The Jesus we worship

Amazing Grace! How sweet the sound-- That saved a wretch like me!
I once was lost by now am found, was blind but now I see.

For the past 2-3 mths, these words of what might be the world's most famous hymn echoed in my mind. It started when the film Amazing Grace was released in the US and Chris Tomlin sang the hymn for the film, (You can watch the MTV here and him teaching you how to play it here).

At first, I just loved the way that Chris did the hymn but as I recalled its history, and as I tried to put myself into the shoes of William Wilberforce & John Newton... and as I learned of the context and true meaning of Redemption, the Amazing Grace of God grew even more real for me.

I shared and sang this song quite a bit after that and it was definitely no coincidence that the theme for Easter this year was "Amazing Grace, How Can It Be?" BSF too sang this hymn after we studied Rom 5 and this was after I shared about this hymn during fellowship (wasn't planned).

And as I was preparing for what to share for the Easter service, God brought me to a deeper appreciation and understanding of slavery. Perhaps this concept is far flung and distant for a lot of us... and we sometimes don't really connect the scars and sacrifice of Christ with slavery... but to me, I started seeing the connection.

Slaves were bound with chains. Often at the feet, hands & sometimes the neck too. They had no rights. They were beaten, bruised, despised and tortured. Their cries of agony fell on deaf ears and the even the walls take no heed. The scars they bear are testament to man's moral depravity and the evil that man can sink into.

But not even slaves die a humiliating death.... they don't have their nakedness and blood spewed across a whole city, for all to mock. They don't have to endure the emotional pain of seeing the ones you love betray you, condemn you... the ones who'll eventually kill you. They don't experience the indescribable torment of divine separation.

This playlet, entitled 'The Long Silence' says it all...

The Long Silence

At the end of time, billions of people were seated on a great plain before God's throne. Most shrank back from the brilliant light before them. But some groups near the front talked heatedly, not cringing with cringing shame - but with belligerence.

"Can God judge us? How can He know about suffering?", snapped a pert young brunette. She ripped open a sleeve to reveal a tattooed number from a Nazi concentration camp. "We endured terror ... beatings ... torture ... death!"

In another group a Negro boy lowered his collar. "What about this?" he demanded, showing an ugly rope burn. "Lynched, for no crime but being black !"

In another crowd there was a pregnant schoolgirl with sullen eyes: "Why should I suffer?" she murmured. "It wasn't my fault." Far out across the plain were hundreds of such groups. Each had a complaint against God for the evil and suffering He had permitted in His world.

How lucky God was to live in Heaven, where all was sweetness and light. Where there was no weeping or fear, no hunger or hatred. What did God know of all that man had been forced to endure in this world? For God leads a pretty sheltered life, they said.

So each of these groups sent forth their leader, chosen because he had suffered the most. A Jew, a negro, a person from Hiroshima, a horribly deformed arthritic, a thalidomide child. In the centre of the vast plain, they consulted with each other. At last they were ready to present their case. It was rather clever.

Before God could be qualified to be their judge, He must endure what they had endured. Their decision was that God should be sentenced to live on earth as a man.

Let him be born a Jew. Let the legitimacy of his birth be doubted. Give him a work so difficult that even his family will think him out of his mind.

Let him be betrayed by his closest friends. Let him face false charges, be tried by a prejudiced jury and convicted by a cowardly judge. Let him be tortured.

At the last, let him see what it means to be terribly alone. Then let him die so there can be no doubt he died. Let there be a great host of witnesses to verify it.

As each leader announced his portion of the sentence, loud murmurs of approval went up from the throng of people assembled. When the last had finished pronouncing sentence, there was a long silence. No one uttered a word. No one moved.

For suddenly, all knew that God had already served His sentence.


This is the Jesus we all worship. This... is the Jesus of the Scars.

Jesus of the Scars

If we have never sought, we seek Thee now:
Thine eyes burn through the dark, our only stars;
We must have sight of thorn-pricks on Thy brow,
We must have Thee, O Jesus of the Scars.

The heavens frighten us; they are too calm;
In all the universe we have no place.
Our wounds are hurting us; where is the balm?
Lord Jesus, by Thy Scars, we claim Thy grace.

