2 youths from Blessed Grace Church were caught by a member of the public for making racist jokes at an indian girl sitting near them. They were whispering each other and kept pointing towards her. This continued even when it was clear the girl noticed and stared at them. Angry at their actions, this by-stander took a picture of them. It is very sad to see these 2 youths doing such a thing...
A store that sells husbands has just opened in New York City , where a woman may go to choose a husband. Among the instructions at the entrance is a description of how the store operates.
You may visit the store ONLY ONCE!
There are six floors and the attributes of the men increase as the shopper ascends the flights. There is, however, a catch .... You may choose any man from a particular floor, or you may choose to go up a floor, but you cannot go back down except to exit the building!
So, a woman goes to the Husband Store to find a husband. On the first floor the sign on the door reads:
Floor 1 - These men have jobs and love the Lord.
The second floor sign reads:Floor 2 - These men have jobs, love the Lord, and love kids.
The third floor sign reads:Floor 3 - These men have jobs, love the Lord, love kids and are extremely good looking.
'Wow,' she thinks, but feels compelled to keep going. She goes to the fourth floor and sign reads:
Floor 4 - These men have jobs, love the Lord, love kids, are drop- dead good looking and help with the housework.
'Oh, mercy me!' she exclaims, 'I can hardly stand it!' Still, she goes to the fifth floor and sign reads:
Floor 5 - These men have jobs, love the Lord, love kids, are drop- dead gorgeous, help with the housework, and have a strong romantic streak.
She is so tempted to stay, but she goes to the sixth floor and the sign reads:
Floor 6 - You are visitor 4,363,012 to this floor. There are no men on this floor. This floor exists solely as proof that women are impossible to please. Thank you for shopping at the Husband Store. Watch your step as you exit the building, and have a nice day!
Hi all, I found some truths that r good for us to know here… After looking at it, I asked myself if I did all of these truths… Honestly, I failed some areas... Check your heart today while u read through it… Lets us work harder to achieve all… God bless ^^
Ten Tips For Communication & Conflict
Our goal shouldn’t be to avoid conflict, but to learn to work through it and resolve it in a way that honors God. Here are ten tips to go about it.
1. Learn to express your feelings and frustrations honestly, but without accusing or attacking the other person (Proverbs 11:9).
2. Choose words, expressions, and a tone of voice that are kind and gentle. Don’t use speech that could easily offend or spark an argument (Proverbs 15:1).
3. Don’t exaggerate, distort, or stretch the truth. Avoid extreme words like never and always (Ephesians 4:25).
4. Give actual and specific example. If necessary, make notes before you communicate. Stay away from generalities.
5. Commit yourself to seeking solutions instead of airing your grievances. Getting even isn’t the goal – you want to get things resolved (Romans 12:17-21).
6. Listen to what the other person is saying, feeling, and needing. Try to detect his or her underlying concerns (James 1:19).
7. Refuse to indulge bitterness, anger, withdrawal, or argument. Though these emotions are normal, indulging them is sin (Ephesians 4:26).
8. Don’t hesitate to acknowledge your own failure, and be quick to forgive the other person. Make sure you don’t hold a grudge (Luke 17:3-4).
9. Keep talking and asking questions until you are sure that you both understand clearly what the other is saying and feeling. Encourage each other as you press toward a solution (Romans 14:19).
10. Train your mouth and heart until you can say the right thing at the right time in the right way for the right reasons!
Remember, conflict is not necessarily a bad thing. And don’t be surprised if you experience it. It’s a sign that you’re really getting to know each other. Don’t run from it; instead, ask for God’s help to humbly and lovingly resolve it.
Taken from Chapter 3 of " boy meets girl" by Joshua Harris:
The Art of Skillful Romance
Let me share some practical examples of what I mean. The following are three ways that wisdom leads and guides us into skillful romantic relationship.
1. Romance says, "I want it now!" Wishdon urges patience. Proverbs 19:11 says, " A man's wisdom gives him patience." My biggest mistakes in romantic relationships were almost all the result of impatience. Is this true in your life?
Like Rich and Christy, maybe you just couldn't wait to express your feelings for someone and wound up starting a relationship prematurely. Or maybe you got impatient waiting for God to bring someone godly into your life, so you got involved with someone you shouldn't have. You couldn't regret it more.
