An Overview On 2008/2009 – YEAR OF BUILDING GENUINE RELATIONSHIPS
Genuine relationships – including all relationships, ranging from most general to most personal ones – can be broadly defined in different ways. Whatever its definition is, it requires continual, mutual commitments. Certainly, the relationship with God stands most vital, which in turn keep reminding me about the importance of the relationships with the people around me. I wrote about that in The Sabbath, a devotional sharing. This post shares an overview on what had happened for my past-one year. Of course, building genuine relationships is a never-ending process.
1. CONCERNING MY PRESENT FAMILY
First and foremost, I thank God and am glad that my parents and my brothers have accepted the Lord and are now walking with him. I have even decided to join them in the same Mandarin-speaking church (because I had been attending one communicating in English). Although there are still moments of trials, I pray we can grow strong and serve together for and with God. For The Ever-Greater Next-Moments is one of the devotional sharings most inspired by what had been happening in me and my family.
At the time being I have been continually keeping in touch only with my immediate family members (i.e. parents and brothers). Well, guess I gotta be more intentional in this area. Family is always the safest zone in my life whether I feel troubled or joyful.
谢谢你，爸，因为你坚强努力地工作赚钱养家。
你的毅力要成为全家人的榜样！
谢谢你，妈，你为家庭所付出的心思我们知晓。
还有你下的厨，我在沙巴时只能怀念，却不能品尝，唉！
也谢谢你们，垲峻（我的大哥）和阿豪（我的弟弟），我们兄弟要继续努力。
若上帝允许，我们将来要创大大的业！哈哈！
也谢谢你，阿姨，虽然我们很少联络，
但你每月的支助重重祝福了我在大学生涯的日子！哈哈！
也谢谢你们，二伯伯，三伯伯，大姑姑，大舅舅和二姑姑二姑丈。
虽然我也没常与你们联系，但你们所给的帮助，鼓励和指示都使我受益不浅！
阿公、阿嫲，和公公、婆婆，祝你们身体健康。
我每次回去都盼望着要吃你们做的爱心甜品和拿手好菜！哈哈！
Definitely, supports by the rest of the family are most acknowledged and appreciated. Thank you all!
2. CONCERNING MY OWN DREAM FAMILY
Besides, finding a life-companion remains my desperation. I had had a crush on a girl, as I had described in Finding A Girlfriend (the crush being resulted from a possible-to-be-misunderstood eye-contact), and, realistically saying, (1) I am still approaching to know the real her (hopefully not in vain) and (2) she also has yet to know the real me (if she’s ever interested to). Nevertheless, …
… even on a person one may have a crush,
if to share together there is nothing much,
nothing then it would be but a mere-emotional rush
if not a short-lived crush that awaits to be crushed.
Yet at that moment I will know what to do;
I just cannot and must not force my way through.
Throughout this past-one year, I deliberately put to test my feelings towards her, and what I’ve found is that she has remained rather passive (or in a non-initiating role) for most conversations or matters except (1) some greetings and (2) official matters (such as those related to my portfolio as an Exco of Student and Residence Service), and thus, I think, the existence of many barriers between us is obvious. Sigh… Whatever it may be, from now on, “Sever the desire, but not the relationship” is how I should respond, I believe.
Then, as a new beginning in this area of my life, Trusting In God As A Single spells out my heart, soul and mind regarding this major-issue in my campus (and future-working) life, in search of the right one lady.
I’d just like to thank her here for the encouragements she offered during some of those trying moments which I took the initiative to share with her in writing. Well, we are still friends. God will always give her the best.
3. CONCERNING MY FRIENDS
In the perspective of friendship, at the appropriate time, the Men’s Breakthrough Weekend (MBTW) organised by Skyline Church has been a blessing. While I am desperate for my right lady with whom I can share my whole life – and her life – I thank God for the men in my MBTW group (two married and one in courtship) that as we open-up each of our hearts and share a bit here and there, prayers are offered and advices are given by the elders, even for our own quite-personal matters. Although the MBTW has just begun during mid-year of 2009, I believe it will eventually result in more strong bonds of friendship. Am I Accepted Or Not? is a little devotional sharing related to friendship.
