Stranger on Earth

The Hand of God

2009-05-05T23:29:00.000-07:00

Preparing the way for the Lord was the famous word from John the Baptist. How I only wish today people would heed the message again, especially toward what is to come in the future. The justice of the Lord is going to arrive, no later in his watch. It is time we come to cultivate humility and repentance, and not walk away from Jesus. He is hurting for the sins of this nation, as well as the sins of our life, and he longs for us to turn back and walk in his freedom.

If only the Holy Spirit will come quickly on the city in full, so that more people's eyes can be opened and be saved. Dullness and anxiety is the mood of our time, but who can bear the wrath of judgment, the end time of his mercy and grace?

"To the faithful you show yourself faithful, to the blameless you show yourself blameless.
To the pure you show yourself pure, but to the crooked you show yourself shrewed.
You save the humble, but you eyes are on the haughty to bring them low."

- 2 Samuel 26-28

Beast of Nature

2007-09-20T23:52:00.000-07:00

The state of affair to life is often a distracting matter. A rough guess to locate the constant source lies somewhere to a need to micro-manage my choices. More than the consequence that meets the eyes, but a need to understand the options, becomes an exhaustive and futile exercise. I had to reminisce what it was that I felt so fresh and clean just a week ago, during those 3-day fast when all things irrelevant are swept away; it was a needy heart that only God can fulfill. A needy heart that persists in struggles between conviction and ambition; it is in between the tension that God often allows life to suffer. And then I want to quit the game, wishing only to become a creature of comfort. So life spirals into much ado about nothing; those same circular footsteps, the whims for more limelight even as the curtain is long closed.

But to this convoluted mess a choice has been made, a yielding confession, and an offering confession, in exchange for a peace of my heart.

Snippets of

2007-08-30T00:05:00.000-07:00

what I've learned in the last month or two…

1. Leading people to follow Jesus and seeing their hearts changed makes it worth all my sacrifices.

2. In life we all walk in the direction of our expectations; I expect to leave a trail of extraordinary stories to tell at the end.

3. Obedience to God means: do not second guess myself what I wish I could’ve become today.

4. Not in vain means: Seeing the light that you’re almost as good as the people you work with, almost.

5. Having gastritis is a great discomfort few rarely understood; having repeated ill-diagnosis on gastritis is a circus to some kind of chronic self-torture; seeing finally a bruised and bleeding GI after over 12 years makes you want to praise and curse God at the same time.

6. Verse of a great comfort: “The fruit of righteousness will be peace; the effect of righteousness will be quietness and confidence forever.” Isaiah 32:17

7. Dullness is the worst feeling in life, because it makes you feel useless.

8. In the end we shall all die; bodies and souls return to dust. And afterward tossed into the wind and forgotten, just like all the rich and beautiful people before us.

9. Last but not the least, my favorite quote:
A man is known,
By the company he keeps.
And the pig gets up,
And slowly walks away…

The Invisible Hand

2007-08-14T00:43:00.000-07:00

It’d been a while since I posted anything new and fresh, but that does not translate to the dullness of life by any chance.

Lately I’ve been keen in watching the news on subprime implosion and the coming credit contraction. Last Friday the Federal Reserve decided to lend out 38 billion dollars to ease the overnight Inter-bank borrowing rate spike, by ways of 3-days termed-repos on the agency grade Mortgage-Backed Security (MBS) such as Fannie Mae. This was in addition to the 24 billion dollars that came to rescue just the day before. A year ago I would not have the interest nor the knowledge to care for a news headline like this, but I’ve since owned a passion in learning about the state of our economy. The catalyst really began from my frustration in looking for an affordable housing (condo/townhouse) in the Seattle/Eastside area. Today how I transited from house hunting to stock-watching is no longer as important or relevant on the records as to what I’m discovering everyday, given my geek nature. It is indeed one of the greatest stories yet to tell – in watching the Great American Greed gets unfolded.

