In a Blink of an Eye

Am I doing enough?
Because I feel all I’m doing is meaningless
Am I being enough?
Because I feel that everyone else is better than me

I’ve been hurt
I’ve been unconcious
I’ve done foolish things
I’ve made many disappointments

Few times I fell
Few times it seems like I’m going to be drowned
How can I runaway from this bad dream that has been haunting me?
How can I breath and be free?

In a blink of an eye
I see You…
My fears can’t hold me from reaching out to You
Cause I’m so hopeless…

In a blink of an eye
I see myself walking on Emmaus road
I didn’t see that You’re with me all along
and now I know…

In a blink of an eye
Everything comes on my sight
You are near… and Your love is real
Asking my faith to be set into You alone

Sometimes journeys reveal themselves
…just in a blink of an eye

Joseph's Prosperity: When God Turns Evil to Good

(by David Friedman)
Source: Crosswalk

He is like a tree planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in season and whose leaf does not wither. Whatever he does prospers. Psalm 1:3

Joseph’s life was one filled with wrongful accusations and betrayals. He was betrayed by his brothers, falsely accused by his master’s wife, thrown into prison and left to languish there for years. Yet when Joseph surveyed his circumstances, he was able to proclaim with boldness that what others meant for evil, God had used for good:

You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good to accomplish what is now being done, the saving of many lives. So then, don’t be afraid. I will provide for you and your children (Genesis 50:20-21).

This can be as true for us in our lives and careers as it was for Joseph. As a young man, Joseph did not yet have the character to sustain the destiny that God had revealed to him through his dreams. But the history of God’s remedy for Joseph’s character gap surfaces a key principle: Prosperity and promotion in his life and career came through a constant decision to trust God and serve those around him in humility.

God has to take us through circumstances that will wean us off of acting in the flesh so that He can move us to act out of His Spirit. God uses our careers to test where our identities and trust are really rooted. We should thus embrace those difficult coworkers or situations that God places in our life as His crucible for character growth so that He can position us for His abundance.

I once managed a project with a team member who was one of the most difficult individuals with whom I have ever worked. I decided to obey the words of 1 Peter 3:8-9, which states:

Finally, all of you, live in harmony with one another; be sympathetic, love as brothers, be compassionate and humble. Do not repay evil with evil or insult with insult, but with blessing, because to this you were called so that you may inherit a blessing.

I served this individual and prayed for God’s blessing on him and, as it turned out, God used the situation to open the door for a whole new chapter in my career. If you walk in love, God will turn your circumstances around.

Despite the betrayal and backstabbing that Joseph endured, the Lord was always with Joseph, and he prospered. God had promised greatness for Joseph, yet even though he found himself working for a prison guard and condemned with a baker and a cupbearer, he chose to serve those around him. This provided the window for God to turn around his situation.

In the end, Joseph was released from prison for interpreting the pharaoh’s dreams. At the age of 30, he was put in charge of the whole land of Egypt and was second only to the pharaoh. By this time, Joseph had the character to leverage the information that God had revealed through Pharaoh’s dream.

God gave Joseph wisdom on the future trends in the grain markets that allowed him to both prosper and later save the country. In essence, he was the first grain futures trader. Ultimately, there would be enough food to feed his family when they arrived and, in particular, his brother Judah, who was carrying the line of Christ.

This Joseph Principle can work for each of us: Choose to serve and God will open the door and turn evil circumstances to good in your life and career.

Point to Ponder

Trusting God completely and serving others in any situation will open the door for God to bless us with new opportunities.

Questions to Consider

1. Do you feel that your skills and gifts do not fit with your present work situation?

2. What is a simple way for you to live out God’s will in your career based on the example of Joseph’s life?

3. Does your character line up with your skills? Do you believe that God can prosper you in every situation as He did in Joseph’s life?

Dificulty Reveals Our True Qualities

This thought came into my mind when I was listening (and also comparing) some of Youtube singers in singing the same song =p Yap, I have 2 favourite female singers =D They're so good, their voices are amazingly great!

That was after I listened them sang some songs that have quite high difficulty level (such as high pitch, fast pitch changes, etc) yah termasuk cengkoknya juga hihihi... But I had listened them sang some "easy level" song before and I hadn't thought they're that great! In those "easy" songs, their voices sound a bit average with other singers.

So I was reminded again... that one's quality can only be seen in a difficult situation. 

