Christmas!

It's that time of the year again.

Once again, been a while since I blogged, but I've really been busy since my Beijing trip. After my Beijing Trip I had to prepare for my presentation on the 20 Dec; it's a great module but it took away 20 days of my winter break.

But I guess the trip made it worthwhile.

Anyways. I think I really love my cell group. Though my new cell group didn't really open up to me immediately when I joined them, but I can see the cell group is really very close knit. They meet up like 3 or 4 times a week, either for svc, cg, movies, exercise and what not.

Amazing.

On that note, my cell group people are really very physically active; they go soccer, running, cycling, and everything. Haha. It's great cos it helps me start exercising more! Woohoo.

And we're all going for the sundown Marathon in May next year so we're really going to train hard for it. I couldn't say no cos my female cell members are going! Haha.

We just had an Xmas countdown the night before, causing me to be late for service today. Haha. Thank God for the car. Took me 45 mins from getting awake to sitting in the service, while fetching a friend from Eunos.

And speaking of which, I've been driving alot nowadays. Just passed about 1 month back, but I've driven so much, almost everyday that I think I'm getting alot of good practice, tho breaking lots of traffic rules on the way. So yeah.

Now I'm available for suppers! Woohoo! Anywhere!

And yeap, it's almost time for a new beginning in 2009. 2008 has been quite a year for me. I think most important, a year of finding myself. My identity in God as His child. Knowing more and more that He loves me; and living in that security.

Looking at the start, it began in the year with a simple talk with a friend about r'ships. That time both of us being confused and a little uncertain. Things have really changed. =)

2009 will be even better =)

I love this song!

It's v touching. Love it

Renounce the Agreements You've Made

Your wounds brought messages with them. Lots of messages. Somehow they all usually land in the same place. They had a similar theme. “You’re worthless.” “You’re not a woman.” “You’re too much…and not enough.” “You’re a disappointment.” “You are repulsive.” On and on they go. Because they were delivered with such pain, they felt true. They pierced our hearts, and they seemed so true. So we accepted the message as fact. We embraced it as the verdict on us.

The vows we made as children act like a deep-seated agreement with the message of our wounds. They act like an agreement with the verdict on us. “Fine. If that’s how it is, then that’s how it is. I’ll live my life in the following way….” The vows we made acted like a kind of covenant with them. Those childhood vows are very dangerous things. We must renounce them. Before we are entirely convinced that they aren’t true, we reject the message of our wounds. It’s a way of unlocking the door to Jesus. Agreements lock the door from the inside. Renouncing the agreements unlocks the door to him.

(Captivating , 100-101)

Fatherless

You are the son of a kind, strong, and engaged Father, a Father wise enough to guide you in the Way, generous enough to provide for your journey, offering to walk with you every step.

This is perhaps the hardest thing for us to believe—really believe, down deep in our hearts, so that it changes us forever, changes the way we approach each day.

I believe this is the core issue of our shared dilemma. We just don’t believe it. Our core assumptions about the world boil down to this: We are on our own to make life work. We are not watched over. We are not cared for. When we are hit with a problem, we have to figure it out ourselves, or just take the hit. If anything good is going to come our way, we’re the ones who are going to have to arrange for it. Many of us have called upon God as Father, but, frankly, he doesn’t seem to have heard. We’re not sure why. Maybe we didn’t do it right. Maybe he’s about more important matters. Whatever the reason, our experience of this world has framed our approach to life. We believe we are fatherless.

Whatever life has taught us, and though we may not have put it into these exact words, we feel that we are alone. Simply look at the way men live. If I were to give an honest assessment of my life for the past thirty years, I’d have to confess the bulk of it as Striving and Indulging. Pushing myself hard to excel, taking on the battles that come to me with determination but also with a fear-based drivenness, believing deep down inside that there is no one I can trust to come through for me. Striving. And then, arranging for little pleasures along the way to help ease the pain of the drivenness and loneliness. Dinners out, adventure gear. Indulging. A fatherless way to live.

(The Way of The Wild Heart , 22-24)