Jason Lee, a deacon from my church, passed away from cancer on the evening of Wednesday, December 28, 2005.
Only three weeks ago, when he was in Iraq serving the US military as an intelligence officer, the pain started. He was transferred to a hospital in Germany where he was diagnosed of pancreatic cancer. However the tumor had already spread too far, and the doctors could not do anything to save him. Then he was transferred to a hospital in southern California, but again the doctors could not help him. He was told that he may live for two more weeks, up to a year. Two nights ago, he was moved into his home. I visited him yesterday, but I could hardly recognize him. He had already lost much of his body mass, and his cheeks caved in. I could not believe my eyes... Three weeks... There were many of his relatives and friends. My father, who is the pastor of the church, lead in prayer and worship. We prayed earnestly for miracle. Just as God granted 15 years to King Hezekiah at the point of his death, we prayed that God will do miracles for Jason, too.
December 28, 2005, was Jason’s 48th birthday. God put an end to his suffering and gave him eternal peace and rest. May the LORD God, the Creator of the universe, the Giver of life and death, the Righteous and the Just, be glorified forever and ever. Amen.
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Philippians
by SLO Crusade - Waking
By death or by life
I will give myself as a sacrifice
To live on in flesh is fruit from labor
To be with Christ is far far better, is far far better
In nothing at all shall I be ashamed
To live is Christ
To die is gain
In nothing at all shall I be ashamed
With all boldness I’ll spread your name
May your name be magnified
In my body glorified, glorified, glorified
I bring to you everything I am, everything I have in you
All else I count as loss, All I give is worth the cost
Thursday, December 29, 2005
Sunday, December 25, 2005
Freaky Phone Calls
Here I am, Christmas Eve, all alone at home. Unlike the movie "Home Alone," nothing exciting is happening here on Christmas Eve... Why am I alone? Well, my younger siblings are at church with the youth group, and my parents are probably at church, too. My older brother was here a moment ago, but he left to spend time with his friends who happen to be a newly wed couple. I figured it would be too awkward if I tagged along. So now I'm here just sitting at a desk (which isn't even my desk, because I don't really live here - I live in LA - but I've setup my iMac on my younger brother's desk). Part of me wish that I had gone to the party that I was invited to... Well, why didn't I go? That's a good question, because it's an interesting story. I think I will kill some time by writing this story.
It was a week and a half ago, Thursday. As I was walking on campus, a guy stopped me asking for help. Or I thought he was asking for help at first, because his facial expressions seemed to say that. But he told me that he wanted to invite me to this party, so he wanted my name and number. Ok, I know that's just weird, because you don't just go up to a random guy and invite him to a party, and it's even weirder to get asked by a stranger to a party. But he said something about the party being sponsored by a church. He was very vague though, because all he said was that it was a party for college age people and high school students, there's going to be loud music, and it's going to be great time. Yeah, sounds really great... I mean, greatly vague. But I figured since it was a church sponsored event, it is probably evangelical in purpose. I'm all for that. So I gave him my number, walked away, and went about with my life. In the back of my head, I wondered when I would get a call, and thought about what it was all about. But I didn't think too much about it.
That night, I got a call. It was from a restricted number (number didn't appear on the caller ID). When I get calls from restricted numbers, I don't hesitate to pick up, because I usually want to know who called me, and if the number doesn't appear, and if I don’t answer the call, I would never find out who called. I had just entered the De Neve dining hall, and was standing in line for some pasta. I picked it up. It was a woman's voice saying, "May I speak to Simon?"
"Uhh, you mean SunMin?" I replied.
"Oh, Simo... SunMin? May I speak to SunMin?"
"Yeah, This is SunMin." At that moment I knew this was a call related to the guy I gave the phone number to. I remembered he couldn't pronounce my name right, so he probably told this lady that my name was Simon.
"Hi! My name is Marina. A friend of mine gave me your phone number, and I wanted to invite you to a party!" She sounded very excited, but she also sounded like one of those telemarketers who read their spiel behind the phone line. She continued, "It's a party for young people from high school to college students, for guys and girls. There will be loud music, free food, and it will be a great time!” I think she also said something about a free pint. She repeated herself as if saying it once wasn’t enough. Well, in fact she talked too fast that I didn’t catch everything she said even though I think she said the same thing twice.
"What organization is this sponsored by?" I had to interrupt her, because she was going so fast. I also had the feeling she wasn't going to ask if I wanted come, but just assume that I wanted to come.
She answered, “Uh, well, it’s sponsored by a church. So it’s a party with lots of young people, loud music, free food...” She was repeating herself without really answering my question. So I had to interrupt her again.
“What church is it?”
“Oh, uh, it’s a church right near the Staples Center in LA. Oh and it’s a Christian church. So it will be great time, and there will be lots of fun, and...”
“What the name of the church?” I hate to interrupt people when they’re talking, but I had to.
“Uh, well it’s a Baptist church. So what are you doing Sunday?” She still hadn’t answered my question, but I didn’t want to deal with this right now, so I decided not to push it. Besides, she asked the perfect question for me to bail out.
“Oh, I’ll be busy this Sunday.”
“Well, will you be busy the whole day?”
“Yeah, I’ll be busy the whole day” I was being totally honest.
“What are you doing on Sunday?”
“I have a fraternity business.”
“Oh, ok. Well then I guess I’ll call you some other time” She said something about free pint again, which I couldn’t understand. I simply said “ok” because I didn’t want to talk on the phone anymore (I was getting food for dinner, and I didn’t want my friend to wait around too long). And then she hung up.
After the phone call, I felt very weird. Very uncomfortable. Why wouldn’t she be straight forward and tell me who they are? I think it’s great that it’s a party sponsored by a church, but she sounded too aggressive and was so vague about the party. But I decided not to worry about it.
