Haiku

Surrounded by friends
Mugging for what is to come
I am not Alone.

Edit: Alternative 3rd line - "You are not Alone"

Romance everyday

Read this interesting quote in ST Life this morning,

"I think everyday should be a day of romance. Then on Valentine's Day, you should get to tell whoever you hate that you cannot stand them. There would be one day of hating and 364 days of love."
- Ashton Kutcher

Not that I agree with that one day of hating, but I guess his first proposition might be something we'd all want to consider.

Wind

While I was washing the dishes and staring out of the window today, I was reminded of something I was told when I was young.

"You can't see wind, sometimes you may not even feel it, but you know it is windy when you see the laundry on the bamboo-poles flapping vigorously, and so you believe that wind exists."

This is what happens during study breaks. You become so bored/sian that you blog or youtube incessantly.

《为何拣选我》

For those who don't understand Cantonese =)

《为何拣选我》
曲、词：卢永亨 编：Goh Kheng Long

为何你竟拣选我为我舍身?
为何要拯救如此罪人？
为何十架的爱是如此高深？
完全猜不透何原因

为何高天之主会为我牺牲？
为何以鲜血涂抹泪痕？
为何让我一信便获得新生？
何等的不配被怜悯！

但我确信神话语的应许，
让我深知所信的是谁！
容我以后顺从主，从不后退，
来为报答你为我奉上身躯！

自耶稣的真光照亮我的心，
便决心要离弃旧人;
唯求奉献所有并付出一生，
传扬主的恩惠及怜悯！

Joy

"An unsatisfied desire which is itself more desirable than any other satisfaction."
- Surprised by Joy, C.S. Lewis

"I can recall clearly some of those moments in my own life, where this poignant sense of longing, falling somewhere between pleasure and grief, caught me by surprise and caused me to wonder from whence came such strong emotion, and how might such an experience be recovered.

As a boy of ten, I recall being transported by the experience of looking through a telescope that an amateur astronomer had placed on a high field at our farm, when I sensed the vastness of the universe and saw the craters on the moon and the magical diphanous light of the Pleiades. At fifteen,I recall a Christmas Eve where the descant on a particularly beautiful Christmas carol, rsising sweet and true above the more familiar tune, left me with a sense of unexpected awe and a longing for something I could not name. ... "
- The Language of God, Francis Collins

I can particularly identify with the statement in bold. For the past 5 years, when I carol with Hwa Chong Voices during Christmas, I have had the privilege of standing next to one of the sopranos with the most beautiful voice who sings the descant. (More like we try to have it our way to stand next to each other, sometimes not to the conductor's pleasure. And no, there's nothing between us. She's happily attached (:)But without fail, x out of x times, the song will finish with a wide grin on my face, leaving me wanting and craving for more.

Or when the timpani and trumpets are used together in "Hallelujah" and "Worthy is the lamb that was slain" of Handel's Messiah, you feel for that instant when the chorus ends, you catch a glimpse of God's glory, which is already sufficient to inspire that awe and longing.

Or the orchestral accompaniment of "Our God is God" by Joseph Martin and J. Paul Williams. No matter how many times I listen to it, I see the skies open up and the angels and creatures of all kinds prostrating and bowing in rows before the throne of glory.

"Our God is God; We are the works of His hands
God is creator; Angels serve at His command
All creation bows before him and we must do the same
For God alone is worthy, Worthy of all praise.
Our God is God!"

Or when the narrative in "Glory and Honour" by Don Moen is read out, I'm reduced to tears. Until know, I can't rationalise the tears. But I am overwhelmed by emotion.

He is able, yes the Lion of Judah is worthy.
I crane my neck, hoping for a glimpse of Him and I'm shocked that what I see is not a lion but a Lamb, a Lamb that had been slain for the sins of the world,
for my sin.
"Then I heard ten thousand times ten thousand angels. In a loud voice they sang,
'Worthy is the Lamb who was slain, to receive power and riches and wisdom and strength and honour and glory and blessing!'
Then I heard every creature in Heaven and on earth and under the earth and on the sea and they were singing:
'To Him who sits on the throne and to the Lamb be praised and honour and glory and power,
forever, and ever AND EVER!

Or when the way to proceed is finally revealed. Although the road ahead is still uncertain, and may be long and winding, but you know to walk on with faith that it will lead to where God wants you to be, whether or not that's where you would want to be.

"Be still my soul, be still my soul
Cease from the labour and the toil.
Refreshing springs of peace await
the troubled minds and hearts that ache.

Be still my soul; God knows your way
and He will guide for His name's sake
Plunge in the rivers of His grace;
Rest in the arms of His embrace.

- God knows the way, God In Us, Don Moen

Leap into the Word

Between the probable proved there yawns
A gap. Afraid to jump, we stand absurd,
Then we see behind us sink the ground and, worse,
Our very standpoint crumbling. Desperate dawns
Our only hope: to leap into the Word
That opens up the shuttered universe.

- Sheldon Vanauken

Psalm 1 诗篇第一篇

1 Blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked or stand in the way of sinners or sit in the seat of mockers.
2 But his delight is in the law of the Lord, and on his law he meditates day and night.
3 He is like a tree planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in season and whose leaf does not wither. Whatever he does prospers.
4 Not so the wicked! They are like chaff that the wind blows away.
5 Therefore the wicked will not stand in the judgment, nor sinners in the assembly of the righteous.
6 For the Lord watches over the way of the righteous, but the way of the wicked will perish.

1 有福的人：不从恶人的计谋，不站罪人的道路，不坐好讥笑的人的座位。
2 他喜爱的是耶和华的律法，他昼夜默诵的也是耶和华的律法。
3 他像一棵树，栽在溪水旁，按时结果子，叶子总不枯干；他所作的一切，尽都顺利。
4 恶人却不是这样，他们好像糠秕，被风吹散。
5 因此，在审判的时候，恶人必站立不住；在义人的团体中，罪人也必这样。
6 因为耶和华看顾义人的道路，恶人的道路却必灭亡。