It is tough to be a leader.
It was not just the leader that led the way, it was the people who knows how to follow as well and follow as God has commanded.
1 Samuel 30 - Remember it is the Lord and God has given us.
Don't just exalt the front line activity, know that behind the front lines that there are men and women, without whom this front line activity could never be effective. Never under-estimate the role you are playing, without you the front line activities would never have succeeded.

We are a team. And God reminds you and me the role leadership play and the role you play. At this time, the time will be defining for you.

2 Corinthians 4
1) Don't live in secret and shameful ways
2) Don't use deceptive tactics
3) Don't distort the word of God to appeal to the conscience of men

No moral laws can change the heart of men
No circumstances can coerce the heart of men
No mystical experience can satisfy the longing of men

Hebrews 9 -only the religious ceremony only marks the flesh. Jesus Christ sprinkles the conscience.
Christ is the only one that can change!
The most powerful testimony - The integrity/purity of the Christian. And it would be the right thing to do.

Three Severe Tests for an Authentic Ministry - Ravi Zacharias.

This morning, i managed to drag myself to the attic to exercise on those old steppers. While exercising, I was listening to Ravi Zachariah's podcast titled "Keeping Watch and Counting the Cost, Part 2" and he shared on how sometimes he get nasty calls and how his dear friend was killed in Thailand. It is true that when we are exercising and we are working out body, struggling through the session, it feels really long relatively to when we are in our couch watching Wongfu Production Lunch breaks on youtube(I can't believe i spent a good 2 hours just watching a group of people talking over lunch).

After a good 30 mins of workout, i sat down to cool down. I had a bit of time to reflect and think of the day ahead and i realize that today is going to be a very busy day for me! I am not sure how i am going to finish all the work i have set for myself today. In addition, it led me think of Martin Luther when he said: “I have so much to do that I shall spend the first three hours in prayer.” Like what? Personally, I am a very practical person and how does praying for the first 3 hours really help in any way?
So the most absurd idea just popped into my head. I am going to do a 10 min prayer session and put it to the test.

I've opened my 'Stopclock' on my Trusty Samsung S5 and set the timer to go off in 10Min 15s. Now when i started the timer, I was pretty sure i would become innately insane about how much time i am wasting, how unproductive i am and get distracted before the 5 min mark. I already had the expectation that i will start to scurry to my phone. So i decided to use the Lordship Prayer that i learnt recently to help me start:
"Lord Jesus, please be the Lord of my Spirit.
Lord Jesus, please be the Lord of my Mind.
Lord Jesus, please be the Lord of my Emotions.
Lord Jesus, please be the Lord of my Will.
Lord Jesus, please be the Lord of my Body."

And with that, i decided to talk to God about work and without knowing it God decided to teach me a thing or two by putting ideas into my head and heart! I was having such a good time in physical silence but engaged with God that without knowing it, the 10 minutes was up and i was greatly AMAZED by the ideas and how God engaged me in that 10 mins that i did another 5 mins of it(It is shorter because i needed to wash up and head to work). I've recorded the ideas that was laid in my head and heart on my trusty S5 to ensure i remembered what God told me. It was different and it sounded so much better than what i had in mind originally when I was planning for an event for parents for 2016! AWESOME!

I recommend you to try the 10 mins exercise for yourself and if you are a pragmatist like me, put in a clock timer to give you some psychological support.
1) Go to a place that nobody will intrude
2) Put your phone away
3) Sit down and close your eyes and just talk internally (God knows your thoughts)
4) Wait for God's replies
His replies can come in a form of ideas where he brings up important matter to your heart.
(Remember to test those replies to what you know about who God is to ensure that that it is him)
5) Remember and Honor it by acknowledging and acting on those matter

I will be doing this more often from now on.
Our God is an Awesome God! AMEN!

Do you all know Darryl Yong? Currently, he acts in Tanglin, a Channel 5 drama. He was an ACS Barker Boy who was the school's Basketball team captain. We were from the same cohort and used to play basketball at Tanglin Community Club with a group of friends. I was reminded of him because he appeared on TV recently at the President Star Charity Show and I wanted you all to know that he was a Barker Boy.

Life is like a drama. Like what Darryl Yong does professionally as an actor; all of us are actors in our own life drama. Most of the time, I believe how you act is dependent on who your audience is.

To some of you, when you are tired and your parents/guardian demand you to run errands you dislike, you become the weakest person in the world. Muscle aches here and muscle aches there, headache, fever, complaining that the blanket is too heavy, etc etc.

