Stuck on a rock and in a hard place

No the above title is not a poor attempt at a well-known cliche or a mistranslation of it found somewhere. Its been very true for me lately, actually it is always true that being firmly planted on the Rock is the best place to be when you find yourself in a hard place.

A recent hard place for me was the predicament I found myself in at university, where I was required to study a unit called Asian Mind, Health & Spirituality as part of my degree. I wasn't too sure about its content, but I knew that it focus on the practices and faith of Asian religions. I was a little afraid that I might be asked to compromise my faith during the practical workshops. The first day I wasn't reassured at all, when the lecturer told the class that if anyone was a Christian it would be most beneficial for them if they were to put Christianity aside for this subject. Even amongst the inner turmoil I felt like God said he would be my rock in this hard place, and that he wanted me to complete this unit.

Its only been a few weeks in but I can thank God placing me in this class, and for being my firm rock. The things I am learning have only served to make me more certain that He is the only ONE. God has revealed alot to me. The most frequent thing I am seeing is how the enemy has taken a truth and just twisted it ever so slighty, which has lead to whole groups of people being led away from the true God. God using this class to grow in my heart an even greater desire to see people set free from Satan's lies and deceptions.

Taoism seems to have alot of wisdom and some of the quotes even seem to be parallels to verses in the Bible. They can seem right, yet have wrong meanings. There is a Taoist saying that says “Be still like a mountain and flow like a great river” For us to really be strong we need to be still and allow a great power to work through us that sounds Biblical. Psalm 46:10 says "Be still, and know that I am God" and in John 7 the Holy Spirit that lives within us is referred to as a living stream / river. It almost seems to fit... but it doesn't. The reason is their idea of God is 'self', and they believe the power that comes from within, must come from oneself. If only they knew where true power comes from, if only they knew where the true living waters flow, then God's living waters could flow mightly through them.

The past two week have been spent looking at Hinduism, and its quite complex. Many schools of thoughts exist in Hinduism, but amongst them there are also many common strands. They have a saying that says "this life is only a bridge, don't build your house on it" The principle of not storing wealth here on earth is a good one, but the problem is that they don't know where they are going (where the bridge leads) and they don't know how to get there (who will lead the way). They're heading for nothingness, when they should be heading for fullness, and they think they're taking the bridge of reincarnation, but in reality there is only the one way, the one known as THE WAY. Unfortunately they will achieve a state of having nothing.

One of six main schools of thoughts in Hinduism is Yoga. Some people have differing views on yoga, some Christians like to take part in the practices of yoga if it is done by a Christian yogi (a Yoga devotee and teacher). It was eye-opening for me to learn of yoga's place in Hinduism and what the word yoga actually means. Yoga is a Sanskrit word that means "to yoke" or "to bind", and the practice of yoga is the process of uniting ones "individual self" with the "greater self". Binding our wills to God and what he wants us to be is a good thing, but binding our will to that of the Hindu gods does not sound like a good idea to me. Taking time out, stretching, exercising, relaxing, breathing are all things we should do, but for me at least there is no way I'm doing yoga (yoking & binding).

Phaonmneal

Believe it or not you can read this:

I cdnuolt blveiee taht I cluod aulaclty uesdnatnrd waht I was rdanieg.
The phaonmneal pweor of the hmuan mnid Aoccdrnig to rscheearch taem at
Cmabrigde Uinervtisy, it deosn't mttaer in waht oredr the ltteers in a
wrod are, the olny iprmoatnt tihng is taht the frist and lsat ltteer be in
the rghit pclae. The rset can be a taotl mses and you can sitll raed it
wouthit a porbelm. Tihs is bcuseae the huamn mnid deos not raed ervey lteter by
istlef, but the wrod as a wlohe. Such a cdonition is arppoiately cllaed
Typoglycemia :)

Amzanig huh? Yaeh and yuo awlyas thought slpeling was ipmorantt.

taken from another website

Brunei Darussalam

Bunei Mosque
Originally uploaded by AlbinoAsian.

This picture was taken in the Sultanate of Brunei Darussalam. I had the chance to stop over there on my last trip to Thailand with Royal Brunei Air. On the way to Bangkok I just hung around in the airport and tried to catch up on some sleep. Probably the safest airport in the world to sleep in that I've been too. Its like the chairs are designed for people wanting to sleep in between flights, they get alot of transit passengers there.

