By John Piper. © Desiring God. Website: desiringGod.org

Romans 12:9

Let love be genuine. Abhor what is evil; hold fast to what is good.

It a wonderful thing that, if you believe and teach the straightforward truths of the Bible, you will spare yourself and your children a hundred follies of each new generation. If you want to be useful for your generation, you don’t need to be an expert on the latest philosophical fad, or the latest progressive morality, or the latest psychological trend. A few Christians need to study these things and respond to them. But the great majority of Christians should simply be marching to the beat of another drummer.

What most ordinary Christians need to do is go deep with the Bible and believe and absorb and teach what it means and what it implies in its straightforward statements. If you do that—if you think your way down deep into the warp and woof of the Bible, and let it shape your mind and heart—you will be spared many trendy detours that sound so up-to-date, but end in the destruction of lives.

I think you will see this truth at work if we meditate for today on the second half of Romans 12:9. The whole verse says, “Let love be genuine. Abhor what is evil; hold fast to what is good.” We looked last time at the words, “Let love be genuine [or without hypocrisy].” Today we focus on the words, “Abhor what is evil; hold fast to what is good.” My point is: if you will think and pray and obey your way down into this straightforward exhortation, you (and your children) will be liberated from many of the follies of this age—and every age.

Let’s do this together. I see five things to point out. You may not even be conscious of these things, and yet they can have a powerfully good effect on you. In other words, you don’t have to be an expository preacher to be transformed by the Bible. But it helps to have them pointed out from time to time and may hasten and deepen the transforming power of the text.

1. There Is Such a Thing as Objective Good and Evil Outside Myself

When Paul says, “Abhor what is evil; hold fast to what is good,” he is rejecting the notion that evil is defined by what I abhor; and he is rejecting the notion that good is defined by what I hold fast to. This is so simple and so obvious. Would you ever think to say this to your children? Maybe. But if you teach them verses like this often enough and deeply enough, they will absorb a whole biblical worldview for their great good.

That is, they will absorb the view that there is such a thing as good and evil, and that good and evil are realities outside of them. The good and the evil don’t depend on us or our children to become good or evil. They are good or evil objectively. Good is not what you want to be good. And evil is not what you want to be evil. Liking something does not make it good and hating something does not make it evil. There is reality out there. And then there is you. That reality is good or evil. You don’t make it good or evil.

How do we see this? Because Paul says, “Abhor what is evil; hold fast to what is good.” In other words, good and evil don’t change, we change. Our hearts can cling to things because we desire them, and our hearts can reject things intensely because we don’t desire them. Paul says, Here is good, and here is evil. Now bring your emotions and your will into conformity to what is objectively there. When you face the objective evil: hate it. And when you face the objective good, embrace it.

Now what makes good good? And what makes evil evil? In other words, how does it come about that there is such a thing as objective good and evil? Well, this verse doesn’t say. But we don’t have to look far for the answer. Verse 2: “Do not be conformed to this world,but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.” The reason there is such a thing as objective good is that there is such a thing as “the will of God.” Or most simply, and most profoundly, the reason there is such a thing as objective good outside ourselves is that there is God outside ourselves. And most concretely and specifically, God has made himself known objectively and historically in Jesus Christ in Scripture.

If there were no God—if there were no Christ—then the good would be subjective, not objective. Good would be in the eye of the beholder, especially the strong beholder. Might would make right. But God does exist. And therefore might does not make right. The good and true and right and beautiful have objective foundation in God, and in his self-revelation, Jesus Christ. Which means that the simplest peasant in Russia or Jew in Germany or slave in Georgia or Christian prisoner in Rome can say to the most powerful Stalin or Hitler or plantation owner or Caesar: “No sir, this is wrong. And all your power does not make it right. There is God above you. And therefore right and wrong have objective reality apart from you.”

Oh, what a gift we give our children when we teach them the simple, straightforward teachings of the Bible. Their implications are vast beyond our knowledge. In this one phrase there is a world of precious truth.

2. Choosing Against Evil and for Good Is Not Enough; Inner Intensity Is Required

Notice Paul’s verbs: “Abhor (apostungountes) what is evil; hold fast (kollömenoi) to what is good.” He did not say “Choose against evil and choose good.” His words are very strong. “Abhor” is a good translation. “Loathe,: “Be disgusted with” (Liddell and Scott Lexicon) would also be correct. “Hold fast to what is good” means embrace it. Love it. The word is used for sexual union in 1 Corinthians 6:16.

In other words, God is not mainly interested in a willpower religion or a willpower morality. Choosing is not enough. It doesn’t signal deep moral transformation. Remember the meaning of hypocrisy—changing the outside with willpower choices. Now Paul says, Don’t just avoid evil, hate evil. Don’t just choose good, embrace the good. Love the good. The battle of Christian living is a battle mainly to get our emotions changed, not just our behavior.

Which leads us to the third observation.

3. The Bible Commands That Our Emotions Be Changed Even Though We Don’t Have Immediate Control Over Them

You can’t make yourself immediately abhor what you like. But when Paul says, “Abhor what is evil; hold fast to what is good,” he is commanding our emotions to be one way and not another way. Don’t ever fall for the argument that God does not require that our emotions be one way and not another, as if God only has requirements for body or the will. God commands not only that we choose the good but that we love it, and not only that we choose against evil, but that we hate and abhor it.

But what if your heart is in such a condition that you love the evil and hate the good? How will you obey this command? The answer is that we must be born again. That which is merely born of the flesh loves the things of the flesh. That which is born of the Spirit loves the things of the Spirit (John 3:3-7; Romans 8:7-8; 1 Corinthians 2:14-16).

Or to use different biblical terms: the new covenant, purchased for us by the blood of Christ (Luke 22:20; 1 Corinthians 11:25), must be fulfilled in our lives, if our emotions are going to conform to God’s view of good and evil. Ezekiel 36:26, “And I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you.” God must give us a new heart if we are going to hate and love as we ought. The way we get for ourselves a new heart (Ezekiel 18:31) is by despairing of self-change and crying out for mercy from God in the name of Christ that he would take out the heart of stone. And when Christ has given us a new heart that begins to see the world the way he sees it and feel the way he feels it, we must go on fighting for daily transformation: “Beholding the glory of the Lord, [Jesus] we are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another” (2 Corinthians 3:18).

Christian living is not mere choosing. It is choosing with intensity: Abhor what is evil, embrace what is good.

4. Objective Moral Good Is Good for Us, and Objective Moral Evil Is Bad for Us

I see this mainly in the relationship between the two halves of this verse. First, verse 9 says, “Let love be genuine.” And then, without starting a new sentence (in the original Greek), it goes on to say, “abhorring what is evil; holding fast to what it good.” The link between the command to love and the command to abhor evil and embrace good is very close. It looks as if Paul is saying something essential about love.

Everyone agrees that love means, at least, doing things for people that are good for them, not bad for them. So when Paul says, “Let love be genuine, abhorring the evil and embracing the good,” I take him to mean that it will be loving thing to do if we abhor the evil and embrace the good. Which means that what God calls evil must be bad for people, and what God calls good must be good for people.

It’s not the other way around. We don’t decide what is good for people and what is bad for people and then define love that way. God decides what is good and what is bad and we follow that and call it love, because what God says is good is good for people, and what God says is bad is bad for people.

You can see this very clearly in 1 John 5:2. John writes, “By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God and obey his commandments.” How do you know you are loving people? By loving God and keeping his commandments. His commandments are the expression of objective good. And his prohibitions are the expression of objective evil. And therefore objective evil is bad for people, and objective good is good for people.

But let’s be explicitly Christian. The ultimate objective good is the God-Man, Christ himself. He is our good. And so you can see most clearly that the ultimate objective good is good for us. Nothing is better for us than Christ. He is infinitely good and infinitely good for us. In him the good and the good-for-us become perfectly one. All other good things are good for us indirectly. They are good for us because they lead us to him. He alone is the good which is directly and supremely good for us.

Which leads us now to the fifth and last observation.

5. Genuine Love Must Hate

If there were a universe in which there was no evil that hurt people or dishonored Christ, there would be only love and no hate. There would be nothing to hate. But in a world like ours it is necessary not only that we love and hate, but that our love include hate.

Paul says, “Let love be genuine, abhorring what is evil.” One commentator calls this abhorring “an intense inward rejection.” It is rejection. It is inward. It is intense. And my point is that in this world love has to feel hate for evil. Since evil hurts people and dishonors God, you can’t claim to love people while coddling evil.

Don’t make the mistake of saying: the evil I cherish only hurts me, and so it is not unloving to others. That’s absolutely false (see 1 John 5:2 above). You were made to display the worth of Christ to others. That is what is good for them. That’s what it means to love them. But if you do things to yourself that damage your delight in Christ and your display of Christ, you sin against others and not just yourself. You rob them of what God made you to give them.

So I say again, love for others must hate evil. Because evil hurts others directly, and evil hurts others indirectly by hurting you. Evil obscures the beauty of Christ. And Christ is our greatest good. Our greatest joy.

Conclusion

As Christmas approaches and you think of gifts, remember one of the greatest gifts now and to the next generation is to believe and teach the simple, straightforward Word of God. “Abhor what is evil and hold fast to what is good.” Oh, what a world of precious truth there is in those words. And the sum of all truth and all good, and the triumph over all evil is Christ. So this advent season, hold fast to Christ, and abhor everything that dishonors him.

from John Piper's 'God's Passion for His Glory'

"If we consider the unblushing promises of reward and the staggering nature of the rewards promised in the Gospels, it would seem that our Lord finds our desires not too strong, but too weak. We are half-hearted creatures, fooling about with drink and sex and ambition when infinite joy is offered us, like an ignorant child who wants to go on making mud pies in a slum because he cannot imagine what is meant by the offer of a holiday at the sea. We are far too easily pleased." -C. S. Lewis

"... the pursuit of our soul's satisfaction- our joy and delight and happiness- is not sin. Sin is the exact opposite: pursuing happiness where no lasting happiness can be found.  ^'For my people have committed two evils; they have forsaken me the fountain of living waters, and hewed them out cisterns, broken cisterns, that can hold no water.' -Jeremiah 2:13. Sin is trying to quench our (otherwise) unquenchable soul-thirst anywhere but in God. Or, more subtly, sin is pursuing satisfaction in the right direction, but with lukewarm, halfhearted affections. Virtue, on the other hand, is to pursue the enjoyment of God with all our might." -John Piper, 'God's Passion for His Glory'.

O the Deep, Deep Love of Jesus

O the deep, deep love of Jesus, vast, unmeasured, boundless, free!
Rolling as a mighty ocean in its fullness over me!
Underneath me, all around me, is the current of Thy love
Leading onward, leading homeward to Thy glorious rest above!

O the deep, deep love of Jesus, spread His praise from shore to shore!
How He loveth, ever loveth, changeth never, nevermore!
How He watches o’er His loved ones, died to call them all His own;
How for them He intercedeth, watcheth o’er them from the throne!

O the deep, deep love of Jesus, love of every love the best!
’Tis an ocean full of blessing, ’tis a haven giving rest!
O the deep, deep love of Jesus, ’tis a heaven of heavens to me;
And it lifts me up to glory, for it lifts me up to Thee!

the corridor

4 years later.

the same  corridor we ran down before

i'm carrying things this time

so i walk.

i see many people, colours.

too many.

so i drop my bags and start to run

and suddenly

i see two strangers running-

i close my eyes, not willing to

trace their footsteps to the end.