This reminds me of an incident I encountered some years back. There was this camp where this boy didn’t want to play a game. He claimed that he had a headache and felt like vomiting. He then ran to the toilet. So out of concern, one of my friends followed him. In the end, all he spat out was a bit of saliva and our concern turned into exasperation. If you didn’t get the point, that boy was just acting so that he could escape playing the game.

On the flip side, when you want to impress someone, you become the most enthusiastic and knowledgeable man in the universe. You could start to carry heavy things, recite lame jokes from the internet, play the guitar, create a song mash up, or even use a marker to draw your own 6 pack… Basically, you go way beyond your means to accomplish the task.

But then again, if how you act in a situation depends on who your audience is, wouldn’t you start to feel confused about your identity after a while? (At least I was)

Could I offer a suggestion that helped me in realizing my identity in life? While growing up, I learnt a lesson that in life, I had to be consistent. I realized that this was only possible if I lived for an Audience of One. And that was God, who never changes.

So ask yourself today, who are you? I can't answer that. But, once you realize that all that matters in life is that you're living for an Audience of one, that is, for God, you will soon discover that he is the producer and the director of your life’s drama.

When you get to know this Audience of One more intimately and follow his instructions, you will find yourself becoming what Jesus says in Matthew 5:14 "You are the light of the world"

You might be thinking now, “So what does this look like in daily life”?

Let’s look at a practical example:
For some of you, you would have received your results by now. I am sure that some of you are elated and some of you are not. Some of you may be thinking "Thank God! I've made it!" Maybe some of you are thinking "God, please help me when I show my parents my results". Some of you may announce your results unreservedly and some of you may choose to remain quiet, until your teacher announces that you are one of the top in class. For me, I remember belonging to the category that did fine and would purposely hang out with friends who did very badly to comfort them. I realize that when I did this, I felt secretly happy because I did 'better' than them. (Horrible right?) I thought so too, so please don't do that.

In reference to being the light of the world, please be sensitive to your fellow classmates and comfort them genuinely if they are disappointed with their results.

What about my earlier example about avoiding errands that you dislike? When God makes you the light of the world, you would start to honor your parents and be obedient to their good instructions.

Lastly, instead of living to impress others,

live to impress the Audience of One

.

This then is the Thought For The Day:
“Remember, you are living for an Audience of One.”

Let us pray.

Dear Father,
Give us the wisdom to know who you are and then realize who we truly are.

In Jesus’ Name we pray, AMEN.

Quite some years back, when I was a secondary school boy, I joined the Boys' Brigade. Being with the Boys' Brigade taught me many things, it taught me about fear, which evolved into a healthy respect for authority; it taught me about friendship, which evolved into my best buddies in life; it taught me about discipline, which evolved to respecting myself and others; it taught me about responsibility which brought growth in my life and it taught me about my talents; which evolved into my capabilities.

A good portion of my time in the Boys' Brigade was spent faced down towards the floor. Why towards the floor? They called it push up, a good physical training for a boy. And to be honest, my training in National Service had lesser time with the floor than when I was in the Boys Brigade.

Thinking back, It felt as if I wasted a lot of time trying to polish my boots. Burn the kiwi they say(OK, we are not referring to the ‘Kiwi’ animal, but instead to the Kiwi Shoe Polish), melt the kiwi they say. Swirl it with a finger they say. Coat it again they say. Repeat the all steps they say. However, every time there was a uniform inspection, that officer or senior will shake his head and say (at least to me), "You didn't polish your boots enough" and I will be facing the floor again. I hated it. Sweaty shirt sticking to my body, hot burning floor, spectacles sliding off my face, irritating itch on my nose, kiwi stained fingers and aching arm muscles. All of that, despite me thinking that that my boots were polished and that it is alright.

Looking back, I see how God took care of me. I found myself becoming an officer during national service. I then found myself becoming an officer within the Boys' Brigade. I then found myself working within a well-known Multi-National Company (Which honestly I felt pretty amazing). And now I am sharing this thought of the day. While reflecting on this topic of excellence, I thought of my life journey and it reminded me of some experience that I thought was really bizarre. The experience of being punished even when I tried my hardest. The experience of being treated as a failure when my performance was good. The experience of rejection when I knew I was the better guy. It then dawned upon me a surprising fact of life! "You know, sometimes, you will never be good enough for some people, even when you are perfect".

So listen carefully. Never let that person who thinks you are not good enough define you. Remind yourself this simple truth, God loves every one of you and you are fearfully and wonderfully made by him.

