THE NEXT ACT

When Bad Christians Happen to Good People: Where We Have Failed Each Other and How to Reverse the Damage by Dave Burchett My rating: 4 of 5 stars The title itself is very catchy. Once you read the title and you have been involved in one way or another to one or more certain community of believers, you know you wanna grab it from the shelves and browse it right away. The browsing part is a turning point to decide whether you want to sit and read or not. I decided to carry on. Some readers may be offended. Yet I would say the ones being offended are the ones who need to read this book most. It is a fact that there are horrible people in the church who act righteous. And this makes the outside world difficult to find them faithful. In the Bible, James talks about Faith and Deeds. One has to prove that he is faithful through deeds. The book hits hard in a funny way sometimes. And it's very creative to lessen blow in getting accross to readers. I was touched with a certai...

Mere Christianity by C.S. Lewis My rating: 5 of 5 stars This is the Ultimate Book to understand Christianity. I have read so many books about being a Christian. And when I read this, I found that it contains the combinations of all the Christian Books and Teachings I have absorbed in the past. Could it be that the teachings in several Christian Seminars I have been with were based on this book? Some of it are fun and some it are hard to partake. Definitely five stars. View all my reviews

Seriously... I'm Kidding by Ellen DeGeneres My rating: 3 of 5 stars It was funny. Same old Ellen the way I know her and about her in her stand-up stints and her show. Good leisure reading. No pressure. It is completely filled with not so serious stuff. A book that's kdding around. View all my reviews

Watchmen by Alan Moore My rating: 4 of 5 stars Cleverly written. Showcasing the dark side of superheroes. View all my reviews

Inferno by Dan Brown My rating: 4 of 5 stars Dan Brown executed the same formula of his previous works. But hey.. the formula works for me. I like it. http://jonsaintrandom.blogspot.co.nz/... View all my reviews

The Aladdin Factor by Jack Canfield My rating: 5 of 5 stars I have read this book over 15 years ago. Then, it has opened for me several doors of understanding of how important it is to go for what you want. I remember sharing this to my mates back then. And I still want to recommend it for others to read. I would like to recommend myself reading it again. View all my reviews

Kingdom Come by Mark Waid My rating: 5 of 5 stars One of the best graphic novel. A masterpiece. Love it. View all my reviews

“Boxing Day?  What the heck is a boxing day?” I was clueless when I got to understand that this is one of the days NZ celebrates.  And so my mind worked on me at first to figure out by myself what it would be.  The picture popped up from my brain when I first heard Boxing Day was Manny Pacquiao.  And so maybe 26 th of December is special day when every town in NZ would put up boxing rings and celebrate Boxing Day by participating and watching boxing matches.  But then I thought “Isn’t it that Rugby is the big sport in NZ?  Why not Rugby Day?”  And so I played around with my mind a bit and was stubborn by not to look at Wikipedia to end this nosiness.  What do Kiwis do on the day after Christmas?  Shopping?  Maybe back then when people shopped they put all the sold items in boxes and not yet in plastic bags because plastic was not yet invented then.  But why should they come up with a statutory day benefiting merely commercial ...

In the nativity scene, many Inn Keepers turned down Mary and Joseph.  If they have known that they are Big Time Couple, they may have offered the Penthouse and have given the most luxurious leisure they could ever give.  But they had no clue.  Joseph did not play the “Do you know me” card but he remained humble and patient.  How would one know that they are the Holy Couple?  The Three Wise Men and some shepherds had one in common.  They were guided by an Angel.  They knew that something special was happening that night.  A Gift to Mankind was soon to be born.  Baby Jesus is not only for Mary and Joseph to love.  It is for the whole world to love.  And so a multitude of heavenly host joining the angel in singing praise to this baby in the manger,. "Glory to God in the highest and on earth peace to those on whom his favour rests.”  Thank You Jesus for being born.

