laughter

Today as I walked to get lunch, I passed by a young mum and her little boy. The little boy was sitting in his stroller and as the mum gave him a tickle, he cracked up laughing and laughing. There was so much joy in his laughter that I couldn't help but smile as I walked past. It also made me realise that being a tiny little kid (probably not even a year old), he had not been taught how to laugh - he just knew how. It had been programmed into him by God - like it has been for the rest of us.

It has often been said that what separates the human from the rest of the animals is his sense of humour. But I just think that it is part of God's wonderful design! He didn't have to program us with a sense of humour, the ability to laugh, or the wit (or lameness - depending on who you are hehe) to crack jokes - but He did anyway because He knew that it would bring us joy. And when we are joyful, I reckon He is too.

I really believe that this is a true indicator that shows us that we are not only wonderfully and intelligently created, but also that our Creator is One who loves us dearly and delights in seeing us find joy in something as simple as laughter.

google-mapping!

30in30 this year has been made more fun with Googlemaps. A few of us have been plotting our tracts on the online map and it has been so cool watching the little icons pop up all over Perth! Check out a screen shot of the Perth Metro Area!

What's even cooler is that people have been plotting their tracts around Australia - Bro Pete in Ingham, Minh in Darwin, bretheren in Esperance, and even me when I went to Sydney. Screen shot of Australia is here:

If you want to check the map out for yourself have a look at this link. It's so much more fun knowing that there's others out there doing the same thing as you. Happy Tracting everyone!

the four stabilising truths

It's amazing how quick your emotions can change. One minute you're feeling good - the sun's shining, birds are chirping, you look up and see a rainbow, little bunnies appear out of nowhere and smile and wave at you with their furry little paws, and you dance through the green meadows singing 'the hills are alive with the sound of music'. Then all of a sudden, the bird fly away, the rainbow is covered by dark rain clouds, it starts to pour(and you're wearing sandals), the bunnies get shot by a hunter, and as your dancing turns to running-for-cover, you sprain your ankle as you slip on the wet and muddy grass - and you end up with a sore throat and runny nose because of too much singing in the rain.

OK, yes. I got a bit carried away there, but it's like that for me sometimes when my emotions get the best of me. When everything turns to crud, I get to the point where you might as well send the little grey rain cloud to hang permanently over my head, as I meditate on reasons why I should continue feeling sorry for myself. I'm a nutter - I know.

So it is during these times of perceived tumult that I find peace in reminding myself of the four stabilising truths...

1. God's love for me is unchanging
2. God's purpose for me is Christlikeness
3. God's Word to me is the final, right answer
4. God's grace for me is sufficient

I just pray that the next time I am tempted to throw a little pity party for myself that I will stop and remind myself of God's love, purpose, Word and grace for me. I just also thank God that He finds it in His heart to love someone as emotionally unstable as me, and even bothers to give me truths to stabilise me!

When life's burdens get so heavy and it seems I'm all alone,
I cast my cares on Jesus and come boldly to His throne.
I find His grace sufficient and His promises I heed,
For His very life He sacrificed and He lives to intercede.

my weekend in sydney

Last Thursday I went to Sydney for my third work conference. Admittedly, I wasn't too keen on going as I was still recovering from a yucky cold (again! I seem to be getting EVERY bug that has gone around this year - really dodgy immunity huh?) and I was kinda scared that my head would explode while flying to and from Sydney. Thank God it didn't. On top of that, I had been feeling really stressed at work and didn't really have the heart to do much more than just stay at home and feel sorry for myself. But I'm really glad that I got over my little emotional slump and went to have a bit of R and R in Sydney. It turned out to be a blessed time.

Blessing One. Catching my flight. For work, I needed to do a Case Conference with one of my clients and his doctor. The Dr not only rocked up one hour late, he also saw someone ahead of us because my client had popped off to the loo just before he called us in! I was already cutting it really fine having booked the Case Conference on the afternoon I was supposed to leave, and the doctor couldn't even wait a few minutes! Thank God I made it in time, and thank God even more that the flight ended up being delayed as well (giving me even more time to settle down).

