Today I saw it, the first sign of spring in Hong Kong.
Most people, when they think of the first sign of spring, they think of nice, marvelous, springish things. The first sign of spring can be many different things, such as:
*The snow being completely melted
*Baby Birds appearing
*A Robin
*The date that the groundhog foretold
*The first flower
*Planting season
*Muddy season
*The semester coming to a close
*Leaf buds appearing on trees
These are all logical things to call the first sign of spring. But today, I saw the first sign of spring. It was horrible. It was hideous, and oh so unnecessary. Does that ever stop it from happening? No. It's spring, they're back again: OLD MEN IN SPEEDOS. Yep, they're back. The lovely walk alongside the harbour has been quite enjoyable this winter, and I forgot why. But as I was walking today, I heard a splash, and in goes an old guy, into Victoria Harbour to do his laps, then out of the water climbs another old man. Thankfully, I only saw three, but soon, it will be up to the 20s or even more. It's the sign of spring. Of...old life that tries to be young. Of things that shouldn't be worn out in public.
Now, for the record, I do plan on swimming in Victoria Harbour myself before I leave. I think that it has got to be the most polluted water in the world. But it's just something I've got to do. I will however, be wearing appropriate swimwear.
I realize that I haven't blogged in a while, just about things, so let me just fill you in on how life is going. It's been quite full, as every spring anywhere seems to be. We had our spring retreat REVEAL about 3 weeks ago. That went really well. I started a post about it, but it is still in the drafts folder. It will probably be posted soon. Last week me and PM were both recruited to go to CAIS' High School Camp. That was pretty good. And we also had our Annual General Meeting last Sunday, and this Sunday is our 2 year anniversary as a branch church. Then the next Sunday is Easter. So things are hopping around the church. I have been taking two distance ed courses through NWC, so I've been keeping up with those, along with stuff at church. It's going fairly well, and I think it might be a crunch, but I'll get them done in time. The rugby sevens (or "The Sevens") are this weekend in Hong Kong with teams from all over the world...so every male, and every rugby fan are all psyched about this weekend. The second week in April I am going to Thailand with Mike and Melissa and Izzy on vacation. It will be a good time of hanging out with them and relaxing before I start the interesting/tiring/emotional process of preparing to go home. Already I have started to prepare, like housing at NWC for next year, a job for this summer, etc...
Well, that's all for now. Please pray :
*That I would be able to get all the details ready for college next year, it's kind of confusing to get it done on this side of the ocean and not being able to talk to anyone in person.
*That I can get all my course work done on time.
*That I would use my time wisely here.
*For my girls Bible study, due to certain circumstances, it may be restructured.
*For the Youth worship team, that the kids wouldn't feel discouraged and that they would be able to just enjoy playing.
*For me as I continue to learn about leadership and teaching. I speak at another church on the 22 of April, so pray for me as I prepare for that.
That's about it! I'm gonna go hit the hay, I'm sorry that this wasn't a very detailed post. If any of you guys back home have any questions, or would like to know more about what's going on, just email me!
Thursday, March 29, 2007
Wednesday, March 21, 2007
Attack of ADD
I'm pretty sure I've just suffered from the worst attack of ADD I've ever experienced.
I'm taking two courses over Northwestern's Distance Ed. Program. The program is great. I've never done distance learning, and the only thing similar that I've had was homeschool in years 3-4. And I can barely remember that, I'm not sure if I purposely blocked it out. All day today I've been planning on taking my midterm exam for my Christian Theology class. So after I got home from babysitting, I immediately grabbed my water bottle, computer + power cord, large Bible (with concordance and index), Knowing God by J.I. Packer, bottle of nail polish, Mere Christianity by C.S. Lewis, and my course binder. I sat down at the dining room table about 9pm. At about 9:20 or so, I stopped checking my email and logged into the course website. I got into the test. Only 8 questions...fabulous. Or not so much. The test was open book, meaning that I could use my text book, the extra books, or the very large Bible. That's a lot of resources to use when you're trying to convince a professor that you understand the point. So yeah, by question 2 I was averaging about 28 minutes per question. It was at that point that I realised it was going to be a LONG night. I got distracted by everything!!! I don't think I've ever been more distracted. I had to get up to fill my water bottle, to get a snack, go to the bathroom, paint my nails, drink nescafe to keep me awake, watch Seinfeld, take off my watch, stare blankly at the screen, stare blankly at my reflection in the patio doors, and stare blankly as I thought about all the other things I have to do before I go to sleep. Anything that I could get distracted by, I let myself be. So I finished, finally 3 hours and 47 minutes after I sat down to start. And now what am I doing? I'm blogging about it so that I can procrastinate on going to bed (it doesn't make sense, does it?) But hey, I think I did OK on the test. And now, I'm going go pack for camp tomorrow. Wahoo, Batman!
