They are asking you now, 'Can you forgive me?'

Then Peter came to Jesus and asked, "Lord, how many times shall I forgive my brother when he sins against me? Up to seven times?" Jesus answered, "I tell you, not seven times, but seventy-seven times. (Matthew 18:21-22)

Coming to the year 2011, it is not difficult to see that many people bring up some 'excessive baggage' of hurts from the past. Forgiveness seems to be the work of a saints, and we reason ourselves that 'I'm only human' and to forgive only can be done by those who have achieved an Angel-ship. This is of course, is not true. Day to day agenda, we sometimes consciously or unconsciously, intentionally or unintentionally; hurts others. To make the story worst, hurt people hurt others. When forgiveness seems to be alien from one lips, it develop into anger, and from anger to stress and all of its bad habits will eventually follow. Soon or later, it kill a person faster than cancer.

Why did Peter asked such a question? I do not know. We may assume what happen but thanks to his boldness, we can hear what Jesus' replied. Jesus said, seventy-seven times. Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary commended, 'Until seventy times seven-that is, so long as it shall be needed and sought: you are never to come to the point of refusing forgiveness sincerely asked'

"Richard, it's easy to say then done.", You may ask me. Well, I may say that it's easier for me to write this down then to speak to you face-to-face. When we read the Scriptures, what Jesus said was never a suggestions, it may be said with a soft spoken tones or with a very kind expressions but none of His Word was just a mere words- His Word is a command speak in a language of love.

When we forgive, we shown to the world that God is alive. When we forgive, we shown to our neighbor that the Holy Spirit is in you. When we forgive, we shown to our brothers and sisters that I can't do it, but Jesus is able to change my heart. When we forgive, we agreed with the fact that 'I'm only human' and He is the Only God that is able. When we forgive, we are forgiven. When we forgive... Our prayers will be heard.

They are asking you now, 'Can you forgive me?' What would you say?

P.s: I'm giving away 2 books of Charles Stanley, The Gift of Forgiveness for free. All you have to do is write to me a short comment on what happen after you forgive others @ when someone had forgive you.

Week 27: Kindness - so that the deaf can hear and the blind can see

I believe that the message of the gospel must be spoken and shown to the watching world. (Steven Sjogren, Conspiracy of Kindness)

 Charity does not require a large deed. It often takes little acts of kindness in the form of a warm smile or a kind word. (Steven R. Covey, Everyday Greatness)

I remember well when I went back home by bus to Petaling Jaya from Shah Alam after visiting my friend, Jimmy Awang. It was crowded, and for your information; RapidKL service don't have conductor bus. So as you can imagine, it took lots of time during transaction. 30 minutes later, an old lady with her big black giant bag came in for a ride, I'm suspect she was a real Indian from India. I knew this when she replied me, 'Hellu' instead of normal 'hello'. 

She was sitting next to me and looking straight through a transparent glass on her right side without a word or any indication to communicate with me. Maybe she thought that I'm an unfriendly Chinese guy (I'm Iban, but most people think that I'm Chinese) or maybe she just doesn’t want to talk, just enjoy the ride. 

I want to communicate with her, but I doubt that she can understand me. So I take out chocolate- Nips, and offered her to have some. Suddenly, she smiled, shakes her head which is a sign of 'yes' and open wide her right hand and said 'thank you'. When she arrived at her destination, she said 'bye bye' and what a magic it was- she gave me the loveliest smile ever!

Do you remember when is the last time you do the act of simple kindness toward others? It doesn't cost much but the effect is tremendously great. It was a win-win situation. She has her chocolate, and I have her attention. It's not the size of your deeds or gifts that's matter; it's the heart of the giver that counts.

As the children of God, we must demonstrating His kindness by offering to do some act of humble service with no strings attached. When you saw an opportunity to serve others, don't waste it! Offer yourself up, make the best of what you have at hand now and do it great as possible at that moment.

