Today I went to the mall to find a jersey for my brother (no luck). I was a little hungry, so I went over to the Starbucks kiosk to get a muffin and order an ice coffee. As I sat down with my refreshments in hand, a woman came up to me and asked where Best Buy is.
Then, she excitedly went into talking about her adventures of skydiving out of an airplane. She explained how it wasn't a solo jump, that a guy was strapped to her, how they didn't use parachutes but used "gliders" to coast onto the ground, how her ears were popping due to her past life of scuba diving, how she had eye issues along with everything... etc.
It kind of reminds me of people becoming new Christians. Zealousness. Excitement. Can't wait to talk about Jesus. It's a thought that popped into my head as I listened to the lady: comparing her excitement to the excitement of becoming a new Believer. She was very excited by this new experience. And despite all her ailments and her age (she was in her 50's), she went and did it anyways. And enjoyed the adventure.
As I get older, I tend to forget some of that excitement. I came as I am, with all my ailments, to be renewed by Him just as this lady came to skydiving with her ailments to be thrilled by the adventure. I hope when I get to her age or even now, I'll find that excitement also in life. :)
All because she asked for directions. I guess I got directions instead.
Thursday, July 29, 2010
Tuesday, July 27, 2010
Running the race...
"Therefore, since we have so great a cloud of witnesses surrounding us, let us also lay aside every encumbrance and the sin which so easily entangles us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. For consider Him who has endured such hostility by sinners against Himself, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart. " ~Hebrews 12:1-3~
These last few months have been like a race to me. Bids and budgets, budgets and bids. I just feel very swamped right now. And with that comes fatigue of working and stressing out over so many different things. Even today, a co-worker was noting that I probably even should step-it-up. But the reality of that is... I'm just so busy! How can I go any faster??? Or smarter???
But with the busyness, I kind of neglected God for a while. Well, I have been to church and taught Sunday school and made coffee for the cafe. But those are no substitutes for the real thing of spending time with God.
Tonight, out of randomness, I turned on my computer and went to Bible Gateway, a website of Biblical resources. Today's verse is as noted above. And the first few things that came to mind:
1. Our life can be like a race.
2. We are all running for the endurance.
3. We have a "cloud of witnesses". To me, that means God, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit is surrounding me as well as my fellow brothers and sisters in Christ. And they are all here to help. To take it a little further, even though co-workers are not always believers, God placed me at this workplace in order that I learn to work with them and in turn, they kind of support me if needed.
4. Put aside things that are hindering me and causing me to stumble in the race. We may have hurdles (haha, no puns intended) but even those, God helps us jump over to get to the finish line.
5. Not to sound cliche but sometimes it's not the destination but the journey. But the journey sucks sometimes. :)
With work, I feel God is telling me to hang in there. That's it. Just keep going and just do your best.
And I'm sure people have wrote about these verses a tons of times. But it's a reminder that God is there because He has endured even more than what we can imagine!
These last few months have been like a race to me. Bids and budgets, budgets and bids. I just feel very swamped right now. And with that comes fatigue of working and stressing out over so many different things. Even today, a co-worker was noting that I probably even should step-it-up. But the reality of that is... I'm just so busy! How can I go any faster??? Or smarter???
But with the busyness, I kind of neglected God for a while. Well, I have been to church and taught Sunday school and made coffee for the cafe. But those are no substitutes for the real thing of spending time with God.
Tonight, out of randomness, I turned on my computer and went to Bible Gateway, a website of Biblical resources. Today's verse is as noted above. And the first few things that came to mind:
1. Our life can be like a race.
2. We are all running for the endurance.
3. We have a "cloud of witnesses". To me, that means God, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit is surrounding me as well as my fellow brothers and sisters in Christ. And they are all here to help. To take it a little further, even though co-workers are not always believers, God placed me at this workplace in order that I learn to work with them and in turn, they kind of support me if needed.
4. Put aside things that are hindering me and causing me to stumble in the race. We may have hurdles (haha, no puns intended) but even those, God helps us jump over to get to the finish line.
5. Not to sound cliche but sometimes it's not the destination but the journey. But the journey sucks sometimes. :)
With work, I feel God is telling me to hang in there. That's it. Just keep going and just do your best.
And I'm sure people have wrote about these verses a tons of times. But it's a reminder that God is there because He has endured even more than what we can imagine!
Wednesday, June 9, 2010
one day
I was inspired a few days ago to "unplug" from Facebook.
In a society where social networking via internet is the hip thing to do, it seems a little out-of-place even on my part to take a fast off Facebook.
What caused me to do it?
Well, the other day, I was absolutely off Facebook for 18 hours straight, from the time I went to bed on Monday night at 11pm to the time I got off of work Tuesday at 5pm. I had meetings and couldn't get to my iPhone at my desk during lunch since I was obliged to eat lunch up in the training (conference) room at work. I made a status update saying something like, "I went all day without Facebook" and I got some comments to that from friends stating their amazement or shock or complete surprise that I could go all day during the work hours without Facebook.
