August 2010
52 posts
I found this poem i wrote back in 2004, when i was pretty distraught. I wrote it back then in my sadness, reminding myself that God was still by my side, God would always be faithful, God was in control. Back then, i wrote it to let out all the pain and sadness i felt inside, crying out each time i read it to myself because times were so tough. Now i look at the poem on the tear-stained paper and...
The Sins of a Generation | Boundless Line (link) →
What might turn out to be our generation’s corporate sin?
"I had a funny dream last night, Mister Frodo.."
I dreamt i was in a medieval castle in those ages where the kings would literally reign from their castles within, seated on magnificent thrones. I was a small fry, a mere scribe or secretary of sorts, but seated alongside the King Himself. I was in His service - gladly employed, though i think “employed” isn’t really the word for it; i wasn’t paid for what i was doing, i...
Trauma need not be of epic catastrophic proportions - such a state of distraught can easily be brought about with simple occurrences: shattering of dreams, a breaking of heart, denial of attaining an ambition, all can cause emotional turmoil at any point of time. Perhaps why it was so prominent in the subject is because he not only faced them one after another, but at the same time. Moreover,...
“The real art of conversation is not only to say the right thing at the right...”
– Dorothy Nevill
iThink
…talk is cheap. And it becomes even cheaper when one thing is said and another is done.
…that one person’s experience is not necessarily the standard procedure for all, and that one man’s adventure could well be another man’s terror.
…that a half truth, or a half concealed truth is still a lie.
…people are more inclined to believe your actions than...
Whoa. I haven’t woken up feeling this terrible for a long while.
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On Feedback
I recently got a wrap done over my iPhone - i’ve gotten so used to the feel of it on the older one that although i realize i’ll only be having this phone for less than the lifetime of the wrap i still got it done. I like the idea that i don’t really have to worry about minor scratches or where i put it. The main difference before and after is that this time they did the wrap over...
Teetering on an edge.
Hanging by a thread.
Balancing on a tightrope.
Gripping on a lifeline.
Running on empty.
Fighting on tears.
Living on a prayer.
Mooiness! » “I thought he was just being nice to... →
“Ok girls, let’s just say the guy is stupid too for not expressing himself verbally or physically. Instead, he just keeps doing these nice things for you in the hope of you falling for him without him having to stick his neck out, ie. the chicken-shit way, and you thought that he was just being nice to you. Fair enough. But, once your radar starts picking up something more you should start...
There are so many things that i'd like to know
…but i have to keep telling myself that it doesn’t matter even if i don’t know them.
“The boy should enclose and keep, as his life, the child at the heart of him, and...”
– George MacDonald
“For by maturity we do not mean rigidity, calcification of the heart.”
– John Eldredge, The Way Of The Wild Heart
Bah.
The one night I can finally sleep and I am not able to fall asleep. Figures.
Your Brain on Computers - Overuse of Digital... →
“Almost certainly, downtime lets the brain go over experiences it’s had, solidify them and turn them into permanent long-term memories,” said Loren Frank, assistant professor in the department of physiology at the university, where he specializes in learning and memory. He said he believed that when the brain was constantly stimulated, “you prevent this learning process.”
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The Power of the Mind - Rationalization
I gave some thought recently to cognitive dissonance (see a previous post if you want to find out more - there’s a wiki link there), and i wondered on the powers of rationalization of the human mind.
I think very often we face situations where we want to do one thing but are made to do another. Or we know that one path is better but we actually want to take the other path in life, if we are...
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Digging In: α and Ω
I’m going to start a series in which i will (attempt) to dig deeper into some of the words or jargon we commonly use in worship or in church, and delve into the deeper meaning of it, as much as i can. More often than not this will be something that strikes me as most of us not really going deep enough into what we say and just repeating it as it comes. I think some of these things have...
I’ve come to realize that things that are not said or asked are equally obvious to me as what is.
one forty plus: Simple. →
crayontruths:
I wish that when I was younger I could have met my current self. We would have sat down at a coffee shop so that I could explain life to young me in terms that only we would understand. It would have saved me a lot of hardship.
You can listen to all the sage wisdom you want, but things only make sense when you can explain them to yourself in your own words. For instance, I’ve...
“There are truths which one can only say after having won the right to say them.”
– Jean Cocteau (via itsjusttv)
Cognitive dissonance - Wikipedia, the free... →
Cognitive dissonance is an uncomfortable feeling caused by holding conflicting ideas simultaneously. The theory of cognitive dissonance proposes that people have a motivational drive to reduce dissonance. They do this by changing their attitudes, beliefs, and actions.[2] Dissonance is also reduced by justifying, blaming, and denying. It is one of the most influential and extensively studied...
And after it all I can’t help but still blame myself.
