Graduation Weekend at Dartmouth

Last weekend (10-13 June 2011) we went to Dartmouth College in Hanover, New Hampshire to attend our older son's graduation. It’s been four years since I accompanied him there as a Freshman, to help him get set up in his school dorm. I remember it as a very beautiful and green place, near the top of a mountain. My son was very excited with his new school. 

I also remember thinking that would be my "trip of a life-time" in the US. I never thought I would be able to come back here, more so with my family and in time for his graduation at that. Truly, God has done for us far more than our wildest dreams, just like what the Bible says.

We had hoped that I could get my New York driver’s license before his graduation so we can drive to Hanover but it didn’t materialize. I have been swamped with caring for our special needs child and getting her settled in her new school. She had been having urinary incontinence problems since we moved here and so far, we have seen four doctors for that alone. We have been busy breaking into the health care system here, namely getting enrolled in a health insurance plan. There is so much paper work involved every step of the way and the whole American  health care and education system is like a maze, it’s not easy to find where to begin. The first step is of course getting a Social Security Number. Oh, well, anyway, I might write about that topic too later, but for now, I’ll get on about our trip to Dartmouth. :)

Technically, Dartmouth is a university but due to tradition, it has opted to keep its name as Dartmouth College. Rain or shine the graduation was to be held at the Dartmouth Green.  Since we couldn’t drive without a driver’s license, we traveled by bus. We were able to book places in the Dartmouth Coach for the trip going there but stalled in making the booking for the trip back because our son didn’t get back in time with us about his own travel plans. So, we had to take the public buses coming back. The Dartmouth Coach has its New York terminal right in front of the Yale Club located opposite the Grand Central Plaza along Park Ave. (I observe that Dartmouth has a special relationship with this other Ivy Leave university – Yale.) We took the bus and subway to get there.

The coach is like an airplane sans the flight attendants.:)It has a loo at the back, a galley where we can help ourselves to snacks and drinks (all inclusive in the fare), a choice of sitting around a working table if one wishes to work during the trip and it has free wifi. It also has lots of leg room and every seat has a  retractable tray in front for eating, reading / writing, etc.

The coach left at 1pm and arrived in Dartmouth at a few minutes past 7pm. We had only one stop along the way so, roughly, it takes 6 hours from New York to Dartmouth. It is probably the most convenient way to go as it goes straight to Dartmouth and it’s very comfortable. On our trip back we took the coach  to Boston, stopping by to pick up passengers in Lebanon, a small city 10 min. from Dartmouth. Then from Boston we took the Bolt bus to Manhattan, New York and from Manhattan we took taxis as we were carrying some of our son’s belongings from the university. Otherwise, we could still take the subway and bus too, as they continue to run even late at night.

When we got to Dartmouth the school president’s reception for graduates and their families was in full swing. We knew we would arrive too late for it so we passed on that one. There was enough sunlight for a few shots so I took advantage of it, knowing that the weather forecast for that weekend was for rain. (And I really didn’t have the chance to take much photos of the campus after that evening, except indoors.)

This is the dorm where we stayed. Dartmouth opened the student dorms to accommodate the families of graduating students attending the graduation. There’s only one hotel in the campus, the historic Hanover Inn. It’s expensive and was reserved only for the alumni coming for the occasion and for the VIPs.

The name of the dorm is Richardson Hall.

We had dinner at a western restaurant named Molly’s inside the campus. A plaque on the wall said, “If it weren’t for the last minute, nothing would get done.” – haha! That is so true of cramming college students, and still typical of people like me though I have left school like a life-time ago. LOL! I was too embarrassed to photograph it though, because the resto was full of people and I would have to disturb some diners to take a photo of it.

Photo taken along the main street of Dartmouth where Molly's is located, while we were waiting to be seated at the restaurant.

This one is the decor-style inside Molly's - authentic and historic. Another plaque read, "If you came with a reservation, you are in the wrong place."

