wishlist

You know God is good? I was just going through some old files and found a list of things i wanted to do and places i wanted to go and things i wanted. It sounds like of selfish when i look back at what i wrote, i mean all those stuff for me and i was tempted to add more :P

I had some of them crossed out because they were not necessary but i was amazed how most of them have already been taken care of, like going to singapore, its so great. Even the mp3 player i won was in the list, i wanted to buy one but now i dont have to. And the best part about the whole thing is that i didnt even pray for these things i just get them.

Its so amazing to have a father that cares about us and knows the needs we have, its like a father who's walking pass his child's room and overhear them pray for something and decides to suprise them and get the exact thing the child was praying for, imagine the joy the child would experience, and even more than that the love for the father that will be reinforced. Its nice to know that he knows our thoughts and desires, and it pleases him to give us things.

He is our Father, but he's also King and Lord of all. I'm glad he's my father.

~shalom~

casino royale

Today, well yesterday we went out to watch casino royale the new james bond movie. I must say its been a while since i went to the cinema, i think the last movie i watched was xmen 3.

Casino Royale was nice, i'm not going to go through the movie so dont spoil it for you. But i will say the first moments of the movie was very active and there was some humour in this one quite unlike most bond movies. They even added gave 007 some affection in this one, and the new guy, david craig or is it daniel craig, he's not bad at all.

Overall i'll rate it 8/10 not bad for a bond movie ;)

my offering

You know there are times we make promises to God concerning commitment to his course and, there are times when the word of God speaks so personally to us that we just cry, and then we make decisions to change and lead better lives?

Pastor would say that genuine love and care can do more to draw people to God than the best sermon, and its true people dont care how much you know unitl they know how much you care. The ministry of a christian, and by ministry i mean the whole serving life of a christian, is one of weakness. Michael said that and its true, if someone slaps you in one cheek turn the other one, if a soldier demands you carry his gear for a mile, carry it two miles. Give to those who ask and dont turn away from those who want to borrow. {matthew 5}

It seems that we can achieve more with little effort on our part if we just obey the word of God and not try to figure out what it could have meant, if its practical today, and start to doubt and debate. Why am i saying all these things?

I have set out to glorify God with this blog and other blogs that i am involved with, to be honest and to give my life as an offering. Sometimes words like that sound nice but the true meaning can leave us in a state of lack. What is my offering? Its not to complain and criticize, jesus never did that, he was not found arguing instead he just went about doing the will of God.

Long story short, the more you get to know about what it means to follow christ, the more humble you become, i'm not saying i'm humble in anyway, but i strive to be all that jesus is and to give him the highest glory and praise. If this doesnt make sense then dont bother, i'm like that sometimes but God understands, he always does.

Jesus i'm sorry for going my way and drifting from the pattern you have set for me, i acknowledge my wrong and i want to change, help me in my weaknesses and strengthen my strengths that i may be a vessel you can use, its all about you anyway. Let this blog be an offering to you and nothing else.

~shalom~

observations-crowne plaza

This post could have turned out differently if i wasnt in church tonight but i thank God for restaining me and allowing me to see things differently.

Usually on weekends the Inti school bus takes us to town at two hours intervals starting from 1pm. Most of the time i choose to go to sarawak plaza and then to tun jugah and end up in crowne plaza. I want to make the most of the opportunity we have since we dont pay for these weekend trips so i stay busy for two hours so i can join the bus back to school.

I dont know how many people notice but there is a rather large congregation of mostly malay kids in and around crowne plaza on the weekends. I dont go out on weekdays so i only notice them on the weekend when i'm out. They stay at the entrance, some go up to the car park, and sit on the can i call it a ledge? yeah the opening to looks out towards the river, that place. Others just wonder about and i can't help but see the emptiness of these people.

I must say they look frightening, most of them dressed in retro, gothic rock band like people. Its quite i dunno, i guess well it looks good on them, they have this street fashion thing going. Others add weird body piercings to the mix.

