A personal God (Ever wondered who God is? What does He look like?)

A personal God (Ever wondered who God is? What does He look like?) Take a look at creation.
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I was once a professor at Britain's largest university, and I held various degrees and academic distinctions. in many ways, i was quite sophisticated - intellectually. But I do not feel in any way intellectually inferior to say I believe the Bible's record of creation.

Prior to believing the Bible, I studied may other sources that attempted to explain man's origin, but I found them unsatisfying. In many cases, they contradicted one another. I then turned to study the Bible - not as a believer but as a professional philosopher.

I thought to myself, At least it can't be any sillier than some of the other things I've heard! To my astonishment, I discovered that the Bible had the answer.

In Genesis, we read a short, simple statement. It begins, "The LORD God" - that is , "Jehovah God" - God's personal name. This term tells us that a personal God formed a personal man for personal fellowship.

The LORD God formed (molded) man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and man became a living being (soul). - Genesis 2:7.

Here we see the union of God's divine, eternal breath from above with the body of clay from beneath, molded by the hands of the Creator. The union of spirit from above and clay from beneath produced a living human personality - one that can have fellowship with the living, personal God.

- Derek Prince.

Say NO to shark fin products (exotic food restaurants)

Take the No Shark Fin Pledge

Help stop needless cruelty and save endangered species: Say NO to shark fin products.

Each year, millions of sharks are hunted, their fins sliced off, and then thrown back into the ocean -- dead or dying. "Finning" is done to make dishes such as shark fin soup, which may be served by Chinese restaurants and during Lunar New Year celebrations, weddings, and other celebratory events.

Consuming shark fin soup is cruel and unnecessary. And not only does shark fin have little taste, it can contain high levels of mercury.

Most fins for soup are obtained by the brutal practice of “finning,” which is carried out in all the world’s oceans. Sharks are caught and hauled out of the water. Their fins and sometimes their tails are sliced off, and the fish are thrown back into the ocean. Many of them are still alive. They cannot swim without fins, so they helplessly sink into the water to the ocean bottom, to die slowly or be eaten by predators. It is estimated that 73 million sharks are killed each year in this fashion.

Sharks are apex predators, situated at the top of the food chain. When they disappear, the prey they would have eaten become more numerous. The species these secondary predators eat are then hard hit; it has been observed that populations of such tertiary prey species as scallops, clams, and spiny lobsters were ravaged after the numbers of local sharks diminished drastically. This is the situation from the culinary consumer’s point of view. From the marine biologist’s point of view it is a grim picture of a possible ecological collapse. One thing has been learned from similar situations: there will be a domino effect but it is not easy to predict what will fall.

Is shark fin soup a part of your Lunar New Year celebration?

If shark fin soup is a part of your Lunar New Year/ wedding/ engagement/ Full Moon celebrations, I ask you to consider re-thinking that choice. The sad truth is, shark populations are dwindling and the process for extracting fins is cruel and painful.

Please re-think this tradition and pledge NOT to eat shark fin soup this year. »

Shark fin soup is produced by hunting and catching sharks, slicing off their fins and throwing the bodies back into the water. These tortured sharks will die a slow, painful death underwater just so their fins can be added to a traditional soup. It's simply not worth it.

Tens of millions of sharks are killed every year to meet the demand for shark fin soup, a terrible blow to the many species of which are already threatened with extinction.

Celebrations should not be tied to cruelty and the degradation of our oceans. Please pledge not to eat shark fin soup this year!

National Geographic bird ash mother wings protect chicks christmas

An article in National Geographic several years ago provided an interesting picture of God's wings. After a forest fire in Yellowstone National Park, forest rangers began their trek up a mountain to assess the inferno's damage.

At the base of a tree, one ranger found a bird literally petrified in ashes. Dismayed by the strange sight, the ranger knocked the bird over with a stick.

To his amazement, three tiny chicks scurried from under their dead mother's wings. The loving mother, sensing the impending disaster, had carried her chicks to the base of the tree and gathered them under her wings.

She could have flown to safety but had refused to abandon her babies. The blaze had descended upon her, scorching her small body, but the mother remained steadfast, willing to die so those under the cover of her wings would live.

