2011

Life is no fairy tale.

"Happily ever-after" is not a spell.

Dreams don't come true just by "wishing upon a star."

But, I believe in one thing:

Dreams do come true when you decide to wake up and start to work,

With heart and soul and mind wrapped in solid prayer and faith.

It's never easy.

But it's worth it.

And in the end, we will stand tall.

Thank God, we've got this single life to dream and fight for.

Welcome, 2011.

Christmas 2010

Christmas and Easter: two celebrations that are no less than two sides of the same coin.
People may celebrate Christmas far more extravagant than Easter, but what would Jesus' birth mean if not for redeeming mankind upon the cross? But, then again, without His birth, there would be no redemption and salvation.

Give thanks to God, the Savior is born today!
Let all His redeemed people glorify Him!
May every second we live on Earth is filled with realization that we are redeemed for the glory of His name.
May Christmas and Easter dwell forever in our hearts.

Have a very Merry Christmas 2010, Folks!
God bless :-)

Coffee, Anyone?

"Would you like a cup of coffee?"
We often offer this blackish tasty drink whenever some guests happen to drop by for a visit -- little knowing what a cup of coffee could benefit our health.

Recent studies and researches have proven that coffee has the positive effects in:

(1) Reducing the risk of Parkinson disease, due to the amount of caffeine that helps to protect our brain cells.
(2) Fighting diseases with its antibacterial agents.
(3) Decreasing the risk of gallstone crystallization.
(4) Enhancing mental stability.
(5) Preventing diabetes type-2 by enhancing insulin-flow to certain parts of the body.
(6) Reducing the risk of all types of cancer, Alzheimer, and coronary heart attack, thanks to its antioxidant contents (including chlorogenic acid and caffeine acid) and polyphenol.
(7) Increasing physical endurance.
(8) Healing headaches.
(9) Soothing respiration in asthma patients due to theophyline, a bronchodilator substance.
(10) Increasing fertility in males by accelerating sperm-cells speed.

Still think that coffee is bad for your health, or simply a drink to treat your guests?
Think again!

True Love

So often in everyday life, we hear or run into the term "platonic love." What differs it from "true love," one might ask?
Let's get into focus.

Many people regard "true love" as the highest form of love, without ever understanding the meaning behind the term.
Viewing it from platonic theory, first we need to refer to what Plato once proposed.

Back in Ancient Greece, Plato once established the Theory of Forms, which states that there are two worlds:

(1) The ideal (true) world, which is eternally unchanging and in complete perfection, and
(2) The real (present) world, where we live in, which is marked by the constant cycle or process of birth-maturity-decline-death-rebirth, and where everything is imperfect and ever-changing.

Plato said that everything we find in our real, sensual world, are copies of the true forms which abide in the ideal world. And, as copies, all that exists in the real world is marred by flaws and imperfection.
So is love.

True love is divine, eternal, perfect and unchanging. In the ideal world, love is kept pure without the least taint of imperfection.
What happens if true love is manifested in reality?
Yes, it will be degraded of its perfection and truth!

In fact, there are no two human beings on the planet who can love perfectly and purely without finding taints of imperfection in their relationship.
Suffice it to say that, from platonic point of view, true love cannot possibly exist on earth.

When you love someone so much, and wish to keep your love true, you might as well keep it to yourself and not manifest your love into a relationship, else you will find out that no matter how great your love really is, it can never reach perfection. It can never be true.
So would a platonist say.

I once recall a scene in the movie Dune, which stated this line, "Sometimes, when you love someone so much, you'll have to be willing to let him/her go for his/her own greater good."

And Shelley conveyed it perfectly when he wrote, "I can give not what men call love. But wilt thou accept not the worship the heart lifts above, and the heavens reject not -- the desire of the moth for the star, of the night for the morrow, the devotion afar from the sphere of our sorrow?"

True love means worship, my Friends.
And when we talk of worship, we know that no one else deserves being worshipped other than He who dwells in the realm of eternal light and perfection, the Creator and Keeper of our souls.

Tragedy: The Myth of Fall

A flashback on my favorite study on theory of literature: Northrop Frye's "Archetypal Criticism: Theory of Myths: The Mythos of Autumn: Tragedy" (Northrop Frye, "Anatomy of Criticism: Four Essays." Princeton, New Jersey: Princeton University Press. 1973).

'In contrast with comedy, which deals with characters in society, tragedy is more concentrated on a single individual.
The tragic hero is indeed very great, but there is something on the side of him, compared to which he is small. This can be God, deities, fate, accident, or some other aspects.

The center of tragedy is in the hero's isolation.
Concerning something beyond, its name is variable, yet the form of which it manifests itself is fairly constant. Whatever the context is, tragedy tends to lead up to an epiphany of law ("what is, and must be").

The vision of law in tragedy operates as a revenge.
The tragic hero provokes enmity or inherits a situation of enmity, and the return of the avenger constitutes the catasthrope.
The tragic hero is a disturbance toward the balance in nature, which sooner or later must right itself.
The righting of the balance is called "nemesis."
The agents can be human/ghostly/divine vengeance/divine justice/accident/fate or the logic of events, but the underlying point is that the nemesis happens!

There are two reductive formulae which are frequently used to explain tragedy:

(1) the theory that all tragedy exhibits the omnipotence of an external fate, and
(2) the theory that the act which sets the tragic process going must be primarily a violation of moral law, whether human or divine.

Tragedy seems to elude the antithesis of moral responsibility and arbitrary law, as well as the antithesis of good and evil.
Anyone who is used to think archetypally of literature will realize that there is a mimesis of sacrifice within tragedy.'

Behind Blue Eyes

No one knows what it's like
To be the bad man
To be the sad man
Behind blue eyes
And no one knows
What it's like to be hated
To be fated to telling only lies

But my dreams they aren't as empty
As my conscience seems to be
I have hours, only lonely
My love is vengeance
That's never free

No one knows what it's like
To feel these feelings
Like I do, and I blame you!
No one bites back as hard
On their anger
None of my pain and woe
Can show through

No one knows what it's like
To be mistreated, to be defeated
Behind blue eyes
No one knows how to say
That they're sorry and don't worry
I'm not telling lies

No one knows what its like
To be the bad man, to be the sad man
Behind blue eyes.


(The song was first sung by The Who in 1971 and was later on covered by Limp Bizkit in 2003.)

World Vision

World Vision is a Christian relief, development and advocacy organization working to create lasting change in the lives of children, families and communities living in poverty. World Vision serves all people, regardless of religion, race, ethnicity, or gender.

World Vision operates in 98 countries, supporting more than 100 million people, including 3.4 million sponsored children and over 800,000 orphans and vulnerable children.

World Vision, serving Indonesia for 50 years, currently exists in more than 700 villages nationwide, from Nanggroe Aceh Darussalam to Papua provinces.
In Indonesia, currently around two million people receive benefit from World Vision's programs, including 90,000 sponsored children. Some 6,000 of them are supported by Indonesian community through our partner, Wahana Visi Indonesia.

