God-shaped hole - plumb

Every point of view has another angle
And every angle has its merit
But it all comes down to faith
That's the way I see it

You can say that love is not divine and
You can say that life is not eternal
"All we have is now"
But I don't believe it

There's a God-shaped hole in all of us
And the restless soul is searching
There's a God-shaped hole in all of us
And it's a void only He can fill

Does the world seem grey with empty longing
Wearing every shade of cynical
And do you ever feel that
There is something missing?

There's a God-shaped hole in all of us
And the restless soul is searching
There's a God-shaped hole in all of us
And it's a void only He can fill

That's my point of view.

Pictures of you

This is the clock upon the wall
This is the story of us all
This is the first sound of a newborn child,
Before he starts to crawl
This is the war that's never won
This is a soldier and his gun
This is the mother waiting by the phone,
Praying for her son

Pictures of you, pictures of me
Hung upon your wall for the world to see
Pictures of you, pictures of me
Remind us all of what we used to be

There is a drug that cures it all
Blocked by the governmental wall
We are the scientists inside the lab,
Just waiting for the call
This earthquake weather has got me shaking inside
I'm high up and dry

Pictures of you,pictures of me
Hung upon your wall for the world to see
Pictures of you,pictures of me
Reminds us all of what we used to be

Confess to me, every secret moment
Every stolen promise you believed
Confess to me, all that lies between us
All that lies between you and me

We are the boxers in the ring
We are the bells that never sing
There is a title we can't win no matter
How hard we might swing

Pictures of you, pictures of me
Hung upon your wall for the world to see
Pictures of you, pictures of me
Remind us all of what we could have been

Pictures of you, pictures of me
Hung upon your wall for the world to see
Pictures of you, pictures of me
Remind us all of what we could have been

Could have been

i likeeeeeeeeeeeeeee this song. (:
i am trying to be very diligent,
i am trying to understand administrative law,
but i just cannot cannot cannot.
within a minute i'll be watching the oc
or facebooking
or msning
or eating or something.
pleh.

you know sometimes when you pray for something,
He answers in such amazing ways (:
not exactly the way i expected Him to,
but an answer nonetheless.
im in the process of reading the book of Acts,
and today i read about Peter being released from prison in Acts12

5 Peter was therefore kept in prison, but constant[a] prayer was offered to God for him by the church.

6 And when Herod was about to bring him out, that night Peter was sleeping, bound with two chains between two soldiers; and the guards before the door were keeping the prison.

7 Now behold, an angel of the Lord stood by him, and a light shone in the prison; and he struck Peter on the side and raised him up, saying, “Arise quickly!” And his chains fell off his hands.

8 Then the angel said to him, “Gird yourself and tie on your sandals”; and so he did. And he said to him, “Put on your garment and follow me.”

9 So he went out and followed him, and did not know that what was done by the angel was real, but thought he was seeing a vision.

10 When they were past the first and the second guard posts, they came to the iron gate that leads to the city, which opened to them of its own accord; [LIKE AUTO GATE! hahaha.] and they went out and went down one street, and immediately the angel departed from him.

11 And when Peter had come to himself, he said, “Now I know for certain that the Lord has sent His angel, and has delivered me from the hand of Herod and from all the expectation of the Jewish people.”

cooollll to the max. hahahaha.
God has the power to do anything in my life,
including giving me As for public law and equity. hahahah
and so i will just do my best,
and let Him do the rest.

and i must remember that when i pray for something,
i must also ask for courage to accept the answers.

there were ninety and nine that safely lay
in the shelter of the fold
but one was lost and had gone astray
far off from the gates of gold.

this has been.. a very different sort of Easter.
pre-Easter, actually, since its only 1131pm.
this Easter, i have been reminded of His love.
this Easter, i have been challenged to believe.
to believe that He has paid the utmost price, and He will withhold nothing from me.
to believe that when i love Him first,
He will not withhold anything that He can give to me.
like the story of Abraham and Isaac.
every Easter, i am reminded that its the moments.
the moments spent in prayer, in the dark.
on my knees or lying in my bed, staring up at the ceiling.
its in these moments that i know His love never fails.
and that He is the same

yesterday, today and forever.

wake up tomorrow morning and know that it will be a perfect day,
because that is the day that told us Jesus was more than a man
that is the day that told us we have a victorious faith
because our Messiah died, and rose again
and nothing will ever change that.
24 more minutes.
happy Easter friends. (:

sometimes i look around me,
and i feel extremely, awfully, exceptionally, immensely
thankful.

for everything in my life. (:

when i got back last night and began to pray, a strange sense of uneasiness filled me as i thought about all the things i needed to accomplish, my schedule for the next few days, the fact that exams are just round the corner and i know absolutely nothing about public law, and lcs is killing me. plus the fact that i just watched 'the green mile' and it suddenly struck me that the wickedness that exists in this world is just overwhelming, and we are powerless to stop it. and i think its in these moments that the you know He is the Only One that gives hope, when we begin to lose heart. just to know that He holds the final victory.

and i have no doubt that this week's youth walk is an answer from the Lord to me. not a coincidence that Pastor Mitch just happened to write on the topic of 'losing heart'.

