Is Faith Easy?

A young man asked me last night if it was easier to trust God here in this country, in this comfortable house, than it was "down where all the disasters were," meaning, I suppose, in the jungle. No, I told him, you live by faith wherever you are. The house was robbed last week--a small reminder that all that I am and have belongs to the Lord, to do with as He chooses. There are enough "disasters" anywhere to keep one trusting God. In the jungle there is the immanent presence of snakes, vampires, scorpions, electric eels, etc.--to say nothing of savages' spears. In Hamilton there are thieves, the possibility of fire, plumbing or electrical breakdowns, and hanging over us at all times threats of war, totalitarianism, secular humanism, economic collapse, cancer, not to mention the "small" emergencies which can bring our best-laid plans to a halt.

"I have become absolutely convinced that neither death nor life...neither what happens today nor what may happen tomorrow has any power to separate us from the love of God" (Rom 8:38-39 JBP). So wrote Paul, whose life did not represent a series of events in which we would say it was "easy to trust." It was not easy. It was necessary. A life free from suffering would be a life in which faith in God would be a mere frill. A human life, on the contrary, is one in which faith is a necessity. Only a fool tries to do without it.

By Elizabeth Elliot

The Secret to Being Rich

Contentment.
Be content with what you have, because it is given by the Father of the Heavenly Lights.
Be content with what you do not have, for the Mighty Hand of God has withheld them, for your own good.

I am content to be and have what in Thy heart, I am meant to be and have.
--(George MacDonald, Diary of an Old Soul)

I tell you, knowing the Giver really makes a whole lot of difference.

Yogyakarta

YOGYAKARTA - KLA PROJECT
Aduh aku suka banget ama lagu ini. Gue emang bukan dari Jogya, bukan juga wong jowo, tapi lagu ini selalu membuat gue merasa kangen rumah, merasa kangen sama Indonesia apalagi waktu gue ada di Palmy. Gue merasa bersyukur jadi orang Indonesia, orang-orang yang murah senyum, lugu, sederhana dan sangat kental budaya. Sebuah negara yang penuh aneka ragam suku dan bahasa, subur dan kaya. Tetaplah majemuk Indonesia. Tetaplah berBhineka tunggal ika. Tetaplah berbeda-beda tapi tetap satu jua.

Sesama Homo Sapiens

I went out today and the time spent in the MRT was done to observe the interaction between humans around me. Hehe. Lilis gila? Iya kali ya. Interesting what I found.

Antara Malay dan Chinese

Seorang bapak yang gue tebak mungkin memang orang melayu (dia baca koran melayu sih) baru dapat kursi duduk di MRT. Padahal tuh kursi gue incer, tapi udah keduluan dia. Nah, sebelum dia baca korannya, dia liat ada seorang auntie (of chinese descent) bawa bnyk barang siap bergelantungan trus dia nyeletuk dah "eh auntie, jhe." (sambil bangun dan merelakan tempat duduknya). Tapi, si auntie menolak. Trus, gak berapa lama. Ada chinese guy offered his seat to this auntie, eh she took it, you know. Mungkinkah si auntie masih mendiskriminasi orang malay? Mungkinkah si auntie hanya sekedar luluh dari kesombongannya untuk tetap berdiri? Anyway, si bapak malay tadi tahu kok dan dia hanya tersenyum simpul melihat tingkah auntie.

Antara Thais

Gue ngeliatin dua orang ibu-ibu sedang asyik ngobrol dalam bahasa Thai. Nampaknya dua ibu ini tukang masak abis yang satu bawa gerobak dorongan ampe masuk ke MRT. Jangan salah, gue gak ngerti Thai. Tapi yang menarik adalah bahasa tubuh mereka. Salah satu ibu tadi nampaknya berutang duit (I saw her took out $20 from her purse to give to the other lady). Trus, yang satu lagi gak mau menerimanya. Dari ekspresi mukanya, seakan berkata "ah tak usahlah, simpan saja duitmu itu." Trus, si ibu yang berutang ini mengalah dan dia langsung lipat tangan (kayak mo berdoa) trus bilang "Sawadikha". Kalo gak salah artinya terima kasih. Lipat tangan itu pun dilakukan oleh ibu yang dihutangi tadi (respon sama, saling hormat). Beautiful!

Lucu aja manusia.

Today (Edited)

Today? oh what to say?
am I living in dismay?
No, no, no, no. No way!
Jesus is alive, okay!!!

Kayaknya musti diblog dalam bahasa ibu, biar lebih afdol. Hari ini gue merasa tidak ingin keluar dari gereja sebagai orang yang sama. Gue ngerasa butuh sokongan baru, satu urapan baru dari Tuhan. Gue ingin keluar dari kebaktian mengetahui dan mengerti arti kebangkitan Kristus lebih dalam lagi....dan Tuhan menjawab sih. Betul-betul orang Kristen tidak akan bisa punya pengharapan apa-apa jikalau Kristus tidak bangkit. Kalau Dia tidak bangkit, Dia berarti tidak punya kuasa.

