Merry Christmas!?

Whew! Xmas is nearly over... just one more family dinner to go thru on Saturday!

Anyway, also spent some 'quality time' together just with the wife at home today...

Found out some interesting things... which is that wife has never experienced sadness prior to meeting Chuck! I know wife has rarely/never cried when she was young, but I didn't realize that she really has never been that sad before. Yeah, we were sharing happy and sad moments in our lives prior to meeting each other... that was certainly an interesting revelation. If it weren't for Chuck, PC and me, wife could possibly have gone thru life without experience sadness!!! ;)

Wife and I sure are quite different. When she was young, she's super confident and always can get to job done. I think I'm quite the opposite. I don't think I've ever gotten straight A's even once. Plus, I think there had always been plenty of things going on that can make me sad... and I think I had issues with self esteem, probably still do somewhat.

Main problem with wife is that sometimes she just doesn't want to do it when she can... as for me, it seems that I try and try and I just can't get it done. Of course sometimes in retrospect, I just wasn't doing it right!

Anyway, in the 'how people grow' book, sadness or this feeling poor in spirit is a good start I suppose. Only when we're feeling sad and broke will be look UP for help. Although I think I'm looking UP more often than wife does, but may God grant me wisdom to be able to figure how to do things properly in the real world too! ;) O Listen to my prayer, O God, do not ignore my plea...

(Psalm 46-55)

Santa's workshop!

I've been staying home doing some xmas shopping and pillow case making... yes, I'm giving pillowcases along with ironed on pictures on them as xmas presents this year. It's economical, it's made with love and it helps me gain more experience! Right now, I can make like 7 or 8 a day, perhaps I can get faster as I become better. Can't believe I've started a pillowcase factory! ;)

Of course I still bought toys for my little nephew. Kids just love toys... perhaps next year I'll be able to make him stuffed animals/toys... ;)

Anyway, besides being productive, the psalms I've been reading along with the 'how people grow' book seemed to have coincided! In this chapter, author is saying that in order for people to grow, we have to realize our spiritual poverty. 'Blessed are the poor in spirit!' Pretty much every Psalmist I've read lately is lamenting about something... and they kept on stressing waiting on and hope in the Lord... yes, nothing in this world can help us look to God more than spiritual poverty. Of course we don't have to be like Jesus to actually 'become poor'... all we need is to simply realize that we are poor... and that is the ultimate key to spiritual growth. As King Solomon has proven, not even supreme wisdom can help him grow!

So, may we all be able to realize our spiritual poverty soon so that we may all begin our spiritual growth as soon as possible! Only when we realize how poor we really are will we stop and look up into that morning star to follow Him. Especially during this holiday season, even if economy is bad, even if we're not busy shopping, we're probably still busy doing something else. How often do we take the time to look up?

(Psalm 36-45, 172.8lbs, $1.919)

Need to get better(financially, physically and spiritually of course!)

Last nite we had another bible study with parents..., everything's cool with the bible study as we finish up with story of Jacob. However, almost without fail every time, we can eventually hear mom complaining dad is wasting too much money on investments... and dad complaining about mom wasting too much money buying stuffs! I think wife is siding with dad more since dad losing money is less within his own control... and for sure mom doesn't know how to save money... she'll only stop when there's not much left! ;) But bottomline is that I think they both have self control problems with money. Dad can get pretty greedy with 'investing' sometimes. Best way for them is to just have enough and no extra money! ;)

I'd like to think that I'm a little better..., but wife probably will disagree. ;) I can be very frugal like dad and I can spend a lot like mom only when it comes to important stuffs. The most expensive things I've ever purchased would be my car... and the diamond ring I think. Hopefully soon to be a home... given that prices and interest rates are coming down. May God Himself teach and guide me on matters of money.

Anyway, it's also been cold and rainy lately. Wife has been sore all over pretty much everyday now... and I've discovered an interesting thing about myself thanks to regular blogging... I discovered that almost have 'periods' too! ;) Yes, it was about the 19th last month that I had a cold sore, this month I got sores on my lips again!!! And a month before that was when I developed this rash on my eyes. Maybe it's all just coincidental... according to websites, stress, illness, poor nutrition, excessive activity and even sunlight coupled with a weakened immune system can cause outbreaks. Last month for sure was stress induced, this month must be poor nutrition. I have been trying to lose weight lately, perhaps I'm trying too hard. I also really should be taking my vitamins more regularly. My immune system has been much weaker than before for some reason... What's going on? Better be more careful next month!

O LORD, you have seen this; be not silent.
Do not be far from me, O Lord.

Turn your ear to me,
come quickly to my rescue;

be my rock of refuge,
a strong fortress to save me.

Awake, and rise to my defense!
Contend for me, my God and Lord.

I wait in hope for the LORD;
he is my help and my shield.

In him our hearts rejoice,
for we trust in his holy name.

May your unfailing love rest upon us, O LORD,
even as we put our hope in you.

(Psalm 31-35, 172.6 lbs, $1.859)

Funny GIFs!

President Bush was almost hit by the shoes of some Iraqi journalist. The journalist claimed that he did it for the widows and the orphans or Iraqis. It's understandable I suppose, but then again... can he throw his shoes like that to Saddam Hussein?

Goes to show that you can't please everyone I guess. Now, I don't believe President Bush was right to pre-emptively strike our neighbors. Jesus for sure never taught us that... and if God really divinely inspired Bush to attack, surely we would've won that war convincingly by now.

Anyway, President Bush also said that he's sorry for the war and the economic mess. Hope he's learned his lessons and became a more humble man as a result. Same goes for all of us Americans. We think we're strong and rich because we're a world superpower? Well, God is now saying... 'think again'! May the troubles of today help all of us become more humble about ourselves... and to learn to look upon God more. America surely didn't become great because Americans are great. Without God, America is nothing. May God have mercy on us and continue to bless this nation. Hopefully we'll be able to have as quick of a reflex as Bush... to be able to duck ourselves out of trouble! ;) May Americans all become more like the psalmists in the bible!!!

(Psalm 26-30, 172.6 lbs, $1.839) btw, gas prices seemed to have stabilized... thought it'd go down some more! ;)

20 Things You Didn't Know About... Nothing

I heard about scientists discovering 'nothing' over the radio last night, it turns out, that wasn't news, according to this article from Discover Magazine, it's already been discovered long ago and the article was published last year! Anyway, here they summarized it with 20 itemized points. Pretty funny! ;)

1 There is vastly more nothing than something. Roughly 74 percent of the universe is “nothing,” or what physicists call dark energy; 22 percent is dark matter, particles we cannot see. Only 4 percent is baryonic matter, the stuff we call something.

2 And even something is mostly nothing. Atoms overwhelmingly consist of empty space. Matter’s solidity is an illusion caused by the electric fields created by subatomic particles.

3 There is more and more nothing every second. In 1998 astronomers measuring the expansion of the universe determined that dark energy is pushing apart the universe at an ever-accelerating speed. The discovery of nothing—and its ability to influence the fate of the cosmos—is considered the most important astronomical finding of the past decade.

4 But even nothing has a weight. The energy in dark matter is equivalent to a tiny mass; there is about one pound of dark energy in a cube of empty space 250,000 miles on each side.

5 In space, no one can hear you scream: Sound, a mechanical wave, cannot travel through a vacuum. Without matter to vibrate through, there is only silence.

6 So what if Kramer falls in a forest? Luckily, electromagnetic waves, including light and radio waves, need no medium to travel through, letting TV stations broadcast endless reruns of Seinfeld, the show about nothing.

7 Light can travel through a vacuum, but there is nothing to refract it. Alas for extraterrestrial romantics, stars do not twinkle in outer space.

8 Black holes are not holes or voids; they are the exact opposite of nothing, being the densest concentration of mass known in the universe.

9 “Zero” was first seen in cuneiform tablets written around 300 B.C. by Babylonians who used it as a placeholder (to distinguish 36 from 306 or 360, for example). The concept of zero in its mathematical sense was developed in India in the fifth century.

10 Any number divided by zero is . . . nothing, not even zero. The equation is mathematically impossible.

11 It is said that Abdülhamid II, sultan of the Ottoman Empire in the early 1900s, had censors expunge references to H₂O from chemistry books because he was sure it stood for “Hamid the Second is nothing.”

12 Medieval art was mostly flat and two-dimensional until the 15th century, when the Florentine architect Filippo Brunelleschi conceived of the vanishing point, the place where parallel lines converge into nothingness. This allowed for the development of perspective in art.

13 Aristotle once wrote, “Nature abhors a vacuum,” and so did he. His complete rejection of vacuums and voids and his subsequent influence on centuries of learning prevented the adoption of the concept of zero in the Western world until around the 13th century, when Italian bankers found it to be extraordinarily useful in financial transactions.

14 Vacuums do not suck things. They create spaces into which the surrounding atmosphere pushes matter.

15 Creatio ex nihilo, the belief that the world was created out of nothing, is one of the most common themes in ancient myths and religions.

