Only A Rivet

The wisdom that is from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, . . . without partiality and without hypocrisy. —James 3:17

Scientists have determined that faulty rivets may have caused the rapid sinking of the "unsinkable" HMS Titanic. According to researchers who recently examined parts recovered from the wreck, impure rivets made of wrought iron rather than steel caused the ship’s hull to open like a zipper. The Titanic proves the foolishness of spending resources on fancy equipment and public promotion while neglecting the "ordinary" parts.

In a sense, churches are like ships, and many of their people are like rivets. Although rivets seem insignificant, they are essential for holding the ship together and keeping it afloat.

Feelings of insignificance are rampant these days, even among Christians, and some do hurtful things to make themselves feel important. James says, "Where envy and self-seeking exist, confusion and every evil thing are there" (3:16). People corrupted by worldly desires for beauty, wealth, and power can bring down great churches, but people who are pure and undefiled (1:27) hold churches together.

As members of God’s church, we need to be "rivets" without defect. When we are pure (James 3:17), strong (Eph. 6:10), and steadfast (1 Cor. 15:58), we will be used by the Lord to keep His ship afloat in times of crisis. —Julie Ackerman Link

The task Thy wisdom hath assigned,
O let me cheerfully fulfill;
In all my works Thy presence find,
And prove Thy good and perfect will. —Wesley

It is a great thing to be faithful in little things.

Father Is A Source of Strength

...when I was kid , my dad always bring me to camping, field work and mountain climbing. As the Head of the Red Cross Society, I learned a lot from him. We would go and climb Lambak with the rest of the kids many times. I love to climb along the river and waterfall and he would bring his students to track along the dry path, which I find it so boring.

The challenge is to track along the river and waterfall and move quickly before my dad reaches the same spot. It was fun. Every now and then when I am back in Kluang, Johor, I will climb to the submit. I think I have climbed more 60 over times and I am still lovin it! Praise God.

I will always remember him when I go there. How the 6 years has passed without him... I just can't imagine.... Always remember him as fantastic guide, teacher and leader.

Father Is A Source of Strength

A father is a source of strength,
A teacher and a guide,
The one his family looks up to
With loving trust and pride...
A father is a helper
With a willing hand to lend,
A partner, an adviser,
And the finest kind of friend

Here are some memories of my Dad

He was deeply supportive of me
He was the only person that supported me to do business in 1998. He wanted to make sure I achieve my goals with all the resistance and problem I abt 2 faced. Looking back, I am amazed by his qualities. I remember he will pass me his car so that I can drive to work and he will sacrificially walk to town, which is abt 4km. So in the year 2000, I made a promise to myself. I am going 2 buy my dad a sports car. Eventually in I did, buy he passed away before he could drive it. That is the reason why I have driving a sports car until today. I always remember him that way.

He had got incredible patience
Hehad such incredibly patience in teaching and correcting me. He has so much patience with my siss and mum.

He was there to help me when I went dating with my mum's student
One of my best friend, he taught me how to date.

We love badminton
He was a badmintion coach back then. Every morning or once every 3 days, I will wake him up to play badminton by the road side. Now that he is gone, every morning or once every 3 days, I will go to hill to exercise instead.

My dad is a movie freak
I remember the first time I went to watch a movie in the cinema, it was in 1986. The ticket of the movie is only RM1.80. Since I was a kid then, my entrance fee is FREE. When the Coronation cinema closed, he would watch all kinds action movies at home. He could just watch to 4 movies a day and spend at home with my mum

We would miss and hug each other when after few days of not meeting
In year 1999, my dad came back from Penang. I remember how we missed each other. He hugged me with so much emotion and pain. The amount of problem he had faced .. i realized by now, only someone like his son will understand.


2 Photos Above: Taken on the way as I was going back after climbing the mountain.

Puple Carrot - Anthocyanins

Technical Abstract: Anthocyanins are the brightly-colored, purple, red, and blue pigments found widely in higher plants and are responsible for the typical colors of flowers, fruit, and leaves. Anthocyanins are glycosylated and acylated derivatives of six cyanidins and vary widely among plants. Different additions to the base molecule result in compounds of varying color stability and intensity. Historically, purple color was found in carrot roots and some characterization had been done to confirm that this color was due to anthocyanins, particularly cyanidin glycosides. While variation in tone and intensity of purple color has been noted in diverse carrots, the chemical basis of this variation is unknown. Thus, the identification, quantification, and characterization of these compounds in carrot roots would be useful in a breeding effort in order to select for roots with the most stable and intense purple color. We selected roots from different breeding lines that displayed varying shades of color in a range of intensities. Pigment was extracted using EtOH/HCI and analyzed using gradient RP-HPLC. Anthocyanin profiles of the lines were compared. As anthocyanins are widely applicable as natural food coloring agents and are potent phytonutrients with high antioxidant capacity, better characterization of carrot anthocyanins will be of interest.

-----------

Cyanidin 3-O-beta-D-glucoside suppresses nitric oxide production during a zymosan treatment in rats.

Tsuda T, Horio F, Osawa T.

Junior College Division, Tokai Gakuen University, 2-901 Nakahira, Tenpaku-ku, Nagoya 468-8514, Japan.

