Prophecies?

Since I got nothing else better to do for the night, I decided to do the age-old time-honoured tradition of bloggers all over the world:

Put your music player on shuffle. Press forward for each question. Use the song title as the answer to the question even if they don't make sense. You'll be surprised though.. NO CHEATING!

How are you feeling today?
I Cry - Trick Daddy ft. Ron Isley
(hmm, quite right for like two seconds today...thankfully)

Will you get far in life?
Knocking on Heavens Door - Bob Dylan
(Wow, I like that =P)

How do your friends see you?
Still Standing - Israel Houghton & New Breed
(Err... that's cool I guess)

Will you get married?
Only Hope - Mandy Moore
(Oh man... you can't be serious?!)

What is your best friend's theme song?
Worlds Apart - Jars of Clay
(Speechless)

What is the story of your life?
Salvation is Here - Hillsongs Australia
(Brilliant! That is THE story of my life!)

What was high school like?
Song of the Broken - Something Like Silas
(On the spot as well... Is this a prophetic tool? If it is I have cause for concern...see above)

How can you get ahead in life?
Turn - Travis
(It's that easy?)

What is the best thing about your friends?
Love Child - Diana Ross
(Hmm, I am not sure I like the sound of that...)

What is today going to be like?
Not Pretty Enough - Kasey Chambers
(Better suit up better then...)

What is in store for this weekend?
Journey - Corrinne May
(Oh heck, not another one...)

What song describes you?
Shy Boy - Katie Melua
(Me? Shy? That's like yonks ago man...)

To describe your grandparents?
Divine Invitation - Something Like Silas
(Hmm... an invitation to evangelise?)

How is your life going?
Lost In Space - Lighthouse Family
(HAHA... email)

What song will they play at your funeral?
Open Up The Gates - Planetshakers
(Woot! I am going home baby!)

How does the world see you?
Not Forgotten - Israel Houghton & New Breed
(Hmm, I am glad... sort of)

Will you have a happy life?
Lifesong - Casting Crowns
(Is that an answer? A song about what I wonder...)

What do your friends really think of you?
Thankful - Caedmon's Call
(Heh heh heh)

Do people secretly lust after you?
Lift Up Your Eyes - Planetshakers
(Well I shall take that as YES)

How can I make myself happy?
I Do It For You - Bryan Adams
(You will? You will?)

What should you do with your life?
There Are Worse Things I Could Do - Lesley Gore
(Oh shoot, really ah?)

Will you ever have children?
Tomorrow - Bebe & Cece Winans
(Eh... I am just not too sure if that's a good idea...)

A little something from My Utmost...

Our Lord’s teaching can be summed up in this: the relationship that He demands for us is an impossible one unless He has done a super-natural work in us. Jesus Christ demands that His disciple does not allow even the slightest trace of resentment in his heart when faced with tyranny and injustice. No amount of enthusiasm will ever stand up to the strain that Jesus Christ will put upon His servant. Only one thing will bear the strain, and that is a personal relationship with Jesus Christ Himself— a relationship that has been examined, purified, and tested until only one purpose remains and I can truly say, "I am here for God to send me where He will." Everything else may become blurred, but this relationship with Jesus Christ must never be.

The Sermon on the Mount is not some unattainable goal; it is a statement of what will happen in me when Jesus Christ has changed my nature by putting His own nature in me. Jesus Christ is the only One who can fulfill the Sermon on the Mount.

If we are to be disciples of Jesus, we must be made disciples supernaturally. And as long as we consciously maintain the determined purpose to be His disciples, we can be sure that we are not disciples. Jesus says, "You did not choose Me, but I chose you. . ." ( John 15:16 ). That is the way the grace of God begins. It is a constraint we can never escape; we can disobey it, but we can never start it or produce it ourselves. We are drawn to God by a work of His supernatural grace, and we can never trace back to find where the work began. Our Lord’s making of a disciple is supernatural. He does not build on any natural capacity of ours at all. God does not ask us to do the things that are naturally easy for us— He only asks us to do the things that we are perfectly fit to do through His grace, and that is where the cross we must bear will always come.

