Be still my soul

I agree with Irene from her sharing on that we have to find rest in our busy work schedule. Yea. Works wouldnt stop itself, unless we're the one to cease it. Perhaps we can find thousands of reason to keep ourselves extremely busy. But there's only one good reason for us to take rest: our soul needs rest.

I like this hymn lately.

BE STILL MY SOUL
Be still, my soul; the Lord is on thy side;
Bear patiently the cross of grief or pain;
Leave to thy God to Order and provide;
In every change He faithful will remain.
Be still, my soul; thy best, thy heavenly Friend
Thru thorny ways leads to a joyful end.

Be still, my soul; thy God doth undertake
to guide the Future as He has the past,
Thy hope, thy confidence let nothing shake;
all now mysterious shall be bright at last.
Be still, my soul; the waves and winds still know
His voice who ruled them while He dwelt below.

Be still, my soul; the hour is hastening on
When we shall be forever with the Lord,
When disappointment, grief, and fear are gone,
sorrow forgot, love's purest joys restored.
Be still, my soul; when change and tears are past,
all safe and blessed we shall meet at last. Amen

Suffering v.s existence of God?

I've had a brief conversation with my friend about Christianity last night. He was a catholic before. He raised a question that indeed induced me to think about it seriously. He questioned why there're so many suffering around if God really exists. We can probably understand/accept why bad guys have to suffer. But yet, why do "good" people or "innocent" people suffer?
So, I was thinking about it very seriously. It IS a hard question, but typical I guess. To me, as a christian, it's difficult to fully understand what God's will is. Sometimes people suffer because they are sinful. Sometimes God wants men to suffer for other purpooses, say to testify His love, to develop care between brothers and sisters...For example, why did Jesus, who has never sinned, suffer and die for us? Yeah. This is hard to get the reason. But through that God has testified to us how He loves us. (For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. John 3:16)

So it's really difficult to understnad the full story behind. Very often we are bounded to the worldly definitions of 'good', 'bad' and 'suffering'. We begin to question and we lose our faith in God. So, we have to pray the Lord that He can give us wisdom. We've gotta realize that it's not the 'fortunate'/'unfortunate' encounters that matter. The process of it is sth that really matter. The fruitful thing is: we can always experience Him in the process, and the things He gave us are always good to us in the long run. This is what our faithful Lord has promised to us. So, let's have faith in Him.

P.S. Pray the Lord for opening my friend's heart, so that he can get the salvation soon.

Frustrated

Feel frustrated these days! Seems like things are happening just to let me down. Trying to pay effort on works but no result could be achived at all...
Hate to have such a blue mood..feel a bit stressed out! What shall I do!?

A Tribute to Everwood!

For those who love the show "Everwood"! (I'm a big fan of it, by the way!)

I was invited to give my testimony in today's sunday school. And that gave me a chance to rethink how I got the salvation. It once again reminded me how blessed I am to be chosen by God. When I restropected my past, I truly realized how He has planned my life from the very begining. It was not that I had done sth good to Him that He has chosen me. But He has completed the salvation to save us when we were still sinful men. Many times I was weak and did things that disappointed Him, but He has never left me and given me up. Instead, He pulled me back to Him. That's really an amazing grace. Praise to Him.

P.S. sorry that I didn't call you and let you worry about me. Promise that "No Next Time!".

How Careless I am!?

This morning I was in a hurry rushing to the discussion class that I taught. I've done a really stupid thing. I left my car, locked the doors BUT..FORGOT TO TAKE OUT THE CAR KEY. How careless (or stupid?) I AM!? :( Luckily my friend got my spare key. Thx God.

Busy day..

Today was a busy day. Teaching, research and video conference group meeting with Tony. It's 8sth pm now and works still havent been all done. Add oil Add oil~

Video conference is finally working and we are going to have meeting regularly. It means..I cant be lazy anymore coz boss is going to check progress regularly! Is it good or not good!?

Thx God.

That's a good news! Tho' I don't really think I deserve it. There're far more people who are much better than me. Well..Thx God. Praise the Lord and it's all His glory.
I feel really happy today, because my mum, my dad and sandra are all delighted about that. I found that they are one of the main source of my happiness. I feel really blessed to have them in my life.

Hero

I havent listened to this song for more than a year. But I got a new understanding about the song after I listened to it again this morning.

Hero - Mariah Carey
There's a hero
if you look inside your heart.
You don't have to be afraid of what you are.
There's an answer
if you reach into your soul
and the sorrow that you know will melt away.

And then a hero comes along
with the strength to carry on
and you cast your fears aside
and you know you can survive.
So, when you feel like hope is gone
look inside you and be strong
and you'll finally see the truth
that a hero lies in you.

It's a long road
when you face the world alone;
No one reaches out a hand for you to hold.
You can find love if you search within yourself
and the emptiness you felt will disappearrrr.

And then a hero comes along
with the strength to carry on
and you cast your fears asideand
you know you can survive.
So, when you feel like hope is gone
look inside you and be strong
and you'll finally see the truth that a hero lies in you.

Lord knows dreams are hard to follow,
But don't let anyone tear them away.
Hold on, there will be tomorrow,
In time you'll find the way.

And then a hero comes along
with the strength to carry on
and you cast your fears aside
and you know you can survive.
So, when you feel like hope is gone
look inside you and be strong
and you'll finally see the truth that a hero lies in you.

That a hero lies in youuuuuuuuuu.
ohhh that a hero lies in youuu.

Monday: I got a cold. I felt terribly uncomfortable. The headache and dizziness were killing me. And poor me -- I gotta proctor and grade the exam today. After grading the exam, I rushed back home to hit the sack. Thx God that I felt much much better after the medication and >10 hours sleep.

Tuesday: It has been a long day. Teaching, office hours, extra office hours and research works. Well.. It's enjoyable, tho' tiring.

I was reading the Book of Job tonight. The book discusses why and how an innocent person, Job, suffered. Job was a good man. But Job lost all his possessions. His children died. He became so ill that he wanted to die. But Job refused to insult God.
Many times we may want to give up when we are having a terrible experience. Sometimes we may even insult God. But I think..God can use the experience of suffering for good. We should never think that suffering is a waste. Also, God won't give us test beyond what we can bear. This reminds me with some verses from the New Testament:

"Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance. Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything." (James 1:2-4)

"No temptation has overtaken you except such as is common to man; but God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will also make the way of escape, that you may be able to bear it."(1 Cor. 10:13)