Whom have I in Heaven but you?
And Earth has nothing I desire besides you.

- David (A psalm of Asaph 73:25 - NIV)

An epitome of David's devotion to God. Still can't get over this statement. Blows me away everytime because it puts so much in perspective. But I understand, partly, how he can have gained so much insight. Having acquired so much success as a very young man; from killing lions and bears to slaying the giant to being pronounced the next king. On paper, he really should have had a swollen head. He had more reason to be proud and arrogant, so much more than many of us do today.

Now, because character can only be built. Could it be that David needed to go through perilous moments before he reached his destination (i.e. becoming king)? Did he need to go through scary situations, times when control was completely out of his hands before he was approved and deemed ready to stake his claim? Did he need these perilous moments to learn how to cling onto God so much so that he could make a statement like the one above? A statement that oozes heavily a desire genuinely for nothing that this world has to offer. Could it be that in doing this he got given everything anyway? That law holds? That David, inadvertently called God's law into operation?

And so therefore, perhaps God in His infinite wisdom knowing that Character can only be built and not gifted, decided to take David through the turbulent times he went through to give him the character necessary to be a great king, whilst still holding onto his sense of 'nothingness', knowing fully well that only through David's complete surrender could God Himself be reached. Hmm .. I think so.

I pray that He helps us all to get our priorities and focuses right.

Have a blessed week.

Letting go

Forgiving is love's revolution against love's unfairness. When we forgive, we ignore the normal laws that strap us to the natural law of getting even and, by the alchemy of love, we release ourselves from our own painful pasts.
We fly over a dues-paying morality in order to create a new future out of the past's unfairness. We free ourselves from the wrong that is locked into our private histories; we unshackle our spirits from malice; and, maybe, if we are lucky, we also restore a relationship that would otherwise be lost forever.

- Lewis B. Smedes

Even without those Spectacles ..

.. the geek in me is screaming out loud "Shed the wannabe cool. Let me out!!!" Finally, I have obliged lol. ok here it is .. The link here (http://www.littlelite.net/crypto/cryptojava2.html - created by Little Lite) will help you solve the puzzle below.

The task is simple: "Turn into English, the following jiberish". What does it say?


9uWJ;RR{RTpuWCPZ9Gu:+9LG-1:@M+TSOq,G+{A-kuTCTXS{9:+uW5-1,mNEd9NTAVSmO]+uR9PJWlFKT;CO;GZjXJTEOMVK,{S{.S0qq1,fH)buYJ;1OpDEkGEqUXSqGXjSv6)KOrGXTNFqPO({aE@9V9ANObu}euTCT1ZmMZ+RTq.O{cuTeCv-AG{{R,TFL5S1,f9+TavF U:{X,l0v( J9dN:TSH5.1p{9(TROqUU(rT).SEwAxSquafT9



* There is a prize

**Hint - use the slider! (How many sides has a dodecahedron? - I am so kind!!)


Happy Friday ;)

BE THE BEST AT WHO YOU ARE!

"Though it may cost you your life, live every second with conviction. Don't just join the band wagon for the sake of it. If you have to, be different. Make a difference. matter!"

I wrote this as my status message on facebook (Bless Zuckerberg!) and left it there for all of 20 minutes before realising that it might not be the best thing to do. So I scratched it. Why?

As individuals, I believe that its important for us to allow our own unique paths in life and backgrounds to define who we are without necessarily feeling any sense of superiority or inferiority (in relation to others) as result of these experiences. They are, if you like, our blueprint. And therefore, in my opinion, I would describe it a travesty to throw all that away merely because we are trying to 'fit in'. Each one of us has unique abilities placed in us to be effective at whatever we do (and hopefully better than anyone else ever) and the only way to discover these abilities is by exploring ourselves. Jumping on the band wagon will not do this for us! Therefore, our unique view points, really should be celebrated and not surpressed in any way.

I am not a biologist but we can draw an example from genetics. The gene pool is sometimes strengthened from having mutations occur. These changes can sometimes be detrimental, however, on the whole, it makes for continued survival of the species mainly because by diversifying the possible expressions of the organism, unforeseen adverse physical conditions are taken care of in advance (I warned you already. Not a biologist!). Overall, this is a positive thing because it means that a given organism, or an entire race of animals can outlast some catastrophe. For similar reasons, it's a bad idea to marry your cousin.

Bringing it back to the original discussion, it becomes easy to see why differences really and truly should be celebrated because we stand to gain a lot more as a society by retaining and holding on to our different senses of identity and being comfortable within it without necessarily trying to be anyone else. Our combined differences hold a plethora of skills, strengths and abilities that can and should be taken advantage of; advantages that the underprivileged, particularly, can benefit from. Now, this is what I meant when I put the message status up yesterday. However, I took it down almost immediately because it occured to me that this also can be misconstrued in quite a number of ways.

