Lyrics Review - All For Love

Lyrics
All for love a Father gave
For only love could make a way
All for love the heavens cried
For love was crucified

Oh how many times have I broken Your heart
But still You forgive
If only I ask
And how many times have You heard me pray
Draw near to me

Everything I need is You
My beginning, my forever
Everything I need is You

Let me sing all for love
I will join the angel song
Ever holy is the Lord
King of Glory
King of all

Oh how many times have I broken Your heart
But still You forgive
If only I ask
And how many times have You heard me pray
Draw near to me

Everything I need is You
My beginning, my forever
Everything I need is You (x2)

All for a love a Saviour prayed
Abba Father have Your way
Though they know not what they do
Let the Cross draw man to You

Everything I need is You
My beginning, my forever
Everything I need is You
Is You

Author
Hillsong United
Copyright © 2005 Cbs/Epic/Wtg Records

Although almost all sites I've seen attribute the song to Hillsong United, this one attributes the lyrics to Stevie Wonder and cites a different publisher, EMI Music Publishing, Universal Music Publishing Group. Personally I think it's Hillsong.

Chords

Background
There are no notable anecdotes regarding this song.

Lyrics Review
5/5 Scriptural
5/5 Christ-centered
4/5 Chanty
Encouraging to backsliders, aware of one's sinfulness, caught in sin (or caught in some form of addiction), those in repentance. Therefore basically Christians in general
Edifying: Father's sacrifice, forgiveness, prayer of Gethsemane, sufficiency of Christ

This song is very popular and the chorus is especially used as a meditation/chant. It's scriptural, but textually speaking slightly incoherent (meaning it does not form a story of any sort): the first verse focuses on the Father sacrificing His Son, the second is a praise, and the third recounts Christ's prayer in the garden of Gethsemane. The bridge recalls to mind the graces of God, which are a good transition to the chorus that declares how God is all we need for us. The lyrics quite accurately describes our spiritual condition and our heart's cry as Christians.

Listen

JavaScript and the Near Future

I was copy-pasting a javascript for fluid width YouTube videos and after three hours I finally got it working! Three hours, I know; I'm pretty stupid. But really, I have zero knowledge on these kinds of
stuff.

Anyway, I should be learning javascript here. It's a great resource: starts with the basic and builds up with very detailed examples you can play around with, but unfortunately I should be really studying for the upcoming PIChE quiz bowl by now, or reading up on our thesis and fixing our plant design for that matter, I'm too lazy though; the last sem was incredibly toxic and the only thing I learned this vacation is how to chillax.

That said, I can see it'd be pretty hectic this semester, and of course I don't want to compromise my time with summer moon xD That means I have to cut down on other hobbies, but I think they'd make great material here too... Edit: I also plan to upload my other random journal entires here (yay for privacy! but like I said, this is my personal public-private space and although it's visible I'm not going to market it anytime soon.)

Lyrics Review - In Christ Alone

Lyrics

In Christ alone my hope is found,

He is my light, my strength, my song;

This Cornerstone, this solid Ground,

Firm through the fiercest drought and storm.

What heights of love, what depths of peace,

When fears are stilled, when strivings cease!

My Comforter, my All in All,

Here in the love of Christ I stand.

In Christ alone! - who took on flesh,

Fullness of God in helpless babe.

This gift of love and righteousness,

Scorned by the ones He came to save:

Till on that cross as Jesus died,

The wrath of God was satisfied -

For every sin on Him was laid;

Here in the death of Christ I live.

There in the ground His body lay,

Light of the world by darkness slain:

Then bursting forth in glorious day

Up from the grave He rose again!

And as He stands in victory

Sin's curse has lost its grip on me,

For I am His and He is mine -

Bought with the precious blood of Christ.

No guilt in life, no fear in death,

This is the power of Christ in me;

From life's first cry to final breath,

Jesus commands my destiny.

No power of hell, no scheme of man,

Can ever pluck me from His hand:

Till He returns or calls me home,

Here in the power of Christ I'll stand.

