CG Late Nights

Our CG members are mostly night owls. We used to start quite late because a few of us are always late but recently we decided start on time regardless. But even that, we still stretch the meeting till very late.

Like what happened this evening, we started on time even though there just the few of us. And after CG, during supper, we have so much fun connecting and chatting, that we overdid it. We were chatting and chatting and chatting, and by the time I got home, it was already 1:30 in the morning.

But I had a good time.

pearlie

I'm not condemned but redeemed

I feel that I have been too hard on myself. I made a boo-boo today and as much as I readily admitted the mistake myself, I was quite angry at myself.

I also happened to learn about Transactional Analysis in the afternoon and I soon realized that I have used all my three ego states because of that event: first the Parent when I complained about the person whom I felt wronged me, then the Adult when I tried to find out from him what exactly happened and how to avoid it in the future, then I took the state of a Child when he responded to me as a Parent because I decided to walk away since I refuse to argue and carry on the never-ending conversation and finally I went back to the Adult state when I reported the event to the leader informing him about my mistake and seek for what the next step should be . I'm glad I closed with the Parent state and I was able to resolve the matter and have a good night sleep.

Indeed, I'm also reminded of Paul in Romans 8:1-6, "There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus." I find myself usually condemning myself whenever I do wrong or make a mistake. I am indeed my own worst enemy.

I'm in Christ and I live by his grace and mercy. I am redeemed and I am his child. Yes, in my weakness, I will still make mistakes but I am not condemned but redeemed.

pearlie

The world is filled with His glory

Earth’s crammed with heaven,
And every common bush afire with God;
And only he who sees, takes off his shoes;
The rest sit round it and pluck blackberries,
And daub their natural faces unaware.

~ Elizabeth Barrett Browning, “Aurora Leigh”

pearlie

We are rancid stinking grapes

The LORD spoke through the prophet Isaiah in 5:1-2 (ESV):

Let me sing for my beloved my love song concerning his vineyard: My beloved had a vineyard on a very fertile hill.
He dug it and cleared it of stones, and planted it with choice vines; he built a watchtower in the midst of it, and hewed out a wine vat in it; and he looked for it to yield grapes, but it yielded wild grapes.

Ortlund explains this perfectly, ""In the prophet’s imaginative scenario, a man is cultivating a vineyard with every appropriate provision. He has a right to expect a good crop. But what comes of his efforts? “Wild grapes,” Isaiah says. Actually, the Hebrew word suggests stinking grapes. They are not merely wild, they are rancid."

Have you ever tasted rancid stinking food? Imagine God will even spit us out of his mouth when we are found lukewarm (Rev 3:15-16), what more that we are rancid and stinking.

From now on, whenever I think I am so great, so above it all, I will come back to these verses and remind myself without my King and Saviour Jesus's love, grace, justification, redemption and sanctification work on me, I am in reality all these: abhorrent, abominable, appalling, awful, disgusting, distasteful, dreadful, evil, foul, gross, hideous, horrendous, horrible, horrid, loathsome, nasty, nauseating, obnoxious, obscene, odious, offensive, repellent, repugnant, repulsive, revolting, scandalous, shocking, sickening, ugly.

In contrast, "the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control (Gal 5:22-23).

pearlie
Source: 'Isaiah: God Saves Sinners' by Raymond C. Ortlund, Jr., R.Kent Hughes, General Editor

Oh! To be safely home

Safely Home
by Ron DiCianni

I cannot yet describe what and how I feel after reading Randy Alcorn's Safely Home. But this I know, I have not done much for the Lord. In the Chinese context, what I've done and what I am is not even a dot compared to what He has done for me, which is immensely huge as is his love and grace for all of us.

Worse than that, I am sinful and unworthy of Him.

This book has caused me to evaluate myself in a different way than ever before, and this one sentence from the book surmise it for now: "His “Christian life” had been like every other part of his life. It had always been about Ben Fielding," in that "it had always been about Pearlie Ng." And for that, Lord Jesus, I ask for your forgiveness.

If you have not read this book before, I encourage you to read it. It may just open your eyes a bit more, if not a lot more, to what and how we see life from where we are, and what awaits us when we are truly home, for those who will be home to meet the Lion and King Jesus face to face, when we finally leave the Shadowlands.

