#Day 209: 28 July 2016, Thursday

LEFT GROUP

Philippians 2:4 ESV - "Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others"

Today, one of my friend decided to left our chat group. But what bothering me is not about why he left the group, but on the fact that only a very small amount of our group members know the reason. Only the after effect then people are trying to show that they actually care.

I am writing this not to show that I am any better. I am sharing this because I feel that we, including myself, are getting further away in understanding the love of God, the commandment to love others.

I do see how we care about the people within our circle, our close community, our group. But very ignorance of others that is not fitting our preferences, our interest.

I do see how we shows enthusiasm about our interests without putting tolerance towards others limitation or interests. Be it hobbies, or holidays or even grooming. And no, I am not saying hobbies, holidays or grooming are bad, but I am talking in the context of tolerance.

Somehow I asked myself, are we falling into favoritsm? (Read: #Day 207)

Whatever it is, this is not the first time I felt a need of an uplift among us. This is not the first time for us to learn about:

• The importance of simple gentle smile and chat with others outside our circle, the new comers
• The importance of selflessly keep in contact eith our friends who seems have left or reduced their attendances at the community due to their life challenges or anything
• The importance to focus on whats important. The real people and not merely just the appearances (No make up will cover the true love and care that we have for others)

I pray that I, with the grace of God, can share more of my personal time to walk the John 13:34-35 message: "A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another. By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.”

I pray for no more friend will left the group.

(Disclaimer: today's sharing is purely my own perception with my own experiences. Should there be a similarity of events, it is merely a coincidence)

#fgccmalaysia #uplifting #leftgroup

#Day 208: 27 July 2016, Wednesday

PREPARATION

Proverbs 24:27 ESV - "Prepare your work outside; get everything ready for yourself in the field, and after that build your house"

We had our Fresh Camp preparation meeting today. With the limited team members we would like to ensure that we can give the best, with His blessing, to all of our FGCC Volunteers and hope all of us will be fueled and filled with a new energy during & after the camp.

Credit to the energy and focus of the young members, Cris, Franklin, Riel, Evi and Chintia, the details activities and ground work looks very promising.

I can clearly see the commitment and willingness covered with their humility has became the base pillars of the plan. Painted with their attention to details and creativity, it drives an improvement on the plan which finally empowered by their team work.

I am excited to take part on this preparation. And may God bless each one of us in giving our best for the camp.

I believe, with God on our side, the preparation will be transform into a success and His name will be glorified. At Fresh Camp 2016, we will be fueled and filled by His love.

Amen.

#fgccmalaysia #uplifting #preparation

#Day 207: 26 July 2016, Tuesday

FAVORITISM

For God does not show favoritism - Romans 2:11 NLT

Being partial means to give preference to one person over others with equal claims. It is similar to discrimination and may be based on conditions such as social class, wealth, clothing, actions, etc. It is also called as favoritsm or an unconcious bias.

A lot of time in our life we saw and witness the act of being partial, people giving preference based on financial contribution, by religion, by skin colors, by the way someone appearance, etc.

I came accross below writings from some blog and I would like to share it here. What does our faith says about this subject, about being partial:

The Bible is clear that favoritism is not God’s will for our lives. 

1. First, favoritism is incongruent with God’s character: “God does not show favoritism” (Romans 2:11).

• All are equal before Him. Ephesians 6:9 says, “There is no favoritism with him.”
• Colossians 3:25 teaches God’s fairness in judgment: “Anyone who does wrong will be repaid for his wrong, and there is no favoritism.”

2. Second, the Bible teaches Christians are not to show favoritism: “My brothers, as believers in our glorious Lord Jesus Christ, don’t show favoritism” (James 2:1).

• The context concerns the treatment of rich and poor in the church. James points out that treating someone differently based on his financial status or how he is dressed is wrong.
• The Old Testament provides similar instruction regarding favoritism. Leviticus 19:15 teaches, “Do not pervert justice; do not show partiality to the poor or favoritism to the great, but judge your neighbor fairly.”
• Exodus 23:3 likewise commands, “Do not show favoritism to a poor man in his lawsuit.” Justice should be blind, and both rich and poor should be treated equally before the law.

3. Third, the Bible calls favoritism sin: “If you really keep the royal law found in Scripture, ‘Love your neighbor as yourself,’ you are doing right. But if you show favoritism, you sin and are convicted by the law as lawbreakers” (James 2:8-9). Favoritism is a serious offense against God’s call to love one’s neighbor as oneself.

