I am nursing an extremely bruised (the part below your knee that isn't quite your shin yet - unless the shin is in fact that whole part between your knee and ankle and not just the lower part where shinpads go - I won't know, I don't do biology).
Haha. It's been a long time since I got knocked up like that.
Here's another question that popped up in my mind also while playing futsal today - why do I always suffer from leg cramps during futsal but when I play basketball, I can do it for 3 hours straight without any problem? (welll straight is an exaggeration, insert 5/7 minute breaks here and there, but not too often)
Then you got all that about stretching more and blah blah blah.
And I think after today, it's safe to say that the goalkeeping position is probably the most dangerous one in football. Balls flying at you ain't fun. Haha. Especially when one smacks you right in the chest before the game even starts. And plus the fact that the bruising came when I ran out to make a challenge. By the way disclaimer straight away right here: I'm a horrible goalkeeper.
Which leads to a second question: How many people assume that basketballers make good goalkeepers and why? Just because we can handle a size 8 ball that doesn't swerve and has better grip doesn't automatically translate into a size 6 ball that has smooth sides and travels much much faster. Haha. Except that I don't mind playing it every now and then, when I need a break. (Although again my leg cramp attacked me when I was playing goalie - tis a cursed position)
Oh ya. And a really funny observation. Well, whether anyone else finds it funny is another matter. I noticed that how many people in goal (me included) always try to avoid a ball that comes really really fast (which equates with power which then equates with pain) at them. So I figured, that means we all know where the ball is really going and the only thing is is that we choose to not be in the path of that ball, and then the funny thing is is that goalies are meant to be in the path of that ball.
Lol. Football rant. Blame it on my bruising. Now I shall uh shift my attention to the title of my post at hand. And well, my rant wasn't quite a rant. There was sort of a point. Notice how I can complain about the pain, i.e. the bruising and the cramps, but if you asked me whether I enjoyed it, then yeah. So it's the same thing with 'religion' isn't it? People always think that life with God on your side is a bed of roses, and then stop believing when reality begins to contradict that belief.
So my answer is: Who says pleasure and pain don't mix? (haha, I believe this is the first time I've used a title in my actual post itself) And the thing is at the end, all you remember is the pleasure. The pain goes away in due course. So life is like that. Pain and pleasure, like ham and eggs, or bread and butter, or chicken rice, or whatever pair you want, will coexist in this life. But the best thing about it is that some pleasures are worth the pain.
Especially when the object of your pleasure is the most pleasurable thing in the universe. The question then becomes: Is it really?
Another disclaimer: That was a pretty simplified view of things. And I don't claim to cover all the angles with that. There are exceptions that arise as a result of different circumstances, e.t.c. But the basic principle is there.
Wednesday, June 20, 2007
Monday, June 18, 2007
The disappointment of the moment
Hahaha. I thought this would feel a lot more liberating. But I think my mind went on holiday the moment my exams started. So having no school (and even exams) now seems to feel no different.
Well. Quite disappointing I must say.
Things to do: Get my driving done.
That is all at the moment. I'm planning to bum this whole week before I get down to do something useful for the rest of my holidays. And Kinabalu is coming up in two weeks so there's not too much bumming around time between then and now from the looks of things.
Anyways, now that I'm free, I still can't think of what to blog about. Sheesh. You probably wasted your time reading this thus far. (not that you don't necessarily waste your time with all my other posts)
So yeah. Give me a few days to think it over.
Well. Quite disappointing I must say.
Things to do: Get my driving done.
That is all at the moment. I'm planning to bum this whole week before I get down to do something useful for the rest of my holidays. And Kinabalu is coming up in two weeks so there's not too much bumming around time between then and now from the looks of things.
Anyways, now that I'm free, I still can't think of what to blog about. Sheesh. You probably wasted your time reading this thus far. (not that you don't necessarily waste your time with all my other posts)
So yeah. Give me a few days to think it over.
Thursday, June 07, 2007
Exams so far
Ahh. My important papers are finished. Bar one. But that one is a MCQ paper, so it shld be a piece of cake.
Mmm. Further math. First paper - should have done better. Second paper - not very good. Haha. Especially when you realise later what you should have done. Ah well. Will pray for my A, since I need it pretty badly. Bleargh..Didn't help that I had to fall sick today as well.
Econs and history shld be no problem.
Anyways, yeah, this is a bit weird. Nearly having finished the exams. I would be a bit more relaxed if I had got a better Applied Further Math paper and/or not made the really dumb mistakes on my pure paper. That way I won't be worried about the grade. Right now, I'm a bit nervous. And that's for 2 months. Lol. I wonder if I can sleep this off. If not I'm in for 2 months of incredible tension.
Next week, 3 more papers on 2 more days.
And then I have to figure out what to do. Long holidays = lots of bumming around. But then the holidays may seem even longer if I'm still as worried about that grade.
I have not been in this kind of situation ever.
And 'tis horrible.
This was probably the most irrational post ever, due to the fact that that dumb paper is still on the back of my mind and so my thoughts are very incoherent at the moment.
FM Paper 1 = 82? + FM paper 2 = 70?, aggregate mark = 76% - is this a predicted A?. That's the bottomline I'm looking at. Assumptions made: That I only dropped that many marks...Hehe. My margin of error is 12 which equals to one question. Not the best margin I would say.
Ahh. It's times like these where you just have to trust God for the grade. Which would translate into whether I end up at Cambridge or be the idiot who missed the A and had to go off to LSE - not that the latter is shoddy, but the former is a lot more desirable.
Mmm. Further math. First paper - should have done better. Second paper - not very good. Haha. Especially when you realise later what you should have done. Ah well. Will pray for my A, since I need it pretty badly. Bleargh..Didn't help that I had to fall sick today as well.
Econs and history shld be no problem.
Anyways, yeah, this is a bit weird. Nearly having finished the exams. I would be a bit more relaxed if I had got a better Applied Further Math paper and/or not made the really dumb mistakes on my pure paper. That way I won't be worried about the grade. Right now, I'm a bit nervous. And that's for 2 months. Lol. I wonder if I can sleep this off. If not I'm in for 2 months of incredible tension.
Next week, 3 more papers on 2 more days.
And then I have to figure out what to do. Long holidays = lots of bumming around. But then the holidays may seem even longer if I'm still as worried about that grade.
I have not been in this kind of situation ever.
And 'tis horrible.
This was probably the most irrational post ever, due to the fact that that dumb paper is still on the back of my mind and so my thoughts are very incoherent at the moment.
FM Paper 1 = 82? + FM paper 2 = 70?, aggregate mark = 76% - is this a predicted A?. That's the bottomline I'm looking at. Assumptions made: That I only dropped that many marks...Hehe. My margin of error is 12 which equals to one question. Not the best margin I would say.
Ahh. It's times like these where you just have to trust God for the grade. Which would translate into whether I end up at Cambridge or be the idiot who missed the A and had to go off to LSE - not that the latter is shoddy, but the former is a lot more desirable.
Tuesday, May 22, 2007
Kids today..
What influences kids the most today? Is it their peers, family members, TV, music or something else?
So here's a short story of what happened on the Wednesday of the second last week of school, i.e. 9thMay2007, coincidentally my Dad's birthday now I think about it.
Anyways, me, AJ and BB (names initialised to conceal identity) are walking into school after lunch, and so there's this bunch of students (Yr8s according to CC) sitting at the steps. And of course, being impossibly dense, they're blocking the path. So while I'm there signing everyone in, AJ starts walking down those stairs.
More like tries walking down those stairs. And then one of the Yr8s tell some friend of theirs, can't recall the name, to get out of the way. So I'm right behind AJ and I open my mouth and say,
"Yeah. Stop blocking the stairway."
I take a few more steps when suddenly behind me a voice rings out, extremely clear.
"*@#^ off!"
So I'm pretty shocked. Now it's one thing to be told that jokingly by a friend. But from a Yr 8 kid who's half my size and 6 years younger??
In disbelief, I glance around. "Pardon?"
"Yeah. *@#^ off!" was the reply. And then his bunch of friends start laughing. As if they scored a victory over some sixth former. Blah.
Now several options ran through my head at this moment.
1. Instinctively turn around, pick the boy up by the scruff of his shirt, and ask him the question one more time. Now this would have been a great option, except I think it's also classified as assault.
2. Turn around and confront him face to face, while his friends scatter and make a run for it, abandoning their smart-mouth friend to confront my wrath. Problem is, my thoughts were so scrambled at this point that my smart mouth wasnt in the mood to give someone a lecture.
3. Walk away. Give him his moment of immature triumph. This pettiness is way below me.
So I picked option 3, since I was facing the opposite direction anyways. Was too lazy to turn back around. Of course as I walk down that extremely long - and really Malaysian uneven - pathway, I was happily considering Option 2. But I guess as the distance grew longer, I kinda felt a bit..sad.
It's kind of sad the kind of kids we have today. Now of course, it's possible that this happens in an international school anyways. But i doubt that too.
So why is it that kids have such 'smart mouths' nowadays? Why are they so immature. Just two days later, on a Friday, they were fighting with the two protagonists being cheered on by their friends - wait a minute, I thought they were all friends? Or is it that this is the 'cool' group and everyone wants to join in. So they're not really good friends but just a bunch of kids who are trying to fit in with the popular guy/girl and the popular guy just loves being the center of attention (probably the same guy with the smart mouth) but otherwise has no good friends.
Well that's my theory of school society in any case. But it's kinda sad that the lower years are becoming quite immoral. Why do kids feel the urge to turn to all kinds of stuff like sex, drugs, what they think is cool rebellious disrespectful behaviour, e.t.c.?
Mmm. Well. Kids today. What can you say?
So here's a short story of what happened on the Wednesday of the second last week of school, i.e. 9thMay2007, coincidentally my Dad's birthday now I think about it.
Anyways, me, AJ and BB (names initialised to conceal identity) are walking into school after lunch, and so there's this bunch of students (Yr8s according to CC) sitting at the steps. And of course, being impossibly dense, they're blocking the path. So while I'm there signing everyone in, AJ starts walking down those stairs.
More like tries walking down those stairs. And then one of the Yr8s tell some friend of theirs, can't recall the name, to get out of the way. So I'm right behind AJ and I open my mouth and say,
"Yeah. Stop blocking the stairway."
