Psalm 25

Find rest my soul in Christ alone.

To you, O Lord, I lift up my soul.
O my God, in you I trust;
let me knot be put to shame;
let not my enemies exult over me.
Indeed, none who wait for you shall be put to shame;
they shall be ashamed who are wantonly treacherous.

Make me to know your ways, O Lord;
teach me your paths.
Lead me in your truth and teach me,
for you are the God of my salvation;
for you I wait all the day long.

Remember your mercy, O Lord, and
your steadfast love,
for they have been from of old.
Remember not the sins of my youth or
my transgressions;
according to your steadfast love
remember me,
for the sake of your goodness,
O Lord!

Good and upright is the Lord;
therefore he instructs sinners in the way.
He leads the humble in what is right,
and teaches the humble his way.
All the paths of the Lord are steadfast
love and faithfulness,
for those who keep his covenant
and his testimonies.

For your name's sake, O lord,
pardon my guilt for it is great.
Who is the man who fears the Lord?
Him will he instruct in the way that he should choose.
His soul shall abide in well-being
and his offspring shall inherit the land.
The friendship of the Lord is for those
who fear him, and he makes known to
them his covenant.
My eyes are ever toward the Lord,
for he will pluck my feet out of the net.

Turn to me and be gracious to me,
for I am lonely and afflicted.
The troubles of my heart are enlarged;
bring me out of my distresses.
Consider my affliction and my trouble,
and forgive all my sins.

How precious is the blood of Jesus, who has washed me white as snow. He is the one we cling to, grace abounds, and in this we trust.

Why we love the church

Excerpt from Josh Harris' We Are Here to Love the Church

Acts 20:28 tells us that Jesus obtained the church with his own blood. Is this what your love for the church is based on? If it's anything less, it won't last long.

• Don't love the church because of what it does for you. Because sooner or later it won't do enough.
• Don't love the church because of a leader. Because human leaders are fallible and will let you down.
• Don't love the church because of a program or a building or activities because all those things get old.
• Don't love the church because of a certain group of friends because friendships change and people move.

Love the church because of who shed his blood to obtain the church. Love the church because of who the church belongs to. Love the church because of who the church worships. Love the church because you love Jesus Christ and his glory. Love the church because Jesus is worthy and faithful and true. Love the church because Jesus loves the church.

[emphasis mine.]

The face of God in the midst of uncertainty

In the last couple of months, my life has been a roller coaster of ups and downs. Deciding to go back to school or not, wanting to stay in LA but moving back home. In the midst of all this uncertainty, one thing has gotten me through the difficult nights of tears, and angst, and that is the resounding promise and command through God's word.

"Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say Rejoice, let your reasonableness be known to everyone. The Lord is at hand; do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus."

Philippians 4:4-7

1. We are to rejoice always, because the Lord is at hand
2. Because the Lord is at hand, we are not to be anxious
3. But when we are anxious, we are to pray to our God, our Father, who hears us because of the sacrifice of Christ on the cross, reconciling sinners to Him
4. And God responds to our prayers in an amazing way, He grants us a peace that will actively guard our hearts and our minds
5. And all of this is possible because of Christ

Philippians was written by Paul during his imprisonment, and here there is joy. It starts off with the imperative, a command to do what? to REJOICE in the Lord... when? ALWAYS, and just in case we didn't catch it the first time, "Again I will say Rejoice".

Following this the reassurance I have found in this simple yet powerful phrase,"The Lord is at hand" this is the reason we're called to "not be anxious about anything".

The Lord is at hand, meaning that God is in control, that He is sovereign and that... even when we are anxious, we can pray, our Heavenly Father will hear us, not only does He hear us, but there is a peace that will be given to us. This peace is nothing that man can comprehend, but it is of God.

This truth to rest in, our prayers and anxieties and uncertainties, are heard by God. Our Father hears us, and will instill in us a peace. Notice this peace is the subject of this sentence and following the clause that describes the type of peace, one that is beyond our understanding, is the declaration of what this peace will do.

The peace of God will guard our hearts, and our minds. Did you catch that? One more time... the peace of God will guard our hearts and our minds, against the anxiety and the uncertainty.

This is not of ourselves nor with our own strength, but with the last, most important phrase "in Christ Jesus."

The peace of God that will guard our hearts and our minds, comes from Christ Jesus, the Savior and Redeemer of our souls, our Lord.

How reassuring is that?

Best brownie EVA!

Following up with our previous baking date, my friends and I decided to make delicious brownies
Adapted from the "Brownie that will Change Your Life"

Enjoy!



