time and space time and space

after the photography exhibition

space
in between
the camera
you and me
pictures then
we succumb
different ways
to overcome
silent words
gestures too
you and me
I know you
though I wish
I could say
everything
anything
to take
the space
away

rest

My faith has found a resting place, Not in device nor creed; I trust the Ever-living One, His wounds for me shall plead. Enough for me that Jesus saves, This ends my fear and doubt; A sinful soul I come to Him, He'll never cast me out. I need no other argument, I need no other plea; It is enough that Jesus died, And that He died for me. My heart is leaning on the Word, The written Word of God, Salvation by my Savior's name, Salvation through His blood. I need no other argument, I need no other plea; It is enough that Jesus died, And that He died for me. On Christ the solid Rock I stand All other ground is sinking sand All other ground is sinking sand. I need no other argument, I need no other plea; It is enough that Jesus died, And that He died for me.

Lessons from Proverbs:

• On words:

When words are many, transgression is not lacking,
but whoever restrains his lips is prudent 10:19

Whoever belittles his neighbor lacks sense,
but a man of understanding remains silent. Whoever goes about slandering reveals secrets,
but he who is trustworthy in spirit keeps a thing covered. 11:12-13

Lying lips are an abomination to the LORD,
but those who act faithfully are his delight 12:22

Truthful lips endure forever,
but a lying tongue is but for a moment. 12:19

Whoever guards his mouth preserves his life;
he who opens wide his lips comes to ruin 13:3

A faithful witness does not lie,
but a false witness breathes out lies. 14:5

A soft answer turns away wrath,
but a harsh word stirs up anger.
The tongue of the wise commends knowledge,
but the mouth of fools pour out folly 15:1-2

Whoever restrains his words has knowledge,
and he who has a cool spirit is a man of understanding
Even a fool who keeps silent is considered wise;
when he closes his lips, he is deemed intelligent. 17:27-8

• On wealth:

A man who is kind benefits himself
but a cruel man hurts himself 11:17

One gives freely, yet grows all the richer;
another withholds what he should give, and only suffers want. 11:24

Whoever bring blessings will be enriched,
and one who waters will himself be watered. 11:25

One pretends to be rich, yet has nothing;
another pretends to be poor, yet has great wealth.
The ransom of a man's life is his wealth,
but a poor man hears no threat. 13:7-8

The house of the wicked will be destroyed,
but the tent of the upright will flourish 14:11

(I love this one)
Better is a dinner of herbs where love is
than a fattened ox and hatred with it 15:17

• On life-giving things:

The mouth of the righteous is a fountain of life 10:11a

The fruit of the righteous is a tree of life,
and whoever captures souls is wise 11:30

In the path of righteousness is life,
and in its pathway there is no death 12:28

The fear of the LORD is a fountain of life,
that one may turn away from the snares of death 14:27

A tranquil heart gives life to the flesh,
but envy makes the bones rot. 14:30

A gentle tongue is a tree of life,
but perverseness in it breaks the spirit 15:4

The ear that listens to life-giving reproof
will dwell among the wise 15:31

Good sense is a fountain of life to him who has it,
but the instruction of fools is folly 16:22

• On healing:

There is one whose rash words are like sword thrusts,
but the tongue of the wise brings healing 12:18

Anxiety in a man's heart weighs him down,
but a good word makes him glad 12:25

Hope deferred makes the heart sick,
but a desire fulfilled is a tree of life 13:12

A glad heart makes a cheerful face,
but by sorrow of heart the spirit is crushed 15:13

Gracious words are like a honeycomb,
sweetness to the soul and health to the body 16:24

A joyful heart is good medicine
but a crushed spirit dries up the bones 17:22

Other themes to cull from next time: prudence/knowledge/understanding

2 samuel 22

When I am weary with the cost
I see the triumph of the cross
So in its shadow I shall run
Till He completes the work begun
Till He completes the work begun

need so much getty this week
aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa

hans zimmer

O, the things I give up for You
Oh the things I'd give up for you

I thought I wouldn't still cry
I thought I'd forgotten -
with the loss forgotten how to plunge the depths of my soul
and feel
and care
Truly, truly the LORD restores me

Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding
Proverbs 3:5

Doing humble justice for we have been justified by faith

People who are really into justification are nervous about justice, the people who are doing the work of justice are very often shying away from saying, "I want to show you how wrong that is."


