That Michael Phelps!

Pembinaan Konseling GPBB, 16 August '08 Kak Dany Ch. was the speaker for today's Counseling Class at our church. Glad to meet him again and he allowed me to talk to Kak Motik over the phone ^__________^ I knew them since we studied in U. He reminded us that in (Christian) counseling, there are 3 person involved -- a counsellor, a counselle... and God. As a believer, we are supposed to be a wounded-healer -- encouraging, comforting others while we ourselves are hurt and struggling. He ended the session with a story of his closest friends. They are a group of friends who are God-centered people, they serve well in campus ministry, they are spiritually matured... but one day, they shared stories one another and he knew how problematic their lives are. He said, it became a turning-point in his life... as he himself was raised in a "normal" family, who was never exposed to such life problems. A friend found out that his father was an unfaithful husband when he was already a university student and that his father had a child as young as him. Another friend was an unwanted child, abandoned by his own parents so that he had to stay with an aunt. I was in junior high. One day, our class was punished by a teacher -- most students had poor marks for an exam, I can't recall what it was. So, the teacher made the whole class to repeat the exam again. But, some students who got good marks may leave the class and exempted from doing so. And I was one of the few. So, outside the class, we started to share stories. And... from there I knew how problematic most of my friends' life were. I used to think that poverty, divorce, broken-home families, etc were problems in the other parts of the world... and that I and my friends had no relation with all of such life problems. I used to think that all people that I knew had a "good" life and we were not supposed to have such problems. What a stupid, narrow-minded thinking. And when I was in U, yep, I learned more; learned to expose my life to the pains and struggles of life... Too late? mmm... maybe. Been living in SG, it's been always a struggle to maintain relationships with others in the midst of high-demand working-life and hectic, fast-paced way of life in SG. I think we need the unbeatable Michael-Phelps-like spirit to strive fighting the stream of overwhelming 'obstacles' that may hinder us to be Christ-like wounded-healers for others... {in His grace, for His glory}. "Terpujilah Allah, Bapa Tuhan kita Yesus Kristus, Bapa yang penuh belas kasihan dan Allah sumber segala penghiburan, yang menghibur kami dalam segala penderitaan kami, sehingga kami sanggup menghibur mereka, yang berada dalam bermacam-macam penderitaan dengan penghiburan yang kami terima sendiri dari Allah." [2 Korintus 1:3-4] "Praise be to God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves have received from God." [2 Corinthians 1:3-4]

>>>><<<<