Humbled and Amazed

Anzac Day was and still is a day we remember those young men who gave their lives for their country in Gallipoli during World War I. But for me the Anzac Day Weekend 2010, reminded me of a greater battle that was fought which lead to the death of one Man and through His death we are saved. What a glorious victory it was, Amen.

The long weekend began with another awesome night with my teens fellowship at church. My first realisation came as I sat in a room with 11 teens and just me as my co-leader was absent due to an operation on the same day. Being the ambitious guy I am, I tried to facilitate discussion all by myself and subsequently failed. As a result I opted to merge with some other group and together with some other leaders we went through the rest of the Bible Study.

So that was the beginning of my long weekend. it was at that point I was reminded how inadequate I was and that without the Lord our God's strength I would not be able to achieve the things I have.

#1 Man is inadequate without God

So here comes Saturday morning, off to our 5 congregation church camp. Originally the plan was to only stay the night and leave on Sunday afternoon. In addition to that my mindset was that I was only there to babysit. Definitely a wrong mindset to be in when going on a family camp where everyone is there to listen to awesome sermons given by awesome speakers. So during looking after the kids I had my second realisation. I felt a growing hunger not for physical food but for God's word. And I felt as if God was telling me that Sunday school was not what he wanted me to do.

#2 Man should not be fed on physical food alone, but rather should be fed spiritual food (ie. the word of God)

Hence, here I was a man hungry for God's Word and tossing up whether I should stay at camp longer. It was when I was talking to one of my brothers who mentioned how shocking it was to see the lack of attendance from our youth group that it really got me thinking. What would I get more out of - going home and bumming until monday or staying and getting to hear God's word?

So many thoughts went through my mind when deciding whether to stay on or not. One thought that stood out was this

"Why would I want to forego a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to hear some of the best speakers preach on Ephesians? Yes I may be able to go home and eat some more delicious food compared to the camp food but that really doesnt satisfy my growing hunger for spiritual food."


To cut things short I stayed and I am very glad I did because the talk this morning was awesome. Talking about family and how Christian men and women should treat each other in accordance to God's Word. That Men should focus only on being loving to their wives and that wives should focus only on being submissive to their husbands. It was awesome and I love it. I felt that I had made the right choice to stay.

By about 10:30 today I left the campsite early because I had previously arrange to meet up with one of friends. Before I left one of the organisers said to me "Why you leaving so early? Arent you going to stay and clean up?" As I was driving down the Mountain I almost felt like I was using the meeting as an excuse to avoid cleaning. And soon enough I knew God had plans. It was almost like the story of Jonah where God commanded Jonah to go to Nineveh but Jonah ran in the opposite direction only to be brought back to Nineveh. So for me my JONAH experience began with a text message saying that the meeting needed to be postponed and a conviction that I should turn around and head back to the camp.

#3 God is the creator. He is in control and has planned out all even before we were born.

I think for me this weekend sure has been quite a journey. I have been humbled and reminded that its never about "ME" but about God. And that God always has a plan for each of us and no matter how we may think we are doing the right thing. If its wrong, God will guide you towards the right direction if we allow Him to work in us through the Holy Spirit. In this case I think God's purpose was to show me the beauty of being part of God's family. That the experience we have at camp is a slight glimpse of the future to come and that we should be encouraged to keep persevering and running hard for Christ until the day He returns. Amen.

The first fruits of my SLR

Hope in a Hopeless World

To all those who read this blog... after many months, I think its time to revive it.

So what's been happening in the life of Pat?

Last weekend, I went to YF CAMP 2009 which was held at Camp Bornhoffen. This year the camp theme was Hope in a Hopeless World. Out of the different years which I had been to YF Camp, I found this camp challenging, convicting and refreshing.

Throughout the camp, our speaker, Pete Ko presented us with some thought provoking ideas:-

- As Christians we aim to be like Jesus (ie. Christ-like)... But why?
Jesus was the perfect Adam, an example of how we as man was supposed to rule the world. Could it be that why we aim to be Christ-like so that we can be what God intended us to be?

- As Christians we know that we should put our faith in Christ for salvation is through him and that one day we will join him in Heaven... But then what if we are already in this new creation? As said in 1 Cor 15:20, Jesus was the firstfruits of creation.

But in fact Christ has been raised from the dead,the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep.

Many more ideas were presented throughout camp, all of which challenges me to think about and test with the Bible.

