Late last night, while reflecting away in bed having been woken up by the computer restarting itself at half 3, thoughts of what would happen if I died suddenly today or in the near future passed through my head. Why, I don't know; and quite frankly, I'm hoping that I won't be passing away anytime soon(!), but it just happened. I thought about what kind of 'legacy' I would have left behind me in the event that this happened, but to be quite honest, I didn't really think much further than that because the subject was too sordid and it was not exactly the appropriate time to do so either.
Now is the time to reflect about this slightly - I'll leave the rest to whoever feels like commenting afterwards (if any person does, that is). One thing for certain, I believe, is that I would have left behind a cloud of controversy in my wake. I've never been the most uncontroversial person around and indeed, have always seen myself as trying to push certain borders and boundaries in order to either prove a point or get my way, no matter how correct or incorrect I was. However, in light of the controversial nature, I think that over the last couple of years or so, I have become a better person overall, compared to what I used to be. Granted, I was never one who would go out every Friday night, or any other night for that matter, and get stoned out of my head or dangerously high, but I believe I have become a better person in the sense that nowadays I see myself as a less egotistical figure and someone who is more willing to bend over backwards to not only accomodate other people, but to help them out to the best of my abilities, where possible. In other words, the humanitarian within me, I feel, has emerged more over recent years.
Of course, what is sure to draw some form of criticism from my readers, as is generally the case (but I will never back down about this, no matter how many sticks, stones and derogatory terms are thrown at me) is the fact that another 'legacy' that I would have left behind me is that of getting closer to God and, in this light, hopefully being an example for others to follow. Perhaps it's coincidence, but the above point vis-a-vis my (willing and not enforced) humanitarian nature coincided with the same time that I made God a part of my life. Of course, various people will or might disagree on this point completely, and I wouldn't be surprised if they do, but I believe that God's presence in my life has made a hell of a big difference with regards to the way I live. With Him in my life, I feel fulfilled and I feel a sense of protection that I previously didn't feel.
Would I have achieved everything that I set out to achieve in life? Definitely not, but if I had to go sometime soon, then for the most part, I feel that I would have left a general positive impact on people's lives, even though certain people obviously wouldn't see this and believe that my effect in life has probably been the total opposite.
And now, if you wish, over to you. (Any derogatory comments posted will either be ignored completely or be subject to deletion.)
God Bless You all!
Matti
Showing posts with label God. Show all posts
Showing posts with label God. Show all posts
Tuesday, February 23, 2010
Thursday, January 14, 2010
I Think...
Happy New Year, guys!
So, for the first blog of 2010, I decided to share a few thoughts that have been going through my head... and while they're not penned down yet (indeed, this is the first time I'm actually going to be writing them down and seeing them face me), they're going to assume some kind of poetic form. I would hope. Enjoy.
I Think...
I think about those times
Where I am lonely,
No one to turn to,
Nothing to say;
I think about those times
Where all is well,
Those times where I look forward
To every brand new day.
I think about life
Its ups and downs,
Topsy-turvy moments
Many smiles and, indeed, frowns;
I think about it more
How lucky we are,
To be here, living comfortably
No problems, by far.
And yet, despite all this,
You, God, I think about last,
The One I should be most grateful to
For all: future, present and past;
I never mean to do so
But us humans err,
We know you should be at the forefront
But none of us dare
To even say "Thank You"
For all that you've done,
For coming here to save us
By sending your son.
All that I've seen
And all that I will go through,
Pales in comparison
To what's been done by You;
You're there for us always
In good times and bad,
To put us back on track
With Your comforting hand.
So God, while I'm thinking
Forgive me, please do,
For making you secondary
To the things that I do.
God Bless You all!
Matti
Saturday, September 19, 2009
Fanaticism - or Fans - at their Best
Last Wednesday, around two hours before heading off to see the Inter vs. Barcelona game, I was speaking to a friend of mine (ahem, before she rudely abandoned me in mid-conversation!) who asked me if I was going to the Red Carpet Event later on that evening. I promptly replied that I had opted to see the match instead and while she seemed to be a bit disappointed that I was going to watch football instead of spending a night out with friends, she then pondered why it is fine for someone to be a football fanatic and not fine for them to be a God fanatic. This got me thinking a bit.
First, however, before moving onto my arguments, I would like to set the record straight slightly. This argument, I believe, was not intended for me but was very much a generalisation. I believe that in such scenarios, we have to distinguish fully between events that are completely intended for God, such as Youth Meetings and the Mass, and social events that are designed to spend time amongst your friends, even if the majority of these form part of a community. In the case presented here, we are clearly speaking about the latter. It is clearly wrong and irresponsible, especially if you are building up a relationship with God, to abandon Him to watch a football match or do some sort of social activity that would overlap one's participation in getting closer to Him. It goes against the grain of making God the centre-focus of one's life; by doing something such as the above, one is simply placing materialistic items before God. Furthermore, to also close a point that has been lingering on for quite a while, not going a community-based social event does not mean that you are choosing other things, such as football, over Jesus. While the latter point was not a problem with my friend, who didn't even bring this argument up, I have heard it one too many times from certain people in the past to not mention it; so doing so now will indefinitely clear things up.
