Sin Miedo - Konstantin Balmont

If you are a bard, and want to be the winning
And forever crowned by all men with fame,
Pierce their heart with fancies, wonderful and singing,
Cast all your ideas on the passion’s flame.

Had you seen the dagger of the old Toledo?
You wouldn’t see the better, searching the world vast.
On embroidered steel is written ‘Sin miedo’, –
Just be always fearless, master like a cast. 

While molding the white-hot steel of deadly edges, 
They embed in blackness ornaments of gold,
And the living beauty shines through set of ages, –
Beauty of two metals merged at times of old. 

To make your dreams always dazzling with first fire
And your soul – timeless like majestic gods, –
Throw the golden flares into your tunes’ iron, 
Pour the frozen fire into ringing words.


Translated by Yevgeny Bonver, August, 2003

God in music

Vladimir Horowitz playing Schumann's Traumerei in Moscow 1986

Every time I hear this piece by Horowitz, I'm moved to tears. It reminds me of everything that is beautiful and eternal.

Who we are in God

But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light. Once you were not a people, but now you are the people of God; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.

- 1 Peter 2:9-10 (ESV)

A Christian's goal

But whatever gain I had, I counted as loss for the sake of Christ. Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith— that I may know him and the power of his resurrection, and may share his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, that by any means possible I may attain the resurrection from the dead.

Not that I have already obtained this or am already perfect, but I press on to make it my own, because Christ Jesus has made me his own. Brothers, I do not consider that I have made it my own. But one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.

- Philippians 3:7-14 (ESV version)

The Light in you

"No one after lighting a lamp puts it in a cellar or under a basket, but on a stand, so that those who enter may see the light. Your eye is the lamp of your body. When your eye is healthy, your whole body is full of light, but when it is bad, your body is full of darkness. Therefore be careful lest the light in you be darkness. If then your whole body is full of light, having no part dark, it will be wholly bright, as when a lamp with its rays gives you light."
- Luke 11:33-36 (ESV version)

The food you put in your stomach

If you decide for God, living a life of God-worship, it follows that you don't fuss about what's on the table at mealtimes or whether the clothes in your closet are in fashion. There is far more to your life than the food you put in your stomach, more to your outer appearance than the clothes you hang on your body. Look at the birds, free and unfettered, not tied down to a job description, careless in the care of God. And you count far more to him than birds.

- Matthew 6:25-26 (The Message version)

Take me in - Petra

Take me in - Petra

Take me past the outer courts
into the Holy place
past the brazen altar
Lord I want to see Your face

Pass me by the crowds of people
the priests who sing Your praise
I hunger and thirst for Your righteousness
and it's only found one place

Take me in to the Holy of Holies
Take me in by the blood of the Lamb
Take me in to the Holy of Holies
Take the coal, cleanse my lips, here I am
Take the coal, cleanse my lips, here I am

Making an impact where God has placed you

"You're to be like a pastor wherever God has placed you, doing His work for His glory and ministering to people." This is what my senior pastor regularly drums into us during his sermons. His other refrain is "We serve you so that you can serve out there in the marketplace."

His first comment left a very deep impression on me and has influenced me very heavily in how I seek to serve and honour God in my workplace.

First things first, I'm paid to work so excellence in work comes first. To be so distracted by doing God's work that my work quality suffers is to give a bad testimony of God. This is a first principle for me.

Second, I ask God to bring people to me whom I can help because I feel that that is a more sensitive way of ministering in the workplace, without attracting undue attention.

God has been faithful in providing me with opportunities to share my faith with or lend a listening ear to my colleagues, mainly through one-on-one lunches with them.

He has also literally opened a prayer door for me in the workplace. There is a meeting room which I feel God has sanctified for prayer. I've prayed for a few people in that room. A colleague told me that that room is not very well-used as a meeting room because it has no windows. I just thank God that He has made this room available for a much higher calling and purpose.

I will wait on the Lord for His timing in starting a prayer and worship group that will hold regular lunch-time sessions there.

Last, I've just finished reading Warren Wiersbe's On Being a Servant of God. I feel that this excerpt is a timely reminder for me, even as I seek to win lost souls and to minister to colleagues.

He wrote:
"Those of us who minister must put others ahead of ourselves, but we must put the Lord ahead of others... Of the three persons involved in ministry - the Lord, the minister and the person ministered to - the Lord must come first." (references - Exodus 28:1, 3, 4 and 41).

The ministry order is Christ first, others second, ourselves last.

When we focus on serving the Lord,

- we will be motivated to do our work and not look for excuses

- we will want to do our best

- the burden is light. Christ loves us, He knows all about us, He made us, He knows the future, and He gives me the power I need to serve him acceptably and fruitfully. When we fail, He forgives and helps us to start again. He never leaves us or forsakes us, and He rewards me graciously, though I don't deserve it.

- we stop watching other Christians and passing judgment on what they do or what God does with them.

Ministry isn't easy, but we make it more difficult for ourselves if we serve people instead of the Lord Jesus Christ. We can't please everybody, so don't even try. Just live and work in such a way that our Master will be able to say, "You are my beloved servant in whom I am well pleased."