The well-being of children is always the main focus of World Vision works. In partnership with Wahana Visi Indonesia, World Vision has tried to improve the well-being of Indonesian children. The child sponsorship approach has always been our way to link donors to the children and community that need their support. The sponsor makes commitment to contribute to the integrated community development programs that benefit the child, the child's family, and the community.

Sponsorship is a one-to-one relationship between a sponsor and a sponsored child. Sponsors correspond with their sponsored children, receive regular reports on their progress, and even visit the child and his/her family and community. The sponsorship link helps sponsors understand what life is like for struggling families.

Sponsorship provides resources which go into a program, usually 10-15 years in length, designed in collaboration with community leaders and representatives to address key needs in the community.
Programs are child-focused and also benefit non-sponsored children and families. Education, healthcare, nutrition and clean water are the immediate priorities of many sponsorship projects. Community organization, agriculture, and other income generation undertakings are other ways we work to help families and communities become more self-reliant.

Change A LIFE. Sponsor A CHILD!
Call +6221-3907818 NOW!

Visit us at World Visions Indonesia.

Storms... Bring Out Eagles

When the “storms of life”
Gather darkly ahead,
I think of these wonderful words
I once read…

And I say to myself,
As threatening clouds hover,
“Don’t fold up your wings
And run for cover.”

But, like the eagle,
Spread wide your wings
And soar far above
The troubles life brings.

For the eagle knows
That the higher he flies,
The more tranquil and brighter
Become the skies.

And there is nothing in life
We were ever asked to bear
That we can’t soar above
On the wings of prayer.

And in looking back over
The storm you passed through,
You’ll find you gained strength
And new courage, too.

For in facing life’s storms
With an eagle’s wings,
You can fly far above
Earth’s small, petty things.



- Helen Steiner Rice -

Our Weakness, Our Strength

"Never show a sign of weakness in the heat of combat!"

When these words came out of the lips of Gemini Kanon, I realized that the author, Masami Kurumada, was quoting Miyamoto Musashi, the greatest samurai ever walked on earth. Typically Japanese code of honor!

But the implication it holds is far from being solely Japanese.
Weakness is an inevitable trait of man. We are, after all, frail creatures with undeniable shortcomings and tendency to be broken apart under unbearable pressure.
Even saints have weaknesses!

Open the Bible anywhere and pick any character, and you'll find they're always marred by weakness:

- Abraham was crowned the father of faith, but he feared the Egyptians and so lied about his wife, Sarah.
- David could dispatch entire Philistines troops, but could not control his lust over a woman.
- Samuel was a perfect judge, priest, and prophet, but he failed in shaping up his sons into God-fearing men.
-Elijah prayed and fire came scorching down from heaven, but when faced to the words of Queen Jezebel, he fled and asked God to take his life instead.
- Peter was very courageous, but he faltered and denied the Lord at the question of a maidservant.
- Paul was flawless in all his ministries, but he was tormented by a thorn in his flesh that he couldn't rid.
- James was a man of integrity and great apostle, but he became so after the Lord appeared to him post-resurrection, not beforehand.

But what does the Bible say about the flaws of God's holy people?

"Weakness was turned to strength" (Hebrews 11:34)!

How come?

Because God's power "is made perfect in (our) weakness" (II Corinthians 12:9).

It is only when we acknowledge our weaknesses and cast them on the feet of the Lord, He will work through us and in us, to beam His radiant glory within us, making us the vessel of His strength.
Therefore, for us, weak earthlings, the power that's so overwhelming, that enables us to perform whatever task we might bear, comes not from our fragile ability, but from God who strengthens us.
That is why we can say together with Paul, in confidence:

"I can do everything through Him who gives me strength" (Philippians 4:13).

In the midst of tribulation, through the storm of life, in the heat of combat, how unwise it is for us to give in to our weakness!
Rather, as we realize our flaws and weaknesses, let us remember that these weak points are God's means to exhibit His ultimate power within us. And so, give it all up to Him!
Let Him turn our weakness into strength!
Then, we will come out victorius, for the glory of His name!
Amen.

Never Despair

Two hobbits were out on a perilous journey, with an extremely great task to fulfill. The world was crumpling down, malice was spreading in the land, and the power of the darkest evil was taking over. There wasn't much hope left to the Middle-Earthlings, and even on the side of mankind, darkness had begun to creep in and steal away the light of conscious mind.
And so, Frodo despaired.
But there was a rough, gardener's hand that patted him on the shoulder. Sam gazed into Frodo's tearful eyes and gave him these simple words of encouragement, "There's still some good left in this world, Mr. Frodo. And it's worth fighting for."

We stand on a wretched land in our days, struck by disasters, one after another.
Tsunamis come and go, taking thousands of lives as they sweep over the islands. Earthquakes and avalanches massacre our people and turn our land into burial ground. Volcano eruptions kill hundreds of people and leave the rest living in refugee camps. Everywhere we hear cries of pain and see heavily-grieving faces.
And, as if it weren't enough, we find corruption and over-indulging luxury being treasured and concealed with political shroud among the elites.

Gazing at the misery of our people, would it be wrong if I despair?
Yet, even so, there's a small voice within me, that whispers these soothing words, "There's still some good left in this world, Love. And it's worth fighting for."
As I glance upon the faces of my sleeping children, I discreetly know it's true.

Mary, Did You Know?

Mary, did you know,

That your baby boy would someday walk on water?

Mary, did you know,

That your baby boy will save our sons and daughters?

Did you know,That your baby boy has come to make you new?

And this child that you delivered

Will soon deliver you?

Oh, Mary, did you know?



Mary ,did you know,

That your baby boy would give sight to a blind man?

Mary, did you know,

That your baby boy would calm the storm with His hand?

Did you know that your baby boy has walked where angels trod?

And when you kiss your little baby,

You have kissed the face of God?

Oh, Mary, did you know?



The blind will see, the deaf will hear, the dead will live again!

The lame will leap, the dumb will speak the praises of the Lamb!



Mary, did you know,

That your baby boy is Lord of all creation?

Mary, did you know,

That your baby boy would one day rule the nations?

Did you know

That your baby boy is heaven's perfect Lamb?

And this sleeping child you're holding

Is the great "I AM."





