Does it matter?

Last night we have a small chat within the office with other two collegues. The topic was brought up because of Andi was packing his bag and ready to go home when I passed by his desk. He's just bought some DVDs one of the title is "The tomb of Jesus". Then I asked him why did he choose the title ? Andi answered that because he read a lot of discussion re. this topic in the milis which he join. One of the discussion is whether Jesus's married and have his own family. Then another collegue - Melvin joint in the conversation said, that He would not bother about the life of Jesus, whether He was married or not with Mary Magdalene.. What does matter is the teaching of Jesus.. Hmm, I was disagree with Melvin. In my opinion all of part of Jesus life is really matter, which prove that He is GOD. However, yesterday I didn't make any arguments to encounter Melvin's statement. One of the reason maybe I am still lack of knowledge about this..

So feel free to put any comment on this topic.. Maybe I can get some inputs.

Samalona Island.

Ready to depart to ...

Devil's Trick.

Last night I went home on time, this is quite unusual hehe, since I always stayed at the office at least until 7.00 PM. One reason is I want to avoid the traffic jam, so it is better do something else in the office rather than sit in the car doing nothing. I have planned to visit my former office to obtain signature from my former employer for CISA certification application then attended the prayer session in the church.

Last night talk is about Matthew 4:1-11. According to the preacher these verse contain of two parts i.e. how devil try to persuade man become a sinner and how Jesus faced the temptation without being a sinner. For this session the preacher talked about the part one of these verses "How devil try to persuade man become a sinner".

First we looked at Mat 4:2-3 "After fasting forty days and forty nights, he was hungry. The tempter came to him and said. If you are the Son of God, tell these stones to become bread." He explained Devil utilise our needs to tempt us. Other example for this case is Esau because he was hungry, he was willing to trade his birth rights to Jacob. He didn't think about the cause of his decision, he just thought about the fulfilment of his needs. We are human sometimes like that, so we are willing to do anything include sinned action to fulfil our needs.

Second Mat 4:5-6 "Then the devil took him to the holy city and had him stand on the highest point of the temple. "If you are the Son of God," he said, "throw yourself down. For it is written: "He will command his angels concerning you, and they will lift you up in their hands, so that you will not strike your foot against a stone." The preacher further explained that Devil use our knowledge of God's word to tempt us. Some people sometimes only quote a little part of the bible to make his action seems true. Hence, beware that we need to carefully interpret God's words.. beside the meaning we also need to know the context of the verses and how it is applied. Don't misuse it otherwise Devil will use it against us.

Third Mat 4:8-9 "Again, the devil took him to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their splendor. "All this I will give you," he said, "if you will bow down and worship". Devil use our focus to tempt us. One example of this is David. He focussed on his desire to a beautiful woman, which drawn him to commit murder and adultery.

I was made aware by by these explanation.. I hope this could equipped me more in the future.

Reading books.

That is my niece, Clara's answer if everyone asked her about her hobby. She is only two years old, she has showed her interest to books. Although she cannot read, she know the content of every single of her books.. She owns almost a hundred books at home and continue to be added. Reading books is also what I have been doing since a few months ago, started to fill my sparetime with this hobby. I have read different kind of genres. Here they are:

• Betrayal by Randall Arthur. This book is a religious novel like Frank's. Different with Frank's story, this book talk about pattern of betrayal that often happens in the body of Christ or church community. Quite dramatical and worth to read.

• Undomestic goddess & Can you keep a secret. Both of them are chick lits, which written by Sophie Kinsela. These two books are good for light reading, relax and quite entertain. These books are good choices for your spare time.

• The curious incident of the dog in the night time by Mark Haddon. I found this book is quite different in the term of the story telling. The story is about a 15th years old kids, Christopher, with a kind of autism, found his neighbour's dog killed by a garden fork. He is encouraged by his teacher, to write abook about his investigation in finding the murder of the dog. According to book review in amazon - "This is the sort of book that could turn condescending, or exploitative, or overly sentimental, or grossly tasteless very easily, but Haddon navigates those dangers with a sureness of touch that is extremely rare among first-time novelists". Worth to read, if you want to taste a different type of reading.

• Digital Fortress by Dan Brown. I just started to read this book. I found Dan Brown is good at making fiction. Making connection among facts, which in fact actually they do not have any connections.. hehehe.. quite confusing... that's why his controversial book DAVINCI CODE is called novel, not true.

yeah, that's all for now. Looking forward to learn crafting for my sunday school session. Happy reading.

