it's okay to vilify Jesus

Many things I don't understand. Well, I can understand why people do certain things, but I don't understand why we don't see that we contradict ourselves.

And I will place my cards on the table: I'm saying all this because I stand on the side of the One people insult.

We say that religions co-exist, 
But then we give nasty names to Jesus.
We say that there is freedom of religion, 
But we ridicule those who carry the name of Christ.

We protect the freedom of speech,
Yet we spend time trolling on YouTube
Leaving no videos about Jesus un-insulted.

We say all is right if nobody's hurt
But those who follow Jesus, we hurt 

We say we (try to) live by the Golden Rule,
When we hate the Rabbi who taught it - and lived it
Even if keeping it meant losing His life

It's okay to vilify Jesus. Great, even.

Because it shows, apparently, that we are:

Rational, Scientific, Intelligent, Open-minded, Objective, Independent

A Critical Thinker Who is Of Sound Reason
Enlightened.

And Jesus wants me to love these people sincerely?! And I'm supposed to overcome evil with good by asking God to bless them...no tit for tat? Surely giving them three-sixteenths a teaspoon of their own medicine is no revenge, no? 

Yet I know that during the times when I disregard the Love of my life, I do just the same. I deny Him and choose my own way to live, my own decisions, my own ideas, which are by nature at war with His goodness and love. During those times, I, too, actually believe that it's okay to vilify Jesus.

And each time I would think that I am:

Rational, Scientific, Intelligent, Open-minded, Objective, Independent

A Critical Thinker Who is Of Sound Reason
Enlightened.

Time and again I come to Jesus ashamed. Surely it's beyond pardon...I contradict the very love I profess for Him. Yet He says that He remembers my betrayals no more, and that I should not avoid Him deceiving myself that I have it all.

It is Jesus' sincere and insistent love that first so powerfully won and still wins me over, so how can I contain this love that was meant to overflow? After all, who am I, really, to not do the same for people - regardless of what they have done? 

haiku of the restless

Minions running amok
Nag and tear
Us asunder
Over the seas.

Sweet childish days, that were as long as twenty days are now.

To A Butterfly, William Wordsworth

I.
I've watched you now a full half-hour;
Self-poised upon that yellow flower
And, little Butterfly! indeed
I know not if you sleep or feed.
How motionless! - not frozen seas
More motionless! and then
What joy awaits you, when the breeze
Hath found you out among the trees,
And calls you forth again!

This plot of orchard-ground is ours;
My trees they are, my Sister's flowers;
Here rest your wings when they are weary;
Here lodge as in a sanctuary!
Come often to us, fear no wrong;
Sit near us on the bough!
We'll talk of sunshine and of song,
And summer days, when we were young;
Sweet childish days, that were as long
As twenty days are now.

II.
Stay near me - do not take thy flight!
A little longer stay in sight!
Much converse do I find in thee,
Historian of my infancy!
Float near me; do not yet depart!
Dead times revive in thee:
Thou bring'st, gay creature as thou art!
A solemn image to my heart,
My father's family!

Oh! pleasant, pleasant were the days,
The time, when, in our childish plays,
My sister Emmeline and I
Together chased the butterfly!
A very hunter did I rush
Upon the prey: - with leaps and springs
I followed on from brake to bush;
But she, God love her, feared to brush
The dust from off its wings.

The Windhover: To Christ Our Lord

"I caught this morning morning's minion, king-
dom of daylight's dauphin, dapple-dáwn-drawn Falcon, in his riding
Of the rólling level úndernéath him steady áir, & stríding
High there, how he rung upon the rein of a wimpling wing
In his ecstasy! then off, off forth on swing,
As a skate's heel sweeps smooth on a bow-bend: the hurl & gliding
Rebuffed the big wind. My heart in hiding
Stirred for a bird, -- the achieve of, the mastery of the thing!

Brute beauty & valour & act, oh, air, pride, plume, here
Buckle! AND the fire that breaks from thee then, a billion
Times told lovelier, more dangerous, o my chevalier!
No wónder of it: shéer plód makes plóugh down síllion
Shine, & blue-bleak embers, ah my dear,
Fall, gáll themsélves, & gásh góld-vermílion."

Gerard Manley Hopkins (1844-1889)

don't leave too fast

Burst me, I'm full of joy as much as tears
Pride and fears that ever so quickly re-emerge
Lurch around, sin, but I know
God'll complete the good work He started in me
when my Saviour comes again.

Goodbye 2008, don't leave too fast
Last things to savour and be thankful for
More friends, closer fellowship with God and His men
Advent caroling and Christmas singing
Sweating, kisses, squabbles, snow
Mowing school books

Come big 9, what's in store?
More good stuff, I know.
Now I have just one prayer:
weaker, humbler.

So I can always run into the embrace of my Father.

Desiring God

O God, You are my God; earnestly I seek You;
my soul thirsts for You;
my flesh faints for You,
as in a dry and weary land where there is no water.
So I have looked upon You in the sanctuary,
beholding Your power and glory.

Because Your steadfast love is better than life,
my lips will praise You.
So I will bless You as long as I live;
in Your name I will lift up my hands.

My soul will be satisfied as with fat and rich food,
and my mouth will praise you with joyful lips,
when I remember you upon my bed,
and meditate on you in the watches of the night;
for You have been my help,
and in the shadow of Your wings I will sing for joy.
My soul clings to You;
Your right hand upholds me.