Here's the recipe:

1 pack of Caramels (unwrapped, Kraft has them in the candy aisle)
1 can of Evaporated Milk
1 box of chocolate cake mix
1 stick of butter
1 bag of semi sweet chocolate chips
(opt) 1/2 cup chopped almonds or walnuts

9x13 glass pan, buttered or foiled, but since its brownies, buttered would be better [larger size is ok too, less dense of a brownie per bite]
Preheat oven 375 F

1. Melt the butter in the microwave
2. Mix in 2/3 cup of evaporated milk and butter into the cake mix; mix until non clumpy
3. In small sauce pan, melt the caramels and the remaining 1/3 of the evaporated milk, on LOW heat, stir continuously to avoid burning the caramel
4. Pour 1/2 the cake mixture smoothly into the pan, and stick it in the oven 15 min
5. Take out the pan, brownie will be somewhat undercooked (WHICH IS OK), pour the melted caramel mixture on top of the brownie, sprinkle the bag of chocholate chips on top, and (opt) nuts.
6. Drop spoonfuls of remaining batter over the caramel gooey-ness.
7. Bake for another 30 min
8. Allow to cool before partaking of the yummyness.

Come, Ye Sinners, Poor and Needy

Introduced to this hymn this past Sunday... very powerful words.

Come, Ye Sinners, Poor and Needy
Written by Joseph Hart

Come, ye sinners, poor and needy,
Weak and wounded, sick and sore;
Jesus ready stands to save you,
Full of pity, love and power.

Refrain

I will arise and go to Jesus,
He will embrace me in His arms;
In the arms of my dear Savior,
O there are ten thousand charms.

Come, ye thirsty, come, and welcome,
God’s free bounty glorify;
True belief and true repentance,
Every grace that brings you nigh.

Come, ye weary, heavy laden,
Lost and ruined by the fall;
If you tarry till you’re better,
You will never come at all.

View Him prostrate in the garden;
On the ground your Maker lies.
On the bloody tree behold Him;
Sinner, will this not suffice?

Lo! th’incarnate God ascended,
Pleads the merit of His blood:
Venture on Him, venture wholly,
Let no other trust intrude.

Let not conscience make you linger,
Not of fitness fondly dream;
All the fitness He requireth
Is to feel your need of Him.

Come, Thou Fount of Every Blessing

Come, Thou Fount of Every Blessing
By: Robert Robinson, 1735-90

Come, Thou fount of every blessing,
Tune my heart to sing Thy grace;
Streams of mercy, never ceasing,
Call for songs of loudest praise.
While the hope of endless glory
Fills my heart with joy and love,
Teach me ever to adore Thee;
May I still Thy goodness prove.

Here I raise my Ebenezer,
Hither by Thy help I’ve come;
And I hope, by Thy good pleasure,
Safely to arrive at home.
Jesus sought me when a stranger,
Wandering from the fold of God;
He, to rescue me from danger,
Interposed His precious blood.

Oh, to grace how great a debtor
Daily I’m constrained to be;
Let that grace now like a fetter
Bind my wandering heart to Thee:
Prone to wander, Lord, I feel it;
Prone to leave the God I love.
Here’s my heart, oh, take and seal it,
Seal it for Thy courts above.

Oh, that day when freed from sinning,
I shall see Thy lovely face;
Clothed then in the blood washed linen
How I’ll sing Thy wondrous grace!
Come, my Lord, no longer tarry,
Take my ransomed soul away;
Send Thine angels soon to carry
Me to realms of endless day.

Pray for Our President

CNN today had an article that sparked my interest.

It's titled Obama questioned on abortion, why he is a Christian

Some interesting quotes from the article

"I came to my Christian faith later in life, and it was because the precepts of Jesus Christ spoke to me in terms of the kind of life that I would want to lead," Obama said. "Being my brothers' and sisters' keeper. Treating others as they would treat me. And I think also understanding that, you know, that Jesus Christ dying for my sins spoke to the humility that we all have to have as human beings."

Humans are "sinful" and "flawed" beings that make mistakes and "achieve salvation through the grace of God," the president continued, adding that we also can "see God in other people and do our best to help them find their, you know, their own grace."

"So that's what I strive to do," Obama said. "That's what I pray to do everyday. I think my public service is part of that effort to express my Christian faith."

Obama responded that abortion should be "safe, legal and rare" in America, adding that families -- not the government -- "should be the ones making the decision."

*emphasis mine

From simply the quotes the reporter from CNN gathered, President Obama has a clear understanding of the Christian faith, not a flawed/skewed, ohmygoodnessicantbelievehe'sachristian understanding.
Now as Christians we are called to submit to our leaders, whether they be Christian or not, and in the same vein to be praying for them. How much more then in understanding that President Obama is a fellow brother that we need to be in prayer for him? I will admit, I am not the biggest fan of some of the decisions he has made, but at the same time, he is placed in a position of authority over our entire country. We pray for our family to come to salvation, we pray for our friends to be comforted and strengthened in their trials, why do we not think to pray for our president to have wisdom? The following passages from Romans and 1 Peter ministered to me and convicted me to not criticize the work of the government, yes we need to be attentive and not just roll over, but also understand that God is sovereign and the authority over us now isn't by mistake, rather He instituted it, and when all else fails, we look to the Cross, upon where counter-intuitively, counter-culturally Christ submitted to the governing authority.

