R.C. Sproul

Brother Albinus

RIP.

Thanks for been the best headmaster. Thanks for dedicating your entire life in Kuching and Sibu for us.

You will be missed by many.

PMR

Today is PMR result day. Praise God Jane passed her BM with a B. A most merciful miracle.

彼岸

Happy Lunar New Year!

A few years back when I was getting "serious" with my Bible reading I came to realise that the mystical Dragon is REAL. Yes, as in real LITERALLY.

What is my authority? Job 41.

Job 41 describes a beast called Leviathan. And below are some of its descriptions from the Bible:

14 Who can open the doors of his face?

Around his teeth is terror.

15 His back is made of rows of shields,

shut up closely as with a seal.

16 One is so near to another

that no air can come between them.

17 They are joined one to another;

they clasp each other and cannot be separated.

18 His sneezings flash forth light,

and his eyes are like the eyelids of the dawn.

19 Out of his mouth go flaming torches;

sparks of fire leap forth.

20 Out of his nostrils comes forth smoke,

as from a boiling pot and burning rushes.

21 His breath kindles coals,

and a flame comes forth from his mouth.

There are more descriptions. Go and read Job 41.

But why was God telling Job about this TERRIFYING BEAST that He had created?

9 Behold, the hope of a man is false;

he is laid low even at the sight of him [Leviathan].

10 No one is so fierce that he dares to stir him up.

Who then is he who can stand before me?

11 Who has first given to me, that I should repay him?

 Whatever is under the whole heaven is mine.

Well, I guess partly to SHOW FORTH the AWESOMENESS of our CREATOR.

As the Chinese around the world celebrates the Year of the Dragon this year, may fresh revelations of the awesomeness of our Jehovah God so fill your hearts and minds.

A day WILL come when all the creations will come and BOW before Him.

Happy New Year!

Baptism

Hallelujah! Both John & Jane were baptized last night together with their cousins. What a joyous day!

Thanks for all the wonderful products & memories.


For all flesh is as grass, and all the glory of man as the flower of the grass.
The grass withereth, and the flower thereof falleth away;
But the word of the Lord endureth for ever...
(1Peter 1:24-25)

Friendship Park Revisited

Been a while since the family last visited the gorgeous park next door... And what better occasion to revisit than joining the crowds there for the Mooncake Festival! What a wonderful night.

School Revisited

 I know, the classroom looks spooky, but hey, this just brings back so much fond memories. With the exception of the plastic chairs, the classroom looks just like mine...25 years ago? 

That's John waiting for his turn during the "Meet the Parents Day".

Jane did well on her recent poster competition at the school...she got second place! Praise God!

Kampung Sikog Church Revisited

A couple of months back we had the opportunity to visit the church at Kampung Sikog, the church which helped "jump start" this blog in the first place :)

 After nearly 7 years, the place hasn't really changed much...but I have. Not just my hair color, but my theology has since shifted from Word-Faith, Prosperity Gospel branch to... the Reformed  :D

Praise the LORD for the people here.

Ulu Trip

Almost in anticipation of the possibility of an upcoming chance to go for a short "mission" trip I have been roaming around to odd places for the past weeks. It has been fun.

One of which requires a 5 hours boat journey - one way! But truth be told, the boat journey was extremely comfortable. These express boats are fully air-conditioned & even play a good selection of movies.

The most uncomfortable part of the journey was probably the destination itself. With only limited or restricted modern amenities, I do get to appreciate my comfy home A LOT!

One surprising "new" happening I discovered was that many timber camps are now visited by pastors on a regular basis supported by their companies. And that's a great thing. But obviously there are still much work to do done ;)

How the Kids Spent their CNY

Well, the pictures here tell a thousand words...

Yes, even the youngest was not "spared"...

Saddle Brown Cameo

The Cambridge Saddle Brown Calfskin came into my attention a few years back when a Wide Margin Cameo version was sold for more than USD600 on eBay! Ever since I have been on a look-out for one too...no, not the Wide Margin version, but just a "regular" Cameo :)

And recently I was able to get one on eBay. And I must say it is lovely. The Calfskin basically looks the same as a Water Buffalo grained Calfskin only much more supple...which is a great bonus.

Now what I need is a Sea Green or Forest Green Cameo to add onto my collection... Or an UltraMarine Blue... ;)

Lost

Mercy, LORD! Mercy!

Happy New Year, 2011!

Since I am reading Francis Chan's Crazy Love on this first day of 2011, may this video be a blessing to you too :)

Christmas 2010

The opportunity to listen "live" to Pastor Stephen Tong is definitely a highlight for me on Dec 22nd. Greatly blessed by the message.

Thanks to David & Ah Hui - to their amazing love & energy - for organising a BBQ gathering for the youths. And thanks to Chin for opening up his house for this party.

Merry Christmas All!

AccordanceBible 9

My AccordanceBible 8 has since been upgraded to version 9, and it is awesome. It is just incredible. From doing daily devotion to topical study to preparing my coming "sermon"... it is such a joy to use!

