雜崩能閱讀報告
JBL Reading Report

今天的教會寧相信「方法」而不相信禱告。這是教會復興遲遲未來到的原因。

羅錫為：為何復興順來遲？

Labels: Reflection

Posted by Alan Yu at 12/30/2007 12:51:00 AM | Permalink | Comments

Labels: Reflection

Posted by Alan Yu at 12/29/2007 10:59:00 AM | Permalink | Comments

一月份，第一次去Florida上學。Link 1，Link 2，Link 3


三月份，和Jubilant一起去retreat。


五月份，帶大兒子去Disneyland。Link 1，Link 2，Link 3，Link 4，Link 5，Link 6，Link 7


六月份，再到Florida上學。Link


七月份，陪太太到西雅圖公幹兼閉關做功課。Link 1，Link 2


八月份，一連三星期到Harrison Hot Springs，兩次去講道，一次去玩。Link


九月份，和一班同事去Whistler作一年一度的退修。


九月尾，到多倫多出席使者晚宴。Link


其實今年不算外遊太多，也不算太大規模（相比去年的地中海之行...）。明年該會飛得較密：一月頭去Florida，一月尾去Calgary，三月去Toronto，五月去Alaska，六月去San Francisco和Florida，七月去Jubilant Retreat，九月去Staff Retreat，十月去香港... 有啲恐怖...

Labels: Personal

Posted by Alan Yu at 12/26/2007 12:51:00 AM | Permalink | Comments

最喜歡的唱片–金獎（絕對正）

一天...
A-Day
今年一大驚喜發現。有火。高質素的低成本製作。可恨無宣傳。很希望他們還有下一隻。
推薦歌：敢想，火化，爸爸，你是最好的

十二金釵眾生花
陳輝陽
如果沒有Kary，如果沒有Stephy，如果有莫文蔚，這將會是一張perfect的唱片。Well，影像部分就有些參差...
推薦歌：眾生花，三千年前，星星月亮太陽

愛愛愛
方大同
我知是去年的，但我今年才買嘛。這張碟基本上在我整個上半年盤據在我的playlist內。無得彈。
推薦歌：全部

風生水起
農夫
其實，拍得住軟硬的一般水準啦。只是廣播道fans太經典。
推薦歌：全部

最喜歡的唱片–銀獎（很好但無心動興奮）

Chapel of Dawn
麥浚龍
相信無人有異議，這是一張高質數的唱片。只是，每次聽都在想，如果唱的那一個不是Juno就好了。我對Juno無偏見，只是，真的唱得麻麻地。徙。
推薦歌：pooru，成魔之路，左面，第三身，unhappy hour，亥時出世

The Journey of Present 擁抱現在
馮穎琪
一樣。音樂正，唱得一般。我嫌她的聲音太硬，唱jazz不夠委婉。
推薦歌：稀客，生日快樂，擁抱現在

What Really Matters
何韻詩
第一次買何韻詩。在高深與商業間拿捏得頗準確。其實，我覺得，以唱片計，已經超越梅艷芳。
推薦歌：木紋，天然沖晒，大紅袍

最喜歡的唱片–銅獎（值得鼓勵）

愛在記憶中找你
林峰
吳唱K應該非常慚愧。撇開個樣，林峰隻碟quality真的不錯，唱得好，只是有點悶。比起劉華的第一隻碟（只知道此刻愛你，對，我有買）好得多。
推薦歌：潑墨桃花，朋友請不要傷悲，赤地轉機，你並不孤單，自己保重

StAGE Dive
朱凌凌
買的時候其實一首歌都未聽過，好彩無買錯。未夠成熟，但新人來說水準不錯了。只是其實不需要攪到咁騎呢都會有客。最近的裸照有啲過火。
推薦歌：二至六，shadowman

