I am a scientist.
Richard, why do you see yourself as a scientist? You clearly have graduated from a technology-related program that has nothing to do with science. Furthermore, your abysmal performance in high school chemistry and physics would prove otherwise.
The scientist understands that the environment plays a huge part in an experiment. Thus, he must ensure that his observations does nothing to affect the environment and its results. He must be invisible, a hidden observer in the background.
I am a scientist... instead of a friend. If a friend has triumphed over something, you rejoice with her. If you see a friend heading down the wrong path, you warn him. You correct him, you rebuke him, you bring him back. Despite, his screaming, his urging to be left alone, you fight for him...even when he does not want to fight for himself.
I never want to be an onlooker again. If my friend is going to crash, I want to be right next to her in the passenger seat. Pleading with her, begging her to cast off her evil ways... only bailing out when all hope is lost...(I pray that I can discern when that is.)
So that at least when I go to sleep at night, I can rest soundly. When I'm brought before God and His righteous judgment, I can stand upright.
If one falls down, his friend can help him up. But pity the man who falls and has no one to help him up!
Eclessiastes 4:10
My brothers, if one of you should wander from the truth and someone should bring him back, remember this: Whoever turns a sinner from the error of his way will save him from death and cover over a multitude of sins.
James 5:19-20
Monday, June 30, 2008
Saturday, June 28, 2008
Wednesday, June 25, 2008
The Weekend
Days seem to go by much slower. It's not that I have less to do, but I think I am more active in the use of my time. I spend less time on video games and more time in productive endeavors. Oh, the joys of growing up. Anyways...
Saturday:
The Ryerson CCF had a beach day. So I went downtown with Howard (Mississauga, represent!) to the Woodbine beach. We were the first two there, arriving at 9:30 AM. That was a mistake. It was cold, and wet. There were not that many people at the beach that day, so we got a nice spot. However, we were waiting a while before the first group of people showed up.
We had a bible study, played frisbee. I spent most of the time cooking. I am the grill king. I need one of those aprons that says "Kiss the Chef", but I think that would be incredibly awkward...and I'm pretty sure only one or two of the guys would entertain the notion.
It started to rain mid-way through the day, so when the weather gets rough.....the RCCF goes to Jacky's house. We watched Euro cup for a while over there. Anna wanted some help with her Sunday School material, so I promptly gave her both good and bad advice. (mostly good).
Highlight of the afternoon was getting to see Ayrine who clearly did not want to see. :P
Howard and I couldn't stay that long at Jacky's. He had to work and I had dinner plans. So we drove back to sauga (that is a pain), and I met my cousin for dinner. This marked a significant milestone in my interaction with my cousins, as A) we don't hang out that often anymore, and B) we never have dinner one on one.
Over a steaming bowl of Pho, Michael (my cousin) and I discussed spiritual stuff. Michael went to a Christian elementary school (the same as me), but he doesn't consider himself Christian anymore. I wonder if my approach used too much of external evidence to present the faith. Let me explain.
I consider faith (When I say faith, I use it loosely as "believing in Christ"...I think the biblical definition can be more precise..but that is a story for another day) as made of two components. Evidence that supports the existence of Jesus Christ as well as the authenticity of Scripture, scientific and archaelogical evidence, etc. is known as external evidence. Internal evidence is your personal experience with God, Jesus Christ, and the Holy Spirit. Each of these play a part in building up a person's belief.
He was confused on what makes Chrisitianity different from other religions. In a strategic sense, I think that playing more on the external evidence at this point was a good move. If anything, I am encouraged over this and look forward to when I meet him again.
After dinner, the two of us went to the Johnny Juarez concert at MCAC. It was good, definitely something different that our Chinese church was not used to. I have yet to ask Michael what he thought of it other than a brief five minute thing immediately after the concert.
Sunday:
The next day, I woke up for church (Surprise, surprise). Some of the Xara kids were baptized that day. Yay. I wish I knew more Xara kids. I'll put that to prayer.
After Sunday School, I had dim sum with the family. The cousins and I would be playing golf in the afternoon. It was not the greatest weekend to go play golf. We went to the driving range...and it rained. For some reason, I got all muddy. But, everyone else was clean.
We waited out the rain and played the nine hole at Braeben Academy. There were two newbies among us, Kevin and Brian. They were pretty good. I made a single par on the day. I felt like such a newbie. Family time is awesome time.
