hahahaa.. I sent Desiring God a question a few weeks back: How does humour relate to the supremacy of Christ? I'm sure they get loads of questions, but I really really hope they'd answer this one. I would find it really interesting.

Post-Easter thoughts..

Had the pleasure of joining some of the ex-OCFers for easter at Adam Road Presbyterian Church. ARPC did a special skit on the prodigal son which reminded me of this one scene from Les Miserables where Valjean prays to God to save Marius. Heh, I believe that scripture is sufficient in its entirety to portray love, but this just captures it so well (a father's love for his prodigal son). =)

Happy Easter!

Easter Sunday:

Ivan intended to share this video during service. It starts to get really interesting at 4:26 ish ;D

We ended up showing this one instead:

I like both, but I felt that the first one was perhaps ill-suited to the demographics of SS. haha. Still, both give much reason for praise!

Simply because..

God’s love is incomprehensible and unchangeable. For it was not after we were reconciled to him through the blood of his Son that he began to love us. Rather, he has loved us before the world was created, that we also might be his sons along with his only-begotten Son—before we became anything at all. -Augustine

"But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us." -Romans 5:8

Somethings just don't make human sense. Such amazing love. Ever pondered why?:

"As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts." -Isaiah 55:9

"I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion" -Romans 9:15

Sometimes the answer is 'simply because'. And that makes it all the more glorious.

Thank God it's (Good) Friday

You know the verse- for God so loved the world that he gave his only Son that whoever believes in Him shall not perish. It’s an amazing fact, yet I wonder why few people seem moved by it (unfortunately, I can say this from experience). Perhaps we’ve heard it once too many, but if that’s the case, we really ought to be careful not to slide down the slippery slope of apathy- apathy toward God.

-

Consider what we gained, and what it cost:

Forgiveness means giving up the right to seek repayment from the one who harmed you. But it must be recognized that forgiveness is a form of voluntary suffering. What does that mean?

Think about how monetary debts work. If a friend breaks my lamp, and if the lamp costs fifty dollars to replace, then the act of lamp-breaking incurs a debt of fifty dollars. If I let him pay for and replace the lamp, I get my lamp back and he’s out fifty dollars. But if I forgive him for what he did, the debt does not somehow vanish into thin air. When I forgive him, I absorb the cost and payment for the lamp: either I will pay the fifty dollars to replace it or I will lose the lighting in that room. To forgive is to cancel a debt by paying it or absorbing it yourself. Someone always pays every debt.

-Tim Keller, Serving each other through forgiveness and reconciliation

And then consider this:

We strongly reject, therefore, every explanation of the death of Christ which does not have at its centre the principle of ‘satisfaction through substitution’, indeed divine self-satisfaction through divine self-substitution.

The cross was not:

a commercial bargain with the devil, let alone one which tricked and trapped him;

nor an exact equivalent, a quid pro quo to satisfy a code of honour or technical point of law;

nor a compulsory submission by God to some moral authority above him from which he could not otherwise escape;

nor a punishment of a meek Christ by a harsh and punitive Father;

nor a procurement of salvation by a loving Christ from a mean and reluctant Father;

nor an action of the Father which bypassed Christ as Mediator.

Instead, the righteous, loving Father humbled himself to become in and through his only Son flesh, sin and a curse for us, in order to redeem us without compromising his own character.

The theological words ‘satisfaction’ and ‘substitution’ need to be carefully defined and safeguarded, but they cannot in any circumstance be given up. The biblical gospel of atonement is of God satisfying himself by substituting himself for us.

- Excerpts from John Stott, The Cross of Christ (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 1986), 159-160.

In other words: there is a debt that we can never pay. The debt isn’t cancelled by God. It is paid by God at a heavy price. He’s the only one who can. And He does it because he wants to. The question that comes to mind then is: why?

You know the verse. Let’s not be apathetic toward God as we celebrate Good Friday and Easter.

defiance..

Broken pieces of pottery were scattered all over the floor. A ball rolled across the room from where Danny was standing. He didn't look the least sorry for what had happened.

