Quiet

Still about a week to go before enrollment.

So far, I've spent most of my time in quiet retreat. I'm usually at home, reading stacks of good literature, editing and proofreading the August-October issue of the Torch (the church youth ministry's quarterly magazine), sleeping, eating, and watching cable TV.

I've just read William Golding's masterpiece, The Lord of the Flies. It's a novel so gripping and moving it would lead you to ask fundamental questions on the evils of this world. Golding accurately gives an answer, albeit a subtle one: that the problems that plague society are caused not by the present system, but by the innate nature of the people who run the system.



I'm now reading The Foxe's Book of Martyrs, a Christian classic that tells of the sufferings of martyrs for the sake of Christ. God has used this book to show me how I ought to live: to live for Him alone. These martyrs have thought of Christ to be their sole treasure whose value is greater than their lives.

During quiet mornings, I would read 365 Days With Spurgeon. A couple of days ago, this is what I've learned: that we should be grateful to God when we are chastened. Who are we to deserve so great a privilege of being disciplined by the Father Himself? I've never thought of God's chastening hand that way, until I read all about it.

My prayer is that my friends will not find themselves wallowing in excessive pleasures like sleep or watching TV or malling or surfing the internet, but will use these refreshing moments of sembreak to fill their hearts with the Word of God in quiet retreat.