Darker Brown

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I’m back. I’m darker brown now! This dumb web host is being slow again! I may move soon!

Index 6

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The sixth index page is up. Like the picture? That’s the view of Manila from my sixth-floor apartment window — doctored a bit.

A saddening note: “Well…I’ll be blogged” is gone. I hardly knew her, and I’ll miss her writing. I did want to email Dani, but I could never find her email address on her page before. Now that she’s given it, I’ll send her a message tomorrow about how much I appreciated her Christian insights and stories.

Bye for now, everyone. Church choir’s going to break to Laguna for a swimming outing, where I will sun myself to a darker shade of brown.

Rats and the Dalai Lama

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For some strange reason, this is one of the most depressing news items I’ve ever read in my life. I already feel bad for Tiff that she dreams about nothing but work. Rats, too?

The Dalai Lama condemns religious conversions to Christianity and Islam? “I always believe it’s safer and better and reasonable to keep one’s own tradition or belief,” he says. I wonder how he feels about Hindus who proselytize Christians?

Imagine, if you will, oh great Dalai Lama, a God who no longer requires a system of rituals and traditions to cleanse us of our sin. We no longer need to bathe in an icy river, or deliberately divest our lives of worldliness, or struggle to clear our minds to purify ourselves and attain the ultimate; because the ultimate Himself has already come to meet us personally. In His mercy and love he has given us Himself as His Son, who by His sacrifice purifies us from the stain of the world.

We Christians need not wash ourselves in an earthly river to cleanse ourselves of sin; already we have been washed in a stream of living water: God Himself, who freely gives us his grace and puts us in robes white as snow. Is this deceptive enticement, or God’s revealed truth? If it is the latter, then we cannot be faulted desiring to share it with the world! It is the ultimate truth, by which we are redeemed, and we are commanded, even compelled by the love in our hearts, to spread it.

“That if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved!” (Romans 10.11)

Nailguns and Wasabi

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This poor, poor guy. Sawing off your own hand is horrible enough, and nail-gunning yourself in the head doesn’t help any, even to end the agony.

Wasabi toothpaste, anyone? I get my wasabi from squeezable tubes; I’d better be careful which one I buy when this comes out. You never know what you’re putting on your sashimi … or your toothbrush.

The Borrowed Scanner

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I have a scanner! It’s an old Artec photo scanner from my brother, and not too classy, but certainly more than enough for my needs. You can look forward to more photos next week. And index6.shtml is now in the works. (I never realized how quickly you can slap together a layout when the copy is already set and all you have to do is INCLUDE it. :)

Click Mo Mukha Mo

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I’m back from my blog break. Yay! I’ve been linked by Click Mo Mukha Mo! :) Ang bait-bait mo naman. At gwapo pa. Hwek hwek hwek hwek! :P

By the way, here’s a warning to you Japanese food lovers: Watch your chopsticks manners!

I’ve taken to reading stuff from Crosswalk for Christian perspectives and resources, and I found something interesting: Did you know that Jodi Benson, of Little Mermaid fame, is an evangelical Christian? Not just that, but she’s doing voices in a new biblical Joseph movie by Dreamworks. Pretty cool.

I am currently being blown away by the Flash work at Turtleshell.

Farewell to EDSA 2

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Just one more melodramatic post on this topic …

I can’t find words to describe how exhilarating it was to stand on the Edsa-Ortigas flyover today, with ******* and her folks, to watch President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo get sworn into office at the Edsa shrine. We had a perfect view of all the the famous politicians and personalities of the uprising.

The crowd gave a joyous yell when Chief Justice Hilario Davide appeared on stage with his arms raised as if in triumph. As Gloria began to recite the words of the oath, despite the standard formula, the mass of people at EDSA again and again broke into cheers of joy. “I, Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, do solemnly swear that I will faithfully and conscientiously fulfill my duties as President of the Philippines.”

With each word, we felt the utter momentousness of the event sweep over us. We stood on the threshold of hope and change, witnessing history as it happened before our eyes. I hope the Philippines never forgets the lessons it has learned from EDSA 2001. Lord guide us.

(Unless another major political crisis breaks out, this will be my last blog entry for a while: maybe a few days, so I can take a break from being constantly online for news and updates. Then I’m back to my normal workaday blogging. But maybe with more political tidbits. Why doesn’t someone sign my guestbook so I know you’re reading all this!)

:)