Illusion of Words

Faith In Practice Chapel

I enjoy chapel a lot, it’s a source of spiritual food that I feel I’m not quite getting from church, for some reason. Recently there was a series of 3 chapels on 3 consecutive days, a annual event called Faith In Practice. In which somebody comes and gives a series of sermons, in this year’s case, David Platt.

I have to say that I was touched by the messages, in fact, I could tell that a lot of people loved it too. Normally hardly anybody brings their Bible to chapel, much less take notes. But chapel was packed the 3 days, people bringing Bibles and taking notes, and responding well to the funny parts in the message.

Platt spoke from Mark 10, the story of the rich man who came to Jesus. And you know where this is headed. A much needed wake-up call. Before I proceed with listing the 10 main points of the 3 messages, I would like to direct you to the podcasts of the messages right here, under recent events, or chapels. If you have time to spare, definitely should give it a listen. I’m just going to give a quick run through the total of 113:28 minutes over 3 days.

1. Radical surrender. Modern evangelism, according to Platt, is built on sinking sand. Jesus did not tell the rich man to say a prayer of confession. He told him to give up everything.

2. Radical command. The 5 commands - go, sell, give, come, follow. It isn’t just ‘be willing’, or everyone go sell everything. Still, it’s something to be obeyed.

3. Radical grace. Radical surrender is impossible without God’s grace - with God, all things are possible.

4. The gospel, not guilt, should be the motivation in giving.

5. Understand the use of money and possessions in the context of redemptive history. Mostly about how in the OT, obedience was often rewarded with material possessions. However in NT, Jesus never mentioned that.

6. The dangerous and deadly nature of our possessions. Stuff isn’t bad in itself, but has the potential to be a stumbling block.

7. Jesus does not want to take away our pleasures. In fact, he promised us a hundred times more. Could it really be a sacrifice then?

8. Jesus desires to free us from bondage to ourselves and our stuff. One example is of John Wesleey putting a 28-pound cap on his spending for the rest of his life, no matter his earnings.

9. The cost of discipleship is great, but the cost of non-discipleship is far, far greater. Not only for the billions around the world who may lose the chance to hear the gospel, but also at great cost to ourselves.

10. Our lives will count on earth when our eyes are fixed on heaven. Earth is just a temporary place, a blink of an eye compared to eternity.

Yes, I know it’s a lot of stuff to digest, and this short summary hardly does it justice. In this world dominated by material possessions and love of money, I think this message is badly needed, if just as a reminder.

Posted in Church | 1 Comment »

Taco Salad

I know it sounds totally unlike my blog. But well, a friend suggested for me to do a post on food, so here I am. I snapped a bunch of pictures of the process of making taco salad, and decided to just throw it all in a collage so that my blog wouldn’t seem like a food blog. Not that there’s anything wrong with that.

So here you go. Pictures are not going to win any photography awards ever. That said, taco salads are pretty good, besides, you just cook some ground beef and gather other random items, along with taco chips, and you’re done. We didn’t have any cheese sauce, however. This brings back memories of the cafeteria’s version: a huge stack of chips, with a huge scoop of meat (who knows what is in there!), and the cheese sauce thing. Which isn’t too bad, considering that most of the time, the cafeteria food is… unappetizing to say the least.

Oh, and a red candle is optional. But it does enhance the eating process.

Posted in General | 3 Comments »

Fall Break

Fall Break is here. And nearly over, actually. At any rate, fall break is supposed to be a break, a chance to catch your breath in the middle of the hectic semester and try to catch up with things and get some rest. At least, ideally. Not that my semester is too hectic, or that I am in need of a lot of rest.

But suddenly I’m eating much better food than the usual fare. Which is always good. A free burger at TGI Friday was nice, so was IHOP. Free burger worth nearly $9. Well, sometimes, if you know where to keep your eye on, good deals pop out. Of course, good deals doesn’t necessarily mean buying - if you know what I mean, that sometimes, we buy too much stuff that are ‘on sale’ and ‘good deals’, thinking we are saving money, when in fact, we actually waste more money with a bunch of needless junk.

A trip to Memphis involved eating pho, going to an art museum. Actually, wandering around outside, being unwilling to pay the price of entrance. After all, we had barely an hour for the museum, because of course I had to go to Guitar Center. The benefits of being in a city bigger than this little town I’m in - and well, of course Memphis is the famous blues town and all, with the Gibson factory and Graceland and zoo with pandas and stuff. None of which I’ve visited, actually. When you’re in a party of people, not everyone wants to go to the same place. Alright, back to Memphis - the Guitar Center visit only lasted less than half hour, since the original extra one hour that we could have had was taken up languishing in the traffic. The traffic!

