ZOMG new blog post! (God's Voice - Hear and Obey design)

It's been like, more than a year since I last updated. Woo! And no, this isn't some lengthy, witty piece filled my fears and musings about leaving seminary and entering full-time pastoral ministry. Maybe someday, eh?

Anyway.

Just sharing a simple little logo I created from scratch for our church camp's theme. :)

Doesn't it kinda look like a poster for a musical? :P

Ever had a celebrity pray for you?

The wonders of social networking:

For those of you who don't know who she is (probably all of you unless you own a Playstation 3), Christina Lee is an American Korean who hosts the Playstation Network's program called PULSE. Maybe not such a big celebrity for most people, but still someone I respect for her work nevertheless, especially because she's not ashamed of being Christian in the public eye.

I know her prayer isn't any more powerful than another's, but I find it very encouraging for God to be using someone of influence to reach out and bless others, especially in the gaming scene where many youths are easily influenced by people they look up to.

More Toolman Moments

*Grunt grunt*

My Guitar Hero World Tour guitar controller stopped working one day because I had left the batteries in for a few months, and they had leaked. After trying to clean the battery terminals with a variety of things (ranging from tissues, cotton buds, nail polish remover, WD-40, etc.) and failing to get it to work, I finally opened it up. What I found, was that the ground wire connected to the battery terminal had been eaten by battery corrosion, and had been disconnected.

Enter my newly purchased soldering iron (my very own cheapy one that takes an eternity to heat up to solder-melting heights).

I cleaned off whatever battery corrosion was left with baking soda (from a cake shop) dissolved in water, and went at the wire clipping, stripping, solder removal, and re-soldering for both live and ground wires to balance it.

So here's the controller all opened up:

Here's a close up of the affected wires, already re-soldered:

So here's the most important part after it's been reassembled:

See the red lights? It works! :D

I can finally have a full band again in Rock Band 2 (at least until I get the keyboard controller for Rock Band 3).

For the Record

The only link to the first sermon I gave on the 12th of December 2010 at Wesley Methodist Church Johor Bahru (entitled 'The Gifts of the Magi') was posted in a Facebook comment, so it'll probably be buried soon enough. So for archive purposes, I decided to post it up here (http://memoirsofadinghy.blogspot.com/2010/12/for-record-12-12-10-sermon-now-with.html), together with my Powerpoint presentation. I also edited out the buzzing noise in the background, so the result is much cleaner (though you can hear some digitalization if you listen too closely). My apologies for early/late animations - audio and video sync gets a little screwy when recording Powerpoint to a fixed audio track.

DIY Success

The thing about headphones is, no matter how great sounding they are and how well they're made, they're bound to die on you sooner or later. Such was the case with my faithful Sennheiser PX 100s, which I got for RM 180 about 4 or 5 years back - the sound on one side kept cutting off unless I held the cable in a certain angle. My first thought was: 'Dang - just when I got a replacement pair of foam pads for the ear pieces from e-bay.'

I definitely want these headphones again - nothing can beat the perfect blend of sound, portability, comfort, and value for money that these babies offer. But I don't exactly wanna fork out RM 180 just because one stupid cable is broken inside. So after unsuccessfully looking for someone to repair it for me during my two months in Johor, I decided to take matters into my own hands.

This is the old plug. As you can see, the red wire (right channel) is frayed. The plug is molded and cannot be reused, so I just chopped the whole thing off.

I managed to order a 3.5 mm stereo plug from e-bay for US $0.99 (RM 3.11), but the real challenge was getting my hands on a soldering iron here. Thankfully, I knew someone who knew someone who could lend it to me... eventually. I also had to make my own makeshift clamp using a pair of pliers, some rubber bands, and a cello-tape dispenser.

And here's the finished product, nicely soldered, crimped, and screwed back together with the new plug. Most importantly, it was working 100%. I can't tell you how proud I am of myself, 'cause I'm really lousy with my hands, in general. This is pretty much my first attempt at soldering - it wasn't very pretty, but it worked.

I'm happy. :)

Puzzling Over Photoshop

(Click the image to enlarge)

This was part of a flyer I designed for JB Wesley (the church in the picture). I was thinking that it looked a bit like some kinda banking or insurance advertisement.