It was supposed to be a hot summer weekend and we were advised to be ready with fans and hats, as well as flat shoes for the uneven ground in the Dartmouth Green where the graduation was to be held. But it turned out to be a rainy weekend and many people were unprepared. The umbrellas and plastic ponchos sold like hotcakes in the Dartmouth Co-op the next day, Saturday.

It was really rainy and we got lost in the campus looking for the venue for our son’s Class Day function. Our younger daughter got tired of walking and we were getting wet, so, we went back to our dorm. Then  my husband went out on his own, too, found the place, albeit late, and was able to attend it with our graduating son. I read the speaker’s speech for that occasion later in Dartmouth’s website and I think it has a lot of practical wisdom not only for our son and young people in general, but for me and my generation as well! You can read it here.

Of course, that weekend, the advice for the graduation ceremonies attire changed to raincoats, hats and umbrellas.

That's how bad the weather was that weekend.

In the evening the rain let off at least for a while and we had dinner in an Indian restaurant that night, our son’s favourite on campus. He said the food they serve is very much like the food at the Mamak coffee shops he goes to in Malaysia. Meaning, it’s the closest to Malaysian food he can find on campus. We didn’t have reservations, so the only place they had available for us was at the veranda. If we could risk getting rained on, they didn’t mind serving us dinner there. So, that’s what we did but they had to wipe all the tables and chairs dry and open up the parasols so we wouldn’t get drenched in case it rained again.

We forgot to order shots for our son to be taken by the official photographers at the graduation ceremony, so, we had hoped that we could get seats close enough to the stage. The graduation was starting at 9:30 am on that Sunday morning (12^th June) and we were there at 8:50. There were still many empty seats but people have “reserved” them by placing pieces of plastic, paper, bags, etc. They had informed us earlier that “reserving” seats would be prohibited during the graduation ceremonies, that people would be seated on a first-come-first-served basis, but surprise, surprise! Dartmouth is no different from the rest of the world – people still “reserved” seats for their family / friends. It was good we could still grab some chairs on a stack on a side of the Green because the people who came later than us had no chairs even to sit on. :) So, gone was our chance to take a photo of our son on stage. We would probably be able to get a glimpse of him on the big screen, that’s all.

There were 9 conferees of honorary degrees in that commencement exercises and former president George W. Bush Sr. was one of them. He came in a wheelchair. Another one was Conan O’Brien, host of a late-night cable tv show.  He also gave the commencement address and it was very humorous. You may read it here.

All I could get of George W. Bush Sr. was a shot from the giant screen.The building at the back is the Webster Hall named after the prominent Dartmouth alumnus, Daniel Webster, a statesman and also of the Dictionary fame.

This is the only photo I got of my son in the few seconds that he was on stage. He’s the guy coming down the middle of the stairs.

The following are some family photos.

There was a reception after the graduation in one of the school cafeterias (free food) and so we had lunch there. Our son and my husband finished packing up his things after lunch and we left Dartmouth at 5pm. We arrived home half-past midnight.

A Beach in Wellington

I was looking at my old photos and I found some taken on our trip to Wellington in January 2010. I needed to get a new passport and our embassy in NZ is located in Wellington. There is a Philippines consulate in Auckland but they weren’t doing the “machine-readable” upgraded passport version, so, we had to make the trip all the way to Wellington. As well, we also went to the Malaysian Embassy there to update our children’s ICs.

I remember it was a long trip, like 8 hours by car and we broke our trip in Wanganui - can’t recall exactly where, as we didn’t take photos at that place - to rest for the night. It was a backpackers’ lodge and it looks like it was Tamara Lodge overlooking Whanganui River. We arrived late at night and picked up food at a petrol station in a small town on the way there. It's funny because we always thought we could find McDonald's or KFC in every town we passed by but we were wrong. I think we ate sandwiches and meat pies and the latter was a bit salty. But we survived the night. We didn't really get to see much of the place as we arrived so late and tired. We also had to leave early the next day as it was still roughly another 2-3 hours  of drive from there to Wellington. We had stayed at the Bamber’s House backpackers’ lodge in Auckland when we first moved to NZ, while we waited for our container to be delivered to the house we were to rent in Westgate. So, we kind of got the hang of staying in backpackers’ lodges, though in Asia, we usually stayed in hotels. One of the things we found out on our short stay in NZ is that staying in a hotel there is just too expensive.

