New Library

The new library at school opened a few weeks ago, and I have to say that studying in it is a whole lot more enjoyable than that old dungeon they called "libary" beforehand.

I heard someone refer to humans as "Luxus Tiere" (animals of luxure) once, and I think that's true. We're drawn to anything that's new, sleek, cool, and slick, and .. well .. luxurious. Now, the new library is by no means luxurious, but it's definitely new and cool.

All this to say that in the coming weeks I'll be spending more time studying at school than at home. The library has wireless too, which is nice. Wouldn't want to work without a connection to the cyberworld now, would we....

Rend Your Heart

An appropriate Scripture passage as we begin the Lenten season today, Ash Wednesday:

Joel 2:12-18 (ESV)

12 "Even now," declares the LORD,
"return to me with all your heart,
with fasting and weeping and mourning."
13 Rend your heart
and not your garments.
Return to the LORD your God,
for he is gracious and compassionate,
slow to anger and abounding in love,
and he relents from sending calamity.

14 Who knows? He may turn and have pity
and leave behind a blessing—
grain offerings and drink offerings
for the LORD your God.

15 Blow the trumpet in Zion,
declare a holy fast,
call a sacred assembly.

16 Gather the people,
consecrate the assembly;
bring together the elders,
gather the children,
those nursing at the breast.
Let the bridegroom leave his room
and the bride her chamber.

17 Let the priests, who minister before the LORD,
weep between the temple porch and the altar.
Let them say, "Spare your people, O LORD.
Do not make your inheritance an object of scorn,
a byword among the nations.
Why should they say among the peoples,
'Where is their God?' "

The LORD's Answer

18 Then the LORD will be jealous for his land
and take pity on his people.

Sunday School

I've been teaching Sunday School now for the past month. It's been challenging, but good. I admit, I don't consider myself to be very good around kids .. except my nephews and nieces, but somehow that's different. They're family....

I get a little self-conscious and nervous around kids, because they're always so honest: they say what they think. It's a good thing to be honest, of course, but there's an element of fear that someone else's honesty can bring out in me: fear of being exposed and made vulnerable.

What if they don't like the shoes I wear? What if my socks don't match (that's never happened before). What if a piece of lettuce is stuck on my teeth and I'm completely oblivious to it? What if they see I'm nervous? What if my fly's open? What if I accidentally fart? What if they don't like the way I told the story of Joseph? The possibilities of being rejected by the kids are endless....

Of course, if I didn't take myself so serious I'd be ok with someone or other poking fun at me every now and then. Like they say .. you gotta be able to laugh at yourself. That's a skill I haven't attained yet .. but one I'm in desperate need of.

Who knows, maybe this experience of teaching kids (grades 3 and 4) will help me get over myself. That at least, is my prayer.

Break-In

Got home from school today at around 6pm, and as soon as I put my key in the front door, I knew something was wrong. It didn't fit right. It didn't feel right. I turned the key, and was shocked to find out that the door was unlocked. I opened the door, and lo and behold, someone'd been in my place.

Clothes were lying all over the floor, drawers taken out of the desk and emptied, its contents spread throughout the apartment. My balcony sliding-door was open also.

I immediately noticed that they didn't take the "big" stuff: stereo, dvd player, and printer were all intact, untouched. Even smaller electronics were still there: webcam, phone, even my external hard drive (thank goodness - all my schoolwork's on it!!).

So what did they want? What did they take? My ipod, two backpacks, and cash, about $300.

Interestingly, no, amazingly(!), my old laptop which I'd left at home (after all, I'm a a Mac user now and I'd taken my new laptop to school with me) was left untouched. I'd promised to give it to my friend Carla, who badly needs a laptop, last week, and it would've been so frustrating for it to be stolen now. I called the police, and after the policewoman arrived she was stunned when I told her that the laptop was not stolen. She said it's a miracle. I agreed. Thank you Lord!

Anyways, now it's cleanup time. It'll probably take me all weekend to clean up. I feel violated.

Lord Jesus Christ, have mercy on me, a sinner.
Lord Jesus Christ, have mercy on the thief, a sinner.
Lord Jesus Christ, have mercy on a sinful world.

I Converted

Bye-bye PC. Hello Mac.

Coffee on 8th Ave

I dropped by a coffee shop that's supposedly quite good, 3 blocks from my place. My friend Dan told me that they are friendly there, and they make good coffee, so I wanted to go and check it out. He was right!

The hostess, Eden (beautiful name, no?), made me a coffee .. on the house. She knew immediately that it was my first visit (impressive), she was very friendly and started talking to me.

The coffee was excellent too. It was some kind of a special (espresso) shot.

Maybe I'll go back next week with a few books and spend an afternoon there studying/reading. Only drawback is they don't have any wireless internet access, so it's no use taking my laptop there.

Macbook vs. Notebook

It seems that MAC has taken the lead over IBM in my "laptop debate." They have the same functionality, are cheaper! (who'd have thought!), and they look mighty cool. Here are the details I've found so far.

I think next week I'm going to take the plunge.

I'm going to convert.

Snow Tubing

Tonight I went snow tubing at Cypress with some friends from my small group. It was really cool, loads of fun. Larissa, Irene, Eric, Stewart and Miranda came. Afterwards we all went to Earl's in North Van for a (late) dinner.

Here are some pics from tubing. From left to right: Eric, Larissa, Irene, & Cub:

New Laptop .. Soon

I'm going to buy a new laptop.

My old clunker is so slow I can go and take a quick shower while logging into MSN and return right on time. Starting up is a whole different story too. It takes about 15 minutes to boot up, so lately I've been turning it on while still on the bus to class, so that by the time I get there it's ready to go. Otherwise I miss the first 15 minutes of lecture.

And battery life, don't even get me started...

I've decided I'm going to either get a newer version of the IBM-model I have now, or convert to Apple-land. Conversion to Apple implies a good dose of humility though, as many of my Apple-friends will tease me with all kinds of dumb slogans like "welcome to the good side" or "you've seen the light", or even "you finally repented and confessed your sins, have ya..."

Those slogans alone make me want to stay away from Apple.

Another Sermon!

I received my next preaching assignment: April 29. Yikes! I'm not sure yet which passage, but I hope I can pick it. I think I'd pick a Psalm.