Altruism: A Rare Jewel

Nearly a week ago, on a street in Foshan, China, a two-year-old girl was hit twice in the middle of the traffic with no one having enough compassion to rescue her. Eighteen passers-by simply ignored that dying toddler lying on the road. The nineteenth picked her up and called for help. After spending days in a state of comma, the little girl was declared clinically dead.

A year back, in the same country, a different kind of accident took place. On July 28, 2010, a factory in Nanjing exploded, resulting in 13 death and 300 casualties. The interesting story was: A camera unintentionally recorded a monkey rescuing a puppy during the incident. It ran away from the burning factory with the puppy cradled in its arms.

Ironic, isn't it?

Whereas the morality of man is under question nowadays, animals prove themselves to be more altruistic than we are!

Altruism, the unselfish concern for the welfare of others, seems to be lacking from human civilization. Compassion is a rare jewel in our hustle-and-bustle world. Humanity has turned cold and heartless, even to our own kind.

But the two contradictory examples above knock upon the doorstep of our hearts to turn from the coldness of human life to the warmth of nature. They invite us to rediscover the meaning of being human -- of having and showing compassion, understanding, and love.

Perhaps the reason why we do not care for the welfare of others is merely because they are of no value to us. We are not attached to them, or they to us. In the coldness of modern life, each man minds his own business.

But, this is not entirely true.
In the social structure of society, man is always linked to one another. Our life and the meaning of our existence is only as true as the relations we have with other people, be they colleagues, partners, friends, or strangers we meet on the sidewalk.

Yes, every one of us is a working individual: scientist, businessperson, entrepreneur, employee, employer, government staff, professional, you name it. But each of us is also a parent, a child, a friend, a trusted person to somebody else.
We can develop altruism within us by understanding that each individual is precious to some other people close to him/her, and by thinking that the less fortunate person could have been someone dear to us.
We certainly don't want anything bad happening to our loved ones with no one around to show enough compassion, do we?

Let's start shaping and polishing this rare jewel within us.
Learn from the altruistic ways of nature.

Live, Let Go, and Let Live!

The story I’m about to tell you is true; it happened over a decade ago.

There was a woman my mother and I once knew: Mrs. A, a widow with two children.
No, her husband didn’t die. He had an affair with another woman and divorced Mrs. A before marrying his mistress and settling down in another city.
As would any betrayed (ex)-wife, Mrs. A was deeply hurt and drowned in bitterness. In her hatred and anger, she cursed the other woman, praying that God would strike her ex-husband’s second wife with an illness as lethal as cancer.
She then occupied herself with work, bringing up two kids on her own and getting involved in Christian ministries as a faithful church-goer. Years turned into decades, as she waited, waited, and waited for God to fulfill the curse she cast upon the other woman.

Guess what?
Mrs. A passed away due to breast cancer in her early fifties!

You might feel a slight chill running down your spine after reading this.
You might even be thinking, “Did the curse backfire on her?”

Well, scientifically speaking, medical researches have shown that nurturing bitterness is a fine way of triggering the onset of malignant cell growth in the human body. Cancer is basically the mutation of healthy body cells into malignant ones through certain triggering factors, such as radioactivity, carcinogenic agents, and distress.
As mentioned in Cancer Helps, distress is an emotional state that disturbs the body's cellular balance. When we are constantly in distress, this state potentially incites our body cells to turn hyperactive and malignant, triggering the onset of cancer.

Biblically speaking, let’s read what our Lord said in Matthew 6:44, “I say to you, love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who spitefully use you and persecute you.”

It sounds quite impossible to apply in daily life, doesn’t it?
Nonetheless, this is not an admonition. It’s a command!

Apostle Paul was the man who followed this command to his last breath, and he had proven that the Lord’s word is not impossible to perform. If it were, surely Paul wouldn’t say, “Imitate me, just as I also imitate Christ!”
In his letter to the Romans, he explained on how to behave like a Christian, “Bless those who persecute you; bless, and do not curse!”
Again, he wrote, “Repay no one evil for evil. Have regard for good things in the sight of all men,” and “do not avenge yourselves, but rather give place to wrath; for it is written, ‘Vengeance is Mine, I will repay,’ says the Lord. Therefore, if your enemy hungers, feed him; if he thirsts, give him a drink; for in so doing, you will heap coals of fire on his head. Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.”
Paul was elaborating Lord Jesus's command to love our enemies and do good to those who did us wrong. Simply speaking, the apostle was filling up the details for us to practice kindness – not bitterness – toward others, and our enemies in particular.

