Forgive is a verb, we can do it.

In our social life we have made many relations with other people, family and friends. Without our consciousness when the relation becomes closer, we usually build specific expectations from those people. We often disappoint when those expectations cannot be met. That what’s I experienced lately. That also made me realised that nobody is perfect including me. We need to learn to forgive and accept other people including their strengths as well as their limitations. Somehow it is difficult to apply it in our daily life, with a big heart I believe we can do it.

Quiet Time.

A simple thoughts during an extraordinary time...

by Daniel W.

Love is never easy...
For sure, you will find many obstacles and hard time.

But

Love brings happiness...
For sure, you will find happiness
when you're falling in love or being loved by someone.

However, the happiness is a different story...

Happiness is something that sometimes come and go easily...
It is a pleasant emotion... a greatest moment of a lifetime...

You could find it in love, friendship, family...
or you could create it beneath your mind, day by day...

Once you know the way to grab happiness,
I believe it will not come and go easily.
Just believe that God will always give you the best,
not the worst...

Be positive...

Lady in waiting.

That is a book's title by Jackie kendall and Debbie Jones. A few months ago a church friend, Novia, recommended me to read this book. Both of us involve in the same ministry in a young mature single community in our church. As a young single lady, sometimes waiting can be very challenging, especially in this information era almost everything are instant. Somehow we also want God to fulfil what we want right here right now, regardless we are ready or not. This book has given me a lot of new perspectives how to be a Godly woman while waiting for prince charming.

The most important principle that I learnt from this book is "my earthly father, my future husband, or anyone else could not provide security--only God can". Hence, we have to put our hope in God not in human. Let's God make everything beautiful in its time (Ecclesiastes 3:11). A very recommended book to read !

Preview from the authors.

This is not just another book for singles! With humor, honesty, and biblical truths, the authors help point women to being the right woman and not just finding the right man. By studying the biblical character Ruth, women learn the characteristics that every woman of God should develop. Learn how to become a lady of purity, faith, contentment, patience, and more as you pursue a personal and intimate relationship with Jesus. You'll discover that only a relationship with your Heavenly Bridgegroom will satisfy!

Busyness drift away our soul from God.

This morning devotion talk about the following passage Luke 10:38-42

38 As Jesus and his disciples were on their way, he came to a village where a woman named Martha opened her home to him. 39 She had a sister called Mary, who sat at the Lord's feet listening to what he said. 40 But Martha was distracted by all the preparations that had to be made. She came to him and asked, "Lord, don't you care that my sister has left me to do the work by myself? Tell her to help me!"

41"Martha, Martha," the Lord answered, "you are worried and upset about many things, 42 but only one thing is needed. Mary has chosen what is better, and it will not be taken away from her."

This passage remind us that we often get distracted very easily, busy with our work, task after task, routine and etc. Without our conscious it also drift away our priority. Somehow based on my experience, sometimes we ourselves that keep ourselves busy, in order to look important, dilligent, good, smart and etc. Hence, we often say no time for pray, fellowship and especially a quite time with God.

If we look back what all the activities and busyness are for? sometimes end up with nothing. Maybe we need to give some thoughts and re-arrange our priority, but the most of all put God in the first place. He only asked us to have sometime with Him, may be only 30 minutes or 15 minutes per day. If we calculated one day 24 hours, amounted for 1440 minutes, then we spent 30 minutes out of 1440 minutes. It is only 2% of our total time per day. Is that too much?

This message is also a warning for me, to slow down a little, put aside worriness and quiet listen to Him.

Ku Tak Akan Menyerah.

by Jonathan Prawira.

Dalam segala perkara, Tuhan punya rencana
Yang lebih besar dari semua yang terpikirkan
Apapun yang kau perbuat, tak ada maksud jahat
S'bab itu kulakukan, semua dengan-Mu Tuhan

Reff:
Ku tak akan menyerah pada apapun juga
Sebelum kucoba, semua yang kubisa
Tetapi kuberserah kepada kehendak-Mu
Hatiku percaya Tuhan punya rencana.

