The Abstract

"We miss the abstract when we comprehend.
We miss it most when we aspire, - and fail."

-Elizabeth Barrett Browning, Aurora Leigh, fifth book

The Power of Love

"To love, is to entrust someone with the power to hurt you."

The Waiting Room

"But those who wait on the Lord will renew their strength.

They will soar on wings like eagles;

they will run and not grow weary,

they will walk and not be faint."

Isaiah 40:31

I can definitely endorse the authenticity of this verse. After all, I have been waiting, and am still waiting. All that I do everyday is eat, and sleep, and eat more, and sleep more. It is a wonder if my strength is not renewed.

Waiting has been a significant part of my life.

I still remember the last time I was waiting, I sank into a spell of depression and self-pity. It was not the most pleasant and proudest period of my life, and yet the irony of it was that it came after a huge victory. I guess when you are waiting, you just have so much time on your hands, so much so that you have nothing better to do than to let your thoughts wander into some forbidden region of your mind. You begin to think about everything that never even occurred to you when you had busier days. For me, my thoughts wandered to my loss and my failure.

Fancy mentioning these two words right after a major victory, huh? But yes, my thoughts chose to dwell on all that I was unable to grasp. I thought about all the plans I had for myself, all the plans which did not materialise. I thought about the uncertainty of what lies ahead of me. I was waiting, but I did not know what I was waiting for.

But in spite of it all, the promise of Isaiah 40:31 was waiting to be claimed. And it was proven true. The waiting was not in vain. The Lord on whom I was waiting led me to open doors that I never knew existed. While I was waiting, He was working.

Now I find myself waiting again. But this time round, it is different. I am not dwelling in uncertainty. I know where I am heading to. Still, I find my thoughts wandering to unfamiliar grounds. I reflect on all that is in and around my life. I reflect on all the little wonders surrounding me, things and people that I never had time for. And I realise just how blessed I am.

I have come to realise that waiting can be fruitful. The waiting room can be surrounded by four walls, with seemingly nothing. But it is what you do in that little room, and how you use the time, that make a difference. While I wait on Him, I know I wait in expectancy on Him, and when my strength is renewed in Him, I will run and not grow weary, walk and not be faint.

Waiting has been a significant part of my life, and it will continue to be.

Wonders of the Present

Here's another reason why I love Calvin and Hobbes!

"Sometimes it seems things go by too quickly.

We are so busy watching out for what's just ahead of us

that we don't take the time to enjoy where we are."

-Calvin

Now this is so true! Especially for me. And especially when I will only be where I am for one more month.

So, carpe diem, amigo!

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.

interesting!

"Ambition.... is a great man's madness,
that is not kept in chains and close-pent rooms,

but in fair lightsome lodgings, and is girt

with the wild noise of prattling visitants

which makes it lunatic beyond all cure."

-Antonio, John Webster's "Duchess of Malfi"

"The misery of us that are born great,

We are forced to woo because none dare woo us"

-Duchess, John Webster's "Duchess of Malfi"

Sweet!

As I was flipping through my diary, I saw these quotes that I had taken down:

"I have not broken your heart- you have broken it; and in breaking it, you have broken mine."

"I forgive what you have done to me. I love my murderer- but yours! How can I?"

-by Heathcliff, Charlotte Bronte's "Wuthering Heights"

Sunday's Child

Monday's child is fair of face,

Tuesday's Child is full of grace,

Wednesday's child is full of woe,

Thursday's child has far to go,

Friday's child is loving and giving,

Saturday's child works hard for a living,

But the child that is born on the Sabbath Day is bonny and blithe and good and gay.

November 20, 1988 was a Sunday. Guess that explains a lot, huh? haha......

'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."

Man: Civilised vs Barbarous

As I was doing revision the other day, I came across a very interesting remark in my Unit 4 Literature text, Alias Grace by Margaret Atwood. It says,

"The difference between a civilised man and a barbarous fiend- a madman, say- lies, perhaps merely in a thin veneer of willed self-restraint."

