daily rambliniscings

So now two weeks of the Christmas holiday school break is gone….yawn. 

My normal sleeping pattern is to go to bed around 11pm (i know, it should be more around 9:30), sleep until around 3am, then lie awake for 1 – 2 hours thinking about everything this little brain can wrap itself around, then go back to sleep when it starts getting light outside, then waking up for good around 7:40am.  I’ve often thot that this is a bit “abnormal”, and that was reconfirmed to me this week by friends 🙂

Anyway, last nite the same thing happened, except, instead of 1 -2 hours, it was more like 3 hours of lying awake…. One reason is that it is cold in Bangkok now, probably around 18C (65F) at nite, so i have to turn off my fan which normally drowns out the 6-lane traffic outside.  Also, last nite i was thinking and praying about the possibility of opening some kind of new school in the northern part of Thailand, a school based 100% on the Bible and on the inspired counsel in the Spirit of Prophecy (books by Ellen White), and also thinking about what to call people, and how the Thai 1858 Great Controversy translation is progressing, and what i should be doing in life, especially after my teaching job finishes in May or June (or perhaps earlier if the school is sold).

 Anybody, if you have good advice on how to start a little self-supporting school along the lines of Madison, Avondale, Battle Creek etc., please help us out.  This is a very big project in my estimation, altho in the overall world view, i know it is not so large.  But to start a school following God’s principles in EVERY line, i really believe could have a huge impact not only on Thailand, but on the whole world 🙂

“Madison, God’s Beautiful Farm” and “Nashville Agricultural and Reform Institute” are two books i really want to get a hold of, and i will also be reading diligently “Proper Education” in Testimonies For the Church volume 22.

Saw this web site this morning explaining how the Jews are persecuted.  It is so true, and so ignored/falsified by most of the world’s media. http://www.terrorismawareness.org/what-really-happened/

1. Go home (heaven).
2. Print a new health book that is a compilation similar to Counsels on Diet and Foods.
3. Get the Myanmar and Thai 1858GC translations completed and print and help distribute them.
4. See the Romanian, Chinese, and Azeri 1858GC translations completed.
5. Find more translators for Indian languages and Indonesian and Spanish.
6. Get the animation for the 1858GC at least half done, and find funds to do this, and if possible, funds to make a 3D movie.
7. Get funds to my northern Indian pastor friend to support 10 full-time evangelists working near the Bhutan border, in preparation for the opening up of that country probably after elections this summer.
8. Help my Thai friends start either a school for kids, or a Bible training/medical missionary school for teens/adults etc.
9. Do my work well at the school where i’m employed.
10. Keep doing 1858 Great Controversy studies and Bible studies with people.
11. Go to Japan.
12. Finish off the corn flakes i bot in Greece in 2006.
13. Keep telling the straight truth, and learn more from the Bible and Ellen White’s writings what the straight truth is – especially in regards to end-time prophecy and the 1260 days and 7 trumpets.
14. Read the entire Old Testament thru for the 4th time (currently twice English and once Japanese).
15. Be led by God every moment.

1. Make sure you know what the will of God is for you!
2. Travelling can wear you out.
3. Sabah Malaysia, in general, has the most dedicated Seventh-day Adventists anywhere.
4. The false doctrines of “don’t judge” and “unconditional love” are still very much alive in our SDA church.
5. Many people are nice to you until you point out their sins.
6. Kids are very precious, especially when you see their minds humbly accept Jesus as God 🙂
7. Working for someone is hard when Christian principles are not viewed (or carried out) in a similar light.
8. Most workers could care less about anything other than their paycheck.
9. Being white in a poor land can make you a target of various things.
10. You should change your water bottle every so often.
11. My best friend has the biggest bank account in the world 🙂
12. Some church leaders will offer to kick you out of places if you disagree with them.
14. It is a very good thing to show mercy.
15. Smells of food cooking can really make you sick.
16. Lots of bus drivers in Bangkok are crazy.
17. If you don’t use toilet paper, make sure there are no cuts on your fingers.
18. Kids learn more about life playing at recess than in the classroom.
19. Four seasons are good for your mental health.
20. A true friend is very, very precious and rare.

