"Now, many overwhelmed I have. Cannot everything understand...how to do?"

Most of us know what it is to be overwhelmed in heart; emptied as when a man wipeth a dish and turneth it upside down; submerged and thrown on our beam ends like a vessel mastered by the storm. Discoveries of inward corruption will do this, if the Lord permits the great deep of our depravity to become troubled and cast up mire and dirt. Disappointments and heart-breaks will do this when billow after billow rolls over us, and we are like a broken shell hurled to and fro by the surf. Blessed be God, at such seasons we are not without an all-sufficient solace, our God is the harbour of weather-beaten sails, the hospice of forlorn pilgrims. Higher than we are is He, His mercy higher than our sins, His love higher than our thoughts. It is pitiful to see men putting their trust in something lower than themselves; but our confidence is fixed upon an exceeding high and glorious Lord. A Rock He is since He changes not, and a high Rock, because the tempests which overwhelm us roll far beneath at His feet; He is not disturbed by them, but rules them at His will. If we get under the shelter of this lofty Rock we may defy the hurricane; all is calm under the lee of that towering cliff. Alas! such is the confusion in which the troubled mind is often cast, that we need piloting to this divine shelter. Hence the prayer of the text. O Lord, our God, by Thy Holy Spirit, teach us the way of faith, lead us into Thy rest. The wind blows us out to sea, the helm answers not to our puny hand; Thou, Thou alone canst steer us over the bar between yon sunken rocks, safe into the fair haven. How dependent we are upon Thee--we need Thee to bring us to Thee. To be wisely directed and steered into safety and peace is Thy gift, and Thine alone. This night be pleased to deal well with Thy servants. -Spurgeon

I needed this reminder...thanks Remy...

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Don't you know sitting on a talent is an awful crime,
so I thank the mighty Father that He gave me mine.

And I kept improving in on the down and low,
taking every opportunity to learn and grow.

So oh no no no, oh no no no,
never sit around and let your talent waste away just so...(x2)

So if you forget these all of de lyrics or melodies that the Rembunction sang or said,
I really hope that the lyrics of this refrain remain in your head.

IT'S STARTS NOW!

Jesus Calms the Storm...Japanese Style.

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And I got 160 more where those MP3s came from.  I love the old school style! 

More importantly, I love how Jesus still loves Japan and the Japanese...

Iesu-sama, Nihon o ai shiteiru ne.  Dareka Nihon ni okute kudasai.  Boku ga iku koto ga dekiru...itsudemo, dokodemo....ne.

 Nihon o wasurenaide kudasaimasen ka?  Onegaitashimasu....

The blaze of the risen 'sun' encourages me to go onward...

"God"

Let us construct a fable. Let us picture a woman thrown into a dungeon. There she bears and rears a son. He grows up seeing nothing but the dungeon walls, the straw on the floor, and a little patch of the sky seen through the grating, which is too high up to show anything except sky. This unfortunate woman was an artist, and when they imprisoned her she managed to bring with her a drawing pad and a box of pencils. As she never loses the hope of deliverance she is constantly teaching her son about that outer world which he has never seen. She does it very largely by drawing him pictures. With her pencil she attempts to show him what fields, rivers, mountains, cities, and waves on a beach are like. He is a dutiful boy and he does his best to believe her when she tells him that that outer world is far more interesting and glorious than anything in the dungeon. At times he succeeds. On the whole he gets on tolerably well until, one day, he says something that gives his mother pause. For a minute or two they are at cross-purposes. Finally it dawns on her that he has, all these years, lived under a misconception. ‘But,’ she gasps, ‘you didn’t think that the real world was full of lines drawn in lead pencil?’ ‘What?’ says the boy. ‘ No pencil-marks there?’ And instantly his whole notion of the outer world becomes a blank. For the lines, by which alone he was imagining it, have now been denied of it. He has no idea of that which will exclude and dispense with the lines, that of which the lines were merely a transposition – the waving tree-tops, the light dancing on the weir, the coloured three-dimensional realities which are not enclosed in lines but define their own shapes at every moment with a delicacy and multiplicity which no drawing could ever achieve. This child will get the idea that the real world is somehow less visible than his mother’s pictures. In reality it lacks lines because it is incomparably more visible.

So with us.

‘We know not what we shall be’; but we may be sure we shall be more, not less, than we were on earth. Our natural experiences (sensory, emotional, imaginative) are only like the drawing, like penciled lines on flat paper. If they vanish in the risen life, they will vanish only as pencil lines vanish from the real landscape; not as a candle flame that is put out but as a candle flame which becomes invisible because someone has pulled up the blind, thrown open the shutters, and let in the blaze of the risen sun.

