Discover Your Calling

Read 1 Corinthians 12:4-27 (Based on Gordon Smith's Courage and Calling and Yoke Yeow's idea with Incredibly Called) Delivered at RipTreat 2009.

If you can be a superhero, who would you want to be? Why do you want his or her super powers?

Do you remember the movie The Incredibles? Or Kungfu Panda? Or Ratatouille? The heroes of each story have a deep desire in their hearts to be superheroes, a chef (Remy the Rat) or kungfu master (Po The Panda), they face huge internal and external problems that prevent them for realizing their dreams and we cheer them on when we see how they finally overcome these barriers to be what they were meant to be!

Each and every one of us is given special talents, skills, abilities and a calling from God. Not all of us have the same spiritual gift. Why? It’s supposed to be like a body when we mutually build up and bless each other with the diverse gifts we have been given. Since we cannot be experts in everything, we need each other…

First and foremost, God calls us to Himself, to a personal Father-child relationship with Him. He loves us unconditionally, there is where our self-worth lies. Secondly, He has also equipped us with abilities and called us to fulfil a purpose, mission and destiny in life.

What happens when we don’t exercise our gifts or we don’t know what God has called us to do with our lives? When people don’t discover what God had made them to be, they very often experience these symptoms

Boredom: Mr Incredible is super-strong and loves to fight crime and save people from trouble. But when he was forced to retire by the law, he earns a living filing claims in an insurance company. He’s cramped in a tin can and sneaks out at night to play super hero.

Mischief: Do you remember Dash? Wonder-boy capable of supersonic speeds but to hide his superpowers, he can’t show his true colors in school. So he must pretend to lose races in school to conceal his abilities. In frustration, he expresses his talent by putting thumb tacks teacher's butt. When people can’t express their abilities in positive, productive ways, these gifts can have a dark side.

Inferiority Complex: Violet the shy, insecure girl whose gift of invisibility helps her fade ever more into the background. When you don’t find your call or purpose in life, you may eventually believe you are good for nothing. There is no meaning or rhyme in life… you get overwhelmed with self pity, inferiority and insecurity.

Mismatch of work: I would also like to suggest to you that because many people do not discover the true superpowers, they choose a certain job or study certain subjects because everybody else is doing it, it makes lots of money or due to society expectation or because it is easier road to take. We dun stop and ask:

Is this “who I am”? Is this what God has called me to do?

Disclaimer: If you are in secondary school, this is probably not the time for you to make firm decisions on what you’d be doing for the rest of your life. So don’t go home and tell your parents “I’m not going to school anymore because I wanna go US and be American Idol”. It is a lifelong journey. You won’t find out the entire purpose of your life tonight. At your age, I want to encourage you to try new things, dun limit your ministry experience and continuously learn more about you like/dislike but it’s never too early to start thinking about these things.

What I like about movies like Kungfu Panda, Incredibles or Ratatouille is not so much the silly humor or kick-butt action, what satisfies us most is when they find the joy of finally doing what they were made to do. Like when Remy the rat creates delicious dishes instead of scavenging leftovers or when Po the Panda finally defeats the bad guy by being himself and he finds out that the secret of the dragon scroll is “There is no secret!” we cheer for these heroes.

What are you spiritual gifts? Freely you have received, freely give. A Hero is waiting to be set free in us. Only One Life To Live. Don’t Waste It.

But how do we find out what is God’s will for us? What are our spiritual gifts? Must we hear audible voices from heaven before we know it? Is there a secret spiritual formula to finding God's call? The secret of the dragon scroll is "there is no secret".

It’s not something overly difficult or mysterious. In fact, after this we will do a little survey together to help you find out more about your spiritual gifts. Would you like to find out? (Disclaimer: The purpose is to get you started on discovery not absolute answers because unless you have tried some of these ministry areas, how do you know you don’t like it or good at it? The answers will change as you explore and learn more)

Here are FIVE Questions to help us find our Life Calling

1) What do you feel joy doing? What is my deepest desire or passion?

It doesn’t mean that just because you enjoy playing Counterstrike, you are called to be a gamer. But since God put the body together, you will feel fulfilled (Yes, I feel God’s pleasure when I run, sing, write, play the guitar, serve the weak etc) when functioning in the proper area. There will be a sense of purpose, like jigsaw puzzles that fit. Look out for the sense of fulfillment, satisfaction, pleasure when you exercise a gift/ministry.

