My Thursday

On Friday - March 28th 2008: (guest starring Kelly with an actual conversation taken out of context)

1:26 AM:
Richard: "I have to go. My group is yelling at me. I have to save the president."
Kelly: "no. don't go. you're at rye high right now?"
Richard: "Dammit, Kelly, there's no time. The president is in danger."
Kelly: "can't you just pretend you're working?"
Richard: "..." *runs off*
Kelly: "okay, you're gone."

The following takes place in real-time on Thursday, March 27th, 2008:

1:00 AM -- Write up references for government internship position and work on ITM800 project work.
2:00 AM -- Go to bed.
2:00 - 8:00 AM -- *scene of Richard sleeping, and drooling all over his pillow*
8:00 AM - Wake up, realize that I have been drugged! Still sleepy, try to figure out time, fall back asleep.
9:00 AM - Wake up again, decide to catch 9:50 AM bus.
9:50 AM - Actually wake up.
10:00 AM - Shower, Get ready, Drive to Cooksville.
10:25 AM - Park illegally.
10:30 AM - Take Go BUS to Union, Walk to school.
11:35 AM - Get to school, Bug Registrar's office for transcripts and letter stating graduation. Side note: STILL WAITING FOR THOSE DOCUMENTS.
11:40 AM - Meet for group meeting originally scheduled for 10:00 AM.
11:50 AM - Call James Norrie, get a letter stating that I am graduating.
12:00 PM - Work on group stuff.
12:20 PM - Go to Chicken place (Kathy's Diner) (despite having a lunch packed already).
1:00 PM - Lunch (sit outside of women's office, gays and lesbians office, resist urge to make awkward comments).
1:40 PM - Pick up James Norrie letter. Side note: Letter stating graduation: ITM department: 3 hours. Registrar's office: 3 weeks+.
1:45 PM - Meet with parents - give them stuff to take to government office (I <3 parents).
1:55 PM - Discuss the stock market and insist on purchasing gold.
2:00 PM - Meet with Richard Chan - talk about Jesus. Good times, it was encouraging to hear his ideas and thoughts. :)
3:00 PM - Meet with another Supply Chain Management group - hammer out presentation and report details.
3:30 PM - Ditch this group to meet with itm800 group.
3:35 PM - Work on my part for the project that was due earlier in the day at 9:00 AM.
3:40 PM - Web surf.
3:43 PM - Get scolded for web surfing.
3:45 PM - Web surf discreetly.
6:15 PM - Go shopping at Dominion's for snacks.
6:30 PM - Go to Chicken place (order a half chicken, with rice/potatoes, salad and a Fanta for $9.00).
7:30 PM - Back to ITM800 group work in the Ryerson Business Building.
7:35 PM - Work on unrelated Politics essay.
8:00 PM - Get a Tim Hortons Large Half Hot Chocolate/Half Coffee from Cindy.
8:30 PM - Win donut.
8:35 PM - Apparently, winning from someone else's purchase does not count towards record. Still waiting for that win.
10:40 PM - Start working on related group work.
11:05 PM - Pretend I am Spiderman and jump from window to window.
11:10 PM - Read digg.com.
11:15 PM - Help editing of paper.
11:30 PM - Move more comfortable chair over to our group area.
11:35 PM - Brian wants the comfortable chair. Brian attacks! Battle ensues... Richard wins!
12:05 AM - Decide to move a couch over.
12:10 AM - Work on paper.
1:10 AM - Take a nap on the couch.
1:20 AM - Walkthrough editing of paper with group mates.
3:00 AM - Youtube.com.
3:05 AM - Continue editing paper.
5:30 AM - Finish paper.
5:35 AM - Submit paper! The world is safe again.

Epilogue:
No animals were hurt in the shooting of this film.
I am still waiting for my transcript and letter of graduation.
Despite parking illegally and leaving my car in the lot overnight, I did not get a ticket!
I do not think I am cut out for protecting Canada against terrorists.
I gained 0 exp from fighting Brian. Furthermore, he had no gold or loot on him.

Worst Reader Ever

I love learning about stuff, but I find reading books the most difficult thing to do ever! I'm a pretty fast reader, but for the life of me...I cannot read non-fiction. I try so hard, but I usually give up after the first two chapters. If only we could write non-fiction, so it was like fiction.

