Occasional Green Pastures and Quiet Waters

Death is neither neutral, nor amicable. Death hurts. 

Death hurts because a person has been wrenched from life, from us. 

Death hurts because life has meaning and value. 

Deep down inside, something screams silently that good things were meant to last forever. 

Things like life, like relationships, like love. 

Death shakes us from our denial-

that all is well, that time in our ally. 

Death shows us our brokenness, our helplessness. 

It drives us to seek an everlasting good. 

A good to do for us what we cannot do for ourselves:

To put death to death. 

My beloved peers, and juniors,

I write this to you as a reminder and as an encouragement, to see what we have lost, to realise how far we have fallen. To then get up, and together, head towards the light.

We as a people, have become foreign to laying out premises, and become strangers to sound arguments based on logic. Having invested so much emotion and energy into our beliefs, we have become overly protective of them, hardening our ears and minds to the joy of sound debate. Instead, we have dismissed debates and arguments as 'divisive', and have secured our fragile beliefs as 'taboo' or 'sensitive'. Any attempt to debate merely crumbles into base mudslinging. We have, with increasing measure, turned in and gazed inwardly at ourselves. In doing so, we have while mouthing sweet phrases such as 'diversity' and 'tolerance', have become monsters of our own making - blind, and unable to see beyond our own bellybutton. We have scorned the efforts of those who have dedicated years of learning to a subject matter, insisting with all insolence that our 'expert' opinions are of the same weight and authority. We all have rejected all authority and sense with clever words like 'who are you to judge me?!', and made ourselves the sole authority and judge over everyone else. Yet we pause not to think of the consequences of having so many authorities, all 'wrong', yet all 'right' at the same time. Dark days are here, where everyone will do what is right in their own sight.

Listen to Sophia. She is crying out in the streets, in the marketplace she raises her voice. At the head of the noisy streets she cries out, at the entrance of the city gates she speaks:

Let us gird ourselves, my brothers and sisters. Gird ourselves with a brave heart, and a love for truth. Be brave and challenge the ideas you hold dearly with logical debate as the Ancient Greeks were so fond of doing. Be even braver still to admit that you could very well be wrong, or that you be found lacking, and your belief found ridiculous at the end of a good debate. Pride yourselves in being lovers, not of the women you objectify, but of truth. In trusting that there is true truth to be found, we can examine our beliefs with great candour, exchanging them if necessary, for a better, more truer one, in journey to find that truth. It is completely all right to be wrong, but not foolish.

Before we tear apart our communities through our increasing inward gaze, destroying relationships between father and son, mother and daughter, ruler and subject, teacher and student, neighbour and neighbour, friend and friend. Stop before we estrange ourselves from all those around us, retarding our progress in the sciences and the arts (I would think these pursuits work best when seeking to benefit a community), furthering the cultural divide between races and creeds, and eventually leading to the destruction of our civilisation.

Do so before Sophia says to us:

In the past month, not a day has passed where my nights aren't long and my mornings not dreary. There have been several incidents in which I have been forced to check myself and all that I have stood for. In retrospect, I really thank God for these events, difficult to accept as they were. They way I see it, these events have made me realise that my identity and security does not solely lie in those around me, but also, and most importantly, with the One who gave up His life for me.
Like the Proverbs quote: 'As iron sharpens iron, so one man sharpens another (NIV).' Such events, uncomfortable as they are, are crucial in life to prepare us for what God has in store for us down the road. It may be difficult for me to look people in the eye for a while as I'm still recovering from the ordeal, but the future glitters with a bright hope of perfection in Jesus Christ. This phoenix will rise again, burning stronger and fiercer than ever before.
Disclaimer: Tact still sold separately. =)

Where is my strength that I should hope? Dang... This is the first day of the week and I'm already depressed... I can't even dare imagine the rest of the week as the exam papers are being returned...
Maths...I was hoping for a 50 at least... what do I get? 21....!#$%& 21.... And I thought I was doing fine....
Where then is my hope?As for my hope, who can see it?
Sometimes I just feel like yelling out like Job:
"Are not my days few?Cease! Leave me alone, that I may take a little comfort!!"



"but we also glory in tribulations, knowing that tribulation produces perseverance" I'm not well known for my stamina... I just hope things get better before I start cracking under the strain.


Then again, through all this depression and sadness, I am reminded that I should “cast my burdens on the LORD,And He shall sustain me”. For the word of the LORD is right and true; he is faithful in all he does. I'll have to give Him credit for that (^o^) He's never failed me yet... His comforting hand has always been there to support me through tough times.
So I guess there's not much use in staying emo any longer... Better buck up and ready myself for my finals (>.<) 頑張れ！