Life is good ?

I wondered how many people who live in this earth have a courage to admit this simple truth. Sometimes we need to remind ourselves about it. The past few weeks have been a terrible time for me in the office. Everything were overwhelming, have tried hard to manage all the works, felt frustrated and nearly want to give up. It seemed that I've used up all my energy and have nothing else to keep it continue.

Thank's God, He always knows and be there when we need Him. This morning devotion have reminded me about the slogan again "Life is good". It says we always overwhelm by our daily activities and struggles : work, family, health, relationship, but somehow it's good to think how tiny our part in the universe really is. During our obsession over our work, in fact God quietly does His. Everything in this universe keep working: sun rise, sun set, earth rotating, the planet revolving and season changing, without we need to pray about it or tell God that it's time to do what. All that He does remind us He is good (Acts: 14:17). How comfort the words are.

"Life will at time be difficult, often it is painful, and for now it is imperfect. But still it is good, for in all these things nothing can separate us from God's lavish expressions of love - Rome 8:39". (Julie Ackerman Link).

A piece of cake. - Author Unknown -

(Have you ever thought: "What did I do to deserve this?" or "Why did God have to do this to me?" Remember this story the next time you do.)

A daughter is telling her mom how everything is going wrong: she is struggling in algebra, her boyfriend broke up with her and her best friend is moving away.

Meanwhile, her mom is baking a cake and asks her daughter if she would like a snack. "Absolutely, Mom, I love your cake". "Here, have some cooking oil," her mom offers."Yuck," says the daughter."How about some raw eggs?" asks the mom."Gross, Mom!"

"Would you like some flour on them?" asks Mom."Mom, these are all yucky!" says the daughter. To which the mother replies,"Yes, all these things seem bad by themselves. But when they are put together in the right way, they make a wonderfully, delicious cake.

"God works the same way. Many times, we wonder why He would let us go through such bad and difficult times. But God knows that when He puts all these things in His order, they always work for good! We just have to trust Him and eventually, they will all make something wonderful.

Hope your day is "a piece of cake"!

Trust and Obey. (By John H. Sammis)

When we walk with the Lord in the light of His Word,
What a glory He sheds on our way!
While we do His good will, He abides with us still,
And with all who will trust and obey.

Refrain:
Trust and obey, for there’s no other way
To be happy in Jesus, but to trust and obey.

Not a shadow can rise, not a cloud in the skies,
But His smile quickly drives it away;
Not a doubt or a fear, not a sigh or a tear,
Can abide while we trust and obey.

Not a burden we bear, not a sorrow we share,
But our toil He doth richly repay;
Not a grief or a loss, not a frown or a cross,
But is blessed if we trust and obey.

But we never can prove the delights of His love
Until all on the altar we lay;
For the favor He shows, for the joy He bestows,
Are for them who will trust and obey.

Then in fellowship sweet we will sit at His feet,
Or we’ll walk by His side in the way;
What He says we will do, where He sends we will go;
Never fear, only trust and obey.

Comforting Message.

Received an sms from a friend, which I think very comforting. Here is the message:

The secret of life is letting go. The secret of love is letting it show. The power of prayer is a humble cry. The power of changes is giving our life. Let it in time and you will see. The journey of life is a search for a chance. The journey of faith is following God. Every step of the way.. Through the joy and the pain, lift up to Him completely. Let God Works in our life. Just believe and surrender everything to His control.. And you will see how amazing our God. Start each day to hold His hand and walk in His love. God know you and never leaves you. Jesus Love us!

Eventhough you can't see Him, God is there!

Once upon a time at lunch time.

Bali Adventure - FS xLos outing 30 May - 1 June 2009.

This was my fifth time to visit Bali. I was still exciting about it. This also my third time went for rafting, I still felt thrilled with the experience... Looking forward for next year outing.. :)

Stretching Creativity.

