Week 1: Robert's Blog Posts on "1 Life to Live"

As we mentioned in the previous blog entry, we are in a church-wide and personal challenge on "1 Life to Live."

Robert has been blogging daily on his personal insights on living his life like it's his last 30 days on earth.

Here are the links for the first seven days of the challenge:

Day 1

Day 2

Day 3

Day 4

Day 5

Day 6

Day 7

1 Life to Live

Each of us has only one life to live. Will you take the challenge to make that life count?

Will you live for what truly matters? The Bible tells us to number our days so that we can live each day wisely.

Last Sunday, we launched a church-wide challenge called "1 Life to Live." It is based on Kerry and Chris Shook's book "One Month to Live."

With eye-opening insights and soul-inspiring truths, "One Month to Live" challenges readers to embrace the life God has entrusted to them and to live it out moment by moment with wholehearted authenticity, honesty and integrity.

In a nutshell, it answers the question, "What would you do differently if you knew you only had 30 days left on this earth?"

Robert has been in-charge of leading a discipleship group for children from The British School Manila. He has also been co-hosting weekly group discussions talking about this challenge.

This coming Friday, he will also take part in a youth service where the young men and women will be will encouraged to take on the challenge.

He also gets more personal with "1 Life to Live" by blogging about his daily challenge for the next 30 days. He is already on Day 5. His posts will be re-posted on this blog.

Women's Life Group

The women's small group started meeting again last Monday, February 9th. The ladies are mostly in their mid-20s and early 30s.

Our topic of discussion is "LIFE" based on "One Life to Live" series. The series was adapted from Kerry and Chris Shook's book "One Month to Live."

It was wonderful seeing everyone participate actively in the discussion. It was also great catching up on each other and let each other know the amazing things God has done in each of our lives.

We will be meeting every Monday evening. If you are interested in joining the group or you know someone who will be, send us a message with your contact information and we will get in touch with you.

From Samantha: Deliberative, Relator and Responsibility

Here is the rest of the strengths taken from Strengths Finder 2.0.

3) DELIBERATIVE

- I am careful

- I am vigilant

- I am a private person

- I know that the world is an unpredictable place

- I am a fairly serious person who approaches life with a certain reserve

- I like to plan ahead so as to anticipate what might go wrong (My husband does not like this about me!)

- I select my friends cautiously and keep my own counsel when the conversation turns to personal matters

- I am careful not to give too much praise and recognition, lest it be misconstrued

- If some people don't like me because I am not as effusive as others, then so be it (This is funny because the nuns in my high school pulled me aside after
a spiritual retreat because, that's right -- I was not as effusive as the others who were participating.)

- For me, life is not a popularity contest

- I identify the dangers, weigh their relative impact, and then place my feet deliberately. I walk with care.


4) RELATOR

- Relator describes my attitude toward my relationships

- In simple terms, the Relator theme pulls me toward people I already know

- I derive a great deal of pleasure and strength from being around my close friends

- Once the initial connection has been made, I deliberately encourage a deepening of the relationship

- I want to understand their feelings, their goals, their fears, and their dreams; and I want them to understand mine

- I know that this kind of closeness implies a certain amount of risk (I might be taken advantage of) but I am willing to accept that risk

- For me, a relationship has value only if it is genuine, and the only way to know that is to entrust myself to the other person


5) RESPONSIBILITY

- I take psychological ownership for anything I commit to, and whether large or small, I feel emotionally bound to follow it through to completion, my
name depends on it

- If for some reason I cannot deliver, I automatically start to look for ways to make it up to the other person. Apologies are not enough. Excuses and
rationalizations are totally unacceptable. I will not quite be able to live with myself until I have made restitution.

- This conscientiousness, this near onsession for doing things right, and your impeccable ethics, combine to create your reputation: utterly dependable

- When assigning responsibilities, people will look to me first because they know it will get done

- My willingness to volunteer may sometimes lead me to take on more than I should

From Samantha: I Took Strengths Finder 2.0

Many of you already know that I work for a company that summarizes business books. I found Tom Rath's Strengths Finder 2.0 and was prompted to find out what my strengths are through an online Gallup test.

