the glory and the horror

So back to San Diego. It was a different sort of family vacation for us, as it wasn’t planned out months ahead of time, like most of our trips. That’s usually because they’re a little further away, and a little longer in duration, so we need that sort of long-term planning.

This trip was almost entirely by the seat of our pants. Reminded me of my road trip. We didn’t have a hotel room until the night before we left It all worked out though. It was actually pretty easy . The only bad thing that happened was that we didn’t get a chance to hang out with Ben. We tried to connect, but neither of our schedules really worked out. I kinda wish we could have stayed down there a bit longer. There’s a lot of cool stuff down there to see.

We did get to see the red tide glow at night. That was kinda neato. As the waves break, you see this glow in the water.

The drive up and down was actually a lot of fun. We had some good conversations and talking while we were driving. Lots of sleeping was done as well.

I need to start packing, as in seriously packing, and cleaning up the mess that is my room right now. I need to go through some more old clothes under my bed, and just starting to get the stuff I’m bringing along out in a more open area so I can see what I’m taking and what I’m leaving. This may prove to be kinda tough with all the traffic we’ll have in the house. Lots of relatives coming through in the next week with my grandparents’ big party on Sunday. We’ll have an uncle and 3 cousins, and an aunt from the other side of the family here. That should make for interesting dynamics. I’m going to need patience more than ever this week.

Pleasantville. A VERY good movie. I suggest this for anyone who’s interested in a thinking movie. I want to watch the director’s cut with all the commentary if I can find the time before I return the movie to Gregory. I want to hear what he/she was thinking. Sam was pointing me to a couple of Danny’s thoughts about it, and I think I agree with most of what he says. I’m not sure about the brilliant part, though. It is definitely high on my list as well, though. The imagery was very good – they crafted the scenes very well, and they definitely chose things very purposefully. I can appreciate that sort of film, even in spite of some of its issues.

It seems to tie in a lot with recent discussions on the back40 about schooling options. As a Christian, what is your obligation in raising your children? What is the best way to meet your Biblical obligation to raise a child up in the ways of the Lord? The three big options are homeschooling, private (assumed Christian) schooling, or public schooling. Pleasantvile ties in big-time with this stuff, and I’m afraid I’m going to give away too much if I talk about this in detail. I did post a fairly long thing to the back40 here. Let me know what you think if you read it.

Anyway, it’s getting kinda late, and I need to get up tomorrow morning to head out to UCSF to see Akiko’s Ph.D defense!

Just thoughts.

I have lots to talk about today!

First off, I want to thank the Lord God of the world, and of my life, for providing all of the support I need for my trip As of this past weekend, the last bit of the support I needed came in, and God actually blessed me with a little bit extra, so that I will be able to help out some of my friends who are also going on STINT with me.

Secondly, I had a great time with my family the last few days. We took a quick little jaunt down to the San Diego area to hang out at the beach, and show my sister UCSD, since she’s starting to do the college thing for herself now. I kinda liked UCSD. The architecture there was fun and interesting, and their college system, while totally different from Rice’s, sounded pretty interesting as well.

We also had dinner with the Courtney and her family, which was a blast. I finally got to meet the stud tennis player, Chad And Snowy again. It was definitely a good dinner. We had a great time, and my mom was so encouraged to meet a Jewish Christian. It meant a lot to her, and she was talking about it for a while

Well, I have to take care of some details, so I’ll throw in some more later.

Just thoughts.

I thought I’d said this before, but I searched my posts, and I haven’t.

If God decides to bless me with enough material wealth in my life, in the future, I want to have a ranch in Texas and Colorado. Both would be open to college students to come and hang out for weekend retreats, or longer, just because I think college students need to get out away from the hustle and bustle of student life. Plus, I love college students.

Ideally, the one in Texas would be somewhere just west of Austin, say, the Dripping Springs area. If not there, then maybe one between Houston and Austin, or between Houston and San Antonio. Actually, almost anywhere inside the little triangle made by Houston, Dallas and San Antonio would be nice. The Colorado one…. just outside Colorado Springs maybe? One up in the mountains wouldn’t be so bad either. Yeah. Maybe along I-25, just east of the interstate, maybe 45 minutes to an housr away from I-25. That’s all pretty close to college places, so that would work.

