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Dear brothers and sisters,
Please find attached an email from COCM prayer ministry.
I would like to thank you all for your prayers and attention. I am sure
there are more follow up arrangements. If you would like to be kept
informed, you can either get from you local Church or you can let me
know ( your name and email address ). My email address is
anthony.lau@wspgroup.com. I shall try either to arrange with COCM or
relay any further arrangements regarding Lord Chan and his family.
Please continue to pray for the Chan family and COCM.
In Him we serve, and pray with faith.
Anthony Lau
Cambridge CCC
SEEC 2005
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Dear intercessors
I write to inform you of the sad news that Lord Chan had passed away on
Sat. evening. I did struggle to know why did God allow this to happen
when he is so loved and needed here. But we know it is our loss but his
gain in glory. Have to humble and admit, the ways of God here is beyond
finding out. Please pray for the family at this time. Thank you for all
the prayer support. Picked up this article from an email, not sure if
its useful.
Emmanuel
Hannah
An interview with Rick Warren, Author of The Purpose Driven Life
In an interview by Paul Bradshaw with Rick Warren, author of The Purpose Driven Life, Rick Warren said:
People ask me, "What is the purpose of life?" And I respond as follows -in a nutshell, "Life is preparation for eternity".
We were not made to last on earth forever, because eventually, God wants us to be with Him in Heaven. One day my heart is going to stop, and that will be the end of my body - but not the end of me. I may live 60 to 100 years on earth, but I am going to
spend "forever" in eternity.
This is the warm-up act, the dress rehearsal. God wants us to practice on earth what we will do forever in eternity. We were made by God and for God, and until you figure that out, life isn't going to make sense. Life is a series of problems. Either you
are in one now, you have just come out of one or you're getting ready to go into another one. The reason for this is that God is more interested in your character than your comfort. God is more interested in making your life holy than He is in making you life happy. We can be reasonably happy here on earth, but that's not the goal of life.
The goal is to grow in character, in Christ-likeness. This past year has been the greatest year of my life but also the toughest, with my wife, Kay, getting cancer. I used to think that life was hills and valleys - you go through a dark time, then you go to the mountain top, back and forth. I don't believe that anymore. Rather than life being hills and valleys, I believe that it's kind of like two rails on a railroadtrack, and at all times you have something good and something bad in your life. No matter how good things are in your life, there is always something bad that needs to be worked on. And no matter how bad things are in your life, there is
always something good you can thank God for.
You can focus on your purposes, or you can focus on your problems. If you focus on your problems, you're going into self-centeredness, which is "my problem, my issues, my pain." But one of the easiest ways to get rid of pain is to get your focus off yourself and onto God and others. We discovered quickly that in spite of the prayers of hundreds of thousands of people, God was not going to heal Kay or make it easy for her. It has been very difficult for her, and yet God has strengthened her character, given her a ministry o helping other people, given her a testimony, drawn her
closer to Him and to people...You have to learn to deal with both the good and the bad in life.
Actually, sometimes learning to deal with the good is harder For instance, this past year, all of a sudden, when the book sold 15 million copies, it made me instantly very wealthy. It also brought a lot of fame that I had never had to deal with before. I don't think God gives you money or fame for you to own an ego or for you to live a life of ease. So I began to ask God what He wanted me to do with this money, fame
and influence. He gave me two different passages that helped me - Corinthians 9 and Psalm 72.
Firstly, in spite of all the money coming in, we would not change our lifestyle one bit. We made no major purchases. Secondly, about midway through last year, I stopped taking a salary from the church. Thirdly, we set up foundations to fund an initiative
we call The Peace Plan - to plant churches, equip leaders, assist the poor, care for the sick, and educate the next generation. Fourthly, I added up all that the church had paid me in the 24 years since I started the church, and I gave it all back. It was liberating to be able to serve God for free.
We need to ask ourselves: Am I going to live for possessions? Popularity? Am I going to be driven by pressures? Guilt? Bitterness? Materialism? Or am I going to be driven by God's purposes (for my life)? When I get up in the morning, I sit on the side of my bed and say, 'God, if I don't get anything else done today, I want to know You more and love You better' ... God didn't put me on earth just to fulfill a "to-do" list He's more interested in what I am than what I do. That's why we're called human beings, not human doings.
"Be kind. Everyone you meet is having a hard time"
God, grant me the serenity to accept things I cannot change, courage to change the things I can and wisdom to know the difference.
Love in Christ
Ray
So in everything, do to others what you would have them to do to you, for this sums up the Law and the Prophet. (Mat 7:12) Above all else, guard your heart, for it is the wellspring of life. (Pr 4:23)