Sand Castles

"Therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock. The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house; yet it did not fall, because it had its foundation on the rock. But everyone who hears these words of mine and does not put them into practice is like a foolish man who built his house on sand. The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell with a great crash."
Matthew 7:24-27
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I was reminded of a Switchfoot song, ‘Gone’
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Life is more than money, time was never runny.
Time was never cash, life is still more than girls.
Life is more than hundred dollar bills and roto-tom fills.
Life is more than fame and rock and roll and thrills,
All the riches of the kings end up in wills
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Where's your treasure, where's your hope
if you get the world and lose your soul?

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what we build our lives on is important...
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if we based our lives on now, on worldly wealth and riches, of careers
or worldly relationships, on acceptance
even of family
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these things don’t count towards eternity...
‘the 2 biggest things a christian faces
one is persecution
the other is seduction by the world... christians normally can face the former, but many fall with the latter ’
(Charles)
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we end up losing our first love for God
over something else much less significant
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compared to basing our lives upon eternity
and living each day for Him
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so we can stand together in the end of time and worship Him
and there is nothing that can compare to the joy that comes from that
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where God..
...will dwell with them, and they will be His people, and God Himself will be with them as their God. He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away."
(Rev 21:3-4)
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we do know that like in the parable
where the guy builds his house on the ‘ROCK’
in which he has to work very hard to chisel away at the rocks to lay his foundation
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likewise leading a life based to following Jesus and His gospel is not easy
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compared to the guys who can easily construct his house on sand,
and like how after the tsunami, these houses get washed away
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hence the former is a better choice, better than something temporal

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many times I build my life upon many insignificant things
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it was once upon computer games
upon getting the highest score
upon winning every game
and ‘pwning’ every opponent to get the ‘holy sh*t BEYONG GODLIKE’ kill streak
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after that it was upon being accepted by a girl whom I really loved a lot
and even to base my life upon doing things to make her happy and comfortable
at the expense of everything else
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but I come to realise that after all
everything will pass on in the end
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but God remains faithful...
and He’s the one I should base my life upon
not anything else
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People

Listing down a few people:
Petrina C
Tim
Amanda
Leemin
Daniel
XL
Kenneth
Evelyn

Fireac Juniors:
Zhuoer
Tina
Felicia
Pet L
Jayne
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all of you in one way or another are special to me
in the sense of friendship, in the sense of how you have inspired me to grow closer to God
or grow as a person
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I know life goes on, we’ll eventually find other people in our lives to fill up
but I do hope we’ll still keep in touch somehow
and even if we don’t and distance ourselves
I hope and pray we can remain united in Christ
and learn to love Him more each day
that we may worship Him together
when He comes again
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I guess we’ll all be exposed to different cultures and experiences throughout our lives
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But I do hope we all will be able to make the right decisions... to flee from temptations and sin
and pursue righteousness in Him...
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hate the sin that is in this world... the sins of drunkenness, of sexual immorality, and of pride,
which is always too common for people in our generation...
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value God above all, above relationships,
above acceptance by peers, above self, and above worldly wealth
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just a few thoughts... for all the people whom I do love dearly in one way or another...
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For the Y6s...
I wish you all the best for IB =) and your future endeavours
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for Petrina, Tim and Evelyn
I pray you continue to love God and grow in Him even while overseas,
and not become consumed by work or assimilate into any sort of ungodly culture over there...
and make a difference in the live of the different people you meet over there.
and to find comfort from knowing Him in times of loneliness.
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for the NS guys
I pray you find joy in serving the Lord while in NS
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November rain...

“if emil. i read your blog post. november 17 ? did that really happen? you know the day that it rained. and you came out to get me”
(an sms I got on 13-01-2009, while I was doing a medical attachment in SGH)
not like it matters anyway
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fast forward to today
“you don’t have to apologise to him anyway”
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you still make me very sad sometimes
I just don’t show it much
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it manifests it self in a strange way
as if I’ve started to hate you
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esp. for the stuff you do...
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I no longer harbour the same sort of affections I had
since they never meant much to you
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but I wish you wouldn’t change that way...

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on the other hand
I miss having my closest friends around
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sigh
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I wish both of you didn’t have to go
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but in a way... Goodbyes are part and parcel of life I guess

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you could say I’m not mature enough
owing to the way I deal with my emotions and things
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I agree I guess...

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Everybody needs some time
On their own
Don't you know you need some time
All alone
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And when your fears subside
And shadows still remain
I know that you can love me
When there's no one left to blame
So never mind the darkness
We still can find a way
'Cause nothin' lasts forever
Even cold November rain
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Foolishness to the world

For the word of the cross is folly to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. For it is written,
"I will destroy the wisdom of the wise,
and the discernment of the discerning I will thwart."