Just thoughts.

So I’m back, at sam’s prompting. I’ll try to get this one done without being distracted.

Tonight, I had the chance to take little Solomon, Jolly and Liz’s son, to swimming lessons down at the CV pool. I was just doing it as a favor, and it was actually pretty fun. Solomon is quite a good kid, and really easy-going. He needs to smile more though

I think I’m on a roll now. The last couple of days have been really good. I’ve been a little tired, but I’ve been very good at getting things done with a fairly decent attitude. That’s a huge step for me compared to what it was like earlier in the summer. I’ve got the mailing labels set, the letters photocopied, and thank you notes are being written, and I’m enjoying it all! Such a blessing. The Lord has been working on me much in the last few weeks.

Going back to the music thing I was talking about before… I may have mentioned this before in other entries, but I’m going to say it all again. It is my understanding that human beings were designed by God to know Him, worship Him, and give Him the glory He rightfully deserves. How do we do that?

To know God requires that we be willing to have our conceptions of who God is, and who we want Him to be, to be shattered, and blown away.That can happen through a number of methods, one of which I find particularly powerful being music and the words that go with music. This means new songs, old songs, hymns, praise songs, whatever. Singing, as a part of a Sunday morning worship service, is very important to me, and I think it could be a very powerful tool if used rightly, humbly before God. Our service starts with singing. Then let the singing be such that it brings people to a place where they are confronted with the God who is, and in such a way that they cannot ignore it. I See the Lord is one of those songs that seems to do that well. Taken straight out of Isaiah 6, it confronts the worshipper with the very nature of God.

Once we begin to realize that, and come to grips with who we are in light of that, the process of true worship has started. Understanding the various characteristics of God, with a hymn like Great Is Thy Faithfulness or Fairest Lord Jesus, brings us to a point where we are faced with a decision. Do we take God for who He is, or insist that we want to make Him into something other than the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob as revealed in the Bible?

As we accept God for who He is, we are compelled, by His very nature to acknowledge who we are, and what our purpose is. We are nothing, except what He has made us. Our understanding of God is only because of what He has revealed to us. It is our responsibility, our joy, our life’s fulfillment, to worship Him, and to praise Him for who He is and what He has done, and will do. That is worship. For me, and many others, music is the way this is being accomplished.

At CI, it seems like we are not using our worship service to effectively do the above. We are not using the service or the singing to confront the congregation with who God is, and what that means for each one of us personally. More often than not, it appears as if the songs were chosen (nearly) at random, with little to no forethought as to how that would create an atmosphere of worship, or bring out certain attributes of the God of the world for the congregation to meditate on, and ponder.

These, however, are just the observations of someone who is in a very strange position as a church baby, growing up in CIBC, but having gone several states away and into another subculture for college. Perhaps that’s good, perhaps that’s bad. What I do know is that going has exposed me to much more than I had seen prior to college, in terms of churches, worship styles, worship services, vision statements of various parts of the body of Christ, and more.

I’m not sure what that means in the grand scheme of things, especially for the english-speaking side of CIBC, but I know that CIBC will be reaching a very crucial juncture in the near future regarding the state of affairs. Not that numbers are necessarily a measure of church health, but perhaps the quality of the people leaving might be a good indicator of something.

It pains me to see my home church this way. God has placed CIBC in such a strategic place, in the middle of Oakland Chinatown, with so many opportunities to do so many different things to show the love and glory of God to world which yearns for a purpose and a lover.The English-speaking side has the resources, the education, and so forth, to bring to the table, and offer to God to use as He would have them use it to edify and build up His Body, which would include using those blessings to bless others who do not yet know the glory and wonder and love of the Lord.

Let us throw ourselves at the feet of the Master, and give Him all we are, and ask Him to do with us as He will.

There, but for the grace of God, go I.

Just thoughts.

Yippeee! I got my prayer letters photocopied, so they’re ready to go out. I also got the mailing labels to work, in the mail merge part of the TntMPD program that Crusade has given us to use. Things are falling into place rather nicely now. I did wake up a bit late today, so I didn’t get as much done as I’d hoped, but that will change tomorrow. I’m going to bed right after I finish this update so I can get up tomorrow.