"Let every person be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God and those that exist have been instituted by God...therefore one must be in subjection, not only to avoid God's wrath but also for the sake of conscience. For because of this you also pay taxes, for the authorities are ministers of God, attending to this very thing. Pay to all what is owed to them: taxes to whom taxes are owed, revenue to whom revenue is owed, respect to whom respect is owed, honor to whom honor is owed." Romans 13:1-7

"Be subject for the Lord's sake to every human institution, whether it be to the emperor as supreme or to governors as sent by him to punish those who do evil and to praise those who do good. For this is the will of God, that by doing good you should put to silence the ignorance of foolish people. Live as people who are free, not using your freedom as a cover-up for evil, but living as servants of God. Honor everyone. Love the brotherhood. Fear God. Honor the emperor. Servants, be subject to your masters with all respect, not only to the good and gentle but also to the unjust. For this is a gracious thing, when, mindful of God, one endures sorrows while suffering unjustly. For what credit is it if when you sin and are beaten for it, you endure? But if when you do good and suffer for it you endure, this is a gracious thing in the sight of God. For to this you have been called, because Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example, so that you might follow in his steps. He committed no sin, neither was deceit found in his mouth. When he reviled, he did not revile in return; when he suffered, he did not threaten but continued entrusting himself to him who judges justly. He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. By his wounds you have been healed. For you were straying like sheep, but have now returned to the Shepherd and Overseer of your souls. " 1 Peter 2:13-25


*emphasis mine

Leadership

After a couple weeks on Pride and Its Antidote (Humility) [listen here]; the knowledge of service and leadership, pride and humility is seen not only in the church setting, but also it seems to be a desire of the secular world, in which leaders should serve the people.

In Mark 10:43-45

But it shall not be so among you. But whoever would be great among you must be your servant, and whoever would be first among you must be slave of all. For even the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.

we see Jesus responding to the request of James and John to be seated His right and left hand in heaven, yet the response is not what any of the disciples expected. To be told to serve people and ultimately that is how we would be "great". Counter-intuitive. Yet that is what Christ came to do, to submit Himself to the authority of God, the Father, and to serve and "give his life as a ransom for many."

Now many people might object to this truth, or "see it as good for you, Christian, but that's not what a good leader really is". In the secular eyes, to be great is to be first among many, to be selfish and to be ambitious, the top dawg. But here is an interesting quote I stumbled across, in which the inherent view of understanding leadership is not self serving, rather it is a service to others.

The quote is an excerpt from the senatorial campaign in Arizona.
“People want leaders who will serve them,” Ms. Zambrano said. -NYTimes [read here]

Perhaps the authentic definition of leadership does permeate far wider than I had anticipated.

Truth that ministers to my soul.

The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick; who can understand it? Jer 17:9

"But our citizenship is in heaven, and from it we await a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, who will transform our lowly body to be like his glorious body, by the power that enables him even to subject all things to himself."
-Phil 3:20-21

Rejoice not over me, O my enemy; when I fall, I shall rise; when I sit in darkness, the Lord will be a light to me. I will bear the indignation of the Lord because I have sinned against him, until he pleads my cause and executes judgment for me. He will bring me out to the light; I shall look upon his vindication. Micah 7:8-9

Therefore let us draw near with confidence to the throne of grace, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need. Heb 4:16

I will give thanks to You for I am fearfully and wonderfully made; wonderful are Your works, and my soul knows it very well -Psalm 39:14

Knowledge may become good or ill according to the use which is made of it. If men know God, for instance, and then glorify him as God, and are thankful, their knowledge has become the means of great blessing to them; but if they know God, and fail to glorify him, their knowledge turns to their condemnation. -CHSpurgeon (knowledge worship gratitude)

To beat the heat wave...

Spend time with an old friend making cute looking delicious cheesecake!

Cute would not be the first word to describe cheesecake, however once you take a look at these.. I believe you would agree, cute is an apt description :)

The recipe is from "Cooking for Engineers", relatively easy and simple recipe, and best of all, only about a 30 min wait before you can taste the finished product!

Here goes:
First step is always to gather ingredients needed into one place, so you save time while you're baking, and also so it minimizes the chances of forgetting an ingredient.


Next we go ahead and mix all our ingredients together, a tip for cheesecake, let the cream cheese soften a bit before you use it. Mixing is a lot easier and your forearms will thank you :)

The childhood bestie! :) What a great model. We had so much fun with the hand held mixer...

While she was mixing, I filled cupcake tins with vanilla wafers for the crust. We ended up doing two cookies per tin, although it still didn't seem to cover or create as much crust as I would have liked... *note to self, add more cookies, or change the layout, perhaps break them apart??*









After we filled the cupcake tins, we topped it with strawberries! Delicious looking aren't they?



Towards the end, we had extra batter, but not enough strawberries... we ate them all. So I substituted nectarines to top the remaining cheesecakes


Voila! Finished delicious product. For a better cheesecake eating experience I recommend refrigerating for 5-10 mins.