To God be the glory, He reigns forever and ever, and every knee shall now and every tongue confess that He is Lord.

pearlie

Safely Home by Randy Alcorn

Safely Home
by Randy Alcorn

I was looking for a good book to read over this long weekend, and I am so glad I have finally started on Randy Alcorn's novel, Safely Home, which won the Gold Medallion Book Award for evangelical literature.

I was a bit reluctant to read it as I was a bit disappointed with his book Heaven. That book started well, but as I trudged along, I found it very repetitive, thus making it hard to follow after awhile, as my mind keep shutting off reading the same phrases again and again and again.

But I am really looking to a good reading time with Safely Home, although I am sure I will end up sobbing and weeping buckets. I am already in tears when I was in Chapter 2!

Safely Home takes place in present-day China, and follows the story of two Harvard roommates, one American and one Chinese, who reunite decades after they graduate.

Alcorn wrote the novel based on actual events of the persecution of Christians in China, which is indeed very real and happening as we speak. He said, "While many things in this book have actually happened in one way or another, I have made up the story. Still, I have attempted to keep it authentic and true to life in as many details as possible. Nearly all my characters are fictitious. Some are composites of several real people."

The account is apparently so real that "a missionary...recently wrote: “Safely Home was very, very accurate.” She knows a Chinese woman who couldn’t read the book because it reminded her of close friends suffering persecution."

I was reading Chapter 2 where Li Quan was muttering "Is this the day I die?" while bundling up his eight-year-old son one Sunday at 2 in the morning onto the front of his bicycle, and he with his wife maneuvered the uneven path in the dark on their bicycles in order to get to a secret church to worship God and His Son, Jesus. They gathered quietly in the small house church in candlelight, reading a bible his mother had copied by hand for eight years, singing worship songs as softly as they can, and praying for strength in midst of suffering and pain.

When I was reading that chapter, I had to stop and ask for forgiveness for all my gripes and complaints in church most Sunday mornings: gripes about having no parking space for our car, air-conditioning too cold, songs I can't sing, announcements too draggy, too much sharing and sometimes sermons a bit too boring.

I feel embarrassed and ashamed. Who am I to grumble? Who am I to criticize? If not for the grace and mercy of my ever-faithful and forgiving God, I know I would have been struck down like Ananias and Sapphira, dead.

O God, I thank you for the privilege to come to you to worship you as freely as I can every Sunday. I ask you to forgive me of my foolishness and my self-centeredness. I pray for your people who risk their very lives every day, even at this very moment, as they profess and live their faith in you without fear. May these honorable saints be so strengthened and upheld by your holy presence, your comforting words and promptings, your saving grace and loving kindness. You are our sovereign God, whose mercy and love is unfailing. Jesus, you are Emmanuel, God with us. Amen.

pearlie

All my volumes on Calvinism, Arminianism, Predestination, Free Will and Foreknowledge

Chosen But Free
by Norman Geisler

It has taken me awhile, a little more than a month, but I have finally finished reading Chosen But Free is morning (disclaimer: although I have left out the long section of the appendices). It was a good read, though I may not agree on every detail, I agree with Geisler on most part, but still remain an Arminian. I would indeed recommend this to Calvinists, both moderate and extreme.

I have then purchased these two books, published in tandem by Zondervan (2011):


For Calvinism
by Michael Horton


Against Calvinism
by Roger E. Olson

I have not dived into them yet, as it will take some serious reading and will most probably take me two months, or more, to finish both the books. But I believe both will do well in holding the tension between Calvinism and Arminianism, after which I may re-read Olson's Arminian Theology. There is so much to learn, understand and remember.


Arminian Theology, Myths and Realities

On top of that, Noel just reminded that he has gotten me two books some time ago which I need to also read up on. Ah, another two more months, or more? So much to read, so little time.