Thus, we can conclude:

• Loving others, even those who hate and mistreat us, is God’s command for us to perform. We cannot be justified before Him by living against this command, no matter how much and how great the service and faithfulness we offer Him in return.
Honestly, we can’t bribe God!

• Human vengeance is basically an act of rebellion against God’s supreme control over the universe.
We might wonder why God said, “Vengeance is Mine.” We are the ones who are wronged (not Him!), surely we have the right to avenge ourselves!
Uhm, not really.
Let’s put it this way, through a more universal perspective: when something wrong happens in the universe, it means that one of God’s law had been broken. As a result, an imbalance take place (we see this whenever evil seems to triumph over good; we can read Asaph’s complaint in Psalm 73 and Habakkuk’s groaning in the first chapter of his book concerning this).
Nevertheless, however dire and long-lasting the imbalance might be, there is another law that God had set since the beginning of time. It’s called the law of sowing and reaping.
The law of balance.
Whatever imbalance taking place in the universe must sooner or later right itself (to the Greek, it’s known as “nemesis”), and God always provides the agent(s) of righting the imbalance and restoring the universe to its previous, balanced state – without interference from our part.
Thus, we see that vengeance is purely and solely prerogative to God.
Who are we to challenge His sovereignty?

• Yes, it’s true. It’s much easier to curse and hate those who despise us and did us wrong.
But, then again, try viewing it this way: what good does cursing and hating bring us? By doing so, aren't we simply proving that we’re no better than they are?
The Lord’s wisdom stands!
o Bless those who curse you.
Perhaps, after being blessed, they would change and stop being so hostile toward us.
o Do good to those who hate you.
Maybe their wrong impression would alter afterward, and – who knows? – we might even be friends or allies.
o Pray for those who spitefully use you and persecute you.
“The effective, fervent prayer of a righteous person avails much,” wrote Apostle James. It’s very possible that through the prayer of faith, God opens the eyes of those who persecute us, so they’ll gain a brand new insight and follow the Lord’s way in uprightness.

In short, bitterness, hatred, and vengeance truly don’t pay.
Live and let go – and let live!

The Significance of the Name

“What’s in a name?” Shakespeare proposed.
This saying of his has made its way down the generations to the present time. Whether he stated that question out of romantic context in his tragedy, Romeo and Juliet, or simply out of ignorance, one can never tell. But, it sure sounds foolish in the hearing of the Orient.

“What’s in a name?”
When you ask this question to an Easterner, he/she will tell you there are loads of precious things a name contains.

For instance:
• To most (if not all) tribes in the East, a name determines one’s rank and status in the society. This is especially true in patriarchal, feudalistic communities.
The name “Siregar” in Northern Sumatra, “Raden Mas/Raden Ajeng” in Central Java, and “Ida Bagus” in Bali indicate prominent position by birth.
• The Javanese do not give their children names before they are born, since they need to consider the day and the time of a child’s birth in order to ensure that the “weight” of the baby’s name does not exceed his/her “capacity” of lifetime fortune. Otherwise, it will bring bad luck upon the child (so they say).
• The Japanese, who preserve the roots of their culture and tradition even to the era of post-modernism and sophisticated technology, also hold fast to the sacred giving of a name – this is recognizable even in their pop culture.
Take the manga Bleach by Tite Kubo, for example. In the Soul Society universe, it is known that within every sword (katana) lives a sword-spirit (zanpakuto). A sword will remain a sword and will not reveal its true potential before the wielder learns the name of the spirit dwelling within it. Only after discovering (through years of arduous training) the name of the zanpakuto, the wielder will be able to “release” his/her sword actual power.

In his book, The Mysticism of Sound and Music, Hazrat Inayat Khan wrote about how all mysteries remain stored within the meaning of name. All knowledge of all things stands ultimately upon the knowledge of name. Without knowledge, there can never come power, since one cannot have power over matters he/she does not know.

