Me to my superior: ____, is there anything I can help you with?
My superior: Oh my gosh. You're free...
Me: Yeah...
So now I'm using the paper cutter to cut out individual-binder-file-spine labels.
Feels good to be useful.
Finally have the chance to blog out of the comfort of my own home. What's the use of having a laptop if I use it at home, right? Might as well just use a desktop.
I tried blogging an entry on another occasion, outside somewhere and spent an hour on it (was Facebook-ing and Gmail-ing in between) and due to some error, the multiply page closed without publishing my entry. I was so exasperated that multiply has no auto-save function.
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Anyway, I got myself the Manga Messiah book which I think is pretty cool. I picked it over a book by C.S. Lewis (I forgot the title but it's not any of the Narnia Books. It was one of his theology books and it was about miracles). When I picked up the manga I was a little skeptical because I thought what good can come out from a manga? However, I turned to the first few pages and I just felt goosebumps reading some of them. The words taken from the Living Word and portrayed in graphic form felt so full of life. I just knew that I had to get the book.
Ultimately, it was a good decision because through it I have come to know the life of Jesus much better. Most of the stories I know of him are those told during Sunday School and in some television shows or movies and I was slightly aghast at myself that I actually know so little of Jesus' life.
It's surprising that there are things I thought I knew but they turned out to be assumptions. As an example, take this simple one question test with me.
Time yourself and be honest about this and you might possibly have a shock yourself.
Within 4 seconds, name 4 of the disciples that were chosen as apostles. Ready GO!
....
If you answered Matthew, Mark, Luke and John you would have been WRONG!
Out of these four, only Matthew and John are apostles. If you knew that already then I applaud you but all these years I thought that Mark and Luke were part of the twelve apostles.
It's things like this that now spur me to really read the story of Jesus for myself from the Word. I'm glad that the manga indicates from which passage the scenes are taken from.
It brought me to an interesting nugget in Luke 1 about grace.
In Luke 1:68-80 Zacharias, John the Baptist's father, prophesies over John's life and I am just reminded that John means "the Lord is gracious" so when he talks about his son, I took it as he is talking about the grace of God and so in that perspective, it reveals something wonderful about grace. I'll make the necessary changes for you to follow along and indicate them with [ ].
From verse 76 onwards he says, "For [grace] will go before the face of the Lord to prepare His way to give knowledge of salvation to His people by the remission of their sins..."
Telling people about the grace of God is a way that they can know about the salvation which is found in Christ. I grew up hearing of the "scare" tactic of bringing people to Jesus by telling them of the consequences of not believing but God's way is better. It is by telling people of how gracious God is that will cause them to believe.
In all my years in New Creation I've never heard anyone be threatened by the prospect of Hell but I realize that people still chose to follow Jesus and it is because they can see how good God really is. When they hear of Jesus and his goodness, his person, his sacrifice, it cannot but bring them to salvation.
Just as John the Baptist was called the greatest prophet for pointing people to Jesus, telling people of God's grace will also lead people to Jesus. When people see the super abounding favour and goodness that we receive by grace we can point them to the source of it all; Jesus.
I don't know why but these two words just come to my mind every now and then and I remember hearing it in my head in the voice of Pastor Judah Smith in a sermon he preached. "When God Crossed His Arms" was the title, I think.
I had a bit of time to read for myself the passage in which this appears and it is found in Genesis 48:18 and the passage tells of how Jacob blessed Joseph's sons.
Jacob was old and was about to die and Joseph brought his two sons before him. Joseph positioned Manasseh to be at Jacob's right hand and Ephraim at the left because as was the custom, the firstborn would receive the best blessings from the right hand.
There is a switch in the names being used at this part because the passage begins talking about Jacob but at the part when he is about to bless Joseph's sons, his new name, Israel, is used.
When Isreal stretched out his hands to bless them, he intentionally crossed his arms to give the first-born blessings to Ephraim, the youngest. It is at this point that Joseph says, "Not so, my father, for this one is the firstborn; put your right hand on his head."
What strikes me in this little dialogue is how Ephraim received the best blessings not by his own efforts but it was because of grace. He did not even have to try and cheat his way to get the blessing as Jacob once did but he simply received.
Even now there are a lot of things in my life that I am thankful for and when I remember these words I really agree. "Not so, Father, I do not deserve all these," but in that I am thankful that it is precisely because I did not earn the blessings that I can but simply receive it. I just put my head where His right hand is at, or more accurately I am placed at his right hand because I am in Christ and right now, Jesus Christ is seated at the Father's right hand.
It may not be so, but thank you, Father, that the best blessings are ours because of Jesus' finished work. Only believe and simply receive.
