Am I a dictator? and a book I am reading

This morning I was called a DICTATOR sama Jun sambil joking2 gitu lah ... It made me think whether I have that dictator character in me? hehehe ... maybe I do have it ...

On my way to north sydney I was reading a book called Heavenly man which tells a story about a person called Yun who is badly persecuted in China for preaching the gospel ... During the reading, many times I compared his situation and mine ... so different ... Here I can go to church, read the bible as much as I want to, and yet many times I am lazy at memorizing God's word, did not appreciate the opportunity in sharing the gospel .. , did not have the HEART to share it ... Indonesia might be a different story though .. My mum has warned me several times not to go to church in indo caused many people are anti-christian and there are many bombs targeted at the Church of God ... but Indonesia is still much better than what Yun experienced in China ... so cruel, treated like animals and yet God worked marvelously through him to bring the gospel to Chinese people ... Many miracles, unthinkables happen during his ministry but it was followed by great persecution and sufferings .. It is just like what happened in Acts to the apostles and early churches .... I can draw many similarities between the two stories .... I am about half-way reading the book now and can not wait to read more ...

2 Timothy 3:12
In fact, everyone who wants to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted

Outing

Aduhhh .. outing hari ini fun bangetttt ... pagi2 kita berangkat jam 9 dari kingsford ke national kuringgai park ... sesampai disono, we were a bit dissapointed sih, soalnya ujan gitu .... but suddenly the sun just showed his bright face, thank God .. We then proceeded with the plan, which is to have an ice breaking games .. There were quite a number of new people came, which is good ... The game was followed by bush walking for about an hour, lunch (nasi goreng java) and canoeing .... Overall it was fun

until ...............

There was an argument between X and Y when we've finished canoeing, which ends up with X punching Y in the face ... Not many people saw it, but me, Jun, Niki and Viki saw that incidents ... I didn't know what happened and was sort of confused coz I did not see the whole thing .. I heard that X said some rude words towards Y and one second after that "PUNCH" ... I tried asking both parties what happened and concluded that Y did not deserve the punch that he got ... I am pissed of with X ... REALLY pissed off ... even now ... how DARE he hitting my other friend?

Bazaar and random updates!

IPC, my home church in Sydney just had a bazaar today. There were about 8 food/drink stalls, baloon and face painting stall, video game and auction. There were probably around 500-750 people turned up all together, pretty good for doing it the first time. Well, I spent quite a lot of money on food (as expected, hehehe) and helped out a bit in auction and grocery stall. I really hope that we will reach the financial target that we are aiming for buying the new church at kingsford. Our church has just bought a new building at kingsford and we are still short about $80,000 in total.

Uni wise, it is getting really busy ... wondering whether I will have time to do anything else at all ... I am going to do lots of reading this evening since tomorrow I'll be going to kuringgai national park canoeing and bush walking .. It might be my last outing of the year .. really don't want to miss it ... Big quiz, essay, team debate, ERP projects are next in my diary ... It's a lot of work ... I'm just hoping for the best ... I missed a couple of morning devotion last week ... really bad bad bad ... It was a bit of a mess coz I had a quiz and essay due last week plus easter ... Should've managed my time better ...

Had a chit chat with my friends from Yogya, Y and F, yesterday night after pemuda dinner ... We talked about this and that until we arrived at the usual topic ... what else other than BGR (Boy Girl Relationship) .. :) ... Apparently Y is just like me, never had a girl friend before ... I knew that ... but F has had 2 relationships already ... So we shared lah ... until very late .. hahahaha .. it's always a good laugh with those two ... What shocked me the most was the situation in Yogya ... Not like what I imagined ... Heard that the girl there is so different to Sydney ... very agressive .. hehehe .. F said, in sydney there is no/rare communication between boys and girls .. tiba2 aja jadian langsung ... main belakang kali .. :) ... one day bisa ngobrol enak, the next minute udah kayak ga kenal aja ... Kalo di Yogya it's very different ... cewe ajak kenalan cowo di mall udah biasa .. cowok juga sebaliknya ... Tapi negativenya ya selingkuh ratenya tinggi ... hahahah .. F said kalo mau cari yg berkualitas ya di sydney aja ... di Yogya udah jarang katanya ....

In terms of personality, akhir2 ini kayaknya bisa dibilang me rada hyper deh .. outgoing personality nya keluar ... I am not in any kind of pressure other than sekolah and kerja which I quite enjoy ...

