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Ecclesiastes 7:8 The end of a matter is better than its beginning, and patience is better than pride.

Galatians 5:22-23 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law.

Colossians 3:12 Therefore, as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience.

Hebrews 6:12 We do not want you to become lazy, but to imitate those who through faith and patience inherit what has been promised.

Am learning much more about patience this week. On the one hand, am so eager to finish this PhD, but on the other hand, I recognise the importance of doing it well and knowing the right season and timing. A good harvest cannot be rushed, but must be invested in accordingly.

Mark 11:13 Seeing in the distance a fig tree in leaf, he went to find out if it had any fruit. When he reached it, he found nothing but leaves, because it was not the season for figs.

I have to graciously accept that my thesis will not be ready till probably early 2008. I was not even aware that they can fail a thesis on sight, so am much more realistic and wary in my preparation for submission now.

Think about Abraham. Here is a man called out by God, promised to be the father of many nations. He leaves his hometown and embarks on a journey whose destination is unsure. After a creative but failed attempt to fulfill God’s promise of a son, Abraham is old and discouraged.

Then the miracle happens. His also aging wife, Sarah, gets pregnant with their first and only child. It is the promise child, Isaac. Imagine the joy that captures Abraham’s heart. It is the moment he thought he would never see. Tears roll down his wrinkled face, creased with years of hardship and sorrow, as he holds his son in his arms. Isaac is tangible proof that the promises of God are true. Wrapped up in that little child is all of Abraham’s God-given hopes and dreams, indeed, his very destiny.

And then God spoke. "Abraham." "Here I am," came the response. "Take your son, your only son, Isaac, whom you love…and go to the region of Moriah. Sacrifice him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains I will tell you about." <Gen 22:2>

No response. No question, no counterargument. The next morning came earlier than most. He gets Isaac, two servants, saddles a donkey and begins the fateful journey. A few days later, after enough wood had been cut, Abraham makes an announcement. Seeing Mount Moriah ahead, he turns to his servants and says, "Stay here with the donkey while I and the boy go over there. We will worship and then we will come back to you."

We will worship. This is the first mention of the word "worship" in the Bible. It is the first time the Hebrew word "shachah", used only twice before and translated as "bowed low", is translated as "worship." The background for the introduction of this concept of worship is sacrifice. The setting, the place, is Mount Moriah.

Many years later King David would find himself looking for a place to build an altar to the Lord to confess his sin and worship. Under Divine instruction he approaches the threshing floor of a man named Aruanah. Aruanah, upon seeing the king, offers to give him the land and any animal needed for an offering. Here David utters the now famous words, "I will not sacrifice to the Lord my God burnt offerings that cost me nothing." The place of that threshing floor? Mount Moriah. <2 Samuel 24: 18-25>

A generation later, King Solomon, David’s son, is about to commence the long-awaited building of the Lord’s temple. Where will it be built? On the threshing floor of Aruanah that David purchased on Mount Moriah. <2 Chronicles 3:1>

The first temple, the centerpiece of Jewish worship, is built on land famous for sacrifice. That is significant. You see, sacrifice is the foundation of Biblical worship. At its core, worship is about lordship; we give lordship to what we worship. When we make the choice to worship God, we are emptying ourselves of our own rights and will and surrendering to Him. Worship is the foremost act of sacrifice. It proclaims a death to our self.

There is one more element about worship that we can learn from the story of Abraham and Isaac. Worship is an act of sacrifice; it is also an expression of faith in God. When Isaac, probably a teenager or young man at the time, notices that he and his dad are up there with fire, wood, a knife, and no sacrifice, he nervously asks the question: "Where is the lamb for the burnt offering?" Abraham’s response is pivotal. "God himself will provide the lamb for the burnt offering, my son." God himself will provide. The Hebrew phrase used there is "Jehovah Jireh"-the God who sees, the One who sees ahead, who watches over, the One who provides.

In the moment of confusion and uncertainty, in the midst of the greatest emotional stress he has ever experienced, Abraham reaches out for the very nature of God. His response is one that affirms the character of God. When the day is over, Abraham names that place "The Lord Will Provide", Jehovah Jireh. The name and character of God has defined that moment in his life. Before he knew what would happen, he trusted in the nature of God; when all was said and done, he reaffirmed it. The object of Abraham’s faith was not a specific outcome; the object of his faith was a Person-God himself. Our faith is tied up in the character and nature of God. When it is, our worship will reflect it. A true belief in who God is generates worship that is both authentic and powerful.

There is sufficient evidence outside of the Bible for us to know with some certainty the events which took place after the death of Christ. We can verify the life and death of Christ, some of Paul’s travels, the persecution and death of early Christians, the rise of Christianity in Rome and the subsequent attempts by the Emperor to stamp it out. We know that virtually all of Christ’s apostles spent the rest of their lives committed to spreading the good news of the Gospel, and almost all of them were martyred.

If the resurrection of Christ did not happen, the apostles would be the only ones who could know with any certainty. If it was a hoax, it was the apostles who perpetrated it. If it was a lie, it was the apostles who created it. Conversely, if the resurrection really happened, then it was the apostles who first watched Him die, rise again and then walk in their midst for forty days. There can be little doubt that these twelve men knew for certain whether Christ rose again or He did not. Yet, we know that each and every one of them spent their entire lives and indeed even gave their lives in order to spread the news of Jesus Christ.

