Friday, August 08, 2008
Stolen from my own blog:)...
WARNING!!! VERY LONG POST AHEAD! COULD BE LIFE CHANGING:)!
No no I am not talking about
planetshakers the
Christian worship group. I am talking about us. Who is us you ask? "Us" as in the Christians of the world. Isn't there something in you which wants to "change the world"?
Well I have always had a Macro view of what it means to be a
Planetshaker. I always love to look at the big picture. It could be because its in my own culture to see things as a whole rather than always looking at things individually. Also, its a possibility that I look at things in a big way because I always(since young) had this thing about conquering the world, or being the worlds best at something.
However, these past 4 weeks in school has let me look at the word 'world' in a very different way. Through the learning of cultural safety in
BNCC 500, or our Cross-cultural Communication paper, I have come to view the word Culture in a different way. Which in turn, lead me to look at the word "world' in a more micro view, or the supposed smaller picture.
I always thought of Culture as Ethnicity and the "culture" we practice with in each ethnic group. Yet CC(Cross Culture) taught me to look at that word in a whole different way. Culture isn't just your own ethnic background, it also involves your age, gender, religion, socioeconomic status, education, where you live and every little factor that makes you YOU!
While reading an article for my Annotated Bibliography(an assignment in my
BNKH500 course), I started to think about individual cultures. I thought about how our own
indivudual cultures were in fact worlds of their own. We
EACH had a
DIFFERENT culture of our own(Isn't that an amazing thought?). Which means we all think and do things in different ways and for different reasons.
This happened to be the time I was listening to my extensive and exclusively
Hillsong collection(need to widen my range) and started to think that impacting the world isn't just about impacting the world in general, but impacting a
PERSON's world(probably not a new thought for everyone). Why am I waiting till
I'm old enough, have reached a high enough social and financial position to change the world? Must I be Prime Minister or something to really change the world? Must i even set up some huge world organisation to do that?
My answer is
NO! We can do it in our everyday lives. Just by helping your friend print out notes that they need, or even helping an old lady carry her groceries up the bus. That's changing a persons world.
Just imagine your that old lady, and your struggling to carry that heavy basket or trolley up the bus, and even the
bus driver just stares and does nothing(not true in NZ, a lot of the time, the bus drivers are MOSTLY very helpful). Wouldn't you feel helpless and alone in the world at that point? Wouldn't you want someone to help you?
I know, some of you may ask me, "Isn't that what we are supposed to do as Christians anyway?" Do you really do it? Honestly?
A lot of times I pass by chances to help people, because I'm too lazy, afraid, don't notice and many other reasons. I'm not scolding anyone(or even myself), its just human nature to care for one's self more easily that helping a stranger or even someone we call a friend. I'm just saying, look at it in a different way.
Lets go back to being that old lady, with loads of groceries to carry. What if someone did help you? Wouldn't that just make your day? It changed your world, even if it is just for the rest of the day. Instead of feeling frustrated, alone, sad and many other depressing feelings, you feel happy. You feel that people do care and that there is hope in this world(well some of you wouldn't think that much, but I would).
You ask me, "isn't that just a small thing?" To me it isn't, every small thing you do is changing the world(
someone's world) in one way or another. Let's look at another example if you want. Do you ever remember that lonely boy or girl that is basically alone nearly ALL of the time in school or church(shocking eh)?
Well when I was Primary school(school from 7-12 years in
Singapore), I used to be very much bullied. Used to be called fat, smelly and stuff. That didn't do a lot for my confidence. Never liked school much for that reason(and others). Was lonely
a lot of the time. Never spoke up, had not much self belief.
One day when I was 9, a very good friend of mine changed my life. I had missed the beginning of school because of returning from holiday a few days after school started. I was introduced to my teacher and this boy(my good friend now) just took me in and said, "hey buddy, lets be friends! Don't worry I will take care of you!"(Can't remember exactly what he said, but it was something like that)
For once, there was someone to take care of me, someone to watch my back, someone who believed in me.I started to believe in myself. I liked school more(still skipped, never liked school as a child:p), joined my friends playing basketball, had confidence to enjoy playing soccer. I basically changed. From 9-12 years old, those were some of the happiest times in my life.
My world changed. I was no longer alone and
unconfident. I no longer had to walk around school on my own and feel lonely during recess. I could play catching, basketball and soccer with my friends. My results improved, I had enough belief to want to play rugby in secondary school and I can go on and on. My
WHOLE world Changed! I thank God that He sent my friend into my life! I can't imagine what a depressed child I would be without my friend coming into my life.
All through my life, I have been blessed so much to have these kind of friends
EVERY step of the way. Friends who bring out the best in me! I thank God for all of my Friends:)! I'm sure
a lot of you have these kind of friends who changed your life in one way or another. Imagine being able to do that for someone, changing their
lifes forever!
Well your not going to have those kind of opportunities all the time, to make a wholesale change in
someone's life, but you could nevertheless impact a life/world in someway or another. I'm just saying, don't wait till your "ready". Just go out to your everyday life and make a difference in
someone's life! Don't let anyone tell you that its just something small. NO it isn't! Every bit of love you can share, makes the world go round:)! I'm not saying its going to be appreciated by everyone, but just do it. We all can't be harvesters, some of us have to be seed planters too! Now go out there and change
someone's world:)!
P.S. Do it with a smile(or at least a grin:p)!
God bless,
Charles.
Labels: Charles
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