Sleeveless Errands

This is the second article that I wrote for an OFW magazine based in Singapore, actually I wrote this early December, and I remember writing about Christ coming from the manger to the cross. The publisher instead asked me to write about the New Year. And so I scrubbed my eyebrows to rush for this topic and the gracious Lord has provided that I be able to come up with this. And now I want to share this to all of you. May all of us be blessed with the coming year as God has faithfully desired to bless each one of us.

A few more tick of the clock and it's high time to look back to the past. The past 365 days at least.. A vast majority of people “once again” would come up with a long list of hopeful wishes. We plan to resolve issues by ourselves, never mind if it would be a replica of last year's agenda. What's important is to make that promise again and try our best to make it better this year.

One popular website lists the top 10 New Year's resolution that we mortal beings make. Topping the list is “Spending more time with family and friends”. The list is a result of polls conducted by different organizations and they have figures to prove that people really come up with these resolutions¹. Analyzing the list makes you think that man, in reality has age-old disappointments in life. We are prone to “miss the mark” or “not meet the line”. As long as our sanity could hold, we have a tendency to fail ourselves.

Then the 31^st of December comes, we are shocked to look at a blank sheet of data, we found out that the only effort we made in relation to these promises is to make a list of them. And then you sit on a table with a new sheet of paper to list a new set of resolutions, you could only say to yourself, “How come I miss that one?”

But why? It is not so difficult to do after all. It is not a life and death situation, it does not take a full armor to resist life's buoyant charisma, you don't need a surgeon to always remind you what smoking and drinking could do to the sensitive tissues of your body. And it only takes a mirror to realize that you need to tame that bulge tucked in your pants in favor of your belt. There are things called, paychecks, payslips, its printed clear for you to see, how come you always spend more than you have?

C.S. Lewis wrote, “We would have never promised to do things if we would have known how busy we would be. And all human beings have this curious idea that they ought to behave in a certain way and can not really get rid of it.”²

Can it be true? That the more we understand our being, the more we become tolerant of these behaviors? Or is there Someone in the center of it all who made all things for our enjoyment yet we shun from Him. Going back to the second question of this paragraph, can humans, which are mere creations grasp the thought of the Creator?

Maybe if we would have known that we are created for a purpose, that we could not make it through a minute of this life with pure thoughts, maybe we would instead leave all things in one table and let Him who owns all do all the repairing for us. Maybe through that we would realize that there is no such thing as hopeless – only Godless.

Another year wasted you would say.

I have good news for you, the bible says “In Christ all things hold together”^3. Steven Curtis Chapman wrote, “There's a wonder in the here and now, it's right there in front of you. This is the only moment that we could do anything about”⁴

So the next time you would think of writing a new list of To-Dos, take it from the Best Man that ever lived, “Apart from Me you can do nothing”⁵

Notes:

1. http://pittsburgh.about.com/od/holidays/tp/resolutions.htm

2. CS Lewis, pp 7-8, “Mere Christianity”.. CS Lewis Pte Ltd. 1942

3. Colossians 1:17 NIV

4. Steven Curtis Chapman, “Miracle of the Moment”. Sparrow Songs, Peach Hill Songs 2007

5. John 15:5 NIV

Jesus is best CEO-type leader, says new S Korean leader

On my way to Mandalai Drive this morning, I got a copy of Today Online, a free newspaper from Mediacorp. While browsing the pages of the newspaper. The name of Jesus in bold letters on top of one of the pages caught my attention. This is indeed good news.

It's past midnight now, and I made sure I would be able to post a copy of this article to my blogsite. Well, here it is. The following section is published on Today Online, pp 22, December 29,2007, Saturday. Be blessed!

SEOUL — South Korea’s President-elect Lee Myung Bak , a former business CEO, has described Jesus Christ as “the best model of a CEO-type leader”. Mr Lee, 66, made the statement during a prayer meeting on Thursday at Seoul’s Somang Church where he serves as a Presbyterian elder, his aide Kim Heon Jin said.

“I’ve said I will become a CEO-type leader but, actually, the best model of a CEO-type leader was Jesus Christ,” Mr Lee said. “Two millennia ago, Jesus showed a leadership of service by
washing the feet of his disciples.

“Likewise, I will do my own best, serving the people.” Mr Lee wanted to stress his desire to become a president devoted to working for the people, the aide said. A former chief executive of the Hyundai group, Mr Lee has pledged to revitalise the economy. He faces a criminal inquiry into his alleged links to a 2001 share manipulation fraud. He denies wrongdoing and was cleared by an earlier investigation.