If, when the doors are shut, Thou drawest near,
Only reveal those hands, that side of Thine;
We know to-day what wounds are, have no fear,
Show us Thy Scars, we know the countersign.

The other gods were strong; but Thou wast weak;
They rode, but Thou didst stumble to a throne;
But to our wounds only God's wounds can speak,
And not a god has wounds, but Thou alone.

*took the above 2 from John Stott's 'The Cross of Christ'*

The God-centredness of God

Which attributes of God in this lesson give you great comfort? Why?

groan........ not again.....

Having faced the above question (or variants of that question) for the past few weeks, I was left wondering if the BSF writers ran out of originality. Not realising how pompous that thought was, I happily proceeded to write down "His grace, mercy and wisdom" in the space provided. When it came to the Why though, my fingers just stopped. Well yeah there are the obvious reasons that in spite of man's depravity and hopelessness, God has provided a way out, a redemption plan for man... but did that give me great comfort?

For the sake of context, this is the passage for that week:

"[21] But now the righteousness of God has been manifested apart from the law, although the Law and the Prophets bear witness to it--[22] the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe. For there is no distinction: [23] for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, [24] and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, [25] whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood, to be received by faith. This was to show God's righteousness, because in his divine forbearance he had passed over former sins. [26] It was to show his righteousness at the present time, so that he might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus."

Rom 3:21-26

Well, this wasn't to say that God's grace, mercy and wisdom didn't give me comfort. It was just that... I didn't feel that I put thought into the question. Can I say that those attributes of God were what impacted me? I tapped my fingers on my desk, stared at the wall, fiddled with my pen, made strange noises with my lips, etc... nothing. Ok fine. I closed the Bible and left that question blank.

On the bus-ride to BSF, (I do some of my best thinking on bus-rides) I was still thinking of that question and my mind was brought back to one of the books which changed my Christian thinking: "The Pleasures of God" by John Piper. I won't elaborate on my thoughts but the key thing was that I realised that the attibute of God which brought me greatest comfort was the God-centredness of God.

The God-centredness of God.

Hallelujah! I immediately turned to Rom 3 and read again these words: "...This was to show God's righteousness, because in his divine forbearance he had passed over former sins. [26] It was to show his righteousness at the present time, so that he might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus."

This refers to God putting forward Christ as a propitiation, for the justification & redemption of man. But why? Because this divine act displayed God's righteousness! In the Old Testament, on the Day of Atonement, the blood of a sacrificial animal was used to make propitiation for the sin of man. This did not take away sin however as the blood of animals could not take away sin (Heb 10:4). On the contrary, the Day of Atonement was to remind man of his sin (Heb 10:3). So, God's wrath toward sin had yet to be averted and therefore, Christ's death on the Cross was necessary. Perfection and sinlessness had to be stained for God's righteousness & justice.

So was the Cross an act of love for man or an act of righteousness? Both! But God's righteousness and glory is paramount and HE takes precedence! Our God cannot put His love for man before the love of His own glory. If He does, that'll be idolatry! God cannot insult what's infinitely beautiful and glorious and thus, He has to put supreme value on his own perfection and worth. For THAT is righteousness--God's God-centredness.

In the pettiness of our thinking, this might seem to be pure, unadulterated vanity and arrogance. But that's man being man-centred. God's God-centredness is the very heart of righteousness.

We also sometimes fail to see that the very foundation of our hope and salvation lies in God being God-centred in the first place! For in the 2nd half of verse 26 it says, "so that he might be just and justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus". We see clearly that our salvation and justification lies in the very righteousness (justice) of God. Because God is perfectly righteous, through the propitiation of Christ, He is able to acquit us (justification) and therein lies our hope and our redemption! Hallelujah!

For "The God-centredness of God is the foundation of his grace to the ungodly. If God were not committed first to vindicate the worth of his own glory, there would be no gospel and no hope, for there would be no glorious God. " (John Piper)

Therefore, God is the centre of the gospel and the exultation of His own glory is its driving force; not the depravity of man nor the fact that God loves us.

