Today is December 30. I am sitting in a half-empty office, 0 emails in my inbox and pretty much bored out of my mind. Why aren't I on leave? It's rainy outside, and besides really I have nowhere to go... Which doesn't quite sound like me - I always have a plan/a thing to do/a place to check out right? Well...
Ecclesiastes Chapter 1:2
Vanity of vanities, says Qoheleth, vanity of vanities! All things are vanity!
What profit has man from all the labor which he toils at under the sun?
One generation passes and another comes, but the world forever stays. The sun rises and the sun goes down; then it presses on to the place where it rises. Blowing now toward the south, then toward the north, the wind turns again and again, resuming its rounds. All rivers go to the sea, yet never does the sea become full.
To the place where they go, the rivers keep on going. What has been, that will be; what has been done, that will be done.
Nothing is new under the sun.
I have seen all things that are done under the sun, and behold, all is vanity and a chase after wind.
Reading from yesterday - the 5th Octave of Christmas. 1 John Chapter 2:9
Whoever says he is in the light,yet hates his brother, is still in the darkness.
Whoever loves his brother remains in the light,and there is nothing in him to cause a fall.
Whoever hates his brother is in darkness;
he walks in darkness and does not know where he is going because the darkness has blinded his eyes.
This year in 2008, I was ambitious and had my sights on a lot : explore Taiwan, work at my new job, make new friends etc. But somewhere down the line, things somehow got so out of control. Felt like chasing a wind, the harder I tried to wrest control, the worse things became. And it all is really very simple - it's all about love. As John said it - if you love your brother, you walk in the light, and there nothing to cause a fall.
I know I always say I don't regret, but I do. In relationships with a few people e.g. squealing on Sharon to the boss, losing patience with Kuansie... On reflection, if I used a heart of love, would I have done things differently? And what do you do in the aftermath?
I think I've said this before years ago, that relationships will be my downfall. And it remains my biggest cross. So my 2009 new year resolution will be very very short, just 2 actually,
1. learning to truly love
2. discipline (with faith and with myself).
Tuesday, December 30, 2008
Sunday, December 28, 2008
Christmas 2008 Break
I wish everyone a blessed Christmas season filled with Christ.
This year I skipped the midnight mass and went to Christmas Day mass instead. Instead I had Christmas dinner with Ghee Hwee & Eve. As usual, Ms Tan's culinary skills are excellent.
Christmas is such a non-event in Taiwan - Christmas Day mass as a small affair in the chapel filled with a few people, mostly foreigners and their small families - kids and all. So different from what I've used to. I know, the reason for the season is the Christ, but still there is a marked difference in the atmosphere. Would be nicer if it were grander so that the non-Christians, the lapsed Christians can be made aware of the significance of this day - the celebration of the greatest salvivic act of all time.
HP is shutdown over 25 and 26 Dec, so on Boxing Day, Emily took me and GH & Eve to 桃園 (Taoyuan) on Boxing Day. We took the bus in, dropped by her place - it was grand! She picked up her car and then we did a bit of a tour, driving to 石門水庫 and then 慈湖. Now 慈湖 is this lake where Chiang Kai Shek's mausoleum is. The original plan was to wait out reunification with China then bury him beside his mother. But as things are today, they decided to bury him somewhere in Taiwan but the DPP government started quibbling over details... So yeah, that's pretty much the state of affairs in Taiwan.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/8062670@N07/sets/72157611769410670/
Emily's pix - http://picasaweb.google.com/ycemilylai/Dashi2008Xmas#
On Saturday, 27 Dec, we did a little hike at 富陽公園. Had planned this some time ago and I was glad to finally get up into the mountains. It wasn't difficult and we made up 福州山and the nearby中埔山東峰. Both peaks offered fantastic views of Taipei city including the iconic Taipei 101.
