Your work is going to fill a large part of your life, and the only way to be truly satisfied is to do what you believe is great work. And the only way to do great work is to love what you do. If you haven’t found it yet, keep looking. Don’t settle. As with all matters of the heart, you’ll know when you find it. And, like any great relationship, it just gets better and better as the years roll on. So keep looking until you find it. Don’t settle.
I guess Steve is right. What do I love to do? Basketball? No one is going to pay me to play. Fantasy basketball? No one is going to pay me to play that either. Playing video games? Eating good food? Blogging about nothing? Taking photos of my kids?
Isaac loves the movie Cars. When Dylan was young we introduced him to various animated movies but after awhile we thought it would be best for him to watch more educational and less violent things like Wiggles, Peep and the Big Wide World, Thomas the Tank Engine, Bob the Builder, Teletubbies, etc. Dylan still remembers Nemo, The Incredibles, Toy Story 1 and 2 and Monsters Inc. but he never asked to watch them. Isaac never saw any of them.
Recently though at a book fair Dylan bought a Disney Pixar book that had stories from Ratotouille, Nemo, Cars, Toy Story and Monsters Inc. I could tell that Isaac was becoming more and more interested in Cars so when I noticed a friend had the DVD I asked to borrow it.
Since then not a day goes by when Isaac says “I want to watch Cars.” Some days Isaac will watch it three times. It is a good movie because it’s about friendship and not violent. The dialogue is easy for the boys to understand and the boys love the racing scenes and Dylan likes singing “Life is a Highway.”
Now when the boys start watching the movie Isaac yells out “Dylan let’s race!” Then the two of them run laps around the house pretending they are cars on a race track. Sometimes they even make pit stops to get new tires and gas. It’s a good way for them to get exercise.
Now when we are driving Isaac likes to ask “Are we going fast or slow?” Apparently no one told him that his dad always drives slow.
Today Ji Seon bought Isaac a Cars tricycle. It was a little expensive but we knew he’d love it. Plus he outgrew his Radio Flyer tricycle and Victoria needs something to ride.
Dylan accompanied Ji Seon to Toys R Us while Isaac and Victoria were napping. Instead of asking for toys for himself Dylan was really excited about getting the tricycle for Isaac.
My former church, Highrock Church, in Arlington, MA is having a Christmas concert to benefit the Arlington food pantry. If you are in the area please check it out.
On Saturday, November 22 our realtor, Rainmaker Properties, hosted a client appreciation event at the local theater featuring Madagascar 2. This was the first time for Victoria, Isaac and Dylan to see a movie at a theater. And I think it was the first time that I had seen a movie in a theater since Dylan was born over five years ago. Ji Seon recently got to see a movie at a theater during a women’s night out but before that I think the last time was also before Dylan was born.
We arrived right at 10:30 AM as the invite said and realized immediately our mistake. The theater was already almost completely full and we ended up sitting in the second row. I ended with a sore back from looking up at the screen.
Lunch was hamburger and hot dogs with cookies and chips. There was a raffle and we are hoping to win the 32″ LCD TV.
We were wondering how the kids would do because normally they don’t like watching movies, they find them a little scary. They prefer more innocent fare like Dora, Cyberchase, Sid the Science Kid, Dragon Tales, and Raggs. Dylan did just fine though he sat on my lap at the beginning with Isaac. Isaac found some of the parts scary. Victoria was not happy at all with being in a dark theater and Ji Seon had to take her outside and strolled her until she slept. Isaac later left me to look for Ji Seon. And at the end of the movie Victoria woke up so I took care of her while Isaac and Ji Seon returned to catch the last ten minutes.
Overall though it was a good time and I thoroughly enjoyed the movie. Isaac and Dylan loved the song “I Like to Move It, Move It” and you will sometimes hear Isaac singing it.
Last Tuesday, November 18 I thought I would take Dylan out to dinner. Isaac wanted to come too so I took both of them. We went to Chili’s because Dylan’s preschool last year gave him a coupon for a free kid’s meal.
The boys got in our Burley bike trailer and I rode to Chili’s. When we got there they were very excited about ordering from the menu. Dylan ordered a hamburger and mashed potatoes with lemonade. Isaac ordered a corn dog and french fries with lemonade.
During the middle of the meal Dylan needed to go to the bathroom so I took him and Isaac came along. In the bathroom the music being played was The Rockafeller Skank which I first heard in She’s All That. Dylan and Isaac started dancing to the music and having a great time. Isaac exclaimed “This music makes me move!”