Then two days ago, Thursday, December 22, I got a call from a restricted number again. As I usually do, I answered the phone without hesitation since it was a call from a restricted number.
“May I speak with Simon?” It was her again. That uneasy feeling came back all over.
“Uh, it’s SunMin.”
“Oh, is your name Simon or SunMin?”
“It’s SunMin”
“On ok. My friend told me you were Simon. I’m sorry.”
“It’s ok.”
“This is Marina, I talked with you last week. We’re having a Christmas party this Saturday and Sunday. It’s for young people from high school to college students, for guys and girls. There will be loud music, free food, and it will be a great time!” I felt like I was on the phone with a prerecorded telemarketing spiel. The voice and the words she said sounded too familiar to me. She told me that there will be a “world renown author” and that he will give a motivational speech. I asked her who the speaker was, and she said something like, “Oh, he’s a world renown author, he wrote several books...” Basically what she had already said before I asked the question. When I saw that she wasn’t going to answer my question, I interrupted her and asked what he was going to talk about. She said, “about the spiritual condition of our nation.” Still very vague as usual. She went on, “Which would you like to come, Saturday or Sunday?” Great, she didn’t even ask if I wanted to come... I felt pressured to give an answer.
“Uh, probably Saturday would be better.”
“Oh, do you go to church on Sunday?”
“Yes, I do.”
“Ok, that’s great. So you can come on Saturday, right?”
“Uh, I don’t know. What time?”
“It’s going to start at 6 pm.”
“What’s the address?” I asked.
“Well, what we’re doing, since it’s very hard to find parking around here, we’re going to try to pick people up and carpool.” Great... Not only did she not answer my question, I had to get picked up. This meant I couldn’t leave when I want to.
I asked her (once again) what the name of the church was. Like before, she said it was a Baptist church near Staples Center. She asked me what the name of my church was, and I said it was a small Korean church in Orange County. Then she said it’s like that for them too, that it was just a small church...
So basically I told her I wasn’t very comfortable going because I didn’t know who they were. Then she was like, “Oh, it goes both ways. You don’t know us, and we don’t know you.”
“Well, but I’m just one person...”
“Um, there will be other college students just like you, and they’ll be here for the first time, so you won’t be left out” she said. I didn’t really see the logic in that statement... She went on, “Are you a college student? How old are you?”
“Yes. Twenty-two.”
“Perfect. We have a friend who is just your age. His name is Wesley. Let me give the phone to him, so you can talk to him.”
“Ok...” So she handed over the phone to Wesley. Wesley had a deep voice, one of those that football players have... If you know what I mean. (I’m probably wrong though, because I don’t know much about football, and I don’t know any football players...) Anyway, Wesley and I had a little conversation. He was much easier to talk with than the lady. He would actually answer my questions, and not repeat stuff too much. Little by little, I found out that the name of the church is Baptist Tabernacle, and the speaker’s name is Dr. Hymers. For some reason, Wesley sounded hesitant when I asked who the speaker was. I immediately looked him up on the internet and did a little research about him while I talked to him on the phone.
I found a website about him, and the site was full of his sermons, just pages after pages of sermons. He used some terms that I didn’t even understand. What I understood was that he is a fundamentalist, and he “proves” that Rick Warren is wrong in one of his articles called “Learn to Love Yourself”, an article about self-esteem. I skimmed though Dr. Hymers’ sermon on Rick Warren, and found that some of his logic were completely flawed, and that he was debating apples and oranges. Obviously, since he is a fundamentalist, he has a lot more conservative perspective. I also find it strange to ridicule a fellow pastor in a sermon. It made me wonder if Dr. Hymers even talked to Rick Warren about this, because I couldn’t find anything in the sermon that talked about Rick Warren’s response to what Dr. Hymers thought. It was also interesting because Rick Warren’s article was from a secular magazine called “Ladies’ Home Journal” and Dr. Hymers criticized Warren for not mentioning Jesus Christ... Well, I’m not writing this to comment on Dr. Hymers, since I hardly know him. On with the story now...
As I said earlier, it was much easier talking with Wesley, and I could understand the situation better. So I decided to go, even though the whole thing sounded a little shady. Since I lived in Orange County, a little far from where they were, they gave the phone to a guy who used to live in Cypress. I forgot his name, so I’ll call him Mr. Chapman. Mr. Chapman told me that he used to work in Cypress, so he knows all about the place. I gave him my home address, but I didn’t give him the apartment number (for an obvious reason) so they could pick me up at the street. Then he asked me if I was talking on my cell phone. I said yes. Then he said I need to give my cell phone to the driver while I’m at the party... Now, that just freaked me out! I asked him why, and he said if they ask people to turn off their cell phones, people just won’t turn them off (which is very true), and that it would cause a commotion if a cell phone goes off while the speaker is talking, so it’s just easier to ask everybody to give their cell phones. Does that make sense to anybody? Not to me. I told him firmly that I was not going to give my cell phone to someone I didn’t know. Then he said I should leave my cell phone at home. So I was a bit outraged, and told him I wasn’t going to go to a strange place with a bunch of strangers without a cell phone and a way to get back home when I wanted to. Then Mr. Chapman replied, as if he didn’t want to deal with it anymore, “Just think about it. Ok? Bye.” and he hung up!
I was so frustrated and didn’t know what to do. So I called Eric, a brother from my fraternity and my bible study leader, and told him about the situation. He suggested that he will go with me to the church to check it out. But since he wouldn’t be able to go this Saturday, Eric said I should tell them that a friend of mine wants to go, and I would rather go with him and not alone, and since he cannot go this Saturday, I want to come some other time. Eric said if it’s a legit church worth checking out, they should let us drive there, and leave our cell phones in the car. I guess I could understand why they don’t want cell phones to go off during the sermon, but I think it would freak anyone out if they had to be picked up and dropped off without a way of communicating with the outside world. So I called them back. Wesley had given me the lady’s phone number, so I asked her for Wesley and told him what Eric had suggested. So I ended up not going to the party. Later I found out that the lady was Mrs. Hymers. Wesley told me that we’ll keep in touch, so I’m expecting a call from Mrs. Hymers again sometime in January... It should be another interesting conversation with her.
