Graduating soon in May...

尊重差异

当我们在与人合作时，重要的不是自己的想法、情绪或者智能。合作的精髓，在于尊重他人与自己在各个层面上不同。因为自以为是的人总是过于主观，别人的总是有偏差，事实上，这已经局限了合作中所能够展现出来无比大的能力与可能性。正所谓“三人行，必有我师焉”。能够带着宽阔的胸怀接受别人的意见和想法，承认自己的不足，从而使自己的生命可以更加的完全，逐而超越自己，突破局限，岂不是更加的美好嘛？

R.H. Reeves的著名寓言《动物学校》（The Animal School）或许能够给予一些启发：

有一天，动物们决定设立学校，教育下一代应付未来的挑战。校方订定的课程包括飞行、跑步、游泳及爬树等本领，为方便管理，所有动物一律要修全部的课程。

鸭子游泳的技术一流，飞行课的成绩也不错，可是跑步就无计可施。为了补救，只好课余加强练习，甚至放弃游泳课来练跑。到最后磨坏了脚掌，游泳成绩也变得平庸。校方可以接受平庸的成绩，只有鸭子自己深感不值。

兔子在跑步课上名列前茅，可是对游泳一筹莫展，甚至精神崩溃。

松鼠爬树最拿手，可是飞行课的老师一定要它自地面起飞，不准从树顶下降，弄得它精神紧张，肌肉肌肉抽搐。最后爬树得丙，跑步更只有丁等。

老鹰是个问题儿童，必须严加管教。在爬树课上，它第一个到达树顶，可是坚持用最拿手的方式，不理会老师的要求。

到学期结束时，一条怪异的鳗鱼以高超的泳技，加上勉强能飞能跑能爬的成绩，反而得到平均最高分，还代表毕业班致词。

另一方面，地鼠为抗议学校未把掘土打洞列为必修课，而集体抵制。它们先把子女交给獾作学徒，然后与土拨鼠合作另设学校。

寓意：尊重差异，否则得不偿失。

You Are Accepted 你被接纳

这篇文章是在念系统神学时接触到的，是由神学家田立克所写的“你被接纳”。其中提到“恩典的叩敲”(struck by grace)，也明确地对常被滥用的“罪”和“恩典”加以解释，值得深思。

The Shaking of the Foundations by Paul Tillich

Paul Tillich is generally considered one of the century's outstanding and influential thinkers. After teaching theology and philosophy at various German universities, he came to the United States in 1933. For many years he was Professor of Philosophical Theology at Union Theological Seminary in New York City, then University Professor at Harvard University. His books include Systematic Theology; The Courage to Be; Dynamics of Faith; Love, Power and Justice; Morality and Beyond; and Theology of Culture. This book was published by Charles Scribner's Sons, New York, in 1955 and is out of print. This material was prepared for Religion Online by John Bushell.

Chapter 19: You Are Accepted

"Moreover the law entered, that the offence might abound. But where sin abounded, grace did much more abound."

Romans 5:20.

[1]These words of Paul summarize his apostolic experience, his religious message as a whole, and the Christian standing of life. To discuss these words, or to make them the text of even several sermons, has always seemed impossible to me. I have never dared to use them before. But something has driven me to consider them during the past few months, a desire to give witness to the two facts which appeared to me, in hours of retrospection, as the all-determining facts of our life: the abounding of sin and the greater abounding of grace.

[2]There are few words more strange to most of us than "sin" and "grace". They are strange, just because they are so well-known. During the centuries they have received distorting connotations, and have lost so much of their genuine power that we must seriously ask ourselves whether we should use them at all, or whether we should discard them as useless tools. But there is a mysterious fact about the great words of our religious tradition: they cannot be replaced. All attempts to make substitutions, including those I have tried myself, have failed to convey the reality that was to be expressed; they have led to shallow and impotent talk. There are no substitutes for words like "sin" and "grace". But there is a way of rediscovering their meaning, the same way that leads us down into the depth of our human existence. In that depth these words were conceived; and there they gained power for all ages; there they must be found again by each generation, and by each of us for himself. Let us therefore try to penetrate the deeper levels of our life, in order to see whether we can discover in them the realities of which our text speaks.