That's all for now! I believe another baking date is due soon, not sure what is in store for that... suggestions are welcomed. We made white chocolate chip cookies together a couple weeks ago, but no photographic evidence was collected.

Au revoir

alliteration at its finest

Upon listening to Steve Lawson's sermon on "Who is Jesus Christ?" from Resolved 2010 heard this alliteration gem.

"Faith that fizzles before the finish had a flaw from the first."

Transitions

Since moving home, I have been challenged, and humbled many times over. Graduating college is an experience, that is like none I have experienced before. Throughout the last four years, I've basically lived at school, away from home, and forging life on my own. Though not completely independent, there were aspects of my life in which I got to choose what I wanted to do. Whatever I felt like doing, whoever I felt like talking to, making friends, and more importantly how my schedule looked everyday.

One of the biggest decisions of my life entering into college, was how important was my faith in Christ? Is that going to dictate how I live my life? Or am I placing myself first and foremost in all my relationships? Unbeknownst to me God was placing in me a desire to know Him more, and was pursuing me, even as I was running deeper into the world. There was a period of changing my world view from running to and desiring the things of the world, the success, the renown, the prestige, shifting now into investing in people, not purely for selfish reasons or gain, but for the purpose of truly loving them, with all my heart. The love that was once shown to me, through the life, death, and resurrection of Christ, now grew a greater desire in me to want to invest in the people around me, to know Him. Though this desire has not changed, my understanding and how this works out has definitely shifted since moving back home.

Now upon graduating, the relationships I had formed living with my three lovely apartment mates, whom I love dearly, are now changing. The convenience of simply going next door and finding fellowship, and friendship, prayer within the same building, not so anymore. The transition has been challenging, to say the least. We have all moved back to our respective homes, back into our family and our lives pre-college. Living under another authority, that is not ourselves, and sometimes not completely Christian. The concept of submission to authority, comes into play every day, some days more difficult than others [1 Peter 2:13-25]. The fellowship that once surrounded me like a bubble, now gone and no longer as easily accessible, has shown me just how dependent I was on my friends to keep my relationship with my Father right. By no means am I saying that accountability and fellowship is bad, but in my own life, in coming out of college, and moving home, I have seen my 'godliness' and sanctification would be dependent on how people viewed me, rather than the true state of my heart. An observation I have made in the last couple years, is that it is easier to be "godly and holy" around those who are also seeking the same goals as you are, who are Christian, solid in theology, and striving every day to die to their own flesh. On the other hand, being in an environment where I am not surrounded by people like that basically 24/7 forces me to check the state of my heart, and my thoughts each and every moment, and.. honestly it takes a lot more effort and is a lot more difficult.

Perhaps though it is these such transition situations that lead to greater sanctification. This mirror put before me, in the form of my life away from college, has shown me just how much I need a Savior each and every moment. How grace is needed in every aspect of my life.

What has been the most challenging about this transition is the initial uncertainty of it all. Having a plan, and then having God break it, having another plan, and then having those plans fall. The various changes in my life when moving home were:

1. Unemployment
2. Living under my parents again
3. Living and co-residing with my younger brother
4. Finding a new church
5. Figuring out future (?)

It is amazing just how little faith I had before (and only recognizing so from hindsight). In such uncertainties, I, being the 'good Christian' I was, and understanding the sovereignty of God and the providence He has, prayed. Though having no idea how He was going to answer the prayers nor if He would answer.

In view of the time away from daily fellowship with the saints, I grew to see how vulnerable I truly am, how prideful I was in just the way I approached the uncertainties... and thus my prayer life changed.
But he said to me, My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness." Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses so that the power of Christ my rest in me. 2 cor 2:9-10

In all things, when I was fully reliant on God, even in the little details of life, I became more and more aware of just how sovereign God was. In the little blessings of finding volunteer opportunities, to finding a loving and solid church; the faithfulness of God to His children is all the more evident.

My encouragement to you is this:

Do not let life pass you by, do not waste the opportunities God has placed in your life, and more importantly do not neglect the hardships, and sufferings that have seemingly swallowed you up. In all these things we are to "Count it". Even in the transitions, the uncertainty, shows us how much control we lack, and that we need to rely fully and completely on God.

Count it all joy my brethren when you encounter various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance, and let endurance have its perfect result in you, so that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing. But if any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all generously and without reproach, and it will be given to him. James 1:2-5

Prop 8 overturned.. now what?

One of the recent events within our state has been the overturn of Proposition 8, which stated that marriage was between a man and a woman. Biblically this is a sound law, morally right, but socially unaccepted. It has been seen as bigoted, prejudice and altogether hateful. In light of Prop 8 being overruled, many people are overjoyed, but as Christians, how are we to respond?

