detour to heaven

All about Jesus

2008-05-13T18:48:00.002-04:00

I think that there's a common misconception that the bible is all about what we should do to please God. We should read the bible daily and pray and serve and give and et cetera. Not that they are bad things, but the bible is God's story. It really is not about us. Even throughout the old testament God is telling a story about Jesus - foreshadowing the greatest moment of love in history.

Here's a blurb I found from Tim Keller:

Jesus is the true and better Adam who passed the test in the garden and whose obedience is imputed to us.

Jesus is the true and better Abel who, though innocently slain, has blood now that cries out, not for our condemnation, but for acquittal.

Jesus is the true and better Abraham who answered the call of God to leave all the comfortable and familiar and go out into the void not knowing wither he went to create a new people of God.

Jesus is the true and better Isaac who was not just offered up by his father on the mount but was truly sacrificed for us. And when God said to Abraham, "Now I know you love me because you did not withhold your son, your only son whom you love from me," now we can look at God taking his son up the mountain and sacrificing him and say, "Now we know that you love us because you did not withhold your son, your only son, whom you love from us."

Jesus is the true and better Jacob who wrestled and took the blow of justice we deserved, so we, like Jacob, only receive the wounds of grace to wake us up and discipline us.

Jesus is the true and better Joseph who, at the right hand of the king, forgives those who betrayed and sold him and uses his new power to save them.

Jesus is the true and better Moses who stands in the gap between the people and the Lord and who mediates a new covenant.

Jesus is the true and better Rock of Moses who, struck with the rod of God's justice, now gives us water in the desert.

Jesus is the true and better Job, the truly innocent sufferer, who then intercedes for and saves his stupid friends.

Jesus is the true and better David whose victory becomes his people's victory, though they never lifted a stone to accomplish it themselves.

Jesus is the true and better Esther who didn't just risk leaving an earthly palace but lost the ultimate and heavenly one, who didn't just risk his life, but gave his life to save his people.

Jesus is the true and better Jonah who was cast out into the storm so that we could be brought in.

Jesus is the real Rock of Moses, the real Passover Lamb, innocent, perfect, helpless, slain so the angel of death will pass over us. He's the true temple, the true prophet, the true priest, the true king, the true sacrifice, the true lamb, the true light, the true bread.

The gospel is written all over the bible - we just have to focus on Jesus more than ourselves when we read it :)

The Urgency of Now

2007-12-19T16:43:00.000-05:00

Wow.. its been a while since I last blogged.. been busy studying and traveling for school.. but I'm back!!

I recently joined facebook to see what the big deal was about.. I must say that it's pretty cool.. i found some old friends from elementary school and it was cool to see what they've been up to. Even got to see some old pictures of us when we were kids!

yup.. that's me with the fist.. haha.. pretty wild huh? I think I've tamed down a little since then :P

Anyways.. all this got me thinking of heaven. I think its awesome that the family of God will be reunited in heaven. So no matter how far I travel, or where I end up practicing, I'll be reunited with my family in heaven in the end. But would I get to see ALL my old friends again there? I hope so.. but the reality of it is probably not - which is why I'm reminded of the urgency of spreading the good news of Jesus to others. While I was in elementary school I thought that these people would be with me where ever I went and that I would see them everyday. Now I realize that there's only so much time together that you get with certain people in life.. people come and go in your life and you might never hear from them again. Without facebook I probably would have never talked to them. Hence the urgency to tell them the news of Jesus. Facebook might not always be around... internet fads come and go and you might only have a moment to share it before people disappear from your life - are you willing to step out of your comfort zone to tell them? The urgency of now. We have to be ALWAYS ready to share the gospel.. ALWAYS living out the grace of God (the gospel).. and ALWAYS extending that grace to others. If you wait until later you may just miss your chance.

How beautiful on the mountains
are the feet of those who bring good news,
who proclaim peace,
who bring good tidings,
who proclaim salvation,
who say to Zion,
"Your God reigns!"
~Isaiah 52:6-8

one man's junk is another man's treasure

2007-06-18T15:01:00.000-04:00

Stumbled upon this cool picture today - Its remarkable how such an awesome picture can come from all this junk. Reminded me of a discussion that we had in fellowship a few weeks ago.. We once were given a beautiful garden to live in, but because of sin, we now live in a dark, rebellious, and fallen word - but by the grace of God, he gives us an opportunity to help make it beautiful again. We are to be the light, to help make the tragic beautiful - just like how Jesus made us beautiful again by being nailed on the cross.

When you send your Spirit,
they are created,
and you renew the face of the earth.
May the glory of the LORD endure forever;
may the LORD rejoice in his works
~Psalm 104.30-31

"I just have a lot of gum"

2007-06-16T23:41:00.000-04:00

Funny story today..
So a few of us went down to South St. today to just hang out and walk around. Lo and behold, there was a booth giving out free gum and free t-shirts!!! So how could I resist getting a free t-shirt! So we lined up, and there were a few baskets filled with chewing gum samples - so I grabbed a few. (And by a few I mean a lot - I think I grabbed like 6 or 7 packs :P). Anyhoo, I got a cool orange shirt saying that the gum lasts longer than 1000 bucks at Vegas. So we finish walking along South St. and we decide to go check out the liberty bell and the independence hall. And they have security at these places. At the liberty bell they let me walk right through, but at independence hall, I had to walk through a metal detector. So I put my keys, phone and wallet in the basket.. but as I walked through the metal detector, it beeped. So the security guard asked, "Sir what do you have in your pockets?" And so I reach into my pockets and say, "Oh, I just have a lot of gum!". We both laughed and he waved me through.

Can't believe the aluminum foil on the gum set the metal detector off. Haha

The 10 Commandments

2007-05-28T12:23:00.000-04:00

I went to NY yesterday for a Redeemer service, and I must say that Tim Keller preached one of the best sermons I have ever heard. So good that I just have to share this with you guys.

The sermon was based on the 10 commandments in Deuteronomy 5:6-21, 24-29. Keller outlined the origin, the substance, the problem, and the solution of the 10 commandments.

Origin of the law
God created the 10 commandments not so that he could control us - I mean think about it, He's God. He's all powerful. He doesn't need commandments to control us, he could just snap his fingers and have us bow before him. But he wanted us to have a relationship with him. In Deut 5:29 he says: "Oh, that their heards would be inclined to fear me and keep all my commands always, so that it might go well with them and their children forever". He gave us laws so that all might go well with us - the laws are for our own good. He gave a good analogy of if the doctor said that you had high cholesterol and a bad heart, and told you to stop eating fatty foods, but you continued to eat them, then you have no one to blame but yourself for your demise. Similarly, God made the law for our good: if we break them, then it is would not be well with our souls and we hurt ourselves.

Substance of the law
The law is not 10 individual commandments per se, but they are laws that are all connected with each other. In James 2:10 it says: 10For whoever keeps the whole law and yet stumbles at just one point is guilty of breaking all of it. Keller was struggling with this as a young Christian - he was saying how he should get points for keeping 8/10 of the laws, or 9/10 of the laws - it seemed unfair that if you break just one of the laws that you would be guilty of breaking them all. But he realized that James wasn't saying that at all and he was saying how the 10 commandments are all connected - so if you break one, you break them all.

The 10 commandments combine the vertical with the horizontal and teach us to love God and to love others. The first 4 are those that teach us to love God and the last 6 are those that teach us how to love others. The 10 commandments also combine the internal and the external. Laws 1,2 and 10 are the internal, while laws 3-9 are the external. Now if we break one internal law, we pretty much break them all. If we break law #1 [You shall have no other gods before me. (v7)] then we effectivly have an idol and thereby break law #2 [You shall not make for yourself an idol in the form of anything in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the waters below. (v8)] and law #10 ["You shall not covet your neighbor's wife. You shall not set your desire on your neighbor's house or land, his manservant or maidservant, his ox or donkey, or anything that belongs to your neighbor." (v21)] Now our internal state governs our external state - when we become Christian, we die to our old ways both internally and externally. So if we are not completely satisfied with God, if he is not our first priority, not our first love (internally), then we will break the others (externally). We will lie because we are insecure in ourselves (law #9, v20). We will overwork because we want to make money to feel more secure in ourselves (law #4, v12-15). We will committ adultary if we feel more secure in other people and find pleasure in sex (law #7, v18). We will not be satisfied with what we have in Christ and will steal (law #8, v19). So if we break one of them, we effectively break them all. Cool huh? Wait... there's more to wow about...

