Well, finally I got down to dancing on the keyboard a bit. Some random thoughts are indeed overdue. Loads of pictures thus far. And there was quite a season of silence on this blog.
I’m enjoying a ‘well-deserved’ break in Cameron Highlands right now. At first I thought I could do some planning as well, but as it turned out this became what it was supposed to be – time with family.
Since the start of the year 2010, life has been a little over intense for those who expect a slow start up. From church arsons to press conferences, church work to completing my Masters of theology thesis, 101 little details to some major approvals, it’s quite a lot for a mortal like me to handle.
But it’s been good. Now I’m awaiting for some “extra good” moments. 🙂
This Lent season has turned out to be a time to see how I can be stretched in an area which I never thought I’d fully get into. Part of the reason is I tend to see myself more focused on action projects than academic projects. But at the same time, I realize that I’m wired in a certain complex way so the two aren’t that divided as some perceive it to me. Does one need to choose between being an armchair analysts and on the ground catalyst? I’ve met quite a few in civil society and local universities which defy this ‘dualism’. More on this some other day.
Right now, I’m thankful that I’m at the finale stage of the Masters of Theology which I’ve part-time while serving Full-time as the pastor of Bangsar Lutheran Church. This is in addition to being involved with quite a number of denominational responsibilities as well as working with wonderful friends in civil society especially in these challenging times in Malaysia. I remember the “good” feeling of submitted the copies of my final thesis to the readers and now just waiting for the ‘viva’ end of this month.
On a personal end, my kids are growing fast as Elysia just celebrated her 5 year old birthday. Ewan is slowly progressing from ‘singing in tongues’ to ‘singing in understanding’. Gareth read the Psalms beautifully the other night, so the Kit kids are doing great. My ‘long suffering’ wife May Chin amazingly continues to juggle more than 101 things at home especially with a 4th Kid like me spinning so many plates all the time. so, this break was timely and exactly what we need. I can work once I reach Kuala Lumpur again.
Looks like I’m slowly returning to blogging again. Something I tried to do earlier but then was then thrown back into academic writing. 🙂 But doing project 365 was helpful to keep the blog going with images.
I’ve got loads of material to rework on. But I think it’s probably going to go more to The Micah Mandate or a possible book project.
There’s a quite a number of things which has been disturbing me lately. I think there’s much to do in the days to come. Everyone can play their part. For now, this ‘pause’ in Cameron is to enable me to ‘play’ when I’m back. 🙂
Beautiful sunshine this morning and strong winds too.
Hi Sivin,
Get a good rest at Cameron.
I heard a lot about the ‘dualism’ of armchair analyst and ground catalyst too. Sometimes I feel like slapping them but most of the time, I just couldn’t bother.
Joshua – perhaps it will be interesting for us to consider the difference between a ‘public intellectual’ and an ‘organic intellectual’ 🙂
Please share how do you differentiate both? 🙂