So that was the story about the party. If you know anything about Dr. Robert Hymers or his church Baptist Tabernacle, let me know. Google “Robert Hymers” if you want to look him up. It’s the first thing on the list. I wish I just knew whether they were legit or not. If they are legit, I would have loved to go to their party. But I guess it’s too late now. I’m sure they’ll have more “parties” coming up though. So far it’s been two weeks in a row.
It was a week and a half ago, Thursday. As I was walking on campus, a guy stopped me asking for help. Or I thought he was asking for help at first, because his facial expressions seemed to say that. But he told me that he wanted to invite me to this party, so he wanted my name and number. Ok, I know that's just weird, because you don't just go up to a random guy and invite him to a party, and it's even weirder to get asked by a stranger to a party. But he said something about the party being sponsored by a church. He was very vague though, because all he said was that it was a party for college age people and high school students, there's going to be loud music, and it's going to be great time. Yeah, sounds really great... I mean, greatly vague. But I figured since it was a church sponsored event, it is probably evangelical in purpose. I'm all for that. So I gave him my number, walked away, and went about with my life. In the back of my head, I wondered when I would get a call, and thought about what it was all about. But I didn't think too much about it.
That night, I got a call. It was from a restricted number (number didn't appear on the caller ID). When I get calls from restricted numbers, I don't hesitate to pick up, because I usually want to know who called me, and if the number doesn't appear, and if I don’t answer the call, I would never find out who called. I had just entered the De Neve dining hall, and was standing in line for some pasta. I picked it up. It was a woman's voice saying, "May I speak to Simon?"
"Uhh, you mean SunMin?" I replied.
"Oh, Simo... SunMin? May I speak to SunMin?"
"Yeah, This is SunMin." At that moment I knew this was a call related to the guy I gave the phone number to. I remembered he couldn't pronounce my name right, so he probably told this lady that my name was Simon.
"Hi! My name is Marina. A friend of mine gave me your phone number, and I wanted to invite you to a party!" She sounded very excited, but she also sounded like one of those telemarketers who read their spiel behind the phone line. She continued, "It's a party for young people from high school to college students, for guys and girls. There will be loud music, free food, and it will be a great time!” I think she also said something about a free pint. She repeated herself as if saying it once wasn’t enough. Well, in fact she talked too fast that I didn’t catch everything she said even though I think she said the same thing twice.
"What organization is this sponsored by?" I had to interrupt her, because she was going so fast. I also had the feeling she wasn't going to ask if I wanted come, but just assume that I wanted to come.
She answered, “Uh, well, it’s sponsored by a church. So it’s a party with lots of young people, loud music, free food...” She was repeating herself without really answering my question. So I had to interrupt her again.
“What church is it?”
“Oh, uh, it’s a church right near the Staples Center in LA. Oh and it’s a Christian church. So it will be great time, and there will be lots of fun, and...”
“What the name of the church?” I hate to interrupt people when they’re talking, but I had to.
“Uh, well it’s a Baptist church. So what are you doing Sunday?” She still hadn’t answered my question, but I didn’t want to deal with this right now, so I decided not to push it. Besides, she asked the perfect question for me to bail out.
“Oh, I’ll be busy this Sunday.”
“Well, will you be busy the whole day?”
“Yeah, I’ll be busy the whole day” I was being totally honest.
“What are you doing on Sunday?”
“I have a fraternity business.”
“Oh, ok. Well then I guess I’ll call you some other time” She said something about free pint again, which I couldn’t understand. I simply said “ok” because I didn’t want to talk on the phone anymore (I was getting food for dinner, and I didn’t want my friend to wait around too long). And then she hung up.
After the phone call, I felt very weird. Very uncomfortable. Why wouldn’t she be straight forward and tell me who they are? I think it’s great that it’s a party sponsored by a church, but she sounded too aggressive and was so vague about the party. But I decided not to worry about it.
Then two days ago, Thursday, December 22, I got a call from a restricted number again. As I usually do, I answered the phone without hesitation since it was a call from a restricted number.
“May I speak with Simon?” It was her again. That uneasy feeling came back all over.
“Uh, it’s SunMin.”
“Oh, is your name Simon or SunMin?”
“It’s SunMin”
“On ok. My friend told me you were Simon. I’m sorry.”
“It’s ok.”
“This is Marina, I talked with you last week. We’re having a Christmas party this Saturday and Sunday. It’s for young people from high school to college students, for guys and girls. There will be loud music, free food, and it will be a great time!” I felt like I was on the phone with a prerecorded telemarketing spiel. The voice and the words she said sounded too familiar to me. She told me that there will be a “world renown author” and that he will give a motivational speech. I asked her who the speaker was, and she said something like, “Oh, he’s a world renown author, he wrote several books...” Basically what she had already said before I asked the question. When I saw that she wasn’t going to answer my question, I interrupted her and asked what he was going to talk about. She said, “about the spiritual condition of our nation.” Still very vague as usual. She went on, “Which would you like to come, Saturday or Sunday?” Great, she didn’t even ask if I wanted to come... I felt pressured to give an answer.
“Uh, probably Saturday would be better.”
“Oh, do you go to church on Sunday?”
“Yes, I do.”
“Ok, that’s great. So you can come on Saturday, right?”
“Uh, I don’t know. What time?”
“It’s going to start at 6 pm.”
