Others
Wednesday, December 06, 2006
Okay, so now I can hereby declare that I have lost quite a number of friends, to these great thing called HOLIDAYS OVERSEAS.
However, I won't get bored or anything like that. Emptiness, maybe to a certain extent. When you are a Christian you will realise that November and December, this period of time, is the most exciting in the whole year.
Many things, 24 is tomorrow. 3 days of VBS next week. Oh yah, we are going to watch Brave Heart by Mel Gibson. You see, a Christian's life is never boring, especially when you're in a great church and have great pastors. And most importantly, we have a great God.
I'm going to bring an atmosphere, the Presence of God into my blog now. A blog is a place where you can just write whatever you want, the happenings in your life, your thoughts. I'm going to do that right now.
Many of the VBS students got this book by Pastor Joakim Lundqvist, titled "For A New Generation". There's this true story inside that I feel that I should share it out. So it's gonna be lots of words.
It's worth it to read it so here we go. [Caution: This part is only for people who read books, if you're not a reader, you won't last]
However, I won't get bored or anything like that. Emptiness, maybe to a certain extent. When you are a Christian you will realise that November and December, this period of time, is the most exciting in the whole year.
Many things, 24 is tomorrow. 3 days of VBS next week. Oh yah, we are going to watch Brave Heart by Mel Gibson. You see, a Christian's life is never boring, especially when you're in a great church and have great pastors. And most importantly, we have a great God.
I'm going to bring an atmosphere, the Presence of God into my blog now. A blog is a place where you can just write whatever you want, the happenings in your life, your thoughts. I'm going to do that right now.
Many of the VBS students got this book by Pastor Joakim Lundqvist, titled "For A New Generation". There's this true story inside that I feel that I should share it out. So it's gonna be lots of words.
It's worth it to read it so here we go. [Caution: This part is only for people who read books, if you're not a reader, you won't last]
Others
29th May 1914
29th May 1914
The ship Empress of Ireland had just left the harbour in Quebec, Canada, on it's way to Liverpool. Less than two years after the Titanic's voyage over the Atlantic ended in tragedy, most of the passengers had surely thought about this terrible event as they moved out of the habour on their own journey. However, the thought that the same thing could happen again - that another ship's journey would end in hundreds of lives coming to an end - seemed totally unbelievable.
It was totally unbelievable, but that's exactly what was about to happen - with a few important differences. Even more people were going to lose their lives this time. The Empress would sink in just a fraction of the time it took for Titanic to sink beneath the ocean's surface. People would for some reason almost forget - or at least brush aside - this event. And lastly this event would contain a hidden story of heroism that would show self-sacrifice and the drastic consequences of love.
Just as the Titanic had met her fate on an ice-cold night the Empress also met with hers. The passengers hadn't even been on board for twelve hours when the vessel collided with the Norwegian transport ship Storstad in thick fog at the mouth of the St. Lawrence river. The actual collision felt quite mild - survivors later said that they didn't even notice anything had happened until the sirens started to sound - but the damage was devastating. The Empress was rapidly letting in water through a huge hole over thirty square meters in size, and sank in just fourteen minutes. Few people even had the chance to react before it was too late, and when the tragic event was over, 1027 of 1477 passengers had lost their lives.
Amongst the passengers on the Empress there was a group of people who were different. A young group from Canada's Salvation Army who, under the leadership of thirty-five year old Edward James Hanagan, were on their way over to England to take part in a large Christian conference.
When the survivor's testimonies were compiled, many remarkable report came forth all referring to the same group of people. Several people told stories about how they'd made it out of their cabins but had not been able to get hold of their life vest. They'd ended up in the ice cold water and realised that they'd probably end their lives there - it was only a question of minutes before they'd sink beneath the surface and meet the same fate as so many others on this terrible night.
Then someone came swimming towards them! A young person who'd fought their way through the ice-cold water, and as soon as they'd come within range, they'd taken off their life-vest and thrown in to their fellow passengers.
One of the most heart-wrenching stories came from a grown man who'd ended up in the water and realised that his life would be coming to an end in a matter of minutes, when suddenly a young girl came swimming towards him. After having won her struggle against the tides and waves she succeeded in coming close enough to throw her own life-vest - her only chance of survival - to him.
Despite the fact that the man wanted to survive, he felt that it wasn't right for him to keep the vest. She was younger. She was just a girl. So he threw the life-jacket back to her and encouraged her to save her own life instead. This made the girl furious! She threw the vest back to him with a short words that he would never forget.
