Dear Coral,

Won't be able to answer your question with the amount of space the tagboard offers. So let me try answering your questions with this post. Firstly, thank you for asking, please ask more!

But I have to add that I cannot claim to be able to answer everything. And so, all the more I need to read the Bible and try to understand what it teaches.

You asked, "If the Gospel are for preaching to non-Christians, then why do Christian bring Bibles for?

Let me try answer in a rather abstract manner. Suppose you are a Muslim, would you want to study or read the Koran to learn more about what you believe in? Or put it even more abstractly, look at researchers, like math professors, do they not consult textbooks all the time? Or if you are a teacher, do you not read the textbook or at least the syllabus before you teach?

To put it very simply, Christians carry Bibles so that they can learn from it. More than that, so that we can study it and apply it in our lives. But I cannot put it better than what is said in the Bible:

"All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work." - 2 Timothy 3:16-17

The Gospel is not just for non-Christians. It is for Christians as well. It is not just a story, it serves to remind us of the sins we have committed and the need to pray for forgiveness everyday. That was basically the subject of the previous post.

Your second question, "What is it in Christians that non-Christians don't have?? Is it faith??"

Well, physically we are exactly the same. We have a heart, a brain, internal organs etc, we are born and we all die. Emotionally we go through the same emotions, we cry, we laugh, we go through heartaches, we get depressed just like everyone else.

If it is not a physical or emotional difference difference, then what kind of difference is it? You brought up faith. And since you mentioned faith, I take it that you believe that we human beings are capable of expressing faith in some manner, just like we express something like love.

What is faith? Is it emotion? When we say we have faith in our friends, how do we express it? By actions? Yes. By our emotions? Definitely. But then, this is a very tangible aspect of faith. What happens when we consider something we cannot see, like a deity or some "higher power". Then faith cannot just be expressed through emotion or physical works. It's beyond that, and if you believe in a god, then I believe that this faith in a god is spiritual.

But does faith per se distinguish Christians for non-Christians? I don't think so. Muslims place their faith in Allah, Hindus place their faith in their multitude of gods, some Chinese place their faith in their ancestors, animists place their faith in animals and objects like trees. Christians place their faith in Jesus Christ.

What distinguishes us is the comfort and knowledge that we are saved and are assured of life after death. If you studied your moral education, you would know that Christians believe in life after death. (At least this was in my education when I was in secondary school). Who can attain this "eternal life" then? Well, anyone!

Would like to refer you to a passage in the Bible, Hebrew 11. It's too long to cut and paste here, so please click on the link below to Bible Gateway and type "Hebrews 11" into the search field.

The flaw with Christianity

I have just been informed that I have more subcribers to this blog than I imagined. Including a group who aren't in any church. Well, to this group from a certain school around my church, I hope you have found this blog interesting and don't be shy, leave a tag!

Anyway, in keeping with wanting to post more contraversial stuff, I hope this title was eye-catching enough. Was going to entitle it "What kind of life?", but felt that it won't really interest that many people to read it. Majority of the people visiting this blog only stay on it for 5 seconds or less anyway.

There was a youth in our church whose blog was spammed recently. Someone had called Christians hypocrites and the like. Understandably he was a little upset and asked me for my opinion on what that person had written on his blog. I told him very honestly and straight up that I agreed with what the guy wrote. Naturally this youth was pretty shocked.

Another of our youth related this really scary story to me, she was telling me about a girl in her school who had just recently converted to our faith. And she was so on fire that she went to school, took out a Bible, slammed it in front of one of her non-Christian friends and ordered her to read from it! Honestly, I admire her guts, but I think what she did was quite questionable.

We get frustrated trying to evangelise to our friends don't we? We try all sorts of means to try get them into church and fail. We want so much for them to experience what we have, the fellowship, the joy, the times of corporate worship etc. But many times, our efforts are in vain. Not just do our friends say "no" to our "advances" but they then start to criticise Christians. And we get upset and end up in an argument.

But do we stop to think why they think that way? In my opinion, they are very right to say we are hypocrites, liars, cheats and insensitive people. In fact, I daresay that what they say about us is in fact very Biblical. In other words, what they say about us is true.

There are many books in the market, even the secular market that talk about "life". Like "Purpose Driven Life" or "Victorious Christian Life" or "Spirit filled Life" etc.

