Thoughts on a string...

Prime Minister Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi launching the country's first hybrid car that runs on petrol and hydrogen in Johor Baru yesterday. With him are, from right, the technology patent holder Dr Halim Ali, Mentri Besar Datuk Abdul Ghani Othman and Johor Baru MP Datuk Shahrir Samad, seen fixing the Jalur Gemilang onto the LMG Trekker.

(From The Star, 16 August 2006)

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Here's an interesting poem from that master of poetic wit and humour, Ogden Nash. Poetry Speaks Calendar, 21 August.

The Purist
By Ogden Nash

I give you now Professor Twist,
A conscientious scientist.
Trustees exclaimed, "He never bungles!"
And sent him off to distant jungles.
Camped on a tropic riverside,
One day he missed his loving bride.
She had, the guide informed him later,
Been eaten by an alligator.
Professor Twist could not but smile.
"You mean," he said, "a crocodile."

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It occurred to me at church on Sunday, that the band Jars of Clay really do write and title songs that reflect the verse after which they are named:

But we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us.

--2 Corinthians 4:7 (NIV)

Songs like, 'Waiting for the World to Fall', 'Worlds Apart', 'Frail', 'Much Afraid', and 'Faith Enough'.

Hwei Ling, who is flying off (as usual!) today, says their songs don't really arrest at first, but tend to grow on her. I think she's right. Thing about Jars of Clay is, the words are so powerful, that often, in my hours of darkness, I will sing (and sometimes even pray out) their songs.

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I discovered a video documentary of U2's bestselling and Grammy-winning album The Joshua Tree in MPH 1 Utama on Sunday.

In it, Bono says, "We were a band before we knew how to play our instruments."

Maybe that's what keeps them going so strong; they were a band to begin with. A band of brothers.

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After walking George, and before taking a shower just now, a thought came to me: some of God's 'finest' were denied what they desired most.

Moses led the Israelites in the desert for 40 years, after what was probably the most spectacular deliverance in history, but was denied entry into the Promised Land.

Job suffered everything except his own death, but God chose to answer his questions and cries with even more questions.

David was described as a 'man after God's own heart', but he wasn't allowed to build the Temple of God.

John the Baptist was the Messiah's forerunner, the prophet who prepared the way for Jesus Christ. But he spent his last days in King Herod's jail, and was finally beheaded to please Herod's niece. He never got to see what the Messiah would do.

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Yesterday, as I was looking through virtually all the photos I'd taken in school since last year, thoughts flooded my mind as I looked at my friends, so different then; a year can do so much to people.

It's like, in a photo, you were there once... but not again. The past is lost in tears shed in the present.

Li-Shia has this quote on her MSN nickname: "The best thing about a picture is that it never changes, even when the people in it do."

I don't know if that's really the best thing about a picture. Sometimes, it strikes me as more of a sad thing, because I can't help feeling gripped by the passage of time, wallowing in sentimentality when I gaze upon these fossils, as it were.

When I first started taking photos, I never realised they could have such a powerful effect. Now, it is too late to turn back.

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I think my favourite song on the Music Inspired by the Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe soundtrack, is Rebecca St James's 'Lion'. 'Stronger' by Delirious and Steven Curtis Chapman's 'Remembering You' are also excellent pieces.


Lion

(Written by Rebecca St James, Kerry Barlowe, Jamie Moore and Shaun Shankel)

Mysterious
That's what I call You
I'm curious about You
I'm scared and I'm not sure that You are safe
But your eyes seem to say that You are good

Chorus:
This is not a dream that I'm living
This is just a world of Your own
You took me from all that I knew
Shown me how it feels to hope
With You with me, facing tomorrow together
I can learn to fly
Feels like I'm living in the lion's mouth
But the lion is (an angel)

Wise eyes, You see the core of me
Your gentleness melts me
And now I know that words cannot describe
The power that I feel when I'm with You

Chorus

Bridge:
Peace and power, love forever
Who am I to stand before You?
I am speechless
But in my weakness
You are here and all is well


But the bridge of Steven Curtis Chapman's 'Remembering You' is probably one of the most impressive sequences in the entire album. Even its lyrics sound monumental;

The dark night, the hard fight
The long climb up the hill knowing the cost
The brave death, the last breath
The silence whispering all hope was lost
The thunder, the wonder
A power that brings the dead back to life

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Read two chapters of Maths (Probability and Discrete Probability Distributions) today. It's been a productive start to the week, especially after yesterday's success. Basically, that's why I'm blogging now, simply because I've finished half of the work I set out to do this holiday week.

Thomas Hardy, here I come!

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When there are just too many coincidences, can it be considered a conspiracy?