Yeah, Christmas is now over! Wife managed to successfully endured the family gathering... except with a headache in the end, but at least it sort of went away afterwards... ;)
Anyway, so we can finally officially enjoy the relaxing break!
Another bit of good news is that Immigration finally send us a notice of them finally 'printing' a green card for a the wife. Not sure when it'll be ready, they did promised perhaps mid January... so we shall wait and see.
Today's reading was about King Agippa... who listened in on Paul's trial... and Paul was actually using that trial to try to convert him! Festus also asked Paul if he's 'insane' with his belief?!?!?!
Anyway, this is the part where I got the inspiration for 'crazed insanity'..., I wish to be as crazy for Jesus as Paul is... ;)
Tuesday, December 25, 2007
Sunday, December 23, 2007
Going to enjoy my year end break!!!
Wow, another year is pretty much done. My last 2 days of work were pretty busy that I didn't even have time to write up my devotional..., but busy is good I guess. I can charge some overtime pay! ;)
NASA is still not sure if they want to cancel our TPS contract, they're not sure about extending it too... We've made enough progress that they didn't want to just cut it, but it's still not enough that they want to continue on with their $10 million contract..., I'm not sure what else I can do to help at this point. I'm already working on somthing else now..., all I can do is pray I guess. Surely our department doesn't want to lose $10million dollars!
On the home front, Wife and I are doing pretty well these days. After I learned my lesson to 'not fall to sleep when wife is upset', after our long talk, it seemed to have made wife feel better.
Again, I have to thank God for helping me. I honestly just didn't know what to say. In the beginning, I was still very slow to speak... and wife got really impatient... and told me to just turn off the lights and sleep if you got nothing more to say..., but of course as the MAN of the house, I can't just do whatever she tells me to do. That's how Adam got into trouble!!! So as I continue to ask God to PLEASE HELP!!! I did continue to speak more and more..., and quite honestly, maybe I was sleepy or somthing..., plus it has been a few days... I honestly don't remember much of what I was talking about. Perhaps I was speaking in tongues or just sleep talking..., but anyway, all I know is that it helped! ;) It also help the love of my life felt more loved. That's the most important thing of all I guess.
I've always asked her to learn to love, that's the only way she can find enjoyment in the things that she do. But love is like money in some ways..., we cannot give what we don't have, right? We have to have money to give money. We have to be filled with love in order to love. May God continue to use me so that the love of my life can feel it more. This is one huge trouble area for me before. All of my past girlfriends complained about me not loving them, but I know it's not true, but too bad I can't show 'love' very well. This is one of my personality flaws I guess..., I'm just too inhibitive...
Anyway, for the past few days, I read about Ananias, Cornelius, Barnabas, John Mark, Priscilla and Aquila. It's really cool to see God reveal special new info to Ananias and Cornelius. Hopefully someday God can reveal so special new info to me too! ;) As for Barnabas, John Mark, Priscilla and Aquila..., they've all closely worked with Paul sometimes even with disagreements/splits, but in the end, they all contributed in building Christ's early church. If we ever invent the time machine, for sure that's one of the periods in history I'd like to see first hand..., well, first thing's first, may God use me as He used all those people..., first I really need to build myself up... and my family up of course...
Today's Pastor Jim gave an interesting sermon. He taught us to feed our faith and to doubt our doubts... just don't easily give up on hope and believe our doubts! He also reminded us that God has His own perfect timing on things. Don't be like Zacharius... to doubt the words of Angel Gabriel went he told him that God is going to give him John when he's already too old..., that we ought to be more like Mary... even when we don't think we're ready, just be ready to 'believe'. Even when we do not believe, pray to God to help us believe!
I'm sure wife probably think this is probably too much 'brain washing' again... ;) But how else are we going to 'clean up' our old acts? Or old habits?
So anyway, I'm going to enjoy my break, and I look forward to breaking more of my old bad habits starting not only next, but starting NOW!
May God help me! Thank You Jesus!!!! :)
NASA is still not sure if they want to cancel our TPS contract, they're not sure about extending it too... We've made enough progress that they didn't want to just cut it, but it's still not enough that they want to continue on with their $10 million contract..., I'm not sure what else I can do to help at this point. I'm already working on somthing else now..., all I can do is pray I guess. Surely our department doesn't want to lose $10million dollars!
On the home front, Wife and I are doing pretty well these days. After I learned my lesson to 'not fall to sleep when wife is upset', after our long talk, it seemed to have made wife feel better.
Again, I have to thank God for helping me. I honestly just didn't know what to say. In the beginning, I was still very slow to speak... and wife got really impatient... and told me to just turn off the lights and sleep if you got nothing more to say..., but of course as the MAN of the house, I can't just do whatever she tells me to do. That's how Adam got into trouble!!! So as I continue to ask God to PLEASE HELP!!! I did continue to speak more and more..., and quite honestly, maybe I was sleepy or somthing..., plus it has been a few days... I honestly don't remember much of what I was talking about. Perhaps I was speaking in tongues or just sleep talking..., but anyway, all I know is that it helped! ;) It also help the love of my life felt more loved. That's the most important thing of all I guess.
I've always asked her to learn to love, that's the only way she can find enjoyment in the things that she do. But love is like money in some ways..., we cannot give what we don't have, right? We have to have money to give money. We have to be filled with love in order to love. May God continue to use me so that the love of my life can feel it more. This is one huge trouble area for me before. All of my past girlfriends complained about me not loving them, but I know it's not true, but too bad I can't show 'love' very well. This is one of my personality flaws I guess..., I'm just too inhibitive...
Anyway, for the past few days, I read about Ananias, Cornelius, Barnabas, John Mark, Priscilla and Aquila. It's really cool to see God reveal special new info to Ananias and Cornelius. Hopefully someday God can reveal so special new info to me too! ;) As for Barnabas, John Mark, Priscilla and Aquila..., they've all closely worked with Paul sometimes even with disagreements/splits, but in the end, they all contributed in building Christ's early church. If we ever invent the time machine, for sure that's one of the periods in history I'd like to see first hand..., well, first thing's first, may God use me as He used all those people..., first I really need to build myself up... and my family up of course...
Today's Pastor Jim gave an interesting sermon. He taught us to feed our faith and to doubt our doubts... just don't easily give up on hope and believe our doubts! He also reminded us that God has His own perfect timing on things. Don't be like Zacharius... to doubt the words of Angel Gabriel went he told him that God is going to give him John when he's already too old..., that we ought to be more like Mary... even when we don't think we're ready, just be ready to 'believe'. Even when we do not believe, pray to God to help us believe!
I'm sure wife probably think this is probably too much 'brain washing' again... ;) But how else are we going to 'clean up' our old acts? Or old habits?
So anyway, I'm going to enjoy my break, and I look forward to breaking more of my old bad habits starting not only next, but starting NOW!
May God help me! Thank You Jesus!!!! :)
Wednesday, December 19, 2007
Save the cheerleader, save the world...
Yes, last nite I learned that I need to learn to be a better cheerleader, so that I can save our world! Hiro saves the day again!!!! ;)
Nah, actually it was God. As the heated discussion with the love of my life continued to go nowhere(that the main problem wasn't the christmas gifts to the kids but my inability to comfort her...), just as when all hope seemed lost..., that our life is about to become just as prophecied by Pastor Su assuming that our existing personality traits were to continue on without changes... pastor Su predicted that I'm just going to be quiet, dumb as dirt as Adam, but at least I'll just continue on my husbandly duties... and wife would simply give up and close up forever...
Yeah, just as when wife accuses me of not knowing how to comfort..., not knowing how to communicate, not knowing how to solve problems... and the fact that I just continue on with my mistakes repeatedly... and she's tired of talking about the same problems over and over again... that she can actually be better off... with less problems... less burdens all by herself... just when Pastor Su's prediction is about to come true..., just when even I'm thinking of giving up and just forget it...
I think the Holy Spirit reminded me to go back to my devotional blog... and to point out to the wife that as horrible of a husband that I am, I have actually 'improved' at least compared to last time we fought!!!
Both of us are actually making constant adjustments and changes slowly ever since marriage. Pastor Su's prophecy was not a prophecy of God. We don't have to live our life in accordance to our past psychological profile. We can be different!!!
I'm not a perfect husband. I can't solve all of our problems..., but is love really all about being perfect? And capable to solve all problems for the other person? Sure, God is perfect, but did He promise that we'd be problem free? No. He only to promised to go thru our problems with us. It's not really His problem..., why should He burden Himself to go thru our problems with us?
Anyway, I think that's what love is really about. Divorce is the ultimate act of no love. "I'm tired of going thru problems with you. Good-bye." Same with 'closing up' I think. It's basically emotional divorce. If your lousy spouse is really horrible... and his problems are actually growing and getting worse..., then I suppose divorce may be justifiable.
But as long as I'm trying... and as long as I'm improving..., then there's still reason to be hopeful, right?
Anyway, so Hiro managed to extinguish that fire within Sylar for the time being and managed to keep hope alive!!! ;) The bad thing is that after I performed the exorcism for the wife, the evil fire spirit seemed to have jumped into our cat!!! Not sure why our cat is all of a sudden in a bad mood this morning..., hopefully he'll get better soon... otherwise I'll make him read my blog too! ;)
*************************note for possible future reference***************************
So, bottomline is that I have to learn to be a better cheerleader. I'm not a very good talker..., I'm not a good communicator in general, but I pray that God will continue to give me wisdom to know the right things to say... to do... so that wife's future fires won't continue to burn out of control. Another, thing to do is to take wife out to mall or park or somewhere with more opened space so that hopefully the fire can vent better!
****************************************************************************
Today's scripture reading was about Phillip and Simon the sorcerer. Sure hope someday God can use me to influence people in such powerful ways too as Phillip. I don't have the money to buy such power, but yes God, I do want to have such power... and may Your Spirit fill me up as You filled up Phillip! May You someday change me to become a better cheerleader... so that You can use me to change the world! :)
Nah, actually it was God. As the heated discussion with the love of my life continued to go nowhere(that the main problem wasn't the christmas gifts to the kids but my inability to comfort her...), just as when all hope seemed lost..., that our life is about to become just as prophecied by Pastor Su assuming that our existing personality traits were to continue on without changes... pastor Su predicted that I'm just going to be quiet, dumb as dirt as Adam, but at least I'll just continue on my husbandly duties... and wife would simply give up and close up forever...
Yeah, just as when wife accuses me of not knowing how to comfort..., not knowing how to communicate, not knowing how to solve problems... and the fact that I just continue on with my mistakes repeatedly... and she's tired of talking about the same problems over and over again... that she can actually be better off... with less problems... less burdens all by herself... just when Pastor Su's prediction is about to come true..., just when even I'm thinking of giving up and just forget it...
I think the Holy Spirit reminded me to go back to my devotional blog... and to point out to the wife that as horrible of a husband that I am, I have actually 'improved' at least compared to last time we fought!!!
Both of us are actually making constant adjustments and changes slowly ever since marriage. Pastor Su's prophecy was not a prophecy of God. We don't have to live our life in accordance to our past psychological profile. We can be different!!!
I'm not a perfect husband. I can't solve all of our problems..., but is love really all about being perfect? And capable to solve all problems for the other person? Sure, God is perfect, but did He promise that we'd be problem free? No. He only to promised to go thru our problems with us. It's not really His problem..., why should He burden Himself to go thru our problems with us?
Anyway, I think that's what love is really about. Divorce is the ultimate act of no love. "I'm tired of going thru problems with you. Good-bye." Same with 'closing up' I think. It's basically emotional divorce. If your lousy spouse is really horrible... and his problems are actually growing and getting worse..., then I suppose divorce may be justifiable.
But as long as I'm trying... and as long as I'm improving..., then there's still reason to be hopeful, right?
Anyway, so Hiro managed to extinguish that fire within Sylar for the time being and managed to keep hope alive!!! ;) The bad thing is that after I performed the exorcism for the wife, the evil fire spirit seemed to have jumped into our cat!!! Not sure why our cat is all of a sudden in a bad mood this morning..., hopefully he'll get better soon... otherwise I'll make him read my blog too! ;)
*************************note for possible future reference***************************
So, bottomline is that I have to learn to be a better cheerleader. I'm not a very good talker..., I'm not a good communicator in general, but I pray that God will continue to give me wisdom to know the right things to say... to do... so that wife's future fires won't continue to burn out of control. Another, thing to do is to take wife out to mall or park or somewhere with more opened space so that hopefully the fire can vent better!
****************************************************************************
Today's scripture reading was about Phillip and Simon the sorcerer. Sure hope someday God can use me to influence people in such powerful ways too as Phillip. I don't have the money to buy such power, but yes God, I do want to have such power... and may Your Spirit fill me up as You filled up Phillip! May You someday change me to become a better cheerleader... so that You can use me to change the world! :)
Tuesday, December 18, 2007
The feeling of being trapped...
I was reading about Stephen today... the dude was for sure trapped there to be stoned to death by a bunch of angry mob. But guess what? By focusing on God, Stephen was actually set free.
Is God invisible? Yes. Is God abstract? Yes. Is it hard to feel God's presence sometimes? Yeah..., even Christ felt like God has forsaken him on the cross...
But are we ever trapped if we choose to do things God's way? NO! We might be pressed but not crushed; persecuted, but not abandoned; strucked down, but never destroyed!
Lord God Almighty, I need more wisdom... I need to know how to comfort people more..., I need to become more like YOU so that I can bring more healing to my wife instead of bringing her more injuries... Please help me and my wife... so that we can fulfill our destiny together. May we both be trapped in your embrace for all eternity! Thanks! :)
Is God invisible? Yes. Is God abstract? Yes. Is it hard to feel God's presence sometimes? Yeah..., even Christ felt like God has forsaken him on the cross...
But are we ever trapped if we choose to do things God's way? NO! We might be pressed but not crushed; persecuted, but not abandoned; strucked down, but never destroyed!
Lord God Almighty, I need more wisdom... I need to know how to comfort people more..., I need to become more like YOU so that I can bring more healing to my wife instead of bringing her more injuries... Please help me and my wife... so that we can fulfill our destiny together. May we both be trapped in your embrace for all eternity! Thanks! :)
Monday, December 17, 2007
Hectic weekend...
Today's scripture reading was about Ananias and Sapphira..., they lied to Peter (And God) that they've given up all of their possessions, but in fact they kept some for themselves...
The whole incident, keeping some of the money, really isn't that big of a deal, but I guess their main 'sin' is lying about it as if they are giving up everything I guess.
