Growing Up

2 weeks ago, part of our G-12 meeting was to go down to ‘visit’ our brothers who were in star encounter. However, when we finally arrived at our destination, pasted on the 2 sides of the door of TESS hall with font size 99 were these words
‘NO ENTRY FOR VISITORS OR LEADERS’
As good Christians who submit to authority, Wei Peng, Miah, Nicholas and I walked around Marine Parade in search of some ‘exciting’ activity (LAN game, Pool) while waiting for the encounter session to end.

As we walked past some of the popular hang out areas (Macdonalds, Parkway builders, dolphin pool hall, roxy, parkway parade) Nicholas and Jeremiah were orientating Wei Peng ‘This was the place we were hanging out when we escaped from cell group last time’ ‘This was the LAN shop where Joshua and Narash came in and caught us red-handed, we had no where to hide!’ ‘This was the coffee shop table where we always got our lectures.’

I saw Nicholas and Jeremiah giggled and laughed in reminiscence of the past. Not because it was ‘fun’ and a cool thing to do! but looking back, they were glad because they have ‘grown up’ physically and spiritually definitely. I hope you're glad that you're not the same person as before too! Remember what Joshua said in our previous meeting. 'If we remain as the same person as before, not only have we backslided, we have wasted the journey that GOD has brought us through!'

Well back to the guys.
Yes, many a times it was hard, frustrating and painful in gathering these ‘punks’ But because You (Joshua, Luke, Narash) never gave up on them, they’re learning, growing in the LORD and loving Jesus today.

What does it mean for us then? Press in for your sheeps no matter the cost, the pain and the time! Remember, God’s heartbeat is the transformation our lives and their lives!

‘I see a generation
Rising up to take the place
With selfless faith, with selfless faith’

‘Open up my eyes to the things unseen
Show me how to love like you have loved me
Break my heart for what is yours
Everything I am for your kingdom's cause
As I walk from earth into eternity’ – lyrics ‘Hosanna’- All of the above

Transformed lives- 'George of the Jungle'

Last Sunday during praise and worship, I caught a glimpse of George praying for Zhi hao and ministering to him at the side of my eyes. That scene was just magnificent, I felt so touched and encouraged. I caught the heartbeat of GOD there and then. Transformed lives. Yes, GOD is looking for transformed lives.

I saw how real GOD was in leading George into our tribe.

1. George Mum hunted for ‘Me’ (tuition teacher) on newspaper.
2. I realized we share a similar background, migrated from Hongkong
3. George and I share the same Birthday!!!!
4. George’s Dad was actually my father’s JC classmate in their JC days!!!

All these WOW coincidence aside. The biggest WOW factor is that beyond these coincidences, GOD blessed us with George, not as a coincidence, but He chose him. I could only say that GOD was at work. Yes! My friends, keep reaching out and testify GOD’s goodness to allow HIM to transform lives.

Lastly I believe all of us have developed that ‘culture’ in always being a blessing. No one taught George how to pray during service. I believe he just simply caught it from some of us, and exercised that faith to be a blessing in ministering to people. George, I pray that you’ll rise up to be a man after GOD’s very own heart and allow him to mould you and refine you to become all he wants you to be!

Ice-Breaker (Continued.....)

Yes! this would be a better representation of
the ice-breaker we had the other day.
For those who missed DG, I look forward to your drawing soon! HAHAHAH

I need your Grace

The last time my Dad came back from Hongkong, he brought back many free gifts that his business partners gave him. Thumb drives, computer mouse, mp4 player. Lacking a music device myself, I fought for the mp4 player with my sister who already has a ipod mini. And I got it!

I was at NUS business canteen today. When I left my clear folder at the seat to buy food, I was thinking, shall I take the mp4 player with me? ‘Based on my past experiences in NUS, it’s a safe place with no thefts, so many times I have left my valuables alone and they stay in tact, furthermore the mp4 player is free, whoever want to steal just steal la, its free anyway’ I thought.

The day passed on and I was in my Translation lecture. The professor gave us a 10min break and I decided to just relac one corner by listening to some music..
My mp4 player was GONE!!!!! It was impossible that I dropped it because I did not open the folder at all, someone MUST have stole it.

