People who run ahead of me

From the hefty list of my summer resolutions, these were 2 of my goals:
1) read more
2) become more familiar with church history.

To my convenience, DesiringGod (John Piper's ministry) made available a really really great list of books online to be downloaded for free. I've been really taking advantage of this resource and I decided to read one of John Piper's wife's books.

This particular book was about 5 different women who lived, endured, suffered, sacrificed, and wholeheartedly served for the God they knew was worthy to be proclaimed and exalted, in life or in death.Their lives and their stories have rebuked, encouraged, melted and challenged me. Reading about these women put me and my life to shame.

Although I don't remember every single detail that Noel provides about these women, I close this book taking one main thing away: The God that they served through their sufferings, and the gospel that they earnestly fought to proclaim is the same God and is the same gospel that I embrace today. It was that worth it. and it should be that worth it to me too. We have the same God, we've been saved by the same gospel-- and yet I look at my life and look at theirs and see the million degree difference that is so acutely present.

No one says it better than Noel Piper herself, so I'll leave you with this:

I had in mind something like what Jim Elliot said: “Missionaries are
very human folks just doing what they’re asked.
Simply a bunch of nobodies trying to exalt Somebody.”1
Not all the women in this book are missionaries, but I think each
would have been the first to tell you she was just an ordinary person.
These ordinary women had an extraordinary God who enabled them to do extraordinary things.
And he’s the same today for us.

Remember your leaders, those who spoke to you the word of God.
Consider the outcome of their way of life, and imitate their faith.
Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.
H E B R E W S 1 3 : 7 - 8

That’s why I read biography. To remember people who’ve led the
way on the path with God, to consider their lives, and to imitate their
faith. Because we have the same God, and he is the same yesterday,
today, and forever.

-Noel Piper

Give thanks-- Starbucks in the morning, Extended reading time because of no classes this week (yayuh), Noel Piper for writing this book, Sarah Edwards, Lilias Trotter, Gladys Aylward, Esther Ahn Kim and Helen Roseveare who are worthy saints to run behind

Yipes

I have work in 7 minutes and I have yet to change. EEK hahaha I am the worst. I'm working 7 hours today. and I'm scared, honestly. I feel tired just thinking about it.. hahaha but I'm excited. Work is awesome because it gives me the opportunity to interact with hundreds of people a day, and encourage them with kind words and a warm smile.

I really hope that in these next 7 hours, Christ will be seen in me.
It's hard sometimes you know, scrubbing toilets and moss from the corners, getting bleach dropped on your back while your leaning on all fours, and mopping pee from the floor (honestly, boys need to learn how to aim there is always pee on the floor..haha) It's not the most glamorous life. But I'm thankful, because I know that in these baby steps God is teaching me to have a heart that is willing to joyfully serve others and to really grow to see them as people that I can serve.

What an honor it is to serve God's people in this way.

Speaking of honor, I had the chance to eat lunch with CJ today. She took me to a really cute sandwich place in Tustin and she bought me a really delicious sandwich. Spending time with her reminded me of how faithful of a God our God is. As iron sharpens iron, CJ's heart and ever-growing desire to improve and recognize herself more and more sharpens me.



These pics were for our twitters. Hahah :)

I'll be back on my lunch yay


---- I have an hour lunch today! I'm going to read some :) yays


give thanks--- CJ, sandwiches, mornings, friends

God provides.. (edited)

Dude...the craziest thing just happened..


So I had to order my scrubs this week, but I wasn't going to be able to order it until my financial aid came. Afraid that it wasn't going to come in on time, I emailed my counselor asking what I should do. Because it's mandatory that we place our order in by this week in order to recieve it in time for Fall, my counselor provided me with a code and asked me to call DOVEAPPAREL directly to place my order..



I called and found that the original price would be a minimum cost of $219 for my uniform. But the voice on the other line told me that they would provide a complimentary set of scrubs and lab jacket for free.