The Story of Doug Nichols

I'll close with this wonderful story of how Doug Nichols, the International Director of Action International Ministries, made the excellencies of God known in a tuberculosis sanitarium in India in 1967—he was a missionary with Operation Mobilization and got TB. He was in the sanitarium for several months. He tried to give tracts and copies of the gospel of John away, but no one would take them. They didn't like him and assumed he was a rich American.

At one point for several nights he would wake up coughing at 2 AM. He noticed a little old emaciated man trying to get out of bed. The man couldn't stand up, and began to whimper. He lay back into bed. In the morning the stench in the ward was terrible and everyone was angry at the old man for not containing himself. The nurse who cleaned up even smacked the old man for making such a mess.

The next night the very same thing happened. Doug woke up coughing with his own terrible sickness and weakness. He saw the old man try again to get out of bed. Again he couldn't stand, and began to cry softly. Doug got out of bed went over to the old man. The man cowered with fear. But Doug picked him up with both arms and carried him to the bathroom which was just a hole in the floor, and then brought him back. The man kissed him on the cheek as he put him down in bed.

At 4 AM another patient woke Doug with a steaming cup of tea and made motions that said he wanted a copy of the booklet—the gospel of John. Through that whole day people kept coming to him and asking for his booklets even though he could not speak their language.

In other words one way to declare the excellencies of God is to act them out. When we act out the excellencies of God, people will hear them with even greater eagerness. Which is just another way of saying that our identity—who we are—is for the sake of God. God made us who we are to show the world who he is.

Source: John Piper's Desiring God website

Time enough

Today was a good day for me. I reached my office area around 8am, an hour earlier than my official starting time for work. I decided to have some fish porridge at Han's and spend 45 minutes reading the Warren Wiersbe book before walking to my office. It was time well-spent and time enough for me to read through a few chapters and jot down some thoughts. It also put me in the right frame of mind and spirit for work. I may introduce this as part of my daily routine.

Our place in life

"Dear friends, I am the little servant of an illustrious Master."
- J.Hudson Taylor

"Your abilities and interests are an important part of the will of God for your life... Be yourself - your best self - and God will use you in a special way."

"It's not how much we have to start with that really counts but what we have to show for it at the end."
- Warren Wiersbe

A manufacturer or distributer?

I'm always in two minds whenever I read solid Christian writing.

One part of me rejoices that I've come across such gems. The other part of me groans inwardly at the amount of time I would then take to read the books because I tend to reflect on what is written, check the biblical references and then think about how all that I've read could relate to or apply to my life.

I'm still reading Warren Wiersbe's On Being a Servant of God and stopping at every page because his writing contains so much of God's wisdom. I could write 140 posts because his book is 140 pages long.

Wiersbe notes that oftentimes, Christians think that God called us to be manufacturers when actually God called us to be distributors. He makes references to Christ's feeding of the five thousand. The multiplication of the five loaves and two fish took place in His hands, while the distribution of the blessing was the work of the disciples' hands. So one of the first steps we need to take before we can be of service to God is to confess our bankruptcy and receive by faith the grace that we need for acceptable service.

He says: "Just as we were saved by grace, through faith, so we must work by grace, through faith, as we seek to minister. Only then can God work in and through us for His glory."

This spoke to me because sometimes, I tend to be like the manufacturer - trying to resolve issues and minister to other people out of my own abilities, out of my own strength, out of my own wisdom and out of my own spirit. In situations, I always have the tendency to try the "me first" approach rather than submit to God and say "you first, Lord".

This is especially true whenever I lend a listening ear to others. I would go into the "fix it" mode and think about how to resolve the problem, rather than look to the grace of God and say humbly that "God, I know You can help him or her far more completely than I can ever hope to do so with my own resources, so please take charge of this situation and guide me."

So Wiersbe's words serve as a reminder to me that without God, I can do nothing; but with God, I can do anything.

Words follow me

My cluttered room got to me and so a few days ago, I started to clear it. As of now, I've given away at least 100 books to the Salvation Army but the process was not easy for me. I told one of my colleagues that the giving away of books was extremely painful for me and I felt as if a part of my skin was being torn off for every book that I chose to part with.

Yesterday, however, a consoling thought floated into my mind. Even if I gave away a book, it will always be a part of my life because I have read it. The book has become part of me because of its impact on my thoughts, my feelings and the rest of me. It's gone but never ever gone from me.

Life - Charlotte Bronte

LIFE, believe, is not a dream
So dark as sages say;
Oft a little morning rain
Foretells a pleasant day.
Sometimes there are clouds of gloom,
But these are transient all;
If the shower
will make the roses bloom,
O why lament its fall ?

Rapidly, merrily,
Life's sunny hours flit by,
Gratefully, cheerily,
Enjoy them as they fly !

What though Death at times steps in
And calls our Best away ?
What though sorrow seems to win,
O'er hope, a heavy sway ?
Yet hope again elastic springs,
Unconquered, though she fell;
Still buoyant are her golden wings,
Still strong to bear us well.
Manfully, fearlessly,
The day of trial bear,
For gloriously, victoriously,
Can courage quell despair !

A deep breath