For this reason, at the creation of the world, when God first created man from the dust of the earth and blew His spirit into him, He gave Adam the task of naming all creatures that had been created before him – a privilege He didn’t give even to angels!
After Adam had finished giving names to all living creatures, God commanded mankind to “be fruitful and multiply; fill the earth and subdue it; have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over every living thing that moves on the earth.”
With the knowledge of the name, comes power!

Is it any wonder for Christians that at the Name which is above every name, “the name of Jesus, every knee should bow, of those in heaven, and of those on earth, and of those under the earth, and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father”?
By His glorious name, the Church was born, the gospel of peace was preached all over the globe, millions of lives were saved from Satan's clutches, new hope shone forth, and divine light finally dawned upon civilization.
By His victorious name, we are given a new life, overcome the power of darkness, destroy the fortresses of evil, save souls staggering toward perdition, and triumph over all tribulations.

“What is in a name?”
There is power in the Name of the Lord!

Disappointment = A Reason for Giving Thanks (?)

"Better cry for a month than a lifetime."

A friend once told the above words to cheer up his good buddy, who had just completed her divorce papers and had to raise two kids on her own.
I have another idea:

"Better a heartbreak than a divorce."

Do you notice the difference?
Statement #1 = let go, don't cry over spilled milk.
Statement #2 = thank God, you needn't cry over spilled milk.

Happiness and disappointment, success and failure, joy and sorrow, are normal, everyday happenings we face through life. Besides, people can't fully understand the meaning of "happiness" when they have never been acquainted with "disappointment," or grasp the meaning of "success" without knowing what "failure" is. Such is the joy and sorrow, ups and downs, gloom and brightness of life. It's what makes life purely colorful.

Over a decade ago, during a Q&A session attended by youths and senior mentors, a troubled girl proposed a question, eager to know what to do when facing heartbreak.
One of the senior mentors replied, "Give thanks! That means, God is planning to give you a better life-mate!"

When we broaden the scope, the above admonition also applies in other areas of life: "Give thanks for your present disappointments/failures/setbacks, for it means that God is planning better things ahead!" -- as long as you look beyond the present anguish you're experiencing.

Sometimes, we tend to focus too much on whatever we have in sight. We struggle and strive for something we think as best for us at the present, without realizing the hidden negative potential it contains, which might just be a time-bomb ready to explode in the future.

God is good.
He unravels the hidden threats long before the countdown stops and routs our plans from the very beginning. Indeed, it may plunge us into great disappointment, but disappointment is much more useful than regret. When we're disappointed, we turn to God so as to cling to His plan and His way, whereas regret is incapable of bringing any meaningful impact for the betterment of our situation.

Are you facing heartbreak? Has your proposal been turned down? Did the other party cancel the project or contract?
Whatever you're facing: Give thanks! God has already planned something (much) better ahead!

[Read the Indonesian version: My Facebook Notes]

Maternal Instinct

My dogs, Chocho and Doggie, have five adorable 3-months-old pups (well, six, actually -- one died). It's wonderful to watch our pets have a loving family of their own.
But I also surprisingly learn something from watching this family of canines interact among themselves.

On one occasion, I was cleaning up the kitchen and burning soiled newspaper on the backyard. I let it burn on the ground, and out of curiosity, the puppies came rushing to it: barking, approaching, and surrounding the burning newspaper. I saw their mother watching from afar.
Then, all the sudden, she ran into the scene, and snatched the flaming thing away.
"Doggie! What are you doing?!" I shouted. "It's on fire! You can burn yourself!"
But she ignored my yelling and carried the burning newspaper to a safe place by a shadowy tree, far from her pups.

I was entirely dumbstruck.
It was pure maternal-instinct!

From that incident, I learned that:

1. A mother's instinct of protection toward her young is far greater than her instinct of survival -- or even fear.
2. Naturally, even animals instinctively know how to recognize the cause of the problem, and act to solve it. Perhaps humans have already become too artificial to see and realize the core of problems in our modern civilization.

It's marvelous how nature can teach us many things, even the things our latest high-tech discoveries can't offer.

Miracle is A Two-Way Street

Recently, I often hear people claiming they believe in God, who walks in the realm of impossibility. They have faith in the Lord, who makes all things possible for all who trust in Him.
I say "Amen!" to that.

But, sometimes, people respond to the above notion a bit out of the intended scope. Yes, it's true: our Lord, the Creator of the Universe, is the "Maker of Miracles, working wonders."
Nevertheless, He does not always work that way!
If He does, what's the need to establish the natural axioms of the universe for?