The Friday termed repos will last only 3 days including the weekend, before the borrowing banks will have to pay back the Fed with principle and interest. The action to inject liquidity was synchronized around the globe, from the European Central Bank ($213 billions) to Japan ($8.4 billions), to Canada ($1.55 billions), Swiss ($1.68 ~$2.5 billions) and Singapore ($1 billions) I can’t imagine how the demand for cash can be so great and urgent in such a short notice, unless something smelly is going south. Understanding that lending can only secure the current commitments that are taking place, any future IPO’s, stock buyback and institutional borrowing should be subjected to newer lending standards imposed by banks who will very possibly become risk averse and demand to know the real values of the CDO (collateral debt obligation) and many other asset-backed securities that are currently floating in the market (by $trillions), obfuscated in their pricings.

Given that the stock market has been trading sideway the last two weeks, with ever-increasing volatility, there are now more and more voices in Wall Street asking the Fed to lower the Fed Fund Rate. In addition, over $1 trillions of subprime mortgage are ready to be reset in the coming months of the year and the pressure on people to have to dish out more on their monthly payments will also mean we are going to see more defaults, by those who mis-price themselves in the housing market. There are already clouts of political influence rising to want to help out the “unfortunate” mass, but alas, lowering the interest rate will greatly cut back on the value of dollar currency, which has already been degraded much in the last few years. Foreign banks that are holding reserves on US dollars will soon see the debasing of their asset (in comparing with their own inflation rate) and reconsider the course of holding a losing currency. What would the Fed do, help the bankers and self-destruct the US dollar, or watch the liquidity evaporate and asset values depreciate all across the board (another word: recession)?

Today the Fed has injected another $5 billons in repos. In the past only the Treasuries notes are allowed in the trading but now the Fed, obviously wanting to help out the banking elites, has agreed to purchase the MBS in wholesale…

P.S. I owe everything I learn, the lingos and the meats, from Barry Ritholtz (http://bigpicture.typepad.com/) as well as Michael Shedlock (http://globaleconomicanalysis.blogspot.com/). They are absolutely the best Internet blogs I’ve yet to find.

A Mere Baking Thought

2007-05-12T02:01:00.000-07:00

If anyone likes to ask me (or care enough) today what is the indispensable quality a church leader must possess without a second thought I’ll say it is a warrior heart. A good Christian man knows how to live an upright life for himself but I’d much preferred a fighter who is not afraid to bleed his heart out for Jesus and his church.

In an unrelated story, Diego Chico Corrales, a rising boxing star at age 29, has just died from a motorcycle accident when he (riding in 100 mph) hit the back of a car, flew over and got ran over by an oncoming traffic.

Dan Rafael (the author) is obviously very fond of this man and his way of life.
http://sports.espn.go.com/sports/boxing/columns/story?columnist=rafael_dan&id=2867504

“It wasn't the only time Corrales showed guts and will. How about when he was knocked down five times by Floyd Mayweather in their junior lightweight title fight? Corrales kept getting up until his corner threw in the towel, a move he raged against. There was also his first slugfest with Joel Casamayor, in which Corrales suffered a horrific cut all the way through his lip. Although the fight was stopped, Corrales begged to continue as blood poured from the wound. Trailing to Acelino "Popo" Freitas, Corrales rallied, knocking Freitas down three times to win”

“I vividly remember sitting inside the Mandalay Bay Events Center watching the spectacle of the fight with Castillo unfold. When Corrales was knocked down for the second time in the 10th round, most of us sitting ringside thought it was over. But Corrales had a warrior heart and a never-say-die attitude. He got up both times and then rallied to score one of the most incredible comebacks in history. Not just boxing, mind you. Sports history.”

I never boxed, never got into a serious fight in my life, and I can count the number of times I’ve watched the matches. But when I read this story my heart just goes out for him, because Diego understood that a fight (or life) is over the moment he no longer counts himself dead. If only the dude knew how to fight for people’s hearts and you give me a few good Diego, and I’ll show you a church that overflows in the scale of Pentecost.

Self Amusement

2007-05-12T01:48:00.000-07:00

Ask a Mexican:
http://www.ocweekly.com/columns/ask-a-mexican/

Maybe I should run a column of something like “Ask a Chinaman”.

Q: “Why is ‘Chinaman’ considered derogatory?”
A: I am just as well puzzled. The English suffix of –nese actually refers to things of object and thus ‘Chinese’ and ‘Japanese’ ought to sound even more condescending (and why do Koreans get all the break?). Personally I think there is an underlying flattery that ‘Chinaman’ is named in equal rank with “Englishman”.

