Stuff That Matters in Life

Katy’s Weblog

Year: 2011

Fresh off the press, I borrowed AB’s copy of Francis Chan’s new book Erasing Hell.

About a third of the book analyzes specific passages of the Bible to discover whether hell is retributive or corrective (a second chance to go to heaven), and whether it’s eternal or annihilation (completely destroy the soul). Since I don’t need to be convinced that hell does exist and that it’s a place of eternal judgement, I read through those chapters quickly. For those who are not sure, those chapters are very informative.

Read more of “Erasing Hell by Francis Chan & Preston Sprinkle”

My friend LL showed me this book and asked if I’ve read it. I had not even heard of the author (later to find that Platt is a friend of a friend I just met), but I was curious and always up for a good book. The cover says it’s a New York Times Bestseller. I was also intrigued by the subtitle – Taking back your faith from the American Dream. After reading Radical by David Platt, I am indeed challenged to evaluate how much our church really does operate on the same principles of the American Dream.

Read more of “Radical by David Platt”

Continuing on with recollections of our trip to Taiwan – Monday 7/11 – Friday 5/15

Monday 7/11 – tour begins

After researching various tour options, I settled on booking with Edison Travel Services, mainly based on comments on Tripadvisor. If you have a business with negative comments on the internet, you’re in trouble. The itinerary seems to be the same among the tour groups, so base on price, feedback, and website appeal and email responsiveness, I went with Edison.

Read more of “Tour of Taiwan Island”

I like mysteries and whodunnit types of books. Life Everlasting by Robert Whitlow held my interest combining murder, romance, and a bit of humor, all within the context of the Christian faith.

Alexia Lindale is a successful attorney who takes on a case that turns out to be more than she can handle. She finds friendship, which turns out to be more than friendship, with a music minister Ted Morgan who shows her the way to God.

Read more of “Life Everlasting by Robert Whitlow”

Saturday, 7/16

Sent off a birthday wish to Au. I don’t remember when we haven’t been together to celebrate her birthday. She’s in Germany while we are in Taiwan, and that doesn’t happen very often…actually never, and will probably never happen again.

We spent the day with T, first going to Danshui, known for shopping…

Read more of “DanShui in Taiwan”

No vacation is complete without special regional foods. To be honest, I probably missed out some of the best stuff because I played it safe and didn’t eat street foods or uncooked vegetables. But still, there was plenty to enjoy.

Best in Vietnam are the fruits and fruit smoothies. We even had a durian smoothie – don’t recommend.

Read more of “Food in Vietnam”