Eight Random Facts

Tagged by Dan.

1) Each player must post these rules first.
2) Each player starts with eight random facts/habits about themselves.
3) People who are tagged need to write their own blog about their eight things and post these rules.
4) At the end of your blog, you need to choose eight people to get tagged and list their names.
5) Don’t forget to leave them a comment telling them they’re tagged, and to read your blog.

Serene’s Eight Random Facts

1. Her worst enemy is beansprouts. There’s very, very little hope that she’ll ever grow to love it.

2. Two of her most favourite drinks are limau-ice and coffee.

3. She finds herself loving Rusk’s baby biscuits even more as she grows older. It’s her all-time favourite biscuits.

4. She’s got a high tendency to fall asleep while watching a movie on a DVD player. Thus, she seldom finish watching a movie at one go.

5. She’s not a sweet-tooth person. If you happen to see her going for sweet things like chocolates and cakes occassionally, it’s one of those times when she suddenly has the craving for sweet stuff.

6. She must have a blanket or at least a large towel to cover her when she sleeps at night. Sometimes, she’ll play with the corners of her blanket before she sleeps.

7. She likes keeping photos as beautiful memories of who and where she has been.

8. She washes her hair everyday. Somehow, she will feel uncomfortable going to bed at night if she miss out on her daily hair wash.

Now, I tag:
Chia Rho
Deborah

Kristi
Sarah
Selena
Symeon
Wan Ching
Yong Hwee

The Lord's Supper

From being His enemies, we became His friends. Once, we were destined for hell, but now, we are destined for heaven. No longer do we live in the dark for we now have the Light. No longer are we under the wrath of God, but under His love & grace. All these goodness, only made possible because He died. Christ death on the cross made all the difference there is between eternity in hell and in Heaven.

On the night Jesus was betrayed, He took bread, and gave thanks, and broke it, and gave to them, saying, "This is My Body which is given for you: this do in remembrance of Me". Likewise also the cup after supper, saying, "This cup is the new covenant in My blood, which is shed for you" (Luke 22:19-20).

Thank you, dear Lord, for Your grace to allow me to partake of this sacred meal of Yours. You remind me that there is forgiveness for all my sins. You remind me that above all things, You love me unconditionally. You remind me that I was bought with a price, a truly costly one. That’s why You want me to glorify You with my body, my spirit, my soul; my all. However, sometimes, I tend to be forgetful and thus, I forget all that the great things You have done for me.

You knew this would happen, didn’t You. You knew that there will be times when I will allow myself to be pre-occupied with the things that are of no eternal value. That’s why you designed the Lord’s supper, so that whenever I eat and drink from your table, I will remember who I am in Christ. Every time I come to your table, You want me to carefully examine myself and let You cleanse me from all self-centeredness. Indeed Lord, “Only one life, 'twill soon be past, only what's done for Christ will last”. May I never forget this Lord; don’t let this phrase depart from my mind. Rather, let it be the conviction of my heart all the days of my life.

Amen.

Way to go, teeth!

After one and a half years, I finally got my wisdom teeth out! All four of them, they're gone! What a relief!

It's been five days now since the surgery on the 12th, but it still hurts a bit. Nonetheless, if you ask me whether I regretted getting them out all at once, I would still say "NEVER!" I am so so glad that I got it all done at once that I can fly to the moon! I rather suffer all the pain once, than have it separated into two different occasions.

This will definitely be one of those unforgetable experiences which I will never forget. I'm now left with 26 teeth, but don't underestimate them; they are pretty strong and hardy. They will definitely make up for all my other lost teeth. =P

Feelings & emotions

You are walking down a small narrow street and suddenly, a little girl embraces your leg to beg for money. The sight of this young child in dirty clothes and teary eyes makes you want to pick her up in your arms. She holds out a small cup to you, waiting in hope for a few coins to be dropped into the cup. You feel sorry for her; your heart cries out to her. Out of sympathy, you pull out a 10 dollar note and give it to her.

Then, just as you are about to turn at the next corner, you pause to take a look back at the girl one last time. To your horror, you see her pulling out a stack of money notes from the back of her pants. All of a sudden, you no longer feel as sorry for her anymore. You feel cheated and angry. Why the sudden change of emotion? Why don’t you feel as sorry for her anymore?

