor ampe jam 12 malem. tapi saya sudah di sg!! harusnya pulang tanggal 10 tapi aku majuin sendiri jadi tanggal 5, jadi ga kena masalah deh pulangnya. oh ya pas di airportnya sendiri juga parah. aku dibilang kelebihan 20 kilo gara2 regulationnya dah beda dari US. jadi 2 bag harus total 30 kilo. aku ada 50 kilo dan harus bayar 20 kilo which is 700 pound. nah berapa itu 700 pound?? 1400 USD!!! uang darimana coba. orang uang sisa 100 USD hahaha. ya wes aku doa2 pokoknya aku pengen pulanggggg tanpa bayar apapun. eh pas ke customer repnya ngomong. orangnya bilang ya dah dikasih lewat kali ini. laen kali harus tau regulationnya. hooooraayyyyyy keren yo!

oh ya hari itu aku mau nulis blog soal hillsong. wuih itu gedungnya kan di theater. dia orang tuh monday to saturday it's a theater. kaya musical gitu. lagi maen We will rock younya Queens sekarang. tapi pas sunday itu tempat jadi gereja all day long. jam 11.30, jam 2 ama jam 6. nonstop. since dia kan theater, ya u know lah how good the sound system is. mengerikan man itu 1 theater di open door. lagunya dummmm dammm dummm ampe orang2 yang baru keluar dari tube (kereta bawah tanah)nya langsung nengok. very attracting attention sih lagunya. abis dipasang lagu christian rock gitu. pas PW lagunya ga tau semua tapi presence of Godnya woww!
John Bevere ngomongnya juga menarik sekali. sorry kalo sermonnya panjang sekali hahaha. mungkin rada ga connect2 dikit2 kalo kalian baca. tapi ya too bad lah yah. dia ngomongnya cepet sekali. pengen beli devotional dia. tapi ga beli karena kirain mo nitip kofu aja. rupanya cuma beda 1 dolar. gpp lah kofu rupanya bilang males bawa juga. ya wes ntar gimana lah pasti dapet (amin)!

oh ada yang lucu. kan 1 hari setelahnya aku nulis blog sermonnya john bevere. troz aku buka biblegateway.com untuk reference semua wordsnya. terus rupanya yang aku tulis ama yang harusnya tuh semua kaya beda either 1 pasal ato 10 pasal. jadi kaya aku tulis 149 tapi harusnya 139. harusnya 36 aku tulisnya 35. jadi aku harus baca2 pasal kan. nahhh yang aku tulis ituu (yang salah2 itu) tuh rupanya things yang klop ama barang2 yang aku lagi cari ato tanya. lucu yah. dikasih jawabannya gara2 salah denger sermon. tapi aku lumayan yakin bener lho dengernya. gpp lah seterahhh Tuhannnn mauMuu. pokoknya saya dapet jawabankoe!

pas 2 hari sebelon aku pulang dari UK, sodaraku tiba2 nanya semaleman ttg kristen. nanya perbedaan perbedaan ama agama2 laen. rupanya dia find kalo katolik tuh mengerikan. aneh yah aku lumayan kaget pas dia ngomong. abis mungkin buat aku dulu katolik tuh enak abis lenient haha. anyway dia tanya ttg jewish etc etc gara2 dia banyak tau ttg jewish tradition dari temen dia yang Jew. aku ga ngapa2in sih cuma kasih tau apa yang dia pengen tau aja. dia lumayan kaya state aku pas dulu lah. merasa budha paling enak abis paling netral ama peaceful aja keliatannya. mulai sekarang harus banyak2 hafal ayat. daridulu ga pernah afal. sedih banget. memory abis dimana ga tau. evaporates memoryku semua.

oh ya hari pertama aku nyampe di sg, sodaraku yang cowo yang jemput. ini adeknya sodara di london. yang cicinya marah2 gara2 adeknya ga pernah mau jemput dia tapi napa aku dijemput hahaha. saya cousin kesayangan dong *blush* hahaha. abis itu aku diajak makan pagi, cari kacamata baru, makan siang sushi berjalan di sushi tei, jalan2 nyari hadiah buat cewe yang kasih dia cuff link. sarap yo! jalan keliling singapore. puanasnyaaaaa 29 derajat. rasanya mau evaporate. abis itu dia ke embassy US gara2 visa F1 dia ditulis Female huahauhauhaa.dableQ ga dicek gitu. abis itu makan malem soba ama berbagai macem jamur diatasnya. NYUM!! sobanya di homemade. jadi ada tempat gelas bisa liat cooknya lagi buat sobanya. lagi nonton initial D. film baru starring jay chou, edison, shawn yu. lucuuuu bagusss aku suka! album baru jay september baru keluar. kayanya bakal nge-yesasia.com lagi deh di china. moh barang palsu yo!

hari ini mau keluar ama temenku. oh ya si reyner lagi stomach flu haha. kasiannn mana rumahnya jaoh sekali laghe. susah kesono. itu temenku lucu. suaranya berubah total jadi makin ngebas dari dulu. aku ampe nanyain identity dia lama sekali ampe bt dia. too bad lah sapa suruh berubah! ya wes update dari singapore

btw ada yang ngerti cara set up email content dari rumah untuk disend directly ke office fax ato msg di komputer office. pusing ga sih. pokoknya 2 tempat yang jauh dan device yang berbeda. cara connectnya gimana?

Fear of God

2005-07-04T09:29:00.000-05:00

by: John Bevere

We are living in the last days and the last days are like Noah. What did Noah has that help him through the turmoil he faced? Intimacy with God

James 4:8 Come near to God and he will come near to you.
Who draw near first? Us! We initiate! We are the one who determine the level of our relationship with God. NOT GOD! we often thought that people like billy graham were borned with cross on their head. They were borned closed to God. No, they are just like everyone else, but the difference lies in their willingness to accept God's invitation to draw near. A lot of people who are passionate about God is not people who stand on the pulpit, they are ordinary people who accepted God's invitation to draw near.

Psalm 139:18 Were I to count them, they would outnumber the grains of sand. When I awake, I am still with you.

When you love someone, you automatically think about them right? God's thoughts about us outnumber the grains of sand in the world. Imagine how many thoughts He has on each one of us. How he yearns for us and how he yearns for our fellowship with Him.

God says for us to pray without ceasing. What is praying? Praying is a two ways dialogue. If God tell us to pray without ceasing, God is willing to communicate with us without ceasing. How good is that? to be able to communicate with God every second everyday for the rest of your life.

The reason why people lack intimacy with God is because they don't have the foundation. What is the foundation? FEAR OF GOD.

Psalm 89:7 In the council of the holy ones God is greatly feared; he is more awesome than all who surround him.

When John Bevere went to Brazil for their National Conference back in 1996, the choir, praise and worship is incredible, but there's not even an ounce of God's presence in the room. why was that? he looked around andsaw people chattering among themselves, people looked around to their surrounding and didn't pay the attention to God. he was so upset that when it was his time to go up the stage, he stood silent for 45 minutes and and finally caught the attention of the audiences. He only asked two questions: if you want to talk with someone but the someone is talking with another person, will you talk to them? No. if you come knocking at someone's door and the reaction when they open the door is "oh, you again" will you come back? No. He told the room to repent and when they repent, God's presence come 3 times. The third time, the presence was so strong that the sound was as if a jet flew above the room. John said that it's not the daddy who visit, but the King who visit. The audience collapsed, weep and shouting. After that he went out of the stage and police that stood surrounding the stadium asked him in confusion what wind that comes from inside because they saw fire from the ventilation around the room.

2 presence of God: Omnipresence - I'll never leave you ...
John 14 Manifest presence - bring the unseen to the seen - Presence in the room

God won't come into a place where He's not held in utmost respect. The only way to get to God's presence is fear of God

God already teaches us about fear of God -> Matthew 6:9 "This, then, is how you should pray: " 'Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name, ...

What's the Fear of God? Fear is not afraid. How can you be close when you are afraid of Him. Scared of God = you got something to hide, so the darkness in you is not exposed
Fear of God = scared to be away from God.

Fear of God :
Exodus 20:20 Moses said to the people, "Do not be afraid. God has come to test you, so that the fear of God will be with you to keep you from sinning."

It takes the love of God and the fear of God to keep us from sin.

Legalism Excess Disobedience

Love of God Fear of God

Fear of God : Reference Him, Love Him above everything else, Love what He loves, Hate what He hates.

Tremble in His word: to obey Him when it hurts, Obey when you don't see the benefit, Obey to completion, Obey when it doesn't make sense.

Psalm 25: 14 The LORD confides in those who fear him;he makes his covenant known to them.
Secrets of the Lord is with people who fear the Lord. All of us have secrets and only share it with close intimate friend. God is not everybody's friend. In the bible there's only 2 people who enjoy the intimacy of God. One of them is Abraham who obey God even when He was told to sacrifice his own son. Abraham obey and did the command on the next morning.

The dynamic of God and Abraham: God asked Abraham about demolishing Sodom and Gommorah. God valued Abraham's opinion and God's willing to do it after He listened to Abraham's suggestion. Abraham negotiated with God because there's his nephew Lot there. Remember that according to 2 Peter, Lot is a righteous person but he's as clueless as everyone else in Sodom and Gommorah that the city would be demolished. why? because though Lot is righteous, Lot does not fear God. Lot was saved by Abraham's prayer and God sent 2 angels to tell Lot.

You can be righteous, you can be holy, you can love God all your life but has no fear of God.

John 15:14 You are my friends if you do what I command. I no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know his master's business. Instead, I have called you friends, for everything that I learned from my Father I have made known to you.

God will see you as servant until there's Fear of God in you and He will see you as friend. Why?
To protect you because we might get hurt because of the close relationship that we are not ready yet.

"you are My friend if you do whatever I command of you" God design everyone to be his close intimate friend but it is us who determine the level of relationship we want to have with Him.