Predestination & Free Will
Edited by David Basinger and Randall Basinger
Contributed by John Feinberg, Norman Geisler, Bruce Reichenbach and Clark Pinnock


Divine Foreknowledge: Four Views
Edited by James K. Beilby and Paul R. Eddy
Contributed by Gregory A. Boyd, David Hunt, William Lane Craig and Paul Helm

pearlie

The necessary tension between Calvinists and Arminians

In these recent days, I became quite attracted to books on Calvinism and Arminianism. I am now reading Norman Geisler's Chosen but Free and planning to purchase the combo 2-volume-in-1 For Calvinism by Michael Horton and Against Calvinism by Roger E. Olson.

I think I know why. I just found out that Pastor Marvin will be preaching on a TULIP series soon.

(If you don't already know, I am an Classical Arminian and I do not agree to the Calvinist 5-point TULIP - Total Depravity, Unconditional Election, Limited Atonement, Irresistible Grace and Perseverance of the Saints.)

So maybe God has led me to these books to be prepared for the "onslaught", both in church where the sermons will be preached and CG where bible study week be held on the same topic. This could be so I will not be too surprised by what I hear, to know what to expect and how I would counter, albeit just in my own mind, and if necessary out loud in CG.

I also began to wonder why would God allow this to happen, i.e. to have such a stark contrast in both stance to exist and yet both sides professing to be faithful Christians, whom I believe we all are, as one body in Christ.

I am beginning to believe that God allows it because we actually need each other to keep ourselves in check. We are both kept in a tension so that neither side would go off at both ends.

When I shared this with Noel, my fellow Arminian brother, he agreed saying, "Yes, it is possible that Arminianism is the antidote to extreme Calvinism and Calvinism is the antidote to extreme Arminianism. So we must listen with respect to both sides of the argument."

Indeed we must, and I had better quickly catch up with my reading. It is taking me awhile to read Geisler's book and I want to take on Horton and Olson too! Oh dear.

And this is interesting: a Jacob Sweeney who is a Calvinist gave a review of Roger E. Olson's Against Calvinism and he said,

I think it goes without saying that I disagree with Olsen's conclusions about Calvinism. His book does not offer anything significantly new in the debate between these two systems. However, he does model gracious and understanding disagreement. Why does this matter? Because it rarely happens between Calvinists and Arminians. This is usually a high-tension "discussion" (read: argument). But, he manages it with fairness. At times it appears that he is using loaded terms to help his argument, but based on the work as a whole I don't think that's the case.

I think every Calvinist...needs to read this book. I should say, they need to read it and understand that someone can be an intelligent, committed Christian and not be a Calvinist. My generation of up-and-coming pastors and theologians needs to relax and learn how to have honest, frank and generous discussion with our brothers in Christ who disagree. Olson's book will help us accomplish that.

pearlie

Humility, a most unnatural virtue

I was mulling on humility and thought of how unnatural it is for a human being to be humble. We are so tied to our own sense of esteem that any propensity to humility is either unheard of or is deemed fake.

Ortlund says in his Preaching the Word series on Isaiah, "The point is that our own brilliance and desire will be the death of us."

Oh how we need to be humble in all we are and all we do.

From my recent exchange with this one person, who exuded too much self-importance and judgement for me to handle, made me realise how much we need the humility of Christ, and to depend on His ultimate standards rather than on our own dismal and laughable human standards.

And yet humility is one tough virtue to have. I'm not sure we can even "practice" humility. Either you are humble or you are not.

I came across this blogpost by Maolsheachlann, who said, "the moral law [may be] inscribed on the human heart, but that is far from admitting that humankind is always or even usually successful at reading or following that law. And one virtue that is rare outside the ranks of Christians is humility--a studied, deliberate, principled humility...humility is the most "unnatural" of virtues, in a colloquial sense of the term "natural". When we look at pre-Christian societies, the unabashed boastfulness is perhaps the feature that offends us most of all. And in our increasingly post-Christian world, this seems to be returning." (source: Christian Humility)

I struggle a lot with humility and I always catch myself being too self-important. And when I find myself in that state, I will feel so bad and ashamed.

With my dealings with non-Christians who do not know the humility of Christ, I feel like it is a stark reminder to me that I am only feeling the way I am feeling because of the example of Christ. And how far from humility I will be without Christ.

