Blessings

God's Greatest Blessing to Me

Lately, I've been listening to Laura Story's song Blessings like crazy...you know how when you loop one song over and over again?  It's such a great song!  Why is it great?  Keeping reading!

Laura Story has a very good voice, and the song just has a great melody.  Just listen to it!  More importantly, it's the message of the song that really makes it so great.  It tries to answer the age old question of why bad things happen to good people.  "If God loved us, why does he allow sickness, evil, and death to be part of our lives?"

I think what this song is saying is that when we ask this question, we've missed the point.  It is precisely because God loves us that he allows sickness, evil, and death to be part of our lives!  The song asks, "What if Your blessings come through raindrops?  What if Your healing comes through tears?  What if a thousand sleepless nights are what it takes to know You're near?"  The best line in the song, however, is the following, "What if my greatest disappointments or the aching of this life is the revealing of a greater thirst this world can't satisfy?"

And of course, isn't that what we Christians are taught, that we would not go through life without pain, tribulations, and even persecution?  And perhaps the next time we're in great suffering, instead of questioning God why, why not give thanks to Him for letting us suffer, just like how our Lord suffered for us on the cross?  Because humanity's greatest blessing also came from His suffering and death!

Blessings

We pray for blessings, we pray for peace

Comfort for family, protection while we sleep

We pray for healing, for prosperity

We pray for Your mighty hand to ease our suffering

And all the while, You hear each spoken need

Yet love is way too much to give us lesser things

'Cause what if your blessings come through rain drops

What if Your healing comes through tears

What if a thousand sleepless nights are what it takes to know You're near

What if trials of this life are Your mercies in disguise

We pray for wisdom, Your voice to hear

We cry in anger when we cannot feel You near

We doubt your goodness, we doubt your love

As if every promise from Your word is not enough

And all the while, You hear each desperate plea

And long that we'd have faith to believe

'Cause what if your blessings come through rain drops

What if Your healing comes through tears

What if a thousand sleepless nights are what it takes to know You're near

What if trials of this life are Your mercies in disguise

When friends betray us

When darkness seems to win

We know that pain reminds this heart

That this is not,

This is not our home

It's not our home

'Cause what if your blessings come through rain drops

What if Your healing comes through tears

What if a thousand sleepless nights are what it takes to know You're near

What if my greatest disappointments or the aching of this life

Is the revealing of a greater thirst this world can't satisfy

What if trials of this life

The rain, the storms, the hardest nights

Are your mercies in disguise

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Fly for Cheap!

Recently, I've stumbled onto 2 websites that publish really cheap flights and wanted to share: Secret Flying and YYZ Deals.  I think anyone thinking of traveling should bookmark these sites, especially if you're not sure where you want to go, but just want to go somewhere.  There are some great deals to be had.

I was just showing my parents that they could fly to Hong Kong, with a stop in Beijing for $591 (CAD all-in)!  Although the flight has a layover in Chicago, I certainly wouldn't mind.

How about flying one-way to New York for $37?  You can't even buy one tank of gas for that money?  Well, actually I can on my prius and probably be able to get there as well in that tank, but that's another story.

Anyway, have fun with these 2 sites!

Edit: Thanks to Agnes, try Next Departure too!

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Life's Inspiration

Interview of Elon Musk at Code Conference 2016

When I wrote my post about my New Year Resolution, I mentioned that I had just listened to the audiobook of Elon Musk's biography.  Before reading the biography, I was vaguely familiar with this CEO of Tesla and SpaceX, but didn't really know very much outside of that.  But having read the book, Musk has become my inspiration.  What he's doing for humanity is certainly no footnote...in fact, I would argue he has made a bigger impact in transitioning humanity from burning fossil fuels to using sustainable energy than any other one person.  However, that is not really why he inspires me so much.

How he truly inspires me is how he approaches life.  In the interview above (if you have the time, watch the whole thing!), about 13 minutes into it, he says, "Life can't be just about solving problems; there have to be things that are inspiring and exciting that make you glad to be alive."  I believe I'm the first person on the web to point out this quote specifically and hopefully, it'll be more widely circulated, because I think it's great.  Although I would have to say life is actually even more than just having inspiring and exciting things, I don't think it's too shabby from a secular perspective.  It's really about finding passion in the things that you do.

Ask yourself this, "In my work, am I just solving problems?  Or does my job inspire and excite me, and makes me glad to be alive?"  If the answer is "just solving problems", then maybe it's time to re-evaluate your career choices.  Throughout my not so long/short life, I've flip-flopped between the two ends of the spectrum.  On one end, work and career is really just a means to making a living; life is much more than that.  On the other end, work and career is a big part of my life and I should be doing what I'm passionate about.  I think I'm closer to the latter right now in my life.  It is true that without my faith, family, friends, etc., it wouldn't matter much what I'm doing, but at the same time, if I were stuck in a job I hated, that would be a fairly bad way to spend a quarter of my life.

Perhaps as I age and as my kids are starting to understand things of the world, I want them to be able to learn from me the value of hard work, to not be satisfied with status quo, and to know that they can do great things.  I'm still finding my way there and I pray that God grants me this wish.  I end with a quote from Pope Benedict XVI, "The world offers you comfort. But you were not made for comfort. You were made for greatness."

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