At least though I had enough time just to strum a few acoustic guitars, including those way-over-1000 Martins and Taylors. By the way, it is somewhat obnoxious that outside the acoustic room, some people are shredding on the electric guitars and some are banging on the drums and others are playing some real fancy stuff on the keyboards. Way to make me feel lame - I don’t think I can actually play a full non-acoustic song yet (as in, all the solo parts of a particular song), because I start on one song and desert it halfway through for a long long break of playing random stuff before starting on a different song. Well, in the very least, I managed to finish the Little Wing intro.

Well, if you’re interested, some activities over the break included:

Marshmallows roasting over candle fire…

The art museum, which actually isn’t too shabby, really. Okay, so I didn’t see the exhibitions, but there was this masterpiece special exhibition, which isn’t too bad. The day was a little cold for fall though, cloudy skies and all.

Yay for a long post.

Posted in General, Music, Travel | 2 Comments »

Near Fall Break

It is almost the middle of the semester, which means fall break is in sight. And this blog has degenerated in some sort of lame commentary on my life, which is quite pathetic, considering that one of the rules to successful blogging is ’specific topics’. Not that I’m trying to be successful.

A lot of people are busy. Schoolwork, friends, everything else. A favorite topic at lunch is ‘how many hours one slept last night.’ And it can be surprising how many people actually sleep less than five hours a night. Perhaps I’m just not quite at that point yet, because I have never felt the need to stay up any later than midnight for homework. In fact, I have never done so. After all, isn’t sleep important for memory?

Someday, I may actually have something substantial to blog about. Until then, suffer through these lame posts.

Posted in School | 3 Comments »

Update

No, I’m not cut off from internet, or dead, or anything. Just have been lazy updating the blog. Anyway, school has been going on for a couple of weeks, and wait - is it only September? I thought I’d been through 3 months of school already.

Alright, granted, I haven’t had any ‘real’ exams yet. Although I did fail miserably on one mini-test, the first time I’ve done so here. Flu season isn’t quite officially here, I think, but already it feels like nearly everyone went down with the flu at one point or another. Thank God I am unscathed so far. But everyone was dropping like flies, swine flu or not. Psychological?

I miss TV, really. And I’m using a free wireless connection, totally unsafe and unreliable. And slow, although the speed is already probably ten times Malaysia’s. TV season starts next month, mostly. While I don’t catch any dramas, except for the occasional CSI:Miami (at least, during the last tv season), I do want to watch documentaries. Discovery Channel, Spike, History Channel, Nat Geo and all that (some) good stuff. You see, with dramas, the internet is rife with them. The network websites usually have the full episodes on after a couple of hours or a day. But you can’t get the documentaries as easily. And I miss watching documentaries. And not to mention some random movies that might come on - Turner Classic Movies channel, anyone?

Let’s see, have I seen any movies lately? Watched ‘Spirited Away’, and ‘Eternal Sunshine of …’. Good stuff. Latter was thought provoking. Why would anyone want to erase memories of somebody? So if the breakup is painful and all, but there are always the pleasant memories, and all that you go through, pain included, makes you who you are - hopefully a better person. I especially can’t quite forget the lady who wanted to erase memories of her dog - her dog! What could be so painful that you had to forget your cute little pet forever? The movie can be slightly confusing if you don’t pay attention, since the timeline appears to jump around at times.

Since this post is quite long, my faithful readers deserve a picture or two.

BEFORE:

AFTER:

A mess, that’s for certain. I cleaned it up, but now, a week later, it is almost as bad as the picture. I thought of buying a new guitar amp, but considering the small apartment, and having no other situation in which I play, it is just not feasible. So I take a deep breath and let go of that thought, for the time being.

Posted in School, TV/Movies | 3 Comments »

Back To School

All things must end at some point, especially if it’s a pleasant thing. Which would explain why the summer flew by, a sentiment that is surely shared by just about every person. It’s not that bad, really, going back to school. Finally, I don’t have to squander time by just eating, sleeping, and surfing the net.

Back to school then. I officially live off-campus, so the apartment is bare and I’m looking at sleeping on the carpeted floor for maybe a week, until the promised donated furniture comes in. The floor is strewn with my belongings, my neck is sore from having to operate the computer on the ground. But I got to see my guitar again - although it stank pretty bad. Must have been the environment over the past three months, changing the strings removed only a little of the smell.