16 Current theories suggest that the universe was created out of a state of vacuum energy, that is, nothing.

17 But to a physicist there is no such thing as nothing. Empty space is instead filled with pairs of particles and antiparticles, called virtual particles, that quickly form and then, in accordance with the law of energy conservation, annihilate each other in about 10^-25 second.

18 So Aristotle was right all along.

19 These virtual particles popping in and out of existence create energy. In fact, according to quantum mechanics, the energy contained in all the power plants and nuclear weapons in the world doesn’t equal the theoretical energy contained in the empty spaces between these words.

20 In other words, nothing could be the key to the theory of everything.

Anyway, so apparently the scripture is true! Dark energy/dark matter is very much like the work of satan. It divides and pushes things apart and turns everything back into nothing. But of course God is a God who's capable of making something out of nothing! Although most of the universe is occupied by this dark energy and dark matter, but God is still holding it together!

Who is he, this King of glory?
The LORD Almighty—
he is the King of glory.
Selah :)

(Psalm 25-31, 173.2 lbs, $1.859)

Another Long weekend!

The dentist must have drilled and filled 3 or 4 of my teeth on Monday. It wasn't particularly painful, but very tiring. I think the corner of my lips are nearly torn opened because I had to open up so wide for so long... At least the filling that fell off was filled. As for the other little cavities, I think I'm going to take my time with those next year... ;)

I also took the time off on Monday to make another pillow case... this time with pictures on it! Avery's iron on transfer paper works pretty good! Except that this time I'm not as satisfied with my sewing job with the pillow. Plus, I had a lot of troubles along the way... such as jamming the sewing machine... and then sewing on the wrong sides.... just one problem after another. I made one for mom and hopefully the one I'm making with our cat will be better... Anyway, practice makes perfect, right? ;)

Anyway, this little project sure has taken us a lot of time. We spent most of the weekend shopping for fabrics and pillows and stuffs. We drove all over the place, trying to do our job propping up the economy I suppose. That really worn wife out. I suppose the only highlight of the weekend was the Friday night get together with Dorcas and Kitty. I guess wife really enjoy hanging out with them to be able to tolerate them for so long! Actually Dorcas didn't really say all that much... it was mostly Kitty! ;) Kitty is actually a pretty 'spiritual' gal, but still can't help but humorously complaint about marriage life! I suppose it's healthy to vent out frustrations... and her frustration also helped out wife a bit too! To help her realize that her husband ain't so bad after all! ;)

Actually I thought Kitty's husband's kinda cool. I wouldn't mind becoming more like him! It's kinda interesting that the stuffs I thought he's very cool about him, Kitty doesn't really care about those qualities. What Kitty really cares about, her husband just doesn't have much to offer. Kinda remind me of my marriage. Wives often times want the things that the husbands don't have!!! ;) Actually I think God often put people together to help us grow. Marriage for sure is tough, but if it helps us to grow, then it's worth it! Dorcas on the other hand is probably already pretty mature as it is, this is why God didn't make her suffer thru marriage! But then again, you'd never know... maybe even she can grow just a little bit when the right time has come! ;)

As pastor Jim preached, the ultimate growth is probably to be able to learn to grow strong in God! Let that joy of the Lord be our strength! Good times or bad times, it doesn't matter! Reading the psalms was also very encouraging. I wish I can really pray that nicely. My daily prayer sounded kinda lame..., but thank God that He doesn't mind. The book 'How people grow' and Pastor Jim both talked about how we should just pray in ways we normally talk. So that sure made me feel better, but still, may God help me one day be able to pray like a true Psalmist! ;)

I really like Psalm 13 a lot... the paradoxical struggle of God's love and goodness and the ugly realities we face day to day... yes, let the joy of the Lord be my strength!

1 耶 和 華 啊 ， 你 忘 記 我 要 到 幾 時 呢 ？ 要 到 永 遠 麼 ？ 你 掩 面 不 顧 我 要 到 幾 時 呢 ？

2 我 心 裡 籌 算 ， 終 日 愁 苦 ， 要 到 幾 時 呢 ？ 我 的 仇 敵 升 高 壓 制 我 ， 要 到 幾 時 呢 ？

3 耶 和 華 ─ 我 的 　 神 啊 ， 求 你 看 顧 我 ， 應 允 我 ！ 使 我 眼 目 光 明 ， 免 得 我 沉 睡 至 死 ；

4 免 得 我 的 仇 敵 說 ： 我 勝 了 他 ； 免 得 我 的 敵 人 在 我 搖 動 的 時 候 喜 樂 。

5 但 我 倚 靠 你 的 慈 愛 ； 我 的 心 因 你 的 救 恩 快 樂 。

6 我 要 向 耶 和 華 歌 唱 ， 因 他 用 厚 恩 待 我 。

(Psalm 11-20, 172.8 lbs, $1.879)

Christmas party!

Yeah, can't believe 2008 is almost done. Had our company Christmas luncheon today. Didn't win an raffle drawings..., they actually gave away couple of ipods. Impressive. Didn't think the department's that rich... of course most raffle awards are pretty cheap, but still. Anyway, although I didn't win anything, at least there was a free lunch. It's actually pretty good.

But has this year been good career-wise? It's not bad, it's not great either though. I'm certainly grateful for the money and occasionally the new experiences learned, but I just don't find it rewarding enough. It felt more rewarding to make a stupid pillow case! ;) Wife has often complained that her ex-bosses often failed allow her to do what she wants to do... well, I've been waiting for years too. After more than 10 years in the industry, I still haven't really started and finished the same project. I still haven't felt like I've 'created' anything yet. It's always been pulled to work on this part... and work on that part... an often times what we work on is in vain anyway.

Today's reading of the psalms felt exactly like wife's latest vision. From

' How long, O LORD, how long?'

all the way to

' The LORD is King for ever and ever;
the nations will perish from his land.

You hear, O LORD, the desire of the afflicted;
you encourage them, and you listen to their cry,

defending the fatherless and the oppressed,
in order that man, who is of the earth, may terrify no more.'

May You give us the patience and endurance necessary. May You also give us the strength to be able to change ourselves for the better too! We need You especially in times like these. Yes, Lord, we need you to bail us out... for You are better than any government on earth. But of course at the same time, we better wise up and stop doing business as usual too.

(Psalm 6-10, 174.8 lbs, $1.879)

Last vision from bro GD!

We have our very last prayer meeting last night. Brother GD has finally decided to turn us lose after about 2 years. Initially, he only agreed to do this for a few months... and amazingly it has lasted for years!!! I had been single and now I'm married! Although I was in Seattle at the time, Brother GD and Sister Prophet had been instrumental at getting me married! If it weren't for them, surely I'd still be single now! ;) Of course luckily I wasn't around during those times... and I didn't even really know them that well... for otherwise, wife probably would suspect that perhaps I've conspired with them to trick her into marrying me! ;)

Last nite's very last message was about preparing and watching out for our hearts. Prepare our hearts so that it's not rocky... nor should it be too shallow... nor should there be too many thorns around... prepare our hearts to be fertile grounds for the seeds of God. Yes, easier said than done..., but regardless, it has to be done! We gotta be fruitful!

Anyway, brother GD also prayed for all of us with visions... he saw wife sitting at a table with a light yellowish color table cloth and chatting with a bunch of people... I think he also saw her standing at some high up place possibly looking down on an old city or something... screaming or sighing... asking 'how long do I have to wait?' Yeah, for sure wife waited quite a bit. A lot of waiting during her ministry work. A lot of waiting for her green card. Even today, she has to wait for me on various things because sometimes I'm just very slow... But eventually brother GD said he saw a bunch of old buildings/structures will be cleared away for new ones.

As for me, he saw me walking around in some japanese style garden. A place I'm very familiar with, yet I can't get out of for whatever reason. I think this kinda showcased the difference between wife's personality and mine... When she feels trapped, she'd be frustrated. Whenever I feel trapped, I still try to enjoy this japanese garden while I can! ;) Anyway, regardless of our personality differences, in the end, Bro GD saw that place will be tear down and new buildings will be built in its place.

I've had similar visions before. Like I'm in some sort of messy market, but then it'll be torn down and a twin tower will be constructed. Hmm..., what will be built, Lord? Can You be more specific? ;)

Anyway, I don't mind the waiting, but may God give wife sufficient patience to be able to endure thru her waiting period. Finally, please continue to bless brother GD and sis prophet so that many many more souls can be bless thru them. Thank You Lord! :)

(Psalm 1-5, 173.8 lbs, $1.879)

Random thoughts...

The corrupt Illinois governor was trying to sell Obama's vacant senate seat to the highest bidder. Didn't realize this but it seems Illinois governors had a tradition of going to jail on corruption charges. Hopefully Obama's not as corrupted as his state's former colleagues...

US auto bailout package is almost ready... if I have the money, I'd buy the abandoned Honda F-1 team! ;) Honda is only selling the advance facilities for a dollar and all the debts will be assumed by Honda too! Basically the buyer just need to come up with money to keep the team running in the future... oh boy, I wish I can win the Lotto now!!!

