Men’s breakthrough
A real cool retreat where men in my church gather and talk about the real stuff…haha.
Got some take home message from it:
“you don’t need a makeover of your heart, you need a new one!”.
This phrase cut my heart when Kirk was leading worship during Friday night. I guess I haven’t really been serious enough with God in terms of areas like discipline and passion for the great commission. And I reckon the number 1 thing I need to do now is to reignite a rousing relationship with him - I mean to delight, enjoy and take walks together with Him. I can’t see any other way in which my heart is gonna change much, apart from his intervention and through learning how to experience His love in a deeper way.
On a side note, I was a little sad that, sometimes, people put up walls. I call these emotional barriers; in a way, it is like redrawing boundaries. You wish for deepening friendships but they remain at a superficial level, or even regress. An interesting conversation in Galvin’s page resonates with how I feel:
I guess people do this for a variety of reasons and I can’t possibly read their thoughts. But so long as I have the assurance of God’s love, I can continue to believe in frienships and love. May the Lord be glorified in whatever we do.
Went also for the missions conference. One thing kept coming back to me - the Christless millions, will non-believers really go to hell? I hope to grapple with this truth in the coming week. As of now, I really feel unqualified to be a missionary and unfit for noble use. But I know that the most important thing here is not about ability but on God’s call and personal willingness to sacrifice. I just hope that if such a time comes, I will not hesitate. Only let me ready myself. Else I think there is very little chance of me going because:
Many are called, but few are chosen
“On a side note, I was a little sad that, sometimes, people put up walls. I call these emotional barriers; in a way, it is like redrawing boundaries.”
Hello brother,
I felt a tinge of guilt reading the last two entries of your blog. To be honest, my natural reaction to a man’s pursuit is run for dear life!. It sounds so ridiculous, right? I realise that I was just scared of intimacy and avoiding it. I mean, it’s by God’s grace we can sort out our inner worlds. But the thought of sharing the inner sanctum with another stranger is just scary. I guess that’s the wall I put up, never to let someone in. Maybe I’m not the only guilty one.
I found the answer in “The Voice of Jesus”, the chapter on the Assurance of God’s love. May I conjecture the key to receiving and releasing intimacy is to be rooted strongly in our identity in Christ and the certainty of His infallible love.
I agree with the author that in the most mysterious fashion, God-given suffering draws us deeply into His love, it’s a breakthrough from an intellectual/providence/empowerment basis of faith to a distinct experience outpour of His love.
I give thanks that suffering gives us courage to be real in a fallen world.
Comment by Michelle — June 22, 2005 @ 2:59 am