[dedicated to all the people about to have exams or are already in the midst of them]

Enter the examination hall without any idea on what is the criteria or subject being tested is equivalent to running onto the battlefield without a rifle.

Exams can be said to be a constant in a student's life. It is an annual ordeal, but even more importantly, we must understand that it is allowed by God. Thus the question to ask is why are we being examined, and what are we being examined about.

An examination is a test to see if we have acquired a certain level of proficiency in something. Thus the purpose of an examination is always to act as a gauge, both used by God and by man. (Meaning that the purpose is similiar, but the standard of gauging may differ)

Already answering why we are being examined, now we need to answer what are we being examined on. We need to know what we are tested upon in order to pass, hence this is the important point. Schools examine our knowledge, God test our character. (I hate to use the word test as it seems to be an understated expression regarding the importance of passing the assessment, but people are often more familiar with God testing us so... oh well) Understand this, God's main aim is not out to make us smarter. After all, as i said before, knowledge of this world is of no value. In fact, we are merely discovering what God has concluded. He made the world. If He's so obsessed about us learning how it works, He would have gave us a textbook, not a bible. Besides if God wanted to use exams to test our level of intellect, He would be practising favoritism with those that He created with higher aptitude for learning.

God uses exams to bring out to light our true characters. He's testing us in discipline, diligence, perseverance. If we cannot even be disciplined to study for an exam which is the basic responsibility of a student, how can we be disciplined to shepherd our sheep? If we cannot even study diligently, how will we be to serve Him diligently? Our character is reflected off simple things such as these.


Get this straight: This isn't an examination on intellect, this is an examination on character.


Our examination hall isn't the school hall, its our daily life.
Our exam duration isn't the 2 hours, its the months leading to the examination.
Our exam doesn't end when the time's up for writing, our exam ends when the time's up for prepartion.
Our pass isn't in our marks, its how we fared in the eyes of The Almighty.
He's not asking for top grades, He asked for top character.
Just do your best, for by doing that, you have already passed His test.




Hope I helped re-focused somethings here.

[the unlovable part of love]

One of the absolutes in life: Humans all know how to love someone.

Ranging from the cruelest autocratic dictator to the kindest human rights activist, we all love someone. Take note of the precise words i used. Someone. Meaning it always has to be a person. In fact, its usually the same person. The person need not be perfect, nor clever, nor good looking. The person may be sinful, unlovable and may be described with all the detestable vocabulary in the world yet we never have any qualms on loving the person. In fact, we may even find it easy to love.

That person is ourselves.

By default, we are all programmed to love ourselves. The fact is that, none of us actually loves the world for itself. We love the world because of what it can provide for us. Money, power, worldy relationship etc. No one loves money, but they love what money can do for them. They love having the ability to splurge on the lastest fashion to look good or gain public envy by buying the niftest gadgets. If one was to love money for the sake of money, he would gladly sell all his limbs for all the money in the world. No, the truth is that we all love money because we love ourselves first. Same thing goes with power. Will you want all the power and authority in the world if I only give you 5 days to live?

Relationships has a slightly more tricky link. I obviously mean the worldly ones. (And maybe some not so biblical ones as well) Well, we claim we love the other party right? Well, the problem? Its not fully unconditional. We all love them in order to exchange something in return. We are merely trading non-monetary actions for non-monetary wages. Maybe a kiss for 5 mins of the other party's time, or a listening ear now in exchange for a everlasting support?

Frankly, I'm disgusted with the way I'm looking at relationships, but at least here's an attempt to evaluate things honestly. Basically, most people go into relationships thinking what they can get out of it instead of what they can provide to the other party. I think thats biggest difference between Christ-centered relationships and self-centered relationships.
(gosh, I just got enlightened myself while typing this. haha.)

So whats the solution? Love someone else more then you love yourself. By doing that, you will make his priority your priority, his business your business, his passion your passion. By then his object of love will eventually become your object of love.

I don't think I need to tell you who to love.

Common sense is not so common after all

"It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood, who strives valiantly; who errs and comes short again and again; because there is not effort without error and shortcomings; but who does actually strive to do the deed; who knows the great enthusiasm, the great devotion, who spends himself in a worthy cause, who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement and who at the worst, if he fails, at least he fails while daring greatly. So that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who know neither victory nor defeat."

- Theodore Roosevelt

[genie in the bottle/ part 2]

Imagine you are given 100 wishes. I may not know what is the first wish that you will make, but I know what the last wish is. You would want to wish that the 100 wishes would be taken back.

That is taking into consideration 2 defined assumptions:
1) You even managed to last till the 100th wish
2) I know what you are thinking. NO, using the last wish to wish for another 100 wishes is not valid. (I used to laugh at Aladdin's stupidity as well) Anyway, even if that was your last wish, the eventual final one will still be that of my prediction. Trust me.

