Choir & miscellaneous updates

Seeing as it’s now the last of my undergrad years, I decided to finally take a fun, completely stress-free elective: Women’s Choir. (Past “electives” have been psychology and French). I have so far not been disappointed: the music takes negligible effort to read, the grades are primarily attendance-based, and the soprano-2 high notes are fairly attainable. Plus, I kind of get to unearth my love for singing — real deep-breath singing, as opposed to in-the-shower or trying-not-to-be-louder-than-everyone-else singing. And a bonus: almost everything is reminiscent of my faith. A couple examples:

• Eatnemen Vuelie by Frode Fjellheim (a rendition here). Came into public knowledge through Disney’s Frozen (not that I’d know). The melody (starting around 0:30 in the video) is a well-known (?) hymn tune — familiar to me because this hymn is one of my favourites for expressing longing for the Lord Jesus’ return.
• Rise Up, My Love by Eleanor Daley (listen here). “Song of Solomon”, as the score specifies. More precisely, on the basis of Song of Songs 2:10-12, which tells of Solomon (the “beloved”, signifying the Lord Jesus) encouraging the country girl (the “lover”, signifying the believers) to come out of her low situation. And this is the tune I’ve sung many, many times.

In short, yet another way the Lord shows up in my daily life, prodding me to turn to Him.

On another note…this is is my first post after a not-so-brief hiatus! I won’t try to catch up on everything that’s worth mentioning since March 22, but just a few snippets.

First, an encounter today gave me a renewed appreciation of a verse that’s written on the whiteboard above my desk (for longer than a month now):

这样看来，这不是在于那定意的，也不是在于那奔跑的，只是在于那施怜悯的神。

Or, in English:

So then it is not of him who wills, nor of him who runs, but of God who shows mercy. (Romans 9:16)

I’m just reminded again and again that the reason I can call myself a Christian today — and not a nominal one — is nothing other than the mercy of God.

Second, the annual Charis Camp College Retreat was last weekend. I never want a retreat or conference to be “just another” retreat or conference, but it seemed like this was going to be one of those……until the Lord touched me with a portion somewhat “sidebar” to the main burden of the messages (which was to be age-turners today according to the pattern of Noah):

For the love of Christ constrains us… that those who live may no longer live to themselves but to Him… (2 Corinthians 5:14-15)

The footnote of the Recovery Version on the word “constrains” says:

The Greek word means to press on … from all sides, to hold … to one end, to forcibly limit, to confine to one object within certain bounds, to shut up to one line and purpose (as in a narrow, walled road).

My God is a bothersome God. He bugs and bothers me until I cannot but give Him what He wants. I wasn’t prepared to give it. (I won’t say what “it” is, but be assured that I’m not talking about physical or material things). But somewhere within I could feel the pull of 命定 (destiny, for lack of a better word) — the feeling that He would inevitably get what He wanted……and it felt so unfair. But what could I do? The love Christ constrains me. So I complained and I struggled, but in the end I guess I’m a little glad that He didn’t give me a choice.