Being firm.

8 Now the children of Judah fought against Jerusalem and took it; they struck it with the edge of the sword and set the city on fire                                                          

                                                                                                                            

Judges 1                                                                                                                                                  

So I was reading chapter 1 of judges.                                                                                                                                               

And it reminded me of something.                                                                                               

It reminded me of the need to be firm to our past bad habits.                                                         

In verse 8, Judah fought against Jerusalem and set the whole city to ruins.                                      

The whole city was destroyed.                                                                                                    

They destroyed every single Canaanite that lived there.                                                                   

                                                                                                                                                 

27     However Manasseh did not drive out the inhabitants of Beth Shean and its villages, or Taanach and its villages, or the inhabitants of Dor and its villages, or the inhabitants of Ibleam and its villages, or the inhabitants of Meggido and its villages; for the Canaanites were determined to dwell in that land.                                                                                                                        

28     And it came to pass, when Israel was strong, they put the Canaanites under tribute, but did      not completely drive them out.                                                                                                                                                

                                                                                                                                                

Why did Israel not drive them out? Letting them stay will cause problems in the future!                  

It is important to drive out all of our bad habits.                                                                           
If not, in the future, we will have problems dealing with it, because when it is the right time to deal with it, it is not being dealt with.

The Art of Conversation

School Project- Draft one
The reason I'm doing it here is because blogging is the only way I can encourage myself to do work. LOL


The Art of Conversation


It is important in our world today to be able to converse well with people.
Conversing well with people is needed to build a good foundation for relationships, both personal, and work related.
To have a good conversation, One must express interest to the other party.
This is a form of respect.
Not only respect, but first impressions count too.
If you look sleepy and unkempt on your first conversation with someone and your mind appears to be wandering somewhere else, this will lead to the other party having a bad impression of you and this will affect the attitude he will have while conversing with you.
Showing interest is a plus point for having a conversation. This is true for all people as everyone likes to be appreciated, liked admired, and people with common interests with them.
However , this being said, flattery of someone can only work so far. Also, it must be sincere and not sarcastic. In fact, avoid sarcasm.
If it is a general conversation, the purpose is to entertain.The topic must be of general interest. Each person must do his share, and not overdo it. There should be no periods of silence, as that would be awkward. No topic should be dragged out for the sake of having a conversation. The tone should be kept good-natured. No one should be offended by anything said. A very important point is to ensure that one is not extremely critical to another, and do not mention touchy topics. Sarcasm is worst of all because sarcasm implies contempt. It is an insult, and insults are things to be resented.
Another important point is to listen attentively to the other person.
Arguments can be used, but it must be in good humour, for example, a hearty debate.
But in doing so, focus on proving on proving yourself right rather than the other wrong. Also, one must have full control of one's motions. Thus, touchy topics should be avoided at all costs.
One should seldom preach or give advice. One should also not dwell on moral issues or take the attitude of teaching his listeners. However instructive, eloquent and even interesting one's topic may actually be, the final result is not conversation. Thus, defeating the original purpose. 
Desire only to please the people with whom you are talking and you will infallibly do so.


Final Product
A video of failed conversations: Dos and Dont's

Old time singspiration song

So today I learnt a little from Pastor Kevin Gerald. Could have learnt more but no telling you why i didn't. :D
We learnt about controlling our train of thought and we must know the destination of our train of thought.
Thus it means to know where does our train of thought will lead us. If we know it's not a good place, then don't venture into that thought. But rather read positive stuff. Be with positive people.
And I am reminded of this song.


I am traveling on the hallelujah line,
On the good old Gospel train,
I am on the right track and never will go back
To the station of sin again.
I need no fare, I’m riding on a pass,
’Tis the blood for sinners slain,
I am traveling on the hallelujah line,
On the good old Gospel train.


Yeahh.
Since we are already on the right track, why go back?
And never ever change train. You can stop the train, but never change train.

not what i really intended to post.

