Sojourning the Earth. Settling for Eternity.

Wow, God answered my prayer just within 24 hours of my last blog. Praise Him! I can't wait to return to Waterloo to do another co-op there haha! It's truly remarkable what God can do when you completely throw yourself at his feet - realizing that there's absolutely nothing else but Him that you need in this life. Thanks, God, for the reminder.

I will waste my life  I'll be tested and tried With no regrets inside of me  to find I'm at Your feet I'll leave my father's house  and I'll leave my mother I'll leave all I have known  and I'll have no other I am in love with You  There is no cost I am in love with You  There is no loss I am in love with You  I want to take Your name I am in love with You  I want to cling to You Jesus Just let me cling to You Jesus I'll say goodbye to my father my mother I'll turn my back on every other lover and I'll press on yes I'll press on Blog: Whatever happens, I am in love with you, Jesus. Just to be with you, that's all that matters. I lift up and surrender my life to you, Jesus.

Naked I came from my mother's womb, and naked I will depart. The Lord gave and the Lord has taken away; may the name of the Lord be praised.    -Job 1:21 Please please please be in constant prayer for the Crossley family in this season of loss and tragedy. I thank you that Daniel is with you, Jesus, enjoying your presence and love for eternity. http://www.nelsonstar.com/news/205721441.html

I came upon this entry from my own personal journal and I want to share it here. This entry was written in the midst of my finals and after hearing my roommate sings one of United Pursuit Band's song, "Climb", I started to ask myself what one of the line of the song meant. - "I will climb this mountain with my hands wide open" -  It didn't really make sense to me, what that line meant - how can you climb a mountain with open hands. That's impossible, you need all four limbs to climb a steep, rocky mountain. As I ruminate on this line, God revealed the following: I saw myself climbing a mountain. It was steep, dark, and filled with jagged rocks. But I kept on going. The only way that I am able to continually fixate my eyes to the top and not look down is the assurance that something greater than I is holding out his hands, one by one, to support my steps. This assurance gives me confidence and peace, and I know that I can lift up my hands to wo...

and I will never let you go. These are the words that my Jesus told me. Thank you for the cross, Lord. Thank you for your nail-pierced hands. Thank you for bearing all my sins and shame, And through your death, you declared me as holy and blameless in your sight. I love you too, Jesus, and I don't want to let you go.

God is definitely at work. How do I know this? For one thing, I begin to re-evaluate my life and question what does it mean to be a "Christian"? How do I define myself as a Christian? This can be such a daunting question. Last year, my primary prayer request to God was to teach me how to fall in love with Him all over again. As I prayed, God just pressed so many different things in my life that I tend to ignore. Things such as: Where do I draw my strength from? Do I base my life on the approval of others? In these past weeks, it has been so hard for me to live my life. I can attribute so many reasons to this ("senioritis", seasonal affective disorder, etc) but it ultimately draws me back to the very question that God asked me in the first place - what is my identity? It is so easy for me to live this "Christian" life and start to evaluate others by my own standards/ expectations. As I was preparing to lead my small bible study group, God definitely aff...

Ever get that feeling when you just feel like something (or someone) keeps nudging you in the inside. Well, that's definitely what I felt two weeks ago. I've never been good at sharing why I believe what I believed. Why do I believe in such a Holy and loving God. What Jesus meant to me. Why should people believe in him etc... My Christian community (UCM) organized a week called Random Acts of Kindness week (RAK). Basically, its a chance for to show our classmates and professors (ie. people on campus) the grace and love that Christ has given so freely on us. We did things such as handing out cookies, washing people's cars, etc. Needless to say, I was terrified. I felt that nudge over and over to do the umbrella walk. Which entails the following: -walking someone to their class when it rains But I felt that I wanted to do more than just that, I want to share with them what I believed. There's a constant battle between God's nudge and my fear, but I stick it ...

Niagra Falls - Summer 2012 to remind ourselves that the God that we worship is both powerful and loving. His strength far greater than the force of waterfalls and his love is unmeasurable, as vast as the ocean. I have to remind myself especially with days like today, of God's provision. My prayers are with those who have lost their children in the Connecticut shooting. We live in a broken world and this tragedy should enforce up to develop and pursue a closer relationship with him who gives us the everlasting life. As I was praying, I asked God where He was in this tragedy. To be honest, I was very depressed and troubled by this whole massacre. Yet God confirmed this to me: all those kids are with Him. He was there when the slayings are happening. He was there in the midst of the shootings. He was there to comfort those victims. Not one single child is left behind by Jesus Christ. I am even confident that these children are now safe and sound with Him, at this moment. We are...

Initially, I considered my time here in the east as a break from Vancouver. In a way, it has been a good break. I've been involved with UCM since my second year, and this includes the summer semesters as well. Its nice to see how God works in different parts of the world (even though I'm still in Canada). CCF is different from UCM and I'm just beginning to appreciate the difference. Coming into CCF, I knew that the fellowship will tend to lean more on the conservative side. Hence, during my time here, I have to withhold some of the things that I usually do back in Vancouver. But really, it doesn't seem bad at all. It has been a blessing being here in CCF. Although I was raised in a conservative family, I grew up in a liberal environment at UBC. I find that I don't really have a preference of one view over the other. You can say that I'm somewhere in the middle or that I'm pretty accommodating towards both views. As I become more involved with the ministries ...

I haven't really explained what a regular day in Waterloo for me looks like, here it goes: 8am - wake up, shower, brush teeth 8:30am - breakfast + Devos 9am - leave house 9:15-12pm - Work (I'm a software tester, lots of writing/executing test cases) 12-12:50pm - Lunch (its free yay) 12:50-3pm - Work 3-3:15pm - Coffee break (I mostly walk around) 3:15-5:15 - more Work 5:15-11:30pm - all up in the air haha I guess that's the nice thing about co-op life. You don't need to worry about homework, midterm, exams, etc. I usually come home and cook dinner with my roommates. Still trying to adjust to the whole sharing groceries + cooking together (always). Back in Vancouver, I never do this. Each guy will cook their own food (although we have community meal once a week). Its been interesting so far but I don't know if I can keep it up (since some of the guys are just learning how to cook). It can be pretty hard trying to come up with what food to make every nig...

I haven't really explained why I picked my blog title: "Sojourning the Earth. Settling for Eternity". www.thefreedictionary.com defines the word "sojourn" as a temporary stay; a brief period of residence. That definition nails it! Everybody, here on earth, is a sojourner. You. Me. Everyone. We are made in the image of God. Consequently, we are made as eternal beings. We are made to inherently have the desire for eternal life. I think that's why lots of people are quite dissatisfied with their lives. They look for gains and pleasures from the world, yet they try to ignore the fact that those things don't last forever. It's quite a shock for me to remind myself that everything in this life is temporary.  "Those who use the things of the world should not become attached to them. For this world as we know it will soon pass away." -1 Corinthians 7:31 (NLT) When I look with the lenses of this verse, I gain a new perspective. It makes me reali...