Saturday, March 22, 2008
Choosing despite
Just to share an ongoing story of petty politics from my army camp. It's just a minor issue but I feel it has relevance:Z (a person) has, for the past few weeks/months, allegedly been behaving in a self-centered, self-serving, and inconsiderate manner, and all this in an environment that demands social cohesion by the nature of circumstances in order to function. It naturally follows that in so doing, he has offended a number of people (persons A-H, and W, X and Y). Reactions follow:
A-H decide that enough is enough, and decide to form an informal anti-Z alliance. This alliance aims to shake Z up into improving by means such as excluding Z from conversations, boycotting him from social pursuits, and generally marginalising him.
Person W, allegedly arguably the most severely manipulated by Z, doesn't seem to realise he's being taken advantage of at all, and gladly allows himself to be manipulated and gives Z whatever he asks. A-H observe this and take it upon themselves to 'defend' W from manipulation, adding it to the raison(s)-de-etre of the anti-Z alliance. They invite W, X and Y to join in the alliance.
W adopts a laissez-faire poise and refuses to commit.
X and Y feel uncomfotable about the whole issue and decide to hold a private discussion with A. After which, A decides to leave the anti-Z alliance and form an anti-'anti-whatever' alliance with X and Y, and that choosing to love people difficult to love is perhaps one of the highest callings as children of God.
In the above scenario, half of A-H, including A, and W, X and Y are Christians. I'm X, and myself and Y swayed A with the extract that:
'God uses the opposite situation of each fruit to allow us a choice. You can't claim to be good if you've never been tempted to be bad. You can't clain to be faithful if you've never had the opportunity to be unfaithful. Integrity is built by defeating the temptation to be dishonest; humility grows when we refuse to be prideful; and endurance develops every time you reject the temptation to give up. Every time you defeat a temptation, you become more like Jesus!'
- 'The Purpose Driven Life', Chapter 26: Growing through Temptation
We all fight battles within ourselves. When marginalised, the natural tendency is often to be vengeful, to fight fire with fire, which can lead to attempting to right wrongs with further wrongs. A admits to having lost the battle here, and to having seriously believed that joining the anti-Z alliance was the only way to go. The 3 of us, A, X, and Y, have since concluded that W has been most examplary in this scenario, having turned the other cheek when slapped on one, and having no loss of charity and innocence in the process. W has won his battle hands down, and in gaming terms, 'own'-ed the temptation to be vengeful.
The 3 of us believe that, with W, we can reason out with B-H individually, and with Z, in the coming week and resolve the entire issue amicably.
The larger battle may be won here already, but the war can only be won if all of us make the conscious choice to do what's right constantly, even, even when it's most difficult to do so.
God bless and regards
Charles
i posted this at 2:54 AM
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i knew it was charles when i saw the words army and laissez-faire!
janet
By 
, at
April 7, 2008 at 2:01 AM
Operations
Hi everyone, and a very happy and blessed Easter season to all of you!Its been so long since I last posted that I've had difficulty even recalling the login to post entries here.. The easiest way to sum up, to account for my past few weeks, however, I believe would be to quote from a letter my unit has sent to all our parents (To relevant authorities who should read this, I believe this should be alright as parents = the public in my humble opinion, plus this can't possibly be anything but positive publicity for our servicemen. If I'm wrong, let me know and I'll remove the post in a jiffy. -3SG Charles, SCT). So here goes:
'... It was not surprising then that the unit was activated on 27 Feb, the day that Mas Selamat Kastari escaped from the Whitley Road Detention Centre. We were the first SAF unit to be sent in to establish a cordon around the immediate vicinity. The months of preparations and training showed in the level of discipline and readiness displayed by the soldiers and commanders. You probably would have seen pictures of our soldiers splattered across the pages of all the major newspapers on 29 Feb, and even on the front page of The Straits Times.
3 Guards has been reactivated to assist the police in their search operations through the forested areas of Singapore...... We have not found him yet, but we are convinced that we will, if he is indeed hiding in the forested areas...
......
The going has not been easy for the men. They have been deployed in numerous roles... The weather for the past 2 weeks has also been unrelenting, with almost daily thunderstorms. We have tried to provide the best equipment and clothing to protect and aid them, but it is understandable that they will start to feel worn down after a few days.