MAN ALWAYS OUGHT TO PRAY

The Problem Of Losing Heart

It is easy for people to lose heart when faced with the challenges of life and ministry. When we constantly struggle with our sins and face difficulties in our troubled filled world, there is the tendency to want to despair. In the text of Luke 18, the Lord Jesus told a parable to deal with this problem of losing heart. He had just taught the people (Luke 17) that when He brings judgment on this earth, it would be like the days of Noah. People would go about with their own daily routine with no concern about the judgment that is coming. Wickedness and sin would be rampant. When we see the world in such a state, it can be most discouraging. The phrase "lose heart" means to give up in life. Life with all its afflictions, difficulties and unfairness can cause us to want to give up. The Lord's challenge to all was not to lose hope.

Don't Lose Heart, Pray Hard

"That men always ought to pray and not lose heart"
Luke 18:1

When we come across difficult circumstances in life, our first reaction should not be one of despair. Instead, we should always seek to pray. The word "ought" in the Greek has a stronger meaning than just "should". It has the idea of being strongly obligated to. We owe it to God to pray first rather than to doubt and falter in our moments of weakness and crisis. We ought always to answer the problems of life by offering prayers rather than giving in to our fears and sinfulness. Our challenge is to pray hard and not to lose heart.

Learning To Persist In Prayer With Faith

"And shall God not avenge His own elect who cry out day and night to Him, though he bears long with them? I tell you that He will avenge them speedily."
Luke 18:7-8

The Lord Jesus Christ spoke a parable of a persistent woman seeking justice from a judge who did not believe in God. Because he was persistently troubled by this woman, he decided that he would accede to her request. So much more, God would respond to the pleas of His saints who cry out to Him day and night. Our challenge is to make persistent prayers to God. He will answer our cries according to His will. Let's not lose heart even though answers from God do not seem to be forthcoming.

A Solemn Rhetorical Question

"Nevertheless, when the Son of Man comes, will He really find faith in the earth?"
Luke 18:8

Ultimately, when the Lord Jesus comes again, the question raised was whether He will be able to find genuine and lasting faith at all. The fact of the matter was that few will be hanging on to faith in the "last days". Young people, let's not give up on our faith. Let's have the faith to keep praying and be part of the few who will hold fast to faith till the Lord Jesus comes for us.

so Amen to that, cos theres no running away from all the things i need to do this week.

you know how life has a way of plaguing you.
there are periods where you just have absolutely nothing to do,
then everything just crashes down on you at once.

maybe that's just God's way of reminding us that we cant do this on our own.
so Amen, i pray i survive this week.

Dunbar v. Plant

Muss Plant who was facing a trial for theft from her employers, decided to commit suicide rather than face the prospect of jail. Mr Dunbar, her fiance, said that he could not contemplate life without her, so they agreed that they would committ suicide together. an initial attempt to gas themselves in a car failed, as did a attempt to hang themselves with cable. on a further attempt to hang themselves with sheets, Dunbar was successful but Plant survived. Further suicide attempts, including cutting her throat and jumping out of a window, were also unsuccessful. The case concerned the question whether forfeiture should operate to prevent her obtaining the benefit of Dunbar's life insurance policy.

honestly, have you ever seen such a ridiculous twosome?
i laughed insanely when i read this case, sorry for my sadistic tendencies. hahahaha.
Grey and Grey said 'the facts of the case were tragic.'
hurhur.

"But you must continue in the things which you have learned and been assured of, knowing from Whom you have learned them"
2 Timothy 3:14

continuing is a difficult task. it entails perseverance. it results in pain. and it requires you to constantly set your mind on something and keep working at it. day and night, moment by moment.
and so i am again reminded that its not me, its Him.
and its only through ceaseless prayer.
and its only through falling on my knees in despair
that i know and understand what it means,
and i find the strength to continue.

"For this is the love of God, that we keep His commandments. And His commandments are not burdensome."
1 John 5:3

His commandments are not burdensome.
and so i've realized that it all boils down to perspective.

everything He says in His Word is truth.
and when i said i believe, i didnt fully understand the cost of walking this narrow way.
but as i learn to make choices that honor Him,
as i learn to trust that the Lord never gives me more than i can take,

MY FAVORITE VERSE
"But seek first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness,
and all these things shall be added unto you."
-Matthew 6:33

you know sometimes when you pray, you just talk?
you forget that He actually hears, and He actually answers.
well yesterday sharon reminded me of the concept of ceaseless prayer.
earnest prayer.
and in retrospect, ive seen the amazing ways in which the Lord has answered my prayers.
and i am beginning to believe that much more in the power of prayer.

and the joy of the Lord is my strength (:
Amen!

"God whispers to us in our pleasures, speaks in our conscience, but shouts in our pains: it is His megaphone to rouse a deaf world." - C.S. Lewis, in The Problem of Pain

and so the mid-sem break is O-V-E-R.
why do i not like that word very much.
pleh.
the equity assignment is driving me n-u-t-s.

so the list of things i have accomplished this week:
1. shopping at haji lane
2. going to see the greek pieces from the louvre at the national museum
3. went to see a doctor for my runny nose
4. went shopping
5. went to jb
6. ate a lot
7. slept a lot
8. talked a lot
9. watched a lot of the OC

things i did not accomplish:
1. equity assignment
2. public law assignment
3. equity tutorial
4. public law tutorial

honestly! what am i doing with my life!

and this is all in my bid to enjoy life a little more and be less stressed about everything.
-breathes-
and so all in all, i accomplished an average of about 3hours of work a day,
and kwek just told me that he spent the last 6days in sch.
eeek.
and so here is where the Lord's grace and mercies come in. haha.
okok better shut my mouth and start doing some work.

this morning during the prelude,
i asked to be reminded of His love
and i was.
in a new and refreshing way. (: