What has the world come to... State of Iowa allowed same sex marriage... and then changed their minds after a few hours... during that 3 hour 'window' of opportunity, one gay couple managed to successfuly get their marriage license!!! ;)
Anyway, for sure gay marriage is wrong is God's eyes, but if these homosexuals are really so desperately wanting to get marry..., I think government should just let them have their civil union. Having a law prohibiting them can only make them want to do it more... if you finally legalize it, then it probably won't be as big of a deal anymore...
And another crazy thing is my weight..., I tried to eat just a little bit of dinner a day before yesterday(4 wontons and some veggies...), and I don't understand why my weight went up and was approaching 185 lbs again!!! But then again last nite I ate a full meal cooked by the love of my life... and my weight actually went down to like 183lbs!!! I typically weight about 180~181 lbs in the morning on an empty stomach... so I don't know what's goin gon with my crazy weight.
Today's scripture reading was also crazy. Not sure why Biblegateway.com decided to include Amnon as one of the characters to study... he's the psycho sister raping son of David. What's to learn from this guy? He claims to love his half sister Tamar... and if Amnon had asked to marry this half sister, it would've been okay too at the time. King would've agree... and Tamar would've agreed... but no, he just couldn't wait and must make love with her right now!!! And then interestingly, intense hatred of Tamar came upon him afterwards and he doesn't want to see her again...
Hmm... a lot of people are kinda like that, after sex, they don't really want to see each other again... and in Amnon's case, I suppose God has a hand in it too... because David was screwing around with Bethsheba... and God told David that the consequence of his actions was to also screw up his family later on... But of course we should NOT blame the calamity of David's family on God... Chinese have this saying, "upper liang not upright, so the lower liang is crooked too!"
This is sad indeed. Once again Lord God, we ask for Your mercy and grace in our lives... so that we don't have to be punished by repeating the similar mistakes again and again from generation to generation. You promised that you'll show love to a thousand generations of those who love you and keep your commandments. Help us love you more and keep your commandments Lord God. If our forefathers have incurred any kind of curse in the past, may it be stopped in my generation because I love You and because I keep your commandments! Bless me and bless all of my future generations too please! I pray the same for all of my family members and friends too. Thank You very much!!! In Jesus's name I pray... :)
(2 Samuel 13 )
Friday, August 31, 2007
Thursday, August 30, 2007
Hot Hot Hot!!!
It really doesn't feel that hot near the beach, I thought it was much hotter few weeks earlier..., but maybe it was just more humid earlier... Anyway, power consumption is up and California is facing some energy crisis again. Hope it won't come to rolling black outs... maybe I'll turn off my PC and just take a few hours of break during the after noon to easy power consumption! ;)
Anyway, today's scripture reading is about Abigail. I guess she is a wise woman... and knows what is the right thing to do..., but I thought David was rather unreasonable... he was going to kill some stupid guy and his family simply because the stupid guy didn't give him stuff to eat? Thanks God there's Abigail to intervene to avoid unnecessary bloodshed. And I don't know what's up with David... just kept on taking up wives.... I suppose women are his only weakness... no doubt Abigail is probably a pretty woman! :)
Sorry Lord, didn't mean to judge David, just wondering what's up with him that's all! ;) But whether if it's David or Abigail, I guess they both have this heart for things of God. May the Lord my God grant me and my family the same things... I know that we also may not be perfect, but I pray that our hearts become closer and closer to Perfection! I pray that our hearts can become HOT for You! :)
(1 Samuel 25)
Anyway, today's scripture reading is about Abigail. I guess she is a wise woman... and knows what is the right thing to do..., but I thought David was rather unreasonable... he was going to kill some stupid guy and his family simply because the stupid guy didn't give him stuff to eat? Thanks God there's Abigail to intervene to avoid unnecessary bloodshed. And I don't know what's up with David... just kept on taking up wives.... I suppose women are his only weakness... no doubt Abigail is probably a pretty woman! :)
Sorry Lord, didn't mean to judge David, just wondering what's up with him that's all! ;) But whether if it's David or Abigail, I guess they both have this heart for things of God. May the Lord my God grant me and my family the same things... I know that we also may not be perfect, but I pray that our hearts become closer and closer to Perfection! I pray that our hearts can become HOT for You! :)
(1 Samuel 25)
Wednesday, August 29, 2007
Attention: ANT!!! Yes, I'm talking to you ANT!!!
If God has moved you to read this blog of mine, I just want you to think twice... or maybe three or four times about living together with your new boyfriend. If he's really that sincere and that much in love with you... then go ahead and start planning to get married within a year at most... If there's no solid plan to get marry and if you guys are still in the 'wait and see' stage..., then please make sure you don't 'wait and see' at his house. At the very minimum, there has to be an engagement ring or something, but the wedding date shouldn't be left hanging indefinitely...
Anyway, my point is as long as marriage is NOT a 100% sure thing, please don't move in with him. You've heard of the saying... 'absence makes the heart grow fonder', right? Once you move in with him, you'll have no more chances to really 'miss him' anymore... and sometimes you just might find each other annoying after spending so much time together... and without the commitment of marriage, it can just be that much simpler to just give up and break up. So please think things thru.
Anyway, Lord God, if she's not reading my blog, then I hope You will interven in her life somehow to help her make the best decision possible. Help her to be able to attain love and happiness... help her to be able to make wise decisions...
Speaking of 'absence making the heart grow fonder', I wonder if that's God strategy for Mother Teresa? ;) Imagine if Mother Teresa can hear Jesus all the time, by the time she get to heaven, it'd simply be like, 'hey, wazzup Jesus! nice to see you again...' But given that Mother Teresa had been yearning so much for Jesus and she couldn't ever feel his presence for decades... imagine what that face to face meeting was like...
Would Mother Teresa be mad at Jesus?
Or would tears just stream down her face and she'd probably never ever let go of Jesus for all eternity...
Anyway, today's scripture reading was about King Saul. This guy also experienced first hand what's it like to have the presence of God left him. But the difference between him and Mother Teresa is that Mother Teresa continued on doing the will of God... and not her own will... and that was obviously how God continue to bless her ministry and Saul didn't get any of God's blessings.
So ANT, I pray that you'll also learn to do God's will, not your own will or your bf's will.
May God bless you! :)
(1 Samuel 18-19)
Anyway, my point is as long as marriage is NOT a 100% sure thing, please don't move in with him. You've heard of the saying... 'absence makes the heart grow fonder', right? Once you move in with him, you'll have no more chances to really 'miss him' anymore... and sometimes you just might find each other annoying after spending so much time together... and without the commitment of marriage, it can just be that much simpler to just give up and break up. So please think things thru.
Anyway, Lord God, if she's not reading my blog, then I hope You will interven in her life somehow to help her make the best decision possible. Help her to be able to attain love and happiness... help her to be able to make wise decisions...
Speaking of 'absence making the heart grow fonder', I wonder if that's God strategy for Mother Teresa? ;) Imagine if Mother Teresa can hear Jesus all the time, by the time she get to heaven, it'd simply be like, 'hey, wazzup Jesus! nice to see you again...' But given that Mother Teresa had been yearning so much for Jesus and she couldn't ever feel his presence for decades... imagine what that face to face meeting was like...
Would Mother Teresa be mad at Jesus?
Or would tears just stream down her face and she'd probably never ever let go of Jesus for all eternity...
Anyway, today's scripture reading was about King Saul. This guy also experienced first hand what's it like to have the presence of God left him. But the difference between him and Mother Teresa is that Mother Teresa continued on doing the will of God... and not her own will... and that was obviously how God continue to bless her ministry and Saul didn't get any of God's blessings.
So ANT, I pray that you'll also learn to do God's will, not your own will or your bf's will.
May God bless you! :)
(1 Samuel 18-19)
Tuesday, August 28, 2007
First bible study at home!
Yeah, last nite was our first bible study done with both of our parents. Of course my folks are primarily motivated to learn english, but we are motivated for them to get to know the Word of God better! Whatever our motivations, at least our first Bible study went along relatively smoothly. Amazingly God also has sent an old American missionary along mom's way to help along in her English at the adult school! So hopefully soon afterwards, mom will be able to accept this gracious and merciful God!!!! YEAH!!!! ;)
Today's scripture reading is about Johnathan. The guy has a good heart and a simple mind. I like the guy in a lot of areas..., but I hope I won't "end up" like him though. I also hope that my parents won't continue to harden their hearts and end up like Saul in the end.
Almighty God, Creator of all things, we indeed are in need of Your infinite grace and mercy. No matter what happens, I trust in You, my Lord... please please strengthen me to just continue to do Your will no matter what. I praise and thank thee in Jesus' name! :)
(1 Samuel 14,20)
Today's scripture reading is about Johnathan. The guy has a good heart and a simple mind. I like the guy in a lot of areas..., but I hope I won't "end up" like him though. I also hope that my parents won't continue to harden their hearts and end up like Saul in the end.
Almighty God, Creator of all things, we indeed are in need of Your infinite grace and mercy. No matter what happens, I trust in You, my Lord... please please strengthen me to just continue to do Your will no matter what. I praise and thank thee in Jesus' name! :)
(1 Samuel 14,20)
Monday, August 27, 2007
It is well with our Valentine's weekend! ;)
This weekend was supposedly the chinese version of the Valentine's Day, but I don't think we did anything special at all! Besides taking Louie to little tokyo for lunch and lunch at Sesame Grill on Sunday after church... we mostly just stayed home either doing chores... or perhaps relax a bit by watching a bunch of regular folks singing on TV! ;)
However, I think my relationship with my wife has progressed special and far enough so that we don't really need to do anything fancy and can still be satisfied and happy with each other... Anyway, at least I feel this is true..., if not, she can let me have it tonite after reading this blog... ;)
We've indeed came a long way..., yeah, we're not there yet still..., but given that God has been so merciful and gracious to us in the past, I'm sure we'll get there in the future! :)
The Hymm BeBe Wyan sang at Faith last Sunday was also pretty cool...
When peace, like a river, attendeth my way,
When sorrows like sea billows roll;
Whatever my lot, Thou has taught me to say,
It is well, it is well, with my soul.
It is well, with my soul,
It is well, with my soul,
It is well, it is well, with my soul.
Though Satan should buffet,
though trials should come,
Let this blest assurance control,
That Christ has regarded my helpless estate,
And hath shed His own blood for my soul.
My sin, oh, the bliss of this glorious thought!
My sin, not in part but the whole,
Is nailed to the cross, and I bear it no more,
Praise the Lord, praise the Lord, O my soul!
For me, be it Christ, be it Christ hence to live:
If Jordan above me shall roll,
No pang shall be mine, for in death as in life
Thou wilt whisper Thy peace to my soul.
But, Lord, ‘tis for Thee, for Thy coming we wait,
The sky, not the grave, is our goal;
Oh trump of the angel! Oh voice of the Lord!
Blessèd hope, blessèd rest of my soul!
And Lord, haste the day when my faith shall be sight,
The clouds be rolled back as a scroll;
The trump shall resound, and the Lord shall descend,
Even so, it is well with my soul.
Today's scripture reading about Samuel continued to demonstrate how merciful and graceful God really is...
以 便 以 謝 ， 到 如 今 耶 和 華 都 幫 助 我 們 。
耶 和 華 既 喜 悅 選 你 們 作 他 的 子 民 ， 就 必 因 他 的 大 名 不 撇 棄 你 們 。
Oh Lord, You are so cool! :)
(1 Samuel 7:3-8:22; 1 Samuel 12:1-25)
However, I think my relationship with my wife has progressed special and far enough so that we don't really need to do anything fancy and can still be satisfied and happy with each other... Anyway, at least I feel this is true..., if not, she can let me have it tonite after reading this blog... ;)
We've indeed came a long way..., yeah, we're not there yet still..., but given that God has been so merciful and gracious to us in the past, I'm sure we'll get there in the future! :)
The Hymm BeBe Wyan sang at Faith last Sunday was also pretty cool...
