small group tonight!!!

i’m so excited!!!
Daddy’s going to do some GOOD STUFF :]

i have resolved

to give things to God in PRAYER.
“Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God”. Phil 4:6
no more of this foolishness, longing for things that do not please God, and enduring the weight of my every decision.

“The lions may grow weak and hungry, but those who seek the Lord lack no good thing.” Psalm 34:10

time to stay off the roads

me: how was your driving lesson?
Alicia: haha
gooodd
i think im a pretty good driver
me: haha wow
that’s wonderful
Alicia: hahaha
me: how many times did you crash?
Alicia: hahah
zero!
but when we wre parking
Alicia: i kept forgetting if i was on drive or rear
Alicia: so i almost crashed into the fence
hahah
Alicia: i think my instructor almost had a heart attack

today i bought this guy

he’s a cutie.

this is my buddy from taiwan, whom he shall soon join

praying in the closet

An interesting summary of John Piper’s sermon from the desiringgod blog:

Praying in the Closet and in the Spirit
Are you the disciplined type? Are you more spontaneous? What does the Bible say about how this relates to prayer?

This much is clear: Our various disciplines and spontaneities are Christian to the extent that they are an overflow of our confidence that God is already 100% on our side.

The gospel doesn’t rule out spontaneity. “In the Spirit,” Jesus’ gospel-work for us often moves us to spontaneous prayer.

And the gospel doesn’t rule our discipline. It moves us to plan for prayer “in the closet,” and to take up various intentional disciplines as fruit of the gospel.

Faith in the gospel leads the Christian to planned private prayer in at least 3 ways:

1. Because we trust in Jesus as our Lord and know he is for us, we gladly do what he tells us.
2. Because we trust in Jesus as our Treasure, we have tasted and seen that he is good, and so we are eager to get more of him.
3. Because we trust in Jesus as our Savior, we know that every true need we have has been purchased for us already, and so we don’t come to him in prayer to purchase but to receive.

dang

The Burj Khalifa, Dubai

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703580904574638111667658806.html

Today I saw a beggar that reminded me of Jesus.

Today after work I went shopping and bought a pair of sand-colored leather boots that I had been looking for for some time. I was very happy. Then I continued walking home. QVC’s office building is about 9/10 blocks from my aunt’s apartment so it’s a bit of a walk over highways and bridges, etc. Shanghai is seriously beautiful and quite happening at night so the experience is definitely worth the walk. As I walked over one of the bridges connecting two of Shanghai’s famous shopping streets, I saw a homeless man in front of me. At first, I thought how typical. I see these guys all over Berkeley and it’s not surprising that there are some of them around Shanghai. But something caught me about the posture of this man. Maybe it was the dimly lit ground surrounding him against the darkness of the rest of the bridge or the rusted bowl of change next to his head. But this man knelt close to the ground, wrapped in his large inflated coat. His hands laid close to him on both sides and his head, hidden beneath his hood, could not even be seen. I really couldn’t comprehend how much shame this man must have, that he could not even bear show his face to the people walking past time, but in fact preferred to be seen as a true beggar. What would it take to bring someone to such a state?

Then I thought of Jesus. I guess walking by myself, I think analogically a lot but seriously, it was quite easy to see Jesus in this man. I thought about how Jesus was in this some position and possessed a humility beyond even that of the beggar. And then I thought about who Jesus was, and is: a King whose name is to be lifted high above all.. we sing it all the time during worship. I probably will never be able to fully comprehend how much Christ gave up for me but this pretty much hit home for me. And then I thought back to how I had just been so infatuated with a pair of boots, how I daily take the freedom that Christ had given up for me and waste it on my own selfish desires. How do I learn to be like that beggar? The truth of the beatitudes hit me: “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.”