-C.S. Lewis, Transposition

dude, I like how this man thinks....

Try this...

It was my first day of teaching today...

Today was my first day of teaching. I am very tired. I must do better for my students. I must change myself to make them successful. I must be diligent to keep the rules and standards for everyone strong. I must alter my speech and mindset for each child. I must have tough love for all of them. I must adapt each lesson and my style to compensate for the nationalities (Korean, Chinese, Taiwanese, Singaporean) in my classroom. I must be swift and clear when talking to some children (who have about 5% English ability) and intelligent and complex to the others (who are native speakers of English). I must go to bed and stop thinking of what I didn't do correct today. I must accommodate the child who looks at me with eyes that say, "Ehh?...Even though you are speaking slowly, clearly, and with kindergarten style words I don't understand a word that is coming out of your mouth so I'm going to just shut your voice out of my head." and the child with eyes who says, "WHAT? You are speaking to us like we are in 1st grade with that type of English. Come on, teach!" I must be consistent with telling them to stop whining, to sit down, to listen first before they throw up there hands and say, "Teacher, huh?...(because they cannot understand English). I must challenge myself to learn new techniques in the next 10 hours (7 of which I hope to be sleeping, but probably not because I wish I had done better for my kids today). I must print out one student's name again on my printer because her passport name is not the one she wants to use. I must try to make many people understand that when I say, "Sorry I can't make it/Sorry, I have to go because I'M BUSY." that I really mean, "I'M BUSY." (One thing is for sure, i've learned that when people ask you to come over, go out to eat, or whatever and you say you're busy...for some reason...they cannot seem to believe it and try very hard to give YOU many reasons why you are not busy and why you should do what they say. Kinda like when someone asks, "Are you busy now?" and you say, "Yes." it is almost as if they have taken you to say, "I don't have time for whatever you're going to ask me." Shame...one really does get busy at times. I, for one, tend to believe people whatever they say. If they are lying, it's their own blood on their own heads...not mine. But I digress...)

Today was my first day of teaching. I am very tired...

Quotes of the moment

Hello Singapore! :-)

I don’t want to achieve immortality through my work, I want to achieve immortality through not dying. –Woody Allen

First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you, then you win. –Mahatma Gandhi

Well timed silence hath more eloquence than speech. – Martin Franquhar Tupper

We didn’t lose the game, we just ran out of time. – Vince Lombardi

Blessed is the man, who having nothing to say, abstains from giving wordy evidence of the fact. – George Eliot

The language of friendship is not words but meanings. –Thoreau

Protest long enough that you are right, and you will be wrong. –Yiddish Proverb

His soul will never starve for exploits or excitements who is wise enough to be made a fool of. To be “taken in” everywhere is to see the inside to everything. –Chesterton

People can be divided into three groups:

1. Those who make things happen.

2. Those who watch things happen.

3. Those that wonder what happened.

Are you involved or committed?

The difference between involvement and commitment is like eggs-and-ham breakfast: the chicken was involved, the pig was committed.

Trust = Just Do It

...taken while on duty for Zero Hour 2007...
~beauty is always around...just gotta keep looking for it~

"When you are asked for trust you may give it or withhold it; it is senseless to say that you will trust if you are given demonstrative certainty. There would be no room for trust if demonstration were given. When demonstration is given what will be left will be simply the sort of relation which results from having trusted, or not having trusted, before it was given."
-C.S. Lewis, On Obstinacy In Belief

The world/our hearts: "Prove it, then I'll trust you." (the 'it' being what we think we want)
God: "Trust Me, then I'll prove it." (the 'it' being what He knows is best for us)

Communication is key...especially about death.

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A random picture...a random prank call. hahahaha

NEVER NEVER NEVER NEVER STOP

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somtimes in life things get so hard you feel like giving up. oh yea...
but remember God love you and He will never forsake you. oh yea...

He will always be our friend, right until the very end, so...

KEEP TRYING!  NEVER STOP.
NEVER NEVER NEVER NEVER STOP yea...

KEEP TRYING!  NEVER STOP.
NEVER NEVER NEVER NEVER STOP yea...

-Eldon Blackman 

the last song I'd sing, if today were my last day to live...

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My God, my God you are so good to me,
and even though I'm not worthy you still deliver me.

From the hand of the oppressor and my enemies,
Like a father to a son, you always take care of me.
My light in the darkness, my joy when there's sadness,
My sense of direction, in this time of confusion.

You are the protector of my life, and your mercies endureth forever,
You are the protector of my life, and your mercies endureth forever...and ever...forever....

Kevon Thomas, Protector

What did Jesus do for you and me? Watch and find out...

Those who wonder if Jesus is relevant today....take heed. Watch until the very end to see the power of Jesus in the lives of those who have believed and rely on His finished work at calvary. Take heed...question...seek....