I take a few more steps when suddenly behind me a voice rings out, extremely clear.
"*@#^ off!"
So I'm pretty shocked. Now it's one thing to be told that jokingly by a friend. But from a Yr 8 kid who's half my size and 6 years younger??
In disbelief, I glance around. "Pardon?"
"Yeah. *@#^ off!" was the reply. And then his bunch of friends start laughing. As if they scored a victory over some sixth former. Blah.
Now several options ran through my head at this moment.
1. Instinctively turn around, pick the boy up by the scruff of his shirt, and ask him the question one more time. Now this would have been a great option, except I think it's also classified as assault.
2. Turn around and confront him face to face, while his friends scatter and make a run for it, abandoning their smart-mouth friend to confront my wrath. Problem is, my thoughts were so scrambled at this point that my smart mouth wasnt in the mood to give someone a lecture.
3. Walk away. Give him his moment of immature triumph. This pettiness is way below me.
So I picked option 3, since I was facing the opposite direction anyways. Was too lazy to turn back around. Of course as I walk down that extremely long - and really Malaysian uneven - pathway, I was happily considering Option 2. But I guess as the distance grew longer, I kinda felt a bit..sad.
It's kind of sad the kind of kids we have today. Now of course, it's possible that this happens in an international school anyways. But i doubt that too.
So why is it that kids have such 'smart mouths' nowadays? Why are they so immature. Just two days later, on a Friday, they were fighting with the two protagonists being cheered on by their friends - wait a minute, I thought they were all friends? Or is it that this is the 'cool' group and everyone wants to join in. So they're not really good friends but just a bunch of kids who are trying to fit in with the popular guy/girl and the popular guy just loves being the center of attention (probably the same guy with the smart mouth) but otherwise has no good friends.
Well that's my theory of school society in any case. But it's kinda sad that the lower years are becoming quite immoral. Why do kids feel the urge to turn to all kinds of stuff like sex, drugs, what they think is cool rebellious disrespectful behaviour, e.t.c.?
Mmm. Well. Kids today. What can you say?
Saturday, May 19, 2007
The end - not quite but nearly there
So school ended on Friday. It was quite a riot. Crowded corridors, balloons everywhere, and people chasing and being chased around. Quite an apt ending to years and years of school.
And well here I am. Well there I was. Actually both apply. Anyways, I was looking forward to better hours but I guess the consensus is that everyone will miss the spontaneity of school. The really random things that happen that makes life interesting. Especially further math sessions and the random chats, and attempts to avoid the lesson and go out for lunch, and the really random constructive vandalism of the room we're in.
I most definitely will not miss the canteen. I will not miss the homework. If someone misses them, like BB, I will laugh in his face.
Um yeah quite random that. There's also the fact that I think my arms will finally be stain free every Tuesday and/or Wednesday. And I wouldn't be so bruised by the random limb extensions of a certain trio.
It is little things like this that I will always remember. Although I don't think Andy would be flattered that every marker pen reminds me of those econs lessons sitting right next to him. But the big things like friends are still around, so here was the question I was thinking about. Is it school that I will miss, or is it the fact that you meet your friends everyday that I will miss?
Irrespective, haha, here's to a good 7 years of post-primary school education. Now just for those pesky exams. They better not try to be smart with the papers this year, especially those further math examiners.
And well here I am. Well there I was. Actually both apply. Anyways, I was looking forward to better hours but I guess the consensus is that everyone will miss the spontaneity of school. The really random things that happen that makes life interesting. Especially further math sessions and the random chats, and attempts to avoid the lesson and go out for lunch, and the really random constructive vandalism of the room we're in.
I most definitely will not miss the canteen. I will not miss the homework. If someone misses them, like BB, I will laugh in his face.
Um yeah quite random that. There's also the fact that I think my arms will finally be stain free every Tuesday and/or Wednesday. And I wouldn't be so bruised by the random limb extensions of a certain trio.
It is little things like this that I will always remember. Although I don't think Andy would be flattered that every marker pen reminds me of those econs lessons sitting right next to him. But the big things like friends are still around, so here was the question I was thinking about. Is it school that I will miss, or is it the fact that you meet your friends everyday that I will miss?
Irrespective, haha, here's to a good 7 years of post-primary school education. Now just for those pesky exams. They better not try to be smart with the papers this year, especially those further math examiners.
Thursday, May 10, 2007
Not another one already??
As quoted by Ben Bradley.
Mmm. Here comes the overdue breakdown of Utd's season so far. Watched them got dumped out of the CL. Was quite resigned to the defeat, seeing as how Milan played a fantastic game. Ahh. To imagine a trio of Kaka, Ronaldo and Rooney - makes you want to drool. That is if they play for ManU. And the rain kinda added to the drama of everything.
There have been a few ups and downs in the premiership run in, but I can safely say I was confident we would win the title that weekend. Thus when Vassell stepped up to take that penalty, I had the gut feeling he would miss. Destiny awaited.
And the FA Cup's coming up. Lol. It would be fun to crush Chelsea's miserable season. But the problem with that is the harder they fall, the harder they bounce back. So there's a danger there.
And my predictions as to who the transfer targets are? I have no clue to be honest. But I would like: Hargreaves, E'too and Robben. Then we'll truly rip apart defenses. Only problem is that these three have not had the best fitness records in recent times. And that raises the question of where does Giggs and Scholes go? Will Ferguson let loose the brutal axe? Doubt it, not with the way they can change games. And maybe a right back would be good. Neville's not going to last much longer.
Football aside, I can't believe that as of this writing, I only have 6 school days left in my whole life. Haha. Of course there's the revision for the exams, but still. Lol. With regards to that, I would still like a Sloman.
Again as you can see, this post is degenerating into mumbo-jumbo. So here's something for everyone to think about. This topic came up in my math class the other day. When we grow older, let's say 30 years from now, will our kids look at us the way we look at our parents and claim how 'outdated' we are? - of course this doesn't apply to all parents.
My opinion was no. We grew up in the age of technological exploration and as such have the skill sets to adapt to changing technologies. Before I went on to say that the generations below us are now in fact spoon fed on how to do stuff. Lol. I wonder how true that comment is. Then we went to the topic of music. This one has my interests quite piqued actually. Our parents usually label our music today as noisy, but that's because instruments like the electric guitar and drums weren't played the way they are played today, especially with the countless pedals being produced nowadays for electric guitarists. My opinion is that music has reached its zenith, where it becomes near impossible for new genre's to be produced. We'll see blending happening and consumer's tastes being divided into many different blends, with no one blend achieving dominance over the other unless a certain band or two become extremely popular.
Mmm. I should keep this blog running for another 30 years and see what really happens.
Mmm. Here comes the overdue breakdown of Utd's season so far. Watched them got dumped out of the CL. Was quite resigned to the defeat, seeing as how Milan played a fantastic game. Ahh. To imagine a trio of Kaka, Ronaldo and Rooney - makes you want to drool. That is if they play for ManU. And the rain kinda added to the drama of everything.
There have been a few ups and downs in the premiership run in, but I can safely say I was confident we would win the title that weekend. Thus when Vassell stepped up to take that penalty, I had the gut feeling he would miss. Destiny awaited.
And the FA Cup's coming up. Lol. It would be fun to crush Chelsea's miserable season. But the problem with that is the harder they fall, the harder they bounce back. So there's a danger there.
And my predictions as to who the transfer targets are? I have no clue to be honest. But I would like: Hargreaves, E'too and Robben. Then we'll truly rip apart defenses. Only problem is that these three have not had the best fitness records in recent times. And that raises the question of where does Giggs and Scholes go? Will Ferguson let loose the brutal axe? Doubt it, not with the way they can change games. And maybe a right back would be good. Neville's not going to last much longer.
Football aside, I can't believe that as of this writing, I only have 6 school days left in my whole life. Haha. Of course there's the revision for the exams, but still. Lol. With regards to that, I would still like a Sloman.
Again as you can see, this post is degenerating into mumbo-jumbo. So here's something for everyone to think about. This topic came up in my math class the other day. When we grow older, let's say 30 years from now, will our kids look at us the way we look at our parents and claim how 'outdated' we are? - of course this doesn't apply to all parents.
My opinion was no. We grew up in the age of technological exploration and as such have the skill sets to adapt to changing technologies. Before I went on to say that the generations below us are now in fact spoon fed on how to do stuff. Lol. I wonder how true that comment is. Then we went to the topic of music. This one has my interests quite piqued actually. Our parents usually label our music today as noisy, but that's because instruments like the electric guitar and drums weren't played the way they are played today, especially with the countless pedals being produced nowadays for electric guitarists. My opinion is that music has reached its zenith, where it becomes near impossible for new genre's to be produced. We'll see blending happening and consumer's tastes being divided into many different blends, with no one blend achieving dominance over the other unless a certain band or two become extremely popular.
Mmm. I should keep this blog running for another 30 years and see what really happens.
Monday, May 07, 2007
The devil loves mirrors
I believe that Satan wins a battle whenever he gets us to look in a mirror at ourselves.
When we get so caught up in our individuality, we lose sight of a lot of things.
Which in fact leads to one of the most dominant worldviews of religion today - that we earn our way to heaven. Having to do good works to satisfy God's demands. Thus when we believe in a certain religion, we are condemned to a life of slavery and struggling to do good against our inner nature.
I would have to agree that we enter a life of slavery, and I do agree that our inner nature always fights against our wanting to do good.
Except for one thing.
Because of His great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions - it is by grace you have been saved. Ephesians 2: 4-5
In that one biblical statement, the root of the Christian faith is summed up. God is the judge yes, but he is also merciful. And because He loves us, he made us alive with Christ - now this is the key part, because no one can come before God except through Jesus - even when we were dead in transgressions - it is a fact that we are all dead in our evilness. Nothing we do can save ourselves, no matter the number of good deeds, we are inherently, by nature, evil.
And it is by grace we have been saved. Grace is an amazing thing isn't it. It's just like saying George Bush captures Osama bin Laden, then says, alright you're off the hook.
I myself, for one, would be outraged. And unless you're an Osama supporter, you would be horrified at this act of grace.
Except that God did that for us. It is by His grace we are no longer judged, as long as we are in Christ Jesus.
Many reject this simple offer, because they believe that it is too good to be true. We humans are by nature suspicious of offers too good to be true, because we think we are being conned. And this is exactly what is happening, but it is the devil that is the conman - he arouses our suspicions so that we become wary of this simple offer.
