Winning a "man of great potential"
Before I delve into my small sharing, I want to write about my own thought journey…
I went to an interview last Saturday. The interview was not a good one, but I still learn something as I went along. Sometimes I don’t know the reason behind all these. Jokingly, I told everybody that I really want to join the Singapore Idol. Truthfully, sometimes my dream to become a performer still nudge me to pursue it. But sometimes I feel that it’s not meant to be, I tried my hand in performing in US and it didn’t go anywhere. I also think I started too late. The call to join Singapore Idol is very enticing, but with everything else that happen in my life, it seems that I don’t really have the time for it. If I do join this, I have to let go a lot of other things. And it’s not a guarantee either. Yes, I’m taking the safe and easy way out again… but oh well, if I’m to be a performer, God will give me other opportunities.
Back to the interview… Well, my friends from Hope care group were having a day out at Pulau Ubin and I was tempted to go. I love having fun. Who doesn’t, right? I usually choose to play more than work, but this time I was feeling a bit responsible that I even turned down their offer to join them for lunch. I thought I want to prepare my energy for the interview.
The interview was at 5.30 pm. I came there after a little bit of searching adventure. I almost gave up and then I just asked God for help. And again the little miracle from Him, through a still small voice, He told me which way to go and soon I got there. I was early. The interviewer, who turned out to be the director, was late, almost 20 minutes if not more. I thought I gave him the benefit of the doubt since he’s the boss. But I didn’t get a good feeling about this. I never did from the start; it’s like this was not why I should come. It was a group interview. The company was not very promising from the way he explained things, and I don’t think I can be a good candidate for them either. I tried to be as polite and obliging as I could. This other lady and I were the only ones that actually made effort to have some conversation with the director, while the rest was kind of waiting to get things over with. The session was not fruitful. I saw the disappointment on the faces of other candidates too.
As I was leaving the place, one of the candidates from the interview fall into steps with me and we shared our perceptions about the interview. He said that the company was probably small and he’s not looking forward to work for the company too. From job search, we got to talk about other stuff too, got to know a little bit of each other. Now, when I talked to him, there’s a small voice telling me to ask him about his faith. This was triggered after he said his skepticism about the job market. I told him to have faith. And he interjected, "Faith?" and then I told him to stay positive, because what else do we have but be optimistic. If our minds already believe the bad stuff, it’ll turn out bad without we even have anything to do with it. But before we got to know more of each other (since I thought it’s an awkward situation anyway), I closed myself from him and cut things short as soon as I saw the different direction of our trains, and I just wished him “Good Luck!” All I know was just his name.
On my way to my friend, Gary's house in Ang Mo Kio, I was a little bit thoughtful about the whole thing. I felt bad about the interviewer, and I was contemplating my answer regarding Singapore Idol that it’s not meant to be, while this job interview was a dud either. And then after another failed trip to Ang Mo Kio, I got a lot of time to think by myself. What’s this day all about? When I was waiting for a bus home at the Newton Station, I saw this Caucasian young lady talking to a Singaporean girl. She’s evangelizing. At the beginning, I was warmed by the thought that this white girl is thoughtful enough to spread the Gospel so far from home. And then as I looked or more like zoomed (hehehe, to all of you that once made a joke about my Superman's vision) in at the small badge on her shirt, I was troubled. “The Church Of The Latter Day Saints”… the Mormons. And she got this girl’s contact number. Once in awhile while they’re still talking, I would cast a glance at their direction, wanting to “bother” them. What a laugh. And then it hit me. Why didn’t I do the same thing with that guy from the interview? Why can’t I say that I’m a Christian and befriend him? Maybe he was my assignment. And I failed to do it.
The Mormons have a “quota” to fill while they’re on this earth. Or at least that’s how I heard about part of their teachings. While as Christians, God gives us freedom on how we want to bless our brothers and sisters who still don’t know the Lord. In this case, people like the mormons got more people, while we’re not very appreciative about our opportunities. I didn’t even approach that guy; he was the one who approached me. And as much as my heart told me, or more like the Holy Spirit asked me, to ask him about his faith and to bless him, my ego won over and I let it go. Opportunity to be a blessing came to me and I turn it down. I didn’t even have to come to look for it and yet when I got it I missed it. I pray that when I’m facing with this situation again God would nudge me harder, hehehe.
And now here is the sharing part, hehehe...
