Be A Foolhardy

I love Ecclesiastes for it presents the pure philosophical approach to reality. The reality is that we are all fools. Everything we had done in the earth is in vain. Hold on! Don't feel discouraged yet. Read on.

"I have seen the God-given task with which the sons of men are to be occupied. He has made everything beautiful in its time. Also He has put eternity in their hearts, except that no one can find out the work that God does from beginning to end." -Ecc. 3:10-11

We will always grasp for the wind in vain. But when we align our aims with His aim and labor for His causes, God puts our labors into eternity. God has different purposes for each of our work from birth to time. Amazing! We don't understand why we have to do certain things, but we have to obey His leading and do them. Be the foolhardy.

Trash Cans

How do you set your trash cans? In District of Columbia, we set our trash cans in several different ways. Some are hidden behind bushes or stairs. Some are being fenced or railed. Some are left out in the open by the stairs, by the door, or on the garden lawn.

We are looking at different options to set our trash cans in the best possible ways. For the beauty's sake, I might head over to Home Depot sometime today to learn more about many things before settling down with something. I once head over there to ask the workers about the bunk bed and even their unaccurate instruction helped my mathematican brain to get started.

Does Bathsheba Know?

I read about David's adultery and murder few days ago and this question popped up: does Bathsheba know about the murder? I googled up for any discussion for this topic. I found none.

The Bible indicated that Bathsheba went through the usual days of mourning before David sent for her. David repented of his murder and laid postrate for 7 days before the baby died. All I know is that he probably didn't tell anybody except Joab for David wrote, "set Uriah in the forefront of the hottest battle, and retreat from him, so that he may be struck down and die."

That was until God told the prophet Nathan all about it that he confronted David and so he repented. He laid all night on the ground until the baby died, then he went in to Bathsheba and comforted her.

I know a guy who refused to tell his wife of the rumors because he wanted to protect her. I believe that David wanted to protect Bathsheba from his error. But when the baby died, Bathsheba probably blamed herself for the consequence of adultery. I think that David had to confess to his wife in this moment to comfort her, "this consequence was mine for I murdered Uriah..."

This error was David's not Bathsheba. Yet both of them suffered the consequence of his action, BUT Bathsheba later conceived a promised son, Solomon. Here I think God took care of the equation. Bathsheba suffered for her husband's action, but she received a blessing above other wives. Thus her son was promised the kingship.

To the faults, don't worry about injustices you had caused the others to experience.
To the innocents, don't worry about the injustices that you had to bore for the sake of the others.
For our God is God of justice in the due season.

Our Rooms Inside-Out

I love the idea of authenticating our secrets within our room. Pastor Mark challenged us, in the God's Anthology series called "Jealous", to take a look into our hidden rooms. God's jealous for us because of how He loves us so. Maybe our hidden rooms and our innermost being had to be exposed: get some helps for our faulty ways or take a step to glorify Him by obeying the Great Commission.

More than two thousand years ago, the people worshipped the wooden images or idols made of stones. Today we worship the most elegant idols of commericals on the billboard, magazine, or even googling for them. Or maybe we worship our God in our hidden room and in our innermost being daily, which needed to be shown.

Take our rooms inside-out.

DC Public Library

Northeast Branch Library has several different activities for toddlers, teens, and even for American Sign Language users. It also included a free WiFi. So I thought why should we work at home when we could take a tour around the DC to those libraries. The cool thing about public libraries is that you don't have to buy a drink or so to use the area.

There are 25 public libraries in DC. I've been to two of them. Also we have Library of Congress, so we probably have 26 libraries in total, not including college/school libraries.

I might make a goal to touch all of those libraries in the summer.

Factors of Our Choosing

This morning I picked out the clothes to wear. I weaved my hair into the hairstyle I choose. I added the accessories to my hairdo and outfit.

What was the factors of my choosing?

You may say that it may be the weather, the light, the food, the colour, or even the exercise that affect my mood. Maybe. Environment certainly affect our mood.

