War

2 Corinthians 10:3-5
For though we live in the world, we do not wage war as the world does.
The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds.
We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.

Lord, teach me the real meanings of the above verses.
If I am confuse, lead me.
If I am weak, strengthen me.
If I am worldly, renew me.

Reconciliation

2 Corithians 5:18
All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation

Matthews 5:9
Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called sons of God.

The creation of new being in Christ is from God. Sinners on their own have no ability in transforming themselve into righteous people with clean conscience. Having no bargaining power to God, sinners can do nothing, but wait for God's wrath. Thanks be to God. He is willing to reconcile those who have faith in Christ, leading them to a dramatic change from the position of sinner to that of a beloved God's children.

To those who believe in Jesus, God grant them the privilege of his ministry of reconciliation, which is the major mission of Jesus Christ on Earth. Reconciliation makes peace among conflicting relationships. If you help reconciliating among persons to God, as what Jesus had done, you are qualified to be called son of God.

Flexibility

"...A willingness to go with the flow and adjust to whatever changes we might encounter was especially valuable. Life has an element of unpredictability for which flexibility is the best response..." Our Daily Bread (28/06/07)

I regard myself as a flexible person who like changes from time to time. From one place to another, I often take alternative paths. Recently, I suddenly realise that I become even more flexible because some unconcious mental constraints deep in my heart have been released.

Lord, are you preparing this flexible person to respond immediately to your will? Please let me know your will and I will do it.

Explore

Romans 10:8
..."The word is near you; it is in your mouth and in your heart,"...

Recently, I have bought a tourist guide of Macau, where many Hong Kong people have been for at least a couple of times. Some of my friends even questioned the need of buying such a guide of Macau. Having also visited Macau for several times, I still like to explore the small city. The guide is a good book full of interesting places and food that I haven't tried. My friend planning to visit there also finds it very useful and informative. Without a good guide, you won't be able to explore to the full extent of the features of this tiny but dynamic city.

Do you also realise that the word of God is actually near you? To fully acknowledge the true exciting sides of your life, you need a quiet heart and a good guide of life, the holy spirit. Explore yourself in the holy Bible.

We love HK competition

My entries submitted a week ago for the compaign organized by Cathay Pacific are now avaliable publicly.

Entry 1
Here, we can have different voices for one goal

Entry 2
Concerted efforts

Please leave your comments if you have any.

Research

My research supervisor said, 'Research is an educated trial and error process.'

The word 'error' in the process means it's almost certain that researcher is doomed to encounter problems and even dead-ends. If you can succeed continuously till the end of your study without encountering any problem, there are only two possibilities that I can think of. Either your research problem is too simple, or you have such a great supervisor who can point you to the right way out of numerous possible ways.

So, when you encounter problems, you are actually in the right process of research. Take courage and align yourself with your research supervisor.

Econmic Freedom

Index of Economic Freedom 2007

Place Score Rank
Hong Kong 89.3 1
Taiwan 71.1 26
South Korea 68.6 36
Thailand 65.6 50
Italy 63.4 60
.
..
...
Indonesia 55.1 110
Source of information

What will I do if I will live in the future in one of the places where I had visited before?

Lord, remember your servants in the places where people are experiencing threats related to economic, social, and even life.

Take away in order to give

A wise old minister said to a young sister in Lord when she was facing a risk of lossing her sweet voice, 'If God take away what we consider precious to us, this is because He is trying to give something even more precious to us'.

From 死亡，別狂傲, 2002 ed. p.28, 蘇恩佩

New creation

If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new one has come! 2 Corinthians 5:17

What a great promise for the human race!

This claim applies to all people in the world. The word 'everyone' includes a poor skinny baby born in Afria as well as the richest CEO in America.

The old refers to our previous life, including whatever bad things that make us regretful in many sleepless nights.

The new refers to our newly created life in the same nature as that of Jesus.

Lord, if I dishonur any of your creation in any way, please forgive me and grant me a vision of how you look at your children. Thank you, Lord. In Jesus' name I pray, Amen.

Enjoy a sweet home or Fight the good fight

Oh Lord, if I am satisfied in enjoying a sweet home, and forget that there are so many loyal warriors fighting hard out there, please take away my sweet little shelter and push me back to the battlefield.

Do and don't

Do whatever you will do for Christ's sake to other people;
Don't do whatever you won't do for Christ's sake to other people;

Because Jesus Christ loves all his people.

Turn weakness into strength

"Real life proves we are insufficient to battle the overwhelming burdens that confront us. Even those who want to be self-sufficient can’t manage life in their own strength."

"In our relationship with God, we find a sufficiency for life that can overwhelm our inadequacies and enable us to live victoriously."

If you think about today's meditation, remember:
"We must experience our weakness to experience God’s strength."

From Our Daily Bread (20/6/07)

Prayer

Pslam 119
[65]Do good to your servant according to your word, O LORD.
[66]Teach me knowledge and good judgment, for I believe in your commands.
[67]Before I was afflicted I went astray, but now I obey your word.
[68]You are good, and what you do is good; teach me your decrees.
...
[71]It was good for me to be afflicted so that I might learn your decrees.
[72]The law from your mouth is more precious to me than thousands of pieces of silver and gold.

