Archive for the ‘Truth’ Category

Running the race!

1st of November, 2009, by Cadu.

WARNING! This post may contain stories that normal people would classify as unpleasant. You’ve been warned!

This past week I was forced to remember an interesting event that happened to me in one of the triathlons I did in Brazil. If you didn’t know yet, I trained triathlon for 2 years while in Brazil. I stopped when I came to Australia, but still have plans to restart training. Anyway, one of the competitions I did was a long distance triathlon, which included 1800m swimming, 66km cycling and then 18km running (Here is a photo of me finishing it). For some reason the start was just after lunch, which is unusual for a tritahlon. But that was not all. Everything was fine until the running…

As soon as I started running, I felt sick, wanting to vomit… but at the same time, I did NOT want to vomit, because it feels so bad to do it (you have to agree with me). Then I kept running, and running, and running… My legs were already tired after all the cycling, and I still had a lot of running to do. I tried to drink some water, but it didn’t help. My mind couldn’t work anymore, all I could do is keep running. I wanted to FINISH it! And more importantly, finish in front of my friend, who was 2 minutes behind me. But I was getting sick of being sick, and asked a friend for advice on how to get better. He said what I didn’t want to hear: “stop and vomit!”

After some fight with myself, I did. I stopped to vomit, but it didn’t work… nothing came out… and then I kept running. But not for long. After running for a little while, I needed to pee, but I didn’t want to stop… I was almost finishing. Then I had a great idea: “I can stop, open my legs and pee”. Since I was wearing skinners, I thought the pee would go straight on the ground. So I stopped and peed… but… for some reason the pee ended up inside my left shoe, and I couldn’t do anything other than laugh! When I started running again, the noise my left shoe made every step was very cool! I will never forget it… :P

Maybe you are wondering why am I telling you this terrible (and funny) story… well… the fact is our Christian life is like a long distance triathlon. In fact, the Bible compares it to a race many times (2 Timothy 4:7, Hebrews 12:1, 1 Corinthians 9:24, …). And it is true! It is long, and it is hard. We find difficulties along the way, sometimes we are tired and want to give up… sometimes things don’t go well and all we want is stop and rest. But in a race, if you stop, you lose…

Paul said: “Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one gets the prize? Run in such a way as to get the prize. Everyone who competes in the games goes into strict training. They do it to get a crown that will not last; but we do it to get a crown that will last forever.” (1 Corinthians 9:24-25, TNIV)

God gave us a race to run… He called us and every day He gives us oportunities to bless and impact other people’s lives! And our prize is not a medal or money… Our prize is to bring people into the Kingdom of God, and one day, to Heaven! Our prize will last FOREVER!

The big question is are we running our race in such a way as to get the prize? I’ve known stories of professional triathletes that defecate while riding so they don’t have to stop… it sounds terrible, but many of them won their prizes! And they did all this crazy stuff for a prize that will NOT last!

Our race is much more noble than a triathlon… and sometimes we don’t want to make a sacrifice and run it in such a way as to get the prize. Paul said in Hebrews 12:4 (still talking about the race): “In your struggle against sin, you have not yet resisted to the point of shedding your blood.”. Are we resisting to the point of shedding our blood? To the point of having to pee in our shoes? To the point of having to defecate while riding? No, it doesn’t sound pleasant… but sometimes it is the only way to win the race.

Maybe things are not going well in your life, in your ministy, in your race… maybe you feel like sitting down and waiting until the pain goes away… maybe all you want to do right now is to give up… well… don’t give up! There are good news: God is running this race with us! He is there to help! And with Him, we will all win the race!

“Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.” (2 Cor 4:16-18)

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For this reason I exist…

17th of October, 2009, by Cadu.

“For me to live is Christ [His life in me], and to die is gain [the gain of the glory of eternity].” – Philippians 1:21 (AMP)

I love the whole book of Philippians, specially the verses 20-26 of chapter 1. In these verses Paul is talking about a hard and important decision he can make: either to die and be with Christ, or to be alive.

When I was younger I was fascinated by the idea of dying for Christ. I used to say that I am going to die anyway so why not die as a martyr, for the cause of God’s Kingdom? I even used to think “maybe I will be a missionary in the Middle East and one day they will bury me alive” and crazy things like that. But lately God has been showing me another idea about life and death.

Imagine someone you really love, perhaps your child or a brother or sister… I think most of us would die to save this person. Maybe jump in front of a bus to save him or her or do some other fantastic act from a Hollywood movie.  It doesn’t even sound too hard or too painful… it will happen in one second, no pain, and we will be forever with God. Now imagine this loved person did something really bad and deserves to go to jail for the rest of his or her life. Would you go to jail in this person’s place? Would you give up your whole life to give this person the oportunity to live freely? It is easier to die for a cause than to live for it.

When Paul wrote this letter he was living a life in which he could actually choose if he wanted to die or not. He was often in prison or persecuted for preaching the Gospel, and a simple “mistake” could define his death sentence. His choices were clear: “But I am hard pressed between the two. My yearning desire is to depart (to be free of this world, to set forth) and be with Christ, for that is far, far better; But to remain in my body is more needful and essential for your sake.” (v. 23-24)

While our situation in Australia and in many other free countries is different in regards to dying or not, we can choose if our life is Christ or not. Paul knew that the best choice was to leave this horrible world and be with God forever in His Glory, but he also knew that it was necessary for his disciples and for the Kingdom of God that he remained alive. To him being alive meant only one thing: “fruitful service” (v. 22). To him it meant persecution and prison. But he knew that he was living his life not for his own sake, but for the sake of the Church of Jesus Christ.

