Strange title, isn't that? For most of us, death is the end. For a lot of Chinese folks, it's a taboo to even speak about death. It's a subject that arouses fear in them. Now, I'm not one who knows much about traditions and feng shui and stuff,except what I hear from people around. Apparently its bad to give a Chinese a clock because it symbolizes time is ticking towards death or something.
And they also believe that death is 'dirty', for want of a better term, of course. Imagine this. Apparently one day back in 1988, my grandad just happened to fall down dead on the kitchen floor. And get this. None of his children even dared to go near his body. Apparently it was superstition.
So we come back to the subject of Death. Let's face it. We're all gonna die someday. It could be tomorrow for all we know. Or even today. Or 40 years down the line. Life is short. Life is fragile. Like Shakespeare put it, life is a brief candle. We can eat as healthily as possible and still die of liver failure. We can be careful and cautious and still die in a freak accident.
My whole point is : Death is a constant. We all will face it someday. So let's stop playing games and skirting around the issue as if not talking about it will give us an additional 20 years lease of life.
So how do we face it? What's next? Heaven? Hell? Are those myths? Nothingness? Reincarnation? Nobody can say for sure can they? And isn't that why death is feared so much? Isn't that why there are so many deathbed conversions? People at the very end of the rope finally trying to secure their afterlifes.
Jesus promised us life after death. You may not believe in Jesus but there is no way you can ignore His claims. Jesus said that all who believe in Him will find life. Not just life after death but an abundant life here on earth. Abundant, of course, not meaning luxuries and wealth, but a complete and whole life. One in which we find peace. One in which we find joy. But more importantly is His claims about the afterlife. Cuz He claims there's an eternity beyond the grave. Not a few days or years or even decades. Eternity. Infinite. Period.
What will you do? Are you someone who has never considered what's beyond the grave? Have you shrugged it off, thinking you've got so many years ahead of you? Or are you someone who's searching for answers about this? Whatever category you fall in, there are answers. There is truth.
Read this blog post. I found it last night and I think it would do us all good. It sure did me good.
Tuesday, June 24, 2008
Friday, June 20, 2008
Giving
How much can we give? And I'm not just talking about money. I'm talking about time, energy, money, prayers and whatever else. I'm not just talking about charity. I'm talking about relationships too.
How much can we give?
Dont we look to protect ourselves only too often? Ever heard of this?
"Why should I give when I already have so little?"
Pertinent question, isn't it? Why should we give? We already have so little time. We're working 8 hours or 10 hours or 20 hours a day. We don't earn that much. Inflation's starting to get annoying. We're already so tired out when we get home from the day's activities. Weekends are treasure chests of rest. Why should we give that up?
I guess sometimes we don't count our blessings. We don't know how much we really have. We immerse ourselves in our own lives and clutch everything to ourselves as though we own them. But do we? Do we really 'own' the money we earn or the time we're given?
By now, I bet you're scratching your head wondering what in the blue blazes am I talking about, right? Patience, dear friends, I'm getting there, and for those of you who know me, you know Suspense is my middle name.. Yeah right, who am I kidding lol.
Back to the point at hand. Do we really 'own' what we receive here on earth when it can be taken so easily? I'll point out an example, and this is actually a parable from the Bible written from my memory.
There was once a rich man with a lot of land and crops. He stockpiled all his riches in warehouses and was obviously pretty proud of it. He was confident in his riches. And he made plans to live a luxurious life with the riches he had gathered. In his own words he said he would "eat, drink and be merry". By all appearances he was set for a long luxurious life.
But God said to him, "You foolish man, this very night your life will be taken from you. How then will you spend all the riches you've hoarded and enjoy your luxuries?"
Truly enough, we can all identify with this man. What excess or what little we have can be taken away just in the blink of an eye. Whether its our money or our time or our energy. These are things over which we don't have very much control of. Yeah we can go and invest our money in diversified portfolios to minimise risks, but who's to say all of those portfolios won't crash?
We can eat healthy and still get cancer (Of course I'm not advocating unhealthy eating lol). One fact of life is that we can be taken anytime. We can die anytime. And no I'm not afraid to use the word die. I could die today or tomorrow. And that's the truth.
So then why do we bother so much with hoarding? Interestingly, we hoard and yet we complain. We complain about rising prices and inflation and too little time and too tired and everything, but we fail to see how much we've been blessed. There are a lot of people out in the world who are living hand to mouth. There are a lot of people out there who have much bigger problems than a small paycheck.
Millions of people live on the brink of starvation. There are entire communities who do not have the basic amenities of schools and playgrounds and books. Multitudes of people live under the shadow of death each and every second of the day.
