Children of Light.

[Psalm 51:1-6]
Have mercy on me, O God, according to your unfailing love;
according to your great compassion blot out my transgressions.
Wash away all my iniquity and cleanse me from my sin.
For I know my transgressions, and my sin is always before me.
Against you, you only, have I sinned and done what is evil in your sight;
so you are right in your verdict and justified when you judge.
Surely I was sinful at birth, sinful from the time my mother conceived me.
Yet you desired faithfulness even in the womb; you taught me wisdom in that secret place.

I am a sinful, dirty, and unworthy piece of junk.
I realise , like the psalmist, that my transgressions were so big.
My heart breaks whenever I fall into temptation. I felt a cold emptiness marching into my feelings.
Whenever fear and lust breaks in from the front door, I always succumb.
Ah, surely I am really deserved to be punished.
The fiery pit must be my end journey.

[Psalm 51:10-12]
Create in me a pure heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me.
Do not cast me from your presence or take your Holy Spirit from me.
Restore me the joy of your salvation and grant me a willing spirit to sustain me.

But I know my God, like the psalmist who never gives up hope.
In that day, He said, I will remember their sins no more.

Jesus Christ was the price for me to still have hope.
The sinless man died for the junk that is me, so that this junk may have another chance for an everlasting life.

Lord equip my new life with your Holy Spirit, so that I may live as children of light.
My God said to me "He who began the good works in you will carry it on to completion"
His covenant is this :
He will finish reshaping my heart. He will take out the parasites rotting in my heart.

Lord I long for that day to come.

More than travelling the European continent.
More than seeing the wonders this earth can offer.
More than settling in a stable life.
More than getting fame and successful results.
More than having a wife of noble character.

I long for your everlasting presence in my life.

So discipline me, oh Lord, but only in due measure.
Chastise me whenever I turn to the wrong path.

Lord you say that if even I have faith as big as a mustard seed, i can command a tree and it will obey.
Grant me obedience. Grant me a faith that can even move mountains.
That in the end of my days, I may proudly say : I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, and I have kept the faith.

In moonless nights, the stars will guide.

Every day I would usually arrive in my house late at night. From my bus stop to my house, there is this steep small hill around 20 meters in height. There are no lights there, and there are some bushes blocking the way so it's hard to pave my way to my house. Thankfully for me, I'm living in the middle of nowhere! 

When the sky is clear, moonlight is all it takes to lighten that dark path so I can evade the bushes. Tonight there was not any moon, seems because yesterday was a full moon. The path was a bit dark, but I realise there were a lot of stars on the sky. Those little beautiful things sparkle and gave me a bit of vision through my path, although not as bright as the moon. 

The stars reminded me of the moon, how it usually shines my path back home cozily. But some nights aren't as good, during snow or rain the clouds would linger and block any light. I usually would then take another route rather than get my shoes all muddy and wet going through the hill. So during the nights the moon was shining, I always felt thankful. 

For the past days and weeks, the moon hasn't showed herself. I can still get myself home, but it takes more effort than it usually is. Things are still going on and research are going to a bit of a good direction, still there's this unease that I can't get off my chest.  At times the sun would shine and joy would return. Many times, in fact that happens. But during the nights, I always wished the moon was there. Thankfully for me, I have a lot of stars during these moonless night, looking at them while dozing off seemed to calm my unease even for a little while. I hope to just fly off to space and land there for once, but the distance is of course, can't be overcame that easy. I miss the moon. 

The stars

Some were born lucky, some were born to fight

The quote in this blog post title came from a path post I saw over months ago. It was used, in the context that the original poster "OP" is someone who fights his / her way to their current position. From a lot of hard work, and chasing their dream. The first thing that came to my mind when I saw the quote was, I am in the former category.

Yes, I was born lucky. So lucky that I don't know how it became that I can be taking a PhD here in DTU. I don't have any research experience nor do I have any publications to start, what else can I think of if I'm not lucky? This doesn't really happen instantly. Throughout my 24 years of living, luck has been the major factor if I could really relate them. I was born into a comfortable family. We're not that rich, but having more than 1 car and a 2 floor house is actually something to be thankful of. 

I don't really have all the gaming consoles or fancy toys when I was growing up, but I had enough toys to play with. I was lucky to be given a brain that can work itself easily. Maybe even myself getting into Indonesia's best (yes, you read that right) engineering school was also luck. I mean I didn't even study for the entrance exam (sort of giving up). When I was in ITB, I could often get an A with only 2-3 days of studying. 

Yes, there are some people who are more talented than me, but I was already better than the vast majority. It was not until my final year of my bachelor degree, that I realise how lucky and blessed I am for having this brain of mine. My supervisor said that I was DAMN LAZY, but thankfully I'm smart so I manage to score a lot of A's. I always thought I was already very hardworking then, but now that I'm in grad school scrolling through lots of papers, I know he was actually right. I had not trained myself discipline in understanding concepts, and now I had to pay the price. My rhythm is completely messed up, that today I was practically doing absolutely nothing useful in my office. 

I could probably go on to count luck in for ALL of my achievements in my CV. I didn't really gave my 100% in all of those, not until I'm cornered though. However along the ways, this luck of mine is actually what I would say a blessing. Atheists might say this as luck, but all of these were all because of His gracious gifts. 

I used to be an ambitious person wanting to score stuffs and get as much achievement as I can, but now I don't have that desire anymore. I have yet to find anything worth fighting these days, not even a girlfriend. I don't have the motivation, the desire, or the appetite to  fight these last years. I rely more and more to Him, but that has stopped me from having this burning ambition in my heart. At this point I'm wondering, is constantly depending on luck (blessing) is all that it takes? Am I surrendering too much that I'm actually missing out ? Is this really what He has in plan for me ? 

Its so hazy these days. I just hope I can find the answer not too late, that the things or the people I need to fight for have slipped through my fingers.