There and Back Again

Well, summer is over.

Yay! Although I can’t believe it’s been a wild 8 weeks already. I guess I shouldn’t say wild because welcome week is right around the corner. Another intense 2 weeks + whatever more we have afterwards.

It’s been a wild summer (read previous blog), but it feels good to be done. Can’t believed I learned a lot during this 8 week stretch. Got to taste a little of what it means to be upperclassmen (the rest comes from actually being upperclassmen). Got equipped for the next year.

I took this title from The Hobbit because it kind of felt like what Bilbo went through. He went through a lot more than he bargained for, but in the end it was worth it. He made an adventure out of it in hidnsight (thus him writing the book, There and Back Again). Certainly, this summer is been a lot more than I bargained for. I was already stressed coming in with 2 technical courses (Discrete Mathematics and Data Structures), and I ended up taking GTS courses, ATTR seminars, helping host a Worldview Camp, and doing a lot of other things. In hindsight, it was pretty awesome to learn about these things (surprisingly Math 55 was fun, at least interesting, and I can safely say I know how to work Java). Learned about Christian ideology and how to have a spiritually hungry mentality. Now that I’m back at home in SoCal, resting before the next hurdle, a new school year. Wahoo~ These past 8 weeks were probably the busiest, yet beneficial 8 weeks of my life. But it was well worth it.

Now time to gear up for Welcome Week and the new school year. Oh boy, another long year of fun, stress, and everything in between. Meh, I feel indifferent

Heading up to Berkeley in 3 days. Then to gear up for welcome week activities.

Song of the Day: Tim Be Told – Reach For the Light (http://youtu.be/Uh0f-NwfYSs)

Return

I don’t know why, but I want to blog, but I never know what to blog about….

My days are pretty routine, school, DTs, work, homework, church events. *yawn* I need some free time in my life.

Summer is going by so fast o___o… it’s already almost August. But in hindsight, a LOT has happened this past summer already.

• Moved into Benvenue
• Upperclassmen Retreat
• All-Gracepoint picnic
• ATTR sessions
• Worldview Camp
• Yosemite Trip
• 10k
• GTS (Systematic Theology)
• IM Basketball

Anyways, I read that time travel is theoretically impossible as photons cannot surpass the speed of light. Since the speed of light is the fastest anything with mass can go in the universe, anything going fast would beg the fact that an effect occurs before the cause. We know that an effect must come after a cause, so to go past the speed of light to alter the time elapse of the universe is impossible. *sigh*

Meh, I think random posts are so middle school… I’ll try to post something more interesting if I do….

For now, enjoy some of my favorite pictures from Yosemite and Worldview!

New Found Music

Going through radio stations and iTunes…

MIKESCHAIR – Someone Worth Dying For

[UPBEAT] Shonlock – Something in Your Eyes

[FUN] tobymac feat. John Cooper – Tonight

Midway

Wow, a lot of things happened here.

Finals are over, the semester with it. The class of 2011graduating. We [Dwight] moved out into Benvenue (praying that we can preserve the community). Came back home. World didn’t end.

Well, now I’m half way done with college, a lot has happened in these past two years. I’ve learned a lot about people, life, and God. Well, I never intended to come across these things in college, but I guess it was destined that I would learn about what it means to be human, from the beginning of our lives to the purpose of our lives. The past two years taught me that if I can’t live and get along, let alone love these people whom I call my friends, then how can I go about saying the things I say or doing the things I do without knowing that in the end, I’ve only looked out for myself and no one else. Scary thought. I guess, I have  a lot to be thankful for: Having supportive parents in my life, a community that harbors relationships, guys who I can call my brothers, and a God who continues to love me and watch over me. Wow, didn’t think this would become a thankful reflection…

But yeah, if I can sum up what I learned the past two years it’s humility. Just giving up your own time for the benefit of others. I think that brings more joy than constantly trying to receive and gain things. Hmmm… perhaps it is better to give than to receive.