“Christ hath merited righteousness for as many as are found in Him. In Him God findeth us, if we be faithful; for by faith we are incorporated into Him...I must take heed what I say; but the apostle saith, ‘God made Him to be sin for us, who knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him.’ Such we are in the sight of God the Father, as is the very Son of God Himself. Let it be counted folly, or frenzy, or fury, or whatsoever. It is our wisdom and our comfort; we care for no other knowledge in the world but this, that man hath sinned, and God hath suffered; that God hath made Himself the sin of men, and that men are made the righteousness of God.”- Richard Hooker

The way you know that your heart is right with God, that you've got a relationship based on grace is that you care about the poor


Prophets Jeremiah, Isaiah, Amos,all say: If you aren't intensely concerned for the quartet of the vulnerable, the widow, orphan, immigrant and the poor, it's a sign your heart is not right with God.


Isaiah 29:13 And the Lord said:

“Because this people draw near with their mouth
and honor me with their lips,
while their hearts are far from me,

“Is not this the fast that I choose:
to loose the bonds of wickedness,
to undo the straps of the yoke,
to let the oppressed[b] go free,
and to break every yoke?
7 Is it not to share your bread with the hungry
and bring the homeless poor into your house;
when you see the naked, to cover him,
and not to hide yourself from your own flesh?

Isaiah 58:6-7 fasting was a sign of humbling yourself, of saying, "I'm a sinner, I need your mercy".

If you really knew you were a sinner saved by grace, if you really really really were humble before God, you would not be treating people like that


For the Lord your God is God of gods and Lord of lords, the great, the mighty, and the awesome God, who is not partial and takes no bribe. He executes justice for the fatherless and the widow, and loves the sojourner, giving him food and clothing. Love the sojourner, therefore, for you were sojourners in the land of Egypt. Deut 10:12-19


(Jesus talking about the Pharisees) And in his teaching he said, “Beware of the scribes, who like to walk around in long robes and like greetings in the marketplaces and have the best seats in the synagogues and the places of honor at feasts, who devour widows' houses and for a pretense make long prayers. They will receive the greater condemnation.” Mark 12:38-40


While Jesus was speaking, a Pharisee asked him to dine with him, so he went in and reclined at table. The Pharisee was astonished to see that he did not first wash before dinner. And the Lord said to him, “Now you Pharisees cleanse the outside of the cup and of the dish, but inside you are full of greed and wickedness. You fools! Did not he who made the outside make the inside also? But give as alms those things that are within, and behold, everything is clean for you. “But woe to you Pharisees! For you tithe mint and rue and every herb, and neglect justice and the love of God. Luke 11:37-46


A faith that does not lead to works is dead, it is not real saving faith... but what are these works?


What good is it, my brothers, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can that faith save him? If a brother or sister is poorly clothed and lacking in daily food, and one of you says to them, "Go in peace, be warmed and filled," without giving them the things needed for the body, what good is that? So also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead. James 2:15-17


Let the lowly brother boast in his exaltation, and the rich in his humiliation, because like a flower of the grass he will pass away. James 1:9-10


The doctrine of justification by faith contains untapped resources for healing the inner city:


Imagine you have no job, no money, you live cut off from the rest of society in a world ruled by poverty and violence. Your skin is the "wrong colour" and you have no hope that any of this will ever change. Around you is a society governed by the iron law of achievement, its guided goods are flaunted before your eyes on TV screens and in a thousand ways society tell you everyday you're worthless because you have no achievement. You're a failure, and you know that you will continue to be a failure because there is no way to achieve tomorrow what you have not managed to achieve today! Your dignity is shattered, your soul is enveloped in the darkness of despair but the gospel tells you that you are not defined by outside forces! The gospel tells you that you count, even more that you are loved unconditionally and infinitely, irrespective of anything that you have achieved or failed to achieve. That's the doctrine of justification by faith, proclaimed and practiced, a dead doctrine? Hardly.


