雅比斯的祷告

The Prayer of Jabez sang in mandarin. In recent years, this prayer has strengthened people’s faith to ask God for influence and success in secular settings.

祈愿您赐福与我 扩张我的境界
也常与我同在 保佑我不遭患难
不受艰苦 将我隐藏在您心怀
我的口要说出赞美您的话
我要永永远远称颂您圣名 我要称谢您耶和华
因您本为善 您的慈爱永远长存
我要尊崇您万王之王 因您的恩惠
凡敬畏您的人就必有福

主您的意念向我何等宝贵
其数何等众多
我要称谢您因我受造 奇妙可畏
我是您无价之宝

Words & music: Karen Lim c2007 New Creation Church

Sample the music

Buy the album: 称义

无限的爱

This song is sang in Hokkien which is why if you try to read it in mandarin, it is going to sound a little weird. But it is a very simple worship song of the Lord’s presence in our lives.

主 您是我的生命 风雨同心一起走
梦中有您跟我来作伴 脚步有您的引导
感谢您对我的爱 给我机会对头来
天顶白云伴我跑天涯
天使永远跟我同在
我要大声唱给人知 耶和华有无限的爱
世间的人全来敬拜 耶和华是完全的爱

Words & music: 林和成

Sample the song

Buy the album: 称义

Your Blood

Your blood
Has cleansed me from all my sins
Taken me into Your presence
In You I find my rest

And now
I dwell in Your secret place
Forever I’m young in Your glory
Beneath Your mighty wings

Lord I thank You
For Your sacrifice
Yes Lord I thank You
You’re the giver of my life
O Lord I praise You
I honour You

Lord I love You
My exceeding great reward
Lord I exalt You
You are high and lifted up
O Lord I praise You
I honour You
I honour You

Words & music by Ronnie Lew c 2006 New Creation Church

一直下雨的星期天

I think I mentioned before that I admired people who can paint pictures with words, especially those who write so well in chinese.

Maybe I can improve my chinese language by copying writing that I like.

Recently I discovered www.haoting.com. It is a online music streaming  site focusing on chinese artistes. The quality of the music is quite good and coverage is quite extensive as well.

There is a music compilation titled “Rainy Sunday  一直下雨的星期天”. It said, “一直下雨的星期天，没有什么好沮丧的。难得这一刻的平静，用雨声做伴奏，享受美妙的音乐时光。” Don’t be depressed about a rainy sunday. Let’s enjoy this rare moment of peace with some wonderful music accompanied by the rhythm of the rain.

A promise of relaxing and lazy music for a rainy sunday.

There are 5 compilations so far. Each compilation is accompanied by beautiful photos of a rainy day and a short passage in chinese.

This is one of the passages,

一场秋雨一场凉，路上的行人都裹严了衣服，加快了脚步。星期天还能看到上班族的身影，每个人都忙着在这座城市里找寻自己的位置。

每一个在雨天奔走的身影都拥有一个只属于自己的原因。重要的是，要保持批平静。既然雨水已经溅湿裤脚，何必匆忙奔跑。

Food for soul…

Thanks a lot. I learn something new from you today.

I received this thank you note from a user today.

As librarians, we received a fair number of thank you notes in our work. It is nice to be appreciated and acknowledged. But sometimes I can’t help but think that it is just a courteous gesture on the part of my user and may not be an indication of my impact on their work.

This email message is a little different. It crystallizes my impact. The new knowledge is like a fishing rod to my user. It means she can do something better tomorrow.

She brightened my day.  (^__^)

You’re the same

Yesterday today forever
You’ve the same
Jesus Your love will never ever change
You are here with me, watching over me
Day after day, You are my hiding place

You calm the storms, You raise the dead
You cause the blind to see, the lame to walk again
Yesterday today forever
You’ve the same
You walk with me, You talk with me
You’re pleased to hear my voice each time I sing Your praise
Forever You are the same

Words & music: Ronnie Liew c2006 New Creation Church

Will you be at anywhere near NTU from now till mid November?

Yes?

