Though I should be happy that Jesus is coming back soon, I am not. If He were to come at this very moment I would be ashamed at my sedentary life. I would be ashamed of my longings for the many desires of the world. I would be ashamed at my lack of thankfulness. I would be ashamed of not making the most out of opportunities.
The way in which I am playing life right now is extremely risky. What am I waiting for?
I want to be more like Brother Yu.
Sunday, March 15, 2009
Saturday, May 31, 2008
On the top of Angkor Wat
About five years ago, I sat upon the ruins of the top of Angkor Wat, the world's greatest stone structure temple in the world which took more than 30 years to build. Angkor Wat is located in the city of Siem Reap, which is located in the country of Cambodia.
I remember being on top of Angkor Wat (for missional purposes), with the fresh breeze blowing through every pore of my body, with God's spirit hovering around each and every of our team members soul. The tranquility of the moment was juxtaposed and juxtaposed again with the feeling of the presence of God, and the monks that were smoking and drinking, and then the little child who was being held lovingly by her caretaker, and the teenagers who befriended the tourists with the ultimate aim of making money. But God's presence amongst the still and calm wind was dominant over all the evils.
Today after a grand meal at Ye's sushi, I was able to relive that moment. Climbing the roof of McDougall with some other friends and worshiping and praising Him in music and in spirit brought me back to the moment in Angkor Wat. The air as crisp as ever, and the love of God so abundant, my heart was saturated with an inner passion that could never be quenched. The power of the spirit gave me courage to overcome many of the evils I have recently encountered, or more accurately, recently became aware of. Yet again, there existed a juxtaposition between a sinful universe and a perfect God, yet somehow, though it does not make sense in human terms, in my mind I felt God's perfectness so powerful that it completely reduced the relative ratio of evil to good to the point where the world was 100% of God, though evil still exists.
It really was a beautiful night with the indescribable stars, the firm and swaying trees, and the fresh crisp air all exclaiming how great our God is. =)
I remember being on top of Angkor Wat (for missional purposes), with the fresh breeze blowing through every pore of my body, with God's spirit hovering around each and every of our team members soul. The tranquility of the moment was juxtaposed and juxtaposed again with the feeling of the presence of God, and the monks that were smoking and drinking, and then the little child who was being held lovingly by her caretaker, and the teenagers who befriended the tourists with the ultimate aim of making money. But God's presence amongst the still and calm wind was dominant over all the evils.
Today after a grand meal at Ye's sushi, I was able to relive that moment. Climbing the roof of McDougall with some other friends and worshiping and praising Him in music and in spirit brought me back to the moment in Angkor Wat. The air as crisp as ever, and the love of God so abundant, my heart was saturated with an inner passion that could never be quenched. The power of the spirit gave me courage to overcome many of the evils I have recently encountered, or more accurately, recently became aware of. Yet again, there existed a juxtaposition between a sinful universe and a perfect God, yet somehow, though it does not make sense in human terms, in my mind I felt God's perfectness so powerful that it completely reduced the relative ratio of evil to good to the point where the world was 100% of God, though evil still exists.
It really was a beautiful night with the indescribable stars, the firm and swaying trees, and the fresh crisp air all exclaiming how great our God is. =)
Saturday, May 24, 2008
I have a sexy voice.
In the office of my workplace there are two males and 3 females. One of the males is me, and the other is Steward, who is one of my bosses.
So yesterday at work the phone rang and I decided to answer it.
joses: "independent needs center"
girl: "oh wow, I wonder whose sexy voice that is!"
joses: "um.. erm.. Joses? I'm a co-op student here"
girl: "OH!! *starts laughing* hahaha i'm sorry can i speak to steward please!"
It turns out she thought I was steward, (she was actually stewards wife).
=P
So yesterday at work the phone rang and I decided to answer it.
joses: "independent needs center"
girl: "oh wow, I wonder whose sexy voice that is!"
joses: "um.. erm.. Joses? I'm a co-op student here"
girl: "OH!! *starts laughing* hahaha i'm sorry can i speak to steward please!"
It turns out she thought I was steward, (she was actually stewards wife).
=P
Monday, May 19, 2008
Campus Challenge
Campus Challenge was indeed an apt name. Below are some episodes during the weekend which were of great significance to me. Some are comedic, some may be more personal, and some may be just interesting tidbits of life at CC.