We were blessed to meet a Mr Yang - actually we were only asking for directions to the top, and he offered to walk us up. Along the way we chatted about Taiwan political state of affairs (same view of how the DPP quibbles too much for the good of Taiwan). And he also provided a little history of the place. Apparently, the mountain we were on used to be temporary graves awaiting reburial in China. They bury 1st, and when the ships arrive, the graves are dug up and then shipped back for burial on Chinese soil. A little creepy but consistent as the Mucha mountains nearby are dotted with graves that remain til today.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/8062670@N07/sets/72157611720869489/
Today is the feast of The Holy Family of Jesus, Mary and Joseph. And I overslept! Gasp! Had to go to the farther church in Little Manila for the 12noon mass. It was in Tagalog, hang on it gets worse, it was also a wedding mass. Great. The Lord has a sense of humour...
I especially like the gospel of today - Col 3:12 Brothers and sisters: Put on, as God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved,heartfelt compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience,bearing with one another and forgiving one another, if one has a grievance against another; as the Lord has forgiven you, so must you also do.And over all these put on love, that is, the bond of perfection.And let the peace of Christ control your hearts, the peace into which you were also called in one body.And be thankful.
And the good thing is that the church is 10mins walk from the Taipei Fine Arts Museum. And the reason why I know this is because I ran down this road last Sunday as part of the 21k route for the ING Marathon. So after mass, I acquired a little culture with the local modern arts scene.
This year I skipped the midnight mass and went to Christmas Day mass instead. Instead I had Christmas dinner with Ghee Hwee & Eve. As usual, Ms Tan's culinary skills are excellent.
Christmas is such a non-event in Taiwan - Christmas Day mass as a small affair in the chapel filled with a few people, mostly foreigners and their small families - kids and all. So different from what I've used to. I know, the reason for the season is the Christ, but still there is a marked difference in the atmosphere. Would be nicer if it were grander so that the non-Christians, the lapsed Christians can be made aware of the significance of this day - the celebration of the greatest salvivic act of all time.
HP is shutdown over 25 and 26 Dec, so on Boxing Day, Emily took me and GH & Eve to 桃園 (Taoyuan) on Boxing Day. We took the bus in, dropped by her place - it was grand! She picked up her car and then we did a bit of a tour, driving to 石門水庫 and then 慈湖. Now 慈湖 is this lake where Chiang Kai Shek's mausoleum is. The original plan was to wait out reunification with China then bury him beside his mother. But as things are today, they decided to bury him somewhere in Taiwan but the DPP government started quibbling over details... So yeah, that's pretty much the state of affairs in Taiwan.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/8062670@N07/sets/72157611769410670/
Emily's pix - http://picasaweb.google.com/ycemilylai/Dashi2008Xmas#
On Saturday, 27 Dec, we did a little hike at 富陽公園. Had planned this some time ago and I was glad to finally get up into the mountains. It wasn't difficult and we made up 福州山and the nearby中埔山東峰. Both peaks offered fantastic views of Taipei city including the iconic Taipei 101.
We were blessed to meet a Mr Yang - actually we were only asking for directions to the top, and he offered to walk us up. Along the way we chatted about Taiwan political state of affairs (same view of how the DPP quibbles too much for the good of Taiwan). And he also provided a little history of the place. Apparently, the mountain we were on used to be temporary graves awaiting reburial in China. They bury 1st, and when the ships arrive, the graves are dug up and then shipped back for burial on Chinese soil. A little creepy but consistent as the Mucha mountains nearby are dotted with graves that remain til today.http://www.flickr.com/photos/8062670@N07/sets/72157611720869489/
Today is the feast of The Holy Family of Jesus, Mary and Joseph. And I overslept! Gasp! Had to go to the farther church in Little Manila for the 12noon mass. It was in Tagalog, hang on it gets worse, it was also a wedding mass. Great. The Lord has a sense of humour...
I especially like the gospel of today - Col 3:12 Brothers and sisters: Put on, as God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved,heartfelt compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience,bearing with one another and forgiving one another, if one has a grievance against another; as the Lord has forgiven you, so must you also do.And over all these put on love, that is, the bond of perfection.And let the peace of Christ control your hearts, the peace into which you were also called in one body.And be thankful.