I just sit there observing them while waiting for the bus, they just wonder about, smoke, hang out with friends and enjoy so to speak. Some go as far as causing trouble. I saw one in particular, he was like a bully boss, you know the leader of his gang of bullies? He picked up this guy from where he was sitting, by the road, {I think he was beating a bit before he sat down, he had a sad countenance} and put his arms around him, his {bully} homies were behind him, and he led this guy into the building, i have no idea what he wanted to use him for. The other day i saw these group push this guy down, he fell in front of his girlfriend, he was rather young to have a girlfriend i thought but that was no justification for their action and she obviously was helpless she could not do anything but help get him up again.

Now why am i saying this? I remember when i was young and rebelious. I was in the car going to school, my mom was driving and i started to knot my tie because we were getting closer to school. Those days i didnt want to comb my hair so there i was busy with my tie and the driver of the taxi next to our car called out to me, he said o boy you no dey comb your hair? {translation: dont you ever comb your hair} I was like whats your business? Its my hair, of course i never gave those words voice but my mom was laughing by my side, in agreement to what they taxi driver what saying. I really believe its not his business, and it really wasnt.

My point is, people need to stand up and caution these behaviour of these guys, i dont know much about asian culture, but from what i've seen people dont rebuke others openly, things just slide, and there's sense of its not my business, let them do what they want. But then things will get out of hand and that would be sad, to see the main hotspot for tourists turned into a war zone for gangs fighting for supremacy. Thats not the case now but it might soon be reality.

I dont really want to sound like i'm hating people for having a good time with their friends on a weekend, i really like seeing youths being themselves and expressing themselves with respect to fashion and influence. I dont hate the malay people, i have no reason to and even if i did have a reason Jesus does not allow me to hate so thats that. I'm just expressing a discomfort in my heart and a longing for some purpose i see in these young people, even though they look dangerous and all. They have a longing nothing can fill and i see that. I wonder who else can see this too.

~shalom~

stray

I love hymns, they tend to have more deeper meanings than most modern songs and stray is one of them. I first heard this hymn in my secondary school, own principal used to lead it when we had assembly, i didnt really pay too much attention to the words at the time but i was reminded of this hymn a few weeks ago and found the full lyrics for it.

Its a hymn that portrays total surrender to the will of God, i especially like verse 2 and 7.

Stray

1. My God , my father, while i stray,
Far from my home in life's rough way,
Oh, teach me from my heart to say,
"Thy will be done"

2. Though dark my path and sad my lot,
Let me be still and murmur not,
or breathe the prayer divinely taught,
"Thy will be done"

3. What though in lonely grief I sigh,
For friends beloved, no longer nigh,
Submissive still would I reply,
"Thy will bw done"

4. Though thou hast called me to resign,
What most i prized, it ne'er was mine;
I have but yielded what was Thine,
"Thy will be done"

5. Should grief or sickness waste away,
My life in premature decay,
My father, still will I strive to say,
"Thy will be done"

6. Let but my fainting heart be blest,
With thy sweet spirit for its guest;
My God to thee I leave the rest,
"Thy will be done"

7. Renew my will from day to day,
Blend it with Thine and take away,
All that now makes it hard to say,
"Thy will be done"

8. Then, when on earth I breathe no more,
The prayer, oft mixed with tears before,
I'll sing upon a happier shore,
"Thy will be done"

~shalom~

holiday

So i've been on holidays for a while now, lets see ah this is the 6th day and its getting quite, cross that very boring really willing to do anything at the moment so if you need help cleaning or eating here just let me know i'm serious

Can't wait for december, lots of things happening; planetshakers conference, travel, christmas :D I love christmas. This will be my third? Yeah third one.

So many people going back to Nigeria, some for good, some for the holidays. Man they're making me miss home so bad. The best i can get to my family is the occasional phone call, almost weekly now.

Please pray for eilyn there is a serious medical situation at their hospital, they're all under observation at the moment and she's quite scared.

