感谢主 for random acts of kindness

I was just walking along Carillion Ave back to college after coffee with my dear friend Alice, when I saw something amazing. A woman who had just parked was scrounging around in her handbag looking for coins for the parking meter, when another woman walked up to her and offered her a ticket to put in her windscreen. The first woman was puzzled, and the second explained that there was another hour left on her ticket, and she had to leave, so would she like to have a free hour of parking?

Hecks yes, she would.

People can be so nice.

感谢主 for blogs, and for His awesome timing.

I don't really read blogs much. I certainly don't often read them if I don't know the person who wrote them. About 2 minutes ago I was avoiding reading a book called "Milestones in Sino-Western Literary Confrontation: 1898-1979" and stumbled upon this post.

It feels like barbed wire around my heart. 感谢主.

娜拉走后怎样 (鲁迅）

选择的原因： 这篇文章和我今年要写得论文相关

文章的总结和批评： 这篇文章谈的是娜拉走了以后，她会怎么样？会怎么活下去？而且如果女性会向她这么做，堕落还是成功是最可能的？

鲁迅最重要的观念是在经济方面。他说，如果娜拉和其他女性有办法挣钱她们才能实际独立的生活。从这种想法我们能看出来虽然鲁迅很务实的， 但是他也是有一点悲观。我想易卜生写了傀儡家庭不是全部为了描述一个真正的家庭， 他的戏剧并没有完全现实主义的态度，而他写的是为了宣传他的一个观念，这就是男性和女性要平等，女性要独立，有自己的性格想望，不应该总是由丈夫的性格而造自己的。他的意思不一定是要每个妻子，母亲都闯出去独立地生活，他反而知识要让人们仔细的考虑这种事情。

说实话我想这篇文章实际的重要性并不是女性能不能独立的可能性，而却是这篇文章给我们透露当时人对易卜生所宣传的观念是怎么看的。 当时易卜生推进的概念很受欢迎，五四的知识分子把他的概念和作品用在改革文学，改革文化动力的正当理由， 所以认真地读和分析这种文章能帮我们理解当时人的观念。

感谢主 for boring postgrad classes

Every wednesday night at 5-7 I have a postgrad international comparative literature seminar. Usually I love it. Last night it was boring. So I drew a picture:




And wrote a song:

But first, some context. Every week on Wednesday mornings I meet with a Taiwanese student called Samantha.* She comes from a typical background of a kind of mix of Buddhism and ancestor worship, and is "interested in exploring" Christianity. She has been to church a couple of times and has a Chinese bible which she has been trying to read herself. The first time we met I asked her what she'd been reading and what she thought, and she said she had started with Romans 8. What a first impression! At the moment we're going through Matthew, and time with her is incredibly exciting and humbling. She's super intelligent and grasps concepts well very quickly, and apart from just having someone to think things through with and reflect on stuff, I don't think I'm all that helpful. The challenge is drawing her out and getting her to talk about her own spirituality, not the Bible and Christianity as an abstracted "your" religion rather than something to consider for herself. Please pray for this!

So with these things and others on my mind, and kind of in response to a church talk we had ages ago on Christians being "cellophane" through which Jesus can be seen, I wrote these lyrics in class yesterday (with a vague idea of chords/melody but nothing substantial yet):


Cellophane

Don't listen to me too closely
I desire to be salty, but take a pinch of salt with my words as spoken
Cause this talking won't save anything
of the darkness in me and you
I desire to be light,
that this torch I hold might lead you home,
but it's not me, in the end, that you need.

So take my hand, please, and walk with me
but look at me and let it not be flesh and blood you see
look at me and see through me to a saviour
more real and more worthy than I can ever be

Sit and talk with me, open to verses familiar and new
and to my surprise you'll explain them to me better than I to you
Surprise, my wasted heart is beating with thanks
while all my wisdom is broken, foolish and shamed

Let's keep talking of love and law and grace,
and I'll fail to explain Matthew 6 and you'll have started with Romans 8
And I'll feel silly and hollow and fake,
cause how much light can one hour once a week shine?
Far more if I'm made of cellophane.

So take my hand while we're both balancing,
and keep your eyes on me but let it not be me you see
See through my words, promises to a saviour strong and holy
more real and worthy to guide you than I can ever be



*Names have been changed.