Friday, September 25, 2009

Are we following the pattern of the world?

Had a good talk with my friend in australia. We were talking about how much starbucks coffee actually cost. Fyi, we found out that it only cost only AUD0.05 and they charged us at AUD 3-4. imagine the profit that they earned.

In our talk, one thing came to my mind, are we as church or christian following the pattern of the world? I observed that most of our approach is using the modified world ads. I believe you all have seen the ads on "I'm a Christian vs I'm Christ's follower" using the Mac vs Windows theme video, the t-shirt on coca-cola modified to Jesus Christ and etc. Thing that in my mind is, are we not creative enough?

In term of church management, why we must follow toyota management. We know they have the best management. Six Sigma, price of a product should be determined by the market and etc.

Can we as Christian come out with our own "product"?

Monday, September 21, 2009

Forest Gump

One of my favorites movie is Forest Gump. After watching this videos explaining the visual graphic, I was amazed with the technology during 1994. And when I re-watch this movie again, I can see clearly the effects in this movie. Some part are fake. Amazing!











Isaac

Thursday, September 17, 2009

RM 54

This is crap man! I've been trying to book my ticket to go back to Tawau since last night. Thank God for STM connection! I can't book it (I thought I can't), for the RM39 tickect. I din't know that the booking was successful and stored in my account and waiting for my payment.

So this morning, I tried to book again. The RM39 ticket was still there. I tried and tried. But the connection was really bad! I refreshed the page and book the same ticket. And it increased to RM54. CRAP!!!! Thank you STM! RM15 is a price for a lamb chop! RM15, can be my 4 meals in Seremban. And many other things I can do with RM15!! Sorry, I am a typical CHINESE here.


ps: I post this just to express my feeling.


Monday, September 14, 2009

Light Phenomena

I posted some pictures in my FB. I thought those pictures was an unusual phenomena that had happened in Labuan two years back. But Rabbi said is a common one. So I check it out. It is common. And this is what I've got.

Corona
The Corona is a type of plasma atmosphere that surrounds a celestial body and the most famous example is the sun’s which is visible during a total solar eclipse. It extends thousands of kilometers into space and contains ionized Iron at temperatures of almost 1 millionÂș C (1.8 millionÂș F). During an eclipse its shining light surrounds the darkened sun, an appearance from which its name is taken, derived from the Latin for ‘crown’.

Crepuscular Rays
When darkly clouded regions or permeable obstacles such as tree branches filter the sun’s beam, rays of sunlight appear as straight columns radiating from a single point in the sky. The phenomenon, often used in horror movies, is most commonly seen at dawn or dusk and can even be witnessed under the ocean as the sun shines through sheets of cracked ice. This beautiful scene was captured at the Arches National Park in Utah.

Fata Morgana (Mirage)
The interaction between cold air near ground level and warm air immediately above it may act as a refracting lens and produce an upside down image of objects on the horizon, over which the actual image appears to hover. In this picture, taken in Thuringia, Germany, the horizon in the distance seems to have vanished leaving the furthest posts floating in mid-air, however the blue part of the road is merely a reflection of the sky above it. The common perception that mirages are entirely non-existent images that appear to those lost in the desert is a misnomer, probably confused with the effects of extreme dehydration which can cause hallucinations. Mirages are always of real objects, although it is true they can appear closer due to the effect.

Light Pillar
The reflection of light by ice crystals with almost perfect horizontal planar surfaces creates a powerful beam that is reminiscent of sci-fi movies. The light source may be the sun, moon or artificial light and an interesting characteristic is that the pillar will take on the colour of this source – in the image taken in Kaijonharju, Finland, the orange sunlight of dusk creates a similarly coloured magnificent pillar.

Aurora
The collision of electronically charged particles in the earth’s upper atmosphere often creates magnificent light displays over the polar regions. The colour depends on the elemental content of the particles – most auroras appear green or red due to oxygen, however nitrogen sometimes creates a deep blue or violet appearance.

Contrails
The vapour trails that follow aircraft through the sky cause stunning man-made patterns in the atmosphere. They are created by either aircraft exhaust or airflow over wingtip vortices as it emerges into cold temperatures at high altitudes and condenses into water and ice droplets. In this example a flurry of trails crisscrosses the sky creating an intricate pattern.

Rocket Exhaust Trails
High altitude winds contort the trails of rockets and their small exhaust particles diffract sunlight into vivid iridescent colours, sometimes carried by the same winds thousands of kilometres before dissipating. The image shows the trails of the Minotaur rocket launched from the US Air Force Base at Vandenberg, California.

