Farewell March

End of the month again, so a temporary breather from many things...

Amidst setbacks like computer crashes and sickness, it has been easier to wake up from routine and realize that God has the power to see through my everyday life. When it seems there is no more energy to do things well at work and ministry, I am forced to trust God to work in these imperfect conditions, and that the end result will be just as He wanted it.

On second thought, although it is harder to do, I have to remember that God works in exactly the same way even when things are going very well in life. "When the kindness and love of God our Savior appeared, he saved us not because of righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy." (Titus 3:4,5) His mercy is the only antidote for my tendency toward legalism. I am glad that He has answers and is the answer to everything. And I should fear Him and take joy in Him more than I am doing right now.

Sometimes I understand how hard it can be to be aware of all that the world thinks is great, and not be able to take part in it. The thought that I hold onto is that surely, our nonbelieving friends will not be impressed with us if all that we do follows the world's standards down to a tee. That makes for a completely ineffective witness. Why are we living the life we live? What is the reason? Sometimes, it is necessary to do hard things (as inspired by two very unusual teenagers) even when we don't see immediate benefit from it. Surely it is not to achieve social status or applause from men, because those are guaranteed to be nonexistent, hehehe.

So long, self (Mercy me).

Choir and radio

We're singing Haydn's mass for Easter. So excited to be singing again. There are some pretty high notes for the soprano part, and when we repeatedly sing them, it can strain the throat. So sometimes I take the chinese herbal syrup afterwards. I've told people that after taking it, it feels like I've returned to HK. Can't explain why. Perhaps my childhood memory of the place involves the smell of all those chinese herbs at the street vendors.

XM radio has expired for my car for quite a while already. I was used to knowing each song's title and artist right away on the display. However, it's another form of enjoyment to return to normal radio. I can just focus on the music and find out about it afterwards, when the dj back-announces it. In some ways it's better since it allows the mind to be a clean slate.

On another note, that NBA commercial with the dramatic classical music just had me cracking up, because it was so good. I have to doublecheck what exactly they were trying to sell...