Let's take a deeper look into the complex brain of mine. This morning I woke up with eagerness to dress up for all afternoon before my breakfast: movie theatre and then church service at Ebenezers Coffeehouse. I picked a shirt that I hasn't worn for few years due to the stain because it was bleached! Then I choose a unworn dress that someone had given to me because it was large, but I tightened it up to a tight fit! Then I recalled how my friend and I saw a lady roll her hair inwardly to turn it into a crown. I played with my hair to create a new hairstyle. I showed it all to my roommate whos already up before me. She loved it and make a comment about adding white flowers to my hairdo, which led me to add accessories.

So... What was the factors of my outfit?

-plans for the day (motivational)
-recently fixed items (preparation)
-exposure to a new style (creativity)
-roommate's comment (feedbacks)

Ta-Da!

How do you plan your day? What was the factors of your choosing?

Trimming Down

Today I used my netbook to post my blog once again! It had been running like a tortoise. I took it to the Geek Squad at Best Buy to run a diagnosis on it. I learned that it needed an additional RAM to run faster. Nah, I am not going to spend money on this cheap netbook. So I trimmed it down. I created a roomy hard drive in my computer by transferring all files to other hard drive disk. Then I clicked "run the System Restoration".

I once enjoyed having all my files ready to be used at my desktop, but the access to the internet and even the files are slower. It's better to trim down my files to be able to have an "all access".

In our lives, we had to trim down some of our errands to be able to have time with God. We all want to have a speedy access to Him, but we had to trim down our lives first. We choose to have an access to our files rather than an access to the internet. We choose to have an access to our errands rather than an access to God's errands.

If we want that access once again, then we had to click "run the System Restoration". We had to start all over again. We had to find our original love for God. We had to find our Primal.

Say "I cannot"

I've been talking with my former roommate as she stays at our house for few nights. We shared some great memories such as learning how to ride unicycle, sharing afternoon teas, the scary route 1 trip in California (I shouted at her when she nears the cliff, it is something that we will never forget), and huge sleepover at her house for Thanksgiving and Black Friday nights.

One best thing about her is that she will be direct with me. Of course, she has 9 siblings who lived in Pennsylvania. And I had about a total of 24 roommates and sublets within 6 years. We are those two strong girls who needed to be softened. Thus she told me that I had to surrender in that pericular area, I tossed my white flag. If I am wrong, then I am wrong. My ways of living had to be changed. Afterall it's all about God, not me.

I love it when I had to swallow a humble pie. For I often think, "I can, I can." Certainly, we may have overused this verse in our lives, "With God everything is possible".

In the same way, for many churches to come together, they all had to toss white flags and surrender their own ways for the sake of Church. Too many of us, like the Tower of Babel, think that we can do it for God through this or that out of faith. We forgot to accept the mess of saying, "I cannot". Thus God splitted the people into languages. God taught us how to say, "I cannot". Maybe one church can do it while other church cannot. I know that our coaches probably said to us that "I cannot" isn't in their dictionary. While other coaches might taught us to study our weaknesses so that we may increase our strengths. In studying, we had to create a bigger len to see the whole picture. Through the humble mess of saying, "I cannot," we will see the teamwork being formed.

"I Did It For You!" Wasted

Did we find ourselves telling our own friends, "I did it for you" when it actually benefits us only. I think we often found ourselves guilty in this thing. We may did it for our friends in expect for something in return or because they did it for us last time.

In the same way an Amalekite servant lied to David, "there was Saul, leaning on his spear... So I stood over him and killed him." It was partly true for Saul was leaning on his spear, but Saul killed himself by his own sword not Amalekite's. He intended to receive a reward from David in his "I did it for you", but he received a pentalty instead. Thus he was executed by one of David's young men.

This Amalekite obviously didn't know David's heart, thus he tricked himself. We may not know what's in our friends' hearts, thus we did everything out of vain, "we did it for you all!" When there is nothing that we can do.

