Christmas Nightmare?

A Movie Review By Megan Low Tim Burton’s Nightmare Before Christmas is a 1993 American stop motion film. If you haven’t yet had the opportunity to see it, the plot is simple. Jack Skellington, the main character of the movie, lives in Halloween Town but is dissatisfied with his annual role as the Pumpkin King. [...]

Christmas Nightmare?

A Movie Review By Megan Low Tim Burton’s Nightmare Before Christmas is a 1993 American stop motion film. If you haven’t yet had the opportunity to see it, the plot is simple. Jack Skellington, the main character of the movie, lives in Halloween Town but is dissatisfied with his annual role as the Pumpkin King. [...]

Wrapped up in Greed

by David C. Egner As followers of Jesus, we must be careful to guard our hearts from greed during this holiday season. In a society that has secularized Christmas, that’s not easy. USA Today reported the results of three polls signaling the erosion of the meaning of Christmas. In a survey of Americans, only one-third [...]

Wrapped up in Greed

by David C. Egner As followers of Jesus, we must be careful to guard our hearts from greed during this holiday season. In a society that has secularized Christmas, that’s not easy. USA Today reported the results of three polls signaling the erosion of the meaning of Christmas. In a survey of Americans, only one-third [...]

Connecticut Shooting

By Nancy Shen, Taiwan Last Friday, gunfire shooting rang out from an elementary school and shattered the quiet atmosphere of Newtown, Connecticut—a town deemed as one of the most livable cities in America. This massacre came as a rude shock to many people. It colored this serene town with a depressing stain. The lives of [...]

Connecticut Shooting

By Nancy Shen, Taiwan Last Friday, gunfire shooting rang out from an elementary school and shattered the quiet atmosphere of Newtown, Connecticut—a town deemed as one of the most livable cities in America. This massacre came as a rude shock to many people. It colored this serene town with a depressing stain. The lives of [...]

A thought-provoking discussion on “The first shall be last, and the last shall be first”

Wednesday, December 19, 2012

“But many who are first will be last, and the last first. For the kingdom of heaven is like a landowner who went out early in the morning to hire laborers for his vineyard. Now when he had agreed with the laborers for a denarius a day, he sent them into his vineyard. And he went out about the third hour and saw others standing idle in the marketplace, and said to them, ‘You also go into the vineyard, and whatever is right I will give you.’ And they went. Again he went out about the sixth and the ninth hour, and did likewise. And about the eleventh hour he went out and found others standing idle, and said to them, ‘Why have you been standing here idle all day?’ They said to him, ‘Because no one hired us.’ He said to them, ‘You also go into the vineyard, and whatever is right you will receive.’ So when evening had come, the owner of the vineyard said to his steward, ‘Call the laborers and give them their wages, beginning with the last to the first.’ And when those came who were hired about the eleventh hour, they each received a denarius. But when the first came, they supposed that they would receive more; and they likewise received each a denarius. And when they had received it, they murmured against the la

What if?

by David C. Egner Several years ago a group of historians authored a book called If—Or History Rewritten. Some of the ifs those scholars considered were these: What if Robert E. Lee had not lost the battle of Gettysburg? What if the Moors in Spain had won? What if the Dutch had kept New Amsterdam? [...]

When Results Disappoint

By Kelly Goenadibrata, 12-year-old, Singapore Ever felt extremely regretful and disappointed? That was how I felt when I received my Primary School Leaving Examinations* (PSLE) results. People said that my results weren’t bad, but to me, they were really bad. For the past 2 years, I have been studying hard but there were times when [...]

Reach out, Cindy Lou

By Megan Low How The Grinch Stole Christmas (2000) is a classic remake of Dr Seuss’ tale, starring Jim Carey, which by themselves are already a potent mix of hilarious fun. Yet between the lines of lighthearted comedy reside a few inspiring truths about life. After discovering that the entire town’s presents have gone missing, [...]

Outgrown Christmas?

By Rachel Diong, Malaysia The clock on my desktop showed 1:03 a.m. Yet I was still wide awake after several hours of stuffing my brain with Bode plots, root locus, transfer functions, and state space. Right, I was studying Control Systems Engineering. I was in my usual routine of brain jamming for the final year [...]

The Trail Of Tears

A very severe and tragic event in US history was the forced relocation of thousands of Native Americans in the early 19th century. Native American tribes, who had struck treaties with and fought alongside the burgeoning white population, were driven out of their ancestral lands. In the winter of 1838, thousands of Cherokee were forced to embark on a brutal 1,000-mile march westward known as The Trail of Tears. This injustice resulted in the deaths of thousands of people, many of whom had little or no clothing, shoes, or supplies for such a journey.

Reviewing Redemption (A Song Review)

By Megan Low I have three criterion for determining which Christian songs I like or dislike. Firstly, it must be God-centered. Secondly, the music arrangement must be either easy to learn, sing and play, or it must be especially beautiful and appealing. And lastly, the lyrics should be biblically accurate and able to strike a [...]

Book Review: Out of the Ordinary

Review by Cora Cheung, 14 yr old, Hong Kong Out of the Ordinary—God’s Hand at Work in Everyday Lives By David Roper I liked this book a lot, but reading all of it in one day is quite an overload. There is a lot of information packed into those 170 pages. I enjoyed his writing [...]

Which Way?

Asking directions is not my favorite thing to do. I always feel that if I stay at it long enough I’ll eventually find my way. My wife, Martie, on the other hand, is always quick to ask directions and incredulous about my unwillingness to admit that I don’t have a clue about where I’m going. In the end, she is the wiser one. She gets to her destination quickly and without angst while I end up getting lost.