Life is Unfathomable. Therefore Choose Life.

Water to Wine; Chrysenthenum Tea to Champagne?

Some days, you're just toodle-ing along, humming to yourself, comfy and satisfied with life etc, then a door appears as you trot by. You slow down, to hear the also-recently-apparated door-keeper say,"Come in, come through here". You peer gingerly through the doorway and a path of hitherto unthought-of possibilities yawns before you; a road of the undreamed and uncertain. You will leave friends and companions behind if you choose to go this way. The only thing you know is that it ostensibly concludes at your original destination.

Then, you are thankful for the Word in season, as it is in all seasons.

Cast your bread upon the waters,
for you will find it after many days.
Give a portion to seven, or even to eight,
for you know not what disaster may happen on earth.
If the clouds are full of rain,
they empty themselves on the earth,
and if a tree falls to the south or to the north,
in the place where the tree falls, there it will lie.
He who observes the wind will not sow,
and he who regards the clouds will not reap.

As you do not know the way the spirit comes to the bones in the womb of a woman with child, so you do not know the work of God who makes everything.

In the morning sow your seed, and at evening withhold not your hand, for you do not know which will prosper, this or that, or whether both alike will be good. (Ecclesiastes 11:1-6)

Thankful that you can live by faith, knowing that you are a creature completely dependent on your Creator; knowing that your Creator controls all things even the hairs on your head; knowing that such a powerful person cares for you, working everything for your good, and so knowing, can take risks and not be paralysed by the unknown. (And frankly, all outcomes are ultimately unknown.)

Ricotta Tart

Thankful that you call as Father the one who gave you good things, that you may not worship the good things themselves for you know that only your Father sees and dictates the future, not your genes, your IQ and EQ, your family and friends, your exam grades, nor your CV (Isaiah 45:1-48:22; Charlie Skrine - The Lord of Time).

Light is sweet, and it is pleasant for the eyes to see the sun.

So if a person lives many years, let him rejoice in them all; but let him remember that the days of darkness will be many. All that comes is vanity.

Rejoice, O young man, in your youth, and let your heart cheer you in the days of your youth. Walk in the ways of your heart and the sight of your eyes. But know that for all these things God will bring you into judgment.

Remove vexation from your heart, and put away pain from your body, for youth and the dawn of life are vanity.

Remember also your Creator in the days of your youth, before the evil days come and the years draw near of which you will say, "I have no pleasure in them"; before the sun and the light and the moon and the stars are darkened and the clouds return after the rain, in the day when the keepers of the house tremble, and the strong men are bent, and the grinders cease because they are few, and those who look through the windows are dimmed, and the doors on the street are shut — when the sound of the grinding is low, and one rises up at the sound of a bird, and all the daughters of song are brought low — they are afraid also of what is high, and terrors are in the way; the almond tree blossoms, the grasshopper drags itself along, and desire fails, because man is going to his eternal home, and the mourners go about the streets — before the silver cord is snapped, or the golden bowl is broken, or the pitcher is shattered at the fountain, or the wheel broken at the cistern, and the dust returns to the earth as it was, and the spirit returns to God who gave it. Vanity of vanities, says the Preacher; all is vanity. (Ecclesiastes 11:7-12:8)

Thankful that you can drink life to the lees and wring maximum enjoyment from God's fantastic creation, knowing that the days will come when you will no longer find any pleasure in them.

Aubergine cheesecake

Besides being wise, the Preacher also taught the people knowledge, weighing and studying and arranging many proverbs with great care. The Preacher sought to find words of delight, and uprightly he wrote words of truth.

The words of the wise are like goads, and like nails firmly fixed are the collected sayings; they are given by one Shepherd. My son, beware of anything beyond these. Of making many books there is no end, and much study is a weariness of the flesh.

The end of the matter; all has been heard. Fear God and keep his commandments, for this is the whole duty of man. For God will bring every deed into judgment, with every secret thing, whether good or evil. (Ecclesiastes 12:9-14)

Thankful that there is some order in the world so that there is a wise and a foolish way to live, but knowing the reality that bad things will happen even to the wise man, that life will sometimes be unfathomable, that all achievement will end with death, that our existence and the things we do are a vanity.

Thankful that God has frustrated our attempts to understand everything, so that we do not think that we ourselves are god, that we will fear him. Thankful that the ultimate wisdom is that, in knowing this, we do not waste our lives in futile and arrogant thought and research, attempting to solve the unsolvable. Rather, we can spend our energies doing what he created us to do - fear him and keep his commandments, for one day he will ask us to give an accounting for what we did while still alive.