A Nips chocolate can make this old lady’s day a little bit brighter. It cost me RM1.80 for the chocolate but I received a specious 'gift' in return, a smile on her face. When we show the kindness toward others, it is not for the sake of receiving back, but to show how great our God is. It’s our respond, because He gave so we give.

Will someone this week understand the Gospel better because of your simple act of kindness?

Anything worth doing does not have to be done perfectly- at first

Anything worth doing does not have to be done perfectly- at first. - Ken Blanchard, The Heart of a Leader.

Every leader- employee, employer, parent, student or those 'without title' (as Robin Sharma say it) should recognize that accomplishment or success will not come unless first, a failure or short coming at one point or another.

For example, when we start to learned how to walk, do we all felt during our first attempt? What we do as a baby? Don't we rise up again, try and try again until one day, we finally walk?! So when you see people walking at Mid-Valley Mega mall or The Spring Shopping Complex, you must remember this- they all had felt before. (Though some may still fall using high heels)

Don't be too hard on yourself. Do not be discouraged if you cannot play the guitar and decided that Guitar-Pro software doesn't work. Make it a positive experience if you fail your exam for the first time. Your parent may put a lots of hope and pressure on you for this new semester, but don't get too hard on yourself. Make it a joy and privilege to be where you are right now; adsorbs all the hope but some of the pressure to make you move ahead. Don't expect instant perfection.

Ken Blanchard continues; it’s unfair to be hard on yourself the first time you attempt something new. It is also unfair to expect such an unrealistic standard from others. It's not necessary to do everything exactly right the first time.

Week 26: Sacrifice - 'Even death itself will turn backwards'.

            It is the Law of Narnia, the Deep Magic that every traitor is belong to the queen Jadis, White Witch. Edmund as we know it from the first movie, The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, was a traitor. The evil White Witch said, 'His blood is my property', while pointing out her finger toward repented Edmund. In the Law, the punishment is to die on the Stone Table, '... as is tradition.' said the self-proclaim queen. This claimed happen in front of Great Lion, Aslan. 'Come in~', as he invites the Witch for a diplomatic talk with the enemy.

            We don't know what they are talking about, C.S. Lewis keep it for himself. As they when out from the tent belong to Aslan, it is quite surprising when Aslan announces that Edmund is released. People scream out in joy, but Lucy as she always is, known there's something wrong in Aslan's voice.

Jadis asking Aslan for a last time, "How do I know that your promise will be kept?"

Aslan roared mightily toward her to ensure that he kept his promise. But what promise? What did he promised to the evil witch?

…

We as human as we are though... or rather reason ourselves that we can make up for our own wrong doing. We say, 'I steal only once, I'm sure God won't punish me. In fact, I'm doing many good things now.' We thought that we can get away with our wicked life by the Law of Balance; steal RM2 then pay back RM2 in a form of charity or gifts and then zoooopppp! our sins disappear. We thought that God can be fool! 'Here God, look I have pray 23 hours per day, fasting 2 months and read the Sacred Book 3 times every week. Now I know that I'm righteous!’ God is love, He will forgive our sins but God is also Just, He must punish our sins.

…

Edmund must die. Edmund repent, yes, but he still has to die. If Aslan lets Edmund get away without any punishment, he's a law breaker, a liar and not trustworthy. What did he promised to the witch?

He will bear Edmund's punishment- to die on the Stone Table.

That night with heavy heart but willingly, he went to meet White Witch to sacrifice on behalf of Edmund- to die. He knew that Susan and Lucy are following him, so he said, 'It is time, from here I must be alone... you must trust me. Farewell~'

At Stone Table

"Behold, the Great Lion.", as the witch saw him with gladness. He was wounded, bound, tied and his hair was shaved. His Glory, an honor of a Lion was removed from him. Jadis whispered,

'You know Aslan; I'm a little disappointed in you. Did you honestly think by all this that you could save the human traitor? You are giving me your life and saving no one... So much for love.'

