Friday, September 26, 2008

God's reminder for me

Was doing some tidying this afternoon and came across a card given to me by a fren when i was quite down.. and on the card was written this very apt and true poem..

God knows what's in your heart and what you need before you ask.
Even when you don't know for sure, God knows, because He knows you.
He knows the outcome of every situation, and He's guiding you even when you might feel that you have lost your way.
He knows how much you can bear, and He will give you strength and fill you with His grace and blessings as He walks with you every step of the way..
He is surrounding you with His love and holding you gently in the palm of His hand.

~Sharon Valleau

basically, its what God meant when He said this to me, "you3 wo3 zai4, ni3 hai2 pa4 shen3 me?" (I am in control. No fear)

Sunday, September 21, 2008

Trust God!

Below is a post from David's blog..

Making our own sense of things...

During Touchpoint last week, we heard a message by Chip Ingram - Trusting God when He doesn't make sense... touching on the story whereby Jesus allowed Lazarus to pass away instead of going down to heal him right from the start...

And a couple of days later, as I was sharing with Ben, we were discussing about how things may be uncertain and it is in these moments of uncertainties and out-of-comfort-zone experiences that challenges us in our belief of Him...

We have a knack to look for illumination... we HAVE TO see where we are going, otherwise we will panic... it makes no sense to walk in the darkness at all and hope to get to somewhere.. but i do recall a passage in the bible which deals with this issue:

"Let him who walks in the the dark, who has no light, trust in the name of the Lord and rely on his God. But now, all you who light fires and provide yourselves with flaming torches, go, walk in the light of your fires and of the torches you have set ablaze. This is what you shall receive from my hand: you will lie down in torment"

- Book of Isaiah 50:10-11

Let me adapt something from Dr Larry Crabb's book - Connecting... :

"There is an enormous difference between the joy of discovery and the passion to explain. The former gives life a sense of adventure. The latter makes us hate mystery......

For those who enjoy discovery because they know a good God is moving through the chaos toward a wonderful conclusion, mystery poses no problem. It is welcomed. Explain what you can, and relax even when you can't . But for those ruled by a passion to explain, for those who insist on feeling confident in their own plans, mystery is offensive. They want to know exactly what they must do to provide for their economic future, to restore harmony in their relationships, to succeed in their career of ministry. Confusion is an enemy. Uncertainty is a challenge to overcome....

Fire lighters love formulas. They live by them. When they can't devise their own, they turn to experts who confidently tell them what to do to achieve desired results. When fire lighters try to help people, they are more concerned with doing it right than touching others' souls. They trust their own model for helping more than the voice of God, more than the Spirit speaking through His Word into their redeemed hearts. Connecting is replaced by control. Fire lighters work too hard. They follow theory too closely; they depend too much on approved technique."


We can't get by trials in life, or life in general, trying to follow formulas... we do not get through difficult times via formulas.. It never starts with METHODS... it always begin at the heart... every journey we take in our lives starts very first in our hearts, not in our feet... and every help we extend to people starts with our hearts too, not with our hands....

'Love your neighbor as yourself.'

Aussie 'free hugs guy' to donate kidney to stranger: report
21st Sept (GMT +8)


SYDNEY (AFP) - - An Australian man known around the world for giving free hugs to anyone who asks, is planning to go one step further by donating one of his kidneys to a stranger, a report said Sunday.

Juan Mann, who came to worldwide attention in 2004 after a video of him dispensing free hugs in Sydney's central business district appeared on YouTube, expects to undergo surgery next year.

"I am young, I am fit, I am healthy, I have two kidneys," the 26-year-old, who does not use his real name, told the Sun-Herald.

"I don't really drink. I don't need that second one and someone will be able to get out of hospital."

Mann will face psychiatric and physical tests in hospital before he can make the donation, the process of which will be filmed and later broadcast online, the paper said.

"I will never meet the (recipient); I will never know if the transplant is a success or a failure; I will never know if my kidney kills the person," Mann said.

"Apparently once you give your kidney you will never feel whole.

"(But) I'll get a cool scar and apparently chicks dig scars."

