Christmas Greeting!

Merry Christmas everyone! Pray that you will enjoy the time opening up presents and spending time with family! Also, remember Jesus Christ because He's the reason for this season.

Isaiah 9:6 "For to us a child is born, to us a son is given; and the government shall be upon his shoulder,and his name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace."

God Bless you all.

Day 24 – Your favorite movie and what it’s about

Day 23 – Give pictures of 5 girls who are famous who you find attractive

I'm not the type of guy who would do this kind of blog. So please don't misunderstand me. It was difficult to find 5 girls who are (although I don't know if they are still famous) famous and attractive because I am not very interested in pop culture these days, but I can still point some of them out who are fairly well attractive...in appearance I suppose.

1.) Yuri Ebihara - My friend was a huge fan of her. He shared with me a photo of this girl, whom I found attractive during high school. Interestingly enough, it was hard to find her photo and her name because I don't remember a thing about her because I no longer care.



2.) I found Nathalie Kelly from Fast and Furious: Tokyo Drift to be attractive because she's mix. I watched the movie when I was grade 11. Oh well, I don't really care anymore, but this is my 2nd option.



3.) Okay. For this 3rd option, Sam Pang is going to kill me...well, not really. There are two Korean women on youtube broadcast their talents and skills by singing to their audience. Oh, and they live in Australia too with an Australian accent. Their name is called Jayesslee. I find the girl who plays the guitar quite attractive. By the way, her name is Sonia. It is just the appearance that drew me in, but I don't know her so I won't go into details. I don't know if they are famous worldwide, but they do have a lot of views in some of their videos. In the photo below, it is the left one who plays the guitar.



4.) Next up is Erika Toda. She's an actress in two movies I watched: Death Note and Liar Game. She's cute in the movie, especially in Liar Game where she is so light and honest with people. I don't watch a lot of her movies because, like I said, not into pop culture.



5.) Finally, Nami Tamaki because I love to listen to her songs (Gundam Seed), and I find her voice quite attractive. I used to be addicted to her songs in High School but I don't listen to her songs as much now.

Day 22 – How have you changed in the past 2 years?

I have been in a "slacking off" season with blogging. For some odd reason, I couldn't sit down and quietly ponder the thoughts of the question being asked from the title. The title is begging the question to be answered, so I will do my best.

2010 - 2008

Spiritually, my walk with Jesus has increasingly grown for the past two years. As I think back, I used to be a little bit immature in my faith because I thought I was the "know it all" kind of Christian. I was stubborn and proud about myself, which is a sin that I am constantly repenting of. Derek Hill would challenge me to take the step of faith in going to Waterloo Project. I thoroughly enjoyed my time working with the C4C staffs in making videos and doing promotion. Practically, this allowed me to discover where God has gifted me. I did enjoy making videos, and I did enjoy focusing on the media department. This led me to do Interactive Arts & Technology at Simon Fraser University.

As an immature boy as I was two years ago, God shaped me as a man as I am today. God has put me through pain and trials that I had to suffer because it tested me to see if I could really trust Him that He will take me through the season of darkness. This trial had to do with a girl that I fell in love with, but later didn't work out. Nonetheless, it was also through the one year process and prayer that God is definitely at work in my heart to help me discover what it means to live a biblical manhood, although I am still learning and wrestling with it. Ultimately, it is not about me, it is about God.

My prayer is that I would continue to change and become more like Christ. Attitude is one of the areas in my life where I need to improve on or change, by God's grace. Finally, LOVE is definitely where I still need to be inspired by Christ. We love because He first loved us. Christ is my example and definition of love.

Day 21 – One of your favorite shows

I honestly don't know. Shows sound very vague and general. It can be TV shows, concert shows, comedy shows...etc.

No comment :P

Day 20 – How important you think education is

Let's me slowly unpack where I am from. The importance of education rises in the Asian family. Asian parents have this tendency to be freakishly obsess of having their children earn high grades in school. I know some of my friends have those kind of parents. If you're an Asian, especially Chinese, then you'll probably know what I am talking about. Of course, parents also care about the child, but usually it feels like they care about the grades more. It is also a pride issue within parents. The better their children are at school, the more they would boast about them to their friends. Consequently, it affects the children's self-esteem. Personally, my mom would always compare me with someone else's child. It deeply frustrates me because she thinks I'm not good enough or disappointed in me.