Honestly, God provides.
How the heck does something like this happen to someone like me? I couldnt believe it.

I wonder if there's a catch. This seems too good to be true.

----------
<edit>

Absolutely no catch...

----



I'm so thankful :(

Therefore do not be anxious, saying, “What shall we eat?” or
“What shall we drink?” or “What shall we wear?” For the
Gentiles seek after all these things, and your heavenly Father
knows that you need them all. But seek first the kingdom of God
and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.

Matthew 6:31-33

Give thanks-- being back in irvine, an endless list of things to constantly be grateful for, that You are a God who provides, unspeakable grace and generosity I've received, the motivation to give back all the more.

My two homes

It's official. Irvine has become my home.
Not my second home, but my home-- so now I have two!

Everytime I come to Diamond Bar, I realize once again just how closely I hold Irvine to my heart as a home. I swear its not just cuz I love school-- but the people, my church, familiar coffee shops, my apartment room, the list could go on.

Everytime I come to DB I'm able to look back and just be grateful for where I ended up, and the people I ended up with. I'm at DB right now, but will head back to Irvine in an hour or two, and I'm actually really excited.


Things I love about Diamond Bar Home:
_A close It's a grind
_Home Cooked food
_Being with my family
_Fast Internet
_Pho Hana
_A really nice and queen-sized bed
_Alot of clothes to wear (My sisters clothes..haha)

Things I love about Irvine
_The Starbucks on Campus Dr.
_Work
_DWYS
_Pretty people
_Crazy Airconditioned apartment
_School

I cant wait!

The Ultimate manual

2 Timothy 3:16
All Scripture is breathed by God.............

I'm at the Science Library right now but I just thought about this. This is the most random thought ever..but..I was thinking, when I defend my faith and when I defend the various things I believe-- I turn to the source which I believe to be of highest authority. I turn to the source which I believe to be truth. I turn to Scripture.

Why is it truth? Because it's the Word of God
Why is it the truth which I could I place my entire trust in? If I really believe in God of the Universe, who would be a better source?


The analogy I thought about for this was manuals. Car manuals. Manuals of contraptions. Manuals of computer programs. Manuals are created for a very significant and valuable purpose. Manuals are a means for the creator to relay informations on the what, when, why, how's of what they've created and what they are so very familiar with-- to a person (or group of people) who will be making use of their creation. For the sake of clarity, I'll give a specific example: Car manuals.

Car manuals are usually (if not always) written by the handful of people who greatly contributed in the creation, construction, and manufacturing of the car. It was their initial idea, their vision. It was their design. It was their handiwork. It was their masterpiece. They contributed their individual ideas into this project and their used-to-be floating thoughts have materialized into what they now see before them: the final product of their automobile. In the manual, we find various introductions to the car, the many assets they accompany, the various things that differentiate this car from any other; they might even throw in some fun facts about how the car started and what the history of this grand and magnificent idea was. They include instructions on how to operate the car, what to do in case of emergencies or in case of any problems they may arise. The manual writers may also include some fun stories about people who had great experiences with the car, what kind of mileage it has, along with the many rewards that may come from using the car in the way that it was created. The buyers are permitted to run the car on their own basis, by the way they would like it run, but they are also encouraged to run it the way that they (the creators) have designed it to perform the best-- which would be , exactly how they had meant for it to be run. They continue in on more instructions on how to change this, and how to adjust that, and how to run this, and what to do when this or that happens. I can also guarantee that they also include some sort of contact information to show who and where to contact for any "Further Questions or comments".

This sounds alot like what the Bible does for us.

It lays out the history of the world, the history of salvation, and the life death and resurrection of the Savior that had come to pay ransom for our souls. It gives stories upon stories of those who were faithful, and those who were not, and the rewards and consequences that they received respectively. It gives us instructions, warnings, encouragements. It tells us why this world was created, why we were created-- and if we were smart, we would do our best to perform in the exact design in which we were created for.

