how to get to get image to flash on and off in gui

Hi
i am currently doing a game program in netbeans. I have designed my Gui's. and what I want my game to do is for when the new game is started a image pops up and then diserpears the user clicks on the image and scores a point which will show up on a label. and also there will be a timer either counting up or down whichever is easiest then once time has ran out the score is saved and apears on the screen. the problem I have is I designed it all but have no idea how to program it all to work!!! any help would be appreciated as I havent got a clue !!! If needed I can upload my program for peopel to see
Cheers
Dan

Use a Thread.

Oh, and have a look at this.

~Matt

Or perhaps you want to try a Swing Timer. If you just want timer function and really aren't doing a background process, then a Timer may be simpler. YMMV.