As I sat in the lecture theatre, I was just asking GOD, ‘What are you trying to teach me from this incident??’ The word ‘GRACE’ was what he revealed to me. Have we all taken God’s grace for granted? Sometimes it gets into us that Grace is free, and because its free, we take it for granted. We fail to intentionally guard our heart against SIN. Just like the incident, because my mp4 player was given to me free, therefore, I couldn’t be bothered to guard it. My friends, lets not take GOD’s grace for granted, but guard our lives against sin intentionally.

I repented before GOD by the end of the lecture because I was guilty. The story ended with me finding my mp4 player in my car at the NUS carpark at the end of the day. Muddled-headed me.

Let our 'ACT' bless

My friends, I hope we are faithfully fasting and earnestly laying hold of GOD for the 100k blessing!

As I was praying yesterday, I felt GOD impress upon my heart a group of people that he wants us to be praying for.

In participating for the campaign, some of us may be turned down and we would be short of the opportunity to bless that person.

God wants you to know that his heart goes out to that person as well, even if he has rejected him.
So what can we do?
I pray that our ACT of wanting to be a blessing, the ACT itself of choosing to bless and the ACT of our commitment to GOD will itself move these people who reject us. That beyond the offering of blessing, the ACT of wanting to be a blessing will be a blessing to them and through that, may this ACT of ours reflect JESUS.

Tribe Camp Learnings

1. The need to listen to the voice of GOD and the consequences of wanting your own way.

Remember the game we played in the field when all of us were blindfolded and had to run from one end to the other end of the field? The only thing that guides our way is the voice of the partner, that’s all we have, nothing less, nothing more.
I witness a very interesting learning that happened to Wei Peng, it was kind of hilarious, but beyond that it lies a vitally important truth.

Wei Peng was running faster then his ‘Voice’ and the ‘Voice’ was chasing after him shouting ‘STOP! STOP! STOP!’ somehow, I’m not sure if he chose to ignore it or he couldn’t hear the ‘Voice,’ He kept running and running and BANG! He hit his head right on the grill of the gate!!! Ouch!

My friends, lets learn to listen and follow the voice of GOD. Wanting things our way hurts GOD because that’s sin, and more than that, it hurts us when we are left to face the consequences of our ‘Own ways’

2. The family is around when someone falls

The campfire finale when one spark was passed on to light up the whole tribe’s individual candle was a magnificent sight wasn’t it? Somehow, the strong winds were blowing and hard as we try to guard the flame from being extinguished, some of our flames did. . The moment when mine went off, I felt as if my effectiveness of shining was gone. But thank GOD for the many lights from my family members, they re-kindled the candle light by passing their flame to me. Yes my family will be there to pick me up when I fall.

3. Our pastors Up lah!

As we were approaching the closure of the camp, I was like ‘huh’ and ‘How does celebrating Ps Joe’s dad’s birthday got to do with us?’ But when I finally saw how far our pastors went to bring across the message to us about honoring and respecting our parents, I was like “Respect and salutes.” They don’t have to do that, but they leave aside any reasons of trouble or fear that we will make noise to show us how we should respect our parents. That really showed me to go all the way to seize the opportunity to want to impart my lives to others. Thank GOD for our pastors who seize every opportunity to want to teach us!

Nong Nong Ago

This is a long overdue post. I had a cell outing 2 weeks back and the mighty warriors, Nathan, Jonboy, Timothy, Daniel Lee and Angus Sham headed for the East coast Bike rental shop and challenged their physical limits towards Old Changi Hospital at Changi Village. Upon completion of the Nongest Bike Journey in the world, they were presented with the Red beret at Hendon camp just down the road of Old Changi Hospital where CPL(NS)Hailer Chong rewarded them by sending them back to the bike rental shop in his seafood van.

I had a great day out with you! It was great to get to know the guys in a way I have never expected. Never did I expect Timothy to be so lame and crazy. I was worried that Jonboy would throw a tantrum and get emo pissed off when fatigue sets in but he proved me totally wrong and was joking and chatting with me throughout the journey!and never will I know that Nathan will stay so cool and composed when he flew off the bike when he rode right into the lamppost!!!!

