DeLiCiOuS aMbIGuItY

Wednesday, July 08, 2009

the long silence

At the end of time, billions of people were scattered on a great plain before God's throne.

Most shrank back from the brilliant light before them. But some groups near the front talked heatedly - not with cringing shame, but with belligerence.

"Can God judge us? How can he know about suffering?" snapped a pert young brunette. She ripped open a sleeve to reveal a tattooed number from a Nazi concentration camp. "We endured terror...beatings...torture...death!"

In another group a Negro boy lowered his collar. "What about this?" he demanded, showing an ugly rope burn. "Lynched... for no crime but being black!"

In another crowd, a pregnant schoolgirl with sullen eyes. "Why should I suffer" she murmured. "It wasn't my fault."

Far out across the plain there were hundreds of such groups. Each had a complaint against God for the evil and suffering he permitted in his world. How lucky God was to live in heaven where all was sweetness and light, where there was no weeping or fear, no hunger or hatred. What did God know of all that man had been forced to endure in this world? For God leads a pretty sheltered life, they said.

So each of these groups sent forth their leader, chosen because he had suffered the most. A Jew, a Negro, a person from Hiroshima, a horribly deformed arthritic, a thalidomide child. In the centre of the plain they consulted with each other. At last they were ready to present their case. It was rather clever.

Before God could be qualified to be their judge, he must endure what they had endured. Their decision was that God should be sentenced to live on earth - as a man!

"Let him be born a Jew. Let the legitimacy of his birth be doubted. Give him a work so difficult that even his family will think him out of his mind when he tries to do it. Let him be betrayed by his closest friends. Let him face false charges, be tried by a prejudiced jury and convicted by a cowardly judge. Let him be tortured.

At the last, let him see what it means to be terribly alone. Then let him die. Let him die so that there can be no doubt that he died. Let there be a great host of witnesses to verify it."

As each leader announced his portion of the sentence, loud murmurs of approval went up from the throng of the people assembled.

And when the last had finished pronouncing sentence, there was a long silence. No one uttered another word. No one moved. For suddenly all knew that God had already served his sentence.

And He did so in the one called Christ, Jesus of Nazareth.

Edward Shillito - Jesus of the Scars
If we have never sought, we seek thee now;
Thine eyes burn through the dark, our only stars;
We must have sight of thorn-marks on thy brow;
We must have thee, O Jesus of the scars.

The heavens frighten us; they are too calm;
In all the universe we have no place.
Our wounds are hurting us; where is the balm?
Lord Jesus, by thy scars we know thy grace.

If, when the doors are shut, thou drawest near,
Only reveal those hands, that side of thine;
We know today what wounds are, have no fear;
Show us thy scars, we know the countersign

The other gods were strong; but thou was weak;
They rode, but thou didst stumble to a throne;
But to our wounds only God's wounds can speak,
And not a god has wounds, but thou alone.

Quoted from The Cross of Christ by John Stott

D I V A at 8:22 AM
0 drop(s) of love

Tuesday, June 30, 2009

no longer traditional

A personal response to the Mark Sanford scandal

It's true

D I V A at 1:31 PM
0 drop(s) of love

Monday, June 29, 2009

to be just like her

"Of Psyche's beauity - at every age the beauty proper to that age - there is only this to be said, and there were no two opinions about it, from man or woman, once she had been seen. It was beauty that did not astonish you till afterwards when you had gone out of sight of her and reflected on it. While she was with you, you were not astonished. It seemed the most natural thing in the world. As the Fox delighted to say, she was 'according to nature'; what every woman, or even every thing, ought to have been or meant to be, but had miss by some trip of chance. Indeed, when you looked at her you believed, for a moment, that they had not missed it. She made beauty all around her. When she trod the mud, the mud was beautiful; when she ran in the rain, the rain was silver. When she picked up a toad - she had the strangest and, I thought, unchanciest love for all manner of brutes - the toad became beautiful."

Till We Have Faces; C.S.Lewis

D I V A at 3:33 PM
1 drop(s) of love

Sunday, June 28, 2009

1 down!

Walked out of my last exam of the semester feeling absolutely awesome! No one could wipe that smile of my face.

1 down, and then 2 weeks break, and then hell unleashes itself again.

But this time, I'm well-trained.

Non-stop studying since beginning of Feb. Not that I study 24/7. Just that studies have been constantly on my mind, and there are no periods of short breaks or holidays, even when its supposed to be holidays. I was doing a 4000 word essay during the last holidays. Sigh.

But this is the hols and I'm gonna enjoy it to the fullest by not doing anything, except things that I want to do, or things that I need to do to live. Like eating. Lots of eating. And lots of crap DVDs. And I need to clean my room. And my flat. I'm embarrassed to even invite people over now.

And it all starts again after two weeks. And this time, there's the mega research project. Aiya...

Anyway I was talking about one of the happiest moments in life.

So after the exam, my friend and I stuffed ourselves. I had proper breakfast at 1pm. Bacon, toast, poached eggs and sausages. YUM.

And then I went out that night as well.

And then I watched Wimbledon.

And then I went to sleep and woke up half an hour late for church. Sigh. So sorry dear God. I accidentally set my alarm for 830pm when I really meant to wake up at 830am to get to church on time =(

But thank God for podcasts. I'll listen to past sermons online. It's not the best. But it is Sunday, and like every other day, God should be remembered. But even more so on a Sunday. Because Sunday has always been Sabbath.

Something beautiful:

For Bruce Schooley, stricken with cancer
Whom in Jesus Christ
Found a cure for death

- What's so great about Christianity - Dinesh d'Souza

D I V A at 7:01 AM
0 drop(s) of love

Wednesday, June 10, 2009

seek

I hope that one day, you'll take my advice and try to seek after Him.

Seek Him with all of your heart, all of your being.

Then you'll realize that it wasn't you who has been seeking Him.

He has been seeking you all along.

With abundant love and hope of an everlasting life.

Good conversation though!

D I V A at 1:23 PM
0 drop(s) of love

Sunday, June 07, 2009

i agree

From Postsecret.

What is wrong with my generation?

D I V A at 12:51 PM
1 drop(s) of love