Once we had finished golfing, Kevin and I raced to the appointed dinner location of Maki Maki for the Zoe fellowship graduation dinner. Thanks to Kelly and Jeff Chan for organizing. They are super stars. We also got these graduation pins that exclaim "Way to Go!","Grad!", or "Rock Star!" and sayings along those lines. Nothing to end off a great weekend like a sushi buffet.
Sunday, June 22, 2008
Speak
So...here's another random update of my first week (June 16-20) at work and stuff.
Monday:
First day at work. I have to pay $7.50/day for parking. It is pretty brutal. 40 minute drive, so that is nice...I get to listen to sermons on 99.5 FM. I work at the Ministry of Youth and Child Services. I take away children from negligent parents....Okay, I don't. I work on the projects that are related with the healthy upbringing of babies (cue "awww's") and preschool toddlers.
My first task on the job was to read a manual on how one of the applications work. It kind of sucks...because my workload was increased to reading TWO manuals...for the ENTIRE week.
That night, went out for coffee with two guy friends. Started up a small guy's group to build up. I am excited.
Tuesday:
I am part of a leadership program developing young professionals like myself (haha...snicker) into leaders of tomorrow. This is a two year contract that allows me to experience two positions in different ministries within the government. Tuesday, we went to our orientation session. There were approximately 120 interns out of 3,000 applicants. That's what they keep on saying, anyways. So the government considers us "special".
The orientation was okay. Met some new people. Ate food. Listened occasionally.
After the orientation, I met up with a friend of mine downtown. The idea was for the two of us to grab dinner. However, disaster struck! We were walking down Yonge street and this lady runs up to us with a look of panic on her face. She asks us if we have a cell phone. I respond in the positive (Who doesn't?). She points us toward the other side of the street, there is a man convulsing on the pavement! So we rushed over, calling 911 in the meanwhile.
To the credit of emergency workers, they came really fast. They were there within two minutes. It was unreal.
Furthermore, to the credit of my friend, Angela. I am really proud of you. You acted very calm and executed your first aid training beautifully.
Angela also made me a graduation hat out of a shower cap and some string. Apparently, Ryerson doesn't give hats to throw in the air during convocation.... I will post up pictures sometime. We took turns wearing it in Eaton's Centre.
Wednesday:
Had to go downtown to sort out payment stuff. I wants to get paidz. My first paycheque is in July....weak sauce. Anyways, the interesting thing about that was that as a government employee you have to swear or affirm an Oath of Office and Oath of Allegiance. Now, what is the difference between swearing and affirming? Swearing is made before God, affirming is made before...nothing. I was sad to see more interns affirming than swearing.
Thursday:
At work, some of the co-ops (young folks) invited me to Indian buffet for lunch. Good food.
I called Telus at work to fix my cell phone. I never received text messages. Now I do. The end.
Thursday, I also got my SECOND manual. Yay for more work.
After work, had softball practice with my team from last year. They are so awesome. I love those guys and gals. They arranged it themselves, and we had a fairly good turn out.
Friday:
This was a momentous day in the history of Richard's workingness. I got a computer account. For the past four days, I had NO computer access. THAT MADE WORK SO LONG. No e-mails, no weather checks, no music, no nothing.
I also learned that I would be getting a new office. It is bigger...and has a window. I am really climbing the corporate ladder.
After work, played Mario Strikers: Charged with Kevin Leung and Chewie. Vicki was playing my DS. We also tried to play Vegas 2...that didn't work out so well. We still can't beat the Strikers cup...it is annoying. :/
I have decided next post will be about Saturday and Sunday...as this is pretty long as it is. Stay tuned.
Monday:
First day at work. I have to pay $7.50/day for parking. It is pretty brutal. 40 minute drive, so that is nice...I get to listen to sermons on 99.5 FM. I work at the Ministry of Youth and Child Services. I take away children from negligent parents....Okay, I don't. I work on the projects that are related with the healthy upbringing of babies (cue "awww's") and preschool toddlers.
My first task on the job was to read a manual on how one of the applications work. It kind of sucks...because my workload was increased to reading TWO manuals...for the ENTIRE week.
That night, went out for coffee with two guy friends. Started up a small guy's group to build up. I am excited.
Tuesday:
I am part of a leadership program developing young professionals like myself (haha...snicker) into leaders of tomorrow. This is a two year contract that allows me to experience two positions in different ministries within the government. Tuesday, we went to our orientation session. There were approximately 120 interns out of 3,000 applicants. That's what they keep on saying, anyways. So the government considers us "special".