Meanwhile, classes begin and I wonder what the heck I’m doing in an introduction to engineering class, when everyone around me are freshmen and aspiring engineers. If only it wouldn’t count in the grade, then I would be glad to take it. But looks like quite a bit of effort is required, and I don’t think I’m prepared to dish out that amount of hard work for something I’m 95% certain of not majoring in. Well, unless something happens along the way.

The first day is over, and the whole semester stretches out endlessly before me. Certainly an adventure.

Posted in School | 2 Comments »

Youtube and Memories

I came upon an article yesterday, mentioning the Top 30 cartoon theme songs. Of course, whether it is the top 30 depends on the individual, since I did not recognize 2/3rds of the list. But there were the good old stuff - Gummy Bears, Scooby Doo, Ducktales, Animaniacs.

I realize, however, that while I was part of the TV generation growing up, being in Malaysia meant that our cartoons were somewhat different and outdated. That is, we did not watch the same cartoons at the same time they premiered, so the timeline is somewhat off for us. But I do remember every evening, we’d get half an hour of cartoons on TV, and of course, there is the Saturday morning segment.

Which included my favorite show when I was 10 - Masked Rider. Yes, it is the lame copy of the Japanese version, and it is a poor man’s substitute for the then popular Power Rangers (not that Power Rangers is any better, looking back now), but then we weren’t allowed to watch Power Rangers for some reason or the other. Masked Rider was on Saturday mornings, and we wouldn’t miss it for anything.

I suddenly had the idea to look for Masked Rider episodes, and guess what? A whole load of them, full episodes, not just clips, on youtube. I couldn’t stop smiling watching through one, it turned out to be the lamest and cheesiest thing I have ever seen, but then it was serious business back then.

It’s amazing what the internet can do these days. I never thought I’d be watching this long forgotten and scorned show, a decade later. For us, it brings back memories, for the new generation, it is something new (I seriously doubt kids today would watch such things though, now that they are spoiled by amazing special effects). Only a few years’ difference, and things have changed. Today’s kids spend their time playing computer games. If they watch TV, it is rarely the animated cartoons of our age - it’s the Disney Channel live action stuff, or else Spongebob Squarepants. Truth is, there are few good cartoons today. At least, going through Cartoon Network these days is bound to be a disappointment.

But for me, and many others, the joy and anticipation of Saturday morning cartoons will remain always, a fond memory of a bygone age (that is, why don’t you try looking for your old fave cartoons on youtube? There is nothing like good memories of old cartoons/shows).

Silly, but nostalgic.

On a side note, I was looking through the wiki of Masked Rider, and noticed that Saban Entertainment was also responsible of the Mystic Knights of Tir Na Nog, which was one of my favorite shows after Masked Rider ended, but we never finished watching it, because we had to move houses and the new place didn’t have ntv7… I actually remember that clearly…

Posted in TV/Movies | 1 Comment »

Fishing and LifeChangers

No, the two things mentioned in the title have nothing to do with each other. At any rate, I’m just lumping two events into one post.

First, fishing. Was the first time ever. Went to a trout farm, with two other adults, stood there with a long bamboo pole with the string/wire at the end of it. One of my companions was also a first timer, but it seemed that it was her lucky day, and the fish came in frequently - even a giant 4.3 lb trout that had people admiring it in our bucket.

As for me. I think I caught only one. But it was fun, sitting there, staring at the red and white thing bobbing on the surface of the water.

The Big Fish

Lifechangers
Went to ‘visit’ them along with two other new acquaintances (literally). Lifechangers is a week-long program, where kids from middle/high school help out in the community. Mostly, their schedule is morning, work (e.g. pick up trash, tear down houses), afternoon backyard Bible study for neighborhood kids, and night worship. They all stayed in a big gym, girls and guys separated into the two ends shielded by tall black curtains. I went with them on their bible study trip, and we walked around a bit trying to ’round up’ kids, but didn’t see anyone. At any rate, kids started coming in after a while. They had a little fun, and I saw some sharing the gospel, which was good.

As it turned out, they had something called the ‘5 questions’, which they are taught to ask people as a way to share the gospel. I didn’t realize that until the short testimony session at night. After which, a pastor came up and preached on removing idols in our lives, and opened the altar to the people. To which many kids responded.

All in all, I truly felt that it was a lifechanging matter, not just for the neighborhood kids who accepted Christ, but for the participants, some of whom may rededicate their lives and become ‘new’.

Story time.

They stayed in a school.

Posted in Sports, Travel | 2 Comments »

New York City

I’ve always wanted to go to NYC. What a bustling city, full of life, full of energy. One of those ‘never sleep’ cities. Anyway, I got the chance to go there for 3 days. Of course, that wasn’t including the 10 hour car ride to get there. And back.

