Life, Travel, GRACE

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.