How to Develop Faith

I am not an expert on this subject - am just learning this day by day as each day I search for what fills and satisfies in this life.

I am sharing what I have discovered.

1. Faith is a mightier conqueror than death.

2. Faith is strengthened by exercise. We go through experiences that test our faith - these are for our benefit - they reveal if our faith is true and sincere, or if it is uncertain and changeable.

3. If we would give more expression to our faith - rejoice more in the blessing we know we have - we should have more faith and greater joy.

4. Keep every gift we receive from our Creator fresh in our memory. This will strengthen our faith, and gives us the chance to claim more and more. The soul that responds to the grace of God is like a watered garden. Health shall spring forth speedily.

While Summer 09 Memories are still fresh...

August 23, 2009:

It is the peak of summer - this was day we had been dreaming about in January and February. It is time to wear sleeveless tops and shorts, and enjoy fun and sun. It is time for barbecue, picnics, road trips, beaches - I just won't let this go by without a blog, would I?

We just returned home from a surprise birthday picnic for my husband who turned sixty, yes, 6-0, this August. His birthday was on the 4th, but because of too many activities earlier, we had to have it today.

This is my first time to organize a surprise party in a long while. The challenge is doubled because my right leg is not strong yet, and I am using a cane. It was a problem to move heavy objects - like drinks, water, watermelon - and it seemed like I went up and down the stairs a thousand times. It was even more difficult to give a good answer every time my husband asks me why was I hauling those stuff!

Well, we made it - I think he kind of suspected it later - but we all had fun.

We had it at Thomas Point in Annapolis, a fishing park operated by Anne Arundel County. This is my husband's favorite place - fishing relieves him of his stresses in life - so loved it that my friend commented that if we will have third child, his name should be "Thomas." I cannot understand this obsession to fishing, I cannot see any excitement in waiting for fish for the longest time. But since this is his day, it is just right to hold the party at a place he loves, isn't it?
I addition to standard party essentials of food, drinks and good company, there was an added bonus of roasting freshly caught fish, including an 18-inch rock fish, which got everyone excited. The photographers had a busy time.

I smelled of smoke, barbecue, sun and sweat. But is this not what summer is all about?
Enjoy the rest of your summer - fall, and then winter, is coming again!

The Power of Little Things

As I reached down to buckle up my sandals, my right leg hurts – I can’t believe it – I am unable to reach low enough to buckle up my sandals on my right foot. How come? This was not a hard task to do a couple of weeks ago, but my neglect of my leg raises and other exercises has this effect already.

It hit me hard – this thing I know for a long time now – little things matter. The 100 leg raises while supine, on my side and prone may just be a 20-minute thing in the morning, but I can easily feel the result.

Little things count. A musician once said that if he cannot practice for a day, he knows; if he cannot practice for 2 days, his teacher knows, and if cannot practice for a week, the audience will know.

"If I don't practice one day, I know it; two days, the critics know it; three days, the public knows it." Jascha Heifetz

"It may take practice to think more positively and more compassionately, but just as you must train a puppy to behave the way you want it to, you must train your mind to behave itself. Otherwise, like the puppy, your mind will just make a lot of messes." Tom Barrett

"Practice yourself, for heaven's sake in little things, and then proceed to greater." Epictetus

I painfully know how it is. If I miss my exercises for just a couple of days, my leg will lose the little strength that it has gained so far.
So it is with life.
Don’t underestimate the power of little things – they are the stuff big things are made of.

Even Lucifer, a bright cherub who was always in the presence of God lost his position because “little by little, he nourished the seed of jealousy and pride in his heart.”

"It is by slighting the daily opportunities, by neglecting the little things right at hand, that so many become fruitless and weathered." E. G. White

“Little by little Satan came to indulge the desire for self-exaltation” and God's established order was disrupted.—Ellen G. White, The Faith I Live By, p. 66.

Book Review: "A Walk in the Woods" by Bill Bryson

Bill Bryson’s family had moved to New Hampshire, his backyard is just a few yards to a signpost of the famous Appalachian Trail. He got interested and fascinated at the idea of hiking the AT. Pretty soon was telling everybody about it. Problem is, once he started reading on all the tales that happened on the AT, the gruesome details of bear maulings and similar accidents, illnesses, the difficulty of the trail on some parts, and the length, all 2,148 miles of trail from Georgia to Maine, he realized it was way, way out of his league.

He nevertheless plunges into his plans and into the woods. This is his account as he and his friend Katz, both neophyte woodsmen, middle aged, and both butt-heavy, tackled on the great Appalachian Trail, the greatest and most celebrated of all American trails. They emerged from this experience with greater respect of the mountains and the woods, and learned hard lessons of life and self-reliance.

From the time he went into the camping section of his local sport goods store, his comical chronicle of their misadventures entertained me a lot. He is witty, elegant, and just fun to read…err, listen to. McLarty reading is clear, precise. I can hear the frustration of walking miles and miles of wood, their shivering when caught in a snowstorm, fear when they thought a bear was near, his voice rising or falling, going along with the emotion of the moment.

I was greatly entertained in my drive to and from work. I found myself taking the long way, and hoping that the light is red on intersections so that I will have a little more time to know what was going to happen next. If you love the outdoors, or plan on hiking the AT sometime later, or just want to read about it and be entertained, this is a great book. I picked up walking again after lying low for some time. The book, and the fact that my girth seem to be getting bigger.

Great for road trips. With some no-good words – from Katz, who is a recovering substance abuser- so parental guidance is needed, if you have small children. Seven cassettes of approximately 1 hr each.

Would you like to walk some parts of the Appalachian Trail with me? Let’s do Shenandoah National Park first….

My Nth Doctor's Visit

“Are you in pain?” The young phlebotomist asked me, in a voice that was a little too loud, with a bit more decibels than necessary.

“No,” I replied.

“Please roll up your sleeves,” she instructed. I did as told. She picked up needle wrappers from one table and trashed it. She got the used torniquet from the table on her left and trashed it. She did this for some time, with me seated there facing her, her audience. Hmm, I thought, “new.”

Over these three years of going back and forth for check-ups, I had to find ways to entertain myself. And one of those is observing my phlebotomists as they draw my precious blood. It takes my mind off the little pain the prick will cause, and it is great entertainment, really. A love-hate relationship maybe: love them because they will tell me what I am wanting to know, and hate them that there will always be pain.

So, I try guessing their ages. See if I can tell if they are having a good/bad day. If they are extroverts or intoverts. New or old hand at drawing blood. Neat freaks or not-so-neat.

She palpated my arm for veins…. No, not there, vein is small and not straight there. She tapped it lightly – I tried to make a fist. Then she got a hot pad and placed it on my arm for a few mintues. I am thinking, “She better get this at first try, or else…”

She applied the torniquet, swabbed the area, brought the tubes (lavender, gold, red) closer to her. She stuck the needle, no backflow – but got it after drawing back the needle by a tiny bit. Okay, she is good. New but good.
That’s my entertainment on this visit.

Plus a nagging thought that will not leave me: Why did I have to spend that long a time deciding what to wear, cleaning and making myself look good, when, as soon as I get to my doctor’s office, I will be instructed to strip down to my underwear and wear the famous patients’ gown? I know, this is not related, but still.