“What’s the address?” I asked.
“Well, what we’re doing, since it’s very hard to find parking around here, we’re going to try to pick people up and carpool.” Great... Not only did she not answer my question, I had to get picked up. This meant I couldn’t leave when I want to.
I asked her (once again) what the name of the church was. Like before, she said it was a Baptist church near Staples Center. She asked me what the name of my church was, and I said it was a small Korean church in Orange County. Then she said it’s like that for them too, that it was just a small church...
So basically I told her I wasn’t very comfortable going because I didn’t know who they were. Then she was like, “Oh, it goes both ways. You don’t know us, and we don’t know you.”
“Well, but I’m just one person...”
“Um, there will be other college students just like you, and they’ll be here for the first time, so you won’t be left out” she said. I didn’t really see the logic in that statement... She went on, “Are you a college student? How old are you?”
“Yes. Twenty-two.”
“Perfect. We have a friend who is just your age. His name is Wesley. Let me give the phone to him, so you can talk to him.”
“Ok...” So she handed over the phone to Wesley. Wesley had a deep voice, one of those that football players have... If you know what I mean. (I’m probably wrong though, because I don’t know much about football, and I don’t know any football players...) Anyway, Wesley and I had a little conversation. He was much easier to talk with than the lady. He would actually answer my questions, and not repeat stuff too much. Little by little, I found out that the name of the church is Baptist Tabernacle, and the speaker’s name is Dr. Hymers. For some reason, Wesley sounded hesitant when I asked who the speaker was. I immediately looked him up on the internet and did a little research about him while I talked to him on the phone.
I found a website about him, and the site was full of his sermons, just pages after pages of sermons. He used some terms that I didn’t even understand. What I understood was that he is a fundamentalist, and he “proves” that Rick Warren is wrong in one of his articles called “Learn to Love Yourself”, an article about self-esteem. I skimmed though Dr. Hymers’ sermon on Rick Warren, and found that some of his logic were completely flawed, and that he was debating apples and oranges. Obviously, since he is a fundamentalist, he has a lot more conservative perspective. I also find it strange to ridicule a fellow pastor in a sermon. It made me wonder if Dr. Hymers even talked to Rick Warren about this, because I couldn’t find anything in the sermon that talked about Rick Warren’s response to what Dr. Hymers thought. It was also interesting because Rick Warren’s article was from a secular magazine called “Ladies’ Home Journal” and Dr. Hymers criticized Warren for not mentioning Jesus Christ... Well, I’m not writing this to comment on Dr. Hymers, since I hardly know him. On with the story now...
As I said earlier, it was much easier talking with Wesley, and I could understand the situation better. So I decided to go, even though the whole thing sounded a little shady. Since I lived in Orange County, a little far from where they were, they gave the phone to a guy who used to live in Cypress. I forgot his name, so I’ll call him Mr. Chapman. Mr. Chapman told me that he used to work in Cypress, so he knows all about the place. I gave him my home address, but I didn’t give him the apartment number (for an obvious reason) so they could pick me up at the street. Then he asked me if I was talking on my cell phone. I said yes. Then he said I need to give my cell phone to the driver while I’m at the party... Now, that just freaked me out! I asked him why, and he said if they ask people to turn off their cell phones, people just won’t turn them off (which is very true), and that it would cause a commotion if a cell phone goes off while the speaker is talking, so it’s just easier to ask everybody to give their cell phones. Does that make sense to anybody? Not to me. I told him firmly that I was not going to give my cell phone to someone I didn’t know. Then he said I should leave my cell phone at home. So I was a bit outraged, and told him I wasn’t going to go to a strange place with a bunch of strangers without a cell phone and a way to get back home when I wanted to. Then Mr. Chapman replied, as if he didn’t want to deal with it anymore, “Just think about it. Ok? Bye.” and he hung up!
I was so frustrated and didn’t know what to do. So I called Eric, a brother from my fraternity and my bible study leader, and told him about the situation. He suggested that he will go with me to the church to check it out. But since he wouldn’t be able to go this Saturday, Eric said I should tell them that a friend of mine wants to go, and I would rather go with him and not alone, and since he cannot go this Saturday, I want to come some other time. Eric said if it’s a legit church worth checking out, they should let us drive there, and leave our cell phones in the car. I guess I could understand why they don’t want cell phones to go off during the sermon, but I think it would freak anyone out if they had to be picked up and dropped off without a way of communicating with the outside world. So I called them back. Wesley had given me the lady’s phone number, so I asked her for Wesley and told him what Eric had suggested. So I ended up not going to the party. Later I found out that the lady was Mrs. Hymers. Wesley told me that we’ll keep in touch, so I’m expecting a call from Mrs. Hymers again sometime in January... It should be another interesting conversation with her.
So that was the story about the party. If you know anything about Dr. Robert Hymers or his church Baptist Tabernacle, let me know. Google “Robert Hymers” if you want to look him up. It’s the first thing on the list. I wish I just knew whether they were legit or not. If they are legit, I would have loved to go to their party. But I guess it’s too late now. I’m sure they’ll have more “parties” coming up though. So far it’s been two weeks in a row.
Saturday, December 03, 2005
AGO Date Event!!
AGO Date Event was so much fun!
Dinner at Palamino... Soooo good!! One funny thing (almost not funny at all) was that when I was eating my salad, I heard a 'clank' on my plate. So I looked carefully, and I found a piece of broken glass in my salad! I told the waiter, and he took the plate. When he came back, he offered me a free bottle of wine, but I just asked for a virgin strawberry daiquiri. The waiter insisted that I get a real cocktail instead, but I insisted on getting a virgin one. He was like, "Are you SURE?? I mean, are YOU sure?? Are you REALLY REALLY SURE??" "Yes... Yes... I'm very sure" was all I could say. So he brought strawberry daiquiri for the four of us at the table. Maybe if alcoholic drink was allowed at AGO events, I might have got something else... I guess I could have just taken the bottle of wine, and take it home, but that would be a hassle 'cause I can't keep any alcohol at the house. Haha. In any case, it was an awesome dinner. Good thing I found the piece of glass before I put it in my mouth... That would not be good at all, 'cause I wouldn't have been able to eat the rest of the food... Oh, and there would be blood all over the place. But food is more important... Haha.
