“Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen. And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, with whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. Get rid of all bitterness, rage and anger, brawling and slander, along with every form of malice. Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other just as Christ God forgave you. Be imitators of God, therefore, as dearly loved children and live a life of love, just as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us as a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God”

 Ephesians 4:29-5:2

“we do not stop playing because we grow old…

                        …we grow old because we stop playing”

                                                     – Benjamin Franklin

i thank God for…

i thank God for friends. seriously. i just want to say, especially to those in toronto who have at some point “rescued” me from being stranded, taken me into their homes, driven me around, let me tag along with them and their friends because i was with them/staying with them. i am so thankful & grateful. GOd has seriously blessed me with such great friends who have opened up their homes/lives to me. thanks friends! much love to you all.

and especially to GOd who has taken care of me time and time again. all those little things, safety, company, for always being with me. thanks. i love you.

random babblings

i believe that emotion is the central characteristic of a human being. passion, extreme emotion that drives us to reveal our true character. what defines us as humans that make up society, a topic for cultural creativity.

there are emo songs. words that express a painful and often angry reaction towards brokenness, where the damaged heart reflects the cruelty of man. some words lead to a dead end of self-pity. others light a distant anticipation of hope. angry peaceful words echo with violence, only expressing what the speaker dare not physically do. words describing racism, revenge, jealousy, heartache, abuse, death, greed…and the list goes on. death, is understandable and a mourning process that follows. but the rest. how did we ever become like this? how did we ever become capable of creating such emotions in reaction to our evils? we are suppose to have come from a God who is of nothing but love. but i guess as humans we tend to screw everything up. in this world love seems to cause more problems than bring joy. love is replaced it with sex, or rather disregarded altogether for sex. the media glorifies it. sex over the messiness of a relationship. but we know that sex was ONLY intended for love. how did we ever fall so far away. with love comes jealousy which leads to conflict, perhaps unfaithfulness. some people use love for some personal gain, you get terms like gold digger. people have tainted the sanctity of love. some companies no longer allow leaves for weddings since so many people get divorced anyway.

yet, the world has it’s moments of pure love. lyrics of love songs that can only be written as a reflection of the experience of intense genuine love. a love that we share with a man, a mere fraction of love from God. i believe that love is the strongest emotion of all, it is amazing how much power (as cheese as that sounds) it holds, the ability to overcome all other emotions. even as christians, what do we think of love? have we been tainted by the world? jaded? …bitter? sometimes i find myself lost in the hopelessness of the world, but reminded of the unceasing love that my creator, my God has for me. i’m sure God intended for this world to be a happy place, a place where He could enjoy and love as love seeks out a beloved. however, He has now become the hope of the world, the only true consistent endless love source that is offered in this world. a love that releases years of bitterness, releases unforgiveness, that puts an end to the sick cycle of revenge. we lose the desire to judge in revenge as justified as it may be, and with our hurt, embrace freely with love.

the world searches desperately for this love.

So here I am it’s in my hands
And I’ll savor every moment of this
So here I am alive at last
And I’ll savor every moment of this

- the used

friendship

i was talking to a friend the other day and we discussed about friendship. it was interesting because i’ve had these thoughts in my head for a while and it was nice being able to talk to someone else about, especially someone who agreed with me muahaha. i guess back in high school i always felt that if i could find friends that i could talk “deep” about, especially about personal stuff, then that person is someone i can be close friends with and someone i can confide in, basically someone i “click” with. funny thing how now i’ve realized how different that is? as fellow Christian friends, there’s always that deeper level to connect on, there’s always that common ground of spirituality to be shared, yet the so called “surfacey” stuff is often neglected. and that is also something that makes up a significant part of a friendship. you may know a person well in terms of their relationship with God, their struggles, lessons, blessings, praises, and don’t get me wrong, those are definitely the most important aspects to a Christian, yet God also gave us our unique character and life story.

what happened to sitting around talking about nothing, everything, anything for hours? what was it like growing up? what were your parents like? what were your childhood fears? remmeber those high school curfews? remember those growing up days? etc…

just a few thoughts. i wish i could express myself better in words. oh well.

Romans 5:8

But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

i must have read that verse at least a dozen times, if anything, you ICSers maybe remember the whole bible verse package thingy we ALL HAD to do for bible class in high school?  anyway, i suppose i never realized the “while” part of the verse. God loved us so much that even BEFORE we realized that we were doing something wrong, even for those people who are not even Christians (yet?), God just goes ahead and pays for the price anyway. and then later He waits for us to accept it. it’s like He wanted to offer us forgiveness and atonement even before we confess and repent. kind of like even before we realize we’re screwing up, your parents have already smacked their own hand as a punishment for your sins.

i hope that i can learn to do the same.