Warning signs
Warning signs
In our lives there are many warning signs that are constantly ringing within metres of our attention - alerting us that something will go terribly wrong if we don't heed the warning signs and do something about it. I'm reminded of this very fact this morning when I brought mum to run some errands at Geylang Serai market.
Guess what? When we decided to leave the market and went into the car, it refuses to start!! In my frantic moments, I called whoever I could get that I knew would be able to help me get in touch with a mechanic - all this while, I have been sending the car to the agent for servicing and I DON'T THINK they offer (or perhaps entertain) this kind of urgent calls. Thank God we are at Eunos area and it's easy to get hold of a mechanic that's just metres away. In less than 10 minutes' time, the mechanic I called came, replaced the car battery and got the car started again =) Happy as I was, my heart ached at the 80 bucks that "happily" made its way out of my piggy to another's piggy =(
The lesson I learnt here is that I need to heed warning signs when they come along. In fact, as I recall, a few months ago (or perhaps at most a few weeks) I had a "funny" feeling that the engine doesn't sound as strong as it ought to be whenever I get the car started in the morning. However, since the engine still runs, I kind of ignored the warning signs. Well, if I had taken heed of these AMBER signal lights, I probably won't hit this RED signal that stops me abruptly. The same goes for our lives as well, amber lights are constantly flickering to get our attention and if we don't do anything about them, it might be too late (sometimes too late that we begin to regret in agony) when the red light hits.
- How is your relationship with the Lord? Are you going through dry seasons? Those are amber lights of warning - do something about it before the red light hits.
- How easily prick is your conscience in this world which everybody seems to be out to out-perform each other? Do you allow your conscience to "harden" with one unethical act? Take heed, before you know it, your conscience will become hardened and you are no longer the YOU that even you yourself can recognize.
- How is your relationship with your partner, whether you are married or in a relationship? If you are not spending time talking and finding out what's happening in each other's life, take heed! Before long, you will find yourself immersed in piles of unending work and demands of life and that once wooed and cherished relationship becomes icy-cold.
- How is your relationship with your children? What children long for are not materialistic goods as much as they desire parents' attention and interest in their lives. If you find your children avoiding or disinterested in talking to you, that's the AMBER lights flickering. Before long, you will find yourself losing out to their friends and peers if you don't do anything about it - their friends' opinion will hold much weight than your well-meant advice.
- How is the emotional state of your life? If you are constantly depressed, suicidal, easily upset, easily angered, etc - that's a warning that before long, your temperaments are just going to turn many of your friends away from you, and the vicious cycle continues and "worsen", in that you will feel lousier than you first began. It takes 2 hands to clap, what you want your friends to be to you, be the same to them as well.
Well, I guess I can carry on and write a lot more, but I think it's enough for now. In any case, I'm no expert in any of the things that I've written, just some thoughts which occur to me are happening in our society and ministry, as I reflect on the experiences and ministries in my life thus far.
Ecclesiastes 4:13 "Better a poor but wise youth than an old but foolish king who no longer knows how to take warning."
Jeremiah 6:10 "To whom can I speak and give warning? Who will listen to me? Their ears are closed so they cannot hear. The word of the LORD is offensive to them; they find no pleasure in it."
In our lives there are many warning signs that are constantly ringing within metres of our attention - alerting us that something will go terribly wrong if we don't heed the warning signs and do something about it. I'm reminded of this very fact this morning when I brought mum to run some errands at Geylang Serai market.
Guess what? When we decided to leave the market and went into the car, it refuses to start!! In my frantic moments, I called whoever I could get that I knew would be able to help me get in touch with a mechanic - all this while, I have been sending the car to the agent for servicing and I DON'T THINK they offer (or perhaps entertain) this kind of urgent calls. Thank God we are at Eunos area and it's easy to get hold of a mechanic that's just metres away. In less than 10 minutes' time, the mechanic I called came, replaced the car battery and got the car started again =) Happy as I was, my heart ached at the 80 bucks that "happily" made its way out of my piggy to another's piggy =(
The lesson I learnt here is that I need to heed warning signs when they come along. In fact, as I recall, a few months ago (or perhaps at most a few weeks) I had a "funny" feeling that the engine doesn't sound as strong as it ought to be whenever I get the car started in the morning. However, since the engine still runs, I kind of ignored the warning signs. Well, if I had taken heed of these AMBER signal lights, I probably won't hit this RED signal that stops me abruptly. The same goes for our lives as well, amber lights are constantly flickering to get our attention and if we don't do anything about them, it might be too late (sometimes too late that we begin to regret in agony) when the red light hits.
- How is your relationship with the Lord? Are you going through dry seasons? Those are amber lights of warning - do something about it before the red light hits.
- How easily prick is your conscience in this world which everybody seems to be out to out-perform each other? Do you allow your conscience to "harden" with one unethical act? Take heed, before you know it, your conscience will become hardened and you are no longer the YOU that even you yourself can recognize.
- How is your relationship with your partner, whether you are married or in a relationship? If you are not spending time talking and finding out what's happening in each other's life, take heed! Before long, you will find yourself immersed in piles of unending work and demands of life and that once wooed and cherished relationship becomes icy-cold.
- How is your relationship with your children? What children long for are not materialistic goods as much as they desire parents' attention and interest in their lives. If you find your children avoiding or disinterested in talking to you, that's the AMBER lights flickering. Before long, you will find yourself losing out to their friends and peers if you don't do anything about it - their friends' opinion will hold much weight than your well-meant advice.
- How is the emotional state of your life? If you are constantly depressed, suicidal, easily upset, easily angered, etc - that's a warning that before long, your temperaments are just going to turn many of your friends away from you, and the vicious cycle continues and "worsen", in that you will feel lousier than you first began. It takes 2 hands to clap, what you want your friends to be to you, be the same to them as well.
Well, I guess I can carry on and write a lot more, but I think it's enough for now. In any case, I'm no expert in any of the things that I've written, just some thoughts which occur to me are happening in our society and ministry, as I reflect on the experiences and ministries in my life thus far.
Ecclesiastes 4:13 "Better a poor but wise youth than an old but foolish king who no longer knows how to take warning."
Jeremiah 6:10 "To whom can I speak and give warning? Who will listen to me? Their ears are closed so they cannot hear. The word of the LORD is offensive to them; they find no pleasure in it."
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