Under Bridges

"Yesterday while walking,
Beneath an overpass,
I saw the figure of Jesus,
Standing barefoot on broken glass.
His beard was graying,
The smell of urine filled the air,
Asking if I had some change,
Anything that I could spare.

Emaciated,
His shaking fists balled up,
Influenza and pneumonia,
Begging God to take his cup.
So different from his pictures,
Breathing air through yellowed tubes,
Jesus Christ, dying of AIDS,
Can look right through you.

And all have hated,
Crucified and walked away,
The Savior of the prostitutes,
Drunkards, rapists, and the gays.

Under bridges,
With hands raised,
From the ghettos they praise his name.
Broke and crippled in the dark of night,
Raise your voices to Jesus Christ,
Hallelujah." ~ Brave Saint Saturn Quoted on12/13/06

I like this song because it reminds me of the parable of the Sheep and the Goats. In that parable Jesus said as you have done unto the least of these so you have done unto me. As Christians we must remember that the mark of discipleship is how we love one another. Once I heard it said the problem with evangelicals is that they talk a lot about doctrine and about God but they hate people. Thought for the day...

The importance of evaluation

The importance of Self-evaluation

In the Christian life, we should always be looking for how we are growing or not growing and evaluate ourselves. A friend was sharing how while he is a teacher he is always trying to self evaluate himself and also listen to the criticism of others so that he might learn how to improve his teaching method. It is very important for our lives to think about our character and evaluate how we are growing or compare next to Jesus. This is important because as Christians we should follow Him and be like Him. I was thinking the other day about how I was glad that I did not really have a problem with anger like I did in my child hood. Then I was reminded of a time that I got angry with a friend when we were wrestling because he did something I thought was improper. I was not going to hurt him, but in any case, my response was not good. In addition, I have been thinking about the use of my words that I thought were good. Now I have noticed things I have said or say that might cause hurt to another person. We may think that we are doing well, but then the Lord can speak to us and show where we are lacking if only we will listen to Him. Lets open our hearts and see where we can improve. My thoughts for the day.

Communication

I was typing a paper for a friend and he said, “Can you make it two pages?” I pointed out the fact that it was already two pages… the bibliography extending onto the second page. A little while later, after some more typing, he again said the same phrase, “Can you make it two pages?” A little bit confused, I probed to figure out what he meant and finally he informed me that he wanted the outline on the second page… I couldn’t help but laugh inside because at first I had no idea what he was talking about. It made me think of other times where I had said something while unconsciously assuming that the person I was talking to was thinking the same thing I was thinking and therefore I did not include all the information necessary for them to fully understand what I wanted to communicate… hehehe ;) Thats all for now... Did I communicate? hehe j/k

Comments...

Comments are a delightful thing... kind of like a cool breeze on a sun shiny day, or a cup of cool water after a soccer match. Ever wonder why big crazy long thoughtful posts rarely get comments but the funny ones do? hehe o:)

The beauty of obedience

There is nothing in this world quite like knowing you are in the will of and in obedience to the Lord. Any deviation from or disobediance may provide pleasure for a period but it inevitibly will cause trouble and hurt later and perhaps even ruin what would have been beautiful had we followed in obedience. When one knows that he is in right standing with God and forgiven and covered by His grace, he is able to stand with joy admist struggle and like the Apostle Paul rejoice for he knows in whom he believes. Even when hard times come because of obedience, there is peace in the right thing.

:)

Beware of...

Beware of clever sounding arguments that creep in and sound so good yet are danger at the core.

I've heard many different things from different people over a few years... anything from universalism to unitarianism and one thing I have noticed is that all the arguments are clever and logical sounding at first glance. I like to listen to different ideas and be open minded, but I agree with the Steve Taylor phrase, "Don't be so open minded that your brain leaks out". hehe anyway... Its not like the ideas are just out in midfield, they use scripture, and reasonings to defend their viewpoint, and they sound convincing... Yet when quoting the scripture, beware of phrases like "a deeper meaning" or this is the "deep" meaning. That should be a red flag. Often times it seems to me that this "deep" meaning really is just an "imputation" into the text of something that isn't there - Isegesis first class. Anyway, just a thought I had. :) Take care,

-Nomad

So... Does anyone know...

How can brown cows eat green grass and give white milk?

