Traveling

What do you think? There was a man who had two sons. He went to the first and said, ‘Son, go and work today in the vineyard.’
” ‘I will not,’ he answered, but later he changed his mind and went.
“Then the father went to the other son and said the same thing. He answered, ‘I will, sir,’ but he did not go.
“Which of the two did what his father wanted?”
“The first,” they answered.
Jesus said to them, “I tell you the truth, the tax collectors and the prostitutes are entering the kingdom of God ahead of you. For John came to you to show you the way of righteousness, and you did not believe him, but the tax collectors and the prostitutes did. And even after you saw this, you did not repent and believe him.

All too often, we have this imagined “line in the sand,” those who go to church and those who do not. As a christian, somehow we are better than the rest of those sinners “out there.” Don’t get me wrong, going to church, learning about God and publically acknowledging God is a good thing. But I think Jesus has some other thoughts to add…
He mentions two sons. What each son says to the father and then what each one does. He contrasts the two sons against one group, Experts in the law (probably the Pharisees) and the other group, tax collectors & prostitutes (rebels & outsiders). Notice that Jesus never makes mention of any differences in status between the two sons. The father in the parable seems to treat both sons equally. But the two sons react differently to the father’s request.
The first son first verbally rejects the father’s request. But after a period of time, the first son does as the father requests. The second son initially promises to do his father’s bidding, but ends up not doing as he promised. So one son denies the father’s request, but the other son is doing nothing more than lip service. (“Sure…” “No problem.” “uh-huh.” “I’ll get to it.”) Neither one of the sons is shown in a positive light. For the longest time, I thought this parable was only to put down religious people, but after more consideration, there’s plenty of god-smack to go all around.

Things that stand out to me:

1. Respectibility & dignity means little without the action to back it up.
2. A sinner is a sinner is a sinner. (It’s all about the grace, baby.)
3. God cares for gangsters & street walkers too…

Application

• Care more about pursuing God’s goals than my own pride / respect / face.
• No “holier than thou” B.S. (Grace and only grace covers over our sins.)
• Going to church doesn’t make you a christian any more than being in a garage makes you a car. (Live it out!)

======= Online Tidbits =======

LiNK
OAK’s Family Group

== EDIT 1.0 ==

I was looking through my footprints and I found that someone was actually looking at my very first posts. So I went back there to see what was so interesting… and I’ve decided to dig up my very first baby step on xanga. Waddayathink?

Haiku of the day:

Office Worker

Sitting quietly,
my brain screams for something
to break down the beige.

=== Edit 1.1 ===

The cuteness from the clip was so pervasive that I feel the need to do something manly now… like push-ups or something. Don’t say I didn’t warn you.

ok, ok…. I confess, this video o’cuteness was jacked from knugget. Please refer any recurring dreams of fobby-cuteness (as well as eprops) to her. :-p

So the two women went on until they came to Bethlehem. When they arrived in Bethlehem, the whole town was stirred because of them, and the women exclaimed, “Can this be Naomi?”

“Don’t call me Naomi, ” she told them. “Call me Mara, because the Almighty has made my life very bitter. I went away full, but the LORD has brought me back empty. Why call me Naomi? The LORD has afflicted me; the Almighty has brought misfortune upon me.”

I was brought up to not be a picky eater. Essentially, within my parent’s household, we had to eat anything that was placed before us. My dad comes from a traditional chinese background. My dad thinks that if it moves… it’s probably edible. (And within the province my dad comes from, Fido is not safe.) Anyway, I’ve eaten more types of fungus and seafood than I can name in English. (I only know the Latin Scientific name.) But one of the most foreign tastes to the western palette would have to be bitterness. Chinese cooking is based upon using the basic flavors: sweet, spicy, sour, and bitter. Sometimes, my dad would bring home some bitter melon (pictured on the upper left) and make either bitter melon soup or beef & bitter melon stirfry. And yes, I would have to eat it. My dad would make sure to put some nice big chunks of melon in my bowl. (He probably thinks it builds character or something.)When I first tasted it, it quickly became one of my most disliked foods. I even had the joy of preparing some bitter melon to be eaten…

Coincidently, bitter in chinese can be used to refer to hard times. And unlike the joys of eating bitter melon :rolls eyes:, I think that hard times do build our character. When the rubber hits the road, that’s when we find out what we’re really made of, whether we’re mice or men, whether we are standing on solid ground or shifting sand. If you were to ask me how to tell the difference between a good friend and an acquaintance, I’d say you’ll find out when you need help at 4AM or when you ask someone to stick their neck out for you. Sunshine buddies are a dime a dozen. When the rain comes, they are nowhere to be found. When God brings us through the valley, lots of different things can run through our heads. We ask ourselves hard questions like “Was that person really my friend?”, “Was any of this my fault?”, “What kind of God lets things like this happen to me?”, “What’s really important anyway?”, “Can any good come from this?” …, etc.

