A Rocha

The speakers will:
Consider the biblical and theological connection between the suffering of the earth and the suffering of earthkeepers.
Describe and reflect on real world case studies that demonstrate the relationship between abused ecosystems and abused people.

I volunteered an amazing conference this weekend. The speakers presented papers on the theology for earth keeping and conservation. There were almost 200 people in the conference, Christians who are serious about their faith and interested to learn the biblical mandate on the issue of earth-keeping. If we believe the earth is the Lord's and the fullness thereof, then what are our responsiblities as inhabitants and stewards of the natural resources God's entrusted us with on this earth? This is not just a talk to promote recycling and awareness of environmental issues. But fundamentally the speakers seek to help us recognise that our failures in this area is much deeper and our practices directly reflects our inherent beliefs and values. Far greater than ecological issues, we also talked about issues of poverty and social justice. I found it very informative and challenging. Hearing from theologians who firmly believes this is our calling, as well as Christians who are involved in social justice, conservation and environmental ministry, including a Christian lady from Kenya who is an government civil officer with the Global Strategy for Plant Conservation. It's an amazing panel. I can't remember ever hearing of other Christian conferences that is focused on this issue.

One thing that I learned from the Kenyan lady was to think in a wholistic and integrative manner in our conservation efforts. It's not enough to tell the Africans they need to conserve their plants and species that are going extinct when what's foremost in their mind is survival. An example of integrative effort includes teaching them to cultivate and preserve the forest and transform it as an attraction for eco-tourism, which will then become income bearing for them. So they begin to see these natural resources as assets and invest in them. Another important consideration is sustainability. Conservation efforts should be sustainable long term and if possible, income bearing, so that it need not be dependent on charity. It's important to involve the locals and try to look at the interconnected issues when we talk about conservation.

This is not and should not be an exclusive Christian effort, although the sad fact is Christians have not been very active in this field. This is a field which is slowly dying off because they are giving up, exhausted with the lack of results after trying almost everything. It is a field which very much needs to hear the good news that God is concerned with his creation. A Rocha is a Christian ministry which seeks to be a witness as they work alongside these different existing efforts and seek to find new, creative ways to conserve the earth. You can download a short video on the A Rocha ministry, which is produced by a Malaysian-Singaporean couple. I had the privilege of meeting them at the conference. They are professional media people who have decided to give a year and offer their talents to this ministry. Thus neither is this strictly a North-American concern, but the most critical areas are outside of the North America, where balance in the ecosystems are very fragile and the bio-diversity is threatened. These speakers invite us to imagine what God can do if the church, the biggest NGO on earth, catches this vision and begins to take responsibility and take our roles as stewards of the earth seriously. Indeed if we mean what we pray, for His kingdom to come on earth as it is in heaven.

It's pretty cool to see many of them bringing their own coffee mugs to the conference. No disposable cutleries are used throughout the conference. As much as possible conference materials, including name tags and folders, are reused and recycled accordingly.

It never fails to amaze me the diversity of people I meet here in Regent. Among fellow students I've met here, range from those who've worked as forest rangers, bonsai agriculturist and conservationists, others who are involved in such fields like artificial intelligence development, fossil research, social work, acting and media, artists, medical and health care, including fertility programs, are just some samples. There's also those who worked in the 'usual fields' like accounting and finance, administrative, architecture, business, computing and communication, education, engineering, law, and last but not least, missions, parachurch and church work.

Falling in Love?

No one falls in love by choice, it is by CHANCE.
No one stays in love by chance, it is by WORK.
And no one falls out of love by chance, it is by CHOICE.

Someone sent me the above quote. Falling in love is by chance?
And falling out of love is by Choice because you chose not to work at staying in love.

New Discoveries

My friend just commented that I've all sorts of stuff on this blog. I couldn't help to point out that it simply reflects my wide array of loves and passions! Will reveal even more of them in this entry.