Blessing Two. As I lay in my bed reading my Bible, the girl I was sharing my room with asked me if I read the Bible every night, and then the opportunity came for me to share the Gospel with her! Though she listened to everything I shared with her, I think there's a lot more watering that needs to be done on that little seed.

Blessing Three. The food at the conference was great.

Blessing Four. I learnt heaps. And the location of Coogee Beach was beautiful.

Blessing Five. I had the Friday morning off, and was able to not only have a wander around the shops, I was also able to give out some of my 30in30 tracts in Sydney! You can see some of them here. I also, later that weekend, was able to give out a tract on George Street! If you don't know why I am excited about this, you should click here and then press play.

Blessing Six. Now this one's a good one. On the Friday night of the conference, there was a dinner that all delegates attended. Traditionally, it's a time where people fill their stomachs so they can have a big night afterwards involving pubbing, clubbing, and lots of alcohol. It's a difficult time as a Christian to stand alone and not participate in such activities, especially if EVERYONE around you is doing it, and encouraging you to do the same. I ended up following them down to the hotel bar for two minutes before I had enough and went back upstairs to my room. That night, I felt very alone and very different to everyone else - and I started missing home and wishing that I was in Regen instead of being alone in a hotel room in Coogee Beach. That was until a song came into my head...

Tho dark be the night and long be the day,
Lord make me follow in Thy perfect way.
Tho cometh sorrow, tho great be my pain,
Lord make me serve Thee, come sunshine or rain

The steps of a good man are ordered by the Lord,
And he delighteth in His way.
Tho he fall, he shall not be utterly cast down;
For the Lord, For the Lord
For the Lord upholdeth him with His hand.

This gave me great comfort in knowing that I had done the right thing, and even though in the process I may have isolated myself from everyone else, I had followed in the path that was ordered by the Lord. The night was dark, and the day was quite long, but the Lord really upheld me with His hand at that time.

What makes this blessing even cooler was that I was told that this same song was sung at the combined meeting of Regeneration and Youth180 on the same night, and that one sister even thought of me when she sung that song. It was exactly what my soul needed at the time, and it gave me the peace to go to sleep and find true rest in the Lord.

Blessing Seven. My cheap Sydney Hotel on Saturday night. Good location, clean, new, comfortable and with FREE breakfast.

Blessing Eight. Meeting up with brothers and sisters in Sydney. On Saturday night and Sunday morning I was blessed with the opportunity to meet with our ex-Perthies-who-now-live-in-Sydney, Yew Jinn, Gavin, Yanny and Shih Pei. It was so encouraging to catch up with some familiar faces and see them in their new church - Sydney BP. Though they miss the fellowship in Perth, I could really see that God had moved them to Sydney for a reason and that He had plans to use them to encourage our sister church. I also realised that Sydney BP (especially the youth) need our prayers and encouragement. I was also able to catch-up with Tina, after about two years, and spend the afternoon with her, Gavin and Shih Pei over some hot chocolate and a serve of probably the best waffles I have ever had the blessing of tasting in my life.

All in all, it was a great weekend, and one that was full of some real blessings. I'm sure there are plenty more that I have forgotten about, but I'm pretty tired now and I need to get some rest.

Thank You God for a great weekend :D

30in30 warm-up

After a long day at work on Friday, I sat at Murdoch Bus Station waiting for my bus to come. About 10 minutes earlier, I had seen the previous bus (along with Caleb sitting inside it, looking at me) pull away from the stop - just as I realised which bus it was. I had blisters on my feet, and I was cold, hungry and tired. Needless to say, I was not a happy camper.

After a while, the next bus pulled up and I hopped in. The bus driver smiled at me as I greeted him, and a thought came into my head - give him a tract - this was closely followed by an internal dialogue that lasted for the duration of the 2 minute journey from the bus station to Murdoch Drive.