Lying or not, to me, that really look so much like communism!!! I wonder if people later on gave out of love or fear... or both? I have no problem with communism actually... if everything is motivated by love..., but communism probably just won't work very well in the real world I guess. Churches of today also aren't operating like that anymore..., if churches of today still are the same as back then..., there'd probably be a lot of dead Christians... ;)
Anyway, speaking of communism, I just found out something last week that might disturb my new little brother-in-law a lot! That is I have a cousin who's a communist!!!!! Not only do I have family who are 'blue' KMT, but also 'red' Commies!!!! AAAAH!!!
We had a quick chat and dinner together on Sunday. I think he's also thinking of sending his daughter to the US to study..., that's probably why he wanted to hook up with us, his long lost relatives in America! ;)
Isn't that amazing? I have family members who are 'green', 'blue' and 'red' too!!! Wow!
Now, what color am I? Well, I aim to be "white" for I'm sure the glorious light of God is white... made up of all the colors of the rainbow! ;)
This weekend was also super busy at work too..., getting ready for the final presentation at NASA... my co-worker also worked throughout the weekend... and I mean througout the weekend to get it done. They're flying to NASA this afternoon... hope everything works out well. May God help us to do well on our presentation...
Love of my life was also really anxious about the recording on Sunday... and thank God that everything went well... and Handpicked Tangerine sang superbly well beyond all expectation last night...
Anyway, thank You! :)
The whole incident, keeping some of the money, really isn't that big of a deal, but I guess their main 'sin' is lying about it as if they are giving up everything I guess.
Lying or not, to me, that really look so much like communism!!! I wonder if people later on gave out of love or fear... or both? I have no problem with communism actually... if everything is motivated by love..., but communism probably just won't work very well in the real world I guess. Churches of today also aren't operating like that anymore..., if churches of today still are the same as back then..., there'd probably be a lot of dead Christians... ;)
Anyway, speaking of communism, I just found out something last week that might disturb my new little brother-in-law a lot! That is I have a cousin who's a communist!!!!! Not only do I have family who are 'blue' KMT, but also 'red' Commies!!!! AAAAH!!!
We had a quick chat and dinner together on Sunday. I think he's also thinking of sending his daughter to the US to study..., that's probably why he wanted to hook up with us, his long lost relatives in America! ;)
Isn't that amazing? I have family members who are 'green', 'blue' and 'red' too!!! Wow!
Now, what color am I? Well, I aim to be "white" for I'm sure the glorious light of God is white... made up of all the colors of the rainbow! ;)
This weekend was also super busy at work too..., getting ready for the final presentation at NASA... my co-worker also worked throughout the weekend... and I mean througout the weekend to get it done. They're flying to NASA this afternoon... hope everything works out well. May God help us to do well on our presentation...
Love of my life was also really anxious about the recording on Sunday... and thank God that everything went well... and Handpicked Tangerine sang superbly well beyond all expectation last night...
Anyway, thank You! :)
Friday, December 14, 2007
Word up!
On Wednesday nite, Brother GD has explained to us how we need to be cleansed by water and holy spirit... that water actually represents the living water... or the bread of life... or another word the Word of God... the Word that was with God and the Word that was God in the very beginning... and God created all things thru His Word... Anyway, Brother GD wanted us to make sure that our lives are directed by God's Word and enpowered by God's Spirit..., but of course often times we lose focus on what's important. Just as Martha thought it's important to get the chores done... while Mary thought it's more important to hear what Jesus had to say. Similarly in our daily lives..., we can easily get distracted, bogged down by the daily chores... and get all busy over nothing... and when we don't have enough time... we'd easily sacrifice devotional time, time with God for the busy earthly stuffs...
Just as I did yesterday..., well, at least I read His Word..., just didn't have enough time to blog it! ;) Yesterday, I read about Pilate(John 18:28-19:16). Is Pilate a good guy or a bad guy? I don't think he's particularly good or bad either way. I suppose he's very much like most of us... to just go with the flow kinda guy. He knows he's not doing the right thing..., but he was pressured to do it anyway... he fought a little, but then just decide to give up for the sake of peace.
All I know is that if I were pilate, I'd probably do the same thing...
Today I read about Thomas...(John 20:1-29), the disciple who's not afraid to ask hard questions! ;) Of course God is not afraid of people asking hard questions. If you want to see my pierced hand and wounded side? Fine, I will show you! Ask and you shall receive!!!
Unless something is really just aweful, for sure our God won't withhold anything good from us. I believe even knowledge is included. If Adam and Eve asked God for the knowledge of good and evil, I'm sure God would eventually give them the knowledge without having to eat from that tree!
But often times we only have very little faith in God... or we don't like to wait... so we take matters into our own hands! This is what motivated Eve to eat from the forbidden tree...
Not that there's anything wrong with taking initiative, it's just that we need to be careful what's our motivation for taking whatever action. If you're motivated by love, then I suppose you're probably doing the right thing..., but then again, perhaps Eve was motivated by love too. She checked and made sure she didn't die before handing it to Adam... She was motivated by her love for Adam... she just want Adam to be smarter like God... instead of being as dumb as dirt! ;) So I guess the main point is that loving thy neighbor alone is insufficient. We also cannot forget about loving God too! Of course without loving thy neighbors, loving God alone won't work out very well too! Surely God is not a killyjoy forcing us to love..., forcing us to do something we don't want to just to please Him... Truthfully, it's just good to love! Without love, as Solomon said, everything is basically meaningless.
We're wrapping up 2007, hopefully we'll get less busy soon..., hopefully NASA will extend their contract with our TPS system... fingers crossed..., but God please help us and be with us. Thank You!!! :)
Just as I did yesterday..., well, at least I read His Word..., just didn't have enough time to blog it! ;) Yesterday, I read about Pilate(John 18:28-19:16). Is Pilate a good guy or a bad guy? I don't think he's particularly good or bad either way. I suppose he's very much like most of us... to just go with the flow kinda guy. He knows he's not doing the right thing..., but he was pressured to do it anyway... he fought a little, but then just decide to give up for the sake of peace.
All I know is that if I were pilate, I'd probably do the same thing...
Today I read about Thomas...(John 20:1-29), the disciple who's not afraid to ask hard questions! ;) Of course God is not afraid of people asking hard questions. If you want to see my pierced hand and wounded side? Fine, I will show you! Ask and you shall receive!!!
Unless something is really just aweful, for sure our God won't withhold anything good from us. I believe even knowledge is included. If Adam and Eve asked God for the knowledge of good and evil, I'm sure God would eventually give them the knowledge without having to eat from that tree!
But often times we only have very little faith in God... or we don't like to wait... so we take matters into our own hands! This is what motivated Eve to eat from the forbidden tree...
Not that there's anything wrong with taking initiative, it's just that we need to be careful what's our motivation for taking whatever action. If you're motivated by love, then I suppose you're probably doing the right thing..., but then again, perhaps Eve was motivated by love too. She checked and made sure she didn't die before handing it to Adam... She was motivated by her love for Adam... she just want Adam to be smarter like God... instead of being as dumb as dirt! ;) So I guess the main point is that loving thy neighbor alone is insufficient. We also cannot forget about loving God too! Of course without loving thy neighbors, loving God alone won't work out very well too! Surely God is not a killyjoy forcing us to love..., forcing us to do something we don't want to just to please Him... Truthfully, it's just good to love! Without love, as Solomon said, everything is basically meaningless.
We're wrapping up 2007, hopefully we'll get less busy soon..., hopefully NASA will extend their contract with our TPS system... fingers crossed..., but God please help us and be with us. Thank You!!! :)
Wednesday, December 12, 2007
Babies like heros too!
Yahoo posted an article saying that Babies like good samaritans too! Proving that human babies are actually very competent socially and capable of figuring out who's nice and who's not nice without anyone teaching them! No wonder babies like me so much! ;)
I guess I'm still a big baby too... since I like heros still... ;)
In today's scripture reading..., Jesus did another 'heroic' act... which is to revive Lazarus. What we can learn from that story of course is that God's timing can often be unpredictable. What we thought would be too late... is actually right on time with God! And I think Pastor Jim once mentioned that even after God has done His work of salvation..., he still expects us to help build up each other... such as Jesus telling others to help the newly revived lazarus to get rid of the stinky strips of linen... in our case, it'd be helping each other to get rid of our stinky sinful habits!
You know, instead of just run away from the stench, we should try our best cleaning each other up! I have a surname called Broken Linen... hopeful one day I can completely get rid of that stinky linen so that I can truly live as Christ lived...
And further along the story, Mary annointed Jesus with perfume too!
So basically to love God and to love each other is to help make each other smell good! ;)
Do I stink? I'm sorry about that..., but please don't hate me because I stink! Of couse we should also take care of our spiritual personal hygiene by not being so annoyingly stinky! Regular cleansing is necessary...
Now do you find others stinky? Well, try helping that person smell better if you can... instead of running away! ;)
I guess this is probably why babies had to have good abilities finding 'good samaritans'. Cause they stink up a room regularly... only a good samaritan would want to help babies clean up their messes! :D
(John 11:1-12:36)
I guess I'm still a big baby too... since I like heros still... ;)
In today's scripture reading..., Jesus did another 'heroic' act... which is to revive Lazarus. What we can learn from that story of course is that God's timing can often be unpredictable. What we thought would be too late... is actually right on time with God! And I think Pastor Jim once mentioned that even after God has done His work of salvation..., he still expects us to help build up each other... such as Jesus telling others to help the newly revived lazarus to get rid of the stinky strips of linen... in our case, it'd be helping each other to get rid of our stinky sinful habits!
You know, instead of just run away from the stench, we should try our best cleaning each other up! I have a surname called Broken Linen... hopeful one day I can completely get rid of that stinky linen so that I can truly live as Christ lived...
And further along the story, Mary annointed Jesus with perfume too!
So basically to love God and to love each other is to help make each other smell good! ;)
Do I stink? I'm sorry about that..., but please don't hate me because I stink! Of couse we should also take care of our spiritual personal hygiene by not being so annoyingly stinky! Regular cleansing is necessary...
Now do you find others stinky? Well, try helping that person smell better if you can... instead of running away! ;)
I guess this is probably why babies had to have good abilities finding 'good samaritans'. Cause they stink up a room regularly... only a good samaritan would want to help babies clean up their messes! :D
(John 11:1-12:36)
Tuesday, December 11, 2007
Hero!
Lately, wife and I are hooked on watch a new TV series named Heros on DVD. The story is rather complicated..., thank God for Netflix so that we can watch them all together without commercials... otherwise, I'm sure it'll be even more confusing.
Anyway, the premise of the story is interesting... the story teller combined "evolution" AND "gift of God" to explain the super abilities of those characters, but of course not very clearly which it is... Viewers don't really have an idea of exactly what is going on... I guess this way they don't upset any of their viewers regardless of their faith! And it actually mimmicks reality pretty good! ;)
And with these super abilities... of course the charaters tend to split into 2 groups... that is what they would do with their powers? It's a constant struggle of whether I use my powers to do good... to save the world... or do I use my powers for my own personal benefit? Realistically, we all struggle thru life with the similar kind of temptations. Struggling between being selfless and selfish.
But of course in order to be a true hero, one mustn't be selfish.
Of course the biggest super hero of all is our Lord Jesus Christ! Today's scripture reading is about him saving an adulterous woman. Not sure what he's writing or drawing on the sand, but suffice to say what he wrote probably drove the mob away...
Saving an adulterous woman may not seem that big of a deal, but surely to that woman, Jesus is her biggest hero!
(John 8:1-11)
Anyway, the premise of the story is interesting... the story teller combined "evolution" AND "gift of God" to explain the super abilities of those characters, but of course not very clearly which it is... Viewers don't really have an idea of exactly what is going on... I guess this way they don't upset any of their viewers regardless of their faith! And it actually mimmicks reality pretty good! ;)
And with these super abilities... of course the charaters tend to split into 2 groups... that is what they would do with their powers? It's a constant struggle of whether I use my powers to do good... to save the world... or do I use my powers for my own personal benefit? Realistically, we all struggle thru life with the similar kind of temptations. Struggling between being selfless and selfish.
But of course in order to be a true hero, one mustn't be selfish.
Of course the biggest super hero of all is our Lord Jesus Christ! Today's scripture reading is about him saving an adulterous woman. Not sure what he's writing or drawing on the sand, but suffice to say what he wrote probably drove the mob away...
Saving an adulterous woman may not seem that big of a deal, but surely to that woman, Jesus is her biggest hero!
(John 8:1-11)
Monday, December 10, 2007
A stuffy weekend...
We didn't do a lot of stuff, but we certainly ate a lot of stuff over the weekend. First it was for Darren's birthday on saturday, and then it was a get together with friends on sunday... we also cooked pancake for the very first time..., it didn't look very tasty, but it really didn't taste that bad! ;)
We also finally did a rough financial budget of our income and spending over the weekend..., well, it seems we're really spending too much... or I'm not making enough!!! Although my salary keeps on going up..., it's a shame it never felt like it's enough... sigh! Anyway, we've only been married for 4 months so far... for sure we need to plan better in the future...
And one interesting thing about the weekend was that I really felt like addressing the issue of 'suffering' with the love of my life over the weekend. This of course was mostly due to how she felt like Job was treated unfairly..., that he was so 'sui'... so I had to try my best to convince the wife that no matter how unlucky we get, God can always allow us to gain some benefit. Yes, sometimes we suffer because we screwed up. Sometimes it's because others screwed up. Sometimes, such as natural disasters or freak accidents, nobody really screwed up! Mishaps sometimes happens. It sucks, yes, but God let it happen for some kind of benefit. We have to trust in that!
What was interesting was that Pastor Jim on Sunday sort of carried on this discussion of ours... And pastor wanted us to be like Joseph, to give birth to Manasseh(forget the past) and Ephraim(twice fruitful/blessed)..., but I guess we can't really give birth like that... we need God's help to help us forget and to be blessed! So may God help us! Today's scripture reading was about the Samaritan woman at the well..., may Christ give us all this living water so that we can help others to forget and be blessed!
(John 4:1-42)
We also finally did a rough financial budget of our income and spending over the weekend..., well, it seems we're really spending too much... or I'm not making enough!!! Although my salary keeps on going up..., it's a shame it never felt like it's enough... sigh! Anyway, we've only been married for 4 months so far... for sure we need to plan better in the future...
And one interesting thing about the weekend was that I really felt like addressing the issue of 'suffering' with the love of my life over the weekend. This of course was mostly due to how she felt like Job was treated unfairly..., that he was so 'sui'... so I had to try my best to convince the wife that no matter how unlucky we get, God can always allow us to gain some benefit. Yes, sometimes we suffer because we screwed up. Sometimes it's because others screwed up. Sometimes, such as natural disasters or freak accidents, nobody really screwed up! Mishaps sometimes happens. It sucks, yes, but God let it happen for some kind of benefit. We have to trust in that!