Where is the one who is wise? Where is the scribe? Where is the debater of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world?For since, in the wisdom of God, the world did not know God through wisdom, it pleased God through the folly of what we preach to save those who believe. For Jews demand signs and Greeks seek wisdom, but we preach Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and folly to Gentiles, but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. For the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men.

(1 Cor 1:18-25)
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if you look at the way we talk about Christ
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you realise this... to people who don’t see it comes across as mere folly
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why do we preach an empty tomb, a innocent man convicted who was hung and who died
when to others it just seems like a mere story that happened long ago...
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why do we tell about a God who apparently can listen to us, can comfort us, that is so personal to us
yet it might seem like the random illusions cast by children with imaginary friends or schizophrenic mental patients
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why do we tell about assurance of salvation, of hope and future
when to others it merely seems like a form of escapism from the harsh reality of this world
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this is what God means to me
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an all powerful, righteous and awe-some God
the God who holds the universe in the mere width of His palm
who is beyond time, beyond space
beyond all the limitations of the physical world
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yet who created order and the physical universe
and made the laws of physics that govern this world
a God of order
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yet a God who cares so much for each individual
that the very mere detail like the number of strands of hair each person has is numbered
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this is what the Cross means
it shows me to what length God loves us
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I know that one way a person demonstrates Love
Love is more than just gifts
more than just words
but Love demands presence and touch
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so God came down as Jesus on the Cross
a perfect gift which was so perfect it could carry all the sins of the world
yet a gift that cost so dearly, it demanded so much
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and this is what the resurrection means to me
it shows me that God can do all things
it shows me how God keeps his promises
it shows me how God has won victory over the price of sin - death
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and you cannot simply say it was just an empty tomb when hundreds have seen Jesus alive after He was buried

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this is what Christianity means to me
its not a set of rituals one follows to gain nirvana or eternal life
its about experiencing God in a way that cant be described
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its not a fashion accessory that is tagged on as another separate part of life
but something that demands everything in life to be consumed with
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and I quote CS lewis:
I believe in Christianity as I believe that the sun has risen: not only because I see it, but because by it I see everything else.
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to many, its just another religion, another foolish religion
or worse, a cult of weirdos and strange delusional people
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even as I was interrogated today,
as a form of ‘entertainment’
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but to me, it means everything

the link...

you know for a number of days I woke feeling rather cheery and all that
getting out of bed was never an issue
even with lesser sleep... as I looked forward to the day ahead
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but it’s a different matter when you go to the other extreme
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if you wake up feeling sad and all that
you dread waking up
you wish to sleep to forget everything
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hence the link between physical tiredness and emotional tiredness
the body’s responds to negative emotions by triggering a sudden need to sleep
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I remember even in pri school
whenever i was disciplined by my mum (via the old fashion rod)
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and ended up feeling very sad
I would lock myself in the room and cry myself to sleep
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In IB, I ended up sleeping a lot
just to fight off the sadness arising from unrequited affections...

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I guess in a way
that’s how God made it to be
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because the sleep, rest is the way to heal us both physically and emotionally,
but ultimately we must always find our rest in Him...

sine curve

attaching my heart to another person's sine curve is strangely bitter-sweet,
yet past memories and experiences tell me that doing so is suicidal
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even if I would trust the person with my whole life
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sigh
am I getting too emotionally involved? even as a friend-friend level...
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‘tis is so strange...
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I know the odds is that people will move on
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even close friends eventually drift apart
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and sometimes I feel that perhaps even this ‘closeness’ is just an illusion
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but... I .... ...
and I don’t want you to be sad =(

but this I still hold fast to

He knows my thoughts
my hopes and dreams
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so this is what I tell Him
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“Lord, You see my heart and my thoughts
you know my hopes, my dreams...
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I pray You be Lord over all these...
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if You determine that it is in Your will not to grant me what I desire and hope for
I pray You comfort me in that time, You will hold fast to me
and assure me that You still love me
and have a better and more perfect plan for my life
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if in time, my hopes and dreams do come true
I pray that I’ll give thanks to You on that day
and that I will not forget You no matter what”
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far away lies a chilly thought

you know how my mum always says pessimistic things
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you know that she spells out one of the biggest fears I have
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about how
people just move on... ...
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if that does happen
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I guess I’ll just wait
and search again... ...
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after all it’ll be my fault in any case...

Prophecy

there was one thing John Tay said that was right
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about my sister’s becoming a nun...
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no... two actually

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now I really hope
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the third thing will be right...
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sigh =/