[Mark Lowery]

Halloween and All Hallows' Eve

The end of October and the beginning of November are moments of excitement, especially for those living in the European countries, Latin America, and the United States. It's time for trick-or-treating, Halloween, and also to commemorate All Saints' Day or All Hallows' Eve on the following day.
Although these two celebrations are so closely dated to one another that many have associate them to each other, they hold different meanings, have different backgrounds, and stem from different traditions.
Halloween, which falls on October 31st, originates from Samhain, a Gaelic pagan rite celebrated every end of summer. "Samhain" in Old Irish means "summer's end."
The Ancient Irish folks believed that on the end of summer, the barrier separating the world and the afterlife grew thinner, due to the arrival of "the darker half" of the year, allowing the spirits of the deceased to travel back to the land of the living. Thus, Samhain also included the "Festival of the Dead" back in medieval days.
People wore masks and costumes to placate evil spirits, and made lanterns of carved turnips or pumpkins to ward off the souls of the dead. The tradition was handed down for generations up to this day. And, since the date was so close to the "Festival of All Saints" or "All Hallows' Eve" on the following day, people saturated their names, calling Samhain with a new name: Halloween (All Hallows' Evening).
On the contrary, All Hallows' Eve or All Saints' Day has a completely different origin from Samhain. It is a tradition of the Roman Catholic Church which falls on the first of November, celebrated to commemorate the departed saints and holy martyrs. It is now held not only to remember the saints, but also to remember all those who have passed away in the congregation of believers in the Lord.
In the Roman Catholic Church, All Saints' Day is a holy day of obligation, which means on November 1st, they gather for a mass to celebrate this special occasion. In many countries, people visit the graveyard after the mass to light candles on the tombs of deceased relatives. In most English-speaking countries, the festival of All Saints is also celebrated by singing the hymn "For All the Saints."

The Number Thirteen

People have always regarded the number thirteen as an unlucky number. They fear the date Friday the thirteenth. They avoid buying a house with the number thirteen (in fact, in most streets, there is no house of that number). Considering the number as bad luck and undesirable omen, people tend to avoid it as often as they can.

Old-wives tales told us that long, long time ago, in the ancient days, witches and sorcerers would gather on any Black Sabbath, which fell on Friday the thirteenth, numbering twelve of them. And, the devil would come in their midst and made the number thirteen.
So they said.

Is the belief truly so?

Let's forget about folklores, superstitions, and tales for the time being.
What written evidences have we got about the number thirteen?

We know that the sons of Israel numbered twelve in all. But Joseph's two sons, Ephraim and Manasseh, were "adopted" by his father, Jacob (Israel) and were added to the rest. So the tribe of Joseph were split into two, thus making the whole number of the tribes of Israel thirteen!
However, since the tribe of Levi devoted themselves to serving in the Lord God's Tabernacle (sanctuary), their inheritance was not counted along with their brethren, thus making the number of twelve, though in fact there are thirteen tribes in existence.

There were twelve judges ruling Israel during the time they hadn't had a king to rule in the land.
True?
False!
As a matter of fact, there were thirteen of them! Deborah was not counted as a judge because she was a woman, and according to tradition, women were not permitted to rule over men. Thus she handed her leadership to Barak.
Thus, people regarded there were twelve judges of Israel, though in reality there were thirteen of them.

There were twelve apostles of Christ in the New Testament.
After Judas fell, Matthias was elected to fill in the twelfth seat.
But then, God called Paul and consecrated him to be the apostle to the Gentiles, making the number of the apostles thirteen!
Yet, though approved as an apostle, Paul refused to take his right to be equal with the other twelve since he was determined to preach the Gospel to the uncircumsiced. Thus, there were thirteen apostles in all: twelve were sent to the children of Israel, while one ministered to the Gentiles.

In the last book of prophecy in the Bible, the Revelation, John saw the glorious New Jerusalem coming down out of heaven of God. As we read on, we find twelve precious stones in the Holy City of God. And -- how shocking! -- one precious non-mineral jewel: the pearl, making the number of jewels thirteen!

So, is it true that the number thirteen represents bad luck?
We all agree that the number twelve is the number of fellowship, of reunion, and of complete unity.
And I say the number thirteen is the number of abundance!


[Picture taken from the anime Saint Seiya, representing the twelve gold saints. As a matter of fact, there are thirteen of them, since the Gemini Gold Saints are twins: Saga and Kanon. In the final combat, their souls unite into one body.]

Priceless!

Nearly two decades ago, I was a naïve teenager gazing up at the brilliant night-sky with a heart in anguish. A good friend of mine was suffering from chronic ulcer at that time and I was in great anxiety regarding his health.
As I fixed my eyes on those billions of twinkling dots up in the heavens, a realization entered my mind and pierced my soul. I knew that, if my friend died, I wouldn’t be able to find one so unique to replace him, even in the whole universe.

A reminder came to me in my daily devotion several days ago.
God said in Isaiah 66:1-2, “Heaven is My throne, and the earth is my footstool. Where is the house you will build for Me? Where will My resting place be? Has not My hand made all these things, and so they came into being? This is the one I esteem: he who is humble and contrite in spirit, and trembles at My word.”
Relate these two verses to I Corinthians 3:16 and I Corinthians 6:19, and we come to a shocking truth: “Don’t you know that you yourselves are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit lives in you? Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God?”

In the Old Testament, God declares that even the whole heaven and earth is not spacious enough to hold His divine being. But in the New Testament, He states that He dwells within the life of each faithful believer who fears and worships Him. The Bible teaches us that every living individual who lives for Christ is a “living tabernacle of God” – the very dwelling place of the eternal, infinite God.
Combine the two statements, and we realize the value of each and every human being on earth: each of us is worth a whole universe in the sight of the Creator!
Isn’t this a marvelous phenomenon?!
There is nothing, not even the whole galaxies, to replace the value of a single soul in the eyes of God! So great is the price He sets for us!

But why?
Why does God cherish and prizes us so greatly and preciously?

The answer is in Genesis 1:27, “God created man in His own image.”
We are created as the copy of the Divine Creator. When God created the first man, He also transferred some of His personal traits to Adam: holiness, perfection, power, immortality, eternal life – things that are so immensely great which even a universe cannot fathom or contain.
Yes, sin did corrupt and marred the image of God within man, robbing us of our divine attributes and confining us to mortality, decay, imperfection and countless limitations. Nevertheless, it did not alter our internal blueprint and value in the sight of God. We are, and will always be, more precious and priceless than the whole universe to Him.
Realizing this great truth, shouldn’t we be more grateful to God for how and what He had created us to be? Shouldn’t we treat our neighbors with more respect and honor, knowing how indescribably great the value of each living soul on earth truly is before the Creator?
Let us all live in awe of God’s greatness shown to us – and in us!
Amen.

When Prayers Seem to Remain Unanswered

Prayer plays a crucial role in the life of every believer.
We pray each day. Some of them are quickly answered, some are not, and the rest seem to be queueing on God's waiting list.
Well, whenever our prayer receives a quick reply, we rejoice aplenty. But what do we do when our prayer is not yet answered? Do we grumble? Do we grow impatient? Do we feel disappointed?

What is actually happening UP THERE when God decides not to answer our prayer just yet?

Genesis 2:2-3 "By the seventh day, God had finished the work He had been doing. So on the seventh day, He rested from all His work. And God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on it He rested from all the work of creating that He had done."

He word "rested" in the above passage is written "qadash" in the original Hebrew tongue, meaning: savoring, enjoying, delighting in, consecrating, making holy.
Do we not realize that at the time God seems to be doing nothing, saying nothing, and caring about nothing, is actually the moment of His savoring our lives?

Look at Abraham, Job, Daniel, and Joseph, men of great faith and integrity in the Lord. Did the Lord always answer their prayers? Did He always talk to them at all times, whenever they lifted up their plea to His presence?
No!