So you’re probably asking yourself now, “What was the point of me reading all this?” I was getting to that. Hope. When the darkness comes and the storm clouds come rolling in and everything seems lost, what will you cling to? Maybe more importantly, will your hope disappoint you? When you finally reach your goal/destination, will it truly satisfy? Does your hope redeem your hard times? Does it bring meaning to the times where you were struggling? (Does it take your bitter melon… and help you whip up a mean stirfry? or are you left holding uncooked chunks of bitter melon after everything is said and done?)

So Boaz took Ruth and she became his wife. Then he went to her, and the LORD enabled her to conceive, and she gave birth to a son. The women said to Naomi: “Praise be to the LORD, who this day has not left you without a kinsman-redeemer. May he become famous throughout Israel! He will renew your life and sustain you in your old age. For your daughter-in-law, who loves you and who is better to you than seven sons, has given him birth.”

Then Naomi took the child, laid him in her lap and cared for him.

::cracks knuckles::

Alright… here’s what’s been spinning in my head lately. In my personal spiritual battles, I’ve found an interesting line of thought that comes up every time I think of dating/courting/marriage. It may be a bit surprising, but that comes much more often lately. Perhaps it’s the pressure from family and friendly questions for friends, but that’s how it is when you get older. People think of marriage as the “next stage.” Whatever~

I know a pretty good number of people are dating/courting. And the question that always comes up is… are you honoring her in your dating relationship? Is it Christ-centered? Do you pray together? Have you talked with God about this? Where does your faith fit in your romantic life?

I am the youngest in my family, but I have to admit, I have a big brother mentality when it comes to sisters that are good friends. Especially when they don’t have someone in their life that can help… shall we say, “filter” their suitors? I’m sure some people would be offended, but I firmly believe that family is there is help you steer clear of bad romantic relationships. Seriously. Who knows you better than your good friends and family? It helps to have an outsider who is on your side and can give a (possibly) clear picture not (less?) influenced by emotions / personal involvement. Dating should not occur w/o community… that’s recipe for disaster. (Personal experience, I’ll vouch for it.)

Filtering… I’d like to know, what are your intentions? I’d like to hear that you want to protect and love her for the rest of your life. Yes, that even includes protecting her from yourself (because we’re all messed up, right?) When it comes right down to it, Are you willing to lay down your life for this woman? like Christ laid down his life for the church. I want to know that you have her best interests at heart and that you are leading her down the wrong path… you would stop and break off the relationship. Love is not self-seeking. I want to know that I can trust you will be there to provide/protect/care for her emotionally, spiritually, and physically to the best of your ability during both the worst and best of times. I want to know that I won’t get a phone call at 2 AM about how you’ve been a bastard/jerk. Because that will make me want to give you a split lip. (But I can’t… because when I hurt you, it hurts her.)

I want to know that you are a man in every sense of the word, because boys can’t take care of women. Are you ready to bleed? Are you ready to be hurt? Because I want to know how you will react to the worst situations. Are you ready for the long haul? or just along for the ride? Do you know what “Till death” means? When you feel small and you want to hurt someone, what are you going to do? Have you figured out how to sort out disagreements or do you just pretend it’s not there or sweep it under the rug?

While you’re dating my sister, here’s some other thoughts to keep in mind:

1. She is the daughter of the Most High. (Don’t mess around with the King’s daughter.)
2. You’re not her husband yet. (Treat her in such a way that you can look her future husband straight in the eye and shake his hand without guilt.)
3. She’s got friends. ( Her friends want to meet you and get to know you. They want to know she’s in good hands. You think you’re man enough for her, prove it. )
4. Pride / Insecurity / Baggage. ( Lay it down. Give it to God. Pray over it. Don’t smack her with it…)

I was romantically interested in a lady and we were in the stage somewhere between friends and dating. And she said to me, there was another guy who was interested in her. She had made plans to go visit him later on that month. Initially, I was kinda taken aback and a bit of fear of losing her. But I thought it over then I told her to go visit him. (They had been good friends for awhile already and she had promised to visit him.) She asked me why and I told her the following: “I’m not worried about you visiting him. If God has him picked out as your future husband, then I have no chance anyway. If I’m supposed to be with you, God will make a way for that as well. I don’t like the idea of you visiting him, but at the same time, it seems like the right thing for you to do.”