 O for a Thousand Tongues to Sing- Charles Wesley

O for a thousand tongues to sing
My great Redeemer’s praise,
The glories of my God and King,
The triumphs of His grace!

My gracious Master and my God,
Assist me to proclaim,
To spread through all the earth abroad
The honors of Thy name.

Jesus! the name that charms our fears,
That bids our sorrows cease;
’Tis music in the sinner’s ears,
’Tis life, and health, and peace.

He breaks the power of canceled sin,
He sets the prisoner free;
His blood can make the foulest clean,
His blood availed for me.

He speaks, and, listening to His voice,
New life the dead receive,
The mournful, broken hearts rejoice,
The humble poor believe.

Hear Him, ye deaf; His praise, ye dumb,
Your loosened tongues employ;
Ye blind, behold your Savior come,
And leap, ye lame, for joy.

In Christ your Head, you then shall know,
Shall feel your sins forgiven;
Anticipate your heaven below,
And own that love is heaven.

Glory to God, and praise and love
Be ever, ever given,
By saints below and saints above,
The church in earth and heaven.

On this glad day the glorious Sun
Of Righteousness arose;
On my benighted soul He shone
And filled it with repose.

Sudden expired the legal strife,
’Twas then I ceased to grieve;
My second, real, living life
I then began to live.

Then with my heart I first believed,
Believed with faith divine,
Power with the Holy Ghost received
To call the Savior mine.

I felt my Lord’s atoning blood
Close to my soul applied;
Me, me He loved, the Son of God,
For me, for me He died!

I found and owned His promise true,
Ascertained of my part,
My pardon passed in heaven I knew
When written on my heart.

Look unto Him, ye nations, own
Your God, ye fallen race;
Look, and be saved through faith alone,
Be justified by grace.

See all your sins on Jesus laid:
The Lamb of God was slain,
His soul was once an offering made
For every soul of man.

Harlots and publicans and thieves
In holy triumph join!
Saved is the sinner that believes
From crimes as great as mine.

Murderers and all ye hellish crew
In holy triumph join!
Believe the Savior died for you;
For me the Savior died.

With me, your chief, ye then shall know,
Shall feel your sins forgiven;
Anticipate your heaven below,
And own that love is heaven.

"For since the beginning of the world men have not heard, nor perceived by the ear, neither hath the eye seen, O God, beside thee, what he hath prepared for him that waiteth for him." -Isaiah 64:4

"But as it is written, Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him. But God hath revealed them unto us by his Spirit: for the Spirit searcheth all things, yea, the deep things of God. For what man knoweth the things of a man, save the spirit of man which is in him? even so the things of God knoweth no man, but the Spirit of God. Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the spirit which is of God; that we might know the things that are freely given to us of God." -1 Corinthians 2:9-12

I know Who holds tomorrow :o)

I don't know about tomorrow,
I just live from day to day.
I don't borrow from its sunshine,
For its skies may turn to gray.
I don't worry o'er the future,
For I know what Jesus said,
And today I'll walk beside Him,
For He knows what is ahead.

Refrain
Many things about tomorrow,
I don't seem to understand;
But I know Who holds tomorrow,
And I know Who holds my hand.

Ev'ry step is getting brighter,
As the golden stairs I climb;
Ev'ry burden's getting lighter;
Ev'ry cloud is silver lined.
There the sun is always shining,
There no tear will dim the eyes,
At the ending of the rainbow,
Where the mountains touch the sky.

Refrain
Many things about tomorrow,
I don't seem to understand;
But I know Who holds tomorrow,
And I know Who holds my hand.

I don't know about tomorrow,
It may bring me poverty;
But the One Who feeds the sparrow,
Is the One Who stands by me.
And the path that be my portion,
May be through the flame or flood,
But His presence goes before me,
And I'm covered with His blood.

Refrain
Many things about tomorrow,
I don't seem to understand;
But I know Who holds tomorrow,
And I know Who holds my hand.

'For since the beginning of the world men have not heard, nor perceived by the ear, neither hath the eye seen, O God, beside Thee, what He hath prepared for him that waiteth for Him.' -Isaiah 64:4

A statue on the rock

I am a statue on the rock.
You gouge out my eyes so I won’t look at you
Chop off my head so I can’t speak
Tear open my ribcage and find no heart there
Hack away my breasts so I look less like a woman
Knock down my legs so I cannot even stand before you
But in the rock you will find
My heart, bleeding,
The tears you did not see when I looked at you and did not speak.
I have laid my heart and tears there.
On the rock I still stand
On the rock.

"The grass withereth, the flower fadeth: but the word of our God shall stand for ever." -Isaiah 40:8

perhaps we could rather see reading as an act of love: in which for the duration at least, we stop that incessant focusing on ourselves, as is our natural inclination, and show, sometimes through an almost-impossible act of self-denial, that another person's life is worthy of our full and undivided attention.

when it comes to the Bible, though, reading is really an act of self-recognition at the same time as it is of God-recognition; an act of worship insofar as worship is the restoration of God to His true place in your heart as is in the universe, with yourself in your rightful place prostrate in adoration.

the best

from an sms conversation with a friend:

i think it's not the best that you or i could do, but the best that God would enable us to...

to huix- of chocolate and cheese fondue =p

though they be both fondues,

they're as different as me and you-

if you could have just one, that's cool-

but nothing can beat having TWO. 

good Christian websites

these are both wonderful websites with many God-centred Christian resources; hope all who visit them will be blessed as i have been. God is good =)

http://www.desiringgod.org/

http://www.gty.org/

It is well with my soul

When peace, like a river, attendeth my way,
When sorrows like sea billows roll;
Whatever my lot, Thou has taught me to say,
It is well, it is well, with my soul.

Refrain

It is well, with my soul,
It is well, with my soul,
It is well, it is well, with my soul.

Though Satan should buffet, though trials should come,
Let this blest assurance control,
That Christ has regarded my helpless estate,
And hath shed His own blood for my soul.

Refrain

My sin, oh, the bliss of this glorious thought!
My sin, not in part but the whole,
Is nailed to the cross, and I bear it no more,
Praise the Lord, praise the Lord, O my soul!

Refrain

For me, be it Christ, be it Christ hence to live:
If Jordan above me shall roll,
No pang shall be mine, for in death as in life
Thou wilt whisper Thy peace to my soul.

Refrain

But, Lord, ‘tis for Thee, for Thy coming we wait,
The sky, not the grave, is our goal;
Oh trump of the angel! Oh voice of the Lord!
Blessèd hope, blessèd rest of my soul!

Refrain

And Lord, haste the day when my faith shall be sight,
The clouds be rolled back as a scroll;
The trump shall resound, and the Lord shall descend,
Even so, it is well with my soul.

Refrain

turn your eyes upon Jesus

dedicated to carmen =)

1. O soul, are you weary and troubled?
   No light in the darkness you see?
   There’s light for a look at the Savior,
   And life more abundant and free!
   • Refrain:
     Turn your eyes upon Jesus,
     Look full in His wonderful face,
     And the things of earth will grow strangely dim,
     In the light of His glory and grace.
2. Through death into life everlasting
   He passed, and we follow Him there;
   O’er us sin no more hath dominion—
   For more than conquerors we are!
3. His Word shall not fail you—He promised;
   Believe Him, and all will be well:
   Then go to a world that is dying,
   His perfect salvation to tell!

especially for daddy =)))

dadddy!!! i know you don't expect it, but all the more i want to say to you- thank you so much for what you did for me today, and for what you've been silently doing for the family all these years... you are the best, best, BEST daddy in the world, and i love you with all my heart, though that will still be less than how much you must love me and the family, when i look at what you've done for all of us. i'm so grateful that even as i enter a new phase of my life, i know that i can always count on your support. i'm very much a daddy's girl; you pamper me although i don't deserve it! thank you for forgiving, and giving. you are my best guy friend BY FAR. i always enjoy our talks and you have taught me so much. i owe you 50 cents! (only you know what that means, hee) 

your favourite daughter,
xy

from a poem by Toplady

'Thee to please and thee to know

Constitute our bliss below,

Thee to see and thee to love

Constitute our bliss above.

Whilst I feel thy love to me,

Every object teems with joy;

Here, O may I walk with thee,

Then into thy presence die!

Let me but thyself possess,

Total sum of happiness!

Real bliss I then shall prove,

Heaven below, and heaven above.'

-quoted in "Keeping the Ten Commandments" by J. I. Packer

More Love to Thee, O Christ- Elizabeth P. Prentiss

1. More love to Thee, O Christ, more love to Thee!
   Hear Thou the prayer I make on bended knee;
   This is my earnest plea: More love, O Christ, to Thee;
   More love to Thee, more love to Thee!
2. Once earthly joy I craved, sought peace and rest;
   Now Thee alone I seek, give what is best;
   This all my prayer shall be: More love, O Christ, to Thee;
   More love to Thee, more love to Thee!
3. Let sorrow do its work, come grief or pain;
   Sweet are Thy messengers, sweet their refrain,
   When they can sing with me: More love, O Christ, to Thee;
   More love to Thee, more love to Thee!
4. Then shall my latest breath whisper Thy praise;
   This be the parting cry my heart shall raise;
   This still its prayer shall be: More love, O Christ, to Thee;
   More love to Thee, more love to Thee!

Romans 7:14-8:13

14 For we know that the law is spiritual: but I am carnal, sold under sin.

15 For that which I do I allow not: for what I would, that do I not; but what I hate, that do I.

16 If then I do that which I would not, I consent unto the law that it is good.

17 Now then it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me.

18 For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh,) dwelleth no good thing: for to will is present with me; but how to perform that which is good I find not.

19 For the good that I would I do not: but the evil which I would not, that I do.

20 Now if I do that I would not, it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me.

21 I find then a law, that, when I would do good, evil is present with me.

22 For I delight in the law of God after the inward man:

23 But I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members.

24 O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death?

25 I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord. So then with the mind I myself serve the law of God; but with the flesh the law of sin.

8 There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.

2 For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death.

3 For what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh:

4 That the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.

5 For they that are after the flesh do mind the things of the flesh; but they that are after the Spirit the things of the Spirit.

6 For to be carnally minded is death; but to be spiritually minded is life and peace.

7 Because the carnal mind is enmity against God: for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be.

8 So then they that are in the flesh cannot please God.

9 But ye are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you. Now if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his.

10 And if Christ be in you, the body is dead because of sin; but the Spirit is life because of righteousness.

11 But if the Spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you, he that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies by his Spirit that dwelleth in you.

12 Therefore, brethren, we are debtors, not to the flesh, to live after the flesh.

13 For if ye live after the flesh, ye shall die: but if ye through the Spirit do mortify the deeds of the body, ye shall live.

