Postcard

Waahahahah..yes, indeed, I'm going to create a postcard like this. Would you like to buy one, or would you like to receive a postcard like that??

You know what, this postcard's gonna be priceless in future, coz we are getting famous and popular..wahahahha...

Have a nice weekend..

Heaven or Earth?

These are 2 of the photos (I've got plenty more nice photos) from the trip to Switzerland during the easter break. We went to a mountain peak called "Jungfraujoch" at Interlaken, Switzerland.

I couldn't describe how marvellous the scenery was, but the photos speak for itself. I would highly recommend Jungfraujoch as one of the must-go tourist spot --- the opportunity to enjoy the pride of being "Top of Europe". No hiking or climbing involved, you will be amazed by how the Switzerland's railway technology can bring you there.

"When someone looks at the sky and says there's no God, I don't know what have happened to them." ---- Abraham Lincoln.

Struggling with sins

I have started reading the old testament a few weeks ago, currently in the chapter Joshua. One of the thing that strikes me the most is how strict God is when it comes to the issue of sin and the punishments that goes with it, that, I find it really hard to grasp. I may be reading the scriptures in a very different (wrong) perspective, because I didn't truly understand who God really is. I am still confuse/or more of a surprise when I read the old testament. Maybe because I thought I know God well from the new testament. I felt God's great anger and deep dissapoinment each time His people sinned. Although I understood the punishments given, everything seems very bloody and deep down in my heart I felt fear. Hai.. I really don't want to feel that way. I have been trying to think very hard...quite foolish also because the answer is not there by thinking hard....
In the past, people sinned although God was right infront of their eyes...and what yet we are now living in this period. We need so much faith and repentence.
This topic is still a struggling to me. I hope oneday I will fully understand.

Below is a scripture I read while I was browsing the Bible.

~totoro~

Ezra 9

5 Then, at the evening sacrifice, I rose from my self-abasement, with my tunic and cloak torn, and fell on my knees with my hands spread out to the LORD my God 6 and prayed:
"O my God, I am too ashamed and disgraced to lift up my face to you, my God, because our sins are higher than our heads and our guilt has reached to the heavens. 7 From the days of our forefathers until now, our guilt has been great. Because of our sins, we and our kings and our priests have been subjected to the sword and captivity, to pillage and humiliation at the hand of foreign kings, as it is today.

8 "But now, for a brief moment, the LORD our God has been gracious in leaving us a remnant and giving us a firm place in his sanctuary, and so our God gives light to our eyes and a little relief in our bondage. 9 Though we are slaves, our God has not deserted us in our bondage. He has shown us kindness in the sight of the kings of Persia: He has granted us new life to rebuild the house of our God and repair its ruins, and he has given us a wall of protection in Judah and Jerusalem.

10 "But now, O our God, what can we say after this? For we have disregarded the commands 11 you gave through your servants the prophets when you said: 'The land you are entering to possess is a land polluted by the corruption of its peoples. By their detestable practices they have filled it with their impurity from one end to the other. 12 Therefore, do not give your daughters in marriage to their sons or take their daughters for your sons. Do not seek a treaty of friendship with them at any time, that you may be strong and eat the good things of the land and leave it to your children as an everlasting inheritance.'

13 "What has happened to us is a result of our evil deeds and our great guilt, and yet, our God, you have punished us less than our sins have deserved and have given us a remnant like this. 14 Shall we again break your commands and intermarry with the peoples who commit such detestable practices? Would you not be angry enough with us to destroy us, leaving us no remnant or survivor? 15 O LORD, God of Israel, you are righteous! We are left this day as a remnant. Here we are before you in our guilt, though because of it not one of us can stand in your presence."

Meaning of Life

Normally I have lunch and teassss with a few of my Chinese colleagues (majority from mainland China). They are considered some of my best friends in Imperial College, playing an important role in my PhD's life. Our daily conversation involves various topics ranging from "potential" business idea, politics, science, philosophy, leisure, career options and religion.

