It was very busy 2000 years ago in the little town of Bethlehem, lots of human traffic to meet the censure call of Caesar Augustus. So full of people till the inn was without room.
So crowded and busy that the arrival of the Saviour was unnoticed.
It is just as crowded and busy today.
Friday, December 25, 2009
Wednesday, December 23, 2009
Silent Night, Holy Night...Why is the night so silent?
Silent Night, Holy Night...
Why was the night silent? At the birth of a Saviour, of God.
The only announcement was that of the angels to the shepherds.
The only clue was that of the leading of the star to the wisemen.
And Joseph and Mary.
Some spreading of word by the shepherds.
Jerusalem was disturbed but not too stirred (except sometime later with the death warrant).
And then another 30 years of almost non-existence.
Silent Night, Holy Night...
Can I be silent?
Nowadays we celebrate the day with much more sound and sight.
Should we one day observe a silent night and cause the world to wonder.
Because He will come again like a thief in the silence of the night but that night will not be as silent as the first.
Why was the night silent? At the birth of a Saviour, of God.
The only announcement was that of the angels to the shepherds.
The only clue was that of the leading of the star to the wisemen.
And Joseph and Mary.
Some spreading of word by the shepherds.
Jerusalem was disturbed but not too stirred (except sometime later with the death warrant).
And then another 30 years of almost non-existence.
Silent Night, Holy Night...
Can I be silent?
Nowadays we celebrate the day with much more sound and sight.
Should we one day observe a silent night and cause the world to wonder.
Because He will come again like a thief in the silence of the night but that night will not be as silent as the first.
Wednesday, December 9, 2009
What is TIME anyway?
Exdous 12: 1 The LORD said to Moses and Aaron in Egypt, 2 "This month is to be for you the first month, the first month of your year.
Ecclesiastes 3:11 He has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in the hearts of men; yet they cannot fathom what God has done from beginning to end.
Time is the medium in which we live. It is the psychological, mental and emotional air we breathe; and, like air, it is transmuted within us and becomes us. There is inner time -- our personal sense of the rhythms of time, experienced differently by each of us; and there is imposed time - the regimented time by which society organizes itself, the time of schedules and deadlines, time structured largely by work and commerce. These two times, inner and imposed, rarely jibe anymore, and the painful tension between them is one of the core psychological realities of our era.
In the beginning was the railroad -- the beginning, that is, of today’s experience of time. In the 1880s, railroad interests (in that era, America’s most potent business power) pressured the federal government to divide the country into time zones. Before this, 3:00 p.m. in San Francisco did not correspond to any particular time in New York, much less England and China. In fact, 3:00 p.m. in any city was only roughly coordinated even within the city limits. There was no place to call for a central reference point -- there weren’t any telephones to call with.
Coordination was largely a matter of bells and whistles. The factory whistle would blow, the town-hall clock would chime, and, if they felt like it, people would set their house clocks and pocket watches accordingly. Absolute precision wasn’t expected, nor, for most endeavors, was it needed; 20 minutes either way was, in most instances, no big deal.
Hours are artificial constructs; moments are not. The measurement of what we can an “hour” has taken on enormous importance since we began to measure our work, and our value, by the hour -- a practice barely a century old. People who are paid $4 an hour are not valued, and do not value themselves, as highly as people who are paid $20 an hour; people paid $20 an hour are treated differently, and often treat themselves
differently, than people paid $100 an hour. Today, our moments are lost in hours. And, since our moments are everything, unless they can be retrieved, all is lost.
Feeling that time is a force imposed from without to which they must conform, people use much of their energy to avoid that force, usually passively, and without interacting with one another, populating their inner lives with images again imposed, or at least supplied, from without. The soul or self or whatever you choose to call it – that intrinsic quality that makes each person unique and that is what (under whatever label) a
healer must connect with and appeal to – is confined in a time-cage and obscured by a cloud of habitual, if not outright addictive, fantasy figures.
In spite of (or because of) our advances, we have been stripped down to first causes: what marks our time. And we have to remind ourselves that time isn’t money. Time is life itself.
Full article can be found at THE AGE OF INTERRUPTION by Michael Ventura, Psychotherapy Networker January/February 1995
Ecclesiastes 3:11 He has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in the hearts of men; yet they cannot fathom what God has done from beginning to end.
Time is the medium in which we live. It is the psychological, mental and emotional air we breathe; and, like air, it is transmuted within us and becomes us. There is inner time -- our personal sense of the rhythms of time, experienced differently by each of us; and there is imposed time - the regimented time by which society organizes itself, the time of schedules and deadlines, time structured largely by work and commerce. These two times, inner and imposed, rarely jibe anymore, and the painful tension between them is one of the core psychological realities of our era.
In the beginning was the railroad -- the beginning, that is, of today’s experience of time. In the 1880s, railroad interests (in that era, America’s most potent business power) pressured the federal government to divide the country into time zones. Before this, 3:00 p.m. in San Francisco did not correspond to any particular time in New York, much less England and China. In fact, 3:00 p.m. in any city was only roughly coordinated even within the city limits. There was no place to call for a central reference point -- there weren’t any telephones to call with.
Coordination was largely a matter of bells and whistles. The factory whistle would blow, the town-hall clock would chime, and, if they felt like it, people would set their house clocks and pocket watches accordingly. Absolute precision wasn’t expected, nor, for most endeavors, was it needed; 20 minutes either way was, in most instances, no big deal.
Hours are artificial constructs; moments are not. The measurement of what we can an “hour” has taken on enormous importance since we began to measure our work, and our value, by the hour -- a practice barely a century old. People who are paid $4 an hour are not valued, and do not value themselves, as highly as people who are paid $20 an hour; people paid $20 an hour are treated differently, and often treat themselves
differently, than people paid $100 an hour. Today, our moments are lost in hours. And, since our moments are everything, unless they can be retrieved, all is lost.
Feeling that time is a force imposed from without to which they must conform, people use much of their energy to avoid that force, usually passively, and without interacting with one another, populating their inner lives with images again imposed, or at least supplied, from without. The soul or self or whatever you choose to call it – that intrinsic quality that makes each person unique and that is what (under whatever label) a
healer must connect with and appeal to – is confined in a time-cage and obscured by a cloud of habitual, if not outright addictive, fantasy figures.
In spite of (or because of) our advances, we have been stripped down to first causes: what marks our time. And we have to remind ourselves that time isn’t money. Time is life itself.
Full article can be found at THE AGE OF INTERRUPTION by Michael Ventura, Psychotherapy Networker January/February 1995
Friday, November 27, 2009
Twilight - New Moon: 一群要生要死的狼跟鬼不知道在干什么！！
I watched the Twilight – New Moon with my god-daughter and daughter of a good friend. It is school holiday and it is bonding time.
5 sucks – Slow but superficial, Deliberate but pretentious. 一群要生要死的狼狗和鬼不知道在干什么！！And Edward looks in great need of some blood transfusion.
1st Suck – 2 hours long. For what? Time is money. But I guess in the world of vampires and werewolves, where they don’t die, time is not an issue with them. But I am a time-bound and I got my grocery shopping waiting. Watching the movie is indeed liken to entering into a twilight zone and one wonders “What’s happening?”
2nd Suck – When I saw the trailer on TV of Wolves and Vampires fighting, I was imagining seeing more blood, with the cold blooded vampires and hot blooded wolves fighting in the cinema. But what you see on TV trailer is ALL you get in the movie. When I got from the cinema is reciting of “Romeo and Juliet” – “I love you but I cannot love you.” “You want to die, but you should not die.” “I must live, it is for the good of both of us.” “It is not your fault, but mine. Please live well.” “It is my destiny (to be a wolf).” “Please don’t kill each other over me, that will hurt me the most.” “Marry me and death will not do us apart.” ”Marry me so that I can suck your blood.”
3rd Suck – I agree. This is definitely a cult movie Like the vampy and wofy in the show, where membership is by destiny and invitation only. Yes, keep it that way, don’t let the dogs out nor let us in.
4th Suck – I wonder when the production team saw their final piece before the release, what crossed their mind? “Oops… … sucks… …!”
5th Suck – The movie is rated - PG, indeed for under 16 only. The 2 young girls said they held hands throughout and exclaimed the movie was exciting and good. “Oh… … sucks… …”
Well, did I bond with the 2 girls? Well yeah. I was busy smsing during the movie to update my friends of it, the girls have to tell me to stop smsing and pay attention.
• Verdict: Disastrous sequel squanders good will created by first movie.
This is a mere six minutes longer than the first Twilight movie, but it feels like six hours. I gave the original four stars, but the sequel is tedious, long-winded and not so much undead as almost entirely devoid of life. Chris Tookey, Daily Mail UK
• http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/twilight_saga_new_moon/
• “Yes, I know, “New Moon’s” emotional energy is supposed to come through Bella’s putative attachment to newly buff best friend Jacob Black (Taylor Lautner). But though audiences gasp when Jacob uses his shirt to staunch Bella’s blood (don’t ask) and reveals a torso that would make Charles Atlas swoon, the connection between these two is so self-evidently non-romantic that it turns out not to be much of a diversion.” [Kenneth Turan, Los Angeles Times]
• “The characters in this movie should be arrested for loitering with intent to moan. Never have teenagers been in greater need of a jump-start. Granted some of them are more than 100 years old, but still: their charisma is by Madame Tussaud. ”The Twilight Saga: New Moon” takes the tepid achievement of “Twilight” (1988), guts it, and leaves it for undead. You know you’re in trouble with a sequel when the word of mouth advises you to see the first movie twice instead. Obviously the characters all have. Long opening stretches of this film make utterly no sense unless you walk in knowing the first film, and hopefully both Stephanie Meyer novels, by heart. Edward and Bella spend murky moments glowering at each other and thinking, So, here we are again. [Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times]
• “It feels like missing the point to talk about “The Twilight Saga: New Moon” as a movie. This is a pop culture phenomenon, some weird early 21st century aberration, our equivalent of the hula hoop or dancing the Charleston on a bi-plane’s wing. In the future, people will watch this second installment of “The Twilight Saga” and think, “What was that?” without realizing that this movie is not really a movie. It’s an excuse for a lot of people to dream.” [Mick LaSalle, San Francisco Chronicle]
• “With more bark than bite, “The Twilight Saga: New Moon” finds its brooding heroine torn from her depressive, bloodsucking boyfriend and thrust into the claws of a hunky werewolf. That’s sort of like being caught between a rock and a hard place (or, in high school terms, between a Goth and a jock), and this second screen installment of Stephenie Meyer’s bestselling series focuses, somewhat convincingly, on the emotions of an 18-year-old coping with her undying love of the undead.” [Jordan Mintzer, Variety]
• “With Chris Weitz (”American Pie,” “About a Boy,” “The Golden Compass”) taking over as director, the second movie has exactly what those fans want: Big, bouncy boy hair. Sculpted torsos everywhere. Teasing caresses of fingers on fingers, lips on lips. Love so deep and frenzied the smitten would prefer to die than go on without the other. Torsos, did we mention torsos? Most important, not just one, but two supernatural hunks snarling over the quivering carcass of a breathless, doe-eyed young woman. Swoon factor times two. [David Germain, AP]
5 sucks – Slow but superficial, Deliberate but pretentious. 一群要生要死的狼狗和鬼不知道在干什么！！And Edward looks in great need of some blood transfusion.
1st Suck – 2 hours long. For what? Time is money. But I guess in the world of vampires and werewolves, where they don’t die, time is not an issue with them. But I am a time-bound and I got my grocery shopping waiting. Watching the movie is indeed liken to entering into a twilight zone and one wonders “What’s happening?”
2nd Suck – When I saw the trailer on TV of Wolves and Vampires fighting, I was imagining seeing more blood, with the cold blooded vampires and hot blooded wolves fighting in the cinema. But what you see on TV trailer is ALL you get in the movie. When I got from the cinema is reciting of “Romeo and Juliet” – “I love you but I cannot love you.” “You want to die, but you should not die.” “I must live, it is for the good of both of us.” “It is not your fault, but mine. Please live well.” “It is my destiny (to be a wolf).” “Please don’t kill each other over me, that will hurt me the most.” “Marry me and death will not do us apart.” ”Marry me so that I can suck your blood.”
3rd Suck – I agree. This is definitely a cult movie Like the vampy and wofy in the show, where membership is by destiny and invitation only. Yes, keep it that way, don’t let the dogs out nor let us in.
4th Suck – I wonder when the production team saw their final piece before the release, what crossed their mind? “Oops… … sucks… …!”
5th Suck – The movie is rated - PG, indeed for under 16 only. The 2 young girls said they held hands throughout and exclaimed the movie was exciting and good. “Oh… … sucks… …”
Well, did I bond with the 2 girls? Well yeah. I was busy smsing during the movie to update my friends of it, the girls have to tell me to stop smsing and pay attention.
• Verdict: Disastrous sequel squanders good will created by first movie.
