Finding My Purposes in Life

What would be your reaction if you learned from a pediatrician that your child had serious medical problem and required immediate attention? About 3 years ago, when my little daughter was just about 50 days from birth, it was like a lightning striking me when my wife and I heard that our daughter was suffering a life-threatening symptom that required immediate medical attention.

When I was driving home after bringing her seeing a doctor, my wife and I didn’t talk a single word, besides tears running over our face. My mind was blank; my purpose on earth was lost. I could not accept a baby looked completely normal and was born at full pregnancy term and normal weight, yet her liver function was not fully developed. Even the doctors could not explain why. And there is no solution with advanced medical technology today. I didn’t understand why God gave me such a trial? Read the entire story at http://wmc40dop.wordpress.com/

Fishers of Man

Our Team, the Coverage Guys, went to kukup, a fishing village recently. Not to fish but it was part of our team-time during our recent coverage consultation, which we held once a year to further explore what else we can do or need to do in order that ALL will be given an opportunity to hear who Jesus is!

I ask the Lord how else I can motivate my team, veterans of the ministry, almost all have been with Campus Crusade for at least 15-25 years. Most of the time it will surely take more than just words to get the team going. People who had "spend all night and not caught a fish" needs special motivation that only God can do. Then something happened. God's doing!

I went out to buy some fishing line and hook to try our luck on fishing. But when we came back, the tide has subsided and we have to wait for the next high tide in order to fish. And it was a long wait. The tide didn't come in until it was pass 12 midnight. By about 11pm everyone was ready for bed and no one will stay up to try to fish. It was liken to a fail battle. No more interest.

But Timothy wasn't about to give up. He let his line fly and started where no one else would do. He patiently threw his line, waited, pull it a little, waited and drew his line back to check if the bait was still there. Threw it back in and waited patiently again and I join him to try my hands on fishing without a fishing rod.

After a short while Timothy caught a 10 inches fish and we were very excited, but we had to sleep so that we could continue with the meeting the next day. I went to bed by 1 am and Timothy lasted till 2 am.

We got up early the next morning and guess what? The line we left in the sea had fish on it and there was a big 16 inches salt water cat fish and a smaller one. Except that the line was stuck to some rocks due to low tide and we were not able to pull the fish out. Then even at breakfast, Timothy was very quick to finish and walk off, carrying a pole with him as he attempted to try to get the stuck line off and to pull the fish out. He failed, but he didn't give up. He came back and took with him now a long rubber hose. Not only that, his keen interest drew the attention of the rest and soon, a few other fellows went to assist him. They actually lower Timothy down to the muddy shore and Timothy pull out the stuck line and the other staff pull it up...Nice.. 2 fishes... then they started pulling Timothy back up. Now this is most challenging. 1 guy and 4 girls trying to pull Timothy up on a rubber hose. They manage to, but not without causing much injuries on Timothy's leg. Deep cuts, bleeding..painful, I supposed, but everyone was excited.We caught the fish.

That determination was exactly what the team needed as motivation to faithfully continue toiling till all have heard! The excitement of finally catching the fishes is truly a hope we can all look forward to. Jesus promised He will make us fishers of man. We must keep going even through the dark night, when we hardly sees result. He promise we will be fishers of man! The incident was God's way to motivate my team and it was powerful.

Why we need One another?

I've always wanted to look like Arnold Schwarzenegger.



Not as governor of California, but as Arnold the bodybuilder, from the neck down.
My quick solution to become an Arnie look-alike rests in a fantasy where another guy does all the gym work then transfers his six-pack abs and 30-inch waist to my sagging frame through a miraculous invention akin to the teleporter on Star Trek.
Poof! I've got 21-inch biceps.

When I hit 40, blood sugar rising and staring at a future in 38W Levi's, I was working at a seminary in Africa. One of my co-workers was a 24-year-old graphic artist named Innocent who looked like he camped on a weight bench.

Innocent would pat my pot belly and say, "Old man, when are you going to do something about that gut?"
Believe me, I had tried. Exercise. Diet. Failure.

