Last Sunday morning, I was in a mad rush to make it for prayer meeting.
Thank God for cabs, I thought to myself.
Me: Uncle, Commonwealth MRT station hor.
U: 好, Commonwealth 啊...
We both fell silent. Like always, I don't like to talk to strangers.
Then at a major junction…
U: 你去教堂啊?
Me: Uncle 你怎么知道?
U: 星期天这么早出门，不是去庙里拜拜就是去教堂 lor.
Me: 哦，是这样...
U: 以前我也有去教会的，小时候在那里长大。
Me: 那你为什么现在没有去了？
U: 哎呀，都一样啦，人不就是要在死后上天堂 lor. 你们 Christian 说上天堂，我们佛教就说去极乐世界，还不是一样?...
I don’t think Nirvana is a place that Buddhists believe they go to after they die.
We were around Queenstown at this point. Anyway, the uncle went on.
U: …你们讲信耶稣就上天堂嘛， 我们做好事就可以去极乐世界。
Me: 那么Uncle，你有把握去极乐世界吗？
U: 极乐世界 ah…很难到的 leh…
Me: 所以你没有把握啊？
U: 只可以尽力做啦...
The cab pulled into the taxi stand outside church.
Me: Uncle, 我很肯定地知道我以后会到哪里去。如果你想知道为什么我那么肯定 hor，我的教堂就在前面，你可以来。
U: Okay, okay 谢谢你 ah…
There's something cheerfully comforting when He turned my weakness (lateness) into an opportunity.
Monday, August 24, 2009
Sunday, August 23, 2009
“无言的赞颂”
在香港的时候，参加了朋有教会的崇拜，认识了这首诗歌。
旋律很简单，伴奏亦很简单。歌词取自于诗篇19，述说着上帝造化的荣耀。
歌曲详情可查阅此：http://www.christianstudy.com/data/hymns/text/c0223.html
今天查经的时候问了一个自己感到相当惊讶的问题。
“什么是上帝的荣耀？”
带领的人之前提出了出埃及记33：18-19 来解释什么是认识上帝以及祂的荣耀。
惊讶是因为自以为已经想过了这个课题，但其实我还是似懂非懂却还常挂嘴边。。。
看了经文过后还是有一点儿觉得“上帝的荣耀”很abstract. (Maybe its my problem)
最后得到的回答是，“上帝的荣耀”是祂的主权（sovereignty)。
我目前接受这个答案因为我知道我这一生都无法完全理清关于荣耀的实情，直到我见主面。
最后就想到这首诗歌，“无言无语，也无声音可听
神的大能却在世上知晓。”
就先让自己欣赏诸天所述说关于神的荣耀并且使心灵受到极大的震撼与敬畏。因为当静心聚神地观察宇宙时，人的渺小、卑微将凸显于上帝荣耀及主权之下。
For the video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a3STpaNLtUI
旋律很简单，伴奏亦很简单。歌词取自于诗篇19，述说着上帝造化的荣耀。
歌曲详情可查阅此：http://www.christianstudy.com/data/hymns/text/c0223.html
今天查经的时候问了一个自己感到相当惊讶的问题。
“什么是上帝的荣耀？”
带领的人之前提出了出埃及记33：18-19 来解释什么是认识上帝以及祂的荣耀。
惊讶是因为自以为已经想过了这个课题，但其实我还是似懂非懂却还常挂嘴边。。。
看了经文过后还是有一点儿觉得“上帝的荣耀”很abstract. (Maybe its my problem)
最后得到的回答是，“上帝的荣耀”是祂的主权（sovereignty)。
我目前接受这个答案因为我知道我这一生都无法完全理清关于荣耀的实情，直到我见主面。
最后就想到这首诗歌，“无言无语，也无声音可听
神的大能却在世上知晓。”
就先让自己欣赏诸天所述说关于神的荣耀并且使心灵受到极大的震撼与敬畏。因为当静心聚神地观察宇宙时，人的渺小、卑微将凸显于上帝荣耀及主权之下。
For the video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a3STpaNLtUI
Wednesday, August 19, 2009
UP and AWAY...
‘UP' is not for the hard-hearted.
Within 15 minutes it just pounds on your heart like trying a make a piece of meat tender and soft, ready to absorb the juices during marination (there’s no such word). And before you know it, the hackneyed love story of growing old together once again succeeds in awakening the innate human desire for eternity. For eternal, enduring love. As you watch you secretly hope that Carl and Ellie will last and helplessly grief the passing away of a beloved wife to a faithful husband. At the moment, it made me wonder how anyone could possibly bring themselves to marriage if they could foresee such loss.
Just as you are still struggling with Carl to get by the days without Ellie, before you know it, the scene when you have to watch Carl watch his house fly away and disappear through the clouds… Those 10 seconds left me defenseless and swallowing my saliva, thinking “Is that me there?” I was expecting a, go in, giggle, laugh, tear maybe and that’s it. But the writers knew just what most people struggle with…
To Carl, the house encompassed all the golden dreams and fancies that he ever had. It was his solace from the cold world outside and he just had to go everywhere with it. So for him to watch his house fly away is asking him to put down all his emotional baggage from the past and all the unfulfilled regrets that he often looked back upon and giving all those UP.
Did that scene strike a chord in your heart?
How many of us carry our houses with us (till death do us part) that we find it strenuous to move onto new pastures in life?
I was lectured by Lloyd-Jones on foolish people harbouring on their vain regrets, who refuse to see that regrets are time-consuming and many times irrational. Yet they occupy such a large part of the burden we carry in life. When things fail, we run back to them and sob and lament that good times are gone for good. Then we get stuck in this state of spiritual depression.
Are we willing and ready to give up our past burdens and regrets, thus embracing that our Lord’s mercies are new every morning, helping us to hope for the better future?
Within 15 minutes it just pounds on your heart like trying a make a piece of meat tender and soft, ready to absorb the juices during marination (there’s no such word). And before you know it, the hackneyed love story of growing old together once again succeeds in awakening the innate human desire for eternity. For eternal, enduring love. As you watch you secretly hope that Carl and Ellie will last and helplessly grief the passing away of a beloved wife to a faithful husband. At the moment, it made me wonder how anyone could possibly bring themselves to marriage if they could foresee such loss.
Just as you are still struggling with Carl to get by the days without Ellie, before you know it, the scene when you have to watch Carl watch his house fly away and disappear through the clouds… Those 10 seconds left me defenseless and swallowing my saliva, thinking “Is that me there?” I was expecting a, go in, giggle, laugh, tear maybe and that’s it. But the writers knew just what most people struggle with…
To Carl, the house encompassed all the golden dreams and fancies that he ever had. It was his solace from the cold world outside and he just had to go everywhere with it. So for him to watch his house fly away is asking him to put down all his emotional baggage from the past and all the unfulfilled regrets that he often looked back upon and giving all those UP.
Did that scene strike a chord in your heart?
How many of us carry our houses with us (till death do us part) that we find it strenuous to move onto new pastures in life?
I was lectured by Lloyd-Jones on foolish people harbouring on their vain regrets, who refuse to see that regrets are time-consuming and many times irrational. Yet they occupy such a large part of the burden we carry in life. When things fail, we run back to them and sob and lament that good times are gone for good. Then we get stuck in this state of spiritual depression.
Are we willing and ready to give up our past burdens and regrets, thus embracing that our Lord’s mercies are new every morning, helping us to hope for the better future?
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