God wrote this incredible manual for us. and I believe with my whole heart that the Bible is the Word of God and the authority of my life. I submit to what it says. I obey what it commands. I believe the truth that it proclaims. (or am trying to at least)

How can we believe that this is actually the word of God? How can we know?
The simple, cliche, yet obvious answer is: by faith.'

And without faith it is impossible to please him, for whoever would draw near to God must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him.
Hebrews 11:6

True, it's not really a satisfying answer for the outside eye, but honestly-- what in this world do we run on without faith? There are so many things in this life that offers us no kind of assurance and no kind of faith-deserving evidence, and yet we bank our entire lives on it.

We ride our cars with faith that it wont shatter into its own metal pieces while we're zooming by on the freeway. We sit on chairs, with faith, believing that it will carry out 100+ lbs of weight. We talk to hundreds of people over the phone, in faith (even if we've never seen them before), believing that the person we intend to be talking to is the one we are engaged in conversation with. We have faith that when we go into a coffee shop and order a drink, that they didnt in any way poison it. When we go to costco to buy bread, we have faith that every slice that they promised to sell to us will be found in the bag- so we buy it without having to count each and every slice. We have faith that we will be here tomorrow when we say "see you tomorrow". We have faith that there will be a tomorrow everytime we think to ourselves "i'll just do it tomorrow". We even have faith when we read our manuals, that the information given is legitamate and that the writers of the manual are dependable sources.

Daily we place our faith on these things and people that offer no substantial promise or assurance to us, and yet we doubt and often question the authority of God's word because "faith" is not enough proof for us to believe it.

That is foolishness to me.

I want to live my life and be a person that stands with two feet firmly planted on the Word of God because it's my authority. The Bible is my authority because God is my authority. And although I fail to really live out this truth on a daily basis, I have faith that I'm slowly getting there-- (very very slowly)-- and that the great Author is the one who helps me the entire way through.


I love psalms 119

Your word is a lamp to my feet
and a light to my path.
I have sworn an oath and confirmed it,
to keep your righteous rules.
I am severely afflicted;
give me life, O Lord, according to your word!
Accept my freewill offerings of praise, O Lord,
and teach me your rules.
I hold my life in my hand continually,
but I do not forget your law.

Psalms 119:105-109

---

I know, such a random thing to think about before my midterm... haha

Give thanks-- dwys in the mornings, the word of God, and faith that allows me to believe it

Intermission

My 1st summer session officially ends tomorrow. I will have 6 days to rest before the 2nd session starts and this is going to be the first real time of having nothing to do for a long time (besides the fact that I have work, ha!) so in a world of musical theatre, shows, and performing arts-- we would call this an intermission. My final is tomorrow and I feel more ready than I think I deserve to feel. I know the major concepts, and I'm familiar with the few details I need to know. What more do I do now? I'm actually going to bed haaaaaaaaaa I'm picking up my CPR book tomorrow. I'm going home tomorrow. I'm going to see my family tomorrow. I'm going to love tomorrow. It's going to be a good day.

I've been blogging regularly recently, it's kind of wierd. I think it's because I've been thinking alot, but thinking is good. Summer is good. God is good. I'm doing way better than I deserve right now.

and that is really good news.

My mom bought me a new laundry bag today



I dont think I'm going to look that cool walking out with this tomorrow.
but my mom gave it to me, :) so sue me

(I'm laughing in the picture because Esther was laughing at me..)
i'm going to miss living with her.

Give thanks-- Sundays, morning prayer group, seeing the China team back, productive study times, sweet times with Annie ko and Michelle shin, my final tomorrow

I love wikipedia

Remember when I said my professor let's us use Wikipedia for our reading/learning sources?

Professor Hicks was not joking around.. haha He is super helpful though.

Speaking of helpful, there's this friendly application that the Macbook comes with and it has come into great use during this summer school course : )

So I can write any word or physiology term into this little Spotlight area:


And this pops up!


