We didn’t buy anything for the first three days. Most people would think we’re crazy or something since it’s Hong Kong. It made me realize that my materialism isn’t as bad nowadays as it was in the past, so that’s pretty cool.

Eventually caved and ended up buying some clothes, but I think they were good deals. 

In other news, I got to session with some bboys of the area. It was fun times. 

Also, for those who don’t know, there’s a pretty well known mascot by a HK ministry called matchman.

I think some of matchman’s pictures are hilarious:

Matchman basically is a match who is trying to attain his goal of being a fireman while also having an immense fear of fire and water. It’s bananas. I think it’s a hilarious concept for one that is building up God’s kingdom. Guessing he’s geared for the younger generation.

It seems that matchman’s ministry is very counter-culture focused. I found it really interesting to see how Christianity and the struggles associated with it are very universal but also has specific flavors depending on the culture. I think HK Christians may struggle more with materialism and vanity/pride a bit more than the average US Christian. There’s also a lot more heavy romantic and young loveish emphasis among the young people. I find it interesting cause I almost moved here 6 years ago. 

Hitting up a church here on Sunday. One thing I remember from previous visits to HK churches is the worship. I think the general stereotype for Chinese American Christians is mellowness during worship portions of sunday services. I remember HK churches getting pretty hype during services in more ways than one (one church getting down the typical contemporary style, and another with a whole ensemble of like 15+ forms of percussion sounding super grand and such). Looking forward to see how other congregations get down.

…but I did have a dream last night of myself ministering to the youth in Baltimore. In a part of town that had evoked imagery like that of Kensington, Philadelphia (as often described by my friends who have served there).

Regardless, that was kinda cool.

First off, I got to see my dad talk about Christianity and the deity of Christ to my uncle(Hong Kong native) in chinese, which I thought was both awesome and amusing.

On the bus, my dad was talking about churches and the muslim dude next to us TOTALLY gave us the evil eye. Sorry dude. 

In other news, my limbs are still a bit weak but the pain is mostly gone. PTL.

Also, complete accountability fail: me and my dad took a nap around 5-6ish pm, woke up almost at midnight. We both were too jetlagged and tired I guess.

Leads me to think about accountability partners, and how, although done with good intentions, two people who struggle with the same sin should probably seek accountability with someone who struggles less with it, unless both are super mature about it. Otherwise, it can be a “oh look at us, we’re keeping each other accountable” thing without the actual accountability. A fake safety net, I guess. Speaking from experience myself. 

Maybe sleeping in isn’t sin, but if my dad and I had someone a little more conscientious (like my mom haha), we wouldn’t be sitting around here in the middle of the night, totally awake. 

What the heck God. I thought things were looking up after the whole puke and plane thing, but in the middle of the night I woke up to intense pain in my arms and legs. Basically rendered immobile, mentally wishing I could cut my arms off. I would’ve done anything to go back to the physical ordeal from yesterday instead of this. 

Totally learned dependence on God. Could I really praise him if i lost my arms? I don’t know for sure, but I was definitely praying to God the whole night to help me maintain some sense of joy. 

This all sucks, but it has drawn me closer to the Lord. For that I will praise him.

And by God’s grace, the pain is fading now. I can get up and type now…actually, as I type as this very moment, I can feel the strength returning to my limbs. Thanks God.

Thanks to my earthly father as well, running out to get me food when I couldn’t get out of bed and just putting up with my physical failures for the last couple days.

A few days ago I said this trip would be a time of solace. God decided to instead wreck me physically (and if you know me, you might know that I handle physical struggles incredibly badly).

Yet at the same time, there is still some sense of quiet meditation in all the pain that I’ve been bearing. I was still able to seek the Lord for shelter first. Without being boastful, I’m really glad to see how much I’ve matured recently in my walk. A few years ago I’d probably be questioning God. Today I simply trusted.

Regardless, I’m still hoping that God will give me a break soon. Feeling pretty disheveled right now.

That was a hellish flight. 16 hours of trying to hold my puke in while fidgeting with back pain that made my stomach pain insignificant. Was trying to count it all joy throughout. Way easier to do it when trials aren’t happening.  

Chilling in the hotel room right now. Gonna try to read some stuffs that I wasn’t able to on the flight. Mayhaps i’ll post some notes.

No idea what happened, but I barfed up one of my favorite Korean dishes a few hours ago. Havn’t even left the house yet. Still in pain.

Praise the Lord anyway. 

It’s gonna be a long plane ride. God give me strength. 

Off to HK. Time for some solace.

Gonna study something (Romans? Philippians?) as well as read up on encouragement. And have some edifying conversation with the dad. And gorge myself on food. And dance. 