Being a sunday school teacher sometimes can be quite challenging for me. Currently I am taking care of a class of ten of 4-5 years old children. These children sometimes can be so cute and awesome, but on the other time can really be very annoying. I take that challenge as an exersice to strech my patience and emotion.

May is a month when our church celebrate as a family month. Every sunday in this month, we have a moment during the service to show respects to our parents. For sunday school we got a task to make a greeting card to show these kids' love to their parents. In other words, I as a teacher need to prepare a card template which is doable by a 4-5 years old kid. As a not talented in Art person, I went straight to google and found some websites to facilitate card crafting. Finally, I came out with a card template and angel pattern doll complete with its ornaments that can be glued and coloured by these children. Hmm, thank's to the google.. :)

Fireproof.

Another inspirational film from the creators of Facing the Giants. This film remind us that sometimes we can take our family for granted and feel that they do not have any meanings in our life anymore, which we shoud give more appreciation to them.

Along the story there is one sentence that really hit me is "don't follow your heart". That's also remind me with a reflection that I heard some years ago (http://gracia-triana.blogspot.com/2004/11/follow-your-heart.html). Yeah we are easily tempted by our circumstances and forget to seek God's will. Thank's God I was reminded again.

Life of Pi.

That was a title of a novel that I read recently. It is a fantasy adventure story, which was written by Yann Martel. In the story, the protagonist Piscine "Pi" Molitor Patel, an Indian boy from Pondicherry, explores issues of religion, sprituality, and practicality from an early age. He survives 227 days after a shipwreck, while stranded on a boat in the Pacific Ocean. In this ocean where the story mostly talk about. An amazing story, full of miracle, and like Pi said, through his experiences made him believe to God.

How about us? Do we put our life in His hands ?

John 10:28 "I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one can snatch them out of my hand."

SPA outing: Ayer Island 16-17 May 2009.

Enhancing relationships - some wise words.

I got it from a mailing list, I thought these words are worthed to be shared because it is very inspirational.. enjoy to read..

TRUST is a very important factor for all relationships. When trust is broken, it is the end of the relationship. Lack of trust leads to suspicion, suspicion generates anger, anger causes enmity and enmity may result in separation.

A telephone operator told me that one day she received a phone call. She answered, "Public Utilities Board." There was silence. She repeated, "PUB." There was still no answer. When she was going to cut off the line, she Heard a lady's voice, "Oh, so this is PUB.Sorry, I got the number from my Husband's pocket but I do not know whose number it is."

Without mutual trust, just imagine what will happen to the couple if the telephone operator answered with just "hello" instead of "PUB".

NO POINTING FINGERS

A man asked his father-in-law, "Many people praised you for a successful marriage. Could you please share with me your secret?" The father-in-law answered in a smile, "Never criticize your wife for her shortcomings or when she does something wrong. Always bear in mind that because of her shortcomings and weaknesses, she could not find a better husband than you."

We all look forward to being loved and respected. Many people are afraid of losing face. Generally, when a person makes a mistake, he would look around to find a scapegoat to point the finger at. This is the start of a war. We should always remember that when we point one finger at a person, the other four fingers are pointing at ourselves.

If we forgive the others, others will ignore our mistake too.

CREATING PERFECT RELATIONSHIPS?
A person visited the government matchmaker for marriage, SDU, and requested "I am looking for a spouse. Please help me to find a suitable one." The SDU officer said, "Your requirements, please." "Oh, good looking, polite, humorous , sporty, knowledgeable, good in singing and dancing. Willing to accompany me the whole day at home during my leisure hour, if I don't go out. Telling me interesting stories when I need companion for conversation and be silent when I want to rest." The officer listened carefully and replied, "I understand you need television."

There is a saying that a perfect match can only be found between a blind wife and a deaf husband ,because the blind wife cannot see the faults of the husband and the deaf husband cannot hear the nagging of the wife. Many couples are blind and deaf at the courting stage and dream of perpetual perfect relationship. Unfortunately, when the excitement of love wears off, they wake up and discover that marriage is not a bed of roses. The nightmare begins.

