..::pressured::..

i feel like i was presssured to update... bullied... that's ok - i'm a middle child, and i'm always either bullied (by the older), overshadowed (by the cuteness of the younger), or ignored (by the parents, in favor of "the eldest", or "the cutest")... so life just happens to be one big pressure cooker. and this time, bloggers in the one_eighty forum have all been bullied by tom to update ... *sigh*

i'm fighting thru illness at the moment. sitting in the office at 8am, w/a strep throat, and aching shoulders, and periodic pounding head is not so good. i hate being sick. i think in 9 years of working, i've taken 2 sick days. guess i gotta soldier through.

currently, i'm staring out my office window into the harbor. over the way is tst - a place i rarely visit, but the sites are so familiar. it's so exotic over there, and makes me wonder why i don't venture out there more... then the bout of irrationality leaves and i'm glad to be back on the island! :P but HK is honestly a beautiful city. the skyline, as i look down towards wanchai/cwb, is amazing, and really has no comparable across the globe. i think that we here are pretty fortunate too. guess i'm caught up in the emotion of the middle east. it's so sad to see how that's unfolding. i'm currently doing a study in the book of JUDGES - and time and again, the israelites turn away from God, and God then allows others to come and rule over them... to the point where the Israelites will then have a leader sprout up that will bring them back momentarily, but then they fall back into disobedience.

if you think about it, that pattern has persisted to this day. the atrocities of the holocaust during WWII, during/after which i'm sure the jews were crying out to their God for some kind of salvation (even tho they rejected him some 1940 years ago) - and they were then "given" back their land, even though they didn't deserve a square foot of it. but all that's been going on since then, in the past 60 years, has been war-mongering amongst the leaders. you don't see israeli leaders coming to God, and seeking him... and now - they are again caught in a situation where they're stuck in war. it's so amazing - as this has been the prophecy of israel for the rest of its days - unfaithfulness and war.

is it a harsh assessment? probably, but it's hard for me to be too sympathetic to either side. one of my lesser spiritual gifts was mercy, so i AM working on it!!! but it just really drills down in my own heart how important it is to be spiritually consistent. when israel was on fire for God, they had EVERYTHING... when they turn away, they always have NOTHING. so simple...

maybe the mercy thing IS sorta getting to me - cuz everyday i read the paper, watch the news, my heart really goes out to all the people that are killed/murdered/displaced... it really sucks...