Wednesday, March 14, 2007
My Perfect...Moment
I'm having one of those perfect moments right now. This weekend at the retreat, we did this exercise where we went through all five senses and thought about how we saw God in them, and that's what I'm going to do right now to draw you a mental picture. It's 10:35pm. I got home about an hour ago, I had Bible study with a girl and then we hung out for a bit. I've already taken my shower, so I feel nice and clean and refreshed. I'm on the roof of the Enns' house, which is one of my top three places in Hong Kong. I brought this computer up to work on a video for this event on Saturday, but you know me, I had to check if I could get internet signal up here, and, well, you know what happens after that. While I was walking home, I saw the rooftop, and a ton (for Hong Kong anyways-about 25) stars, and decided it was warm enough to be up here. Here's the scene:
Right now I see the light post that is on the corner of the roof wall. Also a few stray pieces of laundry hanging on the line. I see the village houses surrounding this house, most of the houses are dark, except for 5 houses with dim lights on. I see mostly clouds unless I look straight up. There is a lot of light coming up over the mountain tops. If I had a sense of direction, I could tell you if I was looking at lights from China or lights from Kowloon. (Yes, I do know that China is north and Kowloon is South from here, but I haven't figured out yet which way is north. So let's just say I'm looking at China.) I am sitting in a plastic lawn chair, with a matching stool next to me. On it is a Coca-Cola coffee mug with cold water, my iPod, and my cell phone. I really only need one of those things right now, the water. I thought I really wanted to listen to music. But this is one of those rare moments in Hong Kong when music would not be an improvement. I'm wearing my pajamie pants and my hoody (not a jumper as Beckel would call it), so I am quite comfortable. I can feel a slightly cool breeze, that kept blowing the door open and shut, until I propped it open. I can smell a tiny bit of fresh air, and a lot of Herbal Essences. I can hear a few random dogs barking--thankfully not the ones next door or I would be tempted to drop something on them--traffic far off in the distance (it isn't that unpleasant when it's far away, almost like the ocean waves or something), the wind rustling in the trees, and the click-clacking of the keyboard. I taste onion-ess, sesame, and fruit jelly. I was given some Thai candy earlier. I am touching the chair I am sitting on, and the computer, which is warming up my lap.
I am experiencing God in all these things. This evening I spent some time with a girl from the youth group. She's going through some challenges right now. I wish I could solve them for her, or even help her solve them for herself. It's really frustrating. I wish I could change people. I think that is one of my challenges in life: I wish sometimes I could change my friends, the people that I don't get along with especially, sometimes my family, God, and myself. And the thing is I really can only change myself, and even that's subjective. I can change my relationship to those people though. I wish that I had answers for her, or even sound advice. I'm not sure I gave her either. I tried though. But in reality. It's up to God. And while I've been learning to make my advice not sound so flowery and Christianese (ex. Trust God, He'll take care of everything, or just pray some more, the answer will come) sometimes the truth is just those things. The things that are easiest to say, and hardest to do....and sometimes it's not. Someone told me that I always know what God's will is for me: it's that I love Him with everything, and love others. C.S. Lewis gave me a different perspective on loving others. He said that loving them doesn't mean that we have nice feelings for them, or even like them. (Previously I thought that if we forgave them, eventually, the good feelings toward them would come back.) Lewis was talking to a people in the middle of WWII. How were they supposed to "love" the Nazis? He said that truly loving someone means loving them like you love yourself. A lot of times we do things even we don't like, but we forgive ourselves, and wish we hadn't done it and weren't facing the consequences. He pointed out that we should wish it weren't so when someone does wrong, not glad that they'll be getting their punishment. That we wish deep down that it wasn't so, and that somewhere along the line, they get all those kinks in their soul straightened out with God. I'll tell you, if I lived in Nazi Europe, I would have a tough time not wishing that those men would go to hell. But that is not loving them.