For the God-centredness of God is the attribute that brings the ultimate hope and comfort for all people.

The Marriage Miracle

I found myself getting asked the age-old-CNY-question-that-is-aimed-at-any-unattached-young-adult umpteen times this year.

"When are you getting a girlfriend?"

And what used to be joke seems to have taken a dramatic turn.

"Adrian ah... here's wishing you good results in your studies, that you might find a job fast and you might find a girlfriend and settle down soon."

And when the conversation gets steered to what everyone did during the recent Valentine's Day, my answer was... distinctly different *wink*

"Oh, I spent Valentine's Day calling and talking to 15 guys."

I have to say that some of their shell-shocked stares was hilarious :)

This was the predominant topic of discussion at both paternal & maternal sides of the extended family. But perhaps what was most interesting was finding out what my relatives (both cousins & aunties/uncles alike) thought about relationships.

To me, my view of relationships is being molded by the Word of God and the life experiences that He's putting me through. I feel that one of the greatest miracles of life is Marriage. A miracle where 2 people, whom God has put together, bound by a love for Him, a love for each other and a load of commitment, spend the rest of their lives being each other's partner. A union which encompasses the physical, the mental, the emotional and the spiritual. A miracle which mirrors the indescribable love that Christ has for His Bride, the Church.

Would I love to get married? YES! I would love to have someone--a friend, a companion, a lover who I know will always be there for me through thick and thin. A someone whom I can share my storms and rainbows with. A someone whom I can promise my heart too as well.

Am I ready for a relationship however? I don't know. I would like to think that I am but its not really up to me :) But I trust that God will bring that someone who'll love me as much as I love her in His own timing.

For marriage is more than just attraction and love. Its about commitment, lordship, servitude, self-sacrifice, give-and-take, ministry, perseverance, encouragement, understanding. Its about loving your wife above yourself. It will sometimes lead you to letting go to what you cherish, for the greater godliness for both. Tears and heartache are guaranteed... coupled with delirious joy and life-defining moments. Practically speaking, you might have to sacrifice that football game you were looking forward to so much if your wife needs you. At times, the man will have to suck in his pride to admit that he was wrong. At other times, it will entail him having to take on his role as head of the household to remind his family that Christ-likeness is always the goal.

Marriage is about glorifying God.

So Lord, accept my efforts at surrendering my will to you. My life, my loves, my relationships, my heart. Be it singlehood or marriage, may Thy name be glorified. Amen.

Full Circle

I'm beginning this post not too sure of what I'm gonna write.

What I'm sure however, is that I'm compelled to. For deep withing me, I sense that 2007 will be a different year. Why? I can't say for sure... perhaps it might be due to the fact that BOTH church & BSF are doing Romans this year... a book I've always wanted to cover in depth since 4 years ago.

It's as if God were saying to me, "Well, you wanted to cover it in depth right? Here's the opportunity on a silver platter. So don't try to laze off Adrian, as you usually do. I want you to know me from this book. Don't just try to accumulate Bible knowledge. Embrace my gospel and see what I've accomplished in my name. Fall on your knees, confess your sins and repent. Change your lifestyle O prodigal son and know that I love you so much and have chosen you to belong to me. For you know full well that NOTHING will be able to separate you from my love. NOTHING. "

10 years ago...

I knelled before him, terrified and trembling. What little ounce of courage I had left was spent trying to hold back tears. I couldn't afford to show him any fear but he knew... He knew that I had never been so afraid in my entire life. The thick incense in the room was suffocating and it took immense effort just to take that next breath. The stuffiness and humidity caused my back to be drenched in sweat but I was still shivering. Behind him stood a iron statue and its evil eyes glared at me. It seemed to pierce straight into my soul, stripping me bare and exposing me to his booming voice.

"You are bad, Adrian... and your guardian angel is sad. He wants to leave you and not bother about you anymore. I'm trying to persuade him to stay but he wants to go. Cos you have not been good. Remember that I'm the incarnate of (some god) and I have power. Don't try to play with me. All the Christians and Catholics who come here don't leave Christians or Catholics. They all see who I am and what I can do..."

