Update for post "Christ and Cancer" and Opposite Attracts

In last Sunday's sermon, the Pastor was preaching on "Relationship in Christ". In one segment of the sermon, Pastor was saying that with our spouse, the opposite tends to attract like one partner is introvert and the other extrovert, one can pack well and the other not, etc. (note : part of what I write here is an extrapolation on the sermon) More often than not, these opposites complement each other. God in His wisdom gave us spouse that have opposite character or personality to compliment us.

When it comes to Josie, the fact is that there are really a lot of opposites that I can speak of and we do complement each other. Specifically for this blog, I want to say that she notice that in my post "Christ and Cancer", I used the phrase "Shall not name names" and go on to apologise if my comments was taken negatively, I had also written to the person who sent me the link to apologise in advance of the post. In any case, Josie mentioned that simply by using the phrase "Shall not name names" is already by itself inappropriate and that I should probably use generic phrase like "I was sent this link" and that's all. She is absolutely correct and I had edited the "Christ and Cancer" post. 

Thus the post now reads:

"I was given this link to read: http://www.soundofgrace.com/piper80/081780m.htm

The person who sent it to me intended it to nourish and empower me to trust Him in my situation and I am thankful for it.

This link goes to a site called "Piper's Notes" and specifically to a sermon entitled Christ and Cancer (Roman 8:18-28). It is quite long and will need some time to go through and some more effort to try and understand the content of the sermon."


Back to our spouse. In my earlier post, I had reproduced our marriage vow "In the Name of God, I, _____, take you, _____, to be my wife/husband, to have and to hold from this day forward, for better for worse, for richer for poorer, in sickness and in health, to love and to cherish, until we are parted by death. This is my solemn vow.”

You will notice that even in the vows, there are opposite, "for better for worse, for richer for poorer, in sickness and in health, to love and to cherish". The opposite do not just extend to the vows but in our daily life. I fully agree with what Pastor had preached on Sunday. God in is wisdom, provide for us a helper, a companion, one that will complement us and bring out the best in us.

Now, I say this with absolute seriousness, with no unintended punt nor with political correctness that marriage is an extremely serious matter!!! It is not to be taken likely. Even in the Anglican Marriage Liturgy, it says "Therefore, marriage is not to be entered into unadvisedly or lightly, but reverently, deliberately, and in accordance with the purposes for which it was instituted by God." Our spouse is given to us by God, we may in our marriage life encountered difficult moments, disagreements, arguments, different choices, different preferences, different whatever... but our spouse is still our spouse, given by God to be cherished.

We were asked "Will you love him/her, comfort him/her, honor and keep him/her, in sickness and in health, and, forsaking all others, be faithful to him/her as long as you both shall live?" and of course as part of the wedding ceremony, we all say "I will". However, do you consider (deep in your heart) that by saying "I will", we enter into a covenant with our spouses? This is not a contract that we can tear away whenever we feel like it.

Actually, I write this with a heavy heart too because I have a very good pair of friends who are divorced. When I first found out, it saddens my heart to the core because I had promised my male friend's mother that I will look out for them. They have their reasons and this post is by no mean a judgment of them nor is it meant to denigrate them. I still love them much. I fact, I feel sort of ashamed that as god-parent to their children, I had not done much except the odd lunches or dinners or meet up during special occasions.

I thank God for Josie and other than God, also the pillar of my strength. She does most things for Nathan now and allowed me to rest. She won't allow me to carry Nathan for long period because she is afraid that I will get tire easily. She feed him in the middle of the night whenever he wakes for milk. She supports me through my chemotherapy. I love her much.

In God I Trust

Here's a picture of Nathan dancing to a piece of music this morning. The arms are moving up and down.