1.17.11

The Australian Open starts again today.
I am rooting for Rafael Nadal, of course.
I want him to complete the Nadal Slam, winning the French, Wimbledon, US Open and Australian Open consecutively. It won’t be a calendar Grand Slam, but it will make him six short of Federer’s slam records.
Doable?
Well, if he believes so, who can stop him.

But the Fed camp thinks that 20 slams are not at all impossible.
Well, if he believes so, who can stop him.

“The Social Network” won Best Picture Drama
“The Kids are All Right” won Best Picture Musical or Comedy
Natalie Portman won Best Actress Drama for “Black Swan”
Annette Bening won Best Actress Musical or Comedy for “The Kids are All Right”
Colin Firth won Best Actor Drama for “The King’s Speech”
Paul Giamatti won Best Actor Musical or Comedy for “Barney’s Version”
Melissa Leo won Best Supporting Actress for “The Fighter”
Christian Bale won Best Supporting Actor for “The Fighter”
David Fincher won Best Director for “The Social Network”
Aaron Sarkin won Best Screenplay for “The Social Network”

My BS at Mega and Jo-es went well. I must say there were things I discussed that I did not even think of even during preparation. For instance, the Magandang Balita version of Exodus 20:8-11 states that “tapusin ang dapat gawin” during the first six days when the Lord commanded to labor. One can only do that when there is a schedule of activities that need to be done on a weekly basis.

Shall I interpret the passage that way or is it just the obsessive-compulsive in me finding an excuse for me being me – a schedule freak?


REFLECTIONS
Exodus 5-7

It must have been daunting for Moses to be on the Israelites’ side and being bullied by this hard-headed lot.

The intention was to free the Israelites. The first reaction from the oppressor was to oppress them a little bit more. And I think, unless we understand and accept that God knows more than we do, it is hard to fathom that God will allow us to go through suffering “for his glory”?

There was a group therapy scene in “The Rabbit Hole” where parents whose children died young met, and one of the mothers said that God must have wanted another angel so he had to take their son. That was the mother’s comfort-thought. And the character Nicole played said something like, “If he needed an angel, why didn’t he just create one?”

And the question does make sense.
Except that, our comfort-thought tells us and makes us want to believe that God knows better.

In the case of the Israelites, if emotion is allowed to rule, they have every reason to be not to listen to Moses after the more severe bondage brought about by the “talk” to release them. They had every reason to be discouraged.

Thankfully, the Lord never let up.
Moses, 80, was given a spokesman: Aaron, 83.
Old men with young hearts!