Life, Travel, GRACE

And so it's coming to 31 Dec 2007. Step into new year of 2008. What am I supposed to do about it? Live a life worthy for the glory or God. Been trusting God for small and big things. And He is faithful. Well, sometimes didn't know why it happened that way. Then you knew it was not too bad. Five things I trusted Him this year. I had my master degree completed. Got a new job, though might be opting for a new one. Having a blessed wedding preparation. Planned for a new research topic (finally found a bit idea but no details yet). For God's ministry to flourish. Some small things that happened: I found back the parking card after left lying wide open for a day; the repairment of laptop with no hassle. Some things that didn't happen as I wished: delayed hand over of the new house; did so little on the new research topic. The LORD has been good as an overseer of my finance - just enough for the things here and there. "Thank God because he's good, because his love nev...

The developer supposed to hand over the house key this month. Looks like it's gonna postponed to next month. So we may need to "squat" somewhere before moving in .

Some of you may have received this invitation card through email. Friends of us who have not received it will get it soon. The card was designed as a postcard. Hope this will give a fresh look to normal and mundane wedding card. The front cover was a composite layer between the studio shot and the tea plantation (Cameron Highlands to be exact). Thanks to Adobe Photoshop and some plugins that enable us to create the big picture effect. The next work will be video presentation.

Look, here's the little drummer boy. Oh, it's not so little. It's a giant drummer boy. He was a poor boy. No gift to bring to present to the King. So he played his drum for the King. He played his best. And He smiled at him. What's your gift for Him then? He has given his one and only Son.

We selected 36 photos (5 of which reluctantly) from about 300+ pre-wedding photos we've taken two months ago. Here's a snapshot of 25 of them. Personally, I feel the effect was not up to my standard. As a result, I gave it "C" for the overall work.

So how do you know what's the legacy of other people? By observing, you can know some. We were in one of the cafe recently. As it is school holiday, families will come out to have a good time spent with their children. The cafe has free flow of drinks (only after you buy a paper cup), sugar, creamer and tissue. There was one uncle came to the drink counter and grabbed a thick bundle of tissue (about 2 inches) and went back to his table. Thought he would passed it to his family, but stuffed into the shopping bag instead. So what do you think? The kids observe.

We have been talking about legacy during the bible study discussion and daily conversation. We have little idea about this concept until we studied More Than Money. What is the legacy that we, as an individual, a family member, a worker, a servant and a citizen ought to be? You are witnesses, and so is God, of how holy, righteous and blameless we were among you who believed. For you know that we dealt with each of you as a father deals with his own children, encouraging, comforting and urging you to live lives worthy of God, who calls you into his kingdom and glory. 1 Thessalonians 2:10-12 There were 3 things Paul left behind as his legacy: holy, righteous and blameless. These were his characters. Sounds difficult for me to attain these..... Paul also left behind his relationship: encouraging, comforting and urging of others to live lives worthy of God. Have we done these? We suppose to encourage one another on daily basis, and all the more as the Day is approaching. For what is our ho...

Initially, the venue was in The Navigators' office. When people heard about it, they dropped their jaw to their disbelief. Is that place really that bad? So the couple looked for other alternatives. They surveyed the church where CS and Lydia had their wedding. Space was almost equivalent with the Nav's hall. Then they checked out Tropicana Golf Resort. The place was really good but they were upset with the 4 pillars in the center. Remember Alex and Susan's wedding? They had it there. Not long later, the couple decided to have it at their new apartment's pool side . That should be cool. But need to arrange for catering and PA system. When inquiry was made to the management staff, she received non-professional treatment. So it was disappointing. The couple then checked out SD club, where Mr and Mrs Paul Lai had their wedding there. The pool was ok but the canopy rental was expensive. Imaging to have 3 canopies for one grand. The function room looked ok though. They had a...

While waiting for them to came down, I rose up early and snapped some shots.

From Mesilau base, we climbed up to Laban Rata. The next morning, we climbed towards the peak.