There's actually many things happen to me these days ... exciting things in work and other things .. It's just that malesss banget nulis di blog ... hahaha .. Thank God .. He is good sih .. in good times or bad times ...

looking for somethin' in life?

Wah.. It's been so long since I update my blog ... Anyway, this entry is inspired by the songs di drama easter ... enak .. t-o-p-b-g-t .. Dikarang ama jenny melody nya plus lyrics by Inggrid kalo ga salah ... Jempol 100x to both of u .. :)

It's about someone yg looking for the meaning of life ... Looking but never find ... the true way ... Only in Jesus you can find the way ... I dare to say that my life, your life, everybody in this world is created with God as the center of our life.. We will never find meaning everywhere else ... NEVER !!!! You can go up as high as the sky and down as deep as the sea ... you will never find the life the way and the truth except in Jesus who has loved us ..

Don't look too far .. Jesus is closer than you think He is ... Find him now .. Happy easter everyone ^o^

Three Main Value-Adding Activities: Ministry, Study and Work :-)

My life has been revolving around those three things in the last couple of weeks. There is not much time spent for doing other things. Try my best to balance my life, getting enough sleep, not neglecting other things that are much more important than my study.

Yes, I decided to do master course this year and hoping to finish by the end of next year. Even though it is hard, I really enjoy it so far .. In the course, I learnt so many different things, concepts, practical stuffs .. They design and restructure the course very differently to last year. All of the core subjects that all commerce students must undertake are very interesting ... reallyy ... It is just so practical, makes a lot of sense, useful and serve the purpose of laying the foundation for things to come in the course.

Why I decided to do master is still a bit of a mystery to me ... I've thought about it for a long time ... I've shared this with a couple of friends, but only late last year I had come to a decision to further my study ... It was a factor of there is a possibility for me of going back to indonesia, lots of spare time after work and wanting to learn about economics/commerce that make me decide to do master course. I've also been working for 2 years (1 year as a Research Assistant and 1 year at Holocentric) and feel it's just the right time for me to continue my study (enough savings to pay for the fee and my living cost) ... There is also other factors which is ministry at pemuda has come to a point where there will be new inti serving for the next term. It doesn't mean I don't minister to my christian brothers and sisters anymore, but I will be focusing more on bible study and music rather than doing administration as a member of the youth committee ...

It has been really good SO FAR, but who knows what will happen down the track ... For now I just hope to finish this as soon as possible ...

James 4:13-17
13Now listen, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go to this or that city, spend a year there, carry on business and make money.” 14Why, you do not even know what will happen tomorrow. What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes. 15Instead, you ought to say, “If it is the Lord's will, we will live and do this or that.” 16As it is, you boast and brag. All such boasting is evil. 17Anyone, then, who knows the good he ought to do and doesn't do it, sins.

Playing game, not good if too much

These days, jun play game too much ... I usually tell him directly or indirectly not to do that ...
I really want to spend more time talking to him .... Really really want to ... When I got home he always play game .. I don't have that many chance to actually talk to him .. man to man talk you know .. ^^ .. I opted not to tell him anymore .. I've told him many times already ... time for patience now I guess ...

above $100,000 salary?

I met with my uni friend yesterday. He is indian and apparently working for one of the top bank in Australia. We talked about many things including work and investment. We talked about that since he told me a story that he had lost quite a lot of money in the stock market ($65,000 out of his own pocket money) and I was interested in that since I am going to do finance this year.

Well, I was wondering where he got the money from that he could invest hundreds of thousand of dollar even though he graduated at the same year as I did. I asked him more about his work and all that. Apparently he started working since he was 2nd year at uni. It was quite extraordinary that he managed to work full time and doing computer engineering course full time. In the end he told me that his salary these days is around $105,000. It used to be $150,000 he said. And wow ... I was so ... how to describe it ... shocked ... BIG SHOCK ATTACK! It's not funny ... :)

Suddenly this jealousy entered my heart and mind. How come this guy get that much of a salary even though he graduated on the same year as I did? It's not fair ... I was jealous yesterday, REALLY JEALOUS OF HIM .. Imagine what I could do with $150,000 salary? *I will fall into greed and love of money I think*. I tried not to show that I was shock in hearing his story.

