July 24, 2005
Accomplishments this weekend:

Driving Lesson: Went around Oakville of where my G test will soon be (August 10th... AHHHHHHH!!!!!). I dread the QEW Hamilton and Toronto on-ramps. Two merges? Boo! Also, gotta practice my back-ins and parallel parkings. :oP

St. Lawrence Market: St. Urbain bagels, Montreal-styled! :oD Didn't have any, but I know where you live. Mwahahahah! Also, indulged in some yummy baked goods, and would have totally gone for fresh meats, seafood, and zucchini latkes if we headed home right after the market!

Distillery District: where I spotted a sign that *must* have been fashioned for some movie set (the 555-xxxx number was a dead giveaway, and Washington? oh yeah!)... among strolling in other cool shops and such.

Summerlicious: dined at Tutti Matti with Angela, Becca, Ceci, Naomi and Vivian. Had some niiiiiice food - I had Carpaccio di Trota (cured rainbow trout), Talapia al Cartoccio (baked talapia with risotto and zucchinis/squash), and chocolate and zabaione tartufo. All for $26 with tax and tip included! Sign me up for Winterlicious!

Watched Iron Chef: where I learned that *in a soft, soothing voice* "Quail is the virgin, and duck is the mature woman." So eat your quail before you try duck. That show is HILARIOUS!

Drove back to Waterloo: go me! Not much mishaps... except maybe veering toward either side of the road, and veering right onto the next lane as I was making a rather sharp turn! Note to self: get off at King St. next time.

After all that, I better hit the sack! Got work at 7:45am tomorrow!

July 15, 2005
Excellent, excellent, excellent talk from Joe Boyachek tonight (check out his picture, fourth one down... when we have a fully functioning MCBC site, as in not just a way-cool forum, we should do portraits like that too! heehee!). He came to speak about heaven, and eternal life, and the kingdom of heaven, and he did it in a whirlwind kinda way, flipping throughout the whole Bible ("I hope your fingers will be sore by the end of the night"), being really passionate about it.

So, basically, the points were as follows:

• Heaven is here: eternal life is not some far off thing to wait for... it's NOW; we just need to turn off the noise and pay attention to the burning bushes God sends our way ("the real miracle about the burning bush was Moses having enough attention to watch the bush, keeping in mind that bush fires are common")
• Heaven is slower: time is an invention by God, so it hasn't always existed; the times when you just had the best time ever and said "man, where did the time go?" is a foretaste of what heaven will be like, where there will be no time and life slows down
• Heaven is real: James 4:13 - the gist is that life is a fog, so something better *must* be coming
• Heaven is now: since heaven is being with God, and God sent Jesus, and if we accept Jesus, we become a part of the kingdom of heaven... so heaven is NOW

That was the main message, but get a load of this off-track add-on: the good Samaritan story is not about loving your neighbours. It's about loving your enemies. Jesus told the story in response to a Pharisee's questioning. The short version is that with the first 2 characters being Saducees, the Pharisee was fully expecting to hear that the do-gooder in the story was a Pharisee. But Jesus turns it around and say it was a Samaritan - a half Jew, half Gentile, a nobody, someone not to associate with. This shames the Pharisee a great deal, and Jesus ends with "go and do likewise." Love those you hate.

Another crazy thing to think about: know the story about the end times where two people in a field, one taken away, one remaining? Most assume that the one taken away is the believer. But Joe says he without doubt believes that it is the non-believer that gets taken away, and all the Christians get to stay to partner with Jesus in building the new heaven and new earth. Wrap your head around that one.

Joe also interestingly pointed out that for thousands of years, people thought the Bible was written in Aramaic, but in recent times, it's been discovered that Hebrew was the main language. And thus, we got all the idioms in the Bible wrong. New research is giving new insight into the meanings embedded in the Bible. Some exciting stuff to dig into.

I hope I didn't get too much of that wrong. :oP Gotta love 'em dynamic youth pastors. And really, I want to get passionate about the Word. Sounds like an amazing thing.

July 11, 2005
Perhaps the worst part of any weekend home is coming back to the Waterloo reality.

Take for example this weekend. I had the wonderful privilege of going on the JOY summer camp held at the lovely Freedom Farms. By the end of it, it reawakened the passion I have for JOY in me. Visions and plans and dreams started stirring, despite having only spent 2 full days with JOY.

Then I step back in WCRI and I realize I've forgotten many things about my life in Waterloo. Coffeehouse is in a little more than a week, and Marianne and I need to practice. More imminently, there's a Bible study scheduled for this Friday (maybe it's been changed seeing that there are no pre-study announcements?). There are also other things that I did kind of think about like my SOC paper and planning Alpha for next term, but none were as dominant as the issues JOY has been dealing with as of late.

You know, when I truly admit it, I do question why God has put me in two fellowships. I'm not one who'd like to split my loyalties among too many things. Two fellowships is too many things for me. I often toy with the idea of running back to Mississauga and to JOY because that's where my heart is. Waterloo and CCF... it's a struggle and a great challenge for me to commit to. On another note, I was surprised that another sister had the same struggle too. I guess it's a real issue that JOY out-of-towners face.