4. Fourth, church leaders are especially charged not to show favoritism. Paul commanded Timothy, a young church leader, “I charge you, in the sight of God and Christ Jesus and the elect angels, to keep these instructions without partiality, and to do nothing out of favoritism” (1 Timothy 5:21).

5. Fifth, it is difficult to avoid showing favoritism.

• Even Christ’s closest followers struggled with bias against people different from them. When the apostle Peter was first called to minister to non-Jewish people, he was reluctant.
• He later admitted, “I now realize how true it is that God does not show favoritism but accepts men from every nation who fear him and do what is right” (Acts 10:34). The fact that James specifically addresses the sin of favoritism implies that this was a common problem within the early church.

Favoritism is a problem we still deal with. Favoritism and partiality are not from God, and Christians are called to love.

As humans, we tend to form judgments based on selfish, personal criteria rather than seeing others as God sees them.

May we grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ and follow His example of treating every person with God’s love (John 3:16).

Amen.

#fgccmalaysia #uplifting #favoritism

#Day 206: 25 July 2016, Monday

SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY

Romans 12:13-17 ESV - Contribute to the needs of the saints and seek to show hospitality. Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse them. Rejoice with those who rejoice, weep with those who weep. Live in harmony with one another. Do not be haughty, but associate with the lowly. Never be wise in your own sight. Repay no one evil for evil, but give thought to do what is honorable in the sight of all.

We had a visitor from Perkeso Malaysia, giving a briefing and information about Social Security contribution made by our Malaysian colleagues, the types of controbution and the necessary process of retrieving the rightful cash.

The word social security makes me wonder about how much our contribution in making our surrounding secure? Or what actually our social responsibility.

Paul wrote to the Romans about this, it is our responsibility to:

• Contribute to the needs of the saints and seek to show hospitality
• Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse them.
• Rejoice with those who rejoice, weep with those who weep.
• Live in harmony with one another.
• Do not be haughty, but associate with the lowly.
• Never be wise in your own sight.
• Repay no one evil for evil, but give thought to do what is honorable in the sight of all.

Simple, clear and straight forward.

The question now is, are we? Are we doing our part? Our we responding to our social responsibility?

Great reminder, great blessing

#fgccmalaysia #uplifting #socialresponsibility

#Day 205: 24 July 2016, Sunday

BEYOND BORDERS - MINDSET

By: Robert & Lea

All God wanted is to provide us with His blessing. The only time God's blessing stops His plan, His blessing for us is when we passed away, when we die.

And sometimes there's blockage or borders that stopping us to received that blessing.

My mom, she is 88 years old and she is very active, she is still working. She just went through the knee exchange. In two months she is back to normal, she is so energize, and she always said, I still have a responsibility in this world. A very strong mindset.

We need to believe that God has a big plan for us! So in this journey let us ensure we do our part! We need a right mindset!

Isaiah 26:15 NLT - "O Lord, you have made our nation great; yes, you have made us great. You have extended our borders, and we give you glory!"

A lot of us still living in the old years, living in memories, be it a successful memories or dark memories. Don't we know this can stop or delayed the great plan that  God has for us? A lot of God's plan are not fulfilled in our life because of this kind of mindset.

"Our action is driven by our mind. Hence, if we are to change our actions, we need to change our mindset"

Few examples of great beyond borders mindset:

1. Story of Jabez

• 1 Taw 4: 9,10 - story about Jabez mindset
• Even when he was labelled as the sick, Yabes act beyond the given borders. We have the correct mindset!
  • He pray, he shout to God
  • He ask God to bring him out beyond borders
  • He knows God is with him and protect him

2. Story of Walt Disney

• Was told he was lack of imagination ans having no original ideas.
• His office is was in a garage and his friends are rats which he transformed into the everlasting friend of us: Mickey Mouse

3. Story of Steve Jobs

• Fired by the board of his own company, he keep his innovative mind and create Pixar
• And now, Apple. Who does not know apple.

And many more!! The example of beyond borders mindset.

Let us pray that we can uplift our mindset, beyond the given situation, beyond the given stigma, beyond borders!

Let us release and claim the rewards from the great plan that God always has for us.

What a great blessing.

#fgccmalaysia #uplifting #beyondborders

#Day 204: 23 July 2016, Saturday

BROTHERS & SISTER

1 John 4:20 ESV - "If anyone says, “I love God,” and hates his brother, he is a liar; for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen cannot love God whom he has not seen"

I arrived at Jakarta last night. A short planned trip to visit my siblings, my briothers and sister. A gathering of siblings-hood with a mission.

It is interesting to see that as a matter of facts we love & care about each other though we seldom speaks or meet, well, at least with me. All of them live in jakarta.

