Guest Bloggers

This will be the last of my guest bloggers for a while. I promise to return to my own postings very soon with a short series on the ministry of spiritual direction. I’ll explore the ministry and its history, talk a little about what it is (and isn’t) and give some insight to my own approach to this caring, sacred ministry.

For now, we return a post from another friend from Malaysia, a beautiful country I had the blessing to visit a few year’s ago, for his reflection on this piece of scripture: “When I see your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and stars that you set in place—Who are we that you are mindful of us, and a son of man that you care for us? Yet you have made us little less than a god, crowned us with glory and honor.” Psalm 8:4-6.

He writes:

As I reflected on my life’s experiences, some words and phrases inevitably came to mind. Psalm 139 featured prominently with “fearfully and wonderfully made” (v. 14), “ … knit me … my mother’s womb” (v. 13). With such awareness of God’s immense and amazing love for us mortals, I became drawn toward Psalm 8: “What is man that you are mindful of him … and crowned him with glory and honour?”

Yes indeed, who are we? Who am I? Songwriters Charles Wesley (in 1738) and Rusty Goodman (in 1965) asked these same questions. They penned beautiful words such as “Oh when I think of how He left His home in glory … Came and dwelt among the lowly such as I” … “bled for Adam’s helpless race.”

[Read more…] about Guest Blogger: Anthony Hew’s “Who am I? A reflection of my existence”

Writer and composer Ann Ammar of Valley Forge, PA, is the third guest blogger who wrote in response to this posted prompting from the book of Psalms: “When I see your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and stars that you set in place—Who are we that you are mindful of us, and a son of man that you care for us? Yet you have made us little less than a god, crowned us with glory and honor.” Psalm 8:4-6

Ann’s reflection and a song, complete with a YouTube video, is below:

Less than a year ago my youngest daughter, then age 14, became suicidal. She had suffered a long and deep depression that began when she was just eleven years old. Her extreme depression seemed to have resulted from a combination of factors: possibly a genetic predisposition, maybe the hormonal changes from puberty mixed with extreme stress brought about by our family’s sudden and unexpected intense trials, some of which included her mother’s diagnosis of breast cancer and being uprooted from her familiar and secure environment when we moved to a foreign country – Israel – and then back again all within a four year period. Her highly sensitive nature felt deeply these traumatic life events and she plummeted into extreme anxiety and an unimaginable deep, dark depression.

[Read more…] about Guest blogger: Ann Ammar’s “Walking by Faith”

Lily Lee, who lives in Malaysia, is the second of three guest bloggers who wrote in response to this posted prompting from the book of Psalms: “When I see your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and stars that you set in place—Who are we that you are mindful of us, and a son of man that you care for us? Yet you have made us little less than a god, crowned us with glory and honor.” Psalm 8:4-6

Lily writes:

On April 10, 2011, I found myself on Waiheke Island, Auckland, New Zealand, attending the wedding of one of my nephews. He is a beautiful man, compassionate and loving, with a unique sense of humour. He tells jokes with a straight face, which often leaves his listeners baffled until he breaks out in a hearty guffaw. Intelligent and articulate, he is also very knowledgeable on a wide range of subjects, hence an interesting person to talk to.

His wedding held a special significance for me. Somehow along life’s way, he had lost faith in the Institution of Marriage. When I had met him a year earlier at another nephew’s wedding in Perth, we had discussed the whys and wherefores of his doubts. This was after he told me he had met someone whom he would consider marriage with but yet had continued to fight a raging battle within his heart and mind.

[Read more…] about Guest blogger: Lily Lee’s “God’s Tapestry”