On the way back from Bangkok I had a day and a half in Brunei, I decided to skip the organized tours as I didn't really want to spend much money and just cruised around myself... Most of my time there consisted of eating. the cuisine is very much similar to what you find throughout Malaysia, ate a couple meals of Roti, made me miss being in Penang.

Brunei is not a really big place, but the people are extremely friendly. They will go out of your way to help you and everywhere I went people wanted to chat, some people said if I came again that I could just stay with them.

At the airport in Brunei before coming home I had a few hours to kill again so I was sitting down listening to my iRiver and a few people came and sat down... two of the ladies were Thai who had lived in Brunei for several years, because their husbands work there. I had only been out of Thailand for a couple days, but it was great to speak Thai again. After a while of chatting it turned out that one of the ladies is from Korat, the place that Tuu comes from, and the second lady was from Kantharalak in Sii Sa Ket which happened to be the place way out in the middle of Isaan where Shane had done outreach. It was all a bit of a spinout.

... for just a moment

Together at Park 1

It was only a short trip to Thailand this time, but 2 weeks was still a huge blessing for many reasons.

I got to see my brother graduate from his DTS in ChiangRai.
I got to eat some of the foods I've been craving for the past few months.
... and I got to spend time with my beautiful girl friend. I haven't talked much about her on my blog before, so for those that I haven't had the chance to talk to here are some more details.

Her Thai nickname is Tuu, most foreigners call her Tuli, and normally I just call her "honey" ;) all of those are easier for me to pronounce than her full name (Rungtiwa Noonpolkrang). She turned 24 on June 28th. She's from Korat, Thailand. She studied the last DTS which I was a staff on, and we were on the same outreach where we had a good opportunity to get to know each other, the thing that seemed to draw us together was our love for photography. However it still wasn't until "after DTS" that God led us together. Little did either of us know that we'd been praying to God about each other during the DTS, but didn't want a relationship to take away from what God was doing in our lives, so both of us had committed it to God and didn't actually think anything would come of it, but God had other ideas. It was so good, it was like we were both staring at God and asking what he wanted for us, looking to Him, and then we kind of bumped into each other... just love the way God works.

Its been 5 months now since we had the "chat"... and once again I was glad I didnt have to try to make anything happen, God just led our conversation ... and I just bumbled my way through ;)
Of the 5 months we've only been together in the same place for less than 3 weeks, but thats cool.

Wasn't sure what a long distance relationship would be like, but I can honestly say the 5 months have been awesome, rewarding, and callenging ... and it makes the time spent together even that much greater... goodbyes are the worst, but thats fine because there will always be another new "Hello" around the corner. Don't always know how long those corners are ... but we're just keeping on eyes on God and before we know it we'll bump each into each other again.

Praying that one day there won't be so many goodbyes...

call to endure

Click for SOUNDTRACK: Take my hand by Shawn McDonald

Hebrews 12:1-3
STRIP off weights. RUN with endurance. KEEP eyes on Jesus. THINK about His endurance. DON'T give up!

Romans 5:1-5
RIGHT with God. PEACE with God. LOOK FORWARD to His glory, REJOICE in trials, TEACHES endurance, STRENGTHENS character + expectation. NOT dissapointed. God LOVES us, gives HOLY SPIRIT. Hearts FILLED with love.

In Loving Memory of Luke Askwith

In a time where many are still grieving the loss of a young friend who had so much energy for life, so much love for others, and what seemed like so much more to give, I needed to hear something from God, and He gave me 2 Corinthians 4:14-18 to quiet my anxious soul.

We know that the same God who raised our Lord Jesus will also raise us with Jesus and present us to himself along with you.

All of these things are for your benefit. And as God's grace brings more and more people to Christ, there will be great thanksgiving, and God will receive more and more glory.

That is why we never give up. Though our bodies are dying, our spirits are being renewed every day.

For our present troubles are quite small and won't last very long. Yet they produce for us an immeasurably great glory that will last forever!

So we don't look at the troubles we can see right now; rather, we look forward to what we have not yet seen. For the troubles we see will soon be over, but the joys to come will last forever.

LUKE WE LOVE YOU MATE, and we'll see you again once our present troubles pass, as we are raised to experience a new life and a great joy, a joy that that outweighs all the trials of this world.