[3]Have the men of our time still a feeling of the meaning of sin? Do they, and do we, still realize that sin does not mean an immoral act, that "sin" should never be used in the plural, and that not our sins, but rather our sin is the great, all-pervading problem of our life? Do we still know that it is arrogant and erroneous to divide men by calling some "sinners" and others "righteous"? For by way of such a division, we can usually discover that we ourselves do not quite belong to the "sinners", since we have avoided heavy sins, have made some progress in the control of this or that sin, and have been even humble enough not to call ourselves "righteous". Are we still able to realize that this kind of thinking and feeling about sin is far removed from what the great religious tradition, both within and outside the Bible, has meant when it speaks of sin?

[4]I should like to suggest another word to you, not as a substitute for the word "sin", but as a useful clue in the interpretation of the word "sin", "separation" . Separation is an aspect of the experience of everyone. Perhaps the word "sin" has the same root as the word "asunder". In any case, sin is separation. To be in the state of sin is to be in the state of separation. And separation is threefold: there is separation among individual lives, separation of a man from himself, and separation of all men from the Ground of Being. This three-fold separation constitutes the state of everything that exists; it is a universal fact; it is the fate of every life. And it is our human fate in a very special sense. For we as men know that we are separated. We not only suffer with all other creatures because of the self-destructive consequences of our separation, but also know why we suffer. We know that we are estranged from something to which we really belong, and with which we should be united. We know that the fate of separation is not merely a natural event like a flash of sudden lightning, but that it is an experience in which we actively participate, in which our whole personality is involved, and that, as fate, it is also guilt. Separation which is fate and guilt constitutes the meaning of the word "sin". It is this which is the state of our entire existence, from its very beginning to its very end. Such separation is prepared in the mother's womb, and before that time, in every preceding generation. It is manifest in the special actions of our conscious life. It reaches beyond our graves into all the succeeding generations. It is our existence itself. Existence is separation! Before sin is an act, it is a state.

[5]We can say the same things about grace. For sin and grace are bound to each other. We do not even have a knowledge of sin unless we have already experienced the unity of life, which is grace. And conversely, we could not grasp the meaning of grace without having experienced the separation of life, which is sin. Grace is just as difficult to describe as sin. For some people, grace is the willingness of a divine king and father to forgive over and again the foolishness and weakness of his subjects and children. We must reject such a concept of grace; for it is a merely childish destruction of a human dignity. For others, grace is a magic power in the dark places of the soul, but a power without any significance for practical life, a quickly vanishing and useless idea. For others, grace is the benevolence that we may find beside the cruelty and destructiveness in life. But then, it does not matter whether we say "life goes on", or whether we say "there is grace in life"; if grace means no more than this, the word should, and will, disappear. For other people, grace indicates the gifts that one has received from nature or society, and the power to do good things with the help of those gifts. But grace is more than gifts. In grace something is overcome; grace occurs in spite of something; grace occurs in spite of separation and estrangement. Grace is the reunion of life with life, the reconciliation of the self with itself. Grace is the acceptance of that which is rejected. Grace transforms fate into a meaningful destiny; it changes guilt into confidence and courage. There is something triumphant in the word grace : in spite of the abounding of sin grace abounds much more.

[6]And now let us look down into ourselves to discover there the struggle between separation and reunion, between sin and grace, in our relation to others, in our relation to ourselves, and in our relation to the Ground and aim of our being. If our souls respond to the description that I intend to give, words like "sin" and "separation", "grace" and "reunion", may have a new meaning for us. But the words themselves are not important. It is the response of the deepest levels of our being that is important. If such a response were to occur among us this moment, we could say that we have known grace.