过程

today, i organised a mother's day lunch for 4 mothers and their husbands and children (16 people altogether). when we had time in between, i asked the mothers and fathers questions in line with the occasion. the question i enjoyed hearing the answers to most was what the husbands loved most about their wives. 

what i expected to hear was answers like "she's very understanding", "she's kind-hearted", "she's generous". but though the husbands did say things like that, what all 4 of them started off with- what sounded most important to them- was the seemingly simple fact that their wife had been with them through hard times. 

and i was thinking about my closest friends, and how the more i got to know them, the more i realised how different we are. and what i value about them has changed, be it because they have changed, or because i have changed in terms of what i value, or both. but what will never change is the fact that they have been with me all this while. it is the process, not the person, that matters in the end. 

i like the chinese word for it: "过程". the two words, when translated, means to me something like "a journey you have gone through". i used to think that marriage was about finding a person with the characteristics you like. i have come to realise that the right person is really someone who is willing to stick by you; to go through that journey together. sure, you may start off with a person who seems to share many interests and personality traits with you. but what's going to make it work is mutually seeing that marriage is a life-long journey you take together. 

and i thought about God, and how we often describe our relationship with God as our "walk" with God, and i found that so beautiful. i thought about how God often talks about Himself as "the LORD thy God, who brought thee out of the land of Egypt" in relation to Israel (Exodus 20:2, Deuteronomy 5:6, Psalm 81:10, etc.). just as God is the God who brought Israel out of Egypt, God is the God who pardoned me when i cursed and rebelled against Him, brought me to Himself, waited patiently when i turned my back on and denied Him, and led me back to His precious side. 

perhaps when i see God with all of the other children of God, one of the things i will be praising God for is the journey of this life in which He has been with me. how amazing, that He has promised, "I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee" -Hebrews 13:5b. this is not just a God who (unlike my earthly friends) will never change. this is a God of whom i can say at the end of my life, that He had always, always, been with me, and will be forevermore.

what we will do in heaven?

when the word "heaven" is mentioned, many people think of streets of gold and wonderful mansions. that may be what heaven looks like, but it's not what heaven is about.

what will we do in heaven? according to revelations chapters 4 and 5, we'll be praising God:

Revelation 4:8-11

8 And the four beasts had each of them six wings about him; and they were full of eyes within: and they rest not day and night, saying, Holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty, which was, and is, and is to come.

9 And when those beasts give glory and honour and thanks to him that sat on the throne, who liveth for ever and ever,

10 The four and twenty elders fall down before him that sat on the throne, and worship him that liveth for ever and ever, and cast their crowns before the throne, saying,

11 Thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honour and power: for thou hast created all things, and for thy pleasure they are and were created.


Revelation 5:11-14

11 And I beheld, and I heard the voice of many angels round about the throne and the beasts and the elders: and the number of them was ten thousand times ten thousand, and thousands of thousands;

12 Saying with a loud voice, Worthy is the Lamb that was slain to receive power, and riches, and wisdom, and strength, and honour, and glory, and blessing.

13 And every creature which is in heaven, and on the earth, and under the earth, and such as are in the sea, and all that are in them, heard I saying, Blessing, and honour, and glory, and power, be unto him that sitteth upon the throne, and unto the Lamb for ever and ever.

14 And the four beasts said, Amen. And the four and twenty elders fell down and worshipped him that liveth for ever and ever.

heaven is not about the riches or the splendour of the place. heaven is all about God. about praising God and being with Him; about praising God because we are with Him. heaven is heaven because we can worship God forever, and that's precisely what we were made for.

the glorious praise in heaven that is described in chapters 4 and 5 of revelations is not for the beauty of heaven. the saints do not say, blessed be God for the gorgeous streets, huge bungalows, and cpf forevermore. the sublime praise that flows from revelations 4 and 5 point to the greatness of heaven's centerpiece, God Himself.

is that what you're looking forward to, when you think about heaven? do you long for that place where your body and spirit can be wholly dedicated to worshipping God, where you can see your wonderful Creator as He is?

if you think, surely praising God is not all that we'd be doing, whyever not? could we ever praise Him enough? is there an end to His virtues?

what will we do in heaven? the happiest thing we could know- worshipping our God.

what is reality?

Psalm 119

150 They draw nigh that follow after wickedness; they are far from thy law.
150 追求奸恶的人临近了；他们远离你的律法。

151 Thou art nigh, O LORD; and all thy commandments are truth.
151 耶和华啊，你与我相近；你一切的命令尽都真实！

152 Of old have I known from thy testimonies, that thou hast founded them for ever.
152 我因学你的法度，久已知道是你永远立定的。

in these verses, although the wicked are drawing nearer to the psalmist, he knows God is already there with him, close to his side. as i read these verses i got the sense that because of the psalmist's faith in God, God's presence is more real to him than the danger in his immediate surroundings. this is because whereas the wicked are far from God's law, the psalmist lives in God's commandments, knows God by meditating on His laws, and is close to Him.

the phrase "all thy commandments are truth" reminded me again that God's Word is our true reality. why so? because they will stand forever. since everything else will fade away in the end (the psalmist's enemies will perish), nothing outside of God and His truth is real.

since the day God became my only true reality, there are many things that i no longer feel the point of doing, like worrying about what lies ahead, being stressed up over the amount of work i have to do, or dwelling upon what others may have done to hurt me. there are many things i feel like i can never do enough of, like learning about God through His Word, enjoying His company in prayer and everywhere i go, and growing in love for God and the people around me. even the most mundane things, like writing my honours thesis, if done for God's glory, will attain a permanence and beauty in the light of His glory.

some ask, is it realistic to dedicate our lives to the glory and love of God, and to loving others? when you stop and really think about it, it is the only truly realistic thing to do. in the end, nothing will remain except God and love, which is one and the same (1 John 4:16- 'And we have known and believed the love that God hath to us. God is love; and he that dwelleth in love dwelleth in God, and God in him.').

so many who claim to be realists say that they have to pursue one or another perishable thing (like academia, wealth, fame, or even relationships that are not grounded in God, with partners often ending up worshipping each other in place of God, and then finding they have changed their minds and turning away to find other idols) and have no time to think about God. in truth, God is more real that anything they pursue; in fact, God is the only reality, and they lay God aside for empty things. in contrast, when we know God is our reality, and God is love, spending our lives pursuing God is not only realistic in the true sense of the word- it is also rewarding. and i have no qualms about saying so, because God designed us to pursue happiness and only His way rewards us with that. any other way cannot guarantee happiness and in fact often generates its opposite.

there are some who believe that it's dishonest to "sell" Christianity by saying it will bring peace and joy and blessedness, since Christians still have to suffer, but if Christians suffer only in the insubstantial (because impermanent) things, what suffering is that (Philippians 3:8- 'Yea doubtless, and I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord: for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and do count them but dung, that I may win Christ..')? it is one thing to say that you will suffer as a Christian but the happiness and hope and fulfillment will be sufficient to compensate for the pain; it's another thing to say that the happiness and hope and fulfillment in God are the only things that are truly real because they are based on what will last forever. and Christians who feel they have gotten a "bad deal" have yet to fully countenance what it means that God is the only reality. they remain deluded as long as they still find impermanent worldly things desirable.

Genesis 1:1- 'In the beginning God created the Heaven and the earth.' Every time I read this first verse of the Bible, I am struck again by the reality of God. From the beginning God existed, and He always will. that is reality. is that reality yours?

He does not forget His promises...

praise Him, praise Him

Praise Him! Praise Him! Jesus, our blessèd Redeemer!
Sing, O Earth, His wonderful love proclaim!
Hail Him! hail Him! highest archangels in glory;
Strength and honor give to His holy Name!
Like a shepherd, Jesus will guard His children,
In His arms He carries them all day long:

Refrain

Praise Him! Praise Him!
Tell of His excellent greatness.
Praise Him! Praise Him!
Ever in joyful song!

Praise Him! Praise Him! Jesus, our blessèd Redeemer!
For our sins He suffered, and bled, and died.
He our Rock, our hope of eternal salvation,
Hail Him! hail Him! Jesus the Crucified.
Sound His praises! Jesus who bore our sorrows,
Love unbounded, wonderful, deep and strong.

Refrain

Praise Him! Praise Him! Jesus, our blessèd Redeemer!
Heav’nly portals loud with hosannas ring!
Jesus, Savior, reigneth forever and ever.
Crown Him! Crown Him! Prophet, and Priest, and King!
Christ is coming! over the world victorious,
Pow’r and glory unto the Lord belong.

Refrain

simple pleasures

like realising you have the exact same number of hangers as clothes you have to hang. and (this is bordering on sacrilegious) waking up early for no more important reason than to hang up your clothes.

O Love that wilt not let me go

O Love that wilt not let me go,
I rest my weary soul in thee;
I give thee back the life I owe,
That in thine ocean depths its flow
May richer, fuller be.

O light that followest all my way,
I yield my flickering torch to thee;
My heart restores its borrowed ray,
That in thy sunshine’s blaze its day
May brighter, fairer be.

O Joy that seekest me through pain,
I cannot close my heart to thee;
I trace the rainbow through the rain,
And feel the promise is not vain,
That morn shall tearless be.

O Cross that liftest up my head,
I dare not ask to fly from thee;
I lay in dust life’s glory dead,
And from the ground there blossoms red
Life that shall endless be.

hymn by Charles Wesley on God's guidance

1 CAPTAIN of Israel's host, and guide Of all who seek the land above, Beneath thy shadow we abide, The cloud of thy protecting love; Our strength, thy grace; our rule, thy word; Our end, the glory of the Lord.

2 By thine unerring Spirit led, We shall not in the desert stray; We shall not full direction need, Nor miss our providential way; As far from danger as from fear, While love, almighty love, is near.

who are you? who am i?

i see through a glass, darkly.
only in Christ, who put His hands to my eyes, do i know
not i, not you,
but God.
and God is love,
and love is
everything.

today, God filled me with the joy of trusting in Him, and i have never felt the lyrics of "rejoice in the Lord" so deeply. i was singing the song as i walked home, when i saw a tiny fat sparrow hopping on the fence along my path. i smiled and sang the song again, my heart filled by His goodness. praise Him =)

Matthew 12:20
压伤的芦苇，他不折断；将残的灯火，他不吹灭；等他施行公理，叫公理得胜。

what Pastor Tan shared about this verse comforted me... in december last year, i wrote an entry about snails... i had felt so alone, but now i know that when Jesus was on earth He cared for people who seemed insignificant and/or weak... and His compassion and love is great beyond measure. may i learn from Him, and grow in love for the people around me, just as i care about little (and wobbly) things =)

The Definition of Love- Andrew Marvell

i'm not personally very fond of andrew marvell, but i have to admit he's a good poet. i was quite impressed by the following one. while i was reading stuff on metaphysical poetry and a few of his poems for my renaissance module, i suddenly had this strange notion that most of the writers of metaphysical poems are basically geeks trying to impress girls. and as you know, that is very "in" nowadays. lol. but seriously, that's probably one reason why i appreciate metaphysical poetry: i have a soft spot for geeks.

THE DEFINITION OF LOVE.
by Andrew Marvell


I.
MY Love is of a birth as rare
As 'tis, for object, strange and high ;
It was begotten by Despair,
Upon Impossibility.

II.
Magnanimous Despair alone
Could show me so divine a thing,
Where feeble hope could ne'er have flown,
But vainly flapped its tinsel wing.

III.
And yet I quickly might arrive
Where my extended soul is fixed ;
But Fate does iron wedges drive,
And always crowds itself betwixt.

IV.
For Fate with jealous eye does see
Two perfect loves, nor lets them close ;
Their union would her ruin be,
And her tyrannic power depose.

V.
And therefore her decrees of steel
Us as the distant poles have placed,
(Though Love's whole world on us doth wheel),
Not by themselves to be embraced,

VI.
Unless the giddy heaven fall,
And earth some new convulsion tear.
And, us to join, the world should all
Be cramp'd into a planisphere.

VII.
As lines, so love's oblique, may well
Themselves in every angle greet :
But ours, so truly parallel,
Though infinite, can never meet.

