Reading daily devotional Drawing Near by John MacArthur and he cited this passage: "All that the Father gives Me will come to Me." John 6:37. So every single one that the Father gives to Jesus will come to Jesus. Then I continue to read: "No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws him." John 6:44. Not a single one can come unless the Father draws him to Jesus. Together only those the Father draws can come and everyone who the Father gives to Jesus will come. Are there two sets of people whom the Father gives to and draws to Jesus? Again, I am fully aware of II Peter 3:9: "The Lord is not slow about His promise, as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing for any to perish but for all to come to repentance."

Reading my One-Year bible daily portion today and believe that Matthew 15:11 should be read in narrow context of Matthew 15:20 regarding human traditions or rituals instead of dietary law. Jesus came to fulfill the law and not to abolish it. Matthew 5:17.

I wonder what's the counsel to balance out Psalm 46:10? The Bible seems to be littered with one example after another of people not waiting on G-d and making hasty decisions. Moses out of righteous anger took matter into his own hand without waiting on G-d. Exodus 2:12. King Saul lacked faith in the prophet Samuel, and thus indirectly G-d, did thing that seemed urgently needed at the time but was in fact being disobedient to G-d. I Samuel 13:9. Peter thought he was doing his Savior a service. John 18:10.

On the other hand, Joseph from the moment he became second-in-command in Egypt, through the seven years of plentiful, the Bible had no record of him inquiring about his aged father, whom he loved and knew loved him very much. It could be that the Bible just not had it recorded. But he was never chastised for it. In fact, it was not until the second year of famine that he disclosed himself to his brothers. Genesis 45:6. Jesus, before the age of 12, basically Bar Mitzvah age, being himself fully G-d at all times, submitted to his earthly parents' authority and waited until he was an adult himself. Luke 2:43.

Patiently waiting on G-d and doing the right thing at the right time is necessary in the life of a true believer who seeks to live in obedience!

I read from my One-Year bible daily portion this morning: "All things have been committed to me by my Father. No one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son and those to whom the Son chooses to reveal him." Matthew 11:27. Only those to whom the Son chooses to reveal the Father would know Him. Can we ask G-d why He didn't choose one and choose the other? Who are we to question G-d? Will the clay say to the potter, "What are you doing?" Isaiah 45:9. Aren't we all have sinned and fall short of the glory of G-d? Romans 3:23. And the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. Romans 6:23. Granted that "The Lord is not slow about His promise, as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing for any to perish but for all to come to repentance." II Peter 3:9. But isn't G-d Himself said "as the heavens are higher than the earth, So are My ways higher than your ways And My thoughts than your thoughts." Isaiah 55:9. So taken together the whole counsel of G-d's Words, we have to acknowledge that G-d gave us free will to choose but also there are things that He predetermines according to His will that we lack the capacity to understand why or the ability to ask Him why.

It just now dawns on me 14 days into this year that I will have quite a few things to celebrate this year, G-d willing.

1. I will complete Biblical Hebrew III, the last class in the Biblical Hebrew language program at Baruch HaShem. After which there is no more class but only Torah reading practice sessions before each Shabbat service.
2. I will graduate from law school.
3. I will have been with my current employer Arrow S3 for 5 years.
4. I will also have been a homeowner for 5 years.
5. I will have been a Kiva lender for 5 years.

I can never thank G-d enough. Great is His faithfulness. His mercies are new every morning. His lovingkindness is everlasting through all generations.

Read through my daily portion of my One-Year Bible this morning and came across Genesis 18:8 where it appeared that Abraham set before G-d a meal that had some curds, milk and the calf (meat). Wonders if Exodus 23:19 should be interpreted more strictly as it is literally written, taking in the whole counsel of G-d's words, rather than the blanket prohibition of mixing dairy and meat altogether. And run the risk of adding into G-d's words what G-d Himself did not command in violation of Deuteronomy 4:2.