God's love is like that. God defined His unconditional and relentless love for us when He sent His only Son, Jesus Christ, to earth as a baby. And Jesus said, "Yes!" What an amazing gift!

The love of God for you and for me compelled Jesus Christ to willingly exchange a throne for a manger, divinity for humanity and Heaven for Earth. God's love changes everything and everyone it touches. It protects and breathes life and purpose into every minute of every day.

God's love is a gift beyond measure that surrounds us and covers us when the fire of life rains down. It is God's love and the very reason for the season we call Christmas - or it should be. I know many of you are experiencing those "fires" of life this year. No job and no prospect of one.

Someone you love is very ill or maybe you are the one battling to survive each day. A rebellious child has broken your heart. A secret addiction is slowly destroying your life. Your spouse packed his bags and walked out the front door because he no longer wants to be married.

It is hard to celebrate anything in the midst of such darkness.

I have great news for you, friend. You can celebrate Jesus. Do not believe the lies of the enemy when he tells you that your God has forsaken you. God is with you - Emmanuel.

God understands your fear and loneliness. He endured the cross, completely and absolutely alone because He loves you and because no one can take your place in the Father's heart. No matter where this Christmas Eve finds you - you can celebrate Jesus. Let's Pray

Father, I celebrate You and the love You so freely offer. I may not understand some of the things happening in my life right now but I choose to trust You with each one. My faith is small, Lord. Give me Your strength for each step and help me to remember that You are with me. Lord, today I celebrate Your birth. Thank You for the gift of life and love I find in knowing You. My Christmas gift to You is everything I am, everything I have, everything I hope to be.

In Jesus' name, Amen.

Source: Girlfriends in God

December 24, 2010 And Jesus Said "Yes" Mary Southerland Today's TruthPsalm 91:4 "He will cover you with his feathers, and under his wings you will find refuge."

Iceland volcano eruption March 2010 - time-lapes of new lava superb youtube video

Iceland volcano eruption March 2010 - time-lapes of new lava superb youtube video

Do yo remember of a great volcano eruption earlier this year in March/ April?

If you're living in Malaysia, most likely you won't remember it. But if you do remember it, may I salute you here... I've found this superb video in the youtube, showcasting the Iceland volcano eruption March 2010 - time-lapes of new lava. What makes the video so wonderfully beautiful, is because it was taken at night, so you can actually see all the fumes in red and yellow.

It's just beautiful. I mean, the situation was horrifying, but the sight of it, is beautiful. And to make it even nicer, it was taken just before sun rise! haha... now I'm sounding as if I'm promoting this Iceland volcano eruption March 2010 - time-lapes of new lava , of which I'm not.

Have a nice day! ;-)

You Can Recycle Plastic Bottle Caps (DIY- do it yourself)

You Can Recycle Plastic Bottle Caps (DIY- do it yourself)

*very creative and practical tip.

When you do not have a container, you can put your biscuits, cookies and snacks air-tight in plastic bags. Instead of tying up the plastic bag, you can use this ingenious way to keep the bag air-tight.

1. Clean and dry the disposable plastic bottle.

2. Then, cut out the neck of the disposable bottle

3. Put biscuits, cookies or snacks in plastic bag and insert the plastic bag through the neck of the bottle, then tighten the cap.

How to plant / grow orchids at home/garden

Today I'm going to talk abit about my little gardening venture. Some time ago, a dear sister of mine gave me 5 little pots of beautiful orchids, flowering, blossoming. Forgive my english errors. Anyway, ever since I took hold of the orchids, the flowering all stopped. Infact the orchids look like shrivelling each day.

How to plant or grow orchids in your garden or home?

I made sure I provided little shady sun light, enough water.. but still the condition was bad. I called my fren and she said, "You didn't talk to the orchids enough."

Oh ya? Believe it or not, I was desperate enough to talk to the orchids daily. When they did not respond to my coax.. i decided to cek for more info on orchid planting.

