New Year, New Resolutions!

Blessed New Year to all! I hope everything's been great so far! 2009 has been a year of honoring God for me, and He has been faithful in so many ways! This period is a testimony to how God blesses abundantly whenever one takes the initiative to trust Him while making their choices. Well, I can't say I have been absolutely faithful and obedient, and there's been plenty of ups and downs, but like they say, what's there to fear when you know the battle's already won? +)

Come to think about it, this is also the first year where my New Year resolutions do not contain anything about studying or completing a course e.g. exams, OCS commissioning etc. I feel so free just to make whatever resolutions I like without having to consider the "damage" to my future if I don't pass this test or if I don't study hard enough.

The recent Meta camp taught me many wonderful lessons. Once again, like it always has, it has reignited my passion for Jesus and the lost, though I hope this desire will continue to be sustained from my daily walk with Him, and not through resource-draining camps all the time. I was reminded about the reason for why He planned for me to study Sociology, join Campus Crusade and do Honors. I can't help but marvel at the architectural beauty of it all.

So, just so all of you who read this and who are part of my life one way of another can keep me accountable, my New Year resolutions are going to be this:

1. Learn to minister in Mandarin fluently. (Japanese and Thai after that)

2. Memorize Bible verses in English and Mandarin (at least one a week)

3. Serve as keyboardist in church, starting in the youth ministry.

4. Get a "9-5 job" preferably in HR (For accumulating experience or capital necessary for full-time mission work or ministry in the future in case God calls)

5. Set up an evangelical music movement.

Come to think about it, all the above would be a daunting task if I were attached, and I'm slowly beginning to understand why He chose to make me single for this season. He also reminded me about the huge attraction deep within me for the marginalized and the lost, and that I have to be more discerning when it comes to choosing a life-long partner. Often, my zeal to aid and empower the weak should not be mixed with my own romantic life; after all, a needy partner would only be a burden and not much of a support should God call me to enter into that section of the mission field. In other words, I have to stop playing the role of a "knight-in-shinning-armor" who is looking for helpless damsels in distress, and instead find a God-sent warrior princess who'll have my back in the midst of the spiritual battlefield.

Despite so much talk, Valentino will probably not get attached this year anyway. As much as he laments about being single to his friends, Valentino is a much happier person single. The apostle Paul was right after all.

Then again, God has this way of pulling His biggest tricks on you when you think you've got Him figured out.

I would like you to be free from concern. An unmarried man is concerned about the Lord's affairs—how he can please the Lord. -Paul (1 Cor 7:32)

Wouldn't it be contradictory for a man to seek God's kingdom and His righteousness because of His desire for a wife from God? If so, then no man who can withstand temptation and who also desires to please God fully should have under his wishlist, a wife. -Valentino Casanova