Episode 1: Entry
I got to Campus Challenge at 5:00pm when the registration time was at 5:30. (This was because I managed to find a ride right after work). As a result, I walked around Tyndale for approx. 30 minutes and had some quiet time to myself, wondering what it was I really wanted to get out of this weekend. After about half an hour of thinking I had no idea. Did I want to be more equipped? Did I want to have a larger network of Christian friends? Did I want to explore the methodologies of other campuses and share our ideas and wisdom together? At the end, I just decided to go through the doors and let God tell me what he wanted me to gain instead.
Episode 2: 1st Worship Session
I told myself that I wouldn't get passionate during worship or during the sermons, as that often happens during retreats and I end up 'losing the passion' afterwards. I wanted this weekend to be one of rationale and based on self-discipline and wisdom. However, once the worship team played "Did you feel the mountains tremble", I knew my resolve was lost and I didn't bother to try to gain it back.
Episode 3: 2nd Worship Session
I was singing and worshiping in my own world, paying attention to nothing but my own experience with God. This is something that I am often told , that worship time is a time between God and You and nothing else. Right before we sang: "For what do I have if I dont have you Jesus', I turned around and looked at the 'congregation', the community of Christians gathering together for the same purpose, and I saw a shed of hope within today's deceased world. Hands were raised and voices were praising, nothing else mattered to them, everyone was filled with joy, and it was then that I really did feel the 'Mountains Tremble'.
Worship isn't necessarily a time between only God and yourself I began to think.
Episode 4: Sharing an Encouragement
Someone in the past did something for me that really encouraged me to get involved in the CCF community. However, she never knew what kind of an impact she had on me. I'm not one who is good at expressing 'moments of expressiveness', but with some encouragement from another fellow friend I thought I would encourage her back by telling her how much she encouraged me.
It didn't end up too well as I for some odd reason became really nervous. I started with somewhat a sentence of: I came to CCF because of you. And from there I knew I was giving the wrong message. =S. But at the end everything was clarified and she was very encouraged since she encouraged me, which in turn encouraged me again.
Episode 5: Bible Study
I've always loved bible studies, especially ones that can create controversy and no fence-sitting is allowed. But never have I loved a bible study the way I loved a bible study during the weekend. All the wisdom that Al Anderson was able to derive out of such a simple passage was phenomenal, and it made me realize how beautiful the book we call the Holy Bible really is. The wisdom that is hidden within can only be extracted by those who have the heart to seek the truth. This enlightenment made me 'tingle', and I was touched by the wisdom of God.
Episode 6: Downtown Experience
For the CC workshop, I chose the Missional Leader option, in which we were instructed to go downtown and seek information that describes the state of the current student today. We found many posters promoting homesexuality and sex, newspapers that were racist and used much foul language, and many ads that promoted 'beauty', as if you are not beautiful the way you are. (We also snuck into the hanging classroom in the pharmacy building while we were on our break).
One interesting sub episode is when two others and me called forth the courage to enter a Gay convention that was going on in order to better understand them. Thankfully the security guard did not let us in =P.
To be continued...
Episode 1: Entry
I got to Campus Challenge at 5:00pm when the registration time was at 5:30. (This was because I managed to find a ride right after work). As a result, I walked around Tyndale for approx. 30 minutes and had some quiet time to myself, wondering what it was I really wanted to get out of this weekend. After about half an hour of thinking I had no idea. Did I want to be more equipped? Did I want to have a larger network of Christian friends? Did I want to explore the methodologies of other campuses and share our ideas and wisdom together? At the end, I just decided to go through the doors and let God tell me what he wanted me to gain instead.
Episode 2: 1st Worship Session
I told myself that I wouldn't get passionate during worship or during the sermons, as that often happens during retreats and I end up 'losing the passion' afterwards. I wanted this weekend to be one of rationale and based on self-discipline and wisdom. However, once the worship team played "Did you feel the mountains tremble", I knew my resolve was lost and I didn't bother to try to gain it back.
Episode 3: 2nd Worship Session
I was singing and worshiping in my own world, paying attention to nothing but my own experience with God. This is something that I am often told , that worship time is a time between God and You and nothing else. Right before we sang: "For what do I have if I dont have you Jesus', I turned around and looked at the 'congregation', the community of Christians gathering together for the same purpose, and I saw a shed of hope within today's deceased world. Hands were raised and voices were praising, nothing else mattered to them, everyone was filled with joy, and it was then that I really did feel the 'Mountains Tremble'.
Worship isn't necessarily a time between only God and yourself I began to think.
