b-LESS-ed

One of the many things my mom and I have in common is our love to clean. It’s our form of therapy after a long day of work, or when we’re stressed. There’s nothing like plopping down on the couch after cleaning the house, and realizing how beautiful a clean home can be. There’s a saying that equates cleanliness to godliness, so… I guess my mom and I try pretty hard to be more godly. 

But our affinity for cleaning is also offset by our love for holding onto things, especially those that are dear to our heart because they remind us of a specific time in our lives. We’re professional pack rats, and though we’ve moved overseas and overmountains in the past 20 years, we still have boxes of baby photographs, awards for completing multiplication tables faster than everybody else, and mountains of cassette tapes of my sister and I dancing in our diapers.

Occasionally, my mom and I go on a cleaning rampage where we go Hard As a Mother-and-son on our house, purging it of anything that is unnecessary clutter. Cleaning paradoxically requires you to ensue chaos. Sometimes, you have to make a mess where there was none in order to really clean it inside and out. And in that chaos, we find that more than half the time, we lose track of time just reminiscing on how a particular item reminds us of good memories of joy and hardship (yes, those were good memories too), and end up keeping more than half the junk that we intended to throw out. 

There are times when it’s necessary to clean up the clutter in your life to weed out the bad and cherish the key gems in your life that make you, you. And I guess what I’m really trying to say is that I’m thankful I can share in this process with my mom. Love you mom :’) 

Sovereign grace

angelajslee:

I believe in the doctrine of election, because I am quite certain that, if God had not chosen me, I should never have chosen Him; and I am sure He chose me before I was born, or else He never would have chosen me afterwards; and He must have elected me for reasons unknown to me, for I never could find any reason in myself why He should have looked upon me with special love.

-C. Spurgeon

Every now and then I have dreams about close ones dying. Is it just me?

You are my strength when I am weak
You are the treasure that I seek
You are my all in all
Seeking you as a precious jewel
Lord, to give up I’d be a fool
You are my all in all 

With great power comes great responsibility

I wrote this a couple weeks ago.. but it seems more relevant now, in light of what’s happened to Jason Russell:

Why are there so many arguments based on how Invisible Children is using their resources and how other bloggers are basing their attacks on the KONY movement, when the most important aspect of the issue is the issue itself? Is it not most important that we have achieved awareness of the horrible things that are going on around the world, one of them being Joseph Kony and his crime regime? Shouldn’t we be addressing the issue and not the people who have brought the issue to the forefront?

Why is it surprising that people will attack the messenger and not the message? 

Doesn’t the Word of God warn us of the same thing?

In Romans 14:13-23, Paul writes:

Therefore let us not pass judgment on one another any longer, but rather decide never to put a stumbling block or hindrance in the way of a brother. I know and am persuaded in the Lord Jesus that nothing is unclean in itself, but it is unclean for anyone who thinks it unclean. For if your brother is grieved by what you eat, you are no longer walking in love. By what you eat, do not destroy the one for whom Christ died. So do not let what you regard as good be spoken of as evil. For the kingdom of God is not a matter of eating and drinking but of righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit. Whoever thus serves Christ is acceptable to God and approved by men. So then let us pursue what makes for peace and for mutual upbuilding.

Do not, for the sake of food, destroy the work of God. Everything is indeed clean, but it is wrong for anyone to make another stumble by what he eats. It is good not to eat meat or drink wine or do anything that causes your brother to stumble. The faith that you have, keep between yourself and God. Blessed is the one who has no reason to pass judgment on himself for what he approves. But whoever has doubts is condemned if he eats, because the eating is not from faith. For whatever does not proceed from faith is sin. 

We must be careful of our conduct and our speech that we do not stumble our fellow man. Because whether or not our message is good, true, and pure, the message cannot be separated from messenger. The Gospel cannot be separated from the person of Jesus, nor can the Good News be separated from the believer. The news cannot be separated from the one who reports it, and a critique cannot be separated from the critic. In the same way, all these things said about Invisible Children, Visible Children, and Whatever Children, cannot be separated from those who said them.

Yes, it is true that the things said can and will stand on their own. The Gospel is true, good, and able to save, no matter who delivers the message; and there really are people in Africa who are in need. But people will always be wary of how they hear the message, and the probability that they will receive that message heavily depends on how credible they believe their source to be.

Be passionate, be loud and firm if you must, but above all be accountable, trustworthy and faithful to the truth,  so that those who hear what you have to say will not reject your good message because of your inability to love.