The Gospel According to John Chapter 20 *Happy Easter!

The nails before long refused to bind

That holy flesh to the wretched splint

‘Twas His own will the Stake to climb

For no one, none, no one, can hold Him!

He lay-ed that day in the cold dark tomb,

He whom the whole universe canst scarce contain,

Thus the grave must burst open soon,

Roll boulder, roll! God, thou canst not retain!

The doubts of Thomas shall not prevail

For great Truth shall great Faith begot,

Though Satan will not cease to assail,

We soon must confess, “My Lord and my God!”

Jesus Christ, that Incarnate God,

Nothing can hold Him, nothing! But was held for our fault...

Perhaps all too often we forget that the technology which is supposed to bring people closer will make a worse stranger out of us to the other persons. Read Jack the LOT{B}R's bleak prediction of a future technological-paradise where bliss is not the word to describe the state of being.

Pls remember that I am a real person.

When you’re awaken to the soft morning sun,

And receive a new greeting from me,

Remember my dear Friend, that I am a real person,

Who shares the same sun just across the sea.

When you’re busy at your workstation,

And my message arrived at your screen;

Remember my dear Friend, that I am a real person,

Sitting at the end of the line, waiting.

When you walk under the evening sky towards home

And my voice on your phone was heard,

Remember my dear Friend, that I am a real person,

Who shares the same sky, living just down the road.

I hope all my efforts would not fail,

To convince you that I exist,

Remember my dear Friend that I am real

Or else, who do you think wrote this piece?

*grin*

In ancient times, people were poor and could not support themselves. They carried the classics with them while hoeing, or recited the books while hauling firewood. Today, people eat plenty, dress warmly, and have abundant free time. This is the first lament.

In ancient times, people did not feel it too far to come from a thousand li carrying their books on their back, looking for a teacher. Today, people have worthy fathers and elder brothers to teach them and yet they do not listen to those. Or they have a worthy teacher in the village and yet they do not know of his vicinity. This is the second lament.

In ancient times, people copied manuscripts themselves, day into the night, and were constantly suffering from the lack books. Today, people have ready-made printed books and they store ten thousand fascicles piled up without ever reading them. This is the third lament.

In ancient times, people spent three years learning a single classic. They were thirty by the time they've established themselves in the five classics. Since they were children, their only goal was to study. Today, people have books at early age but don't read them. Meanwhile, the days and months are flashing by. This is the fourth lament.

In ancient times, people read by gathering fireflies or under the light reflected from snow. Today, people can open up their scrolls near the light of the lantern, but they just happily engage themselves in pointless talk, and amuse themselves by playing chess. This is the fifth lament.

There have been people who could not see the sun and the moon, who could not hear the sound of thunder. Students of our age are have clear eyesight and acute hearing, they all receive the instructions of wisdom. Yet, because they do not study, they know not where they going and they disregard proper conduct and the rituals. Truly, they are nearly the same as being deaf and blind. This is the sixth lament.

When a man has a body, he has a register, when he has a register, he has duties. The students of our age have their parents to work for them or because of their family's long-standing merits are exempt from service. They have books but do not read them, being the same as the people outside the gates and on the fields. This is the seventh lament.

People used to suffer because of their heritage, never hearing the sayings of the Book of Poetry and the Books of Rites, they either became farmers and gardeners or artisans and merchants. Today, people are born into Confucianist families and start to carry on their father's profession from an early age. They have books but do not read them, they simply continue their ancestors' venture. This is how far they go before they crash. This is the eighth lament.

People used to suffer because there was no place they could retreat to and cultivate themselves. Today there are academies and local schools where they can pursue teachers. So they put on the Confucianist tall hat and wide clothes and parade around happily calling themselves "scholars". But in reality, they do not know a single classic, cannot compose a single poem; they are a disgrace to the sages of the past. This is the ninth lament.

There used to be the great ties between the lord and his minister, between the father and his son, there used to be the great conducts of loyalty and filial piety, of benevolence and propriety. The students of our age do not study and practice, so the great ties and the great conducts are used to sweep the floor. Yang Xiong said, "If a man does not study, even though he has no worries but he won't he be like the birds?" This is the tenth lament.