I’m kinda excited for this summer. Got 2 classes, work, and discipleship stuff. Hmmm…maybe it’s a bit busier than I would like, but it should be fun nonetheless.

A Final Stretch

Yeah, blogging kind of escaped my mind and I got too lazy to try to formulate a way to blog without sounding boring or self-absorbed (which I probably already was doing)

But nonetheless, I hope to blog more, even though finals are coming up…. the final stretch of the semester…. But will definitely try to blog more this summer *crosses finger*, especially those who are bored enough to read the over the summer

But yeah, stuff that’s going on… I’ve been squeezing by these past few weeks, just to get my bearings on in my classes (I still hate R&C courses, aka, I still hate essays). It’s probably my sense that an essay is counter-intuitive to that of problem sets, where there are better answers to writing a paper versus a problem set where there is only one. So once you’re done, it’s done. But, papers don’t follow that rule….

Anyways, that’s my ranting of papers, but CS is just as bad. Too many crazy coders who surpass me at everything, sigh. Well, all I can say is, the guys you want to hire, those 4.0 guys, are because of guys with 2.0 like me. HA! respect me.

But, that trick will never work on them. Oh well. Another one of those stinking semesters…

Spiritually, I’ve been falling back. If it wasn’t for Easter and the sense of urgency through serving, I would be in a hole of spiritual deficiency. I guess, I’ve been getting caught in building relationships and school that I’ve lost sight of the beauty of the gospel. Sure, meeting people and getting to know them is a good thing, but that course can stray from its purpose. It can have a neutral effect on spiritual growth as learning becomes stagnant and the desire to have fun increases. But serving and helping out in ministry helped break my sense of complacency and really place me on track to share the gospel through the relationships I have built and are to come. I guess now I need to find way to grow rather than find ways to have fun and find excuses. The final stretches of frolic and play are coming to an end. Spiritual growth needs to come soon and prepare me and the rest of my peers for love and the gospel.

I really do hope that as next year comes and Father Time calls us to mature and be serving, that we can take it seriously (well I plan to) and make it the way I live my life. Seeing the community in action where no lives for him/herself, but lives for the community and for the respect for God.

Scared, but look forward to this change. (Pray for us)

Song of the Night :: In the Secret – Sonicflood

http://www.flickr.com/photos/joshahn/sets/72157626494256875/

Accomplished

Oh boy, finally Spring Break has arrived.

More projects, more work, but above all, more rest (hopefully)

Things I’ve accomplished today

• Met with parents and said farewell (another 2 months)
• Went to Church and rejuvenated my mindset on my journey of faith with God
• Fixed the heater (relit the pilot light). Now the room is a nice 70 degrees ^^
• Changed one of the bulbs in the hallway
• Cleaned the apartment (organize stuff, vacuum, kitchen stuff)
• Washed the old rags (were getting a tad moldy)
• Cleaned my desk

Things to do tomorrow and onward

• Laundry
• Running at the Gym
• Do CS Project
• Fix Bike
• Watch Inception
• Do DTs and reflection time for baptism

Well, the list goes on with menial things that are far too insignificant to post. But this is a list to keep me accountable as this is a week where I have little to worry about academically and could focus on building character and getting my life organized and focused for the next stretch of life.

Amidst the calamities in Libya and the reconstruction in Japan, what does it all mean? Does it mean that there is no God or that God doesn’t care about people? Or does it mean that people need to wake up and care for their fellow man and take charge of their lives? Looking at people and seeing that they only say “pray for Japan” or “that was a tragedy” and yet go about their day without ever thinking about it or even feeling a remote change in their lives is kinda sad to see. People are more caught up with Facebook, Youtube, and popular culture more than ever. Do people really don’t care about what life really means? Or are we becoming a generation that is oblivious to the call of being human? The US is taking on another war and the events in Japan are due in the Western United States. Maybe it’s time we look away from the computer screen and look to the world for a change.

Stewards

What does it  mean to be unique?

I’m debating whether to keep posting about things that happened (to capture memories) or to relate things that are more reader-friendly….

