ours who art in heaven gave us rememberance on sunday...
from isaac's sermon: grace extravagant demands love extravagant. what IS love extravagant? verily, it isn't just a theme for a single wedding day or the url that hosts this blog or a cool song we came to love or letters that spell out a catchy phrase on our bedroom wall. it is ... a life of worship by loving as He has loved & giving as He gave, whatever the circumstances or situations or things that come to pass. expecting nothing in return. simply and solely for the glory of God. any blessing we receive is by His grace alone... because that is what we were made to do. and yes, it is pretty much the most impossible thing in the world to do.
from our hearts: we lifted our voices to yuee's stronger 2x in consecutive services.
from whence we came to be: we know firsthand the love of our earthly fathers that knows no end. and yet, how much grander and deeper and wider is our fathers' Father's. dad ong was delivered a durian-flavoured, durian-scented and durian-shaped cake + local breads that made his son salivate; we lunched with dad kao at the "new" rice farm, drinking in endless bowls of herbal soup (buh tang), and gave send-off hugs + pounds of beloved pistachios and extra-dark chocolate (like daughter, like father?).
recent work: berryberry. we love the yogurt, the place, the people. and the green tea yogo is to melt for!
why is that we can stand in awe at His hand in creation but not have faith that moves the very mountains He formed to being?
a different, very off-the-beaten path trip this time... drove through rolling hills & greens & wildflowers as far as the eye could see, hiked in the heart of the alps w/ locals (one of which we got caught in yet another pouring rainstorm!), walked and biked around lakes where granite peaks and majestic trees dotted every horizon.
two touristy stops: hitler's eagle's nest and the bmw museum + production tour whereby geeky ee was captivated by the precision engineering and mechanics.
but years from now, it is the characters met along the way that we will remember the most: the lady clad in traditional german attire at the berchtesgaden tourism center with an aunt who schooled and lived in singapore... who advised us on which hikes to take and gave yuee his most precious souvenir: an elevation map (to be framed soon); the zell hostess who both skiis and snowboards for literally months on end (even 'til summer months at times), the vietnamese bartender girl at a fantastic chinese restaurant (yes, in germany, and sadly, better food than here) studying in austria that offered to take us out to play; the munich waitress from croatia who left a high position @ porsche to study again & chase her PR dreams, albeit considered a "lesser" profession.
so it is people, moreso than places or things or ... stuff ... that compose life.
and then we came home. but we've been pondering moreso recently -- where is home?