The poor is disliked even by his neighbor,

but the rich has many friends.

Whoever despises his neighbor is a sinner,

but blessed is he who is generous to the poor

Proverbs 14:20-21

courage

On change:

Action from the top down isn’t just desirable—it’s necessary. But action has to come from below, too. Administrative action is for naught so long as students keep cramming themselves into SAE parties, which are off campus and can’t be controlled by deans, even while SAE is under suspension.

On the students:

But in general, our students have the sexual and alcoholic prerogatives of grown-ups, but the work responsibilities of children; they have the intellects of grown-ups, but are coddled with the grading expectations afforded children; they have the opinions of grown-ups, but give their elders the deference we typically expect from children.

To the students:

Take some time to wonder what college life would be like if you comported yourselves as draft-age, marriage-age, voting citizens. Which is what you are. Would you drink more responsibly, party a bit less, be less reckless in relationships? Would do more of your reading? When offended, would you organize more effectively? Would you be more capable of truly radical political action? Think about how an adult, not a partying student, treats people of other genders. If you are white, take stock of what solidarity you owe people who lack white privilege.

http://www.tabletmag.com/jewish-news-and-politics/194874/person-up-yale-students

What this means for me:

Getting serious about what I'm about

out of the woods - hooray :)

patient

Foucault page 95

Where there is power, there is resistance, and yet, or rather consequently, this resistance is never in a position of exteriority in relation to power. Should it be said that one is always "inside" power, there is no "escaping" it, there is no absolute outside where it is concerned, because one is subject to the law in any case? Or that, history being the ruse of reason, power is the ruse of history, always emerging the winner? This would be to misunderstand the strictly relational character of power relationships. Their existence depends on a multiplicity of points of resistance: these play the role of adversary, target, support, or handle in power relations. These points of resistance are present everywhere in the power network. Hence there is no single locus of great Refusal, no soul of revolt, source of all rebellions, or pure law of the revolutionary. Instead there is a plurality of resistances, each of them a special case: resistances that are possible, necessary, improbable; others that are spontaneous, savage, solitary, concerted, rampant, or violent; still others that are quick to compromise, interested, or sacrificial; by definition, they can only exist in the strategic field of power relations. But this does not mean that they are only a reaction or rebound, forming with respect to the basic domination an underside that is in the end always passive, doomed to perpetual defeat. Resistances do not derive from a few heterogeneous principles; but neither are they a lure or a promise that is of necessity betrayed. They are the odd term in relations of power; they are inscribed in the latter as an irreducible opposite. Hence they too are distributed in irregular fashion: the points, knots, or focuses of resistance are spread over time and space at varying densities.at times mobilizing groups or individuals in a definitive way, inflaming certain points of the body, certain moments in life, certain types of behavior. Are there no great radical ruptures, massive binary divisions, then? Occasionally, yes. But more often one is dealing with mobile and transitory points of resistance, producing cleavages in a society that shift about, fracturing unities and effecting regroupings, furrowing across individuals themselves, cutting them up and remolding them, marking off irreducible regions in them, in their bodies and minds.

Just as the network of power relations ends by forming a dense web that passes through apparatuses and institutions, without being exactly localized in them, so too the swarm of points of resistance traverses social stratification and individual unities. And it is doubtless the strategic codification of these points of resistance that makes a revolution possible, somewhat similar to the way in which the state relies on the institutional integration of power relationships.

the problems are like the body-
we like to think of the ills of this world like cuts on the outside which we merely put plasters over and they will be gone. but the problem is inside us, its an epidemic, we are sick. and what we need is a cure at every level, from our organs right down to our cells. Is there one pill that will fix us all?

