Photo

Thu, 09 May 2013 21:44:37 -0400

excited >:D

Fri, 03 May 2013 13:04:47 -0400

excited >:D

lazy..

Thu, 02 May 2013 21:34:20 -0400

lazy..

debbie vs. monday morning

Mon, 29 Apr 2013 10:34:03 -0400

debbie vs. monday morning

Einstein reincarnated as a red panda…

Tue, 23 Apr 2013 10:11:00 -0400

Einstein reincarnated as a red panda…

earth day

Mon, 22 Apr 2013 10:48:49 -0400

earth day

First reverse Google image search!

Sat, 20 Apr 2013 01:06:00 -0400

First reverse Google image search!

hm, no storm yet … mr. cloud is still holding on!

Thu, 18 Apr 2013 15:55:44 -0400

hm, no storm yet … mr. cloud is still holding on!

everyone on my floor is wearing facial masks… it’s...

Tue, 16 Apr 2013 00:14:16 -0400

everyone on my floor is wearing facial masks…
it’s like the zombie apocalypse D:

Photo

Sun, 14 Apr 2013 14:51:05 -0400

In light of AER201 demos…

Sat, 13 Apr 2013 22:36:46 -0400

In light of AER201 demos…

Isolated moments of life may be more connected than they...

Fri, 12 Apr 2013 09:50:20 -0400

Isolated moments of life may be more connected than they appear.

Say, for example, you had banana for lunch…
and then ground chicken for dinner…

It’s a small world.

define:showera brief and usually light fall of rain, hail,...

Thu, 11 Apr 2013 18:47:00 -0400

define:shower
a brief and usually light fall of rain, hail, sleet, or snow.

All I need is a meteor shower and my day will be complete.

Photo

Wed, 10 Apr 2013 09:27:37 -0400

Prancing around, way too pleased with myself for a conquering...

Wed, 10 Apr 2013 01:49:00 -0400

Prancing around, way too pleased with myself for a conquering computer graphics assignment kekekeke

This time of year. Too nice to not be outside, Too cold to...

Mon, 08 Apr 2013 16:00:45 -0400

This time of year.
Too nice to not be outside,
Too cold to actually be outside.

This is the time of year to stare outside and daydream.

Urbana, reluctantly.

Sun, 07 Apr 2013 21:26:00 -0400

Was asked to share about a conference I attended a while back.
Here’s the transcript CTRL+V’ed.

—————-

Urbana is a mission conference targeted to young adult Christians with the purpose of opening out eyes to the work God is doing in the world and inspire us to join in the work being done in a context broader than ourselves. Urbana 2012 tried to capture these goals by offering a variety of programs such as seminars, encouraging prayerful reflecting, and studying the gospel of Luke.

As an attendee, I’m supposed to love sharing about this experience: how it was wonderfully executed, powerful, and inspiring… yet I’m plagued by frustration every time I’m asked to share. As cohesive as the event was, every one of the sixteen thousand attendees had a profoundly difference experience. As seamless as the event was, I can’t think of a thesis or tagline that can capture my experience there. That said, despite the extremely cohesive and seamless execution, today I’m going to share three thoughts that have been nagging me coming out of Urbana that happen to be in-cohesive and scattered.

Scattered Thought #1: Seminars
My first scattered thought comes from attending seminars. From these, God showed me that my discipleship is selfish. I was humbled to realize that, in fact, I am so selfish that even the choices I make with the intention to “sacrifice” can actually be better explained by selfishness. I claim to be a disciple, yet I only care about my own growth. The seminars at Urbana helped me realize that personal growth as a disciple plateaus and stagnates when my only incentive to be a follower of Christ is for my ow salvation. The thing is, discipleship is a way of life that isn’t about self-examination but about Christ. Discipleship isn’t about growing towards Christ alone, but collectively as humanity. In this way, discipleship is mission. Discipleship should permeate every aspect of my life… not so I can bask in my own maturity, progress and growth, but so I can demonstrate the joy Christ gives me as it overflows generously to others.

Scattered Thought #2: Culture
The nature of Urbana draws particular types of people to the conference. It is this combination of the programs and the attendees themselves that breed a very unique Urbana culture. My second scattered thought is about this culture. Indeed, the atmosphere there was quite an experience to behold. For five days, St. Louis became an entire city of Christians… so you’d expect this to be utopia right? You’d think that there’d by a sense of shalom—the way things ought to be—right? Alas, Urbana demonstrates that Christians are indeed sinners in need of God’s grace and mercy… I mean, the scramble every day for lunch was savage and displayed our true priorities. So imagine this; on one hand, we’d trample each other to feed ourselves for lunch… and on the other hand (when our stomachs weren’t at stake), we’d treat each other extremely kindly, smile, open doors, and start conversations with each other. But this begs several questions: In Urbana, conversations were easily initiated because we all shared an experience of Urbana in common… but do I even approach people in the same way here when we all share an experience at this church in common? Further yet, do I approach fellow human beings in the same way when we share a Creator in common? On the contrary, when it comes to something that compromises my convenience or desires—like being fed—what are my priorities?

Scattered Thought #3: Bible Studies
My third scattered thought comes from participating in the Bible Studies held every morning. In these, our facilitator shared his own story: how he envisioned to be a missionary and travel with his family so that his children may be exposed to God’s work in the world and have a diverse upbringing… this was his plan. Yet even thought it was well-intentioned and godly, God called him and his wife to adopt a child that needed very special attention, and the stress of travelling would be too traumatizing for the child. Therefore the facilitator had to relinquish the lifestyle he envisioned to serve God through being obedient to Him in the present. As a student, I’m extremely preoccupied with my future. I worry about what God has planned for me, I try to limit God to “visions” I create for myself and for ministries I’m involved in. These plans for the future may be completely valid, well-intentioned and godly visions… however Jesus calls us to follow him now. Am I able to relinquish control over my future and obey him now?

All in all I am very thankful I had the opportunity to attend Urbana. It was an absolute pleasure to see how the Holy Spirit works in the world today and it’s truly a privilege that God invites us to be part of this work. Through Urbana, God left me itching to be part of something so much greater than I know.

You see, now I realized why I become unsettled when asked to share about Urbana: because Urbana isn’t something I miss or reminisce. Ultimately, the purpose of Urbana 2012 wasn’t to nurture an excitement for Urbana 2015… but rather to inspire an excitement to live.
And that’s exactly what it did.

Thank you.

Photo

Wed, 03 Apr 2013 01:45:51 -0400

breathe

Mon, 01 Apr 2013 21:36:11 -0400

breathe

the blocks impeding on an impending blockbuster -_-”.

Thu, 28 Mar 2013 09:37:31 -0400

the blocks impeding on an impending blockbuster -_-”.

Tɑсʜуоɴіс

Photo

excited >:D

lazy..

debbie vs. monday morning

Einstein reincarnated as a red panda…

earth day

First reverse Google image search!

hm, no storm yet … mr. cloud is still holding on!

everyone on my floor is wearing facial masks… it’s...

Photo

In light of AER201 demos…

Isolated moments of life may be more connected than they...

define:showera brief and usually light fall of rain, hail,...

Photo

Prancing around, way too pleased with myself for a conquering...

This time of year. Too nice to not be outside, Too cold to...

Urbana, reluctantly.

Photo

breathe

the blocks impeding on an impending blockbuster -_-”.