Eventually I found another key to sustainable living for orchids - they need light, water and air!!! Not just normal air, air with GOOD VENTILATION! Oh.. suddenly all my memories of orchids gathered and made sense to me - that's why people HANG their orchids! Because they needed ventilation!

Well, supposing this is the key I missed, we shall see my orchids producing flowers soon. Hmmm.. as you can see in the picture, this is day one. I'll keep you updated when I see the first flower.

Till then, gardening is fun!

Venus Jupiter Universe Halley's Comet return

Mark your calendar now if you want to see the next celestial convergence of Venus, Jupiter, and the moon. On November 18m 2052, you'll be able to peer through the evening darkness as those solar system neighbours "gather" in a tiny area of the sky. That remarkable juxtaposition of reflective spheres last sparkled the night sky on December 1, 2008, and it will happen again 4 decades from now.

This predictability, as well as things such as eclipses and the return of Halley's Comet (July 28, 2061), prove the orderliness of the universe. If no fixed set of laws governed the movement of eerything in the universe, such predictions could not be made.

Are these set rules more than random standards? Can we see God's hand in these celestial certainties? Look at Jeremiah 33:25-26. God has in view the covenantal relationship between Himself and His people, and He uses a scientific fact in the analogy. In effect, God says that His fixed universal laws, "the ordinances of heaven and earth," have the same certainty as His promises to His covenant people.

God's laws have governed the universe since its creation - and continue to do so with astounding predictability. So mark your calendar, and be amazed by God's unchanging control.

-Dave Branon

A prayer: Dear Lord, I marvel at the wonders of Your creation. You are such a great and awesome God who does not change. As I place my life in Your hands, I will trust You to be faithful. Amen.

The wonders of creation reveal God at work.

World shame - animals, are sometimes, kinder than the so-called higher-human.

Denmark is a big shame.The sea is stained in red and in the meanwhile it's not because of the climate effects of nature.

It's because of the cruelty that the human beings (civilised human) kill hundreds of the famous and intelligent Calderon dolphins.
This happens every year in Feroe iland in Denmark . In this slaughter the main participants are young teens.WHY?To show that they are adults and mature.... BULLLLsh

In this big celebration, nothing is missing for the fun. Everyone is participating in one way or the other, killing or looking at the cruelty “supporting like a spectator”

Is it necessary to mention that the dolphin calderon, like all the other species of dolphins, it’s near instinction and they get near men to play and interact. In a way of PURE friendship

They don’t die instantly; they are cut 1, 2 or 3 times with thick hocks. And at that time the dolphins produce a grim extremely compatible with the cry of a new born child.

But he suffers and there’s no compassion till this sweet being slowly dies in its own blood

Its enough!We will send this mail until this email arrives in any association defending the animals, we won’t only read. That would make us accomplices, viewers.

Enjoy Canopy Walkway / Bukit FRIM (climb hill adventure)

How to enjoy or have a fun time together!

Life have changed ever since we graduated and embarked on a new journey in our life - pursuing a career. Stress, workload... tolerance.. communication and miscommunication have been treading on us non-stop - coz both of us work the same long hours.

Finally - a holiday walks in our way - and there we went...

on a day of relaxing.. exercise..

conquering...

"socializing"...

n replacing the calories... ha ha..

Near death experience trip to mag-Aso falls on Bohol island - Part 3

Continued from previous post...
This is the last picture I took. More than an hour later and the falls were still at flood stage. We left on the last bus back to the city. I don't know if those guys made it out alive.
If anyone knows what happened, please let me know.
Details: Mag-Aso falls, Bohol, Philippines. Flash-flood, June 30, 2009.

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Update 7/4/09 - Bad news. We heard the bodies of both guys were found today. I'll post more if/ when I hear more.

update 7/9/09 - Bohol news did finally report this. I've received maybe 40 emails from locals - some who knew the guys. The bodies were discovered more than 5km downstream. The funerals were a few days ago.

Near death experience trip to mag-Aso falls on Bohol island- Part 2

Continued from previous post....

This picture was taken perhaps thirty (30) seconds later.
Another view down-stream. That's the same picnic table.

Water was still rising fast.