怪誕城之夜
Zarahn
太少歌。太慢工出細貨。可否提高產量？到時再俾個銀獎你。
推薦歌：全部。

也最喜歡的單曲（即是不是全隻碟都ok但係有一首幾好）

開口
CK
反而不喜歡plug上台的仍未解決。喜歡這首歌的張力。唱得好。

夏日初體驗
Lollipop棒棒堂
今年我的iPod播得最多的一首歌，其次是夢想號和我有我的Young。對，夏天是需要那些聽了令人很暢快的歌。

回家
Eternity Girls
簡單，感動。

喔噢(男版)
PixelToy
服了黃偉文。啜核。

專屬天使
Tank
花樣少年少女，劇不感動，歌很感動。

與陌生人喝酒
林一峰
很寂寞的一首歌。很適合林一峰。

有點失望的唱片（其實唔差只係期望過高）

廣東大碟
Eric Kwok
賣點是廣東話歌詞嘛。但超貨不對辦。

一期一會
林一峰
不感動。無新意。還原不了陳百強，也沒有開創新境界。

後悔買了的唱片（照字面解）

擁抱
何耀珊
一個字：悶。師母都係咁話。

在你身邊
張學友
也是同一個字：悶。無一次可以在睡著前聽完整隻碟。

Labels: Interesting, Personal, Reflection

Posted by Alan Yu at 12/24/2007 12:01:00 AM | Permalink | Comments

The suffering of the church in the world is not a sign of Satan's victory. It is a sign of his realization of defeat.

-Darrell Johnson, in his book "Discipleship on the Edge"

Labels: Reflection, Thorns

Posted by Alan Yu at 12/23/2007 01:08:00 AM | Permalink | Comments

Brian McLaren's remarks for the year 2007:

It’s been a good year. I’ve spoken with about 50 different groups in 7 countries since January, and two observations have been confirmed time after time.

First, committed Christians and churches around the world are having many similar struggles.
Second, real signs of hope are emerging from the struggle. Leaders are waking up to our changing global context. They’re going deeper and deeper in their diagnosis of the problem, and as they do so, they’re seeing Jesus and the gospel in a beautiful new light. The center of gravity is beginning to shift. ...

I’d like to offer three encouragements for all who consider themselves part of this emergent phenomenon.

First, please don’t respond harshly to criticism. ...
Second, I think we need to acknowledge that something big is going on, bigger than any one group or movement or label. ... None of us owns it; none of us leads or controls it; none of us even fully grasps what it is yet. But I believe it’s the beginnings of an awakening and movement of the Holy Spirit. ...
Third, I hope we can resist the inevitable pull toward fragmentation and sectarianism that seem to be perennial occupational hazards of Christian ministry and mission. ... What could it mean if we continue to move forward together with open arms rather than crossed arms, with open hands rather than pointing fingers or clenched fists?

Link to the original article and as quoted on Emergent Village.

Labels: Reflection

Posted by Alan Yu at 12/22/2007 02:08:00 AM | Permalink | Comments

Seventeen-year-old Tim was browsing the Internet one night when his eye caught the image of a pop-up advertisement. “Find true love now,” it read. Pictured below was a young woman showing off her mostly-unclothed body.

Tim had looked at pornography before. Without realizing it, he had formed an addictive habit—waiting until his parents went to bed before going straight to the computer. [...]

I wish I could say that [his girlfriend] and others around him forgave him, challenged him, and ushered him toward healing and recovery in a non-judgmental way. I wish I could say that those in his church who knew about his “problem” also became open and honest with their own problems and together sought repentance and wholeness. But this has not been the church’s response.

The addiction to pornography (much like homosexuality) is often singled out by the Church, and labeled the principitas of all sin. It’s ugly and grotesque. [...]

Even now, as the stones are being thrown in the Church, young people everywhere are crying out—wanting desperately to be listened to, helped and forgiven. But those who have confessed bear the scars of many stones. And those who have been too scared to confess, but have been “found out,” seem beyond recovery. Their reputation is lost. Their Christian witness is shattered. Their usefulness is discarded and thrown out with the trash. And in the end, the church is shooting its wounded.[...]

In the distance we hear a faint echo of Jesus’ words to the adulterous woman, “You are no longer condemned. Go now and leave your life of sin.”