Someone once said, that in fact, this is a story too good to not be true. And this grace is indeed too good to not be true. Redeemed and the way to heaven open for us. It is too good to not be true. The inner child in us seizes at this opportunity, just as how a sick man would seize any cure within grasp in his desperation.
I'm not saying the Christian life is free of suffering. In fact, contrary, it is full of suffering. After all the Bible says that through many tribulations we must enter the kingdom of God. The early Christian church suffered much. But what is suffering, when compared to the joy set before us? The Bible describes the kingdom of heaven as a treasure hidden in the field, which a man sold all he had in order to buy it after discovering it. Jesus himself even rebuked this notion of sacrifice, saying that "no one who has left home or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or fields for me and the gospel will fail to receive a hundred times as much in this present age (homes, brothers, sisters, mothers, children and fields—and with them, persecutions) and in the age to come, eternal life." This is in fact quite a bold statement and there is much truth in it.
If small things can give us so much pleasure and joy, then what about the greatest thing there is in the universe, God himself? Because through Jesus, we can in fact come before the throne of God and call Him father. That relationships is our conduit, our river of joy.
That's probably Satan's greatest deception! Christianity is not about legalism. It's not about do's and dont's. It's a story of grace and love, it is about the hope of eternal joy. It's about exchanging the temporary pleasures of this world for what satisfies forever. And when this joy in God bubbles up in you, it overflows to other people. This is what love really is. It is not a willpower religion. It is a fight for joy. And the fight only begins when we choose to accept Jesus as our Lord, as our Saviour and as the thing we will treasure most above all else. Then the Spirit of God comes and dwells in us, and the fight between the desires of our flesh and the desires of God
take root. But it is a battle that can be won, and will eventually be won, if we look to God for strength to run this race with perseverance. So that at the end of our lives we can say that I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. And then we are reunited in heaven with God.
I know that this doesn't even begin to touch on many of the issues. Such as that that man is by nature evil. Or the contradiction that God needs us which is not true. But there is one message I want to get across. There is a story too good to not be true. And if you've read it, and its knocking at your door, it is a once in a lifetime offer of grace that you don't want to miss. For those who have lost sight of that grace and got caught up in the legalism, the do's and dont's of Christianity, now is the time to turn back in your pursuit of joy in God.
This is not a joyless life. And I can testify to that. So look at all those mirrors that reflect the fact that you're not good enough to go into heaven and say: I know I'm not good enough but I know the One who is more than good enough for me.
When we get so caught up in our individuality, we lose sight of a lot of things.
Which in fact leads to one of the most dominant worldviews of religion today - that we earn our way to heaven. Having to do good works to satisfy God's demands. Thus when we believe in a certain religion, we are condemned to a life of slavery and struggling to do good against our inner nature.
I would have to agree that we enter a life of slavery, and I do agree that our inner nature always fights against our wanting to do good.
Except for one thing.
Because of His great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions - it is by grace you have been saved. Ephesians 2: 4-5
In that one biblical statement, the root of the Christian faith is summed up. God is the judge yes, but he is also merciful. And because He loves us, he made us alive with Christ - now this is the key part, because no one can come before God except through Jesus - even when we were dead in transgressions - it is a fact that we are all dead in our evilness. Nothing we do can save ourselves, no matter the number of good deeds, we are inherently, by nature, evil.
And it is by grace we have been saved. Grace is an amazing thing isn't it. It's just like saying George Bush captures Osama bin Laden, then says, alright you're off the hook.
I myself, for one, would be outraged. And unless you're an Osama supporter, you would be horrified at this act of grace.
Except that God did that for us. It is by His grace we are no longer judged, as long as we are in Christ Jesus.
Many reject this simple offer, because they believe that it is too good to be true. We humans are by nature suspicious of offers too good to be true, because we think we are being conned. And this is exactly what is happening, but it is the devil that is the conman - he arouses our suspicions so that we become wary of this simple offer.
Someone once said, that in fact, this is a story too good to not be true. And this grace is indeed too good to not be true. Redeemed and the way to heaven open for us. It is too good to not be true. The inner child in us seizes at this opportunity, just as how a sick man would seize any cure within grasp in his desperation.
I'm not saying the Christian life is free of suffering. In fact, contrary, it is full of suffering. After all the Bible says that through many tribulations we must enter the kingdom of God. The early Christian church suffered much. But what is suffering, when compared to the joy set before us? The Bible describes the kingdom of heaven as a treasure hidden in the field, which a man sold all he had in order to buy it after discovering it. Jesus himself even rebuked this notion of sacrifice, saying that "no one who has left home or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or fields for me and the gospel will fail to receive a hundred times as much in this present age (homes, brothers, sisters, mothers, children and fields—and with them, persecutions) and in the age to come, eternal life." This is in fact quite a bold statement and there is much truth in it.
If small things can give us so much pleasure and joy, then what about the greatest thing there is in the universe, God himself? Because through Jesus, we can in fact come before the throne of God and call Him father. That relationships is our conduit, our river of joy.
That's probably Satan's greatest deception! Christianity is not about legalism. It's not about do's and dont's. It's a story of grace and love, it is about the hope of eternal joy. It's about exchanging the temporary pleasures of this world for what satisfies forever. And when this joy in God bubbles up in you, it overflows to other people. This is what love really is. It is not a willpower religion. It is a fight for joy. And the fight only begins when we choose to accept Jesus as our Lord, as our Saviour and as the thing we will treasure most above all else. Then the Spirit of God comes and dwells in us, and the fight between the desires of our flesh and the desires of God
take root. But it is a battle that can be won, and will eventually be won, if we look to God for strength to run this race with perseverance. So that at the end of our lives we can say that I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. And then we are reunited in heaven with God.
I know that this doesn't even begin to touch on many of the issues. Such as that that man is by nature evil. Or the contradiction that God needs us which is not true. But there is one message I want to get across. There is a story too good to not be true. And if you've read it, and its knocking at your door, it is a once in a lifetime offer of grace that you don't want to miss. For those who have lost sight of that grace and got caught up in the legalism, the do's and dont's of Christianity, now is the time to turn back in your pursuit of joy in God.
This is not a joyless life. And I can testify to that. So look at all those mirrors that reflect the fact that you're not good enough to go into heaven and say: I know I'm not good enough but I know the One who is more than good enough for me.
Sunday, May 06, 2007
The weekend is out
The weekend is coming to an end.
I could also say the week is coming to an end, i.e. it is the end of the week, therefore it is the end of the weekend.
Then we have the people who will argue that Sunday is the first day of the week, although that is indeed what our calendars try to impress upon us - as you can see, it starts with a red S, not a M.
Mmm. Ramble time over.
It was a nice weekend. Youth group at church watched Luther. That was a pretty interesting movie. Just wondered whether the real Luther was as eloquent in his speech as he was in his writing. But the movie was quite inspirational in a sense. One of the modern heroes of the faith.
Wanted to watch Spiderman 3, but the queues are horrible. Which remind me of a newspaper article where kids were crying because they couldn't watch the movie as they couldn't get tickets. Moral of the story: reserve in advance.
I've always liked the weekends. Being with my church family and all is very refreshing, when you are among like minded people, pursuing the same passions.
And speaking of that, school is over in two weeks. Maybe I'll come to miss the weekdays too.
Book I'm currently reading: When I Don't Desire God: How to Fight for Joy. A must read. After reading the book before that: Desiring God. Both are by John Piper. I blame/thank Matt for his influence in this regard.
I'm not quite in the frame of mind (nor do i have the time) for a philosophical post. So I think I'll go to bed now. Currently trying to get into the habit of waking up early. Devotion times in the morning are highly recommended but I'm always just too tired - I'm the kind of person who falls into the category of "I can stay up but I can't wake up".
As for summer plans - yep I'm already thinking about summer - there are a few things on my agenda. After Kinabalu - the weeks before that will be spent getting into a bit of shape and finishing my driving - I'm planning to do something constructive. Not sure what that will be yet. Maybe learn a skill in who knows what. I also have to wrap up a few unfinished things, such as certain videos for those of you who kinda know what I'm referring to. And then who knows from there? Would also be a good time to read all the books on that recommended list for Cambridge. Bleargh. Quite an exhaustive list. Lol. Hope they're interesting.
I've finished the Command and Conquer 3 campaign. Pretty enjoyable game. Although it's distracted me from my studies. I highly recommend it, although it must be said I'm at heart a C&C fan. I'm also pretty thankful that the football season wraps up on May 19th, before the exams, so that's one less distraction - although i was looking forward to proving the Ellis Football-ExamGrades correlation wrong.
And finally, to wrap up my ramble. I know i did say end of ramble at the start, but how was i to anticipate that this post would end up with more ramble. And since we're on the subject of anticipation, I'm looking forward to Remedy. Hahaha. Should be a fantastic album.
I could also say the week is coming to an end, i.e. it is the end of the week, therefore it is the end of the weekend.
Then we have the people who will argue that Sunday is the first day of the week, although that is indeed what our calendars try to impress upon us - as you can see, it starts with a red S, not a M.
Mmm. Ramble time over.
It was a nice weekend. Youth group at church watched Luther. That was a pretty interesting movie. Just wondered whether the real Luther was as eloquent in his speech as he was in his writing. But the movie was quite inspirational in a sense. One of the modern heroes of the faith.
Wanted to watch Spiderman 3, but the queues are horrible. Which remind me of a newspaper article where kids were crying because they couldn't watch the movie as they couldn't get tickets. Moral of the story: reserve in advance.
I've always liked the weekends. Being with my church family and all is very refreshing, when you are among like minded people, pursuing the same passions.
And speaking of that, school is over in two weeks. Maybe I'll come to miss the weekdays too.
Book I'm currently reading: When I Don't Desire God: How to Fight for Joy. A must read. After reading the book before that: Desiring God. Both are by John Piper. I blame/thank Matt for his influence in this regard.
I'm not quite in the frame of mind (nor do i have the time) for a philosophical post. So I think I'll go to bed now. Currently trying to get into the habit of waking up early. Devotion times in the morning are highly recommended but I'm always just too tired - I'm the kind of person who falls into the category of "I can stay up but I can't wake up".
