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<rss xmlns:dc="http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/" version="2.0"><channel><atom:link rel="hub" href="http://tumblr.superfeedr.com/" xmlns:atom="http://www.w3.org/2005/Atom"/><description></description><title>Love, Have Hope &amp; Gratitude</title><generator>Tumblr (3.0; @capturedthoughts)</generator><link>http://capturedthoughts.tumblr.com/</link><item><title>I found this song on the radio (k-love) and heard the lyrics to...</title><description>&lt;iframe src="https://w.soundcloud.com/player/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fapi.soundcloud.com%2Ftracks%2F9696257&amp;liking=false&amp;sharing=false&amp;origin=tumblr" frameborder="0" allowtransparency="true" class="soundcloud_audio_player" width="500" height="116"&gt;&lt;/iframe&gt;&lt;br/&gt;&lt;br/&gt;&lt;p&gt;I found this song on the radio (k-love) and heard the lyrics to it and just found it to be so encouraging that I wanted to share this song with you all. So no matter how bad things seem to be - know that there is always hope for better things to come :)&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;[btw the version I posted is not the original. So here’s the original:&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8qG1ThtgguE"&gt;&lt;a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8qG1ThtgguE"&gt;http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8qG1ThtgguE&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/a&gt;]&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Before the Morning - Josh Wilson&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;span&gt;Do you wonder why you have to &lt;br/&gt;Feel the things that hurt you &lt;br/&gt;If there’s a God who loves you where is He now &lt;br/&gt;&lt;br/&gt;Maybe there are things you can’t see &lt;br/&gt;And all those things are happening &lt;br/&gt;To bring a better ending &lt;br/&gt;&lt;br/&gt;Someday somehow you’ll see you’ll see &lt;br/&gt;&lt;br/&gt;Would you dare would you dare to believe &lt;br/&gt;That you still have a reason to sing &lt;br/&gt;Cause the pain that you’ve been feeling &lt;br/&gt;It can’t compare to the joy that’s coming &lt;br/&gt;So hold on you gotta wait for the light &lt;br/&gt;Press on and just fight the good fight &lt;br/&gt;Cause the pain that you’ve been feeling &lt;br/&gt;It’s just the dark before the morning &lt;br/&gt;&lt;br/&gt;My friend you know how this all ends &lt;br/&gt;You know where you’re going &lt;br/&gt;You just don’t know how you’ll get there &lt;br/&gt;So say a prayer &lt;br/&gt;&lt;br/&gt;And hold on cause there’s good for those who love God &lt;br/&gt;But life is not a snapshot &lt;br/&gt;It might take a little time but you’ll see the bigger picture &lt;br/&gt;&lt;br/&gt;Would you dare would you dare to believe &lt;br/&gt;That you still have a reason to sing &lt;br/&gt;Cause the pain that you’ve been feeling &lt;br/&gt;It can’t compare to the joy that’s coming &lt;br/&gt;So hold on you gotta wait for the light &lt;br/&gt;Press on and just fight the good fight &lt;br/&gt;Cause the pain that you’ve been feeling &lt;br/&gt;It’s just the dark before the morning &lt;br/&gt;&lt;br/&gt;Once you feel the weight of glory &lt;br/&gt;All your pain will fade to memory &lt;br/&gt;Once you feel the weight of glory &lt;br/&gt;All your pain will fade to memory, memory, memory &lt;br/&gt;&lt;br/&gt;Would you dare would you dare to believe &lt;br/&gt;That you still got a reason to sing &lt;br/&gt;Cause the pain that you’ve been feeling &lt;br/&gt;It can’t compare to the joy that’s coming &lt;br/&gt;&lt;br/&gt;Would you dare would you dare to believe &lt;br/&gt;That you still got a reason to sing &lt;br/&gt;Cause the pain that you’ve been feeling &lt;br/&gt;It can’t compare to the joy that’s coming &lt;br/&gt;&lt;br/&gt;Come on you’ve gotta wait for the light &lt;br/&gt;Press on and just fight the good fight &lt;br/&gt;Cause the pain that you’ve been feeling &lt;br/&gt;It’s just the hurt before the healing &lt;br/&gt;Oh the pain that you’ve been feeling &lt;br/&gt;It’s just the dark before the morning &lt;br/&gt;Before the morning&lt;br/&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;</description><link>http://capturedthoughts.tumblr.com/post/10702906120</link><guid>http://capturedthoughts.tumblr.com/post/10702906120</guid><pubDate>Mon, 26 Sep 2011 15:49:00 -0700</pubDate><category>God</category><category>hope</category></item><item><title>God Is Able - Hillsong
