Y Wednesday, December 31, 2008Y
4:03 pm
Yesterday was the best day ever!!!!!Got to sit quite near to Cao Ge at Downtown East! I even got the chance to put my arm around him when taking the grp photo, lol. His voice is really good, and he is very funny too!
Y Tuesday, December 16, 2008Y
7:04 pm
1. Evaluate Your Ministry or Career.Take some time to think about how the various areas of life that you are involved in are going.
What's going well? What's not? Where are you heading?
Think about next year - 2009.
What needs to change? What do you need to do differently? What do you need to do more of ... or less of?
2. Evaluate Your Own Personal Effectiveness.
What are your priorities? Are you using your time to accomplish them?
How is the balance of your life? Consider areas such as your spiritual life, your family and friendships, your energy level, as well as your social and recreation life.
How is your joy? Your enthusiasm? Your love for people? Your vision?
How much are you growing personally? What new things would you like to learn? What training could you consider for next year?
Take some time to think about your life and plan any necessary changes or adjustments for the coming year.
3. Strengthen Your Team.
All of us do life, work, and ministry with other people. We are all part of some sort of team, maybe even as a leader of a team.
Spend some extra time with these important people before Christmas.
* Encourage them and express appreciation to them for who they are and how they have benefited your life. Remember, encouragement is like oxygen to the soul - we all need lots of it.
* Give them feedback on what they have done well.
* If you are a leader, coach people on your team a little by sharing some ways they can grow or improve.
* Talk about the future. What is the vision that you are passionate about seeing become a reality?
December is a busy time. Don't get caught up in only the things that YOU need to do. Be aware of the people around you. Connect and relate to them even more intentionally during this time. Finish the year well together.
4. Do Some Planning for 2009.
Think about some of your main events or activities for next year. What's happening with - your life, your family, your friends, your work, and your church?
Start doing some planning and organisation for the first quarter of the year.
Create some personal life goals for 2009. What would you be excited to have accomplished by the end of the year? What are you passionate about?
How about planning some holidays too! There's something energising about just planning some time off or away.
5. Do Some Pastoral Care.
If you are a leader of other people, take a few moments to reflect on the 'people flow' in your area.
Here are a few questions to ask:
* Who are the interested people who need hope and a vision?
* Who are the new people who need a welcome and some clear direction?
* Who are the core people who need some encouragement and affirmation at this time?
* Who are the disgruntled people who you need to take some time to listen to and help work through some issues that are important to them?
* Who are the people who have dropped out who you may need to go after and see how they are?
Are there any tensions or unresolved conflicts in your world? Make an effort to address and resolve them right away. Make it a priority. Tie up any loose ends before the year finishes so you can start with a clean slate.
6. Get Organised.
Clean your office. Make an appointment with yourself. Block out plenty of time for this.
Sort through any filing cabinets, shelves, or desk drawers.
Clean out your email folders.
Throw away as much as possible.
Get your 2009 diary or calendar up to date.
You'll feel much better for it!
7. Plan Your Holiday.
Hopefully, you're planning on taking some time off around Christmas and the New Year.
Do something different and make it your best holiday yet.
Shut down, turn off, and enjoy your God, your friends, and your family.
I'm sure you have lots to do before Christmas, but hopefully these seven suggestions will be of benefit to you as you finish this year. All the best!
5:58 pm
God had entered the world as a baby.Yet, were someone to chance upon the sheep stable on the outskirts of Bethlehem that morning, what a peculiar scene they would behold.
The stable stinks like all stables do. The stench of urine, dung, and sheep reeks pungently in the air. The ground is hard, the hay scarce. Cobwebs cling to the ceiling and a mouse scurries across the dirt floor.
A more lowly place of birth could not exist.
Off to one side sit a group of shepherds. They sit silently on the floor; perhaps perplexed, perhaps in awe, no doubt in amazement. Their night watch had been interrupted by an explosion of light from heaven and a symphony of angels. God goes to those who have time to hear him—so on this cloudless night he went to simple shepherds.
Near the young mother sits the weary father. If anyone is dozing, he is. He can’t remember the last time he sat down. And now that the excitement has subsided a bit, now that Mary and the baby are comfortable, he leans against the wall of the stable and feels his eyes grow heavy. He still hasn’t figured it all out. The mystery of the event puzzles him. But he hasn’t the energy to wrestle with the questions. What’s important is that the baby is fine and that Mary is safe. As sleep comes he remembers the name the angel told him to use … Jesus. “We will call him Jesus.”
Wide awake is Mary. My, how young she looks! Her head rests on the soft leather of Joseph’s saddle. The pain has been eclipsed by wonder. She looks into the face of the baby. Her son. Her Lord. His Majesty. At this point in history, the human being who best understands who God is and what he is doing is a teenage girl in a smelly stable. She can’t take her eyes off him. Somehow Mary knows she is holding God. So this is he. She remembers the words of the angel. “His kingdom will never end.” (Luke 1:33)
He looks like anything but a king. His face is prunish and red. His cry, though strong and healthy, is still the helpless and piercing cry of a baby. And he is absolutely dependent upon Mary for his well-being.
Majesty in the midst of the mundane. Holiness in the filth of sheep manure and sweat. Divinity entering the world on the floor of a stable, through the womb of a teenager and in the presence of a carpenter.
She touches the face of the infant-God. How long was your journey!
This baby had overlooked the universe. These rags keeping him warm were the robes of eternity. His golden throne room had been abandoned in favor of a dirty sheep pen. And worshiping angels had been replaced with kind but bewildered shepherds.
Meanwhile, the city hums. The merchants are unaware that God has visited their planet. The innkeeper would never believe that he had just sent God into the cold. And the people would scoff at anyone who told them the Messiah lay in the arms of a teenager on the outskirts of their village. They were all too busy to consider the possibility.
Those who missed His Majesty’s arrival that night missed it not because of evil acts or malice; no, they missed it because they simply weren’t looking.
Little has changed in the last two thousand years, has it?
From
God Came Near
© (Thomas Nelson Publishers, 2006) Max Lucado
Y Monday, December 15, 2008Y
12:48 am
Came back from usher gathering in a condo's function room. The part that really touched me was the testimony part, how the usher team ics took the effort to talk to the boy to come back to usher ministry even though they were so busy in charge of the zone and handling the signal set. One usher even manage to convince the boy's parents to let him join usher ministry. I realise that relationships really matter a lot, and that all things are possible if one believes. I think I really have to start thinking of ways to invest and pour more of myself into people's lives and learn to give gifts that will bless people's hearts and lives. Of course, this will take money, time, effort and most importantly, a willing heart. I think investing in people's lives is the best investment one can ever make, and this is my goal for 2009.
Another thing I liked about today's gathering was the part when people wrote their favourite ic. When u see the same name being written over and over again, it makes u amazed of the effort, the love and wonderful things that the ic has done to touch the lives of people around them. I think I want to set myself a new challenge to step into people's lives more, so much so that if there's a day of appreciation or thanksgiving, I will be mentioned lots of times, haha.
Y Sunday, December 07, 2008Y
10:40 pm
19-23Even though I am free of the demands and expectations of everyone, I have voluntarily become a servant to any and all in order to reach a wide range of people: religious, nonreligious, meticulous moralists, loose-living immoralists, the defeated, the demoralized—whoever. I didn't take on their way of life. I kept my bearings in Christ—but I entered their world and tried to experience things from their point of view. I've become just about every sort of servant there is in my attempts to lead those I meet into a God-saved life. I did all this because of the Message. I didn't just want to talk about it; I wanted to be in on it!