We opened the outing with a word of prayer. “God, show us your reality in our time together”And he did. When we reach our destination @ OCH, all of us know that it would be too tiring and taxing to go back the same way we have came from. I remember Jonboy shouting, “God please help us!!” And HE did. God sent Joshua Chong to call me while he was at Pasir ris delivering some seafood and he offered to send us back to East Coast in his lorry. At this moment, I paused and turned to our guys, 'This is not a coincidence, but this is God’s blessing, and his love to us so real and tangible.' Yes, my friends, carry on looking out for GOD. There is no such thing as an accident or a coincidence if you’re a child of GOD!

Unfamiliar grounds

I had tuition with George today. Towards the last 20 minutes of our lesson, I’ll sometimes teach him some guitar techniques. What I observed was, whenever I get him to do some new ‘boring guitar drills,’ he would first attempt to do it, after a few minutes, he’ll go back to play stuff he already mastered which I taught him previously.

This was very similar to my own journey. I felt that I stagnate in my guitar playing for the past few years. It is because every time when I attempt to play new and more difficult stuff, I get bored and go back to playing things I already know or am comfortable with. Thus, the rate of improvement is ground zero.

How does that relate to our spiritual journey? Sometimes, we get so good at doing things we’re good at, even the previously uncomfortable become comfortable. The danger is as we get familiar, we get complacent, and we begin to consciously or unconsciously do everything thinking that its by our own might, by our own strength.

It is only when we have the ‘spirit of excellence’ to want to break out, put in sweat and blood to improve, throw ourselves in unfamiliar ground that we are able to progress. As you are faced with challenges, things that are unfamiliar to you, you’ll learn to depend on God, and the more you depend on him, the closer you are to him only if you choose to rely on him.

My friends, my prayer is that you’ll get off your familiar warm seat and throw yourself to somewhere new, somewhere where you know you would be desperate to call for help, and there you’ll find God as you seek him. But I’m not advocating you to throw yourselves in areas of temptation!

Good Catch?

I was having lunch with Joshua Lau and Joshua Chong this afternoon when hailer told us an interesting conversation between his mother and him early this morning.
I’ll attempt to put it in a speech format.

Mama Chong: Joshua Lau and Angus are very good catches, why you never introduce
them to Joy (Joshua Chong’s sister)?

Hailer Chong: Eh… But Angus got girlfriend already…

Mama Chong: Camy is also a good girl, why didn’t you ‘Jio’ her earlier????

Hailer Chong: Huh????

What I was happy about is NOT the fact that all of us are good catches. But it’s the fact that Mama Chong saw Jesus reflected in our lives. My friends, continue to reflect Jesus in your lives. When the world see Jesus alive through your very own life, that’s the very best testimony to point people to Jesus.

Want to be a good catch? The more you reflect Jesus, the better catch you are! That’s why Peter and James caught so many fishes!!!- Okay.. Not funny…

A Call to 'Intentional Living'

I used to think that the phrase ‘Intentional living’ is overused and ‘da pai’
But today, I lift both my hands to promote you this phrase
‘Live your life intentionally!!!!’

I’m very thankful for what Joshua shared with us after service today.
In fact, it was so divine that I shared it 2 days before on Friday when I met my G-12.

I told my guys that every Friday when we meet, I’ll ask them a ‘forever question’
‘In your journey in school, at work, at play, in relationships and in everything, what is God teaching you?’ ‘What is something new you learn about God this week?’And how do you do that? Only by living your life intentionally.
What I meant by living your life intentionally is, you live everyday in such a way that you look out for God in every journey, in every happening and in every moment.
Its not that God wants to purposely hide from us, but it’s the ATTITUDE of telling God, I’m serious in seeking you, I’m serious in wanting to find you.

That’s what God take delight in, so make him smile ok!
Don’t retire the day and missed out on finding God today, it was a wasted day.

Sin is Shiok?

I'm staying over at Joshua Chong's place for the night
and I just came out from the shower...

Minutes ago when i was splashing myself with water,
I was reflecting on the journey GOD is leading me through
and I felt his prompting on sharing with you about the issue of SIN over the
next few days.

Sin is pleasurable - Day 01
The consequence of Sin- Day 02
We have a way out- Day 03

Somehow, SIN seems pleasurable ain't it?
Remember the thrill and excitment you got when you shoplifted/ stole something when
you were younger?

Playing truant and climbing out that school gate was fun wasn't it?!???

