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God is GOOD! May 30, 2008

Posted by David Hiran Watson in God.
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God is GOOD! God is GOOD! God is GOOD! God is GOOD! God is GOOD! God is GOOD! God is GOOD!

This is not a joke post, or mispost; I had a few things I wanted to post, and was realizing that I’ve been starting to fall into a pattern of filtering out post topics about me personally or my life. I was contemplating posting on what’s been going on in my life this past week, and found out that part of me wanted to just focus on topics outside of me (ie., great quotes by others, social commentary, etc.). My solution to this problem is what is written above – recognizing and focusing on the fact, the truth that God is GOOD. Take some time to contemplate that statement, not just read through it. The few times, and trust me they are too few and too far inbetween, I contemplate/meditate on that statement, my whole outlook on my life changes. So I’ll end off with:

God is GOOD! God is GOOD! God is GOOD! God is GOOD! God is GOOD!
Amen.
DH

Two Interesting Articles May 27, 2008

Posted by David Hiran Watson in Articles.
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I read two good articles in the National Post this past Saturday. The first one is called “Keeping the Faith“, and it’s about an issue brewing between Christian charities who desire to hire persons with the same religious and moral beliefs, and Human Rights Codes in North America. The issue basically boils down to: according to any North American Human Rights Code (whether it be at the national or provincial/state level), a person cannot be discriminated against in regard to employment in the area of various categories. One of these categories involves religious beliefs, and others involve areas that can fall under morality (such as sexual orientation). Now, most Christian charities in NA, while not being picky on who volunteers with the charity, are picky on who they hire to be permanently on the payroll. And because most of the permanent positions are top-level positions that provide the direction for the charity, and also because the Christian faith is the motivation for the work they do, these charities desire to hire Christians for these permanent positions. Hence, the tension between Christian charities and NA Human Rights Codes.

The second article is called “Taking the High Road“, and it’s about an emerging niche in the travel market. It seems more and more North Americans who are fairly well-to-do, don’t want to just go on a vacation that only involves resorts/hotels, spas, swimming pools, beaches, bars, and fine dining. They also want to get involved in helping the natives of the country they are vacationing in. As such, there are travel agencies now offering packages where you can not only partake in the leisure, but spend some of your time visiting and helping the country itself.

DH

Lifehouse – Storm May 24, 2008

Posted by David Hiran Watson in Music.
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How long have I been in this storm
So overwhelmed by the ocean’s shapeless form
Water’s getting harder to tread
With these waves crashing over my head

If I could just see you
Everything would be all right
If I’d see you
This darkness would turn to light

And I will walk on water
And you will catch me if I fall
And I will get lost into your eyes
I know everything will be alright
I know everything is alright

I know you didn’t bring me out here to drown
So why am I ten feet under and upside down
Barely surviving has become my purpose
Cause I’m so used to living underneath the surface

If I could just see you
Everything would be all right
If i’d see you
This darkness would turn to light

And I will walk on water
And you will catch me if I fall
And I will get lost into your eyes
I know everything will be alright

And I will walk on water
You will catch me if I fall
And I will get lost into your eyes
I know everything will be alright
I know everthing is alright

Everything is alright
Everything is alright

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In The Trenches May 24, 2008

Posted by David Hiran Watson in Daily Life-Walk, Faith, God, Social Justice.
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Pastor Brendan Witton from Church WIthout Limits recently had posted on his blog:

Mark Batterson passed on a great quote from Vince Antonucci:

“If you aren’t close to someone who is far from God you may not be as close to God as you think.“

It sounds catchy and cute, but if you meditate on what it means, it’s quite a bold statement. I know there are many Christians who can say they are close to someone who is far from God, and that they are seeking to be a light unto that person, showing them how much God loves them and how much they need Him. But I think there’s a stronger revelation now in the (North American) church that faith without works is dead. James puts it this way in James 2:14-17:

“What good is it, my brothers, if a man claims to have faith but has no deeds? Can such faith save him? Suppose a brother or sister is without clothes and daily food. If one of you says to him, “Go, I wish you well; keep warm and well fed,” but does nothing about his physical needs, what good is it? In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead.”

James continues this teaching through to verse 26, giving examples from the Old Testament of how faith and deeds go hand-in-glove.

As I was thinking about this, I was reminded about the message of I Heart Revolution, which in a similar way is focusing on worship and social justice going hand-in-glove.