So what am i doing at this time of day?
I am slacking... around.
I want  to do a post on absence but... it will take very long.
so now, wp8!!!!
windows released their newest stuff not too long ago.
AWWSUMM WINDOWS TABLET- DA SURFACE
yea. And if you noticed, there is a slight change to the windows logo.
http://live.theverge.com/windows-phone-developer-summit-2012/#
yea, if you noticed there's a change in the logo here too.
And while windows had their summit, apple had its 23rd wwdc.
WWDC APPLE
Siri was a troll to Samsung and their refrigerator.
I think both are great, so if you ask me to choose....
I don't know. Make your own choice.
Of course, i have to give it to apple because it is more advance and it has a very vibrant appstore and awesome graphics.
Not only that, apple is definitely winning as windows is only at dual core, while the rest of the world are reaching quad core...
But had windows been faster, apple would not have stand a chance.
But... things often don't happen as we thought it would.
So, hard choice, but i have to give this to apple.
Awesome job, good conference.

Camp Crossover- Yilun

Crossover.

24 Then Jacob was left alone; and a Man wrestled with him until the breaking of day.
25 Now when He saw that He did not prevail against him, He touched the socket of his hip; and the socket of Jacob's hip was out of joint as He wrestled with him.
26 And He said, "Let Me go, for the day breaks." But he said, "I will not let You go unless You bless me!"
27 So He said to him, "What is your name?" He said, "Jacob."
28 And He said, "Your name shall no longer be called Jacob, but Israel; for you have struggled with God and with men, and have prevailed."
29 Then Jacob asked, saying, "Tell me Your name, I pray." And He said, "Why is it that you ask about My name?" And He blessed him there.
30 So Jacob called the name of the place Peniel: "For I have seen God face to face, and my life is preserved."
31 Just as he crossed over Penuel the sun rose on him, and he limped on his hip.
Gen 32: 24- 31.

Do not let what others definition and mindset of you define who you are, But rather, perceive of yourself in the same way God perceives you. 
Jacob is a name that meant swindler.
What a sad thing it is to be given such a name!
Imagine your parents calling you everyday, swindler, your domineering brother who dominates your life and controls it calls you a swindler. How would you feel?
Jacob probably felt; okay, if you call me a swindler, i will prove to you i will be the deadliest swindler!
But did Jacob really want to do that?
Jacob was described as a child who was quiet and does all the chores, tend the sheep.
He must have been a good boy.
Surely that couldn't have angered anyone!
But he was in a way despised.
He was from the day he could understand, looking at himself as a born swindler.
It is as if today your parents had you at 1 year old, and name you sinner! Wouldn't you feel sad?
To be called a sinner even when you are one of the most blameless person on earth!
Wouldn't you want to prove people wrong?
And when you are at your breaking point, what would you say?
maybe "FINE! I will show you what I am capable of!" ?
And that is what Jacob felt.
And with that he tricked his brother of his birthright.
Not only that.
His mom perception of him, led him to disguise as Esau and to receive a blessing, causing him to really feel that he is a swindler. What do you think is his perception of himself? Obviously, a swindler.
He probably had very low self esteem.
imagine everywhere you go, people address you as loser.
How down would you feel?
For me, i would have cried.


Now, back to the passage.
Jacob was wrestling with God, and he continue fighting.
Until it was day, and there was no winner.
Jacob could have easily given up, but he didn't.
And Jacob was asked, What is your name?
And Jacob replied Jacob.
Can you imagined if you were Jacob and you replied swindler. what is people's first impression of you?
But thank God that for in God everyone becomes a new creation.
And Jacob was called Israel.
Which means, that you have struggled and prevailed.
Struggled with men to prove them wrong on their perception of you.
That was Jacob's new name.
God changed Jacob's perception of himself.
Israel. To struggle and succeed!
And Jacob's socket was touched and he had to limp.
He had to struggle.
But with God, he struggled and prevailed!
For in our weaknesses, God will use it and in it we are made perfect.
Just as the rainbow was a reminder to Abraham, the limp was a reminder to Israel.
So do not let what others think of you from birth till now defines who you are. But let who God calls you to be and what God sees you as defines who you are.