I don’t think we will go to Chili’s again because the service was not very good. But we did enjoy the music.
I never thought I would see an openly Evangelical Christian after schools program in a liberal state such as California. But our church, GrX, runs such an after schools program at Dylan’s former school, Ponderosa Elementary. The fact that such a program exists is a testimony to the vision and relationship building skills of Helen Chae, Pastor David Chae’s wife. The Chae’s live in Ponderosa and have committed themselves to supporting Ponderosa Elementary. Helen Chae has a great relationship with the principal, Meg Jackson, a kind and obviously open-minded person.
Yesterday was the first day of Kids Club. Ji Seon volunteered to lead the Grade 1 group. This year’s leader of Kids Club is Sara Chon and she asked me to volunteer so I agreed. I ended up not doing much, just registering children and providing snacks.
Dylan and Isaac are both in the Kindergarten group. They made an exception for Isaac who is too young and for Dylan who does not attend Ponderosa since Ji Seon is volunteering. Yesterday they had a raffle (they do this every week with the tickets children get to encourage participation) and Isaac won one of the raffles. He picked a Spider-Man water bottle.
I think over sixty children showed up. And these sixty children were Europen, Asian, Hispanic, Indian, African. And many of these children are not from Christian homes. These children worshipped God with songs, played games, did crafts, and ate snacks. Overall I think they had fun and it’s just amazing what God is doing here in this community.
You are my strength when I am weak
You are the treasure that I seek
You are my all in all
Seeking You as a precious jewel
Lord, to give up I’d be a fool
You are my all in all
Taking my sin, my cross, my shame
Rising up again I bless Your name
You are my all in all
When I fall down You pick me up
When I am dry You fill my cup
You are my all in all
Jesus, Lamb of God
Worthy is Your name
Jesus, Lamb of God
Worthy is Your name
You are my strength when I am weak
You are the treasure that I seek
You are my all in all
Seeking You as a precious jewel
Lord, to give up I’d be a fool
You are my all in all
Taking my sin, my cross, my shame
Rising up again I bless Your name
You are my all in all
When I fall down You pick me up
When I get dry You fill my cup
You are my all in all
Jesus, Lamb of God
Worthy is Your name
Jesus, Lamb of God
Worthy is Your name
I am increasingly concerned that Barack Obama will not become the next President of the United States because of the latent racism that still exists and festers in this country.
At a Florida rally, Palin called Obama a friend of terrorists and someone in the audience shouted out “Kill him!” as reported by Dana Milbank of the Washington Post. This is now being investigated by the FBI because it is illegal to threaten a presidential candidate. Milbank is now saying the shout may have been in reference to Ayers. Apparently people also yelled out “Treason!”
In this video, not what I would call unbiased journalism, you hear people say Barack Obama is a terrorist because of his name. One man claims that Barack Obama was with Islamic terrorists when he was a child.
GrX, my church here in Silicon Valley, started the Unstoppable Campaign 18 months ago. Its name is based on this verse.
Therefore, in the present case I advise you: Leave these men alone! Let them go! For if their purpose or activity is of human origin, it will fail. But if it is from God, you will not be able to stop these men; you will only find yourselves fighting against God.
Acts 5:38-39 (New International Version)
It is a bold, almost arrogant campaign. How can a church of a few hundred people expect to bring the gospel to the Bay Area, let alone to nations and regions like Kenya, Cambodia, Thailand, East Asia? Though I have some questions about some specifics of the campaign overall I enthusiastically applaud this campaign for its courage and vision.
I was part of a smaller campaign back in Boston with Highrock Church and the pinnacle of that campaign was the purchase of a church building in Arlington. Similarly here the pinnacle, or at least the bulk of the resources of this campaign, will be going to a church building, a much more expensive building in Santa Clara. I saw what an incredibly positive effect having a church home did for Highrock and I am looking forward to a similar effect with GrX.
To celebrate the halfway mark of the Unstoppable Campaign, GrX had a special service for all of its three locations (now four since the service), called God of This City. Below is the promotional video.
I thought Pastor Dave Chae gave a great speech summing up what GrX is all about, gospel transformation. I feel blessed to have been a member of two churches, Highrock and GrX, that believe so much in gospel transformation. I so much liked Pastor’s Chae’s speech, especially the contrasts between Jesus and us, that I asked for the transcript which he emailed me. Here it is, I hope you enjoy it.
