Christian bookstores, please take note.
Joshua Harris is pulling I Kissed Dating Goodbye off the bookshelves.
Joshua Harris’ documentary on the book he is pulling off the shelves, “I Kissed Dating Goodbye”
Were you a fan of the book? Or were you, like me, initially hooked, then feeling duped in the end?
I for one, am thankful its publication is ceasing.
The Son of Man came to seek and save the lost (Luke 19:10)
Leaders: Have you ever felt like the investment you put into mentoring another person was all for naught?
When was the last time you felt like giving up and/or taking a break from teaching others because you didn’t see any progress in your mentees or that their growth was shortlived then died suddenly?
Someone ranted to me recently about no longer wanting to give as much of his effort into training others because his trainees ended up taking the teaching for granted and/or showed so much promise in the beginning, only to fall away eventually without as much as a thank you or, I’m sorry, I am going a different path now. And I felt for him. It was time away from his business, and he didn’t have to do all the mentorship, yet he saw the potential in the people he took under his wing which was why he set aside effort in guiding them.
I too, once shared something similar to an accountability group. It felt good sharing to others whom I knew wouldn’t judge me. I’m not sure if any of them ever experienced it, but I did hear something encouraging that made me renew my thinking about the situation: God sent Jesus to die for our sins, but before He did, he invested three years of His life in twelve men, all of whom were sinners, and even one who would betray Him eventually. His point? That we are called to disciple others the same way. Do your mentoring without expecting to be rewarded or that your mentees will show their appreciation in the way you think they ought to. Do it for God’s glory and not because you want immediate results.
Do you remember how Jonah got angry (Jonah 4:1) that God did not proceed with the calamity He declared He would bring upon Nineveh (Jonah 3:10)? Maybe not. Most people, like me, often focus on the swallowed-by-a-giant-fish part (Jonah 1). Anyway, Jonah told God about his reasons for being angry, but God did something to make Jonah realize that His compassion for Nineveh went far beyond the compassion Jonah had for the plant that gave the latter shade in the scorching heat.
The bottomline which I took from Our Daily Bread 2019 (but I got too excited and couldn’t wait to use it in 2018!) is this: God took extreme measures to save us from sin and set in place a pattern of discipleship for His followers to emulate. How are we doing in this area?
Drop me a line a line if you would like some encouragement 🙂
MERRY JOHN 3:16!
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One week to go til Passion Manila 2014!!!
Connection is Key!
More importantly the “badminton connection” he talks about is an excellent metaphor for intimacy with God being of paramount importance. It is more important than ministry work itself. I heard it repeatedly in 2012: “Ministry is the outflow of your intimacy with God.” Not the other way around. So too we must keep going back to our first love, to knowing Him intimately, first and foremost (because ministry may sometimes take your focus off of God, if that makes sense. Check out Luke 10:38-42.) Jesus gave us a good example of how one ought to jealously guard one’s alone time with God by frequently withdrawing from large crowds to pray and connect with Him.
Do you want to watch a live NBA game for free?
Yes please!!!
(Heart starts screaming, jumping up and down and doing cartwheels.)
My original date, my dad, who was the one who had been given the complimentary tickets, suddenly had to back out. He wasn’t sure what time he would get out of a meeting. And my mom hadn’t been feeling well and he wanted to be home right afterwards.
That gave me limited time to invite a proxy. But who to pick?
Heart also wants to invite -bleep bleep- (insert name of Christian leader), but the brain is feeling really stupid for even thinking it. (The heart is deceitful! Jeremiah 17:9 Trust in God and lean not on your own understanding! Proverbs 3:5-6)
So I prayed for the right match.
Immediately, three people came to mind.
I was hoping I would see candidate #1 on Wednesday during D12.
Thursday was the day of the game.
But by Thursday morning I still hadn’t seen her.
A few names were impressed on me but I reasoned with God. The first person didn’t even like basketball! Could I bless her some other way? It would have been an opportunity to turn the other cheek, but I was hesitant to go through with the invitation. I was so not at peace with it.
Then a perfect shot!
Jamie, who had actually been feeling stressed out that morning, had, unbeknownst to me, been praying for the tickets for weeks! I missed her FB post on this but God sure didn’t!
O happy J, FB-ing that we are here! Or were you texting Shai to ask if we could meet James Harden?
God couldn’t have picked a better sub for my dad when He picked Jamie!
* * *
A lowlight:
Jeremy Lin came in as a late substitution after the crowd kept asking for him to be fielded in! What I found off-putting was this heckler saying “Wala!” while he was shooting. IMHO, if you want to heckle, do it in your hecklee’s language. Duh.
Highlights:
Jamie’s reaction when I told her on the phone.
Donald Sloan shooting a free throw and someone in the rafters yelling, “Go Ginebra! Fight, fight, fight!”
Me pointing out celebrity sightings to Jamie. “Hey J, look it’s KC! Hey J, look, it’s Megan!” Jamie, laser-focused on James Harden, saying, “So?! I don’t care!”
Megan who? – J, the NBA snob
This is the guy I’ve been watching out for -J. Guys, check out Larry Bird! -F.
Being the bomb in a photo bomb with Alex Compton post-match.
Seeing the legends all in one place.
And of course, being blessed to be a blessing!
1st quarter score
This was my second NBA game. My first was in Key Arena, Seattle, in 2005, because my boss had free tickets and some staff members got to go! The Sonics won (Go Ray Allen! Wooo!) and for being an early bird, I even got a Sonics blanket, which unfortunately, got towed along with Princess when she was totalled in 07. Fail!
Huddle
Center Court
Seattle Fire Department vs Seattle Police Department (dodge ball at half time) Fire department won.
Yay, Sonics won!
It was an amazing experience. A classic example of God not calling the qualified, but Him qualifying the called.
Just kidding though about kuwarta! 😀
I was really young when my paternal grandmother died. When my dad told me this, I imagined she was up in heaven and happy. I couldn’t express this well—all that came out was, “Yay! Who’s next?” Boy was I in trouble after that!
For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain. – Philippians 1:21 NASB
The baby book says my first name means free while my surname translated in Tagalog means rejoice!
Philippians 4:4
(The photo is a freebie vector from Shutterstock, and no, they’re not paying me to tell you this)
Hahaha! Here’s what I did to save compost material in the beginning. So crude!
Sandwiches and sandwich spread? Nope! These are my pre-composting containers (PCC) ha! 🙂
A housemate who was into organic composting kept jars as catchalls for her organic scraps. She was a meat-eater so her jar didn’t fill up quickly.
In contrast, I, a veggie lover, have two days worth of scraps in several containers already! These get emptied when I have the time to bring it to the composting site, which is once a week.
What I put in:
Anything leftover from food prep. If I prepare kangkong, the stalks go in. If I’m juicing fruit, the peels, seeds and the leftover pulp goes in. I’ve also put it in hair, fingernails and eggshells. If it’s hair, I usually include the paper that I wrap it in. Have you tried keeping organic scraps for future composting? Send me your pictures!
Metanoia 