Looking Forward

When I was little I thought that 16 was the perfect age to be. 'Twas the oldest you could be while still being a kid. 17 was too close to the threshold of being an adult. 16 was perfect...

But I've learned some things since I was little.

Responsibility does not start when I'm 18. I will not all of a sudden "get a life" when a diploma is handed to me. Responsibility starts now. History is filled with people who accomplished great things when they were still in their teens. Why is it that now our culture is filled with "kidults", people in their late 20s and even 30s who want to keep living their lives free of grown-up duties?

Even though some might say that I'm only 16 so I still have the right to be immature and irresponsible, I don't want to be like that.

My generation is called to so much more than simply "getting by".

16 is old enough to make a meal to feed the homeless. 16 is old enough to have a holy ambition and act upon it. 16 is old enough to dive deep into God's word and experience the truth of who He is personally instead of taking someone else's word for it.

Today, I turn 16. Questions stretch out before me. I'm not simply talking about the questions "What will I do in 2 years? 5 years? 10 years?" No, more specifically, I'm thinking about questions that must be answered imminently and with actions. What will I do to bless others while I'm 16? What will I do to grow in my relationship with Christ this coming year? What will I do now to make a difference?

God, please grant me the grace and wisdom to walk in ways pleasing to You this coming year.

Humility Objectified

"The conductor Leonard Bernstein was once asked, 'What is the most difficult instrument to play?'

'Second Violin,' he replied, 'Because everyone wants to be first violinist.'

Of course the first violin gets to play more interesting parts and commands more attention. But as Bernstein went on to explain,

'It's hard to find someone who wants to play second violin and to do so with the same enthusiasm. But without the second violin, there is no harmony.' "

-- Matt Redman in The Heart of Worship

So it is with all of life. It's hard to find someone who wants to take a secondary task and do so with the same enthusiasm. "But without the second violin, there is no harmony."

Up-The Movie

For my parents' 25th anniversary, they went on a very romantic date to eat dinner and catch a movie. The film of choice? None other than:


UP, the newest Pixar release! (Pretty romantic, huh? ;-) )

If I had to describe the movie in one word, I would choose the word "sweet". Everything about it was just bursting with sweetness! The little boy, Russell, was insanely cute in my opinion. If he were an animal, I think he'd be a panda bear. Oh, I wish I could squeeze him in a tight hug! I mean, just look at him:


Seriously though, I think it was the perfect movie for my parents to watch on their anniversary because it was saturated with the truth that marriage and family are important. All the other Pixar films I've watched have had romance in them between a guy and a girl who fall in love. Apparently, it seems that anything has the capacity for romance: cars, toys, monsters, bugs, even robots! UP has romance too, but I love it so much because it happens after they're married. They always remain so in love. He's deeply loyal to her and his promise to her. It's beautiful.


After reflecting on why I like UP so much, I've concluded it's because of the prevalent theme of loyalty. Yet it's more than that. It's whom the main character is loyal towards. Not to his house. Or his possessions. But to his wife and the boy. My favorite line in the entire film is: "It's just a house." Because of that message, UP is my new favorite Pixar film. And now, there's a whole new meaning to the phrase "What's UP?" :-)

Cool Calvin Clips

I'm not really sure what's special about 500th birthdays if the person isn't living (I wouldn't get one of these), but John Calvin has some great quotes that I thought I'd share on his 500th birthday.

“Whoever is not satisfied with Christ alone, strives after something beyond absolute perfection.”

“The aim of everything is the sanctifying of God’s name.”

“As God, Christ is the destination to which we move; as man, the path by which we go.”

"The torture of a bad conscience is the hell of a living soul".

"There is not one blade of grass, there is no color in this world that is not intended to make us rejoice."

"There is no worse screen to block out the Spirit than confidence in our own intelligence."

Interestingly, I found an article from TIME magazine about Calvinism Changing the World.

And here's a picture of him:



Oh whoops, wrong Calvin!

And the Romance Still Rumbles

25 years ago today, my dad went to his best friend's wedding.


25 years ago today, my dad's best friend married him!