And the good thing is that the church is 10mins walk from the Taipei Fine Arts Museum. And the reason why I know this is because I ran down this road last Sunday as part of the 21k route for the ING Marathon. So after mass, I acquired a little culture with the local modern arts scene.
Wednesday, December 24, 2008
Science and Faith - they are mutually consistent
I had my reservations earlier when they picked Pope Benedict, but hey, this guy rocks. He has the gumption to stand up against the world for his faith - I salute him.
Good heavens: Vatican rehabilitating Galileo
The Associated Press
Tuesday, December 23, 2008
VATICAN CITY: Galileo Galilei is going from heretic to hero.
The Vatican is recasting the most famous victim of its Inquisition as a man of faith, just in time for the 400th anniversary of Galileo's telescope and the U.N.-designated International Year of Astronomy next year.
Pope Benedict XVI paid tribute to the Italian astronomer and physicist Sunday, saying he and other scientists had helped the faithful better understand and "contemplate with gratitude the Lord's works."
In May, several Vatican officials will participate in an international conference to re-examine the Galileo affair, and top Vatican officials are now saying Galileo should be named the "patron" of the dialogue between faith and reason.
It's quite a reversal of fortune for Galileo Galilei (1564-1642), who made the first complete astronomical telescope and used it to gather evidence that the Earth revolved around the sun. Church teaching at the time placed Earth at the center of the universe.
The church denounced Galileo's theory as dangerous to the faith, but Galileo defied its warnings. Tried as a heretic in 1633 and forced to recant, he was sentenced to life imprisonment, later changed to house arrest.
The Church has for years been striving to shed its reputation for being hostile to science, in part by producing top-notch research out of its own telescope.
In 1992, Pope John Paul II declared that the ruling against Galileo was an error resulting from "tragic mutual incomprehension."
But that apparently wasn't enough. In January, Benedict canceled a speech at Rome's La Sapienza University after a group of professors, citing the Galileo episode and depicting Benedict as a religious figure opposed to science, argued that he shouldn't speak at a public university.
The Galileo anniversary appears to be giving the Vatican new impetus to put the matter to rest. In doing so, Vatican officials are stressing Galileo's faith as well as his science, to show the two are not mutually exclusive.
At a Vatican conference last month entitled "Science 400 Years after Galileo Galilei," the Vatican No. 2, Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, said Galileo was an astronomer, but one who "lovingly cultivated his faith and his profound religious conviction."
"Galileo Galilei was a man of faith who saw nature as a book authored by God," Bertone said.
The head of the Vatican's Pontifical Council for Culture, which co-sponsored the conference, went further. Archbishop Gianfranco Ravasi told Vatican Radio that Galileo "could become for some the ideal patron for a dialogue between science and faith."
He said Galileo's writings offered a "path" to explore how faith and reason were not incompatible.
The Rev. John Padberg, a church historian and the director of the Institute of Jesuit Sources at St. Louis University, said he suspected the Vatican's new emphasis on Galileo's faith came from the pope himself.
"Pope Benedict XVI is ardently convinced of the congruence of faith and reason, and he is concerned, especially in the present circumstances, of giving reason its due place in the whole scheme of things," he said.
While it is widely accepted that Galileo was a convinced Catholic, Padberg questioned whether he could ever be accepted as some kind of a poster child for the faith and reason debate. "That's going to be a long shot for an awful lot of people, on both sides, by the way," he said.
Benedict, a theologian, has made exploring the faith-reason relationship a key aspect of his papacy, and has directed his daily newspaper, L'Osservatore Romano, in particular, to take up the charge.
On Monday, the newspaper published a piece on the possibility of alien life on other planets as well as one on the popes who were "friendly" to astronomy.
Benedict clearly is: In his Sunday blessing, he noted that the Vatican itself has its own meridian, an obelisk in St. Peter's Square and that astronomy had long been used to signal prayer times for the faithful.
