2009 Home's Kool

Saturday night was the Homeschool Gathering & Dinner at the Subang Lake View Club, organised by KV and David. I thought Elliot did a good job as MC together with JEu, but then that's a mother's biased opinion. It was good to have the teens take charge and it was a happy (I would say) pandemonium. Well, what will you get when you've got more than 170 over parents and kids of all ages (over 50 families) in an open dining area (next to the swimming pool) with a deplorable audio system, and without a raised platform or stage. There were enthusiastic joyful performances by children (violin, guitar, percussion, voice etc), and an even more enthusiastic joyful Dad, but only the few tables in front had the pleasure of sight and sound. Adults were busy talking, and some smaller children were doing what comes naturally (making noise), all very distracting, especially for the few of us who took the mike to talk a little about homeschooling.

Still, it was great to see so many new families with young children starting out on the homeschool journey, and to get to meet many people some of whom are related or connected to so and so. It was also a real Malaysian getogether with folks from all races and faiths and more than a few inter-racial families.

Watch

Meditations on Matthew 24 (discussion in Cell Group of sermon preached last Sunday):

Wars and rumours of wars, famines and earthquakes... such things must happen, so Jesus said. That's Planet Earth from the beginning since the Fall of man, as the whole earth groans under the curse of sin. So do not be alarmed: keep watch, not on tumultous world events, but on your relationship with God. For our faith will be tested by persecution and opposition, false teachings and the increase of wickedness, because of which "the love of most will grow cold, but he who stands firm to the end will be saved."

Jesus is coming again, the day and hour unknown, so we need to be ready at all times to meet Him. Besides, the time of our own departure from this earth is also unknown and we should be ready at all times to be called Home. In the words of D.A. Carson, we are "exhorted to look forward to the Lord's return and meanwhile to live responsibly, faithfully, compassionately, and courageously while the Master is away."

O that I may be the faithful and wise servant with whom the Master will be pleased.

We sang the song Still last night many times. Now my head is full of Reuben Morgan's songs from his album which has been playing in my car: You alone are God... Sing my soul... Come live in me...

Still

Hide me now, under Your wings.
Cover me within Your mighty hand.

Chorus:
When the oceans rise
and thunders roar.
I will soar with You, above the storm
Father You are king over the flood,
I will be still and know You are God.

Find rest my soul in Christ alone,
Know his power, in quietness and trust.

(lyrics of still by reuben morgan)

Thank You, O Lord , for a lovely retreat to the Awana Genting Highlands resort with Fiona B and with You, for the refreshing cool, and the quietness and beauty of the place - such wonderful gifts from You! We walked and enjoyed the breezy air and birds' singing, sat and kept still on a bench at the golf practice place while a couple of novice golfers practised their strokes, talked and prayed when they were done and we were alone.

Then we drove back and lunched at a shop selling Nasi Dagang and East Coast cuisine: my favourite. In the car, this song by Reuben Morgan was playing. Evelyn W had led us to sing it last Sunday and it had been playing in my heart and mind since.

I've just begun John Piper's book "Desiring God" and was reading it there too.

O Lord, thank You for being You: You alone are God, and You reign over all.

Lost

I have a recurring dream about losing my handbag or purse. Last night, I dreamt I'd carelessly put the purse with money and documents, handphone and something else, on a bench in a busy area. The same panic, regret, anger at myself came over me when I realized it in the dream.

Is it because I feel that I'm losing control in real life? Too many things going on and to do. Haha, some will laugh. Is a housewife really that busy? Someone actually asked that recently, a girl just turned 21.

I need to "be still, and know that He is God; He will exalted among the nations, He will be exalted in the earth." The Lord Almighty is with us; the God of Jacob is our fortress. Psalm 46:10,11

A New Beginning

Okay, I didn't write anything here at all through the year 2008. Just had no inspiration, I guess. Well, here is a new year, so here I am, trying again. This blog is still here, and I'm still here, not having checked out of earth yet, as I will one day. So till then, I must try to write, not just read and talk.

I'm using the Daily Devotional Readings, Asian Reflections Year 3, and I'm glad it starts with Psalm 1. And this is my prayer for the new year, that I may be like that Blessed man who walks not in the counsel of the wicked or stands in the way of sinners or sits in the seat of mockers, but whose delight is in the law of the Lord and on which law, he meditates day and night.

