December 2011
2 posts
moving over to ...
This has been a precious space, carved out as a memento of the heart.
But I’ve decided to shift all my blogs into one cyber-terrain.
So come on to sochews.com, where I’ll continue to post devotions there. See ya!
the love journey
“Mostly what God does is love you. Keep company with him and learn a life of love. Observe how Christ loved us. His love was not cautious but extravagant. He didn’t love in order to get something from us but to give everything of himself to us. Love like that.” (Ephesians 5:2)
“Oh just love me and right now! Hold me tight! Just the way your promised.” (Psalm 119:76)
...
November 2011
3 posts
the lost cause worth fighting for
“You’re blessed when you’re at the end of your rope. With less of you there is more of God and his rule. You’re blessed when you feel you’ve lost what is most dear to you. Only then can you be embraced by the One most dear to you. You’re blessed when you’re content with just who you are - no more, no less. That’s the moment you find yourselves proud...
Poetry 365: Failing and Flying, Jack Gilbert →
poetry365:
Everyone forgets that Icarus also flew. It’s the same when love comes to an end, or the marriage fails and people say they knew it was a mistake, that everybody said it would never work. That she was old enough to know better. But anything worth doing is worth doing badly. Like being there by that summer ocean on the other side of the island while love was fading out of her,...
September 2011
1 post
destinations
“Elisha answered, “Go and tell him, “Don’t worry; you’ll live.” The fact is, though - God showed me - that he’s doomed to die.” Elisha then stared hard at Hazrael, reading his heart. Hazrael felt exposed and dropped his eyes. Then the Holy man wept. Hazrael said, “Why does my master weep?” “Because,” said Elisha, “I know...
August 2011
3 posts
the silence of god
“This is God’s Word on the subject: “As soon as Babylon’s seventy years are up and not a day before, I’ll show up and take care of you as I promised and bring you back home. I know what I’m doing. I have it all planned out - plans to take care of you, not abandon you, plans to give you the future you hoped for. When you call on me, when you come and pray to me,...
the only light in a dark time
“We were also given absolutely terrific promises to pass on to you - your tickets to participation in the life of God after you turned your back on a world corrupted by lust…. We couldn’t be more sure of what we saw and heard - God’s glory, God’s voice. The prophetic word was confirmed to us. You’ll do well to keep focusing on it. It’s the only light you...
June 2011
2 posts
risk
“And then the People of Israel were back at it again, doing what was evil in God’s sight. God put them under the domination of the Philistines for forty years.”
“Some time later he fell in love with a woman in the Valley of Sorek. Her name was Delilah.” (Judges 13:1; 16:4)
The story of Samson is one of the most fascinating in the Bible. Here was a time when the...
the quiet one
“Then he was told, “Go, stand on the mountain at attention before God. God will pass by.” A hurricane wind ripped through the mountains and shattered the rocks before God, but God wasn’t to be found in the wind; after the wind an earthquake, but God wasn’t in the earthquake; and after the earthquake fire, but God wasn’t in the fire; and after the fire a gentle...
May 2011
2 posts
the room
“You’ll be ruined, completely ruined. God will scatter you far and wide; a few of you will survive here and there in the nations where God will drive you. There you can worship your homemade gods to your heart’s content, your wonderful gods of wood and stone that can’t hear or see or eat or smell.”
“God’s love is meteoric, his loyalty astronomic, his...
O Me! O Life!
O ME! O life!… of the questions of these recurring; Of the endless trains of the faithless—of cities fill’d with the foolish; Of myself forever reproaching myself, (for who more foolish than I, and who more faithless?) Of eyes that vainly crave the light—of the objects mean—of the struggle ever renew’d; Of the poor results of all—of the plodding and sordid crowds I see around me; Of the...
January 2011
1 post
December 2010
1 post
the architect
“Remember, there is only one foundation, the one already laid: Jesus Christ. Take particular care in picking out your building materials. Eventually there is going to be an inspection. If you use cheap or inferior materials, you’ll be found out. The inspection will be thorough and rigorous. You won’t get by with a thing. If your work passes inspection, fine. If it doesnt, your...
November 2010
2 posts
mountains laid low
“I look up to the mountains: does my strength come from mountains? No, my strength comes from God, who made heaven, and earth, and mountains.” (Psalm 121:1-2)
Psalm 121 is a proclamation of God’s protection. It plants a sign in the ground that says: God is worthy of your trust. He shields. He neither sleeps nor slumbers. You live in the palm of His hand. This is a psalm...
fighting with god
“God, you have wasted me totally - me and my family! You’ve shrivelled me like a dried prune, showing the world you’re against me. My gaunt face stares back at me from the mirror, a mute witness to your treatment of me. Your anger tears at me, your teeth rip me to shreds, your eyes burn holes in me. God my enemy! (Job 16:7-9)
Job was going through a traumatic time. Yet, even in...