[7]Who has not, at some time, been lonely in the midst of a social event? The feeling of our separation from the rest of life is most acute when we are surrounded by it in noise and talk. We realize then much more than in moments of solitude how strange we are to each other, how estranged life is from life. Each one of us draws back into himself. We cannot penetrate the hidden centre of another individual; nor can that individual pass beyond the shroud that covers our own being. Even the greatest love cannot break through the walls of the self. Who has not experienced that disillusionment of all great love? If one were to hurl away his self in complete self-surrender, he would become a nothing, without form or strength, a self without self, merely an object of contempt and abuse. Our generation knows more than the generation of our fathers about the hidden hostility in the ground of our souls. Today we know much about the profusive aggressiveness in every being. Today we can confirm what Immanuel Kant, the prophet of human reason and dignity, was honest enough to say: there is something in the misfortune of our best friends which does not displease us. Who amongst us is dishonest enough to deny that this is true also of him? Are we not almost always ready to abuse everybody and everything, although often in a very refined way, for the pleasure of self-elevation, for an occasion for boasting, for a moment of lust? To know that we are ready is to know the meaning of the separation of life from life, and of "sin abounding".

[8]The most irrevocable expression of the separation of life from life today is the attitude of social groups within nations towards each other, and the attitude of nations themselves towards other nations. The walls of distance, in time and space, have been removed by technical progress; but the walls of estrangement between heart and heart have been incredibly strengthened. The madness of the German Nazis and the cruelty of the lynching mobs in the South provide too easy an excuse for us to turn our thoughts from our own selves. But let us just consider ourselves and what we feel, when we read, this morning and tonight, that in some sections of Europe all children under the age of three are sick and dying, or that in some sections of Asia millions without homes are freezing and starving to death. The strangeness of life to life is evident in the strange fact that we can know all this, and yet can live today, this morning, tonight, as though we were completely ignorant. And I refer to the most sensitive people amongst us. In both mankind and nature, life is separated from life. Estrangement prevails among all things that live. Sin abounds.

[9]It is important to remember that we are not merely separated from each other. For we are also separated from ourselves. Man Against Himself is not merely the title of a book, but rather also indicates the rediscovery of an age-old insight. Man is split within himself. Life moves against itself through aggression, hate, and despair. We are wont to condemn self-love; but what we really mean to condemn is contrary to self-love. It is that mixture of selfishness and self-hate that permanently pursues us, that prevents us from loving others, and that prohibits us from losing ourselves in the love with which we are loved eternally. He who is able to love himself is able to love others also; he who has "learned to overcome self-contempt has overcome his contempt for others." But the depth of our separation lies in just the fact that we are not capable of a great and merciful divine love towards ourselves. On the contrary, in each of us there is an instinct of self-destruction, which is as strong as our instinct of self-preservation. In our tendency to abuse and destroy others, there is an open or hidden tendency to abuse and to destroy ourselves. Cruelty towards others is always also cruelty towards ourselves. Nothing is more obvious than the split in both our unconscious life and conscious personality. Without the help of modern psychology, Paul expressed the fact m his famous words, "For I do not do the good I desire, but rather the evil that I do not desire." And then he continued in words that might well be the motto of all depth psychology: ?Now if I should do what I do not wish to do, it is not I that do it, but rather sin which dwells within me." The apostle sensed a split between his conscious will and his real will, between himself and something strange within and alien to him. He was estranged from himself; and that estrangement he called "sin". He also called it a strange "law in his limbs", an irresistible compulsion. How often we commit certain acts in perfect consciousness, yet with the shocking sense that we are being controlled by an alien power. That is the experience of the separation of ourselves from ourselves, which is to say "sin", whether or not we like to use that word.

[10]Thus, the state of our whole life is estrangement from others and ourselves, because we are estranged from the Ground of our being, because we are estranged from the origin and aim of our life. And we do not know where we have come from, or where we are going. We are separated from the mystery, the depth, and the greatness of our existence. We hear the voice of that depth; but our ears are closed. We feel that something radical, total, and unconditioned is demanded of us; but we rebel against it, try to escape its urgency, and will not accept its promise.

