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I wonder how the new comedy Evan Almighty works around or addresses the fact that God made a promise to Noah that he will never again send a flood to destroy the earth. Steve Carrell and Morgan Freeman reprise their roles (as the newscaster and God, respectively) in this sequel to Bruce Almighty.

I actually liked Bruce Almighty. At first I thought it was one of those Hollywood movies that mock religion. Its trailer showed Bruce (played by Jim Carrey) in various scenes using his newfound Godly powers to his own ends. How blasphemous, I thought. But boy, am I glad I gave the movie a chance. When I saw the film, I discovered it’s about how we as mere mortals would seriously bungle handling the task of being the Supreme Being if given the chance. In one scene I recall, Bruce grants everyone’s prayer requests to get things over with. As a result, it wreaks havoc in many people’s lives. The old adage, “Be careful what you wish for, it just may come true,” comes to mind. Bruce lacked God’s infinite wisdom and sovereign knowledge in granting everyone’s wishes.

Another scene that stood out for me, but which I vaguely recall its details, is the part at the end where Bruce, overwhelmed by the responsibilities of being “God,” cries out to the heavens. He realizes he can not do things on his own, and with outstretched arms surrenders everything to the God of the universe.

This scene hits home for me, and many other believers, I suspect, for it mirrors a point in every believer’s life, where one realizes he or she is not the master of one’s own destiny, that someone bigger is out there, one who is really in control. And this “someone” actually reached out to us in our state of unbelief and rebellion and revealed himself to us in the person of Jesus Christ. He is the only one who perfectly handled the role of God here on earth, as he gave himself up willingly as a sacrifice on the cross, to pay the penalty for our iniquities. On the cross, he bore the brunt of the Father’s wrath, the wrath that we so deserve – we, the so-called masters of our own destiny. By trusting and believing in Christ’s death and resurrection, we pass from death unto life, as the perfect righteousness of Christ is laid on our account. God sees us as he sees Christ, unblemished and holy, as if we never sinned. Thus, we can enter into God’s holy presence, for eternity.

Gosh, it’s Wednesday already? I’ve been meaning to write an entry about Easter weekend right away but once Monday came around, I hit the ground running at work and next thing I knew, a couple of days have gone by.

Easter weekend started with the whole family heading off to Good Friday service at our church’s new meeting place, the Alta Mira Club, a historic building in San Leandro. The following day, we got up early to watch, for the first time, our church’s basketball team play (yes, we have one!). They made it to their league’s playoffs and had a shot at the finals as one of the Final Four teams playing. Unfortunately, they lost the game. It was great seeing the guys play though. We’re mighty proud of them for having had a great season.

We had to leave before the game ended to get to my parents’ house up north. My parents threw an early birthday party for our youngest son since Saturday was the only day that we and all three of my siblings and their families could get together. The kids had a little Easter egg hunt, then they enjoyed ice cream cake and cookies. The cake is from Tucker’s in Alameda. That’s some fancy writing on a toddler’s cake!

The brothers in pastel colors to match the eggs they’re hunting.

Sunday morning, the kids put their Sunday best for a special Easter performance at church. The church children had been rehearsing diligently for the past couple of months. Seeing them recite and sing with confidence and enthusiasm that day was heart-warming (some exhibited stage fright during a trial performance held a few weeks ago). Here is what my eldest son recited:

Then (Jesus) died. The Roman soldiers testified that He was dead: His heart was ruptured. He was buried. But His disciples asked the same question you may be asking: how can a dead man save us? A dead man can’t. That’s why the gospel is such good news. He rose again the third day, according to the Scriptures.

This was the work the Lord Jesus Christ had come to do to be able to save us from sin. What an amazing love!

The Bible says “Yet to all who received Him, to those who believed in His name, He gave the right to become children of God.” Receiving Him means you believe with all your heart Jesus died on the cross for your sins and rose again. You need to be willing to turn from your sin and believe that the Lord Jesus can forgive you. He’ll put His life in you to make you His own child – God’s child.

The Evangelical Outpost has rounded-up an excellent list of rappers who have posed as Jesus prior to this month’s Kanye West Rolling Stone cover.

So that’s why it seemed so trite. One would encounter several CD covers depicting rappers posing as Jesus while simply browsing through the used Rap section at the local Rasputin (I’d pass those up to buy though. Not my cup of tea - ‘cept for Nas).

Shock is far from what one feels when reading about the Kanye/Jesus cover. In my case, the SDA church we rent space from has had a picture of a black Jesus displayed in the lobby for several months. In addition, all the evangelical churches I have attended since my youth have always taught that the blue-eyed, flowing-haired, Scandinavian-looking Jesus depicted in pictures is so far from the real Jesus of the Bible. It’s interesting what the Scriptures does say about Jesus’ appearance:

He has no stately form or majesty
That we should look upon Him,
Nor appearance that we should be attracted to Him.

He was just an ordinary looking citizen of 1st century Palestine. Prophetic words those were though, coming from the Old Testament (Isaiah 53 is all about Jesus Christ).

One little thought that came to mind about the Rolling Stone cover was that the publication seemed to want the issue to coincide with the showing at Sundance of a South African movie depicting Jesus as a black man. But the one thing that caught my attention more than anything was Kanye West’s revelation in Rolling Stone that he was addicted to porn. He says “he remembers first seeing his father’s Playboy magazine when he was 5 years old.” He then admits, “Right then…it was like, ‘Houston, we have a problem.’ ” Hmmm, sounds familiar. We all need a Saviour, don’t we?

Has Jewish feminist Naomi Wolf found Jesus? Find out here.

(via b4G)

Yesterday, I read a Filipina-Australian blogger’s personal thoughts on a fellow Australian who was about to be hanged in Singapore for possessing heroin. Later, I find out that the man, Nguyen Tuong Van, was at peace with his execution because of “an opportunity of self-discovery made possible upon (his) conception of God and Jesus Christ into (his) life.” His last moments with his loved ones were spent consoling them, instead of the other way around. Coincidentally, my Bible reading for yesterday included a passage where St. Paul says his last goodbyes to the Church of Ephesus before his impending imprisonment and execution, saying, “but I do not consider my life of any account as dear to myself, so that I may finish my course.” Earlier he wrote, “For to me, to live is Christ, and to die is gain… having the desire to depart and be with Christ, for that is very much better.”