However, I believe education is important because it prepares you to work in the industry. I do not blame my mom for being so critical about me because I know she wants the best for me. Even without education, you could still work at a low pay job yet work really hard. Usually people who graduates with a University degree doesn't always get them the job they want. Moreover, people who has a University degree (i.e. Psychology, Physics) don't pursue what they study. I find that kind of odd sometimes. Overall, education is important in some degree. You not only study and get a job, you learn to interact with your fellow classmates and build friendships or network connections. Ultimately, it is not education that can help you succeed in life. Do they teach you wisdom (maybe some)? Do they teach how to treat others better (maybe)? Some may even use education for the bad purpose.

Public Education does not always help answer deep questions like "What is my purpose in life? Why am I here?"

 

Day 19 – Disrespecting your parents

What does it look like when children disrespect their parents?

Rebel against the parents saying.
Talking back.
Whine.
Complain.
Rude
Manner
Hitting

I have disrespected my parents, specifically my mom, in many ways. I kicked her. I disobeyed her and did my thing. I talked back at her. There were moments she wanted to kick me out of the house.

Right now, sometimes I disrespect her because of selfishness although I am in need of God's mercy and grace to repent of that. To thank my mom for all that she's done. I am called to "honor my father and mother". Especially at this moment, I don't know what to do with my father. I barely even want to call him...but does that show disrespect...or just dishonoring God if I don't? I need guidance and wisdom in what to do about it.

Day 18 – Your beliefs

This post may hopefully spark up discussions and comments below. I'll start off by saying that I am a Christian. I am a follower of Jesus Christ. I believe Jesus died on cross for me and purchased my salvation through Him. I believe that the Bible is the authoritative Word of God. I believe in the God of the Bible, which is the same God in the Old Testament and the New Testament. I believe God saves people. I believe that people are going to hell if they do not give their lives to Jesus. I believe God is love.

I do have faith, not in something that does not exist. If I do believe in things that does not exist, then you could call me insane. However, I do have faith that God exists even though I am not able to see Him. In the Bible, faith is described as "the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen" (Hebrews 11:1). I believe Jesus was raised from the dead. "And if Christ has not been raised, then [my] preaching is in vain and your faith [and my faith] is in vain...but in fact Christ has been raised from the dead" (1 Corinthians 15:14;20) So for those who do not want Him to exist or still want Him dead, then tough luck.

Psalm 19:1 "The heavens declare the glory of God, and the sky above proclaims his handiwork."

"For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it the POWER of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek" (Roman 1:16). This is the gospel that I believe because I personally experienced the power of it and Jesus Christ saved me. He has given me a new life, a new heart, and a new desire to love and serve Him. I am not my old-self as I was during my High school years, but I am a new creation, I have been clothed with a "new self, created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness" (Ephesians 4:24).

I wrote a "letter" as an assignment for one of my Bible classes, and I want to explain why I believe the Bible is worth-reading and living by. So if you want to read it, then feel free. I'll be continuing my entry down below and end my blog.

=================================================================================

Dear (reader),

How are you doing lately? Hopefully you are doing alright with your life. Do you remember the letter you have sent me? You asked me why I believe the Bible is worth reading and living by. Therefore, hopefully in this letter, you will understand why I value Jesus as a Christian and live in obedience to Him. Hopefully you still remember the conversation we had about how I became a Christian and how you were struggling with life during that moment.

I believe the Bible is the authoritative word of God because it is authoritative, accurate, and authentic. If I may quote the Bible found in 2 Timothy 3:16, then I am very convinced that “All Scripture is inspired by God.” The word, inspired, means that the Bible is from God. Further on in that verse, I am convinced that the Bible is “profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness.” If God has given us the Bible, then He has something to say to us. When I read the Bible, I can clearly understand that the stories that Jesus told were speaking directly to me. God is teaching, rebuking, correcting, and training me to become more of the person who He wants me to be, which is to become the likeness of Jesus. I understand that reading the Bible is dull to you because I went through the same process too, but the Bible has impacted my life ever since I became a Christian since it is clearly from God. I love to read what He has to say to me so I could grow in my spiritual maturity, my spiritual effectiveness, and my relationship with Him. Hopefully you will experience the same joy as I have when I read the Bible.