There are times in the lives of the above-mentioned Biblical characters when God seemed to be silent. God seemed to have abandoned them, leaving them to face deadly perils and great trials on their own.
And, what do we read about these men?
The Scripture records that they remained faithful to the Lord despite their circumstances. Whatever befell them: loss of loved ones, poverty, disappointment, imprisonment, and even dead sentence, these men remained true to their One and Only God.
And, THAT, my friends, is the moment of God's delight in their lives. THAT is such a moment in which we please the Lord's heart by staying obedient and keeping His statutes through time of pain and suffering.
And we can be assured, that when this phase subsides, the Lord will surely answer our prayer and lift us up to a higher ground.

Are we ready to please the heart of God today, and present our lives and faithfulness as a fragrant aroma rising up to the presence of the Lord?

Letting Go Anxiety

How many times in a day we find such cases in our neighborhood:
- A dysfunctional family quarreling about each member's share of the estate?
- A couple undergoing divorce and disputing over the right to raise their children?
- A man or woman being slandered for no wrong?
- A teenager lacking love at home that falls into reckless living?
- A child abandoned by his/her irresponsible parents?

Each of the above stories is enough to cause us real pain and distress. And, this is what happens in everyday life.
With so much sorrow and aggravation we face each day on the planet, we tend to ask God, "Why?"
Why all these troubles? Why all the cares, pain, and hardship?
Some even say, "Why is God tempting us?"

My Friends, God does not tempt anyone, "but each man is tempted when, by his own evil desire, he is dragged away and enticed" (James 1:14).

I guess it will help to view all the pain and sorrow in this world as part of the transient nature of life. Take a good look, and soon they're gone. As soon as one considers them, they vanish like a vapor of smoke. Mere illusion life on Earth is!
Solomon said it so well in the Scripture:

"For the living know that they will die, but the dead know nothing; they have no further reward, and even the memory of them is forgotten. Their love, their hate, and their jealousy have long since vanished; never again will they have a part in anything that happens under the sun" (Ecclesiastes 9:5-6).

Anger, anguish, pain, grief, disputes, quarrels, vengeance, hatred (and the list goes on) are not worth clinging on to.
They don't last!
Who would remember who we were, what our problem was, how we managed to solve (or ruin) our lives, and why had we settled our matters, after we have died? A hundred years from now there will be no rememberance of our lives aside from meaningless names carved on forgotten tombstones!
Why take to heart things so fleeting?
Why choose the path of joyless life?

The Teacher presents us the key to live a full, joyful life while living in this transient world: CONTENTMENT.
We know that our problems, anxiety, and unhappiness would diminish by far if each of us knew how to be content and grateful with what we have (that is, what God grants us to have), not with what we don't have!
As Apostle James would say, "If you know how to control your desire, you won't fall into temptation!"

This is Solomon's advice to us:

"Go, eat your food with gladness, and drink your wine with a joyful heart (be grateful with your everyday's blessing), for it is now that God favors what you do (love the job you're running). Always be clothed in white (maintain an upright outlook and attitudes), and always anoint your head with oil (be filled with God's guiding Word and Spirit). Enjoy life with your wife, whom you love (cherish and nurture love in your marriage and family), all the days of this meaningless life that God has given you under the sun -- all you meaningless days (make the best use of your lifetime). For this (contentment in all things) is your lot in life and in your toilsome labor under the sun. Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with all your might (do the best while you can)" (Ecclesiastes 9:7-10).

What a wonderful place this planet would be, if each of us knows how to be content and grateful, instead of filling our hearts and minds with desires that lead to much pain and suffering?
Do the world a favor: spare yourself of discontentment!
Enjoy life to the fullest while you still have the chance!

The Material and the Divine

Ever heard the "Prosperity Belief" among Christians these days?
This belief ensures that God blesses a believer abundantly in matters of material wealth as the result of their faith in Him. Whoever is NOT materially wealthy, then, is either doubted to possess true faith in God, or reckoned as one who has done some sinful acts (or retained sinful way of living) that prevent God's material blessings to be poured richly into his/her life.
Alright, we all believe that God does bless all His children. He always provides the needs of those who put their faith and trust in Him -- material needs included. But does money matter above all else?
I don't find such notion in the Scripture.
The Bible says about all who trusts in the Lord and does what He pleases:

"To the man who pleases Him, God gives wisdom, knowledge, and happiness, but to the sinner, He gives the task of gathering and storing up wealth to hand it over to the one who pleases God" (Ecclesiastes 2:26, NIV).

Are we sure that the abundant amount of wealth we are gathering indicates that we are blessed by the Lord for being upright and living to please Him?
Not necessarily so!
The above verse states clearly that when a man of faith pleases the Lord, He grants him (1) wisdom, (2) knowledge, and (3) happiness.

What does it mean?

"The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge, but fools despise wisdom and discipline" (Proverbs 1:7, NIV).

"Wisdom is supreme. Therefore, get wisdom! Though it costs all you have, get understanding!" (Proverbs 4:7, NIV)

It means that the Lord values spiritual treasures far above earthly ones. Wisdom and knowledge are the most precious matters on the planet, the Scripture says. This does not refer to worldly wisdom, but the divine one: the wisdom that springs from our fear of the Lord and flows into full knowledge of His divine being.
That is the one thing we should pursue!
When we are wise enough to fear God and grasp the knowledge of Him, He will send everlasting happiness and joy into our lives -- things money can never buy!

Why busy gathering treasures that will not last?
When God does bless us with abundant material wealth, as the above verse suggests, use it to gain wisdom and knowledge of God! Spend our worldly wealth to store up heavenly treasures, not only for ourselves, but for others as well!
Then, and only then, will we be rich in the sight of God.
The Lord blesses us all!

Do Everything in Love!

"Do everything in love!" wrote Apostle Paul in I Corinthians 16:14.
As I came across the above chapter in my daily devotion, the verse stabbed me! It was not an ordinary admonition, but a profound life-changing rebuke.
The church in Corinth was the most troublesome among all the churches in the days of the apostles. Oh, yes. They did possess material wealth in abundance, as well as spiritual gifts. But, something was fundamentally wrong with this church: the gifts of the Holy Spirit were misused, the congregation was divided four ways, the church members had no appropriate honor and understanding of the Holy Communion, and they had not mature in their spiritual life as they should, but remained "infants" in spirit.
It took Apostle Paul two long letters to straighten up the matters in the Corinthian church, teaching them (all over again): Godly wisdom, the true foundation of the church, the basic principles of marital life, the proper application of spiritual gifts, and so forth.
But the last command he wrote down for them, as the sum of all the teachings and exhortation, was the above verse: "Do everything in love!"
These four words stand like a mirror for the churches in our days:
If we have love, we will care for one another and will not be divided.
If we have love, we will use our spiritual gifts appropriately for edification of the church.
If we have love, we will grow and mature in the faith.
If we have love, we will know God and understand His good will and purpose in our lives.
If we have love, we will come to perfection.