I think this moment that I've been having for the last half hour is God telling me that He holds it. All of it. I can't have the answers nor should I.
What a relief.
Right now I see the light post that is on the corner of the roof wall. Also a few stray pieces of laundry hanging on the line. I see the village houses surrounding this house, most of the houses are dark, except for 5 houses with dim lights on. I see mostly clouds unless I look straight up. There is a lot of light coming up over the mountain tops. If I had a sense of direction, I could tell you if I was looking at lights from China or lights from Kowloon. (Yes, I do know that China is north and Kowloon is South from here, but I haven't figured out yet which way is north. So let's just say I'm looking at China.) I am sitting in a plastic lawn chair, with a matching stool next to me. On it is a Coca-Cola coffee mug with cold water, my iPod, and my cell phone. I really only need one of those things right now, the water. I thought I really wanted to listen to music. But this is one of those rare moments in Hong Kong when music would not be an improvement. I'm wearing my pajamie pants and my hoody (not a jumper as Beckel would call it), so I am quite comfortable. I can feel a slightly cool breeze, that kept blowing the door open and shut, until I propped it open. I can smell a tiny bit of fresh air, and a lot of Herbal Essences. I can hear a few random dogs barking--thankfully not the ones next door or I would be tempted to drop something on them--traffic far off in the distance (it isn't that unpleasant when it's far away, almost like the ocean waves or something), the wind rustling in the trees, and the click-clacking of the keyboard. I taste onion-ess, sesame, and fruit jelly. I was given some Thai candy earlier. I am touching the chair I am sitting on, and the computer, which is warming up my lap.
I am experiencing God in all these things. This evening I spent some time with a girl from the youth group. She's going through some challenges right now. I wish I could solve them for her, or even help her solve them for herself. It's really frustrating. I wish I could change people. I think that is one of my challenges in life: I wish sometimes I could change my friends, the people that I don't get along with especially, sometimes my family, God, and myself. And the thing is I really can only change myself, and even that's subjective. I can change my relationship to those people though. I wish that I had answers for her, or even sound advice. I'm not sure I gave her either. I tried though. But in reality. It's up to God. And while I've been learning to make my advice not sound so flowery and Christianese (ex. Trust God, He'll take care of everything, or just pray some more, the answer will come) sometimes the truth is just those things. The things that are easiest to say, and hardest to do....and sometimes it's not. Someone told me that I always know what God's will is for me: it's that I love Him with everything, and love others. C.S. Lewis gave me a different perspective on loving others. He said that loving them doesn't mean that we have nice feelings for them, or even like them. (Previously I thought that if we forgave them, eventually, the good feelings toward them would come back.) Lewis was talking to a people in the middle of WWII. How were they supposed to "love" the Nazis? He said that truly loving someone means loving them like you love yourself. A lot of times we do things even we don't like, but we forgive ourselves, and wish we hadn't done it and weren't facing the consequences. He pointed out that we should wish it weren't so when someone does wrong, not glad that they'll be getting their punishment. That we wish deep down that it wasn't so, and that somewhere along the line, they get all those kinks in their soul straightened out with God. I'll tell you, if I lived in Nazi Europe, I would have a tough time not wishing that those men would go to hell. But that is not loving them.
I think this moment that I've been having for the last half hour is God telling me that He holds it. All of it. I can't have the answers nor should I.
What a relief.
Monday, March 05, 2007
Tin Roof Tonight
Tin Roof Tonight: Sounds like a Chick flick, or an ice cream, or add "baby" to the end of it, and it could be an emo song. But I'm actually talking about a tin roof. It's raining right now, and I just realized that I think both of my umbrella's are at the church. I haven't posted a serious blog for a while. But I think it's time. Besides, it's raining, which means I can't go outside, which means I have more time to do my homework, which I put before playing RISK tonight with friends. And I'm sick of doing schoolwork, ergo, a blog. Right now, I'm kinda in the bittersweet part of this whole experience of being overseas. I'm missing home, and family, and friends. But at the same time, as soon as I know it's time to pack up, my heart will be rebelling for all it's worth. I also don't really like the fact that I'm missing those things so badly, because in the future I plan on being gone from home quite a bit longer.
