September 11 marks a date now embedded into our national identity. Seven years ago the attacks on New York City’s World Trade Center forever changed the landscape of America, and today the scars and memories are still searingly fresh.
That infamous morning in 2001, while the news outlets bombarded us with live footage and eyewitness accounts, I remember thinking, “This isn’t happening.” My feelings of helplessness were merely a microcosm of what the country felt. . It seemed like in that brief moment, the traditional objectivity that news anchors adhere to was cast aside and their hearts were exposed. While flipping through the channels, phrases such as “God bless you” or “Our prayers go out to you” flowed. There were no adequate words for this catastrophic event, but these anchors were clearly reaching.
After the smoke cleared, I found myself going back to the statements made by the news anchors. It occurred to me that while many people say the existence of evil is the most convincing evidence against the existence of God, when evil acts actually occur, many individuals revert to using religious language. Why is this? What causes this contradiction?
We are wired to think that even though evil is prevalent in this world, it’s not supposed to be this way. We have an ingrained feeling that something is off and that what we see around us today isn’t what was intended. Deep inside, we suspect we are not meant to live in a hopeless world. Philosophically speaking, this way of thinking would be considered by some to be some sort of existential cowardice. Philosophers such as Friedrich Nietzche and Jean-Paul Sartre would tell us to suck it up, that this life is all you get, so deal with it. To these philosophers, Christianity is the ultimate psychological crutch.
However, when evil occurs, it seems that Christians and non-Christians alike find it difficult to deal with—we naturally hope, like St. Teresa of Avila, that “pain is never permanent.” So when instances of evil are out of our control, such as 9/11, we instinctively turn to spirituality to alleviate this feeling of helplessness because good has to triumph over evil. There is no other alternative for us.
In the end, God will return to eradicate evil and set up a new earth under His rule. This is what made the cross bearable. Christ “endured the cross, scorning its shame” with the view that this would be the act that would make the new earth possible (Hebrews 12:2, TNIV). What drove Christ to suffer evil? Among other things, hope. Hebrews 2:14 says that Jesus humbled Himself and shared humanity with us, “that through death he might destroy the one who has the power of death, that is the devil, and deliver all those who through fear of death were subject to lifelong slavery.” Clearly, Jesus held the confident hope that His perfect humility would result in the greater good.
It is this same kind of hope that drives the human soul. Being created in the image of God, we’ve inherited it. We bear up under pain in hope of deliverance in little ways throughout our lives.
For example, people flock to the gym in droves and endure the suffering of working out with the hope that they will fit into that size-4 dress or look good at the beach.
College students continually sacrifice relationships and precious sleep with the hope that they will attain the grades they need to get their diplomas, achieve their dream jobs and get their parents off their backs.
Parents sacrifice money, time and sanity to provide and care for their children with the hope that they will have successful lives, leave a legacy and not repeat the mistakes of the previous generation.
Undoubtedly, hope drives us.
So when evil occurs that men can’t fix, we naturally think that there’s a power out there that’s greater than us who is able to right this wrong. This evil drives us to recognize our helplessness and forces us to see that we all are a part of something infinitely bigger than ourselves.
And, in the end, the greatest hope will always be that “‘He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death’ or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away” (Revelation 21:4).
Adapted from Website!
Tuesday, September 16, 2008
Monday, September 8, 2008
Joy of Gatherings
Here's some updates of BGC's unofficially and some official events...
Last Week, a day before Malaysia Birthday... a group of small gathering happening in Mr. Chow house, BBQ~ing with a little gathering with some basketball players from Sulaiman School(SMS), Js showing a little part of "Life" video and Stephen sharing some good news while Tf was setting up some fire outside... here's the pictures...
Watching Life Video
BBQ~ing
Group Photos
After these days, heaven rejoice over few who are curios to know more bout the good news! And here's come Sunday, was a small family gathering in one of the Sister's house! Many families was there to fellowship in these gathering, having fun together, playing together, cooking together, and lots more... here's goes the picture would tell u more ... ^^
Dr. Stephen Loke Teaching the Children on "How to score A's in School"
Adam smashing the flour to make "Tong Yuen"
Tasty Machi ... from the tong yuen ... :P
Children loves the sweet!
Durian Ice Cream made by one of our sister from BGC ... made out of 30 biji durian!
Its taste so nice... Malaysia Truly Asia...
The powerpuff girls playing Congkak with Adam...
While the F4 + Stephen playing PC Games...
Taken yesterday by Js, and this verse Psalm 119:105 came into my mind ... And sharing with you all...
Notice: 5- 7 Sept 2008, there will be a Family Camp at Genting View Resort (GVR), so there's is NO Sunday School, Youth Fellowship and Sunday Worship services.
Sunday Worship will be on at the campsite!
Submitted by Js
Meant for Private Circulation Only!
Last Week, a day before Malaysia Birthday... a group of small gathering happening in Mr. Chow house, BBQ~ing with a little gathering with some basketball players from Sulaiman School(SMS), Js showing a little part of "Life" video and Stephen sharing some good news while Tf was setting up some fire outside... here's the pictures...
Watching Life Video
BBQ~ing
Group Photos
After these days, heaven rejoice over few who are curios to know more bout the good news! And here's come Sunday, was a small family gathering in one of the Sister's house! Many families was there to fellowship in these gathering, having fun together, playing together, cooking together, and lots more... here's goes the picture would tell u more ... ^^
Dr. Stephen Loke Teaching the Children on "How to score A's in School"
Adam smashing the flour to make "Tong Yuen"
Tasty Machi ... from the tong yuen ... :P
Children loves the sweet!
