Wednesday 29 April 2009 . 10:43

Years ago, a farmer owned land along the Atlantic seacoast.
He constantly advertised for hired hands. Most people were
reluctant to work on farms along the Atlantic. They dreaded the
awful storms that raged across the Atlantic, wreaking havoc on the buildings and crops.
As the farmer interviewed applicants for the job, he received
A steady stream of refusals.

Finally, a short, thin man, well past middle age, approached
the farmer. "Are you a good farm hand?" the farmer asked him.
"Well, I can sleep when the wind blows," answered the little man.
Although puzzled by this answer, the farmer, desperate for help,
Hired him.

The little man worked well around the farm, busy from
dawn to dusk, and the farmer felt satisfied with the man's work.
Then one night the wind howled loudly in from offshore.
Jumping out of bed, the farmer grabbed a lantern and rushed
next door to the hired hand's sleeping quarters. He shook the
little man and yelled, "Get up! A storm is coming!
Tie things down before they blow away!"

The little man rolled over in bed and said firmly, "No
sir. I told you, I can sleep when the wind blows."
Enraged by the response, the farmer was tempted to fire him on
the spot. Instead, he hurried outside to prepare for the storm.

To his amazement, he discovered that all of the haystacks had
been covered with tarpaulins. The cows were in the barn, the chickens
were in the coops, and the doors were barred.
The shutters were tightly secured. Everything was tied down.
Nothing could blow away. The farmer then understood what his
hired hand meant, so he returned to his bed to also sleep while
the wind blew.

Moral of the Story
When you're prepared, spiritually, mentally, and physically,
you have nothing to fear. Can you sleep when the
wind blows through your life?
The hired hand in the story was able to sleep because he
had secured the farm against the storm.
We secure ourselves against the storms of life by
grounding ourselves in the Word of God.
We don't need to understand, we just need to hold
His hand to have peace in the middle of storms. 2 comments

Friday 10 April 2009 . 08:53

Gethsemane (Matthew 26:36-46)

Then Jesus went with his disciples to a place called Gethsemane, and he said to them, "Sit here while I go over there and pray." He took Peter and the two sons of Zebedee along with him, and he began to be sorrowful and troubled. Then he said to them, "My soul is overwhelmed with sorrow to the point of death. Stay here and keep watch with me."
Going a little farther, he fell with his face to the ground and prayed, "My Father, if it is possible, may this cup be taken from me. Yet not as I will, but as you will."
Then he returned to his disciples and found them sleeping. "Could you men not keep watch with me for one hour?" he asked Peter. "Watch and pray so that you will not fall into temptation. The spirit is willing, but the body is weak."
He went away a second time and prayed, "My Father, if it is not possible for this cup to be taken away unless I drink it, may your will be done."
When he came back, he again found them sleeping, because their eyes were heavy. So he left them and went away once more and prayed the third time, saying the same thing.
Then he returned to the disciples and said to them, "Are you still sleeping and resting? Look, the hour is near, and the Son of Man is betrayed into the hands of sinners. Rise, let us go! Here comes my betrayer!"


Last night we had an adoration at St Julian's Church. The adoration was based on the above scripture, and the phrase "watch with me one hour" has been recurring in my head ever since. During the one hour adoration, I kept questionning myself "would I sit with Him one hour?". Suddenly, I felt myself drowning in a million thoughts, and I could picture myself sitting with Jesus for a while, then running away out of fear. I'm sure I would have been one of the disciples asleep during Jesus' most heartbreaking moments in the garden. Do I love Jesus enough to stay awake with Him, to hurt when He hurts, to cry when He cries?
It is very easy to sit awake with someone you care about so dearly such as a best friend, brother, sister, father, mother. But then I thought about the fact that I love Jesus as much as I love my most distant brother, because there is Jesus in every single person I know and meet. So I thought about people I don't get along with too well, and I wondered whether or not I would sit up with them in moments of despair. Would I?
I got deeply in touch with that feeling, and with that same feeling still vivid in my heart, I then sat awake with Jesus for an hour, in worship, in love, in grief for all He went through for each one of us.... for YOU... for ME!



1 comments

Sunday 5 April 2009 . 17:43

Strangers meet on an ordinary day,
Ordinarily minding their every which way.
Two worlds; opposing directions,
Each of them caught up in abyss reflection.

When the daily rush is ignored,
Their thoughts are explored,
Expressed and confessed,
Whilst the heart protests.

One look at what the stranger noted
And scribbled there my own heart is quoted;
My emotions stolen by a gentle thief
Who transformed them in a symphony of tender grief.

A realization of an emotion beyond any philosophy,
Reading in someone’s life my own autobiography,
I feel lost, awed by our own immensity and complexion.
And through one verse, full comprehension,

Tapping my feet to the beat in the street;
An amplified connection; pure and complete.
Through an inspired script
A true friendship is lipped.

A scribbled tear, a broken wing,
Two poets find themselves in each other’s writing,
And the explosion of nuclear rhyme
Creates a tie ahead of time.

1 comments

Saturday 4 April 2009 . 15:46

I've been on a very looooooooooooong thought process since my last blog.
lots and lots of thoughts... course especially.... is this course really what I should be doing? Am i good enough to be a social worker? am I too sensitive? Are there too many issues related to my past for me to be able to look ahead? self-awareness, assertiveness, listening, empathy, the whole lot is bursting out of my ears! Social Work is not an easy course at all, its a constant struggle with oneself and with society. Some people actually ask "Ara.. you need a degree to become a Social Worker?" ... ^-_-^ (hurts much...)
I knew a passion, so deep and so sincere, of protecting children's rights and making sure they grow strong looking ahead towards a future they build themselves, and being able to encourage others and help them find the rope to pull themselves out of the dumps they may find themselves in.... this same passion pushed me towards Social Work as a course.. as a profession...
On the way, motivation was left behind, and often there are days when the passion simply disappears. Thankfully, God has planned a group of us student social workers to accidentally befriend eachother. This friendship is growing, strong and steady, and we're there for one another to turn our back on the past, focus on the present, and point towards the future.
I truly do believe that God has a plan for me through this course, even though its beyond anything I can think of right now. I keep walking, one step after another, one at a time, experiencing every moment, allowing NOTHING to go passed me without it being noticed, looked at, thought upon.
I keep hanging onto God's plan, trusting Him at every blind step I take...
Somehow, despite the struggles, apathy, frustration and all, my heart finds itself at home in this course. I'll just keep praying for me to be sensitive to what God has in mind! 2 comments