God is ableHe will never failHe is...</title><description>&lt;iframe class="tumblr_audio_player tumblr_audio_player_9251235142" src="http://capturedthoughts.tumblr.com/post/9251235142/audio_player_iframe/capturedthoughts/tumblr_lqc2ojfJnw1qa79ur?audio_file=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.tumblr.com%2Faudio_file%2Fcapturedthoughts%2F9251235142%2Ftumblr_lqc2ojfJnw1qa79ur" frameborder="0" allowtransparency="true" scrolling="no" width="500" height="85"&gt;&lt;/iframe&gt;&lt;br/&gt;&lt;br/&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;God Is Able - Hillsong&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;span&gt;God is able&lt;br/&gt;He will never fail&lt;br/&gt;He is almighty God&lt;br/&gt;Greater than all we seek&lt;br/&gt;Greater than all we ask&lt;br/&gt;He has done great things&lt;br/&gt;&lt;br/&gt;Lifted up&lt;br/&gt;Defeated the grave&lt;br/&gt;Raised to life&lt;br/&gt;Our God is able&lt;br/&gt;In His name we overcome&lt;br/&gt;For the Lord&lt;br/&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Our God is able&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br/&gt;&lt;br/&gt;God is with us&lt;br/&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;strong&gt;God is on our side&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;br/&gt;He will make a way&lt;br/&gt;Far above all we know&lt;br/&gt;&lt;em&gt;Far above all we hope&lt;/em&gt;&lt;br/&gt;&lt;em&gt;He has done great things&lt;/em&gt;&lt;br/&gt;&lt;br/&gt;Lifted up&lt;br/&gt;Defeated the grave&lt;br/&gt;Raised to life&lt;br/&gt;Our God is able&lt;br/&gt;In His name we overcome&lt;br/&gt;For the Lord&lt;br/&gt;Our God is able&lt;br/&gt;&lt;br/&gt;God is with us&lt;br/&gt;He will go before&lt;br/&gt;&lt;strong&gt;He will never leave us&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br/&gt;He will never leave us&lt;br/&gt;God is for us&lt;br/&gt;He has open arms&lt;br/&gt;He will never fail us&lt;br/&gt;&lt;strong&gt;He will never fail us&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br/&gt;&lt;br/&gt;Lifted up&lt;br/&gt;Defeated the grave&lt;br/&gt;Raised to life&lt;br/&gt;Our God is able&lt;br/&gt;In His name we overcome&lt;br/&gt;For the Lord&lt;br/&gt;Our God is able&lt;br/&gt;For the Lord&lt;br/&gt;Our God is able&lt;br/&gt;For the Lord&lt;br/&gt;Our God is able&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;</description><link>http://capturedthoughts.tumblr.com/post/9251235142</link><guid>http://capturedthoughts.tumblr.com/post/9251235142</guid><pubDate>Mon, 22 Aug 2011 07:24:19 -0700</pubDate><category>God</category></item><item><title>"Here’s a message to the young people of this generation
Be an influence to the world, and not..."</title><description>““Here’s a message to the young people of this generation&lt;br/&gt;
Be an influence to the world, and not the world an influence to you””&lt;br/&gt;&lt;br/&gt; - &lt;em&gt;&lt;span&gt;Jovenes Con Mision (JCM)&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/em&gt;</description><link>http://capturedthoughts.tumblr.com/post/8516016016</link><guid>http://capturedthoughts.tumblr.com/post/8516016016</guid><pubDate>Fri, 05 Aug 2011 08:34:00 -0700</pubDate></item><item><title>Today at church [KIBC - in Hong Kong] we went through Nehemiah 5...</title><description>&lt;img src="http://24.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lou1hb8c251qa79uro1_500.jpg"/&gt;&lt;br/&gt;&lt;br/&gt;&lt;p&gt;Today at church [KIBC - in Hong Kong] we went through Nehemiah 5 where we addressed the issue of complaining. Our Pastor mentioned 3 main points: &lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;1. Consider the peoples concern&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;2. Choose your response&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;3. Confront the problem&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;This is just the outline of his sermon, I won’t expand on each point. What I wanted to share is that our Pastor mentioned that in Philippians 2:14-15 it says &lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;“&lt;span&gt;Do everything without grumbling or arguing, so that you may become blameless and pure, “children of God without fault in a warped and crooked generation.” Then you will shine among them like stars in the sky” &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;And so our Pastor challenged us to get an empty jar and for a week, put a coin in it for every complaint we make so that we may see and hear each and every complain we make. &lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;I admit that I complain a lot… and so, this would be a good week to see how much I complain and work on this flaw of mine! And I invite you to join in this challenge with me :) &lt;/p&gt;</description><link>http://capturedthoughts.tumblr.com/post/7997532569</link><guid>http://capturedthoughts.tumblr.com/post/7997532569</guid><pubDate>Sun, 24 Jul 2011 03:07:00 -0700</pubDate><category>God</category><category>Christianity</category></item><item><title>Start noticing visually what you're thankful for, for a year</title><description>&lt;a href="http://365grateful.com/"&gt;Start noticing visually what you're thankful for, for a year&lt;/a&gt;</description><link>http://capturedthoughts.tumblr.com/post/5497777218</link><guid>http://capturedthoughts.tumblr.com/post/5497777218</guid><pubDate>Sat, 14 May 2011 18:39:33 -0700</pubDate><category>Photography</category><category>365 Grateful</category></item><item><title>On May the 4th, be a part of the butterfly effect. Draw butterflies on your wrists to show your support for people with depression and self harming addictions. Please click 'Reblog' to spread the word. &lt;3</title><link>http://capturedthoughts.tumblr.com/post/5184345673</link><guid>http://capturedthoughts.tumblr.com/post/5184345673</guid><pubDate>Tue, 03 May 2011 23:46:07 -0700</pubDate></item><item><title>415|852</title><description>&lt;img src="http://24.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_liwvgu8NHz1qa79uro1_500.jpg"/&gt;&lt;br/&gt;&lt;br/&gt;&lt;p&gt;415|852&lt;/p&gt;</description><link>http://capturedthoughts.tumblr.com/post/4229521050</link><guid>http://capturedthoughts.tumblr.com/post/4229521050</guid><pubDate>Thu, 31 Mar 2011 00:29:17 -0700</pubDate><category>hong kong</category><category>san francisco</category><category>home</category></item><item><title> 
Give me your eyes for just one second
Give me your eyes so i...</title><description>&lt;iframe class="tumblr_audio_player tumblr_audio_player_4019513939" src="http://capturedthoughts.tumblr.com/post/4019513939/audio_player_iframe/capturedthoughts/tumblr_lig48pI6ny1qa79ur?audio_file=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.tumblr.com%2Faudio_file%2Fcapturedthoughts%2F4019513939%2Ftumblr_lig48pI6ny1qa79ur" frameborder="0" allowtransparency="true" scrolling="no" width="500" height="85"&gt;&lt;/iframe&gt;&lt;br/&gt;&lt;br/&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;span&gt; &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="verse"&gt;Give me your eyes for just one second&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="verse"&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Give me your eyes so i can see&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="verse"&gt;Everything that i keep missing&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="verse"&gt;Give me your love for humanity&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="verse"&gt;Give me your arms for the broken hearted&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="verse"&gt;The ones that are far beyond my reach&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="verse"&gt;Give me your heart for the one’s forgotten&lt;/p&gt;</description><link>http://capturedthoughts.tumblr.com/post/4019513939</link><guid>http://capturedthoughts.tumblr.com/post/4019513939</guid><pubDate>Mon, 21 Mar 2011 23:19:00 -0700</pubDate><category>love</category><category>God</category></item><item><title>wedidithoneybee:

viasquaredd:

1000 reblogs = $10