So don't be discouraged when you fail, are punished or rejected. Instead, let that fact push you on to be better. Just like the quote i heard from a young boy, "I learnt that it isn't about being good enough but it is being the best you can be"

So give that little extra effort in everything you do
Maybe for some of you, it is arriving on time
Or greeting the next person you see with a smile
Or patting your friend on the back on a hard day and telling him, it is going to be ok
Or controlling your tongue and not spew vulgarities but instead, encourage someone with your words
Or telling your parents that you love them or appreciate them

A personal example: One of the things that I found attractive when I was dating my then girlfriend (who ended up becoming my wife) was when she took the extra effort to clear my trays after our meal in McDonald's. When I saw that, it reinforced my desire to marry her, and now we are married. I am not saying that you should marry the girl who picks up after you, though it is a plus point when you choose a girl but I am just trying to say that my then girlfriend gave a little a little extra of herself at that moment and that kind of changed our lives.

1 Thessalonian 5:15 to 18 says "Make sure that nobody pays back wrong for wrong, but always strive to do what is good for each other and for everyone else. Rejoice always, pray continually, give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus."

As you can see, those little extra efforts in excellence that you think may be insignificant are actually what make a difference not just in your own life, but in the life of others.

This then is the Thought for the day:
“That little extra good goes a long way”

Let us pray.

Dear Father,
Give us the discipline not to be discouraged at how people think of us but instead give us the wisdom to know what little extra we can give and also give us the courage to give that little extra in the hope to make our time in this world more meaningful.

In Jesus’ Name I pray, AMEN.

Socrates once said "The Unexamined life is not worth living" and it does make me wonder, what is an unexamined life?

To examine something, you will need to inspect and test it thoroughly. Do we in our free time inspect and test life thoroughly to find out the meaning of life? As you can see, I have not really did much reflections in life for the past 5 months and i believe i have not really examined my life as of late.

Looking back on the past 5 months, it is quite a whirlwind and i honestly don't know where all those time and all those effort went. There were my full time job and then there was a lot of camps that were planned and executed. And that is all.

I've been praying and have been wondering about this opportunity of going into full time employment with a church and decided after the many years of praying and pondering to end my corporate life for the moment and to jump into a full time basis within the church. It was a tough decision to have made and i have now fully appreciated those who has made similar decisions especially on those who are married, who took a pay-cut to be in obedient to God's call.

However, pondering about this new impending job right now, despite the amount of things i can already see i need to do, despite the 'warzone' that i may have to enter, despite the pay-cut, despite the discomfort, despite the possibility to manage nasty people, i feel this comes as a great blessing and will become the best job that God has allowed me to take upon myself.

I've already received many great advice from people.
- Do not ever give up
- Always remember what God calls you to do and grab hold on it
- Whenever there is a disagreement or anger, remember all loves Jesus
- Don't think of it as my people, but rather.. God's people that i am looking out for

To be honest, i am scared of what i just got myself into. Yet at the same time, i am very excited about it.
This new adventure that does not seem that new at all but i know i had to take. The new yet familiar feeling

Well, remember that Money and prestige is not the end all. At the end, it is about eternity and how you relate to others with eternity in mind that matter.

Have you examined your life yet?

The post is partially inspired from the passing of Mr Lee Kuan Yew, the first Prime Minister of Singapore. To me, he is in his right, a great leader to the nation of Singapore.

What is leadership?
How do a person become an effective leader?
Why is leadership important?

Those are fundamental questions that everybody encounters when you are within a group, whether it is a nation, or a Multi-National Corporation, or to being part of a family unit.

What is leadership?
So far in my life, in experiences of being a leader and also being under leadership, I would attribute that the fundamental of leadership is how well you can influence people. No doubt that there are different leadership styles (ranging from how Autocratic to how Democratic one is) but at the essence of it all, it boils down to how you are able to influence a group of people to work towards a vision through the goals that you have setup.

How do a person become an effective leader?
To be an effective leader, you need to have a Vision and goals for your group to work towards to. A leader without a vision is a headless chicken because what are you trying to influence your group to do? And that is why Vision is so important as this would be the default consideration any of the members would look towards when there is vague directions or difficult situation. The goals are usually part of the vision, materialized and focused into necessary steps to accomplish into a vision.

What about leadership styles? Yes it matters but I have observed that this is dependent on the group that you are working with of which you need administer the different leadership style.
When a group belongs to
"I do not know what i want"
"I do not know how to accomplish what i want"
"What i want and i am doing is going to hurt me and i don't know about that"
You could lean more towards the "Autocratic" slant if you know better.

