Journey: Guangxi

Unity.

Unity is necessary on all projects, on all levels, to have a good communication, and good relationships with one another. Without unity, the team can easily fall apart. Especially in a missions trip, when you're in the battlefield, you need all the support you can get, and without it, its extremely easy for Satan to tear and bring you down.

There are four main things that will break unity.

Gold. Resembling material possessions, if we have an attitude of wanting something to gain out of it, may it be money or a gift, its isn't the right attitude to serve with. You're there to give, not gain.

Glory. Serving and helping out, you are usually using your gifts and talents to glorify God, but if you are doing it with intentions of receiving praise and to show off your talents, for your own glory, that is also the wrong perspective to view ministry.

Guys/Girls. Ministry is not an opportunity to mingle and to get to know others, brewing relationships, especially romantic ones.

Gods. Before you go on a missions, you have to know the priorities in your heart. Where does God stand? He should be at the top. Are there other things that may be fighting that spot with God, may it be people, or materialistic things, but we have to make sure we have the right heart and attitude before entering the battlefield.

All these things have one thing in common, they all do not have God in mind. They're all self-oriented attitudes. All team members should have God first, working to please and honour him, and with the same goals and attitudes, unity can thrive.

Practical ways to sustain unity.

1) Positive and good communication. Do not assume things and over analyze things. Learn to confront others in love and privately.

2) Rejoice with one another. Seeing yourself and others succeed are always great motivations, learn to support one another. Share with others how God is working in your life!

3) Empathize with one another. Don't hide your feelings, be vulnerable and share with others, and be sensitive when someone decides to open up to you. Its through transparency will tighter relationships be made.

4) Be generous with one another. Take care of one another and give to one another. These members are your team for the missions time period, watch out for each other.

5) Forgive one another. You're going to be spending x amount of days with the same people, and you can get frustrated. In times of stress and trouble, things will get hard, but forgive each other.

6) Affirm our common goal. Be constantly reminded of why you are here and who you are serving. Its easy to get distracted and stray away in the pride and the hype of all things.

¹⁰ I appeal to you, brothers and sisters, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that all of you agree with one another in what you say and that there be no divisions among you, but that you be perfectly united in mind and thought.

1 Corinthians 1:10 

dystopia

Ever since diving into this concept in gr. 12 english, a dystopian society has always been on my mind. As a quick crash course, dystopia is the opposite of utopia. Utopia is the concept of having a completely ideal and perfect society, and therefore dystopia is how we cannot have a perfect society, where things are corrupted and flawed.

Nothing is perfect. Nothing is perfect in this world. You'll never find a person who has the whole package, and be the perfect soulmate. Eventually you'll find something about them you may not be fond of. Society and media today understand this very well. I've seen in several tv series where they talk about dating, but how every single person they may date has a package, whether it be clingy, or messy and unorganized, nobody's perfect.

Although we understand such things, we are still going to that utopian world. We're constantly trying to make electronics, develop technologies that will last forever, and will never fail us. Has it worked? no.

Things fade.

Things fail.

But one thing doesn't. Our God, His Love. His Mercy. and His Promises. We place our hopes on such useless and meaningless things. Materialistic things. We're relying on technology more and more, we rely on friends more and more when we really should be focusing on God, not these flawed things/people.

Put our hope on something that is worth putting our hopes in. Its like betting i guess you could say. Would you rather bet on something you are unsure of, or something you have complete 100% faith in? Obviously the thing that will guarantee a win!

¹Praise the Lord! He is good.
God’s love never fails.
²Praise the God of all gods.
God’s love never fails.
³Praise the Lord of lords.
God’s love never fails.

⁴Only God works great miracles.
God’s love never fails.
⁵With wisdom he made the sky.
God’s love never fails.
⁶The Lord stretched the earth
over the ocean.
God’s love never fails.
⁷He made the bright lights
in the sky.
God’s love never fails.
⁸He lets the sun rule each day.
God’s love never fails.
⁹He lets the moon and the stars
rule each night.
God’s love never fails.

¹⁰God struck down the first-born
in every Egyptian family.
God’s love never fails.
¹¹He rescued Israel from Egypt.
God’s love never fails.
¹²God used his great strength
and his powerful arm.
God’s love never fails.
¹³He split the Red Sea apart.
God’s love never fails.