Having been absent from live orchestra performance for years, I mean as an audience, last weekend I got the chance to experience the live performance. It was Tchaikovsky's Swan Lake. Initially I didn't know there would be a visual performance (from the recording). So I bought the front row seats (though I didn't choose it). And they showed the video recording of Swan Lake's ballet performance. Audio with visual, that's a good pair, like watching movie. This was the first time I had orchestra music with performance (though the performance was a recording). Personally I'm a fan of Tchaikovsky. So Swan Lake suite is no stranger to me. But I've yet to listen to the full suite. I quite enjoyed the performance throughout the session. She wasn't. Because we were at the front row, so we had to lift our head to watch the recording. I wasn't paying attention to the recording though. My favourite track from the suite was Dances of the Swan (one of the numbers...

Just outside my house and saw the rainbow (almost disappearing). Think of Noah and God's promise.... I have set my rainbow in the clouds, and it will be the sign of the covenant between me and the earth. Gen 9:13

This was a sharing from M. Shamy after researching the status of each ministry’s development and mentoring. He opened up 2 Cor 4 to us, particularly verse 2 and 16. Verse 2: Rather, we have renounced secret and shameful ways; we do not use deception, nor do we distort the word of God. On the contrary, by setting forth the truth plainly we commend ourselves to every man's conscience in the sight of God. Verse 16: Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. As in verse 8, it is made known that troubles are coming from all direction in our life, be it financial, relationship etc. We are hard pressed from every side! We feel there’s a lack of progress in the ministry. Also a diminishing value in humanity (much like thorns in the flesh). We begin to anxious, to desire etc. But from verse 18, it all depends how we see things. Of the continuum of event in our life, we may just see the front view. Yet there’s a hidden ...

Letters from Iwo Jima Flags of Our Fathers Two movies and one director. What so special about these two movies? Well, they tell the same story but from a different perspective. Personally I found it quite interesting. The first movie was in Japanese mode. All the main characters were Japanese and spoke Japanese throughout the entire movie. ....... By now, I think you can guess what's the movie all about. The second movie was in English, kind of American. All the main characters were non Japanese and of course spoke English. The story was about the war in Iwo Jima island - how the Japanese defended the island and how the American succeeded in conquering the island. While the latter elaborated the post war story, it didn't lift up the curiosity and the eagerness to pursue the storyline i.e. uninteresting. The Japanese version is probably one of the best movie I've ever watched this year. Though people condemn the Japanese for the World War II, inside them, there's courag...

There's only one sink in the kitchen. Nothing more. So the purchasers need to figure out how to design the kitchen. This is how it looks like. This will be our vision of kitchen. Just a sketch from mind. How much thousand will it cost?

Lets see what is John Stott's view on the purpose of marriage..... From Genesis 1 and 2, there are t hree main purposes: 1) Be fruitful and increase in number (Gen 1:28) – procreation. 2) It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a helper suitable for him (Gen 2:18) – the mutual society, help and comfort that the one ought to have of the other both in prosperity and adversity. 3) Intended to be that reciprocal commitment of self-giving love which finds its natural expression in sexual union, or becoming “one flesh” (Gen 2:24). Marriage exists in God’s sight when a man leaves his parents, with a view not merely to living apart from them but to “cleaving” to his wife and becoming one flesh with her. It also denotes the replacement relationship of child-parent to husband-wife. In short, the biblical definition for marriage is an exclusive heterosexual covenant between one man and one woman, ordained and sealed by God, preceded by a public leaving of parents, consummated i...

The bible study group has completed the study on economy and finance (More Than Money) recently. I haven't been able to share the remaining chapters though. Bear with me please. Last week, we started a new topic. Well, not so new as we had done this topic half way few years ago. The topic is concerning marriage, family, parenting and community. Probably because some of us might be venturing into next stage of life, that's why we chose this topic. We started with Genesis (and everything shall start from Genesis). An account of marriage: Genesis 2:4-25 18 The LORD God said, "It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a helper suitable for him." Since Eve (woman) was made from Adam’s bone, it is perceived that God’s intention for human couple to be a perfect design (until heaven comes). As such, issues like gay and lesbian do not exist in God’s intended design. However, men do not think it is not possible. It only looks weird, like a car traveling in reverse way...

A friend of us was so kind to offer her help to be our wedding photographer. Little did we know that she just bought a new DSLR. See her portfolio here . Since her portfolio looks quite good, why not give her a try. She will be responsible for the main day. Probably TaiLing will be her backup. As for the banquet in Sibu, JooWee has happily agreed to help out as well. Now we do know that we have many promising photographers around.

