1You then, my son, be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus. 2And the things you have heard me say in the presence of many witnesses entrust to reliable men who will also be qualified to teach others. 3Endure hardship with us like a good soldier of Christ Jesus. 4No one serving as a soldier gets involved in civilian affairs—he wants to please his commanding officer. 5Similarly, if anyone competes as an athlete, he does not receive the victor's crown unless he competes according to the rules. 6The hardworking farmer should be the first to receive a share of the crops. 7Reflect on what I am saying, for the Lord will give you insight into all this. 2 Tim 2: 1-6

Was a great weekend that reminded us of the attitudes we are to maintain if we are to keep serving in ministry. I think it is good that Leader retreats maintain a theme that can be followed throughout the entire weekend. For example this time round, we looked at how we can adopt the attitudes of 3 occupations, a soldier, an athlete and a farmer in our ministry. On one of the other camps we looked at Hope, Faith and Love...really helps with remembering the teachings from the weekend.

So in ministry we are to maintain our focus like an athlete who keeps his eye on the prize, the real purpose of why we do what we do and that is to see people come to know Christ. As a soldier, we are to not get distracted by "civilian" things also to expect and endure the hardship that comes with being a soldier because we are at the front of the battle. As farmers we are to work hard at what we do, night and day and to be diligent.

Definitely was a great reminder that ministry is not meant to be easy and when things go wrong, well, that's actually normal. But at the same time, great encouragement to keep focused on the end goal because for each of the imageries used in the verse above, the reward is great whether it be the "first to receive a share of the crops","please his commanding officer" or "receiving the victor's crown".

As well as the great teaching by Hongas and Menzies (thanks heaps btw fellas) there were quite a few funny moments. Can't write them all down but probably the most memorable was when all the guys turned a game of cricket into a game of bullrush/rugby inside the main hall. That was mad fun. Sorry Dan for your glasses btw. I don't think i stepped on them, but yeah definitely not cool what happened. A few injuries were had, but they'll heal. No problems. The raft building exercise was hilarious! Wish i had a photo to show the final version of the "raft" the other team built....haha

Labels: Christianity

Work has been a bit stressful lately. It's true the saying "when it rains it pours". A few things have gone wrong recently. I gotta say i went to bed on Friday night quite stressed and worried, which is quite rare for me cos usually i can remove from my mind whatever happened during the week once it hits 5pm on Friday afternoon, but this week was a little different. Didn't have a very good night sleep on Friday cos of it. Woke up on Saturday morning feeling quite anxious which again was weird but as i sat at the table eating my thousand year old egg with slim pork congee for breakfast, i began doing my quiet times (daily bible reading) and by God's grace stumbled across this passage.

“Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus” Philippians 4:6-7

It's quite amazing how God can speak to ones heart through his word, at just the right time and with just the right words. This verse reminded me that God is a personal relational God who knows and cares for our troubles. He is someone we can trust and present our worries and requests to through prayer and he is in control. He doesn't promise that all the worries of the world will instantly be taken away and that everything will be fine and dandy once you pray to Him, but he does guarantee peace in Jesus Christ. This peace comes from our identity and knowing who we are, that we are loved by God, loved by Christ no matter what because he has proven this to us on the cross.

As the old saying goes "We don't live to work, we work to live". But i think i'd like to add a bit more to that and to say that "We don't live to work, we work to live and to honor God in all we do". So as i return to work today, all the problems and issues that i left on Friday are still here and will need to be resolved, but i can go about it knowing that what I am doing here at work is to try and honor Christ because of my relationship with God.

Do not worry

Labels: Christianity