Thoughts on saying NO…(obligation/duty)
A government’s idea of “best interests”?

Currently Listening

Can’t Wait
By Yoo Seung Joun & Yuki Hsu

If your hand or your foot causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away. It is better for you to enter life maimed or crippled than to have two hands or two feet and be thrown into eternal fire.And if your eye causes you to sin, gouge it out and throw it away. It is better for you to enter life with one eye than to have two eyes and be thrown into the fire of hell.

I don’t really hate sin enough. That much is clear to me. I think we all know the way sin entangles and traps us. Sin takes away freedom by attaching itself to something intensely personal, maybe even something that is originally good. Beauty for instance… is a God given gift. But when I look at a woman the wrong way, I notice that I lose perspective and miss out on the fact that there’s more than just a pretty face or sexy body in front of me, but this is an individual, with thoughts, dreams, hopes, fears, personality, and other quirks. She’s someone’s friend, daughter, possible mother or wife and I should treat her as such.

I think that if we take the above literally… I’d have alot less body parts right now. So instead of that, I’m thinking that Jesus wants us to have the same view of sin as He does. That sin is something worth sacrificing things in our lives to rid ourselves of them. To hate sin so much, that we’d rather lose an arm or leg than sin. Sin only does one thing… it destroys.

So I hope to keep this idea in my mind of how sin works. Sin is like traps that are baited, but the moment you go for the bait, the trap snaps shut. (Think steel jaw trap.) Imagine if you can, that this trap has clamped over your left leg. Your leg is truly and completely caught by this trap and as you tug, you feel the teeth of the trap ripping up your leg. But here’s the real crux of the matter, if you don’t get free of this trap, you’re going to die. The price of getting free? You guessed it, your leg.

I think this is what Jesus is trying to tell us about holiness and freedom from sin. There may be a cost in blood in this life, but remember the promise of our new life in heaven. Jesus does say we will enter life maimed, but I don’t think the great Healer would leave you like that for eternity….

Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things. Whatever you have learned or received or heard from me, or seen in me—put it into practice. And the God of peace will be with you.

     Do not rebuke an older man harshly, but exhort him as if he were your father. Treat younger men as brothers, older women as mothers, and younger women as sisters, with absolute purity.

— — — — — — —
“Ramble”

   My dad once told me that you can tell what kind of person someone is by examining their parents closely. He believes that children will display the qualities of their parents. In other words, bad parents will have bad kids and good parents will have good kids. Simple formula, eh? Personally, my first reaction was to reject what he said without further inspection as “traditional thinking.” But my dad is alot older than me and he’s been through alot more than I have… so I decided to take a closer look into this and see if his words had merit or if they were throwbacks from some cultural traditions that are no longer applicable in this day and age.

   So I looked at some of my friends and their parents, and there are some of my observations:

I’ve found that my friends who have divorced & seperated parents were unstable & insecure in their intimate relationships. They hopped from one significant other to another without pause. Almost like being on perpetual rebound. But they were really good friends.

I’ve found that I have friends that I can confide my deepest secrets who are great at keeping them. They have parents that can’t stop talking. Yap, yap… yap. Their parents don’t watch what they say… and how they say it. Their children? Let’s just say I could imagine a diplomat in the future…

I’ve met parents that treat the people around them horribly. Verbal abuse. Broken promises. Self-gratification. But the children? Honest. Upright. Seeking to do good.

   In summary, I can’t say that I can accept what my dad said. It seems to assume that good and bad can be determined by just looking at someone’s DNA and environment… It makes no allowances for the transformative power of God. If there is no hope for those with messed up parents, what kind of hope does a sinner like me have?

“Personal Thought”
I looked inside my heart. And I’ve found something that resounds… I found that the way I interact with my family, largely determines how I will interact with my own future family. What I have found is that within this heart of mine, there is condescending tones towards the ladies. I found this first when I kept getting complaints at work that female customer felt like they were “being talked-down to”. Repeatedly. And I found it at home. In the way my dad treats my mom. And I found I do this to my own mother. If what my dad says is true, then there is no hope: I am what I am. But I believe there is something more. I believe that God is not quite done with me yet. In some strange way, I am not yet myself.

Dad, continue your good work in me. I can’t see the changes, but I know this isn’t the way it was supposed to be. I ask this in the name of my hope, Jesus. Amen.

I’m trying to memorize some verses, I think My sword is getting dull and my defenses weak. Anyone want to do it with me? (I’ll be the first to admit my memorization skills sux.)

I made a covenant with my eyes
   not to look lustfully at a girl.
For what is man‘s lot from God above,
   his heritage from the Almighty on high?

