Poem For When You Need to be Strong

For Every Hill I've Had to Climb

For every hill I've had to climb,
For every stone that bruised my feet,
For all the blood and sweat and grime,
For blinding storms and burning heat
My heart sings but a grateful song—
These were the things that made me strong!

For all the heartaches and the tears,
For all the anguish and the pain,
For gloomy days and fruitless years,
And for the hopes that lived in vain,
I do give thanks, for now I know
These were the things that helped me grow!

'Tis not the softer things of life
Which stimulate man's will to strive;
But bleak adversity and strife
Do most to keep man's will alive.
O'er rose-strewn paths the weaklings creep,
But brave hearts dare to climb the steep.

L. E. Thayer

A Prayer for Builders & Founders...

“It helps, now and then, to step back and take a long view.
The kingdom is not only beyond our efforts, it is even beyond our vision.
We accomplish in our lifetime only a tiny fraction of the magnificent enterprise that is God's work. Nothing we do is complete, which is a way of saying that the Kingdom always lies beyond us.

No statement says all that could be said.
No prayer fully expresses our faith.
No confession brings perfection.
No pastoral visit brings wholeness.
No program accomplishes the Church's mission.
No set of goals and objectives includes everything.
This is what we are about.

We plant the seeds that one day will grow.
We water seeds already planted, knowing that they hold future promise.
We lay foundations that will need further development.
We provide yeast that produces far beyond our capabilities.
We cannot do everything, and there is a sense of liberation in realizing that.
This enables us to do something, and to do it very well.

It may be incomplete, but it is a beginning, a step along the way, an
opportunity for the Lord's grace to enter and do the rest.
We may never see the end results, but that is the difference between the master
builder and the worker.
We are workers, not master builders; ministers, not messiahs.
We are prophets of a future not our own.”

- written for Cardinal Dearden by then-Fr. Ken Untener on the occasion of the Mass for Deceased Priests, October 25, 1979.

Turning Our Gaze Outward

I noticed a growing apathy among my peer group towards the hurting world. It is easy to become consumed with ourselves, only to think about our own world of comfort--how situations affect us, the food we eat, the clothes we wear, and the events we go to. All the while, all around us are in desperate needs for food, shelter, and affection. Our self-absorption blinds us to them.

We trivialize what really matters and put so much emphasis on what does not.

While you are sitting in class while your mind wanders elsewhere, a kid out there might be dreaming to one day go to school. While you order food just to show off in your instagram feed, not far away some people are scrapping food off the streets. While we are busy dressing to impress, many are without proper clothes. 

Matthew 6:25-33(MSG): “If you decide to live a life of God-worship, it follows that you don’t fuss about what’s on the table at mealtimes or whether your clothes are in fashion. There is far more to your life than the food you put in your stomach, more to your outer appearance than the clothes you hang on your body.

People spend ridiculously excessive time and money on looks—forgetting it is more important to develop virtues. If only our eyes saw souls instead of bodies, how very different our ideals of beauty would be.

30-33 “If God gives such attention to the appearance of wildflowers—most of which are never even seen—don’t you think he’ll attend to you, take pride in you, do his best for you? Relax and do not be so preoccupied with getting, so you can respond to God’s giving. People who don’t know God and the way he works fuss over these things, but you know both God and how he works. Steep your life in God-reality, God-initiative, God-provisions. 

If ever we find ourselves complaining, though having the luxuries to go to school, have a clean sanitation and safe water, consider the staggering numbers of those who are cut off from such privileges. Instead of always looking up to those with the more, lest we forget, the rest of the world are living hell on earth, physically, mentally, and spiritually.  Lest we forget, we are graced with the ‘far more’, so we can do something for our society.

Every 1 out of 4 Indonesians is malnourished.

5.6 million children live without a home.

Only 1 out of 4 elementary graduate go to a university, leaving 31.7 million students only finishing primary school, and another. 4 million could only study until Junior High.

Only 50% of the population have access to safe water.

And only less than 1% of 250 million Indonesian have access to piped sewerage services (toilet with pipes).

With little to no social capital, the future generations of these people are bound to repeat the same cycle.

Then I love Philippians 2. It begins with, “ If you’ve gotten anything at all out of following Christ, if his love has made any difference in your life,…” Then it follows, "Don’t be obsessed with getting your own advantage. Forget yourselves long enough to lend a helping hand.” Love the last sentence!

“ If our souls are first satisfied in Jesus for love, joy, and peace, we can move beyond ourselves and turn our gaze outward to others’ needs.”

 And until we realize all human has equal worth as made in the image of God, not determined by what they wear, or look, or act, we are never going to start living bigger than ourselves.

Elaine Scarry of Harvard has written a fascinating little book called On Beauty and Being Just. Her thesis is that the experience of beauty makes us less self-centered and more open to justice. People who come to grasp the gospel of grace and become spiritually poor find their hearts gravitate toward the materially poor.

The world needs more scholars who are serious in their studies, realizing their degrees are for those who are hurting.