As for summer plans - yep I'm already thinking about summer - there are a few things on my agenda. After Kinabalu - the weeks before that will be spent getting into a bit of shape and finishing my driving - I'm planning to do something constructive. Not sure what that will be yet. Maybe learn a skill in who knows what. I also have to wrap up a few unfinished things, such as certain videos for those of you who kinda know what I'm referring to. And then who knows from there? Would also be a good time to read all the books on that recommended list for Cambridge. Bleargh. Quite an exhaustive list. Lol. Hope they're interesting.
I've finished the Command and Conquer 3 campaign. Pretty enjoyable game. Although it's distracted me from my studies. I highly recommend it, although it must be said I'm at heart a C&C fan. I'm also pretty thankful that the football season wraps up on May 19th, before the exams, so that's one less distraction - although i was looking forward to proving the Ellis Football-ExamGrades correlation wrong.
And finally, to wrap up my ramble. I know i did say end of ramble at the start, but how was i to anticipate that this post would end up with more ramble. And since we're on the subject of anticipation, I'm looking forward to Remedy. Hahaha. Should be a fantastic album.
Wednesday, May 02, 2007
What is your temperament?
I spent the last three days at my church camp. Which means one thing: I didn't get any work done. Bleargh.
Anyways, a brief overview of what we did. We had lots of fun and really interesting main sessions and workshops. One of them was about identifying your temperament - which for the sake of time had apparently been shortened considerably.
So the temperaments are described as the fundamental determinants of who we are - our actions, our personality, our motivations, e.t.c. And we have roughly 4 temperaments. To keep this short, I'll summarise what they were: the first is the 'sanguine' or 'happy-go-lucky' person who tends to enjoy life and is generally the life of the party, making friends easily and generally plunges headfirst into everything. The second is the 'choleric', who is brilliant in leading others and solving problems, matching intuition with ability to almost always make the correct decision. The third is the 'melancholic' or 'serious and sensitive' type, the latter which more or less sums up what he's like. This type of person tend to be more intelligent and excels in many vocations, with a tendency to desire perfectionism. The fourth is the 'phlegmatic', who is the 'cool and steady' person, taking life at a slow and steady pace. This person is often the quiet, reserved person who observes everything, analysing and evaluating everything at his own pace. And thus he makes a good listener, and often a good giver of advice when asked.
Of course all these 4 temperaments have their downside. These are logically deriviated. For example, the sanguine person tends to be restless and unable to stick to a single task, always wanting to jump from thing to thing in search of fun. The choleric always tends to be right, and is driven to maintain his 'rightness', thus often trampling on those who get in his way, adopting a sense of superiority and never willing to experience defeat in anything. The melancholic who takes life too seriously ends up being all bottled up and self centered and worrying too much about things. This person would also be called 'emo'. Lol. And the phlegmatic tends to border on being sluggish and lazy, wasting much time, and in his relationships tends to be stubborn, not willing to listen to advice.
So anyways, there I was looking at the bunch of characteristics. For the sake of length, I have in fact shortened the list of attributes that might help to determine the make up of your temperament. And I was wondering what my temperament was - by the way, there are two: one is your primary and one is your secondary. Haha. For those of you who know me, I'm definitely a choleric. Mr. I'm-always-right, I can do everything myself and no problem is too big that I can't solve it. What I'm trying to figure out is what my other temperament is. Am I melancholic or phlegmatic? I have the strengths of a melancholic but none of its weaknesses, yet I also have SOME of the strengths AND half of the weaknesses. As I see it, the balance is finely poised. In short, I'm both slow and steady in my ways and also serious and sensitive, when I'm not my choleric, overpowering self. Mmm. The vote seems to be swinging heavily towards melancholic.
But how about you help me decide?
I will see about posting a more comprehensive list.
Anyways, a brief overview of what we did. We had lots of fun and really interesting main sessions and workshops. One of them was about identifying your temperament - which for the sake of time had apparently been shortened considerably.
So the temperaments are described as the fundamental determinants of who we are - our actions, our personality, our motivations, e.t.c. And we have roughly 4 temperaments. To keep this short, I'll summarise what they were: the first is the 'sanguine' or 'happy-go-lucky' person who tends to enjoy life and is generally the life of the party, making friends easily and generally plunges headfirst into everything. The second is the 'choleric', who is brilliant in leading others and solving problems, matching intuition with ability to almost always make the correct decision. The third is the 'melancholic' or 'serious and sensitive' type, the latter which more or less sums up what he's like. This type of person tend to be more intelligent and excels in many vocations, with a tendency to desire perfectionism. The fourth is the 'phlegmatic', who is the 'cool and steady' person, taking life at a slow and steady pace. This person is often the quiet, reserved person who observes everything, analysing and evaluating everything at his own pace. And thus he makes a good listener, and often a good giver of advice when asked.
Of course all these 4 temperaments have their downside. These are logically deriviated. For example, the sanguine person tends to be restless and unable to stick to a single task, always wanting to jump from thing to thing in search of fun. The choleric always tends to be right, and is driven to maintain his 'rightness', thus often trampling on those who get in his way, adopting a sense of superiority and never willing to experience defeat in anything. The melancholic who takes life too seriously ends up being all bottled up and self centered and worrying too much about things. This person would also be called 'emo'. Lol. And the phlegmatic tends to border on being sluggish and lazy, wasting much time, and in his relationships tends to be stubborn, not willing to listen to advice.
So anyways, there I was looking at the bunch of characteristics. For the sake of length, I have in fact shortened the list of attributes that might help to determine the make up of your temperament. And I was wondering what my temperament was - by the way, there are two: one is your primary and one is your secondary. Haha. For those of you who know me, I'm definitely a choleric. Mr. I'm-always-right, I can do everything myself and no problem is too big that I can't solve it. What I'm trying to figure out is what my other temperament is. Am I melancholic or phlegmatic? I have the strengths of a melancholic but none of its weaknesses, yet I also have SOME of the strengths AND half of the weaknesses. As I see it, the balance is finely poised. In short, I'm both slow and steady in my ways and also serious and sensitive, when I'm not my choleric, overpowering self. Mmm. The vote seems to be swinging heavily towards melancholic.
But how about you help me decide?
I will see about posting a more comprehensive list.
Sunday, April 22, 2007
Disenchantment - An evaluation of my spiritual condition
That pretty much sums up how I've been feeling lately. Well I'm pretty sure I got the word right - as in nothing fascinates you any more.
And it's a horrible feeling.
What are the things I'm disenchanted with?
1) School
2) Hours after school
Haha. Yeah...things are boring me out. I mean there's quite a bit of work to be getting on with but I just find no gain in the things I do. There's no excitement and every day is lived in so much routine.
The human soul was created to be fascinated. And I think as bleak as this period of my life is, it has taught me at least one thing - this life can only satisfy so much, then it gets boring.
Of course the problem comes when you try to go to God to get satisfied, and you don't seem to get anything out of it. If the first thing was horrible, I think this borders on suicidal.
Lol. Umm. I am not suicidal btw. Just a choice of words - quite apt in a certain sense, for those who know what I mean.
But yeah, I think everyone has dark periods in their life like these. My last one was quite a long time back, about two years back, when my life felt quite aimless.
This time round though, I've learnt one thing. Its moments like these, when the darkness seems oppressive, stifling, suffocating the joy out of life, its moments like these when God's light shines brightest. It's just a matter of waiting for the light to come - because it will. God is the everlasting God. Even in the darkness He reigns. And He will place a limit on what we have to endure and lift us up when our time of testing is finished.
For those who have believed, John Piper calls us to fight for joy like a justified sinner. We often take for granted the power of the cross of Christ. I'm doing injustice to a great book (When I Don't Desire God: How to Fight for Joy by John Piper) which I think is a great book for those who just feel stuck and stagnant in their relationship with God, but to summarise the key bit to this concept, the idea is that the fight for joy is a fight to see the glory of God - because Piper argues that the Bible preaches the idea that "God is most glorified in us when we are most satisfied in Him" and our satisfaction only comes when we see God for who He really is, i.e. glorious. And the glory of God is most tangible in the cross of Christ.
Paul says it himself when he says "Far be it from me to boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ (Gal 6:14)". Our primary source of power is found there. Because there we see God in His full glory - the merciful and compassionate God who loved us so much that He died to take away our sins, something we could not do ourselves. The story of the cross, the story of redemption is the full display of the glory of God. And thus it is there that we are most satisfied. God gives us little glimpses of His glory in our daily lives, but none compares to the fact of Christ crucified and risen.
It's like this David Crowder song, Heaven Came Down:
Heaven came down and glory filled my soul/When at the cross my Savior made me whole/My sins were washed away/And my night was turned to day/When heaven came down and glory filled my soul/O what a wonderful wonderful day/Day I will never forget/When I was wandering in darkness away/Jesus my Savior I met/O what a tender compassionate Friend/He met the need of my heart/Shadows dispelling with joy I am telling/He made all the darkness depart/O what a wonderful wonderful day/And O what a glorious glorious day/The day you came, came to save me/O what a wonderful wonderful day/The day you came and you saved me
And Piper acknowledges that the fight for joy exists. Christianity doesn't promise instant gratification. There are moments of darkness. And the biblical writers had their moments. But Piper encourages us to fight with what he calls ' gutsy guilt'. In Micah 7 : 8-9, (Rejoice not over me, O my enemy; when I fall, I shall rise; when I sit in darkness, the LORD will be a light to me. I will bear the indignation of the LORD because I have sinned against him, until he pleads my cause and executes judgment for me. He will bring me out to the light; I shall look upon his vindication.), Micah acknowledges that moments of darkness exist. Because we are truly sinners and we deserve to bear the indignation/anger of God.
But here's the amazing truth here. For those of us who have believed and have been justified by faith in Jesus Christ, we do not face the wrath of an angry judge but the discipline of a loving father. And so while we bear the indignation of God, we have to but wait a little longer, when God will lift His darkness and restore our joy. And this joy is all the more sweeter. It's like how an ice-cream tastes much better after baking in the sun all day rather than having spent the day in a freezing room. The contrast emphasises it.
And Piper calls this manner of fight for joy the way of gutsy guilt. Because while we acknowledge that we're guilty, when the enemy (for most of us this would be the devil) rubs it in our faces, we can stand up and say that God will be my light. He is for me. He will not forsake me. Because of what He had first done for us at the cross. Moreover, God will execute judgment for us - now the tables are turned on our enemy.
