Taking the High Road...

I have decided that I like the picture of R1 & R2 jumping so much that I will use it as a header. :-) The picture somehow lifts my spirit and reminds me to JUMP UP for the Lord because He has given us the freedom to take hold of His unspeakable joy and unshakable peace.

As I go through Genesis 43-50 (another 3 days in my http://www.bibleinayear.org/ reading plan), Joseph's act of grace to forgive his brothers - even though they sold him to slave traders and lied to their father that he was dead - reminds me that it is only God's grace that gives us the ability to take the high road in life. Ol' Nitrox is just like any office worker out there - in my daily work, I meet people who are out to satisfy their personal agenda, whatever the cost to others (and even to the company). These people really make my blood boil, and many times I catch myself reacting in spite when I should really be taking the high road. It is only when I calm down and remember that

1. I work for God and not for men (Colossians 3:23), and
2. He who is in me is greater than he who is in this world (1 John 4:4)

That's when I can stop worrying about what others around me may think about me, and have the ability to take the high road and do the right thing.

There is a very real price to being a Christian at work today. God came to this world to teach us and finally to die for us so that we can catch a glismpe of the kingdom of heaven, so that having the assurance of victory and eternal life, we may be freed from the fears and concerns of this world, so that we can pay the price of being a Christian.

As I write this, a very dear friend of mine in church may well have paid the high price of being a Christian at work. She was chosen for retrenchment after 10 years on the job, and I suspect the choice has more than a little to do with her being the odd one out who does not compromise her Christian values at work. Singapore labour law does NOT require employers to provide any sort of severance pay even for retrenchment, so she is in the midst of a difficult test right now. P, if you are reading this, our prayers are with you, and I praise God that even in such tough times, we can have the certainty that He is in control. "And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose." (Romans 8:28)

Have faith dear sister, have faith. Be proud that you have taken the high road, and continue to take the high road. It is the only path God has set out for us. Be secure in the knowledge that your steps have stayed on His path, you have not wavered from following Him (Psalm 17:5, NLT) and so like David, you will see Him and be satisfied (Psalm 17:15, NLT). He will be your vindication. He will restore to you what is rightfully yours - your unshakable peace and unshakable joy. Amen!

JUMP!

Somehow this picture never fails to give me a bit more zest in whatever I am doing. :-) Zest that I badly need in my bible reading plan to catch up with the days I have missed so far. Zest that seems to be missing in the morning when I wake up and head to work nowadays (but more on that later).

Since my last post, I read 10 chapters (Genesis 32-42), which is 4 days in in my http://www.bibleinayear.org/ daily reading plan. As always, so much speaks to me in these chapters, but I will focus on what's top most on my mind as I recall the readings. Ol' Nitrox did not grow up in a Christian family, so it is only a few years ago that I started praying that God will make me like Joseph, David and Daniel - men who were blessed with spiritual and material success. As I read these chapters again, the question in my mind is if I can truly be like Joseph?

Joseph went through tremendous ups and downs in his life. Starting as a favourite son, to being sold as a slave, to being the head of Potiphar's household, to being falsely accused and sent to jail, to rising up to be the leader among prisoners, to seeing his chance of getting out of jail dashed (when the chief butler forgot about his promise to bring Joseph's case before Pharaoh), to being rasied to the second man to Pharoah in all of Egypt, to being a blessing to Egypt and all the nations around when there was a famine. Talk about ups and downs! Ol' Nitrox is going thru a small "trough" at work - re-organisation changes are threatening cut my job back to it's scope 4 years ago when I started in the current company. This has been a particularly painful pill to swallow since we have grown the business more than 4 times in the 4 years. But as I look upon the circumstances at work now, the "trough" pales in comparision to any one of the "downs" that Joseph had to go through.

Lord, you have made me to love you with all my heart, with all my soul, and with all my strength (Deuteronomy 6:5). So give me the strength to JUMP back from whatever troughs/downs that life brings my way!

I beg your pardon...

... I never promised you a rose garden,

along with the sunshine,
there's gotta be a little rain sometime..."

