Proverbs 20:5

"The purposes of a man's heart are deep waters, but a man of understanding draws them out."

Move forward...

Judges 5:15-16

15 The princes of Issachar were with Deborah;
yes, Issachar was with Barak,
rushing after him into the valley.
In the districts of Reuben
there was much searching of heart.

16 Why did you stay among the campfires
to hear the whistling for the flocks?
In the districts of Reuben
there was much searching of heart.

15 以 薩 迦 的 首 領 與 底 波 拉 同 來 ； 以 薩 迦 怎 樣 ， 巴 拉 也 怎 樣 。 眾 人 都 跟 隨 巴 拉 衝 下 平 原 ； 在 流 便 的 溪 水 旁 有 心 中 定 大 志 的 。

16 你 為 何 坐 在 羊 圈 內 聽 群 中 吹 笛 的 聲 音 呢 ？ 在 流 便 的 溪 水 旁 有 心 中 設 大 謀 的 。

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These passages were read on Friday morning's prayer meeting. The entire chapter was similar to a psalm in that it is a song that Deborah composed. Of all the words, these words captivated me...

With all the things that the Lord has revealed to my heart and the goals that I've set in my heart... why did I just sit within the flocks by the campfires to listen to the whistles? I should be engaging "rushing after him into the valley" toward the land and take it as it is God's promised inheritance.

Why am I searching my heart after that it is already confirmed? No hesitation now... we are moving forward. We are moving straight forward. It's time for me to rise up and answer the call instead of listening to the whistles by the campfire.

Lord, strengthen my heart and steadfast my actions!!!

Let me obey and go on my own...

This was from this morning's prayer meeting:

Judges 4:8-9
8 Barak said to her, "If you go with me, I will go; but if you don't go with me, I won't go." 9 "Very well," Deborah said, "I will go with you. But because of the way you are going about this, the honor will not be yours, for the LORD will hand Sisera over to a woman." So Deborah went with Barak to Kedesh,
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It's time for me to step out and step up. Otherwise I will be always under someone's shadow, and the honor will not be mine.

Many times I feel timid about fighting by myself out on business trips. There just seems to be more blessing when I drag my boss to go with me. Knowing that I should be doing these things on my own, I still drag my boss out of his busy schedule because "it is important!"

Lord, help me to step out and step up. You've prepared me and trained me over the years and let me live up to the calling you have for me. If you are for me, then we can be against me?
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I think the company's prayer meeting is very good for my work. I've not been going for the past two weeks and this morning has been a great encouragement.

Struggling... but I will hold on....

Lord, I am struggling... the higher I get, the more attention I receive and the more I need to be alert. Help me to grow and not be complacent.

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Psalm 102

1 Hear my prayer, O LORD;
let my cry for help come to you.

2 Do not hide your face from me
when I am in distress.
Turn your ear to me;
when I call, answer me quickly.

3 For my days vanish like smoke;
my bones burn like glowing embers.

4 My heart is blighted and withered like grass;
I forget to eat my food.

5 Because of my loud groaning
I am reduced to skin and bones.

6 I am like a desert owl,
like an owl among the ruins.

7 I lie awake; I have become
like a bird alone on a roof.

8 All day long my enemies taunt me;
those who rail against me use my name as a curse.

9 For I eat ashes as my food
and mingle my drink with tears

10 because of your great wrath,
for you have taken me up and thrown me aside.

11 My days are like the evening shadow;
I wither away like grass.

12 But you, O LORD, sit enthroned forever;
your renown endures through all generations.

13 You will arise and have compassion on Zion,
for it is time to show favor to her;
the appointed time has come.

14 For her stones are dear to your servants;
her very dust moves them to pity.

15 The nations will fear the name of the LORD,
all the kings of the earth will revere your glory.

16 For the LORD will rebuild Zion
and appear in his glory.

17 He will respond to the prayer of the destitute;
he will not despise their plea.

18 Let this be written for a future generation,
that a people not yet created may praise the LORD :

19 "The LORD looked down from his sanctuary on high,
from heaven he viewed the earth,

20 to hear the groans of the prisoners
and release those condemned to death."