One's extraordinary ability, character, and talents, can only be revealed in an extraordinary condition.

Moral of the story: Don't give up easily, coz extraordinary or unique or even hard things can bring out the best in you, if you give a right response ^.^

Jiayouuuu!!!

I'm Yours

Before I am awake...
I was just a body made of dust
Lying on the ground
Frozen and pale...

Then Your breath blew life into me
...in a blink of an eye...
I'm alive...

Your faithfullnes has been giving me
everything I need to grow...
and Your unfailing love
...is like an eternal flame
shining throughout my life

You've been so patient...
and Your forgiveness is uncountable

...there's nothing else I can say...
I am truly Yours...

Not Alone

(by Anne Sims)
Source: Relevant Magazine

I know, I know. You’re already looking for holy, sanctimonious, snobbish “it’ll be worth the wait when your prince (or princess) comes and makes it all worthwhile.” Not so, I say. And it’s not easy for me to say that at all. I’ve been married seven and a half years, was single for 27 before that, and I’ve been thinking lately about what it means to be single. Don’t get me wrong, here. I’m not looking to be free of my husband … not at all. Seven and half years later, I think we’re finally getting to the good stuff. We know each other way less than we thought we did on our wedding day, and much better than we did that next morning when we woke up as Mr. and Mrs. We’ve been through some really tough stuff together: We’ve both had surgeries, mine minor, his less so. We’ve struggled to pay bills—really scary ones, like the one from the IRS. We make an odd couple—both tremendously damaged by our childhoods, and healed in some painful and wondrous way by one another. But I digress… Singleness. I never valued it when I had it. My goal was always not to be alone, and since I make friends with male people more easily than with female people, that meant I was “not alone” with male people quite a bit. Emotional intimacy was easily had, and I mistook that more than once for love, and that led to sex and the giving away of bits and pieces of myself.

And the older I get, the more I wish I hadn’t given so much of myself away. I wish I’d learned to like myself better as a single person, valued myself more, given more of my heart to God and less of my body to men who didn’t love it like I should have. The older I get, the more I realize how deep God’s love is, and how like a father I have broken God’s heart in the past—not irrevocably and not with rejection, but with sadness for how little I thought of myself, how much of myself I gave that I can’t get back, how little I trusted myself when I was so determined not to be single.

By the time Ben and I married, I had grown up a little. I’d sort of given up on not being single, and was working on learning to love my single self. We actually had a very deep conversation about how we were not dating at this point in our lives, over a dinner that started as a convenient grab-a-bite-after-class and was, by the end of the evening, looking more and more like a date. I liked myself, and so I didn’t just jump at the chance to date someone, to be “not alone.” I found that because I valued myself and had a sense of who God was calling me to be, I felt freer to hold back, to be “wooed,” to wait for a sense that this time it would be the time to give my heart definitively and not try to buy love with the rest of me.

What I think about singleness is this: It’s a time to come to know who you are, to be at peace with yourself and with God. It’s hard to feel all that comfortable when you know you’ve left bits and pieces of your self and your soul behind, and failed to value them the way God does. But they can grow back.

Singleness for me was mostly years of failing to understand that true love doesn’t ask for my soul, but receives it, shares it and grows it. It was years of failing to realize that I had “true love” in my platonic friendships and in my relationship with Christ and in my family, and that it was time to stop looking elsewhere for love. And singleness was the incubator in which I grew up, from a childish seeking for comfort anywhere I could get it, to finally feeling that in Ben I’d found a love and acceptance only God had felt for me before. It was years of learning to face myself in a mirror and see contentment reflected back.

So yeah, I’ve been thinking about singleness. Part of me misses it, but only to the extent that I failed to value it when it was mine. There’s freedom there, to travel and to think out loud, to take the crazy job or paint my toenails purple (he hates it when I do that). You can eat what you want and watch the ball game without worrying about what anyone else wants to do. Singleness was right for me for a time. It’s been right for my best friend all along—she’s my age, and, I think, secure enough in God and in herself to enjoy it while it lasts, while staying open to the possibilities of being not-single. It’s right for another friend, who find it to be her calling in life, to be satisfied with who she is and comfortable in her own skin.

Singleness is about adventure, self-esteem and growing up. And it’s about you owning your soul, until it’s time to give it away to the one who gives it back to you, with theirs. Here’s my word of wisdom from the other side of singleness: It’s who you are when you’re single that sets the course for who you’ll be all your life. Be whole, and yes, holy—don’t give yourself away. You’ll miss the pieces you let go.

