In light of the recent natural disaster such as the cyclone in Myanmar, tornadoes in the Central Plains/Southeastern US and earthquake in China, people may start asking if there is a God, why does God allow people to suffer or why does God allow disasters to occur?

For Christians, there is no easy response.  We definitely can agree that we live in a fallen world.  Many of the sufferings we go through may be a result of sin or evil conduct of humans.  Others such as natural disasters such as the cyclone in Myanmar, tornandoes in the Central Plains/Southeastern US or earthquake in China.  I have attached a link to an interesting prospective that discusses “moral evil” (e.g., human evil causing suffering such as the terrorist attack of 911) or “natural evil” (e.g., an act of nature such as what we have just witnessed this past week).

http://www.crosswalk.com/1348437/page2/

I cannot claim to have a simple answer as to why God allows such acts.  Some Christians preachers have preached that God allowed some of these disasters because of our sins.  I am not in the position to accept or deny those claims. However, I do know God is a just and righteous God. See Isaiah 5:16, Psalm 4:1, Nehemiah 9:31, Deutronomy 4:31, Daniel 9:9.  I know whatevery reason God does something or allows something is for a great purpose. See  Jeremiah 29:11.  I also know how God wants us to react to those who have suffered.  See Matthew 25: 43-45. I also know God’s grace will always be there. See I Peter 5:12

For relief for the recent diaster see below:

Microsoft led relief to victims of the Cyclone in Myanmar and Earthquake in China:

http://www.microsoft.com/About/CorporateCitizenship/US/ResponsibleLeadership/UrgentDisasterResponse.mspx 

www.americares.org

www.mercycorps.org

www.savethechildren.org

www.worldvision.org

Please pray for victms of these disasters as well.

Okay, I am not currently watching “Long Way Round” as I write this.  But, I recently purchased the documentary DVD “Long Way Round” (which by the way I highly recommend) and I watch it when I am at home. It is also a book.  This is a 2004 real life and ultimate road trip taken by Ewan McGregor, a Scottish actor and Charley Boorman, an English actor and adventurer.  They ride their BMW motorcycle from London, England to New York, New York, a 19,000 mile trip total.  Yes, you got that right.  They rode from England to Western Europen through the Chunnel then through Ukraine, Russia, Kazahkstan, Mongolia, Siberian part of Russia and the Russia Far East, then they take plane to Alaska, ride through Canada, then down to the US and into New York. You may ask why did they do this ride? It was to benefit UNICEF (an arm of the United Nations that provides relief to needy children around the world).

The official website for Long Way Round is http://www.longwayround.com/intro.htm

The DVD is 3 disc with a total of 10 episodes. Thus, far I’ve watched episodes 1-4.  The next place I will watch them go to is Mongolia.  I found their travels through Kazakhstan quite interesting. You get a glimpse of the real Kazakhstan, unlike the fictional glimpse from the movie “Borat.” Kazakhstan is a vast country and the culture was somewhat familiar to me.  Back in 2004, I went on a short term missions trip to neighboring Krygyzstan which their culture is very similar to that of Kazahkstan and the people are very much related, practically cousins and even look alike. But, I'm a world traveller by heart and love to see the different scenaries around the world and different cultures.

This has to be the ultimate road trip-something I would like to do myself, but realize the many obstacles you will face and the expense of such a trip.  The closest thing I’ve done was a cross country driving trip from California to Pennsylvania back when I was in college.  I drove with my older brother from California to Pennsylvania one summer.  My brother was driving back to Philadelphia where he was going to return back to medical school (and he wanted his car there) and my parents did not want my older brother to drive alone on the cross country trip, so I accompanied him. We drove through California, Arizona, New Mexico, Texas,  Oklahoma, Missouri, Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, West Virginia into Pennyslvania. It was neat seeing the landscape change. I remember when we were in Oklahoma, this Native American man approached us (Oklahoma does not have a lot of Asians there) and he asked what Indian tribe we were from.  I thought that was hilarious.

Anyhow, back to the “Long Way Round”, well, I think after watching this I will watch the sequel “Long  Way Down” which Ewan McGregor and Charley Boorman teamed again last year in 2007 and document their motorcycle ride from Scotland through Europe down to the very southern tip of Africa (Capetown, South Africa).

THIS WEEKEND:

Since this month here in America is Asian-American heritage month and this week is Taiwanese-American heritage week, I plan on attending the "Taiwan Fest" in Los Angeles this weekend which will be a celebration of Taiwanese-American culture. I plan on volunteering also.  Then, of course, Sunday will be Mother's Day. Got to spend time with mom and go to her church.

http://www.taiwanfest-la.org/

Okay, yesterday, I posted a link about lawyers. Well, today, it will be about MBA graduates. Here’s an article showing that MBA graduates this year may not only start on average with lower salaries then some of the past graduates, but that it may lead to a lifetime of lower salaries compared to some of other past MBA graduates.  Yah, I know, more grim news.  The article explained that during the bull markets, many MBA graduates tend to flock to investment banking, which usually commands higher starting salaries.  With a bear market and a downtown in our economy right now, graduates have fewer options in the higher salary fields.  I remember 10 years ago (in 1998), one of my high school classmates and friend, he was graduating with an MBA from Wharton at U. Penn, one of the top business schools in the nation.  He was getting job offers left and right and flying all over the place for job interviews.  He ended up taking a job in management consulting at McKinsey in Hong Kong with a commanding six-figure salary. That was good he moved to Hong Kong.  He met his future wife there, moved to Singapore to work at Microsoft before coming back to California to work for Disney.  I still think graduates of top MBA schools like Wharton can be offered great jobs, but perhaps with this economy, it won’t be as rosy as when my friend graduated in 1998. And just think, a couple of years ago, I was contemplating on getting an MBA, despite already being a lawyer.

Here’s the link to that article:

http://articles.moneycentral.msn.com/CollegeAndFamily/MoneyInYour20s/ItsAGrimEconomyForNewGrads.aspx