A High Tech God

Remember the scene in Bruce Almighty when Bruce is so perturbed by hearing the numerous voices of praying people in his head? Then he thinks of a brilliant idea, why not download those prayers into an inbox like one does with e-mail? you know, prayer-mail.
Cool idea and great movie concept, but ever wonder what God thinks about technology? Does God use it? I mean, the Bible records God communicating with men through fire from heaven, burning bushes, dreams, voices from heaven, bright stars even. Surely technology is antithetical to all this natural wonder/the supernatural.

So this happened at work today.

I created this graph for my coworker.

I sent the file to him in an e-mail. And this is what he got:

Pretty cool and weird eh? My colleague (who knows I'm Christian) thought I was trying to be funny. He's Christian too. He said "While I appreciate the crosses, I'm not so sure our clients will." I was so confused because it still looked like the first graph when he sent the file back to me. I fixed it in the end, but I do appreciate the crosses too. =)

God showed He is no technophobe. Also, and maybe more significantly, modern science, technology and advancement has not left God behind. Modern science and technology, which gives man greater control over his surroundings and a more real sense that he is "god" over his life, is not antithetical to God, the Supernatural and miracles.

Young Adult Life-another non traditional post

I'm finally getting a taste of the freedom and independence that comes with young adult life. Financial, physical, emotional independence, with friends to share it with. I had fun tonight with a group of girl friends I've grown to care about, support, love, pray for. They're an amazing group of women (and still very single and available ;)) and friends I'm privileged to have. Tonight was natural, yet purposeful, fun yet intellectual, secular yet Christian, possibly my first glimpse into the way God meant for Christian relationships to be. Tonight I realised that God blessed me with these strong, supportive, caring, beautiful, wonderful women to share my young adult life with. It's purely His grace to me because this hasn't been one of the things I've prayed for. I realized too that I will miss the friendships and hang out times with these Godly women when I leave here for home.

And so its prayer that I end this post.

God, please continue to grow and sustain the friendships you've so graciously bestowed to me. May I use each day here to serve, love, support, and grow these women. And may there be more of these friendships amongst the church. God, I pray that you will remind us each time exclusivity creeps in, and please PLEASE add to our numbers because I would love for more people to understand what doing YA life together looks like.
God, the other thing I will ask for, and only because You first gave me a foretaste of what could be, is for you to go before me and form such relationships within the church at home. I'm not sure how bearable YA life is without it!

Conquerors

Romans 8:35,37 Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us.

I've read this in a different way for the first time today. The passage acknowledges the fact that in life we go through trouble and hardship, but in all these things we are more than conquerors. More than conquerors. I like that. Let me explain by way of an analogy.

I've been watching alot of Olympics lately. What makes for good, exciting television are the really close finishes/matches. Michael Phelps' fingernail finish inching out his competitors by 1/100 of a second; Shawn Johnson winning the gold medal on the beam by 0.2 points. All great atheletes but that's not what it means to be "more than conquerors". China sweeping the medals at diving and Table Tennis, Usain Bolt winning the 100m and 200m races, by a comfortable margin. That's what it means to be more than a conqueror. It means dominating, succeeding with more than enough energy to do the victory lap.

So apply that to our lives and the tough situations that life throws at us. In Romans, God is saying that we don't just come out of the situations, with scrapes and bruises and barely breathing. God says we are more than conquerers through Christ, and promises that we will triumph over the situations, come out of life's hardships standing proudly with smiles on our faces.
Perhaps the best way I have understood this in my life is in the area of prayer. Very often, God doesn't just answer my prayers, He answers in incredible ways I didn't even think of. I prayed for a job, and He gave me good pay, great colleagues, learning opportunities and great benefits. I prayed for an opportunity to return home to Singapore, and He gave me the perfect trip home, reconnecting with friends, getting spoiled by mum and dad, eating great food. I prayed about coming to college, and He gave me a good education, lifetime friends, a church to grow at. I really could go on.
And I guess the point of all of this is to remind us all about prayers, specifically, unanswered prayers. God knows exactly how He's going to answer those prayers, prayers of healing, prayers of overcoming difficulty, prayers finding that right partner in life, prayers for other people. God will answer those prayers in a big way, in a way that will reflect the fact that we are "more than conquerors" because He is on our side.

I know its hard and improbable and the odds seem stacked against us, especially those prayers we've been praying for years. But I'm reminding myself daily to just keep praying, and to have faith that God delivers on His promises. He always has, and He always will.

it's not over till the happily every after...

I've heard the term "resurrection power" thrown around alot in church, but I don't think I understood it until today. When it comes to God's people, the Bible has recurring themes of God's love and faithfulness but today I noticed another theme, God is a God of happy endings. I guess that's what people mean by God is a God of deliverance (I love how simple meanings get lost in heavy jargon). The Bible, while it is God's story about rescuing mankind, it is also punctuated with stories of God's people going through tough circumstances and how God completely turns those situations around. God isn't about simply helping His people to pull through life's storm, He's about making sure they come out victorious and triumphant!

