Roseto Mystery

I just started reading "Outliers" by Malcolm Gladwell because the other book I was reading is uninteresting.

There was a group of Italian people in PA in the 1950s with a lower prevalence of heart disease, no suicide, alcoholism and drug addiction, and little crime. Roseto seemed like a perfectly healthy society, death occurring solely due to old age. Dr. Wolf goes there to do some tests and studies to determine what is different. He discovered that this extraordinary health is not due to diet, exercise, genes or location. He discovered that the factor was the community, the unity of the people. Everyone chatted with each other. Three generations of the family live together. No one boasted of wealth and failures were concealed. Each individual in the town would consider all the others.

(You can read this here or try to find the book at your local bookstore.)

What if these principles were applied to the church? What if the church follows this community-mentality? Would the spiritual health of God's people improve?

Any time there is a group of people, unity is very important. Without unity, there is no group, thus defeating the purpose of the group. Unity can allow us to make decisions for the greater good, putting aside personal desires. Unity will allow us to love one another, knowing that this love affects the entire community. Any schism or pain in the community affects everyone (1 Corinthians 12:26). Unity will conceal failures, weaknesses (Proverbs 17:9) and pray for them (Galatians 6:1; 1 John 5:16), yet also keep strengths (talents) humble. This unity displays the presence of Christ (John 17:23), which is the purpose of life, to glorify God. However, for the spiritual health to improve, this unity needs to be based on Christ. Spiritual health will increase the quality of servitude, the working of God in the church and hopefully, an increasing number in those saved.

So, how can we show unity? We can learn from Roseto. Talk to one another when you bump into each other and say "hi." Respect those that are older. Don't create division by boasting of your strengths; hide the weaknesses of others. Pray for each other and care for each other as if they are part of your family, part of the one body.

Notable quote spoken on 2/18/2011 and added to this post on 2/18/2011:

Quote by AAOS president, Dr. Daniel Berry, from the 2011 AAOS annual meeting: “Unity requires constant maintenance, reassurance, compromise and actions that demonstrate we are set on working together.”

Source: ODTmag

A mouth to the slow of speech

This is a testimony about saying thanksgiving grace, btw.

I dread speaking publicly.

I can speak with a decent volume (even though it may not be dynamic), but the flow of content is often choppy. In the past, I blank out in the middle of speaking and proceed to say something very generic or butchered. I would stutter, say words that don't fit into the sentence or just be silent. One time, during Bible study, I was sharing something and I blanked out, stopped talking and everyone sat there in awkward silence.

Today, I was assigned to say thanksgiving grace in front of the congregation and I was nervous. In the past, I would wing it, write stuff down or repeatedly run through it in my head. I usually like to say something unique. However, this time I took a different approach.

During the sermon, I was preoccupied with what I would say; I forced myself to pay attention to the sermon. During the final prayer, I prayed about saying grace. I told God that I was nervous because I am a terrible public speaker. But, why was I nervous? The answer was obvious: I didn't want to look incompetent in front of the congregation. I had the wrong mentality, so there's no way God will work through me. I was doing this for myself, instead of doing it for God. So, I asked God to clear my mind. I told God that I was not going to do this for myself, but I will do this only to glorify God, to serve God. All God wants is sincerity. I must be sincerely thanking God; anything less is a worthless offering. I asked God to erase everything I've been thinking about and that I will solely rely on Him to sincerely give thanks to Him.

For the rest of prayer, I prayed about other things. Prayer ended. I grabbed a seat hidden in the corner in the front. I stopped thinking about what I would say. Announcements were quick. Then, it was time for me to go up. Brother Jordan stood there to interpret into Chinese. So, I started speaking. Generally, I believe I said what most others would say, but thank God, I was able to be sincere about each statement, being thankful for the warmth, the food, the sermon, the love of the "servants," the Sabbath rest. And, by God's grace, I did not stutter, have awkward silences or have an awkward combination of words..I think. =)

God taught me a lesson through this experience.

1. I need to be sincere when I speak, whether I'm saying thanksgiving grace, sharing something during a Bible study, talking to other brothers and sisters, teaching the RE students, adding insight to a discussion or (hopefully, one day) speaking on the pulpit. Deep down inside, you must truly believe and ideally, have experienced, what you say.
2. Additionally, when doing any sort of work for God, it must solely be for Him and not to feed my pride. 
3. I must rely on Him to finish the work.

Overall, today was a great and much-needed Sabbath. Good sermons, good prayers, good fellowship.

May all glory be to God, always.

God, the Solution to All Problems

The other day, I felt unsettled and it left me feeling like my heart dropped. I called a friend of mine and told this person that I was feeling a bit down. I didn't need any comfort, I didn't need someone to vent to. I just wanted to tell this person how I felt. I already knew the solution. Then, I went on to say that after this phone conversation, I will kneel down to pray and I'd feel comforted and much better.

So, after this 1 minute conversation, I knelt down to pray. As I started praying, indeed, I immediately felt the burden lifted up and the discomfort of my heart soothed.

There is so much in life that is out of our control and may leave us feeling helpless and hurt. What can you do? Kneel down and pray. It's amazing that we have this loving God that can solve all our minor problems.


2 Corinthians 1:3-4

Now I can comfort you, readers, with this testimony. =) May all glory be to God.