NO OVERPOWERING

Many relationships fail because one party tries to overpower another,or demands too much. People in love tend to think that love will conquer all and their spouses will change the bad habits after marriage. Actually, this is not the case. There is a Chinese saying which carries the meaning that "It is easier to reshape a mountain or a river than a person's character."

It is not easy to change. Thus, having high expectation on changing the spouse character will cause disappointment and unpleasantness.

It would be less painful to change ourselves and lower our expectations..

RIGHT SPEECH
There is a Chinese saying which carries the meaning that "A speech will either prosper or ruin a nation." Many relationships break off because of wrong speech. When a couple is too close with each other,we always forget mutual respect and courtesy. We may say anything without considering if it would hurt the other party.

A friend and her millionaire husband visited their construction site. A worker who wore a helmet saw her and shouted,"Hi, Emily! Remember me? We used to date in the secondary school." On the way home, her millionaire husband teased her, "Luckily you married me.Otherwise you will be the wife of a construction worker.." She answered ,"You should appreciate that you married me. Otherwise, he will be the millionaire and not you."

Frequently exchanging these remarks plants the seed for a bad relationship. It's like a broken egg - cannot be reversed..

PERSONAL PERCEPTION
Different people have different perception. One man's meat could be another man's poison. A couple bought a donkey from the market. On the way home,a boy commented, "Very stupid. Why neither of them ride on the donkey?" Upon hearing that, the husband let the wife ride on the donkey. He walked besides them. Later, an old man saw it and commented, "The husband is the head of family. How can the wife ride on the donkey while the husband is on foot?" Hearing this, the wife quickly got down and let the husband ride on the donkey.

Further on the way home, they met an old Lady. She commented, "How can the man ride on the donkey but let the wife walk. He is no gentleman." The husband thus quickly asked the wife to join him on the donkey. Then, they met a young man. He commented, "Poor donkey, how can you hold up the weight of two persons. They are cruel to you." Hearing that, the husband and wife immediately climbed down from the donkey and carried it on their shoulders.

It seems to be the only choice left. Later, on a narrow bridge, the donkey was frightened and struggled. They lost their balance and fell into the river. You can never have everyone praise you, nor will everyone condemn you. Never in the past, not at present, and never will be in the future.

Thus, do not be too bothered by others words if our conscience is clear..

BE PATIENT
This is a true story which happened in the States. A man came out of his home to admire his new truck. To his puzzlement, his three-year-old son was happily hammering dents into the shiny paint of the truck. The man ran to his son, knocked him away, hammered the little boy's hands into pulp as punishment. When the father calmed down, he rushed his son to the hospital.

Although the doctor tried desperately to save the crushed bones, he finally had to amputate the fingers from both the boy's hands. When the boy woke up from the surgery & saw his bandaged stubs, he innocently said, " Daddy,I'm sorry about your truck." Then he asked, "but when are my fingers going to grow back?" The father went home & committed suicide.
Think about this story the next time someone steps on your feet or u wish to take revenge. Think first before u lose your patience with someone u love. Trucks can be repaired.. Broken bones & hurt feelings often can't. Too often we fail to recognize the difference between the person and the performance. We forget that forgiveness is greater than revenge.

People make mistakes. We are allowed to make mistakes. But the actions we take while in a rage will haunt us forever.

Professional Looks.

This picture was taken we were going to have a proposal presentation for a potential clients. All of us looked so formal.. :)

When I (God) say that I love you (human being)....

lyric by Franky Sihombing

You feel that you're lonely
It doesn't prove that you are alone
You feel that nobody want you
It doesn't mean that no one cares about you

Reff:
Listen to the words I say
that I will always by your side
You mean everything to me
that I will never leave you
cause I love you so

If you think that you're nothing
but for Me you are something beautiful
You think you can't do anything
but you can do a lot of things with me

When I say that I love you
It's mean I give the best for you
When I say that I love you
I will give everything for you

No more fear about the future
and blame for the past
I'll give everthing when I say that I love you
I want you to know that I died for you
I want you to know that I'll give all My life for you
When I say that I love.. say that I love you
When I say that I love you, I really do.

