What are we after?

After reading and contemplating about the book "Irresistible Revolution" and starting to read "Simply Christian", I took some time and wrote down the following poem (or better, just words because it doesn't really follow any poetic rules), so here to some new poetry after a long absence of words.

What are we after?
What are we longing for?
The comfort of the present world has blinded us again.
Just like the wars that used to numb us.
We have become wholly distracted by the things we use to comfort us,
yet it all leads to emptiness,
it all loops back to brokenness,
because we cannot make ourselves hold.

We groan for help from our inner being,
we express our cries in the form of lyrics,
we take on causes of social justice,
but for what?
for these acts to awaken us from ourselves?

Another world is possible,
we hear its whispers,
yet we are unmoved,
will we wait until the end,
or will we act with urgency?
will we act with radical love that Jesus had shown us?
will we live with radical abandonment away from this world?

Maybe it's not all material after all,
we are soul beings,
and we belong to another world,
that is coming soon.

And that what i'm after.

hello fort worth

This is my first post from Fort Worth located in North Texas (part of the Dallas/Fort Worth Metroplex). After spending about 8 years in Aggieland (College Station,TX) where I've made some really awesome friends and had invested (and be invested in) by an awesome group of people and community (both Fellowship Church and Connect Homegroup), I've decided to move up to Fort Worth.

I'm excited about the new things that I'll get to learn and experience in (both with the urban community and the church). I'm also very excited to be in the same city with my girlfriend (Ashley), long distance relationship is definitely a rough adventure, it was a good adventure though, but I'm really glad that now we're in a "short" distance relationship ;).

Anyways, there are much thoughts to be gathered and noted about my past 8 years in College Station, from the lessons that I've learned from college ministry, to the mistakes (and successes) that I've seen both in life and in ministry (and in work/college). Hopefully, I'll get done process with that and be able to share some on here.

Well, here's the first post from Cowtown (Ft Worth,TX), hopefully with more to come.

~Daniel

this should be shared ....

(Love is here by Tenth Avenue North)
come to the waters, you who thirst and you’ll thirst no more.
come to the father, you who work and you’ll work no more.
and all you who labor in vain and to the broken and shamed:

Updates from the land of my heart ....

i guess the title sounds a bit cheesy, but oh well .... here's a long long list of updates for a long long while ...

first up, my job situation, for all my concerned friends ...
since the last posts (about interviews and such), i am still waiting for a job,
i have started working as a substitute in the mean time and experience life in a different way.
Through this process God has though me much about humility, patience, waiting on Him, and trusting Him (even when dealing with self-esteem).
I admit that the process is frustrating because pride usually gets in the way, but i'm learning to let it go. So, please continue to pray for my job situation, that i'll land in a work place that i can usher in God's kingdom =)

meanwhile ....
i've started my job (temporarily ...) as a substitute teacher for the local school districts and i've so far subbed for classes such as 4th grade math, life skills and high school algebra ... with more classes such as intermediate art coming up in the horizon. Through my subbing experience, i've gained new insights into life, on how beautiful it is and much much more respect for my friends that are teaching (or becoming teachers :-P or working with kids ...).

on the other hand,
i've also been thinking quite a bit about prayers after re-reading parts of Red Moon Rising and the 24/7 prayer movement. One idea that came up is combining prayers and sports. Basically, speaking as a sport fan, we (i) are very passionate about our teams, and that in many countries and cities these teams actually controls the mood or even economy of the country/cities. Many of us (including myself) learns about another city or country through their sports teams (for example, i've never been to England but i know much about Fulham, Liverpool, Manchester, and Birmingham through their soccer team), likewise with other places in Europe and South America. So, one idea is to come out (or collaborate with others online) to create a prayer guides for cities and countries by the way of their sports teams ....
here's an example :
Manchester, UK which houses both Manchester United and Manchester City Football team, where MU is one of the popular team is the world, is one of the secondary metro in the UK after London. The spiritual condition in Manchester is ..... [fill in the blank] and the prayer need is ..... [fill in the blank].

anyways, those posts hopefully should be coming soon and if you would like to contribute on a city/sport teams (and any sports would work) .... that'll be great :-)

and ....

God has also put on my heart this past week to pray for the situation in Gaza/Israel,
please pray that peace will come through Jesus Christ in the Middle East,
and that reconciliation will happen through Christ as well.

that's about that for now ... and i got a new layout too !

be blessed in Christ.

peace out.