Buckingham, Westminster, Chinatown, Covent etc

2005-07-01T16:17:00.000-05:00

hari ini cape banget keliling banyak tempat. pagi2 si arno telpon bilang dalem 1/2 jam dia bakal nyampe london dungeoun. jadi i jumped out of the bed siap siap2 troz jalan catch the bus to london bridge station. kita ke borough market diseberang station. lucu2 barang2 disono. makanan semua sih unique sekali. ada berbagai macam keju yang segede2 babon. troz ada 1 yang ITEM IJO gitu aiyo kaya dah busuk. si arno bilang harusnya itu yang paling enak hahaha. troz jual pastries gitu, semuanya disusun lucu2 tapi banyak lalat e! darisono pergi ke chinatown makan. aku makan saba curry. sarap itu sizenya GUEDE pisan!

abis itu pergi ke wesminster abbey, buckingham palace. lucu kan mau liat serdadu yang bilang ga gerak itu kan. kita pas kesono aku liat...lho itu serdadu yang kiri kok kakinya gerak2 kaya flex flex lutut gitu. trus kita meleng bentar..eh serdadunya jalan bolak balik 5 feet gitu. bolak balik. abis itu diem lagi. tapi yang serdadu kiri ini tetep aja gerak mulu. kocak. bener2 ga kaya reputasinya. yang kanan diem pol though. so aku bilang ke adit..itu yang kiri kayanya trainee sih hahaha. basically hari ini banyak jalan2nya oh ya si arno bawa kita ke life guardnya queen. dia orang tuh highest regimentnya. KEREN! dia orang ga boleh gerak juga tapi duduk diatas kuda. jadi orang mau foto juga dia orang ga boleh gerak hahaha. boot dia orang keren sekali ampe paha gitu truz mengkilap lagi. tiba2 pas disono kepikiran...kaloooo anak2 bcbc dibawa kesono semua.. i doubt tuh kuda ama tuh guard bakal diem sih. hahahhaa bayangin lah sendiri. udah dempet2 dorong2 bisa2 ditendang kudanya.

ya hari ini jalannya banyak aja sih. oh ya pertama kali make lomonya. lom tau deh jadi apa itu hasilnya. mengerikan juga sih hahaha. but excited untuk liat. hari ini gerimis2 terus though. oh tadi ke st james park. banyak bebek, anak bebek, troz ada bintang ga tau apaan. kaya bebek tapi kaya kena sapu putih dari tengah kepala ampe mulut. tapi jenis unggas juga. temennya bebek kali. terus ada lagi bebek tapi ga gitu panjang lehernya. nah sekarang pertanyaannya...BEBEK TUH YANG MANA???? yang ga ada leher lengkung2 dan mulutnya ga terlalu panjang? ato bisa lengkung2 dan lehernya panjang lengkung2? abis liat segitu banyak, mulai mikir i dont even know which one is bebek. ada pelican juga disono.

hari ini binge eating. makan gila2an ampe sodaraku bilang abis aku pulang dia harus detox haha gara2 selama aku disini dia makannya kaya there's no tomorrow. oh ya len, kayanya aku lom cerita kalo hari2 terakhir aku di bloomie, ada 1 hari pergi ke steak and shake bareng roommate barunya si andri, troz dia liat porsi makan aku dia bilang...kamu makan kaya there's no tomorrow. hahaha dalem dalem. le, makanya le turunin porsi makanmu. ntar kena juga lho disono :P hahahhaa apa coba. andri kamu yakin ga mau buat blog tah?

hari ini lumayan sedih juga sih mikir ga bakal ketemu arno lagi. baru sadar lho aku banyak temen yang ga terlalu deket tapi kalo ga ketemu dia orang kayanya ada something missing. ada yang orang keliatannya deket, tapi aku ga ngerasa deket. ada yang keliatannya ga deket tapi sebenernya deket. ada temen yang biasa2 aja. bbrp minggu lalu aku nyoba analyze berbagai orang punya posisi didalem hidupku. temen macem apa? temen tuh banyak macem lho. but it's hard for me to put into words, but u always know that each friend is different though you're not really close to them. ada temen untuk makan, temen untuk curhat, temen yang you feel comfortable even diem juga serasa enak, temen yang suka curhat ke kita, temen yang out of the blue bisa telpon ato ajak makan, temen yang kita ga deket tapi kalo ampe kita mumet pasti ada disamping kita, temen yang kalo mau diajak kerjain project2 gila pasti mau. masih banyak macem temen lainnya. lucu yah posisi tiap temen di hidup kita.

in the other hand, role kita disetiap hidup temen2 kita juga beda. so? kita tuh sapa dihidup temen2 kita? tempat curhat? tempat nasehat? ada tempat apa lagi yah? ya someone who's there when our friends need us. oh well tiba2 kepikiran aja. ok people besok ke kew garden. oh ya dri, kalo sempet tolong buangin buku2 disamping pintu 992 yah. setumpuk itu harusnya aku buang tapi ga sempet hihihi. thank you dri!!!! kalo ga sempet gpp lah. ntar minta tolong wchang. ini blog beneran makin jadi tempat komunikasi kita bertiga doang. have fun camping len, foto2 yah inget! dri aku lupa cara upload foto kaya helen e. diajarin helen tapi lupa hahaha

Jalan2 santai and Lomography

2005-06-28T17:29:00.000-05:00

ada poster dijalanan isinya: Borrow money from the pessimists, they don't expect you to return it anyway.
2 hari lalu pergi ke covent garden, eh ngeliat ada pertunjukan yang sama kaya pas ke rose parade di portland. orangnya perform as if dia rada2 ga gitu pasti cara trick2 yang dia mau kerjain jadi buat penonton rada takut. di covent garden ada 1 gerobak jual sabun handmade, they have soap dari rose ama lavender yang really striking. they put actually kuncup kuncup rose diatas sabunnya troz taro di 1 box. people can mistake them as chocolate. they smell so nice too. kalo pun dibeli i wonder cara pakenya gimana hmm...kata sodara sih bisa ditebarin kuncup2nya ke bath tub...but then jadi sekali pake doang dong bagusnya :) sebelon ke covent garden we went to sacchi gallery. disono rupanya lagi ada documentary bout rape of nanjing. i know how bad it is in china but i never know that the incident actually was more spread out than nanjing alone. rupanya orang2 korea and i think akhirnya semua tempat yang di jajah jepang tuh kena dampaknya. approximately ada 200,000 women that was forced to become "comfort woman" kasian sekali. ada 2 orang tentara jepang yang berani ngomong di documentary about how bad it is, even they say that no doubt there are a lot of chinese that has mixed blood with japanese coz of that incident. until now the japanese still don't want to publicly acknowledge that the incident is actually taken place. they did actually put it in the history book but only a little tiny portion of it. sedih yah. kata org jepangnya tuh governmentnya takut kalo dia orang acknowledge, bakal banyak yang sue lah troz demo lah etc etc jadi dia orang takut harus keluar uang tapi sebenernya orang2 yang terlibat cuma pengen governmentnya acknowledge and nothing more. so sad yo. anyway abis itu pergi ke sacchi gallery, ada yang keren tapi ada yang disturbing ampe aku nyaris muntah. artistnya kaya menghina cruxifiction, jadi dia buat kaya act, painting and other stuff jadi satu. di documentarynya ada orang tidur gitu ala salib troz ditaro binatang diatas dan binatangnya dibelek dan banyak tangan2 gitu kobok2 dalemnya. pas difoto jadi keliatannya orangnya punya badan dibuka dikobok2. gilani yo! abis itu tangan2 itu gambar di canvas. the whole canvas is pure animal blood. ugh jijik banget. abis itu diajak jalan2 ke chinatown. oh ya rupanya anti-racist band yang pastur mau dah ga dijual lagi tapi malah dapet di chinatown. mungkin bukan asli tapi mungkin juga asli tapi rejectionnya nike. tapi ya gpp lah at least dapet. aku beli 8 biji ampe orangnya kasih 1 nike baller glow in the dark hahaha lucu. i like it though. oh ya did i tell you i went to muji beli stationary!! seneng! pencil mujiku diilangin ama kofu dulu, not that itu enak dipake sih, cuma putihnya bagus aja.

disini tuh semua barang porsinya kecil2. hari pertama aku nyampe sini liatin botolan susu ama carton susunya ampe shock...apa ini kecil sekali well actually botol ama cartonnya US yang kegedean hahaha dah kebiasaan 1 litre ato 1 gallon...ini tiba2 back to size indo yang imut2 dan slim sekali. ampe bengong. troz beli makanan apa aja lah ..porsinya imoet sekali. and i wonder apa aku yang terlalu lama di us ga balik indo hahaha. oh ya disamping rumah ada design museum, barangnya bagus2 banget, modern sekali troz paling atas ada 1 ttg dia orang design prison model baru biar rate criminalsnya ga jadi criminal lagi bertambah. keren gitu rumah prisonnya. jadi 1 rumah ada 36 orang troz masing2 dapet cell (room sendiri) rada modern gitu lagi designnya. troz tiap kamar ada secure internet connection jadi dia orang belajar disono. keren yah hahaha. i wonder org yang dapet disono bisa beg ga mau dikeluarin kali. dikasih makan, internet gratis, air, listrik ga bayar, dikasih belajar summore. hahaha troz dia orang ada kaya 6 computer ama beda2 design kursi dan kita bisa duduk sono maen mario bros, street fighter hahaha. yum! oh ya sodaraku tak kasih liat mariobros acapella, senengnya bukan maen ampe ulang2 mulu. nyanyi2 di jalan ke tempat kerja. anyway pas selesai dari design museum aku beli 2 vas bunga dari plastik, bentuknya inflatable kalo masukin air, jadi bawahnya langsung bisa berdiri kaya bawahnya caprisone. tapi atasnya mengecil bentuk vas bunga. susah bayangin yah? troz ngincer 1 kamera yang unik dah pengen tak beli pas di US tapi ga kesampean. jadi setelah mikir 1 malem, akhirnya hari ini saya beliiiii!!! senengnyaaa coba di google kalo mau, namanya lomo camera. technique ngambil foto ini namanya lomography. besok ato weekend mau coba2. senengnya dapet barang yang i actually like!! jadi harus irit deh ampe weekend.
kameranya ga ada viewfinder jadi asal click aja ntar liat hasilnya kaya apa. motto kamera ini "DONT THINK" and "Forget rules" jadi creative sekali. i like it. troz beli buku "Christians and the fall of rome" ttg napa kristen tuh bisa tetep persevere biarpun dah luama banget. ini synopsisnya "the primitive christians perpetually trod on mystic ground, and their minds were exercised by the habits of believing the most extraordinary events". besok tak ceritain ttg bukunya deh. rada penasaran nulis apaan. abis ini buku terbitan penguin jadi bukan buku kristen orang belinya di design museum hahaha.

oh ya tadi arno telpon dah i just found out that adit juga disini!!! hahha jadi hari jumat si arno bakal bela2in temenin gua keliling buckingham palace westminster abbey etc etc biarpun dia berdua dah pernah bbrp kali keliling2. aku bilang dah pernah pergi dulu tapi dia bilang udah beda udah beda, di rebuilt pas sebelon aku mo dateng hahaha. kocak tuh anak. gonna miss not seeing him again. haih hari ini rada sedih tiba2 kepikiran bloomie jadi nulis email ke wchang deh. kangen ama keluargaku di 992 hix!

besok ga tau mau ngapain, mungkin ngerajut kali abis dah lama ga ngerajut ga bakal selesai2 ini kalo ngga. hmmm oh ya udah selesai film korea wonderful life, rada2 ngerti bahasa mandarin liao hahaha tak kirain ga bakal ada part yang sedih rupanya ada aja coba. nyebelin yo! wokie dokie, less than 1 week to go here. i'm ready to go home liao. ini jam 1 pagi ada orang tereak2 marah2 tapi jauh sekali kedengerannya tapi tetep aja gede suaranya. mengerikan. at least ga PRANGGGGGG hahahhaa. ufo melayang.