Translated by Imre Galambos

by Joan-Lynn

A tribute to all Tsunami victims

Away the night passes without a sound

Dawn brings tremors beneath the ground

Listless waves washes humans that are found

And now they are heaped into a mound

I look above to the now dark skies

I see wretched wasteland cry

I see them all drown and die

Family cries out, "Oh dear, WHY?!"

People around frown and sigh

As the blood bath sea floats bodies by

No longer hopes of living dare lie

No longer do hopes dare flare high

At the end of the day

There would be weeping at things done

There would be tears of regrets

There would be mourning to change things set

At the end of the day

Tragedies, concealed with rage

Anger has bear its hideous hate

The world that's left, the people's fate

I was wondering whence come those voices,
Which I hear playing in my head;
Melodious words that translate into handsome verses,
And cause my pen to dance with grace. 

I do not know about heavenly music,
But I think I can almost imagine;
This tune I hear in my head,
Is like the songs that the angels sing. 

I longed to trace the one whose voice,
Flood my head all the time;
Now at last I realized,
That medley was no one else’s, but thine.

[Painting, "The Ambassador of Beauty, ZhaoJun" by Shang XiaoFang]


*Zhao Jun, to your lovely descendant...

偶然

我是天空里的一片� ��，
偶尔投影在你的波� ��－－
你不必讶异，
更无须欢喜－－
在转瞬间消灭了踪� ��。

你我相逢在黑夜的� ��上，
你有你的，我有我� ��，方向；
你记得也好，
最好你忘掉，
在这交会时互放的� ��亮！

徐志摩
Xu Zhimo (1896 - 1931)

--------------

Chance

I am a cloud in the vast sky,
A shadow by chance upon thy heart ride.
Be ye not surprised,
Be ye not overtly alight;
For soon, I shall vanish from thy sight.

The meeting on that gloomy night upon the sea,
Ye on thy way and I on mine.
It is well if thou wilt cherish,
Yet better if thou wilt erase from thy mind
The bright light that shone on our encounter that night.

(thanks bohtea for helping with the translation)

Photo from shanghaidiaries.com

the journey may be long

and the distance daunting,

the winds may be strong

and the cold freezing,

the walk will look endless

every step seems painful,

our effort will look hopeless

every sweat seems pitiful,

the length is so great

our hearts become faint,

the tides will not fade

our tears were cried vain,

after all the strength spent

there are still miles and miles ahead,

after so long from where we began

there are still further to tread.

‘Tis frightening, this journey I know

but we are not alone, we’ll never would,

I am always with you to travel

together on life’s long road.

*To you~

*To Monday morning blues

*Yennie, thanks for the pic!

Why the two trees?

By some strange providence, a certain person was going around asking this question. Why did God place the two trees in the midst of the Garden of Eden? And it came about that quite a number of those questioned also questioned my opinion on that matter. Let me begin by a disclaimer: the question in view requires us to inquire into the mind of God, to delve into that infinite sea of knowledge to divulge that sacred pearl of wisdom; such is an ambitious and onerous labour! And if one is not careful, any attempt to trespass into the secret compartment of God is not only vain, but also fiendish. Let us approach this question, therefore with great humility, acknowledging our finitude and His most perfect way.

Why did YAHWEH God place the two trees in the midst of the Garden of Eden? The gist of the question leads to other difficult enquiries, i.e. why did God place the instrument by which sin will appear before Adam and Eve? Was God testing Adam and Eve? &c.

God surely did not only put the trees there as a mean for Man to sin. He is not a tempter (James 1:13). These conclusions are gotten only when one looked at the “then”, the situational perspective of the event, the small square in history when the affair occurred. Now, instead of looking at the event in that situational-circumstantia l perspective, we ought to do a bit of purpose-driven theology and look forward to the end goal of history, thus viewing God’s whole plan, i.e. His salvific blueprint which culminates at the installation of His Son as King (Eph 1:3-10).  