2) What are you good at doing? What are my abilities, skills, spiritual gifts, mutant powers?

Run through some of the gifts and talents in the spiritual gift survey. It's not an exhaustive list. Maybe you think “Oh, I’m good at none of these things.” But again: “Belum cuba belum tahu”. Risks: When people ask you to serve as ushers, “Oh no, because I don’t have that gift”. You begin to avoid evangelism or prayer. And at this time, none of us have enough life experience to really know what gifts you have, Some people would rather die than say, sing in public, but when they are given training and opportunity they may turn out to be gifted singers. So explore new opportunities. Get involved in different church ministries to meet the needs of some real people, expose yourself to the needs around and see if God puts a burden in your heart.

3) What do you feel are the biggest needs of the people around you?

When you look at the world around you, what are the things that make you sad or lose sleep? Are you burdened by the suffering of poor people? Are you burdened to see that people are lost without the gospel? Do you feel angry when there is injustice or cruelty? Of course, all Christians should feel such burdens in some degree. But it’s also true that some people feel more strongly about some areas than others. And it’s okay, dun fight over it and accept that God calls people differently while learn from others. Evangelism (Alpha Course) versus Social Justice? (Angsana) Don’t insist others to be like you. Have you felt like: “Why isn’t somebody doing something about it?” Maybe you should.

4) What is your unique personality?

God has wired each of us differently, in a unique way like snowflakes. There is no “right” personality. Our individual temperament is unique to us as our fingerprint. John Calvin once said: You cannot know God unless you know yourself. You cannot know yourself unless you know God.

- Extroverts are energized by being with people or enjoy being the center of attention. Introverts tend to be content and energized being alone, and avoid attention when in a crowd. Which is more true to who you are?- How do you process information? Am I more inclined to trust clear, certain and concrete facts (sensate) or more inclined to trust intuition, gut feeling and imagine possibilities (intuitive)?

- Do you make decisions depending on logic/analysis or personal relationship/feeling? Thinker or feeler?

- Am I more inclined to live with order, structure and routine or do I prefer going through life with more variety, spontaneous changes? Different personality may clash in a meeting. Derive fulfillment from finishing a task or find more joy in the process?

Again, your calling is not determined by one factor. For example: “Unless you are an outgoing extrovert, you cannot be a leader” – too simplistic. There are different leadership styles, a quiet person can lead effectively also.

5) What do others in school, family, circle of friends, church community say about me?

Since spiritual gifts are designed to benefit others (edify each other), you should see positive results as you exercise these gifts. But results take time so don’t give up too quickly, give it a fair try. Sometimes it’s hard to be brutally honest with ourselves – we can be either too hard on ourselves or unable to see our own shortcomings. So we need other brothers and sisters in Christ to help us recognize and confirm our gifting. Cannot ‘syok sendiri!!’ And as a youth group, be on the lookout and encourage those who do well, affirm them to continue using their gifts, be generous in giving honest feedback and constructive suggestions or evaluations.

But you can’t consider this question alone: Sometimes even people who mean well may misunderstand us, may be biased and their feedback cannot be absolute. We need to weigh opinions of others carefully as well. Usually some truth, some exaggerations…

So there you have it: Five Questions to help you discover your calling in life
What do you feel joy doing? What are you good at doing? What do you feel are the biggest needs of the people around you? What is your unique personality?

After doing the survey:
Beware of ‘gliding on our gifts’. Sometimes our relationship with God is not that healthy or our hearts are not right (bear grudges or hatred on others) but we can still do well in our ‘ministry’ because we are gifted in it and nobody notices. Your gift can never replace what goes on inside your heart. “Lord! Lord! Look at what we have done for you” But I never knew you. (Matt 7:21) There are people who are not so gifted but because their character is godly and their relationship with God is close, people are blessed and sense the aroma of Christ in their lives.

Our gift, ability or ministry is not an extension of ourselves. It is not where your source of self-worth. Unless you see this, you’d be driven or scared, too timid or too aggressive.

If we measure our self-worth by our achievements and abilities, we will either burn out (“I must be the best otherwise I’m a failure”) or give up (“What’s the point? I’d never be good enuff”).