Mendoeng Mendoeng

2005-06-26T06:33:00.000-05:00

Ini lagi nungguin sodara mandi dan berdandan ria jadi bisa isi blog bentar.
kemaren cape banget jalan2 ampe jam 10.30 malem yo! rasanya dah bisa jalan sambil merem. kemaren pagi diajak ama sodara jalan dari rumah nyebrangin tower of london ampe tempat kerja dia..lumayan jaoh tapi dia bilang deket (measurementnya jauhnya beda) troz after lewatin jembatan tower of london tuh ada castle, baru tau kalo itu tower of london castlenya. ada istrinya henry the 6th di execute disono troz katanya sering ngeliat anne jalan2 sambil bawa palanya di tangan hahaha. abis ngeliat kantor dia kita naek tube ke nottinghill gate. aiyoooo mirip pasar di indo orangnya. BUANYAKKKKKKKKKKKKK banget! disono jualan antiques2 ada kamera dari jaman 1920an ada shakespeare play di buku 2x3 cm. lucu2. tapi ga beli apa2 sih cuma postcard 3. abis itu kita pergi shopping gara2 sodara lagi pengen shopping. kita ke oxford circus, dia tuh bunderan gitu nyatuin 3 very beautiful street and tua2. sayang gak tak foto. terlalu banyak orang dan jalannya cepet gitu orang2nya pada. jadi ngeri untuk berdiri dan foto. street2nya tuh bond street, regend street and oxford street. buauauauagus! harus pergi kalo ada kesempatan. ada yang unik disono. jadi kan banyak orang gitu kan di jalanannya rupanya ada 1 gang bisa masuk troz dalemnya banyak sekali cafe yang bagus bagus kayanya i didn't take the picture there. tapi ada picture di gangnya. (mudah2an) lupa liao ambil foto apa aja. dari sono kita ke toko buku yang gedenya 7 lantai hahaha tapi ga sehomey barnes. i bought a book about stradivarius! keren yo!! abis itu ngapain yah. oh pergi makan lobster noodle. uenak banget tapi saya sudah terlalu cape untuk bener2 appreciate hahaha. abis itu naek tube 30 menit nyampe rumah. selama tubenya ngomongin ttg singlish ama orang2 singapore temen2nya sodaraku. lucu banget so i didn't fall asleep. someday i'm going to take pic of tower of london at night sih bagus banget. anyway, today going to sacchi gallery!!! hore horeee oh ya harus ke design museum disamping rumah nih. bagus2 juga barang2nya. hari ini ke sacchi, ke covent garden, ke chinatown. chinatown sini katanya very famous, so yet to be seen lah ya hahaha. oh ya sini lagi summer sale gila2an bisa up to 75%. tapi ya tetep aja harganya nyammmm! ga kepegang yo! ok lanjut kapan2. cheers len + dri! dua orang pembaca setiaku hahaha

London Bridge is Falling Down

2005-06-23T12:21:00.000-05:00

udah hari ke3 di london tapi ini hari pertamanya i actually go around walking walking. nih cerita dikit deh. ada kejadian sarap. Hari pertama gua nyampe sini kan harusnya ambil black cab nah pas menuju antrian black cab, ada 1 orang item pake suit, dia bilang "taxi" ya aku bilang yes lah. RUPANYA dia bukan black cab. tak kirain orang yang urusin black cab gitu. eh aku diajak turun ampe ke garage. aku dah lumayan panik tapi tetep aja naek ke mobilnya. Sepanjang perjalanan jadi bahasa dewanya keluar lah sangking takutnya di kidnap. aku dah tau salah langkah banget tapi tetep minta tuhan jaga lah. ngeri yo udah ga tau jalan sama sekali mana dia anterinnya luaaaaaaaaaaaaamaaaaaa banget! rupanya rumah sodara gua emang jaoh dari airport (lebih tepatnya airportnya yang jaoh dari central London) aku di taxinya dah doa udah lah gpp mau berapa uang 100 pound ya wes lah asal aku selamat ampe tempat sodaraku. sodaraku bilangnya estimation keluar uang 60 bucks. i thought abis 100 ya udah lah salahku sendiri. rupanya pas nyampe rumah sodaraku, orangnya bilang 58 pound doang. wahhhh DAN SAYA SELAMATTTT sampai ditujuan sodara sodaraaaa!!! ya anyway belajar something lagi lah di perjalanan ini. kalo dah tau tujuan kamu kemana ya jangan lirik kanan kiri akibatnya puarah man!

anyway troz day two ga kemana2 cuma dirumah doang gara2 diare seharian. biasa lah syndrome pindah negara hahahha ato gara2 makan makanan chinese take away sehari sebelonnya. pergi beli adapter buat colokan2 electronics. tapi pulang rumah ga bisa dipake jadi mencoba nyari voltage converter

hari ini jam 10 pagi bawa kamera, bawa botol target merah isi air penuh. troz jalan2 sendiri dengan modal direction sodara "just follow the thames" so ya wes gua jalan disebelah Thames river. rumah sodaraku cuma 3 menit dari tower bridge. daerah dia lumayan highclass kayanya. 1 menit dari apartmentnya banyak resto2 kecil2 unique2. aku jalan2 ngeliat shakespeare globe, ada HMS Belfast warship jadi keinget pas ke portland ada kapal perang US tapi lupa bawa kamera haha. tros pergi ke Tate modern (something like museum of modern art). banyak sekaliiii art2nya. keren2 summore. lagi ada exhibitionnya "frida". arno telpon dia bilang deket Tate ada dixon kali jual converter, so i walk again by the Thames ampe London Eye seberangnya Westminster Abbey and Bigben. rupanya dixonnya KECIL SEKALIIII didalem underground tubestationnya. troz dia orang rupanya cuma jual adapter which i already have at home. so since udah 6 jam jalan kaki dan rada blister gara2 bukan sendal sendiri, i take tube home. sukur ga kesasar sama sekali pulang rumah. nyampe rumah online ketemu diman troz diman bilang harusnya adapter bisa automatically change voltage, tak coba 2 kali RUPANYAAA kemaren harusnya bisa cuma ga colok ampe pol hahahaha sarap! gara2 gitu jalan ampe 6 jam. tapi i saw a lot of things i might not see if i didn't go out (most probably stay dirumah kalo bukan gara2 converter ama Tate modern)

besok lom tau mau ngapain. masih ga gitu ngerti cara pake Tubenya. rada2 berantakan. ok update ttg londonku segini. i'll update my activities later onnnn. hope you guys have a great day there. miss US yo! everything in US is just a click a way beli apa2 tinggal clik clik clik then they send it to your doorstep. disini...digoogle buat cari storenya aja susah banget. aiyooo! oh another thing! 1US$ = 49 CENTS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! huahauhauhauhauha

Pushing on vs Letting go

2005-06-18T03:40:00.000-05:00

by: Ptld

A short discussion that stuck in my head:

You received an opportunity to serve
to minister in the House of Lord
you try to take the load
try and try harder
but you find that you don't belong in the ministry
you questioned about your own ability
will you give it up?
will you pursue it?
some said that we are just a servant
who are we to refuse the responsibility given unto us
some said "try it first and it's really beyond your ability...let it go"
what will you do?

If you think about the idea that who are we to refuse the responsibility given unto us, yes you might still carry out your ministry but will the motivation change? will you carry out your ministry out of obligation or out of love?

If you think about the idea that we should at least try and if we don't like it, we can let go, when and where is the border line? we might give up too early or too late but who will be the judge? we are. As a human being, we have the affinity to give up and say "at least i tried the best i could" but is it really the best? or did you falsely convince yourself that you've given the best to finally able to escape the responsibility? who knows?

what can we do when we faced this dilemma? it's back to the simple question "who are we?"
i posted a song called "who am i" a few months back. i was reminded that though we are the servant of God, we are also His children. we all know that a father will never give things that will harm his children. Our Father in heaven is father above all father who knows and designs our lives and future. We all know this fact deep in our heart but why we still doubt his plan?

As His servant we should be faithful in the responsibilities that He has entrusted to us. Though we maybe tired and wary of the heavy load, remember that His yoke is easy and His burden is light. Try to change our perspectives in our responsibilities so that our motivation in carrying out our ministry is not because of obligation but out of love for our master.

as His children we should trust his plan and no matter how hard it is, He knows our abilities better than us. He won't give us tasks that are beyond our abilities. Trust him. The hidden purpose is for Him to know and you to find out :) Here's a song for this blog. Sorry it's in Indonesian. Anyone who wants the english translation can msg me

************
Pelangi Kasih

Apa yang kau alami kini
Mungkin tak dapat engkau mengerti
Satu hal tanamkan dihati
Indah semua yang Tuhan bri

Tuhanmu tak akan memberi
Ular beracun pada yang minta roti
cobaan yang kau alami
tak melebihi kekuatanmu

Tangan Tuhan sedang merenda
Suatu karya yang agung mulia
Saatnya kan tiba nanti
Kau lihat pelangi kasihNya
************

For people involved, sorry for not telling you all that i'm going to put the discussion in the blog. I'm sorry if i've offended anyone too. Thank you that i learnt something from it :)

Pathways to Peace

2005-06-06T12:59:00.000-05:00

taken from: http://www.pathways-to-peace.com/

Pathways to peace
"Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called the children of God." - Matthew 5:9

Integrity
"Integrity is one of several paths. It distinguishes itself from the others because it is the right path and the only one upon which you will never get lost." - M.H. McKee

Joy
"If the sight of the blue skies fills you with joy, if the simple things of nature have a message that you understand, rejoice, for your soul is alive." - Eleonora Duse

Kindness
"Kindness is the language which the deaf can hear and the blind can see." - Mark Twain

Faith
"Faith is the strength by which a shattered world shall emerge into the light." - Helen Keller

Courage
"This is courage… to bear unflinchingly what heaven sends." - Euripedes

Hope
"Hope is faith holding out its hand in the dark." - George Iles

Charity
"We must not only give what we have; we must also give what we are." - Desire-Joseph Mercier

Love
"I have found the paradox that if I love until it hurts, then there is no hurt, but only more love." - Mother Teresa

Patience
"Never think that God's delays are God's denials. Hold on, Hold fast, Hold out. Patience is genius." - Comte Georges Louis Leclerc de Buffon

Determination
"The great thing in this world is not so much where we are, but in what direction we are moving." - Oliver Wendell Holmes

Gratitude
"A single grateful thought raised to heaven is the most perfect prayer." - Gotthold Ephraim Lessing

Humility
"Pride is concerned with who is right. Humility is concerned with what is right." - Ezra Taft Benson

Forgiveness
"Forgiveness is the answer to the child's dream of a miracle by which what is broken is made whole again, what is soiled is again made clean." - Dag Hammarskjold

Peace
"We must come to see that peace is not merely a distant goal we seek, but it is a means by which we arrive at that goal. We must pursue peaceful ends through peaceful means." - Martin Luther King, Jr.

