Tim's Space

When it comes to life's challenges, people usually fall into three broad categories:

 

1) 未痛而苦, 未殘而廢

2) 一痛就苦, 稍殘即廢

3) 痛而不苦, 殘而不廢

 

In which category do you find yourself?

Quit living as if the purpose of life is to arrive safely at death. Grab life by the mane. Set God-sized goals. Pursue God-ordained passions. Go after a dream that is destined to fail without divine intervention. Keep asking questions. Keep making mistakes. Keep seeking God. Stop pointing out problems and become part of the solution. Stop repeating the past and start creating the future. Stop playing it safe and start taking risks. Expand your horizons. Accumulate experiences. Consider the lilies. Enjoy the journey. Find every excuse you can to celebrate everything you can. Live like today is the first day and last day of your life. Don't let what's wrong with you keep you from worshipping what's right with God. Burn sinful bridges. Blaze a new trail. Criticize by creating. Worry less about what people think and more about what God thinks. Don't try to be who you're not. Be yourself. Laugh at yourself. Quit holding out. Quit holding back. Quit running away. Chase the lion!
Courtesy Mark Batterson National, Community Church Washington, www.theaterchurch.com 

"If I am your friend, I must treat you as my equal. I must be open to you. I must be willing to learn from you and be challenged by you. If I am unwilling to see our relationship in those terms, then I should not pretend to enter into a friendship that does not exist."

 

Wow, that's a really challenging quote and profound. That really forces me to re-evaluate the basis on which I classify my friends.

I have to work over the long public holidays (5 whole days of public holidays!). Darn.

I booked train tickets to go up to Guangzhou tomorrow, so they’ll have to be cancelled. Double darn.

I was going to have my first golf lesson on Friday. Triple darn.

I wonder it would be wishful thinking to hope that my firm would substitute a few days next week in lieu of my working over the public holidays? Fingers crossed (even though in the back of my mind I know it’s highly unlikely).

I’d heard about these things happening to others. Did I expect it to happen to me? Nah.

Be warned all ye future trainee lawyers to be!

I was on my way home today, and I was listening to this song:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I6n9XukESdc

As I listened, I felt this wonderful sense of serenity, knowing that God is almighty, yet personal and within our reach. No matter what, God has not left me, and He will never do so. I smiled, even though I thought back and dwelt upon some of the most painful moments of my recent history – the episode in Cyprus, the experiences of false accusation last October at work, as well as my recent troubles and unhappiness at work. Thinking through them all, I still managed to smile and thank God.

I realised that even though all such experiences were particularly painful and at the time, it seemed that all hope had gone and faded, I searched all the more for God. As they say, what doesn’t kill you only makes you stronger, and I feel that God really gave me those experiences so that I would force myself to get to know God and understand Him just that little bit better.

So far, my Christian life (all 2 years of it!) has been markedly staggered. Rather than a continual curve (it wouldn’t be a straight line in any case!), my depth and experience of God has been more like the stock market. However, as with all stock markets, the general trend is always upwards – if you play at the game long enough. I’ve been at the game long enough now to realise that even though there will be times when I seem to be drifting away from God, and I seem to have taken multitudes of steps back, the trend will always be upwards and onwards.

Have you ever felt that literally all has been lost? Well, look to Jesus, He was the one who truly lost everything to save us all. Have you ever lost faith? Well, even though we may lose faith, God never loses faith nor loves us any less. Have you ever thought that life is no longer worth living? Well, give it back to God, and let Him work miracles in your life.

God is good. Always.

Of course there will be sad times. Life's like that - you've got to deal with it, and look forward to the good times. You'll find that life is worth it, because the good times and the goodness in life outweigh the bad things.

 

Even if you argue that the bad things seem to overwhelmingly weigh in favour of ending life, life itself is precious per se. Why is it precious per se? Because life gives us the opportunity to love - more correctly, to experience true, unconditional love. That is the basis for life, that is what gives it value.

 

Yeah, bad times are tough - it's difficult to see the that speck of light when you're in the deepest of trenches. Ironically, when you're about to find a way out, the ground underneath your foot falls away, and you end up exactly where you started.

 

The trench so dark it deafens one's senses. The trench so deep, it strangles one's hope. Your only hope is if someone would reach down and lift you out of the rut. Will you reach out? Will you call?

 

On a sidenote, is one being hypocritical when one criticises another for being narrow / closed-minded? Ironic isn't it.

This is such a moving video - coupled with a great song.

 

 

Remember, whether you believe it or not, God is loving you, whoever you are, wherever you are, whatever you've done.