VIII.
Therefore the love which us doth bind,
But Fate so enviously debars,
Is the conjunction of the mind,
And opposition of the stars.

somewhere along the river,
i lost sight of the ark among the flags,
then lost myself, too.
now all i can do
is place paper boats of prayer in the water,
hoping one of them will carry you,
safely to a shore.
you do not see them,
those tiny, paper, boats-
they melt
into the water i lost you.
but it is enough that i know
God will keep them
even before
they touch the water-
it is enough.

-for g.

i know Whom i have believed

I know not why God’s wondrous grace
To me He hath made known,
Nor why, unworthy, Christ in love
Redeemed me for His own.

But I know Whom I have believèd,
And am persuaded that He is able
To keep that which I’ve committed
Unto Him against that day.

I know not how this saving faith
To me He did impart,
Nor how believing in His Word
Wrought peace within my heart.

But I know Whom I have believèd,
And am persuaded that He is able
To keep that which I’ve committed
Unto Him against that day.

I know not how the Spirit moves,
Convincing us of sin,
Revealing Jesus through the Word,
Creating faith in Him.

But I know Whom I have believèd,
And am persuaded that He is able
To keep that which I’ve committed
Unto Him against that day.

I know not when my Lord may come,
At night or noonday fair,
Nor if I walk the vale with Him,
Or meet Him in the air.

But I know Whom I have believèd,
And am persuaded that He is able
To keep that which I’ve committed
Unto Him against that day.

prayer for peace- from "flowers of heaven: one thousand years of Christian verse"

Lord. Make me an instrument of your peace.
Where there is hatred let me sow love.
Where there is injury, pardon;
Where there is doubt, faith;
Where there is despair, hope;
Where there is darkness, light;
Where there is sadness, joy.

Divine Master,
Grant that I may seek not so much to be consoled as to console;
To be understand as to understand;
To be loved as to love;
For it is in giving that we receive;
It is in pardoning that we are pardoned,
And it is in dying that we are born to Eternal Life. Amen.

1181-1226

it's still there...

after all these years...

Himself

Once it was the blessing, Now it is the Lord;
Once it was the feeling, Now it is His Word.
Once His gifts I wanted, Now the Giver own;
Once I sought for healing, Now Himself alone.

Once ’twas painful trying, Now ’tis perfect trust;
Once a half salvation, Now the uttermost.
Once ’twas ceaseless holding, Now He holds me fast;
Once ’twas constant drifting, Now my anchor’s cast.

Once ’twas busy planning, Now ’tis trustful prayer;
Once ’twas anxious caring, Now He has the care.
Once ’twas what I wanted, Now what Jesus says;
Once ’twas constant asking, Now ’tis ceaseless praise.

Once it was my working, His it hence shall be;
Once I tried to use Him, Now He uses me.
Once the power I wanted, Now the Mighty One;
Once for self I labored, Now for Him alone.

Once I hoped for Jesus, Now I know He’s mine;
Once my lamps were dying, Now they brightly shine.
Once for death I waited, Now His coming hail;
And my hopes are anchored, Safe within the veil.

http://www.hymnal.net/hymn.php?t=h&n=513

grace

Lord, as I seek Your guidance for the day,
I find my thought unyielding, confusion crowds my way;
But then when I bow to You, the challenges You guide me through,
Your promises are ever new, I claim them for today.

Your will cannot lead me where Your grace will not keep me,
Your hand will protect me. I rest in Your care.
Your eyes will watch over me. Your love will forgive me,
And when I am faltering, I still will find You there.

Each new day's design is charted by Your hand
And graciously revealed as I seek Your master plan.
Keep my footsteps faithful when from You I go.
Return me to the joy that Your blessings can bestow.

Your will cannot lead me where Your grace will not keep me,
Your hand will protect me. I rest in Your care.
Your eyes will watch over me. Your love will forgive me,
And when I am faltering, Lord, I still will find You there.

o rejoice in the Lord

God never moves without purpose or plan. When trying His servant and molding a man. Give thanks to the Lord though your testing seems long; In darkness He giveth a song. Refrain: O rejoice in the Lord, He makes no mistake, He knoweth the end of each path that I take, For when I am tried and purified, I shall come forth as gold. I could not see through the shadows ahead; So I looked at the cross of my Saviour instead, I bowed to the will of the Master that day; Then peace came and tears fled away. Now I can see testing comes from above, God strengthens His children and purges in love. My Father knows best, and I trust in His care; Through purging more fruit I will bear.

the love of God =)

As I read Matthew chapters 8 and 9 today, I was touched by how Jesus was pleased by faith, but He was still merciful to those who had little or none... was struck especially by 9:13- "...I will have mercy, and not sacrifice: for I am not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance."

For a while, and even now, Hosea is one of my favourite books. Hosea 6:6 says, "For I desired mercy, and not sacrifice; and the knowledge of God more than burnt offerings." I believe that the mercy, goodness, and love (think about how they are in some sense the same thing) of God is the most important thing we can know about God. For His love was the cause for all things, including and especially the sacrifice of His Son to save us from our sins.

In calling believers to love one another that others may know they are his disciples, God effectively says, "I of all things am a God of love". How wonderful, this our God of love! May we live each day in gratitude for His everlasting mercies, and show forth His love in all that we do =)

on time- from "the screwtape letters" by c. s. lewis

an old devil, wormwood, advises his nephew, who is trying to secure the damnation of a young man:

"Men are not angered by mere misfortune but by misfortune conceived as injury. And the sense of injury depends on the feeling that a legitimate claim has been denied. The more claims on life, therefore, that your patient can be induced to make, the more often he will feel injured and, as a result, ill-tempered.

Now you will have noticed that nothing throws him into a passion so easily as to find a tract of time which he reckoned on having at his own disposal unexpectedly taken from him... They anger him because he regards his time as his own and feels that it is being stolen. You must therefore zealously guard in his mind the curious assumption 'My time is my own'. Let him have the feeling that he starts each day as the lawful possessor of twenty-four hours. Let him feel as a grievous tax that portion of this property which he has to make over to his employers, and as a generous donation that further portion which he allows to religious duties. But what he must never be permitted to doubt is that the total from which those deductions have been made was, in some mysterious sense, his own personal birthright.

You have here a delicate task. The assumption which you want him to go on making is so absurd that, if once it is questioned, even we cannot find a shred of argument in its defence. The man can neither make, nor retain, one moment of time; it all comes to him by pure gift; he might as well regard the sun and moon as his chattels... When I speak of preserving this assumption in his mind, therefore, the last thing I mean you to do is furnish him with arguments in its defence. There aren't any. Your task is purely negative. Don't let his thoughts come anywhere near it. Wrap a darkness about it, and in the centre of that darkness let his sense of ownership-in-Time lie silent, uninspected, and operative."

beautifully written:

Christ has come, the Light of the world. Long ages may yet elapse before His beams have reduced the world to order and beauty, and clothed a purified humanity with light as with a garment. But He has come: the Revealer of the snares and chasms that lurk in darkness, the Rebuker of every evil thing that prowls by night, the Stiller of the storm-winds of passion; the Quickener of all that is wholesome, the Adorner of all that is beautiful, the Reconciler of contradictions, the Harmonizer of discords, the Healer of diseases, the Saviour from sin. He has come: the Torch of truth, the Anchor of hope, the pillar of faith, the Rock for strength, the Refuge for security, the Fountain for refreshment, the Vine for gladness, the Rose for beauty, the Lamb for tenderness, the Friend for counsel, the Brother for love. Jesus Christ has trod the world. The trace of the Divine footsteps will never be obliterated. And the Divine footsteps were the footsteps of One who is Man. The example of Christ is such as men can follow. On until mankind wears His image. On towards yon summit on which stands, not an angel, not a disembodied spirit, not an abstract of ideal and unattainable virtues, but THE MAN JESUS CHRIST.


- Peter Bayne: "The Testimony of Christ to Christianity."

(from Explore the Book. Copyright © 1960 J. Sidlow Baxter. All rights reserved.)

lost count

since my brother was 14 years old, we would stop by at the pull-up bar at the playground downstairs on our way home from school. i would hold his bag while he strained, counting, "one... two... three... four... five... six... seven... eight... nine... ten!" ten... that was how many he could do when we first began.

as the years went by, that number grew to twelve... fourteen... sixteen... eighteen... twenty. i went from looking down at the top of his head as he reached up to try to grab the bar, to looking up as he grasped it with one swift and effortless motion.

now he's 20, and i've lost count.

because he can do too many?

that's true, but it happened even before that, when he no longer needed me there, a few years ago.

things not said

i wrote this 3 years ago... now 3 years later they still seem true... except applied to someone else:

"one realises that the loss of a friend comes not suddenly from words of anger- but slowly and silently- from Things Not Said."

sometimes i feel like i have already lost her...

my love for poetry re-ignited

one of my lecturers assigned the following set of poems to read for his module, and i like them:

Poems for first class of EN4880A (Spring 2009)

Christopher Marlowe (1564–93)

The Passionate Shepherd to His Love (published 1599)

COME live with me and be my Love,
And we will all the pleasures prove
That hills and valleys, dales and fields,
Or woods or steepy mountain yields.
And we will sit upon the rocks,	5
And see the shepherds feed their flocks
By shallow rivers, to whose falls
Melodious birds sing madrigals.
And I will make thee beds of roses
And a thousand fragrant posies;	10
A cap of flowers, and a kirtle
Embroider'd all with leaves of myrtle.
A gown made of the finest wool
Which from our pretty lambs we pull;
Fair-linèd slippers for the cold,	15
With buckles of the purest gold.
A belt of straw and ivy-buds
With coral clasps and amber studs:
And if these pleasures may thee move,
Come live with me and be my Love.	20
The shepherd swains shall dance and sing
For thy delight each May morning:
If these delights thy mind may move,
Then live with me and be my Love. Sir Walter Ralegh (1552-1618) The nymph's reply to the shepherd (1600) F all the world and love were young, And truth in every shepherd's tongue, These pretty pleasures might me move To live with thee and be thy love. Time drives the flocks from field to fold, When rivers rage and rocks grow cold; And Philomel becometh dumb; The rest complains of cares to come. The flowers do fade, and wanton fields To wayward winter reckoning yields: A honey tongue, a heart of gall, Is fancy's spring, but sorrow's fall. The gowns, thy shoes, thy beds of roses, Thy cap, thy kirtle, and thy posies Soon break, soon wither, soon forgotten,— In folly ripe, in reason rotten. Thy belt of straw and ivy buds, Thy coral clasps and amber studs, All these in me no means can move To come to thee and be thy love. But could youth last and love still breed, Had joys no date nor age no need, Then these delights my mind might move To live with thee and be thy love.

beautiful... not in the conventional sense... but the poignancy...

snails

i took a long time to get home today, because it was raining and there were snails on the ground. as i carefully avoided stepping on yet another snail wobbling across my path, i wondered, does anyone bother like i do, and am i just being silly... it's just snails after all, just snails...

thanks for the victory

each step along earth's pilgrimage our knowing God directs,
for all who claim the Saviour's name, He graciously perfects.
in every stage of life there is a change that must be made,
"oh change me to Christ-likeness Lord," many times i've prayed.

