…read these phrase several times last night as I do my quiet time. and as if it jumps out of the page and lingered in my head for the rest of the night..until I fell asleep.

so by morning, I studied more about it.

apparently, it was mentioned in the bible thrice—once, in the Old Testament by Hosea (6:6), and twice, in the New Testament by Jesus (Matt. 9:13, Matt. 12:7)…

and in both accounts in the New Testament, Jesus was rebuking the Pharisees…

and in both accounts, Jesus is citing Hosea to disprove them of their legalism.

(12:12 pm)

apparently, the Pharisees have failed to recognize that there is a Higher Order other than the laws and traditions that they religiously follow… and it offended them (big time!) how Jesus chose to break some of the traditions to heal the sick or feed people.

in Man’s Economy, you can’t blame the Pharisees for being upset.

• They have devoted all their life to follow these laws.
• They may have sleepless nights over some rituals.
• They may have sacrificed a lot of their time and energy for these traditions.
• They gave their all.

..and here comes The Christ, showing the rest of Judea that it’s ok to break them.

imagine the frustrations that these Pharisees felt.

I guess a lot of us, at times, felt that way in serving God.

• We devote our life to church activities.
• We had sleepless nights over them.
• We have sacrificed a lot of our time and energy for them.
• We gave our all.

…and it frustrates us when others can’t match the same commitment and faithfulness we give the ministry.

…then we are far from giving mercy.

One fRiend of mine said, “If one of our members in this group has been absent for quite some time, then something must not be right. The person might be struggling with something in other areas of his/her life. Take time to ask them if they are ok..”

..as I remember those words, I am now given an exact example of the mercy Jesus is hoping we could offer The Church.

Because Jesus did say…

“For I have NOT come to call the righteous but the SINNERS….” Matt. 9:13

Sacrifices for the Lord is not bad in itself… but let us not forget to show mercy on those who have failed to reach the standards that us, ourselves, have set to meet.

Jesus is more interested on what goes on in our hearts, rather than what our hands can do.

“Does the Lord delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices as much as in obeying the voice of the Lord? To obey is better than sacrifice, and to heed is better than the fat of rams.” I Samuel 15:22

“jesus said… ‘don’t throw your pearls to

pigs’…by this we don’t think He was calling some

people pigs. He was saying, ‘look,– be careful

thAt you do not give SOMETHING PRECIOUS to someone

who, at best, cannot recognize its beAuty, or at

worst, will trample on it.”

~stasi eldredge
in Captivating~

history also recognizes that this King let the jews go back to their homeland (israel) after being in exiled in babylon for a long time.

it was even written that "He showed great forbearance and respect towards the religious beliefs and cultural traditions of other races."

but what the historians failed to recognized was the amazing fact that this King was mentioned in the bible 300++ years before he was even born!

isaiah (chapter 44 & 45) wrote that the Lord called Cyrus, BY NAME, and was prophesied to be The One who will "..set the exiles free..", go  back to israel, rebuilt their temple, and even funded them for it. =)

so far, nowhere in the bible that somebody was prophesied and names were mentioned before they were even born. if you know any, please don’t hesitate to inform me!! i haven’t done much reading about that yet.. hehe.

anyways, i’m just amazed how God sees our future and prepare the paths before us. 

you’ll never know, YOU may be a ‘cyrus’ to somebody.

**,

This is what the Lord says: "I will go before you, Cyrus, and level the mountains. i will samsh down gates of bronze and cut through bars of iron. and i will give you treasures hidden in the darkness…i will do this so you may know that i am the Lord, the God of Israel, the one who calls you By Name."

Isaiah 45:2-3

and of course where else will i go but to the famous word-wide-web. hehe.

(i wanted to look from the bible, since its the ulitmate book for answers.. but nah. i feel like i’m desecrating some bible people by doin so..hehe)

and as i was searching the web, i chance upon this cat’s eye nebula. and saw pictures  of it.

compared to the other nebula this one emits gas that are NOT KNOWN or even present on our own planet, which gives the nebula a certain unique gas formation around it.

these gas formation is what made this dying star very very unique and famed to be nicknamed ‘cat’s eye nebula’.

astronomers and scientists have been fascinated with this star for quite some time.

until recently, they have a stronger theory that another star might be affecting and pulling this star, making it’s gas behave differently from the other stars.

apparently, cat’s eye neb is NOT ALONE. good for her. **,

~memoy

psalms 8

"..when i consider the heavens,
the work of your fingers,
the moon and the stars, 
which you have set in place,
what is man that you are mindful of him.."

‘Lord, how majestic 
is Your name above the earth!

psalms 118

".. He is my helper.."

