Have you ever been stuck in a place and wished you were someplace else?

Perhaps you didn't get into the school of your dreams, and had to make do with your third or fourth choice. Perhaps you ended up in a very strict Unit in the Army, and had to endure tough training and regimentation. Or perhaps, even, your family hasn't been the most comfortable place to be in, and you wish you didn't have to deal with all those issues.

Sometimes, when we find ourselves stuck in less-than-ideal circumstances, we get frustrated with God and question Him: "Why did you put me here?" But God doesn't necessarily reveal His specific purposes to us as and when we ask. In those situations, what perspective should we take towards our circumstances?

Acts 17:26b tells us that God "determined the times set for [men] and the exact places where they should live." This means that God has ordained all the times and the places that we live in – our circumstances and situations did not arise out of random chance! Furthermore, Paul instructs us in 1 Cor 7:17 to "let each person lead the life that the Lord has assigned to him, and to which God has called him." We should not despise the life that we have been ordained to live, nor should we long to be living another life at another time or place.

How do we go about living this life, then? 1 Cor 10:31 reminds us: "So, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God." Hence, regardless of our particular circumstance, it is our onus to live in a manner that glorifies the God who ordained our circumstances.

So how are you living the life God has ordained for you? Your life is the arena that God has placed you in to display His glory, so let us go out into our worlds shining His light.

– alvin(:

Vaneetha Rendall Risner – Embrace the Life You Have

When we think about our lives, we frequently encounter emotions such as disappointment and regret. Vaneetha Rendall Risner considers how we should respond to such emotions in a manner that helps us both address the emotion, as well as emerge thereafter with trust in God.

John Piper – To Him Be Glory Forevermore

How do we do all things in a manner that glorifies God? We first need to understand the meaning of God's glory, and John Piper explains the meaning of this concept by drawing from the book of Romans. He points out that "the highest and deepest and most ultimate answer to why the world is the way it is when God is sovereign is that in his infinite wisdom this world reveals the fullness of his glory"; with such an understanding of glory, it might perhaps be easier for us to live a life with the aim of glorifying God.

Jacob Collier – Don't You Worry 'Bout a Thing

Jacob Collier is a prodigious multi-instrumentalist and vocalist (he's only 24 this year!) and his music is full of extreme reharmonisations, impeccable harmonies, and implausible polyrhythms. This video is his cover of Stevie Wonder's "Don't You Worry 'Bout a Thing", and is but one example of his great fluency with music theory (e.g. the outro is in 5/8 with a 7/8 bar every 6 bars); see if you can even begin to wrap your head around his crazy chord structures and grooves!

It is my prayer that we will each seek the Lord in our personal places of ministry – not just our ministry in church, but our ministry at school, at work, at home, among friends, and whatever other place we might be at. After all, no one else is in exactly the same position as any of us!

Over and out!