Country Music Rawks!!

Ok, that is an oxymoronic title... but, that's besides the point.

I was listening to Rascal Flatts at work today, and thought I'd share a song of theirs (or rather, part of it) with you all.

"Sometimes I take on this world by myself

Thinking I got all the answers, don't need anybody's help

Well, God was right there waiting for me all along

To fall down on my knees, surrender all.

Things that matter, things that don't."

- Rascal Flatts, Things that Matter

Never realised that Rascal Flatts can be so spiritually uplifting. But nevertheless, it's a good reminder. God was right there waiting for me all along to fall down on my knees and surrender all.

You Are God Alone

You are not a god created by human hands
You are not a god dependant on any mortal man
You are not a god in need of anything we can give
By Your plan, that's just the way it is

You are God alone from before time began
You were on Your throne, You are God alone
And right now, in the good times and bad
You are on Your throne, You are God alone

You're the only God whose power none can contend
You're the only God whose name and praise will never end
You're the only God who's worthy of everything we can give
You are God, and that's just the way it is

Unchangeable
Unshakable
Unstoppable
That's what You are

Narnia: Prince Caspian

Okay, maybe it’s a little late for a post on Narnia: Prince Caspian. But better late than never, right? No, my dad was not sitting at the edge of his chair in the cinema like he did for the first Narnia movie, but we all agreed that this one is definitely better than the first one.

So throughout the movie I was busy typing into my handphone. I was not sending SMSes, mind you. I am a law abiding citizen. But I was taking down some of the quotes that I find interesting.

Here’s one, from the scene when Lucy first met Aslan. She was telling Him how she thought she saw Him, while the others brushed it off as an illusion. And His reply was this:

“And why did that stop you from coming to me?”

If I were in Lucy’s place, I would have felt a hard smack on the face. This is a classic example of how we always put the blame on others when things go wrong. Just like in the very beginning. Just like Eve. I thought that I’m more righteous and more worthy of praise than the others, because I believed. Truth is, if my faith was strong enough, I would have taken action, since faith without action is nothing. But like Lucy, when people around started doubting me, I started doubting myself too. And this held me back from taking the required action. This is just as bad as not believing at all. In the end, I am the one to be blamed for doubting my own faith. It’s my fault and no one else’s.

Here’s another one, from the scene when Aslan appoints Prince Caspian as the next King of Narnia:

“Caspian: I do not think I am ready.

Aslan: And for that reason, I know you are.”

It is a wonder how God never calls one who thinks that he is ‘ready and well-equipped’, but one who thinks that he does not have it takes to do the job. Like young David. Like King Josiah. Maybe because it is when we realize our own shortcomings and insufficiencies, that we learn to trust in His superior knowledge and to draw strength from Him. It is time I realize and recognize the fact that, without Him, I am nothing and can do nothing. Then, I’ll be ready for what He has in store for me. Well, maybe not to be Queen, but I wouldn’t mind being one.

And then this one came as a good reminder:

“Susan: Why do you think I didn’t see Aslan?
Lucy: Maybe you didn’t want to?”

How true is that! We want to seek God’s counsel. We want to hear Him. We want an answer and a direction from Him. But at times, He just seems so silent. Too silent, as though He is non-existent. Truth is, he is always there for us. Maybe we even heard it. We just denied it because the answer He gave is not the one we wanted and expected. I should know. How often have I denied His voice just because He was not saying what I wanted Him to. It’s not that I didn’t see Him, I just didn’t want to.

And this next one came as a strong blow that struck me and woke me up. From the scene in which the rat (whatever his name was) found out that he lost his tail:

“Aslan: Perhaps you think too much of your honour.”

I am guilty of this one. Hey! Serving God is not about me or my honour. It never is. How easy it is for me to focus on how well I do my job, and how it reflects on my character, so much so that I have lost sight of the sole purpose to please my Lord, and forgot that His power is made perfect in my weakness. Perhaps I think too much of my honour and not His.

So, bottom line is, if you missed Narnia, go watch it! Nah.... It's just that C. S. Lewis has such a great mind! I mean, he managed to tell the story of Christ on Malaysia's silverscreen! Well, it takes a great mind to do the job.

