sando

Hear Its Music

2012-01-30T20:44:00.008Z

In Greek mythology, the Sirens would sing enchanting songs, drawing sailors irresistibly towards the rocks and certain shipwreck.Odysseus filled his crew's ears with wax and had them tie him to the mast. This is like the approach of legalism. We bind ourselves up with laws and disciplines in a vain attempt to resist temptation.Orpheus, on the other hand, played such beautiful music on his harp

Two Point Eight

2012-01-27T21:54:00.015Z

The photo below was taken 25 years ago.Where time went, who knows. I turned 28 today.Turning 27 last year was a long awaited moment in my life. As a little girl I was convinced that 27 would be my lucky age. Perhaps the fact that my birthday is on the 27th of January had something to do with it. I thought that by the time I'd reach that perfect and blissful age I'd be a very good-looking vet who

Easy Isn't The New Good

2012-01-26T21:39:00.008Z

"He has showed you, O man, what is good.And what does the Lord require of you?To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God."(Micah 6:8)It's good to invest wisely in my relationships. It's easy to simply coast.It's good to go the speed limit. It's easy to speed a little.It's good to make a healthy choice. It's easy to grab junk.It's good to read my Bible. It's easy to check my

If I Were Broken

2012-01-20T21:58:00.011Z

Sometimes it's the simplest of questions that provoke the deepest thoughts. And sometimes, sometimes, you need a 9 year-old boy to ask that question.One afternoon the little boy's mum was cleaning out a kitchen cupboard full of items she rarely used when she found an old broken tin opener. She handed it to her son and asked him to throw it away. Instead of just tossing it into the rubbish bin, he

My Rights. My God.

2012-01-11T21:59:00.009Z

Since I gave up Facebook about a week ago I have already managed to get through one and a half books in only a couple of evenings. Glad to see that my love of books and reading is still very alive in me! Tonight's read is an OMF oldie: "My Rights. My God." by Robin Wells. I've had it sitting on my desk for a few weeks now since I was given the copy... Reason: Robin Wells books are dangerous!!

In the end, I ran.

2012-01-09T21:04:00.007Z

I read this book in 3 evenings.The Kite Runner.Have you read it? I'd heard about the film and everyone at the time it came out was ranting on how the book was so much better. So a couple of days ago I decided I'd like to read it. I literally had no idea what the story was about. I just picked it off the shelf, sat down with a cup of tea and got stuck in. Words that could express how it surprised,

Giving up Facebook

2012-01-03T22:18:00.012Z

In my previous post I wrote about how I had decided to reduce my number of "facebook friends". I'd done it mainly to help me focus on who my real friends were and on the people whom I really needed to be in touch with. Deep down I was hoping that this was only the first step to a bigger one... that is, giving up facebook entirely. Yes, yes, this was the plan from the beginning. Only I didn't

Who Is My Friend?

2011-09-23T23:44:00.007+01:00

Facebook: it's free, it's fun, it helps you connect with people,it gives you an insight into what's going on around the world, etc.I love the idea.In a couple of months it will be 5 years since I joined facebook. In a couple of days it will also be my first anniversary in my job here in Oxford. So I am very much in a "looking back" reflective mood at the moment.Before I started messing around

This One Never Will

2011-09-12T22:31:00.000+01:00

There are two things that render Christ's love wonderful:1. That he should be willing to endure sufferings that were so great;and 2. That he should be willing to endure themto make atonement for wickedness that was so great. (Jonathan Edwards)That love - whose obedience is wide and long and high and deep enough to dissolve a mountain of rightful wrath - is the love you've been looking for all

A Morning With Hosea

2011-09-03T12:26:00.000+01:00

I just read the book of Hosea. I read the whole 13 chapters out loud... and it was a bit tiring! I think I even yawned somewhere in chapter 9. Oops. Father forgive. and I have now a little more respect for ancient rabbis who used to read the whole Scritpures to the people in synagogues!But despite being slightly tiring to read out loud, Hosea is a cracking little book. It's one of those books I "

What Do You Claim For Your Sex?

