sometimes i study

How lovely is Thy dwelling place

  

How blessed are those men indeed!
	Trusting in Thee they are made strong;
	Highways to Zion in their hearts,
	The way they care not, rough or long.

Ministry Excerpt: Have I been built?

As saved ones, we all admit that once we were clay but that we have become stones because of the Lord’s salvation. However, it is not enough simply to be stones; we still need to be built. No doubt, we are living stones, but a question remains: “Have we been built?” This is a serious question. If we have been built, then we, as stones, cannot be independent. Instead, we need to be dealt with and joined together with other stones.

Brothers and sisters, we must ask ourselves, “Have I been built? Am I connected with others? Am I in coordination with others? Or am I a stone, independent and isolated?” 

Brothers and sisters, in these last days God intends to recover this matter. God wants to recover not only the ground and the testimony of the church but also the building of the church. Whoever receives grace and mercy will bow his head and say, “Lord, have mercy on me, and have mercy also on my brothers and sisters. Build in us.”

On this earth who is not toiling or burdened?

No introduction is necessary for these two paragraphs, except to say that I realized today how much I have been toiling this week. So many frustrating situations beckon us daily to heed those simple words, "Come to me..." These lines of ministry come from The God-man Living,  by Witness Lee. This is surely the highest exposition of the gospels I have ever read. Anyway, I'll be in a coffee shop for maybe the next 6 hours, studying for an IFRS exam and writing a memo for a tax research class.  This is just a quick study-sabbatical. Anyway, here's the quote...

Who can tell me what this represents?

Get the answer, just around the corner...

going concern

buttermilk, cake flour, blueberry, pancakes. incredulous. somebody pinch me. this is a dream. i'm in breakfast heaven...

then suddenly, i read a comment from this precocious accounting student who wants to correct my financial statement from weeks ago. mr. chan, it seems you do have a point. here's his comment, posted just today:

I believe your breakfast is not being faithfully represented. It seems that you've expensed all of the costs in this one breakfast period. However, the griddle can be depreciated over its useful life of breakfasts. 

we affirm the previous comment and will capitalize the griddle expenditure to be depreciated over it's useful life. the $60 breakfast was actually a $35 breakfast.

- the staff at d&d would like to thank our loyal readers for their scrutiny and care

Oratorical Fireworks

I have to be honest, when they were first looking for a graduation speaker to represent the Class of 2003, they asked the smartest, most intelligent person that the University had to offer, one who had Rhodes Scholar Potential written all over him....and he turned them down.

So then they decided to ask the best looking, most attractive person in the student body who would be the poster boy for the University of Georgia with a gleaming smile and gorgeous face....and he turned them down as well.

Finally they just decided to ask the best all around student, one who could entertain a crowd of well over 30,000 people with his oratorical fireworks and irresistible charm....and I realized that if I were to turn them down 3 times in a row.....that would be pretty rude!

Introductory remarks of Garrett Gravesen

UGA Commencement Address, 2003


recycled post from 02/23/2008

Thoughts on Turgenev

Do you remember that obscure little Turgenev quote posted back in July? It's from On the Eve, written by Turgenev in 1859. I've excerpted a few paragraphs from the intro. It's a brilliant analysis. I have to confess that only after reading the intro did I resolve to read the book. Like most Russian novels, the character development in this book is astounding. But the theme is even more impacting. To me the entire book can be summarized in Shubin's humble question, "Will there ever be men among us?" Here's the introduction...

Midtown, ATL

Here's something I found on an old SD card today. It dates back to 2008. My camera had one of those shutter timers so I left it out on the balcony for a couple of days. You may recognize the buildings. One is the Fox Theater, which was formerly a mosque, and to the right is the Georgian Terrace Hotel. And just up the street is the Margaret Mitchell house (Gone with the Wind). I can't remember the intervals used to shoot this. Anyway, at the end are some random shots that somehow got mixed into the photo sequence. May have been from a thunderstorm. Enjoy.

Ministry Excerpt: Rivers of Living Water

Life and truth have one goal – the abundance of life. “I have come that they may have life and may have it abundantly” (John 10:10). In order to have the abundance of life, we first must read the Bible to learn the doctrines in the Bible. Someone who does not read the Bible cannot be rich in life. Believers who read the Bible only when they feel inspired are spiritually starving; such ones cannot have the abundance of life. However, to read the Bible does not automatically cause us to have the abundance of life. We still need the doctrines to become truth to us. For this reason, the New Testament encourages us not mainly to know doctrines but to fully know and walk in the truth. The apostle John loved the saints in truthfulness (2 John 1; 3 John 1). Because the Christian life is a matter of truth, Christian love must also be a matter of truth. If we do not possess the truth and walk n the truth, we cannot love others in truthfulness. It is possible to love others in darkness, but when we know the truth and walk in the truth, we love the truth and walk in the light.

The main point we need to see is the way to turn doctrines to life, or put in other words, the way to have the abundance of life. John 7:38 says, “He who believes into Me, as the Scripture said, out of his innermost being shall flow rivers of living water.” The rivers of living water are different aspects of life, including love, patience, humility, and all the riches of Christ, but we need to see how to practice this, how to cause these aspects of life to flow out of us. These rivers of life flow out through the truth. Actually, ever river is a truth. If we do not speak, nothing can flow out. In order to speak, we must know the doctrines and possess the truth. We cannot speak concerning Christ as love or patience if we have no knowledge of the truth concerning the riches of Christ. In order for the riches of Christ to flow out of us as rivers of living water, we must have and speak the truth.

The way to have the abundance of life and to flow out the riches of life is the way of the truth. We first need to know the doctrines. Then as we are open to the Lord and pray much, the Spirit will come to enlighten the doctrines, and they will become truth, which brings light and life. The more truth we have, the more riches of Christ as life we enjoy. Eventually, we will have the abundance of life. The abundance of life is altogether in the truth. When we release the truth by speaking, that is the flowing out of the riches of life. In order to minister life to others, we must speak, and in order to speak, we must read the Bible and study the truth to learn the doctrines. Without the doctrines we cannot have the truth, and without the truth there is no light or life.

The truth is altogether a matter of speaking. Our God is a speaking God. Hebrews 1:1-2 says, “God, having spoken of old in many portions and in many ways to the fathers in the prophets, has at the last of these days spoken to us in the Son.” God’s speaking is first conveyed to us in the form of doctrines, which become the truth to us through the Spirit’s enlightening. The truth is the shining of light, which brings us life. This means that in order to have the abundance of life, we must know the truth.

(Witness Lee Basic Principles Concerning the Eldership, 108-109)