If you want to do it for David or our Christian friends, then do it out of your passionate heart for God. Tell Him, "we did it for You and may You do it for them!"

Talking Funny Kills

Jephthah led the men against Ephraim. In this war the pronunciation of one word could keep a man alive. They asked, "Are you an Ephraimite?" If that man said no, then they asked him to pronounce, "Shibboleth!" If he pronounced, "Sibboleth!" Then that man is dead. About 42,000 men died for not pronouncing it right. Instead of pronouncing a "sh", those Ephramites would pronounce an "s". So would you say a "sh" for this word? Well I would simply sign, "I am deaf" and fingerspell "S-H-I-B-B-O-L-E-T-H!" And I shall remain alive after this big test even if I am an Ephraimite. Yeah, I know that I would not talk funny. Sorry folks if I easily got away.

There is one thing that I love about Jephthah beside his clever leadership- his background. He was the son of a harlot. He was rejected by his half-brothers. He went out raiding with the worthless men. Yet his brothers decided to ask this thug Jephthah to be their commander. Thus Jephthah earned his position over them. His disadvantage had turned into an advantage.

Now this Jephthah must have a big heart for God and his daughter. He loved God so that he pronounced his vow to give Him whatever comes out of the doors of his house to meet him. Big mistake! His only beloved daughter came out to meet him with timbrels and dancing. Jephthah was torn, but he allowed her to wander for two months of lamenting with her friends. What's so special about this? His daughter was willingly to die for his vow. She said to him, "Let this thing be done for me." She encouraged her father to keep his vow. How she must have loved her father. Thus she died two months later. She is one of few special daddy's girl. She felt fulfilled by her father that she wanted nothing else, but obedience to her father and his God.

Do you know anyone who is willingly to die for you? Maybe and maybe not. Follow those advices: be cautious with what you shall pronounce and be slow to speak.

I think many girls like me long to be like Jephthah's daughter. We all long to be Daddy's girl. And He is watching over us on His throne above us.

DCMC's Draft Logo

DCMC stands for Deaf Campus Ministries Connection. The campus ministries at Gallaudet strive to work together under one God and yet keep our unique ministries running on campus. How could we do that? We decided that we should work together for a bigger purposes such as hosting some cool events on campus, conference, even retreats.

In order to make this happen, we agreed that we needed a title and a logo. It shall symbolize our connection. Later on, we hope to include ministries out of DC.

Here is our draft logo. Let us know what you think. We will need your help to vote on those logo!

The Mirror in Accuser's Face

Balaam threatened the faithfully donkey, "I wish there were a sword in my hand, for now I would kill you!"

Balaam have strucken the donkey three times before that. Balaam heard the donkey supernaturally speaking to him in human language. And Balaam had acknowledged that this donkey had been obedient to him since it had became his. Yet he threatened it with a death threat! Uh? What could this donkey do to prove him its trustworthy or to change him? Nothing. It is a flat-zero.

But I love how the Lord changed the situation for this donkey! He opened Balaam's eyes. Thus he finally understood that the Lord threatened to kill Balaam, but the donkey saved his life! It's as if the Lord put the mirror in front of Balaam's face, "In this misdeed, you threatened yourself!"

Break the Curse

One may be cursed and the curse may turn into a promise of blessing for the other. Some of them may turn into years of promise for the generations to come. That's when the new generation is willingly to rise up to break the curse.

The mistake of Adam has burdened his children with a curse. God said to Adam, "Curse is the ground for your sake; in toil you shall eat of it all the days of your life." His children were bounded to that curse. But ten generations later, Lamech had a son who was prophetically named Noah. Lamech said, "This one will comfort us concerning our work and the toil of our hands, because of the ground which the Lord has cursed." Noah found a favor in God's eyes that God sent him to build the ark so that God could clean up the mess. After the flood, the clean up, God said in His heart, "I will never again curse the ground for man's sake." Now Noah and his sons, Shem, Japheth and Ham, had a new beginning!