That night, I stared at the ceiling, still shivering. I kept on hearing his voice... "You are bad... your guardian angel wants to leave you... I have power..." I used to be afraid of the dark when I was younger but now, the darkness seemed even more desolate and foreboding. I felt so... alone, abandoned, afraid. I never dared to tell my parents and couldn't even if I wanted to as they were out of town. I tossed and turned, the sheets in disarray with all my movement. For that moment, the knowledge that I was a Christian was a distant, forgotten concept... Until from amidst the darkness, this line came to my mind:

"neither death nor life, not angels nor demons.... separate us from the Love of God..."

With renewed hope, I leaped out of bed and rushed to my Bible, frantically flipping through page after page, looking for that life-line... and there it lay--Rom 8:38-39.

"For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels or demons, neither the present or the future, not any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord."

Rom 8:38-39

Oh sweet Word of God! Oh the wonderful power and love of Jesus! At that moment, it was like a tremendous light burst into my room and all darkness disappeared in fright. Over and over again, I read aloud those 2 verses. Oh the nectar that is the God's promise! How many times did I read those verses? A hundred? A thousand? I don't know. But what I do know is this: that night, with my Bible clutched to my chest and the page opened to Rom 8, I fell into one of the most peaceful night's sleep I had in my life. Blessed Assurance, Jesus is mine!

In a sense, I've come full circle. The epistle that God used to comfort and reassure is now before me-- open and ripe for studying. 10 years on and I'm just as grateful to Christ for that redeeming love and act of propitiation. And I know now that if I should fear anything or anyone, it should be a fear for the Lord and not any created being or demon.

So, while I started out clueless as to what I should write for this blog entry, God has led me to share this testimony of mine; which few know of. He's leading me back to remembering AND testifying to His goodness, faithfulness and love. He's leading me back to the cornerstone of my faith--Jesus Christ and the gospel.

He's leading me back to Himself.

"For from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be the glory forever! Amen."

Rom 11:36

Photos from India--The Taj Mahal pt 3

The final installment to my trip photos. For those who've been faithfully looking at the various batches which come in, hope you've liked my small attempts at photography. For those who've just come on board, look at the first post... way down...

Took this picture from this angle to show how flat the surface is. The patterns you see are NOT paintings. Rather, they're semi-precious gems carved and encrusted into the white marble and filed flat! And when you shine a torch unto them, the gleam and glitter. And as you can see in one of them, people have tried to pry out these gems. tsk tsk.

What you see above is one whole slab of white marble and the flowers are all carved from the marble. The pictures below are basically the individual "buds" carved. Tried to take them from an angle which shows off the 3-D effect.

And that's a wrap :)

Photos from India--The Taj Mahal pt 2

This entry's mainly of the various views of the Taj... once again, experimenting with angles

Photos from India--The Taj Mahal pt 1

And I present to you... one of the 7th Monumental wonders of the world... the famous (but not all that fantastic) Taj Mahal! Well, I have to give credit where credit is due so... yes, the Taj Mahal is a fantastic feat of engineering and design. And it is beautiful. But at the end of the day, it is but a lavish tomb.

Brings to my mind once again of Man's preoccupation with death. Doesn't matter what race or civilisation he comes from, death is the final and greatest sting that Man has always (and is still trying) been trying to defeat. But when will he ever accept that Man cannot and will not defeat death, for death HAS BEEN defeated :) That's the Hope that we have as Christians. That there's something greater than death. Something more eternal, something brighter... And that something is a someone :)

Thank You Jesus Christ

The passage in Mark 13 also came to mind. A reminder that for all the beauty and wisdom of man, these stones will fall away. But the Word of the Lord is eternal :) Hallelujah!

Anyhow, these few posts are basically different angles of the Taj.

The Taj in the light of the early morning... didn't manage to catch the Taj @ sunrise though :( But nice enough I guess

This particular picture wasn't taken by me but by my bro!

This is the position of the sun when we arrived at the Taj

Underexposed the shot to display the reflective characteristics of white marble... reflection looks as though its off water

Photos from India--Miscellaneous

Taken from Jaipur, these pictures were, but they were, shall we say... different :p

The 2 pictures above taken from the the Hawa Mahal.

