My thought
Random Thoughts
Church, as always, was good today. The sermons were great! The Gospel was preached in both services. Click here to listen to the morning sermon from Titus 3. Another WOW moment, and praise be to God for the faithful preaching of his word!
The weather is awesome! I spent almost three hours playing in the backyard with Tryphena and Baron. Click here for some of the pictures.
Not what my hands have done Can save my guilty soul;
Not what my toiling flesh has borne Can make my spirit whole.
Not what I feel or do Can give me peace with God;
Not all my prayers and sighs and tears Can bear my awful load.
Thy grace alone, O God, To me can pardon speak;
Thy power alone, O Son of God, Can this sore bondage break.
No other work save Thine, No other blood will do;
No strength save that which is divine Can bear me safely through.
I bless the Christ of God; I rest on love divine;
And with unfaltering lip and heart I call this Savior mine.
‘Tis He that saveth me And freely pardon gives;
I love because He loveth me; I live because He lives.
by Horatius Bonar, 1864
Taken from the Blue Psalter Hymnal, #389
I’m antsy, angry, frustrated, and tired of dealing with a 4th-class insurance company called Commerce West Insurance. Below is my story.
On Friday, April 8 at a little after noon my Jetta was hit by a white Chevy Cobalt while stopping at the light at the intersection of Mooney and Walnut in Visalia. I didn’t really know how it happened I just knew that all of the sudden there was a big WHAM! and when I looked to my right this car was hitting my rear-view mirror.
We pulled over, and I was able to obtain the insurance information of the car that hit me. The 2005 White Chevrolet Cobalt with a California license plate # 5MKR120 was insured by Commerce West Insurance.
Upon returning to my office I immediately called the insurance company, and was assigned to an adjuster by the name of Lissette Cruz with claim number 0518803 CNS. So far so good!
On Tuesday the appraiser phoned me. He then came to see the damage, and gave me a written estimate of a little over $600. So far so good, but I haven’t heard anything back from the adjuster. In that week I called the adjuster almost daily, but was unable to reach her. I left a few voice mails, and spoke with different adjusters. One adjuster that I talked to explained that they had not been able to contact the insured, and told me that once they could verify the incident then they could start the repair process.
Continue reading “Commerce West Insurance: The WORST Insurance Company”
We just bought an Ants Farm. It is a small hard-plastic container already filled with sugary gel inside. We just put the ants and watch they dig the tunnels.
We had to order the ants, and they came in the mail last week. They’re Western Harvester Ants, and when they came to need to put them in the fridge first for about 10 minutes to slow their movement before putting them into the container. We have to wear latex gloves when handling them because they can sting and sometimes spray certain gas, and we cannot mix them with other ants.
It is very fun to see how diligently those small creatures work, I mean dig. The first picture below was taken on Saturday morning (April 9), and the second one was taken about 22 hours later.
In the last couple of years we have been thinking and searching for wisdom as to what kind of education we’d like Tryphena to have. There are basically three alternatives that we have been considering: home schooling, private school (parochial or non parochial), and public school. We have been and continue to wrestle with this issue. Each has its own pros and cons.
While home schooling may be the best option for us because we can get both quality education without having to pay a lot of money, it is not for fainted hearts. It takes a lot of discipline- both for parents and the children- to do home schooling. While many people have many concerns about home school especially in term of social development of the children, we are not too concerned about it. Kids can still have healthy interaction with their peers at church, at the home school support group meeting, at home with neighbors’ children, etc. Home schooling let parents choose the curriculum that they see fit for their children. There are vast arrays for curriculum available, including classical education. In term of cost, parents can give private school education (or better) for much less compared to private school. Our objection with this option is discipline, or rather the lack of it on our part.
Public school in Clovis California is one of the leading district in the nation. In term of academic accomplishment Clovis Unified School district provides good education for (almost) free. However, we struggle with the direction of public school, and for that matter the direction of the nation. From my own daily experience working in a public school entity, and from reading lots of articles, news, and books on public school, we have great concerns for sending Tryphena to the public school. Broadly speaking, my overarching concern with public education in the US is what I would call “Brainwash.” Please note I’m not pointing fingers to teachers or any particular school. I cherish the work of many school teachers who labor sincerely to teach children! Many times, however, their hands are tied and they can’t do much against the system. Below are some of many links that you can click to see what I mean: Continue reading “Children Education: Public or Private?”