The search for Mas Selamat Kastari will continue for as long as he is not caught, and for as long as there is no evidence that he has left the country. It will be a long-drawn operation. I am writing to ask for your understanding if you do not see your son as often during this time. We are mindful of the need for them to rest, recharge and refresh themselves once in a while, and will plan for appropriate breaks.
Mas Selamat Kastari is a dangerous terrorist and he will pose a significant threat to all Singaporeans if he is not apprehended. I hope that you will support and encourage your son as he performs his national duty to secure the way of life for his family, friends and loved ones.
Join us in hoping and praying that Mas Selamat Kastari will soon be found.
- CO, 14 Mar'
i posted this at 1:56 AM
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Sunday, March 16, 2008
hello hello! i haven't blogged here for quite some time. anyway, just wanna type something short and sweet to you guys.
I've came to know how important it is to always have the joy of the Lord in every situations that we are in. I know that all of us have no problem being joyful in times of happiness, where all things are working so well but what happens when we are faced with trials and difficulties? Will we still be joyful? Trusting God that He will bring us through our trials and we will eventually emerge victorious? being 'cui' on the inside is actually more than enough already, what more God wants all of us to live each day with joy(: my dearest family, I know this is easier said than done but with God, all things are possible(:
Cheers!
val
I've came to know how important it is to always have the joy of the Lord in every situations that we are in. I know that all of us have no problem being joyful in times of happiness, where all things are working so well but what happens when we are faced with trials and difficulties? Will we still be joyful? Trusting God that He will bring us through our trials and we will eventually emerge victorious? being 'cui' on the inside is actually more than enough already, what more God wants all of us to live each day with joy(: my dearest family, I know this is easier said than done but with God, all things are possible(:
Cheers!
val
i posted this at 1:34 PM
and i have received 1 comments.
The latter part of the last sentence is 2 thumbs up!! Thanks for your encouragement to all of us Val. =)
When we go through difficulties and trials, let us all remember that God will never put us in a situation we cannot handle. And like wat Pastor Phil say, "A trial is a greater gift than anything that God can give you." So when we go through trials, let us not avoid it but face it and deal with it like a true soldier of Jesus Christ. Amen.
By 
♥ Lady Wen ♥, at
March 16, 2008 at 1:51 AM
Come away with me
goshhh u wun believe how long it took me to even start blogging becos blogger was having problems and it took forever for the page to load. >.<the time now is 3.54am AHHHHHHHHH
haha but i can sleep in tmr so who cares. better start blogging before i lose the will to blog. Out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaks. haha when there is input, there must be output...
Today we sang a worship song in service that can more or less sum up this post.
I feel you tugging at me
A voice that whispers inside of me
Come away Come away
With me.
I think many of you would know that my saturdays are set aside for church and cellgroup...
Buttt last night weini asked if i was interested to work on sat nite for an event at the Singapore Art Museum, 8pm to 1am...haha and the pay was very tempting and and and I really wanted to work >.<
Anyway, by accepting the job...kinda meant that I was going to skip class and choose either i go late for service and leave early or I could go for sunday's svc instead. (haha okae confession to make.... i was seruisly considering going for sun's svc out of convenience.)
Half of me kinda knew I wasnt going to get the job... the other half was just hoping beyond hope that I would get it. And you know that kind of waiting for a reply makes me really restless, increases my heartbeat and makes it very hard for me to study for my test.
Well, I din get it >.< (they said i looked too young!!) I must say I was really disappointed initially... was quite turned off and too sianed to stay on in class... all I wanted to do was to go strait to expo for service. Its the same kind of feeling of wanting to run back home to your mummy and daddy as a little child when you were bullied at school.
But during service, as I begin to sing this song, the presence of God came. Everything that Pst Phil Pringle said today seemed to be just for me. It was definitely worth more than the hundred bucks I could have earned tonight. and it dawned upon me that hey, on Saturday 530pm, I have an appointment with God! Thank God for shutting certain doors in my life to prevent me from making the wrong decisions. Its just like when I was younger, my dad did not allow me to do certain things because he wanted to protect me, he wanted the best for me.
