Money has no power (but please listen to the song)

As adults, our responsibilities are great. I got used to resting in secure income, investments and savings. Money was security. The powerful wield money. Without it, we can't do much. Right?

Perhaps, but why should our safety be built on a man-made concept for trading goods and services? It exists in our minds and actions but is really immaterial in and of itself. Printed money is like sand that cannot really support you in real personal time of need.

Matthew 7:24-27 talks about "...a wise man who built his house on the rock. ...(vs) a foolish man who built his house on sand. The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell with a great crash."

So what is the rock that holds during the storm? For me it is God. Many people think this belief is a crutch because the concept is apriori and cannot be empirically proven. Yet we believe in money because of what it can do.

This year of 2012 was the year when all my false securities were removed. I was left with my faith in God. I have never felt stronger, more fulfilled, secure and loved.

Faith, romance, hardship, rest

My blog is written from the heart. What I write is not cerebral although there is logic involved. They are what I have experienced in mind, emotion and (because the impression and change have been so profound I assume) the spirit. 

My latest :

• Faith goes with rest
• Romance goes with hardship

Some pray for faith. But faith is just resting in the assurance that someone's got your back. You let the one you trust catch you should you fall. Therefore: rest, not struggle is the theme.

I live on Caine Rd. Last night I rode the minibus from HKU to the other end of this old narrow winding path with mostly night class students. Living half way up the Peak is not easy and it took a long time to find my way around the hidden paths, old buildings, new high rises, quaint shops, supermarkets, steep slopes and stairs. But this is the most romantic area of Hong Kong. It provokes nostalgia, frustration, joy, admiration, love, hate... romance. Therefore: hardship and also reward.

Trending money, sex, and power

The rise and fall of any relationship, reign and capital depend on people. Choose the right people to invest in and the fruits of our labor will multiply. Invest in inanimate objects and decline or even demise is all but guaranteed.

I don't know if you see the tongue in cheek when "Jesus said to them, "Give to Caesar what is Caesar's and to God what is God's." And they were amazed at him."" Mark 12:17... If God is the Creator, nothing belongs to Caesar who was murdered by his collaborators.

Money, sex and power go together and is the aim of the "successful" people. If you have one of them, you want the rest. Go get them if you want.

Just don't forget where real value lies. Even if you do not believe there is a god, real value do not exist in money, sex and power. People (if not God) give them to you. Reversing the order often result in tragedy. Especially if they take over your life.

Can't take this away!

This song by Bebe and Cece Winan was the my first return to Gospel Choirs after the hearing "Be Grateful" (shown in my initial blog entry) 10 years earlier. I love this type of strong, to the point and no non-sense music and style. No wonder hip-hop / r&b is the most popular type of music today. It's infectious.

But I'm not talking music or religion. It's about first love, unconditional, life giving, secure, forgiving, discipline, tough, strong and inspires "this joy that I have: the world didn't give it to me and world can't take it away"

I've found a love... and you can't take this away!

What a change!

The sky is overcast, raining, cold, problems, hiccups... I should be depressed. Somehow, I feel light, lively, cheerful and loving the day ahead.

What a change in me: assured, at peace, in love, in plain view, anticipating, unafraid, focused, alive!

Friends

This is where I started as a teenager when I realized there were meaningful connections between me and others. Magical connections that change us as we see how differences among us somehow make us better. Of course, the opposite can also happen. People can be hurtful as well as loving.

While seeking the loving connections was the beginning of romance and love, realities of work, politics, money, schedules, appointments, obligations and other adult endeavors devoured the magic. I got lost in the muddle that crowds out dreams and eventually kills who we are.

After 50 years, I finally see how the magic and the mundane can live side by side. And it all goes back to friendship. Meaningful connections that happen independent of circumstance, obligation or organisation.

You know you have a friend if they stick around or come back. The age old test of whether your date was "successful" is if he/she looks back after saying good bye actually has deeper influence. But seeing past the games and the barriers we put up is not easy.

The main reason for that is the barriers come from myself more than the other person. If you think you have no friends or friends have failed you, the only place to start rebuilding is by tearing down our own defenses against those people who stick around.

It's easy not to appreciate them because they seem too familiar, boring, predictable and not as exciting as new friends. But without them, we are less than who we are and make it harder to make new friends.

