Abide in Him

“In truth, spirituality is not a destination to pursue, but a life lived; it is the life expressions of a relationship with the creator and redeemer of our lives…. Indeed, our sainthood is not a set destination to work toward, but a deepening of our own life with Christ as we become more like the one we follow. To be spiritual, then, is not to become “humble” or “joyful” or “pure in heart” but to become like Christ, and subsequently more like ourselves. United with him, we are creatures who are continually discovering the likeness of God in our lives, discovering ourselves as we once were…. To make room in our lives for God is always an option at any stage in life, one that might open us up to new depths of identity–both Christ’s and our own.” - Slice of Infinity, May 22nd

Abide in Him first and the rest will overflow accordingly.

Hot Diggity!

Secretary of State Hillary R. Clinton will be attending NYU’s 177th Commencement at the new Yankee Stadium. And hot also because I remember baking in the sun last year.

http://www.nyu.edu/public.affairs/releases/detail/2550

Job & Twitter

If I had a Twitter account… it would read the following last week:

aljdfljalfjdflafjalsfj, I am getting weary of the job hunting.

But this week, it would read:

PRAISE THE LORD, I was told of a decent job opening this week!

It has been a few months since I graduated, and for probably a third of the time, I have been just twiddling my thumbs. I am still not use to the silence in the house or the empty schedule in my planner sometimes.  For the past 4+ years in college, there would always be something for me to do or somewhere to go.  But as someone said, let this down time be an opportunity to relax and rest. It is not God’s intention is for us to be on deadlines and run on caffeine all the time.

I know a lot of people are in the same shoes as me and are trying to find a promising job opportunity that suits them well. This new opening is definitely God’s way of showing me the fullness of His grace because I admit that I was getting weary and negative of the whole job hunting process. I was not putting my full trust in Him with my fears and lack of patience. Yet He opened a door for me anyway despite my lacking and now I need to trust and submit every part of this job opportunity to Him and wait to see how things unfold. Thank you God for filling my soul up to the brim again that no morning cup of coffee of mine could ever do.

Twitter- what’s that? For those who don’t know, Twitter is a new social network website where people can post short status messages throughout the day on what they are doing/thinking for friends to see and read. You also get access to other Twitter-ers to check what they have been up to lately as well. Thus, it is a like twizzling network! I hope there is more than just ranting like twits (in reference to Roald Dahl’s children chapter book “The Twits”) like my example above or being trivial because how fun and encouraging would that be for everyone? Some posts can be sweet like this one by Brian, “Cant wait to see my girlfriend in a couple of mins = ]”. Anyway, Happy 1st day of spring! even with the surprise of snow this morning in NY…

P.S. Maybe I got a little carried away with the tw- words, hehe. T’was fun

“A World of Trouble”

This is a repost of A Slice of Infinity’s Marc h 6th, 2009 devotional entitled, “A World of Trouble” that I want to share because it is so eloquently written and speaks much truth.

When I was a small child singing of the God who had the whole world in his hands, it filled me with awe. The whole world, after all, was a big place. It included grandma’s house in Cincinnati and grandpa’s cottage in Pentwater–the two farthest points on a map I knew. As I grew older, the world as I understood it grew as well. I discovered Florida on a family vacation and learned about Chile as we sponsored a little girl named Juana. We saved our money as we learned about poverty in South America. We prayed for peace as we learned of trouble across the world. With each day or newscast, the world grew in scope and depth.

Unfortunately, my awe for the one who held it all in his hands did not always grow along with it. In fact, it often faded. As the world grew increasingly bigger, so my anxiousness for the world increased. In the shadows cast by a looming globe, God’s hands seemed somehow smaller. I did not see the expanding world as an opportunity for expanded faith.

At times, this is still the case for me. While the need for God’s hands is heightened with news of each developing war or suffering community, this is usually not the first analysis that comes to mind. In times of uncertainty, the world begins to seem much more than a handful–for me and perhaps even for God. An editorialist for the The Atlantic Journal expresses similar sentiments:

The world is too big for us. Too much is going on, too many crimes, too much violence and excitement. Try as you will, you get behind in the race in spite of yourself. It’s an incessant strain to keep pace…and still, you lose ground. Science empties its discoveries on you so fast that you stagger beneath them in hopeless bewilderment. The political world is news seen so rapidly you are out of breath trying to keep pace… Everything is high pressure. Human nature cannot endure much more.(1)

The author’s words express the difficulty of living in a world marked by modern momentum, where advances in media and the influence of globalization keep us hyper-informed but exhausted by the sheer number of newsworthy events. “The whole world” is a different place today than it was when I was a child in awe of God’s embrace. Or maybe it’s not that different at all. Ironically, this editorial was first published on June 16th, 1833.

It is perhaps much easier to sing of a world that is in God’s hands when the world is calm and at rest. But that is not the world into which Christ came, nor the world that God carefully holds in his hands. “In this world you will have trouble,” Jesus told his disciples. “But take heart! I have overcome the world” (John 16:33). No matter what burden we find ourselves carrying, no matter what shape the world looms in our minds, God is not far off. Whether we grow more anxious with each newscast or tremble in awe at the immensity of all that is around us, this is our Father’s world. His hand guides us; his right hand holds us fast.

John’s Gospel further demonstrates the capable–and surprising–hands of Christ: “Jesus knew that the Father had put all things under his power, and that he had come from God and was returning to God; so he got up from the meal took off his outer clothing, and wrapped a towel around his waist. After that, he poured water into a basin and began to wash his disciples’ feet” (John 13:3-5). Knowing all things were in his reach and under his authority, Jesus bowed to serve, and accordingly touched the masses.

