A New Season Begins

Hey guys!

I'm relaunching my blog/website and even adding a facebook page so that you guys can keep up with what I'm going to be doing, ministry-wise.

As some of you know I'm currently support raising to do college ministry at the University of Washington. I'm really excited to see what God is going to do in this new season of my life. I know He's already been faithful to this ministry and I know that it is ready to take it to the next level!

In order to technically be allowed to start ministry I'll have to raise 80% of my support. I'm going to need your help! Check out my webpage for more information:

With an all new design!

Reflections on 2009

Happy New Year! 2010 has begun and as probably are a lot of people I’m excited. In previous years for me new years would bring hope because I wanted something better than what I've been experiencing. As if all the previous years in the past hadn't lived up to expectations. I would ask myself ‘Would this be the year that things would get better? Would I finally get a good job? Would I finally meet that special someone?’ It was kind of a doubtful hope, perhaps even a desperate hope. But this year doubt has been replaced by something else.

I'm excited not so much because I want to forget all the past years’ disappointments and move on to the next one but in a sense it's BECAUSE of the past that I'm excited. God did a lot in my life in 2009. And I have FAITH that God will continue to keep working through 2010 and beyond. Last year was a reminder of God's Faithfulness. That I was even questioning God’s plan was just crazy.

In January of 2009 God called me to go to Hillsong College. God certainly was there directing me. Not that God hadn’t been directing the whole time before, but this time I started to actually SEE how He was doing it, and thus have a chance to experience God during all these times of blessing. How terrible would it be if I just said that me being accepted into Hillsong College wasn’t God? Or that it wasn’t God that provided me with funds to live in Australia. Or that God wasn’t transforming me during my 1st semester at Hillsong College? What if I didn’t attribute those things to God? It’s interesting because when I attributed those things to God, that in itself gave me more faith to ask God for more. Not so much asking in a way that I come to Him with a list of things that I want, which would lead to greed and selfishness. But that I realize that these things that God provides is for HIS GLORY. So I DO attribute these things to God and I find myself seeing more of God in my life.

It is a great feeling to have complete trust in Him. Even during some difficult times I know I can have confidence that “in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose” (Romans 8:28). What a great assurance!

So yea I look forward to what God has in store for 2010!

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!