HOT WATER
‘Yet I Am Always With You;
You Hold Me By My Right Hand.’
Psalm 73:23
Have you ever been in “hot water”? Maybe you have said the wrong thing, or done the wrong thing. Perhaps someone took offence at your sincere effort to mediate in a dispute. All of us have been in this uncomfortable place sometimes on our lives!
I was thinking about this as I made a cup of tea-tea bag style-and climbed the hill to The Front Door. I thought maybe he would join me, though I didn’t think He drank tea-certainly not if it was made with a tea bag instead f the ‘real’ way! After all, everyone knows that God is an Englishman!
It was quiet and I played with the steaming water and watched the little tea bag doing its own thing-MMMM it smelled good.
I felt sorry for the tea bag really. I knew what it was like to be in hot water-but, oh, the aroma! The thought caught my imagination. After all, I had been in plenty of hot water in my time.
There was a time I arrived in India and found I had arrived at the same time as the bubonic plague broke out. Actually it started in the very town I was in!
Then I thought about being on the United Flight 929 high over the Atlantic, on 11 September 2001-not a good idea. Next I remembered the time I made a bad decision in the ministry-and everyone was mad at me-for months. And I thought about more than a couple of speeding tickets I had acquired! Hot Water!
I looked at the Front Door, but it remained fast shut, so I took out my pencil and a scrap of paper and began to pen a letter on The Door for him. It didn’t take me long.
Am I like a tea bag waiting to know.
What flavour I am when in Hot water?
Am I like a tea bag, soggy and wet?
Am I asking the Lord just how hot it can get?
I want to be able to give out for sure
A fragrant aroma that makes folks wants more.
But that means hot water that hurts my deep pride. That cleans out my life till I’m tired inside. Of a fragrant-less life, that knows not how to sing-so dip in water, BUT KEEP HOLD OF THE STRING!
Reflection:
How would you react if God were to test you by allowing you to be put into a difficult situation such as taking away your love ones from you?
**AN ANALOGY**
What type of tea bag would you be in hot water?
Would you be a tea bag that is wet and soggy?
No fragrance and bitter?
And be detach from the string.
OR
Would you be one that gives out a fragrant aroma that makes folks want more?
And still be persistently holding in to the string knowing
That he will see you through.
Note:
Hot water - unfavorable situation or circumstances that will hurt you ,test you till you feel helpless and hopeless
Tea bag represents YOU.
Bitter and no fragrance –complain, hate, negative, stagnant, even giving up hope
Fragrant aroma-positive, trusting God, dying to yourself(Galatians 2:20),
Drawing to God by your living testimonials
String-God holding on to him
U guys are enjoying the show huh!
Poor ZD!
haha his very flexible.
Cramp!! Ouch!!
His hair.
He looks like he wants to kill justin hehe!
pretty ZD and handsome mel?
Awww how pretty!!
It isnt your birthday joel... haha!
Yup these are the pics! Really thank God for mel and ZD to be in our cell, one is a good dancer right? And the other is a great chef! Happy birthday again and God bless!
-QRay :)
Wei? Ni yao she me, bu yao chao wo la!
(IM COOL, Bleh)
Check out his 'sexy' legs!
We played 1hour of pool first and manged to only complete 1 and 1/4 game.
We sure are 'good' at this! Hahahaha.
Haha she's real good you know.
Haha i missed the ball :D
This is after joel break.
Haha relax jeremy i wont eat you!
What were they looking at?
Haha damian's laughing at mel.
She said using the cue with the black cross is for the noobs...
Nice right!
Alright the badminton finally started!
They played.
And played...
And played...
And played. Haha.
Well thats basically all the pics i took! I know it was not many haha sorry!
But really wanted to thank you guys who made it and especially Joel who booked the courts even though of his busy schedule and tahaning the indian receptionist. He spent a lot you know! He had to pay $3.40 for each of us to play. Really appreciated it and i know u guys had fun!:) Thank God!
it was funn.... haha
Felt that it really was a great time of bonding and fellowship, during supper as well..
and we got that little bit closer because of it =)
Like for example i know that Kray is a horrible brother who bullies his sister, Damian cant really control his fingers, Lisa is not as nice as she seems (She raped fiona), and Esther is a liability to Gilbert. =D
Ill try and bully Ray into putting up pics and stuff from yesterday, and maybe todays birthday celebrations as well. Haha..
Hope you guys had fun..!!
I know i sure did.
Keep growing in the Lord people..
&& Happy Birthday ZD and Mel!
Godbless, Joel!
Oh and on a last note, we suck at pool..
Seriously..
Lol
~~~
The Wemmicks were small wooden people. Each of the wooden people was carved by a woodworker named Eli. His workshop sat on a hill overlooking their village. Every Wemmick was different. Some had big noses, others had large eyes. Some were tall and others were short. Some wore hats, others wore coats. But all were made by the same carver and all lived in the village.
And all day, every day, the Wemmicks did the same thing: They gave each other stickers. Each Wemmick had a box of golden star stickers and a box of gray dot stickers. Up and down the streets all over the city, people could be seen sticking stars or dots on one another.
The pretty ones, those with smooth wood and fine paint, always got stars. But if the wood was rough or the paint chipped, the Wemmicks gave dots. The talented ones got stars, too. Some could lift big sticks high above their heads or jump over tall boxes. Still others knew big words or could sing very pretty songs. Everyone gave them stars.
