Showing posts with label LiveShow. Show all posts
Showing posts with label LiveShow. Show all posts

Wednesday, July 11, 2007

Fear Factor!

Beberapa minggu terakhir ini saya kerap mengikuti acara Fear Factor tayangan salah satu stasiun TV lokal. Yang paling menarik dari live show ini adalah mengamati bagaimana para kontestan berelasi satu dengan lainnya, bagaimana mereka menampilkan diri dan nilai-nilai yang dianutnya, bagaimana reaksi mereka saat berhadapan dengan situasi yang tidak terduga dan selalu berubah. Meskipun saya juga sadar ada faktor dramatisasi dan pemilihan karakter para peserta agar membuat show menjadi menarik, tetap saja menarik mengamati kejadian-kejadian disana, bagaimana karakter-karakter tertentu bereaksi dalam satu situasi.

Salah satu session yang kurang menarik buat saya adalah saat para peserta diharuskan menghabiskan bermacam-macam makanan yang mungkin sekali hanya akan mereka konsumsi sekali seumur hidup. Tapi kali kemarin ada sesuatu yang menggelitik saya saat menyaksikan para peserta menyantap hidangan “lezat” tersebut.


Di saat itu rupanya hidangan yang tersedia (donat isi) begitu menjijikkan sehingga hanya satu orang peserta yang berhasil menghabiskan bagiannya dan langsung memenangkan hadiah senilai USD 10,000. Peserta-peserta lain meskipun hingga mengeluarkan airmata berderai-derai saking tidak tahan menghadapi “kelezatan” hidangan, mereka akhirnya mundur. Satu orang bahkan mundur pada gigitan pertama.

Saya jadi terpikir untuk mengibaratkan makanan itu seperti berbagai tawaran kenikmatan yang ditawarkan dunia ini. Kenyamanan hidup yang didapat dari kekayaan yang berlimpah, ketenaran dan citra diri, kedudukan tinggi dan segala cinta yang bisa dibeli. Itu semua yang dikejar begitu banyak dari kita, termasuk banyak dari para pengikut Kristus sendiri, bahkan yang berjubah pendeta. Tapi sayangnya segala sesuatu yang ditawarkan dunia ini untuk dinikmati demi kenikmatan itu sendiri tak ubahnya makanan pada Fear Factor tersebut.

Tampilan luar si donat begitu menggiurkan, tetapi satu gigitan saja, kita langsung tahu betapa busuknya ia sebenarnya. Sehingga seharusnya berbahagialah peserta yang sudah langsung berhenti pada gigitan pertama. Ada anugerah Tuhan yang memampukan ia untuk membedakan mana yang seharusnya menjadi nutrisi buatnya dan mana yang bukan. Meskipun seringkali kita harus lebih dahulu melalui masa-masa yang sangat tidak menyenangkan untuk menyadari mana yang berharga dan mana yang bukan. Tapi pada akhirnya berbahagialah kita yang memuntahkan kembali kenikmatan palsu tersebut.

Definisi pemenang pun jadi terbalik. Kita mungkin melihat yang menjadi pemenang adalah yang berhasil mendapatkan segala-galanya dalam hidup ini, tetapi sesungguhnya betapa besar “kantong busuk” yang dibawanya karena ia telah mengisi tubuhnya dengan berbagai hal yang memuakkan demi satu hal bernama AMBISI meraih segala kenikmatan dunia ini. Siapa yang menang akhirnya? Apa yang dimenangkannya? Hanya lembaran uang yang dalam sekejap akan musnah. Lembaran uang yang tidak ada artinya saat ia harus menghadap Sang Pencipta.

Aah… senangnya nonton Fear Factor… terus mengingatkan apa sesungguhnya yang berharga dalam hidup ini... =)

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Friday, June 08, 2007

Please Cross the Line...

"...if you have ever felt alone."
"Please cross the line if you have family members suffering from addiction..."
"Please cross the line if you have ever been hit or beaten up by your loved ones..."

Those were just a few questions thrown in during a session in Monroe High School in USA as broadcasted by Oprah Winfrey show that day, themed Breaking Down Barriers. It was one of the most moving events I have ever seen throughout the whole Oprah's sessions so far. I was freezed for about an hour to see the power of forgiveness, love and reconciliation as demonstrated heartfully by the students in that high school.