Your Lips and Your Life

From Relevant Magazine Website
Author: Lynzee West

Everyone worships something or someone. Whether it is a career, possessions or one's body, no one can escape it. I discovered one Sunday at church that I had begun to worship the music. You see, I attend a mega-church where the music is phenomenal every Sunday without miss, until one Sunday when the music director introduced a new song, and I became irritated. I thought to myself, “What is he thinking? We don’t sing this song!” I’m afraid within all of the debates concerning "praise and worship" music styles that we have forgotten to answer one important question: What is worship?

My worship of the Father had become confined to one location (church), to one day (Sunday) and to one function (music). While music and singing are acceptable to God, this is only one facet of worship God desires from His children. Through study in the Scriptures, I believe God is looking for two kinds of worship: that which is expressed by our lips, and that which is expressed by our lives.

Numerous Psalms command us to sing praises unto God, to bless His name and to speak well of the Father. This is our lip service. We worship the Father by declaring with our lips His goodness and faithfulness, because He truly is an awesome God. Our worship does not stop here though. Because He is good and faithful, how do these translate into our everyday lives? Consider Luke 4:8:

“Worship the Lord your God and serve him only” (TNIV).

In this verse the verbs "worship" and "serve" cannot be excluded from each other. Therefore, our lip service to God should reflect our life service to God. He not only deserves our adoration, but our very lives as an offering of service to be used by Him and for Him. Read the plea Paul gives believers in Romans 12:1:

“Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God—this is your spiritual act of worship” (TNIV).

This is an image of a lifestyle of worship lived out daily in the life of the believer. Because we live and move and have our being in God (Acts 17:28), we can offer everything in our lives as a form of worship unto the Lord, whether it is taking care of an elderly relative, ministering out on the mission field or working in a job that is not all that exciting!

So, the next time you are at church singing your favorite song (or not), worship the Father with your lips because He is worthy to be praised, but when you leave, make sure you are worshipping the Father with your life.

Psalm 95

Listen to This Psalm

1 Come, let us sing to the LORD! Let us give a joyous shout to the rock of our salvation! 2 Let us come before him with thanksgiving. Let us sing him psalms of praise. 3 For the LORD is a great God, the great King above all gods. 4 He owns the depths of the earth, and even the mightiest mountains are his. 5 The sea belongs to him, for he made it. His hands formed the dry land, too.

6 Come, let us worship and bow down. Let us kneel before the LORD our maker,
7 for he is our God. We are the people he watches over, the sheep under his care. Oh, that you would listen to his voice today!

A page at a time

These days it can take me along time to get through a single book, its not because I don't like reading, neither is it because I'm lazy... well ok maybe it does have something to do with it, but its more that when I read good book I need to take it real slow in order to take it all in. Some books are so life-changing that if I read more than a couple pages at a time then I'm sure to miss something.

One book that I'm reading at the moment at a rate of about 3-5 pages a day is Red Moon Rising by Pete Grieg and Dave Roberts. God used Pete to start an awesome movement called 24-7 Prayer, and Dave Roberts to help launch the Worship Together concept.

In the third chapter of the book Pete Grieg recalls when God was starting to stir something inside of him. He was apart of a great youth church, but still he was lacking something. He was hungry for God to speak to him but it seemed as though God wasn't speaking. His journal entry at the time reflected he was at a point of desperation, where all he wanted was God.

Then what he wrote in his journal about a week after that really encouraged me.

"I feel like God is waiting to see if I am waiting. If he just flooded in with answers and guidance right now, I would not have changed, I would not have learned to wait and trust without the answers and without a roadmap for the future. So I'm glad that God was silent, because I actually want to wait...

I don't necessarily want ease and instant anything any more. I want to be be different before I do anything different. So I'm waiting for God, and God is waiting for me to see if I am really waiting for him, and not just wanting things from him."

I think many of us can relate to the waiting game, sometimes I just give up waiting and I go and do my own thing, but there's something more I know it, I can sense it, and I have to take a chance, a chance that in the end will pay off. And I have to patient, coz God wants to shape me in order that he use me.

The Amazing Walk

I don't watch too much TV, but there is one show that I watch every week and thats the Amazing Race. There's something I love about the show, if I had a chance I would definitely go on it, probably with my bro! maybe we'd be like the hippies, coz they're kinda like YWAMer's ... just love those hippies, they're great guys.