The orientation was okay. Met some new people. Ate food. Listened occasionally.
After the orientation, I met up with a friend of mine downtown. The idea was for the two of us to grab dinner. However, disaster struck! We were walking down Yonge street and this lady runs up to us with a look of panic on her face. She asks us if we have a cell phone. I respond in the positive (Who doesn't?). She points us toward the other side of the street, there is a man convulsing on the pavement! So we rushed over, calling 911 in the meanwhile.
To the credit of emergency workers, they came really fast. They were there within two minutes. It was unreal.
Furthermore, to the credit of my friend, Angela. I am really proud of you. You acted very calm and executed your first aid training beautifully.
Angela also made me a graduation hat out of a shower cap and some string. Apparently, Ryerson doesn't give hats to throw in the air during convocation.... I will post up pictures sometime. We took turns wearing it in Eaton's Centre.
Wednesday:
Had to go downtown to sort out payment stuff. I wants to get paidz. My first paycheque is in July....weak sauce. Anyways, the interesting thing about that was that as a government employee you have to swear or affirm an Oath of Office and Oath of Allegiance. Now, what is the difference between swearing and affirming? Swearing is made before God, affirming is made before...nothing. I was sad to see more interns affirming than swearing.
Thursday:
At work, some of the co-ops (young folks) invited me to Indian buffet for lunch. Good food.
I called Telus at work to fix my cell phone. I never received text messages. Now I do. The end.
Thursday, I also got my SECOND manual. Yay for more work.
After work, had softball practice with my team from last year. They are so awesome. I love those guys and gals. They arranged it themselves, and we had a fairly good turn out.
Friday:
This was a momentous day in the history of Richard's workingness. I got a computer account. For the past four days, I had NO computer access. THAT MADE WORK SO LONG. No e-mails, no weather checks, no music, no nothing.
I also learned that I would be getting a new office. It is bigger...and has a window. I am really climbing the corporate ladder.
After work, played Mario Strikers: Charged with Kevin Leung and Chewie. Vicki was playing my DS. We also tried to play Vegas 2...that didn't work out so well. We still can't beat the Strikers cup...it is annoying. :/
I have decided next post will be about Saturday and Sunday...as this is pretty long as it is. Stay tuned.
Tuesday, June 17, 2008
Thursday, June 12, 2008
Awaken
Every now and then I get frustrated with how things are... with who I am, what I am doing. More on that later.
I watched the "13th Warrior" starring Antonio Banderas this afternoon. One of the quotes struck me....granted this is a prayer to Allah, but I'd like to take it as a prayer to our living God:
"For all we ought to have thought, but have not thought.
For all we ought to have said, but have not said.
For all we ought to have done, but have not done.
I pray thee, God...for forgiveness."
-- Antonio Banderas as Ahmed Ibn Fahdlan in The 13th Warrior (1999)
I think one of the things I admire most about Islam, is their discipline to prayer. When I think about it...it's pretty much the only thing. Since I don't subscribe to multiple religions, especially incorrect ones.... I'll take Jesus. Thank You. :P
So my prayer is this...that I will never fall asleep to the things that matter in this world and the next. I hope that I will never have to pray a similar prayer again.
I watched the "13th Warrior" starring Antonio Banderas this afternoon. One of the quotes struck me....granted this is a prayer to Allah, but I'd like to take it as a prayer to our living God:
"For all we ought to have thought, but have not thought.
For all we ought to have said, but have not said.
For all we ought to have done, but have not done.
I pray thee, God...for forgiveness."
-- Antonio Banderas as Ahmed Ibn Fahdlan in The 13th Warrior (1999)
I think one of the things I admire most about Islam, is their discipline to prayer. When I think about it...it's pretty much the only thing. Since I don't subscribe to multiple religions, especially incorrect ones.... I'll take Jesus. Thank You. :P
So my prayer is this...that I will never fall asleep to the things that matter in this world and the next. I hope that I will never have to pray a similar prayer again.
Monday, June 2, 2008
Dominican Republic Adventure
Richard's first ever photo adventure.
Click Here.
I have more images somewhere... let me know if you want to see..and I'll hook you up sometime.
Click Here.
I have more images somewhere... let me know if you want to see..and I'll hook you up sometime.