elLocoPollo's Xanga

"Packer's Bible" now bestseller

Thu, 16 Aug 2007 19:24:07 GMT

Came across this interesting article about the ESV in the Canadian Christian newspaper.

Step 1: Admit you have a Problem

Mon, 02 Apr 2007 02:44:36 GMT

I am addicted to Ice Breakers: Sours. My friend Hubert gave me a pack of these the last time I was in Los Angeles. The problem is they are too addicting. Aside from their great taste, they come in this really well-engineered case:

If you look carefully, alone the rim there are two notes: "not to share" and "to share". Each of these sections have respective doors for unique roles:

So one is for you to live out a worldly life and be selfish with your Sours; the other, is to live a godly life. The odd thing is that, often, one chooses the "godly" life in sharing yet really are fooling themselves because they choose that door to share greatly -- only with themselves. What do I mean by this? Simply, the Sours cannot be left alone. You can't just eat one tablet, but have to eat several... several times. Ironically, over the course of writing this post, I have already eaten a dozen or so... <sigh>

Ok... back to homework...

Friday, March 02, 2007

Fri, 02 Mar 2007 06:57:13 GMT

So... since moving to Vancouver, I have not cut my hair... that's about six months and my hair has grown out quite a bit.

But, unfortunately, my Korean pop star career didn't take off.

...

Alas...

I decided to cut it ...

This was, of course, pre-shower.. so a lil messy.
(On a side note, I realize my posture is kind of bad. hahah...)

Friday, February 23, 2007

Fri, 23 Feb 2007 17:34:40 GMT

Yesterday, I came back from my first day ever of snowboarding and I LOVED it!!! It was at Cypress Mountain which is about 30-45min away from Vancouver. There were 18cm (7in) of new snow and this Saturday there is an expected 60cm (2ft !!) of new snow. Here's a shot of my aptmate and me at the mountain:

And this one is of him making fun of my SKILLS! The instructor taught us to stick out our arms to direct the snowboard path.

Tuesday, February 13, 2007

Tue, 13 Feb 2007 23:26:17 GMT

"To allow the hungry man to remain hungry would be blasphemy against God and one's neighbour, for what is nearest to God is precisely the need of one's neighbour. It is for the love of Christ, which belongs as much to the hungry man as to myself, that I share my bread with him and that I share my dwelling with the homeless. If the hungry man does not attain to faith, then the guilt falls on those who refused him bread. To provide the hungry man with bread is to prepare the way for the coming of grace." -- Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Ethics, 136.

Monday, February 12, 2007

Mon, 12 Feb 2007 17:09:14 GMT

Have you ever thought: "This better be what God wants me to do or, otherwise, I have wasted a lot of time and energy"? I know that is an inaccurate statement to make, but still... that thought has crossed my mind several times in the last few months. It is probably because the road is long and hard. It is probably because my faith is so small. It is probably because I need more variety in my life. It is probably because I need to get out more. :)

As I have been praying and seeking out the possibility of PhD studies, I realize more and more that I may not get into a program. They are HARD to get into and have high expectations when you are there (as I look at the process, my respect for people with PhDs goes up). I am reminded that, no matter the obstacles, God will make it happen if He so desires. That is comforting. The only fear I should have is a fear in God.

Where is the injustice?

Thu, 08 Feb 2007 05:18:41 GMT

During my sojourn at Fuller, the second professor to make me cry (or at least tear up) was Doug McConnell (the first was Richard Mouw and the last was Mignon Jacobs -- but that's cuz she was really hard). The class was Advocating for Social Justice in which we surveyed all sorts of social issues in the world and the historical responses by Christian communities. Doug's specialty was on the topic of "children at risk" and he had been a missionary in Australia and PNG for many years.

I remember one day being so riveted by the discussions that, after class, I asked him the fundamental question: "What am I to do?" I was trained as an engineer, studying theology and praying for God to reveal the future. How was I, living in suburban Los Angeles, in graduate school in ritsy Pasadena, to be a part of the solution for the injustices that seemed so far. This pastoral man's response came as a bit of a shock: "It really depends on where God calls you." For some reason, this answer was quite unsettling. Are we all not already "called" to the holy triad of the prophets: the alien, the fatherless, and the widow? How can I, in here (suburbia) not be called to reach out there (margins of society)?

Today I met up with the pastor of the church I've been attending here in Vancouver. I have recently been thinking a lot about social justice and feeling as though there was something missing at the hands level. I asked him something similar to what I asked Doug and his response was slightly different: "For us (the church), we minister to the aliens (recent immigrants) in our midst (church neighborhood)." I knew that the church ministered to recent Chinese immigrants that had difficulties finding jobs and learning the language. This response was less unsettling than Doug's -- though still was not perfect for me. On one hand, we cannot be constantly reaching out there and forget about here. But at the same time, to focus too much about the here can easily (and I would say almost always) neglects the there.

So how do we resolve this tension? What are the implicit callings of the Christian in this area? What explicit callings must we be expectant about? Are these even the right questions to be asking?

Monday, January 22, 2007

Mon, 22 Jan 2007 05:38:44 GMT

New find for those studying Chinese: online mp3s and pinyin of the Bible.

Saturday, January 06, 2007

Sat, 06 Jan 2007 01:45:02 GMT

Do you think it is wise to run in the snow with my football cleats on?

Friday, January 05, 2007

Fri, 05 Jan 2007 19:59:26 GMT

I've been back in Vancouver and reading and working in my basement suite... I decided to go for a healthy run then looked out my door:

How does one run in the SNOW!? I tried... honestly I did...