When peace, like a river, attendeth my way,
When sorrows like sea billows roll;
Whatever my lot, Thou has taught me to say,
It is well, it is well, with my soul.
It is well, with my soul,
It is well, with my soul,
It is well, it is well, with my soul.
Though Satan should buffet,
though trials should come,
Let this blest assurance control,
That Christ has regarded my helpless estate,
And hath shed His own blood for my soul.
My sin, oh, the bliss of this glorious thought!
My sin, not in part but the whole,
Is nailed to the cross, and I bear it no more,
Praise the Lord, praise the Lord, O my soul!
For me, be it Christ, be it Christ hence to live:
If Jordan above me shall roll,
No pang shall be mine, for in death as in life
Thou wilt whisper Thy peace to my soul.
But, Lord, ‘tis for Thee, for Thy coming we wait,
The sky, not the grave, is our goal;
Oh trump of the angel! Oh voice of the Lord!
Blessèd hope, blessèd rest of my soul!
And Lord, haste the day when my faith shall be sight,
The clouds be rolled back as a scroll;
The trump shall resound, and the Lord shall descend,
Even so, it is well with my soul.
Today's scripture reading about Samuel continued to demonstrate how merciful and graceful God really is...
以 便 以 謝 ， 到 如 今 耶 和 華 都 幫 助 我 們 。
耶 和 華 既 喜 悅 選 你 們 作 他 的 子 民 ， 就 必 因 他 的 大 名 不 撇 棄 你 們 。
Oh Lord, You are so cool! :)
(1 Samuel 7:3-8:22; 1 Samuel 12:1-25)
Friday, August 24, 2007
Mother Teresa...
Time magazine wrote an article about Morther Teresa. It's about her supposed crisis of her faith in God. In her personal letters, she revealed she can no longer feel the presence of God... she even went on doubting perhaps God doesn't exist anymore... and this lasted for 50 yrs probably until the day she died... She was able to cope with this spiritual stuggle later on in her life though. Instead of concentrating on 'feeling' God, she just kept on with her original calling and continue on to do God's will. Was her 'sprititual suffering' some sort of spiritual attack from the enemy or perhaps it's the will of God? Dunno, could be both I guess. I see it perhaps something similar to Paul's thorn in the flesh, which God didn't remove for Paul even after repeated plead.
When Mother Teresa was younger... when she was able to hear God... she did asked to know Christ like none has known before. So I guess God granted her request! When Jesus called to the Father, 'O God, O God why have You forsaken me?' I guess mother Teresa got first hand experience of what that feels like...
She even ask the folks who she wrote the letters to... to please destroy these letters, for she feared that if the public ever found out that she's a spiritual 'hypocrite', smiling on the outside, but dying on the inside, people might think less of God... or perhaps even doubt the existence of God like her...
However, I think it's good that these letters came out to the public. It actually can be great example of what being a servant of Christ is really like. It's not about how we feel... because obviously our 'feelings' can deceive us..., but it's about simply doing God's will.
Who's Mother Teresa really? Did she single handedly start and managed her successful ministry? God may not be felt by her, but God's clearly blessed her ministry and doing the work right along with her. The spiritual/phsyical fruits her ministry had bear can't possibly be all by her and her alone! So I see it as a sign that God is obviously with her...
But anyway, who am I to argue with Mother Teresa... if that's how she feels, that's how she feels... but the moral of the story is that feeling can be deceiving. If one's driven by feelings and couldn't care less about the will of God... I suppose one can end up like Juan... Just sell drugs and live the good life! Why bother saving those poor Mexicans... and live as one of the poor Mexican?
Jesus want to save us poor humans and came to live as one of us poor humans.
Mother Teresa want to save those poor Indians and went to live as one of those poor Indians.
If Mother Teresa and Jesus are not close, then I don't know what is being close to Jesus.
May the Lord be gracious to Mother Teresa and allow her to be able to finally feel her Lord's love in full!!!
Today's scripture reading is about Eli... they also lived at a time when God seemed quiet... and slowly, he seemed to care more about the happiness of his sons than whether or not if God's pleased...
Anyway, moral of that story is the same, we should always continue to do God's will even if we don't hear Him that often. To us Bible readers, it's clear that God is still God... what's wrong with those lousy bible characters?!?!? To us outside observers, God is definitely with Mother Teresa... what's wrong with her 'feelings'?!?!?
When one lose sense of God, if you continue to do God's will, then you can do no wrong. Feelings can certainly be deceiving... further, perhaps Mother Teresa doesn't have the gift of being single for all of her life... perhaps we're meant to 'feel' God thru others. Perhaps if Mother Teresa had a physical loving husband who loves her, maybe that could helped her with her struggle a bit...
I dunno, God knows what He's doing. It's just fascinating to read Mother Teresa's story. In my humble opinion, for sure Mother Teresa has glorified God with her life, regardless of how she felt about God. Right now, God's will for my life is to simply love my wife and continue to try to reach out to my family in order to get them saved.
Am I right God? If not, You've gotta speak up and let me know, okay? ;)
(1 Samuel 2:27-4:22)
When Mother Teresa was younger... when she was able to hear God... she did asked to know Christ like none has known before. So I guess God granted her request! When Jesus called to the Father, 'O God, O God why have You forsaken me?' I guess mother Teresa got first hand experience of what that feels like...
She even ask the folks who she wrote the letters to... to please destroy these letters, for she feared that if the public ever found out that she's a spiritual 'hypocrite', smiling on the outside, but dying on the inside, people might think less of God... or perhaps even doubt the existence of God like her...
However, I think it's good that these letters came out to the public. It actually can be great example of what being a servant of Christ is really like. It's not about how we feel... because obviously our 'feelings' can deceive us..., but it's about simply doing God's will.
Who's Mother Teresa really? Did she single handedly start and managed her successful ministry? God may not be felt by her, but God's clearly blessed her ministry and doing the work right along with her. The spiritual/phsyical fruits her ministry had bear can't possibly be all by her and her alone! So I see it as a sign that God is obviously with her...
But anyway, who am I to argue with Mother Teresa... if that's how she feels, that's how she feels... but the moral of the story is that feeling can be deceiving. If one's driven by feelings and couldn't care less about the will of God... I suppose one can end up like Juan... Just sell drugs and live the good life! Why bother saving those poor Mexicans... and live as one of the poor Mexican?
Jesus want to save us poor humans and came to live as one of us poor humans.
Mother Teresa want to save those poor Indians and went to live as one of those poor Indians.
If Mother Teresa and Jesus are not close, then I don't know what is being close to Jesus.
May the Lord be gracious to Mother Teresa and allow her to be able to finally feel her Lord's love in full!!!
Today's scripture reading is about Eli... they also lived at a time when God seemed quiet... and slowly, he seemed to care more about the happiness of his sons than whether or not if God's pleased...
Anyway, moral of that story is the same, we should always continue to do God's will even if we don't hear Him that often. To us Bible readers, it's clear that God is still God... what's wrong with those lousy bible characters?!?!? To us outside observers, God is definitely with Mother Teresa... what's wrong with her 'feelings'?!?!?
When one lose sense of God, if you continue to do God's will, then you can do no wrong. Feelings can certainly be deceiving... further, perhaps Mother Teresa doesn't have the gift of being single for all of her life... perhaps we're meant to 'feel' God thru others. Perhaps if Mother Teresa had a physical loving husband who loves her, maybe that could helped her with her struggle a bit...
I dunno, God knows what He's doing. It's just fascinating to read Mother Teresa's story. In my humble opinion, for sure Mother Teresa has glorified God with her life, regardless of how she felt about God. Right now, God's will for my life is to simply love my wife and continue to try to reach out to my family in order to get them saved.
Am I right God? If not, You've gotta speak up and let me know, okay? ;)
(1 Samuel 2:27-4:22)
Thursday, August 23, 2007
Lion and the lamb...
Brother GD's prayer meeting last nite talked about how we Christians should be interceeding with prayers and with actions... and God is looking and seeking for such individuals.
Well, I hope God reads my blog... ;) And I guess I should 'interceed' more often too instead of just praying for myself and for those close to me...
Brother GD also said that most people are simply wolves in sheep's skin, but God calls us to be sheeps..., but not only as sheeps, but as lions with sheep skins!!! ;) Sending sheeps into the world or into pack of wolves is a tough task, but if God is with us... if Holy Spirit is in us, it's like we're lions on the inside. Meek on the outside like sheeps, but strong like lions on the inside. If God is with us, we are more than conquerors!!! But I suppose the transformation process will take some time... first we've gotta decide to give up being a wolf, then we have to learn to truly become a sheep, yet know that we can also be strong like lion!
Lord God, our town is in Your hand. May you first raise us up to be a consistent prayer warriors, and may you raise up more workers and builders to build this town up in ways that can please You. May You protect Your churches so that they can stand as one and not fall for the schemes of the deceiver. I also like to ask for your mercy and grace to be upon all of my family members so that they can all be saved soon... and as for the saved ones, please continue to guide and guard them as they walk with You. And I pray for all of my single friends... that they won't rush into marriages that's not good for them. Lord God, please prepare them to become more equipped to become better husbands or wives. As they become ready, then may the Lord direct their paths to cross... if the two of them's not ready, Lord God, I ask You to please intervene and prevent them from entering a bad marriage in the first place. I dunno, maybe I'm asking too much since my just dust... an ordinary jar of clay, but if I have favor in Your eyes, please intervene in our lives so that Your will can be done. I'm in no position to intervene anything other than pray to You... and about the only thing I can do is to do bible study with my parents... what else can I 'do'? Oh yeah, please also prepare my folks' hearts to be able to really receive your Word into their hearts. May the seeds I planted be able to grow in them. May me and my wife's transformation into a real sheep/lion be evident to them too so that it can be a good testimony. In Jesus name I pray.
Today's scripture reading is about Hannah. May the Lord hear my prayer as He did with Hannah.
1 我 的 心 因 耶 和 華 快 樂 ； 我 的 角 因 耶 和 華 高 舉 。 我 的 口 向 仇 敵 張 開 ； 我 因 耶 和 華 的 救 恩 歡 欣 。
2 只 有 耶 和 華 為 聖 ； 除 他 以 外 沒 有 可 比 的 ， 也 沒 有 磐 石 像 我 們 的 神 。
3 人 不 要 誇 口 說 驕 傲 的 話 ， 也 不 要 出 狂 妄 的 言 語 ； 因 耶 和 華 是 大 有 智 識 的 神 ， 人 的 行 為 被 他 衡 量 。
6 耶 和 華 使 人 死 ， 也 使 人 活 ， 使 人 下 陰 間 ， 也 使 人 往 上 升 。
7 他 使 人 貧 窮 ， 也 使 人 富 足 ， 使 人 卑 微 ， 也 使 人 高 貴 。
8 他 從 灰 塵 裡 抬 舉 貧 寒 人 ， 從 糞 堆 中 提 拔 窮 乏 人 ， 使 他 們 與 王 子 同 坐 ， 得 著 榮 耀 的 座 位 。 地 的 柱 子 屬 於 耶 和 華 ； 他 將 世 界 立 在 其 上 。
9 他 必 保 護 聖 民 的 腳 步 ， 使 惡 人 在 黑 暗 中 寂 然 不 動 ； 人 都 不 能 靠 力 量 得 勝 。
10 與 耶 和 華 爭 競 的 ， 必 被 打 碎 ； 耶 和 華 必 從 天 上 以 雷 攻 擊 他 ， 必 審 判 地 極 的 人 ， 將 力 量 賜 與 所 立 的 王 ， 高 舉 受 膏 者 的 角 。
(1 Samuel 1:1-2:21)
Well, I hope God reads my blog... ;) And I guess I should 'interceed' more often too instead of just praying for myself and for those close to me...