(chorus)
thanks for the victory You give for each hour,
thanks for provision to claim Your matchless power.
thanks for the trials Your victory can claim,
may every testing bring honour to Your name.

sometimes i've failed you Lord among the victories You gave,
and yet You've never cast me down, You willingly forgave.
yet even through the failures You design a sure defense,
of knowledge, strength, and lessons learned, that make a difference.

(chorus)
thanks for the victory You give for each hour,
thanks for provision to claim Your matchless power.
thanks for the trials Your victory can claim,
may every testing bring honour to Your name.

i need Thee every hour- annie hawks

Annie Hawks wrote these beautiful lyrics on an ordinary day, when she "be­came so filled with the sense of near­ness to the Mast­er that [she] won­der­[ed] how one could live with­out Him, ei­ther in joy or pain." some years later, when her husband died, she was comforted by the same words that she had written. whatever troubles or challenges we face now, may we be encouraged to seek him, as did this woman who knew that peace could only be found in God's presence.

I need Thee every hour, most gracious Lord;
No tender voice like Thine can peace afford.

Refrain

I need Thee, O I need Thee;
Every hour I need Thee;
O bless me now, my Savior,
I come to Thee.

I need Thee every hour, stay Thou nearby;
Temptations lose their power when Thou art nigh.

Refrain

I need Thee every hour, in joy or pain;
Come quickly and abide, or life is in vain.

Refrain

I need Thee every hour; teach me Thy will;
And Thy rich promises in me fulfill.

Refrain

I need Thee every hour, most Holy One;
O make me Thine indeed, Thou blessèd Son.

Refrain

all your anxiety- edward henry joy

Is there a heart o'er bound by sorrow?
Is there a life weighed down by care?
Come to the cross each burden bearing.
All our anxiety leave it there.


All your anxiety, all your care,
Bring to the mercy seat leave it there;
Never a burden He cannot bear,
Never a friend like Jesus.


No other friend so keen to help you,
No other friend so quick to hear.
No other place to leave your burden;
No other one to hear our prayer.


All your anxiety, all your care,
Bring to the mercy seat leave it there;
Never a burden He cannot bear,
Never a friend like Jesus.


Come then at once; delay no longer!
Heed His entreaty kind and sweet.
You need not fear a disappointment;
You shall find peace at the mercy seat.


All your anxiety, all your care,
Bring to the mercy seat leave it there;
Never a burden He cannot bear,
Never a friend like Jesus.

what God hath promised

God hath not promised skies always blue,
Flower strewn pathways all our lives through;
God hath not promised sun without rain,
Joy without sorrow, peace without pain.

Refrain

But God hath promised strength for the day,
Rest for the labor, light for the way,
Grace for the trials, help from above,
Unfailing sympathy, undying love.

God hath not promised we shall not know
Toil and temptation, trouble and woe;
He hath not told us we shall not bear
Many a burden, many a care.

Refrain

God hath not promised smooth roads and wide,
Swift, easy travel, needing no guide;
Never a mountain rocky and steep,
Never a river turbid and deep.

Refrain

i asked the Lord that i might grow

I asked the Lord that I might grow
In faith, and love, and every grace;
Might more of His salvation know,
And seek, more earnestly, His face.

’Twas He who taught me thus to pray,
And He, I trust, has answered prayer!
But it has been in such a way,
As almost drove me to despair.

I hoped that in some favored hour,
At once He’d answer my request;
And by His love’s constraining pow’r,
Subdue my sins, and give me rest.

Instead of this, He made me feel
The hidden evils of my heart;
And let the angry pow’rs of hell
Assault my soul in every part.

Yea more, with His own hand He seemed
Intent to aggravate my woe;
Crossed all the fair designs I schemed,
Blasted my gourds, and laid me low.

Lord, why is this, I trembling cried,
Wilt thou pursue thy worm to death?
“’Tis in this way, the Lord replied,
I answer prayer for grace and faith.

These inward trials I employ,
From self, and pride, to set thee free;
And break thy schemes of earthly joy,
That thou may’st find thy all in Me.”

moment by moment- daniel w. whittle

Dying with Jesus, by death reckoned mine;
Living with Jesus, a new life divine;
Looking to Jesus till glory doth shine,
Moment by moment, O Lord, I am Thine.

Refrain

Moment by moment I’m kept in His love;
Moment by moment I’ve life from above;
Looking to Jesus till glory doth shine;
Moment by moment, O Lord, I am Thine.

Never a trial that He is not there,
Never a burden that He doth not bear,
Never a sorrow that He doth not share,
Moment by moment, I’m under His care.

Refrain

Never a heartache, and never a groan,
Never a teardrop and never a moan;
Never a danger but there on the throne,
Moment by moment He thinks of His own.

Refrain

Never a weakness that He doth not feel,
Never a sickness that He cannot heal;
Moment by moment, in woe or in weal,
Jesus my Savior, abides with me still.

Refrain

Jesus Never Fails- Arthur A. Luther

Earthly friends may prove untrue,
Doubts and fears assail;
One still loves and cares for you,
One Who will not fail.

Though the sky be dark and drear,
Fierce and strong the gale,
Just remember, He is near
And He will not fail.

In life's dark and bitter hour
Love will still prevail;
Trust His everlasting pow'r
Jesus will not fail.

CHORUS:
Jesus never fails,
Jesus never fails.
Heav'n and earth may pass away,
But Jesus never fails.

The Solid Rock- Edward Mote

My hope is built on nothing less
Than Jesus’ blood and righteousness.
I dare not trust the sweetest frame,
But wholly trust in Jesus’ Name.

Refrain

On Christ the solid Rock I stand,
All other ground is sinking sand;
All other ground is sinking sand.

When darkness seems to hide His face,
I rest on His unchanging grace.
In every high and stormy gale,
My anchor holds within the veil.

Refrain

His oath, His covenant, His blood,
Support me in the whelming flood.
When all around my soul gives way,
He then is all my Hope and Stay.

Refrain

When He shall come with trumpet sound,
Oh may I then in Him be found.
Dressed in His righteousness alone,
Faultless to stand before the throne.

Refrain

by T. S. Eliot

For all things exist only as seen by Thee, only as known by Thee. All things exist
Only in Thy light, and Thy glory is declared even in that which denies Thee; the darkness declares the glory of light.
Those who deny Thee could not deny, if Thou didst not exist; and their denial is not complete, for if it were so, they would not exist.
They affirm Thee in living; all things affirm Thee in living.

(from Explore the Book. Copyright © 1960 J. Sidlow Baxter. All rights reserved.)

By Christ redeemed, in Christ restored -George Rawson

By Christ redeemed, in Christ restored,
We keep the memory adored,
And show the death of our dear Lord,
Until He come.

His body broken in our stead
Is here in this memorial bread,
And so our feeble love is fed
Until He come.

The streams of His dread agony,
His life blood shed for us, we see;
The wine shall tell the mystery
Until He come.

And thus that dark betrayal night
With the last advent we unite
By one blest chain of loving rite
Until He come.

Until the trump of God be heard,
Until the ancient graves be stirred,
And, with the great commanding word,
The Lord shall come.

O blessed hope! with this elate
Let not our hearts be desolate,
But, strong in faith, in patience wait
Until He come.

by Emily Bronte

No coward soul is mine,
No trembler in the world's storm-troubled sphere:
I see Heaven's glories shine,
And faith shines equal, arming me from fear.

O God within my breast,
Almighty, ever-present Deity!
Life -- that in me has rest,
As I -- Undying Life -- have power in Thee!

Vain are the thousand creeds
That move men's hearts: unutterably vain;
Worthless as withered weeds,
Or idlest froth amid the boundless main,

To waken doubt in one
Holding so fast by Thine infinity;
So surely anchored on
The steadfast Rock of immortality.

With wide-embracing love
Thy Spirit animates eternal years,
Pervades and broods above,
Changes, sustains, dissolves, creates, and rears.

Though earth and man were gone,
And suns and universes ceased to be,
And Thou wert left alone,
Every existence would exist in Thee.

There is not room for Death,
Nor atom that his might could render void:
Thou -- Thou art Being and Breath,
And what Thou art may never be destroyed.

the poems i have not written- john brehm

I’m so wildly unprolific, the poems
I have not written would reach
from here to the California coast
if you laid them end to end.

And if you stacked them up,
the poems I have not written
would sway like a silent
Tower of Babel, saying nothing

and everything in a thousand
different tongues. So moving, so
filled with and emptied of suffering,
so steeped in the music of a voice

speechless before the truth,
the poems I have not written
would break the hearts of every
woman who’s ever left me,

make them eye their husbands
with a sharp contempt and hate
themselves for turning their backs
on the very source of beauty.

The poems I have not written
would compel all other poets
to ask of God: "Why do you
let me live? I am worthless.

please strike me dead at once,
destroy my works and cleanse
the earth of all my ghastly
imperfections." Trees would

bow their heads before the poems
I have not written. "Take me,"
they would say, "and turn me
into your pages so that I

might live forever as the ground
from which your words arise."
The wind itself, about which
I might have written so eloquently,

praising its slick and intersecting
rivers of air, its stately calms
and furious interrogations,
its flutelike lingerings and passionate

reproofs, would divert its course
to sweep down and then pass over
the poems I have not written,
and the life I have not lived, the life

I’ve failed even to imagine,
which they so perfectly describe.

i open a Microsoft Word document
a blank
shock
the cursor|
blink-blink, blink-blink
like my heart-beating-faster
i like the blank better than words--
more honest than
those,
your non-words.
the blank becomes your face as you spoke those words
i close the document.

I slept and dreamt that life was joy.
I awoke and saw that life was service.
I acted and behold, service was joy.

Rabindranath Tagore

immortal, invisible, God only wise

Immortal, invisible, God only wise,
In light inaccessible hid from our eyes,
Most blessèd, most glorious, the Ancient of Days,
Almighty, victorious, Thy great Name we praise.

Unresting, unhasting, and silent as light,
Nor wanting, nor wasting, Thou rulest in might;
Thy justice, like mountains, high soaring above
Thy clouds, which are fountains of goodness and love.

To all, life Thou givest, to both great and small;
In all life Thou livest, the true life of all;
We blossom and flourish as leaves on the tree,
And wither and perish—but naught changeth Thee.

Great Father of glory, pure Father of light,
Thine angels adore Thee, all veiling their sight;
But of all Thy rich graces this grace, Lord, impart
Take the veil from our faces, the vile from our heart.

All laud we would render; O help us to see
’Tis only the splendor of light hideth Thee,
And so let Thy glory, Almighty, impart,
Through Christ in His story, Thy Christ to the heart.

how quickly the night falls. Jesus, if only You would come as quickly with Your light.

in spring and summer winds may blow- walter savage landor

In spring and summer winds may blow,
And rains fall after, hard and fast;
The tender leaves, if beaten low,
Shine but the more for shower and blast

But when their fated hour arrives,
When reapers long have left the field,
When maidens rifle turn'd-up hives,
And their last juice fresh apples yield,

A leaf perhaps may still remain
Upon some solitary tree,
Spite of the wind and of the rain . . .
A thing you heed not if you see.

At last it falls. Who cares? Not one:
And yet no power on earth can ever
Replace the fallen leaf upon
Its spray, so easy to dissever.

If such be love, I dare not say.
Friendship is such, too well I know:
I have enjoyed my summer day;
'Tis past; my leaf now lies below.

hehe, so cool

huix said...

Hey copy and paste your entire blog words to

http://wordle.net/

some fella found an algorithm to create pretty word collage using any essay.

the words that you use the most will come out most prominently.