Yesterday I learned to adjust the size of the pictures I post on this blog! Many times I'll search the web to learn html formatting commands. I must admit I'm also quite a freak about learning new tricks on how to do things better like formatting my Excel worksheet or move around a program with shortcut function keys. I guess I just have this thing for formatting and making the computer/ programme do exactly what I want it to do, the way I want it. I was really excited when I found out that you could use "Alt-Enter" to enter a new line of text in the same cell in Excel! Sigh, why didn't someone tell me about this earlier?! Obviously I'm not the only one who's crazy about stuff like that. I found an entire site set up to offer these great tips. Check it out: Excel Tips. By the way, does anyone know how I can reduce the margin within a cell, to have less white space between text and the cell border?

I'm also comforted to know that there are people who are crazy enough to have debates on the appropriate use of punctuations. Friends have observed that I'm the kind who cross my t's and dot my i's, and do so passionately. Some people make a living with these sort of passion. Met a few of them here. Others simply write an entire bestseller about it. Take a closer look at the book,'Eats Shoots and Leaves: The Zero Tolerance Approach to Punctuation!'

I suppose this probably explains why I can be excited with my current job, which is very meticulous and detailed. Requires me to be very thorough.

Cartoon Tensions

I've been following the development in this matter for some time. Makes my heart weep. Please uphold this situation in prayer.

ROME (Reuters) - The row over controversial Danish cartoons of the Prophet Mohammad forced two ministers out of their jobs in Europe and the Middle East on Saturday after clashes between police and protesters claimed 11 lives in Libya.

The protest in Benghazi was the bloodiest so far over caricatures of the Prophet that Muslims regard as blasphemous.

Initially resisting calls for his resignation, Italian Reforms Minister Roberto Calderoli stepped down after he was widely blamed for bloody clashes in Libya over cartoons of the Prophet which he had made into T-shirts and wore on television. (Can you believe this? The tension has been building up quite a bit around this issue the past few weeks. I find it hard to imagine how insensitive, foolish and totally provocative some people can be!)

In Tripoli, the General People's Congress fired Interior Minister Nasser al-Mabrouk Abdallah and police chiefs in Benghazi saying "disproportionate force" had been used to disperse protesters who tried to storm the Italian consulate.

The Congress hailed the dead as "martyrs" and declared Sunday a day of mourning across Libya.

Italian diplomats in Tripoli said Libyan authorities had told them at least 11 were dead and nearly 40 wounded.

After Calderoli resigned, Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi spoke with Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi by phone. "(They) fully agreed that this serious episode must not affect in a negative way the friendly relations between Italy and Libya," Berlusconi's office said in a statement.

As thousands of Muslims rallied in central London to keep up the cycle of cartoon protests around the world, there was fresh bloodshed in Pakistan when four people were wounded in gunfire at a demonstration in the central Punjab region.

Protests in Pakistan this week have resulted in at least five deaths, and on Friday it became the latest country where Denmark has decided to temporarily close its embassy. Denmark urged any Danes in Pakistan to leave as soon as possible.

In a bid to harness the escalating violence, Pakistan on Saturday banned protests in Islamabad. As the ban was introduced the country's main Islamist alliance, Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal (MMA), said it would go ahead with its Sunday demonstration,

"The rally will be held in Islamabad. It will be a peaceful rally," Shahid Shamsi, an MMA spokesman said.



Read more about this: CNN, BBC and Reuters. The cartoons.

Lovely Weather

It's bright and beautiful, simply gorgeous outside really. I love walking out in the morning and the air is cool, crisp and fresh. Coupled with the bright sunshine, it's as good as it gets. But it's also gets very cold and drops to almost -7°C late into the night. That's just the temperature though, minus the wind chill factor. With a little gusts of wind, the high of 1°C in the day, feels more like -3°C on the body! We've had some pretty strong winds here. Strong enough for it to be almost dangerous walking outside near buildings because you never know what building construction materials might come flying your way. Can take a peek at this weather webcam that is closest to me.