Of preachers, ramblers and poems

Haha lately I seem to have rambled alot and preached alot on this blog... sorry for overloading, and for generally not making sense! =)

But I think bloging is therapeutic for me. It sets my mind at ease, giving me a break from just musing and daydreaming all these things in my head, and allowing me to just pour it all out so I don't have to think about it over and over. If someone asked me to blog a year ago I would have laughed at the absurdity: I am no writer. Yet now I surprise myself sometimes. Please don't take me as being one of the self-praising types, for if someone were to say to me I am good at writing, I would still say no, and thats the truth. I never really felt I can write. I still don't. I guess the point of all this rambling is that maybe all of this is the big HS doing His work in me. Maybe that's why its therapeutic...

Haven't written a poem in ages. Lately I just don't have the time, nor the muse for it. I want to exercise that muscle for a long time, lest I lose it like I lost drawing. Hmm... maybe one now for the road? Right here, right now, no scripts, no pre-planning, no idea what it will be about, no idea where its gonna go, but let's just take it as it comes and see where we end up...

There once was a boy
With a nose for picking toys
That fills his life with laughter.
He went to his sacred store
Where he found his favorite toy.
A big yellow roadster,
Full of pride, flashy bluster.

He hurriedly went in
To take it for a spin,
Not caring for the ropes and pins
That held it securedly in
Its own little box.
Round the block he goes,
The aisles all he knows.
'Til a man caught him by the collar
And brought him back to his mother.

She asks him where he's being
And tells him what trouble he's in,
Opening the box of a toy car
Not paying for it but playing
And making a mess of things!

Rightttt Justin. Something you have done perhaps?

Choices choices choices...

Sometimes, the number of choices is so many, I just don't know where to start deciding. I want a career. I want to study. I want to make lots of friends all over the places. I want to invest in particular friendships. I want to live for God. I want to make money. I want to move out. I want an apartment. I want to support my family. I want to be there for them. I want to leave everything behind and just wander. I want to backpack Europe. I want to traverse the Sahara. I want to design interiors. I want to write a comic. I want to sail the seven seas. I want to fight the good fight. I want... why is there so many wants, so many aspirations, so many things that I could have done yet didn't, so many choices...?

All this choice, yet so little time. I am tired.

Living can be so hard. Lately I see life as somewhat comparable to standing at multiple crossroads, with pathways leading off in all directions, yet never getting anywhere. We live in a world so full of choice that it sometimes seems like there is really no choice at all. What is the difference between choosing to go down the path of a psychologist or a lawyer? Is there any real meaning in deciding what mobile network I choose to go with? Is there a fundamental difference in the choice of friends with whom I hang out with? So I am left with nothing; all choices seems meaningless to me, just as Solomon had concluded in writing his book. So all that's left is God. God is the only one who has meaning, who can give me meaning. Yet why do I still feel this way, despite believing in Him? Why do I still feel so directionless, overwhelmed by the big bad world of non-choices?

The answer probably lies in how well do I know God. If I do not obey Him, I shall never intimately know Him. If I do not walk with Him as the Apostles did, and obey His commands, I shall never be a true friend of Him (John 15:14). And when I am counted as His friend, oh what a frightful delight that would be! For God lets those who He call friend in on His plans, and even involves them in His decision-making! Look at Abraham, look at Moses!

I strive for that. I want to know God; I need to know Him. I want to obey God; I need to obey Him. For without Him, all things are meaningless.

Kara ok?

I'm more than a bird,
I'm more than a plane,
I'm more than some pretty face beside a train...

Ahh, its nice to just sing your heart out with a bunch of fellow cell members and friends while sipping not-so-honey lemon honey. Cheerios to all who were there, and also to all who could've been but weren't... we did miss you... and I am sorry to say, YOU MISSED OUT! haha...

Potential

There is something wonderful in the way God sees me. To Him, He sees much more than what I can see. He does not see the pitfalls, the darkness, the would-be sins that I see; for He has already forgiven, forgotten, and wiped it all clean. He sees who I am as if sin had never laid a finger on me, and I stand righteous by the blood of Jesus Christ before Him.

At least that is what I am told. At least it is biblical.

But it is so hard a reality to swallow. Sometimes.

No 'us' in Salvation

Lets refocus... God did not save us coz we were pitiful, nor did He save us coz we asked/demanded it, nor did He save us coz we were deserving, nor did He save us coz we were His creations. Notice all of the above statements had the word 'we' in it. He did not even save us because He loves 'us'....