Problem with the law
Deut 5:24-26 says: And you said, "The LORD our God has shown us his glory and his majesty, and we have heard his voice from the fire. Today we have seen that a man can live even if God speaks with him. 25 But now, why should we die? This great fire will consume us, and we will die if we hear the voice of the LORD our God any longer. 26 For what mortal man has ever heard the voice of the living God speaking out of fire, as we have, and survived?

And there lies the problem - God wants such great things for us so he sets up these laws so that we can achieve these great things. However, it's something that we cannot live up to. We can never fulfil the law perfectly. We are sinful, and we are bound to break the law - even one as beautiful as God's.

Solution of the law
So what’s the solution?? What else - the gospel. Jesus’ sacrifice. If you notice throughout the law, God says that he is OUR God. The law is very personal and relational! In verse 6 it says "I am the Lord YOUR God...", in verse 9, "...for I, the Lord YOUR God...", in verse 11 "You shall not misuse the name of the Lord YOUR God...", in verse 12 "...as the Lord YOUR God has commanded you...", and again in verse 14, 2 times in verse 15, and another 2 times in verse 16. The law was very personal. And on the cross, Jesus demonstrated his love not only to us, but also to God. As Jesus was about to die and enter into the depths of hell he said "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?" (Matt 27:46). Notice he didn't say God, God, why have you forsaken me, but rather "MY God, MY God, why have you forsaken me?" It’s one of the most personal things to say to someone who is letting you die and allowing you to go to hell. To say that God is still considered dear to Jesus' heart as he was dying, as he was being forsaken. And this really blows my mind - On the cross, as he uttered those words, it demonstrated his great love for God – and at the same time he demonstrated his love for us. At no other time in history has someone both loved God and loved others as Jesus did when he died on the cross. The gospel is the embodiment of the 10 commandments. The gospel shows us how to love God, and others.

WOW.

stumbling

2007-05-16T22:46:00.000-04:00

I recently found a great way to surf the net: StumbleUpon. Its a toolbar that you can download. It asks for all your interests and basically surfs the internet for you - finding websites that match your interests. I find that its a great way to waste time - I've stumbled across so many cool sites and so many cool pictures that I would have never found otherwise. Here are a few pictures that I've stumbled upon lately:

Do women really like wearing heels? Looks uncomfortable - especially at that toe joints! (or as us podiatrists say - metatarsophalangeal joints.. hehe) I mean.. you can actually see the pain (depicted in red) oozing out of the joint on x-ray! (Just joking, you really can't see pain on x-rays - would be cool if we did tho)

Haha... I like bacon :)

"last photo I ever took" pics:

Cool Art by Rob Gonsalves

Friends

2007-04-16T17:02:00.000-04:00

Reason #253 why I love the raptors:

The best teams are said to have the best chemistry. The better chemistry you have with one another, the better you will play together. This year's raptors have me so excited - and not only because they're winning - but also partly because they genuinly care and love each other. When they clinched the Atlantic division, Chris Bosh took everyone out for a steak dinner. When Garbajosa broke his foot, his teammates supported him and encouraged him. Jose Calderone took him out for a spin in his new wheelchair! Anyways, I was reading an article on them today and this quote from Garbo on his team just made me smile:

"You have to be in this locker room to feel what kind of relationship we have with each other. The first thing after the injury, I just wanted to come here to see my teammates because I love them," he said. "They gave me a lot of support when I was at home (recovering), they came to my house to see how I was, calling me, sending me messages ... I can say they are more than my teammates, they are my friends."

How awesome is that? Reminds me a lot of how Jesus views us. We all have a mission from God, and we all have a purpose on God's "team". And yet, Jesus says that we are not only his followers or his servants, we are his friends. How amazing is it to be called God's friend? His friendship is something that we do not deserve - we deny, hurt and betray him again and again - but by his grace and his love he has blessed us with his friendship.

I no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know his master's business. Instead, I have called you friends, for everything that I learned from my Father I have made known to you. ~John 15:15

Love wins

2007-04-07T00:00:00.000-04:00

I have betrayed him like Judas.
I have denied him like Peter.

I have given in to peer pressure like Pilate.
I have mocked him like the guards.
I have struck many nails into the wrists of my savior.

I am more sinful than I could have ever imagined.
Yet God's grace is greater than I could have ever hoped.

I sin.
Over and over again.
Yet God loves.
Again.
And Again.
And Again.

Love wins.

I asked Jesus how much He loved me
He answered "this much"
Then He stretched out His arms and died for me.

Lakeside House

2007-03-17T12:24:00.000-04:00

Over my life, I've lived on my own (ie - away from my family) in 4 different places. In the ghetto dorms of U of T. In the townhouse in the middle of nowhere in Ottawa. In the convienient but expensive dorms of Temple Podiatry. And now, at the Lakeside House. Sounds extravagant doesn't it? But Lakeside isn't really beside a lake - its actually a restaurant in Chinatown that I live above. I'm loving my time here - it reminds me of the tv show Friends.

We have a great community here. We all know each other from church - and living in the same building allows us to continue our fellowship throughout the week. We cook for each other, eat each other's ice cream, play games, hang out in each other's apartments (like how Joey and Chandler just hang at Rachel and Monica's apartment). Its awesome. We can walk in and out of each other's apartments - which is a very un-American thing to do (according to one of my podiatry friends). But I think we can do that because we know everyone in the building. It's kind of like what Kramer (in Seinfeld) was trying to create when he was taking everyone's pictures and posting them in the lobby. He was saying that if everyone knew everyone, there'd be less break ins and less crime because "you don't steal from someone you know". (Of course the funny thing is that Kramer takes from Jerry all the time - but that's different, because Jerry had once said: "We're neighbours - what's mine is yours and what's yours is mine") And I think that's how I feel living at the Lakeside house - what's mine is yours and what yours is mine. Sharing really is caring ;)

Warren has been talking to me about what's he's planning to do with the Lakeside House. I get excited when I talk to him cuz he has such big plans. His vision is to build a great city - a city that embodies what community in Christ is all about. His first project was "the Howard house". He and Wendy bought a townhouse (on Howard Ave. - hence the name) and a bunch of people from church moved there. It was a small group - the people there have dinner together and have small group meetings. They go through life together - what fellowship is all about. Basically Warren's making meeting up together easier. Its easier to meet up together when you don't have as far to travel. I've noticed that the relationships that I have at certain times are dictated by the distance that is between us. This is probably true for a lot of people, which makes long distance relationships so hard for most people. I'm so glad that I have Joyce, who is amazingly patient and understanding while I'm away from Toronto - our relationship has helped me to be more active in loving and caring for her. It's easy when we're in the same city, but when we're apart, there's this intentionallity that needs to be developed to maintain our relationship.

At Lakeside, Warren's planning on adding a bunch of rooms in the apartments and putting a common area in the basement where people can hang out, invite their friends, have fellowship, eat, etc. It's really cool and exciting - what he's doing is he's making the venues small communities that has the capacity to foster great relationships and ultimately, a great city.

Let us not give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but let us encourage one another—and all the more as you see the Day approaching.
~Hebrews 10:25

the woman's tools

2007-02-24T12:50:00.000-05:00

Saw this on a blog that Joyce sent me.. Hilarious :P
Girls are funny ;)

the heavenly crown

2007-02-04T13:34:00.000-05:00

Awesome sermon today. Ever since I've been at CCC&C for services I've been challenged to look at the word in a more "gospel-centered" way. Every passage relates back to the gospel - that God substituted himself so that we could have what we don't deserve.

Today Donny went through 1 Cor 10:24-27. It was a very familiar passage - about training and running in a way as to get the prize. To run our life in such a way as to get a crown that will last forever. And I used to always think that that crown was some kind of heavenly reward - heavenly riches. That for some reason I'd get fancy cars and big houses and all these big toys in heaven. But Donny brought us back into the context of the passage. If that is what Paul really meant, it goes against everything that he stood for; everything that he preached about. He brought up two passages: 2 thess 2:14 ("He called you to this through our gospel, that you might share in the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ.") and Phil 1:4-6 ("In all my prayers for all of you, I always pray with joy because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now, being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.") What was Paul's crown? In the context of Paul's life, his crown was the gospel. It was his purpose, his goal. The crown or "reward" that he was pressing on to win were people's hearts for Christ. He wanted to share his joy with others - the joy of knowing Jesus Christ. And in the same way, when we look at the life of Jesus, what was his crown? Donny said that a person's passion is something that he is willing to die for. For Jesus, it was you. It was me. He gave up what he deserved so that we wouldn't have to get what we deserved. His crown was us.