Having said that (and that indeed was an argument in itself, and probably part of my argument too for that matter), I will tackle the argument of fanaticism. For a start, I'm not of the school of thought that fanaticism, is positive. Fanaticism shows that something is needed in excess; you cannot live without this something in life; it leads you to do things that you might not even want to do. Of course, there is something that we cannot live without in life, and that thing is God. Actually, the word 'thing', I believe, is incorrectly used - I'd rather use the term 'entity' instead. Anyway, some people, in all fairness, opt to do so and survive accordingly, but as practicing Christians, we cannot live without God at any moment in our lives because otherwise our lives will be empty and void. Our lives, in a nutshell, would not be worth living at any moment, any time, and any day. Hence, by elimination, we can say that being a football fanatic is something that is not even a tenth as critical as being a fan of God*. Indeed, nothing is as critical as that.
Therefore, why do we seem to be fine with being football fanatics and not fine with being fans of God? It ultimately boils down to the same issue as always - God seems to be a taboo among people in general, and when people openly admit that they are Christians and that they love living in the Christian way because they really do experience God fully, then they get condemned, criticised and often emarginated for it. Placing football ahead of God is ultimately that that I mentioned earlier - giving an increased level of importance to something materialistic as opposed to giving that increased level of importance to Him. It seems as if for the most part, the general societal perception is that God is not 'cool' enough for such people, and hence society finds it easy to take the mickey out of the segment of society that really does make an effort to be better Christians and incorporate Him more in their lives. While this isn't right, it's unfortunately reality - and as we all know, reality is something that we have to live with.
We, as Christians, must try to change this perception as much as we can; but while it isn't impossible (as nothing is impossible for God), we have to acknowledge fully that we have a major battle on our hands to do so.
God Bless You all!
Matti
*Following an important distinction between 'fanaticism' and 'fan', it is important to realise that I have been referring to the latter all throughout. The context has been edited to reflect this.
First, however, before moving onto my arguments, I would like to set the record straight slightly. This argument, I believe, was not intended for me but was very much a generalisation. I believe that in such scenarios, we have to distinguish fully between events that are completely intended for God, such as Youth Meetings and the Mass, and social events that are designed to spend time amongst your friends, even if the majority of these form part of a community. In the case presented here, we are clearly speaking about the latter. It is clearly wrong and irresponsible, especially if you are building up a relationship with God, to abandon Him to watch a football match or do some sort of social activity that would overlap one's participation in getting closer to Him. It goes against the grain of making God the centre-focus of one's life; by doing something such as the above, one is simply placing materialistic items before God. Furthermore, to also close a point that has been lingering on for quite a while, not going a community-based social event does not mean that you are choosing other things, such as football, over Jesus. While the latter point was not a problem with my friend, who didn't even bring this argument up, I have heard it one too many times from certain people in the past to not mention it; so doing so now will indefinitely clear things up.
Having said that (and that indeed was an argument in itself, and probably part of my argument too for that matter), I will tackle the argument of fanaticism. For a start, I'm not of the school of thought that fanaticism, is positive. Fanaticism shows that something is needed in excess; you cannot live without this something in life; it leads you to do things that you might not even want to do. Of course, there is something that we cannot live without in life, and that thing is God. Actually, the word 'thing', I believe, is incorrectly used - I'd rather use the term 'entity' instead. Anyway, some people, in all fairness, opt to do so and survive accordingly, but as practicing Christians, we cannot live without God at any moment in our lives because otherwise our lives will be empty and void. Our lives, in a nutshell, would not be worth living at any moment, any time, and any day. Hence, by elimination, we can say that being a football fanatic is something that is not even a tenth as critical as being a fan of God*. Indeed, nothing is as critical as that.
Therefore, why do we seem to be fine with being football fanatics and not fine with being fans of God? It ultimately boils down to the same issue as always - God seems to be a taboo among people in general, and when people openly admit that they are Christians and that they love living in the Christian way because they really do experience God fully, then they get condemned, criticised and often emarginated for it. Placing football ahead of God is ultimately that that I mentioned earlier - giving an increased level of importance to something materialistic as opposed to giving that increased level of importance to Him. It seems as if for the most part, the general societal perception is that God is not 'cool' enough for such people, and hence society finds it easy to take the mickey out of the segment of society that really does make an effort to be better Christians and incorporate Him more in their lives. While this isn't right, it's unfortunately reality - and as we all know, reality is something that we have to live with.