He saved us simply because He loves His creations. There is no 'we' or 'us' in His reason. It is just His character to love, and we were fortunate enough to have been created special for He had said of us as "very good" instead of just "good", for Him to want to save us. Get with the program, we are not the focus.

It really is a humbling experience.

White As Snow

I am sick of unrighteous anger; I am sick of retribution; I am sick of self-righteousness; I am sick of pride; I am sick of condemnation; I am sick of unforgiveness; I am sick of blame; I am sick of the past; I am sick of pessimism; I am sick of greed; I am sick of money; I am sick of...

Sometimes, life just gets so sickening...
Isaiah 1: 6 says:

From the sole of the foot even unto the head,
there is no soundness in it,
but wounds and bruises and putrefrying sores;
they have not been closed or bound up,
or soothed with ointment.

This is the life of the unredeemed. This is what the world has to offer. This is the price of sin. I believe that the wages of sin is worse than death. Yet why do I sin, why do I continue to turn away, and slide back into the world? I condemn the world, hate its Godlessness, yet I myself is no different, no better. Who am I to say such things? I cannot judge for I myself is to be judged. I fall and fall; there seems to be no end in my self-condemnation.

At times, I fall so far back into the darkness that I even forget about what God has already done.

Isaiah reminded me.

Come now, and let us reason together,
says the Lord,
Though your sins are like scarlet,
They shall be as white as snow;
Though they are red like crimson,
They shall be as wool.
(Is. 1: 18)

No matter how far down I go, as long as my heart still yearns for God, as long as I confess and repent my sins before Him, as long as I go back to the Cross and accept Jesus as my Lord and Saviour, those sins will be wiped clean, and I shall be white as snow, be as wool.

Praise be to God for He is Good. All the time.

Of passionate fear

I have once found a passion that knews no bounds. It was something of a gift, something of a innate talent that I was fortunate to be blessed with. I took pride in it. It was the gift of drawing.

I have once another passion that knew no bounds. It was something that could have been more. It ruled my mind, and held captive my heart. It was a love/infatuation/relationship that never gotten anywhere.

I have once another passion that knew no bounds. It was something of a focus that drove my life. It came like a bad rash, and is now fading away with the passage of time. I thought it could have lasted forever. It was my academic foray into psychology.

I have one passion now that had known no bounds. It was something of an accident, something of a pre-ordained destiny. It gave me my freedom, it gave me hope, it gave me strength, and it gave me a renewed outlook on life. I think it might last forever as well. It was my encounter with God.

Despite these passions, I have never really done anything in its hot pursuit, to attain it. I have neglected and went to opposite direction from drawing, to the point where I have now lost the gift that was given to me. I have been inert in my affections, and now its too late and there is no turning back. I had spent the last three years moving along through my course, and had never really pursued it with what you would call passion; now it no longer crosses my mind, and attaining honours seems so far away. Would you call these things passions if I do not actively pursue it?

There is a fear within me that my 'passion' for God may be of the same caliber as these other things. Is it truly one of my biggest passions to know and love God? What if it becomes just another 'passion' that fades away, or left neglected is lost forever? Sometimes, I truly hate myself for wanting something badly, yet being so indifferent to it in my actions. I know God is forever, God is eternal, God's love will always be the same. Yet I know my own, and I know that I am not forever, not eternal, and neither is my love; that a day comes when it will all become insignificant again, just as it was with everything else I call my passions. Can I sense the coming of this day just around the corner? Do I feel the strain today? I feel its oppressive presense everyday, a fear that just won't go away.

I hope that day will never come, when my love for God shall fail, and my faith crumbles beneath my own iniquities. I would rather die before that day if it must come. The thought is one of my greatest fears.

Lights of the Night

I realised over the past couple of days that I haven't been posting any 'stars' lately... so to make up for it all...

This here is nicknamed the "Rotten Egg" galaxy... dunno what the official name is though.

















Another unnamed galaxy... has a vague resemblance to the Andromeda Galaxy in the Andromeda constellation though... do correct me if I am wrong.














NGC613 of the Sculptor constellation in all her brilliant glory...


















A view from my room...














What? This is also a light in the night what....

