Much A-BOOK About EVERYthing

30th October 2006, Singapore - What do you do with the Word? And if you haven't heard, the Word is how Christians refer to the Bible. A book that isn't quite like any other book 'cos this historical record is a finely-woven piece of literature (poetry & song!) that also entails geographical layouts, architectural nitty-gritty, war strategies, climatic disasters and a shudder-inducing charting of what's to come. Just a book? Nah!

When it's said to be God-breathed (2 Tim 3:16), you can count on it being inspired directly by God Himself and no other. Yet it can remain simply a book, just like the many on your coffee table or on the library shelves. What makes it come alive is when it takes root in our hearts, not just our minds. It's odd how some people literally swallow the words but burning pages of books and drinking their ash. That isn't it, but surely ash can't be too tasty not a comfort food.

Comfort comes from knowing God's Word at our finger tips. Reciting them off the cuff, having them on the tip of our tongues and being readily armed to share it. It was a recital of verses for our Sunday School senior department yesterday as the church commemorated Reformation Sunday - the day Martin Luther pinned the 95 theses up, protesting the teachings and beliefs of the Roman Catholic church.

To stand our ground, we need to have and hide God's Word in our hearts. To keep those verses in the book isn't of any good. What good is a dispensary that disptaches medicine when the patient who brings them home doesn't apply it or consume it? That Sunday morning recital has reminded me of where God's Word should really be --- out of the book, in my heart and on my lips!

Using the Present

14th October 2006, Singapore - And so it goes...Time and tide waits for no man. It feels like a trillion years between now and when I last signed into Blogger. Time like the wind just passes us by. I was on the issue on Time Management on air yesterday and I suppose it was reflective on an inner desire within me to apportion my time better, not just so I can blog more frequently (a penchant of wordsmiths; though I hope you appreciate shorter time lapses between each entry where I record my thoughts). But more so, that I will never have to belt that oft' heard excuse, "Sorry, I don't have the time". Be it time to catch up for tea (the long-lost), time to offer help (the needy), time to clear up my room (the mother), time to serve Abba Father (thru ministry).

I confess to having a get-up-and-go spirit, restless and having to do something all the time, but ironically, that doesn't make me immune to idling and flushing away precious hours, minutes and seconds. The tricky bit is how one differentiates between idling and resting.

I've only just come up with my thoughts on TIME, stripping away each letter and voila! A home-made prayer along the lines of a rhyme:

The vault once opened, never to be closed, fleeting and flying, making hay or holes
Innocuate me Lord, less idleness and wanton waste
Make me the poorer of the 'present' that's prone to pass in haste,
Ever to give to others and self more value of 24-hour days.