What about the release of 'High' when you hooked up that babe at the bar counter?

Or is it the temporal satisfaction you got back in the toilet?

Yes, SIN is pleasurable.
It was even recorded in the bible!
'She saw that the tree was beautiful and its fruit looked delicious...'- Gen3:6

I say again, SIN is pleasurable.
And because they are pleasurable, you fight it, struggle with it and find
it hard to surrender and give up on it, because you feel that you can't help it.

But know that there are consequences to these sinful pleasures!

Learning point: Sin is pleasurable, and we can fall into them without us knowing
or we even deceieve ourselves that its ok since it feels good!
Watch out that we're not acquainted with these pleasurable activities
that pains the heart of God!

Goodbye My friend

Xiao Qiang passed away on the 25th May. It was a shocking news for me because it was just too sudden. I went to view his friendster account today and saw some of the photos we took together, the ones at Thai Pan at Joshua’s place. The fact that he posted so many photos on ‘that day’ shows that he treasures the fellowship, he treasures the memories, and he treasures you Joshua. I thank God that he has brought you into his life. From the photos he posted, I believe he is very thankful and look up to you a lot Joshua, because you’re someone who is different, someone who is interested in his life, and more than that, someone who believes in him, and through you, he found Jesus.

I could still remember him sending me the whole of Psalms 23 one of the days while I was chatting with him on Msn. And I thank god that he is with the shepherd now, and he shall not be in want.

One of Joshua’s task for me is to pray a prayer of blessing for Xiao qiang’s father (In Chinese) at the wake. Being surrounded by many Buddhist monks as well as on-going chanting and weird stares by some of the relatives, I felt quite intimidated. But I had my family with me, Charles, George, Ivan, Angela, Rachel, Joshua’s Dad and Mum and because of that, I fear no longer because the family is with me. Joshua’s mum (Super mum) is really superb, she went to pray for Xiao qiang’s mother whom she has not met before. She is more ‘garang’ then this little mouse typing this post. That ‘attitude’ and ‘heart’ of just wanting to be a blessing, wanting to be a comfort, the wanting to reflect Jesus just blew me off the chair. I wanna be bold and courageous for Jesus.

'B' stands for Best

I remember I shared in G-12 meeting
that I'm trusting the Lord for all A's in my previous examination.

Well! Here it is!

Name : SHAM CHEUK YIU ANGUS
Matric No : U061608M

2006/2007 Sem 2 Examination for ARTS AND SOCIAL SCIENCES 1
Module Code Module Title Grade
GE2218 Leisure, Recreation and Tourism B
GE2220 Terrestrial and Coastal Environments B+
LSM1303 Animal Behaviour B-
SC1101E Making Sense of Society B+
SSA2202 Changing Landscapes of Singapore B+

CAP: 3.72

God did not give me all A's but all Bs because 'B' stands for BEST!!! haha
Well, nevertheless I still want to Thank GOd for blessing me with these results
given my slackness in the term.
I'll work hard for all A's and stand to give thanks one day!

All Out of Love

Want to learn a particular lesson? Fasten your seat belt, sit tight and get ready for the experience that God is about to bring you through. Every time we set our minds to want to let God mould our character, or to learn certain truths about him, he holds you to your word and brings you through a journey to learn that about him or about yourself. I thank God for an interesting journey that he had brought me through the past 2 days.

I was asking myself this question, ‘Can I really say that I can serve God to the ends of the earth without excuses, and when something is upon his heart, I’ll go without questions asked when he calls.’

I had the opportunity to serve as a mentor at a Service Learning course at Telok Kurau Secondary school the past 2 days. That being the last week of school, I did not expect any schools to be calling me up for relief teaching. Somehow, God arranged teachers to be ‘Chao-kenging’ or falling sick on those 2 days and ONLY for those 2 days while I was serving as a mentor did schools call me up. That was truly a test! And a very painful one! That means a goodbye to $65 x 2 = $130!!! Which I needed quite badly!

After I reluctantly rejected the school, I told God, ‘Boss you best, it hurts. But I put that $130 on the altar, may this attitude of mine be worship unto you.’ Ouch! It does hurt. But the joy of serving God by responding to his call further compensates for that $130. It brings me joy by being a blessing to his people, even though some of these students can’t wait for the end of the day to come.

