the housesitting hours

i'm more than halfway through my current housesitting stint. am enjoying

1. the solitude
   not that it's hugely different to when i'm at home, but it's still not quite the same when you have a whole house to yourself :) don't know that i'd want this as the norm for a life, but in short doses it's good. i do somewhat regret not being able to share/make use of some of this time with friends... a few years ago when i housesat another place i took advantage of the opportunity to host a casual dinner party for some friends, and that was a really good evening and time well spent. but i've not been able to replicate that effort the last few stints - is it just bad timing, or the all-pervasive clout of busyness? oh for some spontaneity...
   
   
2. foxtel
   i've never really desired subscription tv for myself, but i tend to be interested to see what's on whenver i come across it in other people's homes. this time it took me all of about 5 minutes to come to the conclusion that there's really nothing good on. the main reason i may consider subscription tv is for the movies, but they're not part of the package at this place, so i'm limiting myself to viewing
   
   
• NBA on ESPN
  it's conference semi-finals time. the games don't seem to be quite as exciting as i remember them to be (but it's been many a moon since i last watched NBA, and i'm sure those memories are hazy at best :p), but this is a one off thing so a peek or two will satisfy me.
  
  
• Whose Line Is It Anyway (US version) on the comedy channel
  speaking of spontaneity, these guys are masters of the game where as they say, everything's made up! some of the material can get a bit beyond PG, but in general i'm just amazed at the creativity and quick-witted improv by these performers, especially when it comes to the singing segments. some good and genuine belly laughs to be had here, and it's a rare treat so i'm lapping this baby up while i have the chance :)
  
  
3. haruki murakami
   i'm actually listening to the haunting sounds of the background music from the site as i blog away. no idea what tune it is, but it's kinda groovy :) i first came across the name of this japanese author on another blog, but didn't read much into that particularly entry cos it seemed too literarily intense. i did venture into a short story of his a month or so back - one which i found rather strange. then, upon glancing over some of the books in this house, i saw the name again, and so without really knowing much about the author or the book, i decided to set myself the task of finishing norwegian wood before this stint is over. i'm behind on my schedule. come to think of it, the last few times i housesat i've picked up books to read which i probably would otherwise not start on, either because it's something i would never look for, or it would be something i know about but have been too lazy to pursue, even if it means trying to borrow a free copy from the local city council library. when it's right in front of you though, i guess it's a slightly different proposition! (there's also a copy of amy tan's "the bonesetter's daughter" which i had hoped to read too, but that was probably too ambitious an aim... might have to borrow that one... or wait for their next holiday, hehe)
   

well, enough of this. one thing i've not been able to enjoy is getting any more sleep than i usually do. *yawns*... here's to trying to not make the problem worse :)

swings and roundabouts - part 2

all this to-ing and fro-ing had some parallels in a recent series of decisions i had to make. my mobile phone of 5+ years had been out of contract for a long time, and i had never gotten around to getting an upgrade of the phone and/or plan. i guess a big reason was that most of the plans available these days do not represent as much value for my usage patterns as the plan i was already on. however, since my contract was finished, i no longer had a phone to pay off, yet was still spending the same minimum monthly amount - that didn't quite make sense either.

and so, over the course of the last few weeks, i started doing some serious research into the current mobile market. i checked various service providers and resellers, and investigated their plans and avaialable phones. because there was no standout winner, i ummed and ahhed over a shortlist, and was almost excited to have discovered a solution which which i was sure would save me money. that was until i read the fine print on the terms and conditions of one of the plans that was part of my scheme, and that put a serious spanner in what i was proposing to do. my little scheme turned out to be too good to be true, and i was back to the drawing board.

on the spur of the moment, i decided to visit one more shop, and there i found new options to consider - a normally more expensive phone (and thus one which i had ruled out of consideration) available for free on a plan i could consider. and i found out that i could actually apply for a business plan (thanks to the ABN i got a few years ago but have never used), which meant cheaper rates! but i would lose access to yes time and yes weekend, which i've been holding onto these last few years. oh well, i was prepared for that from the beginning anyway.