This has seriously been my best friend these past 5 weeks.

Tomorrow will be the last day that I study for physiology.. (for this course at least). It's been a long ride, but not once was it dreadful. I dont know what it is...maybe I'm just excited for next year. But regardless of what it was, this class was hands down my favorite class ever. To see how everything in our body functions and how it's just millions and millions of contraptions working together to maintain a medium in which we could survive-- it's just amazing.

Today I spent 12+ hours at Starbucks. Today I spent 10+ hours studying for my final. It was fun : ) Today I also took a run. I was running through the ARC and there's this really really dark and really really scary valley looking thing and I seriously thought I was going to get beat down or something-- I ran so fast out of that and I didnt even stop til I was a good 50 yards from the ARC itself. I was so scared : ( I ran alot today. My back and head hurts. My body and mind feel exhausted so I'm going to sleep soon. but it feels gooooood


I thought I was going to look cool hahahahaha but looking at it again it doesnt look that cool. I took this after I came back because I was sweating so much and so I thought this thermo-kind-of-looking-effect would make it look really cool, but it doesnt. haha oh well.

A couple days ago my boss brought me a flower to put on my hat!
It's big



Tomorrow is Sunday! I love Sundays

Have a good night everyone,

give thanks--- Long days of studying, good weather, eating with Mamakang, Steve Cha's and an opportunity I will hopefully have, anticipation, peace in the midst of anticipation, running, the fact that it's Sunday tomorrow :)


hey richard,
look i spelled 'opportunity' right!
i had to come back to fix it though, hahaah
thanks, ih8you4life

Big world

It's so easy for me to get caught up in my own little world that I often forget the big world out there. I hope it's not bad for me to assume that I'm not the only one with this tendency and that everyone often forgets of anything past their 10 mile range. I guess we can always try to be a little more aware of history that's happened before us, the future that is unfolding before us, and the blessed presence we're privileged enough to live in now. Hope this helps

Here's a few pictures that have recently been shared (click for larger viewing)

It was the 40th anniversary of the first landing on the moon this week.
Here's history in bundles of a 1000 words each





Training for war- these are women in the Phillipines


Mud around the world



The longest Eclipse ever also appeared this week

taiwan

india

and although its so easy for us to forget,
we're still in Afghanistan









It's not as easy for some to forget..


I hope this served as a reminder to you guys as it did for me. More at Big Picture

give thanks-- Fridays, naps, letting go, Your faithfulness in eG's life, reminding me how big our world is and how little I know of it, reminding me that You are the God of this big world

Post-Flu, Pre-Final

Monday night marked the beginning of my personal "break" and I had the biggest break of my life. HAHA. I caught a crazy flu Monday night which hung to the neck of my body the end of Tuesday. I was miserable. Honestly, Tuesday seems like a blur to me. I cant believe today is Thursday I feel like some sort of 4 day weekend happened without me noticing because this week flew by faster than I can say the word 'Thursday'.

Being sick was not the best. Being sick when you're not at home doesnt make it any better. There's this strange sort of sensitivity slash loneliness slash depressing vulnerability that comes with being sick-- and for an already sensitive person like me, that kinda added-on flavor doesnt really do me any good. By Wednseday I was completely better (thanks to alot of medicine, alot of sleep, alot of sweating and alot of people) and I was able to live like a regular human being again.

I texted my parents later that day to tell them how I was feeling. My dad was really glad to hear the good news:
Cute huh haha

So yesterday (Wedns) I spent trying to catch up on the two days that I didnt study. I have a final coming up and I'll soon be done with my Human Physio class. Bittersweet. Bitter because I absolutely loved this class: everything about it actually, studying for it, reading it, lectures, looking stuff online about it, watching videos on various topics and even just trying to think out the concepts in my head. I absolutely love it. I love studying things about the human body because it reminds me of Who created it-- and it causes me to be more in awe of how Awesome and how Detailed our Creator is : ) Sweet-- because I'll have alot more time to do other stuff without having to study for this class: the list entails of studying for other things, reading more, working more, and doing more things I wanted to do this summer. So it's a win-win situation really, but regardless, I'm thankful to have taken this class during the summer, and I'm excited to keep learning

We're learning about the Digestive system right now
and of course it ends appropriately with the end of the GI Tract via Defecation.