I think one thing to remember in considering these messages is that change starts with little steps. No matter where we are on the spectrum of deeds displaying our faith, we can always strive for more – more sensitivity, more conviction. A great example I think about that here in Toronto we face every day is the question of whether to help street people asking for money. I know many Christians (including myself at times) who have given into the fear that because there are some scammers among the street people, we can’t trust anyone who is asking for money, and so we shouldn’t give. The ways I try to grow past that fear is to be sensitive to God’s leading and have a heart of compassion. Because, while the Bible does call Christians to be wise as serpents, if we give out of a heart of compassion and the other person handles that gift irresponsibly, that is ultimately their problem, and not ours. We have then done our part in loving our neighbour, in worshipping Christ through our actions, and in backing up our faith with deeds. (Please note: I am not advocating we become a fountain of money, giving every time we are asked. I don’t give every time someone approaches me. That’s where, if you are a Christian, the guidance of Holy Spirit comes in. But I believe we should make the choice to give or not based on God’s guidance, not on our convenience or the business of our schedules.)

DH

Faith-Walk Interference, part 2 May 22, 2008

Posted by David Hiran Watson in Daily Life-Walk, Faith, God.
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I want to continue my thoughts from the previous post earlier today. When I wrote what I did, a specific incident had just happened that fit the template of what I wrote about. It was the latest incident in a string of them over the past 12-18 months; all the incidents have involved different people and regarded different topics/circumstances.

I was talking to a sister-in-Christ tonight and shared with her the latest incident from today. I didn’t mention this topic; I just shared the details of the incident. A comment she made in response struck me: the other person is entitled to think the way they want to, and I can’t try to control their feelings or thoughts. Based on that realization, I suppose my comments about ‘how dare we’ were a bit overstated! We are each entitled to our opinions and thoughts, based on our understandings of the world. And if we have good intentions, that does count for something.

The problem is that good intentions alone don’t stop someone’s comments from potentially causing damage. I’ve been the victim of a Faith-Walk Interference (actually a number of them), and it was quite difficult for me. On the one hand, you don’t want to enter into pride and think that you have it all figured out, and the other person is completely wrong. That doesn’t mean they can’t be wrong, but to dismiss them outright can stem from pride. On the other hand, if God did speak to you in the area that you excitedly shared, to fall away because of doubt based on someone else’s understanding isn’t good either.

Perhaps it comes down to: do we trust that what this brother/sister-in-Christ who is sharing is capable of hearing from Holy Spirit directly?

I would like to write some more on this, Lord-willing ( *looks up to heaven and waits on God* :) , but I have to go for now. If anyone is reading this, leave me some comments on your thoughts.

DH

I Heart Revolution May 22, 2008

Posted by David Hiran Watson in Documentary, Movies, Social Justice.
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I saw Hillsong United: I Heart Revolution tonight. It’s supposed to be a documentary on worship and social justice. It was an interesting documentary – more of a cross between a documentary and a worship dvd. There was a lot of concert footage and about 90% or more of the audio track was songs sung at the concert(s) shown; every single song played is also on the I Heart Revolution cd. There was some good comments though on social justice, and connecting worship with justice in our Christian walks. There was an emphasis on how the two go together. There was also footage of some of the things the band did while touring – activities involving social justice (ex: spending time with the outcasts, etc), and things that were just plain old fun (ex: touring the city, clowning around on the sidewalks, etc). There was lastly footage of the people in the cities they visited – candid shots if you will. All three types of footage were mixed together and played over top of the audio track; the 10% or so of the time when the audio was commentary, the footage was usually of either the people commenting or the band being involved in justice activies. The other 90% of the time, the mixed footage was played over the song. It was a well-designed juxtaposition: concert footage of believers surrendered in worship against shots of the rest of the city. If you get a chance, check out www.i-heart.org.

DH

Faith-Walk Interference May 21, 2008

Posted by David Hiran Watson in Daily Life-Walk, Faith, God.
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Why are we as Christians so quick to interfere into another brother or sister’s walks with the Lord? Or I suppose it’s not all of us, but some of us? I know we mean well, but why can’t we trust them unto God? I’m just as guilty of this too: one Christian will (probably excitedly) share with another Christian something God has shown him/her – a new understanding of a Scripture, or a direction God wants him/her to walk in for the next season of their life. But all too often, the other Christian will respond with something that in actuality is an attempt to ‘temper’ or ‘balance’ what the first Christian is saying. The response is (and should be) Scriptural, so in one sense it can’t be denied. But I’ve noticed that, many times, that response isn’t one that God is actually speaking to the first Christian. In our desire to not let our brothers and sisters become imbalanced in their Scriptural understanding or in their walk with God, we step out believing that we know what God is speaking to the first Christian. How dare we?! Really, do we know the mind of God? Just because a brother or sister is seeing a certain Scripture in a new light, or heading down a certain direction, does it mean that they have forsaken the other interpreations of that same passage, or dimissed or decried the other directions in life that can be taken? (And I’m talking about Godly directions in life.)