It is interesting to see that as a matter of facts the bloodties does gives the commitment to love and care. I mean, even though we seldom met, not seeing each other regularly, there is no hate nor lies, just love.

We spent a long hours together and working out the plan and potential solution for the challenges that we are facing. It was a great gathering though it was a short one.

I thank God that I experienced it. A lot of time we make excuses when it comes to serve, share, reach out to our own family members. We said we are busy and so on.

This is the same with our community, we tend to be busy with our own things and desire rather than making an effort to serve others and spend time caring about others.

"...for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen cannot love God whom he has not seen."

I thank God for my siblings. A great blessing.

#fgccmalaysia #uplifting #brothers&sister

#Day 203: 22 July 2016, Friday

HEALTHY FOOD FAIR

Then Jesus declared, “I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never go hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty.”
John 6:35 | NIV

Today is a fun day. It is our "Healthy Food fair" day which is part of our Health & Wellness Program created for our colleagues.

Around 8 companies participated in the event with several of our very own "DHL Healthy Food MasterChef" who kindly help and shared their secret top healthy recipe.

It was fun and we had a great crowd. Hopefully we are able to raise the awareness if healthy eating.

The message of healthy food reminds me of 1 Corinthians 6:19 - "Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? "

We conciously care about what we eat because we want to keep fit and healthy. Paul shared the same message saying we need to always remember that our body is a place for Holy Spirit. That we also need to consciously taking care of our healthy spiritual good.

And He is the bread of life. He is the healthy food for our soul. His words is the bread of our lives.

As we focus on providing our body with healthy food, let us also fill our soul with the healthy food from heaven.

Do not work for food that spoils, but for food that endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give you. For on him God the Father has placed his seal of approval.
John 6:27 | NIV

What a day full of blessing.

#fgccmalaysia #uplifting #healthyfoodfair

#Day 202: 21 July 2016, Thursday

DRESS CODE

1 Timothy 2:9 ESV - "Likewise also that women should adorn themselves in respectable apparel, with modesty and self-control, not with braided hair and gold or pearls or costly attire"

After the "casual smart" sharing on 14 July, finally we released the announcement of new dress code. "Friday Everyday", thats what I called the new dress code.

Several positive messages and feedback were received, be it verbally, in writings, even via social media posting in facebook.

One thing that attracts me the most is the concern on the non compliance side of the new dress code. Feedback surrounding the concern if some people will be "too relax" and went overboard with their attire.

I believe this is where maturity came to picture. I dont think there will be any policy nor guidelines that can ensure the 100% compliance. I think this is when we test ourselves or put our trust on our colleagues. That everyone will put their respectable apparel, with modesty and self-control.

And I believe there are (still) some people that will fail to comply with the new dress code. But it does not mean the new dress code is not positive.

I guess this is the same at Church, at our family, in our community. A lot of good guidance and direction as well as values which are there for a good reason but due to one or two family members behaviour are not presented properly.

We have to always remember that it does not mean the community, nor the church and nor the vision are not good but merely an invalid unfortunate presentation of some people.

God bless. As for now, I hope my colleagues will enjoy thr new dress code policy.

#fgccmalaysia #uplifting #dresscode

#Day 201: 20 July 2016, Wednesday

NEED vs WANT

Philippians 4:19 ESV - "And my God will supply every need of yours according to his riches in glory in Christ Jesus."

Need: Circumstances in which something is necessary, or that require some course of action; necessity.

Want: a desire for something.

I like the message. It says "need" not "want". It does not say that wanting is bad while at the same time it says God will supply every "need". God will supply the necessity.

A lot of time we are blinded with our desire for something, blinded by "wanting". And a lot of people blame God for not able to fulfill their desire for something, instead of grateful that God took an action, to supply, our every needs!

"We buy what we need, not what we want" , the words that I regularly used for my children.

I guess this will be a lifetime lesson of life. A struggle to really understand the differences between Want versus Need.

May Holy Spirit guide us and filled us with wisdom. God bless.

#fgccmalaysia #uplifting #wantvsneed

#Day 200: 19 July 2016, Tuesday

ABOUT SMILE

Ephesians 6: 7 MSG - "And work with a smile on your face, always keeping in mind that no matter who happens to be giving the orders, you're really serving God"

As written on my facebook page, My best kind of "Lesson from Others" is ...

Meli (may you rest in peace). It was November 2003, back in Singapore, the super strong 19 years young lady who lost her battle with Lupus disease. She taught me a lesson about GRATITUDE and the importance of a SMILE, even in the worst period of her life.