In that particular session, students and teachers were asked to cross a line in their gymn that would then separated them from the crowd and they would then stand facing the crowd. As they were crossing the line we could see how they looked to their right and left and the unspeakable expression on their face as they saw other people who had gone through the same thing crossing the line together with them. And when they were standing across the crowd, they got to see people facing them sending the "I love you" symbol in sign language. 'I've got your back'.


It is the picture of many of us as well, is it not? As we walk our own pathdown the road of life, often the path we take seems to separate us from the rest of the world. Whereby people around us are laughing and joyfully living their life, we seem to be the few unlucky ones having to deal with hidden painful issues. We desperately want at least someone who is meaningful to us to send that 'I love you' sign...

Back to the show, as the hour moved on however, I got to see the students and teachers delivering their tearfully apologies for ever hurting someone at that school. The seeds of reconciliation were apparent. Barriers broken down. Their lives were changed. They will never be the same again. They started to understand the power of forgiveness, love and reconciliation.

"For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life."
John 3:16 NASB

In that one simple and precious verse everything that happened at Monroe High School that day was completely covered. For them only? No. But also for me... And for you, too...

When God sent His only begotten Son, He sent Him to redeem the sinners who did not even know Him. To the sinners who then mercilessly crucify that only begotten Son. And when the one and only rightful cry ever was shouted "Eloi, Eloi, Lama Sabachthani (My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me)?", it received no answer. Not even one. God was silent. Or so it seemed, was it not?

Unlike those people in Monroe who received the "I love you" symbol in sign language as they exposed their pains, Jesus Christ received nothing but humiliation, name callings, beatings, physical abuses, abandonment. Name them all. Fair? Now, we start questioning what the true meaning of fairness is, do we not?

But we all then know too well that as death was swallowed by life so was the power of God's love claimed each and every sinner back to His loving arms through His perfect defeat against the power of darkness. "Sinners?", you asked me. "But I am a sinner," again you told me. And here I am telling you my dear brothers and sisters, "Yes, sinners. You. And me, definitely. Us!"

"But, why," you asked me again. Please, allow me to share this with you...

"For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them."
Ephesians 2:10 NASB

Think back to what happened at Monroe, as you see yourself crossing that line screaming your heart out for every hidden pain, every tear shed, every abandonment and loneliness you are facing. Whom do you see following your every step crossing that line? Anyone? No. Nobody. Nobody follows you as you look to your left and right. You are alone. Or so it seems, is it not? As you keep on walking crossing that line and blinded by your welling up tears, never in your life before such disheartening abandonment felt. You now know what the Preacher meant when he said, "So I congratulated the dead who are already dead more than the living who are still living. But better off than both of them is the one who has never existed, who has never seen the evil activity that is done under the sun." (Ecclesiastes 4:2-3 NASB)

That is the end of the story. You are unloved. Alone. Abandoned. Unworthy. Chained. Doomed to live miserably forever. Full Stop. Or..., is it so? Suddenly... you heard one soft voice calling your name. Suddenly, you knew that you were never alone. All through those times, you were never alone. As you look up, there you see Christ holding up His "I love you" sign to you! Look around you, now do you not see Him? He is everywhere you turn to. I love you... I love you...! I love you!!! The ever most beautiful sign you have seen.

"God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them, 'Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth, and subdue it; ...over every living thing that moves on the earth."
Genesis 1:28 NASB

That is who you really are. You were chosen before the foundation of the world for His glory. Bestowed by His grace, you are now the bearer of His love, a mirror of His wondrous work for the lost souls. Be what you are. What you really are. You have been forgiven, loved and reconciled into His love for this. From the very beginning that is what you are for. What happened at Monroe was a bit part of what He had, is and will always be doing for you.

Now, what say you...?

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Saturday, June 02, 2007

Hm... Soli Deo Gloria?