~shalom~

progress

According to Chambers dictionary online:

progress noun 1 movement while travelling in any direction. 2 course • followed the progress of the trial. 3 movement towards a destination, goal or state of completion • make slow progress. 4 advances or development. 5 old use a journey made in state by a sovereign, etc. verb (progresses, progressed, progressing) 1 intrans to move forwards or onwards; to proceed towards a goal. 2 intrans to advance or develop. 3 intrans to improve. 4 to put (something planned) into operation; to expedite. in progress taking place; in the course of being done.
ETYMOLOGY: 15c: from Latin progredi, progressus to move forward.

Lately i've been reading alot about history, the church and eschatology {study of the end of the world} and interesting things have popped up. I know history is so boring right? Well due to the strong opposition i've been having on my other blog, defending the faith that i profess and the validity of one Almighty God that is different from the other Gods of other religions, i have been forced to do some research and find out for myself as well as give concrete evidence to the relevance of God and indeed the fact that God is not a passive figure in history, in fact he drives it.

The European Enlightenment heritage views progress as the sense that all experience is future-directed with the specific, calculated purpose of improving or bettering the world, society, and the individual.

Isaac Newton in the 1600's came up with the idea of a mechanistic universe which implied that the universe could be understood without recourse to religion or God, even though Newton himself believed that God created the universe and set it in motion. Eventually, this would lead Europeans to attempt to explain other areas of phenomena with the same mechanistic model—economics, politics, ethics. All of these explanations permitted religion and the divine to be removed from the debate and made the world of material and human phenomena rational, predictable, and manipulable.

This idea of progress as a constant improvement with no certain goal in sight, no end and the obvious assumption that God has no influence on its progress, can be seen in many of the things around us today. In technology there is the constant relentless efforts to improve the speed, accuracy of all machines and the imagination of men are being realised in the brightest and starkest ways. Nothing seems to be impossible these days and people think they can go on without God. Its just like the tower of babel, they were so advanced that they had their sites on the heavens and God had to strike them and confuse them so that their progress will be set back substantially.

I dont mean to sound so academic but i thought i would share just a bit of some discoveries i made. I'm looking for a good book on world history if anyone knows where i can get one let me know especially if it has something to do with God's intevention on history.

main source: http://www.wsu.edu/~dee/GLOSSARY/PROGRESS.HTM
~shalom~

the great wave

I've been coming across alot of attacks on the christian faith lately and i just want to inform you all about what is going on so we are not caught off guard.

Recently i read a news item that many Americans are not certain God exists, you can say why thats not new, but take your time and read it. I blogged about this on my other blog and found out from the comments i got that this survey was infact really true.

Again going through some of my del.icio.us bookmarks i found out about an atheistic movement to remove 'God' from the currency of America. If you've seen the American currency then you will know it says 'in God we trust' at the back, people want to remove that and for some reason its perfectly legal. Well you might say its in America la but i dont think its a coincidence that these things are happening and i'm finding them more and more everywhere i look. There is was wave of opposition on everything that is Godly and America is only the start.

I pray that we would get really serious with God and live out our faith, this is for me too. I am truely troubled in my spirit, strange times are upon us. This is part of what mark was saying when he was here only now am i seeing with my own eyes. Please, lets encourage each other to good works, strange times are coming, its not time to fool around.

I have some sermons on Understanding the spirit of the age by dr ravi zacharias. He's really great and i know Angela has been in one of his lectures she will tell you. There are three parts to the sermon you can get part 1 here, part 2 and part 3. Listen to them, the english might be hard to understand but something will minister to you. Also there is a great site where you can get sermons from people like C.H spurgeon, C.S lewis over at sermonindex.net

The devil knows his time is short, but Jesus said thou art peter and upon this rock i will build my church and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.

~shalom~

love

The best use of time is love,

the best expression of love is time,

the best time is love is now.

I just read this and its got me thinking, how do i use my time? Do i have love? if so how is it shown? hmm

~shalom~