I have a paper due and a mid-term exam at the end of this coming week. Looking forward to the Reading Week break after that. Of course, will have to hand in another paper right after the Break.

DEATH be not proud

If you have not watched the movie, The Wit, I recommend it.
HBO Films presents this movie adapted by Margaret Edson's Pulitzer Prize winning play. Featuring Emma Thompson who practically carried the movie all by herself - one of her best! An avid English scholar and professor in poetry, she is diagnosed with last stage of cancer and the entire show is shot in the hospital. It is pretty intense and profoundly reflects on the issue of death.

If you love words, you'll love this movie. Just a sample of some of the cool lines from this production:
"It is not my intention to give away the plot," Vivian Bearing announces near the beginning, "but I think I die at the end. They've given me less than two hours." Cause that's the about the length of the show!
Throughout, Vivian finds, the doctors study and discuss her body like a text: "Once I did the teaching, now I am taught. This is much easier. I just hold still and look cancerous. It requires less acting every time."
One thing that keeps coming up in this movie is the question "How are you doing/feeling?" I could identify with this as many folks I've met here are in the habit of saying "How is it going/ how are you doing?" which in fact is nothing more than a 'Hi'. I find it quite irritating because I never really know if I should respond to such a question or treat it as a statement! I much prefer a simple Hello.

And of course there's this theme sonnet made famous (I just hope I've not given too much away):

DEATH be not proud, though some have called thee
Mighty and dreadfull, for, thou art not so,
For, those, whom thou think'st, thou dost overthrow,
Die not, poore death, nor yet canst thou kill me.
From rest and sleepe, which but thy pictures bee,
Much pleasure, then from thee, much more must flow,
And soonest our best men with thee doe goe,
Rest of their bones, and soules deliverie.
Thou art slave to Fate, Chance, kings, and desperate men,
And dost with poyson, warre, and sicknesse dwell,
And poppie, or charmes can make us sleepe as well,
And better then thy stroake; why swell'st thou then;
One short sleepe past, wee wake eternally,
And death shall be no more; death, thou shalt die.

'Death be not Proud (Holy Sonnets: X)'
By John Donne (c. 1572-1631)

Majed El Shafie

I recently heard him speak at the Missions Fest here.

Born in Cairo, Egypt into a prominent Moslem family of lawyers and ollowing in the footsteps of his father and uncles, he too chose to become a lawyer.

Through the witness of his best friend, Tamir, he experienced the love of Christ and made the decision to give his life and service to the LORD.

He began the mission to bring the Christian community all the same legal rights as the Moslem community in Egypt. He began a ministry which in just 2 years grew to 24,000 Christians. The Egyptian Government did not tolerate this and Majed wound up in the torture section of the Abu Zaabel prison in Cairo .

During this time in prison, Majed underwent severe torture for 7 days in the underground prison, everything from shaving his head and putting his head and hot and cold water, hanging upside down, being burned with cigarettes and the miracle of the attack dogs silenced to being crucified on the last 2 and a half days with a mixture of salt and lemon to anoint his wounds. All this is because of his new faith in our LORD.

He eventually escaped and on a whirlwind journey fled to Israel where he was jailed for over a year because they weren't sure what to do in this circumstance. Legally he could not stay in Israel but if they sent him back to Egypt he would be executed.

Through the intervention of Amnesty International & the United Nations Majed was released from prison and became a free man in Jerusalem, Israel .

Since, he has relocated to Toronto, Ontario where he has actively started his own ministry and is now the President of One Free World International.

One Free World International is a human rights organization designed to Bring Glory and Honor to our LORD by defending the persecuted Christians World Wide, to serve the community of Believers and make a difference in their lives. By the Glory of God, One Free World International currently has 2 established branches, Toronto & Washington DC, and a third branch beginning in Florida the end of June 2004. One Free World International will be having its first conference 4-6 November 2004 hosted at Toronto Airport Christian Fellowship.

One Free World International is also developing relationships with Christians in various Moslem countries.