So I took away a few things from the sermon today. It made me realize that I'm quite a materialistic person - more so that I would have liked to believe. And it made me realize the power of studying the bible in a gospel centered way. When it is gospel centered, it is about me and God in a community. It is about what God did for me instead of what I can do to gain God's favor. It's more about grace than works. I've realized that when I study the bible as a "do or do not" list, I become more judgemental. I may be doing this and not doing that, according to biblical standards, but I start realize that others may not be following the bible as I am - so I become judgemental. And I believe that one of my struggles is my judgementalness. It is hard for me to not judge others because I'm a disciplined and structured person and I expect people to be able to do things that I am able to do. I'm very legalistic (even tho I try not to be!). So I pray that I will be able to grasp how wide and long and high and deep the love of Christ is by seeing the gospel work in my life everyday - so that I can be more loving, and less judgemental each day.

"17And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, 18may have power, together with all the saints, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, 19and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God." ~Eph 3:17-19

Finding the Gospel

2007-01-21T18:03:00.000-05:00

Yesterday I went to a discipleship training - I learned a lot. I've heard before many times that we should be preaching the gospel to ourselves everyday - but never before have I realized that there was such a practical and cool way to do that. The premise was that all passages in the bible can be related back to the gospel. The gospel tells us of a graceful substitution that is given to us so that we can be justified, righteous, free, etc. I thought it was quite the interesting concept - and Warren had been talking with me a while for quite some time about the centrality of the gospel. I got what he was saying conceptually, but it is totally different when you see it done practically. So we were given a passage and we were asked to find the gospel in the passage.

Psalm 1

1 Blessed is the man
who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked
or stand in the way of sinners
or sit in the seat of mockers.

2 But his delight is in the law of the LORD,
and on his law he meditates day and night.

3 He is like a tree planted by streams of water,
which yields its fruit in season
and whose leaf does not wither.
Whatever he does prospers.

4 Not so the wicked!
They are like chaff
that the wind blows away.

5 Therefore the wicked will not stand in the judgment,
nor sinners in the assembly of the righteous.

6 For the LORD watches over the way of the righteous,
but the way of the wicked will perish.

So when we were going through this they asked: What sermons would typically be preached on this passage? Someone said meditation on the word (v2). Someone else said not walking in the council of the wicked (v1). What you get out of the passage then, are basically "rules" or legalistic views on what to do and what not to do. However, if we look for the gospel within the text, we would be able to realize God's grace and our sinfulness - resulting in a deeper understanding of the gospel which leads to spiritual growth.

So in Psalm 1, the gospel is found throughout the psalm. In verses 1-3, it talks about a man who does not walk in the council of the wicked, does not stand in the way of sinners, nor sits in the seat of mockers (v1). It talks about a man who delights in the law of the Lord and meditates on it day and night (v2), and a man like a tree planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in season, whose leaf does not whither, and whatever he does prospers (v3). That sounds like Jesus. In verses 4-5 it proceeds to contrast this man with the wicked - who are like chaff and the wind blows away (v4). Verse 5 says that the wicked will not stand in judgement before the rightous (v5). Verse 6 brings everything together.. the Lord watches over the way of the righteous - but the way of the wicked will perish. Because of God's sacrifice - we are made

countdown

2007-01-10T17:08:00.000-05:00

Wow, I haven't blogged in a while...

Last week my family, Joyce and I went on a little trip to NY, Atlantic City, and Philly. It was a fun week and nice to have the whole family together like old times.

We were in NY for New Years Eve and we did the Times Square thing. We got onto 7th Ave around 5pm on Dec. 31st. We were able to find a restaurant to eat in. It was funny, because my dad wanted to stay there from 5-11:30 so we could minimize the standing around. Lo and behold, a lot of people in the restaurant were planning that too. Some more blatently than others, of course. We at least were ordering food every hour or so (we spaced out the ordering of our dishes.. hehe). There were people in the restaurant who just ordered a drink and was playing cards! Half of this small restaurant had people playing cards! Kind of funny. Anyways - the manager got mad at the people playing cards for 2 hours and decided to lecture them in mandarin. So the people playing cards ordered some food. We stayed in the restaurant until 8:30 because we couldn't eat any more and we didn't want to take up their space (even tho the police had blocked off the block anyways so no customers would likely eat there....) Anyways, so we get out and we realize that the police had blocked off the block and we had to walk back to a block that wasn't blocked off in order to see the ball drop. This was devestating because we thought we could just walk into the street and see the ball drop after dinner - but the police said we couldn't stay on the sidewalk for 3 hours. So my dad just acts "soh soh day" and walks into one of the blocked off blocks right in front of a policeman. And the policeman I guess thought that he belonged into that block cuz he walked in so confidently. So we all walked into the block and stayed there until the ball fell down. Its hard to explain in words, but it was kinda funny :P

Anyhoo, here are some pictures of our time standing in Times Square...

my family

my family and joycie

awe my parents are so happy
our view: the ball we were watching is that blue speck of light that you see on top of the column of TVs
note the clock to the right - it was the clock we were watching to determine the time left until the ball dropped
also note the billboard on the left (google this) - the finger was actually pointing to people (we thought that was pretty funny)
joycie and me

It was an experience - but I dont think I'll ever do it again. Standing there waiting for a ball to drop was kind of boring - especially since we couldn't hear any of the performances (we could see them on the TV but we couldn't hear the sounds)

And to end this post, here are some other pics from our trip:

central park - with the plaza hotel in the background (the hotel that home alone 2 featured!)
my dad airbrushed in the last pic (just keeding)
the coolest Apple store ever
atlantic city along the boardwalk
sharing a malt at Johnny Rockets
my dad pretending to be Rocky (aie)
Penns landing on a crazy warm day in January
Joyce's foot vs. My foot

It was a great week - I wish there were more weeks like this :)

the week that was: pictures

2006-11-30T18:03:00.000-05:00

homecoming: November 18, 2006
the yaus (and 1 fung)
poker boys
more poker boys
vinci and tiff
friends
leo, olive, and hannah
stretching before the fight
the eyetoy arena
Hot Pot: November 20, 2006
steaming!
raptor game: November 22, 2006
at the game!
raptor misses a dunk and falls on face
after the game
day downtown + wicked: November 23, 2006
censored
at joe badali's
the crystal christmas tree
outside wicked
outside Nawlins
c4c fellowship/bowling: November 24, 2006
joyce bowling
yes, she KILLED me
joyce and me
all you can eat sushi: November 25, 2006
my parents and i
my gf and i
chocolate fountain
last day/yum tsa: November 26, 2006
me and my favourite gals
my family

the end

there's no place like home

2006-11-26T21:36:00.000-05:00

So I'm back in Philly after 10 wonderful days in Toronto. I miss Toronto. I didn't realize how much I missed it until I saw my family, Joyce, my brothers and sisters from other mothers - I miss the fellowship, I miss church, I miss board games, I miss the food, I miss the community. I grew up in Toronto physically and spiritually - so a part of my heart will always be with the people there. Anyhoo.. here are some highlights:

homecoming
So a lot of people came over on Nov. 18th for the homecoming party my family help put together. It was amazing to see everyone again and to have great conversations with people. Unfortuneately, I didn't get to talk to everyone, but to those I did talk to it was as if I had never left. We talked about God, school, sports, etc. I loved it. I think this is when it truly hit me how much I miss Toronto. My friends are great and I felt so loved. That even though I was far away, they still remembered me and were excited to see me and I was excited to see them. It reminded me of the prodigal son - how his father, although he was far away, remembered him and was excited and grateful to see him when he came back. I think this was a little glimpse of heaven as well. When we enter through those golden gates, we will see people that we haven't seen for a while. We will enjoy the fellowship and the community - and we will celebrate. I can't wait!

raptors game
Went to see the raptors game on Nov. 22. It was the first time that I brought Joyce to a sporting event. (Well - one time we sold 50/50 tickets at a raptor game but we only got to see one quarter so I don't think that counts). It was a great game! Raptors were able to build a 19 point lead that they were able to squander before pulling out the win in the 4th quarter. When I got home I got an email from Ray (who's from cleveland and sent the email before the game was played) with the subject title "sorry". Sorry? I was confused because I couldn't think of what he would be apologizing for - so I opened up the email and it said:

"I just wanted to apologize in advance for the game tonite.
Hopefully it won't be too upsetting to watch....and you'll somehow find a way to enjoy yourself while watching your team get destroyed by Lebron."