I had a clear guess for your blog, and i'm right.

I think you know too *grins*

a very excited joan says:

i just tried, and this is what they came up with. do click on the link to take a closer look! =) huix, what would i do without you to entertain me like this? hehe

a sun-day hymn- oliver wendell holmes

LORD of all being! throned afar,

Thy glory flames from sun and star;
Centre and soul of every sphere,
Yet to each loving heart how near!

Sun of our life, thy quickening ray
Sheds on our path the glow of day;
Star of our hope, thy softened light
Cheers the long watches of the night.

Our midnight is thy smile withdrawn;
Our noontide is thy gracious dawn;
Our rainbow arch thy mercy's sign;
All, save the clouds of sin, are thine!

Lord of all life, below, above,
Whose light is truth, whose warmth is love,
Before thy ever-blazing throne
We ask no lustre of our own.

Grant us thy truth to make us free,
And kindling hearts that burn for thee,
Till all thy living altars claim
One holy light, one heavenly flame!

Lord, life becomes more simple

Lord, life becomes more simple
When all I seek is You,
When walking in Your Spirit
Is all that I pursue,
When knowing You are with me
Is all the light I need,
When all my heart is hungry
For You to shape and lead.

Lord, life is filled with beauty
When I am filled with You,
When You, so kind and patient,
Have made me caring, too.
When I am free to love You
And look to You alone,
Then life has found its sunlight,
And hope has found its home.

Lord Jesus, Sun of Heaven,
Its temple and its light,
Life's goal and its beginning,
Love's length and depth and height;
Lord, teach my heart to listen
And rest in simple truth,
To know life's sweetest pleasure:
To know and worship You.

Love (III) by George Herbert

Love bade me welcome, yet my soul drew back,
Guilty of dust and sin.
But quick-ey'd Love, observing me grow slack
From my first entrance in,
Drew nearer to me, sweetly questioning
If I lack'd anything.

"A guest," I answer'd, "worthy to be here";
Love said, "You shall be he."
"I, the unkind, the ungrateful? ah my dear,
I cannot look on thee."
Love took my hand and smiling did reply,
"Who made the eyes but I?"

"Truth, Lord, but I have marr'd them; let my shame
Go where it doth deserve."
"And know you not," says Love, "who bore the blame?"
"My dear, then I will serve."
"You must sit down," says Love, "and taste my meat."
So I did sit and eat.

today, i went on a cable car, and swung on a swing. i have always loved the feeling of flying, and cable cars and swings are among my favourite things in this world. but something greater than that keeps me flying every moment, and that's God's love. "they shall soar like eagles"... the eagle doesn't flap its wings to fly--it rides on the thermals, gliding effortlessly. praise Him for the everlasting winds of His love =)

i had always been afraid of falling. of the camps i've attended throughout my life, i had always avoided what many call the "trust fall," where you are usually made to stand on a table and fall backwards into the arms of your teamates. "i'm too heavy"; "they wouldn't hold me"; "how would i know?"
these thoughts gripped me with fear.

i managed to avoid it in camps, but in life i have fallen many times. each time i am indeed heavy--heavy with pain and grief; heavy with the knowledge of my own inadequacies--but each time i have fallen backwards, safe, into my Lord Jesus' arms.

He never fails the soul that trusts in Him;Tho' disappointments come and hope burns dim,
He never fails.Tho' trials surge like stormy seas around,Tho' testings fierce like ambushed foes abound,Yet this my soul, with millions more has found,
He never fails; He never fails.
He never fails the soul that trusts in Him;Tho' angry skies with thunder-clouds grow grim,
He never fails.Tho' icy blasts life's fairest flow'rs lay low,Tho' earthly springs of joy all cease to flow,Yet still 'tis true, with millions more I know,
He never fails; He never fails.
He never fails the soul that trusts in Him;Tho' sorrow's cup should overflow the brim,
He never fails.Tho' oft the pilgrim way seems rough and long,I yet shall stand amid yon white-robed throng,And there I'll sing, with millions more, this song
He never fails; He never fails.

- J.S.B.
(from Explore the Book. Copyright © 1960 J. Sidlow Baxter. All rights reserved.)

Not oft mid busy servings
Life's deepest truths are learned;
Not oft mid noisy striving
The Spirit's voice discerned.
Not in life's crowded places,
Where jostling cares intrude,
But, in life's lonely spaces,
God speaks in solitude.

The solitude of illness -
The loneness, ling'ring drear,
'Tis oft predestined stillness,
The voice of Heav'n to hear.
Old age - sad isolation
When friends of yore are gone,
Oft brings most revelation
Of the abiding One.

Affliction's deprivation -
Blind eyes, deaf ears, spent powers,
Ah, painful separation
To lonely, trying hours!
The loneness when heart breaketh,
And none on earth can ease;
Ah, most of all God speaketh
In solitudes like these.

The prophet's lone vocation,
Some heavenly call pursued,
The far-flung mission station -
These bring their solitude.
Thrice-blessed heart-break places,
Where lone and drear we plod!
For in life's loneliest spaces
We most discover - GOD.

- J.S.B.
(from Explore the Book. Copyright © 1960 J. Sidlow Baxter. All rights reserved.)

"The Present Crisis" by James Russell Lowell

Careless seems the great Avenger;
history's pages but record,
one death-grapple in the darkness
'twixt old systems and the Word;
Truth forever on the scaffold,
Wrong forever on the throne, -
Yet that scaffold sways the future,
and, behind the dim unknown,
Standeth God within the shadow,
keeping watch above his own.

Then to side with Truth is noble
when we share her wretched crust,
Ere her cause bring fame and profit,
and 'tis prosperous to be just.
Then it is the brave man chooses,
while the coward stands aside,
Doubting in his abject spirit,
till his Lord is crucified,
And the multitude make virtue
of the faith they had denied.

Count me o'er the earth's chosen heroes, - they were souls that stood alone,
While the men they agonized for
hurled the contumelious stone,
Stood serene and down the future
saw the golden beam incline
To the side of perfect justice,
mastered by their faith divine,
By one man's plain truth to manhood
and to God's supreme design.

Until Then

My heart can sing when I pause to remember
A heartache here is but a stepping stone
Along a trail that's winding always upward,
This troubled world is not my final home.


But until then my heart will go on singing,
Until then with joy I'll carry on,
Until the day my eyes behold the city,
Until the day God calls me home.


The things of earth will dim and lose their value
If we recall they're borrowed for awhile;
And things of earth that cause the heart to tremble,
Remembered there will only bring a smile.


But until then my heart will go on singing,
Until then with joy I'll carry on,
Until the day my eyes behold the city,
Until the day God calls me home.


This weary world with all its toil and struggle
May take its toll of misery and strife;
The soul of man is like a waiting falcon;
When it's released, it's destined for the skies.


But until then my heart will go on singing,
Until then with joy I'll carry on,
Until the day my eyes behold the city,
Until the day God calls me home.

Broken Things

Five broken loaves by Galilee's shore,
Broken and scattered for thousands and more.
O what compassion, what joy Jesus brings,
Watch how He uses broken things.

(Chorus)
Broken things, broken things,
Our God still chooses to use broken things...
"Break Thou myself," oh, make my heart sing,
For God can use this broken thing.

One broken box all wasted we thought,
Broken and shattered, forgiveness she got.
One broken form on Calvary's tree,
See how He suffered, broken for me.

(Chorus)
Broken things, broken things,
Our God still chooses to use broken things...
"Break Thou myself," oh, make my heart sing,
For God can use this broken thing.

Victory in Jesus

I heard an old, old story,
How a Savior came from glory,
How He gave His life on Calvary
To save a wretch like me;
I heard about His groaning,
Of His precious blood's atoning,
Then I repented of my sins
And won the victory.
Chorus
O victory in Jesus,
My Savior, forever.
He sought me and bought me
With His redeeming blood;
He loved me ere I knew Him
And all my love is due Him,
He plunged me to victory,
Beneath the cleansing flood.

I heard about His healing,
Of His cleansing pow'r revealing.
How He made the lame to walk again
And caused the blind to see;
And then I cried, "Dear Jesus,
Come and heal my broken spirit,"
And somehow Jesus came and bro't
To me the victory.

Chorus
O victory in Jesus,
My Savior, forever.
He sought me and bought me
With His redeeming blood;
He loved me ere I knew Him
And all my love is due Him,
He plunged me to victory,
Beneath the cleansing flood.

I heard about a mansion
He has built for me in glory.
And I heard about the streets of gold
Beyond the crystal sea;
About the angels singing,
And the old redemption story,
And some sweet day I'll sing up there
The song of victory.

Chorus
O victory in Jesus,
My Savior, forever.
He sought me and bought me
With His redeeming blood;
He loved me ere I knew Him
And all my love is due Him,
He plunged me to victory,
Beneath the cleansing flood.

if Jesus goes with me

It may be in the valley, where countless dangers hide;
It may be in the sunshine that I, in peace, abide;
But this one thing I know—if it be dark or fair,
If Jesus is with me, I’ll go anywhere!
Refrain
If Jesus goes with me, I’ll go anywhere!
’Tis heaven to me, where’er I may be, if He is there!
I count it a privilege here, His cross to bear,
If Jesus goes with me, I’ll go anywhere!

It may be I must carry the blessèd Word of life
Across the burning deserts to those in sinful strife;
And though it be my lot to bear my colors there,
If Jesus goes with me, I’ll go anywhere!

Refrain
If Jesus goes with me, I’ll go anywhere!
’Tis heaven to me, where’er I may be, if He is there!
I count it a privilege here, His cross to bear,
If Jesus goes with me, I’ll go anywhere!

But if it be my portion to bear my cross at home,
While others bear their burdens beyond the billow’s foam,
I’ll prove my faith in Him—confess His judgments fair,
If He stays with me, I’ll stay anywhere!

Refrain
If Jesus goes with me, I’ll go anywhere!
’Tis heaven to me, where’er I may be, if He is there!
I count it a privilege here, His cross to bear,
If Jesus goes with me, I’ll go anywhere!

It is not mine to question the judgment of my Lord,
It is but mine to follow the leadings of His Word;
But if to go or stay, or whether here or there,
I’ll be, with my Savior, content anywhere!

Refrain
If Jesus goes with me, I’ll go anywhere!
’Tis heaven to me, where’er I may be, if He is there!
I count it a privilege here, His cross to bear,
If Jesus goes with me, I’ll go anywhere!

Standing on the Promises

Standing on the promises of Christ my King,
Through eternal ages let His praises ring,
Glory in the highest, I will shout and sing,
Standing on the promises of God.

Refrain

Standing, standing,
Standing on the promises of God my Savior;
Standing, standing,
I’m standing on the promises of God.

Standing on the promises that cannot fail,
When the howling storms of doubt and fear assail,
By the living Word of God I shall prevail,
Standing on the promises of God.

Refrain

Standing on the promises I now can see
Perfect, present cleansing in the blood for me;
Standing in the liberty where Christ makes free,
Standing on the promises of God.

Refrain

Standing on the promises of Christ the Lord,
Bound to Him eternally by love’s strong cord,
Overcoming daily with the Spirit’s sword,
Standing on the promises of God.

Refrain

Standing on the promises I cannot fall,
Listening every moment to the Spirit’s call
Resting in my Savior as my all in all,
Standing on the promises of God.