Waking up in a different city every couple of days ...

i just got back a week of traveling to various cities for job interviews and such ... it was definitely an interesting trip, eye opening and tiring =) ... as i looked back waking up at a different city every couple of days was definitely interesting ... one day i was in the Town square of Sugarland south of Houston, then back to College Station, then flying out to Portland,OR and then out in a corn maze outside of Cornelius,OR was definitely fun =)

Several things that stood out to me this last week ...

1. Keep my head straight -> remembering that glorifying God and advancing His kingdom at the forefront of my thought, whether it is meeting people at various places or looking for a job/career, it should be about His Kingdom, and yes advancing it through love and the grace of God through Christ !! (and building His church !)
   
2. See from His point of view -> i was driving to downtown portland for a dinner on friday night, the song "Give me your eyes" by Brandon Heath was played just about 3 times (almost consecutively) on three different radio stations (oddly enough ...). The gist of the song is about seeing people from God's point of view, and how many times we've missed people's hurt or joy or life because we only see the outside and missed what's going on inside their life/heart ....
3. God is doing miracles in our generation -> even though i wasn't at my church's student retreat this weekend, but my homegroup was ... and i heard about one of the student from my homegroup was healed on the spot at the retreat twice after broken her shoulder (or something like that ...) -> it's amazing to hear and see what God is doing and continue to answer prayers !!

and ...
well if you are interested ... i'm discovering some good music too
Brandon Heath -> What If We -> London ; Give me your eyes.
i guess a lot of people have heard of him ... but i'm just discovering some good stuff that he got.

The Ting Tings -> Great DJ / We started Nothing -> Great DJ ; Shut Up and Let me go
hmm ... interesting band ... i was introduced to the Ting Tings through iTunes, they have some fun techno ... rock .... funk ? music ... great to get yourselves jumping up and down....

also .... Tokyo Police Club (reviewed by Relevant Magazine ...) , The Wombats (Dance to joy division is brilliant !! ... and i guess they're from Liverpool ...), that's about it for now =) )

well -> til next time ... maybe i will post some pictures ...

love y'all.
Daniel.

3 Cities , 2 timezones and whatever's on the way ..

so i'm bounded for Los Angeles for IEEE/EG Volume Graphics Conference on Sunday and Monday ... then a day of touring/sight seeing/resting on Tuesday which is going to be awesome =)

i'll try to blog from L.A and post some pics up =)

i'll try to catch Manny at the Dodgers game ... maybe he'll hit a homerun =P

peace out.

Daniel.

News, Life , Ramblings

There's been a lot going on in my head and heart, some are related to the news around me (or related to me -> such as the political fuzziness in Malaysia ...) , or just plainly events that happened around me. Even though these events are surrounding me, hopefully i'm not indifferent (like Shawn of the dead ...) , and hopefully they'll awaken me to the reality of this world, and the need of Christ and His Gospel to be more boldly preached!

Let's start with the news -> it has been a turmoil in Malaysia recently, maybe that's an exaggeration but with the General Election swinging to the side of the Opposition Front, new charges against the main opposition leader (Anwar Ibrahim) sounded "shady", let's hope justice will prevail and being worked out in Malaysia. It's interesting that Anwar Ibrahim sounded a lot like Barak Obama in the U.S with the message of Hope and Change for a better future! Co-incidence ? Probably so ....

Likewise with the General Election in the U.S, it's looking like a miss-match, but hey - who knows? And even Al Gore is jumping into the mix by casting the vision by setting goals for a more energy efficient America in 10 years, maybe that's a good goal to set ... or ... maybe we should just let the supply/demand duke it out, and eventually be energy efficient anyways ...