Is it not ruin for the wicked,
   disaster for those who do wrong?

Does he not see my ways
   and count my every step?

Job 31:1-4 (NIV)

The world is disintegrating before our very eyes… can you see it? Have you heard?

Dad, I don’t even know what to say. Some things are just beyond words. Remind me once again, what it is that this little ball of dirt called earth really is. Remind me of the great things you have in store. Help me to fight on, when all my strength is gone and there’s nothing left in me. Fill me up, because I cannot pour out love and I cannot pour out forgiveness without it. Reign in me. In the darkest areas that no one has seen but You and me, reign there especially. Bring your light in and cast out all the darkness and shadows. Speak to me of mercy… show me again, this path of grace. Remind me, that salvation is here. right. here. Freedom and power is just another prayer away. Thank you for bringing me so far. Blessings beyond counting, may I strive to count anyway. Mercy beyond understanding, may I be a fool, for you were made a fool for me. And let me remember, that love trumps all. fear. hate. pride. faith. hope. comfort. death. In the name of Your servant, Jesus. Amen.

P.S. This was an interesting post.

This has been stewing in the back of my mind for awhile now. I was chatting with JYuh and somewhere during our conversation she said she remembers me as someone who commented on P.Y.’s xanga pretty regularly. She looked a bit impressed and said something to the effect of, “you must be a bold one.” And for awhile, I’ve been mulling over her words off and on.

I’ve come to the conclusion that perhaps pastors are supposed to be feared for some reason. Or maybe that P.Y. was particularly fearsome… But I don’t know. He doesn’t seem too fearsome at all. But then again, I don’t really know him personally. His sermons are a bit offbeat and his personna seems to match that. Maybe he has a fierce side that I don’t know about since I’m looking from the outside in and from a distance.

So I mulled over my conclusion a bit and I thought… regardless of his position as a pastor, he’s as human as anyone else. Fallible. Sinner. Saved by grace & mercy. Equiped by God to do His will. Strengths & weaknesses. Is a pastor somehow set apart? I know that he should be respected as a leader within the church, but besides for that… I couldn’t find a real reason to fear him any more than any other human being. Am I missing something obvious?

A pastor is supposed to be a shepherd for the local flock. He answers to the Master-Shepherd, of course. His aim is to feed the sheep (pasture!) , keep them going in the right direction using his staff (bonk and poke for any sheep going the wrong way!) and keep them safe (lay a smack down with the rod). Why would a sheep be fearful of the shepherd? I’d think we should be more fearful of thieves and wolves in sheep’s clothing.

Ok, enough rambling for now. In summary…

Love your neighbor includes your pastor. Go encourage your pastor today.

For God did not give us a spirit of timidity, but a spirit of power, of love and of self-discipline.

Please direct props to zendredi for sharing this cool pic. Calvin personifies the profoundness to be found in simple childhood.

