Isaiah 9:6-7

       For to us a child is born,
       to us a son is given,
       and the government will be on his shoulders.
       And he will be called
       Wonderful Counselor, ^[b] Mighty God,
       Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.

       Of the increase of his government and peace
       there will be no end.
       He will reign on David's throne
       and over his kingdom,
       establishing and upholding it
       with justice and righteousness
       from that time on and forever.
       The zeal of the LORD Almighty
       will accomplish this.

I invite us to ponder on the message of Christmas, the reason Jesus was born many years ago. You can find clues everywhere in the carols this season. This is the most important time of the year for me, because I want to set it apart to remember the very reason life is worth living for. The reason why we should not give up in what we do, the reason why in times of war, turmoil, captivity and lack, there is always Hope. Because God the Father did not give up, and in the most of humble place, we find baby Jesus in a manger, ok, its probably a feeding through for the animals but you get what I mean.

For unto us a child is born, and unto us a son is given, and the government will be upon His shoulders. Such beautiful verse.

One of the few things I enjoyed with my time back home was to just spend time watching television with dad back home. As many of you would know, watching the tele is not a habit I have, and that puts me in a very strange situation, because I don't know some adverts, I'm not up to date with the latest music scene, nor am I remotely in tune with prime time TV drama shows. A friend of mine says we ought to give credit where credit is due, and I must say, it is probably the up-bringing I had, because I wasn't encouraged to watch movies, drama series, or MTVs and the only programmes I was allowed to watch back in the days when ASTRO was first introduced were CNN, Discovery, National Geographic channels.

Back to the point, mom usually watched prime time tv, usually chinese shows, and it really doesn't matter if the tv has sound or not, because firstly, I can't catch the mandarin (too deep), secondly, they have mandarin words anyway. But I enjoy watching non-prime time news, and yes, discovery channel's still a favourite. This year's pilgrimage home is a little special, in that I actually take interest in knowing what happens to the American Election. I know many people are following it for various reasons like what will happen to world policy, peace, economy, security, morality and much more. America is a nation that leads in many ways, there is always something different about the american way of life, even in their movies, when we watch them, there is something in us we can relate to, and it makes us want a piece of America. Or at least, that's what I like to think.

I've always been interested in the leadership of the USA, not so much about the politics of blue and red (democrat and republican colours) but rather how one person, the President of a country so diverse, so rich, so advanced, so gifted, so varied, so free, run a government successfully. What qualities will a person need to lead such a complicated nation? A nation that is build upon God's principal, yet today promotes the values of separation of church and state, a nation that is so mixed in various cultures and races it isn't really about being white or coloured anymore, a nation that has so many tiers in its domestic economy yet doesn't have a welfare administration like the British system of governance, a nation that influences the world, yet struggles to find its own relevance in leading others.

I wonder how many Christians in this world think or live like what America is to the nations of the world. We are called to be the light in the darkness, to be the salt of this earth and impact lives around us. And in the same parallel, we struggle with the "domestic" issues of our own life and wonder, how relevant what we do privately is to this world. Who do we really serve in our involvement in ministry? What principles will we choose to follow when others are looking to us? How much do we know about leading others to Jesus? How much do we know, about how Jesus lived His life as an example to leadership in our schools, uni, workplaces, and church life? Maybe you know enough to get you through to where you'd go. Maybe you don't know. My guess is, we both look to someone in our past or present as an example and try to "better" in the hope that we can "contribute" something better to the next generation of leaders. I know for one, beyond the moment itself, words mean few things.

Sometimes I give up reasoning with other people, because it seems that the rest of the world thinks there is only one way of doing ministry, of leading people to Christ. In the many disagreements, I believe we have missed the point when in our actions, we want to reflect those differences. We have missed the point, when we disagree at the cost of unity, at the cost of another person's salvation.

I believe as leaders, if you want to make change, you will have to be the first person to initiate something, and more often than not, it will come at a price, sacrifice. And I share with you today, I think the sacrifices are never meant to be worth it. That is why they are called sacrifices. It is for another's well being, not ours.

If we must lead, we must lead by deed and example.