[11]We cannot escape, however. If that something is the Ground of our being, we are bound to it for all eternity, just as we are bound to ourselves and to all other life. We always remain in the power of that from which we are estranged. That fact brings us to the ultimate depth of sin: separated and yet bound, estranged and yet belonging, destroyed and yet preserved, the state which is called despair. Despair means that there is no escape. Despair is "the sickness unto death." But the terrible thing about the sickness of despair is that we cannot be released, not even through open or hidden suicide. For we all know that we are bound eternally and inescapably to the Ground of our being. The abyss of separation is not always visible. But it has become more visible to our generation than to the preceding generations, because of our feeling of meaninglessness, emptiness, doubt, and cynicism -- all expressions of despair, of our separation from the roots and the meaning of our life. Sin in its most profound sense, sin, as despair, abounds amongst us.

[12]"Where sin abounded, grace did much more abound", says Paul in the same letter in which he describes the unimaginable power of separation and self-destruction within society and the individual soul. He does not say these words because sentimental interests demand a happy ending for everything tragic. He says them because they describe the most overwhelming and determining experience of his life. In the picture of Jesus as the Christ, which appeared to him at the moment of his greatest separation from other men, from himself and God, he found himself accepted in spite of his being rejected. And when he found that he was accepted, he was able to accept himself and to be reconciled to others. The moment in which grace struck him and overwhelmed him, he was reunited with that to which he belonged, and from which he was estranged in utter strangeness.

Do we know what it means to be struck by grace? It does not mean that we suddenly believe that God exists, or that Jesus is the Saviour, or that the Bible contains the truth. To believe that something is, is almost contrary to the meaning of grace. Furthermore, grace does not mean simply that we are making progress in our moral self-control, in our fight against special faults, and in our relationships to men and to society. Moral progress may be a fruit of grace; but it is not grace itself, and it can even prevent us from receiving grace. For there is too often a graceless acceptance of Christian doctrines and a graceless battle against the structures of evil in our personalities. Such a graceless relation to God may lead us by necessity either to arrogance or to despair. It would be better to refuse God and the Christ and the Bible than to accept them without grace. For if we accept without grace, we do so in the state of separation, and can only succeed in deepening the separation. We cannot transform our lives, unless we allow them to be transformed by that stroke of grace. It happens; or it does not happen. And certainly it does not happen if we try to force it upon ourselves, just as it shall not happen so long as we think, in our self-complacency, that we have no need of it. Grace strikes us when we are in great pain and restlessness. It strikes us when we walk through the dark valley of a meaningless and empty life. It strikes us when we feel that our separation is deeper than usual, because we have violated another life, a life which we loved, or from which we were estranged. It strikes us when our disgust for our own being, our indifference, our weakness, our hostility, and our lack of direction and composure have become intolerable to us. It strikes us when, year after year, the longed-for perfection of life does not appear, when the old compulsions reign within us as they have for decades, when despair destroys all joy and courage. Sometimes at that moment a wave of light breaks into our darkness, and it is as though a voice were saying: "You are accepted. You are accepted, accepted by that which is greater than you, and the name of which you do not know. Do not ask for the name now; perhaps you will find it later. Do not try to do anything now; perhaps later you will do much. Do not seek for anything; do not perform anything; do not intend anything. Simply accept the fact that you are accepted!" If that happens to us, we experience grace After such an experience we may not be better than before, and we may not believe more than before. But everything is transformed. In that moment, grace conquers sin, and reconciliation bridges the gulf of estrangement. And nothing is demanded of this experience, no religious or moral or intellectual presupposition, nothing but acceptance.