A most memorable part of that trip to Wellington was the way we got to the Malaysian Embassy on time the following day. When we got to Wellington, we had the map to the embassy but somehow we kept missing the turn to the road getting there. The place was hilly and there were so many small roads intertwined, after a while of driving around, we knew we were just lost. And time was running out on us as the business hours were short. They closed something like at mid-day, probably because it was a Friday (?) and they were observing the traditional closing hours for the employees to go to the mosque. We were frantically praying and finally, we saw somebody who just got out of her house go into her car. We stopped and talked with her and she said we're very near the embassy but it's really tricky getting there. But she was also on her way out so she said she could lead us going there. So, that's what we did. So, God gave us an "angel" to bring us to the embassy on time! Woot! That was another memorable answered prayer for me. God is so good! After that we still had time to go to the Philippines Embassy as well to have my own business done. They wouldn't accept my passport-sized photo but insisted we should have a photo of me taken at their "official" photographer which is the instant photo machine at a pharmacy in their neighborhood. So, we went out there and had my photo taken and then we were able to finish that passport renewal application. To think we put in a lot of effort to make that blue-background passport photo done at home in Auckland. The children's photos were accepted by the Malaysian Embassy but not the Philippines Embassy.

After we got our business done in Wellington, we drove to a backpackers’ lodge in a place called Paekakariki, which is about 45 minutes from Wellington. We stayed there for two nights.  (We went back to Wellington the next day to see the Te Papa Museum and also the Mount Victoria Lookout.) It was quite a chore climbing up the steps, something like 45 steps (?) up to the location, but when you get up there, wow, the view!! The place was called Paekakariki Backpackers but now it seems they have renamed it to Hilltop Hideaway.



A beach is always beautiful, I guess. But because you view it from a hilltop it becomes really awesome, both the view and the feel of it. Our family (then 5 of us) occupied one whole room which was really for 6, so, we didn’t have to share with other people. But we had to share the house with other traveling folks, some of them tourists from other countries, some with babies and young kids, a couple were retirees just moving from place to place in NZ. We could actually pick up mussels from the beach, as it was mussel season, but we didn’t know. We found out about it only when we saw the elderly couple there cooking some mussels in wine, in the common kitchen, and then having them for dinner on the deck. They told us they collected those from the beach! We thought that was really cool. :)

The view at dusk.

The view at breakfast.

The sundeck where you can enjoy the view while enjoying your own home-cooked meal.

View of the greenery around.

The hill towards the back of the house.

A view of the house from the outside.

More of the water.

The dining cum lounging room.

View of the dining room from the kitchen.

Still part of the living room.

That's my younger daughter.

We played cards after dinner on that dining table. :)

I guess part of the memories is that I can see my children evolving. Our younger son used to play cards a lot around that time, now it's all just computer!! :(

We had great food that we cooked in the kitchen, too. bwahaaa!! - fried eggs! I don't know why but my older daughter loves to take photos such as this. These are mostly her photos, actually.

They have a computer too, to which we can take turns going online. We, of course, used it mainly for checking emails only.

So we got fantastic views of the skies, something I really miss about NZ.

And more views of the water.

But I guess the main attraction for the kids was the dog.

Because we were missing our own dog left in Malaysia.

This is the real beach below where you can pick / dig up for mussels. It wasn't that spectacular but it was natural.

And there are places where you can also sit close to the beach and just enjoy the feel of it.