So if there is any encouragement in Christ, any comfort from love, any participation in the Spirit, any affection and sympathy, complete my joy by being of the same mind, having the same love, being in full accord and of one mind. Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves. Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others. Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
(Philippians 2:1-11)

pearlie

Our Worship Pretense

I read Isaiah 1:10-20 today and it was most striking. I'm not sure if people still talk about worship wars, but God is not so concerned about the way we worship but who and why we worship.

Ortlund says, "For our worship to be saved, it isn’t a matter of fine-tuning our outward performances. It’s a matter of repentance."

Now that I read these verses in Isaiah, I read it in new light and understanding, I read it in reference to myself and I read it against my pretense in worship.

Initially I still think about the old way of worship by the Israelites, which I obviously don't do. But now, I can relate it to the sins I commit when I come to worship God every Sunday.

"What offends God is hollowed-out worship." (Ortlund)

Listen to the Word of God through his prophet, first in ESV which is more (dynamically) literal, then NLT which is a bit more paraphrased and finally The Message which is most paraphrased.

Isaiah 1:10-20 ESV
Hear the word of the LORD, you rulers of Sodom! Give ear to the teaching of our God, you people of Gomorrah!
"What to me is the multitude of your sacrifices? says the LORD; I have had enough of burnt offerings of rams and the fat of well-fed beasts; I do not delight in the blood of bulls, or of lambs, or of goats.
"When you come to appear before me, who has required of you this trampling of my courts?
Bring no more vain offerings; incense is an abomination to me. New moon and Sabbath and the calling of convocations- I cannot endure iniquity and solemn assembly.
Your new moons and your appointed feasts my soul hates; they have become a burden to me; I am weary of bearing them.
When you spread out your hands, I will hide my eyes from you; even though you make many prayers, I will not listen; your hands are full of blood.
Wash yourselves; make yourselves clean; remove the evil of your deeds from before my eyes; cease to do evil, learn to do good; seek justice, correct oppression; bring justice to the fatherless, plead the widow's cause.
"Come now, let us reason together, says the LORD: though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red like crimson, they shall become like wool.
If you are willing and obedient, you shall eat the good of the land; but if you refuse and rebel, you shall be eaten by the sword; for the mouth of the LORD has spoken."

Isaiah 1:10-20 NLT
Listen to the LORD, you leaders of “Sodom.” Listen to the law of our God, people of “Gomorrah.”
“What makes you think I want all your sacrifices?” says the LORD.
“I am sick of your burnt offerings of rams and the fat of fattened cattle.
I get no pleasure from the blood of bulls and lambs and goats.
When you come to worship me, who asked you to parade through my courts with all your ceremony?
Stop bringing me your meaningless gifts; the incense of your offerings disgusts me!
As for your celebrations of the new moon and the Sabbath and your special days for fasting— they are all sinful and false.
I want no more of your pious meetings.
I hate your new moon celebrations and your annual festivals.
They are a burden to me. I cannot stand them!
When you lift up your hands in prayer, I will not look. Though you offer many prayers, I will not listen, for your hands are covered with the blood of innocent victims.
Wash yourselves and be clean! Get your sins out of my sight. Give up your evil ways. Learn to do good. Seek justice. Help the oppressed. Defend the cause of orphans. Fight for the rights of widows.
“Come now, let’s settle this,” says the LORD. “Though your sins are like scarlet, I will make them as white as snow. Though they are red like crimson, I will make them as white as wool. If you will only obey me, you will have plenty to eat. But if you turn away and refuse to listen, you will be devoured by the sword of your enemies. I, the LORD, have spoken!”