[13]In the light of this grace we perceive the power of grace in our relation to others and to ourselves. We experience the grace of being able to look frankly into the eyes of another, the miraculous grace of reunion of life with life. We experience the grace of understanding each other's words. We understand not merely the literal meaning of the words, but also that which lies behind them, even when they are harsh or angry. For even then there is a longing to break through the walls of separation. We experience the grace of being able to accept the life of another, even if it be hostile and harmful to us, for, through grace, we know that it belongs to the same Ground to which we belong, and by which we have been accepted. We experience the grace which is able to overcome the tragic separation of the sexes, of the generations, of the nations, of the races, and even the utter strangeness between man and nature. Sometimes grace appears in all these separations to reunite us with those to whom we belong. For life belong to life.

[14]And in the light of this grace we perceive the power of grace in our relation to ourselves. We experience moments in which we accept ourselves, because we feel that we have been accepted by that which is greater than we. If only more such moments were given to us! For it is such moments that make us love our life, that make us accept ourselves, not in our goodness and self- complacency, but in our certainty of the eternal meaning of our life. We cannot force ourselves to accept ourselves. We cannot compel anyone to accept himself. But sometimes it happens that we receive the power to say "yes" to ourselves, that peace enters into us and makes us whole, that self-hate and self-contempt disappear, and that our self is reunited with itself. Then w can say that grace has come upon us.

[15]"Sin" and "grace" are strange words; but they are not strange things. We find them whenever we look into ourselves with searching eyes and longing hearts. They determine our life. They abound within us and in all of life. May grace more abound within us!

Source: http://www.religion-online.org/showchapter.asp?title=378&C=84

好书共享

好久没有读到一本好书。要不是课业上的需要，或许忘了这本书的存在。从书柜上将《属灵操练礼赞》（傅士德著）(Celebration of Discipline by Richard Foster)拿了下来，翻开一看，是我在一九九六年买的。

傅士德的这本英文原著自一九七八年写成并在八九年增修后，华文版本自八二年初版自今也经历了增修和再版约十次以上。从这样的数字看来，这本书在这近三十年来受欢迎的程度不在话下，而究竟是什么原因导致如此呢？傅士德一开头就言道：“我们这个时代的祸因是浅薄。事事寻求立时的满足乃是一个基本的属灵问题。今天最迫切的需要不是要有大量的聪明能干的人，或者大有恩赐的人，乃是有深度的人。”虽然这是他三十年前所观察的，但这句话仍然是值得三十年后今天的我们去深省的。

这本书的内容共分成三个部分：一、内在的操练，包含了默想、祷告、禁食和研究的操练；二、外表的操练，即简朴、独处、顺服和服事；三、团体的操练，就是认罪、崇拜、引导和庆祝四方面。他这样的编排方式，显然地道出了他的对属灵操练的看法，即要从个人的内在操练开始，然后在生活中活现出来，延伸到外在生活的层面上，之后再扩展到团体中的教会层面上，在其中发挥力量去影响生命，并更新而变化，以至去影响世界。这样整全的理念是现今许多教会所忽略的，因为绝大多数都比较是采取极端化的发展，一方面是鼓励和推崇个人的灵性培养，如祷告、独处、读经、个人与神的关系等，另一方面则是偏重团体中的经验而忽略了个人存在的层面。这样的发展趋向自然是不够健全的，只会顾此失彼，无法使个人发挥团体中的力量，亦无法让团体培育出实质的内涵。

本书的一个特色，就是在讨论每一个的操练时，先是做个简介和提及现今的处境，之后就引用圣经中的人物或经文作为论证的基础，然后再随着历史的足迹提到一些属灵伟人的经验或格言。这样的做法确实让读者能够对每一项操练有更深入的理解，打破一些原有错误的观念，以至于能够对它们的历史发展与意义有所领悟。每一章的末了都有“进一步研究”的部分，给予读者非常切实际的实践提议，毫无强求绝对去遵行的动机，却是让读者焕然一新、恍然大悟的感觉。章末也提供了一周的默想经文、研讨题目以及参考资料，方便读者做个人及小组性的操练及讨论。

