Try this - write something good about another person

One day a teacher asked her students to list the names of the other students in the room on two sheets of paper, leaving a space between each name. Then she told them to think of the nicest thing they could say about each of their classmates and write it down.
It took the remainder of the class period to finish their assignment, and as the students left the room, each one handed in the papers.

That Saturday, the teacher wrote down the name of each student on a separate sheet of paper, and listed what everyone else had said about that individual..
On Monday she gave each student his or her list. Before long, the entire class was smiling. 'Really?' she heard whispered. 'I never knew that I meant anything to anyone!' and, 'I didn't know others liked me so much,' were most of the comments.

No one ever mentioned those papers in class again. She never knew if they discussed them after class or with their parents, but it didn't matter. The exercise had accomplished its purpose. The students were happy with themselves and one another. That group of students moved on.

Several years later, one of the students was killed in

VietNam and his teacher attended the funeral of that special student. She had never seen a serviceman in a military coffin before. He looked so handsome, so mature.

The church was packed with his friends. One by one those who loved him took a last walk by the coffin. The teacher was the last one to bless the coffin..

As she stood there, one of the soldiers who acted as pallbearer came up to her. 'Were you Mark's math teacher?' he asked. ! She nodded: 'yes.' Then he said: 'Mark talked about you a lot.'

After the funeral, most of Mark's former classmate! s went together to a luncheon. Mark's mother and father were there, obviously waiting to speak with his teacher.

'We want to show you something,' his father said, taking a wallet out of his pocket 'They found this on Mark when he was killed. We thought you might recognize it.'

Opening the billfold, he carefully removed two worn pieces of notebook paper that had obviously been taped, folded and refolded many times. The teacher knew without looking that the papers were the ones on which she had listed all the good things each of Mark's classmates had said about him.

'Thank you so much for doing that,' Mark's mother said. 'As you can see, Mark treasured it.'

All of Mark's former classmates started to gather around. Charlie smiled rather sheepishly and said, 'I still have my list. It's in the top drawer of my desk at home.'

Chuck's wife said, 'Chuck asked me to put his in our wedding album.'

'I have mine too,' Marilyn said. 'It's in my diary'

Then Vicki, another classmate, reached into her pocketbook, took out her wallet and showed her worn and frazzled list to the group. 'I carry this with me at all times,' Vicki said and without batting an eyelash, she continued: 'I think we all saved our lists'

That's when the teacher finally sat down and cried. She cried for Mark and for all his friends who would never see him again.

The density of people in society is so thick that we forget that life will end one day. And we don't know when that one day will be.

So please, tell the people you love and care for, that they are special and important. Tell them, before it is too late.

Crown of Righteousness

The Olympic games will be upon us this Friday and the best athletics in the world would be competing with each other for honors. A marathon run which awards everyone who completes the race is not often heard of. In this race, everyone who crosses the finish line is awarded a prize. This was the thought that ran through my mind as I conducted the wake service for my good friend's late father.

His dad had lived for 92 years and stayed faithfully married until his wife departed a year ago. The deceased leaves behind a son, 3 daughters and 6 grand children. He is now reunited with his wife and a daughter; who went home to be with the Lord a few years earlier. He was known to be a gentle and peace loving husband, father and son.

The scripture reading and the message shared, accurately reflected his life. It was taken from the second letter to Timothy in Chapter 4 verses 6 to 8. The Word reads:

For I am already being poured out like a drink offering, and the time has come for my departure. I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. Now there is in store for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will award to me on that day—and not only to me, but also to all who have longed for his appearing.

He must have been keenly aware of his departure as he spent the day with his beloved children enjoying the last few moments with them. For 92 years he had run the marathon with perseverance and stamina. He had modeled the hope everyone is looking for, that is, you can live an exemplary life in this world. He was at peace with all; his God, his family, his relatives and his friends.

Like an athlete who competed in the marathon, he has crossed the finish line and I am sure he has received his crown of righteousness from the righteous Judge, Jesus. But praise God it is not only for him but for all of us too!

Wow! What a glorious thought....for all of us who are longing for His appearance!

Jesus, Jesus, Jesus

The sculpture captured in this photograph bring alive what happened during Jesus' life on earth. This is common in the Holy land and you will find buried civilization depicting the rich history of nations as you tour the length and breath of this country.

Today's 40 day fast & pray booklet requires us to pray for the church leadership throughout the land of Malaysia. Yesterday's prayer meeting brought to bear the need to pray for a Christian witness in the small towns and villages of our country. Many of them has less than 20 believers!

A large majority of believers live in the interior parts of Sabah and Sarawak, which makes up (by some estimates) more than three quarters of the total population of Christians in this country. The sad fact of the matter is, these are the poorest of the poor communities of the nation. They don't have a voice so we in West Malaysia also don't have a voice because we are much smaller in size!