Berlin Irving's "White Christmas" at the Pantages was incredibly fun! I love the song "Blue Sky," and "I Love a Piano" tap dance was so cool! "Count Your Blessings Instead Of Sheep" is a really good song, too... Ahh, good times!
On top of it all, I had a great time with my date, Thao. After the show, we hung out at her apartment, and we went on the roof to see some stars. I thought it would be cloudy, 'cause it had been sprinkling throughout the night, but to my surprise, when we got to the roof, it was all clear! Nothing like a clear sky after the rain... So nice. We found Mars, Saturn, and a few constellations. There were many, but we could only identify a few of them... =P All in all, it was a really fun night.
Thanks Thao!! I really really really had a great time! You're awesome! =)
Dinner at Palamino... Soooo good!! One funny thing (almost not funny at all) was that when I was eating my salad, I heard a 'clank' on my plate. So I looked carefully, and I found a piece of broken glass in my salad! I told the waiter, and he took the plate. When he came back, he offered me a free bottle of wine, but I just asked for a virgin strawberry daiquiri. The waiter insisted that I get a real cocktail instead, but I insisted on getting a virgin one. He was like, "Are you SURE?? I mean, are YOU sure?? Are you REALLY REALLY SURE??" "Yes... Yes... I'm very sure" was all I could say. So he brought strawberry daiquiri for the four of us at the table. Maybe if alcoholic drink was allowed at AGO events, I might have got something else... I guess I could have just taken the bottle of wine, and take it home, but that would be a hassle 'cause I can't keep any alcohol at the house. Haha. In any case, it was an awesome dinner. Good thing I found the piece of glass before I put it in my mouth... That would not be good at all, 'cause I wouldn't have been able to eat the rest of the food... Oh, and there would be blood all over the place. But food is more important... Haha.
Berlin Irving's "White Christmas" at the Pantages was incredibly fun! I love the song "Blue Sky," and "I Love a Piano" tap dance was so cool! "Count Your Blessings Instead Of Sheep" is a really good song, too... Ahh, good times!
On top of it all, I had a great time with my date, Thao. After the show, we hung out at her apartment, and we went on the roof to see some stars. I thought it would be cloudy, 'cause it had been sprinkling throughout the night, but to my surprise, when we got to the roof, it was all clear! Nothing like a clear sky after the rain... So nice. We found Mars, Saturn, and a few constellations. There were many, but we could only identify a few of them... =P All in all, it was a really fun night.
Thanks Thao!! I really really really had a great time! You're awesome! =)
Sunday, November 27, 2005
My Thanksgiving Break
Homemade turkey dinner with the family
Korean bathhouse with sauna
Every episode of LOST up-to-date
"My Boyfriend is Type B"
"My Sassy Girl"
Generation 2 Generation worship night at church
John Mayer Trio's new album, Try
Lots and lots of sleep
Absolutely no work done
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
Good times
Korean bathhouse with sauna
Every episode of LOST up-to-date
"My Boyfriend is Type B"
"My Sassy Girl"
Generation 2 Generation worship night at church
John Mayer Trio's new album, Try
Lots and lots of sleep
Absolutely no work done
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
Good times
Wednesday, November 23, 2005
How My Family and I came to the States
First, let me give you some background. I was born in Seoul, Korea, then my family moved to Japan when I was 4. My parents were missionaries in Tokyo, Japan, for 14 years. Four years ago, we moved to Cypress in Orange County, California. The move from Japan to California was one of the most pivotal events in my life. So here's my story.
It was the summer after my junior year in high school. I was going to a K-12 Christian school called Christian Academy in Japan. I went to various cities in Japan on a short-term missions trip with Hi-b.a. (High school born againers). It was a two-week long, really intense missions trip. Everyday we would wake up before dawn, and go to various Japanese high schools and train stations to hand out flyers. The flyers were invitations to rallies that we held every night, where we presented the Gospel to Japanese high school students who came. It was my first time sharing the Gospel to strangers and the first time I experienced the Holy Spirit work through me to bring people to Christ. It was such an amazing experience, and I was really on fire for God and for the Japanese people. Even after the trip, I was excited to share the Gospel with strangers, and I planned to share the Gospel while riding trains and wherever I went.
Soon after the trip, my dad got a call from a pastor friend in Orange County. The pastor was moving to a different church, so his church needed a new senior pastor. He asked my dad if he could come to OC to speak at the church as a guest speaker, and to see how the congregation likes him. So my dad went to the States for a couple weeks, and came back. We heard back from the church soon after that, and they said they wanted my dad to be the new senior pastor. Then my parents told me that we were going to move to California. My first response was something like this:
“Well, I’m really on fire for God to serve in Japan, so I really think He wants me here… Besides, I have a girlfriend here, and I’m involved in so many things in high school, such as choir, chamber choir, band, jazz band, wrestling, drama, musical… and I’m going to star in the musical we’re going to do next year! I can’t miss that! And I want to graduate with all my friends! … But I guess I don’t mind if my parents had to go. I’ll just stay here by myself, or with my older brother.”
So basically, I was in denial to that fact that I may have to move to the States with my family. To stay in Japan, I needed to find a place to stay, and the money to pay for tuition. I went to a Christian private school, and like any private school, it wasn’t cheap to say the least. But I didn’t really look anywhere, but just ignored the fact that I may have no choice but to go.