10000 reblogs...</title><description>&lt;img src="http://24.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lhxcneirt91qhl2vzo1_r1_500.png"/&gt;&lt;br/&gt;&lt;br/&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href="http://wedidithoneybee.tumblr.com/post/3798417198"&gt;wedidithoneybee&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;blockquote&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href="http://viasquaredd.tumblr.com/post/3797893351"&gt;viasquaredd&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;blockquote&gt;
&lt;p&gt;1000 reblogs = $10&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;10000 reblogs = $100 .. and so on&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Okay, we know, we know, it’s shameless self promotion. We will be using the increased traffic from our website to fund this donation. We will be sending Red Cross the check for the Japan Earthquake and Pacific Tsunami.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;UPDATE: &lt;/strong&gt;We forgot to add what we’d do if someone were to “like” the post. We will combine the reblogs and likes we got from our last post along with the reblogs and likes we get from this post.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;We wish we can donate more, but it’s all we can handle. If you would like to donate directly to the cause, &lt;a href="http://american.redcross.org/site/PageServer?pagename=ntld_main&amp;s_src=RSG000000000&amp;s_subsrc=RCO_Donate_OnlineGiving"&gt;please click here&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;We will be donating 1 cent per every reblog, 1 cent for every like and 5 cents per every new follower we get. We’ll be sending the check to American Red Cross.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Email us at what@viaSQUARED.com for any questions regarding this.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;/blockquote&gt;
&lt;p&gt; GO GO GO REBLOG REBLOG REBLOG&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;/blockquote&gt;</description><link>http://capturedthoughts.tumblr.com/post/3814416985</link><guid>http://capturedthoughts.tumblr.com/post/3814416985</guid><pubDate>Sat, 12 Mar 2011 13:20:44 -0800</pubDate></item><item><title>Video</title><description>&lt;iframe width="400" height="225" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/AhfUzodLRvk?wmode=transparent&amp;autohide=1&amp;egm=0&amp;hd=1&amp;iv_load_policy=3&amp;modestbranding=1&amp;rel=0&amp;showinfo=0&amp;showsearch=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen&gt;&lt;/iframe&gt;&lt;br/&gt;&lt;br/&gt;</description><link>http://capturedthoughts.tumblr.com/post/3556719848</link><guid>http://capturedthoughts.tumblr.com/post/3556719848</guid><pubDate>Sun, 27 Feb 2011 18:52:28 -0800</pubDate></item><item><title>You Are LOVED 
not only by me :) 
But most of all Loved by our...</title><description>&lt;img src="http://25.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lglf6prajw1qa79uro1_r1_500.jpg"/&gt;&lt;br/&gt;&lt;br/&gt;&lt;p&gt;You Are LOVED &lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;not only by me :) &lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;But most of all Loved by our amazing Heavenly Father - GOD &lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;I said that alright &lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;The LOVE that this God gives is UNFAILING and is GREATER THAN YOU CAN IMAGINE and lasts FOREVER&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Have you ever had that feeling in your heart where you feel like there’s a hole inside of it? And you’re waiting for the perfect boy or girl to make it whole? Well, the BEST LOVE to receive isn’t romantic love but Gods love which is so great it just fills your heart with this overflowing amount of love that makes you want to share this love with others. Which is what I am doing :)&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;So don’t let self pity be your best friend today just because you don’t have a valentine to take you out on some cute date and give you chocolate or flowers or attention or love. Don’t drown your sorrows with alcohol or have some burn party. Instead, let today be the day that you recognize how worthy you are as a person and how you are actually LOVED, and that someone is thinking about you, caring for you. This book we call the bible, is a book of stories showing Gods relationship with man and here are some quotes to end this post with:  &lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;span&gt;&lt;em&gt;The LORD appeared to us in the past, saying: &lt;strong&gt;“I have loved you with an everlasting love; &lt;/strong&gt;I have drawn you with loving-kindness” (Jeremiah 31:3)&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;span&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;span&gt; &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;strong&gt;For God so loved the world &lt;/strong&gt;that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life (John 3:16)&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life &lt;/strong&gt;for his friends (John 15:13)&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;strong&gt;But when the kindness and love of God our Savior appeared, &lt;/strong&gt;he saved us, not because of righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy. He saved us through the washing of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit (Titus 3:4-5)&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;strong&gt;This is how God showed his love among us: &lt;/strong&gt;He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him. This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins (1 John 4:9-10)&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Happy Valentines Day&lt;3 &lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;</description><link>http://capturedthoughts.tumblr.com/post/3289186404</link><guid>http://capturedthoughts.tumblr.com/post/3289186404</guid><pubDate>Mon, 14 Feb 2011 00:00:07 -0800</pubDate><category>LOVE</category><category>GOD</category></item><item><title>Don't Ever Doubt How Beautiful You Are</title><description>&lt;p&gt;&lt;span&gt;For you created my inmost being; &lt;br/&gt;   you knit me together in my mother’s womb. &lt;br/&gt;I praise you because &lt;em&gt;&lt;strong&gt;I am fearfully and wonderfully made&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/em&gt;; &lt;br/&gt;   your works are wonderful, &lt;br/&gt;   I know that full well. &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;span&gt;-Psalm 139:13-14&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;&lt;span&gt;This goes out to all you sisters - Don&amp;#8217;t ever buy into the lies of satan that you are not beautiful. That you are not worthy. That just because your body doesn&amp;#8217;t fit into size Small you aren&amp;#8217;t beautiful. Just because you&amp;#8217;re skin complexion isn&amp;#8217;t smooth that you are not beautiful. Don&amp;#8217;t ever follow what the world and medias standard of beauty is. The number on the scale will never define your worth. The attention boys give you will never give you the sense of worth you are truly looking for. Romance, boys giving you attention will never give you the sense of security you are looking for. Stop trying to look beautiful, stop trying to impress people, stop trying to attract boys, stop trying to be loved and accepted. You already are. You are loved more than you will ever know. You are loved by our Heavenly Father who each times sees you cry because you think you&amp;#8217;re not good enough cries with you and wants more than anything for you to know that you are perfect just the way you are because you are His precious child. &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;</description><link>http://capturedthoughts.tumblr.com/post/3248840980</link><guid>http://capturedthoughts.tumblr.com/post/3248840980</guid><pubDate>Sat, 12 Feb 2011 00:39:33 -0800</pubDate><category>Love</category><category>True beauty</category><category>God</category><category>Psalm 139</category></item><item><title>Note For Sale - a non-profit organization to help fight Human Trafficking</title><description>&lt;a href="http://www.notforsalecampaign.org/"&gt;Note For Sale - a non-profit organization to help fight Human Trafficking&lt;/a&gt;: &lt;p&gt;As I am planning a conference for my schools Hospitality Program, one of our keynote speakers, David Batstone, is the co-founder of an organization that helps to abolish human trafficking and its an amazing organization. &lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Its amazing how I went from simply doing research on him to edit his speaker bio to googling him and finding all these