9/11 and Hurricane Ike ... and some updates on life ...

9/11 Memorial at Texas A&M's Campus ....

so ... 9/11 was a couple of days ago ... and it was followed up by Hurricane Ike this year ...
here are just some observations :

• life is fragile
• trees can always get in your way ... (j/k)
  
• material things do not last
  
• worldly sorrows lead to death, but godly sorrows lead to repentance and life
• serve not only when you are called upon, but when you are compelled by the love of Christ.
  
• no greater love than this, a man that lays down his life for his brother ....
  
• no greater love than this, that Christ laid down His life for the sinners (us !) and made us right with God the Father.

so ...
please keep on praying for the evacuees (of Hurricane Ike) and the reconstruction of Houston and Galveston area ... and that the body of Christ will be His hands and feet in reaching out to others ...

other updates:

• i've officially started my thesis for my master's ... but sometimes progressing is HARD for some reason, please pray for motivation and innovative ways to solve problems !!
• i've officially started to look for jobs ! ... Texas A&M's career fair is this coming week ... i hope to talk to interesting companies with interesting jobs ... and that God will guide me in this process ...
• i'm officially on the transitioning out of leadership of my college homegroup ... this had been an interesting one - just to have the wisdom of what to do and what to let go ... maybe i'll write about this when i'm done =P
• and .... my homegroup has BEEN AMAZING this year !
  

and ...

i guess that's all for now ... on some updates with my life and thoughts on what's going on ...


love y'all.

Daniel

College Ministry kick-off and life ...

howdy - and welcome back to college life.
the first week of fall semester is always a rush (especially if you are involved in a student ministry ...)

i've meant to blog about this a couple weeks ago, except, ya know, as stated above the start of the Fall semester is usually the busiest for the college ministry ...
but ... it's rather exciting to meet new faces and form new friendships ...
and hopefully this is a fruitful year for all the different campus churches and ministries .. by His grace !

Snap shots of Siggraph and Volume Graphics Symposium

... so ... i also attended/presented at Volume Graphics 2008, as well as visited Siggraph 2008 for a day .. here are the snap shots from VG and Siggraph ...

Snap shots of L.A

Dodger stadium ... yep ... i got to see Manny (as well as the Phillies and other Dodgers like Park who lasted less than an inning played !)

this was somewhere on Hollywood Blvd ...

this is the famous Staples Center ...

Another shot of Dodger stadium

Downtown L.A ... actually reminded me of main street Asia (aka main street Taipei or K.L)

3 Cities , 2 timezones and whatever's on the way ..

so i'm bounded for Los Angeles for IEEE/EG Volume Graphics Conference on Sunday and Monday ... then a day of touring/sight seeing/resting on Tuesday which is going to be awesome =)

i'll try to blog from L.A and post some pics up =)

i'll try to catch Manny at the Dodgers game ... maybe he'll hit a homerun =P

peace out.

Daniel.

random shots of life ...

so ... i got a new camera ... and ... i love taking random shots of life !!

this is just plain funny ... Sugar Free Lemon Cake (but not for weight control ....)



There's this "rough neck" statue in front of the petroleum engineering building ,
and someone had put a ring of flower around him ....


interesting signs ...


Vanilla Ice is coming to Aggieland ... just a decade late .... :-P

Code the Scriptures ...

if the scriptures are in the language of C++ or Java, it might look like this
(ok - i was doodling while reading the Scripture today, and found this to be interesting ...)

here's the verse :
1 John 1:
8 If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. 9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.

in code form ...

if(!claimSin())
{
this.deceived = true;
this.truth = null
}
else
{
if(confessSin())
{
GodEx(); // as in mutex
this.sin = null;
this.deceived = false;
this.truth = God.truth;
GodEx();
}
else
{
// nothing changes ....
}
}

enjoy !


Daniel

News, Life , Ramblings

There's been a lot going on in my head and heart, some are related to the news around me (or related to me -> such as the political fuzziness in Malaysia ...) , or just plainly events that happened around me. Even though these events are surrounding me, hopefully i'm not indifferent (like Shawn of the dead ...) , and hopefully they'll awaken me to the reality of this world, and the need of Christ and His Gospel to be more boldly preached!