I came home .. I sat on my bed ... thinking about it ... ponder about his situation and my situation. It was not really appropriate for me to be jealous ... Now that I think about it, it was a sin to think that God's blessing in my life now as NOT ENOUGH. It is funny on how you can be thankful to God one day and the next day you just feel as though God has not blessed you with all that you need. Sinful people like me always need reminder that His grace is enough. YES, IT IS ENOUGH. He has given His Son Jesus, what more can you askkkkkk??? It is enough. I am much more luckier than him since I know the true and only God.

But the question remains, I always feel confused about the topic of contentment. I feel that to be content can bring you to a static non-progressing life. Being content may mean (not always) that you are opposed to changes in life, You always feel that you've had enough even though you can do better or should do better at work/school/business/ministry. How do you balance between the two, contentment and achieving? I am confused since I am inclined to think that content person is most likely more lazy than people who actively seeking things.

Paul in one of his letter says to slave, if you have a chance to be freed, take it. The question is should the slave feel content as a slave or should he seek actively for his freedom? If he seeks for it does it mean he is not content with his life? The bible teaches us to seek and be content. How do you balance between the two? My thinking now is that seek in the bible is related to the kingdom of God and all its righteousness. Being content is related to things of this world, the blessings that God has given us. We have to be content with God's blessing since no matter how hard you work it all comes from Him.

Any opinion?

Kenapa ya?

Feeling tired today at work .... well I don't really know why .... maybe last night did not have enough sleep .... and pressure are building up at work !! There are too many things in which I am involved at work, church and uni at the moment ....

Anyway I better manage my time more effectively .. One at a time di!!!!

Gile

I slept so early last night .. 8PM .. kecapean banget .. and now (4AM) can't sleep anymore ... hahahha ... Help!!

Happy Chinese New Year

Gong Xie Fat Chai to all that celebrate! :) .. Around my age I don't get the red envelope (ang pao) and I don't give one since I haven't got married yet .. Boring!! hehehe

Thank u God

Don't feel like posting anything, just want to say thank you to God. Thinking back on how I became a Christians, counting all his blessings, the ups and the not so up times, all the fun moments, struggle moments really overwhelms me. If not because of Jesus, I wouldn't be here and I won't be what I am now.

I want to do some fun exercise. Want to count God's blessings in my life since I am a baby. Hehehehe ... Well, of course there are too many to count, but I will try my best anyway ...
Blessings:

