Sojourning the Earth. Settling for Eternity.

One of my friend has this statement on his Facebook status: "we've grown up too much, sometimes we forget that we are children of God". There is some truth to this statement. What's interesting is that this statement reminded me of an interesting experience that I encounter a couple months ago, last semester. I was walking around downtown Vancouver, going back to my workplace and I suddenly stopped. I saw a reflection of myself on a store window (this sounds pretty narcissistic haha). But I stopped because I saw myself with a nice dress shirt, formal pants on, hair gelled stylishly, wearing a nice pair of dress shoes. And I thought to myself: "Wow, I'm all grown up. The world awaits me...real life awaits me". To tell you the truth, that IS a scary thought! To be given the freedom to do what you want to do with your life and the independence from my family... I just feel like I'm not ready at all.  But I can't avoid it, I do have to face reality (...

Something that my friend shared. A good consideration, definitely worth reading through. Where is God in tragedy?

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...

Whenever I strike up a conversation with the people that I meet, I often find myself trying really hard to understand where they are coming from. You can say that I was trying to place myself in their shoes. Its kind of interesting how my natural inclination tends to follow this course. No wonder I'm doing a minor in Psychology. But as I also find myself being very sympathetic as I try to gain a better grasp of the individual. Although this feeling is a tremendous help in understanding them, I do find myself restrained at times. Last Sunday, P.T was preaching about King Saul as he continued along the series "Heroes and Villains of the Faith". Saul 'could've been a great King', but because of his lack of self confidence he has failed in the many occurrences that God has granted him with to establish him as one of Israel's greatest King (1 Samuel 15). What sticks out for me is how the fear of others hindered Saul from listening to the Lord. I know that I...

I feel like I'm being tested with my patience right now. This summer, I've moved to Waterloo, ON from Vancouver. I am surrounded with a different environment, setting, and people. Currently, I am living with four other guys and let's just say that the state of our house is below my standard level of "clean". I'm sure lots of people who have gone away from home have experienced this dilemma. I'll refer to the effect of this dilemma as the "Messy Roommate(s) Syndrome", MRS in short. I've talked to some people on how they dealt with MRS. The most famous solution is to turn a blind eye to the whole thing, while still cleaning up after your own stuff. This also entails the person to keep their belongings in their own bedroom (kitchenwares included) and buying a small refrigerator to store their own stuff if you want to be extreme (or if things get pretty nasty in the fridge). To be honest, I am really considering this option. Although the house is...

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...