Words with Pictures

This is what the digital age does to us.

edelman8095:

Spot on post by britticisms (Photo also from britticisms):

“A text message is the way we communicate without having to go through the burden of verbal communication. Speaking makes us vulnerable. It happens instantly and there is a limited barrier of control. I tell my friends to drop budding relations where communication by text is the only form of communication outside of sporadic face-to-face interactions. Text messages are limiting and limited - 160 characters, abbreviations, symbols, cliche phrases substituting for more elaborate thoughts.

The perfect way to avoid a friend is by text. Voicemails don’t normally go missing but it’s easy to miss a text, or to get one and read it and forget about it. Rarely does one remember a sentence largely comprised of LOLs and OMGs. They all start to blend. With a voicemail, I must sit with the message, listen to what was being said and how it was being said.

The easiest way to avoid pain is through a text. The idea of a text can seem quite absurd. It’s you I’m communicating with, but not really. If I ask something of you, and you decline, a part of me feels as though the communication never happened, and the pain of rejection is therefore less real. You said this to me, but not totally.

The easiest way to create pain is through a text. The lack of nuance, the distance in the gesture can make an, “I’m sorry. I think we should break up,” a form of punishment. Our relationship, or the end of it, can be articulated in LESS than 160 characters. What I mean to say is true, and the only way I can say it is precisely, and without emotion, and as quickly as possible. Here are my thoughts. I don’t have very many. Take them for what they are.”

-Amanda, 24, US

[Philippians 3:8] What is more, I consider everything a loss compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them rubbish, that I may gain Christ……

—

ok, so I may have not reached to Paul’s standard of counting everything I’ve gained a lost… 

BUT, I’ve got a testimony

The Bachelor of Communication (Corporate Communications) speaks of the 3 years worth wonderful enlightenment, life changing lessons learnt, and skills developed, for the His glory.

It speaks of hardship and thankfulness.

It speaks of truth and dependency on Christ

It speaks of mercy and grace.

It speaks of relationship, friendship that bonds one person to another.

Most importantly, it speaks of love. The illumination of who and what love is, and the power that comes from within. Love is God’s greatest gift, a gift which assures usthat we will walk, run, climb with perseverance the race marked out for us till we reach our eternal home. 

Till then, L’Chaim! in Christ.

1.  Decide what kind of auntie you want to be. (tai tai, see lai, old-amah aunty, young and happening aunty, etc.)
   
   
2. Start thinking like one. Program yourself to be an auntie for the day, and keep asking yourself, what would aunty do? (WWAD?)
   
   
3.  Wake up early in the morning for a walk in the park with another group of auntie. Dress in polo-t and track or 3/4 pants, and don’t forget a hat. Consider also joining the taichi/qigong group. Then join the retiree aunties and uncles for RM1 breakfast and free coffee at ikea at (9.00-9.30am).
   
   
4.  When you come back, think about cleaning – and start getting obsessed about cleaning the house, dusting, humming the “Happy working song!” helps a lot.
   
   
5. Plan to cook and bake for the day and write out a shopping list! -Depending on what type of auntie you want to be, you can choose to go to supermarket/wet market to get groceries. (visit www.marthastewart.com for assistance)
6.  Arrange a cook/bake together with other aunties/auntie-wannabe, or if you just want to hang out, find other aunty friends and have a tea party.
7. Your social conversation should start with, “last time, when I was young, I used to…” and end it with “ah, good times, good times”…
8. Your conversations should also include topics on cholesterol level and eating
   balanced diet, effectiveness of child brain development interventions, work-family life balance, and potential schools/lessons for your future kids, types of potatoes/apples, how and what to bake.
9. Go visit your neighbour’s kids and give them lots of sweets, hugs and kisses! Tell them “aiyoh you so cute! So big girl/boy ady!
10. Watch soap operas ( English auntie), Chinese series (tai tai)
11. When you go out for coffee/tea, start colleting the extra sugar and creamer sachets, and tissue given by the restaurant.
12. Organize your handbag (make sure it is a big one). You should have the following items inside.