Meanwhile, my family had to apply for visa. In order apply we had to get a letter of invitation from the church in California. The letter took a while to get through, so my parents were getting anxious. When the letter came, we applied for visa immediately. It was on Tuesday, August 21, 2001. School started on Thursday that same week. I thought visa would take a while to get through, and I would just end up staying in Japan after all. If you know anything about immigration, visa, or bureaucracy in general, you know that they take time, usually a long time, to get anything done. Then it was Monday, three days into school: the visa came through. I felt like, “WHAT THE @#$%” So we applied on a Tuesday, it was approved the same week, and got mailed back over the weekend. When does that ever happen!? I was shocked. That was enough to convince me that God wanted our family in California right away. But of course, being stubborn, I still didn’t want to go. It was just that I had no possible way of staying here or paying for school. The visa made me lose all hope for staying in Japan.
Then on the same day the visa came through, my girlfriend’s mom, who happens to be an English teacher at the school, came up to me and told me that she knows my situation, and that there are 10 faculty and teachers who want to help me pay for the tuition! I didn’t know what to say. It gave me hope, but there still was the question of where to live. Then I came home and told my mom what my girlfriend’s mom had told me. Then my mom said to me, “Do you remember the kindergarten boy you tutored this summer? Well, his family is going to move somewhere near CAJ so that their son can go there. They said if you could teach their kid, you could live with them.” Now, that really blew me away. Not only was tuition covered, I had a place to stay! I couldn’t be more thankful to God.
Then I really thought about my situation. I knew my parents really wanted me to go with them, so that the family could stay together. Deep inside, I knew God wanted the same. Selfishly, I wanted to stay in Japan. I had so many worries about going to the States. I knew it wasn’t going to be easy adjusting to a new school, especially in my senior year. I went to private school all my life, but in the States, we weren’t going to be able to afford that, and I would have to go to a public school. What am I going to do about college? What if things don’t work out, units don’t get transferred, and I end up staying another year in high school!? I would hate that! But then, when I found out that I could possibly stay in Japan, I realized that God was telling me that He can provide in whatever situation. He even provided a way for me to stay in Japan when there was no way! Then I thought, how much more will He provide if I obey and go somewhere I don’t even know what’s going to happen. And I realized that God calls us to honor our parents, and so if I obey my parents by going to the States with my family, God will bless me no matter what. Even if it were a mistake to go to the States, it would be my parents’, not mine. So I held on to the promise that God will provide and bless me, and decided to leave Japan. However, I hadn’t completely given up on living in Japan. My family bought roundtrip tickets, just because it was somehow cheaper to get roundtrip than one way. So I was hoping I would just stay in California for a week or so and decide I didn’t like it there, and go back to Japan. At least that’s what I hoped.
It took my family about a week to pack everything, ship furniture, and get ready to leave. First we went to Korea to see some of our relatives and say our goodbyes. When we lived in Japan, we would go to Korea almost every summer, and see our relatives then. But once we move to the States, it would be much more difficult to see them. So we stayed in Korea for 4 days and visited relatives there.
Let me take a moment to explain a little law in Korea (and when I say Korea, I mean South Korea. In case you didn’t know, people don’t go in and out of North Korea very often, if not ever.) In Korea, all the men above age 18 get drafted to serve in the military for two years. ALL men, unless they are handicapped, obese, or live in another country, must serve. Since we lived in Japan, my brother and I didn’t have to worry about getting drafted. Now, there’s a law that says even if you live outside of Korea, if you stay in Korea for more than 6 months, or if the date you first entered the country and the date you left the country is more than 6 months apart, even if you were gone for the most of the time in between, (for example, if you went to Korea in January, left in February, then came back to Korea in June, and stayed through July), you will be drafted. It’s a bit tricky, but as long as you’re not in Korea 6 months from the day you first entered the country, you’re ok. That means you can visit Korea every 6 months without a problem.
Now, back to where we were. So we were in Korea, spent some time with family and relatives, and then we were at the airport about to leave for California. What we realized when we were about to leave, was that my older brother SunDo had visited Korea in March that year for some reason I won’t mention. This was early September, and you can do the math and realize that March and September are 6 months apart… Then we found out that if we had left Korea two or three days later, my brother would have been drafted, and be stuck in Korea for 2 years! So much for going to America! But thank God, we all let out a sigh of relief, and safely boarded the plane.
My family arrived at LAX on Friday, September 7, 2001. Four days later… the whole world remembers what happened then. You might be thinking, “Wow, God really orchestrated this move, so that everything came through at the right timing.” But that was the last thing in my mind. I was devastated, discouraged, depressed, and all the other D words that mean something bad. So much for getting roundtrip tickets, because that day I realized that I wouldn’t be able to go back to Japan for a while because of security issues. Now I had no choice but to stay.
I was not a very happy camper, but far from it. I had to go to a new school, and just because English isn’t my first language, I had to take a stupid English speaking/listening/writing test, which I passed with flying colors, but caused a delay in my enrollment. When I finally started going to school, it was already three weeks into the semester. I walked through hallways with hundreds of people, many of them very strange looking, and there was no face that I could recognize. It was intimidating. I had never felt so lonely in such a crowd. At lunchtime, I didn’t even know what I was doing. I just followed the crowed through the isle of foods, grabbed a burrito and a few other items. When I got to the front of the line, I told the lunch lady, “I’m new here, and I don’t know what I’m doing.” And she just let me pass. So basically I got free food on the first day of school. That’s probably the only good thing that happened that day. After getting through the line, I didn’t know where to go. The courtyard was full of people, and I didn’t know a single one of them. I found a bench in the corner by a wall, sat there, and ate lunch all by myself. Nothing tastes worse when you are lonely, especially when it’s a cheap burrito. That was like the “worse day of my life.” I can really sympathize with Napoleon Dynamite, if you know what I’m talking about.