It took me about 30 minutes to go through all the questions. I was so impressed on how my Top 5 Strengths described me perfectly!

Today, I am going to share with you my first two strengths: Maximixer and Harmony.


1) MAXIMIZER

- Excellence, not average, is my measure

- I find it thrilling to transform something strong into something superb

- Strengths, whether mine or someone else's fascinates me

- Having found a strength, I feel compelled to nurture it, refine it, and stretch it toward excellence

- This natural sorting of strengths means that others see me as discriminating

- I choose to spend time with people who appreciate my particular strengths

- I tend to avoid those who want to fix me and make me well rounded

- I don't want to spend my life bemoaning what I lack

- Rather, I want to capitalize on the gifts with which I am blessed


2) HARMONY

- I look for areas of agreement

- In my view, there is little to be gained from conflict and friction, so I seek to hold them to a minimum

- When I know that the people around me hold differing views, I try to find the common ground

- I try to steer away from confrontation and toward harmony

- Harmony is one of my guiding values

- I can't quite believe how much time is wasted by people trying to impose their views on others

- I think we all can be more productive if we kept our opinions in check and instead looked for consensus and support

- When others are sounding off about their goals, their claims, and their fervently help opinions, I hold my peace

- When others strike out in a direction, I will willingly, in the service of harmony, modify my own objectives to merge with theirs (as long as their basic
values do not clash with mine)

- When others start to argue about their pet theory or concept, I steer clear of the debate, preferring to talk about practical, down-to-earth matters on
which you can all agree

- In my view, we are all in the same boat, and we need to get this boat to get where we are going. It is a good boat. There is no need to rock it just to show that you can.


Have you ever taken this test? If you have, please share it with me because I would love to know more about you!

P.S. While the phrases written above describe my strengths, cookie dough cheesecake from The Cheesecake Factory is one of my biggest weaknesses.

Samantha's Top 3 Spiritual Gifts

Number 1: PASTORING
The special ability God gives to some to assume a long-term personal responsibility for leadership and the spiritual care, protection, guidance, and feeding (teaching) of a group of believers.

The divine enablement to nurture, care for, and guide people toward on-going spiritual maturity and becoming like Christ.

People with this gift:
- take responsibility to nurture the whole person in their walk with God
- provide guidance and oversight to a group of God's people
- model with their life what it means to be a fully devoted follower of Jesus
- establish trust and confidence through long-term relationships
- lead and protect those within their span of care.


Number 2: HELPS
The gift that enables a believer to work gladly behind the scenes in order that God's work is fulfilled. The special ability God gives to some to serve the church in a supporting roll or to invest their talents in the life and ministry of other members of the body enabling them to increase their effectiveness.

The divine enablement to accomplish practical and necessary tasks which free-up, support, and meet the needs of others.

People with this gift:
- serve behind the scenes whenever needed to support the gifts and ministries of others (without having to be asked)
- see the tangible and practical things to be done and enjoy doing them
- sense God's purpose and pleasure in meeting every day responsibilities
- attach spiritual value to practical service
- enjoy knowing that they are freeing up others to do what God has called them to do.
- would rather do a job than find someone else to do it.


Number 3: WISDOM
The gift that allows the believer to sort through opinions, facts, and thoughts in order to determine what solution would be best for the individual believer or the community of believers. The ability to apply knowledge to life in such a way as to make spiritual truths quite relevant and practical in proper decision making and daily life situations.

The special ability that God gives to certain members of the body of Christ to know the mind of the Holy Spirit in such a way as to receive insight into how knowledge may best be applied to specific needs arising in the body of Christ.

People with this gift:
- focus on the unseen consequences in determining the next steps to take
- receive an understanding of what is necessary to meet the needs of the body
- provide divinely given solutions in the midst of conflict and confusion
- hear the Spirit provide direction for God's best in a given situation
- apply spiritual truth in specific and practical ways.


Would you like to know the spiritual gifts God has given you? Take the test today at: http://www.kodachrome.org/spiritgift/