The Hole in Our Gospel by Richard Stearns

This book is written by the President of World Vision U.S. about poverty and the reaction of the world's population towards this issue. Generally, the grand idea is that our faith is not just about believing but the concept of "faith and works". Very much similar to the teachings I have received as a Catholic, where we are being encouraged to put our faith to work. I appreciate the exhortation which Stearns gave about handling the issue of poverty. It is true that everyone is called by God to answer His call. And I am glad that he answered the call to be the President of World Vision U.S. where God is using him to reach out to the poor and hungry.

On the other hand, I was not used to the writing style, hence had a difficulty to finish reading the book. It took me a lot to try connect to the topics he was trying to connect to the readers. Hence, as much as the essence of the book is encouraging, I'd say I did not enjoy much reading it.

Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from Thomas Nelson Publishers as part of their BookSneeze.com book review bloggers program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission's 16 CFR, Part 255: "Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising."

Presents? Yeah, Presents...

Just a quickie: Would you cherish a gift more because it is more expensive? Or because it's from the person who cares for you?

I was browsing random blogs just now and here's a statement which brings me to the attention of the importance of presents...

"I’ll go find a decent and useful gift for that, let’s just hope I won’t be getting yet another WWJD plaque. Come on now, there’s nothing godly in being a cheapskate."

I received presents for various occasions throughout the years... and one of my cherished items is a pewter pin stated Jn 3:16. I am trying my best to not judging what kind of person who would state such things openly but it really caused me to think back of what gifts I give to people. I wonder if this person's friends would be hurt by statement as: "there's nothing godly in being a cheapskate". My impression on the statement is WWJD plaque as gift is a way of being cheapskate. Maybe I misunderstood the writer's opinion...

Then my next question is... "What kind of gifts is considered decent?" I used to love giving people gift cards with bible verses or bookmarks. So does that mean I am a cheapskate? NO. We evangelize to people around us in our own ways. God did not teach us to splurge and spend money not according to how much we earn. So my stand is it doesn't matter how much is the price of the present, but how much love was there when the giver chose the gifts.

So my friends who read my blog, even if you have that bit of hurtful feelings after reading it, remember to choose gifts with your heart and not with your brain inside the wallet/purse.

Love, as if never been hurt (사랑하라, 한번도 상처받지 않은 것처럼)

춤추라, 아무도 바라보고 있지 않은 것처럼

사랑하라, 한번도 상처받지 않은 것처럼

노래하라, 아무도 듣고 있지 않은 것처럼

일하라, 돈이 필요하지 않은 것처럼

살라,오늘이 마지막 날인 것처럼

~알프드 디 수자 ~

Translation into English:

Dance, as if nobody is watching you

Love, as if never been hurt

Sing, as if no one is listening

Work, like you do not need the money

Live, as if today is the last day

~Alfred D' Souza~

This is the title poem of the book I was given by a cherished friend, Kwon Ho-keun, in 2005 when I left GIST after my internship in Gwangju. I never found out what he meant until I used Google Translate tonight to finally get the poem translated. There are so many more to go... But these are quotes of famous people translated to Korean language. I am blessed to have met a friend who wants me to live my life well.

I hope he does well in his future undertakings too.

270th Post

I haven't been blogging... For I have too much on my mind which are too dark to share. For this I apologise to my readers.

This is the 270th Post since I started this blog. I will try my best to write more often. Hopefully soon I can achieve 300 entries..

May this new year 2011 brings new hope, new life, new love into your lives. God bless.

Christmas 2010: THE PERFECT GIFT

Christmas Production by SIB Likas. Interesting viewpoint of the story of Epiphany...

A Social Network Christmas

May you be prepared to receive the Child Jesus on Christmas. Amen.

Just Another 30 Days to 2011

It's been a LONG time again since my last post, and thousands of apologies to those who look forward to reading my rambles. Life's been UP and DOWN, as usual, though not as "dramatized" as it used to be. Thank God!

I have some plans for next year, but it is not the right time to disclose what exact plans are they, but it is definitely a step, or maybe steps, forward. I really hope my plans are according to His great plan for me. Now I'm taking things step-by-step, hoping that all will fall into the right places at the right time.

It is the 2nd week of my school holidays, as a teacher, but I'm still craving for a time of rest. It had been a whirlwind even before the school year ended two weeks ago. There were school graduation night, meetings for Protem Committee of Learning Center, minutes of meetings, various odds and ends to tie up before the school year ends (and I still have stuffs to do tomorrow at school!!!), planning for Youth Alpha "crash" sessions (to fit the schedule, due to bad planning!! :( my bad!), executing my steps to the life-changing plan in 2011, etc. In between I had movie outings, dinner outings... Umm... The whole October, I was outstation practically every weekend (I realized that I love my lazy weekends!!) for spiritual retreats. Come to think of it now, I wouldn't be able to go through all these without Him supporting me all the way. My God is awesome!

I've been missing daily masses (apologetically...) and I wish I can spend more time with Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament, at least when I attend daily mass. With the holiday season, and all the activities, it is definitely a challenge for me to drive to church for mass every evening. I have to make my list of priorities!!!

Well, food and movies have been a constant companion to me, as usual, and I have a new group of friends to eat with. Thank God for the companionship He provides me with. Sometimes I do miss hanging out alone. Crazy, but true. I guess I'm heading towards singlehood with a better perspective these days. Thank and praise God!! And yeah, I'm still learning to balance between quality time spent alone and quality time spent with friends... I am still swinging from one extreme to the other, like a pendulum. Haha.

One good thing that is going to happen is a paid vacation to Northern Vietnam with my mom this coming mid-December. I heard about the winter (without snow!), and the need for warm clothings. I had been hardworking in researching the weather and all... Hopefully the trip will be fun, fun and more fun!!

I'm excited to let the whole world know that the Youth Alpha in BM that we are running in Youth Prep Centre Alamesra just passed the Holy Spirit sessions (a benchmark that we are finishing this first round) today. It went on great. Though there are only 7 youth joining the YA in BM sessions this school holiday, we're very happy for them that they received the Holy Spirit during prayer ministry. Praise God for His good works. We do hope to run more rounds of YA in BM in YPC Alamesra in future to come!

Photos will follow after my trip when I have time to edit them. Oh yeah, I got myself a Casio Exilim Z90 recently. Pretty decent compact digital camera!

Time for a clay mask and beauty sleep.

May the love of Christ be with you always. Amen.