On a more personal level, i've been to the emergency room twice in the last two weeks, there were not trips for my own self but i've taken two different friends to the E.R for various reasons. It's interesting to be in the E.R, one of the time i saw a family weeping over what seemed a bad situation, and other times i've seem family awaiting for good news and such ... it had been interesting to be there ... i've even seen people got flown into the E.R through the helicopter ... interesting huh ?

and then ....

my roomate and i had been talking about our future plans, i got to admit that i haven't really dream for a while, or i've been scared to dream recently. The intention of trying to please important people in my life had really gotten to me, many times i've felt "stucked". So, i was asked to dream this week , dream of what would be in 3,5,10 years, and i hesitated. I know i don't want to be selfish in dreaming anything self-centered ... thus it has caused me to not dream at all ... i guess that's not a right approach when facing the future. We (my roomated and i) eventually talked, and came up with solution of facing the future, and triumph over it through Christ and God's leading and planning instead of my own .... :-P that's a relief and hopefully i'll have some answers soon.

well ... this has been a long post .... i've changed the layout of the blog again ... enjoy.

btw -> Houston Dynamo defeated D.C United in SuperLiga match today ... Go Orange !!

good night, good bye.

God bless.

it's about time for an update .....

so ... i guess it's about time for another post ...
well, life's been kind of busy the last 3 weeks, with research/work shifting into higher gears at work, but i'll say it's good, it's just when things are stressed and i'm tired ... slips up happened more frequently for my spiritual life (which extends to attitudes, perspectives, etc) .... one thing i do learn though it's to take time to rest, take time to reflect even though it seemed like there's no time to do so, so i'll be doing that now !

Another thing is to be discipline at what i do, i remember last couple of summers when i was interning in the industry, there's a set of expectations on when to be at my cubicle and such. i know grad school and research are more fluid because ideas might come in the middle of night ... or a solution might jumped out at you when drinking a cup of latte at Starbucks, but i've determined to stick to a schedule, and make the most out of it !

Other than that, life's been good =). The church community (aka my homegroup) is doing great, there were several more visitors visted my group last couple of weeks. It's funny to think where my group was several semesters back, and how we were struggling with the numbers of people who have, now even in the summer we seemed to be thriving through God's grace.

One thing though, on my teaching last night, i talked about the comfort from God. One of the hope we should have is that we have a mediator (in Jesus Christ) who understands what we are going through because He himself had gone through a lot (betrayal, even death on the cross). Sometimes i found myself having the distant view of Christ as He's my saviour in the distant but in truth He's here and now with us, He see what is going on in our lives and He advocates for us before the Father ... anyways ... for the whole teaching (which is based out of a teaching by John Piper ....
see (my teaching notes)-> http://docs.google.com/Doc?id=ddm7b2x2_245cnzcgsgm
see (Pipers's teaching)
-> http://www.desiringgod.org/Blog/437_the_sovereignty_of_god_and_comfort/
-> http://www.desiringgod.org/ResourceLibrary/Articles/ByDate/2001/1516_How_Shall_We_Minister_to_People_After_the_World_Trade_Tower_Terrorism_of_September_11_2001/

anyways ..
by the way, i'm bounded to Los Angeles sometime in August to attend a symposium, this will be the first time i'm going to present at a symposium, i'm so excited ... well ... i'm excited about going to L.A and maybe catching a Dodgers or Angels game as well ...

well - have a Happy Happy 4th of July !

peace out.

Daniel.

Freedom.

i wrote this couple months ago on an airplane flying back from Taiwan ... just thought i would share this on my blog =)

Daniel.
---------------------------------
Between the shores is where i am,
stuck between the time of present, past and future,
the culture of east and west,
the beauty of Your creation.

Thank You for opening my eyes,
to see the wonders of Your works,
to see that You're still actively working in this world,
in You the world is flat because Your gospel is flat.

Your love is without boundaries,
without partial ratings and such,
a boy in Texas is as much in need of Your grace as a girl in Moscow, so is the village in East Timor to the streets of Taipei.

Your mercy is new,
Your grace is fresh,
and the heralds yell out,
"Repent for the kingdom of God is near!".
Even the beat of Motown screams for freedom,
not anymore from the slavery of man but from the slavery of sin.

As we march with Your beats,
and only Yours,
only Your gospel, Lord Jesus,
can rescue us.

Salvation is here!

Stucked

the weather started to cool down today,
somewhere in the middle of Texas,
where the haziness transform a country town into an eclectic square,
i'm stuck in the land of have vs have-not,
i want to be content at life,
giving thanks every opportunity i get,
but i found myself frustrated - mad at circumstances of life,
wondering why it wasn't like couple ideals that i thought of,
maybe the mellow-ness had gotten to me,
maybe i just need to snap out of the funk ...

knowing who i am in Christ,
knowing who i should be,
and knowing that someone actually cares ...

sometimes i just feel helpless,
with the situations i faced,
though they are not mountains,
they are more like hills,
but still they required faith,
to overcome ...

here comes the season of fall,
where leaves will turn red,
and hearts filled with warmth,
anticipating the works of His hand,
i should get up,
and walk on.

