Have you stood with your feet on the sand in the sea? Every time a wave sweeps in, an inch of sand slides away from under your feet, and you sink.

Though it may feel as though you’re standing on flighty sand, you’re really standing on a rock that could never in a million years slip off from under your feet.

So Saul returned from pursuing after David and went against the Philistines. Therefore that place was called the Rock of Escape.

- 1 Samuel 23:28

One day, I was about to leave the fiancé to take a 4-hour bus ride home, and I was very sad. As sad as eeyore on a dark and rainy day.

All of a sudden, the fiancé spotted a funny-looking tree. It looks like a papaya tree but it is not a papaya tree.
And its lower branches have fallen off, just like how a papaya tree’s lower branches would when it’s big.

But where the branches have fallen off, are left marks on the tree truck that look like big fat lips.
The fiancé exclaimed, that tree look like it’s been kissed.

I looked up and he’s right. The tree does look very funny.

My eyes lit up and I couldn’t help smiling. And I stepped into the bus with a silly grin on my face, as I kept thinking of the funniness of the silly smothered-in-kisses tree.

What do you think about that brings hope and joy to any day?

“Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things.” – Philippians 4:8

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(Sunrise over Mount Kinabalu, Malaysia by dtra@flickr)

Our God comes; he does not keep silence;
before him is a devouring fire,
around him a mighty tempest.
He calls to the heavens above
and to the earth, that he may judge his people:
“Gather to me my faithful ones,
who made a covenant with me by sacrifice!”
The heavens declare his righteousness,
for God himself is judge!

There isn’t any particular viewpoint that I feel a need to air because what needs to be said have been clearly iterated by my leaders whom I trust. I can only reiterate them – that the constitutional right for Malaysians to practice their faith must be upheld, that torching any places of worship is condemnable, and that Allah is an Arabic word which means God.

With these recent attacks, Christians should pray as Christians always should have prayed, and Christians can be thankful that more Malaysian Christians are praying these days.

Should you wish to clear any confusion in your mind on who the Christian Allah is and who He is not, you can read about Him in English, Chinese, Tamil, Malay, and Arabic.

Be warned: the information contained in those links are for non-Muslims only according to the laws of Malaysia (not according to the laws of God).

As I walked through the green green field, all of a sudden, I came upon another patch of wildflowers! A different kind, this time. These were yellow when the earlier ones were white.

Again, my soul was crushed because these flowers are just too… perfect. Too… beautiful.

What does it mean? How can these flowers be?

Baby Jesus was born and laid in a manger because there was no room for them at the inn. Isn’t that cute? Instead of being born in a hospital or a hotel room, he was probably surrounded by horses and chickens and cute little lambs that look like cotton balls with legs.

Did the animals poke their noses at him to sniff, I wonder? I would have wanted to know what a baby smelt like.

A friend who reads this blog ( Hi!!!) told me she did not permit anyone to carry her daughter from the time of her birth until she was 2 years old to avoid germs. Which led me to think – I wonder what kind of germs there are in a manger. Were there animal viruses similar to Bird Flu virus and H1N1 virus? Did Joseph and Mary not  know that there are germs? Would you have permitted your newborn baby to be laid in a manger? No?

It is hard to fathom then, just how lowly an all powerful and all sovereign God permitted His Beloved Son to go – not only to go all the way down to earth to be born as a human being but to also live through such humble circumstances. All because people have sinned against Him and need a savior.

As you celebrate Christmas, may you remember how little your God was willing to have, and enjoy what He came for – fellowship with us.

Merry Christmas!

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I looked out the window and saw the dead tree, then I looked at the tree next to it which is still lush and green. For the first time, I noticed a couple of black birds on this tree.

I enjoy observing the animals in our garden so I stood by the window to observe them for a while. One black bird was perched on a high branch and peering downwards, towards the left, then towards the right, as what we would do if we were about to cross a road. Perhaps this black bird was looking out for the dogs before it attempts to hop up and spread its wings. Another black bird was hopping from branch to branch around the tree. It was eagerly turning its head to search for the next available steady branch. The tree is beautifully lush with deep green leaves.