Last year while I was still in Portland, I heard a sermon by Pastor Andreas Rahardjo from MDC (Masa Depan Cerah/ Bright Future) church in Surabaya when he visited OCBC (not the Singapore bank, but it stands for Oregon City Blessing Church, hehehe). He said, and I quote, "People don't care how much you know until they know how much you care." I wrote that on the back on my Bible. And yesterday as though it's a confirmation, again I heard Pastor Kong Hee said the same thing (I wonder if they traded notes, hehehe). I thought what I heard yesterday had a connection to what I experienced on Saturday.
Yesterday the message was about how to win people for Christ. Often Christians do it in reverse from how Jesus would've done it. Pastor Kong shared the four rules, he used Luke 10:1-5, John 4: 35, 39-42 and Luke 5 as reference:
1. Bless the lost (Luke 10: 5, "But whatever house you enter, first say, 'Peace to this house.'")
2.Fellowship with them (Just like Jesus did in John 4: 39-42)
3. Meet their needs
4. Preach the Gospel
Three things to do:
1. Lift your eyes from your own needs (Eph 6: 8) --> God Himself that will return the favor and take care of you.
2. Lift up your eyes to The Lord
3. Lift up your eyes in the way to see other people (Mat 7:3) --> Remove the log from your eyes and not easily be judgmental toward other people.
When I was still in States, some of my friends who weren't Christians, often asked me why was I different from other Christians that they knew. They said that most of "those so called Christians" wouldn't want to have anything to do with the likes of them or full of condemnation and tried to preach/ force-fed the Gospel to them. And some of these friends of mine would laughed at the street preacher nearby my university who screamed on top of his lungs about the doomsday, while his own life was not a good testimony either (he's abusive toward his own wife and children). Is that what we amount to as Christians? I'm not saying that what I was doing is right, because so far I didn't get a chance to bring them to Christ. All they knew was that I'm a nice person... I hope, hehehe. I think God never gave up on me, because He kept on giving me new 'assignments', it's just that I need to be more sensitive toward His calling and never let anymore chances pass me by. But yeah, be a friend to win somebody's heart.
Yesterday Pastor Kong also said that 'soul' in Hebrew, means: a man of great potential. See... who knows, you may sow a seed on the future great preachers, pastors, evangelists, etc. You are designed with the potential to do great things!
I went to an interview last Saturday. The interview was not a good one, but I still learn something as I went along. Sometimes I don’t know the reason behind all these. Jokingly, I told everybody that I really want to join the Singapore Idol. Truthfully, sometimes my dream to become a performer still nudge me to pursue it. But sometimes I feel that it’s not meant to be, I tried my hand in performing in US and it didn’t go anywhere. I also think I started too late. The call to join Singapore Idol is very enticing, but with everything else that happen in my life, it seems that I don’t really have the time for it. If I do join this, I have to let go a lot of other things. And it’s not a guarantee either. Yes, I’m taking the safe and easy way out again… but oh well, if I’m to be a performer, God will give me other opportunities.
Back to the interview… Well, my friends from Hope care group were having a day out at Pulau Ubin and I was tempted to go. I love having fun. Who doesn’t, right? I usually choose to play more than work, but this time I was feeling a bit responsible that I even turned down their offer to join them for lunch. I thought I want to prepare my energy for the interview.
The interview was at 5.30 pm. I came there after a little bit of searching adventure. I almost gave up and then I just asked God for help. And again the little miracle from Him, through a still small voice, He told me which way to go and soon I got there. I was early. The interviewer, who turned out to be the director, was late, almost 20 minutes if not more. I thought I gave him the benefit of the doubt since he’s the boss. But I didn’t get a good feeling about this. I never did from the start; it’s like this was not why I should come. It was a group interview. The company was not very promising from the way he explained things, and I don’t think I can be a good candidate for them either. I tried to be as polite and obliging as I could. This other lady and I were the only ones that actually made effort to have some conversation with the director, while the rest was kind of waiting to get things over with. The session was not fruitful. I saw the disappointment on the faces of other candidates too.
As I was leaving the place, one of the candidates from the interview fall into steps with me and we shared our perceptions about the interview. He said that the company was probably small and he’s not looking forward to work for the company too. From job search, we got to talk about other stuff too, got to know a little bit of each other. Now, when I talked to him, there’s a small voice telling me to ask him about his faith. This was triggered after he said his skepticism about the job market. I told him to have faith. And he interjected, "Faith?" and then I told him to stay positive, because what else do we have but be optimistic. If our minds already believe the bad stuff, it’ll turn out bad without we even have anything to do with it. But before we got to know more of each other (since I thought it’s an awkward situation anyway), I closed myself from him and cut things short as soon as I saw the different direction of our trains, and I just wished him “Good Luck!” All I know was just his name.