'Despair and die!' she loudly yelled and the cold knife went deep into his flesh. He breathes his last...

'The Great Cat is dead!!!'

.....

Edmund have two choices: to die and the witch would have his soul or to live but someone else have to die. Aslan have two choices too; to give out Edmund to the witch and not being a responsible King and a loving Cat or; he has to sacrifice on behalf of Edmund and remain responsible and loving but powerless. In this case, Edmund didn't choose at all, Aslan volunteered and prove to be powerless... is he?

....

The next morning, the Table Stone was break into two and Aslan body was gone. Moment later, there he was, standing as an old Wise and Magnificent Lion, a King, resurrected from his death. Susan in her disbelieved, 'But we saw the knife... the witch.'

Aslan said to her and Lucy, 'If the witch knew the true meaning of sacrifice, she might have interpreted the Deep Magic differently. That when the willing victim who has committed no treachery is killed in a traitor's instead, the Stone Table would crack and even death itself will turn backwards.'

...

This is a friction story, but I believe that there's a true story. I don't believe in Deep Magic, I believe in Deep Truth. I don't believe in the Law of Narnia, but I believe in the Law of God. I don't believe that Aslan is the Most Mighty Lion; I believe that Jesus is the Lion of Judah. I don't believe that we can clean our own eternal sins; I believe that Jesus’ Blood had sacrificed Himself to redeem us from the punishment of our sin.

This is the only motivation for life that I knew that we don't need to do anything except believe, have faith. Be motivated to live out your life on the assurance that the Lord is Powerful, 'even death itself will turn backwards'.

Top 3 New Year Resolutions 2011

Research for New Year Resolutions Statistics has shown that:

•  63% of people are still keeping their resolutions after the first two months.
• 67% of people actually make 3 or more resolutions.
• The top resolutions usually involve promises to exercise more (37%), increasing the time devoted to study or work (23%), losing weight, stop smoking or drinking (alcohol and/or coffee), and eat healthier.
• People make more resolutions to start a new habit (84%), than to break an old one (16%).
• 65% of people made their resolutions between the 28th of December and New Year's Day. The rest usually take up until the end of January.
• Of those who successfully achieved their top resolution, 40% of them did so on the first attempt. The rest made multiple tries, with 17% finally succeeding after more than six attempts.

(Source: Google. Confirm by: Experiences. Outcome: Laugh)

You open your calendar for December 2010 and realized that it will come to an end soon. Then you received a sms and when you open the inbox it said, 'See you next year!' You laugh, grin and smile back at the device as if the device was a being. Then, you replied, 'Its 2 days before New Year, you silly~". He thinks you don't get the joke. You think you get it, but not so until he started asking, ‘What are your resolutions next year?’ 'I don't know.’ Then a killer question slashed like lightning of thunder from Zeus's throne beginning with 'Did you....’
Did you manage to reach you last year resolutions?

That was the mark of the end of texting communication.
This year I want to share with you all about a noble goals and I believe that both you and I MUST (not should) attain to achieve. These are the goals that we need to work out together with much prayer and anticipations. It's a universal goal (and some may not agree). It's a spiritual goal, a long journey. It's a goal worth struggle for, worth invests on for and it's the choice of a life time. Here are 3 goals that we MUST do together:

1. Knowing God (Who He is)
'For a long time J.I. Packer's Knowing God was a foundational text... while still popular, Packer's book has been somewhat displaced in recent years by Henry Blackaby's Experiencing God. The titles reflect this shift from knowing to experiencing. In a postmodern world, emotions are the final judge of what makes something good, true and right', writes Walt Mueller. By really knowing Him, we can have an unshakable faith that no matter what happen or feeeeeeeeeeeling we get, we know that there's God in Heaven. Faith is not measure by emotion.

Duration: Starting now until eternity.
How: Read and study the Bible (and understand it), have a conversation with Him frequently- pray, share with one another about your 'finding' and do an intellectuals studies (history) and ask questions.

