網誌
2006年4月16日 上午11點00分17秒Three Trees
Once, there were three trees on a hill in the woods. As they were discussing their hopes and dreams, the 1st tree said: "Some day I hope to be a treasure chest. I can be filled with gold, silver and precious gems. I can be decorated with intricate carvings and everyone will see my beauty."
Then the 2nd tree said: "Some day i will be a mighty ship. I will take kings and queens across the waters and sail to the corners of the world. Everyone will feel safe in me because of the strength of my hull."
Finally, the 3rd tree said: "I want to grow to be the tallest and straightest tree in the forest. People who see me at the top of the hill will look up to my branches, and think of the heavens and God, and how close I am to them. I will be the greatest tree of all time and people will always remember me."
A few year after that, a group of woodsmen came upon the trees. One of them looked at the 1st tree and said: "This looks like a strong tree ... I should be able to sell its wood to a carpenter." He began to cut it down. The tree was happy because he knew that the carpenter would turn him into a treasure chest.
At the 2nd tree, the woodsmen said: "This looks like a strong tree; I should be able to sell it to the shipyard." The 2nd tree was happy because he knew he was on his way to become a mighty ship.
When the woodsmen came upon the 3rd tree, he was frightened because he knew that if they cut him down, his dreams would not come true. One of the woodsmen said, "I don't need anything special from my tree. I'll take this one," and he cut it down.
When the 1st tree arrived at the carpenter's, he was made into a feed box for animals. He was then placed in the barn and filled with hay. This was not what he had hoped for at all.
The 2nd tree was cut and made into a small fishing boat. His dreams of being a mighty ship and carrying kings had come to an end. The 3rd tree was cut into a large pieces and left alone in the dark. The years went by, and the trees forgot about their dreams.
One day, a man and a woman came into the barn. She gave birth and they placed the baby in the hay in the feed box made from the 1st tree. The man wished that he could have made a crib for the baby, but the manger would have to do. The tree could feel the importance of this event and knew that it had held the greatest treasure of all time.
Years later, a group of man got in the fishing boat made from the 2nd tree. One of them was tired and went to sleep. While they were out on the water, a great storm arose and the tree didn't think it was strong enough to keep the man safe. The man woke the sleeping man, and He stood and said, "Peace", and the storm stopped. The tree knew then that it had carried the King of Kings.
Finally, someone came and got the 3rd tree. It was carried through the streets as people mocked the man carrying it. When they came to a stop at the top of the hill, the man was nailed to the tree and left to die there. When Sunday came, the tree realised that it was strong enough to stand at the top of the hill and be as close to God as possible because Jesus had been crucified on it.
Each of the trees got what it wanted, although not in the way it had imagined. In the same way, God's plans for us are not always our plans, but they are always for the best.
Well the story above touches me a lot and I hope that it touches everybody who read it as well.. Before I end my blog today, I would like to wish everybody a wonderful and a Happy Easter Celebration... May God be with you all where ever you all are... God bless....
2006年4月9日 上午11點55分15秒God's mercy on me....
Well recently a lot of things happened... I mean starting from early this year itself. It is not something small though but rather it looks big and complicated and a lot of time I do not want to brought that memory back into my life but it does. Well God does. One of it would be my unforgiveness and bitterness towards ppl.
Bout a month ago, a friend of mine came to me after about two years of misssing in action (MIA). Well he had not been going to church and sort of slacking in Him. I do not know why he had come to me but later on I know why he had come to me. Well somehow or rather deep down within me I apologise to him for making my life miserable. He was one of the person in previous CF friends that brought me bitterness. So to say lah. Anyway I know this friend of mine is reading my blog.. Hey friend... I hope you don't mind me writing things down in my blog ya.. There is no name mentioned here so that no one would get embarrasement here, ok? Anyway later on he share with me his experience and his lacking in God. Well honestly I am also not that experience in saying things and giving encouragement except that I had become more and more compassionate and more and more wanting God rather than anything else. I used to love power and other things that can make me rich and successful but now I want only Him and to serve Him faithfully. In order to do that, God need to break me and now with all my unforgiveness and bitterness within me, He can't. Guess what happen? This friend came to me and unexpectedly I apologised to him for keeping my anger towards him and not commit it to God. I harboured all the bitterness and angerness so that if there is any opportunity passes by, I am gonna find fault with him and laugh at him when he falls. But guess what? God gone through it and He is sort of like telling me to break my anger off with peace and love. Not hatred with hatred. Well honestly saying with my egonism very high, I honestly saying I do not want to remember all my forgiveness towards him cause that would mean unfairness to me when he makes me angry last time. Anyway I grew into hungerness for Him and with ppl beside me right now that no matter what happen, I shall be by your side in case any of you need help. I somehow or rather pray and hope that everyone of you in CF would grow in Him and obey Him in all things that you do. Let Him handle all things and not you alone. Let God be God and let you be you.. Let God handle His things such as making impossible things possible and you as His child pray hard for things to become success and act with faith. Do not let go of God. And not let anything hinders you from serving Him cause I was in that situation before. I allow myself to hinder myself away from God and do what I want to do. At the end I fall. Thank God He is full of mercy and He actually pick me back and allow me to live again. Otherwise you would see me differently than who I am right now. The backslide Christian of me.