Let's take some miraculous examples:

- Abraham had a son at 100 years old. How miraculous!
But, look at it closely: there was a span of 25 years between the moment God gave the promise until it was finally fulfilled. Abraham had to prove his faith to God and serve Him wholeheartedly until he was proven worthy to receive the fulfillment of God's promise.
Beside, Isaac was not born out of thin air. He was conceived for nine months and was delivered naturally from the womb of his aged mother, Sarah.

- Joshua cried out to God and the entire solar system stopped moving. Awesome!
But it only happened because Joshua was out on a military campaign prompted by the will of God, not his own.
It was God's will and power that stopped the movement of the sun and moon, and He heard Joshua's prayer because he was a general who understood the will of God.

- Over 5,000 people were fed and be filled when Jesus broke the five loaves and two fishes. But Jesus did not perform the miracle before they had followed Him for three days on foot, only to listen attentively to His teaching.
Their faith and longing for His words were the reasons behind their following the Lord, despite the long journey, hunger, and thirst. In turn, it moved the Lord's heart with compassion. And a miracle happened!

- Many people were healed from their illnesses and demon-possession in the days of the apostles. But, did they simply come casually and received healing without a price? No!
During the early years of the church, Christianity was banned and considered a threat to the status quo. Anyone who believed and accepted the teaching should be marked as a traitor and ought to answer to the authority.
So, these people came to the apostles to be miraculously healed in full understanding that, by doing so, they could forfeit their very lives! It was their faith and courage that allowed God to perform miracles in them.

What I am saying is: God is truly the God of miracles who walks in the realm of impossibility, but in all things, there is a process!

We can't expect God to work miracles in our lives and blow our problems away in a single flick of His fingers!
That is not His modus of operation.
This is God's way of dealing with man: teamwork.
Meaning?

We handle all the possible, He'll handle the impossible.
We work out the process, He'll come out with the result.
We follow His will through His words, He'll fulfill His wonderful plans in our lives.
We pray, He'll act.

Miracle is a two-way street: we do our part, God does His.
And when the miracle takes place, we'll realize that He doesn't merely change the situation. He changes our hearts as well.
And compared to the new person He has forged us into, the miracle itself will seem smaller than it's expected at the beginning.

Our God is not only beyond impossibility.
He is way beyond imagination!
Amen.

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.

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.

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.

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!

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. ]

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.

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!

The Secret of Good Luck

I read a certain article in a site called Kisah-Kisah Inspiratif (Inspiring Stories) yesterday. You might want to hear a bit about it, too.
It is said that Prof. Richard Wiseman from University of Hertfordshire (UK) had run some tests on two groups of individuals: those who seem to always be fortunate in their lives, and those whose lives are always filled with problems and bad lucks. The tests show that the lucky guys tend to handle and respond to circumstances in quite a different way compared to the unlucky ones.
Here's the conclusions Wiseman drew from the observation:

1. Lucky people are more open-minded toward opportunities.

They are more capable of sensing the arrival of new opportunities, respond positively to chances, and even create possibilities. How come?
It is because these individuals are more relaxed and open to new experiences. They show the tendency to create or enter new social circles and interact positively with new acquaintances. On the other hand, unlucky people tend to be more rigid and unwilling to explore new possibilities.

2. Lucky people rely more on intuition than logic.

Most decisions made by lucky individuals turn out to be based more on intuition than logic. They have sharper and more trained intuition than the unlucky group. This comes from active meditation and clear conscience. Although reason also has its share in discerning a matter, lucky people count more on their intuitive side rather than relying on complicated calculations.

3. Lucky people always wish for the best to come.

They always respond positively and optimistically to life. With this outlook, they tend to be more flexible in managing problems and tougher when disasters strike. The optimistic values they hold also help promoting good interactions with other people.

4. Lucky people alter bad circumstances into good.

They can always see the silver lining in every dark cloud. No matter how bad the situation, lucky people are able to recognize the positive value and turn it into the way to promote goodness. They possess the ability to quickly adapt to new circumstances -- though disastrous they may seem -- and gain benefits out of them. This keeps good luck in their side at all times!