What was interesting was that Pastor Jim on Sunday sort of carried on this discussion of ours... And pastor wanted us to be like Joseph, to give birth to Manasseh(forget the past) and Ephraim(twice fruitful/blessed)..., but I guess we can't really give birth like that... we need God's help to help us forget and to be blessed! So may God help us! Today's scripture reading was about the Samaritan woman at the well..., may Christ give us all this living water so that we can help others to forget and be blessed!
(John 4:1-42)
Friday, December 7, 2007
Interruptions...
Yesterday was our Christmas luncheon for the department. This year I didn't win any awards or prizes..., oh well, better luck next time! ;) Today, we also had a long meeting which lasted thru lunch hour... daily devotional ended up getting shoved off for later once again... perhaps I need to do my devotionals in the morning... this way nothing can interrupt it..., but then again, I'm so lazy at times... I'd tend to sleep in until the absolute last minute... Sigh.. spirit is willing, but flesh is weak. Strengthen me O God! So that I'm always spiritually connected to the True Vine!
Anyway, today and yesterday's scripture reading was about Nathanael and Nicodemus. I honestly don't recall much of that disciple of Christ, but I guess this is probably the case for most follower of Christ. Surely people like Mother Teresa who's that famous around the world is exception to the usual rule! Most faithful followers are probably relative unknowns... important thing is that we ought to continue to follow Christ no matter what and not worry too much about what others think. (John 1:43-2:11,John 21:1-13)
Regarding Nicodemus, I suppose he's more famous..., but although he's an expert in theology, he still couldn't understand the truth as it was revealed to him by Jesus. But his story confirms that if we ask, Jesus would gladly give. Knock and Christ will open the door...seek, though Nico didn't quite get it at first, but he did eventually found the Truth I think. (John 3:1-21, John 19:38-40)
I don't need to be famous, but hopeful after my one life on earth..., I'll be able to really get what God wants me to get..., instead of allowing interruptions to distract me...
Anyway, today and yesterday's scripture reading was about Nathanael and Nicodemus. I honestly don't recall much of that disciple of Christ, but I guess this is probably the case for most follower of Christ. Surely people like Mother Teresa who's that famous around the world is exception to the usual rule! Most faithful followers are probably relative unknowns... important thing is that we ought to continue to follow Christ no matter what and not worry too much about what others think. (John 1:43-2:11,John 21:1-13)
Regarding Nicodemus, I suppose he's more famous..., but although he's an expert in theology, he still couldn't understand the truth as it was revealed to him by Jesus. But his story confirms that if we ask, Jesus would gladly give. Knock and Christ will open the door...seek, though Nico didn't quite get it at first, but he did eventually found the Truth I think. (John 3:1-21, John 19:38-40)
I don't need to be famous, but hopeful after my one life on earth..., I'll be able to really get what God wants me to get..., instead of allowing interruptions to distract me...
Wednesday, December 5, 2007
A lost world...
Today, a glimpse of the various headline news... we have poisoned toys, defective GE ovens that might cause fire, US mortgage problems, US teen pregnancy on the rise again, Episcopal church couldn't agree on gay issues, Nebraska Mall shooting... this world is just full of problems.
But luckily, there are still some good news... such as honey can help with coughing... and a man's wedding ring helped saved his life by deflecting a bullet during a robbery! So not all's bad I guess! ;)
Today I read about the parable of the lost son and Zacchaeus. Both repented from their past sins..., but perferrably, we don't have to wait until we're at the end of our rope to finally turn back like the lost son..., we should simply come to our senses whenever we meet Jesus like Zacchaeus did!
This world is going thru birthing pains, and eventually, our world will be born again to form a new world... a new heaven and new earth. May the ones that I love be found by God soon too.
(Luke 15, Luke 19:1-10)
But luckily, there are still some good news... such as honey can help with coughing... and a man's wedding ring helped saved his life by deflecting a bullet during a robbery! So not all's bad I guess! ;)
Today I read about the parable of the lost son and Zacchaeus. Both repented from their past sins..., but perferrably, we don't have to wait until we're at the end of our rope to finally turn back like the lost son..., we should simply come to our senses whenever we meet Jesus like Zacchaeus did!
This world is going thru birthing pains, and eventually, our world will be born again to form a new world... a new heaven and new earth. May the ones that I love be found by God soon too.
(Luke 15, Luke 19:1-10)
Tuesday, December 4, 2007
Parables...
Today I was reading about Martha and Mary... Martha is a busy body... has to constantly do things and get things done... whereas Mary prefers to simply focus on her Lord. Of course this parable is no excuse to be lazy... that we should all just do nothing, but pray and read the bible all day long... ;) But it is trying to let us know what is more important in life... and what we should focus on. (Luke 10:38-42)
That passage was kinda short... so I read on... to the parable about the rich fool... who's only interested in storing up stuffs on earth..., but little did he know what God is about to take his life tonite!!! Jesus simply didn't want us to worry too much about toromorrw... for it's simply useless. If we want to get rich... if we want to store things up... might as well get rich spiritually... and store up our treasures in heaven! (Luke 12:13-34)
It's interesting that God, Brother GD and Pastor Jim are all talking about similar things here... while at a time, I don't feel particularly wealthy! But I do have to admit that I don't feel that I've been depositing much towards heaven lately though... Help me change my ways Lord! Change me to become a bit more useable in Your Kingdom! :)
That passage was kinda short... so I read on... to the parable about the rich fool... who's only interested in storing up stuffs on earth..., but little did he know what God is about to take his life tonite!!! Jesus simply didn't want us to worry too much about toromorrw... for it's simply useless. If we want to get rich... if we want to store things up... might as well get rich spiritually... and store up our treasures in heaven! (Luke 12:13-34)
It's interesting that God, Brother GD and Pastor Jim are all talking about similar things here... while at a time, I don't feel particularly wealthy! But I do have to admit that I don't feel that I've been depositing much towards heaven lately though... Help me change my ways Lord! Change me to become a bit more useable in Your Kingdom! :)
Monday, December 3, 2007
Do not under estimate a Phillipino!!!
This 15 yr old girl named Charice Pempengco is simply amazing! For sure she'll be able to PK anyone off any competition at anytime! She makes all other singers look like a joke!!!! ;)
Last weekend pastor Jim happened to preached about "Phillipians" 4:19 (And my God will meet all your needs according to his glorious riches in Christ Jesus.) Of course most of God's promises are conditional... in this case, it's conditional upon our own generocity... conditional upon us not being lazy... and stupid! ;) Anyway, I really like Pastor Jim's analogy that we shouldn't have this pie mentality... as if we don't get a piece, it's going to run out! God's riches is like a flowing river... and flow is non-stop!!!
Pastor Jim also talked about praying for God to mess with our lives... ;) Prayers such as asking God to not just grant us whatever we wish..., but to seriously meet the true need of ours so that we won't even end up asking for other less meaningful things to meet our needs... Anyway, not sure how he said it, but yes, I'd like God to mess with me the same way. :)
Today's scripture reading was about the good samaritan..., now this guy is one generous guy! He went out of his way to help out a brother in need... May God uses me to meet the needs of the folks around me. O Lord, give me the heart to be able to carry it out..., give me the strength to be able to not be lazy... and give me the wisdom to not to be too dumb! Thanks! :)
(Luke 10:25-37)
Thursday, November 29, 2007
Mary Magdalene
It's pretty cool that we sinners can annoint Jesus too... with our tears and perfume...
It's also pretty interesting that it's the women who were the first the help support Christ's ministry... the similar trend is still continuing even in churches of today... there are just more women than men in churches.
It's the women who led humanity away from God in the beginning... and now it's again women who led humanity back to God. Man failed to led Eve from sinning... and men seems to continue to failed to come back to God... How can we men be more like men? How can we be more like You O Lord... to be able to become proper Godly leaders... make us more like You Lord! Like Brother GD said, help us buy more gold refined by fire... store up more treasures in heaven..., help us keep our robes white as snow... and open up our eyes so that Your light can drive away the darkness that's inside of us... We want to shine for You Lord. Make us more like You so that when people see us... they can see You and Your glory thru us!
(Luke 7:36-8:3)
It's also pretty interesting that it's the women who were the first the help support Christ's ministry... the similar trend is still continuing even in churches of today... there are just more women than men in churches.
It's the women who led humanity away from God in the beginning... and now it's again women who led humanity back to God. Man failed to led Eve from sinning... and men seems to continue to failed to come back to God... How can we men be more like men? How can we be more like You O Lord... to be able to become proper Godly leaders... make us more like You Lord! Like Brother GD said, help us buy more gold refined by fire... store up more treasures in heaven..., help us keep our robes white as snow... and open up our eyes so that Your light can drive away the darkness that's inside of us... We want to shine for You Lord. Make us more like You so that when people see us... they can see You and Your glory thru us!
(Luke 7:36-8:3)
Wednesday, November 28, 2007
Simeon and Anna
They were the propets who prophesied in the LORD's temple about Jesus as baby Jesus was presented to the LORD...
God has also blessed us with prophets such as Brother GD and Sister Prophet in our lives today too!!! 2 weeks ago, we missed their prayer meeting because wife and I were in a fight... so it was more important for us to sort ourselves out first instead of going to prayer meetings I guess...
We have sorted ourselves out somewhat..., but now, apparently stupid satan is using other means to attack my wife once again... this time it's thru her computer!!! She was so pissed about how lousy her computer is... and how lousy Apple's service was... and how lousy the Chinese people are who put her computer together...that she couldn't even sleep very well!!!
I tried my best to comfort her, by giving her physical comfort... emotional comfort and by telling some cold jokes to divert her attention a bit..., it's much easier to comfort somebody when that somebody's not mad at me... ;)
Anyway, my dear wife, if you're reading this, I hope you'll try to forgive Apple... forgive those folks in the Apple store... and forgive the Chinese people who've put your computer together. Yes, your anger is justifiable. However, don't let it consume you. It's only a freaking computer. Stop focusing on the bad things in life.... and start focusing on the good things in life! Your lousy computer at least is still working! You also still have your lousy cat! You still have your lousy husband! And you also still have Jesus! Hope you can find comfort in knowing that we love you very much!
In the name of my Lord Jesus, I command that evil firy anger spirit to leave my wife!!!! YEAH!!! Peace! :)
(Luke 2:21-38)
God has also blessed us with prophets such as Brother GD and Sister Prophet in our lives today too!!! 2 weeks ago, we missed their prayer meeting because wife and I were in a fight... so it was more important for us to sort ourselves out first instead of going to prayer meetings I guess...
We have sorted ourselves out somewhat..., but now, apparently stupid satan is using other means to attack my wife once again... this time it's thru her computer!!! She was so pissed about how lousy her computer is... and how lousy Apple's service was... and how lousy the Chinese people are who put her computer together...that she couldn't even sleep very well!!!
I tried my best to comfort her, by giving her physical comfort... emotional comfort and by telling some cold jokes to divert her attention a bit..., it's much easier to comfort somebody when that somebody's not mad at me... ;)
Anyway, my dear wife, if you're reading this, I hope you'll try to forgive Apple... forgive those folks in the Apple store... and forgive the Chinese people who've put your computer together. Yes, your anger is justifiable. However, don't let it consume you. It's only a freaking computer. Stop focusing on the bad things in life.... and start focusing on the good things in life! Your lousy computer at least is still working! You also still have your lousy cat! You still have your lousy husband! And you also still have Jesus! Hope you can find comfort in knowing that we love you very much!
In the name of my Lord Jesus, I command that evil firy anger spirit to leave my wife!!!! YEAH!!! Peace! :)
(Luke 2:21-38)
Tuesday, November 27, 2007
Glory in the highest!!!
Is what the angels sang when they told the night-shift shepherds about the birth of Christ. Isn't it weird that God always picked the people in low earthly positions to preach the gospel? Using Nick to preach His name for example...
Regardless of whether if we're in a low position or a high position, may we continue to preach His love and greatness to those around us.
(Luke 2:8-20)
Regardless of whether if we're in a low position or a high position, may we continue to preach His love and greatness to those around us.
(Luke 2:8-20)
Monday, November 26, 2007
Relaxing Thanksgiving weekend...
Thank God that we had a long Thanksgiving weekend so that I can catch up on some lost sleep!!! So that I can have the energy to deal with issues at work...
Didn't do much during the long weekend though, but it was still enjoyable nonetheless! Hope wife felt the same too! ;) We saw a movie called Dan in Real Life, it's not too bad. I liked it. It's a funny and heartwarming movie...
Other than relaxing, we also ate quite a lot too! With family and friends...
Interesting note was that mom emailed us a link of a limbless guy named Nick. I've heard of this guy before..., but his life is still very inspiring nonetheless. He talked about God won't always take away troubles, but for sure He'll be with us to help us thru our troubles! He's actually a pretty good preacher too! I found this on the Crystal Cathedral site: Nick Interestingly Pastor Jim also talked about a similar theme on Sunday. He talked about whenever we are going thru hell..., DON'T STOP!!! Keep going until you get thru it!!! God doesn't help us by eliminating our troubles, but God helps us to get thru our troubles. Nick also talked about the biggest disability isn't having no arms and legs..., but the biggest disability is guilt and fear. Whenever guilt and fear trips us..., we often won't feel like getting back up again. Figuring what's the point? We'd probably all feel like saying amen to what Job's wife said..., 'let's just curse God and die... and get it over with..."
But thanks be to our God for giving us continual strength to go on... so that we don't stop and die in hell! May God also give us the wisdom to know where to put the cross on our problems... to help us fix out problems... to transform us from bitter water into living water!
And I just found out that I screwed up on my scripture reading order... after reading Zechariah, I got him confused with Zacchaeus! So anyway, I'm going back from Andrew(day96) to Mary(day85)! ;) And Mary said,
Luke 1
46 我 心 尊 主 為 大 ；
47 我 靈 以 神 我 的 救 主 為 樂 ；
48 因 為 他 顧 念 他 使 女 的 卑 微 ； 從 今 以 後 ， 萬 代 要 稱 我 有 福 。
49 那 有 權 能 的 ， 為 我 成 就 了 大 事 ； 他 的 名 為 聖 。
50 他 憐 憫 敬 畏 他 的 人 ， 直 到 世 世 代 代 。
51 他 用 膀 臂 施 展 大 能 ； 那 狂 傲 的 人 正 心 裡 妄 想 就 被 他 趕 散 了 。
52 他 叫 有 權 柄 的 失 位 ， 叫 卑 賤 的 升 高 ；
53 叫 飢 餓 的 得 飽 美 食 ， 叫 富 足 的 空 手 回 去 。
54 他 扶 助 了 他 的 僕 人 以 色 列 ，
55 為 要 記 念 亞 伯 拉 罕 和 他 的 後 裔 ， 施 憐 憫 直 到 永 遠
(Luke 1:26-56,Luke 2:1-7)
Didn't do much during the long weekend though, but it was still enjoyable nonetheless! Hope wife felt the same too! ;) We saw a movie called Dan in Real Life, it's not too bad. I liked it. It's a funny and heartwarming movie...
