New Highlight Colour Category!

As of today I have about three categories of highlights for my bible reading.

First category is things I want to remember. Colours are pink, yellow, and cyan (esp if things get ‘interesting’).

Second category are the very important things I want to remember. Colours are light pink and light yellow. As you can probably imagine, these work well alongside my first category highlights, especially in a long passage with multiple verses. I will usually highlight the passage that I want to remember in pink, and then within the passage there would usually be one or two verses that are the key points or super important, I would highlight those light pink. So that there would be contrast.

Third category will be in grey for warnings I want to remember. Especially if they are directed at me.

So today I have created a new fourth category based on what I learned last week in online bible school. It’s a light green highlight for verses that are God’s ‘intended purpose for men’. We call it the Sabbath Rest… I think… I’m still learning haha. The Garden of Eden will be my imagery for this highlight category. God’s plan was no death, no sickness, and we live in true abundance, and connection to God. The three main points for the Sabbath Rest is peace with one another, peace with the earth, and peace with God. I’m thinking to keep it less for who God wants me to be today/tomorrow, and more for God’s ultimate goal for us in eternity. A very after-death (Real Life) kind of highlight. The purpose is to train myself to have a heavenly perspective.

Love This So Much

Amen

Panic On The Dance Floor

Life is hard

Life is a challenge

I’ve been getting these panic attacks whenever I have to plan my day. Whenever I have to plan my week. When I have to be clear about the things I need to get done, and by when. And these panic attacks consume me. I think it’s affecting my health. I’m getting these backaches and headaches.

But when I look back, I have to be grateful. God has done so much. God has used me. God has blessed me even when I am unworthy. Even through the mistakes I’ve made and sins I committed.

Lord teach me to look forward and see you just like I look back and see you.

TeenStreet 2014 Malaysia

 

So a few days ago, I came back from a camp called Teenstreet Malaysia! It’s called that cuz it was held in Malaysia. Amaze-balls! I went with about 20+ teens and leaders from my church. Can you see me? I’m the guy in red. It’s a camp for teenagers aged 13-17. If you’re older, like me, you’ll have to join as service team or a coach. You don’t get LESS than a normal participant though, trust me. This was my fourth Teenstreet. Wow. The first one I went to was ten years ago!

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So this year, the youth ministry of my church decided the youth needed to invest into the lives of those less fortunate. Where could we go? And what could we do? And for who? Well, that was easily answered. Why not teach our youth to invest in our own nation? Since we already do pray for God to do great things for Malaysia, and we believe the prophesies that it will start with the local church. So, let’s bless the local church. The sad fact is, that the churches in the city is rich in resource, and the church in villages are barely surviving. Pastors are quitting from being a full-time pastor because they can’t support their family. But of course, we can’t totally solve that problem. Let’s do things a little at a time: a little opportunity, and a little encouragement. Of course, it ended up not being just a little.

For 2014, we decided on one big end year goal: Raise enough funds to fully sponsor some of the interior teens to Teenstreet camp which would be held in December.  Camp Fee and transportation would cost about RM700+ per person. How much money could our 30+ teenagers raise? We didn’t know. So this year, the teens from my church started the fund raising. They sold cookies, and an assortment of food for lunch after church services. And funds also came in through different connections. By the end of it, we had enough to sponsor 16 teens from the interior! That’s a lot of money! God is pretty crazy. I never imagined we could raise this much.

Then, we hit another problem: English. Teenstreet camp is basically fully held in English. And a lot of teens from the interior have poor grasp of English. We saw this as an opportunity, of course. We held one camp for one group in the interior. Basically to get to know them more, and also to do a bit of English workshop. Then, since we were going to have our own annual Youth Camp right here in Sabah, we also invited them to join us. The reason we asked them to join our youth camp is so that they get to experience what Teenstreet is like (we did our youth camp with some Teenstreet program and styles), and to get them exposed to communicating in English. And because we can only bring a limited number of teens to Teenstreet at the end of the year, we told the interior teens that we would pick only the best in english to sponsor for Teenstreet. We hoped that through exposure from our youth camp, they would be motivated to improve their English as well.

 

Overall, it was a good experience. It wasn’t easy. Lot’s of hiccups along the way. Organizing and contacting parents was difficult as some areas in the interior didn’t have good phone signal. And also because the people we sponsored weren’t from the same place.

In the end, it was exciting! Good experience for them. Lot’s of them never flown on a plane or slept with air conditioning. And most of all, God really blessed and spoke to them. For us, travelling with a lot of teenagers can be very tiring. But it well worth it. Serving God’s people is definitely a great joy and fulfillment. I pray that the seed we planted in them will grow into greatness.

 

To PowerHouse: See what God can use you to do!