Mischevious Monkey

Football in the Rain

Hi Folks,

ever feel like you're in a time warp... say for example you are cleaning your room and you think it was just yesterday that you cleaned, but when you look at the 6 inches of dust laying underneath your bed you realize that its been a month since you last cleaned? Thats how I feel right now while writing this post. :) Its nice here still rains. Got plenty of work to do, actually why I thought of the example above was because I was cleaning my room yesterday. You know one of those nifty deep clean days. I really like my room to be clean, it helps me to think, if things aren't neat I find that I put them into a more neat of a mess.. haha Oh, and some good news for ya, I've got some pictures... hehe Remember the lungi story? yeah the one with the ants. ok ok, I'll pull it up for you, just a sec, be patient will ya. Sheesh.







=) well... thats all folks. :)

-Nomad

October

Wow,

Its already October. Looking forward to starting up work agian.. It was nice to have a little break and get some rest. Hopefully you'll get some more little updates soon. No promises.. hehe Wonder if I should post a picture of what a lungi is... haha ok, probablly not.. :D Thats all for now

Simple yet beautiful

Some old style swimming pool that is now empty. :)
George is busy studying a Tamil song.. sheesh such a smart monkey, wish he could help me study..
So here is a flower that I think is pretty neat, its not really extravagent or anything but something about it catchs my eye. :)

So this looks like any old stack of books...

So you may think this looks like any old stack of books, and so did I untill... dun dun duuhh. One day I picked up one of the books, you know, the hardbound kind with the shiny paper cover, and began to read it. It had been a few days since I'd read it but not too long. As I had read a few pages, I noticed something strange.. a few creatures had dropped from somewhere and had fallen upon my lap. At first I thought maybe they had come from the ceiling but then I noticed some crawling on my hand. Low and behold, these ants had built a home withing the spine of my book! Thankfully, (Jess close your ears) I was wearing a lungi and was able to easily brush those fellers onto the floor and "finish" the others in the book. :) Theres nothing quite like having ants in your pants so I'm glad it didn't happen. :) So thats your funny story of the day.. hehe

This is me and george 'hangin' in the ol room. How do you like the red curtains? I think they're pretty swell. The other picture is just a cool shot I'd thought I'd take.. there are some hills in the background but you can't really make them out. :) Hope for some more laters.

Pictures are worth a thousand words

So I feel that my blog is seriously lacking of some good pictures. Think I should add some?

:)

:P

:-D

Something to ponder...

Here are some interesting verses to ponder:

2 Peter 1:4-10 4 Whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises: that by these ye might be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust. 5 And beside this, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue; and to virtue knowledge; 6 And to knowledge temperance; and to temperance patience; and to patience godliness; 7 And to godliness brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness charity. 8 For if these things be in you, and abound, they make you that ye shall neither be barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. 9 But he that lacketh these things is blind, and cannot see afar off, and hath forgotten that he was purged from his old sins. 10 Wherefore the rather, brethren, give diligence to make your calling and election sure: for if ye do these things, ye shall never fall: (KJV -- gotta love non-copyright. )

Scholarship & Anti-Prooftexting

Anti-Prooftexting 8/21/06

Ever wondered why modern scholars are against proof texting? Do they have a valid point? I haven’t read in depth about the reasoning behind this and so what follows is simply my thoughts. I hope I’m not simply building straw men, but if so it will be a handsome one.

While it is true that you can’t isolate one text out of the Bible and use it to prove a certain issue without looking at the context and such of the verse, it seems to me that proof texting is still a valid practice. For if you determine that a certain text has a given meaning within its given context; that verse, by authority of its inspiration, can and may be quoted to prove a point. Don’t forget, that verse is part of the context! Didn’t Paul and other N.T. writers use “proof texts” from the writings of the prophets and elsewhere? Doesn’t Jesus quote scriptures to prove a point? Why then are we afraid of using them? Is it perhaps because scholars have distrust in the actual reliability of any given verse and therefore are afraid to draw out one verse because of their prejudice that it can’t possibly mean what it says?

Heres another thought to ponder, why is it that often times when a scholar cleverly presents his arguments that the general public would lean towards the understandings of this scholar and put trust in him before putting trust in the Bible. Why don’t we question the scholar before we question the Bible? In my mind scholars are less trustworthy than the Bible because if you look into the world view of some of them you might be shocked. So why make that statement you ask? What does it matter about the scholars world view? The reason is that almost no one writes completely unbiased work. Everyone has pre-suppositions. So, it is dangerous to trust the work of a scholar on the Old Testament who pre-supposes that the Bible is false. His pre-supposition will color his understanding and his writing on the subject. Then we have other logically absurd ideas like the Israelites crossing the red sea in two inches of water or Jesus walking on ice.

