Through it all

You are forever in my life
You see me through the seasons
Cover me with Your hand
And lead me in Your righteousness

And I look to You
And I wait on You

I'll sing to You, Lord
A hymn of love
For Your faithfulness to me
I'm carried in everlasting arms

You'll never let me go
Through it all

-- "Through it All" by Darlene Zschech

Death of conscience

"When there is the denial of God and absolutes of right and wrong, there is no desire for forgiveness because it is presumed that there is no offense. This is the death of conscience."

-- All for Jesus by Franklin Graham

Success

I see people merely existing
I see vacant eyes full of pain
Lives broken and abused
Hiding hearts scarred and stained

As long as there's one more broken heart
One more crying soul, I'll go
And I will love them, Jesus

As long as there's one more needing You
One more I can show Your love
As long as there's one more broken heart

Could it be that I could make a difference
If I care the way You care for me
When they look into my eyes
Let it be Your eyes they see

Let me show them that You love them
Won't You help me bring them in?
Lord, I promise You again

-- "One More Broken Heart" by Jeff Slaughter and Dwight Liles

This past week has been a little bumpy. The strangest thing is that, no one even knows.

It's just that, amidst much talk about what it takes to be successful (and having to write an essay on it), my problem is that I've remained quiet, mostly because I don't know how to relate "success" to the kind of definition that the world alludes it to.

I want to "succeed" in honouring God, in caring for the ones that I love, in loving the ones that God calls me to love. If I "succeed" in these, then I would have succeeded. Period.

I cannot think to put anything before these. If it means that other ambitions have to take a back seat, then by all means. People don't realise that what I want is very different from what they want for me; some days, it feels like I'm letting them down. Perhaps one day, I will "learn to be realistic" and put things of the world before my God. But with God's strength and grace, I will be doing all I can to stop that from happening.

Saving faith

"Saving faith is not a blind trust; it has to be reasonable and consistent. All faith in Christ meets the criteria of the mind."

-- All for Jesus by Franklin Graham

Taking notes

Okay, I confess: Sometimes, on the pretext of taking down sermon notes, I also scribble quirky quotes from the speaker that probably amuse me more than anyone else. ;)

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Rev. T: "They say that a picture paints a thousand words. Well, I prefer a thousand words."

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Rev. T: "When you start your working life, you will realise that there are problems that cannot be solved by studying harder."

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Rev. T: "All my grey matter is now outside my skull."

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And my personal favourite...

Rev. T: "I like to give hand-outs so that I don't put my foot in."

Lottery of a different kind

"I make no attempt to conceal the joy of knowing that I have won this lottery of love."

-- "To Priscilla and Bernie" by Michael Main

Evil

"The Problem of Evil... is not a problem for God, but rather, a problem for men in their shortcomings as philosophers."

-- "The 'Problem' of Evil," Truth Becomes Lies

Blessed assurance

Perfect submission, all is at rest
I, in my Saviour, am happy and blest
Watching and waiting, looking above
Filled with His goodness, lost in His love

-- "Blessed Assurance" by Fanny J. Crosby

No higher calling

Down at Your feet, O Lord
Is the most high place
In Your presence, Lord
We seek Your face

There is no higher calling, no greater honour
Than to bow and kneel before Your throne
I'm amazed at Your glory, embraced by Your mercy
O Lord, I live to worship You

-- "No Higher Calling" by Lenny LeBlanc and Greg Gulley

It's so easy to want the perks without the hardship.

If only I could remember better -- I would score better on my examinations with less effort.

If only my parents wouldn't nag so much -- it's not like I don't already know these things that they tell me, and it would make me enjoy their company a lot more.

If only I could find that one person -- my life would be complete. I know it.

The truth is: Any effort will be "too much"; an alternative is to have parents who didn't care for or love me; no human could ever fill all of the voids.

It's so easy to just want God's blessings without the burden of carrying the cross.

Daily? I have to carry it daily? Isn't that a little excessive?

-- How often then? What if I had complained about the cross being too heavy? What if I thought that daily blessings were "excessive"?

And that's when I knew -- that it's not just that we want the good without the bad -- it's that we even think of God's love in those terms, when He never even stopped to consider that He was giving the very best to those who hurt Him the most.

My caterpillar

I came across the Psalm 23 bracelet, which -- in my opinion -- is really pretty. So I just thought to share my "Jesus loves me" caterpillar. It was given to me some years ago by an aunt. And I intend to use it as a teaching tool for my children. ;)



This is what it says in the little sheet that accompanies the caterpillar:

Though my heart was dark (black) within
Jesus saved me from my sin
When He shed His blood (red) I know
He washed me as white (white) as snow

If I follow Jesus' way
I'll grow (green) more like Him each day
He has promised when I die
I will live in heav'n (gold) on high

(Sung to the tune of "Jesus loves me")

MusiChristian

I forgot to mention that my stuff arrived. :) And that the people at MusiChristian are really wonderful! It came a bit late, but the guys were really so helpful that they blew me away. Best customer service ever.

So yes, they are now officially my favourite store, online or off. :)

Faith

"That time spent in waiting for a promise to be fulfilled is when faith envisions the outcome... Faith is trusting what is said and trusting the person who said it."

-- All for Jesus by Franklin Graham

Philosophy

"The God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob -- not the god of the philosophers!"

-- Blaise Pascal

During my philosophy tutorial, we were asked why we decided to take the module. I truthfully blurted that it was my excuse to read actual words -- as opposed to mathematical equations -- being an engineering major.

But the readings are leaving me a little bit frustrated. I picked up Ted Chiang's "Hell is an Absence of God"; it was recommended by our lecturer.

By the time I was done with the (short) story, my thought was simply that he could not have been talking about the Christian God. For someone who was supposed to be smart (well, smart enough to write a book that won him awards), he didn't just put together his own theology, pass it off as Christianity, and then ridicule it, did he?

He did.

To write a story insinuating the ludicrousness of Christianity, without any mention of Jesus (the very cornerstone of the Christian faith) or any such equivalent is very careless indeed.

In his notes, Chiang also writes of the Book of Job:

"Why does God restore Job's fortunes at all? Why the happy ending? One of the basic messages of the book is that virtue isn't always rewarded; bad things happen to good people. Job ultimately accepts this, demonstrating virtue, and is subsequently rewarded. Doesn't this undercut the message?"

My question is: "Why not a happy ending?" There may be other lessons to learn than those pointed out by Chiang.

The fact that the ending of the Book of Job matters such a great deal to Chiang has, in fact, "undercut" his own argument. Just because bad things can happen to good people does not mean that good things cannot happen to good people.

Of course, Chiang is fully entitled to his own views. I'm just saying -- just because someone writes with apparent wit does not mean that he writes with absolute truth, if at all.