Well today, I’ll do a little of both

For recaps, these past few weekends have been intense with North Loop, Longboarding, basketball, studying, cramming, food, aimless fellowship, late nights, sleeping in, extremely cold weather, etc. Don’t want to go over them all, but the sense of community through friends make living life together true. Pastor Ed’s message series on Life Together really has put the message of living life as One Body in Christ into perspective as I can see it in my life. Just looking at my peer class alone, there are about 35-40 guys who I can call as my brothers. And many more in the church whom I can as well. Not to mention sisters of course. It just put into perspective the kind of community I am surrounded by. I wouldn’t give that up for anything else because rather than being stuck in a nonadhesive lifestyle, where things come and go and where pleasing oneself is better than pleasing one another. Not to say it is wrong, but to say that maybe it is better to live in that kind of community, where living life together and for each other in purity.

“Neither here nor there” is probably my new favorite phrase because it relates to Revelations 3:15-17:

¹⁵ I know your deeds, that you are neither cold nor hot. I wish you were either one or the other! ¹⁶So, because you are lukewarm—neither hot nor cold—I am about to spit you out of my mouth. ¹⁷You say, ‘I am rich; I have acquired wealth and do not need a thing.’ But you do not realize that you are wretched, pitiful, poor, blind and naked.

It’s a call to choose a side, choose the kind of life that you want to live and be that person you want to be. Be a steward of your life. Don’t let someone else dictate your life. Don’t be an imitator of what you see or what people tell you to be, but take charge of your life and declare the person you want to be. Being cool, being attractive, being smart are all relative comparisons, and not absolute. So chasing these attributes is rather silly if you ask me because someone can always be better than you in a different way. So don’t just hang out on the fence, but rather jump off that fence and choose a side that you want to be. Be bold in your decision, have faith in what you proclaim. It is always better to hang out with people who are themselves rather than people who don’t really know who they are. I think being confident in a decision is better than being wishy-washy just to be accepted. Because if people are creatures of love and able to care for one another, then as people, we can accept anyone for whoever they are.

I rant too much. Bah. I hope it was fun read. Just wanted to see if people would get upset or not. Hehe.

Song of the Day: Hillsong United – Awakening

Bliss&Unrest

Hmm, maybe I should have titled it Bittersweet, perhaps the same meaning

Anyways, this weekend was a blissful and restless weekend. It was full of fun, grief, and everything in between. After Friday (which was mentioned in my previous post), which had a lot of ups and downs, this weekend was summed up in that way as well. With my CS project due Sunday night, I had to coordinate my weekend so that I can fit everything. Too bad I had basketball, North Loop, Frisbee, and SWS set up to do on Saturday. So basically, I had to sneak in CS whenever I could. Then Sunday, I had to run to finish my project and get it in before 11:59PM Sunday.

Saturday: Woke up at 10AM to play ball with Gracepoint people. Typical day at RSF, got to play with freshmen and improve off-ball movements. Afterwards, we had to rush back to get ready for North Loop. Why we went, I’m not sure, we wanted to get studying done and be there fore Daniel Oh, but I think most of it was spent playing or playing babies (Nico and Ashley). Grabbed In-N-Out for lunch (extra veggies, yummm) and hung out with the GLive staff members who looked like they were back in school stressed for Finals…. heh heh heh. It was fun to hang out with the staff outside of Koinonia events, just to talk and chill with them. Afterwards, we rushed back to Berkeley to play some Frisbee. After an intense workout, we quickly went over to Willard to help set up for SWS the next day. There I learned lighting and power, which is different from the sound and projector stuff that I’m accustomed to for KoinOps. Alas, afterwards, I went back to coding late into the night….

Sunday: Woke up (10AM, went to bed the previous night at 3AM), started coding again. Had breakfast at Bongo Burger with some of the guys, headed to FSM to code and finish my project, except the clusters stopped working and became a pain to me. Went into Stacks cause outside was getting cold. After running my code (which took 45min), I ended up getting to SWS late. Afterwards, I left to go back and finish my run through. So then at 11:56PM I finished. Then I had to do some apartment cleaning.