But the Vatican's embrace of Galileo only goes so far.
There were plans earlier this year to give Galileo a permanent place of honor in the Vatican to mark the anniversary of his telescope: a statue, to be located inside the Vatican gardens, donated by the Italian aerospace giant Finmeccanica SpA.
The plans were suspended after some Vatican officials voiced "problems" with the initiative, said Nicola Cabibbo, the president of the Pontifical Council for Science. He declined to elaborate.
Finmeccanica spokesman Roberto Alatri said the Galileo statue was just an idea that never got off the ground.
Italian news reports suggested the Vatican simply didn't want to draw so much permanent attention to the Galileo episode, which 400 years on, still rankles some.
"The dramatic clash between Galileo and some men of the Church left wounds that are still open today," the Vatican's chief astronomer, the Rev. Jose Funes, wrote recently in Osservatore. "The Church in some ways has recognized its errors.
"Maybe it could do better. One can always do better," he wrote.
Good heavens: Vatican rehabilitating Galileo
The Associated Press
Tuesday, December 23, 2008
VATICAN CITY: Galileo Galilei is going from heretic to hero.
The Vatican is recasting the most famous victim of its Inquisition as a man of faith, just in time for the 400th anniversary of Galileo's telescope and the U.N.-designated International Year of Astronomy next year.
Pope Benedict XVI paid tribute to the Italian astronomer and physicist Sunday, saying he and other scientists had helped the faithful better understand and "contemplate with gratitude the Lord's works."
In May, several Vatican officials will participate in an international conference to re-examine the Galileo affair, and top Vatican officials are now saying Galileo should be named the "patron" of the dialogue between faith and reason.
It's quite a reversal of fortune for Galileo Galilei (1564-1642), who made the first complete astronomical telescope and used it to gather evidence that the Earth revolved around the sun. Church teaching at the time placed Earth at the center of the universe.
The church denounced Galileo's theory as dangerous to the faith, but Galileo defied its warnings. Tried as a heretic in 1633 and forced to recant, he was sentenced to life imprisonment, later changed to house arrest.
The Church has for years been striving to shed its reputation for being hostile to science, in part by producing top-notch research out of its own telescope.
In 1992, Pope John Paul II declared that the ruling against Galileo was an error resulting from "tragic mutual incomprehension."
But that apparently wasn't enough. In January, Benedict canceled a speech at Rome's La Sapienza University after a group of professors, citing the Galileo episode and depicting Benedict as a religious figure opposed to science, argued that he shouldn't speak at a public university.
The Galileo anniversary appears to be giving the Vatican new impetus to put the matter to rest. In doing so, Vatican officials are stressing Galileo's faith as well as his science, to show the two are not mutually exclusive.
At a Vatican conference last month entitled "Science 400 Years after Galileo Galilei," the Vatican No. 2, Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, said Galileo was an astronomer, but one who "lovingly cultivated his faith and his profound religious conviction."
"Galileo Galilei was a man of faith who saw nature as a book authored by God," Bertone said.
The head of the Vatican's Pontifical Council for Culture, which co-sponsored the conference, went further. Archbishop Gianfranco Ravasi told Vatican Radio that Galileo "could become for some the ideal patron for a dialogue between science and faith."
He said Galileo's writings offered a "path" to explore how faith and reason were not incompatible.
The Rev. John Padberg, a church historian and the director of the Institute of Jesuit Sources at St. Louis University, said he suspected the Vatican's new emphasis on Galileo's faith came from the pope himself.
"Pope Benedict XVI is ardently convinced of the congruence of faith and reason, and he is concerned, especially in the present circumstances, of giving reason its due place in the whole scheme of things," he said.
While it is widely accepted that Galileo was a convinced Catholic, Padberg questioned whether he could ever be accepted as some kind of a poster child for the faith and reason debate. "That's going to be a long shot for an awful lot of people, on both sides, by the way," he said.