Kuasa untuk apa, anda boleh bertanya? Kuasa yang memampukan kita untuk hidup sesuai dengan kehendakNya (tidak perlu buat dosa lagi). Kuasa yang sanggup menggenapi semua janji-janjinya pada kita. Kuasa menang atas maut. Bayangkan, setelah manusia meninggalkan dunia ini, kita sudah tidak punya kontrol sedikit pun atas apa yang akan terjadi selanjutnya. Tapi, Yesus menjanjikan bahwa maut pun tidak akan dapat menahan kita. Kita sebagai umat yang percaya, akan turut dibangkitkan. Kebangkitan Yesus sendiri adalah pernyataan kuasa Allah yang hebat. Maut sepatutnya 'menelan' kita dan menahan kita selama-lamanya karena dosa-dosa kita. Tetapi, karena KasihNya, kita pun boleh dibebaskan sepenuhnya dari kuasa maut dan hukuman atas dosa. Nah, kalau untuk hal yang sepenting ini, Tuhan aja sanggup membebaskan kita, apalagi masalah-masalah kita yang sebegitu kecil, tidak penting dan tidak urgent. Tuhan SANGGUP! Tuhan akan menjaga kita orang-orang percaya sampai maranatha. Ada harapan untuk setiap kita. YES! God's providence is here and now! You don't need to wait until He proves Himself. He already did!!! Waw. Itu loh yang menguatkan saya. Masalah2 saya mah...bagi Tuhan ahhh kecil... dan kalo Dia sanggup untuk melakukan perkara besar, apalagi perkara kecil. My life is truly worth living, every bits of it, just because Jesus lives! Puji Tuhan! Puji Tuhan! karena kuasaNya. Puji Tuhan! Puji Tuhan! karena kasihNya.

Tadi, Pak Yahya (our pastor) berbicara banyak untuk orang yang dibaptis. I tell you, I can not help but reminiscing the day I was baptized too. His prayer for all baptism candidates was also a prayer for me. That God will keep us and protect us. And He will. He will, until the day I come back to His side. Opini-opini orang itu tidak berarti apa-apa dibandingkan pengharapan dan kasih yang Kristus bisa berikan kepada kita.

Thank you for uplifting my faith, Lord! Ini sengaja ditulis, supaya suatu hari nanti kalo lupa, saya punya catatan ttg kebaikan Tuhan :).

Review: Knowing
Starring: Nicholas Cage and friends
Spoiler alert!!!!

I felt that this movie was rather gory and scary, especially in the beginning of the movie. Hiiiiy. It is about a girl who can predict exactly when the disaster will happen and how many people will be victims. This girl then became a mother and told her own daughter the day of her daugther's death, without, without leaving any clue as to how to escape it or any hope for after life. Don't you think it's scary? Dying but not knowing where to go. I am so tempted to analyze this movie in the light of the gospel.

An astrophysicist life is about to be changed because his son got the letter about the list of disasters that had happened and will happen. He himself believed that there is no purpose in life. This whole universe is created by random chance. My reaction to his belief is "how lame!!"
Tell me, creation is randomly beautiful??? The earth to be positioned at the correct distance from the Sun in order to support the life of organism is to be achieved randomly? Big Bang did it? There is no purpose to life? There is no right or wrong? I would like to challenge the statement regarding right and wrong. Because I believed you who took the indifferent stand, will not want bad things to happen to you, right? Do you want someone to torture your loved ones sadistically to the point of death for no reason whatsoever? Are you still feeling okay about it? How about the crime is done to yourself? Absolute wrong exists! therefore absolute right exists!

Back to the movie, so this astrophysicist figured out the meaning behind all numbers in the letter his son received. He tried to save people that will be killed from disaster. Finally, He came to the day when everyone will die. His son turned out to be "the chosen one", to be saved from the destruction except the father. It was a difficult choice for both. The son was then taken out from the earth using a so-called "spacecraft" but very futuristic and placed in a so-called "Eden" paradise.

I doubted the movie was produced by a Christian. I do not know the purpose of making the movie. So, my assumptions are that he is not a christian, not acquainted with the content of the bible and wishing to know/predict/picture the end of the day.

I found the fact that this movie was created, gave us indications that majority of this movie consumers would still be entertained with the thought of the end of the day. Human likes to figure out how to escape from it or survived it. This movie provided an insight of man-made rescue plan (referring to the son taken away from the earth) using sort of human/angel/alien help with supernatural power by the futuristic spacecraft to land in a paradise. Frankly, Man-made rescue plan is ugly. The father, even though he know all that is going to happen and hope to escape from the total destruction with his son, was not chosen. If one refused that hope, we can say it is all his fault. But, this guy was willing to embrace it yet he was not saved. Btw, the human created "Eden" is ugly. Surely, the real paradise is far more beautiful.