But the good news is Christ “loves us more than we ever dare imagine even though we are more sinful than we’d ever know”! How does that change the way you measure how valuable you are and how you use gifts? Humble boldness…

I hope this message gets you to start thinking over the next few days we are together. What is the kind of person God has called me to be? What are the needs around me that I could me in Jesus name? What gifts have he given me to bless others and glorify God?

Remember Spiderman movie: With great powers come great responsibility! Let us pray.
Tags: Discover Your Calling

Khartoum Life

The van in front of us has a spoiler right above the van ..... preparing to take off ???

Over here, the owner of this office made sure that people knows where to find his office.

Before we start our meeting, we indulge in the Sudanese breakfast called 'foul' ...... pronounced as fool. FYI, I'm still clever after eating it.

You eat the foul by dipping your bread into it and try to scoop the right amount of foul in tandem with the size of the bread in your hand.

What's foul? Egyptian dish made of fava beans. First the beans go in the bowl, then it is time for the toppings: a little cumin, chopped onions, fresh parsley, pepper, salt, and olive oil.

Street mobile vendors - nope, they don't sell mobile phone but they are mobile enough to walk at all the traffic light junctions showing the goods they in their hands.













Sometimes I would notice that when a driver bought something from them and gave them a big currency note, the street vendor would take that money and run over to his other fellow street vendors looking for smaller note denomination.

By that time, the cars would have moved a bit to the front and this street vendor would be running towards that car.

Normally, the street vendor would be walking around cars that are quite far away from the traffic lights, in case the car moves on during a green light with their goods still in the hands of the car driver.

Lots of them. To me, at least they are trying to make a living with their own two feet.

But one of my local colleagues did mention that some of those goods could be stolen goods and sold off to unknowing car drivers.

Tags: Khartoum, Street Vendors, Foul Breakfast

Batman Suparman in Singapore

Voice message recorded in a call centre:-

"Thank you for calling, this is BATMAN"

"Who am I speaking to?.."

"Batman..."

"May I have your name again pls?"

"My name is Bat-man..."

"Trying to be funny huh?!. What is your surname?.."

"Supar-man..."

"I want to speak with your manager... !"
Tags: Batman, Suparman, Funny, Humour

Fees for Toilet Usage in Aeroplane

Pay for seat reservation ......

Pay for food ......

Pay for usage of blanket ......

Pay for pillow ......

Pay for additional check-in luggage ......

These are the things you may need to pay when you board low cost carrier across the world.

But when I heard that you may have to pay for the usage of the toilet, I think it has really gone too far this time.

I can bear with the running on the airport tarmac to the aeroplane or walk a bit faster than the rest of the passengers ...... so can do without the seat reservation.

I can sneak food into my waistpouch and hence, I don't need to buy food during the flight.

Normally I'm afraid of warm weather or place. So, no blanket is still alright.

No pillow? What difference does it make by trying to sleep with a pillow since you are sitting up.

Lesser clothings, lesser space required for luggage space .... problem with ladies usually ... hehe

But the toilet issue .............. you are asking which airplane is going to do that?

Well, it's the Irish budget airline Ryanair. They won't be placing an additional crew in front of the toilet door to collect money but a coin slot would be installed for your sake. Their sake or yours actually?

No coins? Sorry mate, wait till the plane lands. Meantime, get a plastic bag ready if you are about to let go .......... haha

What else will they think of? Pay for your life jacket ...... ?

Reading: Ryanair mulls charge for toilets - BBC News
Tags: Ryanair, Toilet Usage, Low Cost Carrier

Dinner - Amwaj Restaurant

This is a road side stall (one of those larger operations).

We opted for Amwaj Restaurant for the night. Definitely will try out this restaurant each time I'm in Khartoum.

Four stooges went for the dinner. Two here.

The other two stooges.

They will lay a piece of plastic sheet over the table. Less hassle in cleaning the table later.










All the four walls have been lined up with mirrors. Looked classy. It has an area without air-cond. This is the part of the restaurant which has air-cond. You could occupy first floor too but we were lazy to climb up.












Normally people would order a plate of salad each that comes with a bowl of soup plus those giant bread ..... what kind of soup was that already?













A small plate of the really hot chili ........... pure chilli taste.











This our lamb dish that comes with their special rice that has raisins cooked with it.















Our KFC chicken style ...... of course it doesn't taste like KFC.











