second reminder

"When things go swirley circly, your plans go down the drain. God ignores yours and go on with His, and you found out that it's wayyyyyyy better than yours. And you're happy by how the day went by."

When God is in work, do I need to worry?

Saturday 29th of December 2006 shall be the day of reminder of the gracefulness and the perfection of God's plan compared to mine.

Satisfaction within disappointment within satisfaction.

Would've love to share the details, but it might draw misunderstandings.

Should you worry that the silver might be burned in the furnace while it's in the hands of a Master Silversmith? ;)

love

How I wish things would be simpler than this.

How I wish that love would be simpler than this.

Love, another word that has lost its essence.
Another word not many remembers what anymore.

Nowadays, love is used interchangeable with lust.

People don't bother to check their feelings anymore. They just go and do what they feel is right.
Without bother to think.

It's true that not all correct decisions are made by thinking, feelings are an important ingredient too.

But when things are chosen or decided by just either one of them, that's wrong.

Feelings and thoughts are supposed to go hand-in-hand; they're supposed to walk in pair.

Open your eyes and see,
Be silent and evaluate,
Are you loving the person you think you're loving,
Or do you just lust for them?

Love has no room for impatience,
It has no room for being unkind.
Love has no room for jealousy,
It has no room for boastings.
Love has no room for impoliteness,
It has no room for selfishness.
Love has no room for provocation,
It has no room for evil thoughts.
Love is not delighted in sin,
but in truth.

Love bears all things,
Love believes all things,
Love hopes all things,
Love endures all things.

The next time you think you love someone, do think of these things.

The next time you want to take someone's hand in marriage, do think of these things.

The next time you want to get married with someone, do think of these things.

Can you take responsibility for the oath of "till death do us part?"
Can you take responsibility for the ring you slide unto your spouse's finger?
Can you take responsibility for the word of love you so easily has spoken?

Enough with hatred.
Stop being deceived by people who says that it is possible to love to a point of hating.
Love has no room for hatred, but lust does.
Do you not see the contradiction?
Love cannot hate, nor can hatred love.

Enough with domestic violence.
Stop the beating, stop the hitting!

Enough with testing.
Love is a vow, love is a promise.
It is not a testing of how far a feeling will go, or how long it'll last.
Feelings are feelings.
Love is a feeling, and is much more; it is a choice.

You can't choose to like. It just happens.
But you can choose to love.

You cannot not love a person if you like them, but you can love a person even if you don't like them.

Let's embark on a journey to find back the lost words of brotherhood, sisterhood, purity, marriage and love?

Our world has seen little of these things that they considered them non-existing entities, only living in storybooks.
Can you start showing them that these things exist, because our loving God lives?
Can we start being kind and be the messenger of the love message of our God?
Can we start loving this loveless world, just as we are loved?

higher

"The problem starts when we make up our own minds what will give us happiness and then decide, if we don't get exactly that, that God doesn't love us." -Elisabeth Elliot-

It's amazing how we humans sometimes stubbornly going after things that God doesn't want us to, and when things start going wrong, we wonder why God wouldn't make our plans go well.

Whenever God says no to the things we want to pursue, we try our best to reason using our logical human intellect, to tell Him that if we are allowed to go for things we want to go for, we would be happy. Afterall, wouldn't God have wanted us to be happy?

Stubbornly, we go after things we thought would surely make us happy, and when things began to go tumbling down, we blame it all on Him.

Why wouldn't He bless our path?
Why wouldn't He be there to stop things from going wrong?
Why would He allows such thing to even happen?
Aren't we the blessed of most?
Why is He not on our side, giving us all that we wanted to have?
Or even, why did He allowed us to have our ways in the first place?

I hate such generation. But I shouldn't. If I were to hate them, it wouldn't be them that I hated, but God. Because He created them. Plus, I belong to such generation. I am afterall one of them, making the same ignorant decision from time to time.

Can we not see that whenever God says no, it's not because He doesn't want us to be happy, but it's the exact opposite.

Have you ever thought that you would be happy doing or having certain things, but realised that it brought misery instead?
Have you ever thought that you would be happy exerting revenge, but afterwards found yourself sore from hurting too?
Have you ever thought that running away from God would make you free from various restrictions, but instead found yourself chained to various things, broken and unwell?

There are many toys I wanted to have when I was a child. Figurines, robots, plushies (ahaha) and such. I never understood why my dad wouldn't just buy me all of them. Afterall, having all those stuff would definitely make me happier. Or at least that's what my brain of that age was telling me.

As I grew up, I found that what I thought then wasn't true at all.

If my dad were to buy me all those things, it would be equivalent to countless cash being burned as those toys would be in some boxes somewhere right now.
If my dad were to buy me all those things, I would've been spending lesser time on books and tv, and would not have learned as much as I should have.
If my dad were to buy me all those things, I would be wondering now of why he would be pamper me so much, buying me all those useless junks.

Just because we don't understand what our heavenly Father is thinking right now, doesn't mean that we cannot just trust Him and follow whatever He wants us to do.
Have we not even entrusted Him with our lives and all that we live for?

It's true that sometimes it's frustrating when our prayers are not answered with a yes, but do we not know from experience that He is always on our side, eager to bless us with good gifts?
Are His plans not for our good, did He not come so that we can have life, and have it even more abundantly?

Is He not a God who laughs with joy, and grants joy to His children that they may be roaring with joyful laughters?

Lord, Lord,
Help me to continue to trust in You even when I think that my ways are higher than Yours, even when I'm so prideful.
Help me to understand what it means to be humble before Your majesty, and be in awe with Your wondrous works.
Help me Lord to be an even better person, not by my might, not by my power, and not even by my own effort, but by Your Spirit.

