Matthew 24

Signs of the End of the Age

1Jesus left the temple and was walking away when his disciples came up to him to call his attention to its buildings. 2“Do you see all these things?” he asked. “I tell you the truth, not one stone here will be left on another; every one will be thrown down.”
3As Jesus was sitting on the Mount of Olives, the disciples came to him privately. “Tell us,” they said, “when will this happen, and what will be the sign of your coming and of the end of the age?”
4Jesus answered: “Watch out that no one deceives you. 5For many will come in my name, claiming, ‘I am the Christ,’ and will deceive many. 6You will hear of wars and rumors of wars, but see to it that you are not alarmed. Such things must happen, but the end is still to come. 7Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be famines and earthquakes in various places. 8All these are the beginning of birth pains.

I think the minister preached on Matthew 24 the Sunday after September 11 happened. I can't remember much from that sermon, but I think the point was that tragedy and devestation like that is going to keep happening, and it's going to get worse....the "beginning of birth pains".

I wonder if you can look at stuff like the tsunami in Asia as a sign that we are approaching the "end of the age"? Is it just me, or are things like this getting more frequent? I know my lifetime only spans an infinitesimally short section of eternity...but, you know, stuff that happens now...it's part of it, right? Is this the kind of stuff the Bible is refering to?

Millions of people dying....and here I am, on this really fantastic holiday, using the internet, warmed by central heating, and the most life-changing decision I need to make at the moment is whether I should change to part-time this year....It's all so surreal. I don't know, maybe surreal isn't the right word. My vocabulary and ability to write in full sentences seems to have deteriorated over the holidays.

It's snowing in houston and janice is cool! :)

(My cousin wrote the title)

And she wants to write more:

Hi my name is Janice Elizabeth Wong. My b-day was yesterday, december 23rd. :) i'm writing in a blog. oooh. is that some Australian thing? hmmm... I am proud to be an American!! I love the USA!! :)

No Janice, I don't think blogs are specifically Australian, but since you're only 12, you're excused. Here are some of my other cousins:

Ho,hi,ho. My name is JuDiTh YeE ChEn and I am a real slow typer. I am also 8 years of age. I am from LA. I was born in Kentucky (I love KFC. mmm! Chicken!) lol. I am Judith Yee Chen and I am a real slow......

Wassup!!! Hello all!!! My name is Joshua Lee Chen. I'm Judy's brother and Vivian's cousin. I was born in Dallas. This is soo cool. It's actually snowing in Houston. Wow!!! The cruise we were just on was really cool and very nice. Bye!!

David , yep thats my name. Just wanted to say hi! Actually, Judith is tawking to who-ever you are. Bye!

(That's Judy trying to be David)

wewewewewewewewewewewewe ZaChaRy WaYne cHen

(That last one was Zachary...he's 10 and Josh and Judy's brother)

Ok ok, I know I haven't blogged in ages, so I'll backtrack a bit.

Well, first of all, we missed our connecting flight to Houston at Chicago airport, because of all the increased security measures these days...we had to get our fingerprints and photos taken...stood in line for about an hour. My mum was all stressed out and nearly having a nervous breakdown because we were going to miss our flight. My dad and I took turns rolling our eyes at each other and laughing at her paranoia (not very nice I know, but it helped to relieve the tension).

So we ended up getting to Houston really really really late, because the next flight we took was delayed (funny how our original flight couldn't have been delayed).

The past week we spent on a cruise across the Gulf of Mexico...with two grandparents, eight parents and eight kids, we were a pretty big group. We ate soooooo much food....I put on about 2 or 3 kg over the six days. We got to go snorkeling and swimming at the beach in Mexico, which was pretty cool. The full days we had on the boat, my cousins and I spent most of our time in our cabin watching TV and sleeping. Eating, sleeping....no wonder I put on weight.

Now it's Christmas Eve....and it's snowing! It never snows in Houston! Like every ten years or something....guess I came at the right year!

Merry Christmas to y'all from Texas! I have to get off the computer now...

I'm in London still...

...although not for long, will be flying to Houston on Wednesday, which is where all the relo bashing will start. Must admit I'm getting slightly sick of my parents now, and its only the second week...glad I'm going off to KYC when I get back to Sydney, hehehe....

Yesterday we took a bus to Birmingham and stayed overnight at my dad's relatives' place. They took us to see a concert at the Birmingham symphony hall (looks heaps better than the inside of the Opera House)...never been to anything like that before, it was two sopranos singing duets by various German, French and Italian composers. Didn't know what they were singing about, but they were pretty good. The pianist was really good too...I guess you'd have to be if that's your job :)

This morning we went to Stratford-upon-Avon, birthplace of Shakespeare. Got to go inside the house where he was born, and they had exhibits and stuff to look at. Too bad I'm not really the literary type, but it was still kinda interesting. Bought my favourite souvenir so far...a rubber with a Shakespeare quote on it: "Out damned spot!" :P

So now we're back in London, took the bus back this afternoon. We're staying with a couple who used to go to our church. I think we're going to Greenwich tomorrow...get to stand at an invisible line...yay! Speaking of which...

Local time: 10:12pm, Sunday, 12th December (didn't get to go to church today :(
Temperature: I think it's about 9 C outside...the weather has been pretty good, no rain! And they say it's been pretty warm in England this winter....probably due to global warming...yay for greenhouse gases.

London

Location: Wimbledon
Local time: 4:10pm, Thursday, 9th December
Temperature: Not sure, feels a lot warmer than Paris though

Hello everyone...have had a crazy week in Paris, included an overnight trip to Belgium and Holland too! Have been to lots of places but no time to write about it all cos I feel bad about using someone else's internet...but anyway, I'm still alive, I hope everyone else in Sydney is too.

And by some miracle, I managed to pass all seven of my subjects! Marks range from 53 to 81...I'm happy. Actually kind of disappointed I didn't fail anything cos I was looking forward to doing part time next semester, hehe...we'll see how things go, I'm sure God has it all under control.

Hope you guys aren't frying in Sydney :P

Vivian

I'm in an airport

Location: Singapore
Local time: 10:23pm, Nov 30th, 2004
Temperature: 28 C

Yawn...if I thought the seven and a half hours to Singapore was long, 14 hours to Paris is going to be even longer. Oh well, at least Singapore Airlines is good. Get to listen to free music! Hours and hours of it...album after album after album....just as well, since I've been in the musical Dark Ages this year.

Better go and let someone else use this free internet.

I'm going to Paris!