Ephesians 1:19-21

"and his incomparably great power for us who believe. That power is like the working of his mighty strength, which he exerted in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly realms, 2ar above all rule and authority, power and dominion, and every title that can be given, not only in the present age but also in the one to come."

i don't have much to share. but this verse helped me a lot when i was facing a spiritual attack about a month ago-- that the power that raised Christ from the dead is the power that is in me. i was and still am very much encouraged. in many things i fear, but what to say? i have Christ in me. what more should i fear?

i can only say that "i love my God." through all that has been happening, only His love sustains me. His promises i hold dear because by them i gain comfort and strength to carry on...

Immeasurably More

Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, 21to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen.

--Ephesians 3:20 (NIV)


I think I am at times prone to underestimating God. Not the sort of underestimating in which I doubt if God can perform some great miracle, but the sort in which I wonder if God can really provide just enough grace for the nearest challenge, the struggle at hand.

The subtle day-to-day trials, the all-too-human conflicts and the overfamiliar grind--all of which never seem to need God's involvement. And it seems so easy to apply myself to these without thinking that God is necessary in facing them, let alone capable of helping me overcome them in ways I can barely imagine.

Usually I have an idea, and then, in no particular order, I find a verse to help express that idea within a Biblical framework and a picture to accompany it. This time the idea came last. I was fiddling with the picture when it suddenly seemed to convey metaphorically an answer to a thought that arose in an argument yesterday. Finally the verse came and linked it all together.

What the picture said to me was this: If a chef can make all sorts of delicious masterpieces (of art as much as taste; and believe me, nearly all restaurants in that part of KL serve miniscule but meticulously--and often perfectly--prepared portions!) out of the basest of ingredients, then can't God do the same with the base elements of my--our--daily experiences?

This isn't a new revelation, but a reminder, for I all too easily forget. The chef knows how to cook. Another word that has kept recurring (from those Frederick Buechner essays) is trust. And it isn't hard to see the connection. To believe the chef is capable is to trust the chef.

To trust the chef, not with my life, but with the food that is a part of my life. To trust God, not so much with my life itself, but with the ones who are so much a part of my life as well. And to trust Him with the one who is, perhaps a little more than all the others, a part of the very heart of me.


(Photo taken on 6 November 2007 at EEST Restaurant, Westin Hotel Kuala Lumpur.)