Autumn is absolutely beautiful! Well, all seasons for that matter, are beautiful. Too bad seasons are what we people living in the tropics miss out on. Manila has four season too, so a friend said, dry and drier and wet and wetter!
I got this two amazing photos from a new friend on facebook. But I'm pretty sure things have changed since these were taken. I was on the phone with some folks from Wausau, Wisconsin and was told that it's been consistently 20degrees F cold in the area. Winter has come quite early this year.
At any rate, I love the colors of autumn, and cold weather. I have said on many occasions that I have, since high school, concluded that my body is not made for tropics! That's why I look forward to going to Baguio! It's 15-degree C weather is always a welcome change for me.
This afternoon, I went for a walk around Greenhills-- looking for a place to have my first meal of the day. First meal? You ask. Since the semester began, I have not had a full day off and so I devoted my entire Saturday (today) in bed, to literally take a sabbath, otherwise, not resting will take its toll, eventually. So back to my walk. I wore a shirt, shorts and slippers, but even then, I was perspiring like a three mugs of water had been splashed all over my head!
I love--miss--cold weather! Thoughts of it make me conjure childhood memories. I remember biking around my hometown about this season as a kid needing to wear a sweat shirt. As a kid, I looked forward to the "ber" months because it meant a change in temperature-- waking up in the early mornings I would walk to the window and see a blanket of fog covering the rice paddies across the road from our house. The fog extended its cover from the road and up to the hills of the Sierra Madre which provided a beautiful backdrop to the rice paddies. Before breakfast, I would wrap myself with a quilt and run out into the yard and take a few big breaths of fresh cool air-- fascinated with the smoke that came out of my mouth each time I exhaled!
After school, I take my bike out and ride around town with a friend. Each armed with 20-peso bills, we had merienda (snack) at the nearby bakery near the town hall, wait the sun out and begin biking again to admire the homes with amazing Christmas lights and to check out the cute girls who would normally hang out at the street corner close to the general store!
On Saturday mornings at 5:30, my friends and I would ride up the hills where another friend lived. He would invite us for a special breakfast and we would bike around the surrounding hills. Last I heard, the hills we used to bike around in has been developed into a nice residential subdivision called Timberland, but still largely unoccupied.
When we reach the valley at around 8, we would unload our knapsacks which always contained baon (food and drinks) to share with each other. We would sit close to the banks of the stream and eat our baon. We would wade in the water and before 10:30, we would all be back home watching TV.
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A friend I have not seen in a while, Ben Khoo has recently gotten married at the Hillsong Church chapel in Baulkham Hills. My goodness-- all my friends are getting married!
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Cool thing- one of the authors of the book UNChristian, David Kinnaman left a comment on my wordpress blog! He is the president of the California-based, internationally-known, Barna Group.
I was elated to find out it was really him who commented and immediately sent him a reply. Al though, I wish I could tell him that I have read his book, but I haven't. Ten weeks ago, I placed an order on Amazon.com and they actually confirmed the order. Now I wonder where my copy is. It hasn't arrived. I'm not sure if it's coming. If it doesn't arrive before Christmas, I'd have to place another order.
This is what the website has to say about the book:
Christians are supposed to represent Christ to the world. But according to the latest report card, something has gone terribly wrong. Using descriptions like “hypocritical,” “insensitive,” and “judgmental,” young Americans share an impression of Christians that’s nothing short of . . . unChristian.
Groundbreaking research into the perceptions of sixteen- to twenty-nine-year-olds reveals that Christians have taken several giant steps backward in one of their most important assignments. The surprising details of the study, commissioned by Fermi Project and conducted by The Barna Group, are presented with uncompromising honesty in unChristian.
Find out why these negative perceptions exist, learn how to reverse them in a Christlike manner, and discover practical examples of how Christians can positively contribute to culture.
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