Greetings from England!

It has been a whirlwind of a time for me trying to settle into a new place, a new community, a new time zone, and a new pace of life. But as much as this change might be a major one for me, in the grand scheme of life it is really just yet another change. The old adage that change is the only constant certainly rings true.

Change is perhaps also the hallmark of our era. In the Information Age, the rapidisation of knowledge transfer has accelerated change in many dimensions for us – fashion, music, society, technology, and even the frontiers of science change so quickly that it is difficult to say whether or not something considered to be true now will still hold true a year, a month, or even a week from now.

As Christians, how do we face such a constantly changing world? Without an anchor to ground ourselves, we would quickly be swept along with the tide of change.

Ps 136 sheds some insight on this. The first verse reads: "Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good, for his steadfast love endures forever." Look at the second part of that verse carefully – the psalmist uses three words ("steadfast", "endures", and "forever") to connote the everlasting nature of God's love. If there is anything we can count on to be faithful forever, this surely is it. Indeed, the psalmist further emphasises this by repeating this refrain every single verse of the psalm. What a significance it must have held for him!

What significance does it have for us? As we live our lives from change to change, do we look to that which is steadfast, enduring, and everlasting as our anchor? As I finally settle into my new environment, I hope that we all settle into this environment of God's love as well.

– alvin(:

Trip Lee – Reverence Over Cool

This isn't quite a reading list this week, since it's a video – here's a short message by Trip Lee (who's both a pastor and a rapper – how amazing is that!) about the importance of reverence as an attitude against a culture that emphasises coolness and fitting in and being accepted. It's a sobering take on an issue that is very pertinent for Christians living as sojourners in our current world, especially as Rom 12:2 reminds us not to conform to the patterns of this world. As Trip says in the video, "if all we got is cool we look good when we show up but we won’t know where we’re supposed to go." Do take a listen!

Josh Garrels – Pilot Me (from "The Sea In Between")

Josh Garrels is one of my favourite Christian musicians, and his music really approachable, poetic, and beautiful. Pilot Me is a cheery song of his, and this video is really just about him and a few friends coming together to make music and worship together amidst nature. It is also part of a bigger documentary called The Sea In Between, which is about Josh, his story, and his music, and it really displays how music can serve as part of a bigger narrative about God, so it's definitely worth a watch. You can find the whole documentary here.

This edition, rather than highlighting just two artists and songs, I thought I would share a few playlists – carefully curated by yours truly. That's 150 songs for you to listen to! (:

Just as ancient navigators fixed their sights on the unmoving North Star to find their way, may we also fix our sights on our unchanging God to find our way.

Over and out!