Sky Polarisation
The sky, like many other things around us, scatters polarised light consisting of a certain electromagnetic orientation. Polarization is always perpendicular to the light path itself and if only a single polarization direction is present in the light, the light is said to be linearly polarized. This image was captured with a wide-angle polarised filter lens to show just how spectacular the electromagnetic charge of the skies are.

Star Trails
Not technically visible to the naked eye this breathtaking image was captured by leaving a camera with a shutter opening of over an hour at night. The natural rotation of the earth causes the stars in the sky to move across the horizon, creating these wonderful trails behind them. The only star in the night sky that appears stationary at all times is Polaris, the North Star, which hovers above the celestial North. The same would be true in the south but there is no star bright enough over it.

Zodiacal Light
A faint triangular glow seen in the night sky extending up towards the heavens, the Zodiacal light is easily masked by light pollution or moonlight. It is produced when sunlight reflects off dust particles in the cosmos, known as cosmic dust and consequently its spectrum is the same as the solar system. Solar radiation causes the dust particles to spiral slowly, creating a majestic constellation of delicately sprinkled lights in the sky

Circumhorizontal Arc
Also known as a ‘fire rainbow’ these streaks of colour are created when light is refracted through ice crystals in cirrus clouds. The phenomenon is especially rare as both the ice crystals and sun must be oriented in exact horizontal alignment to create the effect. This particularly dramatic example was captured in the sky over Spokane, WA, in 2006.

Brocken Spectre
As the sun shines from behind a climber or other object at altitude their shadow is projected through the upper surfaces of clouds, creating a curiously magnified triangular shape. The effect is often seen in conjunction with the glowing rings of a glory (Heiligenschein) – rings of coloured light that appear directly opposite the sun when sunlight is reflected by a cloud of uniformly-sized water droplets. It takes its name from the frequent fogs and low-altitude accessibility of the Brocken peaks in Germany, a region in which it is often witnessed.



Circumzenithal Arc
Appearing like an ‘upside down rainbow’ the circumzenithal arc is similarly formed by the refraction of light through horizontal ice crystals in specific cloud forms. The phenomenon is centered at the zenith, parallel to the horizon, its colours running from blue to red towards the horizon and always in the form of an incomplete circular arc – a complete circle in a similar situation is the exceptionally rare Kern Arc, only captured on camera for the first time in 2007.

Fog Bow
This dramatic halo was seen below the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco, appearing like an all-white rainbow. Like a rainbow it is created by the refraction of light through water droplets in the clouds, yet the unlike a rainbow the small size of fog droplets accounts for its lack of colour. Mariners often refer to them as ‘sea-dogs’ or ‘cloud bows’.

Glory
When light is backscattered (a combination of reflection, refraction and diffraction) back towards its source by water droplets in clouds, the shadow of an object between the cloud and source may be wreathed in coloured bands. Named after the majestic effect it imparts – in some parts of China it is even called Buddha’s Light – it is often seen in conjunction with the Brocken Spectre. Here the beautiful bands dramatically surround a plane’s shadow against a cloud.

22Âș Halo (This is what I saw in Labuan two years back)
Halos are among the most well-known of optical phenomena and appear under a variety of guises. The most frequently scene is the 22Âș halo, caused by ice crystals in high altitude cirrus clouds, yet the particular shape and orientation of the crystals can create variation in the appearance of the halo. During very cold weather halos formed by crystals close to the ground reflect sunlight between them sending it in several directions at once, an effect known as diamond dust.

Iridescent Clouds
When the sun is positioned at precisely the correct angle behind clouds water droplets in them diffract light away, creating an intense streaking effect. The colouring is, like a rainbow, caused by the differing wavelengths of the light – different wavelengths are diffracted to different degrees, altering the angle of diffraction and consequently the colour of the light as it is perceived. In this image cloud iridescence is accompanied by a sharply coloured ranbow.

Moonbow
The combination of a low moon and dark sky often creates moonbows, essentially rainbows produced by the moon’s light. Appearing in the opposite end of the sky to the moon itself, they usually are seen as completely white due to their weak colouring, however long-exposure photography can capture the true colours, as in this example taken at Yosemite National Park, California.

Parhelic Circle
The parhelic circle appears like a white band circling the sky and always at the same height above the horizon as the sun. Usually only fragments are seen, extending from ‘sundogs’ in the directions away from the sun. Millions of vertically facing ice crystals mirror the sun around the sky to form the beautiful phenomenon.

