Hermit Crabs

Meet Nephilim! the purple hermit crab! :) he/she was quite shy and stressed on the first day in spider lab... but.. after making friends with Shadrach (another hermit crab).. he became more active and often peek out from his shell to explore the world (spider lab) ! =D

this is pei xin's fave.. but doesn't belong to us... mossy.. belongs to Matthew.. from Sodhi's lab.. haha.. pei xin wanna exchange tiny for mossy.. =(

Nephilim, Shadrach and Mossy in the tank... plotting to escape... trying to look innocent...

CAUGHT IN THE ACT!

Don't leave it on the desk

'DON'T LEAVE IT ON THE DESK'

There was a certain Professor of Religion named Dr. Christianson, a studious
man who taught at a small college in the western United States


Dr. Christianson taught the required survey course in Christianity at this
particular institution. Every student was required to take this course their
freshman year, regardless of his or her major.

Although Dr. Christianson tried hard to communicate the essence of the
gospel in his class, he found that most of his students looked upon the
course as nothing but required drudgery. Despite his best efforts, most
students refused to take Christianity seriously.

This year, Dr. Christianson had a special student named Steve. Steve was
only a freshman, but was studying with the intent of going onto seminary for
the ministry. Steve was popular, he was well liked, and he was an imposing
physical specimen. He was now the starting center on the school football
team, and was the best student in the professor's class.

One day, Dr. Christianson asked Steve to stay after class so he could talk
with him.

'How many push-ups can you do?'

Steve said, 'I do about 200 every night.'

'200? That's pretty good, Steve,' Dr. Christianson said. 'Do you think you
could do 300?'

Steve replied, 'I don't know.... I've never done 300 at a time.'

'Do you think you could?' again asked Dr. Christianson.

'Well, I can try,' said Steve.

'Can you do 300 in sets of 10? I have a class project in mind and I need you
to do about 300 push-ups in sets of ten for this to work. Can you do it? I
need you to tell me you can do it,' said the professor.

Steve said, 'Well... I think I can...yeah, I can do it.'

Dr. Christianson said, 'Good! I need you to do this on Friday. Let me
explain what I have in mind.'

Friday came and Steve got to class early and sat in the front of the room.
When class started, the professor pulled out a big box of donuts. No, these
weren't the normal kinds of donuts, they were the extra fancy BIG kind, with
cream centers and frosting swirls. Everyone was pretty excited it was
Friday, the last class of the day, and they were going to get an early start
on the weekend with a party in Dr. Christianson's class.

Dr. Christianson went to the first girl in the first row and asked,
'Cynthia, do you want to have one of these donuts?'

Cynthia said, 'Yes.'

Dr. Christianson then turned to Steve and asked, 'Steve, would you do ten
push-ups so that Cynthia can have a donut?'

'Sure!' Steve jumped down from his desk to do a quick ten. Then Steve again
sat in his desk. Dr. Christianson put a donut on Cynthia's desk.

Dr. Christianson then went to Joe, the next person, and asked, 'Joe, do you
want a donut?'

Joe said, 'Yes.' Dr. Christianson asked, 'Steve would you do ten push-ups so
Joe can have a donut?'

Steve did ten push-ups, Joe got a donut. And so it went, down the first
aisle, Steve did ten push-ups for every person before they got their donut.

Walking down the second aisle, Dr. Christianson came to Scott. Scott was on
the basketball team, and in as good condition as Steve. He was very popular
and never lacking for female companionship.

When the professor asked, 'Scott do you want a donut?'

Scott's reply was, 'Well, can I do my own push-ups?'

Dr. Christianson said, 'No, Steve has to do them.'

Then Scott said, 'Well, I don't want one then.'

Dr. Christianson shrugged and then turned to Steve and asked, 'Steve, would
you do ten push-u ps so Scott can have a donut he doesn't want?'

With perfect obedience Steve started to do ten push-ups.

Scott said, 'HEY! I said I didn't want one!'

Dr. Christianson said, 'Look!, this is my classroom, my class, my desks, and
these are my donuts. Just leave it on the desk if you don't want it.' And
he put a donut on Scott's desk.

Now by this time, Steve had begun to slow down a little. He just stayed on
the floor between sets because it took too much effort to be getting up and
down. You could start to see a little perspiration coming out around his
brow.