Love is the key to everything!

Why do we complain?
Why do we quarrel?
Why do we find our ministry a burden?

Let's examine our foundation: have we done everything out of love, or not?
Jesus founded His church on love. That was why He gave His life as an atoning sacrifice of redemption in exchange for our condemned souls.
Shouldn't we now do the same, building our ministry on our love to Him who has loved us so?

Take Up Your Cross

"If anyone would come after Me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow Me," said Jesus as recorded in Luke 9:23.

For centuries, the cross has become the symbol of suffering, affliction, and self-denial, that whenever a believer is in tribulation or distressing situation, we refer to him/her as one "bearing the cross." A woman undergoing great struggle once told us, "I guess this is my cross to bear."
Yes, we take up our cross and follow Jesus when the journey is tough, through the valley of the shadows of death, resting our hope in Him who always guides us and had set His bloody footprints for us to follow along the way. We believe He will strengthen us and lead us to a place of shelter and peace.
And, He always does.

But, what do we do after He does deliver us from tribulation?
What happens after the Lord leads us to a spacious place where our burdens are turned into blessings and our tears replaced with laughter?
Let's consider the fact: believers tend to find it much easier to trust in the Lord in times of trouble than in times of joy!
Most of the time, when life has gone soft on us, the wind of tribulation has been stilled, and God's provision is in abundance, we tend to lay the cross aside, thinking it's no longer necessary to take it up when the road is smooth and easy.

Did Jesus say so?
No!
The Lord had stated it very clearly, "He must deny himself and take up his cross DAILY and follow Me!"
The word "daily" comprises every single moment of our life, in joy and sorrow, in pain and blessing, in good times as well as bad times. There should never be a day in our life that we stop bearing the cross of Jesus!

The cross doesn't merely talk about pain and suffering, tribulation and hardship, in following the Lord. It speaks of living as the Lord's redeemed people who always honor, cherish, and reflect Christ's atoning sacrifice in every aspect of our life, every single day on Earth, whatever the circumstances may be.
This is the foundation of Christian life and the basis of our following the Lord. The cross is our strength as well as shield and weapon. Without it, we will not be able to withstand the attack of the Enemy.

And the Enemy knows how alluring the comfort of abundance really is.
Once the Lord has lifted up our burdens and replaced it with blessing, the Devil comes and tricks us into laying the cross aside. The blessing God has provided can be turned into a trap when we are not careful of the Devil's subtle ways and be seduced into forsaking the Lord's cross.
That's the moment of a believer's downfall!

Let's remain alert at all times, keeping in mind to take up our cross DAILY and follow the Lord. Only in focusing on Jesus in every circumstance we can stay solid and immovable in our faith to Him.
Amen.

It Will be Me

If you hear a voice,
In the middle of the night,
Saying it'll be all right,
It will be me.
If you feel a hand,
Guiding you along,
When the path seems wrong,
It will be me.

There is no mountain that I can't climb,
For you I'd swim through the rivers of time,
As you go your way, and I go mine,
A light will shine, and it will be me.

If there is a key that goes to your heart,
A special part, it will be me.
If you need a friend, call out to the wind,
To hold you again, it will be me.
Oh, how the world seems so unfair,
Creating a love that cannot be shared,
As you go your way, and I go mine.
A light will shine, and it will be me.

I see ever after,
There's a place for two,
In your tears and laughter,
I'll be there for you.
In the sun and the moon,
In the land and the sea,
Look all around you,
It will be me.

There is no mountain that I can't climb,
For you I'd swim through the rivers of time,
As you go your way, and I go mine,
A light will shine, and it will be me.

It will be me...
It will be me...



Lyrics: OST Walt Disney's BROTHER BEAR 2.
Picture: Ikki & Shun, Saint Seiya: Knights of the Zodiac.

Gold Saint Aquarius

When the boy, Hyoga, first set foot on the remote terrain of Siberia on the start of his training to become a bronze saint, Camus Aquarius welcome his young, new disciple with icy-cold look and the utmost-important question, "What's your purpose of becoming a saint?"
Hyoga replied honestly, "When I am powerful enough, Master, I plan to salvage my mother's body, buried in a drowned ship in the Arctic."
The prince of ice turned and shook his head.
"No, Hyoga," he said. "If you fight for such a reason, you will only end up dooming yourself."
He then pointed at the icebergs, stretching miles and miles on end, and told the boy, "Look, Hyoga. Only when you've become as tough and emotionless as the eternally frozen icebergs of Siberia will you be able to become a true saint and formidable fighter."
Hyoga didn't understand. The memory of his mother was the most priceless matter in the world to him. Even after he did become the Cygnus Bronze Saint, he still couldn't leave the memory behind. Camus noticed, but kept the matter to himself.

To Hyoga, even as he so highly respected his master and found him a fatherly figure, Camus always appeared as a cold, emotionless person. Little did he know that deep within, his master was a selfless man who always fought for the greater good and would not hesitate to sacrifice at any cost.
His life goal was to train a prodigy that would one day succeed him as the Aquarius Gold Saint.

It so happened that after Hyoga Cygnus finished his training and rejoined his band of bronze saints, war broke out between the saints of Athena and the gold saints of the Sanctuary. This would mean that Hyoga and Camus would stand on opposite sides.
Camus knew at that time who was on the right, yet he refused to choose side. His concern was on Hyoga alone.
Nevertheless, as the guardian of the Aquarius Temple of the Precious Urn, he had to return to Greece and guard his post.

As Hyoga and the other bronze saints arrived at the Sanctuary and fought their way, Camus took his disciple aside to the empty Temple of Libra, and taught him one last lesson.
Hyoga had to understand that to be able to challenge a gold saint in a fair combat, he had to master the "seventh sense," the ability to reach the highest cosmos and utilizing the power of the universe to the zenith. In order to reach this level, Hyoga had to go beyond the physical plane and every single matter that tied him to the present dimension, including the loving memory of his deceased mother. Camus had long seen this as Hyoga's ultimate weakness that hindered him from becoming a true saint.
But still, the boy wouldn't let it go. Even after Camus drowned the ship to the deepest trench of the Arctic, even after he gave Hyoga such blows to wake his seventh sense up, he still wouldn't let go.
"This isn't going to work," Camus thought to himself -- and finally decided to hit his disciple unconcious with the Aurora Execution, his most powerful attack.
Gazing down at the boy lying on the cold floor, Camus sighed heavily. It was most likely that, if Hyoga couldn't master the seventh sense, he would waste his life in unfair combat.
"It will be better if you die by my hand than another's," Camus whispered. "I will spare you a painful death."
Upon thinking so, Camus locked his disciple in an ice coffin, weeping bitterly as executing the boy, yet still believing that it was for the best. Tears running down his cheeks, Gold Saint Aquarius left the Temple of Libra, shattered within.