To address this Kevin DeYoung's posted several specifics, here are a couple stood out to me:

5. We must not be afraid to talk about homosexuality. Don’t be silenced by Christians calling for umpteen more years of dialogue or those who say you need at least one gay friend before you can open your mouth. The Bible speaks openly about sexuality and we must not be embarrassed to open God’s word. BUT when we do speak we must do so with broken hearts not bulging veins. A calm spirit and a broken heart are keys to not being tuned out immediately.

9. No gay jokes. None. It doesn’t help our witness and they’re not funny. Plus, the more we laugh at sin the more it gets normalized.

12. We must be people of hope not despair. We know the Lord and he knows us. This is not the worst crisis in the history of mankind. Homosexuality is sinful, but God specializes in sin. Look at what he’s done with us.

Chinese Christian Singers

Great respect for both Van Ness Wu and Sammi Cheng. talented and using it for a greater purpose. Vanness also has an interview in the 1040 movie.

At the Beginning.

We were strangers

Starting out on a journey
Never dreaming what we'd have to go through
Now here we are, I'm suddenly standing
At the beginning with you

No one told me I was going to find you
Unexpected, what you did to my heart
When I lost hope, you were there to remind me this is the start

And life is road and I wanna keep going
Love is a river I wanna keep flowing
Life is a road now and forever wonderful journey
Ill be there when the world stops turning
Ill be there when the storm is through
In the end I wanna be standing at the beginning with you

We were strangers on a crazy adventure
Never dreaming how our dreams would come true
Now here we stand, unafraid of the future
At the beginning with you

I knew there was somebody somewhere
Like me alone in the dark
Now I know my dream will live on, Ive been waiting so long
Nothings gonna tear us apart

We were strangers starting out on a journey
Never dreaming what we'd have to go through
Now here we are, I'm suddenly standing at the beginning with you

No one told us we were going to meet you
Unexpected, what you did for my heart
When I lost hope, you were there to remind me this is the start

And life is a road and I wanna keep going
Love is a river I wanna keep flowing
Life is a road now and forever wonderful journey
Well be there when the world stops turning
Well be there when the storm is through
In the end were gonna be standing at the beginning with you

We were strangers on a crazy adventure
Never dreaming what dreams would come true
Now here we stand, unafraid of the future
At the beginning with you

God might lead us away from each other
Not meet again in this life
But since He has paid for the cost, with His Son on the cross
Nothings gonna tear us apart

Studying for Microbio Final

Interesting quotes from the lectures:

Cows. Obviously they have a mouth where they eat and an anus where they poop, but in between is a much different story than the humans.

Lignins pass through the cows, and end up in the cow pie in the field

Humans need to be omnivores to meet the nutrient and vitamin needs as an adult.

The rumen is large, which is why the cows are quite round in the middle.

Funny quotes from the apt:

In trying to understand IEEE(engineering meeting of the minds conference) CK analogized, "Oh! It's like if we got together with Catholics and talked about Jesus, and if we got together with Jews and talked about Moses?" -close CK but not quite.

Tidbits

Blogs Blogs Blogs!

Today is a short post, more of networking for those around me. :)


One observation, around the time of finals there seems to be a flurry of posts on people's blogs, perhaps an increase in activity. Here are some fun reads for those of you 'studying' for finals, mayhaps better for those breaks from studying. =]

4 Things to share:

Finals are here! finals are here! Great reminder of the precious time we need to always spend time at the feet of our Shepherd. To sit and to be still, and to not let our time and schedule dictate who we are.

Oh goody isn't that a box? I got a box! A very talented and God fearing woman and musician =]. Her light and upbeat message in this short song blends well with the looming week of finals to come.

Disney in life? New found revelation from a dear friend while exploring the views of Disney's Pocahontas, an in depth observation of the "boring male lead" known as Kokoum

The baker in me loves the cute things that emanate from the blog, the pictures and the adventures to come are quite exciting.

That's all for now. Happy final-ing.

sick and tired.

I have come to the conclusion that the three word phrase above needs to leave my vocabulary.
Sleep. is a beautiful thing, one of submission to the Father, in understanding the work will still be here tomorrow, and knowing that we are not God.

Health is fleeting. Recently many of my loved ones have fallen ill, reminding me of how fragile life is, and how once again we are dependent creatures. Even when we are strong, we are weak.

Rest. we find in the Word of God, we find through prayer, we find peace and understanding of situations, in knowing that the purpose of all things is not for us to know, but for us to obey with faith.

Truth. is not relative, but concrete. this is what sheds light to the eternal hope.

Joy. to find in every situation, regardless of the circumstances, to stand firm and to count it to trust and hold fast.

Consider it all joy my brothers when you encounter various trials knowing
that the testing of your faith produces endurance, and let endurance have its
work in you so that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.

-James 1:2-3

Tidbits

New Songs and Artists to Check out:

Youtube surfing during midterm season has landed me a couple great vocalists

ClaraCMusic has a deep and rich tone, gentle with pretty awesome acoustic accompaniment

Jason Chen's version of Wedding Dress by Taeyang [english dub/translation] got me through a couple days of hardcore microbio studying. He's emotion in this one may not be as strong as his revision of this song that is also posted here, but his voice comes through more clearly in the original make.