Yes, the son is saved from earth's total destruction but what is He going to do in the new place? Procreate? What purpose? Is he reunited with his dad though?

I am confused!! At one time, we discussed about the definition of an organization in one of my class. We were gathering words to define organization. I mentioned that organization has to have a purpose. My professor said "oh it is debatable!". Really?? If an organization exist without a purpose, then anything will do. We are trying to define "system" (organization is a system) thus explaining the importance of designing quality into it. If organization has no purpose, why do we even bother to integrate quality into it? Why do we bother with continuous improvement? Again if so, anything will do: low quality products is okay, not meeting consumer requirements is okay, not meeting profit is okay, the organization went to bankruptcy is also okay. Am I right?
It tells you that there could be purpose for the creation of the universe and possibly purpose in life.

Christ's rescue plan for us is perfect. He longs for people to see the hope he is offering and those who accepted it can enjoy being saved. Total destruction will ultimately come upon the inhabitants of the earth because they refused to believe or happy to stay in ignorance, living up their own ways. The new life also will be different. It will be lived with Him, the Creator, the purpose giver, The all powerful, bringing everything under His control. Not like the movie, where there is uncertainty whether the son will be met with his father (the hope "together forever" offered is an empty hope) and there seems no other beings in the land. The son was left to himself and no accompany of other supreme being. Human as "created" can only find their life totally fulfilled by serving the purpose of their "creator" has for them. Absolute happiness can be found only if the Creator is included in the equation. I think I will call Christian Hedonists my friends.

That's it for today! We had sushi after the movie and it was yummie. Guys, we must come back again :).

Burnt Out

Why Lord do you allow this happened to me?
I was serving you
You know my heart O Lord
You know the stress I received from my unbelieving family
Why You do not prevent?
Why You allow me to go through
I am still far away from recovery

I can not contain my feelings
I am upset and quite discouraged, God
I am grateful for the support that I received from Church now
I am growing with them

But still when I looked back
I can not contain my disappointment
I can not accept the fact I was so stressed beyond physical exhaustion
Until it stresses out my parents too

Don't you know what they will say?
I also wonder
For during my time, I felt I can not serve with joy
I felt if I do not serve, I am not accepted in Christ
There is guilt being carried around
Totally is not right

All the more to my sadness
my parents will think Christians do still live legalistically
Where is grace?
Where is the limit?
Do one serve until their sense of pleasure was completely gone?
This will certainly be a stumbling block for them
Do one serve until they have no joy?
Why I was so stupid?
Why my self-esteem was so low?
Why can't I prevent all that from happening?

Friends, what will you do if you were me?
what if all things happened to you?
Why must this happened to me?
Why must I, who came from a non-believer background experienced this?
This made me both as ineffective witness whether on the job I was doing or my parents
Can you imagine my burdens?
Can you empathize?
Imagine, you are both the cause of stumbling block to others and the cause of harm to yourself

Where do I find hope to go on?
Where do I find strength to carry all these burdens?
Where else do I look to but to the gracious and compassionate God?
I do not have any other options God, but You.
Noone else who is able, who is sovereign enough to take care all my problems
I have nowhere else to go
But coming to You, asking You pardon for my deficiencies and drawing from your supply of Grace

Jesus, show me the way
Restore my soul O God
Refresh my heart
Strengthen my body
Renew me
like a new creation
Give me peace, patience and endurance
Perfect my faith and build up constant hope in me

I trust You
I trust You
I trust You
because You are faithful

and in the end You come out as the Victor
You are absolutely in control of all things
You will establish Your Kingdom in the end
Your Word, Your Word O Lord is true and trustworthy
You have convinced me through the years,
even as now I walked in this path of hardship
You are the way, the truth and the life
Nothing else matter more

"Then those who feared the LORD talked with each other, and the LORD listened and heard. A scroll of remembrance was written in his presence concerning those who feared the LORD and honored his name.

"They will be mine," says the LORD Almighty,

"in the day when I make up my treasured possession. I will spare them, just as in compassion a man spares his son who serves him. And you will again see the distinction between the righteous and the wicked, between those who serve God and those who do not. "Surely the day is coming; it will burn like a furnace. All the arrogant and every evildoer will be stubble, and that day that is coming will set them on fire," says the LORD Almighty. "Not a root or a branch will be left to them.

But for you who revere my name, the sun of righteousness will rise with healing in its wings. And you will go out and leap like calves released from the stall. ³ Then you will trample down the wicked; they will be ashes under the soles of your feet on the day when I do these things," says the LORD Almighty." Praise the Lord! Praise the Lord, O my soul!!!

Mal 3:13-4:3

That's Easter by St Helens Church

A short film that takes a close look at what Easter is all about, and asks why the cross and Jesus' death is such a big deal for Christians.



and ...the real evidence for the resurrection of Jesus from the dead.