2. Having a personal relationship with God.
Knowing is not enough. I know who is Barack Obama and Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak but I have no personal relationship with them. The author of The Jesus who never Lived, H. Wayne House writes this in his preface, "My desire is that the... reader will receive knowledge of the real Jesus amid the current contention that there are a number of equally legitimate understandings of Jesus."

Duration: Starting now until the end of this earthly life. (From there He will decide either to continue it or not.)
How: Have a conversation with Him frequently - pray. Dedicate or rededicate your life to Him. Answer this question: "Am I worship the Real God?"

[If you have goals to break or stop bad habits like I do, this is good news for us. Once first 2 goals above are increasingly made into realizations, these bad habits will decrease and soon stop (but not instantly).]

3. Live an authentic Life
By authentic I means is 'not false, copied or imitation' but a real and genuine one. Not being someone you're not nor have a double life. Have an authentic faith. "What you see is what you got" principle.

Duration: This year, next year and forever.

How: Accomplish the first 2 goals and you'll know how.

Include this 3 in your other goals for next year. Write it down. Adjust the 'how'. We do it together; you and me. When someone asks, "Did you manage to reach you last year resolutions?”

You can proudly say now, "Not all. But this I will do; Knowing God, to have a personal relationship with Him and to live an authentic life... How about you?"

Oh may I add something interesting on the statistics above;

You are 10 times more likely to attain your goal, rather than people who don't explicitly make goals.

Week 25: Victory - Winning the Game of Life

[27th December 2010, 11.45am]

            Yesterday was a history, a great one, AFF Suzuki Cup 2010 at Stadium Nasional Bukit Jalil, a match that I will never forget; Malaysia vs. Indonesia. As soon as I arrived at Bukit Jalil rapid KL station, I saw a color of passion- yellow and blue. I went alone (I couldn't find anyone who have an interest in football here) and I 'summoned' all my relationship skills. This was the moment where I applied all the books that I read about winning with people. 

            It all come into fruition when I'm standing with thousands of fan, hundreds of 'fanatics', few become literally my friend and 2 Indonesians I managed to say 'hi' and words of compliments for their national teams. The match start at 8pm but we all already filled-up the grand stadium since 5.30pm. It was an historical moment. It's what every football fan can dream of- to be there.

            While everyone was holding flags and banners, I'm holding a paper and pen. Azrul, who was sitting next to me, wondering why and what did I wrote. I didn't tell him because he didn't ask. This is what I write (added later);

4 Essential lessons to Win the Game of Life

1) Training. Everyone who competes in the games goes into strict training.

            All of the players who competes in this match, has goes into hours of training, hundred of friendly matches, through the rain and heat of the sun. In our life, training is essential. To be a good writer, football player, a great teacher, doctor, student, businessman, architect, carpenter etc. you need training to prepare yourself for the challenge ahead. Train yourself to become skillful in what you do. Don't settle for moderate, be the best according to your setting values. If you're a Christian, you must train and equip yourself with 'the whole armor of God' (Ephesians 6).You must!

2) Integrity. Don't live a double life.

            In football, acting to fall in front of penalty area will cause him a red card. There's no warning or whatsoever, red card and you're out! 'Real integrity is doing the right thing, knowing that nobody's going to know whether you did it or not.’ said Oprah Winfrey. Integrity means wholeness. Are your life is real? Is who you are now the same as you're out there? This is for all of us, King Solomon advised, 'The man of integrity walks securely, but he who takes crooked paths will be found out.'

3) Self-Control. Think of long-term results.

            Some of Malaysians fan, I observed, have a prejudice against Indonesians. During the match, some displayed a rude hand sign; shout 'Pergi balik lah oi!' (Go back home!) toward Indonesians fan. Prejudice (and all the anger words) appears when we're under pressure- out of self-control. It is impossible as long we're in this world to eliminate prejudices. But do not make that as an excuse to do it so, we need to control it. You'll be amazed when you choose to be self-control. You'll build more friends instead of enemies.