Isaiah 1:10-20 MSG
“Listen to my Message, you Sodom-schooled leaders. Receive God’s revelation, you Gomorrah-schooled people. “Why this frenzy of sacrifices?” GOD’S asking. “Don’t you think I’ve had my fill of burnt sacrifices, rams and plump grain-fed calves? Don’t you think I’ve had my fill of blood from bulls, lambs, and goats? When you come before me, whoever gave you the idea of acting like this, Running here and there, doing this and that— all this sheer commotion in the place provided for worship?
“Quit your worship charades. I can’t stand your trivial religious games: Monthly conferences, weekly Sabbaths, special meetings— meetings, meetings, meetings—I can’t stand one more! Meetings for this, meetings for that. I hate them! You’ve worn me out! I’m sick of your religion, religion, religion, while you go right on sinning. When you put on your next prayer-performance, I’ll be looking the other way. No matter how long or loud or often you pray, I’ll not be listening. And do you know why? Because you’ve been tearing people to pieces, and your hands are bloody. Go home and wash up. Clean up your act. Sweep your lives clean of your evildoings so I don’t have to look at them any longer. Say no to wrong. Learn to do good. Work for justice. Help the down-and-out. Stand up for the homeless. Go to bat for the defenseless.
“Come. Sit down. Let’s argue this out.” This is GOD ’s Message: “If your sins are blood-red, they’ll be snow-white. If they’re red like crimson, they’ll be like wool. If you’ll willingly obey, you’ll feast like kings. But if you’re willful and stubborn, you’ll die like dogs.” That’s right. GOD says so.

"Richard Lovelace reminds us that the grace of God is the only power that can free us from our hypocrisies". (Ortlund)

pearlie

My dependence on my iPhone

Right now, amongst all the things that I own, my iPhone is one of the most important. In a list my husband sent me last week about life these days, it scares me that this actually rings quite true for me: leaving the house without your mobile phone, which you didn't even have the first 20 or 30 years of your life, is now a cause for panic and you turn around to go and get it.

I used a management diary to manage my work and appointments until around year 2000 when I got my Palm V. I do have a Filofax now, which I am still using as a journal. I still do like the act of writing though it's quite dangerous not being able to keep it under lock and key, but the switch from the "manual" Filofax to the digital kind has practically changed how we manage our lives.

TEDBlog posted this recently - 25+ apps to make your everyday life easier.

Here are my most-used apps. What are yours? (The default ones like phone, message, mail , alarm, calendar not included)



Week Agenda - I see my whole week's events in one screen
Momento - my digital journal
Marvin - my faithful ebook reader, it's the best!
ABBYY BCR - a business card reader, my digital calling card box
Merriam-Webster Dictionary - I've replaced Dictionary.com with this, it's more complete
Pocket - my digital folder of all online articles that catch my attention, all in all my personal magazine
BlogPress - I don't use my PC any longer when at home and so this is how I do my daily blogging
ESV Study + - the digital ESV Study Bible, comes with audio
Goodreads - my book list and database
Appsgonefree - I check this everyday for free apps and many times I got really good ones, some of them in this very list
uPackingList - I use this everyday as I pack for morning gym, I can be very disorganized
Highs & Lows - keeps me mindful of my day
Waze - I use this everyday to ensure I don't get stuck in traffic unnecessarily
Askt - gets me to think about something important everyday
Logos Bible - where all my digital references and commentaries are (some IVP editions, the full series of WBC, TOTC and TNTC)
1Password - the best password manager around, with iOS 8, I can now use the fingerprint security function in Safari
Spotify - free music, what more can I say
VoiceReader - reads my PDF files, especially when I'm in the gym.
Speaky (not shown) - reads what's in my Pocket, especially when I'm driving
Wikipanion - the best Wikipedia reader
Chime - chimes on the hour every hour to remind me of the time, since I am so disorganized
Dropbox - how could a smartphone exist without this
LinkedIn - helps me keeps in touch professionally
AppShopper - gives me apps deals everyday and it notifies me whenever any apps in my wishlist becomes free
OneDrive - DropBox is more connected with the other apps but OneDrive has the largest cloud space for me

I'm an app junkie. I try very hard to only keep apps that I actually use - not!

pearlie

Isaiah, God Saves Sinners (Preaching the Word Series)

Isaiah - God Saves Sinners
by Raymond C. Ortlund, Jr.

As I have blogged before, I found the Preaching the Word series by Kent Hughes very useful as devotional materials for me, and I thought I'd do Isaiah now.

I've finished the edition on Proverbs and do not think I can continue with Exodus.

So, Isaiah it shall be.