Other than relaxing, we also ate quite a lot too! With family and friends...
Interesting note was that mom emailed us a link of a limbless guy named Nick. I've heard of this guy before..., but his life is still very inspiring nonetheless. He talked about God won't always take away troubles, but for sure He'll be with us to help us thru our troubles! He's actually a pretty good preacher too! I found this on the Crystal Cathedral site: Nick Interestingly Pastor Jim also talked about a similar theme on Sunday. He talked about whenever we are going thru hell..., DON'T STOP!!! Keep going until you get thru it!!! God doesn't help us by eliminating our troubles, but God helps us to get thru our troubles. Nick also talked about the biggest disability isn't having no arms and legs..., but the biggest disability is guilt and fear. Whenever guilt and fear trips us..., we often won't feel like getting back up again. Figuring what's the point? We'd probably all feel like saying amen to what Job's wife said..., 'let's just curse God and die... and get it over with..."
But thanks be to our God for giving us continual strength to go on... so that we don't stop and die in hell! May God also give us the wisdom to know where to put the cross on our problems... to help us fix out problems... to transform us from bitter water into living water!
And I just found out that I screwed up on my scripture reading order... after reading Zechariah, I got him confused with Zacchaeus! So anyway, I'm going back from Andrew(day96) to Mary(day85)! ;) And Mary said,
Luke 1
46 我 心 尊 主 為 大 ；
47 我 靈 以 神 我 的 救 主 為 樂 ；
48 因 為 他 顧 念 他 使 女 的 卑 微 ； 從 今 以 後 ， 萬 代 要 稱 我 有 福 。
49 那 有 權 能 的 ， 為 我 成 就 了 大 事 ； 他 的 名 為 聖 。
50 他 憐 憫 敬 畏 他 的 人 ， 直 到 世 世 代 代 。
51 他 用 膀 臂 施 展 大 能 ； 那 狂 傲 的 人 正 心 裡 妄 想 就 被 他 趕 散 了 。
52 他 叫 有 權 柄 的 失 位 ， 叫 卑 賤 的 升 高 ；
53 叫 飢 餓 的 得 飽 美 食 ， 叫 富 足 的 空 手 回 去 。
54 他 扶 助 了 他 的 僕 人 以 色 列 ，
55 為 要 記 念 亞 伯 拉 罕 和 他 的 後 裔 ， 施 憐 憫 直 到 永 遠
(Luke 1:26-56,Luke 2:1-7)
Wednesday, November 21, 2007
Thanks NASA for giving us more time! ;)
Yeah, just found out that NASA has surprisingly agreed to give us more time(until end of next month instead of end of this month) to sort out our problems... so hopefully we can be better prepared to solve our problems... bad thing is that next week is going to be busy again, but thank God that we have the coming of this long Thanksgiving weekend so that we can be well rested!!! :)
Anyway, today's scripture reading was about Andrew. Probably one of the insignificant disciples..., the brother of Peter. Andrew led Peter to Jesus. Andrew also led the little boy who had the fish and the bread to Jesus. Andrew is basically the middle man for people with the true Middle Man of God! ;) I think this is basically what being Christian is about... just to be a mediator between folks... and to bring them together... and people most likely wouldn't recognize you for your work.
We all simply have the tendency to split up. It's a lot easier to just split up instead of continue to work together to solve problems. It's just much easier to hate our enemies than to love our enemies. Is loving our enemy a suggestion or a commandment? Is it a sin to NOT love our enemy? Last night I also had a discussion with wife... wondering if it is a "sin" to NOT do what Jesus said we should do. For example, for sure Jesus said to NOT worry. So is worrying a sin? Is Christ our Lord merely suggesting that we should love our enemy or we should not worry? Or is Christ our Lord actually "commanding" us to love our enemies and to not worry?
Regardless if it's a sin or not, we just shouldn't do those things... anyway, I'm rambling on..., gotta get back to work! ;)
(John 1:35-42,John 6:1-13,John 12:20-36)
Anyway, today's scripture reading was about Andrew. Probably one of the insignificant disciples..., the brother of Peter. Andrew led Peter to Jesus. Andrew also led the little boy who had the fish and the bread to Jesus. Andrew is basically the middle man for people with the true Middle Man of God! ;) I think this is basically what being Christian is about... just to be a mediator between folks... and to bring them together... and people most likely wouldn't recognize you for your work.
We all simply have the tendency to split up. It's a lot easier to just split up instead of continue to work together to solve problems. It's just much easier to hate our enemies than to love our enemies. Is loving our enemy a suggestion or a commandment? Is it a sin to NOT love our enemy? Last night I also had a discussion with wife... wondering if it is a "sin" to NOT do what Jesus said we should do. For example, for sure Jesus said to NOT worry. So is worrying a sin? Is Christ our Lord merely suggesting that we should love our enemy or we should not worry? Or is Christ our Lord actually "commanding" us to love our enemies and to not worry?
Regardless if it's a sin or not, we just shouldn't do those things... anyway, I'm rambling on..., gotta get back to work! ;)
(John 1:35-42,John 6:1-13,John 12:20-36)
Tuesday, November 20, 2007
Another busy day at work...
But I think I can finally catch a breather for a while... fingers crossed! ;)
Today's scripture reading was about Cleopas, one of the followers of Jesus I think..., it's interesting that he wasn't able to recognize the resurrected Jesus!!! I think even the disciples weren't able to immediately recognize Jesus... I wonder why this is.... Perhaps our resurrected bodies will be really different! ;) However, they were able to 'feel' Jesus though. One could feel the heart burning when interacting with Jesus..., Jesus must have certain mannerism which sets him apart from other people. May we all be more Christ-like with our mannerism... so that people can no longer recognizes us except the spirit of Christ who dwells within! :)
(Luke 24)
Today's scripture reading was about Cleopas, one of the followers of Jesus I think..., it's interesting that he wasn't able to recognize the resurrected Jesus!!! I think even the disciples weren't able to immediately recognize Jesus... I wonder why this is.... Perhaps our resurrected bodies will be really different! ;) However, they were able to 'feel' Jesus though. One could feel the heart burning when interacting with Jesus..., Jesus must have certain mannerism which sets him apart from other people. May we all be more Christ-like with our mannerism... so that people can no longer recognizes us except the spirit of Christ who dwells within! :)
(Luke 24)
Monday, November 19, 2007
Still busy with troubles...
But at least troubles at home is under control at the moment! ;) There's just more trouble at work for now... hopefully I can help solve this problem by month's end, so that I can be a HERO at helping the company to save $10 million!!!!
Last Sunday, Pastor Jim talked about how we can persevere under trouble and continue to do what's right like Joseph. Of course when troubles hit us, when somebody wronged us, it's going to bother us, it's going to hurt. Nobody likes trouble! But throwing a fit at those trouble's not goint to help anybody anyway. All we can do is trust God that He allowed it to happen for good... He allowed it to happen so that we can learn a lesson.
Today's scripture reading is about that thief on the cross next to Jesus. Anyway, I find it funny that the other thief could still find time to insult Christ... Typical atheistic response... prove to me you're God... or show God to me... then I'll believe! The other thief is quite amazing too..., how can a person believe a crucified Christ to be a Savior? He appeared to be unable to save himself... even the disciples have fled and denied Jesus..., why would he still bother to believe in Jesus? The thieves were polar opposites.
Also, one interesting thing I've noticed is that when you have 3 people nailed on the cross..., you can get the chinese word 'come'. God's invitation for the Chinese people to 'come' into His kingdom..., I always thought that was cool.
(Luke 23:26-43)
Last Sunday, Pastor Jim talked about how we can persevere under trouble and continue to do what's right like Joseph. Of course when troubles hit us, when somebody wronged us, it's going to bother us, it's going to hurt. Nobody likes trouble! But throwing a fit at those trouble's not goint to help anybody anyway. All we can do is trust God that He allowed it to happen for good... He allowed it to happen so that we can learn a lesson.
Today's scripture reading is about that thief on the cross next to Jesus. Anyway, I find it funny that the other thief could still find time to insult Christ... Typical atheistic response... prove to me you're God... or show God to me... then I'll believe! The other thief is quite amazing too..., how can a person believe a crucified Christ to be a Savior? He appeared to be unable to save himself... even the disciples have fled and denied Jesus..., why would he still bother to believe in Jesus? The thieves were polar opposites.
Also, one interesting thing I've noticed is that when you have 3 people nailed on the cross..., you can get the chinese word 'come'. God's invitation for the Chinese people to 'come' into His kingdom..., I always thought that was cool.
(Luke 23:26-43)
Friday, November 16, 2007
Physical fruits!!!
Spirituality is sometimes way too abstract for people... what is love? what is joy? What are those spiritual fruits? However, we all know what's an apple, pear, or banana, right? ;)
Anyway, what's amazing is that the love of my life and myself are both not that much of a fruit lover. I don't regularly eat fruits... and nor do my wife. However, recently Boeing and Mayo Clinic has teamed up to care for employee's health. We even got a $100 gift certificate just for participating on some online health survey... and the people at Mayo clinic even went as far as calling us to help steer us on a more healthy path. The person I spoke to plan on coaching me to eat healthier, and to exercise for 6 months so that I can lost some weight.
And the end result is that we are eating more fruits, and wife is already experiencing some differences/benefits of our healthier eating! Thank God for them!!!
In retrospect, what is wrong with these people? Not only are they not getting paid by us, they actually gave us $100!!!!!!! Are they stupid or something? ;)
So I did some research. About Mayo Clinic: It is the first and largest integrated, not-for-profit group practice in the world. Doctors from every medical specialty work together to care for patients, joined by common systems and a philosophy of "the needs of the patient come first." More than 3,300 physicians, scientists and researchers and 46,000 allied health staff work at Mayo Clinic, which has sites in Rochester, Minn., Jacksonville, Fla., and Scottsdale/Phoenix, Ariz. Collectively, the three locations treat more than half a million people each year.
So how did they get started? Perhaps it was fate, perhaps happenstance or maybe even luck. Whatever you decide, this is certainly a story about being at the right place at the right time -- a moment in history when scientific discovery made possible the creation of modern medicine. It's also a story of an extraordinary family -- Dr. William Worrall Mayo, a frontier doctor, and his two sons, Dr. William J. Mayo and Dr. Charles H. Mayo, and the great institution they built, Mayo Clinic. It's the story of a deadly tornado and the partnership that evolved between the Mayo family and the Sisters of Saint Francis. It's a story about unusual dedication, willingness to face a hostile and harsh environment, a story of discovery, sharing, collaboration, selflessness and generosity. It's also a story of how people came together in a small town on the edge of America's Great Plains and built the first integrated medical practice and how that practice developed a model dedicated to providing the best care to every patient every day.
Anyway, I've decided that they are doing God's work! Yes!!! Thank YOU LORD!!!! :)
Today's scripture reading is about Zechariah, father of John the Baptist. I really like his prayer:
Luke 1
68 主 ─ 以 色 列 的 神 是 應 當 稱 頌 的 ！ 因 他 眷 顧 他 的 百 姓 ， 為 他 們 施 行 救 贖 ，
69 在 他 僕 人 大 衛 家 中 ， 為 我 們 興 起 了 拯 救 的 角 ，
70 正 如 主 藉 著 從 創 世 以 來 聖 先 知 的 口 所 說 的 話 ，
71 拯 救 我 們 脫 離 仇 敵 和 一 切 恨 我 們 之 人 的 手 ，
72 向 我 們 列 祖 施 憐 憫 ， 記 念 他 的 聖 約 ─
73 就 是 他 對 我 們 祖 宗 亞 伯 拉 罕 所 起 的 誓 ─
74 叫 我 們 既 從 仇 敵 手 中 被 救 出 來 ，
75 就 可 以 終 身 在 他 面 前 ， 坦 然 無 懼 的 用 聖 潔 、 公 義 事 奉 他 。
76 孩 子 阿 ！ 你 要 稱 為 至 高 者 的 先 知 ； 因 為 你 要 行 在 主 的 前 面 ， 預 備 他 的 道 路 ，
77 叫 他 的 百 姓 因 罪 得 赦 ， 就 知 道 救 恩 。
78 因 我 們 神 憐 憫 的 心 腸 ， 叫 清 晨 的 日 光 從 高 天 臨 到 我 們 ，
79 要 照 亮 坐 在 黑 暗 中 死 蔭 裡 的 人 ， 把 我 們 的 腳 引 到 平 安 的 路 上 。
We ought to be grateful to be able to enjoy fruits, we also ought to produce fruits so that other may enjoy the same things we've enjoyed! May we all be very very fruitful, both physically and spiritually!!! :)
(Luke 1:1-25,57-80)
Anyway, what's amazing is that the love of my life and myself are both not that much of a fruit lover. I don't regularly eat fruits... and nor do my wife. However, recently Boeing and Mayo Clinic has teamed up to care for employee's health. We even got a $100 gift certificate just for participating on some online health survey... and the people at Mayo clinic even went as far as calling us to help steer us on a more healthy path. The person I spoke to plan on coaching me to eat healthier, and to exercise for 6 months so that I can lost some weight.
And the end result is that we are eating more fruits, and wife is already experiencing some differences/benefits of our healthier eating! Thank God for them!!!
In retrospect, what is wrong with these people? Not only are they not getting paid by us, they actually gave us $100!!!!!!! Are they stupid or something? ;)
So I did some research. About Mayo Clinic: It is the first and largest integrated, not-for-profit group practice in the world. Doctors from every medical specialty work together to care for patients, joined by common systems and a philosophy of "the needs of the patient come first." More than 3,300 physicians, scientists and researchers and 46,000 allied health staff work at Mayo Clinic, which has sites in Rochester, Minn., Jacksonville, Fla., and Scottsdale/Phoenix, Ariz. Collectively, the three locations treat more than half a million people each year.
So how did they get started? Perhaps it was fate, perhaps happenstance or maybe even luck. Whatever you decide, this is certainly a story about being at the right place at the right time -- a moment in history when scientific discovery made possible the creation of modern medicine. It's also a story of an extraordinary family -- Dr. William Worrall Mayo, a frontier doctor, and his two sons, Dr. William J. Mayo and Dr. Charles H. Mayo, and the great institution they built, Mayo Clinic. It's the story of a deadly tornado and the partnership that evolved between the Mayo family and the Sisters of Saint Francis. It's a story about unusual dedication, willingness to face a hostile and harsh environment, a story of discovery, sharing, collaboration, selflessness and generosity. It's also a story of how people came together in a small town on the edge of America's Great Plains and built the first integrated medical practice and how that practice developed a model dedicated to providing the best care to every patient every day.