On my way to my friend, Gary's house in Ang Mo Kio, I was a little bit thoughtful about the whole thing. I felt bad about the interviewer, and I was contemplating my answer regarding Singapore Idol that it’s not meant to be, while this job interview was a dud either. And then after another failed trip to Ang Mo Kio, I got a lot of time to think by myself. What’s this day all about? When I was waiting for a bus home at the Newton Station, I saw this Caucasian young lady talking to a Singaporean girl. She’s evangelizing. At the beginning, I was warmed by the thought that this white girl is thoughtful enough to spread the Gospel so far from home. And then as I looked or more like zoomed (hehehe, to all of you that once made a joke about my Superman's vision) in at the small badge on her shirt, I was troubled. “The Church Of The Latter Day Saints”… the Mormons. And she got this girl’s contact number. Once in awhile while they’re still talking, I would cast a glance at their direction, wanting to “bother” them. What a laugh. And then it hit me. Why didn’t I do the same thing with that guy from the interview? Why can’t I say that I’m a Christian and befriend him? Maybe he was my assignment. And I failed to do it.
The Mormons have a “quota” to fill while they’re on this earth. Or at least that’s how I heard about part of their teachings. While as Christians, God gives us freedom on how we want to bless our brothers and sisters who still don’t know the Lord. In this case, people like the mormons got more people, while we’re not very appreciative about our opportunities. I didn’t even approach that guy; he was the one who approached me. And as much as my heart told me, or more like the Holy Spirit asked me, to ask him about his faith and to bless him, my ego won over and I let it go. Opportunity to be a blessing came to me and I turn it down. I didn’t even have to come to look for it and yet when I got it I missed it. I pray that when I’m facing with this situation again God would nudge me harder, hehehe.
And now here is the sharing part, hehehe...
Last year while I was still in Portland, I heard a sermon by Pastor Andreas Rahardjo from MDC (Masa Depan Cerah/ Bright Future) church in Surabaya when he visited OCBC (not the Singapore bank, but it stands for Oregon City Blessing Church, hehehe). He said, and I quote, "People don't care how much you know until they know how much you care." I wrote that on the back on my Bible. And yesterday as though it's a confirmation, again I heard Pastor Kong Hee said the same thing (I wonder if they traded notes, hehehe). I thought what I heard yesterday had a connection to what I experienced on Saturday.
Yesterday the message was about how to win people for Christ. Often Christians do it in reverse from how Jesus would've done it. Pastor Kong shared the four rules, he used Luke 10:1-5, John 4: 35, 39-42 and Luke 5 as reference:
1. Bless the lost (Luke 10: 5, "But whatever house you enter, first say, 'Peace to this house.'")
2.Fellowship with them (Just like Jesus did in John 4: 39-42)
3. Meet their needs
4. Preach the Gospel
Three things to do:
1. Lift your eyes from your own needs (Eph 6: 8) --> God Himself that will return the favor and take care of you.
2. Lift up your eyes to The Lord
3. Lift up your eyes in the way to see other people (Mat 7:3) --> Remove the log from your eyes and not easily be judgmental toward other people.
When I was still in States, some of my friends who weren't Christians, often asked me why was I different from other Christians that they knew. They said that most of "those so called Christians" wouldn't want to have anything to do with the likes of them or full of condemnation and tried to preach/ force-fed the Gospel to them. And some of these friends of mine would laughed at the street preacher nearby my university who screamed on top of his lungs about the doomsday, while his own life was not a good testimony either (he's abusive toward his own wife and children). Is that what we amount to as Christians? I'm not saying that what I was doing is right, because so far I didn't get a chance to bring them to Christ. All they knew was that I'm a nice person... I hope, hehehe. I think God never gave up on me, because He kept on giving me new 'assignments', it's just that I need to be more sensitive toward His calling and never let anymore chances pass me by. But yeah, be a friend to win somebody's heart.
Yesterday Pastor Kong also said that 'soul' in Hebrew, means: a man of great potential. See... who knows, you may sow a seed on the future great preachers, pastors, evangelists, etc. You are designed with the potential to do great things!
posted by God's Grace | 1:00 AM
1 Comments:
A very good read, Anne. Recently I have been having the same thoughts too, that opportunities flash past us and we don't even realise it. I kept imagining that if this were the last time I do this (be having a meal with friends, attending service, or anything) how different from reaction would be - I would trying to grasp every single ounce of enjoyment from each moment. From the way I sounded I felt as though I was an old woman, but it did really dawn upon me in a big way.
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