Dear Old Aaron,

You know, I’m not enjoying my job right now. Just as a confession. I have a great boss, and don’t misunderstand, I am super grateful to God for this job. But I’m just not looking forward to tomorrow morning.
I guess one reason is because I just don’t see myself doing this all my life. I don’t see me as an office worker. When I was looking for a job, it was hard when people asked me what work I wanted to do, because I can’t really do what I like doing. Not only that, my friend was telling me that I shouldn’t be looking for a job, but for a career.
That’s good, solid advice, but I just feel deep in my heart that God wants me to figure things out first. I gotta remember that I don’t have my skillset, life, and direction, figured out yet. So who’s to tell me what my ‘career path’ is?
I actually do long to be in the ministry. I’m pretty sure I have a heart for the youth and/or the teenagers. But I’m pretty sure God wants me to not go fulltime yet. I feel like He probably wants reveal me to me, slowly, out in the business world first (I’m not the only one who’s told me that btw), Train me in my giftings and talents, And expose me in the needed areas, Before I go fulltime into whatever God has called me into.
Here’s my reminder to you, future Aaron, as I lie here on my bed, being unexcited and not looking forward to day 4 of work tomorrow, remember why you’re in the business world. For now. It’s to figure out what God has planned. God will probably be molding you to be ready for your prime time ministry. This prime time may only be for a few years when you’re super old. Or it may happen when you’re young. You/ I’ll never know for sure eh? It took Jesus 30 years working as a carpenter on weekdays, and probably being a youth worker or some ministry worker on the weekends, to be ready for His prime ministry that only lasted 3 years.
30 years of perfection/maturity growth.
So old Aaron, look to God. Rest assured that your hope is not lost. God has a plan. Your dreams can come true, no matter how non-profitable it may sound. And you’re on the right track, as long as you’re willing to obey Him. Yet, keep dreaming. Also, Lean not on your own understanding. And don’t get too comfortable with where you are now.

Old Aaron, if you’re reading this, it means you’re in the future. For sure. It also means you’re alive. It means opportunity to grow/learn. It means opportunity bless/serve. It means opportunity to be a gentleman. It means please keep wasting energy on loving people, no matter how painful and tiring it is.

Old Aaron,

Doctorbutterfly at your service

Reading, The New Business Trend

It’s about time I wrote about something to do with business (actually it really isn’t).

Here’s how it’s gonna go. Ever thought about “what if I could start my own business? What would it be? And what rules and regulations would I enforce?” I definitely have thought of it. In fact, I do like to think of it, because my ideas tend to get a bit out of hand, so it’s quite amusing.

If I were to start my own business (which I eventually would want to), one thing I’d implement would be the One-Hour-Read time. If I ever implemented music into my office (very probable, and I’d be the DJ as well), this would be the only 60 minutes where music or other noises would not be heard from the surround sound speakers throughout the office. Reading hour would start from 8am to 9am. Then only would daily meetings, briefings, and business activities start at 9am.

What would they be reading? You know, the newspapers, novels they have yet to catch up on, blogs they follow, (no facebooking, not counted), news websites, devotionals if they didn’t get to in the morning, bible, self help books, newsletters, magazines, up to them really. Not only that, I will encourage them to write too. Yes, simple journalling. After reading whatever they have read, they can process their thoughts and they could write it in their diary, or share their thoughts on a blog. Up to them. No pressure. But reading is a must.

Conversations would not be encouraged. Unless really really necessary. It’s supposed to be a hush time. “Good morning”s and “Good to see you”s are okay. Sleeping is not allowed too. Toilet and coffee breaks are allowed all around.

What about those who really won’t want to read and would come late for work? Well. They’r late for work. 8am is when the work timer starts. So they would need to replace, or… whatever the consequences of being late is.

What’s the point in this? I don’t know. You decide.

 

 

So, that’s a tiny taste of what I’d like my office to look like in the future. How would you like your business setting to be?

 

I may do more of these posts on business (not that I’m a pro LOL). Anyways, I’ve been getting a bit more traffic on this blog recently. Hooray.

Whuat Fear? NO

Am I Afraid Of The Dark?

 

no.

but i am afraid of the future.

 

i have this fear now.

in my heart.

like. whats gonna happen now?

i’m almost totally finished with college.

i have a degree in business administration with concentration of marketing.

(hire me?)

i’m entering the age that i have to be responsible for my image.

i have to act mature and as if i have everything in control.

i cant be happy-go-lucky anymore.

i cant be vulnerable anymore.

 

i have to be responsible for getting my career path right.

i think thats the scariest.

my career path.

its a whole road of my life.

but the first step is so important.

how is it possible to know what im good for?

how is it possible to know what i’m ultimately here on earth for?

 

God help me.

God guide my hands and feet.

to take the right actions and walk your paved path.

 

i dunno what new things to commit to.

i’m interested in learning the drums.

yet, should i improve in my bass first?

i’m interested to teach maths.

yet, should i do something that i actually got a degree for?

i want to dedicate my time to writing blogs for you people.

yet, is it a waste of my and your time?

 

i’m interested to invest time into people, especially those who call me leader.

yet, i’m afraid i’ll commit, but not be able to fulfill my commitments.

 

 

fear

 

 

 

In moments like these,

I’ll sing out a song,

I’ll sing out a love song to Jesus~