Free of Charge by Miroslv Volf

"What can we give that You have not given/
What do we have that is not already yours?"

-Lyrics from Lord I Offer My Life To You-

Uncle Winston recommended I read this book because it had many references to other books and popular culture. Well, it's true, and it's a wonderful read. My proper book review for it is on IntoTheBook.net but here, I want to talk about my personal response to the book.

Honestly, the part that struck me the most was the section on Giving, because I realised that yes, we don't own anything, not even our lives because God is the one who sustains our lives. And it made me sad that I haven't been able to give more, to be a conduit for others. In fact, I've been stingy with my time and words, especially when it comes to exams, and I start to focus too much on studying.

The part I struggled with most on the other hand, was the part of forgiveness. I'm by nature, a very argumentative person, as I said before. I'm quick to take offense, and even as I say the words "It's ok, it doesn't matter", my heart is screaming at the unfairness of it all while my face smiles. It takes a lot for me to properly forgive.

But while I was reading this book, I think God gave me a glimpse of Justice and Mercy.

God is Just. When Jesus was on earth, he delivered the harshest sermons you could imagine. He told us to pluck out our eye if it caused us to sin. He said to call your brother "racca" is akin to murder. He threw the table of those of commercialised the House of God. Yes, our God is a God of Justice. If you look at my review of Let Sleeping Dogs Lie, you can see that I firmly believe that thre are cases when the law is brokern, where Justice should be administered and not let go by merely using the word "forgiveness".

But God is also incredibly merciful. I was reminded of this when I suddenly recalled my friendship with my closest, oldest and dearest friend. i'm not sure what quite moved me to imagine: if one day, my friend were to tell me she did some wrong (maybe against me, maybe not), and asked me if I judged her, what would I say?

I realised that I couldn't judge her. My friendship with her is so deep that I see her life in totality, from when we first met, and not by incidents that happened. I wouldn't be able to judge because I love her too much. And I think, that might be what God's mercy would be like. He loves us so much he found a way to spare us his terrible judgement.

And his judgement would be terrible. As I further reflected on my frienship with my best friend, I realised that if someday I do judge her, it would be terrible. And us being fallible humans, it would probably ruin our frienship for good. You see, I would judge her in totality. And everything she did, no matter how small, would carry the same weight as any huge crime she might have committed. Perhaps that's why Jesus said that whoever breaks the smallest commandment breaks the entire law. Because God loves us so much, that in His perfect Judgement, he judges us as a whole and all sin, no matter how we try to classify it, maybe as venial sins or mortal sins, it would all just all be sins in His eyes.

And the glimpse of His Justice and Mercy fills me with awe, fear and love. Yes, love because He is love and it;s shown in His justice mingled with mercy.

WeRead

I've got a small respite from the onslaught of exam stress recently, and as usual, I went around trying to get people to read. It's actually a very serious disease that can cost a lot.

For example, my second sister told me she was finishing our stock of Sarah Dessen (pretty much the only writer she reads) and she needed more, in her words, 'chic-lit'. That was on Saturday. On Sunday, I went to Littered With Books, and due to my lack of finances, rumaged through the sale pile. I spent my last $10 (ok, actually $9 and I still had about $7 left) on The Shop At Blossom Street by Debbie Macomber, which I reviewed here. If I know my sister as well as I think, and I hope I do, then she'll love this book. It's hard for me to find a good and light romance story, with no disgusting sex scenes (seriously, I don't need to know what they're doing all the time. Or read about it). More often then not, I have to head to the YA section, which is getting over-run with Vampire/Werewolf stories -yawn-

But if you do know any stories which seem to fit the bill, please leave a comment below.

Another family member in my 'crusade' for more people to read (which I'll now call WeRead for convenience), is my little brother. He has slight ADHD, so the books I read like Enid Blyton and Road Dahl may not be suited for him. In fact, the only Road Dahl book he has ever read is The Magic Finger, which we read aloud together. In fact, he prefers reading out loud at this stage, so hopefully, I'll muster up the stamina to start reading Charlie and the Chocolate Factory to him soon (he loves sweets, so this should be a fit)

Likewise, if you have a book that will get kids to read, please please please tell me via comment. Or you know, if you know my email, you can just email me. Hmm... Does blogger publish emails on the blog profile? -notetoself: go and check-

Yes, so now, I'm going to try to make a difference by turning my collection of books into a library of sorts. I've always been recommending and lending books before, but now, I think I'm going to chronicle it, hopefully finding a method to this madness (do you realise I have no methodology, no catalog of books whatsoever?). And I've already 'started' in a way. Since I'm known as a bookworm, my older cousin asked me earlier today if I would recommend him some books and readily agreed to come over to look over the books when I asked.

I'm really excited about this. I don't know a lot about the future, like whether I'll go to Japan next year to study, go somewhere else entirely or stay in Singapore. But I really hope that throughout it, I'll manage to get books and the love of reading out to others.

Friendship

I couldn't get a class photo, but this is Nic and I(:

"Friendship is born at the mometn when one person says to another, 'What! You too? I thought I was the only one' "

-C. S. Lewis- (Taken from The Friends Book by Alison Maloney)

This is dedicated to my Japanese Class friends (Brendan and Nicole). I don't say it enough, but thanks guys. Although our class size has always fluctated (from 3 to a grand total of 5 and every number in between, i.e. 4), the three of us form a special 'core' of the class. I guess nothing bonds people like learning together, asking the same questions (and that question is: HOW DO YOU SAY ____ IN JAPANESE???), and facing the same fear (I'm talking about: HOW ARE WE GOING TO PASS JLPT 5/4). Here's to many more happy lessons(:

Invasion by Robin Cook

I got this book through the LunchTime Brown Bag initiative at Clementi Public Library. Basically, on weekdays between the hours of 11am - 2pm, you can pop down to the library, pick a 'brown bag' with a mystery book inside and borrow it. I think it's a fantastic initiative that should be copied by other libraries, since it exposes readers to books they might not normally read. Of course, the converse is true, and you could end up getting a book you really hate.

Well, I would say my first attempt at the brown bag worked really well (I even resisted the temptation to peek before borrowing). I got the book "Invasion" by Robin Cook.

The basic premise of the story is that aliens have invaded mankind - through a virus. After a short flu, it turns people into what can be called (and is called) the "alien consciousness", where they work together for the collective good and to save the planet. Sorry to those who have a chronic condition like Diabetes, you'd die from the flu (which essentially implies that I will die, since I have thalassemia). And like any apocalyptic novel, there are a group of survivors who try and save the day.

At first, I couldn't put it down. Then, when I finally did put it down, I couldn't pick it up. I felt that towards the middle, the book started dragging a bit. In fact, when I review the book in my mind, I find that it's much shorter than expected.

But this need to cut down on words is too often needed (like with me and possible everything I write). To cite one example (no, I'm not using this blog), when I was writing my Extended Essay, I once receive a comment that along the lines of how it had the content of 1500 words. At that point of time, I was at the 4000 word limit. Ouch. But thankfully, I learnt how to be more concise in my EE and it was all the better for it (certainly better than if there was no limit and I was allowed to be ramble)

Another point (a bigger one), that I didn't like was that it was so obviously pro-evolution. And not just in the preface. While I understand using theories, but seriously, evolution as fact? Tell me the logic in that we can magically gain genetic information when all known mutations so far involve either losing information or duplicating it. Sorry, but it just doesn't cut it with me.

But since the book is fiction, I suppose that in the end, in order to enjoy the book, I just took everything as fiction, even the premise (yes, evolution to me is a story that isn't true)