note to self #250706

• praise the Lord that God's word is powerful and brings about changes in others. on the other hand, it is easy to be complacent as a cn at some stage, i think i am on certain aspects (i.e. inconsistent passion and patience).
• since the past week, i've been feeling sleepy, and ended up sleeping, each time i get on a bus ride to and from workplace. i mustn't be sleeping enough lately. there are more to be done as well in term of house chores, can't complaint!
• i got an HD for my church history 1. whooaA.. awesome! i swear i will never again repeat it! it almost choked me the other day. i think i've found the explanation for the other day, needless to mention.
• lately, i crave sweet stuffs (actually any snacks, even though i'm full) after a meal, that's scary, it could lead to type 2 diabetes! i think my blood sugar is on high, no exercise as well, miserable winter..
• i hate to procrastinate, but at the moment, my schedule is not as fixed as i like to be. i feel like doing many things at once, but it turns out i am outdone by things, helplessly slow..
• [i had better move on, i think i'm held up again this time]

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new arrival

the wangsaputra's clan is increasing by one!

caleb was born on last friday night, one week after dad's and the same day as grandma's birthday. his name means brave and faithful, combined with the middle name -emmanual, it says, he's brave because God is with him.

caleb has an older sis, kezia, the daughter of andreas' sister. the day he was born, she muttered, "ma, ntar eca mo telpon ng-kim hanny". then again, "botol susu cici eca ntar di-sterile buat dede caleb ya!", mind you, this girl is only 2.5 years old!

as for grandpa (me dad), two days after, he won a lucky draw of a toilet closet from a friend's birthday party. a toilet closet! how wierd. he had never won anything before.

mom and bub are doing well. dad is too, i guess.

aunty is recovering from birthing 1o1! oh, i'm feeling selfish.

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tip of an iceberg (2)

i have to say, had the subject lasted a little longer, i would have falled in love with it! i know, such a big claim. throughout the seven meetings, the legacy left had always been a big question mark on the significant of the materials taught. mark and jennie baddeley were lovely, for their patience and interests in learning themselves and teaching the subject!

but i was convinced, surely though slowly, of the importance of history (church). first and foremost, as mentioned by the lecturers, history prevents us from suffering from an amnesia, knowing why you are what you are today. besides, when you don't understand much of history, you most probably will have a difficulty in understanding why church seems to side on particular standpoints than the other on certain issues. and since human being is limited to time and locality, history gives us perspectives on what issues that seem to be important at certain time and place in the history. in order words, it provides resources that allow you to break yourself up for a better end having come to an understanding and taking some considerations onboard when facing certain issues. these are good reasons to know a little/much of history.

apparently there's such thing as the perpendicular of possibilities of priorities placed toward in interpreting the Bible.

scripture ----------------- experience
! ignore this. ignore this. ignore*!
! ignore this. ignore this. ignore !
tradition -------------------- reason

i.e:
a charismatic would emphasis on experiences before the others,
a catholic on traditions,
a liberal on reasons,
an evangelical on the scripture itself.

this is barely scratching the surface, yet it's quite an eye opener! perhaps it's right to take time to ponder why (with/without us realising it) we seem to place certain emphasises than the scripture itself when it comes to forming our theology, although it's no doubt that the Holy Spirit Himself is guiding and giving the understanding. due to the limitations mentioned before, certain values are imminent in clouding our understanding as a consequence of one residing in a certain time and locality. such values influence our thinking of God.

* i hope you have an idea of how hard it is to create a perpendicular using this editor! after not-sure-how-many attempts already, i have to let it be per the above.

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tip of an iceberg

this is a past-due post. had the exam for church history 1 subject three weeks ago.

thought i skipped quite a chunk of history for my inability to digest what's on the plate. on the exam date, the first 20 seconds, i couldn't stop laughing intensely inside as soon as the exam paper was revealed. i have yet to find an explanation for this.

there were three to attempt out of twelve questions, quite generous, otherwise have no idea how to pass this subject. still forgetting bits and pieces and thinking about the coherency when trying to answer, exactly what i meant by temporal disorientation, yet to grasp of the big picture, before an attempt into the details.

chose these three:
1. what's scholasticm? comment on the implications of the teaching toward the way salvation is understood during the medieval period.
2. explain the significance of Justification by Faith OR Scripture Alone according to the Reformed theology.
3. describe the challenges posed by the Enlightment and Romanticism era, and the usual responses from people as a result of those views.

by all means, i was avoiding the chronological or major events type of questions, yes, you are very right indeed!

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wally reflector

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disjointed

• if shopping's an exam after all, surely i'd fail!
• andreas and jesslyn have a birthday today. God bless you, dudy dudes!
• lately, my breaky is a vegimite-on-toasts.an-apple.a-cup-of-tea combo. look forward to them each morning!
• my vegimite contains preservative 220! am so not happy with the least info available on the net re this little beasty that could tarnish the image of a good guy in disguise.

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my bare desk needs a bit more decoration, it's lifeless at work..

on my desk, no pics are tagged on the cubicle wall, only two things, one a dilbert comic strip[1], and the other, a postcard size of city bible forum upcoming list of talks. both are fancy, and somehow their co-existency has proved to be working itself out.

a colleague was looking into a reporting issue, so it was a while, but the two things mentioned caught his attention. he read on, first the comic strip, then the postcard size list.

"ask the bigger questions..[2] city bible forum.. "
"oh, do you know anything about it?"
"nope"
"yeah, it's a Bible talk every wednesday at the greenwood's bar."
"are you christian or catholic?"
"christian."
"where do you go to church?"
"the presbyterian church.. indonesian presbyterian church in kingsford."
"oh, my sister goes to the chinese presbyterian church in surry hills[3]."
"hmn, i think my current minister used to be pastoring that church."
"really? so that's why they are still looking for a minister.."
"do you go to church?"
"yeah, i go to the same one as doug's, the church of christ in ryde[4], still looking however.."
"where did you go usually?"
"i used to go to hillsong, but it's err.."
"too charismatic?[5]"
"err yeah, it lately becomes all about the money.."
"hmn.. why not try the st. andrew in the city?[6] there's a chinese congregation as well there.."
"yeah.. "

[carried on to look at the issue]

[1] I learnt of a quirky technique called the “wally reflector” from this comic strip. It’s not all good, but a bit of twist on it seems to be beneficial. I think I should scan and post it someday. It a ‘haha’ funny stuff. To understand in this context, put it this way, when a person is asking for some helps, get something back from them. It all sounds a bit negative, I know, but the point is that get them to help you to help them. It works, besides you could end up getting in contacts more with them, than just cleaning their ‘dirty laundry’ for them.
[2] The overall theme for the talks is “Do you feel life’s become a Trivial Pursuit? Ask the bigger questions.”
[3] I think om Joe used to pastor this church. Their surname is Theng.
[4] Doug is another colleague. Later on, I realized that the church is the one on kent rd. close to my residence. There are quite a few of cns here. My manager who is also an associate director is one. I sometimes am too afraid to find out more. It’s both encouraging and challenging.
[5] I did feel a bit stupid, off course they are. I should be listening more first.
[6] I can’t think of another church that would suit him best. He’s an Indo, but don’t speak the language, spent his childhood in hongkong.

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