In other words, thankful for the opportunity to choose life (Deuteronomy 30; Andrew Ong - The choice is yours - Make the right choice and choose the good life).

The Futile But Surprising Satisfaction of Pathetic Pocket Guitar Riffs In Light of the Fall

The lemurs tend to obsess alot about electric guitar riffs. Alot. At full volume, on repeat - not on the merits of the song in its entirety but just to listen again and again and again to those riffs. The first bit of the opening riff of Guns N' Roses' Sweet Child of Mine is a prime example.

Thanks to the Great Leveller (second only to Death?!), the iPhone, have managed to exorcise this in some measure with the Pocket Guitar purchased today. We peasants make do with S$0.99 apps for "gullible dummies".

etc etc

No, this pathetic attempt (ie. the first, erm, 7 seconds) will not improve with practice, but we can do no better than milk satisfaction from whatever dry wrinkled cow of talent has been bestowed upon us.

Much has already been made about the realistic observations in Ecclesiastes of the seeming temporality, meaninglessness, valuelessness, lack of significance of our lives and how ultimate meaning, value and significance and permanence is found only in relationship with God. But it only really hit home when we were reading Deuteronomy 28 that all the futility of life is truly both a "natural" consequence of our decision to rebel against God and his created order and also a curse from God for our refusal to acknowledge him as God.

Life as described in Ecclesiastes and as we experience it, is not that far off from the curses Moses warned would befall Israel if they disobeyed their loving and already patient God, eg:

...if you will not obey the voice of the LORD your God or be careful to do all his commandments and his statutes that I command you today, then all these curses shall come upon you and overtake you... The LORD will strike you with madness and blindness and confusion of mind, and you shall grope at noonday, as the blind grope in darkness, and you shall not prosper in your ways. And you shall be only oppressed and robbed continually, and there shall be no one to help you. You shall betroth a wife, but another man shall ravish her. You shall build a house, but you shall not dwell in it. You shall plant a vineyard, but you shall not enjoy its fruit. Your ox shall be slaughtered before your eyes, but you shall not eat any of it. Your donkey shall be seized before your face, but shall not be restored to you. Your sheep shall be given to your enemies, but there shall be no one to help you. Your sons and your daughters shall be given to another people, while your eyes look on and fail with longing for them all day long, but you shall be helpless. A nation that you have not known shall eat up the fruit of your ground and of all your labours, and you shall be only oppressed and crushed continually, so that you are driven mad by the sights that your eyes see...

...The LORD will bring you and your king whom you set over you to a nation that neither you nor your fathers have known. And there you shall serve other gods of wood and stone. And you shall become a horror, a proverb, and a byword among all the peoples where the LORD will lead you away. You shall carry much seed into the field and shall gather in little, for the locust shall consume it. You shall plant vineyards and dress them, but you shall neither drink of the wine nor gather the grapes, for the worm shall eat them. You shall have olive trees throughout all your territory, but you shall not anoint yourself with the oil, for your olives shall drop off. You shall father sons and daughters, but they shall not be yours, for they shall go into captivity. The cricket shall possess all your trees and the fruit of your ground...

Perhaps our surprise at the injustice, oppression and lack of satisfaction in the world is uncalled for. Rather we should be flabbergasted that even though we rebelled (and continue to rebel) against God, he has continued to allow us to enjoy so many good things in the short spell of our wretched existence - relationships, food, drink, work!, music...

(Hmm. The solo outro for November Rain's next perhaps, so we can have some peace and quiet around here. Though "nothing lasts forever in the cold November rain.")

P.S. The Rend Collective Experiment makes far better and competent use of those .99 apps (HT: Alto):



Ecclesiastes
Easter Everyday
Quest for Immortality: EPIC FAIL (Ecclesiastes 1:1-15)
Life is Vapour, Therefore Enjoy Life (Ecclesiastes 2:1-3:15)
Life is Far Worse than an iPhone Game, Therefore Harvest the Day! (Ecclesiastes 3:16-5:7)
Rawa Island and Godly Contentment (Ecclesiastes 5:8 - 6:9)
Fallen Frangipani, Really Wise Living (Ecclesiastes 6:10-7:29)

Fallen Frangipani, Really Wise Living (Ecclesiastes 6:10-7:29)

Fallen Frangipani. iPhone + SwankoLab

After the wake, we sat at Lavender Food Centre, ate and drank and spoke about alternate realities - what could have been; what if... But such talk was foolish, as foolish as believing that the right ingestion of antioxidants will prevent cancerous growths or that intellectual stimulation and a healthy social life will stave off Alzhimer's or that a certain style of parenting will produce a certain type of child or that following baking instructions to the letter will produce the desired confection; as arrogantly foolish as believing that science, mathematics, philosophy, psychology or one's pet subject will with a little more research, allow humans to find out everything about the world and so control their destinies.