Lastly, one of my friend's pet project of putting study music to great art to help students focus to music...pretty legit.
The best one so far, the others slightly remind me of dramas.

Tissue for a gunshot wound...

An excerpt from "The Authority of the Bible" by Jacob Smith in Modern Reformation (v 19.1.Jan/Feb 2010)

By focusing on application and didacticism, the church has actually helped lessen the authority of the Bible in the eyes of people. The Bible does speak to finances (and it does have a lot to say about sex, often times even too scandalous for your local evangelical megachuch). Yet, when churches focus on "fixing" a part of life, they misuse the Bible to address only our symptoms as opposed to our disease. The idea that scripture is in any way self-help is a flawed premise; rather, the biblical diagnosis of humanity is that we are beyond help. Our mismanagement of money, our flawed relationships, and our failure as leaders are simply the symptoms of the disease called sin. As Luther would say, they are the fruit of a bad root. To offer perople five steps from the Bible to a better you-fill-in-the-blank is like a hospital offering the victim of a lethal gunshot wound a tissue: after a while no one would recognize the authority of the hospital either.

end of winter quarter, and beginning of spring quarter!

Outing with V and J @ Apple Pan: banana cream pie(top), hickory burger (right)
Delicious, although neither has apple in it, but the real banana slices in the pie made all the difference between Marie Calendars and this pie. Hickory burger. Two words 'nuff said. Smokey taste comes through every bite, and lingers in the back of your mouth. Great juicy burger.

Service is a bit brusque. It's a self seating countertop U shaped table. The waiter shuttles and plops down the food in front of you, and you see them work quite quickly. So for long conversations I would save it for another burger joint, but this is the place for a delicious FAST burger.



[photo cred:b.chang]




Senior Trip @ San Diego: Sitting on the bed at the resort (top), Phil's BBQ (bottom)

Overall very eventful trip. Good friends, good food and good fellowship.
Let's talk about the food though. I would say this trip was scrumptious. Hit up Phil's BBQ, in the picture you can see... the massive onion rings along with some remains of ribs and baked beans... somewhere. BBQ done right! Flavor all in the meat, nothing left out. Haven't had that much meat in a while thought.



T's bridal shower: great food... from this plate you can see the variety of tea sandwiches[cucumber, salmon, chicken almond, and chicken curry (counter clock)], pigs in a blanket and sticking through the middle moz and tomato skewers.

Once again, a great day, quite sunny outside, ladies in cute dresses and just overall happy times.

It's the beginning of the end. Spring is in the airrrr...


[photo cred: j.lee]

hm... apparently on our balcony as well... =]

What God has to say about pride and humility

When pride comes, then comes disgrace, but with humility comes wisdom. Proverbs 11:2

Pride only breeds quarrels, but wisdom is found in those who take advice. Proverbs 13:10

Pride goes before destruction, a haughty spirit before a fall. Proverbs 16:18

The end of a matter is better than its beginning, and patience is better than pride. Eccl 7:8

In his pride the wicked does not seek him; in all his thoughts there is no room for God. Psalm 10:4

compromise

"Compromise...an inability to deal with the biblical data as God intends us to deal because we are overwhelmed with our own personal desires. And so we substitute ourselves as the one to be pleased rather than God and we learn well the art of compromise." -John MacArthur

How true. How different this was though for Daniel. In his time, as a youth moved from the Judah in the first deportation, he was taken from his family, re-educated, renamed but yet after all this, he stood firm in his knowledge of the Word of God. He stood up against the defilement of his body with the rich but unclean food, most likely sacrificed to idols and other pagan Babylonian gods, as well as the king's wine, the most delicious in the kingdom.

Daniel stood firm, he did not compromise.

But Daniel resolved that he would not defile himself with the king's food, or with the wine that he drank. Therefore he asked the chief of the eunuchs to allow him not to defile himself. -Daniel 1:8

Let us resolve to not defile ourselves, not to allow compromise into our lives. Ones that would slowly chip away at our view of a holy and righteous God. A God who is a consuming fire.

Music Musings

Sweet are the Seasons Matthew Smith

Sweet are the seasons when we wait
To hear what God our Lord will say
For they who watch at wisdom’s gate
Are never empty sent away

Behold us, Lord, a few of Thine
Who hither come to seek Thy face
In mercy on Thy people shine
And let Thy presence fill the place

How sweet, how blessed is the thought
That Thou dost hear Thy people’s cries
And whether Thou dost give or not
‘Tis love that grants and love denies

O teach us, Lord, to wait Thy will
To be content with all Thou dost
For us Thy grace sufficient still
With most supplied when needing most

Till life shall end, thus let it be
And O sustain us in that hour
That conflict past, we hope to see
The Savior whom we here adore

We hope at length to take our part
With yonder host, through trouble brought
We hope to see Thee as Thou art
And then to praise Thee as we ought

8,9,10th Week

Quick update from the last couple of weeks picture-wise:


Alas, every weekend has been raining, view from the front of my house.