A view of the falls, as they now look. Those two guys were still back there. No one saw them being swept away, so maybe they're still alive.

The water was full of bamboo, mud and etcetra. It's still surging, very loud. At this point, there were a lot of people waiting to see if those guys were ok.

Were these guys ok?

Stay tuned...

Near death experience trip to mag-Aso falls on Bohol island

A very frightening experience from a Philippine visitor - i got this from email. Learn from others' experience.
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Near-death experience on trip to Mag-Aso falls on the island of Bohol. Here are the falls. We had just gotten there. It had been raining, but stopped.




The water collects in a pool. It's not deep. There's a bamboo raft.

These guys were playing and swimming on the raft.

Getting closer to the falls...There is some space behind the falls. The two guys went back there.


This is the view down-stream. It's very shallow. Notice the picnic table. This is the same table shown later.

Suddenly, it got very loud. Water came gushing out from nowhere. The two guys had nowhere to go. I took this picture before I realized what was happening.

Stay tuned.. for more what happened next....

Flash flood waterfall gush dangerous can kill people

Dear friends out there... this is the rainy season. Pls don't go to waterfalls, and mount climbing - there is danger out there. We'll never know.

Adventure is fun, outdoor activities are my favourites.

But there is a season for everything.

Think twice, then think thrice, if you plan for any outdoor activity between November to January.

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IPOH: Three Tunku Abdul Rahman University (Utar) students are missing and feared to have drowned after they were swept away at the waterfalls at Batu Berangkai picnic area in Kampar about 5.30pm Sunday.
The missing are James Khor Wan Kai, 20, from Penang, Yew Ghin Chnieh, 20, from Penang and Yew Shy Gin, 19, from Kedah, said Datuk Dr Mah Hang Soon State Health, Local Government, Consumer, Environment, Transport and Non-Islamic Affairs Committee head.
Dr Mah said he had spoken to a fourth student who told him that the three boys and a girl had gone to the waterfalls at about 5pm. The three missing went into the water first.
The fourth student, a male, was about to enter the water when a strong gush of water tumbled him in. As he struggled to scramble out, he suffered cuts and bruises.

This is a picture of flash flood waterfall gushing suddenly at Bohol, Philippines.

Fortunately, a Kampar resident rushed over, pulled him out and took him to the Kampar police station to lodge a report.
According to Dr Mah, the 22-year-old second year Accountancy student from Kuala Lumpur declined to be named and did not wish to speak to reporters.

Police alerted the search and rescue team at 5.45pm.
At 10pm, search and rescue efforts were still going on with the help of some local residents.

Anne Graham (Billy's daughter) and Hurricane Katrina

Billy Graham 's daughter was interviewed on the Early Show and Jane Clayson asked her 'How could God let something like this happen?' (regarding Hurricane Katrina )..

Anne Graham gave an extremely profound and insightful response.

She said, 'I believe God is deeply saddened by this, just as we are, but for years we've been telling God to get out of our schools, to get out of our government and to get out of our lives. And being the gentleman He is, I believe He has calmly backed out. How can we expect God to give us His blessing and His protection if we demand He leave us alone?'

Animal, Human and Earth.

I saw this poster in one of the veterinary clinic.

While I don't truly agree with it, but I really find it interesting and funny! =)

Animals are citizens of God's kingdom - that's right.

Humans are apprentices of the devil - well, maybe not 100%... 70% would be more accurate.

Haha. What say you?

Love God's creation.

I was reading a beautiful (but complicated it seems, :P) entitled Celebration of Discipline by Richard Foster. Still reading, but I stumbled across this passage, which I totally agreed upon, and very much love to share. Here goes…

…And so the first step in the study of nature is reverent observation (agree!)… From Alp to insect, anything will do, provided that your attitude be right (agree!!)…Of this much we can be sure: if we love the creation, we will learn from it, In The Brothers Karamazov Dostoevski counsels,

“Love all God’s creation, the whole and every grain of sand in it. Love every leaf, every ray of God’s light. Love the animals, love the plants, love everything. If you love everything, you will perceive the divine mystery in things. Once you perceive it, you will begin to comprehend it better every day.”

