On Mooncakes, Forgiveness and Waiting

I enjoyed these mooncakes from the Hotel Equatorial; top is something called Mid-Autumn Special (no idea what the green part is made of) and the one at the bottom is a Tiramisu.

They included this write-up in the mooncake gift packages:

The mooncake, a customary gift during the Mid-Autumn Festival, made its first appearance in Chinese history during the Yuan Dynasty.

For almost a century, the people of China had suffered dire times under oppressive Mongol rule. Until the mooncake came to the rescue.

In 1368, in an effort to overthrow the Mongols, the Chinese baked hundreds of little moon-shaped cakes during the Mid-Autumn festival. However they contained an altogether different filling from the leng yong or tau sar enjoyed today. Inside were messages that were secretly circulated among family and friends, inciting them to join an impending rebellion.

Dismissing the innocent looking mooncakes as part of the festivities, the Mongols were taken completely by surprise by a well-planned rebellion. And the infamous Mongol Yuan Dynasty came to a humiliating end.

Every Mid-Autumn festival since, mooncakes have been exchanged and enjoyed to mark the occasion.

So... it was a conspiracy.

Perhaps FES was already active in 14th-century China. ;-)

* * * * *

Over the last few days, the Every Day with Jesus readings have been focused on the idea of relationships, with special emphasis on the relationship between the three Persons of the Trinity; Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

I recalled these words spoken by Jesus;

"Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father... Don't you believe that I am in the Father, and that the Father is in me? The words I say to you are not just my own. Rather, it is the Father, living in me, who is doing his work.

--John 14:9-10 (NIV)

The Trinity is a difficult concept to grasp, but it wasn't the theology that gripped me this time, but a realisation that at the end of this life, it's not how much we know or have done that counts. The question is, do we know God? Do we know God?

Have we spent our lives seeking for Him? Have we devoted our days to learning from Him, not just about Him? Will heaven be a homecoming, or a holiday to some foreign place?

King Solomon asked this question, once he had finished the construction of the Temple;

"But will God really dwell on earth with men?"

--2 Chronicles 6:18 (NIV)

And the apostle John answered it;

The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the One and Only, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.

--John 1:14 (NIV)

God became flesh and made His dwelling among humans. God is relational, not a Zeus who sits atop a Mount Olympus, or some grandfatherly figure languishing on the borders of the universe, but a God who desires to be with His people.

These were the words recorded by Jeremiah the prophet;

"This is the covenant I will make with the house of Israel
after that time," declares the LORD.

"I will put my law in their minds
and write it on their hearts.
I will be their God,
and they will be my people.

No longer will a man teach his neighbor,
or a man his brother, saying, 'Know the LORD,'
because they will all know me,
from the least of them to the greatest,"
declares the LORD.

"For I will forgive their wickedness
and will remember their sins no more."

--Jeremiah 31:33-34 (NIV)

These words stopped me in my tracks. Actually, it was in reading these words than I searched the Scriptures for the other excerpts above. Saturday's devotion reading was on Hebrews 8:1-13, which quotes this portion of Jeremiah.

I was convicted of my sin. Just the day before, I was falling again into depths I thought I'd escaped from. But God stopped me on Saturday morning with these words.

He reminded me that my sins were forgiven; why then did I choose to fall back into sin? Above all, He reminded me that He is my God, and I wasn't carrying myself like a son of God ought to.

Father, forgive me.

* * * * *

There was some sort of domino effect yesterday.

My brother and I spent a long time singing/listening to various songs, including Elvis's 'Suspicious Minds' and 'Burning Love', the Scorpions' 'Wind of Change', and songs from Disney's Tarzan soundtrack. Incredibly, I can still remember the lyrics of most of the Tarzan songs, written by Phil Collins!

Dad, Kevin and I were supposed to go and watch Rob-B-Hood (an entertaining movie indeed!) at 6pm. I wanted to get a haircut before that, as I needed to take a passport-sized photo for university applications. So we were to leave the house at 4.30.

At about 3.40, I called a friend, who said she'd call back in a short while.

I waited and waited, and must've dozed off by 4.00. Woke up at 4.30; still no call. Prepared to leave the house, and then the call came. Too late.

My stomach started aching since I woke up. Must be a combination of two things: too much singing (I get stomach aches when I open my mouth too much), and the fact that I slept in a not-too-good position. Thing is, I wasn't supposed to sleep, but the call came late. It's something like falling asleep while doing chin-ups. Your body is bound to ache when you get up, simply because you weren't meant to sleep.

Then later, at the hairdresser's, I waited and waited, but Aunty Florence was too busy curling someone's hair, and anymore waiting would make us late for the movie. Not her fault. At 4.30 she was free, but I came later due to the stomach ache; had to rest awhile at home first. So we postponed and I only got my haircut today.

Seems every event yesterday somehow affected every other event.

* * * * *

The more I think about it, the more I'm convinced Denise is right.

Perhaps I am a dinosaur. An ancient relic in a modern world. A fish meant to fly.

Can God use this sinner of a dinosaur?

I pray so.