He ran to his son

For countless times I have meditated on the passage about the Prodigal's son in John 15. It has always brought me to remember that repentance is a total change of the heart, and I that I was lost, then found.

This time round, I realised something different. If i have read the details, the focus seems to be on the son and his repentance, also on the reaction of the older brother. But when I took a few steps back and looked at the bigger picture, John actually put the focus not on the return of the son and his repentance, but on the Father. The story is actually more focused on the heart of the Father.

Verse 20 focuses on the reaction of the Father and blurs everything else in the story. A beautiful picture of the love of the Father, compassionate. He throws a party afterwards!

"he ran to his son, threw his arms around him and kissed him." John 15:20

One Note 2010

I had the opportunity to explore One Note 2010 and found it to be excitingly useful. Especially so when there are multiple pieces of information that drops by - emails, phonecalls, lunches (sometimes), etc. OneNote functions like a notebook that contains sections and pages. Pretty much old school, but yes, very useful. Nowadays I have too many folders and subfolders to manage. Gosh.

Here's some of the features i like:

- info, pictures and urls put in one place (In the past, i used notepad)

- Record audio, videos (via webcam) to capture information much better.

- Snipping tools (Win 7) to capture any part of screen

- Capture website screen shots and OneNote does OCR (for easier searches)

- Export directly to Skydrive (online) for sharing

Being in an institute of learning, I got the Office 2010 suite (Word, Excel, Ppt, Outlook, etc)! Pretty cool features to make the presentations and lectures more effective (hopefully it does distract them)

One Note 2010

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xdi67tnx6nA

A different outlook

Reflections on Ecclesiastes 3-4:3

Aspect	Teacher’s view	My view
Time for things	There is sufficient time	There is insufficient time
Urgency of things	There is no need to rush	There is a need to rush
Best kind on life	Be happy and do good	Things in proper control
God’s gift	Eat, drink, find satisfaction in toil	Good sleep and peace

A different outlook was presented, something that similar on the surface, but drastically different within. I have been living with the idea that there is 'No Time'. Is there really no time for things, or have I not prioritised my life well?

A chapter in the Purpose Driven Life book set me thinking about 'simplifying your life'. Perhaps there's junk in my life, things that I need to throw out. Why the difficulty in simplifying my life? I realise that most of the junk are good things, good and beautiful in nature. Its like slaughtering the sacred cows (or cash cows) just to make sure that the herd is not starving. Paradox.

I read a book "Ten thoughts about time" by Bodil Jonsson some years ago and found it pretty insightful. She observes how in the Western world the arrival of measured, accurate timekeeping became first our tool, and then our master. True enough, time keeping and utility management tools have somehow found its way onto my throne.

Now, how do I get it off?

Source: 43Folders.com

Gen Z

Generation Y (born in 1980s till 1995)

- Technology is part of life

- Family centric

- Structure and preparedness breeds security

- Achievement oriented

- Team oriented

- Seeking relational connections

- Bigger meaning to everything

- Need for trusted guidance

- One way communication and learning style

Generation Z (born in yrs 1995 till now)

- Performance driven more than ever

- Live much of their lives in digital world rather than physical world

- Spontaneity encouraged

- Technology is wired into life

- Process information at a much faster pace

- Loyalty and ethics based on benefits/outcome

- Individualism greatly encouraged over teamwork

- Dare to be different

- Visually stimulated

- Myraid styles of learning

PS: Started a new additonal 'blog' at johnxie.tumblr.com

Reflections & Rollin' good times

While attending a seminar (IBLP), I learn some biblical principles and gain some insights to living, and parenting, money, etc. During one of the sessions, the speaker mentioned that in his experience in working with the youths, he realised that working with their Fathers is key to the success. True enough, there are researchers and youth ministers (e.g. Josh McDowell) who points to the Dad for many of the major psychological and sociological problems in youth nowadays. The absence / presence of a father can affect the child more significantly than we can ever imagine. On the contrary, dads who are more involved in the lives of their kids and intentionally build intimate relationships with them allows the kids to grow up in a healthy environment. In turn, they grow up emotionally stronger to face the issues of this world!

(Moms, don't be jealous, you just have a differing role!)

And, it just so happened that I took a few days off to spend time with my wife and candra, esp when I am about to transit to a new place at work! I had a few days of wonderful time with Candra, and I really enjoyed the time with her!