At the same time, Pastor Tim really delivered some hard messages. "Are you a blessing right now?" "Are you willing to carry other's mats and be carried by others?" "Intentionally choose to celebrate life (and share birthday pitas) with others." "Serve where you are." It's interesting that he himself has struggled with the same problem right here in Waterloo, and that he finally brought himself to serve at CFC in his last year of school. Will I be able to strike a balance?

Through JOY retreat, more uncertainties than things to be sure of have been revealed. I'm glad of that though, since it reminds me that I am an utterly flawed human being in need of Jesus to perfect me. Also, when I was sharing with Ceci about some thoughts that arose from camp, she reminded me of the WR04 "motto" - more than just good intentions. My good intention is to serve wholeheartedly in both CCF and JOY.

I need to INTENTIONALLY CHOOSE to overcome this good intention.

July 5, 2005
I signed onto Future Shop's Bonfire, and downloaded 3 tracks. Tracks ranged from 99 cents to $1.19. Lemme see what else I'm gonna download next. I think I better set myself a quota of songs I'm allowed to download, or I might just go crazy. :oP For a list of tracks I got (and any other tracks from now on), go here. Oh yeh, I also burned my first audio CD today. All legal tracks, of course. ;o)

SONG OF THE MOMENT

This week, I prayed, one time
My phone, it rang, I put You on the other line
And now my thoughts they drift around
My knees remain unacquainted with the ground
Unless my faith is put to the test and I am forced to bow
Although I'm in this flesh it doesn't mean You shouldn't have the best from me, from me

Even when my eyes are dry
Even when my soul is tired
Even when my hands are heavy, I will lift them up to You
It's not about how I feel, oh Lord I am here for You
I exist for you

I close my eyes but all I see
Is a background of black, bouncy squiggly lines
And this week's mistakes coming back to mind but
I will lift my voice and make a joyful sound
Forget about me, I only get me down
Although I cannot see it doesn't mean I shouldn't sing to You, to You

You've given me Your life and have held mine together yet I find
Excuses to slouch in my pew
But when glory divine
Is sitting in my very presence, the least that I can do
Is give my all to You, give my all to You

"Even When," Seven Places (from Hear Us Say Jesus)
This is perhaps the bounciest, happiest sounding song since last year's discovery of "Crazy Mary" by FM Static. I had to laugh out loud when I read the lyrics of seeing "a background of black, bouncy squiggly lines" because it's just so true. It's so easy to ignore God in everyday life, but I like how this song also talks about striving to give God your best despite the circumstances. Something I continually try to achieve. On another note, Seven Places is from BEC Recordings, sister company of T&N, and I'm starting to like 'em a lot. Uh-oh.

July 3, 2005
Happy belated Canada Day to all! I hope you all had a lovely and celebratory weekend. :o) And to any Americans reading this page - happy early Independence Day.

The weekend was pretty good. Disappointed that the MLs just didn't get together (will hafta save them bison burgers for another occasion), but there were some nice hang out times nonetheless.

Friday, I joined Niette's fellowship for their picnic at Vic Johnson Park. Except the park was closed for fireworks setup and so we had to go to Erindale Park via the scenic (i.e. cutting through UTM campus) route. It's really cool seeing how other fellowships function, to see how God works in other places just as powerfully. The people in her fellowship are really sweet, and it was good to brush up my Cantonese with them! And they fed me well (red sausage, beef and fish ball skewers! at an English speaking fellowship, we'd only get burgers, which aren't that bad... but skewers! c'mon!). :o) At night, I went to JOY for the joint-with-WAY-12ers games night of Cranium. That wasn't too bad. Cranium is fun.

Yesterday, I mostly stayed home and stared at the TV, watching Live 8. I must say that London got the sweetest deal. Canada just doesn't have that many big name artists. And it's too bad Sarah McLachlan went to Philly instead of Barrie (that duet of "Angel" with Josh Groban was a dream... mmm...)! Oh well, at least we had the awesome BNL, among others. I really don't like the Hip. Sorry. Simple Plan and Les Trois Accords were pretty good. I shall look up the latter sometime soon. The better part of the day happened with Betsy, who's going to help out at an orphanage in India starting Monday. More power to her! It was nice having coffee with her at Second Cup, just to hear how her life has been as of late. I *so* want to roadtrip with her to California next summer! I hope it happens... that would be so FUN!!! Please keep her in your prayers for the next 2 months as she helps out in India. :o)

As for today... there was church, where I got to see Paula (and Steve), and Richter (finally up on her feet! yay!). The discussion on same sex marriage was also kind of interesting. I hate not being at Sunday School regularly, but that's my life for now. Can't wait 'til this co-op/school lifestyle is over! After church, Becca and I headed to Square One where I got a bunch of stuff that I needed. We also splurged on some Godiva chocolate truffles, which really weren't worth the $2.53 that it was, but at least I've stepped foot into the store and bought something! I think I like Lindt Lindor truffles better, and they're cheaper! But anyway, enough about food.

That's all for now. Gotta go to dinner now!