So today was a nice day!
I'm just burning time before my small group starts but i'll just go through my day...
I woke up at 4:50am today to go to the gym with my housemate and it was her bday today! fun times!
LOL i did EMOM 15mins 3 reps BS...started at 140kg for the first 10 sets, next for i deloaded to 100, then back to 140 for my last set... it was intense! then i worked on my pulling strength and core after! that was fun
hmm school was good too! learned stuff! hopefully i become a better PT! no lies, some of the stuff I did today was so dull... like the research lecture.. and I caught up on a research lecture today too during my break! i almost killed myself! haha so bad :( but it's done! so i'm happy about that! :) i got a mark back for one of my courses too! did better than I expected so thank God for that :) really though! I don't think i was feeling as prepared as I wanted to be yet I got a very gracious mark! haha thankful!
anyways, thats about all the time I need to burn!
oh before that, i started watching symphonies on youtube! LOL i don't know why, but I kind of like it! It kind of reminds me of who I was and stuff that I used to enjoy a lot! And it's like nice background music/also fun to just watch it! I think ppl in the library today thought I was weird...just watching an orchestra in a Science library.. lOL oh well!
Anyways,
BYEE
small group time! :)
Big MACs down under!!
Wednesday, May 4, 2016
Tuesday, May 3, 2016
Colossians
So today, I decided to read through Colossians! It's a good letter haha! I realized I need to keep my blogposts short to make this a sustainable thing so I'm going to be...super brief on what I learned/stuck out to me today! haha
Okay cool!
Also, listened to a little seminar thing! And one thing I wanted to point out was that when making spiritual goals, it is important to always think about and specify the "How?" and "When?" and to have someone keep you accountable with these measures. And that it is always important to continue striving and there is a godly dissatisfaction with where you are spiritually...basically, knowing that you are not already perfect, and strive towards the goal God has placed for you (Phil 3)!
It's not about knowing more about God, but knowing who He is.
- Perseverance in your faith - Colossians 1:23
- We are to warn people! - Colossians 1:28
- Do not be deceived/deluded by things of this world even if they are plausible arguments - Colossians 2:4, 8
- We have died to these elemental spirits so we should not submit to them! - Colossians 2:20-23
- note (elemental spirits = elemental principles)
- Since we have been raised with Christ, we must seek things of Christ - Colossians 3:1-4
- What does this look like? Putting to death and putting away Col 3:5-10, and putting on Col 3:12-4:6
- Walking in wisdom and grace - Colossians 4:5-6
- I want to be like Epaphras!! Colossians 4:12-13
Okay cool!
Also, listened to a little seminar thing! And one thing I wanted to point out was that when making spiritual goals, it is important to always think about and specify the "How?" and "When?" and to have someone keep you accountable with these measures. And that it is always important to continue striving and there is a godly dissatisfaction with where you are spiritually...basically, knowing that you are not already perfect, and strive towards the goal God has placed for you (Phil 3)!
It's not about knowing more about God, but knowing who He is.
Wednesday, March 9, 2016
Matthew 18
So i decided i'll just write down a quick reflection of what I learned while studying the bible with my friends in small group!
Last week we went through Matthew 18...particularly v21-35 on the unforgiving servant.
Some things we talked about was the following:
1. Can you forgive if the other party didn't ask for forgiveness?
2. What does it mean to forgive?
3. What does v35 mean?
4. Does a plea for forgiveness demand forgiveness?
5. What does it mean in v17 when it says treat them like a Gentile/tax collector?
Initially, I found the first question really interesting because if you look at our relationship with God, we don't receive salvation unless we repent first. But here, Jesus says to forgive 70x7 times (aka a lot). Even if that person hasn't asked for forgiveness and sinned against you, you need to forgive. If you look at the previous paragraph, it talks about how to go about doing that. Which leads the the last question. Treating them like a Gentile has nothing to do with being unforgiving, but rather, the opposite really. We treat them as an unbeliever who needs to hear the gospel and who has a need for Christ in their life.
So, what does it mean to forgive? I think it has to do with making peace with yourself and that other person and reconciling it and not holding on to the past. There really is wisdom in that whole "forgive and forget" thing! Obviously, be wise and learn from the past, but learning to see past things and learning to give the person a chance to build back their trust from you. Even if the other person doesn't seek forgiveness, we are still called to forgive them in our heart and wait for them. Kind of like the prodigal son's father...who waited at the window every day for his son to come back and just embraced him when he came back...and just loved him where he was at! (that story always gets me...every time!)