¹⁴The Lord brought Israel safely
through the sea.
God’s love never fails.
¹⁵He destroyed the Egyptian king
and his army there.
God’s love never fails.
¹⁶The Lord led his people
through the desert.
God’s love never fails.

¹⁷Our God defeated mighty kings.
God’s love never fails.
¹⁸And he killed famous kings.
God’s love never fails.
¹⁹One of them was Sihon,
king of the Amorites.
God’s love never fails.
²⁰Another was King Og of Bashan.
God’s love never fails.
²¹God took away their land.
God’s love never fails.
²²He gave their land to Israel,
the people who serve him.
God’s love never fails.

²³God saw the trouble we were in.
God’s love never fails.
²⁴He rescued us from our enemies.
God’s love never fails.
²⁵He gives food to all who live.
God’s love never fails.

²⁶Praise God in heaven!
God’s love never fails.

Psalm 136

The Valley of Dry Bones

¹ The LORD took hold of me, and I was carried away by the Spirit of the LORD to a valley filled with bones. ² He led me all around among the bones that covered the valley floor. They were scattered everywhere across the ground and were completely dried out. ³ Then he asked me, “Son of man, can these bones become living people again?”

“O Sovereign LORD,” I replied, “you alone know the answer to that.”

⁴ Then he said to me, “Speak a prophetic message to these bones and say, ‘Dry bones, listen to the word of the LORD! ⁵ This is what the Sovereign LORD says: Look! I am going to put breath into you and make you live again!⁶ I will put flesh and muscles on you and cover you with skin. I will put breath into you, and you will come to life. Then you will know that I am the LORD.’”

⁷ So I spoke this message, just as he told me. Suddenly as I spoke, there was a rattling noise all across the valley. The bones of each body came together and attached themselves as complete skeletons.⁸ Then as I watched, muscles and flesh formed over the bones. Then skin formed to cover their bodies, but they still had no breath in them.

⁹ Then he said to me, “Speak a prophetic message to the winds, son of man. Speak a prophetic message and say, ‘This is what the Sovereign LORD says: Come, O breath, from the four winds! Breathe into these dead bodies so they may live again.’”

¹⁰ So I spoke the message as he commanded me, and breath came into their bodies. They all came to life and stood up on their feet—a great army.

¹¹ Then he said to me, “Son of man, these bones represent the people of Israel. They are saying, ‘We have become old, dry bones—all hope is gone. Our nation is finished.’ ¹² Therefore, prophesy to them and say, ‘This is what the Sovereign LORD says: O my people, I will open your graves of exile and cause you to rise again. Then I will bring you back to the land of Israel.¹³ When this happens, O my people, you will know that I am the LORD.¹⁴ I will put my Spirit in you, and you will live again and return home to your own land. Then you will know that I, the LORD, have spoken, and I have done what I said. Yes, the LORD has spoken!’”

Ezekiel 37:1-14

Today I wanted to look back into the theme verse for TC this year. I think its a very powerful and compelling verse, from Ezekiel 37:23. It says,

²³ They will never again pollute themselves with their idols and vile images and rebellion, for I will save them from their sinful backsliding. I will cleanse them. Then they will truly be my people, and I will be their God.

I wanted to read more about what context it was in, but when reading Ezekiel 37, i found the first bit really intriguing, so today I want to talk about that. The Valley of Dry Bones.

Reading this passage, (verses 1-14) I am still a bit lost in what context it is in, but the scripture was very interesting. To sum it up, it talks about walking through a valley of bones and how the Lord will speak and breathe life into them. It even goes into detail with the tendon and flesh forming.

Two portions of this passage stood out to me,

verse 5-6,

⁵ This is what the Sovereign LORD says: Look! I am going to put breath into you and make you live again! ⁶ I will put flesh and muscles on you and cover you with skin. I will put breath into you, and you will come to life. Then you will know that I am the LORD.’”

It says I will do this, I am going to do that, I, I, I meaning God. He is the one that is breathing in life into us. He is granting us the Holy Spirit and purpose when we believe in him. No one and nothing can give us that. No materialistic thing, no friend or relationship can give us that permanent joy and satisfaction.