2008 starts off with a real name for this blog instead of “blog theme” – ha!

Wishing everyone a closer walk with Jesus this new year.

I think my new year’s resolution will be the same as last year’s – to pray more.  I really, really want to know the will of God, and then have the health and courage to do it.

No matter what.

Three weeks ago my apartment building caretaker gave a tenant all the keys in the place, and he got into my room and stole all my money (which i’ve gotten around 60% back). Now, this morning, i open my door to see seven men standing around, and two of them flash police badges. They asked me about the man who just moved in next door, and i tell them that a couple of ladies moved in, and i saw a man with them last Friday. They sing karaoke until late at nite, and when i knocked on their door 2 nites ago, around 10:30, they turned it off. The police asked me to knock on that door, which i did, but thot it was very strange. No one came, so i told them i needed to get to work, and as i had finished my cucumber and cracker that was the tail end of my breakfast, i vamoosed.

Should i stay or should i go?

I’ve heard this idiom for a long time, and always knew it was not correct, but seeing this graph today shows, at a glance, just how wrong it is:

http://www.visualizingeconomics.com/2007/11/21/last-2000-of-growth-in-world-income-and-population-revised/

Sure am glad to live in this golden age of the world, even tho this world is hell compared to the unfallen worlds.

Two new videos were put up on YouTube today.  One is of the 8th Southeast Asia Union Mission Pathfinder Camporee held last week in Thailand, and the other is of a Christmas Pageant held at the elementary school where i teach.

Pathfinder Camporee: 

 http://youtube.com/watch?v=_kpsx9nipJg

Christmas Cantata:

http://youtube.com/watch?v=a4zwrc1BZtg

I don’t believe any of the current spin — that the world is warming and us humans are to blame. There is no scientific evidence at all for humans causing any rise in temperatures, as there is no hard scientific evidence for any type of rise in temperatures at all! They say that in the last 100 years, temperatures have risen 0.6C. That is with a margin of error of around 1C!! But even if true that it has risen 0.6C in the last 100 years, it still doesn’t mean that the long-term “since the flood” trendline has been broken to the upside.

What i despise about the whole “global warming” myth tho, is that it has become a religion, and anyone talking against it is automatically branded as “cuckoo”. It should raise lots of warning bells in especially Seventh-day Adventist minds when we see people of all religions/faiths/athiests etc. join together in promulgating some theory.

I have seen that most all of the leading “global warming” promoters (btw, the people who started global warming first said the world was in global cooling, but nobody believed them, so they changed their tune 180!) are nearly all pro-death – meaning that they believe the less humans there are, the better.

Well, today i found this article that shows where this whole movement may be leading in their next steps to “save the planet”. It comes from a doctor in Australia who proposes a “carbon tax” on every baby:
http://www.news.com.au/story/0,23599,22896334-2,00.html

“A WEST Australian medical expert wants families to pay a $5000-plus “baby levy” at birth and an annual carbon tax of up to $800 a child.

Writing in today’s Medical Journal of Australia, Associate Professor Barry Walters said every couple with more than two children should be taxed to pay for enough trees to offset the carbon emissions generated over each child’s lifetime. “

It is nice to see at least one person has a clear mind:
“Australian Family Association spokeswoman Angela Conway said it was ridiculous to blame babies for global warming.
I think self-important professors with silly ideas should have to pay carbon tax for all the hot air they create,” she said.”

What is probably next (or maybe a few years down the pipe)? Outright killing of people of who don’t go along with this – of course starting with the killing of the unborn and very old and mentally mixed-up….

This is a very nice Bible verse, and probably most of us smile inwardly and nod our heads when we read this passage from Jesus himself.  But what happens when something happens to really test if we will live it out in our lives or not?

Last Sabbath i went to the Bangkok SDA Chinese Church, getting there in record time of only 1:15.  The Southeast Asian Union ASI director was preaching there, and had asked me by email the day before to bring some English 1858 Great Controversy books.  Of course i was only too happy to oblige, and had a good time distributing the books to the people, and then listening to him give a sermon word-for-word covering the entire chapter 31 – Covetousness – wonderful!