I look around and realize the blessings that I've been given these past 6 + months. I was sitting in Habibi's with two new friends on Saturday night, and realized that several friends wanted to do things with me that night, while, in the beginning of my time here I was spazzing out because I thought I needed friends so badly and didn't have any. But when I learned (this lesson isn't done being learned though) that Christ is sufficient, I wound up having several good friends. People and families that I love spending time with. I live with an awesome family, and even though they're Canadian (hahah, just kidding), they rock. They threw a birthday party for me, and encourage me to keep playing Settlers (even though I lose 4 out of the 4 games we play a week), and continually invite me to go wakeboarding, even though I have yet to do it. And I get to be an aunt to a little (almost) 2 year old whose aunts are far away. I work in an office with a coffee maker 8 inches from my head, but it is still encouraged to go to Pacific Coffee for meetings. An office where the Friday songs are, "Kung Fu Fighting" and "You are Beautiful". Where the secretary really does know everything, and where the cultural differences among the staff are so different, that I must keep myself from laughing when menstruation is mentioned in a prayer meeting. An office where my boss only says he's my boss when he is forcing me to accept something generous. And a job where I am forced to work on myself as a person, like learning to be patient, to speak in public, to pray, teach, and work on a mac. I am so very grateful for all of these things.
I thought I had more to say than that. I started off giving myself a large slot of time. So people at home, I miss you, I still am very glad to be here, I'm still learning, growing, and stretching, and learning patience (I knew that was a bad thing to pray for...it always gets answered by way of testing!) Just one more thing:
While you're at home being buried alive in snow...this is what we have here!
I look around and realize the blessings that I've been given these past 6 + months. I was sitting in Habibi's with two new friends on Saturday night, and realized that several friends wanted to do things with me that night, while, in the beginning of my time here I was spazzing out because I thought I needed friends so badly and didn't have any. But when I learned (this lesson isn't done being learned though) that Christ is sufficient, I wound up having several good friends. People and families that I love spending time with. I live with an awesome family, and even though they're Canadian (hahah, just kidding), they rock. They threw a birthday party for me, and encourage me to keep playing Settlers (even though I lose 4 out of the 4 games we play a week), and continually invite me to go wakeboarding, even though I have yet to do it. And I get to be an aunt to a little (almost) 2 year old whose aunts are far away. I work in an office with a coffee maker 8 inches from my head, but it is still encouraged to go to Pacific Coffee for meetings. An office where the Friday songs are, "Kung Fu Fighting" and "You are Beautiful". Where the secretary really does know everything, and where the cultural differences among the staff are so different, that I must keep myself from laughing when menstruation is mentioned in a prayer meeting. An office where my boss only says he's my boss when he is forcing me to accept something generous. And a job where I am forced to work on myself as a person, like learning to be patient, to speak in public, to pray, teach, and work on a mac. I am so very grateful for all of these things.
I thought I had more to say than that. I started off giving myself a large slot of time. So people at home, I miss you, I still am very glad to be here, I'm still learning, growing, and stretching, and learning patience (I knew that was a bad thing to pray for...it always gets answered by way of testing!) Just one more thing:
While you're at home being buried alive in snow...this is what we have here!
Thursday, March 01, 2007
Kangaroo and Diddley-doo
I was rather disappointed when I realized that the Webdings in my last post showed up as Arial font or something. But I'm hoping it's just my comp, which has been acting kinda strange in the area of fonts lately. Otherwise, that last post looks stupid, and other than for the reason that I never blogged that night. I'm not sure exactly what I'm going to write, but I know that if I don't, a few things (10 to be precise) will happen:
1. If I don't blog soon, I may never
2. If I don't blog, I will get flack from PM because I let another night go by blogless (or postless, as he would correct me)
3. If I don't blog, I might actually get more sleep
4. If I don't blog, then I have to stop
5. If I don't blog, then I'll have to write a longer one later
6. If I don't blog, then I can't honestly say that I have
7. If I don't blog, I could actually do something useful
8. If I don't blog, then I'll have to go inside and use the washroom, which I'm avoiding at all costs right now because I'm comfortable in my bed.
9. If I don't blog, then I won't be able to get this list up to 10, and right now, that's pretty important, because if I don't, then it will drive me nuts... I may have just discovered that I have OCD, just from blogging...amazing
10. If I don't blog, then I can never say, "Ha, I made it to ten!"
Ha, I made it to ten!!!
I will blog soon (I don't want to restrict myself to a timetable) and tell what is actually going on, but for now, I must go to sleep.
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