This one is for Peking Duck - my first attempt at crocheting a hat... turned into a pillowcase


The sunshine after the rain...



my cutie piee



Sister's Appreciation! Thanks brudders!




Mrs. White from cluee



Pre-finals dessert, sweet tooth was craving chocolate cake...


a surprising gift from the friendly neighbor upstairs.. homemade chocolate TRUFFLES

Tidbits

Challies has "A La Carte"
Bchang has "Randoms"

I thought I would jump on and share.. Tidbits!

Sojourner's "Dating" Part 1; Part 2
Sermon series on Biblical dating, but oh so much more than dating... a Biblical worldview
A little excerpt:

"Are you looking for God's will? God's will is in the BIBLE, you don't just sit around and talk about 'I think this is God's will for me' but... it's in the BIBLE, Romans 12:1 (why you live) Romans 12:2 (How you live)..."

"Be patient, and wait on your affections"

Let Us Kneel At Calvary
New Easter released song from ResoundWorship! Such powerful lyrics to remind us about the death and resurrection of Christ.

"Friends" Star Getting Married
It's great that David Schwimmer's getting married, but how sad the state of marriage is now in secular culture that they need to mention "first trip down the aisle".

6 and 7th week

We are nearing the end of my academic career at UCLA! AH! so scary! 8th week is upon us soon.

Midweek last week had a stomach bug of some sort, I woke up early to go read at the library... and my stomach decided to revolt and thus ended my day of productivity.

I decided to go home at 9am, before my classes even started. Sadness. But all is well now =], stomach is back to eating capacity!



It's so nice to have class in North Campus... you see the pretty side of school. Green trees, people taking a stroll... its nice


Tiramisu with Bons nite + Olympics


Tiff came back from HK! Literati for breakfast/coffee to catch up, that was delicious.


Cathy made delicious PHO! from scratch. just for us. she loves us like that.


Tonight's dinner, leftover pizza making material on Ciabatta with yummy garlic fries. A testament to stomach being back to normal!!

Alas I must depart, but a glimpse into my life for the next couple days...

keeping me company

Videos about Skid Row

Since going to Children of the Shepherd I've been impacted by the people I've met there. Everyone is loving, and living life with the love of Christ; you can see it in their interactions with each other, with strangers. The majority of people are not homeless, but teetering on the edge, are also dealing with drug addiction, alcoholism, abuse in the family, things that we read about, hear about, but are blind to. To be able to see them every week, I've grown to admire and love them, for simply being able to survive with a Christlike attitude, something that I struggle with, outside of all these additional social issues. Yes it could be that they chose this lifestyle, and they have to deal with it; but honestly, if God was to treat us with that attitude, we would not be alive. We chose to sin, and so we have to deal with it. Yes that's true we should be dealing with our sins, and the consequences of our actions, but God's grace, mercy and love were shown to us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Now how can we just brush off the people most in need, the invisible people of our city, the homeless, the orphans, the widows, the addicts, the abused? Where is the compassion in sharing with them love of a Savior?

This video documentary series was sobering to think about. It was made in 2006, and it chronicles different aspects of Skid Row, the progression being Intro, Kids, Drugs, God, and Afterward. These 5 short clips, barely grazes the surface of the problem, yet the images stay with you. The stark reality of it all, Beverly Hills down the street from South Central. The things we don't see because we don't want to see. I think I will just let the videos speak.

5th Week in Review

The stairs I almost tripped on in front of speech class

the sunshine before the rain, the flowers in full bloom!

the sunshine after the rain.

Theses little buggers got me and benson in trouble in our film class... they were too crunchy and we were being too loud :(

my precious baby. Too cute!

Mom's birthday: cake mocha frosting chocolate(left) and chocolate chocolate(right)

Homemade tomato soup bowl during that rainy week, yum yum

Our Christmas Family portrait
(ok.. so not really 5th week review, but I really like this picture!)

My Purpose in Life

My brethren in Christ, labour for souls of all sorts: for your children and for those who are past the threescore years and ten. Seek out the drunkard; go after the thief; despise not the poor down-trodden slave; let every race, let every colour, let every age, let every profession, let every nation, be the object of your soul's prayers. You live in this world, I hope, to bring souls to Jesus;

- Rev. C. H. SPURGEON, (Children Brought to Christ, and Not to the Font; No. 581 Delivered on Sunday Morning, July 24th, 1864, At the Metropolitan Tabernacle, Newington) [emphasis mine]

Preparing for the sunday school lesson for Children of the Shepherd, I stumbled across this gem. Such a powerful reminder on why I am allowed to awake each morning.

The harvest is plentiful, the workers are few ... the key words are "labour" and "workers"; it's not meant to be easy, but we are to seek out, go after for the purpose of bringing souls to Jesus.

I know what I will write my speech on now.

convictions

how we talk....

Typography from Ronnie Bruce on Vimeo.