Interview with God

2005-06-06T12:42:00.000-05:00

taken from: www.theinterviewwithgod.com

I dreamed I had an interview with God.
“So you would like to interview me?” God asked.
“If you have the time” I said.
God smiled. “My time is eternity.”“What questions do you have in mind for me?”
“What surprises you most about humankind?”
God answered...“That they get bored with childhood,they rush to grow up, and then long to be children again.”
“That they lose their health to make money...and then lose their money to restore their health.”
“That by thinking anxiously about the future, they forget the present, such that they live in neither the present nor the future.”
"That they live as if they will never die, and die as though they had never lived.”
God’s hand took mine and we were silent for a while.

And then I asked...“As a parent, what are some of life’s lessons you want your children to learn?”
“To learn they cannot make anyone love them. All they can do is let themselves be loved.”
“To learn that it is not good to compare themselves to others.”
“To learn to forgive by practicing forgiveness.”
“To learn that it only takes a few seconds to open profound wounds in those they love, and it can take many years to heal them.”
“To learn that a rich person is not one who has the most,but is one who needs the least.”
“To learn that there are people who love them dearly, but simply have not yet learned how to express or show their feelings.”
“To learn that two people can look at the same thing and see it differently.”
“To learn that it is not enough that they forgive one another, but they must also forgive themselves.”

"Thank you for your time," I said humbly. "Is there anything else you would like your children to know?"
God smiled and said, “Just know that I am here... always.”

Grow!

2005-05-02T18:09:00.000-05:00

by Kofu

Phillippians 1:6 being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.

God needs our partnership in our growth.
Why do we have to grow?
1. If we didn't grow, we won't bear fruits
2. Because growth is healthy
3. To be like Christ

Maybe we started up by following people to church but at the end we are hooked up and involved.

The first believers in the time of acts started by believing and following.
They believe and but they don't know anything what God wnats to do but they believe

Ephesians 4:23 to be made new in the attitude of your minds

Growth through Faith and Perseverence
Don't be a laggard because God has already spoken about what will happen, so don't be the one who is left behind.

There is no short cut to grow

1. God makes time so that we are able to grow stronger through the hurdles of problem that we are facing.

When we are concerned about how fast we grow,
God is concerned about how strong we grow

2. There's a lot of things that we have to learn
Because we are slow learners. Learning may hurt but growing does involves sacrifices and losses.

Practice to turn something into habit.
Growing = Increase
Recovering = standing up after a fall

Growing needs Caring. We have to grow. Don't keep recovering. Don't keep falling
Guard your heart. Be a person who is involved not someone who follows, So everyone can see your progress.

3.Sometimes growth is invisible
Sometimes we might be discourage because of our inability to see our growth. God may not let you see the apparent growth in you but there's some things in your ministry that God will use.

Ecclesiastes 3:1 There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under heaven

Ecclesiastes 3:11 He has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in the hearts of men; yet they cannot fathom what God has done from beginning to end.

Habakuk 2:3 For the vision is yet for an appointed time; But at the end it will speak, and it will not lie. Though it tarries, wait for it; Because it will surely come, It will not tarry.

Not everything is visible. Everything that is planned by God won't be happening that soon. Slowly but surely it will happen.

When it seems slow, wait patiently because it will surely shows. There's never a delay in God's plan.

Words of God

2005-05-02T17:50:00.000-05:00

by Handoko Rahardja

Psalm 119:105 - Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light for my path.

Word of God is divided into 2
Lamp : your daily life
Light : God's promise in your life

If you focus too much on the light, you will fall -> dreamer
If you focus too much on the lamp, you will fall -> no vision

Lamp: Brighten up your day, Ensure you take the right step

To reach the future, you need your daily life

God will not give you something if you are not ready. Every red light is a place for reflection of where you are now. Are you in God's promise yet?

Don't be a dreamer. Get back to reality.

Integrity: Say what you mean, mean what you say

Matthew 5:14-16 "You are the light of the world. A city on a hill cannot be hidden. Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven.

When you are in the darkness you have to turn on the light.

Why people persecute the church?
Don't fight back when you are persecuted because revenge is God's

Word of God is sharper than two edged sword. People persecute church because they can't stand the light in the church. The light cut their spirit and exposing the power of darkness and they will be criticized.

1 John 5:4-5 for everyone born of God overcomes the world. This is the victory that has overcome the world, even our faith. Who is it that overcomes the world? Only he who believes that Jesus is the Son of God.

If you've never been attack by the devil, maybe you are the devil
If you've never been criticized, maybe you are the one who criticized.

Never swear! Matthew 5:37 - Simply let your 'Yes' be 'Yes,' and your 'No,' 'No'; anything beyond this comes from the evil one.

Psalm 119:165 - Great peace have they who love your law, and nothing can make them stumble.

Doesn't matter what you know about the bible, what matters is how much you love the bible.

Leadership and Submission

2005-05-02T17:35:00.000-05:00

by Kofu

Genesis 12:1 - The LORD had said to Abram, "Leave your country, your people and your father's household and go to the land I will show you

Proverbs 5:6 - She gives no thought to the way of life; her paths are crooked, but she knows it not.

Thoughs are powerful.
From simple thoughts come greater things

Vision
1. Enable you to see tomorrow
2. Believes on God's abilities not yours
3. Needs action
4. Guide decision
5. Passion

To be certain in God's way is to be uncertain in all our ways

Deuteronomy 29:29 - The secret things belong to the LORD our God, but the things revealed belong to us and to our children forever, that we may follow all the words of this law.

God knows something you don't. Even Prophets of God do not know.
Secret things will make you walk in faith and that is why you have to believe. If you don't believe, how can you make others to believe?

Genesis 18:1 - The LORD appeared to Abraham near the great trees of Mamre while he was sitting at the entrance to his tent in the heat of the day.

1 person with vision = 99 person with interest
because VISION = PASSION

To make vision a reality:
1. See it clearly
2. Write it plainly
3. Say it continually
4. Show it creatively

Hebrew 13:17 - Obey your leaders and submit to their authority. They keep watch over you as men who must give an account. Obey them so that their work will be a joy, not a burden, for that would be of no advantage to you.

Leaders have to submit to leadership
Submit to your leaders because God has appointed them

If you say " i can't submit to that person because he/she is not worthy of my respect", you won't submit to anybody. Not even your husband.

Submit to your leader as if to your God. Submit not because the person is worthy but because it's God's command.

Before you judge others, Judge yourself first

Believe, Obedience and Submission
Leader needs to be submissive to leadership

We are Fearfully and Wonderfully made

2005-05-02T17:16:00.000-05:00

By: Ko Pantro

Make yourself available and be faithful in little things.
Have big vision, but be faithful in little things.
Have big vision, but still live in reality

Luke 16:10 : "Whoever can be trusted with very little can also be trusted with much, and whoever is dishonest with very little will also be dishonest with much."
- Little things determine the big things you'll get ( your future)

Matthew 13:31-34 : He told them another parable: "The kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed, which a man took and planted in his field. Though it is the smallest of all your seeds, yet when it grows, it is the largest of garden plants and becomes a tree, so that the birds of the air come and perch in its branches." He told them still another parable: "The kingdom of heaven is like yeast that a woman took and mixed into a large amount of flour until it worked all through the dough." Jesus spoke all these things to the crowd in parables; he did not say anything to them without using a parable.

Mustard seed : the largest of the garden plant but it started as the smallest of all seeds

1. Don't despise the small capabilities you have right now

Genesis 8:22 : "As long as the earth endures, seedtime and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, day and night will never cease."

2. Once you stop sowing, you'll stop growing

Why mustard seed and not other seeds?
Because it can grow to be either a big tree or a small tree.
Depending on your faith -> you can be either big or small

God gives room for our faith. According to your faith, where do you want to bring your seed?
- - - Never despise your small beginning - - -

Phillippians 4:19 : And my God will meet all your needs according to his glorious riches in Christ Jesus.

Yeast : a tiny amount of it will either destroy or improve the dough.
Little thoughts building up to a big effect. It's our own choice to decide which one we want to go for, destroying or improving.

Maybe we have failed in the past but we are still the sons of God.
Whenever you fial, go back to God and repent

Romans 8:15 : For you did not receive a spirit that makes you a slave again to fear, but you received the Spirit of sonship. And by him we cry, "Abba,Father."

3. Guard your heart, your eyes and your mind
- Yeast of Procrastination -> Prepare for the coming waves, do not procrastinate in your preparation.

Go Wif Da Flow!

2005-04-29T02:32:00.000-05:00

Insp: Ps Prince

Sometimes we complained complained and complained why things does not go as we want. Why things must HAPpened for us to be HAPpy? HAPpenning Has to HAPpenned for us to be HAPPY. WOI!!!!WAKE UP! Not everything can go as our plan.

Why A hasn't arrived yet ar? He/She told me that she'll arrive at 3 how come 3.30 still hasn't come one ar? why ? how come? walau...cia lat ar like this...ble bla ble bla...so what?

---OK! RUINING YOUR DAY YO!---

so, why don't we just gooooo wiffffffff daaaaaaaa flowwwwww. ok, if things does not go as you plan, go with the flow. see what you can do with your time lho. sing song, enjoy your surrounding, talk to Daddy God, look up the sky, see the blue sky, play with the cloud. Relive your childhood.