In short, I wish I could download knowledge from books straight into my brain.

I think this plays more into a patience thing, rather than a I suck at reading thing. Or it could be both! You decide:


If you choose to call Richard impatient, turn to page 42.

If you think Richard is just horrible at reading, turn to page 37.

(reference to: choose your own adventure)

The Mark of a Scholar

ENT527_Mark, originally uploaded by Dryluck.

Seminar = Presentation
Crit = Critical Review of a Paper (Written - 6 pages)
LR = Literature Review (Written - 10 pages)
Pres = Presentation
Class = Participation (Attendance / Asking Questions)

On Sex

Haha, the title is probably misleading you into thinking about something that should occur within the confines of marriage. That is not what I want to talk about here. I enjoy reading about social studies, particularly in the areas of men's rights. Believe it or not, Canada is a pretty misandric place. I debate constantly with myself how one can resolve his faith and what is going on in society. My rule of thumb for life is that God is always first, but what happens when these social trends permeate Christianity and the church?

The fuzzy area of the roles of men and women in church and society is always a touchy area. It is un-politically correct to assign roles by gender. I walk a very fine line when discussing this matter in groups, individually people are usually pretty cool and even agree with me. In groups, remarks can usually lead to heated debates. So why does this even matter...social trends are not Christian trends, right?

It does matter, because we are submerged in it all the time. Society's expectations are flung towards us from every direction: TV, billboard advertisements, the Internet, teachers, friends, family, even other believers. We get our Christian values from church (some only go once a week), other Christians (blogs, Internet included), and the Bible -- ultimately from God and your exposure to Him. For most of us, our ratio of earthly : heavenly is skewed heavily towards earthly.

So what are we to do? We need to push the ratio back in favor for Christ. Live in this world, but know we are not a part of it. This is and will be incredibly tough. As society's values shift further and further away from Christian values, we will need to stand firm in our beliefs. This is where I think tolerance and accommodation fails. Yes, we are to LOVE non-believers, but our God is the living God...to give room for practitioners of other faiths and those that espouse different values is NOT loving.

[okay, I dunno what happened in this post. I was originally going to talk about how I am trying to resolve my life as a Christian as well as someone who focuses on men's rights.... it shifted to a Christian living in society post...and finally a stand firm in our truth post]

oh well, they all somewhat closely relate.

Re-build

I random'd this Psalm.... Psalm 77 after sitting here. Kinda reminds me of Job....but I doubt I could even compare. The part about taking the good and the bad. I feel better.

Destroyed

I fell through the floor of rock-bottom into a whole new abyss.

Touched

You know.... God is made of love. I felt really bad today. Like really incredibly bad and sinful and plain old sad.

Anyways, I was at the university fellowship tonight. I made my rounds and said "hello" to everyone. I briefly talked to one of the guys there, small talk, nothing major. He was drinking a coffee, at which point I mentioned I was 0 for 10 in the Tim Hortons coffee sweepstakes. It turns out he had won a fair amount of times: 4 for 20. Afterwards, I found a corner to prepare some stuff for tonight's program.

While I was going over some things, he walked over, and handed me the tab from his coffee cup. He had won again and was offering it to me. I gave it back to him, but the point is he was willing to give it to me. I was very touched... You could really see God's love pouring out of this brother. Even though it was such a silly thing like a free coffee...I was really moved.

The neverending climb

"Be Holy, for I am Holy" (1 Pt 1:16)

I am so far off the mark, sometimes. Thank God for His mercy.

BS - Samson: Flaws

Hi Everyone,

Sorry for the delay. I enjoy talking about bible study more than writing them out...here goes, the second installment of an 'x' part series in Samson. I realize now how long it takes to write out a BS, foolish me thinking I could put Chp 14 and 15 into one post. :P

A look into chapter 14:

Samson sees a Philistine woman in Timnah and he tells her parents he wants her as a wife. (Side note: Wouldn't that be awesome if we could do that today? It would save me plenty of girl issues.) The parents disprove, the reason? That she was part of the "uncircumcised Philistines", indicating that it was more likely an issue of the Jews being promised the land of Canaan through the Abrahamic covenant (Gen 17) rather than a character flaw or mixed marriage issue.