Family

"How does she submit to her brothers and her father? How does he treat his sisters and his mother?" -Rick Holland

Yes. Quoting Pastor Rick because what he says is so insightful. When you seriously think about it, how one acts with the family is the telling and most revealing thing about a person.

Everyone has the facade in front of their friends, no one wants to be the 'bad guy', the one who tells you faults and sin that you need to be dealing with, but within the context of the family... that is where it's really at.

Being at home again makes me appreciative. The situations where I am not in control. It is so character revealing and sometimes the person I am at home, scares me. It shows me how much pride I still have. Even if I'm "humble" at school, at home the humility, the practice of submission, the practice of grace and love; it all unravels. Family is where I have the most security in being who I truly am, the sinful nature comes sneaking out because I am not actively fighting. Because at home, it's comfortable. this is where the application, this is the time in which my theology should shine through my actions, in what I wear, in how I act.

When pride comes, then comes disgrace, but with humility comes wisdom.
proverbs 11:2

Pride only breeds quarrels, but wisdom is found in those who take advice. prov 13:10

Pride goes before destruction, a haughty spirit before a fall. prov 16:18

The end of a matter is better than its beginning, and patience is better than pride. Eccl 7:8

In his pride the wicked does not seek him; in all his thoughts there is no room for God. psalm 10:4

How aptly this prayer:

Heart Corruptions

O God, may Thy Spirit speak in me that I may speak to thee. I have no merit, let the merit of Jesus stand for me. I am undeserving, but I look to Thy tender mercy. I am full of infirmities, wants, sin; Thou art full of grace.

I confess my sin, my frequent sin, my wilful sin; all my powers of body and soul are defiled: a fountain of pollution is deep within my nature. There are chambers of foul images within my being; I have gone from one odious room to another, walked in a no-man's-land of dangerous imaginations, pried into the secrets of my fallen nature.

I am utterly ashamed that I am what I am in myself; I have no green shoot in me nor fruit, but thorns and thistles; I am a fading leaf that the wind drives away; I live bare and barren as a winter tree, unprofitable, fit to be hewn down and burnt. Lord, dost Thou have mercy on me?

Thou hast struck a heavy blow at my pride, at the false god of self, and I lie in pieces before Thee. But Thou hast given me another master and lord, Thy Son, Jesus, and now my heart is turned towards holiness, my life speeds as an arrow from a bow towards complete obedience to Thee. Help me in all my doings to put down sin and to humble pride. Save me from the love of the world and the pride of life, from everything that is natural to fallen man, and let Christ's nature be seen in me day by day. Grant me grace to bear Thy will without repining, and delight to be not only chiselled, squared, or fashioned, but separated from the old rock where I have been embedded so long, and lifted from the quarry to the upper air, where I may be built in Christ for ever.

The Valley of Vision: A Collection of Puritan Prayers & Devotions, edited by Arthur Bennett

365 days of pictures

After long deliberations and persuasion by those already participating, I too will be joining the ranks of those embarked on the journey of posting 365 pictures within a year. As you might have observed, I am about 25 days behind, which means I owe 25 pictures in these up coming posts. I have a couple here that I took recently. =]

Long awaited pictures from the Palm Springs Trip, my lovely parentals

my "cool" younger brother

Delicious Beef Noodle Soup that I made for lunch today... (great attempt the first time, failed miserably, but now I have learned from my mistakes... ask if you want the recipe)

My studying ensemble for the Pharmacy Technician Certification... which I PASSED!! Smiles all around

AACF Retreat 2010: Reality of Heaven and Hell; Senior class!

Best apt a girl could ask for, godly, good looking and good times

the BEST ROOMMATE EVER! You can see why :)

And... I figure if a picture is a 1000 words, than a video should be about 17 pictures right? At least its worth the watch. Senior class bonding time for the win!

New Songs That I Enjoy

Recent songs of worship that I have enjoyed

Come Thou Fount, Come Thou King


God of My Days

http://www.freechristianresources.org/2008-06/gateway-worship-god-of-my-days

\\Chorus\\
You're the God of my days, the King of my nights,
The Lord of my laughter, Sovereign in sorrow,
You're the Prince of my praise, the love of my life...


The alliteration draws to attention even more how mighty and great our God is.

Both are from gateway worship, and chord charts can be found at here

Prone to wander...

A verse in the hymn Come thou Fount of Every Blessing that describes how easily that we stray:

"O to grace how great a debtor
Daily I’m constrained to be!
Let Thy goodness, like a fetter,
Bind my wandering heart to Thee.
Prone to wander, Lord, I feel it,
Prone to leave the God I love;
Here’s my heart, O take and seal it,
Seal it for Thy courts above."

My prayer is that you would take my heart Lord, take it seal it.
Create in me a desire for heaven... where we will be united with You.

"When we’ve arrived, stunned and surprised
All things resolved in the blink of an eye
No more distractions, no sin left to fight
The first glimpse of Jesus and faith becomes sight"