after a bit more research, i decided that this represented the best deal, even though i wasn't sure whether i liked the phone all that much. and so i went in last week to sign the paperwork and get my new phone - a phone that was new enough and uncommon enough that would, as a FOM noted, draw comments a plenty every time i pull it out of my pocket. however, after about one night's playing with the phone, i concluded that i didn't like it enough to keep and use it. so i looked at selling it and using the money to buy the phone i was hoping to get in the first place... albeit one that was rather common among people i knew.

thinking through that decision a little more led to consider simpler phones... i don't really need an integrated camera (i have a dedicated and amply capable digital camera for this purpose), an mp3 player (haven't needed one so far, and can play mp3s on my PDA if i really wanted to), or radio and polyphonic ringtones etc. i just need a phone that can make and take calls. and i was surprised to find that there are actually some models out there that are just phones, and without all these additional bits and pieces. and they were cheap too, so i could have a fair bit left over in my pocket at the end of the day.

so then i started thinking what i could do with this excess, and remembered a request i had received earlier in the year for some financial support. i hadn't responded/committed to anything, but figured this "profit" may as well go towards meeting that need. then i realised that i don't really need a colour screen, and i already have a phone that just makes and takes calls, and it's still working ok (having survived being dropped in a bucket of water, and several falls onto concrete/cement surfaces)...

anyways. i've sold the new phone, and will use the proceeds as a medium of blessing. and i'll keep using my hardy nokia 6210... it took a while for the dazzle of technology and prestige to wear off on this self-confessed geek, but i'm glad that in the end i've been able to apply some of what i've been learning in "redefining success" (book by omar djoeandy, which my cell group has just finished reading) and the "cash values" bible study book. and i hope that my sharing about this does not come across as a 'sounding of the trumpets'... feel free to rebuke me if it is?

the funny thing about martyrdom

(not funny as in haha funny, obviously.)

i recently re-read "through gates of splendour" - a book by elisabeth elliot which tells the story of the 5 missionaries who met their death while attempting to bring the Gospel to the auca indians in ecuador in the mid 1950s.

last weekend i went and bought a copy of "the shadow of the almighty", which is the biography of jim elliot, one of those 5 men whose life was taken by the ones to whom he was trying to bring real life. in the preface, elisabeth (again the author) writes:

Jim's aim was to know God. His course, obedience - the only course that could lead to the fulfilment of his aim. His end was what some would call an extraordinary death, although in facing death he had quietly pointed out that many have died because of obedience to God.

He and the other men with whom he died were hailed as heroes, 'martyrs'. I do not approve. Nor would they have approved.

Is the distinction between living for Christ and dying for Him, after all, so great? Is not the second the logical conclusion of the first? Furthermore, to live for God is to die, 'daily', as the apostle Paul put it. It is to lose everything that we may gain Christ. It is in thus laying down our lives that we find them.

[....]

When Jim was 20 years old he prayed, 'Lord, make my way prosperous, not that I achieve high station, but that my life may be an exhibit to the value of knowing God.' His life was that to me, who shared it more intimately than any other. Was it extraordinary? I offer these pages so that the reader may decide for himself. If his answer is yes - if he finds herein the 'stamp of Christ', and decides that this is extraordinary - what shall we say of the state of Christendom?

i've emphasised the last sentence in the hope that others will avoid the mistake i almost made in reading it too quickly on the first pass, and thus be in danger of failing to grasp its wide and deep implications.

it's ironic then that the back cover of my copy of "gates" refers to these men as just that: martyrs. but let not the possible pedantry over definitions prove puncturous a perfectly powerful pedagogical point!

i (don't) deserve better

a while back a friend taught me about love via his courtship and engagement with his now wife. soon after they met, a long distance relationship began, and the engagement and wedding followed in relatively quick succession. some people were surprised and understandably cautious about the speed with which this relationship developed, especially given how little time and opportunity they had to spend together in the period of time leading up to the decision to get married. but the lesson he taught me through this was that a marriage is so much more about a commitment of the will than it is about any emotions/feelings of the heart. that is why in the marriage vows, it is not to the "i do" of hollywood movies that you respond, but to a covenantal "i will" that you pledge. this is no doubt a great defence against the concept of "falling (in and) out of love"... that the one for whom you once said "i do", you now say "i don't". to say "i do" requires a response befitting the moment; to say "i will" requires a promise involving the rest of your life.