One of them Tyler did something crazy before he ever came on the show. In 2004 he walked the whole length of Japan. How nuts is that! but its awesome!
you can check that
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=3067683435545761102&q=Kintaro

God's marble benchtop

googlemap
Originally uploaded by AlbinoAsian.

was looking on Google Earth, normally its I always look at Asia, Australia, and that side of the globe, but I decided to swing over to Africa... and it landed on Western Sahara & Mauritania and was amazed at what I saw... looks a bit like something we'd cover our kitchen benches with, seems as though God had one before anyone else did.

Amazing ...

Our God Reigns

When the Holy Spirit imparts something to your spirit, and you receive it and agree with it, it doesn't matter what else is happening around you, what you see with your eyes, or what others tell you that might seem to contradict it... you know its true.

Listening to a song called "Our God Reigns" by Delirious just reminded me of this. No matter what is happening in this world, the truth is OUR GOD REIGNS. As I listened to this song my ears and mind were drawn to the tragedies depicted and I felt burdened, but as I heard the truth... that Our God Reigns, I couldn't help be lifted up and encouraged. We can praise God no matter what the circumstances! Our spirit just longs to cry out in praise to God.

40 million babies lost to Gods great orphanage,
It’s a modern day genocide and a modern day disgrace
If this is a human right then why aren’t we free?
The only freedom we have is in a man nailed to a tree.

100 million faces, staring at the sky,
Wondering if this HIV will ever pass us by.
The devil stole the rain and hope trickles down the plug,
But still my Chinese take away could pay for someone’s drugs.

Our God reigns, Our God reigns,
Forever your kingdom reigns.

The west has found a gun and it’s loaded with ‘unsure’
Nip and tuck if you have the bucks in a race to find a cure.
Psalm one hundred and thirty nine is the conscience
to our selfish crime,
God didn’t screw up when he made you,
He’s a father who loves to parade you.

Yes he reigns, yes you reign, yes you reign,
For there is only one true God,
But we’ve lost the reins on this world,
Forgive us all, forgive us please,
As we fight for this broken world on our knees.

Written by Delirious? ©2005 Curious? Music UK

Not just prosperity

There are certain things that God places in our worlds to give us a glimpse of what He is like, who he is, how he responds to us. I believe that God originally created everything to infact point to Him, to point to His goodness and to reveal to us more of who God is. Today though we may struggle with that idea seen as the Satan has done his best to mar this! In every sphere of life that God intended to show us more of Him and to glorify Him the enemy has tried to distort the image of God.

An area of my life that continues to show me God is my family. I am blessed beyond description with a wonderful loving family. Though neither they(nor I) are perfect like my God is, they do show me many aspects of what God is like, as I see God in their lives and able to relate to them.

I was actually sitting on the bus today worrying about something i wanted,and I felt like God challenged me not to ask my dad for it. I wanted to know something would be sorted out but I quite oddly felt God prompt me to just not worry about it. That I could trust my dad and that I didn't need to worry, and I didn't need to make known my 'need' which was really more of a 'want' (wants can so easily be labelled as needs when all I think about is myself).

As God told me to trust my Dad, I was able to, because I knew he loved me and that he had the best for me... that I didn't have to be looking out for myself and making sure I got what I wanted. This love that he has for me he has displayed to me and my family so many times through his unselfish sacrifice. No matter how many times we nagged him that we needed something, that we needed this latest bit of computer hardware, that we needed this or that, and Dad always wanted the best for us. This didn't always mean we got what we wanted like spoilt little brats, however we were extremely blessed to have a Dad that would sacrifice so much in order to give us more than we need. As I thought about that on the bus I couldn't help but think of Luke 11:10-13

For everyone who asks, receives. Everyone who seeks, finds. And the door is opened to everyone who knocks. "You fathers – if your children ask for a fish, do you give them a snake instead? Or if they ask for an egg, do you give them a scorpion? Of course not! If you sinful people know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him."

I felt exremely challenged that if it is possible to trust my dad, that he will always have the best for me, then surely I should be able to trust my daddy God 100% that he will all give me all that I need. And surely the Holy Spirit is so much more valuable that anything we could ask for. Plus if we have the Holy Spirit then we should have the faith that God will never let us down, because He has placed His 'seal' on us, His stamp that we are His.