There is nothing wrong with reading these books, and I believe at the centre of these books they touch on something central to our faith. But it a kind of life that we find hard to admit because of our pride.

And that is the Sinful Life.

This is what the Bible says, and it is central to the Gospel:

"They have all turned aside, together they have become corrupt; there is no one who does good, not even one" - Psalms 14:3

"All have turned aside, together they have become useless; there is none who does good, there is not even one" - Romans 3:12

"For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God" - Romans 3:23

"For the wages of sin is death" - Romans 6:23a

"For whoever keeps the whole law and yet stumbles in one point, he has become guilty of all" - James 2:10

It is very obvious that we are all sinners. And as what is says in Romans 6:23, the wages of sin is death. We are ALL condemned to death by God's standard. But we seem to have forgotten that we have this death sentence over our heads and we go on living this life as though we don't need His help or grace anymore.

I will be the first to admit that I have a problem. And there was a point in my Christian walk that I thought I could do without God's help anymore, that was in the early days of One Voice (youth worship team), when I relied more on my own ability to lead worship rather than on God given guidance. And of course, those who are regular readers of this blog will know that around this time last year to the middle of this year, I was seriously struggling with impure thoughts and motives. But it was only the realisation of what Jesus did on the cross that brought me back to my senses.

Many of us Christians tend to think that once we are saved, we can do anything we want. We act like gangsters on weekdays and turn into saints on weekends. No wonder our non-Christian friends have problems believing our Gospel; simply because we don't practice what we preach.

Such thinking is sometimes refered to as the cheap-grace doctrine. But let me say this, grace isn't cheap, it cost a life, the life of the One who lived a perfect life, Jesus Christ. Grace isn't cheap, but God gives it to us freely.

"For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ our Lord." - Romans 6:23

"For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not as a result of works, so that no one may boast." - Ephesians 2:8-9

I believe it was Ghandi who once said, "I like your Christ, but I dislike your Christians."

The flaw of Christianity is not it's doctrines, its not it's teachings and its not it's Christ. The flaw of Christianity is it's Christians.

We, us, Christians who have forgotten to about the sinful life we live. We have forgotten the need to come before the Father everyday to ask him for forgiveness, we've forgotten that we live under a death sentence and are here on borrowed time. I believe that if we come to realise our sins, only then will be come to live a life that is reflective of the Gospel. And only then, will our friends see a purpose in our joy, our fellowship and our times of worship.

I say on Sunday how much I want revival...

But then on Monday, I can't even find my Bible?!

From time to time, I receive emails from youths. Usually, they are trying to solve some problem in their life and they look for me for advice. Some problems they faced are addiction to card games, computer games, even BGR problems! Sometimes, they tell me they want to join the worship team but cannot play a singgle instrument and what should they do etc etc. Occasionally, they ask me for advice on BGR. (HUH???)

Anyway, the most recent email I received was from a youth who has not been coming regulary to church. But he assures me that will change. He wrote:

"I'm really sick of going to other churches and see them so joyful when coming to church and my home church is not like that."

Well, this youth had been church hopping for 2 months, hence his irregular attendance. But now he says he is coming back and wants to see a revival in our church, just like what he sees in other churches.

The following is my reply with some additional stuff:

When you've been in a church for too long, and you go to another church, you may see them excited and all. But in reality you never know what goes on behind the scenes. They may seem excited and all, but in reality, I am sure they all live broken lives as well.

In the same measure, if someone visits our church, they may think the same thing... that we are a very "happening" youth ministry. There was once a youth who left our church, went to an Assembly of God church, then one day she decided to come back to PMC to visit. And guess what she told the youth leaders then? That our Youth Ministry was more alive than hers.

Let me give an abstract example, supposed you meet a new friend. And this new friend may seem to be very chirpy, extrovert and fun to talk to. But this is only at first glance. Now, supposed you have more time to interact with this friend, suppose you spend a few years to get to know him, do you think this friend will always appear so chirpy, extrovert and fun? No right? Eventually, some of his hidden problems will surface, some of his "bad side" will appear.

One of my fellow leaders in the VCF gave a very good example during a meeting on Thursday night. Forming deep and authentic relationships with another person is like peeling an onion. At first you have something that looks nice, juicy and delicious. But as you peel off the layers one by one, you begin to cry (literally) and what you get at the at the end isn't as nice as when you first began.