The 'man' in this context, refers not to the humankind, but to the male sex in particular. It was said in the context of sexual desires. The text was previously discussing the sexual inclination of men, and how women became victims of the lust and personal desires of men.

Hence, in plain words, this remark is saying that, what separates and differentiates say, the fiend who tortured little Nurin from the other 'gentlemen' in our society, is that the latter willfully restraints their actions while the former does not and has thereby given in to his lust. In other words, the remark says that what goes through the minds of all guys is the same. The difference lies in whether those fantasies remain in the mind or are they being put into action.

Hmm.... how interesting... I do not know what goes through the male faculty of thoughts and intelligence, but I sure wonder if I will be surprised and shocked by the discovery of what goes through the minds of these people who cross my path every single day. Will it be an epiphany or will it be an anti-climax?

Guys, do leave a comment to shed light on this issue. Girls, feel free to add on or express yourselves.

To LOVE someone...

"I love him better than myself... I know it by this:

I pray every night that I may live after him;

because I would rather be miserable than that he should be:

that proves I love him better than myself."

- by Emily Brontë's Catherine Earnshaw in Wuthering Heights

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.

some amazing quotes

Here are some quotes from Wuthering Heights by Emily Brontë which I found amazing. It will be even more amazing if not for the fact that the speakers are married, but not to each other...

"...for every thought she spends on Linton, she spends a thousand on me!"

"If he loved with all the powers of his puny being, he couldn't love as much in eighty years as I could in a day."

"...the sea could be as readily contained in that horse trough, as her whole affection be monopolised by him!"

- by Emily Brontë's Heathcliff in Wuthering Heights

"My great miseries in this world has been Heathcliff's miseries, and I watched and felt each from the beginning: my great thought in living is himself. If all else perished, and he remained, I should still continue to be; and if all else remained, and he were annihilated, the universe would turn to a mighty stranger: I should not seem a part of it. My love for Linton is like the foliage in the woods: time will change it, I'm well aware, as winter changes the trees. My love for Heathcliff resembles the eternal rocks beneath: a source for little visible delight, but necessary. Nelly, I AM Heathcliff! He's always, always in my mind: not as a pleasure, any more than I am always a pleasure to myself, but as my own being."

- by Emily Brontë's Catherine Earnshaw in Wuthering Heights

Lost Verse

"When it empties into the Sea, the water there becomes fresh. Swarms of living creatures will live wherever the river flows. There will be large numbers of fish, because this water flows there and makes the salt water fresh; so where the river flows everything will live." Ezekiel 47:8-9

This is one of the verses I really liked. I wrote it down and kept it in my diary, but recently, when I wanted to take it out and look for the reference, it seemed to have disappeared. I tried looking it up in the Bible concordance, but I couldn't seem to locate it, as it is not one of the famous verses, like John 3:16. So I looked it up in the online Bible concordance. After hours of searching, I finally found it. Yay!

Well, you may be wondering why this verse. It seems like another one of the verses in the Old Testament, describing this and that, or maybe it sounds like Thomas Hardy's non-stop description of the surrounding (bear with me and my Hardy, as you must understand that I am doing Hardy's text for Literature). Well, stop looking at the face value of the words. Stop taking the verse literally and you will understand.

When I first came across this verse in the Bible, it left a deep impression on me. I marvel at the extensive influence of the river. It even turns sea water into fresh water. Is that amazing or what? Even with modern technology, this is not possible (so I think). And wherever it flows, it brings life!

This makes me reflect on my own life. How amazing it will be if my life can have that kind of an influence on the people around me! To bring life wherever I go (not literally, as I am not God), and to make a difference wherever I go. It brings to mind the message Sis Kim Cheng gave in CF last Friday. Legacy Live! ('Live' means secara langsung). I can make a difference for God wherever He places me right now. I don't have to leave a legacy only after I die.