You said, “The Bible was written by man, so how can the Bible be from God?” It is true that the Bible was written by people. Also, God did not use the pen to magically fly in the air and write for itself, although He could have simply done that since God is all-powerful, but He did not intend to do that. However, I believe that God worked through the authors of each book in the Bible through the process of inspiration. Inspiration is the process by which God worked through the human writers without destroying their individual personalities and styles to produce divinely authoritative and inerrant writings. In the Bible, I am convinced that “no prophecy of Scripture came about by the prophet’s own interpretation. For prophecy never had its origin in the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit”, which is found in 2 Peter 1:20-21. God used people to produce the Scripture in the sense that it originates with Him and is authorized by Him, even though it is articulated by men. Simply put this: God revealed, and man recorded His word.

In Psalm 18:20, it say, “This God—his way is perfect; the word of the LORD proves true; he is a shield for all those who take refuge in him.” If God’s way is perfect, and that Bible is inspired by God, then Scripture in the original manuscript does not affirm anything that is contrary to fact. Therefore, I am assured that Bible is accurate and does not err because the Bible has its origin in God and was superintended by His inspiration.

The Bible does not generally say everything we want to know like an instruction manual. For example, how to get a girlfriend or boyfriend, how to fix the car, how to do a better make-up, or how to become a pro-gamer in whatever videogames you are playing. So how is the Bible sufficient? What is God trying to tell us? The sufficiency of Scripture means that Scripture contained all the words of God He intended His people to have at each stage of redemptive history. Perhaps when you read the Bible, it seemed like it just a story, poetry, prophecy, and logic, but God never intended it that way. Indeed, there are different genres in the Bible, but ultimately it contains the words of God we need for salvation, for trusting Him perfectly, and for obeying Him perfectly.

Unfortunately, we do not have the original manuscript, but one of the historical evidences is the early discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls found in 1947 which contained the oldest complete manuscript of the book of Isaiah that dated back to about 125 B.C. You may be wondering how we obtained the Bible we have in this modern culture and how can we be sure we have every books that were inspired by God, which also called Canonization. Ultimately, it comes by faith in believing that God was overseeing the process and preserving the Bible through the generation because I believe God is more concern in about it. The history of canon did not immediately become a collection of books, but it was a gradually development as some books were accepted quickly and other hovered for a long time on the fringe of the canon before being fully accepted.

After reading this letter, my hope is that you would understand why I believe the Bible is worth reading and living by. Hopefully, it also helps answer your question and spark up curiosity. We may have different interpretation in viewing the Bible; however, the Bible contains the central meaning of what God is trying to communicate. God created us for His glory because He loves us and wants to be in a relationship with us. However, the Bible warns us of the eternal punishment in hell for those reject God’s love and turn away from His provision and forgiveness for their sin. God has given us the path of salvation through Jesus Christ. If you have any more questions, then please feel free to reply.

God Bless,

Tommy

=================================================================================

Either you read the letter or not (hopefully you did), that's alright. I want to share what the gospel is...The gospel is the good news, in which Jesus died on the cross for your sins and my sins so that we may be reconciled to God and have a relationship with Him. God created all of us to reveal His glory and to be in relationship with us, just like the time in Adam and Eve. But we sinned against God, we chose to disobey Him, and we were set apart from God. And the consequence of sin is eternal torment in hell - eternally separated from God. All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God (Rom6:23), and no one is perfect. No one can do good deeds and merit salvation. However, because God is merciful, gracious, loving, and compassion, He sent His Son, Jesus Christ, to earth as a rescue mission to save sinners. He lived on earth, lived just like us, but He did not sin. He taught, healed and did a lot of miracles. Later, He demonstrated His love by being crucified on the cross, and "He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness" (1 Peter 2:24). Three days later, after He died, He rose from the dead so that one day we will rise with Him and live with Him forever. If your life feels perfect without, then I hope you are doing it right because the money, girl, reputation, and etc. won't last. Therefore, I urge you, don't walk in your own ways anymore. Turn to Jesus who can give you eternal life. Confess your sins to Him, call on Him, and repent of your sins and believe in Jesus Christ and thanking Him for what He has done for you. He will be coming back again, and He will judge! Those who believe in Jesus will spend in eternity with Him in heaven, and those who reject Him will spend in eternity in hell. That's the gospel! That's what I believe.