My friends, It doesn’t matter whether your fruits of labor are tangible or your rates of return exceed rates of investment. God is looking for someone who will answer his call when he calls, serving him whole-heartedly. Not caring about results, but only focused on the father’s heart.

‘For the eyes of the father range throughout the earth to strengthen those whose hearts are fully committed to him.’2Chronicles 16:9

Don’t be a half-committed Christian, give it all, because he has given you all.

God of the SO MUCH MORE!

theTWENTYFIRSTofmaytwoohohseven

You think GOD is good? Yes he is! But he is better than you can ever imagine! I really saw the goodness of GOD during this encounter. During some of the sessions, it is so clear to me that GOD is a GOD that desires to bless us with so so much more than you can ever imagine!

But due to our own human ‘intelligence’ ‘rationality’ ‘lack of faith’ and SIN , we have robbed ourselves from his blessing vertically and horizontally in 3 dimensions.
1. Relationship with the father
2. Relationship with one another
3. Relationship with the market place (Material possessions)

During the session on the ministry of the cross, I was so delighted and moved to see GOD touching hearts, healing wounds and transforming lives. As I stood there amazed, I sense GOD speak to me, ‘Angus you think I’m good? I tell you I’m far far far better than all you can ever imagine.’

Yes, our GOD is a God of the so much so much so much so much x10000000000000000000 x infinity so much more! But because we are finite human beings, thus it is impossible for us to understand the extent of the goodness of the infinite GOD. I pray that you will seek and desire to receive his goodness. God has meant for us to be blessed, to be richly blessed. I speak the blessing of GOD into your life as you read this post, claim it proudly as a child of God, because its your inheritance!

Lost the Love?

It has been very emotional for me the past few days. Just yesterday, I had the privilege and opportunity to do relief teaching back in my Secondary school. I thank GOD for it because it is one of the places I aim to search for my 12. Got in touch with the arts club teacher who is a Christian and told me ‘I’m looking for someone to come into arts club to start something with me.’ I shared with her a bit about what we could do to work together and we’ll be arranging a meeting with her together with Charles and Tianyu hopefully next Saturday.

On the other hand, I had a very bad experience doing relief. It was totally different from 3 years back when I enjoyed myself so very much taking the upper secondary normal academic classes. By the end of the day, I was totally drained out. The students are very ‘attitude’, very rebellious, don’t care about my existence and could just walk out of the class in groups of 6-7 to ‘tour’ around the school. I thought to myself, ‘The students conduct is degrading down the generation.’ To put them more strongly in my own words, they are more cocked up then ever before. I felt so so difficult to love them although that’s exactly what God has called us to do. ‘Love God, love people.’

Just today, I was on the bus, and there were 2 guys about age 16-17, with dyed hair, ah beng style dressing. They were playing mp3 with their phone at maximum volume. Some songs even contain a string of vulgarities. I was totally disgusted by their techno clubbing hits and there goes my mind, ‘La sup kias’ I struggled so so much to love this people, I do not know why suddenly my heart has gone cold and felt so so difficult to love anymore. The fact that I can label them as ‘La Sup kia’ reveals my pride of ‘looking down’ on them and thinking that I am ‘one cut above’ them. ‘God please forgive me for judging and labeling others.’ If I could think and feel others are ‘disgusting,’ what makes me feel that the sinful me is not ‘disgusting’ to the standards of our Holy God?

I’m very worried for myself because I’m going for encounter tomorrow. I pray that I’ll receive the father’s love, and that the Lord will create in me the Love to love others. (My post was supposed to end here… but network error occurred…)

I went on to delete some of my files in my computer. All of a sudden, I came across this audio file, and I played it. I suddenly encountered the supernatural presence of GOD, and this brings me to end this post with a victorious ending.

Lost the Love? Don’t know how to love? Afraid of loving again? ‘There is no problem too big, God cannot solve it, there is no mountain too tall, he cannot move it, if he carried the weight of the world upon his shoulders, I know my brother that HE will carry you. Let God carry you in this song.

Awake Prophets of Ah Teo Clan!