This is a mere six minutes longer than the first Twilight movie, but it feels like six hours. I gave the original four stars, but the sequel is tedious, long-winded and not so much undead as almost entirely devoid of life. Chris Tookey, Daily Mail UK
• http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/twilight_saga_new_moon/
• “Yes, I know, “New Moon’s” emotional energy is supposed to come through Bella’s putative attachment to newly buff best friend Jacob Black (Taylor Lautner). But though audiences gasp when Jacob uses his shirt to staunch Bella’s blood (don’t ask) and reveals a torso that would make Charles Atlas swoon, the connection between these two is so self-evidently non-romantic that it turns out not to be much of a diversion.” [Kenneth Turan, Los Angeles Times]
• “The characters in this movie should be arrested for loitering with intent to moan. Never have teenagers been in greater need of a jump-start. Granted some of them are more than 100 years old, but still: their charisma is by Madame Tussaud. ”The Twilight Saga: New Moon” takes the tepid achievement of “Twilight” (1988), guts it, and leaves it for undead. You know you’re in trouble with a sequel when the word of mouth advises you to see the first movie twice instead. Obviously the characters all have. Long opening stretches of this film make utterly no sense unless you walk in knowing the first film, and hopefully both Stephanie Meyer novels, by heart. Edward and Bella spend murky moments glowering at each other and thinking, So, here we are again. [Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times]
• “It feels like missing the point to talk about “The Twilight Saga: New Moon” as a movie. This is a pop culture phenomenon, some weird early 21st century aberration, our equivalent of the hula hoop or dancing the Charleston on a bi-plane’s wing. In the future, people will watch this second installment of “The Twilight Saga” and think, “What was that?” without realizing that this movie is not really a movie. It’s an excuse for a lot of people to dream.” [Mick LaSalle, San Francisco Chronicle]
• “With more bark than bite, “The Twilight Saga: New Moon” finds its brooding heroine torn from her depressive, bloodsucking boyfriend and thrust into the claws of a hunky werewolf. That’s sort of like being caught between a rock and a hard place (or, in high school terms, between a Goth and a jock), and this second screen installment of Stephenie Meyer’s bestselling series focuses, somewhat convincingly, on the emotions of an 18-year-old coping with her undying love of the undead.” [Jordan Mintzer, Variety]
• “With Chris Weitz (”American Pie,” “About a Boy,” “The Golden Compass”) taking over as director, the second movie has exactly what those fans want: Big, bouncy boy hair. Sculpted torsos everywhere. Teasing caresses of fingers on fingers, lips on lips. Love so deep and frenzied the smitten would prefer to die than go on without the other. Torsos, did we mention torsos? Most important, not just one, but two supernatural hunks snarling over the quivering carcass of a breathless, doe-eyed young woman. Swoon factor times two. [David Germain, AP]
Tuesday, November 24, 2009
龙应台：不相信 <目送>
曾经相信过正义，后来知道，原来同时完全可以存在两种正义，而且彼此抵触，冰火不容。选择其中之一，正义同时就意味着不正义。而且，你绝对看不出，某些人在某一个特定的时机热烈主张某一个特定的正义，其中隐藏着深不可测的不正义。
曾经相信过理想主义者，后来知道，理想主义者往往经不起权力的测试：一掌有权力，他或者变成当初自己誓死反对的“邪恶”，或者，他在现实的场域里不堪一击，一下就被弄权者拉下马来，完全没有机会去实现他的理想。理想主义者要有品格，才能不被权力腐化；理想主义者要有能力，才能将理想转化为实践。可是理想主义者兼具品格及能力者，几希。
龙应台：不相信 <目送>
曾经相信过理想主义者，后来知道，理想主义者往往经不起权力的测试：一掌有权力，他或者变成当初自己誓死反对的“邪恶”，或者，他在现实的场域里不堪一击，一下就被弄权者拉下马来，完全没有机会去实现他的理想。理想主义者要有品格，才能不被权力腐化；理想主义者要有能力，才能将理想转化为实践。可是理想主义者兼具品格及能力者，几希。
龙应台：不相信 <目送>
Thursday, November 19, 2009
In the midst of God, yet unmoved
I had a vacation in Taipei and visited some rather scenic places. While I was trying to absord and enjoy all of it, I notice the locals seem just moving around in their business as if the beauty does not exist.
Well, I am such as time, in the midst of (things of) God, yet unmoved.
Familiarity breeds contempt?
I do not know.
Is it really familiarity? Am I really familiar? How familiar am I?
Can I be so familiar and remain unmoved?
Well, I am such as time, in the midst of (things of) God, yet unmoved.
Familiarity breeds contempt?
I do not know.
Is it really familiarity? Am I really familiar? How familiar am I?
Can I be so familiar and remain unmoved?
Serious and Trivial
There are serious things in life being trivialised.
There are trivial things in life being emphasized.
When the serious things are triviailised, it means we spare too little thoughts and efforts than we ought to.
When the trivial things are emphasized, it means we spare too much thoughts and efforts than we ought to.
The big question is WHY?
When we cannot and don't know how to handle the serious things.
And to compensate what we cannot, we shift our lack to the emphasizing of the trivial.
Emphasizing of the trivial is good distraction for self and also help us in the traction/ deception to others
Though we cannot handle the serious, but we can still look like we are dabbling in the "serious".
+++
Screwtape Letter #17
The woman is in what may be called the "All-I-want" state. All she wants is a cup of tea properly made, or an egg properly boiled, or a slice of bread properly toasted.
But she never finds any servant or any friends who can do these simple things "properly" because her "properly" conceals an insatiable demand for the exact, and almost impossible, palatable pleasures which she imagines she remembers from the past; a past described by her as "the days when you could get a good servant" but known to us as the days wen her sense were more easily pleased and she has pleasures of other kinds which made her less dependent on those on the table.
There are trivial things in life being emphasized.
When the serious things are triviailised, it means we spare too little thoughts and efforts than we ought to.
When the trivial things are emphasized, it means we spare too much thoughts and efforts than we ought to.
The big question is WHY?
When we cannot and don't know how to handle the serious things.
And to compensate what we cannot, we shift our lack to the emphasizing of the trivial.
Emphasizing of the trivial is good distraction for self and also help us in the traction/ deception to others
Though we cannot handle the serious, but we can still look like we are dabbling in the "serious".
+++
Screwtape Letter #17
The woman is in what may be called the "All-I-want" state. All she wants is a cup of tea properly made, or an egg properly boiled, or a slice of bread properly toasted.
But she never finds any servant or any friends who can do these simple things "properly" because her "properly" conceals an insatiable demand for the exact, and almost impossible, palatable pleasures which she imagines she remembers from the past; a past described by her as "the days when you could get a good servant" but known to us as the days wen her sense were more easily pleased and she has pleasures of other kinds which made her less dependent on those on the table.
Order Order!
1. Order : Hierarchy, Sequence, Priority
2. Order : Command, Instruct
The word Order, despite its various defintions speaks of clarity, giving things unity and harmony.
We have an order - hierarchy, organization structure) so that we know who do what, with view how all contribute towards the matter concerned.
This order also proivdes the sequence and priorty of things, though not necessary importance.
The 2nd 'order', to command, to instruct, is like oil to the machine (1st order)
But many a times when we fail to understand the first 'order' fails, we fail to appreciate the 2nd 'order'.
Then we become disorder, we order people around.
The order is still there but people do not come together, and things don't come together.
2. Order : Command, Instruct
The word Order, despite its various defintions speaks of clarity, giving things unity and harmony.
We have an order - hierarchy, organization structure) so that we know who do what, with view how all contribute towards the matter concerned.
This order also proivdes the sequence and priorty of things, though not necessary importance.
The 2nd 'order', to command, to instruct, is like oil to the machine (1st order)
But many a times when we fail to understand the first 'order' fails, we fail to appreciate the 2nd 'order'.
Then we become disorder, we order people around.
The order is still there but people do not come together, and things don't come together.
Saturday, October 31, 2009
Cross of Wonder
I know Christ die on the Cross
I know He die for us all.
If a wicked person is crucified, I understand why.
If an average person is cruicified, I may ask why.
If a good person is crucified, I ask why.
If a loved one is crucified, I demand why.
If a good person I love is crucified, I refused any why.
So when I say Christ crucified, what have I understood, accepted and refused?
I know He die for us all.
If a wicked person is crucified, I understand why.
If an average person is cruicified, I may ask why.
If a good person is crucified, I ask why.
If a loved one is crucified, I demand why.
If a good person I love is crucified, I refused any why.
So when I say Christ crucified, what have I understood, accepted and refused?
Thursday, October 15, 2009
"Is there something I am born to do?"
"Is there something I am born to do?"
This is a million dollar question, well at least for a Career Consultant.
This is the million dollar question I am trying to 'solve' for myself, but I discover it has become an blinded, egoist trip. It is at the end a pursue of self-identity, and it has become a pursue ahead of God. It has become a pursue of its own, or maybe it was the intention of the pursue from the start.
We all have very grand idea about ourselves. Something we are born to do, and it is ususally something great and when the 'job' does not show up, we feel demotivated, short-changed, missing out on our 'destiny'.
Mahud was a simple man who lived in a small village and made his living by selling vegetables at a busy market. He was comfortable enough and liked his work. But one day the angel Khabir appeared to him and told him to jump in the river. Without thinking, Mahud leaped into the flowing water.
He was carried downstream until a man on shore threw him a rope and pulled him out. The man offered Mahud a job in his fishing business and a small room where he could live. Mahud appreciated the man's kindness and took the job and worked at it, rather happily, for three years. Then Khabir appeared to him once more and told him to move on.
Mahub obeyed immediately and walked from village to village until in one place a man offered him a jonb in his fabric shop. This was new to Mahib, but he took the job and learned the trade and worked there relatively happy until the angel appeared again and sent him on. Mahud worked at odd jobd for years in this manner, alwys moving along when the angel instructed.
When Mahud was an old man, he had gained the reputation of a holy man. Peiple begain cxoming to him with their illnesses and worries begging him for cure and counsel. One day a visitor to his village asked him, "Mahud, how did you get to where you are now?"
Mahud thought for a moment and said, "it is difficult to say."
It is difficult to say because Mahud's only talent was his openness to the directives coming from the angel whose name means "The All Aware." Mahud had the precious ability to recognize the call to move on and the openness of the heart to follow it.
This is a story about calling and obedience to the call. But let's remember that at root obedience means "listening". To find your way you have to pay close attention to the signs about when to change your job, when to get unstuck and reenter the flow of life, and when to retire to a life of healing and teaching.
Unfortunately for us, an angel isn't going to physically appear and tell us what to do next. But the angel of the story does represent something that is real for all of us: a sense of destiny, vocation and direction. The word vocation comes from the Latin word vox, voice. A vocation is a call.
Why would a sense of direction in life be called a "vocation"? Is the voice of the angel only supernatural or mystical? Or is there something natural about the capacity of life to "speak" to us and gives us hint where to go?
The question is not so much does the world give us a direction, but are we able to read the world for its information? Are we able to also sense our calling from our internal inclination.
Well, if we are so full of ourselves, can we hear?
This is a million dollar question, well at least for a Career Consultant.
This is the million dollar question I am trying to 'solve' for myself, but I discover it has become an blinded, egoist trip. It is at the end a pursue of self-identity, and it has become a pursue ahead of God. It has become a pursue of its own, or maybe it was the intention of the pursue from the start.
We all have very grand idea about ourselves. Something we are born to do, and it is ususally something great and when the 'job' does not show up, we feel demotivated, short-changed, missing out on our 'destiny'.
Mahud was a simple man who lived in a small village and made his living by selling vegetables at a busy market. He was comfortable enough and liked his work. But one day the angel Khabir appeared to him and told him to jump in the river. Without thinking, Mahud leaped into the flowing water.
He was carried downstream until a man on shore threw him a rope and pulled him out. The man offered Mahud a job in his fishing business and a small room where he could live. Mahud appreciated the man's kindness and took the job and worked at it, rather happily, for three years. Then Khabir appeared to him once more and told him to move on.
Mahub obeyed immediately and walked from village to village until in one place a man offered him a jonb in his fabric shop. This was new to Mahib, but he took the job and learned the trade and worked there relatively happy until the angel appeared again and sent him on. Mahud worked at odd jobd for years in this manner, alwys moving along when the angel instructed.
When Mahud was an old man, he had gained the reputation of a holy man. Peiple begain cxoming to him with their illnesses and worries begging him for cure and counsel. One day a visitor to his village asked him, "Mahud, how did you get to where you are now?"
Mahud thought for a moment and said, "it is difficult to say."
It is difficult to say because Mahud's only talent was his openness to the directives coming from the angel whose name means "The All Aware." Mahud had the precious ability to recognize the call to move on and the openness of the heart to follow it.
This is a story about calling and obedience to the call. But let's remember that at root obedience means "listening". To find your way you have to pay close attention to the signs about when to change your job, when to get unstuck and reenter the flow of life, and when to retire to a life of healing and teaching.
Unfortunately for us, an angel isn't going to physically appear and tell us what to do next. But the angel of the story does represent something that is real for all of us: a sense of destiny, vocation and direction. The word vocation comes from the Latin word vox, voice. A vocation is a call.
Why would a sense of direction in life be called a "vocation"? Is the voice of the angel only supernatural or mystical? Or is there something natural about the capacity of life to "speak" to us and gives us hint where to go?
The question is not so much does the world give us a direction, but are we able to read the world for its information? Are we able to also sense our calling from our internal inclination.
Well, if we are so full of ourselves, can we hear?
Wednesday, October 14, 2009
UNable but ENabled
In recent I have come to some realization of the word “ENABLED”
Prior to this, in all honesty, as much as I acknowledge God but I know things I can still get done somewhat. God is just a nice icing on top on the cake. Many a times, I was working from a position of “I KNOW and I am ABLE”.
But for the last one years and more, I landed in a fallow period. I have stepped into a place of “I do Not KNOW and I am UNable”. But it was a needful fallow.
In this position and reading the Bible, I realise living out the Word of the Lord is not only difficult, but also humanly impossible,
When that was revealed, I was invited into another understanding of the Lord - learning the way and the work of the Spirit. It is a calling to have a real experience of the way of the Lord, the enabling of the Spirit. "I still do not know, and I am still Unable but I am ENabled”.
All throughout the Lord is guiding. But it is only in hindsight that I am able to understand and appreciate what I have been through, where I am now and shall be going next.
If I can try to quote the words from the testimony of a pastor: “I began to feel what I call now the tangible anointing that I never felt before. I began to understand that was the gift of the Spirit working.”
Prior to this, in all honesty, as much as I acknowledge God but I know things I can still get done somewhat. God is just a nice icing on top on the cake. Many a times, I was working from a position of “I KNOW and I am ABLE”.
But for the last one years and more, I landed in a fallow period. I have stepped into a place of “I do Not KNOW and I am UNable”. But it was a needful fallow.
In this position and reading the Bible, I realise living out the Word of the Lord is not only difficult, but also humanly impossible,
When that was revealed, I was invited into another understanding of the Lord - learning the way and the work of the Spirit. It is a calling to have a real experience of the way of the Lord, the enabling of the Spirit. "I still do not know, and I am still Unable but I am ENabled”.
All throughout the Lord is guiding. But it is only in hindsight that I am able to understand and appreciate what I have been through, where I am now and shall be going next.
If I can try to quote the words from the testimony of a pastor: “I began to feel what I call now the tangible anointing that I never felt before. I began to understand that was the gift of the Spirit working.”
My Lord is so sure and assured
My Lord is so sure and assured. But I am not.