Brother GD also said that most people are simply wolves in sheep's skin, but God calls us to be sheeps..., but not only as sheeps, but as lions with sheep skins!!! ;) Sending sheeps into the world or into pack of wolves is a tough task, but if God is with us... if Holy Spirit is in us, it's like we're lions on the inside. Meek on the outside like sheeps, but strong like lions on the inside. If God is with us, we are more than conquerors!!! But I suppose the transformation process will take some time... first we've gotta decide to give up being a wolf, then we have to learn to truly become a sheep, yet know that we can also be strong like lion!
Lord God, our town is in Your hand. May you first raise us up to be a consistent prayer warriors, and may you raise up more workers and builders to build this town up in ways that can please You. May You protect Your churches so that they can stand as one and not fall for the schemes of the deceiver. I also like to ask for your mercy and grace to be upon all of my family members so that they can all be saved soon... and as for the saved ones, please continue to guide and guard them as they walk with You. And I pray for all of my single friends... that they won't rush into marriages that's not good for them. Lord God, please prepare them to become more equipped to become better husbands or wives. As they become ready, then may the Lord direct their paths to cross... if the two of them's not ready, Lord God, I ask You to please intervene and prevent them from entering a bad marriage in the first place. I dunno, maybe I'm asking too much since my just dust... an ordinary jar of clay, but if I have favor in Your eyes, please intervene in our lives so that Your will can be done. I'm in no position to intervene anything other than pray to You... and about the only thing I can do is to do bible study with my parents... what else can I 'do'? Oh yeah, please also prepare my folks' hearts to be able to really receive your Word into their hearts. May the seeds I planted be able to grow in them. May me and my wife's transformation into a real sheep/lion be evident to them too so that it can be a good testimony. In Jesus name I pray.
Today's scripture reading is about Hannah. May the Lord hear my prayer as He did with Hannah.
1 我 的 心 因 耶 和 華 快 樂 ； 我 的 角 因 耶 和 華 高 舉 。 我 的 口 向 仇 敵 張 開 ； 我 因 耶 和 華 的 救 恩 歡 欣 。
2 只 有 耶 和 華 為 聖 ； 除 他 以 外 沒 有 可 比 的 ， 也 沒 有 磐 石 像 我 們 的 神 。
3 人 不 要 誇 口 說 驕 傲 的 話 ， 也 不 要 出 狂 妄 的 言 語 ； 因 耶 和 華 是 大 有 智 識 的 神 ， 人 的 行 為 被 他 衡 量 。
6 耶 和 華 使 人 死 ， 也 使 人 活 ， 使 人 下 陰 間 ， 也 使 人 往 上 升 。
7 他 使 人 貧 窮 ， 也 使 人 富 足 ， 使 人 卑 微 ， 也 使 人 高 貴 。
8 他 從 灰 塵 裡 抬 舉 貧 寒 人 ， 從 糞 堆 中 提 拔 窮 乏 人 ， 使 他 們 與 王 子 同 坐 ， 得 著 榮 耀 的 座 位 。 地 的 柱 子 屬 於 耶 和 華 ； 他 將 世 界 立 在 其 上 。
9 他 必 保 護 聖 民 的 腳 步 ， 使 惡 人 在 黑 暗 中 寂 然 不 動 ； 人 都 不 能 靠 力 量 得 勝 。
10 與 耶 和 華 爭 競 的 ， 必 被 打 碎 ； 耶 和 華 必 從 天 上 以 雷 攻 擊 他 ， 必 審 判 地 極 的 人 ， 將 力 量 賜 與 所 立 的 王 ， 高 舉 受 膏 者 的 角 。
(1 Samuel 1:1-2:21)
Wednesday, August 22, 2007
Mission in Mexico...
Last nite we had dinner with wife's friends again... and it's kinda sad to hear stories of breakups... such as Jacob's band breaking up... and then Jerry's ministry in Mexico kind of on the rocks... The story of Juan was also heart-breaking... a drug dealer turned preacher and then back to be a drug dealer again...
Do these things happen because of spiritual attacks or because we just plain suck?
I suppose it's probably a combination of both. Eve screwed up because serpent tempted her and she made a decision to give in to serpent. Serpant is the attacking agent and Eve made a sucky decision. And Eve then becomes the attacking agent by offering it to Adam... and then Adam made a sucky decision to eat it too! Of course both Adam and Eve only blamed it on the attacking agent... Adam even blamed God for creating that attacking agent... Accusations of Adam and Eve were correct. Serpent deserved the blame... Eve also deserve the blame, it's always always easier to see the blames for others, but it's just not quite so easy for us to see our own suckiness very often. All of mankind, believers and unbelievers, suck and fall short of the glory of God. But can blaming others help? Can blaming it on spiritual attacks help?
Of course not. All we can do is to repent first and then pray for God to interven our lives with sufficient mercy and grace... if Adam and Eve first repented instead of playing the blame game, things for sure would've turned out quite different. And may God continue to intervene into Juan's life so that this prodigal son who's incredibly gifted at preaching can return home once more...
Today's scripture reading is about Ruth... it's funny that I just found out last nite that my wife was suppose to be named Ruth by her dad, but she just plain doesn't like that name because "Ruth" just doesn't fit her! Ruth, unlike her other sis-in-law Orpah, simply stubbornly clung on to Naomi for no good reason... other than love for this hopeless old woman... Actually both wanted to stay and take care of her, but Orpah was able to 'think' more properly and decide to do the right thing with her brain... hey, Naomi insisted that she go... so she went. But Ruth tend to think more with her heart. Her heart is telling her that only death will do them apart. I guess her stupid vow compared to Jephthah's stupid vow was that at least Ruth offered up to sacrifice her OWN life out of love... where as Jephthah offered up somebody else's for... personal victory?
I don't know, personally, I think the moral of the story is that as long as two people love each other to the point of willing to sacrifice self for the other, things will work out in the end. For this kind of love is the love of God... and God is love... and if people really truly love each other like that, for sure God will be there to help them too..., but the problem is most people simply don't know what is love...
Why should 'I', sacrifice myself for 'you'? What, you think I'm stupid or something?
Satan's attack strategy is basically to inflate the size of 'I' bigger and bigger... Eve didn't want to 'I' to be stupid... so she ate to make her and her husband smarter! Anyway, for sure God is not against people being smart or wise, but God simply want us to ask Him for those things instead of trying to be smart and wise on our own... whenever we try to do that, things get screwed up. Whenever we think of 'self' to be more important, bands, churches, ministries, marriages, or whatever, tend to break up.
Lord, please grant us wisdom and intelligence so that when we make decisions, they will be good decisions. Show us Your way... and please continue to guide and guard us... and protect us from these spiritual attacks... and transform and renew us so that we won't stay so sucky all the time. Help us Lord God! We trust in You and cling to you as Ruth clings to Naomi. In Jesus' name...
(Ruth 1-4)
Do these things happen because of spiritual attacks or because we just plain suck?
I suppose it's probably a combination of both. Eve screwed up because serpent tempted her and she made a decision to give in to serpent. Serpant is the attacking agent and Eve made a sucky decision. And Eve then becomes the attacking agent by offering it to Adam... and then Adam made a sucky decision to eat it too! Of course both Adam and Eve only blamed it on the attacking agent... Adam even blamed God for creating that attacking agent... Accusations of Adam and Eve were correct. Serpent deserved the blame... Eve also deserve the blame, it's always always easier to see the blames for others, but it's just not quite so easy for us to see our own suckiness very often. All of mankind, believers and unbelievers, suck and fall short of the glory of God. But can blaming others help? Can blaming it on spiritual attacks help?
Of course not. All we can do is to repent first and then pray for God to interven our lives with sufficient mercy and grace... if Adam and Eve first repented instead of playing the blame game, things for sure would've turned out quite different. And may God continue to intervene into Juan's life so that this prodigal son who's incredibly gifted at preaching can return home once more...
Today's scripture reading is about Ruth... it's funny that I just found out last nite that my wife was suppose to be named Ruth by her dad, but she just plain doesn't like that name because "Ruth" just doesn't fit her! Ruth, unlike her other sis-in-law Orpah, simply stubbornly clung on to Naomi for no good reason... other than love for this hopeless old woman... Actually both wanted to stay and take care of her, but Orpah was able to 'think' more properly and decide to do the right thing with her brain... hey, Naomi insisted that she go... so she went. But Ruth tend to think more with her heart. Her heart is telling her that only death will do them apart. I guess her stupid vow compared to Jephthah's stupid vow was that at least Ruth offered up to sacrifice her OWN life out of love... where as Jephthah offered up somebody else's for... personal victory?
I don't know, personally, I think the moral of the story is that as long as two people love each other to the point of willing to sacrifice self for the other, things will work out in the end. For this kind of love is the love of God... and God is love... and if people really truly love each other like that, for sure God will be there to help them too..., but the problem is most people simply don't know what is love...
Why should 'I', sacrifice myself for 'you'? What, you think I'm stupid or something?
Satan's attack strategy is basically to inflate the size of 'I' bigger and bigger... Eve didn't want to 'I' to be stupid... so she ate to make her and her husband smarter! Anyway, for sure God is not against people being smart or wise, but God simply want us to ask Him for those things instead of trying to be smart and wise on our own... whenever we try to do that, things get screwed up. Whenever we think of 'self' to be more important, bands, churches, ministries, marriages, or whatever, tend to break up.
Lord, please grant us wisdom and intelligence so that when we make decisions, they will be good decisions. Show us Your way... and please continue to guide and guard us... and protect us from these spiritual attacks... and transform and renew us so that we won't stay so sucky all the time. Help us Lord God! We trust in You and cling to you as Ruth clings to Naomi. In Jesus' name...
(Ruth 1-4)
Tuesday, August 21, 2007
Yeah, Halleluja!
The most miraculous thing happened last nite... that is the love of my life who claimed that she doesn't cook... actually cooked dinner for me last nite! What a pleasant surprise! It was delicious too! Woohoo! I have an awesome wife and God is an awesome God!!! ;)
Space shuttle landed safely too! Whew...! So the damaged thermal tiles still did the job... given all the diasters such as hurricane, earthquake, collapsed mine or bridges or stock market... it's good to have some good news I guess! :)
Today's reading is about Samson. Wife was actually discussing life of Samson with me last nite... did God plan out his life to be like that? Surely the Philistine wife setup was..., but it was also obvious that Samson wasn't that obedient and didn't live his life as a Nazirite... and the cutting off of the hair was the last straw... and God finally left him. However because of his repentance, God also finally gave him back the gift once again to judge the Philistines...
Samson was a pretty lousy guy who lived a lousy life, that's obvious..., but what's the moral of the story? That God uses lousy people in ministries of today too? (That's wife's view! ;)) And it's kinda true too! There are plenty of lousy folks serving in ministries, and let's face it, people are simply naturally in that lousy nature! Of course that's no excuse for us to continue on being lousy... we've gotta improve... or be more obedient. Had Samson lived an obedient life, surely there'd be a different and more glorious story. Okay, obedience is hard, improvements can be even harder, but perhaps we can at least hold the ground? To not become worse? Such as Samson... eventually letting the prostitute to cut his hair off... It's plainly absusing God's mercy and grace.
Anyway, I don't have any problems with lame people serving in the ministries, I think it only goes to show how amazingly merciful and graceful God can be. But of course that amazing grace has its limits... and it's a limited time offer! (Until Christ comes back to finally judge the world who continue to abuse God's grace and mercy.)