Deuteronomy 18:17

The Lord said to me, ‘What they say is good. I will raise up for them a prophet like you from among their brothers; I will put my words in his mouth, and he will tell them everything I command him…’

I really appreciate Dr Jackie Pullinger’s encouragement for us to practise the gifts of prophesy. From the short 1 day conference as well as during our service, many times she called upon her disciples to release words of prophesy. We can thus see the emphasis she placed on words of prophesy which will definitely edify the body of Christ. I myself have been edified and encouraged by Daniel and TY during our short ‘Satu, Duar, Tiga’ practice at the end of the conference.

Like the verse above states, God will raise up for us a prophet among our brothers. Lets receive it, practice it, and use it for his glory both in edifying each other as well pursuing the dreams and goals he has revealed to our sub-tribe.

Scared to say the wrong thing? My friends, let me bless you with another verse.

John17:3 ‘But when HE, the spirit of truth, comes, he will guide you into all truth….’

Don’t be scared, its time to learn to hear the voice of God, and tell the world what he has said.

Its about HIM

Here is a summary of my series of message… hahah, posts I mean.

1. My Body is about him (He owns the body, not I. Since he is the owner, we had
better use it in such a way that makes him happy!)
2. My struggles are about him (Your struggles and obstacles serve as tests,
assignments and exercises that make you stronger, tougher and more mature. Don’t
question and grumble! How can you reflect him in the midst of the struggles?)
3. My Success is about him (Remember the source of the success rather than the
success itself! Your success is meant for you to glorify his name, not meant for
you to put as a trophy to ‘Hao Lian’ at home!)

I ran into an event that led me to apply what I had posted. On Thursday night, something happened that made me feel very frustrated, sad, angsty and it further led me to feel useless, lousy, not good enough. It came to a point I told God, ‘God I just feel like giving up the dreams that you had for me.’ He replied ‘Remember what you posted about your body is about me?’ Yes, my body is about him, even if I feel discouraged, defeated, God if your dream for me is this, tough as it may be, I’ll use my body to walk on in this direction that you want me to. My struggles on my emotions are about him too. How can I grow out of it to become stronger and more mature? I reflected upon the whole issue back at home and this was the conclusion:

‘God, I’m imperfect, and in many ways, I feel small, not as good as others, but Lord what I can give you, is a willing heart, ready to be used by you. Will you change me (something normal), into something beautiful.’
I was reminded of a song by jars of clay that goes like this

‘Close my eyes and hold my heart
Cover me and make me something
Change this something normal
Into something beautiful

And I'm still fighting for the word to break these chains
And I still pray when I look in your eyes
You'd stare right back down
Into something beautiful’

Enjoy the song!

My Success is about HIM

That’s right- even your success is intended to reflect God. Listen to the reminder Moses gave the children of Israel: ‘Always remember that it is the LORD your God who give you power to become rich, and he does it to fulfill the covenant he made with your ancestors’ (Deuteronomy 8:18)

And why does he give it? For his reputation. ‘To fulfill the covenant made with your ancestors.’ God blessed Israel in order to billboard his faithfulness. When foreigners saw the fruitful farms of the Promised Land, God did not want them to think about the farmer but the farmer’s maker. Their success advertised God.

Nothing has changed. God lets you excel so you can make him known. And you can be sure of one thing: God will make you good at something. This is the principle: ‘True humility and fear of the LORD lead to riches, honor, and long life’ (Proverbs 22:4) BUT!!! With the success comes a problem.

Just ask Nahab, Elah and Omri. These are men we should know. They were kings of Israel. They ascended the throne, but something about the throne brought them down. Their legacies are stained with blood spilling and idol worship. They failed at success. They forgot the source and purpose of their success. King Nadab symbolized them all: ‘He did evil in the sight of the LORD, and walked in the way of his father and in his sin which he made Israel sin’ (1 kings, 15:26)

You won’t be offered a throne, but you might be offered best architect, best worship leader, platoon best, best soldier, best salesperson. You will, to one degree or another, succeed. And when you do, you might be tempted to forget who helped you do so. Success sabotages the memories of the successful.

When the family struggled to make ends meet, they leaned on God for daily bread. Now that there is an extra car and many notes in the pocket, they haven’t spoken to him in a while. In the early of the church, the founding member spent hours in prayer. Today the church is large, well attended, well funded. Who needs to pray?