We, as Christians, must try to change this perception as much as we can; but while it isn't impossible (as nothing is impossible for God), we have to acknowledge fully that we have a major battle on our hands to do so.
God Bless You all!
Matti
*Following an important distinction between 'fanaticism' and 'fan', it is important to realise that I have been referring to the latter all throughout. The context has been edited to reflect this.
Sunday, July 12, 2009
Heal the World...
Make it a better place
For you and for me
And the entire human race
There are people dying
If you care enough
For the living
Make a better place
For you and for me
Finally, the blog I've been waiting to write for a rather lengthy period of time!
Perhaps a positive thing to come out of Michael Jackson's life was this song. The lyrics to it are amazing beyond belief and can be interpreted on so many different levels, as well as can be applied to anything and everything. However, the main message behind it all is that the world is currently in a state of degeneration and that we have to act before it is way too late for us to do so. And believe it or not, Michael Jackson is right.
Take it from an environmental level, for example. Jackson said that if we care enough for the living, then we should make [the world] a better place for you and for me. Yes, we have EU-set targets regarding pollution, carbon emissions and other things so that the world can eventually be a better, more sustainable place for our children and our children's children to live in, but unfortunately, the reality of the situation is that we continue to pollute and harm the environment more and more day after day. Myself included, unfortunately (switches off air-conditioning). How will out current activities haphazardly affect future generations? And looking even at our lives, are our own actions as well as those of our predecessors going to really be costly when we approach the latter stages of life?
What about the level of poverty? We all know that there are many families in the world struggling to make ends meet in many circumstances, so should we, as developed countries, continue to increase such a burden on the citizens of these countries as well? Humanitarian aid is undoubtedly needed here; and furthermore, I believe that such aid would also be part of a major solution to problems such as illegal immigration. Part of the EU's budget allegedly goes to such third world countries in order to help them fund solutions to the problems that they face. But giving money is simply not enough - it's useless having money if you don't know how to spend it. Hence, the money should be invested not only in the basic necessities such as housing and clean water for everybody, but also education for younger and older generations so that they learn how things should be done. Of course, much of this is idealistic (in terms of how such things can be implemented), and unfortunately, will probably remain this way for many a year to come.
However, my main thought about how the world could be healed and made a better place is through Jesus. It is of great concern that there are many people who are now converting to the Muslim religion and that this is growing and slowly becoming a stronger world influence. Nowadays, for example, 16% of the French population is Muslim. If numbers remained at those levels, then it would (kind of) be fine, but the reality is that everything in this regard is on the increase. Proof of this is not just shown via the conversion rate, but also by the marked lack of Christian births vis-a-vis Muslim births. There is a strong need for evangelisation to take place, for us Christians to spread Jesus' word for the word that it is and make this world a better and righteous place. This is not to say that I am condemning other religions, but the main purpose behind this message is to continue to ensure that people know that Jesus died for them on the Cross.
Recently, I was told a story that regarded a conversion of faith. One person constantly kept on telling the head of a gang that Jesus loved them; eventually, this person was threatened with death if he said the phrase "Jesus loves you" one more time. This individual told the gang leader that even if he cut him up into 1,000 pieces, each piece would still say that "Jesus loves you". The gang leader then converted. As difficult as it may be, we have to have blind faith in Jesus and His mission for us all - no matter how different that may be - as well his plan for the world. We have to believe that as Jesus' representatives on earth, we are called by Him to indeed make that world a better place, for you and for me and the entire human race. We have to stomp out the deaths of Christianity, i.e. eliminate those conversions from Christianity to another religion, and really proclaim that which He told us. We also have to stop turning away from Jesus and moving towards deviant things, as unfortunately often happens especially during teenage; and stick by his side through thick and thin. Having said that, there is no doubt that even if we do walk away from Jesus, He still loves us so much that He will welcome us back with open arms at any time, just like the father did in the Parable of the Prodigal Son.
I will conclude here, but remember - we're here to make the world a better place! Like what is often done in scouts, one's motto in life should be to leave a place better than how one found it at the beginning of something. Why can't we invest some time into something that is so precious not just to use, but also to future generations?
Heal the World guys.
God Bless You all!
Matti
For you and for me
And the entire human race
There are people dying
If you care enough
For the living
Make a better place
For you and for me
Finally, the blog I've been waiting to write for a rather lengthy period of time!
Perhaps a positive thing to come out of Michael Jackson's life was this song. The lyrics to it are amazing beyond belief and can be interpreted on so many different levels, as well as can be applied to anything and everything. However, the main message behind it all is that the world is currently in a state of degeneration and that we have to act before it is way too late for us to do so. And believe it or not, Michael Jackson is right.
