Life, Travel, GRACE

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...

This was taken end of June 2007. Seems like it's ready for the window installation.

One of the purposes of God’s created world is enjoyment and delight. In fact, the Garden of Eden literally means “delight” in Hebrew. It is God’s intention to bring joy to mankind. Because of this, we can enjoy our resources and possessions. One may ask whether it is “spiritual” or biblical. It’s not wrong as long as we are not forgetting the provider. It will become illegitimate if we have committed sin for this enjoyment. Typical examples are cheating and stealing for our own gratification. The acts are not glorifying Him though. Apparently, it is necessary for God to provide us with aesthetic beauty and delight. However, huge industries are built around entertainment these days. What is then the relation between entertainment and aesthetic delight? Are they from the same category? One is man made and the other one is God’s art of work. How can we apply the concept of aesthetic beauty and delight in our business, work or the use of our resources? That should be achieved by alloca...

(1) Don’t supersize your portions. (2) Eat less margarine, butter and shortening. (3) Cut down the egg yolks. (4) Choose nonfat and low-fat dairy. (5) Select whole grains. (6) Eat less meat. (7) Fill up on vegetables. (8) Cut the salt. (9) Make fruits your snacks. (10) Avoid sugar. Source: Is Our Food Safe?

Have you ever thought the food you eat is safe? Safe from contaminant? Some people don’t bother about it. Some consume with minimal suspicious. Some observe the details value and processing. No matter what, we ought to be careful with the food we eat. Why should we concern? Here are the three reasons: (1) Changes to the food system have generated troubling new safety problems. - It all starts from the farms. Any mis-processed or unintentional exposure to contaminant or bacteria will lead to major food poisoning (eg: E. coli and Salmonella ). (2) Changes to the food system over the past 60 years have caused widespread, permanent environmental problem. - The extensive usage of pesticides make harm to our health as well as polluting the environment. Tips: How to reduce your risks from pesticides? Wash and peel fruits and vegetables; buy organic foods; buy conventionally grown foods with low pesticide residues; eat a variety of fruits and vegetables; seek up-to-date information on pesticid...

Bombing in Kuta in year 2002 left a deep impact to Bali. Tourism was affected. Tighter security measure has been taken. 202 people were killed; most were foreigners. Later, a permanent monument was built to honor the victims. It was built on the site of the destroyed pub on Legian Street.

Guess what will be the reaction when someone in your office / department is resigning? New gossip will spread like nobody business. Everybody will be very interested to know why are you resigning and where will you be going. I tendered my resignation two weeks ago. Even if you have told a small number of people about it, somehow by the end of the week, everybody knows the news. Colleagues become so friendly (suddenly). Then there will be farewell lunch or dinner arranged by this group and that group. After all, what is matter it's the friendship, not a meal. I'm looking forward for a new environment. Being offered with high paid scares you. One should work as the worth of the wages. The more you receive, the more you will give out. .....'It is more blessed to give than to receive.' Acts 20:35