Roger and I spoke about Lenny last night. Extremely bittersweet. We felt like crying.
Dear brother, thank you for teaching us how to live and die. We pray that we may live to what you have challenged us, and we look forward to the Day when we will meet.
We will never forget.
Wednesday, September 24, 2008
Sunday, September 21, 2008
Passage of the week
The passage of my week:
希 伯 來 書 7:23-25 (Chinese Union Version (Simplified))
那 些 成 为 祭 司 的 ， 数 目 本 来 多 ， 是 因 为 有 死 阻 隔 ， 不 能 长 久 。
这 位 既 是 永 远 常 存 的 ， 他 祭 司 的 职 任 就 长 久 不 更 换 。
凡 靠 着 他 进 到 神 面 前 的 人 ， 他 都 能 拯 救 到 底 ； 因 为 他 是 长 远 活 着 ， 替 他 们 祈 求
"The former priests, on the one hand, existed in greater numbers because they were prevented by death from continuing, but Jesus, on the other hand, because He continues forever, holds His priesthood permanently. Therefore He is able also to save forever those who draw near to God through Him, since He always lives to make intercession for them." Heb 7:23-25 (NASB)
Amidst the flurry of discussion on Melchizedek during Hebrew Exegesis lecture this Tue, the above verses stood out for me.
...continues forever..., ..holds...permanently.., ..save forever.., ..always lives..
What assurance there is of the permanence and infalliable nature of salvation through Jesus!
希 伯 來 書 7:23-25 (Chinese Union Version (Simplified))
那 些 成 为 祭 司 的 ， 数 目 本 来 多 ， 是 因 为 有 死 阻 隔 ， 不 能 长 久 。
这 位 既 是 永 远 常 存 的 ， 他 祭 司 的 职 任 就 长 久 不 更 换 。
凡 靠 着 他 进 到 神 面 前 的 人 ， 他 都 能 拯 救 到 底 ； 因 为 他 是 长 远 活 着 ， 替 他 们 祈 求
"The former priests, on the one hand, existed in greater numbers because they were prevented by death from continuing, but Jesus, on the other hand, because He continues forever, holds His priesthood permanently. Therefore He is able also to save forever those who draw near to God through Him, since He always lives to make intercession for them." Heb 7:23-25 (NASB)
Amidst the flurry of discussion on Melchizedek during Hebrew Exegesis lecture this Tue, the above verses stood out for me.
...continues forever..., ..holds...permanently.., ..save forever.., ..always lives..
What assurance there is of the permanence and infalliable nature of salvation through Jesus!
Friday, August 29, 2008
Learning moment
Being a teacher (my previous job before being a stay-home mum) gave me insight to how God feels towards us. I had earnest students, wayward students, treading on the edge students. I'm thankful that I'm still in touch with some students and sometimes feel a bit old when I realise that they are 18-20 years old already. Looking at their pictures on facebook, meeting them in person, to see how much more 'adult-like' they look surprises me at times. Somehow, images of when they were 14 years old (uniformed, braces wearing, hip-hop dancing, running down school corridors) are still stuck in my brains. Now they are on internships, exchange programmes, 1st year in Uni, working... Wow...
But I digress... now being a mum, I've been given greater insight to how God feels towards us in a different dimension. And one of such learning moments took place a few weeks ago.
I was at another mum's house and she has a 2-year-old as well. So the typical fightin-for-toys-saga happened. I can't remember what they were fighting over, but I sat Charis down on my lap (she was still clutching the toy) and told her to share the toy with her friend. Honestly, at that time, I was just going through the motions of encouraging Charis to be unselfish. In my mind, I was quite sure Charis was not going to budge because she was tired (tired=unco-operative) and cos it was her favourite toy (ah...now i remember...it's a doll's pram!). Charis was crying when she sat on my lap and complaining when I was going through the motions of encouraging her to share. I was ready to apologise to my friend's child when Charis did the amazing. She actually stood up, gave her friend the pram gently, and came running back to my arms, still crying.
Somehow, it seemed that she understood that she had to do what was right, but doing what was right was difficult.
I was proud of her, yet I felt so much compassion for her, because I understood what it is like to give up something we want so much, even though I know that it is the right thing to do. And in marvellous ways, her small sacrifice reminded me of how my heavenly father looks upon me when I struggle with temptations to be self-reliant, discontent, envious, anxious. He looks upon me like a loving father, ready to discipline. To discipline because He loves. (Heb 12:7-11) He looks upon me with compassion (Ps 103:13), mindful that I am but dust (Ps 103:14), knowing that the difficult times are for the purpose of building perseverance (Jas 1:2-4).