I thank my cell group, viz. Faith’s group, for being committed to the warm, friendly and relaxing Friday-evening moments every week, and Clive, Steven and Willy, thank you for what you’ve shared during the MBTW. And thank you, Nicolas, though my busy-ness might have taken its toll on our once-usual times of prayers and sharings. Also thank you, Zheng Feei and Chee Tze, for the occasional tea times where we could open our hearts to one another. And Liu Qing, thank you, too, for the encouragements you gave during some of those doubting moments which I had written about to you. And Rona, you who are staying over there in the Philippines, thank you as well, for the continual, authentic sharings through the chat-room and emails even though we’re far apart. And thank you all, those who have cared, prayed or concerned for me, your name may not have been mentioned here, but I pray God bless you always! Thank you.
4. CONCERNING MY MINISTRIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES
In addition, relationships with bosses (in the case of students leaders, officers, deans, lecturers… etc), colleagues and subordinates are essential, with due regard to the importance of teamwork. Yet, it cannot be denied that problems exist among coursemates, housemates, colleagues (in student-led organisations), and so on. Leadership is another devotional sharings inspired amidst the trying times for the past-one year of my life especially as a student rep.
I thank all UMS staffs and all my colleagues and all coursemates and all fellow-workers alongside me in the Messiah. Thank you all for your commitments; you know that I am talking about you 
5. OVERCONCERNING ABOUT THE FUTURE
Lastly, there has been a battle in my mind: Over-concerning, or rather worrying, especially about the uncertainties lying in the future. Sometimes I just concern too much, about anything, at any time, any where… to the extent that such worries affect my relationships, performance in my studies, carrying out of my duties… etc. Nonetheless, there have been various ups and downs.
All in all, I thank you, God. I thank you not so much for the circumstances around me, but specially for your goodness and loving kindness to all people regardless during good or bad circumstances. About the worries, I guess I need a paradigm-shift; help me.
FINALLY
Undeniably, I have made mistakes. For instance, failing to manage myself in busy-ness and sometimes neglecting the importance of genuine relationships, or when students complained about campus bus service or inquire about some simple things, I got impatient quickly and responded too bluntly at times; I’ll continue to examine myself in these and many other areas of my life, and change accordingly.
Finally, I am still praying specifically about what I would like to focus on as (by the 25th of September, 2009) I have entered into the fifth year following the Messiah. May God bless you, too, as he leads you in all the things that you do.
Passion and Faith
Joseph Prince, a prominent Singaporean speaker, once warned all the girls and women who are still single: “Before you choose a man to be your life partner and decide to marry him, never mistake his zealousness for his faithfulness… A man can be a great leader of various ministries and yet fails to be faithful to God or to his wife.”
Zeal or passion is an outward expression of a person’s inward faith, the genuine source of which is Jesus – “… the pioneer and perfecter of the faith…” [Hebrew 12:2]. First and foremost, I must beware of having mere-passion; I agree with Wigglesworth, “I find you can have zeal without faith.” I must remember how Peter had sunk not long after walking on the water.
Peter answered him, “Lord, if it’s you, order me to come to you on the water.” Jesus said, “Come on!” So Peter got down out of the boat, started walking on the water, and came to Jesus.
How passionate Peter was… for a while…
But when he noticed the strong wind, he was frightened. As he began to sink, he shouted, “Lord, save me!”At once Jesus reached out his hand, caught him, and asked him, “You who have so little faith, why did you doubt?” As they got into the boat, the wind stopped blowing. Then the men in the boat began to worship Jesus, saying, “You certainly are the Son of God!”
