It was amazing. I looked at the clock go by, and I knew I couldn't reach the Book Council's office before 545 pm.
So I prayed, and then called the office to ask whether there is any way to submit the entry later.
And the lady on the other line said yes. She told me, "Just pass your manuscript to the Geylang Community Library staff. They'll help pass your manuscript to us next Monday. But... no guarantee that they will surely pass to us. Because they're not affiliated to us - they're just doing us a favour."
Thank God! Deadline extension haha...
Then I rushed down to Geylang Library. I was supposed to watch a movie with Weizhu, but he told me that the book is more important than the movie. He said that he will meet me at the library to accompany me.
Gosh. Was very, very touched when he said that. =) Thank God for Weizhu.
Therein lies the secret of the easy yoke, according to Dallas Willard. In order to effectively follow Jesus into public ministry, we must also follow Jesus into the lonely desert and mountains to be alone with God. It is true that "a successful performance at a moment of crisis rests largely and essentially upon the depths of a self wisely and rigorously prepared in the totality of its being." In other words, "We who are appointed by God to heal others, need the physician ourselves." This necessary relationship between the leader’s private solitude and public ministry, according to Nouwen, can only be nourished "when we have met our Lord in the silent intimacy of our prayer" which will enable us also to "meet him in the camp, in the market, and in the town square. But when we have not met him in the center of our hearts, we cannot expect to meet him in the busyness of our daily lives." (p. 42)
We serve a church that honors frenzied activity and long hours. We are recognized and rewarded for our doing, and not for our being. (p. 40)
"Ministry is service in the name of the Lord. It is bringing the good news to the poor, proclaiming liberty to captives and new sight to the blind, setting the downtrodden free and announcing the Lord’s year of favor (Luke 4:18). Spirituality is paying attention to the life of the Spirit in us; it is going out to the desert or up to the mountain to pray; it is standing before the Lord with open heart and open mind; it is crying out, ‘Abba, Father;’ it is contemplating the unspeakable beauty of our loving God." Henri Nouwen (cited in Shawchuck and Heuser, Leading the Congregation, p. 39)
"hey yufen! something that struck me when i got ur msg abt thanking God for the rainbow...
i realised that God is able to bless us even thru an unseen rainbow.
and i think that's the essence of faith - we thank God for rainbows that we can't see, but we know are there anyway. =D
so God is able to give us gifts through ways that we least expect it...
thank God for you, yufen! learnt to give thanks even for unseen blessings from your thankful heart, dear sis! :D
and you know what sis? i only saw the rainbow, 'cos i was thinking whether to go back straight home to sleep, or to go to the park to pray for a while first.
and as i was walking, i was looking down at the ground and praying... when suddenly, i happened to lift my head up, and whoa, i saw the huge rainbow in all its brilliant and vast beauty, suspended in the gray sky... oh my God, it was beautiful all right. :D hanging there like a piece of colourful candy for our eyes to feast upon... :D yum-yum.
but i think it's really because of God's grace here... thank God that i chose to take time to pray... otherwise i wldn't have seen the rainbow... and you wouldn't have heard about it.
God acts in response to our prayers - even before we call, He will answer! :D aye-men...
Who could imagine a melody
True enough to tell of Your mercy?
Who could imagine a harmony
Sweet enough to tell of Your love?
I see the heavens proclaiming You day after day,
And I know in my heart that there must be a way
To sing a greater song,
A greater song to You on the earth.
To sing a greater song,
A greater song to You on the earth.
Who could imagine a symphony,
Grand enough to tell of Your glory?
Our highest praise but a feeble breath
A whisper of Your thunderous worth.
Was Einstein Wrong?: A Quantum Threat to Special Relativity
Our intuition, going back forever, is that to move, say, a rock, one has to touch that rock, or touch a stick that touches the rock, or give an order that travels via vibrations through the air to the ear of a man with a stick that can then push the rock—or some such sequence. This intuition, more generally, is that things can only directly affect other things that are right next to them. If A affects B without being right next to it, then the effect in question must be indirect—the effect in question must be something that gets transmitted by means of a chain of events in which each event brings about the next one directly, in a manner that smoothly spans the distance from A to B. Every time we think we can come up with an exception to this intuition—say, flipping a switch that turns on city street lights (but then we realize that this happens through wires) or listening to a BBC radio broadcast (but then we realize that radio waves propagate through the air)—it turns out that we have not, in fact, thought of an exception. Not, that is, in our everyday experience of the world.
We term this intuition "locality."
Quantum mechanics has upended many an intuition, but none deeper than this one. And this particular upending carries with it a threat, as yet unresolved, to special relativity—a foundation stone of our 21st-century physics.
[...]
