Rev 16:12
12And the sixth angel poured out his vial upon the great river Euphrates; and the water thereof was dried up, that the way of the kings of the east might be prepared. -kjv
Article from the new york times:
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/14/world/middleeast/14euphrates.html
Blog on Euphrates River drying up:
http://www.1913intel.com/2009/07/14/the-euphrates-river-is-drying-up/
Posted in Prophecy | Tags: Euphrates River, Iraq, Prophecy
God has given me the opportunity to take care of my son. One of the responsibilities as a christian father is to nurture the spiritual side of my son. I don’t think I have done a good job.
At five, he is old enough to verbalise his needs, his wants and his thoughts. He prays before bedtime to Jesus. He is attending a christian school. I used to ask him to memorize scripture, I used to read bed time bible stories but have stopped for some time. Our family goes to church on alternate weekends and because it is not a main service, there is no sunday worship for children. I am not sure if he is able to grasp the concept of God. I can do more. I am willing to do more.
I guess some of my action speaks for my christian values. But that is not enough. I am a quiet person, I am not a very sensitive person. That is a drawback in evangelism to my son.
I need to be more sensitive to start with. Need to identity a need in him and make use of that need to drive him to Jesus. I had a need when I was a non christian – I had a tremendous inferiortiy complex. That complex drove me to Jesus. Matthew 5:3 says “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven” – niv Indeed Matthew 5:3 is true and my inferiority complex drove me to Jesus. Of course, faith comes from hearing and constant church going drilled me with christian teachings.
1 Cor 9:22: “To the weak became I as weak, that I might gain the weak: I am made all things to all men, that I might by all means save some” – niv . I need to be more patient towards my son and speak his language and try to understand his thinking and become his friend.
I need to be held accountable for this important task of nurturing my son’s spiritual needs. My friends, if you are able, please check on me.
If you are able to provide more suggestions on how to or biblical principles in child evangelism, please do.
Posted in Uncategorized | Tags: Action, Belief, Child Evangelism, God, Jesus, Language, Quiet, Responsibility, Sensitivity
I used to think that after saying a prayer for clear skies and to have faith that the sky will not rain on an overcast horizon, one should not bring along an umbrella. It’s like it’s great faith to expect God to answer our prayers of not sending the rain.
Now, I beg to differ. After we say a prayer for a clear day and if the sky is overcast, we should bring along an umbrella. We should not demand God to answer our prayer by not bringing an umbrella but rather submit ourselves to His will and quietly hope that God will answer our prayers. Maybe some other christian needs the rain on that day in that particular area, who knows? Faith is accepting the sovereignty of God and submitting our will to His will and not about God answering our prayers.
Magnesium is a vital element in maintaining good health. It is needed to perform various bodily functions like maintaining heart rate, metabolism rate and normal blood pressure, preserving a healthy immune system, regulating blood sugar levels, keeping bones strong and production of proteins.
I am including the following food that is rich in magnesium in my son’s diet:
1) Fish ( I dip the tilapia fillet in egg beat and bread crumbs and fry it)
2) Banana
3) Milk
4) Milk chocolate and candy bars
The above are the food that my son will eat. If you ask him to eat leafy vegetables or beans, he will probably not eat it. If you have ideas of incorporating food rich in magnesium in a kid’s diet in a simple way, please share.
The daily dose comes from milk. He drinks at least a cup of milk each day. Now, I am thinking of giving him at least two cups regularly. Also thinking of serving him chocolate everyday.
When I was younger and thinking of the word surrender, an image of the combatant putting out the white flag comes to mind. Surrender is often associated with a fight, the act of surrender is often done unwillingly and the party that surrendered is often thought of as a loser. Nobody likes to surrender.
In christian life, we talk about surrendering our lives to Jesus Christ. That involves surrendering our will, our emotions and our intellect to Jesus.
In surrendering our lives to Jesus, the combat occurs within ourselves. The fight is between the old self that is within us with the Holy Spirit that wants to come into our lives. If the Holy Spirit has the edge, we will surrender our lives willingly. If the old man has the edge, we will resist surrendering to Jesus. If the Holy Spirit wins the battle and the person surrenders to Jesus, the person is the winner and not the loser. Everybody will want to surrender if they have the faith to taste the sweetness of Jesus.