[Gospel of Matthew 14:28-33]
Secondly, acknowledging that passion and faith must come together, I must also know in what manner of passion I am expressing my faith. The faith that comes from any source(s) other than the genuine Source always results in a short-lived if not counterfeit passion, which can be attractive to or repulsive against the people around. Such kind of faith either awaits a rebuke or will be proved fruitless eventually. For instance, remember how James and John were so filled with zeal that they wanted call fire down from heaven!
When his disciples James and John observed this rejection, they asked, “Lord, do you want us to call fire down from heaven to destroy them?” But he turned and rebuked them, saying, “You don’t know what kind of spirit you are! For the Son of Man did not come to destroy the souls of men, but to save them.”
[Gospel of Luke 9:54-56]
All of us go through moments of trials and temptations. During those moments, in one sense I grieve because of sins – my sins or others’, but in another sense I learn to rejoice because I will, being led by the Spirit of the Messiah, know more about myself – (1) whether my passion is a mere-passion or it is accompanied by faith and (2) if I say I’m moving by faith, whether my faith is drawn from the genuine Source or not – and I will then be able to change myself as I (continually) listen to and obey God’s clear instructions; I will then learn the difference between ‘holding to an outward form of godliness but denying its power’ [2Tim 3:5] and ‘having been rooted in Christ and are being built-up and strengthened in the faith’ [Col 2:7], pursuing the latter with joy and thankfulness, in the moments which are meant to test my faith.
At Membakut, Sabah (A Christmas ShArIng)
After a moment of mental preparation, I was in tears while sharing on the topic of leadership during an impromptu public speaking session in the Student Council’s Induction Course organised by the university’s Student Affair Department (or Hal-Ehwal Pelajar) at Membakut, Sabah, on the 13th – 16th of December, 2008.
To begin with, I spoke to the participants – that is, the leaders within the Student Council – about what I learnt from the book “LEADERSHIP GOLD” by John C. Maxwell. Then, at one point of the sharing I roughly quoted Patrick Morley by saying that “although terrorist bombing is not common in this nation, imagine this: if it happens, the destruction would be disastrous and its aftermath hard to recover. So it is if we fail to control our emotion and anger as a leader: you just need one explosion and that’s it.”
After that, I went stuttering, being deeply troubled in my heart as some thoughts came to my mind and bursting out in tears before choosing finally to articulate it clearly to the audience: “I regret some of the things I did to my juniors last time as a captain during secondary school, now that after graduation I could only pray and hope that they will be influenced correctly by a good leader now and in the future.”
Subsequently, (after calming myself down,) I went on sharing about what I meant a good leader. “An effective leader might not always mean a good leader; Adolf Hitler was very effective, wasn’t he? Nevertheless, a good leader must be effective.” And I ended my sharing with this: “Therefore, even as I read different kinds of books and am open to many advices, I must look off to a good leader and hold on to a main, authoritative reference to truly understand the standard of living. So I present to you that, to me, the good leader is Jesus Christ, the only one who has never done anything wrong on earth and thus was and is and forever will be called the perfect Man, and the main reference is the Bible.”
What I had shared among them I also share with you now. That was just one of the many aspects of being changed by the Word of God. I was a hot-tempered person, and after knowing Jesus I wasn’t immediately changed; I went through a process of renewal by the Word of God and today, although I like you am by no means immune to the temptation to anger, I know at least that there’s an alternative way to overcome and to live a truly standard life, and that way is found in the Spirit of the Messiah as well as the God-breathed words in the Bible.
That way is neither to live by mere sound philosophies nor to merely adhere to laws and regulations – it’s a loss to think that the Bible and Christianity contain only those things – but the way of the Saviour and the Lord of heaven and earth is far more than just philosophies, laws and regulations; that way points to a genuine relationship between God and mankind restored through Jesus the Messiah. (Messiah in Greek: Χριστός, pronounced as khris-tos’ and translated as Christ, which means the Anointed One or the Chosen One.)