Anyway, I've decided that they are doing God's work! Yes!!! Thank YOU LORD!!!! :)
Today's scripture reading is about Zechariah, father of John the Baptist. I really like his prayer:
Luke 1
68 主 ─ 以 色 列 的 神 是 應 當 稱 頌 的 ！ 因 他 眷 顧 他 的 百 姓 ， 為 他 們 施 行 救 贖 ，
69 在 他 僕 人 大 衛 家 中 ， 為 我 們 興 起 了 拯 救 的 角 ，
70 正 如 主 藉 著 從 創 世 以 來 聖 先 知 的 口 所 說 的 話 ，
71 拯 救 我 們 脫 離 仇 敵 和 一 切 恨 我 們 之 人 的 手 ，
72 向 我 們 列 祖 施 憐 憫 ， 記 念 他 的 聖 約 ─
73 就 是 他 對 我 們 祖 宗 亞 伯 拉 罕 所 起 的 誓 ─
74 叫 我 們 既 從 仇 敵 手 中 被 救 出 來 ，
75 就 可 以 終 身 在 他 面 前 ， 坦 然 無 懼 的 用 聖 潔 、 公 義 事 奉 他 。
76 孩 子 阿 ！ 你 要 稱 為 至 高 者 的 先 知 ； 因 為 你 要 行 在 主 的 前 面 ， 預 備 他 的 道 路 ，
77 叫 他 的 百 姓 因 罪 得 赦 ， 就 知 道 救 恩 。
78 因 我 們 神 憐 憫 的 心 腸 ， 叫 清 晨 的 日 光 從 高 天 臨 到 我 們 ，
79 要 照 亮 坐 在 黑 暗 中 死 蔭 裡 的 人 ， 把 我 們 的 腳 引 到 平 安 的 路 上 。
We ought to be grateful to be able to enjoy fruits, we also ought to produce fruits so that other may enjoy the same things we've enjoyed! May we all be very very fruitful, both physically and spiritually!!! :)
(Luke 1:1-25,57-80)
Thursday, November 15, 2007
Troubles...
It's interesting that they usually all come together... at work... at home, of course if it's a problem that I can help solve, I will try my best to solve it. However, if sometimes it's out of my control, then of course I'd just hold on tight and wait for it to blow over.
Yesterday Tigran came to have lunch with me and Daniel. We haven't gotten together for a while... and yeah, we talked about various troubles. About how he wants to be a partner of the firm, but at the same time he admits that his heart isn't in it. He grinned and said... 'am I selling my soul?' He also talked about a lot of messed up lives of his law firm friends. I think he's beginning to miss his old boring engineering nerdy friends! ;)
Of course there's also trouble at home... and we even skipped praying meeting to deal with our problems! It's the right thing to do of course, if we cannot make peace with others, how can we possibly be at peace with God? So we stayed home to talk and to try to come up with specific ways to avoid similar problems in the future! Solutions we've come up with are:
1) When wife's face is upset, I have to speak up and ask, 'What is the problem?' Looking at her wish for her to talk is not going to work. I have to initiate the conversation first. I've also conveyed that it's useless to expect me to automatically know the problem... whatever is bothering her, I have to initiate to ask and then she has to just tell me. I will try my best to help, but surely I won't be able to be that helpful 100% of the time, but anyway, at least we'll be able to reduce some problems for now instead of allow the fire of anger continue to burn out of control!!! ;)
2) We've also decided that there shall be no more than 2 family dinners every month. I totally understand that wife's family doesn't have these types of regular family dinners except perhaps the annual vacations, but my family has these regular gatherings, but no annual vacations... it's two different families and we do have to learn to accept and respect each other's families' traditions.
3) I think the biggest problem of all is financial problems. I feel obligated to support my parents, but providing them with such security of course is at the expense of giving my own wife insecurities. This is similar to the 'family gathering' type of deal... of course I'm willing to cut down, for sure that will eventually happen when my parents are old enough to collect social security. I will certainly try my best to give my wife more sense of security, but I'm not sure if I'm willing to make my parents feel insecure about their day to day living. I honestly don't believe I'm spoiling my parents, I know when to tell them enough is enough!!! All I know is that we are not really that poor. Besides the money in the bank, I do have 401k savings, there's also value in the house... we're not exactly 'poor' or THAT insecure. But of course I need to help smooth things out better. This for sure will take some more time... hopefully we'll figure this out before the end of the year... so that everybody can be happy.
4) We've also decided that we will do something new and interesting all by ourselves at least once a month... and this is something I will take the initiative of making it happen.
Anyway, basically those are the corrective actions we came up with last nite. Surely they won't eliminate all problems, but hopefully they can help us thru some problems... wife is very goal oriented... and I've explained to the love of my life that the only goal for marriage is to love each other until one of us is dead. I honestly don't believe goals for marriage is to just eat with in-laws twice a month, or to have enough money so that we can freely spend or save however we want..., a successful marriage also isn't about how big of a house we have or how expensive the cars we drive... even if we don't ever have children doesn't mean we have a failed marriage... a successful marriage is basically just loving each other. Yes, love is very abstract. What is love? How can we measure that? How do we know if we're achieving our goals?
I don't know. ;)
All I know is that Jesus is on this love boat with us. Regardless of whether if I steered this boat wrong and ended up in a storm... or if we just can't possibly avoid the storm... as long if God is with us... even if our boat sank... I'm still not going to worry about the problems. If I can deal with the problem, sure, I'm willing to deal, but if I can't do anything to help..., then I'm just not going to worry about it. Only thing I have to worry about is if Jesus is not on this boat with us.
Today's scripture reading is about the blind man and the widow.
Blind man has faith that Jesus can save and heal him. Of course his blindness isn't going away until Jesus gives the word! But are we like that blind man? To have sufficient faith to continue to bug God about problems? To continue to have faith even when God's forcing you to wait thru your troubles? To never give up even when problems just aren't going away at the moment? Do you have the faith in God? Do you have hope for a brighter future... that for sure God will answer our prayers?
Regarding the poor widow who gave it all..., yeah, it's always easier to give it all when we have little I suppose. But the moral of the story is that we ought to find security in God not to find security based on our bank accounts or whatever earthly means..., this is how we can sleep thru the storms. ;)
Anyway, if we have a right attitudes. If we are full of love, troubles in the world can really make life more 'interesting'. It is also thru troubles that we can experience God more... of course I'm not suggesting that we go create trouble, I'm just saying we shouldn't allow troubles to get us down... to lose faith, to lose hope, or to lose our love for one another.
(Mark 10:46-52)
(Mark 12:41-44)
Yesterday Tigran came to have lunch with me and Daniel. We haven't gotten together for a while... and yeah, we talked about various troubles. About how he wants to be a partner of the firm, but at the same time he admits that his heart isn't in it. He grinned and said... 'am I selling my soul?' He also talked about a lot of messed up lives of his law firm friends. I think he's beginning to miss his old boring engineering nerdy friends! ;)
Of course there's also trouble at home... and we even skipped praying meeting to deal with our problems! It's the right thing to do of course, if we cannot make peace with others, how can we possibly be at peace with God? So we stayed home to talk and to try to come up with specific ways to avoid similar problems in the future! Solutions we've come up with are:
1) When wife's face is upset, I have to speak up and ask, 'What is the problem?' Looking at her wish for her to talk is not going to work. I have to initiate the conversation first. I've also conveyed that it's useless to expect me to automatically know the problem... whatever is bothering her, I have to initiate to ask and then she has to just tell me. I will try my best to help, but surely I won't be able to be that helpful 100% of the time, but anyway, at least we'll be able to reduce some problems for now instead of allow the fire of anger continue to burn out of control!!! ;)
2) We've also decided that there shall be no more than 2 family dinners every month. I totally understand that wife's family doesn't have these types of regular family dinners except perhaps the annual vacations, but my family has these regular gatherings, but no annual vacations... it's two different families and we do have to learn to accept and respect each other's families' traditions.
3) I think the biggest problem of all is financial problems. I feel obligated to support my parents, but providing them with such security of course is at the expense of giving my own wife insecurities. This is similar to the 'family gathering' type of deal... of course I'm willing to cut down, for sure that will eventually happen when my parents are old enough to collect social security. I will certainly try my best to give my wife more sense of security, but I'm not sure if I'm willing to make my parents feel insecure about their day to day living. I honestly don't believe I'm spoiling my parents, I know when to tell them enough is enough!!! All I know is that we are not really that poor. Besides the money in the bank, I do have 401k savings, there's also value in the house... we're not exactly 'poor' or THAT insecure. But of course I need to help smooth things out better. This for sure will take some more time... hopefully we'll figure this out before the end of the year... so that everybody can be happy.
4) We've also decided that we will do something new and interesting all by ourselves at least once a month... and this is something I will take the initiative of making it happen.
Anyway, basically those are the corrective actions we came up with last nite. Surely they won't eliminate all problems, but hopefully they can help us thru some problems... wife is very goal oriented... and I've explained to the love of my life that the only goal for marriage is to love each other until one of us is dead. I honestly don't believe goals for marriage is to just eat with in-laws twice a month, or to have enough money so that we can freely spend or save however we want..., a successful marriage also isn't about how big of a house we have or how expensive the cars we drive... even if we don't ever have children doesn't mean we have a failed marriage... a successful marriage is basically just loving each other. Yes, love is very abstract. What is love? How can we measure that? How do we know if we're achieving our goals?
I don't know. ;)
All I know is that Jesus is on this love boat with us. Regardless of whether if I steered this boat wrong and ended up in a storm... or if we just can't possibly avoid the storm... as long if God is with us... even if our boat sank... I'm still not going to worry about the problems. If I can deal with the problem, sure, I'm willing to deal, but if I can't do anything to help..., then I'm just not going to worry about it. Only thing I have to worry about is if Jesus is not on this boat with us.
Today's scripture reading is about the blind man and the widow.
Blind man has faith that Jesus can save and heal him. Of course his blindness isn't going away until Jesus gives the word! But are we like that blind man? To have sufficient faith to continue to bug God about problems? To continue to have faith even when God's forcing you to wait thru your troubles? To never give up even when problems just aren't going away at the moment? Do you have the faith in God? Do you have hope for a brighter future... that for sure God will answer our prayers?
Regarding the poor widow who gave it all..., yeah, it's always easier to give it all when we have little I suppose. But the moral of the story is that we ought to find security in God not to find security based on our bank accounts or whatever earthly means..., this is how we can sleep thru the storms. ;)
Anyway, if we have a right attitudes. If we are full of love, troubles in the world can really make life more 'interesting'. It is also thru troubles that we can experience God more... of course I'm not suggesting that we go create trouble, I'm just saying we shouldn't allow troubles to get us down... to lose faith, to lose hope, or to lose our love for one another.
(Mark 10:46-52)
(Mark 12:41-44)
Tuesday, November 13, 2007
Problem solving...
Today, I'm starting a new short-term assignment trying to identify and solve a problem for the heat shield for the future space shuttle. Of course, it actually won't be a shuttle, it's just a capsule like the one back in Apollo moonlanding days. NASA figure that's just cheaper than to maintain the shuttle. Anyway, I have until the end of month to help out... and if we fail, I think NASA is just going to cancel on us and go to another vendor... Hmm... May God help me help Boeing find the cause so that we can move forward!!!
There's also problem at home too! But of course it's the same problems Pastor Su has long identified. Will problems simply disappear? Pastor Su never promise that. Jesus never promised that. So what should I do? I don't know. All I can count on is Jesus helping us thru our problems.
Am I avoiding the problems and allowing to get worse? I dunno..., maybe. But if Jesus can sleep thru a storm, why shouldn't I be more like Jesus?
Today's scripture reading is about that rich young man..., who wanted to know what must one DO to inherit eternal life? This young man is basically a very decent human being. He has kept the laws of God pretty perfectly... except that he's grabbing onto money too tightly and he cannot trust Jesus wholeheartedly enough to just faithfully follow him.
Do we need money to live? OF COURSE we do!!! However, do we need it more than Jesus? Of course we shouldn't fantasize Jesus giving us huge sums of money, but shouldn't we trust that Jesus would provide for us in ways that's more than sufficient?
Of course although it is more blessed to give than to receive, I do know when not to give. I do know when to draw the line. But of course where I draw the line is different than where my wife draws the line... and because we draw our lines at different places, we end up with disagreements. We both need to learn to figue out a line that we are both okay with..., this will most likely require some sacrifice on both of our parts.
If the rich young man loves Jesus and the poor, of course he'll have no problem giving away his fortune to follow Jesus. Likewise if wife and I love each other, surely we'll be able to sacrifice for each other and eventually reach that line we're both happy with. Lord Jesus, we've made a commitment to follow you no matter what, we've also made a commitment to stick with each other no matter what. I know our marriage will be a blessed and successful one! Besides just the 'commitments', help us Lord to love You and each other more each day! Help us change to become more like You. Protect us Lord God from evil attacks! We pray in Jesus' name!
(Mark 10:17-31)
There's also problem at home too! But of course it's the same problems Pastor Su has long identified. Will problems simply disappear? Pastor Su never promise that. Jesus never promised that. So what should I do? I don't know. All I can count on is Jesus helping us thru our problems.
Am I avoiding the problems and allowing to get worse? I dunno..., maybe. But if Jesus can sleep thru a storm, why shouldn't I be more like Jesus?
Today's scripture reading is about that rich young man..., who wanted to know what must one DO to inherit eternal life? This young man is basically a very decent human being. He has kept the laws of God pretty perfectly... except that he's grabbing onto money too tightly and he cannot trust Jesus wholeheartedly enough to just faithfully follow him.
Do we need money to live? OF COURSE we do!!! However, do we need it more than Jesus? Of course we shouldn't fantasize Jesus giving us huge sums of money, but shouldn't we trust that Jesus would provide for us in ways that's more than sufficient?
Of course although it is more blessed to give than to receive, I do know when not to give. I do know when to draw the line. But of course where I draw the line is different than where my wife draws the line... and because we draw our lines at different places, we end up with disagreements. We both need to learn to figue out a line that we are both okay with..., this will most likely require some sacrifice on both of our parts.
If the rich young man loves Jesus and the poor, of course he'll have no problem giving away his fortune to follow Jesus. Likewise if wife and I love each other, surely we'll be able to sacrifice for each other and eventually reach that line we're both happy with. Lord Jesus, we've made a commitment to follow you no matter what, we've also made a commitment to stick with each other no matter what. I know our marriage will be a blessed and successful one! Besides just the 'commitments', help us Lord to love You and each other more each day! Help us change to become more like You. Protect us Lord God from evil attacks! We pray in Jesus' name!
(Mark 10:17-31)
Monday, November 12, 2007
More blessed to give than to receive...