Speaking of money, state of California is ready to run out of it too. If something isn't done soon, all the public road works can be halted as early as next week. The the state would grind to a complete halt by next Feb/Mar. Yeah, perhaps I do need to buy more Lotto tickets to help out California schools at least! ;)

Been reading the last portion of the Job today..., I've already enjoyed reading part of the bible whenever God speaks! Furthermore, the talks of Behemoth and fire breathing leviathan always peaked my interests too! Did dinosaurs really roamed the earth with mankind? Sounds like yes to me! Not only that... there were fire breathing dragons!!! Hmm... so what happened to them? Oh well, anyway, I'll just have to ask God about that later. ;) For now, we'll just have to learn the good examples that Job has done... and stay committed to follow Christ with our day to day lives. :)

(Job 40-42, 175.0 lbs, $1.879)

Long weekend!

One of my old fillings fell off, so I went to the dentist to get it fixed on Monday morning. As it turned out, the dentist told me that I have a lot of little cavities all over... thanks for not taking good care of my teeth... such as regular flossing. So I may have to pay the dentist a visit 5 more times to get it all fixed. Not looking forward to that at all.

So on the rest of my "sick day", I ended up getting my first sewing project done! Yes, after much practicing, I've finally finished my first pillow! Got many more pillows lying around, I'll be making some more trying to add buttons and zippers... I'll probably be ready to make cloths pretty soon! ;) But of course mainly I just want to do furniture re-upholstering or perhaps new curtains for our new home! Anyway, we'll see how it goes.


Over the weekend, wife for the first time saw the B-2 stealth bomber flying low around our neighborhood. Not sure what the military is doing, probably just practicing for the Rose Parade. Still, it was a bit uncomfortable though... and on Monday, an F-18 jet fell off the sky above San Diego and crashed into a few homes. A poor Korean business man lost his wife and kids just like that. The guy is a Christian..., probably a modern day Job I guess. How sad is that?

Anyway, Pastor Jim preached about 'faith' on Sunday. Saying that regardless of how 'little', God gave all of us a measure of faith. And the Word of God can help us grow that faith, but nothing beats actually practicing it! And often times, we'll be tested thru sufferings. It is times like that which will help us find out how much faith we really have! May that Korean man be able to pass the test just like Job did. May he has friends that are better than Job's friends... capable of actually comforting him.

As for us, yeah, just like God gave me a measure of desire for sewing..., and I grow that desire by reading books on sewing..., and now I practice and practice to actually sew something... and after the pillow case survived the washer and dryer test, then I know everything's good! ;) Besides sewing, may we all be prepared to put our faith to the test!

(Job 34-39, 174.0 lbs, $1.899)

Wow, game over for Honda F-1!

Last year the satellite team Super Aguri fell off the F-1 grid... now, it seems the parent factory Honda team is ready to abandon F-1 racing due to the global auto sales slow down... Staffs just got the news last nite and are now frantically trying to look for jobs in other teams... One would think Honda is in it for the long haul... aiming to win championships! But now, decided to all of a sudden to pack things up and leave! Wow.

Also considering a bunch of bank sponsorships, perhaps other F-1 teams will be in trouble too?

No wonder GM and Ford are near bankruptcy if even Toyota and Honda are struggling financially...

Scary times indeed.

(Job 31-33, 175.0 lbs, $1.999)

Sad face/happy face...

The moon and the special alignment of Jupiter and Venus caused these rare happy and sad faces! ;)

Yesterday my airheaded-ness caused wife to be super upset again. The morning after, somehow something caused me to decide to just work from home that day.

All I can say is that thank God I made that decision!

I'll take a sad and happy day over a sad sad day any day! :)

(Job 25-30, 173.8 lbs, $2.099)

Relaxing long weekend for me!

Other than the crazy terrorism thing going on at India, it has been a very relaxing weekend for me.

Wife, on the other hand, had to deal with family gatherings and teaching during the long weekend, so she probably wasn't all that relaxing... Since grand-aunt's passing, I think our family's other relatives will probably be spending the actual holidays with the other side of the family first... and then we'll have a get together of our own on the next day or somethings... They used to alternate every year... So does this mean wife needs to have double the family fun? One with mom and dad on the actual holiday... and the other with the rest of the relatives? Or should we just forget about the other relatives? Or should we not spend holidays with mom and dad and just go to the big get together a day later?

Sigh. Thinking about it is stressing me out too! ;) It's really suppose to be fun... hopefully I can just make things more fun for the wife so that she can be less stressed out.

Anyway, we also did a bit of shopping too, trying to help get the economy moving... our biggest ticket item was actually a $65 sewing machine! Yeah, I just have this urge to sew. Pretty weird. I wonder what I'll be making! Perhaps I can be making Xmas presents, but then, our economy will really tank now!!! ;)

Yeah, I'm experiencing the urge to create. My last creation was just the TV stand. What new things will I be creating next? Hmm...

Pastor Jim talked about how we all need to have a new walk, new talk, new mentality and a new look. Are we really the new creations in Christ or are we just the same old creations of the messed up world? Interestingly we also bumped into Chin this Sunday at Faith. Chin has been an instrumental person who got me to know Christ. In a way I'm kinda sadden that today, both Chin and I are now just a Sunday service attendee. No longer really plugged in to the Body of Christ due to past bad experiences.

Help us plug ourselves into You Lord! So that we may truly be renewed and become the new creations that we're meant to be!

(Job 22-24, 174.2 lbs, $2.139)

pre-Thanksgiving

I missed out on the free Dr Pepper. Oh well.

No matter what happens, the LORD is to be praised, right? ;)

I'm thankful that I still have a case full of Dr Pepper at home available for me to drink. What do I have to complain about?

Yes, Thanksgiving is coming up. The impending family gathering is once again causing stress to build up for the wife! Luckily I have the situation under control for now..., may God continue to give me wisdom to know what to do... do know how to comfort my wife. Unlike the so called 'friends' of Job.

Reading about them arguing is kinda cool... remind me so much of my own arguing online sometimes. My recent debate with folks about Prop 8 of course went nowhere. So since I'm not really doing any good for those people nor for God, best thing to do is probably to just shut up and walk away... I've come to the conclusion that this gay marriage thing is kinda like euthanasia. What's the right thing to do? Surely we don't want to see our loved ones suffer... nor do we want to just let them go like that. Often times in this world, we're stucked in between a rock and a hard place. What can we do?

Well, we just can't keep Eve from eating that fruit forever... nor can we force the prodigal son to stay home forever. People gotta do what people gotta do. For sure God is pro-life, but He is also pro-choice. People certainly have the right to choose how they want to live their lives.

All that I ask is that God gives me wisdom to be able to choose wisely. Pastor Jim taught us to meditate... or mutter on the words of God. He also encourage us to live our lives differently than folks of the world. For these are the only way to truly live blessed lives. Of course sometimes during our lives, things may appeared to be not very blessed! ;) Job is one shiny example of that! But still, that is only relatively 'short termed'. I suppose Job not only had the wisdom to choose things wisely, he also had the strength to choose to live righteously. Refusing to just curse God and die. Yeah, besides, wisdom, may God also grant me the strength to carry on no matter what happens!!!

Thanks LORD! :)

(Job 13-21, $2.199, 174.6lbs)

Free Dr Pepper!!!

Dr. Pepper has made good on it's promise... saying that if Guns and Roses ever finished their album 'Chinese Democracy', company will offer a free drink to America! Of course Dr. Pepper never thought this album would ever finish. Recording started in 1994... and in 2005, after spending $13 million, it has officially became the most expensive record NEVER made! Against all odds, Guns and Roses is finally releasing the album this Sunday.

Beginning Sunday at 12:01 a.m., coupons for a free 20-ounce soda will be available for 24 hours on Dr Pepper's Web site. They'll be honored until Feb. 28.

So maybe one day, against all odds, perhaps China will also someday really become democratic? ;)

Anyway, read something interesting from the 'how people grow' book again... author talked about that biblically, opposite of bad isn't 'good', but 'love'. Whenever we feel guilty, ashamed, depressed, or generally 'bad' about ourselves, what we really need to counter that with isn't to try to feel 'good' about ourselves, whether by building self confidence/esteem or whatever means... What is important is that we need to feel 'love'. It's only after we feel accepted by love, then we can possibly begin to work on those other issues.

This is why a good loving supportive fellowship is important. This is what we naturally seek too... people often seek love, just that often in the wrong places. Sometimes we can seek love thru sex, but of course our sex partners most likely will make you feel worse cause there really isn't love involved. Some may seek love thru marriage. Even in marriages, are people really loving their spouses more... or loving themselves more? In a marriage where if you love yourself more than your spouse, then naturally this marriage will also make you feel bad. Even in churches, are the people in it really love their brothers as much as themselves?