Isaiah is an important book in the bible and for me it is the least understood. Ortlund quotes and Ortlund says:

"God spoke eloquently through Isaiah. If you have any interest in the Bible at all, Isaiah will reward a close reading. It is “the most theologically significant book in the Old Testament.” “Of all the books in the Old Testament, Isaiah is perhaps the richest.” “From ancient times Isaiah has been considered the greatest of the Old Testament prophets.” The scholars who know what they are talking about prize Isaiah. What Bach’s first biographer said about his music applies to Isaiah’s prophecy:

[Bach’s music] is not merely agreeable, like other composers’, but transports us to the regions of the ideal. It does not arrest our attention momentarily but grips us the stronger the oftener we listen to it so that, after a thousand hearings, its treasures are still unexhausted and yield fresh beauties to excite our wonder.

Isaiah deserves better than to be a “classic” — a famous book nobody reads anymore. His prophecy isn’t always easy to understand. But every day all around the world people take on challenges, from climbing the Matterhorn to learning Japanese to launching a new business. If God has spoken to us through Isaiah, let’s explore this literary Matterhorn. Let’s enjoy the view from the very top, and even the effort of getting there. Let’s reach out for new understandings."

I am certainly looking forward to reading it and learning from Isaiah, admitting I'm nothing but a sinner and being convicted of my dire need for God and God alone.

pearlie

Lazy Sunday

I used to play Shrooms Solitaire on my PC back in those days when I actually used to sit at a desk at home to play computer games.


There is now a similar iPhone version call Jolly Jam, which is something like Shrooms Solitaire but with a much more advanced interface and gameplay.

Well, it is (again) a lazy Sunday for me today and all I did was play games and catch up on YouTube vids.

pearlie

Such a disappointment

Today was one of those times, thankfully it's rare, that I had expected something but got absolutely nothing.

I had paid and signed up for a talk on a subject but the speaker talked about something entirely different. And I feel like I've been had.

It was supposed to be a talk on adolescents and self-esteem, but the speaker spent the whole time getting us on our own self-awareness, about strengths and weaknesses, and MBTI - not that I don't already know, being a former trainer on types and now a certified coach on strengths and performance.

The thing is I signed up for a session on adolescents, not self-awareness.

What would you do? Well, I didn't do anything. Not yet. But I plan to write in to at least comment about it.

pearlie

Book Review: Proverbs, Wisdom that Works

Proverbs, Wisdom that Works, Preaching the Word
by Raymond C. Ortlund Jr.

This is a very good commentary to read on Proverbs. When I first bought this book, I didn't think to check how the author would manage a preaching commentary on a book with proverbs scattered across the book.

Ortlund did a marvelous job by handling it by topics, only that he was not able to cover them all.

The topics are:
1   Why the Book of Proverbs Matters
2   Let’s Begin (1:1–7)
3   Violence !(1:8–19)
4   A Storm Is Coming (1:20–33)
5   How We Can Grow (2:1–22)
6   The Wisdom That Helps Us (3:1–8)
7   Wisdom at the Extremes of Life (3:9–12)
8   Why Wisdom Matters, What Wisdom Creates (3:13–35)
9   The Only Path into Life (4:1–27)
10   Bitter Honey and Sweet Water (5:1–23)
11   Responsibility, Opportunity, Unity (6:1–19)
12   Why Our Sexuality Matters to God (6:20—7:27)
13   The Worldview of Wisdom (8:1–36)
14   It’s Decision Time (9:1–18)
15   The Tongue (18:21)
16   Humility (22:4)
17   Family (22:6)
18   Emotions (15:30)
19   Friendship (18:24)
20   Money (10:22)
21   Life and Death (12:28)

One of the most important thing about this book is how he centers the message on the Gospel of Christ. Ortlund says, "It leads us to Christ. If you look for him here, you will find him."

For now, Chapter 19 on friendship is extremely relevant and timely for me. This is one I will revisit very soon.

And here are some great quotes from the book:

Life is a journey, and the end of it all is not just a place but also a condition.

Through the book of Proverbs, God coaches us in the wisdom we need throughout the long and complicated path of our everyday lives.

We need wisdom to fill in the blanks moment by moment, and God gives us his wisdom in the book of Proverbs.

