Traveling with kids

Tanggal 20-23 June 2010 yang lalu, saya diberikan kesempatan untuk pergi berlibur bersama keluarga. Unlike the previous holidays when grandma, grandpa and auntie always came with us, this time, it was just the 4 of us: me, my hubby, and our two kids (a 4-year-old boy and a 3-year-old girl).

We had imagined how busy we would be during the holiday, but yea.. we were willing to take the risk anyway.. *wink*.

I won't tell you about the holiday details... since it could be a 'kesenjangan sosial' for some.. Hehe.. But I learnt some things during this holiday.. and it reminded me of God's love for us. Here they are..

1. As a parent, I have to ensure that my kids eat properly.

Before breakfast, lunch and dinner, I always have to think about what my kids gonna eat.. what kind of food they like. After I bought all the food, my hubby and I have to feed them... and we're very disappointed when they didn't finish their food.

Our God, which we call Him 'Father' .. also do the same thing for us. He provides food for us every day. As you may have read in Psalm 23, He brought us to green pastures and stream of water. The food is already there. It's up to us whether we want to eat it or not. When we are a newborn Christian, may be God feeds us as well, through friends, or church leaders around us. But as we grow, we have to learn to eat by ourselves. God knows that we will like the food that He has provided (ie. God's word : the Bible), but sometimes.. we don't want to eat the food for some reasons.. and you know what, sebenernya kalo kita nggak makan, yang rugi adalah kita sendiri. Kita nggak bisa bertumbuh dengan baik, mungkin saja bisa sakit... tetapi Tuhan nggak rugi apa-apa. He may be disappointed... tetapi kita yang tanggung akibatnya.

2. The kids must sleep properly

Besides eating, another way to gain energy is by having enough rest. Yea I know.. some of my fellas have been so 'rewel' by advising me to sleep earlier. *peace* .. Thanks fellas! I'll try to sleep earlier ^^ ..

Back to the topic. I have to make sure that my kids have enough sleep. There was one night when my son couldn't sleep well.. because he was too excited to ride on the train, while in the afternoon, the train was not running. He might be thinking about it the whole day long, he couldn't sleep properly because he really wanted to ride on the train! He slept at around 1am and woke up at 5am. -.-"

Our Father really concerns about our 'resting-time' too. After all those busy times, either it is for ministry or work, we all need our rest. Even He, Himself said "I will GIVE you rest." ... and the most wonderful time for resting is.. in His presence.. when we come to Him, talk with Him and spend hours with Him.. This is something that we occasionally forget. We are too busy with our ministry, our job, our family, our children.. we forget to take our rest, and visit our pit stop, which is God alone.

As a human being, after my kids fell asleep at night, I went to sleep also... But not God. He never sleeps, He never slumbers. He's watching us day and night.. Whenever you feel like resting, just come to Him... and He will give you rest.. How wonderful it is!

3. I have to watch my kids wherever they go, and make sure that they are with us.

Okay, we had an incident a year ago, my son was left on the elevator alone... Won't talk much about this, but God is good.. we managed to find him.. and it taught us a special lesson.. Always hold your child's hands wherever you go.

My kids love running here and there, and are easily distracted by anything they find interesting (toys for example). Sometimes they hold our hands, sometimes they don't. When they don't, we have to be extra cautious. Looking around, calling their names just to make sure they're nearby and following us.

Some of you might know where this is going... That's what our Father God do! He wants us to be close to Him always. When we let go of our hands, we're never out of His sight. He calls us over and over again, watches over us, and makes sure that we are not far from Him. But what often happens is, we are the one who's running away from Him.. and we blame Him for not being close to us, and we'll ask "Where are You, God?? Where are You?? I can't see You! Why do you leave me alone like this??" .. OK. If I were God, I might just answered.. "it's your own fault! You're the one who's running away from me!" ... But our God is a God of love. There's a song that says.. "He's only a prayer away" .. Which means.. He's very close to us. We just need to look up, and we'll find that He's with us all those times.

Just an illustration:

My eldest son is about my waist's height. So, in a normal head position.. all that he can see is my waist and below. He might just bump to another person, and think that he/she is his dad/mom.. but when he looks up and see that person's face, then he will realize that he/she is not his dad/mom.

Our God is big. When we are lost, we probably act like my son.. We look around with our normal 'head position' and try to find God, but we can't find Him. That's why I said before.. we need to look up, then we'll see that He's never far away from us.

Those are the three things I've learnt so far.. will update this blog again soon :)

Is He Pleased?

A few days ago, I was so down. Dalam keadaan down itu, there was a voice that reminded me of a friend's saying a long time ago. It went like this.

Voice (V) : Ngapain sih Va, kamu capek-capek kerja.. Blingsatan bikin ini dan itu untuk pelayanan. Apa bener ini maunya Tuhan kamu capek-capek gini?

Me (M) : (sempet ragu).. Iya juga sih. Capek juga rasanya.

