~May Your Light Shine :D~

Thursday, May 25, 2006

Just completed 2 assignments and procrastinating… just can’t seem to work up the motivation to start on my other assignments. I need a break, but there is nothing for me to unwind to. I’m watching a pathetic 1hr of tv a week.

Anyway, the weather is turning colder as your can see on my weather clock. Im wearing gloves in my room as I am typing this. Abit kua zhang I know, but I can’t stand my fingers freezing.

Since I can’t do work, I decided to blog about something I have wanted to blog about some time ago but never found the time.

Was reading this book from Max Lucado, its actually a compilation of 3 books – In the eye of the storm, He still moves stones, A gentle thunder. In this book(s), I made a discovery about a pretty well known passage and gained a whole new perspective.

The story is written in all the gospels. Its the story about a day in Jesus’ life, apart from the crucifixion.

In 24 hours, Jesus experienced:
Intense sorrow – His close friend, cousin, John the Baptist was beheaded
Immediate threat – Herod who just killed John, is now after Jesus
Immeasurable joy – His disciples have all come back and reporting all the good works they have done
Immense crowds
Insensitive interruptions – When he wanted solitude, the people followed him
Incredible demands – thousands clamored for His touch
Inept assistance – the one and only time he asked for help, to feed the thousands, his disciples thought he was out of his mind

Ever felt that it never rains, but pours? When bad things come, they do not come alone? In Chinese, we have this saying - 祸不单行. Well that was pretty much happened to Jesus. After receiving news of the death of John and that Herod is after His head as well, Jesus needed some time alone to grieve. But His disciples have just came back and they were all exuberant from all the miracles they have done in the name of the Lord. Ok, that’s fine, Jesus rejoices with them. However, following His disciples, are hordes of people, who wanted to see the man whom his disciples are proclaiming. When I mean hordes, I meant 25 000 people! Not the kind of number of fans that you see at some concert.
When Jesus called for his disciples to go to him and find a place to rest, the crowds followed. He took a boat while they took a hike. Seems like they were determined to follow him. Now Jesus had no obligation to stay with those people, no one would blame him if he wanted to go home. It had been a tumultuous day. But Jesus ‘had compassion on them and healed their sick’. And soon the day was gone and the people were far from a town where they could get food. So the disciples tell Jesus to tell the people to go so they can get food. Reasonable right? Instead Jesus tells the disciples to feed the people. WHAT?! – was the reaction He got. Hey, they’ve just seen Him heal thousands, yet they balk at the thought of feeding them. Only one boy had faith but he only had 2 fishes and 5 loaves of bread. Lol. Where got enough? However, Jesus took it and gave thanks for the food. Well the rest as we all know, not only was there enough for everyone, there were 12 basketfuls of leftovers.

Through it all, Jesus never lost His cool. He never shouted at the crowds to go away when they followed Him. He never scolded his disciples for not trusting in Him. Better still, at the end of it, He still remembered to thank God. Gosh, if I were Him, I’ll be too busy mumbling/sulking/grumbling to thank God.

Why do you think Jesus was able to do what He did? It was because He knew the value of people and his love for people overcame his need for rest. He put us before Himself. So the next time you think you have a bad day, think again! Think Jesus is way up there, He can never possibly understand what you are going through, think again! He understands it all, cuz He’s been through it and more. And if you think that you have nothing significant to offer God, think again! If that boy did not offer his lunch, there would have been no miracle. Remember, never limit what God can do.

Lydea blogged at 2:47 PM

May your light shine...
in the darkness...