Before the King

How would you act when standing before a king?

would you run up to him and give him a hug coz he's the closest friend you've ever had? Or would you cower in fear because of how amazingly royal, regal and mighty he is?

In the Old Testament we often read of how people have cowered in the presence of God, fearful to death because they were so unworthy of His presence. How then does that fit into today's context where often people talk to God like He's little more than their good friend, 'the big guy upstairs'?

I'm not saying i'm any better than them... i too have found my attitude towards God to be so casual and even flippant at times. I think i often focus on His abounding mercy and forget how really awesome and terrifying my God can be to both His people and His enemies.

but the hard part is to really apply this to my life... to live it rather than just talk about it. And that requires a lot of prayer and support... and faith

time out...

Sunday afternoons are precious... they're good for just simply doing nothing in particular. Like going for an aimless jog, cleaning up my room or just plain watching something on TV.

furthermore i can concentrate on things other than work... and it's amazing what 2 days of just enjoying life can do.

i'm able to appreciate that there's more to life than just sitting in a small room facing a computer screen. And there's more to life than rushing deadlines...

being able to sit back and take it all in is indeed a blessing and a gift from God.

and He knew it right from the beginning when He commanded His people to honour the sabbath and keep it Holy. Not sure if i'm doing all i can for that... But i acknowledge that this is His day and a day when i can just marvel in everything that He has done for me. :)

huttah!

Had a full day at work today, but for some reason just didn't feel like staying late

been a while since i had dinner at home so decided to rearrange my plans a bit and meet my friend on monday night instead.

So now i'm home, and i still have no idea what to do, but i feel content to be home

full body worship

went for a worship in sign language course today... was so exciting!

like my good friend said, it's so thrilling to be able to worship God with your whole body, as opposed to just your voice. And there really is so much meaning to each of the motions... driven home even stronger by their Godly meaning.

i love to sing with my voice, but i guess it's not so bad to even lose that ability if i can also sing with every fibre of my being. :)

trouble is i have trouble signing and focusing on the text for the next word... :P i'm just so bad at multitasking. :(

haha

muggin'

while asking around for advice on my trip to europe, i've been told quite a few times, 'mugging is on the rise, be careful'...

i've heard it so many times it's beginning to lose it's effect. But yeah, this isn't the kinda mugging that i'm used to... the kind I hear about all the time usually occurs in libraries and schools, with braindead people sitting behind books. Over in a poor country, 'mugging for an exam' probably has an altogether different meaning.

but you know what i wanna do when i get to europe? First person i see, i'll go up to him and say 'you know, mugging is on the rise,' and then i'll mug him..

kidding

My sister got this for me from Thailand. It's my first mini, or more like 'mini-mini'... It's cool... and the moment i learn to shrink myself i'll really go.. place

sad

you know you're sad when 90% of the phonecalls you get are either business related, or wrong numbers.

you know you're even sadder if you try to keep up a conversation with those callers

you know you're even sadder still when you start to look forward to such calls

and finally,

you're really really sad when you start to sms yourself with messages starting with 'to my future self...'

making the effort to pray

the idea of having to make 'effort' to pray seems kinda like a paradox

afterall the idea behind praying is essentially talking to God. Communicating intimately with your heavenly Father.

what's so difficult about that? I mean, when i talk to my friends, it's usually easy and spontaneous. Most of the time the only thing stopping me is that they're not always with me. So talking to God should be way easier, afterall He's with me all the time, right?

so why then do i not pray more? simply dedicating the time to God whether i'm at work or at home. or just taking the time out to tell Him i love Him?

perhaps it's the devil hard at work, putting things in our way so we forget to converse with God or filling our day with so many worries so that we forget what's really important.

Either way, it's no small task to set aside time for God... but the result of doing so is just amazing. Tiredness, loneliness, worries are all stripped away. Strength is renewed, pride humbled and the closeness and intimacy of a relationship with the good Lord is strengthened. How amazing and sufficient His grace and mercy is!

putting things in perspective...

one of the members of my bible-study (who happens to be an architect) was strolling through the city before class. She happened to start counting all the buildings that had been built by her firm and felt amazed at how many of the buildings there were. She started to share how her boss could so easily be filled with pride over the many buildings he had built.

to which another member of the group grinned and said, 'he didn't build them! the [name of third world country] workers did!'