Anyway the 2nd thing I am learning now is this. Mun Yee, as being my closest kai mui is helping and lending me a hand to teach me how to be a good Christian and good brother. Well in order to help her knowing God, I need to help myself knowing Him too. It is a win-win situation though. Well it is hard to teach someone to know God though but what we had gone through, we actually share to them, helping them and passing down our knowledge about God like how we passing down our baton when we are no longer in leadership position and with the hope that they would be better than us. We ought to slowly watering the seed that had been planted unto others so that there would be no birds or no hindrance that make it cannot grow. In fact, if we got any extra fertilizer, we ought to use it nurture the person so that that particular person would grow into a smooth Christian. So with this in mind, I believe that we need to walk the truth and not just say the truth and that's what God is doing in my life right now. Of course there is ups and downs, but with God in us, above us, in front of us, behind us, below us, beside us, who can be against us then. Am I right?
Anyway gtg oredi.. The computer screen is a bit too bright for me to type anymore. So God bless and I hope that I am not blogging out of topic again, huh? And be long-winded again? =( God bless and take care..
2006年4月6日 上午5點26分23秒The Day we called Easter...
A Man was going to be persecuted on the cross. Well He knows what is going to happen to Him but not the world. The world thought that they actually wins when they crucified this Man on the cross, the most horrifying way of killing a human being and the most humilating way (I would say) during those ancient time despite the fact that He never kills anyone, neither does He had any adulterous relationship with anybody, or should I say, He actually does nothing that worth for Him to be killed. But well what He does was just healed ppl and preach His Gospel to the world, that God loves them and He defended those who are weak and those who can't take care of themselves. In fact most of the time, when ppl confronted Him or mock Him especially during the time He was caught by the world for doing nothing wrong, He just kept quiet. Those who believed He is not wrong just kept quiet for the fear that the Pharisees and the teacher of the law would expel them from the synagogues if they would ever make noise or riot. All in all, the teacher of the law and the Pharisees just wanted Him out of their life so that they can have humanly peace and continue to live in humanly glory instead of God.
Well before He was crucified, there was no such things as Good Friday or Easter Sunday. That particular Sunday was just another Sunday or what ppl called as Sabbath Day, so they said and think. Well guess what? That particular Sunday or Sabbath Day is the beginning of Easter Day, a day that Jesus was crucified and then die before He was raised to Heaven again. It's a day of victory and a day to acknowledge that Jesus is alive and to make known to the world that satan had lost the battle. The very fact that the last minutes before He die (the word of the dying ppl are usually very precious) He still declared us His brothers and sister and ask God the Heavenly Father to forgive us, the sinners. It is only after that, that we are saved from God's wrath through Jesus' sacrificial blood.
Remember if Jesus were never to die at all, and if God is not willing to sacrifice His only Begotten Son, we would not have been survived His wrath. It is because of His death and His ressurrection, all of us can die with our mind and heart in peace with Him. Otherwise we would all be scared to die though. And honestly saying, all of us have been learning all these things and sometime tends to ignore and forget what we had said before when we 1st accept Him as Christ and Saviour and make our Jesus Christ. My 1st time accepting Christ was nothing much to said about because I was still the same after I accepted Him and since I was born in a so-called Christian family, there is nothing new to me about Christ till I actually tasted Him. But guess what? Despite me rejecting Him last time or shall I say ignored Him, He was always there for me. For me, that's what Easter is all about. It is all about Him and nothing is about me. He does everything according to what He said and He act more than what He said. That's why I am changing day by day.
Anyway yup.. That is what I wanna say until now.. Let's make this Easter celebration and Easter Day to come a day for Jesus cause that's His life and it is Him who was killed and raised to life and it is not us.. May God be all honour and glory.. =) God bless.. Remember Him as our Saviour and not some kind of ancient gods. God bless and take care.. =)