What Is the Recession For?

As we hear from more and more folks that are being impacted by the economy, we here in Northern Virginia actually have a lot to be thankful for. The turn-down hasn't impacted us as severely as many others.



Yet, even here in "recession proof Wash. D.C." we all know of folks close to us that are experiencing hardship, it not we ourselves.



What happened?



Aside from years of fiscal neglect and irresponsibility, there may be more to this faltering economy than meets the eye. The following short article, written by David Mathis, appeared on John Piper's blog today:



This week's sermon: "What Is the Recession For?"



God is sovereign over all finances. Any economic recession—global or personal—is never less than recession-by-divine-design.



When the economy plummets, God has his purposes—perhaps thousands upon thousands of purposes. Some of these purposes he has made known in his Book.



At least 5 of them are:



1. To expose hidden sin and so bring us to repentance and cleansing.

2. To wake us up to the constant and desperate condition of the developing world where there is always and only recession of the worst kind.

3. To relocate the roots of our joy in his grace rather than in our goods—in his mercy rather than our money, in his worth rather than our wealth.

4. To advance his saving mission in the world—the spread of the gospel and the growth of his church

5. To bring his church to care for its hurting members and to grow in the gift of love.



2 Corinthians 8:1 2 might be the clearest "recession text" in the Bible. It describes the roots of the joy of the Macedonian believers in their "recession." In their "severe test of affliction" and "extreme poverty," their abundant joy "overflowed in a wealth of generosity."



Their generosity didn't come from prosperity but from God's grace—and this grace rooted in "our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sake he became poor, so that you by his poverty might become rich" (2 Corinthians 8:9).



As I shared in our first sermon for 2009, this will be a year of opportunity for the Body of Christ. As people see their worldly belongings falter and fail to sustain them, they will come looking for spiritual answers. Where will they go? Many will go, perhaps for the first time, to church. And we have to be ready. We have to be prepared. We have to be armed with God's love, mercy and forgiveness and the truth of His word.



How does this look on Sunday morning?



We have been seeing a lot of new faces at our church. It's time for each of us to get out of our comfort zones and begin ministering to those new folks. How? Stop and chat. Get to know their names. Invite them to lunch (it's OK to go dutch). Show some interest in them and who they are/where they live/ what they do. In short, reach out to someone we don't know.



These are the open doors God is providing for us. Let's rely on Him to walk through them with us and share His love with someone who may desperately need it.

IT'S FEBRUARY!

We are now in February... How time flies, phewww! Workloads like hurricane but still under control, so far, I hope. I don't feel like singing joyfully right now as I hate Monday so much. Monday kills me slowly and eventually. I have some stories to be uploaded regarding my last week's activities. Not so much but it was fun to be with my girl. Meanwhile, in the morning , aahhh we started this Monday morning with scrumptious Nasi Lemak, sorry no pictures being taken. So malas (lazy) to work today as lazy as the lousy cloudy whether. The lunch was so-so, chicken in soy sauce and bamboo shoots in curry. I'm a bamboo shoots lover but provided if it's cooked in my favorite styles; shallots, garlic, dried anchovies, belachan & chilli padi - heaven!

Dr. Oui came back to the office today and I apologized her for not visiting her during CNY. She's a nice boss, I mean she's my 2nd boss and very nice lady. She told me to join the gang for some CNY goodies so I went with Dr. Johnny and my assistant, Surie. Just look at what we had;


Cookies, pistachios.. layer cake, fruit cake and... cheese cake!



Ohhh can't see obviously, a bottle of Kuih Kapit (Sepit)!!!!!

.... CNY goodies made my sucky Monday!

Don't Eat Like a Bird by Carol King

Did you know, dear gardener, that February is National Bird Feeding Month? Yes, and it has been since January, 1994, when Congress passed a resolution making it so. And did you know that 1/3 of the adult population feeds wild birds in their yards? I hope you will join me in celebrating this event by putting out a feeder or two for our feathered friends. Wild birds are a very important component to our natural environment and if we don’t do something, a quarter of the world's bird species will likely be extinct or critically endangered by the end of the century, according to a new study by U.S. researchers.

The Wild Bird Center asks us to consider that:
- A typical backyard bird doesn't weigh as much as two nickels.
- Birds spend most of their waking hours searching for food -- without the help of "hands" and "fingers".
- They may consume 15% of their body weight overnight just keeping warm enough to survive.
- Like mail carriers, they're outside in sleet, snow, wind and cold.

Birds eat ALL THE TIME.

Birds are very important in the ecosystem: they eat weed seeds and harmful insects. They help in the pollination of plants, spread seeds around, and help dispose of dead animal carcasses. They also have great entertainment value. Human activities and habits have destroyed many of their natural sources of food so by providing food, water and shelter, we are helping them to survive.
Birds not only help to keep our world safe from plagues of insects and but perhaps actual plagues themselves. There is speculation that the increase in Lyme disease is a direct result of the demise of the passenger pigeon. Passenger pigeons used to occur in flocks of hundreds of millions of birds. They ate acorns. Deer mice, which harbor Lyme disease bacteria, eat acorns. Ticks get the disease from mice and infect humans. The pigeons would have limited the number by not leaving enough acorns to support a large population of deer mice thus keeping Lyme disease in check. The pigeons are all gone and the deer mice are thriving and humans get Lyme disease. See how this all works?

Feed your birds, dear gardener. But don’t eat like one.