Whatever has come to be has already been named, and it is known what man is, and that he is not able to dispute with one stronger than he. The more words, the more vanity, and what is the advantage to man? For who knows what is good for man while he lives the few days of his vain life, which he passes like a shadow? For who can tell man what will be after him under the sun? (Ecclesiastes 6:10-12)

What has happened has been determined by God (naming something means having authority over it - cf Genesis 2:19-20). God is sovereign all things and has ordained the present to be exactly as it is. We may disagree with how he has ordered it, but who are we to dispute with God who is more powerful than us - do we even know how to live well in the short time that we are given on earth? Do we know what will happen in the future? No? Well, then how silly to presume to tell God how to run his world.

Panasonic 3D ad, Vivocity. iPhone + SwankoLab.

A good name is better than precious ointment,
and the day of death than the day of birth.
It is better to go to the house of mourning
than to go to the house of feasting,
for this is the end of all mankind,
and the living will lay it to heart.
Sorrow is better than laughter,
for by sadness of face the heart is made glad.
The heart of the wise is in the house of mourning,
but the heart of fools is in the house of mirth.
It is better for a man to hear the rebuke of the wise
than to hear the song of fools.
For as the crackling of thorns under a pot,
so is the laughter of the fools;
this also is vanity.
Surely oppression drives the wise into madness,
and a bribe corrupts the heart.
Better is the end of a thing than its beginning,
and the patient in spirit is better than the proud in spirit.
Be not quick in your spirit to become angry,
for anger lodges in the bosom of fools.
Say not, "Why were the former days better than these?"
For it is not from wisdom that you ask this.
Wisdom is good with an inheritance,
an advantage to those who see the sun. (Ecclesiastes 7:1-11)

Still, it is advantageous to be wise during our fleeting lives: it is better to live knowing that death is certain, knowing the dangers of this world, having control over one's emotions, not looking back to the past with foolish nostalgia etc. Wisdom is useful while we still draw breath, for there is a certain order to the world.

For the protection of wisdom is like the protection of money,
and the advantage of knowledge is that wisdom preserves the life of him who has it. (Ecclesiastes 7:12)

Many will have us think that wisdom is better than crassness of money. In fairy tales, it is always the wise (but poor) lad who kills the dragons, solves the mysteries and wins the politically-incorrect prize over the filthy rich (but always foolish and morally degenerate and usually physically corpulent) man. But in reality, the protection of knowing how the world works and knowing what is right to do is equal to the protection afforded by money - useful but only up to a certain point.

Consider the work of God:
who can make straight what he has made crooked?

In the day of prosperity be joyful, and in the day of adversity consider: God has made the one as well as the other, so that man may not find out anything that will be after him. (Ecclesiastes 7:13-14)

Man will never be able to understand all things so that he knows how to navigate his way through life, because there is ultimately no set order to things, no universally certain cause-and-effect. God has made this so that man's search will be frustrated.

In my vain life I have seen everything. There is a righteous man who perishes in his righteousness, and there is a wicked man who prolongs his life in his evildoing. Be not overly righteous, and do not make yourself too wise. Why should you destroy yourself? Be not overly wicked, neither be a fool. Why should you die before your time? It is good that you should take hold of this, and from that withhold not your hand, for the one who fears God shall come out from both of them. (Ecclesiastes 7:15-18)

And so we observe that wisdom does not always produce the desired outcome. Things don't always go well for the righteous nor badly for the foolish. The practical conclusion then is not to trust either our wisdom or foolishness to see us through but rather to fear God who controls both good and bad outcomes.

Wisdom gives strength to the wise man more than ten rulers who are in a city.

Surely there is not a righteous man on earth who does good and never sins.

Do not take to heart all the things that people say, lest you hear your servant cursing you. Your heart knows that many times you yourself have cursed others. (Ecclesiastes 7:20-21)

And while wisdom is useful, its usefulness is also limited by the inability of even the wise to live rightly.

All this I have tested by wisdom. I said, "I will be wise," but it was far from me. That which has been is far off, and deep, very deep; who can find it out?