So there, Paekakariki! :)

Suddenly Summer

It’s suddenly Summer here in Queens, NY and it’s really surprising. As late as February we were still operating our central heating full-blast and there was still snow on the ground. Spring came quite suddenly when the trees sprouted overnight after a day or two of rain sometime in March and we had beautiful intermittent blooms in trees, grass and bushes (I don’t know the name of the trees!),  with colors mostly in white, pinks, reds and purples. And then suddenly it’s hot, humid Summer! Now we have started using the aircon instead of the heater. Just when we thought we can save on heating bills, now it’s cooling charges. Haha!

 Our house in Winter.

 Our house in Spring.

Our house this Summer. How the colours have changed within a few months!

It never gets this hot in Auckland, as far as I can recall, but we had no aircon in our house then, so, Summer in Auckland was quite tough. We also had lots of flies coming in because our windows had no netting. So, despite the extreme weather here, looks like the houses are better-built  and indoor life would be more comfortable than in mild-weather Auckland.

We’ve settled in quite a bit more now and we can’t help but compare a lot of things in the different places we’ve lived in. So, how does it compare?

                                            Auckland             Tokyo        K. Lumpur                         New York

Winter Weather                    Mild                Cold             N.A.                                 Very Cold

Heating  / Insulation             OK          Less Than OK       N.A.                                Excellent

Summer Weather                 Mild           Hot, Humid       Hot, Humid                  Hot, Humid

Cooling System                N.A.A.            N.A.A.                Quite Common             Common      

Food Costs                          High             Highest              Lowest                              Low

School Lunches           Less Healthy     Healthy           Less Healthy                      Least Healthy
Health Food             Easy to Find        Expensive        Easy to Find                   Not Easy to Find

Public Transport        Least Efficient   Most Efficient   Least Efficient                  Efficient

Clothes, Quality          Less Choices     More Choices    Most Choices                 Less Choices   

Health Care Provided         Good                Good            None                               Best  

First Language            Kiwi English       Japanese          Malay                            American English                

Second Language        Maori          practically none     English                          Spanish                                          

N.A. – not applicable

N.A.A. – not always available

Just trying to make a quick-glance comparison of the places we’ve lived in. I didn't think of including Singapore because it is quite similar to K. Lumpur in terms of weather. So, yeah, though the weather here is harsher than in Auckland we feel more comfortable, as long as we stay indoors, because of their better insulated/heated/cooled houses here. Food here is quite reasonably-priced, if you know where to go, especially Chinese “eat-out”, and they taste better too, than the Chinese “eat-out” in Auckland. There’s a big Oriental population here (Chinese, Korean, Filipino and other Asian) so, Oriental food is readily available, has a lot of variety and competitively-priced. As for school lunches, my younger son said he thought the food at his school in Auckland was junk (mostly sausages, pizza and meat pies) but then he said they taste really good (potato-topped beef pie was his favourite)! Whereas, here in New York, he says  the food in his school is really junk (mostly chicken nuggets and fries) and they taste awful, too! My younger daughter doesn’t even touch her school lunch, she still sticks to her salad lunch box which I pack for her from home. My younger son misses the Kiwi meat pies a lot and the only one, a frozen version, I can find in our local supermarket is not up to mark for him. It doesn't taste as good. :( And I haven't seen any potato-topped ones at all.

As for Health Food I find that it's readily available in Auckland. You can find vitamins, organic food, granolas and whole cereals, fruit juices ( a wide variety of them!!) off the shelves of your local supermarket. Here in New York you have to hunt for most of these items in a health food shop. Most of the food they sell in the common supermarkets are highly processed food. I get the feeling people here love highly processed, sugary and / or salty convenience food which easily can be classified as junk. Compared to K. Lumpur, Auckland has definitely more healthy food and vitamins readily available, and also cheaper. In Tokyo, everything is more expensive than in most parts of the world and that includes health food, too.

