Yesterday, I went to both morning and night church. I do that sometimes. Just cos.
Anyway, it took me until I was in bed reading my bible, going over the verse we did in church, to realise that I'd read about John 5 somewhere else too.
Here:
http://audreycaroline.blogspot.com/2009/11/house-of-mercy.html
Read it. She is my favourite blogger for a very good reason.
Sunday, March 7, 2010
Wednesday, February 24, 2010
Ministry
I read a lot of blogs. Some of you may know that :)
One of my favourites is Angie Smith, author of the Bring the Rain blog.
Long story short, when she was pregnant with her fourth daughter Audrey in 2008, her & her husband found out that Audrey was "incompatible with life" (doctor's terms) and was not expected to live. In fact, many doctors advised her to terminate the pregnancy.
As Christians, Angie & her husband knew that God could perform a miracle and so they chose to continue on with the pregnancy.
Audrey was born on April 7th 2008, and lived for 2 hours and 14 minutes. Angie & her husband (Todd Smith from the Christian band Selah) firmly believe that the time they had with Audrey whilst she was alive was miraculous.
Anyway, fast forward and she has now written a book about Audrey and her blog, and she still regularly posts. This is one of her most recent blog posts. I love it.
Ellie (one of her older twin girls) pulled a book off the little Christian book thingy that sits by the checkout (Do you all have those? Pretty cool!). She brought it over to me and asked if she could please buy it. It was called "100 Daily Prayers for Women." She can read, so she knew what the topic was. I knew we had about a bazillion books that were very similar at home so I shook my head and told her no. I asked her to go put it back and then finished up at the register.
A few seconds later, I felt a hand tap me on the shoulder and I turned around expecting to see someone I knew saying hello. I didn't recognize the man but he was in the checkout lane next to me and had seen the interaction I had with Ellie. Very gently, he smiled and said, "Excuse me, ma'am? Would it be okay with you if I bought that book as a gift for your little girl? It would be my honor."
Wow.
I chatted with him for a few minutes, explaining that we were Christians and that we had a kind of extensive library of devotional-type books and he nodded happily.
"It was just really a special moment to see a little girl asking for a book like that. I just thought that, you know, if you couldn't...well, I just thought I would offer..."
I haven't stopped thinking about it because it was such a small gesture, but based on the fact that this was a person who didn't want to miss a ministry opportunity. He didn't force it, he just sensed that it might be a door cracked open a smidge.
I love it.
I want to see those moments more clearly and have a sense of what the Lord is calling me to do.
What if it had been another harried, exhausted woman who didn't know where she was going to turn that night when she got home? It could have been anyone.
I am sure it was me because I needed a reminder.
The Lord works everywhere.
Even in frozen food and chaos.
What if we were more like the man in the checkout queue?
I started back at uni this week, and I cannot tell you how many times I walked past the CBM (Campus Bible Ministries) stand in the main building.
I don't know what I was afraid of.
That people would look at me differently for going up to the girls at the stand?
That people wouldn't talk to me once they knew I was a Christian?
The truth is, I shouldn't care about them. Or rather, I should. But only because I should care about whether or not they know about Jesus.
Anyway, back to me, walking back and forth past the CBM stand.
I must've deliberately walked past it about 3 or 4 times. This is how I know God wanted me to go. Because I just kept coming back to the stand.
That, and because it was hard. Nothing with God is ever easy! Often it is in the most difficult situations when I feel Him prompting me to do something. It's when I hear His voice the clearest.
Do it. Do it. Do it.
I can't. I can't. I can't.
Do it anyway.
Fiiiiiine.
So I went up to the stand. Spoke to the girls. Gave them my email address. Signed up.
And it was great. Most God-directed things usually are, aren't they?
There was no reason for me to be so worried. "God-things" always turn out right.
But in my own self absorption, I very well may have missed other opportunities.
What if we were more open about our faith? What if we were like the checkout queue guy? Tapping people on the shoulder. Helping people. Asking them how they are. Telling them about Jesus.
Like Angie said, the Lord works everywhere.
You never know where he might be calling you next.
It could be anywhere. Our job is to keep an eye (and an ear!) out.
One of my favourites is Angie Smith, author of the Bring the Rain blog.
Long story short, when she was pregnant with her fourth daughter Audrey in 2008, her & her husband found out that Audrey was "incompatible with life" (doctor's terms) and was not expected to live. In fact, many doctors advised her to terminate the pregnancy.