To put this in perspective; I write because I enjoy writing and expressing my thoughts. To me this is valid. Events upto this point in my life have led to me taking pleasure in this activity. Some other person might justify joyriding because they see it as the only way for Insurance companies to pay up for the service they have promised. Yet another's experiences might have taught them it's alright to rob banks because the public gets stolen from everyday. Three 'valid' points of view, but there are flaws in some of them. All three view points are associated with a strong sense of conviction and to each proponent, their's is valid, but not all are necessarily without consequence.

Bottom line is, I don't believe having convictions about our actions alone is necessarily universally valid enough as reason to actually carry them out. If everyone ran around acting out their convictions, there might be anarchy! Hence, the strong need for individualism is correct, however, it must remain within the confines of an established collective domain. No one can dictate here, rather I'd just say "be the best you can be being who you are, without leaving behind any trail of negative consequences for yourself or others". But hey, that's just what I'd say ..

Chicken or the Egg?

Not this time. I don't really care which came first. However, more interesting is an epiphanic moment I had this morning. I ate some freshly boiled chicken (it was fresh enough when I got it out of the microwave) and concentrated on doing something else. and WHAM! Right there it hit me. I had the taste of a boiled egg in my mouth. I have never until now managed to actively put the link together. Of course a boiled egg tastes like boiled chicken. They are of the same fabric(ish). what a moment! For the very first time in my life I have managed to crack the code. Who's the genius then eh?

Now we all know some of what I had for breakfast, let's move on.

Next!

NEW HOPES RISING

it is quite simple. But when I wrote the little piece below, I had a few things that I needed to deal with - nothing like a tough time to get you all melancholy eh? It was a good while back. Recently, I went over it and thought along the lines of "wow! ain't it just true though?"

Days keep going
Time flies
and so short it seems,
for fresh plans are made indeed
and new hopes are rising.

Life is nothing but eternity,
Look! How far death is from reality!
For tomorrow always comes,
and yesterday's plans alone are done,
and new hopes are still rising!

And so for almost all his days,
a man himself enslaves,
to life's endless struggles
So his dreams aren't troubled
when his new hopes have arisen!

Oh! but why so much from Life,
does mortal man expect with so much strife
when the exact time to reap
coincides with his inevitable 'time to sleep',
then shall new hopes keep rising?


There has to be more to it all, right?

I am not trying to be a party pooper, but for a sec, think about it ..

HELP, THEY NICKED CINDERELLA!

Literally, bawled my eyes out. I did. The very first time I watched The Champ. Story was just spot on. Champion trying to gain back his title after a lay-off from the ring several years earlier so he could give his son, TJ, a better life and keep him from the stinking rich claws of his ex-wife and her husband. Burning train had a similar effect on me and another film (for the life of me, I cannot remember its name). I was just lost in those stories. Completely. Some people call it - suspension of disbelief. I choose to call it the ‘Cinderella element’. Problem is, I think mine’s been nicked.

I was at the cinema on Sunday. It was St. Valentine’s Day. No, the name of the movie was. It just happened to be the 14th of February. 2 girls; 2 boys. No strings attached. Just 4 friends sat next to each other ready to watch a movie. I assumed my film watching 'candour', which is: ‘Hollywood: the machinery’, “what do they have to say this time?” The film screened. We watched. It ended. The credits were rolling now. It was ok. Okay, almost ok. I mean, at least the producers had done a good job keeping me on my seat through to its very end. So it was alright. At least so I thought until I realised one of us was in tears. “Sweet Lord!” First question that ran through my head, subconsciously, was “did we just see the same movie?” I had felt absolutely nothing! If anything at all, I found some bits hilarious – ‘ribs intact’ hilarious. What made it even more puzzling for me was that everyone else felt the same way. Touched, that is; at least somewhat. Gosh! Is there something wrong somewhere? How come I saw things from a different perspective? Is it that I am warped? Cynical? Desensitized? Am I that emotionally detached that I no longer have the ability to feel like others do? Or is it just because I am male? (Ooh! Where is google when you need it?)

I wasn’t really worried about this. I just pondered. In fact, it amused me a little. After much thought, I concluded that ‘Life’ happened in between when I saw The Champ as an 8 year-old and last week’s St. Valentine’s (No pun intended). I would say I have probably lost my Cinderella element. The ability to get caught up in another world, made up to suspend a big chunk of your logical reasoning ability. A world in which a love sick 7 year-old can hop on a bike, cycle for miles in morbid traffic, to hold a rose up to his teacher, earnestly asking her to be his valentine, and a normal conversation ensues; one in which love messages get sent in a bottle and the sea becomes the US postal service. It really is amazing. It always has been. The thing is, I think I have stopped believing.

On the way home, I had a chat with my friend about it. The discussion was about emotions and the different ways men and women dealt with theirs. I mentioned I couldn’t cry at movies or in certain other situations. She said its probably pride, I thought Not, It went on and on. Now that was a long conversation and I don’t think I was able to make head or tail of it. Anyway, the truth is that I would really love to be as emotionally connected as they were, but I think that just like Father Christmas, the tooth fairy and goblins got erased from my reality, so did Hollywood and all its emotional accessories. So much so, that these days, whenever at the movies, I just happen to always have my Paramount Pictures proof vest on. Now, it has become almost impossible to take off.

Help!