We hosted house church last night at our place - it turned out to be an interesting night! It was great to see everyone. As a host, one's responsibilities include feeding everyone for the evening. Well, as some of you may know, I'm not the most proficient cook just yet. In particular, cooking for more than 4 people is something I consider scary. I ask the Tran family if they'll get involved with me. So, yesterday, Bao leaves work early and buys a load of pork chops for the evening (disaster 1 averted - not being grocer-ily prepared). She and Sun (Zhun?) marinate the meat and then decide to leave to go fishing. In the meanwhile, Cong, who was originally not going to show up, is able to stay, and ends up grilling the meat and cooking some chinese veggies. (disaster 2 averted - I didn't have to cook - this is good for everyone else!) Around 7:30 people begin to arrive, and slowly but steadily our house fills up. It ended up being a lot of people! Probably close to the most I've ever seen at our house church, and definently more than we expected. So Cong and I look at each other nervously thinking the same thing - "we don't have enough food." We asked God to provide enough food for everyone, and lo and behold, it happened to worked out - just enough, down to the last pork chop. Whew! What were we nervous about in the first place?? (disaster 3 averted - everyone is fed!) And we had creme-popsicles and ice cream cake and regular cake for desert. A fun and encouraging night.

There's a lot of sweet stuff available on the web, for the web. I just added a counter to this blog, and it took like 2 minutes, and is super easy to use. Other stuff I'm checkin out (blog related): b2 Movable Type Zope PHP-Nuke In other news ... the web-browser once known as Phoenix has been given a new name: Mozilla Firebird. Have you switched yet? Why not? Grab it now! Experience the beauty of pop-up blocking and tabbed browsing. Mmmm ...

Yesterday, listening to Focus on the Family, I heard a story about a really unique family. Man, I could not stop smiling as I listened to the way this family interacts and the stories behind their lives. Really amazing, and a different picture from the typical modern family. 05/26/03 - The family that prays together

la jument (animated):

Did you know you can't lick your elbow? What a fantastic weekend.

Another wedding this weekend. I guess that's part of life, people gettin married, huh. Congrats to Andy & Stephanie Pan. I don't think either of them would ever see this page, but congrats anyway! ... I've been learning how to play Blackbird (by the Beatles, covered by Sarah McLachlan) on the guitar. It's pretty easy to play and it sounds good! ... A cry for compassion and a call to action Nineteen years ago, a British television crew shot footage that shocked the world. The pictures of starving children, their bellies distended from hunger and their eyes lifeless from malnutrition, alerted the world to the tragic famine then unfolding in Ethiopia. The response was almost immediate. Musician Bob Geldof, previously known for a song about a schoolgirl who shoots her classmates, was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize for his relief efforts. His "Live Aid" concerts were viewed by a huge worldwide audience. They raised millions of dollars to help eight million people in danger of starvation and signaled a determination that something like this would never happen again. But it has. Only this time, it's not eight million, but twenty million people facing death from disease and starvation. For the past year, word has been coming out of East Africa about a looming humanitarian catastrophe. ... When will people pay attention? But today, between the coverage of the war and such reality shows as "Joe Millionaire" and "The Bachelor," getting the networks -- or any media outlet for that matter -- to focus on the crisis is next to impossible. While America tries to satisfy its insatiable appetite for reality shows, the starving people of Africa are today's reality in the most raw and stark and grim terms.

quote kick ... "If you can't explain what you're doing to a four-year-old, you don't know what you're doing." -Peter Lloyd

... living life on purpose ...

Welp, went to watch The Matrix Reloaded last night. I'll spare any particular commentary until more people have seen it. I will say this: I wasn't disappointed. Today, I went to Panera Bread for lunch. Last time we went there, the demographic was positively absurd. It's completely soccer mom central. Like 80% married 30 year old females with children. The estrogen in that place is absolutely suffocating. This time we went back, lo and behold, the last trip was not a fluke, this is really the market for this restaurant. It's a cross between Einstein Bros. Bagels and Le Madeline, and, at least at the location I visit, hugely successful. My co-worker refers to it by saying, "Let's go eat at Oprah" and as noted above, I call it soccer mom central. For real though, its ridiculous how overwhelmingly unbalanced (or specific) their clientele is. Almost eerie...