So goes the song from Lynn Anderson (I love how tall her hair is - they can write both her name AND the song title on it). :-) The slightly younger generation would perhaps associate these lyrics with the song from Kon Kan).

As I read Genesis 25-31 (Days 20-22 in my http://www.bibleinayear.org/ daily reading plan), it strikes me that God's plan for us is often like the words in the song - He never promised us a rose garden either. Remember how God has promised Abraham to give the entire land of Canaan to his desecndants and that they will be as numerous as sand? Well, it was another 25 years of waiting/hoping/praying before Abraham and Sarah finally had Isaac. And what happens when it was Isaac and Rebekah's turn to continue the family line that is supposed to outnumber the sand on the beach? Rebekah was barren and was only able to conceive after Isaac "pleaded with the LORD for his wife" (Genesis 25:21).

Sometimes, we seem to think that because God has given us a vision/conviction or called us to a ministry, that everything should be smooth flowing. Afterall, we are doing His will, right? I mean, when God promised Abraham that he will be the father of nations and his descendants will outnumber the sand on the beach, the last thing I expected was for him and his only son (Isaac) to have difficulties having children of their own. I gotta remember that sometimes, God values the process more than the outcome.

This is perhaps a large part of the miracle of God's process of salvation - the outcome is already decided and known, what's in it for us is the opportunity to learn and to grow into Christian maturity as much as we can, while we are still here on earth. That window of opportunity closes when we die or when Christ returns (whichever is sooner). Sobering thought, isn't it?

Rising above the level of kids...

Here's a recent family picture from Mrs Nitrox's brother's wedding. It's not often that we, as a family, are so well dressed, so it's good that someone took a picture for us. :-)

I am at Genesis 19-24 in my bible reading plan. I am so far behind schedule that it is not even funny anymore. These are "loaded" chapters - they start from the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah, through to how Abraham and Sarah was finally blessed with Isaac and was tested by God (who asked Abraham to sacrifice Isaac to Him). It is impossible to include all the things that spoke to me in these chapters, but strangely, what spoke to me most was Genesis 21:9 "And Sarah saw the son of Hagar the Egyptian, whom she had borne to Abraham, scoffing." (KIV).

OK, a bit of context here perhaps: Abraham (and Sarah) finally had their own son (Isaac) when Abraham was 100 years old (Genesis 21:5) - well past their child bearing age. This was also a full 25 years since God first promised the land to Abraham's descendants (Genesis 12:1-4). So to say that Isaac was a REALLY precious child in Abraham & Sarah's eyes would not be an over-statement. When Isaac was weaned, the proud parents had a big party for the baby, and Sarah saw Ishmael (Abraham's son thru the maid Hagar) "scoffing". It apparently so drove her up the wall that she had Abraham drive Hagar and Ishmael out from their home and into the surrounding desert. An event that almost cost Hagar and Ishmael their lives.

So here is the confession time for me. I am also guilty of being driven up the wall sometimes when I see other (older) kids bullying or scoffing at R1/R2. I can't understand how I can get so angry with, esssentially, kids! I have felt that way since R1/R2 were toddlers venturing to the playground. When R1/R2 were younger I have actually told off some kids, even in front of their parents. In the last few weeks, with all my nephews and nieces here in Singapore (4 of them staying with us), I have been cheesed off more than once with some of their rather mild teasing/bullying of R1/R2 (who are the 2 youngest cousins). Even little things like excluding R1/R2 in their games, fighting with R1/R2 for snacks/computer time/attention really ilks me. The logical part of me says "Let them be kids", but something in me just flares up to see my precious R1/R2 being "sidelined". I tend to be a very "hands on" Dad, and sometimes it is hard to do that and still remind myself to stay above the level of kids. I have to consciously remind myself that I am being silly, and make an effort to be the dear ol' Uncle Nitrox to my nephews & nieces. Silly isn't it? I mean my nephews and nieces are such wonderful kids - the problem lies very much with me. Yes, I am embarassed.