What can I give that's worthy? (:

Love without condition
Heart that always listens
To a crying world
Lord of all creation
Humble as a servant
With You, all praise begin

Grace is all sufficient
You become my portion
More than life could bring
All my past forsaken
I lay my own ambition
Before my King of dreams

(pre chorus)
What can I give that's worthy
To You, my soul will sing

(chorus)
Beautiful One, Merciful Son
The Crown of all heavens
Reigning in my heart
Beautiful Love, Gift from above
Adore You forever
My Savior, Jesus

(Bridge)
More than enough, You're
More than enough, You're
More than enough for me


<3

And so...

And so I say a little prayer, and hope my dreams will take me there, when the skies are blue, I'll see you once again, my love.
All the seas go coast to coast Find the place I love the most Where the fields are green To see you once again my love
WOOHOO(:

Perception part 2?

Oh hai.
Long time(actually no) since I blogged?
Haha...
Oh well.
There are differences in all of our speech, correct?
Now, note that I am talking about the tone and the body language we give out when talking to someone, and not the content.
So, let us begin.
When we are talking to someone whom we just met, we normally respond with a tone on how we feel at the moment, or a happy tone.
Unless, the person really gives you a very bad impression, no idea why.
If we are talking to someone whom we are friends to for like a year, like classmates or colleagues, we tend to talk happily and chat about everything under that scope.
If we are talking to a close friend, or a clique member, we tend to talk about other close friends, and about memories, or just laughter and chat with a very happy attitude.
If we are chatting with a teacher, we tend to be very assertive, or very quiet.
No?
It's like, when the teacher says something, we usually just say, "uh huh. yes. arh. correct. yes cher."
But when the teacher goes overboard, we tend to be very defensive.
" What? How could you say this? I tried so hard!" et cetera.
When we are chatting with that special someone, we start of very sweet, especially if we are in a good mood.
If not, it would be like, "eh" or "dear" or "baby" or "darling".
Right?
Unless we are a bit angry.
Even then we are still quite sweet, no?
I don't know.
=D
But why do we use different tones for different people?
Because of 2 things.
1. Level of mutual understanding.
2. Our Perception

Let us talk about mutual understanding.
Firstly, the level of mutual understanding is the amount of trust we have on each other.
The higher the level of trust, the higher the tolerance level we have.
True?
Yes?
That is why husbands and wives can stand each other even if the other likes to sing though he has a terrible voice(He's not saying you, Cricantrail is talking about himself).
The singing is just one example.
Now, the topic I keep harping about eh.
Perception
Perception (from the Latin perceptio, percipio) is the organization, identification, and interpretation of sensory information in order to fabricate a mental representation through the process of transduction, which sensors in the body transform signals from the environment into encoded neural signals.
So, based on our view of the person, we make intuitive guesses at first glance, then change them through our 2nd and 3rd glance, to form a mental representation of them.
Thus, this is why we often fall in love with someone we have a good perception of.
Ain't that true?
Let's even say crush,
It is in fact due to our perception of the person, but just that the perception is only at one glance.
And we say, Wow! Beautiful and pleasant to my two eyes!
No?
Isn't that our "First Impression" which some call it "Love at first sight" ?
Thus, everything we do is by our perception.
Technically, the moment we have an impression on someone, we are using our intuition to evaluate them.
So.
After typing so many sentences, you must be wondering what point am I trying to bring across this time right?
Well, it is to always erase our first perception of someone.
More often than not, the first impression lasts the longest, but is in fact the weakest.
That's why in literature, we read the passage once, to get the gist, twice to understand the concept, and three to understand the deeper meaning, with close reference to the real world as much as possible.
Thus, always abandon your first thought.
It may be right at times, but it doesn't hurt to get a clearer picture eh?
;)
So people.
Chillax yo!
This is cricantrail, and take it easy.