The need for daily appointments

I play the trumpet. I also play the piano, guitar, synthesizer, drums, and sing. But there is nothing like the trumpet… miss just a single day’s practice and… oops! Sorry, I can’t hit any of those high notes or sustain them for long. You see, the trumpet just happens to be one of those tiresome instruments that one has to practice every single day. Practice consistently and you’ll be rewarded with beauty of tone and fluency, awe-inspiring to hear. No wonder the trumpet is the most mentioned musical instrument in the Bible! From Genesis to Revelation. But alas the one who misses a day’s practice… not only frustration and impatience arises in the musician when he attempts to resume playing, especially after a long break (almost as if he has to start from scratch all over again!), but he has to endure his next door neighbor’s wrathful glares, too! Needless to say, the longer he stays away from his instrument, the harder it is to return to it.

 

Our walk with the Lord is like this, too. We need to spend time with Him everyday. When we do, we’re rewarded with delights beyond our limited imaginations – the abundant life Jesus promised. When we don’t… we feel ourselves drift further and further away from our Source of Joy, Peace and Love. Life grows dull and melancholic. Sunny skies turn grey. Isn’t it far better to keep our daily appointments?

The Fatigue Test

In Material Science & Engineering, one of the tests of Strengths of Metals is called the Fatigue Test. In this test, a bar of metal being tested is bent back and forth, the aim being to see how many times it can withstand such treatment before it snaps. In certain cases, metals are treated for fatigue for a few cycles then strengthened using other means such as heat treatment. The effect? A much stronger material than the original.

 

In the Christian life, a sincere disciple often feels just like that piece of metal – fatigued by trials. But take heart, the Lord isn’t going to “snap” us – He’s making us into much stronger Christians compared with what we were originally.

How do you know if you are a Spirit-filled Christian?

Being a Spirit-filled Christian is like being a water tap. For the tap to be filled with water from the supply tank, it needs to be turned on so that water can flow through it first. In the same way, before we can be refilled with God’s blessings, we need to experience a pouring out of His blessings to us towards others. In plain English, if God’s Spirit is filling us within, we’ll have an outflowing of His Love towards others.

Life in the fast lane

Driving along the highway the other day made me think of how like cars on the highway our lifestyles have become. Cars usually drive in the fast lane because they’re always in a hurry to get where they’re going. At the same time, they have to be careful to keep enough distance between them and the car in front else brakes won’t prevent a crash!

 

Our lives are like that, too. Sometimes we live in the fast lane. Always on the go and in a hurry. But we need to remember to put enough space for rest between tasks, else we won’t be able to stop even when we want to and we’ll be headed straight for that inevitable crash of our nerves.

Hello world!

Life is like a 3D picture. Sometimes we just cannot see the whole picture. All we can see are the dots, spots and weird abstract designs. But then, very suddenly, everything comes into focus when we get our perspective right and we can instantly see the eagle, the empire state building, the tyrannosaurus rex… and we are amazed that we couldn’t see all this before, and now we can’t even lose sight of these images although we try to shift our gaze. But if we do look away for a while and then only look back, we may lose sight of those intriguing 3D images, but only for a while – once we know how to see them, we will never forget. It is just a matter of time, in fact less time in every instance we forget and let our gaze stray, before the 3D viewpoint is once again burned into our field of vision.

My intention in starting this blog is to share some of these images that I have glimpsed, in the hope of crystallizing their form so that such reflections and cogitations will not be lost. So grab a banana smoothie or your favourite drink as you contemplate my thoughts2ponder…