A frightening dish itself. All jumbled up. If I didn't know what was ordered, I wouldn't be able to guess this dish.














Looks like a squid but it was a fish.

Have you heard of the word "grogs" ???

On the way out of the restaurant, took a quick shot at their big hot plate which was like preparing for a huge banquet. This is how fast they sell their foodstuff ...... could be even better than the local fast food companies.
Tags: Khartoum, Amwaj Restaurant, Food

Dinner - La Pergola Khartoum

It was late in the afternoon where I was relaxing at my residential garden and saw some bees flying around.

Followed them to the garden fixture and was wondering what the bees were going after on this garden fixture.




Don't see any food or some leftovers being thrown there.















Later on the same day's night time, we decided to pamper ourselves a bit by going over to La Pergola at Riyadh area. About 5 minutes drive.

First time for me (not my the other 3 colleagues). The place was packed with many foreigners and local Sudanese too. The local Sudanese people have found such places to be of good value and with nice environment / setting for a nice peaceful dinner.

We sat at the outdoor area as cool winter wind (presumably from the Mediterranean Sea) was still blowing in Khartoum.

I ordered the veal emance that came with a large serving of mashed potatoes. Fantastic gravy for the veal which was hot. Cost me 26 Sudanese Dinar (2 Sudanese Dinar = US$1).

One colleague ordered this fish fillet that came with fries ..... I think it was 23 Sudanese Dinar.










This was the Grilled Tenderloin Beef ....... a bit too 'grilled' hehehehe. Came with the mashed potatoes too. Also about 20++.














Another said he was on diet and ordered a sliced beef with salad (something like that) but I found the serving quite big too. So much for the diet.

All in all, our bill came up to 115 Sudanese Dinar. In KL, we could have ordered double of everything with that sort of pricing. But this is Khartoum, just bear with it. If we kept counting the figures, we won't get to have dinner at all.

The external building was erected with their signboard with green background lighting. Just can't miss it when you pass by this road.
Tags: La Pergola, Khartoum

Contribution to Safe Drinking Water

We are blessed in the sense that we have clean water to drink wherever we go in Malaysia or in any other major cities in the world. We can turn on the tap anytime, boil the tap water and there you go, you have safe drinking water.

There are people (those who could afford of course) who have installed water purifiers, water filters, reverse osmosis or water treatment system to ensure that the water they consume is even cleaner than before. I would say in Malaysia itself lots of people that I know of would have some sort of equipment to obtain safe drinking water.

Unfortunately, there are also people on some parts of the world who don't have drinking water within their residential area. They may have to walk miles/kilometres just to bring back some water for drinking. That water may not be clean.

Waterborne diseases in such areas are so rampant that the young ones die from the diseases. About six thousand people die from such unfortunate situation, most of whom are children.

Recently I have read about a small gadget which could help save many lives due to this waterborne disease or to overcome the shortage of safe drinking water.

There is this private company by the name of Vestergaard Frandsen that produces a 10-inch plastic cylinder that filters the bacteria, parasites and some viruses at a cost of less than US$3/-.

The product is named LifeStraw®. LifeStraw comes in two packages, LifeStraw® Personal and LifeStraw® Family.

This LifeStraw could be used on the spot itself. It's an invention that safeguards lots of people from any waterborne disease especially those faraway from any tap water or clean water. Its lifespan is about 700 litres of water (if saline water, it's limited to 350 litres).

Important facts to know:-
* LifeStraw Personal has been referred to as 'One of the Ten Things that will Change the Way We Live' by Forbes Magazine.

* LifeStraw Family delivers water as per EPA guidelines for microbiological water purifiers.

* February 2008, LifeStraw Personal receives the Saatchi & Saatchi Award for World Changing Ideas in New York.

Today, you can play a part in this life saving tool by donating a small amount of money. Following organisations have organised and will distribute the tools on your behalf to places where most required:-

*World Outreach International seeing it as a beneficial tool has organised a donation campaign to purchase this tool for people who need it

*IMA World Health

*Rotary Club of Fort Lauderdale, Florida (for US$ dollar donations)

*Rotary Club of Menorca, Spain (for International currency contribution)

*Rotary Club of Brynmawr, UK
Tags: LifeStraw, Water Purifier, Clean Water, Vestergaard Frandsen, Waterborne Disease, Unsafe Drinking Water, World Outreach International