"Apart from Me... Nothing."

(by Austin Pryor)

Jesus was man as God intended. He not only showed us what God is like, but what man is supposed to be like. He showed us the kind of life God had in mind for us when He created man — a life of worshipful dependence.

In John 5, Jesus said He was hard at work: "My Father is always at his work to this very day, and I, too, am working" (v. 17). But it turned out that His working was quite unlike the self-sufficient, self-motivated kind with which we are familiar in ourselves and others.

He went on to explain the secret of His working: "Jesus gave them this answer: 'I tell you the truth, the Son can do nothing by himself; he can do only what he sees his Father doing, because whatever the Father does the Son also does'" (v. 19). "By myself I can do nothing; I judge only as I hear..." (v. 30). "I do nothing on my own but speak just what the Father has taught me" (8:28a). (Emphasis has been added in Bible quotations throughout.)

The key to understanding Christ's sinless perfection, then, is not to focus primarily on the way He avoided doing what was wrong, but rather on His positively accomplishing what was right — He lived a life of total dependence on the Father.

And then he made us this stunning promise: If you will depend on me the way I've depended on the Father, then I will be to you what my Father has been to me. Your power source. Your wisdom. Your holiness. Your motivation for self-sacrifice. "For it is God who works in you to will and to act according to his good purpose" (Philippians 2:13).

This is wonderful news! It means we don't have to keep trying (and failing) to make ourselves "good" Christians. We can't do it. He never said we could. But He can. The God who invited you into the Christian life is also the God who wants to live it out through you. "The one who calls you is faithful and he will do it" (1 Thess. 5:24).

And so Jesus could say in John 15: "No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me. I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing" (vv. 4-5).

Fruit-bearing is the result of being filled with the Spirit, yielding to the Holy Spirit and allowing Him to empower you with the adequacy of Christ.

How adequate is He, anyway? Would Christ be adequate as a spouse? A parent? As an employee? Or, turning to the financial realm, how about as a household money manager? Would He be able to live within a budget, save for the future, and give generously? Yes, of course! He would be without peer in all of these roles and thousands of others.

So, as you consider how to maximize your family life, your work life, your financial life, and your ministry life this year, ask yourself these questions: How much can I do apart from Christ? Nothing of value. But how much can Christ do through me? Everything of value. He is limited only by the measure of our being available to His Spirit.

In The Saving Life of Christ, Major Ian Thomas expressed it this way:

The Lord Jesus Christ claims the use of your body, your whole being, your complete personality, so that as you give yourself to Him through the eternal Spirit, He may give Himself to you through the eternal Spirit, that all your activity as a human being on earth may be His activity in and through you; that every step you take, every word you speak, everything you do, everything you are, may be an expression of Christ, in you as man....

That is what Paul meant when he said 'For me to live is Christ.'... It is for you to be — it is for Him to do. Restfully available to the Saving Life of Christ, enjoying the richest measure of the Divine Presence, a body wholly filled and flooded with God Himself, instantly obedient to the heavenly impulse — this is your vocation, and this is your victory!"

"I assure you, most solemnly I tell you, if anyone steadfastly believes in Me, he will himself be able to do the things that I do; and he will do even greater things than these, because I go to the Father. And I will do [I Myself will grant] whatever you ask in My Name [as presenting all that I AM], so that the Father may be glorified and extolled in (through) the Son (John 14:12-13, Amplified).

Source: Crosswalk

What are Your God-Given Abilities?

(by Dan Miller)

Remember when God spoke to Moses at the burning bush? God told Moses he wanted him to go back to Egypt and lead the people out to the promised land. Moses looked and said – “You’ve got to be kidding – I’m not the person for a job like that.” God assured Moses he would prepare the way and he would provide some pretty convincing miracles. Still Moses had a hard time believing he was up to the task. He pleaded – “I can’t speak well, I don’t have a college degree, I’m a convicted felon – please, send anyone else!”

Now here we have someone with an obvious opportunity. Wouldn’t you like for God to lay out such a clear plan for you; and to promise success in advance. That wasn’t good enough for Moses. He kept trying to convince God he didn’t have any of the necessary requirements for accomplishing this big job. Moses said “they won’t believe me. I don’t have anything to qualify me for doing something great.” God said, “What is that in your hand?” If you don’t remember, it was his shepherd’s staff, which turned out to be a pretty significant part of his leadership. He turned it into a snake, parted the Red Sea with it and did some other pretty cool stuff.

