Saturday, January 19, 2008

Let me get back to my books

Despite what you’d call a hectic schedule—16 academic units and another 16 units of extracurricular activities—I’ve started on my reading again.

Twelve Ordinary Men is a Biblical survey of the lives of Jesus’ 12 disciples. John MacArthur, a respected and published Christian author, delves into the lives of the apostles, and argues that the outstanding characteristic of these men is not that they were smart, rich, or powerful, but that they were ordinary. MacArthur goes on to say that if God chose to use extraordinarily ordinary men, clearly, He can choose to use us for His purpose.

The Weight of Glory is a collection of short works of CS Lewis, also author of Christian classics like Mere Christianity and the Chronicles of Narnia series. I’m still reading the book—during study breaks or during laboratory waiting time. The Weight of Glory was preached by Lewis on June 1941 at Oxford University Church, and appears as one of the essays in this collection.

Here are a few outstanding lines:

"Indeed, if we consider the unblushing promises of reward and the staggering nature of the rewards, it would seem that Our Lord finds our desires not too strong, but too weak. We are half-hearted creatures, fooling about with drink and sex and ambition when infinite joy is offered us, like an ignorant child who wants to go on making mud pies in a slum because he cannot imagine what is meant by the offer of the holiday at the sea. We are far too easily pleased."

I sometimes wish I could sound like CS Lewis—even look like him when I grow old. Now let me get back to my books.

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