What does v35 mean? Basically it's saying that we ought to forgive like God forgave us. God forgave us a way greater debt...a debt that was impossible (like in this case, 10k talents...which means 10000 x 20 years worth of wages!) If someone did that to us and we were truly grateful, we'd do the same to others because we would have been moved by what they did to us!
Okay, just for fun, google says in Australia, the average income before tax is $74724! lol okay so to do the math... 74724x20 years = $1494480 = 1 talent! This guy owed 10000 talents...so lets just add on 4 zeros to that number to get...$14,944,800,000!! omg... that is almost 15 billion Australian dollars!!! (which is around 11.2 billion USD...just to keep things standard)! that is crazy!
One thing I really liked that we brought up was that forgiveness hurts. This guy who forgave this man the 10k talents...that's a lot of money! That hurts to just say, I forgive you, you owe nothing! In the same way, for God to forgive us this impossible debt, Jesus had to die on the cross for us.
So, we forgive because God forgave us! But does a plea for forgiveness demand forgiveness? Not really, but we should! Demand is the wrong word. It really comes back down to the whole, we forgive because he forgave us! If we really are changed by it, we should forgive. That doesn't mean we need to forgive immediately...but make an effort and try actively to forgive. Some things are hard to forgive...some things we'd say is impossible to forgive...and that is when we need to rely on God for strength for those things.
Jireh
Last week we went through Matthew 18...particularly v21-35 on the unforgiving servant.
Some things we talked about was the following:
1. Can you forgive if the other party didn't ask for forgiveness?
2. What does it mean to forgive?
3. What does v35 mean?
4. Does a plea for forgiveness demand forgiveness?
5. What does it mean in v17 when it says treat them like a Gentile/tax collector?
Initially, I found the first question really interesting because if you look at our relationship with God, we don't receive salvation unless we repent first. But here, Jesus says to forgive 70x7 times (aka a lot). Even if that person hasn't asked for forgiveness and sinned against you, you need to forgive. If you look at the previous paragraph, it talks about how to go about doing that. Which leads the the last question. Treating them like a Gentile has nothing to do with being unforgiving, but rather, the opposite really. We treat them as an unbeliever who needs to hear the gospel and who has a need for Christ in their life.
So, what does it mean to forgive? I think it has to do with making peace with yourself and that other person and reconciling it and not holding on to the past. There really is wisdom in that whole "forgive and forget" thing! Obviously, be wise and learn from the past, but learning to see past things and learning to give the person a chance to build back their trust from you. Even if the other person doesn't seek forgiveness, we are still called to forgive them in our heart and wait for them. Kind of like the prodigal son's father...who waited at the window every day for his son to come back and just embraced him when he came back...and just loved him where he was at! (that story always gets me...every time!)
What does v35 mean? Basically it's saying that we ought to forgive like God forgave us. God forgave us a way greater debt...a debt that was impossible (like in this case, 10k talents...which means 10000 x 20 years worth of wages!) If someone did that to us and we were truly grateful, we'd do the same to others because we would have been moved by what they did to us!
Okay, just for fun, google says in Australia, the average income before tax is $74724! lol okay so to do the math... 74724x20 years = $1494480 = 1 talent! This guy owed 10000 talents...so lets just add on 4 zeros to that number to get...$14,944,800,000!! omg... that is almost 15 billion Australian dollars!!! (which is around 11.2 billion USD...just to keep things standard)! that is crazy!
One thing I really liked that we brought up was that forgiveness hurts. This guy who forgave this man the 10k talents...that's a lot of money! That hurts to just say, I forgive you, you owe nothing! In the same way, for God to forgive us this impossible debt, Jesus had to die on the cross for us.
So, we forgive because God forgave us! But does a plea for forgiveness demand forgiveness? Not really, but we should! Demand is the wrong word. It really comes back down to the whole, we forgive because he forgave us! If we really are changed by it, we should forgive. That doesn't mean we need to forgive immediately...but make an effort and try actively to forgive. Some things are hard to forgive...some things we'd say is impossible to forgive...and that is when we need to rely on God for strength for those things.
Jireh
Friday, January 1, 2016
2016
It is January 1st of 2016! Happy New Years everyone!
Reflecting back to last year around this time, I had no idea where God planned to have me. I had no idea I'd be here, in Australia! It's actually sort of crazy. All I can say is that I have no idea what God has in store for me these next few years, but I know it will be more than I will ever imagine. Whether it's going back to Canada, Staying here in Australia, Dating or whatever, I am excited to see what will happen.