21 So the name of the LORD will be declared in Zion
and his praise in Jerusalem

22 when the peoples and the kingdoms
assemble to worship the LORD.

23 In the course of my life he broke my strength;
he cut short my days.

24 So I said:
"Do not take me away, O my God, in the midst of my days;
your years go on through all generations.

25 In the beginning you laid the foundations of the earth,
and the heavens are the work of your hands.

26 They will perish, but you remain;
they will all wear out like a garment.
Like clothing you will change them
and they will be discarded.

27 But you remain the same,
and your years will never end.

28 The children of your servants will live in your presence;
their descendants will be established before you."

Garmin Nuvi 360

After asking around and careful considerations, I invested in a Garmin Nuvi 360 GPS for my everyday travel and phone calling needs. I received it today from Amazon's promotional shipping and immediately to start playing with it during lunch hour.

Now I just have to decide on how to mount it properly in my old Integra...

Renewing my love; Happy Valentine's Day!

Psalm 101

1 I will sing of your love and justice;
to you, O LORD, I will sing praise.

2 I will be careful to lead a blameless life—
when will you come to me?
I will walk in my house
with blameless heart.

3 I will set before my eyes
no vile thing.
The deeds of faithless men I hate;
they will not cling to me.

4 Men of perverse heart shall be far from me;
I will have nothing to do with evil.

5 Whoever slanders his neighbor in secret,
him will I put to silence;
whoever has haughty eyes and a proud heart,
him will I not endure.

6 My eyes will be on the faithful in the land,
that they may dwell with me;
he whose walk is blameless
will minister to me.

7 No one who practices deceit
will dwell in my house;
no one who speaks falsely
will stand in my presence.

8 Every morning I will put to silence
all the wicked in the land;
I will cut off every evildoer
from the city of the LORD.

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Lord, renew within me a fresh love for You. And I will hate what You hate, and love what You love. Steadfast my heart so that I will remember that you've called me out of the world to be set apart for You. So that I will be ready to do the works that You will have me to. And I will honor Your name.

Happy Valentine's Day!!!

Going to the Daniel retreat tonight!

Sorry people, I've been busy cooking for the past two nights to get plenty of meat stewed for the Saturday night dinner so I've not had chances to update my blog. God still has shown me His triumph and power at work as I was able to stay focused more without the distraction of MSN. But since I've been sleeping late this week (right around 2am), I've not been able to make it to the morning prayer meetings. I hope that next week will be better for me.

Today is not very busy. I've actually had some time to review some of my old blog entries as well as other people's blogs.

And....

Ya!!! I'm leaving the office one hour early today!

Ya!! Finally got HDMI working for my TV from the Cable Set top box.

Dream Continuance... good bye, Portland and Seattle... until next time

I went to bed close to 1am last night and woke up around 5:30am this morning. Needed to get prepared for the 8 to 12 training session for WSDOT Olympia/Seattle. I was asking God for His mercy and provision on speaking and communicating clearly... He answered.

The training session went very well filled with lots of questions and discussions as well as... validation! Thank you, Lord! There's none like you who can teach us understanding and insight.

Now I'm waiting for the flight back to LA at SEATAC airport. Good bye, Portland and Seattle, until we meet again in the very near future!
WSDOT engineers at the Olympia Headquarter

Got to the Red Lion Hotel in Portland, OR

Finally made it!!! We landed in Seattle at around 10:30pm. And then picked up the rental car and I begin the first shift of the close to 3 hour drive to Portland, OR at 11:30pm. After an hour, I was very sleepy, so my boss took over the driving for the rest of the way. It was a very difficult drive as the fog was so thick that the visibility is reduced to sometimes 10ft. Another incident also marred the drive as my boss was stopped by the state patrol near the border of Washington and Oregon for speeding...

Lord, please don't let this upset the upcoming meetings. Let Your faithfulness and mercy come through as we rest now and fight the battles tomorrow... or in a few hours.