If you happen to work in an occupation which does not tend to attract individuals of your type, you can try altering the job to fit your personality, or you can adapt to fit to it. Altering your job Find or create a special niche for yourself where you can use your preferences productively. Take on tasks that are more consistent with your preferences. Find a particular environment or a group of colleagues within your occupation that are more like you. (in professional associations, in club, or at conventions; sometimes in another department in the organization) Adapting to your job Work to understand or communicate with others whose preferences are different from yours in their own “language”. Use MBTI knowledge preferences to understand exactly what is required on your job and adopt some of the behaviours when you choose to. Find other opportunities to express your preferences. Note: The goal is not to become another type but rather to expand your choices and the amount of control you...

Just knew it our personality type can influence our career choice and path. Well, I read up to see if I've chosen a wrong career. Or maybe I'm checking what is my future career. Our MBTI result can help us to choose a new job or career, change job or career and increase satisfaction with the present career. Briefly, the MBTI preferences are: (1) Extraversion ( E ) or Introversion ( I ) focus on the people and things in the outer world OR focus on the thoughts, feelings and impressions of the inner world. (2) Sensing ( S ) or Intuition ( N ) focus on facts and details that can be confirmed by experience OR focus on possibilities and relationships among ideas. (3) Thinking ( T ) or Feeling ( F ) use impersonal, objective, logical analysis to reach conclusions OR user person-centered, subjective analysis to reach conclusions. (4) Judging ( J ) or Perceiving ( P ) plan and organize; make decisions and come to closure OR be spontaneous and adaptable; collect information and stay...

Bill Gates gave a profound speech during his graduation in Harvard few months ago. What do you know, only to get a degree after 30 years. Indeed, he must have found a satisfying achievement. Here’s the abstract of the speech for thought and reflection. He talked about the market value and how the men who manned it should bring benefit and fruitfulness to the community. Humanity’s greatest advances are not in its discoveries – but in how those discoveries are applied to reduce inequity. Whether through democracy, strong public education, quality health care, or broad economic opportunity – reducing inequity is the highest human achievement. Imagine that you had a few hours a week and a few dollars a month to donate to a cause – and you wanted to spend that time and money where it would have the greatest impact in saving and improving lives. Where would you spend it? If you believe that every life has equal value, it’s revolting to learn that some lives are seen as worth saving and other...

That Raya break went to Sibu, Sarawak. Attended friend's wedding, arranged some wedding stuff and had a rest. What's there in Sibu? Well, there are few hotels booming. One hotel just opened and the other one is expanding. But you can hardly see any backpackers around. Probably they are in the forest for adventure trip. Seen here are two high rise buildings (RH Hotel and Wisma Sanyan) standing side by side. There was a gathering storm. Therefore, the photos ain't look brilliant.

It's really a sneak preview. We "sneaked" inside the about-to-finish condominium we bought, after asked permission from the guard, who didn't really care the intruders like us. It was all messy and every area was under painting, patching etc. Here's the swimming pool area. Look messy right. Welcome to our unit. We climbed to 12th floor to get here. Overall the unit was ok but a bit disappointed with the master bedroom. Smaller. Even smaller than my current bedroom. But it should be sufficient. Living room. Kitchen area. One thing we discovered, the corridor is spacious and it does look quite exclusive for the corner units. We also sneaked in other units, a smaller type. Found out the balcony wasn't that impressive. You can peek each other on the upper and lower floor. It's time to get the idea flowing for the house arrangement and renovation. She said kitchen will be the most needed renovation. Agreed.

… a body could not choose whether it obeyed the law of gravitation or not, but a man could choose either to obey the Law of Human Nature or to disobey it. None of us are really keeping the Law of the Nature. First, that human beings have this curious idea that they ought to behave in a certain way, and cannot really get rid of it. Secondly, that they do not in fact behave in that way. They know the Law of Nature; they break it. Excerpt from Mere Christianity

There are two routes for tourist cum climber to the Kinabalu peak: the boring-stepping-stairs of the Summit Trail and the forever-walking Mesilau Trail. For the pro, they can opt for a more challenging route via Eastern Plateau. Since I had tried the Summit Trail, I purposely arranged the group to take the Mesilau Trail. Therefore, we needed to go to Mesilau base for take off. It was a lovely place and cooling (2,000 m above sea level). One will passby a golf range before reaching the Mesilau office. Initially we booked for a dormitory room but somehow due to the park's arrangement, we got a chalet which should cost RM350 even though we had paid RM20 for the dorm price. Then we rested and prepared for the next day climb. Oh, mind you, if you take the steam boat dinner at the park restaurant, 1-person meal can feed for 2.

