First viewing of a bendi plant. Cool.

#apw

From Tim Keller’s sermon, “Promise of Hope”:

God designed life, i.e. what we think of as our relationship to God (spiritual), to ourselves (psychological), to others (social), and to nature. When we sin, God doesn’t “punish” us by heaping curses on us, but by allowing us to live as our own masters, that is, in ways that contravenes God’s designs. We experience frustration because our souls long for something better, but we can’t get at it unless we acknowledge that God is God.

The consequence of sin is alienation in all the realms of our lives: spiritual, self/psychological, social, and from nature.

Living in sin means living with the frustrations of wanting a perfect life, but not being able to get it. 

The remedy?

Genesis 3:14-15

Even as God pronounced--pronounced as a statement of fact--curses as the result of sin, he couldn’t help himself but to also announce even then the coming of redemption. He couldn't wait because he is the God who can’t wait to bless even when to bless means the greatest sacrifice.

Do students prefer to be expected to repeat their teacher's opinions? A carefully reasoned argument for one's own opinion is more difficult and riskier. How can we encourage students to take the riskier and more difficult path?

"What do I try to do for my students? Well, teach them, of course—which does not mean simply feeding them with facts, much less indoctrinating them. Naturally, to some extent I can feed them with facts. For example, I can tell them that a certain Greek form is the aorist infinitive passive of such and such a verb. But most of my teaching deals with matters which call for the exercise of personal judgment. If we are discussing (say) the date, authorship and purpose of a particular biblical document, I can put all the evidence before them and tell them in which direction I think the evidence points, but I cannot force my conclusions on them; they must make their minds up for themselves. This means that they must be taught how to evaluate the kind of evidence on which conclusions of this character are based. The same is true when we are studying the exegesis of a passage on which editors, translators and interpreters differ. I can tell them my own view, and why I hold it, but I cannot impose it on them.

"What I do impose is the duty of knowing clearly, and stating clearly, their reasons for holding their own preferred view, whether it coincides with mine or not. If pupils turn out to be carbon copies of their teacher, it says little for his qualities as a teacher."

-- In Retrospect, FF Bruce

because

God's nature

Too easy to forget, sometimes.

We only glimpse a tiny, unfinished corner of the grand work of art that the Creator is shaping. But no matter how messy or dark or unfinished that corner may seem, this truth remains: God is a blessing God, and he can be trusted.

“For the LORD is good; his steadfast love endures forever, and his faithfulness to all generations.” (Psalm 100:5)

“Surely goodness and mercy shall [pursue with the intent of overtaking] me all the days of my life, and I shall dwell in the house of the LORD my whole life long. (Psalm 23:6)

So, friends, we can enter this day, this week, confident that, whatever we may see or not see at the moment, our good and kind Father, fully intent on blessing us, is shaping our days.

‘Do not be afraid, little flock, for your Father has been pleased to give you the kingdom.” (Luke 12:32)

“What then shall we say in response to this? If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all—how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things?” (Romans 8:31-32)

Cold temps

My body does not want to move when it's too cold. I hope the weather warms up soon because I want to want to go to the gym.

Until then, I'm either under the covers with my heating pad turned up high, in the kitchen making something to eat (chickpea flatbread which actually comes pretty close to the real deal), or in the bathroom where there's a heat lamp.

Not happy.

more on conversations with friends

A friend wrote the following:

What does it mean for action to cease and simply to be in his presence? That night, I realized I barely know what that looks like. Can we engage with God in complete stillness of body and mind? That seems inimical to how I have conceptualized the Christian walk for all these years--i.e., one of action, initiated primarily by me...heretical, that?

And I'm so glad because this is something I've been working on the last week too. It's an encouragement and confirmation that I'm on the right track.

Work and faith

I have to submit a book chapter tomorrow and I have the number of pages, but I know that it needs to be revised for clarity and emphasis. So I have printed out the draft and have to go through it. But every time I do this, my nerves are on edge. Writing is an exercise of faith. Will God save me? Will He guide? Will I be done by the deadline? LOL. Sigh.

I praise You, Jesus, because nothing is too small for your Love, and nothing is too big for Your power.

Lord, please be bigger than my mistakes.

Weird

I feel as if I'm only learning to know how my mind works now.

That's a strange thought to have.

Dog sitting

Drama queen in the mornings when all she wants to do at night is hang out in her bed.

Words from friends

Adventures ahead

Bought a new backpack!

Lifetime warranty!

Can't wait to hit the road!