October 2010
4 posts
pure
“He’ll take his place as a refiner of silver, as a cleanser of dirty clothes. He’ll scrub the Levite priests clean, refine them like gold and silver, until they’re fit for God, fit to present offerings of righteousness… Begin by being honest. Do honest people rob God? But you rob me day by day.” (Malachi 3:3,8)
Malachi paints a picture of God here as the...
ordinary faith
“The time of the Son of Man will be just like the time of Noah - everyone carrying on as usual, having a good time right up to the day Noah boarded the ship. They suspected nothing until the flood hit and swept everything away. It was the same in the time of Lot - the people carrying on, having a good time, business as usual.”
“It’s the same with you. When you’ve...
peace
“When you enter a home, greet the family, ‘Peace’.” (Luke 10:5)
As Jesus was sending his disciples into homes, he left them a few interesting charges. Travel light. Don’t loiter and make small talk. Proclaim “God’s kingdom is here!” But I like this charge: as you enter a home, bring peace. Bring shalom.
Peace. Wholeness. Stillness. So hard to find...
introspection: small
When I was in Melbourne, Pastor Tim taught me one way of journaling and examining my inner world. I call it I am, I feel, I see. It has become a really useful tool for introspection, and I use it at times when I have alot to get off my chest.
I am a mere pebble in a raging river. A beggar that feeds off tables. I’m humbled by the uncertainty of life. Tonight, I sat heartbroken as Dad told...
September 2010
2 posts
the evil in me
“In the thirty-ninth year of Azariah, King of Judah, Menahem son of Gadi became king over Israel. He ruled from Samaria for ten years. As far as God was concerned he lived an evil life. Sin for sin, he repeated the sins of Jeroboam, son of Nebal, who led Israel into a life of sin.” (2 Kings 15: 17-18)
“You love it when things are right; You hate it when things are wrong.”...
wounded animals
“Simon Peter, when he saw it, fell to his knees before Jesus. “Master, leave, I’m a sinner and can’t handle this holiness. Leave me to myself.”… Jesus said to Simon, “There is nothing to fear. From now on you’ll be fishing for men and women.” (Luke 5:8,10)
Simon Peter was an ordinary fisherman. His days were pretty routine, and his intentions...
August 2010
3 posts
the hundred is there
The child is made of one hundred.
The child has a hundred languages a hundred hands a hundred thoughts a hundred ways of thinking of playing, of speaking.
a hundred, always a hundred ways of listening of marveling, of loving a hundred joys for singing and understanding a hundred worlds to discover a hundred worlds to invent a hundred worlds to dream.
The child has a hundred...
passion
“But you’re blind and brainless. All you think about is yourself, taking advantage of the weak, bulldozing your way, bullying victims.” (Jeremiah 22:17)
“Someone wicked takes one look and rages, Blusters away but ends up speechless. There’s nothing to the dreams of the wicked. Nothing.” (Psalms 112:10)
“Then Pilate said, “So, are you a king or...
the husband
“Come back, wandering children!” I, yes I, am your true husband. I’ll pick you out one by one - this one from the city, those two from the country - and bring you to Zion (Jeremiah 3:14)
God’s relationship with Israel was a stormy one. In the face of Israel’s infidelity, God’s frustration is all over this passage. Yet, his love is unyielding and deeply...
July 2010
3 posts
introspection: father
When I was in Melbourne, Pastor Tim taught me one way of journalling and examining my inner world. He calls it I am, I feel, I see. It has become a really useful tool for introspection, and I use it at times when I have alot to get off my chest.
I am a house of cards. One little blow and I crumble. I’m put together by twigs, and am reduced to rubble so easily. At the snap of a finger,...
leap of faith
“The fundamental fact of existence is that this trust in God, this faith, is the firm foundation under everything that makes life worth living. It’s our handle on what we can’t see. The act of faith is what distinguished our ancestors, set them above the crowd.” (Hebrews 11:1-2)
By faith, men and women rose and made their mark. By faith, we see ordinary ones find...
the mirage
“You’re going to find that there will be times when people will have no stomach for solid teaching, but will fill up on spiritual junk food - catchy opinions that tickle their fancy. They’ll turn their backs on truth and chase mirages. But you - keep your eye on what you’re doing; accept the hard times along with the good; keep the Message alive; do a thorough job as...
June 2010
1 post
pray always
“The first thing I want you to do is pray. Pray every way you know how, for everyone you know… Since prayer is at the bottom of all this, what I want mostly is for men to pray, not shaking angry fists at enemies but raising holy hands to God.” (1 Timothy 2:1,8)
Paul’s first piece of advice to young Timothy is to pray. Make prayer at the centre of everything. Pray for...