Link

Labels: Reflection

Posted by Alan Yu at 12/21/2007 12:46:00 AM | Permalink | Comments

Sleep doesn’t have to be the new sex, and workplace productivity really doesn’t have to suffer because of tired employees. With napping devices like the EnergyPod, employees can now combat the post-lunch slump, and the post-work lull, by taking a comfortable nap... in the office.

Designed in conjunction with a Formula 1 builder, the EnergyPod is made of fiber glass, with a contoured bed surface ensuring that the knees are raised slightly above the heart to take the weight off the lower back. Bose noise-canceling headphones quietly emit melodiously soothing tunes to aid drifting off. A built in alarm is set and once nap time is up, lights and vibration serve as a gentle wake up call. Members pay $65 a month for an unlimited number of naps, while non-members pay $14 for 20 minutes in the Energy Pod.

According to Bill Anthony, author of "The Art of Napping at Work," napping is slowly trending towards becoming more mainstream [...] sleep is being seen not as a perk but as a productivity enhancer. [...] Sara Mednick, Assistant Professor at UCSD and author of "Take a Nap Change Your Life," supports this view: she believes that the cultural taboo that surrounds the idea of napping will gradually dissolve, just as the taboo that surrounded the notion of telecommuting in the 80s eventually disintegrated.

Seems like my idea of setting up a bed at work is not that odd after all. And, my version is much cheaper than the EnergyPod:

The set up: working on top and sleeping on the bottom:


Inside my bed enclosure:


See, this is staff benefit: while others are paying $14 to nap for 20 minutes, AFC Vancouver staff can nap in my office bed for free!


Link

Labels: Interesting

Posted by Alan Yu at 12/20/2007 12:13:00 AM | Permalink | Comments

這幾天很懶，沒有寫post；今天一口氣貼兩段補數。首先關於一段日子前的百佳油魚事件：

百佳「油魚」事件落幕，被控的集團認罪，最後被法庭判處罰款4萬5千元了事。

除了超市集團內部人士之外，無人知道4萬多元，等於他們賣油魚所得利潤的多少個%。聞判後，百佳母公司發言人的回應是「對案件完結感到欣慰，現時可集中精神及資源加強服務」云云（《明報》報導）。整個事件從頭到尾，從來沒有認真道歉過，法例阻嚇力，明顯是零。[...]

法官在庭上說，百佳既是超市業的翹楚，不應該犯這案，令市民失望。我想有人聽到這些話，只會笑這位法官天真。設想犯案的是一家街坊式獨資經營的小魚檔，魚檔老闆今已鋃鐺入獄；現在恰恰正因為犯案者是「翹楚」，才有足夠本錢輕鬆了事脫身。

經濟學假設商業活動的唯一目標是獲利。我不同意。商業活動在社會上同時具有改善社會的責任。只顧利益的企業，在未來的趨勢中只會漸漸失勢。作為消費者，我們的選擇是重要的。

下一段有關聖誕節：

聖誕臨近，教會禮堂也會有點佈置，佈置的工作是由弟兄姊妹一手一腳包辦，有同工指出，其實教會的聖誕佈置與商場無異，都是「Merry X'mas & Happy New Year」之類(廢話)。[...] 別人進來，見到聖誕樹、白雪花等，只會認為教會不外是這些。

我們應該怎樣佈置，才能把聖誕節從流行文化、消費文化中，重新救贖過來？

其實，不只是聖誕節。我們普遍缺乏以藝術（基本上，文字以外）的媒介來表達信仰。這其實並不是教會在歷史中的傳統。在後現代，教會極需要尋回這失落的傳統。

Link 1
Link 2

Labels: Reflection

Posted by Alan Yu at 12/19/2007 12:24:00 AM | Permalink | Comments

I have decided that I don’t believe in prayer. I don’t believe that God hears us when we speak to Him. I don’t believe that time I devote talking to God makes any difference whatsoever.

I suppose you are reading this thinking, “Well, I don’t know about this guy, but I know that I believe in prayer.” All I have to say is prove it. I know if someone asked me to prove it I would fail miserably. How many of us would be failing together?