If you think you’re stuck, don’t have any unusual talents, don’t have the right degrees, and don’t have the credibility to have people take you seriously – let me ask you a question: “What do you have in your hand?” What natural talents do you have? What is it that you do with excellence? Do you make beautiful candles? Delicious bread? Encourage the elderly? Grow stunning flowers? Handle your children with grace? You get the idea – just look at what you have right in front of you.

With God’s help you may already have everything you need for greatness. Don’t balk when you hear your call!

Source: Crosswalk

Employment Security in an Insecure World

(by Kevin Brennfleck and Kay Marie Brennfleck)

“Each one should use whatever gift he has received to serve others, faithfully administering God's grace in its various forms.” 1 Peter 4:10

What is the difference between job security and employment security? It has to do with who has the power. Job security is external; the power lies with the employer. The boss, or company, decides whether or not you will continue to have a job. In contrast, employment security is internal; it resides within you.

Develop Your Personal Brand

A key to developing employment security is knowing your value to a current, or prospective, employer (or client). The things that make you special are the components of your “personal brand.” For example, what do you do well? What are your most marketable skills, and how can you “prove” them? What knowledge or experience do you have that are assets in the job market? What personality and character traits do you have that distinguish you? Take a moment right now to jot down at least five things that make you valuable to an employer or client.

Management expert Tom Peters is credited with coining the term personal brand in his 1997 article, “The Brand Called You.” In that article, he stressed the importance of knowing what makes you different from others:

Start right now: as of this moment you're going to think of yourself differently!... You don't "belong to" any company for life, and your chief affiliation isn't to any particular "function." You're not defined by your job title and you're not confined by your job description. Starting today you are a brand….[A]sk yourself…: What is it that my product or service does that makes it different?

Many people need some help identifying their personal brand, especially if they find it difficult to see their strengths objectively. Often what we do best comes most naturally to us, and we may therefore take it for granted, thinking, “That’s not so special. I bet most people can do this.” Get some outside feedback from work associates, friends, or a professional career counselor to help you identify what makes you valuable to others.

Seek to Serve

Knowing and being able to communicate your God-given strengths to others is a core element of employment security. Whether you are in a job interview, performance review, or marketing your services, you will serve the employer or client best when you portray an accurate picture of what you can do for them. Most people downplay their skills and abilities (sometimes because of a false understanding of humility), and therefore miss having the opportunity to use their skills to meet another’s needs. God has given you gifts to serve others. To serve employers or clients fully, however, you need to know what your strengths are and be able to convey effectively how you could use your skills and abilities to meet their needs.

Source: Crosswalk

Why I Dumped Johnny Depp for a Sensitive Guy

(By Julie Ferwerda)


I sheepishly admit, there was a time when I had a fascination for guys (and pirates who wear eyeliner) like Johnny Depp—virile, adventurous, untamed, unpredictable, and very male.

There was something mysterious and compelling about a guy like that … something that left me wanting to be the one to bring out the tender guy hidden somewhere beneath the rough exterior, yet able to hold onto the wild and daring man without.

It didn’t take long in the dating world to discover that this man is only a fabrication of the Hollywood mind. My experience taught that there was no recklessly alluring rogue by day and sweet sensitive romancer by eve. When I happened to locate one of those high-testosterone all-male males, there indeed was a “package deal” involved. Get a guy like that, I observed, and you’ve got a guy who’s addicted to adrenaline—snowboarding the avalanche zones, kayaking treacherous waters, stalking mountain lions and grizzly bears for his trophy room, or surfing the pipes in shark-infested waters—usually at the expense of any meaningful relationships. In fact, the conquest of a variety of women is typically part of the pleasure-seeking game for these kinds of men. The slightly tamer varieties are still out seeking thrills on four-wheelers, fishing boats, or snowmobiles, at every opportunity, leaving little time for relationships.

