Shhhh! Don't tell anyone!

If you were blind and someone came up to you, restored your sight, and then told you to keep it a secret, would you? Or maybe I should ask, could you? It would be pretty hard for your friends NOT to notice it - unless they were blind themselves. Which is a possibility since people tend to identify themselves with those who are similar...

Aaaaaanywaaaaaaaay, I'm referring to a miracle of Jesus in Matthew 9: 27-31 (NIV) where He restored the sight of two blind men and then told them not to say anything about it. But they didn't listen and instead spread news about the miracle all over the region. It seems prima facie logical for someone who had their sight restored to be extremely happy and want to tell everyone they know (and even people they don't know) what happened. This is the kind of stuff that makes headline news. So why would Jesus try to keep it hush-hush?

Earlier in chapter 8 of Matthew, Jesus told the man he healed of leprosy not to tell anyone but instead to show himself to the priest. Why wouldn’t Jesus want word to get around about His power and authority from God? Wouldn’t it be good news that the Lord has come and shouldn’t everyone be told? Interestingly enough, in Mark's account of the healing of the man with leprosy he writes:

“Instead he went out and began to talk freely, spreading the news. As a result, Jesus could no longer enter a town openly but stayed outside in lonely places. Yet the people still came to him from everywhere.” Mark 1:45 (NIV)

Here we see why Jesus told those people to keep their quiet. Jesus’ ministry was about more than simply being a miracle worker. He came to teach and to reach as many people as possible. This ministry of His would be hindered if His status suddenly became celebrity-like and He was mobbed with sick people just wanting to be healed. Yes, His miracles served as a sign for His authority under God; but Jesus came to teach about the kingdom of heaven and offer eternal life - not just a quick fix of the physical ailments of those who were ill. As Mark states, because of the crowds of people Jesus was no longer able to enter towns and He had to eventually leave Galilee.

I guess what I took from this was that, like Jesus, we all have specific ministries we are called to do by God as members of the body of Christ. Once we realize this and pinpoint it, we need to maintain our focus and not be distracted. Even seemingly good things can be detrimental to our ministry if it’s not what God has called us to do. Like a football team, there are many positions to play and everyone specializes/excels at a certain one. If one guy started to play offense, defense, and special teams all the time, he'd either be burnt out in the first quarter or he'd have to lower his game-play to mediocrity in order to conserve his energy.

In the past, I’ve been in situations where it seems like I’m just swamped with things to do - all good things and all things that I thought were important. Even just having that mentality of trying to be everyone’s best friend. It’s just not realistic. Looking at Jesus’ disciples, there were those that were closer to Him like Peter, James and John. Someone wise once told me that you can’t do everything on your own and it’s not just a matter of having more faith and relying more on God’s power and grace…it’s unbiblical. When I’m spreading myself out so thin, the effectiveness of my efforts are diminished.

So I guess this reminded me that, like Jesus, I need to pinpoint my primary ministry (which is often related to strengths/gifts); set boundaries and act in a way to maximize the effectiveness of my primary ministry; and commit myself 100%. It's good to stretch myself and let God fill in the gaps. But if I overstretch, tear my muscles and become incapacitated, it becomes counterproductive. It's all about that fine line that's always so hard to balance on...

By the Numbers...

One-and-a-half

The pairs of black socks that I have left. I don't know why but I seem to be putting holes in all my black socks. I don't know if it's because I have fewer pairs and thus they get worn more often when I need to wear black socks with black shoes - or maybe my black shoes are wearing them out? Either way, my laundry schedule does not coincide well with the days I need to dress-up. Going to stop into K-mart this weekend to fix this situation...

Three

The number of times I can use a tea bag. I always have coffee first thing in the morning but during my last few weeks of studying, I decided to drink tea in the evenings. Alternating between black and green (my favorite Twinings Earl Grey and a less spectacular Lipton green tea), I found that I could use the same tea bag three times with water in my Starbucks coffee mug. The fourth time was pretty watered down.


Twenty-Four

Forget about Jack Bauer...this is how many days of holidays I have until the grind starts up all over again with Week 19. In fact, it's more like 23.5 since half of today is already gone. I'm pretty excited to have Meera and Eric visit me during the break. A group of seven of us are going on a week-long sailing trip up at the Whitsunday Islands in less than two weeks! We rented a Seawind 1000 sailing catamaran. Here's what the boat looks like:



Thirty-Nine

This is how many flashcards I managed to make in my attempt to memorize all the drugs that we covered this semester that were on our essential drug list. I didn't actually make enough cards for all of them since I sort of ran out of time and I knew drugs were going to be pretty low yield on our exam. But I should have made 40...stupid proximal tubule carbonic anhydrase inhibitors! Nobody even uses those diuretics anyway! This semester I plan to make them for the drugs that we cover each week.

Three hundred sixty three

The number of days until my next birthday. I spent most of my actual birthday studying and trying not to stress out about my exam. I met another girl, Cassy, who shares the same bday and she hosted a nice little party that evening. It was great to take a few hours of a study break to chill with people. Last night a bunch of us went for a steak dinner at this place in Woolloongabba. I thought it was just going to be my roommates and I but a bunch of others turned up as well - a pleasant surprise. The food was good and it was nice to kick back, enjoy a nice meal, and enjoy the company of friends. Would post up a few pics but I'm waiting on the photographers to get back to me hehe.

You go Bro!

It's amazing what you discover on YouTube. Just recently, I discovered that my little brother has become quite proficient at playing the guitar. I knew he was learning it on his own and playing around a bit on the side. Then I found out that he wrote a song and performed it as his junior high school band concert! It's called "Faithful, Wonderful Friend" and it's written by my bro Mike! I'm so proud of ya!