Taken from the blog lighbreak:
http://lightbreak.wordpress.com
A friend of mine recently began studying what the Bible has to say about loneliness, and I have to say that the fruits of her studies are totally thought-provoking. Actually, after I learned she was doing the study, I sent her some materials on the subject, including some I serendipitously came across just recently. (Coincidence? I think not.) Reading her thoughts along with the materials I’ve collected, as well as my previous musings on the subject, have led me to a deeper understanding and appreciation of marriage than ever before. The most fascinating insight so far is this.
I’ve often thought the love between a man and a woman is described as a romantic love (eros) as distinguished from the love between relatives/friends (philos) and unconditional love (agape). Certainly, eros has its place in a marriage. But there is a different kind of love involved I think, one unique to the bond between husband and wife. To understand what that love is, we need to go back to Genesis 2. This was before the Fall. Adam was still in perfect relationship with God. And yet, he was lonely.
What was the source of that loneliness? It was not the fault of sin that Adam was lonely, for sin had not yet infected creation. The loneliness likely stemmed from the fact that Adam was the only human being on the planet. Now, keep in mind that up until the creation of Eve, Adam knew nothing different. The idea that a female version of his kind exists never crossed his mind. You can’t miss what doesn’t exist. Still, the sense that something was missing was evident. “It is not good for the man to be alone,” God said. Genesis 2:18. Something like a woman should exist.
The Bible is oblique about why Adam would even know to feel lonely, but one could speculate. As a creation of God, Adam was a finite being. And as we acknowledged, he was the only finite being of his kind, meaning the only one made in the image of God. To be made in the image of God is a beautiful thing, yet awful in the absence of companionship. For God is relational, and so man is inherently relational. But if one is the only finite being made in the image of God, with whom else could one relate? Not the other creations of God. As Donald Miller points out in Searching For God Knows What, the loneliness Adam felt was probably amplified by his God-given task of naming the animals. The more Adam carried out the task–and it was a job that must have taken a very long time to complete–the more he realized there is no other creature like himself. He could not relate to a zebra or a tiger. He was the only one of his kind. How horribly lonely that is. Not even an untarnished relationship with God could fill that void, for God is not of Adam’s kind; unlike Adam, He is infinite.
Adam’s loneliness was shattered when God created Eve. Until now, I failed to realize the gravity of Adam’s reaction upon seeing Eve for the first time. Adam said:
This is now bone of my bones
and flesh of my flesh;
she shall be called “woman,”
for she was taken out of man.
Genesis 2:23. Oh what a bittersweet moment! How poignant is Adam’s reaction! “Bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh.” The loneliness stretching for years, maybe decades, came to a halt. Here at last was a creature like himself. Adam gave this creature her name–Woman–which in the Hebrew sounds like the word for “man.” Finally, Adam had a fitting companion, one who could understand him. She was capable of relating to him like no other creature could. After all, she was formed out of his very essence, and like him, a finite being created in the image of God. They were united as “one flesh,” as the Bible says (Genesis 2:24), and that’s quite literally what they were.
What the Woman (only after the fall was she named Eve, by the way) made possible was relationship. This is what Adam so longed for. Consider the possibilities that relationship brings. Adam could begin to discover himself by relating to the Woman because she was a reflection of him. He could see things about himself in her that he never would have noticed in his lonely state. Perhaps most importantly, the interaction between Adam and his wife would allow them a glimpse of how God loves. We know God is love. God expresses His love relationally. Indeed, the act of Creation was an expression of God’s love, and its result was a creation with whom God could relate. In the give-and-take of relationship, Adam and his wife would learn what love is. And together, embarked on the same journey, they would discover the depths of God’s love.