Defecation is basically pooing. (which is something that I appreicate personally. tmi, ma bad)
But this was a portion of my lecture slide that made me laugh yesterday as I was studying it

Translation: Basically shows why we hold our breath and constrain ourselves and our bodies when we go poo. hahahah The holding of the breath helps us to the contract the muscles that we need to contract in order to increase pressure, which would squeeze the rectum (butt h-le) and help push the feces (poo) out. Seems obvious, but who's ever seen this on paper? haha i love my class.

and to top it all off:
Here's a picture! yay
---
I'll end with this because I love Michael Buble and these things are always fun
---
Using only song names from ONE ARTIST, cleverly answer these questions.

Pick your Artist:

Michael Buble, a beautifully talented man

Are you a male or female:
I'm Your man (Dang it, this is the only song that could answer this question..dang it)

Describe yourself:
Call my Irresponsible

How do you feel:
Feeling Good

Describe where you currently live:
Home

If you could go anywhere, where would you go:
A Foggy Day, In London Town

Your favorite form of transportation:
Come Fly with me

Your best friend is:
It had to be You

You and your best friends are:
Always on My mind

If your life was a TV show, what would it be called:
You Dont know me (HAHA)

What is life to you:
The best is yet to come

Your current relationship:
Put Your head on my shoulder

Your fear:
That's all

What is the best advice you have to give:
Try a little Tenderness

Thought for the Day:
Quando Quando Quando

How I would like to die:
You and I

My soul's present condition:
How sweet it is

My motto:
Just in time

Give thanks-- a really fast recovery, productive study times, laughing with friends, side conversations, prayer

Taking a break

I realized that taking a break isn't a crime...
it can even be considered necessary.

My break may only last for a day or two
..could even possibly end up being a few hours
but regardless- I'm hoping to be back from a refreshed time


Be back soon,
Sharon

My first late night of the summer, and Tim

I havent had to stay up to study the entire summer so far-- but I have a midterm tomorrow and I had alot more to study for than I anticipated. To be honest, I'm not really scared. I think I'm pretty ready, but last time I slept at a good 10pm the night before my midterm and didnt really study the morning after because I was too comfortable. I made alot of stupid mistakes on that midterm but ended up doing relatively alot better than I deserved.

Studying regularly (as I've got into the habit of doing this summer) has really served me in alot of good ways, but has made me alot more lax and chill with my tests. Because I studied so much for it before, I dont feel as anxious or nervous for my tests. A good thing, I suppose-- but also, could end up destroying me because my prideful self could nonchalantly throw my notes in the air the day before my midterm because I feel like I'm "ready".

Afraid to make the same mistakes again-- here I am, staring at the notes that I've labored over for the past few weeks. Writing in 3-4 different colors imprint on every page, embellished with neon pink, blue and green post its marking a few extra notes I found online or in the book. There's no such thing as studying too much-- I tell myself. But the more and more I stare at it the more unfamiliar it becomes to me-- and it forces me to go back and relearn it again.

It's 1am. I wanted to wake up early tomorrow but I feel like tomrorow will just have to be a sleep-in, and wake up and go take your midterm kind of test day. That could be exciting, I guess.

I'm not too sleepy anymore-- thanks to a good friend of mine.
Someone who cares enough to help a sister out when she's tired the night before a midterm.





"Hey, wake up"
"Guess what I'm gonna do right now"
"Sleep. Bye"

He's so kind.

