Friday, February 12, 2010

Just Wait

Just Wait

Desperately, helplessly, longingly, I cried.
Quietly, patiently, lovingly God replied.
I pled and I wept for a clue to my fate,
And the Master so gently said, "Child, you must wait!"

"'Wait?', you say, wait!" my indignant reply.
"Lord, I need answers, I need to know why!
Is your hand shortened? Or have you not heard?
By faith I have asked, and am claiming your Word.

"My future and all to which I can relate
Hangs in the balance, and you tell me to WAIT?
I'm needing a 'yes,' a go-ahead sign,
Or even a 'no' to which I can resign.

"And Lord, you promised that if we believe
We need but to ask, and we shall receive.
And Lord, I've been asking, and this is my cry:
I'm weary of asking! I need a reply!"

Then quietly, softly, I learned of my fate
As my Master replied once again, "You must wait."
So, I slumped in my chair, defeated and taut
And grumbled to God, "So, I'm waiting. . . for what?"

He seemed then to kneel and His eyes wept with mine,
And he tenderly said, "I could give you a sign.
I could shake the heavens, and darken the sun.
I could raise the dead, and cause mountains to run.
All you seek, I could give, and pleased you would be.
You would have what you want -- but, you wouldn't know ME.

"You'd not know the depth of my love for each saint;
You'd not know the power that I give to the faint;
You'd not learn to see through the clouds of despair;
You'd not learn to trust just by knowing I'm there;
You'd not know the joy of resting in me
When darkness and silence were all you could see.

"You'd never experience that fullness of love
As the peace of my Spirit descends like a dove;
You'd know that I give and I save. . .(for a start),
But you'd not know the depth of the beat of my heart.

"The glow of my comfort late into the night.
The faith that I give when you walk without sight,
The depth that's beyond getting just what you asked
Of an infinite God, who makes what you have last.

"You'd never know, should your pain quickly flee,
What it means that 'My grace is sufficient for thee.'
Yes, your dreams for your loved ones overnight would come true,
But, oh, the loss! If I lost what I'm doing in you!

"So, be silent, my child, and in time you will see
That the greatest of gifts is to get to know ME.
And though oft may my answers seem terribly late,
My wisest of answers is still but to WAIT."

Wednesday, February 10, 2010

Be cunning as serpents and innocent as doves

Matthew 10:16
Luke 16:1-5

The phrase "Be Cunning as Serpents and innocent as doves" makes me think hard to really understand and comprehends completely. Honestly, I always suspect that I never fully understand it.

These few words are somehow always related together with the parable of Shrewd Manager. Found in different book of the NT, seemingly unrelated, yet when placed to each other together. They are aligned and behind both stories tells a story about a higher principle at play.

Innocent as dove is easy to understand, innocent means faultless, not the villain nor the victim, a person who is not at blame when judgement is met out. However, when it is paired with "cunning as a serpent", the sentences morph into something complicated. Two contrasting position, with opposite connotation. They opposes each other and makes the whole sentence hard to grasp immediately. How do I be cunning as a snake while innocent as a dove at the same time?

Cunningness is the ability to profit from a situation. The situation could be ad-hoc or manufactured by the person. He understands and is able to read human nature. The greedy, the frighten, the weak, the proud, the ambitious and use that these human desires to his advantage.

If someone is able to do that and yet not turn the situation to his personal advantage but changes it so that all parties emerges a better people. People who learnt something more about himself and from it, grows. Will that be as innocent as dove?

And in that light, the Shrewd Manager is able to understand human nature to reciprocate. He discounted the debtor payments, triggering the human nature to repay him even if the person may not like him.

Tuesday, December 29, 2009

Higher Ground / Idde Schultz

This song is very rare, hard to find. Google offers no direct matches. Torrent and emule did not offer any hits. Yet, its melody and lyrics are simple and beautiful, deserving to be found.

Luckily, there is blog entry that offer a clue, to search into Google groups. And that finally leads to the english version. The song is originally in Swedish (You can find the original song in Youtube). A smash hit in 1995 (in Sweden). The original title is Högre mark (Higher Ground.)

And finding the lyrics online is a unsolvable challenge. I have to get the lyrics in the old fashion way, by listening to it.

Do let me know if there correction required (especially in the 4th stanza)

Updated (20 Oct 2013)
You can find the song from Amazon at this Higher ground [Single-CD] link.

Higher ground by idde schultz

hey you
it is not that i looking for good news
not expecting any changes in you
no no that not why i am back

hey you
i did not came back to your house again
to find out if you have a brand new friend
it was long ago that i was sick with desire

[Chorus]
I just wanna know a secret
And find out if there is
A blue blue heaven for the bitter
Where we could fly and then land again
On higher ground

hey you,
do u remember when the nights awake
look picture at ice cold space
on a arise as such
when nothing can happens.

[Chorus]

hey you
it is not that i looking for good news
not expecting any changes in you
no no that not why i am back

hey you
i should ask myself the reason why
I think i see the answer in yr eyes
it is a color that, and is not the one I remember

Tuesday, December 15, 2009

GrandMa

You lie on in the bed, feeling memories flooding over you, wondering why memories of her cames to you, remembering her pampering of you when you are young, remembering how she bought a schoolbag for you when she overheard you asking one from your parent. You remember how disappointed you are that it was not the type you wanted but you still keep till you were in your adult years.

You remember the nurse fondly smiling when they relate the story of how she ask them if she is pretty still after they bathed her. You always remember her cheerful self.

Thou it been years since she went to a better place. You wishes you had make grandma's last days happier.

Sunday, December 06, 2009

StanChart 2009 Marathon Bib 20892 (4hrs 37min)

My one and only marathon, it was an experience and finished in 4hrs37min. The training helped. I was able to keep a constant pace for 27km, exhaustion take over after 32 km mark.

Maybe a longer training running distance would had helped me be conditioned to the exhaustion effects. That said, not again, it is too bad for my knees.

Thursday, December 03, 2009

Princess on a jet plane

Tonight, dearest Princess is leaving on a jet plane with her husband-to-be. She is so happy and joyful, chirping and smiling, as we walked to the custom gate. And Des matches her character well, a serious, mature and stable person, to her playful, free-spirit and caring nature.

With a mixture of sadness and happiness in my heart, I waved goodbye to her as she crossed past the custom on her way to a new life phase. I wished I said a more proper goodbye to her.

Dear Princess, I will pray for your future happiness and asked God to gave you strength and hope in this new phase of your life.

Monday, November 16, 2009

Church of St Terea

Church of St Terea is a gazetted monument now. Meaning it stand forever as it is as the building represent a heritage of history and contributions of/to the community around it.

Standing on a hill, away from the buzzy roads, its gentle domes reach up to the skies, a single cross against the open sky, a beautiful white structure along Kampong Bahru road. Many times I glanced at it on my way to SGH and it always bring peace to my eyes as I see it standing tall against the blue sky.

Never did I knew that it will bring me back to God so many years in the future later. It was here that I promised God to be faithful and have my faith restored in Him. It was here that I felt belonged in the solemn, traditional and formal celebration.

Maybe it is the beautiful interior, maybe it is the good acoustics, maybe it is the formality of the celebration, maybe it is all of these. Ultimately they were what I needed then. A place to be comforted in, a place to gave thanks for His blessings, a place to root myself in that turbulent period. A rock for me to stand tall again.

I am so happy that it is gazetted now and in my opinion is all churches should be inspiring beautiful structure that cries out to be seen, to draw people to visit it and to learn about God.