while you're at it, take a picture.

One good thing about snowboarding is that even while you're just sitting there on your butt, seriously considering giving up the whole venture of snowboarding altogether after falling for the bajillionth time... at least there is a magnificent view and fresh snow :)

Not-So-White Christmas

Christmas has always been my favorite holiday. I've always loved this time of the year as pretty lights go up on houses, Christmas music plays on the radio, and people wear festive colors and exchange gifts and baked goodies to give each other. On the whole, Christmas sort of looked like this in my mind:

However, this year, I found myself not feeling any of this at all. I turn on the radio, and the music just feels overly festive and annoying. And I'm thinking, come on, there is NO such thing as a White Christmas in southern California. Who's ever ridden on a one-horse open sleigh anyway? How do we even know it's supposed to be fun and not freezing cold?! And what the heck are chestnuts anyway?? Christmas is just a dumb holiday that nostalgically cherishes traditions of the Eastern part of the US that have no connection to me whatsoever, and today it's just turned into a big materialistic day of gift-giving.

I know, I know, I need to watch Elf again. "The best way to spread Christmas Cheer, is singing loud for all to hear," says this guy:

Instead, I was reminded on Sunday service that Christmas is NOT about any of this at all. Of  course I knew all of this already. Christmas is about Jesus's birth. But in my head I still thought, what's so great about his birth anyway? His birth was not glamorous and pretty as nativity scenes often portray it; in reality Jesus was born in a smelly, dark shed for animals, because people at the inn wouldn't even make room for a pregnant woman. And we're pretty sure he was not born on December 25. Besides Christ's death is more important and central than his humble birth anyway, so what's the big deal then about Christmas?  

I'd forgotten that the birth of the promised Messiah is an amazing sign of God's faithfulness. Christ's birth fulfills all the promises God had made to Israel in these passages and more in the Old Testament-- Gen 22:18, Gen 21:12, Gen 49:10, Isa 11:1, Jer 23:5, Isa 7:14, Micah 5:2, Jer 31:15, and more! The amazing promise is that God loves us so much that he sent a Savior would come take our away our sins. Since God is faithful in fulfilling His promises, what are some other promises He has for believers? 

• And I am sure of this, that He who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ. (Philippians 1:6)
• And this is the promise that He made to us-- eternal life. (1 John 2:25)
• He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away. (Revelations 21:4)

What God has promised, he will fulfill. Praise the Lord and have a Merry Christmas.

King of Everything

recently hooked on the Sara Bareilles CD.

from "King of Anything"
"Who cares if you disagree?
You are not me
Who made you king of anything?
So you dare tell me who to be?
Who died and made you king of anything?



Great song... the only person it does not apply to is our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Regarding Christ, it should be:

"Who I care if You disagree,

You are not me,
Who made You (are) the king of any(every)thing.
So (only) You dare (can) tell me who to be,
Who (Because You) died and made you (are the) King of any(every)thing."

Only He is worthy and able to tell me who to be. Indeed, without Him, anything you can try to be is just delusion and self-deception.

Well, to everyone else, I still say...
WHO CARES if you disagree?
:P

In Exile

Early this summer I remember feeling a little bit sad to have to leave for Taiwan so soon after just returning home for a week or so. I looked around my room the last day as I was packing, knowing that I was going to leave the comfort of my bed and the familiarity of my house. Then something clicked in my head. Goodbye, I told my room, you are not my true home anyway. Goodbye house, you have been good to me, but you I will not hesitate to leave you to follow my calling elsewhere. And then I picked up my luggage and left. 

7 weeks later I returned, and for the first time in my life, home felt strange and foreign. Though everything I did returned to normal, I saw my life as from an outsider's point of view. While I lived life normally, my mind was busy making commentaries. And then I left again. 

On a similar note, one of the greatest encouragement I received freshman year was ... a comment on Facebook. It went, "Homesick? Bless you! Been there. Survived that. What is even more heartbreaking is the day you realize that home - and all it represents: security, stability, certainty, a haven of rest, unconditional love, and more - is gone, for good. Of course, it is a painful process of spiritual maturing when you realize that none of those things were ever really found at home. Rather they are, and will always be, found in Jesus! I will pray for you as you take that journey, my sister." 

On yet another note (it's related I promise), 

While this song, In Exile by Thrice, is playing on my headphones, everything I shared above and all of these pictures below flash through my head as I'm walking to campus...

I am in exile, a sojourner
A citizen of some other place
All I've seen is just a glimmer in a shadowy mirror
But I know one day we'll see face to face.

I am a nomad, a wanderer

I have nowhere to lay my head down

There's no point in putting roots too deep when I'm moving on

Not settling for this unsettling town.

My heart is filled with songs of forever

The city that endures when all is made new

I know I don't belong here, I'll never

Call this place my home, I'm just passing through.

I am a pilgrim, a voyager

I won't rest until my lips touch the shore

Of the land that I've been longing for as long as I've lived

Where they'll be no pain or tears anymore.

My heart is filled with songs of forever

The city that endures when all is made new

I know I don't belong here, I'll never

Call this place my home, I'm just passing through.

Growing Up with Toy Story

        I am a generation that has grown up with Toy Story. I mean how many kids of the generation now actually play with toys like the ones in the movie? They've probably got their hands all over Nintendo DS's and iphones or whatnot. The first movie I ever watched in the movie theaters was the first Toy Story when I was five. (I shared this with some kids at my church today, and without knowing it, completely revealed just how old I am! The first Toy Story came out even before they were born!) My dad always likes to remind me saying, "Do you remember your first time watching Toy Story in San Diego? Do you remember how just how excited you were? And how you couldn't stop telling me, "爸爸， 爸爸！我現在真的很開心!" I do remember that day...  it was complete childhood bliss. I don't even know if I understood what was going on, but my eyes were glued to the enormous screen and I loved it... and I know for sure that baby's head on spider legs still creeps me out until this day.

       One main reason why I say I've grown up with Toy Story is that Andy and I (and most people my age) are similar in a lot of ways and share the same stage of life right when each movie came out. His toys have a life of their own. I'd always imagined my toys to also have a life (so I would always put all my stuffed animals together so they wouldn't get lonely during the day). As I grew older I would at times feel twinges of guilt for not playing with them as often anymore. As Andy grew up, so did I... all the way until Toy Story 3 when Andy goes to college and so am I in college.

       And so yesterday I also watched Toy Story 3 with my family in theaters... 15 years after my first movie ever. Emotions of warmth came back as I saw those familiar Toy Story characters again. Words cannot describe the pure awesomeness of that movie. But I'm so much older now than the 5 year old kid who couldn't sit still in her seat out of excitement. The Toy Story series have come to a close and in the same way my childhood days have ended. Inevitably everybody grows older. But the ingenuity of the whole movie is that you never have to loose a childlike spirit of imagination and wonder. Cheers to you Toy Story. A blog post can never do you justice.