Channel NewsAsia - Eye on Business - Sant Qiu Blog... →
“Just because I disagree with something doesn’t necessarily mean it’s...”
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Vision: Focus
I blogged recently about my new specs as a metaphor for how things seem to look all right and we don’t see how blur or warped our perspective is until we see the way things are supposed to be. I just realized another aspect that comes to mind today when i took off my glasses to play sports.
When i first took them off, I had a hard time focusing properly, seeing as i’d been wearing...
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Trustworthiness
I had a thought today - what’s new - that there are some people I find reliable, and there are some people I trust, and the two groups don’t necessarily overlap.
It’s an interesting thought: it means that I can give someone, a friend, a task to do or ask a favor of him and I can count on him to fulfill that favor or get the task completed. But the same person I would not leave something or...
“He giveth power to the faint; and to them that have no might he increaseth...”
– Isaiah 40:29 (via itsjusttv)
Avoid All Forms Of Self Rejection
You must avoid not only blaming others but also blaming yourself. You are inclined to blame yourself for the difficulties you experience … but self-blame is not a form of humility. It is a form of self-rejection in which you ignore or deny your own goodness and beauty.
Every time you reject yourself, you idealize others. You want to be with those whom you consider better, stronger, more...
Work Around Your Abyss
There is a deep hole in your being, like an abyss. You will never succeed in filling that hole, because your needs are inexhaustible. You have to work around it so that gradually the abyss closes. Since the hole is so enormous and your anguish so deep, you will always be tempted to flee from it. There are two extremes to avoid: being completely absorbed in your pain and being distracted by so...
Quite sick of people claiming to do things at their loss for the peace and good of all, when their intentions and underhand methods for selfgain as well as benefits that they reap are rather clear.
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Vision
I have recently joined the ranks of the bespectacled, after enduring one eye’s vision being blur for a couple of months - through my excessive use of the computer for everything, i’ve finally had to succumb to wearing them to combat the fatigue of one eye’s astigmatism making things look like they’re being viewed through a broken pair of 3D glasses. It’s become so...
He knows my name He knows my every thought He sees each tear that falls And He hears me when I call.
- He Knows My Name
Random thoughts
Performing of spiritual acts or attending functions associated with spirituality does not automatically make one spiritual. Similarly for intellectuality.
Such things are shown in life and day to day living, not in the outward exhibition. Unfortunately often that is all we can see and thus we conclude based on these observations, which were never meant to act as supporting evidence in the first...
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"Knowledge Isn't Everything"
The first time i heard that was from a Marvel comic, starring the Fantastic Four. Doctor Doom had turned to magic instead of science for his revenge on the hero’s family, and Reed Richards was trying his best to combat it and rescue his kidnapped family. The only problem was that he couldn’t understand how magic worked and thought instinctively in numbers, formulas and patterns, and...
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The Duality Perception (or lack thereof)
Something that i’ve noticed that we all practice rather subconsciously is what i call “Digital Analysis” - things are either a 1 or 0, like binary. Perhaps in more complex situations, things are trinary: 0, 1 or 2. Because of the way we are taught to think, and the kind of environment my generation has been brought up in, we see things in terms of options and absolutes - right or...
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“Sed levius fit patientia quidquid corrigere est nefas.
(Patience makes lighter...”
– Horace (via itsjusttv)
Buried Treasure: The Adventure of Staying Put →
Home is where the action is. These people around us — our families, our church, our community of believers — are profound mysteries. Each person you meet is an image-bearer, the crown of God’s creation on earth, loved and known by the Maker more intimately than we could possibly imagine.
Thoughts on History
Sometimes just because it is not known to the common public, doesn’t mean that it didn’t happen and that there are no repercussions. Worse still these repercussions are found too late, or found in isolated areas.
Whether or not something has been revealed, the fact remains that it has happened.
Vocabulary of Grace →
“Words damage or heal; impart grace or condemn. On a deep level, they alter the way we see life and respond to challenges. They create safe places or dangerous ones..”
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The Responsibility of Mentorship
I thought recently on leadership, and the roles that we play as leaders - be it in our workplace, in our churches or small groups, in our social environments even. There are bound to be people who will end up in positions which we are in a capacity to guide or influence others, and to all intents and purposes i believe those to be heavy responsibilities.
I’ve seen good leaders, great...
“When you come to the edge of all that you know, you must believe one of two...”
– The Summer King, O.R. Melling (via fuckyeahliteraryquotes)
What is it called when a person is “speaking in... →
TossingTurning
And again how the tiny vessel Against the rabid strong waves wrestled And tossed and turned without so much a hassle Leaving nary a cove to hide
The little boat, alone, and strained to the core Could not take a batter much more And she cried till the creaks in her planks were sore As the waters splashed from aft to side
So a silent whisper came ‘fore the morning Thunderous, yet soft, without...
“Eternity in an hour.”