Wherever we are, it's our natural tendency to love self more than anything else for protection. And as we receive less loving support from others, we end up having to compensate loving ourselves more rather than loving others... so the vicious cycle continues... and our morality collapse just as our economies collapse. I suppose this is what Jesus meant by 'For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me will find it.' If we lose ours lives for Him... or for Love... that is how we find out what life is really all about!

(Job 10-12, 174.4 lbs, $2.399)

Deflation...

Government's now worrying about deflation rather than inflation. Besides housing, oil prices... host of other things are beginning to have prices fallen. Of course this is good for consumers with money, but eventually companies will have to cut more jobs in order to reduce cost... in order to cover for the lower prices... and as more and more people continue to lose their jobs... this vicious cycle might just continue to no end! Usually there's inflation, the only time when US had a deflation was during the Great Depression.

Hopefully God will give the political leaders wisdom to do the right thing in order to get us out of this trouble. But of course we also have to repent of our mistakes too... instead of just expecting a bailout and cointnue to do the same. What would be the point of a bailout or a salvation plan if we continue to do things the wrong way? US automakers are also rapidly running out of money as demand for cars go down..., they were also unsuccessfully at getting government money to help out... some members of congress were saying that we shouldn't bail out companies who's products people don't want to buy in the first place! While that is true, but can we really afford to see all the dealerships and suppliers going out of business along with the automakers?

Obviously we shouldn't continue to fund the prodigal son to roam around living la vida loca, but if companies to repent and turn themselves around, hopefully God will hellp them thru their troubles. Job pretty much experienced all this first hand. World is going to be full of "Jobs" real soon..., going thru this deflationary pain which may or may not be their own doing... and we'll have no clue when the pain is going away...

But at least we can count on God to eventually deliver us at some future time! :)
(Job 7-9, 174.4 lbs, $2.429)

The great fire gas has turned into real fire!!!

Yeah, besides cold sores, our hills are burning... and even a newly constructed building near our apartment burned up too! Knocked out our power also...

Last night was kinda eerie... power got knocked out... and we heard a bunch of helicopters and sirens... and although we cannot see the fire directly from our apartment, but I can see that there's a bright glow reflecting off of buildings... I thought perhaps we're under attack from terrorists... or perhaps aliens... or perhaps Jesus has returned!!! ;)

Anyway, so it was kinda nice for us to rest in the darkness for a while... with no TVs or computers or other distractions... kinda like a quick get away from civilization... our emotions turn from exited... scared... to later on relaxed and peaceful... it made us cherish even more of what we do have... helped us realize what is really important in life!

Had been reading Job lately. Yeah, I had a few cold sores too... and the structures that burned down... at least I don't know any of the victims first hand... so I guess I still don't really know the pain Job had gone thru... perhaps that's good. For sure no sane person would want to voluntarily go thru what Job went thru... of course I don't mean to imply Christ as insane... for he willingly went thru his sufferings... ;) Anyway, upon reading Job, it kinda made me realize one thing...

That is I'm nothing like Job. I'm more like those stupid friends of Job. Their words on the surface sound very nice and holy and spiritual and all that... but they are of no help for Job. Kinda like my debate with some of the online friends regarding prop 8. What I told them are scripturally... theologically correct..., but how am I really helping the homosexuals? I don't know what's it like to be them... Christ is full of both grace and truth. Truth often time hurts..., but grace is the only way that can heal and change souls. I really need to learn to be more gracious... without compromising the truth of course.

I fasted one meal(skipped lunch yesterday), and had a very small dinner. Amazingly, this morning, I still weigh about the same!!! What's up with that? Today, there's free pizza, so I didn't fast, just had a slice of the free pizza... hopefully I won't get too fat because of that! Sigh...,I hope my outer man won't continue to get too fat while inner man grows thinner. May Holy Spirit really turn up the fire that's within us... instead of burning more of Southern California..., the the fire burn inside of us... of course may we all respond to the fire that's within... and not put it out.
(Job 1-6, 174.4 lbs, $2.459)

Pump me up O God!!!!

For the past few days I've been trying to work hard to resolve some weird issues that came up at work. I tried to be like Esther…, I prayed and even fasted for one lunch… and it seemed to help a bit. The problem is sort of resolved now, at least we got it working. However, we still don’t have a full understand of our problem yet. Perhaps I need to fast for 3 days like Esther! ;)

Yeah, both prayer meeting and pastor Jim’s sermon talked about how we ought to ‘work out’ our spiritual selves. If we don’t use it, we’ll lose it! Can't let the outer man continue to get fatter and fatter… and then let the inner spirit man atrophy away, right? 3 day fast sound like a better and better idea! ;)

I’ve also discussed about prop 8 to some people online and unfortunately they are all pretty pissed. I said same sex marriage is so obviously different. Even Obama isn’t pro gay marriage! But hey, if you want equal rights, CA does have equal civil union rights!!!

But to them, I’m viewed as some sort of bigot… and to use the bathroom analogy, still supporting the separate but equal bathroom’s for whites and colored folks. But to me, I think I’m more like supporting equal but separate bathrooms for men and women! Why mix the two up? From a child’s point of view, shouldn’t one mommy and one daddy still the most ideal way to go? We just couldn’t agree. But that’s okay, people should still learn to agree to disagree without hating each other, right? But I get the feeling that I’m being hated for my faith.

Sigh, for sure I didn’t make any friends. Probably also failed to fish any men for Christ as Pastor Jim want us to do… Oh well. May God have mercy on all of us.

(Esther 1-10, 174.6 lbs, $2.559)

God is good! :)

Had been kinda stucked at some problem at work lately. I've also asked around some senior engineers at work, but even they are clueless... Hate the feeling of unable to make any kind of progress..., yet have no clue what else I can do after trying all I can think of... kinda stressing me out for the past few days...

But after the prayer meeting and burning a bit of the midnight oil... thank God I was able to make some progress!!! Yipee!!! Halleluja!!! ;)

Okay, I'm going to sleep now.

Beginning to feel unfulfilled at work I think...

Yeah, it pays well... that's about it for this sedentary job. I think I need to use my hands to create stuffs. Even cooking is fine with me. I'm also beginning to think about learning to sew... to be able to make cloths... or perhaps drapery and upolstery..., but then again sometimes work can get kinda busy and I not only don't have a lot of extra time, but also not a whole lot of extra space too!

But anyway, will just have to make do with what I have! ;)

Market continues to decline. US automakers are bleeding money... and are expected to lose all of its cash reserves by the years end. President-elect Obama certainly inherited a mess, but can he turn this around? If he did, then he'll not only go down in history as the 1st black president, but will also go down as one of the great ones! Lincoln probaby only managed to be one of the great ones because of the messy situation he was in too! ;) And the silverlining of all this is that gas is getter cheaper and cheaper everyday! Houston Texas now has gas below $2 now!!!

Anyway, besides being able to fill my tanks, hopefully I'll be able to live a more fulfilled life as well! Pray like Nehemiah, Remember me with favor, O my God! :)

(Nehemiah 7-13, 175.2 lbs, $2.659)

Prop 8

People are pretty pissed about passage for prop 8, the new law which specifically spelled out marriage is for a man and a woman. It showed a narrow lead against it prior to the election, but it apparently suffered a 'Bradley effect' during election day... and won just barely. Bradley effect was coined when african american Tom Bradley failed to win the Governor's race... when polls showing him a victory, but ended with a defeat on election day. People during the poll simply didn't want to claim that they're racist by claiming that they'd vote for him, but didn't.

A lot of folks feared the Bradley effect for Obama too, but fortunately it didn't happen. As for prop 8, supposedly lots of black people voted overwhelmingly for protection of marriage. Most african americans were also Christians... so when they showed up to vote for Obama, that perhaps was what tipped the scale for prop 8. I also voted for it, but honestly I didn't think it'd pass. I'm surprised that it did. Thank God.

Anyway, there are still lots of folks who think we Christians are hateful against homosexuals. But reality is that prop 8 didn't really take away their civil union rights. Alot of folks are pushing for gay marriage mostly just to be anti-christianity I think.

Perhaps it really isn't that good of an idea for us Christians to meddle with legislation... passing new laws. We of all people should know how lame laws can be. Imposing laws on unrepenting people is an exercise in futility I think. God did just warn Adam to not eat it. God never bother to stop Adam from eating it. Who are we to stop gay people from 'marrying'? Should we really force the prodigal son to stay home? What would that achieve?

Anyway, I did my part to help preserve 'marriage' in California during the election. We did pray for it to pass, eventhough I thought it probably won't... so I guess this is indeed God's will then. Surprisingly the Mormons really played a huge role in the passage of prop 8. They raised a LOT of money for it. I heard a Mormon family with 5 kids, prayed and decided to withdraw $50k out of their 401k to support prop 8!!! This family is not rich..., they still drive like 10 year old Honda Civics... Gee..., their commitment to preserve marriage really put me to shame!