Day 17 – Your highs and lows of this past year

I can never express myself enough. This topic really hit me and got me thinking. Highs and Lows; Goods and Bads; Pros and Cons. I'll start off with the highlights of my lows for this past year.

LOW

As emo as I can be, sometimes I enjoy mentioning the negative moments in my life. Let's just start off by giving my readers a recap. Remember reading some posts at around June - August? If you haven't done so, then I suggest you to read some so you get the picture of where I am getting at. Why June - August? For those who knew about it, I sincerely thank you for being there for me during my moment of painful trial. Just when I thought things were going according to God's plan, she told me, "God told me to say 'No' about this." Actually, what a silly thing for me to say, of course it was going to God's plan...now that I think about it.

Romans 8:28 "And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose."

Once again, rejected by another one who I loved (and I still do, only as a sister in Christ though and nothing beyond) and found interest in spending my life with. It's alright, I suppose. It's not really the first time I got rejected by a girl. However, it was definitely a big disappointment, and a heart-break. At the same time, I didn't feel depress, surprisingly. For me, I wasn't able to give in and accept it...and it was difficult. I was lying on my comfy bed and stared at the dotted white ceiling, pondering within my own world, "What did I do wrong?" Honestly, I still haven't fully figured where I went wrong although I am piecing things together. I am trying to figure out where in the most important areas of sin I need to repent of if I was to be in a relationship. Of course, I'm not perfect, but I am slowly learning and slowly being more like Jesus Christ. In the end, I just had to let her go and move on. All I want to keep in my nut-shell is this, Jesus still loves me and forgives me if I did anything that displeased Him. By God's grace, I am growing to be more of a godly man so I may love a woman.

HIGH

Now that I mentioned my emo side, it is time for me to talk about my HAPPY EMO side. Honestly, God has been very gracious to me. Through the study of the Scripture, I am learning about His promises and His grace. By understanding the depth of the gospel, it compelled me to continue to bring the gospel everywhere I go. Before, I knew that the whole Bible points to Jesus Christ, yet I was kind of passive about it. After going to Sam Pang's Bible Study on the study of James, it really encouraged me to continue to keep the gospel central because it is the power to save. I have been growing a lot this year in my walk with Jesus, and the Word of God is becoming more and more real to me as I put my faith on His authoritative words.

If you are reading this, then please comment so I could know who read this (or you can be an anonymous) :)
For example, you could type, "I read this"...or a lengthy comment.

Day 16 – Your views on mainstream music

Personally, I do not find anything wrong with mainstream music. Indeed, there will always be good and bad ones out there on youtube. Usually mainstream music is played in the same genre (hip-hot, pop, R&B), so there is nothing new that I find interesting. Recently, when I was at Kevin's house, along with Paulman, Sam, Kevin, and Alana, we were all listening to Jayesslee and Sam Tsui. Although they are not part of the pop culture in the society, they still get millions of hits on their youtube channel and videos. There are tons of creative artists out there, but these are the recent ones that I find favor of. They take the musics from famous artists and turn it into their flavor.

Jayesslee - "Just the way you are by Bruno Mars": http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ae-qoFPINCc

Sam Tsui, Kurt Schneider, Christina Grimmie - "Just a dream by Nelly": http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a2RA0vsZXf8

Day 15 – Your favorite blogs

Today, this blog is dedicated to my brother in Christ, Kevin Thomas.

His blog entries are very uniquely and thoughtfully written. Recent entry was " 'Old Spice' can't help you". The blog consists of topics like marriage and relationship, personal life, the "family", and Jesus Christ...and more. The funny thing is, the moment he publishes his entry, I will immediately notice it and read it, and then let him know that I read his new entry in just 3 minutes after he posted it.