different things he has founded and is in charge of. Then I read his CNN article about human trafficking in Romania and it just once again shocks me to read all the injustice in this world and how evil people can because of their greed. Pride, greed, lack of knowledge of how to truly live life so often leads people to harm others because of their unethical ways of doing business and more than make ends meet but make a lot of money at the cost of others lives. I don’t see how human lives are worth ruining for money. But if you look at the corporate work office, how we treat others because of our selfish pursuits of our careers is similar to what those evil people are doing. I hope to never work for people like that or to ever become anything like those people. &lt;/p&gt;</description><link>http://capturedthoughts.tumblr.com/post/3207542117</link><guid>http://capturedthoughts.tumblr.com/post/3207542117</guid><pubDate>Wed, 09 Feb 2011 16:49:00 -0800</pubDate></item><item><title>Photo</title><description>&lt;img src="http://25.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lfywoeaZ6d1qe52v7o1_500.jpg"/&gt;&lt;br/&gt;&lt;br/&gt;</description><link>http://capturedthoughts.tumblr.com/post/3101619350</link><guid>http://capturedthoughts.tumblr.com/post/3101619350</guid><pubDate>Thu, 03 Feb 2011 23:08:44 -0800</pubDate><category>Love</category></item><item><title>He is Alive</title><description>&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href="http://witnessla.org/post/2927322700"&gt;lawitness&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;blockquote&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src="http://media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lfldutZe7B1qaxdaw.png"/&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;span&gt;I don’t remember the first time my mom took me to a Buddhist temple. I only remember that I resented it, all of it. I resented my mom for dragging me, month after month. I resented the fact that while other kids were causing merry mayhem at my neighborhood playground, I was burning incense and rolling “Buddhist dice” (fortune sticks). I resented having to reintroduce myself to the Buddhist gods during each visit, before each prayer; if they were gods, shouldn’t they already know who I am, why I’m here? But, most of all, I resented being forced to bow and pray to a god who was apparently on an extended vacation. Why was it that, despite my mom’s fervent devotion and repeated visits, not one of her prayers were answered?&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;span&gt;Every month, it was the same exercise. I already knew what my mom would pray for. I was also given an inventory of prayer points and, although I followed my mom’s instructions to the letter, I always managed to slip in one more teeny-tiny request.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;span&gt;“Dear Buddha. Please protect my mom. Please stop my dad from beating her. &lt;em&gt;&lt;span&gt;Please&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/em&gt;.”&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;span&gt;To tell you the truth, I really hated how cold, impersonal, and unresponsive all these Buddhist gods seemed towards my mom. I didn’t care that these Buddhas didn’t answer all my other “automatic” prayers. I didn’t even care if my dad stopped beating me. By the time I was eight, I already mastered the art of mentally and emotionally shutting down, morphing into a machine whenever the fists and the sticks would come out to play. Sticks and stones may break someone else’s bones but, they sure as hell wouldn’t break mine or my spirit. But what about my mom? My mom had sacrificed her youth, her freedom, and her dignity in a failed attempt to create a semblance of a family. She had ample opportunity to leave or divorce my dad, but she refused to abandon us. There had to be some unofficial rule in the Game of Life that guaranteed peace from all this pain after a certain quota of suffering had been met. Didn’t my mom’s loyalty and devotion count for something?&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;span&gt;Hello? Was anybody up there? Anybody?