Let's back up a bit. Prior to the advent of quantum mechanics, and indeed back to the very beginnings of scientific investigations of nature, scholars believed that a complete description of the physical world could in principle be had by describing, one by one, each of the world's smallest and most elementary physical constituents. The full story of the world could be expressed as the sum of the constituents' stories.
Quantum mechanics violates this belief.
Real, measurable, physical features of collections of particles can, in a perfectly concrete way, exceed or elude or have nothing to do with the sum of the features of the individual particles. For example, according to quantum mechanics one can arrange a pair of particles so that they are precisely two feet apart and yet neither particle on its own has a definite position. Furthermore, the standard approach to understanding quantum physics, the so-called Copenhagen interpretation—proclaimed by the great Danish physicist Niels Bohr early last century and handed down from professor to student for generations—insists that it is not that we do not know the facts about the individual particles' exact locations; it is that there simply aren't any such facts. To ask after the position of a single particle would be as meaningless as, say, asking after the marital status of the number five. The problem is not epistemological (about what we know) but ontological (about what is).
[...]
Radical Revisions of Reality
Albert Einstein had any number of worries about quantum mechanics. The overquoted concern about its chanciness ("God does not play dice") was just one. But the only objection he formally articulated, the only one he bothered to write a paper on, concerned the oddity of quantum-mechanical entanglement. This objection lies at the heart of what is now known as the EPR argument, named after its three authors, Einstein and his colleagues Boris Podolsky and Nathan Rosen. In their 1935 paper "Can Quantum-Mechanical Description of Physical Reality Be Considered Complete?", they answer their own question with a tightly reasoned "no."
Their argument made pivotal use of one particular instruction in the quantum-mechanical recipe, or mathematical algorithm, for predicting the outcomes of experiments. Suppose that we measure the position of a particle that is quantum mechanically entangled with a second particle—so that neither individually has a precise position, as we mentioned above. Naturally, when we learn the outcome of the measurement, we change our description of the first particle because we now know where it was for a moment. But the algorithm also instructs us to alter our description of the second particle and to alter it instantaneously, no matter how far away it may be or what may lie between the two particles.
Entanglement was an uncontroversial fact of the picture of the world that quantum mechanics presented to physicists, but it was a fact whose implications no one prior to Einstein had thought much about. He saw in entanglement something not merely strange but dubious. It struck him as spooky. It seemed, in particular, nonlocal.
Nobody at that time was ready to entertain the possibility that there were genuine physical nonlocalities in the world—not Einstein, not Bohr, not anybody. Einstein, Podolsky and Rosen took it for granted in their paper that the apparent nonlocality of quantum mechanics must be apparent only, that it must be some kind of mathematical anomaly or notational infelicity or, at any rate, that it must be a disposable artifact of the algorithm—surely one could cook up quantum mechanics's predictions for experiments without needing any nonlocal steps.
And in their paper they presented an argument to the effect that if (as everybody supposed) no genuine physical nonlocality exists in the world and if the experimental predictions of quantum mechanics are correct, then quantum mechanics must leave aspects of the world out of its account. There must be parts of the world's story that it fails to mention.
Bohr responded to the EPR paper practically overnight. His feverishly composed letter of refutation engaged none of the paper's concrete scientific arguments but instead took issue—in an opaque and sometimes downright oracular fashion—with its use of the word "reality" and its definition of "elements of physical reality." He talked at length about the distinction between subject and object, about the conditions under which it makes sense to ask questions and about the nature of human language. What science needed, according to Bohr, was a "radical revision of our attitude as regards physical reality."
Bohr did go out of his way to agree with the EPR paper on one point: that of course there can be no question of a genuine physical nonlocality. The apparent nonlocality, he argued, was just one more reason why we must abandon the quaint and outdated aspiration, so manifest in the EPR paper, of being able to read from the equations of quantum mechanics a realistic picture of the world—a picture of what actually exists before us from moment to moment. Bohr insisted, in effect, that not only do we see the world through a glass darkly but that this shadowy and indefinite view is as real as anything gets.
1 Corinthians 3:19b
"He catches the wise in their craftiness"
"Who is this that darkens my counselonly the immeasurable God is able to fully measure an immeasurable universe. only the Absolute One is capable of fixing both the position and velocity of a single particle perfectly. think about it. if we can't even measure a single particle perfectly... nor can we predict the motions of a trillion stars in a trillion galaxies... =)
with words without knowledge?
3 Brace yourself like a man;
I will question you,
and you shall answer me.
4 "Where were you when I laid the earth's foundation?
Tell me, if you understand.
5 Who marked off its dimensions? Surely you know!
Who stretched a measuring line across it?
6 On what were its footings set,
or who laid its cornerstone-
7 while the morning stars sang together
and all the angels shouted for joy?"