Here is the link to his blog: http://ruminationsofthesage.blogspot.com/

Go check it out!

"For wisdom is better than jewels, and all that you may desire cannot compare with her" (Prov. 8:11)

Day 14 – Your earliest memory

I have a lot of early memories, but I don't know which ones were the earliest so I'm going take some shots at it.

I remember the tears and pain when my father was disciplining me in a harsh manner. I have a slight thought of why he disciplined me, and that is because I wanted to play videogames desperately. My father hated people focusing so much on fun and games, and he desires us to focus on our education. Just to clarify, I don't mean he is a party pooper and doesn't want any of his children, including me, to have fun, but not narrow our focus on it. I assume that was the Asian culture.

Another memory was when we were in the "playland" (Hoi Yearn *Park*) in Hong Kong. My father didn't want me to ride the pirate ship, so I cried really hard.

Another disciplinary scenario...my uncle and his family came to my house. He humiliated me in front of my family and his family by slapping on my butt...don't know why. I probably did something wrong that time...I believe there was a reason for him disciplining me.

I remember going to the hospital with my mom picking my little brother from the hospital because he was recently born. Now that I think about it, I found it funny because I didn't know who that little dude was that my mom was carrying. I thought, "Why was she stealing a baby?"

Honestly, I have more earliest memory...maybe not during my infancy...but I'm just going to leave it at that. The passage of Scripture makes me experience the earliest memory of being in my mother's womb. As I read it, there is no mistake that God's plan is perfect, and that He has placed me here for a purpose.

Psalm 139: 13-14

"For you formed my inward parts;
you knitted me together in my mother’s womb.

I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made.
Wonderful are your works;
my soul knows it very well."

Day 13 – Somewhere you’d like to move or visit.

Visit

Israel - After reading through the Bible and understanding the geographic areas (i.e. Jerusalem), I really want to get the sense of visually seeing the site myself. My friend from church went to Jerusalem this summer, and she had a wonderful experience. She showed me some pictures and shared her experience. I could recall what she said to the youth, "You know when you read through the Bible, the stories we read, the places that the people went to, it became more real when you are actually there. And you get to experience where the people went to." Also, Pastor Mark Driscoll, founder of Mars Hill Church, is going through the series of the gospel of Luke although he is taking a break at the moment. Every time I listen to his sermons, the IT teams would implement an opening video. The setting/background of the video took place in Israel, and Driscoll would explain the details of where he was and how it's related to the sermon he was preaching. Israel sounds like an exciting place to visit. However, my friend from church told me that she saw people holding guns almost everywhere, even kids too...so if I ever visit there, then I better anticipate death.

Tokyo - I went to Japan once when I was a little kid. Went on a tour bus, got to know a dude, but I don't know where he is now. Went to Disneyland and had a blast. Those were all childhood memory. The reason I want to visit Japan is because of the amazing technology advancement happening there. You could go and watch some videos in this channel: http://www.youtube.com/user/Diginfonews. I guess generally speaking, I just want to visit Japan, but specifically Tokyo. It would be difficult to find a church there. It is an unreached country (perhaps around 1% Christian in Japan).

Dubai - Located in Middle East. Perhaps the RICHEST CITY in the world. If you do not know Dubai, then google it and look at the image and you'll know what I am talking about. Did you google it yet? Yes? Do you see the INSANE architecture building? I thought so. That is why I want to visit there. Yes, I studied IAT233, and it was an insane course, but I learned a lot in terms of developing space, not building. Check out the Island...INSANE!

Move

Personally, I do not want to move to another place. I love Vancouver. However, if there is any place I would move, then that place would be Hong Kong. Globally speaking, I have the passion and desire to minister in Hong Kong. To spread the gospel and help the Chinese culture get to know who Jesus Christ is. Even in my own church, I questioned whether if the Chinese congregation knows what church means or what it means to be the church? Chinese is heavily grounded with culture...and I really want to understand how I could be sensitive to them. My prayer is that, by God's grace and empowerment of the Holy Spirit, I could impact the culture to help people come to know Jesus Christ.

Day 13 – Somewhere you’d like to move or visit.

Day 12 – Bullet your whole day.