Survival

Survivor is back!! And this time it is in Xinjiang, China. Okay, I may be a lil' outdated, but pardon me, as I don't have AXN at home. Anyway, let's rejoice!! Survivor is back!!

So, before the game began, all the contestants were brought to a Buddhist temple to 'perform a ritual'. Jeff said that it was not an act of worship, but it was just a way for the Chinese to welcome them onto Chinese soil.

But to my horror, after they entered the temple, they were made to hold jostick and kneel and bow (as in literally-put-their-face-to-the-ground kind of bow) to the huge gold statue! Half way through the 'ritual', there was a girl by the name of Leslie who ran out of the temple with tears streaming down her eyes and said she could not do it.

When asked by Jeff why didn't she do it even though he said it was not an act of worship, she said this one thing that made me feel so proud of her,

"I will only put my face to the ground for my Jesus."

Way to go, girl!

Now I truly understand how 'reality TV' got its name. It is a reflection of reality, of what is happening in the real world, of what is happening all around us. And Survivor is definitely nothing short of a microcosm of the world at large. After all, we are indeed fighting for survival, aren't we?

Let's see.... we are fighting for survival in the workplace (who wants to be the first to go when it's retrenchment time?); we are fighting for survival in the family (everyone wants to outdo their siblings!); we are fighting for survival in our spiritual lives, in the midst of a world that is choosing to deny the existence of God (and unfortunately, many are losing the fight...); and we are fighting for survival in life itself. Everyone tries to outplay, outwit and outlast each other, so as not to be the outcast.

Inevitably, there are people of stronger character who are born leaders, and there are those who naturally sink into the background and play the flower pots. Yet, everyone in their own ways seek to be the winner. Some resort to scheming and others to making alliances, only to turn on their allies in the end.

Then, there is the element of fate that comes into play. The game suddenly takes a different turn, and no one has seen it coming. Suddenly, the two groups are merged into one. Suddenly, you are diagnosed with a fatal disease and the doctor says that you have only one more month to live. Suddenly, you are told that the company does not need you anymore, just when you were eyeing on that empty manager seat. Suddenly, the one you love is leaving you for good. All the plans that you have laid out so perfectly before have to be put to rest now. All is lost. You are lost.

And things get even more tensed when the game is coming to an end. People start to turn against one another in order to save their own backs. Alliances are broken. Promises are broken. Friendships are broken. And you wonder if your heart is gonna be next. Yet, you eventually realise that you still need the people against whom you've turned your back. So you try to mend fences, hoping all is not too late. But a mended piece of clothing is never the same as a brand new one.

All these just for the reward. How much does the reward worth anyway? $1 million? Yet, you have purchased it with your integrity and your conscience. What have you really won in the end?

Of course, you think to yourself, if only you can play the game all over again, you will play the game differently. You will proceed with a different strategy altogether. You will not make the same mistakes the others have made. If only you are given a second chance, things will definitely be different.

But then again, how many of us are given a second chance?

However, it is always a comfort to know that, in spite of it all, the Game Master is still in control. This is but a Game of Life. All is still well.... or at least so we hope.

something crazy

Recently I have been blessed with Steven Curtis Chapman's This Moment. One of the songs in the album is 'Something Crazy'. The chorus goes like this:

And it's crazy when love gets a hold of you

And it's crazy things that love will make you do

And it's crazy but it's true

You really don't know love at all

Till it's making you do something crazy

Talking about something crazy.... I've always dreamt of doing something crazy. Something really crazy like getting that homeless man in Taman Muda cleaned up and giving him some clothes; buying lunch for the beggars that lined the streets in Plaza Rakyat; sponsoring that cute little girl I saw on World Vision's website; helping that old lady I saw at the LRT station carry her bags down the stairs; giving that man with only RM 20 in his bank account some money.

However, every time these thoughts cross my mind, my mind immediately generates an automatic excuse to brush off such thoughts. It is as though that was a reflex. I wanted to do something crazy, yet physically, it seems as though there were some unspoken rules and unseen barriers withholding me.