As Christians, Angie & her husband knew that God could perform a miracle and so they chose to continue on with the pregnancy.
Audrey was born on April 7th 2008, and lived for 2 hours and 14 minutes. Angie & her husband (Todd Smith from the Christian band Selah) firmly believe that the time they had with Audrey whilst she was alive was miraculous.
Anyway, fast forward and she has now written a book about Audrey and her blog, and she still regularly posts. This is one of her most recent blog posts. I love it.
Ellie (one of her older twin girls) pulled a book off the little Christian book thingy that sits by the checkout (Do you all have those? Pretty cool!). She brought it over to me and asked if she could please buy it. It was called "100 Daily Prayers for Women." She can read, so she knew what the topic was. I knew we had about a bazillion books that were very similar at home so I shook my head and told her no. I asked her to go put it back and then finished up at the register.
A few seconds later, I felt a hand tap me on the shoulder and I turned around expecting to see someone I knew saying hello. I didn't recognize the man but he was in the checkout lane next to me and had seen the interaction I had with Ellie. Very gently, he smiled and said, "Excuse me, ma'am? Would it be okay with you if I bought that book as a gift for your little girl? It would be my honor."
Wow.
I chatted with him for a few minutes, explaining that we were Christians and that we had a kind of extensive library of devotional-type books and he nodded happily.
"It was just really a special moment to see a little girl asking for a book like that. I just thought that, you know, if you couldn't...well, I just thought I would offer..."
I haven't stopped thinking about it because it was such a small gesture, but based on the fact that this was a person who didn't want to miss a ministry opportunity. He didn't force it, he just sensed that it might be a door cracked open a smidge.
I love it.
I want to see those moments more clearly and have a sense of what the Lord is calling me to do.
What if it had been another harried, exhausted woman who didn't know where she was going to turn that night when she got home? It could have been anyone.
I am sure it was me because I needed a reminder.
The Lord works everywhere.
Even in frozen food and chaos.
What if we were more like the man in the checkout queue?
I started back at uni this week, and I cannot tell you how many times I walked past the CBM (Campus Bible Ministries) stand in the main building.
I don't know what I was afraid of.
That people would look at me differently for going up to the girls at the stand?
That people wouldn't talk to me once they knew I was a Christian?
The truth is, I shouldn't care about them. Or rather, I should. But only because I should care about whether or not they know about Jesus.
Anyway, back to me, walking back and forth past the CBM stand.
I must've deliberately walked past it about 3 or 4 times. This is how I know God wanted me to go. Because I just kept coming back to the stand.
That, and because it was hard. Nothing with God is ever easy! Often it is in the most difficult situations when I feel Him prompting me to do something. It's when I hear His voice the clearest.
Do it. Do it. Do it.
I can't. I can't. I can't.
Do it anyway.
Fiiiiiine.
So I went up to the stand. Spoke to the girls. Gave them my email address. Signed up.
And it was great. Most God-directed things usually are, aren't they?
There was no reason for me to be so worried. "God-things" always turn out right.
But in my own self absorption, I very well may have missed other opportunities.
What if we were more open about our faith? What if we were like the checkout queue guy? Tapping people on the shoulder. Helping people. Asking them how they are. Telling them about Jesus.
Like Angie said, the Lord works everywhere.
You never know where he might be calling you next.
It could be anywhere. Our job is to keep an eye (and an ear!) out.
Monday, November 2, 2009
Time, Treasures & Talents
Hi Girls :)
If you were in my small group last Friday (that means you, Michaela, Chelsea, Amy & Lynette!) you might remember we talked about Time, Treasures & Talents.
For those of you who don't know, two weeks ago at church, Mark (or Mr Bonnici) told us about something he called "A Month of Commitment" for November. Basically, he wants us to increase our giving to the church. This doesn't just mean money.
Time is to do with how we spend time with non Christians, or people who are less fortunate than us.
Treasures is to do with what we value - money and possessions.
Talents is to do with what we participate and get involved in, and how we use our gifts.
Mark challenged every one of us to increase our giving in these 3 areas.
I read a lot of blogs online in my spare time. One of them is a book club started by two Christian women Angie and Jessica. It's called Bloom.
Everyone in the book club is reading Crazy Love by Francis Chan. It's a book about being "overwhelmed by a relentless God" and how we can aspire to love others the way God loves us.
The latest chapter we are up to, Chapter 7, is all about loving others less fortunate than us.
(If you want to watch the video where they talk about Chapter 7, you can find it here.)