As morning dawns and evening fades:)
You inspire songs of praise
That rise from earth to bless Your heart
And glorify Your name
How can I keep from singing Your praiseIt was very heartwarming indeed. Even two of the more mischievous children were really standing there and seriously worshipping the Lord. I was amazed, and touched and delighted and filled with joy. And I think the Lord Jesus was also beaming at the joyous sight of it all. Just a tiny preview of the glorious worship that shall be in heaven for all eternity one day.
How can I ever say enough
How amazing is Your love
How can I keep from shouting Your name
I know I am loved by the King
And it makes my heart want to sing
A SIMPLE WAY TO PRAYWhen I read these words, the first thought that came to mind was, "Gosh! This sounds very much like a 20th/21st century letter, what with all the busy things... even though it was written back in the 16th century." Some things remain timeless - the busyness and the hustle and bustle even of work, ministry, family and so on...
by Martin Luther
I will tell you as best I can what I do personally when I pray. May our dear Lord grant to you and to everybody to do it better than I! Amen.
First, when I feel that I have become cool and joyless in prayer because of other tasks or thoughts (for the flesh and the devil always impede and obstruct prayer), I take my little psalter, hurry to my room, or, if it be the day and hour for it, to the church where a congregation is assembled and, as time permits, I say quietly to myself and word-for-word the Ten Commandments, the Creed, and, if I have time, some words of Christ or of Paul, or some psalms, just as a child might do.
It is a good thing to let prayer be the first business of the morning and the last at night. Guard yourself carefully against those false, deluding ideas which tell you, "Wait a little while. I will pray in an hour; first I must attend to this or that." Such thoughts get you away from prayer into other affairs which so hold your attention and involve you that nothing comes of prayer for that day.
It may well be that you may have some tasks which are as good or better than prayer, especially in an emergency. There is a saying ascribed to St. Jerome that everything a believer does is prayer1 and a proverb, "He who works faithfully prays twice." This can be said because a believer fears and honors God in his work and remembers the commandment not to wrong anyone, or to try to steal, defraud, or cheat. Such thoughts and such faith undoubtedly transform his work into prayer and a sacrifice of praise...
[Read more!]
"Age to age He standsThank God so much that we can always pray to Him, no matter what time it is. And I reckon that if God could make the sun and the moon stand still in response to Joshua's prayer or even make the sun go backwards for King Hezekiah' request... then I reckon even if we "waste" time on praying, He literally is able to make enough time for our hands.
And time is in His hands
Beginning and the End
Beginning and the End..."
The scene is in Hell at the annual dinner of the Tempters' Training College for young devils. The principal, Dr. Slubgob, has just proposed the health of the guests. Screwtape, a very experienced devil, who is the guest of honour, rises to reply:
Mr. Principal, your Imminence, your Disgraces, my Thorns, Shadies, and Gentledevils:
It is customary on these occasions for the speaker to address himself chiefly to those among you who have just graduated and who will very soon be posted to official Tempterships on Earth. It is a custom I willingly obey. I well remember with what trepidation I awaited my own first appointment. I hope, and believe, that each one of you has the same uneasiness tonight. Your career is before you. Hell expects and demands that it should be -- as mine was -- one of unbroken success. If it is not, you know what awaits you. [more...]
MY DEAR WORMWOOD,
I note what you say about guiding our patient's reading and taking care that he sees a good deal of his materialist friend. But are you not being a trifle naïf? It sounds as if you supposed that argument was the way to keep him out of the Enemy's clutches. That might have been so if he had lived a few centuries earlier. At that time the humans still knew pretty well when a thing was proved and when it was not; and if it was proved they really believed it. They still connected thinking with doing and were prepared to alter their way of life as the result of a chain of reasoning. But what with the weekly press and other such weapons we have largely altered that. Your man has been accustomed, ever since he was a boy, to have a dozen incompatible philosophies dancing about together inside his head. He doesn't think of doctrines as primarily "true" of "false", but as "academic" or "practical", "outworn" or "contemporary", "conventional" or "ruthless". Jargon, not argument, is your best ally in keeping him from the Church. Don't waste time trying to make him think that materialism is true! Make him think it is strong, or stark, or courageous—that it is the philosophy of the future. That's the sort of thing he cares about. [more...]
Trust His HeartWeizhu sent this to me yesterday. I had been sharing to him about something that happened so suddenly that left me quite shell-shocked and disappointed. Then... he suddenly sent me this song, and this song is so BEAUTIFUL. *sniffs* Incredibly sweet of him... =D
All things work for the good
Though sometimes we can't
See how they could
Troubles that break our hearts in two
Sometimes blind us to the truth
Our Father knows what's best for us
His ways are not our own
So when your pathway grows dim
And you just can't see him,
Remember He's still on the throne
Chorus:
God is too wise to be mistaken
God is too good to be unkind
So when you don't understand
When you don't see his plan
When you can't trace his hand
Trust His Heart
He sees the master plan
He holds the future in his hand,
Don't live as those who have no hope,
While our hope is found in him.