Dances

Standing still in the moving crowd,
where lights reflected from the disco ball,
blinked and dazed the dance floor,
i ponder life as it goes by,
maybe this is the last dance,
maybe it's the only dance,
there's the girl with the gown,
and the guy with the fancy tie,
dancing the night away.
i stopped and i walked,
back to the dance floor,
ready to dance the night away again,
like living with art,
or breathing with rhythm,
dancing the night away

City lights

City lights,
endless fights,
how do we deal with the pride,
that seems to bring more than a blow,
to our lives, characters and dreams?
we tried to escape,
but we ended up in a trap,
we fight on to rest,
yet we ended up weary and dead.
Where is the hope in life that we so looking forward to,
where is the peace that we always longed?
somehow we've lost sight of Christ,
the One who brings peace and hope,
the One that knows how to live,
the One that knows our needs,
come let us return to Him,
under the neon signs,
turn off the music and let us reflect,
the meaning of life,
and why we rush from venues to venues,
and missed the sights along the way.

Who have we become?
We are not an optimization problem to be solved,
because each of us are unique,
and our potentials are different,
and yet we try to generalize everybody,
no i won't give in to this,
i choose to live my life in the light,
only in the light .... and delight in the light ...

ballin'

i don't know why basketball sneakers can be sold at such a high price,
a pair of Air Jordan or other equivalents from AI or Melo' can go in the range of hundreds,
maybe it's the feeling of having what the pros have,
maybe it's the feeling of living bigger than your life,
maybe it's the thrill of having a part of a super star,
maybe.

i got a pair of Starbury One,
it's not Melo', Kobe or AI's,
it's Marbury the guard from New York,
he dishes passes like Jason Kidd,
and scores points like AI,
though his sneakers are down in the range of teen's
wearing'em still give me the same feeling,
i don't know how to explain,
maybe it's just the star power,
maybe it's human pride,
maybe it's the fame,
at a low price,
maybe is his (Marbury's) movement,
to end the dominance of overly priced sneakers,
maybe it's to fulfill the dream of a young boy,
who wanted something that he cannot afford,
maybe,
i'm just shooting hoops by my apartment,
wearing my Starbury One -

maybe there's nothing significant to it.

life as usual.

hmm...

don't know why i feel this way today,
feels like getting lost in the crowd,
drowning out the noise around me,
and the chatters and conversations,
sitting in a corner,
drowning in music,
somehow there's pain,
somewhere in my life,
i know there's a solution other than this,
and i gotta get out of here.

Entropy and Aching
Where have we been aiming?
Everything is fading out, fading out
We are the faded, splitted, and sedated
Everything is fading out, fading out

A pledge allegiance to a country without borders, without politicians
Watching for my sky to get torn apart
We are broken, we are bitter
We're the problem, we're the politicians
Watching for our sky to get torn apart
C'mon and break me
C'mon and break me

- Politicians Live from Austin , (Switchfoot)

sunshine and wind

it's a beautiful day full of Your grace,
it's sunshine with wind,
i felt the warmth of the sun,
and the real-ness of the wind,
the goodness and love of a Maker,
and His creativity that goes beyond ours,
to give life,
joy,
and everlasting peace.

tired

tired - and - somehow gloomy about life
about the decisions i have to make
and all the progress that i haven't made.

tired - and - somehow anxious about life
because of the all the pressures and events
and all the things that i cannot avoid

felt like all the responsibilities are catching up
with no where to go or hide
and no time to complete

i will run to You,
and You alone,
for You are my refuge

More than fine

everything caves in eventually ...... even apathy can get old after a little while .... [Switchfoot]
[listen to the live mp3 clip from Calgary]

i'm more than fine.
enough said, and well said.
i want more than just ok -
apathy - sighing - negatvity gets old -
why not live?
why not live to the fullest ? (John 10:10)
i'm more than fine -
despite what the rest of the world tell me.
despite what i think -
despite of my circumstances -
He's delighted in me. (Ps. 149)

more than fine.