It has also been successful in building bridges with members in the Canadian Parliament and the American Congress to help educate the community about the impact of the Islamic world and persecution of fellow brothers & sisters.

Along with that he also has a Christian Arabic Radio Program, River of Love reaching the Middle East and North Africa. In the past four months 731 Moslems have committed their lives to the LORD. He has started a second Arabic radio program called Encourage Iraq to help encourage the Iraqi people in this time of unrest and to introduce them to the Prince of Peace, Jesus Christ.

Majed has visited and spoken in over 200 churches and congregations in the past year both in Canada and the United States. He has also been interviewed by several magazines, television and Radio both Christian and secular.

Majed's Passion is to help the persecuted Christian around the world and be their voice when their voice is not heard.

The story of Majed is not only a story of violence and persecution but rather a story of Glory and Victory. It's a story about fighting the darkness by the light of Christ.

Its proof that you can hurt the body but no one can hurt your spirit.

Link to One Free World International.

Romance not Equal to Love

Valentine's Day is here again. The time of the year, people spend a lot of unnecessary money 'declaring' their love to their beloved, which is something they should be doing every other day of the year, as well. I'm a firm believer in Love but can't say the same of Romance. That's not to say I don't like the experience of romance, but precisely because I'm such a sucker for these things that I have to be careful not to overrate it. It's nice when someone tries to be romantic and swoon you, but that does not guarantee that the love declared is sincere nor can persevere! It takes time for love to grow, and it's discovered that people who are infatuated carries the same chemicals as a person who is mentally insane. So it takes time for the temporary insanity to wear off.

I know many women like romance and believe that's the only way she can feel loved. I think I will exercise caution with that. I believe what a person finds romantic is very different according to the individual and also at different stage of the relationship. Last week I attended a birthday party of a friend. She and her husband are a very good looking couple - the type you can puon place on a magazine cover. Yet they are very real and genuine folks. The husband baked a cake for the birthday party ... could feed more than 15 of us. It's his first attempt at baking and he did a pretty good job. It's simple, inexpensive, thoughtful and very romantic - he was probably also prompted by the cost of buying a cake big enough for the whole group. Over lunch she shared with us that he did something that melted her heart --- he took out the bag of compost! Yup, basically he cleared the rubbish. That's when I suggested to him that taking out the bag of compost, without her telling him to, probably earned him as many, if not more, brownie points as baking her the cake. That reminded me of a lady I knew, who blew her husband's mind off when she told him that his surprising her with a pretty box of chocolates decorated with lots of hearts from one of his business trip, earned him as many brownie points as the car he bought for her. Of course that's because he almost never make such simple romantic efforts for no ocassion and they've been married for 30 years!

For the girls, I'll say re-evaluate as to what is romantic. Be careful not to equate romance with love. As for the guys, don't bother learning what is romantic and works for women in general. You only need to learn to romance the one woman you are committed to love. This means you need to love her in a way that she can understand and perceive your love. Some girls go goo-goo-ga-ga if you'll cook her a meal and others will melt when you just spend a whole day with her doing whatever she likes (especially if you do not like those activities). Some of my guy friends are very happy to have a good and hearty meal cooked by the special someone and others will consider it loving when we cease asking them endless questions, but demonstrate that we trust them. For me, I will be impressed with a guy who will take pains to plan and prepare a romantic outing or event... the thought and planning is awarded as much, if not more, 'weightage' as the execution of the plan. On the other hand, it will be a very loving act on my part, to do something totally spontatenous, for exmaple even when I'm not dressed for the occasion or have to forgo my plans for my partner.

On a lighter note, I'd like share this short anecdote. A friend of mine recently had a very bad bicycle accident and broke his rib, among other injuries suffered. Poor guy, I shouldn't be making this joke at his expense. Anyways, the story goes that a friend of his, upon hearing about his accident, commented "Hey bro, you shouldn't try to do that. Only God can change your rib for a partner!" I haven't stopped laughing.