About one in four of the population, or 13.7 million South Koreans, are Christians, according to the National Statistical Office.

AFP

A pair of slippers for tired feet

On a desolate land fronting a majestic castle, footprints of despairing hope marks the pathway to the entrance gate. Numb as a beetle, the once robust shoulders became a yoke of failure. The proud hands could no longer wave boastfully but could only silently trace the rugged walls to the steel opening. After a few tries, the solemn shadow was successful in opening the doors, slowly, unlike the way he did when he left this castle.

It was not so long ago when he decided to make a mark of his own. To live life and enjoy everything at the expense of his father’s riches. Beautiful women collide with a delightful feast of his favorite foods. Expensive jewelries adorn his mortal body making him like the King of Egypt. Feasting as if it’s his last breath. Not looking back nor staring forward, he is stuck in a limbo of dancing dreams. His hopes where nowhere to be found, having everything in his hands. He thought glory went home to his heart and his pockets could spell anything that he wants.

Unfortunately he was wrong.

Not until he found himself eating with swines. Not until he could not figure out the difference between his sweat and his tears, especially if it’s on the tip of his tongues. Not until the silk that covers his soft skin became garments that even snakes would refuse to wear. How long did it take before the sky kissed the ground? Where are his friends who drank pure wine with him? There’s one, he looked familiar. Yes, it was the man on the bar. He spent so much money for that man’s drink. And that lady in black, she was all over her last night.

But what was in their eyes?

Don’t they know him? Have they forgotten the same man whom they shared high spirits on a single table?

It’s too late. They took off already. Back to the swine.

He never had eye contact with a pig before, nor did he notice that when pigs eat, it doesn’t matter where it came from. They just swallow every thing that their mouth could take. And as he was more than familiarized with their smell and the touch of their skin. He remembered one thing.

Yes, he remembered he has a father. He could ask his father to make him his slave at least he could have a nice place to sleep. Surely, his father can’t forgive him, but he could hire him as a servant to their household.

It was a long walk from town. Now he is finally in front of their house. Expecting the claws of his father’s rage and mimicking a hopeless dove in front of a blazing furnace, he walks slowly. The silence of the mist that surrounds their garden is music to his ears. He thought there was no one home that time, it was very calm. Why not? It was the late hour of the night. Everybody must be asleep. He starts to turn his back, and decides to come back tomorrow. As he takes the first step towards the gate, he heard a rushing sound of feet pounding the ground, with utmost desire to reach him, it was someone running. The sound gets louder as the feet gets closer; he could hear the hard breathing on that person’s chest. He could be wrong; tears are starting to cover his cheeks. He is too ashamed to look at the person’s face. Until the running stops, the hard breathing is now covering his own chest, why could he not move? Because there was a tight embrace wrapping his frail body. He could not take it anymore. He lifted his head to see his father’s eyes. And before he could speak one single word, all his strength was chastised by one single word from his father’s lips. “Son”

They shared a few steps towards the house, and it was only now that he noticed he was not wearing any slippers. He saw his father looking at his dirt worn feet. Smiling at him, his father said….

"Here is a pair of slippers for your tired feet my son!"

"I, even I, am he who blots out your transgressions, for my own sake, and remembers your sins no more."

Isaiah 43:25 (Today’s New International Version)

The Amazing Stolen Shot of a Ribcage in Distress

(Diagnosis: Over reaction to seven cups of coffee on Christmas Day)

Vanities of all vanities, in vain profanity
Curse is the idle mentality of its stubborn duplicity
A duel to a mile, as cruel as the Nile
With utmost desire to shun what is vile

In a populace of wise counsel, learning faster than a camel
A collage of gray and leather, has left the soul to wander
The ancient recipe of life’s mediocrity
Has transformed pity to a romantic atrocity

Maybe now, Maybe then, surely it could also be
A matter of honesty to prove that which is fallacy
A sand or a stone, could both be your tomb
Either of whom, you leave your mother’s womb

Climbing your Everest with only a vest on your chest
Rewriting the questions of your difficult quest
Hypodermic and losing eyesight within hindsight
A chill on your opposite right has left you dead tight

Crave for the fellow who wears your old yellow
Ask for the scaffold that held your feet low
Beside a building of miniature gambling
Is an ugly duckling that ate your spoiled dumpling

Oh laughter must end where letters could bend
With words you could lend when you could not pretend
That your bed is not fit to replace a thousand bulbs lit
When your eyes are knit to the place where you sit and eat

Never again will I take much caffeine
More than the drain that my friend has taken
So I would not write again, about a called curtain
Now I travel on a sleepy train, with this last word written 11:16

More than conquerors

There is no time for coffee break in war. Those who are quite idle get hit by stray bullets. And after the noise died down and groans of bleeding pain substitute the acrobatic fighting skills of opposing forces, the ground is left with with two kinds of warriors, the defeated and the conquerors.