Drop by the Asian Communication Resource Centre to visit the Go-Far 2009 photo exhibition. This year 14 students from the Wee Kim Wee School of Communication & Information visited Bangladesh with Professor Shyam Tekwani and got a taste of what a foreign photojournalist do.

It is not a big photo exhibition but it will have a big impact on you.

No?

No problem, visit their website and online photo gallery.

Their Blog discloses more information. The students documented their thoughts on their assignments and the country they visited.

因您慈爱比生命更好

因您慈爱比生命更好
我要赞美您 耶稣
我要奉您圣名 举手敬拜
在您圣所中仰慕 渴求

因为您曾帮助我
我要在您翅膀的荫下欢呼
我的心紧紧跟随您
您是我坚强的磐石

Words & music: Karen Lim c2007 New Creation Church

You’re my life

I believe in what the gospel says
Jesus, You came for me
You died to set me free
As Your rose from death in victory
At the cross of Calvary
You proved Your love for me

I behold the scars that You bore
This love I can’t ignore
Is mine forevermore
As You rose from death in victory
At the Cross of Calvary
You proved You love for me

For love You came, I believe, I believe it’s true
You took my shame
Now I live in You, You, You, You, You

Oh woah oh! You’re the precious Son
Came to earth to be the One
Oh woah oh! My sacrifice
Gift of love, You gave me life
Oh woah oh! Saviour King
Now in You I’ve everything
Oh woah oh! Jesus Christ
You’re my life

Oh woah oh! Oh woah oh oh!
Oh woah oh! Jesus, You’re my life
Oh woah oh! Oh woah oh oh oh oh!
Oh woah oh! Jesus, You’re my life
Oh woah oh! Oh woah oh oh oh oh!
Oh woah oh! Jesus, You’re my life
Oh woah oh! Oh woah oh oh oh oh!
Oh woah oh! Jesus, You’re my life

Words & music: Alwin Tan c2008 New Creation Church

Finding versus Searching

Short article read:

Gorrell, M. (2008). The 21st Century Searcher: How the Growth of Search Engines Affect the Redesign of EBSCOhost. Against the Grain, 20(3), 22-24.

This is a short article written by the Senior Vice President and Chief Information Officer of Ebscohost Publishing. It explained the motivation behind Ebscohost 2.0, the new Ebscohost search platform and interface.

Librarians frequently concede that search engines are popular because they are convenient and quick, but quickly criticized that they do not necessarily offer the best answers. In other words, libraries are still better at high quality content.

Gorrell argues that being the best may not be better because convenience is, whether we like it or not, probably the most important criteria for the success of any search instrument. It may not be palatable but it is true. Most users are going to use something that is easier even if it is not the best.

Gorrell, in his  conclusion, said

Today, searching is easy. Most browsers have a search box built into the browser itself. The challenge … is to make finding premium high-quality content just as easy.

There is a difference between searching and finding. Obviously finding is more important and also harder to achieve. But that difference shouldn’t stop us from trying to make both as easy.

Cheryl LaGuardia (2005) reviewed the Communication & Mass Media Complete database offered by Ebsco Publishing and has this to say about the pre 2.0 platform:

The Ebscohost system continues to be one of the best interfaces on the market because it is so simple yet so powerful … The screen draws your attention to what is needed most yet offers “add-ons” that allow you to do quite sophisticated searching just by filling in the blanks.

And I have to agree. Ebscohost is fairly easy and straightforward. It is not an easy task to come up with a user-friendly interface and intuitive features. And I have come across many wannabes.

When Ebscohost 2.0 was launched, I didn’t know what the fuss was about. With any new change, I experienced some inconvenience because I need to unlearn and relearn a few habits. But the new system has proven itself. It was a good move to redesign and be on par with new developments in search engine technology.

The only problem I have with Ebsco now is the 1-year embargo on quite a number of the journals in their collections. It hurts the quality of their content coverage. I hope they can address this issue and then many of my users will be very contented.

Reference

LaGuardia, C. (2005). Communication at Last. Library Journal, 130(3).