Why didn't you see him display all these problems when you first met him? It's because you did not have a relationship with him back then, but over time you developed one.

It's the same with a church. If you do not wish to establish a long-term relationship with a church, but instead always hop around every other week to some other church, you are never going to have a relationship with it. There is nothing wrong with visiting churches, as long as you don't forget where you are from.

On the other hand, if you are CALLED to leave the church for some reason, like getting married, or you feel that there is a new mission field somewhere etc... then by all means leave the church.. BUT make sure you "settle-down" with that church. And develop a realationship with it, and with it's people.

Now, let me tell you about the churches you have visited. As you can tell, I have friends in most of the churches you visited, I even meet some of their youth pastors on a regular basis. And let me tell you this, they have established long term relationships with their churches, and they tell me things about their youth. Their youth are (in the long run) absolutely no different from the church we are from. They cut themselves, smoke, drink, have terrible disciplinary records in school, shout at their parents etc etc

Do you think God is pleased with their jumping around, raising hands, speaking in tongues on a Sunday when what they do outside church bears a bad testimony to the Gospel?

So, back to the hypothtical friend above, if you are REALLY his good friend, you will help him right? Just like the way you say you want to revive this church. Let me say this, many of us now know one important thing. The ONLY way to revive the youth ministry is no longer to start looking at the people inside the church, but to look outside the church.

The Youth Leaders are honestly not very concerned about what we see on a Sunday. If the youth in our YM do not want to sing, we are not really very worried. If they do not jump around, lift their hands etc, we do not think that is a problem.

What we think is a problem is when they go back home, and we get complains from their parents that they are rebellious, skip school, go out drinking, smoke and use vulgarities at them. (Yes, these are some of the things we hear from parents).

What is the use of jumping around, running around, lifting hands, speaking in tongues and claiming to be some Holy Moley on a Sunday, when from Monday to Saturday you live a life completely opposite to that of what the Lord wants of us?

True revival does not come from within a church. It comes from without, when the multitudes of unbelievers come to know Christ personally. In Acts 2, when 3000 were added to their number, now that is a revival.

Believe
I say on Sunday how much I want revival
But then on Monday, I can’t even find my Bible
Where’s the power, the power of the Cross in my life?

I’m sick of playing the game of religion
I’m tired of losing my reason for living
Where’s the power, the power of the Cross in my life?

I’m not content just to walk through my life
Giving in, to the lies
Walking in compromises now
We cry out as a generation that was lost
But now is found in the power of the Cross

We believe in You,
We believe in the power of Your Word and its truth
We believe in You
So we lay down our cause
That our cross might be found in You

I’m not satisfied, doing it my own way
I’m not satisfied, to “Do Church” and walk away
I’m not satisfied, there’s no love in my life but You

I’m not satisfied living in yesterday’s hour
I’m not satisfied to have the form but not the power
I’m not satisfied
Oh Lord I am crucified in You

We believe in You,
We believe in the power of Your Word and its truth
We believe in You
So we lay down our cause
That our cross might be found in You

(C) Words and Music by Donna Lasit

Where do we go from here?

"Truly, truly I say to you, when you were younger, you used to gird yourself and walk wherever you wished; but when you grown old, you will stretch out your arms and someone else will gird you, and bring where you do not wish to go." Now this He said, signifying the kind of death he would glorify God. And when He had spoken this, He said to him, "Follow Me!" - John 21: 18-19

Well, from the post entitled "Riding the sine curve", it seems that the more contraversial the post, the more activity I will get on my tagboard! So, here is another one, this time contraversial in the sense that I am quoting the above verse a little out of it's context. So, to my VCF friends, please don't stone me!

Anyway, the past weekend was a very interesting one for the YM Com. I have served on the committee since it began in 2002, coincidentally, that's the year the YM officially started operations as well. We had a meeting over the weekend; I have to say that for the first time, I actually left the meeting quite refreshed! Usually I will leave the meeting room with many arrows sticking out from my back.

In the past 4 years, the YM committee has always has had a place to lead the Youth Ministry to. We have had a collected vision on what this YM would be like one day. But, we've had massive disareements on how to get there. But not so this time.

Unfortunately, the place we are going, and the method of getting there, is probably going to be quite unpopular with the majority of the youths. Especially the younger ones. As it involves coming out of thier comfort zones quite a bit.