- Woke up at 10:30am.

- Listened to LOVE by Jaeson Ma

- Deeply thinking which desktop computer I should buy so I could play Starcraft 2 :P

- Talking to Johnson Chuang about building in the desktop computer because it is cheaper.

- Read an article by Mark Driscoll, which speaks about Santa Claus (very interesting): http://onfaith.washingtonpost.com/onfaith/panelists/mark_driscoll/2010/12/what_we_tell_our_kids_about_santa.html

- Went to NCIX to look at the computer features, but didn't buy it. Probably going to talk to my brother about it and see what he thinks.

- Ate KFC with my brother, and had an interesting discussion. Just to summarize what we've discussed, I really do need to be thankful to be my family for all they've done. He is not a believer, and he very resistant against God and does not believe God exist. He told me a lot of things that I do not always agree. Whenever he talks about me and others, I would question back to him. But he thinks I am mad because I questioned him back. We do have the freedom of speech, and we can be judgmental toward each other. He told me, "If you do not help the family, then nobody will help you. Not even friends or your co-workers. This is a selfish world. You may not understand it right now, but once you go into the working industry, then you will understand. I really wonder if you will still think the same as you are working." I assume his point is this, "Will I still be faithful and steadfast towards God in the future? Will I still depend on Him to help me whenever I go through trials." He has been gracious toward me and helping me a lot. Holy Spirit convicted me at that moment. I feel selfish towards my family. I realized whenever he and I have conversation about family, he always points me out to be the most selfish guy. Even while eating, he doesn't understand why Christians need to say grace. He doesn't understand why I have faith in God even though he thinks he doesn't exist. In my thoughts, I questioned, "Does he think I am a mad man for believing God because there is no evidence or we simply can't see Him?" There is reason to believe! If Jesus did not rise from the grave, then my faith is futile, and I am like a mad-man.
Watch this video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RziR9rivKHo
Please remember my family in your prayers.

- 3:30pm: Listen to some videos of Ravi Zacharias. I have heard about him for a while. Perhaps I hear him a lot through my brother in Christ, Kevin Thomas. As I keep listening to his talks on youtube, I am beginning to be appealed to him. He is an excellent speaker and he knows how to answer a lot of tough questions being thrown by skeptics. If you have not heard of him, then I encourage you to listen to him. I feel like he and his colleague, Michael Ramsden, have influenced me to think in a deeper level of faith. I might buy some books from him.
Here is the website: http://www.rzim.org/default.aspx


1 Peter 3:15 "but in your hearts honor Christ the Lord as holy, always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you; yet do it with gentleness and respect."

- Looking through the books and watching view videos of RZIM, I realized there are a lot of deep philosophical questions that I find myself hard to answer. It is humbling. This leads me to take a step back and ponder over these unanswered questions that I want to deal with through my life time.

- Read Chapter 607 of Onepiece.

-Napped while listening to this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xUohtd2hP78

-Ate dinner. Nom Nom Nom.

-Eating mini Ritz bit sandwiches.

-Watched some Starcraft 2 gameplay on youtube

-Went to Futureshop and look for TV at Station Square.

-Talking to Paulman to see what kind of computer feature he would recommend. Realized shopping for a good desktop computer can be tedious and hectic.

-Doing bit of research on Illuminati. I don't know too much about this. Sounds like a cult to me.

-Before I end this day, I will be reading Ephesians 3:1-13 and Mark 8:22-38. I am, again, thankful for God for His grace and love as I am slowly learning about Him. I praise God for all that He has done. John 1:3 "All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made."

I hope you enjoyed the adventure of my day :)

Day 11 – Put your ipod on shuffle and write 10 songs that pop up.

I do not have an iPod. Sorry...I'll just shuffle my songs on iTune, but I did not import my songs onto it besides Lecrae.

Yeah...

- Don't Waste Your Life
- Desperate
- Nummer 1 (Rebel)
- I'm a Saint
- Indwelling Sin
- Got Paper
- The Bride
- Identity
- Live Free
- Change

 

Day 10 – Discuss your first love.

I apologize for not updating my post for the past few days. I was dreaded with school, but now I am finished! Therefore, I could continue my blogging!