One thing that I have noticed is that my relationship with God has been rocky recently. Temporary things just seem all the more attractive and my sight on eternity has been blurred, but God in His grace has kept me close...even if it's not what I wanted at that time, I thank Him for it! I pray that God will bring some Christian friends into my life where we can talk and grow together and keep each other accountable. I need people to call me out when I screw up and not be afraid of "judging me". I'm so annoyed of how tolerable people have become with everything. It's not wrong to share your ideas. And if you think something is truth, you should be able to freely speak the truth and not feel bad for it.
Anyways, it's been a while since I blogged! I almost don't even know what to say anymore! I feel like I used to have so many things on my mind all the time! Now, it's not much haha!
Jireh!
Reflecting back to last year around this time, I had no idea where God planned to have me. I had no idea I'd be here, in Australia! It's actually sort of crazy. All I can say is that I have no idea what God has in store for me these next few years, but I know it will be more than I will ever imagine. Whether it's going back to Canada, Staying here in Australia, Dating or whatever, I am excited to see what will happen.
One thing that I have noticed is that my relationship with God has been rocky recently. Temporary things just seem all the more attractive and my sight on eternity has been blurred, but God in His grace has kept me close...even if it's not what I wanted at that time, I thank Him for it! I pray that God will bring some Christian friends into my life where we can talk and grow together and keep each other accountable. I need people to call me out when I screw up and not be afraid of "judging me". I'm so annoyed of how tolerable people have become with everything. It's not wrong to share your ideas. And if you think something is truth, you should be able to freely speak the truth and not feel bad for it.
Anyways, it's been a while since I blogged! I almost don't even know what to say anymore! I feel like I used to have so many things on my mind all the time! Now, it's not much haha!
Jireh!
Friday, July 24, 2015
Hard to hope
Sometimes you see your world as you want it crashing down around you and there is literally nothing you can do. At these times its so hard to hope because we think we need to have some sort of control. We want to hope in God, but even that is hard sometimes cos tho God is personal to me, He's also abstract. God I need your help to hope in you! I know I can do nothing without you and I'm actually here...I can do nothing but come before you and hope that you will provide! I know I can hope in you because I know you are the one sure thing in my life!
Friday, June 5, 2015
True Love Waits
So, I haven't blogged in a while aha so this may be a little crazy but I was talking to a friend and she was saying how she missed reading my blog sometimes and I realized that I legit never blog anymore and if any ideas came to mind, I'd blog haha
Recently, I randomly found this ring I my gym bag!! And although it's not the original one that I got, it's my purity ring! I used to wear it all the time and take it off sometimes but recently I have just completely forgot about it til I found it! Anyways, I looked at it and thought "true love waits" and I'm like...yah, I totally like this! Haha not just for the original meaning (keeping yourself sexually pure for your wife) but also because True Love waits! Love is what? Patient, kind, doesn't boast, doesn't envy, not arrogant or rude, doesn't insist on its own way, not irritable or resentful, doesn't rejoice in wrong doing, but it rejoices with the truth! Love bears all things, believes all things, endures all things. Okay yah that was totally a quote from 1 Corinthians 13! But it's so true! Love is patient! Love waits! Okay so the other perspective I wanted to bring in was the fact that as Christians we wait in hope of glory! We believe that true love waits and is worth it! We believe that the amazing things of this earth are rubbish in comparison to the surpassing worth of knowing Christ. God's true love is worth the wait for us!
That being said, this ring represents not only my sexual purity for my future wife but more so my spiritual purity for my God! It's not a wedding ring...Iuno why people say that! Yes it's an engagement ring to Jesus! He's the groom and we (the church) are his bride! We will suffer with him but we will also be glorified with him and it's worth the wait! This stuff honestly reminds me so much of the Jacob and Esau story! When Esau sold his birthright for a bowl of lentil soup! How worth it was it for Esau?! Sure he felt great for maybe like 2 mins while scarfing down the food, but he chose that over his birthright...and that was foolish! Can't say we don't do it all the time ourselves (sinning/choosing to disobey God) when these pleasures or whatever makes you feel comfortable is not worth it and really considered like garbage in comparison to knowing Jesus! It's crazy! Anyways, this is probably a short blog, I don't knew...I'm typing this on my phone haha so I have no perspective but I wanted to encourage anyone out there to remember that true love waits and is worth the wait! As Christians we are called to go and make disciples of all nations! And you know what's amazing about that verse?! This: "And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age."! He will be with us!!!! That is just so encouraging! Press on fellow Christians! Endure and persevere because God is worth it! Though there are so many things on earth that may be amazing like a bowl of soup, don't forget to remember that knowing Christ is the surpassing worth! And that we are called to make disciples and if we are going through hard times we know that Christ is always with us, to the end of the age!! :)
Jireh!
