March 29, 2016
“And the smoke of their torment ascendeth up for ever and ever: and they have no rest day nor night, who worship the beast and his image, and whosoever receiveth the mark of his name.”
Shot by: Danesh Daryanani
Location: Haw Par Villa
Opening Picture: https://wallpaperscraft.com
Sound: iMovie 9.0.9
Edited on: iMovie 9.0.9
February 15, 2016
Death Penalty is government sanctioned punishment by death.
Yep, death. Terminal. No chance for redemption or reformation.
The crime is judged heinous enough to be deserving of nothing less than death for the person that committed, or allegedly committed, the criminal act.
Jesus was subjected to capital punishment.
Thankfully, He defeated even that.
Hosea 13:14 (KJV)
I will ransom them from the power of the grave; I will redeem them from death: O death, I will be thy plagues; O grave, I will be thy destruction: repentance shall be hid from mine eyes.
(Picture taken at Singapore Art Museum, March 2013)
November 22, 2015
John 8:6-7
They were saying this, testing Him, so that they might have grounds for accusing Him. But Jesus stooped down and with His finger wrote on the ground. But when they persisted in asking Him, He straightened up, and said to them, “He who is without sin among you, let him be the first to throw a stone at her.”
Emphasis, mine.
Better to read the whole chapter in context.
Anyway, hence, I remain silent. Deadly silent.
April 2, 2015
I was asked by a Pastor to share what the Holy Week meant to me. This is what I wrote to her:
Holy Week forces me to focus. It brings the Gospel to reality. God speaks to us through His Word from Genesis to Revelations.
But from the beginning of time to Eternity, EVERYTHING hinged upon the Holy Week. He rode into Jerusalem on Sunday knowing what was going to happen. Monday to Wednesday, he carried on with His Father’s work. On Thursday, was His Last Supper. He served His disciples, even the one who betrayed Him.
Then He went to Gethsemane. Gethsemane is particularly moving for me. Here, His humanity was most harrowing. He could have said no. He had the option. He chose obedience.
Gethsemane changed everything. It changed history. It changed my life.
On Friday, I crucified Him.
On Sunday, God raised Him.
He won. I lost.
What did He do then? He brought me into the winning team.
Holy Week is the entire Bible, entire creation, and eternity brought into focus. Holy Week makes Jesus real to me. Holy Week brings me to me to tears.
December 31, 2014
August 23, 2014
April 18, 2014
Good Friday.
The adjective (Good) used with this noun (Friday) messes with my mind – Every. Single. Time.
Until I remind myself to see the adjective for Friday in the context of Sunday.
Then I shudder.
Amazing Grace.
Thank you, Lord.
February 10, 2014
December 23, 2013
An early concept and scripting meeting, April 2013
The production staged by our church, “Home for Christmas” is over. Tons of people put in A LOT of work. Sound, set design, make-up, costume, technical crew, videographers, photographers, production, musicians, ushers, intercessors, actors, singers, dancers, choreographers, logistics, janitors, publicity, project management, catering, pastoral team, etc. The list is not comprehensive and goes on. Every person deserves full credit for the entire production.
But I wanted to write this for my team of writers (2 of them was part of the cast as well).
To the writing team, my heartfelt thank you. It was genuinely exciting for me to work with a team – second time with Christine. I loved how you each put in a little of yourself to transform true-life stories and dramatise it. Each dramatisation is unique and could only have been written by you. I can now see the next generation of creators/writers coming up in our church. That’s so cool.
As writers, we are involved early in the runway to the actual production. The work at the beginning is hence ambiguous. We are after all, starting with a blank slate. The task was not always clear, tweaks had to be made through the process but you all took it in your stride. There were times when I was strapped for time and you guys stepped up. Thank you so very much.
You juggled with 26 letters and a fistful of punctuation marks to create magic. Most importantly, you trusted God.
Besides the writing team, I want to thank all those who made the script sparkle – Joan and Yane for adjusting scripts while I was away in India. And of course, the actors for the fabulous delivery and immaculately time ad-libs.
Productions are amazing for me. No one person can take credit – but God alone. So, thank you Lord.
Let me end with one more feedback I heard today (for all, not just the writing team).
“Thank you Chris for the ticket. I am so glad that I came to the Christmas service tonight. I feel that this is the best Christmas service that I have ever been. It was so touching till I shed so much tears…”
Blessed Christmas all.
When they saw the star, they rejoiced exceedingly with great joy. Matthew 2:10
Lemniscates are Forever 
November 19, 2014
Stop selling your daughters and sisters into prostitution
Posted by DD under Christianity, Commentary, Stuff | Tags: brothel, childrenofgod, documentary, help, human, illegal, movie, outofashes, prostitution, sex, slavery, social, social cause, trade, trafficking, untouchable |1 Comment
Last night, I watched the movie, “Untouchable: Children of God.” The documentary highlights the absolute and total atrocity of human trafficking that happens right under our nose – under our watch. Yeah, by doing nothing, we let it happen.
This documentary, which won the 2014 Newport Beach Film Festival Humanitarian Prize, highlights the depravity that we have allowed to thrive in India and Nepal (in other countries too – but the focus of the documentary was on these two countries). The movie is raising awareness of the sex trade or more accurately, modern-day slavery, and galvanising people to action.
Men are the biggest problem – not man as in humanity – but men as in male, boy, guy. I like what the director/producer said in the movie. I paraphrase because I didn’t copy it down so apologies, Grant. Addressing the men, he said something along the lines of:
“If you’ve ever trafficked women, you’re part of the problem. If you’ve ever paid for sex, you’re part of the problem. If you’ve ever viewed pornography, you’re part of the problem. If you’ve supported or played games that denigrates and desecrates the sanctity of women, you’re part of the problem.”
Present at the screening were the director, Grant Knisely, Pastor Raju Sundas from the Lighthouse Foundation Nepal (LHFN) and two girls who were rescued out of the dark pit hell of whorehouses (pictured below). LHFN rescues girls from this dastardly business, heals them, educates them, trains them – but most importantly, accepts and loves them unconditionally – and gives them hope for their futures.
A mere 1% of the enslaved girls are rescued. They are often sold into the sex trade by their families – fathers, brothers, relatives – men who are supposed to love and protect them. Some as young as five years old – yes, five.
But I want to end with the sharing of the two girls who were at the screening. They moved me to tears – really. Rather than being defeated and cowered, they want to make a difference. They want to rescue their “sisters” still caught in the brothels to be abused and humiliated by men.
They want to be light in the dark places. They want to shine the light of God into the pit of hell.
“The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness can never extinguish it.” John 1:5 (NLT)
To help the girls, go to Out of Ashes which is a charitable non-profit organisation dedicated to fight human trafficking and sex-slavery especially on the Indian sub-continent and in South East Asia:
www.outofashes.org
Their Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/outofashes1?fref=ts
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