傅士德对于“简朴的操练”的讨论，特别对现今廿一世纪经济发达的社会仍然起着一定的作用和提醒。他推翻了“简朴就是禁欲”的普及错误观念，两者其实是互相矛盾的。事实上，简朴是一种的内在态度，是视自己为上帝所赐之事务的好管家，并非是讲求外在的朴素形象罢了。这样的内在态度仍然需要有实质的外在表现，才能够体现出简朴的释放精神。傅士德提供了一些的建议，不应视为律法，好叫读者能够在现今社会中去体验。

简言之，这是一部非常值得在现今社会忙碌生活中的基督徒拿来阅读、反思、研究和实践的作品。这些的操练不会随着时代的变迁而落伍，相反的，它们能够让人在万变中依然寻得一个定位，更能体会自己有限的存在，在人的两极性中许多的挣扎中明白和体会建立自身灵性生命的重要。

This is the day that the Lord has made!!!

YEAH!!! Anne has finally agreed to marry me!!!

Forget me/you not...

Realised that I've been rather forgetful recently. Real bad short-term memory. Last Sat while having lunch with anne, she just told me she wanted chicken breast meat for the claypot chicken. In just less than a minute walking from our table to the stall, I've completely forgotten about it!

I wonder how am I going to survive my Hebrew Exam in another 8-hours time. Been mugging since 3pm but all the vocab just glide through the ears which apparently seems to be connected by a hollow pipe... Woosh! None retain in the brain...

How I wish I can regain my memory power back to my youthful days. I hope one day, I will not forget who you are... whoever you are...

Back to mug...

给我一颗单纯的心

你说人若爱世界
爱主的心不在他里面
你说人若爱世界
爱主的心不在他里面
你说人若爱世界
爱主的心不在他里面

给我一颗单纯的心
全心全意单单爱你
胜过世界的诱惑
完全地降服于你

This is my new dwelling place...

Finally... I've moved in to TTC Hostel. Not a bad place... quite cosy and quiet... like resort... HAHA!!!

Rest

Faith vs Hope 信心与盼望

It is through faith
that man finds the path of true life,
but it is only hope
that keeps him on the path.
Thus it is faith in Christ
gives hope its assurance.
Thus it is that hope
gives faith in Christ
its breadth and leads it into life.

Jurgen Moltmann, "Theology of Hope"

是信心
使人找到生命的真道。
但却是盼望
保守着人继续在这道上。
因此是在基督里的信心
让盼望得着它的确据。
因此是那盼望
使基督里的信心
得着它的宽度并引自身进入到生命中。

莫特曼，《盼望神学》（笔者译）

三位水泥匠

有人问工作的三位水泥匠说：“你在做什么？”

第一位说：“你没有看到吗？我在砌水泥。”

另一位说：“我在盖房子啊！”

第三位却回答说：“我正在盖教堂。”

三个人的回答，背后带有不同的盼望特质，第一位只看到眼前所做的，第二位还看到他所做的是一栋房子的一部分，第三位看得更远，他不只看到房子，而且还看到房子的用途。虽然三位水泥匠所做的工作相同，但是眼光不同，盼望也不同，势必会影响他们工作的品质。一位盖教堂的师傅，一位盖房子的师傅，以及一位只在砌水泥的师傅，他们的工作品质一定不同。

Hope leads everything.

For faith only see what it is,

But hope sees what will be.

Charity only loves what is,

But hope loves what will be -

In time and for all eternity.

- Charles Peguy

- 摘自林鸿信，《莫特曼神学》（台湾：礼记，2002），111-112。

*

Just finished an assignment which is due tomorrow (or rather, later at 8.30am). Took sometime off to surf the net. Realised that it has been such a long time since my last post. So paiseh... almost forgot that I had a blog...

Anyway, just to drop a note to all of you that yes, this blog is still alive, just that the owner here had embarassingly forgot about its existence.

It's now into Day 5 of CNY... life is gonna get back to the usual routine.

Move on... Life is exciting. Yes... it is gonna be a REAL exciting and breakthrough week coming up...

