My cross

Taken from Charles H. Spurgeon's Morning and Evening, revised and updated by Alistair Begg:

"...Take up his cross daily and follow me." ~Luke 9:23

You do not make your own cross... your cross is prepared and appointed for you by divine love, and you must cheerfully accept it; you are to take up the cross as your chosen badge and burden, and not to stand complaining. This night Jesus bids you submit your shoulder to His easy yoke. Do not kick at it in petulance, or trample on it in pride, or fall under it in despair, or run away from it in fear, but take it up like a true follower of Jesus...

Remember that Jesus carried it; remember that it will soon be followed by the crown, and the thought of the coming weight of glory will greatly lighten the present heaveniness of trouble. May the Lord help you bow your spirit in submission to the divine will before you fall asleep tonight, so that waking with tomorrow's sun, you may go forth to the day's cross with the holy and submissive spirit that is fitting for a follower of the Crucified.

I read the news of the passing of Dr. Milton Wen (溫偉耀博士)'s daughter shortly before reading the above devotional entry. If the cross that God designed for Wen by divine love consisted of working with his mentally retarded daughter, a good part of my cross at the moment would possibly be being mom's legal guardian. The charge is -- go forth to the day's cross with the holy and submissive spirit that is fitting for a follower of the Crucified.

Susan again

If you wonder who made me the kind of musicologist I am today, and why I keep posting the question "how do you make sense of this music" to my students, Susan (my former dissertation advisor) is the culprit.

Click and watch the clip.


p.s. My former advisor's not even aware of such the website until I told her.

壓力逼人來

昨天開過團契職員會議...

外面已經很多力不從心的感覺, 給老媽的時間買少見少。 早幾天架車被別人的車撞到, 也沒有時間追保險公司處理。 大學的教課, 要平衡 giving "cheap" grade & 殺身之禍。為一個月一次的團契職員會議, 調星期六鋼琴學生到星期天上課. 令平常六天工作, 在開會議的一周.變為七天營業。

我自己當然覺得每一項目也有很多空間改進.  但是, 時間、體力、心力實在缺乏. 而我又暫不能刪減任何一項,去把時間從新分配. (其實, 已經刪減了做運動和shopping的時間). 若職員會可以給一點鼓勵, 或一點體諒, 我相信可以繼續"砌"下去. 無奈 ...

今天讀約翰福音第二章 24-25節: 「耶穌卻不將自己交託他們、因為他知道萬人．也用不著誰見證人怎樣．因他知道人心裏所存的。」 好像是講不要靠人的看法、體諒 , (希望沒錯解經文), 就是同路人也有不理解的時候。

再讀第四章, 撒瑪利亞的婦人的故事提醒我, 正如耶穌最初問撒瑪利亞的婦人要水喝, 最後卻要賜給婦人永活的水. 同樣, 神對我作出事奉的要求, 其實是要賜更大的福給我.

我想就是這樣吧.  Add oil.

University shooting

Northern Illinois campus shooting - 2/14/08 - 5 dead. Suspect is a former sociology student.

Louisiana Technical College shooting - 2/8/08 - 3 dead. A 23-year-old nursing student killed two fellow female students in the classroom at the Louisiana Technical College in Baton Rouge before turning the gun on herself.

Virginia Tech University shooting - 4/17/07 - 33 dead. Cho Seung-hui was the gunman of this shooting rampage at the engineering building on campus.

Many U.S. college students that I come into contact view their university education a commodity. They judge the credibility, qualification, service, as well as the amount of time and effort they are asked to contribute in return for a good grade. They see themselves owing the right of a consumer and thus have their unique perspective of what "fairness" is. For some of them, putting a certain amount of effort must get them a certain grade. If it doesn't pan out the way they expect, then they blame the professor.

Well, the consumer mentality is really annoying but not intolerable. What's intolerable is the increasingly prevalent campus shooting spree. I'm seriously thinking about teaching little kids private piano lesson for full-time!

Why say rejoice?

Saw the headline from the AP: "Evangelist Billy Graham underwent successful surgery Wednesday to update a shunt that controls excess fluid in his brain, and was expected to remain in the hospital for several days."

I stopped my lecture preparation and immediately did a google-search to find out what happened. Looks like he's recovering fine. Bless Dr. Graham. All these terms about "updating a shunt," "brain fluid," "hydrocephalus" sound way too familiar to me, as I was thrown in a situation to learn them last year.

Getting old and dying really are no fun. Yet, we're all heading that direction.

I gain some new appreciation for the verse, "Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice!" (Philippians 4:4) and what must have been the historical context that moved Paul to write that verse to the Philippians:

- Paul himself being a prisoner, soon to be tried for his life, bid others to rejoice
- the joy of the Philippians should not be hindered by any afflictions from the wicked

Paul wouldn't need to tell the Philippians to rejoice if the circumstance naturally brings one joy (as Moses wouldn't bid Joshua to be strong if the latter wasn't losing heart). Got that now. Life's not going to be fun, but it's going to be fine because He's with us.

Follow up on Randy Pausch

Whether you heard about Randy Pausch and his famous last lecture from my blog or from elsewehere, here's his update:

      http://www.cs.cmu.edu/~pausch/news/index.html

赤口

上網查一查,有沒有用錯「赤口」的「赤」字, 才知原來初三稱為「赤口日」,也稱為「赤狗日」.

問題 1: 究竟被人鬧算o吾算赤口o左呢?

問題 2: 聽人話答一句「係咩」就可以化解一肚氣. 係真o吾係真?

Happy New Year of the Rat

Taking the opportunity to get another start, I'm sharing the January 1st entry from my latest acquisition, Spurgeon's devotional material.

We will exult and rejoice in you
Song of Solomon 1:4

...We will exult and rejoice: two words with one sense, double joy, blessedness upon blessedness. Need there be any limit to our rejoicing in the Lord even now? ... We will be glad and rejoice in You. That last word is the meat in the dish, the kernel of the nut, the soul of the text. What heavens are laid up in Jesus! What rivers of infinite bliss have their source, aye, and every drop of their fullness in Him! Since, O sweet Lord Jesus, You are the present portion of Your people, favor us this year with such a sense of Your preciousness that from its first to its last day we may be glad and rejoice in You. Let January open with joy in the Lord, and December close with gladness in Jesus.

~Charles H. Spurgeon's Evening by Evening: A New Edition Based on the ESV Bible, edited by Alistair Begg (Wheaton: Crossway Books, 2007).

I voted

Praying for China - coping with snow storms

BBC News - China "not ready" for snow crisis
Xinhua - "We have faith," Chinese premier tells country
Mingpao (Chinese)

Pray that God'll ease the suffering of China, especially of the poor, sick, and needy ones, of people who live in the remote regions where help doesn't easily get to. Pray that they would be able to endure, willing to help one another out, and overcome the crisis.