Let's start with the news -> it has been a turmoil in Malaysia recently, maybe that's an exaggeration but with the General Election swinging to the side of the Opposition Front, new charges against the main opposition leader (Anwar Ibrahim) sounded "shady", let's hope justice will prevail and being worked out in Malaysia. It's interesting that Anwar Ibrahim sounded a lot like Barak Obama in the U.S with the message of Hope and Change for a better future! Co-incidence ? Probably so ....

Likewise with the General Election in the U.S, it's looking like a miss-match, but hey - who knows? And even Al Gore is jumping into the mix by casting the vision by setting goals for a more energy efficient America in 10 years, maybe that's a good goal to set ... or ... maybe we should just let the supply/demand duke it out, and eventually be energy efficient anyways ...

On a more personal level, i've been to the emergency room twice in the last two weeks, there were not trips for my own self but i've taken two different friends to the E.R for various reasons. It's interesting to be in the E.R, one of the time i saw a family weeping over what seemed a bad situation, and other times i've seem family awaiting for good news and such ... it had been interesting to be there ... i've even seen people got flown into the E.R through the helicopter ... interesting huh ?

and then ....

my roomate and i had been talking about our future plans, i got to admit that i haven't really dream for a while, or i've been scared to dream recently. The intention of trying to please important people in my life had really gotten to me, many times i've felt "stucked". So, i was asked to dream this week , dream of what would be in 3,5,10 years, and i hesitated. I know i don't want to be selfish in dreaming anything self-centered ... thus it has caused me to not dream at all ... i guess that's not a right approach when facing the future. We (my roomated and i) eventually talked, and came up with solution of facing the future, and triumph over it through Christ and God's leading and planning instead of my own .... :-P that's a relief and hopefully i'll have some answers soon.

well ... this has been a long post .... i've changed the layout of the blog again ... enjoy.

btw -> Houston Dynamo defeated D.C United in SuperLiga match today ... Go Orange !!

good night, good bye.

God bless.

it's about time for an update .....

so ... i guess it's about time for another post ...
well, life's been kind of busy the last 3 weeks, with research/work shifting into higher gears at work, but i'll say it's good, it's just when things are stressed and i'm tired ... slips up happened more frequently for my spiritual life (which extends to attitudes, perspectives, etc) .... one thing i do learn though it's to take time to rest, take time to reflect even though it seemed like there's no time to do so, so i'll be doing that now !

Another thing is to be discipline at what i do, i remember last couple of summers when i was interning in the industry, there's a set of expectations on when to be at my cubicle and such. i know grad school and research are more fluid because ideas might come in the middle of night ... or a solution might jumped out at you when drinking a cup of latte at Starbucks, but i've determined to stick to a schedule, and make the most out of it !

Other than that, life's been good =). The church community (aka my homegroup) is doing great, there were several more visitors visted my group last couple of weeks. It's funny to think where my group was several semesters back, and how we were struggling with the numbers of people who have, now even in the summer we seemed to be thriving through God's grace.

One thing though, on my teaching last night, i talked about the comfort from God. One of the hope we should have is that we have a mediator (in Jesus Christ) who understands what we are going through because He himself had gone through a lot (betrayal, even death on the cross). Sometimes i found myself having the distant view of Christ as He's my saviour in the distant but in truth He's here and now with us, He see what is going on in our lives and He advocates for us before the Father ... anyways ... for the whole teaching (which is based out of a teaching by John Piper ....
see (my teaching notes)-> http://docs.google.com/Doc?id=ddm7b2x2_245cnzcgsgm
see (Pipers's teaching)
-> http://www.desiringgod.org/Blog/437_the_sovereignty_of_god_and_comfort/
-> http://www.desiringgod.org/ResourceLibrary/Articles/ByDate/2001/1516_How_Shall_We_Minister_to_People_After_the_World_Trade_Tower_Terrorism_of_September_11_2001/

anyways ..
by the way, i'm bounded to Los Angeles sometime in August to attend a symposium, this will be the first time i'm going to present at a symposium, i'm so excited ... well ... i'm excited about going to L.A and maybe catching a Dodgers or Angels game as well ...

well - have a Happy Happy 4th of July !

peace out.