I must admit that if it was march 2007, I probably would have given a definite no to working on saturday night because it was a time I set aside for the church, cellgroup and fellowship...and especially since at that point in time, e348 was just formed and we were all in this new found friendship. Somehow things were different then because we were all trying and putting in so much effort to bond and make this new cellgroup work. Somehow I could feel that there was this passion and fire then in most of us to want to commit to this cellgroup and give it our best. All our prayer requests were directed to deeper relationships within the cg because we were convinced that this was the key to a successful cellgroup. But yet, over the past few months, there are times when I look left and right and wonder if I am fighting this battle alone. Or is everyone else too busy fighting their own personal battles. Looking back on our after service fellowship for the past few weeks, I kind of wonder if it is something everybody wants to get it done and over with so that they can carry on with their plans after that? Has our fellowship sessions come to a place where it makes no difference whether we joined or not, is it still something we look forward to? Will the day come when after service and debrief, everyone just goes off to do their own things cos its a saturday night. Lets not even go into the topic of meeting up during the week.
hahaa okae mayb i'm being over sensitive but its just a thought. I dun even know how I got to this point. its 6am now! and i cant think of a nice ending for this post but I still love this cellgroup ALOT and I want to.
<3
jme
i posted this at 6:05 AM
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Thanks for being transparent Jamie dear. :) And thanks for the entry! I can really identify with it!
I've always made it a priority to fellowship with my spiritual family on Sat nights after service... I remembered Justin saying our spiritual family is closer than our natural family. Becos well, we're all spiritual beings. I admit I do get a little disheartened sometimes if people "disappear" after service and feel like "disappearing" myself sometimes too. But of course if you really really have to go, you have to lah but that's not my issue here so dun get me wrong. =)
The bible says that the world will know the God we serve by the strong love that we have for each other. To put it bluntly, no fellowship, spending quality time together leads to no strong relationships and no strong love between us which results in no (or minimal) salvation of the lost.
And I have to say one huge burden I have since thensuddenlyE348 is that I have a non-existent relationship with some of the people in the CG ( i think you know who you are). And I believe that isn't what God wants.So pls, press into my life like I am trying to press into yours. The believers in the new testament MET DAILY. We're meeting mostly just once a week sometimes so let's make good use of it yeah? =)
Here for E348,
Wendy
By ♥ Lady Wen ♥, at
March 16, 2008 at 10:05 AM
Sunday, March 2, 2008
from the past to the present, and back to the past again
it's been long since i blogged! realised everything has changed so much ever since. like how things in our cell group haas changed, how the connect group system is introduced, and how we've been moving from glory to glory.it makes me wonder, do maturity comes with conformity? does it come with style? can maturity be a behavior outwardly? or is it just something that deals with the heart?
i've been in city harvest since secondary one. it's been almost five years, but it feels like a twinkling of an eye. expectations of myself soon risen, and somehow i know i gotta do this and not do that.
when i first came, there was a unquenchable thirst for God, to know him more. to pray everyday and tell him all i feel. there's a skip in my step, a faith no words can describe that arises from my heart every time i sneak out to church. the desire to give a sacrifice of praise, and a heart of worship.
God spoke to me during cell group, that in order to progress in the walk of faith, i must find all these back. think it's a good time for all of us to start thinking if our passion got lost on the way, and we're really into customs instead of love.
Pastor Ulf Ekman spoke about fear. Yes, fear cripples us, displeases God and faith overcomes.
Perfect love cast out fear. God's love dispels all the fear in us. That's beautiful, the way He puts it.
LoL... I love FIR! Cheers to Zoe your favourite band!
Zhinian
i posted this at 7:44 PM
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FIR in CHC!
Pastor Kong wants the autograph too
our main "stars"hey hey hey hey. good evening this is your MEDIA IC speaking, you can address me as MIC, media in charge, photographer ok wait, i think kingsley is easier.
here are some updates. (not lazing okayyy!)
- A website for the cell. (will talk to zoe when i meet her on tues)
- When we have more events, the pictures will naturally increase!
i be away in brunei from 5th to 15th. the jungle needs me to keep it company. whatever IT issues just tell me, i'll try to help okay.
ok gona go listen to FIR FIR FIR FIR FIR