Q: “Why do Chinese eat weird stuffs like inner cow linings?”
A: Once upon the time when China was in her most glorious days of history not found in the Bible, parents fed their kids cow linings and cultivated them on different tastes of food, natural or acquired. The movement grew its momentum and offended the Indians very much, and they fought wars over whether cows are meant to be worshipped or eaten. Until today this divisive issue remains one of the hot flashes in Asia and the Bush administration are asking both countries to lay down their arms to aid the war on terror.

Q: “What is the difference between a Taiwanese and a Chinese?”
A: A Chinese prides himself in everything Chinese but gets offended in being compared with other Chinese. A Taiwanese considers himself everything Chinese but gets offended in being called a Chinese. (It's okay if you don't get the joke...)

Easter Sunday Rant

2007-04-09T00:11:00.000-07:00

Stayed up LATE both into Friday and Saturday night, needed to talk and pray for a friend about relationship plus other etc cetera in life. It got me to participate and witness the hand of God moving and building his kingdom into people’s heart, but man, the lack of sleep is really killing me…

In the past I’ve attempted to swim, just like many others, in the sea of relationship and was fast drowning over by its mysterious complication and endless heartache. But if I were asked again to share any new shed of light it is in truth God has made it simple for us to choose and to enjoy. To this new revelation I have a big shout-out: that life is simple to love, as much as Jesus is simple to trust. Cynicism about relationship comes out of nothing but pretension that we want to have the cake and eat it too, except there is none to be found (you be honest and tell me what the cake is).

To all the ‘nice guys’ out there: You know how everyone is at the different stage in life and she needs her freedom to be where she belongs. And I know how much you like to change your course to come to where she is so you two can somehow meet eyes to eyes. The reality is, that is RARELY ever going to happen! Even given the benefit of doubt, you are asking for an inward-looking puppy love that will likely be consumed by insecurity and oppression. Please, know where you are and where you ought to be; follow Jesus on a firm path and let the princess makes her choice. And this is how you shall lead the family and how you can become the head of the household (speaking like an authority).

And if I have just offended anyone, it is a promise that no animal cruelty was used in the writing of this post.

Who is mighty to save?

2007-03-06T00:18:00.000-08:00

Synergy (http://dict.die.net) n:
The working together of two things to produce an effect greater than the sum of their individual effects.

Having listening to Steve Morgan for over a year and half now every Sunday, I think I’ve pretty much heard of everything he has to preach about humanity, Jesus, salvation, and the advancing of God’s kingdom. It is indeed disappointing that it took less than two years to hear his repeated sermons like he promised we would, but just like the good old Bible each time we read we receive its unique revelation in pace with where our hearts longs, trite and true. And as such lately I’ve found myself enthralled with his teachings on worship, or more, just the idea of worship flusters a great overwhelm in my heart.

The reality of this world ultimately ends not in the understanding of truth, but in the assertion of power. I love it when Steve described everything we do either derived its authority from God, or from someone else. Even the cynics and unbelievers are blinded to and offended by Jesus not because of their understanding, choice or ignorance, but they are being held back, knowingly or unknowingly, by the stronghold of enemy, the master of all lies. Without imagining the titanic clashes of angels and demons, battling in their ether space, even in this material universe we constantly face conflicts, and we are asked to resolve them by means of authority either from God, or from someone else. In the past kings were crowned because they exercised dominion and control; revolutions were cried because the powerless struggled to re-establish new orders, and wars were fought to protect and to conquer. Laws and order do not convince; they were shown strength by the people who installed and swore to uphold. Even science do not make impact with abstraction and proof; breakthroughs change the world because they shake people’s beliefs, and accurate descriptions of nature help to make winner of wars and profits for market.

And thus, worshipping God is to worship his power and strength, to sing of his mighty mountains, his vast dessert, his endless galaxy, and the ocean, and the fire. To worship God is to recognize that doing so to everything else is vain and useless. Even refusing to worship is in the end a form of self-worship, if only one can see and admit such a folly. Though the word has been more often spoken and fed with macaroni & cheese, I can’t find a better diction to describe how God comes upon to those who seek him, in his house of church, in his kingdom and dominion, and fill us with a glimpse of his wonder in parts.

