1 Corinthians 13

 I love today's sermon! We're currently on a series called, Church gone pear shaped, and it's through the book of 1 Corinthians, where Paul writes to the Corinth to address several issues that they had. We're going through the gifts that we're given and in 1Corinthians 13: 13"And now abide faith, hope, love, these three; but the greatest of these is love"


We should be rather familiar with 1Corinthians 13:4-8, many use it during their wedding,


"Love suffers long and is kind; love does not envy; love does not parade itself, is not puffed up; 5 does not behave rudely, does not seek its own, is not provoked, thinks no evil; 6does not rejoice in iniquity, but rejoices in the truth; 7 bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. 8 Love never fails".

It doesn't only describe the love that should be between man and wife, it describes how it should be in the church, how we should be as the body of Christ. It tells us just exactly how we should be and behave, because LOVE is a word of action. It tells us to LOVE like Jesus! That's what I pray to be everyday, to be able to grow so as to Love like Jesus. 

In this time and period of my life, I want to love everyone like Jesus, especially my family and of course, a certain special someone. It's often with the people that we care and love the most that we do not have the best patience and love. That SHOULD change and MUST CHANGE. Because love doesn't come with the wind, it is practiced, it improves with faithful reminder and the strive to become more and more Christ like. 

And on the topic of relationships.. I stumbled upon some really cute cartoons, I know at times it may still be premature to talk about these things, but I do think of them and about them, and when I do.. I think of you (you know who you are). 

That probably is what Jesus's love is in a relationship, and if we strive to love like Jesus does, I'm sure at the end of the day, when we're both old and grey, I'd still be able to hold your hand and tell you, "I Love You, like how I did when I first fell in love with you, but only more". I'd like to recount our life together and you filling in the pieces that I've missed out, I'd like to be able to say at the end of the day that "I'm glad you're my penguin". 

     

Heartbeats

We had our end of the year Valedictory dinner tonight. It was filled with tears and emotions I just can't seem to express. Joy that I've been a part of this college, sadness cause I'm going to say goodbye and bittersweet cause I know this is the place that first made me feel at home yet at this point in time, I have to go, I have to move on.

Fiona Crowe, our head of college told us that she placed her ears on her father's chest to hear his last heartbeat as he died, it is a sound that she meditates upon, using it as a way of setting the day right if it is wrong. I feel like part of every heart beat of mine beats for her, it beats for my gran.. cause she's etched her love on the walls of my heart. I will remember to do what I love with fierce passion, to do it because I love it and to excel in it because that's the result of passion. It was a good timely reminder. A very good one.

Sunday thoughts

We've been talking about gifts in church and it got me thinking.. What exactly are my gifts? I'm praying for me to acknowledge them, grow them and serve the church with them. Like what Pastor David said, we are all essential parts of the church to build the church, we have different parts but all of equal value.

As of now, it's crunch time in uni, exams are starting soon, drilling summatives are going to be full on for the next two weeks and I'm praying that God will take my hands and guide me through it. I know His grace will be where ever His will takes me. I'm also trying to recover from sleep deprivation, my body seems to be getting crankier! I need to move out of college!!!!

I need my space and my time. I called my bro the other day and told him I really missed grandma, of course, brothers being brothers aren't the best at giving comfort. I really do miss her.. I wish sometimes she were still here and I can joke with her about making dentures for her. Especially since we're learning about prosthodontics now. I wish I had that luxury to be able to make her smile again, to make her a set of dentures so that she can enjoy her food again. I know it's not going to help if I keep thinking of her, but sometimes.. just sometimes.. It gets quite hard to put someone you love at the back of your mind.

It gets to me when I think about life and the future. Everyone thinks that your life is all set and planned out once you are in a professional course, but what they don't know is the responsibility that comes with it. I want to know what God wants me to do with this, with my life.. I have the confidence that He has it all planned out, I have faith that His will will prevail regardless of what I choose. But just sometimes, I wish He gave me a glimpse of what my future would hold, what I'd be doing with dentistry, how I'd be living my life and who I'd be living it with. I guess that's what they mean when we live in Faith hey? =) Trust and obey.

Peace please

There really isn't a day that goes by where I don't think of her or miss her. It's been a few months, but sometimes it's really hard to not miss someone after having spent my whole life with her. Perhaps that's the pain that comes with losing someone, knowing just exactly what you've lost. I'm nursing that pain in my heart, it's not easy, I have to admit, but I know she'll want me to be strong and live life to my fullest.