Fortunately, worst days of my life didn’t last forever. God is always faithful. I enrolled in AP Physics class, where I met a lot of more or less serious people, and I began to open up to more people, and made a lot of friends. I joined as many clubs I could, and got involved in a lot of things, just like I had before. I auditioned for the school play, “You Can’t Take It With You,” and I got the role of Tony, which was one of the major roles! Then later, I auditioned for the school musical, “West Side Story,” and once again, I was Tony! If you don’t know “West Side Story,” it’s basically a “Romeo & Juliet” story that happens in New York between two gangs, and Tony is the Romeo that falls in love with Maria, the Juliet. It was interesting being the only Asian guy in the play, but I had a great time. I thought I would be missing out on so much by leaving CAJ, but God still provided, even more than what I needed.
There are countless blessings God gave because I decided to obey and come to the States. In hindsight I realize God had a plan infinitely better than my own. I would have never even thought of coming to UCLA if I stayed in Tokyo. I would probably have ended up going to a private Christian college in Michigan where many of my classmates went. It’s not a bad school, but seriously, I know that what I have now is much better than what I would have, had I stayed in Japan.
Because of this incident, I always try not to make my own plans ahead of time, but rather constantly seek guidance from God. God is the one who knows me the best, not just who I am right now, but also everything about my future. I only have a very limited view of my life, and I can easily make wrong decisions. But God has the big picture, the picture of my entire life, and of the entire world. That’s why only He has the best plans. Sometimes I feel like I’m living my life blindfolded. Four years ago, I would have been very uncomfortable and insecure not knowing where I was going. But now, whenever I don’t know where I’m going or what’s going to happen, I can have peace knowing that God is in control.
“And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.”
– Romans 8:28, NIV.
It was the summer after my junior year in high school. I was going to a K-12 Christian school called Christian Academy in Japan. I went to various cities in Japan on a short-term missions trip with Hi-b.a. (High school born againers). It was a two-week long, really intense missions trip. Everyday we would wake up before dawn, and go to various Japanese high schools and train stations to hand out flyers. The flyers were invitations to rallies that we held every night, where we presented the Gospel to Japanese high school students who came. It was my first time sharing the Gospel to strangers and the first time I experienced the Holy Spirit work through me to bring people to Christ. It was such an amazing experience, and I was really on fire for God and for the Japanese people. Even after the trip, I was excited to share the Gospel with strangers, and I planned to share the Gospel while riding trains and wherever I went.
Soon after the trip, my dad got a call from a pastor friend in Orange County. The pastor was moving to a different church, so his church needed a new senior pastor. He asked my dad if he could come to OC to speak at the church as a guest speaker, and to see how the congregation likes him. So my dad went to the States for a couple weeks, and came back. We heard back from the church soon after that, and they said they wanted my dad to be the new senior pastor. Then my parents told me that we were going to move to California. My first response was something like this:
“Well, I’m really on fire for God to serve in Japan, so I really think He wants me here… Besides, I have a girlfriend here, and I’m involved in so many things in high school, such as choir, chamber choir, band, jazz band, wrestling, drama, musical… and I’m going to star in the musical we’re going to do next year! I can’t miss that! And I want to graduate with all my friends! … But I guess I don’t mind if my parents had to go. I’ll just stay here by myself, or with my older brother.”
So basically, I was in denial to that fact that I may have to move to the States with my family. To stay in Japan, I needed to find a place to stay, and the money to pay for tuition. I went to a Christian private school, and like any private school, it wasn’t cheap to say the least. But I didn’t really look anywhere, but just ignored the fact that I may have no choice but to go.
Meanwhile, my family had to apply for visa. In order apply we had to get a letter of invitation from the church in California. The letter took a while to get through, so my parents were getting anxious. When the letter came, we applied for visa immediately. It was on Tuesday, August 21, 2001. School started on Thursday that same week. I thought visa would take a while to get through, and I would just end up staying in Japan after all. If you know anything about immigration, visa, or bureaucracy in general, you know that they take time, usually a long time, to get anything done. Then it was Monday, three days into school: the visa came through. I felt like, “WHAT THE @#$%” So we applied on a Tuesday, it was approved the same week, and got mailed back over the weekend. When does that ever happen!? I was shocked. That was enough to convince me that God wanted our family in California right away. But of course, being stubborn, I still didn’t want to go. It was just that I had no possible way of staying here or paying for school. The visa made me lose all hope for staying in Japan.
Then on the same day the visa came through, my girlfriend’s mom, who happens to be an English teacher at the school, came up to me and told me that she knows my situation, and that there are 10 faculty and teachers who want to help me pay for the tuition! I didn’t know what to say. It gave me hope, but there still was the question of where to live. Then I came home and told my mom what my girlfriend’s mom had told me. Then my mom said to me, “Do you remember the kindergarten boy you tutored this summer? Well, his family is going to move somewhere near CAJ so that their son can go there. They said if you could teach their kid, you could live with them.” Now, that really blew me away. Not only was tuition covered, I had a place to stay! I couldn’t be more thankful to God.
