Election Day Thoughts

I was sitting at "The Nugget," which is CSULB's Pub and Grill, among young anxious students. I could see on their faces screaming the question, "Who's going to be the next president?" There was even a countdown for the electoral votes of CA, WA, and OR. I could hear the chanting: 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1 ... Then there was the new electoral votes for Obama and McCain.

"WHOOOOOOOOOOOO!!! AHHHHHHHHHH!!!!"

I've never heard so much excitement in my life for a new president. Congratulations Obama for your victory.

BUT

What I found really interesting to me were people's excitement for Obama as President. People were calling and texting others to tell the "good" news. "YES WE CAN" chants were started. When Obama gave his acceptance speech, it was interesting for me to see people's faces and expressions. People were tearing, cheering, celebrating. They had facial expressions of hope, new change, and new life. It's almost as if Obama was their new hero or should I say their new Savior?

As I was walking home, I wondered what it would be like if Jesus was up there on the podium? Would there be as much cheering for Him as Barack Obama or even less? Or better yet, even more? When will Jesus receive the applause and accolade He rightfully deserves? I know one day it will come. I just wished it was sooner.

7 Weird Facts About Me

Apparently, I've been tagged by my girlfriend Joanna. Here are 7 weird facts about me.

1. I can't sleep with loud ticking clocks in the room. If there is one, then I'll either take it to another room or I'll take the battery out of the clock. Loud ticking clocks are my nemesis.

2. Toliet paper has to flow over, not under. If I see toliet paper flowing under, then I have to change it or else it'll bug me.

3. Dolls freak me out. I can't imagine someone having dolls. They're so creepy. Their eyes never blink and they have this fixed smile. And if I stare at it, I feel like it's going to come alive walking like a zombie towards me. I mean no offense to girls who loved playing with dolls, but I'm so glad I played with Legos.

4. I've had braces twice and my teeth/jaws/oral cavity are still messed up. Plus I've had a wisdom teeth infection that hospitalized me for 5 days. My oral cavity history isn't so hot.

5. I love maps. I don't know why, but maps are so cool. It's interesting to look at and there's so much detail. Maybe that's why I'm good with directions.

6. I won $1715 at a poker tournament. I'm not good enough for the World Series of Poker though.

7. I can't stand PLS, also known as "Parking Lot Syndrome." It pretty much drags the leaving process. After hanging out, a group of people will form somewhat of a circle in the parking lot to say their goodbyes. But the goodbyes turn into another 10 minute conversation of what we're doing over the weekend, talk about the latest movie, and so forth. Then when we're about to finally say our goodbyes this time, somehow it turns into another 10 minute conversation. I say, don't PLS and hang out some other time!

Joe "The Plumber"

There's been all this hype about Joe Wurzelbacher, or better known as Joe "The Plumber." He's famous on the media because of his views on tax cuts, mainly against Obama's future tax plans. Click the link to read more about him and the buzz.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20081017/ap_on_re_us/joe_the_plumber_27


But after looking at Joe "The Plumber," I realized he looks like two people I know. He either looks like the venerable Jim Luebe without glasses and the beard OR Bryce Bouchard.

Jim Luebe

Bryce Bouchard

[UPDATE] After reading my friend's (Ryan) comment, I realized I missed another person. Joe Maschhoff. Man this is a tough competition.


Joe Maschhoff


What do you think?

A song I've been listening to lately...

Glory Bound - The Wailin Jennys

When I hear that trumpet sound
I will lay my burdens down
I will lay them deep into the ground
Then I'll know that I am glory bound

I'll be travelin' far from home
But I won't be looking for to roam
I'll be crossing o'er the great divide
In a better home soon I will reside

Hallelujah

When I'm in my resting place
I'll look on my mother's face
Never more will I have to know
All the loneliness that plagues me so

So I'm waiting for that train to come
And I know where she's coming from
Listen can you hear her on the track
When I board I won't be looking back

Hallelujah

Ahhhhh....

My roommate is obsessed with the Patriots...
And it's extremely annoying.
But hey, I like the fact Tom Brady is out for the season.
AND
They lost to the Dolphins today.
So, I guess the annoyance isn't too bad.

Jesus and the 12 dwarfs, I mean disciples.