Dr. Christianson started down the third row. Now the students were beginning
to get a little angry. Dr. Christianson asked Jenny, 'Jenny, do you want a
donut?'

Sternly, Jenny said, 'No.'

Then Dr. Christianson asked Steve, 'Steve, would you do ten more push-ups so
Jenny can have a donut that she doesn't want?'

Steve did ten....Jenny got a donut.

By now, a growing sense of uneasiness filled the room. The students were
beginning to say, 'No!' and there were all these uneaten donuts on the
desks.

Steve also had to really put forth a lot of extra effort to get these
push-ups done for each donut. There began to be a small pool of sweat on the
floor beneath his face, his arms and brow were beginning to get red because
of the physical effort involved.

Dr. Christianson asked Robert, who was the most vocal unbeliever in the
class, to watch Steve do each push up to make sure he did the full ten
push-ups in a set because he couldn't bear to watch all of Steve's work for
all of those uneaten donuts. He sent Robert over to where Steve was so
Robert could count the set and watch Steve closely.

Dr. Christianson started down the fourth row. During his class, however,
some students from other classes had wandered in and sat down on the steps
along the radiators that ran down the sides of the room. When the professor
realized this, he did a quick count and saw that now there were 34 students
in the room. He started to worry if Steve would be able to make it.

Dr. Christianson went on to the next person and the next and the next. Near
the end of that row, Steve was really having a rough time. He was taking a
lot more time to complete each set.

Steve asked Dr. Christianson, 'Do I have to make my nose touch on each one?'

Dr. Christianson thought for a moment, 'Well, they're your push-ups. You are
in charge now. You can do them any way that you want.' And Dr. Christianson
went on.

A few moments later, Jason, a recent transfer student, came to the room and
was about to come in when all the students yelled in one voice, 'NO! Don't
come in! Stay out!'

Jason didn't know what was going on. Steve picked up his head and said, 'No,
let him come.'

Professor Christi anson said, 'You realize that if Jason comes in you will
have to do ten push-ups for him?'

Steve said, 'Yes, let him come in. Give him a donut.'

Dr. Christianson said, 'Okay, Steve, I'll let you get Jason's out of the way
right now. Jason, do you want a donut?'

Jason, new to the room, hardly knew what was going on. 'Yes,' he said, 'give
me a donut.'

'Steve, will you do ten push-ups so that Jason can have a donut?'

Steve did ten push-ups very slowly and with great effort. Jason, bewildered,
was handed a donut and sat down.

Dr Christianson finished the fourth row, and then started on those visitors
seated by the heaters. Steve's arms were now shaking with each push-up in a
struggle to lift himself against the force of gravity. By this time sweat
was profusely dropping off of his face, there was no sound except his heavy
breathing; there was not a dry eye in the room.

The very last two students in the room were two young women, both
cheerleaders, and very popular. Dr. Christianson went to Linda, the second
to last, and asked, 'Linda, do you want a doughnut?'

Linda said, very sadly, 'No, thank you.'

Professor Christianson quietly asked, 'Steve, would you do ten push-ups so
that Linda can have a donut she doesn't want?'

Grunting from the effort, Steve did ten very slow push-ups for Linda.

Then Dr. Christianson turned to the last girl, Susan. 'Susan, do you want a
donut?'

Susan, with tears flowing down her face, began to cry. 'Dr. Christianson,
why can't I help him?'

Dr Christianson, with tears of his own, said, 'No, Steve has to do it
alone; I have given him this task and he is in charge of seeing that
everyone has an opportunity for a donut whether they want it or not. When I
decided to have a party this last day of class, I looked at my grade book.
Steve here is the only student with a perfec t grade. Everyone else has
failed a test, skipped class, or offered me inferior work. Steve told me
that in football practice, when a player messes up he must do push-ups. I
told Steve that none of you could come to my party unless he paid the price
by doing your push ups. He and I made a deal for your sakes.'

'Steve, would you do ten push-ups so Susan can have a donut?'

As Steve very slowly finished his last push-up, with the understanding that
he had accomplished all that was required of him, having done 350 push-ups,
his arms buckled beneath him and he fell to the floor.

Dr. Christianson turned to the room and said, 'And so it was, that our
Savior, Jesus Christ, on the cross, plead to the Father, 'Into thy hands I
commend my spirit.' With the understanding that He had done everything that
was required of Him, He yielded up His life. And like some of those in this
room, many of us leave the gift on the desk, uneaten. '

Two students helped Steve up off the floor and to a seat, physically
exhausted, but wearing a thin smile.

