What Dreams May Come

Is there an age where one ceases to dream?
To stop hoping or thinking of fantastic things?
Is there a time when one should just stop thinking of what could have been?
To explore and imagine entire realms of possibilities?

Maybe that's the problem with me. So often do I day-dream and day-dream I do, even as I sit in lectures or while driving up and down the North-South Highway or while standing in the shower. Dreams of glory, of love, of utter fantasy. And yet, reality is reality. While dreams may provide temporary relief and escape, it is still what it is, temporary and unreal. And so often am I left feeling even worse-off then before.

Maybe there comes a time when one should stop dreaming...

On Faith Alone by Robert Pierre

On faith alone I stand.
There is no higher ground.
I give all I am.
for my soul will never doubt.
Though the storms they may be raging.
You have always held my hand.
To thy cross my heart will always cling.
On faith alone I stand.
On faith alone I live.
Not in what I say or do,
But the blood you freely give covers me and makes me new.
For your love is ever with me.
Lord Jehovah great I am.
O my trust grows stronger on my knees.
On faith alone I stand.
Hallelujah,
hallelujah,
hallelujah.
On faith alone I stand.
When I reach my final breath,
and I fall into your arms.
I’ll proclaim with no regret.
On faith alone,
sola fide,
sola fide,
sola fide.
On faith alone I stand.
Hallelujah,
hallelujah,
hallelujah.
On faith alone I stand.
On faith alone I stand.

On Preaching

Just putting a link for future reference

Work Work

Gaahh.... I really can't see myself working. Been going so often to Malaysia now that I think I can finish all the pages in my passport by December. I'm also beginning to drive like a Malaysian as well. :P

Needless to say I am still clueless as to the pipe business, and the fact that my dad does not really explain anything to me makes it even all the more frustrating. Hmmm... Maybe that's why I end up "teaching" the Year 4s / 6s the same way as well. Just do and hope they pick up the necessary knowledge and/or skills by watching, not realizing that they most probably are just as uninterested and/or clueless.

Well with Honours coming up I won't be having to deal with them for long. I guess they'll probably be better off with someone better able to communicate with them.

God and God Alone

Another incredible song by Steve Green.



God and God alone
Created all these things we call our own
From the mighty to the small
The glory in them all
Is God's and God's alone

God and God alone
Reveals the truth of all we call unknown
All the best and worst of man
Can't change the master plan
It's God's and God's alone

God and God alone
Is fit to take the universe's throne
Let everything that lives
Reserve its truest praise
For God and God alone

God and God alone
Will be the joy of our eternal home
He will be our one desire
Our hearts will never tire
Of God and God alone

Quote of the Day

"If I had my way, I would declare a moratorium1 on public preaching of “the plan of salvation” in America for one to two years. Then I would call on everyone who has use of the airways and the pulpits to preach the holiness of God, the righteousness of God and the law of God, until sinners would cry out, “What must we do to be saved?” Then I would take them off in a corner and whisper the gospel to them. Such drastic action is needed because we have gospel-hardened a generation of sinners by telling them how to be saved before they have any understanding why they need to be saved."

- Paris Reidhead

Taken from this blog

1 a suspension of activity: e.g. a moratorium on the testing of nuclear weapons.

Here's a link to a post about leading a Gospel-Driven Life. Please read and pass it along.

Christians! This is Our God

From heaven you came, helpless babe,
Entered our world, your glory veiled;
Not to be served but to serve,
And give Your life That we might live.

This is our God, the servant king,
He calls us now to follow Him, to bring our lives
As a daily offering of worship to the Servant King.

There in the garden of tears,
My heavy load He chose to bear;
His heart with sorrow was torn,
'Yet not My will But Yours,' He said.

Come see His hands And His feet,
The scars that speak of sacrifice;
Hands that flung stars Into space
To cruel nails Surrendered.

So let us learn How to serve,
And in our lives Enthrone Him;
Each other's needs to prefer,
For it is Christ We're serving.

A Time For Everything

" To everything there is a season,

A time for every purpose under heaven:
A time to be born, And a time to die;
A time to plant, And a time to pluck what is planted;
A time to kill, And a time to heal;
A time to break down, And a time to build up;
A time to weep, And a time to laugh;
A time to mourn, And a time to dance;
A time to cast away stones, And a time to gather stones;
A time to embrace, And a time to refrain from embracing;
A time to gain, And a time to lose;
A time to keep, And a time to throw away;
A time to tear, And a time to sew;
A time to keep silence, And a time to speak;
A time to love, And a time to hate;
A time of war, And a time of peace."

- Ecclesiastes 3: 1-8

A time to move on, and a time to fade away.

I so often look back to the past and wonder what could have been. So many regrets and dreams. So much joy and despair. So much that could, or rather, should have been done.

As the days and years go by, one sees Life move on and one soon has to follow suit. As the curtain of a chapter of life gone by falls, one awaits with trepidation for the curtain to rise on another chapter.

Well, my days of active service in ACS(I) are coming to an end and one cannot help but look back and wonder what could have been.
What if someone had just been mature enough to step in and stop all the nonsense going on during those dark years of the 12th.
What if there had just been someone who had sat me down to explain to me what ministry and serving in BB was all about.
What if I had not wandered so far from God during the times when I was with the Year 6s.
What if I had just trained the Year 4s properly, to teach them to love and seek God above all else.

I did a lot of stupid things during those early years. And if not for the Grace of God, I would have probably done even more stupid things then. But the time has come to move on and let others take the helm. I just pray that the mistakes of the past will not be repeated among these incoming batch of young officers.

About a Preacher's Invitation

Quote of the Day

"How could we have such a low view of the gospel of Jesus Christ that we have to manipulate men psychologically to get them to come down and pray a prayer? . . . How many times have I heard evangelists say, “It’ll only take five minutes.“? No my dear friend, it will take your life–all of it! “We’re just trying to attract people and then we’ll gradually bring them in further and further.” That is what the cults do, that’s not what Jesus did. Notice that in the gospels every time a great crowd is following Jesus, he turns around and says something so radical to them that most of them walk away. Of course Jesus probably would not get invited to teach evangelism [in most churches today]."

- Paul Washer

From this blog

Video of "Manipulation of the Invitation"

He Holds The Keys

Death rides blackened clouds across the sky
The Son of man lays down to die
With every pounding blow upon the nail
Thunder rumbles all through hell
And from death's barren womb the captives cry
Who is there to free us should He die

His grave becomes a door, He enters in
To face the author of all sin
Defying death and the grave He takes their keys
And with them every captive frees
And from death's barren womb the captives cry
Arise for our redemption draweth nigh

Chorus:
For He holds the keys
He holds the keys
And though we've been held captive
At long last we are free
For He holds the keys

Against the gates of hell I now resist
For the shackles that had torn my wrists
Lay before me now upon the ground
To sin I am no longer bound
For from death's barren womb
He heard my cry
And loosed the chains that bound me to a lie

Chorus

And to all the things that have kept you away
That keep you defeated day after day after day
The heartache that nobody sees
That eats at your soul like a cruel disease
He who set the captives free
It is He, it is He who holds your keys