1. Thank God that I was born .. yuhuu .. Hello world!!
2. Thank God for mum and dad who raised me with all love and care. They are not perfect parents, but I know that they love me soooo much.
3. Thank God that I was not so healthy when I was a kid. That way my parents had a chance to show their love for me and I can get really close to them too.
4. Thank God for all the fun holidays that we had together as a family
5. Thank God that I have a lovely brother, Jun. He has always been the one that understand me better than my parents or friends.
6. Thank God for my mum who is always there when I needed help in anything.
7. Thank God for papa yg sabarrrr dan teliti bangettt ... a calm factor in my life.
8. Thank God for mama and papa yg always work so hard just to provide me with the necessities in life. All the tears that they shed, all the sweats and hard work, really appreciate it. They are very brave parents and ulettt banget .. Kagum kagum ..
9. Thank God that I had lots of fun when I was a kid. Watched cartoon, played video games, played with friends and many things ... wow .. PUASSS BANGET POKOKNYA !!! hehehe ...
10. Thank God for my sunday school teacher .. what a great work that you did for God!
11. Thank God that I had a chance to get "0 DUCK" in one of my test during primary school. Once in a lifetime experience .. hehehe ... I cried a lot at that time since I am not used to that. Masih inget booo sampe sekarang!
12. Thank God for all my friends in Bondowoso!! Made some really2 close friends whom I still keep in contact until now.
13. Thank God that I had a chance to go to malang for junior high.
14. Thank God that I was becoming somewhat naughty on my first year of junior high, so that God's grace were shown more abundantly when I got to know Him the following year.
15. Thank God that I move place the following year and met my friends who introduced me to Christianity.
16. Thank God that I believed in Jesus on my second year of Junior High .. YUHUUU!!
17. Thank God that I experienced a lot of opposition from my family after that. It made me stronger and long for Jesus' return even more.
18. Thank God for all the struggles that I had to bear on that year and the following year. Fights with parents, all the tensions, and tears .. It was so hardddd!!!!! still is !
19. Thank God for all my friends in Malang ... I really enjoyed being with them and cherished the fun moments that we had together ...
20. Thank God for all the fun times at school in malang .. Hahahha .. so many memories ... From studying, makan rame2, makan bakso, nasi duk2, all the restaurants, pinjem2 buku kalo lagi mau ujian, visiting kost cewe rame2, jalan2 sore naik sepeda/sepeda motor, ngejahilin guru, funny friends/teachers, belajar bersama, POR (Pekan Olah Raga)-> juara tarik tambang, and so on !! Seru deh !!
21. Thank God for my church in Malang (GPdI Hebron) .. It started with a small church but it has people with a full dedication to God. The people really loved God with all their hearts, always friendly and warm. The church now grows and became a big church though.
22. Thank God for giving me talent to play music (guitar). It grows since I played for remaja at Hebron church. Music is the only art that I am good at apparently .. hahahaha ... I am hopeless in doing ketrampilan ama menggambar ..
23. Thank God for giving me a chance to share the gospel with my friends and ended up loosing my face by not being able to answer my friend's questions about christianity. I was really down at first but after a couple of weeks I was even more motivated to learn about the bible more.
24. Thank God for all the care and attentions that my parents gave me even though I did not live at the same city as them. It's unbelievable really!!! I remember one night that I was sick and asked them to come to malang and they did!! I couldn't believe it myself at that time!
25. Thank God for making me decide to go to Australia after finishing first year High school.
26. Thank God for bringing me to IPCYF through one of my language indo friend (Mike boris bro) at Sydney English Language Center.
27. Thank God for giving me a chance to serve Him in music ministry at IPCYF too.
28. Thank God for my uni friends. None of my close friends are christians. Thank God, because of that, I learnt how to live consciously as a christian. Tried to share, but never succeed though ...
29. Thank God for all the fun times that I had at uni, belajar bareng, di lab, played around with computer chips, played games together, renang bareng, masak2, gathering .. hahaha .. gosh it was fun!!
30. Thank God for giving me a chance to live in International house. Met so many people and broaden my point of view.
31. Thank God that Jun came to Australia - for all the sharing time together - this sort of chances don't come twice in my life - I really cherish having an argument, fight, laughs, and some fun moments together with him in Aussie. Thank God because He gave me a chance to witness through words and deeds about Jesus.
32. Thank God for finishing my school and being able to graduate!! It's a proof of God's providence in my life!
33. Thank God for romantic feelings that I had to some people even though it did not work out for now .. hahaha ... Learnt a lot from those experiences, and really opened my eyes to certain things in life.
34. Thank God for IPCers - you guys helped me grow in my understanding of God. I learnt a lot during fellowship with all of you.
35. Thank God for pemuda, whereby I can learn to encourage and serve one another in Christ.
36. Thank God for all of my bible study groups that I had in the past, for all the leaders (awa, Jimmy Liang, Darwin) and the members. Bible study really made me think seriously about who God is and purpose in life.
37. Thank God for my former flatmates (senior), e.g. vic bas, arie, jeffrey, aliong, for all the sharing time that we had together, about life, God, cewe, ... You guys are awesome!
38. Thank God for all the failures that I had in the past. Through those failures I learn more about life and how I should live as christian better.
39. Thank God for all the successes in my life as well. Through those things I learnt that all things come from God and He alone deserved to be praised.
40. Thank God for today! coz He reminded me about all His goodness in my life.
41. Thank God because He made me stronger day by day. I trust that He will finish His good work in me, making me more like Jesus.
42. Thank God ......... -----------------..........

Banyak bener kannnn!! Ga abis abis dehhhh .. Amin! =)

Beautiful psalm

1 O LORD , you have searched me
and you know me.
2 You know when I sit and when I rise;
you perceive my thoughts from afar.
3 You discern my going out and my lying down;
you are familiar with all my ways.
4 Before a word is on my tongue
you know it completely, O LORD .

5 You hem me in-behind and before;
you have laid your hand upon me.
6 Such knowledge is too wonderful for me,
too lofty for me to attain.

7 Where can I go from your Spirit?
Where can I flee from your presence?
8 If I go up to the heavens, you are there;
if I make my bed in the depths, you are there.
9 If I rise on the wings of the dawn,
if I settle on the far side of the sea,
10 even there your hand will guide me,
your right hand will hold me fast.

