Nature, Places, Posts
Heliconia Quads
Complex & Simple, Persons, Places, Posts
The Gardens Reflections on Good Friday
These were the gardens of betrayal, but also the gardens of redemption and resurrection “they went to a place which was called Gethsemane” (Mk 14:32), “across the Kidron valley, where there was a garden”(John 18:1) “In the place where he was crucified there was a garden, and in the garden a new tomb where no one…
Complex & Simple, Persons, Places, Posts
In Praise of the tethered Donkey – A Palm Sunday Reflection
The Donkey When fishes flew and forests walked And figs grew upon thorn, Some moment when the moon was blood Then surely I was born. With monstrous head and sickening cry And ears like errant wings, The devil’s walking parody On all four-footed things. The tattered outlaw of the earth, Of ancient crooked will; Starve,…
Complex & Simple, Persons, Posts
The Disciples who were Naysayers
Throughout Jesus’ journey during the Holy Week into Jerusalem, Jesus interacted with his disciplines who were naysayers because they could not or would not go the extra mile with the Lord for his cause. Recall that the term “extra mile” was itself a literary gem from the Messiah Himself: If anyone forces you to go…
Nature, Places, Posts
Spring in the Garden
Even in tropical Singapore, spring is in the air as the garden bursts into colour and light. The light is especially beautiful in the mid-morning, while the occasional thunderstorm brings wet reprieve and a glossy sheen onto the Heliconias. (Lumix GX85 & Panasonic 14-140mm lens)
Complex & Simple, Persons, Posts
The Temptations of Jesus
Jesus was tempted in the desert at the start of his 3-year ministry. The mystery of God’s relationship with men and women, as we grapple with our existence and purpose in this world is experienced by Jesus in the first retreat in the desert. However, as Jesus is not man but the Son of God,…
Complex & Simple, Persons, Posts
Questions Asked On the Road
Not uncommonly, it is not the right answer that creates clarity but the correct question that is being asked Why do you persecute me? (Damascus) What are you looking for? (Bethany, by the River Jordan) Who do you say I am? Who do men say that the Son of man is? (Caesarea Philippi) Do you love…
Nature, Places, Posts
Three Generations of the Yellow-vented Bulbuls?
These are the pictures of a young bulbul chirping on our Peacock tree (right) with the mother looking anxiously on (left) . Can we trace them back to their lineage from a year ago? The Yellow-vented Bulbuls (Pycnonotus goiavier) has revisited our home, after we spotted the species laying their eggs almost year ago. This…
Complex & Simple, Persons, Posts
“What is Truth?”
Let’s be wary of false prophets, in these troubled times, when the forces of good versus evil are in constant play. Indeed it was Jesus who declared to Pontius Pilate during his trial at Jerusalem that “my kingship is not of this world; if my kingship were of the world, my servants would fight, that…
Books, Complex & Simple, Persons, Posts
CS Lewis’ conversion as he recalled it
Not long afterwards, Lewis read Chesterton’s The Everlasting Man (1925) and was surprised to find the whole Christian outline of history making sense. An even stronger blow at his efforts to keep God at bay came, when he wrote in Surprised by Joy, Early in 1926 the hardest boiled of all the atheists I ever knew…