Life, Travel, GRACE

Have not been writing for quite some time. Was busy with the new job. At last, everything almost completed. Some of the things need to be done intentionally, like watching a movie. I think I only watched 2 movies this year. The previous one was X-Men: Days of Future Past. That was a good movie. Anyway, I was expecting Interstellar since mid of the year. The movie was quite fresh. The feeling it's like when you watched Inception for the first time. Talking about science, they did it pretty much brilliantly. More attention was paid on the accuracy of the physics. Unfortunately, I still couldn't buy the idea when the "future" sent a message to the "past" and it was happening at the same time. Perhaps my understanding on time relativity is not deep enough. Gonna read Hawking's book then. In my opinion, the movie was trying to convey a question to us - whether should we focus on the advancement of science or human survival. And both works side by side as port

I had this sermon in Mega Church today. Couldn't agree more on the sermon. All in all, Christians should continue to be joyful, praise God and be thankful in the world of chaos. God is still in control and He knows the timing. Psalm 146 1  Praise the  Lord . Praise the  Lord ,  my soul. 2  I will praise the  Lord  all my life;      I will sing praise  to my God as long as I live. 3  Do not put your trust in princes,      in human beings,  who cannot save. 4  When their spirit departs, they return to the ground;      on that very day their plans come to nothing. 5  Blessed are those  whose help  is the God of Jacob,      whose hope is in the  Lord  their God. 6  He is the Maker of heaven  and earth,      the sea, and everything in them—      he remains faithful  forever. 7  He upholds  the cause of the oppressed      and gives food to the hungry. The  Lord  sets prisoners free, 8       the  Lord  gives sight  to the blind, the  Lord  lifts up those w

There was a flora and garden festival in Putrajaya recently. So we went there at night to check out what's up there. The kids enjoyed themselves although we didn't get to the place of fireworks display. And the kids liked to pose their cheeky faces while being snapped. They must have learned it from the school. Probably will go there again next year.

Adapted from Graceworks eCommentary 20/14 Many of us are very upset and pained by the recent decision of the Malaysian apex court on the “Allah” issue. We see this decision not so much as a loss for Malaysian Christians but as a betrayal by the government of the day and the highest court of the land — well, at least four of the seven judges — to protect and apply the constitution, which in this case leaves non-Muslim minorities in the land vulnerable to the dictates of the increasingly aggressive Islam championed by growing numbers in the country. How do we respond when evil wins? This is a question the Bible takes seriously. It is the focus of Psalm 73. In the face of the triumph of evil, the Psalmist says: Surely in vain I have kept my heart pure and have washed my hands in innocence. All day long I have been afflicted, and every morning brings new punishments. (Psalm 73:13–14 NIV) Here is Craig C. Boyles’ useful introduction to the Psalm: This Psalm is a favourite for ma

It was the 5th year for Micah. Bought him a panda cake instead of a pufferfish cake. Grandpa and grandma were here to celebrate his birthday too. As usual, the kids were the happiest.

Due to limited time, I was only able to visit Taj Mahal. Did not go to Agra Fort, just passed by. Everyone know Taj Mahal was built in memory of a king's beloved wife. It took many years to completed. The interesting part is, as told to me by someone, that the king who built Taj Mahal was imprisoned in Agra Fort by his own son. So the king could only look out from the window to gaze at Taj Mahal. What a pity. Anyway, Taj Mahal itself is great but I found no excitement to shout of (ok, I must admit that the colour reflected by the building changed with time). To me, it's a waste of resources to build such tomb. But because of this great act, India has a great tourist spot today. And it is listed in UNESCO's world heritage list. I guess this is a must-visit place for anyone who will visit the northern part of India.

After read Outliers, I picked up another old literature by the same author. This is another good book, according to some reviews. Well, in some points, yes. This is a book about unconscious decision making based on rapid observation (in a blink of an eye). In a nutshell, the author brings out two main theory: thin-slicing and snap decisions. Then the rest of the chapters are examples, evidences and what's  the weakness of such approach. To be continued...

Just came back from Delhi for a conference. Not much place I've visited considering the short stay and following the crowd (that means I was well taken care by the conference organiser). When you hear about India, what's come into your mind? Taj Mahal. Yup. That's the only thing I can think of when I was told to go to India. Is that only that place in a big country like India? Well, you may wonder a big country like India had registered only over 6 million tourists in 2012. Compared with China (over 100 millions, Thailand was over 22 millions, and even our beloved Malaysia had 25 million tourists in 2012). So what's gone wrong in India? I do not have the answer. But from my observation in airport and visa application, I could only make an intelligent guess.