As you can see, the past few days show quite the extremes in emotions. Playing and studying.

Anyways, I realized that timing is crucial in going about in life. To plan out when to study and when to play is crucial so that we can all experience the joys of fellowship, while at the same time keep up with our academics. More than me, it shows that God plans out what I can and should do. I’ve been thinking about just how to really maximize my time with others rather than become more self-absorbed.

Evaluate

What do you want to do with your life?

Is it maximizing pleasure and minimizing pain? Or is it to make a name for yourself? Is it to take whatever you can from this world before you die?

It is fascinating to see how the world revolves around the sense of self. How we are so selfish in life that all that we do in trying to build  relationships is to overcome our sense of loneliness and to justify our selfish behaviors. Well, that is my crude opinion of things. We all live for ourself. I deserve this education, I deserve this person, I deserve my own life.

That question was answered in Fridays, All-Brothers Night. Listening to how people gave up living for themselves to serve for the better good through God and how their lives were so blessed and so joyous after forgoing such a livelihood. Giving up six figure salaries and opportunities to makes name for themselves. I suppose that life would be boring and stressful. Their lives would get more and more stressful as they need to constantly work harder and drive more and more relationships away. Relationships bring joy to people and selfishness only brings the hope of joy.

As for me, I knew that I need to live for relationships because I know that those present joys are more important than selfish joys that can’t be shared. So as my outlook on life, I choose to live that kind of life rather than my own self-absorbed life.

Pastor Ed unleashed his frustrations for our church. After the testimonies, the people were not convicted to go out and minister to the people or to give up their personal goals for the message of the gospel. That was a sad sight to see. It was a wake up call for me to now go out and continue growing in the church by participating more.

Afterwards, the sophomore guys got together and as a group, decided to take action in the church and commit more to it. By taking more of an action with our faith, we can grow to be men of Christ.

So yeah, it really got me to think about what I really want to do with my life. Perhaps living for others and less about ourselves is the way to go with our lives….

Doing the Right Thing

Wow. What a weekend.

Friday Night :: Awesome Bible Study, Pastor Ed talked about Jonah and how his attitude towards God and to people was wrong. That everyone belongs to God and God has compassion for all. So even if doesn’t seem fair to us, it is ultimately up to God to make that decision. So look to God for his heart, not to our own definitions.

Saturday :: Crazy day at Sierra Lodge, much sabotaging and much fellowship, most of which they ended up going hand in hand. But any fellowship is good fellowship in love. Did DTs in the morning, had an Iron Chef competition between the bros and the sisters in which one of the bros team won. It was pretty awesome to see our class make some pretty epic foods. Then we hit the snow and had an epic time sledding and tackling one other. Though, I couldn’t tell if the sisters were more vicious than the bros. Afterwards, we ate dinner and hung around some more before going home. Played some King Kong Shower and Empire. It was fun to go away for the weekend and have a time of fellowship.

Sunday :: A very uplifting day for me. Heard Sunday Worship Service message from John Stonestreet. He talked about being spiritually smart and to focus our minds on looking to God. That our minds are crucial in knowing God, and to really focus on living a life that honors him mentally. to grow up into a mature person who holds onto responsibility. That then led to to that night’s event. Doing the Right thing. Chuck Colson and his panel discussed the problem with morality in today’s society, where it went wrong, how to fix it, and what it means now. They talked about how morality governs everything and that it is through that absolute truth in which we can thrive and be righteous people.

So ultimately, it was a call to grow up, be that mature person by doing the right thing. Take ownership of my actions and do what I know is right. And to know what is right, I need to grow mentally through the laws laid down in Scriptures.

Through this weekend and last week, I had a CS project to do, which I almost got, but failed somewhere along the way. Meh, it was good enough for me and it was worth going through this weekend. I don’t know any other times I would be able to experience such things. It’s inspired me to live out  the right life and to live out loud the kind of life I know I want to live.

Fellowship + Memories + Spiritual Knowledge = Joy