Posts by Andrew Pubalasingam

I heard a story about Kobe Bryant and how the majority of his training routines revolved around drilling down the basics. An interviewer asked him why the best basketball player in the league (at the time) was practicing the basics? He responded with a cheeky “That’s why I’m the best player.” As I gleaned at this inspiring story of mastery, I was convicted by the Holy Spirit to have a similar mindset. As Christians, we often get caught up in…

In one of my classes, my professor shared a story about his experience with healing and deliverance ministry. He had worked with gang members and addiction in Asia, and his first encounter with demonic possession was with a gang member who was in rehab for heroin. The patient had more withdrawal symptoms than usual, and when the team started praying for him, he began to throw himself against the concrete wall. They had to restrain him, but they couldn’t seem…

As I was preparing the winter care-packages and trying to figure out what to include this year, I felt the Lord put this verse on my heart. I planted the seed, Apollos watered it, but God has been making it grow. 7 So neither the one who plants nor the one who waters is anything, but only God, who makes things grow. – 1 Corinthians 3:6-7 (NIV) As I kept repeating verse 6 to myself I felt like God wanted…

I really enjoyed Joe’s message on Sunday. He speaks with such integrity and you can tell what he’s saying comes out of a genuine love for God and a genuine care for others. The part of Joe’s message that stuck out to me was the understanding of what it means to be a child of God and the different stages.  As a systematic thinker, It was helpful for me to see what each stage involved and how it compared to…

At this stage in my life, one of the things I’ve been thinking about more and more is how I can give back to my parents. I thought to myself that if my parents ever stopped helping me and doing things that a parent would do for their children, I would be content. It’s not because I’m superman or super independent and invincible. It’s because everything that they have done for me since I was born until now has been…

One of the things that stood out to me from Donna’s message was an encouragement to be curious in our faith. In one of my counseling courses called Skills Labs, we were taught the idea of being “compassionately curious.” Whenever we got stuck in a mock therapy session, we were reminded to be compassionately curious. For most novice therapists or therapists in training like myself, we tend to gravitate towards identifying the problem and come up with possible solutions when…

On Sunday, Adib delivered a message on the scriptures in Matthew 20:20-34. He highlighted and contrasted the request from the mother of Zebedee’s sons and a request from two blind men. Jesus responded to them differently after asking them both the same questions of “what is it you want?” and “what do you want me to do for you?” The request from the mother of Zebedee’s sons was to “Grant that one of these two sons of mine may sit…

We just had our 2nd WF(Wildfire) retreat this past August. If I were to describe the WF retreat to you, I would say it was like a mini family gathering. It was very similar to the Family Weekend, except that we had to cook our own food, clean up after ourselves, and we didn’t have to walk or drive to our accommodations after each session. We worshiped together, we learned together, we ate together, we prayed together and we played…

In this season of Patience Endurance, I’ve noticed that when things get difficult and situations and circumstances challenge my faith, I tend to use more “buts” in my prayers/conversations with the Lord. For example, “Lord you said this, but this happened.” “I hear what you’re saying, but if you would just make a way then.”  Etc. I felt the Lord respond to me with an “and” after every concern I gave Him. After every worry and reason for doubt, I…

I have a confession to make. Sometimes, when I read the Bible, I don’t get anything from it. Have you read Leviticus and Numbers yet? If you have, maybe you might know what I mean. You might be wondering why I am telling you this. It’s not to deter you from reading the Bible, but to help you rethink what you are reading.  If you are honest and haven’t reached maturity like myself, then you might have said these same…

At intercession on Sunday, Ada got us to meditate on Matthew 6:9-10: This, then, is how you should pray: “‘Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name, 10 your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.’” As she opened up the floor for people to share what they got, I heard something deep come from the mouth of Abby. Just when I thought she was done speaking, she dropped another “gem”. She shared that…

When Mae-Tuin told us the title of her message was “the plank,” I immediately thought that she was referring to the plank exercise, which is balancing on your toes and forearms as you hold the rest of your body off the ground for a long period of time.  I thought to myself, that is a great analogy for patient endurance. I don’t care what you tell me, planks are hard! But instead of talking about the plank exercise, she took…