So I emailed him back rubbing it in his face :P

wicked day
This was a day I was looking forward to for a long time. Joyce got tickets for wicked back in June or July. I didn't want to set my expectations up too high - because when I do that things just never seem to live up to the expectations. But it was tough when everyone that's seen it or knows someone who's seen it says that its the best musical ever. So anyhoo, the day started off with me helping Joyce with one of her prints. I was assigned to keep the stone moist while Joyce rolled on the ink. It was interesting to see Joyce in action - in her element. Then we went downtown for lunch at the Old Spaghetti Factory. Joyce had a 2 for 1 coupon for this so that was great! I had sausage penne and Joyce had mancotti. They were both pretty good - but the soup that came with the meal was so hearty that neither of us could finish our meal. We had to doggy bag it :(. (Aside - I think I must be past my prime or my stomach's shrinking or something - can't even finish a soup and pasta... how sad - and I think 3 or 4 aunties came up to me after sunday service telling me that I got skinnier... :S) After the Old Spaghetti Factory we walked around downtown and in the Eaton Center. We went to a place downtown that was selling the charlie brown Christmas tree! That was hype! It looked like such a sad tree - but it was a tree to love (as the box said :P). After that we went to Joe Badaldi's for dinner. I had the veal and Joyce had the steak pasta. Joyce also had a 2 for 1 coupon for this restaurant so we were dining like royalty! This time, the soup wasn't too hearty and we were able to finish our meals (Although for a while it seemed like we wouldn't finish...). Then after dinner we headed off to the Canon theatre for the show. On the way we also saw the big crystal tree in the eaton centre that was unveiled that day. And I saw that they opened an apple store in Eaton centre! Anyhoo, the show was awesome. The songs were great, the story was fantastic, the singers/actors were amazing. I had the song popular stuck in my head for a while after the performance. It met my expectations and more ;) Joyce was all giddy afterward hehe - she's cute. Then after that we went to a jazz bar to listen to jazz for one of Joyce's classes where she has to journal about 10 or 15 different jazz performances. Fabulous day.

Anyhoo, I'm pretty tired right now - I need some rest - long day at the airport. But I really had a great week.. I'll find some pictures to post up another day..

I miss Toronto.

Edit: 11/27/06
I still miss Toronto, but it was truly a great week - Got to catch up with Joyce, family, friends from church and school. I wish there was more time that I could spend back home. Its too bad this program is so intense that they only give 2 days off for Christmas break. :( Oh well - I'm grateful for the opportunity to learn. I hinted at this earlier, but my homecoming really did feel kind of what I pictured heaven to be like. A big celebration with lots of food, good fellowship, talks with people that we might not have seen in a while, talks with people that we may not have even known before. Just an amazing time of fellowship as we celebrate the victory that was won through Jesus Christ. Can't wait!

Let us not give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but let us encourage one another—and all the more as you see the Day approaching.
~Hebrews 10:25

same differences

2006-11-11T09:47:00.000-05:00

So today I woke up and was browsing the canoe website and I saw a poppy and I'm thinking "No way its remembrance day and I didn't even know!" Every year in Canada I'd get a poppy, but this year I did not because there'd be none to buy here. So I've realized how important poppies are to remembering those who fought for our freedom. It also reminds me of how important communion is. If we didn't have communion regularly, would we be reminded of Jesus who died for our freedom? Or would we just take it for granted and forget?

Anyhoo, I thought it'd be a good time to break out a list of differences between Canada and the US:

1. Holidays
As mentioned, there are no poppies around remembrance day in the US.. in fact - can you believe they don't HAVE a remembrance day? Crazy.. well they do, but they just call it veteran's day. No poppies tho! They have Memorial day too. There's also Columbus day - a holiday for when Columbus discovered America. Its on the same day as Canadian thanksgiving and I heard that the Americans just switched it so that they could have another holiday (not everyone gets off Columbus day tho...) So that's why Thanksgiving in the US is in November instead of October. Does anyone know if Canadian thanksgiving originated from pilgrims like the American Thanksgiving?

2. Food
There are no "timbits" here.. they are called "Munchkins". And no Timmy's! The big donut place here is Dunkin' Donuts. I miss Timmy's. Speaking of restaurants: there aren't any Swiss Chalets, Kelsey's, Congee Wongs, or Pizza Pizza but at least there's an Olive Garden :) Oh, and Chick-Fil-A is a good fastfood joint too. They close on Sundays as a sabbath! How awesome is that? You don't see that too often nowadays.

3. Sports
Football is HUGE here. There are fans in Canada, but it's a cultural phenomenon around here. I guess it's kind of like hockey in Toronto. Not too many hockey fans here. (Of course that may be because the Flyers stink this year) Everyone seems to be following football. College football is actually bigger than the NFL. Its because a lot of the people grew up around or went to these schools when they were younger and have developed an attachment to those schools. A lot of school pride here. I find there isn't much school pride in the college sports teams in Toronto. No one ever talked about the Toronto Varsity Blues when I was at U of T. Maybe because there are so few universities in Canada compared to the states. I dunno.. (Aside: Poor Eagles fans - they had a good shot at being around 8-0/7-1 right now but they lost on 2 last minute field goals and blew a big lead.. resulting in their current 4-4 record.. I feel for the Philly fans - but of course I was celebrating when the Raptors beat the Sixers this week.. hehe)

4. Measurements
Americans use Fahrenheit, Miles, and Inches. I'm not sure why. I've asked a lot of people why and they said they don't know - some say that they even use the metric system at work! The other day someone told me that they like switching their digital spedometer to kilometers so that they can feel like they're going faster. Another friend told me that when he went to Canada and saw the speed limit sign at 100 he thought "Wow, Canadians can drive fast!". I think Americans just want to be different. :P Plus I guess it'd be a big hassel to change all the speed limit signs to kilometers.

5. Cell phones
On all the plans I've seen, every one of them offered free nationwide calling. That's amazing! I could call someone in California from Philly right now and it wouldn't cost me any more. It's too bad this doesn't extend into Canada, even tho Toronto is closer than LA. :(

6. Milk
The milk does NOT come in baggies. Just jugs from what I've seen. Weird huh?

7. Internet TV
It's quite cool. I can watch shows that I've missed the night before online. I've told Joyce this and apparently she can't watch them because its restricted to America. Too bad... its cool :P

8. BBQ
One of the things Americans really know how to do is grill. As one of my friends said "I heard Canadians don't know how to grill" And after tasting the stuff they grill - its true, its true :( I think its all the tailgating they do here. :P hehe

9. Instant messaging
Americans use AIM. Canadians use MSN. I have no idea why there is such a segregation in this use of the internet. Americans say MSN sucks. Canadians have been saying AOL sucks since the beginning of the internet. I dunno - can't we all just get along? I use Adium which combines both :)

10. Blogs
Americans love xanga - or the Americans I know anyways. Canadians use blogspot or livejournal or xanga. We like variety I guess. :P

Ok I think 10 is enough. :) There are a lot of subtle differences, but on the whole, Americans and Canadians aren't too different. I think the world makes Americans out to be cocky, big and bad and Canadians to be the big friendly neighbour to the North. But really, we're not too different. At the root of it we are all people who yearn for community, yearn for a place to belong, and people to yearn for a purpose, something more. Humanity is humanity, whether we are in Canada or the US, or anywhere else. The gospel message applies all the same.