V : Masih inget kan kisahnya Martha dan Maria? Martha capek-capek kerja, siapin ini dan itu, ternyata bukan itu yang Tuhan mau. Malah Maria yang duduk anteng-anteng dipuji. Udah lah.. ga usah kerja capek-capek. Duduk diem aja..

M : Tunggu tunggu. Kalo semua orang berpikiran sama seperti itu.. Apa jadinya GET*? Tiba-tiba semua pengurus.. 13 orang ini berpikiran sama. "Ngapain capek-capek kerja.. Duduk aja manis-manis.." Nggak lah tetep ada yang harus kerja. Kalau bukan kita siapa lagi?

V : Ah! Itu mah serahin aja ke Gereja. Itu kan Gereja punya acara..

M : Terserah deh apa kata you. Pokoknya, buat gw.. Selagi gue masih mampu melakukan yang terbaik bagi Tuhan, gue akan lakukan.. Dan gue yakin kalo Tuhan juga akan disenangkan dengan apa yang gue lakukan.

After that, the voice is gone. Amazingly, I gained strength and 'mood' to finish all the tasks for this Friday. Thank God!

*GET : Grow Equipped Transform, sebuah ibadah yang diperuntukkan untuk dewasa muda di GPIA Immanuel Taman Duta Mas. For more info: http://www.facebook.com/getcommunity

Got a hand to hold?

"I realize that I may not have hands to hold my wife's hand. But when the time comes, I know, that I will be able to hold her heart. I don't need hands to hold her heart." (Nick Vujicic)

and guys.. you don't need hands to hurt your girl's heart either ^^ .. So cherish her heart carefully.

Roller Coaster

Life is like a roller-coaster. It is the ups and downs that makes it exciting. The more challenging it is, more fun it will be. ^^

Don't Judge A Book By Its Cover

I went to my favourite 'bakso' restaurant the other day with my husband and brother-in-law. Since the restaurant is small and only has 2 parking lots, and those two were occupied. I parked my car at its neighbour's parking lot, which happens to sell bread and 'singkong keju' (deep-fried cassava with cheese on top)..

After having my delicious 'bakso', I decided to buy the fried cassava. While waiting for the cassavas, I look around the bakery and saw nice looking breads on the counter. The prices were reasonable for those good-looking breads, so I bought some for the kids and myself. I could imagine myself eating a soft and fluffy bread with a good taste, of course. Oh well, a perfect diet distraction I know :P

Later in the afternoon, I decided to have one of those breads. To my surprise, the taste was bad. I can tell that they're using cheap chocolate rice (mesis), and the bread was not soft and fluffy! *kasar dan seret* .. And I was totally disappointed. I once bought breads somewhere else, the price was a lot cheaper, but they are nicer to eat!

From this simple experience, I remembered a quote that says "Don't judge a book by its cover"... which simply means, don't judge something by its outward appearance. It is what inside that matters. However, I looked at it with a different perspective.

Let's put it this way:

I bought the bread because it looked nice --> I paid the price --> I ate the bread.

Although it didn't taste good. I admit, I ate the whole bread. "Sayang kan, udah dibeli.. masa dibuang??"

and let's compare it with this..

I met someone that is good-looking, and decided to make friends with him/her --> I invested my time in order to build our relationship --> That someone is not as nice as I thought before. At this point, we are faced with two choices: Continue building relationship with that someone.. or just dump that person out of our lives.

Ya beda donk Va, roti sama orang?? C'mon...

For me, it's quite similar. The bread that I ate, probably tastes good for some people. That's why the bakery keeps on making and selling it. It's a matter of my own taste. Rasanya ga cocok sama lidah gue.. The baker can proudly sell his bread, because according to him, it tastes good.

A person that we think is not nice, might be nice for other people. That person might not suit our style/character. Ga cocok lah dia sama gue, ga nyambung... But God created them, and they're still here on this earth. It simply means that there are still something good in them that we haven't find out. As we all know, the Bible says.. humans are created very very good! (sangat sangat baik)

Back to the quote.. "Don't judge a book by its cover". The book cover design might be bad (blame it on the designer :p), but what's in it might be good.. or vice versa. In order to find out what's in the book, we have no other options than to read it. It's not fair to say that a book is bad, when we only read a few chapters. We can say that a book is bad or good, after we finish reading it thoroughly (from chapter one till the very last page).

It is not fair to judge a person when we only 'read' one or two sections of their life. We really have to see a person thoroughly.. and I really believe that you will find something interesting in that person's life. Even sometimes reading a book once is not enough, you have to read it over and over again to understand its meaning.

Back to that bread story, and the book story... if they're existed until now, simply means that there are some people that believe that they are good.

And if there are some people that we consider them as bad, freak, weird, cupu.. but they're still here until now.. then God still believes that they are good.

So, stop judging the book by its cover. Since you have bought the book, you better read it .. doesn't matter if it is good or bad. Sayang kan kalo ga dibaca?? :)