1. "Why were you searching for me?" he asked. "Didn't you know I had to be in my Father's house?" (Luke 2:49)
My Lord is so sure and assured. My Lord is not lost. He knows where He is to be because He knows who He is. He is His Father's son and He is to be at His Father's house.
But they did not understand what he was saying to them. Then he went down to Nazareth with them and was obedient to them. (Luke 2:50-51)
Though those around did not what he meant, it did not bother him. Instead he chose to be obedient and patient.
But me. I am always confused and lost. Trying to be at all places.
When I could not understand or others could not understand, I move.
I am all over the place - trying to understand and be understood.
2. Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, ... (Philippians 2:6-7)
My Lord is so sure and assured. He is so sure of who He is in God, not men, that He is able to stoop low for God's sake and men's sake.
Born to the house of Joseph and Mary.
Working as a carpenter.
Washing our feet.
And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient ...(Philippians 2:8)
He never deemed it humiliation because of who He is. For he understands who He is, He is able to obey with humility.
One identity lives all manners of life.
But me. I let my identity dictates my manners of life.
My hands give not but grasp more.
I stoop low with God in order to stand tall with men. I feel humiliation but pretend humility.
3. The hour has come. Rise! Let us go! (Mark 14:41-42)
My Lord is so sure and assured. He is not afraid. Though He knows what is before him, He is not afraid, because He knows what goes before him.
"Abba, Father," he said, "everything is possible for you. Take this cup from me. Yet not what I will, but what you will." (Mark 14:36)
But me. I am always afraid and timid, everything is not possible for me.
Indeed not what I can but what will me.
Indeed not what God can but what will me.
My Lord is so sure and assured. And I know everything is possible for Him and me.
1. "Why were you searching for me?" he asked. "Didn't you know I had to be in my Father's house?" (Luke 2:49)
My Lord is so sure and assured. My Lord is not lost. He knows where He is to be because He knows who He is. He is His Father's son and He is to be at His Father's house.
But they did not understand what he was saying to them. Then he went down to Nazareth with them and was obedient to them. (Luke 2:50-51)
Though those around did not what he meant, it did not bother him. Instead he chose to be obedient and patient.
But me. I am always confused and lost. Trying to be at all places.
When I could not understand or others could not understand, I move.
I am all over the place - trying to understand and be understood.
2. Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, ... (Philippians 2:6-7)
My Lord is so sure and assured. He is so sure of who He is in God, not men, that He is able to stoop low for God's sake and men's sake.
Born to the house of Joseph and Mary.
Working as a carpenter.
Washing our feet.
And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient ...(Philippians 2:8)
He never deemed it humiliation because of who He is. For he understands who He is, He is able to obey with humility.
One identity lives all manners of life.
But me. I let my identity dictates my manners of life.
My hands give not but grasp more.
I stoop low with God in order to stand tall with men. I feel humiliation but pretend humility.
3. The hour has come. Rise! Let us go! (Mark 14:41-42)
My Lord is so sure and assured. He is not afraid. Though He knows what is before him, He is not afraid, because He knows what goes before him.
"Abba, Father," he said, "everything is possible for you. Take this cup from me. Yet not what I will, but what you will." (Mark 14:36)
But me. I am always afraid and timid, everything is not possible for me.
Indeed not what I can but what will me.
Indeed not what God can but what will me.
My Lord is so sure and assured. And I know everything is possible for Him and me.
Monday, September 28, 2009
And we go sailing home
I had no idea where I was heading, but in that dim, bewildering world I believed my only salvation was to keep moving somewhere, moving anywhere, even though my sense of direction had deserted me. And then from the impenetrable core of the mist I heard the captain's voice coming at me clear as a warning horn, repeating something he had told me during one of my early sailing lessons when I pushed the tiller the wrong way and almost threw the boat into a dangerous jibe.
"Let go of the tiller!" he was saying. "Just let go of the tiller! Don't try to steer when you're confused!"
I followed his advice and the blue sloop did exactly what she was supposed to do. She nudged up gently into the breeze into the breeze and came to a standstill. I went up on the bow and tossed the anchor overboard and sat on the foredeck, waiting for a revelation, a glimmer of light, to tell me where I was and which way I had to go.
Deep in the centre of that fog there was no shoreline, no guiding star, no rising sun, no setting moon. But I had enough sailing experience by then to know that if I studied the elements carefully I would discover a clue that would put the muddled compass of my mind back in working order. What I had to do was sit calmly on the deck and empty my mind of all its preconceived notions and prejudices about the nature of fog, and then I would be able to detect the one constant in the swirling mist that would set me on my rightful course.
It was out there, I was sure it was, but for all my concentration it refused to appear. And then all at once I remembered that a boat at anchor, like a gull on a post, is a weather vane; it points ino the wind, and when I knew that I also knew what I was looking for and why it had eluded me. I had been peering into the fog, searching the most obscure place, as if the solution was hidden from view, when in fact it was self-evident, and that was exactly the attribute that made it so hard to find.
It was the wind, and I knew it by its moist touch, by its scent, by its speed that it was still blowing as it had been blowing all morning - from the east. I hauled the anchor and caught a puff in my jib; I steered sideways to the breeze and, sailing a broad reach, headed north toward home.
~ First You Have To Row a Little Boat, Richard Bode.
"Let go of the tiller!" he was saying. "Just let go of the tiller! Don't try to steer when you're confused!"
I followed his advice and the blue sloop did exactly what she was supposed to do. She nudged up gently into the breeze into the breeze and came to a standstill. I went up on the bow and tossed the anchor overboard and sat on the foredeck, waiting for a revelation, a glimmer of light, to tell me where I was and which way I had to go.
Deep in the centre of that fog there was no shoreline, no guiding star, no rising sun, no setting moon. But I had enough sailing experience by then to know that if I studied the elements carefully I would discover a clue that would put the muddled compass of my mind back in working order. What I had to do was sit calmly on the deck and empty my mind of all its preconceived notions and prejudices about the nature of fog, and then I would be able to detect the one constant in the swirling mist that would set me on my rightful course.
It was out there, I was sure it was, but for all my concentration it refused to appear. And then all at once I remembered that a boat at anchor, like a gull on a post, is a weather vane; it points ino the wind, and when I knew that I also knew what I was looking for and why it had eluded me. I had been peering into the fog, searching the most obscure place, as if the solution was hidden from view, when in fact it was self-evident, and that was exactly the attribute that made it so hard to find.
It was the wind, and I knew it by its moist touch, by its scent, by its speed that it was still blowing as it had been blowing all morning - from the east. I hauled the anchor and caught a puff in my jib; I steered sideways to the breeze and, sailing a broad reach, headed north toward home.
~ First You Have To Row a Little Boat, Richard Bode.
Friday, September 25, 2009
Homeward bound, Jacob became Israel.
Homeward bound, God wrestled with Jacob.
At PENIEL,Jacob became Israel.
Jacob wrestling with God by Eugene Delacroix
At PENIEL,Jacob became Israel.
Jacob wrestling with God by Eugene Delacroix
Wednesday, September 23, 2009
生活就是艺术
生活就是艺术。
艺术不是一件挂在墙上的画，不是一件摆在橱上的雕塑，不是一支完美的舞曲，不是一个昂贵的价位，不是一个专属的社群， 不只限一种的翻译。
生活就是艺术 - 艺术就在生活里。
懂得生活就懂得艺术。
活的好就是一门艺术。
我的生活就是我的艺术，而我就是那艺术家。
完完全全的生活。
艺术不是一件挂在墙上的画，不是一件摆在橱上的雕塑，不是一支完美的舞曲，不是一个昂贵的价位，不是一个专属的社群， 不只限一种的翻译。
生活就是艺术 - 艺术就在生活里。
懂得生活就懂得艺术。
活的好就是一门艺术。
我的生活就是我的艺术，而我就是那艺术家。
完完全全的生活。
Eat Right! Nehemiah said "Go and enjoy choice food and sweet drinks..."
Neh 8: 10
Nehemiah said, "Go and enjoy choice food and sweet drinks, and send some to those who have nothing prepared. This day is sacred to our Lord. Do not grieve, for the joy of the LORD is your strength."
12 Then all the people went away to eat and drink, to send portions of food and to celebrate with great joy, because they now understood the words that had been made known to them.
It must have been real great enjoyment. A feast of the body, mind and soul.
I wonder how many times has one eaten in such a manner? True satisfaction to the core!
I can't distinctively remembering eating this way. Something is always missing.
Spiritual Food, Comfort Food, Physical Food - all in one, all the same, when eaten with understanding.
Nehemiah said, "Go and enjoy choice food and sweet drinks, and send some to those who have nothing prepared. This day is sacred to our Lord. Do not grieve, for the joy of the LORD is your strength."
12 Then all the people went away to eat and drink, to send portions of food and to celebrate with great joy, because they now understood the words that had been made known to them.
It must have been real great enjoyment. A feast of the body, mind and soul.
I wonder how many times has one eaten in such a manner? True satisfaction to the core!
I can't distinctively remembering eating this way. Something is always missing.
Spiritual Food, Comfort Food, Physical Food - all in one, all the same, when eaten with understanding.
Monday, September 14, 2009
That's not my name
They call me 'mum'
They call me 'daughter'
They call me 'wife'
They call me 'sister'
That's not my name
That's not my name
That's not my name
That's not my name
They call me 'girl’
They call me 'pretty'
They call me 'gentle'
They call me 'sweet'
That's not my name
That's not my name
That's not my name
That's not my name
Are you calling me mummy?
Are you calling me wife?
Are you calling me sister?
Are you calling me girl?
(Adpated from the Ting Tings, That's not my name)
They call me 'daughter'
They call me 'wife'
They call me 'sister'
That's not my name
That's not my name
That's not my name
That's not my name
They call me 'girl’
They call me 'pretty'
They call me 'gentle'
They call me 'sweet'
That's not my name
That's not my name
That's not my name
That's not my name
Are you calling me mummy?
Are you calling me wife?
Are you calling me sister?
Are you calling me girl?
(Adpated from the Ting Tings, That's not my name)
Food, Flavour and Filled
"If you are hungry enough, any food will satisfy."
I was watching Peter Reinhart on TED about the art of bread making - to be specific, wholegrain bread (see extract below, visit TED for full preso). He explained the challenge for a wholegrain baker is how do you make it taste good. It is easy with white bread, but with wholegrain, one faces more obstacles. How to evoke the full potential of flavor trapped in the grain, deliver the flavor and the food to the palate so that the eater is not just full, but filled.
So the key is the flavour. Flavour that makes you come back wanting for more.
And this is not easy.
I know how many a times I ate and were not filled (though full). It is quite a lousy experience.
Is it a lack of hunger or appetite?
Is it problem of the food OR flavour?
I remembered I was watching the "Korea Hour" and there was this man commenting on the food he ate. He said he can taste "spring" in the food (it was the start of spring) and he felt he was full of energy now after the meal. Are we eating right?
How to have an appetite that makes everything tasty?
Also how to digest well that I am energised by the consumption?
And ultimately, the challenge of the baker, the challenge of every culinary student, of every chef, is to deliver flavor. Flavor is king. Flavor rules. I call it the flavor rule. Flavor rules. And -- and you can get somebody to eat something that's good for them once, but they won't eat it again if they don't like it, right?
And so this is, again, hopefully not only a healthy bread, but a bread that you will enjoy.
I was watching Peter Reinhart on TED about the art of bread making - to be specific, wholegrain bread (see extract below, visit TED for full preso). He explained the challenge for a wholegrain baker is how do you make it taste good. It is easy with white bread, but with wholegrain, one faces more obstacles. How to evoke the full potential of flavor trapped in the grain, deliver the flavor and the food to the palate so that the eater is not just full, but filled.
So the key is the flavour. Flavour that makes you come back wanting for more.
And this is not easy.
I know how many a times I ate and were not filled (though full). It is quite a lousy experience.
Is it a lack of hunger or appetite?
Is it problem of the food OR flavour?
I remembered I was watching the "Korea Hour" and there was this man commenting on the food he ate. He said he can taste "spring" in the food (it was the start of spring) and he felt he was full of energy now after the meal. Are we eating right?
How to have an appetite that makes everything tasty?
Also how to digest well that I am energised by the consumption?
And ultimately, the challenge of the baker, the challenge of every culinary student, of every chef, is to deliver flavor. Flavor is king. Flavor rules. I call it the flavor rule. Flavor rules. And -- and you can get somebody to eat something that's good for them once, but they won't eat it again if they don't like it, right?
And so this is, again, hopefully not only a healthy bread, but a bread that you will enjoy.
Thursday, August 27, 2009
One day of Karang Guni work
When I was in school, during one of the school holidays, a group of us did one day of Karang Guni work (collecting old newspaper) to raise fund for the purchase of our NIKE sport jerseys. Being students, we could not afford them.
We hired a lorry with a driver, who accompanied us the whole day and helped us to sell the newspaper collected.
One full day, 14-15 of us. We were totally dirty and exhausted at end of it.
It was hard work and one of the participants commented she enjoyed it thoroughly.
When I heard the comment then, I was momentarily glad and proud of her, a rich young girl appreciating hard manual work, ... ... until I took a glance at our lorry driver, who has been most helpful and silently follwing us around. Whose family dailyhood depended on him as a Karang Guni man, day in day out.
Living in a penthhouse unit, commuted daily to school in her sport car, I believed my friend has never experienced any maual work before. So I guessed it was fun one-off experience for her. Good exercise for the body, maybe for the soul as well.
I wonder what similar one-off hardship / sacrificial experience I have "put myself through" for the enrichment of my soul? A mission trip to the less developed area, an occassional "simple" living ...?
I wonder when Christ came, was it also like that?
We hired a lorry with a driver, who accompanied us the whole day and helped us to sell the newspaper collected.
One full day, 14-15 of us. We were totally dirty and exhausted at end of it.
It was hard work and one of the participants commented she enjoyed it thoroughly.
When I heard the comment then, I was momentarily glad and proud of her, a rich young girl appreciating hard manual work, ... ... until I took a glance at our lorry driver, who has been most helpful and silently follwing us around. Whose family dailyhood depended on him as a Karang Guni man, day in day out.
Living in a penthhouse unit, commuted daily to school in her sport car, I believed my friend has never experienced any maual work before. So I guessed it was fun one-off experience for her. Good exercise for the body, maybe for the soul as well.