However we are suffering, our real business is with Christ. He is saying to us here in his Word, “Come to me. Deal with me. I am able to restore you out of your past failings and defend you for the future. Hurl yourself at me in all your need. I will give myself to you in all my grace. My wisdom will enter your heart in ways you’ve never known before.”

Wherever you turn in the Bible, remind yourself, “God has a blessing for me here.” Never dismiss a single verse. Even if you don’t understand it, you can still say, “I don’t understand this yet, but I will not despise it. I will not dismiss it as irrelevant or archaic. This book is Jesus speaking to me, every word of it.

pearlie

Book Review: Remarkable Creatures

Remarkable Creatures
by Tracy Chevalier

Having already read two of Tracy Chevalier's books and loving them, I was looking forward to read this one, and I was not disappointed.

I did not realise however that the book is based on a real person, Mary Anning, as I have not heard of her before. I only found out when I read more than 80% of the book. Now I'm glad I have read of her, albeit historical fiction.

Mary Anning was indeed an amazing person, for a woman in the 19th century. According to Wikipedia, "Mary Anning (21 May 1799 – 9 March 1847) was a British fossil collector, dealer, and palaeontologist who became known around the world for important finds she made in the Jurassic marine fossil beds at Lyme Regis in Dorset, a county in Southwest England on the coast of the English Channel, where she lived. Her work contributed to fundamental changes that occurred during her lifetime in scientific thinking about prehistoric life and the history of the Earth."

Chevalier painted her as a simple but inquisitive girl who became an ambitious woman in her entrepreneurship and contribution to the world of prehistoric science when women were then considered as "spare part"!

On the part when a Lord Henley was chided for putting his name as the discoverer of a complete fossil specimen instead of Anning's as it was she who found it, he said:

“Mary Anning is a worker. She found the crocodile on my land-Church Cliffs are part of my property, you know. Do you think these men-” he nodded at the men shifting mud “-do they own what is on this land simply because they dig it up? Of course not! It belongs to me. Besides which, Mary Anning is a female. She is a spare part. I have to represent her, as indeed I do many Lyme residents who cannot represent themselves.”

It is indeed frustrating to read how women were regarded back in those days and I am thankful we are who we are today and regarded as equals.

The book presents the narrative with the relationship of two women, Mary Anning and Elizabeth Philpot, who was also obsessed with fossils. It tells of their unexpected friendship and relationship that grew in spite of their differences all because they were both drawn to the allure of finding skeletons and remains of remarkable creatures.

Chevalier's portrayal of Mary Anning is quite uncanny though for me because her voice really reminds me of a friend that I have. They sound so alike that I got chills reading the Mary chapters (the book has alternate chapters between Mary and Elizabeth being the first person). And on top of that, (spoiler alert) the part where they fought and had a major fall out also reminds me of my fall out with the same person, although of course it is not exactly the same. It's just quite eerie.

I now look forward to getting and reading her other books: Falling Angels, The Lady and the Unicorn, Burning Bright, and her latest The Last Runaway.

pearlie

A really old photo

It's wonderful when my friends post old pictures because I can now at least have a digital copy of them.

But the irony is I now think I look kinda good when I thought I look ugly back then.

So in a sense, I shouldn't say I look ugly now because 20 years down the line, if I'm still around, I'd probably say the same thing.

pearlie

Back to the gym

I've been "pontenging" the gym for almost two weeks and it felt so great to be back on the bike!

pearlie
Note: "ponteng" is "playing truant" in Malay (the participle -ing is my informal English use of the word)

Vision 2 Million

pearlie

Beginning with this Scripture

The sermon this morning was by a pastor from Melbourne, Rev Dale Stephenson, who spoke about the apostle Philip in the book of Acts.

The lesson I learnt was from Acts 8 where Philip was led by the Spirit to "go over and join this chariot." (v. 29) He found the Ethiopian eunuch in the chariot who invited him in and read to Philip a passage in Isaiah about the Jesus.

He asked Philip, "about whom does the prophet say this, about himself or about someone else?" Then Philip spoke and beginning with this Scripture he told him the good news about Jesus.

"Beginning with this Scripture": God leads us to work where He is already working.

Pray for opportunities to share the Gospel. He will not disappoint.

pearlie