11 If I say, "Surely the darkness will hide me
and the light become night around me,"
12 even the darkness will not be dark to you;
the night will shine like the day,
for darkness is as light to you.

13 For you created my inmost being;
you knit me together in my mother's womb.
14 I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made;
your works are wonderful,
I know that full well.
15 My frame was not hidden from you
when I was made in the secret place.
When I was woven together in the depths of the earth,
16 your eyes saw my unformed body.
All the days ordained for me
were written in your book
before one of them came to be.

17 How precious to me are your thoughts, O God!
How vast is the sum of them!
18 Were I to count them,
they would outnumber the grains of sand.
When I awake,
I am still with you.

19 If only you would slay the wicked, O God!
Away from me, you bloodthirsty men!
20 They speak of you with evil intent;
your adversaries misuse your name.
21 Do I not hate those who hate you, O LORD ,
and abhor those who rise up against you?
22 I have nothing but hatred for them;
I count them my enemies.

23 Search me, O God, and know my heart;
test me and know my anxious thoughts.
24 See if there is any offensive way in me,
and lead me in the way everlasting.

When God doesn't answer your prayer

I am currently reading a book called "When God doesn't answer your prayer". I am up to chapter 3 and so far it is pretty interesting ... Makes me wanna read more ...

angry

Here I am, sitting in front of my compie, tried to sleep for about an hour ever since 12AM but just could not do that ... I am angry to someone for acting irresponsibly on something ... I feel like not telling the person that he/she is wrong, but it got to a point where I could not take it anymore and had to do something, although that person might think that I am a nuisance ... huh, who cares ... I just want that person to be a little bit responsible for what he/she is doing .... and I pray that he/she would understand that I did that because I loved him/her.

In the mean time, I wanna get more sleeeppppp!!! tomorrow got church in the morning ..

Australian Day ... very memorable

Spent the whole day with some friends today. In the morning, I went to clovelly beach doing snorkeling (do i spell this right?) .. Well, that was the first swimming in years I think ... I haven't swam for ages, getting tired easily, especially in the sea. But overall it was a lot of fun ... I feel like doing it more .. :) ...

We then rushed to Ratu sari for lunch .. I reckon the food was pretty ordinary ... maybe because we didn't order the best that they have to offer .. hehehe .. Deb, if you are reading, what exactly did you order?? I need to know for future reference .. We ordered ayam mentega, cumi kapitan, chap jay goreng ama ikan goreng ratu sari tuh ...

We went straight to Juliana's place afterwards because Jule did not feel well today. She actually went home first ahead of us during our time in the beach. We wanted to see how she was going and finish swimming early ... We were a bit worried when we heard what happened to her .. She turned out to be alright, thank God. After that, we decided to go to Max Brener in the afternoon .. I ordered the waffle and WOWWWWW ..... It was the best waffle I've ever had ... EXCELLENTE .. IMPRESSIVE ... really really nice ... I want to go there again if I have a chance .. :)

From Max Brener, we planned to head home but somehow ended up at Juliana's place until late at night. It was really strange, but God is behind everything I guess :) .. At her place, we did a lot of sharing through truth and nothing but the truth game (the modified version of truth or dare game .. heheheh). It wasn't planned at all. Most of the questions are about Boy/Girl relationships and surprise surprise, there are a lot of openness in the conversation. We were honest with one another, sharing our good and bad experiences in relationships, sharing our lives basically. There were times where we can feel someone's sadness, but there were also many times of joy. It was so interesting. We closed the sharing with one statement that, each individual has his/her own strengths and weaknesses, but it will be wrong to base our confidence in those things especially in a relationship. Our confidence should be in Jesus who has saved us from our sins, redeemed us from this evil world. That is where our confidence lies ... In a relationship, the most important thing is both parties love God and are willing to be shaped, mould by God Himself so that both can grow and encourage one another in the Lord since our lives is not about us but about HIM. That is also the case with our relationships. We then headed to KFC Maroubra for dinner at about 10PM and said good bye to one another.

Well, that was pretty much my day ... What a day!! Definitely a memorable one !!

William lagi nembak freddy ... HAUHAUHAUHAUAH 

Danny lagi hyper ... hahahaha 

kakak adik ketemu gede ... yg mana yang kakak coba?????? 

foto rame2 di reception 

aduh fred, senyumnya ga tahan booo!! :)