DH

Sin struggles May 20, 2008

Posted by David Hiran Watson in Daily Life-Walk, Faith, God.
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Why is is that whenever you are trying to go deeper with God, to get to the next level as it were, there’s such a struggle involved in it? It’s like at that very point, Paul’s words, “For what I do is not the good I want to do; no, the evil I do not want to do – this I keep on doing” (Romans 7:19) kick into effect. Sometimes I wonder if my heart desire is true or not. One moment, I’m saying to God, “Father, I want to know you more and I surrender all of myself”, and then the next moment I’m doing that which is the very opposite of surrender. Now I know that Satan is our Accuser and that a good portion of the doubts about my heart desire stems from his lies. But wait…the Holy Spirit just reminded me of something: God does not accuse us in any way! That means that not just a good portion, but ALL of the doubts stems from his lies. That still doesn’t excuse my sin, nor diminish the need to overcome it. But, as Paul goes on to say, “Now if I do what I do not want to do, it is no longer I who do it, but it is sin living in me that does it” (Romans 7:20). And further on in the chapter, “Who will rescue me from this body of death? Thanks be to God – through Jesus Christ our Lord!” (Romans 7: 24b-25). I can only keep coming back to He is the Author and Perfecter of my faith, and that because I live in the bounds of time, every moment I am able to make a fresh choice to pursue God or not. That means that even though I sought to grow in God one moment, fell to sin the next moment, if I repent and seek to grow in Him again the next moment after that, the choice I made to sin is over and done with. That is, my sin is forgiven, and the choice I made doesn’t negate the choice to repent and seek Him again! And furthermore, the choice to sin didn’t negate the choice to seek God in the first place (or moment); it just slowed down the process. Amen, thank you God for Your grace and mercy, love and forgiveness.

DH

The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian May 20, 2008

Posted by David Hiran Watson in Movies.
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I saw The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian tonight; it was a good movie, and although I read the book some time ago, from what I remember I felt they did justice to the book. There were some elements I’m pretty convinced they added in, but overall it was true to the story. Some of the guys I saw it with weren’t so thrilled with it, and were making fun of it even. That bothered me a bit, but upon reflection I think it’s because I loved the books, and found the whole Narnia-verse one that I was and am able to get into and ‘be there’. To then have someone cut it down was and is hard. I suppose the thing to remember is that everyone is entitled to an opinion, and we don’t have to let someone else’s opinions or thoughts steal our own. That said, I do agree with some of the comments that the movie, from a movie making perspective, wasn’t the greatest. It was decent, perhaps an average to slightly above average rating. I say this because I think the director could have done a better job with the storyline, and I’m not talking about adding in new elements to ’spice’ things up. The fight scenes were good, well planned out and coordinated. I did feel like the story was a bit rushed; certain poignant scenes and the development of some of the characters were transitioned through quickly. I think The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe was a better movie in terms of plot development, character development, theme development, etc. But, as I mentioned before, overall I still liked Prince Caspian and recommend you go see it.

DH

Name changes May 20, 2008

Posted by David Hiran Watson in About Me.
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Some of you may be wondering why dEhiN, and, for those who already know me and have read my About page, why David Hiran Watson. My full name is David Hiran Watson, but pretty much my whole life I’ve gone as Hiran Watson. It was a decision my parents made for a couple of reasons. Much of my government id has my full name on it, but my SIN card, and everything else – school records, work info at all the places I’ve worked at, resume, etc. – has Hiran Watson. Lately, as in 2008 and latter half of 2007, God has been doing work in me related to discovering more of who I am, who He has created me to be. This has included discovering abilities, interests, personality traits, that I suppose lay dormant before this point.

So how does this relate to dEhiN and the use of my full name? Well, through all this discovering, God has been planting on my heart to start using my full name. To me, it’s symbolic because I used to use part of my name when I was only partially aware of who God had created me to be. Now that I’m fully (or almost fully) aware of who He has created me to be, there is a desire to use my full name. In addition, much of the discovering has been in the realm of art and my artistic side. Because of this, I felt the need to create a pseudonym (primarily) for artistic endeavours, again as a reflection of this ‘new’ me. Hence: dEhiN – DAvid HIran watsoN. (I know David is spelled with an ‘a’, but it’s pronounced as an ‘e’).

DH