2011-08-30T00:15:00.001+01:00

Captain Harvile: Poor Phoebe, she would not have forgotten him so soon. It was not in her nature. Anne Elliot: It would not be in the nature of any woman who truly loved. Captain Harvile: Do you claim that for your sex? Anne Elliot: We do not forget you as soon as you forget us. We cannot help ourselves. We live at home, quiet, confined, and our feelings prey upon us. You always have

Arty Things

2011-08-14T21:35:00.001+01:00

I thought I'd share some really lovely paintings I've found online today.I took some informal drawing lessons with one of my artist friends during my last year of uni, and I must confess I miss them sometimes. :-( Not that I remember much of what I learned at the time (!) but I enjoyed looking at things differently and realising how intricate nature, shapes, lights and colours are as we only

He Knows Best

2011-08-04T16:17:00.000+01:00

"Alright, love, ask me your question. But I'm warning you, there's an awful lot of stuff in the answers I have for you that you'll just never be able to figure out on your own." Jeremiah 33:3 (Sandra's New Personal Version) Another (slightly more reliable) version of this verse can be found here: http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=jer%2033:3&version=NIV How do you feel about the

My Before and After

2011-07-03T22:51:00.000+01:00

Linky:Jimmy Needham – Before And AfterYou put Your hand upon my wound and whispered,“Rest in Me.”And there I stepped out of the tomb and into destiny,The rest they say is history,Your grace is such a mystery!

Hebrews 13:2

2011-07-02T17:13:00.000+01:00

I think I may have been entertaining an angel those last few weeks without realising it. Until we sat and ate at the breakfast table this morning. "I looked into your eyes, and I saw your heart," she said. Well, she must have, for a second later she told me everything about it. Everything.First I was surprised, shocked, a bit embarassed, somewhat upset that someone had seen through the wall. "How

What Is Best

2011-06-27T21:04:00.001+01:00

'The girls might be pretty,and fair may be the city...'If you are a little bit like me: a plant that has been planted and uprooted and repotted in various soils and places, you will know - or at least wonder - what the journey back can sometimes feel like.I always tell people that my transition to life in Oxford was hard. And boy, it was. But here was I, almost a year later, on a plane to Dublin

Trusting His timing

2011-06-06T21:13:00.000+01:00

He has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in the human heart; yet no one can fathom what God has done from beginning to end....I know that everything God does will endure forever; nothing can be added to it and nothing taken from it. God does it so that people will fear him.ecc 3:11

Beauty Desired, Beauty Acquired (guest post)

2011-06-05T22:22:00.001+01:00

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Not Forgotten

2011-05-26T21:17:00.000+01:00

When it's no longer making the news' headlines, what do we do? We forget.This picture shows a Japanese national flag at a devastated area in Kesennuma, Miyagi Prefecture, northeastern Japan. This picture was taken less than 2 weeks ago.It is estimated that the 11 March earthquake and tsunami which turned entire coastal cities into rubble created an estimate amount of 100 million tons of waste

Crumbs & Prayers

2011-05-07T23:10:00.000+01:00

I don't often read or quote The Book of Common Prayer, unless like tonight Tim Keller compels me to do so. :)I am still enjoying reading Kings Cross, which I started just after Easter. I have now got to chapter 9 called "The Approach", which looks at Mark's gospel and what it says about how we can approach God. His main illustration for this chapter is Jesus' encounter with the Gentile woman in

Good Friday

2011-04-22T22:48:00.000+01:00

"Yes, finished! The Messiah dies,Cut off for sins, but not His own:Accomplished is the sacrifice,The great redeeming work is done."

Sakura

2011-04-10T17:12:00.001+01:00

The sakura season has started in Japan (cherry blossoms season). Soon enough petals will be blown off by the wind and form the famous "pink wave"which will cover Japanese skies and spread all across the country.I hope I'll get to see it of my very own eyes one day... In the meantime, I have been enjoying these few shots borrowed from the Internets. I thought I'd share them with you.Isn't God's

Defining Enough

2011-04-04T23:05:00.002+01:00

Special kudos to Jon Acuff for answering a question that had been trotting around my head for a little while now. Jon is one of my favourite bloggers whom I first discovered in 2008 through the legendary SCL community blog. He just recently wrote a book called Quitter (See link to book trailer at end of this post), dealing mainly with how to "close the gap between your day job and your dream job.

Slowly Cherry

2011-03-31T19:34:00.000+01:00

One thing I am slow to learn is learning how to slow down.This is something that God has often taught me through somewhat unsual means. And today, he chose a cherry blossom.I decided to walk home from work today as I wasn't feeling good at all (stomach cramps) and felt like the exercise might do me good. The pain in my abdomen was so bad that I could only walk at a very slow pace - every 500m or

New Look!

2011-03-25T21:32:00.001Z

Meet my first pair of glasses, and my very awesome book.