This is how I want my life to be. It is my prayer that my life will be like the river-- To turn sea water to fresh water and to bring life wherever I go.

Food for Thought

Adapted from "I Kissed Dating Goodbye", Josh Harris.

For the girls: The Fine Print of Dreams

I have leveled with the girls- from Anchorage to Amarillo.

I tell them that all marriages are happy.

It's the living together afterward that's tough.

I tell them that a good marriage is not a gift,

It's an achievement.

That marriage is not for kids. It takes guts and maturity.
It separates the men from the boys and the women from the girls.

I tell them that marriage is tested daily by the ability to compromise.

Its survival can depend on being smart enough to know what's worth fighting about.

Or making an issue of or even mentioning.

Marriage is giving- and more important, it's forgiving.

And it is almost always the wife who must do these things.

Then, as if that were not enough, she must be willing to forget what she forgave.

Often that is the hardest part.

Oh, I have leveled all right.

If they don't get my message, Buster,

It's because they don't want to get it.

Rose-coloured glasses are never made in bifocals

Because nobody wants to read the small print in dreams.

For the guys: A Woman's Question, Lena Lathrop

Do you know you have asked for the costliest thing

Ever made by the Hand above?

A woman' heart, and a woman's life-

And a woman's wonderful love.

Do you know you have asked for this priceless thing

As a child might ask for a toy?

Demanding what others have died to win,

With the reckless dash of a boy.

You have written my lesson of duty out,

Manlike, you have questioned me.

Now stand at the bars of my woman's soul

Until I shall question thee.

You require your mutton shall be hot,

Your socks and your shirt be whole;

I require your heart be true as God's stars

And as pure as His heaven your soul.

You require a cook for your mutton and beef,

I require a far greater thing;

A seamstress you're wanting for socks and shirt-

I look for a man and a king.

A king for the beautiful realm called Home,

And a man that his Maker, God,

Shall look upon as He did on the first
And say: "It is very good."

I am fair and young, but the rose may fade

From this soft young cheek one day;

Will you love me then 'mid the falling leaves,

As you did 'mong the blossoms of May?

Is your heart an ocean so strong and true,

I may launch my all on its tide?

A loving woman finds heaven or hell

On the day she is made a bride.

I require all things that are grand and true,

All things that a man should be;

If you give this all, I would stake my life

To be all you demand of me.

If you cannot be this, a laundress and cook

You can hire and little to pay;

But a woman's heart and a woman's life

Are not to be won that way.

"I Kissed Dating Goodbye"

Don't worry, guys! It is not what I think you think it is. No, I'm not swearing into lifelong singleness. I still look forward to having a family of my own and raising my own beautiful kids. This is the title of a book I'm currently reading-- "I Kissed Dating Goodbye" by Joshua Harris. How I wish I had picked it up earlier!

The issues discussed in the book are so true and so real, yet at the same time, the book is such an eye-opener (at least it is, for me). As you have probably figured out from the title, it is about relationships, but not just romantic relationships. Many has categorised it (if not from the first look of the title) that this book is anti-dating. Well, to a certain extent maybe, but it is not exactly so. It does not condemn dating in and of itself, it just criticises what the people of today have made it to be. Instead, it suggests a better alternative to the worldly concept of dating.

"The joy of intimacy is the reward of commitment" This is what the 2nd chapter of the book says. How true it is! Commitment is such a lacking factor in today's relationships, and yet many people just do not realise this, and they launch into relationships without intending for the relationship to last. Isn't this what we read in the newspapers everyday? of celebrities stepping in and out of the 'game of love'. What an apt term: 'The Game of Love'.

Besides that, I was also brought to realise certain boundaries. I used to think that 'Christian dating' is merely about dating Christian guys, abstaining from sex before marriage, and getting parents' consent. It is only now that I realise it is not as simple as this. It is not a boundary per se. Instead, it is something like a journey on a highway (as Harris puts it): You think that you can go as far till you see a sign that says "Turn Back!", not realising that actually the sign does not exist, and when you finally realise it, you've gone way too far, and must go even further before you can finally turn back.