I turned my heart to know and to search out and to seek wisdom and the scheme of things, and to know the wickedness of folly and the foolishness that is madness. And I find something more bitter than death: the woman whose heart is snares and nets, and whose hands are fetters. He who pleases God escapes her, but the sinner is taken by her. Behold, this is what I found, says the Preacher, while adding one thing to another to find the scheme of things — which my soul has sought repeatedly, but I have not found. One man among a thousand I found, but a woman among all these I have not found. See, this alone I found, that God made man upright, but they have sought out many schemes. (Ecclesiastes 7:23-29)

The Qoholet searches long and hard can't find ultimate wisdom, but perhaps the very search for ultimate wisdom is foolishness that lands the intrepid searcher in the fatal embrace of Madame Folly (there is the suggestion that since Ecclesiastes is part of Hebrew wisdom literature, the two metaphors of that genre - Madam Folly and Lady Wisdom make their appearance here as well). For although God has made mankind wise (apparently "upright" is synonymous with "wise" in the Hebrew), he has sought to understand the scheme of things apart from God and so become a fool.

Ultimate wisdom, then, is found in God who is sovereign over all things - he alone orders the present and ordains the future. Therefore we should please him and obey him for only he can tell us how we should live our lives.

Death vs Man = ∞ vs 0

So Death claims another.

Sunshine after the storm. The last days of the MV Doulos. iPhone 3GS + SwankoLab

But in our minds, she is alive and animated, holding forth in a loud voice in the canteen on the merits of Madonna. She is rebellious. She is sassy and a natural leader. She is a school prefect with disdain for authority. She speaks her mind. She wears white-rimmed spectacles. She has brown floppy hair that she keeps pinned up with a clip. She has pale perfect skin.

She is laughing her cute laugh as she feeds a lamb from a bottle.

She takes the cats for walks on leashes.

She is just a long chatty phone-call away.

She loves her dog and smokes her ciggies with nonchalance.

She is no more. She walked out the window of her apartment. Her broken body lies within a closed coffin.

If time-travel were possible, if she were told how it would all end, she would have laughed. It could not be: she was strong, she had places to go and things to do. She would not have known there would be illnesses beyond the control of man.

Her husband's Facebook relationship status says: Single.

National Geographic Store Singapore. iPhone 3 GS + SwankoLab

As we all too die off one by one, there will be no memory of her ever existing. Her careful handwriting in autograph books will fade, her photos deleted, her possessions in the Salvation Army bin. There will be no remembrance of the joy she brought to some, nor of the consequences of her strongly-articulated opinions. Her love and her hate and her envy have already perished, and forever she has no more share in all that is done under the sun (Ecclesiastes 9:6). It will be as she never was.

As it will be for us all.

Perhaps in mourning her, we mourn for ourselves. But it need not be.

...he who is joined with all the living has hope, for a living dog is better than a dead lion. For the living know that they will die, but the dead know nothing, and they have no more reward, for the memory of them is forgotten. (Ecclesiastes 9:4-5)

Go, eat your bread with joy, and drink your wine with a merry heart, for God has already approved what you do.

Let your garments be always white. Let not oil be lacking on your head.

Enjoy life with the wife whom you love, all the days of your vain life that he has given you under the sun, because that is your portion in life and in your toil at which you toil under the sun. Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with your might, for there is no work or thought or knowledge or wisdom in Sheol, to which you are going. (Ecclesiastes 9:7-10)

Even though we are too shuffling along in the queue to the crematorium, we can enjoy life wholeheartedly, without bitter irony, because we know the One who has given us all these good things (cf Deuteronomy 8). He not only provides for us abundantly in the here and now, but he is the Eternal One - the only one who can and does remember us long after we are dust. Life is not meaningless and valueless; what we do and think and say counts because there will come a day when God will bring every deed into judgment, with every secret thing, whether good or evil (Ecclesiastes 12:14). And when we die, we die as ones with hope, going home to be with our Lord and our God, certain that He will raise us to life again never to die again (see 1 Corinthians 15), to enjoy his glory forever.

Rawa Island and Godly Contentment (Ecclesiastes 5:8 - 6:9)

Paradise island, if such taxonomy is applicable to Pulau Rawa (off Mersing in Johor, Malaysia), is replete with cliches:

palm-fringed powdery-white beaches, azure clear waters perfect for snorkelling and hovering over fish and coral, young girls with sarongs and hibiscus in their hair, deck chairs and blue-and-white striped beach towels, friendly dogs, tyre-swings hanging from coconut trees, and coconut oil-basted human flesh gently roasting in the sun...

Less than 4 hours after boarding the mini-bus from Singapore to Mersing and then a boat from Mersing, we checked-in at Rawa Safaris Island Resort, one of two resorts sharing the tiny island.

The nicest accommodation in Rawa Safaris Island Resort.

The nicest accommodation in Alang's Rawa (formerly Le Club - read more about Tunku Ibrahim Alang here).