I wonder what similar one-off hardship / sacrificial experience I have "put myself through" for the enrichment of my soul? A mission trip to the less developed area, an occassional "simple" living ...?
I wonder when Christ came, was it also like that?
Wednesday, August 26, 2009
Psalm 73 in my own words
I know You are good....
But I have strayed...
I have envied others.
I feel small besides them. The speak while I have nothing to say.
I feel shitty, for what is the point of me trying so hard.
I cannot speak for I cannot speak with integrity, the trueness of heart, for I myself am not convinced.
Till I enter into Your sanctuary and you restore my perspective...
Sorry that I have been stupid, but Lord you know I am always with you,
because where else can I be.
So Lord, be my refuge and rebuild me.
But I have strayed...
I have envied others.
I feel small besides them. The speak while I have nothing to say.
I feel shitty, for what is the point of me trying so hard.
I cannot speak for I cannot speak with integrity, the trueness of heart, for I myself am not convinced.
Till I enter into Your sanctuary and you restore my perspective...
Sorry that I have been stupid, but Lord you know I am always with you,
because where else can I be.
So Lord, be my refuge and rebuild me.
The Departures - he faces up to the fact he is a mediocre
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zBiJOB-0Sfg
The synopsis in the movie Departures reads "A premiere symphony orchestra in Tokyo disbands, leaving Daigo Kobayashi (Masahiro Motoki) suddenly unemployed. Suffering from an innate sense that he is a mediocre musician, he faces up to the fact that not everyone who has devoted their life to music can become a top artist."
The synopsis in the movie Departures reads "A premiere symphony orchestra in Tokyo disbands, leaving Daigo Kobayashi (Masahiro Motoki) suddenly unemployed. Suffering from an innate sense that he is a mediocre musician, he faces up to the fact that not everyone who has devoted their life to music can become a top artist."
I read the description after viewing the movie. Well, I am not sure why they put such a description in the synopsis. I defintely did not see this part when I was in the cinema. Everything was sadly beautiful.
It is a description that is quite hard to admit, as it was such a heart warming MOVIE.
Well a fact is a fact, facing up to the fact that one is a mediocre, despite our best efforts, our highest devotion, our purest prayer, our earnest imagination, is hard. Being misled by our inflated ego, fantasy and the one last hope one has left. And we pushed ourselves to be not the mediocre, that we innately know we are.
Is mediocre really that bad? Why is it bad? What is so bad about, if despite our best efforts, our highest devotion, our purest prayer, our earnest imagination, we are a mediocre?
What is best? what is excellence? what is the benchmark? who decides? with such limitation of trial and error, how can one be so spot on of being the best at one try, and when we don't even know ourselves well.
Daigo 大悟.In hope of a better life - Singapore and Hainan
My grandfather is 94 years old this year and he came to Singapore when he was about 14. It was the hardship at home (Hainan, China) that drove him to leave his home (and mother) at such a young age, took a voyage to Singapore.
3 years ago, we took a home trip with him, to his childhood home. The living condition there has not improved much.
Today I am staying in a materially affluent Singapore but the same thought of leaving home has recently come to mind. I am thinking of moving "back" to Hainan.
80 years ago my grandfather travelled from Hainan to Singapore for the hope of a (materially) better life. Today, it is the blinding materialism of Singapore that is driving me to take the route my grandfather took but in a reverse direction.
3 years ago, we took a home trip with him, to his childhood home. The living condition there has not improved much.
Today I am staying in a materially affluent Singapore but the same thought of leaving home has recently come to mind. I am thinking of moving "back" to Hainan.
80 years ago my grandfather travelled from Hainan to Singapore for the hope of a (materially) better life. Today, it is the blinding materialism of Singapore that is driving me to take the route my grandfather took but in a reverse direction.
Tuesday, August 11, 2009
Arthur Ganson at TED
www.ted.com/talks/lang/eng/arthur_ganson_makes_moving_sculpture.html
I have enclosed part of the transcript of Arthur Ganson's presentation at TED.
Cos’ I really like this man’s way of living and expressing life.
I have underlined the portion that is meaningful to me.
As I was doing it, his introduction and his conclusion caught me. U must really READ him, then u will discovered he is speaking very subtly (and it can seem ambiguous) but actually very simply and clearly:
++++++++
A few words about how I got started, and it has a lot to do with happiness, actually. When I was a very young child, I was extremely introverted and very much to myself. And kind of as a way of surviving, I would go into my own very personal space, and I would make things. I would make things for people as a way of, you know giving -- showing them my love. I would go into these private places, and I would put my ideas and my passions into objects, and sort of learning how to speak with my hands.
… … … …
And that leads me to the thought that all of these pieces start off in my own mind, in my heart, and I do my best at finding ways to express them with materials, and it always feels really crude. It's always a struggle, but somehow I manage to sort of get this thought out into an object, and then it's there, OK. It means nothing at all. The object itself just means nothing. Once it's perceived, and someone brings it into their own mind, then there's a cycle that has been completed. And to me, that's the most important thing because ever since being a kid, I've wanted to communicate my passion and love, and that means the complete cycle of coming from inside out to the physical, to someone perceiving it. So I'll just let this chair come down.
++++++
The Machine that Enjoys Being Trivial by Dragging around in circles
"Now, this kind of machine is as close as I can get to painting. And it's full of many little trivial end points, like there's a little foot here that just drags around in circles and it doesn't really mean anything. It's really just for the sort of joy of its own triviality. "
The Machine that Enjoys Bathing itself in Oil
"The connection I have with engineering is the same as any other engineer, in that I love to solve problems. I love to figure things out, but the end result of what I'm doing is really completely ambiguous.""Now, a completely different thought -- I'm always imagining myself in different situations. I'm imagining myself as a machine. What would I love? I would love to be bathed in oil. ... Read moreSo, this machine does nothing but just bathe itself in oil. "
I have enclosed part of the transcript of Arthur Ganson's presentation at TED.
Cos’ I really like this man’s way of living and expressing life.
I have underlined the portion that is meaningful to me.
As I was doing it, his introduction and his conclusion caught me. U must really READ him, then u will discovered he is speaking very subtly (and it can seem ambiguous) but actually very simply and clearly:
++++++++
A few words about how I got started, and it has a lot to do with happiness, actually. When I was a very young child, I was extremely introverted and very much to myself. And kind of as a way of surviving, I would go into my own very personal space, and I would make things. I would make things for people as a way of, you know giving -- showing them my love. I would go into these private places, and I would put my ideas and my passions into objects, and sort of learning how to speak with my hands.
… … … …
And that leads me to the thought that all of these pieces start off in my own mind, in my heart, and I do my best at finding ways to express them with materials, and it always feels really crude. It's always a struggle, but somehow I manage to sort of get this thought out into an object, and then it's there, OK. It means nothing at all. The object itself just means nothing. Once it's perceived, and someone brings it into their own mind, then there's a cycle that has been completed. And to me, that's the most important thing because ever since being a kid, I've wanted to communicate my passion and love, and that means the complete cycle of coming from inside out to the physical, to someone perceiving it. So I'll just let this chair come down.
++++++
The Machine that Enjoys Being Trivial by Dragging around in circles
"Now, this kind of machine is as close as I can get to painting. And it's full of many little trivial end points, like there's a little foot here that just drags around in circles and it doesn't really mean anything. It's really just for the sort of joy of its own triviality. "
The Machine that Enjoys Bathing itself in Oil
"The connection I have with engineering is the same as any other engineer, in that I love to solve problems. I love to figure things out, but the end result of what I'm doing is really completely ambiguous.""Now, a completely different thought -- I'm always imagining myself in different situations. I'm imagining myself as a machine. What would I love? I would love to be bathed in oil. ... Read moreSo, this machine does nothing but just bathe itself in oil. "
Tuesday, August 4, 2009
I will show you how to waste your life (John Piper)
I will tell you what a tragedy is. I will show you how to waste your life. Consider a story from the February 1998 edition of Reader’s Digest, which tells about a couple who "took early retirement from their jobs in the Northeast five years ago when he was 59 and she was 51. Now they live in Punta Gorda, Florida, where they cruise on their 30 foot trawler, play softball and collect shells." At first, when I read it I thought it might be a joke. A spoof on the American Dream. But it wasn’t. Tragically, this was the dream: Come to the end of your life—your one and only precious, God-given life—and let the last great work of your life, before you give an account to your Creator, be this: playing softball and collecting shells. Picture them before Christ at the great day of judgment: "Look, Lord. See my shells." That is a tragedy. And people today are spending billions of dollars to persuade you to embrace that tragic dream. Over against that, I put my protest: Don’t buy it. Don’t waste your life.
(Don't Waste Your Life , John Piper)
Ten challenges ahead for S'pore
1. How to maintain high economic growth and improve living standard?
2. How to convince Singaporeans their lives will get better?
3. How to satisfy transport demands of the next generation?
4. How to stamp out new diseases and keep health-care costs down?
5. How to design job training programmes and wage supplement schemes for low-income older workers.
6. How to get younger Singaporeans to marry and have children?
7. How to support the growing elderly population?
8. How to deal with scarce land resources?
9. How to bond Singaporeans overseas to their homeland?
10. How to ensure Singaporeans of different faiths continue to mix with one another and respect one another's faith?
(Don't Waste Your Life , John Piper)
Ten challenges ahead for S'pore
1. How to maintain high economic growth and improve living standard?
2. How to convince Singaporeans their lives will get better?
3. How to satisfy transport demands of the next generation?
4. How to stamp out new diseases and keep health-care costs down?
5. How to design job training programmes and wage supplement schemes for low-income older workers.
6. How to get younger Singaporeans to marry and have children?
7. How to support the growing elderly population?
8. How to deal with scarce land resources?
9. How to bond Singaporeans overseas to their homeland?
10. How to ensure Singaporeans of different faiths continue to mix with one another and respect one another's faith?
Friday, July 31, 2009
Happy People
Do not grieve, for the joy of the LORD is your strength.
Then all the people went away to eat and drink, to send portions of food and to celebrate with great joy, because they now understood the words that had been made known to them.
Happy, Wise People : Children, Simpleton and the Wise .
One Saturday, my nephew Matthew came over my place and spent the whole day over (because Mommy and little brother were unwell and Daddy was "nursing" them).
We were spending the day in the house as we were under "strict order" from his daddy that we are not to step out of the house, basically we are not to be gallivanting outside.
So we stayed in house watching TV, playing toys, listening to music, did some coloring and numbering. While gallivanting indoor, it caught me that Matthew were "singing" two songs a few times, pretty "senseless" songs.
The first song's lyrics "I'm very clever!"
The second song's lyrics "Jumping is so fun."
For the first song, it is sung after he "accomplished" some tasks.
For the second song, it is just "ad-hoc" (well, at least from my perspective) behaviour.
Both songs were performed with great joy. At one point, I asked him when he was performing the second song, "Is jumping really so fun?"
And he replied a matter of factly "Yes, jumping is very fun!" (But I did not follow him and jump with joy. I was thinking.)
In the book of Nehemiah, Chapter 8, there is a record of the people of Israelites weeping when the Book of the Law of God was read and explained to them. But the Levites, Nehemiah and Ezra who were instructing them in the Book of the Law said to them "This day is sacred to the LORD your God. Do not mourn or weep. Go and enjoy choice food and sweet drinks, and send some to those who have nothing prepared. This day is sacred to our Lord. Do not grieve, for the joy of the LORD is your strength. Be still, for this is a sacred day. Do not grieve."
Then all the people went away to eat and drink, to send portions of food and to celebrate with great joy, because they now understood the words that had been made known to them.
From the days of Joshua son of Nun until that day, the Israelites had not celebrated it like this. And their joy was very great.
Children - are joyous because understanding has not been taken away from them (yet!).
Simpleton - are joyous (maybe) because understanding has been sealed within them
(I cannot say for sure and this may seem a very cruel comment but that is the way I see it at times. I do stand to be corrected.)
the Wise - are joyous because understanding has returned to them.
"Jumping is so fun." "I'm very clever!"
My nephew is indeed very clever and happy.
Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God. And their joy will be complete.
Be merry!
Then all the people went away to eat and drink, to send portions of food and to celebrate with great joy, because they now understood the words that had been made known to them.
Happy, Wise People : Children, Simpleton and the Wise .
One Saturday, my nephew Matthew came over my place and spent the whole day over (because Mommy and little brother were unwell and Daddy was "nursing" them).
We were spending the day in the house as we were under "strict order" from his daddy that we are not to step out of the house, basically we are not to be gallivanting outside.
So we stayed in house watching TV, playing toys, listening to music, did some coloring and numbering. While gallivanting indoor, it caught me that Matthew were "singing" two songs a few times, pretty "senseless" songs.
The first song's lyrics "I'm very clever!"
The second song's lyrics "Jumping is so fun."
For the first song, it is sung after he "accomplished" some tasks.
For the second song, it is just "ad-hoc" (well, at least from my perspective) behaviour.
Both songs were performed with great joy. At one point, I asked him when he was performing the second song, "Is jumping really so fun?"
And he replied a matter of factly "Yes, jumping is very fun!" (But I did not follow him and jump with joy. I was thinking.)
In the book of Nehemiah, Chapter 8, there is a record of the people of Israelites weeping when the Book of the Law of God was read and explained to them. But the Levites, Nehemiah and Ezra who were instructing them in the Book of the Law said to them "This day is sacred to the LORD your God. Do not mourn or weep. Go and enjoy choice food and sweet drinks, and send some to those who have nothing prepared. This day is sacred to our Lord. Do not grieve, for the joy of the LORD is your strength. Be still, for this is a sacred day. Do not grieve."
Then all the people went away to eat and drink, to send portions of food and to celebrate with great joy, because they now understood the words that had been made known to them.
From the days of Joshua son of Nun until that day, the Israelites had not celebrated it like this. And their joy was very great.
Children - are joyous because understanding has not been taken away from them (yet!).
Simpleton - are joyous (maybe) because understanding has been sealed within them
(I cannot say for sure and this may seem a very cruel comment but that is the way I see it at times. I do stand to be corrected.)
the Wise - are joyous because understanding has returned to them.
"Jumping is so fun." "I'm very clever!"
