you have my axe

"Aragorn: If by my life or death I can protect you, I will. You have my sword...
Legolas: And you have my bow.
Gimli: And my axe.
Boromir: You carry the fate of us all, little one. If this is indeed the will of the Council, then Gondor will see it done." 
       - from "Lord of the Ring - Fellowship of the Ring" by Tolkien

This is one my favorite quotes from the Lord of the Ring series (to the point that I almost memorized it). This takes place when the main representatives of each "tribe" (elf, dwarf, hobbit, man, wizard) meets up to decide upon the fate of the one ring. The general consensus is that this should be destroyed, but who is willing to carry the burden to take this ring to the fire of Mordor? So Frodo steps up as the one willing, such powerless creature taking upon a heavy burden. Soon after, powerful allies join in his quest and they form a solid fellowship (of the ring).

Recently, a group of 15-20 people from my university fellowship (CCF) met up for a Christmas gathering. And it was a pretty sweet time as I don't get to see most of them often. It is very nice to catch up with them, to chill with them, and to hear how God is working in them. I vividly remembered how we served together in the CCF in our undergrad times, and definitely the time we spent together serving has really solidify the bonds of friendship into something deeper, a relationship that transcends time and geographical location - no matter how little we see each other, or whether we live in different cities, I know for sure my fellow brother or sister is faithfully standing firm for the work of Christ, and that when we meet up we can easily pick up the relationship from where we left.

This is only possible because we are united under the same faith and love in God, and we are all redeemed by the same Christ, and empowered by the same Spirit, and entrusted for the same gospel, and hence we partner together in this great thing called fellowship.

"I thank my God in all my remembrance of you, always in every prayer of mine for you all making my prayer with joy, because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now. And I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ." - Philippians 1:3-6

the end of Naruto

So the very first Japanese manga that I consistently followed has come to an end recently. And I was hoping the end will come soon because I felt the story in the last year or so was barely progressing and really dragging quite a bit.

Naruto started with a lot of potential, and the first few arcs of the series was pretty spectacular with memorable exciting moments:

• Battle against Zabuza (this is where it really starts to get serious, and also the first time to see the sharingan!)
• Chunin Exam (one of the best arcs ever in terms of character development and battle strategy)
• Sasuke leaving Konoha (many epic battles, specially Gaara vs. Kimimaro)

Unfortunately, it is hard to reach top-ness, but it is even harder to maintain top-ness. After the three year leap, the series of Naruto went through periods of decline in its quality, to the point where plot holes and lack of innovative ideas were obvious.

Regardless, as a committed reader, I continued to follow it.

The ending was not bad, but it was not great. In a way I was looking forward to a great ending that could "fix" the series overall, but that did not happen. 

Now, I will stop about my rant about Naruto (I actually wrote an email to my Naruto co-readers and created a script for my ideal ending).

In a way, the challenge to be consistently good is very hard. I want to draw parallel comparison with our spiritual walk with God. There are times when it is at its "highs", and times when it is at its "lows". There are times that is so easy to stay complacent and avoid doing the right thing.

The cool thing is that God is gracious and it is really because of Him that we can persevere in our daily struggle with our own self. It is because of God that we can recover from our "lows" and walk towards Him, because He is faithful.

As we run this race, we are encouraged by Paul's example to finish the race well, fighting the good fight for the sake of Christ.

"For I am already being poured out as a drink offering, and the time of my departure has come. I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. Henceforth there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, will award to me on that Day, and not only to me but also to all who have loved his appearing." - 2 Timothy 4:6-8