&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href="http://witnessla.org/post/2927322700"&gt;Read More&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;/blockquote&gt;</description><link>http://capturedthoughts.tumblr.com/post/2937765566</link><guid>http://capturedthoughts.tumblr.com/post/2937765566</guid><pubDate>Tue, 25 Jan 2011 22:21:15 -0800</pubDate></item><item><title>852 with colour</title><description>&lt;a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/chloekmc/5386601895/"&gt;852 with colour&lt;/a&gt;: &lt;p&gt;I had troubling posting the image up so here’s my link to the picture!&lt;/p&gt;</description><link>http://capturedthoughts.tumblr.com/post/2922649540</link><guid>http://capturedthoughts.tumblr.com/post/2922649540</guid><pubDate>Tue, 25 Jan 2011 01:40:29 -0800</pubDate><category>Hong Kong</category></item><item><title>Photo</title><description>&lt;img src="http://25.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lfjssuGPtp1qecty0o1_500.jpg"/&gt;&lt;br/&gt;&lt;br/&gt;</description><link>http://capturedthoughts.tumblr.com/post/2917026124</link><guid>http://capturedthoughts.tumblr.com/post/2917026124</guid><pubDate>Mon, 24 Jan 2011 17:31:25 -0800</pubDate></item><item><title>Photo</title><description>&lt;img src="http://25.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lf7fgtFOUF1qa79uro1_500.jpg"/&gt;&lt;br/&gt;&lt;br/&gt;</description><link>http://capturedthoughts.tumblr.com/post/2807718928</link><guid>http://capturedthoughts.tumblr.com/post/2807718928</guid><pubDate>Mon, 17 Jan 2011 22:02:51 -0800</pubDate><category>love</category></item><item><title>"Most of what I really need to know about how to live and what to do and how to be I learned in..."</title><description>“Most of what I really need to know about how to live and what to do and how to be I learned in kindergarten. Wisdom was not at the top of the graduate school mountain, but there in the sandpile at Sunday school. These are the things I learned: Share everything. Play fair. Don’t hit people. Put things back where you found them. Clean up your own mess. Don’t take things that aren’t yours. Say you’re sorry when you hurt somebody. Wash your hands before you eat. Flush. Warm cookies and cold milk are good for you. Live a balanced life - learn some and think some and draw and paint and sing and dance and play and work every day some. Take a nap every afternoon. When you go out into the world, watch out for traffic, hold hands and stick together. Be aware of wonder. Everything you need to know is in there somewhere. The Golden Rule and love and basic sanitation. Ecology and politics and equality and sane living. Take any one of those items and extrapolate it into sophisticated adult terms and apply it to your family life or your work or your government or your world and it holds true and clear and firm. Think what a better world it would be if we all - the whole world - had cookies and milk about three o’clock every afternoon and then lay down with our blankies for a nap. Or if all governments had as a basic policy to always put things back where they found them and to clean up their own mess. And it is true, no matter how old you are - when you go out into the world, it is best to hold hands and stick together.”&lt;br/&gt;&lt;br/&gt; - &lt;em&gt;Robert Fulghum (via &lt;a href="http://justbesplendid.tumblr.com/"&gt;justbesplendid&lt;/a&gt;)&lt;/em&gt;</description><link>http://capturedthoughts.tumblr.com/post/2160753334</link><guid>http://capturedthoughts.tumblr.com/post/2160753334</guid><pubDate>Thu, 09 Dec 2010 18:21:48 -0800</pubDate></item><item><title>"Live. If you live, God will live with you. If you refuse to run his risks, he’ll retreat to that..."</title><description>“Live. If you live, God will live with you. If you refuse to run his risks, he’ll retreat to that distant heaven and be merely a subject for philosophical speculation. Everyone knows this, but no one takes the first step, perhaps for fear of being called insane.”&lt;br/&gt;&lt;br/&gt; - &lt;em&gt;Paulo Coelho (via &lt;a href="http://justbesplendid.tumblr.com/"&gt;justbesplendid&lt;/a&gt;)&lt;/em&gt;</description><link>http://capturedthoughts.tumblr.com/post/2152672793</link><guid>http://capturedthoughts.tumblr.com/post/2152672793</guid><pubDate>Thu, 09 Dec 2010 00:27:29 -0800</pubDate></item></channel></rss>