And we ask why we should give?
I ask in return. Why should we NOT give? What we have was given to us anyway. I don't believe we should be saving for our future when our brothers and sisters are dying from not having enough to even sustain themselves for tomorrow.
Of course I'm not asking everyone to give up jobs and go give your life working in Africa or donate evry single cent you have in the bank. It's just that as a society and as a community in general we have more than we need. We have more money than we need. We have more time and energy that we really need.
Let's give to those who need it more than we do. And its not limited to children in Africa or Myanmar. All around us we see people starving emotionally. We see people who are broken. Broken lives and broken hearts. These people need our time and our energy. They need our love.
Let's give. I believe that one does not know what love is until he's able to give without hoping for anyting in return. Let's give because we love.
After all, we're surrounded by people who have given to us. We've had parents who gave all they had for us (for some of us perhaps not). We've had teachers who sacrificed to make us better people. We've got a God who gave His all for us.
So let's open our hearts to give of ourselves to others. Life does not revolve around us. Never did and never will.
How much can we give?
Dont we look to protect ourselves only too often? Ever heard of this?
"Why should I give when I already have so little?"
Pertinent question, isn't it? Why should we give? We already have so little time. We're working 8 hours or 10 hours or 20 hours a day. We don't earn that much. Inflation's starting to get annoying. We're already so tired out when we get home from the day's activities. Weekends are treasure chests of rest. Why should we give that up?
I guess sometimes we don't count our blessings. We don't know how much we really have. We immerse ourselves in our own lives and clutch everything to ourselves as though we own them. But do we? Do we really 'own' the money we earn or the time we're given?
By now, I bet you're scratching your head wondering what in the blue blazes am I talking about, right? Patience, dear friends, I'm getting there, and for those of you who know me, you know Suspense is my middle name.. Yeah right, who am I kidding lol.
Back to the point at hand. Do we really 'own' what we receive here on earth when it can be taken so easily? I'll point out an example, and this is actually a parable from the Bible written from my memory.
There was once a rich man with a lot of land and crops. He stockpiled all his riches in warehouses and was obviously pretty proud of it. He was confident in his riches. And he made plans to live a luxurious life with the riches he had gathered. In his own words he said he would "eat, drink and be merry". By all appearances he was set for a long luxurious life.
But God said to him, "You foolish man, this very night your life will be taken from you. How then will you spend all the riches you've hoarded and enjoy your luxuries?"
Truly enough, we can all identify with this man. What excess or what little we have can be taken away just in the blink of an eye. Whether its our money or our time or our energy. These are things over which we don't have very much control of. Yeah we can go and invest our money in diversified portfolios to minimise risks, but who's to say all of those portfolios won't crash?
We can eat healthy and still get cancer (Of course I'm not advocating unhealthy eating lol). One fact of life is that we can be taken anytime. We can die anytime. And no I'm not afraid to use the word die. I could die today or tomorrow. And that's the truth.
So then why do we bother so much with hoarding? Interestingly, we hoard and yet we complain. We complain about rising prices and inflation and too little time and too tired and everything, but we fail to see how much we've been blessed. There are a lot of people out in the world who are living hand to mouth. There are a lot of people out there who have much bigger problems than a small paycheck.
Millions of people live on the brink of starvation. There are entire communities who do not have the basic amenities of schools and playgrounds and books. Multitudes of people live under the shadow of death each and every second of the day.
And we ask why we should give?
I ask in return. Why should we NOT give? What we have was given to us anyway. I don't believe we should be saving for our future when our brothers and sisters are dying from not having enough to even sustain themselves for tomorrow.
Of course I'm not asking everyone to give up jobs and go give your life working in Africa or donate evry single cent you have in the bank. It's just that as a society and as a community in general we have more than we need. We have more money than we need. We have more time and energy that we really need.
Let's give to those who need it more than we do. And its not limited to children in Africa or Myanmar. All around us we see people starving emotionally. We see people who are broken. Broken lives and broken hearts. These people need our time and our energy. They need our love.
Let's give. I believe that one does not know what love is until he's able to give without hoping for anyting in return. Let's give because we love.
After all, we're surrounded by people who have given to us. We've had parents who gave all they had for us (for some of us perhaps not). We've had teachers who sacrificed to make us better people. We've got a God who gave His all for us.
So let's open our hearts to give of ourselves to others. Life does not revolve around us. Never did and never will.
Thursday, June 12, 2008
Brokenness
Ah that word.. Brokenness.. Do we hear it often? Probably not. What comes to mind? Broken families? Broken marriages? Break ups? Hmm.. Well it means a whole lot more to me. It means all of us.
