Today, the pastor recounted how at his childhood church, there would be a time of testimonies during the evening services.  The floor would be open for anyone to stand up and give their testimony.  And there was one gentleman in the church (who was hard of hearing because he worked in a sawmill) who would get up each time and testify "I wanna thank the Lord for saving my soul!"  That story really touched me.  In the ever more complex life that we live, especially in a city like New York, it's so easy to lose sight of the most important things in life.  I get so caught up with what small things....  Lord, give me perspective!

In the last several months, I had the chance to celebrate the wedding of Saul and Jen, and Will and Tracy.  They were such blessed times and it was a real treat to see these two couples, whose relationships I got to see from the beginning, make their lifetime vows.  God bless them!!

It was awesome to catch up with my college friends as I celebrated my law school friends' weddings.  In STL, got to see the Jders and his lovely family.  In LA, got to see Jen & Kevin, Kong, Terry, Ernie & co.  They were all leading lives of faith that made my heart feel warm.

Since Saul moved out, Matt B moved in.  He's been an amazing blessing to me and the apartment. 

I got to celebrate my birthday in QQH in China at the shelter.  It was such a blessing to have the little children sing me 'happy birthday' and be with them....  My short trip to China earlier this month was an incredible blessing - got to meet people who impressed me and inspired me... 

Saul's wedding in St. Louis, MO.

 Charles and I teamed up again for a worship song at Saul's wedding.  Charles is getting married soon too!~

When I came back to the US, my awesome roommies and CK had prepared a little party for me - I love them!

Awesome God

As I was sitting and listening to the sermon in the the bunker-like church in East Harlem this morning, I started thinking about all the places I've had the opportunity to worship God in the world.  It was pretty long! 

- US: NY, Boston, Ithaca, SF bay area, LA, Illinois, Maryland, Virginia, DC, Seattle

- Australia: Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane

- Asia: HK, Beijing + various parts of China, Seoul, Pusan, Daegu, Pohang, Chiangmai

- Africa: Maputo + some remote village in Mozambique, Lusaka, Mwinilunga, Johannesburg, Mauritius

- Europe: Stockholm, Helsinki

Sometimes, on Sundays I close my eyes and envision all these churches worshipping God - from the Yeoido church in Seoul to the small church in Mwinilunga, from Hillsong in Sydney to Solomon's Porch in HK...  I thank God that I've had this privilege of witnessing God building up His beautiful church all around the world.  And He really is!  He's pouring out His grace and mercy to all around the world - and He hasn't forgotten anyone.  I've heard children in Mozambique tell me of how God cured them of AIDS and provided them with shelter & food; I've prayed with a Korean youth in Stockholm who was so excited about becoming closer to God; I've heard testimonies from underground church members on God constantly providing for them even in their difficulty... 

And I've seen God commission and bless various people - real warriors in the faith - in various parts of the world: a couple who have been serving the orphans in Mozambique in a most awe-inspiring way (www.irismin.org), a pastor who God sent to minister to NYC, a young NK refugee (younger than me) who was preparing to enter NK to minister there...

I've heard some non-Christians and even some Christians say that we should just live as we want and then repent before we die - so we can enjoy this world and also go to heaven.  But as I look back on what God has done for me and where He's taken me and shown me in the past 27 years, I must beg to differ.  Knowing God and walking with Him in this life time is definitely the way to go!  That's where the real joy and serious fun is.  :)

And what I've listed above is only a glimpse of all that that I've seen & experienced, which in turn is only a teeny speck of what God is doing around the world. 

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If the Kingdom were like a firm, what would it look like?  We would definitely have a very accessible managing partner.  And all the assignments would be awesome and enjoyable (with godly suffering, of course) and would be just right for each worker and there will be lots of room for mistakes.  And we would all get a sabbath.  There would be lots and lots of mentoring - in fact, many of the assignments will be discipling!  And people would really care for and love one another in the office, as that would be part of everyone's assignment.  The salary structure would look very different too - we'd all be partners! 