'Give him a tract - go on'
'Do I have to?'
'30in30 is starting next week - think of it as a warm-up'
'It'll look weird because I'm sitting next to the rear door and I'll have to walk all the way up to the front door! I have blisters you know, every step counts!'
'C'mon, be an example! You're a manager this time round - just do it'
*sigh*

And then as the bus pulled up at the Murdoch Drive / Leach Highway intersection, I saw an old man walking up and down Leach Highway wearing a sandwich board that said something like 'Pray for Persecuted Christians', and on the back there was a verse that I can't remember. There I was, sitting down in the warm bus having an argument with myself about giving out a measly tract, when there was a man outside in the cold walking along Leach Highway wearing a sandwich board.

So I took out the tract and held it in my hand as I waited for my stop. As I approached the stop, I walked up to the front of the bus, tagged off and gave the tract to the Bus Driver saying 'This is for you, have a good weekend!'. I did it! Thank God for the courage.

But the icing of the cake came when the Bus Driver replied 'Praise God! I'm a Born-Again-Christian!'. He then told me which church he went to and handed the tract back to me. I told him to hang on to it to give to someone else. We smiled and I hopped off the bus.

The whole experience not only lifted my heart and turned my crummy day into a not-so-bad-day-after-all, it also reminded me of the blessing that comes from obedience to God. Praise God from Whom all blessings flow!

watching the olympics bringeth a snare

So the Beijing Olympics started a week ago, and to be honest with you, as they came around, I wasn't all too excited about it. On the day of the Opening Ceremony, I was talking to one of my clients about her husband making her watch the ceremony later that night and I remarked something like 'don't forget your pillow'. How things change in the space of seven days.

I don't think I have ever watched more sport than I have in the past week. It all started last weekend, as I plopped in front of the couch to see what was on the box (which, thanks to my Dad, has recently become a rather large box - just in time for the Olympics). I started watching the men's cycling Road Race - and ended up doing so for the REST OF THE AFTERNOON! In my defense, I had it on while I was doing other things, but the race itself was pretty good - it went through the Badaling Great Wall (the scenery was exquisite), the commentary was quite entertaining, and the finish was CRAZY.

From the cycling I started watching all kinds of random sports that I would never usually watch (if it weren't for the fact that gold medals were up for grabs) - yet I found myself riveted to sports like gymnastics, swimming, volleyball, rowing, hockey, diving, softball, weightlifting, kayaking, and even equestrian. So sad. I don't know where the fascination came from... perhaps it was the fact that I believed myself to be an 'expert' after watching each sport and continued to watch further games to build upon my new-found expertise (e.g. watching the diving 'her pike position came too late'... 'she's up for some 6's for sure after that dive'), or maybe it was the deep-rooted pride of the Olympics being held in Beijing (the hood of my ancestors), or maybe it was the intrigue of watching Athletes far fitter than myself do things I would never dream of doing. Whatever it was, I was addicted!

The sheer dedication of each Athlete is quite inspiring. They dedicate their whole life to becoming the best at their chosen sport. Their dreams are built with blood, sweat and tears - and they will stop at nothing to reach their prize! It makes you wonder what the effect would be if the church were to be just as dedicated - and you and I as Christians were to have the same kind of dedication to bringing glory to God. I'm sure it would be just as inspiring to those around us, but the reward will be far greater than a gold medal.

awesome

A few weeks ago, we watched another episode of Quieting a Noisy Soul (QANS). I can't remember which session it was, or even the point Jim Berg was making, but he said something about the word 'awesome'. I remember he was saying something like in the world today, we often use 'awesome' to describe things like soft drinks or movies, but when we see the definition of 'awesome', we realise the inappropriateness of the use of the word.

Dictionary.com defines 'awesome' as inspiring awe. Soft drinks or movies hardly inspire awe. When we think about it, few things in the world are awe inspiring - perhaps impressive - but not awesome.

So ever since then, I have been much more aware of how I and other people tend to use (or misuse) 'awesome'. Every time I or someone else says 'wow, that's awesome' my mind has started to do a double take. Is it really awesome, or just pretty cool. Most of the time it's just pretty cool - unless you are the BJU choir and you are singing the first verse of Bow the Knee hehe

What a privilege to come into God's presence,
Just to linger with the one who set me free.
As I lift my eyes and see His awesome glory,
I remember who He is and bow the knee.