My nephew is indeed very clever and happy.
Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God. And their joy will be complete.
Be merry!
Monday, July 20, 2009
Extract of Ps Peter Tan's Testimony
“My spirit man is not only malnourished, it reflects nothing of the power and glory of my God.”
I have been reflecting about my spiritual life, especially after reading the testimony of this man Ps Peter Tan. (www.eaglevision.com.my/txttestimony.htm)
I know many a times at church, we spoke about Spiritual Awakening, Renewal, On Fire, Moving in the Spirit
I have extracted the portion that caught me especially, that caused me to really reflect the stage of my spiritual life.
It was this man’s fervency and seriousness in (the things of) God that move me.
I know I need to rebuild my spiritual life.
TESTIMONY OF MY LIFE AND MINISTRY by Ps Peter Tan
While I was there I continue on seeking the Lord. It was during that first year when I came out that the Lord showed me a vision of my spirit man. He showed how my spirit man was just malnourished. I want you to know that intellectually I had good bible knowledge. My grades in seminary were always 90 marks and above. So the vision of my malnourished spirit man had nothing to do with bible knowledge. But bible knowledge and spiritual growth are two different things. God showed me that my spiritual life was dry, empty and malnourished. I found in that first year when I came out the Lord dealt with my spiritual life.
That was when the Lord told me to take one year where I read nothing but the Word of God. I took every promise from Genesis to Revelation personalize them and for about eight hours a day meditated and meditated and prayed in tongues and meditated and prayed in tongues and meditated. For one year I read nothing but the Word of God. I read no newspaper; I read no books not even Christian books. And I meditated on the Lord. About six months into that meditation the Lord began to teach about His gifts. How His word of knowledge operates. I began to feel what I call now the tangible anointing that I never felt before. I began to understand that was the gift of the Spirit working.
I have been reflecting about my spiritual life, especially after reading the testimony of this man Ps Peter Tan. (www.eaglevision.com.my/txttestimony.htm)
I know many a times at church, we spoke about Spiritual Awakening, Renewal, On Fire, Moving in the Spirit
I have extracted the portion that caught me especially, that caused me to really reflect the stage of my spiritual life.
It was this man’s fervency and seriousness in (the things of) God that move me.
I know I need to rebuild my spiritual life.
TESTIMONY OF MY LIFE AND MINISTRY by Ps Peter Tan
While I was there I continue on seeking the Lord. It was during that first year when I came out that the Lord showed me a vision of my spirit man. He showed how my spirit man was just malnourished. I want you to know that intellectually I had good bible knowledge. My grades in seminary were always 90 marks and above. So the vision of my malnourished spirit man had nothing to do with bible knowledge. But bible knowledge and spiritual growth are two different things. God showed me that my spiritual life was dry, empty and malnourished. I found in that first year when I came out the Lord dealt with my spiritual life.
That was when the Lord told me to take one year where I read nothing but the Word of God. I took every promise from Genesis to Revelation personalize them and for about eight hours a day meditated and meditated and prayed in tongues and meditated and prayed in tongues and meditated. For one year I read nothing but the Word of God. I read no newspaper; I read no books not even Christian books. And I meditated on the Lord. About six months into that meditation the Lord began to teach about His gifts. How His word of knowledge operates. I began to feel what I call now the tangible anointing that I never felt before. I began to understand that was the gift of the Spirit working.
Don't Waste Your Life (John Piper)
What is the point of life - To be happy? Or to glorify God?
Unspoken for many years, there was in me the feeling that these two were at odds. Either you glorify God or you pursue happiness. And that is why I was confused and frustrated for so long.
Enjoying and displaying are both crucial.
Delighting in God is the way we glorify Him. Seeking happiness in God and glorifying God are the same.
Jonathan Edwards says God’s purpose for our lives was that we have a passion for God’s glory and that I have a passion for my joy in that glory, and these two are one passion.
Now we see that in creating us for His glory, he is creating us for our highest glory. He is most glorified in us when we are most satisfied in him.
With these discoveries, I now felt free to embrace God’s purpose for my life revealed in the Bible. I didn’t have to be afraid that I must choose between pursuing His glory and pursuing my joy. I was free to experience the single passion for God’s supremacy in all things for the joy of all people. I was rescued from a wasted life. Now life could have ultimate meaning – the same meaning God’s life has: enjoying and displaying His greatness.
God created us to live with a single passion to joyfully display his supreme excellence in all spheres of life. The wasted life is the life without this passion.
Science & Miracle - Two sides of the same coin
Two sides of the same coin - if two things are two sides of the same coin, they are very closely related although they seem different.
Last Sunday Sermon shares from Mark 6 and Jesus spoke to the disciples “Take courage! It is I. Don't be afraid.” The Scripture also explains despite witnessing the miracles, the disciples have not understood as their hearts were hardened, callous, dull, their minds were closed, lost the power of understanding.
This is the 4th sermon that spoke about Fear.
We fear when things gets out of order - an order that our mind can conceive, understand or plan.
But God who brought order into chaos (thereby our observance of Science), has the same power to bring chaos into the “order” of thing (thereby our observance of Miracle).
Science and Miracle are actually two sides of the same coin. It is just a bit difficult to work it in the "reverse" order.
Monday, July 6, 2009
Lift Your Vision High
Lift Your Vision High We're In A Way We've Never Been Before
Lift Your Vision Higher And You Shall See The Glory Of The Lord
For Without A Progressive Vision We Will Dwell Carelessly
Without A Progressive Vision We Will Dwell Carelessly
Lift Your Vision Higher And You Will See The Glory Of The Lord.
Lift Your Vision Higher And You Shall See The Glory Of The Lord
For Without A Progressive Vision We Will Dwell Carelessly
Without A Progressive Vision We Will Dwell Carelessly
Lift Your Vision Higher And You Will See The Glory Of The Lord.
Thursday, June 25, 2009
As Bird Sings
Just as bird sings, tree shades, flower blooms with no apparent effort
when we allow our life purpose to expresss through us, we experience joy and energy.
http://www.linkhotel.com.sg/en/index.php
when we allow our life purpose to expresss through us, we experience joy and energy.
http://www.linkhotel.com.sg/en/index.php
Tuesday, June 16, 2009
Sermon Series on Book of JOB
When I went back and think about the sermon – the replies God had for Job and Job’s acceptance of it. I wonder if I can accept such a reply. As I was reading the passage again, wondering what to make of God’s reply to Job and Job’s response, 42:5-6 caught me.
Job 42
4 "You said, 'Listen now, and I will speak;
I will question you,
and you shall answer me.'
5 My ears had heard of you
but now my eyes have seen you.
6 Therefore I despise myself
and repent in dust and ashes."
What caused Job to say what he said in v. 5-6?
Is it the reply of God, the revelation of God, the restoration of God or the reverence (awe) of God that brought about Job’s response?
What are their difference?
We noticed Job’s response was after the reply and revelation but before the restoration.
Which is the one NECESSARY condition from God to us, and
what is the one NECESSARY condition from us to God?
If there is no reply, revelation or restoration, would Job has responded this way?
If there is reply and revelation but no restoration, what would his response be?
As a friend has asked, what is the book of Job about.
To me Job is a book of Suffering, of Sovereignty, of Surrender and of reStoration.
“Jesus came not to explain suffering or to take it away, but to fill it with His Presence”
(Joyce Hugget, Under the Caring Eye of God)
Job 42
4 "You said, 'Listen now, and I will speak;
I will question you,
and you shall answer me.'
5 My ears had heard of you
but now my eyes have seen you.
6 Therefore I despise myself
and repent in dust and ashes."
What caused Job to say what he said in v. 5-6?
Is it the reply of God, the revelation of God, the restoration of God or the reverence (awe) of God that brought about Job’s response?
What are their difference?
We noticed Job’s response was after the reply and revelation but before the restoration.
Which is the one NECESSARY condition from God to us, and
what is the one NECESSARY condition from us to God?
If there is no reply, revelation or restoration, would Job has responded this way?
If there is reply and revelation but no restoration, what would his response be?
As a friend has asked, what is the book of Job about.
To me Job is a book of Suffering, of Sovereignty, of Surrender and of reStoration.
“Jesus came not to explain suffering or to take it away, but to fill it with His Presence”
(Joyce Hugget, Under the Caring Eye of God)
Monday, June 1, 2009
Compassion - the Art of Visiting
When the sermon was preached from book of JOB two weeks back, I gave more careful thoughts to it and I felt it was a very cruel book, because I imagined it happened to me.
In this imagination, I try to fathom how would and could Job actually ‘feel’. Frankly, with my best imagination of all the human experience and the full repertoire of emotions, I still find it hard to think how Job is able to say how he feels.
When anyone comes to visit me, I don’t want him to come with his own agenda… I often get the feeling that before people enter my room, they try to decide what to say. I don’t want to hear their concerns. I want them to empty their heads of their own ideas. When you visit a sick, fill your head with thoughts about that person, your care for him… If you just go in and listen, they will do all the “saying” because they really want to talk about themselves. They need to get in touch with their feelings and they need to tell it to another human.
(The Art of Visiting - Under the Caring Eye of God, Joyce Hugget)
We may not have a friend who suffered like Job to visit. But we do have a unique ministry at the Saturday Service.
My first visitor encouraged me in this way. This visitor, the priest I mentioned in an earlier chapter, so radiated calm and peace and the presence of Christ that, when I reflected on the visit after he had gone I concluded that, instead of rushing from the Underground station into my room, as I would have been tempted to do, he must have prepared himself prayerfully for this visit. I learned that later that he had, indeed, slipped into the chapel for a few minutes of quiet before visiting a patient on the Fourth place and then me.
In the solitude of the chapel, had my friend prepared himself in a similar way? Was this the reason why everything he said and did seemed to be shot through with the strengthening love of Christ? Is there a lesson for me to learn?
In the hectic lifestyle we adopt, we have so little time and energy left. We are mostly numb and drained. Thus we need dramatic incidents, overwhelming experiences, peak emotions and powerful moments for us to be tugged (the Charity shows, the people begging at the MRTs). We have become desensitized to be able to feel. Are we still able to carve out a margin for compassion?
The word compassion is derived from the Latin words pati and cum, which together mean “to suffer with”. Compassion asks us to go where it hurts, to enter into places of pain, to share in brokenness, fear, confusion and anguish… Compassion means full immersion in the condition of being human.
If my Lord is a compassionate God, do I know He is suffering with me right now?
In this imagination, I try to fathom how would and could Job actually ‘feel’. Frankly, with my best imagination of all the human experience and the full repertoire of emotions, I still find it hard to think how Job is able to say how he feels.
When anyone comes to visit me, I don’t want him to come with his own agenda… I often get the feeling that before people enter my room, they try to decide what to say. I don’t want to hear their concerns. I want them to empty their heads of their own ideas. When you visit a sick, fill your head with thoughts about that person, your care for him… If you just go in and listen, they will do all the “saying” because they really want to talk about themselves. They need to get in touch with their feelings and they need to tell it to another human.
(The Art of Visiting - Under the Caring Eye of God, Joyce Hugget)
We may not have a friend who suffered like Job to visit. But we do have a unique ministry at the Saturday Service.
My first visitor encouraged me in this way. This visitor, the priest I mentioned in an earlier chapter, so radiated calm and peace and the presence of Christ that, when I reflected on the visit after he had gone I concluded that, instead of rushing from the Underground station into my room, as I would have been tempted to do, he must have prepared himself prayerfully for this visit. I learned that later that he had, indeed, slipped into the chapel for a few minutes of quiet before visiting a patient on the Fourth place and then me.
In the solitude of the chapel, had my friend prepared himself in a similar way? Was this the reason why everything he said and did seemed to be shot through with the strengthening love of Christ? Is there a lesson for me to learn?
In the hectic lifestyle we adopt, we have so little time and energy left. We are mostly numb and drained. Thus we need dramatic incidents, overwhelming experiences, peak emotions and powerful moments for us to be tugged (the Charity shows, the people begging at the MRTs). We have become desensitized to be able to feel. Are we still able to carve out a margin for compassion?
The word compassion is derived from the Latin words pati and cum, which together mean “to suffer with”. Compassion asks us to go where it hurts, to enter into places of pain, to share in brokenness, fear, confusion and anguish… Compassion means full immersion in the condition of being human.
If my Lord is a compassionate God, do I know He is suffering with me right now?
Friday, April 10, 2009
Cities and their words
See , Giulio - that is a Roman woman. Rome cannot be her city and my city, too. Only one of us really belongs here. And I think we both know which one.
Giulio said, "Maybe you and Rome just have different words."
"What do you mean?"
He said, "Don't you know that the secret to understanding a city and its people is to learn - what is the word of the secret?"... Every city has a single word that defines it, that identifies most people who live there. If you could read people's thoughts as they were passing you on the streets of any given place, you would disover that most of them are thinking the same thought. Whatever that majority thought might be - that is the word of the city. And if your personal word does not match the word of the city, then you don't really belong there.
(Eat, Pray and Love by Elizabeth Gilbert)
What is the word for Singapore?
What is the word for your city, your community, your workplace, your friends, your family?
If I am not participating in the word, I am not fully living here.... How?
Giulio said, "Maybe you and Rome just have different words."
"What do you mean?"
He said, "Don't you know that the secret to understanding a city and its people is to learn - what is the word of the secret?"... Every city has a single word that defines it, that identifies most people who live there. If you could read people's thoughts as they were passing you on the streets of any given place, you would disover that most of them are thinking the same thought. Whatever that majority thought might be - that is the word of the city. And if your personal word does not match the word of the city, then you don't really belong there.
(Eat, Pray and Love by Elizabeth Gilbert)
What is the word for Singapore?
What is the word for your city, your community, your workplace, your friends, your family?
If I am not participating in the word, I am not fully living here.... How?
Sunday, March 29, 2009
Brother David. Tell me about exhaustion.
I looked up at Brother David, the nearest thing I had to a truly wise person in my life, and found myself almost blurting.
"Brother David?"
I uttered in such an old, petitionary, Catholic way that I almost thought he was going to say, " Yes, my son?" But he did not; he turned his face toward me, following the spontaneous note of desparate sincerity, and simply waited.
"Tell me about exhaustion," I said.