John 15:13 "Greater love has no one than this, that He lay down His life for His friends."

What would you do, if you know your time won't be long..

During the Christmas and New year holiday, I finally have time to spend my time to read for pleasure again. By coincidence the two books that I read this time related to death. One of them is a fiction another one is real story. Having read both of them, I come to realise that we have to appreciate every minutes and every second in this life. Life is so short, instead of complaining, why don't we focus on thing that we can do to fulfil our dreams. The following is the title and short description of the book:

• Ways to live forever. This book was written by a young talented author Sally Nicholls. She was just 23 when she wrote the book. The book describes an 11 years old boy, who may not make his dream come true because he would die by lymphoblastic leukemia. With the encouragement of his tutor, he starts to write a bit about himself, then more, until he is using his writing to sort out his death.

• The last lecture (Real Story). A lot of professors give talks titled The Last Lecture. Professors are asked to consider their demise and to ruminate on what matters most to them: What wisdom would we impart to the world if we knew it was our last chance? If we had to vanish tomorrow, what would we want as our legacy? When Randy Pausch, a computer science professor at Carnegie Mellon, was asked to give such a lecture, he didn't have to imagine it as his last, since he had recently been diagnosed with terminal cancer. What would a dying person give in a lecture? suprisingly Randy did not talk about his health condition and his family struggles to cope with the situation, instead he talked about how to achieve childhood dreams, overcoming obstacles, enabling dreams of others, and seizing every moment (because time is all you have and you may find one day that you have less than you think). It was a summation of everything Randy had come to believe. It was about living. This lecture recorded as one of the most inspiring lecture ever.

Something that worthwhile to read and think about.

I got the following illustration from my philiphino friend. I think it might be useful to share with others. I hope someone read this and realise that what the most important thing in this world and do not take it for granted again in the future. Something that good to start with in the 2009.

The Mayonnaise Jar and 2 Cups of Coffee

When things in your life seem almost too much to handle, when 24 hours in a day are not enough, remember the mayonnaise jar and the 2 cups of coffee.

A professor stood before his philosophy class and had some items in front of him. When the class began, he wordlessly picked up a very large and empty mayonnaise jar and proceeded to fill it with golf balls. He then asked the students if the jar was full. They agreed that it was.

The professor then picked up a box of pebbles and poured them into the jar. He shook the jar lightly. The pebbles rolled into the open areas between the golf balls. He then asked the students again if the jar was full. They agreed it was.

The professor next picked up a box of sand and poured it into the jar. Of course, the sand filled up everything else. He asked once more if the jar was full. The students responded with an unanimous 'yes.'

The professor then produced two cups of coffee from under the table and poured the entire contents into the jar effectively filling the empty space between the sand. The students laughed.

'Now,' said the professor as the laughter subsided, 'I want you to recognize that this jar represents your life. The golf balls are the important things---God, your family, your children, your health, your friends and your favorite passions---and if everything else was lost and only they remained, your life would still be full.

The pebbles are the other things that matter like your job, your house and your car.

The sand is everything else---the small stuff. 'If you put the sand into the jar first,' he continued, 'there is no room for the pebbles or the golf balls.. The same goes for life. If you spend all your time and energy on the small stuff you will never have room for the things that are important to you

'Pay attention to the things that are critical to your happiness. Play with your children. Spend time with your parents. Visit with grandparents. Take time to get medical checkups Take your spouse out to dinner. Play another 18. There will always be time to clean the house and fix the disposal. Take care of the golf balls first---the things that really matter. Set your priorities. The rest is just sand.'

One of the students raised her hand and inquired what the coffee represented. The professor smiled. 'I'm glad you asked.

It just goes to show you that no matter how full your life may seem, there's always room for a couple of cups of coffee with a friend.'