If i am trying to "change the world" I must see that I cannot do it without my pills. without the miracle cure the the gospel offers, though it may not be immediate (and different patients will respond differently). To be a doctor does not mean one has the power to bring people back to life, but a doctor has the knowledge, training, and tools to advise and walk with the sick as they comply to being patients, and are disciplined in taking their daily dosage. It is the magic in the medicine, not the doctor, that really heals.

where has joy gone?

I love the book of Philippians.

It is a one for all of life because it is hard. For what can "Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, rejoice" mean in good days? We hear it and smirk, thinking we have already grasped the heights of divine pleasure. Don't lecture me, I know, I know ... then in pits of darkness the same words are lost on us. 

If only for a little while.

[]

Philippians 4

Therefore, my brothers, whom I love and long for, my joy and crown,stand firm thus in the Lord, my beloved. (4:1)

Stand firm thus in the Lord.

This is our whole life. The struggle to be faithful, we have no where else to go; the struggle to trust and believe that the promises of God are good and true. When Jesus spoke to the woman at the well (what an obscure way to remember her), she couldn't fathom why a Jewish man would want to speak to a Samaritan woman.  

God, that you would love me? You would reach out to me? Do you know who I am? 

But Paul's instruction is not about us, neither is it incomplete. He say stand firm thus, meaning like this, like so, and reveals how we can stand firm: only in the Lord.

I entreat Euodia and I entreat Syntyche to agree in the Lord. Yes, I ask you also, true companion, help these women, who have labored side by side with me in the gospel together with Clement and the rest of my fellow workers,whose names are in the book of life. (4:2-3)

Are we surprised that the problem here is with fellow laborers, Christian saints who are dedicated to the gospel? Or are conflict and pleas for restoration reminders our present complete-incomplete status. Latin is my last resort, but few words capture Christian identity better than simul justus et Peccator,at the same time righteous and a sinner.

This is why we are commanded to rejoice in the Lord always, for reconciliation through the cross of Christ and future hope of eternal reunion.

Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, rejoice. Let your reasonableness be known to everyone. The Lord is at hand; do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. (4:4-7)

Joy is our life line, not an option. The call is to rejoice over and over, always, regardless of how we feel or how we think it will make us feel. There is much to be said about the psychology of gratitude as an antidote for depression, is this a biblical basis? I like to think so. I am so bad at it, but if my life could revolve much more around:
1) thankfulness for the small things
2) seeing that God is sovereign and in control of it all
3) surrendering everything to him through prayer,
it might take a lot less time to get out of the fluxes. 

And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard my heart and mind in Christ Jesus. Don't you just love that verse!

Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things. What you have learned and received and heard and seen in me—practice these things, and the God of peace will be with you.(4:8-9)

Dad texted me this verse the day I flew back from Shanghai for the last time. I got it as I was leaving the plane and couldn't stop crying. I remember running into their arms as soon as I could get through the glass that separated baggage from arrivals. 

"It's okay, you're safe now, you're home." 

See:

http://www.ligonier.org/blog/simul-justus-et-peccator
David Platt, Take Heed Lest You Fall https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rggpTx-mrsw

-----------------------

I'm Mary and I'm Martha all at the same time;
I'm sitting at His feet and yet I'm dying to be recognized.
I am a picture of contentment and I am dissatisfied.
Why is it easy to work but hard to rest sometimes,
Sometimes, sometimes

I'm restless, and I rustle like a thousand tall trees;
I'm twisting and I'm turning in an endless daydream.
You wrestle me at night and I wake in search of You...
But try as I might, I just can't catch You
But I want to, 'cause I need You, yes, I need You
I can't catch You, but I want to.

How long, how long until I'm home?
I'm so tired, so tired of running
How long until You come for me?

How long, how long until I'm home?
I'm so tired, so tired of running
How long until You come for me?

I'm so tired, so tired of running
Yeah, I'm so tired, so tired of running
I'm so tired, so tired of running

lord, save me from myself

"Mike: The songs on 'Fall' and 'Winter' in particular are quite depressing, aren't they?