We’re going to be teaching the congregation a new song next Sunday. It’s I Will Offer Up My Life by Matt Redman, and we’re going to be singing it in place of the Doxology just for this Sunday. Not that I don’t like the Doxology (I think it’s great. So does Kristen; she sings it every time I give her an update on my support raising:), but there’s something about the status quo at CI that needs to be, well, “adjusted.” I hope people really look at the song, and see the intentionality of our choice of songs this week.

Ok. I was updating, and then got distracted. I’ll get back to this tomorrow.

Just thoughts.

Saturday was another good day of manual labor fixing stuff at the apartments. There was this one ceiling vent from a bathroom that had died, and so my dad went out and tried to match the motor, even though the fan was the original fan, from 30 years ago. It was a little difficult, but the guy at the hardware store did well… for the most part. It was ALMOST the same fan. However, the shaft coming out from the motor to turn the fan was a good inch and a half longer than the old one, so we had to go and get a hacksaw and cut that sucker down. We ended up borrowing Uncle Bill’s hacksaw. We also had issues with the new motor and its fit in the metal frame thingy that held it in the recessed part of the ceiling. It was just a tiny bit too big, so we ended up cutting that up as well We improvised greatly. And it worked wonderfully

We also replaced an entire doorknob assembly in a door, down to me using some wood chisels to cut out that recessed part in the side of the door for that metal part to sit in. That was actually pretty easy, and kinda fun. I enjoy working with wood, even though I’m not very good with it. Scotty rubbing off on me I suppose.

Last night, Sam and Gregory and I just went out for dessert, and that was a lot of fun, just because it was a great time to hang out, just the 3 of us, like we used to when I would go over to their apartment. And plus, I got to throw some more STINT information at them

Speaking of which, I must say that words cannot do Jehovah Jireh justice by any stretch of the imagination. 97%. Yup. 97%. On July 10th, I had 53%. 12 days. 44% in 12 days. Praise God from whom all blessing flow. I lack for nothing when I am resting in my Lord.

’tis late now, and I need to go to bed…

Just thoughts.

Today was kinda fun. We went out to dim sum with my mom’s old boss, the really cool photographer, and that was fun. She recommended a book to me, called Wild Swans, which I’ll have to keep in mind. Her 6-year-old daughter came, too, and she was a lot of fun. A little shy, but understandable. Large noisy Chinese restaurant with food she didn’t know.

After that, I helped my dad out at my grandmother’s apartment complex, and I must say I enjoyed the manual labor. We fixed a light switch, a power outlet, and several leaky faucets. Pagano’s Hardware on Lincoln Avenue is very cool.

I was just thinking about how much I miss dancing. I miss swing dancing, two-stepping, ballroom dancing.

[sigh]

It’s so much fun! It’s great exercise! It’s an excuse to hold the hands of a lot of different gals, all in one night! Honestly, I just enjoy dancing. I enjoy going out with a bunch of friends, dancing with them, catching up with them, practicing some of the moves, and just having a good time. Too bad everything is kinda sleazy around here in the Bay Area.

I got to share with Redwood Chapel’s missions committee last night, and I must say that it was probably one of the most fun sharing times I’ve had during this entire support raising process. The people were very warm and friendly, even though they had no real reason to know me, except through Mr. Enns. They asked interesting questions, and seemed to really want to dig into my trip, why I was going, and things like that. It was a blast. I really enjoyed it.

I FINALLY finished Saving Private Ryan, and it was everything I thought it’d be, and more. A spectacular movie, and a real thinker. If you haven’t seen it, GO SEE IT! Even if you don’t do the violence part, I think it’s kinda good to see it. Not that I am in support of just seeing violent movies, but because this is WWII, I think people need to understand what those soldiers went through. War is never pretty, and not exactly a desirable thing, but there are also tests of character that only happen during war. It is those tests that often reveal a lot about what drives a person, and how they see themselves in relation to society, the world, and life in general. Are they the center of the universe? Is there something bigger than them that might be worth dying for?

