有辣有唔辣

再 談 隊 工 (teamwork). 有 人 與 我 一 起 同 工﹐ 同 心 事 奉 ﹐ 肯 定 是 祝 福。 但 過 中 的 協 調﹐ 我 真 的 有 很 多 學 習 的 空 間, 正 所 謂 有 辣 有 唔 辣 的 經 驗。

究 竟 一 個 leader 是 否 因 為 要 顧 及隊 員 感 受﹐ 喜 好﹐ 脾 性﹐ 為 了 所 謂 的 "合 一"﹐ 便 要 reconcile 每 個 隊 員 的 好 意 見﹐ 而 produce chimera 型 的 聚 會﹐ 活 動?

究 竟 一 個 leader 在 什 麼 情 況 才 應 堅 持 一 己 的 vision, 而 什 麼 也 不 顧 的 貫 徹 始 終?

Where's the fine line to balance off? 這 條 fine line 會 否 也 正 是 "reconcile 每 個 隊 員 的 意 見" & "manipulate 隊 員" 的 界 線 呢?

How does one lead? Or maybe one doesn't. One just lives, and let the like-minded others follow.

喜歡搭嘴的您也可以這樣嘗試

Just read a blog entry "Hanging Out" to the Glory of God.   This approach of witnessing is true to being "natural" in personal evangelism. It's genuine in spirit because we're interested in the non-believer as a person (not only his/her soul). Witnessing therefore wouldn't seem like "selling" an idea but is about building a relationship.

It's what I believe! And here I quote:

• Keep a friendly, approachable look about you. Speak to people. Introduce yourself and find out about them. Focus much of your talk on them. They'll also be curious about you.
  
  
• Get to the layer of philosophical talk. What do these new friends believe about important issues of life and death? This makes for deeper and more significant relationships.
  
  
• Talk freely about what you believe and how you approach life.
  
  
• Make friends, real friends, who will be important to you no matter what their spiritual preferences are. Love them for who they are.
  
  
• If you have read something interesting that you can pass on, by all means do so, especially if it has something to do with the true love of your life, Jesus Christ.
  
  
• Expect God to do something. Christians make a difference! You might help a fellow believer or a person who does not have a spiritual bone in his body. You never know what God may be doing. The world reacts and responds to "lighted" Christians.

It's totally implementable in one's daily life, complementing the organized evangelistic events by church and christian organization.

喜歡搭嘴的您也可以這樣嘗試. "Hanging Out" to the Glory of God!

Praying for an end to the Calif. wildfires

"It will not end ... until it reaches the ocean or the winds turn around."

~San Diego Fire battalion chief Bruce Cartelli

The wildfires haven't affected the LA area. Unlike 3 years ago, I don't even smell the smoke and see the color of the sky change. Yet, from the news report, the wildfires in California this time are much more massive. Almost all the TV news channels are covering the story all the time.

From the CNN report:

- About 271,080 acres (about 424 square miles) burned
- More than 300,000 residents have left their homes
- 696 homes, 102 commercial buildings, 80 outbuildings destroyed
- One civilian killed, 21 civilians and 13 firefighters injured

The firefighters are fighting against nature, I feel. The weather is dry; the wind is strong. How should one pray? Praying for God's hand to end the wildfires? May His work be so obvious and un-deniable even to the non-believers.

* Picture downloaded from Foxnews.

心裡暖昱昱

忘記在blog上記錄上星期收到幾位桐城學生電郵。 他們進了大學﹐ 上網機會自由度大了一點點﹐ 所以就聯絡一下﹐ 我當然開心到不得了。 心裡一直給忙﹐壓力佔據﹐ 他們幾句懷緬的說話﹐ 卻即時把我的心柔軟下來﹐ 想念他們。

但隔這麼遠﹐ 電郵也不知能維繫多久﹐ 我可以作的﹐ 就是為他們祈禱﹐ 求神帶領他們早日認識主耶穌。

小緣份

  A couple weeks I went to the university library to check out a book to copy a chapter for my students' reading assignment. Actually it's something I was asked to read when I was a graduate student. As I was flipping through the pages of that checked-out book, I noticed a postcard was left there by some previous user.

Out of curiosity I looked at the picture on the frontside of the postcard and then turned to the other side to see if anything's written on it. To my surprise, the handwriting is in Chinese! To my bigger surprise, as I kept on reading it, I saw my name and address on it! Turned out that it's sent to me in 1996. I had checked out that book from that same library, and I must have used the postcard to bookmark a page and left it there when I returned the book.* That must have been like 10 years ago when i left it there. Either nobody else has ever checked out that book since I did, or people are really nice not to throw away things!

Terence, a friend from my Hong Kong church, and his schoolmate Alex came to study at UCLA as exchange student for one quarter in 1995. They stayed at my parents' home briefly before they found a place to live. The postcard was sent a year later during his job training in England.

I don't even remember ever receiving such a postcard. Whether I have been the sole user of that book or not, it's a 小緣份 between me and the postcard.

* A student of a California public university is allowed to check out books from other California public university libraries.

The return of my research nerve

It's been more than 2 years since I finished my dissertation. I've been telling myself that I'm done with doing research, writing and publishing academic papers for good. I have had enough of 17th-century music history.

That seems to have changed. This morning, as I dug into my box of dissertation materials and searched online through www.jstor.org to look for an article for my graduate seminar, I find myself wanting to read more. I am curious again about the subject matter. Hm... maybe I'll do something about it.

That's why professors drink!

After teaching my first evening class, I couldn't sleep until 5am in the morning; my mind was too wound up. I later discovered from talking with a professor from another department that it's a common problem that evening-class instructors face. Upon hearing my complaint of insomnia, another professor (from my department) replied, "that's why professors drink!"

How do I unwind in the evening? Red wine and C.S. Lewis's Chronicles of Narnia. I re-read the entire series.

Thanks, friend

Probably due to the spilling tea incident , my notebook PC's keyboard has called it quit since last Sunday. Thanks to the generosity of a friend, I received in the mail her own notebook computer from HK. It's light and looks very sleek even though she said it's an used one.