What do I want for this life on earth?

All you want is to be light.

Maybe finish school,
get a good job,
find a husband or a wife,
nice house,
nice car,
long weekends,
good vacations,
grow old healthy,
have a fun retirement,
and die easy,
no hell.

And that's all you want.
You don't give a rip whether your life counts on this earth for eternity.

That's a tragedy in the making. That is a tragedy in the making.
 

Because He Loves Me

I felt it was more for a female Christian than guys. The title of the book is "Because He Loves Me," written by Elyse M. Fitzpatrick. The title, the book cover, the fact the author is a female, all contributed to my feelings that it was meant for lady Christians. But the message of the book is properly for any Christians, male or female, young or old, new or seasoned. It's because the book is about what the gospel is, and how it's meant to apply in our lives. It's about what God has done for us, and how we can live by faith in Him. It's for all Christians. You could be skeptical of this, if you have been a Christian for a while. There are only too many "how-to" books in Christian bookshops. But I dare say this book is different. This is not a "7 simple steps to become a better Christian" kind of a book. It brings focus back to what Jesus had done on the cross again and again, and reminds us to see ourselves through that lens, which will both liberate us from the guilt and the power of sin and motivate us to live a godly lives.

Here's a quote from the last chapter, The Hope of the Gospel.

On the days when you feel as though you'll never get it, you'll never please [God], you're such a failure, you must remember the lavish gift: [Jesus'] great heart pumped blood through his veins and then out his wounds so that he could bless you. This perfect blood streamed down his body and tumbled through space, pooling on the earth beneath his feet. It was trampled on by those who stood below jeering. It mingled with the dirt he had created, and from it grew your hope. And then, on the days when you believe you're finally getting it, finally pleasing him, when you think you can look in satisfaction at your goodness, you'll need to look at that blood even more closely. Take yourself to Calvary and stand there until all your good works seem to you as they really are: vile sludge purified only by his cleansing flow.
 - p. 190, from Because He Loves Me by Elyse M. Fitzpatrick

Also, the appendix of the book contains a personal testimony and evangelistic message from the Elyse M. Fitzpatrick, which I thought was excellent.

You can read more about it at Crossway, or if you are up to buying your copy already, you can get it from all these places.

To my caring wife, from the sick husband

Haiku is fun. Sijo (시조) is as much fun though.

This one is dedicated to my wife who took such good care of me for the past three weeks while I was sick with a terrible cold.

아침 점심 저녁밥 간식까지 준비하고
기저귀에 목욕에 빨래 청소 다 했더니
남편은 아프다며 잠만자려 하누나

Thanks, wifey!

Better to be counted with the ignorant Christians

I should have said, "that's hardly a complement."

At one point during our mildly heated arguments about the worldview of atheism and of Christianity, my friend said to me, "you are not the type of religious people they (the militant atheists) are concerned about."

I knew what he meant. He was saying that the religious people the atheists have troubles with are those unreasonable, illogical, over-zealous, fundamental, unscientific sort.

I should have said it's hardly a complement.

No, I should have known it was not a complement. It wasn't. But I was too quick to imagine and revel in the supposed fact that I was acceptable and respectable in atheists' eyes. I was not repulsive to the intelligent people. I was not unreasonable. I was not ignorant and hot-headed.

I should have known better. I should have known that it is far better for me to be counted with "ignorant" and "passionate" Christians even if that meant I was going to be despised and ridiculed by atheists. I should have known that it was far better to have the world unworthy of me than to be seen worthy by the world. (Heb 11:36-38)

Remembering Jim Elliot and his legacy

On January 8, 1956, five Auca Indians of Ecuador killed Jim Elliot and his four missionary companions as they were trying to bring the gospel to the Auca tribe of sixty people. Four young wives lost husbands and nine children lost their fathers. Elisabeth Elliot wrote that the world called it a nightmare of tragedy. Then she added, "The world did not recognize the truth of the second clause in Jim Elliot's credo:

He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep

to gain what he cannot lose."

   -- p. 215, Desiring God by John Piper