Angie (seriously love her) talks about Time, and how often we only manage to "squeeze God in" when we find a spare moment. This is so true for me. I have so much going on (no excuse, really) that I often only pray & read my bible at night right before I go to sleep. Someone once said to me, imagine that God was your husband and that was the only time you spent talking with him. What a sad relationship that would be if the only time we communicated was when we were in bed, half asleep! Yet that is what I - and I think we - deem to be acceptable to God.
I could type out the whole of Chapter 7 here, because I think it is so relevant, but I'll stick to a few quotes.
About halfway through the chapter, Francis Chan asks "How would my life change if I actually thought of each person I came into contact with as Christ - the person driving painfully slow in front of me (ha! I am terrible at this!!), the checker at the grocery store who seems more interested in chatting that ringing up my items, the member of my own family with whom I can't seem to have a conversation and not get annoyed?"
I think this is so aimed right at us. I know I get frustrated when my plan doesn't work- when I'm running late because of the slow driver in front of me, or the chatty girl at the shops, or when my mum is driving me nuts nagging about something.
The Bible (in Matthew) says the greatest commandment of all is to love. To love the Lord, and to love your neighbour as yourself. Basically, God is telling us that by loving others (even those we don't want to love!) we love Him.
In the same chapter of Matthew, the disciples are confused why Jesus goes off at them for not offerring him food when he was hungry or water when he was thirsty. They tell him, we've never seen you ask for things like that! Jesus tells them that whatever they've done for anyone else, they have done for him (Matt. 25:40)
Francis Chan says "Jesus is saying we show tangible love for God in how we care for the poor and those who are sufferring. He expects us to treat the poor and the desperate as if they were Christ Himself. Ask yourself this: If you actually saw Jesus starving, what would you do for Him?"
I think that is so powerful, and so convicting. We should treat everyone they way we would treat Jesus if he was walking down the street next to us - but we don't.
When I was in America in April, Claryse & I caught a bus to the shops a few blocks away from Disneyland. We had dinner first, but as we were leaving the restaurant, we noticed it had gotten really dark. We decided to catch the bus back to the hotel and forget about shopping. Once we finally found the bus stop, we realised we had just missed the bus and a lady sitting under the bus shelter told us that the next one wouldn't come for fifteen minutes. Seeing as we had so long to wait, I struck up a conversation with the lady. After a while she asked us to mind her bags while she went to the bathroom, and Claryse whispered to me "You know she's homeless, don't you?"
I had no idea. The fact that she was shouldn't have changed my attitude towards her.
But it did. Fear crept its way inside me and I started freaking out. I was sure she was going to come back with a knife or a gun or something and hurt us. I was praying like crazy. If I remember right, I'm pretty sure I said "God, I don't want to die a few metres away from Disneyland!!!"
The whole thing was bizarre. Of course she didn't hurt us. In fact, she helped us figure out which bus station to get off at. But just that little bit of information - that she was homeless - changed my whole view towards her. I wanted to get as far away from her as possible, when in fact Jesus says these are the very people we should be approaching!
Since we were stranded and couldn't really escape, Claryse & I ended up initiating a conversation with her about God, and it turns out she had a lot of knowledge, and believed in God and Heaven and the Bible. Things I never would have known if I'd just run off like my fear told me too.
Now, I'm not saying go look for some homeless people in her neighbourhood and start evangelising. I think your parents would kill me if I did. But, I didn't go looking for this homeless woman to talk to. God just presented her to me; put her in my path, and I couldn't possibly avoid it. Nor should I want to.
Our love is shown by how we live our lives. The Bible says we should love with actions, and in truth. Sometimes that's scary. It takes us out of our comfort zones. But don't you think that being crucified was uncomfortable for Jesus? If he willingly, knowingly did that for us, don't you think it's the least we can do to make the effort to sacrifice some of our time, our treasures and our talents to give him glory?
If you were in my small group last Friday (that means you, Michaela, Chelsea, Amy & Lynette!) you might remember we talked about Time, Treasures & Talents.
For those of you who don't know, two weeks ago at church, Mark (or Mr Bonnici) told us about something he called "A Month of Commitment" for November. Basically, he wants us to increase our giving to the church. This doesn't just mean money.
Time is to do with how we spend time with non Christians, or people who are less fortunate than us.
Treasures is to do with what we value - money and possessions.
Talents is to do with what we participate and get involved in, and how we use our gifts.