Piper contrasts this with 'cheap grace', which I would succinctly described as a "all will be good and happy. If things are going bad, then you do not have faith" sort of doctrine. The fact is that we have really fallen short of God's standards. There is real judgment for what we have done. There is a darkness we have to face. But because of the cross, in what was once a dark world, we have a hope - the promise of the light of God. This light may sometimes seem dim, but it's always there and in our greatest moment of darkness, if we can seize hold of the power of the cross and the fact that we have already been made righteous, we can endure until God chooses to lift the oppressiveness of the darkness.
Haha. I have to say that was pretty heavy doctrine there. But the darkness is real. It suffocates and stifles our joy. The fact is the Christian life is not all prosperous and comfortable. But there is joy. An eternal joy. Because in the darkness, when life seems to go nowhere, we can lay hold to the power of the cross - that Jesus has redeemed us - and that will be enough for us, until God lifts the darkness and a greater joy descends upon us.
And for those who don't believe, the offer of joy is still free and available for all those who choose to believe. Because I can tell you that night is here, but morning will come for those who hold fast to the joy that is found in the power of the cross. And then this life wont seem so bad, because we have a light to lead us through the darkness, to heaven where we will be forever satisfied in the presence of our great and glorious God.
Lol. In fact I'm feeling a little bit happier now. Haha. I think it helped to get this off my chest into the open.
And it's a horrible feeling.
What are the things I'm disenchanted with?
1) School
2) Hours after school
Haha. Yeah...things are boring me out. I mean there's quite a bit of work to be getting on with but I just find no gain in the things I do. There's no excitement and every day is lived in so much routine.
The human soul was created to be fascinated. And I think as bleak as this period of my life is, it has taught me at least one thing - this life can only satisfy so much, then it gets boring.
Of course the problem comes when you try to go to God to get satisfied, and you don't seem to get anything out of it. If the first thing was horrible, I think this borders on suicidal.
Lol. Umm. I am not suicidal btw. Just a choice of words - quite apt in a certain sense, for those who know what I mean.
But yeah, I think everyone has dark periods in their life like these. My last one was quite a long time back, about two years back, when my life felt quite aimless.
This time round though, I've learnt one thing. Its moments like these, when the darkness seems oppressive, stifling, suffocating the joy out of life, its moments like these when God's light shines brightest. It's just a matter of waiting for the light to come - because it will. God is the everlasting God. Even in the darkness He reigns. And He will place a limit on what we have to endure and lift us up when our time of testing is finished.
For those who have believed, John Piper calls us to fight for joy like a justified sinner. We often take for granted the power of the cross of Christ. I'm doing injustice to a great book (When I Don't Desire God: How to Fight for Joy by John Piper) which I think is a great book for those who just feel stuck and stagnant in their relationship with God, but to summarise the key bit to this concept, the idea is that the fight for joy is a fight to see the glory of God - because Piper argues that the Bible preaches the idea that "God is most glorified in us when we are most satisfied in Him" and our satisfaction only comes when we see God for who He really is, i.e. glorious. And the glory of God is most tangible in the cross of Christ.
Paul says it himself when he says "Far be it from me to boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ (Gal 6:14)". Our primary source of power is found there. Because there we see God in His full glory - the merciful and compassionate God who loved us so much that He died to take away our sins, something we could not do ourselves. The story of the cross, the story of redemption is the full display of the glory of God. And thus it is there that we are most satisfied. God gives us little glimpses of His glory in our daily lives, but none compares to the fact of Christ crucified and risen.
It's like this David Crowder song, Heaven Came Down:
Heaven came down and glory filled my soul/When at the cross my Savior made me whole/My sins were washed away/And my night was turned to day/When heaven came down and glory filled my soul/O what a wonderful wonderful day/Day I will never forget/When I was wandering in darkness away/Jesus my Savior I met/O what a tender compassionate Friend/He met the need of my heart/Shadows dispelling with joy I am telling/He made all the darkness depart/O what a wonderful wonderful day/And O what a glorious glorious day/The day you came, came to save me/O what a wonderful wonderful day/The day you came and you saved me
And Piper acknowledges that the fight for joy exists. Christianity doesn't promise instant gratification. There are moments of darkness. And the biblical writers had their moments. But Piper encourages us to fight with what he calls ' gutsy guilt'. In Micah 7 : 8-9, (Rejoice not over me, O my enemy; when I fall, I shall rise; when I sit in darkness, the LORD will be a light to me. I will bear the indignation of the LORD because I have sinned against him, until he pleads my cause and executes judgment for me. He will bring me out to the light; I shall look upon his vindication.), Micah acknowledges that moments of darkness exist. Because we are truly sinners and we deserve to bear the indignation/anger of God.
But here's the amazing truth here. For those of us who have believed and have been justified by faith in Jesus Christ, we do not face the wrath of an angry judge but the discipline of a loving father. And so while we bear the indignation of God, we have to but wait a little longer, when God will lift His darkness and restore our joy. And this joy is all the more sweeter. It's like how an ice-cream tastes much better after baking in the sun all day rather than having spent the day in a freezing room. The contrast emphasises it.
And Piper calls this manner of fight for joy the way of gutsy guilt. Because while we acknowledge that we're guilty, when the enemy (for most of us this would be the devil) rubs it in our faces, we can stand up and say that God will be my light. He is for me. He will not forsake me. Because of what He had first done for us at the cross. Moreover, God will execute judgment for us - now the tables are turned on our enemy.
Piper contrasts this with 'cheap grace', which I would succinctly described as a "all will be good and happy. If things are going bad, then you do not have faith" sort of doctrine. The fact is that we have really fallen short of God's standards. There is real judgment for what we have done. There is a darkness we have to face. But because of the cross, in what was once a dark world, we have a hope - the promise of the light of God. This light may sometimes seem dim, but it's always there and in our greatest moment of darkness, if we can seize hold of the power of the cross and the fact that we have already been made righteous, we can endure until God chooses to lift the oppressiveness of the darkness.
Haha. I have to say that was pretty heavy doctrine there. But the darkness is real. It suffocates and stifles our joy. The fact is the Christian life is not all prosperous and comfortable. But there is joy. An eternal joy. Because in the darkness, when life seems to go nowhere, we can lay hold to the power of the cross - that Jesus has redeemed us - and that will be enough for us, until God lifts the darkness and a greater joy descends upon us.
And for those who don't believe, the offer of joy is still free and available for all those who choose to believe. Because I can tell you that night is here, but morning will come for those who hold fast to the joy that is found in the power of the cross. And then this life wont seem so bad, because we have a light to lead us through the darkness, to heaven where we will be forever satisfied in the presence of our great and glorious God.
Lol. In fact I'm feeling a little bit happier now. Haha. I think it helped to get this off my chest into the open.
Tuesday, April 17, 2007
When Silence Falls
This may comes across as a depressing post for some of you. But I just feel some things have to be said...
Some things just shock you to your very core.
Like the Virginia Tech shooting. 33 lives gone. Just like that.
Living in Malaysia, I am pretty grateful, that despite all the fallacies of this country, it is a safe place by comparison.
But things like these just feel so inexplainable. It reminds me of the year before, when one of the guys in my year died just like that after being stabbed.
You feel indignation, anger, a need for justice, a need to right wrongs, especially when it becomes personal.
To many death is the ultimate foe. It is unbeatable. The sting unbearable.
But why do I feel so shock when 33 people die, and when all over the world 0.86% of the population dies every year, which works out to roughly 1.8 persons dying a second or 156773 people dying a day, I hardly blink an eye?
Is it because it was 'before their time'? That they had their whole lives ahead of them? That it was unfair for them to die because they did not deserve it?
The fact remains that people die, eventually. Immortality on this earth is a sham. Medicine might prolong our lives. But then we die.
And it is this very fact that should lead you to ask the very question: To what end am I living this life? What happens after I die? Am I living life to the fullest here?
Questions like these beg more than simple answers.
Because until you find these answers, life is but a fleeting thought, a vapor in the wind, a flower that blooms then shrivels and dies.
And that kind of life is not worth living.
For all those just trying to get through the next few hours, for those finding answers, for those looking for hope, for those in pain and sorrow, for those in the darkest night of their life, for those who can no longer find words to express yourself, when silence falls it is then you hear the whisper of God. If you would but listen. If you would but ask God for eyes to see the truth.
The truth is that while the world seems to be heading for ruin, God is still God, through it all. And when all around is fading, when nothing seems to last, we still have hope in a Saviour who has rescued us from the sting of death. And in Him, we find strength to live every hour of our life. And while rescue is present in every moment of our life, when we need Him to pull us out of the darkness of the pit we find ourselves in, there is a greater rescue that is coming. When He comes to bring us back to Him. The victory has been won but just wait a little longer.
That is the story of Easter.
Some things just shock you to your very core.
Like the Virginia Tech shooting. 33 lives gone. Just like that.
Living in Malaysia, I am pretty grateful, that despite all the fallacies of this country, it is a safe place by comparison.
But things like these just feel so inexplainable. It reminds me of the year before, when one of the guys in my year died just like that after being stabbed.
You feel indignation, anger, a need for justice, a need to right wrongs, especially when it becomes personal.
To many death is the ultimate foe. It is unbeatable. The sting unbearable.
But why do I feel so shock when 33 people die, and when all over the world 0.86% of the population dies every year, which works out to roughly 1.8 persons dying a second or 156773 people dying a day, I hardly blink an eye?
Is it because it was 'before their time'? That they had their whole lives ahead of them? That it was unfair for them to die because they did not deserve it?
The fact remains that people die, eventually. Immortality on this earth is a sham. Medicine might prolong our lives. But then we die.
And it is this very fact that should lead you to ask the very question: To what end am I living this life? What happens after I die? Am I living life to the fullest here?
Questions like these beg more than simple answers.
Because until you find these answers, life is but a fleeting thought, a vapor in the wind, a flower that blooms then shrivels and dies.
And that kind of life is not worth living.
For all those just trying to get through the next few hours, for those finding answers, for those looking for hope, for those in pain and sorrow, for those in the darkest night of their life, for those who can no longer find words to express yourself, when silence falls it is then you hear the whisper of God. If you would but listen. If you would but ask God for eyes to see the truth.