Check out the beauty of Banff - click for a full-size image: (Moraine Lake - Banff, Alberta, Canada)

Mother's day was so much fun. I learned how to bake Rosemary chicken and it actually didn't taste bad, so that's pretty encouraging.

Work has been difficult recently (last two weeks) - struggling with lack of motivation. Sometimes, it just ain't all that fun, ya know?? Today, I discover once again, that every day, God will provide enough strength to be faithful for a day at a time. So, by faith, I trust God to provide strength, and I can set my mind on simply putting one foot in front of the other - taking care of business - and God proves himself abundantly faithful to provide. It's not painless, but it's far better than doing it on my own. ... Reading further in the previously mentioned book ... man, I've only read a few more pages and it has a great explanation for "the gift of singleness." A bit different from what I originally understood. Anybody wanna borrow this book when I'm done?? It could help alleviate pressures & fears ...

"In a groundbreaking 1990 article about "twentysomethings", Time magazine reported that this generation of young adults "postpone marriage because they dread divorce." Because the members of Generation X are the sons and daughters of the most-divorced generation in American history, today's young adults are slower to make marriage decisions in hopes of not repeating the mistakes of their parents. They "are not in any rush to get married, hoping that by waiting, time will bring a more compatible mate and the maturity to avoid divorce." Statistics indicate that divorce rates are lower for people who wait to marry. One sociologist concluded, "Divorce rates are lowest for both men and women who marry for the first time at age 28 or later." While statistics suggest that many of today's young adults will eventually marry, the fact that they are currently postponing marriage means that people are staying single longer. There is a fear of marrying to quickly to somebody who is not "right" for them. Related to this is "relationship burnout." Many young adults have had painful experiences with relationships, including sexual abuse, date rape, codependency and other dysfunctional situations. Many singles who desire a close relationship find themselves incapable of trust and commitment. "Fear of commitment not only causes some to bail out of perfectly good relationships but others to avoid dating altogether." The general feeling is, "Better not to get too close to anyone; I don't want to get hurt again."

Yeah, this was part of what I found to be quite accurate, in my life and the lives of some of my buddies & peers ...

Man its HOT outside ... and I kinda like it :) Ate some wonderful leftovers (Rosemary chicken & pasta) at home, then spent the remainder of my lunch reading Singles at the Crossroads, by Albert Hsu. So far, so good. It's about the "issue" of being single, and also what it means in view of God's kingdom. So far, he's correctly identified many trends today, including: a higher-than-ever the percentage of single adults, people marrying at an older age, fear of getting divorced acting as a hindrance to marriage, pre-marital sex & co-habitation devaluing marriage. He touches on (possible) explanations for the trends that seem to be quite good. I'll go back thru and record those here later this evening - they're interesting to think about. There is a treatment of singleness/marriage throughout church history - beginning from Jewish tradition, to the early christian (first century) perspective, to the strange effects of Roman Catholic celibacy doctrine, and the following reaction by the Protestant reformation. All this in only the first few chapters - so the book begins quite broadly in how it covers being single, but its a great read and has made me nod my head or say, "oh i see" several times already ...

I'm really glad I don't have finals right now. ;P My sincerest sympathies to those who do.

Imagine a line from <--- that end of the room to ---> that end of the room. And somewhere along that line is: . ^ that dot .. representing our time on earth, in view of eternity. God asks us to walk with him, perhaps with "light affliction" for a short sliver of time, trusting in his promises, in view of eternity - tasting the sweetness of forever. And even then, the light affliction has an amazing return on investment good for this lifetime ... reading Piper's Desiring God talks of the one common theme for most missionaries - in the end, they cannot at all consider it a sacrifice for God, because the rewards of joy and fullness faaaar outway any cost. That's really good investing.

"... David served God's purpose in his own generation." When it all comes down to it, that's one of my primary goals in life - to serve God's purpose in this generation. Lord, may you commend me in the same way at the end of my lifetime.

half.com is a fantastically economical way of buying books (used). Even with shipping costs on each book, its still more sensible than buying from B&N or amazon. Today, May 1, is the national day of prayer. A good day to seek God's guidance and mercy...