Now please understand, I’m not being critical of noble-hearted men who seek outlets for their inherent and wonderful wild side, as John Eldredge is famous for writing about in his book, Wild at Heart. In fact, these activities for many men are a great way to relax and unleash their God-given passion and it’s inspiring to watch them in action. Many great men can balance their family responsibility and personal lives with their leisure. No, I’m talking about the dangerously intriguing Johnny Depps of the real world—the unattainable-of-heart kind of men that certain women pursue with the hopes of locating redeeming qualities behind the bad boy mask. And I’m talking about the women (like I used to be) who believe that is the kind of man they must reform … this untamed man who refuses to be caged by love or responsibility. Enter “Bryce.”

When I tried to coax the tender-hearted companion out from Bryce, a man who made a game of recklessly pirating the hearts of women—I found quite a different scenario than the attentive romancer I’d imagined. Not only was his life characterized by unabashed selfishness, when he did have spare time in between his recreational outings, he’d either be glued to ESPN Sports Center, or else immersed in his latest hobby. When I complained about feeling neglected or told him I wanted some bonding time, he’d generously offer a corner of the couch so I could watch the NBA playoffs with him. It always seemed to be about his things, his interests, his activities. And if I opted out of his “leisure” activities, he would try to feign disappointment while phoning his cronies a bit too eagerly (most of them acted like pirates and a few even smelled like them). And if I felt like he neglected me, his narcissistic lifestyle left no room for the God he said he revered.

After a cycle or two of enduring these kinds of guys, it was time to jump ship. There had to be other options to my Depp-fetish. But what? Hanging out with landlubbers for bowling and Scrabble was probably fine in a friendly kind of way, but not for a long-term relationship. Where was the balance for an adventurous date and potential life partner?

Then I met Steve. On our first marathon phone conversation, he cried. I’m not talking mist-up-and-sniffle-once-or-twice. He was in the middle of telling me about something sad going on in his life, and he just cut loose in an all out voice-quivering, tear-shedding, snot-blowing sob. Whoa. I was instantly suspicious. Was this behavior normal? Was it macho? Was Steve “confused” about his sexual orientation? He didn’t seem to be effeminate or anything, but this was not typical behavior for the Johnny Depp of my previous dating relationship. And I certainly didn’t want to trade in one extreme for the other.

As we continued to date, it didn’t take long to confirm that this guy was very male, but in a different kind of way. He loved sports, but didn’t watch them or play them to extremes. He was really into downhill skiing and could take on runs that made penguins nervous. He liked all kinds of guy things, like fixing cars and playing around on computers, but when it came to how much attention he devoted to all those things, he was strangely balanced.

While he did have some aggravating male qualities like being very competitive and displaying male answer syndrome on occasion, he had another side too. He liked to shop, doing dishes, and he enjoyed hanging out and chatting with “the girls.” He loved taking walks in the sunset, and he could occasionally tolerate chick flicks without wincing. Best of all, he truly made time to develop his daily walk with God, without any input (nagging?) from me.

Suddenly it all made sense. This guy was all male, but he was also in touch with his sensitive side and he could actually show it when the occasion called for it. He was very comfortable with his sexual identity and didn’t have anything to prove. He could be a man rustling around in the garage with power tools one minute, and then move into the kitchen to hang out with the girls the next. With that delicate balance in his life, it occurred to me that when it came to a true masculine role, he demonstrated some of the characteristics of … Jesus!

Now this kind of guy would make a great husband, I thought. In my history of dating, it had never occurred to me to look for this kind of balance, but suddenly I realized that’s what women really want. Even if they don’t know it yet, they want the guy that’s all guy but who can let down his guard and be sensitive too, because those kinds of guys make the best life companions. And once I put it all together, I wasn’t about to let this one go—I’d be crazy to let a man get away who liked doing dishes!

All this is to say, that if you’ve been attracted to the Johnny Depp kind of guys like I used to be, be cautious about the ones who won’t make true companions. There’s such a thing as too much of a thing. Look for balance. While you want a guy that’s somewhat wild and untamed at heart, you might have to trade off some for a responsive guy who makes a great best friend.

I’ve been happily married to this sensitive hunk of a guy now for nine years, but I do have one little complaint. I still haven’t convinced him he’d look hot wearing eyeliner. Aaarrgh!

Source: Crosswalk

Decoding "He's Just Not That into You"

(by AJ Kiesling)

On a Friday night in early February I drove out to meet a girlfriend for a movie, bringing my teenage daughter Claire along for the event. Running late, we circled the parking lot like vultures until we finally found a space.