'Well done, good and faithful servant,' said the professor, adding, 'Not all
sermons are preached in words.'

Turning to his class, the professor said, 'My wish is that you might
understand and fully comprehend all the riches of grace and mercy that have
been given to you through the sacrifice of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
He spared not only His Begotten Son, but gave Him up for us all, for the
whole Church, now and forever. Whether or not we choose to accept His gift
to us, the price has been paid.'

'Wouldn't you be foolish and ungrateful to leave it lying on the desk?'

Share this with someone. It's bound to touch their heart and demonstrate
Salvation in a very special way

Heaven

Revelation 21:1-4

The i saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth has passed away, and the sea was no more. And i saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, "Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be His people, and God Himself will be with them as their God. He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning or crying nor pain anymore, for the former things have passes away."


I guess i always feel happy and contented(?) when i read the verse about God wiping away every tears from the eyes of His people...

maybe it's coz i've been a crybaby since young.. i really love the image of God wiping tears from our eyes.. and i remember another verse in

Psalm 56:8

You have kept count of my tossings; put my tears in Your bottle. Are they not in Your book?

yups.. i remember that Bixia shared this with me before.. that whenever she feels sad.. or cries.. she remembers that every tear that she shed.. God knows..

i wonder if i will post this up on my blog eventually.. i never really like to put personal thoughts onto my blog...

but i just wanna share with people who have yet to know God.. that He is so amazing.. and so loving..

suddenly recall the song that we sang during morning worship on Sunday.. remembered this line where it says that "God's heart is breaking.."... His heart is breaking coz His created beings have chosen to turn away from Him...

I was quite affected that morning when Pei xin shared with me about a friend who believes in evolution... i was quite angry even...

though i cannot claim to know alot about evolution... but to me.. the evidence for it just doesn't add up... the loopholes on carbon dating... the absence of fossil records of creatures in midway of evolving from ape to man.. the odds of having a mutation that will be passed on to the progeny... the odds of all the right conditions for life on Earth coming about coz of a random Big Bang... people believe in it because they refuse to acknowledge the existence of a higher being... and i suddenly felt that for people who have the opportunity to learn so much about God's creation and see how His hands are upon creation... to deny His existence is foolishness.....

Prof Li's birthday celebration

yups.. spider lab peeps went out for lunch buffet at Rice Table (Cuppage) for celebration of Prof Li's birthday~ heh heh... the food was not bad.. but not fantastic.. nothing wowed me.. heh heh.. but it was a nice 2hr+ lunch with lotsa fun and laughter....

Car ride to Orchard was quite funnie also.. haha.. thanks to Pei Xin's videos.. hahaha... :)

the peeps from the lab.. missing eunice (photographer) and jeremy (chose to hide from camera)

Prof Li.. with the sponge spider and card that we made for him... combine effort of Pei Xin + Jun Hao + ME~ haha.. eunice and laura decorated the card.. and jun hao made the housefly 'pop out'...

Jesus' sympathy

Hebrews 4:14-16

Since then we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus, the Son of God,let us hold fast our confession. For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin. Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.

Christ has entered into our world; He has participated in our suffering. He walked our planet, ate our food, drank our water, and felt our pain. Whatever we may be experiencing today, we can know with confidence thta Jesus experienced all that and more. God has entered into our suffering world.

Are we in physical pain? Let us remember His burning thirst. Has our dignity been assaulted? He was crucified naked. Do we feel as if we are in darkness? So was He. Do we feel forsaken? He was forsaken by the Father.


Just a short excerpt from today's devotion... :)

First love

Posted this on the blog that i shared with my two disciples.. also my QT reflections .. so thought i'll post it here also...

Revelations 2:4

But I have this against you, that you have abandoned the love you had at first

I wondered again.. what does this first love mean? What is this first love that Jesus was referring to...?

" To paraphrase Christ's advice to the Ephesian church in Revelation 2, He says, "Renew your devotion to Me. Go back to the first works. You have left your first love. Renew your earlier devotion to Me."

Devotion is the sense in which the word "love" (agape) is being used. Devotion literally means "to vow completely." Baptism is the outward show that one has vowed to give his life to God, and so "devotion" implies complete dedication, total surrender. This hints at the Ephesians' problem: Their devotion—their complete dedication—was slipping away.