"The LORD will fight for you; you need only to be

still."

each time i watch prince of egypt, it never ceased

to amazed me how the God of Israelites has shown

power by parting the Red Sea. never failed to put

awe in me.. and i thought, would it be cool to witness

that!

but i guess i will be one of the Israelites who

would eventually complain about anything that they can think about

ya? haha. i hope not.

as we think about it, why a miracle so great, an

event so magnificent could be forgotten?? coz in

the old testament, God’s people have failed to use

their memories to remind and encouraged them that

God is on their side and that they will be

provided for.

i guess we, as humans, are good in forgetting but

not in remembering, huh?

today, let’s try to REMEMBER the God of Israel who

showed His power against Egypt! Read exodus. and

Use your imagination. =D

10:10am
Surabaya

Jeremiah
9:23-24

This is
what the LORD says: "Let not the wise man boast of his wisdom or the strong man boast
of his strength or the rich
man boast of his riches,

but let
him who boasts boast about this: that he understands
and knows me, that I am the
LORD, who exercises kindness, justice and righteousness on earth, for in these
I delight," declares the LORD. (NIV)

If
I ask you who the Lord is in your life, how many facets of God have you
discovered about Him in your lifetime? 

We
go through life learning (wisdom), staying fit and healthy (strength), and
using what we learned and our capabilities to gain wealth (riches). and by the
end of the day, we feel spent…for some they feel a momentarily sense of peace
for being successful. Our days are filled of the many tasks that lead us to a
life that put God on the sidelines. We run our race, but not for the purpose of
winning it for Christ. We run, and go to God when we just feel thirsty and
desperate. 

God
said he delights when we UNDERSTAND and KNOW Him.

How
much of our days are spent just trying to know God?

Lord,
forgive us when we go through life forgetting that our sole purpose why we live
is to glorify and worship you.. forgive us for pursuing KNOWLEDGE, STRENGTH,
and WEALTH, and forgetting that KNOWING You is what delights You.

plus, humans in their FREE WILL can either hurt or protect people around us.. and knowing that we either love the people, as in the case of being protected.. or worse, resent them, as in the case of being hurt by them.

either way, it does put HUMANS in a certain position knowing that they may hold such power either to MAKE US HAPPY or MAKE US SUFFER. 

good thing, there’s GOD’S WILL..

God KNOWS everything about us– our past, present and future. i mean EVERYTHING.

God knew that Adam will eat the forbidden fruit. God knows that i will be writing this blog now. God knows that certain people will come to our lives and exercise their free will on us– to hurt or to love us. hehe.

and with that KNOWLEDGE, why does God let them happen???? why not prevent them?? i’ve got no less than an answer to that question. it’s all a mystery to me too.

But this one verse i found while i am trying to understand God’s will– ‘God’s will is for us to be sanctified.’ 1Thesalonians 4:3

so whatever it is that’s happening to me or to others, it all boils down to God wanting to sanctify us.. But do we even care about that??? sanctification??? it seems like it is pretty important to God.

Then, i guess we should care. =)

(Soroako Trip, june 2006.. my Free Will has brought me to this trip..and coming home after that brought me to willed myself into surrendering TO WANT what God wants for me at that time…Grabe. This was 2 years ago! amazing..)

8:08am

june 07,2008

i spent the whole day yesterday, in between naps, work, typing, smsing, calling, having this one teeny-weeny question to God, that dogs me everyday, following me silently. i know that ignoring ‘my question’ was the best thing to do. afterall, God knows everything about me. He knows what He is DOING here. He is in control, right??! right? right.

this past few days, i always ended up reading Job. and this morning, its Job again! not that i’m down in the pits or anything. i’m not at all sad! i’m happy as a bee! (do you hear defensive tone harmonizing here??hehe) really, i am. =) (still trying) but as i was reading the book, God took out that question i have from my heart, hidden somewhere, and showed it to me. it was leashed to me. that’s why it follows me like a dog. haler…. and i go like, ‘oh yeah! that! i was meaning to ask you, Lord. But i don’t want to look Untrusting, or maybe Lacking of Faith. you know?’ God was quiet. i could just imagine Him, shaking His head, rolling His eyes to me.

unlike Job, i couldn’t ask God ‘why?’. but LIKE Job, we both HAVE  questions to ask God. hehe….and in both occasions God went rhetorical.

He asks us back HIS own set of questions. But, like i said, this time it’s rhetorical.

"Who is this that darkens my counsel with words without knowledge? Brace

yourself [like a man]; i will question you and you shall answer me.

Where were you when i laid the foundations of the Earth? Tell me if you understand?

what else could i say? me and Job put our hands both to our mouths..

and if Job has an mp3 player, he might have been playing this song in it the whole day long….singing it with all of his heart.

"..Jesus all i have is YOU
You’re the hope i’m holding to
i might weep, but still my faith rest in YOu
as the heavens hold the skies
it’s YOur hand that holds my life
and Your love will lead me on
when all else is gone…"

June 1, 2008
11:01am

(proof of my so-called happiness.. hehe)

Like a comet pulled from orbit
As it passes a sun
Like a stream that meets a boulder
Halfway through the wood
Who can say if I’ve been changed for the better?
But because I knew you
I have been changed for good

(from the broadway musical Wicked)