Why the unusual crowd, I wondered as we speed-walked to the front of the theater to buy tickets. When we rounded the corner, I stopped cold. A line of nearly 100 people stretched from the ticket window down the length of the sidewalk. The movie we had come to see had been out for a couple of weeks, so what was all the fuss about? It didn’t take long to find out. That night a new film was debuting, and I realized in one sweeping glance down the sidewalk that the buzz generated by the book of the same name had carried over to the box office. And why shouldn’t it? After all, we can’t get enough of trying to figure out the opposite sex. The movie’s title: He’s Just Not That into You.

Billed as the ultimate date movie, the film promised an entertaining two hours delving into the lives of contemporary singles struggling to find love—and often “getting rejected by seven different technologies” in the process, as one character (played by Drew Barrymore) laments. But the movie also looked upbeat, funny, a romantic comedy that all of us could relate to with wry humor. Certain we wouldn’t make our intended show, I texted my friend and told her Claire and I would have to opt for another movie—and we chose a later showing of the one everybody else had apparently come to see.

A few years ago I actually read the book He’s Just Not That into You by Greg Behrendt and Liz Tuccillo at the urging of a friend. Considered a “tough love” manual for decoding guy behavior and speech, the book was helpful, if not always hopeful, and the trailer for the movie version hinted at a playful, tongue-in-cheek look at men's and women’s hits and misses in the dating game. Claire and I found seats and settled in for an enjoyable night at the movies, but as the story unfolded something very different happened. It started in the pit of my stomach, a slight nauseated feeling not unlike the sensation of having been punched in the gut and unable to catch your breath. As the characters loved and laughed and cried their way through complicated relationships, I sat frozen in my seat, trying not to process what I was feeling. But later that night, back at home, I allowed myself to put a name to my unusual reaction to the movie. I will call it simply familiarity.

In the film’s storyline, one of the hip male characters befriends a woman and gives her free advice on how to decode what men say and do to arrive at what they really mean—which, sad to say, is often the opposite. Repeatedly, the woman is dismayed to hear that so many of the casual and outwardly encouraging messages men send (like the notorious “Hey, I’ll give you a call sometime”) actually mean HE’S JUST NOT THAT INTO YOU. The irony is that the male character himself later misreads his own signals (breaking all his rules) and realizes he’s falling for someone.

The reason why this movie hit me so hard is because it sums up in one word what I find so patently wrong with our modern singles culture: namely, insincerity. Trying to read cues from the opposite sex for signs of interest is one thing, and probably as old as the human race, but outwardly saying one thing when you mean another is a form of deceit. No good thing can come of it, so I wonder: why do men and women do this so often? Men are often lauded for being up-front and meaning what they say, while women are considered the more subjective gender, layering their true intent in an onion-skin of hidden meanings. Yet ironically, in the movie, the whole premise is that men say and do one thing while really telling a woman “I’m just not that into you.” The women, in contrast, scramble to decode this male-speak with sometimes comical, sometimes heartbreaking results.

In everyday exchanges, men are definitely more straightforward and seem to mean what they say, but in the strange “mating dance” of the dating culture, a peculiar transformation happens. In an effort not to hurt a woman’s feelings perhaps, they do the very thing that winds up hurting more than honesty—uttering words that are utterly insincere. I can imagine the rash of responses I will get from male readers decrying how many times a woman has said or done things to falsely encourage them, yet being myself a woman with a bedrock core of honesty, this is unfamiliar territory to me. I think back over times when I’ve told someone—or been told by someone—that “I’m just not that into you” (in kinder words) and remember feeling relief at knowing, or telling, the truth. A person can deal with the truth; what’s not so easy to deal with is a combination of gestures and words that say “green light” when you really mean “red light.”

In the interest of fostering a more sincere dating landscape, I propose two simple ground rules:

* Say what you mean, not what might “get you out of jail free” in the moment. If you reach the end of an awkward first date and realize you don’t want to see that person again, it is acceptable to shake their hand and say, “Thank you for coming out to meet me. It was very nice meeting you”—yes, that’s a social nicety, but it’s on par with saying “have a nice day” and a far cry from the false “I’ll give you a call sometime” when you have no intention of ever seeing the person again.

* Don’t pull a disappearing act. This one is the absolute worst and is most often encountered in online dating, though it applies to regular dating as well. I’m not talking about a non-reply to someone you’re not interested in. To me, it’s perfectly acceptable not to reply when you have no interest at all (many people get dozens of online inquiries in a single day). But when you’ve already established contact and shown a level of interest in someone, it is more honorable to offer a word of closure than to pull an abrupt disappearing act. The world of online dating is rife with abuse of this nature because it’s so easy to “disappear” behind a veil of anonymity, but we must remember that real human hearts lie on the other side of our computer screen.