Take it from an environmental level, for example. Jackson said that if we care enough for the living, then we should make [the world] a better place for you and for me. Yes, we have EU-set targets regarding pollution, carbon emissions and other things so that the world can eventually be a better, more sustainable place for our children and our children's children to live in, but unfortunately, the reality of the situation is that we continue to pollute and harm the environment more and more day after day. Myself included, unfortunately (switches off air-conditioning). How will out current activities haphazardly affect future generations? And looking even at our lives, are our own actions as well as those of our predecessors going to really be costly when we approach the latter stages of life?
What about the level of poverty? We all know that there are many families in the world struggling to make ends meet in many circumstances, so should we, as developed countries, continue to increase such a burden on the citizens of these countries as well? Humanitarian aid is undoubtedly needed here; and furthermore, I believe that such aid would also be part of a major solution to problems such as illegal immigration. Part of the EU's budget allegedly goes to such third world countries in order to help them fund solutions to the problems that they face. But giving money is simply not enough - it's useless having money if you don't know how to spend it. Hence, the money should be invested not only in the basic necessities such as housing and clean water for everybody, but also education for younger and older generations so that they learn how things should be done. Of course, much of this is idealistic (in terms of how such things can be implemented), and unfortunately, will probably remain this way for many a year to come.
However, my main thought about how the world could be healed and made a better place is through Jesus. It is of great concern that there are many people who are now converting to the Muslim religion and that this is growing and slowly becoming a stronger world influence. Nowadays, for example, 16% of the French population is Muslim. If numbers remained at those levels, then it would (kind of) be fine, but the reality is that everything in this regard is on the increase. Proof of this is not just shown via the conversion rate, but also by the marked lack of Christian births vis-a-vis Muslim births. There is a strong need for evangelisation to take place, for us Christians to spread Jesus' word for the word that it is and make this world a better and righteous place. This is not to say that I am condemning other religions, but the main purpose behind this message is to continue to ensure that people know that Jesus died for them on the Cross.
Recently, I was told a story that regarded a conversion of faith. One person constantly kept on telling the head of a gang that Jesus loved them; eventually, this person was threatened with death if he said the phrase "Jesus loves you" one more time. This individual told the gang leader that even if he cut him up into 1,000 pieces, each piece would still say that "Jesus loves you". The gang leader then converted. As difficult as it may be, we have to have blind faith in Jesus and His mission for us all - no matter how different that may be - as well his plan for the world. We have to believe that as Jesus' representatives on earth, we are called by Him to indeed make that world a better place, for you and for me and the entire human race. We have to stomp out the deaths of Christianity, i.e. eliminate those conversions from Christianity to another religion, and really proclaim that which He told us. We also have to stop turning away from Jesus and moving towards deviant things, as unfortunately often happens especially during teenage; and stick by his side through thick and thin. Having said that, there is no doubt that even if we do walk away from Jesus, He still loves us so much that He will welcome us back with open arms at any time, just like the father did in the Parable of the Prodigal Son.
I will conclude here, but remember - we're here to make the world a better place! Like what is often done in scouts, one's motto in life should be to leave a place better than how one found it at the beginning of something. Why can't we invest some time into something that is so precious not just to use, but also to future generations?
Heal the World guys.
God Bless You all!
Matti
Sunday, May 31, 2009
Community, in Every Sense of the Word
Good morning, everyone.
On the drive home last night, I realised that sometimes there is nothing better than having a one-to-one conversation with the sole passenger in your car. Which, naturally, I duly did when I took Ivan home after hanging out, yet again (though less successfully than last week, if you catch my drift!) at Surfside. Now, while generally our conversations border on the utterly ridiculous, mimicking one another over Concrete, Fluid Mechanics, Structures, Commercial Law and Administrative Law, among other crazy topics, this time we actually decided to talk serious. We decided to talk about the Pentecost Vigil that we had both attended at St. Paul's Bay earlier on in the evening.
We both agreed wholeheartedly that it was probably one of the most boring things that we had ever attended, as a community, in our lives. It isn't inaccurate to say that the Vigil was dragging in nature, more dragging than that that we expected, to be quite honest. The nature of the whole ceremony made many a person, ourselves included, incredibly impatient and frustrated. And it was the same kind of frustration that the general public would feel whenever Mourinho would give some sort of a speech, so that definitely wasn't good at all. We also both agreed that maybe we shouldn't have gone to the Vigil because of these reasons.