In that moment, I thought how nice to be a tree like that, one can just lift up one’s arms (branches) and one will be able to provide a place for these happy birds. But I looked at the dead tree next to it and realized that to be a tree like this, one needs to be planted at the right place where the soil is fertile, the sun is shining and the water is flowing freely underground.

“He is like a tree planted by streams of water that yields its fruit in its season, and its leaf does not wither. In all that he does, he prospers.”
- - Psalm 1:3

One day, I decided that I did not want to do the Piano anymore. Little did I know that this easy decision would bring to the surface the difference between my parents’ child-rearing beliefs. Mum would nag, scold and whack with a rattan to get me to move my butt onto the piano bench, stick my fingers onto the keys and strike out the chords for Piano Sonata in A minor, D. 537 by Franz Schubert. Dad would persuade, cajole, entice and reward.

Eventually, both ways failed at a great cost. It would be the first time I heard my parents argue. Dad later confessed that the rift between him and Mum caused him to be so heartbroken that he couldn’t focus when he was at work. My brother hated seeing that so much that he gave me a well-deserved slap. Things got better, thankfully, though I got my way and never played the piano again

Mum always said that some day, I will regret my choice. :D

Anyway, I brought this up because I was thinking of obedience-training my dogs. As guard dogs, Dino and Charise need to obey at the instance of the command. It is not “obey by the third warning,” or “obey by the count of ten”. It is “Obey. NOW!”

It has always been easy with Dino who loves to obey with his whole heart. Ask him to sit? Oooh what a delightful task. Ask him to lie down? There’s nothing else he would rather do. Ask him to come over? What took you so long to ask? Dino is a joy of a dog.

Charise who is extraordinarily carefree have needed some extra-training towards submission and on the surface, it seems as though we’ve broken through. These days when you ask her to sit?

She sits with her big blinking eyes portraying her carefree innocence. But, deep down, I know that the training is not complete. I know that she obeys only because she has judged that the reward for obedience (e.g. a walk) is worth the few seconds of letting her butt touch the floor.

When Charise knows there isn’t any reward other a praise, as carefree as the wind, Charise will run. Never mind that you’re screaming “Charise! Charise! CHARISSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS!”  with all your might. She’ll be back when she’ll be back.

It is the same problem my parents had when trying to get me to play the piano. The child’s heart was not there so even if there was momentary, surface obedience caused by spanking or praise, in time, as carefree as the wind, she will run to play with other toys. And she’ll be back when her heart for piano lessons have grown.

Does that mean all is lost until then? What if her heart for piano lessons never grow? Of course not all is lost. There is always wisdom we can learn. For parenting, there are two books that comes highly recommended – Shepherding a Child’s Heart and Instructing a Child’s Heart by Tedd Tripp

For Charise the DOG, well, I’m stumped. If you have any advice, share and share alike. ;)

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It turned out to be a really good course that had been put together by a psychologist, a psychiatrist and a few pastors who had cared for many orphans and widows. It was taught by a husband and wife couple, both of whom had experienced great loss in their own lives.

During the course, the teacher told us about an incident he witnessed at a funeral. When the last nail was driven into the coffin, the widow ran forward to hug the coffin and speak to her late husband. However, her sisters pulled her back. They said, “It’s okay, you will be okay. Don’t get too emotional, you will scare the children.”

Although the sisters meant well, the teacher said that those who are broken-hearted need the space to complete their “unfinished business” with the deceased. If they have last words to say to the deceased, let them say for as long as they want, otherwise, they may carry a bitter baggage in their hearts for a long time.

Back home, I thought of Ching Ming, an All Souls Day that is celebrated by pagan Chinese. One of the customary rite on this day is the burning of gifts made of paper for the deceased. The Chinese hope that these gifts would transform into the real thing upon being burnt, and be posted and delivered to the deceased wherever his soul may be.