In the above passage from the Gospel of John; Jesus was speaking to Peter.The Gospel of John was believed to be written quite some time after the Synoptic Gospels, as the theology in John is a lot more developed, and contains different information from the Synopic Gospels. It is also believed, from apocryphal sources that Peter was matyred before John was written, and hence it was possible John knew how Peter was matyred and the above passage would make more sense. (This was paragraphed was paraphrased from a study Bible.)

There are 2 points I am going to make, the first is "the place where he did not want to go" and after that, Jesus exhortation to "Follow Him!"

A good leader is one who can bring his charges to the place where they ought to be. But a great leader is one who can bring his charges to the place where they DO NOT want to be but ought to be. With Jesus as our great leader, we are going to the place where we really don't want to be.

Pastor Dianna's sermon series on the book of Acts has been very interesting! Something which the church really needs, the power and movement of the Holy Spirit. And that's the direction that the YM Committee has to take. Joshua gave a long speech on Saturday that was met with agreement, though what he said probablymade a few of us uncomfortable.

But then again, prior to the meeting, we were given some homework to do, one of them was a question on "What was God saying to us about the YM?" Or something to that effect. Well, many of us wrote exactly what Joshua was pointing at. And yes, the Holy Spirit, what was it given for? That's where we have to go, to follow the leading of the Spirit, and the Holy Spirit has one direction, no matter where you come from.

Well, it's a place that we all know we have to head. But it's not a popular place to head. But what did Jesus say? He told Peter, "Follow Me!" And that's what we are going to do. Follow Jesus, for He is our great leader, and with Him guiding, we are sure to arrive at the destination He wants us to go!

I apologize if this post sounds quite crytic, but it will become apparent soon on what is to come! Anyway, like I said above, what is coming to us is nothing new! In fact it's been what Pastor Dianna has been preaching about.

Just joining in the "fun"

Since nearly every blogger in NUS is dissing CORS... I thought I add in my two cents worth of frustration! (2 cents might not seem much, but if you consider how many NUS students there are doing this, it's might be enough to see a medicine student through a few years of his course!)

Anyway, CORS: Contralised Online Registration System. The system was conceptualised due to complains from a certain faculty in NUS that the old balloting system was unfair. And then what happens? We have to ballot for our tutorials! And that's the problem that is plaugueing the NUS servers at the moment!If you want a technical understanding of what is going on, please go and read Joel's blog, it has a pretty good perspective on the problem!

What to say, this is the first time in three semesters that I have to use CORS to get tutorials. Why? Because I've taken only math modules in the past 2 semesters and the math lectures have the brains to avoid using CORS for tutorial registrations! In fact most of the level 4000 math modules use the 4th hour lecture timeslot anyway. Which saves a lot of problems.

Ironic, the computer was invented by a mathematicians, yet the very modules in which the lectures rather not use the computer are the math modules!

Oh well, this round of ranking of tutorials have extended to 6am tomorrow morning. I think I will just wake up at 5.45am or earlier to do my stuff! Anyway, I have a lecture at 8am. Which I will watch from home anyway, hopefully the servers can handle THAT! I guess there are going to be many sleepy people in NUS tomorrow!

Riding the Sine Curve

I actually wrote this on Sunday, and was going to post it at a much later date. But after reading Kelvin Tan's blog, I realised that I also had to post this. Although I do not really hold the exact same view as him, I would say the essence is more or less the same.

As most of you would know, a sine curve is a wave-like curve. It goes up then it goes down and repeats like that till infinity. Unfortunately, many of our Christian lives are like that as well.

Was at Festival of Praise over the past weekend and as I was walking out of the stadium I overheard someone say something that got me thinking. I am not sure if that person was a Christian, or whether she wasn’t one.

She said, “I don’t find any meaning in the whole thing. It was just noise; I find no reason behind it and I find no contentment at all.”

I have to say that to a certain extent, I agree with her. And when I talked to Ber about on Sunday, he more or less agreed with me. And as I began to chat with my other friends who are youth leaders in their own churches and were at FoP, they too said the same thing. I don't blame the organisers, I applaud them for one of the best FoPs in year. Those of you who know about cat and dog theology, the organisers are really the dogs, unfortuantely, FoP was attended by a bunch of cats.