The truth is that while the world seems to be heading for ruin, God is still God, through it all. And when all around is fading, when nothing seems to last, we still have hope in a Saviour who has rescued us from the sting of death. And in Him, we find strength to live every hour of our life. And while rescue is present in every moment of our life, when we need Him to pull us out of the darkness of the pit we find ourselves in, there is a greater rescue that is coming. When He comes to bring us back to Him. The victory has been won but just wait a little longer.
That is the story of Easter.
Sunday, April 15, 2007
Thirty three (33)
For some reason, my printer screen is in German. Well, at least I think it's German. Mmm. Still trying to discover where the language settings are.
Anyways, 33 is the number of days to go before school is finished.
Officially.
Although there are exams.
But it's school that I dislike.
The many things I dislike about school include: the really tedious homework, the early hours, the sometimes boring lessons which are of no benefit, lousy canteen food that is the main cause of my malnutrition - you're better off starving in this respect
The many more things I like about school: accounting classes - I am one big distraction, further math classes - another distraction, people in school, the times when I'm not feeling sleepy
But overall the hours and the boredom kind of tip the scale in favour of me disliking school.
Anyways enough of my school gripe.
I currently have no interesting thoughts of the day. Kinda. I do have this thought i came up with but it slipped my mind. Also, I'm currently wondering how I (and am pretty sure other people do this as well) seem to waste the hours away in front of the computer doing nothing and mucking around. It's seriously unproductive and yet time just flies when you're doing nothing.
It's a mystery. Attempting to figure out how the time is actually used.
Anyways, 33 is the number of days to go before school is finished.
Officially.
Although there are exams.
But it's school that I dislike.
The many things I dislike about school include: the really tedious homework, the early hours, the sometimes boring lessons which are of no benefit, lousy canteen food that is the main cause of my malnutrition - you're better off starving in this respect
The many more things I like about school: accounting classes - I am one big distraction, further math classes - another distraction, people in school, the times when I'm not feeling sleepy
But overall the hours and the boredom kind of tip the scale in favour of me disliking school.
Anyways enough of my school gripe.
I currently have no interesting thoughts of the day. Kinda. I do have this thought i came up with but it slipped my mind. Also, I'm currently wondering how I (and am pretty sure other people do this as well) seem to waste the hours away in front of the computer doing nothing and mucking around. It's seriously unproductive and yet time just flies when you're doing nothing.
It's a mystery. Attempting to figure out how the time is actually used.
Saturday, April 14, 2007
Sleepless in KL
*warning* the following post may contain graphic descriptions. Reader discretion is adviced. *warning*
Phlegm.
The very word just sounds really phlegmy.
Haha. The wonders of the English language.
I've spent the second week of the Easter break pretty sick, for the first three days. And then there comes all that lingering phlegm. Which just wakes you up at night so you can sip some water and clear your respiratory channels because the phlegm moves up into your nose. After all phlegm, mucus, nose boogies are all the same thing, just in different parts of the body and all that technical stuff. So anyways when morning comes, there are a bunch of tissues with green semi-solid substances in it, which have migrated from my throat up my nose down onto the tissue. And it's a pretty distracting migration.
So yeah the previous night are kind of sleepless because I end up waking up a lot. I think this is really slowing down my recovery as a result.
Ahh well....
On another note, because I tend to like my posts to be more educational, I'll talk on a subject close to my heart.
I mean that pretty literally, since it's in fact right next to me.
Haha.
Computer games.
Now, I'll place myself in the category of a person that loves the following type of game: all Command and Conquer games (I have to get myself the third one soon - looks sooooo good, but i digress); building games, because at heart I love planning and building stuff and seeing the money roll in and things grow etc etc; role playing games although lately there's been a dearth of ones i like. I kinda hate the long convoluted adventures where you get lost without a walkthrough and requires so much walking in jungles and dungeons and stuff. Give me a quick story to blast through. Best RPG I've ever played? An oldie, the Fallout series. Although apparently Fallout 3 is in the works, under the production of the creators of ElderScrolls - should be good. Then there are the odd game or two i enjoy once in a while, like Civilisation IV, and other real time strategy games like warhammer and thing like that. Oh and don't forget the FIFA series, which I'm pretty good at albeit a bit rusty.
And I didn't forget first person shooters, because i personally dislike them. They're nice to play multiplayer. But I just don't like the gameplay. It's way too brainless. Puzzles are just there as eye candy for whatever new physics engine they've created. Most of you will disagree. I will agree to disagree.
But anyways, here's the game that bothers me.
Grand Theft Auto.
Mmm. One of the first games to make the leap from 2D to 3D. I have to say when GTA3 was released, I went ooh-ahh over the whole gameplay, which was just really cool.
Then of course the series starts evolving. GTA3 was clean. Very clean. Especially when compared to GTA: San Andreas. Now that last one, I hated. All the vulgarity, the blatant criminality.
Wait a minute, that's what GTA is at heart - a game where you are a criminal. (Getting into a police car and playing vigilante still makes you a criminal, which explains why the police are always after Batman in that whole universe, which is pretty ironic considering that without Batman, they're a pretty impotent force)
So anyways people who read the news, even just gaming news will know that (eventhough this is old news), that GTA has sparked a whole bunch of controversy. Issues like: does the game glorify violence and sex and all that? etc. And in turn what effect is it having on the kids of this generation? Mmmm. Very deep questions.
I have to say that computer games are my one weakness. I easily succumb to addiction, if the game is really good. (dumb command and conquer and city building game developers) Anyways the point which I'm trying to consider is this:
I know these kind of games are bad, especially games like GTA. But at the same time the gameplay's just so engrossing. But here's how I quit that series for good.
When I was playing the vice city version (which wasn't that derogatory yet), my then 7 year old cousin comes over and I'm driving this really fast car speeding down the highway and my cousin LOVES racing games. So I thought, ahh this game is pretty harmless, let him get in the car, let me turn on the invulnerability cheat and let him crash and bang and drive all he wants.
Now fast forward one year later, and San Andreas gets released. The covers look virtually similar to a kid that young. San Andreas is definitely deserving of its mature rating, although it pushes me to question whether having to resort to use of much vulgarity and other indecencies is actually a mature thing to start with - it's more of an immature maturity (a phrase which makes no sense).
SO anyways he pesters me to want to play it, and I think the elements in this game are just so horrible, I hide the game and blatantly lie to his face that I forgot to delete the shortcut on the desktop. (I uninstalled the game later that day)
Because we should never expose kids to this sort of thing.
Sure people say it's the real world. Stop protecting them
Well, here's the newsflash, it's actually not the real world. It's a MTV culture. There was a news article that day, with the owner of MTV saying they control the teenagers of this generation. The only reason why the culture is the way it is today is because people say that's how it has always been, when in the first place it has never always been like this, but because of ignorant persistence we assume the culture is as such, i.e. culture is what culture says.
Haha. That's a chunky statement to digest but the moral of the story is this.
Make a stand. Let's chuck out all the undesirable elements and transform the deteriorating morality of today's culture. Because culture is what culture says, say something different.
Say something morally right.
(This post is long enough already. So I have to refrain from delving into the spiritual elements of such an issue. And of course the whole issue could span pages and pages. So I've just written what's on my mind and quickly jump from intro to conclusion. The processing bits have to be left out.)
Phlegm.
The very word just sounds really phlegmy.
Haha. The wonders of the English language.
I've spent the second week of the Easter break pretty sick, for the first three days. And then there comes all that lingering phlegm. Which just wakes you up at night so you can sip some water and clear your respiratory channels because the phlegm moves up into your nose. After all phlegm, mucus, nose boogies are all the same thing, just in different parts of the body and all that technical stuff. So anyways when morning comes, there are a bunch of tissues with green semi-solid substances in it, which have migrated from my throat up my nose down onto the tissue. And it's a pretty distracting migration.
So yeah the previous night are kind of sleepless because I end up waking up a lot. I think this is really slowing down my recovery as a result.
Ahh well....
On another note, because I tend to like my posts to be more educational, I'll talk on a subject close to my heart.
I mean that pretty literally, since it's in fact right next to me.
Haha.
Computer games.
Now, I'll place myself in the category of a person that loves the following type of game: all Command and Conquer games (I have to get myself the third one soon - looks sooooo good, but i digress); building games, because at heart I love planning and building stuff and seeing the money roll in and things grow etc etc; role playing games although lately there's been a dearth of ones i like. I kinda hate the long convoluted adventures where you get lost without a walkthrough and requires so much walking in jungles and dungeons and stuff. Give me a quick story to blast through. Best RPG I've ever played? An oldie, the Fallout series. Although apparently Fallout 3 is in the works, under the production of the creators of ElderScrolls - should be good. Then there are the odd game or two i enjoy once in a while, like Civilisation IV, and other real time strategy games like warhammer and thing like that. Oh and don't forget the FIFA series, which I'm pretty good at albeit a bit rusty.
And I didn't forget first person shooters, because i personally dislike them. They're nice to play multiplayer. But I just don't like the gameplay. It's way too brainless. Puzzles are just there as eye candy for whatever new physics engine they've created. Most of you will disagree. I will agree to disagree.
But anyways, here's the game that bothers me.
Grand Theft Auto.
Mmm. One of the first games to make the leap from 2D to 3D. I have to say when GTA3 was released, I went ooh-ahh over the whole gameplay, which was just really cool.
Then of course the series starts evolving. GTA3 was clean. Very clean. Especially when compared to GTA: San Andreas. Now that last one, I hated. All the vulgarity, the blatant criminality.
Wait a minute, that's what GTA is at heart - a game where you are a criminal. (Getting into a police car and playing vigilante still makes you a criminal, which explains why the police are always after Batman in that whole universe, which is pretty ironic considering that without Batman, they're a pretty impotent force)
So anyways people who read the news, even just gaming news will know that (eventhough this is old news), that GTA has sparked a whole bunch of controversy. Issues like: does the game glorify violence and sex and all that? etc. And in turn what effect is it having on the kids of this generation? Mmmm. Very deep questions.
I have to say that computer games are my one weakness. I easily succumb to addiction, if the game is really good. (dumb command and conquer and city building game developers) Anyways the point which I'm trying to consider is this:
I know these kind of games are bad, especially games like GTA. But at the same time the gameplay's just so engrossing. But here's how I quit that series for good.