The bottom line of this issue for me can be summed up in a scene from another movie, You’ve Got Mail, starring Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan. Hanks’ character Joe Fox is coaching Kathleen Kelly (Ryan’s character, whom he’s falling in love with) on how not to take business matters too personally, but she gives this classic rebuttal: “What is that supposed to mean? I am so sick of that. All that means is that it wasn't personal to you. But it was personal to me. It's ‘personal’ to a lot of people. And what's so wrong with being personal, anyway? Whatever else anything is, it ought to begin by being personal.”

Source: Crosswalk

a Long Process

Source: Mailing list from Bo Sanchez - Kerygma Family

People nowadays would prefer to accomplish many things within a short period of time. They treat time as something very precious and valuable. Some of them would even prefer to shorten their meal times by eating instant and ready-to-eat food so that they can save time. Students also have a quick, easy and instant access to information through the Internet. This would require them a smaller amount of time to spend in research. These are just some realities that make our lives more convenient. These realities spare us from waiting for a long time to accomplish things through the long and traditional processes.

But there are certain tasks in life that require us to take the long process and wait. And I think this is what Jesus was referring to when He said, “Ask and it will be given to you, search and you will find, knock and the door will be opened to you.” When Jesus said these words, He does not mean that we can easily get what we pray for, just like eating instant noodles. When we come to meet Jesus in prayer and ask for something, He does not readily give us the answer to our prayer. Instead, He gives us certain situations in life that form part of the process in achieving what we pray for.

Why does God want us to undergo the long process? Perhaps it is because He wants to teach us something that we might miss if He would readily give us the answer to our prayers. It is the waiting and going through the process that matter most. We are not mere passive recipients. And this is what Jesus taught us.

In the desire of God to save us from our sins, He chose to undergo the long process of becoming man like us. He chose to suffer and to experience the excruciating pains as He was nailed to the cross. God had the option to save us by just a single stroke of His hand. But He did not choose that. He chose to wait and to undergo the long and hard process so that people may truly learn and believe in Him. Fr. Joel O. Jason

Reflection Questions:
How willing am I to wait and to choose the long process?

Waiting

Source: Mailing list from Bo Sanchez - Kerygma Family

People nowadays would prefer to accomplish many things within a short period of time. They treat time as something very precious and valuable. Some of them would even prefer to shorten their meal times by eating instant and ready-to-eat food so that they can save time. Students also have a quick, easy and instant access to information through the Internet. This would require them a smaller amount of time to spend in research. These are just some realities that make our lives more convenient. These realities spare us from waiting for a long time to accomplish things through the long and traditional processes.

But there are certain tasks in life that require us to take the long process and wait. And I think this is what Jesus was referring to when He said, “Ask and it will be given to you, search and you will find, knock and the door will be opened to you.” When Jesus said these words, He does not mean that we can easily get what we pray for, just like eating instant noodles. When we come to meet Jesus in prayer and ask for something, He does not readily give us the answer to our prayer. Instead, He gives us certain situations in life that form part of the process in achieving what we pray for.

Why does God want us to undergo the long process? Perhaps it is because He wants to teach us something that we might miss if He would readily give us the answer to our prayers. It is the waiting and going through the process that matter most. We are not mere passive recipients. And this is what Jesus taught us.

In the desire of God to save us from our sins, He chose to undergo the long process of becoming man like us. He chose to suffer and to experience the excruciating pains as He was nailed to the cross. God had the option to save us by just a single stroke of His hand. But He did not choose that. He chose to wait and to undergo the long and hard process so that people may truly learn and believe in Him. Fr. Joel O. Jason

Reflection Questions:
How willing am I to wait and to choose the long process?

God Works in ALL Things

If you are a believer, don't be confused about circumstances that you have to going through right now... Keep your eyes on Him and keep your mind on His promises.

One sometimes meets his destiny on the road he takes to avoid it...
Sometimes our mind is like water... When it's agitated, it becomes difficult to see.. But if you allow it to settle, the answer becomes clear...

Because:
"And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love Him, who have been called according to His purpose. ...in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us." (Romans 8:28, 37)

^_^ Jiayou everyone!