Smiles in a jail

Impressive smiles in a jail of Indonesia.

Imitate me

If you think about today's meditation, remember:
'Imitate those who imitate Christ.'

Our Daily Bread (13/06/07)

TIME: Picture of the week

I like this photo.

Husbands, love your wifes

Ephesians 5:25
Husbands, love your wifes, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her

How Christ gave himself for the church?

Love her when she do not understand his teachings.

Matthew 16:8-12

Love her when she do not understand his feelings.
Matthew 26:36-40
Love her when she do not understand his plans.
Matthew 16:21-23

He showed the greatest love to the church
by
bearing her sins and wrongdoings on a cross
even to the point of death.

Husbands, fiancé, and boy friends, are you ready for that?

Lessons in foreign intervention

"History teaches us these lessons for the interveners: leave your prejudices at home, keep your ambitions low, have enough resources to do the job, do not lose the golden hour, make security your first priority, involve the neighbours."

from a BBC Special Report

One same goal

Lord, please help me to set all of my minds on pleasuring you, regardless where I am and where I will be.

1 Corinthians 5:9

Soaring high

Our famous "turkey" in HKUST

Research progress

My supervisor wrote:

% of completion on research = 95%
% of completion on thesis = 70%

Assessment of student's work completed during the year:
The student is at his final stage of PhD study. He has completed two journal papers and one conference paper in the past year. One journal paper has been accepted for publication, the second journal paper is under review and the conference paper has been presented in the 7th World Congress on Structural and Multidisciplinary Optimization.


"I see the light"

Manager and Engineer

An interesting story from Kelvin Ng,
http://www.xanga.com/ngKelvin/572146095/thursday.html

Cartoons

Change

Once upon a time, I think I can change others in the ways they lives.

But today, I pray to the Lord that I can be changed by His power to conform to His way of living.

What's learning?

「學習是一條十分漫長的道路，每人也要走過。在這條路上，有很多挑戰、困難，而且愈來愈難行。我們必須咬 緊牙關衝去。我們身邊還有朋友、老師、家長的支持和鼓勵，我們不是孤身上路的！我們要經過努力才有好的收成！這條路可能永無止境，但也有可能很短，我們要 學多少、學多久，我們這段路便有多長。一直至死亡才完結……」

A secondary school student sharing how he/she thinks what is learning. Ming Pao - Education (08/06/07)

I also agree that learning is a life-long process, but am glad that we are by no means alone. I think both teacher and student are learners, and just happen that teacher has the chance to run ahead for a while. If a teacher becomes refluctant to learn one day, his students will overtake him soon.

Actions speak louder!

"As we tell people about Christ’s love, those words will communicate powerfully if surrounded by acts of love and kindness. Actions do speak louder!"

Our daily bread (7/6/07)

Research

Research, itself says its meaning "RE-SEARCH". Repeatedly search for the truth or the underlying principles of things. In the process of research, it can be frustrating to many people as they only have the goal and direction, but don't even know how to get to there. Effort spent is often not proportional to the success of the outcome. People can feel disappointed, frustration, and even depressed.

Thanks be to God that I understand why I have to go through all the tough times. His will is always good to me, as well as to others.

Fair or unfair?

"Love is not self-seeking, and the odd thing is that the happy saint who open his or her hand to be robbed at the will of others will always be found to be richer than those who do the robbing."
Tozer A.W. This world: playground or battleground?, p.79-80

The One who knows me

There is only One who knows
All the answers to my woes;
He will all my needs supply
When in faith to Him I cry. —Morgan

from Our Daily Bread (07/06/06)

New toy

May I introduce you my new toy?

Mental first aid course - Day 2

Some good points to be remembered and put into practice:

1. Mentally ill people rarely attack others, except when they think they are in danger or at the risk of being attacked. This point actually applies to some wild animals like lion and polar bears.
2. If we respect those patients, they will respect you in return.
3. If you think you are not calm enough to clam the patients, leave that job to others and observe how people handle the situation.
4. Stay alert to one who tells you that they want to die, no matter how frequent he makes such fake claim.
5. If you want them to trust you, don't lie to them. Accept their feelings, but speak the truth.
   

Salute!

Salute to all social workers in the world, no matter paid workers or volunteers. Your care and work for the mentally sick people, who are often ignored and even discriminated by most people, desire my sincere respect.

Should I buy a new camera?

My Canon G3 has been used for four years (I bought it before the WCSMO-5 held in Italy). Although it is still in good condition, its shooting button is insensitive (other people often find difficulty in pressing the button...), it is slow in launching, shooting, and focusing. Maybe I should try a digital SLR, but that's expensive. I may decide to choose Canon IS S3. Advantages of this camera to me:

1. 12x
2. flip 'n' twist LCD viewer (I consider this as an advantage over DSLR)
3. 6M is sufficient
4. Low-price
5. I can use my wide angle lens of G3
   
6. Use AA battery

A review of S3 can be found here.