I think our feelings and emotions have the ‘information’ element that influences the way we react to the things happening around us. In a way, our feelings and emotions are conditioned by the information & knowledge we have about the way of life, and also our beliefs. In the situation above, you found out an extra bit of information about the girl just as you were about to walk away, and that made all the difference in the way your feelings responded.

Thus, it becomes crucial for us to have the right information and knowledge in our mind to respond in the right manner as we can sometimes make ourselves feel better emotionally even with the wrong information. I have learnt that ultimately, I still need to look to God for that right information for He is the source of all knowledge there is to life. This could be the reason why God wants us to come to Him first thing in the morning, diving straight into His Word and to commit the day before us into His hands, for it is through the Bible that we learn how to control and express our feelings in ways that are helpful not only to us, as individuals, but also to others.

I pray that God will help me acquire that Christ-disciplined nature, where I will daily commit the first few moments of my mornings to read His Word and pray; to pray for Christ to take total control of my being, providing me the sufficient strength that I need to sustain me throughout the day. Even when I don’t feel like doing just that first thing in the morning, I pray for obedience, to humbly come before Him for wisdom and guidance. I believe that good feelings will eventually follow the right behaviour for Christ has said that we will be blessed if we do the things we know is right.

Rubber band theology

As Christians, I believe that we can only walk in disobedience for so long. Of course, the longer we walk away, the bigger the consequences will be. There’s a saying that goes, “It’s all a rubber band theology”. The Lord has a rubber band around us to keep us close to Him, but we can stretch it. We can move away; we can distance ourselves from Him, but he won’t let us go no matter what. The question is, when will we snap back and how hard will the impact be. Imagine having a rubber band around your wrist. The further we pull the band away from the wrist, the more it hurts when it snaps back.

God gives us the liberty to go our own way, to wander away occasionally. However, He also gives us the chance to come back to Him. Ultimately, we will be drawn back to Him because we have His seed, grace and image implanted & stamped in us. We belong to Him, He owns us. It doesn’t mean that as a believer, we no longer have the ability to do wrong. No, it is not possible to live without sin. However, it does mean that a true Christian will never willingly live in a continued course of sin with great enjoyment.

Sin will only bring negative consequences into our lives. There’s no doubt about that. The Holy Spirit knows this and that’s why He grieves whenever we sin. It is also the reason why He is in us to prompt us to do the right thing for He knows that sin will only break us. We can choose not to go His way, but, mind you, the more we distant ourselves, the greater the pain will be. When the time comes when we get yanked back again, like the rubber band in our wrist, the only word we are left to say is perhaps “OUCH!” since it was our choice to stretch it; there’s no one whom we can blame it upon.

Cross-examine Him, He's always right

The trials and hardships we face in life should really be seen as opportunities; opportunities for God to mould us into a better person. But, too often we look to them as big troubles and complications. When God decides to do the kindest things for us, I often wonder if they are often wrapped in the roughest packages, the most difficult moments of our lives.

Every now and then as I look back upon the difficult times I’ve been through, somehow, I will always find God’s never-failing work in knitting all those times into a beautiful outcome at the end. Perhaps that’s why James said to “consider it pure joy whenever we face trials of many kinds”. That joy that he speaks of is the joy that comes from our trust in God, knowing that whatever He does and is going to do, is definitely the right thing to do; the best. Like gold tried in fire, so is our faith tried in the midst of difficulties. And because it is in His Word, we can be certain that the testing of our faith will produce patience & perseverance, a longer durability of our faith.

How do I know that whatever the Lord does is always right & good? Well, cross-examine Him if you don’t believe; He will definitely win. Under cross-examination, you will always find His motives and affections pure and sincere. Look to the cross. Jesus is saying, “I’m dying in your place, I’m bearing your sins, I’m paying for your punishment, so that you can be free from all these”.

He has proven it to us and we cannot deny it. Perhaps it really doesn’t matter if at times we don’t understand what God is doing, for on the cross, He has proven that He is totally in love with us and cares a lot about us. I believe that God will always have His reasons and they can never be wrong or unjust. Whatever happens in my life, I can trust that it’s for my best.

Then again, it doesn’t mean that in times of trouble I put on a smile because I want to hide that hurt to act tough. Rather, I smile because I know that God is doing something good in my life, even though I may think otherwise. It sure is difficult to have to experience unspeakable hurts, but I’m glad that God is using every one of those experiences to mature me in ways that I cannot imagine. It’s just a sweet lesson that we can learn of Him.