If the photoshop is a bit crappy it's not just because of my lack of talent, but rather 'cause I just learnt how to use the pen tool (can you say hallelujah?). That, plus the puzzle texture I downloaded had annoying gaps between every puzzle piece that I wasn't going to manually extract out with my newly acquired super awesome penning skills.

It's That Time of the Day

The following is an article I wrote back in 2005 (according to the file's date stamp): 

It’s That Time of the Day by Shearn Sya

Quiet time… The ever-elusive ingredient to healthy Christian living almost all Christians struggle with. What makes it so difficult for us to set aside a mere slice of our entire day to devote to our Almighty Father?

            Almost every Christian knows that quiet time is required of us. Indeed, it is not forced down our throats, but it IS something we should be doing every day without fail, and we know that. Before we go further into the matter, however, let us first have a look at the question of the hour: What is quiet time?

            There is no specific guideline to quiet time. The Bible does not say ‘Thou shalt doeth quiet timeth before thy head hitteth thy pillow’ or something. However, a fairly common definition of quiet time would be: setting a certain period of your time each day to personally spend with God, usually accompanied with prayer and meditating upon His word. This time is up to the individual. Some do it in the morning, before they even brush their teeth, some do it while brushing their teeth, and some even do it while driving (though this is not advisable. Driving + Closed Eyes = Bye Bye). King David did his quiet time before he went to bed at night - When I remember Thee on my bed, I meditate on Thee in the night watches. - Psalms 63:6.

            There is also no specific time limit for quiet time. The author of Psalms 119:97 meditated on God’s word all day long. Most of us do not do that, however. We usually need a specific time to allocate, turning it into a slot in our busy, busy schedule. How long each individual dwells and meditates on God and His word each day varies from person to person. Some may have so many responsibilities to fulfill that they have perhaps only ten to fifteen minutes per day to spend in God’s presence, when everything is still, before they have to jump back into their worker bee’s suit and buzz around as usual.

            The activities undertaken during quiet time also vary. Some prefer to follow a specific study guide to the Bible, others would use a daily devotional, such as Our Daily Bread, while some just read the Bible from cover to cover. Prayer is often an axiomatic ingredient in the quiet time recipe. It may be favorable to simply be still and meditate upon the Lord and His word, while some prefer turning on some soft music to help them worship at the same time, and a few turn up some rocking praise songs to jump about to (Note: This is not very conducive for being still….. obviously). Whatever works for the person coming before the Lord; it’s a personal choice.

Why is quiet time so difficult to be consistent in, then? Many people tend to allow it to fall into the ‘routine’ category. When the same thing is done day in, day out, at the same time, in the same posture, wearing the same clothes, etc., the mortal body will almost certainly try to go into self-automated mode. Can you imagine quiet time reduced to a three second prayer of ‘ThankyouforthisdaypleasseforgiveoursinsandblesstomorrowinJesusnameweprayamen.’ every single day at 9:23 p.m., on the floor, 14^th tile from the door of the room, head bent over at a 23º angle, clothed in a creased pair of Smurf pyjamas? Though the situation may not be so extreme in most cases, it isn’t particularly far from ridiculous. Those who find they are able to do quiet time consistently and meaningfully have found it helpful to keep it fresh with new material, new ways of worshiping God, etc. It does not hurt to have accountability in your spiritual life, either. Though it may not reach the scope of someone doing quiet time with their spouse, it is still possible to have a prayer partner to start off the daily devotional, then have your own personal meditations and so on, and wrapping it up with a prayer with your partner. United, we stand. Divided, we make excuses.

However, fear of routine is not the only excuse for quiet time shirkers. A common excuse people use would be that they are too busy. A day is divided into 24 hours. An hour is broken down into 60 minutes. A minute is comprised of 60 seconds. Of the 86400 seconds per day, how many of those are spent unconscious? How many fly past when watching a half hour (1800 seconds) TV program? How many disappear in a 2 hour chat session with people you will probably see the next day in school/college? When you come right down to it, how busy can you be to not afford a slice of your 86400 second day to devote to the one who created you? The one who gave you the ability to sleep? The one who created the actors in the TV show you follow so religiously? The one who created topics to talk about for 2 hours?

Laziness is often another excuse. Or forgetfulness. Or exhaustion. Or opportunity. The excuses just go on and on, but that’s all they are – excuses. When there’s a will, there’s a way. When there’s God’s will, there’s a road map, BMW convertible, and an adorable puppy to accessorize your passenger seat.

God bless your time with Him.