I mentioned that, yes, there is life outside of Facebook. In fact, I have went 3 days without Facebook due to the fact that I was traveling into China and China doesn't even allow Facebook into the country. I didn't even bring my laptop and left it in Hong Kong. What's the point of bringing my laptop if I can't get to more than half the sites I usually visited? Actually, I think one time I have went one week without Facebook, out of curiosity if I can do it, and I did it.
So, that inspired me to take the challenge: go 24 hours without Facebook. I think I past that already, since that started about 11:30pm last night and it's already 11:37pm. I learned a lot, depend on other things to do.
Like... I got to enjoy the Stanley Cup finals and it kind of made my dad watch the game since it was potentially the final game. Congrats to the Blackhawks. I learned a lot from this game, because so many things were going on. Cross checking (penalty), icing, off-sides... I had to look them up in the internet but it proves that if I'm paying attention to the game, I can learn without Facebook distracting me. :)
I met with a pastor at church to go over "stuff". It was very refreshing to know I'm a normal woman and that as a normal woman, I have struggles like a woman. I'm not a woman brainwashed by engineering school. :) And because I wasn't on Facebook prior to my meeting with the pastor, I think it kept me focus the whole day through this meeting and beyond.
I even cooked my dinner early! How efficient was that?
And now, I'm wasting time blogging when I should be sleeping. But Facebook fast, I should start taking those more often. :)
In a society where social networking via internet is the hip thing to do, it seems a little out-of-place even on my part to take a fast off Facebook.
What caused me to do it?
Well, the other day, I was absolutely off Facebook for 18 hours straight, from the time I went to bed on Monday night at 11pm to the time I got off of work Tuesday at 5pm. I had meetings and couldn't get to my iPhone at my desk during lunch since I was obliged to eat lunch up in the training (conference) room at work. I made a status update saying something like, "I went all day without Facebook" and I got some comments to that from friends stating their amazement or shock or complete surprise that I could go all day during the work hours without Facebook.
I mentioned that, yes, there is life outside of Facebook. In fact, I have went 3 days without Facebook due to the fact that I was traveling into China and China doesn't even allow Facebook into the country. I didn't even bring my laptop and left it in Hong Kong. What's the point of bringing my laptop if I can't get to more than half the sites I usually visited? Actually, I think one time I have went one week without Facebook, out of curiosity if I can do it, and I did it.
So, that inspired me to take the challenge: go 24 hours without Facebook. I think I past that already, since that started about 11:30pm last night and it's already 11:37pm. I learned a lot, depend on other things to do.
Like... I got to enjoy the Stanley Cup finals and it kind of made my dad watch the game since it was potentially the final game. Congrats to the Blackhawks. I learned a lot from this game, because so many things were going on. Cross checking (penalty), icing, off-sides... I had to look them up in the internet but it proves that if I'm paying attention to the game, I can learn without Facebook distracting me. :)
I met with a pastor at church to go over "stuff". It was very refreshing to know I'm a normal woman and that as a normal woman, I have struggles like a woman. I'm not a woman brainwashed by engineering school. :) And because I wasn't on Facebook prior to my meeting with the pastor, I think it kept me focus the whole day through this meeting and beyond.
I even cooked my dinner early! How efficient was that?
And now, I'm wasting time blogging when I should be sleeping. But Facebook fast, I should start taking those more often. :)
Sunday, May 23, 2010
hello, world!
"hello, world"! Specifically (in C programming):
int main()
{
printf("hello, world");
return 0;
}
First few lines... and I digress. :)
No, seriously...
I haven't blogged since August. Srsly, where was I? I actually had some thoughts to share since my last blog but I don't know what and where to start and how detailed I should get into.
It may be fitting to start off with one of my weird dreams. It's interesting to note that all my weird dreams occur in May. I've been having this reoccurring dream that I was working at an "institute" (most likely an educational institute), where I also find my engineering co-workers volunteer to tutor children computer technology. I had this dream twice. The last dream, I was in a bit of a panic because I couldn't find one of my co-workers to answer a question. It was that intense. Anywho, so, it makes me wonder what God is up to next. I'm not always the one to act on my dreams. I never took some of them seriously. But the reoccurring ones seem to bother me or interest me a little bit more. Like my dreams last year, about praying for China and a husband. Still praying! Actually, that was a little different because I heard this big booming voice in my dream. Yes, it was God talking to me. I wasn't "dreaming" (or was I).
I think God finally made me realize: I am a woman. I have emotions. I like to go shopping and wear some make-up. To recap about my childhood, I was borderline tomboy. I rather play with Legos and trains and I hung out with boys most of the time. Most of my closest friends are guys. I majored in engineering; I like science, math, and calculus. I like football and any type of contact sports. I like beer. Wings. Well, okay, I'll stop there.
