my mom's new pet

took some pix of this little dog that my mom had adopted from a friend... her name is dou dou (bean bean but previously named star) and our house is becoming more and more like a zoo...

happy new year!

this is for everyone... but posting now because some have already cross the 2007/2008 12 midnight line...

we still have more than 12 hours to go here in the western side of the north america...

anyway

HAPPY and BLESSED 2008!

enslaved by our pets

woke up this morning with this "meow, meow, meow" from sushi, my mom's cat. apparently she wanted water in the morning... and since i've been so nice to her, i have been turning on the bathroom tap and drip water to let her drink. and now i am enslaved by her meowing commends...

i think it's me... because mochi the dog did the same thing to me when he was living with us. he would jump up by my bed around 6:40~7am and ask me to take him out for his morning walk. and i thought after he had returned to eeyooore's house, i am free to sleep till whenever i want (except for the days when i have to wake up for work)

i think i am just too nice... and spoilt the dog and cat.

a confession

i guess i've been laying on the bed and keeping myself home bound for four days already. and thus writing more blog entries.. and finally forced myself to read one of the more interesting books on my reading list...

as i was finishing this chapter on "music as priest" (from Sound of the Harvest by Nathan Corbitt), suddenly i felt released and yet at the same time the need to confess... that i've been a music snob in the church all my life!

i guess the gist of what i was getting is this fact--new songs and new music should be a norm in a living and dynamic church organism. meaning that people with the inspiration of God should take it, write, sing, celebrate, refine in bringing a more complete picture of how to praise God together as a people of God.

but i know that in the depth of my heart or years growing up in the church, i've always viewed this as a specialized task for those well trained and singing in tune celestial chorus (or maybe even a privileged few). which is also to say that I belong to this group and not everybody else is welcomed. and actually on the flip side, i've put my own compositions and musical creations on the not-the-elected side of the fence thinking "everybody is writing songs nowadays. how will mine make any difference? i might as well not write"... and upon hearing this new group writing songs or that group making recordings, i just didn't see the point of me being involved with all this "music making" (for the King of course).

so... i should be glad that our God is a big and generous God who doesn't restrict the joy of music making or involving with music to the limited celestial choir above but to all humanity who will come and just worship and bow at His feet.

cold and cold

ever since sunday (or maybe it started on saturday), i've had this annoying cold... stuffy nosed, coughing like i am about to cough my lungs out, sore throat... and so i've tried to drink this yucky chinese medicines to help me feel better... taken super strength nyquil that knocks me right off at night (and can never wake up in the morning and feel very groggy after i wake up)

on top of that, our heater broke down. it only blows cool air. and we've yet to find anybody to repair the heater for the past 3 days.

sigh... and i've not been productive in anything much for the past few days.

pray that i'll fully recover soon and that we will find someone to fix our heater soon too!

listening to the Word

recently, as i am feeling my way to get regular QT going, i discovered that Back to the Bible has many different ways that you can read through the Bible. So i started with the blended reading schedule. in the beginning, it was a little hard to be reading so much at one go but then i discovered that you can listen to different versions. somehow that makes it better (read and listen at the same time)

well, so today as i was listening more than reading (josh 1-3, luke 14:25-35), there were a few interesting things that caught my ears. (particularly the OT portion)

• in order to protect Rahab's family, she had to hang that scarlet cord and follow the instructions of the spies or else the whole agreement is void.
• everybody knew in canaan that God was giving the land to them (fear struck the people)
• God "made" Joshua the leader through His Word (Josh 3:7) and His signs and wonders (crossing the River Jordan during the flood season)

of course there are more teachings that might be more important than these but just thought i would list these out and share.

Grace Mission International Church (Irvine)

ever since i came back, i've been trying to look for a church to worship, to serve, and to have fellowship at. i've visited a few churches and received invitations from different people that i've met to join their churches. there has been one group of people who approached me and this is the church that i'll be joining (or i've already joined)...

Grace Mission International Church has not started to have sunday worships yet. the very first service will be jan 6, 08. (to the cantonese, the date is very auspicious because it's 168 haha...) and i've asked to help with the youth/young adults group. since the church is just in the beginning stage, there is a group of 10ish youths for now. we'll have our first get-to-know-you session on Dec 22.

the reasons why i joined this church are...

ever since the beginning, the vision of the church is Mission focused (with at least 50% of offerings going into mission works, training disciples with mission work in mind, etc) and almost all the coworkers who are coming together had short-term mission experiences. (to me, this is why churches exist anyway)

diversity within the group... there are people from HK, SG, M'sia, TW. the hope is to also start a spanish speaking service one day

the family atmosphere, friendly relationships amongst the group that has come together to start this church... it's also in the dedication and hard work the core leaders have put in so far.

prayers every weekend during the past year in preparation of forming this church.

well, i joined the group for the first time tonight at an mexican restaurant to celebrate Christmas and also some birthdays. we sang a little and most people shared. i met a few new friends also. overall, i am pretty excited about new start and new possibilities.

at the same time, i do have my worries (it's going to be a long drive, i don't really know these people that well, i don't know how i am going to lead the youths or relate to them)... guess i need to pray more about all this and see how God will lead and grow me through this endeavor.

oh... why i started to write this entry is because somehow and for some after meeting me, they think i am college aged.

hahaha...