Thankful for a  time of rest but praying for a time of fruitfulness. 

welooktoyahweh:

Brief breaking of my tumblr hiatus to reblog this..

“The beauty of the covenant-keeping love between Christ and His church shines brightest when nothing but Christ can sustain.”

Ahh.. my goodness. So beautiful.

In the same vein as my last post…love.

Dang, yo.

About two weeks ago (trying to write down more stuff to remember what God is doing in my life), a fellow sibling in Christ showed me Romans 12:9-21 after I had sort of halfheartedly said that I needed to love more. Not that I didn’t think that was true, but I certainly wasn’t super serious about it.

God can be funny in his plans though.

The same day I read the Romans passage, I found myself in a conversation talking about enemies and honestly, I realized that I would not show love to them, unless loving included brandishing knives or initiating beatdowns.

So here, God showed me how little I loved my enemies.

Two days later, my friend dan hit his head on an exercise bike during dance practice. Mad blood spillage right there. When me and kevin(fellow bboy club co-prez) got ready to board the ambulance to accompany dan, we were told there was room for only one of us. I semi-reluctantly got on. I was pretty selfish, knowing that I would have to wait in a reception area for a while doing nothing. I didn’t really want to go.

So after riding in the ambulance(which was actually kinda cool), Im sitting in a reception area, eating mad snacks from the vending machine just cause I had nothing else to do.  Actually, just read this. Soon enough, I had found my excursion to the hospital to be meaningful.

To sum up it up, God showed me how to love a friend as well as broken strangers at the hospital. 

God wasn’t done with me yet. Another two days later, I had a dance session with some friends. One of them (his name’s calvin) asked me to grab dinner with him. Just like before, I went reluctantly. I was just being self-centered, wanting to eat in private and not bother talking to him. For whatever reason, I ate with him. Hilariously enough, he told me he wanted to go to the church I attend, and so on. We chatted about small and large groups and his church background.

God just owned me there. He dumped outreach opportunities right into my lap. I try to say that I try to reach out to the people I come across in the activities I’m involved in, but I know that just sounds pretty on paper. God doesn’t accept empty words though.

God showed me to love a friend yet again, and to love genuinely and deliberately.

And god STILL wasn’t done beating love into me. 

We had an ACW(all campus worship) event at CMU, and due to a bunch of circumstances I had to accompany a guy named stephen to it. So by now, I kind of was prepared to love this dude in a Christly manner and whatnot.

But man, it was hard. Stephen was pretty shy, unwilling to open up, and pretty much took no initiatives to speak at all. Basically an awkward and slightly frustrating situation. But I was prety determined to do whatever God would allow me to. I tried to introduce him to people and get him to feel welcomed, but most importantly, I managed to get some tidbits of who he was. He was not a follower of Christ, and quite frankly, didn’t really know much about Christianity. He left in the middle of the event.

God showed me to love, no matter how difficult it can get. 

I do hope and pray (and implore anyone reading this to pray as well) for Stephen, that seeds were planted and that others may water them as he goes about his life. What the heck, pray for my friend Calvin as well, that he can get plugged in. And pray for my friend Dan as well, for a steady recovery (he goes to church too, so pray for his walk, which I actually havn’t been able to ask him about).

Pray for the broken. Pray for those who would spit on the face of Jesus if they could. 

Last but not least, pray that I can legit love people. 

I can’t do anything but praise God for allowing a seemingly insignificant conversation with a very admirable Christian to develop into something so much bigger. God’s plans are just so boss. Thank you for putting such great brothers and sisters in my life. 

—-

⁹  Let love be genuine. Abhor what is evil; hold fast to what is good. ¹⁰  Love one another with brotherly affection. Outdo one another in showing honor. ¹¹ Do not be slothful in zeal, be fervent in spirit,^[a] serve the Lord. ¹²  Rejoice in hope, be patient in tribulation, be constant in prayer. ¹³ Contribute to the needs of the saints and seek to show hospitality.

¹⁴  Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse them. ¹⁵  Rejoice with those who rejoice, weep with those who weep. ¹⁶  Live in harmony with one another. Do not be haughty, but associate with the lowly.^[b] Never be wise in your own sight. ¹⁷  Repay no one evil for evil, but give thought to do what is honorable in the sight of all. ¹⁸ If possible, so far as it depends on you, live peaceably with all. ¹⁹ Beloved, never avenge yourselves, but leave it^[c] to the wrath of God, for it is written,“Vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord.” ²⁰ To the contrary, “if your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him something to drink; for by so doing you will heap burning coals on his head.” ²¹ Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.