After all that running through my heart and head I hopped off one bus and hopped on another, to hear a phone call from my dad, he had sorted out everything, the thing that I felt like God told me not to ask, not to worry, just to trust.
My dad had already worked it out. I didn't have to worry, and I didn't even have to ask... he knew... and he wanted the best for me.

And I'm sure that as my earthly father is always making sure I have what I need and more, that my HEAVENLY FATHER will even more!!

THE VISION

So this guy comes up to me and says "what's the vision? What's the big idea?" I open my mouth and words come out like this…
The vision?

The vision is JESUS – obsessively, dangerously, undeniably Jesus.

The vision is an army of young people.

You see bones? I see an army. And they are FREE from materialism.

They laugh at 9-5 little prisons.
They could eat caviar on Monday and crusts on Tuesday.
They wouldn't even notice.
They know the meaning of the Matrix, the way the west was won.
They are mobile like the wind, they belong to the nations. They need no passport.. People write their addresses in pencil and wonder at their strange existence.
They are free yet they are slaves of the hurting and dirty and dying.
What is the vision ?
The vision is holiness that hurts the eyes. It makes children laugh and adults angry. It gave up the game of minimum integrity long ago to reach for the stars. It scorns the good and strains for the best. It is dangerously pure.

Light flickers from every secret motive, every private conversation.
It loves people away from their suicide leaps, their Satan games.
This is an army that will lay down its life for the cause.
A million times a day its soldiers

choose to loose
that they might one day win
the great 'Well done' of faithful sons and daughters.

Such heroes are as radical on Monday morning as Sunday night. They don't need fame from names. Instead they grin quietly upwards and hear the crowds chanting again and again: "COME ON!"

And this is the sound of the underground
The whisper of history in the making
Foundations shaking
Revolutionaries dreaming once again
Mystery is scheming in whispers
Conspiracy is breathing…
This is the sound of the underground

And the army is discipl(in)ed.

Young people who beat their bodies into submission.

Every soldier would take a bullet for his comrade at arms.
The tattoo on their back boasts "for me to live is Christ and to die is gain".

Sacrifice fuels the fire of victory in their upward eyes. Winners. Martyrs. Who can stop them ?
Can hormones hold them back?
Can failure succeed? Can fear scare them or death kill them ?

And the generation prays

like a dying man
with groans beyond talking,
with warrior cries, sulphuric tears and
with great barrow loads of laughter!
Waiting. Watching: 24 – 7 – 365.

Whatever it takes they will give: Breaking the rules. Shaking mediocrity from its cosy little hide. Laying down their rights and their precious little wrongs, laughing at labels, fasting essentials. The advertisers cannot mould them. Hollywood cannot hold them. Peer-pressure is powerless to shake their resolve at late night parties before the cockerel cries.

They are incredibly cool, dangerously attractive

inside.

On the outside? They hardly care. They wear clothes like costumes to communicate and celebrate but never to hide.
Would they surrender their image or their popularity?
They would lay down their very lives - swap seats with the man on death row - guilty as hell. A throne for an electric chair.

With blood and sweat and many tears, with sleepless nights and fruitless days,

they pray as if it all depends on God and live as if it all depends on them.

Their DNA chooses JESUS. (He breathes out, they breathe in.)
Their subconscious sings. They had a blood transfusion with Jesus.
Their words make demons scream in shopping centres.
Don't you hear them coming?
Herald the weirdo's! Summon the losers and the freaks. Here come the frightened and forgotten with fire in their eyes. They walk tall and trees applaud, skyscrapers bow, mountains are dwarfed by these children of another dimension. Their prayers summon the hounds of heaven and invoke the ancient dream of Eden.

And this vision will be. It will come to pass; it will come easily; it will come soon.
How do I know? Because this is the longing of creation itself, the groaning of the Spirit, the very dream of God. My tomorrow is his today. My distant hope is his 3D. And my feeble, whispered, faithless prayer invokes a thunderous, resounding, bone-shaking great 'Amen!' from countless angels, from hero's of the faith, from Christ himself. And he is the original dreamer, the ultimate winner.

Guaranteed.

from http://www.24-7prayer.com/