Bring to my remembrance of how Your plans are for the best, my own can never compare.
Bring to my remembrance of how smooth things would go whenever You're in charge.
Bring to my remembrance of how awesome things would be whenever Your hands start working.

Even when my heart is breaking, enable me to hold on to Your promises;
Even when my soul is melting, allow me to hold on to Your robe of grace,
Even when I'm trembling with fear and anticipation and worries, let Your rain wash over me.

For who is greater than Thou?

For who can we even turn to, if not Thee?

For who have we in heaven, but You?

For Your ways are higher than my ways, and Your thoughts higher than my thoughts.

reconciliation

Can we Christians of various denomination find it in our heart to be reconciled to Christ and to each other?

Are you not tired of the various additional doctrines laid by the various priests, pastors, theologians, and such?

I know that our daily life is not so simple and there are a lot of things that needs clarification.

But why can't we just agree on the very basic of being a Christian?
Can we be brave enough to reject the doctrine that is established by men that is found in the denomination we belonged to?
Can we stop condemning cults but would instead bring them back in reconciliation with the simplistic nature of Christianity?

I'm tired of branding people to various denominations and cult groups.
I'm tired of us having debating among ourselves about geneologies and practices that we deem "important."
I'm tired of us talking bad about other denomination behind their back.
I'm tired of us thinking that we're correct in everything and others are not.
I'm tired of people thinking that everything is so relative, and that anything can be correct.
Don't you know that this way of thinking is contradictory in itself?
I'm tired of people interpreting what people say the way they think the person is saying, rather than what the person is really trying to say.

Sometimes it's funny that we're so "fundamental," but lacking in love.
Sometimes it's funny that we know the Bible like the back of our hand, but have no idea who God is.
Sometimes it's funny that while we're laughing at the unbiblical practises of other denominations, we are actually doing the same thing.
Sometimes it's funny that we preach about love, but we hate each other.

Can we each take responsibility, understanding that whichever denomination or "cult" groups we're in, we have a big role to play.
Can we be brave enough to reject the unbiblical doctrines and teachings from our circle of brethren, and to preserve Christ in Christianity?

Remember that your mentors, pastors, or your favourite theologians or bible scholars are human too. Do not raise them to the level of God, deeming that they're infallible.

Can we find it in our faith to reconcile ourselves back to each other, and to Christ, to compromise thing that can be compromised, while being firm in things that cannot be tolerated?

I admire God-loving people, pastors, theologians, bible scholars, but I can't help but be sad whenever they make a fool out of themselves in the things they do whenever they rely on their own seemingly intellectual self.

Whoever you might be, can I urge you, or even beg you that you take up the responsibility to declare of Christ's love to all, through words and through actions?
Would you please bring Christ back to Christmas?
Would you please bring Christ back to your Christian gatherings?
Would you please bring Christ back to your Church?
Would you please bring Christ back to your own Christian faith?

Our Christ will never die in vain, for are we not here, prepared to go all out for Him?

May Jesus help us to avoid foolish and ignorant disputes, knowing that they generate strife.

Thus, speak Lord, for we your servant hears.

pathway

Most people decide that in life, they should be on the pathway to marriage, unless if they're called otherwise.

For me, we should be on the pathway to celibacy, unless if we're called to get married.

So actually, my thinking and theirs does not differ much. We're just approaching the same issue from the opposite end.

regrets

Many people often say that they do not regret the mistakes they did, for it shaped them to be who they currently are.

I used to echo a similar set of words;
But I no longer do.

For the major decisions I made, for the things that goes wrong, I regret it.
While making that decision, I understand the possibility of what it can turn out to be.
But that does not render me invulnerable to feeling regretful.

Those are the things I've decided, and understanding that allows me to live my life with those regrets on my shoulders, instead of dragging me down to death.

For all the wrong things that I've done, truly they shape me, they mould me.
But if there's ever any other way that I could become who I am without making those mistakes, I would very much prefer them.

Sadly, that's not how life works.

There are things that are avoidable with careful planning and preparation, but there are also things that are inevitable.

So, no matter how much I regret them, I still have to live with them. It's my responsibility to carry them on my shoulders, using them as reminder, to enable me to be a better person, if God wills.

I regret the things I regret, and would really like to have it any other way if it's possible; but it's not.

That is just how life has to be, and I need to live it through as responsibly as I can.

For the hearts that I've hurt, I'm sorry;
For the words that I've said wrongly, I'm sorry;
For the wrong things done, I'm sorry;

Apology is all I have to offer, and a promise to be a better person in the future is all I can give.

May perfection is what God intends for me, and for whatever plans that He has for me, be it good in my eyes or not, may I be able to live through it faithfully.

If gold can be extracted from the ore without having to pass through the fire, would it not have chosen so?

But that's just not how things work, and all we can do is to persevere through different predicaments, while allowing God to guide us.
May He supply us with strength, and enable us to be better, as we focus on reaching His perfection.

"Dear Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from me; nevertheless, let it be done not what I will, but what You will."

Thank You for Your Love;
Thank You for the wonderful plan that you have for us; one for good and not for bad;
Thank You that You are still Who You were, and that You will continue to be Who You are, for eternity.
For the lovingkindness and mercy and forgiveness, what can we do apart from praising Your Name with all our might?
Thank You for no longer calling us servants, but friends;
Thank You for not treating us like slaves, but sons and daughters;
Thank You Lord for pulling us from the depths of hell, to be seated at Your table in heaven, in joy and in truth, in love and in peace.