Then I really thought about my situation. I knew my parents really wanted me to go with them, so that the family could stay together. Deep inside, I knew God wanted the same. Selfishly, I wanted to stay in Japan. I had so many worries about going to the States. I knew it wasn’t going to be easy adjusting to a new school, especially in my senior year. I went to private school all my life, but in the States, we weren’t going to be able to afford that, and I would have to go to a public school. What am I going to do about college? What if things don’t work out, units don’t get transferred, and I end up staying another year in high school!? I would hate that! But then, when I found out that I could possibly stay in Japan, I realized that God was telling me that He can provide in whatever situation. He even provided a way for me to stay in Japan when there was no way! Then I thought, how much more will He provide if I obey and go somewhere I don’t even know what’s going to happen. And I realized that God calls us to honor our parents, and so if I obey my parents by going to the States with my family, God will bless me no matter what. Even if it were a mistake to go to the States, it would be my parents’, not mine. So I held on to the promise that God will provide and bless me, and decided to leave Japan. However, I hadn’t completely given up on living in Japan. My family bought roundtrip tickets, just because it was somehow cheaper to get roundtrip than one way. So I was hoping I would just stay in California for a week or so and decide I didn’t like it there, and go back to Japan. At least that’s what I hoped.
It took my family about a week to pack everything, ship furniture, and get ready to leave. First we went to Korea to see some of our relatives and say our goodbyes. When we lived in Japan, we would go to Korea almost every summer, and see our relatives then. But once we move to the States, it would be much more difficult to see them. So we stayed in Korea for 4 days and visited relatives there.
Let me take a moment to explain a little law in Korea (and when I say Korea, I mean South Korea. In case you didn’t know, people don’t go in and out of North Korea very often, if not ever.) In Korea, all the men above age 18 get drafted to serve in the military for two years. ALL men, unless they are handicapped, obese, or live in another country, must serve. Since we lived in Japan, my brother and I didn’t have to worry about getting drafted. Now, there’s a law that says even if you live outside of Korea, if you stay in Korea for more than 6 months, or if the date you first entered the country and the date you left the country is more than 6 months apart, even if you were gone for the most of the time in between, (for example, if you went to Korea in January, left in February, then came back to Korea in June, and stayed through July), you will be drafted. It’s a bit tricky, but as long as you’re not in Korea 6 months from the day you first entered the country, you’re ok. That means you can visit Korea every 6 months without a problem.
Now, back to where we were. So we were in Korea, spent some time with family and relatives, and then we were at the airport about to leave for California. What we realized when we were about to leave, was that my older brother SunDo had visited Korea in March that year for some reason I won’t mention. This was early September, and you can do the math and realize that March and September are 6 months apart… Then we found out that if we had left Korea two or three days later, my brother would have been drafted, and be stuck in Korea for 2 years! So much for going to America! But thank God, we all let out a sigh of relief, and safely boarded the plane.
My family arrived at LAX on Friday, September 7, 2001. Four days later… the whole world remembers what happened then. You might be thinking, “Wow, God really orchestrated this move, so that everything came through at the right timing.” But that was the last thing in my mind. I was devastated, discouraged, depressed, and all the other D words that mean something bad. So much for getting roundtrip tickets, because that day I realized that I wouldn’t be able to go back to Japan for a while because of security issues. Now I had no choice but to stay.
I was not a very happy camper, but far from it. I had to go to a new school, and just because English isn’t my first language, I had to take a stupid English speaking/listening/writing test, which I passed with flying colors, but caused a delay in my enrollment. When I finally started going to school, it was already three weeks into the semester. I walked through hallways with hundreds of people, many of them very strange looking, and there was no face that I could recognize. It was intimidating. I had never felt so lonely in such a crowd. At lunchtime, I didn’t even know what I was doing. I just followed the crowed through the isle of foods, grabbed a burrito and a few other items. When I got to the front of the line, I told the lunch lady, “I’m new here, and I don’t know what I’m doing.” And she just let me pass. So basically I got free food on the first day of school. That’s probably the only good thing that happened that day. After getting through the line, I didn’t know where to go. The courtyard was full of people, and I didn’t know a single one of them. I found a bench in the corner by a wall, sat there, and ate lunch all by myself. Nothing tastes worse when you are lonely, especially when it’s a cheap burrito. That was like the “worse day of my life.” I can really sympathize with Napoleon Dynamite, if you know what I’m talking about.
Fortunately, worst days of my life didn’t last forever. God is always faithful. I enrolled in AP Physics class, where I met a lot of more or less serious people, and I began to open up to more people, and made a lot of friends. I joined as many clubs I could, and got involved in a lot of things, just like I had before. I auditioned for the school play, “You Can’t Take It With You,” and I got the role of Tony, which was one of the major roles! Then later, I auditioned for the school musical, “West Side Story,” and once again, I was Tony! If you don’t know “West Side Story,” it’s basically a “Romeo & Juliet” story that happens in New York between two gangs, and Tony is the Romeo that falls in love with Maria, the Juliet. It was interesting being the only Asian guy in the play, but I had a great time. I thought I would be missing out on so much by leaving CAJ, but God still provided, even more than what I needed.
There are countless blessings God gave because I decided to obey and come to the States. In hindsight I realize God had a plan infinitely better than my own. I would have never even thought of coming to UCLA if I stayed in Tokyo. I would probably have ended up going to a private Christian college in Michigan where many of my classmates went. It’s not a bad school, but seriously, I know that what I have now is much better than what I would have, had I stayed in Japan.
Because of this incident, I always try not to make my own plans ahead of time, but rather constantly seek guidance from God. God is the one who knows me the best, not just who I am right now, but also everything about my future. I only have a very limited view of my life, and I can easily make wrong decisions. But God has the big picture, the picture of my entire life, and of the entire world. That’s why only He has the best plans. Sometimes I feel like I’m living my life blindfolded. Four years ago, I would have been very uncomfortable and insecure not knowing where I was going. But now, whenever I don’t know where I’m going or what’s going to happen, I can have peace knowing that God is in control.
“And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.”
– Romans 8:28, NIV.
Wednesday, August 03, 2005
My first Blogger
Actually this will be my fourth "blog" after LiveJournal, Xanga, and MySpace... But here I am. Now I have more things to waste my time on.
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