He looked at me with an acute, searching, compassionate ferocity for the briefest of moments, as if trying to sum up the entirety of the situation and without missing a beat, as if he had been waiting all along, to say a life-changing thing to me. He said, in the form both of a question and an assertion:
"You know the antidote to exhaustion is not necessarily rest?"
"The antidote to exhaustion is not necessarily rest," I repeated woodenly, as if I might exhaust myself completely before I reached the end of the sentence. "What is it then?"
"The antidote to exhaustion is wholeheartedness."
He looked at me for a wholehearted moment, ...
"Crossing the unknown sea" by David Whyte
"Brother David?"
I uttered in such an old, petitionary, Catholic way that I almost thought he was going to say, " Yes, my son?" But he did not; he turned his face toward me, following the spontaneous note of desparate sincerity, and simply waited.
"Tell me about exhaustion," I said.
He looked at me with an acute, searching, compassionate ferocity for the briefest of moments, as if trying to sum up the entirety of the situation and without missing a beat, as if he had been waiting all along, to say a life-changing thing to me. He said, in the form both of a question and an assertion:
"You know the antidote to exhaustion is not necessarily rest?"
"The antidote to exhaustion is not necessarily rest," I repeated woodenly, as if I might exhaust myself completely before I reached the end of the sentence. "What is it then?"
"The antidote to exhaustion is wholeheartedness."
He looked at me for a wholehearted moment, ...
"Crossing the unknown sea" by David Whyte
Friday, March 27, 2009
Thoughts in Solitude -ThomasMerton
My Lord God,
I have no idea where I am going. I do not see the road ahead of me. I cannot know for certain where it will end. Nor do I really know myself, and the fact that I think I am following your will does not mean that I am actually doing so. But I believe that the desire to please You does in fact please you. And I hope I have that desire in all that I am doing. I hope that I will never do anything apart from that desire. And I know that, if I do this, You will lead me by the right road, though I may know nothing about it. Therefore I will trust You always though I may seem to be lost and in the shadow of death. I will not fear, for You are ever with me, and You will never leave me to face my perils alone.
Thoughts in Solitude pp.83 -ThomasMerton
(bridges to contemplative living with thomas merton
one: entering the school of your experience)
I have no idea where I am going. I do not see the road ahead of me. I cannot know for certain where it will end. Nor do I really know myself, and the fact that I think I am following your will does not mean that I am actually doing so. But I believe that the desire to please You does in fact please you. And I hope I have that desire in all that I am doing. I hope that I will never do anything apart from that desire. And I know that, if I do this, You will lead me by the right road, though I may know nothing about it. Therefore I will trust You always though I may seem to be lost and in the shadow of death. I will not fear, for You are ever with me, and You will never leave me to face my perils alone.
Thoughts in Solitude pp.83 -ThomasMerton
(bridges to contemplative living with thomas merton
one: entering the school of your experience)
Letters to Marc about Jesus -"Secularize"Jesus
Henri Nouwen "Letters to Marc about Jesus - Living a Spiritual Life in a Material World"
In the course of writing, I have discovered for myself the great extent to which I am inclined to "secularize"Jesus. Instinctively, I look to Jesus for a cheap liberation, a solutiuon to my problems, help with my desire for success, getting even with my opponents, and a good measure of publicity (recognition).
I look to Jesus for freedom from the physical world, but not freedom to the Spiritual Life.
In the course of writing, I have discovered for myself the great extent to which I am inclined to "secularize"Jesus. Instinctively, I look to Jesus for a cheap liberation, a solutiuon to my problems, help with my desire for success, getting even with my opponents, and a good measure of publicity (recognition).
I look to Jesus for freedom from the physical world, but not freedom to the Spiritual Life.
Sunday, March 22, 2009
Isn't Jesus enough? (John 3:16)
gIsn't Jesus enough?
John 3:16 says "For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life."
The song says "Jesus, God's righteousness revealed. Jesus, redemption sacrifice. Jesus, the expression of God's love. Jesus, God's holiness displayed."
God asks me "Isn't Jesus enough for you, Li Boey?"
Though I really want and hope to say within the deepest of my heart to God that Jesus is enough. But I know I still am not able to totally own that reply.
"God, Jesus isn't enough for me yet."
"Why?"I ask myself why isn't Jesus enough?
And my heart replies me"It isn't that Jesus isn't enough but I want more than enough. I want what Jesus will not promise."
Because I am scared, I am confused, I am insecured, I want more.
God, help me
to see Jesus clearly
to love him dearly
to follow him closely.
so that Jesus is enough for me.
John 3:16 says "For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life."
The song says "Jesus, God's righteousness revealed. Jesus, redemption sacrifice. Jesus, the expression of God's love. Jesus, God's holiness displayed."
God asks me "Isn't Jesus enough for you, Li Boey?"
Though I really want and hope to say within the deepest of my heart to God that Jesus is enough. But I know I still am not able to totally own that reply.
"God, Jesus isn't enough for me yet."
"Why?"I ask myself why isn't Jesus enough?
And my heart replies me"It isn't that Jesus isn't enough but I want more than enough. I want what Jesus will not promise."
Because I am scared, I am confused, I am insecured, I want more.
God, help me
to see Jesus clearly
to love him dearly
to follow him closely.
so that Jesus is enough for me.
Tuesday, March 17, 2009
Agnus Dei - Lamb of God
Agnus Dei, qui tollis peccata mundi, miserere nobis.
Agnus Dei, qui tollis peccata mundi, miserere nobis.
Agnus Dei, qui tollis peccata mundi, dona nobis pacem.
Lamb of God, you take away the sin of the world, have mercy on us.
Lamb of God, you take away the sin of the world, have mercy on us.
Lamb of God, you take away the sin of the world, grant us peace.
Jesus, Lamb of God, have mercy on us.
Jesus, bearer of our sins, have mercy on us.
Jesus, redeemer of the world, grant us peace.
O Lamb of God, that takest away the sins of the world, have mercy upon us.
O Lamb of God, that takest away the sins of the world, have mercy upon us.
O Lamb of God, that takest away the sins of the world, grant us thy peace.
Agnus Dei, qui tollis peccata mundi, miserere nobis.
Agnus Dei, qui tollis peccata mundi, dona nobis pacem.
Lamb of God, you take away the sin of the world, have mercy on us.
Lamb of God, you take away the sin of the world, have mercy on us.
Lamb of God, you take away the sin of the world, grant us peace.
Jesus, Lamb of God, have mercy on us.
Jesus, bearer of our sins, have mercy on us.
Jesus, redeemer of the world, grant us peace.
O Lamb of God, that takest away the sins of the world, have mercy upon us.
O Lamb of God, that takest away the sins of the world, have mercy upon us.
O Lamb of God, that takest away the sins of the world, grant us thy peace.
Robinson Crusoe
When I feel like having no way to go, I like to remember the story of Robinson Crusoe. I don't remember much of the story (and I read the Children Illustrated version) but just like to take comfort in the part that he "needed" to stay on the island for 28 years.
A young man weighs two very different options for his future. Robinson can either settle down to a comfortable career in law or set sail for faraway places, as he passionately longs to do. Although his family urges him to choose the safer path, Robinson cannot resist the lure of the sea.
A young man weighs two very different options for his future. Robinson can either settle down to a comfortable career in law or set sail for faraway places, as he passionately longs to do. Although his family urges him to choose the safer path, Robinson cannot resist the lure of the sea.
Robinson Crusoe who hopes to find fame and fortune on the high seas, but a fierce ocean storm wrecks his ship and leaves him stranded by himself on an uncharted island. Left to fend for himself, Crusoe seeks out a tentative survival on the island, … …
Blue moments
I was 25 penniless, alone, frightened and ill. I was living in a garret. Ihad no friends and I was far from family. My days were spentworking in an antique resotration shop of an embittered alcoholic man, and my nights were spent wandering the streets watching the oassinglives of people who neither spoke my language nor knew of my cares.
I had never been so alone.
The mother of the man for whom Iworked was a very insightful woman. As a child, she had watched the Nazis comeinto her classroom and take the Jewish children away. No one spoken of it and class went on as if nothing had happened. But day by day, night by night,she saw her friends and playmates disappear.
She became a watcher and survivor.
One day she took me inside.
"I watch you," she said. "I see the loneliness in your eyes. I watch your heart running away. You are like so many people. When life is hard, they try to look over the difficulty into the future. Or they long for the happiness of the past. Time is their enemy.The day they are lving is their enemy. They are dead to the moment. They live only for the future or the past. But that is wrong.
"You must learn to seek the blue moment," she said.
She sat down beside me and continued. "The blue moment can happen any time or any place. It is a moment when you are truly alive to the world around you. It can be a moment of love or a moment of terror. You may not know it when it happens. It may only reveal itself in memory. But if you are patient and open your heart, the blue moment will come. My childhood classmates are dead, but I have the blue moments when we looked in each other's eyes"
I turned and stared into her lined and gentle face.
"Listen carefully to me," she continued."This is a blue moment. I really believe it. We will never forget it. At this moment you and I are closer to any other human beings. Seize this moment. Hold it. Don't turn fromit. It will pass andwewill be as we were. But this is a blue moment,and the blue moments string us together like pearls to make up your life. It is up to you to find them. It is upto you to bring them alive in others."
"Always seek the blue moment," she said, and returned to her work.
(Taken from Small Graces - the quiet gifts of everyday life, by Ken Nerburn)
I had never been so alone.
The mother of the man for whom Iworked was a very insightful woman. As a child, she had watched the Nazis comeinto her classroom and take the Jewish children away. No one spoken of it and class went on as if nothing had happened. But day by day, night by night,she saw her friends and playmates disappear.
She became a watcher and survivor.
One day she took me inside.
"I watch you," she said. "I see the loneliness in your eyes. I watch your heart running away. You are like so many people. When life is hard, they try to look over the difficulty into the future. Or they long for the happiness of the past. Time is their enemy.The day they are lving is their enemy. They are dead to the moment. They live only for the future or the past. But that is wrong.
"You must learn to seek the blue moment," she said.
She sat down beside me and continued. "The blue moment can happen any time or any place. It is a moment when you are truly alive to the world around you. It can be a moment of love or a moment of terror. You may not know it when it happens. It may only reveal itself in memory. But if you are patient and open your heart, the blue moment will come. My childhood classmates are dead, but I have the blue moments when we looked in each other's eyes"
I turned and stared into her lined and gentle face.
"Listen carefully to me," she continued."This is a blue moment. I really believe it. We will never forget it. At this moment you and I are closer to any other human beings. Seize this moment. Hold it. Don't turn fromit. It will pass andwewill be as we were. But this is a blue moment,and the blue moments string us together like pearls to make up your life. It is up to you to find them. It is upto you to bring them alive in others."
"Always seek the blue moment," she said, and returned to her work.
(Taken from Small Graces - the quiet gifts of everyday life, by Ken Nerburn)
This is the dark gift
The look on her face is numb disbelief. "it can't be," she says. Then, "Why me? Why now?"
It is not a great injury - a broken ankle. But it had been so unexpected.
This is the first time Alex has collided with an indifferent world. Everything else has up to now has been negotiable, has been arguable. Everything else up to now could be avoided, escaped, bought off, laughed away.
But this is real; this is hers. No one can change it, make it right, make it fair. It is life - an absolute without explanation - that is indifferent to her plans and dreams.
We try to comfort her and tell her it will be all right. Stories and jokes flow of similar experiences. But at heart, there is a small darkness, absolute and irrefutable, that separates us from her and leaves her ultimately and utterly alone.
"This is the dark gift," I tell her.
"Gift?" she says, almost derisively.
"Now you know."
"What do I know?" she protests. "I know that my life is ruined."
"No, your life isn't ruined. Now your life is your life. No one else can fix it or change it. No one else can be blamed. This is yours. And it is up to you what you will make of it."
She hobbles off, consumed in her own sadness. It hurts me to have sounded so callous. But this is a harsh truth,and there was no virtue in denying its existence.
The dark gifts. It comes to us all. The truth you cannot deny that makes you one with the aloneness of others.
(Taken from Small Graces - the quiet gifts of everyday life, by Ken Nerburn)
It is not a great injury - a broken ankle. But it had been so unexpected.
This is the first time Alex has collided with an indifferent world. Everything else has up to now has been negotiable, has been arguable. Everything else up to now could be avoided, escaped, bought off, laughed away.
But this is real; this is hers. No one can change it, make it right, make it fair. It is life - an absolute without explanation - that is indifferent to her plans and dreams.
We try to comfort her and tell her it will be all right. Stories and jokes flow of similar experiences. But at heart, there is a small darkness, absolute and irrefutable, that separates us from her and leaves her ultimately and utterly alone.
"This is the dark gift," I tell her.
"Gift?" she says, almost derisively.
"Now you know."
"What do I know?" she protests. "I know that my life is ruined."
"No, your life isn't ruined. Now your life is your life. No one else can fix it or change it. No one else can be blamed. This is yours. And it is up to you what you will make of it."
She hobbles off, consumed in her own sadness. It hurts me to have sounded so callous. But this is a harsh truth,and there was no virtue in denying its existence.
The dark gifts. It comes to us all. The truth you cannot deny that makes you one with the aloneness of others.
(Taken from Small Graces - the quiet gifts of everyday life, by Ken Nerburn)
Friday, March 13, 2009
Best Wishes for 37th Birthday
You have a place in the world that is unique,
a path to walk that is yours alone.
You have a spirit bold and bright,
quick to care and to create.
You have so many dreams to seek,
so many talents all your own,
so much in you that is good and right.
Enjoy life!
Happy Birthday.
a path to walk that is yours alone.
You have a spirit bold and bright,
quick to care and to create.
You have so many dreams to seek,
so many talents all your own,
so much in you that is good and right.
Enjoy life!
Happy Birthday.
John 20 - Who is it?
"Who is it?" is a game we play with our loved ones.
Mary was standing outside the tomb crying. Peter and John came and went, they have their own thoughts to be sorted out. So she was on her own again. She was just there, crying, helplessly crying. Can't think, can't act.
Looking over to the spot where the Lord was last laid, was there but not anymore. Looking from a distance, not drawing near.
Angels!!! Sitting in the tomb. Two of them, sitting where the body was. Helping her with a question "Why are you crying?"
Taken away, I don't know... where.