4) Time. Life is short, live for God.

            There are only 90 minutes and maybe 10 - 15 minutes of additional time in a single match. For this 1st half final match, both team need to score as much goal as possible. It is very important for our team Malaysia, especially, to win this game and accumulate points before going for 2nd half final in Jakarta, Indonesia. 90 minutes... Just 90 minutes and the game are over.

            How old are you now? How much years, months, days, hours or seconds left? Do you know that we are made for eternity? What's next after this? John the apostle wrote this in the Bible, "I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God (Jesus Christ) that you may know that you have eternal life." (1 John 5:13) Did I offend your 'faith'? If I did, I just want you to know that... I too have a short life here on earth. Life is short, live for God.

I'm not sure when the game was finished. I was busy shouting and give a high 5 with my fellow Malaysian fans. Final results on the scoreboard make my RM30 ticket worth nothing compare to my experience and this lessons that I've learned. You should bring paper and pen sometimes... to a football match.

Small Hero with a Big Heart

I was sitting in a mall, particularly inside McD's restaurant. Place: Secret. Time: Noon. Weather: In a mall, I can't see the sun. I didn't buy any McD's products, I just need a sit, a place where I can see people and observe them. But I did bring a Starbuck's coffee with me and I placed it somewhere between burger boxes and McD's plastic bag. 2 observations I want to share today.

            There was a man, physically small coming out from a books shop. At first, I thought that he was a circus clown but there was no paint on his face. He works there. In a short term judgment states, I asked a cynical question: "Why the manager hired him? Can he find someone that is more 'able' to do this job?" I confess that I'm thinking wrongly toward him. But you see, he was in charged to carry out big boxes from the storeroom. There was a big one. Almost as big as his body. What should I do? Laugh or help him? I made a decision... I sip of coffee. From a distance, I can see that he was able to do it. This is his pride, I don't want to under estimate him by my sympathy. He's small, yet he's able, he can do it and indeed, he's in-charge!

           

            Another observation I saw was an amazing one. An old lady was walking through the books shop. Obviously she was looking for something. 'A book! Of course,' my mind said to my soul trying to be smart. For about 10 to 15 minutes later, she came out and I saw her carrying a small book. That was it? A small book! So I sip the last drops of coffee and went forward to the shop and really want to found out what kind of book she brought. It was a classic book. Among all the books that was displayed, she choose the classic, best-selling, and not to forget- small. Yes, precious books almost always writing in short and full of wisdom.

            Are you feeling small today, physically small? And you said, 'This is why nobody likes me! This is why I can't do this and that! This is why I should quit and dreaming of being the best!' Take heart my friend, you maybe small, but you're able! You can be self-pity or you can use every strength and talent that you have to make it happen. The 'boxes' maybe big and heavy, but you heart is big and our God is Strong!

            Are you feeling small today, mentally small? And you said, 'I can't do this... I'm from a poor family... I'm a loser... I'm too young or too old...' Straight up! Get your thinking right! Your values are not depending on your background, it depend of how you see yourself. Your value is not for men to rate; your value is priceless, purchased by the Blood on the Cross. The Mirror said you're flesh and blood, the Lord said, 'You're my precious child". 'Classic' statements? Yes! Simple and 'short'? Yes! Full of 'Wisdom'? Absolutely yes!

            Small as he is, he has a brave heart like a lion. He shows honor, courage and royalty. He is the smallest hero in the Land of Narnia. He fights for freedom, battles with bigger creatures and loses his tail 'the honor and glory of a mouse'. Because of this, Aslan restored his dignity.

            With his small row boat, he paddles off in a different direction, and disappears... Reepicheep, made a decision of a life time, small hero with a big heart finally living his dream, it's finally come true. He reaches to Aslan's Country.