For the past 7 years including the last 18 months we’ve been guided by a single vision – vision for gospel transformation.
This vision that we are forgiven and valued, stirred 13 of us to travel 400 north from Irvine to plant GrX Sunnyvale.
Three years later in 2005, God led 40 people to start a similar venture in San Francisco.
Then in the fall of 2006, we launched GrX Fremont. And in November of this year, we’ll be launching the Bridge Church in S. Jose.
We’re here today because we believe that Jesus’ death and resurrection means everything to us.
This is the essence of the gospel.
His shameful death is our pride.
His condemnation is our salvation.
His submission is our humility
His sacrifice is our forgiveness.
We are released from the power of sin forever!
But the benefits don’t stop there. We’ve also been given value and status. We are children of the Living God.
We are a new creation.
Jesus’ perfect life has been credited to us as if we are perfect in God’s eyes.
We have value.
We have significance.
We have worth.
What was given to us, faith, can never be taken away by bad works.
What an incredible exchange!
All of our sin for all of God’s forgiveness and value. What a Great Exchange! (2 Cor. 8:9)
So that’s what we named ourselves – The Great Exchange
Practically, we believed that if transformation is going to happen, we needed to continually make this great exchange, exchanging sin for grace every day.
We called this preaching the gospel to ourselves.
Just as caring parents and resources are necessary to grow up a child, we believed that community, the word of God, and service were all necessary ingredients for spiritual transformation.
We wanted to be a place where people could come, get connected through small groups, and experience the love of forgiveness and value of God.
We wanted to be a place where people got built up through scripture, prayer, and service.
We wanted to be a place where people could serve out of their gifting in ministry locally and globally.
I enjoyed watching it, it is just over nine minutes long, and learning how, by using Verizon’s own wording, you can get out of your contract. However it sounds like a lot of work, i.e. Ely Rosenstock said he spoke with five different people before his contract was terminated. But I do want to get out of AT&T soon and use the lovely iPhone 3G.
Crastinate.com has a series of articles of Ely Rosenstock trying and eventually canceling his contract.
Finally there is the AT&T Refer-A-Friend program. Every time an AT&T person refers a friend, that person gets an AT&T $25 gift card and the friend does too. If you don’t have a friend, email Ely Rosenstock to refer you so that both you and he get the $25 gift card.
A friend of mine’s passion is helping the cause of the surviving military sex slaves in Korea. Recently she created a site, based on a college degree project, called White Chrysanthemums.
From her site I found the following:
White Chrysanthemums will not:
use the label “comfort women” – the term “comfort women” is an euphemism for enforced military sex labourer or slave. It was coined by the Japanese government and military officials, and sexual industry agents, all hoping to obscure the reality behind the term. Instead, the term “military sex slaves” is used.
spell Corea with a ‘K’ – Corea is the original spelling which was replaced by the Japanese government during the Japanese annexation and colonization beginning in 1905. Japan did not want Corea to be in front of Japan in the alphabetical lineup of nations, thus the change.
refer to these women as “victims” – they are survivors
It seems also there is a strong link between Japan continuing to cover up the sex slaves past and modern Japanese society’s viewpoint of women and its modern day sex slaves.
The Kamoto Rubber Manufacturing Company, the biggest condom maker in Japan, … recently produced condoms with two names: “Rubber Man” and “Attack Champion”… this term is highly provacative, closely associated with collective rapes and Japanese pornographic cartoons such as Reipu man (Rape man).
The Japanese army officially provided Japanese soldiers with the origianl condom called “Attack Champion” to use in the camps during WWII. It is obvious that this reissued name is reminiscent of the sex slaves.
Some Japanese corporations still reward productive businessmen by organizing “sex tours” of prostitution houses in cities across South-East Asia. Investigative reports also show that women from South-East Asia are recruited by agencies for work in Japan as receptionists, hostesses, and waitresses. When the women arrive, the agency takes their passports and are forced to become prostitutes. Such practices in Japan today show just how low a woman’s position is in society and how little respect the Japanese have for females. If Japan addresses the sex slaves’ issue, it might send a stronger message against such practices in Japan.
I spent much of the morning reading most of this website. While I was in college I too read up a lot about this horrible nightmare. But while before I read about this with anger towards Japan I know find myself feeling sorrow not only for the survivors but for the Japanese people.
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