Durian Ice Cream made by one of our sister from BGC ... made out of 30 biji durian!
Its taste so nice... Malaysia Truly Asia...
The powerpuff girls playing Congkak with Adam...
While the F4 + Stephen playing PC Games...
Taken yesterday by Js, and this verse Psalm 119:105 came into my mind ... And sharing with you all...Notice: 5- 7 Sept 2008, there will be a Family Camp at Genting View Resort (GVR), so there's is NO Sunday School, Youth Fellowship and Sunday Worship services.
Sunday Worship will be on at the campsite!
Submitted by Js
Meant for Private Circulation Only!
Saturday, September 6, 2008
God's Protection:: Destroy By Gustav
The Hands & Feet Project, a children’s village in Jacmel, Haiti that was started in 2004, has suffered severe damage from the latest hurricane to hit the area. Following the destruction from hurricane Fay, hurricane Gustav buried the village in several feet of rock that came tumbling down the mountain during the storm. Although the overwhelming process of restoration has begun, tropical storm Hanna that hit this week again devastated the village and relegated the children and staff, 48 people in all, to live in one second-story room.
“We are in need of much prayer and financial support right now,” says Drex Stuart, a lifetime missionary who has previously served in Haiti and heads up the Hands & Feet Project with his wife, Jo. “Thank God all of our children and staff are safe. However, we have had major damage to our property, even worse than when [tropical storm] Noel hit last November.
“With our property completely buried in approximately four to five feet of mountain rock, we are doing the best we can to begin the clean-up process,” Stuart says. “Much of our supplies, food, clothes, diapers, formula, etc., have been destroyed and two of the houses where the kids lived were flooded with four feet of water and are currently unlivable. All 36 kids are living in the main house with the nannies.”
After Gustav hit Haiti, Stuart and his son, Audio Adrenaline frontman Mark Stuart, flew into Haiti with a civil engineer to assess the damage and come up with a plan to protect the village. Following the assessment, the cleanup process began, but after four days of clearing rock and piling them up to make an earthen dam that would eventually be a 12-15 foot high concrete retaining wall with re-enforced steel for protection, tropical storm Hanna came through this week and washed all the progress away.
“Our property is about 50 feet wide, but we are also going to help our neighbors finish their walls, because otherwise ours will be ineffective,” says Joel Griffith, Hands & Feet project managing director based in Franklin, TN. “In total, we will build a 200-foot retaining wall covering a Christian school that has 850 kids, the homes and property of five neighboring families representing 50 people and our property housing 36 orphans and 12 staff.”
“We had major damage to two of our children's houses and we lost most of our property walls, the foundation for our new cafeteria/kitchen," Griffith says. "With the retaining wall and purchasing a backhoe to keep it up, we are looking at an estimated immediate need of $100,000-$150,000. Although at this time we cannot handle supplies because of shipping costs, we are asking for monetary donations through our website, handsandfeetproject.org.”
As hurricanes Ike and Josephina threaten Haiti yet again, Mark Stuart also urges people to help. “Pray for Haiti, it’s a country that is often overlooked by the news channels when hurricanes happen because there are really no tourist areas. No reason to really pay attention, but it’s a place that really could use our help.”
God's Protection!
Adapted from Website...
“We are in need of much prayer and financial support right now,” says Drex Stuart, a lifetime missionary who has previously served in Haiti and heads up the Hands & Feet Project with his wife, Jo. “Thank God all of our children and staff are safe. However, we have had major damage to our property, even worse than when [tropical storm] Noel hit last November.
“With our property completely buried in approximately four to five feet of mountain rock, we are doing the best we can to begin the clean-up process,” Stuart says. “Much of our supplies, food, clothes, diapers, formula, etc., have been destroyed and two of the houses where the kids lived were flooded with four feet of water and are currently unlivable. All 36 kids are living in the main house with the nannies.”
After Gustav hit Haiti, Stuart and his son, Audio Adrenaline frontman Mark Stuart, flew into Haiti with a civil engineer to assess the damage and come up with a plan to protect the village. Following the assessment, the cleanup process began, but after four days of clearing rock and piling them up to make an earthen dam that would eventually be a 12-15 foot high concrete retaining wall with re-enforced steel for protection, tropical storm Hanna came through this week and washed all the progress away.
“Our property is about 50 feet wide, but we are also going to help our neighbors finish their walls, because otherwise ours will be ineffective,” says Joel Griffith, Hands & Feet project managing director based in Franklin, TN. “In total, we will build a 200-foot retaining wall covering a Christian school that has 850 kids, the homes and property of five neighboring families representing 50 people and our property housing 36 orphans and 12 staff.”
“We had major damage to two of our children's houses and we lost most of our property walls, the foundation for our new cafeteria/kitchen," Griffith says. "With the retaining wall and purchasing a backhoe to keep it up, we are looking at an estimated immediate need of $100,000-$150,000. Although at this time we cannot handle supplies because of shipping costs, we are asking for monetary donations through our website, handsandfeetproject.org.”
As hurricanes Ike and Josephina threaten Haiti yet again, Mark Stuart also urges people to help. “Pray for Haiti, it’s a country that is often overlooked by the news channels when hurricanes happen because there are really no tourist areas. No reason to really pay attention, but it’s a place that really could use our help.”
God's Protection!
Adapted from Website...
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