Recently, I've been reading through Mark and something struck me in chapters 6 & 8. In Chapter 6, Jesus had compassion on the multitude and asked His disciples to give them something to eat. His disciples responded almost sarcastically asking Jesus where were they going to get this food to feed these many people? Jesus asked, "How many loaves do you have?" And the disciples answered, "5 loaves, and 2 fish." It's interesting how the disciples didn't answer Jesus' specific question. Makes me think the added "2 fish" is a way the disciples were saying, "5 loaves, and oh Jesus, here's even 2 fish. What can you do with this?" But Jesus did the impossible and He fed 5,000 people simply with 5 loaves of bread and 2 fish. And in chapter 8, Jesus again fed a multitude of 4,000 people with 5 loaves of bread. Everytime I read about Jesus feeding the 5,000, I focus on what Jesus did, which shouldn't be glazed over at all.

But, what struck me were the disciples. They were with Jesus when He fed 5,000 people only with 5 loaves and 2 fish. They experienced this miracle. They saw the impossible become the possible.

And yet when it came to the second time in feeding the multitude, the disciples asked Jesus again where they were going to get such a surplus of food. They didn't understand. They forgot what had happened previously. They never learned. They didn't know who Jesus was. If the disciples knew who Jesus was and remembered what He did, then I believe the disciples would have responded differently in feeding the 4,000. "Jesus, we looked around and we only found 5 loaves of bread. Surely you can use this and do what you did last time with the 5,000 right?"

I don't know why the disciples didn't understand the first time what Jesus could do. But I know reading about this incident reminds me of who I believe Jesus claims to be and what He can do in my life. And I'm humbled because I don't think I'm too far off from the disciples. If I really knew Jesus and what He's capable of doing, then I believe some areas in my life would be drastically different. For example, my prayer life. Am I praying for "elephants" - the big things that require faith? Or am I praying for "peanuts" - the small things that require no faith? I believe prayer is a reflection of my perspective on God. I some times wonder why I don't pray for big things as often. Could it be that I don't fully know who God claims to be?

Yet I'm so glad Jesus was so patient and gracious to His disciples as they tried to figure Him out and His Kingdom. He stuck with them and never gave up cause He believed in them. Now that gives me hope; He'll never give up on me as I'm trying to learn about Him, His ways, and His Kingdom.

The past few weeks...

Well, with the rate that I'm going, seems like I update my blog once a month. Hey, it's better than once every 3 months.

From Aug 9-11, I took a trip out to the bay area cause my high school friend, Josh Cheng, was getting married. I flew into Oakland International Airport from Colorado Springs, where I was doing some fundraising from Aug 6-9. I liked Oakland Airport's ticketing area cause it was nice and long. So I took a picture of it. The airport's terminals though I didn't like; it was too dark. They gotta change that soon.

Here is Josh and Rema with their first dance.

While at Josh's wedding, I got a chance to see old high school friends. Here is Justin. My favorite memory is jamming together on the guitar. He's probably one of the greatest guitarists I know.

Here is Gavin, Eddie, Me, Robert, and Henry. Henry is the next one to get married soon.

Here's Erina. She's on staff with Intervarsity at UC Berkeley. She also is very talented in music. I've always told her that she should lead praise music, and I'm encouraged that she has. Hopefully, she'll be leading music at the next Urbana.

Meet my new Long Beach Navs Staff team! From Aug 21-22, we went down to Carlsbad for a mini staff retreat. We had a great time getting to know each other, praying for the students and the school year, and enjoying the beach. I'm really excited for this school year and I'm trusting God will do great things. The reason why some of us were dressed up is cause we were going to Alice and RJ's wedding. Hence the next picture...

Alice and RJ got married at the Naval Air Station on Coronado Island. It was a great outdoor wedding. Before the ceremony started, there was a slight overcast. But right when the ceremony started, the sun peeped through the clouds at the right time. It was definitely a beautiful wedding.

It was good to see some old friends from college and the Navigators. Sam, me, Jon, Vic, and Justin. I was surprised to see Vic at the wedding. He just got back from Hawaii doing his dental residency. I noticed after the ceremony, he came back with his shoes and socks off, and rolled up khakis. I said, "You went to the beach, huh?" He answered, "Yea, I had to get my fix." Ha, that's what Hawaii does to you I guess.

Here is Joey, Ann, Katie, and Cody. Cody was my old roomie while I was in LA. Katie is his girlfriend. Ann is like my annoying sister who likes to "push all my buttons." And Joey is her stud-muffin.

I'm excited for two things next week...



One is CSULB finally starts next Monday! I've been itching for this day to come. I'm excited to meet new students and for the school year to start.



And two, Joanna is moving to Los Angeles next Saturday! I'm really excited to see her! Finally, we'll be in the same state, in the same metropolitan area, in the same time zone. Don't get me wrong, long distance has been great and taught us many things, but we're ready for a new change: Dating only 30 minutes apart! Woohoo!