For reasons, many of which only God knows, one of my tasks at this point is to work at a firm in NYC.  I see this as one of the pretty fun/cool/busy periods on my overall life-long discipleship track.  And as I envision what the Kingdom as a firm would look like, I get a better sense of who I need to be and what I need to do to make 'His Kingdom come and will be done' in my context.  As I do so (Lord help me!), I believe I will witness and experience some pretty amazing stuff in NYC too.  :) 

Workin' in NYC

Whew, seems like the past few months just flew by!  After 19 years as a student and several months of adventures in Korea/China/Australia, I'm settled in NYC working and finally paying my own bills.  As I had predicted, work's been pretty full-on.  By God's strength - partly provided through my daily dosage of ginseng, Korean saeng-shik, royal jelly tablets and chocolate & green tea throughout the day, I'm managing to keep a functional mind at work past 10pm on a regular basis. 

One of the coolest things about living in NYC is definitely the people.  I live in an apartment with three other brothers from law school and although we don't see each other nearly often enough (due to the fact that we're all working at firms) it's a blessing to talk to someone when I get home and grab cheap chinese food together on weekends and go to church together.  Living in community is definitely the way to go.  We live in a pretty nice crib between UE and Spanish Harlem.  The contrast between two blocks north and south of our apartment block is pretty stark. 

Here's the view from my room window.  Definitely feel thankful for this room...

Had a lot of wonderful guests come through already - Simon and Dave from Sydney, dad from Korea, Charles, Jung & Boulos from Boston.  And so many of my friends from the past are in NYC!  NYC is definitely a great place to be during the 20's. 

One of the challenges will be to make sure that my spiritual life grows and not stagnate as I get a pretty heavy crash course in professional development.  Lord help me!

Relaxin' in Sydney

Hey folks!  I had an amazing, incredible, deep, inspiring, vision-building, friendship-building time in the Middle Earth.  I am so thankful that I had this time to see and experience what the Father is doing in that land and among those people.  Truly an exciting place to be...  Travelled as West as Tibet, South as Shanghai, and more north than Harbin.  Became friends with awesome people in the fellowship, classroom, and on campus.  Experienced the Father do amazing work even in the short time I was there.  Got to visit one of the most inspiring ministries I've witnessed during my time near Harbin.  That land was so thirsty and ready for a ministry explosion.  Lord willing, I shall return...

Now I'm in Sydney, Australia, relaxing with my family.  My last three weeks of complete relaxation before law firm life begins!  I plan to be back in NYC in early January.  It should be a very different chapter of my life.  Till then, I shall spend my time playing dinosaurs with my nephew.  :)  Life is good.

Da Jia Hao!  Folks have been asking me what I'm doing in China?  Well, I came in August to tour around and I came back in September to start a 3-month language program.  After this, I'll be heading back to the US via Australia.  China's been on my mind for a couple of years now so this has been a good time to get to know the culture, society, and language.  Just in living here, I think I realize a whole lot.  But at the end of the day, humans are humans, and we all seem to share the same desire to be known, loved, respected, and have our lives count for something.  It's just that each culture seems to have its own way of communicating and recognizing love, respect, and worth. 

This past week was especially kewl cuz my law school buddy and future housemate Jern and his friend visited from Malaysia as well as Saul's gf.  This week also was national holidays so we had the week off from school.  We ate at various places together - went to eat Beijing duck 3 times thanks to our dear Malaysian brother's cravings.  I took Saul and his gf to various shopping places in BJ - the eyeglass market (where there are over 40 stores in one building!) and the silk market.  One must bargain hard at these places and I've come to hone the art.  Bargaining's pretty crazy, especially at the silk market.  The vendors are really really aggressive and they shout insults at you if you quote a low price or walk away from the store.  But to get the good deals, one must have a thick skin and persist.  I got called all sorts of things - a bad person, cheap korean man (apparently korean men have a reputation for being cheap in these markets), crazy, plus other words I didn't understand.  Despite hearing all those nasty insults, I got good deals for my friends and myself. 

Some pics from the week:

Our teacher took us out for some sichuan food on the last day of class before the break.  In usual Chinese style, there was waaa~~~y more food than we could possibly eat.  On this table (half the class), there were 2 Koreans, 2 French (one Viet-French), Indonesian, Thai, Japanese, Chinese-American, Italian, Chinese. 

Our friends chilling in the lounge.

Had a lovely reunion with HLS LLM friends from 04-05 and others who are all now living in BJ and SH.  They treated me to an amazing Beijing duck and other cool dishes I'd never seen before in my life and then took me on a private boat that came with live music.  On the boat, we played Mafia in Chinese - definitely a great way to improve Mandarin.

The holidays have ended and life's about to get hectic again.  Here we go again!