We see the present clearly
But he sees the first and last
And like a tapestry He's weaving you and me,
To someday be just like him
(Chorus)
He alone is faithful and true
He alone knows what is best for you
(Chorus)
When you can't trace his hand
When you don't see his plan
When you don't understand
Trust His Heart
Jeremiah 15:15Actually, God really helped and blessed me so much during the past two weeks. Through the twin struggles that I went through the past two weeks, thank God that He gently encouraged me to pray. It must have been the prompting of the Holy Spirit.
You understand, O LORD; remember me and care for me. Avenge me on my persecutors. You are long-suffering—do not take me away; think of how I suffer reproach for your sake.
2Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, 3because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance. 4Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything. 5If any of you lacks wisdom, he should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to him.
12Blessed is the man who perseveres under trial, because when he has stood the test, he will receive the crown of life that God has promised to those who love him.To be honest, I'm really amazed that I actually made it through stronger and more stable. I didn't even expect to finish this trial - I had actually been quite looking forward to dropping out of this trial that God was allowing me to go through.
Bro: hope u can forgive ( ) for the way he/she treated you...
me: i've already forgiven him/her. God gave me the strength to do so
Bro: amen!
Fire and Ice
Ice-Cube Boy and Fire Girl both fell in love at school.
He thought that she was really hot,
She thought that he was cool.
But when they tried to hug and kiss
her flame went “fizzle, pop and hiss!”
and Ice-Cube Boy was turned to steam,
evaporating with a scream.
Their parents cried “Our son!”, “Our daughter!”
“Nothing more than smoke and water,
Now it’s clear, it’s just a fact
that opposites should not attract!”
Paul Hughes 2009
Exodus 31:1-5
Then the LORD said to Moses, 2 "See, I have chosen Bezalel son of Uri, the son of Hur, of the tribe of Judah, 3 and I have filled him with the Spirit of God, with skill, ability and knowledge in all kinds of crafts- 4 to make artistic designs for work in gold, silver and bronze, 5 to cut and set stones, to work in wood, and to engage in all kinds of craftsmanship.
click on the above pic to see the full details!1 A shoot will come up from the stump of Jesse;We need to partner with the Holy Spirit if we want to effectively shepherd the people under our care.
from his roots a Branch will bear fruit.
2 The Spirit of the LORD will rest on him—
the Spirit of wisdom and of understanding,
the Spirit of counsel and of power,
the Spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the LORD -
3 and he will delight in the fear of the LORD.
He will not judge by what he sees with his eyes,
or decide by what he hears with his ears;
4 but with righteousness he will judge the needy,
with justice he will give decisions for the poor of the earth.
He will strike the earth with the rod of his mouth;
with the breath of his lips he will slay the wicked.
"The Truth About Pluralism"
QnA with Jose Philip (Ravi Zacharias International Ministry)
NUS Science Faculty (S16-04-36)
Wednesday, 11 February 2009, 7-9pm
She went out for cigarettes. That's my favorite detail of the story told by Ashley Smith. It was not a noble calling; it wasn't even a noble errand. But the craving for nicotine at 2 o'clock in the morning apparently led Smith into the loaded gun of one Brian Nichols, a man who was wanted for raping one woman and murdering another woman and three men. According to Smith, Nichols forced her into her apartment, tied her up, put her in the bathtub and told her, "I'm not going to hurt you if you just do what I say."This story shocked me. It was a real-life story, and yet, it was totally so... different. And I think that is how Jesus' listeners must too have felt when they heard of the rich father racing to embrace that runaway ragamuffin runt of a son.
What would you do under those circumstances? Scream? Panic? Beg? But at that point, something else intervened. Smith actually communicated with her captor. She says she saw him not as a monster but as a human being. She talked with him. She told her story--how her husband had been stabbed in a dispute and had died in her arms, how she then had developed a drug habit, had been caught for speeding and drunken driving, had been arrested for assault (the charges were dropped), had ceded custody of her young daughter to her aunt. She showed him her wounds as a human being. And she saw in that man his own wounded soul. [read more...]
Dear brother,Thank You so much dear Lord. Deeply touched and encouraged to keep on. :)
I want to encourage you too. I am always blessed when I receive your smses on prayer. You take time to think what you want to intercede for others, and for yourself. You know that when you pray, you will receive, hence, you take time to formulate your prayer points. That goes to show how much you know you can depend on our Lord.
My prayer life is motivated by people like you. I am not a very "prayer person". I think you can see that. I do more than I pray. Yet, when I am around you, I see how you put God in perspective through prayer, and by that, I am encouraged to take time to think of prayer points, and pray for people around me as well.
Thank you for being a motivator to me in Christ.
May the Lord keep you and bless you. May His grace continue to overflow in your life.
Psa 65:2
O you who hear prayer,
to you all men will come.