I was driving and listening to my playlist of Christmas Songs.   Christina Perri was on.   I sang along having a jolly good mood.   We're hanging mistletoe And hoping that it snows I close my eyes and then I can still remember How to get back, home   Let all your memories Hold you close No matter where you are You're not alone Because the ones you love Are never far If Christmas is in your heart   I was heading to two roads that fork.   My usual road is the left road for it runs closer to my home.   And then at the spur of the moment I thought of going the other road for a change.   It is a little longer route but what the heck.   I don’t see any harm.   Choices such as this don’t leave any stress or anything.   Unless I am counting every litre of the petrol, I may perspire while blaming myself what the heck am I thinking?   But I got sufficient petrol.   Wine Red (The ca...

I was having my lunch one day with other colleagues in the council.   I had my “pancit” (A quick-to-cook noodle) which a leftover food on my bday celeb last Sunday and two my colleagues in front of me were having instant noodles with all the opened sachets on the table.   I asked, “Did you cook the noodle just in the microwave oven?”   “Yes”, said one of my colleagues, “it was a lazy thing to do.”   “Yeah and some of it popped out and made a big mess inside the oven”, commented the other colleague.   “That is not true,” he objected.   “I have been working on being tidy and organised for a long time and I think I become good at it.   And hearing one comment like that makes everything about me different and my achievement all gone.”   At that moment, I froze.   And then it made me ponder about the power of words.   One word in an instant can change a hundred years of facts.   A word can make a differe...

“Never try to do anything that is outside of who you are. A forced smile is a sign of what feels wrong in your heart, so recognize it when it happens. Living a lie will reduce you to one.” ― Ashly Lorenzana Living with the truth makes life easier. I may have a much simpler life when I don’t falsify.   It is really hard to maintain a façade which makes me more appealing to a circle of people whom I want to belong.   I have learned that living a low maintenance life can be found when I am true to myself.   No façade.   No lying.   I am what I am and that’s it.   I will take the course where I am best at instead of taking somebody else’ course and fake it.   Again, covering a lie is a high maintenance.   Let nature takes its course in my true self.   True people will find true people. I have been in the road where I have been true to myself and in what I am good at and there were people who said otherwise and tried to claim the tru...

Two movies have different descriptions of Zombies.   In Warm bodies, zombies were dead people who walk stupidly slow in which some of them have a possibility to be resurrected as instigated by the lead role who fell in love with a warm-body human.   In World War Z on the other hand Zombies could run fast, lifted walls and were strong yet so scrupulous with the type of blood they should devour: they preferred healthy blood and once one become a zombie, it was end of the line.     I grew up with movies that portray Zombies as evil stricken unlike the current movies which originate Zombies from virus.   And so I would say early zombie movies are more in the horror genre than the current zombie movies which may more categorised in the science fiction or suspense thriller.   Zombie: the sound of it is already a giveaway in each origin – AFRICA.   And that was my first impression when I got to be introduced with the whole idea of zomb...

The story of Martha and Mary in John 11:17-40 is such a reminder to everyone that there is time to work and there is time to seat still. I have heard it every time and even just in my head that sometimes doing nothing is the best thing one can ever do at a moment. We have been introduced to wisdom that in order to win, we ought to push your limit. Yes it is absolutely true. This wisdom holds true all the time. However the question is what are you winning for? What are you trying to achieve? "I gotta finish painting the whole house until the sunset no matter what and so I gotta work double time," you say. And then you achieved with aching back and sore arms and you began asking, “Why in the world did I finish it wherein I still have all the time tomorrow? Now all I need to do is rest the whole night and I have no energy to spend quality time with my kid.” This reminds me of my fave book First Thing’s First. And it talks about priorities that are put into quadrants...

An Ungrateful man is like a hog under a tree eating acorns, but never looking up to see where they come from. Timothy Dexter Sometimes it’s hard to take it when you have been giving much effort and time to help out someone and still he/she is being ungrateful for the trouble. Yes, there is a good virtue in having the attitude of never expecting something in return on the good deeds you’ve done. Yet, I felt sorry for someone who seldom looks back on the one who’s done him/her a favour because he/she is too preoccupied on how he/she indulges his/her selfish motives. This reminds me a scene in a Rocky V, when retired Rocky disappointedly stared at his protégé who has been caught by too much ego which made him wanting to beat Rocky in a match. You never know what comes up with the human minds and intentions. You were exactly sure in a moment that he deserves your attention. Yet the next moment the wind blows and his attitude is tarnished. Nothing is really certain except God’s love. And ...

