A to Z regular blessings - the letter J

J

Jennifer. My wife. We will be married 19 years in a week's time. Long time and lots of ups and downs as in all normal and healthy marriages but most significantly, still going stronger and stronger! :-) Won't say anymore lest I embarrass her but it is great to be married to Jennifer!

Jokes. Ah ... a great life line for me. Jokes (good ones that is) lightens my mood, brings relief to a tense situation, breaks the ice in a conversation and is often good for a sermon illustration. And that was a list just off the top of my head! I can't imagine what my life would be like without humour.

A related story ... One of my favourite posters of Jesus is one that was drawn by a Jesuit Priest from the Phillipines. (I gave it away to someone who needed it more at a tough period in his life than I so I do not have it anymore. I do miss it!) This priest works among the poor and I bought it from the Daughters of St. Paul shop that is located along Jalan Gasing. I went back many times alter but it is not sold anymore. I should have taken a picture of it but that was before digital cameras and I foolishly assumed that I could easily get another one! :-(

Anyway it is a marvelous painting of Jesus wearing blue jeans and a T-short sitting down and playing a guitar. This painting / picture has Jesus smiling / laughing as he is playing the guitar. I loved it so much I bought it and had it framed and hung it directly opposite my bed. I would wake up each morning and one of the first things I would see is that picture....

Jerusalem / Jericho. This may seem strange but when i got the chance to got to Israel (courtesy of my mum's generosity in using her annual bonus one year to pay for my ticket), I brought back two posters of a panoramic photo shot of Jerusalem and Jericho. I got it framed up (poster board) and it is hanging above the door frames of my house. So I see one city when I exit my house and the other one when I exit my living room. I am not a dispensationalist so for me it does not hold the same significance to a traditional dispensationalists. But it is a blessing to me because it reminds me of my connection with a culture and people and land, and history etc that is bigger than my little circle of life. On my wall too is a beautiful woven banner from Isreal that has the Numbers 6 Araoronic blessing (thanks again to my mum for this!) and on a side table is my little ram's horn (the real Israelite shofar to me as this is from an animal indigenous to Israel)

and a little plastic menorah (almost kitschy but not yet :-)). All reminders of a great time of blessing and learning that opened my eyes to so many things spiritual.