aww. adam :)

more than anything, i want you guys to get to a heart level and deal with what's going on in your heart with your parents. my heart would love for you guys to cry, cause i'm listening... and i think we'll be blessed by it from the lord... be able to cry physically and or spiritually over this. and you're going to need lots of time - small group leaders, lots of friends. i had lots of friends... i think i've had the most staff friends cry/ pray with me... cause i've shared my story a lot and you guys are going to need people to pray for you.


so heres what i'm going to finish with. when i think about my kids, if i have kids, if we're blessed with a boy or blessed with a girl, when i'm on the epic summer project, i think my biggest role is to be a spiritual father. it's not to be a leader, it's not to be a shepherd, i think my biggest role is to be a spirtual father. little weird for me, cause it's not (real).

this is what i want to say to you guys. uh, if you're a woman, i want you to know that you're beautiful. i want you to know that you're beautiful, and you're lovely, and i want the best for you. i want you to know that you can do a lot in your life. and i think youre strong, and you can do it.

and if youre a guy, i wanna tell you that you're a man among men. and that i'm proud of you for who you are and i think you can change the world. now, whatever anyone's said about what you cant do or who you're not, i believe you are and you can and you will. and i believe you guys are going to change the world, and you guys are going to change the asian american church. if i didnt believe that i wouldnt be here. i have a great ministry in minnesota, theres tons of white kids i could hang out with - 500 of them... i've spent my last two summers and im going to spend this summer and i imagine i'll spened a lot more summers, epic summer project... because i believe in you guys. i wouldnt spend my time here if i didnt believe in you guys. i want you to know you can do it. all the fears you have about ministry on campus or fears you have about going on a summer project or fears you have about doing ministry or whatever it is that you want to do, fears about saying no to your parents about what they want you to do, i want you to know you can do it. i did it, i'm not any more special than you, i'm not smarter than you, i'm not more loved by God than you, i'm just like you, im just older. i want you to believe you can do it.

let me pray for you... oh lord, God i pray that you would be the heavenly father we lack of our earthly fathers. jesus, i pray that you would allow us as staff to be spiritual fathers. God, we just need you, we just need you to break through, and we need you to get to our heart. lord would you not allow us to hide from this issue and hide from the pains that we have and i pray that this weekend, even, and this summer hopefully too, would be a real turning point for us as individuals and as the church, as the asian american church. lord we choose to believe () in you to follow you and let you be our father. so we love you, and we thank you and pray this in your name. amen.

snow patrol - chasing cars

We'll do it all
Everything
On our own

We don't need
Anything
Or anyone

If I lay here
If I just lay here
Would you lie with me and just forget the world

I don't quite know
How to say
How I feel

Those three words,
are said too much
they're not enough
If I lay here
If I just lay here
Would you lie with me and just forget the world?

Forget what we're told
Before we get too old
Show me a garden that's bursting into life

Let's waste time
Chasing cars

Around our heads

(In album version but not in music video)
I need your grace
To remind me
To find my own

If I lay here
If I just lay here
Would you lie with me and just forget the world?

Forget what we're told
Before we get too old
Show me a garden that's bursting into life

All that I am
All that I ever was
Is here in your perfect eyes
They're all I can see

I don't know where
Confused about how as well
Just know that these things
Will never change for us at all

If I lay here
If I just lay here
Would you lie with me and just forget the world?




ahh... just holding on.

InterVarsity paper on ethnic student ministries...

TWO VIEWS REGARDING ETHNIC SPECIFIC AND MULTI-ETHNIC FELLOWSHIPS
By Collin Tomikawa and Sandy Schaupp, March 2001 Written for the National Asian American Staff Conference, March 2001 (InterVarsity Christian Fellowship/USA, 2001

PREFACE: This paper will address the two main types of Asian American ministry that we have in InterVarsity: ethnic specific and multiethnic. (Within the category of ethnic specific fellowships, they are Pan Asian American, Korean American or Chinese American). We will talk about the Scriptural basis for these fellowships, presenting two views as well as to discuss the strengths and weaknesses of the two types of ministries. This paper is intended for Asian American staff and students. Though it may relate to other situations as well, it is not intended to address issues of all ethnic specific ministries. Before we start, we want to start by introducing ourselves a bit and sharing some about our background, and why we are writing this paper.

R.C. Sproul, The Holiness of God (p. 276)

How can we love a holy God? The simplest answer I can give to this vital question is that we can't. Loving a holy God is beyond our moral power. The only kind of God we can love by our sinful nature is an unholy god, an idol made by our own hands.