----
So whether you eat or drink
[or stay up late studying for your midterm,
or memorize physiology concepts,
or keep trying to diligently study even when you're tired],
or whatever you do,
do it all for the glory of God.
1 Corinthians 10:31

--

Give thanks-- home in the middle of the week, productive study times, the beautiful day today, a short-lived but sweet freedom I will have at 1pm tomorrow, friends, text messages, reminders;

Meet Ian

True, I dont know Ian, but his story has really melted my heart, and I wanted to share with everyone and anyone who reads this blog to join me in praying for Him.

About 3 years ago, Ian got into a head-on collision with an SUV-- Long story short, He was severely injured and everyone anticipated a goodbye. He was in a coma for a long time, but by God's gracious and sovereign hand, he woke from the coma but still struggles with brain injuries.

His girlfriend and "pre-fiance" (as he calls her), Larissa, writes about it to this day on his blog (click here) and I'm so thankful that I found it so that I could join in the hundreds of people who are praying for him. Larissa's faith in the Lord and devotion to Ian through all of these years really served to encourage and challenge me in so many ways. To say that I am completely stricken and I admire her faith with my whole heart would be an understatement. I really wish there was something that I could do to help in any way shape or form, but I the most I could do (and the best thing I could do) is pray for them.

Here is an excerpt of her testimony about her new life with Ian:

Even though I can’t see my future as clearly as I thought I could before, my affection for and devotion to Ian has not changed. Our relationship is now constrained to a hospital room, our dates are now him sleeping through the movie instead of me, and our conversations are more one-sided than ever! But I have never felt like I don’t have a boyfriend or struggled in my thoughts to stay faithful to this relationship. I still stand by the thought that anyone facing this situation would do the same thing. To me it’s easy--it’s just Ian. God has blessed me with a deep love for Ian and he continues to pour out strength so that I can continue through this affliction. And while my role as a girlfriend has changed, I’m still his girlfriend. If I were the one in a coma, Ian would never leave my side either.

More than my affection for him as a boyfriend, though, is my love for him as my best friend and brother in Christ. I have been called to serve Ian. And while I miss serving him in the ways I used to, like making him dinner or being his daily planner, I have been called to pray for him, talk to him, and just be near to him. There’s no place I’d rather be than sitting next to his bed.

Let's pray for Ian and Larissa

--

P.S. It's my mom's birthday today. I'm so thankful for the ways God allowed our relationship to be a means of sharing and growing to love Christ more together. Definitely an evidence of grace in my life.

Give thanks-- Ian, Larissa's faith, God's grace, Church History, Adoniram Judson, Home, my beautiful mom, family time, The hope we can have in God's love and mercy for us in all our circumstances.

Granny's goals

Bryan Chao just said that I am "grandma status" because I said I'm going to sleep right now.. but what can I say? I'm so tired...haha.

before i continue, i wanted to share with you what Bryan shared with me:

(he thought that meant Grandma in Korean. I had to bring his happy spirits down and break it to him that it meant old man/elderly man..)


I went tanning/studying today with tracy at her pool, and we dipped in the pool a few times because of how beautifully yet painfully hot it was.. Esther said that my grandma-status tired-ness is due to chlorine water, which supposedly makes you sleepy.. CRAZY. Tanning was really wonderful though. It made it feel like summer. The hot sun beaming a nice warm blanket over the trying-to-get-bronze skin. Passion tea with melted ice percipitating the cement on the floor. Ipod strumming music into my ears and the way the sun forces my eyes to squint as I try to read the notes I took during my lecture. It was beautiful. Tracy is beautiful. The day God made was beautiful.

but yes, so I am going to bed right now. 9:30pm on a Tuesday night. I have a midterm in 3 days and I dont feel ready for it yet, but I guess we'll have to see how that goes! I'm excited :)

Before I leave, I wanted to share 3 things that I really want to devote myself to learn in the remainder of this summer, this year, my college career and hopefully continue on to the end of my life.

