Imitate is such a Lost Art

If there is one wisdom I have acquired by learning programming with the mixture of self-taught and asking help, it is this: The fastest and probably easiest way to learn is to copy. And what I mean by copy is: to blatantly and shamelessly rip-off anybody, doesn’t matter whoever he is, as long as there is learning. And when you learn enough, go forth and shamelessly copy from someone better, so on and so forth, failing and rising, mixing and matching until you can have style you can call as your own. That is where true innovation begins, as there is nothing new to innovate anymore: “What has been will be again, what has been done will be done again; there is nothing new under the sun.” (Ecclesiastes 1:9).

And it suddenly hit me this is what Paul meant in 1 Corinthians 11:1 when he says: Imitate me, just as I also imitate Christ. That if you want a fast growth in being Christ-like, please imitate him. Do the things he do, pick up the habit he shows, think the way he think. Or at least that’s what I interpret from a sentence written by someone dead over two thousand years ago, with a completely different education and cultural background.

What does this mean? I am not sure. Don’t be afraid to imitate anything that is good. Continue to learn from anybody you can learn from. With Bible as the foundation and Spirit as the guide, we won’t stray off so much, right? At least I think so.

May we grow to be more and more Christ-like. Amen.

The Falls. The Rises.

Hey, yo. It’s been a long time; and though I promise myself no more sentimental post, I can feel the gate is opening and wave rushing in. There are two options: to ignore or to ride the wave for what it worth. And since I’ve decided to ignore for so long—far too damn long, so what the heck. Here I am, whether you (or me) like it or not.

Christian journey of faith is not always fun. I haven’t really been able to come to term to when people said ‘I have faith this would happen.’ When it did happen, it is taken as miracle; but when it didn’t, they give the equivalent mental shrug of ‘Well, God does thing in His mysterious way.’ It is almost painful (and envious I guess) to see blind faith at the finest.

And there are times—too many times—that we will fall. There are not many things that is more painful than seeing the careful effort you put being erased in that glorious fall. The slowdowns is annoying.

But falling is just another reminder how human we can be. And it’s alright, we are human afterall: made of flesh, made of blood. And while sitting on the proverbial ground waiting for the pain to subside, things can look much clearer in different perspective. Not necessarily brighter, just clearer.

Getting up is another interesting process. As comfy the ground is for a while, there will be time to move on. And the process will remind us again why it is worth it to spend effort to stand up and walk.

And fall that we may, we will rise up stronger. For if God is for us, it doesn’t matter who is against us.

N.B.
Feel free to change the ‘we’ to ‘I’ if you disagree. I always hate to write in first-person. So that’s what you got. Heh.