Unless we are born of the Spirit of God, unless God sheds His holy love in our hearts, unless He stoops in His grace to change our hearts, we will not love Him... We can only love Him because He first loved us. To love a holy God requires grace, grace strong enough to pierce our hardened hearts and awaken our moribund souls.

the faith of napoleon bonaparte

Napoleon expressed the following thoughts while he was exiled on the rock of St. Helena. There, the conqueror of civilized Europe had time to reflect on the measure of his accomplishments. He called Count Montholon to his side and asked him, "Can you tell me who Jesus Christ was?" The count declined to respond. Napoleon countered:

Well then, I will tell you. Alexander, Caesar, Charlemagne and I myself have founded great empires; but upon what did these creations of our genius depend? Upon force. Jesus alone founded His empire upon love, and to this very day millions will die for Him. . . . I think I understand something of human nature; and I tell you, all these were men, and I am a man; none else is like Him: Jesus Christ was more than a man. . . . I have inspired multitudes with such an enthusiastic devotion that they would have died for me . . . but to do this is was necessary that I should be visibly present with the electric influence of my looks, my words, of my voice. When I saw men and spoke to them, I lightened up the flame of self-devotion in their hearts. . . . Christ alone has succeeded in so raising the mind of man toward the unseen, that it becomes insensible to the barriers of time and space. Across a chasm of eighteen hundred years, Jesus Christ makes a demand which is beyond all others difficult to satisfy; He asks for that which a philosopher may often seek in vain at the hands of his friends, or a father of his children, or a bride of her spouse, or a man of his brother. He asks for the human heart; He will have it entirely to Himself. He demands it unconditionally; and forthwith His demand is granted. Wonderful! In defiance of time and space, the soul of man, with all its powers and faculties, becomes an annexation to the empire of Christ. All who sincerely believe in Him, experience that remarkable, supernatural love toward Him. This phenomenon is unaccountable; it is altogether beyond the scope of man's creative powers. Time, the great destroyer, is powerless to extinguish this sacred flame; time can neither exhaust its strength nor put a limit to its range. This is it, which strikes me most; I have often thought of it. This it is which proves to me quite convincingly the Divinity of Jesus Christ.

justin mcroberts - learning to need you

I've forgotten
just how sweet Your mercies are Lord

I've forgotten
just how sweet Your mercies are Lord
Could You remind me

You've been faithful in my weakness
Father Your Love overwhelms my soul
I'm learning to need You


I cry out Your name
I am in need of Your mercies, Jesus
Despite my pride and my shame
I'm learning to need You

Hillsong United - From The Inside Out

A thousand times I've failed
Still Your mercy remains And should I stumble again
I'm caught in Your grace
Everlasting
Your light will shine when all else fades
Never ending
Your glory goes beyond all fame

Your will above all else
My purpose remains
The art of losing myself
In bringing You praise
Everlasting
Your light will shine when all else fades
Never ending
Your glory goes beyond all fame

In my heart and my soul
Lord I give You control
Consume me from the inside out
Lord let justice and praise
Become my embrace
To love you from the inside out

Everlasting
Your light will shine when all else fades
Never ending
Your glory goes beyond all fame
And the cry of my heart
Is to bring You praise
From the inside out
Lord my soul cries out




spring retreat '07
lord, have you really been preparing me for this moment since i was born?

sigh. i miss hawaii.

also...



all that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing.

loving ministry or loving people?

jaeson mas post is such a good reminder.




also:



The Blueprint: A Revolutionary Plan to Plant Missional Communities on Campus

probably the only album i've ever bought twice.
i less than three it :o)

jim o'rourke - halfway to a threeway (ep)

Pitchfork interviews Jeff Tweedy (Wilco)...

just some thoughts i found intellectually intriguing.

Pitchfork: The lyrics to Sky Blue Sky-- especially in the first and last tracks-- kind of talk about relationships that have gone on maybe too long.

Jeff Tweedy: No, I think the songs are more about relationships that are endless. I wouldn't deny you your interpretation. I think both those songs are just kind of trying to express some acceptance of the idea that we don't really know what's going to happen and I'm going to try to do my part, my thing, as honestly and as with as much spirit as I can even in the face of that. The whole record to me is really, lyrically, geared towards being more accepting of ambiguity.

Pitchfork: In some of the essays you'd written in the Wilco book that you put out not long ago, you also say that it's not so much the listener's interpretation you're worried about, but if you're really straight up about what these songs mean they're less important to you because you don't have an out. I mean, is that true, are there songs that have shifted their meaning for you?

Jeff Tweedy: There are definitely songs that have shifted in meaning for me-- most of them. But I think that maybe at the time I gave those interviews or talked about it I didn't have as much faith in the ideas that you didn't need an out. And that maybe if I could talk to that version of myself now I would say that, you know, no matter how straight forward you think something is there's probably an angle that you're forgetting or not seeing that might become more or less important to you in the future. But it doesn't really matter, you know? What's the worst that could happen? You lose touch with the song and you don't sing it anymore. I don't think that that's a really high-risk situation.

Pitchfork: You could always write more.

Jeff Tweedy: [laughs] The world has enough.

Pitchfork: Can you think of one song that has shifted?

Jeff Tweedy: Honestly, a really big thing happened with most of the songs on A Ghost Is Born after the record came out, or before the record came out. I went through a life changing experience and there was a part of me that was very worried that a lot of that music wasn't going to be as resonant with me going out and touring on the record and trying to perform those songs. I was afraid that they came from a diseased mind or something that I didn't possess anymore. I found it the opposite. [It was] very comforting that most of those songs were way ahead of me and had reached some kind of understanding about the world that I hadn't become aware of yet. And I'm sure that's not so much the songs being able to do that but maybe a different point of view from myself being able to change the songs. But they were all sturdy enough to survive the transition. I feel good about that.

