5th week in Sydney

Colosians 3:15 - 17: Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, since as members of one body you were called to peace. And be thankful. Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom, and as you sing psalms, hymns and spiritual songs with gratitude in your hearts to God. And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.

Ga kerasa, next week udah my 5th week di Sydney ... Well, kalo jet lag sih udah ga lagi, but a lot of things are already happening this year ...

Firstly, I am moving job (again) to software company in law industry ... I am excited about the opportunity and will hopefully grow more through this job ...

Secondly, my bro's gf is coming to Sydney and she will be studying English for one year .... It will hopefully be a good time to share with her and also I want to introduce her to Christ ... It is not possible for her to come to IPC, except for night church .. but even then, her english is still very bad .... Maybe I will go to nearby Korean church with her and my bro ...

Thirdly, one of my best friend at uni Farris is getting married with Helen .... I am happy for him, even two of my other friends are coming from Indonesia just to attend the wedding .... Today, we had acara tuker2 bingkisan merah di rumah Helen and Farris ... It was very nice, simple, friendly and seneng lah ngobrol2 ... I was introduced to both families and the acara lasted until 4PM gitu ... Tugas gua hari ini adalah jadi tukang photo ... Minggu depan waktu di gereja and resepsi, bakalan bantu2in di penerima tamu, parkir, projector, etc ... hehe ... Btw, gereja yg bakal dipake buat pernikahan itu bagus banget sih ... Tempatnya di rosebay di sekolah High school helen ... Gerejanya reminds me of miniature gereja di Europe ... Very ideal and classic banget .... hmmmm ... Europeeeeeeeeeeee ....

Fourthly, I am joining bible study again and may possibly lead .... That's exciting, but I am unsure of many things ... One is time ... Second is place (I can't use my place to run bs) ... Third is members .... For this 2 weeks I can't join the preparation since Farris is getting married, but hopefully I can join soon ...

Fifthly, I just realize kalo orang indo yg gua bisa ajak ke gereja tuh udah limited banget .... Kebanyakan org indo yg gua kenal udah ga anak uni lagi ... Di tempat kerja ada bbrp sih, tapi kebanyakan dari mrk udah Catholic atau udah tau kalo mrk Buddhist sih ... Kalo udah tau Buddhist, kadang rada sungkan mau ajak ... Catholic, biasanya ga mau ... Tapi pikir2 ga ada sungkan2 kali ya .... Firm aja, tapi sopan ... :) ..

Sixthly, This Wednesday bakal ada reunian ama anak2 exchange ... I am looking forward to see my friends again, terutama yg dari Sydney .... Gimana ya kabar mrk? hmmm

Seventhly, My friend B just accidently admit to me that he likes someone .... haha .... lucu abis ... gara2nya gua made jokes between him ama one particular girl (F) for no reason ... cuman iseng aja ... Terus dia bilang ke gua privately kalo jangan digodain, ga enak ama cewenya ... Gua ga sadar maksudnya ... terus ya gua tanya ... ga enak kenapa? kan biasa gua make jokes ... Dia jelasin muter2 sampe akhirnya dengan polosnya dia bilang sih ... "Gua kan suka ama dia" ... Waktu itu gua langsung ngeh, but can't help buat ketawa ... Dia juga rada blush gitu, soalnya B pikir gua tau tentang itu ... hehehe ... ga sengaja jadi victim deh ....

Spiritually, I feel like I have not fully trusted my life to God .... Kayaknya feel guilty banget ... Ttg masalah pindah kerja, masalah keluarga, masalah ini dan itu .... Susah banget mau berdoa, concentrate baca alkitab kalo in the middle of these things .... Gimana yah ... kalo mau jujur, mestinya all of these ga seharusnya bikin kita ga trust God, apalagi kalo kita tau God is so powerful and holy and He is our Father ... Kayaknya the things that I am worried about is so insignificant juga ... I learnt dulu di Holland that as Christians, kita seharusnya udah mati in Christ and alive for Him ... Now this life we live is for His glory ... Jadi mau pindah kerja kek, mau do this and that kek, we fully put our lives in God's hands .... Jujur gua gagal for these past 5 weeks .... Kebanyakan worry and lose focus on the things that really matter ... Banyak kali gua ngomong hal2 yg salah dan berpikir ke arah yg salah juga .... Well, I know it's a bit vague, but please pray for me ... and other Christians who are struggling as well ....

Banyak banget yang dipikirin

Banyak banget yah yg harus gua pikirin dan kerjain .... di tempat kerja, di gereja, di indo, di rumah ... Cape banget kalo mikirin semua itu ... Yah, I guess one thing at a time ... Pls pray for me!!

The tense me

It's definitely a combination of many things that got me so tense these days ... I don't feel relax at all ... I realize it's probably the lack of trust and faith to God that make me like this ... I've been trying to remind myself to be cheerful and joyful in the Lord ... Giving thanks in everything ... do everything as I do for the Lord ... Live a good life among my friends so they see God in me ... But I guess I just fail to do that ... So many things to think about ... arghhhh ... can't concentrate on the prayer, reading the bible, etc ...

I want to go back to the old cheerful me .......... !!

The Bible and Astrology

Someone from Bondowoso tadi telephone me and asked if aku mau titip something dari indo ... Apparently ga cuman itu doank tapi dia also told me about my horoscope shio this year ...

Summary:
- Jangan spekulasi this year, soalnya tahunnya ga baik
- Kalau pindah kerja tahun ini bakal ada banyak kesulitan, salah satunya difitnah sama orang ...
It made me think and worried a bit, so I searched quickly about christianity and astrology ... Without being disrespectful, what is wrong must be said as wrong .. Please pray for me that God may show His power and His complete control over my life ...