"But now a righteousness from God, apart from law, has been made known, to which the Law and the Prophets testify. This righteousness from God comes through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe. There is no difference, for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus."
~Romans 3:21-24

"don't know what you've got till its gone"

2006-11-07T19:52:00.000-05:00

I've been reminded of how important my teeth are the last few weeks. I feel I have a pretty high pain tolerance for bumps and bruises, but when my teeth hurt, its over. When I can't eat or drink without feeling pain that's bad. 2 weeks ago one of my teeth started to hurt. It was a similar pain that I had had 6 months prior for which I had a root canal. Turns out that the tooth right beside that root canal needed a root canal too! Doh... bummer. So I got it fixed. 3 days later I played basketball and I was defending someone. As he went up for a shot, his elbow caught my chin and slammed my teeth together. My teeth felt funny. When I went home that night I tried biting into a pear and I could not. I was freaking out! I couldn't imagine having no teeth and I wouldn't be able to eat hard foods! I went to the dentist the next day and thankfully, I didn't need any reconstructive surgery - they were relatively well aligned still and there weren't any fractures - I just had to eat soft foods for a week. I'm still on soft foods for a couple more days.. I really miss real food! My teeth feel better, but I have a new appreciation for my teeth. I take them for granted so much until they hurt. I'm going to try wearing a mouth guard next time I play ball (which might be tomorrow.. hehe). We'll see how it goes...

Don't it always seem to go
That you don't know what you've got
Till it's gone
- Joni Mitchell "Big Yellow Taxi"
There are times when I take what Jesus did for me for granted too. Jesus came down FOR ME. Jesus suffered FOR ME. Jesus died FOR ME. And so often I do not live as if he did. I sin. Over and over again. My time is not used wisely often enough. I choose to build myself up instead of others. I take life for granted sometimes. When really, I should be grateful to be saved. I don't think I will fully appreciate or understand the extent of what Jesus really did for me until I get to heaven.. and as a result I don't think I appreciate life enough. Reminds me of one of the lines in "Here I am to worship" that goes: "I'll never know how much it cost, to see my sin up on that cross". I saw a movie over the weekend with a friend called the saw. I'm not usually into gory movies, but it was a pretty good movie with an interesting concept. The killer put people in situations that are "death traps" and they had to get out of them. And each situation the killer put the victim in was tailored to the person - their life, their struggles, etc. There was one person who escaped and she described her story to the cops. She said that the killer put a device on her jaw that was hooked onto a timer. Once the timer expired, the device would pull open her jaw and effectively kill her. The key to the device was in the stomach of her cellmate (who was "dead" according to the killer). The victim had to open up the cellmate to get the key. What she didn't know was that her cellmate wasn't dead, but was knocked up on narcotics - so he couldn't feel a thing when she was cutting into him for the key. She eventually got the key and was let go by the killer (because she accomplished her task). The thing was, she told the cops that she was once a narcotic addict, and now, after this ordeal - she appreciated life so much more. The killer helped her. Similarly, we are in a death trap. The death trap of sin. Jesus is our key. We are all on a timer. We all will die. Hopefully we find Jesus before the timer runs out. And hopefully after finding Jesus, we will be changed and appreciate life that much more.

You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly. Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous man, though for a good man someone might possibly dare to die. But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.
~Romans 5:6-8

olive garden and pumpkin carving

2006-10-31T23:02:00.000-05:00

I went to olive garden today. SO GOOD. The entrees all come with a soup or salad and some of the best garlic bread sticks in the world. I got minestrone soup - pretty good. We also ordered a sampler plate - chicken fingers, calamari and fried beef ravioli. The chicken fingers were amazzzzzing! So crisp on the outside and so tender on the inside. For the entree I had the Tuscan garlic chicken. That was very good too. Then we got the chocolate mints that I love. I asked for more from the waitress and she was happy to provide me with a handful :P All night I was thinking.. "How come they're not in Canada anymore?" I remember back in the day when my parents would bring me and my brothers to olive garden for lunch after church. It was one of our favorite restaurants and we all couldn't believe they were leaving Canada when they did 5 or 6 years ago. Such a sad day :(

Anyhoo today is halloween, so here are some pumpkin carving pictures from fellowship last Friday.

This is how they grill in America :P
BBQ Food.. Mmmmm... energy for pumpkin carving:
Taking out the pumpkin goop:
Where the pumpkin goop went:
Stabbing the pumpkin:
The Finished Product: Its supposed to be a dizzy guy seeing stars, but everyone thought it was a monkey :P
Lights out!

Edit 11/2/06:
I forgot to mention another Halloween story.. I got a candy gram from one of my friends here at school.. and she writes "Do they celebrate Halloween in Canada?" haha.. its funny because I ask that all the time to my friends here.. "We have (insert item/product/holiday) in Canada - do you guys have that here?" Canada isn't too different from the states... :P There are differences tho.. I'll make up a list of them in the near future..

postsecret

2006-10-27T13:17:00.000-04:00

Joyce really enjoys going to postsecret every week to read secrets. It's an interesting concept. This guy collects secrets and he asks people to send in their secrets on a postcard. This guy then posts 20 of them on the website every Sunday.

Anyways, Joyce told me that the guy who receives these postcards, Frank Warren, was speaking at one of the bookstores here in Philly, and that I should go check it out. So I did, and I really did enjoy his talk.

He had many stories to share - about how he was affected by reading the secrets, to how others responded to reading the secrets, and to how the people that wrote the secrets responded. He said that people can relate to the secrets because the postcards don't always tell you the whole story. The postcards are big enough to tell you the secret, but we have to fill in the blanks so that the secret would make sense to us.

Freeing
One story that I liked was of this lady from Texas. She sent Frank Warren an email saying that she had wrote her secret on a postcard perfectly, but when she read it, she didn't like the secret so she ripped it up and decided to stop living a lie and to get rid of the secret. He said that that story reminded him that sometimes we think that we are holding onto a secret but in reality, the secret is holding onto us.

Relating and Encouraging
He shared a story about a teenage girl who sent in a card that said something like: "I have great parents, great friends, amazing grades in school, etc., but I'd trade it all away to be beautiful." And after he posted it on the site, a reader saw it and emailed him saying how she related to that secret. She said she was like that once. Now she's 40 and the secret made her look back in her old yearbooks and she said that she looked pretty cute back then. So she decided then that she would stop wanting to be more beautiful because she was beautiful the way she was. And so Frank Warren posted that story underneath the secret and he said how it was amazing how people can be touched and changed by the secrets and how others that go through the same thing can encourage each other.

Loving
One last story that I liked was of this girl who wrote to Frank Warren saying that she had written up a bunch of secrets that she had never told anyone, including her boyfriend. But instead of sending them to him, he left them by her boyfriend's head while he was sleeping and went to work. That afternoon, the boyfriend came by and proposed to her. It was really touching and encouraging to see that regardless of our secrets, the people who love us will still ultimately love us.

Community
Some of the most memorable moments in my life were in a couple of winter retreats I went to while I was in Toronto. We had "deep deep sharing". We would essentially share our "secrets" - what we were struggling with. I remember one where I shared my secret and I just couldn't stop crying. Everyone was crying, but man.. I just couldn't stop crying the whole night. It was liberating to share my struggles, to be transparent. I remember a few people coming up to me to encourage me as well. I think what these experiences and what the talk yesterday by Frank Warren taught me is that we are definitely not alone. We may feel that our secrets are too shameful for others, but in reality it is something that we all probably struggle with. God asks us to be transparent because it frees us from our chains - frees us from our bondage to sin. It is through community that we can relate to one another, to encourage one another, and to unconditionally love one another.

Carry each other's burdens, and in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ.
~Gal 6:2

Bonus!
Some of the secrets that I found funny last night were:

Frank Warren's neighbour, who is an author, wrote: I hate that my neighbour thought of a better idea than me

The most popular secret sent was:I pee in the shower

This one is from Frank Warren's wife:I want to sleep with Richard Gere (a little awkward wouldn't you think? hehe)

And my favorite:
...so be careful how you treat others ;)

scrubbing in

2006-10-18T20:27:00.000-04:00

I scrubbed into my first surgery the other day. Sounds exciting huh? Well.. it seems all exciting and stuff on TV but it wasn't too exciting; my job wasn't too spectacular. Maybe it'll be more exciting when I'm actually the one doing the surgery. You know on TV when doctors yell out for a scalpel or a retractor? Well.. I was the guy in the surgery than hands them the instruments. The procedure was a removal of a foreign body. I didn't even get to see the surgery.. oh well.. I don't think I would have had time to watch anyways. I had to be on the ball. Anticipate everything they needed before they needed it. Hand them instruments and medicines and specimen cups and whatever else they needed in a timely fashion so the surgeon could do their work without delay. It was pretty fun, even tho it was boring and tedious work. That's the life of a surgeon tho.. you gotta start with the basics and step your way up. Next year when I'm in the OR I'll get to retract! Nice. I have a couple years before I actually get to cut skin and bone in a surgery :P. Gotta pay my dues first I guess. I understand how it works tho.. learn the basics first before you go onto the complex.