How does this apply to modern-day relationships? Not much has changed. Men and women still need each other, and here’s why. Humans have a basic need to be understood. We need a counterpart who can say with absolute sincerity, “I understand you; I know what makes you tick, because the stuff you’re made of is also in me.” You can add romance and physical attraction into the mix, but the deepest need satisfied by the marital relationship is reassurance that there is someone out there like us who understands us and yet loves us.
Marriage–the union of finites in communion with the Infinite. How beautiful.
Posted in Uncategorized | Tags: Loneliness, Marriage, Other Sites
It’s a sad thing. I have to warn my son of the consequences of his actions when he disobey me. If you don’t drink milk, you will have weak bones. If you don’t brush your teeth, bacteria will grow there. If you don’t eat carrots, you will go blind at night. A lot of ifs and thens. I am afraid it will instill a spirit of fear in him and fearful of consequences. Not a good thing.
We adult drink milk to strengthen our bones. We adults brush our teeth to have good hygiene. We adults eat carrots because vitamin A is good for night vision. We do all those things because we know it is good for us. Kids don’t understand what’s good for themselves and we adults have to step in and push them to do the things that they don’t like. We don’t want to instill a spirit of fear. But if we don’t, they will not do it.
As christians, we are not afraid of death. If death has lost its sting, what fear do we have? We ought to live fearlessly. But that belief is too difficult for kids to understand.
Any advice anyone on this?
Posted in Parenting | Tags: Parenting, Spirit of fear
I am writing this post in a reflective mood.
As I am writing, I am counting how many friends I relate to in the States at a deeper level. I relate to a filipino couple that are our neighbours. I talk to the husband when we meet outside our apartments. I relate to the husband of my wife’s friend through e-mail and he encourages me when I write a new post. 2 guys. That’s after 2 and a half years here. That’s the result of staying at home for 2 and a half years looking after my son.
I was talking to a friend that came to Chicago recently and we met up and he encouraged me to work. He said most of his best friends were not from school but from work or church. He encouraged me to start going to church also. Just to make more friends.
By virtue of technology, I am still in contact with some friends and relatives back in Singapore and beyond. I receive emails and comments on my blog. But if in the absence of technology, I would have already lost contact with them.
If I were to settle down in the States, I will have to make new friends. I will have to start going to church. I will have to work when my son is old enough. Through birth relations, going to school, going to work and going to church in Singapore, I have a list of friends that I keep in contact with now. With another half of my life to go and the time required to nurture my family, I will probably add a few more friends to my close list. I am starting with 2 guys for now.
Posted in Uncategorized | Tags: Going to church, Going to work, Living, Relating, Relationships, Stay at home
One thing I like about my 4 year old attitude is his persistent question of why.
An example. In the morning, I will re-park the car sometimes. He asked why. And I answered that I am doing it so that the driver side rear door does not face the sun as it was involved in an accident and was recently repaired and repainted. And he will say ok.
He asked many other why questions also and I will answer each one in turn. The best gift as a parent to a child is to teach him to ask why and impart to him a rational mind. Sometimes, common sense is not so common and asking why is the first step. And he was the one who started asking why without me prompting him to. And as a parent, I have to be rational in my decision making so that I can set a good example for him.
I explain to him the reason why I do not allow him to do certain things and usually he will listen. Sometimes I will need to repeat the why’s again and again until he does what I ask him to. For example, initially he does not like brushing his teeth with the new toothpaste and wants to use the old tooth paste that he could swallow. I have to explain to him again and again that swallowing the tooth paste is not good for him until he transitions to the new toothpaste without complaining. The other example is when he complains about drinking milk. And I have to explain to him again and again that milk is important for him to build strong bones and he is beginning to drink milk with less complaints now. There are other times that he is unreasonable. That is the case usually when he is sleepy or when he is tired.
Today my wife and I tasted Boar’s Head HotDog new york style.
Bun with dog with Sauerkraut, mustard and sweet vidalia onion.
Tasted sour, a bit saltish and a bit spicy.
Bought it from a push cart outside a grocery store selling food bearing the Boar’s Head Brand in naperville, illinois.
Posted in Uncategorized | Tags: Food, Hot Dog, Mustard, Sauerkraut, Sweet Vidalia Onion
Meditations 