Rainbows
Rainbows can take many forms: multiple bows, bows that cross, red bows, twinned bows, coloured fringes, dark bands, spokes and many more, but they all share in common their range of colours – red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo and violet. They are formed when light refracts through water droplets in the earth’s atmosphere, most often rain, but mist or fog can create similar effects, and are rarer than one might imagine. Over history many different cultures have ascribed to them a variety of meanings and explanations from the ancient Greek’s belief they were a path to the heavens, to the curious saying that the Irish leprechaun’s pot of gold lies at their end.


Isaac



I wish

Many things I've desire to have it. But when all these things control you, then you will start to have disappointment when you pray and God did not answers your prayers. Do we have the spirit of covetousness when we pray for the things that we wish?

I wish to have a MacBook. This is my prayer since beginning of the year. Most of the time, I feel so disappointed and see that the hope for this one fades. Sometimes my prayer for this has become a demand for God that He must bless me. I desire this more than Jesus. No wonder I can't sense the satisfaction eventhough I understand that having God is everything!


I wish I could have an I-Phone.
I wish I can have a DLSR Nikon!



How good is it that you receive all these things once in a present box. I wish I wish and I wish. I've been reminded again to do check-balance. Where is God when I desire these things. No wonder desire can cause unsatisfactory or dukkha (I'm in the midst of doing my Buddhism assignment). No wonder all these things can corrupt a person in coveteousness. It corrupts our relationship with God. If our faith is based on blessing, then it will be dangerous. If our faith based on miracle, it too will be dangerous.

How to live a simple faith in this complex world?

When we do not have the things we want, the world corrupts us with coveteousness. And when we have the things we want, the world corrupts us with pride!
Isaac

Sunday, September 13, 2009

Why do you have to be like others?

I've just gone through tough times past few weeks. It affects me until the extend of not doing my devotion, pray, read the bible and spent time with God. I just felt angry and dissatisfy with the things happened to me. Things surrounding me are unfair to me. I compared myself with other people. I asked God, "Am I that bad?" even to the point I told God, "Did you forgive me? If not why you din't answer my prayer, my needs?"

It's a dilemma to me on the other hand as I studying His words and yet I do not want to have relationship with Him. It was a hard time to me. It was a struggle. I even come to point take it academicly rather than spiritually.

I adviced people not to compare, but I myself compared myself to other people. Comparing to other people can really lead us complain to God that we not have enough. Indeed it is human nature that we can never be satisfied with what we have. We want more and more. We desire more. Desire is really a dangerous thing. I still haven't overcome my desire to have good stuff, as I still not satisfy with things I have not, and I will never be satisfy. I read this book by John Piper, he quoted from 1 John 2: 16 which tells me whether I am from the Father or not. "For all that is in the world— the desires of the flesh and the desires of the eyes and pride in possessions—is not from the Father but is from the world."

I really want to desire the feeling of desiring Jesus and be fully satisfy with it. It is hard to me eventhough I understand it. I need to experience it. My question is always, "how Lord?" Until now I still searching for it.

One of the answers that convicted me is this question, "Why do you have to be like others?" It is amazing that God can speaks to you eventhough you are trying to ignore him. Yes, why do I have to be like others. Why must I compare with others? Though the amount of blessings I received from others is deifferent, but the amount of grace we receive is the same, that is the price that was paid on the cross.

If we say we are special, comparism shouldn't come in. My life is not built on people's blessings nor also my faith. I really hope that I can find that enlightenment that when I desire Jesus, full satisfaction comes upon me and I can overcome the world!

Would like to end this with a quote from John Piper on how worldly things can corrupt us.

"When we don't have what we want, the world corrupts us with covetousness. And when we do have what we want the world corrupts us with pride."


Isaac

Wednesday, September 9, 2009

090909

Seems like today many students was reluctant to leave canteen. After batling with food issues, finally the canteen get back their reputation. Remember this date 090909, we have our chicken chop as our lunch, and it is delicious!! It was fresh!! Hope this will continue on until I graduate. But pity the final year students that can only taste this for few more weeks.


Isaac

Monday, September 7, 2009

Children can Worship

This video really gave me some inspiration. Children can worship! BUt sadly many churches separate the children from corporate worship. This will be one of my thesis topics. I have many topics in my mind and I am still struggling to choose which one. And next semester I have to think one.

This little boy is singing "I See Grace" from New Creation Church. A church which Ps. Joseph Prince is pastoring.



Children can Worship!
Isaac

The Struggle Of A Priest-In-Charge And The Parishioners

The Struggle Of A Priest-In-Charge And The Parishioners Galatians 1:1  Paul, an apostle-- sent not from men nor by man, but by Jesus Chr...