on the topic of what can go wrong in marriages and how to keep it from happening... Ravi Zacharias has this to say:

First and foremost, do not even flirt with the idea that there may have been somebody better out there or someone else with whom you may connect better. Infidelities are not always physical. Emotional vagaries of the mind can be equally dangerous to the health of one's marriage. Mind games can bring bigger losses than imagined and should be stifled early. Receiving the partner as a gift from God, "warts and all," is a commitment with which one begins. The hard thing about this is that both of you need to deeply believe this. One person alone on the path of unconditional love can find it terribly exhausting.

A sincere soul-searching is the most important step when trouble looms large. Affairs often begin because one person finds someone else he or she relates to better and with whom he or she experiences more intimacy or warmth, without all the burdens of carrying a family. It may just be that many marriages break up after years of raising a family because the concerns that have been shared after half a lifetime of bearing one another's burdens are too big to carry any longer. But this is where we have to step back and realize what love and marriage are all about. Marriage brings together not just a man and his wife but their children and their struggles. To suddenly drop the partner who has carried that load with you along life's journey for all these years for someone with no strings or worries attached is cruel. Marriage is not a commercial enterprise in which you replace a car you have tired of with another one. The truth is that the new car will lose its appeal, too, to say nothing about yourself. Someone has said that a man owes his success to his first wife, and he owes his second wife to his success.

From its very inception, kill the thought that there is somebody better out there, with arms wide open, just waiting to bring you perfect happiness. Freedom from joint responsibilities and concerns is always idealized in the short term but is never realized. The greater the degree of immersion in another's life, the greater is the "pain" of living. That is just the way it is. The greater the involvement in another's life, the greater is the demand for sacrifice. We are not here to be coddled and made to feel better. There is no perfect person out there, and "better" can be a very misleading term.

-- from I, Isaac, Take Thee, Rebekah (ch 7 / p. 137-9)

starting at the beginning

it's funny what you can find when you go digging into your belongings... tonight i found two packs of gum that expired two years ago... :| they were sealed in blister packs, which is probably just as well! last thursday night i went through my (somewhat organised, in my own way :p) mess of room looking for a book, trying to remember where i placed it. it's called "I, Isaac, Take Thee, Rebekah" (subtitled "Moving from Romance to Lasting Love") and is written by Ravi Zacharias.

it was purchased over a year ago but i had never read it. there are many more books in my possession which have been in an unread state for much longer, but for some reason (not quite the same ones as those which prompted me to buy the book in the first place) i felt like it's time to read it. this post doesn't so much relate to the subject proper, rather it's to share an appreciation of a few paragraphs which made an impression. it reminded me that the starting point for anything is God; not starting with God makes a world of difference to how one's life is lived, and the topic of living as though there were no God is also covered by one of the latest boundless articles. anyways, onto the quote... and yet another excerpt :)

In those first few words [of Genesis], "In the beginning God..." lies the paradigm of how everything in this world of time and space began. God, in His power, brought it to be. I think it was Dr. Billy Graham who once said, "I have no problem believing that the whale swallowed Jonah. I would have even believed it if Jonah had swallowed the whale." If you will pardon the pun, that is not flippant gullibility. That is the defining truth that underlies whether the supernatural is part and parcel of our lives or just a pipe dream. A. W. Tozer said, "Give me Genesis 1:1, and the rest of the Bible poses no problems for me." Once you accept the reality of God as not merely an assumption but the undeniable foundation of our very lives, many other deductions for life follow.

The distinguished philosopher Mortimer Adler, who was co-editor of The Great Books of the Western World, was once asked a very obvious question. This compilation of books contains essays on every major subject addressed by Western thinkers over the centuries. The longest article is on God. When an interviewer asked Adler why this was so, he replied, "More consequences for life and action follow from the affirmation or denial of God than from answering any other basic question." Adler was absolutely right. The consequences of sacredness and profanity are worlds apart. If life is from God, then life is essentially sacred. If God is not necessary for life, then life is profane. The word profane means "outside the temple" -- that is, God has no jurisdiction over life or part in it. "In the beginning God..." must be the generating dictum of all our choices and commitments.

food for thought, don't you think?

throwing off that which hinders

more extractions...