Oi! There's nothing wrong to relapse to a child-mind again because children are always joyful and everything is beautiful! ENJOY God's creation and u might notice chirping birds you haven't notice for a long time. Just relax lho. Don't think too much. Don't worry too much. Relax! Regard the waiting time as your resting time :)

This is not only about time delays but also about anything that go astray from your plan. Hey! you never know because a lot of time, good things occurs during that detour you are experiencing.

I learnt a long time ago to relax when things did not go as my plan. Sometimes when i am running late because of the bus, the mere act of ignoring my watch will subside all panic inside and let myself enjoy the presence of my surrounding. Then the Spirit is able to reveal a lot of things that i have forgotten or taken for granted during my usual on-time bus trip.

I need to be grateful about the sunshine, the beautiful color of the spring, and the fact that i am healthy n able to appreciate everything God has given me to enjoy.

Oh.. when major plans did not go according to your plan, don't worry. take small steps at a time and keep your priorities in mind. More often than not, this step-by-step approach is a much better way of achieving your goal.

Anyway, whenever things doesn't go as planned, RELAX! GOD'S CRUISING! Go With His Flow!

First Love

2005-04-25T03:30:00.000-05:00

by Kofu

Confession that Jesus Christ is the son of God:

External:
Luke 4:41 - Moreover, demons came out of many people, shouting, “You are the Son of God!” But he rebuked them and would not allow them to speak, because they knew he was the Christ.

Internal:
Matt 16:16 - Simon Peter answered, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.”

The greatest verse ever:
John 3:16 - “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life."

For God = The greatest being in the universe
So Loved = The greatest feeling
The world = The greatest number -> number of stars and sand
That He gave = The greatest act -> sacrifice
His only son = Give up being a father
Whoever = infinite number of person
Believe in Him = The greatest thought
Will not perish = The greatest fear
And have everlasting life = The greatest hope

---

It takes a person who has been forgiven to talk about forgiveness.

It takes a person who is saved to talk about the saviour

It takes a person who is loved to talk about love

Be Fruitful!

2005-04-25T03:08:00.000-05:00

by Ps. Henry Jones

Hebrews 3:18 - And to whom did God swear that they would never enter his rest if not to those who disobeyed

Hebrews 4:1 - Therefore, since the promise of entering his rest still stands, let us be careful that none of you be found to have fallen short of it.

Hebrews 11:6 - And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him.

First hindrance from being fruitful and fulfill God's rhema for you: UNBELIEVE
Heard but did not believe it will happens. Freely receive and you can give it to others. Give the bless away and you will be bless in your life. Believe and have faith that you will receive what you ask and told to you

Number 13:26-30 - They came back to Moses and Aaron and the whole Israelite community at Kadesh in the Desert of Paran. There they reported to them and to the whole assembly and showed them the fruit of the land. They gave Moses this account: "We went into the land to which you sent us, and it does flow with milk and honey! Here is its fruit. But the people who live there are powerful, and the cities are fortified and very large. We even saw descendants of Anak there. The Amalekites live in the Negev; the Hittites, Jebusites and Amorites live in the hill country; and the Canaanites live near the sea and along the Jordan." Then Caleb silenced the people before Moses and said, "We should go up and take possession of the land, for we can certainly do it."

Quit looking at the problem and look at God's promise on your life. Take the word and believe.

The way you see yourself is what others will see you. You have to see yourself in Christ so that you are not crushed by the enemy.

When fear is in your life, Faith is not present.....COURAGE! Although it might look hopeless...be courageous and God will make a way.

Overcoming the hindrance:
Revelation 12:11 - They overcame him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony; they did not love their lives so much as to shrink from death.

1. By the Blood of the Lamb
2. Giving testimony -> Testify
3. Love not your life even death.

Sometimes human reasongin and scientific finding hinders us from God's destiny of our lives. (ie. Moses and red sea). Human reasoning try to take God's miracles away from us and hinder us from being fruitful like what God wants us to be.

Like the example of Joshua. Though Israelites are did not believe that the Wall of Jericho will come rumbling down, the key is still........OBEDIENCE

The Character of David

2005-04-25T02:36:00.000-05:00

by Ps Chris

Act 13:22 - After removing Saul, he made David their king. He testified concerning him: ‘I have found David son of Jesse a man after my own heart; he will do everything I want him to do.’

How happy are we if we are in David's position. How wonderful it is to be a man after God's own heart.

David is a man after God's own heart, but What did he do to deserve such title?
1 Samual 16:7-8 - But the LORD said to Samuel, "Do not consider his appearance or his height, for I have rejected him. The LORD does not look at the things man looks at. Man looks at the outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart." Then Jesse called Abinadab and had him pass in front of Samuel. But Samuel said, "The LORD has not chosen this one either."

David is a man after God's own heart because he patiently await for the time for his reigning. He conquer his waiting time because he was anointed by Samuel at the age of 17 but he has to wait for 13 years to become king. Of course, he had chances to become king much sooner because God did not find favor in Saul anymore but David still patiently wait for God's time to promote him as the king of Israel.

1 Samuel 1:13-14 - So Samuel took the horn of oil and anointed him in the presence of his brothers, and from that day on the Spirit of the LORD came upon David in power. Samuel then went to Ramah. Now the Spirit of the LORD had departed from Saul, and an evil spirit from the LORD tormented him.

David realized that promotion only comes from God. God did not find favor in Saul anymore and God's spirit departed from Saul because he took over Samuel's responsibility as a high priest. David had a lot of chances to have early promotion using his own effort but he did not take that chance because he knows only God can promote and demote someone.

1 Samuel 17:40 - Then he took his staff in his hand, chose five smooth stones from the stream, put them in the pouch of his shepherd's bag and, with his sling in his hand, approached the Philistine.

David won over worries. He was the most courageous to face Goliath and He picked up 5 stones because he wanted to make sure he aimed and hit on the target. When we try to compare all attire from both sides, it was very obvious that David is the underdog of the match but analyze what he said to Goliath:

1 Samuel 17:45-46 - David said to the Philistine, "You come against me with sword and spear and javelin, but I come against you in the name of the LORD Almighty, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have defied. 46 This day the LORD will hand you over to me, and I'll strike you down and cut off your head. Today I will give the carcasses of the Philistine army to the birds of the air and the beasts of the earth, and the whole world will know that there is a God in Israel.

He believed that God will fight in his place and he has nothing to worry about.

Altar of Offering

2005-04-24T21:07:00.000-05:00

by Ps Chris

2 Chronicle 1:7 That night God appeared to Solomon and said to him, "Ask for whatever you want me to give you."

All of us always dream to receive this verse. But before verse 7, there are a few step to go through. We will take example from Solomon. (No greater king before and after him, he was the richest, the wisest and the greatest).

2 Step to go through to receive God's grace upon us:
1. verse 1 - Solomon always remember to the Tent of meeting even in his Golden years. Riches and position did not cause Solomon to forget God's Offering altar. What is Altar of offering? It's the cross that we have to carry every day. Offering altar is our response towards what God allows to happen in our lives. God demand that we carry our cross. Pay what has becomes our responsibility. God has given the best for us when we cry out to receive something but when we receive something, we act as if we've paid the price to receive what God has given to us.

We have to remember His kindness when He answers our prayers. When we forget to give thanks and pay the glory, something that has been given unto you will be taken away because we are not worthy to receive the glory. It is not hard for God to make us great but are we going to carry our cross?

I pray that we will receive riches, position and everything will be successful. And we did not forget to come to the mount of Gibeon and we did not make the first as the last and make the last as our first. Check yourself when God is preparing you.

2. verse 5-6 - Solomon is able to bring down God's presence. Life in this world will be very enjoyable and joyful for people who can bring down God's presense in this tough life.

2 Cor 4:7-8 "But we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this allsurpassing power is from God and not from us. We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed"

What's the best way to bring down God's presence? GIVE YOUR BEST
-- Solomon give to offering altar and give sacrifice. To give God the maximum we can give. What is integrity? Integrity = You did not sin when there is a chance for you to sin.
What is sacrifice? Sacrifice = Something we hold dear to us that we ive to God and it hurts.
So why are we scared to give the maximum we could give? we are afraid to give God our time, our riches when our God is the powerful God?

Humble yourself so God will give you everything that you need.
When you give the best, You'll feel God's presence everyday

Blessed are those who listen to the word of God and do it in their lives.

Listen!

2005-04-10T19:28:00.000-05:00

by: Ps Chris

Mark 7:16 "If any man have ears to hear, let him hear"

One of the most important thing in this life is how we listen because what we listen influence what we do. Another point is that there's never a day without listening.

Do you know the difference between hearing and listening?
Hear: hear something but forget its existence right away.
Listen: hear something often with attention. This is the most important!

If you listen wrongly, you'll do wrong stuff. You'll produce wrong reaction. For example, i was assigned a reading for a small quiz back in my bible college. But i memorized the wrong book of the bible and the consequences was i got my first and last zero in my entire school history.

Pay attention to what you listen because that determine what you'll do next.

James 1:19 " My dear brothers, take note of this: Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry"

The problem appear when we are too slow to listen and too quick to talk. Problem emerges when we spoke up before gathering enough data to back up our words.

Matthew 7:24-26 “Therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock. The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house; yet it did not fall, because it had its foundation on the rock. But everyone who hears these words of mine and does not put them into practice is like a foolish man who built his house on sand. The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell with a great crash.”

This contrast the one who really listen and do God's word and another one who only appear to listen but in the end did not do God's word. Two same house, exact and precisely the same as each other. But what differentiates the two? The QUALITY. The quality which will be tested in its perseverence when problem arises.

Our quality is tested when the storm of life emerges and differentiates between the ones who really did listen to what has been said from the ones who just hear what was said and pass it on to the air.

What's the benefit of listening?
Isaiah 48:18 "If only you had paid attention to my commands, your peace would have been like a river, your righteousness like the waves of the sea."

1. Peace like a river
2. Righteousness like the waves of the sea

Endless righteousness and peace will be bestowed upon you if you listen carefully to God's command.

EPIC created by God

2005-04-10T00:51:00.000-05:00

by: Sherwood Oaks production based on book by John Eldredge

Epic...Once upon a time....a story full of battles and beautiful promises. There are heroes and villains, counterfeits and kings. The world is submerged in a hidden reality that can only be unlocked by a powerful unseen truth. this is the EPIC.