The bus and subway system here is also quite good, except that there aren’t enough buses running in certain routes and the buses hardly follow their posted schedules. But then again, in Auckland, sometimes bus services just disappear, even without prior notice, or buses simply don’t turn up at all, for unknown reasons. Their bus system is still unreliable, probably because of lack in commuter volumes. Of course, the best in public transport system would be Japan. Their buses and trains always come on time, just as predictable as the Japanese  people’s  behavior is, largely, when it comes to public protocols. It’s mostly due to their culture of discipline and excellent organization / automation.  In that sense, Singapore’s public transport comes close to that of Japan’s, too.

 There is so much diversity in population (Caucasian, African, Hispanic, Asian, Greek, Italian, etc.) here such that even for Medical , Dental and Optical care, one can have the option of visiting the health professionals of his / her own ethnic group. It’s very interesting. Thus, even if you speak only your own language, e.g. Chinese, Spanish, Greek, you can survive by doing business only with your own people group. The population of each ethnic group is big enough to be a community or economy of its own.  It is really interesting. You can easily disappear into your own microcosm. And a major discovery we had a few weeks into moving here is that America has a second language(!) and it’s called Spanish. Public signs often have Spanish versions and forms for filling up always have Spanish translations. This surprise is similar to the surprise we got when we moved to Auckland: NZ is more diverse than we thought. Before we moved there we always thought NZ is made up of mostly Caucasians when in fact their people and culture is very much diverse. The student population in the school my younger daughter first attended, for instance, was 80% coloured (made up of Pacific Islanders, Maoris, Asians, etc.) and only 20% Caucasian. The staff make-up was the other way around though - 80% Caucasian and 20% coloured. That was a kind of shock for us. But then again this may be true only in West Auckland or Auckland in general, or even the North Island. The South Island is "another kind of NZ" yet again. The Maori and Pacific Islander cultures are very similar to the more popular Polynesian culture I know which is Hawaiian. Their dances, songs and languages are so similar to that of Hawaiian and they use flowers a lot in their cultural activities, too. Thus, I get the feeling that NZ is a kind of "British Hawaii".  I have never thought of New Zealand that way before. This also makes me realize that we Asians of Malay stock - Filipinos, Indonesians and Malaysians (the Malay race) - have cultures similar to Polynesians, too. I was thrilled to hear some Maori words similar to that of the Filipino languages.

As for the Health Care provided by the Government, in New Zealand they cover only for the medical costs, in Japan they cover both medical and dental costs and here in New York they cover medical, dental and even optical care! (I heard it’s not necessarily the same in other States in the US, though.) So, New York is really tops, whereas in Malaysia, the government doesn’t cover any health insurance at all for its citizens. Everyone has to pay out of his own pocket or buy his own private health insurance.

Well, these are just some of the comparisons I can think of off-hand but I better stop rattling on. Many people might find my opinions and observations offensive, but then this is my blog and my statements are just a matter of personal opinion and observation, which are not backed by statistics or thorough research. So, please do bear that in mind, if you, my reader, would care to quote me. :)

So, back to the Summer heat here in Bayside. Yeah, looks like Summer in New York is going to be sweltering-hot but the heat makes everything green and beautiful!

Now I get to go for a walk in the morning, it's warm enough for walks!

These are photos of a generic and random apartment building in our neighborhood and I find the lamps are still on shortly before 8am. I thought it's pretty.

Yeah, still the same apartment block. Then, I turned around to take a photo of another lamp still lighted on the other side of the road...

...only to find a senior citizen had come out from the house next to that house with the lighted lamp, and was looking at me, suspicious and cross, probably for taking these last three photos. So, I pretended taking a photo of the tree / sky instead and got this shot. :(

I went on pretending to take photos of the grass as well, but hey, this turned out to be my best photo so far of a dying dandelion. Perfect!