I think there are three stages illustrated within this bit of the passage. First, we are all just dry bones (v.1). This is before we've come to Christ or even heard of him. We're dead, dry bones with no meaning, no purpose, not attached to anything, on our own. Then later in the passage when prophesied, the bones came to life, "the bones came together" "and tendons and flesh appeared on them and skin covered them", but the most important part, "there was no breath in them" (v. 7-8). I think you can take this stage as hearing about God, and starting to see his love, his life, his grace and his mercy for us. BUT, there is no breath in us. The last stage is when life is breathed into us. And when "breath enters them, they came to life and stood up on their feet, a vast army" (v. 10). When we've repented and have turned away from sin, fully committing and dedicating our life to our Lord and Saviour, that is when we can true stand up on our feet and be apart of this "vast army". An army for God as we fight for his glory, fight against the devil and the temptations Satan may bring our way.

verse 12-14,

¹² Therefore, prophesy to them and say, ‘This is what the Sovereign LORD says: O my people, I will open your graves of exile and cause you to rise again. Then I will bring you back to the land of Israel. ¹³ When this happens, O my people, you will know that I am the LORD. ¹⁴ I will put my Spirit in you, and you will live again and return home to your own land. Then you will know that I, the LORD, have spoken, and I have done what I said. Yes, the LORD has spoken!’”

Like that verse (Colossians 2:13), we were once dead, but God has given us new life, and has "opened our graves", "causing us to rise again". By giving our lives to God, he has given us much more, a greater life, and a greater purpose. God has already gifted us with eternal life, and because of that, let us run the race, and fight the good fight!

Dust Bunnies.

Today as I sat down to start my studies, i was all prepared, organized, and set up, until i swept my finger across my desk where i dont often use. And...

dust.

i hate dust. It actually bothers me so much that it can get anywhere, and just lingers, and they're all little particles. And this some swipe spiralled into a massive clean up. I wiped down my ENTIRE desk, including all the different levels, and just EVERYTHING. This then moved onto cleaning my drawer top and then that lead to moving my books....

and in the midst of all that, i came to realize. This is what we were made from. God made Adam out of dust. And like Ecclesiastes 3 says,

¹⁹ Surely the fate of human beings is like that of the animals; the same fate awaits them both: As one dies, so dies the other. All have the same breath; humans have no advantage over animals. Everything is meaningless. ²⁰ All go to the same place; all come from dust, and to dust all return.

This kinda goes back to the SNA message this year. Nothing. Nothing on this earth will last. Relationships, materialistic things, pride, nothing on this earth will full satisfy except for God. All things will corrode, will fail, and will break. That is why we must learn to set our eyes on things that are greater, things that will last, and things that are eternal. Not earthly things.

On the lines of dust, i kept thinking, its so hard to clean up, its such a hassle, its.. literally nothing. Like what is it exactly... bits and pieces of what? And it kinda comes out of no where too...

i dont know, this post isnt the most organized and structured, but it was just a revelation i had today.

Priorities.

With all of us in the midst of exams, i think we've all been caught up studying and studying and studying. I have to say that i have put God a bit behind, for instance, devos are things i'd leave off till later, and just everything spiritually seems to be falling apart. They're attached, but falling apart.

Like today, i've been studying since 3:30, till 10:30 (with breaks of course), but its just been study study study. Im happy and impressed that im so focused, but may we remember that we cant let it get the best of us. I think at the moment, its okay, since its just this time period, but if you're one of those people who are crazy about their marks and academics, or even more than that, if you're materialistic or prideful, take some time to reflect on your priorities, and see if its an idol. It gets bad when you put it ahead of God and ahead of things that really matter.

Learn to balance it out. Yes, studies are important, but dont let them over take what should be and is more important.

Seek The Greater (Eternal)

2 Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things. (Colossians 3:2)

So many things are going on in life. There noise and commotion, may it be physical, emotional or spiritual. But my very great and wise mentor said "set your eyes on Jesus". Everyday we're surrounding by the things of this world, from gadgets and toys, to beauty and vanity. And yes, obviously, we're LIVING in THE WORLD, but like i said,

we're living IN the world, not OF the world. We arent a part of the world and we dont indulge in worldy matters, we're only using it as our temporary home.

I really wanted to focus on that verse above,

² Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things. (Colossians 3:2)

Things on this earth will most definitely seem tempting, and intriguing but let us look further. Christ has so much more in store for us in heaven (John 14:2). More than we can ever imagine, more than gold and silver, better than the latest gadgets, i cant even describe it to you because.. i simply cant.

Keep watch on the eternal things. What will last. Things on earth will not last, they will only fade. Set your eyes on Christ, that is what will forever last.