May God be merciful and graceful to me and my family... and may Christ help us to become better... or at least hold the line so that we won't continue to waste the good things God has given us.... Help us to become more like You LORD God! In Jesus' name we pray...
(Judges 13-16)
Space shuttle landed safely too! Whew...! So the damaged thermal tiles still did the job... given all the diasters such as hurricane, earthquake, collapsed mine or bridges or stock market... it's good to have some good news I guess! :)
Today's reading is about Samson. Wife was actually discussing life of Samson with me last nite... did God plan out his life to be like that? Surely the Philistine wife setup was..., but it was also obvious that Samson wasn't that obedient and didn't live his life as a Nazirite... and the cutting off of the hair was the last straw... and God finally left him. However because of his repentance, God also finally gave him back the gift once again to judge the Philistines...
Samson was a pretty lousy guy who lived a lousy life, that's obvious..., but what's the moral of the story? That God uses lousy people in ministries of today too? (That's wife's view! ;)) And it's kinda true too! There are plenty of lousy folks serving in ministries, and let's face it, people are simply naturally in that lousy nature! Of course that's no excuse for us to continue on being lousy... we've gotta improve... or be more obedient. Had Samson lived an obedient life, surely there'd be a different and more glorious story. Okay, obedience is hard, improvements can be even harder, but perhaps we can at least hold the ground? To not become worse? Such as Samson... eventually letting the prostitute to cut his hair off... It's plainly absusing God's mercy and grace.
Anyway, I don't have any problems with lame people serving in the ministries, I think it only goes to show how amazingly merciful and graceful God can be. But of course that amazing grace has its limits... and it's a limited time offer! (Until Christ comes back to finally judge the world who continue to abuse God's grace and mercy.)
May God be merciful and graceful to me and my family... and may Christ help us to become better... or at least hold the line so that we won't continue to waste the good things God has given us.... Help us to become more like You LORD God! In Jesus' name we pray...
(Judges 13-16)
Monday, August 20, 2007
Mercy and Grace
Thanks be to our God that we had a fun, interesting, wonderful weekend! :)
The most notable of course would be that my relationship with the love of my life has finally reached a 'new' level..., but it's not perfect yet... and Dr. Keith Herschey would say... 'practice makes perfect'! So more practice is needed.
I also practice my guitar a bit too. After watching the Super Star Million Dollar Sing contest thing, I felt like using my voice to praise God too!!! ;) Our cat doesn't like the guitar sound very much, or maybe it's my voice? Anyway, I just hope God doesn't find my praises annoying! ;)
Also had dinner with the same 'gang' that went to the concernt at Hollywood Bowl last nite. It was an enjoyable dinner, haven't had a get together ever since the wedding... I enjoyed hanging out with them, but I do find it disturbing that some of them actually had skipped church for few weeks now... Hmm.... Inviting to join us at Faith on Sunday also didn't help... and there are always some type of excuses... I don't know what we can do to help. Lord, can you help us? When people just feel discouraged... bored or whatever. What can we do to help?
Also, with most of relatives from taiwan heading back, mom will perhaps have more time to devote to God now? I will be preparing my first bible study based on Pastor Jim's sermon last sunday. Not sure if it's going to be series or a one time sermon, but it was basically explaining what is mercy and what is grace. Mercy is not giving us(punishments) what we deserve and grace is basically giving us(goodies)what we don't deserve. I have to admit previously, I thought the two are pretty close, it's very good of Pastor Jim to differentiate between the two! ;) Anyway, this ought to be a pretty good topic for beginners like mom... fingers crossed... and may God be both merciful and graceful to us!!!!
Oh, another intersting thing was the movie eternal sunshine and the spotless mind. Love of my life saw it already, but rented the DVD just for me... Would I choose to erase my heart-breaking past memories if possible? I think I'd have to say that for sure I won't want to do that. We are shaped by our experiences... and without those memories, then we cease to become who we are..., but what if the memories are super painful though? I suppose I won't blame others if they want theirs to be erased..., but that's like a wasted 'life lesson'. But then again, even if we don't forget, humans still tend to repeat history though... But anyway, it's just not right to 'play God' like that. If one truly wants to play God, perhaps we can choose to be merciful and graceful by forgetting other people's past failures.
In today's scriptural reading, Jephthah had a bad past which was not even his own fault. His dad had Jephthah with a hooker, what can he do? But people made sure he knows about it and even kicked him out of the family..., but then I'm not sure why all of a sudden they want him back later? Jephthah must've been a well known godly man? That's why at times of trouble, people actually wanted him to lead them out of trouble?
Also, another thing Jephthah is famous for is that we shouldn't make stupid vows! If I ever make a stupid vow suck as 'sacrifice a burnt offering to God with whatever walks out of that door', for sure I wouldn't honor it... and I'm sure the infinitely merciful and graceful God won't remember it too! ;) Even if something bad happens, at least this bad thing can only happen to me. Not sure why he had to kill his daughter... Anyway, I think the main moral of that part of the story is to simply not make stupid vows, right?
I think my wedding vow is it. I'm not making any more vows!!! Wait, is that also a form of vow too? Whatever... ;)
(Judges 11:1-12:7)
The most notable of course would be that my relationship with the love of my life has finally reached a 'new' level..., but it's not perfect yet... and Dr. Keith Herschey would say... 'practice makes perfect'! So more practice is needed.
I also practice my guitar a bit too. After watching the Super Star Million Dollar Sing contest thing, I felt like using my voice to praise God too!!! ;) Our cat doesn't like the guitar sound very much, or maybe it's my voice? Anyway, I just hope God doesn't find my praises annoying! ;)
Also had dinner with the same 'gang' that went to the concernt at Hollywood Bowl last nite. It was an enjoyable dinner, haven't had a get together ever since the wedding... I enjoyed hanging out with them, but I do find it disturbing that some of them actually had skipped church for few weeks now... Hmm.... Inviting to join us at Faith on Sunday also didn't help... and there are always some type of excuses... I don't know what we can do to help. Lord, can you help us? When people just feel discouraged... bored or whatever. What can we do to help?
Also, with most of relatives from taiwan heading back, mom will perhaps have more time to devote to God now? I will be preparing my first bible study based on Pastor Jim's sermon last sunday. Not sure if it's going to be series or a one time sermon, but it was basically explaining what is mercy and what is grace. Mercy is not giving us(punishments) what we deserve and grace is basically giving us(goodies)what we don't deserve. I have to admit previously, I thought the two are pretty close, it's very good of Pastor Jim to differentiate between the two! ;) Anyway, this ought to be a pretty good topic for beginners like mom... fingers crossed... and may God be both merciful and graceful to us!!!!
Oh, another intersting thing was the movie eternal sunshine and the spotless mind. Love of my life saw it already, but rented the DVD just for me... Would I choose to erase my heart-breaking past memories if possible? I think I'd have to say that for sure I won't want to do that. We are shaped by our experiences... and without those memories, then we cease to become who we are..., but what if the memories are super painful though? I suppose I won't blame others if they want theirs to be erased..., but that's like a wasted 'life lesson'. But then again, even if we don't forget, humans still tend to repeat history though... But anyway, it's just not right to 'play God' like that. If one truly wants to play God, perhaps we can choose to be merciful and graceful by forgetting other people's past failures.
In today's scriptural reading, Jephthah had a bad past which was not even his own fault. His dad had Jephthah with a hooker, what can he do? But people made sure he knows about it and even kicked him out of the family..., but then I'm not sure why all of a sudden they want him back later? Jephthah must've been a well known godly man? That's why at times of trouble, people actually wanted him to lead them out of trouble?
Also, another thing Jephthah is famous for is that we shouldn't make stupid vows! If I ever make a stupid vow suck as 'sacrifice a burnt offering to God with whatever walks out of that door', for sure I wouldn't honor it... and I'm sure the infinitely merciful and graceful God won't remember it too! ;) Even if something bad happens, at least this bad thing can only happen to me. Not sure why he had to kill his daughter... Anyway, I think the main moral of that part of the story is to simply not make stupid vows, right?
I think my wedding vow is it. I'm not making any more vows!!! Wait, is that also a form of vow too? Whatever... ;)
(Judges 11:1-12:7)
Saturday, August 18, 2007
TGIF again! (Actually it's Saturday already!)
Today was a productive day at work..., there was also an all hands meeting(with free lunch provided!!!)... consequently I didn't have enough time to do my devotional during lunch. Anyway, it was nice to know that the program boss, Joe, is having visions of further hypersonic research... and not just setting his sight on making missiles..., Yeah, I hope our work here will benefit more on the commercial side instead of the defense side...
I also left work a little later than I should, the traffic also didn't help... almost missed the concert at Hollywood Bowl tonite. That Dianna Krall was kinda interesting, but I think a smaller venue would probably be better for jazz concerts such as hers... I wish I can see the players better...
Anyway, what a hectic day though, but like I said, at least it had been productive. Best thing for this week is that I've been eating wife's cooking more and more, certainly something I didn't expect too much! ;)
Today's scripture reading was about Gideon... wife's saying he's too wishy-washy, but I thought it's okay to ask for confirmations just to be sure you know.... ;) Anyway, I just find it interesting that God can see this wishy-washy chicken as a 'mighty warrior'! How would I respond if God were to ask me to do something? Hmm..., hope I won't let Him down. O Lord, please just be with me and make sure I won't let you down! Thank You Lord! ;)
(Judges 6-8)
I also left work a little later than I should, the traffic also didn't help... almost missed the concert at Hollywood Bowl tonite. That Dianna Krall was kinda interesting, but I think a smaller venue would probably be better for jazz concerts such as hers... I wish I can see the players better...
Anyway, what a hectic day though, but like I said, at least it had been productive. Best thing for this week is that I've been eating wife's cooking more and more, certainly something I didn't expect too much! ;)
Today's scripture reading was about Gideon... wife's saying he's too wishy-washy, but I thought it's okay to ask for confirmations just to be sure you know.... ;) Anyway, I just find it interesting that God can see this wishy-washy chicken as a 'mighty warrior'! How would I respond if God were to ask me to do something? Hmm..., hope I won't let Him down. O Lord, please just be with me and make sure I won't let you down! Thank You Lord! ;)
(Judges 6-8)
Thursday, August 16, 2007
Weird day...
Last nite I had dinner with bunch of 'older' former colleagues... actually some I haven't even actually worked with... I only know them because of another 'dead' colleague... and amazingly, he has been dead for about 5 years now. This dead Indian guy's name's Rip Mann... I dunno, I think the American way of life is really bad for people from India. Sure have noticed a lot of Indians suffer medical conditions within aerospace companies... not sure if it's stress or diet, but yeah, I think America is bad for Indians! ;)
Anyway, was telling my wife the other day that I seem to get along better with people a lot younger or a lot older than me. Very weird. Not sure why. People around my age just don't find me very interesting for whatever reasons... some of those people in the above picture have kids about my age... and I'm not even sure if their own kids would want to hang around with them! ;)
We've been getting together every so often to commemorate Rip for years now, we still meet around where Rip used to live and then just walk along the beach to whatever restaraunt. Dinner was great and I enjoy chatting and walking along the beach and see the sunset... I'm not sure if they're Christians though, but I'm not sure how to preach the gospels to a bunch of old guys who probably are set in their ways... Anyway, it'd certainly be nice if I can lead them to Christ before they die I guess, but I don't know, often times I just feel so useless because I honestly don't believe I actually led anyone to Christ yet. I need Your help my Lord... hopefully I can start with my own family first of course...
And today I read about Deborah. What a weird story... I guess the moral of the story is to not doubt like Barak when Deborah initially prophesied... we should just take it by faith and go with it... instead of the, 'nah, I'm not gonna go if you don't go' attititude. But then, the part when Jael invited that Sisera into her tent to hide and for some milk... and then end up killing him... what was that about? I've read that passage before..., but everytime I see her as some sort of psycho woman..., maybe I should so some more digging with some special devotional bible and see what they have to say about her... that lady just feaked and weirded me out.
