On Eagles' Wings

I used to think that I was a pretty good person. I mean, I knew nobody is perfect. But I used to think that if anyone was close to perfect, I'd be it. I didn't lie, or cheat. I was kind, helpful, generous. I was considerate, I followed the rules. I was a good student, had many friends, and was well-liked by all who knew me. In church, we talk about sin, about our sinful nature as humans. I disliked that term. I hated thinking that I was sinful, or of sin. It was a dirty word, and I didn't want to associate myself with it. I was different, I thought. I was doing pretty well, so far. Doing pretty good , in fact. Little did I know, then, that my biggest, largest flaw, was pride . I continued to think that I was an almost-perfect person, an almost-perfect friend. Oh, what a wonderful person I am! What a wonderful testimony I must be as a Christian! I never said any of this out loud, of course. I mean, people would think I'm some egotistical self-praising obnoxiou...

Doing the right thing is never easy. We can tell ourselves lies, justify our actions with reasonable logic, ignore the prickly feeling of guilt. But let's face it. That's the easy way out. The coward's way. I doubt there is a single person in this world who is innocent of gossiping. Gossiping?  you ask. Pfft. That's nothing. Everybody does it. Nothing wrong about that. Nothing wrong? Nothing wrong? Gossiping is seldom just, "Hey, you know what so and so did?" It is almost always accompanied by, "Ya lor , so teruk la s he. Such a b****!" Think back to all those nasty things you said about someone else. All the jokes you made at the person's expense. Now imagine if someone said those things about you. Like you said, nothing wrong, isn't it? How do you look that person in the eye anymore? How do go day after day acting like everything's fine and dandy? How do you go about pretending you never said the ...

This ... is the city. Jerusalem, Judea. A lot of people live here. A lot of people die here. But nobody lives here, dies here, and then lives again here. Nobody. I carry a badge. It’s my job to make sure the decent people in this town don’t get misled by a lot of religious fanatics. You know the type. Spreading rumours—rumours about people rising from the dead. My name’s Saturday. My partner’s Bill Sunday. Monday, April 7, 10:20 am.   We were at headquarters, making our reports on a small-time hood named Barabbas. The captain walked up. “Okay, boys,” he barked. “We’ve got another one.” “Resurrection rumour?” I said. “Right,” he said. “The chief wants you to drop whatever you’re doing and look into it. He wants you to get—” “The facts?” I said. “Right.” He gave us the details. A rabbi had been killed the previous Friday. “Murder, eh?” Sunday theorized. The captain shook his head. “Execution. Criminal. Claimed to be a king. Now the body’s missing. Rumour is he’s alive ag...

This is the day He chose to die Enduring 12 hours of suffering, pain, and humiliation; to be whipped, slapped, beaten, and spat on. He was mocked and laughed at, by the very same people who had welcomed Him with open arms just days before; who were supposedly His own people. Betrayed by one He trusted, not because He had not seen it coming, but because He knew it had to happen. Kneeling by the foothill of Gathsemany, His pain was very real. Would you willingly go to your death? Knowing that it would not be painless, but would be one of the most torturous form of death known to mankind? He did. Like any man would have, He cried out to be released from this self-sacrifice. But He went through with it. Suffered and died. What for? Two words. For us . The reason we can live, love, enjoy, laugh, cry, shout, scream today is because of what He has done. Because He has taken our place. Why is this Friday a good one, many ask? If it was a day o...

I'm supposed to be studying. But I'm blogging. What can I say? I'm weak. :( Anyways, there's this story that I (re)read just now that I wanna share with you guys. Forgive me, all non-Christian friends, but bear with me. I find it darn interesting! :P "Everyone then who hears these words of mine and does them will be like a wise man who built his house on the rock. And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house, but it did not fall, because it had been founded on the rock. And everyone who hears these words of mine and does not do them will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand. And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell, and great was the fall of it." Matthew 7: 24-27 Behold, there was a man who built his house upon a rock. When he had finished building his house upon a rock, he laughed, saying, “Oh, how wise I am to build my hou...

We waited in anticipation. The nerves were starting to kick in. My heart was pounding. My hands were trembling. Despite the darkness, I had a strange feeling that everyone could see me, shivering like a leaf. I waited. Then came our cue. This is it. It's time. I ran out onto the stage, wondering how I had gotten my feet to work when my mind couldn't. My flowing skirt swished about me noiselessly, making my not-so-graceful movements, look more graceful. My hands tapped the tambourine in time to the music. I didn't think. Couldn't think. Almost paralyzed with fear, I remembered, with a sudden realization, that this wasn't about me. It never was. It was about the story of hope, in God's love. And my role is to do my part to the best of my ability, and trust that God will use us -- our dancing, our acting, our singing -- to touch the hearts of all those people out there. Right now. Looking out into the crowd, I couldn't help but smile now....

It was pitch black in the church. You can hardly see anything on the stage except for the twinkling lights they had arranged at the top of the ceiling. The screen lifts and the choir of angels start to sing. Soft, and angelic, and beautiful. You can't help but feel emotional. The Agape Gospel Assembly Christmas Musical entitled His Story was great. ~picture courtesy of saral k bubbly , Agape Gospel Assembly member The singing, the acting, the dancing. Everything was incredible. This church really has a bunch of very talented people, who can sing, act and dance. Although it was not perfect, I have to say that I admire the whole cast and crew involved in the musical. What struck me most about these people was the passion they infused into whatever they did. I could see that they put their whole heart into the musical to share the story of Jesus' birth, death and resurrection with everyone who was there that night. It showed in their eyes, how much they loved God the...

A woman who was heavy-burdened with the troubles and pain and darkness in our world had a dream one night. In the dream, she was walking around in a shopping mall, wandering aimlessly. Then, she came across one of those shops which were decorated very simply, but was beautiful all the same. Inexplicably, she was drawn to the quaint little shop. And so, tentatively, she entered through the door. To her surprise, she saw Jesus standing behind the neat little counter. She knew it was the Lord because he looked exactly as was portrayed in all the pictures and photos that could be found in Bibles, church murals and devotional materials. But the gentleness and compassion that shone in His eyes, convinced her that she was right. "Hello, my child. How can I help you?" She replied that she was looking for something that would change the world that we lived in so that it would be a better place. Jesus smiled. "Go along down every single aisle and pick out what you want...

I saw Hoc Mun's blog post about a mime. Well, I followed the link he gave but, er, the video had some problems with it. So, I explored other videos and found another, very simple, but powerful video. I have to admit, within that 5:52 minutes, I felt touched and emotional. Although there was not a single word uttered, their miming and facial expressions were powerful and mirrored what I think is each and every person's struggle in life. We all have a relationship with God. Yet, we allow the things of the world to take control of our lives. We make them our priority. They may satisfy us for a while, but we soon realize that they are never enough. Only God can fill that void in our life. No matter what we have done, how we feel about ourselves, God forgives. God accepts. Okay, I sound too preachy already. Anyway, just take a look at the video . Hope you like it too! ;P