When a group belongs to
"We are all educated and aligned"
"We know what we need to do"
"We have our ideas"
You could lean more towards the "Democratic" slant.

Why is leadership important?
This is not what i usually think of until today. Why is leadership important?
Because believe it or not, it impacts how your society is and impacts your life.
It is the leaders that would shape what your group does and that would result in shaping what you do.

It will make a difference if...
1)your leader's vision is to have you to be good people
Need effort? not much. Much growth? Minimal.
2)your leader's vision is to make you to be great people
Need effort? A lot of it. Much growth? You bet!
3)your leader has no vision
Need effort? A lot of it to find out what you are doing.. Much growth? Minimal.. it might even backfire

Remember, to be a leader you need a will like iron! It requires a lot of sacrifices.

It has been about half a year since I've written here.
Truth to be told, I would always thought that life would get easier after doing the 'necessary' and 'required' things. The dating, the job, the marriage, the ministry. When I was younger, I was always fond of the good life that was promised in the media. The life travelling around the world, drinking and wasting away.

I did have my fair share of traveling to end up finding out how excessively bad it is to my savings and how excessively lonely it can get travelling alone.
I did have my fair share of disco and drinking to end up finding how little is communicated during the disco and how horrible it feels to wake up with a 'pukey' hangover the next morning(my body does not seem to go well with alcohol).

I have found that that life was a chasing after the wind of which is this emptiness lurking within my heart.

I've found myself coming to a cross road to choose between
1) Climbing the ladder
2) Staying in my comfort
3) Listening to God
*Disclaimer: sometimes there are cases where Listening to God could be together with (1) or (2) but in my current case, it was mutually exclusive.

When I was much younger, I used to look down on people who is unable to heed God's calling to full time for a reason and another. Now, counting the cost and imagining how my family or spouse would be challenged, it humbled me to see those before me who truly gave what they had for the work in front of them.

God has called every Christian to a holy life. There are no exceptions to this call.

This call to a holy life is based on the fact that God Himself is Holy. God has not called us to be like those around us. He has called us to be like Himself. Holiness is nothing less than conformity to the character of God.

What is the implication of God being holy?

Just as He(God) cannot but know what is right, so He cannot but do what is right. He always does what is just and right without the slightest hesitation. It is impossible in the very nature of God for him to do otherwise.

God is absolutely free from moral evil and that He is Himself the essence of moral purity. The holiness of God also includes His perfect conformity to His own divine character. He always acts consistently with His holy character. If God is perfectly holy, then we can be confident that His action toward us are always perfect and just. It is impossible in the very nature of God that He should ever be unfair. Because He is holy, all His actions are holy.

To complain against God is in effect to deny His holiness and to say He is not fair.Acknowledging His holiness is one of the ways we are to praise God.
Holiness is the perfection of all His other attributes(eg. Holy power, Holy mercy, Holy wisdom). It is His holiness more than any other attribute that makes him worthy of our praise.

God demands more than we acknowledge his holiness.God rightfully demands perfect holiness in all of his moral creatures. Because God is holy, He can never excuse or overlook any sin we commit, however small it may be.

How about 'small sin' or 'small exceptions'?

God's holiness does not make allowance for minor flaws or shortcomings in our personal character.

How about in 'impossible position' that God place me in?

Because God is holy, He cannot tempt us to sin.He will not put us in a position where we have no alternative.
Because God is holy, He hates sin. We become so accustomed to our sins we sometimes lapse into a sate of peaceful coexistence with them, but God never ceases to hate them.
We need to cultivate in our own hearts the same hatred of sin God has. God hates sin wherever he finds it, in saint and sinner alike. He judges each man's work impartially.

In the deceitfulness of our hearts, we sometimes play with temptation by entertaining the thought that we can always confess and later ask forgiveness. Such thinking is exceedingly dangerous. God's judgement is without partiality. He never overlooks our sin. He never decied not to bother since the sin is only a small one. No, God hates sin intensely whenever and wherever he finds it.

What should be our motivation to Holiness?

The love of God to us through Jesus Christ should be our primary motivation to holiness. But a motivation prompted by God's hatred of sin and His consequent judgement on it is no less biblical.

Conclusion
Though He accepts us solely through the merit of Christ he holds us to a perfect standard of Holiness and he cannot any us to any standard lesser. We must take this seriously if we are to grow in holiness.