Sunday, August 29, 2004
i was going thru my old emails and found this from fishy152. how true. how sad. a reminder of our selfishness in holding this amazing msg of life to ourselves out of fear, a reminder of what is going on on the other side of the world while we live comfortably on this side, and a reminder of good stewardship of the resources that our heavenly father has graciously blessed us with.
“You are the light of the world. A city on a hill cannot be hidden. Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven. Matthew 5:14-16
This year 2,000,000 people in Africa will have died of AIDS. If that number is too great to fathom, it means that by the time you have finished reading this, (assuming that it will take you about five minutes) 20 Africans will have lost their lives to the AIDS pandemic. Often times they are painful deaths, mothers lying on the floor of their grass huts writhing at death
But, there is hope. Inexpensive, easily produced drugs called ARVs (anti-retro-virals) exist and are available now. They can prolong life and make live worth living all at the same time. Yet there is little support worldwide in sending these much needed drugs to Africa, (mid hundreds of millions of American dollars). In comparison, we, as a people spend approximately 14 billion a year on ocean cruises, 18 billion on make-up, and in the UK alone 11 billion is spent every year on Ice Cream. For further consideration, universal literacy is estimated to cost 5 billion and change, and clean water for all is said to require about 10 billion dollars. All of which is overshadowed by the 200 billion dollars humanity spends every year on war. In terms of dollar signs it is arguably the most lucrative business we have created for ourselves to date.
The global community undoubtedly has the ability to send the 5 billion a year to Africa in order to supply the drugs and run the programs and services needed to quell the AIDS pandemic in Africa, but it has yet to happen, and it is a sad, sad truth indeed when desire fails to meet ability. One cannot help but sit and stare and shudder for a moment realizing that something has gone horribly wrong.
The point of it all, (if it needs to be any sharper) crystallizes into the form of a question. If you held in your hands the ability to help prevent a pandemic that would result in unimaginable amounts of death and suffering, would you? Or, would you sink back to your place of comfort and cave in on the people that need you most; all the while drinking from the cup of bitterness because of the state of affairs that seem, yet may not be, oh so unchangeable.
The truth of the matter is that we as Christians do in fact sit on the remedy of unfathomably great proportions every waking hour. We all have within us the knowledge and belief of Jesus which grants a life free from death and an earthly existence worth living. This is of greatest import because try as it may mankind will never be able to save lives, only prolong living. Jesus alone can save life and make life truly worth living.
Yet often, we sit on this truth with our arms folded and our hearts faced towards each other, ready to welcome people to the circle of eternal life, but seldom searching for people who may be living a phantasm of a life which leads them down the road of death.
If you held in your hands a cure greater than death that could stop a pandemic more far reaching than AIDS. If it was as effortless as engaging with people who are aren’t Christian, would you sit on it?.
I have long wondered when I will finally shed this selfish skin I’m in, grown so thick and unnerving, and finally feel.
Saturday, August 28, 2004
More Olympic Notes
- Does Van Koeverden live in Vancouver?
- Losing to the Swiss beach volleyball team is like losing to the Jamaican bobsled team.
- Quitting the Olympics b/c you don't want to compete against a Jew is like signing up for choir and then quitting when you find out you have to sing.
- If you ever make it to the Olympics, and if you're good enough to win gold, when they pay your national anthem, don't sing along. You'll look dumb.
- Why was there no coverage of archery, badminton, fencing, handball, judo, taekwondo, or ping pong on TV? I'd've love to watch some of those rather than countless hours of volleyball, rowing, and diving. I feel ripped off having access to only 1/2 the olympics.
- The CBC commentator for swimming talks faster than the guy from the Micro Machines commercials.
- The boxing colour commentator is an idiot.
- Larry Brown sucks.
Sunday, August 22, 2004
ed and i went to visit ann and ken at the hospital today. mayah is so cute!! another lady was coming up in the elevator with us after having given birth. her baby looked a lot like mayah. do all newborns look the same? maybe it's the little hat and being completely wrapped up in blankets that does it. i'm still getting used to thinking of an extra person in ann and ken's family. :P ann went thru 24 h of labour. O_o makes me want to adopt. lol. but i know that having that baby in your arms makes all that pain worth it... or at least i think it does. :P thank God for a safe (albeit long and painful) delivery and new addition to their family!!
today sue got baptized. congrats, sue! :) crowds of ppl (and i mean crowds!!) came to see her - from queens and from vancouver. you know what i noticed though? they all came in twos... like couples. O_o and no, it wasn't just me!! i've been noticing that in the last half yr. that lots of new young ppl i see in the congregation who are about my age (or maybe a couple yrs older) all come in twos now. hmm... i guess it has to do with age... and stage of life. this is it - when everyone is already hooked up... and the single ppl start feeling a little odd during get-togethers cuz everyone brings their significant others. lol. i still remember the ccf-er reunion at hot pot king. vicky was my date. :P i guess it feels a little strange to be out of the single crowd now... i don't really think of myself as part of a pair yet. it is something new, but then again, i think i'd always like to be thought of as an individual rather than somebody's girlfriend ... or an appendage. lol. i think some ppl accomplish that better than others. hmm... lotsa new things to think about now. :P
anyhoo, i better go do laundry. it seems like i'm forever doing laundry. if only i didn't have to wear clothes so often!!! lol.