Author

Keith Getty & Stuart Townend

Copyright © 2001 Kingsway Thankyou Music

Chords

Background

The authors say this about the hymn.

Of all the hymns we have written, this hymn is the most popular wherever we go. Ironically, it is the first hymn we ever penned together.
I had a strong very Irish melody that I could imagine a large crowd singing. I wanted it to become a hymn that would declare the whole life of Christ and what it meant. Something that could teach people the foundations of what we believed in Christ  the God who changed all of history and who wants a relationship with each us.
Stuart penned a quite incredible lyric, which the two of us edited, developed and rewrote for a couple of weeks until it became "In Christ Alone".
As well as being a credal song, it fires people with hope that here is the God who even death cannot hold  "No guilt in life, no fear in death, this is the power of Christ in me". 

It's a relatively new hymn, You can see the full story here

For the record, Mr. Townend's website is also here

Lyrics Review

5/5 Scriptural
5/5 Christ-centered
2/5 Chanty
Encouraging to hopeless, doubting, in trial, afraid, uncomfortable, aware of sinfulness, guilty, afraid of death, threatened by man. Basically to all Christians
Edifying: incarnation, suffering, resurrection, future hope of return, freedom from sin, position in Christ, Christ as inheritance, redemption, Christ overcoming death, God's sovereignty, omnipotence,


This is one of my favorite hymns!  It begins with a present view of Christ - who He is to the singer. Then the lyrics move on to recount the incarnation, suffering, resurrection, and future hope. It is completely scriptural; have no qualms about it. No wonder, since this was written to be a credal hymn.

Listen

The author's version (Keith and Kristyn Getty)

Natalie Grant

And finally, I love this a capella version. Do listen to it!

December 31 2014 Wednesday

New year is an illusion. There's nothing really in space that demarcates the point in the ever-so-slowly-changing ellipse where the Earth began rotating around the Sun. It is but a random day while Amihan's cool and rainless kiss still touches the mountains and rustles the leaves. What's the difference between January 1 and February 25 anyway? Tomorrow is just another day, but we choose to celebrate it anyway.

Yes, yes. I'm aware that historically, it's a pagan celebration. 1st day of the Gregorian Calendar, liturgical stuff of the Roman Catholics and Protestants alike, etc. But really, why don't we have circular calendars? Maybe even if we did, we probably'd just mark off the day at the exact top as "Day 1" just like we set the 12 on the clock as zero.

We like the rectangular calendars because we like to think that there are new beginnings. We like to think that one day, we can just change who we are and say "I won't do this anymore" or "I will do that starting now"or "I will become like this" or "I will be like that." We like to think that overnight, as we light fireworks up into the sky, our mistakes would just burn up to the sky and explode bright and suddenly turn into something pretty.

Oh, I do believe in new beginnings. That's why I'm here blogging anyway. I want to build a habit of writing and reading the Bible. But it's not that easy. Yes, people change, but we have to be real and work hard for it. It takes 9 months before babies are born, there were 6 days of creation, and 3 days before the resurrection. Was God idle during those times? Do sculptors or painters or potters snap their fingers to form a masterpiece? The Almighty God chose to work, and work also we should.

I guess I won't wait for tomorrow. Let me start now.

Don't Wait for the Pope - On Pope Francis' Arrival

Millions of devout Catholics and millions more of curious and intrigued people are eager for his arrival next year, January 15 2015. A lot are actually more excited about this than New Year or Christmas. There are even hashtags in Twitter like #DearPopeFrancis where you would see people write messages, ask for prayers, and even ask for help from him.

And why not? After all, he’s the cool Pope. He’s the people’s pope. He wasn’t just a poser who joined twitter and took selfies; He was a man of action. He would personally take time to call and console a rape victim, and sneak out of Vatican to help the poor. He always emphasized love over dogma. He focused on serving people. He extended the hands of the church to the gays, the whole LGBT community, atheists, Muslims – people who were previously disdained by the church. He openly criticized the lavish lifestyle of some bishops and priests and held them in account. He was a role model to the youth.