If only God would wipe out the mountains and the stars to have our attention, but instead we are asked to sing songs to worship him, and to hear his gentle whisper…

“And the word of the Lord came to him ‘What are you doing here, Elijah?’

“He replied, ‘I have been very zealous for the Lord God Almighty. The Israelites have rejected your covenant, broken down your altars, and put your prophets to death with the sword. I am the only one left, and now they are trying to kill me too.

“The Lord said, ‘Go out and stand on the mountain in the presence of the Lord, for the Lord is about to pass by.’

“Then a great and powerful wind tore the mountains apart and shattered the rocks before the Lord, but the Lord was not in the wind. After the wind there was an earthquake, but the Lord was not in the earthquake. After the earthquake came a fire, but the Lord was not in the fire. And after the fire came a gentle whisper. When Elijah heard it, he pulled his cloak over his face and went out and stood at the mouth of the cave.”

1 Kings 19:9~13

Unplugged

2007-01-20T02:36:00.001-08:00

I had recurring dreams for 2 nights in a row where I kept seeing the same 3 people but could not remember what their names were. Last night they showed up again and at last they ganged up on me with hugs and smiles and asked me about their names. A blank embarrassing stare drew me to awakening and for some reasons I started to apologize to God that I would never forget those 3 angels again, as if somehow I knew who they were but did not entertain them. In between the aburd moments of semi-comas I began to recount the names of people I’ve known for years. Childhood friends, school mates with whathisname, girls I talked about Jesus with when I should’ve asked for movies, professor who caught me cheating, guys who fought the same classes thru college, biblical figures, Abraham, Isaac, and Abimelech. I felt compelled to rehearse them all over again but a quarter were gone with my eyes still in the dark. The memory no longer worked its magic and I panic, the clock ticked and the dawn was near, I had to get up but thank God it’s Friday. What are the names of my co-workers? That’s right, can’t do without them. Ernie, Ernest, right, it’s Ern. Went through 3 rounds of my small group. Adults from Bluesky were safe but I still had hard time with babies. Babies all look the same to me; they just cry and nag and pretend to look cute.

I love watching trains. DC/AC locomotives, push-pull EMU units, diesel heads, Eurosprinter, Eurostar, Shinkansen, TGV, ICE, Thales, X2000 tilt trains, American muscles, South African narrow gauges, plus many others. As a kid I love walking on the train tracks, better yet watching the trains near by depots since the tracks will spread wide in many and you know which ones are safe to walk on. I knew the schedule by heart, timetable for the express; those things approach every station in full force, wheeling it over 70 with all 10 coaches. My heart would pump to see the sight of the coming monsters, so much that I get drawn to be as near as I can. But when the missile zinged it through my ears all I ever felt was quickly lost in translation.

"Pull me up wherever you leave; I know you don't stop but I want to hop in and travel. My life is fading out but the tracks still lie ahead; left behind are the names of comfort I no longer carry in bag. I miss every thing about you but it is I who finally must let go."

Holy cow, It's the chicken!!!

2006-12-18T23:17:00.000-08:00

Had a few fun crowds over for a dinner party last Saturday night, a nice meal to the souls after what had just transpired for many days with the wind storm, power outage and all that adventurous good jazz. The curry chicken came away the star of the evening, as it had surprisingly left a long, tantalizing aftertaste with some of us. At a request of a friend I decided to compose my first written recipe, as well in memory to the warm food, the fun night, and the good company that we had.

Disclaimer: This is a personal (thus experimental) recipe, after years of growing up eating and loving curry anything. The author is not responsible to any damage done to the gut, to the taste buds, or to any change in bowl movements.

--------------------------------------------
How to make curry chicken (for a party of 10)

4 bags of chicken drummette
2 onions + 2 potatoes
1 bottle (2.2 oz) of Private Selection mild curry powder
1 bottle (2.2 oz.) of Spice Islands Thai seasoning
1 bottle (2.2 oz) of Spice Islands Turmeric seasoning
1 can (5.6 oz) of Thai coconut milk
4 TBS of fiesta chili powder
2 TBS of olive cooking oil
Safeway Italian seasoning/basils

1. Boil the chicken drummette, slice the onions, skin and dice the potatoes into chunks.

2. Pour in the olive oil, stir-fried the onions slices in high heat until the color changes to mild yellow, and then add to onions the drummette.