Recent events have just made me realize a lot. Perhaps some friends need to know what they've lost before they'll come to a realization, or perhaps they might just realize, the friendship didn't mean much in the first place. I value my friendships and relationships, they mean a lot to me, not just the bond that has been formed, but the life and time that has been shared. I know it's foolish to think that my friends are like-minded, but I wish they were.

Some people might say that I've changed, I don't deny that I might have, but I've always been fundamentally the same as a friend. I know I'm not the sort who would spend countless of hours with you just doing silly stuff, but I'd be the one who would be there when you really need someone, someone who'd listen to you and someone you'd stand by you. Of course, this doesn't sound too fun as a package, does it.

I think I've just come to realize that sometimes, you can be there for people you care about, but it doesn't really mean that they'd be there to do the same. When I lost grand, they weren't there to understand nor support, neither did they bother finding out what actually was wrong. I just need my peace right now.

The Gym

At the end of a long day at uni, all I really long for is a good wokout at the gym. Yes I know it sounds bizarre why anyone at all would find comfort at the gym, health benefits aside, what I call, "happy hormone" (Endorphins) makes any bad day, a good one. Apart from that, the gym floor is often such a good place for a good laugh and here's why..

You have the "ELEPHANT on the treadmill" person who, for some reason, has to let every footstep be heard as a resounding thump. I'm half worried for their knees and mostly just concerned that they may break the treadmill. 

Then you have the "FAIRY feet" females who seem to be on the treadmill for AGES and not seem to have a bead of perspiration. Why fairy feet? Cause they're probably "working out" at a speed that's about walking speed. My question is.. Won't the park be more interesting?

Alright, then you have the bunch of ladies on the cardio equipment, the stationary bikes, the cross trainers and the steppers, etc.. Who are there, day in, day out for hour(s), but yet don't seem to achieve/accomplish much physically.

Then we look at the gym floor where all the men are.. Half the time, you smell them before you see them. That's besides the point. 

There's the "BODY BUILDER".. who, in my opinion, look hulk-ish apart from the green colour, but they are so huge, they don't seem to have a head (I know you know what I mean). There they are with their big built bodies in some sort of THIN STRAPPED singlet. I HONESTLY do not appreciate looking at your nipples! Yes. They might think that they have a huge chest, but seriously.. Keep your spots to yourself.

Then.. we have the "NARCISSIST". They hog the MIRROR after ONE set of biceps or abs or arms, thinking that they might be more ripped and larger after one set. COME ON dude.. Get real!

We next have the "GRUNTER".. You know.. the ones you hear all the time, grunting at every lift. It's understandable if they're pumping REALLLLLY heavy weights, but if you're barely pumping any iron then I really don't see the point. What's even worse is if they're grunting to hard and you realise that their form is wrong and they aren't pumping right. like.. What's the point?

And let us not forget the "GRUMP".. often more elderly women (sometimes men) who are perhaps in some sort of Mid life crisis and just appears to be angry all the time, giving you the stare and once over. -_-" perhaps what you need isn't a workout, but social therapy.

Now you know why I love the gym? Of course, there are more or less "Normal" people in the gym too. (if you consider me as one). I'm sure someone would have something to say about my type of workout and frequency, but hey, if it makes your day, I don't mind! 

And why I love the gym too.. Is cause that's where I met Sherwin. =) I like it too that we occasionally meet there even after he started work. I like how we both enjoy working out! (just saying!)

I received one of the most heartwarming emails today, it was from my tutor and along with it, he sent me a poem by Rudyard Kipling - IF. Here's sharing it with you.


IF

If you can keep your head when all about you
Are losing theirs and blaming it on you;
If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you,
But make allowance for their doubting too;
If you can wait and not be tired by waiting,
Or, being lied about, don't deal in lies,
Or, being hated, don't give way to hating,
And yet don't look too good, nor talk too wise;

If you can dream - and not make dreams your master;
If you can think - and not make thoughts your aim;
If you can meet with triumph and disaster
And treat those two imposters just the same;
If you can bear to hear the truth you've spoken
Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools,
Or watch the things you gave your life to broken,
And stoop and build 'em up with wornout tools;

If you can make one heap of all your winnings
And risk it on one turn of pitch-and-toss,
And lose, and start again at your beginnings
And never breath a word about your loss;
If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew
To serve your turn long after they are gone,
And so hold on when there is nothing in you
Except the Will which says to them: "Hold on";

If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue,
Or walk with kings - nor lose the common touch;
If neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you;
If all men count with you, but none too much;
If you can fill the unforgiving minute
With sixty seconds' worth of distance run -
Yours is the Earth and everything that's in it,
And - which is more - you'll be a Man my son!