Yep, over the weekend, we've officially invited our very first house guests over for dinner! Nancy and Katty enjoyed their shabu, and I hope next time around, we'll be able to dine with their boyfriends soon! ;)
Pastor Jim on Sunday, wrapped up the series on Heros. He wants us to stand for what is right and true... and to stand for those who cannot stand for themselves. He used Daniel and his friends as examples. They were okay with whatever Babylonian requests, changing their names..., receiving a Babylonian education..., however they drew the line at lifestyle changes. They insist on not eating what they're not suppose to eat... they insist on not bowing down to worship other gods..., they insist on pray at their regular schedules... and no amount of persecutions can change their minds. May we all be able to stand as firmly as Daniel and his friends... so that we may be able to receive the full measure of God's blessing...
And today, I saw it in Yahoo news that some unknown hero donated $100 million to a town that is in need of help... All of the charitible organizations in the area got a few million dollars... a lot of prayers are answered unexpectedly I guess... we don't know the donor's motives and why he insist on having a 'secret identity', but whatever... thank God for this guy! :)
Today's scripture reading is about a gentile women who begged Jesus to save her daughter. Jesus initially refused for Jesus wanted to feed the children(Jews) first and then to the dogs(gentiles). But this woman wouldn't take no for an answer... and continued to beg... and stated that even dogs get the left over crumbs after the children... With such faith and humility of course the merciful Jesus wouldn't insist on saying no! ;) May we all be as faithful and humble as this gentile woman. To always have faith, and to be ever hopeful... most importantly of course is LOVE!!!! :)
(Mark 7:24-30)
Pastor Jim on Sunday, wrapped up the series on Heros. He wants us to stand for what is right and true... and to stand for those who cannot stand for themselves. He used Daniel and his friends as examples. They were okay with whatever Babylonian requests, changing their names..., receiving a Babylonian education..., however they drew the line at lifestyle changes. They insist on not eating what they're not suppose to eat... they insist on not bowing down to worship other gods..., they insist on pray at their regular schedules... and no amount of persecutions can change their minds. May we all be able to stand as firmly as Daniel and his friends... so that we may be able to receive the full measure of God's blessing...
And today, I saw it in Yahoo news that some unknown hero donated $100 million to a town that is in need of help... All of the charitible organizations in the area got a few million dollars... a lot of prayers are answered unexpectedly I guess... we don't know the donor's motives and why he insist on having a 'secret identity', but whatever... thank God for this guy! :)
Today's scripture reading is about a gentile women who begged Jesus to save her daughter. Jesus initially refused for Jesus wanted to feed the children(Jews) first and then to the dogs(gentiles). But this woman wouldn't take no for an answer... and continued to beg... and stated that even dogs get the left over crumbs after the children... With such faith and humility of course the merciful Jesus wouldn't insist on saying no! ;) May we all be as faithful and humble as this gentile woman. To always have faith, and to be ever hopeful... most importantly of course is LOVE!!!! :)
(Mark 7:24-30)
Friday, November 9, 2007
Test result!
Today I took a day off because doctor wanted to show me my physical test results..., and it turned out I'm almost perfectly healthy! ;) Everything is normal except some kind of ALT enzyme level being a little high. I had a similar problem with the Red Cross when I donated blood in 1995..., they turned my blood down for the same problem, but later on, my level returned to normal again... but it appears this is an on again off again problem. Anyway, doctor want me to check the level again in February cause my elevated level could simply be alcohocl consumption(which I don't remember having the night before), but I guess I just might be too tired? Dunno, hopefully it'll return to normal again by then.
Today's scripture reading is about Jairus, a synagogue ruler with a very sich daughter. She actually died before Jesus go to her. But of course Jesus not only healed her but revived her from the dead. The most interesting thing is that Jesus only took the people who are most faithful with him. He even kicked out all the people who were wailing for the dead little girl... I guess who ever laughed at Jesus, he kicked them out. So I guess in order for us to do God's work, we all better just work with those who are really faithful. People of little faith could actually impede the work of God? Of course that's probably not totally true, I think Jesus raised Lazarus while people with little or no faith were present?
Anyway, suffice to say faith is necessary. That bleeding women had faith. If only I can grab hold of Christ's cloth, my ALT level for sure would return to normal too! ;)
(Mark 5:21-43)
Today's scripture reading is about Jairus, a synagogue ruler with a very sich daughter. She actually died before Jesus go to her. But of course Jesus not only healed her but revived her from the dead. The most interesting thing is that Jesus only took the people who are most faithful with him. He even kicked out all the people who were wailing for the dead little girl... I guess who ever laughed at Jesus, he kicked them out. So I guess in order for us to do God's work, we all better just work with those who are really faithful. People of little faith could actually impede the work of God? Of course that's probably not totally true, I think Jesus raised Lazarus while people with little or no faith were present?
Anyway, suffice to say faith is necessary. That bleeding women had faith. If only I can grab hold of Christ's cloth, my ALT level for sure would return to normal too! ;)
(Mark 5:21-43)
Thursday, November 8, 2007
Passover Seder
Passover Seder is a Jewish ritual feast held on the first day of Passover. I learned about this while I was listening to the radio while driving home. Besides eating of the lamb, there are also 3 pieces of Matzah breads. The Matzah bread is pricked(pierced) and also lots of stripes on it... primarily for making sure that the bread doesn't rise. (God allowed only unleavened bread) And the Jews would only take the middle one of the three and then break it. And the adults would hide the bigger piece for little children to find..., and it would turn out to be a fun and joyful game for the little kids... kinda like our Easter Egg hunt I guess.
Anyway, the pastor over the radio of course pointed out the remarkable similarity between this Jewish tradition... and with Jesus! Jesus is the 2nd person of the Trinity and he was pierced and striked... and broken for us. Of course people at the time also had trouble finding Jesus body for a while... and then joyfully, the women and the disciples find him!
We all know Jesus came as the lamb of God, and it is because of his blood that our judgements can be passed over..., amazingly that Jesus is also the Matzah bread... actually, we do know that he's also the bread of life I guess... Anyway, I just found this Jewish ritual to be extremely cool! ;)
Today's scripture reading is about Judas. I wonder if Judas did what he did in order to force Jesus to really show his true powers... or did Judas really did what he did for 30 pieces of silver? Anyway, whatever his motives were, I guess we won't really know for sure... only God knows... and did he repent or he simply regretted what he had done? Again, I guess we won't really know for sure at this poing until later! Only Lord knows. I suppose a lesson that can be learned is that we should test God or sell God short... and if we've done something wrong, we ought to really repent... God with His infinite mercy and grace for sure would be willing to passover His judgements on us if we genuinely repent.
(Mark 3:19,Mark 14:3-11,43-49)
(Mark 3:19,Mark 14:3-11,43-49)
Wednesday, November 7, 2007
Yahoo!!!
Yahoo CEO Jerry Yang was verbally lashed on by US lawmakers for providing Chinese government info which lead to a dissident's arrest. Oh well, what is Yahoo to do? To protect the identigy of one man... or losing the entire Chinese market? If Homeland Security asks Yahoo for info regarding terrorism, would the US lawmakers lash out again? Of course not. It's always easier to be judgemental of others..., but when it comes to ourselves, then those same standards all of a sudden no longer applys! ;)
Yahoo certainly should have more backbone..., set up a procedure in place in order to figure out what is the right thing to do..., instead of just give in to government's request. But anyway, I'm not Jerry Yang... and I'm glad I'm not him... and not in the spot light because of this. May God make Yahoo and China work together for the benefit of all who love God in China... or around the world!
Anywho, today's scripture reading was about John the Baptist. This guy was also a dissident in the eys of the authorities. He was also jailed... and eventually beheaded over the dumbest reasons. Even his cousin, his Lord, the Way, Truth and Life eventually got convicted by the authorities and eventually crucified for no good reasons. It's all pretty senseless at the time, but 2000 years afterwards, we can see more clearly that God allowed those bad things to happen for our benefit.
(Mark 1:1-11,Mark 2:18-22,Mark 6:14-29)
Yahoo certainly should have more backbone..., set up a procedure in place in order to figure out what is the right thing to do..., instead of just give in to government's request. But anyway, I'm not Jerry Yang... and I'm glad I'm not him... and not in the spot light because of this. May God make Yahoo and China work together for the benefit of all who love God in China... or around the world!
Anywho, today's scripture reading was about John the Baptist. This guy was also a dissident in the eys of the authorities. He was also jailed... and eventually beheaded over the dumbest reasons. Even his cousin, his Lord, the Way, Truth and Life eventually got convicted by the authorities and eventually crucified for no good reasons. It's all pretty senseless at the time, but 2000 years afterwards, we can see more clearly that God allowed those bad things to happen for our benefit.
(Mark 1:1-11,Mark 2:18-22,Mark 6:14-29)
Tuesday, November 6, 2007
The Great Wheel of China!
What a crazy idea..., at least the Great Wall of China served some purpose... I suppose the only purpose for this is to attract more tourists? But would tourists really be attracted by this?!?!? Anyway, hope everything goes well with it.Last nite, I also finally managed to write some thank you cards for those who came to our wedding. Should've had this done long ago, but although spirit is willing, my flesh is weak..., but even with a headache, I figured enough is enough... I better get these cards done before Thanksgiving arrives! May the Lord strengthen me more and more so that I can manage to overcome my weak and lazy, video game playing and TV watching flesh!!!!
Today's scripture reading is about Joseph of Arimathea. The guy who retrieved Christ's dead body, wrapped it up and put it into his own new tomb. It's interesting that this disciple of Christ is stupid enough to continue to be a disciple even after his Lord is dead. Every other disciple has fled and went into hiding, but not this guy! Kinda like Mother Teresa, who continued to do be a disciple even after her Lord went silent on her... May we all be able to love Jesus this way.
Monday, November 5, 2007
Looking up into the future!
DARPA(Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency) sponsored dirt-road robot races in 2004 and 2005, but this year's urban challenge is much harder... requiring robo-cars to obey all California traffic laws! Anyway, Carnegie Mellon University of Pittsburgh won first place and $2 million! Stanford and Virginia Tech came in 2nd and 3rd. Development of these robot drivers are meant to eventually drive military supply vehicles so that no human soldiers had to risk their lives making deliveries on the frontline. Also, hopefully eventually it can drive us commercially... perhaps making the roads even safer! But of course, I'd still rather drive my car myself... unless if I'm really sleepy or something.Anyway, over the weekend, once again, we didn't do much, but we did quite a bit at home though! I think we can stop going out to have shabu-shabu now! We can have it better and cheaper at home!!!! Our home is also slowly looking more and more like a home now! Other than a bed frame, I think we pretty much got everything covered! You can check out my wife's blog for detail pics! ;)
On Sunday, it's pretty cool to run into Howard at church. Wonder what's up with him and that girl..., hopefully he'll be able to take that girl to Jesus! ;) Anyway, last Sunday's sermon is again hero related. How Jesus are unlike other superheros... that he can arrive seemingly 'late', but still save the day!!! One thing that caught my attention was Pastor Jim's explaining of Jesus raising Lazarous. Most of us would focus our attention on the problem(at that tomb where Lazarous is), but only Jesus would actually look up to his Father!
How many Christians can really do that? To simply look up when problem arises... and not with an attitude of denial of problem of course, but to actually face the problem, and then look up to see the 'invisible' God! Today's scripture reading was about Peter... and it's also encouraging:
1 Peter 1
5 你 們 這 因 信 蒙 神 能 力 保 守 的 人 ， 必 能 得 著 所 預 備 、 到 末 世 要 顯 現 的 救 恩 。
6 因 此 ， 你 們 是 大 有 喜 樂 ； 但 如 今 ， 在 百 般 的 試 煉 中 暫 時 憂 愁 ，
7 叫 你 們 的 信 心 既 被 試 驗 ， 就 比 那 被 火 試 驗 仍 然 能 壞 的 金 子 更 顯 寶 貴 ， 可 以 在 耶 穌 基 督 顯 現 的 時 候 得 著 稱 讚 、 榮 耀 、 尊 貴 。
8 你 們 雖 然 沒 有 見 過 他 ， 卻 是 愛 他 ； 如 今 雖 不 得 看 見 ， 卻 因 信 他 就 有 說 不 出 來 、 滿 有 榮 光 的 大 喜 樂 ；
9 並 且 得 著 你 們 信 心 的 果 效 ， 就 是 靈 魂 的 救 恩 。
Lord Jesus is the Super Hero of Super Heros! ;)
(Matthew 26:20-75,1 Peter 1-2)
Friday, November 2, 2007
The secret for lasting relationships...
Yesterday as I was trying to drive to buy lunch, my car just won't start. So I called my friend Daniel to help me push it and see if my car would still start up... and it did! So I figure it's probably the starter that need to be replaced. So I offered Dan free lunch just so that he can help me push start the car again when we leave... cool thing about stick shift cars, they can be push started in the event of dead battery or bad starter.... anyway, as it turned out, my car didn't have bad starter, it's the battery going bad. Probably cause by old age... and the fact that I have a beeping alarm thing going on with my car sometimes going on non-stop, that's probably what hurt the battery... Anyway, after $70, my old Civic is good as new again! ;) It's amazing how tough this little Civic is with nearly 300,000 miles!!!!
Of course besides having long lasting relationships with my cars, God also want us to have good relationships with Him and with each other. It's weird how the wife and I got into a pretty deep discussion of relationships. I was sharing with her the 'secrets' I learn about relationships... and how it sort of led me to Christianity. I'm not sure how true those 'secrets' are, but for sure they match the biblical truths very well. It all started by us trying to define what romance is all about... anyway, I think romance is basically planned spontaneity. It feels totally spontanious and natural and smooth that you don't even realize that it's an carefully planned and orchestrated event. If a guy can make a gal feel that way... to have her pleasantly surprised... to have her feel very adventurous, yet still very safe... not going out of control or anything... this is how a girl might feel like she's being 'romanced'. Of course this is all easier said than done! ;)
Still, I believe God "romances" all often..., He would make things happen in a way that feels very spontaneous and natural and people usually won't appreciate the effort God put into planning it!!! The creation of heavens and earth for example, is something most of us take for granted. Like I told my wife, people with low interest levels for sure will take your romances for granted...
Anyway, today's reading is about Sadducees, those people error because they don't know the scripture properly nor the power of God. They are folks with low interest level for God in their hearts. Seriously, what is the ultimate 'secret' for long lasting meaningful relationships? It is to love. To love God and to love each other. Without love, there's just no way in hell that we can have long lasting relationships with anyone or anything...