Ever wonder why Easter falls on a different date every year according to the Gregorian calendar but Christmas is always on December 25th? We do not know the date of Messiah's birth but I am pretty sure if we did, it would have been according to Jewish calendar, which tracks the moon and not the sun. So, I celebrate with all my might the fact that "the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us, and we saw His glory, glory as of the only begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth." John 1:14. But I can no longer stay true to historical evidence and assert that Christ was born on December 25th.

The Blog : The Truth about Violence : Sam Harris

If you own a La Crosse Technology WS-8117U-IT Atomic Wall Clock and after you change the batteries, the outside sensor seems to be no longer working, take the batteries out of both, put them in the outside sensor first, then put the batteries in the clock, then don't mess with either for 10 minutes. I have had mine over a year when it happened. I almost bought a new sensor but reading one of the product reviews on Costco and found the solution.

All things Google will do. And more if you need.

If you ever want to know more about the four Geneva Conventions, the International Committee of the Red Cross has a great overview. And if you need citations: (1) GC I: wounded and sick, 6 U.S.T. 3114; (2) GC II: shipwreck, 6 U.S.T. 3217; (3) GC III: POW, 6 U.S.T. 3316; (4) GC IV: civilians, 6 U.S.T. 3616.

For my friends who are wondering, here is the governor's official position: ‎"Jon Huntsman is a passionate supporter of stem cell research which is leading to new discoveries that will improve and lengthen the lives of many Americans. He supports federal funding for lines that have a demonstrated history of success -- adult stem cells, non-embryonic stem-cells and certain types of embryonic stem cell research. Gov. Huntsman opposes federal funding for new lines that would do harm to embryos."

This week and next week and phase II of Blackstone will come to an end. All of us will converge upon Phoenix for one week of debriefing and then we all will disperse back home to get ready for Fall semester of 2011 but armed with the powerful knowledge of truth to engage and reclaim the culture as legal professionals.

If you ever lost the default file association for batch file in Windows 7, which very helpfully listed in Control Panel as "Unknown Application," here is the solution.

A reasonable position taken by the U.N. Secretary General.

Audio recording of oral arguments in the en banc hearing before the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit in the case of Morgan, et al. v. Plano I.S.D. Read the brief by Liberty Institute for the legal issues presented.

The Arabs attack on Israel in 1948 resulted in refugee problem. The tiny Jewish state absorbed the Jewish refugees that were expelled from Arab lands. The vast Arab states have refused to do the same for roughly the same number of Arab refugees. Sixty-three years later, the Palestinians asked Israel to absorb the grandchildren and great grandchildren of those Arab refugees. Everyone knows it's not going to happen. It's time to forthrightly tell the Palestinians that it's not going to happen within the borders of the Jewish state.

This time last year:

I did not know one Hebrew character from another;

Our company was under a temporary pay cut for everyone, from the CEO on down;

I am thankful for 2010 because:

I now can generally recognize and pronounce Hebrew words;

Our company restored salary for all employees below executive level;

God provided and a good friend agreed to take on being the Republican precinct chair for my precinct because with a full time job and 11 credit hours of law school, I could not do justice as a precinct chair

Still have both my mom and dad who are 65 and 72 respectively;

I am able to ring in the new year 2011 with my family in the Eastern timezone of the United States for the first time since I came to this country 17 years ago.

For 2011, I hope:

Continue to do well in law school and hopefully summer 2011 will be exciting (translating: in some miraculous way that God will provide so that I will be able to serve as a legal fellow for conservative causes in Israel somewhere);

Increase my understanding of Hebrew, especially Biblical Hebrew;

Review and expand my Spanish vocabulary;

Both of my parents continue to be healthy

Finally getting my private pilot license.

Lovely article in the Dallas Morning News on Texas First Lady Anita Perry, a no-nonsense nurse, overcomes shyness in signing on to win votes for her husband.

Shared Technologies, a 350-million dollars annual sales company that I have been with since April of 2007, was officially acquired by Arrow Electronics, a 14-billion dollars annual sales company on Wednesday of this week. I have never worked for a wholly owned subsidiary before. So far the experience has been positive.