Anthocyanins are used for food color, and they are widely distributed in the human diets, suggesting that we ingest considerable amounts of anthocyanins from plant-based daily diets. We have demonstrated that a typical anthocyanin, cyanidin 3-O-beta-D-glucoside (C3G), suppressed the zymosan-induced inflammatory response in rats when it was orally administered. The elevation of the peritoneal exudate NOx, tumor necrosis factor (TNF) alpha interleukin-1beta (IL-1beta), IL-6, and the cytokine-induced neutrophil chemoattractant-1 (CINC-1) concentrations were significantly suppressed by the administration of C3G. The zymosan treatment resulted in an increase in the serum alpha2-macroglobulin and decreases in the serum albumin and transferrin levels, which are recognized as acute phase proteins. However, these levels were normalized by the administration of C3G. The inducible nitric oxide synthase (iNOS) protein level in the peritoneal exudate cells was markedly elevated in the control group treated with zymosan. However, the administration of C3G significantly reduced the level of iNOS in the peritoneal exudate cells. Taken altogether, our findings provide a biochemical basis for the use of C3G as a functional food factor and can also have important implications for the prevention of the NO-mediated inflammatory diseases.

Ellagitannins as active constituents of medicinal plants.

Currently researching in Ellagitannins. Ellagitannins occur naturally in 46 different foods, but the highest natural content is found in red raspberries.

Isolation and structure determination, accompanied by measurement of various biological activities of each isolated tannin, particularly of ellagitannins, have brought about a marked change in the concept of tannins as active constituents of medicinal plants. Their biological activities should now be discussed on the basis of the structural differences among each tannin, in a way similar to that of the other types of natural organic compounds.

The inhibitory activity against lipid peroxidation, which is different in the strength among tannins of various structures, is exhibited in general more strongly by ellagitannins than by the other types of tannins of similar structures. The radical-scavenging activities of tannins as the mechanism of their inhibition, which is regarded to participate in several biological activities of tannins, have been supported by the ESR spectral measurements. Other biological activities, i.e., inhibition of mutagenicity of carcinogens, inhibition of tumor promotion, etc., have been found for tannins including ellagitannins.

PMID: 2664829 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]

----------------------------

Pomegranate Juice Supplementation to Atherosclerotic Mice Reduces Macrophage Lipid Peroxidation, Cellular Cholesterol Accumulation and Development of Atherosclerosis¹

Marielle Kaplan^*, Tony Hayek^*, Ayelet Raz^*, Raymond Coleman, Leslie Dornfeld^*, Jacob Vaya^** and Michael Aviram^*2

^* The Lipid Research Laboratory, the Department of Anatomy and Cell Biology, Bruce Rappaport Faculty of Medicine, Technion, The Rappaport Family Institute for Research in the Medical Sciences and Rambam Medical Center, Haifa, 31096, Israel and ^** Laboratory of Natural Compounds for Medical Use, Migal, Galilee Technological Center, Kyriat Shmona, 10200, Israel

^{---------------------}

The soluble polyphenol content varies within the limits of 0.2-1.0%, depending on variety, and includes mainly anthocyanins, catechins, ellagic tannins, and gallic and ellagic acids (16, 17, 20). More importantly, PJ possesses potent antioxidant activity that elicits antiatherogenic properties in mice (20-22) and can inhibit cyclooxygenases and lipoxygenases (18).

Life in the Celebes

Check out the Barracudas

Looks like it time to get a Ikelite housing

Smile, everytime you think of me.

Picture Above: With a rented bike, I travelled south of Bali, and I stopped for a visit at a Temple in Jimbaran, approximately 18km from my destination, Uluwatu.
Taken on the 24 of March 2007 at 4:42pm

Japanese School

Picture Above: Taken on the 15th of March 2007, 12:04PM at Gianyar, Bali.

Jesus, Beautiful Saviour

BEAUTIFUL SAVIOUR
(Planetshakers)

Jesus
Beautiful Saviour
God of all majesty
Risen King

Lamb of God
Holy and righteous
Blessed Redemeer
Bright morning star

All the heavens shout Your praise
All creation bow to worship You

How wonderful
How beautiful
Name above every name
Exalted high
How wonderful
How beautiful
Jesus Your Name
Name above every name

I will sing forever
Jesus I love You

This is a beautiful song. Simple words, yet containing powerful truths. Recently, this song has been very much in my heart. Being reminded of who Jesus is, His character, His love, His majesty. How wonderful, how beautiful. Many things can be wonderful and beautiful in our lives. May our eyes be opened and spirit man be sensitive to the true wonder and beauty of all - Jesus. Lord, thank You for You in my life.

Someone once told me...

Someone once told me, when you found the Special One, you have finally found your best friend.
Congrats. I love photos that tells a story in JUST ONE PHOTO instead of many photos.

Picture Above: Simeon finally married his best friend, Melissa. Taken at St Louis Church, on the 13th of October 2007 in Kluang Johor.

Like a compass

God revealed to Israel’s prophets not only what was wrong but also what was right: "Cease to do evil, learn to do good; seek justice, rebuke the oppressor; defend the fatherless, plead for the widow" (Isa. 1:16-17).

Instead of focusing on what is wrong, let’s obey the One who knows what is right. —Julie Ackerman Link

Lord, grant me grace throughout this day
To walk the straight and narrow way,
To do whatever in Thy sight
Is good and perfect, just and right. —Huisman

Like a compass, the Bible always points you in the right direction.

Cool & Alluring

Morning Love

As heaven illuminated my universe, I sensed a sweet angel.

He drew me into his benevolent embrace,
and his oath raised my spirit.
And when he blessed my lips,
I was enraptured.