It's dangerous to talk to strangers; some of these people won't even be grateful to me; I'm too young to do any such things; what will people think of me?

Well, I guess Love has yet to get a hold of me. Or perhaps I really don't know Love at all.

'The Shawshank Redemption'

It is my exam week, yet within less than 24 hours, I managed to watch the same movie twice on DVD. Well, that really tells how remarkable the movie is! It is indeed one of the best ones I've watched so far. Hands down.... So, ladies and gentleman, presenting to you 'The Shawshank Redemption', starring Tim Robbins and Morgan Freeman.

The movie is set in a prison. It is about a man who was wrongly convicted of murder and was sentenced to life imprisonment, and the things that go on in there really startle you and I. But the thing that thugs at my heart string is the message of friendship and hope that is being brought out. Of all places, it is really ironical that such a message is preached from a prison, where it is known to be a place where no one is your friend. And hope? Sounds to me like the most unlikely thing to be found in a prison.

Anyway, here are a few lines that I would like to quote from the movie:

"There are places in the world that aren't made out of stone.....There's something inside that they can't get to, that they can't touch. It's yours."

It is about hope. Hope is the thing that keeps one alive, and it is the only thing that no one can take away from you. Unfortunately, it is also the thing of which many deprive themselves.

They say that hope is a dangerous thing. It drives a man insane. I say hope is a dangerous thing. Without hope, you have no sanity to be driven away. They say the higher your hope soars, the greater the impact of the subsequent disappointment. I say if your hope does not soar, you will not even live to be disappointed. Hope keeps one alive. While it may be your decision to draw in each breath that is directly keeping you alive, it is hope or hopelessness that brings about that decision.

Here's a wonderful poem on HOPE, by Emily Dickinson:

PART ONE: LIFE, Emily Dickinson

Hope is the thing with feathers
That perches in the soul,

And sings the tunes without the words,

And never stops at all,

And sweetest is the gale is heard;

And sore must be the storm

That could abash the little bird

That kept so many warm.

I've heard it in the chillest land,

And on the strangest sea;

Yet, never, in extremity,

It asked a crumb of me.

At the very end of the movie, this was shown on the screen: "This movie was nominated for 7 Academy Awards, including the Best Picture. It won none."

Anyway

"God is great

But sometimes life ain't good

When I pray

It doesn't always turn out like I pray it should

But I do it anyway"

This is the chorus of a new song by Martina McBride. I like it so much. Things happen and we think that by praying, we always get what we want. But as this song says, things just don't turn out the way we want it to be sometimes. However, in all things, the best that you can do is to trust Him who has the best plan for your life. What a comfort!

"You can pour your soul out singing

A song you believe in

And tomorrow they'll forget you ever sing

Sing it anyway"

This last verse is also an encouragement for me. How many times have we done things that do not seem to be noticed and cherished by others? Countless! We stand up for something we believe in, and we are confronted with objections. Just as I encountered recently. Our confidence and our assurance may be swayed. However, what you really must do is to ascertain what you believe in is true, and HOLD on to your principle! It doesn't matter if no one else notices what you do, or disapproves of it, what matters is that it is pleasing to our Heavenly Father.

Now you see why Martina McBride never ceases to be one of my favourites!

Science vs Humanity

Can humanity be tested with a scientific experiment? One with a hypothesis, variables and finally brings you to a conclusion? interesting.... This is the question posted in the movie "The Forgotten", a movie that I'd watched in the cinema couple of years ago with some friends, and had recently watched it again on the TV with my family. Obviously, it is one of my favourites.

In the movie, the aliens abducted some kids and faked a plane crash to cover it up. They subsequently erased memories of the kids from every human mind. All these aim to prove their hypothesis that the bond between parents and children is dissolvable, just like any other molecular bond. All except one mother denied the existence of the children. The mother then went on an adventure to prove her memory, and finally found herself standing up against the alien to combat him face to face, while holding on to the memories of her son, defending them from being taken away by the alien. Of course, as with most movies, it ended with a happily-ever-after ending.