Weekend lalu saya berkesempatan melihat Oprah Show yang membahas tentang film The Pursuit of Happyness. Sudah pernah lihat filmnya? Kisah nyata yang diangkat ke layar lebar tentang seorang ayah Black American bernama Chris Gardner dan anaknya laki-lakinya. Buat yang belum tahu kisahnya, ini ada sedikit ringkasannya yang saya dapatkan dari Internet:

In 1981, Chris Gardner was a struggling salesman in little needed medical bone density scanners while his wife toiled in double shifts to support the family including their young son, Christopher. In the face of this difficult life, Chris has the desperate inspiration to try for a stockbroker internship where one in twenty has a chance of a lucrative full time career. Even when his wife leaves him because of this choice, Chris clings to this dream with his son even when the odds become more daunting by the day. Together, father and son struggle through homelessness, jail time, tax seizure and the overall punishing despair in a quest that would make Gardner a respected millionaire. Written by Kenneth Chisholm (kchishol@rogers.com

Yang menarik buat saya adalah satu saat mengharukan waktu Oprah menghadirkan mantan karyawan wanita Chris Gardner yang ingin berterima kasih padanya. Berkat program beasiswa yang didapatnya, mantan karyawati ini berhasil menaikkan tingkat kehidupan ekonominya ke kondisi yang lebih daripada yang pernah diharapkan. Kedua bola mata Chris terus mengalirkan airmata dengan ekspresi mengharukan yang tidak bisa saya tebak apa kira-kira perasaan yang berkecamuk di sana saat menerima pujian itu.

Saya jadi teringat diri sendiri saat juga menerima berbagai pujian. Mulai dari yang melambungkan diri ini hingga ke bulan dan menghasilkan bulatan sempurna bertajuk benjol akibat terpentok di sana, sampai yang berhasil menjadikan wajah bulat nan ceria ini bagaikan kepiting rebus tak bersaus tiram. Satu pertanyaan yang menohok hati saya adalah, "Apakah kamu mengingat siapa sebenarnya yang dipuji?"

Iya, siapa sebenarnya yang mereka puji? Saya... ataukah keindahan Tuhan yang dijinkanNya terpancar lewat saya di saat-saat itu?

"Yours, O LORD, is the greatness and the power and the glory and the victory and the majesty, indeed everything that is in the heavens and the earth; Yours is the dominion, O LORD, and You exalt Yourself as head over all."
1 Chronicles 29:11 NASB


Uugh... Tuhan, Engkau tahu betul bukan kalau diriku sendirilah yang sesungguhnya aku puji dan puja senantiasa? Engkau tahu betul bahwa setiap kukatakan "Soli Deo Gloria" sesungguhnya yang kukatakan adalah "Soli daku Gloria"?

Saya teringat betapa seringkali saya juga begitu mendambakan pujian dengan mengatasnamakan agar nama Tuhan yang dimuliakan. Padahal sesungguhnya saya mungkin tidak tahu dengan pasti apakah Tuhan juga merasa dimuliakan melalui apa yang saya lakukan sehingga menuai pujian tersebut. Tapi tetap saja saya dambakan pujian tersebut karena begitu melambungkan hati ini.

"Do not claim honor in the presence of the king, and do not stand in the place of great men; for it is better that it be said to you, 'Come up here,' than for you to be placed lower in the presence of the prince, whom your eyes have seen."
Proverbs 25:6-7 NASB

Soli Deo Gloria. Soli Deo Gloria. Soli Deo Gloria.
Terima kasih Tuhan telah mengingatkan hati ini yang begitu lemah terhadap pujian-pujian yang diberikan. Sesungguhnya keindahanMu-lah yang mereka lihat disana. Dan sudah seharusnyalah aku menerima pujian-pujian itu dengan penuh syukur dan sukacita, bukan karena isi pujian itu tetapi karena telah Engkau ijinkan terpancar lewatku disana. Di sisi lain, jangan biarkan aku tidak menghargai pujian-pujian untukMu lewatku itu. Seringkali aku pun tidak menghargai pujian yang disampaikan orang. Ajar aku menerimanya dengan suatu tulusnya kerendahan hati. Dan kiranya Kau pegang aku erat kala si bebal ini mulai melambung ke langit ke-10 dibuai ilusi keindahan dirinya sendiri. Jejakkan kakiku kembali ke bumi Tuhan yang Maha Baik, kokohkan kembali pijakanku di atas batu karangMu. Karena bagiMu-lah sesungguhnya segala hormat dan kemuliaan yang dilihat setiap jiwa.

Soli Deo Gloria!


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