Today I heard an intersting quote: "Some people make complex things simple and others make simple things complex... the latter is scholarship." Thats all folks.

The root of the tree

The value of the root of the tree. August 17^th, 2006

As a the great and beautiful tree stands tall in the forest showing its beauty to all the trees around. So big and majestic are its branches that no one would expect what would come of the tree next. One normal day, a mild storm came, just like any other spring day and this majestic tree crashed to the ground. A closer look revealed the problem. The inside of this tree had been eaten away by bugs and slowly over time had rotted away.

How important is our communion and fellowship with God -- our time of getting to know Him, reading the word, asking for His guidance. When we neglect these things, we show that He is not the king of our lives, but rather our self is. We do all the external things of piety such as praying and worshiping, we have friends and we seem like a good Godly person but something is wrong. We have an external religion that merely is for show, we want others to know us as a good person, or perhaps like many, we truly desire to be sincere but we just simply don’t have time. My dear friends, knowing the Lord and doing things for eternity is the only thing that will count in the end. Yeah, I know, the tests are there, the studying, all the burdens that we have to do to get the grade. Yes these things are good, but they cannot take priority in our lives. At the end of our life, will it matter if we got good marks in our B.D. or Mdiv, or will the time we spent knowing the Lord be more important. On that day will the Lord say, come you did well my good and faithful servant, or will He say, “Depart from me I never knew you”?

The apostle Paul says in 2^nd Timothy 1:12 that, “I know in whom I have believed”. Do you know Him? I’m not talking can you tell me from beginning to end the theological features about Jesus or His life, but I mean each day, do you talk to Him, do you listen?

Just some thoughts that have been going through my head and I have been reminding myself. I hope they are helpful to you as well. This has not been edited so I hope you can get the jist of the idea without stumbling over too many mistakes.

All I once held dear built my life upon
All this world reveres, and wars to own
All I once thought gain I have counted loss
Spent and worthless now, compared to this

Chorus:
Knowing you, Jesus knowing you
There is no greater thing
You're my all you're the best
You're my joy, my righteousness
And I love you ,lord

Now my heart's desire is to know you more
To be found in you, and known as yours
To possess by faith what I could not earn
All surpassing gift of righteousness


Oh to know the power of your risen life
And to know you in your suffering
To become like you in your death my Lord
So with You to live
And never die

(taken from: "http://www.kennycarter.net/Lyrics/knowing_you.html" -- Accessed on 8/12/06)

Good morning

Hi, how is everyone?

Good I hope.. wow its been almost a month since I made a post.. hehe guess its cause I've been staying busy enough. Here is a new song I learned, its sung to the tune, "Peace Like a River".

I've got assignments like a mountain..
I've got assignments like a mountain..
I've got assignments like a mountain on my shelf..

I've got rice like a mountain..
I've got rice like a mountain.. on my plate..

Well thats it, hope you ejoyed it.. until we meet again.

The title of the blog...

You may be wondering how I came up with the name of this page.. well sit back relax and I'll tell you the story.. It all began in a land that is currently in its monsoon season. A few days back, I (thats me) was happily munching on some chapattii when I noticed that it was getting dark.. almost before I could swollow my next bite, it began to rain.. I finsihed my food and quickly washed my dish... then I stood under the awning and looked out at the rain wondering if I should go or not. You see the dilemma was that I didn't bring my umbrella and this posed a problem because its rumored the rain makes you sick here.. I've been soked before and still remianed healthy, but no need to test the rumor when you have things to do and blogs to post... Ahem! wake up,I'm telling a story and... the boring part is almost over.. I was happliy standing there in awe of the immense dark cloud quickly approaching when I was rudely awakened from my daze by someone yelling, come on brother this is nothing.. Before I could think I had my plate over my head and was running full throttle towards cover.. :) You may think I looked pretty funny with my plate over my head like that, but if you hadn't come along, you would have been waiting there for some time. About two minutes after I reached cover it began to rain like no tomorrow. I'm telling you (yep thats me again) it was coming down in sheets. Not the colorful kind that sit on your bed and drip dye when washed, but the other kind, the wall like kind that approaches aminously and makes any native of the land run like mad.. thats the kind of sheet I'm talking about.

Yep, thats it, thats the end of the story and gives you a background to what it means to surf raindrops. :D

Da first post

Hello,

Thanks for visiting my newly created and up and coming blog.. Who knows how often I will post, or what nuggets of useful or not so useful information you will find here.. so stick around and see what happens. :) I think I will conclude right now since I have some things to do and no one knows the address to this blog yet.. So cherrio

-TKN