God works out the blueprint in the lives of the redeemed community. In order for them to finally be subjects of His Son the King, the redeemed community is being sanctified (1 Pet 1:2), i.e. being made holy. This process occurs in their experience - corporate and individual - they learn as they live their lives until arriving at perfection in heaven. With this in mind, it is therefore reasonable to conclude that the two trees affair was part of such learning experience. God placed the trees in the garden in order that man will get something out of the whole affair for their future supply in the eternal kingdom.

What was the lesson though?  

It was an imperfect shadow of the perfect things to come. Just as God had instituted the priesthood theocracy, the Judge-rule and the all too often, incompetent kings in Israel to provide a less-than-desirable model of the future Messianic Kingship, God placed a fallible and frail framework for obedience in the garden in order that the people of God will greatly appreciate the power of decision placed in their hands and the choice to obey God. While Israel longed and desired for the Messiah-King to appear because they had tasted the consequences of failed models of governance, the redeemed community will long and desire for the future incorruptibility of their will when they will resist evil and choose to obey God only. Experiencing the dire result of not obeying God’s command will enlightened us to look towards obedience to Him.

God therefore did not tempt Adam into sinning. God was also not surprised by Adam’s decision to disobey Him. God just had a bigger picture in mind. I praise Him and thank Him for that.

What was on Thy mind, O’ God,
When Thou planted the Garden then?
Thy purpose to fathom I cannot,
But I know ‘twas Thy greater plan!

*Updates Someone asked me to clarify my choice of the word shadow in "It was an imperfect shadow of the perfect things to come". Here i meant to say that the present model is a vague picture, some kind of silhouette of the future model. E.g. In the Israel's experience, God intended them to realized that they are in need of rule through the institution of earthly government. 

There was a knight of Bethlehem,
His wealth was tears and sorrows;
His men-at-arms were little lambs;
His trumpeters were sparrows.
His castle was a wooden cross
On which He hung on high;
His helmet was a crown of thorns
Whose crest did touch the sky.

"The Husband of Poverty" by Henry Neville Maughan

Fair Aronil asked in her blog, "is chivalry dead in the world?"

More entry later

The silence of two conversing lovers,

Is as the orchestra at the master’s whim;

Both evoke and provoke the beholders

And stir up a great sea of passion within.

When the two together arrive at last,

To such state of their dialogue,

Then the two no more shall pass,

For in the unsettling sea…the ship must dock.

The expressions of the lovers may not reveal,

That maddening emotional ride they betook inside,

Though their lips be tight and sealed,

‘twas really excitements, and excitements to hide.

In such silence, I believe, was held,

Love unspoken, Love not worded, Love, simply felt.

Happy International Women's Day! Ok, gals, the pink rim is for you all (pls, no comments about me being typical k)!!

When I remembered my Beloved,

Who without Christ is living this life;

My heart was immensely troubled,

And for her salvation I loudly cried.

O’ that I may do a charity in her stead,

To appease this angry God;

O’ that I may on her behalf propitiate,

That Heaven may finally be her lot!

O’ that I may stand in her place,

To bear Thy heavy wrath,

But I scarce can rise before Thy face,

And receive the blow from Thy staff.

O’ that I may for her a good word give

And recommend her to Thee a candidate,

But who is righteous among men who lived?

Alas, we are but wretched reprobates.

Then I realized that all is vain,

My tears, my efforts, her state cannot change;

Alas, O’ God Thy words are plain,

No one save Christ can Heaven claim.

How then, how then, can I make sure,

My Beloved and I will in Heaven unite,

May Thou will graciously save her also,

Lord, I cry to Thee, this mournful night!

------------------------- -------------

Other refuge have I none, hangs my helpless soul on Thee;
Leave, ah! leave me not alone, still support and comfort me.
All my trust on Thee is stayed, all my help from Thee I bring;
Cover my defenseless head with the shadow of Thy wing.

Wilt Thou not regard my call? Wilt Thou not accept my prayer?
Lo! I sink, I faint, I fall—Lo! on Thee I cast my care;
Reach me out Thy gracious hand! While I of Thy strength receive,
Hoping against hope I stand, dying, and behold, I live. 
---- Charles Wesley, Jesus Lover of My Soul