cold extremities and some enjoyment from the meeting today

It's 2:09 AM, and I've decided to take a break from my presentation to just write about what's going on.

Berlin has been experiencing record low temperatures and lots of snow lately. It's pretty much like Boston so I'm used to it, although it was such a huge difference from the frequent 60s degree weather I enjoyed in Dallas over the winter break.

I'm working on a presentation on Microsoft's antitrust case in the European Union, and it's pretty interesting. Patent and IP law I have to say is pretty interesting.

And I've been playing chess against my computer (I discovered that my Mac has chess) and it has eaten away so much of my time. I won for the first time against the computer today, and that's not saying much, since I put it on a relatively easy setting. Then I started playing online chess and got served many many times and unfortunately wasted precious hours I could have used working on my presentation.

On a more redeeming note, I'm glad that I got to learn something about the kingdom of God today from the meeting. The kingdom of God is a living person, the Lord Jesus Himself, and after we've received Him, He is now doing the work of enlarging His kingdom by enlarging Himself in us. In Luke 17, Pharisees asked Jesus when the kingdom of God would come. Since the kingdom of God is Christ Himself and He was standing with them, He replied that it was already in the midst of them. In John 3, the Lord tells Nicodemus that one cannot enter into the kingdom of God unless He is born again. The way to be born again is to believe into Christ and receive Him according to John 1:12. So, when we receive Him by believing into Him, we enter into the kingdom since the kingdom, who is the Lord, comes into us.

It was so good to be reminded that the Lord is now waiting for this kingdom to grow in us. When it grows to maturity in all His believers, He will have the ready situation to come back and clear away all human, corrupt forms of government and establish His kingdom. Like John said, we must decrease and He must increase.

Furthermore, Jesus later said in Luke 19 that a certain man of noble birth, referring to Himself, went to a distant country to receive for himself a kingdom and to return. This had impact on me, because it was hard to understand when exactly the Lord would come back. But it's more clear now, that when the kingdom spreads and grows to maturity in His believers, the Lord will return from the distant country He has gone to, namely from His ascension, to receive His kingdom. Then, the kingdom of the world will become the kingdom of our Lord and of His Christ, and He will reign forever and ever (Rev. 11:15). Hallelujah! It was a very refreshing and yet sober reminder to keep growing in the divine life.

It's also been very cool learning French. I've written my first semi-paper, and recently read my first email in French! It's such a nicer language to the ears than German and certainly easier to learn.

Anyway, there's an annoying draft coming in through the patio door, and my hands and feet are cold. I hope this cold front leaves soon. Well, back to eating dark chocolate covered chile spiced dried mangos (that's some serious combining of unrelated things) and the presentation.

A bientôt!