Isn't that how it is though? We so often want that "solid food" and yet we have yet to learn how to drink "milk" (Heb 5:12). We need a good foundation first on which to base the more complex things in life. There are times in our lives when we look forward to the future - when we look to the spectacular and the exciting things we might be doing then. We may try to "skip steps" and do the things we'd like to do in the future before we learn all the basics. We may not like our situation presently - we may even can't wait to get out of it so that we can move on to more exciting things. But before we move on to those exciting things - whatever they may be - we need to learn the basics first - essentially the gospel message. We need to learn how to love, how to wait, how to long, how to have faith, how to forgive, how to relate, etc.. Life on Earth is just a detour to heaven. I believe that the character we develop here on Earth will impact who we are in heaven. We are told to finish the race strong (Heb 12:1), and to prepare for the Day of His return (Matt 25:1-13). The present shapes our future. The basics shape the complex. The building blocks shape the building. Its nice to look forward to things in the future - be it opportunities, situations, relationships, skills you'll attain, or heaven! But if we don't focus on the present and all that we can learn from it - we may be robbing ourselves of the best future that we can have.

"In fact, though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you the elementary truths of God's word all over again. You need milk, not solid food!"
~Hebrews 5:12

red-carded

2006-10-09T22:29:00.000-04:00

This past weekend I was helping out at the breast cancer walk here as a podiatric/medical guy. There were people with sprained ankles, and twisted knees, and good 'ol blisters. It was busy, but it was fun talking to people. There was one patient that we saw that we had to "red card". That's when a patient's injury is significant enough that we can't allow them to continue the race (for their safety). As I was examining this patient, it was apparent that she had a tendinitis in her foot, but she also had a focal pain in the bottom of her foot that seemed to resemble a fracture. So I called over one of the sports medicine doctors for a second opinion, and he said that it might be a fracture. So he decided to red card her. At this point, the patient just broke down in tears right in front of me. I had no idea what to say. Thank God 2 of her friends were there to encourage her - telling her that she had raised money for a good cause and that she did the best she could. I never realized how important it was for people to finish the walk. They train for months. And to not be able to finish the race is devestating for them. This patient in particular had children that were coming from 6 hours away to see her cross the finish line. And now they wouldn't be able to. Finishing was important to her, and she wasn't able to finish because she got red carded by us. Afterwards we went to talk to the sports medicine doctor and we were able to talk him into allowing the patient to walk the last mile so at least she could cross the finish line. If the x-rays were clear, she could walk the rest of the way too if she could stand the pain. So that seemed to lift her spirits up a little. Reminded me of one of my favorite stories - Footprints in the Sand. When we are at our lowest, God is there to carry us through.

This whole situation got me thinking about finishing the walk of life. How important is it for me to finish well? How much am I training? Is there anything in my life that is going to get me red-carded? Is there anything that will prevent me from walking my best? I am guilty of falling so many times in terms of training my mind, body, and soul. I have been red-carded many times in my life. But it is amazing grace that allows me to continue to walk. It is Jesus who carries me through the walk and who will help me finish well.

Footprints in the Sand by Mary Stevenson

One night a man had a dream. He dreamed he was walking along the beach with the Lord. Across the sky flashed scenes from his life. For each scene, he noticed two sets of footprints in the sand: one belonging to him, and the other to the Lord. When the last scene of his life flashed before him, he looked back at the footprints in the sand. He noticed that many times along the path of his life there was only one set of footprints. He also noticed that it happened at the very lowest and saddest times in his life. This really bothered him and he questioned the Lord about it. "Lord, You said that once I decided to follow you, You'd walk with me all the way. But I have noticed that during the most troublesome times in my life, there is only one set of footprints. I don't understand why when I needed you most you would leave me." The Lord replied, "My son, My precious child, I love you and I would never leave you. During your times of trial and suffering, when you see only one set of footprints, it was then that I Carried You."

Everyone who competes in the games goes into strict training. They do it to get a crown that will not last; but we do it to get a crown that will last forever.
~1 Cor 9:25

bobble JAKS

2006-09-30T15:34:00.000-04:00

So this is what I've been doing at school:
Yes. Quality arts and crafts time. :P I just finished my radiology rotation at school and it was very enjoyable. They call it "radi-holiday" because there isn't much work to be done. People come in for x-rays - we shoot them and develop them and send them on their way. So there was a lot of down time. The groups that go through the rotation usually do a little card commemorating their time there because there is so much down time - its a "Temple Radiology Tradition". There were groups that put themselves on cartoon strips, on toes on a little index card, but our group decided to go all out and do something on bristle board. We made bobble heads and we stuck ourselves on skeletons (get it - x-rays - ha ha ha) and then stuck those skeletons on custom surfboards. Now every student that comes through to get an x-ray will see our big heads on those funky surfboards - they won't be able to miss us. :P We spent a lot of time on it (on and off for 3 about mornings), but we had a lot of fun with it and we were very proud of it after it was put up.

And as I thought of how proud I was of this piece of amaturish art that our group made, it made me think of God and how proud of us he must have felt when he created us. We are his creation. We are all made in his image. He spent his time to design each and every one of us. Imagine how proud God is of us if I can be proud of a simple thing such as heads glued onto a skeleton.

I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made;
your works are wonderful, I know that full well.
~Psalm 139:14

messy

2006-09-23T18:28:00.000-04:00

I've been watching a lot of Grey's Anatomy lately. Joyce sent me a bunch of episodes over the mail and I've been going through the past 2 seasons. It's really an awesome show. I was first drawn by the cool medical cases they had. The first episode I saw was last year when they showed two people stuck together with a pole and they had to choose one to live and one to die. There are some very interesting medical cases such as the pregnant man, the guy with the overy, the bomb in a body cavity, etc. And there are also relationships and characters that are being developed on the show as well. I like how there is a theme to each show, and that the medical cases and the relationships all revolve around that theme. It teaches me a lot about life. The show really relates to me because I am like that - I reflect on my situation and my surroundings to find truth. I find analogies to situations that help me learn. It was an analogy that led me into podiatry.

The biggest lesson I've learned from Grey's Anatomy is that Life is Messy. It never really goes according to plan. You may think that you are in control of everything and everything may seem stable to you. But then one event happens and it shatters your world. You may be independent and determined to accomplish your goals. But then someone comes into your life and makes your heart all crazy and changes the way you act, the way you think, the way you feel. You never know when someone will come into your life to make that impact. And that same someone can be in your life one minute, and the next minute they could be gone, without any warning. Life is Messy.

Yet although life is messy for these interns, they are always there for each other. They have others to depend on. They have family. Being a part of a family gets us through the messiness of life. I praise God that I am part of his family. Wherever I may go, there will be a "distant relatives" and "long lost brothers and sisters" of my family to meet and grow with. No matter how messy my life gets, I'll have a family.

How great is the love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are!
~1 John 3:1

closer

2006-09-17T23:12:00.000-04:00

Its amazing how the internet has revolutionized the world. I remember 10 years ago the internet was a pretty boring thing. There was email, but no one really had an email address. There were web pages to surf, but I wasn't interested because there just seemed to be all these informative web pages and none that were really "fun". I thought the internet was boring. And then ICQ came out. It was the coolest thing in the world. Now suddenly I was able to message multiple friends over the internet and chat with them over the computer. This was pretty huge because I wasn't a phone person - I'm still not really a phone person. ICQ allowed me to communicate with a lot of people - having separate conversations with each one. I was able to develop and work at 10 one-on-one relationships at once! Plus I was able to communicate with people overseas or people that I normally didn't get a chance to see. The whole world was brought closer. I didn't have to physically be with a person to actually develop a relationship with them. The internet was suddenly cool.