I never forget how to smile since ...

Indeed, the young lady echoed what I learned from Mother Teresa saying, "Peace begins with a smile". Although everyone was sad but we find peace that very night.

What a blessing. After all, A smile is the preetiest thing that you can wear. And for the economics, it is free!!

#fgccmalaysia #uplifting #smile

#Day199: 18 July 2016, Monday

FRESH

"But those who drink the water I give will never be thirsty again. It becomes a fresh, bubbling spring within them, giving them eternal life.”
  John 4:14 NLT

We had a meeting for our Fresh Camp event tonight and I have been thinking about the word "Fresh" since.

According to the Merriam-Web ster's dictionary, the word fresh means:

• newly produced, made, gathered, etc. : not preserved by being frozen, canned, etc
• not old, spoiled, etc.
• clean and pure

I like these definitions, it gave a simpler way to translate what I believe as the objective of doing the Fresh-Camp or being fresh.

It will help me to be: not frozen in whenever I am planted, not canned in the small horizon or paradigm, not spoiled! Not old!

Instead, I will be made new, clean and pure. Be it mentally or spiritually.

W.o.w! Who does not want that? I want it. I am going, are you??

What a blessing.

#fgccmalaysia #uplifting #freshcamp

#Day198: 17 July 2016, Sunday

RESTORE (Renew and refresh your strength)

By: Ps. Eddy Chang

It is common that when we are tired, we tend to lose our focus, our attention. When we travel, we can find several R & R corner for our Rest & Relaxation along the highway in Malaysia. We use these places to stop and rest before we continue our journey.

And sometimes,  even we took sufficient time to rest or sleep, we still feel the same, tired, emotionally.

Indeed, we do need to take care of our physical. And also, our emotional strength (and spiritual):

1. Find the correct place:

God knows this, Psalm 23:3 says "He restoreth my soul: he leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his name's sake".

And He promised that He will restore our soul. He is our one true shepherd.

Psalms 23:1-2 KJV - The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want.  He maketh me to lie down in green pastures: he leadeth me beside the still waters.

One interesting facts that we need to remind ourselves is that Growth or Uplifting or Enhancement, is hand in hand with Renew and Restore. There is no improvement or growth without renewal or restoration.

"We cannot fight today challenge with yesterday energy". Tomorrow challenges eats yesterday success as breakfast.

We need to be restored with new energy!! We need God to restoreth our soul.

And again, He promised that He will give us rest as written in Matthew 11:28 KJV - "Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest".

This invitation, is our ace card for renewal and restoration. We need to come to the correct source, where we find a correct place for an ultimate rest. We need to come to God.

2. Find the correct time, BE STILL:

Psalm 46:10 KJV - "Be still, and know that I am God: I will be exalted among the heathen, I will be exalted in the earth"

This message remind us that we are not God and we need Him. We also reminded that a lot of time we are focusing on wrong things, not doing what God wants us to do.

Let us continue to restore and renew our mind, our strength, our intention, our soul for the joy of the Lord. Be still and make Him happy.

After all, in everything that we do, it is always about you and Him (and not merely about you and others).

God bless.

#fgccmalaysia #uplifting #restore

#Day197: 16 July 2016, Saturday

LESS OF A VALUE

I went to Summit Mall today. While picking up my mom new specs, I also brought some of the old PS3 games for a trade in.

After checking for about 10 old games that were neglected and untouched for sometimes, the owner of the shops offer to take all of them in replacement of 1 latest PS3 game (Lego Starwars) plus 1 second hand game (both games for my kiddos).

On top of that I still need to add 50 MYR! In short those old games, broken, scratch, are not much of a value!

The same as our old selves, our old bad habits, our old egoistic mind, they are all less of a value.

BUT we need to remind ourselves that we are a new creation! The old us have gone and we have been renewed. We have been paid, paid by the blood of Jesus, by His life.

We are blessed and highly favored.

Romans 8:30 - Moreover whom He predestined, these He also called; whom He called, these He also justified; and whom He justified, these He also glorified.

We are no longer less value but we are blessed and highly favored.

Glory to God in His highest place.

#fgccmalaysia #uplifting #lessvalue

#Day196: 15 July 2016, Friday

ABOUT MOVING FORWARD

Isaiah 43:18-19 ESV - “Remember not the former things, nor consider the things of old. Behold, I am doing a new thing; now it springs forth, do you not perceive it? I will make a way in the wilderness and rivers in the desert."

We are moving forward!

After 4 months of FGCC Building Project, we made some progress. The promise of faith in slowly moving, "kantin sukarela" hit the 1 seat @ MYR 10000! The T-Shirt selling is going to 2nd phase and our alumni also participate further.