But I digress... now being a mum, I've been given greater insight to how God feels towards us in a different dimension. And one of such learning moments took place a few weeks ago.
I was at another mum's house and she has a 2-year-old as well. So the typical fightin-for-toys-saga happened. I can't remember what they were fighting over, but I sat Charis down on my lap (she was still clutching the toy) and told her to share the toy with her friend. Honestly, at that time, I was just going through the motions of encouraging Charis to be unselfish. In my mind, I was quite sure Charis was not going to budge because she was tired (tired=unco-operative) and cos it was her favourite toy (ah...now i remember...it's a doll's pram!). Charis was crying when she sat on my lap and complaining when I was going through the motions of encouraging her to share. I was ready to apologise to my friend's child when Charis did the amazing. She actually stood up, gave her friend the pram gently, and came running back to my arms, still crying.
Somehow, it seemed that she understood that she had to do what was right, but doing what was right was difficult.
I was proud of her, yet I felt so much compassion for her, because I understood what it is like to give up something we want so much, even though I know that it is the right thing to do. And in marvellous ways, her small sacrifice reminded me of how my heavenly father looks upon me when I struggle with temptations to be self-reliant, discontent, envious, anxious. He looks upon me like a loving father, ready to discipline. To discipline because He loves. (Heb 12:7-11) He looks upon me with compassion (Ps 103:13), mindful that I am but dust (Ps 103:14), knowing that the difficult times are for the purpose of building perseverance (Jas 1:2-4).
Music to my ears
One of my favourite sounds has been Charis saying
Den Tiu mummy (she means: thank you, mummy)
My heart would melt every time she says this, and sometimes she says this at the most unexpected moments. (Eg. When I am mopping the toilet floor)
This has recently sparked a reflection of how long it has been since I gave my mummy a thank you card. Listening to Charis thank me, got me down to sending a thank you card to my mum.
And I wonder at the thought of how pleased my heavenly father is when we say thank you to him. And how we truly deserve his warth if we fail to give thanks to Him for all that we have, to ignore Him, and turn our backs against Him-He who created the world, He who gave His Son to die so that we can be made right with God again.
Thank Thee dear Lord. =)
Wednesday, August 27, 2008
Lately...
As I am typing, Roger is busily editing his sermon for Friday's chapel. He had a Hebrew test this morning and has an assignment due next week.
Charis and I fell sick 2 weeks ago. She's well now, I'm still trying to shake off the cough that only strikes at nights. I've also been trying to shake off my latest earworm - 《代替》 by a Singaporean composer. Little did you know that the chias are actually fans of Chinese music! Roger and I had our cantopop days too! There was this crazy night when we reminisced of 黄舒骏's songs and I started looking for them on youtube. There's just something in Chinese songs that I find so much more poetic than English ones.
Charis may be following in our footsteps too. She has been quite hooked on a Chinese VCD that my mum bought. The VCD has many children's songs and she never fails to 'drag' me to dance with her when it comes to 《当我们同在一起》, she would hold my hand, drag me to the front of the TV and chant "一起". I hope to catch this scene on video soon.
Charis and I fell sick 2 weeks ago. She's well now, I'm still trying to shake off the cough that only strikes at nights. I've also been trying to shake off my latest earworm - 《代替》 by a Singaporean composer. Little did you know that the chias are actually fans of Chinese music! Roger and I had our cantopop days too! There was this crazy night when we reminisced of 黄舒骏's songs and I started looking for them on youtube. There's just something in Chinese songs that I find so much more poetic than English ones.
Charis may be following in our footsteps too. She has been quite hooked on a Chinese VCD that my mum bought. The VCD has many children's songs and she never fails to 'drag' me to dance with her when it comes to 《当我们同在一起》, she would hold my hand, drag me to the front of the TV and chant "一起". I hope to catch this scene on video soon.
Tuesday, August 05, 2008
Charis is 2!
We are ever thankful for God's gift of Charis in our lives. It has been another beautiful and humbling year of parenting for us. Do continue to pray with us, that she may grow to love Jesus and for us to be godly parents to her.
Tuesday, July 29, 2008
Close encounters
We were at Featherdale Wildlife Park last weekend and had an enjoyable time there. Charis chased, patted and fed wallabies, had a close encounter with koalas, ran away from emus, pelicans and chickens, woke the sleepy goat up, tried to kiss a kookuburra and tried to climb over the fence to pat the rabbits.
The only down side was that the batteries in our camera ran out! Sighz... But Roger said, "Well, this means that we'll need to come back again." *Grin* I'm looking forward to our next visit to Featherdale.