And look at it now. 10 years later and now its hard to find someone who DOESN'T have an email address. There are so many different webpages to suit everyone's interests and personalities. And although ICQ seems to have disappeared (how come no one's on it anymore?) MSN (in Canada), AIM (in the US), and iChat (for Macs) have taken its place. (side note - everyone in the US uses AIM and I know no one who uses it in Canada.. how odd) The internet brings the world closer to us. I'm not sure what I would do without it now. I use it to do so many things. Email, instant messaging, looking for information, research, looking up journals, looking for pictures, viewing photo albums, reading blogs, evaluating and researching board games, playing games, video phone, and regular phone. Using skype to call home is great! Its free (well, "included" with an internet connection) and you can talk for as long as you want. The internet brings people closer.

I think in the same way, Jesus' death and resurrection brings God closer to us. When we are born, sin separates us from God. God is holy. We are not. God is good. We are not. God is blameless. We are not. God is righteous. We are not. God is just. We are not. God was worlds apart from us. Then Jesus comes along. God in the flesh. He went through the same temptations that any of us would face, but the difference was that he did not sin. He was holy, good, blameless, rightous, and just. Before Jesus, we had no way to bridge that gap. With Jesus, that gap is closer - God's world is closer. We are no longer separated from God, but able to stand with God. Jesus brought God's world to us, and for that I will be forever grateful.

For just as through the disobedience of the one man the many were made sinners, so also through the obedience of the one man the many will be made righteous.
~Romans 5:19

the time of my life

2006-09-16T10:39:00.000-04:00

Casey posted something about the homeless a while back, and it got me thinking about sandwich runs and soup kitchens, and all those good times that I had doing them back 2002-2003. Plus 3 people have asked me why I got into podiatry in the first place in the last week, so I figure its a good time to reflect. During that year I was struggling with trusting God, struggling with knowing what God had in store for me in the future. I was entering my fourth year of university, studying a subject that I wasn't particularly passionate about (Biochemistry), and had absolutely no idea what I would do after that year. (Biochemistry is a cool subject though - its amazing how many molecules are in our body and how they interact with each other to maintain life; to carry out life functions... but it wasn't for me.) So I did what any Christian would do at that point.. PRAY. I prayed that God would lead me in the right direction, to show me his plan for me, and that I was going to trust him to provide me a future. So basically I applied to pretty much everything and asked God to close and open doors as he wished.

So 1 week or so before 4th year started, I went on my first sandwich run. Honestly, I was a little nervous. I didn't know what to expect, how I would interact with them, etc. I had been conditioned by culture and society to ignore them when they asked for money or other things. I guess reflecting back it was because they seemed "unlovable" or "too much of a hassel" to love. I would learn later that year while going through the Purpose Driven Life that God puts the "hard to love" people in your life so that you can learn to love them. Its easy to love those that are easy to love, or do things for people who can "return the favour". And loving the homeless really taught me to love with no expectations of any "return favours". So that first sandwich run I met a guy named Mad Dog on the corner of University and Queen in Toronto. He looked kind of like Bruce Willis. And he was the leader of this group of friends that were there - I remember Houston and Cecelia were part of that group too. So I started talking with Mad Dog and I realized he had no shoes on and the bottom of his feet were all black. He wore the same size shoes as me so I told him I'd provide him some shoes. So we set up a time, and we got the shoes to him that Friday. :)

Another story I want to share is one about Brian and Evelyn. They were a couple that I regularly saw at King between Bay and Yonge. We had developed a nice relationship with them. One particular instance really stood out to me. The day before one of our sandwich runs, I was playing basketball with a few buddies and I twisted my ankle. I ended up wrapping it up in a tensor bandage, elevating and icing it that night. However, I was still in pain the next day, when we were scheduled to go for another sandwich run. But I really wanted to go so I decided to ride downtown and suck it up. On the subway my foot was killing me. It was really throbbing. When I got downtown we did our prayer, and for some reason I decided to take off the tensor bandage on my foot. Turns out the tensor bandage made my foot way too big for my shoe! When I put back on my shoe there was no pain at all! So I put the tensor bandage in my pocket and we went on our way. So that day we saw Brian and Evelyn. We were talking and we asked them if we could get them anything. It was the winter time so Evelyn asked for socks. I remember Matt going off to the side to take off his socks to give to her. Brian asked for shampoo and a comb. And Tif was for some reason carrying shampoo and a comb. (Do girls always carry shampoo with them? hehe) At this point Evelyn had taken off her shoe and we saw a deteriorating bandage on her foot. (It looked like tissue paper wrapped over her foot). She said that she had hurt her ankle on a construction site down the street. At that point I realized I had a tensor bandage in my pocket, and so I was gladly able to give it to her to replace her old bandage. Its cool how God was able to provide for this couple. He knew what they needed and he was able to use us to provide it to them.

There are a few more foot stories, but I'm going to get to the meat of the story now :P In January of 2003 I started volunteering at a school, helping an occupational therapist who worked with some children there. I would go in once a month to help this girl Amanda with her hand writing and play games that would help with her motor control (She had some sort of motor dystrophy). So one week in March, I was riding the subway and I started noticing all these signs about March Break specials for the subway. I didn't think too much of it - I was in university and had my reading week already. I get to the school, and the doors are locked. The lights are out. I'm wondering what is going on. So I pretty much stand there for 5 minutes, looking for any form of civilization in the school when someone down the street sees me and tells me that if I want to get into the school, the preschool is open that day! I say thanks and I head to the preschool and make my way up to Amanda's classroom. To my surprise, all the chairs are stacked and all the lights are out. I'm super confused now so I start walking around the school. Then some construction guy comes up to me and asks me what I'm doing there (I guess I looked suspicious). I explained everything and then he asks me "Hey Buddy, you know it's March Break right?". D'oh. I felt stupid. So I hung my head in shame and left. Later that night I was reflecting on my day and an analogy came to me. God talks to us softly sometimes. God whispers to us. Sometimes we just have too much going on to realize that he is talking to us. So he'll whisper and whisper some more. He'll leave hints for us to figure out. But sometimes, its not until he slaps you in the face with the answer that we realize what he's trying to say to us. There were many hints for me to pick up on to figure out it was March Break. My brothers were on March Break, the subway signs, the locked doors, the stacked chairs - but I didn't put all that together until that guy slapped me in the face with the realization that it was March Break.

Two days later, I got accepted into Foot school. It was my first acceptance letter, so I was happy, but I was still waiting to hear back from more schools. I didn't know if feet were for me. That night I told one Steph at fellowship that I had got into Foot school. She told me that was so cool and that there were people who drive around in trucks to give footcare to the homeless. At that point I was thinking "cool, I like dealing with the homeless, maybe footcare is for me". So I reflected more on it that night, and I realized all the little foot stories God had put into my life. And with that analogy I had just learned - God was really slapping me in the face and telling me "Podiatry school is where I want you to go". God really had my feet in his hands - He was leading me to Podiatry school all along.

Since then, God has reaffirmed his placement of me in the world of podiatry. I love the profession. God also gave me a mentor in Dr. Goldberg who I was able to work for and spend time with. I have realized that podiatry also fits my lifestyle. I am laid back and calm, just like the profession. There rarely is any stress with the job (except for maybe difficult patients), and on the whole there aren't too many life-threatening things that we treat.

Reflecting back, I really believe that that year was one of the most rewarding times of my life. It really wans't about the sandwiches, and it really wasn't about the homeless. Although our goal was to develop relationships with the homeless and show them the love of Jesus, these experiences have shaped who I am. I am on the path that God has put me in. And everything that started that year has led me to where I am today, a podiatry student in the city of brothery love.

At this point of my life, my future is again, uncertain. Right now there are many presentations on residencies at our school. I know pretty much next to nothing about most residency programs. The only information I am using to narrow down my choices so far is location. After these 2 years in Philadelphia, where will I end up? Will I still be in Philadelphia? Or will I be in Vancouver, Boston, Miami, or some other city? I am well aware that God can send me to wherever he wants. I never thought I'd end up in Philadelphia, but it has been an amazing learning experience as well as blessing for me. Its exciting to see where God will lead me in the future. As I noted in my previous post, reflecting on the past really does show God's faithfulness.