A Saturday for my own

For the past 2 Saturdays following my birthday, I have been working overtime because of new year sales plans and new office moves. And I have not had a complete 7 or 8 hour sleep everyday for the past two weeks. Today, I finally have the entire Saturday to myself!!! I woke up just a bit past 8 this morning. Finally...

So my plans are:
1. Get my taxes done
2. Get a haircut, finally
3. Grocery shopping and cooking
4. Room cleaning
5. Past cleaning
6. Get to the gym and workout for 2 hours or more

And of course, spend time in worship, prayer, and devotion at anytime or at all times. Today, I want to get my priorities straight even in my times of rest. I will enjoy it with my Lord very much.

Tomorrow, I will get on an airplane to go to Seattle, drive to Portland, back to Tacoma, and back to Seattle again. I will be back on Tuesday late night. This is my first out of town business trip for 2007. Please keep me in your prayers.

One month of 2007 has passed!!!

Sometimes I feel that time passes by too slowly, and sometimes it passes too quickly.

While at work for the past two weeks, I spent a lot of time chatting with friends, new and old. Man, MSN is really evil. It consumed so much time and this week I have so many things to catch up! That's why I decided to not use it while during the office hours. I turned it on during lunch hour and after 5pm... and let me tell you... I got so much more work done in the past 2 days!!!

Last night, Pastor Wang: echoed: teach us to number our days aright, that we may gain a heart of wisdom. We are called to be good stewards of God's resources that's entrusted to us. Both money and time, we might have excuses for money since some are wealthier than others. However, everyone has the same amount of time: 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year.

Psalm 90

10 The length of our days is seventy years—
or eighty, if we have the strength;
yet their span is but trouble and sorrow,
for they quickly pass, and we fly away.

11 Who knows the power of your anger?
For your wrath is as great as the fear that is due you.

12 Teach us to number our days aright,
that we may gain a heart of wisdom.

13 Relent, O LORD! How long will it be?
Have compassion on your servants.

14 Satisfy us in the morning with your unfailing love,
that we may sing for joy and be glad all our days.

15 Make us glad for as many days as you have afflicted us,
for as many years as we have seen trouble.

16 May your deeds be shown to your servants,
your splendor to their children.

17 May the favor of the Lord our God rest upon us;
establish the work of our hands for us—
yes, establish the work of our hands.

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Lord, please do teach me to number my days aright so that I may gain a heart of wisdom.

Check out this song...

Leadership by example

I read this on yahoo during lunch hour and I thought this is a very good read. Today, I finally woke up again before 6am so that I can get more things done and get to the prayer meeting on time before I start today's work. Praise the Lord!!!
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By Jim Citrin

Posted on Tuesday, January 30, 2007, 3:00AM

How disciplined are you about your early-morning routine?

If you want to maximize your success while achieving the best possible balance in your life, you may want to take a fresh look at what time you wake up and what you do with your time before getting to the office.

A Wakeup Call

Last week, I contacted some of the business leaders I greatly admire and inquired about their early-morning schedules.

Specifically, I asked 20 CEOs and top executives what time they wake up, when they have their first cup of coffee, when they start on email, what if anything they do for exercise, what time they leave for the office, and what else they do before walking out the door.

I heard back from half a dozen of them within 10 minutes, and, in a matter of a few hours, I received answers from a total of 17 out of the 20 -- a response rate that would be the envy of any market researcher.

It didn't take long for the patterns to emerge. Based on an analysis of the executives' schedules and activities, I discovered seven practices you should seriously consider adopting in order to make the most of your morning.

1. Start early.

   This is the part of your morning routine over which you have the greatest control. To fit it all in, it's a must to start early. The latest any of the surveyed executives wake up is 6 a.m., and almost 80 percent wake up at 5:30 or earlier.
   

   The early-bird-gets-the-worm award goes to Padmasree Warrior, chief technology officer for Motorola, who rises at 4:30 a.m., spends an hour on email, reads most of the news online, and then does an hour of either cardio or resistance training each morning. This allows her to get her son ready for school and drop him off, and still get to work by 8 or 8:30 in the morning.
   

2. Get a jump on email.

   If you think you're alone in feeling overwhelmed by email, take comfort: even top CEOs and the most senior executives feel compelled to stay on top of their email, and most of them find time in the early morning to do so.
   

