Saturday, February 14, 2009

Looking ahead after a week among kids

I have a friend whom I knew since secondary school, and he is currently studying medicine in Russia. His testimony really blew me away, but anyway, no matter what people tell me about his past, I thank God for his life. Anyway, I'm thankful that since the day we spent some time sharing, he often sends me encouraging emails, one of which contains the following snippets:
How big is your vision?
by Rick Warren


Over the years, I've learned that – contrary to popular opinion – the bigger the vision, the easier it is to reach that vision, and, ultimately, the size of your vision should be determined by the size of God.

How big do you think God is? The issue is not who do you think you are, but who do you think God is? In your dreams for your ministry, don’t limit yourself by saying, “What can I do?” Instead ask, “What can God do in this place?”

Really something that I've been reflecting on for the past exciting week, and how things are going to work out this year - it needs to be more of You, less of me.. As I have shared about God's faithfulness previously, I learnt to give thanks in all circumstances. Got my results back yesterday. Despite the busy-ness and difficulty of Year 3, a significant improvement from Year 2..

How has the past few days been ar? well, just started paediatrics posting. I must admit that it was a daunting experience, since I didnt really have any experience handling a child in a medical context (and I don't do it so well with my little cousins whom I only see once a year during Chinese New Year *rips hair out*). Nevertheless, will need to push myself out of my comfort zone and take up the challenge to learn. Even, a friend asked me, "Don't you have babies / kids in church to cradle / play with?", whom I avoid usually :p lolz

A few unkind words and incidents which I heard left much to ponder about lar.. why do certain people do such things, but as Proverbs 4:23 says - 'Above all else, guard your heart, for it is the wellspring of life'. Something easier said than done, especially when it comes to responding to situations, or exercising discernment and wisdom while sharing, as I found out yesterday and today.

As much as I'm excited, I do not deny that it's going to be busy this year.. Was chatting with my shepherd on the challenges of this year's workload and the prospects of on-calls, and I got reminded of a lesson learnt last year during the peak season of assignments, as he shared with me about a British athlete named Eric Liddell. You can watch his story in the 1981 movie, 'Chariots of Fire'. In the 1924 Paris Olympics, he caused controversy when he refused to run in the finals of the 100m sprint, his main pet event, just because it was held on Sunday. At that time, he got criticised a lot, as people probably thought along the lines of "What in the world are you thinking.." but later against all odds, he won the 400m, an event he was less favoured in, broke the world record for that event at that time, and went on to win more gold medals than he ever imagined. 1 Samuel 2:30 - 'Those who honour me I will honour.'