“In the beginning, the Word existed. The Word was with God, and the Word was God. He existed in the beginning with God.” – [John 1:1-3]
As the saying goes, “Like father like son”; “For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son…” [John 3:16] the Word also so wanted to be genuinely related with mankind that he humbled himself in this way: “The Word became flesh and lived among us.” [continued from John 1 above, verse 14] That Word is God’s only Son.
This has come to pass after a cry was heard at a little manger in Bethlehem, on Christmas day. It was a cry of an innocent baby bearing the consequence of mankind’s sins. And, going through human growth from baby to childhood to adult, he has taught us by setting himself as a sinless, perfect example (and thus, as a good leader) while he was on earth and, more than that, he suffered, died (not for his own sin but to take away our sins) and rose from the dead before sitting down at the right hand of the throne of God, from whom he came [Hebrew 10], for us to follow him and his standard of living. Today, such genuine relationship continues through his Spirit, until the time we see him face to face during Perfection in the Last Day – until eternity.
That is the Good News according to the Bible. And that is why I celebrate Christmas. Friends, do you celebrate Christmas? Is the reason behind that celebration the Good News according to the Bible or something else? Don’t replace what is perfect with what is imperfect. “No human is perfect…” shouldn’t end just there; it should instead end this way: “… except Jesus the Messiah.”
Let me end this sharing with a song,
Jesus loves me, yes I know,
for the bible tells me so.
Little ones to him belong,
they are weak but he is strong.
Yes, Jesus loves me!
Yes, Jesus loves me!
Yes, Jesus loves me!
The Bible tells me so!
(This is a sharing for Christmas in the year of 2008 with 888 words including reference, excluding this last sentence, counted with Microsoft Word.)
12th Malaysia Cell Church Conference
Damansara Utama Methodist Church (DUMC) had just organised her 12th Malaysia Cell Church Conference (MCCC) last week. Dr. John Hull, the president and CEO of EQUIP founded by Dr. John C. Maxwell, was the main speaker along with the senior pastor of the church. All the participants have been blessed and inspired greatly in the area of Team Leadership, which was the main theme of the 12th MCCC. And I would like to thank my cell leader, Elizabeth, for helping me to register at the lowest fees I could get! Thanks Elie!
This conference helped me identifying my weakness in the area of leadership. It also refreshed me to be passionate about leading again despite my past failures and discouragements. I specially thank those who have encouraged me to press on towards what God has called me to be. Continue to pray for one another.
Before this, I thought I’d like to share some points of what I learnt, but I got a better idea. Below is a link to listen to the last session of the 12th MCCC. Though it’s centred on the church and I’ve jotted down some notes below, I find it applicable in other areas too. If you are interested, please refer to this audio link (Quick Time needed):
Session 9 – LEADERSHIP CHALLENGE IN THE LOCAL CHURCH - (Sermon by Senior Pastor Dr. Daniel Ho K. C. > 1 hour)
Challenges Within The Church
1. Keeping the vision clear
2. Keeping the passion high
3. Recognising that we are all in for the long haul
4. Raising two generation leaders
Challenges Facing The Church
1. Ethnic polarisation
2. Economic disparity
3. Political divisiveness
4. Relevance to society
5. Others: Materialism, Secularism, Apathy, Relevance…
What Is Needed For National Transformation
1. Commitment to the nation
2. Engagement with the community
3. Church-planting
4. Faith to believe God for influence and impact
5. Revitalisation of God’s people & Revival of the church
Although what we learnt were a lot more than these, I realise, as all of you must agree, that leadership needs to be practised through many challenges, not just attending conferences, which are catalysts to the whole process. I personally believe that
Not every one of us has been called to be a leader yet, but all of us must learn to lead now, beginning from leading ourselves!
May God bless you in your leading journey as you give glory to him always. Indeed, may the name of Jesus be exalted!