Consider Job. Rich faithful man back in the day, who received God's favour and blessing. But Satan decides to test Job and God lets Satan strip Job of his property and children and even his health, as part of a test! Job suffers long and hard before God finally steps in and reminds Job that He is greater than any other being and has total say when it comes to earthly and heavenly (universal) matters. But the other thing that God reminds Job of, is that He is about restoration and happy endings: He gives Job back double of what He first had.
And then there's Jesus. He lived on earth as a man and suffered an excruciating death on the cross as well as a painful separation from God. The story doesn't end at Jesus' death, because He rose again on the third day. In fact, not only did He assume His heavenly position (receiving the at least the same kind of recognition that He had before He became Man), He also redeemed all of mankind.
The same is true of Joseph's life, Nineveh's repentance and restoration of favour, Noah's deliverance from the flood and the rainbow the followed, King David's fall to lust and redemption as he understood God's grace and forgiveness, Peter's denial of Christ but subsequent restoration as the rock of the church...

Knowing that God is as much about happy endings as He is about being present in the storms, or loving us in spite of those same storms really helps me cope with the tempest that life sometimes is. We can "consider it pure joy, whenever [we] face trials of many kinds" (James 1:2) because we know that when it is over, something awaits us that leaves us better than before the trial. Know this, especially if you are going through a tough time, because God has a say in it, we will rise again!

The pain often scars more than the happy ending soothes. Is it a wonder that my freshest memories are of the pain and disappointments rather their respective resolutions. Yet as I recount, I know that things turn out fine, often more than fine. Disappointments are merely stories not concluded yet, so perhaps we shouldn't conclude our stories with these disappointments. It gives me something to look forward to, gives me something to hope for. That's what they mean when they say that the person who hopes in God won't be disappointed!
If it's not good, it's not over yet.

A Picture of Ministry

Luke 5:1-11 (from Bible Gateway.com)

1One day as Jesus was standing by the Lake of Gennesaret,^[a]with the people crowding around him and listening to the word of God, 2he saw at the water's edge two boats, left there by the fishermen, who were washing their nets. 3He got into one of the boats, the one belonging to Simon, and asked him to put out a little from shore. Then he sat down and taught the people from the boat.

4When he had finished speaking, he said to Simon, "Put out into deep water, and let down^[b] the nets for a catch."

5Simon answered, "Master, we've worked hard all night and haven't caught anything. But because you say so, I will let down the nets."

6When they had done so, they caught such a large number of fish that their nets began to break. 7So they signaled their partners in the other boat to come and help them, and they came and filled both boats so full that they began to sink.

8When Simon Peter saw this, he fell at Jesus' knees and said, "Go away from me, Lord; I am a sinful man!" 9For he and all his companions were astonished at the catch of fish they had taken, 10and so were James and John, the sons of Zebedee, Simon's partners.

Then Jesus said to Simon, "Don't be afraid; from now on you will catch men." 11So they pulled their boats up on shore, left everything and followed him.

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I just thought that this was a cool picture of ministry, at least ministry in my life. I'm increasingly realizing that ministry is about God doing His thing, and me simply being along for the ride, kind of like how Peter was in the boat watching and Jesus did His thing and taught the crowds. I'm sure Peter learnt more about Jesus simply by watching and listening to Him, and he got that privilege simply by being willing to give up some of his time and energy to take Jesus onto his boat.

I've definitely had those luke 5:5 skeptical moments, when I'm thinking to myself how silly the things I'm doing are, how it doesn't make sense to be spending my time and energy on church things when the rest of the world is investing its time climbing that corporate ladder or how there isn't any point to loving this person because they won't love me back. And yet I do them anyway (almost always grudgingly and with little faith, if any) and God blows me away with the way He chooses to use those little seemingly fruitless actions. I get my 'fish-filled-boat-sinking' moments when I catch a glimpse of the ways God uses me, not because of who I am or how hard I try, but because God is God and what God wants to do, God gets done, regardless! I definitely get my "I'm a sinful (wo)man" moments as I realize that God uses me in spite of my lack of commitment to ministry and people.

At the end of the day, I know I'm going to fail many many times in my pitiful attempts to love people because I will let them down through my insensitivity, impatience or selfishness (very often all three). I know there will be days when I am so tired of praying for people, questioning if those prayers make a difference in the grand scheme of things. I know there will be days when I get so frustrated that my church friends aren't supporting me the way I believe a church should.

But ministry thankfully doesn't depend on me, because God's at the helm of the boat, teaching and doing His thing. I'm just sitting, watching, listening and letting Him use my boat.

2008 New Years Scone Party

A little different from the normal posts but I thought it was worth sharing anyway. Good Job Joanne, thanks for making the video! The scones are a pretty awesome bunch!