During this season, many teams are driving to these smaller towns to pray for God's presence to penetrate the atmosphere over these communities. Jesus, Jesus, Jesus spoken over any atmosphere, in faith by a believer, bring God's presence to bear and for His will to be done. We will not know all of the needs of each church leader in each locality but God does and in His time He will answer the prayer of a righteous man which is powerful and effective.

John 14:13-14 And whatsoever ye shall ask in My name, that will I do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If ye shall ask any thing in My name, I will do it. Freeda Bowers, the author of Give Me 40 days, penned this explanation as follows, "In Jesus' name, prayers are answered; people saved, healed and delivered. Ultimately, every knee will bow to the One who bears that glorious name. All power in Heaven and Earth is embodied in the holy and precious name of Jesus".

So if you say with me aloud.....Jesus, Jesus, Jesus you can be sure He will immediately respond. Do you feel His presence?

Satan's web

This picture of the spider's web always got me thinking of the draw of satan to his "intriguing" scheme. As my wife and I spent the whole afternoon paying our bills, we also reflected on God's faithfulness towards us. The reason was because the first activity we did before paying our bills was to collect our claim for the petrol subside from the Post Office. RM625.00 was another of God's blessing and faithfulness as we continued to be faithful to His prompting to bless His servants and His Kingdom. He is no one's debtor!

Tonight again I was reminded through Matthew Chapter 6 of this principle: V1-4 against hypocrisy in almsgiving; v5-8 against hypocrisy in prayer; v9-15 how to pray; v16-18 respecting fasting; v19-24 evil of being worldy-minded and v25-34 trust in God commended. The bottom line is seeking His Kingdom and righteousness first!

Another version of verse 24 caught my attention today and it is this:

"You can't worship two gods at once. Loving one god, you'll end up hating the other. Adoration of one feeds contempt for the other. You can't worship God and Money both.

My discussion with my wife was our faith level on this topic of tithes and offerings. It is easy to give tithes deligently but offering was another thing all together. As I pondered this thought to blog...my understanding is that everything is from God and so if I had to give Him everything as an "Isaac" sacrifice, will I? Like the widow with the 2 mites!

How many times have we passed the offering bag onto the next person and not put in an offering because we had "religiously" given our tithes on the first week of the month. Will we go broke if we placed RM10 every time the offering bag was passed to us. Should we not give Him an offering of everything everyday and every week when He give us the opportunity.... by handing us His "offering" bag???

Satan's web.....something to ponder about but for the Truth meditate on Matthew 6!

Listening to hear the Truth

The wonders of technology! Skype has been a tool we have been using to coach premarital couples to prepare them for marriage. After using it with different couples in 5 different countries we have noticed that the quality has evolved and improved, (include video and audio conferencing) to make the experience very satisfying.

This was not the case, in the early days when I was involved with this technology. I had to use it to communicate with my head office in KL from my base in Jakarta, running the Indonesian operations for the Christian company, I worked at. The quality was so poor and there used to be too much "static" on the line that our messages were never understood completely.

Family unity and strong marriages are at the heart of God's victorious plan for mankind. Since the very beginning God's aim is to birth a "bride" from His very flesh and bones to be pure and blameless. His redemptive blood restores the broken relationship and brings us into right standing with Him. This is accomplished as we confess and repent of our sinful nature, when we are convicted by the Holy Spirit, by having faith in Him. Then, believing in our hearts and confessing with our mouths that Jesus Christ is our Savior and Lord, propels us into a born again experience and into His Kingdom.

This spiritual birthing is what Nicodemus was all confused about, which prompted him to ask Jesus the obvious question, "How can anyone," said Nicodemus, "be born who has already been born and grown up? You can't re-enter your mother's womb and be born again. What are you saying with this 'born-from-above' talk?"

Jesus is the Master communicator and He replied, "You're not listening. Let me say it again. Unless a person submits to this original creation—the 'wind-hovering-over-the-water' creation, the invisible moving the visible, a baptism into a new life—it's not possible to enter God's kingdom. When you look at a baby, it's just that: a body you can look at and touch. But the person who takes shape within is formed by something you can't see and touch—the Spirit—and becomes a living spirit."So don't be so surprised when I tell you that you have to be 'born from above'—out of this world, so to speak. You know well enough how the wind blows this way and that. You hear it rustling through the trees, but you have no idea where it comes from or where it's headed next. That's the way it is with everyone 'born from above' by the wind of God, the Spirit of God."

The Message version opens up John chapter 3 verses 4 to 8 for us to understand the truth of the new birth more accurately. It is liken to our ability to hear without the "static" in our communication line between our Lord Jesus Christ and us.

I pray during this 40 days prayer and fasting for our nation our spiritual ears will become alert to God's agenda for the nation, who's foundation is the families. Those who have ears let him hear!