Patience is important not only in waiting for the right time to start a relationship, but also in allowing it to unfold at a healthy pace. Impatience rushes everything. It urges us to skip the time and attention a healthy friendship requires and to jump right into emotional and physical intimacy.
On Julia's first date with Matt, she dove headfirst into an emotionally intimate relationship. They had gone out to dinner and afterwards stopped at Bibo's Juice for fruit smoothies. Not being the shy typer, Matt confessed that he was attracted to Julia. She admitted that the feeling was mutual.
What followed that flirtatious exchange was a marathon tour of each other's personal lives. Impatience put them on the fast track. "We just instantly connected," Julia remembers. Everything came out in that first conversation. She poured out her life, telling him about her struggles as a new Christian and about mistakes with ex-boyfriends-preconversion and post-conversion. "I told him parts of my testimony that are very personal," Julia says. Matt did the same. Though they had known each other only a brief time, their conversation instantly threw their relationship into high gear. They felt close, even though they hadn't take the time to nurture a friendship or get a reality check on each other's character.
In the months that followed they continued to be driven by impatience. They felt close, but they wanted more. The rush of romance was intoxicating; but eventually, as with all highs, the fervor leveled off-illusion gave way to reality. Although Matt that he was still living sinfully and secretly partying. Their relationship ended bitterly. TOday Julia deeply regrets that she shared so much of her heart with Matt.
Mishmash Romance
Mishmash Romance Just because a couple is at a place in their lives where they can seriously consider marriage doesn't mean that they should proceed recklessly. I call a relationship like Julia and Matt's "mishmash romance." It makes me think of going out to a fine restaurant with someone who doesn't have the patience to wait for each course of the meal to be served. The master chef has a wonderful plan that takes time to appreciate fully. But instead of enjoying each course individually, you date insists that all the courses- the drinks, the soup, the salad, the entree, the dessert- be blended together into one bowl of mishmash. Yuck!
Imagine sucking that slop through a straw, and you've got a good picture of what many relationships are like today. Instead of savoring the "courses" of an unfolding love story-acquaintance, friendship, courtship, engagement, marriage-impatient couples mash the sequence together. Before they've built a friendship, they start playing at love. Before they've even thought about commitment, they're acting as though they own each other. Mishmash romance, like mishmash food, is an unappetizing mess.
Wisdom calls us to slow down. We can be patient because we know that God is sovereign and that He is faithful. "I wait for you, O LORD; you will answer, O Lord my God" (Psalm 38:15). Patience is an expression of trust that God, the Master Chef, can serve up an exquisite relationship. This lets us enjoy each part of our love story. We can be faithful and content right where we are-whether it's in friendship or courtship or engagement-and not try to steal the privileges God has reserved for a later season.
My dad likes to say that time is God's way fo keeping everything form happening all at once. If you're not ready to get married, don't grab at a relationship. Patiently wait for the right time to start one that can eventually lead to marriage. If you are ready for marriage and you're in a relationship, don't let impatience cause you to rush. Take your time. Enjoy where God has the two of you right now. Savor each course. Don't settle for mishmash.
2. Romance says, "Let feelings decide what happens." Wisdom leads us to pursue a purposeful relationship. The Bible exalts the virtues of, "love and faithfulness" ( Proverbs 3:5). In God's plan the personal benefits of an intimate relationship-emotional or sexual-are always inseparably linked to a commitment to another person's long-tern good within the covenant of marriage. The most beautiful blooms of love can open only in a protected environment.
As Rich and Christy learned, romance that is not able (or intending) to result in marriage becomes selfish and indulgent very quickly. That's why wisdom calls us to pursue romance only when we are willing and ready for it to succeed-only when it's part of a clearly defined and purposeful pursuit of marriage. Being honest about our hopes and intentions for a relationship is basic to doing what's best for the other person.
The way of sin is to try to separte feelings from commitment. In Proverbs, foolishness is portrayed as a wicked seductress who lures her victim with the offer of romantic and sexual pleasures devoid of responsibility. "Come, let's drink deep of love till morning," she says, "let's enjoy ourselves with love!" (Proverbs 7:18). This is how foolishness works. It calls us to enjoy ourselves without concern for the good of others. It seeks intimacy without obligation.
Setting a Clear Course
People ask why I initiated a defined season of courship with Shannon. Why not just ask her out and see where it would go? I did it because I didn't want another undefined romantic relationship. Too many times in the past I had separated of the pursuit of intimacy from the responsibility of commitment. I had learned that this was neither a wise nor caring way to reat a girl.