At work too, I've had some weird problems..., but luckily I think I got it solved now... better get back to work. Lord God, help me figure things out better please. Need more wisdom! ;)
(Judges 4-5 )
Anyway, was telling my wife the other day that I seem to get along better with people a lot younger or a lot older than me. Very weird. Not sure why. People around my age just don't find me very interesting for whatever reasons... some of those people in the above picture have kids about my age... and I'm not even sure if their own kids would want to hang around with them! ;)
We've been getting together every so often to commemorate Rip for years now, we still meet around where Rip used to live and then just walk along the beach to whatever restaraunt. Dinner was great and I enjoy chatting and walking along the beach and see the sunset... I'm not sure if they're Christians though, but I'm not sure how to preach the gospels to a bunch of old guys who probably are set in their ways... Anyway, it'd certainly be nice if I can lead them to Christ before they die I guess, but I don't know, often times I just feel so useless because I honestly don't believe I actually led anyone to Christ yet. I need Your help my Lord... hopefully I can start with my own family first of course...
And today I read about Deborah. What a weird story... I guess the moral of the story is to not doubt like Barak when Deborah initially prophesied... we should just take it by faith and go with it... instead of the, 'nah, I'm not gonna go if you don't go' attititude. But then, the part when Jael invited that Sisera into her tent to hide and for some milk... and then end up killing him... what was that about? I've read that passage before..., but everytime I see her as some sort of psycho woman..., maybe I should so some more digging with some special devotional bible and see what they have to say about her... that lady just feaked and weirded me out.
At work too, I've had some weird problems..., but luckily I think I got it solved now... better get back to work. Lord God, help me figure things out better please. Need more wisdom! ;)
(Judges 4-5 )
Wednesday, August 15, 2007
Me and My House...
Well, don't have a house yet, we have an apartment, but at least it's home. Although the love of my life lives there longer than me, she has confessed it never really felt like 'home' to her... well, not sure how to respond to that kind of answer, but I can only hope someday she'll be able to feel at 'home' with me. Of course, I have to shape up too. I often give people the feeling that I'm against them somehow... when people bad-mouth some others when feeling annoyed..., instead of me badmouthing along with them to help them vent... I'd always end up trying to help them see the good side of that other person... and of course the end result is causing the person venting even more upset as if I stand with the jerk who they're venting about!!! ;) Vice versa could be true too... when people's giving praise to something, I can always bring up something bad about it... of course, if one's praising God, I'm sure I won't be able to pick fault with God! ;) I meant I have the tendency to want people to have a more balanced perspective I suppose. Everything in the world is not all good or all bad. (God is out of this world, that is why He can be all good of course!)
Anyway, I most certain need more wisdom from God when it comes to social skills. However, at least so far me and my house are doing pretty good. I think wife feels more at home lately, but surely more improvements are needed.
And as Joshua said, 'as for me and my house, no matter what happens, we will serve the LORD!!!" AMEN!
(Joshua 23-24)
Anyway, I most certain need more wisdom from God when it comes to social skills. However, at least so far me and my house are doing pretty good. I think wife feels more at home lately, but surely more improvements are needed.
And as Joshua said, 'as for me and my house, no matter what happens, we will serve the LORD!!!" AMEN!
(Joshua 23-24)
Tuesday, August 14, 2007
How great are You?
Big Bang theory is getting challenged. Theory of evolution for humans is also possibly getting revised. Point is that we simply don't know what's the real story... at least the story in the Bible won't get modified over time... ;)
Here are some interesting pictures to put things into perspective:
ANTARES IS THE 15TH BRIGHTEST STAR IN THE SKY. IT IS MORE THAN 1000 LIGHT YEARS AWAY.
If you zoom in on the darkest part of the above picture, you'll see the picture below:
Anyway, point is that we are unbelievibly small compare to things of this universe. This universe is awesome... and its Creator is simply mind boggling...
Speaking about space... the space shuttle has its protective heat shield damaged again..., if it needs to be repaired, hope they can repair it right. Whatever happens, may God have mercy on us and allow us the safe return of the astronauts.
Today's scritpural reading was about Caleb. The guy is not some super important character in the Bible, but he has the heart for God. When circumstances were bad, only he and Joshua didn't melt in fear because they trust in the LORD.
When things turn bad for me, I hope I can be more like him... instead of melting in fear and running away, may I be strengthen by the LORD and conquer my troubles head-on! With God by our side, we are more than conquerors!!! Yeah!!! Though we are small, but we serve a great great God! :)
(Joshua 14:6-15:19)
Here are some interesting pictures to put things into perspective:
ANTARES IS THE 15TH BRIGHTEST STAR IN THE SKY. IT IS MORE THAN 1000 LIGHT YEARS AWAY.
NOW HOW BIG ARE YOU?
NOW, THIS IS A HUBBLE TELESCOPE ULTRA DEEP FIELD INFRARED VIEW OF COUNTLESS"ENTIRE" GALAXIES BILLIONS OF LIGHT-YEARS AWAY.
If you zoom in on the darkest part of the above picture, you'll see the picture below:Anyway, point is that we are unbelievibly small compare to things of this universe. This universe is awesome... and its Creator is simply mind boggling...
Speaking about space... the space shuttle has its protective heat shield damaged again..., if it needs to be repaired, hope they can repair it right. Whatever happens, may God have mercy on us and allow us the safe return of the astronauts.
Today's scritpural reading was about Caleb. The guy is not some super important character in the Bible, but he has the heart for God. When circumstances were bad, only he and Joshua didn't melt in fear because they trust in the LORD.
When things turn bad for me, I hope I can be more like him... instead of melting in fear and running away, may I be strengthen by the LORD and conquer my troubles head-on! With God by our side, we are more than conquerors!!! Yeah!!! Though we are small, but we serve a great great God! :)
(Joshua 14:6-15:19)
Monday, August 13, 2007
keith hershey
This Sunday at church, pastor Jim was still on vacation and we had a guest speaker... Keith Hershey. The guy is white, but perhaps he thinks he's black like Hershey's chocolate... he kinda talks like black people... and unusually emotional for a white guy! ;)
His sermon about 1Peter1:2~5 was kinda interesting. I really liked his message... he said that our most prized possession is not what we hold in our hands(the visible), but what we hold in our hearts(the invisible). He reminded us the promises of God... reminded us how to never feel useless..., never be fruitless, never be clueless, and never be toothless(or stumble, falling on our teeth)! ;)
In order to acheive these things, 7 ingredients are absolutely necessary to add on top of our faith:
1) need to have virtue, to actually do good by acheiving moral excellence!
2) to have knowledge- to really KNOW Christ and to KNOW God... personally!
3) to have self control... not to be controlled by the flesh...
4) to be able to presevere- to be able to stand firm before God does His thing...
5) to have godliness- I'm not sure what's 'godliness'... I guess it's to be more God-like, or Christ-like? ;)
6) then we need to have brotherly kindness- be nice to people even when then don't deserve it...
7) and above all things, we need to have love! The unconditional kind of love, the love of God!
If we can truly add these ingredients into our lives, surely we will live a much smoother running life! ;)
Over the weekend, we didn't do anything too spectacular..., we saw a few movies, saw a so-so Sparks game at Staple Center, saw a few meteors fly by... can't even call it a 'shower'..., but over all, it was quite a smooth weekend I suppose. May the Lord our God continue to show us and remind us to add these necessary ingredients into our lives!
Yeah, life can be very hard sometimes. In the movie Ratatouille, it also talked about how hard life can be for both rats and humans... and how unlikely changes can occur..., yeah, it's true, it's never easy to change things. It's never easy to change other people. It's never easy to change the world. It's not even easy to change yourself! But in order for change to occur, we have to first 'believe'... and then our actions must match our beliefs...
Today's scriptural reading was about Rahab..., I think I'm kinda like her... she probably believed in the LORD because of fear first! Yeah, I was scared of God too... initially, I really didn't want to go to church anymore, but I was actually afraid... afraid that what if there really is God? What if Jesus if for real?!?!?
Anyway, I've been following Jesus for 4~5 years now, I have to say that Jesus has never led me wrong so far. Yeah, there were few things I don't understand, but I will continue to trust in God to lead my life... and of course my only request is for God to eventually save my natural family too... just like He did with Rahab's family. O, have mercy on us Lord God. Thanks!
(Joshua 2,6)
His sermon about 1Peter1:2~5 was kinda interesting. I really liked his message... he said that our most prized possession is not what we hold in our hands(the visible), but what we hold in our hearts(the invisible). He reminded us the promises of God... reminded us how to never feel useless..., never be fruitless, never be clueless, and never be toothless(or stumble, falling on our teeth)! ;)
In order to acheive these things, 7 ingredients are absolutely necessary to add on top of our faith:
1) need to have virtue, to actually do good by acheiving moral excellence!
2) to have knowledge- to really KNOW Christ and to KNOW God... personally!
3) to have self control... not to be controlled by the flesh...
4) to be able to presevere- to be able to stand firm before God does His thing...
5) to have godliness- I'm not sure what's 'godliness'... I guess it's to be more God-like, or Christ-like? ;)
6) then we need to have brotherly kindness- be nice to people even when then don't deserve it...
7) and above all things, we need to have love! The unconditional kind of love, the love of God!
If we can truly add these ingredients into our lives, surely we will live a much smoother running life! ;)
Over the weekend, we didn't do anything too spectacular..., we saw a few movies, saw a so-so Sparks game at Staple Center, saw a few meteors fly by... can't even call it a 'shower'..., but over all, it was quite a smooth weekend I suppose. May the Lord our God continue to show us and remind us to add these necessary ingredients into our lives!
Yeah, life can be very hard sometimes. In the movie Ratatouille, it also talked about how hard life can be for both rats and humans... and how unlikely changes can occur..., yeah, it's true, it's never easy to change things. It's never easy to change other people. It's never easy to change the world. It's not even easy to change yourself! But in order for change to occur, we have to first 'believe'... and then our actions must match our beliefs...
Today's scriptural reading was about Rahab..., I think I'm kinda like her... she probably believed in the LORD because of fear first! Yeah, I was scared of God too... initially, I really didn't want to go to church anymore, but I was actually afraid... afraid that what if there really is God? What if Jesus if for real?!?!?
Anyway, I've been following Jesus for 4~5 years now, I have to say that Jesus has never led me wrong so far. Yeah, there were few things I don't understand, but I will continue to trust in God to lead my life... and of course my only request is for God to eventually save my natural family too... just like He did with Rahab's family. O, have mercy on us Lord God. Thanks!
(Joshua 2,6)
Friday, August 10, 2007
Thank God It's Friday! (TGIF!)
Was able to complete some major milestones at work... so I can relax a bit...
Wife's mood has also been pretty good lately... so I can further relax...
Given my relaxing personality, maybe I shouldn't be too relax... ;)
Today's lunchbox is also perfectly fine and tasty... wife was worried that it might be bad cause it's been sitting in the fridge for too long, but 'Gali' or curry is suppose to be able to be long lasting, right?
Space shuttle is also in orbit again and so far so good...
Things are pretty good... except for some trapped miners... also more death were found due to that bridge collapse... and I'm sure lots of invester are also worrying about the stock market... not to mention what's going on in Iraq... oh well, such is life I guess.
Today's scripture reading is about Aaron and how he screwed up while Moses was up in the mountain... Aaron and the rest of the gang still wish to worship God, but they just don't know what they're doing I guess. People were still giving up their valuables such as gold jewelries and stuff..., but in the end, they created the golden calf... Similary in today's churches, are we tithing to God or are we simply tithing to create our own golden calf? Pretending to be worshipping God, but in reality not? How are we to know?