The world does not need more people who turn a blind eye towards injustices; it needs those who dare to be “interrupted” to care for the oppressed.

“The world does not need more greed, but more with spirits of humility, servitude, and love.
”

This week, I stretched myself to invite people I normally would not eat with to meals. A rewarding experience to be poured into and pour out to them, gaining new perspectives and appreciation. I love the idea that grace can be shared in the context of a meal. We say grace before a meal because it is indeed a grace that different people can come together. It's also where healing and reconciliation can be exchanged. I challenge you not to eat with those you are comfortable with. But with those who might not usually get invited around the dinner table. I challenge you to be fully present (away from your phones!) and engage the other. I challenge you to be better stewards in where you are at, with who you are with, and what you have.

Life is not meant to be kept alone, but to be shared. However, we can only share what we have. Thank God for Jesus who promise to fill our cups until it overflow.

Restless Discomfort

"May God bless you with a restless discomfort--about easy answers, half-truths, and superficial relationships so that you may seek truth boldly and deeply within your heart.

May God bless you with holy anger--at injustice, oppression, and the exploitation of people, so that you may tirelessly work for justice, freedom, and peace among all peoples.

May God bless you with the gift of tears--to shed for those who suffer from--to shed for those who suffer from pain, rejection, or the loss of all that they cherish, so you may reach out your hand to comfort them and transform their pain into joy.

May God bless you with enough foolishness--to believe that you really can make a difference in this world, so that you are able, with God's grace, to do what others claim cannot be done.

And may the grace and peace of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ be with you and remain with you from this day and forevermore,Amen."

Artwork by Della Ribka, my dear friend 

A Call to Intercede

Surely, we’ve noticed the overwhelming grim news all over the media.

To name a few-police brutality on black lives, terrorists’ attacks, outbreak of diseases. Today, wars are raging. Economy is in near collapse. The largest humanitarian crisis of our days, the refugee crisis is tearing the world apart.

 I am sure we question: “Where is God in all of these?”, “Why does He seems silent?”

It is easy to retreat to disappointment and hopelessness towards humanity. It is easy to give up chasing the rainbow’s ends, settling down, expecting less, and repressing the part of ourselves which used to cry out for the moon.

However, we can never only look at the way the world is and decipher God’s purpose. I can be on top of a mountain and sing to “It’s a wonderful world”, or sit face-to-face with a war survivor and question humanity. Indeed, we are not made for this world. Disappointments are real so we will not be too attached with the world. Being created with a spirit that craves God, anything less than God, will leave an ache.

My heart aches seeing the consequences of the fall in Genesis 3 which results to a massive fracturing of humanity. With creation, we see earthquakes and floods. With God, we rebelled. With others and within ourselves, we are at war against our sinful nature.

“He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, nether shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.”

Without believing in God’s promise that He will put things right again in the end, it is hard to continue to hope. My heart is put to ease seeing that God is still in the work of redeeming amidst the chaos humanity brings to herself. The good news left uncovered by the media—of a small girl in North Korea whose parents were killed by the government but she was found and later became a voice of justice, of an Afghan refugee who flee from the persecution back home, shipped to Indonesia, now discipled in my home church. Beauty from the ashes.

God is still sovereign in the rebellion of humanity. 

Actually, the sickness “out there” in the world is a reflection of the sickness inside each of us. The news we hear out there are symptoms of the deeper problem of our brokenness. If all these evil can happen in massive scale, it can happen anywhere, anytime, to anyone. All is within human possibility--to kill or to be a victim. Our greed simply takes another form. We may not be trafficking humans, but we wear clothes made by underpaid and poorly treated workers. We may not be rioting in the streets, but our silence makes us stand on the side of injustice. 

If we we not raised in a home at this time and place, we would have done "those" horrendous acts. We are all born Auscwitz-enabled, born from the father of genocide of Adam's family.

“Understanding the depth of human sinfulness, we should see how gracious and merciful God is.”

Bad things happen to good people because now we know there are no good people. God allow evil because He allow human beings. 

What do we do then?

Our call is to intercede. To carry these unsettling causes in prayers. The distinguishing mark of God’s people is not intellectual might nor incredible strength but the power of answered prayer. In Exodus, Moses’s prayer to intercede for lost people made God revoke his wrath on the people.

Is not it amazing that we get to call to Holy God and He gives us full attention? He would answer us ,though He is not obliged to, at the same time sustaining the whole universe. Pause for a second and ponder on the fact that God desperately wants us to participate with Him to change history, not only to cheer on Him from the sideline. Isn't He lovely?

We get to co-labor with God to accomplish good things and advance his kingdom purposes in prayers. It’s our royal privilege to raise our voice to heaven. We can be angry at evil but still live in hope.

Dear friends, continue to pray and minister, even though on this side of eternity we might not see the result of our labor. Let us cry out in brokenness to God so healing may begin.

“Fight as if the battle all depended on you but look up and know that it all ultimately depends on the Lord.”