A friend of mine forwarded an article about knowledge and God's chosen people. How the Jews excel in almost every field. How the muslim compared to non-muslim. I searched through the article and found this exact article: Why are Jews so powerful? Then searched deeper and got to the original article: Knowledge Think we should acknowledge that the Jews are really God's chosen people. As a principle, the fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom (Proverbs 1:7).

“Why do you want to take bridal photography?” “For memory…?” “What kind of memory you want to treasure?” “….” “Do you know what to look for when engaging a bridal photography? “There are four factors need to be considered. Firstly, the theme. What theme of photography are you looking for? (and he showed all kind of samples while explaining). “Secondly, consider what is the budget you have allocated. “Then you should check if there is any hidden cost. Most of the bridal shops they do not inform the customer on the hidden cost until the day of your shooting. For us, the package covers all except ampoule and eyelids. “Finally, you should see the service. This is quite subjective and normally you get recommendation from friends.” “This month we are having special promotion by giving out cash voucher valued RM xxx if you sign up Package B.” “On top of that, we’ll upgrade the large photo portrait to landscape format designer’s choice. See the sample over there? Nice right?” “Whoa…… Nice la.”...

What does it take to read the Scriptures formatively? If you read the book of John chapter one for the first time, you feel the impact of the words. You read it for the second time, the impact is still there. As you read for the n th time, well, the impact might still be there and same too. It seems no new knowledge can be scooped from the same chapter which has been read over and over again. Like this chart here. Unless you discover a new excitement, as denoted by the star. Mike shared his principal in reading the Scriptures formatively: Start with a prayer and stillness. Read it slowly. Try to reflect. Then respond to it. Finally, relate the Scriptures to others.

Have you examined if your church or cell group is not doing well? Some of the community cell group members came together to listen to M. Shamy on how to discern our life influence towards the lost. The first question: What is not well? Most agreed that everyone has his/her busyness, which do not bring our life in fullness. Also they agreed that our life has been fragmentized. In other word, we have compartmentalized our life in spiritual and non-spiritual event. No integration of Jesus in our daily routine. What happens from here? We tend to live in guilt for not having an appropriate presentation of life. How it should be then? We need to be witness to the nation. It means to offer our personal experience of God at work in our life. It involves sharing what we have seen and heard of Christ. BUT, in reality, we are poor in witness. Because lack of personal experience with God. Even our own engagement with the Scriptures is dry and seems irrelevant. If that’s the case, why would we ask ...

1 May 2007 You woke up at two in the morning. Then walked all the way to the peak in darkness. Reached the top of Malaysia, 4095.2m after sunrise. Then spent ten or fifteen minutes at the peak. And finally came down to the base. Good exercise or not? Yes, take me there again.

Three masters and one lawyer.

Have bought this book in year 2002 or 2003 (symptom of aging - can’t remember the exact year too!). Was introduced to read this book since it was written by a Nobel Prize literature winner. In the first few chapters, I had already struggled to understand the context and the theme. I stopped at chapter 29 or 30. Then the book was left for few months, few years. Until recently, I picked it up again and resumed from where I’ve stopped. Of course, I need to glance through the previous chapters to catch up the writing. At last, I completed all the 81 chapters of this autobiography in three weeks. There’s nothing much inside. Maybe because I don’t know how to appreciate literature writing. The writer enjoyed using pronouns like I , you , he and she throughout the writing. These characters are imaginative, from the author’s self conversation. If you have watched the animated movie Ratatouille, it’s like Remy's imaginative character of the chef. At some point, I got confused if the he ,...

Few months ago, his father inquired the auspicious date for wedding. Since the couple wants to get married after the new house ready, the date should be after Nov 07. Two dates were selected; one in Dec and one in Jan 08. He thought the date in Dec was good. However, her cousin was supposed to have his wedding in that month too. Well, this may cause some logistic problem in her family. At last, the couple chose Jan 19, 2008 as their official wedding ceremony date.