I remembered seeing two stray puppies running around the streets one day and how I cracked my brain, trying to figure what could I do to rehome them. Somebody told me, “I don’t understand you, why can’t you be like others? You want to be laughed at? You’re going to be a laughing stock. When you’re old are you going to live with 70 dogs in your house? How will people look at you?”

My question was, why can’t she see things through my eyes? Why must she see things through the judgemental, cruel society’s eyes?

All I know is, I’m not going to live life ordinary. It’s not going to be “just like others”.

I am myself.

facts on bottled water - save the earth today, do it.

Do you use bottled waters? How often? Do you love the planet earth? Ever thought of living peacefully on earth with your grandchildren? peace? green?ever thought of doing your part in keepin it green? What should you ditch? Why is bottled water a big disaster to Earth? Learn the facts.

TODAY.

Kanching waterfall half-day outing

yep yep yep.. finally the touch of waterfalls.. after.. how long - the last one i had was at kuala terengganu.. the highest waterfall in the whole south east asia.. wat's the name?Cemerung waterfall... it was a year n a half ago..

so yesterday morning me and a few of my old smkb friends went Kanching waterfall, lazy to elaborate the details. click here.. thanks to beck - he have elaborated the whole details and furnished them with some real nice pix. so fast n efficient! =)

so after the waterfall - everyone was so fatigue.. i could see some blushes in kk n beck's faces - guess sun burn guar.. and everyone's eyes were just soOOOooooOOOoooo lazy. And not to mention my legs.. aw.. they sored... although the climb to the waterfalls was just minutes (or at least it felt like minutes), and it's not really a climb.. something like climbing stairs.. unlike a real climb like sg lembing or FRIM, still... i could imagine the high amount of lactic acid accumulating in my quadriceps. ouch! I guess my walk to Mahen's hse tat morn did not amount to any warm up at all.

Thank God.. though i woke up this morn still feeling all the lactic acid and my head was throbbing.. but things seemed to turn out fine once I reached my clinic. Yep.

Why do I choose to help Siao Guai Guai?

Some people argued that it was unreasonable to rescue Siao Guai Guai. "After all, he's a stray, why can't you let the dog catcher catch him? Die die la.." or "There are thousands more dogs on the street go save them all la.." "He's not a pure breed.. just a mongrel.."

He's a stray, yes. Mongrel, yes. So? FAVOURITISM is BAD. Downgrading. Shall you fall sick one day, go to a hospital, at the counter you heard the people around you criticizing, "Hey... you're just an XX race.. no need treatment one la.. if you're AA race only you come to this hospital ma.." What would you wish the dr to say? Do you wish him to say the same too? Do you want him to look at the colour of your skin, or do you wish him to treat you as a human being with a life?

So do I. I see dogs as lives. I don't look at their hair coat. I don't look at their breed, whoever they belong to, beautiful or ugly, only one thing mattered - their life.

Watching him caught by the dog catcher and let him die in the compound? I won't allow that to happen if I have the capacity to. I don't have to explain why I wanted so much to help him. "Why don't you go rescue all the dogs on the street? There are thousands of them.. go rescue la." If I have the capacity to rescue all the dogs on the streets, that's what I'm going to do.

My friend, does God ever need to explain to you why did he choose to bring you the gift of salvation? There are millions more of unsaved souls in the world.. why did he choose you? I'm sure before you received his gift of salvation, you would have rejected him a few or many times. But why did he STILL offer you that gift??

You might as well say, "Why save that one person? Go save the entire world la.. go save the millions or billions la.." That is exactly what God wanted to do, if he has the capacity. But because of his mercy and grace, he gave us men, the right to choose. To choose to accept or reject his gift of salvation. But why did God STILL choose you?? Do you think you're special? Before he chose you, you're a nobody, nothing special.

It is only by his grace that he gave you the gift of salvation - and it is your choice whether you want to accept it or not. God can urge you, but he'll never force you.
It is by the grace which God gave me that I have decided to rehome Siao Guai Guai. I do not have to give any reason for that.

It is all about grace and mercy.