Refrain

i didn't know
that even as you stood beside me
your face was turned toward the past,
until you turned your back on me
and i was left with wreckage,
smashed-
the pile of debris grows skyward.

at my grandmother's place in malaysia

rainbow
it's the day before mooncake festival, so the moon was supposed to be big tonight. i went to the front yard of my grandmother's house to see if this was so. it was. and what was more, there was a rainbow around it- i could see, although indistinctly, red, orange, yellow, green, blue, hints of violet... it was mesmerising. as i stared at the awe-inspiring beauty, i thanked God in my heart for reminding me that He is faithful, that He keeps His promises, that He would never leave...

light
although there were just a few of us in the house, and no small children, still we did the yearly ritual of putting lit candles in the paper lanterns and hanging them all over the front yard. there were square ones, round ones, oval ones, rectangular ones, red ones, yellow ones, green ones, all made of paper. of the paper ones, i liked the tiniest red one most... compared to the other paper lanterns its light barely showed- just a tiny flicker- but glowing, as if with hope.

but the best lantern of all wasn't made of paper- it was made from a metal can cut into long vertical strips. before it was lit it looked plain and dull, but the moment a candle was put into it the light came out from it from all directions, light and shadow alternating and rotating as it swayed gently from side to side.

i looked at the rows of candles flickering in the wind, and the many stars in the sky, and thought- how attracted we all are to light, even the tiniest and faintest of lights...

and although i am too old, i played with sparklers, remembering the days when they had filled me with child-like wonder and delight... they lasted such a short while, but when one went out i lit another, enjoying the dazzle yet at the same time waiting, knowing that it would end... i lit four sparklers one after the other... one... two... three... four...

and when the last one died out i ached in my heart for the day when i can behold the true Light, the one Light that will never go out on me...

terrapin
i saw him sleeping in his tank, and he looked so adorable i couldn't resist picking him up. he was still drowsy at first, but after a while he started to move his legs and look at me reproachfully. i whispered to him, "i'm sorry", but he seemed to forgive me and lay in my hand quite contentedly when i stroked his shell as gently as i could. poor guy- i think petting him comforted me more than it soothed him. after a while, i felt i was being selfish, and shamefacedly put him back into his tank. he didn't blame me, though- in fact i fancied that he was getting rather fond of me.

food
every time i go to my grandmother's place, each of my relatives stuff me with food, and i know it is love. the best pomelo saved for me, the few precious mooncakes reserved for me, the most savoury bits of meat... each time i leave it is with bags of food, and even as i carry them from the living room to my dad's car they are rushing to add "just one more" and anxiously looking around to see if they can pile me with anything else.

food from my loved ones touch me like the warmth of a hug... like the day after my heart was broken. when my dad came home from work, i wanted so much to hold out my arms for a hug, that little girl in me that was hurting so much... but we don't do hugs, so i just said "hi dad", and he looked at me and i knew... the following day he came to my room and gave me two bottles of my favourite plum juice... and that's how he said he was hurting for me... and when i drank it i tasted a special type of sweetness that is not of the drink... the type that still manages to be when your heart aches...

like when my dad told me during our drive home that the moment i was born was one of the happiest of his life... sweetness, that i was part of one of his happiest moments... but my heart ached, also, wondering if i would ever be able to say any moment in my life was just pure happy, the way my dad could.

missing
when my dad told me he missed his dad, i was reminded of how devastated i would be when my dad passes away... i told him, sometimes i wish you weren't such a wonderful dad so i wouldn't miss you so much when you're gone... but that doesn't stop me from loving him as much as i know how, from wanting to spend every moment we can have together, together... and i realised that i can't give up loving even if i know that it would make the inevitable loss (for every person on this earth will leave us one day) more difficult to bear.

how painfully and wonderfully human our hearts are.

Today Thy mercy calls us

Today thy mercy calls us
to wash away our sin;
however great our trespass,
whatever we have been;
however long from mercy
we may have turned away,
thy blood, O Christ, can cleanse us,
and make us white today.

Today thy gate is open,
and all who enter in
shall find a Father's welcome,
and pardon for their sin;
the past shall be forgotten,
a present joy be given;
a future grace be promised,
a glorious crown in heaven.

O all-embracing Mercy,
thou ever-open Door,
what shall we do without thee
when heart and eyes run o'er?
When all things seem against us,
to drive us to despair,
we know one gate is open,
one ear will hear our prayer.

God makes no mistakes

My life I give to You, O Lord-
Use me, I pray.
May I glorify Your precious name
In all I do and say.
Let me trust You in the valley dark
As well as in the light,
Knowing You will always lead me;
Your will is always right...

I know God makes no mistakes,
He leads in ev’ry path I take;
Along the way that’s leading me to Home...
Though at times my heart would break,
There’s a purpose in ev’ry change He makes:
That others would see my life
And know that God makes no mistakes.

And when someday in Heav’n above,
I see His dear face,
May I then be counted faithful
As a runner in this race.
But now I’m trusting in the Savior
To show me the way-
In His righteousness He guides me,
As I seek to please Him day by day.

I know God makes no mistakes,
He leads in ev’ry path I take
Along the way that’s leading me to Home...
Though at times my heart would break,
There’s a purpose in ev’ry change He makes:
That others would see my life
And know that God makes no mistakes.

what could perhaps be an allegory

to me, there are two ways you can play badminton, depending on your objective.

if your objective is to win, you play with a net, with lines distinctly drawn and to be strictly followed. you achieve your goal when you have the higher score; to do this you have to be aware of your opponent's weakenesses so that you may turn them to your own use. you have to be conscious of your own weaknesses as well, ensuring that your opponent does not use them against you. when you hit the shuttlecock, you try to do it in such a way that makes it as difficult as possible for your opponent to reach it. it is to your favour if you can hit the shuttlecock as near to the lines as possible but without exceeding them. besides how well you attack your opponent's weaknesses while covering up your own, it is also about how long you can maintain your form in the game. therefore, it is greatly to your advantage if you manage to cause your opponent to be injured, e.g. a sprained ankle.

it is completely different if your objective is not to win, but to keep the shuttlecock in the air for as long as possible, be it so that you may get a good work-out with your partner, or enjoy a longer game. in this scenario there is no need for nets or clearly-demarcated lines; whoever can reach the shuttlecock will lift it into the air with his racquet. you would concentrate on using your strengths to cover your partner's weaknesses, or playing in such a way as to complement your partner's strengths. the shuttlecock would be a gift whose final destination is your partner. in working together to keep the shuttlecock in the air, the game becomes a dance; not a demonstration of individual skill, but the combination of strengths to achieve a shared purpose. in a way, you are no longer hitting in opposite directions ; not against each other, but at and with each other.

i prefer the second way. which one do you?

Nearer, my God, to Thee

Nearer, my God, to Thee, nearer to Thee!
E’en though it be a cross that raiseth me,
Still all my song shall be, nearer, my God, to Thee.

Refrain

Nearer, my God, to Thee,
Nearer to Thee!

Though like the wanderer, the sun gone down,
Darkness be over me, my rest a stone.
Yet in my dreams I’d be nearer, my God to Thee.

Refrain

There let the way appear, steps unto Heav’n;
All that Thou sendest me, in mercy given;
Angels to beckon me nearer, my God, to Thee.

Refrain

Then, with my waking thoughts bright with Thy praise,
Out of my stony griefs Bethel I’ll raise;
So by my woes to be nearer, my God, to Thee.

Refrain

Or, if on joyful wing cleaving the sky,
Sun, moon, and stars forgot, upward I’ll fly,
Still all my song shall be, nearer, my God, to Thee.

Refrain

There in my Father’s home, safe and at rest,
There in my Savior’s love, perfectly blest;
Age after age to be, nearer my God to Thee.

Refrain

Be still my soul

Be still, my soul: the Lord is on thy side.
Bear patiently the cross of grief or pain.
Leave to thy God to order and provide;
In every change, He faithful will remain.
Be still, my soul: thy best, thy heavenly Friend
Through thorny ways leads to a joyful end.

Be still, my soul: thy God doth undertake
To guide the future, as He has the past.
Thy hope, thy confidence let nothing shake;
All now mysterious shall be bright at last.
Be still, my soul: the waves and winds still know
His voice Who ruled them while He dwelt below.

Be still, my soul: when dearest friends depart,
And all is darkened in the vale of tears,
Then shalt thou better know His love, His heart,
Who comes to soothe thy sorrow and thy fears.
Be still, my soul: thy Jesus can repay
From His own fullness all He takes away.

Be still, my soul: the hour is hastening on
When we shall be forever with the Lord.
When disappointment, grief and fear are gone,
Sorrow forgot, love’s purest joys restored.
Be still, my soul: when change and tears are past
All safe and blessèd we shall meet at last.

Be still, my soul: begin the song of praise
On earth, believing, to Thy Lord on high;
Acknowledge Him in all thy words and ways,
So shall He view thee with a well pleased eye.
Be still, my soul: the Sun of life divine
Through passing clouds shall but more brightly shine.

Abide with me

Abide with me; fast falls the eventide;
The darkness deepens; Lord with me abide.
When other helpers fail and comforts flee,
Help of the helpless, O abide with me.

Swift to its close ebbs out life’s little day;
Earth’s joys grow dim; its glories pass away;
Change and decay in all around I see;
O Thou who changest not, abide with me.

Not a brief glance I beg, a passing word;
But as Thou dwell’st with Thy disciples, Lord,
Familiar, condescending, patient, free.
Come not to sojourn, but abide with me.

Come not in terrors, as the King of kings,
But kind and good, with healing in Thy wings,
Tears for all woes, a heart for every plea—
Come, Friend of sinners, and thus bide with me.

Thou on my head in early youth didst smile;
And, though rebellious and perverse meanwhile,
Thou hast not left me, oft as I left Thee,
On to the close, O Lord, abide with me.

I need Thy presence every passing hour.
What but Thy grace can foil the tempter’s power?
Who, like Thyself, my guide and stay can be?
Through cloud and sunshine, Lord, abide with me.

I fear no foe, with Thee at hand to bless;
Ills have no weight, and tears no bitterness.
Where is death’s sting? Where, grave, thy victory?
I triumph still, if Thou abide with me.

Hold Thou Thy cross before my closing eyes;
Shine through the gloom and point me to the skies.
Heaven’s morning breaks, and earth’s vain shadows flee;
In life, in death, O Lord, abide with me.

Lord, i believe a rest remains

Lord, I believe a rest remains
To all Thy people known,
A rest where pure enjoyment reigns,
And Thou art loved alone.

A rest where all our soul’s desire
Is fixed on things above;
Where fear, and sin, and grief expire,
Cast out by perfect love.

O that I now the rest might know,
Believe, and enter in!
Now, Savior, now the power bestow,
And let me cease from sin.

Remove this hardness from my heart,
This unbelief remove:
To me the rest of faith impart,
The Sabbath of Thy love.

God is still on the throne

Have you started for glory and Heaven?
Have you left this old world far behind?
In your heart is the Comforter dwelling?
Can you say, “Praise the Lord, He is mine”?
Have the ones that once walked on the highway
Gone back, and you seem all alone?
Keep your eyes on the prize, for the home in the skies;
God is still on the throne.

Refrain

God is still on the throne,
And He will remember His own;
Tho’ trials may press us and burdens distress us,
He never will leave us alone;
God is still on the throne,
He never forsaketh His own;
His promise is true, He will not forget you,
God is still on the throne.