Yes, there was a lovely blue sky in India... but take a look at the brown "fog" below... and for one of the explanations for that brown? Look below... typical Indian traffic.

Photos from India--Jantar Mantar pt 2

I particularly like this set of pictures as I took the liberty to try to play with angles and lines... do leave comments as to what you think :)

The pictures above and below are actually pictures from the small sundial. (look at the previous post) Loved the fact that the sky was nice and blue. Oh, and if you're wondering who's the boy in the picture, that's my bro.

These 2 instruments are sundials too--there's actually 2 of them, one for each half of the day (east & west). Once again, trying to play with lines.

The time of the day when we were there... I can't read the words though :P And if I recall correctly, we where there at about 4+

Photos from India--Jantar Mantar pt 1

Pictures from the Jantar Mantar in Jaipur, India. The Jantar Mantar is a collection of architectural astronomical instruments built in the 18th century and the amazing thing is that the instruments are still accurate today! Though its mainly a tourist attraction now... and if you didn't know, it looks like an amusement park... just look at the first picuture... its a view of the the whole place.

What do you think is in common with the instrument above and below?

Well, both are acutally sundials! Yeap, the smaller one above has an accuracy of 20sec but the Maharaja "buay song" and decided to cut the accuracy to 2sec! So, he built a sundial 10 times bigger! And thus, the bigger sundial (Samrat Jantar) is the biggest sundial in the world.

This is the intricacy and accuracy of the astronomers, craftsmen & engineers of that time... all this carved into marble

Photo reflections from Nepal--Miscellaneous pt 2

Ok, these are really totally random pics taken from everywhere.

I was hoping to capture a greater contrast in the lighting so that the shape of the bare tree stands out more but didn't manage to do it that well. But in any case, it was a stark reminder to me about how one can become leafless & fruitless when one not roooted and connected with Christ. Also, in the winter months of life, do I continue to flourish? Or do my leaves wither and fall off?

There were obstacles in the way so I couldn't get a better angle to capture both the silver motorbike and bicycle gleaming in the sun. An evolution of technology side by side :)

I title this picture.... "A Man and... A LOT of monkeys" :p

If you can give me the correct number of monkeys in this picture, I applaud you :p Welcome to Pashupatinath, where in the evenings, the number of monkeys outnumber the number of people by... A LOT.

Interesting couple of signs don'tcha think? ;)

Photo reflections from Nepal--Miscellaneous pt 1

Ok, final 2 sets of pics from Nepal... rest will be from India :p

During this trip, the clouds followed us EVEYRWHERE, not too sure why... anyhow, God blessed us with fine weather on our last day and cleared the skies :) Saw the Himalayas and the Annapurna range from Kathmandu but decided to post up these pictures that were shot from the plane. (more up-close)

My facination with taking pictures of fire and flames continue with this picture and the one below

Photo reflections from Nepal--Jo's factory & Sophia's Home

As the title suggests, pics from Jo's new Touch Nature factory (taken during the official opening) & Sophia's Home (which I visited).

Jo's gleaming white factory. It stands heads above the neighbouring buildings and is a lot more colourful and cheery. I can understand why her ladies all enjoy coming to work :)

There's actually a panoramic view of Kathmandu from the roof but I just chose this picture which I think best captures how the other buildings look like. Now you know why I say that Jo's factory stands out!

Where Sophia's Home is now located--their building

Ahh... the days of a printed out time-table :p

The girls from Sophia's

Photo reflections from Nepal--Wildlife pt 4

Last set of wildlife pics features cute animals :) Technically, these weren't taken in Nepal but in India... but they're still cute :p

Photo reflections from Nepal--Wildlife pt 3

We visited a huge bat cave and well, it was pitch dark except for the torches used... and this was above our heads... more and more bats

A bit morbid I know but I've been wondering... when they die (fried to death) how in the world do they still hang on??

This is a poseur elephant! Knew we were taking its picture and decided to look more stylo... l

Mommy & 2-week old baby :)