Yesterday’s Grief by Katherine Lee Bates

The falling rain of yesterday is ruby on the roses,
Silver on the poplar leaf, and gold on willow stem;
The grief that fell just yesterday is silence that encloses
God’s great gifts of grace, and time will never trouble them.
The falling rain of yesterday makes all the hillsides glisten,
Coral on the laurel and beryl on the grass;
The grief that fell just yesterday has taught the soul to listen
For whispers of eternity in all the winds that pass.
O faint of heart, storm-beaten, this rain will shine tomorrow,
Flame within the columbine and jewels on the thorn,
Heaven in the forget-me-not; though sorrow now is sorrow,
Yet sorrow will be beauty in the magic of the morn.

I especially want to dedicate this poem by Bates to all the people afflicted by super typhoon Yolanda. “Though your sorrow now is sorrow,” no one can contest to that or tell you that it is ‘okay’ but know that “sorrow will be beauty in the magic of the morn.”

We are mourning and praying with you. You are in our hearts. And rest assured that our brothers and sisters here in the Philippines and even here in the place where I am in are not just loving you in thought and speech but also in action. We cannot swallow the thought of being comfortable while thousands in Tacloban are in the brink of life and death. People, we can and we must do something. Pray. Give. 

 

You know that you are watching to something that is truly amazing when you have goosebumps.

I watched this for the second time and I still have that same goosebumps when I first watched this.

 

Truly, God is the author and perfecter of our faith. And why, our faith should include believing for that One Person God has prepared for us. Love. What a sublime word to hear especially when you know that it is in the hands of God.

Silent Wails of Decayed Trust

“……Deokman…. my Deokman…” Bidam’s very last words.

It might be difficult a task to gain the trust of people; however, it would be more exacting a calling to abandon those people whose confidence you have already earned.

Thus, a person of genuine valor would rather choose to suffer rather than to abandon that person. That person would have faith. Situations might point fingers on that person whom you trust but should you prove your alliance to be strong, faith is the very ingredient that should abound. An alliance, a relationship, a friendship, or coalition, cannot exist for long without faith.

What a tragedy would it be, for genuine fealty to end because one failed to believe enough. One failed to endure and believe. Treacherous blood may cry out in anguish and remorse but such cry would deem to be mute in comparison to the wail of silence. The silent wail of a pure fealty – pure trust and pure love torn apart by the mistake of not having faith. Silent wails indeed will  surely haunt. Sadness and not angst.

All I can hope is that for the other to remain boundlessly faithful. And only by then can silence be broken. Wounds be healed. And though the blood may dry and the smell of death perish from the land, the wounds that caused those blood to drip will surely be healed. The undying faithfulness of a person despite the other party’s failure to believe is indeed a healing potion. It knows no bounds.

And is not that a familiar situation?

This tragic yet victorious story-

Is it not your story?

I believe that it too is my story.

It may take a different page in the annals of what we call history, but your story and my story is I believe, a story drenched by the faithfulness of our KING-GOD-FATHER and also by our constant unfaithfulness.

If only we can believe. If only we can be faithful, what a wondrous fate would that be. A life in abundance indeed.

A thief comes only to steal and to kill and to destroy. I have come so that they may have life and have it in abundance.

John 10:10

This post is inspired by Queen Seon Deok  particularly by the failure of Bidam to trust Deokman.

Open My Eyes

Saviour of my soul
I worship You as God alone
Greater love has made a way to You

I could not forget
The moment I in faith confessed
For my sin You died and rose again

I believe every word You say
Father God with all my heart I sing

Open my eyes
I want to see Your glory Your glory Lord
I open my heart
I want to be closer closer to You

Here I am again
I find my strength in drawing near
You have heard the desperate cry in me

And as I wait on You my God
I’ll know the voice of truth
In quietness I am in awe
And as I worship You my Lord
I understand the cross
The sacrifice of God

Blankly, my stare pierced that hall way
While this song broke my weary heart

Worn Out Feet

After a whole day of unprecedented TO DOs and TO PAYs. – Enrollment

That day I felt like I was so lost! I felt like I am taking a walk to Moriah with all this new weird feelings  all mixed up within me. But woe to me!! Who am I to  lose sight of my purpose- to glorify God – in this so little adversary! O Mildred, think of the missionaries who have to deal with all the hardships of being in a stranger’s land, aware that any bullet can hit them dead, aware that any time they can lose supply and all go starve; and yet they never  lost hope and they persevered and earnestly seek God. O Mildred seek God. Seek God.

After all the errands we spent some few minutes seated at the amphitheatre – thinking, praying, thinking, praying…   I failed  that day but it’s a comfort to know that  God’s grace is new every morning. :’)

Worn out I came to You

Fresh I came out anew

Your grace sustains me

O Father let me see

Thy hand which discipline,

teach, rebuke, comfort and save

O let not my eyes stay closed

Let not the tears go dropping

In ignorance I shall be disclosed

O Father let it be.

This I ask of Thee. This I ask.

O my Mighty God, hear this earnest cry.

Harry Potter, Rebuke to The Church

I would like to quote what Paul Washer said.