But Hyoga hadn't died. Several hours later, his friends arrived at the spot. And Shiryu Dragon, who happened to be the disciple of Gold Saint Libra Dohko, "borrowed" his master's weapon to break the ice coffin and set Hyoga free.
Finally, Hyoga returned to combat, to encounter Camus' best-friend, Milo Scorpio, in the next temple. Under excessive torture in the hand of Milo, eventually Hyoga succeeded in surpassing the present dimension and reaching the seventh sense.
Milo congratulated the boy and granted him permission to continue to the next temple.

In the end, Hyoga came face to face with his master once more -- and Camus did his best to train the boy to master his newly-achieved seventh sense, teaching him the Aurora Execution.
Upon reaching complete mastery, as both master and disciple were using the Aurora at the same time, Hyoga eventually defeated Camus. The Gold Saint Aquarius fell onto the floor, dying in contentment. At last he succeeded in creating a true saint, the one he had been waiting for his entire life.
Hyoga fell down in total exhaustion, crying remorsefully. Only then did he find out how much his master had loved him, what price Camus was willing to pay to make him a better man and a true saint.

After his death, Camus' spirit remained in his Aquarius gold cloth, and whenever Hyoga was in great danger, the cloth would come to aid and protect him. Camus kept guiding his disciple even after his departure, until Hyoga was qualified enough to become the next Gold Saint Aquarius.

The above story was part of the anime Saint Seiya: Knights of the Zodiac, a TV series I used to watch 17 years ago. Out of the blue, the memory returned so vividly to me that I decided to give a thorough look:

The master, the disciple...
The lessons, the forging...
The selflessness, the sacrifice...
The iceberg without, the flaming love within...
The boy who became the saint!

And was it fate or coincidence that I was born an Aquarian?

Two Scenarios

Imagine yourself a film producer. One day, you are handed two screenplays to choose:

(1) A boy from a good family comes into bad neighborhood and is seduced to follow wayward living. He enjoys the wild, reckless, and adventurous so-called "freedom" for a while until he discovers that it all doesn't worth the love and affection he's got back home, so he turns away and returns to his family after learning his lesson.

(2) A boy from a good family comes into bad neighborhood, is seduced to follow wayward living, gets trapped in deep trouble, and gets killed without ever being able to return to the right path.

Which scenario would you prefer?

No doubt, you would choose the first one, as would any film producer in the world!
Nevertheless, my friends, that first scenario is nearly always found in fictions and not necessarily so in reality!
As a matter of fact, observing the situation of our days, the majority of young generation tend to fall into the second, tragic scenario!
Youths try to bite a taste of the forbidden fruit, thinking they can get away in the end, but the consequences of their recklessness overtake them before they can learn anything from it -- and they end up with their lives either cut off or shattered. There's no anti-climax of repentance, no resolution of second chance.
That's what we find in reality. Most of the time, there is no second chance as offered in the movies. The sand in the hourglass runs out way too fast.
That is real life.

But we also need to keep in mind that the fact we find so many cases of the second scenario out there also results from how frequent our children are exposed to the first scenario at home!
Parents, be careful what television is "teaching" our children!
TV or movie plots are fictions, delusive rather than instructing. We need to emphasize to our younglings from the early stage of childhood that the stories told through that tube is NOT REAL!
A youth these days is so prone to tell him/herself, "Ah, it's okay. I'll get away with it, just like the hero(ine) in the movie last night."
If we don't want our children to have this pattern of thought printed in their mind, we'd better start guiding them from now on in understanding fiction, filtering and selecting the stories they should and should not watch.
How many young lives are wasted out there on the streets, never returning home as living teens, bright and joyful as they should have been in their prime of life, just because we let the poison slip unnoticed from the crystal tube into the children's head?
Let's take extra caution in bringing up our kids. Don't let them believe "there is always a second chance" slogan offered by man-made stories. They probably won't survive that second chance!

A Lesson from the Vultures

Three vultures were being released into the wild. After spending years of "captivity" inside the giant preservation cage since chicks, these members of an endangered species were finally set free to enjoy the rest of their lives in liberty.
Guess what happened next!
They did soar above the clouds and took their flight around the mountains -- just to return to their previous cage!
Sometimes, as Christians, we fall into the same pattern. Not understanding the unsurmountable grace granted us by the Lord's redemption and the privileges owned by every member of the citizens of the Heavenly Kingdom, we repeatedly fall back into old habits, weakness and lack of faith that we really should have left behind the day we welcomed Christ and His power into our lives.
The Spirit and the divine power resting in our lives as believers is greater than the one that is in the world (see I John 4:4). So, now, after we have been set free from the bondage of sin and granted the full-measure of freedom as children of God, why are we so easily tempted by our old self with all its weaknesses?
As Apostle Paul put it, "If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation: the old has gone, the new has come!" (II Corinthians 5:17)
"Since, then, you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things" (Colossians 3:1-2).
In other words: start living our new citizenship. We're free vultures, not birds of the cage!

A Painting on My Bedroom's Wall

I see a river and a mill,
Standing on the foot of a hill.
I think the river holds its smile,
For no laughter's heard at the while.
Two damsels sit still in their boat,
And the boys run as if afloat.
I see a barn and a farm's yard,
Two gardens full-covered with sward,
White fences dividing the lawns,
The farmer gives a constant frown!
I see a stallion and a mare,
Two ducks, two sows, and no mad hare!

I believe I see them all talk,
In ways that doesn't move the clock.
I love the river and the mill,
Though forever they will stand still.

I love their silence even more,
And hear it rushing to the shore.


Shamantika -- June 24, 2002 (09.38 p.m.)

Turning Worry into Action

Don’t worry! Be happy!
We often hear or read this expression as we drive along the way, walk down the road to our office, or wait on the line at the local grocery.
Easier said than done, most of us would silently scoff back at the expression. Who is free of worries in this hustle and hurry world?
Nevertheless, even the Bible encourages us not to worry. Matthew 6: 34 says, “Do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.”
When Jesus said those words, He didn’t mean for us not to plan our future. The emphasis is on anxiety, not anticipation!
Planning is good. Having a plan is necessary. But trouble, distress, and headache come when we fear that our plan won’t work! Worrying is doubling the burden on a task that should take half the energy when done without being anxious.
The point is: make your plan and anticipate whatever circumstance that may take place, but leave the rest to God. Worrying won’t do any good.
Paul Borden, for example, gave some good tips on how to turn anxiety into reasonable steps:
1. Write down the things you’re worrying about. Family life, work at the office, children’s future, whatever things might occupy and/or obscure your mind.
2. Pray for the worries you’ve written down. Ask God specifically to help you face or go through those worrying circumstances.
3. Turn them into action. Try jotting down any effort you may take to solve specific, worrisome problems. This step makes things more reasonable to face and cope with.
After you’ve written down, prayed for, and planned on solving the problems that have been casting a net of anxiety over your heart and mind, trust God to guide you through – He will certainly turn all your worries into provision and solution!

God and the Apple of His Eye

"His eyes are like doves by the water streams...."