Everything seems to be perfect in a story but everything is not what it seems. There's darkness underneath that perfectness. There's villain and heroes. More often than not, the hero must die for the beloved to live for example, Jack in the titanic. Though we must endure tragedy but as long as it is a happy ending at the end, we are willing to endure tragedy in the middle.

Question: why do we always long for a happy ending story? is it prewired in ourselves to long for that such ending ? if you think about it, this is why hollywood's productions are selling like popcorn. they are basically using our longing for beautiful ending as their core business. When we are left hanging in a storyline, we feel unsatisfied and we are curious to know the ending to the story we are watching. what do we usually see in a story? usually the first setting will skim ove a very perfect setting.
Answer: We are genetically designed by God for eternity, we are designed for heaven. That's why we always long for more of this world. We long to know our own happy ending, we long to know what will happened in our live next.

In the world where everything is so wrong, we long for the peace. We believe that there's still good in this world and we become more focus on the good side and deny the evil aspect. We are very focused on the heroes and all the happy ending stories but are we denying the existence of evil? The consequences it brings in our lives? Do evil exist in a much more subtle than we want to think? Do we take evil to lightly? we even make them into cartoon just for the fun of it. Evil takes on various shapes. Sometimes it is just a new object that trigger jealousy and the urge to possess within a peaceful community. But we rarely contributes these negativeness to the work of evil. We should know that evil is closer than we think. It is constantly battling the good in us. In our 24 hours, devil never cease or rest to taunt and tempt us into what he wants us to do. To drive us further away from our Beloved but remember that God is our 24 hours hotline counseling we can rely to always be there when we need encouragement, to be our shoulder to cry on and someone to rely on.

The battle between good and evil is not an easy conflict within. It is a raging war inside of you and this following story will tell a story about the consequences of our decision. A naughty child has been warned by his teacher that he's not to take out a plastic hammer around the class because of its sharp end. But during recess, he take a position on the top of the spin and he ask this question which is the same question eve asked in the garden of eden. "Can i trust my teacher?" "Can i trust God?" Evil won and Eve bit in the fruit of knowledge. Evil won and this child took the hammer out while standing on the top of a spin. Lo and behold, after several spin, the hammer slipped out of his hand and knock the eye of another kid. Blood spill over the playground and his teacher took him to another teacher to wait for her while she mended the wounded child. This guilty boy start sobbing and asking for his teacher though he know he's guilty. When he see his teacher, the teacher kneel down and open her arms wide to received the sobbing child with hammer on his hand. God long for us to come back to him though we have done so many things that shows our distrust to him. When we finally choose to come back home, He's always there arms wide open to receive and love us.

At the end we always long for a happy ending. When Gladiator ends with Maximus' death, we sigh happily when we finally saw his wife and son coming towards him because we believe that there's more to the story than what is portrayed in the movie. When Jack in titanic died for Rose to live, we know what Rose will forever treasure her life and Jack's love. What about us? we long for eternity. We long for heaven. At the end we long for the happy ending with the One who created us. This is our own journey. This is our story. This is our own Epic created by God. And we have a role to play ..............play it right!

Ministry of Love

2005-04-08T11:39:00.000-05:00

by: Ps Chris Mesach

The moment human fall into sin, they'd lost a patron figure til the arrival of Jesus Christ. We should reflect upon the Macedonian community. Though they endure hardship and severe suffereing, their joy is still overflowing. No hardship, no suffering is hard enough to hinder their joy.

What is the characteristic of the community in Macedonia?
1. In everything, every situation, they are able to maintain their joy. Be joyful in every given situation.

-- I pray that the spiritual condition in the community of Macedonia will be our own condition --

2. Eventhough they are very pour, they are rich in generosity. It's not about money but about your time for God, your time to care for each other.

-- I pray that you will be rich in financial and also rich in generosity --

3. Push themselves to be in a ministry. They long to be in the ministry.
God wants you to be a leader. Do you believe it? Think about this. Do you want to be a parent? If yes, God has put a leadership seeds in you to lead and teach your children.

-- I pray that we become ministere not because of the leaders but because of a push from longing to serve God that drive us to minister --

Until now we always mention about the strength of an eagle but we did not discuss much about the weakness of an eagle. The weakness of an eagle is that it cannot bear pain. But when they are sick, they fly and stay in a nest and let the sun heal them completely.

The Greatest Thing in the World

2005-03-29T03:17:00.000-05:00

By: Henry Drummond - Daymaker Greeting books

Since time began, many people have believed that the greatest of all virtues in the spiritual realm is faith. The apostle Paul taught that if you have enough faith to move a mountain, yet do not have love, you are nothing. Peter encourages us to love one another deeply. And John put it this way, simply: "God is Love"

The Secret of a fulfilled Life
"If I have faith so that i can move mountains and have not love, I am nothing" Paul's words pierce because we've all felt the sting of words without sincerity and eloquence without love.

Love is far greater than charity because you can have charity without love. Give a coin to a beggar, and ease you conscience- but if we truly loved them we would either do more or less. Paul contrasts love with sacrifice. The would-be missionary will do well to remember that though you die a martyr, yet have not love, your death would be in vain!

You may struggle to learn another language, but when you reach your country of destination, love, the universal language, will pour forth unconsciously. In africa I encountered men and women who remembered the only white man they had ever seen before David Livingstonl and as you traced his footsteps there, men's faces lit up as they spoke of the kind doctor who passed through there. They could not understand him, but they felt the love that beat in his heart.

Love is endowed with the power to rouse the heart of men and women everywhere to lofty purposes. Take love into your vocation and your lifework will succeed. It's not worth doing if you take anything less. You may achieve every accomplishment and yet miss love.

Paul portrays love as a life light. Watch a beam of light pass through a crystal prism and you see it emerge on the other side revealing its various colors; red, blue, yellow, violet, orange - the colors of the rainbow. Paul passes this thing called love through the magnificent prism of his inspired intellect, and it emerges revealing its characteristics.

The Nine Aspect of love
Patience - Love will wait
The attitude of love is passive, love waits to begin - does not hurry; it is calm; it is ready to do its work when the call comes but meanwhile wearing the ornament of a meek and quiet spirit. Love suffers long, bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, and therefore waits.

Kindness - Love is kind
Active love. notice how much time Jesus spent simply doing kind things? Study His life and you will see that He spent a great portion of His time simply encouraging people, doing good deeds for people. God has put within our power the ability to bring encouragement to those around us.

"The greatest thing a man can do for his heavenly Father," someone once said, "is to be kind to His other children." I wonder why we are not all kinder than we are. how much the world needs it. how easily it is done. How quickly it responds. Love rewards itself - there is no debtor in the world so honorable as love. Love never fails. Love is success; love is happiness; love is life. Robert Browning said it well: " Love is the energy of life"

Generosity - Love gladly gives
Love does not envy. This is love which competes with others. Whenever you attempt a good work, you will find others doing the same kind of work and probably doing it better. Do not envy them. Envy is an ill feeling toward those who are in the same line as ourselves. Even doing "God's work" is little protection against harboring this most ungodly feeling. That most despicable of all the moods that could a Christian's soul assuredly waits for us on the threshold of every work unless we are fortified with this grace of magnanimity.

Love is the Noblest Desire of All

Humility - Love is its own reward
Having learned all that, you will have to learn one thing more; to put a seal upon your lips and forget what you have done. After you have been kind, after love has done its work, go back into the shade and say nothing about it. Love revels not in itself. Love waives adoration. "Love is not puffed up"

Courtesy - Love is polite
This attribute here is love in relation to etiquette. The secret to love is being polite - love cannot behave otherwise. The most uncultured person, if he or she has love stored up in the heart, will not behave unseemly.

Thomas Carlyle said there was no truer gentleman in Europe than Robert Burns, the ploughman poet. It was because he loved everything - from the mouse to the daisy; all things great and small that God had made. And with this simple passport he could mingle freely with any society, and enter courts and palace from his humble cottage. And that is the whole art and mystery of it. A gentleman will not do ungentle things. And the gentle soul, the considerate, sympathetic nature cannot do anything else.

Unselfishness - Love shares
"Love seeks not her own" In many countries the average citizen is devoted and rightly so, to his or her rights. But there come times when a person may exercise the even higher right of giving up his or her rights. Yet Paul does not summon us to give up our rights. Love strikes much deeper.

"Do you seek great things for yourself?" asked the prophet. "Seek them not." Why? Because there is no greatness in things. There is no lasting joy acquiring things. Unfortunately, half the world is in hot pursuit of the wrong scent. He that would be great amoung you, said Jesus, let him serve. It is more blessed to give than to receive.

Even Temper - Love is not moody
"Love is not easily provoked" Some view a hot temper as a harmless vice. Others see it as a disposition or family failing - not a thing to be taken too seriously. Yet the Bible condemns it as one of the most destructive elements in human nature. A hot temper is a symptom of a disease which lies beneath; the occasional bubble surfaces and reveals a rottenness in men and women of "touchy" disposition. Who can measure the damage to society from a hot temper = for breaking up communities, destroying marriages, devastating homes. For sheer gratuitous misery-producing power, it stands alone. Jealousy, pride, cruelty, and self- righteousness - all are at the root of it. Jesus declared, "Unless man be born again, he simply cannot enter the kingdom of heaven" Those who want to go to heaven must take heaven with them. Heaven has no room for moody persons.

A lack of patience, or kindness, or generosity, or courtesy, are all instantaneously revealed in one flash of temper. A hot temper must be done away with. Souls are made sweet not by taking something out, but by putting something in .When God's heart envelops our own. it sweetens, purifies, and transforms. This radical change rehavilitates the heart. WIllpower does not change men and women. Jesus does. "Let that mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus" Some of us have no time to lose. It is a matter of life or death.

Innocence - Love is blameless
This aspect can be easily dismissed. Innocence is a grace and its possessors wield the secret of great personal influence. Influencers are people who believe in you. In a critical atmosphere, inwardly you die; but in an atmosphere of acceptance, you fourish. It's a wonderful thing when in this often hostile world you encounter someone who acts this way. Love "thinks no evil." imputes no motive, looks on the bright side, puts the best construction on every action. What a state of mind! What a blessing to meet such a friend for a day!

If we seek to elevate others, we soon see that success is in proportion to the degree of faith we had in them. WHen you respect another, their self-respect begins to grow and each can realize their full potential.

Sincerity - Love says "I care"
"Love rejoices not in iniquity, but... in the truth." The quality here is sincerity. One who loves will love truth. These rejoice in truth - not in what they have been taught to believe, not in a church doctrine, but "in the truth." They search for only what is genuine with humble, open minds and cherish truth when they find it.