Mark challenged every one of us to increase our giving in these 3 areas.
I read a lot of blogs online in my spare time. One of them is a book club started by two Christian women Angie and Jessica. It's called Bloom.
Everyone in the book club is reading Crazy Love by Francis Chan. It's a book about being "overwhelmed by a relentless God" and how we can aspire to love others the way God loves us.
The latest chapter we are up to, Chapter 7, is all about loving others less fortunate than us.
(If you want to watch the video where they talk about Chapter 7, you can find it here.)
Angie (seriously love her) talks about Time, and how often we only manage to "squeeze God in" when we find a spare moment. This is so true for me. I have so much going on (no excuse, really) that I often only pray & read my bible at night right before I go to sleep. Someone once said to me, imagine that God was your husband and that was the only time you spent talking with him. What a sad relationship that would be if the only time we communicated was when we were in bed, half asleep! Yet that is what I - and I think we - deem to be acceptable to God.
I could type out the whole of Chapter 7 here, because I think it is so relevant, but I'll stick to a few quotes.
About halfway through the chapter, Francis Chan asks "How would my life change if I actually thought of each person I came into contact with as Christ - the person driving painfully slow in front of me (ha! I am terrible at this!!), the checker at the grocery store who seems more interested in chatting that ringing up my items, the member of my own family with whom I can't seem to have a conversation and not get annoyed?"
I think this is so aimed right at us. I know I get frustrated when my plan doesn't work- when I'm running late because of the slow driver in front of me, or the chatty girl at the shops, or when my mum is driving me nuts nagging about something.
The Bible (in Matthew) says the greatest commandment of all is to love. To love the Lord, and to love your neighbour as yourself. Basically, God is telling us that by loving others (even those we don't want to love!) we love Him.
In the same chapter of Matthew, the disciples are confused why Jesus goes off at them for not offerring him food when he was hungry or water when he was thirsty. They tell him, we've never seen you ask for things like that! Jesus tells them that whatever they've done for anyone else, they have done for him (Matt. 25:40)
Francis Chan says "Jesus is saying we show tangible love for God in how we care for the poor and those who are sufferring. He expects us to treat the poor and the desperate as if they were Christ Himself. Ask yourself this: If you actually saw Jesus starving, what would you do for Him?"
I think that is so powerful, and so convicting. We should treat everyone they way we would treat Jesus if he was walking down the street next to us - but we don't.
When I was in America in April, Claryse & I caught a bus to the shops a few blocks away from Disneyland. We had dinner first, but as we were leaving the restaurant, we noticed it had gotten really dark. We decided to catch the bus back to the hotel and forget about shopping. Once we finally found the bus stop, we realised we had just missed the bus and a lady sitting under the bus shelter told us that the next one wouldn't come for fifteen minutes. Seeing as we had so long to wait, I struck up a conversation with the lady. After a while she asked us to mind her bags while she went to the bathroom, and Claryse whispered to me "You know she's homeless, don't you?"
I had no idea. The fact that she was shouldn't have changed my attitude towards her.
But it did. Fear crept its way inside me and I started freaking out. I was sure she was going to come back with a knife or a gun or something and hurt us. I was praying like crazy. If I remember right, I'm pretty sure I said "God, I don't want to die a few metres away from Disneyland!!!"
The whole thing was bizarre. Of course she didn't hurt us. In fact, she helped us figure out which bus station to get off at. But just that little bit of information - that she was homeless - changed my whole view towards her. I wanted to get as far away from her as possible, when in fact Jesus says these are the very people we should be approaching!
Since we were stranded and couldn't really escape, Claryse & I ended up initiating a conversation with her about God, and it turns out she had a lot of knowledge, and believed in God and Heaven and the Bible. Things I never would have known if I'd just run off like my fear told me too.
Now, I'm not saying go look for some homeless people in her neighbourhood and start evangelising. I think your parents would kill me if I did. But, I didn't go looking for this homeless woman to talk to. God just presented her to me; put her in my path, and I couldn't possibly avoid it. Nor should I want to.
Our love is shown by how we live our lives. The Bible says we should love with actions, and in truth. Sometimes that's scary. It takes us out of our comfort zones. But don't you think that being crucified was uncomfortable for Jesus? If he willingly, knowingly did that for us, don't you think it's the least we can do to make the effort to sacrifice some of our time, our treasures and our talents to give him glory?
Friday, October 30, 2009
Welcome!
Welcome to the Recharge
Girls Blog!
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