As usual, we talked about the meaning of life this afternoon. Seriously, I myself struggle on the same question: What are the things that God want me to do apart from the routine career that only provide daily necessity and self-satisfaction?

Apparently, their thinking didn't involve God the creator --- we end up settling on a conclusion: We want to mobilise and reform the society (well, at least contribute something to the community), what an ambitious plan !! I believe all of us have very different motives and background understanding when it comes to "reforming the society". After all, is that all we want?

Deep in our heart, there's this "infinity" void for our need and desire. Only the eternal and infinite God can fill this gap.
約 翰 福 音 (John) 14: 6 耶 稣 说 我 就 是 道 路 、 真 理 、 生 命 ； 若 不 藉 着 我 ， 没 有 人 能 到 父 那 里 去.

I pray that one day my colleagues will turn to Christ --- they are on their way, coz there's no other route when we come to the "meaning of life".

Helpless

Just received a call from SuLee that she's very ill in Holland now. Feel quite helpless coz i seriously have no idea what I can do here in London. Apparently she's all by herself in a non English speaking country when anything happens --- glad, joy, sorrow, disappointment, sick, loneliness, all of these I can't really walk with her in person.

I think I've owed a lot to Alexander Graham Bell, the telephone inventor. Thank God for this great invention.

My girlfriend said she couldn't find any medicine at home and apparently all the shops are closed on Sunday. She had to knock on neighbour's door to borrow some medicine. She ended up using basic Dutch conversation to communicate with an old Dutch man who doesn't understand English.

Haiii..perseverance, i know. Need to get many things sorted out in London at the same time, before I started a new life in Holland.

Two Books

Yaayy..I've bought 2 books of J.I.Packer from the internet. Really looking forward to get these books sometime next week. I only manage to read the first two chapters of the "Evangelism & the Sovereignty of God" while I was flying to Switzerland (unfortunately my girlfriend has to return the book in Holland). Was seriously impressed and stimulated by the way of Packer's thinking. So far I'm convinced by his point of view regarding the sophisticated and controversial topic on evangelism and god's sovereignty.

If God is in control of everything, does that mean that Christian can sit back and no to bother to evangelise? Or does active evangelism imply that God is not really sovereign at all? Is there a compromise point of view and if so what's the balance?

I hope I can learn and understand in depth about this topic before I can convince others that bible has the ultimate authority when it comes to death and life. Please help me God.

Spring Camp Highlights

Chinese Methodist Mission Spring Conference 2006
Junior Youth Group - 8 mins Highlights

Easter Break

So many wonderful things had happened within the past 10 days. I think I've spent my Easter holiday very wisely this year, and most importantly superbly meaningful one. Starting from 11th April the 4-day Spring Camp, then followed by the 4-day marvellous snow moutain excursion to Switzerland, together with my beloved girlfriend and eldest brother.

Sent Sulee back to Holland at Heathrow Airport and just got back to London at 5pm. Feeling really tired now. Haven't got time to recover from the Spring Camp, and then followed by this trip that involved plenty physical activities. Have to rest well tonight.

There are many lining-up things that need to be sorted out in my mind now. Have to get back to my work and seriously think about writing up my PhD thesis --- the first thing that I need to do tomorrow morning.

Dear God, please grant me wisdom and strength, to complete whatever you think is beneficial to others and myself, in the name of Christ. Amen.

Spring Camp

5 more days to go for Spring Camp. To be frank, there are still many things to be decided on the junior youth part. Hopefully we can finalise many things at tonight's final meeting.

I'm not sure whether the youth will enjoy throughout the entire camp, but I'm certainly sure God will utilise this channel to talk to some of the youth, perhaps even us who spend some effort organising this.

This group of so called "BBC" (British-borned-Chinese, majority Cantonese speaking) is probably the last batch of oversea Chinese immigrants to England since 1997, considered the one-off group of Chinese from Hong Kong. In 10 years time, with God's grace, presumably they will become a group of energetic intellectual youth. If you are serious about the revival of Chinese Christian in England, they are the group of people that you should target or "invest" in long term.