But God made me woman. I have estrogen. And other things. And I like to dress up a little now. And wear make-up. I used to ignore my emotions during certain times but it's harder to control those emotions now for some reason. All I can do is try not to bite people's heads off and go home and cry. Maybe it's just the signs of growing older. *Sigh* Wears my ice cream?
Mehwiege (Marriage)
No, not getting married anytime... But I've been bitter lately. I think of all my friends, I'm one of the last few hold-outs when it comes to being single.
It was a pride thing really. For a while, I didn't want to date. I was very proud to be single. Who needs men? I have met many interesting guys, yes, but nothing that made my heart drop to my stomach. But after so long, here I am. Still single. I think my emotions and other things has started to catch up on me. Most of my friends are married, some with kids. As with many single women, I ask myself this question. "WHAT IS WRONG WITH ME?"
But as I learned today in church service, marriage is not for everybody. (1 Corinthians 7.) God did design marriage and God had a lot of lessons on being married (Ephesians 5.) But marriage doesn't bring happiness; marriage doesn't fulfill our "incompleteness." It is an example of the relationship the church has with God through Jesus. It is a covenant; a promise that one day we as Christians will be united with our Beloved. Definitely a mystery, as Ephesians 5 puts it.
But, God did ask me to pray for a husband. I'd like to think that He has a sense of humor in all this. In my frustration, my depression, my anxiety, He has a plan. As I draw nearer to Him, or even when I run away from Him for a time, He always tells me through the dreams I have been having, "I have a plan. Just you wait." :)
Now, I haven't dated in a long time. I don't even know what I'd do if some guy ask me out. I try to be myself. But if love (in the sense of a boy) does find me, I will probably act, dorky, goofy, out of sorts. It is left to my imagination, I guess, how I would react.
I guess there is nothing to be bitter about it then. I will look back on this and give a good laugh at the end, I'm sure. :)
int main()
{
printf("hello, world");
return 0;
}
First few lines... and I digress. :)
No, seriously...
I haven't blogged since August. Srsly, where was I? I actually had some thoughts to share since my last blog but I don't know what and where to start and how detailed I should get into.
It may be fitting to start off with one of my weird dreams. It's interesting to note that all my weird dreams occur in May. I've been having this reoccurring dream that I was working at an "institute" (most likely an educational institute), where I also find my engineering co-workers volunteer to tutor children computer technology. I had this dream twice. The last dream, I was in a bit of a panic because I couldn't find one of my co-workers to answer a question. It was that intense. Anywho, so, it makes me wonder what God is up to next. I'm not always the one to act on my dreams. I never took some of them seriously. But the reoccurring ones seem to bother me or interest me a little bit more. Like my dreams last year, about praying for China and a husband. Still praying! Actually, that was a little different because I heard this big booming voice in my dream. Yes, it was God talking to me. I wasn't "dreaming" (or was I).
I think God finally made me realize: I am a woman. I have emotions. I like to go shopping and wear some make-up. To recap about my childhood, I was borderline tomboy. I rather play with Legos and trains and I hung out with boys most of the time. Most of my closest friends are guys. I majored in engineering; I like science, math, and calculus. I like football and any type of contact sports. I like beer. Wings. Well, okay, I'll stop there.
But God made me woman. I have estrogen. And other things. And I like to dress up a little now. And wear make-up. I used to ignore my emotions during certain times but it's harder to control those emotions now for some reason. All I can do is try not to bite people's heads off and go home and cry. Maybe it's just the signs of growing older. *Sigh* Wears my ice cream?
Mehwiege (Marriage)
No, not getting married anytime... But I've been bitter lately. I think of all my friends, I'm one of the last few hold-outs when it comes to being single.
It was a pride thing really. For a while, I didn't want to date. I was very proud to be single. Who needs men? I have met many interesting guys, yes, but nothing that made my heart drop to my stomach. But after so long, here I am. Still single. I think my emotions and other things has started to catch up on me. Most of my friends are married, some with kids. As with many single women, I ask myself this question. "WHAT IS WRONG WITH ME?"
But as I learned today in church service, marriage is not for everybody. (1 Corinthians 7.) God did design marriage and God had a lot of lessons on being married (Ephesians 5.) But marriage doesn't bring happiness; marriage doesn't fulfill our "incompleteness." It is an example of the relationship the church has with God through Jesus. It is a covenant; a promise that one day we as Christians will be united with our Beloved. Definitely a mystery, as Ephesians 5 puts it.
But, God did ask me to pray for a husband. I'd like to think that He has a sense of humor in all this. In my frustration, my depression, my anxiety, He has a plan. As I draw nearer to Him, or even when I run away from Him for a time, He always tells me through the dreams I have been having, "I have a plan. Just you wait." :)
Now, I haven't dated in a long time. I don't even know what I'd do if some guy ask me out. I try to be myself. But if love (in the sense of a boy) does find me, I will probably act, dorky, goofy, out of sorts. It is left to my imagination, I guess, how I would react.
I guess there is nothing to be bitter about it then. I will look back on this and give a good laugh at the end, I'm sure. :)
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)