I Have a Dream

Today is Martin Luther King Day. Tomorrow, millions will flock to Washington DC to celebrate the inauguration of the nation's first African American President. You may or may not agree with Obama's politics but you cannot overlook the significance of his presidency.

With the backdrop of history in the making, I thought it might be interesting to post a video excerpt of Dr King's "I have a dream" speech. It was only a mere 45 years ago when he gave that speech.  Just a little more than 40 years ago, interracial marriage was illegal in Virginia.

Although racism still prevails in certain places, things are changing and perhaps tomorrow marks a new day.   There's much to be grateful for.

Quote of the Week

"There are no ordinary people. You have never talked to a mere mortal. Nations, cultures, arts, civilizations - these are mortal, and their life is to ours as the life of a gnat. But it is immortals whom we joke with, work with, marry, snub and exploit - immortal horrors or everlasting splendours."



C.S. Lewis, The Weight of Glory

Sanctity of Life

This coming Sunday, January 18, 2009 is Sanctity of Human Life Sunday. Since Roe v. Wade, the landmark decision legalizing abortions, there have been over 49 million abortions performed.

We've become so accustom to these kinds of statistics that it's easy to overlook of the scope of this atrocity. Even today, we're still horrified by the 2001 terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center as we should be - 2,752 deaths in a single day is terrible indeed. But in 2003, there were over 3500 abortions performed every single day. Somehow as a nation, we're not as troubled by this.

We're sympathetic to the tsunami victims - approximately 169,000 lives were lost in this natural disaster. Yet, 49 million deaths since 1973 doesn't seem to affect us quite as much. 49 million is about the size of South Korea or Spain - an entire nation of babies has been lost.

As a nation, we no longer view life from a biblically informed perspective and we are lost because of it. The high value of a human life is ascribed by God himself in Genesis 1 -"Then God said, 'let us make man in our image, after our likeness". Imago dei -the image of God in us means that every life has value outside of our utility or function or viability. It means that human life is sacred.

This week, especially this Sunday, pray for God to be actively at work in our courts, our homes and our hearts so that life is regarded as holy and the wicked practices of abortion might be no more. Let's also pray for National Right to Life and other newer groups like Abort73 as they continue to labor on behalf of the unborn.

Quote of the Week

"Sacrifice" is another word liable to misunderstanding. It is generally held to be noble and loving in proportion as its sacrificial nature... is consciously felt by the person who is sacrificing himself. The direct contrary is the truth. To feel sacrifice consciously as self-sacrifice argues a failure in love. When a job is undertaken from necessity, or from a grim sense of disagreeable duty, the worker is self-consciously aware of the toils and pains he undergoes, and will say: "I have made such and such sacrifices for this." But when the job is a labour of love, the sacrifices will present themselves to the worker-strange as it may seem-in the guise of enjoyment. Moralists, looking on at this, will always judge that the former kind of sacrifice is more admirable than the latter, because the moralist, whatever he may pretend, has far more respect for pride than for love.

Dorothy Sayers, The Mind of the Maker, Chapter 9

Merry Christmas

For the first time since we've had kids, Kathy and I are not celebrating Christmas at home. Instead we're visiting my parents and brother. It's about as different a Christmas as we've experienced as a family since both my parents and my brother and his wife live in Malaysia.

For one thing, it's hot - 85 degree temperature with humidity is not we're used to for Christmas. It also feels different because of the absence of the family traditions we've enjoyed together. Also, Malaysia is a muslim country which means most of the population doesn't observe Christmas even though there is a sizeable Christian population in the cities - so most shopping malls and stores were open - business as usual.

Without the traditions, frosty weather and cultural reminders of Christmas, it's giving us an opportunity to observe afresh what Christmas is truly about - the birth of our Savior, the Son of God come in human flesh to dwell among us.

"And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth."

John 1:14

Gospel Translations Update

A few of you have asked me to post about the progress of Gospel Translations since its public launch in September 2007 so here it is! Through the generosity and talents resident in Sovereign Grace Ministries, we were able to produce a video that explains the vision behind the Gospel Translations Project. We were also very glad to be picked up by a number of influential blogs like Girl Talk, Desiring God blog, Ligonier Ministries blog and Justin Taylor's blog. My blogging friend, Marcus Goodyear was kind enough to blog about us as well.

More importantly, fifteen months since its launch, we have over 750 translated resources online in 31 different languages -all for free. Some of these translations are in commonly spoken languages like Spanish, Portuguese, Chinese - others are lesser known like Telegu, Suomi and Igbo. We recently launched a Spanish language wiki site with over 350 Spanish resources from contemporary authors such as John Piper, DA Carson, CJ Mahaney and RC Sproul as well as a smattering of works from profoundly wise"dead guys" like Charles Spurgeon.

We now have a database of approximately 400 translators and many of them are actively at work making gospel centered materials available in their native language. We are deeply grateful and humbled by their faithful, passionate work for the sake of the gospel.

As we enter 2009, please pray for us as we continue to build this ministry -

- We are focused on building a readership base - please pray for the success of this objective
- We are also in great need of funding to continue beyond September 2009 - please pray that God will provide the needed financing.

We trust that God initiated this work and if so, He will supply all that is currently lacking in terms of resources and financing. If you feel led to volunteer or give toward this initiative, please visit our website for more information.