I wonder if this custom could have started a long time ago because someone was looking for a way to deal with “unfinished business.” The paper gifts take the place of last words that should have been said but were pent up and stifled.

Words like,

“I’m sorry father, for making you feel ashamed that we were poor. You were just a hawker. You gave everything that you earned to us, yet I demanded more and rejected you when you couldn’t buy the shoes that I wanted. Here is untold wealth, father, for you.”

“Mama, you would bang your pots and pans in the kitchen to cook dinner every evening but I never made the time to sit with you and enjoy your food. I always had a date to go to. But now you are gone and all I want is to eat at the same table with you.”

“We used to take a family holiday every year. You would drive your old junk car and we would sleep in there contently, waking up only when we’ve reached Cameron. Why did you go Papa? You’ve left us in the lurch. Who will care for us now? Who will drive us for family holidays? How dare you leave us alone?!”

“Daddy, you gave up your life savings for me to be educated. I never had the chance to pay you back.”

It is never good to have unfinished business with our loved ones.

All images from Inju@flickr

Personally, I do feel concerned because there are times when lies are being spread and we don’t even know it. I don’t think bloggers are immune from falling into the trap of lying and I think, thinking citizens should make effort to learn how to discern if what they read is truth or fallacy. It is hard to admit that we may be fooled at times, but if you know the myriad of ways you can be fooled, you wouldn’t be all that surprised. Here are some ways that I’ve thought of that we could end up believing a lie.

• The article is published in a national newspaper and most of the pages of the paper is filled with proven news
• The article is published on a citizen’s blog and the blogger seem very distressed by what he claimed to have experienced
• The article is published on an opposition politician’s blog and the politician have a proven track record of sacrificing for the cause
• The article is published on the internet with supposed photographic evidence

There are more ways, of course. As I pondered over these things, how so many of us have been made into fools, I decided to search around and found this book, The Fallacy Detective: Thirty-Six Lessons on How to Recognize Bad Reasoning, which a lot of people have said is very good.

Unfortunately, the book is not available locally so all I could do is subscribe to the Free Newsletter. This would mark the first time in my life that I think a newsletter should be published more often. The things I have learned from the newsletter is valuable. They include the many ways people use to convince me of things such as propaganda techniques, basic fallacy, genetic fallacy, statistical fallacy and more. For example, I learned that a Transfer is a propaganda technique when someone tries to transfer good feelings about something else to himself. The advertisement below uses this technique, it makes you laugh so that you will begin to think that it is fun to go to the particular language school.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=KyJDeF2RHMw

If you were to buy this book, you will learn more that you can learn from the free newsletter. There are 50 pages in the book that’s dedicated to propaganda techniques alone. However, the free newsletter is still valuable as it stirs your thoughts at unexpected times as it arrives into your inbox.
Would you like to know what is the difference between a fact, an inference and an opinion?
Would you like to know what is a red herring, an ad hominem, a tu quoque, an appeal to authority, an appeal to people, strawman, exigency, argumentum ad populum, innuendo, assumptions, equivocation, loaded question, part-to-whole, whole-to-part, either-or, generalization, analogy, post-hoc-ergo-propter-hoc, proof-by-lack-of-evidence, bandwagon, exigency, repetition, snob appeal, appeal to tradition and appeal to hi-tech? Then get The Fallacy Detective.

We really ought to prepare our minds so that no one can take us for a ride. The newsletter from two weeks ago taught me what is the difference between a discussion, a disagreement, an argument and a fight and when is the appropriate time for them. I value the article very much.

The Fallacy Detective is written by two brothers, Nathaniel and Hans Bluedorn from the US. You can subscribe to the free Fallacy Detective newsletter here. I would also like to recommend Hans’ enjoyable Hi, I’m Kevin blog.

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