Imagine buying a car and get a free apartment. What a good deal. Well, the reality is the reverse. This is because the previous owner has married a kiwi guy. So the new owner bought over the property. Ansd alas threw a party.

Remember in last April there was a plan to go to The Philippines ? Well, tak jadi (did not materialise) as I've just changed to a new job. No chance to take annual leave since I'm still under probation period. Anyway, I console myself with my own graduation. Hehehe.... Also, some of us just came down from conference prayer in Genting View. We were so enjoyed the session that each of us felt uplifted. At least I did something meaningful for God and myself for this year National Day.

He's Buddy. Came all the way from the US for a summer holiday exposure. He likes coffee. He's experimenting the teh tarik. Now, anyone of you did this before? Not me.

Painting is in progress. Construction of the front part (swimming pool) is almost finished.

The success rate of reaching the Kinabalu peak was 4/6. I was not one of them. Probably I didn't put my most effort to do it as I've done it before. Or perhaps I was not well during that day. Indeed I had a bit of mild breathing difficulty, but it wasn't that bad. That could spoil the whole mood I guess. Congratulation to the team.

Think this year I've read quite a number of books. Some audio books and some printed copies. A friend of mine recommended Catch -22 . Claimed to be twentieth century best literary work. The irony is, the book was published in the 60s and it only gets the heat recently. Still deciding whether to buy the copy or just download the audio book (while thinking I have a list of books yet to be finished though). While people are rushing for the Harry Potter, why not try to read The Chronicles of Narnia . After all it's inspired from the bible (and I have yet to finish the compilation). One of the series in the chronicles, The Magician's Nephew , brings you to the creation of the world. Kind of analogous to Genesis 1.

Sunday dinner again. More dishes this time.... Pork knuckle, "four happiness", "lake garden" (mixed vege and corn soup). Even our US friends were impressed.

CIMB Malaysian Squash Open was held in The Curve last week. Initially planned to go there on Sunday but changed mind last minute. Went there on Saturday and lucky enough to watch the women final event between Nicol and Bailey. I had seen her played with Atkinson 2 years ago. She played well. This time she's a champion.

His house mates threw him a surprise birthday party dinner for him early July. It was like a food galore with imported noodles from Sibu.

This world was carefully crafted for the ones who would bear His image. It is a home fit for those who were the crown of creation. It is a world rich in resources to sustain them and to give them a creative opportunity to serve others. It is a world that draws people to God and teaches them about Him. It is a world of incredible joy and delight. Excerpt from More Than Money . The world was indeed designed for life, learning, joy and as capital. All these will lead to the ultimate purpose of God i.e. to demonstrate His glory. In order to achieve these purposes, we will need to discern basic principles of economic life. After all, He calls us to work together. The principles of economic activity include creativity, wisdom, productive abundance, generosity, integration of the individual and community and finally love that serves.

The material world serves as a means to sustain life. This gift from God has been passed down through Adam. This resource continues to benefit mankind, which is called capital. Our resources are abundant, from plants, flocks, precious stones, and minerals to lands ( Gen 1:29-30, 2:12 ). With the capital resource given, man transforms them into other form for use in work and service. People works out the resources and make it fruitful for other means of needs. However, some people might have use the capital in a detrimental way. Most of them are for personal gain. Note that when we begin with capital, victimhood is removed. Without capital, people are always dependent on others. God’s intention for the capital is fruitfulness (in quantity and quality) ( Isa 55:10-11 ).

One was a fictional character from Kazakhstan. He was assigned to US for cross cultural learning. Amid his visit in US, funny things happened and discovered new things: women movement, gay, high class society etiquette, rodeo, Christianity, Hollywood and Pamela Anderson. It tells us the good and the ugly side of America. Speaking about the ugly side, Michael Moore revealed the truth of America's health care system compared with other countries (Canada, UK, France and Cuba). While every American will need to have a health care insurance, other countries practise universal health care system. Treatment for civilians is free (or at minimum charges) and in UK, they will reimburse the transportation expenses to the patient. The setback is those countries impose higher tax on individual. But at the end, they get a better service. As US is a free trade market, health care has become a profit making industry. How bout Malaysia? Well, we still can enjoy government provided health care syste...