However, Ivan then brought up a very valid point. He said that at Y4J, we tend to put the fun into worshipping God, and that's a big reason why people continue to come back and worship, and subsequently build a relationship with God. Which is fine, naturally, because it's as if you're "killing two birds with one stone". After doing it for the first time, however, and getting used to it, it practically becomes easy to do this. He continued by saying that this can be fully contrasted to the ceremony that we just attended, which was drab, dragging and boring to say the least. Due to our popular notion of praising God in a 'cool way', we tend to forget that there are other ways of praising God and indeed being in His presence as well, such as this. The reality is that the Church, in Malta at least, isn't like Y4J or Community, with live worship to indeed help people feel God's presence, but is totally different and sticks to more traditional notions; notions which us, as youths and teenagers, seem to commonly forget. As a result, if we don't integrate ourselves into the Church, then we will simply remain a bubble extraneous to it, so maybe in that sense, we do need to change.
Continuing on the notion of the Church, I then commented that the Church in Malta however does not have a mentality worthy of the year 2009, but one that is 30 to 40 years in the past. There is no sense of modernisation or reform happening in the Church in order to keep up with the times, it is essentially just stuck in the times when Vatican II emerged, i.e. the times when John XXIII was Pope. Granted, this is a massive improvement from hearing Mass in Latin (God forbid!) and priests not facing the crowd when saying their homilies, to quote Ivan, but these are reforms that happened donkeys years ago now. Sometimes, I believe that the Mass, albeit extremely significant, is intangible and incommunicable with the current times. And unfortunately, such reform cannot simply start from the priests themselves, or from the people - although they must all play a part - but from the Pope. There seems to be a drastic need for a Vatican III to emerge; something which, however, both Ivan and I were of the belief that it might have happened under John Paul II, God bless his soul, but will definitely not happen under Benedict XVI.
The Church really has to be the ultimate meeting point for a community, in every sense of the word. At the moment, while it is trying to promote this notion, I believe that it is unfortunately failing at this and is actually driving away more people from the Church instead of drawing them towards this.
I hope you understood my points outlined above; I'm sorry if they're slightly incoherent but I needed to get this off my chest and placed in writing before I forget it upon waking up tomorrow morning and not even having time to blog due to studies.
God Bless You all!
Matti
On the drive home last night, I realised that sometimes there is nothing better than having a one-to-one conversation with the sole passenger in your car. Which, naturally, I duly did when I took Ivan home after hanging out, yet again (though less successfully than last week, if you catch my drift!) at Surfside. Now, while generally our conversations border on the utterly ridiculous, mimicking one another over Concrete, Fluid Mechanics, Structures, Commercial Law and Administrative Law, among other crazy topics, this time we actually decided to talk serious. We decided to talk about the Pentecost Vigil that we had both attended at St. Paul's Bay earlier on in the evening.
We both agreed wholeheartedly that it was probably one of the most boring things that we had ever attended, as a community, in our lives. It isn't inaccurate to say that the Vigil was dragging in nature, more dragging than that that we expected, to be quite honest. The nature of the whole ceremony made many a person, ourselves included, incredibly impatient and frustrated. And it was the same kind of frustration that the general public would feel whenever Mourinho would give some sort of a speech, so that definitely wasn't good at all. We also both agreed that maybe we shouldn't have gone to the Vigil because of these reasons.
However, Ivan then brought up a very valid point. He said that at Y4J, we tend to put the fun into worshipping God, and that's a big reason why people continue to come back and worship, and subsequently build a relationship with God. Which is fine, naturally, because it's as if you're "killing two birds with one stone". After doing it for the first time, however, and getting used to it, it practically becomes easy to do this. He continued by saying that this can be fully contrasted to the ceremony that we just attended, which was drab, dragging and boring to say the least. Due to our popular notion of praising God in a 'cool way', we tend to forget that there are other ways of praising God and indeed being in His presence as well, such as this. The reality is that the Church, in Malta at least, isn't like Y4J or Community, with live worship to indeed help people feel God's presence, but is totally different and sticks to more traditional notions; notions which us, as youths and teenagers, seem to commonly forget. As a result, if we don't integrate ourselves into the Church, then we will simply remain a bubble extraneous to it, so maybe in that sense, we do need to change.
Continuing on the notion of the Church, I then commented that the Church in Malta however does not have a mentality worthy of the year 2009, but one that is 30 to 40 years in the past. There is no sense of modernisation or reform happening in the Church in order to keep up with the times, it is essentially just stuck in the times when Vatican II emerged, i.e. the times when John XXIII was Pope. Granted, this is a massive improvement from hearing Mass in Latin (God forbid!) and priests not facing the crowd when saying their homilies, to quote Ivan, but these are reforms that happened donkeys years ago now. Sometimes, I believe that the Mass, albeit extremely significant, is intangible and incommunicable with the current times. And unfortunately, such reform cannot simply start from the priests themselves, or from the people - although they must all play a part - but from the Pope. There seems to be a drastic need for a Vatican III to emerge; something which, however, both Ivan and I were of the belief that it might have happened under John Paul II, God bless his soul, but will definitely not happen under Benedict XVI.
