Another view on marriage/covenants

Saw this while reading "our daily bread". Interesting, last time only knew the verse in new testament about not yoking to each other etc.

I wonder how God views marriage, must be very different from mine. Ergo, i need to remember to read more of His views (words). ha.

Covenants, gosh, i don't remember all of the covenants He promised me. How am i gonna live like this?! As if i need to push thru on my own, be positive and pray for His grace only.... gotha read more bible.


Malachi 2:10-16

Have we not all one Father? Did not one God create us? Why do we profane the covenant of our fathers by breaking faith with one another?
Judah has broken faith. A detestable thing has been committed in Israel and in Jerusalem: Judah has desecrated the sanctuary the LORD loves, by marrying the daughter of a foreign god. As for the man who does this, whoever he may be, may the LORD cut him off from the tents of Jacob —even though he brings offerings to the LORD Almighty.
Another thing you do: You flood the LORD's altar with tears. You weep and wail because he no longer pays attention to your offerings or accepts them with pleasure from your hands. You ask, "Why?" It is because the LORD is acting as the witness between you and the wife of your youth, because you have broken faith with her, though she is your partner, the wife of your marriage covenant.
Has not the LORD made them one? In flesh and spirit they are his. And why one? Because he was seeking godly offspring. So guard yourself in your spirit, and do not break faith with the wife of your youth.
"I hate divorce," says the LORD God of Israel, "and I hate a man's covering himself with violence as well as with his garment," says the LORD Almighty.
So guard yourself in your spirit, and do not break faith.

<12 bliss

1st time in the last 1.5 forever weeks, I knock off at 8pm, spent less than 12 hours in office today!!!!! woo hoo!!!!!! gonna swim a little more, bath n sleep early!!! =)



Finally Free
- Nicole Nordeman

No chain is strong enough
No choice is wrong enough
No mountain high enough that He
can't climb

No shadow dark enough
No night is black enough
No road is lost enough that He can't find

And if the Son has set us free
Then we must be, free indeed
Let the chains fall away, starting today
Everything has changed
I'm finally free

No pain is deep enough
No heart could bleed enough
Nothing but Jesus' love can make a way

And if the Son has set us free
Then we must be, free indeed
Let the chains fall away, starting today
Everything has changed
I'm finally free

Ps 42:7-8

Deep calls to deep
in the roar of your waterfalls;
all your waves and breakers
have swept over me.

By day the LORD directs his love,
at night his song is with me—
a prayer to the God of my life.

CDs wanted + vin's tag

somebody let me know if these two CDs are for sale in m'sia/s'pore.. =(


Vin's TAG

1. Vincent is a boy
2. He seems to have prolonging deep thoughts when u don't talk to him
3. Plays the guitar nicely
4. Takes time to get to know him
5. Able to speak his mind with ppl he is comfortable with
6. Can crap a bit, sometimes quite fun
7. Is a nice boy, i think
8. I dunno him that well
..
9. Can eat, like me! =P
10. Knows a lot about music, bible and guitars.


1. I am victor
2. I am half-boy, ha. half-man half-blur in office.
3. Plays the drums nicely
4. Hopes to have more time.
5. Able to speak his mind with ppl I am comfortable with
6. Can crap a bit, sometimes quite fun
7. Has a lot of things in my mind
8. Casual pants all brown colour
9. Loves a bit of poetry, lots of beach and sunsets and instrumental soundtracks
10. Wants to rest.

24th Bday (yr 2009)

Time passed so fast during these times, I am really thankful and touched by all the friends. The wonderful dinner at a japanese noodles restaurant at causeway point on wednesday night - great saba fish, fun games, great chat and perfect polo-T.

Friday's flooding of very meaningful sms-es, emails, friendster & facebook wishes from young ones, friends and uncle-aunties.

the friday night surprise at my house by TnT CG - bringing 3 donuts with candles, hiding behind a car on the street outside my house (lol), emerging in the dark with those candles lighting up my tired soul after a hard day's work, superb mee siam, fun time browsing thru childhood photos, eating on the living room floor.. and my dear sis' cheese cake =)

saturday morning's breakfast by my parents, tips on marinating meat, sis for accompanying me to the wet market to go walk around be blur and wonder what else to buy =P walking the wet wet alleys, looking at fishes, visited the lone pork stall, listened to uncle talked about earning money in US selling pork.

sunday afternoon baking lesson by a good friend, and the rest of the evening with most of my close friends there, about 10 ppl, preparing an all-chinese dinner, cooking together. Made a little mess out of the kitchen, cooked 2 chickens and 1.5 kg of pork, big soup and other veges, just there being together with everybody, passing the sauces, listen to cooking tips & lessons, some frying, some surprise gifts. tons and tons of talking, laughing, tasting food, experimenting, suan-ing each other, crapping, super-super fun. watched them play chua dai di with super big (palm-sized) disney poker cards, haha. Eventually, sitting around the crowded round table having sweet sour pork, ABC soup, black-sauce pork, kai lan, cai xin, herbal chicken, choco brownie with fudge sauce and vanilla ice-cream. Good food =) =)

When i thought nothing can beat what happened on my 23rd Bday, this year, after yesterday, i could die a happy boy. ha =P

My only regret is no photos, i guess i won't be able to visualise exactly how good the food looks, and the bowls of rice with traditional chopsticks & spoon around the table. But i remember the smiles and conversations going around, just like a happy family, cooking together, eating home-cooked food together. Oh ya, and also the unusual way of wrapping of gifts from australia, ha. Everything was beautiful, unforgettable. =)

Thank God, thank you. =)

To be with you all together, is my biggest, best birthday gift.