"Danny, why wouldn't you listen! Now look what you've done!" quipped Mr. Wilson, obviously upset about the broken vase.

"I don't want to! I don't want to! I don't want to!" Danny retorted back.

"Behave yourself Danny! If you had stopped playing with the ball in the hallway like I told you to, none of this would have happened."

"But why should I listen to you? I can do whatever I want, I don't have to listen to you!"

"Silly little child, you don't know what you are saying. You know what this means," said Mr. Wilson as he gestured towards the rod which hung by the stairs.

Danny replied in defiance, "So what?! Spank me if you will, I will not listen to you!". He smirked. He was proud that he stood his ground and silently congratulated himself for such an achievement.

Mr Wilson looked at Danny with love, and he was filled with grief. Oh, he loved Danny deeply but Danny's attitude incensed him and was like a stench in his nostrils. If only Danny would listen. He gazed intensely into Danny's eyes.

Danny stared back without flinching at single bit. He reiterated slowly, this time with a conviction stronger than before, "spank me if you will, I will never listen to you.."

-

There are severe limitations to this story obviously, but nevertheless it does give one some idea of what wrath is like. And it gives us much reason to be thankful that we have been spared a wrath a thousandfold more intense.

=)

I sense a soul in surge of answers..

...

It's a pun in case you're wondering. It's from Diablo. Diablo is a computer game. Random? Yes. But true. Many thoughts in this easter season and many things to write about =)

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But first things first. Feeling a little elated today- my dad gave me a compliment. over facebook. haha.. not trying to say that I crave such attention, but it's just that these things hardly ever come by. Makes me appreciate it more even though it's just over facebook. I suspect facebook helps alot with being a little more open with expression, the same way I might seem a lot bolder when I blog. You know what they say:

Man is least himself when he talks in his own person. Give him a mask

and he'll tell you the truth. -Oscar Wilde.

Owh, this is in relation to the church camp promo. You can watch it here. And make sure you come for church camp.

I imagine myself less restrained and more free when I ride the wind..

-

I wish I could fly

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running a half marathon this weekend. wish I were more prepared, haven't been practicing. ironic isn't it? perhaps i'll give this running business a miss, can't keep it up for the rest of my life yea?

----

:O

Why poetry matters..

I've often wondered what the role of poetry is and why it matters- in my younger and perhaps my more ignorant years, poetry seemed completely irrelevant and unnecessary. The person I was a decade ago would be bewildered that my present self seems to have a new found appreciation for poetry. I still wonder why poetry matters, but in a different way. I'm really glad I came across this sermon which was really enlightening.

-

If you're a poet and if you're wondering why poetry matters and how is this gift can be useful, I think you'd find the sermon helpful. In hope to arouse your curiosity, I'll leave you with three quotes =D, two of which came from the sermon and the last (non-theological quote) one I stumbled upon not too long ago:

"Poetry is not the answer, but it is a greater part of the answer than 95% of what we do with our time.

Woe to me if I think souls are saved by me or them becoming poetic. But few are damned by it. And of the thousand things we fill our days with, this could be more useful to the glory of God than what we do most of the time." -John Piper

"The duty of singing praises to God seems to be appointed wholly to excite and express religious affections. No other reason can be assigned why we should express ourselves to God in verse rather than in prose and do it with music but only that such is our nature and frame that these things have a tendency to move our affections." -Jonathan Edwards

“That is part of the beauty of all literature. You discover that your longings are universal longings, that you’re not lonely and isolated from anyone. You belong” -F. Scott Fitzgerald

snippets..

Was browsing through some old photos and thought I'd post them up. I kinda miss the UK, but I miss it's people even more. Good old days indeed!

Spent many hours along the Thames..

Housemates in year 2 and 3

FGT young adults.. which I had more pictures, I really do.. =(

OCFers at snowdonia

Re-read what I wrote previously. I'm sure I wasn't wrong- God has been good then, and He will continue to be just as good.

because dust can be so beautiful..

=)

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post edit: because God can make dust so beautiful..