Living the Dream

When someone asks me how I am doing I often respond that “I’m Living the Dream.” What does that mean? Well I suppose you can say that the Dream is living here in Australia. That is pretty awesome I must say. Or it could mean that I’m going to a great school. Perhaps it has something to do with all the support I am receiving from back home? Maybe it’s the fact that I’m learning so many things about God or that I’m experiencing Him through new friendships and great times of worship and praise. Come to think of it, it’s ALL those things. It’s about being at a place you know that God has called you. It’s about living and doing things with a purpose. Basically, it’s Living the Dream. Thank You Jesus.

New Favorite Verse

Well in last New Testament class we did a study on Galations and it was so great to see the book in a new light. Context is so important. It's funny at biblegateway when you do a keyword search and returns specific verses it also gives you the option to read the previous verse and next verse. That option is called "In Context." Kind of funny. Obviously there is so much more to context than just the verses next to it. It also is looking at the context of why the writer wrote the letter in the first place. In the class it was good to really try and figure out what exactly was happening in the church in Galatia. We find out that there are a group of people Paul calls "agitators" or "the circumcision group" and they have their own agenda which includes trying to get the gentiles to get circumcised. Paul is like "Oh no they DID-INT" and in chapter 5 v 12 he says "As for those agitators, I wish they would go the whole way and emasculate themselves!" AWESOME.

Is there an appropriate picture to go with this story? haha no.

Football how I miss you

Well the NFL season has started and here I am in Australia. Rugby can be entertaining at times but there's no comparing to the NFL. And cricket? Don't even get me started... hehe. I'm hoping there'll be times I can watch some games. I know one person who has cable and maybe if the Seahawks are gonna show on ESPN Australia then we'll see if I can catch a replay.

One thing that has recently been on my mind is my Asian-Americanness. I suppose since I'm in Australia we have to call it Asian-Australianness. But I think being here actually is making me more aware of my Asian American background. I think I've already somewhat talked about that I might be the only Asian American here at Hillsong. There are a decent amount of Asians but no-one qualifies as being Asian American. I wondered if Asian Australians were going through the same issues as AAs back home and yesterday I kind of got a glimpse of it.

During Wildlife, the ministry that caters towards high schoolers, they have a video series that has been going on spoofing "The Hills" show. It's a good spoof cuz Hillsong is located in Baulkham Hills so the parody works. But there was this character who basically is the outcast and hangs out in the background of the cool kids, pretty much remaining invisible. And yes you guessed it, he's Asian. I also caught this scene where that kid spoke in an unintelligible thick chinese accent. I suppose these things arent the worst thing in the world but it does show the similar views of Asians here as in America.

It's the little things that I'm noticing more. Whether it be people doing the ching-chong chinaman speaking thing or people just being ignorant about how there are a variety of cultures in Asia. It was interesting too I was having a conversation with an American and he believed that anything that would help minorities like scholarships that are ethnic specific need to be done away with. He stated that we all need to be on equal footing, as if these scholarships were creating injustice, and it wasn't fair being white. Let me tell you that is something I just haven't encountered in awhile. This is good though because it really forces me to know exactly why I'm at AACF, and how there might even be some opposition to what we're doing.

But we run this race with perseverance right? There is a purpose being here. I am not here for myself. God has a plan.

Here are some more pics of the view from the various cameras I've been stationed on this week.
Camera 1 at Wednesday Chapel

Camera 2 at Wildlife

Camera 3 at Saturday night church

Day 53 and counting

Haha, looks like I'm averaging a post every 2 weeks. Not so bad I guess.

One thing I must admit about Hillsong is that their worship songs are really good. I mean really really good. Not just the words too. The composition, the pacing, the mood each song sets. Awesome. I can pretty much listen to the Hillsong United: Across the Earth CD from beginning to end. It's truly ANOINTED.

I remember a moment last week during Sunday Night service. The message was about the idea that songs and singing all come from God. We all have a song for God. Even the nature around us do. "The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of his hands." Psalm 19:1. Then after the message they closed with a couple of songs. But after they finished the last song it's like the congregation wasn't done praising God. They actually started chanting the beginning of Your Name on High. It was pretty cool. It's like they demanded more praise, more glory for God.



Praise God.

3rd week finished

Hmm almost 2 weeks since I last posted on this blog. It reminds me of how my journal entries go. I'll try doing this on a weekly basic. I probably just need to stop over-thinking on exactly what I'm going to write and just put down whatever is on my mind.

What's on my mind right now? Well I'm thinking about the amount of work that I'm going to be doing for school. The difference is that it is exciting stuff. Don't get me wrong, I'm stressed about finishing all the criteria laid out for me. There are due dates and certain check points I need to keep up with, but in the end it's all things that are incredibly valuable. It is funny watching myself (reflecting on myself?) writing notes furiously during New Testament lecture not wanting to miss anything of what the lecturer was talking about. Very interesting stuff. I guess I've always been a lover of history (surprisingly took no history classes at Udub).

Check out this picture of where I was stationed as a cameraman.



Pretty cool to get involved pretty much on the onset.

More to talk about later!

Back to School

Classes have BEGUN! How weird is it that I'm actually excited for school? We finished our first week of intensives. Our schedule was 8:30am to 5pm but only for 3 days of the week. This next week is the same and then our regular schedule will start.

How do I describe what it has been like? I will say that it has been tiring. Sometimes I struggle to keep my eyes open. But the content of which I'm learning is so much more REDEEMING. There is an eternal purpose behind everything. More and more I realize that I'm here for a reason. They say that your life will be changed after your done. Though that is somewhat scary, it also is incredibly exciting!

One thing that is actually tough to deal with over here is the lack of unlimited internet! The plans they have over here are based on usage limits and our plan isn't really all that good. So I can't really upload videos for fear of reaching the limits. It is very frustrating to say the least. Ok I should probably update more later. Keep in touch.

Moved in

Good first week moving into the accommodations here at Hillsong. I was fortunate in a lot of things. Good Housemates, my own room, Some free items like a bed frame and mattress, and meeting some good people so far.

Our House
My Room
Another good thing is that our internet is already hooked up so I've been able to check facebook and stuff. It interesting so far since school hasn't started because basically I'm just hanging out a lot and doing shopping. Not too many responsibilities other than figuring out what we need for the house in terms of groceries, cooking items, cleaning items, toiletries, and other miscelaneous stuff. Continue to pray for relationships to be built up (especially with my housemates) and my focus to always be on GOD.

3rd Post

I've moved into the Hillsong College Accommodation but I'll post more on that later. You can look at my photo albums at:

http://photobucket.com/chonginoz

Here is the Video Blog Post 3:



Cheers!

Chong's Video Blog 2

Hmm... Another video clip. Today is my last day at Andrew and Pat's place. They have been excellent hosts. So lucky. This video blog features Manly Beach.

Video Blog post 1

I can't believe I'm in Sydney right now. Pretty crazy. Not sure what to write in the blog entry other than being a tourist is sure fun AND the Sydney Opera House is the bomb diggity! Here is a link to my first video blog.



Thanks again for all your prayers and support!