The Lord!!! Standing there. Where is there???
- Just behind Mary, looking where she was looking?
- Just beside Mary, hearing her crying to the angels?
When was the Lord there?
Unable to recognise it was the Lord, the Lord asked Mary "Who is it you are looking for?"
Just like the game we play. Hands over the eyes, "Who is it?" "It is Me." Hands removed, eyes opened, head turned and both persons smile at the revelation and recognition.
"Mary."
"Rabboni!"
++++
10Then the disciples went back to their homes, 11but Mary stood outside the tomb crying. As she wept, she bent over to look into the tomb 12and saw two angels in white, seated where Jesus' body had been, one at the head and the other at the foot.
13They asked her, "Woman, why are you crying?"
"They have taken my Lord away," she said, "and I don't know where they have put him."
14At this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing there, but she did not realize that it was Jesus.
15"Woman," he said, "why are you crying? Who is it you are looking for?"
Thinking he was the gardener, she said, "Sir, if you have carried him away, tell me where you have put him, and I will get him."
16Jesus said to her, "Mary."
She turned toward him and cried out in Aramaic, "Rabboni!" (which means Teacher).
Mary was standing outside the tomb crying. Peter and John came and went, they have their own thoughts to be sorted out. So she was on her own again. She was just there, crying, helplessly crying. Can't think, can't act.
Looking over to the spot where the Lord was last laid, was there but not anymore. Looking from a distance, not drawing near.
Angels!!! Sitting in the tomb. Two of them, sitting where the body was. Helping her with a question "Why are you crying?"
Taken away, I don't know... where.
The Lord!!! Standing there. Where is there???
- Just behind Mary, looking where she was looking?
- Just beside Mary, hearing her crying to the angels?
When was the Lord there?
Unable to recognise it was the Lord, the Lord asked Mary "Who is it you are looking for?"
Just like the game we play. Hands over the eyes, "Who is it?" "It is Me." Hands removed, eyes opened, head turned and both persons smile at the revelation and recognition.
"Mary."
"Rabboni!"
++++
10Then the disciples went back to their homes, 11but Mary stood outside the tomb crying. As she wept, she bent over to look into the tomb 12and saw two angels in white, seated where Jesus' body had been, one at the head and the other at the foot.
13They asked her, "Woman, why are you crying?"
"They have taken my Lord away," she said, "and I don't know where they have put him."
14At this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing there, but she did not realize that it was Jesus.
15"Woman," he said, "why are you crying? Who is it you are looking for?"
Thinking he was the gardener, she said, "Sir, if you have carried him away, tell me where you have put him, and I will get him."
16Jesus said to her, "Mary."
She turned toward him and cried out in Aramaic, "Rabboni!" (which means Teacher).
Passion - the Agony and the Ecstasy
Many of us have been asked "What is your passion?" and many of us upon consideration, may reply "I don't know." Or maybe reply "Teaching, selling, research, painting, cars, women, ...."
Of course, in the course of growing up, out of necessity of being useful, we discover and develop more of our competencies. We follow the path of security. The subject of passion later catches on and we suddenly feel the need to be passionate but don't know what our passions are.
He said the word Passion also carries the meaning of suffering, something I am willing to suffer for and to die for.
Passion - the whole experience of the agony and the ecstasy, the steadfastness in the conviction, to the point of laying down one's life for it.
I guess I lack not passion, but the courage of laying down my life, of going through the whole experience of agony and ecstasy.
(The nearest I can think of for most is MONEY.)
Of course, in the course of growing up, out of necessity of being useful, we discover and develop more of our competencies. We follow the path of security. The subject of passion later catches on and we suddenly feel the need to be passionate but don't know what our passions are.
But the first question may be what is passion? Is it interest, is it enjoyment, something that gives us good feel, makes us tick, we are not tired from it, energized by it?
Today I was confessing to a friend I don't know what my passsion is. I don't know what I like.
And my friend explains that Passion is not just enjoyment, feel good, interest, likings.He said the word Passion also carries the meaning of suffering, something I am willing to suffer for and to die for.
Passion - the whole experience of the agony and the ecstasy, the steadfastness in the conviction, to the point of laying down one's life for it.
I guess I lack not passion, but the courage of laying down my life, of going through the whole experience of agony and ecstasy.
(The nearest I can think of for most is MONEY.)
Sunday, February 15, 2009
Can we share a table?
I have a discussion with some pals on our stand of our domestic helpers sharing at dinner table and menu. Definitely each of us has their point of view, according to our own growning up experience and sense of what is proper and appropriate.
I don't have a helper, though I can share much but I did not share much.
If I am to have an opinion, this may be how I gague the decision:
Community. Everyone needs and desire community. Are they provision of avenues for such for the helpers, sharing a conversation over a meal with someone?
I am not sure this is true but from what I read and watched in movie.
In the older days, servants and slaves were hired in group and they have their own community in the household. So when they do meal together, it is still in a community. They have an avenue to share their day, share a conversation, have someone to talk to, cracked a joke. Some may even have their own family in the midst, so eating separately in understandable.
If I have a helper, I may not feel real comfy (not sure about them) about sharing of table and menu, but what is the harm anyway? They or she will sit in and eat in silence, responding when conversed.
So what shall I do?
I don't have a helper, though I can share much but I did not share much.
If I am to have an opinion, this may be how I gague the decision:
Community. Everyone needs and desire community. Are they provision of avenues for such for the helpers, sharing a conversation over a meal with someone?
I am not sure this is true but from what I read and watched in movie.
In the older days, servants and slaves were hired in group and they have their own community in the household. So when they do meal together, it is still in a community. They have an avenue to share their day, share a conversation, have someone to talk to, cracked a joke. Some may even have their own family in the midst, so eating separately in understandable.
If I have a helper, I may not feel real comfy (not sure about them) about sharing of table and menu, but what is the harm anyway? They or she will sit in and eat in silence, responding when conversed.
So what shall I do?
Friday, February 13, 2009
Permitted Extravagance and Waste
Last week, in the papers there is a discussion point on "Extravagance". It is due to the timing. With the exposure of the exploits of Wall Street CEOs, the insensitve and irresponsible extravagances. People are shouting crucifications.
A few members of the local high society were interviewed and expressed their points of view -true and untrue, relevant and irrelavant, useful and useless. Most see no wrong in extravagance but they will be more discrete now, given the sensitivity of the time.
++++
When I worked as a community organizer in the poorer Boston neighbourhoods of Roxbury and Dorchester, we often had meetings with local teachers, parents, clergy and social activitists , trying again and again to listen to the healing that would be possible in the lives of the struggling families who lived there.
One day we were meeting in Old South Church, one of the fine, traditional house of worship in Boston. One social activist was particularly enthusiatic in criticising the great disparities of wealth in the city. In his evangelical fervour, he used the church we were sitting in as an offending example. "Take this church. It is obscene, all this stained glass and gold chalice and fine tapestries. If the church really cared about poor people, they should sell all of this and give it to the poor."
This arguement is not new; it was made by Jesus's disciple themselves, and it clearly has some merit. But a woman from the neighbourhood, who had lived there all her life, said quietly, "This is one of the most beautiful placesin the city. It is one of the only places where poor folks can afford tobe around beauty. All other beauty in this city costs money. Here we can be surroundedby beautiful things and it all belongs to us. Don't even think about taking awaywhat little beauty we have."
We are a nation of hectic healers, refusing to stop. Our drive to do better faster, to develop social programme more rapidly, to create helpful agencies more quickly can create a sea of frantic busyness with negligible, even questionable, results. In our passionate rush to be helpful, we miss things that are sacred, subtle and important.
(Taken from Sabbath,Wayne Muller)
++++
But I am not too sure if that is what I observe at where I am. We are self-activitist rather social-acitivist.
Also I hope the churches would not take it wrongly in the reasoning for the mega projects. But who am I to judge when I don't even really know their thought process and also I am the one they are ultimately accountable for in the decision.
extravagance, extravagancy -- the quality of exceeding the appropriate limits of decorum or probability or truth;
Matt 26:6-13
While Jesus was in Bethany in the home of a man known as Simon the Leper, a woman came to him with an alabaster jar of very expensive perfume, which she poured on his head as he was reclining at the table.
When the disciples saw this, they were indignant. "Why this waste?" they asked. "This perfume could have been sold at a high price and the money given to the poor."
Aware of this, Jesus said to them, "Why are you bothering this woman? She has done a beautiful thing to me. The poor you will always have with you, but you will not always have me. When she poured this perfume on my body, she did it to prepare me for burial. I tell you the truth, wherever this gospel is preached throughout the world, what she has done will also be told, in memory of her."
A few members of the local high society were interviewed and expressed their points of view -true and untrue, relevant and irrelavant, useful and useless. Most see no wrong in extravagance but they will be more discrete now, given the sensitivity of the time.
++++
When I worked as a community organizer in the poorer Boston neighbourhoods of Roxbury and Dorchester, we often had meetings with local teachers, parents, clergy and social activitists , trying again and again to listen to the healing that would be possible in the lives of the struggling families who lived there.
One day we were meeting in Old South Church, one of the fine, traditional house of worship in Boston. One social activist was particularly enthusiatic in criticising the great disparities of wealth in the city. In his evangelical fervour, he used the church we were sitting in as an offending example. "Take this church. It is obscene, all this stained glass and gold chalice and fine tapestries. If the church really cared about poor people, they should sell all of this and give it to the poor."
This arguement is not new; it was made by Jesus's disciple themselves, and it clearly has some merit. But a woman from the neighbourhood, who had lived there all her life, said quietly, "This is one of the most beautiful placesin the city. It is one of the only places where poor folks can afford tobe around beauty. All other beauty in this city costs money. Here we can be surroundedby beautiful things and it all belongs to us. Don't even think about taking awaywhat little beauty we have."
We are a nation of hectic healers, refusing to stop. Our drive to do better faster, to develop social programme more rapidly, to create helpful agencies more quickly can create a sea of frantic busyness with negligible, even questionable, results. In our passionate rush to be helpful, we miss things that are sacred, subtle and important.
(Taken from Sabbath,Wayne Muller)
++++
But I am not too sure if that is what I observe at where I am. We are self-activitist rather social-acitivist.
Also I hope the churches would not take it wrongly in the reasoning for the mega projects. But who am I to judge when I don't even really know their thought process and also I am the one they are ultimately accountable for in the decision.
extravagance, extravagancy -- the quality of exceeding the appropriate limits of decorum or probability or truth;
Matt 26:6-13
While Jesus was in Bethany in the home of a man known as Simon the Leper, a woman came to him with an alabaster jar of very expensive perfume, which she poured on his head as he was reclining at the table.
When the disciples saw this, they were indignant. "Why this waste?" they asked. "This perfume could have been sold at a high price and the money given to the poor."
Aware of this, Jesus said to them, "Why are you bothering this woman? She has done a beautiful thing to me. The poor you will always have with you, but you will not always have me. When she poured this perfume on my body, she did it to prepare me for burial. I tell you the truth, wherever this gospel is preached throughout the world, what she has done will also be told, in memory of her."
Everyone is looking for you!" (Mark1:37)
Mark 1: 36 Simon and his companions went to look for him (Jesus), 37 and when they found him, they exclaimed: "Everyone is looking for you!"
The times I have a similar experience of such an exclamation is when the other party needs something from me and I am considered lagging in fulfilling the needs/ requests. And usually there is a tinge of frustration and reprimand from the other party.
In the gospel, it may be natural for this expectation. As just the day before many were healed, message was preached. Needs were met... but there were still more needs, greater needs, needed to be met..., so the Lord's work was not done, he was still needed, demanded.
38 Jesus replied, "Let us go somewhere else—to the nearby villages—so I can preach there also. That is why I have come."
To Jesus, it was not the case. He considered it finished. His accountability is towards the One who sent him, not to the ones he was sent for. But it is difficult to distinct between the One and the ones at times.
The times I have a similar experience of such an exclamation is when the other party needs something from me and I am considered lagging in fulfilling the needs/ requests. And usually there is a tinge of frustration and reprimand from the other party.
In the gospel, it may be natural for this expectation. As just the day before many were healed, message was preached. Needs were met... but there were still more needs, greater needs, needed to be met..., so the Lord's work was not done, he was still needed, demanded.
38 Jesus replied, "Let us go somewhere else—to the nearby villages—so I can preach there also. That is why I have come."
To Jesus, it was not the case. He considered it finished. His accountability is towards the One who sent him, not to the ones he was sent for. But it is difficult to distinct between the One and the ones at times.
Trees in Solomon Islands
In the Solomon Islands in the South Pacific, some villagers practise a unique formof logging.if a tree is too large to be felled with an axe, the nativesw cut it down by yelling at it. Woodsmen with special powers creep up on a tree just at dawn and suddenly scream at it at the top of their lungs. Theu continue it for thrity days. The tree dies and falls over.
The theory is that the hollering kills the spiritof thr tree. According to the villagers, it always work.
Ah,those poor naive innocents. Such quaintly charming habits of the jungle. Screaming at trees, indeed. How primitive. Too bad they don't have the advantages of modern technology and the
advantages of modren technology and the scientific mind.
Me? I yellat my wife. And yell at the telephone and the lawn mower. And yell at the TV and the newspaper and my children. I have even been know to shake my fist and yell at the sky at times.
Man next door yell at his car a lot. And this summer I heard him yell at a stepladder for most ofan afternoon. We modern,urban, educated folks yell at traffic and umpires and bills and banks and machines - especially machinese.
Don't know what good it does. Machines and things just sit there. Even kicking does not always help. As for people, well, the Solomon Islanders may have a point. telling at living things does tend to kill the spirit in them. Sticks and stones may break our bones, but words will break our hearts...
(Robert Folghum, All I really needtop know I learned in Kindergatren)
++++
Singaporean's list:
The theory is that the hollering kills the spiritof thr tree. According to the villagers, it always work.
Ah,those poor naive innocents. Such quaintly charming habits of the jungle. Screaming at trees, indeed. How primitive. Too bad they don't have the advantages of modern technology and the
advantages of modren technology and the scientific mind.
Me? I yellat my wife. And yell at the telephone and the lawn mower. And yell at the TV and the newspaper and my children. I have even been know to shake my fist and yell at the sky at times.