Jon: Well, it depends on what you mean by depressing. They are definitely sobering, that's for sure. 'Fall' is about the act of dying and 'Winter' would be the act of death or hibernation, however you want to put it. I think "Learning How to Die" is a good song. It talks about all of this. I used to think that life was kind of accumulating, that you were continually learning more, growing more, understanding more. Then I had a few events in my life that made me realise that life is actually about surrender and losing, in fact maybe giving yourself away. So maybe 'Winter' is the most honest season. So I don't think it's a depressing thought but it certainly is a sobering thought to think that this life that we've been given actually has a purpose of surrender rather than conquest."

People/Prostitutes

Credit:Edwin Koh © 2015 OM International 

At 10.30pm last Friday night, our team stepped out of the OM office building, onto the dimly lit streets of Lorong 16. Lost and uncertain (half of us were new to this area, let alone street work), we clutched out baskets containing small gift packs- tissues, a notepad and biscuits, tightly. Despite orientation and prayer, I still wondered how I would know what to say. Would I be able to convey the gospel fully? How would I start the conversation? What if it got awkward? What if I got trafficked?!

I struggled a lot with finding the right words, sometimes any words, to say. Thankfully, the gift packets proved precious in becoming the first exchange that opened the way to further conversation. Whether this was listening to their struggles (the lady boys were especially chatty), a short “here you go, God bless you,” or the amazing chance to be able to pray for people, you took whatever you could get. We cheered silently at every pimp that let us pass their girl a letter (http://www.fathersloveletter.com/text.html), for every street worker who could speak our language, and especially at the chance to pray God’s truth into people’s lives.

The pace and nature of our interactions were so different to what I was used to having with other students and friends. This was a different world, a marginalized, abused, forgotten world. Though as the night went on, I saw that their struggles with identity, hopelessness and poverty, were things I knew too, just in different dimensions. I prayed to dig deeper, that God would increase and that my selfish guarding of my comfort zone would decrease.

I realized that if I was to really love them, it had to be more than a transactional kind of love. Not a package deal, “Ok nice life story but (I don’t have time to really care so) basically, here’s what you need: the gospel, do this, this, this, read this and keep doing these things. Call me if you need help. Oh and, God loves you!” Such transactional “love”, was what the men who sought out these prostitutes walked the streets for. Can you imagine Jesus having that conversation?

Although seeing customers haggle with pimps, putting a price on someone else’s daughter made me sick, at the same time I know we too are guilty of trading God’s love for a cheaper version of it.

In my evangelistic zeal, the goal to be a faithfulgospelwitness overtook the necessity of knowing God (not just about God) and helping these ladies do the same. I too had fallen into the trap of treating people as things to be bought or won, or trophies to be collected instead of feasting on the delight of relationships, believing things could be as good as God designed them to be. How good it is that despite our sin, our God is a personal God, who comes down to be with us and draws us to Him. What more that His love is so wide, long, high and deep, it goes beyond what we can know!

C.S. Lewis says that we resist God because we misunderstand his demands. We fail to see that what can appear to be an unwelcome, sometimes painful intrusion into our lives is really the result of a love that is too great[1] for us. As we grow in grace and knowledge of God, I pray we will look at the world through heaven’s eyes, believe that He really does love us so much, and then love the way he loves. By faith, we can and will step out into the Geylangs of our lives that God is calling us to.

Further reading: http://www.desiringgod.org/articles/true-holiness-befriends-sinners

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[1] Those Divine demands which sound to our natural ears most like those of a despot and least like those of a lover, in fact marshal us where we should want to go if we knew what we wanted. He demands our worship, our obedience, our prostration. … We are bidden to ‘put on Christ’, to become like God. That is, whether we like it or not, God intends to give us what we need, not what we now think we want. Once more, we are embarrassed by the intolerable compliment, by too much love, not too little. C.S. Lewis, The Problem of Pain (New York: HarperCollins Publishers, 1996), pp. 46-47.