Recently, I randomly found this ring I my gym bag!! And although it's not the original one that I got, it's my purity ring! I used to wear it all the time and take it off sometimes but recently I have just completely forgot about it til I found it! Anyways, I looked at it and thought "true love waits" and I'm like...yah, I totally like this! Haha not just for the original meaning (keeping yourself sexually pure for your wife) but also because True Love waits! Love is what? Patient, kind, doesn't boast, doesn't envy, not arrogant or rude, doesn't insist on its own way, not irritable or resentful, doesn't rejoice in wrong doing, but it rejoices with the truth! Love bears all things, believes all things, endures all things. Okay yah that was totally a quote from 1 Corinthians 13! But it's so true! Love is patient! Love waits! Okay so the other perspective I wanted to bring in was the fact that as Christians we wait in hope of glory! We believe that true love waits and is worth it! We believe that the amazing things of this earth are rubbish in comparison to the surpassing worth of knowing Christ. God's true love is worth the wait for us!
That being said, this ring represents not only my sexual purity for my future wife but more so my spiritual purity for my God! It's not a wedding ring...Iuno why people say that! Yes it's an engagement ring to Jesus! He's the groom and we (the church) are his bride! We will suffer with him but we will also be glorified with him and it's worth the wait! This stuff honestly reminds me so much of the Jacob and Esau story! When Esau sold his birthright for a bowl of lentil soup! How worth it was it for Esau?! Sure he felt great for maybe like 2 mins while scarfing down the food, but he chose that over his birthright...and that was foolish! Can't say we don't do it all the time ourselves (sinning/choosing to disobey God) when these pleasures or whatever makes you feel comfortable is not worth it and really considered like garbage in comparison to knowing Jesus! It's crazy! Anyways, this is probably a short blog, I don't knew...I'm typing this on my phone haha so I have no perspective but I wanted to encourage anyone out there to remember that true love waits and is worth the wait! As Christians we are called to go and make disciples of all nations! And you know what's amazing about that verse?! This: "And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age."! He will be with us!!!! That is just so encouraging! Press on fellow Christians! Endure and persevere because God is worth it! Though there are so many things on earth that may be amazing like a bowl of soup, don't forget to remember that knowing Christ is the surpassing worth! And that we are called to make disciples and if we are going through hard times we know that Christ is always with us, to the end of the age!! :)
Jireh!
Wednesday, February 4, 2015
Jesus Wept
So today, while I was reading the bible, I was so moved. I went through John 11; the story of Lazarus.
For context, his sisters told them that their brother Lazarus was dying and Jesus loves them. His reply is interesting: "This illness does not lead to death. It is for the glory of God, so that the Son of God (Jesus) may be glorified through it." Alright, at first glance, this seems comforting! Jesus has told me that my brother's illness will not lead him to death! Yay! He will recover!! right?! FAKE! after he heard this, instead of rushing to Lazarus to heal him, he stays for 2 more days where he was. Honestly, I don't know how you can do that without freaking out LOL it actually didn't seem like he HAD to stay, from what the passage says, it seems that he stayed so that Lazarus could die. Okay...think back...Jesus said that this all happened for the glory of God! At the time, when Lazarus died, it didn't really seem like a glorious time! Jesus tells his disciples that Lazarus is dead and it was all part of the plan. "Lazarus has died, and for your sake I am glad that I was not there, so that you may believe." For OUR sake? So Lazarus' death isn't only for the glory of God, but also for the disciples sake, and for everyone around him!