If we believed in prayer, if we actually believed that God Himself was listening very closely to what we said to Him, and not only that, but that what we said would actually cause God to act on our behalf, what would be stopping us from praying all the time? We wouldn’t be able to [...] spend hours in front of the TV, because the God of the universe was in our living room and He actually wanted to hear what we had to say.

The fact is, if you and I truly did believe in prayer we would pray a lot. But, since we don’t, the only explanation is that we don’t believe in prayer.

I don’t believe in prayer. You don’t believe in prayer, either. If you disagree, prove it.

Article by Joel Hoffman on Relevant Magazine.com

Labels: Reflection

Posted by Alan Yu at 12/14/2007 12:10:00 AM | Permalink | Comments

香港歌手鄧麗欣在個人演唱會前對自己的評價：

我會盡力做，亦唔可以sure每粒音都準。

廚師說：我會盡力煮，亦唔可以sure每舊肉都熟。
會計說：我會盡力計，亦唔可以sure每條數都無錯。
牧師說：我會盡力講道，亦唔可以sure每句都無解錯經。
好句好句。
甚麼叫本份？

Link

Labels: Discontent

Posted by Alan Yu at 12/11/2007 10:48:00 PM | Permalink | Comments

ASBO Jesus


Naked Pastor


Prayer from the cell

Labels: Interesting, Reflection, Worship

Posted by Alan Yu at 12/10/2007 11:22:00 PM | Permalink | Comments

早前，多得阿榮借DVD給我，終於有機會看到Pixar今年的大片Ratatouille。很好的一套戲，只是我懷疑小朋友能明白幾多（我陪阿仔睇的時候就解釋不了遺囑和繼承人並私生子的概念給他知道...）。我尤其為這一段對白感動：

在人生的許多方面，當批評家是很輕鬆的行業。我們的風險很小，但總喜歡居高臨下，審斷呈獻到我們面前的作品。我們喜歡一窩蜂地指摘，寫得容易，讀得也歡。但在創作的大世界裡 ，被我們斥為末流的作品，往往比我們的評論更有價值。

評論家要蒙受的真正風險，是發現一件新作品，而且為新秀說好話。昨夜，我體驗了新的東西，從一個無法預料的高人，我享受了一頓美食。如果說這頓晚餐，以及那個廚子，挑戰了我先入為主的觀念，是太溫和的說法了。昨夜的經驗令我刻骨銘心。古士圖說過：『人人都可以當廚子』，我曾對這句話嗤之以鼻，但我現在總算明白其中的真義。不一定人人都可以做偉大的藝術家，但偉大的藝術家可以出身任何角落。今天，在古士圖餐廳貢獻廚藝的一群，其出身之寒微，是難以想像的。但本欄認為：他們是法國最好的廚師。我將重臨這家餐廳，飢腸轆轆，期待吃得更多。

在戲中，食評家Anton Ego為了他的誠實評語甘願犧牲了自己的工作和名聲。作為一個都經常在批評的人，我反問自己對於我所批評的，到底有幾多承擔？要批評是易的，但承擔卻要勇氣。沒有承擔，便不要批評好了。

對白完文來自Sidekick轉載陶傑專欄

Labels: Reflection

Posted by Alan Yu at 12/08/2007 10:26:00 PM | Permalink | Comments

華理克牧師(Rick Warren of Saddleback Church)談教會如何處理糾紛：

1. 要避免引起紛爭的情況發生
2. 教導起爭辯之人悔改
3.告誡起紛爭之人，要讓他們知道紛爭也會敗壞聽見的人
4.為教會和睦祈求
5.必要時用權柄責備起爭競之人
6.若有人實在不聽勸戒，把他們逐出教會

Common sense, right? 就是做到與做不到的分別而矣。

Link

Labels: Reflection

Posted by Alan Yu at 12/07/2007 12:48:00 AM | Permalink | Comments

最近在看無線劇集「建築有情天」，有方中信。話說方中信是一名建築師，去到很靚的建築物前，拿出古老的相機（懶藝術咁），拍照留念。楊怡也是一名建築師，她也是拿著相機在替建築物拍照。我都讀過吓建築，以前我們去field trip睇building，不准拿相機，要用筆畫，因為sketchbooking是一種思考和分析，拍照卻是一種囫圇吞棗的記錄方式。
唔...