When I expressed my desire to explore the possibility if marriage, I wanted to set a clear course for our relationship-a course that would lead to marriage if it was truly God's will.
For us the season of courtship was a wonderful time in our relationship in which we refrained from physical intimacy deepened our friendship, learned about each other's values and goals, and interacted on a spiritual level. We asked a lot of questions. We went on dates. We grew closer to each other, but all for the very clearly stated purpose of finding out if God would have us marry.
Unlike my past relationships, my courtship with Shannon was unanibiguous. From the start, our pursuit of intimancy was paired with an openness to commitment. The difference was that now our activities and the time we spent together had a purpose beyond mere recreation, and that purpose was clearly defined.
Do you see the difference? We were walking towards the commitment of marriage, not simply seeing how romantically involved we could become for the sake of a good time. Were the feelings there? You bet! Our courtship was an unforgettable time of failling in love with each other. But we weren't simply trying to get swept up in our emotions. Instead we were letting our feelings grow naturally out of our deepening respect, friendship, and commitment to one another. Setting a clear course for a defined season of courtship helped us keep from rushing into involvement with our hearts and bodies before we had time toget to know each other's mind and character.
Taken from Chapter 3 of " boy meets girl" by Joshua Harris:
Three Words
Ending what he and Christy called the "us" part of their relationship wasn't easy,but they both knew it needed to happen. They went back to just being friends. They interacted at church but didn't act lika a couple. They thought of each other as brother and sister, not boyfriend and girlfriend.
THe plan worked...for a while. Even though they both knew what was right, their hearts were deceiful. They wanted the feelings. They wanted the thrill of expressing how they felt. They wanted the security of knowing they belonged to each other. As a result they began to compromise their commitment to keep the relationship strictly a friendship. In a letter, Rich told Christy that he loved her. She did the same. They did nothing physically, but before they knew it, they were back in a full-throttle romantic relationship, this time behind her parent's back.
But adfter several months, conviction set in. Deceiving Christy's parents began to take its toll on them. "We have to tell your parents," Rich told Christy one day. "We can't go on like this."
They never got the chance. A day later, Christy's dad walked by while she was on the phone talking with a girlfriend about her relationship with Rich.
"Christy what were u talking about?" her dad asked when she had hung up. "Tell me in three words."
"Personal prayer requests," Christy andswered.
"Really?" her dad asked. "It sounded more lik, 'Richard Guy Shipe.'"
They were caught.
Christy broke down and confessed her deceit. Rich met with Christy's parents a few days later. Like Christy, he was brokenhearted at the way he had deceived them. He'd stolen more of Christy's affections when he knew they didn't rightfully belong to him.
Rich asked Mike and his wife, Vickie, for forgiveness. This time, he promised, the relationship really was going to end. He understood now that this would require drastic measures. They couldn't simply be casual friends. "If we didn't pull back, we would be moving forward," Rich says. "You can't stand still ina relationship like that." They had to get out of each other's lives.
That's when Rich asked Christy to give back all the letters he had even written her. Reluctantly she handed them over. "I wanted to serve her," Rich explains. "I wanted to take everything from her that represented my feelings for her. Those letters were the record of our love and all we had shared. We cherished them and reread them over and over. I knew that in order to truly lay the relationship at God's feet, we both had to part with them."
An Early Morning Funeral
Rich was digging a hole in Christy's front yard that night to bury a box that contained all the letters they'd written each other. They were over one hundred handwritten pages inside it.
Had his feelings for Christy changed? Not at all. But he realized that he couldn't be guided just by his feelings. He had to act on principle and do what was in Christy's best interest. He couldn't just do what felt right; he had to do what was right. Even though it hurt, he knew that the most caring thing he could do for the girl he loved was to get out of her life and end the relationship that was distracting both of them from serving God and obeying her parents.
It took Rich nearly two hours of digging to finish the hole. He made it two feet by three feet eide and eighteen inches deep so it would be beneath the frost lime. He picked up the box of letters and laid it gently into the ground. He had wrapped it tightly in several layers of plastic. Rich wanted his hopes to be able to stay in the ground for a long time...maybe even forever.
For eighteen-year-old Rich, that moment was the funeral of his dreams. He was subnitting his feelings and longings to God. He stared at the box one last time, looked lovingingly up at the quiet house, and then pushed the dirt he'd unearthed back into the hole and packed it down with his foot. If You want to dig this up some day, I know You can, he told God. Bu if not, this is where it will stay.