My friend and i went back together, getting off our bus stop around 4:20, having spent almost 2 hours on the bus.  Arriving at my room, i went to my Acer notebook, and popped in The Miracle Maker CD, and watched that.  While getting the computer set up, i noticed that my shaver that i always leave on top of my little black personal-items travel bag was missing.  “Oh well, it probably just slipped down behind something” i thot, and spent the next hour and a half happily watching the claymation movie of Jesus’ life.

By now Sabbath is over, and i’m feeling hungry, especially since i don’t eat cooked food on the Sabbath anymore, and try to eat sparingly even of the simple food i do partake of.  So i put some split yellow mung beans in the water, and turn on the electric cooker.  Now i get serious about finding the shaver.  I look all around the black travel case – no luck.  I look elsewhere in my little room, thinking that maybe my brain was foggy in the morning, and i had left it somewhere else – no luck.  Something about the clothes in the box where my computer is wasn’t quite right, and hey! my notebook is always put in a black soft case and then inside a white plastic bag, but the plastic bag is on the bottom of the box now – what????!

My heart beats faster as i look at my suitcase.  It looks alright, in the same place.  My fingers slide down to the 3-number lock – my heart almost stops —– the numbers are set totally different than the way i leave them!!!  In a flash i open the suitcase, and look at the pockets where i keep all my money that i’ve earned since coming to Thailand in August – GONE!  I feel weak.  Oh no!  First thing i do is pray, then call my friend.  She and her husband come over pretty quickly, and advise me to fill out a police report.  There is a lot of advice given, like how i shouldn’t have kept so much money in my room, how i should have put an extra lock on my door, how i should have…..  Of course my own head presents me with lots of “what ifs?”, but the most important thing at the moment is to try and recover the stolen money.

…

do to others what you want them to do to youRead More »

In Values class today we reviewed the Mid-term exam.  We spent a little time with the last section, as that dealt with idols.  I drove home the point in several different ways that an idol cannot help you at all – it can’t speak, it can’t move, it’s just a rock or whatever somebody made it to be.  The kids got into too, making statements showing they fully understand that an idol is not going to get up and help you.  One girl, when i asked what an idol was going to do to help you if you have trouble, made the cross-legged position, closed her eyes, and put her fingers in the classic pose of this idol that is seen so often in Thailand, usually golden in color, sitting imposingly in or around a Buddhist temple.  I couldn’t help but laugh, and praised God inwardly that they fully understand that this rock isn’t going to, isn’t able to, cannot possibly, do anything at all, and will certainly not help you!

Then one student mentioned something, and 3 others (his brother was one) chimed in “yes, yes”.  “My mom said that there are good idols, and there are bad idols”.  Well, i was surprised, but quickly responded: “Even the GOOD one, what can it do to help you?  Can it get up and scare off a bad person who wants to hit you?  Can it give you food?  What CAN it do for you?”  They practically shouted out “NOTHING!!”  Praise God, praise God!!  I’m so happy i came here, and so happy that there are at least 7 young kids in Bangkok who have heard, and said it themselves, that idols cannot do anything at all 🙂

I started teaching in August with grade 3 and 4 students together – around 8 in all.  Then a new teacher was hired, and i got the 4 fourth graders only.  One left a month ago, one 2 weeks ago, and now…….i’m down to just one.  Why?  

Well, i started teaching at this school in August, and last Friday our administrator officially announced that the school needs more capital to continue.  I believe he did the right thing by telling all the parents and employees earlier than he is required to by law, as that is the Christian thing to do – to do unto others as you want them to do to you.

 What will happen to me?  I don’t know, but strangely enough, everything is moving pretty much according to what i had hoped for when first coming to this school, just that i did not know the format it would take – this school was not founded according to God’s will, in the country, starting small etc.  It is in a big city, with a huge building.  So no matter how further you purge the dross out, and make the school come closer to the ideal, it still has these two strikes against it.  But i believe that all this happening will somehow be to God’s glory, and that perhaps he has other plans that we don’t see yet (of course he does!)