Isaiah 53 says it best:
The servant grew up before God – a scrawny seedling, a scrubby plant in a parched field. There was nothing attractive about him, nothing to cause us to take a second look.
He was looked down on and passed over, a man who suffered, who knew pain firsthand. One look at him and people turned away. We looked down on him, thought he was scum.
But the fact is, it was our pains he carried – our disfigurements, all the things wrong with us.
We thought he brought it on himself, that God was punishing him for his own failures.
But it was our sins that did that to him, that ripped and tore and crushed him – our sins! He took the punishment, and that made us whole. Through his bruises we get healed.
We’re all like sheep who’ve wandered off and gotten lost. We’ve all done our own thing, gone our own way. And God has piled all our sins, everything we’ve done wrong, on him, on him.
He was beaten, he was tortured, but he didn’t say a word. Like a lamb taken to be slaughtered and like a sheep being sheared, he took it all in silence.
Justice miscarried, and he was led off – and did anyone really know what was happening? He died without a thought for his own welfare, beaten bloody for the sins of my people.
They buried him with the wicked, threw him in a grave with a rich man, Even though he’d never hurt a soul or said one word that wasn’t true.
Still, it’s what God had in mind all along, to crush him with pain. The plan was that he give himself as an offering for sin so that he’d see life come from it – life, life, and more life. And God’s plan will deeply prosper through him.
Out of that terrible travail of soul, he’ll see that it’s worth it and be glad he did it. Through what he experienced, my righteous one, my servant, will make many “righteous ones,” as he himself carries the burden of their sins.
Therefore I’ll reward him extravagantly – the best of everything, the highest honors – Because he looked death in the face and didn’t flinch, because he embraced the company of the lowest. He took on his own shoulders the sin of the many, he took up the cause of all the black sheep. (The Message)

broken strings

my Chinese people list (more to come)

1. Chinese people don’t signal, they honk.
2. In China, most taxi drivers are aspiring speedcar racers. (beware of the countryside)
3. The Chinese invented the squatting toilet which I love. It saves water, is more sanitary, and prevents awkward splashes of water on my butt.
4. Chinese people will spend at least 20 minute arguing about the bill after each meal.
5. Chinese people flush after several people have gone to the bathroom to save water. I can count on being pleasantly surprised each time I use the restroom.
6. Chinese people (or my relatives) all sleep with their mouths open.

PS. my grandparents are the cutest. today while we were having lunch my grandma was complaining that there was no meat in her dumplings. then my aunt split the rest of the dumplings and gave one to my grandpa, my grandma, and me. My grandpa bites a little into his, and then opens it up and gives the meat to my grandma. And then my grandma gives her dumpling skin to my grandpa. hahah…. SO CUTE.

wordpress works in China

I’m reading Crazy Love by Francis Chan, and it’s truly a refreshing and convicting book. There’s a couple paragraphs in the second chapter, You Might Not Finish This Chapter, that put into an illustration what took me an entire semester to learn.
Francis compares our lives to a movie. Except the movie isn’t about us, it’s about God. God, in the beginning of time created humanity, created us, knit us together in our mothers’ wombs and knows every hair on our head. God is the one who gave up His son to save humanity for no other reason than love, and God is the One we are created to worship. As John Piper says, “The chief end of man is to glorify God and enjoy Him forever”.
Francis continues to say that when we worry and when we stress out, it’s because we forget the bigger picture. We forget that the life we are living is only a split second of the movie.. starring God. The movie that is God’s love story, God’s glory, God’s gift to us.

This semester a couple big things happened that I didn’t see coming. I guess I’m quick to decide I want things one way, or even that God has specific desires, specific plans for my life and sometimes I really think I know what they are. Maybe sometimes I do know what they are. But then a couple times this semester something happens and my whole vision is shattered. I seriously freeze during those times because to be honest… I hate not knowing, not having control over my life. I think one of the reasons I’m so busy is because I’m afraid of what will happen if I don’t work to earn stability, predictability in my life. I struggle so much with the thought of taking Sabbaths, especially during finals/midterms season. But this semester I’ve had it ingrained again and again into my head… I am not in control. And even if I don’t choose to trust in God, I’m going to have to at certain points. But the bigger picture is that it’s really not about me at all. My life, my dreams, my small small plans are meaningless if they don’t have eternal value.

Paul says, “The only thing that counts is faith expressing itself through love.” (Galatians 5:6). In other words, the only thing that counts is loving God, glorifying Him… taking that split second and using it to the fullest to worship the one who is worthy. The hardest part is living that out. I’m probably gonna be learning this lesson a couple hundred more times in my life if not more.. but for this next semester, I am ready!