Such was how Solomon depicted the eyes of the Bridegroom in the book Song of Songs, which clearly portrayed the eyes of our Heavenly Bridegroom, the Lord Jesus Christ.
When we behold those eyes from afar, they might seem as no more important than a pair of marbles, small and insignificant. But the closer we approach God's eyes, we behold how those pair of divine eyes shine like two mirrors in which we gaze into our own reflection. The closer we come to the Lord, the more we see our personal wrong-doings and shortcomings.
And, we are unwise if, after reflecting upon those mirrors, we turn away because we do not wish to behold or confess our weaknesses for Him to restore and change.
When we gaze upon those eyes deeper..... we shall see how gentle they are, full of love, compassion, grace and power!
He is full of compassion and grace; our Lord is the God of love who never stops loving sinful man, no matter how great our sins are. And He is full of grace, to lift us up out of the deepest pit.
He is all-powerful to change our wretched condition into the same likeness we see in Him, and He has all the power to transform all our vileness and blemish into a perfect being through Him.
We have learned that we, His church, His body, is the apple of God's eye, who always receive His attention and marvelous care -- for we are precious in His sight.
Whenever we, the apple of His eye, are ill, or have done some improper conducts against His will, or sadden/hurt His heart, or fall into mistakes due to our yet imperfect condition, God always washes us with His tears, with the water of His Living Word. Every time we do wrong, the washing by the Word of God comes to cleanse us of guilt.
Let us always become God's precious apple of His eyes, pleasing His heart at all times! Amen.

--Mrs. J.W. Totaijs, KRISTUS GEMBALA Magazine, August 1976--

Betsy

Julie had eleven dolls in her room. Some of them were very expensive. One could even cry and shed tears. However, among all her dolls, Julie's favorite was an old, rag doll that she named Betsy.
Whenever Julie's friends came to play at her house, they always chose the expensive dolls to play with. Julie was the only one who played with Betsy. She loved playing with Betsy, even at the times she was playing alone.
One day, Julie's mother asked her why she was always playing with such an old and ugly rag doll. Julie looked up and replied, "Mommy, if I'm not playing with Betsy, who would've wanted her?"

Sometimes, we, too, are like the above story...
Perhaps all our friends are invited to a party while others take no notice of us. When even our closed ones reject us, it seems that no one cares about us. Sometimes we feel as if nobody were concerned about us.
Nevertheless, when there is no one who does, God is there as the only Person who cares for us.
As a matter of fact, we are not worthy to be loved, due to our sins and badness. But God loves us more than Julie loves her rag doll, Betsy. The Lord is willing to die in our stead, no matter how bad and sinful our condition really is.
Apostle Paul once said that in the past we were adversaries of God, but He had made us His friends through the death of His Son.
As we ask ourselves as Julie did, "If God doesn't love us, who will?", perhaps we'll find no one. But Jesus loves us above all matters -- and He will never stop loving us!

[ Translated from KRISTUS GEMBALA Magazine, November-December 1974. ]

Woman Labor

It was high noon in Kendari, Sulawesi. A bunch of people are waiting for customers to hire their motorcycles, there by a shady corner in the heat of the day. Some others are working hard in building a shopping centre: carrying bricks, sacks of cement & buckets full of gravel.
The amazing thing was: the motorbikers were men, while the builders were women!
Talking about emancipation!
It is true that nowadays women are striving to gain the same right in earning a living as much as the men. But if THIS is the sort of occupation some women are undergoing in order to be considered equal to men, won't you say emancipation has stepped way out of the line?
Who's taking care of the kids?
Who's running the household?
I am not personally against feminism, but we all need to put all things in their proper places, in proper manners, and in the proper perspective. Even emancipation!

The Sparrow

My patronus is a SPARROW...??
Geez, when I took the quiz, I was hoping to receive a completely different result: a bear, for example. An eagle, a snow-leopard, a wolf, or perhaps a hound at the very least.
But, no. My patronus is a sparrow, a small, plump, brownish-grey bird with a short tail and stubby beak.
As I meditated the result, my mind suddenly flew to a verse I've read so many times in the Bible.
Jesus said, "Are not five sparrows sold for two pennies? Yet not one of them is forgotten by God! Indeed, the very hairs of your head are all numbered. Don't be afraid. You are worth more than many sparrows!" (Luke 12:6-7).

There's an old hymn that goes:

Why should I feel discouraged,
Why should the shadows come,
Why should my heart be lonely
And long for Heav'n and home,
When Jesus is my portion?
My constant Friend is He:
His eye is on the sparrow,
And I know He watches me;
His eye is on the sparrow,
And I know He watches me.

I sing because I'm happy,
I sing because I'm free,
For His eye is on the sparrow,
And I know He watches me.

"Let not your heart be troubled,"
His tender word I hear,
And resting on His goodness,
I lose my doubts and fears;
Though by the path He leadeth
But one step I may see:
His eye is on the sparrow,
And I know He watches me;
His eye is on the sparrow,
And I know He watches me.

Whenever I am tempted,
Whenever clouds arise,
When songs give place to sighing,
When hope within me dies,
I draw the closer to Him,
From care He sets me free:
His eye is on the sparrow,
And I know He cares for me;
His eye is on the sparrow,
And I know He cares for me.

As I desired greatness and pride (something to boast about), God revealed to me that basically I'm just an ordinary human being: frail, small and weak compared to life's obstacles and challenges, unable to stand a chance against the forces of nature.
But to such a frail creature, God shows His unsurmountable mercy and provision. It's only because of His grace that we, human, live and have our being. We are kept safe only by His abundant love, protected from all harm that might befall us.

My patronus is a sparrow. And I'm glad it's no other.

Opposition = Friend or Foe...?

A long time ago, a student in University of Oxford made a paper entitled "The Necessity of Atheism."
I guess we all can predict what happened to him next.
Yes, he was banished, not only from the university, but also from England.
Yet today he is widely known as one of the greatest poet in English history.
Percy Bysshe Shelley did not actually publish a writing on atheism because he was a radical atheist who believed in no God. The emphasis was basically more on the "necessity" rather than "atheism."
In a world where the dominating religion was too overpowering and the ruling class was turning into tyranny (even in behalf of religion's sake), faith in itself receded to the background into the gloom of shifting shadows.
People didn't know what faith was. They were like scattered sheep without a shepherd, without a clear understanding of what they believed in.
They called themselves Christians (for that was the label put on the entire nation) without knowing who Christ was. They were a people at complete loss of the true idea of God and His divine work.
Shelley, on the other hand, was not a devout either. But he knew that in such condition, it was necessary to put up an opposition.
It was not to defy and ruin the dominating power of the ruling religion at the time, but to redefine it.
Without opposition, power always tends to fall into the dark side. It was necessary to open people's mind to the plausibilities of other point-of-views. This was a tool to check things into balance -- and Shelley did not regret his being exiled for delivering an opposing thought in the face of tyranny.
It really isn't about winning or losing.
It's all about keeping everything in balance in our unstable world.