"Tomorrow is always better with Jesus Christ." Pui Wing Wong

For the LORD is good and his love endures forever;
his faithfulness continues through all generations.
~Psalm 100:5

reminders

2006-09-11T23:39:00.000-04:00

Yesterday I was talking to someone about how some of the people I've met in Philly remind me of people back home. Its pretty funny how that happens. How certain people talk, act, their mannerisms here in Philly are very similar to a different person back in Toronto. Some even look alike! Maybe how you act inwardly has to do with how you look outwardly... Anyways, everytime I talk with these individuals it reminds me of friends back in Toronto and it reminds me of home. And that's cool. I like reminders of home. Reminders allow us to remember things that we may not remember otherwise. And its cool how God gives us so many different types of reminders in our lives to look back on and laugh about, to be thankful about, etc.

Sounds:

Certain songs remind me of certain people, or certain times. The Spice Girls remind me of my teenage years - when I was crazy about them and even bought the movie. (Yes, I know how sad that is.. hehe) I Swear by All 4 One was my first slow dance back in grade 7. I Wanna Be With You by Mandy Moore and Lucky by Britney Spears were 2 of my car anthums (Yes, I am quite the sap :P), Sweet Caroline by Neil Diamond reminds me of Niagara Falls with Joyce, Can you feel the love tonight by Elton John reminds me of Dancing with Joyce, You are good and Lord of the Harvest remind me of Urbana 2003, Praise God on High and Beauty of the Earth reminds me of Willowcreek, Uptown Girls reminds me of karaoke revolution and DDR (from last week) and so on and so on.

Sights:

Certain objects, symbols and colours remind me of things. Red reminds me to stop. Green reminds me to go. Yellow reminds me to be careful. Orange reminds me of Dunamis (my softball baby hehe). The bread reminds me of Jesus' body which was broken for me. Wine reminds me of the blood Jesus shed for me. Clouds remind me of Joyce. Snow reminds me of Christmas. Mountains remind me of snowboarding. Maple leafs remind me of Canada. The cross reminds me of Jesus. The sunset reminds me of God's beautiful creation. DDR now reminds me of the SnL fellowship in Philly. Bubble tea reminds me of the RHCBC fellowships. Blizzards from Diary Queen will remind me of my car filling up with snow at retreat (Grrr Dairy Queen).

Numbers

1 reminds me of new beginnings
3 reminds me of me and my brothers (triplets! hehe)
5 reminds me of my family
12 reminds me of Roberto Alomar, the best Blue Jay ever
17 reminds me of softball, my favorite number, the day I was born
42 reminds me of Joyce (the answer to everything? hehe)
99 reminds me of Wayne Gretzky
101 reminds me of the 101 dalmations
139 reminds me that I am fearfully and wonderfully made
3:16 reminds me that I am saved
9.11 reminds me to be grateful for and to cherish the relationships that I have; it reminds me that heroes are those who love others enough to risk their lives; and it reminds me that although life is fragile, God is strong
12.25 reminds me of Christmas, my favorite holiday
1992 reminds me of when the Blue Jays won the world series
1993 reminds me of when the Blue Jays won the world series.. again (against the Philadelphia Phillies! yeye)
1998 reminds me of summer retreat ("I will not be shaken") when I first accepted Jesus Christ as my Lord and savior
2000 reminds me of my baptism
2003 reminds me of Urbana
55378008 reminds me of elementary school when we used to play with our calculators (yes I was a nerd :P)

God gives us reminders so that we wont forget our past. The past shows us how we have been shaped by God. The past consists of all the events and people that helped to mold us into who we are today. All these reminders ultimately remind me that God is faithful. God has blessed me in the past, is blessing me in the present, and will bless me in the future. He is forever faithful.

"He has remembered his love
and his faithfulness to the house of Israel;
all the ends of the earth have seen
the salvation of our God."
~Psalm 98:3

community

2006-09-04T16:39:00.000-04:00

In my last post, I described how the people I've met here in Philly have made it feel more like home. I also described home as heaven. And I believe that in heaven, it will be a great community of believers, fellowshipping and worshipping God together. So I have realized that the key to feeling like home is community. And the greatest thing about being a Christian is that there is a global community (hopefully) waiting to develop a relationship with you. We are already united through Christ, and it is through that common bond that we can have community.

Yesterday I had one of the most fun days of my life (although I've had many fun days - maybe I just have too much fun... I'm such a kid), and definitely the best day I've had so far in Philly. There was a Labor day barbeque that I went to, and it was maybe the best barbeque I've ever had. They marinated the meat so well. They had amazing ribs. Mmmm... just thinking about it makes my mouth water more! Afterwards, we played a variety of games. We played hoopla, sceneit, apples to apples, and my personal highlight: karaoke revolution. I love this game now. Sing offs and duets and competitions. So fun! There was even an option to sing AND dance with a DDR pad! And let me tell you, THAT was entertaining! There were married couples battling it out to see who had the best marriage based on singing and dancing! The whole thing was hilarious! I even tried the DDR for the first time ever. Everyone was cheering me on; the atmosphere was amazing. Its been a while since I've had so much fun and felt so much like I belonged.

Which brings me back to community. True community accepts people for who they are, and allows them to feel like they belong. I love this group because they do that - no matter the race, culture, gender, interests, job, etc. - they accept you for who you are and allow you to blend into the group as who you are. They allow you to feel like you belong, like you're at home with them. I would have never imagined that I would have felt this close to this group of people in 3 short months. I never thought that I would have "belonged" in 3 months. After all, I did spend a year in Ottawa without feeling like I belonged at the church. The fellowship there was great, but I didn't feel the same sense of belonging that I did back at RHCBC and that I do now. Its truly a blessing to have found this community. There were some new faces at the barbeque last night too, and I had the opportunity to talk to a few of them. I feel like they had a great time too and that they had the feeling that they belonged as well. It was a priveledge to help make others feel more comfortable and feel like they belonged. Community makes you feel at home. In heaven, the greatest community that we can ever imagine will be waiting for us; we will belong, and we will be home.

May God Almighty bless you and make you fruitful and increase your numbers until you become a community of peoples.
~ Gen 28:3

detour

2006-09-03T01:40:00.000-04:00

I've been pondering a lot about home lately. Where is home for me? I was born and raised in Toronto for 23 and 3/4 years, left to study in Ottawa for 8 months, and now, I am currently in Philadelphia, 3 months and counting. Where will I end up next? I'm not too sure. At the end of my 2 years here in Philadelphia I'll be doing residency. I haven't really decided on where yet, but I've narrowed my choices to Vancouver, Philadelphia, Boston, Chicago, LA, or Miami. So I could be on the move again. So where is home? In my mind, I say Toronto because that is where my family is, where my friends are, where everything is familiar to me. But yet, everything is not as familiar. Its interesting to see how things change when you are away. When you are with certain people in a certain place, you don't notice how much you and your group changes. The longer I am away, the more unfamiliar things seem to me back in Toronto. Philadelphia is starting to grow on me. And I have realized that it is more about the people than the city. The city isn't all that glamorous and honestly is pretty dangerous but what does it for me is the fellowship and the people I've met here. The more time I spend with them, the more familiar the city becomes, the more like "home" it feels for me. But what happens when I move again? Will my home be different? And then I remembered something - Home is Heaven. Life is a detour.

This picture depicts how I'm feeling really well. Life is a detour on our way to heaven. Heaven is where it's at. God brings you places in life to meet people, to have an impact on people's lives. Light is coming to destroy darkness. And God puts us on earth so that more of the earth would be filled with light. I've been thinking a bit about blogging, and what it means to me to blog. And I realized that my blogging wasn't very purposeful. I didn't have a vision or a direction. So I've decided to blog about my life and how (hopefully) it is bringing light on this earth. As I noted before, I think life is a detour God gives us on our way to heaven. And I hope this blog does this. I pray that the events of my life that are depicted here, will help others see heaven more clearly.

I long for heaven. I know that at the root of it all, heaven is what I long for. That is probably why people say that I'm so optimistic all the time. People say that I can always see the good in the bad, that I can put bad situations in a positive spin. And I believe I can do that because heaven gives me that hope. That no matter how messed up life is heaven is always at the end of the road. Life is just a detour. I choose to enjoy the scenery while we're here.

Now we know that if the earthly tent we live in is destroyed, we have a building from God, an eternal house in heaven, not built by human hands. Meanwhile we groan, longing to be clothed with our heavenly dwelling, because when we are clothed, we will not be found naked.
~2 Cor 5:1-3