Season for everything

Something i realise as i grow in Christ is there are such things as seasons in your life. God made the weather and gave it four seasons so that we can see different sceneries at different times and the animals were made to adapt and in the same way we are made that way too.

In everything there are seasons and you will not want to miss these seasons because every season is for a reason. If you are sharp and discerning, you will be able to ride on the seasons that God places in your life then you will realize that it will add up to your life in the long run.

Ecc 3:1
¹ There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under heaven

In Ministry, there are seasons that i’ve witnessed. We always say that there are seasons for evangelism during the ESS periods, there are seasons for discipeship during holidays and programs are built to be able to utilise those seasons to its maximum. Therefore, ministry has seasons.

In shepherding people if you take a step back and observe there are seasons too. Seasons where proximity matters for the persons growth, seasons where the relationship develops, seasons where space comes into the picture, seasons where discipleship is sped up just at that point in time because there’s more time and many more. Therefore, relationships has seasons.

In your own learning, there are seasons too. There will be time where you will want to learn different things at different times and in different ways. There are times where i learn a lot from books, there are times where i learn a lot from business cases, there are times where i simply learn talking to people.Therefore, learning has seasons.

Youth is like the season where you are the sponge, you simply learn everything and anything. You absorb the most things. When you reach university, you learn to question everything you can find. That is the season where you start to develop your own thinking and opinion based on what you have absorbed as a sponge and its your final hit for you to develop habits or basic fundamentals that will last. Therefore, life has seasons.

Ministry,relationships,learning, life and many others has seasons.
Therefore know the reason for the season to gain more wisdom.

What is the season for you today?

I give up

I tried to lose weight for three months already but still fail. I give up.

I tried working on this person for around 6 months already but still cannot. I give up.

I tried learning on how to get use to this ministry/cg/shepherd. I give up.

I tried studying this subject for like one whole year already but always fail one. I give up.

I tried working on this area of my life for two whole years already but still fail. I give up.

Try giving up the sentence “I give up”. It goes further. =p
< Read the article below and you’ll know what i mean>

http://www.straitstimes.com/BreakingNews/Asia/Story/STIStory_451040.html

Signs of a secure leader

http://www.perrynoble.com/2009/11/05/10-signs-of-a-secure-leader/

Do note that you are a secure leader if those signs describe who are you. If those signs describe who you are not, you’ve got work to do like me.. Haha..

Welcome to the club

Good memories

Brings back very good memories.
In year 2010,we should have more of such things.

Steps for learning

Friend ” Have you read More then a carpenter?’

Daniel ” Yeah..Read it quite sometime ago.”

Friend ” What was it about?”

Daniel ” Erhx…I forgot!!!”

Something i find in myself more and more is reading does not equate learning but if you don’t read you definitely cannot learn. Reading is simply the FIRST step of learing but there are many more steps to come in order to facilitate learning. Some others steps that i find facilitates learning is:

• Discussing
  
  Things that are talked about are always things that can be remembered much better then what you read. When you discuss things with people on what you have learnt, there’s a higher chance you’ll be able to remember it because discussion brings about greater understanding and re-enforcement. Maybe this is the reason why studying together sometimes can be a little more effective?
• Reflecting
  
  This works also like talking but this is probably called “self talking”. People who are melacholic are very good at this. They reflect a lot and hence they are usually people who are very wise. They are wise because they don’t just go through the motion. They go through the motion, understand the notion and that gives them a portion of wisdom.
• Applying
  
  What better way to learn something then to do it. How did you learn cycling? How did you learn swimming? Simply by doing. Therefore, doing is superbly IMPORTANT. Its one of the best ways to facilitate learning.

What other steps are there to learning?

Online

http://www.straitstimes.com/Breaking%2BNews/Tech%2Band%2BScience/Story/STIStory_449343.html

Things that are happening online is on the rise. This article is the second article i saw about churches going online. I’ve heard another idea where there was a church where people set up in this online game called “Second life” or something where people can actually go to church in the “virtual” world. Sounds very interesting but i’m not sure if this is the best. What i’m sure is “online” is going to play a much bigger role in church, in establishing the community of believers, in helping the community of believers to be able to support each other,  to bless one another and to serve more people.

“Online” is going to play a far bigger role in teaching, discipleship, caregroup and many others.

“Online” will take a far greater role more and more. Are you ready? What do you think the role of “Online” will be?

 

Just for laughs

Terminator was stubbornly protecting Jesus and was loyal but not necessarily doing the right thing? Haha..

A box to think out of THE box

People are always looking for fresh way of doing things and hence creativity is a very important element. Came across an article that actually guides one or puts some practical things that one can do to be more creative . Pretty interesting!!!

http://bx.businessweek.com/business-model-innovation/view?url=http://www.ingenesist.com/innovation-economics-what-comes-after-the-knowledge-economy/the-six-discovery-skills-for-innovators.html

1. Associating

Talks about the ability to link things from complelety different areas and then put it together. It feels a little bit like what Hong Teck said.
” One old idea +  one old idea =  one new idea”

2. Questioning

Ask question of possibilities and paint dreams. The What if questions….

3. Observe details

Observing things and reflecting increases understanding.

4. Experiment

Nothing beats trying. Not sure then try loh!!! If don’t work then never mind, its called try again next time!!! There will be a happily ever after when you keep trying one. If you try, there’s a possibility it will work. If you don’t try, the possibility won’t even exist.

5. Networking

Sparing thoughts with people ALWAYS helps. Building on one another.

Use this box to get out of THE box

Where do the best ideas come from?

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/26/technology/internet/26twitter.html?ref=business

Twitter is smart enough to realise that the best ideas on how twitter should improve and become will come from the users of it. So guess where will the best idea for what Central should become come from?
Guess where the best ideas for your unit events will come from?
Guess where the best ideas for your CGs will come from?
Guess where the best ideas for on how to implement your vision will come from?

It will all come from the USERS of it meaning the very people in it.

The more i read about things and observe how things happen. the more i become convicted that the role of a leader is a facilitator. To facilitate a environment where people would be comfortable to contribute because facilitation when done at its ideal will create an environment where the best ideas will come out from the best people and most of the time the best idea is not the leader’s one. =p Sometimes the role of a leader besides thinking of the best idea is to ask for it. You go out to the people and ASK for the best idea.

YOU are the source of the BEST idea

Lessons from nature

Happened to be doing homework in school today morning and looked out and i saw something interesting. Realize that its a very big field but there’s a grass patch where the grass is a bit “greener” and more healthy as compared to the rest thats around. The grass patch i believe is able to be more healthy and prosperous because it is within range of the sprinkler and hence it is continuously being watered. Therefore it seems to me what you choose to water will grow. What areas of your life do you water? Those areas of your life will be the areas where it will grow.

What areas of your life do you water?