Praise God that He has opened my eyes to another area in my life that I have to give up to Him. I have to remember that God comes first. And that means that I have to put my ministry to my extended family (bro/sis-in-laws and nephews) and my friends/neighbours above these minor irritations, and trust that God is partnering Mrs Nitrox and I in parenting and protecting R1/R2. It sure is hard, but with His grace, all things are possible, and I can only get better at it. Praise God!

Initiative or Obedience

With the "double whammy" of school starting and their cousins returning to USA/Australia, I hope it wouldn't be too much of a culture shock for R1 & R2. We got them to do some homework today to try to get their minds off the last few weeks of fun and games. On my end, it also means getting back to the daily rhythm of work, family, QT (Quiet Time with the Lord) and training - with work and family to juggle, there is simply no room for procastination when it comes to QT and triathlon training. I either jump into it, or the day just flies away somehow.


So let's jump straight into Genesis chapters 12-18 (which is 2 days in my chronological bible reading plan from http://www.bibleinayear.org/). This is a very interesting passage about how God called Abram to be Abraham (i.e. "father of many", Genesis 17:5) , and how the ancestors of the Jews and the Arabic nations (i.e. Isaac and Ishmael respectively) came about. As I read these chapters, I am reminded of the very real issue of balancing initiative versus obedience - i.e. just where is the balance between using our initiative (i.e using the faculties of our minds that the Lord blessed us with) and waiting/obeying upon Him.

There are at least 3 examples in these chapters that speak of the danger of "running before the Lord":

1. Chapter 12 - Abraham (then Abram) travelled to Egypt to escape the famine in Canaan. God told Abram to go to Canaan, and to his credit he went. But when there was a famine in the land, verse 10 seems to suggest that Abraham took the initiative to go to Egypt - there is no record of God telling Abraham to go there. Abraham even went as far as to tell his wife to pretend to be his sister, so that the Egyptians would not kill him to take her away from him. This sounds very much to me like a hare-brained idea that progressively got worst as Abraham veered away from God's will for him to travel to and live in Canaan. In this case, God protected Abraham and blessed him despite his mis-steps, but it must have been a stressful time for Abraham, Sarah and even the Egyptians (who were struck with plague thanks to Abraham's lies).
2. Chapter 13 - Lot chooses to stay near Sodom. There soon came a time when Abraham and Lot's possessions got so big that they could not stay together. Abraham asked Lot (his nephew) to pick where he wanted to live, and Lot "lifted his eyes and saw all the plain of Jordan, that it was well watered everywhere" (Genesis 13:10). He used his initiative and choose the best land for his flocks, and pitched his tent near Sodom, even though "the men of Sodom were exceedingly wicked and sinful against the LORD" (Genesis 13:13). Well, we all know what happened to Sodom and Gomorrah, and Lot lost everything when God destroyed that area.
3. Chapter 16 - Sarah (then Sarai), Abraham's wife, asked him to sleep with her maid (Hagar) so that they may have an heir. God had promised Abraham that He would give the land to Abraham's descendants (Genesis 12:7), but 10 years later, Abraham and Sarah was still childless. I can appreciate that in their eagerness to see God's promise fulfilled, they decided to take their own intiative and have an heir through Hagar the maid. Seems the logical thing to do right? God has promised to bless their descendants, but they were still unable to conceive and getting past child-bearing age, so maybe God wants them to conceive through other means? They didn't exactly have IVF then, so they decided to do the next best thing, which apparently was not as much a taboo then as it is now. Turns out this was not quite how God wanted to create the Israelite nation, so instead Abramham fathered Ishmael, the ancestor of the Abrabic nations - the very same nations that are in so much conflict with the nation of Israel (offspring of Isaac, Abraham and Sarah's son) even until today.

This is something that I struggle with just about constantly. When do I take initiative and when do I be still and wait upon Him? E.g. do I apply for other roles/jobs, so do I wait upon Him? I have heard of many testimonials of a good job or promotion landing on the laps of Christians. Am I running ahead of Him by trying to get back into the job market? On the other hand, God has given us our minds and expect us to renew our minds as part of His miracle of Savation. So surely He would want us to use our minds rather than to always just sit and wait?