Hmm...I do not know what I really need to discuss. It is an open-ended question, so I assume that I could try and discuss my first love.

First of all, what is love? Love is a very misused term in this culture. I think the culture would define love in two ways: Romance and Sex. Also, people can say I love chocolate. People can say I love my spouse (which is awesome). People can say I love this movie just to show high interest. In Christian context, Christians can say they love God.

WORDS WORDS WORDS WORDS

This is where our culture lies. It is all bunch of words. Let me ask you a question, "If you love _______ so much, then would you die for ______ ?"

Christians, "Would you die for Jesus? Would you carry the cross and follow Him?"

John 14:15 "If you love me (Jesus), you will keep my commandments."

What Jesus said is a very hard statement. If you genuinely love Jesus, then you will obey Him. However, that love cannot be exhibited in our human flesh. We must look at the one who is LOVE. God is love. He doesn't just say it, but He demonstrates it. The Father giving His only Son for the world as a sacrifice for human sins. Jesus laid down His life. Love is a sacrifice. It is hard to love. I was talking to my friend about how difficult it is to love God. Love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength. Imagine that...that is difficult...we could just do so much. She admitted and realized that it is hard to love God because she always thought it was easy. However, despite the fact that we are all sinners...despite the fact that we don't often put God as our first priority...despite the fact that it is hard to love God...He is still gracious and loving. How can we love? By looking closely at the cross. Where Jesus shed His blood for your sins and mine. Picture Him...Meditate on the cross...Ponder deeply of how much He loves you...Think of why He died on the cross for your sins...Remember the gospel. We love because He first loved us (1 John 4:19). 2 Corinthians 5:14 "For Christ’s LOVE COMPELS us, because we are convinced that one died for all, and therefore all died."

I hope that this would help us to look back at what love means.

Anyhow, back to the discussion. My first love is mom. She has taken care of me ever I got out of her womb. I am grateful for her. Even though my parents are separated, I am deeply loved by her. Although I fail to love her because I am a rebel at times, she still sacrifice their time to raise me. She made a lot of sacrifices in her life by spending 24/7 working, laboring and getting paid to raise my little bro and I for 2 years. Never rested much. She thought about abandoning us just like my father, but she chose not to. I am still amazed on in how she could endure this much pain and trial just to raise 5 boys in the family. It must be really hard. However, my prayer is that she comes to know Jesus Christ as her Lord and Savior. She knows ABOUT God, but doesn't have a relationship with Him. Keep her in prayer. God really bless me through her, and I desire her to experience this spiritual blessing.

Day 09 – How you hope your future will be like.

God will continually transform me and renew my mind. I pray that I will be like a man that I may serve my future spouse. By God's grace, I hope to see myself standing on the pulpit teaching the Word of God. I hope that I would have a stable family although there will be struggles in life (I admit). I hope that I would live in a decent house where I could raise my own family.

There are a lot of things I could hope for, but I shall not boast about it...if God wills it.

My apology for this short blog, but my brain is shutting down on me. So good night!

Day 08 – A moment you felt the most satisfied with your life.

There are a lot of moments where I feel satisfied with my life. This one is going to be difficult.

First of all, Jesus satisfies me the most. He is my treasure, my lot in life, and my all-in-all. Before I came to know Christ, my life was pretty miserable. Family problems, suffering in education, tempted by Satan, and depression. I am still on a process in my walk with Jesus...taking my time to know that He is all I need because life is a struggle. However, the death that He died on the cross has completely satisfied God's wrath. After accepting Jesus as my Lord and Saviour, I no longer need to worry about my eternal security because I have assurance of salvation in Christ Jesus.

Psalm 73:25-26 "Whom have I in heaven but you?
And there is nothing on earth that I desire besides you.
My flesh and my heart may fail,
but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever."

Also, if I didn't know Jesus, I wouldn't have known all the better/godly friends I made over the years. Hanging out with them really satisfies me, and I love them for all their support whenever I'm down. Hanging out may be temporarily but nonetheless, we're getting closer to each other as we pray, support, counsel, laugh, cry, and study together as we spiritually grow in our friendship with each other as bro and sis in Christ, and relationship with Jesus.