Just a quick update.

I’ve been back in Boston for less than a week now but it feels like I’ve been here for much longer. It’s been good to see friends, go to classes, walk through Emerson facilities and catch up with people I haven’t seen in over half a year. I am living off campus with one of my good friends for the next two years. She was very helpful and kind in looking at the apartment while I was off in Europe for the castle program. We ended up picking a great place and we both love living here. Granted, we have no furniture at the moment and am sitting on the floor doing homework or watching tv but we have cooked. Subsequently, had a candle light dinner on our living room floor.

I am hoping to at least get my room furnished by next week and hopefully the rest of my house semi-furnished in less than a months time. Classes are going to get busy soon, quidditch starts up on Sunday and I’m going to have to start hitting up the gym and basketball court very soon.

September 11 is coming up and I pray for all those in New York and those attending the memorial at ground zero. I know there are rumors and news about another attack for the 10 year anniversary, but I sincerely pray and hope for the safety of everyone and that it will go smoothly as it should.

I’m off to continue watching Fiji play against Namibia in the rugby world cup, to having my Belgian Ale and… surfing the net. Dear readers, I’ll be back. For now, i’ll leave you with what I’ve pretty much got at home right now…

Do you ever wonder how you got to where you are?

Island ECC, my home church started a new series today called “scrapbook”. This series will be based on understanding how god works in our lives. I often ponder and reflect on how I am living where I am, how my character and personality is the way it is, how God has changed my heart, etc. This sermon was really fitting for my last time at church before going back to university.

Since I arrived in Boston two years ago, my faith has been challenged in many ways, at this rate it is quite stagment. Every Sunday I went to ECC this summer i have praised and thank God for this church, it is a blessing and a community of honest humble believers. We are broken and we are not afraid to admit it. We are imperfect and Gods grace saves us. Today I was reminded that God knows and it is all a part of his plan that he has placed me where I am.

“…He determined the times set for them and the exact places where they should live.” Acts 17:26

It is a good encouragment and reminder to all of us that even when we feel inadequate, when we feel like our relationship with God is stagment in where we are… God still has a reason for us to be there. He overcomes all our excuses and uses what we have for His good.

“…the people who know God will display strength and take action.” Daniel 11:32

Notice that it does not say the people who know God might display strength, but it says they will display strength. Those who know God have a relationship with Him. Being a Christian is about having a relationship with God not the religion. Sometimes I think if the world could understand that, there will be a lot more people who believes in God and all that he has set for our lives.

Although I will not be in Hong Kong physically for the rest of the Scrapbook series, I am looking forward to listening to the podcasts and learning to understand what is behind God’s heart is every circumstance.

I was meant to leave tonight back to the US but because of the hurricane, my departure has been pushed to this coming weekend. I am mentally prepared to start my life in Boston again
, a new apartment, a new school year. I am, on the other hand, happy to have a few more days at home with my family and friends. I continue to pray for safety in the east coast as the hurricane hits and the typhoon hitting Taiwan. To all my Boston friends, I will be back soon!

… it’s a word that I haven’t thought about much for a long time but should be one that I remind myself every day. I was having coffee with a good friend the other night and we began exchanging stories about our lives the last half a year. As I began to talk about my four months traveling Europe and the UK, I found myself elaborating on all the times where I’ve had to learn to accept people for the way they’re acting or the things they’re doing.

My friend asked me what I’ve learned through this experience and I had a hard time answering that question, except for the fact that my world view is once again expanded from learning the different cultures of the world. As I continued to tell her stories about my struggle with friends who might not have had the same travel experience as me, she pointed out that perhaps God was teaching me to have more compassion… to be filled with compassion for those different than us, to understand their point of view without judgement.

Hearing her say that word was like learning a new word from scratch, although it’s a simple word we hear on and off occasionally. Every day we meet people who has a different opinion than ourselves, we meet people who might do something we really don’t understand and thats where the struggle is. We subconsciously tune out those people and sometimes want nothing to do with them, but we have to put ourselves in their shoes and have compassion on them. Compassion, know that ignorant and racism is two very different things. Know that their life circumstances could be nothing you would ever imagine.

 

好 means good in chinese but what I never realized was that the symbol of the character is a girl and a boy. Ok.. I’m sure I realized at some point but who thinks about something like that? 女 = girl 子 = boy

Corky Chinese awesomeness indeed

I bring it up because today while attending a business opening of my cousins fiance, I was sitting there minding my own business but also listening to my dad and uncle talk. My uncle expressed to my dad how important it was that we have this chinese word in our family. I was quite confused for a minute, until he continued talking about how his two daughters were always fighting.

The concept blew my mind for a few minutes, my brother and I apparently equals good! Dad, being dad, then said “yeah if only they were good.” He is a funny man. Not a very long story- in short, I started thinking about my brother and how fortunate we are to have the parents we have. Every family has their problems, but I can’t be more thankful for my parents, my brother and all my relatives.

I’ll be heading back to Boston in exactly two weeks in which I’ll be in the same time zone as Kevin again. Looking forward to catching up a little bit and hopefully see him soon within the next few months.

I hope to be updating more frequently. Cheers,

Advice on pride- that sums up the brilliant sermon at Island ECC today but that’s not it. It’s one of those sermons that smack you in the face and leave you feeling empty. A good sense of empty. A reminder that you are not all that you think you are.

No matter how humble we might think we are, there is always going to be that little bit of pride in us. It’s part of our feelings.. The need to feel better than others. Unfortunately we don’t always have someone telling us to stop when we are being prideful, and that makes is ten times harder to control.

C.S Lewis once said: “pride gets no pleasure out of having something, only out of having more of it than the next man.” He also said “lust will make a man sleep with a woman because he wants to sleep with the woman. Pride on the other hand will make a man sleep with a woman because then he can go and boast about it.”

It’s quite hard for me to summarize everything from the sermon as well as my thoughts. Therefore, I will write down the verses and quotes I took down today as a reminder to myself and those who have taken the time to read this post.

– If all pride was removed.. Thats heaven isn’t it?
– Pride goes before obstruction, a haughty spirit before a fall. (Proverbs 16:18)
– When pride comes, then comes dishonor. But with the humble is wisdom. (Proverbs 11:2)
– Where there is strife, there is pride, but wisdom is found in those who take advice. (Proverbs 13:10) do you take advice well?
– Better to be lowly in spirit along with the oppressed than to share plunder with the proud. (Proverbs 16:19)
– You can’t be an arrogant AND Godly person.
– The fear of the LORD is the instruction for wisdom, And before honor comes humility. (Proverbs 15:33)
– Choose to find glory, that is only found among the humble.
– Clothe yourselves, all of you, with humility toward one another, for “God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.” ( 1 Peter 5.5b)
– Choose to live in the security of having only one judge.
– I care very little if I am judged by you or by any human court; indeed, I do not even judge myself. My conscious is clear, but that does not make me innocent. It is the Lord who judges me. (1 Cor 4:3-4)
– it’s a requirement to be humble if you’d like to know God’s full honor.
– humility is required to receive God’s gift.
– Pride is one of the biggest stumbling blocks for non Christians and Christians alike.
– Don’t hold over your own self worth to the opinion of others. It’s not worth it.
– Fixation of self is the essence of pride.
– Live for an audience of ONE.

If you are feeling like that is a lot to take in at the moment, that’s because it is. I, myself, is still trying to pray through it and ask God to speak to me, to humble my heart because I know there are things in life at the moment I am unhappy about because of my pridefulness.

I hope this encourages you today in one way or another. Till next time!