I walked on and discovered this: A bird sitting on her eggs on a nest in a tree in someone's front yard. Funny, I grew up in a small farming town in the Philippines, have lived in "100% Pure and Natural New Zealand", have lived in a farming area in Tsukuba, Japan, but this is the first time I actually see a bird sitting on her eggs in its natural habitat - in the suburban city of Bayside, New York! (Well, actually, there was once a bird nest on the tree at the back of our townhouse when we first moved into it in suburban Kuala Lumpur but the eggs had already hatched and we only saw the mother bird feeding her birdies in it.) Can you see the bird in the pic below? It's facing backwards to the camera and its tummy is colored reddish. It's on the right middle side of the photo. I couldn't come closer as I didn't want to disturb it.

I walked further and saw this just-rained-on Rhododendron in bloom (not sure if that's how you call this plant).

This one is detail of a Red Maple (?) in bloom.

Two days later I walked past there again and the eggs in the nest have hatched! The mother bird was gone and  I spied on the birdies so I suspected she must be not too far away looking for food. True enough, I caught her rummaging for worms on this green road-divider. (Click on the photo twice so you can see her in the bottom middle of the pic.)

This one is another Rhododendron in a neighbor's front yard.

A Summer white bloom. This one is in front of someone's gate next to a bus stop. I saw lots of Spring white blooms here in Bayside but there are more blooming even now in Summer. What is it about "white" here? It seems people here love white flowers. I have seen white peonies, too, besides the pink ones. Well, I for one, love "white and green," anytime. :)

Detail of the same white bloom.

A "white tree" in Summer in the front yard of the church near our house. (It seems to have been left behind by the "white trees" which bloomed in Spring along that same road.)

This one's a budding rose bush - red rose! I looked forward to it going in full bloom so I can photograph it but alas, this morning, it's totally gone! The owner is renovating his driveway and totally annihilated this poor beauty! So, there goes the promising red rose bush of Summer. I guess Summer here also means Renovations. :) (The roses here are mostly red, and small-sized, unlike the very colorful and huge ones I have seen in Auckland.)

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July 6, 2011, 9:58am - Lately, my older daughter took a photo of a bird she saw in our neighborhood and it looks exactly like the bird I saw sitting on that nest above. I do not know what this bird is called.

Mother's Day 2011

Well, it's Mother's Day, so, it's my day!!! Yayayayay!!!! ;D

How did I celebrate it? I went to church. I was late because I had to attend to my younger daughter before I could go, so, I decided to go to another church where their service starts much later. I had to take the bus but it's a very short ride and the weather is wonderfully sunny / cloudy and cool today, so, I had a pleasant outing. I had seen the sign to that church and their service time whenever the bus passes by there, for a long while already, but I was puzzled as to where the church building is because the sign is located right in front of a Jewish Temple, yeah, a synagogue. But lately I realized that here in NYC, to defray the costs of maintaining a church building, congregations usually share their building or rent it out for certain times / days, to other congregations. That explains why there is a sign for a Korean church right in front of this Baptist church in our neighborhood. Then I realized, maybe this particular Christian church I want to visit is actually using the Jewish synagogue building for their Sunday worship. So, I just went there and I was right!

It turned out to be a Presbyterian congregation. Umm, a very typical one - really solemn, orderly, and subdued. Even the drum-tapping of the drummer at singing time was measured and nobody raises hands or sways as we sang. I was member of a Presbyterian church before so I wasn't new to this. The message was very timely though. It was simple, refreshing and plain, un-embellished preaching of the word of God on sin. They had communion and I had the feeling they have it every service and I think that's really good. They also honored all moms, everyone's mom, in a very simple but meaningful way. The pastor asked that we think of our moms, wherever she may be, and we honor them by clapping our hands – applause for all the good that they are / have been to us. I have been to many churches, different denominations, in many places, and I have seen so many ways moms have been honored – with presents, with flowers, with preaching on the topic of moms, with prayers at the altar, with public acknowledgment (by making every mom in the room stand) as everyone clapped, etc. This one's the most simple and among the most meaningful, I think. The pastor was Korean and everyone (!), except for one Caucasian lady, in the room was Korean, although the service was totally in English. He invited everyone for a fellowship over cupcakes after the service but I was feeling so out-of-place I decided to exit and go straight home instead.

