Our lives are like drops of water.  When one looks at a magnified drop, it appears huge, able to quench any thirst, but when one lowers the magnification just enough, one can see how tiny it truly is.

Yet, even a drop of water can break mountains, shape canyons, extinguish fires, nourish continents, and change the world... but only once it submits itself, releases control on where it goes and what it does...when it becomes part of the ocean.

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons License.

So about a month ago or so, the news had reported that the majority of women in the United States are now single verses being married.  Officially the number is now 51% of women are single.  The new sources cited several reasons such as holding off marriage because of career pursuit, not wanting to have a family yet, not interested in getting emotionally involved, etc.

Singleness, to some is an undesired social status that must be left as soon as reasonably possible.  For others they want nothing better than to live their own dreams and pursuits unhindered by a spouse; and others who want to prove that marriage and family life are overrated.  It's also a subject that the church as a whole, in my opinion at least, hasn't really been overly concerned with.  While marriage and how Godly husbands and wives raise up their children in the Gospel message are tremendously important, don't hear me say otherwise; I also think that the untapped potential of community, brotherhood and sisterhood amongst believers, and the ability to change the city is an opportunity for the church as a whole.

I know as a single myself, though engaged, that my views on singleness will be flavored.  On the other hand, there are some things that I do think that the church as a whole needs to consider:

• Singles are the fastest growing population segment within the United States alone.
  
  


• Singles are not limited to those who are post-college, but encompasses those who finds themselves no longer within a marriage covenant due to a divorce or death of a spouse, thus the challenges they face deal with more than just work adjustments and dating relationships.
  
  


• Singles generally do have more free time than married couples, but they are also more careful with how that time is spent.  They want to invest their time into subjects that are personally worthwhile to them.
  
  


• Singles, while they may not be looking for a potential marriage partner, do desire for meaningful and deep relationships, both male and female.  Ultimately, they're looking for a community or a group of "friends."
  
  


• Besides the workplace or the local bar/dance club scene, places for singles to meet and form friendships with others are limited.  The church has the opportunity to provide that kind of safe environment that is geared towards genuine friendships with each other, whether they are followers or not.
  
  


• Singleness is not a disease that needs to be cured, nor is it a curse.  It is a gift, and for some, a spiritual gift that is supposed to be used for the expansion of the Gospel.  When a church's underlying attitude towards singles is that they all have to be married off just because, it is a slap in the hand of something that God has blessed some within the Body to have.  Whatever lifestage one finds oneself in, there are always opportunities to honor and glorify Him who is the true lover of one's soul.

Ultimately, it comes down to the new command that our Lord gave His followers before His death:  Love one another as how He loved us(John 15:12).  How that works out in the context of a community with male and female, single and married, elder and teenager, will be the staple upon which the world will judge us whether we are His disciples or not.  We are His Body and we are brothers and sisters in Christ.  We share the same bloodline that has redeemed us and that which can restore our relationships with one another.

So I got to the office over an hour ago and have found practically the building is at half capacity at best.  Most of my coworkers and the other employees decided to log into work from home today.  I, on the other hand, since it didn't seem the storm had hit Boston too badly, decided to make the trek to Hopkinton.  Took me 1.5 hours to get here....  So this is what they meant that the west and north part of MA got hit harder...

Oh well...

On a cooler note:

This time last year, February 12, 2006, Boston got whacked with a pretty normal snowstorm that left close to 20 inches of snow in the city.  So this first real snow storm wasn't all that bad.  Just bundle up, use public transportation if you can, avoid the brown slush as you may not know why it's brown, and of course, stay warm. 

On a smoked cheddar cheesy note:

Happy Valentine's day to my best friend! 
(You know who you are...I hope!)

Over a month ago or so, I was having dinner with my small group and I did the strangest thing. I ate goat cheese for the first time...and it was actually not bad. Now, why did I eat the goat cheese on top of my salad?

• Was it because I was feeling a little bit adventurous that night? A little bit.

• Was it because I like cheeses overall? Sorta.

• Was it because I wanted to see if I was allergic to it? Nope.

• Was it because two ladies in my small group were singing its praises and making it clear that they enjoyed eating it with their salads? MOST DEFINITELY.

"...God is most glorified in us when we are most satisfied in him." - John Piper

The last couple of weeks I've been chewing over some reflections and thoughts on this time of year when we celebrate the birth of Jesus.  I think it's so easy, especially in our western americanized christian culture to get swept up with the romantic aspect of His birth that we may be tempted to forget why He originally came.

Christmas is more than just time spent with family, or going to a church service.  It is more than just the cool(and not so cool) gifts that are under the plastic pine needle tree that the family assembled the week before.  It isn't about the eggnog, the parties, Santa Clause, or particular words like "Happy", "Holiday", "Merry", "Greetings"...

Christmas is about marking the moment when God gave His answer to our toughest questions...

    Why is there so much suffering in the world?
    Why doesn't God do something about the pain?
    If He is so powerful, why doesn't He answer us?
   
The time when he answered our deepest question...

    Does God care about me?

He does...His name is Immanuel, God with us...

There is no one else, in no other religion, idealogy, or philosophy that has so painstakingly made it clear that He came for us.  No other god has ever done such a thing.  No other being has stepped into our reality to be like us in order to redeem us.  He came to rescue you and me from a world that is in chaos because our hearts are in chaos. 

He is the only one who stands in our pain...

                                        who bears our sorrow...

                                                        and takes on our wounds...

So that we might know the healing and the life that can only exist through Him.

Christmas is the day when we know that "Yes, He truly does care for you and me."

For the first time I decided to join the early morning mobs and ATTEMPT to buy some hot electronics at cheap prices.  The result...FAILURE.    Stood in the rain outside of Microcenter, hoping against all odds that I could be one of the fortunate ones to get into the store and grab a $199 laptop.  Unfortunately, the Microcenter people, not wanting to have a beat-down on the opening, decided to pass out vouchers to people.  The first 10 people in line were the ones who got the vouchers for that laptop and my mobile computing dreams went poof with them. 

Don't know how else to describe ThuFriDay, but it was mostly a blur after having a 2nd Thanksgiving dinner at the Lau's home.  I chuckled myself to sleep last night as I realized that besides the little 3 hour nap I took during Friday morning, I essentially experienced a 48 hour day.  Comforted myself in at least getting some nice discounts on food and sweets.

I don't think I'll ever do that again.  For people who have the guts to stand outside the store at 12am and camp out, good on ya!  For myself, I think I'll just enjoy the extra hours of sleep next year.  Online shopping is so much warmer. 

Wednesday was a day of emotional and spiritual turmoil for me.  It started with uneasiness, transformed into trepidation, then sorrow, and now meditative repentance...

With all that has been happening in the past week, scandals within the Republican party, the embrassament of the Evangelical community because of Haggard's sins, the resounding destruction of the Republican control of Congress, and to the signs of the further splintering, fractionizing, and mocking of American Evangelicals towards each other, one thought bubbled up to the top in the end.

I had placed more of my faith and confidence in men, and not the Lord.

• True Hope doesn't come from who I voted for.
• Mankind's restoration does not depend on whether social justice or pro-life issues reign supreme within our courts.
• And the salvation of the world for the now and forever does not depend on whichever party people say Jesus would support.

He is who we need to look to now...He is the embodiment of all that is REAL and TRUE...where else can we turn?