God, you know how I am now... Lead me.

Babbling nonsense already... time to sleep.

Cute Little Fellas

My sis was "babysitting" for her friend's hamsters for the past week. 6 fat and chubby ones... really adorable. Caught them cuddling together on Sunday night when the weather was so cold due to the heavy downpour...

Weeweechu

One beautiful December evening Huan Cho and his girlfriend Jung Lee were sitting by the side of the ocean. It was a romantic full moon, when Huan Cho said "Hey baby, how about Doing Weeweechu?" "Oh no, not now, let's look at the moon" said Jung Lee. "Oh, c'mon baby, let's you and I do Weeweechu. I love you and it's the perfect time," Huan Cho begged.

"But I rather just hold your hand and watch the moon." "Please Jung Lee, just once do Weeweechu with me." Jung Lee looked at Huan Cho and said, "Ok ok, we'll do Weeweechu."....










Huan Cho grabbed his guitar and both sang...."Weeweechu a melly Chlistmas, Weeweechu a melly Chlistmas, Weeweechu a melly Chlistmas, and a huppy New Year."

10 Questions To Ask To Make Sure I'm Still Growing... Spiritually

Am I more like Jesus than I was a year ago? 2006 is coming to an end. It's time to reflect on 2006 and set my eyes on 2007... it's gonna be a new beginning...

1. Am I more thirsty for God than ever before?

2. Am I more and more loving?

3. Am I more sensitive to and aware of God than ever before?

4. Am I governed more and more by God's Word?

5. Am I concerned more and more with the physical and spiritual needs of others?

6. Am I more and more concerned with the Church and the Kingdom of God?

7. Are the disciplines of the Christian life more and more important to me?

8. Am I more and more aware of my sin?

9. Am I more and more willing to forgive others?

10. Am I thinking more and more of heaven and of being with the Lord Jesus?

Dear God, give me strength and courage to face my ownself. Help me to deal with my own life in areas that have dishonoured You. Let Your Spirit flow in me that I shall thirst for You more. Cleanse me of any unrighteousness. May Your words be the lamp of my feet and the light of my path. Bring in me a new life that not only will I bear the fruit of the Spirit, I shall also put on the armour at all times to be Your great and mighty warrior in Your kingdom. Make me look not just at my own needs, but rather, help me to be more loving towards others and be sensitive to their needs. Hear my prayers, oh God...

God have mercy... In Jesus' name, amen.

面孔的奥妙

上帝为每个人创造了一张独特的面孔，大小约相等于手指伸展开时的大小。然而，在这小小的地方上，却同样包含了数种不同的水……

从眼睛流出来的水是咸的；
从耳朵里流出来的水带油性；
从鼻子流出来的水有臭味；
从口里流出来的水却是甜的。

从眼睛流出来的水是眼泪。眼泪为什么是咸的呢？因为人如果为了伤心而不停地哭，就会哭瞎了眼睛；上帝令眼泪是咸的，不停哭会令眼睛难受，所以人便不会无休止地哭泣。

从鼻孔流出来的水是鼻涕，鼻涕为什么有臭味呢？因为人若吸进一些不好的气味便会死去，所以上帝赐人有鼻涕好保护他。

从耳朵流出来的水带有油性，为什么呢？因为人听到坏消息时，总会承受一定的冲击，若时常记挂予心，便会忧心而死，所以上帝为耳朵中的水加点油份，好让坏消息可以较轻易从左耳入，右耳出。

从口中流出来的是唾液，唾液为什么是甜的呢？因为人有时吃了讨厌的东西会呕吐，身心虚脱，所以上帝使人的唾液是甜的，那么人的灵魂才会返回来。

- 摘自犹太经典《塔木德》

God is good! (Part 2)

God is really wonderful! He is Jehovah Jireh who provides!

Just got back my Greek Exam results yesterday. Scored 29/30 for it! With that and all my other tests results, it is confirmed an A for my Greek 1 module. Praise the Lord! It is indeed a great encouragement for me to press on for Greek 2 in the next semester.