Before I go into the stuff that I saw, let me just say that it was quite ironic considering that the place where I stayed (Brooklyn Chinatown) had no internet. Ugh. This is almost like the very heart of civilization, and no internet? My definition of civilization would be clean place to stay and clean bathroom, modern things, and most importantly, internet. During the couple of days there, without access to the world, I might as well have been living in a jungle (concrete jungle?).

Anyway, the place where we stayed was at the sixth floor and overlooked Brooklyn and even the Statue of Liberty could be seen at the distance.

First day practically rained all day. So we jumped into the subway, emerged at Times Square, tried to stare up but was distracted by all the umbrellas and trying not to step into puddles. Went underground again quickly, and emerged near Central Park. Where we then walked briskly to the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Apparently the others wanted to go shopping, so one decided to go with me into the museum.

It was rainy, as you can see everyone trying to hide around.

That was pretty much the day. I spent nearly the entire day walking around the museum, and still haven’t seen all of it. In fact, even the stuff that I saw were mostly just walking by as fast as possible. It’s that big. My feet ached at the end.

Second day the rain let up. Finally! Now we can do more walking! Subways, then more walking. Down to Wall Street, visited the Trinity Church, went to see the World Trade Center site, which is basically just construction - looks like we came at the wrong time. Just in between times when there were some things to be seen.

The inside of the church. Majestic thing, only dated from late 1600s, which is considered new when you think about the truly ancient Gothic/Romanesque cathedrals in Europe.

Because we didn’t want to spend money to go to Ellis Island (where the Statue of Liberty is), we boarded the free ferry bound for Staten Island which will pass the statue.

The Manhattan skyline from the ferry. It’s a cloudy day, sadly. Not so good for nice pictures.

See. It’s so small even though we’re passing it. Sigh.

Went to Times Square again. This time was more like it. A sea of people. I don’t understand the hype of it anyhow. Just a bunch of screens on the buildings.

Chinatown is pretty remarkable. You wouldn’t know you were in USA. Everywhere people speaking Mandarin or dialects, with quite authentic food - first time I ate Foochow food in a year. Although the Foochows were mostly ‘real’ ones, not from Sibu (obviously), so the food was a little different.

That’s about it. Saw Carnegie Hall, visited Central Park a bit - at least just walked maybe a hundred feet into it and back out again. Walked around Chinatown (sigh, horrible place to live). Visited Long Island (the folks I were with were visiting a church), and I got “lost” in the church - at least I was separated from the party for quite a bit. Quite hilarious. Of all places to get ‘dumped’ by the group.

New York City is an awesome place to visit. I like the subways, the sight of all the yellow taxis jamming the roads, the roadside hotdogs - it’s much like the stuff you see on TV. Which I guess, makes it awesome. Not a very pleasant place to live, however, especially if you’re going to live in Chinatown, which is going to be plain horrible. Chicago is a nicer place to live overall, imo, but for excitement and fun and just the rush of city life, it can’t beat NYC.

Posted in Travel | 2 Comments »

Chicago again

So finally I got to go downtown again, this time to the ‘Museum Campus’, which is basically the bunch of museums overlooking the lake. Only the aquarium was giving free admission tickets, so I only went there. The other museums were practically empty outside. The aquarium was a bore, and hot, with so many people crammed inside that I could hardly see anything around the more popular exhibits. There weren’t many interesting fish though, a couple of eels, spider crabs, giant catfish, river otters… no sharks, jellyfish and that sort of cool stuff.

Anyway, I was about to head off to Navy Pier, when the bus passed by a banner with “Chicago Blues Festival” written on it. Nearly everybody got off the bus, and then, I realized that it was once a lifetime chance. Navy Pier will always be there, but not a Chicago Blues Festival! So off I went, along with my companion.

Turns out it was a right decision. There were so many people, again, which explained the traffic jam. A few stages were rigged and people were performing the blues. And there were a bunch of booths, much like a carnival of some sort. And at the end of one line there was a Gibson guitar booth where they displayed a bunch of Gibsons and let people try on Line 6 Pods. I didn’t get a chance, however, since all the spots were taken.

The main attraction was a huge stage so far away that I could barely see, and a huge crowd obviously prepared with their chairs and food and drinks. I stood for a while at the sidewalk, one side of my face directly in the sunlight, while some people danced and others sat leisurely around me.

The huge stage

The huge screen in front of the huge stage

The more expensive custom shop stuff.

The cheaper, for people to play stuff. Still, my first ever time touching and holding a Les Paul.

Two words (actually, 3): People and Heat. In the aquarium, of course, the brighter part with the Amazon exhibits.

Posted in Travel | No Comments »