I don’t know about you, but while there are a few cool things in this world, I HATE this world. It is full of sin, full of rubbish, full of stupid things. I would rather be with Jesus right now. And, in fact, if my heart stops now, I will be with Him, and it will be the happiest day of my life (and this day will never EVER end!). But I am not dead, I am alive, and there is only one reason why God didn’t take me with Him as soon as I received Jesus as my Lord and Saviour (considering that living with Him eternally is much better than living here). And the reason is not for me to enjoy my life (I think there is more to enjoy with Him), learn something, or suffer, or anything like that. No no no! The reason is you!

Yes! The reason is you! And by you I mean you and all the other people that God gives me the oportunity to bless. My family. The people that study or work with me. My brothers and sisters in Christ. And the children I have the oportunity to love and bless every weekend at Church.

I am not saying I hate my life. No, of course not! I love my life and I thank God for being alive. I thank God for my job, for the oportunity to be studying at UNSW, for my friends and family… I thank God for many things. But I do NOT live to work and be a succesful engineer or the first in my class. I do NOT live to have a great house, lots of money and many cars. Job, house, car, money and study are NOT reasons for me to be alive. They are all tools that God gives me so I can use them to live for the only reason that matters.

For this reason I exist: to know God and to make Him known. To be His hands, His feet, His heart, His eyes, His LOVE and His presence on Earth! To give everything I can for His Kingdom and for the people He loves. For this reason I say: While I am alive, I will give my everything for the sake of one child.

Cadu

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One.

2nd of August, 2009, by Cadu.

“The eyes of the Lord search the whole earth in order to strengthen those whose hearts are fully committed to him.” – 2 Chronicles 16:9

I love Hillsong Kids, specially VOLTAGE. I love to be there, just be there, talk to the kids, listen to them, watch them, see God moving in their midst. What I love most is when in the middle of all the kids, I see the ones that have their hearts fully commited to God, the ones that have HUGE God-given dreams, the ones that are in the middle of a horrible world but don’t want to be part of it but change it. And when I see someone like that, I do EVERYTHING I can to bless this one kid, because I know it will be worth.

This is me, a man. An imperfect, limited man. And yet, I can be happy for days because I saw just one kid that has fully commited his/her life to God. I know I already said that, but… I am just a man. Now GOD, He is GOD. He is the Creator of the Universe. And yet, His eyes range throughout the whole Earth… 6bi+ of people, and they STOP when they find someone who has his/her heart fully commited to Him.

In the middle of all this foolish and blind people that hate God, mock Him, think everything is funny and fun, there is a child, a tiny little child, insignificant and useless to the eyes of most men. But the eyes of God STOP to stare at this little child. And when God sees a child whose heart is fully commited to Him, he doesn’t just get happy as I get. He also does EVERYTHING to bless this tiny “insignificant” person. But don’t forget, He is GOD, He CAN do EVERYTHING.

For this reason, when I look at the children, I don’t only see them, with their lives, dreams, hearts commited to God. I also see God staring at them, super-hyper-over-excited, just waiting for the right time to use them to shake this world, kick the devil’s butt, make a huge revolution of power and love to glorify His Holy name…

“For the eyes of the LORD range throughout the earth to strengthen those whose hearts are fully committed to him.” And my eyes do the same thing… :)

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Cadu’s Translation of the NT: John 1:1-5

16th of June, 2009, by Cadu.

“In the beginning it was the Word, and the Word was with (by) God, and God was the Word. This, the Word, was, in the beginning, with God. In the beginning all things were created through Him, and without Him not even one thing that was made would have been made. Life was with Him, and the life was the light of the human race. And the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not overtake or understand it.”
John 1:1-5, Cadu’s Translation

“No princípio era o Verbo (palavra falada), e o Verbo estava com Deus, e Deus era o Verbo. Isto, o Verbo, estava, no princípio, com Deus. No princípio tudo foi criado através dEle, e sem Ele nada (nem mesmo uma só coisa) que foi feito se fez. Vida estava com Ele, e a Vida era a luz da humanidade. E a luz brilha na escuridão (trevas), e a escuridão não venceu ou entendeu ela.”
John 1:1-5, Tradução do Cadu

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Ask Daddy… :)

13th of September, 2008, by Cadu.

This post is directed to children of all ages… :)

Jesus said something like this: how many of you have parents that give you pretty much everything you need? If you ask for food, they give you food, and not a rock, or dirt. If you need clothes, they buy you clothes; they don’t want you to be cold or to wear clothes that don’t look good. If you want to have some fun on a sunny Sunday, they might take you to a park or something like that. If you like football, perhaps your dad can take you to a nice football game.

I can think of examples from my parents, and I’m sure you can think of examples from yours, and the list will go on and on. Now, if our parents, that are not perfect AT ALL, do these nice stuff to us, and usually give us what we need when we ask, how much more will God give us all his good gifts and everything we need?

Maybe what you want is something big like a new house… or maybe it’s only a new game that you want to have. Maybe things are not working very well at school, your friends are not being nice and picking on you because you are a Christian and love Jesus. Perhaps you are sick and need some healing, or you need help with your homework or exam that is too hard. Maybe the things at home are not going very well, mum and dad are fighting and you are sad because you are not sure about what is going on. Maybe you don’t even have a mum or dad, or maybe they don’t live together anymore. Perhaps you couldn’t sleep last night because you were scared that a big snake would attack you and kill you during the night (and I felt many times like that when I was 10 y.o.).

I doesn’t matter what exactly you need or what kind of stuff you want God to give to you. It can be big or small, easy or very hard; as Jesus said, if your parents know how to give you good things, how much more will our Daddy give us good gifts, if we ASK Him.

Even though God knows everything, the key here is to ASK! Have you asked Daddy today for what you need? Have you told Him about your day and your difficuties? Don’t miss the opportunity… Ask Daddy… :)

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