Labels: Discontent

Posted by Alan Yu at 12/06/2007 12:01:00 AM | Permalink | Comments

巴士上，兩位穿著澳博制服的中年荷官媽媽在聊天。

甲說：「現在的年輕人捱少少苦就呱呱叫，以前我們在賭檯前站一天都沒怨言啦！」

乙點頭：「是囉！」

甲又說：「我在外國讀大學的阿細，有天問我好不好回來做荷官，我真的十分激氣！」

乙回應：「我的小兒子也是，有病！」

甲反應開始大：「我跟阿細說，媽媽辛苦用數百萬供你去外國讀大學，若他現在有本事一筆過還清學費給我，就死回來做荷官啦。若不，先給我好好地讀完大學！」

乙應道：「是囉！當然是讀書最好！我跟小兒子說，若他現在為了做荷官而不讀大學，將來後悔就別怨我！」

甲續說：「阿大就懂得想，在那邊讀完書，現在用電腦工作，坐在家裡指揮人。」

乙叫道：「這麼好呀！我大兒子不喜歡工作，讀完大學又說要讀碩士，我整天問他何時肯出來工作？他說現在大學生滿街都是！」

甲指出：「是啊！現在大學生滿街都是！我阿大還有進修遙距課程。能讀的就供他讀吧！」

乙想想：「那又是，能供的就供他讀吧。」

甲忽然想起她朋友的兒子的前途：「我朋友的兒子，是九九年回歸前的政府工，有政府長糧又有免費醫療，她竟叫兒子辭職去做荷官，說做荷官收入每月多五千元，她該撞牆去死！」

乙驚叫：「真是的，那將來她們老夫妻的醫療怎辦？兒子一個人怎麼包辦？」

甲續說：「現在她兒子做了荷官，她又來後悔了。」

乙應：「現在的人不知怎麼想！眼光這麼短淺，以前我們窮，沒書讀才去做荷官。」

甲氣結：「以前每個人都想做政府工，現在每個人都去做荷官！」

這兩個媽媽，當局者清。當然，我們的情況或許沒有澳門的極端，但某些家長的短視，實在叫人沮喪。但也難怪，連家長本身過的也是短視的生活，又如何叫子女學懂腳踏實地？

米迦轉載自華僑報 2007/09/25

Labels: Discontent, Reflection

Posted by Alan Yu at 12/05/2007 11:39:00 PM | Permalink | Comments

We're talking about Beacon here.
At first, not everybody understood what it is.
Then people began to realize and complain.
Then Facebook sort of gave in and changed it from "opt-out" to "opt-in".
Then people calmed down a bit.
Then they realized that eventhough you've not opt-in, Facebook is still collecting your purchase information.
Then people uproar again and this is how Facebook replied:

When a Facebook user takes a Beacon-enabled action on a participating site, information is sent to Facebook in order for Facebook to operate Beacon technologically. If a Facebook user clicks "No, thanks" on the partner site notification, Facebook does not use the data and deletes it from its servers. Separately, before Facebook can determine whether the user is logged in, some data may be transferred from the participating site to Facebook. In those cases, Facebook does not associate the information with any individual user account, and deletes the data as well.

Do you believe Facebook? Or are you willing to live with it for all the other good things that Facebook brings you?



Article from Fast Company

Labels: Reflection

Posted by Alan Yu at 12/04/2007 11:33:00 PM | Permalink | Comments

我們應該都要學好這個。包括我。

不用說要管理好自己的情緒，有些人是由自己的情緒來管理自己，以至管理周圍的人。

但當別人被我的情緒影響的時候，是我太情緒化，還是別人太敏感？唔...

Link

Labels: Reflection

Posted by Alan Yu at 12/03/2007 09:49:00 PM | Permalink | Comments

A man was sleeping at night in his cabin when suddenly his room filled with light and the Savior appeared. The Lord told the man he had work for him to do, and showed him a large rock in front of his cabin. The Lord explained that the man was to push against the rock with all his might.