Devotion is a deep and ardent affection, a feeling. Its synonym are "attentiveness," "dedication," "commitment," "earnestness," but all with a feeling of affection. Devotion is not given out of a sense of obligation only, but with a warm feeling or a passionate desire. Jesus' charge to the Ephesians to return to their earlier devotion is not something that He is asking to be done merely as a duty. Some antonyms of "devotion" can help us see it from another angle: indifference, negligent, unconcerned, disregard, infidelity, and faithlessness."

Once again, i've been reminded that the Christian walk is not an easy one.. it seems so easy to fall.. so easy to stumble.. so easy to fall away...

That's why it's so important and crucial for us to renew our minds.. to renew our strength.. through prayer.. through reading God's word.. through communicating with God... so so so important...

It isn't enough to live a life of good moral.... because the Ephesus Church did that.. they followed the law.. they were fervent.. they flushed out false teachings and false prophets.. but Rev 2:4 tells us that Jesus had this charge against them.. that they had abandoned their first love...

Those words that i highlighted and bold.. let's examine ourselves.. are we guilty of any of these? I'm cannot say that i'm above all these.. because i am not.. i myself struggle to understand still what it means to love God with all my heart, soul, mind and strength.. i'm still learning.. so let's continue to pray for one another ok..? that we'll together love God and others .. because it is His greatest commandment...

Mark 12:29-31

.."The most important is, "Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength". The second is this: You shall love your neighbour as yourself.' There is no commandment greater than these."

Studying for marine biology...

i think most people are somewhat fascinated by the unknown creatures of the world.. and i think for now.. nuthin beats the creatures from the deep... haha.. yah.. i know.. i'm mugging for marine bio test.. and exams is just 3 weeks away.. my gosh.. i've been hecking caring about the modules for too long le.. time to start mugging mans.. thank God marine bio final paper is open book.. not so bad.. but i think questions are gonna be super tough....

anyways.. here's a pic of a fish from the mesopelagic zone.. 200-1000m below sea level.. dim light.. so no photosynthesis here... fishies are usually small coz they do not get sufficient food to grow big.. and hence they have to conserve whatever energy and resources they have.. hence.. this fishie here does not have scales and spines... cool right???

shall post more when i think i'm falling asleep from mugging.. haha.. well.. for the next few weeks.. i'm gonna educate people who come to my blog! haha.. coz i'm mugging! so i'll share the new knowledge that i gain!!! :)

Primary school kids and field trip...

ok.. i know i haven't blogged for some time le.. haha..

anyways.. here's just some pics of the happenings of this week... heh heh..

first up!.. helped Chris for his company's leadership development programme with MacPherson Primary School on monday (5/11/2007)... went to Changi Airport and played various station games with 16 kids in my group...

group photo! :)

i'm a teacher! haha.. explaining stuffs to the kids and kinda scolding them for not playing the game properly.. they tore up the newspaper that they were suppose to use for the first game lah!!!

and i have two cute boys in my group! haha.. made a collage... using it as wallpaper now.. cute hor?? and the my fave is Kim Jae Hong.. the one on the right.. he's smart too! and very eager to learn.. :P

ok.. this is just a random pic of a cute cute lizard from Tioman.. haha.. very pretty!

Went to help out Pei Xin's friend Daniel Ng on Wednesday evening.. catch crabs at a rich man's stream in Hillview.. very fun.. haha.. the rich old man is super old and haggard looking.. but he's also super interested in biology! loads of books all over his house on the floral and fauna of Singapore and Southeas Asia.. and the stream is in his backyard.. very nice.. can hear the water flowing.. (no need to buy those fake gadgets to mimick the sound).. and we saw some pretty birds too..

a tiny snail that we found on a leaf while daniel was setting up his quadrats.. and pei xin and i were looking for spiders..

froggie that daniel caught ... it's a giant frog.. about the size of my palm.. and quite jumpy.. but super cute.. :)

I managed to spot some small crabbies in the stream! haha.. and daniel got a few big ones also..

haha.. i think i'm beginning to envy people like junhao and daniel who get to go outfield to do their work.. all the time... seems so fun.. much more interesting. and get to learn more stuffs also.. well... as compared to being cooped up in the lab... though got air con to enjoy and craPPie people to talk to.. but somehow think that there's so little stuffs that we're learning.. oh well.. looking forward to other field trips out! :)