Daniel.

Soak it up ...

Romans 11:6
And if by grace, then it is no longer by works; if it were, grace would no longer be grace.

Colossians 2:8
See to it that NO ONE takes you captive through hollow and deceptive philosophy, which depends on human tradition and the basic principles of this world rather than on Christ.

let the madness begins ...

Community .. or something like it ....

couple of years ago, i read Don Miller's Blue Like Jazz ... and he wrote about community and living with other Christians in forming a Christian community ... an old but refreshing concept because in America we've tend to be individualistic and attend "meetings" as we go ... and then leave our "communities" behind ...

last couple of days, or weeks ... getting into a community is actually pretty awesome =)
the cure for loneliness is NOT romance ... Don Miller pointed that out ... so does many other dating books ... the cure for loneliness is community, because we are made for community !! (what a refreshing, yet ancient idea that we've seemed to forget !) ..

anyways,
my summer season had been going well ... =P
had been trying to get in the routine of doing good research - that has been frustrating because i felt like i'm stucked because i do not know the area or materials very well ... the other thing is the lack of motivation ... and yes ... i know i should be more diligent ...

by the way, i was so excited when my first authored paper is accepted to a symposium in August !!! - that means i'm bounded for the West Coast in the middle of August =)

on the other hand, i've gotten opportunities to form new friendships - getting to know new friends or old friends better ... that's always good ...

hopefully by the end of this summer, i would look back and think i haven't wasted it ...

i love this summer season.

don't wake me up when september ends ... hehe ...

rejoice . praise . live for Him !

peace out.

Freedom.

i wrote this couple months ago on an airplane flying back from Taiwan ... just thought i would share this on my blog =)

Daniel.
---------------------------------
Between the shores is where i am,
stuck between the time of present, past and future,
the culture of east and west,
the beauty of Your creation.

Thank You for opening my eyes,
to see the wonders of Your works,
to see that You're still actively working in this world,
in You the world is flat because Your gospel is flat.

Your love is without boundaries,
without partial ratings and such,
a boy in Texas is as much in need of Your grace as a girl in Moscow, so is the village in East Timor to the streets of Taipei.

Your mercy is new,
Your grace is fresh,
and the heralds yell out,
"Repent for the kingdom of God is near!".
Even the beat of Motown screams for freedom,
not anymore from the slavery of man but from the slavery of sin.

As we march with Your beats,
and only Yours,
only Your gospel, Lord Jesus,
can rescue us.

Salvation is here!

Evangelical Manifesto ...

http://www.evangelicalmanifesto.com/

... hmm ... it's interesting ...
i think it's good for someone to publicly clarify the meaning of evangelicals !
so ... go ahead a read it ... sign it .... and maybe let me know what u think .. =)

i'll post my thoughts ... some other time ...

Plead for mercy and get to work.

i'm not sure what to think or write - i don't wanna write something stupid or wrong.
but this is sure - keep up with the news and you are going to think disasters -

just in the last few days - disasters after disasters are happening around the world ...
- read about the earthquakes in China ~
(to put it in perspectives ... the capacity of Toyota Center in Houston (for Houston Rockets) can
hold up to 18,300 people - that's slightly more than the death toll ..... ) http://www.channelnewsasia.com/stories/afp_asiapacific/view/347454/1/.html

- read about the cyclone and its aftermath in Myanmar ~
(to put it in perspectives ... the population of Bryan-College Station Metro is about 120,000 - 160,000, that's the slightly more than the death toll so far in Myanmar .... )
see previous post and
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20080513/ts_afp/myanmarweathercyclone;_ylt=AhvoWsg83p9A6MuXfm6kn72s0NUE

- read about the tornadoes in Central United States ~
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-tornado13-2008may13,0,4637126.story?track=rss
and plead for God's mercy.
and get to work and spread His word.
and pray and ask God what you and i can help ...
then act.