•  Nail clipper
•   Sugar/creamer sachets
•  Tissue – wet and dry
•   Little Pharmacy – band aid, minyak angin, poh chai yun
•   Toothpick
•   Reading glasses
•   A bottle of water
•   Big wallet.
•  Sweets – just to give kids when you see them on the street
• Pen and notebook – to write shopping list for organized aunties
• Lipsticks (of different shades) and some make up
• Reusable grocery bags 

Adapted from The Gospel Coalition

In God’s kindness, I had the privilege of meeting and spending a little time with Fred Zaspel during the Ocean City Bible College.  I was impressed with the evident way Fred loves his wife, Kim, and his children.  His passion for the word of God and for Christ our Savior is evident.  And don’t get him started talking about Warfield!  He’s written a wonderful book on Warfield’s theology.  But Fred possesses a rich sense of humor, too.  And that’s come through not only in our conversation but also in our emails recently.  Here’s an example of why Fred’s a man after my own heart:

Daddy’s Rules for Dating His Daughters

Rule One:

If you pull into my driveway and honk you’d better be delivering a package, because you’re sure not picking anything up.

Rule Two:

You do not touch my daughter in front of me. You may glance at her, so long as you do not peer at anything below her neck. If you cannot keep your eyes or hands off of my daughter’s body, I will remove them.

Rule Three:

I am aware that it is considered fashionable for boys of your age to wear their trousers so loosely that they appear to be falling off their hips. Please don’t take this as an insult, but you and all of your friends are complete idiots. Still, I want to be fair and open minded about this issue, so I propose this compromise: You may come to the door with your underwear showing and your pants ten sizes too big, and I will not object. However, in order to ensure that your clothes do not, in fact, come off during the course of your date with my daughter, I will take my electric nail gun and fasten your trousers securely in place to your waist.

Rule Four:

I’m sure you’ve been told that in today’s world, sex without utilizing a “Barrier method” of some kind can kill you. Let me elaborate, when it comes to sex, I am the barrrier, and I will kill you.

Rule Five:

It is usually understood that in order for us to get to know each other, we should talk about sports, politics, and other issues of the day. Please do not do this. The only information I require from you is an indication of when you expect to have my daughter safely back at my house, and the only word I need from you on this subject is: “early”

Rule Six:

I have no doubt you are a popular fellow, with many opportunities to date other girls. This is fine with me as long as it is okay with my daughter. Otherwise, once you have gone out with my little girl, you will continue to date no one but her until she is finished with you. If you make her cry, I will make you cry.

Rule Seven:

As you stand in my front hallway, waiting for my daughter to appear, and more than an hour goes by, do not sigh and fidget. If you want to be on time for the movie, you should not be dating. My daughter is getting ready, a process than can take longer than painting the Golden Gate Bridge. Instead of just standing there, why don’t you do something useful, like changing the oil in my car?

Rule Eight:

The following places are not appropriate for a date with my daughter:  Places where there are beds, sofas, or anything softer than a wooden tool. Places where there is darkness. Places where there is dancing, holding hands, or happiness. Places where the ambient temperature is warm enough to introduce my daughter to wear shorts, tank tops, midriff T-shirts, or anything other than overalls, a sweater, and a goose down parka zipped up to her throat. Movies with a strong romantic or sexual theme are to be avoided; movies which features chain saws are okay. Hockey games are okay. Old folks homes are better.

Rule Nine:

Do not lie to me. I may appear to be a potbellied, balding, middle-aged, dimwitted has-been. But on issues relating to my daughter, I am the all-knowing, merciless god of your universe. If I ask you where you are going and with whom, you have one chance to tell me the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth. I have a shotgun, a shovel, and five acres behind the house.

Rule Ten:

Be afraid. Be very afraid. It takes very little for me to mistake the sound of your car in the driveway for a chopper coming in over a rice paddy near Hanoi. When my Agent Orange starts acting up, the voices in my head frequently tell me to clean the guns as I wait for you to bring my daughter home. As soon as you pull into the driveways you should exit the car with both hands in plain sight. Speak the perimeter password, announce in a clear voice that you have brought my daughter home safely and early, then return to your car – there is no need for you to come inside. The camouflaged face at the window is mine.