Wiseman then concluded that every normal individual is actually able to gain good luck in life by following this very simple method: OPEN YOUR MIND, ENJOY YOUR LIFE!
Welcome good luck into your life today!

Indonesian Soap Opera (Sinetron) = Poison Candy?

In Indonesia, we call it sinetron.
In other countries, people know it as TV Soap Opera.
Why do they call it “soap” opera?
It’s because the majority of corporations sponsoring the sequels are soap manufacturers.
But that is not the underlying idea we’re discussing at present.
I personally am more concerned about the content of the programs compared to the sponsors behind the films.
For over the past two decade, the soap operas that sell most and gain the highest rating in Indonesia are those that carry the issues of love-affairs, divorces, premarital pregnancy, and disputes over family inheritance – spiced up with anger, vengeance, and tear-shedding at every turn of the act.
Perhaps it’s what people want to see. Perhaps it’s just their taste. And producers simply give the society what they desire. Movie-makers in Indonesia, after all, are companies with the goal of income-making in mind.
People merely like such programs because they rarely find them in real life.
Indonesians, just to keep in mind, are people with very simple mind and paradigm. We love peace. We love monotony in life. We do our routines just to make ends meet. We don’t fuss with too many plans for the future. We don’t find anticipation our nature. We flow with the current. We live life the way it is.
So when some programs show up offering us the other side of life, telling us how unjust and cruel one can treat others, we might as well watch with wonder and amazement. It’s like finding a purple camel in the middle of an oasis.
And our people like such amusement!
Since the majority of the society loves it, production houses keep producing such programs for years and years up to the present.
The programs sell. That’s the main interest.
But here we are now, twenty years after RCTI and SCTV, two of the first private television stations in Indonesia, were established.
Have we ever notice what’s going on as we look around?
• Divorces are taking place all over the land. People are so disrespectful toward marriage these days; they can easily divorce their spouse by phone!
• Love-affairs are nothing more than natural nowadays. And there’s no need to fuss about it.
• Premarital pregnancy no longer becomes a big deal. Actresses and actors in TV do it in real life anyway. So, that gives way to accepting free sex and adultery as part of daily life.
• People cheat to gain the greater (if not all) share of family inheritance. They find a way to blind the law.
Don’t we realize that all this diminution of morality comes from what our mind has been consuming for the past two decades?
What can we expect from a society that no longer upholds justice in the court, has no respect toward the sacred marital bond, easily breaks commitments, and permitting acts of indecency in public life?
What sort of generation do we expect to spring up in the future, from today’s so corrupted society?
When we let greed, indecency, amorality and injustice keep on poisoning our mind and slip into our family lives through that brainwashing crystal box sitting in our living room, it’s unlikely for our children to live a straight and respectful life in the future – and their children after them.
It’s time to filter the programs we’re watching.
It’s time to say NO to bad and mind-corrupting television programs.
Throw those poison candies out of our family’s life!

When We've Got Ears but Fail to Listen

Pastor Steve got a message from his troubled friend.
It said, “Why is my life so distressing and gloomy? Why do all these problems surround me? What have I done God wrong? Tell me why these things happen to me!”
Steve replied, “Sometimes, when bad things happen to us, it is God’s process to shape us into a better person. At other times, it is due to our own sin or wrongdoing that God wants us to evaluate and correct before stepping any further. In all things, we need to have a heart full of gratitude for everything He does in our life.”
Can you guess the friend’s response?
He messaged back, “So you’re telling me I’m an ungrateful person? You dare call me a sinner? Who in this world never sins? Answer me!”
Well, from the reply, we know why those things happen to him, don’t we?
Steve’s friend is the kind who lacks self-evaluation. Instead of taking time to introspect himself, he believes that all the problems he’s facing come from outside. He blames others – either God or people or circumstances – for being responsible for the troubles in his life. He never thinks that he has to be responsible for himself: his mind, his actions, his behavior, and his decisions.
Stephen Covey was right when he said, “If we don’t take control over our own lives, others will.”
So the underlying point is how to be the man-in-charge over the wheels of our life. Though God is in control over everything in the universe, He doesn’t want us to be passive or idle in managing the life He’s granted us.
He gives us mind to think, hands to work, heart to feel, and – as in the above story – ears to listen to advices, rebukes and improving inputs.
When we’ve got ears but fail to listen, well… Don’t be surprised if we don’t find solutions to our problems!