Wishing all a Happy Valentine. May the Lover of our Soul be our Source of Love and Inspiration to Love.

The Way, the Truth and the Life

I've been studying, studying and studying. There are side effects. I can't help but start imagining that St Peter would at the Golden Gate, and start testing me on how much I've studied. Some examples of this would be whether I was a 'Calvin' follower or do I adopt the Arminist's position; question me on my denomination (!), how much I remember from the Old Testament course or how much I scored on the horrible Christian Thought and Culture exam! No seriously, I wonder if I'm the only one who imagine that God grants us entrance to Heaven based on what we believe (note, not eternal life, nor based on why we believe). A matter of whether I got my theology right. I guess perhaps it also has to do with my personal disposition in wanting to know, believe and do what is 'right'. As if that's all that matters. It's as if to say, 'Lord, if I get it right, You must let me in'. Well, needless to say, this 'idea' itself is based on pretty bad theology and a pathetic understanding on the unconditional love and abundant grace of God. Nevertheless I do believe in pursuing truth ... that's why am spending this time in my life (and so much money!) to seek truth, and also because I desire to learn the discipline of thinking.

One reason why I try to grapple through these different issues is because I've been pretty confused about some of them. I've since found out that there are a lot of historical background to the development of diverse thoughts, ideas and even doctrines, as the church responded to the changing times. Being open to these various ideas have its consequences has led me to re-evaluate many of my own beliefs. While I do want to do this, it is also very painful. I'm not saying that I've only started to have these questions since coming to Regent, but in fact they were probably what prompted me to come here. Well, there are a lot of people here in the same frame of mind, and some admit it quite readily. It's a safe place to do 'test' our faith ... together. I guess I'm no longer satisfied to be told what to believe and that tend to happen a lot in churches, especially back home, if I may say so. Generally we're not encouraged to think and tend to be pretty shielded from all the 'wrong' theology. Partly we are also too lazy to think; rather be spoon-fed or told to 'just believe'. I suppose that's not good enough for me. Not anymore. Having said that, I'd be the first to admit that I am and can be persuaded by many factors, and I'm afraid it's not reason based on Scripture alone either. Anything ranging from emotional convictions, persuasiveness and sad to say, charisma of a speaker, logical arguments, etc.

Besides wanting to know what I should believe in, I also struggle to reconcile what I believe with practice and reality. Yes, I may confess that Christ is Lord of all the earth and that He is in control. But often reality seem to say otherwise. Am I fooling myself? Sure it's easy for me to confess that Jesus is Lord of my life ... but I know better than anyone, how often that fails to be lived out in my life. And for this, I can't even fool myself nor those around me. The disparity between my confessional belief and reality bothers me. Yes, I find it very troubling, at times to the point of despair. I know we're living between the tension of the already and not-yet, and tension is definitely the right word. Thus while the kingdom of God has already come, both in the world and in my life, it has not fully come and will only perfectly come when He returns. We have to live with both realities. Faulty doctrines and practices mostly arise out of an over-emphasis on either reality.

In the midst of these struggles, the Lord reminded me of one crucial fact - He is the Truth, the Way and the Life. I am first and foremost called to believe in the person of Jesus Christ, who is the Truth. Then He led me to the Cross. It's like as if He knew how concrete I needed things to be, and brought me to the Cross by inviting me to the Lord's Table, to partake of the bread and the wine. As I partook of the elements, the experience penetrated right through all these ideas that have been building up like cobwebs in my mind, as it involved all my five senses. It was here that I knelt and experienced His love profoundly amidst my confusion. I could not help but once again confessed Him as my Lord and Saviour. As if that's not enough, I took Communion twice that weekend. He also gave me friends whom I could voiced my doubts without fear of what they'll think of me or how it'll 'influence' them. Again, it's blood and flesh, with eyes to see, ears to listen, arms to hold me and mouths who could utter prayer on my behalf. I admit I don't know how the whole salvation thing will work out, I may never figure out exactly how church works, or ever fully comprehend the interplay between God's sovereignty and man's free will ... but this I always know - Jesus loves me this I know, for the Bible tells me so. And it's this knowledge that enables me to keep praying:
Our Father in Heaven,
Hallowed be Your Name.
Your kingdom come,
Your will be done.
Give us this day our daily bread
And forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors.
And do not lead us into temptation
But deliver us from evil (the evil one).
For Yours is the kingdom, the power and the glory, forever.
Amen.

