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We Are The Reason



The Truth



Does Evil Exist?

Working Is Worshiping

How do you feel every time your alarm clock or cellphone rings to tell you it is time to wake up for work? Are you like me who would pick up his phone and reset the time and would say, “I could afford five more minutes.” It is until five minutes become thirty minutes!

Or are you the one who feels excited to finally sit down before your desk and start working? If that is you, well, I am happy for you. Whatever it is you feel towards work, do you know that working is an act of worshipping the LORD? Yes, it is.

That was the core of the sermon on the third Sunday for the on-going series in Victory Christian Fellowship last Sunday, November 22, which is entitled Beyond Sunday.

As a call center agent who works for a night shift, it is different to find yourself getting ready for work while the majority of people in your community are all excited, if not tired, going home. I am doing this for like two years now but I still feel not so in-tuned with the kind of work I have. Before we go any further, I would like to say that I am thankful I am working. But something in me wants more. Like something wants to get out of this routine that makes me feel deprived of the opportunity of exploring how much I could do and what I could do aside from taking calls all my life.

I always pray that I could work for Advertising or Marketing or Publishing or any business-related job since that is where my heart is. It is just that I am not finding my doors yet to get into that. But one day I believe I will get there.

What I like about my current work as a Customer Relations Agent for a Credit Card account is working with my friends. I can tell that there are only few people on the floor I consider real friends. It is very political in a call center environment. As a Christian in the midst of it, it is always a challenge, and sometimes disheartening, to be surrounded with people who always talk behind your back and people who wear invisible masks. Especially now that there are so many things changing on the floor and I feel like I am left with no other choice but re-consider another year staying at Sykes.



And hours before we attend the 4PM Sunday service which was led by Pastor Janssen, Bryan and Prince were talking about Bryan’s business plan of putting up his own specialized computer shop real soon which as I listened to him describing what it would be like, I was like hearing my very self repeating what I planned a couple of years before. It seems like Bryan and I both have the same thinking and ideas. The only difference there is between us is that he has the money to make it materialized and I don’t.

Honestly I felt a bit sad about seeing how limited I am when it comes to finances. But I remember that I am chosen by God Himself for something big which I don’t have any clue yet. But there surely is something big God is preparing for me. That has made me feel excited.

In the service, I was seated between Bryan and Chris. Chris is already setting up his computer shop in San Pablo City which might launch by next month. I am sincerely happy for them both. Funny part there was that I was in between of the two who are in the process of materializing what I thought and planned for myself not so long ago. If God was giving me clues that time, I wanted to know what it was.

Now going back to the series concentrating on us as workers, Pastor Janssen discussed the very purpose of work in our lives as God’s special creation. In Genesis 2:15, it teaches us that work is an act of worship to God. And it feels good to know to whom we are really working for as it is explained in Colossians 3:22-24.

Worshipping the Lord is not limited to singing Him praises, praying, and Bible devotion. It is in every detail we do. I was impressed when Pastor Janssen scrutinized our priority list by telling us that having God on the top of our priority list is not really that good idea or a lifestyle, although he also clarified that there is nothing bad about it. In fact, he said it was beautiful.

Presentation:

1. God
2. Family
3. Work
4. Ministry

Pastor Janssen explained it further by pointing out that if we put God on the top of our list, we are just simply following an order where there is allocated time for our priority number one and another scheduled time for our priority number two, or simply we are limiting our worshipping Him in morning prayers, in scheduled Bible devotion, in Sunday service, etc. which means that after we had our morning prayer, we could set God aside and do our own thing for the rest of the day. Like that if we are already at work, we could now then fit into the working environment as we follow the worldly trend in the office, even if it might be falling outside the standards of God.

Pastor Janssen stressed it out that God’s standards should be in everything we do, whether it is at work or not. He said that God should not be on the top of our priority list but God should be involved in everything we do. It is because work is an act of worship itself.

It feels better that I am not working for my boss but I am working for the LORD. The main point of the sermon was that, “Working for the LORD is worshiping for the LORD.” I still pray for the blessing of the LORD for a new work where I could really use all the talents and gifts of working as I worship Him more. But for the meantime, I will keep worshiping God in the current work I have. So the next time my cellphone rings to tell me it is time to get up for work, I could have re-phrased it with, “It is time to get up to worship the LORD.” That is way a lot better.

So get up and work! #

Reporting,
Fernand Yim

Everyday Miracles

Do you believe miracles still happen these days? Personally I believe miracles do happen everyday. In fact, everyday is overflowing with miracles. It is just that many of them have become so common because we experience them everyday that we stop noticing them. These are the things which the moment we lose them, that is the very moment we realize their worth, that we should be thankful that we had them and praying that we could have them back.

There are miracles that we do not notice anymore because of the challenging situations we are in. It is because we are still flesh, many times in our lives that we focus more on what our physical bodies feel that we forget to appreciate the miracles which are being delivered to us everyday. I am talking about the everyday miracles here.

How about those extra-ordinary miracles? They do happen as well. It is because God gives generously. In fact, He knows when to give, what to give, and how to give. And I just want to share one of the many things He had done in my life. God is the greatest provider of all our needs and I strongly believe in this.

Last Thursday, before I went to the Victory Christian Fellowship Alabang Center (VCF Alabang) Papa talked to me about his health condition. I don’t know the medical term or how to say it in English that he has an enlarged heart? Or something like that.



Good news is that it is still curable. He just needs to go under continuous medication and rest. He humbly said that if I could ‘temporarily’ take over the finances in our family. That day I was already okay with it. I told God that if He wants me to be in the position, let it be. Only that I was also praying that God would help me to do this.

While going to VCF Alabang, I was calculating my finances in my head. How much would I get for this cut-off and what my expenses are. I had three leaves which were applied to this cut-off. I applied for them in October for Victory Weekend which was postponed and moved in November because of Ondoy. I also had two late records for the last two days of the cut-off which means I lost my Health Bonus. In other words, I would be getting not much which made it more difficult for me to take over. I was praying, “God I would need more.”

I remember what I read in one of Bo Sanchez books. I could not remember the title of that book but I remember that he said God wants us to ask and when we ask God would appreciate it more if we ask specifically. So I gave the figure I wanted to receive for this cut-off. I asked fifty percent more. The figure in my head struck me with a thought which was, “Could it be really possible?” It is because the figure I was praying for was way too much from what I should be getting which would fall under the category of ‘impossible things’. But is there something impossible with God? No. And I held on to that.

On the night which was Friday, when our salary was already credited to our account, I checked my balance before going home. Again, I asked for that specific amount. I didn’t care if it was impossible or not. What I believed was that it was not impossible to God. When I opened my eyes to finally discover what my balance was, guess what, that was the figure on the screen! In fact it was more than what I was asking for! I was so amazed that right there I was praising God that I didn’t mind the short line of people behind me because I was so overwhelmed with joy.

True it is that LORD God is faithful and He knows what He had promised. Again, He knows when to give, what to give, and how to give. We only need to have faith and let God do it all for you. #

Reporting,
Fernand Yim