Citizens vs. Villagers

It's been quite some time since the last chance I visited Surabaya, the metropolis where I was born and grew up in. For 6 years now, I've been living in a village on the slope of Mount Welirang, where the air is clean, the water is fresh, the people live in harmony, and diseases are rare.
Sounds like Paradise?
Perhaps, yes. Especially to the eyes of those who spend their life (almost entirely) in big, crowded cities.
I didn't put too much realization into it until last week, when my Diamond Director came all the way from Jakarta to give a two-days workshop in Surabaya and I was scheduled to meet her.
(Feel free to read my experience with Nadia M. Yuniardo here.)
Since the hotel she was staying in was new, and we didn't know the exact spot (though we did get the address), Octavian and I went asking people along the streets.
I was very much taken aback as finding out the way people of this city responded to a couple of strangers' question.
"I don't know," some of them replied, without the slightest concern.
"There," a suspiciously eyeing man said. "Go there. Turn right."
"Follow that road," said another, avoiding our eyes (or was it because he was deep into other matters that his eyes were not focused?).
Very pathetic!
"What's with these people?" I wondered.
We began to feel deep pity for the Surabayan. Too much burden at work, at home, in the neighborhood, and extremely high competition in social life must have overwhelmed these people and resulted in the ever-increasing rate of stress.
I suddenly missed my village that I just left for simply a couple of hours. Oh, how the villagers always smile and speak kindly from the heart (even to strangers)! How we always greet each other as we run into each other on the roads! How life is ever so tranquil and blissful!
Without stress, without the need for competition, without air-noise-water pollution, and without fast-food restaurants, people tend to live healthier and longer. It's a treasure we won't give up for the wealth of the metropolis!
We finished our business in Surabaya as fast as we could. And, just as the sun was going down, I told my husband, "GET ME OUT OF HERE...!! THIS PLACE IS DRIVING ME NUTS...!!"

Behind the Disappearance

It's been two weeks since the last time I blogged.
My PC was lightning-struck and I couldn't get online for several days.
Finally, after some days of panic and going back-and-forth to repair the damages done, we got the motherboard and LAN card replaced with second-hand spare-parts. What counted most was to have the computer run again, though in the near future we'll need to replace the parts with new ones.
Right after fixing the PC, I ran into an advertising program that I decided to join. Thus, you might find some link-ads showing up in my blog from now on.
These links are part of a pay per click advertising program called Infolinks. Infolinks is an In Text advertising service: they take my text and create links within it. If you hover with your mouse over these double underlined links, you will see a small dialog box containing advertisement related to the text marked. You can choose to either move the mouse away and go on with your browsing, or to press on the box and go to the ad page which is relevant to the text. Click here to learn more about Infolinks Double Underline Link Ads.

Names -- and Their Significance

Hazrat Inayat Khan, the great Indian Sufi, once taught about the power of words -- and names. He said that a man will become exactly the meaning of what he's called by all his life.
Words and names have mystical powers that shape people and circumstances the way they are called. That is why ancient tribes, up to this day, consider name-giving as sacred, especially when it comes to naming newly-born babes.
Personally, I didn't actually open the dictionary of names before naming my children. Octavian and I simply mingled our names together and came up with the anagram Santika, which we settled as the new surname for our children. Then, we added Dharma for our firstborn, and Vidyaparamitha for our lastborn.
Did we know the meaning of the names?
No. We simply found them to sound nice, that's all.
That was one reckless decision, naming children after some words that we knew nothing about the meanings.
It wasn't until three years later that we looked up for the meanings in the dictionary of children names, and found out that:

Santika means peacemaker.

Santikadharma means compassionate peacemaker, while Santika Vidyaparamitha means very wise and virtuous peacemaker.

Well, I'm glad that we've named them prudently (out of sheer luck).
And hope that they'll grow up to be exactly what their names mean.

Reflection

Every now and then, at any given time of the day, we would stop in front of a mirror and check if everything's okay with our looks. Does our hair need tidying? Does our blazer remains neat? Is there any smear on our face after lunch?
A big rushing need for a mirror comes once in a while when something unexpected happens: coffee spilled on our blouse, bee sting on our nose, or water splashed on our head. In such instances, we would hurriedly run to the nearest mirror around.
What for?
To reflect and inspect the damages done, no doubt!
It is as simple as that.
Mirrors are the ultimate help we need to check out and tidy up our outlook.
Even so, people tend to be more careless when it comes to inner reflection.
Sometimes, as we go through life, there are always instances when we need to stop awhile and reflect on what we do, think, or say. It's called "introspection" (inner-inspection).
People with healthy inner-self always have time to meditate on life and introspect themselves to be better people in the days ahead.
Unfortunately, in this hustle-and-hurry world, many people have turned reckless and tend to blame circumstances instead of reflecting upon their own shortcomings.
They've got inner mirrors, alright. But they refuse to use them.
Thus, they keep on bragging about things not suiting their needs and people not helping them out. They blame life and fate for being unfair to them, yet forget to do anything to help themselves improve and so gain their goals.
These kind of folks are not going to get anywhere in life.
Do YOU feel like you're not getting anywhere?
Why don't we sit and meditate for a while. Reflect upon our inner mirror and see... are there things we need to change for the betterment of ourselves?
When you know how to change yourselves, you'll find a way to change your DESTINY!

Mount Welirang

Dear Friends,

Here's the picture of Mount Welirang that I took from opposite our house here in the village of Slepi. Very beautiful, isn't it?
The word "Welirang" in Javanese means "sulfur." Up to this day, people mine sulfur from the crate of the mountain for chemical ingredients in soaps and cosmetics.
Welirang is an active volcano, thus people mine its sulfur to prevent it from erupting. If it does, the whole resort villages located on its slope (according our tranquil environment) will surely vanish!
Such is the risk of residing on the lap of a fiery, slumbering giant.

Chacha's Last Day with Us

They were born in the woods. Their mother was a mongrel-jackal, shot dead by a ranger when they were barely a month old. The ranger took the pups, all four of them, and handed them to a friend of ours who lived in the nearby village.
The eldest and the youngest pups died, while we adopted the two remaining ones, provided them our house as shelter and gave them names: the brown one we call Chocho, and the black one we call Chacha.
Chocho grows into a handsome dog, tall and well-built, with soft, velvety coat and very sweet disposition. Chacha, on the other hand, was stunted, with coarse black coat, and since their early days we can tell that he did not possess the stamina and stoutness as his brother has. And I spotted signs of jealousy in him.
A month ago, we were given a grown-up bitch, and -- as predicted -- she became Chocho's mate instead of Chacha's. Soon, I noticed that Chacha was into some kind of depression and he began to grow ill.
Finding a vet is a very difficult matter out here in the villages. And, when we finally found one, he was diagnosed with chronic pneumonia and enlargement of the liver. I took care of him for the whole week, even feeding him with a spoon to get the food and medicine into him.
I tried all I can, but God has another plan. Just as I thought he was recovering, God took him away. I started the first day of the month with a mournful loss.
Above is the last picture of Chacha, a few hours before his death, and Sarah's only chance to hug and pet him.