Sincerity is restraint which refuses to capitalize on the weaknesses of others - it finds no pleasure in exposing their faults, but "covers all things". It endeavors to see things as they are and rejoices to find them better than may have been suspected. The issue is to have love molded into our character. That is our life work to focus on in this world; to learn love. Life is ripe with opportunities to loearn love: everyone, everyday, is given many. This world is not a playground; it's a classroom and the eternal lesson is learning how to love better.

What makes a good athlete? Practice. If you don't exercise your body, you won't develop muscle; without spiritual training, you won't develop strength of character. Love is a rich, vigorous expression of character - God's nature in all its fullness.
What did Jesus do in the carpenter's shop? Practice. The Bible tells us that He learned obedience and increased in wisdeom and in favor with God and man.

Love is more than the heart that beats within. We may try to emulate those who outwardly show it. But this will not bring love into our nature. The result comes as we love: We love Him - and we are compelled to love all people.

Look into the mirror and reflect the character of Jesus - and you will be changed into the same image, from tenderness to tenderness. Look to the Cross of Calvary, and you must love God.
Loving Jesus, you become like Him and become an attractive force, drawing all people to you. Like Him you will be drawn to all people. It's inevitable.

Edward Irving once visited a dying boy, and when he entered the room he just put his hand on the boy's head and said, "My boy, God Loves you," and went away. The boy called out from his bed and to the others in the house, "God loves me! God loves me!" It changed that boy. The sense of God's love overwhelmed him and created a new heart within him. God's love melts hearts and begins a new work in those who are patient, humble, gentle, and unselfish. There is no other way to get it. Love your friends; love your enemies; love-everyone-because He first loved us.

Seek the abundant life; seek God's love. Seek God, for God is love. Then love can take hold of you - body, soul, and spirit. Give and it will be given back to you. Love is its own reward.

To love abundantly is to live abundantly. To love forever is to live forever. Eternal life and love are intertwined. We rise each day for the same reason ; We want to live forever. Because there are people who love you, and whom you want to see tomorrow and be with and love. There's no greater reason for living than to love and to be loved. Because to live is to love. And eternal life is to know God; for God is love.

In the Book of Matthew, Judgment Day is depicted: God is sitting on His throne, dividing the sheep from the goats. The test then won't be what we have believed, nor what we ahve achieved but how we have acted. In that indictment, sins of commission are not even referred to. By what we have not done, by sins of omission. we will be judged. For by withholding love we negate the love of Christ - proof that we never really knew Him. That He inspired nothing in our lives, that we were not moved by His compassion for the world, to love.

Where love is, God is. God is love. Therefore love- without distinction. Without calculation, without delay. Lavish it on the poor, the rich who often need it most - and on friends and family. Any act of kindness that you can show, do it now. Don't postpone it or neglect it, for you will not pass this way again.

A day is coming when God will gather all the nations of the world, the spectacle itself, the mere sight of it, will silently judge each one of them. Then we will meet either those we have met and helped or the unpitied masses we have neglected. No charge will be brought, except lovelessness. Don't be fooled. The words that each of us hear that day will speak no of churches but of life; not of saints but of the hungry and the poor and the hurting; and compassion in the name of Jesus, who said : Whoever receives a little child in My name recieves Me. For this reason live. For this Reason Love.

It is all about Him

2005-03-21T01:29:00.001-05:00

Speaker: Ps Joseph Prince

Every stories in the Old Testament is about Jesus. The only theme of the Bible is Christ because He is the object of God's delight.

When trial comes, faith is there to overcome trial. And faith comes by hearing the word of Christ. Not the words of Theos but the word of Kristos.
God knows your problem but as long as your ocus is on Jesus, the storm, wind and wave will never have effect upon us. Only when we took our eyes away from Him, then we will start to drown.

Jesus is pictured as different person in each of the gospel.
John -> Jesus as Son of God. There's no genealogy of Jesus because he is revealed as son of God.
Matthew -> Jesus as King of Jews. There's a genealogy of Jesus proud pedigree of King. From Abraham to the great king, David, and finally to Jesus.
Mark -> Jesus as Servant. No genealogy because no one ask a servant about his ancestor.
Luke -> Jesus as Perfect man = Son of man. Here Jesus genealogy is traced back to Adam.

We will further discuss about John 1 - 8 and what Jesus represent in each of them.
John 1: Son of God. Israel has been blinded to a point where Jesus come to themas their own but was rejected by his own people.
John 2: Jesus turn water into wine. When Jesus come to the nation, it is a joyless nation but Jesus give them joy.
John 3: "For God so love the world ...". Not to condemn but to save the world.
John 4: Jesus spoke to the Samaritan woman. Jesus loves the jew as well as the gentiles.
John 5: Jesus heal a man paralyzed for 38 years. the duration of Israel wandering in judgment from Kadish Baniah (maybe wrong spelling) to the day they enter the promise land is 38 years. All together, Israel wander for 40 years, but they wander 38 years in judgment.
John 6: "I'm the bread of Life". People are hungry but they don't have the taste of the bread of life.
John 7: "Why didn't you bring Him in?" Because none ever spoken like this man. the Pharisee suppose to point people to God but they instead want to capture Jesus in flesh. Jesus disarmed them without weapon. The Pharisees try to use the lion approach but it does not work, so they use the subtle way. Often times, Devil use subtle way to win.
John 8: Jesus went to mount Olive. Everyone have their own house but Jesus doesn't, so he went to mount Olive. Jesus is the richest being in the whole universe but he didn't choose to be born in a manger -> Humility. The real transaction took place when he die poor at the cross so that we in His poverty might be rich.

* So don't say that God doesn't want us to be rich because Christ died poor and naked to give you all His riches.

John picture Jesus in various state:
Jesus standing = Glory, Majesty, Dignity
Jesus walking = Public Manifestation / Ministry
Jesus Sitting = Grace, Humility ( John 8:2)

John 8. Adultery and Prostitution is different. But the Pharisees brought the woman but not the man because they want to expose Jesus. Adultery involve 2 person but why it is only the woman who they brought to Jesus but not the man? They want to use the bible to attack Jesus. They want to test Jesus, to condemn people with quotes from Old Testament = oppress woman.

Religion uses bible verses to condemn. Leviticus 20:10 actually emphasize more on the man in the course of adultery ( If a man commits adultery with another man's wife-with the wife of his neighbor-both the adulterer and the adulteress must be put to death.) The Pharisees want to know what Jesus will say because they know that Jesus is full of grace and that Jesus will want to rescue the woman.

Questions:
How does he rescue her without compromising the law? How can Jesus reconcile God's grace and God's Holiness? How can Jesus give her grace and in the same time did not break the law? The Pharisees thought that any ways Jesus take, He will be trapped.

Remember that God has to be tough because God cannot allow sin to come into heaven.
God reconcile Grace and Law. Grace and Mercy rejoice over Law and Judgment.

Answer:
Jesus wrote with his finger. There's nothing superfluous in the bible. Every word counts. So why His finger? this is the second time God's finger is mention. The first time is when God wrote the 10 commandments. Law is design to bring out man's sin. When Moses broke the stones and God wrote the second one, God spent more time talking about His son = Mercy. As Pictured in the arc of covenant, God's Holiness (Law) is under God's mercy and grace. The 2 cherubins (God's judicial eyes) looking down at the mercy seat where blood is sprinkled. Without the blood God's eyes sees the broken law. "Those who depart from Him will return to the earth"

Jesus wrote twice on the ground. The second time when Jesus wrote represent conviction ( Jeremiah 17) and John 8:9 Fulfill Jeremiah's verse.

"Neither do I condemn you. Go and sin no more. " No condemnation is given first and then go and sin no more is given second. Why?
When you know there's no condemnation, THEN you can sin no more. Even if you sin, you know the gift of NO condemnation is still yours, so you can go and sin no more.

Number 5:16 -> the law of unfaithful wife. And John 8 actually fulfill the scripture.
Old T: The Priest take holy water, earthen vessel and dust on the floor.
New T: Jesus wrote on the ground.

Earthen vessel and Holy water = Jesus
Number 5:21 - Belly swell = pride
Thigh rot = weak
Number 5:18 -> Bitter water. The corss make the bitter water sweet. Religion make you bitter. Sweet water hence become a blessing. Keep your water from becoming bitter.

It is not a big deal to understand the law. Even the devil understands. But we need Holy Spirit to understood grace.

Jesus Fulfilled God's Law so that we are not under law because the law has been magnified.

God has been faithful and just to what Jesus had done on the cross. The faithfulness and righteousness demand your clearance and forgiveness.

Purpose of Life

2005-03-20T05:49:00.000-05:00

Speaker: Lasben Sitinjak

There's a lot of things we can't change in this world. We often ask why we were grew up in a village or why we are indonesian instead of american? of course being an american will ease up our goal to study in the US. why are a placed in a certain situation or place that makes it more difficult for us to achieve our goal? We know that God is never wrong in placing us. Maybe we thought that it is wrong but still God is always right.

Another thing that we can't change is our past. We won't be able to erase our past eventhough we fast for 40 days. God always watch us every minutes every seconds. In our every seconds, God has planned our life. Maybe our past is often strayed from what God wants, maybe we couldn't resist temptation but everything is in God's plan.

What we did does not influence our future, but what we decide and do now will influence our future.

One most important thing to achieve our goal is to give your best in life because we don't know how long we are going to live. We have dreams about what we want to be but we do not know what we will be.

When we give the best, when we make sacrifices in our lives, we will find out what our purpose are.

What is giving our best?
Mark 14:3-9 -> 3While he was in Bethany, reclining at the table in the home of a man known as Simon the Leper, a woman came with an alabaster jar of very expensive perfume, made of pure nard. She broke the jar and poured the perfume on his head. 4Some of those present were saying indignantly to one another, “Why this waste of perfume? 5It could have been sold for more than a year's wages and the money given to the poor.” And they rebuked her harshly. 6“Leave her alone,” said Jesus. “Why are you bothering her? She has done a beautiful thing to me. 7The poor you will always have with you, and you can help them any time you want. But you will not always have me. 8She did what she could. She poured perfume on my body beforehand to prepare for my burial. 9I tell you the truth, wherever the gospel is preached throughout the world, what she has done will also be told, in memory of her.”
From this woman we can draw an example of giving our best for God.
Giving the best or sacrificing the best does not require money but your life. It is to do the best in your life for God's purpose.