Read:

Quoting from http://www.greatcom.org/resources/handbook_of_todays_religions/02chap01/default.htm

The Bible warns people against relying on astrologers and astrology:

You are wearied with your many counsels; let now the astrologers, those who prophesy by the stars, those who predict by the new moons, stand up and save you from what will come upon you. Behold, they have become like stubble, fire bums them; they cannot deliver themselves from the power of the flame... there is none to save you (Isaiah 47: 13-15, NASB).

Other warnings can be found in such verses as Jeremiah 10:2: "Learn not the way of the heathen, and be not dismayed at the signs of Heaven; for the heathen are dismayed at them." Elsewhere, the Scripture says, "And beware, lest you lift up your eyes to heaven and see the sun and the moon and the stars, all the host of heaven, and be drawn away and worship them and serve them" (Deuteronomy 4:19, NASB).

The Book of Daniel gives us a comparison between the astrologers and those dedicated to the true and living God. Chapter 1:20 reveals that Daniel and his three friends would be ten times better in matters of wisdom and understanding than the astrologers because they served the living and true God rather than the stars. When the king had a dream, the astrologers could not give an explanation for it, but rather God alone had the answer, for it is only He who can reveal the future (see Daniel 2: 27, 28).

The Scriptures make it clear that any type of astrological practice is severely condemned by God, for it attempts to understand the future through occultic means rather than through God's divinely inspired Word. The fatalistic approach of astrology, which says our lives are determined by the stars, is contradicted by Scripture, which holds us responsible for our destiny. Astrology and Christianity are simply incompatible

my week (mingguku)

I've been blessed since I came to Sydney ... Here is how my week went:

• First week back to work was not that bad ... I love seeing my work friends back .. we even hang out together a lot during the week ... The bad thing is I don't feel like doing the work that I did before I went to Holland ... THat's just how I felt about it ... I don't feel like doing programming most of the time and I don't really know how I am going to deal with it at this point ... A little coding is fine, but I wanna get more involved in client relationship building or even sales ... The idea of sitting in front of computer 9-5 does not appeal that much to me now !!
  
• Rose invited us for BBQ for her farewell to Mexico (read: mehiko) .. That encouraged me to become a blessing to the people that I know now ... The challenge to evangelize was there and to live faithfully for Christ until the end ... Of course, It was also very nice to be surrounded by christian bros and sis and see how we have grown together these years ... God is faithful indeed!
• I am still thinking of what ministry I wanna do this year .. I see there are many opportunities at IPC where God could use me ... still praying about it atm ...
  
• Went out for the 1/2 day with Pemuda bro and sis last Friday, Saturday and full day on Sunday .. haha ... haven't been doing that for long time ... I enjoyed karaoke on Friday, Ben's thai on Saturday, and full day session on Sunday ... I had so much fun and some encouraging sharing with some people ... Really pray that Pemuda will be much closer and encouraging one another more with God's word and not just about fun!

THat was my week ... I guess I am blessed!! God is good indeed .... Tomorrow is another week and can't wait to see what's installed!

Ketekunan

Tadi pagi kotbahnya di gereja is about ketekunan in living in this world ..

Theme kotbah diambil dari James 1:2-4
2Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, 3because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance. 4Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.

I remember there are so many things that I need to be tekun and faithful in my life right now and I can't help drawing the parallel with some tokoh di Perjanjian lama ...

• I remember Abraham .. He waited so long for the promise son Isaac, stumbled along the way (married hagar his slave), but in the end God is the one that carry through His promise ...
  
• I remember Joseph and how he spent most of his life in hardship, waiting for God to deliver His promises through Joseph's dreams ..
  
• I remember Israel needs to wait 400 years before God delivered them from the land of Egypt ..
• I remember Moses who needed to wait another 40 years in the dessert before being called by God to save Israel from Egypt
• I remember David, who needs to wait until he was thirty before he was sworn as the king of Israel and was being chased hard by Saul and the Philistine, even though he was annointed by the prophet Nathan long before that ...
  
• I remember how Daniel need to wait for a number of years in Babel and live under the yoke of slavery and went through many trials that could cost him his life from young until OLD
  
• I remember Nabi Nuh, where he waited for several years to build the ark and he was faithful to the command of God
• Jesus himself needed to wait until he was 30 years old before he came up publicly and being baptized by John the baptist ..
  

Those events above were written in the bible for us to learn to trust God in whatever circumstances that we face now and supaya kita tekun in whatever the things that God has set before us to do ...

The good part is God is the one who is faithful and will carry us with His loving hands until the end ... !

Saat teduh

I am currently reading Exodus, and it is so relieving to see how powerful God delivered Israel from Egypt, especially when I see the world around me where God does not seem to be that powerful anymore .. Among uncertainties in life, all toil and hard labour, all hardships and problems, God is the only source of anchor in life ... Sometimes it is hard to always cling to Him, but I just have to remember that He is the one that holds my hand!

Israel was in a difficult situation .. for hundreds of years they lived under the yoke of slavery in Egypt ... The promise of deliverance from God through Moses did not make life easier, but worse .. Pharaoh made life even more miserable after Moses and Aaron talked to him .. Worse, it seemed like the miracles that Moses did can be copied by the dark arts of Egypt .. Can you imagine? The dark forces can change staff into snake, convert river into blood .. that is pretty powerful stuffs !!

It must be pretty hard for Israel to trust God at that time ... But those things in exodus were written for us as a lesson, so we learn how to trust God and encourage others to do so ...

In the end, God is God and He triumphed over those magicians and achieve His purpose .. and He is the only one that we can trust ... Eventually the miracles that God performed cannot be copied by Egyptians magicians and through that all nations know that there is a God in Israel .. !! Amin!