GG-fied

I dropped my new phone of two days for the very first time tonight, in my own garage at home. I forgot it was on my lap and it fell when I got out of my car. Thankfully no visible scratches... but was quite GG-fied moment there...

GG-fy. verb (GG-fied, GG-fying) To GG someone, the act of getting someone into a GG situation. (Coined by a Mr D. Y.)

Why?!

You don't need to have eyes to see
Nor do you need ears to hear
Coz even if you do
You will still not understand the fullness of my love.

Sometimes, 'why' is just too unimportant a question...

†††

Humbled and Full of Days

Now prepare yourself like a man;
I will question you, and you shall answer Me:
Would you annul my judgement?
Would you condemn Me that you may be justified?
Have you an arm like God?
Or can you thunder with a voice like His?

no

Who then is able to stand against Me?
Who has preceded Me, that I should pay him?
Everything under heaven is Mine.

yes
I have heard of You by the hearing of the ear,
But now my eye sees You.
Therefore I abhor myself,
And repent in dust and ashes.

and then the Lord blessed the latter days of Job more than his beginning... and he died, old and full of days.
I hope that I can be like that...

Sundays

Sundays are just so delightful. I love Sundays most out of all the days of the week, and that's not only because there is church and I go to an incredible church out there by the bay (ok it is not exactly by the beach anymore but it's still near there!). I think I love Sundays for its uniquely unencumbered feel, its nonchalantness, the lack of overly exertful events and stress, and also more for the people whom I usually meet on Sundays as well. But above all others, I love Sundays simply because it is a day set apart from the week, away from troubles and worries (as best as can be arranged), a day where I can catch my breathe before launching into a brand new week of struggles, hardships, heights of thrills, and the lows of disappointments. It is my pit-stop, my own time when I can tighten those screws that have came loose or at risk of breaking off totally during the course of the week.

Thank God for Sundays... Really.

Crying Like A Church On Monday

There is something about this song that gets me... I don't rightly know if its the words or just the music, but everytime I hear it, no matter how blissfully ignorant and high I am feeling at that moment, I will always come back down... in a good way, but emo nonetheless. Guess it's just right on the dot for me I suppose. The lyrics are not supposed to be Christian by-the-way... don't say I did'nt warn you...

I was dancing
With your shadow
Slow down memories hall
I said, wait. have I been seduced and forgotten?
You said, baby, havent we all!
Now I dont like crying
Because it only gets me wet
But I cant help failing
To remember to forget you
And I know its gonna be a long time
And Im crying like a church on monday
Praying for these feelings to go away
So do me a favor baby
Put down your new god
And love me like sunday again
I was hiding in your bedroom
When I saw him come inside
I cant live in his shadow
Is that where Im dancing untill I die
Now I dont light candles
Because they make me see the light
That I cant help failing
To remember to forget you
And I know its gonna be a long time
And Im crying like a church on monday
Praying for these feelings to go away
So do me a favor baby
Put down your new god
And love me like sunday again

Supercalifragilisticexpialidocius

Don't ask me to pronounce that, coz it will just end in a fit of laughter the type of which I am not prepared to do right now at this hour (time of writing of course), but I think this is adequate description of drama today (or should I say yesterday)! Yes, it was...

All of you guys are just super talented!!! I still gasp and splutter and stare wide-eyed-open-mouthed at the various different gifts that each of you all bring, and it really does warm my heart that all of it is for His mighty work! Really, I can't wait till BAF(oo)N!

Wonderful...

Bright Eyes

Bright lights, big city
Was quite extraordinary.
The drive was pretty.
I was in perfect company.
The love of a lifetime,
Since we were elementary friends;
The one with the bright eyes..

Why can't I be optimistic?
I tried to find the logic logically.
I had a dream and I could not shake it.
I was standing up there naked.

There's fear in the truth at hand, frozen I forgot to understand
The live keep living; growing older more into a man..
And I let her grow away from me.

Love.. love is not pretending.
Time.. time was meant for mending
Memories into all is satisfactory,
Healthy smiles fill the page the day we spent in miles.
And I let her drive away from me.

The one with the bright eyes
Laughed her way inside this music box;
Stored away in the corner of my heart. And I let her get away from meÉ
But I'll never take that day away from me.

(Words by Jason Mraz)