The Church really has to be the ultimate meeting point for a community, in every sense of the word. At the moment, while it is trying to promote this notion, I believe that it is unfortunately failing at this and is actually driving away more people from the Church instead of drawing them towards this.
I hope you understood my points outlined above; I'm sorry if they're slightly incoherent but I needed to get this off my chest and placed in writing before I forget it upon waking up tomorrow morning and not even having time to blog due to studies.
God Bless You all!
Matti
Sunday, May 24, 2009
Nous sommes Francais, et nous buvons trop ce soir.
What better way to spend your evening on a beach, with one too many guitars playing away, in the midst of exam time just before summer?
Well, post-Y4J, that's what we did last night. And while I was seeing both this and my pizza from Surfside, which cost me the best part of a tasteless €7.50, as slightly extra at around 11pm, I can now safely look back and say that you should have no regrets about what you do in life. Whether you sing to your heart's content, whether you die swimming with sharks, whether you kill someone in a car accident... ok, yes, maybe you should live to regret the latter. But you get my point, it turned out being one quite enjoyable night by the end of it all.
It's a pity that some people weren't there, as they missed the humorous bit of it all. After the majority left, to the extent that we were a group of around 12 people, we had an adoring audience looking down at us from the Tower Road promenade above. They were French. And while we initially thought that they would just peer and move on, like many other people did, these decided to come down and listen to us play and sing away. And poor Matt just had to get the worst bit of it all, with these three French women all looking on in awe at him. Poor chap, I actually pitied him - if they were somewhat attractive, I don't think I'd be writing in this manner, but calling him one lucky chap instead.
Well, naturally, for them not to be disappointed, and to be at least slightly courteous on our behalf, we tried seeing which songs we could either play or sing along to that they also knew about. In their alcohol-induced state. Obviously, what with the difference in cultures, finding common ground was about as common as finding a pothole in our roads. Two, three, possibly four songs later - we had exhausted our list and them seemingly theirs - we just resorted to playing our own thing, and went to worship songs. And this was after we played Mike's 'wildcard' song, James Blunt's "Beautiful", to them as well. Anyhow, while this makes us people - me excluded - dance sometimes out of the grace of God, this actually started to make some of them dance as if there were dancing to some form of tango. Weird.
The worst bit though was that the more we wanted them to leave - which they finally did, at around 1am - the more they actually stayed on (adoring Matt and staring at the stars in awe)! This, we could see, was interspersed with the occasional cigarette, drink, and piss further down the beach for a couple of this group. How touching. The cherry on the cake is when they finally left though, and they thought that we were performing for them, as they asked poor Mike now (yes, poor Mike) for his mobile number so that they find out when we would next be on the beach. (I'm sorry, I still can't resist the laughs right now!) Yes, of course, any number was taken down out of common courtesy, but I'm 150% sure that we aren't giving these people a call before our next "gig".
The motto of this story? "Nous sommes Francais, et nous buvons trop ce soir."
Au revoir, and God Bless You all!
Matti
Well, post-Y4J, that's what we did last night. And while I was seeing both this and my pizza from Surfside, which cost me the best part of a tasteless €7.50, as slightly extra at around 11pm, I can now safely look back and say that you should have no regrets about what you do in life. Whether you sing to your heart's content, whether you die swimming with sharks, whether you kill someone in a car accident... ok, yes, maybe you should live to regret the latter. But you get my point, it turned out being one quite enjoyable night by the end of it all.
It's a pity that some people weren't there, as they missed the humorous bit of it all. After the majority left, to the extent that we were a group of around 12 people, we had an adoring audience looking down at us from the Tower Road promenade above. They were French. And while we initially thought that they would just peer and move on, like many other people did, these decided to come down and listen to us play and sing away. And poor Matt just had to get the worst bit of it all, with these three French women all looking on in awe at him. Poor chap, I actually pitied him - if they were somewhat attractive, I don't think I'd be writing in this manner, but calling him one lucky chap instead.
Well, naturally, for them not to be disappointed, and to be at least slightly courteous on our behalf, we tried seeing which songs we could either play or sing along to that they also knew about. In their alcohol-induced state. Obviously, what with the difference in cultures, finding common ground was about as common as finding a pothole in our roads. Two, three, possibly four songs later - we had exhausted our list and them seemingly theirs - we just resorted to playing our own thing, and went to worship songs. And this was after we played Mike's 'wildcard' song, James Blunt's "Beautiful", to them as well. Anyhow, while this makes us people - me excluded - dance sometimes out of the grace of God, this actually started to make some of them dance as if there were dancing to some form of tango. Weird.
