Can anyone name the movie I was thinking of when I typed that title?
This post is completely not a reflection of what my day's really been like... in one sense... but in another, it's a fun little bit to share.
So I have very recently discovered there's this thing called text messaging or SMS. I think I have already mentioned this. But today was another milestone in my appreciation and adoration of this form of communication.
Not only can my new friends in Indonesia at any moment send a, "How are you?" or a message of more substance as shared in my previous post, but I can send messages to my coworkers at the desk next to mine! And not just ANY little message... but one in CHINESE! My phone is Taiwanese... it has all the little buttons for Chinese typing and I actually have to switch it each time to type in English. Well, the thought occured to me, "Hey! I know how to say a few things in this language... really, what can be so hard about TYPING them on a cell phone??" So I undertook to send the message "我愛你" [I love you] to my next desk neighbor. And it was a grand success. And really, since "all you need is love" I can check learning survival Chinese off my to do list!
And for a touch on the more substantial majority of my day, I'll just say that, though I may have said this already in a previous post, these have been very significant words to me as of late, from 2 Corinthians 1:
"3Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, 4who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves have received from God. 5For just as the sufferings of Christ flow over into our lives, so also through Christ our comfort overflows. 6If we are distressed, it is for your comfort and salvation; if we are comforted, it is for your comfort, which produces in you patient endurance of the same sufferings we suffer. 7And our hope for you is firm, because we know that just as you share in our sufferings, so also you share in our comfort.
8We do not want you to be uninformed, brothers, about the hardships we suffered in the province of Asia. We were under great pressure, far beyond our ability to endure, so that we despaired even of life. 9Indeed, in our hearts we felt the sentence of death. But this happened that we might not rely on ourselves but on God, who raises the dead. 10He has delivered us from such a deadly peril, and he will deliver us. On him we have set our hope that he will continue to deliver us, 11as you help us by your prayers. Then many will give thanks on our[a] behalf for the gracious favor granted us in answer to the prayers of many."
And then later, 2 Corinthians 4:
"1Therefore, since through God's mercy we have this ministry, we do not lose heart. 2Rather, we have renounced secret and shameful ways; we do not use deception, nor do we distort the word of God. On the contrary, by setting forth the truth plainly we commend ourselves to every man's conscience in the sight of God. 3And even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing. 4The god of this age has blinded the minds of unbelievers, so that they cannot see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God. 5For we do not preach ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord, and ourselves as your servants for Jesus' sake. 6For God, who said, "Let light shine out of darkness,"[a]made his light shine in our hearts to give us the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ.
7But we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us. 8We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair; 9persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed. 10We always carry around in our body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be revealed in our body. 11For we who are alive are always being given over to death for Jesus' sake, so that his life may be revealed in our mortal body. 12So then, death is at work in us, but life is at work in you.
13It is written: "I believed; therefore I have spoken."[b]With that same spirit of faith we also believe and therefore speak, 14because we know that the one who raised the Lord Jesus from the dead will also raise us with Jesus and present us with you in his presence. 15All this is for your benefit, so that the grace that is reaching more and more people may cause thanksgiving to overflow to the glory of God.
16Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. 17For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. 18So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal."
And then also, this imagery from David's Song of Praise in 2 Samuel 22:
5 "The waves of death swirled about me;
the torrents of destruction overwhelmed me.
17 He reached down from on high and took hold of me;
he drew me out of deep waters.
32 For who is God besides the LORD ?
And who is the Rock except our God?"
I remember seeing a painting once of a storm raging... and in the midst of the dark waves and wind, there stood a lighthouse on a solid rock... breaking the torrent of wind and water with its beam.
I also have a card from a friend that I have cherished for many years. One the front is a pair of feet standing on a rock... some water is washing by. The overlay of the picture reads from Psalm 40:2: "He set my feet upon a rock making my footsteps firm." The inside says, "The water may be swirling, the waves may be crashing, but you are standing on the solid rock of God's love... and that puts you on the higest possible ground."
Thank you for your prayers. God is good.
Blessings to you this day in Christ!