(Matthew 22:23-46)
Of course besides having long lasting relationships with my cars, God also want us to have good relationships with Him and with each other. It's weird how the wife and I got into a pretty deep discussion of relationships. I was sharing with her the 'secrets' I learn about relationships... and how it sort of led me to Christianity. I'm not sure how true those 'secrets' are, but for sure they match the biblical truths very well. It all started by us trying to define what romance is all about... anyway, I think romance is basically planned spontaneity. It feels totally spontanious and natural and smooth that you don't even realize that it's an carefully planned and orchestrated event. If a guy can make a gal feel that way... to have her pleasantly surprised... to have her feel very adventurous, yet still very safe... not going out of control or anything... this is how a girl might feel like she's being 'romanced'. Of course this is all easier said than done! ;)
Still, I believe God "romances" all often..., He would make things happen in a way that feels very spontaneous and natural and people usually won't appreciate the effort God put into planning it!!! The creation of heavens and earth for example, is something most of us take for granted. Like I told my wife, people with low interest levels for sure will take your romances for granted...
Anyway, today's reading is about Sadducees, those people error because they don't know the scripture properly nor the power of God. They are folks with low interest level for God in their hearts. Seriously, what is the ultimate 'secret' for long lasting meaningful relationships? It is to love. To love God and to love each other. Without love, there's just no way in hell that we can have long lasting relationships with anyone or anything...
(Matthew 22:23-46)
Wednesday, October 31, 2007
Happy Halloween!
Brother GD and Sister Prophet don't really like Halloween..., I don't really love it or anything, but I thought kids deserves a little bit of fun... ;) Instead of dressing up as little ghosts or monsters knocking on doors yelling 'trick or treat?' I think I'd have my kids dressed up as little Jesus or an angel asking, "heaven or hell?" ;)Anyway, I suppose we don't have to celebrate as the pagans do, but I guess I can appreciate the effort by Washing Mutual to decorate their office building in Seattle... it's a good PR move...
So how are we Christians to celebrate this All Saint's Holiday???
Hm....
By going to a prayer meeting, that's how! ;)
Today's reading was about Pharisees. I suppose those folks remind us that we better not be too religious with our faith... Christ desires mercy not just useless sacrifices... God wishes everyone would come knocking on His door trick-or-treating... and God would be more than happy to give us more than just candy..., but His sweet love and eternal life! God is so good.
(Matthew 12:1-45)
Tuesday, October 30, 2007
The King!
Elvis Presley remains as the highest earning dead celebrities... he earned about $49million in the past year. How cool is that! ;) During his early years, Elvis was influenced primarily by gospel music while he attended an Assembly of God Pentecostal church with his family..., the dude actually enjoys singing hymns. Of course this King also knows very well who is the King of Kings!!!! ;) Anyway, wonder when will the next 'Elvis' come along...One encouraging thing to note is that I think I'm finally making progress debating on internet forums!!! I've debated athesits, Christadelphians(who believe Jesus is Lord, but not God...), and Buddhists... and for 'years', I don't think I've converted a single soul. Gospel isn't really meant to be debated I guess. If I win the debate, the other person would be pissed... if I lose the debate, for sure they won't believe the gospel... so most of the time, I debate for my own benefit. Whenever questions arises which I don't know the answer to, I'd try to find out in the bible or from some other sources...
Anway, today, it seems that one of the Buddhists I was debating with is beginning to doubt his faith in Buddhism. This guy is French Canadian..., I think he must've suffered thru some horrible experiences with Christians in the past..., he really hated Christians..., I think he sorta hates me to..., but I think I'm slowly getting thru to him... Anyway, may the Holy Spirit can personally guide him on the right path later on... he has actually put together a "plan" which I found pretty impressive. Anyway, may God be with him!
Today's scripture reading is about Matthew... and very short. However, it pointed out some important things about the Christ... that he desire mercy more than sacrifice. That although he hates sin, but he loves sinners. Elvis Presley for sure is not a perfectly righteous person, surely not everything that he did would please God. I'm sure not everything that I do would please God too..., but for sure we know that God loves us... that we're righteous by our faith. Just that hopefully we are pleasing God more and more with our born again lives too! :)
Monday, October 29, 2007
Boring weekend...
Yep, this weekend we didn't get to do much..., didn't even watch any movies or anything..., I had to work a little bit on saturday... and then drove wife to Ritz-Carlton so that she can play violin for a friend's sister's wedding... while I go mow the lawn at my parent's house... Other than that, we've pretty much wasted a lot of time... on walking around in Target... me playing stupid videogames and to fix up a tire which didn't need much fixing!!! ;)
So, yeah, it was a pretty boring weekend, but the up-side of it was that I think wife and I are slowing able to enjoy each other's company better! Her blog talked about the difference between 'having' and 'enjoying' are two different things... We've legally had each other since January of this year, we've officially had each other since July..., so let the enjoying begin... and may God help us to be able to enjoy each other more and more! ;)
Anyway, last weekend's sermon was a continuation of pastor Jim's Heros topic. He was describing to us the difference between Heros and Celebrities. Who's our hero? Pastor Jim was saying that it's those who selflessly sacrificed themselves to help others... what they do, may or may not be recognized by the people... celebrity/movie stars typically play heros on screen, but of couse not all heros are that well known... such as we have no clue about the names of the fire fighters fighting the california fires... and it's interesting that wife and I have different opinion of what is a 'hero', but at least we can agree that Jesus Christ is our hero! ;)
Today's scripture reading is about the magi, the wisemen... who somehow figured out the birth of this future hero and decided to come to worship him. So they're probably like the first 'Christians' ever! Even before the disciples!!! ;) As Christians... or as Hero-ians... may we all can live out the remainder of our lives as everyday heros to those who need help. Superman and Spider don't care if people think that they're heros or not..., they help because they see the need for help. May all of us be able to live our lives as heros... so that our Lord's name can be glorified... God gave us all some kind of 'power' to do certain things, so for sure we are empowered by God... pastor Jim also said God has caped us with favor..., previous Sunday, we had free dinner, this sunday, we had free boba milk tea... God is good! :)
(Matthew 2)
So, yeah, it was a pretty boring weekend, but the up-side of it was that I think wife and I are slowing able to enjoy each other's company better! Her blog talked about the difference between 'having' and 'enjoying' are two different things... We've legally had each other since January of this year, we've officially had each other since July..., so let the enjoying begin... and may God help us to be able to enjoy each other more and more! ;)
Anyway, last weekend's sermon was a continuation of pastor Jim's Heros topic. He was describing to us the difference between Heros and Celebrities. Who's our hero? Pastor Jim was saying that it's those who selflessly sacrificed themselves to help others... what they do, may or may not be recognized by the people... celebrity/movie stars typically play heros on screen, but of couse not all heros are that well known... such as we have no clue about the names of the fire fighters fighting the california fires... and it's interesting that wife and I have different opinion of what is a 'hero', but at least we can agree that Jesus Christ is our hero! ;)
Today's scripture reading is about the magi, the wisemen... who somehow figured out the birth of this future hero and decided to come to worship him. So they're probably like the first 'Christians' ever! Even before the disciples!!! ;) As Christians... or as Hero-ians... may we all can live out the remainder of our lives as everyday heros to those who need help. Superman and Spider don't care if people think that they're heros or not..., they help because they see the need for help. May all of us be able to live our lives as heros... so that our Lord's name can be glorified... God gave us all some kind of 'power' to do certain things, so for sure we are empowered by God... pastor Jim also said God has caped us with favor..., previous Sunday, we had free dinner, this sunday, we had free boba milk tea... God is good! :)
(Matthew 2)
Friday, October 26, 2007
CR-Zed Insanity!
Tokyo autoshow has revealed quite a few new cars, one that I like very much is this Honda CR-Z. It's a hybrid car that looks nice and sporty..., kinda like a 'hybrid' of my Civic hatchback and my S2000! ;) For sure it's infinitely better looking than to Toyota Prius.
Another interesting design is the Mazda Taiki. Supposedly it flows with air or whatever Taiki means... I really do like how the curves flow on that car.
Anyway, today we got the garage door fixed. We only fixed one door and luckily the new one looks exactly like the old one next to it so we don't have to replace both of them!!! Plus we were able to get it done cheap thanks to wife's connections... Anyway, hopefully nothing will be needing anymore fixing anytime soon... getting tired of one thing after another...
Today's scripture reading is finally about a new testament character... Joseph. Christ's step dad! We don't seem to hear about him much later on in the gospel stories..., I wonder why. All we know is that he's a nice guy... and does everything God told him to do... so that he can get Mary or baby Jesus out of trouble. The good thing about this guy is that he never seemed to get sick and tired of doing things for others even though trouble seems to follow one after another..., a seemingly troublesome and boring life..., but at least this righteous guy must've been a good dad to have God trust him to raise Jesus... and certainly Jesus is a good carpenter because of Joseph...
(Matthew 1:18-25,Matthew 2:13-23)
Thursday, October 25, 2007
Jet-man: Human powered flight
At the end of today's lunch time staff meeting, manager showed a clip of this amazing guy at the end...
All I can say is WOW! They've turn BuzzLightyear into reality!!!! So cool! The guy is a commercial pilot... a military pilot... does a lot of daring stuffs... anyway, too bad the site is in french so I don't know all the full details..., but suffice to say that he's cool and he's living his life to the fullest!!!!
Anyway, today's scripture reading was about Habakkuk, this guy is even cooler! He can talk to God! (Or complaint to God!) ;) And no matter what happens, joy of the Lord is his strength! Can we do better than this guy? ;)
(Habakkuk 1-3)
Wednesday, October 24, 2007
Wind is dying down...
Hopefully that'll help the fire fighters to regain control the wild fires... San Diego really suffered the most damages I think. No rain in the forecast, but I pray that one comes very soon! Have mercy on us God... and may this disaster help many to turn back to the Lord too...
It was very nice of Bible League... I think I donated some money back when I was at Seattle for them to send some bibles to China..., to my surprise, I got an email saying that they're praying for me amidst of the fires..., how very nice of them... I thought it was some junk mail at first, but it's refreshing to see some prayer junk mail instead of a bunch get rich quick junk mails or sexually explicit junk mails! ;)
Anyway, recently my wheels in my mind is still turning regarding the true age of this world... are we seriously billions of years old... or are we merely thousands of years old? (if we take the Biblical accounts literally)
Scientists believe the youngest fossil record we have are at least 10,000 years old... most are millions and some are even billions years old. So no matter how we stretch the biblical accounts, I don't think there's a way to stretch the age of the world to beyond 10,000 years. Of course, scientist aren't absolutely certain either. Carbon dating is only reliable up to 60,000 years... radioactive dating also isn't reliable to anything existing after 1940's... after we invented the atomic bomb... who knows whether or not if we've actually experience another huge exposure of radiation sometime during past history?
But anyway, based on whatever I've learned so far..., most likely, the world is probably older than 6,000 years...I'm just not sure if we are to take the creation account so literally... more investigations necessary..., it's funny that I now find paleontology kinda interesting now! ;)
Anyway, today's scripture is about Jonah. Jonah is an interesting character I think. He seems so angry all the time... wonder what has the Ninevites done to him that he dislikes them so much. Didn't want to preach to them... and didn't want to see them saved... Surely many preachers would love to preach for God... and would love to see many people saved as a result! But not Jonah. Nope. He doesn't want to preach to them... and was pissed that those he preached to repented!!! God sure uses people in a weird way. Some people don't have the gifts but want to do it..., but some do have the gifts but don't really want to do it. What's up with that? ;)
May God help all of us to be able to appreciate our own gifts... and to use it generously..., and may God help us not to covet other people's gifts too much... if anything, we should desire for more spiritual fruits! Such as love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control!
(Jonah 1-4)
http://science.howstuffworks.com/carbon-142.htm
http://clearlyexplained.com/nature/earth/minerals/fossils.html
It was very nice of Bible League... I think I donated some money back when I was at Seattle for them to send some bibles to China..., to my surprise, I got an email saying that they're praying for me amidst of the fires..., how very nice of them... I thought it was some junk mail at first, but it's refreshing to see some prayer junk mail instead of a bunch get rich quick junk mails or sexually explicit junk mails! ;)
Anyway, recently my wheels in my mind is still turning regarding the true age of this world... are we seriously billions of years old... or are we merely thousands of years old? (if we take the Biblical accounts literally)
Scientists believe the youngest fossil record we have are at least 10,000 years old... most are millions and some are even billions years old. So no matter how we stretch the biblical accounts, I don't think there's a way to stretch the age of the world to beyond 10,000 years. Of course, scientist aren't absolutely certain either. Carbon dating is only reliable up to 60,000 years... radioactive dating also isn't reliable to anything existing after 1940's... after we invented the atomic bomb... who knows whether or not if we've actually experience another huge exposure of radiation sometime during past history?
But anyway, based on whatever I've learned so far..., most likely, the world is probably older than 6,000 years...I'm just not sure if we are to take the creation account so literally... more investigations necessary..., it's funny that I now find paleontology kinda interesting now! ;)
Anyway, today's scripture is about Jonah. Jonah is an interesting character I think. He seems so angry all the time... wonder what has the Ninevites done to him that he dislikes them so much. Didn't want to preach to them... and didn't want to see them saved... Surely many preachers would love to preach for God... and would love to see many people saved as a result! But not Jonah. Nope. He doesn't want to preach to them... and was pissed that those he preached to repented!!! God sure uses people in a weird way. Some people don't have the gifts but want to do it..., but some do have the gifts but don't really want to do it. What's up with that? ;)
May God help all of us to be able to appreciate our own gifts... and to use it generously..., and may God help us not to covet other people's gifts too much... if anything, we should desire for more spiritual fruits! Such as love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control!
(Jonah 1-4)
http://science.howstuffworks.com/carbon-142.htm
http://clearlyexplained.com/nature/earth/minerals/fossils.html
Tuesday, October 23, 2007
Getting wilder!!!
Wouldn't it be nice if this were some sort of spiritual revival around southern california? Holy Spirit burning within our hearts?!?!? Holy Smoke!!! ;)Unfortunately, this is an actual fire... it's getting much smokier today... not just accoding to the satellite photos, but I can also smell it more at work too!!!
Anyway, this morning, I woke up early to meet up with contractor about our broken garage door... it's just one thing breaking down after another... sigh... too bad with this broken... and fallen world. ;) Also took the opportunity to do my blood test afterwards before I head to work... sure have gotten a lot done in the morning! ;)
Today's reading was about Hosea... he basically demonstrated the amazing love of God by loving an adulterous and unfaithful wife... I guess that is real love, huh? No matter what happened to your spouse, you will continue your love no matter what... of course if your adulterous spouse were to never turn back, then of course there's nothing you can do..., but as long as they turned back, can we continue to love like that?
May the love of God continue to fill our hearts so that we may be able to truly love like God loves... of course, by no means am I encouraging committing adultery to test your spouse's love for you! ;) If anything, we should test ourselves regarding our love for our spouses...