In Hebrews 12, living the Christian life is likened to running a race:

Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith...

It is interesting to see that the writer does not say whether the [weights] to be thrown off are good or bad. They could have been very good things or activities that they were now being called upon to give up [...] the principle that is being explained in these verses is this: if at any time or in any circumstance the thing or activity gets in the way of growing like Christ, it is at that time or in that circumstance to be discarded.

When I travel overseas, I have never yet found a way to cut down on my luggage [...] I carry away and bring home clothes that I have never even put on. Generally, the overcoat I wear is stuffed with hankies and underwear to disguise the true weight of my carry-on luggage!

Our writer is saying something like this: "You cannot run in a race if you wear your overcoat and especially if the pockets are full. You might make it in a short dash, but the Christian life is a marathon."

He is calling on us to be rigorous in self-examination, and to understand that growing Christlike is so important that we should not let anything hinder it. It is possible to be hindered by some thing, which, even though it is not sinful within itself, nevertheless gets in the way of holiness. [....]

There is nothing wrong with spending a weekend at the snow. However, if it means leaving your Sunday School class without a teacher on Sunday, then you don't have to be a genius to know whether the good (going to the snow) has robbed you of the best (teaching your Sunday School class). Now it is possible to be sufficiently far-sighted to see that if you take on the task of teaching Sunday School you will never be able to have a weekend at the snow. To choose not to do Sunday School teaching for this reason is to stuff the overcoat with everything you own.

throwing off the sin which clings

(with reference to hebrews 12:1)

We must put sin behind us. By this, the writer [of Hebrews] means the sinful issues which dog our footsteps every moment. We may have recognized the sin for what it is, we may have confessed it and we may have asked for forgiveness, but the step of saying to ourselves, "This must come to an end. I renounce it", seems not to have happened. Our writer says to us, "Do it!" Now is the time to act.

He expects that we will be self-disciplined and ruthless towards sin. He is telling us to recognize it for what it is, and then to call on God to strengthen us so that we will rigorously fight against it and renounce it. Sin is to be seen for what it is, something that is totally incongruous with the Christian walk. It matters not at all how many times we may have failed in a particular matter in the past. There is a story told about someone who has been bugged by a persistent sin. He had give in to temptation yet again, and in his prayers he confessed his sin by saying, "Oh God, I've done it again", to which God replied, "Done what?"

God completely forgives us, and we should believe him and act accordingly.

an extract (from an extract) from "A Sinner's Guide to Holiness" by John Chapman

chinese cinderella

just finished reading chinese cinderella: the secret story of an unwanted daughter by adeline yen mah. picked it up from the coffee table while at a friend's place last night, and recalled seeing an earlier book by the same author which i had meant to get a hold of and read but never got around to doing. so i'm kind of starting out of order, but that doesn't really matter (and in any case this is in some sense the prequel to her first book falling leaves). there is a sense of accomplishment from finishing off a book - too often i start and don't finish. i was almost half way through by the time i left thier house, so i asked to borrow it and resolved to finish it today (strike while the iron's hot, so they say :p).

and wow... it is a touching and sad, but also inspiring and triumphant tale. read it for yourself - it really doesn't take that long. the friend who bought the book read it in one hour; i took a tad longer :p check out the website which also tells you more about the author and some of her other works.

takes me back a fair few years to a period in my life when i read a number of books of similar genre and heritage (amy tan's the joy luck club, the kitchen god's wife, and the hundred secret senses; jung chang's wild swans, and i'm certain there was at least one other whose title and author elude me). there's something about these stories - the characters, the culture, the history in which they are steeped - that somehow resonates with whatever little china there is in me. my ancestry is chinese, but i wasn't born in china nor have i ever been to see any part of china. still, there's *some* chinese in my blood and being... i think! ;)

now i'm motivated to track down some other adeline yen mah titles from my local library :)

just finished reading lost japan by alex kerr. a most fascinating and very insightful read, giving lots of filling-in-the-background info on various aspects of japan's society and culture. here's a review google found. wonder how much i'll be able to soak up while i'm there in person.