Oh yes, you heard me right. All of us are broken in some way or another. We don't need to come from a broken home to be broken. We live in a generation of broken promises, broken values, a broken culture and that results in brokenness.
Ever wondered why we get so hungry for accomplishments and achievements when they're really nothing more than pieces of paper? Of ever wondered why we work so hard and long to hoard all that money and at the end of the day find that it wasn't worth it? Or why we've all started living for ourselves and ourselves alone? Or why crime and corruption and adultery have risen so much? Or why depression and suicide rates never seem to go down? Or why every other week you hear about bombs exploding everywhere?
That's brokenness for you.
Brokenness, not just on a personal level, but on a national and worldwide level. Let's face it. We ARE broken. We're a broken society. We've forgotten how to love and how to hope and how to care. We've forgotten how to live. Am I painting a bleak picture here? That's probably because most of us don't really know what goes on outside the 4 walls of our lives. I mean no offence of course.
We live in times where every major institution has crumbled and lies in shambles. The Governments are corrupted. In some parts of the world people have lost faith in marriage. Our moral system has changed to become something "subjective" rather than absolute. The judiciary systems are for the most part mere plays. The list goes on.
So is this the kind of world we want to hand down to our future generations? Do we want them to suffer from the mistakes of their forefathers? I for one say NO. I for one want to make a difference. And there are people all over the world today praying and hoping and living for that difference.
Every so often you hear a gem of a story. Perhaps it could be an old couple still very much in love after their 60th year of marriage. Or a story about a hero running through a burning house to save a stranger. Or a story of people giving up luxury and comforts to help the poor and needy of our world.
There seems to be a common theme or common denominator within all the above; the willingness to give. The willingness to put others before themselves. Yes, goodness and righteousness still exist in this world. And it is our duty to ensure goodness and righteousness will still exist, and indeed even be more prevalent in the future.
It's not that difficult really. It just needs a radical shift of our mindset away from ourselves to others. We just need to acknowledge that we are not perfect, no matter how perfect we look on the outside. We need to acknowledge our brokenness. Only then can healing for this generation take place.
Wouldn't it be cool if on one hand we could acknowledge we are all broken in some way or another; that we are still incomplete, and on the other still be able to pull our attention and concern away from ourselves to others? Try it. See how everything will change.
Oh yes, you heard me right. All of us are broken in some way or another. We don't need to come from a broken home to be broken. We live in a generation of broken promises, broken values, a broken culture and that results in brokenness.
Ever wondered why we get so hungry for accomplishments and achievements when they're really nothing more than pieces of paper? Of ever wondered why we work so hard and long to hoard all that money and at the end of the day find that it wasn't worth it? Or why we've all started living for ourselves and ourselves alone? Or why crime and corruption and adultery have risen so much? Or why depression and suicide rates never seem to go down? Or why every other week you hear about bombs exploding everywhere?
That's brokenness for you.
Brokenness, not just on a personal level, but on a national and worldwide level. Let's face it. We ARE broken. We're a broken society. We've forgotten how to love and how to hope and how to care. We've forgotten how to live. Am I painting a bleak picture here? That's probably because most of us don't really know what goes on outside the 4 walls of our lives. I mean no offence of course.
We live in times where every major institution has crumbled and lies in shambles. The Governments are corrupted. In some parts of the world people have lost faith in marriage. Our moral system has changed to become something "subjective" rather than absolute. The judiciary systems are for the most part mere plays. The list goes on.
So is this the kind of world we want to hand down to our future generations? Do we want them to suffer from the mistakes of their forefathers? I for one say NO. I for one want to make a difference. And there are people all over the world today praying and hoping and living for that difference.
Every so often you hear a gem of a story. Perhaps it could be an old couple still very much in love after their 60th year of marriage. Or a story about a hero running through a burning house to save a stranger. Or a story of people giving up luxury and comforts to help the poor and needy of our world.
There seems to be a common theme or common denominator within all the above; the willingness to give. The willingness to put others before themselves. Yes, goodness and righteousness still exist in this world. And it is our duty to ensure goodness and righteousness will still exist, and indeed even be more prevalent in the future.
It's not that difficult really. It just needs a radical shift of our mindset away from ourselves to others. We just need to acknowledge that we are not perfect, no matter how perfect we look on the outside. We need to acknowledge our brokenness. Only then can healing for this generation take place.
Wouldn't it be cool if on one hand we could acknowledge we are all broken in some way or another; that we are still incomplete, and on the other still be able to pull our attention and concern away from ourselves to others? Try it. See how everything will change.
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