Today's QT - Approval Addiction

Am I now trying to win the approval [favor] of men, or of God?
Or am I trying to please men?
If I were still trying to please men,
I would not be a servant of Christ.
Galatians 1:10

Don't be addicted to approval. Folow your heart. Do what you believe God is telling you to do, and stand firm in Him and Him alone.

[Extracted from 'Managing your Emotions' by Joyce Meyer]

Today's QT

This is what the Lord says:
"Cursed is the one who trusts in man,
who depends on flesh for his strength
and whose heart turns away from the
Lord.

He will be like a bush in the wastelands;
he will not see prosperity when it comes.
He will dwell in the parched places of the desert,
in a salt land where no one lives.

But blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord,
whose confidence is in him.
He will be like a tree planted by the water
that sends out its roots by the stream.
It does not fear when heat comes;
its leaves are always green.
It has no worries in a year of drought
and never fails to bear fruit."

Jeremiah 17:5-8

Music Box

Look what I found during lunch yesterday? Music Box by Mariah Carey! This album is lao gong's favourite and also mine. And I got it at less than $10 from NTUC Fairprice! Ok I'm breaking a grammatical rule here. You're not supposed to place conjuctions at the beginning of a sentence. So students don't learn this!

One of our fav songs in this album is Hero. May this song be an encouragement to anyone out there who's feeling down at the moment.

Do you know who's the Hero being described in this song? Take a look at the lyrics to find out.

There's a hero
If you look inside your heart
You don't have to be afraid
Of what you are
There's an answer
If you reach into your soul
And the sorrow that you know
Will melt away

[Chorus:]
And then a hero comes along
With the strength to carry on
And you cast your fears aside
And you know you can survive
So when you feel like hope is gone
Look inside you and be strong
And you'll finally see the truth
That a hero lies in you

It's a long road
When you face the world alone
No one reaches out a hand
For you to hold
You can find love
If you search within yourself
And the emptiness you felt
Will disappear

[Chorus]

Lord knows
Dreams are hard to follow
But don't let anyone
Tear them away
Just hold on
There will be tomorrow
And in time
You'll find the way

Jesus answered, "I am the way and the truth and the life." John 14:6a

Running causes Toothache?

Mei goes to the gym with us every wednesday now to train for her marathon. By the way we only gave her permission to train but we didn't give her permission to go for the 10km marathon. So skinny, later wind blow her backwards instead of forwards how?

"Ouch my teeth hurts."

This is what happened to her after running 2.4km on the treadmill last night.

Mr Jin Wu Lark and Mrs Jin Bo Lark

Thanks to my wonderful Sony Ericsson auto focus 3.2 mega pixels camera phone, I managed to capture the following.

Mrs Jin Bo Lark happily training with her one slab of iron.

Mr Jin Wu Lark training very hard with his 20 slabs of iron. My hero....

Hair

Hair from the brush Source: Owners' laziness. Never brush dogs for months.

Hair rolled together

Source: Under the piano

Hair among the pebbles

Source: Hair blown by the wind

Hair dug out from carpet

Source: Hair that managed to sneak into the master bedroom

The culprits

Source: Ah boy and ah ger's face after shower

Success

Possible benchmarks of Success

1) Career - Compared to your peers, are you on the higher rung of the corporate ladder?

2) Marital Status - Single, Attached, Engaged, Married?

3) 5 Cs - Condo, Credit Card, Cash, and ???

4) Social Status - Famous? Popular?

5) Spirituality - Strong understanding of personal religion

6) Number of Children you have

7) Qualifications: Degree, Masters, PhD?

To me now, success is measured in the following order.

1) Knowing who I am in Christ and being confident in the roles He has placed me in.

2) Ability to provide my husband with the support and help he needs.

3) Sharing the love and joy of Christ with all my students and friends.

4) Being joyful and happy in what I do. Serving the Lord and teaching my students with joy.

What are your benchmarks of Success?

Proverbs 3:6 In everything you do, put God first, and he will direct you and crown your efforts with success. TLB

Sad but true?