Man next door yell at his car a lot. And this summer I heard him yell at a stepladder for most ofan afternoon. We modern,urban, educated folks yell at traffic and umpires and bills and banks and machines - especially machinese.
Don't know what good it does. Machines and things just sit there. Even kicking does not always help. As for people, well, the Solomon Islanders may have a point. telling at living things does tend to kill the spirit in them. Sticks and stones may break our bones, but words will break our hearts...
(Robert Folghum, All I really needtop know I learned in Kindergatren)
++++
Singaporean's list:
- Domestic helper
- Children
- Parents
- Spouse
- Foreign Workers
- Call Centre and Service Centre staff
- Telemarketer
- Service Staff (when Q is long)
- Teachers(???)
- Neighbour (???)
- Driver with Triangle-plate
- ERP
- Long weekend Q at the Causeway
- ... ...
Sunday, February 1, 2009
Emptiness is the Pregnant Void
In spite of her significant career accomplishments, Elaine experienced a nagging emptiness.
But this emptiness has nothing at all to do with our value or our worth. All life has emptiness at its core; it is the quiet hollow reed through which the wind of God blows and makes the music that is our life. Without this emptiness, we are clogged and unable to give birth to music, love or kindness. All creation springs from emptiness.
Emptiness is the pregnant void out of which all creation springs. But many of us fear emptiness.. Most are far more axious about having to confront whatever will come up in empty space, when they are quiet and alone.
Who know what terror lurks in the anonymous solitude? What voices will arise in th silence? At the very same time, she says, people are afraid of what will not come up. WHAT IF I have no vision at all? What if there is nothing of value in my heart and soul, no strength, no voice of guidance, no wisdom at all - just an empty, hollow echo?
Wayne Muller "Sabbath"
But this emptiness has nothing at all to do with our value or our worth. All life has emptiness at its core; it is the quiet hollow reed through which the wind of God blows and makes the music that is our life. Without this emptiness, we are clogged and unable to give birth to music, love or kindness. All creation springs from emptiness.
Emptiness is the pregnant void out of which all creation springs. But many of us fear emptiness.. Most are far more axious about having to confront whatever will come up in empty space, when they are quiet and alone.
Who know what terror lurks in the anonymous solitude? What voices will arise in th silence? At the very same time, she says, people are afraid of what will not come up. WHAT IF I have no vision at all? What if there is nothing of value in my heart and soul, no strength, no voice of guidance, no wisdom at all - just an empty, hollow echo?
Wayne Muller "Sabbath"
Wednesday, January 28, 2009
Retreat
Years back I asked a good friend if she would consider attending church. Her reply then was "Yea, I suppose it is good. Going to church will complete me."
An agreement by a friend to come church is a great news to any new Christian.
Years later, when I recalled this conversation, I heard something else.
In our contemporary living, nearly every minute is about climbing our career ladder, building our finance nest, pathing our children academic track. Then we will throw in one or two expensive, exhausting vacation each year to "reward" ourselves. And that is considered the "good life".
In recent years, I begin to make more "offsite" retreats and also highly recommended to my friends. Especially if you are or want to be a "matured" Christian. After all the prayers, fasting, Sunday services, serving in ministries, leading disciples. Of course we must go on Silent Retreat, a "higher" level of spiritual practice to "religiousize" ourselves. And that is considered the "matured spirituality".
I am not saying a vacation or a retreat is wrong, but we need to be careful they do not become a form of diversion therapy in our busy life(s).
The ultimate reward we can have is our day-to-day life, the supreme crucible of our existence, well lived.
SACREDNESS needs not be found offsite, it is in Practising the Mundane onsite well.
An agreement by a friend to come church is a great news to any new Christian.
Years later, when I recalled this conversation, I heard something else.
In our contemporary living, nearly every minute is about climbing our career ladder, building our finance nest, pathing our children academic track. Then we will throw in one or two expensive, exhausting vacation each year to "reward" ourselves. And that is considered the "good life".
In recent years, I begin to make more "offsite" retreats and also highly recommended to my friends. Especially if you are or want to be a "matured" Christian. After all the prayers, fasting, Sunday services, serving in ministries, leading disciples. Of course we must go on Silent Retreat, a "higher" level of spiritual practice to "religiousize" ourselves. And that is considered the "matured spirituality".
I am not saying a vacation or a retreat is wrong, but we need to be careful they do not become a form of diversion therapy in our busy life(s).
The ultimate reward we can have is our day-to-day life, the supreme crucible of our existence, well lived.
SACREDNESS needs not be found offsite, it is in Practising the Mundane onsite well.
Living in the Present
There is a slogan this day - Live in the Present!
We are encouraged to look within ourselves, the answer is always there waiting for us, RIGHT HERE in the PRESENT MOMENT.
I myself say it many times.
Just a word of caution to myself not to make it into a self-indulgent notion of
If I had to live over, I would travel to more countries,...I would......
Or
Life is uncertain, I will eat what I want now and from now. Heck all the responsibilities, hecks all the bills.
A meaningful life is not merely about "seizing the day" for self-centred gratification.
We are encouraged to look within ourselves, the answer is always there waiting for us, RIGHT HERE in the PRESENT MOMENT.
I myself say it many times.
Just a word of caution to myself not to make it into a self-indulgent notion of
If I had to live over, I would travel to more countries,...I would......
Or
Life is uncertain, I will eat what I want now and from now. Heck all the responsibilities, hecks all the bills.
A meaningful life is not merely about "seizing the day" for self-centred gratification.
Objections and Motivations (Sunday Sermon 2009.01.25)
The last point of the sermon on the objections presented by the various persons to young David. Such objections are just as commonplace today. More importantly, it is the hearing beyond the presented reason of objections to the unpresented motives of objections.
1. Eliab (1 Sam 17:28)
- His objection arosed from his jealousy for his brother.
The eldest son of Jesse, David's eldest brother. He was the eldest and David was the youngest, but David was the one chosen by God.
Don't we all do it at times? Because another person seems better or more favoured than us, we object the person when opportunity arises, rather than wishing the person success. Of course we may do it better than Eliab, we will not show anger. We will use good reasons.
"Who is he to snoop around and tries to suggest this and that? Haven't we all been around longer, seen and done more? Let me give him a piece of my mind and my 'advice'. That will set him in place."
2. Saul (1 Sam 17:33)
- His objection arosed because he saw the disparity in David and Goliath. How could he entrust David to fight Goliath. He limited his assessment to what his naked eyes can see, but don't we all do it as well.
"This young boy?! What is he thinking to even make such a request? Haiz, he has put me in such an awkward position. Should I or should I not send him? It seems ridiculous to send him, people may think I am stupid and I will suffer another humilation? But there is no one else to send? Even I would not allow myself to go face Goliath.""
Though in the end he allowed David to fight, did he really believe David could defeat the Goliath? God not only amazed the Philistine with the defeat, I think more the Isralites. "Huh, just like that, one sling?! Goliath did not even make a move." The giant just went off like a vapour but I am not so sure about if questions or fears in Saul and the Isralites' minds still hang around.
3. Goliath (1 Sam 17:42-44)
- His downright objection because David is not a worthy opponent for him. An insult. Even winning does not bring him glory.
Don't we all do it at times?
"What? Work with this person? Who is he? I have not even heard of him before?"
"Why am I allocated to this team, and not the high-powered team? Don't they know this is an important project."
Our objection takes many form.
What is your form of objection and more importantly what is your motivation?
1. Eliab (1 Sam 17:28)
- His objection arosed from his jealousy for his brother.
The eldest son of Jesse, David's eldest brother. He was the eldest and David was the youngest, but David was the one chosen by God.
Don't we all do it at times? Because another person seems better or more favoured than us, we object the person when opportunity arises, rather than wishing the person success. Of course we may do it better than Eliab, we will not show anger. We will use good reasons.
"Who is he to snoop around and tries to suggest this and that? Haven't we all been around longer, seen and done more? Let me give him a piece of my mind and my 'advice'. That will set him in place."
2. Saul (1 Sam 17:33)
- His objection arosed because he saw the disparity in David and Goliath. How could he entrust David to fight Goliath. He limited his assessment to what his naked eyes can see, but don't we all do it as well.
"This young boy?! What is he thinking to even make such a request? Haiz, he has put me in such an awkward position. Should I or should I not send him? It seems ridiculous to send him, people may think I am stupid and I will suffer another humilation? But there is no one else to send? Even I would not allow myself to go face Goliath.""
Though in the end he allowed David to fight, did he really believe David could defeat the Goliath? God not only amazed the Philistine with the defeat, I think more the Isralites. "Huh, just like that, one sling?! Goliath did not even make a move." The giant just went off like a vapour but I am not so sure about if questions or fears in Saul and the Isralites' minds still hang around.
3. Goliath (1 Sam 17:42-44)
- His downright objection because David is not a worthy opponent for him. An insult. Even winning does not bring him glory.
Don't we all do it at times?
"What? Work with this person? Who is he? I have not even heard of him before?"
"Why am I allocated to this team, and not the high-powered team? Don't they know this is an important project."
Our objection takes many form.
What is your form of objection and more importantly what is your motivation?
The meaning of life
The meaning of life is as if a king has sent you to a country to carry out one special, specific task. You go to the country and you perform a hundred other tasks, but if you have not performed the task you were sent for, it is as if you have done nothing at all. So man has come into the world for a particular task, and that is his purpose. If he does not perform it, he will have done nothing.
- Jalal al-Din ar-Rumi (13th centuory mystical poet), Table Talk
Read from "It is a meaningful life, it just take practice." by BoLozoff.
- Jalal al-Din ar-Rumi (13th centuory mystical poet), Table Talk
Read from "It is a meaningful life, it just take practice." by BoLozoff.
Thursday, January 22, 2009
Law 4- Observe the Sabbath day by keeping it holy
1. I am the LORD your God, you shall have no other gods before me.
2. You shall not make for yourself an idol
3. You shall not misuse the name of the LORD your God
4. Observe the Sabbath day by keeping it holy
5. Honor your father and your mother
6. You shall not murder.
7. You shall not commit adultery.
8. You shall not steal.
9. You shall not give false testimony against your neighbor.
10. You shall not covet.
++++
it is said the first 4 commandments deal with God to man relationship and last six deal with man-to-man (though all are of course in relationship to God).
I do not know if they are arranged in order of importance. But if it is so, then Observe the Sabbath day by keeping it holy seems quite important, even placed before the last man-to-man Laws.
2. You shall not make for yourself an idol
3. You shall not misuse the name of the LORD your God
4. Observe the Sabbath day by keeping it holy
5. Honor your father and your mother
6. You shall not murder.
7. You shall not commit adultery.
8. You shall not steal.
9. You shall not give false testimony against your neighbor.
10. You shall not covet.
++++
it is said the first 4 commandments deal with God to man relationship and last six deal with man-to-man (though all are of course in relationship to God).
I do not know if they are arranged in order of importance. But if it is so, then Observe the Sabbath day by keeping it holy seems quite important, even placed before the last man-to-man Laws.
Monday, January 5, 2009
Blessed Epiphany - Why were you searching for me? (Luke 2:49)
Searching for Jesus (Luke 2:41:51)
Have you ever lost something? How have you gone about finding it?
A few ways:
We start with the ususal suspects.
If not found, we expand our search.
If still not found, we retrack, back to where it was last found.
In the story, the parents of Jesus lost him and they searched for him, to no avail, then they tracked back to Jerusalem, and found him at the temple courts.
But note Jesus' reply to the parents:
49"Why were you searching for me?" he asked. "Didn't you know I had to be in my Father's house?" 50 But they did not understand what he was saying to them.
My interpretation:
"Why were you searching for me, as if I was lost? I am not lost. I know where I am because I know who I am. I am at where I am suppose to be at - I am in my Father's house.
But they did not understand what he was saying to them.
Is there a voice within you asking yourself
"Why were you searching for me, as if I was lost? I am not lost. I know where I am because I know who I am. I am at where I am suppose to be at. And you did not understand what your heart is saying to you."
Do we know who we are, thus where we are supposed to be?
Are you lost? How then are you to search?
51 Then he went down to Nazareth with them and was obedient to them. But his mother treasured all these things in her heart. 52 And Jesus grew in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and men.
Don't be scare nor impatient. Live the question.
Be patient toward all that is unresolved in your heart and try to love the questions themselves. Do not now seek the answers, which cannot be given you because you would not be able to live them. And the point is to live everything. Live the question now. Perhap you will gradually, without noticing it, living among some distant day into the answers.
Blessed Epiphany!
and the star they had seen in the east went ahead of them until it stopped over the place where the child was. When they saw the star, they were overjoyed. On coming to the house, they saw the child with his mother Mary, and they bowed down and worshiped him.
Have you ever lost something? How have you gone about finding it?
A few ways:
We start with the ususal suspects.
If not found, we expand our search.
If still not found, we retrack, back to where it was last found.
In the story, the parents of Jesus lost him and they searched for him, to no avail, then they tracked back to Jerusalem, and found him at the temple courts.
But note Jesus' reply to the parents:
49"Why were you searching for me?" he asked. "Didn't you know I had to be in my Father's house?" 50 But they did not understand what he was saying to them.
My interpretation:
"Why were you searching for me, as if I was lost? I am not lost. I know where I am because I know who I am. I am at where I am suppose to be at - I am in my Father's house.
But they did not understand what he was saying to them.
Is there a voice within you asking yourself
"Why were you searching for me, as if I was lost? I am not lost. I know where I am because I know who I am. I am at where I am suppose to be at. And you did not understand what your heart is saying to you."
Do we know who we are, thus where we are supposed to be?
Are you lost? How then are you to search?
51 Then he went down to Nazareth with them and was obedient to them. But his mother treasured all these things in her heart. 52 And Jesus grew in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and men.
Don't be scare nor impatient. Live the question.
Be patient toward all that is unresolved in your heart and try to love the questions themselves. Do not now seek the answers, which cannot be given you because you would not be able to live them. And the point is to live everything. Live the question now. Perhap you will gradually, without noticing it, living among some distant day into the answers.
Blessed Epiphany!
and the star they had seen in the east went ahead of them until it stopped over the place where the child was. When they saw the star, they were overjoyed. On coming to the house, they saw the child with his mother Mary, and they bowed down and worshiped him.
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