Episode 4: Sharing an Encouragement
Someone in the past did something for me that really encouraged me to get involved in the CCF community. However, she never knew what kind of an impact she had on me. I'm not one who is good at expressing 'moments of expressiveness', but with some encouragement from another fellow friend I thought I would encourage her back by telling her how much she encouraged me.
It didn't end up too well as I for some odd reason became really nervous. I started with somewhat a sentence of: I came to CCF because of you. And from there I knew I was giving the wrong message. =S. But at the end everything was clarified and she was very encouraged since she encouraged me, which in turn encouraged me again.
Episode 5: Bible Study
I've always loved bible studies, especially ones that can create controversy and no fence-sitting is allowed. But never have I loved a bible study the way I loved a bible study during the weekend. All the wisdom that Al Anderson was able to derive out of such a simple passage was phenomenal, and it made me realize how beautiful the book we call the Holy Bible really is. The wisdom that is hidden within can only be extracted by those who have the heart to seek the truth. This enlightenment made me 'tingle', and I was touched by the wisdom of God.
Episode 6: Downtown Experience
For the CC workshop, I chose the Missional Leader option, in which we were instructed to go downtown and seek information that describes the state of the current student today. We found many posters promoting homesexuality and sex, newspapers that were racist and used much foul language, and many ads that promoted 'beauty', as if you are not beautiful the way you are. (We also snuck into the hanging classroom in the pharmacy building while we were on our break).
One interesting sub episode is when two others and me called forth the courage to enter a Gay convention that was going on in order to better understand them. Thankfully the security guard did not let us in =P.
To be continued...
Friday, May 2, 2008
Sacrificing your Poop Time
Since I got back to Markham, my regular wake up routine would be to first go to the bathroom, take a nice dump, and then take a short or long shower, depending on how how cold or warm it is that day, and then brush my teeth. However, today things were a bit different.
I woke up, my eyes were hurting a bit, and I went to the bathroom for my usual morning dump. I positioned myself, sat down on the toilet, then suddenly my phone rang from the room next door. I hesitated for a bit thinking if I should run out to get it or just let it be. Usually I would just let it be and phone back later or let them call me back later, but for some odd reason after about 10 seconds of the ringing phone I pulled my pants halfway up, (I didn't want to take the time to zip up my pants and put my belt on), kept a firm hold on my pants so they wouldn't fall and dashed to my room to pick my phone. And voila! I ended up talking to a job employer who wanted to schedule me for an interview. It is pretty awkward to try and sound professional while your pants are halfway on.
The weird thing is, after the call, I went back to the bathroom for my dump. But I just couldn't dump anymore. It is now 3:13pm and I am still waiting for the golden opportunity. =)
I woke up, my eyes were hurting a bit, and I went to the bathroom for my usual morning dump. I positioned myself, sat down on the toilet, then suddenly my phone rang from the room next door. I hesitated for a bit thinking if I should run out to get it or just let it be. Usually I would just let it be and phone back later or let them call me back later, but for some odd reason after about 10 seconds of the ringing phone I pulled my pants halfway up, (I didn't want to take the time to zip up my pants and put my belt on), kept a firm hold on my pants so they wouldn't fall and dashed to my room to pick my phone. And voila! I ended up talking to a job employer who wanted to schedule me for an interview. It is pretty awkward to try and sound professional while your pants are halfway on.
The weird thing is, after the call, I went back to the bathroom for my dump. But I just couldn't dump anymore. It is now 3:13pm and I am still waiting for the golden opportunity. =)
Wednesday, April 23, 2008
Fun in the Sun?
The last full day of being in Waterloo was a blast! The only regret was that there were no pictures taken =(.
So I went to the SLC at approximately 6:30pm so I could meet up with some other's for volleyball. Brian, Man^2, Ash, and Jorge and I walked over to the volleyball court outside of Renison and challenged 4 other random people. It was very interesting given that half our team had not played volleyball in years. We ended up losing all 4ish games we played but we had some really good rallies. We ended at approximately 9:15pm.
After our game, our opponents gracefully gave us some water to drink, and afterwards we proceeded into the Renison Cafeteria to take some drinks I prepared beforehand. Then we went into the co-ed washroom and washed our feet together in the shower, since they were dirty from the volleyball sand pit. Talk about scandalous! By the time we were all done washing our feet we were pretty darn hungry.