By carefully studying the Bible I suppose.
Mom's email of Dad's sermon summary once again contained warnings from God... saying we must obey God, His convenant... so that we may be blessed and not get sick! ;) And that God often discipline or train us by allowing us hardships..., and we ought to endure it and get thru it by His grace... and we shouldn't grumble or complain... and only then will He deliver us to the promiseland.
Well, I suppose we're ready for God's training!!! Off to promiseland we'll go!!! May our lips never complain and may the Lord add on to us grace upon grace so that we may be able to get to our destination! Halleluja! :)
(Exodus 32)
Wife's mood has also been pretty good lately... so I can further relax...
Given my relaxing personality, maybe I shouldn't be too relax... ;)
Today's lunchbox is also perfectly fine and tasty... wife was worried that it might be bad cause it's been sitting in the fridge for too long, but 'Gali' or curry is suppose to be able to be long lasting, right?
Space shuttle is also in orbit again and so far so good...
Things are pretty good... except for some trapped miners... also more death were found due to that bridge collapse... and I'm sure lots of invester are also worrying about the stock market... not to mention what's going on in Iraq... oh well, such is life I guess.
Today's scripture reading is about Aaron and how he screwed up while Moses was up in the mountain... Aaron and the rest of the gang still wish to worship God, but they just don't know what they're doing I guess. People were still giving up their valuables such as gold jewelries and stuff..., but in the end, they created the golden calf... Similary in today's churches, are we tithing to God or are we simply tithing to create our own golden calf? Pretending to be worshipping God, but in reality not? How are we to know?
By carefully studying the Bible I suppose.
Mom's email of Dad's sermon summary once again contained warnings from God... saying we must obey God, His convenant... so that we may be blessed and not get sick! ;) And that God often discipline or train us by allowing us hardships..., and we ought to endure it and get thru it by His grace... and we shouldn't grumble or complain... and only then will He deliver us to the promiseland.
Well, I suppose we're ready for God's training!!! Off to promiseland we'll go!!! May our lips never complain and may the Lord add on to us grace upon grace so that we may be able to get to our destination! Halleluja! :)
(Exodus 32)
Thursday, August 9, 2007
It's a little bit funny...
Yesterday's devotional I was asking God to please stay close with me..., but last nite's prayer meeting, it seems like God is telling me thru Brother GD that I ought to just stay closer to Him! ;)
Deuteronomy 7
11 所 以 ， 你 要 謹 守 遵 行 我 今 日 所 吩 咐 你 的 誡 命 、 律 例 、 典 章 。
12 你 們 果 然 聽 從 這 些 典 章 ， 謹 守 遵 行 ， 耶 和 華 ─ 你 神 就 必 照 他 向 你 列 祖 所 起 的 誓 守 約 ， 施 慈 愛 。
13 他 必 愛 你 ， 賜 福 與 你 ， 使 你 人 數 增 多 ， 也 必 在 他 向 你 列 祖 起 誓 應 許 給 你 的 地 上 賜 福 與 你 身 所 生 的 ， 地 所 產 的 ， 並 你 的 五 穀 、 新 酒 ， 和 油 ， 以 及 牛 犢 、 羊 羔 。
14 你 必 蒙 福 勝 過 萬 民 ； 你 們 的 男 女 沒 有 不 能 生 養 的 ， 牲 畜 也 沒 有 不 能 生 育 的 。
15 耶 和 華 必 使 一 切 的 病 症 離 開 你 ； 你 所 知 道 埃 及 各 樣 的 惡 疾 ， 他 不 加 在 你 身 上 ， 只 加 在 一 切 恨 你 的 人 身 上 。
I know I cannot keep all of God's laws, but I will try my best to keep all of them... and I absolutely need God to guard over me and guide me thru my life... So yeah, not sure how to pray this... may Your will be done thru me? ;)
Anyway, it's also interesting that we learned why we should love even our enemies! Because who knows if you're actually hating somebody who's of God and then end up getting sick because of that! ;) So just love God and love each other as much as we possibly can... this is probably the best way for us to be in Christ and for Christ to be in us!
Today's scripture reading is about Miriam's song to God after God drowned the Egyptian soldiers in the sea! We do know now that although they were happy then, but afterwards, they ended up grumbling against God... result was never entering the promiseland. O God, please help us to not end up like that..., we WANT to enter in that promiseland!
13 你 憑 慈 愛 領 了 你 所 贖 的 百 姓 ； 你 憑 能 力 引 他 們 到 了 你 的 聖 所 。
17 你 要 將 他 們 領 進 去 ， 栽 於 你 產 業 的 山 上 ─ 耶 和 華 阿 ， 就 是 你 為 自 己 所 造 的 住 處 ； 主 阿 ， 就 是 你 手 所 建 立 的 聖 所 。
18 耶 和 華 必 作 王 ， 直 到 永 永 遠 遠 ！
Thank You and we praise You! Amen! :)
BTW, tonite Aunt is going to treat us for dinner, not even sure where to go eat yet..., she wants us to pick... O Lord, please put some ideas in my head... and please be with us during dinner so that we can all have a good time. Thanks! ;)
(Exodus 15:1-21)
Deuteronomy 7
11 所 以 ， 你 要 謹 守 遵 行 我 今 日 所 吩 咐 你 的 誡 命 、 律 例 、 典 章 。
12 你 們 果 然 聽 從 這 些 典 章 ， 謹 守 遵 行 ， 耶 和 華 ─ 你 神 就 必 照 他 向 你 列 祖 所 起 的 誓 守 約 ， 施 慈 愛 。
13 他 必 愛 你 ， 賜 福 與 你 ， 使 你 人 數 增 多 ， 也 必 在 他 向 你 列 祖 起 誓 應 許 給 你 的 地 上 賜 福 與 你 身 所 生 的 ， 地 所 產 的 ， 並 你 的 五 穀 、 新 酒 ， 和 油 ， 以 及 牛 犢 、 羊 羔 。
14 你 必 蒙 福 勝 過 萬 民 ； 你 們 的 男 女 沒 有 不 能 生 養 的 ， 牲 畜 也 沒 有 不 能 生 育 的 。
15 耶 和 華 必 使 一 切 的 病 症 離 開 你 ； 你 所 知 道 埃 及 各 樣 的 惡 疾 ， 他 不 加 在 你 身 上 ， 只 加 在 一 切 恨 你 的 人 身 上 。
I know I cannot keep all of God's laws, but I will try my best to keep all of them... and I absolutely need God to guard over me and guide me thru my life... So yeah, not sure how to pray this... may Your will be done thru me? ;)
Anyway, it's also interesting that we learned why we should love even our enemies! Because who knows if you're actually hating somebody who's of God and then end up getting sick because of that! ;) So just love God and love each other as much as we possibly can... this is probably the best way for us to be in Christ and for Christ to be in us!
Today's scripture reading is about Miriam's song to God after God drowned the Egyptian soldiers in the sea! We do know now that although they were happy then, but afterwards, they ended up grumbling against God... result was never entering the promiseland. O God, please help us to not end up like that..., we WANT to enter in that promiseland!
13 你 憑 慈 愛 領 了 你 所 贖 的 百 姓 ； 你 憑 能 力 引 他 們 到 了 你 的 聖 所 。
17 你 要 將 他 們 領 進 去 ， 栽 於 你 產 業 的 山 上 ─ 耶 和 華 阿 ， 就 是 你 為 自 己 所 造 的 住 處 ； 主 阿 ， 就 是 你 手 所 建 立 的 聖 所 。
18 耶 和 華 必 作 王 ， 直 到 永 永 遠 遠 ！
Thank You and we praise You! Amen! :)
BTW, tonite Aunt is going to treat us for dinner, not even sure where to go eat yet..., she wants us to pick... O Lord, please put some ideas in my head... and please be with us during dinner so that we can all have a good time. Thanks! ;)
(Exodus 15:1-21)
Wednesday, August 8, 2007
Unity...
Last night we hang out with friends of the love of my life... and she was really missing the good old days... about how much she enjoyed jamming with them... whereas things really wasn't all that pleasant at the other music ministries she served with before... seems like when you have a great environment, then there's no funding. When you do have funding, then the environment sucks! ;) Is it possible to have both? I'm sure it's possible, but I'm also pretty sure that it's very rare!!!
In Formula 1, one of the top teams right now is McLaren. Two of the world's most competitive drivers Alonso and Hamilton are driving for this team..., but each want to be the #1 driver and refused to even to listen to the boss on the race track... They are winning races. I'm sure money is also not a concern for the team..., but the team boss, along with the drivers, are currently experiencing a LOT of headache because of teh discord within the team. Reign Spanish champion Alonso believes the Britsh team is favoring the up and coming British driver Hamilton... and Hamilton the rookie believes the team is favoring the 2 times champion Alonso... so the two refuse to work with each other..., but have they considered where else can they go to continue to win races like that? So far, this is the team with the top car..., yet, their lack of cooperation is causing the race officials penalizing them... I suppose other teams' are happy to see them self destructing!
It's just mind boggling to me that people quite often just cannot work 'humbly' together. Sure, racing is about winning, but should it really be about soaring of personal ego? God can only help us soar like eagles when we humble ourselves. If Hamilton could learn to remain a little humble and obey team orders, if Alonso could just for a moment forget about being past champions, is it really that hard for the fan to see their talents?
As for ourselves, yeah, surely we'll run into 'incompetent' bosses throughout our careers, but as long as if we choose to work for them, we better obey... unless if the boss instruct us to behave in ways that's unChrist-like... hardships will come our way, but we'll just have to learn to endure it. One thing I realized is that we'll never be able to be our own Boss as long as God exists! ;) And when it comes to choosing bosses, we better choose carefully.
Israelites couldn't figure whether to choose Pharoh to be their boss or Moses. Again and again they'd complain to Moses even after witnessing the 10 miracles. Even after seeing the opening of the sea... eventually hardships would still cause them to complain to Moses... Did those complaints help?
Moses wasn't perfect himself... for he was only human. He himself didn't get into the promiseland physically..., but at least we know he spiritually made it during the transfiguration! Anyway, I am the Head of my wife..., I do hope that I can lead my wife closer to God in the end. I also hope I can lead my family and friends to get to know God too... so that we all can be one with God! :)
But Boss, please help me and stay close to me though. Thanks! :)
(Exodus 5:1-6:13,Exodus 14:5-31)
In Formula 1, one of the top teams right now is McLaren. Two of the world's most competitive drivers Alonso and Hamilton are driving for this team..., but each want to be the #1 driver and refused to even to listen to the boss on the race track... They are winning races. I'm sure money is also not a concern for the team..., but the team boss, along with the drivers, are currently experiencing a LOT of headache because of teh discord within the team. Reign Spanish champion Alonso believes the Britsh team is favoring the up and coming British driver Hamilton... and Hamilton the rookie believes the team is favoring the 2 times champion Alonso... so the two refuse to work with each other..., but have they considered where else can they go to continue to win races like that? So far, this is the team with the top car..., yet, their lack of cooperation is causing the race officials penalizing them... I suppose other teams' are happy to see them self destructing!
It's just mind boggling to me that people quite often just cannot work 'humbly' together. Sure, racing is about winning, but should it really be about soaring of personal ego? God can only help us soar like eagles when we humble ourselves. If Hamilton could learn to remain a little humble and obey team orders, if Alonso could just for a moment forget about being past champions, is it really that hard for the fan to see their talents?
As for ourselves, yeah, surely we'll run into 'incompetent' bosses throughout our careers, but as long as if we choose to work for them, we better obey... unless if the boss instruct us to behave in ways that's unChrist-like... hardships will come our way, but we'll just have to learn to endure it. One thing I realized is that we'll never be able to be our own Boss as long as God exists! ;) And when it comes to choosing bosses, we better choose carefully.
