Moon-Gazing

My three-year-old son is all about the moon these days. Every night he'd ask if the moon has come out yet. We're blessed to live in a house where the moon is clearly visible through our playroom window during the full moon phrase. So tonight we spent quite a bit of time sitting by the window with the lights turned off, gawking jaw-dropped at the brilliant moon as it lit up the room.

Compare to many other stars, the moon is tiny and quite insignificant. There are countless other stars, suns, galaxies exist in the universe far beyond the strongest telescope can see. Even if a person just minimally believes God's hand is at least involved somehow, how can the sheer number of stars doesn't blow one's mind and see how powerful and majestic this God is?

"The heavens declare the glory of God;
the skies proclaim the work of his hands" Psalm 19:1

You Can Lead a Horse to the Water...

Never before a baby can be so similar to a odd-toed ungulate mammal than my 15-month old. Against my instinct, I caved into pressure and pushed solid food on him before he was ready. So my strong-willed child clamped up for months and had very low weight gain. Of course we got worried and pushed him harder. It wasn't until a few weeks ago when we stopped pressuring him, and now for the first time in his life he discovered the joy of eating solid food and his weight is much more satisfactory. Whew!

So at this tender young age, he is already teaching us that he is his own person, not an extension of us. That is so annoying. I want to control what, when and how much he eats, what his interests and beliefs are. I want to pick his wife for him (let's bring back arranged marriage!), choose his career, and arrange the house a few blocks from us for him to live. Since all these probably won't happen, all I can do is to do the best I can to teach and give him the resource for wisdom. And to be on my kneels everyday to pray for God's touch on his heart.

I guess I should be thankful for this lesson and practice in letting go, and trust that ultimately he (and all of us) is in God's hands. So when he finally move out to be on his own, hopefully I won't be grabbing onto his heels screaming, "my baby!"

The neighbors would think I'm so weird.

And Apple Was Its Name, O

With the buzzing anticipation of Steve Jobs' keynote speech at Macworld Conference and Expo, bloggers had make all sorts of contests and games. My favorite? Apple Keynote Bingo Card!

(click on image to view larger)

And Deliver Me from My Own Stupidity, Amen.

It's amazing that I'm alive and well today, consider all the stupid things I've done in my life.

Case in point: As a college student, I decided to photograph and interview a local artist for a class. He lived half an hour of driving away, and I had no car nor a driver's license. I enlisted a friend to drive me there, but she couldn't drive me back. So I checked the Greyhound bus schedule and planned to go home that way. Well, by the time I arrived at the bus station after 5 p.m., the last bus was long gone and only one staff remained. As I pondered my next step, he offered to give me a ride home when his wife came to pick him up. While I know hopping into a car with strangers wasn't the best idea, I agreed to his plan. I guess I felt at ease because it wasn't just him, but his wife will be there also. So the couple and their son went out of their way and drive half an hour to get me home. I thanked them profusely, and they would not accept anything from me.

They could be serial killers, and I could meet my well-deserved end there by my own stupidity. But instead God delivered me and kept me safe.

So to those kind souls who were so generous with their time to help a foreign student, I can't thank you enough. I hope that somehow in some way you know you have my gratitude, and God is praised because of you.

Are You Game?

"Keep the house spotless, look after the children, feed the family, and push your multi-tasking skills to the limit."

You'd think that is a partial description of what a parent do. But it's actually for a computer "game" called Nanny Mania.

So when did completing mundane tasks online become a game people do for fun? I'll bet no busy mom would play that one.

I have no desire to own any video game system. I don't have the time and energy to play video games anyway. But now I guess since my daily life is like one I have no reason to have one, ever.

What are they going to have next, have a "Filling-Out-Forms" game?

The Numbing Machine

I have a pile of unfinished "draft" blog entries that never got posted. One of them is about television and young children. Then I found this post, which approached this subject with more adequateness and articulation than I can ever muster. So here's the link:

http://www.strangelandblog.com/2007/08/08/young-minds/

The Best Advice to the President

"Now therefore, O kings, be wise;
be warned, O rulers of the earth.
Serve the Lord with fear,
and rejoice with trembling.
Kiss the Son,
lest he be angry, and you perish in the way,
for his wrath is quickly kindled.
Blessed are all who take refuge in him." Psalm 2:10-12

The Good Fear

As I read the Psalms 1-2 and Proverbs 1, I found a very similar theme:

Fear of the Lord=Wise, which leads to good consequences
No fear of the Lord=Foolish, which leads to very bad consequences.

It sounds simple but it's so true. How foolish it is for one to ignore, deny, scoff, rebel against, despise and/or hate God's word? Do we really think we can win when fighting with the almighty God, who create the world by just by speaking and can wipe it out the same way?

Sure, God is also a loving, caring and compassionate God. But many people focus just on the "warm fuzzy' part, and neglect the other attributes of God such as almighty, powerful, holy and just. The God in the Old Testament is the same never-changing God in the New Testament, the same God we have today.

So take heed to the wisdom of Solomon, and have a healthy dose of fear for our God. The other alternative is not pretty.

"Because they hated knowledge
and did not choose the fear of the Lord,
would have none of my counsel
and despised all my reproof,
therefore they shall eat the fruit of their way,
and have their fill of their own devices." Proverbs 1:29-31

Fruits and Lots of Them. A.K.A My Goal This Year

As I reflect on the year 2007, I think that while I've grown in the knowledge of various theologies and solidified my Christian worldview, I have not been reading the Bible and in prayer as much, hence feeling disconnected with God. It's like I know all the FACTS about a person, such as his favorite food and book, but if I never listen to him nor talk to him, I don't have RELATIONSHIP with him and we don't truly know each other.

Therefore one of my goals this year is to be more consistent in the Word and in prayer. Beginning with Psalm 1:

"Blessed is the man
who walks not in the counsel of the wicked,
nor stands in the way of sinners,
nor sits in the seat of scoffers;
but his delight is in the law of the Lord,
and on his law he meditates day and night.

He is like a tree
planted by streams of water
that yields its fruit in its season" Psalm 1:1-3a

My prayer is that we'll plant ourselves by the streams of God's Word, and through the Holy Spirit, we'll yield more fruit than the farmers' market in the summer.

"But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law." Galatians 5:22-23

Happy 1st Birthday, Under Grace!

That's right. This blog was started exactly a year ago.

So the entries have been scarce, especially during the second half of the year. But the fact that I'm still writing is something that pleases me.

To my (very) few readers, I hope this blog has blessed you in some way. It certainly has blessed me. It had provide me a free place to vent and to de-clutter my mind.

So off we go to another year of blogging. I have a few new ideas and projects in mind. We'll see what happens.