Nonetheless, something that happened today reminded me of how real all this was, the idea of creation, heaven, hell and most importantly God. Tonight I was having dinner with my mum at a restaurant and out of the corner of my eye I noticed some of my friends who I had grown up with during my youth. I went and said hi to them and had a a bit of a chat and went back to join my mum. Whilst eating dinner, it saddened me to think about how those friends at one stage were on fire to know Christ and then... they fell away. And we all know that for those people on judgement day, they wont be coming to heaven with us. I feel so helpless... I dont know what I can do to change them, to bring them into a relationship with Christ... one thing I know is only God can change them and I pray that he will. Like the theme of YF Camp 09, Hope in a Hopeless World. Jesus is our Hope in this Hopeless World.

BLT Plus: Fuelling the Fire

BLT Plus 2009: Fueling the Fire



Date: August 21-23, 2009... mark these dates in your diary!





"To love God with all our heart" is what we are commanded to do,

and yet, often our heart seems untouched, unmoved and hard as rock.

Christianity often comes across as being all head and no heart.

As well as this, ministry is often something we do because we have to,

rather than something that flows from the heart.
Life and ministry has dried up and is lifeless.



Andrew Hong will address the heart of the matter which is the heart.

He will speak on the "heart" of our life and service for God.

In doing so, we hope that we will "fuel the fire" in people's hearts.



There are now three strands being offered:

* Strand 1: Uni/Grad Workers

* Strand 2: Workers

* Strand 3: Prime Timers



Location:

Currimundi Recreation Centre

Currimundi Rd, Currimundi, QLD



Speaker: Andrew Hong



Normal Price: $95 (closes 7th August, 2009)

Early Bird: $85 (closes 24th June, 2009)



BLT Plus 2009 Registration Open Now! Click here to go register!

Are you equipped with the armour of God?

For those who read my blog, aloha!!

I know its been a while since I have written in my blog. I've been a bit busy lately with some personal issues. But I'm back. Hope you enjoy the blog.   

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EPHESIANS 6

The Whole Armor of God

10 Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his might. 11 Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil. 12 For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places. 13 Therefore take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand firm. 14 Stand therefore, having fastened on the belt of truth, and having put on the breastplate of righteousness, 15 and, as shoes for your feet, having put on the readiness given by the gospel of peace. 16 In all circumstances take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming darts of the evil one; 17 and take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God, 18 praying at all times in the Spirit, with all prayer and supplication. To that end keep alert with all perseverance, making supplication for all the saints, 19 and also for me, that words may be given to me in opening my mouth boldly to proclaim the mystery of the gospel, 20 for which I am an ambassador in chains, that I may declare it boldly, as I ought to speak.

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A few weeks ago, I came across this passage from the Bible which I want to share with you all. (Ephesians 6:10-20). What it reminded me was the fact that we are in a continued spiritual warfare. I don't know about you, but in amongst our busy lives we can often forget about the war that we are fighting. However I assure you this war is very real, my life is a testimony of this. 

Nevertheless, we should not get too comfortable with our lives. We have to be ready everyday for whatever challenges we are to face. We have to make sure that Satan does not get a foothold to bring us down.  We have to have the full armour of God and stand firm (Eph 6:13). 

As we continue through each day, we need to be equipped for the fight. Putting on the belt of truth, the breastplate of righteousness, shoes of readiness, the shield of faith, the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit (Eph 6:14-17). We should be encouraged to keep sharpening our sword of the Spirit through God's word and keep praying at all times. So that we can boldly proclaim the gospel to those who have yet to hear the good news. 

We should all keep persevering in the running the race hard for God, not for our glory but His. 

St Patrick's Day

Well as you all know yesterday was St Patrick's Day. Unfortunately I was the not the sole reason for the celebration even though it so happens my name is Patrick and I am also a saint as well (ie. in Biblical terms). 

Anyway, yesterday I made a call to my family friend, who was unavailable at the time. Therefore I left a message on his phone. It went something like this...

"Hello *****, It's Patrick here. Can you call me back on **** ****? Im calling from the pharmacy"

So then I wait one hour....            No response

Two hours....                                  No response

Five hours....                                  No response

When I eventually get home, I decided to call him again and yeah he picks up

Friend:   Hello?

Me:         Hey *****, How you going?

Friend:   What up?

Me:         Just tried to call you earlier. Left a message on your phone. But I thought I might call                     again since you havent returned my call

Friend:   Oh was that you?!

Me:         Yes

Friend:   I thought it was someone playing a prank on us...

Me:         Really?

Friend:   Yeah. I thought someone pretending to be St Patrick called up to play a trick on us                         since today was St Patrick's Day

Me:         Well..... BLAH BLAH BLAH 

So yeah that was my experience, the joy of being called Patrick and calling someone on St Patrick's Day

Star Wars (Kung fu version)