Sunday, November 19, 2006

Lamb of God

The next day John [the Baptist] saw Jesus coming toward him and said, "Look, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world! This is the one I meant when I said, 'A man who comes after me has surpassed me because he was before me.'..."

--John 1:29-30 (NIV)



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One of my all-time favourite songs. It was good to be reminded of it lately.

Blessed be the Holy Lamb of God.

Lamb of God
By Twila Paris

Your only Son, no sin to hide
But you have sent him from your side
To walk upon this guilty sod
And to become the Lamb of God

Your gift of love they crucified
They laughed and scorned Him as He died
The humble King, they named a fraud
And sacrificed the Lamb of God


Chorus:
O Lamb of God, sweet Lamb of God
I love the holy Lamb of God
O wash me in His precious blood
My Jesus Christ, the Lamb of God

I was so lost I should have died
But you have brought me to your side
To be led by your staff and rod
And to be called a lamb of God



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Poetry Speaks, 11/12 November. A beautiful poem.

Nature
By Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

As a fond mother, when the day is o'er,
Leads by the hand her little child to bed,
Half willing, half reluctant to be led,
And leave his broken playthings on the floor,

Still gazing at them through the open door,
Nor wholly reassured and comforted
By promises of others in their stead,
Which, though more splendid, may not please him more;

So Nature deals with us, and takes away
Our playthings one by one, and by the hand
Leads us to rest so gently, that we go

Scarce knowing if we wish to go or stay,
Being too full of sleep to understand
How far the unknown transcends the what we know.



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STPM begins tomorrow. I'll be back, 06.12.06.

Watch this space...

Thursday, November 09, 2006

130:5

God led me here on Tuesday.


Psalm 130 (NIV)

A song of ascents.

Out of the depths I cry to you, O LORD;
O Lord, hear my voice.
Let your ears be attentive
to my cry for mercy.

If you, O LORD, kept a record of sins,
O Lord, who could stand?

But with you there is forgiveness;
therefore you are feared.

I wait for the LORD, my soul waits,
and in his word I put my hope.

My soul waits for the Lord
more than watchmen wait for the morning,
more than watchmen wait for the morning.

O Israel, put your hope in the LORD,
for with the LORD is unfailing love
and with him is full redemption.

He himself will redeem Israel
from all their sins.



It will be a season of waiting.

But this verse encourages:

"I wait for the LORD, my soul waits,
and in his word I put my hope."

The fifth verse of the 130th Psalm.

130:5.


More than watchmen wait for the morning.

Saturday, November 04, 2006

A Most Pleasant Encounter

Not much on this blog lately. I've been very busy with STPM Literature and Chemistry over the last two weeks or so. In fact, I'm in the middle of Polymers now, but have interrupted my reading to put up this entry, which concerns a most singular event.

Sometime in early July, I did the University of New South Wales's English Assessment for Schools, a 60-question multiple-choice paper on various literary and linguistic aspects of the language, set in the context of passages and excerpts covering all sorts of disciplines, moods and themes.

To my utter surprise (this was one of those things I really never expected), I was informed by the School Counsellor, Pn Nirmala (who was absolutely thrilled to get her first Gold Medallist after trying for many years) about a couple of months later, that I was the National Top Scorer for the Upper Sixth Form. But I wasn't the only Gold Medallist; there was another boy from Johor Bahru who tied with me.

Ever since that day, I was eager to find out who this other person was -- this other 'English terror'... ;-)


Today, at the Medal Presentation Ceremony, I finally did. Much to my pleasant surprise, he was the person who taught me, three years ago, that it is possible to debate even when you've lost your voice to a bad flu. (He didn't lost his voice; I did.) But if not for him, coupled with much encouragement from Annette, I would not have debated. And I wouldn't have learnt a thing or two about prejudice.

And also because of that, indirectly, I debated for the first (and last time, so far) against Soo Tian. It was a pleasure, as all 'escapades' *ahem* involving Soo Tian certainly are.

The other Gold Medallist is none other than:


Joshua Tong, presently of SMK Sultan Ismail.


d'NA really does wonders in brightening up a person's day. Nay, this time around, it literally made my day!