Israelites couldn't figure whether to choose Pharoh to be their boss or Moses. Again and again they'd complain to Moses even after witnessing the 10 miracles. Even after seeing the opening of the sea... eventually hardships would still cause them to complain to Moses... Did those complaints help?
Moses wasn't perfect himself... for he was only human. He himself didn't get into the promiseland physically..., but at least we know he spiritually made it during the transfiguration! Anyway, I am the Head of my wife..., I do hope that I can lead my wife closer to God in the end. I also hope I can lead my family and friends to get to know God too... so that we all can be one with God! :)
But Boss, please help me and stay close to me though. Thanks! :)
(Exodus 5:1-6:13,Exodus 14:5-31)
Tuesday, August 7, 2007
Parents...
Today as I went home to get my 'lunchbox', I witnessed yet another car accident! ;) As I parked myself across the street, I saw mom backing out of the garage... and another person pulled into our driveway to make a u-turn or turnabout. I honestly have no clue why mom would keep on backing up without seeing the other driver. I also don't understand why the other driver would choose to do a turn about at a driveway when you see a car backing out of the garage... and instead of just finish her turn, she just parked nose-in on the edge of driveway, honking at my mom to stop... Anyway, obviously mom's not looking a the rear-view mirror... and as traffic on the street stops, mom assumed they were yielding for her... that's probably why she kept on slowly backing out... and to eventually hit that other person.
So who's fault is it? Cop later on said it's probably mom's fault. Even if another person illegally parked on your driveway to block your exit, you can have it towed, but you shouldn't hit it. I'm sure mom looked initially as she was backing out... and saw nobody... the other driver just happened to later on pull up our driveway... Anyway, if I were mom, of course I'd probably see the car... if I were the other car, for sure I wouldn't pull in that drive way in the first place... 2nd, instead of just parked there honking the horn, I'd quickly finish my u-turn and get out of there!
So nobody's is 100% at fault here, but I'm afraid legally, mom is probably more at fault... We'll just let the insurance company deal with it I guess. Damage is pretty minor on these cars, we have a deductible of $1000, I doubt we'll go over that with a scratched bumper... not sure how much the other person's damage will cost because her corner light and fender got damaged...
Oh well, accidents do happen, hope mom will learn to be MORE careful now that she had recently been involved in 2 accidents now. I think mom needs to learn to try to calm down more... she was excited about the wedding of course... and with lots of people around the house, she enjoys it in one respect, but it also can be bothersome because they are 'intrusions' to her normal life. She also hasn't been going to church with us lately due to whatever various reasons... Anyway, may God prepares her heart to become more receptive to eating more spiritual food instead of eating with bunch of relatives all the time... wedding banquet is over... help her calm down O God.
Today's scriptural reading is actually about Moses' parents. We don't even know their name... I'm not sure why Biblegateway.com chose them... all we know is that they were oppressed and they were Levites... they let Moses drift away and then end up having Moses back... not only Moses didn't have to die, but they end up getting PAID to raise him! How cool is that!!! People need to learn from them... regarding how to let go and let God does His magic! ;) May my own mother be able to learn to let go too... and allow God into her life!
(Exodus 1:1-2:10)
So who's fault is it? Cop later on said it's probably mom's fault. Even if another person illegally parked on your driveway to block your exit, you can have it towed, but you shouldn't hit it. I'm sure mom looked initially as she was backing out... and saw nobody... the other driver just happened to later on pull up our driveway... Anyway, if I were mom, of course I'd probably see the car... if I were the other car, for sure I wouldn't pull in that drive way in the first place... 2nd, instead of just parked there honking the horn, I'd quickly finish my u-turn and get out of there!
So nobody's is 100% at fault here, but I'm afraid legally, mom is probably more at fault... We'll just let the insurance company deal with it I guess. Damage is pretty minor on these cars, we have a deductible of $1000, I doubt we'll go over that with a scratched bumper... not sure how much the other person's damage will cost because her corner light and fender got damaged...
Oh well, accidents do happen, hope mom will learn to be MORE careful now that she had recently been involved in 2 accidents now. I think mom needs to learn to try to calm down more... she was excited about the wedding of course... and with lots of people around the house, she enjoys it in one respect, but it also can be bothersome because they are 'intrusions' to her normal life. She also hasn't been going to church with us lately due to whatever various reasons... Anyway, may God prepares her heart to become more receptive to eating more spiritual food instead of eating with bunch of relatives all the time... wedding banquet is over... help her calm down O God.
Today's scriptural reading is actually about Moses' parents. We don't even know their name... I'm not sure why Biblegateway.com chose them... all we know is that they were oppressed and they were Levites... they let Moses drift away and then end up having Moses back... not only Moses didn't have to die, but they end up getting PAID to raise him! How cool is that!!! People need to learn from them... regarding how to let go and let God does His magic! ;) May my own mother be able to learn to let go too... and allow God into her life!
(Exodus 1:1-2:10)
Monday, August 6, 2007
Praise the Lord!
Prior to the wedding, I actually agreed to help a co-worker out... plus, I can make a little extra overtime money! There was a milestone I was suppose to complete before my wedding, but I'm finally able to finish it tonite!!! I am kinda late, but I did helped out though... it was hard having to deal with wedding, my 'main' job, various other things... and then having to find extra time to do this gig... my bad was I really under-estimated the job at hand... or perhaps I was over-confident of myself? Wife would probably always think of me as a sucker to help, for sure I need to learn to say no more..., but I do always want to help in whatever areas I can be of help! When co-worker is in need and there no one to help him, should I just say 'NO'?
Maybe..., I don't really need the money that badly, but of course the extra money's not to bad too! ;) Anyway, may the LORD grant me wisdom in the future... and the ability to get things done like Joseph! His dad or boss or prison guard, or pharoh all seem to trust him to be able to get things done. So yeah, besides having a good heart to want to help, I need to learn to become a more effective helper!
Anyway, there's still more overtime work ahead, at least one major hurdle is over with... whew! Thanks my LORD! ;)
(Genesis 39,41,43,45)
Maybe..., I don't really need the money that badly, but of course the extra money's not to bad too! ;) Anyway, may the LORD grant me wisdom in the future... and the ability to get things done like Joseph! His dad or boss or prison guard, or pharoh all seem to trust him to be able to get things done. So yeah, besides having a good heart to want to help, I need to learn to become a more effective helper!
Anyway, there's still more overtime work ahead, at least one major hurdle is over with... whew! Thanks my LORD! ;)
(Genesis 39,41,43,45)
Friday, August 3, 2007
The in-collapsible love of God! ;)
Besides the recent bridge collapse, a home mortgage company who practices risky lending has recently collapsed and seriouly effect the stock market... At American Home Corp., today is their last day... often with no downpayment... and adjustable rates, most borrowers simply couldn't afford to pay their payments...
The result of course is also the skyrocketing home sale prices! People who usually can't afford to buy homes all of a sudden become capable of buying homes... with such sudden increase in "demand", naturally prices went up! Very similar to the Enron fiasco I think, energy broker manipulating the market for short term profit... driving up the prices... and then eventually the market would simply collapse.
Anyway, hopefully this will help the home prices to come down a bit, but then again, the trend seems to be that the real estate market often goes against the stock market. Typically those rich folks with money tend to put money in which ever is growing! And housing price and stock price often go against each other... My parent's house was purchased cheap when stock market was booming! Recently, stock market slowed down... so the housing market began to boom... with easy loans from companies such as American Homes, of course that didn't help...
But now the market is declining... it'd be scary to also see house price go down too... Both going down would be a pretty bad 'depression'!!! Certainly that won't help anybody and I don't want that to happen too!
Anyway, Lord knows what He's doing I suppose. As long as we continue to try our best and do things as ethically as possible, surely everything will be alright. Well, actually even if we were to do things unethically, God can still make things right later on!
Case and point... Rebekah and her son Jacob! ;) Today's scriptural reading is about Rebekah..., not sure what possessed her to do what she did... They were also deceitful, but things turned out alright for them..., but of course eventually God taught Jacob a lesson and gave him a taste of his own medicine! ;)
Anyway, I suppose it's always easy to make judgement on those past bible characters regarding their 'mistakes', but suppose ourselves are these characters too and somebody were reading about our lives... wonder how would those people see us... I wonder how would we see ourselves as we read our own stories... ;) Gotta hand it to those people in Abraham's era though..., they not only don't have as close of a fellowship with God as Adam and Eve, but they also don't have the Bible as we do today... so what or who can then learn from? Surely when Abraham can hear God's voice clearly to go somewhere or do something, he never hesitates..., it's only when God's not that clearly about what to do... then Abraham would screw up... such as pretending Sarah to be his sister to save his life... or to sleep with his maid because Sarah told him to...
Nowadays, for sure I, along with most people in this world, cannot hear God clearly anymore..., but at least we can read His word clearly. At least we know He is with us all the time... even when we cannot hear Him or feel His presence. And I sure hope someday if somebody were to read my life in a book, I hope they won't be too critical..., but at least I know God won't ever be that critical against any of us... He'll only 'judge' us if we suck and continue to insist on being sucky without any repentance in our hearts. Even with His judgements against us, God is still doing that out of His unfailing love toward us. Our God is an awesome and loving God. How great You are my Lord! :)
(Genesis 27)
The result of course is also the skyrocketing home sale prices! People who usually can't afford to buy homes all of a sudden become capable of buying homes... with such sudden increase in "demand", naturally prices went up! Very similar to the Enron fiasco I think, energy broker manipulating the market for short term profit... driving up the prices... and then eventually the market would simply collapse.
Anyway, hopefully this will help the home prices to come down a bit, but then again, the trend seems to be that the real estate market often goes against the stock market. Typically those rich folks with money tend to put money in which ever is growing! And housing price and stock price often go against each other... My parent's house was purchased cheap when stock market was booming! Recently, stock market slowed down... so the housing market began to boom... with easy loans from companies such as American Homes, of course that didn't help...
But now the market is declining... it'd be scary to also see house price go down too... Both going down would be a pretty bad 'depression'!!! Certainly that won't help anybody and I don't want that to happen too!
Anyway, Lord knows what He's doing I suppose. As long as we continue to try our best and do things as ethically as possible, surely everything will be alright. Well, actually even if we were to do things unethically, God can still make things right later on!
Case and point... Rebekah and her son Jacob! ;) Today's scriptural reading is about Rebekah..., not sure what possessed her to do what she did... They were also deceitful, but things turned out alright for them..., but of course eventually God taught Jacob a lesson and gave him a taste of his own medicine! ;)
Anyway, I suppose it's always easy to make judgement on those past bible characters regarding their 'mistakes', but suppose ourselves are these characters too and somebody were reading about our lives... wonder how would those people see us... I wonder how would we see ourselves as we read our own stories... ;) Gotta hand it to those people in Abraham's era though..., they not only don't have as close of a fellowship with God as Adam and Eve, but they also don't have the Bible as we do today... so what or who can then learn from? Surely when Abraham can hear God's voice clearly to go somewhere or do something, he never hesitates..., it's only when God's not that clearly about what to do... then Abraham would screw up... such as pretending Sarah to be his sister to save his life... or to sleep with his maid because Sarah told him to...
Nowadays, for sure I, along with most people in this world, cannot hear God clearly anymore..., but at least we can read His word clearly. At least we know He is with us all the time... even when we cannot hear Him or feel His presence. And I sure hope someday if somebody were to read my life in a book, I hope they won't be too critical..., but at least I know God won't ever be that critical against any of us... He'll only 'judge' us if we suck and continue to insist on being sucky without any repentance in our hearts. Even with His judgements against us, God is still doing that out of His unfailing love toward us. Our God is an awesome and loving God. How great You are my Lord! :)
(Genesis 27)
Thursday, August 2, 2007
What is love?