Psalm 63:1-9

Scared, stressed and agitated

I had said in my alarm,
“I am cut off from your sight!”
But you heard the voice of my pleas for mercy
when I cried to you for help.

Wait for the Lord;
be strong, and let your heart take courage;
wait for the Lord!

Psalm 30:22, 27:14

Sonnets from the Portuguese

X

Yet, love, mere love, is beautiful indeed
And worthy of acceptation. Fire is bright,
Let temple burn, or flax; and equal light
Leaps in the flame from cedar-plank or weed:
And love is fire. And when I say at need
I love thee ... mark! ... I love thee---in thy sight
I stand transfigured, glorified aright,
With conscience of the new rays that proceed
Out of my face toward thine. There's nothing low
In love, when love the lowest: meanest creatures
Who love God, God acceps while loving so.
And what I feel, across the inferior features
Of what I am, doth flash itself, and show
How that great work of Love enhances Nature's.

XLI

I thank all who have loved me in their hearts,
With thanks and love from mine. Deep thanks to all
Who paused a little near the prison-wall
To hear my music in its louder parts
Ere they went onward, each one to the mart's
Or temple's occupation, beyond call.
But thou, who, in my voice's sink and fall
When the sob took it, thy divinest Art's
Own instrument didst drop down at thy foot
To hearken what I said between my tears, . . .
Instruct me how to thank thee! Oh, to shoot
My soul's full meaning into future years,
That they should lend it utterance, and salute
Love that endures, from Life that disappears!

by Elizabeth Barrett Browning (1806-1861)

No More.

'The wild animals honour Me, the jackal and the owls,
because I provide water in the desert and streams in the wasteland,
to give drink to My People, My chosen,
the people I formed for myself that they may proclaim My praise.

Yet You have not called upon Me, O Jacob,
you have not wearied yourselves for Me, O Israel.
You have not brought Me sheep for burnt offerings,
nor honoured Me with your sacrifices.

I have not burdened you with grain offerings nor wearied you with demands for incense.
You have not brought any fragrant calamus for Me,
or lavished on Me the fat of your sacrifices.

But you have burdened Me with your sins
and wearied Me with your offenses.
I, even I, am He who blots out your transgressions, for My own sake,
and remembers your sins no more.'

Isaiah 43:20-25

Psalm 100

Shout for joy to the Lord, all the earth.
Worship the Lord with gladness;
come before Him with joyful songs.
Know that the Lord is God.
It is He who made us, and we are His;
We are His people, the sheep of His pasture.

Enter His gates with thanksgiving
and His courts with praise;
give thanks to Him and praise His Name.

For the Lord is good and His love endures forever;
His faithfulness continues through all generations.

Separation

Separation divides people, things and events

Separation is usually a sad occasion
such as graduating from wonderful junior college life
where friends were real friends and loved each other

Other sad occasions can be sending a beloved classmate
off to overseas to study
and sending more classmates off to overseas as they go to
the other side, where the grass is greener, i think

think about loved ones - that's what i do.
separation can be physical
like how a wife pines for her husband's safety as he works overseas
it can be emotional too
like how parents' empathy and advice is being shut out of
an angsty outraged teenager's heart

Heart, is not just a muscle in the circulatory system
It is the centre of all thought, intellect, emotions and soul
When your new handphone gets stolen,
your heart aches terribly; your brain doesn't.

Dozen times have I thought about separation in life.
Separation through death, and eventual reunion with our Lord above

Above are just some examples, and i've thought of one more
which i believe is a heartbreaking separation
when people are blinded by extremist unfounded doctrine
the spiritual separation on understanding God's Word is painful

Painful sia, the Singaporean says when he feels separation.

But I know God's Will is good even in separation.
Men and their wives long for each other and treasure each other
because absence makes the heart grow fonder
angsty teenagers can return like the prodigal son
maybe they wont return soon, but God keeps His sheep together
and He shall not give up on His herds

Hurt's usually the precursor of recovery and revival
like how blood donation increases metabolism
and how dengue patients recover and grow strong

Strong and stronger will people grow then
(i'm reminded of Olympics' 'Citius Altius Fortius')
that through the refining and a call for discernment with the logic
the intellect, the common sense, the faith God has given us
Separation in spiritual understanding, emotion, physical closeness
are all in God's plan.

Finally

Finally it's over.

All that prom shopping at Centrepoint, Paragon, Bugis Junction,
Far East, Causeway Point, Wisma, Takashimaya,
Scotts, Chinatown and Lot 1 is finally over.
Same goes for the countless mass text-messaging to numbers
long memorised and remembered.

Finally, PROM IS OVER.
So are all the camera flashes that leave stars in your eyes,
And the sights of people that became unrecognisable at first glance,
And the plates of food that were piled up on tables and turned cold,
And the touching-up in that wonderful restroom of the Ritz Carlton.

All that balancing on two alien-looking blocks familiar to women
(called heels) is finally over.
All the struggles to stay awake all night are gone.
So are the endless pre-dawn chats that are much relished and remembered,
and the comfy beds that lured the weary in heart and body to take refuge in.

What are memories?
Memories fade, so do faces, and people.
But they make the past a little livelier,
a little more colourful and a little more meaningful.