The surprise did not end here. Just this morning, I recalled my scholarship application for my theological studies which I have submitted in June. The coordinator mentioned that I should be hearing from them in Nov. But thus far, no news. So I decided to drop her an email after lunch just now. In just less than 5 mins, she replied and said that my application is approved!!! YEAH!

GOD IS GOOD, ALL THE TIME;
AND ALL THE TIME, GOD IS GOOD!

Life - Chronos and Kairos

“Life is a series of changes—a process of going from the old to the new—from chronos (refers to the general process of time or chronological time) to kairos (refers to the right time, the opportune or strategic time, the now time). Growth, change, revival—all are processes. Life is connected. Not understanding this, we tend to despise the chronos times of preparing, sowing, believing and persevering. We’re not losing or wasting time, we’re investing it. And if we do so faithfully, the shift will come.”

“生命是一连串的改变；它是一段汰旧换新的过程；是从平常（chronos，泛指时间的演进）以至非常（kairos，指恰当、关键的时机或立刻）的过程。成长、改变和恢复，都是一个过程。生命是连贯而非片断的，少了这层认识，便是轻看预备、撒种、相信与坚忍的平常时节。我们其实并没有失去或浪费任何时间，那是一个投资。只要忠心地持守下去，转变的时刻终将来到。”

Adapted from Dutch Sheets, God’s Timing for Your Life (Ventura, CA: Regal Books, 2001), 17-18. 华文翻译摘自恰克·皮尔斯（Chuck Pierce）和利百加·史次马（Rebecca W. Sytsema），《最美的命定 The Best is Yet Ahead》，李正宜译（台北：以琳书房，2005），8。

Dominoes

Here's another funny clip taken during the RYM camp. All thanks to KK's great idea!

God is good!

今天早晨起床后，心情并不是很好。或许也已经好久没有那么迟才起床，一整个早上显得有点“手足无措”，不知道要做什么好。总的来说，可以用一个“显”字来形容（注：“显”乃是福建话，意思是“闷”）。

就在大约10.30am，手机突然响起，收到了一则简讯。拿起电话一看，原来是我的“新约解经”老师潘博士。刹那间，心里头突然感到紧张万分，心想：糟糕！一定是我的期末解经专文写得不好，要重做了！心中的担忧并非没有理由的。刚过的这个学期，尤其是“新约解经”这一课，成绩都不是很理想。4个各10分的小报告，不是7分就是6分。20分的呈现（presentation）更是不堪设想，才拿11分！（这《启示录》可真是要了我的“命”！）所以啊！这最后的40分专文不得不加把劲儿才行！虽然能够赶在期限那天交上，心中还是忐忑不安，不晓得是否有做到“解经”，还是在“胡扯”……

终于鼓起勇气面对“现实”，手指继续往下按，将“判决”看完。潘老师写到：
"Junhui, in e midst of stressful marking of assignments..." Stressful? 完蛋！"... i'm glad u hv done such a piece of good work tt gives me some relief and lifts my spirit up! Thks! Dr Phua" WOW!!! I just can't believe my eyes!!!

看完之后，心中的喜悦是非以笔墨能所形容。我急忙回了个简讯给老师谢谢他。那儿知道没过多久，他又回复，还说他给了我38分，甚至希望我看完他在报告上的评语后，将文章做些修改，再考虑去投稿，看是否能够在一些学术期刊上刊载。WOW!!! WOW!!! WOW!!! I REALLY CANNOT BELIEVE MY EYES!!! 你知道吗？潘老师可是出了名的严（aka “猫”，福建话，吝啬的意思），要从他手中拿高分真的是不容易。如今还能够得到他的赞赏，真时高兴。

感谢上帝……

“但愿荣耀归于神，直到永永远远，阿门。”
ᾧ ἡ δόξα εἰς τοὐς αἰῶνας τῶν αἰώνων, ἀμήν.
加拉太书1：5