But still, I pray that people's hearts will finally change toward God. I pray that we Christians can also show more grace toward those unbelievers... for Jesus Christ is full of both grace and truth. Besides emphasizing Truth, we ought to emphasize Grace to all. That's the only agent that can cause real change I think. The mind set of I'm right and your wrong certainly won't help change anybody's mind...

May God help us... to be like Nehemiah... to be able to protect and restore the wall of truth and to be gracious and release the poor people's debts so that it won't cause poor people to once again be bound by "law".

(Nehemiah 4-6, 174.4 lbs, $2.759)

North and South...

US election results can clearly show a color difference... blue states in the north(and around the coasts) and red states in the south. Obama did manage to turn some of the red states blue, but the trend, since the days of Abraham Lincoln, continues. Nation is kinda split. Lincoln did manage to preserve the union with a war... for otherwise those red states would've been their own countries by now.

Taiwan seems to mirror this in a similar fashion. Same north and south arragement... except swtich the red to green! ;) Wife was saying even in China, for whatever reasons the north part of China seems to have an advantage over the south. Capital is at north part... Beijing.

That is just so weird.

Anyway, I just hope people in Taiwan can learn from US history... to be able to learn to get along without having to pay too heavy of a price... such as a civil war. But who knows? Perhaps that's just not possible? People are just so naturally divisive and can only see the self interets instead of the whole picture... this is how we got seperated from God in the first place... and therefore need Christ to shed blood to reunite us back together...

Whatever happens, may more folks turn to Christ over there as a result. When we're all part of God's family, hopefully there'll be less bickering..., but wait, both the American north and south were Christians!!! Both worshipped the same God and read the same bible and still decide to kill each other over their differences...

Sigh..., may God's will be done I guess. South was into slavery..., there's no way the South can triumph over the north in the end I suppose. After Obama's win, lots of black folks are singing praises to God... few can believe this could happen... God's grace is indeed amazing.

Now, when it comes to Taiwan's north and south issues? Who's more right and who's more wrong? Which side is God more pleased with? I don't know. It's really hard to say. Both blue and green failed to govern righteously. We need a godly man to rule Taiwan. May God rise up that man... in the mean time, may God show people of Taiwan mercy... Read about Nehemiah directed the folks to work together to rebuild the walls of Jerusalem. Will there be a Taiwanese Nehemiah soon? Hope so.

(Nehemiah 1-3, 174.6 lbs, $2.835)

Historic moment!

Just during the weekend, we had our very first black Formula 1 world champion driver... Lewis Hamilton.

Just last night, we also had our 44th, yet, the very first black US president Obama.

Wow.

Congrats to them both! :)

They were saying when Obama was born, there were like 15, 16 states that actually made inter-racial marriages illegal!!! Obama's parents would've been unable to marry back then. And now, here he is... a president of the United States.

Besides the presidential race, another high profile thing on the ballot was Prop 8. Amending the California constitution to specifically define marriage to be for one man and on woman. Both sides spent a lot of money on this... and it narrowly passed with YES! CA voters were able to protect the sanctity of marriage, for now...

Today's reading was about how Ezra praying for the sins the Jews have committed-- the inter-racial marriages. Yes, I suppose in a way, people can see Jews as being racist, but God is really just a 'faithist'. Ruth wasn't a Jew. God had no problem with her, right? Race isn't the problem..., it's only a problem when we lack faith. Marrying folks with little faith in God of course could pose a problem for those with faith. I admire Ezra's commitment... to pray and fast for the sins of those people..., but it's kinda weird that the book didn't explain what happen to those foreign wives and children?

Today, the problem is with gay couples. I don't know how to deal with them too. I don't want to rob them of their civil union rights. I also don't want them to force church pastor to 'marry' them. I guess the only thing to do is to be like Ezra. To just pray for them. Of course homosexuals aren't the only people committing sins around here in our nation. Surely the heterosexuals have committed their fair share of the sins. May God forgive us of our sins... for we just don't know what the heck we're doing. May we also be able to repent and change our ways.

Change is coming, as indicated by America's first foray of non-white president! I pray that we'll change for the better of course.

(Ezra 7-10, 174.6 lbs, $2.859)

Everybody vote!!!

Election day. Will America make history by electing the first black dude as president?!?!? Hope so.

I see some similarities with Taiwanese presidents and US presidents. President W. Bush is very much like President Chen. Like to polarize the electorates... use the 'us against them' strategy. In case of W, the "us" would be the conservative christians. For president Chen, it was the Taiwanese. I didn't really like their divisive styles... and I think it served them right to finish their terms with super low popularity ratings.

And now Obama is like President Ma. Both sound like they can bring about change and hope about perfecting our union! But can they really deliver?

Hard to say. All we can do is to pray for them and hope for the best I suppose. President Kennedy said it best, 'ask not what your country can do for you, but ask what you can do for your country!' For sure a good leader is important for a nation to rise, but we all better contribute our own efforts. We shouldn't parry all personal responsibilities! Even if a candidate who we don't like were elected, we are still called to do the best we can under that circumstance!

Besides government, I suppose this is applicable everywhere, at our workplace, at church, at home, etc. Instead of being cynical and always complaining about things, we ought to all just work together to get thru our problems and hope for the best. Ain't nothing wrong with complaints... as long as we can have some sort of resolution afterwards. If you absolutely are going to be cynical about it, if you absolutely can't stand it, then you might as well just leave. But this better be the last resort though. This is how governments or even churches split!!! But hey, if this is indeed the best way for everyone, then so be it. Union is nice, but even God sometimes would divide us up such as during the tower of Babel times... when we're too proud, then it's time for us to split I guess. But of course I don't think this is ideal. Usually nothing good can come out of the splits.

Biblically, this has been happening again and again. Obey God in Eden... or get the hell out! ;) If you're stucked in a bad situation and can't get out, as long as we obey God, God can help us out! Even when situation seems hopeless, we can always trust God that He'll be able to get it done in the end! But of course the main problem is do we really want the same thing God wants? Do we really want to stay in Eden and not eat from the tree of knowledge? Do we really want to leave Egypt? Do we really want to go thru all that trouble to rebuild the temple?

Cynicism isn't always a bad thing. It's good to be skeptical of satan's schemes. But how do we properly balance cynicism and hope? I don't know. All I know is that we all should just vote for which ever candidate we believe in. Even if the candidate we voted for didn't win, we ought to continue to live our lives the same just, merciful and humble way. If God made this guy authority over us, there must be a good reason for it. Of course if this elected person is really the anti-christ, then of course we don't have to obey all his evil orders, but otherwise, we ought to keep on trying to serve and love one another. This much is all that I know.

Here's praying that more and more of us end up think more and more like God. Desiring the same things that He desires. I'm also hoping that we can slowly perfect our union on earth. Progess has been made for sure. Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.'s dream is slowly being realized. God is still with us... and working on us. You rock O Lord! ;) Thank You!

(Ezra 4-6, 174.6 lbs, $2.899)

Rebuilt to grow!

Spent the weekend relaxing, trying to reduce the 'fire gas' that was within... along with extra hour of sleep, it worked out pretty well! Feeling much better and the cold sores are pretty much healed now! Thank God! :)

I also got my old Civic fixed up and got it to pass smog check. Hoping to use it during winter time to reduce wear and tear on my S2000...

Anyway, pastor Jim on Sunday preached more about fishing. This time was regarding the 3 question asked of Peter by Jesus. We typically would revert back to our old selves whenever the going gets tough. Instead of being the fisher of men, Peter wanted to just go back to fishing fish. Whenever I feel discourage, I think I'm inclined to do the same stupid thing. This kind of struggle is part of growing process I guess. It's good to know that Jesus can actively participate in our growing process, help extricate us out of our shells.

In the 'how people grow' book, the authors also talked about how God often uses other people to help us. How important it is to be plugged in the Body of Christ. With Jesus dead, of course the disciples got afraid and split! That body was dead for 3 days! But once the Body is restored, naturally the church will form again... and of course this new Body is never going to die again. We are all particular 'cells' of this Body. May our Lord's body on earth grow stronger and stronger. May we also grow along with him.

When brother GD quits leading our prayer meeting, may Christ himself help us find a good fellowship either within FCC or else where... Today's reading of Ezra also talked about rebuilding the temple of God! Not just making our old selves better, but to start from scratch to rebuild a brand new person! Yeah, it for sure isn't going to be easy, but because He's good and His love endures forever, this is going to be done!!!! Halleluja! :)

(Ezra 1-3, $2.95, 174.6 lbs)

Fire gas is very big!!!

Not sure how to translate "fire-gas", but yeah, I've been developing sores around my lips quite frequently lately. This is what I get for eating too much fried foods I guess. So, perhaps having a 'cooler' blog can help my problem! ;)

Last night wife and I were discussing which part of the world is closer to south pole, I said South America and she said New Zealand. Well, it appears that I'm right... and she's wrong!!! Yeah!!! It's a rare thing for me to be right so it's worthy of a celebration! :D

I'm also getting my new laptop at work today... and so they're trying to backup data on my old PC into the new machine... it's taking quite a while... and I'm not suppose to work on any documents... or it won't get backed up... so I guess the only thing to do is to read the Word of God and write blogs!