Okay, so they go and Jesus finally comes to the place, and Lazarus has been dead in the tomb for 4 days already...rotting and smelling bad! people are weeping and it's sad. Jesus will full confidence in His Father's will and stuff, goes there and tells Martha "I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live, and everyone who lives and believes in me shall never die." Here, Jesus is talking about Lazarus, but I also believe that he is talking about us as well! Through Jesus, though we are dead in our sins like Lazarus was dead, we can have life if we believe in Him. Right after, he talks to Mary (the other sister) and she has a similar response "Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died." She was crying and same with everyone around. And check this out..."he was deeply moved in his spirit and greatly troubled...Jesus wept." Jesus was greatly troubled!! from this passage, it seems that troubled means that he was sad and loved Lazarus and his sisters! Okay, for you Christian veterans out there, ur probably like, *yawn* heard this a million times! BUT, just think more about this! Jesus is God! He is fully God and fully man! He knows what will happen with Lazarus! If anyone knew what God's will for Lazarus, it was Him!! haha! He knew with uttermost certainty that it was part of the plan. He knew that Lazarus would be raised to life! He knew that this was meant to glorify God! He knows that this is meant to help the people believe! Even though He knew all this with UTTERMOST CERTAINTY, He wept! It made me think about those times when a friend is troubled and you want to comfort them and you say "God has everything in control" or talk about the sovereignty of God like it will make them feel better. Jesus still cried! thats crazy! still kind of blows my mind! Jesus...literally the most relatable God of history! So amazing how he can fully be God and at the same time, feel everything a regular person would feel! I love watching Him do His thing!
In the end, he raised Lazarus from the dead and many people believed, and some hardened hearts went to tell the pharisees! God was glorified through this! Jesus' power was made known! People believed! in the end, everything came to fruition the way it was supposed to! But to say that if you fully trust God you won't get sad or w/e is a lie. Jesus had ultimate faith and knew what was to happen! Even He wept! I think the important thing here is to be able to press on and not get stuck in the weeping! Just wanted to point this out because I thought it was a pretty amazing thing! :)
Jireh!
For context, his sisters told them that their brother Lazarus was dying and Jesus loves them. His reply is interesting: "This illness does not lead to death. It is for the glory of God, so that the Son of God (Jesus) may be glorified through it." Alright, at first glance, this seems comforting! Jesus has told me that my brother's illness will not lead him to death! Yay! He will recover!! right?! FAKE! after he heard this, instead of rushing to Lazarus to heal him, he stays for 2 more days where he was. Honestly, I don't know how you can do that without freaking out LOL it actually didn't seem like he HAD to stay, from what the passage says, it seems that he stayed so that Lazarus could die. Okay...think back...Jesus said that this all happened for the glory of God! At the time, when Lazarus died, it didn't really seem like a glorious time! Jesus tells his disciples that Lazarus is dead and it was all part of the plan. "Lazarus has died, and for your sake I am glad that I was not there, so that you may believe." For OUR sake? So Lazarus' death isn't only for the glory of God, but also for the disciples sake, and for everyone around him!
Okay, so they go and Jesus finally comes to the place, and Lazarus has been dead in the tomb for 4 days already...rotting and smelling bad! people are weeping and it's sad. Jesus will full confidence in His Father's will and stuff, goes there and tells Martha "I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live, and everyone who lives and believes in me shall never die." Here, Jesus is talking about Lazarus, but I also believe that he is talking about us as well! Through Jesus, though we are dead in our sins like Lazarus was dead, we can have life if we believe in Him. Right after, he talks to Mary (the other sister) and she has a similar response "Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died." She was crying and same with everyone around. And check this out..."he was deeply moved in his spirit and greatly troubled...Jesus wept." Jesus was greatly troubled!! from this passage, it seems that troubled means that he was sad and loved Lazarus and his sisters! Okay, for you Christian veterans out there, ur probably like, *yawn* heard this a million times! BUT, just think more about this! Jesus is God! He is fully God and fully man! He knows what will happen with Lazarus! If anyone knew what God's will for Lazarus, it was Him!! haha! He knew with uttermost certainty that it was part of the plan. He knew that Lazarus would be raised to life! He knew that this was meant to glorify God! He knows that this is meant to help the people believe! Even though He knew all this with UTTERMOST CERTAINTY, He wept! It made me think about those times when a friend is troubled and you want to comfort them and you say "God has everything in control" or talk about the sovereignty of God like it will make them feel better. Jesus still cried! thats crazy! still kind of blows my mind! Jesus...literally the most relatable God of history! So amazing how he can fully be God and at the same time, feel everything a regular person would feel! I love watching Him do His thing!
In the end, he raised Lazarus from the dead and many people believed, and some hardened hearts went to tell the pharisees! God was glorified through this! Jesus' power was made known! People believed! in the end, everything came to fruition the way it was supposed to! But to say that if you fully trust God you won't get sad or w/e is a lie. Jesus had ultimate faith and knew what was to happen! Even He wept! I think the important thing here is to be able to press on and not get stuck in the weeping! Just wanted to point this out because I thought it was a pretty amazing thing! :)
Jireh!
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