Some Wemmicks had stars all over them! Every time they got a star it made them feel so good that they did something else and got another star. Others, though, could do little. They got dots.
Punchinello was one of these. He tried to jump high like the others, but he always fell. And when he fell, the others would gather around and give him dots. Sometimes when he fell, it would scar his wood, so the people would give him more dots. He would try to explain why he fell and say something silly, and the Wemmicks would give him more dots.
After a while he had so many dots that he didn't want to go outside. He was afraid he would do something dumb such as forget his hat or step in the water, and then people would give him another dot. In fact, he had so many gray dots that some people would come up and give him one without reason.
"He deserves lots of dots," the wooden people would agree with one another.
"He's not a good wooden person."
After a while Punchinello believed them. "I'm not a good wemmick," he would say. The few times he went outside, he hung around other Wemmicks who had a lot of dots. He felt better around them.
One day he met a Wemmick who was unlike any he'd ever met. She had no dots or stars. She was just wooden. Her name was Lulia.
It wasn't that people didn't try to give her stickers; it's just that the stickers didn't stick. Some admired Lulia for having no dots, so they would run up and give her a star. But it would fall off. Some would look down on her for having no stars, so they would give her a dot. But it wouldn't stay either.
'That's the way I want to be,'thought Punchinello. 'I don't want anyone's marks.' So he asked the stickerless Wemmick how she did it.
"It's easy," Lulia replied. "every day I go see Eli."
"Eli?"
"Yes, Eli. The woodcarver. I sit in the workshop with him."
"Why?"
"Why don't you find out for yourself? Go up the hill. He's there. "
And with that the Wemmick with no marks turned and skipped away.
"But he won't want to see me!" Punchinello cried out.
Lulia didn't hear. So Punchinello went home. He sat near a window and watched the wooden people as they scurried around giving each other stars and dots.
"It's not right," he muttered to himself. And he resolved to go see Eli.
He walked up the narrow path to the top of the hill and stepped into the big shop. His wooden eyes widened at the size of everything. The stool was as tall as he was. He had to stretch on his tiptoes to see the top of the workbench. A hammer was as long as his arm. Punchinello swallowed hard.
"I'm not staying here!" and he turned to leave. Then he heard his name.
"Punchinello?" The voice was deep and strong.
Punchinello stopped.
"Punchinello! How good to see you. Come and let me have a look at you."
Punchinello turned slowly and looked at the large bearded craftsman.
"You know my name?" the little Wemmick asked.
"Of course I do. I made you."
Eli stooped down and picked him up and set him on the bench. "Hmm, " he spoke thoughtfully as he inspected the gray circles. "Looks like you've been given some bad marks."
"I didn't mean to, Eli. I really tried hard."
"Oh, you don't have to defend yourself to me. I don't care what the other Wemmicks think."
"You don't?"
"No, and you shouldn't either. Who are they to give stars or dots? They're Wemmicks just like you. What they think doesn't matter, Punchinello. All that matters is what I think. And I think you are pretty special."
Punchinello laughed. "Me, special? Why? I can't walk fast. I can't jump. My paint is peeling. Why do I matter to you?"
Eli looked at Punchinello, put his hands on those small wooden shoulders, and spoke very slowly. "Because you're mine. That's why you matter to me."
Punchinello had never had anyone look at him like this--much less his maker. He didn't know what to say.
"Every day I've been hoping you'd come," Eli explained.
"I came because I met someone who had no marks."
"I know. She told me about you."
"Why don't the stickers stay on her?"
"Because she has decided that what I think is more important than what they think. The stickers only stick if you let them."
"What?"
"The stickers only stick if they matter to you. The more you trust my love, the less you care about the stickers."
"I'm not sure I understand."
"You will, but it will take time. You've got a lot of marks. For now, just come to see me every day and let me remind you how much I care."
Eli lifted Punchinello off the bench and set him on the ground.
"Remember," Eli said as the Wemmick walked out the door. "You are special because I made you. And I don't make mistakes."
Punchinello didn't stop, but in his heart he thought, "I think he really means it."
And when he did, a dot fell to the ground.
~~~
let us all be reminded of our creator and how much He cares for us! all the best for your exams! He is always there for you and He will provide!
"Do not be anxious about anything but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcend all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus." Philippians 4:6-7
love,
esther
Feeling not confident of reaching your targeted results despite your preparations?
"I can do everything through him who gives me strength."
-Philippians 4:13
Feeling worn out and out of breath due to mugging through late nights? Need the energy to hold on and pull through?
"He gives strength to the weary and increases the power of the weak. Even youths grow tired and weary, and young men stumble and fall; but those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint"
-Isiah 40:29-31
Proverbs 16:3 , "Commit thy works unto the Lord, and thy shall be established"
Commit you plans and studies to the Lord, and you will succeed.
- Trust in the Lord to help you and pray for wisdom and understanding
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1 Peter5:7 says about the LORD's tender care, "Casting all your care upon him; for he careth for you"
What troubles you today? What faces you that distresses your mind?
Commit your works unto the LORD, and He will establish your thoughts.
- Do them His way
- Do them unto Him.
- Turn them over to Him in prayer.
- Trust Him for the results.
He will take care of you immediately, by blessing you with contentment, peace, and assurance.
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Hope this message was meaningful for you guys. Pray hard and Study hard. All the best guys :D
-Marcus Q.
Here's a song!