I’ve been thinking a lot about this recently.  Yesterday i was feeling wretched, because of the partially uncooked garlic-type greens i had eaten on Tuesday, so stayed home.  While waiting for all the poison to get back up and out of my system, i had a chance to pray a lot.  I prayed mostly for the leaders of the school where i work.  They want to know exactly the will of God for them and this school, and wish to follow that will.  It is great working with people who put the will of God first and foremost in their lives 🙂

Bangkok is a much cooler 20C or so at nite, and 31C or so in the daytime – perfect!  If it weren’t for the noise and smells that assault most of the senses, this might be nice….well, no, i know we are supposed to get out of the cities, and if things go well, hopefully all of us following God’s will, will be able to get out of the cities soon.

Got my “non business” visa yesterday.  That lets me stay here for 90 days, but they said i can extend it to one year – good!

 The new health book i’ve been compiling has been on my mind, but off my fingers, ever since i came here from Malaysia.  There i worked on it a lot, and got it just about where i want it, but want others to take a look at it.  I haven’t printed it up, but yesterday a Fuji-Xerox team came to the school and put a gigantic demo model in and told us to do whatever we want with it for 7 days.

Yippee!

With the one-week 1858gc/Bible study in Chiang Mai coming up next week, this is really looking like a God-send 🙂

Yesterday my friend and i went to a small “evangelistic center” in the Thornburi section of Bangkok.  It took us about 2 hours of city bus travel to get there.  This is a Seventh-day Adventist run center, where they are supporting a family from Africa to open up new work and press forward the gospel in this neglected part of “old” Bangkok.

Mostly they teach English and other subjects, and slowly build up contacts and confidence among the people in the community.  Yesterday almost 30 people were there, and it was very nice to see these precious souls who have decided to follow Jesus in this land of Buddhist false-gods.  I think the most encouraged by the visit was the man who is the running the church himself.  In his sermon about Lot leaving Sodom, several times he had my friend and i come up to the front where he said we were like the 2 angels who came to Lot’s place 🙂

He played loud “Christian Country Music” from the VOP singers during lunchtime which was most unfortunate, but i pray the assembled people will want to learn more and more of Christ and spread the word to others.

After that i went to the Bangkok Chinese SDA church.  I met the Union Publishing Director while he was walking out.  He commented again about how he keeps running into me all over the place – ha!  I got my Sabbath clothes that i had left with the pastor when i went to Laos over 1 month ago, and then waited to see if that couple who so eagerly studied the 1858gc with me the previous week were interested in doing so again this week.  I saw the lady rehearsing a song on the stage, and what is that she is holding…..sure looks like a small black book with a golden 10 commandments on it.  Sure enough, when finished, she eagerly calls her husband over and the 3 of us cover chapter 4 in that precious book.  What a wonderful time!

Then i got on the bus, and after sunset, got off at Foodland.  It was my first time to this supermarket.  It is a “high-class” supermarket, with lots of imported items.  I was surprised to see that some of the things were cheaper than at BigC where i usually shop.  It felt a little luxurious/shameful to walk out of the store with only 2 bags and having spent 19usd.  But the kilo of German muesli, fresh-made cream cheese, olives, sda-made pnut butter, whole-wheat bread, japanese sweet potatoes and seaweed, tamarind paste, green peas, tomato soup, and especially the young coconut jelly (yummm!) will last a while i believe.

Tomorrow i have to go to the immigration office again to get my one-year teaching visa.  Then next week i plan to go up to Chiang Mai where i’ve been invited to speak to an assembled group of Thai-Hmong believers.  Lord willing, i plan to talk about the 1260, 1290, and 1335 days – of course all being in the future.

It’s been a long hiatus, but finally some of my pics are back up on the internet – yea!

Went to Safari World in Bangkok last Thursday with all the school students.  It was interesting to see the animal shows, but the large enclosure with the parakeets was probably the highlight.  Like most everything in this country, the facilities were not “world class”, but not terrible either.

Friday afternoon i was “teacher on duty”, so had to babysit the kids until they all go home.  It was great fun being the “horsey” until one 70kg 3rd grader fell on it at an angle — muscle being crused is a yucky feeling.

God is very good, and i’m getting along quite well in everything as far as i know.  Please keep praying for me.