One good habit that I want to keep at lunch time is spending time reading or meeting up with Claire at the library which is a few walks from the council.   The frequent meeting place is at the library, outdoor in the library garden whenever there is wonderful warm day or indoor on a not so warm day yet occupying a good spot by the huge window overlooking the garden.   Sometimes Claire wouldn’t make it but I keep the habit.   Another habit that I want a keep is to bring a mug of mocha chino which Claire and I enjoy.   Reading by the window is so much amusing yet it becomes more amusing when a glance through the window captures my attention to what’s going on outside in the garden: some colleagues jogging which makes me wonder if I should do the same, a friend who is a mum who takes walk with her baby in a stroller, fellow engineers fixing the rivers, young skateboarders having fish and chips, the yellow leaves in autumn which prompts Claire to ask me to take photos ...

Copyright@2013 Jonathan Santos Let there be light and there was light The sky, the sun, the stars, the sea. The air we breathe, the creatures on sight You reign in all seen and unseen Yet after all Your Wondrous Deeds And Your Name all great men heed. Chorus: More than anything else You love us so dearly. You gave us Your mercy. More than anything else You suffered and died From sins, we are free. On the wedding at Cana, You gave them wine You fed the many with fish and bread. You cured the sick, the crippled, the blind At your command you rose up the dead. Yet after all Your Wondrous Deeds And Your Name all great men heed. (Repeat Chorus) On bended knee, on high I stare I call Your Name and You are there. (Repeat Chorus)

We’ve discussed about fish passage in river controlling structures in the meeting.   This one of the free flow permitted activity conditions one should look at in installing dams, culverts and weirs in the river.   As a river management engineer fish passage is one of those I almost neglect in the designing river controlling structures. I am more on the flood control scheme, managing flows, improving hydraulic efficiency, decreasing roughness of the channel. And then I was given a task to come up with public information to be published region wide and online about the awareness of fish passage.   I was given a task to enlighten the community about something I need to be enlightened about as well.   On the brighter side, I begin to know better.   The migration of fish is part of their life cycle.   Culverts, dams and weirs that are not designed the right way would disrupt the life cycle and become hazards to the whole ecology.   I am imagining that ...

I finished reading the book Inferno by Dan Brown.  In this book, the author’s imagination took him to make Dante’s Divine Comedy the main tool to stir up the story.  I had no knowledge about the Divine Comedy until Dan Brown made Inferno.   And so because of curiosity I just needed to find out what Divine Comedy is all about.  Wikipedia, Goodread, Youtube and Game.  Yes there is a game called Dante;s Inferno which is based on the first part of the Divine Comedy.  And there was this black and white and no talk film of Dante’s Inferno done in the days of Charlie Chaplin’s time I guess.  I watched a bit of it and I got bored and nauseated because the screen was wiggling once and a while and there was no sound – no talk and no music.  And my impression was that it was badly made.  There was this scene that there were dozens of naked guys sleeping or dead and lying on the ground and there was this one naked guy who raised his head and looked...

……… the essential vice, the utmost evil, is Pride. Unchastity, anger, greed, drunkenness, and all that, are mere flea bites in comparison: it was through Pride that the devil became the devil: Pride leads to every other vice: it is the complete anti-God state of mind. C.S. Lewis There were times that I could not figure out the streamline between bragging and being confident. There were moments that I wanna take charge and be zealous in order to get the right result but I was prevented by the thought that maybe people might think that I was just showing off which jeopardize my focus on doing it right. It’s a matter of examining myself consistently about the intent of my endeavours. .It’s a matter of making sure that pride does not tarnish my true intention in the process. C. S. Lewis (my all-time fave author) said that pride is a dangerous vice to obtain for it will lead you to all kinds of sins. Lucifer left the kingdom because he is too proud to accept that man was made in...