Psalm 2 is very assuring in the light of the conflict going on in the Gaza between the Israelis v the Palestinians and the whole world, and news of persecution of Christians all over various parts of the world:

Why do the nations conspire
and the peoples plot in vain?
The kings of the earth take their stand
and the rulers gather together
against the LORD
and against His Anointed One.
"Let us break their chains," they say.
"and throw off their fetters."
The One enthroned in heaven laughs;
the Lord scoffs at them.
Then He rebukes them in His anger,
and terrifies them in His wrath, saying,
"I have installed my King
on Zion, my holy hill."
(Psalm 2:1-6)

Treasure in Earthen Vessels

Sunday Worship Speaker: Dr. Lim Kar Yong
Date: 21 October 2007
Text: 2 Corinthians 4:7-12

"But we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us." v 7

Corinth was a new city, full of migrants, a thriving and wealthy seaport. Vibrant and competitive, like any big city of today, it valued excellence, honour, glory, survival of the fittest, where people and everything else is judged by their appearance and packaging.

When Paul used the imagery of jars of clay holding treasure, it served to promote a true counterculture.

What are jars of clay but objects which are fragile and easily broken, plain, cheap, and common, representing weakness and insignificance.

Paul considered himself a jar of clay, full of imperfections and not daring to use eloquence or impressive rhetoric in his preaching. His appearance was weak and unimpressive, and he bore on his body marks and scars. In the ancient world, people distinguished scars into those of honour (from battles and heroic deeds) and those of shame (from punishment for crimes and sins: flogging and stoning). Paul's scars were those of the latter, suffered for preaching the Gospel against the law of the rulers at that time.

But God's concept of ministry is different from that of the world's.

What is the content of the jar? It is the Gospel of Christ: "the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God" v 4

But how can treasure be kept in jars of clay? Does not treasure deserve better containers? And yet God chooses us, humans frail and sinful veritable jars of clay to hold the truth of the Gospel and His very own Spirit, God's divine spark.

Why? God wants all attention to be drawn to the treasure not to the container and its packaging, and all praises to go to God and not to man.

Our ordinariness is an asset, not a liability to the kingdom of God. It is no liability to be a broken, cracked clay pot. People should respond to the treasure not to its packaging.

Do we hide the light of the Gospel or do we let it shine through us?

God is able to make the Gospel shine through us.

(Perhaps the more cracks, the more light shines through?)

sc

The wicked and the stupid

A wicked ruler is as dangerous to the poor as a lion or bear attacking them. Only a stupid prince will oppress his people, but a king will have a long reign if he hates dishonesty and bribes. Proverbs 28: 15-16

The Judge of all the Earth

God presides in the great assembly;
he gives judgment among the "gods":

"How long will you defend the unjust
and show partiality to the wicked?

Defend the cause of the weak and fatherless;
maintain the rights of the poor and oppressed.

Rescue the weak and needy;
deliver them from the hand of the wicked.

"They know nothing, they understand nothing.
They walk about in darkness;
all the foundations of the earth are shaken.

"I said, 'You are "gods";
you are all sons of the Most High.'

But you will die like mere men;
you will fall like every other ruler."

Rise up, O God, judge the earth,
for all the nations are your inheritance.

Psalm 82

O Lord, in judgment, remember mercy. May Your grace and mercy be upon Malaysia, Burma, Indonesia, North Korea, Sudan, Afghanistan, Iraq, Iran, Vietnam, Thailand, India, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Israel ... all the nations of the earth. Hear and answer the cries of the poor and the oppressed. Raise up good and righteous leaders for the weak and defenseless.

As Abraham said, "Shall not the Judge of all the earth do right?" Surely, He shall.

Free Burma!

Words, words, words

O Lord, I cry out with Isaiah, "Woe to me! I am ruined! For I am a woman of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips!" (Isaiah 6:5)

So many many words are uttered, muttered, whispered, shouted, chanted, prayed, sung, written, published every day... And Jesus said, "Out of the overflow of the heart the mouth speaks. The good man brings good things out of the good stored up in him, and the evil man brings evil things out of the evil stored up in him. But I tell you that men will have to give account on the day of judgment for every careless word they have spoken. For by your words you will be acquitted, and by your words you will be condemned." (Matthew 12:34-37)

And the Preacher said, "Do not be quick with your mouth,
do not be hasty in your heart
to utter anything before God.
God is in heaven
and you are on earth,
so let your words be few..."
(Ecclesiastes 5:2)

O Lord, the day will come when "every mouth will be silenced and the whole world held accountable to God." (Romans 3:19)

O Lord, "Who can discern his errors?
Forgive my hidden faults.
Keep your servant also from willful sins;
May they not rule over me.
Then will I be blameless,
innocent of great transgression.
May the words of my mouth and the
meditation of my heart
be pleasing in Your sight,
O Lord, my Rock and my
Redeemer."
(Psalm 19:12-14)