However, to me, this is more than just any movie. This movie has succeeded in magnifying the fact that humanity is far more superior than science. Humanity can never be tested nor be proven with scientific methods, neither can the human mind fully comprehend humanity using scientific reasoning. We may conceive the newest technology and invent robots that are symbols of our technological advancement, but we can never fully comprehend the gift of humanity and the human mind.

Humanity is the unique gift God has given to mankind, and this elevates us to a position of superiority over other creations. It is what distinguishes us from other living creatures. We feel and we think for ourselves, and with our reasoning, we decide what's good and what's not and then act accordingly. Humanity is the greatest gift ever given to mankind.

But as with all gifts, just as it can be given to us, in the same way, we can also lose it, either by our own account, or as a result of circumstances. It is time we check ourselves and see what have we been doing with this precious gift from up above. News of wars, bombings and suicide attacks have been adding colours to the newspapers. All these may seem far-fetched to people like you and I who are living in a supposingly peaceful country. However, we can certainly identify with the news of the toddler being killed and her body dumped in several places, the 12-year-old who brutally murdered his tuition teacher's young daughter and the parents who killed their own baby. Where is humanity? Sure sounds to me that we are gradually turning into emotionless beings, just like the beasts that consume their own young. How scary!

Maybe it is time we check and see what have we done to our gift of humanity. Have we chucked it in the closet and have not been using it for quite some time? Or even worse, have we forgotten where we have left it and can't seem to find it now that we need it? Cling on to the gift of humanity as it is the most precious gift to mankind that has made us who we are today. We would have been just like any other creature in the animal kingdom if not for this priceless gift.

"The Forgotten" ended with a scene that I really cherish. In a final attempt to make his experiment a success- that is for the woman to forget about her child- the alien forced his way into the mother's mind to rob her of memories of her son. He took from her the memory of when she first saw her son- in the operation theater where she gave birth to him and for the first time, looked into his face. He thought by erasing her first glimpse of her son, it will erase subsequent memories of him, but to his surprise, a mother's memory of her child does not begin in the labour room; it began when she first conceived a child, when it was a part of her in her being.

CSI Craze

MONDAY = CSI

If you do not know, CSI stands for 'Crime Scene Investigation'. It is a hit series on criminal investigation, showing on AXN. As I do not have Astro, it means catching an older season on NTV 7 every Monday. There's CSI: New York at 8pm, CSI: Miami at 10.45pm and CSI: Las Vegas at 11.45pm. Hence, the above equation. The television set is mine on Monday evenings. Unfortunately, I usually miss the 8pm one as my dinner time is around 8pm.

CSI has become like an addiction for me. It is a must watch, rain or shine, day or night, exam or no exam. Criminal investigation series are nothing new as there are many other such series. However, I think what capture the interest of CSI fans like me are the scandals surrounding the cases (people just love scandals, don't they?) and the usually stunning revelation at the end of the episode (suspense!).

Another aspect that has captured my attention is the portrayal of the characters, not the criminals (they are all the same: either inhumane, insane, or indifferent) but the investigators. The way they interact with each other and with the criminals sure provide a good ground for character analysis. And each team of CSI has its own unique characteristics, making each one just as unique and interesting.

Fellow CSI-kaki, Hon Whi, once asked me who's my favorite: Mac (NY), Horatio (Miami) or Grissom (Las Vegas), and my answer was Grissom. But right now, I think I want to make an about turn and pick Horatio instead. The more I watch the series, the more I fall in love with him.

Mac is just regular. Nothing much about him. Neither good nor bad, lukewarm. Grissom on the other hand, is absolutely good. His goodness is a universal truth. A father figure, nice, kind, friendly. He will be the one who counsels his subordinate and be the first to advocate their promotion is they are deem to be suitable. In fact, he is just too good to be real, so much so that I find it difficult to identify him as a real person. Well, I must commend the producer though, for creating such a down-to-earth guy as Grissom.

As for my dear Horatio (and his trademark shades), he is such a mystery. His cool outward appearance sure disguises his warm heart well. At times he seems to be an emotionless robot who keeps strictly to procedure. But when it comes to his loved ones, or even the victims' family, his heart just melts for them and seeks to help them wherever possible. Of course when it comes to his own brother, he is willing to go as far as to bend the rules for his sake. Now that's human!