Benedict, a theologian, has made exploring the faith-reason relationship a key aspect of his papacy, and has directed his daily newspaper, L'Osservatore Romano, in particular, to take up the charge.
On Monday, the newspaper published a piece on the possibility of alien life on other planets as well as one on the popes who were "friendly" to astronomy.
Benedict clearly is: In his Sunday blessing, he noted that the Vatican itself has its own meridian, an obelisk in St. Peter's Square and that astronomy had long been used to signal prayer times for the faithful.
But the Vatican's embrace of Galileo only goes so far.
There were plans earlier this year to give Galileo a permanent place of honor in the Vatican to mark the anniversary of his telescope: a statue, to be located inside the Vatican gardens, donated by the Italian aerospace giant Finmeccanica SpA.
The plans were suspended after some Vatican officials voiced "problems" with the initiative, said Nicola Cabibbo, the president of the Pontifical Council for Science. He declined to elaborate.
Finmeccanica spokesman Roberto Alatri said the Galileo statue was just an idea that never got off the ground.
Italian news reports suggested the Vatican simply didn't want to draw so much permanent attention to the Galileo episode, which 400 years on, still rankles some.
"The dramatic clash between Galileo and some men of the Church left wounds that are still open today," the Vatican's chief astronomer, the Rev. Jose Funes, wrote recently in Osservatore. "The Church in some ways has recognized its errors.
"Maybe it could do better. One can always do better," he wrote.
Tuesday, December 23, 2008
The Pope' word today on IHT
Pope Benedict criticizes homosexual behavior
Reuters
Published: December 22, 2008
VATICAN CITY: Pope Benedict said Monday that saving humanity from homosexual or transsexual behaviour was just as important as saving the rainforest from destruction.
The Church "should also protect man from the destruction of himself. A sort of ecology of man is needed," the pontiff said in a holiday address to the Curia, the Vatican's central administration.
"The tropical forests do deserve our protection. But man, as a creature, does not deserve any less."
The Catholic Church teaches that while homosexuality is not sinful, homosexual acts are. It opposes gay marriage and, in October, a leading Vatican official called homosexuality "a deviation, an irregularity, a wound."
The pope said humanity needed to "listen to the language of creation" to understand the intended roles of man and woman. He compared behavior beyond traditional heterosexual relations as "a destruction of God's work."
He also defended the Church's right to "speak of human nature as man and woman, and ask that this order of creation be respected."
Reuters
Published: December 22, 2008
VATICAN CITY: Pope Benedict said Monday that saving humanity from homosexual or transsexual behaviour was just as important as saving the rainforest from destruction.
The Church "should also protect man from the destruction of himself. A sort of ecology of man is needed," the pontiff said in a holiday address to the Curia, the Vatican's central administration.
"The tropical forests do deserve our protection. But man, as a creature, does not deserve any less."
The Catholic Church teaches that while homosexuality is not sinful, homosexual acts are. It opposes gay marriage and, in October, a leading Vatican official called homosexuality "a deviation, an irregularity, a wound."
The pope said humanity needed to "listen to the language of creation" to understand the intended roles of man and woman. He compared behavior beyond traditional heterosexual relations as "a destruction of God's work."
He also defended the Church's right to "speak of human nature as man and woman, and ask that this order of creation be respected."
Monday, December 22, 2008
I came, I saw, I conquered
Ok I did it - my 1st long run since arriving on Taiwan soil. My earlier attempts were either rained out or I was traveling. But yesterday I ran the half marathon (ING Marathon Taiwan) in 2:39. The winners did the full marathon in roughly the same time ;) As my colleague Paula puts it, 'the Kenyans had longer legs, legs up to the height of my shoulders' ... hmm ... is she making fun of me? *shrug*
It was beautiful, 15degrees and then the sun came out and it warmed up to 20degrees. A beautiful day out.
I was doing good til about the 12k mark, then I started to feel like my legs were lead. Perhaps, I am getting a bit too old for this? ..... nah! Next race Carrefore half marathon!
