Its Own Worth

I attended a full day photo course recently and the photographer said never throw away photos that you think that are ordinary. Sometimes after some editing, the photo can become significantly different and capture someone's heart. I didn't think much of the original of this picture. I started to play around it in Photoshop Lightroom and to my surprise, after desaturating the rest of the colours and pump up the yellow in it, the picture presents a different scene. We do not get this kind of scene in Australia, but the end result is interesting. This remind me of every human in this world has his/her worth in God's eyes.

Prayer, Anger; Anger, Prayer

Food for thought, taken from the book 'Prayer' by Philip Yancey,

"As Dorothy Sayers once remarked, we all have our diabolical thoughts, but there's a world of difference in how we act on those thoughts, whether, say, we write a murder mystery or commit murder. If a person wrongs me unjustly, I have several options. I can seek personal revenge, a response condemned by the Bible. I can deny or suppress my feelings of hurt and anger. Or, I can take those feelings to God, entrusting God with the task of retributive justice. The cursing psalms are vivid examples of that last option. The authors are expressing their outrage to God, not to the enemy.

Instinctively, we want to clean up our feelings in our prayers, but perhaps we have it all backwards. Perhaps we should strive to take all our worst feelings to God. After all, what would be gossip when addressed to anyone else is petition when addressed to God. What is a vengeful curse when spoken about someone ('Damn those people!') is a plea of helpless dependence when spoken directly to God ('It's up to you to damn those people - only you are a just judge').

I see the cursing psalms as an important model for how to deal with evil and injustice. I should not try to suppress my reaction of horror and outrage at evil. Nor should I try to take justice in my own hands. Rather, I should deliver those feelings, stripped bare, to God. As the Books of Job, Jeremiah and Habakkuk clearly show, God has a high threshold of tolerance for what is appropriate to say in prayer. God can 'handle' my unsuppressed rage. I may well find that my vindictive feelings need God's correction - but only by taking those feelings to God will I have that opportunity for correction and healing. "

Quiet time

I am currently reading a book by Philip Yancey called "Prayer". In one of the chapters, Philip mentioned that he attended a camp and was challenged to spend 2 hours a day alone on prayer. The 2 hours alone made him realised how important quiet time in our lives is for us to get close to our Heavenly Father.

Later this week, in my church weekly program called "Accelerate", solitude was mentioned again. It makes me realise how busy I have been in my life with little things: things that I do for work, for my relationship, for my family, and at church; that I didn't realise that I have neglected to set quiet time apart for God.

I do read my Bible, but sometimes, it becomes a routine that I have to follow. Through the messages these few weeks, it finally came to me that God does not care about how many "things" that I have done. I knew about this, but only this week that I finally had the revelation. I don't have to impress Him. All that He wants is my time with Him. I am so thankful that He is such a loving God, who looks into our heart more than our deeds. It resets my attitude in spending time with Him; not because I need to, but because I would like to.

Lovely Surprise series

These shots are of the flowers that Keith gave to me. I have to say that I really like the colours and they turn out to be a really good subject for my shots. Love the colours here.

A lovely surprise

I have a lovely surprise this morning when my colleague told me that I have flowers at the reception at my work place. "Flowers?" I was thinking, because Keith is in Jakarta for work this week. Apparently, he organised for this to be sent before he left. It was a very pleasant surprise, because I was feeling blue last night, so it came just at the right time. I feel grateful to him and God because the timing couldn't be better for putting a smile on my face.

There are purple lisianthus, light green baby roses, yellow lillies, bright yellow tulips and Australian native plants in there, I think.
I put the flowers on a beige coach when I took this photo. It happened that it serves as a good contrast for the flowers.

It turned out that the light green roses are actually baby purple roses when it opens up. What a lovely surprise again! It's really nice to see the flowers blossoming day by day. :)

Autumn or winter?

This picture of railway track was taken at Emu Plains station in Sydney, Australia. We were heading to Blue Mountains and were waiting for the regional train. It was actually still winter when this photo was taken, but the colour from the surroundings looks as if it was taken in autumn. I probably would not get this kind of effect in autumn as it is very dry here until the rain comes in winter. Even so, the rain might not come every year. But this year, we have been blessed with heavy rain, to the extend that Hunter Valley was flooded for several days!

I have yet to set a title for this picture. Somehow, I like this picture. I guess it is the lines that hold my attention. I adjusted the colour in Photoshop to make it look a bit more nostalgic.

The Three Sisters

Quite a few of my friends told me that they like this photo. Personally, I think it is an okay photo. I guess maybe it is because I was there and saw the vast beauty of the Blue Mountains region and the photo has only captured a part of what I saw there. I have to say that we were blessed with a good weather that day, as you can see in the picture, the vision was very clear that day.

A Beautiful Song - Oceans Will Part

If my heart has grown cold,
There Your love will unfold;
As You open my eyes to the work of Your hand.
When I’m blind to my way,
There Your Spirit will pray;
As You open my eyes to the work of Your hand,
As You open my eyes to the work of Your hand.

Oceans will part; nations come
At the whisper of Your call.
Hope will rise; glory shown.
In my life, Your will be done.

Present suffering may pass,
Lord, Your mercy will last;
As You open my eyes to the work of Your hand.
And my heart will find praise,
I’ll delight in Your way,
As You open my eyes to the work of Your hand,
As You open my eyes to the work of Your hand.

Oceans will part; nations come
At the whisper of Your call.
Hope will rise; glory shown.
In my life, Your will be done.

Oceans will part; nations come
At the whisper of Your call.
Hope will rise; glory shown.
In my life, Your will be done.

This is a beautiful song from Hillsong church, a prayer and a worship from a heart that finally reliazes the gentle and never ending love of Jesus. I guess for me, the lyrics, together with the melody touch my heart every time I listen to it. It reminds me of how our heavenly Father loves me. This song speaks to my heart.

Causeway, Perth

I have not taken any landscape photos for a while now. I guess I haven't been motivated enough. But I'm glad that I brought my camera with me when I went out to do my grocery shopping on Wednesday night (the day after Boxing Day 2006). The sunset casted a warm reddish glow in the sky after I came out from the shopping centre. Initially, I was planning to go to Tomato Lake and I was praying that the sun will not set too fast. But by the time I reached there, it was too dark there already, hence, I went to Burswood Park instead. I took a few shots of Perth city skyline. When I decided to change my angle, I saw this part of the sky that still had the brilliant colour from sunset. This picture is a result of some colour adjustment in Photoshop and cropping. I am very happy with how it turned out. Hope you like it too.

A simple prayer

Father, there are people around me that I know and care who are in their rough times now. May You guide them and bring them out from their storms. You are a faithful God and you never desert us. May Your love, peace and joy be with them. May they enjoy the peace and goodness in You. Thank you, Lord. In Jesus name, I pray. Amen.