But Innocent challenged me to meet at the gym every morning before work to reverse 4 decades of North American metabolic disorder.
He designed a program "to get results" and breathed down my neck to make sure I lifted with proper technique, completing every repetition. I developed pains that made me wonder if I had pectoral cancer.
Innocent just kept pushing and I lost 20 pounds. He helped me do something that I failed to do alone. Innocent also desired that I help him grow spiritually, and that motivated me to do breakfast at the gym.
We basically told each other, "I need you and you need me."
We developed an accountability relationship.

Read More at http://www.ccci.org/growth/accountability-with-friends.aspx

Plug in will you?

Why The Christian Life is IMPOSSIBLE!

After six hours of hand-numbing labor in the blistering sun, I'd gotten about 5 feet done. My despair had just about reached its zenith when I heard a chugging noise in the distance. Crawling out of my hardpan rut, I squinted my eyes to see what was coming.

Before long, I could make out the distinct scorpion tail of a backhoe heading my way.

Within minutes, the shiny, yellow machine drew up next to me. "Howdy, young feller!" the grizzled driver shouted down at me. He looked at the separator, the ditch, my shovel and me. "Got yourself a bit of a job, ain't ya?"

"You've got that right," I said, trying not to sound as tired and defeated as I felt. I'd never seen this guy before, but I noticed that his backhoe sported the logo of a competing company.

He glanced up at the blazing sun, then at his watch, and chuckled. "Don't suppose you'd want a little help, would ya?"

My heart leapt. "You mean it? I don't work for your outfit, you know..."
"Don't matter. I can see you're out-gunned. It'll only take me a minute."
He motioned me up onto the machine. I swung up and stood next to him as he positioned it at the end of my six-hour ditch. In the space of about six minutes, I'd finished the job -- I, the stranger and the backhoe, that is!
It's the same in the Christian life -- we can accomplish far more when we become a partner with the overcoming power of the Holy Spirit than when we try to do things in our own strength. Read more at http://www.ccci.org/growth/spirit-filled-life/why-christian-life-is-impossible.aspx

Am I really Happy!

Rediscovering the lost art of

being happy

What do you really want? What drives you, motivates you, gets you up in the morning? A job? A dream? A commitment to get good grades, or meet the right person, or earn a decent pay cheque?

Here’s my bet: You do these things because you want to be happy. You work, you earn, you relate, and strive, and set goals because, when all is said and done, you want happiness. And so do I! The map we follow to get there may look different: some of us might plot out a course of professional achievements and financial success, while others seek meaningful relationships or exciting experiences. But the destination we’ve circled in red ink is the same. We want to be happy.

So, are we? Are YOU? My guess is you’ve run into a few dead ends. Things intended to bring you happiness, haven’t. Experiences you thought would satisfy you didn’t. Am I right?

I had only been a Christian for a few years when I realized my own map to happiness had been leading me in circles. I was listening to a speaker at a conference when he shared an illustration that God used to shape my thinking for the next 25 years.

We’re all chasing rainbows, he said, and our rainbows all have little golden buckets at the end of them. For some of us those buckets are labelled “success.” For some of us “popularity” or “physical perfection.” Some simply read “security” or “family” or even “fame.” But those buckets are empty.

This word picture fascinated me because at the ripe old age of thirteen, I had decided that sports, academics and dating the right girl would determine my success in life.

Then I woke up one day as a senior in high school about to graduate, and realized that I had achieved my goals. I had good grades, a pretty girl and athletic awards. And yet, I felt absolutely empty. It was as though I had chased my rainbow to the very end, only to discover that the bucket at the bottom had nothing in it. I realized that my entire perception of happiness had been warped.

So where does that leave us? Does that mean we can never be truly happy? Absolutely not! In fact, God does no less than promise happiness, if we are willing to follow His map instead of our own. Read more at http://www.bible.org.za/articles/rediscovering_the_lost_art_of_being_happy.html