A question I would have is what stopped his parents from preventing him from taking this woman as a wife? v4 suggests that this was the Lord's doing. So were the parents influenced in prayer by the Lord? Or did they allow Samson to make his own decisions. I would think it more of the latter. But, it's a thought.

So the three of them went down to Timnah. A lion attacks! He kills the lion when "the Spirit of the Lord" comes upon him. It is important to note that whenever Samson uses his incredible strength it comes through the Spirit of the Lord. He does not tell his parents that this happens, indicating that his parents were not there at this particular incident. He talks to the woman, then likes her. (Perhaps his attraction to her was purely based of physical attraction? Or this could be a second instance of conversation, just the first instance is not mentioned? Who knows?)

Anyways, Samson revisits Timnah to marry the woman. The lion carcass is still there, and a bee hive has taken nest inside of the dead lion. Samson scoops out some of the honey and eats it himself, as well as giving some to his parents. He again does not tell his parents where he got the honey from.

I think it's a good time to look at the relationship between Samson and his parents. He wasn't afraid to tell his parents that he wanted to marry an uncircumcised woman. Yet these two instances, one where the Lord allows him to kill a lion with his bare hands, and honey out of the dead lion....he will not tell his parents. I think there is different reasoning behind each instance. (It does not say why he didn't tell...so I can only provide guesswork based off of reason.)

The killing of the lion with bare hands was the first recorded instance of Samson being able to use the powerful strength provided through God. This is a demonstration of the power that Samson has through the Spirit of the Lord (which he'll eventually use on the Philistines). Should this not be a time of rejoicing and praise to the Lord? Could this be reluctance on his part to engage in the calling that has been set for him - deliverer from the Philistines? (Kind of a stretch) Or is this just a prelude to the riddle that he'll be asking later in the chapter?

The honey out of the lion was a breaking of part of the Nazirite vow. As a Nazirite, he wasn't supposed to touch dead bodies (Nbr 6:6). So out of the high position that Samson was called to, he was willing to break part of the requirements for some honey.

Samson made a feast as was their custom for the wedding. The wedding feast was a seven day event, I haven't done much historical background digging...but I think there are two important points to note about the wedding feast.

The first is... it is customary to drink at such wedding feasts. Furthermore, I would surmise that since it is a pagan feast (Philistines), they wouldn't worry too much about abstaining from the booze. I am taking a guess that Samson wasn't too concerned with keeping up the Nazirite rules (Num 6:4).

The second is... you see part of the worldly nature of Samson. Alongside disregarding the Nazirite vow, he is into material possessions. He proposes a riddle about the lion he killed earlier in the chapter. The bet of 30 changes of clothing and linen wraps was accepted by his wedding companions. Why make this bet for 30 changes of clothing other than for material gain?

The wedding companions put pressure on Samson's wife to reveal the answer. Samson's wife nags Samson and he eventually relents and tells her the answer. She reveals the secret of the riddle to the wedding companions. Samson, enraged, goes off and kills 30 Philistines and taking their clothes to provide his end of the bet. It's important to note that the Spirit of the Lord again came upon him as he killed the Philistines at Ashkelon (v.19).

Samson is so angry that he leaves without claiming his wife (who is given to a friend). However, his anger is misguided...it is aimed towards his wife and not the Philistines (as seen later in chapter 15).

So what applications can we make so far? Samson is struggling against the calling that God has elected him to. Rather than a deliverer of the Israelites, he allies himself with the Philistines (through marriage)? He breaks part of the Nazirite vow with touching of the dead, and drinking. It doesn't look good so far. Even so, God uses Samson to start the removal of the Philistines. Despite it being motivated by selfish wants, Samson began to fulfill the role he was meant for.

More to come!

Inspire(d) Growth

I find that reading people (and their blogs) and seeing how they have grown in Christ truly inspiring. It is always encouraging to see how their faith has grown. And I do not speak in a way that suggests that I am "better" than them. I find that in the larger scheme of things we are nothing without God. Although I would advocate for treating everyone above yourself. :P

I have decided that one of the things I want to do in life is inspire spiritual growth in people. Now if any of you know me, some would say "Aren't you doing that already?", and "Context?". I'll answer here:

Aren't you inspiring spiritual growth already?