Looking ahead further, we know that for the next century after Jesus’ death, Christians would continue to believe in the risen Christ despite the fact that it would very likely result in death. One hundred years is a short enough time that early Christians would have had an opportunity to at least meet one of the hundreds of people who had personally walked and talked with the risen Lord. The testimony of those early Christians, those who knew the fact of the resurrection for truth or a lie, was so persuasive that it would convince people to risk their very lives. Their testimony would endure for two thousand years and affect over a billion lives. Could it all have been a lie?

At this point, we need to take a leap of some logic and some faith and decide between two alternatives. We must decide that the apostles lived and died for something they knew to be false, or we must decide that Jesus Christ rose from the dead.

Go to http://delveintojesus.com/MostPopularArticles.aspx for more.

The Bible is like a telescope. If a man looks through his telescope, then he sees the worlds beyond; but if he looks at his telescope, then he does not see anything but that. The Bible is a thing to be looked through, to see that which is beyond; but most people only look at it; and so they see only the dead letter. - Phillips Brooks

      One Life Experience takes you deep into the heart of Africa on a powerful, moving and unforgettable journey.
   

It’s an interactive, walk-through exhibition in which you’ll get to ‘live’ life through the eyes of an African child - through the eyes of three different children living in Africa.
How they find strength to face each day with renewed hope. From hunger
and heartbreak to hope and optimism, it’s a journey that will open your
eyes and touch your heart.

I was personally reminded of the horrors of the AIDS epidemic ravaging the poorer states in Africa, and isolation and trauma that many go through due to superstition and social stigma associated with the disease. Felt stirred to intercede for this nation, to see the love and hope of God touch lives, and encourage them that though their suffering is  in this lifetime, through Christ there is  abundant joy for eternity in the next.

The Ark remained in the Temple until its destruction at the hand of the Babylonian empire, led by Nebuchadnezzar. What happened to it afterward is unknown, and has been debated and pondered for centuries. It is unlikely that the Babylonians took it, as they did the other vessels of the Temple, because the detailed lists of what they took make no mention of the Ark. According to some sources, Josiah, one of the final kings to reign in the First Temple period, learned of the impending invasion of the Babylonians and hid the Ark. Where he hid it is also questionable – according to one midrash, he dug a hole under the wood storehouse on the Temple Mount and buried it there (Yoma 53b).

A more plausible claim is that of archaeologist Leen Ritmeyer, who has conducted research on the Temple Mount and inside the Dome of the Rock. He claims to have found the spot on the Mount where the Holy of Holies was located during the First Temple period. In the precise center of that spot is a section of bedrock cut out in dimensions that may match those of the Ark as reported in Exodus. This section of the mount, incidentally, is the one from which the creation of the world began, according to midrash (T. Kedoshim, 10). Based on his findings, Ritmeyer has postulated that the Ark may be buried deep inside the Temple Mount. However, it is unlikely that any excavation will ever be allowed on the Mount by the Muslim or Israeli authorities.

Was feeling really low today when I came across this poem…was on an encouragement slideshow website which I highly recommend for others to check out - www.tommyswindow.com

Hope the poem encourages you…

The flowers live by the tears that fall from

the sad face of the skies;

And life would have no joys at all,

were there no watery eyes.

Love thou thy sorrow;

grief shall bring its own excuse

in after years: The rainbow!

See how fair a thing God hath

built up from tears.

- Henry S. Sutton -

"The sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory that shall be revealed in us"

- Romans 8:18 -

The story of Noah’s ark is told in the Book of Genesis. It says God saw how corrupt the Earth had become and decided to "bring floodwaters on the Earth to destroy all life under the heavens." God is said to have told Noah, an honorable man, to build an ark 450 feet (137 meters) long, 75 feet (23 meters) wide, and 45 feet (14 meters) high, and fill it with two of every species on the Earth. It reportedly rained for 40 days and 40 nights. After about seven months, the waters receded, and the ark came to rest, according to the Bible.

The Bible states that Noah landed in the region of the ancient kingdom Urartu. Mount Ararat (its name probably a corrupted version of Urartu) has been the focus of those seeking the ark because it—at 17,000 feet (5,165 meters)—is the highest point in the area. A volcanic mountain, Ararat is covered by an icecap from 14,000 feet (4,300 meters) to 17,000 feet (5,200 meters). The icecap is about 17 square miles (44 square kilometers) in size and is as deep as 300 feet (90 meters).

Satellite pictures taken last summer (2004) of Mount Ararat in Turkey may reveal the final resting place of Noah’s ark. The Genesis blueprint of the Ark detailed the structure as 6:1 length to width ratio (300 cubits by 50 cubits). The anomaly, as viewed by satellite, is close to that 6:1 proportion.

(taken from National Geographic News & CNN April 2004)

An image from the June 19, 1949 U.S. Air Force Mission that captured a panoramic view of what is simply called "the Ararat Anomaly".

This satellite view shows Noah’s Ark jutting out from the snow on Mt. Ararat. Image Courtesy of Digital Globe

"The LORD is gracious and righteous;
       our God is full of compassion.

  The LORD protects the simplehearted;
       when I was in great need, he saved me.

  Be at rest once more, O my soul,
       for the LORD has been good to you."

Feeling more motivated today. Once you start and get some writing done, it definately spurs you to keep going. Gosh, there has been so many birthdays over June and July….am going broke! Need to find some casual work…

Had a good time for Care Group at Fook Chun’s house yesterday. We were discussing about the 40 days of purpose campaign and who we were thinking of inviting. I personally have not read Rick Warren’s book on the Purpose driven life. Wish I was in Singapore though, can think of heaps more people that I could invite. 

Should spend some time reading the Bible to get refreshed mentally and spiritually Nothing else works quite like it.