Looking at past Bday posts, i am being reminded to be very thankful for my family and the bunch of friends who have stepped into my life and make it absolutely beautiful.
2008
2007

I am truly blessed.

Tulips

I’ve decided to keep my poem & night devotion book in office, then I can read a poem a day n do the night devotion during OT, smart.. =P

realized that I spent too much time in office, really need to enjoy while i’m here.

Today’s poem is really beautiful… =)

Tulips

May our failed hopes rise like tulips

Out of the cold ground,

And, when we look around,

There our satin bowls are, chocolates,

And swaying, velvety clarets, aglow

With memories of help we thought would

Appear and beliefs we watered.

And we do have something to show,

goblet-like reminders of our stubborn

labors – or we don’t, and refuse

odorless flowers and choose

to live without consolation.

Mark Halperin

First published in River Styx, issue 61, 2001

dream.

God is our protector

It's been a discouraging day, I'm home finally, but i still need to work..

Thank God for songs like this...

Song's title is "God is our protector"

My protector, defender of the weak, my shade,
sun in the day, moon at night,
cover me in my going in and coming out,
..


I shall rest in the shadow of your wings.

This is you

Read fast, real, fast. like the wind,
Like an analyst through a baby book,
Make quick your time through endless fixes of free sentences.

Alright, you've made it, through
to the next paragraph,
the second level of understanding,
to the third level of misgiving.

Look at me,
I worry about the next hour,
the next time, a mindless schedule and a mindful shortage of ___ .

This is it, this is you, this is me, this all.
A stranger always in the deepest brightest valley,
Borrow me a marvel camcorder and we will
record widespread emptiness in limited editions and free spaces.

We cry, we die.
Yearned for completion.
Consumed by hidden hunger, blinded by numbed thirst.

Ignore the sunshine, see through the faces,
walk in streets as a passerby in waiting to arrive.



We never will arrive.


What constitutes happiness, what pursuits we live by,
strength for another day, pat for comfort,
blessings we like.

Sleep and wonder,
Learn and finish the last unending obstacle,
Travel and swell by-and-by.

May our empty-ness
empty us
May our suffering and bingeing pale us
May our losses and achievements cheat us
not.

But help me,
awaken and recognise my innate desire,
To know you
more.



and more.

(teach us how to live)

The walk after wedding (2)

"A swan, or swans, Vicky."

Yes, I know. The moment when I see her stretching out her stubborn head into my world, my world collapsed, disappeared. Nothing else matters anymore, she is perfect. 6 pounds 19 inches and a loud weeping voice - Victoria. Somehow over the years, Vicky became an easier name to call out, holler across the room, demand an explanation, pamper and coo for a surprise in waiting.

--

Without hesitation, she takes off those newly bought shoes and hands it to me (as always). Without words, Vicky sits on the edge, slowly dipping her toes in the cool summer's lake; knowing well that my arms are around her waist to prevent her from falling over, (and from growing up too fast).

I anticipate the lake, as the sun like a well-spent charcoal, setting ashore and shimmering, passing its glory to the waters below.


She watches the swans.

They are just swimming, but I imagine their heads touching each other and with slender necks, forming a love-shaped postcard picture.


"Daddy, stop writing. See, look there! Love-shaped swans!!"

"Wow, do you know what it means?"

"That they love each other?"

"You bet", I smiled.


Hugging her tightly from behind, my heart aches deeply, wishing that Kathy was here to hug her, to see our girl in her flowing dress, looking once again at the miracle of our first date.

-end-

The walk after wedding

(just trying to write something experimental & fast before continuing my usual routine..)

The Walk After Wedding

We are walking, she and I, back home just a mile away. She's happily prodding down her feet while it echoes around and above the alley. "Hold my hand, it's a bit slippery after the rain", something I told her time and again. Can't help it, can she, dipping her dainty little white shoes in the puddle again. I sighed a hidden smile. The lights above tingled. Dimming, the sun squeezed in between the alley down behind faraway trees.

"Do you like the wedding?", I quipped while picking out some leftover confetti in her hair. "It's ok", the 4 year-old angel replied, followed by a long pause.. (Gosh, I haven't wipe clean those sticky fingers that poked a dotted love-shaped mess on the wedding cake when the guests left).

"Look papa, a swans!"

I forgot to mention, when we were passed the alley, there's this radiant lake with a swan couple silently gliding across its surface to each other.



(.... okie, braino-deado, no more inspiration, back to studying & sleep)

Some thoughts abt Melbourne..

lest we forget..

taken from the top of the shrine of remembrance

cheesy..

It is a totally different world ba, to put it shortly. I am very lazy to type, maybe will describe verbally if you ask me, hehe. I know it's only 3 hours difference, but i'm having a bit of jet lag, tired.

The above pic is at federation square, the australian open (tennis) played on big screen while hundreds just sit/lie on the floor watching while the sun sets, at about 8-9pm. Mebourne is a cultural city, see the many old victorian buildings with the modern ones, the ppl there wearing different types of clothings (s'poreans wear only 1 type, JB ppl about 4-5 types, melbourne abt 25 types of clothings, me - 0.1 type, lol).

there are still many photos of the city, the suburbs, the farm and vast acres of land, the great ocean road & 12 apostles, the steam train - puffing billy, the vineyard and wine-tasting sessions, live music performances, pine tree forest. check facebook ba.

pine tree forest

Yea, a happy new me =)



oh, yeah, two movies that i will recommend to those who are female and like art house, deep movies. watched it in the plane and its very nice, very touching, very real =)

The secret life of bees

Rachel getting married

A modern adaption of the prodigal son, abt the addicted celebrity who came back from rehab to attend her sister's wedding.