The following is a re-post of what I wrote on my brother's blog 1 year ago to commemorate my parent's 24th anniversary (with a few edits to adjust for this anniversary):

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Once upon a time, there was a boy named Pat and a girl named Ganya, and they met each other while in college because they both attended Arlington Chinese Church in... well... Arlington. After a couple of years, he fell in love with her, proposed, she said yes, and *POOF*, what do you know, they were engaged!!! I'm sure you've guessed by now that they were married 25 years ago on July 7th, 1984. Their love story is very humorous and intriguing, and if I had time I'd tell you more, but here are the highlights simply of the wedding:

• My mom wanted to have a Christian wedding in front of her family so they decided to get married in Thailand.
• However, there were no Christian churches in her hometown since most people were Buddhist so they got married in the market place.
• The ceremony was in Thai, and my dad only knows a little Thai, so his Best Man/fiance's brother who spoke broken English would tell him every once in a while what the preacher was saying such as "De preacher say very good words" and "Put de ring on her finger". The best one of all was at the very end when he nonchalantly told my dad, "Okay, you married now".
• The same uncle drove my parents to their honeymoon spot, but on the way they were in a car wreck and my mom was knocked out. When she came to, she looked at my dad, and asked "What are you doing here?" And they had just gotten married a few hours before!
• None of my dad's family was present for the Thailand wedding so in September they had another wedding ceremony in Arlington. Hence, they actually have two wedding anniversaries (but only the first one counted ;-) )
• The best news is that my mom's mother, or "Amah" which is Thai for grandmother, become a Christian largely as a result of my parent's wedding!
  
  
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  Happy 25th Anniversary! Thank you for being the amazing parents that you are. May your coming years of marriage be filled with the peace, joy, and love of Christ. And may the romance still rumble...

Fish With Trish

At the conference, I met an incredible woman named Trisha Ramos working at the booth for Way of The Master ministries. Even though I was only able to talk to her for a few minutes, I could tell that she is so on fire to spread the gospel. Trisha encouraged me to share my faith and tell other people the good news. She even gave me a few tracks to get me started. Check out her website: www.fishwithtrish.com

Here we are in front of her booth:

Beauty From the Heart Conference (my recap for girls)

(Note: This post is written for girls.)

Encouraging. That's the number 1 word I would use to describe my experience at the Beauty from the Heart Conference. Even though we drove four hours to get there, it was completely worth it for me, and I'm so glad I went. To give you a taste, I'm going to share my notes from the first session given by Hannah Farver because it kind of set the tone for approaching the topic of Beauty from the Heart.

Session 1: Physical Beauty

• Ideas of what's beautiful change over time and culture.

Hannah showed pictures of "celebrities" from decades ago. Man, they look very different from today's celebrities, but at the time they were acclaimed by society as "beautiful". Today, our culture says tanned and thin are in, but Asian girls use whitening lotion and, at one time, African girls were force fed by their families because being fat was considered "beautiful". This led to heart diseases and other health problems. I think that's very interesting considering the current eating disorders in America that are the opposite of that but also lead to health problems.

• Beauty doesn't satisfy anyone.

She read quotes from 3 top actresses and models who were all unhappy with the way they looked. Even though the world acclaimed them as some of the most "beautiful" people in the world, they were still insecure and unsatisfied.

• Beauty doesn't last.

Four pictures were displayed: one of Elizabeth Taylor from when she was a top star in her youth alongside a picture of how she looks now and another set of Audrey Hepburn as a young woman and Hepburn years later. The difference over time is startling. When they aged, they look similar to many of the older women I know today.

• God chose your genes.

God made you the way He did for a purpose. You look the way you do because it pleased Him. After Hannah read from Ps. 139:14-16 where the Bible says that we are "fearfully and wonderfully made", she said that she had heard this verse all her life but she wondered why she still had problems with acting like she believed it. She ended her session by asking,

"Why do we still have doubts that we are wonderfully made?
Why do we put so much weight on the world's beauty checklist?
Why do we compare ourselves with models and actresses?
(And this one was the most convicting:) Why don't we care about what the God of the Universe thinks of us?"

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As you can tell, it was a very good talk. The following session was my favorite, and it answered those last questions Hannah asked. It was the cornerstone for the entire conference. Really, it was about the cornerstone for all of life.

It was about the Gospel.

Check out: www.beautyfromtheheart.org, and stay tuned...