At the end of this month, starting from Friday 4/30 at 7:00 in the evening until Sunday 5/2 our church is going to host a conference titled “The Doctrines of Grace: Defined, Defended, and Discussed.” We will have 1 session on Friday, and then we will continue on Saturday from 9:00 in the morning until noon with 3 sessions, and we will conclude the conference on Sunday with the last session in our regular 2nd service. Registration is free; however, to help us with logistics we would like you to register here.
“What church do you go to?” many times people ask me. “Covenant United Reformed Church” I would answer. Then comes the next anticipated question, “Is it a Christian church?” One time the inquirer further asked, “Do you believe in the Bible?”, and then “Do you baptize people?” Many church goers today are not aware of 16th century Reformation movement that birthed the Protestant church. Many people don’t know the history of their faith, let alone the great reformers that God used to keep the Gospel from being distorted further by the contemporary church at that time. Martin Luther, John Calvin, John Huss, Ulrich Zwingli are as foreign as Greek to many Christians.
Reformed Church is a descendant of the 16th century Reformation movement– a movement that brought about Protestant church. One of the great reformers was John Calvin who taught the 5 points of Calvinism that were embraced by Reformed churches. These 5 points are often referred to with its acronym T-U-L-I-P. (Calvin’s followers actually came with this summation after his death). What is T-U-L-I-P?
In a nutshell, it’s the framework of Reformed belief, and it’s thoroughly based on the Bible. In the interest of time and space I will touch on each point briefly.
T stands for “Total Depravity“. We believe that the fall affected not only our first parents, but also all humanity. We are not saying that mankind became as bad as they could be; rather, we believe that the fall rotted the very core of our heart so that the Bible says that even our good deed is like a dirty rag. Further the Bible also declares, “… every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.” (Gen 6:5, 8:21) Article 2 of the Third and Fourth Head of Doctrine of the Canons of Dordt summarizes it this way, “Man after the fall begat children in his own likeness. A corrupt stock produced a corrupt offspring. Hence, all the posterity of Adam, Christ only excepted, have derived corruption from their original parent, not by imitation, as the Pelagians of old asserted, but by the propagation of a vicious nature, in consequence of the just judgment of God.” Continue reading “5 Points of Calvinism”
Here’s the greatest joke of 2010 so far:
Madam “idiot” speaker, may I suggest that we have to find out what’s in the bill before we pass it? Do you think the American people are so stupid?
Happy Thanksgiving to all of you! It’s this time of the year again where we are reminded to thank God for all of the blessings that He has bestowed upon us. As we looked back to the ups and downs that we’ve had this year, we are thankful for God’s faithfulness in sustaining us.
Despite the looming economic catastrophe in the state (and it’ll be worse next year), the uncertainty of the future, and the loss of pregnancy in May, we realize that in everything it is God who sustains us, and we’re thankful for that. We are also thankful for my mom who came to help when Indra was in bed rest during her short-lived pregnancy, for the friendships of many friends, and for Tryphena who started preschool this year. We are thankful for our health, for daily provision, for a roof over our heads, and for the church. Indeed we are thankful for many other things. Above all, we can’t thank God enough for the gift of salvation that He bestows upon us in Christ Jesus.May you also find reasons to give thanks, and may your Thanksgiving be filled with gladness, thankfulness, and…. turkeys, lots of them! 🙂
I just watched the Glenn Beck show on TV, and although I don’t agree with him theologically; never the less I found the following to be thought provoking
At the end of this month, on the 27th Alice Cooper’s “Theatre of Death” concert will perform in Fresno at the William Saroyan Theatre. “Satanic” is what first come many people’s minds when they hear the name Alice Cooper. He is so devilishly Satanic that his upcoming performance in Finland was canceled by the owner of the arena where he was to perform because of Cooper’s alleged “un-Christian” viewpoints and the dark nature of his shows.
Alice Cooper (born Vince Furnier) may surprise many people by his own admission that he’s a practicing Baptist. Recently he received an honorary doctorate degree from Grand Canyon University (formerly a private Southern Baptist College) that he supported for many years. I even heard that he and his wife of more than 20 years, Sheryl, attend a small Baptist church and they even teach Sunday School. Continue reading “Theatre of Death”
To commemorate John Calvin’s 500th birthday today, I would like to dedicate this great hymn that he wrote to all of my friends.
I greet Thee, who my sure Redeemer art,
My only trust and Saviour of my heart,
Who pain didst undergo for my poor sake;
I pray Thee from our hearts all cares to take.