Friday, June 24, 2011

EARC - Personal Reflection

I truly treasure my time in EARC. Personally I never quite like Old Testament and this time there's Bible Exposition on the book of Haggai. Nonetheless who knows God still can speak to our present situation through Haggai rightttt.. The most striking verse that still strike me is "Give careful thought to your ways.." It's repeated in the book of Haggai few times. Give careful thought..not only a thought but a careful one.

There are so many flaws in my life and I start to think... Give careful thought to my ways? But amazingly these situations(those dark times in our life) are the ones that draw us closer to God than ever.

I love those plenaries time. Yeah..we were called not to spend on those branded stuff too much because there's impact and stories behind our global spending. Those branded stuff- Their factories are not in Europe country so that they can earn more (of course by using cheap labour and they work in stuffy condition!) Some were forced to work more than 12 hours just to produce those branded things.

Besides, I also made lots of new friends. Although we didn't get along at first due to language barrier, but eventually we manage to overcome it by speaking more slowly, waiting for others to speak as they struggle to speak in English, use sign language n etc etc.

I am so glad for this experience because we really encourage one another although we were from different countries especially during group sharing and quiet time. Not everyone can live pleasant life as a Christian. Life is life.

Someone said this during EARC, "You cannot live a prophetic lifestyle by being distant and safe. It's a walk that is lonely and not safe, avoided by others and not getting any help."

With technologies affecting us, it gets more and more distracting each day. Distract us from God, from real life, from this n that.. Internet is like an escape to another world.. And in one of my workshops, we did an activity which is " What do you think Jesus FB will look like?"

Ha ha.. We came out with all sorts of ideas but well, think about it..Living in digital era, I wonder what Jesus would do if He has FB, blog n etc. What will He post in FB..What kind of sms will He send? What kind of things He will comment on others blog/FB/...? Something to think about.

I dream ..but I wake up and dream. Does our dreams have the same purpose? Which is to move this world for His glory?

The apostle Paul shared an interesting insight and experience in his, " So I find this law at work: When I want to do good, evil is right there with me. " (Romans 7:21) 

Speaking about evilness..Pastor mentioned this last week. Sometimes or most of the times we end up doing what we hate..what we despise.. though we know it's wrong but we don't have the strength to overcome them. That's why we need to pray and God will be our advocate - helping us. Evil is bad but as men, sometimes we enjoy doing what is evil although it's wrong and we know it! LIFE.

May the Lord our God continue to help us to walk in this journey of faith.


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