Pitchfork: So I guess you find ambiguity works for you as an artist.

Jeff Tweedy: I think it's the only intellectually honest way to be in life. To tell you the truth, I'm very, very suspicious of anybody that finds a belief system that they feel can explain it all, for themselves or for anybody else.

iq test!

Congratulations, Steph!
Your IQ score is 127

This number is based on a scientific formula that compares how many questions you answered correctly on the Classic IQ Test relative to others.

Your Intellectual Type is Word Warrior. This means you have exceptional verbal skills. You can easily make sense of complex issues and take an unusually creative approach to solving problems. Your strengths also make you a visionary. Even without trying you're able to come up with lots of new and creative ideas. And that's just a small part of what we know about you from your test results.


Interesting IQ Facts:

• The first Experimental Psychology tests were performed at the University of Pennsylvania around the year 1890.
• The Binet-Simon test was developed in 1905 to help the French government identify retarded students in need of alternative education.
• Classic formula: IQ = Mental Age/Chronological Age X 100.
• A normal intelligence quotient (IQ) ranges from 85 to 115 (According to the Stanford-Binet scale). Only approximately 1% of the people in the world have an IQ of 135 or over.
• Half of the population have IQ’s of between 90 and 110, while 25% have higher IQ’s and 25% have lower IQ’s

http://www.iqtest.com/faq.html

Gunman was one of us

The Virginia Tech killer is a reflection on all of us, not just a single ethnic group.

Gregory Rodriguez

April 23, 2007

WHAT IF YOU don’t have anything in common with your brother? What if you live on different continents? What if you’ve never even met the man? Are you still his keeper?

In a diverse nation such as ours, there is always that expectant pause after a major violent tragedy, between the moment we hear the news and when we’re told who did it. In that time, we tend to look around the proverbial room and wonder from which group the perpetrator came. Last week, the point of origin was South Korea, and Seung-hui Cho’s ethnic “brothers” in Asia and the U.S. grappled with their relationship to him.

Of course, a murderer’s ethnic, religious or racial background is relevant only if he is acting on what he thinks is a tribal imperative — like the Armenian teenager who gunned down the Turkish consul in L.A. in 1982, or the 2001 plot by Jewish Defense League leaders to bomb the office of Arab American Rep. Darrell Issa (R-Vista).

But even when ethnicity or race add little to the understanding of motive, there is still the “need” to know. It’s scary to think that everyone and anyone is capable of murderous rage. So if the bad guy can be pigeonholed based on skin color, origin or class, the fear can be focused, one group at a time.

Such profiling is silly for lots of reasons, not least that we live in a country that exalts individual over group identity. Not long after Timothy McVeigh slaughtered 168 people in Oklahoma City, I caught myself profiling a potential threat outside the Federal Building in Westwood. I saw a working-class, blond white male with a mullet cut running toward the building, and I jumped.

Although I understand the unfortunate tendency to consciously or unconsciously ascribe responsibility by group, I still don’t think governments and ethnic organizations should endorse this sort of stereotyping. After the Virginia Tech killer’s identity was released last week, the South Korean president and many Korean American associations did just that.

Even though 23-year-old Cho was a permanent resident in the U.S., South Korean President Roh Moo-hyun felt obliged to issue at least three messages of condolences for an act that occurred far away from the Korean peninsula.

Here in the U.S., Korean American organizations issued cravenly self-serving condolence statements to the victims of the massacre. In a news release, one organization promised that “the Korean American community will join the efforts of others in tackling the root causes of these senseless school shootings that continue to endanger our children and young adults.” In L.A.’s Koreatown, there was a candlelight vigil held, well, in clear daylight.

Although part of this ethnic reaction is driven by fear of a backlash, South Korea’s famously defensive nationalism also plays a role. Hunkered down in the shadow of China and Japan, South Korea has always felt a need to watch its back.

Ultimately, though, any reaction that reinforces primitive notions of racial or ethnic collective responsibility is headed for absurdity. That includes the scramble on the part of Koreans to express special outrage over the murders, and the mainstream’s desire to move Cho to a convenient margin. Late last week, U.S. news outlets tried to draw connections between Cho’s menacing self-portrait with a hammer and South Korean film director Park Chan Wook’s gory 2005 psycho-drama, “Oldboy.”

But the truth is that Cho was an American kid. He had lived in the United States since he was 8, and he was clearly immersed in the dark side of U.S. popular culture. In his video ramblings, he compared himself to the Columbine killers; he spoke English-major English.

All of us knew Cho, and, like it or not, he was one of “us,” not the ultimately elusive “them.” His horrific crimes are not a reflection on Korean people — immigrants or Korean Americans — but rather on the state of our cities, campuses, counties and country. We all were, and are, his keepers.