Sure, I am...but one can always improve. God has given unique talents and abilities to each of us...are we maximizing its effectiveness? This will be further explored below.

In what manner will you inspire spiritual growth?

Although I do truly want people to grow in Christ, there was always a bit of pride attached to it. There was that tiny bit of satisfaction knowing that I was a "spiritual leader". God is breaking down that pride, and I have figured out a new weapon to add to my spiritual arsenal.

A couple of days ago, I posted about the "Head Fake" from a Carnegie Mellon professor video. Basically, a head fake is having conversations with an underlying message that may not particularly be associated with the topic of the conversation. Yes, it would seem misleading...but seriously, every conversation has a hidden meaning. Would it not be beneficial to have an intentional spiritual message in our conversations without the awkwardness (and awkward silence) that comes with "Hi! We're going to talk about spiritual stuff now!"?

I'm not advocating for the constant use of the head fake. I always enjoy discussing Jesus to any that will listen. Rather, there will be times that intentional spiritual conversations with some people will be dry. The head fake provides the opportunity to have conversations that people can relate to with an underlying message of Jesus.

So what I truly want...is that after meeting with me, people won't be thinking...Gee, Richard is a really dedicated brother in Christ. I want them to be thinking God.

Highlight of Last Week

Just to remind myself of the fun times.

I planned to have dinner with a friend on Tuesday night. However, I had to study for my exam...and so we hung out together at the Chinese Christian Fellowship office during the afternoon. I was studying...she took a nap. People were coming in and out, so I decided to lock the door. Once I told her, I was going to lock the door. She panicked, exclaiming: "Don't lock me in here!". I pointed towards the door knob, it was one of those doors that open from the inside. She's so lovingly ditzy, sometimes.

The End.

Head Fake

An interesting video that a friend of mine sent me. It's an hour long, so watch when you have the time. The professor in the video is a really good speaker, so it'll go by pretty quick: http://youtube.com/watch?v=ji5_MqicxSo

Cheers,
Richard

Dumb it down for me.

I swear, I have lost all ability to communicate in a way that demonstrates even a remote possibility of intelligence. I love analyzing things, turning them over in my head, prodding at the event/situation/idea/object in question like a child who's discovered that a magnifying glass can be used as a lazer beam of massive destruction. BUT!!!...when I open my mouth, no words that stir the soul rush out; no light reveals unexplored caves of ideas; no thoughts beckon one to stop and mull over such pondering....RATHER!!! I would say a single word that would summarize my thoughts and feelings... and I think if you know me in person, you would be very used to such words.

Thank God, that anytime there is something important to be said... God arms me with the knowledge and the timing to say what needs to be said. So it is okay if I say something stupid and embarrass myself (usually) needlessly. Because, God allows me to be clutch when I need to be.

On a side note: Today is Steak and BJ day. Awkward. Although, I do support the idea of male version of Valentine's day, (it's only fair ladies), I would appreciate one that could be universally experienced by married couples and those that are only dating. :)

Props

My respect for Kelly has increased.

Wallpaper

I spent the afternoon this past Sunday tearing down wallpaper in my Uncle's house. He is preparing to sell it for his family, as his two kids have moved out. It's a lot of physical labour, something I doubt I would enjoy doing for the rest of my life. Regardless, it is a good learning experience to engage in any form of home renovation....especially when I get my own place. :)

So how do you remove wallpaper? Well, it's a pretty simple process consisting of three steps:

1. Apply a liberal amount of water.
2. Wait.
3. Use a taping knife and scrape off the wallpaper.

There are a couple things to watch out for when removing wallpaper. These are things I learned as I progressed from newbie in home renovation to slightly-less newbie in home renovation.

You can't use too little water, or the wallpaper removal will become extremely difficult. Get water into the white paper beneath the wallpaper, it'll scrape off a lot easier. Be impatient, and it'll take a lot longer.

As I stripped wallpaper that day, I couldn't help but think that it would be a great analogy to apply to our walk with God. As we shed the unholy part of our lives, are we allowing God to work in us fully?

Do we read the Bible enough? Or apply sparingly the water of the word?
When we do read the Bible, do we allow it to soak in deep? Or is it superficial...drying on our outer layers?
Are we patient enough to see Him work?

Still Alive

In case, anyone's wondering. I am still alive. I'll post sometime soon... I promise!