The worst bit though was that the more we wanted them to leave - which they finally did, at around 1am - the more they actually stayed on (adoring Matt and staring at the stars in awe)! This, we could see, was interspersed with the occasional cigarette, drink, and piss further down the beach for a couple of this group. How touching. The cherry on the cake is when they finally left though, and they thought that we were performing for them, as they asked poor Mike now (yes, poor Mike) for his mobile number so that they find out when we would next be on the beach. (I'm sorry, I still can't resist the laughs right now!) Yes, of course, any number was taken down out of common courtesy, but I'm 150% sure that we aren't giving these people a call before our next "gig".
The motto of this story? "Nous sommes Francais, et nous buvons trop ce soir."
Au revoir, and God Bless You all!
Matti
Tuesday, May 12, 2009
I Look into the Sky Above and Wonder how my Life has Changed
Thanking Krissie for the inspiration. I actually realised that MSN sub-nicks actually do have a use from time to time, other than promoting junk that us lawyers think of as a result of our course!
Ok, so, I wasn't really going to blog, especially as it's just past midnight as I've typed the first few words into this space, but why not while I'm still awake and not too too tired. Especially after I haven't really blogged in a good while, properly that is, after the last blog was one that was more a case of venting frustrations out in public. Which, I guess, I shouldn't have; but anyway.
Well, there isn't too much to say and there isn't too much that is exciting, unfortunately, at this point of my life. The year 1991 is halfway, or thereabouts, through its A Levels, and the year 1990 and before are preparing for the dreaded end of year exams that University throw up from the depths of Room 223, Faculty of Laws. So with nothing exciting apart from telling you how much case law I've studied per day, I decided to reflect a little bit on the past year and what's really changed since then; once again because a certain sub-nick on MSN inspired me to do so.
Looking back to around this time last year I can safely say that my group of friends were different to those that I stay with today. Granted, I'm not saying that those friends that I used to hang out with are not my friends any longer - far from it, actually - but I feel more comfortable staying with the Y4J and Community group now, as opposed to them. I actually, for the most part, feel a part of this group and feel appreciated for who I am, even if I might have differing views to other people, occasionally, due to my rather obstinate nature. Whereas prior to staying with this new (if you can now call it that) group of people, I would constantly have to be on my guard out of fear of someone taking advantage of me or ready to take the piss out of me, I now feel that it isn't the case. The people who I'm staying with - you all know who you are - are, to me, now like a family. We have our differences and we have our disagreements, but at the end of the day, we're all there for one another and love each other like brothers and sisters. And that's exactly how it should be with everyone - after all, God told us to love your neighbour as yourself.
This may be a repetitive point from prior statements or prior blogs, but the entry of God into my life has also been a significant change over the last year. Whereas before I was a Christian but pretty much agnostic, now I believe things to the contrary. Obviously, with this, unfortunately, comes a lot of criticism from those who aren't living the same lifestyle as you. Make one slip up and you're criticised, or say something that might not tickle someone else's fancy and you get slated for it. But thereagain, that's what living Christians do, don't they? They spread the Word at whatever cost possible and live for God and, as discussed at our D-Group meeting last Sunday, try to make their actions speak louder than words. Sometimes, words are not effective enough - you could tell a million people about Jesus, how great He is and what He has done for us - but none might believe you. However, if you perform some kind of act through which Jesus' love and spirit really emerges, then someone might indeed believe you. There again, as also stated in the same D-Group meeting, this is quite a subjective thing to go on about.
Perhaps this is the least evident of the changes that I've undergone in the last year or so, but I believe that now - contrary to that period a year ago - I am a bit more of a tolerant person, even though my best friend thinks I've become worse! I've learnt how to snap less at other people and actually be more patient with others. I think I've seen this develop mainly through my leadership skills, and the various things that I've organised, taken part in or coordinated over the last year. If I had to do the same things one year back, I don't think I would have been able to cope in any way possible. Having said that, I admit that this is still a segment of my character that I definitely have to work upon, for I still do have the tendency to blow up at flick of a finger, as quite a few people who have seen me will testify!
And then there's the final aspect of this rather condensed version of how my life has changed, and that is how I've managed to cope with a bunch of my friends going abroad to study on a permanent or temporary basis. It just goes to show that things can change really quickly, and that the situation that you're faced with one day is not always the situation that you're going to be faced with the next. The worst bit is when your friends come here for a while - in some instances, as short as a weekend break - and then are off for the next few months, ensuring that communication with them is rather limited till when they get back. You learn how to live with it, however. Initially, I saw this as a real uphill struggle but then tried to take the positives out of it, in the sense that not only are my friends doing something that is beneficial for them and furthering their education outside our shores, but it would also help to further develop me as an individual and perhaps not rely on them as heavily as I used to; even though the latter doesn't exactly apply to one of the people in question. It really does help matters when you see that God uses each and every situation - be it positive or negative - to try teach you an important, valuable life lesson from it.