When I got home I went online and found that Ptr. David Wilkerson's devotion page had been updated. His son Gary Wilkerson has continued posting his writings, both published and unpublished, and I am so blessed by that. The two most recent posts talk so much of the same topic as the Korean pastor above did: Sin and failure. Coincidence? That actually reminds me of the first book I read of David Wilkerson's, when I was a new Christian and still finding my way through my new life as a Christian. The book was, "Have You Felt Like Giving Up Lately?" It was written for people struggling with drugs, alcohol and whatever sin they were entangled in. The book was very helpful to me, especially that nobody actually shared the Gospel with me – I kind of understood it only as I read that book. It was only much later, some years later when I was already married, that I read his most popular book, "The Cross and the Switchblade." Meanwhile, I quote here in full, these two powerful devotional entries posted in his page, emphasis mine:

GOD'S GOAL FOR US IS PEACE AND REST

by David Wilkerson | May 5, 2011

"God's ultimate goal for all his children is abundant life. He never intended that we go through life focused on our sins and failures. The good news is that we serve a God of absolute love—a God of mercies who desires to bring his beloved ones into a place high above all turmoil. But we cannot take our place, seated with Christ in the heavenlies, until we are fully identified with his death and resurrection.

There can be no breakthrough into ascension life without experiencing death at the cross. The Holy Spirit has put within us a knowledge that we can never truly live until we truly die. We seem to know we have a date with death, a destiny relating to the cross of Christ.

Take a good look at where we are, with all our fears, emptiness, loneliness, failures, and compromising with sin. Consider how little of the Lord's promised peace we really possess. We have come up far short of what we know an overcoming Christian should be, yet we know God's Word speaks clearly of victory, peace, and freedom from sin's dominion. We have seen some who have broken through to that beautiful life of assurance and would like to ask: How did you arrive at such victory? And then we wonder how we can break through.

The Holy Spirit must bring us to the cross and make us face the reality of dying to the world and sin. The moment we begin to seek the Lord diligently with a desire to be under his lordship in all things, we will be irresistibly drawn by the Spirit. We will be brought to the end of ourselves, stripped, weakened, and without confidence in our flesh.

I am convinced the Holy Spirit is bringing his church back to the glorious truths of identification with Christ in death, resurrection, and ascension life.
Death can be very frightening, especially if you cannot see the glory on the other side of it. But he assures us of his everlasting love, in spite of our failures, and gives us peace and the joy and hope of his resurrection life."

BE STILL AND KNOW

by David Wilkerson | May 6, 2011

"After the Word tells us that it is God who makes wars to cease, this is added: 'Be still and know that I am God...' (Psalm 46:10).

The Hebrew word for "still" is raphah, which means to cease; let alone; become weak, feeble. It is from the root rapha, which means to mend and be made thoroughly whole by the hand of a physician.

How thoroughly consistent the Word of God is. He makes wars to cease and until he finishes his work, we are to cease our self-righteous efforts, trust everything into his hands, confess our weaknesses and feebleness, and trust our future and restoration into the hands of Christ, our Great Physician.

Loving believer, is your inner conflict tearing you apart? You may be buffeted by Satan, but he cannot hurt or destroy you. Most likely you are being stripped down in preparation for a deeper revelation of the cross so you can be made ready for greater service for God.

You are like Peter, who was stripped of everything before going to Pentecost. See this great man of God wandering aimlessly over the Judean hills—at rock bottom. Peter once walked on water and helped feed multitudes miraculously. He experienced the actual glory of God and was a blessed, prominent, useful, Christ-loved servant. But he sinned grievously, failing the Lord as few others did, and afterward, he wept and grieved, thinking he had lost his salvation and his ministry.

"What is wrong with me?" he must have asked himself over and again. "Why did I have no power or strength when tempted? Why no moral reserves—no will to resist the enemy? Why did I have to be the one to fall? How could a man of God do such a horrendous thing to his Lord? How could I have preached to others when I have no power in a crisis?"