On the other hand, recent trend of Chinese immigrants has shifted to Chinese from mainland China, although at the same time the economy in China is booming. Naturally, the majority of participants for the Spring Camp will be Mandarin speaking in 5 to 10 years time. The family cycle goes on and their children will turn to junior youth in 10 years time and we have to change our evangelical strategy again.

Working with God is always challenging, anytime anywhere.

The World's Most Expensive Coffee is From Beans Cycled Through an Indonesian Monkey's(Palm Civet) Digestive System

I read this funny article, so paste it here to share :-). How funny to think of it when I drink coffee everyday...luckily I am quite stingy...hehe.

Kopi Luwak does exist, is very expensive, and is made from coffee beans passed through the digestive system of an Indonesian animal, but it's more like a cat than a monkey. According to a feature article by the Manila Coffee House, which sells the stuff, the people who harvest the digested beans don't really have to pick through cat litter to get it. The animal processes the beans and excretes them whole, unscratched, and without dung.The animal is a palm civet, a dark brown tree-dwelling cat-like creature found throughout Southeast Asia. The scientific name is paradoxurus hermaphroditus.According to the Manila Coffee House, the palm civet just happens to like to ingest the ripest and reddest coffee beans, which also happen to be the ones best for brewing. The cat eats the outer covering of the beans in the same way that is accomplished by de-pulping machines. Something happens to the beans in the journey through the cat's intestines that gives it a flavor that is celebrated by coffee drinkers. At this point, most of the beans are purchased by Japanese buyers.

~totoro~

Amsterdam

I'm now at the Easy Internet cafe in Amsterdam. The local time here is 7.10pm and I'm catching the flight at 9.40pm, which means I still have plenty of time.

I finished the interviewsss with many bosses at about 5pm. Spend some time walking around the city. This is my first time officially visiting Amsterdam. Amsterdam isn't a huge city if compare to London, only about 1 million population on its own. The street is clean and in general this city does not look as hectic as London during the peak hour.

There are so many things to write here for my interviews. I've met 2 team leaders in Gasification and Gas Treating Group, 2 big big bosses (they directly report to the Vice President of Gas Product, and Gas Product itself generates 1/3 of the $23 billion profit of Shell globally.) In short, 2 of the people I've met are pretty important people. Can't imagine they have spent an hour each talking to someone like me who is a "little fish".

I think I've understood the big picture of the entire petrochemical industry. In short, the market is huge and will keep on growing with the current and future demand. They desperately need a lot of people working with Shell Global Solution. The big boss showed to me some simple Math:

Shell's profit is $23 billion last year, employees of Shell is about 100,000. It works out to be each employ generate a profit amount of $230,000 annually. Hmmm....was it turnover of profit?? Have to check this out. Anyway, it's still a lot of money per employee. Hopefully I can help them generate more than that when they've hired me...hehehe

What's The Problem?

Personally, I think the Praise Team has tried very hard for the practising today after the church service. I have to give them credit for the committment, time and effort that they have put into the worship and to the team since January. They work very well as a team, I pray and hope they will continue to grow and excel.

I seriously felt the spirit or "ummppphh" (energy) within them during a few occasions. I feel God's glory (or even I dare to say God's presence), youth's energy and lots of hope, love and joy when they were at their best "performance" or presentation.

However, sometimes this "fire" will suddenly diminish and slowly disapper. Hmmm..very interesting..I'm trying to have some serious thoughts about the list of reasons:

(1) They are really really physically tired....imagine nowadays we practise till 5pm.
(2) They are very shy to sing and are afraid of out of tune at somepoint.
(3) They will sing louder when they heard others sing even louder.
(4) We are expecting too much from them?? They have done their best...
(5) Well, they just don't bother to praise and worship, they just want to have fun.

I hope reason (5) does not exist. Reason (4) I thought is true initally, after some thoughts, I seriously think they can behave better than what's expected, I shouldn't have underestimated them instead.

I hope that's all because of reason (1). If that's the case, we will take a break in between the practice and have some food.

If it's reason (2) and (3)...hmmm...will let Dan Quan to sort it out :p