Ex Nihilo

The term Ex Nihilo is in latin, it explains the nature of God as the creator. The bible says that, 'In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth'. Just like God, we can also create, we are creative being...and that is good...However, when we create something, we would need other materials. Unlike us, God can create something out of nothing..... Actually, before anything exist, God already is.... just imagine that for a second,...it is like all the sudden our thoughts have gone blank.....the truth is no one can't conceive absolute nothingness....it is beyond our comprehension......

We must remember that God is still creating at the moment, maybe not to the extent like creating the heavens and the earth, but he is creating the new heaven and the new earth, through us....(that is another topic by itself)...at the same time, God is still creating something out of nothing....think of all the situations that we face in life...and sometimes we face situations, where we can't seem to find a solution for it, ...again it's like we are going blank,...sometimes if we just give it sometimes situations may improve by itself....but what if things just get worse?..and we still can't find any solutions.....I think, in those desperate moments what we need is a miracle.....a miracle from heaven...

The cross,...take for example the message of the cross. The cross was by no means intended for good. It was a punishment, a humiliation. It was a death penalty...yet when seek his body, we only found an empty tomb and Angels that say 'Why do you seek the living among the dead?' ......
.....It was a miracle...that someone who was dead, rose again...

Out of nothing, God can make something good...With Him, there is always hope...

Stef

Things Out of My Hands

Last week, my wife and I were rushing for an important meeting and we were stuck in traffic. Traffic was soo bad as there were 2 accidents in the highway and 4 out of 5 lanes were blocked. It would normally take 30 minutes to travel and now it has become 1.5 hour (at least that's what the radio says). I was saying to myself surely we are going to be soo late.

Then we decided to find other roads to go to, well guess what, probably half of Melbourne had the same thought just like us. Other roads were as bad. I was frustrated, nervous, and kind of not sure what to do now.

Then, Kris started praying for a good traffic or at least arriving not too late. I was thinking to myself, really? is He going to really answer that? It would be awesome if He does, what if suddenly all the cars are going move aside and let me through, or a group of traffic policemen knock on our car window and say ' Sir, we will escort you to your destination'...good imaginations right...., well didn't happen though.... so we were crawling our way out of the city and only then I knew how late we were going to be...We arrived at the place 30 minutes late, and I was exhausted after all the speeding, worrying or put it simply 'road rage'....we were fortunate enough to arrive 30 minutes late, could have been worse, I think that was part of the answered prayer...

Things just don't go according to our plan all the time. For the last 2 weeks, I didn't plan to go overseas on the same day when I just got back from out of town. I didn't plan to go to Geelong twice, Ballarat twice, in a week to fix faulty medical machines..I didn't plan to get a corrupted laptop within a busy week of work (though I managed to fix it after a couple of days, fiuuuh).... Sure we are hoping for the best but things don't always go according to plan...

But that won't stop me from planning, cause I know that there are things within my hands or responsibility too, say how much time I'd like to spend with my family, how often do I go overseas to visit my parents, how quick should I finish my part time studies, how am I going to learn mandarin and speak to my in laws...Too often I put my energy and thoughts on the the things that are beyond my control, just worrying, being frustrated or even dreaming... when I just realized that I should've focus my efforts on the things that I could do..

In other words, on the things that are in God's hand, I'd leave them to Him. Things that are within my responsibility I'll work on them....as for coming to an important meeting.. I think leaving early won't hurt =)....

Stef

Knowledge, Understanding and Wisdom

Someone I know put a post on facebook, it says "what's the difference between knowledge, understanding and wisdom?" He asked the question based on prov 24:3-4. I wanted to reply his post but ended up putting the answer on my blog, reason being, the reply might be of use for others and perhaps, this is too long for a facebook post =)

Actually those 3 words are quite similar and can be used interchangeably depending on the context. The Hebrew language itself is twice richer in vocabulary than english, that means 1 english word could possibly be translated into multiple Hebrew words. For .e.g 'understanding' could be translated to Tebunah, Bin, Binah, Sekel, lebab, manda.

In proverbs 24:3-4, 'Wisdom' comes from the word 'Hokmah', which means inner quality in the heart and life of a person in conformity with God's purpose and character, it could also simply mean 'skill' or 'ability'. According to other references in scripture wisdom is indicated as a divine attribute.

the second word is 'understanding' comes from the word 'tebunah'. It could mean intelligence, rational ability, moral discernment, insight, capacity or discerning the right course of action or skill.

the 3rd word is 'knowledge' ('daat'), could mean skill, human learning, and quite similar to the first 2 words that I've mentioned.

Now, looking into the context of Prov 24, the 1st verse was talking about how we should not envy or copy an evil man's way or desire. The writer of the verse than continue by using an illustration of building a house.

v3. 'Through wisdom a house is built', over here I think we can change the word wisdom with skill. We need certain craftsmen to build a house, I surely can't build one, I've never been a big fan of LEGO either. 'By Understanding it is established' I think the word 'understanding' here means intelligence, insight. We may build a house with craftsmen/skill but we also need intelligence/understanding to make sure that it is well established. Without understanding the house may collapse after a while or may not be strong enough when bad weather kicks in.

v4. 'by knowledge the rooms are filled with all precious riches' , I think this is talking about the last stage, now that the house is built and well established by having wisdom and understanding but this is not the end, we still need to fill it, make it pleasant in the inside. I think the word 'knowledge' here means about human learning, by it we could continue the work to make the house more comfortable to live in.

