Weeks 05 & 06 (07) - Blessings of Divine Guidance

The word LOVE takes on a whole new meaning for a 58 year old Christian. [1 Cor. 13] begins to make sense. But to love God's way is a huge challenge. God's love is patient...kind....does not envy....does not boast....not proud....not rude....not self-seeking....not easily angered....keeps no record of wrongs.....does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. So far, only Jesus has demonstrated it fully by His own examples. It would be heaven on earth if more and more people would understand God's love and put it into practice. For myself, I still have a long way to go. But, although it is a struggle to love God's way, I will not give up because of the hope it brings to a broken world. :o)

As I write, Kim is 5000 miles away in Malaysia visiting her aging & frail parents. I cannot remember the last time Kim is away from me on Valentine's Day. But again, she needs to make the most of her school holidays, with our loved ones living in 4 different continents. It will be my turn this summer, visiting my 95 year old Dad in Vancouver.:o)

God's love enables selfish human beings to be more self-sacrificing. His love empowers us to love supernaturally. So, "Come, let us sing for joy to the LORD; let us shout aloud to the Rock of our salvation. Let us come before him with thanksgiving and extol him with music and song."[Ps. 95:1-7 NIV]

"When God created man, he made him in the likeness of God." Selfless innocent beings reflecting God's Character. Despite of the mistake made by the first man, God continues to create man in His image, maintaining a lineage that will one day restore God's original plan and purpose for man. "He created them male and female and blessed them......When Adam had lived 130 years, he had a son.....and he named him Seth.....Enosh.....Kenan......Mahalalel......Jared......Enoch......Methuselah.......Lamech. When Lamech had lived 182 years, he had a son. He named him Noah and said, "He will comfort us in the labor and painful toil of our hands caused by the ground the LORD has cursed."[Gen. 5:1-29 NIV} Thats love.

And that love is magnified in Jesus when He hung there on the cross for 6 long hours, starting at the 3rd hour. "At the sixth hour darkness came over the whole land until the ninth hour. And at the ninth hour Jesus cried out in a loud voice......"Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani?"-- which means, "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?".....With a loud cry, Jesus breathed his last."[Mark 15:33-39 NIV] He died for me and you and every man & woman ever lived - in the past, in the present and in the future!

"The LORD detests the sacrifice of the wicked, but the prayer of the upright pleases him. .......he hears the prayer of the righteous."[Prov. 15:8,29 NIV] May the self-sacrificing love of St. Valentine bring's hope to a selfish world. May our prayers for His church find favours in the Lord.

Amen!

To My Valentine

To My Valentine

I miss you 33,000 feet in the air,
I miss you because I care.
I miss you in Malaysia 5000 miles away,
I miss you on Valentine’s Day.

We may have known each other for 33 years,
We may have even been married for 30 years.
But I love you since the first day,
And I still miss you on Valentine’s Day.

I love because God first loves me,
I love because He gave you to me.
I must be the luckiest man on earth,
That I have you forever as my girl.

A True Story on Sex

As I was preparing my sermon on "Struggle is Good" based on [Rom. 7 (14-25) ] , I found the following illustration on sex:

When Apollo Mission Astronaut Neil Armstrong first walked on the moon, he not only gave his famous ‘one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind’ statement, but followed it by several remarks. Mostly are routine conversations with other astronauts.
Just before he re-entered the lunar lander, however he made the enigmatic remark, “Good luck, Mr. Gorsky.”
Many people at NASA thought it was a casual remark concerning some rival Soviet cosmonaut. However, upon checking, there was no Gorsky in either the Russian or American space programs.
Over the years many people questioned Armstrong as to what the “Good luck, Mr. Gorsky” statement meant, but Armstrong also smiled and dodged the question.
On 5 July, 1995 in Tampa Bay, Florida, while answering questions following a speech, a reporter brought up the 26 year old question to Armstrong. This time he finally responded. Mr. Gorsky had finally died and so Neil Armstrong felt he could answer the question.
When he was a child, he was playing baseball with a friend in a back garden. His friend hit a fly ball, which landed in the front of his neighbour’s bedroom windows. His neighbours were Mr. & Mrs. Gorsky.
As he leaned down to pick up the ball, young Armstrong heard Mrs. Gorsky shouting at Mr. Gorsky. ‘Sex! You want sex?! You’ll get sex when the kid next door walks on the moon!’

Weeks 03 & 04 (07) - Blessings of Divine Guidance

You may remember that I shared about a 'Black Thursday' [02/11] last year when I experienced a few attacks from the enemy. Through different people [my boss, my M&E colleague, my Client and Committee members], I was either accused of wrong doing or refused cooperation. I was so tired and down at the end of the day. The worst one was on the financial loss of some £50,000 on my project!

God amazingly intervened since that dreadful day, and step by step restored my credibility in the comapny as a Project Director and in the Committee [of the Institution of Structural Engineers] where I served as Honorary Secretary. Although the financial loss was not of my wrong doing, God opened the way for it to be recovered in the near future. The work of the enemy was destroyed one by one!

As I seek God's favours day by day and prayed for the Church, the Company, the Client and the Committee [4 Cs] for God's Protection, Provision, Prompting and Power [4 Ps] on a daily basis, I can see His help clearly. I have no choice but to "praise the LORD.....Most High, to proclaim your love in the morning and your faithfulness at night,.......For you make me glad by your deeds, O LORD; I sing for joy at the works of your hands.......senseless man does not know, fools do not understand, that though the wicked spring up like grass and all evildoers flourish, they will be forever destroyed.......For surely your enemies, O LORD......will perish.......My eyes have seen the defeat of my adversaries........." [Ps. 92:1-25 NIV]

When God made the first man some 6000 years ago, it was not a haphazard act. God intended man to be successful and happy. He even thought about his needs for help and friendship. God "took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to work it and take care of it. And the LORD God commanded the man, ".........you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat of it you will surely die...........I will make a helper suitable for him.......The man and his wife were both naked, and they felt no shame." If "man" only trust God and listen to Him, we will not be in the mess that we are in ever since, including failures, unhappiness and shame![Gen 2:15-25 NIV]

When we trust in God and give our all [time, talents, finance, loved ones, career, study, needs, troubles.....] to Him, we will see His blessings beyond even our imagination. The poor widow in the Bible understood this principle and she applied it fully in action. She "put in two very small copper coins, worth only a fraction of a penny.......Jesus said, "I tell you the truth, this poor widow has put more into the treasury than all the others. They all gave out of their wealth; but she, out of her poverty, put in everything-- all she had to live on."[Mark 12:41-44 NIV]

I can testify that "A good man obtains favor from the LORD, but the LORD condemns a crafty man. A man cannot be established through wickedness, but the righteous cannot be uprooted......Wicked men are overthrown and are no more, but the house of the righteous stands firm......A fool shows his annoyance at once, but a prudent man overlooks an insult.....No harm befalls the righteous, but the wicked have their fill of trouble."[Prov. 12:2-3,7,16,21 NIV]

Amen!