White out

No half-measures

“The Christian way is different: harder and easier. Christ says, ‘Give me all. I don’t want so much of your time and so much of your money and so much of your work: I want you—No half-measures are any good. I don’t want to cut off a branch here and a branch there, I want to have the whole tree down.  Hand over the whole natural self, all the desires which you think innocent, as well as the ones you think wicked—the whole outfit. I will give you a new self instead. I will give you Myself: my own will shall become yours.'”(CS Lewis, The Joyful Christian)

Becoming extroverted

It was nice to have folks over on a Wednesday night. K's birthday.

F, K and I will be in J's lightbearer class II starting end of January. I can't wait. F and K are good for me because they're so different from me.

I need a new care group.

Found in my office mailbox

And I found this today too! She wrapped the card in paper so that no one else from work could read her timely words to me. How thoughtful!

Printed at the back of the card (not her handwritten message):

Psalm 62

Sometimes, rest isn't simply doing less. It is the continual rhythm that we can walk in, when we know we are doing what God has asked of us.

at His pace.

Jan 2, back in the office

I wasn't very happy about coming back to the office on JANUARY SECOND and thinking about all the work that I have to do. But I came back to this email in my inbox, time-stampped at midnight, Jan 2:

Dear Dr. ___,

Hope you are having a wonderful winter vacation and a festive new years celebration. This is S____, and I recently graduated from ____  majoring in psychology and comparative literature. I took two of your courses in my senior year - C____. I was in Hong Kong for a few days a month ago for the graduation ceremony, and ran into you near the mtr station. As I briefly mentioned then, I recently got admitted to a few graduate schools in Korea, and am currently waiting for the military service to commence in a few months. I wanted to express my gratitude for everything you taught me through your courses last year, and for guiding me to become a better writer and scholar. You were one of my favorite teachers from ___, and I sincerely enjoyed all of your lectures and class discussions. Thank you again from the bottom of my heart, and best wishes to everything you do in 2018. Happy New Year!

Best Regards,

______

2018

My word for 2017 is friendship. Without friendship, I wouldn't have experienced healing, and I wouldn't have made it through the tough parts of the year.

My word for 2018 is gift.

Not achievement.
Not doing.
Not getting, not grasping, and not control.

Rest. Relax. Receive.

Let's see what God will do this year.

Christmas Day

This time I was fed by colleagues.

CIA Xmas party

on friendship (again)

I was chatting with one of my closest friends and work buddies on messenger, and I said, "Don't worry for now, we'll chat after Christmas and let's reflect on the year then."

And she said, "Wait, are you saying that we should stop communicating until after Christmas?"

And I thought, "Girl, you're kidding right? You're like another part of my brain. I can't go that long without talking to you!"

That's a bit of a joke, but not really. I guess we've come to rely on one another quite a bit over the last few years especially as we're going through the same work challenges. But I realized that I do have a few friends who are this to me. I don't even have a word for them.

Part of what I need to learn is to rely on the Holy Spirit first. And I do know that M or Y can't always be there for me, and that I can't tell them everything.

But it's a real blessing to have friends you know will not bite your head off or judge you even when you're wrong. Because hey, we're all wrong sometimes and that's okay.

People who don't have friends like these.... I don't know how they get through life.

Handel's messiah

What is your anything's possible prayer?

Sermon Audio | Flourish | Anything's Possible | John Ortberg,

http://www.podbean.com/media/share/pb-z2pjn-67e57e

Spiritual exercise

Trying to memorize verses by copying them down over and over again.

Futurity

In my prayer director's discipleship class yesterday, we had to draw a pie chart of what we spend our time thinking about. (That’s an awkward sentence but I'm too tired to fix it.) 

I was embarrassed to show mine because most of my time was not spent on thinking about work but about the future. If I think about work that’s at least useful, but thinking about the future is the most useless habit possible. 

My prayer director noted that that's a response to fear, and she's right.

balance

Just in case I come across as too much of an Eeyore, I just wanted to say that so far, this week has turned out to be a good week. And it's only Wednesday!

I received affirmation about the work that I'm producing (thanks for the ML_ invite in January, D___h! You're not very promising but it is a privilege and an honor!).

And my new chair is being supportive by giving me more time to focus on work. It's been a sea change around here in the past 2-3 years and I can only hope that everything will work out in its time.

I give thanks for the good gifts, but the final results are in God's hands. Whatever will be, is already in His will. Whatever happens, I will praise Him and trust Him.

On how to respond to fear

"I pray that no matter what life throws your way, you would honor God, give him space to move in your life, and run toward the roar with all your heart until you stand before him face to face," Levi Lusko, Through the Eyes of a Lion, pp 179.