This the man did, day after day. For many years he toiled from sun up to sun down, his shoulders set squarely against the cold, massive surface of the unmoving rock, pushing with all his might. Each night the man returned to his cabin sore, and worn out, feeling that his whole day had been spent in vain.

Since the man was showing signs of discouragement, the Adversary decided to enter the picture by placing thoughts into the man’s weary mind: "You have been pushing against that rock for a long time, and it hasn’t budged. Why kill yourself over this? You are never going to move it." Thus giving the man the impression that the task was impossible and that he was a failure. These thoughts discouraged and disheartened the man. "Why kill myself over this?" he thought. "I’ll just put in my time, giving just the minimum effort and that will be good enough." And that is what he planned to do until one day he decided to make it a matter of prayer and take his troubled thoughts to the Lord.

"Lord" he said, "I have labored long and hard in your service, putting all my strength to do that which you have asked. Yet, after all this time, I have not even budged that rock by half a millimeter. What is wrong? Why am I failing?" The Lord responded compassionately, "My friend, when I asked you to serve me and you accepted, I told you that your task was to push against the rock with all, your strength, which you have done. Never once did I mention to you that I expected you to move it. Your task was to push. And now you come to me, with your strength spent, thinking that you have failed. But, is that really so? Look at yourself. Your arms are strong and muscled, your back sinewy and brown, your hands are callused from constant pressure, and your legs have become massive and hard. Through opposition you have grown much and your abilities now surpass that which you used to have. Yet you haven’t moved the rock. But your calling was to be obedient and to push and to exercise your faith and trust in My wisdom. This you have done. I, my friend, will now move the rock."

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Labels: Reflection, Thorns

Posted by Alan Yu at 12/02/2007 10:18:00 PM | Permalink | Comments

What is Adultolescence? Adult + Adolescence, or adult with behaviour and mindset of adolescence.

One way of describing this group is to highlight the tendency to delay adulthood or stay in the youth mindset longer than we used to.

While kidult is sophisticated (mature yet playful), adultolescence has more negative connotation associated with immaturity.

I am sure you know one of them. Maybe they exist in your church. It is actually a social/cultural thing, but the church can actually do something (a lot of things, actually play a major role) to help young people grow.

1. The church will encourage maturity, not the opposite. “Do not be children in your thinking. Be infants in evil, but in your thinking be mature” (1 Corinthians 14:20).

2. The church will press the fact that maturity is not a function of being out of school but is possible to develop while in school.

3. While celebrating the call to life long singleness, the church will not encourage those who don’t have the cal to wait till late in their twenties or thirties to marry, even if it means marrying while in school.

4. The church will foster flexibility in life through living by faith and resist the notion that learning to be professionally flexible must happen through a decade of experimentation.

5. The church will help parents prepare their youth for independent financial living by age 22 or sooner, where disabilities do not prevent.

6. The church will provide a stability and steadiness in life for young adults who find a significant identity there.

7. The church will provide inspiring, worldview-forming teaching week in and week out that will deepen the mature mind.

8. The church will provide a web of serious, maturing relationships.

9. The church will be a corporate communion of believers with God in his word and his ordinances that provide a regular experience of universal significance.

10. The church will be a beacon of truth that helps young adults keep their bearings in the uncertainties of cultural fog and riptides.

11. The church will regularly sound the trumpet for young adults that Christ is Lord of their lives and that they are not dependent on mom and dad for ultimate guidance.

12. The church will provide leadership and service roles that call for the responsibility of maturity in the young adults who fill them.

13. The church will continually clarify and encourage a God-centered perspective on college and grad school and career development.

14. The church will lift up the incentives and values of chaste and holy singleness, as well as faithful and holy marriage.

15. The church will relentlessly extol the maturing and strengthening effects of the only infallible life charter for young adults, the Bible.

I guess I am less demanding. If the church is not contributing to the phenomenon of adultolescence-hood, I would say I'm satisfied. For now.

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Labels: Reflection

Posted by Alan Yu at 12/01/2007 11:28:00 PM | Permalink | Comments