How many of us mark off these kind of Christian events on our calendars and attend them at all cost. Fusion, WIN, Synerg!z, PowerPoint, Jubilee, Camps, Go Forth, Joshua21, Sonicfest, Festival of Praise etc etc. The list goes on. Nothing absolutely wrong with attending these events, in fact, I’ve attended all of the above!

But after a while, the same thing repeats over and over again. I go to these events, and if they are the more Youth oriented events, there’s a lot of jumping, shouting, clapping and dancing. But another thing that follows such things is depression.

I remember Rev Norman Wong, at the end of One Camp last year, he told the camp what to expect in the immediate aftermath. He told us to expect depression to come along.

Why does such depression come? Because we live for such spiritual highs. Instead of learning to spend time with God and His Word EVERYDAY, we base our whole Christian life on waiting for such events to come, attend it, feel a high, jump around, come out of it refreshed and be on fire on a few weeks. And then after that, fall into depression until the next such event comes along. If we were to plot a graph, it would look exactly like a sine curve.

Many of you have come to me and asked me, “Why can’t we worship the way we do on Sundays as we do at FoP?” You know what, you can! Worship is not something that the worship team provides like a commodity. But it’s something for you to offer to the King of kings and Lord of lords. There is nothing stopping you from praising God the way you do at FoP etc and from a normal Sunday except your own self.

Our times of corporate worship should be an outpouring of our times of personal worship. It’s in our quiet times with the Word of the Lord that truly sustains us.

Not sure if any of you at FoP observed this, the minute the musical worship ended, and the sermon began, a huge number of people began leaving the main arena. And the minute the sermon ended, they all came back to their seats.

When we lose our Daily Bread (the Word of God), we are going to feel hungry. And that is why our lives start to look like a sine curve. When we start to seek God only such events rather than seeking the Lord daily, we are going to be depressed.

"I hate, I despise your religious feasts; I cannot stand your assemblies. Even though you bring me burnt offerings and grain offerings, I will not accept them. Though you bring choice fellowship offerings, I will have no regard for them. Away with the noise of your songs! I will not listen to the music of your harps." - Amos 5:21-23

Above the noise, above the dancing, above the jumping, above the singing, above these events, let’s learn to guard our quiet times jealously. And then, you will find the true purpose to why these events were organised. Not so that you can have a spiritual high, but so that you can find rest within the Lord again, and from there go out into the world and spread the Word. And then, your life can turn from a sine curve to an exponential curve.

here we go!

ah... the new school term starts. It's been a very nice, long, enjoyable, satisfying holiday for me. The best I've ever had! :D FOURTEEN WEEKS of enjoyment!

Well, time for school has begun, and it's my final year. I really thank God for the miracle of being able to do an extra year. As some of you may know, with my current score, I would not have been able to make it to the Honours class, but at the end of year 2, I made a prayer, more like a bargain with God to grant me the favour of being able to do my honours year. In return, I was willing to serve in the music ministry (VCF) for another year.

Thanks be to God, for He did indeed grant me this favour!!!!!!!

Well, I thought He would grant me good results and enable me to make the 3.8 CAP requirement. But no. Instead, I beleive that God worked an even mightier miracle and the university lowered the CAP requirement and that enabled me to qualify for this extra year.

As my brother Kelvin Tan put it to me earlier this year, the Lord was telling me that I made it to the honours class not by my own power but by His. Indeed, the Lord is sovereign.

So, here is a run down of my modules!

Science of Music. Well, apparently it's very easy to score in this module. And it does not have a final exam. Just 1 term paper, 2 term test, tutorial participation and a composition piece. Interesting! Well, I hope that with whatever music background I have, it would be sufficient to carry me through!

Reason and Persuation. It's the introductory Philosophy module, but it's the 3rd of the philosophy modules that I am taking. Philosophy does interest me, and if I were an arts student, it would probably have been my major. But, like the previous 2 modules, I believe that this module would probably just mess with mind. This is going to be a S/U module, to take the load off my thesis. On top of that, it's webcasted! So I may not need to go to school on Thursday, a kind of pseudo free-day!

MA4235 Graph Theory I. Ah... the maths modules at last! Graph theory. Was almost going to do this as my thesis subject. Unfortuantely my lack of knowledge in this branch of math made a big impact on my dicision. Graph Theory, no not x-y axis, but vertices and edges. Should be an interesting module. The 2 previous modules I did on graph theory were my best scoring modules, but now I will be exploring the more theoretical aspects of the subject. Even more fun!