We decided to go to the (I think it was called Taiwanese Home Garden) in the Plaza with the very very friendly man. We actually wanted to go there to see if Man Man could talk to the very very friendly man without laughing. But it was closed to we randomnly decided to go to King Tin.
We took the bus, went to King Tin and ate happily. The 'Ow Lam Bo' and 'ging doe pie gwut' were the best. After eating, given that we had no more exams, Jorge, Brian, Man^2, and I went over to Renison College again to use their dvd player to watch Princess Monoke (Betty Battousai also joined us at this time). However, the lounge was in use so we played some pool and chess before the lounge was free.
The movie was excellent and ended around 3ish. At this point (I think it was Betty or Man^2) made a random comment that we should go watch the sunrise, so we did that. We kept ourselves awake by watching youtube clips, playing pictionary, and eating toast. Then when it was time, we went out for the sunrise.
However, we were too late, and ended up trying to scavenge the remains of the multifaceted sunrise dispersing its' colours into the sky (in SLC 3rd floor). And finally it was time to go home.
=)
So I went to the SLC at approximately 6:30pm so I could meet up with some other's for volleyball. Brian, Man^2, Ash, and Jorge and I walked over to the volleyball court outside of Renison and challenged 4 other random people. It was very interesting given that half our team had not played volleyball in years. We ended up losing all 4ish games we played but we had some really good rallies. We ended at approximately 9:15pm.
After our game, our opponents gracefully gave us some water to drink, and afterwards we proceeded into the Renison Cafeteria to take some drinks I prepared beforehand. Then we went into the co-ed washroom and washed our feet together in the shower, since they were dirty from the volleyball sand pit. Talk about scandalous! By the time we were all done washing our feet we were pretty darn hungry.
We decided to go to the (I think it was called Taiwanese Home Garden) in the Plaza with the very very friendly man. We actually wanted to go there to see if Man Man could talk to the very very friendly man without laughing. But it was closed to we randomnly decided to go to King Tin.
We took the bus, went to King Tin and ate happily. The 'Ow Lam Bo' and 'ging doe pie gwut' were the best. After eating, given that we had no more exams, Jorge, Brian, Man^2, and I went over to Renison College again to use their dvd player to watch Princess Monoke (Betty Battousai also joined us at this time). However, the lounge was in use so we played some pool and chess before the lounge was free.
The movie was excellent and ended around 3ish. At this point (I think it was Betty or Man^2) made a random comment that we should go watch the sunrise, so we did that. We kept ourselves awake by watching youtube clips, playing pictionary, and eating toast. Then when it was time, we went out for the sunrise.
However, we were too late, and ended up trying to scavenge the remains of the multifaceted sunrise dispersing its' colours into the sky (in SLC 3rd floor). And finally it was time to go home.
=)
Wednesday, April 16, 2008
Time Burger
One day there was a big strong boy named Joses Wong who took a bite out of a 'time burger', when all of a sudden he defied the laws of physics and zipped past time and space to Dec. 2007. He remembered being near the end of his work term and how happy he was to be able to soon head back to Waterloo and see all his old friends again. Little did he know that there was indeed much more in store for him.
Comes January, and this big strong boy has a completely new life from what he had before. More time spent with his 'childhood buddy', much more spiritual growth and support, stronger bonds with old friends, and a fellowship that guides and helps him choose his path. In addition, he also had many 'ninja' battles, walked many people home while fighting off robbers and kidnappers, ate nemo at Ye's, learned more stephen chow wisdom, had many "in my/your soul" experiences, found a new way to cure 'boredom' (it involves carrying), filled his stomach with sunshine, etc. etc.
And it is soon time for this big strong boy to go about to whatever unpredictable situations God has in store for him, and come back four months later, expecting everything to be as great as before. Unfortunately everything wont be the same as before, for times change. It'll only get better =).
Comes January, and this big strong boy has a completely new life from what he had before. More time spent with his 'childhood buddy', much more spiritual growth and support, stronger bonds with old friends, and a fellowship that guides and helps him choose his path. In addition, he also had many 'ninja' battles, walked many people home while fighting off robbers and kidnappers, ate nemo at Ye's, learned more stephen chow wisdom, had many "in my/your soul" experiences, found a new way to cure 'boredom' (it involves carrying), filled his stomach with sunshine, etc. etc.
And it is soon time for this big strong boy to go about to whatever unpredictable situations God has in store for him, and come back four months later, expecting everything to be as great as before. Unfortunately everything wont be the same as before, for times change. It'll only get better =).
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