3. Pour in about 2 (or more) TBS of the curry powder, and stir-fry (~3 minutes?) the drummette until they all shine like the sand nuggets. Turn the stove down to medium heat, add in 2 TBS of Thai seasoning, 2 TBS of Turmeric, and 2 TBS of chili powder; continue to stir-fry the wok until you smell the flavors in full.

4. Pour in the whole can of coconut milk, lightly stir the wok as the milk begins to boil so it doesn’t get stuck into a thick layer and burned. Add a bowl of water and the potato chunks, cover with the lid and let it boil for 20 minutes in low medium ~ medium heat. At that point you should easily break the potatoes as they melt into a thick sauce with the rest.

5. Add salts as you wish, or more spice seasoning. You can also splash some Italian seasoning or basils to the sauce; either of which gives off a very exotic fragrance to the whole smell.

6. Serve well with rice, not a dish for the fainted-hearts!

Do I have what it takes?

2006-12-04T00:56:00.000-08:00

I was at Seattle Town Center this past Friday night with Chris McNeece, Matt Randall, and my housemate Jimmy listening to the McLellan/O’Donnell Living History Series, sponsored by The Seattle Public Library. The night featured humanity scholar Clay Jenkinson as Theodore Roosevelt, delivering an unscripted monologue as Roosevelt himself. It was a very impressive show (so much better too that it was free), and I was especially mesmerized by this particular quote in the end.

“It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles or where the doer of deeds could have done better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood, who strives valiantly, who errs and comes up short again and again, because there is no effort without error or shortcoming, but who knows the great enthusiasms, the great devotions, who spends himself for a worthy cause; who, at the best, knows, in the end, the triumph of high achievement, and who, at the worst, if he fails, at least he fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who knew neither victory nor defeat.”

It pretty much says it all; no need to elaborate any further. What is in a man can only be known in the battlefield, both to himself and to the others. The king has drawn the sword and asked his legions to follow closely behind…and have we just crossed the point of no return?

A Brief Critic on "Wild at Heart"

2006-11-08T00:04:00.000-08:00

I am alittle amused by all the "controversies" surrounded by John Eldrge's proposition that God is an adventurer and risk taker, while missed out the whole meat of soul-searching into the heart of manhood. Those who are well versed on the issues of discussion and firmly believe that Open Theism is nothing more than heresy, I have but one question: do you truly believe that reformed theology has all the right answers to God's mystery? What is an omnipotent and omnipresent God doing to create the garden of Eve, knowing a priori the fall of mankind, just so he can swoop down with a plan for redemption, and have all the creatures and heavens shouting gloriy and praises 24-7? The answer to that is at best a weak categorical thought that explains but convinces nobody, or worse, a divine form of masochism. And if that were true to follow God is then to master in the art of manipulation?

Give up trying to figure out God from a cage, this is really silly!

Freeze in Awakening

2006-10-14T02:30:00.000-07:00

“But we are not of those who shrink back and are destroyed, but of those who believe and are saved.” - Hebrew 10:39

How could I have ever thought of myself being a 30 year-old today, single, unkempt, renting, with a mediocre career, still wearing T-shirts from the days in college (undergraduate mind you), and be up late at night writing about some hurting passion that has no worth in this world? Today most of my friends have either married or become parents, if they haven’t had their second babies or purchased their second home. The world is moving on, my stage of youth is now a history, my younger brother Ed had just bought a home and my parents are now ever-aging. Am I falling off the wagon, losing out on the opportunity, blindsided by my idealism, or just plain stupid? I am not sure why I never felt strong enough to cling on to the train of life, or for that matter when I tried something else would pull me out of the track. Nonetheless deep down the heart constantly battles after treasures in this life or the next, it yearns for something real, cries after loneliness, and prays to be lifted off to a better place. The war begins every morning as I lay awake in bed; it never fails to hear the voice of condemnation. I will choose to look after your sheep Jesus, to look after your sheep, and after I have done all I can, to look after your sheep. But where is my place in this world? When I look back in my last dying breath will everything finally makes sense, or are you going to present yourself larger than a gentle nudge?