SPA outing 2007 Part I

Just about two weeks ago, as our group tradition we conducted an outing for the first time in year 2007. The season started to lowered a bit. Just an opportunity to bound together and built up a solid team work. Every body have fun, can't wait for the next outing..

Closed up pose.

Lage Mejeng.

SPA team.

Outing Site.

Move on!

Have been struggled to let go a "thing" that I obsessed about, although I knew it was the will of God I couldn't make it mine. I meant actually I could sense God's answer was very clear, but I was so stubborn to think there maybe a chance to pursue it. Until the end of last month ...

Melvin (an office collegue) and I were very lucky, being chosen by the firm to attend a T3 (training the trainers) for BPF (Business Process Fundamental) course by Global Learning and education team in Hongkong. The purpose of the training is to communicate all of the course material to the participants, which then the participants can prepare their own course in their home countries. I met other participants from several of our region offices, which was very interesting. I experienced this before, when I attended SPA academy one and half year ago in Bangkok. However, this training was slightly different with the former one. The participants in this course were much lesser than the SPA academy's participants, which gave more chance to know others better.

Besides training, We had chances to visit some interesting place in Hongkong such as Disney's land and several shopping places like Mongkok, Wanchai and Causeway bay. I spent some hundreds dollar shopping for gift and myself. Overall was very enjoyable. This visit has opened my eyes, that this world still has many things that need to be explored. I should not distress myself with my "failure obsession". Unbelievable I have been sadden with it for more than one year, what a waste of time. I was so stubborn and hard hearted to obey God's guidance. I realised that I should move on and don't stuck myself with my struggle. I hope this is my turning point to change and have more reliance on God rather than rely on my own strength and understanding.

BPF T3 Participants & Instructors.

Training..

Met a new buddy.

Arrived at Disneyland.

Causeway Bay, HK.

Renungan mengenai sangkar burung.

I got this from a milist, maybe some of you have read it before. However, I thought it is nice for a reminder. Hope you get the essence of the stor-e... Here it goes...

Suatu masa, ada seorang pria bernama George Thomas, seorang pastur di sebuah kota kecil di New England. Pada suatu Minggu pagi, hari Paskah, ia tiba di gereja dengan membawa sangkar burung yg sudah karatan dan penyok-penyok, dan meletakannya di altar. Orang-orang pada keheranan dan, seolah-olah menangkap rasa penasaran orang-orang, Pastur Thomas mulai bicara...."

Saya sedang berjalan-jalan sekeliling kota kemarindan melihat seorang anak laki-laki berjalan mendekati saya sambilmengayun-ayunkan sangkar burung ini. Di dasar sangkar ada tiga burung kecil dan liar,menggigil karena kedinginan dan ketakutan. Saya stop anak laki-laki itu dan saya tanyakan,"Ada apa di sangkar itu, nak ?" "Hanya beberapa burung biasa" jawabnya. "Apa yg akan kau lakukan pada mereka ?" tanya saya. "Bawa pulang ke rumah dan menggoda mereka," jawabnya. "Saya akan menggoda mereka dan mencabuti bulu-bulu mereka supaya mereka saling berkelahi. Saya pasti akan menikmati saat itu". "Tapi kamu nanti akan jadi bosan dengan burung-burung itu cepat atau lambat. Lantas apa yang akan kamu kerjakan ?" "Oh, saya kan punya beberapa kucing," kata anak laki-laki itu". Mereka senang burung. Saya akan berikan burung-burung ini pada kucing-Kucing itu". Pastur terdiam untuk beberapa saat. "Berapa yang kamu inginkan untuk burung-burung itu, nak ?" "Huh? Mengapa, Anda tidak mungkin menginginkan burung-burung inikan, Pak. Mereka hanyalah burung biasa. Mereka tidak bisa bersiul merdu. Mereka bahkan tidak menarik !" "Berapa ?" Tanya pastur lagi. Si anak laki-laki itu mengukur kemampuan si pastur dan menilai si pastur mungkin gila, dan menjawab, "$10?" Pastur mengambil dari kantungnya dan mengeluarkan selembar uang kertas sepuluh dollar. Ia taruh di tangan anak laki-laki itu! Dalam sekejap, anak laki-laki itu pun menghilang.Si pastur memungut sangkar tersebut dan dengan lembut membawanya Ke ujung gang dimana ada sebuah pohon dan tempat yang berumput. Sambil meletakkan sangkar itu, ia membuka pintunya, dan dengan mengetuk jeruji sangkar pelan-pelan membujuk burung-burung itu keluar. Dan, itu tadi menjelaskan mengapa sangkar burung yang kosong ini di atas altar ini, lalu pastur mulai menceritakan cerita ini.