Besides being a scientific movie, Grissom's team is actually pretty poetic. There are some quotes from the series that I found really meaningful. When a dead girl lied on the coroner's table, he said this,

"Beauty is skin deep. We're all the same inside."

And as Greg (the new kid in Grissom's team) attended his first post mortem, he said this about life as he saw the body being cut open,

"That's all we really are. It's what we do with it that counts."

Well, CSI is more than just a criminal investigation series. It is indeed an insightful drama. Probably this is why it caught my interest and and the interest of so many others. A wonderful production indeed.

This one's for the gals!

I heard this song on the radio (Lite FM, my favourite!) the other day. I really like it. It's not new, I've heard it a thousand times. Still I love it all the same.

Title: This One's For The Girls

Artiste: Martina McBride

This is for all you girls about 13

High school can be so rough, can be so mean

Hold on to, on to your innocence

Stand your ground when everybody's givin' in

This one's for the girls

This is for all you girls about 25

In little apartments, just tryin' to get by

Livin' on, on dreams and spaghettios

Wonderin' where your life is gonna go

Chorus:

This one's for the girls

Who've ever had a broken heart

Who've wished upon a shooting star

You're beautiful the way you are

This one's for the girls

Who love without holdin' back

Who dream with everything they have

All around the world

This One's for the girls

This one's for all you girls about 42

Tossin' pennies into the fountain of youth

Every laugh, laugh line on your face

Made you who you are today

Yeah, we're all the same inside (same inside)

From 1 to 99

Over the centuries, we have seen girls constantly being treated as the weaker gender, as the inferior in society. In Indian society, girls are not worth having, because when they get married, the family will have to pay loads of money in dowry to the bridegroom, so is the case in Western society. In Chinese society, dowry is paid by the guy's family, but guess what? Girls are still not worth having. How IRONICAL!! Why? Because they can't carry on the family name. It is as though you raise a girl to be given away when they get married. Either way, having a girl is not worth it, financially and emotionally and whatever-ly.

As I was reading the papers the other day, China is currently facing a shortage of girls, especially in rural areas, because of the one-child policy and the *ahem!* less-than-intelligent mindset that girls are inferior. So parents, think twice! Where would all of us be if not for the women in our midst? Statistics have shown that there are more female uni graduates than male. High positions in the corporate world are gradually taken over by women. (How about that, guys?)

Although the view of society regarding gender equality has gradually been reshaped (or should I say "been corrected") over the years, and girls are given more importance, it is most important that we girls do not view ourselves as being creatures incapable of standing on our own two feet and pursuing our own goals in life. I never believe that women cannot survive without men, and that the only purpose in life for a woman is to be "happily married". On the other hand, I do not think that men and women can be equal in every way, for I believe that since God has created us to be different, He has designated roles for us to play, whether in society or in a family.

For instance, I still believe that a man, as the husband, should always be the head of a family, just as Christ is the head of a church. It is next to impossible, if not actually impossible, for two persons to share equal power within a setting. If a disagreement arises, whose opinion is to be taken? However, that does not mean that the wives are to treated like dirt under your feet. As the role of a wife is to support and to obey her husband, God has also given the husband a responsibility to love and to protect his wife. (Ephesians 5: 22-33)

This principal of gender equality has recently been brought to the extreme when feminists argue that "History" should be changed to "Herstory" because the use of the word "his" contributes to gender bias, and that the pronoun "she" should also be used for God. I don't think such views are very practical or useful. It sounds to me as though these people are just trying to kick up a fuss for no particular reason.

Instead, guys and gals should learn to respect each other; respect each other's differences, respect each other's abilities, and respect each other's God-given roles and destiny. As for you girls, I do not believe that our lives revolve around men, that we need them in life and we must get married. To a certain extent, maybe. I believe that pleasing God should occupy the center stage of our lives. We should always seek to carry out His will and His plan for our lives, may it be to raise up a godly family, or to pursue a career that becomes a platform for us to serve Him.