   Ursula Burns, the No. 2 executive at technology giant Xerox, says, "I do email from the minute I get up [5:15 a.m.] and all day long, finishing around midnight." Haim Saban, chairman and CEO of investment firm Saban Capital Group, starts email right after his first cup of coffee "at 6:02 a.m." and works on it for about an hour before his 75-minute morning exercise regimen.
   

   Lou D'Ambrosio, chief executive officer at telecommunications equipment leader Avaya Communications, is "on email literally within one minute after waking up. I spend about an hour at home in the morning doing email to jump-start the day. This allows me to have a clear mind when I set priorities for the day." Lou also does email from 10 p.m. to 11:30 p.m. at night.
   

   Several executives wait until they get to the office before they start working on email. Matt Ouimet, president of the hotel group for Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide, for example, rises at 5:30 a.m. and leaves the house at 6 a.m. to get to the office very early -- "I've always been anxious to get to work: game time" -- and responds to email undisturbed for an hour while the office is very quiet.
   

3. Exercise every morning.

   It's often difficult to find a way to fit exercise into your busy schedule, but knowing that some of the most successful businesspeople do so might motivate you to find a way to work it into your routine.
   

   More than 70 percent of the business leaders in my survey perform their exercise in the morning, while 15 percent find a way to do it during the day (one does it late at night before turning in). Only two of the executives admit to not exercising on a regular basis, although one said, "I know I should."
   

   The individual who demonstrates the greatest exercise discipline is the CEO of a high-performing global technology company (I promised him anonymity so as not to blow his cover). "I exercise at lunchtime," he says. "I block the time every single day. This is because I'm a runner and that's the best time to run outside all year long."
   

4. Be thoughtful about the source, form, and timing of your news.

   Much has been written about the demise of the newspaper, and, along those lines, about a quarter of the executives I spoke with has switched to online news. Yet most of the others maintain the morning newspaper as a central part of their routine.
   

   Steve Reinemund, the CEO of PepsiCo, reads the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, the Financial Times, and the Dallas Morning News. Rafe Sagalyn, CEO of the prestigious Sagalyn Literary Agency of Bethesda, Md., blends traditional and new media. He says, "I simultaneously skim online newspapers from Boston to Los Angeles and half a dozen blogs one really has to keep up with. At about 6:30 a.m., I fetch three morning papers -- the New York Times, the Washington Post, and the Wall Street Journal."
   

5. Problem-solve.

   The quiet of the morning is often the time when your mind is at its clearest and most well-suited to solving important problems.
   

   Steve Murphy, CEO of publishing company Rodale, says, "A line in a William Blake poem inspired me to think differently about my day: ‘Think in the morning, act in the noon, read in the evening, and sleep at night.' This has made a huge difference in my life. Now, I take out a yellow pad every morning and write my thoughts for the day, which allows me to be much more strategic and proactive than reactive."
   

6. Make family time.
   

   Many business leaders find that the morning encourages important family time. Some have breakfast with their families or make taking kids to school a central part of the morning routine.
   Clayton, Dubilier & Rice managing partner Kevin Conway lingers at home when he can to help send off all three kids to school. Greg Maffei, CEO of Liberty Media Corporation, says, "I try to talk one of my kids into going outside to get the paper, but end up getting it myself. I then have breakfast with my wife and kids, help the latter get dressed, and drive the older boys to the bus stop at 7:40 a.m."
   

7. Be creative with your morning routine.

   Despite all the discipline and structure described in the above best practices, it doesn't mean you can't be creative with your morning rituals. Gerry Laybourne, founder, chairman, and CEO of Oxygen Media, maintains a routine similar to other business leaders.
   

   However, she adds a unique twist to her schedule: "Once or twice a week, I go for a walk in Central Park with a young person seeking my advice. This is my way of helping bring along the next generation. I can't take time at the office to do this, but doing it in the morning allows me to get exercise and stay connected with young people at the same time."

The examples cited here have led me to reassess how I structure my early-morning time, and I hope they help you in making the most of your daily routine as well.