Read about Josiah today. This king found the book of the Laws and he was actually repentant upon hearing it. The guy is a good guy, but of course he's only human... sometimes he can get things wrong too... for whatever reasons, he went on battlefield against warnings... and so he got shot dead. I also read a bit of the how people grow book... and it talked about being led by the Spirit one step at a time. God often move us to do one thing at the time... without giving us the full explanations of the subsequent steps. We don't always have a complete picture..., but we just have to have faith to take those steps one at the time. What is palpable is that if we ever take a step that's contrary to what God want us to do, naturally there'll be undesirable results.

Follow the flesh and eat a bunch of tasty fried foods, you get sores over you mouth... follow the Spirit and eat healthy, then you won't have such problem. Simple as that.

But as history has pointed out, we just don't learn very well, huh? Oh God, thanks for helping us and never giving up on us. I promise I will try my best to follow Your lead! :)

Also, thank God gas prices have dropped steadily. It sure is annoying to see Exxon/Mobile made record profits during the past quarter though... just when everyone's hurting, they're profitting from it. Have they no shame?!?!?

(2 Chronicles 34-36, 174.4 lbs, $2.959)

I'm an inventor!!!

For the first time in my life, a group of us have filed a patent to the US patent office because of some stuff we worked on at work. It's basically a bunch of little stud fasteners that hold the TPS(thermal protection system) tiles on the spacecrafts. Shuttle has lots of them currently 'glued' to its airframe. With a fastener design, it'll be easier to replace them in case of impact damage... Anyway, we're not even sure if this new design will work that well yet..., but anyway, so I'm officially and 'inventor'! ;)

Anyway, more reading of the kings... Hezekiah and his son Manasseh are kinda interesting. Bible recorded one as good, but later on became too proud and the other one did evil in God's eyes, but repented later. Why is it so easy for us to become corrupted by pride? Good thing my invention wasn't really all that..., otherwise for sure I'd be VERY proud of my invention! ;)

It sure would be nice to know how we can avoid getting corrupted like that so that God can bless us more and more without end up causing us to fall! ;) As creatures that were made in God's image, I guess it's just so easy to forget that we're not really God! But luckily God can always do a muckrake on us whenever we're out of line!

But of course ideally we better just repent without being fully exposed first whenever we catch ourselves misbehaving, but of course we should just do Godly things to begin with... such as to love... to do good and to create stuffs! ;) And for our own good, we just better not forget to humbly remember who's really our Daddy!

(2 Chronicles 31-33, 173.6 lbs, $3.079)

Hope for change...

Although the stock market seems to be doing pretty well lately... although gasoline prices also seemed to have dropped dramatically lately, bad luck seems to be happening to me lately... some unidentified flying object cracked my windshield on the freeway recently, but worst of all was that I got into a fight with wife again last night.

But luckily, all problems are fixable, it's not like all hope is lost! ;) Wife and I are continuing on our growing pains... may we continue to grow to be better persons. I'm still trying to finish reading the 'how people grow' book, but progress has been slow... hopefully I'll learn something new and more interesting... ;)

Just saw Obama's 30min informercial on TV earlier. Buying prime time slots on most TV networks surely would be expensive. There was an eldritch feeling that for 30 minutes, every major network is showing Obama! Except ABC... I wonder why ABC refuse to be bought! ;) Anyway, Obama sure knows how to raise money... and use them too! Was that money wisely spent? If it gets him elected, then I guess so. However we still can't help but continue to feel cynical about the 'change' that he promised though. Too many politicians promised changed, but as they get into position of power, things most often would stay the same as usual. Even with all those kings of Israel or Judah..., some started out good, but later on changed for the worse. Whoever won the presidency, may God help whoever won the white house to stay humble before Him.

So I suppose we can continue to stay hopeful..., not because Obama or McCain can really be our savior, but we can have faith that God will make sure all those who love Him will end up benefitting no matter what. Today's reading talked about Hezekiah restoring the temples and held a super long passover celebration... just as the days of King Solomon. This happened even after all the crappy stuffs done by the other crappy kings... so yeah, change for sure is possible, people just have to remain humble and trust in God. May we all be able to do this...

(2 chronicles 25-30, 173.2 lbs, $3.179)

長江七號,海角七號

Not sure what's up with the #7's lately with the chinese films, perhaps it's a signal for God to invade into the hearts of the Chinese people soon!!! ;)

I saw 長江七號 a while back... and just recently saw 海角七號..., they are both not too bad... I most certainly like the positive message the films try to convey, it's just that unfortunately I don't think they're too convincing. Anyway, at least they made good money! Supposedly the filmmaker for 海角七號 incurred huge amount of debt trying to get the film finished... so maybe he could've done a better job if he didn't have such tremendous financial stress on his mind! Anyway, there was just way too many characters in the film, perhaps they should've made a soap opera of that instead of a movie! ;)

Pastor Jim talked about going fishing this Sunday. He talked about a lot of stuffs... and kinda unorganized too... so I'm not sure how to scribble down notes! He's basically prepping us for the next few weeks on how to become fishers of man I guess. If you're going fishing on 長江, or fishing at 海角, we need to rely and obey God in order to catch those people!

Today's reading was mainly about King Joash. He was a good king at first, as long as priest Jehoiada was alive. He even restore the Temple..., but as soon as Jehoiada passed away, he seemed to become easily affected by people with the wherewithals and slowly forget about God. Hopefully something like that won't happen to us... may God help us realize that He is the One who can provide all our needs... He's the One with the means to do it all!!!

(2 Chronicles 22-24, 174.6 lbs, $3.259)

treinta siete...

Si. My college friend Daniel recently turned 37..., in a few month, Tigran will be that old also, and I'll soon be that old too! ;) Wow, time is really ticking on by... we celebrated the occasion by treating him with a shabu shabu lunch yesterday. The guy loves shabu shabu for whatever reasons. Never thought a Mexican dude would like it when I first introduced it to him... ;)

Leonard, husband of one of wife's cousins, is finally out of the hospital now. Thank God. Hope he'll continue to take care of himself so that he can avoid all future mysterious illnesses!

This week we also have both prayer meeting and bible study with mom and dad. All went pretty well I guess. I was surprised to learn the Brother GD has decided to take a permanent break in the end of the year..., but I suppose I was surprised that he has led us for this long already! May God bless his heart! I was also surprised to learn after the fact from wife..., that mom and dad has been in some sort of 'cold war' for a while now. During Bible study, things did go pretty smoothly..., dad was acting a bit weird... quieter than ususal... Anyway, hopefully they can resolve their issues soon.

Such is life I guess. day after day... year after year! ;) But are we really growing more mature?

Today the book talked about spiritual growth requires an "ego death"! Only when we've utterly failed and admit that we need help can we possibly hope for some real spiritual growth. As long as a drug addict or alcoholic believes that he can quit anytime, he'll continue to be an addict. Only when he fess up that he's messed up and he needs help, then there's hope of recovery. Prodigal son is also another shining example of this truth. Of course we Christians can often make another mistake of blaming God for our problems. Shifting blame or avoiding blame is also not going to help our spiritual growth naturally. This is as bad as being a scofflaw!

Laws of God... or the consequences of our foolish decisions are there for this specific purpose. To help us realize that WE need help. It's useless to blame others about it... and it's even useless to try harder because you're not going to make it better... and often this is when believers feel like God is against them somehow..., but the reality is that God is so FOR them it's just that they don't know it!

The grace of God... the mysterious way of how God works is very conter-intuitive or paradoxical indeed. In trying to save ourselves, we do often end up losing ourselves. New Testament taught this. Old Testaments I read today also recorded events of the kings who trusted and rely on God... benefitted. Those who rely and trust themselves..., ended up miserable.

So how can we suffer this so-called 'ego death' so that we can truly be born again???

I'll have to finish reading the book to find out! ;)

(2 Chronicles 16-21, 174.2 lbs, $3.359)

Lift off!

Wow! I guess there's a space race going on with India and China! Wonder who's going to the moon first! ;) This first unmanned mapping of the moon mission should unravel more mystery of the moon. So far, only US, Russia, European Space Agency, Japan and China have sent missions to the moon. Considering the army of Indian engineers around the world, I suppose it's only a matter of time when Indians start to do their own thing!

Space race is always better than arms race anyway. Instead of firing missiles into other nations, might as well fire rockets into the heavenly bodies! ;)

And although Indian rocket had gone up, stock market is again going down. Sigh...

At least today's reading had been more encouraging... reading more about the good kings, Abijah, and Asa. They know how to rely on God. I was also reading more of the How People Grow book earlier today. It also talked about how spritual growth ties with how our view of God. Obviously those who see God is for them would rely on God more. Often times, this may not be our perception of God.