Does this mean I will stop seeking to find out more and study more to discover the truth? Definitely not. In fact I am completely free to seek understanding of different truths precisely because I know the Truth; more importantly, because the Truth knows and loves me.

Spiritual World Tour

Had a packed and very fruitful weekend, beginning with a Vocational Discernment Conference, held over Thursday (after a full day of class) and Friday evenings and whole day Saturday. Found it very helpful and enjoyed myself immensely, although it was a little tiring. Between the 2 conference facilitators, they have a wealth of experience to share - both are over the age of 60 with more than 5 careers each! The different career tools are very useful for helping others (and myself?) discern their calling.

Then it was followed by an overnight prayer meeting to Pray for the World in College, on Saturday night (not unlike a whole day's work, from 9:00pm - 5:30am!) I found it to be a tremendously spiritually uplifting time. It was very well done and lots of hard work put in preparing for this. The students were very creative in encouraging people to be participative and engaging in prayer. Just to give you an idea, we started the evening focusing on confession and repentance led by one of the students. Part of that session included writing down our areas of struggle in a small piece of paper, and then moving to the center of the chapel, to nail it to a wooden cross – yes, hammers and nails were provided for that. It was a powerful reflection firstly that our sins was what held Him on the cross. We were then reminded that these are burdens that we were never meant to carry on our own shoulders in the first place. That sure set us on the right tone, and was definitely the right place to start – at the foot of the Cross!

We then went on to pray for different continents, then as the night went on, different rooms were assigned for praying for specific nations for 30 minutes slots. Many of the different prayer stations really worked hard to prepare and tried to make it a wholistic prayer experience that involved all your 5 senses! From Powerpoint presentations, maps, flags, music, art and craft items, costumes & clothing, and even food & drinks! There’s nothing like hearing from all these people who are either from those countries or have links to those countries (like worked or lived there before), to listen to their stories and burdens… and not just reading statistics or static news items and trying to pray for them. Indeed it was a spiritual world tour. Something a place like Regent would be able to pull off, with its sizable body of international students. Looking forward to next weekend’s Taste of the World event … it’ll be a cultural and gastronomical world tour!

Got Tagged

Something light.

The Game of Four

Four jobs you've had in your life:
Waiting staff in a Malaysian restaurant in London; Legal Assistant; Housekeeping; Assistant to the Summer Program Administrator in Regent College. (I really don't consider being a pastor as a job!)

Four movies you could watch over and over:
Notting Hill; Sound of Music; Matrix; Pretty Woman

Four places you've lived:
Taman Tun in KL; Hampstead in London; Upper Bukit Timah Road in Singapore; Vancouver.

Four TV shows you love to watch:
EPL matches; F1 races; Designer Guys; I Love Lucy . (As you can see I'm not big on watching TV!)

Four places you've been on vacation:
North & South Island, New Zealand; Beijing; London; Paris.

Four websites you visit daily:
Hotmail, Blogger, College Moodle Site, Google.com.

Four of your favorite foods:
Chocolate; Cream Cheesecake; Pasta; Hard Rock Cafe Cobb Salad.

Four places you'd rather be:
At home, Grand Canyon, Niagara Falls, Israel.

Four albums you can't live without:
David Tao's David Tao; Secret Garden's Dreamcatcher, Michal Buble's Come Fly With Me; Elton John's Love Songs. (Not much of a CD collector. If asked about four books I can't live without, that would be much harder to answer!)

Next four tagged: Irene, Pat, Andrew, Brendan.