Sunday Aug 29 Weekly Planning

I am vacationing in Taipei for a week now. Left Seattle Sat. Aug 21, to come here via LAX.

On first day in Taipei, I took the kids to Page-1 bookstore in Taipei-101. There I read some books and bought two. Key take-away was: it is good for the long run to be critical of my kids. Let them fail early and learn to re-group.

The next day we went to I-Nan, 南方澳, for sea food and cold-spring baths.

Starting Thursday, I began to feel sick, because of the hot and humid weather. The worst part is sleeping under the fan all night. The uneven temperatures caused me running nose, sour throat and headaches.

On Friday, Shuyi suggested that I work during the day at the Taipei QCT office. I needed to use the printer and the scanner in the office for some financial documents that Jean Kao asked for, so I went there.

The QCT office is next to Taipei 101, no the 21st floor.

His hope lay in his own defeat

Today's Tozer Devotion is very much worth sharing with my friend:



His hope lay in his own defeat. This he did not know at the setting of day, but had learned before the rising of the sun. All night he resisted God until in kindness God touched the hollow of his thigh and won the victory over him. It was only after he had gone down to humiliating defeat that he began to feel the joy of release from his own evil strength, the delight of God's conquest over him. Then he cried aloud for the blessing and refused to let go till it came. It had been a long fight, but for God (and for reasons known only to Him) Jacob had been worth the effort. Now he became another man, the stubborn and self-willed rebel was turned into a meek and dignified friend of God. He had "prevailed" indeed, but through weakness, not through strength.

Today is our 12th wedding anniversary

This is the kind of cabin we spent honeymoon at.

What reminds me also? Tozer's words: We need to have taken from our dying hand the shadow scepter with which we fancy we rule the world.

I sent the following to a friend:

Today's devotion from Wisdom For Today 8/15 is just what you and I talked about, regarding your new work project.

I summarize below.

When you face uncertainty or frightening situations, remind yourself to:

1. Pray. Prayer changes things. Sometimes, the thing that needs changing the most is our attitude. Prayer also gives us the strength to endure a trial and the capacity to accept it.
2. Reason. Realize that God loves you supremely and is working out His eternal plan in your life. His plan may bring temporary pain, but it will also bring eternal good.
3. Thirdly, commit. "Have Your way, Lord. Use my life to bring glory to Your name.".

Return to the Hostel Int'l Jerico Beach Vancouver

Last night after dropping off Victor Wong to Coquitlum, I came to the place I stayed 22 years ago, the Hostel Int'l at Jerico Beach Vancouver.

I also re-visited the old places at UBC. I stayed at place vanier for quite a while, fond of the winter snowy memories.

To Ruhua

I came across Tozer's words. I love to share with Ruhua:

http://www.google.com/reader/view/#stream/feed%2Fhttp%3A%2F%2Fcmalliance.org%2Frss%2Ftozer

"God has made us in His likeness, and one mark of that likeness is our free will. We hear God say, "Whosoever will, let him come." We know by bitter experience the woe of an unsurrendered will and the blessedness or terror that may hang upon our human choice. But back of all this and preceding it is the sovereign right of God to call saints and determine human destinies. The master choice is His, the secondary choice is ours. Salvation is from our side a choice, from the divine side it is a seizing upon, an apprehending, a conquest by the Most High God. Our "accepting" and "willing" are reactions rather than actions. The right of determination must always remain with God."