Loving my big sis better: Well, I haven’t been successfully praying for her every morning. I think I did pretty well right up until I got sick. Gotta get back into the game.
Sexual immorality: Praying has dropped off, it’s a on-and-off thing. I think I’ve been really been using being sick as an excuse. Man, I really suck when I’m sick. Haven’t been renewing my eye covenant daily, but I’ve doing a pretty good job keeping my eyes to myself. I’m pretty close to staying on course for the once-a-week writing to my future wife. I think I’ve really starting stumbling starting right around when I got sick. Seriously. In retrospect, when I stopped praying for like 15 mins every morning, I’ve been losing more of my daily battles. And every single loss always starts with a loss of perspective, a loss of hope and lack of strength/desire to be really free from this sin. The LORD really, really, really needs to reign here. I’m more convinced of this than ever.
Road rage: I think I’ve gotten better. There have been good days and bad days. I’m still tailgating, although I catch myself doing it more often and trying to keep a safe distance from the other guy’s bumper. I’ve learned to be more gracious and avoid cutting people off. Reacquainting myself with using my turning signals, ya know? I’ve had a consistent problem with speeding. I really enjoy stomping the gas both when I’m angry/frustrated as well as when I’m just enjoying taking a curve. I’m enough of a madman with a V6 sedan. I’d prolly be demon in a sports car or coupe.
100 pushups: I’m at… around 40. I got up to 44 and then stopped doing my daily pushups when I got sick as well. Bleh! But I think I’m still on track. I know that 100 pushups is still reachable. Maybe I need to just focus my energies on other goals for this year.
Paint bedroom: hahahhaha… I’m such a slacker on this one. I keep telling myself, next weekend… and when that comes… oh, next weekend. Seriously though, I should ask some good friends to come over and help a brother out~ who should I invite to come over and help paint my dinky room one of these warm, sunny spring days? (It’s not good to paint on a rainy day.) yea, right… like someone would actually take me up on that offer, eh?
Godly influence: hmm… this one is a bit harder to give an update. I’ve got two comrades-in-arms to help me battle sexual immorality. But I’m not really sure how it’s supposed to work and I don’t know if they know what we supposed to be doing either. And for those people who actually read, instead of just skim. I’ve figured out how to “break” the accountability software, x3watch, on my machine. God help me from myself. I’m too freaking devious/sinful for my own good.
House Building: um… yeah. I have no clue where to go on this one. I need to pray more. Mortgage? Just save? Looking for building partners? DIY? HFH never got back to me. oh well. Persistence, persistence.
Sibs in Christ: hmm… I haven’t really been disciplining anyone so it’s hard to say. I’d have to ask my sibs whether feel like they are taken care of, protected, mentored and stuff. Maybe if I can better figure out my target(s) I can get better idea of how I’m doing in this area.
Little Kids: hahahhahaha… yeah. I chilled out with simp1e_song‘s little sis. I don’t know if I was “handling” her well… or if I was getting “handled” by the kid. The neighbor boy has stopped coming over, so I don’t think tutoring is going to happen. I thought about Children’s Ministry, but that’s some serious work and I think that would be biting off more than I can chew. Sorry, oneeyedking, hope you’re not disappointed.
Finish reading Bible: I’m at 1 John. I think I’m on track here. Took a bit of a breather and read some fluffy books to relax and enjoy. The bible’s a brick… kinda like a steak and potatoes meal… takes a looong time to digest. I’m sure in some cases, I’m like a cow chewing cud. 3 stomaches, chew it once… swallow. Bring it back up… and chew again! (Yeah, I know… not a pretty picture.) But meditating on the Word is good stuff. I highly recommend!
Breakdance: Um… yeah, this one was at a standstill for the longest time. But I did sign up for the Overflow dance ministry. Hiphop! (Is there such a thing as a Dance Minister?) Today. (Some would think that’s sad, but others would see it as progress!) I don’t know if I will dance well, but it promises to be fun and a bit uncomfortable. We’ll see, we’ll see. Stretch, stretch!
Shiatsu: um… yea. I’ve gotta finish reading that massage book someone got me as a gift. and then, I need to find a suitable victim, guinea pig, person to endure enjoy the pain ministrations of a shiatsu massuese-in-training.

= Rewind to Resolutions ’06 =

    * Learn to love big sister better
          o Pray every morning for wisdom, patience, & perseverance

    * Battle sexual immorality
          o Pray for desire & strength every morning
          o Reserve romance for marriage
                + Write 1 to wife /week
          o Renew eye covenant daily

    * Eliminate road rage
          o Stop tailgating
          o Stop speeding
          o Stop cutting people off
          o Be a gracious driver

    * Do 100 push-ups without stopping.
          o Add 2 push-ups / week
          o Do 1-2 sets everyday.

    * Paint bedroom
          o Paint ceiling like sky
          o Paint walls like ocean

    * Seek out Godly influence in my life
          o Mentors
          o Transformation Partner(s)

    * Start building house
          o Contact HFH about house plans
          o Pray for power to complete what I start

    * Taking care of siblings in Christ
          o Spiritual, physical & emotional care
          o Protect sisters
          o Disciple/mentor brothers

    * Learn to handle little kids
          o Tutoring neighbor’s son
          o Teach/guide little kids
          o Deal lovingly with friend’s little sister

    * Finish reading the Bible
          o Pray before & after reading
          o Ask for discernment & empowerment

    * Learn to breakdance
          o I dunno about this one… but I figured I should throw it in.

    * Learn & practice Shiatsu massage techniques
          o Give a proper Shiatsu massage

+ Additional Thoughts +

simp1e_song, how did you do on your semester goals?
esohn80, how’s your vow of your’s going?
bleuciel82, how’s that sisterhood coming?
kewlnesscounts, you go bro!
oneeyedking, we need to go take a group out for a hike/picnic. (or maybe the beach sometime during the summer?)
LisaChenLisaChen, how’s going leading CrossWalk?
SiNg4hiM , how’s your bro and your dream?
wonderingstar, still alive and kicking?
FaeryKelly, long time no see… what’s up?
RedRosesrr, did we ever pencil in a time to chill? and uh… did you want your money?
HAL255, always so MIA… well, we’ll get to chill on the 13th.
gusgus, how can you study & AIM at the same time? (maybe cuz I’m jealous… just a touch.)