Mann, who spends about one day a week holding a 'FREE HUGS' sign above his head in Sydney's Pitt Street Mall, has inspired free hugs movements around the world.


The Parable of the Good Samaritan
Luke 10:25-37

On one occasion an expert in the law stood up to test Jesus. "Teacher," he asked, "what must I do to inherit eternal life?"

"What is written in the Law?" he replied. "How do you read it?"

He answered: " 'Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind'; and, 'Love your neighbor as yourself.'"

"You have answered correctly," Jesus replied. "Do this and you will live."

But he wanted to justify himself, so he asked Jesus, "And who is my neighbor?"

In reply Jesus said: "A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, when he fell into the hands of robbers. They stripped him of his clothes, beat him and went away, leaving him half dead. A priest happened to be going down the same road, and when he saw the man, he passed by on the other side. So too, a Levite, when he came to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side. But a Samaritan, as he traveled, came where the man was; and when he saw him, he took pity on him. He went to him and bandaged his wounds, pouring on oil and wine. Then he put the man on his own donkey, took him to an inn and took care of him. The next day he took out two silver coins[e] and gave them to the innkeeper. 'Look after him,' he said, 'and when I return, I will reimburse you for any extra expense you may have.'

"Which of these three do you think was a neighbor to the man who fell into the hands of robbers?"

The expert in the law replied, "The one who had mercy on him."
Jesus told him, "Go and do likewise."

Sunday, September 14, 2008

zegna's "finest" wallpaper



"finest wallpaper"???? hahahaha.. it juz tickles my funny bones...

i din think wallpaper can be "fine" as well.. they really try hard to "fine"ify all their products... haha...

another amusing thing.. there's only juz 1 wallpaper.. of cuz its the "finest".. haha..

a word about healthy Dating

here's an excerpt adapted from
Boundaries in Dating: Making Dating Work by Dr. Henry Cloud and Dr John Townsend.

"Dating is ultimately about love. People seek it through dating. When they find it, and it matures, they often make deep commitments to each other. Freedom and responsibility are necessary for love to develop in dating. When two individuals allow each other freedom and take ownership of the relationship, they are creating an environment for love to grow and mature. Freedom and responsibility create a safe and secure environment for a couple to love, trust, explore and deepen their experience of each other.

Simply put, many of the struggles people experience in dating relationships are at heart caused by some problem in the areas of freedom and responsibility. By freedom, we mean your ability to make choices based on your values, rather than choosing out of fear or guilt. Free people make commitments because they feel it’s the right thing to do, and they are wholehearted about it. By responsibility, we mean your ability to execute your tasks in keeping the relationship healthy and loving, as well as being able to say no to things you shouldn’t be responsible for. Responsible people shoulder their part of the dating relationship, but they don’t tolerate harmful or inappropriate behavior. "

peugeot's stylo error404

as per angelus's request, here i am to post sthg..

this is now my 403rd post.. and i rem making a hoo ha over my 100th post on my blog last time.. how time flies.

anyhow, you know sometimes you try to get to a webpage but you're shown error404 and you're super irritated/frustrated? i came across peugeot's page for erroneous links, wah it really reduces teh negative emotions with its super stylo layout.... but then peugeot is known for its support for design. in fact it was precisely while i was surfing the entries for a design competition organised by peugeot that i came across this stylo error404 webpage.



now where did the error code disappear to? its found on the car plate number. fun and quirky. but at the same time some pp may not be able to spot that, since its not at the usual and prominent place. and for techies who need techincal information to troubleshoot, this little lack of usability may prove to be a source of inconvenience and of cuz irritation.

as someone (i forgot who) said in a human factors seminar which i attended recently, when human factors clash with the aesthetic/mechanical/etc design of teh product, it simply means that the design is not finished yet. the design muz keep on improving such that it is wholistic, being attractive, functional, and easy to use, all at the same time.

anyway, here's teh entries for the design competition. there're some really cool cars here.. and there's even a sg entry, which managed to garner 1200plus votes. not bad ald. =) (but no, the sg entry is not called alexandra road..haha)

Enjoy!