Now to come back to the hurtful times. People are not perfect. So even the best intentions can cause pain. What was lacking as a teenager seeing the magic of friendship is that commitment is not easy. Pain is involved to stick by someone in their weakness.

The real meaning of Christmas is central to the pain. It's not really just about a sweet baby Jesus though that's where it all started. But it's about the God of the Universe, becoming fully human just to experience life as we know it. The mystery of this fully God, fully human being (central to the Christian faith) is God somehow lived a mortal life (contrary to the concept of God itself) to the point of death and then regaining life. This story is incomprehensible, illogical but oh so romantic and inspiring. And this act is the key to friendship.

A more mundane view is in "To kill a mocking bird" when Atticus tells his daughter " You never really understand a person until you consider things from his point of view […] until you climb into his skin and walk around in it." This is much easier to understand but also what God began to do at Christmas.

Imagine the supreme being so interested in us that he became like his own creation just to be our friend. Well you don't have to imagine if you believe this happened and continues today.

Chance of a lifetime

Long walks on the beach is the cliche for romance. I thought about the Genesis mention of Enoch: "Enoch walked with God; then he was no more, because God took him away." Most people concentrate on the latter part that he did not die a normal death... but his life on earth did end. 

I want to talk about the walking with God part. Is it like a long walk on the beach? Alone, in love, in friendship, closeness, romance...? We'll have to ask him, I guess. 

Today on my daily morning climb, under a humid overcast sky, it started to rain hard as I passed the old mosque. People scurried into cars, under cover or ran faster down the escalator. I continued my walk getting washed and soaked. The Take 6 song was playing. I was alone, thinking about the recent life journey. Some of the feelings and thought are what I have been writing here. In effect all my securities built up from "life experience" like logic, money, skills, confidence, security, plans... were all taken away. All that was left is me and my God. Sounds scary but so does a walk alone on the beach. 

Romance depends on who is there with me. The chance of a lifetime is every single moment when I'm walking with the right company.

Learning from success

The more popular saying is "learn from your mistakes". During good times, like a good home, rising wages, a good job or school, it makes sense to say this. Someone's got your back so the most likely variable for failure is yourself.

What about times of war or tragedy or sickness? We all grow up during bad times although we instinctively try to avoid them. When we feel alone and hopeless, our own mistakes are no longer the main lesson: how do you deal with an outcome that seems guaranteed to be unsatisfactory?

This is the cloud that has hung over me since 2006. I've changed. Improved habits, vented my pent up feelings, embraced those who love me and come to terms with mortality even. But nothing could assure me of the crazy sports car that runs a red light or the off chance of a falling piano.... 

Bad times are often inexplicable because our mistakes alone could not cause or prevent them.

I spent the weekend with Mary and Lily (my sister and her nearly 3 year old daughter). Lily's mood swings caused me to comment to Mary that I now know where the inspiration for Jekyll and Hyde comes from. People are messy. So if a 3 year old cannot be fully explained, what about my future?

The limits of our knowledge are vast. But the amazing tides and forces that seem to move us forward are also strong. It's easy to get lost in the confusing rabble and noise. Our success (not our errors) seem more useful for facing the unknown tomorrow.

"Christmas morning"

I know I'm 10 months late or 2 months too early but I haven't felt like that for such a long time. Probably since I discovered Santa was an impersonation.

The anticipation of a nice surprise that is all but assured. That's the magic. The presents, who gives them and even what they are, do not compare to the expectation and joy of the wait. This feeling is back in my life.

Not that everything has to turnout great or even positive. But the hard things in life that we dread don't seem so terrible because I now know they are all for my growing.

What can be better than becoming the man who revels in the love in his life? Love for and from people. Seeking love in the tides of humanity, transcendence and the mystery of life in this world whose very survival in our vast savage Universe is in itself a miracle.

I've grown up from looking up at the stars thinking they make a nice picture to be admired, to seeing the destructive power that make them possible, but resting in the peace that comes from the balance of life and circumstance that sustain humankind on this little blue marble we live on. A miracle that promises more of the same.

Even the bad times are good in the end. It's guaranteed. Why fear growing pains? The dread of hardship has been conquered by the anticipation of life in the making.