Saturday, August 21, 2004
shoe sale!!
until sept 5, the shoe company is giving everyone who brings in a pair of 'gently worn' shoes no tax on their new shoes!! the old pair of shoes will be donated to charity and the shoe company will donate $2 to united way. so are you looking for a pair of new shoes? why don't you check out the shoe company and bring in your old pair to exchange? :)
it's the end of the day and i feel so relaxed!! :O this is definitely a new feeling after being out all day. :P
what a nice saturday. :)
the gcn meeting this morn was thankfully not too long over 2 h (and somewhat productive). we all got to see stan and yeelee's new house (or rather, yeelee's house and stan's garage. lol.) - it's got a nice finished basement and a good-sized backyard with a tiny little pond and waterfall! looking forward to some bbqs there. :P then ed hadn't got called in yet to work, so we met up at the promenade for lunch. what fun!! grocery shopping at t&t - the chinese version of loblaws!! :P i've never been there before - you should go if you haven't - they've got lotsa free samples!! and a great cooked food/deli counter - lotsa variety and even a place where you can sit and eat... and a microwave to warm up your food!
got to see sharon at my eye appt... my prescription didn't go up - woohoo! hung out with ed for awhile, then i went to go buy flowers and then cheer on the jr team at their game vs the oracles. go CIA go!! :D iulia came for awhile and we were cheering with gloria and this guy albert who was the heart of the cheering squad. :D everyone should have an albert on their team! :P off to dinner at loon gae we went. and then home again, home again - jiggity jig.
i'm glad hanging out with my boyfriend is so relaxing. *sigh* :D yah - we're official now! so you can go celebrate for me. heehee. :D
btw - big news for ann and ken!! mayah trinity odelia cindy foo was born on thurs, aug 20 at 4:13 am. congrats you two!! :D your lives will never be the same again. :P
Friday, August 20, 2004
Some Olympic Notes
- I dunno why the Americans liked our Roots uniforms so much.. North America looked like a bunch of flight attendants marching into the Olympics. (The Brits', I didn't see.)
- "Russian Blue Army" just doesn't have the same ring to it.
- I'm so sick of Olympic themed commercials, it's not even funny. (Tho, that non-Olympic, Alice Cooper Business Depot one I did quite enjoy)
- Canada sucks.
Wednesday, August 11, 2004
Beggars Banquet
When: Tomorrow (Aug 12) at 7:30pm (I believe)
Where: City Hall
Why: To come and exploit a situation for your own personal agenda.
T.O. needs its own Rudy Giuliani
TDRC
OCAP
Monday, August 09, 2004
wow. i can't believe richard blogs more often than me now!! :O
and ya know what? i think of lots of things to blog about. the only reason i don't anymore is cuz i'm not on the computer so much. and whenever i think of something, i'm walking down the street or somethin' like that. so i can't write it down. and then when i get to a computer... i completely forget!
but anyhoo, i had lunch with amy today at milestones. we shared a california salad (with strawberries, goat cheese, poppy seeds and glazed pecans) and their pasta special which was penne with shaved prime rib, asiago cheese and i forget what else. but it was YUMMY. and of course the company was excellent! :D hahaha - so funny - you know you're in the right company when we have so much to talk about that one person (me) suggests we set an agenda each time so we can be sure to cover all the topics and the other (amy) agrees!! lol. oh yes, and we're also supposed to email each other beforehand so that we can think about what we're gonna say at our "meeting" and then have our thoughts all ready to discuss when we meet. hahahaha. tooo funny!! hurray for efficiency and organization! lots to talk about - God has been working in both of our lives and blessed us with many good things and realizations lately. he is GOOD!
what else have i been doing lately?
oh yes, i went over to mike's on sat aft to help him organize his pix. we spent a couple hours putting pix into albums. it was fun! and relaxing... just what i needed. :) good times catching up and looking at his pix. santorini. *sigh* i gotta get myself there one day!!
anyhoo, i've been up to lots more, but it's time to go run and then read up on "guidance" (from celebration of discipline. quite interesting!!) so i'll ttyl8r. :) byebye!
Thursday, August 05, 2004
i'm so happy!
living in community... so this is what it's like.
we're so blessed to have so many ppl praying for us. :)
God is GOOD!
i know i'm being cryptic. :P but i wanted to share my joy. hopefully i'll be able to share the good news with you sometime soon. ;)