Burdened soul, is your heart growing weary
With the toil and the heat of the day?
Does it seem that your path is more thorny
As you journey along on life’s way?
Go away and in secret before Him
Tell your grief to the Savior alone;
He will lighten your care, for He still answers prayer;
God is still on the throne.

Refrain

You may live in a tent or a cottage,
Unnoticed by those who pass by;
But a mansion for you He is building
In that beautiful city on high;
It will outshine the wealth and the splendor
Of the richest on earth we have known;
He’s the Architect true, and He’s building for you;
God is still on the throne.

Refrain

He is coming again, is the promise
To disciples when He went away;
In like manner as He has gone from you,
You will see Him returning some day;
Does His tarrying cause you to wonder,
Does it seem He’s forgotten His own?
His promise is true, He is coming for you;
God is still on the throne.

Refrain

Yesterday, today, forever

Yesterday, today, forever,
Jesus is the same,
All may change, but Jesus never!
Glory to His name,
Glory to His name,
Glory to His name;
All may change, but Jesus never!
Glory to His name.

Praise Him, Praise Him

Praise Him! Praise Him! Jesus, our blessèd Redeemer!
Sing, O Earth, His wonderful love proclaim!
Hail Him! hail Him! highest archangels in glory;
Strength and honor give to His holy Name!
Like a shepherd, Jesus will guard His children,
In His arms He carries them all day long:

Refrain

Praise Him! Praise Him!
Tell of His excellent greatness.
Praise Him! Praise Him!
Ever in joyful song!

Praise Him! Praise Him! Jesus, our blessèd Redeemer!
For our sins He suffered, and bled, and died.
He our Rock, our hope of eternal salvation,
Hail Him! hail Him! Jesus the Crucified.
Sound His praises! Jesus who bore our sorrows,
Love unbounded, wonderful, deep and strong.

Refrain

Praise Him! Praise Him! Jesus, our blessèd Redeemer!
Heav’nly portals loud with hosannas ring!
Jesus, Savior, reigneth forever and ever.
Crown Him! Crown Him! Prophet, and Priest, and King!
Christ is coming! over the world victorious,
Pow’r and glory unto the Lord belong.

Refrain

When You are Old- W. B. Yeats

When you are old and grey and full of sleep,
And nodding by the fire, take down this book,
And slowly read, and dream of the soft look
Your eyes had once, and of their shadows deep;

How many loved your moments of glad grace,
And loved your beauty with love false or true,
But one man loved the pilgrim soul in you,
And loved the sorrows of your changing face;

And bending down beside the glowing bars,
Murmur, a little sadly, how Love fled
And paced upon the mountains overhead
And hid his face amid a crowd of stars.

Two Loves -Lord Alfred Douglas

I dreamed I stood upon a little hill,
And at my feet there lay a ground, that seemed
Like a waste garden, flowering at its will
With buds and blossoms. There were pools that dreamed
Black and unruffled; there were white lilies
A few, and crocuses, and violets
Purple or pale, snake-like fritillaries
Scarce seen for the rank grass, and through green nets
Blue eyes of shy peryenche winked in the sun.
And there were curious flowers, before unknown,
Flowers that were stained with moonlight, or with shades
Of Nature's willful moods; and here a one
That had drunk in the transitory tone
Of one brief moment in a sunset; blades
Of grass that in an hundred springs had been
Slowly but exquisitely nurtured by the stars,
And watered with the scented dew long cupped
In lilies, that for rays of sun had seen
Only God's glory, for never a sunrise mars
The luminous air of Heaven. Beyond, abrupt,
A grey stone wall. o'ergrown with velvet moss
Uprose; and gazing I stood long, all mazed
To see a place so strange, so sweet, so fair.
And as I stood and marvelled, lo! across
The garden came a youth; one hand he raised
To shield him from the sun, his wind-tossed hair
Was twined with flowers, and in his hand he bore
A purple bunch of bursting grapes, his eyes
Were clear as crystal, naked all was he,
White as the snow on pathless mountains frore,
Red were his lips as red wine-spilith that dyes
A marble floor, his brow chalcedony.
And he came near me, with his lips uncurled
And kind, and caught my hand and kissed my mouth,
And gave me grapes to eat, and said, 'Sweet friend,
Come I will show thee shadows of the world
And images of life. See from the South
Comes the pale pageant that hath never an end.'
And lo! within the garden of my dream
I saw two walking on a shining plain
Of golden light. The one did joyous seem
And fair and blooming, and a sweet refrain
Came from his lips; he sang of pretty maids
And joyous love of comely girl and boy,
His eyes were bright, and 'mid the dancing blades
Of golden grass his feet did trip for joy;
And in his hand he held an ivory lute
With strings of gold that were as maidens' hair,
And sang with voice as tuneful as a flute,
And round his neck three chains of roses were.
But he that was his comrade walked aside;
He was full sad and sweet, and his large eyes
Were strange with wondrous brightness, staring wide
With gazing; and he sighed with many sighs
That moved me, and his cheeks were wan and white
Like pallid lilies, and his lips were red
Like poppies, and his hands he clenched tight,
And yet again unclenched, and his head
Was wreathed with moon-flowers pale as lips of death.
A purple robe he wore, o'erwrought in gold
With the device of a great snake, whose breath
Was fiery flame: which when I did behold
I fell a-weeping, and I cried, 'Sweet youth,
Tell me why, sad and sighing, thou dost rove
These pleasent realms? I pray thee speak me sooth
What is thy name?' He said, 'My name is Love.'
Then straight the first did turn himself to me
And cried, 'He lieth, for his name is Shame,
But I am Love, and I was wont to be
Alone in this fair garden, till he came
Unasked by night; I am true Love, I fill
The hearts of boy and girl with mutual flame.'
Then sighing, said the other, 'Have thy will,
I am the love that dare not speak its name.'

I Love You- Sara Teasdale

When April bends above me
And finds me fast asleep,
Dust need not keep the secret
A live heart died to keep.

When April tells the thrushes,
The meadow-larks will know,
And pipe the three words lightly
To all the winds that blow.

Above his roof the swallows,
In notes like far-blown rain,
Will tell the little sparrow
Beside his window-pane.

O sparrow, little sparrow,
When I am fast asleep,
Then tell my love the secret
That I have died to keep.

Lullaby- W. H. Auden

Lay your sleeping head, my love,
Human on my faithless arm;
Time and fevers burn away
Individual beauty from
Thoughtful children, and the grave
Proves the child ephemeral:
But in my arms till break of day
Let the living creature lie,
Mortal, guilty, but to me
The entirely beautiful.

Soul and body have no bounds:
To lovers as they lie upon
Her tolerant enchanted slope
In their ordinary swoon,
Grave the vision Venus sends
Of supernatural sympathy,
Universal love and hope;
While an abstract insight wakes
Among the glaciers and the rocks
The hermit's carnal ecstasy.

Certainty, fidelity
On the stroke of midnight pass
Like vibrations of a bell
And fashionable madmen raise
Their pedantic boring cry:
Every farthing of the cost,
All the dreaded cards foretell,
Shall be paid, but from this night
Not a whisper, not a thought,
Not a kiss nor look be lost.

Beauty, midnight, vision dies:
Let the winds of dawn that blow
Softly round your dreaming head
Such a day of welcome show
Eye and knocking heart may bless,
Find our mortal world enough;
Noons of dryness find you fed
By the involuntary powers,
Nights of insult let you pass
Watched by every human love.

As I Walked Out One Evening- W. H. Auden

As I walked out one evening,
Walking down Bristol Street,
The crowds upon the pavement
Were fields of harvest wheat.

And down by the brimming river
I heard a lover sing
Under an arch of the railway:
'Love has no ending.

'I'll love you, dear, I'll love you
Till China and Africa meet,
And the river jumps over the mountain
And the salmon sing in the street,

'I'll love you till the ocean
Is folded and hung up to dry
And the seven stars go squawking
Like geese about the sky.

'The years shall run like rabbits,
For in my arms I hold
The Flower of the Ages,
And the first love of the world.'

But all the clocks in the city
Began to whirr and chime:
'O let not Time deceive you,
You cannot conquer Time.

'In the burrows of the Nightmare
Where Justice naked is,
Time watches from the shadow
And coughs when you would kiss.

'In headaches and in worry
Vaguely life leaks away,
And Time will have his fancy
To-morrow or to-day.

'Into many a green valley
Drifts the appalling snow;
Time breaks the threaded dances
And the diver's brilliant bow.

'O plunge your hands in water,
Plunge them in up to the wrist;
Stare, stare in the basin
And wonder what you've missed.

'The glacier knocks in the cupboard,
The desert sighs in the bed,
And the crack in the tea-cup opens
A lane to the land of the dead.

'Where the beggars raffle the banknotes
And the Giant is enchanting to Jack,
And the Lily-white Boy is a Roarer,
And Jill goes down on her back.

'O look, look in the mirror,
O look in your distress:
Life remains a blessing
Although you cannot bless.

'O stand, stand at the window
As the tears scald and start;
You shall love your crooked neighbour
With your crooked heart.'

It was late, late in the evening,
The lovers they were gone;
The clocks had ceased their chiming,
And the deep river ran on.

He leadeth me...

He leadeth me, O blessèd thought!
O words with heav’nly comfort fraught!
Whate’er I do, where’er I be
Still ’tis God’s hand that leadeth me.

Refrain

He leadeth me, He leadeth me,
By His own hand He leadeth me;
His faithful follower I would be,
For by His hand He leadeth me.

Sometimes mid scenes of deepest gloom,
Sometimes where Eden’s bowers bloom,
By waters still, over troubled sea,
Still ’tis His hand that leadeth me.

Refrain

Lord, I would place my hand in Thine,
Nor ever murmur nor repine;
Content, whatever lot I see,
Since ’tis my God that leadeth me.

Refrain

And when my task on earth is done,
When by Thy grace the vict’ry’s won,
E’en death’s cold wave I will not flee,
Since God through Jordan leadeth me.

Refrain

every time it rains, i hope to see a rainbow when it ends. i don't always see a rainbow, but i know in my heart that God's promise still stands, for He is faithful. praise Him. praise Him =)

=)

Christ liveth in me

Once far from God and dead in sin,
No light my heart could see;
But in God’s Word the light I found,
Now Christ liveth in me.

Refrain

Christ liveth in me,
Christ liveth in me,
Oh! what a salvation this,
That Christ liveth in me.

As rays of light from yonder sun,
The flowers of earth set free,
So life and light and love came forth
From Christ living in me.

Refrain

As lives the flower within the seed,
As in the cone the tree,
So, praise the God of truth and grace,
His Spirit dwelleth in me.

Refrain

With longing all my heart is filled,
That like Him I may be,
As on the wondrous thought I dwell
That Christ liveth in me.

Refrain

there's something about the sky as the sun is setting that moves me, even now. let it dazzle, even if just for a while.

the sunset was beautiful today...
i felt as if God was reminding me that He was watching over me...
and i cried out to Him,
help me remember that You will never leave me,
or i would have nothing...
it seemed like the whole sky was ablaze...
gazing at the majestic scene before me,
i wept at the wonder of it,
wept at its beauty,
wept at God's faithfulness despite everything,
despite myself,
despite this world,
this life...
and my heart ached with longing for the day when His glory would light up my sky...
never-endingly,
unlike the sunsets of this world.

My grandmother's eyes

Why are they the most
Beautiful when reflecting
Me saying good-bye?

great quote leon shared with me

"God is not against us for our sin- God is for us against our sin."