Show me a true heart that knows no fear Lord.

Where Angels Fear to Thread

2006-10-13T00:19:00.000-07:00

You spread out the skies over empty space
Said, "Let there be light"
to a dark and formless world Your light was born

You spread out Your arms over empty hearts
Said, "Let there be light"
to a dark and hopeless world Your Son was born

You made the world and saw that it was good
You sent Your only Son, for You are good

What a wonderful Maker
What a wonderful Saviour
How majestic Your whispers
And how humble Your love
With a strength like no other
and the heart of a Father
How majestic Your whispers
What a wonderul God

No eye has fully seen how beautiful the cross
And we have only heard the faintest
whispers of how great You are

- written by Matt Redman

No Ambivalence

2006-10-02T00:03:00.000-07:00

This weekend was quite filled up with activities, beginning from Friday night until Sunday afternoon, and the fun at last peaked out on the church anniversary picnic at the Lake Sammamish State Park. It did not feel that way at all, however, as tension was rising up from all walks of my life.

On Saturday I had the chance to share to a friend about my feeling toward a person I've gradually come to like alot in a recent past, after he'd first shared with me of his new dating life. The fact that things are going well with him has really confirmed his resolve to wait for a strong clearence from God first, as he patiently prayed for half a year before making a move for the next step. Testing the will of God is never easy, because so often the process becomes a testing of my faith, believing that God ultimately works for my favor as his dear son. I'm praying like crazy that I will not let my heart be pulling the strings again because I have GOT to be with someone who has the passion for Jesus like nothing else matters. Chrisitan relationship without believing hearfelt what your life is about will give you nothing but raw deal.

Praying like crazy too for my new small group that I'll be leading, as our current group is multiplying and the meeting will start in less than 2 weeks. It just feels so heavy to be in this position, as I'm just now understanding how James had felt and shared with me in the past. I can't do this on my own at all, thinking about taking control of the next multiplication roadmap just drive me insane. The enemy keeps playing tricks to my inadequacy, and I can't help but feeling self-conscious all the time.

I was honestly feeling down that the dev manager never returned my email, wondering whether I should even prepare for the interview at all. On Friday I've downloaded pages of MS interview questions, and just tonight I've attempted to labor through a few of them on algorithms and coding. Hugh ego blow I must say. But in the back of my mind I'm now starting to press in on God, asking him to give me more strength and more wisdom, knowing that I plan to seize any chance to get my footstep in there, reaching out for more people to your house. Asking for more time, asking for more grace...

I am soooo motivated to do your work Jesus, even with the tension rising all around. But take away the fear from me Lord, because it is high time to make the next bold move.

Remembering Billie Holiday

2006-10-01T00:12:00.000-07:00

Duke Ellington/Eddie Delange/Irving Mills

In my solitude You haunt me With reveries Of days gone by
In my solitude You taunt me With memories That never die
I sit in my chair And filled with despair
There's no one could be so sad
With gloom everywhere
I sit and I stare I know that I'll soon go mad
In my solitude I'm praying Dear Lord above Send me back my love

Seeing The Future, or Hype?

2006-09-29T11:16:00.000-07:00

I’ve got a chance to visit the Microsoft Informational on a Wednesday afternoon, skipped a few hours of work to attend a presentation on the Unified Communication. MS apparently has been working on integrating various voice, video and real-time messaging all in one suite over the IP network, combining that the application becomes integrated with the Office software. I believe this gives MS an extra edge over other client-side vendors like Skype or VoIP PABX makers who also offer similar services and vision. Terminal users now have the advantage of presence-awareness to produce more efficient business, working and communicating at the same time, through the same media, under one device, and sharing data all under the same applications. It is a further thinking than simply having unified communication for the sake of wanting to have one. I’ve asked a few program managers afterward on why MS decides to launch their real-time ventures based on Office and not something else like MSN but nobody was able to give me an answer, or I simply didn’t talk to the right biz head.