no questions ask.

the start of another season ....

yep - spring semester is officially over - i think.

praise God for an awesome spring semester - if you know me - and my homegroup (aka christian community that i belong to ... ) and church - it has been an awesome semester that saw lots of people joined the group and grown spiritually ... and it's good as well for my grad studies - i've enjoyed my graduate studies more this year - and it has been awesome =)

.... now onto this summer ...

i will be situated in College Station,TX - whoop - once again ! continuing my work as an RA and gearing up for my thesis ... at times i was thinking about friends that are going on mission trips and how fortunate they are ... but ... i gotta constantly reminding myself that my mission field is here - and in academia - lots of prayers are needed !!

... here's a couple of verses that i've came across today ... i hope it makes an impact in my life !
Acts 4 : 12
Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to men by which we must be saved.

Acts 4:29
Now, Lord, consider their threats and enable your servants to speak your word with great boldness.

....
i just bought a new book (it's actually a couple of years old ...) - "The End of Poverty by Jeff. Sachs) - an interesting book indeed -

and

if you haven't been noticing the news for a while ...
consider these headlines ...
- Humanitarian Crisis in Myanmar - please read, pray and act !

• http://www.gfa.org/cyclone
• http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/7393914.stm
• http://www.desiringgod.org/Blog/1215_6_ways_to_react_to_the_cyclone/

- Volcanoes eruption in South America
- Elections in America ... Obama is inching closer to be the Dem's candidate
- Elections in Zimbabwe ... (runoff elections)
- Tensions in Lebanon (it has ended i think as of a couples hrs ago .... )

... that's all for now ....

This is home

new video from Narnia and Switchfoot - great song too !

Words that impact are not mere words ....

i am kinda sick and tired for so many times that we've read the Scripture, or had studied the scripture like a scholarly document without it really impacting our lives ...

i read some verses today that stood out to me ... which much grace which i really needs today ...
i'm gonna share'em ...

1 John 2 : 1 My dear children, I write this to you so that you will not sin. But if anybody does sin, we have one who speaks to the Father in our defense—Jesus Christ, the Righteous One. 2 He is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not only for ours but also for^[a] the sins of the whole world.

1 John 2 : 12 I write to you, dear children, because your sins have been forgiven on account of his name.

1 John 2 :13 b I write to you, young men, because you have overcome the evil one.

1 John 2: 28 And now, dear children, continue in him, so that when he appears we may be confident and unashamed before him at his coming.

... think about it =) ..

Daniel

Learning how to die - Jon Foreman

New song by Jon Foreman (of Switchfoot):

I'm gonna miss you
I'm gonna miss you when you're gone
She says I love you
I'm gonna miss you and your song

I said Please,
Don't talk about the end
Don't talk about how
Every living thing goes away

She said Friend,
All along I thought I was learning how to take
How to bend, not how to break
How to live, not how to cry
But really I've been learning how to die

I've been learning how to die

Hey everyone
I've got nowhere to go
The grave is lazy
He takes our bodies slow

And I said Please
Dont talk about the end
Don't talk about how
Every living thing goes away

I said Friend
All along I thought I was learning how to take
How to bend, not how to break
How to live, not how to cry
But really I've been learning how to die

I've been learning how
to die
die
die
I've been learning how to die
I've been learning how to die

- Jon Foreman

Vision

i posted this about 2 years ago ... then i came back to it ....

From - Red Moon Rising ... what is your vision?

They are free
yet they are slaves
of the hurting and dirty and dying.
What is the vision?
The vision is holiness that hurts the eyes.
It makes children laugh and adults angry.
It gave up the game of minimum integrity long ago to reach for the stars.
It scorns the good and strains for the best.
It is dangerously pure.
Light flickers from every secret motive,every private conversation.
It loves people away from their suicide leaps,their Satan games.
…And this vision will be.
It will come to pass;
it will come easily;it will come soon.
How do I know?
Because this is the longing of creation itself,
the groaning of the Spirit,the very dream of God.
—Pete Greig, excerpted from The Vision