By the way, I think the writer meant it more than building a house, I think these attributes are useful for building our lives.

fiuuuhh...i think this is very theological, you know what, In my simplified version, I'd say just do the right thing continually =)

Stef

Soteria

Last week, a friend of mine quoted a verse from the bible, Romans 1:16 ' For I'm not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes'

According to a dictionary, salvation means the act of saving or delivering, the state of being saved or delivered, a source or cause or means of deliverance. In Christians' faith it simply means that we believe we are saved or forgiven from our sins because of Jesus.

Just today I discovered that salvation or (soteria in greek) has a broader meaning and one of its root meanings is wholeness, complete or soundness. It speaks about the restoration of all things that has been destroyed. If could put it in other words, the Gospel of Christ restores all things. I love that, cause I know there is still tons of restoration work to be done in this life.

On that note, lets help to rebuild Queensland, many lives been affected and we can help.

http://www.qld.gov.au/

Watch out for scam websites..go to official QLD web...

Stef

Two Face Persona

Have you seen the Dark Knight? if you haven't you probably need to check it out now, I mean like NOW!, it is probably one of my all time favorite movie in 2009. I know it's been a while since the movie release, but suddenly this character just comes back to my attention.

I'm talking about Batman's nemesis, two face. I think you know, the character where often he can't decide what to do next. He always have conflicting thoughts in his mind that decision making is a constant struggle. Hence, he lets a coin toss to decide for him.

Often I see that conflicting thoughts in people in general, and more often I find it in my own faith and other Christians. It seems like we know what is right, but don't have the inclination to do it.

I think its quite normal to have different personas in different environment, say they way we behave when we have our parents around, or when we are in a business meeting, when we are with our partner, or all alone. I think we do need to adjust our 'tone' to relate with different types of people.

What I'm talking about is when those personas starting to conflict our 'familiar' image. You know, like when we are in church is completely different outside of church, when people say one thing but do quite the opposite.

I read this book by David Kinnaman and Gabe Lyons 'Unchristian'. The book sums up that in general Christians have an image problem (pg11), surprise, surprise!...Although, the church believes that we are one thing, but the outsiders think another. These are some of the words non Church goers would describe about the believers; anti homosexual, hypocritical, judgmental, boring, out of touch...the list goes on and on...

It is quite sad, that people would leave the church or their faith altogether because of this conflicting image issue, from within them personally or caused by others. People get confused and discouraged at the end. Mannnn, we got to deal with this and stop hiding it. If we don't we only hurting ourselves and others, what good is that for us?...

I think some Christians do realize and making the efforts to change that image prolbem, but ultimately, I think its not just the image but its our real persona. For me, I would definitely concern if I have conflicting personas, and I think we need to be real.

Let some light shine in our dark spots, surely by time, we will come in terms with our own weaknesses and be real, and I think we would then discover our great potentials and unbeknown goods in God.

" There are no ordinary people, You have never talked to a mere mortal" C.S Lewis.

in His service,

Stef

What is depression?

Have you heard about the great depression? It happened around 1929 to 1930, originated in the US. Basically, it was the period of the worst global economic down turn in the 20th century. Unemployment rate was so bad that it averages between 25 - 30 % in differing countries. Many basic needs weren't met. Obviously, this is one of the reasons that can cause depression on an individual, unmet needs.

We are still in the global economic recession that started in late 2008, probably one of the worst in the early 21th century, with the unemployment rate that hiked up to 10% in US and 7% in Australia. I'm hoping that we already passed the worst of it.

Now, I'm here to talk about depression. What is depression? It is a condition where one feels sad, gloom, sometimes it could be over a long period of time without any reason. Normally one would have certain moodines, lack of interest in naturally fun things, isolation, overly sensitive, insomnia or hypersomnia. The severity of it can vary from minor to the extreme of psychotic depression.

I think I have had what it is called minor depression. I think I had a few in my life. First of all, probably when I was 11 years old, where we as a family relocate to another city, which means I had to leave all my friends. Secondly, when I broke up from my first relationship, and every now and then probably just relapse, when there is continual pressure at work, finance, loss of family members, friendship, ministry and other things.

I heard from someone too, apparently, being a high achiever or perfectionist increases the likelihood of experiencing disappointment or stress. I think there is also greater pressure for a christian to 'look' good, not to imagine as a leader in this context, a pressure to conform, people's expectation, etc. Perhaps, the solution for this is acceptance, I think when people around you accept you the way you are there is relief and easiness in the atmosphere.

My opinion, depression is a normal part of life, I know a few character in the bible that did experience as what we 'categorized' as depression, e.g. Elijah, David. What most important is how are we dealing with it and knowing what God is trying to do here.

When all things seem to spiral downwards, think about these; you are not alone, there is always someone to talk to and problems are temporary. I'll say this from a convert pessimist's view, ' Life is not that bad after all'.


in His service

Stef