Just watched 'Click' recently, and if you would be kind enough to follow my observaton and trail of thought, you will understand my statement. Ever realized that all wishy movies are moral movies? Aladdin, Bedazzled, Click etc. The wishes made by the wisher often cause the demise of the own wisher. Its an irony causes the wishes were actually intended to make life better for the indiviual. The reason is because along with fulfillment of the wishes, they come along with unforeseen circumstances that the particular individual did not anticipate. This is best illustrated in the movie of 'The Butterfly Effect'.

"It has been said that something as small as the flap of a butterfly's wings can ultimately cause a typhoon halfway around the world."-Chaos Theory

Basically, every action leads to consequences whether you choose to believe it or not. We may ignore it, but we can never escape it. If we were to extrapolate our life 10, 20 years down the road and was able to see into the ENTIRE futuristic effects of our present sin, I doubt anyone will logically choose to sin. (Thats why prophets are so blessed and cursed at the same time.) Yet we are such blind, near sighted people that we focus on temporal gains in exchange for eternal losses. For those that already have the knowledge of what sin can do to destroy your life yet chooses to ignore it, how bleak is your future.

For there is no sin greater then that of a conscious sin.

[A (few) penny for my thoughts/ part 1]


about spiritual maturity:

There was this story told by Ravi Zacharias in one of his sermons.
A passenger sat next to this fantastic looking lady through out the long plane trip from US to New Zealand. Dumbfounded by her beauty, he made an audacious offer: sleep with me for a hundred million dollars. Utterly stunned, the women asked again to confirm. She said she would think about it. In the end, she agreed to his request.
Just before the plane had landed, the guy turned around and admitted frankly that he didnt have that amount of cash. He ask if a hundred dollars will suffice. Angrily, the woman retorted, "Just what kind of person do you think i am!?"
His reply leave much to be pondered upon.

"Well, that fact is already established. What we are just doing is haggling over the price."

Is it true that we all have a price? And if certain conditions and prerequisites are met, we will be willing to forsake our principles? I'm not only referring to the monetary price as in material wealth but also price in terms of amount of fame, relationships and power?

That means that the devil can surely buy us over as long as the price is right. All he needs to do is just to bring it up till we agree. Obviously we aren't dumb. If he tempt me with an increase in pocket money, i doubt i will deflect over to his side. But what if that were to go to another level? What if the devil says to the power hungry person that if you choose forsake Jesus, and i'll give you a position of power? Or backslide now and i will give you fame of michael jordan... etc. Exactly at what price will we then agree to hand ourselves over?
I urge to think about it and guard that area tightly.

Thankfully, in 1 cor 10:13 it says,

No temptation has seized you except what is common to man. And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can stand up under it.

but that also means we have a limit right? Let's say that is 1000 possible temptations for a human to fall into. If God protects u from 990 temptations and only allows u 10, cause He knows you definitely fall into sin if you faced the 11th type of temptation. It speaks loads about our spiritual maturity, doesnt it? Not that I asked for lessen protection from God for i need it as well, but i do hope i may mature more so that eventually God can "entrust" me with more possible temptations cause He know that i will be able to stand up against them with His help. That is how you measure true spiritual maturity -- the number of decisions made, choosing Him over our sinful desires.



P.S: We were all brought by Him already at the price of His blood. By selling ourselves to the devil at a stated price, we have effectived placed a valuation of His blood -- that which is originally priceless.

[the death of enthusiasm]

"Nothing great was ever achieved without enthusiasm."
- Raph Waldo Emerson


I'm convinced this single aspect can and will eventually lead to the death of a group if its left unchecked. Its potential is often underestimated, yet its effects are already felt.

First impressions sticks. And they are hard to change.
People that first joins us whether is it in service or caregroup will be inspecting our behavior. How the majority behaves will then be defined as the norm acceptable behavior. This is the power of the herd mentality. Its not about having a single person to turn up the enthusiasm level, it is a entire group issue.

Imagine with me: we have 9 dead people in caregroup. The next new person that joins us, will observe and conclude that deadness is the norm. So the next time he join us, he probably will be lifeless as well as he does not like to be an "extra" (although this extra is in fact ideal and the normal is the lesser ideal). So the caregroup grows to have 10 lifeless people, becoming even worse then before. By then its, even harder to pick up the enthusiasm level. And for the records, dead caregroups do NOT appeal to living people.

Was there not a time where going down to the aisle to praise and worship was the norm in service? How is it then it has now been changed to be viewed as an "extra commitment"? Please, standing there and clapping isn't really counted as enthusiastic praising. Even our visitors clap do that! (See? The power of herd mentality... if he doesnt clap, he will feel weird.)

Even in games. 10 insanely enthusiastic people playing the concentration game will make it more fun then 100 boring people walking around in a wargame. Its not the system, its the people. Get this straight. Enthusiasm is not personality. Its is not an issue of differences of expression, it is an issue of biblicality (if there is such a word).

"Enthusiasm" is taken from two root words: "en" and "theos", meaning "God within." If we have God living on the inside of us, we ought to, no we MUST be enthusiastic! Dare I clarify it for you. Not being enthusiastic is equivalent to not being biblical! And whether or not unbiblicality is sinfulness, you decide for yourself.


For those that have read this post, ignorance is not longer a valid excuse.