Now if only I can save up for that Graphic Bundle & IVP Reference before Christmas :)

New iPhone 4

Haven't had much time to test out the new iPhone 4 yet, but so far the pictures coming out from the new 5mp camera is "delicious"! The HDR REALLY works!

RL Allan ESVR1R

Last week when I came home...déjà vu... a parcel on the floor...

That was exactly how my Allan Longprimer arrived 2+ years ago... on the floor :)  The dear postman, seeing nobody home, just dumped the parcel instead of writing me a "pls come to collect at post office" ticket. Actually, I prefer getting "dumped". LOL!

* ESVR1 Crimson at bottom.

This is a limited edition (well, at least for now) of RL Allan's ESV Reader bible in Crimson color. Though I have loved red bibles for a long time, and have collected some really nice gems over the years, yet this Crimson bible is extra special...

Since my red bibles are all KJV & NKJV, I praise God for this ESV edition. (Allan has another red ESV - Personal Reference edition which I skipped.) But that's not the reason why this Crimson ESV is special...

This ESVR1R is special cuz this bible is for my beloved wife :)

I don't know about you but I am guilty of buying stuff... and then I didn't really quite like it... so I passed it to *ahem* my wife??? Or worst, using reverse psychology - I bought stuff pretending to be for her, but was hoping she wouldn't like it... and I sorta had to receive it back reluctantly??? U know what I am saying?

So I pre-ordered this for my wife. REALLY!

One major reason why I selected ESVR1 is cuz of the REASON for its existence - note taking. Personally I love to mark up my bibles (except the vintage ones). I love to underline, draw circles, draw arrows...etc etc. And I know my wife loves marking up her bibles too... which she couldn't really do with her ESV3. So this ESVR1R is a perfect gift.

ESVR1R is also generously filled with 32 lined writing pages bound at the back of the bible.

And with an Allan bible, you get so much more. Just in case this is your first introduction to Allan bibles, here is a short list of WHY u should save your $$$ for an Allan that will last you for years to come:

The bible opens FLAT... from page 1. This has a tremendous practical advantage. It adds so much to the daily reading experience.

Another critical advantage to all Allan bibles - sewn text blocks. If your bibles pages are constantly "falling out"in chunks... thats cuz they are GLUED. Urrr... come to think of it, a bible that is "falling out" has a higher "piety-look" index... so unless thats what you want, always get a sewn bible.

* ESVR1R at bottom.

Most Allan bibles are leather lined inside. You don't find too many of that anymore... if at all. Not unless those of the by-gone eras, like this Cambridge bible from the 70s!

Notice the "overlapping" of the cover leather for the ESVR1R at the bottom of the stack? Kinda makes the other 3 bibles on top "naked" & "exposed", right? Allan calls this feature - Semi/Full Yapp. It protects those gorgeous red-under-gold edge lining from being scratched too easily.

Then there is the superior leather binding - probably the FINEST in the world. If you are like me who used to get so frustrated with the quality of bonded leather bibles, or even genuine leather bibles that tend to flake & disintegrate over a short time, you will really appreciate these Allan bibles. I don't have enough adjectives or technical knowledge to explain much here. But pls do check this Bible Design Blog out for your own edification :)

Praise the LORD for these wonderful bibles.

Bearing Fruits

Last Sunday my pastor preached a sermon on John 15:1-8, and I was particularly intrigued by - bear much fruit - in verse 8 since God is glorified by it.

“By this My Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit; so you will be My disciples.”

(John 15:8 NKJV)

But exactly what kind of fruit are we talking about here? How does this fruit look like in real life?

Using my Accordance bible software, with only the downloaded version as the DVD is still en-route, I decided to do a bit of word search on "fruit"... particularly in the New Testament.



What I found is there are 60 hits in 52 verses for "fruit" in the NKJV (NT only).



I can even visualise the spread of "fruit" with the help of a graph :)

Eventually with the full installation (can't wait for the DVD to arrive) I can do more in-dept word study - from Greek to dictionaries to commentaries... and so much more.

But a quick glance at the 52 verses, already I could pick out a few relevant verses related to John 15:8. Here are some examples of the GOOD FRUIT the Apostles admonish us to bear:

“But now having been set free from sin, and having become slaves of God, you have your fruit to holiness, and the end, everlasting life.”

(Romans 6:22 NKJV)

“But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness,”

(Galatians 5:22 NKJV)

“(for the fruit of the Spirit is in all goodness, righteousness, and truth),”

(Ephesians 5:9 NKJV)

“Now no chastening seems to be joyful for the present, but painful; nevertheless, afterward it yields the peaceable fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it.”

(Hebrews 12:11 NKJV)

“Therefore by Him let us continually offer the sacrifice of praise to God, that is, the fruit of our lips, giving thanks to His name.”

(Hebrews 13:15 NKJV)

This is FUN!