Though we know we still have a long way to go. We want to believe that we, indeed, are moving forward.

Exodus 14:15-16 ESV - The Lord said to Moses, “Why do you cry to me? Tell the people of Israel to go forward. Lift up your staff, and stretch out your hand over the sea and divide it, that the people of Israel may go through the sea on dry ground.

Talking about moving forward, the verse teaches me several things about it:

1. Moses cry to the Lord - PRAY:

• In all things, even when we are moving forward, always know who to look up to. It is nonetheless our God.
• In my distress I called upon the Lord ; to my God I cried for help. From his temple he heard my voice, and my cry to him reached his ears.
  Psalm 18:6 ESV

2. Lift up your staff and stretch out your hand - DO YOUR PART:

• Do our part! Moving forward requires an action! We cannot sit and hold our hands and expect a change.
• Gandhi once said, be the change you want in this world. Indeed, Be the change, which means we first change ourselves! By doing our part.
• 2 Timothy 2:15 ESV - Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a worker who has no need to be ashamed, rightly handling the word of truth.

Pray and Do your part, that's how we can move forward. That is how we can divide our problems and walk through it.

Thank you God! What a blessing.

#fgccmalaysia #uplifting #aboutmovingforward

#Day195: 14 July 2016, Thursday

CASUAL SMART

1 Corinthians 14:20 - Brethren, do not be children in your thinking; yet in evil be infants, but in your thinking be mature.

Me and my management colleagues are in discussion of changing our office attire. From a business casual to a smart casual, or in other way, Friday attire everyday.

It is something that we believe is an improvement, some say as an evolution of maturity in the organization.

One of the thing that we have concern on is indeed the maturity of some colleagues that may abuse the smart casual attire, in a way, going overboard and becoming extreme casual. For such, we agreed for me to put some clear guidelines and breach of code within the revised policy. But we believe it still be awesome.

1 Corinthians 13:11 ESV - When I was a child, I spoke like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I gave up childish ways.

We age, but it does not means we mature. We may have known about Jesus, about Christianity for countless years. But it does not mean we are mature in our act, our mind and our faith.

Ephesians 4:14-15 ESV - So that we may no longer be children, tossed to and fro by the waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by human cunning, by craftiness in deceitful schemes. Rather, speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ

The verse teaches us a very clear reminder and measurement of being mature. Speaking the truth, in love, grow up in every way, towards becoming more like Him, Christ Jesus.

What say you? Are you ready for that? Are you ready for everyday Friday? Everyday casual smart?

#fgccmalaysia #uplifting #casualsmart

#Day194: 13 July 2016, Wednesday

DON'T GIVE UP!!

Galatians 6:9 ESV - "And let us not grow weary of doing good, for in due season we will reap, if we do not give up"

A lot of things happened in life, from the work to the personal life. Things that really struck me as an affirmation on what John Cena (professional wrestler) once said:

But, everytime I am attacked by such discouragement, Mother Teresa quotes always coming back creeping to my mind:

What a blessing!

And I will keep telling myself, remember this old song, in that year off 1986. A song by PETER GABRIEL & KATE BUSH

"Don't Give Up"

in this proud land we grew up strong
we were wanted all along
I was taught to fight, taught to win
I never thought I could fail

no fight left or so it seems
I am a man whose dreams have all deserted
I've changed my face, I've changed my name
but no one wants you when you lose

don't give up
'cos you have friends
don't give up
you're not beaten yet
don't give up
I know you can make it good

though I saw it all around
never thought I could be affected
thought that we'd be the last to go
it is so strange the way things turn

drove the night toward my home
the place that I was born, on the lakeside
as daylight broke, I saw the earth
the trees had burned down to the ground

don't give up
you still have us
don't give up
we don't need much of anything
don't give up
'cause somewhere there's a place
where we belong

rest your head
you worry too much
it's going to be alright
when times get rough
you can fall back on us
don't give up
please don't give up

'got to walk out of here
I can't take anymore
going to stand on that bridge
keep my eyes down below
whatever may come
and whatever may go
that river's flowing
that river's flowing

moved on to another town
tried hard to settle down
for every job, so many men
so many men no-one needs

don't give up
'cause you have friends
don't give up
you're not the only one
don't give up
no reason to be ashamed
don't give up
you still have us
don't give up now
we're proud of who you are
don't give up
you know it's never been easy
don't give up
'cause I believe there's a place
there's a place where we belong

#fgccmalaysia #uplifting #don'tgiveup