Why did I upload this video?

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Because one day I will have a daughter growing up in this world.  And I want her to understand what so many do not know...or believe.

Is it me, or is there something a wee bit off about this signboard?...

Would You Like To Play A Game?

Working at an international school affords one the opportunity to learn about different cultures and traditions from around the world. Such as games.

Here is an explanation of a Kazakhstan game written by one of my students from...Kazakhstan.

Ladies and gentleman, may I present a game that every man and woman looking for a mate should try one day:

THE CHASING GIRL GAME

"There are lots of diferent Kazak games....But most are sports games on horses. One game is called Chasing Girl. This game is also sport game you must chase the girl on horse, and if you didn't chase her until the finishing point she will turn back, and chase you, and you must get to the starting point, but girl must take Kazak rope, and hit you at the back."

Most likely training for when they get married... :-)

Oh, and he brought that Kazak rope to school to show us. I feel sorry for any man's back that was hit with that thing...

Holy Holy Holy

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Is anything too hard for our God?

My friend, no...not even the darkness in your life cannot stop Him from seeing your deepest need. He is a miracle maker. It is the pain, the hurt, the sorrow, and the incomprehensible complications in your life that attract Him to you. He has the power and compassion to heal your deepest wound and to set your life ablaze with divine purpose and fulfillment.

At His feet you will find your miracle. Jesus Christ invites you to come. If you believe, He won't disappoint you. You've nothing to lose, and everything to gain.

Nothing is too hard for Him....nothing.

Untitled

This was a good night.

Quoting recent thoughts...

Thoughts that have been on my mind of late...

Silence breeds conjecture.

Information abhors a vacuum. When people aren't given information they have only their fears to guide them.

Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter. -Martin Luther King, jr.

The most basic and powerful way to connect to another person is to listen. Just listen. Perhaps the most important thing we ever give each other is our attention…. Rachel Naomi Remen

The best answer to anger is silence.

'Tis better to be silent and be thought a fool, than to speak and remove all doubt.
Abraham Lincoln (1809 - 1865)

I think the first virtue is to restrain the tongue; he approaches nearest to gods who knows how to be silent, even though he is in the right. -Cato the Elder (234 BC - 149 BC)

Silence is one of the hardest arguments to refute. -Josh Billings (1818 - 1885)

The problem with communication ... is the illusion that it has been accomplished. -George Bernard Shaw

Feelings of worth can flourish only in an atmosphere where individual differences are appreciated, mistakes are tolerated, communication is open, and rules are flexible -- the kind of atmosphere that is found in a nurturing family. -Virginia Satir

The way we communicate with others and with ourselves ultimately determines the quality of our lives. -Anthony Robbins quotes (American advisor to leaders)

When all other means of communication fail, try words

Communication is the real work of leadership. - Nitin Nohria

Deep listening is miraculous for both listener and speaker. When someone receives us with open-hearted, non-judging, intensely interested listening, our spirits expand. -Sue Patton Thoele

People will forget what you say,
People will forget what you do,
but they will never forget
how you make them feel

Life is rarely exactly as we would like it to be.
Instead, life is exactly as it is.

Tentative efforts lead to tentative outcomes. Therefore give yourself fully to your endeavors. Decide to construct your character through excellent actions and determine to pay the price of a worthy goal. The trials you encounter will introduce you to your strengths. Remain steadfast.......and one day you will build something that endures: something worthy of your potential. -Epictetus, Roman Teacher, Philosopher 55-135 AD.

When your work speaks for itself, don't interrupt. - Henry J. Kaiser

You can't build a reputation on what you are going to do. - Henry Ford

People are unreasonable, illogical, and self-centered. Love them anyway. If you do good, people will accuse you of selfish ulterior motives. Do good anyway. If you are successful, you will win false friends and true enemies. Succeed anyway. Honesty and frankness make you vulnerable. Be honest and frank anyway. The good you do today will be forgotten tomorrow. Do good anyway. The biggest people with the biggest ideas can be shot down by the smallest people with the smallest pride. Think big anyway. People favor underdogs, but follow only top dogs. Fight for some underdogs anyway. What you spent years building may be destroyed overnight. Build anyway. Give the world your best. -Reader’s Digest

The strength of a man’s virtue should not be measured by his special exertions, but by his habitual acts. –Pascal

Never explain - your friends do not need it and your enemies will not believe you anyways.- Elbert Hubbard

About all you can do in life is be who you are. Some people will love you for you. Most will love you for what you can do for them, and some won't like you at all. -Rita Mae Brown

I was not a good English teacher in Japan...look:

There's so much more work to be done...haha!