Thursday, 30 April 2009

  • Truth Without Sentiments


    We have all heard what we wanted to hear
    "Truth" that sounds right to our ears
    But what wisdom is there within us
    To live based on the feeling of our hearts
    How many times has instinct let us down
    Never to be thought through
    Never to be questioned
    Say what you really mean
    When your ambition calls you
    For what use is there in praying
    If you will only hear what you want to hear?
    We speak of fighting to resist this world
    But what about the battle within us?
    If we have chosen to live against the grain
    Then why are we all facing the same way?
    There is no difference between us and them
    If we all blindly seek truth from sentiments
    As I Lay Dying (2007)

Friday, 03 April 2009

  • Steps

     

    “A journey of a thousand miles must begin with a single step.”
    Lao Tzu

    A single step. Followed by a lot of single steps.

    There's a question worth asking, before you start walking. It's not: will I manage? By God's grace, you will. The question is: am I taking my steps in the right direction?

     

Sunday, 22 March 2009

  • Hope


    I just finished watching TheShawshank Redemption.

    Hope in life is crucial. Without hope life breathed its last.

    Hope to see the sun rise, hope to finish your education, hope to visit a conference with friends, hope to see your child grow up, hope to find a wife, hope to be of good influence in peoples lives, hope to contribute to the well-being of your local community, hope to find enjoyment in listening to inspiring songs, hope in reading challenging and heart-stirring books, hope to learn from lots of different people from lots of different cultures, hope to make a little kid smile, hope to help a little granny go to church, hope to see some dudes and gals get fired up for Jesus, hope to . . .

    There's this short verse with a timeless and timely messsage:

    Hope in God

    Jesus had hope for us and he laid down his life for it: to bring us to God. The chief end of men is to glorify God by enjoying him forever. And one of the ways to do this is by displaying his character. A character of hope and confidence.

    May we live lives marked by hope. And may we bring hope to people. Far away and next door.

    May we look to Jesus and learn that hope can be found in circumstances and opportunities and events and thoughts and dreams. May our second lesson be that there is no fruit without a tree (or something to bring forth fruit). Peoples and situations bring hope. They are fruit. God is the tree.

    True and lasting hope is found in the person of  Jesus Christ.

    May we live for what is true and essential. And may we strip all else.

     

Sunday, 15 March 2009

Thursday, 26 February 2009

  • In Need of Grace


    Always, always...always more. Need for grace. In need of grace. To live. To stand. To decide. To act. To stay. To forgive. To pursue. To love.

    Always, always...always more. Eyes to see my inadequacy and your sufficiency.

    Reveal to me your will and help me to keep pace. Not in front, not in the back...by your side. Consume me. With your thoughts. Your dreams. Your heart. Your words.

    Here am I. Ready or not. Take me over the edge...to step out and risk. To think and live beyond familiarity. To die trying, to be resolute, to never back down. To dive into what's unknown, holding fast to the Known.

    Free me from myself. Life is too short to live it indifferently. LIVE! LIVE!

     

Monday, 23 February 2009

  • The Purpose of Salvation


    I heard this quote today in a compilation called "Are You Saved". It's provoking and made me think:

    The Lord Jesus did not shed his blood so that you could have a release from a guilt conflict, so that you might escape the consequences of your sin. The Lord Jesus died upon the cross, not just to get you out of heaven into heaven. He died on the cross to get God out of heaven into you! And the measure in which you are saved is the measure in which God out heaven in you is in function!

    May this God be the all-defining factor in our lives. May he breathe and choose and live and act in and through us.

     

Saturday, 14 February 2009

  • The Tongue

     

    Death and life are in the power of the tongue, and those who love it will eat its fruits.
    Proverbs 18:24

    The tongue is powerful. Tremendously powerful. Death and life are in its power. We can build or destroy relationships with it. We can encourage and kill people with it. We can give hope and crush dreams with it. Words can help us to initiate and execute plans and dreams...both in our lives and the lives of others. But words can also paralyze us and others.

    Our desire to live hangs greatly on the words that are spoken to us and the words we read. It is God's primary method of communication.

    God spoke...and life came into being. 

    I love words, because they can pierce the heart, stir the emotions and clear our thinking.

    Oh, but the machinery: the tongue. It still needs a boss. It still needs discipline.

    Be not rash with your mouth, nor let your heart be hasty to utter a word before God, for God is in heaven and you are on earth. Therefore let your words be few.
    Ecclesiastes 5:2

     

Sunday, 21 September 2008

Friday, 19 September 2008

Saturday, 13 September 2008

  • Question

    How will people remember you when you're dead? Will you leave a worthy legacy?

    "So Elisha died, and they buried him. Now bands of Moabites used to invade the land in the spring of the year. And as a man was being buried, behold, a marauding band was seen and the man was thrown into the grave of Elisha, and as soon as the man touched the bones of Elisha, he revived and stood on his feet."

    Elisha left a legacy. He gave life long after he had died.

    Don't think too long about this question. The ones who left a legacy, didn't live to leave one. They just lived and risked and died for their cause. Who knows the name of the murderer of Martin Luther King? Very few. But we all know Martin Luther King. Who knows the name of the man who shot John F. Kennedy? Very few. But we all remember John F. Kennedy.

    May we live and risk for a cause worth living and dying for. The cause of Christ.