He covered the spot with sod, then quietly stole away.
The Kite and the String
I don't want you to get the wrong idea from Rich and Christy's story. Matching romance with wisdom doesn't necessarity mean that you do the opposite of what you want. What it does mean is that you do the opposite of what you want. What it does mean is that you learn to do what's best. Wisdom is simply the ownership of insight. It's the "Oh, I get it!" that means we understand how one thing relates to another...and that we're willing to change our attitudes and behaviour accordingly.
I like the way Eugene Peterson describes wisdom. He says that it's "the art of living skillfully in whatever actual conditions we find ourselves." When we guide romance with wisdom, we have skillful romance-romance that is directed by what is true about God and about the world He has made.
I like to think that the relationship between wisdom and romance is like the one between a string and a kite. Romantic love is the kite that catches the wind and tenacioutsly heads for the sky; wisdom is the string that tugs downward holding it back. The tension is real, but healthy.
I supoose there are times when a kite feels tied down by the string. "If this bothersome string would just let go of me, I could fly really high," the kite might think. But hat isn't true, is it? Without the string holding it in the face of the wind, the kite would quickly come crashing to the ground.
In the same way, romance without wisdom will soon take a nosedive. It becomes selfish, indulgent, and even idolatrous. Have you been in a relationship like this? Have you witnessed such a relationship in the life of a friend? What was it missing? The answer is wisdom.
It's not enough to simply have romantic feelings. Anyone can do that! Long-lasting romance needs practical, common-sense wisdom that knows when to let the wind of feelings carry us higher and when to pull back. When to express our emotions and when to keep quiet. When to open our hearts and when to rein them in.
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Taken from Chapter 3 of " boy meets girl" by Joshua Harris:
Until Love So Desires Romance is a very good thing. But just because it's good doesn't mean that we can enjoy it whenever and however we please. Like all the other good gifts God has made, romantic love can be misued.
Even the song of songs, which revels in the ecstacy of romantic passion, is filled with reminders not to remove that passion from the boundaries of God's timing and purpose. " I charge you," Solomon's bride says, "Do not arouse or awaken love until it so desires" (Song of Songs 8:4).
Rich and Christy's feelings for each other were real and deeply romantic. But were those feelings being awakened in God's timing and purpose? Christy's dad, Mike Farris, wasn't so sure. When he found out how emotionally involved Rich and Christy were, he decided to intervene.
Mike had the chance to interact with Rich on a regular basis - he was his boss. Mike was running for the office of lieutenant governor in Virginia and had hired Rich to drive him to the different rallies and events being held around the state. On most of these trips, Mike worked quietly in the backseat or made phone calls. But to Rich's surprise, one day Mike decided to sit up front. As soon as they were under way, Mike turned to Rich and asked,"So what's this I hear about you and Christy?"
Rich gulped. As Rich drove, Mike talked to him gently and with fatherly concern about the importance of wisdom in romance. Mike had many regrets about the years he had spent dating girls in high school and college. "When you're close emotionally, you give away part of your heart," he told Rich. "There are long-term consequences."
To his credit, Rich really listened to what Mike had to say. The truth sank in. Rich wasn't ready to support a family - both he and Christy still wanted to attend college. And it was also too soon for them to stoke the fires of romance. A premature romantice relationship would only distract them from preparing for their future.
"I had never heard anything like that before," Rich remembers, "Mike convinced me. It wasn't a case of him forcing me to break up with his daughter. As he shared his own understanding about relationships, I saw that he was right."
Youth service 2pm to 4pm
6001 Beach Road
Golden Theatre
5th Floor
Youth Fellowship 4.30pm to 6.30pm
6001 Beach Road
Golden Mile Tower
16th Floor
English/Chinese service 7.30pm to 9.30pm
6001 Beach Road
Golden Theatre 5th Floor
shine Your light
For this is what the high
and lofty One says –
“I live in a high and
holy place,but also
with him who is contrite
and lowly in spirit,
to revive the spirit
of the lowly and to
revive the heart of the
contrite.”
-Isaiah 57:15
Be Humble and Obedient
Your truth
"Don't let anyone look
down on you because
you are young, but set
an example in speech,
in life, in love, in faith
and in purity"
-1 Timothy 4:12
Yours in Christ,
Yours in Christ,
