It’s About Time

Last Friday during the Children’s Camp, Amanda wanted to have a ride on my shoulder.  I consented and while i was holding to her forearms with both hands, she slipped while trying to climb up.  In the process her left elbow joint was slightly dislocated and caused her great pain.

Thankfully Thuan Wee and Daniel were both around to attend to her and helped to pop it both in position again.  Learned that it is fairly easy for little kids’ joints to be dislocated so caution must be exercised in such activities, innocent though they might be. 

I’m glad we didn’t have to go down to KKH at the end of the day to ascertain the pain or type of damagers inccurred.

If you wish to know God, you must know his Word. If you wish to perceive his power, you must see how he works by his Word. If you wish to know His purpose before it comes to pass, you can only discover it by His Word.

Charles Haddon Spurgeon

Everywhere I go I’m asked if I think the university stifles writers. My opinion is that they don’t stifle enough of them. There’s many a best-seller that could have been prevented by a good teacher.

  – Flannery O’Connor

One of the most famous poems of the Western world is “the Hound of Heaven,” by the 19th century English poet Francis Thompson:

I fled Him, down the nights and down the days; I fled Him, down the arches of the years; I fled Him, down the labyrinthine ways of my own mind. . . .

So begins the poet who describe God’s never-ceasing pursuit of God’s love for him until he hears the invitation, “Rise, clasp My hand, and come!” Thompson lived a destitute life of opium addiction until rescued, made well, and returned to the Catholic faith of his fathers, in which he died. “The Hound of Heaven” was written in the years following his recovery, when he recognized how God had not let him get away.

The Irish poet Brendan Behan once quipped,

There is no such thing as bad publicity except your obituary. 

Some atheists evidently disagree, and they want to help atheism get over a rather significant public relations problem.

read on. . . http://www.albertmohler.com/blog_read.php?id=2768

Came across this pithy saying. . .

Look at self and be distressed,
look at others and de depressed,
Look at Jesus and you’ll be blessed!

Today I brought my Parlor to Malcolm for installation of strap button on the treble side of the bowl.  What should have been a 30 min max ended up being 3 hrs instead.

The delay was due to the “molly” being of high torque (according to OFC* term) and difficulty of gripping within the soundhole.  Anyway after much thoughts, it was finally installed.  I’m just glad it was fixed without any greater disappointment.  I’m a happy camper for now

Then Malcolm exclaimed while putting on a new set of strings for me that the tuner button of the low E (6th string) was broken (cracked actually).  Oh well, we’ll just have to deal with the things that flow down the pike I supposed. 

Meanwhile, the slimline pickup isn’t working after all. In a sense it’s okay because I don’t play plugged in. i supposed if it’s really down then it’ll a couple or three hundred dollars to change anyway. 

I came home and the crisp sound of the guitar is there plus it didn’t roll or flip faced up as i play standing with the guitar strap on. Not too bad a day after all!

My alma mater, Central Baptist Theological Seminary, finally obtained academic accreditation.  I’ve always felt it is solid in its theological and academic rigors and only if pursued seriously, there isn’t any reason why accreditation isn’t possible.  Well, they finally did it. 

The seminary website states this:

Central Baptist Theological Seminary of Minneapolis has received standing as an accredited institution with the Transnational Association of Christian Colleges & Schools (TRACS) on November 4, 2008.

Central Seminary’s initial contact with TRACS took the form of a visit from Dr. Jeff McCann in 2003.  During that visit Dr. McCann convinced the faculty and staff that Central Seminary was in a credible position to aim for accreditation.  After attending a seminar for potential TRACS applicants in early 2004, President Kevin T. Bauder recommended to the faculty and board that Central Seminary pursue accreditation with TRACS. In 2005, the institution wrote its first self-study and hosted its first team visit. In November of that year, Central Seminary received candidate status.

Instead of taking the normal five years to move from candidate to accredited, the administration, faculty, and staff recommended to the board that the institution aim to complete the process in three years. With board support, the whole Central Seminary family labored to attain this goal. By God’s grace and with the support from our alumni and friends, our efforts have been rewarded. Thank you for your support and prayers!

Recently, I’ve been dabbling more with acoustic guitars in that I check out different brands of guitars that are available locally.  Through causal conversation with sales fellas, I realized that the group that’s fueling the local guitar retail industry is actually the mega church or praise-worship styled group. 

This is hardly surprising since groups like these tend towards acoustic-electric, electric and drum sets etc.  Most of these tend towards high end products it seems.  A check on local Christian forum on guitar yield a common thread – many lean towards Taylors guitar as the benchmark for quality.  Not to cast doubt on Taylors quality but many models that I’ve tried locally are overrated and overpriced.  Nonetheless the youngsters tend to think it’s cool or you’ve arrived if you own one.  I have no doubt that some in the midst are really good players but I doubt if most could actually play well enough.  That’s irrelevant since it’s hip to be in. 

I don’t know why but somehow I’ve liked the sound of steel strings more and more these days. Strange, but true. I started off with Congress guitars when I was 12-15 and they were all acoustic models.  My Yamaha FG512-II was a 12 strings acoustics. And that was the most expensive guitar I had (but it was free as a gift).  I’ve liked the sound but then gravitated towards classical guitars due to its easy playability.  Back then I don’t know anything about action setting etc.  The sound of acoustic guitars is really nice. Of course, the nicest sound thus far was the Goodall.  The model I tried once was a whopping $8800!  That’s not the most expensive I don’t think.  Gibson and Fender didn’t impress me much.  Anyway, those brands are way out of my league.  Ayers sounded nice when I tried the DSO.  I’ve not had the chance to try Alvarez yet cos local retail doesn’t carry except some online home based guys do.  Hope to try out either the AD60S or PD90S.  Yamaha Lj16 and LL16 are tad disappointing but then I didn’t have them rightly tuned to be fair.  My Ovation 97 parlor sounded great too though I dislike the strap button location and that really gets to me due to the bowl flipping face up when strapped and played standing.  My other Ovation doesn’t have this problem because the button was mounted on the treble side. 

I think to get a fairly decent acoustic guitar whether it is dreadnought or jumbo or grand auditorium sizes, it would cost $1K to $2K.  Too high a price means one would not bring it out of the house except for exclusive reasons.  At least 1-2 K still means one can bring it out for fellowship purposes to enjoy the sound yet not afraid of bumps etc. 

Quote taken from Dr Matt Olson’s article, God’s Good Work, as food for thought:

“I see at least two great “works” of God in the making when we face a trial. First, God is conforming us to His image – cultivating greater levels of maturity and God-dependence in our lives. . . . Second, when we face a trial, God is increasing our capacity to minister.”