I cannot imagine what it would have been like to have stormed the beaches at Normandy, even though I’ve studied it, and am something of a WWII buff. All the descriptions, including the movie’s depiction, seem real enough, but there’s an aspect of it that I think is missing. I’m not sure what it is, but it’s the sort of feeling that you can only get from someone who was there, who was actually there, and going through it. Those sorts of first-hand accounts are the stories that stick.

Just thoughts.

Last night, Avery and I met at Krispy Kreme for dinner. He actually had two donuts there as part of his dinner I only picked up a dozen for my family. We ended up eating and talking next door, at Jollibee, a different sort of fast food place. Jollibee has locations in Hong Kong, Indonesia, Philippines, Saipan, and other places, as well as Union City, CA, next to the Krispy Kreme.

As Avery had said, we’d never really had a chance to hang out much since we were both in college, and now out of college, so it was good to catch up on life, and just to hear how things were. He’s got some potentially REALLY neato things going on with Youth Worship at CI, and that’s something that is encouraging. We talked a lot about church, leadership, vision, and so forth. I think we agree on a lot of things about how the English side at church lacks direction and no one is really sure who is trying to set some, or if anyone is at all.

Well, I need to get back to some other stuff, but I wanted to say that I was really encouraged by last night and enjoyed it immensely!

Just thoughts.

Today was a good day. God’s timing is perfect. Impeccable. I think last night, I realized a lot of what God has been trying to tell this stubborn child. Today, I received several support checks, pushing me to 63%. It included monthly and one-time gifts. Such an encouragement after letting go some, and not holding on so tightly to just the end result. God is good. Even when I stink. Especially when I stink.

The party last night was great! Thanks for coming everyone, and making it such a wonderful success. I hope y’all had a good time, and I’m sorry for the weather not being better. Not that I could have done anything about it, but I just felt like I should say that.

I had lunch today with an old friend, Jennifer, whom I’d grown up with. It’s kinda wierd, since both her older sister and mother were my piano teachers for a combined seven years, so I always got to know her in that weird sorta thing where I was just hanging out, doing music theory stuff during my siblings’ piano lessons. It was nice to just hang out as friends, and talk about life and God, and just stuff. I like those sorts of conversations, where we can just talk, and talk, and talk. Those are a real encouragement to me, just to sorta hear a little about what’s going on in another person’s life, in terms of lots of different things, including spiritually and just what direction(s) God has been taking them, and so on.

Just thoughts.

Oh yeah. I just wanted to say that I also ordered 4 more CDs from Awakening Records – Bebo Norman’s new one, Big Blue Sky, Dog Named David’s Acoustic Canine, Shane Barnard’s Rocks Won’t Cry and the worship project by Waterdeep and 100 Portraits, Enter the Worship Circle. I haven’t gotten them yet, but they should be here any day now, like hopefully tomorrow

Today, I started watching Saving Private Ryan, but then I had to stop for the SFC pool party that was happening at my house. So I have about half of it watched. It’s annoying, because I want to watch the rest, but I need to go to bed. ARGH. I really like the movie so far though. A great thinker. I admire the men and women who lived through, fought through, and rebuilt after World War II. Tom Brokaw is right. Thus far, they have been the greatest generation, especially in America.

Also, I really really want a truck when I get back to Texas. I just realized that tonight when I was trying to help Darren take our old coffee table away, and he couldn’t fit it in his car. If there was a truck, we could have just thrown it in the back and driven it out there. I think, no, I KNOW I’d also love to help people move. Not that I like to see friends move away, but I enjoy moving stuff that is not my own. The boxes seem lighter, as Georgeann said. I think that would be a lot of fun. Plus road trips are easier. Just pitch a tent in the back or just sleep under the open stars! They don’t get as good gas mileage, but that’s ok, especially in Texas. Gas is cheaper. But I’d rather go diesel. Anyway, it’d be nice to have the truck. And y’all can hold me to it. If I get one, I want to help people move stuff. I like that sort of physical labor. For example, even though I was being snotty and a dork at times when we were rearranging our downstairs, I really enjoyed the actually moving of furniture and tables and stuff. It was the other things, like the decisions that weren’t being made that were getting on my nerves. So if God decides to bless me with a truck, I want to pass on the blessing to others. Hold me to it.

Just thoughts.