Suatu hari Iblis dan TUHAN sedang bercakap-cakap. Iblis baru saja datang dari Taman Firdaus, dan ia nampak rakus dan sedang membual. "Ya, tuan, saya baru saja melihat dunia penuh dengan orang-orang di bawah sana. Saya pasang perangkap, gunakan umpan yang saya tahu pasti mereka tak akan bisa menolak. Kenalah mereka semua!""Apa yg akan kau lakukan terhadap mereka ?" tanya TUHAN. Iblis menjawab, "Oh, saya akan bersenang-senang! Saya akan ajarkan mereka bagaimana kawin dan cerai, bagaimana saling membenci dan menganiaya satu sama lain, bagaimana saling minum-minum dan merokok dan menghujat. Saya akan ajarkan mereka bagaimana membuat senjata dan bom dan saling membunuh satu sama lain. Saya akan benar-benar senang!" "Dan apa yang akan kau lakukan terhadap mereka setelah engkau selesai dengan itu semua ?" tanya TUHAN. "Oh, saya akan bunuh mereka," Iblis menatap dengan bangga. "Berapa yang kau inginkan untuk mereka ?" tanya TUHAN. "Oh, kau tidak mungkin menginginkan orang-orang itu. Mereka tidaklah baik. Mengapa, kau ambil mereka dan mereka hanya akan membencimu. Mereka akan meludahimu, menghujatmu dan membunuhmu. Kau tidak mau orang-orang ini!" "Berapa ? Ia bertanya lagi. Iblis menatap TUHAN danmenyeringai, "Semua darah, airmata, dan jiwamu". TUHAN berkata, "Baiklah !" Lalu Ia membayar harganya, dengan darah, airmata dan jiwaNYA Pastur memungut sangkar tersebut. Ia membuka pintunya dan ia melangkah dari mimbar.

John 10:11 "I (Jesus) am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep.

Where after death?

During the year end holiday, I visited my friend, Yenny, in Singapore. Yenny is the one who lost her fiance in an accident last year. Initially my visit purpose are to refresh/clean up my mind from a messy thought and get away from my routine. My visit was only three days, because I thought it's enough time to explore for a small country like Singapore, moreover I've been there before.

On the first day it was enjoyable, then come to a point that where Both Yenny and I sat at a restaurant having lunch, just she and me. After some conversation, finally she admitted that sometimes she still couldn't let go the incident.. and wonder where does he go to ? heaven or the opposite. She told me that she've already asked some of her friends (catholic believe), all of them answered her with don't know answer. (note: both yenny and her ex are budhist). This question was struck me.. and a bit confuse to answer her. I came to a dillema, what should I say.. If I answered that I don't know either, it means I failed to testify I as a Christian.. but if I answered going to hell, then it makes her sad, and felt Christianity is unfair, because in her perspective her fiance never did anything wrong that deserve him for going to hell. Instead of giving a direct answer, I finally explained her about what is Christian all about ? Why Jesus came to the world and died on the cross.. and People does not judge by deeds but by faith to Jesus Christ.. I don't know whether she understood what I was talking about, and just pray in my heart that she could digest my explanantion. At the end of the conversation, I said, that I am going to ask my pastor in the church for giving a direct answer, which I actually knew the answer. Then before I came back from Singapore, I had a chance to pray with her.. Initially she seemed hesitate to pray with me, because she don't know how to pray. Then I persuaded her that she didn't need a training or course in order to pray..

When I had come back, I consulted with an evangelist in our church, her statement slapped me, said I shouldn't doubt to give an answer for Yenny's question, if that is the truth.. the statement made me think, that I was only given a simple question, but failed to answer it.. how about if I was in a harder situation where I have to choose between my faith or career, partner or even die. This experience had give me a warning that I had to grow stronger not lukewarm in my faith.

Rev 3:16 - "So because you are luke warm - neither hot nor cold - I am about to spit you out of my mouth"

Our office.

In an aquarium.