Having already described the upsides, however, the all-in-one package make the Office/Outlook more complicated to use than they already are. I mean, I rarely use all the prescribed features in MS Word beside “asdfg” and “File/Save as” etc, and I’ve always had to Google to remember what the difference is between POP3 and SMTP. Letting the email sender know whether his/her recipients are currently online or not can also be tricky. What if the mailing addresses simply aren’t instant-message capable (I’m sure they must have thought of that problem)? And even if they are, how much additional benefit can it give me to have that one-click feature than simply going over to open up my MSN, visually scan for the user, pop the window to say hi, and send in the attachment? During the presentation the speaker claimed that we spend 40% (or 60%?) of time tracking down a contact via voice mails on the phone when we could’ve avoided that on the actual work. Maybe I never work in those jobs where you are required to call and track down people all the time, but we can also page, email, IM, or simply run over and the tackle the guy if it must. And if all the above have failed, it simply means the person CHOOSES to be away from his desk and disappears, what else can you do, call the police for MIA? The bottom line is, it is indeed jazzinly nice to be able to work closely with people the way MS wants it, but applications connectivity under Window desktop is already in place, and I feel developers would have to squeeze much harder now to produce a few dimes of convenience, all for what not a diminishing return on the value.

Above are my critics of the event, and I shall never leave out the nice entrée that was also in treat for all the guests who attended. I have to give thanks to Jimmy and Mauli for the referral on this meeting, you guys are pretty cool! Crab cakes, honey chicken skillets, fresh fruit platter with chocolate frost on the corner of each piece, and NICE cookie dipping I can’t even tell what they are!!! I was however, too occupied to enjoy the delicacy to its fullest extent and had to pretend to be all business. Failed to strike a good impression on all the people I’ve talked to, at last God led me to a dev manager whom I actually felt comfortable to challenge the assumptions of the event. He asked me to set up an interview if I like, but so far I’m still waiting, anxiously waiting on what could be a series of changes soon happen in my life, that is, if Jesus chooses to put his piece there to reach out to love more people….

Brand New Everyday

2006-09-24T23:44:00.000-07:00

I've been lamenting to create this site for awhile now, to finally put an end to my old blog and to create a new link apart from being in the ECC blog family? It'd been more than a year since I left Evangelical Chinese Church, a home that I've stayed in for about 6 years since I've moved to Seattle in 1999. It was a no brainer to choose to leave then, especially when my heart was spellbound to fullfill the void that noboy could've really understood or cared for me, or I thought. But what ensued afterward was a series of traumatic events that clearly led me see life's true brokeness, and my desperate need for God's healing. It was in this new church, a place that I first visited to accomendate a friend whom I was dating, that I got to experience the love of Jesus and feel the changes in my life again. I owe Bluesky a great deal of gratitude, pastor Steve Morgan especially for his relentless pursuit to make true disciples for Jesus in his church. I thank James who actively intervened with truth and love in times of struggle, when it was much easier to stay back and pretend the world is fine with or without me. I thank countless others who extended their friendly hands to welcome me to the new home, even as they're daily being restored by God from their own bottlenecks.

It was nontheless hard to leave the old friends and family still, many of whom have given me the benefits of doubt when I could sometimes act in a critical spirit toward them and the church. Every day I'm realizing life is no longer about me, and what couldn't quite register in my heart from Rick Warren's best seller, I am learning it by witnessing the genuity of faith in people and the sacrifice they're making everyday to follow Jesus at Bluesky. Sometimes I wish to go back and do the works that Jesus did, and cared for the many people I know that I've missed out before because of my bloated sense of insecurity. Sometimes I wish if only everything else that is happening now stays the same and I like to restore those lost 4~5 years sunk in pursuit of vanity and false identity.

Alas, time waits for no one and what was wasted can no longer be restarted again. This morning as I was praying, the Spirit kept nudging me to no longer look back and dwell on the failures of the past. But Jesus would you give me the courage to act rightly today as it unfolds before my eyes, believing that tomorrow your promises still hold?

First day at Blogger

2006-09-24T00:52:00.000-07:00

Just finished setting up my blogger space, about time to hit the bed. I'll leave my inspiration for another night...