(Hosea 1-3)
Monday, October 22, 2007
Wild fire once again...
Last night we thought our neighbor's cooking was stir frying too much smoke... and it was really irritating our eyes and breathing..., as it turned out, it was probably also the wild fires! The dry Santa Ana wind's certainly not helping too... Hopefully it can be contained soon. Anyway, wife suspected that I probably got sick Friday because of my lack of ear wax in my ear... the sudden change of 'pressure' build up was probably what's screwing me up! I was breaking out cold sweats..., felt like throwing up, and suffering some headache..., but as it turned out, a good nite's sleep was once again able to cure it! Thank God! :)
The next morning, I was able to eat like a pig once more! I cooked up some greasy bacon, ham, egg and cheese sandwich for breakfast... it looked kinda ugly, but it didn't taste too bad amazingly!!! ;) We later on saw Ang Lee's Lust Caution. As I told my wife..., I just plain didn't like the film... and I also don't think it's that crucial to keep all of the explicit sex scenes in order to tell the story properly. It earned a NC-17 rating, could've just hide the actor's balls to get it down to an R rated movie probably... such rating can probably further boost box office ticket sales... Anyway, besides the sex, I really think the story kinda sucks. I just don't get the main female character. Why she did what she did? Just doesn't make sense to me. I suppose lots of folks probably make decisions that make no sense?!?!? Was that Ang Lee's point? Maybe..., but I can't help but give this movie a thumbs down.
On Sunday, perhaps my ear wax was really impeding my listening abilities..., worship really seemed a lot louder to me for whatever reasons! Hopefully my spiritual ear wax may be cleansed away too so that I may hear God better! ;) Pastor Jim talked about being heros... saying that we are all equipped with special powers from God to be heros... first thing he talked about was our God given cape of favors! He wanted us to expect favors from God! As it turned out, it happened very quickly... that evening we had free dinner simply because we bumped into Jay's parents at the same restaraunt... and Mr. Cheng insisted on paying for our meal!!! Thank God for His favor! But I hope we can soon become more 'heroic' around other's too... instead of simply being recipients of favors and blessings!
Finally in formula 1, a controversial season has finally came to an end. Brazil race was interesting to watch... too bad Lewis Hamilton threw it away in the end, but this promising rookie should have plenty more chances to win more championships in the future. I'm glad Kimi has finally won a championship... coming into this race 3rd... and then edge everyone else by a single point to win! Wow! Good for him! I'm happy for him!
Oh, and today's scripture read is about King Belshazzar, the first person to ever join Facebook... and God wrote him a message on his wall!!!! Not a very good message... May God leaves good messages on our walls, but we gotta first be humble and obedient...
(Daniel 5)
Oh, and today's scripture read is about King Belshazzar, the first person to ever join Facebook... and God wrote him a message on his wall!!!! Not a very good message... May God leaves good messages on our walls, but we gotta first be humble and obedient...
(Daniel 5)
Friday, October 19, 2007
Getting sick on sick day...
Haven't had a physical for a while, so I thought I should get myself checked out..., since I have plenty of sick days, so I thought I just take the whole day off! Everything seems cool with the doc, except that the doctor needed to spend a lot of time cleaning my ears!!! ;)
Also thanks to Jay, due to a grand opening of BJ's in Glendale, we were able to have free lunch during their first opening... and practicing week! The food was nice and we ate a lot... and I think I got sick becaue of the food. But wife seems okay though... we ate the same things, so not sure what's my problem...
Today's scripture reading was about Nebuchadnezzar, I guess his problem is pride... and God was able to turn him around. Whatever my problem is, may He be able to turn in around too...
I think I'm going to sleep now... ;)
(Daniel 4)
Also thanks to Jay, due to a grand opening of BJ's in Glendale, we were able to have free lunch during their first opening... and practicing week! The food was nice and we ate a lot... and I think I got sick becaue of the food. But wife seems okay though... we ate the same things, so not sure what's my problem...
Today's scripture reading was about Nebuchadnezzar, I guess his problem is pride... and God was able to turn him around. Whatever my problem is, may He be able to turn in around too...
I think I'm going to sleep now... ;)
(Daniel 4)
Thursday, October 18, 2007
Daniel's friends...
Today, we'll have a going away lunch for one of my co-workers, Simon... the dude is a graduate of USC and always wears a jacket with USC on it... I think the love of my life is the only USC grad who's not that crazy about her school! ;) Anyway, Simon is actually going to the exact company and department which I came from about 4 years ago. What a small world!
I was there for about 3 years, working on satellite antenna. Work environment was great and the pay was great too... I remember making more than Daniel back then..., but now that I'm working with Daniel... he has past me by! Anyway, main reason why I switched job was because I was really bored with working on antenna... so wanted to come back to the airplane field. For sure the past years a Boeing had been more interesting... I worked on the shuttle... and actually travelled to Texas and Florida... and saw the shuttle! I also worked in Seattle for a few month on a totally brand new plane..., but too bad that didn't go anywhere... Also, had I been with my old job, my top secret clearance probably would make marrying my black listed illegal alien wife impossible too! ;)
So God makes all things work together for the good of all those who love Him I guess! Today's reading is about Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego, Daniel's friends, who got thrown into the furnace. Regardless of whether God rescues them or not in the firey furnace, they would NOT bow down and worship false idols. I'm also a Daniel's friend, may the Lord strengthen me to be more like them too! ;)
(Daniel 3)
I was there for about 3 years, working on satellite antenna. Work environment was great and the pay was great too... I remember making more than Daniel back then..., but now that I'm working with Daniel... he has past me by! Anyway, main reason why I switched job was because I was really bored with working on antenna... so wanted to come back to the airplane field. For sure the past years a Boeing had been more interesting... I worked on the shuttle... and actually travelled to Texas and Florida... and saw the shuttle! I also worked in Seattle for a few month on a totally brand new plane..., but too bad that didn't go anywhere... Also, had I been with my old job, my top secret clearance probably would make marrying my black listed illegal alien wife impossible too! ;)
So God makes all things work together for the good of all those who love Him I guess! Today's reading is about Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego, Daniel's friends, who got thrown into the furnace. Regardless of whether God rescues them or not in the firey furnace, they would NOT bow down and worship false idols. I'm also a Daniel's friend, may the Lord strengthen me to be more like them too! ;)
(Daniel 3)
Wednesday, October 17, 2007
Confused...
This Dr. Kent Hovind person sounded interesting in the videos and really managed to convince me that perhaps we really do have a young earth... and perhaps dinosaurs and humans really once lived together... not just millions of years ago...
However, the fact that this dude is currently serving a 10 year setence in jail because of tax evasion certainly didn't help his cause... Apostle Paul getting jailed for preaching is one thing, but getting jail for not paying taxes is quite another. Still, whatever the guy taught is kinda biblical... it's just that some of the things he claims might just be his own interpretations...
Regardless, I wish I can know the real truth... whether if earth is really old... or really just a few thousand years old...
Today's scripture reading is about Daniel. He begged God to give him wisdom and knowledge to be able to know the king's dream and to interpret it for him... Well, Lord God, can I know the real truth about the age of the earth? I know it's possible that earth is really really old... a day is like a thousand years and a thousand years is like a day for the eternal God, but it's also possible that you really literally created everything in just six 24hr days, right? Which is it? How can we really know? Can You shed some light on this subject, O God?
(Daniel 1-2,6)
However, the fact that this dude is currently serving a 10 year setence in jail because of tax evasion certainly didn't help his cause... Apostle Paul getting jailed for preaching is one thing, but getting jail for not paying taxes is quite another. Still, whatever the guy taught is kinda biblical... it's just that some of the things he claims might just be his own interpretations...
Regardless, I wish I can know the real truth... whether if earth is really old... or really just a few thousand years old...
Today's scripture reading is about Daniel. He begged God to give him wisdom and knowledge to be able to know the king's dream and to interpret it for him... Well, Lord God, can I know the real truth about the age of the earth? I know it's possible that earth is really really old... a day is like a thousand years and a thousand years is like a day for the eternal God, but it's also possible that you really literally created everything in just six 24hr days, right? Which is it? How can we really know? Can You shed some light on this subject, O God?
(Daniel 1-2,6)
Tuesday, October 16, 2007
Airbus A380 takes flight!
After a 18 month delay, A380 is finally being delivered to Singapore Airlines! Boeing doesn't believe there's a market for such a huge plane, so instead we developed a smaller and more efficient new plane... and it's been behind schedule also... today, it seems it's just getting harder and harder to keep promises! ;)Anyway, I wonder how much is a ticket for a "bed" on the A380! If this double decker turns out to be a success, it'd for sure threaten Boeing..., but so far, I don't think Airbus has sold enough of them to break even just yet..., but in the long run, who knows. Boeing 747 was the make or break plane for Boeing... it's going to be interesting seeing Airbus and Boeing duking it out in the future!
I'm also still trying to finish the crazy biblical dino video..., according to the Bible, perhaps dinosaurs really did live with men... at least with Job in Ch 40!!!
15 “Look now at the behemoth, which I made along with you; He eats grass like an ox.
16 See now, his strength is in his hips, And his power is in his stomach muscles.
17 He moves his tail like a cedar; The sinews of his thighs are tightly knit.
18 His bones are like beams of bronze, His ribs like bars of iron.
19 He is the first of the ways of God; Only He who made him can bring near His sword.
What is a behemoth? Some said elephant or hippo... in the chinese bible, it is directly translated as hippo!
15 你 且 觀 看 河 馬 ； 我 造 你 也 造 他 。 他 吃 草 與 牛 一 樣 ；
16 他 的 氣 力 在 腰 間 ， 能 力 在 肚 腹 的 筋 上 。
17 他 搖 動 尾 巴 如 香 柏 樹 ； 他 大 腿 的 筋 互 相 聯 絡 。
18 他 的 骨 頭 好 像 銅 管 ； 他 的 肢 體 彷 彿 鐵 棍 。
19 他 在 神 所 造 的 物 中 為 首 ； 創 造 他 的 給 他 刀 劍 。
However, that doesn't make any sense! Hippo or elephant or whatever large plant eating animals that we know of... doesn't have tails as big as Cedar tree!!!
Anyway, this Dr. Kent Hovind (http://www.drdino.com/) sure sound crazy! But his video sure seemed interesting and biblical too! Anyway, whether we have old earth or young earth, I don't think it's that critical for our faith..., but it'd be nice to know the real truth!
Today's scripture reading was a weird one too! It's about Ezekiel, who in his visions saw some weird and crazy creature too! ;) Ezekiel was asked to eat God's Words... and it tasted delicious like honey! Ezekiel was also asked by God to boldly speak them out! We should all be more like him! That Dr. Hovind sure seem like a modern day Ezekiel! By boldly saying that dinos still exist today, surely most people think he must be nuts!!! ;)
(Ezekiel 1-3)
Monday, October 15, 2007
Tiring weekend...
This weekend has been a productive and busy once again... Finally got a chance to ride with Pastor Zo's family... Jay joined us too, but his bike has a leak so he couldn't really ride with us... Anyway, good for him, he probably would be exhausted by riding with us!!! ;) Wife was really tired too..., but I thought it was kinda cool. Never realized that LA has these bike trails... of course the scenary wasn't really all that great, but it was kinda cool because it felt as if we're in the wild... in a totally different world!!!
We also saw 'Evan Almighty'. It was kind of a stupid comedy, but has some cool messages in it though. The writer of the movie did a pretty good job to help audiences understand God better, but not sure if people would really take it seriously... anyway, in the movie, Evan was called by God to build an ark... later on, I built a small ark in our dining room too!
Yeah, we got ourselves a new dining room table from IKEA. It's kinda cool because it's expandable!!! It's very solid too! Unlike most IKEA items... Anyway, it'll be nice having a real table around the apartment! Our cat also love to just chill under it too, just like the animals in the movies... ;)
We also saw 'Evan Almighty'. It was kind of a stupid comedy, but has some cool messages in it though. The writer of the movie did a pretty good job to help audiences understand God better, but not sure if people would really take it seriously... anyway, in the movie, Evan was called by God to build an ark... later on, I built a small ark in our dining room too!
Yeah, we got ourselves a new dining room table from IKEA. It's kinda cool because it's expandable!!! It's very solid too! Unlike most IKEA items... Anyway, it'll be nice having a real table around the apartment! Our cat also love to just chill under it too, just like the animals in the movies... ;)
On Sunday, we also went to Faith with Jacob and Louisa..., too bad Pastor Jim was away and it was Pastor's wife preaching... I generally agree with what she's saying, but of course she's not as good of a 'preacher' compared to her husband. Still, her message was still not too bad... we ought to empower others and set others up to succeed... and hopefully others do the same to others... need to figuer out a way to set my wife up for success! ;)
We also had lunch with some of our old family friends later on. We used to live together when I was in High School, haven't seen some of them for a long time... and now we're all married and stuff... wow, time sure has flew by!!!
Anyway, the most interesting thing over the weekend was perhaps watching a video of a guy explaining how dinosaurs may not be as old as we think... and he used the bible to explain things away... I still haven't finish the whole video just yet, but I'll write more about it later on after I finish! ;)
And today's scripture reading is once again about a guy I'm not that familiar with... Baruch, just just a secretary type for prophet Jeremiah I guess. Jeremiah gets the Word... and Baruch basically just get to write things down... and then deliver the message, by reading it, to the people. So for sure that's not an easy and I'm sure a very thankless job.
I can probably write things down too, but would I dare deliver the message to the people in public? Evan in the movie faced similar kind of dilemma too... will I be able to really carry out what God wants me to do when push comes to shove? Hmm... I hope so, but I'm also sure that I've failed Him plenty of times... :( But thank God that we have a loving and patient God and a God of impossible! :)
(Jeremiah 36,43,45)
We also had lunch with some of our old family friends later on. We used to live together when I was in High School, haven't seen some of them for a long time... and now we're all married and stuff... wow, time sure has flew by!!!
Anyway, the most interesting thing over the weekend was perhaps watching a video of a guy explaining how dinosaurs may not be as old as we think... and he used the bible to explain things away... I still haven't finish the whole video just yet, but I'll write more about it later on after I finish! ;)
And today's scripture reading is once again about a guy I'm not that familiar with... Baruch, just just a secretary type for prophet Jeremiah I guess. Jeremiah gets the Word... and Baruch basically just get to write things down... and then deliver the message, by reading it, to the people. So for sure that's not an easy and I'm sure a very thankless job.
I can probably write things down too, but would I dare deliver the message to the people in public? Evan in the movie faced similar kind of dilemma too... will I be able to really carry out what God wants me to do when push comes to shove? Hmm... I hope so, but I'm also sure that I've failed Him plenty of times... :( But thank God that we have a loving and patient God and a God of impossible! :)
(Jeremiah 36,43,45)
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