Due to our own faults and weaknesses, we might feel like God is mad at us. Yes, I can totally relate, I often felt this way actually. I might have projected an image of my mom to God! ;) Of course I am slowly realizing that God's love and grace for me isn't based upon my performance level, but sometime I still can't help but feel like I under-performed... and so I'd try to get rid of the guilty feeling, saying that it's okay... God loves me anyway! But then again, I don't really want to abuse God's grace by inventing excuses for my mistakes, right?

Anyway, so basically instead of working and improving myself in order to have God to NOT be mad at me, it's better to simply work hard and improving myself for the love of God!

Often times, we all fall into the lacuna of thinking that God is somehow against us... some sort of comsmic killjoy who doesn't want us to do this... or do that... Adam and Eve felt the same way..., that's why they had to taste that forbidden fruit! But of course they couldn't be more wrong. God is for us, and never against us. Even after Adam and Eve messed up, God is still not against us. Yes, guilty feeling might want to cause us to cover our butts and shift blames, but had A&E repented right away, why would God continue to stay wrathful? Had A&E repented right away of their own sins, perhaps we could still be in Eden!

So, yeah, step 1, realize God is for us, not against us! Only by truly realizing this can we take further steps forward and not result in more mis-steps! ;) May the Spirit of God help us lift off out of those lacunae and help us grow!!!

(2Chronicles 13-15, 174.6 lbs, $3.399)

Dreams and visions...

Had a long weekend this weekend... because I took Monday off to get my eyes examined! Well, actually my eye lids, seemed to have developed some sort of rash over the past month... not sure if it's an infection or allergic reaction, but anyway, it is a lot better now.

Over the weekend I finally finished the website for TG and a simple demo video showcasing one of the songs. It's not the best website in the world nor the best video in the world, but I tried my best! Hopefully we'll find more members joining to help out if they have a common vision! :)

Speaking of visions, Pastor Jim delivered a pretty weird sermon last Sunday. He had Terry Crews do a funky robot dance... not as crazy as the movie I linked below, but still pretty out there for a sunday service for a church...



And then Pastor simply did an interview with Terry, letting him share his testimonies of how as an injured and retired NFL player... ended up working as a secruity guard... to gradually having a great career in Hollywood! He achieved all that simply be acting justly, loving mercy and humbly following God! Even as a security guard, he worked passionately as if they're paying him $1million!!! ;) And he moved up by people slowly noticing him. He now works with Chris Rock and Adam Sandler...

I also found out on wikipedia saying that Terry actually went to the same high school with wife... and he got scholarship for it too..., I'm just not sure which program he was in... probably acting.

But anyway, so the moral of his story is that:

1) We gotta set clear goals for ourselves. Faith in Christ really isn't about what we can't do, but about what we CAN do! Don't allow religion to become a bondage of you can't do this or do that..., dare to dream dreams! And of course God will prepare for us something even better than what we imagined...

2) We gotta connect with the right people. Are the people around you good influences? And are you always the one teaching/preaching? If so, it's time to make new friends... to learn! I've also heard that Obama is a person who'd actively seek out mentors to learn from. For sure this is an area I'm lacking... and I'm for sure too passive when it comes to meeting new people.

3) Work hard/have discipline. Just like Joseph, no matter how bad things get, we still gotta do what God called us to do. Like Terry said, even if the job is lousy, still work at it as if you're getting paid a lot! That kind of attitude and discipline is important if we ever want to be truly successful. People are always watching... whether it be coworkers or your family members. Being a Christian isn't really about talking the talk, but walking the walk!!!

4) Balance living. We also need to balance our lives well. Our priorities ought to be God, family, yourself, work, etc. We better NOT lose focus of what's important in life by focusing on the wrong things!

To get to where we want to be, sometimes we like to avoid paying the toll by taking the shunpike, but there's always price to be paid I suppose. There's a price to pay when we do things God's way, there's also a price to be paid when we do things our own way. King Solomon lived his life doing things both ways... and in the end, he realized God's way is better.

He's supposedly the wisest man on earth, but may we all capable of realizing this truth before its too late...

(2 Chronicles 7-12, 173.2 lbs, $3.399)

My 1st MV

Funny day today...

Trying to be like Michael Jordan?!?!? I heard most of the debates in the car, but didn't realize McCain is more animated than I thought! ;)

And today Merriam's dictionary site's word of the day is genius.

How stupid can people be to not know the word genius?!?!?!?

Speaking of being stupid, I heard it over the radio saying that scientists have bred fruit flies to become smarter and smarter, but the side effect is that their lifespans end up getting shorter and shorter!

So do you want to be short-lived genius or to have long life as Forrest Gump?

What a delimma! ;)

Cool thing is that God can make you smart AND give you eternal life!

(2 Chronicles 4~6, 173.0 lbs, $3.539)

幸福婚姻的秘訣

Cousin emailed me a very moving story, thought I should share...

有一位老先生和一位老太太已經結婚六十幾年，他們彼此分享任何事情並且無話不說， 在他們之間並不存在任何秘密， 只有一件事情例外。

在老太太的衣櫃上方有一個鞋盒， 她不准老先生問起有關那個鞋盒的任何事。 有一天，老太太生病得很嚴重， 而且醫生也說她已無痊癒的機會了。老先生在整理她的物品的時候， 將這個鞋盒拿到她的床邊， 她同意此時已經到了該讓他知道的時候了。 當老先生將盒子打開， 他發現裡面放了兩個洋娃娃及厚厚的一疊鈔票，共有三百多萬元。

他問起有關這些東西的來由。 老太太說： 「當我們結婚的時候，我的祖母告訴我，婚姻幸福的秘訣，就是從不爭吵。 她告訴我，無論何時，當我生氣的時候，應該保持沉默，並編織一個洋娃娃」。

老先生聽了， 感動得掉下淚來。 只有兩個精美的洋娃娃在盒子裡， 就是說，從結婚那天開始， 在這多年漫長的恩愛生活裡， 她只對我生氣過兩次， 此 時老 先生的內心高興萬分。

「親愛的，」 老先生問： 「現在我已經知道這些洋娃娃是怎麼一回事了，而這些錢，又是怎麼一回事呢？」

「噢，」老太太回答：

「那是我賣掉洋娃娃所賺來的錢。」

:D

Joe the plumber...

How weird that the last presidential debate ended up focusing on the issues of Joe the plumber! Supposedly he wanted to buy a new plumbing business, but because that business makes more than $250k/yr, he may get taxed more under Obama's tax plan. Joe, from Toledo Ohio, met Obama on the campaign trail and confronted Obama and sorta debated with him in front of the CNN camera. So McCain simply picked that up and used it as the focus of this last debate.

Anyway, I heard it over the radio today that Joe doesn't even have a plumbing license..., perhaps that's a way for the leftist media trying to discredit Joe..., my bro doesn't have a license too and relies on my dad's license and he has a business too! So I suppose Joe could have a real concern here, but anyway. I don't really care who's elected anymore. I still think Obama is the better candidate given the other alternative, but some of the enthusiasm I had for him has faded though. I'm mostly disappointed with the fact that he left his church under pressure. I can't really blame him for it though, because his church's former pastor and guest speaker are really being insensitive, but still, I'm disappointed. Plus, I now have doubts about Obama's words. The guy has originally stated that he won't run for president... having just gotten elected a US senator, he said he needed more experience... he also claimed he'd use the federally funded campaign money(thus limiting the total amount that he can spend)..., but in the end, when situations changed, he changed his position. Of course I don't know the details of why he flip-flopped, maybe he does have good reasons. Sometimes different situations does require us to make a different decision...

Anyway, one can only hope our next elected official is REALLY God fearing. Solomon asked for wisdom, because of his pure heart, God also gave him a lot more of those other stuffs!!! But of course wisdom alone without God isn't enough. At least Solomon found out later in his old age..., but may our next elected leader have that wisdom to begin with. Hope I'm not asking too much.

Of course I need to have wisdom too in order to build up my own house! Yes, Lord, I want wisdom AND I want You to be with me, okay? Thanks!

(2 Chronicales 1-3, 174.0 lbs, $3.549)

Up again, down again...

Stock market is down again because retail sector is showing shoppers slowing down...

And Gas prices just dropped again too, after I just filled up yesterday. Great timing! ;)

Wife and I finally decided on a vacation at Sedona during Xmas break. We want to bring our kitty along, hopefully he'll be able to adjust to travelling long distances and sleeping in unfamiliar territory... he's a grumpy old cat now... so fingers crossed on how he'll be able to enjoy this upcoming vacation! ;)

Today's reading talked about David telling Solomon about building of the temple. He said, 'Be strong and courageous, and do the work. Do not be afraid or discouraged, for the LORD God, my God, is with you. He will not fail you or forsake you until all the work for the service of the temple of the LORD is finished."

Very good encouragement for me too! To build up my own temple of the LORD! :)

If we make palmary contributions to Him and to each other, why wouldn't God bless us?

(1 Chron 26-29, 173.6lbs, $3.559)

Facing my shortcomings...