MA4266 Topology. Now this is my honours thesis subject. It's my 5th analysis based module. It's my 7th if you count complex analysis I and II. But yup, having done some reading for my thesis, this module is probably going to be one of the more interesting ones of me!

Honestly, it doesn't feel like school is starting. I guess it's because my day on starts at 6pm on Monday and Tuesday is a holiday. But well, I can't wait for friday, because, that's when my math lectures begin!

as promised...

Shaun has agreed to lead the TOFU commitee this year! So, do keep him in your prayers okay? My challenge to him was really for him to take a step of faith; and he has risen to the challenge. It's his O level year, so he will need the extra support he can get! Those of you who want to join can approach me!

In the meantime, as I promised Shaun, here is a long-awaited picture of me and Sophia!

God's Heartache

Here is a true story of a youth worker having a conversation with one of his youth leaders.

"Did you hear what happened during worship last Sunday?", asked the Youth Worker.

"No. What happened?", the youth leader asked.

"One of our youths was touched by the Holy Spirit and started crying. She was so overwhelemed that she had to leave the worship hall." replied the Youth Worker.

"Oh dear, what happened after that?"

"I managed to catch up with her after the whole service and chatted with her. She said she felt God's calling to serve in the Youth Ministry."

The youth leader's eyes lit up and he said, "Oh! That's actually good news!"

"That's not all. After that, I asked her if she was sure that it was really God calling her to serve. And she said that every since she attended the Youth Alpha Course at the neighbouring church, she has become very sensitive to the Holy Spirit's leading and that she was sure that this was God's calling. So, I asked her in what area she was going to serve and guess what she said?" the youth woker replied with a smile.

"The youth committee?" the youth leader asked with a grin.

Suddenly, a gloomy look washes over the youth worker and he shakes his head, "No. She told God, 'No'. She rejected God's call. She said it was her O level year and that this call came at a bad time. And that's why she was crying. When she said that, I could just sense the heartache that God must have felt."

When I heard that story, I felt the heartache too. That God who died for us, was rejected by the very ones who said that we love Him.

I have had the priviledge of attending a few Youth Pastors / Key leaders meetings held about once every 2 months at various churches around the island. This meeting is inter-denominational, from the very pentacostal and charismatic ministries to the more solemn traditional churches, all the youth ministries have similiar problems. I won't go into the details of all the problems we share. Just one, that all seem to have problems raising up leaders from this current generation of teens.

Perhaps it is the youth leaders islandwide that has gotten it wrong. We have failed to learn how to minister to this new generation. Maybe we have become too dogmatic in our approach and have forgotten how to minister and instead only learned how to maintain. And that's where we need to change. But, when an entire island of youths behave the same way, I really wonder if there is a deeper issue.

The issue here is one of commitment and conviction. The excuse that the girl in the above story is not a new one, it's the same one a few youths in our church has given to me for their lack of commitment. It's a valid reason. Studies are important, very important and I want all of you to study hard. But, when God calls you out in the middle of the exams, then I think there is more to all that than meets the eye.

God is testing your faith, and He wants you to exercise your faith so that He may reward you in a much bigger way. AndHis heart aches when we fail to do so.

When we sing songs that go, "We live by faith and not by sight" or "Here I am, send me". And then when we display the very opposite, it's insulting the apostle Paul (2 Cor 5:7) and the Prophet Isaiah (Isaiah 6:8), the writers of those songs, and worse of all, we turn our songs of praise to our Lord into mere lip service.

If you love Me, you will keep My commandments - John 14:15

The contrapositive and hence equivalent statement is: If you do not keep My commandments, then you do not love me.

I think, that when we disobey God, when we disregard His calling, we are really telling the Lord that He is not the First Love in our life and that we have placed our studies, our relationships and our selves above Him.

I know that God's heart must really ache when He sees His youth all so fired up and jumping around at Christian Carnivals, concerts etc etc. Yet, it is this same group of youth who reject His call when He calls them to serve Him.

As you all probably would have guessed. That youth worker is none other than Joshua, and that the youth leader was myself. How many of us have used that same excuse as that girl? How many of us have caused the heart of our Father to ache.