| | Hi everyone,
My heart is heavy tonight, because I just learned of another person battling NPC. She has suffered so much and lost the beauty of her health. She has contacted me for my experiences, so before I reply to her, I just wanted to pray for her and ask you all to pray for her as well. Her name is Jeannie, and her website is: http://www.caringbridge.org/visit/jeannieyee
By God's grace, I am doing very well. My checkups have been good. Working like crazy, even putting in some overtime. I am so amazed at how normal I feel. For a week or two, I was guzzling down coke like the old days, but then I started to feel sick, so I have stopped it and feel much better. Sadly, I still think of coke cola everyday :(
I have also been asked to help give messages to the Jr High kids at church. They are supposed to be about 30-45 minutes long, but the first two times I spoke, I went overboard and talked for about an hour. I wanted to share with you guys one of the things I spoke to the youths about. I was teaching on how God makes us His beautiful masterpieces in Ephesians 2:10 even if we have problems. I thought about some scenes from the movie trilogy, "Lord of the Rings." Its about facing enimies and overwhelming odds, something that spoke to me personally. In the scene where one of the good guys (the soon to be king Aragorn) is facing a horde of demons coming at his outnumbered army, he rallies them and cries out,
•Aragorn: Hold your ground, hold your ground! Sons of Gondor, of Rohan, my brothers! I see in your eyes the same fear that would take the heart of me. A day may come when the courage of men fails, when we forsake our friends and break all bonds of fellowship, but it is not this day. An hour of woes and shattered shields, when the age of men comes crashing down! But it is not this day! This day we fight! By all that you hold dear on this good Earth, I bid you stand, Men of the West!
There is a lot of good teaching material in that movie, I wish I could tell you about all the things that came to me. In another scene, when one of the cities is surrounded by attacking demons, while one leader of the city goes to commit suicide, another leader (Theoden) is encouraged by Aragorn to face their foes:
Theoden: So much death. What can men do against such reckless hate? Aragorn: Ride out with me! Ride out and meet them!
Theoden: For death and glory!
Aragorn: For Rohan! For your people!
I wanted the youth to be encouraged to meet their fears and any bad circumstances with courage and whatever strength they had. Do not shrink away in hopelessness, rather go on despite the odds, be fighters. In the back of Aragorn's mind was the hope that something could happen and defeat could become victory. And even if there was not to be victory in battle, there would still be victory in the glory that their courage brought. As Christians, we always have hope and optimism because we believe in God. And even if God so chooses to allow us to be "defeated", we can face it with dignity, courage, and even joy because we can bring Him all the glory. Something unbroken can be beautiful, but just as beautiful if not more is something "broken" with a story behind it.
Well, its easy to say. And the movie quotes really inspire me. I just hope I can follow through if the pain and sadness ever reach such a level.
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| | Posted 1/15/2009 3:52 AM - 28 Views - 4 eProps - 2 comments
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