God did not cause Peter's failure, but great good came out of it. It was a part of the stripping of God's man—permitted to reveal what was rooted deep in the inner man. Only failure could expose the pride and self-sufficiency. Failure broke Peter down and revealed to him his need for absolute dependence on his Lord for everything, including his purity and righteousness.

It is in the shadow of the cross that we endure our greatest temptation and failures and then break through to resurrection!"

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What glorious, life-giving messages. As we meditate on them today, let's not forget to greet our moms, " Happy Mother's Day"! :-)

Rev. David Wilkerson Goes Home

Yesterday I posted a link in my MySpace profile on the news that said Rev. David Wilkerson was killed in a head-on car collision the other day, 27th April 2011, in Texas. I am disappointed that MySpace profile stream no longer supports links on news reports as it used to. Thus, I write this note instead.

Rev. David Wilkerson Killed in TX Car Crash

Pastor David Wilkerson founded Teen Challenge which later became World Challenge, a ministry that helps rehabilitate drug addicts and bring them to a saving knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ, in the '60s. He's also the author of the famous book, "The Cross and the Switchblade" which tells of the saga of his ministry which started with the gangs in the streets of New York. He also founded The Times Square Church. I thought now that we're in New York I will be able to visit that church but so far have not been able to. It's quite far from where we live and I will have to get up early to probably catch their morning service. And with my younger daughter's current "illness" I am not sure actually when I would be able to do that. Apparently, he and his wife have already retired and gone back to their home state of Texas and they have passed on the baton of the Times Square Church to younger pastors.

I am most impressed by his obedience to the Lord on his call to reach out to the underprivileged teenagers in the inner city of New York, especially those caught in the vicious cycle of poverty and drug addiction. He was a very skinny and young country pastor called by God to the glitzy city of New York. He didn't have much money and he knew nobody in New York. He only proceeded as the Holy Spirit led him, based on an article he read in LIFE magazine about a teenager who was facing criminal charges in New York. His love for those teenagers won them over to the Lord. His was a story of daring, raw faith and true love.

In memory of this genuine man of God who impacted my generation, I quote in full here his last blog "When All Means Fail." I believe it has a timely message for all of us, emphasis mine:


WHEN ALL MEANS FAIL by David Wilkerson, April 27, 2011

To believe when all means fail is exceedingly pleasing to God and is most acceptable. Jesus said to Thomas, "You have believed because you have seen, but blessed are those that do believe and have not seen" (John 20:29).

Blessed are those who believe when there is no evidence of an answer to prayer—who trust beyond hope when all means have failed.

Someone has come to the place of hopelessness—the end of hope—the end of all means. A loved one is facing death and doctors give no hope. Death seems inevitable. Hope is gone. The miracle prayed for is not happening.

That is when Satan's hordes come to attack your mind with fear, anger, overwhelming questions: "Where is your God now? You prayed until you had no tears left. You fasted. You stood on promises. You trusted."

Blasphemous thoughts will be injected into your mind: "Prayer failed. Faith failed. Don't quit on God—just do not trust him anymore. It doesn't pay!"

Even questioning God's existence will be injected into your mind. These have been the devices of Satan for centuries. Some of the godliest men and women who ever lived were under such demonic attacks.

To those going through the valley and shadow of death, hear this word: Weeping will last through some dark, awful nights—and in that darkness you will soon hear the Father whisper, "I am with you. I cannot tell you why right now, but one day it will all make sense. You will see it was all part of my plan. It was no accident. It was no failure on your part. Hold fast. Let me embrace you in your hour of pain."

Beloved, God has never failed to act but in goodness and love. When all means fail—his love prevails. Hold fast to your faith. Stand fast in his Word. There is no other hope in this world.


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May his final sermon bring a challenge and charge to our own lives. The Lord bless you, my dear friends!