To give our best:
1. We have to pay the price.
Human always think about the value of money. If we have choices, we opt to choose the best for ourselves and second best for others. How many of us give what we don't want anymore to the church? Church become a dumpster in a softer sense. When did we start to put God as our second best? Unconsciously, often times we consider and place God in the second best place in our heart.

Remember about the woman in Mark 14. It was said that it cost a year of wages to purchase the perfume. This woman scrapped her wages for a year or maybe more just to buy purfume for Jesus. Keep in mind that she still has to pay her living cost for a year, hence it was very probable that this woman worked for more than a year to obtain the perfume. In those day, a woman only broke jar of perfume and poured on her groom's head. The perfume was her investment for her own marriage. Consider what this woman had done for Jesus. She sacrificed herself and gave her all to God. She knew that it was her marriage investment and she knew that she might not be married but she sacrificed it all for Jesus.

Paying the price is not easy. We pay the price when we try to give the best. When others are playing and you are studying but in the end we receive the same result, it was not easy. But what is important is that we pay the price to do the best for God.

Jesus told us to pay the price because He knows that we can do it.

2. We do everything and give everything with love.
Everyone of us has been in love. When we give something when we were in love, we always give it with love. A lot of Christian seldom give something to God with love. Giving with love is to give from the heart like what Christ has done for us. He gave up his life with love. When you love someone, you feel their pain right? Christ feel our pain, feel our love. He became human. Our busy God has to stay dormant and immobile for approximately 9 monthes in Mary's womb to become one of us. Our Almighty God transformed Himself to a tiny cell just to feel human's pain.
Of course Jesus can invent certain chemical that could take away His pain during His cruxifiction, be done with all the pain and in the same time erase all human's sin. But He didn't do it because He wants to feel the rain, the sun, to be one of us, to feel our pain. This is what it means to give with love. He has placed His heart as your heart.

We usually give God second hand but God does not give his life because he has a second life. God never give second hand to us.

We can be faithful and obedient but not love. But we can't love without being faithful and obedient.

God does not need the result, but God wants the love you give when you give the best with love for Him

3. Do your best as a responsibility upon God's given trust
In everything we do, we have to realize that nothing in the world is ours, including our lives, and that everything is a responsibility God has trusted upon us. God wants us to take care of what he has given us.

Even when we did all this three, God still doesn't owe us anything because even when we did nothing, He has given the best He can give. Even when we did something wrong, He still has given the best He can give. Think about what He will give if we give our best to Him.

1 Cor 4:1-2 ->1So then, men ought to regard us as servants of Christ and as those entrusted with the secret things of God. 2Now it is required that those who have been given a trust must prove faithful.

We are people trusted by God with the secret of God. He just demand us to be trustworthy. To stay faithful

Without faith It's impossible to please God

2005-03-14T05:07:00.000-05:00

Hebrew 11:6 - Without faith, it's impossible to please God
Speaker: Ps Rony Kuswanto

We lose excitement/passion for intimacy for God because we are overwhelmed by our activities, we are worried about our future, etc.

God has put a seed of greatness in everyone of us. But when we are overwhelmed by worries and other stuff, the things that God put into your heart is lost or drown and God wants to revive what is lost in you.

Do you know what number represents?
No 1: God
No 3: Trinity
No 5: Grace of God
No 6: Man
No 7: Perfection
No 10: Fulfillment ( 10 commandments)
No 12: God's people ( 12 tribes)
No 40: Completeness ( Jesus fasting, Moses exile)

Isaiah 40:30-31 Those who wait upon the Lord will renew(change/grow) their strength to soar like the eagle.

The renewing of strength:
1. Empowerment - we can only grow in the Lord when we are touched by the Holy Spirit
2. Restoration
- 1 Cor 3:16 - we are His church, we are the dwelling place
- What things does God want to restore? God wants to touch
a. Your mind -> restore it so we know His will for us.
Knowing the will of God is not gambling. Do not have a wrong mindset. God wants to
speak to you all the time so we can know what His will is for us.
b. Your prayer/ worship
c. Your life

Being successful is about changing lives not wealth
We must stop being a religious person, but we must become a true believer
A true believer = influencing people wherever we are.

When God renew us, there has to be changes. A change of focus and vision to be like the eagle. The devil likes to aim for our spiritual life, our faith and our passion to influence us to be "ordinary" and ineffective christian. Remember that God needs our excitement to do His work and the Devil will try to steal and kill our seed of greatness.

Who Am I

2005-03-13T22:07:00.000-05:00

by Casting Crowns
_____________________________________

Who am I, that the Lord of all the earth
Would care to know my name
Would care to feel my hurt
Who am I, that the Bright and Morning Star
Would choose to light the way
For my ever wandering heart

Not because of who I am
But because of what You've done
Not because of what I've done
But because of who You are

I am a flower quickly fading
Here today and gone tomorrow
A wave tossed in the ocean
A vapor in the wind
Still You hear me when I'm calling
Lord, You catch me when I'm falling
And You've told me who I am
I am Yours, I am Yours

Who am I, that the eyes that see my sin
Would look on me with love and watch me rise again
Who am I, that the voice that calmed the sea
Would call out through the rain
And calm the storm in me

I am Yours
Whom shall I fear
Whom shall I fear
'Cause I am Yours
I am Yours

Disecting the Eagle

2005-03-13T20:16:00.000-05:00

Speaker: Ps Chris Mesach

Isaiah 40:30-31

Although everything does not appear like it is bearing any fruits, remember that the most important thing is the process. God will do everything in His own time.

Eagle is mention in the Bible 38 times. It indicates that something unique and special about this bird that we need to learn from. We can take the positive points of Eagle to apply in our live

Facts:
Height: 1 meter
Width with both wings spread: 4 meter
Weight of nest: 700 kg
Favorite food: fish

1. Beek-> design untuk devour food. Shaped like hook efficient to tear up prey.

Life application: Beek represent our mouth and our words. (Revelation 12:11)
There are two power in believer: Potential power in our words and our action. mulut itu penting buat kita. Coba untuk puasa bicara. It's much more harder than to fast from eating. Untuk mengalahkan Iblis kita bersaksi memakai mulut dan perkataan kita. We are blessed cause of the testimony and words but we also suffer because of words.

Example: a minister has 3 children. the first 2 are handsome and beautiful but the third one happens to be mentally challenge. Everyday the minister faithfully speak positive words that this child will be normal. In the end the child grew up normally. Our words have impact

Male speaks 20 thousand words per day
Female speaks 50 thousand words per day
How many of these 50 thousand words we spent everyday to bless others?

When we talk, we impart all our lives through our ability to speak
Punches can hurt you for a week but Words can hurt you for a decade.

Pay attention to your words.

2. Eyesight/ Hearing

You know why eyes are the most important part in the body ? It's proven by how eagle's eyes work. Eagle actually cleans tis eyes every 3-4 seconds by wiping them since they have two eyelits.

Secondly, Eagles' eyes are very sharp and they are about 14 times as sharp as average people's. They can see the target (fish usually) from 1000 feet above the surface of the ocean or around 2 miles in length.

Life Application:
I Samuel 3:1-3
We are unable to see what's gonna be in front of us. Our spiritual eyes are dead

I Samuel 4:18
When you read the story of Samuel, he was actually the assistant of the pastor at that time. There was a holy place in the church (tabut indo nya), he slept in that place where not even the highest priest could not do that. Another rule was that the high priest was only allowed to get in twice a year. Also, there was a candle inside that the priests had to make sure that the candles were on. Eli was the high priest at that time and he was old already and he got really fat as time went by. Eli's eyes and ears were dead, but not literally dead. His spiritual life with God was actually didn't go well. Eli's eyes of hearts were having so high cholesterol level spiritually. If you imagine what cholesterol is, you may think of junks and diseases it causes.

In a nutshell, sharp eyes are for looking at the visions and we have to keep our eyes clean both physically and spiritually because eyes are responding to all events happening. So, we have to keep our christian life well by staying out of the influences created people around us.

3. Claws

One of the most important tool for hunting. Has a nail that looks like hook
Life Application: there's power in action. Action speaks louder than words.
remember that 1% vision and 99% hard work.

We have to learn from abraham.God gave him a lot of promises but what did he do to fulfill all God's promises? He step out, walk out from the place he grew up.

Action = hardwork and real effort to accomplish a vision. Why God's promise to us never happens? because we don't have enough courage to step out from our comfort zone
When you have the courage to step out from your weakness, you will fulfill all God's promise in your life.

4. LifeStyle

Fact: Eagle migrate seasonally usually in Fall
They acceleration is 50km/hour

Life Application: There's no "comfort zone" for God's children
Comfort = biggest killer in Christianity
Camping principle: Dynamic and active.

Example: the journey of the Israelites in the desert. When the pillar of fire moves, they have to move. sometimes they are tired sometimes they had just arrived and just build their camps, but if the pillar moved, they have to hastily pack up their stuff and move with the pillar.

Ps Jonathan said that miracles happen out of the church. Miracles happens in people's houses. If persecution happens, the place that cannot be touch is God's movement in house.
For those who is struggling, be bless because comfort is killer.

Be Careful and Check your lifestyle

5. Food

Fact: not carcass eater
Has a pouch in the stomach to store food
Separate between things inedible with the edible

Pastor Jonathan is a mighty man of God. He knows a lot of things and He's gifted in playing all kinds of musical instrument. Do you know what is his IQ? it's only 96. So what makes him the way he is? He read the bible. The bible is your source of knowledge

From 33,000 God's promises in the bible, How many has been fulfilled in your life?

Pay attention to our spiritual food.

=============================

The lifespan of eagle is 60-120 years. After 60 years of living, the eagle will soar up high to a place where no human being can reach. Up there the eagle will stay for a full year and let all its feathers to shed. The eagle patiently wait for its feathers to grow back and just let the sun to nurture it back to its magnificent grace. After a year of waiting, the eagle will continue to live another 60 years.

Another point we can learn from eagle is that it is a very loyal bird. It will not mate with other eagle unless its mate died. We as christian has to learn from this bird how to be loyal. When we accept Christ as our savior, we have made a lifetime contract to be faithful. The church can issue engagement contract (baptism) but it will never issue divorce contract with God. Divorce from God will never happen but we are allow to have "desert phase" but for the purpose of being a greater than before.

In every great leader, there's always a desert that needs to be overcome. David has it. Moses has it. Moses has to wait for 40 years in the desert until God use him. Leaders that do not has a "desert phase" in their life usually only last for a short time. Example of these leaders are saul and Samson. Believe that when desert come into our life, God will make us greater. Soar us higher than we ever did.