- Jill Carattini is managing editor of A Slice of Infinity at Ravi Zacharias International Ministries in Atlanta, Georgia.

(1) The Atlantic Monthly, June 16, 1833.

A Climatic Cinematic Review

Thanks to the one-month free trial promotion at Blockbuster Online,  I was able to catch up on a handful of movies with my three younger sisters. Because of so, some of the movies may be more suitable for the PG13 and under crowd. Of the many though, only a few are worth noting and recommending.

Changeling. Angelina Jolie did a fab job being a mother who would do anything for her son to have been nominated for the Oscars. The story was inspired by actual events that took place in Los Angeles in the 1920’s. Clint Eastwood did a good job playing the history out on the big screen. I’m kinda interested to see Jolie’s upcoming spy flick, Salt.

The Children of Huang Shi. Quite a heartwarming, moving, and powerful story of a English reporter who turns his life around by becoming a teacher and father to a group of orphan boys during wartime. Jonathan Rhys Meyers was fantastic in this movie.

Game Plan. Haha, the little girl here is so so so adorable. This is a real cute father-daughter movie to watch.

High School Musical 3. The story lines to this series seem quite simple in my opinion but I tend to enjoy the musical scenes. Because of this, I would think that only young people would find this movie worthwhile.  I thought this was nice closing to the series and I absolutely loved the “Can I Have This Dance?” song. There are talks about there being a 4th movie but without the High School sweethearts, Vanessa Hudgens and Zac Efron,  (as they go off to “college”) I doubt there will be as much excitement.

Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa. A lot of good humor in the story and the music really makes you want to move it, move it.

The Pirates Who Don’t Do Anything: A Veggies Tales Movie. I always thoroughly enjoy the animated Bible stories with Bob and Larry.

Remember the Titans. Yes, I know… This is a must-see classic movie with a lot substance. Denzel Washington did a phenomenal job playing Coach Boone. As for Hayden Panettiere, I’m not use to seeing her so small, short, and blunt. The story is real (literally), motivational, and sends an inspirational message to everyone watching.

The Visitor. Though the story line went by a little slow, it was an interesting movie studying people from different cultures and backgrounds. The movie was also shot in areas by and actually at NYU, my alma mater, which is definitely a plus, hehe.

And that’s all folks! Just some of my briefs thoughts… you can check them out if you would like. You may even want to try the trial since I was able to watch like 20 movies in one month, tehehe.

Dearest Brian…

No one is as silly

and as wonderful as you.

happy birthday love!

Sticky Snail Mail

I have to say that Gmail is by far the best email system ever. It is so organized for a meticulously organized person that I am, colorful and personalized with all the themes/iGoogle settings you can select from, and has a large storage where the MB’s increase by day! In addition, you also have the chat (which could be linked with AIM) and video chat capabilities. It has all my messaging needs nicely packed into one.

Though Gmail is electronically adept, it has decided to go a little old school with snail mail- sticky snail mail that is. If you send a self-addressed envelope to the address at the following link, you will receive an awesome Gmail sticker pack with their signature red letter icon (harhar, the m-velope as they call it) and a few other surprising characters and feats. See here for more info: http://gmailblog.blogspot.com/2008/12/get-your-gmail-stickers.html Hurry and snag your own to post around!

Speaking of stickers, here’s an amusing story: I use to collect stickers back in elementary school with a few friends. We would have the latest stickers of Baby Disney, Baby Looney Tunes, Winnie the Pooh & Friends, Sanrio, Lisa Frank, and etc. that filled the pages of our giant sticker books that we have adored to display and flaunt. I haven’t seen my precious book in years now… I think it might have been misplaced or that my mother accidentally threw it out after moving to a new house at the end of middle school. When my younger sisters fell into a temporary sticker phase a few years ago, I told them about my elementary sticker frenzy craze and the ancient and long-gone book. They shared in my pain and lost and even wanted to write a letter to the company explaining my sad situation and asking if they would kindly replace my missing stickers. Haha, it was such a cute and thoughtful idea and their innocence warmed my heart. I wonder what would’ve happened if that handwritten letter of theirs was actually sent, hehe.

Though I’m all grown up now, I think I’m still a little bit entertained by stickers… and I’m sure you are too! You know, they are called post-it notes

Can’t wait to receive my sticky snail mail!

2.24.09 Got ‘em!

Smokin’

I was walking down 34th street today. It was a nice brisk afternoon walk for a bit until I shockingly realized that there was practically another person huffing and puffing away with a cigarette every 10-15 or so steps that I took. Repugnant and unhealthy.

Speaking of distastes, I have noticed that old New York subway trains – you know, the dimly lit ones with seats and poles that look like they have endured a lot of grit and grime – are beginning to irk me. Are these warning signs to mild germaphobia, or more technically termed, mysophobia? I hope not because these old chuggers (in reference to the olden chugga chugga choo choo sound) can still run pretty fast, like the E train for instance.

fyi

googlemap search: “43°38′43.00″N 115°59′33.50″W”

This was shared from a friend… just a neat find : )

A Rising Artist

(photos taken down)

I grew up with my three guy cousins. The youngest one, Jeffrey, was much younger than the rest of us who were all 1-2 years apart. I would have never imagined that he will grow up to become such an artist (possibly for children books). These are just some of his creative and whimsical pieces.