And with that I will conclude. I could have blogged for much longer, and about much more, and politically, for that matter; but opted not to. I think this will be a bit more pleasant to the eye anyway, instead of ranting on about ongoings on a small rock in the Mediterranean.
P.S. I realised that loads of people are 'refreshing' their blog skins... I know mine looks bland, but I must say, it ties in beautifully with the morose nature of examinations!
God Bless You all!
Matti
Ok, so, I wasn't really going to blog, especially as it's just past midnight as I've typed the first few words into this space, but why not while I'm still awake and not too too tired. Especially after I haven't really blogged in a good while, properly that is, after the last blog was one that was more a case of venting frustrations out in public. Which, I guess, I shouldn't have; but anyway.
Well, there isn't too much to say and there isn't too much that is exciting, unfortunately, at this point of my life. The year 1991 is halfway, or thereabouts, through its A Levels, and the year 1990 and before are preparing for the dreaded end of year exams that University throw up from the depths of Room 223, Faculty of Laws. So with nothing exciting apart from telling you how much case law I've studied per day, I decided to reflect a little bit on the past year and what's really changed since then; once again because a certain sub-nick on MSN inspired me to do so.
Looking back to around this time last year I can safely say that my group of friends were different to those that I stay with today. Granted, I'm not saying that those friends that I used to hang out with are not my friends any longer - far from it, actually - but I feel more comfortable staying with the Y4J and Community group now, as opposed to them. I actually, for the most part, feel a part of this group and feel appreciated for who I am, even if I might have differing views to other people, occasionally, due to my rather obstinate nature. Whereas prior to staying with this new (if you can now call it that) group of people, I would constantly have to be on my guard out of fear of someone taking advantage of me or ready to take the piss out of me, I now feel that it isn't the case. The people who I'm staying with - you all know who you are - are, to me, now like a family. We have our differences and we have our disagreements, but at the end of the day, we're all there for one another and love each other like brothers and sisters. And that's exactly how it should be with everyone - after all, God told us to love your neighbour as yourself.
This may be a repetitive point from prior statements or prior blogs, but the entry of God into my life has also been a significant change over the last year. Whereas before I was a Christian but pretty much agnostic, now I believe things to the contrary. Obviously, with this, unfortunately, comes a lot of criticism from those who aren't living the same lifestyle as you. Make one slip up and you're criticised, or say something that might not tickle someone else's fancy and you get slated for it. But thereagain, that's what living Christians do, don't they? They spread the Word at whatever cost possible and live for God and, as discussed at our D-Group meeting last Sunday, try to make their actions speak louder than words. Sometimes, words are not effective enough - you could tell a million people about Jesus, how great He is and what He has done for us - but none might believe you. However, if you perform some kind of act through which Jesus' love and spirit really emerges, then someone might indeed believe you. There again, as also stated in the same D-Group meeting, this is quite a subjective thing to go on about.
Perhaps this is the least evident of the changes that I've undergone in the last year or so, but I believe that now - contrary to that period a year ago - I am a bit more of a tolerant person, even though my best friend thinks I've become worse! I've learnt how to snap less at other people and actually be more patient with others. I think I've seen this develop mainly through my leadership skills, and the various things that I've organised, taken part in or coordinated over the last year. If I had to do the same things one year back, I don't think I would have been able to cope in any way possible. Having said that, I admit that this is still a segment of my character that I definitely have to work upon, for I still do have the tendency to blow up at flick of a finger, as quite a few people who have seen me will testify!
And then there's the final aspect of this rather condensed version of how my life has changed, and that is how I've managed to cope with a bunch of my friends going abroad to study on a permanent or temporary basis. It just goes to show that things can change really quickly, and that the situation that you're faced with one day is not always the situation that you're going to be faced with the next. The worst bit is when your friends come here for a while - in some instances, as short as a weekend break - and then are off for the next few months, ensuring that communication with them is rather limited till when they get back. You learn how to live with it, however. Initially, I saw this as a real uphill struggle but then tried to take the positives out of it, in the sense that not only are my friends doing something that is beneficial for them and furthering their education outside our shores, but it would also help to further develop me as an individual and perhaps not rely on them as heavily as I used to; even though the latter doesn't exactly apply to one of the people in question. It really does help matters when you see that God uses each and every situation - be it positive or negative - to try teach you an important, valuable life lesson from it.
And with that I will conclude. I could have blogged for much longer, and about much more, and politically, for that matter; but opted not to. I think this will be a bit more pleasant to the eye anyway, instead of ranting on about ongoings on a small rock in the Mediterranean.
P.S. I realised that loads of people are 'refreshing' their blog skins... I know mine looks bland, but I must say, it ties in beautifully with the morose nature of examinations!
God Bless You all!
Matti
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