Tuesday, December 30, 2008
Today, my mum has been doing some packing of the storeroom. While she was tidying through the pile of books in it, she found my diary. It is not just any diary but my primary school chinese diaries. I particularly like the pri 2 ones. Shall share some of my favourites. My mum and I laughed our heads off reading some of the entries.
This entry was me writing about working hard and studying diligiently. I liked the layout of the table. :P
This is one of my Christmas entry. I like the opening of the entry. Kind of cute. Haha :)
Saturday, December 20, 2008
I came across this video that was a movie trailer of a movie called "MOST". Sit back and relax to the video.
To my Christian brothers and sisters, this is something that reminds us how much God loves us.
To my non-Christians brothers and sisters, if you are touched by this video, know this, you are one of those people on the train.
Saturday, December 13, 2008
When we conduct a funeral for the deceased, who is the funeral meant for?
Common belief would be that the funeral is for the spirit of the deceased. In many funerals, we conduct rituals and ceremonies. Some of these are to pay respect to the deceased, others are to fulfill some spiritual beliefs. Such spiritual beliefs include praying or chanting for the deceased in hope that we can interject a divine being to safeguard the passage of the deceased's spirit to heaven. To many, a funeral is like the last hope of doing something for the deceased.
I choose not to believe that a funeral is for the benefit of the deceased. Rather, I feel that a funeral is catered more for the loved ones of the deceased. A funeral is where the families and friends of the deceased sit down together to mourn for the loss of the dead. It provides them the chance to release the intense emotions that has welled up in them due to the fact that the deceased is no more. It converts their grief into practical actions, which in turn gives them a sense of purpose towards the deceased. Honestly speaking, what can be done for the deceased is no longer useful to him. All that remains of what was him is his lifeless body which will soon decay in the passage of time.
The moment any of us breathe our last breathe, whatever happens in this present world will no longer be relevant to us anymore. That very last breathe marks the full stop at the last page of our book. It all ends there. Nothing can be done to correct or change our fate. With reference to the passage in Mark 12:18-25, it clearly states that upon our death, we belong to no one. Not our spouse, not our parents, nobody. No one on this earth will belong to us and we no longer belong to anyone.
" When the dead rise, they will neither marry nor be given in marriage; they will be like the angels in heaven."
Mark 12:25
My guess is we will no longer be tied down to any interpersonal relationship, something which we depend heavily on during our lifetime in this world. To put it bluntly, the friendships, the kinships, the courtships, the relationships, whatever that we've built so hard for, will all go down to nothing upon death.
Does it mean that all these relationships that we've been intricately building thus far are all useless? By no means! On the contrary, they are urgently important. Knowing that we have so little time for so many people, the quality of these time spent must be of paramount standard. This is what God allocated for us. It is our duty to make the best out of this time allocated. I mentioned earlier that upon death, we are alone. Indeed we are, if we choose to. If we choose to walk with God, we will never be alone. This is because Jesus Christ walked through the valley of death and came out victorious. He overcame the power of death. He was alone for a period of time but His trust in God made him come back alive. He is now with God. God is now with Him. He is never alone. God has handed over to Him His kingdom of power. Jesus made an obvious choice. He followed God, completely. God transcends all boundaries. Time has no right over Him. He is the only thing that will not disappear with us upon death, because death never held any power over Him. His relationship with us is the only relationship that we can trust to bring over upon our imminent death. It is a powerful relationship, a relationship that calls upon us to be the Children of God.
That brings me to the question. How then can we make use of this time allocated to us. Understand that human relationships will be nullified upon death and God's relationship with us will last eternally. If we really do care for the people around us, people whom we so painstakingly build up our relationship with, it is only fair for them to earn the status of the Child of God. My point is, for those who believed and followed Christ, there is not much time left for us to convince the people we care. For those who have yet to believe and follow Christ, there is not much time left for you to choose how you want to be judged by God during the end of time. Do you want to face God's wrath all by yourself, or do you want Jesus standing next to you, interceding and pleading for mercy for you in front of the Almighty God? God gave us a very straightforward choice. Jesus is the choice. Everyone who chooses Jesus, God's chosen Son, to be the LORD of his life, will be saved and forgiven. The contrary will be that for those who don't do so.
With so much being said, I just want to post one question. On the moment of your last breathe, who do you want to bring along with you across to the other side? There is only one you can bring along with you. Choose.