Even from the viewpoint of those outside the church, Pope Francis is an amazing guy. But Filipino Catholics are eager to see him too for another reason: blessings. It is the same reason many aim to accomplish “Simbang Gabi.” It is why people would volunteer to torture themselves and shed their own blood in penitences. It is why millions would stampede and push and even step on others just to touch a portion of the Poong Nazareno with their handkerchiefs. “Blessing” is often understood as an answer to a personal wish or a prayer, and it can be attained either by completing a ritual, or being in contact (not necessarily physical) with someone or something holy.

Third, Pope Francis is a celebrity, and Filipinos love celebrities. There’s probably no need to expound on this.

Well, what’s so wrong with waiting for Pope Francis? It diverts attention from the real focus. Not much, eh? Actually, that’s a pretty big deal, because the real focus should be on Christ. Even he admits this.

We ask for wishes from Pope Francis, #DearPopeFrancis to get him to pray to God for us, when the only mediator between God and man is Christ Jesus. In fact, this is why Christians aren’t like Catholics that pray to saints and Mary the mother of Jesus: aside from being a sign of unbelief in Christ’s work (that His sacrifice has allowed us to enter boldly into the throne of grace), it’s quite pointless to pray to another intercessor, even the Pope, when you can already pray directly to God. (Anyway, it’s true that most Christians don’t get the doctrine that Catholics’ praying to dead saints is a matter of talking to them and asking for intercession the way a Christian would ask for intercession from other believers, making their bias rather irrational and simply an act of following the majority.)

We wait for His blessing, when God has already given a much greater one: eternal life through Jesus Christ. He has given us Himself; He is our portion. What more should we seek?

We await his arrival with much eagerness, but not even have a percent for Christ’s. Even before finalizing the date and the itinerary of the Pope’s visit, the government has been doing some “cleaning up” in Tacloban. (It’s an extremely unjust case of relocation of the poorer residents to put up a facade of order and cleanliness. I do hope the Pope addresses this.) But waiting for Christ’s return isn’t even half as exciting. We have lost our faith that He will come. Local media’s announcement that “Pope Francis’ visit confirmed” is more reliable than that loud voice, as of a trumpet, saying “I will come to you quickly!”

And so don’t wait for Pope Francis. Wait for Him who has already come; Him who was, who is, and who is to come.

Transfer and a Welcome Note

I'll be migrating my notes here slowly in the next few weeks. Christmas vacation is only until January 11 though, so maybe I'll use that time to study something about the layout. Not really good with those things.

In any case, this will be my private-public outlet (my public place where nobody is). Here I'll rant sometimes, preach sometimes, think loudly sometimes. What's the deal? What's the point of having an outlet when nobody reads it? Well, I think it gives an illusion of someone actually listening to me. You see, I usually end up the receiving end of the conversation; not that people aren't willing to listen, it's just that I don't really talk much about myself. Heck, if you want to know me then spend time with me; I'm a "quality time" kind of person.

Too emo? Ah, that's probably another characteristic of this blog. I usually only write when I introspect, and I only introspect when I'm sad. Happy people don't introspect; thinking about life and stuff is for the sadder ones.

That's pretty much it for now.

December 24 2014 Wednesday

Today nothing happened. I did nothing; (read manga, play LoL). Well, I must say Gantz is a really good read, with sex and blood and stuff, but the character development was really interesting. I even lost my Christmas game in LoL.

Well the summer moon just replied, saying 'yummy ang food eh.' Speaking of food, a lot of the food - no, actually all of them had pork in it. As you may have known, I don't prefer pork (but I do eat it just to clarify). It's Christmas anyway, so I'll endure this time.

It's a funny phrase isn't it? "It's Christmas anyway, do a little good," "it's Christmas anyway, do what you want." Ah well, if it adds a little good in the world then by all means let's have Christmas.

But this uneventful Christmas of mine is so ironic isn't it? No replies (except for my summer moon which I'm really happy about). Well at least my groupmate L and teammate A remembered, but they're the type that actually do that all the time so I don't think it too special. Not much greetings, and just three gifts from relatives. Maybe God would answer, though. I hope he does. I'm not really so sure anymore.