May 2010
3 posts
faithful to a fault
“Depend on it: God keeps his word even when the whole world is lying through its teeth. Scripture says the same: Your words stand fast and true; Rejection doesn’t faze you.” (Romans 3:4)
Will our faithlessness ever cancel out God’s faithfulness? It’s a valid question asked in Paul’s letter to the Romans. His answer is emphatic: not on your life. His words rise...
“Will you be my wings
when the feathers that I need
fall around my feet?”
– Daily Haiku on Love by Tyler Knott Gregson (via tylerknott) (via quote-book)
rich young rulers
“The young man said to Him, “All these things I have kept; what am I still lacking?” Jesus said to him, “If you wish to be complete, go and sell your possessions and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven, and come, follow Me.” But when the young man heard this statement, he went away grieving; for he was one who owned much property.” (Matthew...
April 2010
3 posts
only one place
Then Saul said to his servants, “Seek for me a woman who is a medium, that I may go to her and inquire of her.” And his servants said to him, “Behold, there is a woman who is a medium at Endor.” Then Saul disguised himself by putting on other clothes, and went, he and 2 men with him, and they came to the woman by night” (1 Samuel 28:7-8)
Saul was at a crossroads. He...
“The essence of optimism is that it takes no account of the present, but it is a...”
– Dietrich Bonhoeffer (via julie911) (via quote-book)
i owe him nothing
“If you look at us, you might well miss the brightness. We carry this precious message around in the unadorned clay pots of our ordinary lives. That’s to prevent anyone from confusing God’s incomparable power with us. As it is, there’s not much chance of that. You know for yourselves that we’re not much to look at. We’ve been surrounded and battered by troubles,...
March 2010
8 posts
not in places of death
“Once inside, they couldn’t find the body of the Master Jesus. They were puzzled, wondering what to make of this. Then, out of nowhere it seemed, two men, light cascading over them, stood there. The women were awestruck and bowed down in worship. The men said, “Why are you looking for the Living One in a cemetary? He is not here, but raised up.” (Luke 24:4-5)
Obviously, it...
Embrace The Crazy
threeoh:
If we can’t go with it, then what’s the point. Laugh at the crazy, laugh at the madness, the ridiculousness, the absurdity, the beauty, the love, the joy, the moment, the feelings, the world, the reality, the dreams. Just laugh.
Laugh.
Laugh.
And then. Find the funny in wherever we are.
“One day you finally knew
what you had to do, and began,
though the voices...”
– The Journey - Mary Oliver
the who
“God’s curse on whoever does not give substance to the words of this Revelation by living them. All respond: Yes. Absolutely.” (Deuteronomy 27:26)
“For in Christ, neither our most conscientious religion nor disregard of religion amounts to anything. What matters is something far more interior: faith expressed in love.” (Galatians 5:6)
When I read Deuteronomy, I...
‘Dream’ - Priscilla Ahn
Long walks in the dark ...
“There is nothing like looking, if you want to find something. You certainly...”
– J.R.R. Tolkien quote
Submitted by kate-kate-kate
(via quote-book)
the unexpected
“Stephen, brimming with God’s grace and energy, was doing wonderful things among the people, unmistakable signs that God was among them…His face was like the face of an angel.” (Acts 6:8,15)
Even though he’s mentioned in two chapters of the entire Bible, you get the feeling Stephen was a one-of-a-kind person. Everyone couldn’t stop singing praises about him. A...
February 2010
9 posts
a risk of faith
“As Jesus got out of the boat, a madman from the cemetary came up to him. He lived there among the tombs and graves…Jesus asked him, “Tell me your name.” He replied, “My name is Mob. I’m a rioting mob.” Then he desperately begged Jesus not to banish them from the country.”
“…She was thinking to herself, “If I can put a finger on...
“God’s love grows, fullness upon fullness, where you crumble enough to give what...”
– Joan Sauro
live a free man
“I am God, your personal God who rescued you from Egypt so that you would no longer be slaves to the Egyptians. I ripped off the harness of your slavery so that you can move about freely.” (Leviticus 26:13)
Sometimes, it sounds so black and white with God. Follow His commandments, walk with Him with a steadfast heart and you will find favour. Don’t and suffer the repercussions.
...
“Go to the place called barren.
Stand in the place called empty.
And you will...”
– Joan Sauro
counter-cultural jesus
“Looking around, taking in everyone seated around him, he said, “Right here, right in front of you - my mothers and my brothers. Obedience is thicker than blood. The person who obeys God’s will is my brother and sister and mother.” (Mark 3:34-35)
Jesus’ words cut to the heart, cut out the bullshit. Even with his parents and family looking for him, Jesus uses it to illustrate a point: your...