Then I reflected and saw the times when I've played near the boundaries and almost got electrocuted. I thought of the times I nearly challenged the boundaries, despite being pricked by my own conscience. For this, I'm really grateful to the Lord for saving me in time before I do things that I will further regret.

As I have come to realise, the best way is to stay out of the highway, instead of trying your luck on it, hoping you'll turn back in time before you have gone too far. Unaware to many (myself included), the beginning of this highway is the nurturing of infatuation. I must admit, I used to think that these 'little fancies' are innocent fantasies of the young mind. After all, what harm is there if it remains in the mind? No harm, no foul, so it's okay. But I was wrong. Others may not look into your heart, but it does matter to the God who looks deep into my heart. Purity in relationships does not mean only physical purity, but also that of the mind.

In the book, Harris also highlights the mobility that comes with singleness. Being single allows one to freely serve the Lord, and in the process, learns a lot of precious lessons that will come in handy someday. These are lessons that will prepare you for the relationship God has in store for you. So, singleness is not a 'curse' as many seem to think it is. Instead, it is a wonderful time of growth and adventure.

Therefore, I am determined not to get myself involved in relationships before I am ready to make a lifelong commitment at a time according to God's plan for my life. Meantime, I am certainly indulged in the celebration of singleness, and all the mobility and freedom that comes with it.

Some interesting quotes from the book:

1. As Christians, we know certain things such as "Jesus loves me" and Christ died for sinners." We've heard these statements countless times, but the dust of familiarity can dim the glory of these simple truths. We have to brush them off and remind ourselves of their life-transforming power.
2. One of the most beautiful analogies God uses to define His relationship with us is that of a marriage. To grasp this is both inspirational and sobering. People should be able to look at our marriages and say, "So that's what the church is like? That's what it means to have a relationship with Jesus?"
3. The joy of intimacy is the reward of commitment.

According to HARDY...

"A man should be only partially before his time: to be completely to the vanward in aspirations is fatal to fame. Had Philip's [Alexander the Great's father] warlike son been intellectually so far ahead as to have attempted civilization without bloodshed, he would have been twice the godlike hero that he seemed, but nobody would have heard of an Alexander."

- Thomas Hardy, 'The Return of the Native'

According to Thomas Hardy, in his book 'The Return of the Native':

"A well-proportioned mind is... one of which we may safely say that it will never cause its owner to be confined as a madman, tortured as a heretic, or crucified as a blasphemer. Also, on the other hand, that it will never cause him to be applauded as a prophet, revered as a priest, or exalted as a king... [It enables] its possessors to find their way to wealth, to wind up well, to step with dignity off the stage, to die comfortably in their beds, and to get the decent monument which, in many cases, they deserve."

Well, then Jesus must be OUT OF HIS MIND!! Let's look at some analyses:

1. 'never cause its owner to be confined as a madman': When Jesus claimed to be God, some resorted to calling HIM a lunatic.
   

   "I am trying here to prevent anyone saying the really foolish thing that people often say about Him: I’m ready to accept Jesus as a great moral teacher, but I don’t accept his claim to be God. That is the one thing we must not say. A man who was merely a man and said the sort of things Jesus said would not be a great moral teacher. He would either be a lunatic — on the level with the man who says he is a poached egg — or else he would be the Devil of Hell. You must make your choice. Either this man was, and is, the Son of God, or else a madman or something worse. You can shut him up for a fool, you can spit at him and kill him as a demon or you can fall at his feet and call him Lord and God, but let us not come with any patronising nonsense about his being a great human teacher. He has not left that open to us." -C.S. Lewis, 'Mere Christianity'

2. 'never cause its owner to be... tortured as a heretic': Jesus was an 'unorthodox Jew'; HE healed on a Sabbath (Luke 6:6-11), HE allowed HIS disciples to get food on the Sabbath (Luke 6:1-5), HE let an adulteress go without punishing her (John 8:3-11), HE said HE will tear down the temple and build it within 3 days (Matthew 27:40), HE allowed HIMSELF to be touched by prostitute (Luke 7:36-50)... and the list goes on.