Prettily situated amongst greenery teeming with butterflies (and welcoming clouds of mozzies) and sweet with bird-calls, the hillside huts at Rawa Safaris were basic - a bed, two rattan chairs, a rail for hanging clothes, airconditioning, one power socket and a bathroom with whimsical water pressure and a western toilet,

the expectation being that guests would be spending most of their time by the beach. And after filling up at the buffet breakfast, there was indeed energy enough for snorkelling, kayaking, jumping off jetties, and

travelling down the water slide in creative ways immediately imitated by a breathless bevy of kids, when they weren't having these sorts of conversations:

Boy: I've lived in China and I hate China.
Girl: Why?
Boy: China's really lame.
Girl (Chinese): How dare you!
Boy: Why, they don't even worship God!
[Cue: water fight]

All meals were provided buffet-style just a few steps from the beach so when it got too hot, we went in to lunch, dropping flippers and goggles and snorkels by the table and

noshing on very decent Western and Asian food while having teary talks about the faithfulness of Christian parents, the great privilege of growing up in a biological family of believers, the great and faithful work in Australian universities,

interrupted only by little French girls called Margaux singing long French songs.

After lunch, there was the choice of beach volleyball, or paddle ball in the water or frolicking with black-tipped sharks, then popping into the restaurant and bar at Alang's Rawa for snacks and cold beers

while lazily watching beagles chew up Havianas ("Someone should stop him" said J helpfully, before nestling into his folded arms for a snooze).

We topped that up with a takeaway smoothie for lying under the shade, reading a good book, discussing the theology of work and the possibility of tchoukball clinic evangelism before more afternoon napping.

After a leisurely wash-up, we sat and watched the gorgeous sunset before heading in to a barbecue ("Saturdays only") dinner.

Stuffed to the gills, a jetty stroll preceded drinks under the amazing vast canopy of stars and talk about conversions through Christmas parties, and some planning for the corporate future.

Money cannot buy the rare jewel of contentment, nor the ability to enjoy life. It is only in the context of our relationship with God that we can rejoice in the good things in life because we know they are gifts from God, just like (though much more than) a mixtape of songs put together by someone who loves you is far more enjoyable than the same songs compiled by iTunes' Genius:

• Because we know God, we can enjoy whatever wealth and possessions God has given us (Ecclesiastes 5:18-20), We can be satisfied and enjoy his good gifts without expecting or depending on these things themselves for satisfaction. After all, no one can ensure that one's riches will be secure - one bad business venture could bring the corporate mogul so far down he would not even be able to provide for his children (Ecclesiastes 5:13-16). If one relied on this for one's security, surely one would be always under a cloud of worry and when things went wrong, sick with anger (Ecclesiastes 5:17). In the end, there would be no enjoyment from all one's toil.
• Even if one's riches were intact, there would be no satisfaction from money. More cost outlay would be necessary to maintain one's growing possessions and in any case, there would never be enough money for the one who tries to find satisfaction in his wealth (Ecclesiastes 5:10-12). Money is inherently valueless but if one is otherwise deluded, one will amass more and more of it in the hope of gaining just some sliver of satisfaction.
  
• But the fact is that the very ability to enjoy wealth, possessions and honour is given by God (Ecclesiastes 6:1-2). A man with everything anyone could ever wish for but without the ability to enjoy these things is worse off than a stillborn child. He lives a wretched discontented life without ever finding satisfaction and then goes to his death still despairing (Ecclesiastes 6:3-6).
  

So the Qoholet strongly advises learning rightful contentment in life.

Q: Do we think ourselves fairly satisfied and content in life?
Q: What is the basis of our satisfaction in life? How would our first answer change if:

• we lose the ability to work?
• there is little result from all our hard work?
• our job causes us to lose the esteem of family and friends and the general public?
• our work does not suit what we think are our personality and talents?
  
• we find out that we are much more poorly paid than our peers and have fallen behind in our chosen career path?
  

May we give up all attempts to rest our love and hopes on something other than God, for that way lies a terrible life of vexation, cares, sleeplessness, despair and then death, because any object other than our Creator is ultimately empty, a vanity, vapour.

Ecclesiastes
Easter Everyday
Quest for Immortality: EPIC FAIL (Ecclesiastes 1:1-15)
Life is Vapour, Therefore Enjoy Life (Ecclesiastes 2:1-3:15)
Life is Far Worse than an iPhone Game, Therefore Harvest the Day! (Ecclesiastes 3:16-5:7)
Rawa Island and Godly Contentment (Ecclesiastes 5:8 - 6:9)
Fallen Frangipani, Really Wise Living (Ecclesiastes 6:10-7:29)