Two years ago I read an article from a very well established reformed magazine. It was talking about Harry Potter….. In a way I want you to know that Harry Potter is a rebuke also to the church. When a child reads Harry Potter, they see wonder and wildness, and life, and magic, and struggle, and victory, and defeat, and everything that we’re made up to be. Now, when they see your Christianity all they see is a pew and a cold sermon. God did not come to give us merely correct thinking. He came to give us life!  …. And you can experience that life even if your body is screaming with pain. To feed upon Christ!

 

Here’s a video clip.

 

My Life Song

“I take my time to set the stage. I make sure everything is all in place.”

BEHIND THE SCENES 

by: Francesca Battistelli

You may think
I’m just fine
How could anything
Ever be out of line?

I take my time
To set the stage
To make sure everything
Is all in place

Even though I’ve got the lines rehearsed
A picture only paints a thousand words

(Chorus)
Things aren’t always what they seem
You’re only seeing part of me
There’s more than you could ever know
Behind the scenes
I’m incomplete and I’m undone
But I suppose like everyone
There’s so much more that’s going on
Behind the scenes

Sometimes I can’t see
Anything
Through the dark
Surrounding me
And at times I’m unsure
About the ground
Beneath my feet
If it’s safe and sound

When it’s hard to find hope in the unseen
I have peace in knowing it will find me

(Chorus)

You may think I’m just fine
How could anything ever be out of line?

(Chorus)

Jesus Alone Saves

A radical message of the salvation  that is in Christ Jesus.

Preached by Paul Washer who is now officially  one of my favorite preachers.

Back Stage

People come and go

Meringue of faces off they go

Few remained to know

behind the scenes’  a bigger show

O the act was no act

 The show was no show

Twas life expressed on stage

What was repressed  back stage.

Voices need mouth to speak

Yet back stage, no ear hears

The truth suppressed  – all in silent recoil

It’s  just on stage where no one recognize

That true pain’s applauded by all.

Students, Do Not Hurry!

Have you noticed how much education has snatched much of our opportunity to learn? If you have not, then I tell you: It can. 

I remember an author once said:

If superficiality is the curse of our age, then HURRY pronounces the spell. Depth always comes slowly.

Do not get me wrong. I am not rebelling against my class schedule which as you can see  is  fully crammed. I accept it as it is. What else can I do? Plus, it came from people of authority and I believe that they are placed there for they know what they’re doing.  Another thing,  people of authority could sometimes get wrong, but it has always been stressed in God’s Word to respect authority. If we are to correct them, correct them politely but I’m in no business to correct them here.

When I look at my sched, I can only sigh not because there is nothing  I can do but because there is much managements to be  done in order to live to that schedule without living a hurried life.What’s wrong with a hurried life? Everything can get wrong in a hurried life – from morning till evening; from your grades to your relationships; from your health to your prayer life. Everything can get wrong. When you live hurriedly, it’s as if you keep on wanting to get things done rather than doing that thing as best you could. When you live in a hurried lifestyle, life would become more of an obligation to get done rather than a gift to be praised for. O how miserable. And that’s the life we students are at risk! O let it not be! –> but it does not depend on our schedules. It depends on us. My friend, it’s okay to be busy but do not hurry. Have you not noticed? Jesus is often busy but He never hurried to get things done.  Depth always comes slowly. I believe that God has given us just enough time to do His will.

Should we then must be able to manage our time well?

O time is gold! It’s precious and it should be managed well indeed but I don’t think that it should be our grand agenda. I think we should first learn to manage ourselves. That for me is one of the hardest hardest agenda. I am  the most untamed creature. Even as I look civil, educated, good, respectable; inside me is a labyrinth of wilderness. I myself has not conquered it. There is but just one Man who has conquered it and He is Jesus Christ. So if we are to plan  to learn how to manage ourselves, O don’t begin without earnestly wrestling the matter with God. Let Him move unto you and initiate every action  step you do. God moves, my friend. And when He does move, He does it quickly so that none can claim, “O I did it myself!”

I suppose most of us has this natural tendency to do things hurriedly – always wanting to get things done rather than to savor the moment and the fact that we are able to do such things. –>Like walking, reading, reporting, studying—> some people are not even privileged to study as we are. My friends, all the more will I urge you and I address this to myself too: We must ruthlessly eliminate hurry from our lives.

Hurry is not of the devil; hurry is the devil.     – Carl Jung

Looking back at the schedule, it seems to me a very hard life to live without rushing through and hurrying through every hour. It’s hard indeed but it shall not be impossible with God’s grace. Now I shall stress prayer. It seems that we took prayer so lightly and even took it for granted. If Jesus Himself said that there is nothing He can do without God, then who do we think we are to go through the day without God? And don’t just tell me that O I have God I just don’t pray that much, for prayer is the way we commune with God. If there is one privilege we Christians must be so happy for, that is our gate pass to the courts of God – gate pass to speak before Him as we are and yet not die; however, so often many people took this for granted and even tire at the time of prayer. O by no means, my friends. Let us not be fooled  into thinking that we can at all do things ‘our’ way and succeed – truly succeed.

I have so much to do that I shall spend the first three hours in prayer.    – Martin Luther

We may fail – that is most certain – in our conquest to do every task efficiently yet  unhurriedly; but rest assured my friend that  in the process you will learn and grow and not deteriorate like worn out robots.

– Mildred

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