Perhaps what I need to do is to (1) always check my intentions (i.e. why am I even looking around for another role/job to begin with? Is this for selfish reasons or is this in line with His purpose for me at work?), and (2) remember that He is always in charge (despite our occasional follies). "Many are the plans in a man's heart, but it is the LORD's purpose that prevails." (Proverbs 19:21, NIV)

PRAISE GOD!

A New Beginning...

Yesterday's reading (Genesis 8-11, New King James) is mostly about a new beginning, for Noah and the whole earth. Which kinda reflects where I am now - a new beginning.

At work, yet another re-org looms in 1st Jan, so one way or another, things are changing. Training-wise, I have just come off a month's break - started with a week long holiday in Disneyland Hong Kong, and just couldn't bring myself back to training until this week. On the spiritual level, I realised the importance of renewing my mind (Romans 12:2, Ephesians 4:17-24) and have committed to much more regular feeding on His word.

This should be an interesting year.

"If you do well, will you not be accepted?"

Ok, yesterday's daily reading was Genesis chapters 4-7 [I am going through the New King James (NKJ) version]. This goes from Cain & Abel, to Noah & the great flood.

So what strikes me in yesterday's reading was what God said to Cain when He rejected Cain's offering (but accepted Abel's). He said "If you do well, will you not be accepted?..." (Genesis 4:7, NKJ). I have always wondered why God rejected Cain's offering, but the New King James version seems to be quite clear in saying that Cain just did not "do well". Hmmmmm, this reminds me that God expects the best from us when we work. Which makes me ashamed of the times when I may not have worked with the best (nor noble) intentions - office politics come to mind. Too many times have I decided to "take matters into my own hands" and did something "clever" in my own eyes to get back at the people/system that is trying to get me down. But what is "clever" in my own eyes is often not "wise" or acceptable in God's eyes.

God's requirement is simple and yet impossible to do without faith in His saving grace. He just wants us to "do well" - to work as for Him and not for men (Colossians 3:23) - not even for myself. He will even the score, not me (Proverbs 25:21-22). I gotta remember that.

His Awesome Patience

Hi, I am trying to read through the bible in a year again, this time in New King James version. There is this very cool website http://www.bibleinayear.org/ which actually emails you the daily bible reading! I dunno about you, but I somehow fill obligated to read my office emails, so hopefully this will work better for me than the on-again, off-again attempts I have been making with other bible reading plans.

Being the smart aleck that I am, I have decided to post a short entry daily about what spoke to me in my daily readings. I am hoping that this serves to give me more discipline to get on track with the daily readings, and I will be praying that as you read the posts, He will speak directly to you and bless you despite my clumsy attempts at blogging.

OK, Day 1 is Genesis 1-3, exciting stuff about how God created the universe and all in it. As I read these chapters, something a good friend of mine shared resonates in my mind. In Chapter 3, when Adam and Eve takes of the forbidden fruit, do you suppose God knew straight away that they have in one single act of defiance thrown away all the good that God has planned for them in His perfect Will? Well, if He is indeed the all-knowing and omnipotent God, then He must know, right? So why did He ask Adam "Where are you?" (v10), and then "Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten from the tree of which I commanded you that you should not eat?" (v11). My friend suggested that since this is the first time Adam has sinned, God is probing Adam to get him to understand and confess what he has done, so that he learns.

What awesome patience! Imagine this, you have just stepped into the house after a long day of work and you find that Junior has been using your brand new $3,000 ZIPP wheels as a lever to move the fridge (despite being told NOT to touch it), and your ZIPP wheels now look more like a used wedge of lemon. For those asking "What's a ZIPP?", please substitue with Junior breaking your brand new wide screen plasma TV (picture not mine, by the way). Would you (1) Gasp/scream in horror, (2) Turn around and head for the pub, (3) Chase Junior around the house while screaming like a banshee, (4) Start thinking of all sorts of ways to punish Junior for his wilful act of disobedience, or (5) Ask him gently what he has done (despite the obvious circumstantial evidence) so that Junior has a chance to admit (and learn from) what he has done? I confess that I would have probably done (1) to (4) in combination. :-) Now do you see what I mean by "His Awesome Patience"?