" Take it! I will die better than you!"
I'm going to stop here. And let me just explain the last sentence. The whole story's just amazing. A youth, giving her life for an adult at least 10 years older than her.
This bring me back to a verse in the bible.
John 15:13
Great love has no one than this, than to lay down one's life for his friends.
I mean, that girl who sacrificed her life, she didn't even know the man personally. Yet, she could give up her life for a stranger, who had no blood relations to her, that he may have a chance to survive and live on.
We put others above ourselves.
That's what Christianity is all about. It's all about loving God, loving people, loving life.
Sometimes when you love someone, you know it in your heart. You just know, you know you know. I love God and I'm not afraid to proclaim my love for Him here, on this blog. Sometimes it takes a lot of courage to confess your love, I do it everyday. I confess my love for God everyday.
Chi Wen told me something today, "I've realised that you've become more cheerful than before."
I replied, "Really?".
However, in my heart I know, I know that it's God. What Pastor How said was totally true. When you have a first-hand revelation, it will become a conviction in your life. I have the joy of the Lord in me. There will not be a time where I will sorrow, for the joy of the Lord is my strength. Os are next year, rough year I can tell.
Some people will struggle, and I will struggle too.
However, I'm different.
I have God by my side.
Just as the Titanic had met her fate on an ice-cold night the Empress also met with hers. The passengers hadn't even been on board for twelve hours when the vessel collided with the Norwegian transport ship Storstad in thick fog at the mouth of the St. Lawrence river. The actual collision felt quite mild - survivors later said that they didn't even notice anything had happened until the sirens started to sound - but the damage was devastating. The Empress was rapidly letting in water through a huge hole over thirty square meters in size, and sank in just fourteen minutes. Few people even had the chance to react before it was too late, and when the tragic event was over, 1027 of 1477 passengers had lost their lives.
Amongst the passengers on the Empress there was a group of people who were different. A young group from Canada's Salvation Army who, under the leadership of thirty-five year old Edward James Hanagan, were on their way over to England to take part in a large Christian conference.
When the survivor's testimonies were compiled, many remarkable report came forth all referring to the same group of people. Several people told stories about how they'd made it out of their cabins but had not been able to get hold of their life vest. They'd ended up in the ice cold water and realised that they'd probably end their lives there - it was only a question of minutes before they'd sink beneath the surface and meet the same fate as so many others on this terrible night.
Then someone came swimming towards them! A young person who'd fought their way through the ice-cold water, and as soon as they'd come within range, they'd taken off their life-vest and thrown in to their fellow passengers.
One of the most heart-wrenching stories came from a grown man who'd ended up in the water and realised that his life would be coming to an end in a matter of minutes, when suddenly a young girl came swimming towards him. After having won her struggle against the tides and waves she succeeded in coming close enough to throw her own life-vest - her only chance of survival - to him.
Despite the fact that the man wanted to survive, he felt that it wasn't right for him to keep the vest. She was younger. She was just a girl. So he threw the life-jacket back to her and encouraged her to save her own life instead. This made the girl furious! She threw the vest back to him with a short words that he would never forget.
" Take it! I will die better than you!"
I'm going to stop here. And let me just explain the last sentence. The whole story's just amazing. A youth, giving her life for an adult at least 10 years older than her.
This bring me back to a verse in the bible.
John 15:13
Great love has no one than this, than to lay down one's life for his friends.
I mean, that girl who sacrificed her life, she didn't even know the man personally. Yet, she could give up her life for a stranger, who had no blood relations to her, that he may have a chance to survive and live on.
We put others above ourselves.
That's what Christianity is all about. It's all about loving God, loving people, loving life.
Sometimes when you love someone, you know it in your heart. You just know, you know you know. I love God and I'm not afraid to proclaim my love for Him here, on this blog. Sometimes it takes a lot of courage to confess your love, I do it everyday. I confess my love for God everyday.
Chi Wen told me something today, "I've realised that you've become more cheerful than before."
I replied, "Really?".
However, in my heart I know, I know that it's God. What Pastor How said was totally true. When you have a first-hand revelation, it will become a conviction in your life. I have the joy of the Lord in me. There will not be a time where I will sorrow, for the joy of the Lord is my strength. Os are next year, rough year I can tell.
Some people will struggle, and I will struggle too.
However, I'm different.
I have God by my side.
posted by Rod @ 10:43 PM,