I could go on writing about how graphic war could be but I could only pick up the words from those old war movies which I used to watch. As much as opposing nations could only say they are protecting their country at the end of a barrel of a loaded gun, in the same way I could only say that the only inevitable things about war is blood, sweat and tears. Though the joker would complain about the thief who took his sense of humor, there is nothing he can prove that indeed, he is only a joker and not a thief himself. Though the soldier would complain about the enemy who took his dreams away through a gunshot wound on his limbs, there is nothing he can prove that indeed he is only a soldier and not an enemy himself.

There could be a life-long debate to who the real enemy is when people are at war. Soldiers are paid to "protect" a better word to substitute for "kill". Battalion commanders gives order to destroy and conquer, fleet soldiers give bullets to survive.

Christians with only an armor of faith to shield their frail bodies have their own share of going into war. But they hold a bigger price tag at the end of the battle, they are called "more than conquerors".

The first few paragraphs of my article is just an introduction to the words that I really wanted to share, though I try my very best, I could not give justice to the person who wrote the following paragraphs. But still, In my own little way, I wish to share the inspiration that this writer have long been giving to people of all walks of life. To the weak and to the strong, to the poor and to the rich. To the lost who stood at the end of their line just to find hope carrying his burdens. The writer started with this verse;

"In all these things we are more than conquerors1"

"The gospel and the gift of God are structured so wonderfully that the very enemies and forces that are marshaled to fight against us actually pave our way to the very gates of heaven and to the presence of God. He wants us to be more than conquerors, turning storm clouds into chariots of victory. What your enemy plan to use for your defeat, you can confiscate for your own use.

When Dr. Moon, of Brighton, England was suddenly struck by blindness, he said, 'Lord, I accept this talent of blindness from you, help me to use it for Your glory so that when You return, you may receive it back with interest' Then God enabled Him to invent the Moon Alphabet for the blind, through which thousands of blind people were enabled to read the Word of God and thereby come to the glorious saving knowledge of Christ.

The ministry of thorns has often been a greater ministry to mankind than the ministry of thrones.2"

notes:
1. Romans 8:37
2. L.B. Cowman, Streams in the Desert, 1925 Cowman Publications, pp 469

Numbers Everywhere

I read this news on Yahoo, and was so amazed by it I chose to post it on my blog. Whatever this man is drinking...let me have it.

My favorite part is this "He sat down and it was all very quiet -- and all of a sudden he amazingly just cracked it." Whooa! Sat down and cracked the 13th root of 200 digit numbers - err..without calculator just pure brains..

Anyways thats a lot of spoiler from me. Read the news for yourself and ask the person sitting next to you - "Cracked?"

'Mathlete' smashes human calculation record: museum

Tue Dec 11, 12:21 PM ET

The world's fastest human calculator on Tuesday broke his own record for working out a 200-digit number using nothing but brain power to produce the answer in just over 70 seconds.

Alexis Lemaire, a 27-year-old Frenchman, correctly calculated the 13th root of a random 200-digit number from a possible 393 trillion answers.

The so-called 'mathlete' produced the answer of 2,407,899,893,032,210 in 70.2 seconds, beating his previous record of 72.4 seconds, at London's Science Museum.

A computer was used to produce a random 200-digit number before he sat down to calculate the answer in his head.

The museum's curator of mathematics, Jane Wess, said: "He sat down and it was all very quiet -- and all of a sudden he amazingly just cracked it.

"I believe that it is the highest sum calculated mentally.

"He seems to have a large memory and he's made this his life's ambition. It's quite remarkable to see it happen. A very small number of people have this extraordinary ability; nowadays there is only a handful."

Lemaire, who attends the University of Reims in northern France, began demonstrating his prowess by finding the 13th root of a random 100-digit number but gave up trying to improve his performance when he calculated an answer in under four seconds in 2004.

Like an athlete, he trains his brain daily for the far harder task of finding the 13th root of 200-digit numbers.

Article URL:
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/britainsciencerecordoffbeat

footnote:
The fastest mathematical equation I solved in my whole life was "Who killed Magellan?", and I was able to solve it for only 5 minutes, minus the time I looked for a calculator.