Leonard's Enroute

OVERSEAS EDUCATION Vol. 4

This is another installment of the Overseas Education of Leonard and Cassilda. (yes, we are still alive) I don't even know if anyone actually reads it but what the heck, gives me something to do in a country that's virtually devoid of any form of nightlife and barchor mee.

So, the not-so-perfect people out there who struggle with our not-so-perfect lives - this one's for us...


Only recently, did I realized that…


0. that Cassilda rode to school on her bicycle the very first time last week. November, we got her a second hand bike before she could even balance on it. Now, she's a champ!

1. that Christianity is not a life long call to be preoccupied with self – our sins and our shortcoming. Christianity is the life long realization of God's grace which tells us we are accepted just as we are. We may not be the kind of person we want to be, we might be a long way from our goals, we may have more failures than achievements, we may not be wealthy or powerful, good looking or spiritual, we may not even be happy. But nonetheless accepted by God, held forever in His hands.


2. That having tangible assurances of God, however valuable they may be, cannot create trust, sustain it or guarantee any certainty of God's presence. Trusting that God is there only when we feel it is nothing more than bogus trust. Trust in God entail that we have faith that God is with us and for us, even when we may not feel it."Blessed are those who do not see but yet believe"


3. "Do I have what it takes?" is the core question of every Man (male). Our satisfaction as well as our anxieties at every stage of life come from our personal answer to this question .


4. That I saw hail for the first time. Hail. you know? Like snow but hard?I caught a video of it, I shuakou Singaporean never see ice cubes drop from sky before. Only drop from my freezer when I open the door have, when the last bugger use the ice tray then never put back properly.


5. That God is more interested in me becoming more and more like Him in my relationships with others than being religiously pious."Go and learn what this means: "I desire mercy, not sacrifice" Matt 9:136. That contrary to popular belief, if you are afraid of being materialistic, the solution is not to live a life of poverty. The opposite of greed is not poverty. The opposite of greed is generosity. The solution is not to have less but to give more. Sometimes, living in poverty when God wants to entrust you with wealth is to run away from your responsibility. The fact of the matter is that it is easier to live in poverty than it is to live with the responsibility of wealth.


6. That church is meant to be enjoyed, not endured.



7. That most of the time, we overestimate our sins and underestimate God's grace.

8. That one of the most freeing verse in the bible goes something like this, "What proves that God loves us is that Christ died for us while we were still sinners" (Romans 5:8) The fact is that we did nothing to earn God's love, we can't do anything to earn it nor can we do anything to lose it. God's love is simply not based on what we do or don't do.

9. that once in a while, as long as no one gets hurt, it is good to play pranks on one another.

10. that deep down inside, we are all children. The whole world, every single one of us are children of a fallen humanity. Behind our grumpiest poses, most puzzling defense mechanism, behind every arrogance and airs, behind our silence, sneers, and causes, we are simply little children grown-ups who hadn't been loved enough and who ceased growing because someone had cease believing in us.

I have a hunch that's how Jesus sees us, the best and worse of us all.We are all children to Him, there's no need to impress