When I was playing the vice city version (which wasn't that derogatory yet), my then 7 year old cousin comes over and I'm driving this really fast car speeding down the highway and my cousin LOVES racing games. So I thought, ahh this game is pretty harmless, let him get in the car, let me turn on the invulnerability cheat and let him crash and bang and drive all he wants.
Now fast forward one year later, and San Andreas gets released. The covers look virtually similar to a kid that young. San Andreas is definitely deserving of its mature rating, although it pushes me to question whether having to resort to use of much vulgarity and other indecencies is actually a mature thing to start with - it's more of an immature maturity (a phrase which makes no sense).
SO anyways he pesters me to want to play it, and I think the elements in this game are just so horrible, I hide the game and blatantly lie to his face that I forgot to delete the shortcut on the desktop. (I uninstalled the game later that day)
Because we should never expose kids to this sort of thing.
Sure people say it's the real world. Stop protecting them
Well, here's the newsflash, it's actually not the real world. It's a MTV culture. There was a news article that day, with the owner of MTV saying they control the teenagers of this generation. The only reason why the culture is the way it is today is because people say that's how it has always been, when in the first place it has never always been like this, but because of ignorant persistence we assume the culture is as such, i.e. culture is what culture says.
Haha. That's a chunky statement to digest but the moral of the story is this.
Make a stand. Let's chuck out all the undesirable elements and transform the deteriorating morality of today's culture. Because culture is what culture says, say something different.
Say something morally right.
(This post is long enough already. So I have to refrain from delving into the spiritual elements of such an issue. And of course the whole issue could span pages and pages. So I've just written what's on my mind and quickly jump from intro to conclusion. The processing bits have to be left out.)
Thursday, April 12, 2007
The wait is over
Ahh.
So what has happened in the past 2 months and quite a bit?
Well. Firstly, I have to say I was busy. My half completed post is lying somewhere in the deep recesses of another person's hard drive, which I used as borrowed storage space when I had to format this computer.
And it all started when my internet connection failed.
OK. So it was either a hardware or software problem.
Well, I can't be bothered to post the whole process up but the conclusion was that it was BOTH a software and hardware problem.
So I had to format this computer, and then I went out to buy a wireless USB adapter.
And there we are. I'm back.
What's happening in my life?
For those of you who know I'm a huge David Crowder Band fan (although I don't quite like the use of the word 'fan', it's more of an affinity for their work. I don't go crazy over them.), they are recording their new album, as of 3 weeks in the making. If you go to this site, you can catch them recording their new album, Remedy. Pretty neat the webcams and the clip of the days and all.
Easter is over. It was a really busy week, editing videos and all. And then I spent the earlier part of this week pretty sick.
And finally, I'm 18!
Haha. I just had to say that. Ah well.
Next post will be up soon. I hope. Haha. Again it depends on the teachers at school. I'm half tempted to just miss every single lesson except history, since my As in those subject are no longer going to be dependent on lesson attendance.
So what has happened in the past 2 months and quite a bit?
Well. Firstly, I have to say I was busy. My half completed post is lying somewhere in the deep recesses of another person's hard drive, which I used as borrowed storage space when I had to format this computer.
And it all started when my internet connection failed.
OK. So it was either a hardware or software problem.
Well, I can't be bothered to post the whole process up but the conclusion was that it was BOTH a software and hardware problem.
So I had to format this computer, and then I went out to buy a wireless USB adapter.
And there we are. I'm back.
What's happening in my life?
For those of you who know I'm a huge David Crowder Band fan (although I don't quite like the use of the word 'fan', it's more of an affinity for their work. I don't go crazy over them.), they are recording their new album, as of 3 weeks in the making. If you go to this site, you can catch them recording their new album, Remedy. Pretty neat the webcams and the clip of the days and all.
Easter is over. It was a really busy week, editing videos and all. And then I spent the earlier part of this week pretty sick.
And finally, I'm 18!
Haha. I just had to say that. Ah well.
Next post will be up soon. I hope. Haha. Again it depends on the teachers at school. I'm half tempted to just miss every single lesson except history, since my As in those subject are no longer going to be dependent on lesson attendance.
Monday, January 29, 2007
The Philosophy of Weng: Fiction or Truth, Coming Soon
I have released the title of my next post.
Here I shall attempt to briefly explain the reason why I believe the Bible is without a doubt the word of God, the one and only truth. That it is not mere fiction or a collection of stories and sayings as the world falsely claims, but it is the living Word, with the power to transform lives, not because it preaches good philosophies to live by, but because it essentially condemns the sinfulness of man, the futility of trying to live a good life, and points to the one and only way, the one and only truth, the one and only life, that through Jesus Christ, that by His power in us, He not only forgives us of our past wrongs, but gives us power to live the present by His holy standards, and assurance of a future with Him in heaven.
This will be updated shortly. It's still currently being word processed. I don't want to make this overly shoddy yet I know it will be impossible to put forth every single argument, because I might as well attempt to write a book at that point, which I know will be an impossible task, what with the immense research and planning needed.
Instead, to a satisfying standard, I wish to highlight why I have such faith in the Bible, briefly explaining the evidence that has convinced me as such. And beyond the physical realm, I also wish to point out the supernatural power of the Bible, not like that of the movies where you show it to an evil spirit and it forces it to flee, but the power to take man from his depravity into the divinity of the Godhead. To live for what he was really created for.
I realise there might be many terms I use that are unfamiliar, as I seem to use a lot of Christian lingo here. But I'll do my utter best to couch it in terms that are familiar and explain that which is unfamiliar.
Be warned. This post is not one you should merely dismiss. And I'm dead serious on this. Because yet again I will reiterate this line: If you really believe that what you believe is really real, then you will indeed live by that belief no matter what..
And I really believe that my belief "that the Bible is the truth of God, the living Word", is really real, and as such I strive to live by it daily.
Here I shall attempt to briefly explain the reason why I believe the Bible is without a doubt the word of God, the one and only truth. That it is not mere fiction or a collection of stories and sayings as the world falsely claims, but it is the living Word, with the power to transform lives, not because it preaches good philosophies to live by, but because it essentially condemns the sinfulness of man, the futility of trying to live a good life, and points to the one and only way, the one and only truth, the one and only life, that through Jesus Christ, that by His power in us, He not only forgives us of our past wrongs, but gives us power to live the present by His holy standards, and assurance of a future with Him in heaven.
This will be updated shortly. It's still currently being word processed. I don't want to make this overly shoddy yet I know it will be impossible to put forth every single argument, because I might as well attempt to write a book at that point, which I know will be an impossible task, what with the immense research and planning needed.
Instead, to a satisfying standard, I wish to highlight why I have such faith in the Bible, briefly explaining the evidence that has convinced me as such. And beyond the physical realm, I also wish to point out the supernatural power of the Bible, not like that of the movies where you show it to an evil spirit and it forces it to flee, but the power to take man from his depravity into the divinity of the Godhead. To live for what he was really created for.
I realise there might be many terms I use that are unfamiliar, as I seem to use a lot of Christian lingo here. But I'll do my utter best to couch it in terms that are familiar and explain that which is unfamiliar.
Be warned. This post is not one you should merely dismiss. And I'm dead serious on this. Because yet again I will reiterate this line: If you really believe that what you believe is really real, then you will indeed live by that belief no matter what..
And I really believe that my belief "that the Bible is the truth of God, the living Word", is really real, and as such I strive to live by it daily.
Wednesday, January 24, 2007
The Philosophy of Weng: The Basic Question
Firstly, the truest definition of philosophy, in my opinion:
Philosophy is "a scientific quest to discover ultimate reality".
The next question is of course: What is this 'ultimate reality'?
That's would be a hard question, unless we believe one thing. That reality is defined by what is true. And logically, ultimate reality will be defined by what is ultimate truth.
Now that's an interesting statement to wrap one's head around, isn't it?
Think about it for a minute. Does truth define reality? That what is really really real, and not an illusion disguised as reality, also truly truly true?
Assuming that you agree with that statement, and we equate truth with reality, then what do we equate truth with?
At this point, some of you may have recalled me writing a post about this sometime back. I'll post the link here, because there are many ideas there that will be reiterated and referred to, which I'll incorporate into this series of posts
It is this basic question that I will start off with, and attempt to come back to in my conclusion. In the meantime continue to tell me what you would like to know about. And I will like to give credit to where credit is due.
A majority of the worldview I now possess I credit to The Truth Project, a DVD series regarding the biblical worldview, which has transformed the way I perceived life in general. In addition, I would also like to credit several books which I have read, and am reading along the way, the specific authors and titles of which I will mention as I bring up points in this series.
Finally, all of the credit ultimately goes to God and the transformational power of not only His word, but His very nature, who has given me whatever wisdom I possess in attempting to tackle all these issues.
Philosophy is "a scientific quest to discover ultimate reality".
The next question is of course: What is this 'ultimate reality'?
That's would be a hard question, unless we believe one thing. That reality is defined by what is true. And logically, ultimate reality will be defined by what is ultimate truth.
Now that's an interesting statement to wrap one's head around, isn't it?
Think about it for a minute. Does truth define reality? That what is really really real, and not an illusion disguised as reality, also truly truly true?
Assuming that you agree with that statement, and we equate truth with reality, then what do we equate truth with?
At this point, some of you may have recalled me writing a post about this sometime back. I'll post the link here, because there are many ideas there that will be reiterated and referred to, which I'll incorporate into this series of posts
What ought to be and what is
Take the time to read the above post. There are two things which I wish to emphasise. The first is of course the issue of "What is truth?", the answer to which is God Himself, as testified in the Bible. The second is the issue of how this view of truth has been distorted by the many worldly lies, the biggest one of which is that there is no God or that He is irrelevant, and as such has led to such a divergence of morality and ethics, that the world today is become ever more fallen in sin.
Now, following from that there will be several things which I'll have to try to address. The first is the authority of the Bible. As much of my argument will be taken from there, I will have to prove that the Bible is indeed the infallible Word of God. And trust me, I will.
The second is this notion of sin, which ties in to the larger topic of man, and his purpose in this world.
And I'll end with the basic question:
What is the purpose of life?
Now, following from that there will be several things which I'll have to try to address. The first is the authority of the Bible. As much of my argument will be taken from there, I will have to prove that the Bible is indeed the infallible Word of God. And trust me, I will.
