Goals Post

Not to be confused with a goalpost: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IV6wiaJJHtI

I should really get to bed, but I guess something I just wanted to put down were just some goals and I guess expectations for the last couple days I have here. I know I just made a post but I feel like this is something important too. Maybe this will even be a challenge to someone reading out there as well.

- Really discover my gifts. What spiritual gifts do I have? And how can I use my gifts (spiritual or otherwise) for the Kingdom of God? Where/what is my niche? I think it's great that we appreciate how uniquely we're all created. But it would be a shame to just stop there. I believe that we're created differently with our own individual gifts because God wants to use all of us in a way that only we, with our specific talents and experiences, can be used.

- Learn more about the power of prayer. I visited the prayer ministry room today and hung out there a little and had the opportunity to be prayed over. It hit me how blessed we are to have a sovereign God who is also a personal God who cares for each one of us. It's so cool that we can bring our prayers directly to Him and that He is always present in our lives.

- Be present to the presence of Jesus. A kind of cheesy line from one of our seminars but I really liked the idea that there are always opportunities for us to recognize the greatness of God and experience something profound as long as we are open to it. I have to admit that having been in the church and a Christian for years, I do feel like it becomes kind of mundane and honestly a little boring sometimes. But every day is a gift and every day brings new blessings from God into our lives.

- Live to be forgotten. This is another line I stole and one of the most challenging things for me. It came from a guy named Patrick Fung. He's a very intelligent man, a successful doctor who gave up everything (he literally gave away his entire life savings) to serve God. As an Asian-American and someone who is studying business, it's very natural for me to want to make a name for myself and to be successful. So it's hard for me to truly desire to make God known without any selfish ambition of my own. I want to have success, I want to make money. Dr. Fung challenged us to ignore these impulses and instead live to make ourselves less and magnify God instead.