It was beautiful, 15degrees and then the sun came out and it warmed up to 20degrees. A beautiful day out.
I was doing good til about the 12k mark, then I started to feel like my legs were lead. Perhaps, I am getting a bit too old for this? ..... nah! Next race Carrefore half marathon!
Monday, December 15, 2008
Must we only learn the hard way?
Today's International Herald Tribune reports that "As economy worsens, churches fill up in U.S...."
http://www.iht.com/articles/2008/12/14/america/church.php?page=1
Must be we only learn through the hard way? Does life have to suck that we pay attention/start to hear the soft promptings of God?
In Chinese, this is known as being 贱 - loosely translates to being cheap, low, despicable -> all rolled up.
But that's how we are,
- we regret only too late after things are all screwed up
- when we're too busy, we lament how little time we have
- when we're too free, we lament how lonely we are
- when we're poor, we lament our hunger
- when we're rich, we lament how busy we are making money
Really 贱!
http://www.iht.com/articles/2008/12/14/america/church.php?page=1
Must be we only learn through the hard way? Does life have to suck that we pay attention/start to hear the soft promptings of God?
In Chinese, this is known as being 贱 - loosely translates to being cheap, low, despicable -> all rolled up.
But that's how we are,
- we regret only too late after things are all screwed up
- when we're too busy, we lament how little time we have
- when we're too free, we lament how lonely we are
- when we're poor, we lament our hunger
- when we're rich, we lament how busy we are making money
Really 贱!
Sunday, December 14, 2008
New climb place!
I got to climb at 內湖 for the 1st time since it opened a couple of months ago. http://www.nhsports.com.tw/ground-09.html
It is lead climbing only! Awesome! BUT since I'm fat and rusty, I managed up to the last incline and was so pumped that I had to quit, twice! Dang! The amount of adrenaline rushing through my veins was a long forgotten feeling. Ooo.. I like it!
It is lead climbing only! Awesome! BUT since I'm fat and rusty, I managed up to the last incline and was so pumped that I had to quit, twice! Dang! The amount of adrenaline rushing through my veins was a long forgotten feeling. Ooo.. I like it!
Wednesday, December 10, 2008
My family is anything BUT boring!
In recent days, there's been emails flying to/from Australia, Singapore, Taiwan. My aunt is trying to get my uncle committed - she claims he has bipolar disorder, a mental problem. He claims that she's just trying to get rid of him...
So my poor brother, me and cousins are trapped in the middle of "he says, she says" emails.
The reason for her wanting to get him institutionalised is that he has been going on and on about a huge conspiracy revolving around Benjamin Fulford. From Wikipedia and his numerous videos on Youtube, he talks about a huge conspiracy theory where there are shadowy groups trying to kill 2 billion people - to ease the load on Planet Earth. These shadowy groups goes by the names of the Illuminati in Europe & Freemasons in the US, with the assistance of the US government. Hence SARs and avian flus are intended to reduce numbers in Asia, AIDS in Africa, and the recent earthquakes/tsunamis all achieve the same aim, reduce world population. Except these were created and artificially induced by the US government using alien technology.
At that point, I stopped reading...
My personal opinion? My uncle's fine - all it takes to cure him is some love and concern and a chance to get out more. And I can personally stand for this - humans are social creatures, we were made to be in families. On our own, we are never quite stable...
Left alone for too long, everyone goes somewhat batty.
So my poor brother, me and cousins are trapped in the middle of "he says, she says" emails.
The reason for her wanting to get him institutionalised is that he has been going on and on about a huge conspiracy revolving around Benjamin Fulford. From Wikipedia and his numerous videos on Youtube, he talks about a huge conspiracy theory where there are shadowy groups trying to kill 2 billion people - to ease the load on Planet Earth. These shadowy groups goes by the names of the Illuminati in Europe & Freemasons in the US, with the assistance of the US government. Hence SARs and avian flus are intended to reduce numbers in Asia, AIDS in Africa, and the recent earthquakes/tsunamis all achieve the same aim, reduce world population. Except these were created and artificially induced by the US government using alien technology.