Couple of surprises happened yesterday... first was the Minneapolis bridge that collapsed during rush hour traffic..., then it was my blog causing lots of heartache or headache for the love of my life or wife!
I think the main issue is exactly what is love? I think with the exception of one girl, who I actually broke up with because I honestly don't think I love her that much and I think I'm being unfair to her..., other than her, I think pretty much all the past girlfriends in my life, and we can even include my own mother, believed that I don't really love them that much. And now this 'thing' is also creeping into my marriage. If everyone has the same complaints about me, then maybe the complaint is legitimate, right? Otherwise, how can this be? Maybe it's my 'lukewarm' personality? Maybe I'm just stupid and don't know how to properly love? Anyway, I'm sure that they know that I love them, it's just that they all wish they can extract MORE out of me or something. Each one of them questions my love for them. I dunno. All I can say is that I know I love all of them the best way I know how. For sure there's room for improvement, but if I cannot satisfy fully at the moment, maybe it's only because I'm not Jesus Christ? ;)
I did mention to my wife prior to our marriage that an important attitude to have in a marriage is expect oneself to do 100% and expect the other to do 0%. If we both expect each other to do 50/50, for sure there'll be disappointments. My 100% effort may appear only 10% to you. And your 100% effort may only appear 5% to me! And consequently, people begin to file divorces... or end up having such loveless marriages because they see their spouses as insufficient. But if we have no expectations, every tiny percentage the other person do for us can greatly please us, right? Of course having low expectation isn't the same as looking down at the person..., yeah, he sucks, that's why I have no expecations! There's really no need to look down at your spouse that way!
I personally believe the main thing about marriage is to live a "loving" life "together". Doesn't matter if we're rich or poor, healthy or sick, fun or boring, young or old, all the way until death due us apart. That's the vow we make... the vow is basically saying we will be together no matter what. Nothing can keep us apart. You can have Leukemia or whatever, I still won't leave you. There's absolutely nothing that can keep me away from you... just as there's absolute nothing that can seperate us from the love of Christ.
Well, actually there is something that can seperate us from the love of Christ, that is the lack of faith. We have the option to choose to NOT believe. People also have the option to choose to leave or to divorce.
Today's scripture read was about Esau. He made a vow to give up his birthright. He for sure didn't think too much of that vow. Similar, I'm sure most married couples, especially those who are divorced now, probably didn't think too carefully when they made their vows too. Not being judgemental against divorcees here... divorce does happen... and sometimes there are other things that can due us apart before death. But of course I'd prefer death than those other things. Divorce will never be an option for me of course. I believe divorce can only be an option if someday I have leukemia or something like that and if my wife really wants it too... Nobody wants to be a burden to the one they love, right? I've been a secret admirer of some chick in my high school back then..., but she's just so much better than me in every way, she has better grades, she plays the violin better than me, she's one year older and even has a car! What do I have to offer? I "loved" her, honestly don't know why... she's not that gorgeous either, was I just attracted to her brain or something? I dunno. But I did know that since I have nothing much I can offer her, then why be together? Plus I was so young too... so I never said anything to her..., but if she asked to be my girlfriend, of course I'd jump at that opportunity! ;)
Anyway, back to last night, it was kinda worriesome for a while for me... as our discussion ended up going nowhere... so the wife simply took off in the new car! So what did I do? I ran to God. Not because I want to avoid the responsibility of screwing things up, but I honestly don't know what else to do. After I strummed my guitar to worship and pray to Him for a while... I called my wife. She didn't pick up because she was still pissed... so I just went to bed.
But guess what? Somehow by whatever miraculous reasons, she was able to cool off and we were talking again... and soon enough, we were still able to kiss each other good nite later on that evening... just to honor the vow we made to each other... to at least kiss each good nite every nite for the rest of our lives.
Yep, happily ever after? No way...
But unhappy forever? Of course not!
God is slowing changing both of us to become more like Him. Things can only get better!
(Genesis 25:27-34)
I think the main issue is exactly what is love? I think with the exception of one girl, who I actually broke up with because I honestly don't think I love her that much and I think I'm being unfair to her..., other than her, I think pretty much all the past girlfriends in my life, and we can even include my own mother, believed that I don't really love them that much. And now this 'thing' is also creeping into my marriage. If everyone has the same complaints about me, then maybe the complaint is legitimate, right? Otherwise, how can this be? Maybe it's my 'lukewarm' personality? Maybe I'm just stupid and don't know how to properly love? Anyway, I'm sure that they know that I love them, it's just that they all wish they can extract MORE out of me or something. Each one of them questions my love for them. I dunno. All I can say is that I know I love all of them the best way I know how. For sure there's room for improvement, but if I cannot satisfy fully at the moment, maybe it's only because I'm not Jesus Christ? ;)
I did mention to my wife prior to our marriage that an important attitude to have in a marriage is expect oneself to do 100% and expect the other to do 0%. If we both expect each other to do 50/50, for sure there'll be disappointments. My 100% effort may appear only 10% to you. And your 100% effort may only appear 5% to me! And consequently, people begin to file divorces... or end up having such loveless marriages because they see their spouses as insufficient. But if we have no expectations, every tiny percentage the other person do for us can greatly please us, right? Of course having low expectation isn't the same as looking down at the person..., yeah, he sucks, that's why I have no expecations! There's really no need to look down at your spouse that way!
I personally believe the main thing about marriage is to live a "loving" life "together". Doesn't matter if we're rich or poor, healthy or sick, fun or boring, young or old, all the way until death due us apart. That's the vow we make... the vow is basically saying we will be together no matter what. Nothing can keep us apart. You can have Leukemia or whatever, I still won't leave you. There's absolutely nothing that can keep me away from you... just as there's absolute nothing that can seperate us from the love of Christ.
Well, actually there is something that can seperate us from the love of Christ, that is the lack of faith. We have the option to choose to NOT believe. People also have the option to choose to leave or to divorce.
Today's scripture read was about Esau. He made a vow to give up his birthright. He for sure didn't think too much of that vow. Similar, I'm sure most married couples, especially those who are divorced now, probably didn't think too carefully when they made their vows too. Not being judgemental against divorcees here... divorce does happen... and sometimes there are other things that can due us apart before death. But of course I'd prefer death than those other things. Divorce will never be an option for me of course. I believe divorce can only be an option if someday I have leukemia or something like that and if my wife really wants it too... Nobody wants to be a burden to the one they love, right? I've been a secret admirer of some chick in my high school back then..., but she's just so much better than me in every way, she has better grades, she plays the violin better than me, she's one year older and even has a car! What do I have to offer? I "loved" her, honestly don't know why... she's not that gorgeous either, was I just attracted to her brain or something? I dunno. But I did know that since I have nothing much I can offer her, then why be together? Plus I was so young too... so I never said anything to her..., but if she asked to be my girlfriend, of course I'd jump at that opportunity! ;)
Anyway, back to last night, it was kinda worriesome for a while for me... as our discussion ended up going nowhere... so the wife simply took off in the new car! So what did I do? I ran to God. Not because I want to avoid the responsibility of screwing things up, but I honestly don't know what else to do. After I strummed my guitar to worship and pray to Him for a while... I called my wife. She didn't pick up because she was still pissed... so I just went to bed.
But guess what? Somehow by whatever miraculous reasons, she was able to cool off and we were talking again... and soon enough, we were still able to kiss each other good nite later on that evening... just to honor the vow we made to each other... to at least kiss each good nite every nite for the rest of our lives.
Yep, happily ever after? No way...
But unhappy forever? Of course not!
God is slowing changing both of us to become more like Him. Things can only get better!
(Genesis 25:27-34)
Wednesday, August 1, 2007
God answers...
Today's scripture reading was interesting. It's really about Isaac, but bible doesn't seem to talk about Issac very much..., other than the fact that he's the son of Abraham..., almost got himself killed by his father... this guy lived a pretty blessed and rich life, but overall, it's a pretty "average" life though... compared to other characters in the bible.
The story of the servant went to find Isaac a wife very much reminded me on how I 'found' my wife! ;) I did ask God about whether if I should pursue my wife 3 times... Yeah, before I wrote my stupid email to my 'wife' to start the negotiation process of whether or not if we should be together..., given the unromantic nature of the mail and the fact I recently just ended my other relationship... (nobody likes to be other people's rebound bd/gf.) So I knew the chance of my wife saying 'yes' to me should be very low. So I asked God to make her say "yes" if she's really the one!
It's interesting that after she finally said 'yes', doubt enter my mind again... What if it wasn't God's doing? What if she just likes me a lot? So, I asked God again to give me a sign... At the time in Seattle, we play poker a lot... and I've never won a game. So that particular evening, I asked God to let me win... so that nite, I won. I've never won before... and I've never won again... just that one game. Well, later on I did manage to win some when playing with my wife's younger bros, but they're inexperienced... ;)
Anyway, finally when I got back to LA, I was still somewhat skeptical..., so prior to going on a date with my wife, I asked the Lord to dress her in pink or some sort of red knowing that she doesn't have a whole lot of girly colored cloths..., but amazingly, she came out wearing some sort of dark red T-shirt. It wasn't pink, but it's still 'red'! ;)
So I finally stopped bugging my Lord and decide to just go with the one God picked for me! ;)
Still, even Isaac and Rebekah didn't live happily ever after... and I'm sure my wife and I won't live happily ever after. God's blessing isn't really about living happily ever after... we know we will encounter trouble in this world. God has also sent Pastor Su to show us what kind of troubles we'll be facing...
But like pastor Jim said, our problems aren't really the problems, it's how we see our problems, that might end up causing some real problems.
So, may God be with us to continue to teach us on how we can depend on God to solve our problems! May the love of God continue to fill us... I pray in Christ's name.
(Gensis 24, 26)
The story of the servant went to find Isaac a wife very much reminded me on how I 'found' my wife! ;) I did ask God about whether if I should pursue my wife 3 times... Yeah, before I wrote my stupid email to my 'wife' to start the negotiation process of whether or not if we should be together..., given the unromantic nature of the mail and the fact I recently just ended my other relationship... (nobody likes to be other people's rebound bd/gf.) So I knew the chance of my wife saying 'yes' to me should be very low. So I asked God to make her say "yes" if she's really the one!
It's interesting that after she finally said 'yes', doubt enter my mind again... What if it wasn't God's doing? What if she just likes me a lot? So, I asked God again to give me a sign... At the time in Seattle, we play poker a lot... and I've never won a game. So that particular evening, I asked God to let me win... so that nite, I won. I've never won before... and I've never won again... just that one game. Well, later on I did manage to win some when playing with my wife's younger bros, but they're inexperienced... ;)
Anyway, finally when I got back to LA, I was still somewhat skeptical..., so prior to going on a date with my wife, I asked the Lord to dress her in pink or some sort of red knowing that she doesn't have a whole lot of girly colored cloths..., but amazingly, she came out wearing some sort of dark red T-shirt. It wasn't pink, but it's still 'red'! ;)
So I finally stopped bugging my Lord and decide to just go with the one God picked for me! ;)
Still, even Isaac and Rebekah didn't live happily ever after... and I'm sure my wife and I won't live happily ever after. God's blessing isn't really about living happily ever after... we know we will encounter trouble in this world. God has also sent Pastor Su to show us what kind of troubles we'll be facing...
But like pastor Jim said, our problems aren't really the problems, it's how we see our problems, that might end up causing some real problems.
So, may God be with us to continue to teach us on how we can depend on God to solve our problems! May the love of God continue to fill us... I pray in Christ's name.
(Gensis 24, 26)
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