Unfortunately, Ham chose to mock Noah's nakedness after being drunk. When Noah learned about this, he decided to curse Ham for his wickedness, "Cursed be Canaan [Ham's son]; a servant of servants he shall be to his brethen. Blessed be the Lord, the God of Shem, and may Canaan be his servant." Why did Noah decided to curse Canaan instead of Ham? I don't know why, but Noah created a promise that was shown to Abraham, the tenth generation after Noah through Shem his son. God promised to Abraham, "the land of Canaan shall be given to your descendants after being a stranger in the land."

How do we position ourselves to be the curse breaker like Noah and Abraham? They both are the source of the promised blessings in days to come.

Noah lived for 500 years before he begot three sons. He might have spend a lot of time with God as his great grandfather, Enoch, did. Out of obedience, Noah built an ark, knowing that God will destroy the flesh. Out of obedience, Abraham left all of his family and country to go where God wanted him to go. Interestingly, they both left their families to go into the new land with full of promises.

Have to, Want to

I began to have a morning routine this summer. At my best, I go out to pray and run. At other times, I just go out and do it. I am not fond of "just do it". I prefer to do everything out of pure passion.

While I remain with "just do it" discipline, I circled around it to see if I could discover the passion. This morning it dawned to me that I haven't danced out of passion in the locked room. Walk back and forth in mediation. Sign the chapter out loud. I am still circling my "just do it".

The same goes with my daily Bible reading. I have been following the android youversion one year reading plan. Lately I had the burning passion to read through the chronology Bible for 40 days, but I hesitated. I didn't want to get behind on youversion plan on my phone. I could choose "just do it" over the burning passion. Now, I am thinking about scheduling my day to include 35 pages of Bible reading daily for 40 days.

Meek-N-Deep

When I looked up meek in my thesaurus I learned a new idiom for it: can't say boo to a goose! Extroverted is its antonym. In dictionary, it is characterized by patience and long-suffering.

I think most of us are afraid of the meekness. It is easier for us to go big and go home. It is hard for us to be meek and deep.

"Deep calls to deep at the roar of your waterfalls; all your breakers and your waves have gone over me." Ps42:7

Have you ever gone under the current of the waves? How did you feel? I felt like I've lost the control over myself. All I had to do was kicking and turning to break free.

Let me replace meek with "can't say no to the leading of the Spirit". We could not resist to go deeper. We could not resist to go into chaos for God because it will bring in something new!

I love how Message quoted Psalm 42:7-8, "Chaos calls to chaos to the tune of whitewater rapids. Your breaking surf, your thundering breakers crash and crush me. Then God promises to love me all day, sing songs all through the night! My life is God's prayer."

Small Miracles Overlooked

Thousands of people crowded at the Washington mall for the fireworks. The wait took us several hours. The view took us only half an hour.

Jesus did his first miracle at the Cana and turned water into wine. The wait took him 30 years. The ministry took him 3 years.

The wait at the mall may be a bit boring if we came unprepared. We ate watermelon with seeds. After a while our chat turned in silence. The silence was interupted by fellows behind us who noticed my 2ndthief vest. They hold their thumbs up and told me to turn around for the others to see! We reposition to include them into the circle. We learned that African often eat 2 oz of watermelon, and it was enough to survive without water. Amazing! They are thrilled to learn that National Community Church aims to expand our 12 mission trips to 52 a year. They hoped that they could bump into us in one of the trip. Thus the wait was for more than fireworks at the mall!

It took Jesus' ministry 30 years of wait before it began. He will never experience miracles if he hadn't studied Scriptures and grow grace upon grace as he applied Scriptures daily. He was 12 when he impressed the teachers at the Temple. It was one of his first miracles before the Cana when he turned water into wine. Thus his mother knew what to do and she told the servants to listen to him. It was much more than his 3 years of ministry.

We often overlooked small miracles in miracles that we earnestly waited for.