The second is this notion of sin, which ties in to the larger topic of man, and his purpose in this world.
And I'll end with the basic question:
What is the purpose of life?
It is this basic question that I will start off with, and attempt to come back to in my conclusion. In the meantime continue to tell me what you would like to know about. And I will like to give credit to where credit is due.
A majority of the worldview I now possess I credit to The Truth Project, a DVD series regarding the biblical worldview, which has transformed the way I perceived life in general. In addition, I would also like to credit several books which I have read, and am reading along the way, the specific authors and titles of which I will mention as I bring up points in this series.
Finally, all of the credit ultimately goes to God and the transformational power of not only His word, but His very nature, who has given me whatever wisdom I possess in attempting to tackle all these issues.
Tuesday, January 23, 2007
What would you like to know?
I've been thinking about the direction of my series of posts.
Then I thought, is there anything in particular someone would like to know about?
Feel free to post your comments under here. If there are no comments, then I'll just press ahead with whatever plan I come up with.
Then I thought, is there anything in particular someone would like to know about?
Feel free to post your comments under here. If there are no comments, then I'll just press ahead with whatever plan I come up with.
Monday, January 22, 2007
The Philosophy of Weng
I'm back after a long hiatus. And I think I'm ready to embark on another series of posts.
This time, it's going to be about "The Philosophy of Weng".
So I thought, what better way to introduce this series than defining it? *surprise surprise*
There are many definitions of philosophy, but let me start by going back to the root word.
Philosophy is Greek in origin, coming from the two part of 'phil' meaning love and 'sophy' meaning wisdom. Thus combined it means love of wisdom. I'll leave it there at the moment.
Below are the definitions of philosophy, as I got them by typing in "dict philosophy" into my Firefox address bar.
In my series, I will be doing numbers 2 and 4. With ONE exception. I will also investigate using empirical methods, which means that I WILL (attempt to) provide evidence.
Haha. So that's the introduction. I have yet to outline the direction of my series. So give me a few days, roughly two or three, to get that sorted, then check back here.
In the meantime I'll end with this passage from the Bible:
"See to it that no one takes you captive through hollow and deceptive philosophy, which depends on human tradition and the basic principles of this world rather than on Christ"
This time, it's going to be about "The Philosophy of Weng".
So I thought, what better way to introduce this series than defining it? *surprise surprise*
There are many definitions of philosophy, but let me start by going back to the root word.
Philosophy is Greek in origin, coming from the two part of 'phil' meaning love and 'sophy' meaning wisdom. Thus combined it means love of wisdom. I'll leave it there at the moment.
Below are the definitions of philosophy, as I got them by typing in "dict philosophy" into my Firefox address bar.
- Love and pursuit of wisdom by intellectual means and moral self-discipline.
- Investigation of the nature, causes, or principles of reality, knowledge, or values, based on logical reasoning rather than empirical methods.
- A system of thought based on or involving such inquiry: the philosophy of Hume.
- The critical analysis of fundamental assumptions or beliefs.
- The disciplines presented in university curriculums of science and the liberal arts, except medicine, law, and theology.
- The discipline comprising logic, ethics, aesthetics, metaphysics, and epistemology.
- A set of ideas or beliefs relating to a particular field or activity; an underlying theory: an original philosophy of advertising.
- A system of values by which one lives: has an unusual philosophy of life.
In my series, I will be doing numbers 2 and 4. With ONE exception. I will also investigate using empirical methods, which means that I WILL (attempt to) provide evidence.
Haha. So that's the introduction. I have yet to outline the direction of my series. So give me a few days, roughly two or three, to get that sorted, then check back here.
In the meantime I'll end with this passage from the Bible:
"See to it that no one takes you captive through hollow and deceptive philosophy, which depends on human tradition and the basic principles of this world rather than on Christ"
Colossians 2:8
And yes, for those of you who are a bit uncertain at this point, this WILL be a Christian worldview. After all, it's the philosophy of Weng.
Lol.
Lol.
Friday, January 12, 2007
Joy indeed
Well.
Informally accepted into Cambridge.
Woohoo.
2007 has started very well for me. And for that I'm extremely thankful.
Thankful for the mercies and blessings of God.
And well. Haha. That's all I can post right now. Cos right now, the joy of getting accepted is occupying whatever space that is left in my brain.
Informally accepted into Cambridge.
Woohoo.
2007 has started very well for me. And for that I'm extremely thankful.
Thankful for the mercies and blessings of God.
And well. Haha. That's all I can post right now. Cos right now, the joy of getting accepted is occupying whatever space that is left in my brain.
Thursday, January 11, 2007
Passion: The wrap up
Almost. Not quite.
Anyways, here's what transpired in the longest journey back home.
For the sake of uniformity, I'll use the time at the venue at which I'm writing about. But I'll place Malaysian time in brackets.
Anyways, we were meant to leave Atlanta at Sunday 9.45pm (Monday 10.45am). Check-in took pretty long, what with the people admiring some colleagues engagement ring. Bleargh. Talk about inefficiency.
But the flight got delayed one hour, because of bad weather delaying the arrival of our pilots from Tampa. Not a good sign, given that we had two hours to catch a connecting flight, two hours now reduced to one hour, an hour within which to get our boarding passes.
Ahh. So we reach Vegas at Sunday 11.50 pm (Monday 2.50pm) and we have one hour to get to the next plane. They knew we arrived. And they didn't hold the dumb plane. So we missed it. Especially with inefficiently designed American airports and what not with their terminals scattered all over the place. Spent the night at Vegas. And managed to reschedule, to fly to, of all places, eastward towards New York, before catching a connecting flight to Seoul. Urgh.
So we left Monday 12.50pm (Tuesday 3.50am) and arrived at New York Monday 8.30pm (Tuesday 9.30am) Great. Wait 4 hours and board flight Tuesday 12.50am (Tuesday 1.50pm). Then fly 15 hours to Seoul. Thankfully this journey wasn't that long, considering I slept solidly for the first 8/9 hours of the plane ride.
So we get into Seoul at Wednesday 5.50am (Wednesday 4.50 am). Next flight was meant to be at Wednesday 4.50pm out of Seoul to Kuala Lumpur. But we managed to locate our luggage, which was going out on an earlier MAS flight. Brilliant. So we managed to persuade Delta to waive our penalty charge and get a seat on that plane to KL, leaving 11.50am. We got the tickets at 10.45am, and dashed for the gate. Lol.
And so we finally arrived back in KL at Wednesday 7.30pm, after stopping for an hour in Kota Kinabalu.
Boy. What a journey. 60 hours without a shower, without proper rest and without a proper meal. It is not fun to be stranded. What was meant to be a 36 hour journey, arriving home on Tuesday, at 2220, was delayed one day (well almost). *shudder*
Anyways, the stream is up on the passion site again at www.268generation.com for those who
want to view what it was like. It's up until Friday midnight. Lol. Only found out today. Ahh well. It's American time anyways I assume.
And as for the wrap up. It has been an amazing trip.
Yep.
Were you expecting some long summary?
Too tired to do that. Haha. There was just so much, you can only describe it as amazing.
Period.
Haha. I think my brains have partly turned to mush. Hopefully my school knowledge is still there somewhere. Lol.
Will be back in school tomorrow, after an extended holiday of nearly a week, taking my Christmas break to a month. Schoolwork should not be much of a problem
And it appears my Cambridge letter has arrived. Well, is meant to have arrived. I haven't got it yet. Eagerly waiting for that.
Until then, I shall be getting off this computer.
Anyways, here's what transpired in the longest journey back home.
For the sake of uniformity, I'll use the time at the venue at which I'm writing about. But I'll place Malaysian time in brackets.
Anyways, we were meant to leave Atlanta at Sunday 9.45pm (Monday 10.45am). Check-in took pretty long, what with the people admiring some colleagues engagement ring. Bleargh. Talk about inefficiency.
But the flight got delayed one hour, because of bad weather delaying the arrival of our pilots from Tampa. Not a good sign, given that we had two hours to catch a connecting flight, two hours now reduced to one hour, an hour within which to get our boarding passes.
Ahh. So we reach Vegas at Sunday 11.50 pm (Monday 2.50pm) and we have one hour to get to the next plane. They knew we arrived. And they didn't hold the dumb plane. So we missed it. Especially with inefficiently designed American airports and what not with their terminals scattered all over the place. Spent the night at Vegas. And managed to reschedule, to fly to, of all places, eastward towards New York, before catching a connecting flight to Seoul. Urgh.
So we left Monday 12.50pm (Tuesday 3.50am) and arrived at New York Monday 8.30pm (Tuesday 9.30am) Great. Wait 4 hours and board flight Tuesday 12.50am (Tuesday 1.50pm). Then fly 15 hours to Seoul. Thankfully this journey wasn't that long, considering I slept solidly for the first 8/9 hours of the plane ride.
So we get into Seoul at Wednesday 5.50am (Wednesday 4.50 am). Next flight was meant to be at Wednesday 4.50pm out of Seoul to Kuala Lumpur. But we managed to locate our luggage, which was going out on an earlier MAS flight. Brilliant. So we managed to persuade Delta to waive our penalty charge and get a seat on that plane to KL, leaving 11.50am. We got the tickets at 10.45am, and dashed for the gate. Lol.
And so we finally arrived back in KL at Wednesday 7.30pm, after stopping for an hour in Kota Kinabalu.
Boy. What a journey. 60 hours without a shower, without proper rest and without a proper meal. It is not fun to be stranded. What was meant to be a 36 hour journey, arriving home on Tuesday, at 2220, was delayed one day (well almost). *shudder*
Anyways, the stream is up on the passion site again at www.268generation.com for those who
want to view what it was like. It's up until Friday midnight. Lol. Only found out today. Ahh well. It's American time anyways I assume.
And as for the wrap up. It has been an amazing trip.
Yep.
Were you expecting some long summary?
Too tired to do that. Haha. There was just so much, you can only describe it as amazing.
Period.
Haha. I think my brains have partly turned to mush. Hopefully my school knowledge is still there somewhere. Lol.
Will be back in school tomorrow, after an extended holiday of nearly a week, taking my Christmas break to a month. Schoolwork should not be much of a problem
And it appears my Cambridge letter has arrived. Well, is meant to have arrived. I haven't got it yet. Eagerly waiting for that.
Until then, I shall be getting off this computer.
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