A frog had a real problem. His home pond was drying up. IF he didn’t find water soon, it’ll die. But then he had an idea. Convincing 2 birds to carry either end of a stick, he bit the centre and held on as they flew. As they winged towards the new water, his jaws clamped tightly. It was a magnificent sight! A cow saw and wondered aloud, “Who was the smart alec who came up with that idea?” The frog couldn’t resist a reply, ‘I ddiiiiiiiiii….!!!!!’

My friends, don’t make the same mistake. ‘Pride goes before destruction, and haughtiness before a fall’ (Proverbs 16:18). Why are you good at what you do? For your comfort? For your retirement? For you to feel shiok? Feel good about yourself? No. Deem these as bonuses, not as the reason. Why are you good at what you do? For God’s sake. Your success is not about you, its about him!

My struggles are about HIM

Apostle Biography Brief Death
1 Peter
Crucified up-side-down at his request because he did consider himself worthy to be crucified like Jesus.

2 Andrew
Crucified at Patræ, Achaia [southern Greece].
Hung alive on the cross two days, exhorting spectators all the while.

3 James ‡
Killed 10 years after the first martyr, Stephen.
His accuser was converted by James courage and the two were beheaded together.

4 John ‡

•The only apostle who did not meet a martyrs death.

5 Phillip
• Crucified about 54AD

6 Bartholomew [Nathaniel]
Crucified by the idolaters of India.

7 Thomas
Thrust through with spear in India

8 Matthew
Killed with a sword about 60AD.

9 James

Stoned by Jews at his age 90, and ended up with his brains bashed out with a fuller’s club

10 Jude ‡
Crucified 72AD at city of Edessa [Turkey].

11 Simon
Crucified in Britain in 74AD.

12 Judas Iscariot
Suicide And Judas cast down the 30 pieces of silver in the temple and departed, and went out and hanged himself. Matthew 27:5


Is this how GOD honors his chosen? How can we explain such a tragedy? Why are innocent girls walking in the United States being raped in the alleys daily and why is there civil war and bloodshed in South Africa? Ain’t he suppose to be sovereign?

Maybe God messed up. Cancer cells crept into your DNA when he wasn’t looking. He was so occupied with the tornado in Kansas that he forgot the famine in Uganda. Perhaps he is mad. Have we so exhausted the mercy of God’s bank account that every prayer bounces like a bad cheque? Did humanity cross the line millenniums ago, and now we’re getting what we deserve? Such an argument carries a dash of merit. God does leave us to the consequences of our stupid decisions. Think Egyptian soldiers in Red sea, Hebrews in Babylon, Peter weeping with the sound of a crowing rooster in his ears. Bang your head against the wall and expect a headache. God let us endure the fruit of sin. But to label him peeved and impatient?

‘God is sheer mercy and grace: not easily angered, he’s rich in love. He doesn’t endlessly nag and scold, nor hold grudges forever. He doesn’t treat us as our sins deserve, nor pay us back in full for our wrongs. As high as the heaven is over the earth, so strong is his love to those who fear him. (Psalm 103:8-11 MSG)

Don’t blame suffering in the world on the anger of GOD. He’s not mad, he did not mess up. Follow our troubles to their headwaters and you won’t find an angry or befuddled God. But you will find a sovereign God. Your pain has a purpose. Your problems, struggles, heartaches, and hassles cooperate toward one end- the glory of God. ‘Trust me in your times of trouble and I will rescue you, and you will give me glory’ (Psalm 50:15)

As the disciples walk passed the blind man with Jesus, they questioned, why is the man blind? Is it because of his parents? His own sins? Jesus answered ‘It was neither that this man sinned, not his parents, but it was so that the works of GOD might be displayed in him’ (John 9:1-3)

Don’t search the family tree. Don’t request a copy of the man’s rap sheet. Blame his blindness on a call from God. Why was the man sightless? So ‘the works of God might be displayed in him.’

A season of suffering is a small assignment when compared to the reward. My friends, rather than begrudge your problem, explore it. Ponder it. And most of all, use it. Use it to the glory of GOD together.

Narash, perhaps you might ask ‘Why did God choose to put you in a position under unreasonable bosses?- use it for the glory of God man!’ He’ll rescue you and you’ll reflect his glory!