At that point, I stopped reading...
My personal opinion? My uncle's fine - all it takes to cure him is some love and concern and a chance to get out more. And I can personally stand for this - humans are social creatures, we were made to be in families. On our own, we are never quite stable...
Left alone for too long, everyone goes somewhat batty.
Monday, December 08, 2008
the earth moved for me this morning
07 Dec 2008 21:43:25 GMT
Source: Reuters
TAIPEI, Dec 8 (Reuters) - An earthquake measuring 6.0 on the Richter scale shook Taiwan on Monday, but there were no immediate reports of casualties or damage, officials said.
The epicentre of the quake, which struck at 5:18 a.m. local time or 2118 GMT, was 59 km (37 miles) east of Hualien on the east coast, at a depth of 12 km, the Central Weather Bureau said in a statement.
Earthquakes occur frequently in Taiwan, which lies on a seismically active stretch of the Pacific basin.
I was shaken awake this morning.. grabbed my alarm clock, 5.20am - mentally pictured my apartment collapsing into a heap, burying me in the process... then fell back asleep. Morbid I know..
Source: Reuters
TAIPEI, Dec 8 (Reuters) - An earthquake measuring 6.0 on the Richter scale shook Taiwan on Monday, but there were no immediate reports of casualties or damage, officials said.
The epicentre of the quake, which struck at 5:18 a.m. local time or 2118 GMT, was 59 km (37 miles) east of Hualien on the east coast, at a depth of 12 km, the Central Weather Bureau said in a statement.
Earthquakes occur frequently in Taiwan, which lies on a seismically active stretch of the Pacific basin.
I was shaken awake this morning.. grabbed my alarm clock, 5.20am - mentally pictured my apartment collapsing into a heap, burying me in the process... then fell back asleep. Morbid I know..
Wednesday, December 03, 2008
Our God is an awesome God...
This song was on my iPOD while walking to work this morning and it's still ringing in my head. It's really simple - just the 3 phrases and then repeat til delirious!
The words goes...
Our God is an awesome God,
He reigns from Heaven above,
With wisdom, pow'r and love,
Our God is an awesome God.
Our God is an awesome God.
And the video...
The words goes...
Our God is an awesome God,
He reigns from Heaven above,
With wisdom, pow'r and love,
Our God is an awesome God.
Our God is an awesome God.
And the video...
Monday, December 01, 2008
Frailty of Life
Gospel - Mk 13:33-37
Jesus said to his disciples:“Be watchful! Be alert! You do not know when the time will come.
It is like a man traveling abroad. He leaves home and places his servants in charge,each with his own work, and orders the gatekeeper to be on the watch.
Watch, therefore;you do not know when the Lord of the house is coming,whether in the evening, or at midnight,or at cockcrow, or in the morning.
May he not come suddenly and find you sleeping.What I say to you, I say to all: ‘Watch!’”
That was yesterday's gospel reading - the 1st Sunday of Advent. And this morning, I walked into office and was informed via MSN that the 1 Singaporean hostage in the terrible Mumbai attack was killed.
Father was right - be on the ready for when the end comes, and you never know when it will, Jesus will be our Saviour.
Jesus said to his disciples:“Be watchful! Be alert! You do not know when the time will come.
It is like a man traveling abroad. He leaves home and places his servants in charge,each with his own work, and orders the gatekeeper to be on the watch.
Watch, therefore;you do not know when the Lord of the house is coming,whether in the evening, or at midnight,or at cockcrow, or in the morning.
May he not come suddenly and find you sleeping.What I say to you, I say to all: ‘Watch!’”
That was yesterday's gospel reading - the 1st Sunday of Advent. And this morning, I walked into office and was informed via MSN that the 1 Singaporean hostage in the terrible Mumbai attack was killed.
Father was right - be on the ready for when the end comes, and you never know when it will, Jesus will be our Saviour.
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