Interesting case Microsoft Corporation v. Lucent Technologies, Inc.. Don't see why patent infringement cases shouldn't be subject to the same judgment-as-a-matter-of-law standard like every other type of cases.

I agreed with Miguel Estrada's letter endorsing Elena Kagan.

The biggest accomplishment in 2009 was that I did not miss a single daily portion of scripture reading using my One-Year NIV English Bible. If some days were just too hectic, the next day I would make it up by reading one daily portion in the morning and another daily portion in the evening. I read it on vacation in Hawaii, I read it while traveling to Young Republican National Convention, everywhere I go. Being in the Word every day really helped to keep me grounded. That and knowing that God is sovereign helped me live a pretty much stress-free life. Just like the lyrics of my favorite hymns Because He Lives: Because He lives, I can face tomorrow, ... Because I know, He holds the future .... Plus, they said all those charged with detecting counterfeit, they trained all the time by repeatedly going over the real thing so they know instinctively when they come across the fake ones. So if we are to recognize the false prophets, we have to constantly be in touch with the real One.

The second accomplishment has to be finishing first year of law school. It took me three semesters before I get to be 2L since I work full time and going to school part time in the evening, but by the grace of God I did it. I did pretty well second semester, Spring of 2009, earning the Dean's List recognition. Still waiting for my third semester's grade.

I think ever since 1999, our family has made it a family tradition to go on summer vacation every year, except for one year my dad was sick and we had to cancel all the reservation. We went to Honolulu, Hawaii for 2009. Had a great time kicking back, relaxing, enjoying ourselves. I and Quan took surfing lessons. I put sunscreen on everywhere but forgot the back of both legs and it was a painful lesson I will never forget.

Thank God all of us are working at steady jobs through this recession. Had some difficulties with my Tacoma which I have had since I bought it new in April 2002. Traded it in at 143,657 miles the last day of 2009 for a new 2010 glorified Toyota otherwise known as the Lexus RX350. Pray that the vehicle will be reliable transportation for at least another 7 1/2 or 8 years.

I have improved and have been able to get into the office earlier, especially toward the end of 2009. Hope to continue that good habits this year.

Exactly sixteen years ago this day, at 8:07 in the morning, an airplane took off from Tan Son Nhat airport in Saigon and that's how my journey to the United States of America began. I landed at DFW International airport at 20:30 on the same day, after a long stop in Taipei, Taiwan.

Wonder how much is a standard iPhone 3GS upgrade compare to this offer?

Eight-hour flight from Dallas to Honolulu wasn't too bad. Got my reading done for Civil Procedure next week. Went out for dinner at Pho Mai, check out my review.

I have already worked through all 180 MPRE questions in the Barbri software. Attended both the Barbri and professor McGrath's review. Will have read McGrath's outline at least twice and will have finished all 240 practice questions in the Barbri book by the time I take the test this Friday morning. Done all I can. The rest is in God's hand!

Rambutan is one of my favorite fruits growing up in Vietnam.

The company I work for, Shared Technologies, is ranked #18 on the list of 100 best company to work for in America by Fortune, moving up from #25 last year, not bad huh!

President's Approval Rate.

There's a reason why the liberals are called progressive. Because they can just go with the flow, whatever is prevalent at the time. The liberals are not grounded with any basic principles or beliefs. No strong convictions for which they would be willing to stake their lives on. So if owning slaves was the thing of the days, then they will support it at all cost. It was the Republicans, such as Abraham Lincoln, who are grounded in the Biblical principle that all men are created equal by the Creator Himself and everybody will one day have to stand before the Almighty and account for everything that one does, who went against the grain and stood for what is right, not what is popular. It was the Democrats in the US Congress who were hanging on to slavery. It was the Democrats who had a stronghold in state government who were against the universal equality of every man, woman and children. To this date, unborn children, over 2 millions murdered each year, still are being denied the very basic right life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness guaranteed by the US Constitution. And who is adamantly against protecting the unborn's equal right, you got it right, the Democrats.