3. 'never cause its owner to be... crucified as a blasphemer': Jesus was accused of blasphemy when HE claimed to be GOD (Luke 5:17-26).


4. 'never cause him to be applauded as a prophet': This what Jesus was (and is) perceived to be. Even up till today, the Muslims and the Jews hailed HIM as a great prophet, and HE was a 'prophet without honour' (Mark 6:4).


5. 'never cause him to be... revered as a priest': This is also what Jesus was called-- the Great High Priest (Hebrews 4:14-15).


6. 'never cause him to be... exalted as a king': Jesus is the King of kings (Revelation 17:14) and at HIS crucifixion, HE was given the title 'King of the Jews' (Matthew 27:37).


7. 'enables it possessors to find their way to wealth': I don't think Jesus was a millionaire. He ate at the home of whoever who welcomed HIM (like Mary, Martha, and Zaccheus) (Luke 9:2-5).


8. 'enables its possessors... to wind up well': I don't think being crucified to death at last is considered as 'winding up well', do you?


9. 'enables its possessors... to step with dignity off the stage': Many times Jesus was driven out of the synagogues and towns for the message HE preached (Luke 4:28-30).


10. 'enables its possessors... to die comfortably in their beds': HE died a death that is most cruel throughout the entire Roman history and the history of mankind-- death on a rugged cross.


11. 'enables its possessors... to get the decent monument which, in many cases, they deserve': No one deserves a monument more than Jesus does; one innocent man who died in place of the sinners in the whole world certainly deserves more than a monument. But what HE got was a denial of HIS innocence and HIS resurrection (Luke 23: 22-24, Matthew 28:11-15).

Therefore, from the above analyses, it seems very clear that, according to Thomas Hardy's theory, Jesus must have had a mind that is, in Hardy's words, not 'well-proportioned'. In modern English, it means that Jesus was out of HIS mind to have done all that HE did. It simply means that Jesus must be crazy! Well, I think so too... Who on earth is stupid enough to die for people who don't even know him, and, knowing him, don't even feel, in the least, a single tinge of gratitude for all that he has done? I'd not met any such person, at least, not until I came to know Jesus. It seems to me that there are only two possible explanations for Jesus' absurd behaviour: (1) HE was, as was concluded from Hardy's words, a complete idiot who had lost HIS mind, or; (2) HE held (and still holds) in HIS heart so great a love that it surpasses all human understanding, and this great love of HIS had driven HIM to accept the death on the cross for you and I. What do you think? You gotta decide for yourself and draw your own conclusion...

"Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends." John 15:13

some quotes

I've recently read Mitch Albom's "The Five People You Meet in Heaven" and I immediately fell in love with it! Not because of any intriguing plot, but because of the reality of life that is reflected in the book, though the plot itself is totally fictional. It is indeed an inspiring book! Here are some quotes which I've found to be really beautiful:

1. "All endings are also beginnings. We just don't know it at the time."
2. "Heaven can be found in the most unlikely corners."
3. "When you are an outcast, even a tossed stone can be cherished."
4. "You can no more separately one life from another than you can separately a breeze from the wind."
5. "Fairness does not govern life and death."
6. "Death doesn't just take someone, it misses someone else, and in the small distance between being taken and being missed, lives are changed."
7. "One withers, another grows. Birth and death are part of a whole."
8. "Strangers are just family you have yet to come to know."
9. "The only time we waste is the time we spend thinking we are alone."
10. "Over the centuries we have seen courage confused with picking up arms, and cowardice confused with laying them down"

"The Five People You Meet in Heaven": Highly recommended!