Yesterday I was going to write a blog regarding my carelessness/forgetfulness. But of course one thing led to another, I let it slide... and I'm writing the blog now. Another one of my shortcomings, which is to procrastinate and drag things on.

Anyway, my "airheadedness" has caused myself problems at work too. If I hadn't done it, I could've saved myself some time. I've also forgotten the keys to our apartment... resulting locking myself out of it... sometimes even locking both myself and wife out of it! One of the most annnoying recently was that I forget to record an F-1 race! This morning at work, I found out again that I wore my shirt inside and out again... Man, how forgetful can I be?

This can be particularly bothersome when it comes to matters that's super important to wife. When stupid things like that happen, what should I do? I could be angry at myself for being so stupid. I could beat my head over these, but of course instead, I usually just laugh if off by laughing at myself..., but then how will any of those help me become better? I don't mean to mess it up, but it happens whether I want it or not... for routine stuffs, I suppose I can just have a check list. For the non-routine stuffs, I guess I can just pray?

Of course my other shortcoming is procrastination. Last nite we had a fight about our upcoming vacation... and it was about me couldn't schedule it earlier... so things cannot go according to our plan... I suppose this is easier to fix..., I'm just going to have to learn to NOT put things off!

Over the weekend, Pastor Jim probably went golfing with Tiger Woods or something, so it was Pastor Taylor who gave the sermon. He talked about we ought to be more child-like. He also explained to us how a dirty old baseball can be worth a lot because it's Babe Ruth's first home run ball... and the one with his signature!!! It's uniqueness made it valuable.

Me, I'm quite ordinary. Just a human like everyone else. But of course if you look at my DNA, I am quite special and unique. We're all living paradoxes of both ordinary and extra-ordinary, it all depends on how we look at ourselves. Besides humans, this is true in nature as well... hence Albert Einstein's quote above! ;) Child-like heart enables us to be able to see things around us as cool and amazing. Adult's jaded hearts can only enable us to see everything as boring and annoying.

So looking at the bright side of my shortcomings is that at least I won't be like David... to steal other guys wife... or start taking a census about how great am I. These thorns of my flesh can help me to humble myself. May God's grace really be sufficient for me.... and may the thorns of my flesh won't hurt others around me though. Your grace is certainly very nice, but I hope someday I don't have to use it as an excuse for my shortcomings..., but to truly bring You glory and to be able to stay humble at the same time... soon!!!

Of course there are also other areas of David's life where I can learn from, besides just making a red herring about how gracious God is, I better really repent and change my ways. I don't know what else I can sacrifice to God to... I also don't have to build God any temple..., but I suppose I kinda answered my own questions... which is to sacrifice myself and to build myself up because my body is the temple! Of course I also need to build up the house of my marriage as well.

Guess I'm just gonna have to keep on building!

(1 Chronicles 18~25, 173.6 lbs, $3.569)

$10 Trillion dollars!

That's how much we owe... and on a household average... the US government has glommed about $86,017 from wife and I!!!

Stock market continued it's wild slide, but then in the closing minutes, it seemed to have leveled off to the same level as earlier in the day... a lot of emotions are causing the volatility in the market... it is a bit scary that Government interventions didn't help the situation to improve that much... how low can we go?

Lord knows. Good thing is that oil/gasoline prices have steadily fallen! ;)

Brother GD along with Pastor Jim all have pretty much the same message recently... which is to love God with ALL of our hearts. If only we could substitute our greed into a hunger to pursue God, our financial situation probably would've been a lot better.

(1 Chronnicles 13-18, 174.6 lbs, $3.599)

Debates...

Market seems to have stabilized today after the Feds cut rate again... But government has really given up all the tricks in their back pockets... can they cut anymore rates? Can they keep on producing a bigger bailout plan? If the market continue to slide, I guess there won't be much that the government can do... so again, we better hope for the best!

And we also had another presidential debate last nite. Gee, it was kinda boring. I don't think I learned anything new...

I personally got myself into couple of debates myself yesterday... once with Daniel during lunch... and then another with wife right before bed time. Daniel and I got into theological discussion after we talked about Sarah Palin's ability to speak in tougue. He thinks she's crazy because he has had a Christian girlfriend who's kinda crazy and can speak in tongue... so I had to explain to him about the gift of speaking in tongue. And I forgot how I got into a discussion with the wife, but we're talking about the love of God.

Basically I did a lot of explaining to the best of my abilities, but I'm not sure if I really made any impact! ;) Just as folks watching the presidential debates, I honestly don't think those debates can really cause people to swing one way or another. Supporters or believers of either side most likely will see their own side as the winning side no matter what.

Daniel still doesn't get what's the point of speaking in tongues. Wife and I also continue to have disagreements over various issues..., but I'm a firm believer that in time, the puissant influence of God... the love of God will be inevitably felt and known by all. Now we can only see in part, but later on, we'll be able to see the whole picture!

(1Chronicles 1-12, 174.4lbs, $3.639)

Oh boy... (crashing stock market and burning woman!)

Stock market is really taking a beating today. For the first time for about 4 years... Dow dipped below 10,000 points. European markets are down too. This subprime mortegage thing is really dragging the whole world down... will the bailout plan really stabilize the situation? Let's hope so.

I don't have a whole lot at stake with the stock market, but I am also experiencing some pain today too... or this morning... because a quondam girlfriend who out of the blue decided to reach out to me once more. She emailed me this Sunday asking how I'm doing lately?

Why should she care? If she really cared, would she rip my heart out like the way she did 5 or 6 years ago?

I have long suspected that the strange phone calls from China were from her. I really wouldn't know of anyone else in Asia who'd have my phone number. So I finally prayed and decided to pick it up, but only with wife by my side... so that I can tell her to please stop! And then surprisingly, the calls stopped... so I thought the caller had finally given up.

And it was kinda funny that brother GD saw in a vision of me calling someone... he was saying I should call someone... I should call someone... and I was like who? Wife's first reaction was to jokingly tell me that perhaps I should call up that mysterious chinese caller! ;)

Anyway, so I think the sunday email pretty much confirmed that the phone calls were probably from my ex. So I asked wife's opinion on whether if I should preach to my ex about the love of God! That'll be the only reason I have to even respond to her. I thought wife could handle such discussion since she was able to joke about it earlier, but of course I thought wrong!!! ;)

To settle the matter, wife and I sent my ex an email telling to please stop trying to contact me because I am married already... and we cannot be friends and except for this one time, I won't responding to her in the future. Whatever she wanted, may God be able to provide for her...

Perhaps this is really the 'call' that I'm suppose to make. Hopefully she'll get the idea...

One thing I am thankful for though is the fact that my heart was broken by her. It was only because of that... that I was able to make room for Jesus in my heart I believe. Prior to that experience, I also probably would never be able to understand why would God love sinners... my ex cheated on me and yet I still gave her a chance to 'repent' and come back to me if she wants... yes, sounds very foolish I know... But when later on I heard God's call to choose to be with Him, I know I don't want to be like my ex and make the wrong choice! God is serious a God who'd make all things work together for the benefit of those who love Him. Although others meant to hurt me, God meant for it to happen to me for my benefit. :)

So may the bad times help more folks to be able to return to God. Now that I've made room for Jesus in my heart, Pastor Jim on Sunday challenged us to not just give God a shabby little room, though... we ought to give Him our best our whole heart! Yeah, it's kinda sad that the world and my ex were that way... if they do not repent and change, falling like Jerusalem would be an inevitability. Even United States of America could fall.

May the unbelievers repent and be right with God. May the believers grow ever more fruitful..., not just physically, but spiritually!

(2kings 22-25, $3.769, 173.6 lbs)

Bailout...

Senate is now trying to pass a new bailout plan after the House rejected it. Hopefully the revised 2nd attempt will make it easier to pass... There's also talk of increasing FDIC insurance from $100,000 to $250,000 so that peopleve can feel safer about their money in banks instead of them moving the money around based on rumors... which probably cause some banks to fail too!

Anyway, hopefully America can get thru this.

God has bailed people out many times... from splitting of the Red Sea... to dying for our sins..., but of course God also has decided to NOT bail us out at times and just let us suffer the consequences of our actions or perhaps even the consequences of other people's evil actions. However, in the end, God can always manage to make things work out in the end, but it's critically important that we have faith in Him and we repent of our sins. If we don't have enough faith, we just might decide to curse God and die, instead of being more like Job. If we don't repent, we'll just continue to make the same old stupid mistakes as before.

So basically whether if there's a bailout or not doesn't really matter! May His will be done, and may we all be able to persevere in faith and be holy... The only theriac for those toxic mortgage backed loans/securities is God Himself! ;) If we all acted justly, loved mercy and humbly followed God, would we be in this mess? Of course not.

It's amazing how we humans are so foolish. I continued to read more and more about those foolish kings of Israel. If I were a king, I'm not even sure if I can do better... Oh God, help us not to be too foolish in our own ways. Help more of us be able to accept Your bailout package!

(2Kings16-21, 174.6lbs, $3.719)