The first two have to do with my job.
I want to learn how to

1. speak Chinese and
   
2. Spanish

(fluently--especially in medical terms)

I feel like communicaton is suuuuch a signficant and effective part of our lives and the ways we interact with the other people in our lives as well. Not only in a professional aspect- but personal too. As a nurse, I want to be sure to be personal with my patients; to truly demonstrate to them my genuine concern for their comfort and well-being, to ensure to them how much I am more than willing to serve them and do anything and everything in my power to be there for them, and to encourage them in the midst of their pains and discomforts. Smiles and kind gestures can only go so far..I mean, I dont doubt the effectiveness of actions or the accuracy of "actions speak louder than words", but if I could do the actions AND be able to say words that they actually understand--man, that would be siiiiick. (I heard someone say that today and I thought they sounded cool so I wanted to try it..

3. I want to learn more about church history

They always used to say that living the Christian life was like running a race. Some may also say that because we run alongside so many others-- its more like a marathon. (which I find to be a better analogy for various reasons). When one prepares for a marathon, there is much preperation, endurance, training, sacrifices, encouragement, motivation, determination, and drive that one needs in order to endure to the end to the finish line. All of those things seem to be things we need in order to well-equipped for such a run. This year I've heard many sermons and encouragements come from verses like Hebrews 12:1-2 that say that we must run with endurance, gaze at the saints, fix Your eyes on Christ. I never really considered the "gazing at the saints" of any importance until this year. There's so much encouragement that we can get from these guys-- to see the kinds of life they lived, the kind of faith they had, and the kind of sacrifices that they endured for the sake of the gospel. It makes me look at my life in the mirror and see how foolish all my complaining is, and how shameful and unworthy my pride is.

Trying to keep it short.
but I'm cutting it off cuz it's getting way too long
and I'm tired

Run hard everyone

Give thanks-- the amount of goods we have on the internet (sermons, testimonies, blogs, articles-- seriously theres so much we are so tremendously blessed), the warm sun, friends, seeing old faces, sleeping early, letting go

You gotta friend in me

"Friendship"
by, Hugh Black (quotes from the book)

The world thinks we idealize our friend, and tells us that love is proverbially blind. Not so: it is only love that sees…. We only see what dull eyes never see at all. If we wonder what another man sees in his friend, it should be the wonder of humility, not the supercilious wonder of pride. He sees something which we are not permitted to witness. Beneath and amongst what looks only like worthless slag, there may glitter the pure gold of a fair character. That anybody in the world should be got to love us, and to see in us not what colder eyes see, not even what we are but what we may be, should of itself make us humble and gentle in our criticism of others’ friendships. Our friends see the best in us, and by that very fact call forth the best from us.

There is nothing so important as the choice of friendship; for it both reflects character and affects it. A man is known by the company he keeps. This is an infallible test; for his thoughts, and desires, and ambitions, and loves are revealed here. He gravitates naturally to his congenial sphere. And it affects character; for it is the atmosphere he breathes. It enters into his blood and makes the circuit of his veins. All love assimilates to what it loves. A man is molded into likeness of the lives that come nearest him.

--------------------------

Give thanks-- new week beginnings, my friends, the fact that they are still my friends despite who I am, reminders

Gimme a break!

This is the schedule that I had kept close to me all year for an easy access reference.



This summer has been crazy non-stop for me. I had a midterm last week and I have another midterm this week. 2 more weeks and then my final is here! A couple days at home and session 2 starts.

I love to-do lists. I love schedules. I love planners. I love having my days planned out. But it's been hard this summer to not get caught up in a daily routine. Dont get me wrong, I absolutely love it. Everyday I learn new things, have wonderful conversations, share meals over laughs with friends; I get to read alot, I live in coffee shops (which I absolutely love), speak to alot of different strangers, journal more, study more. It's been great. But I cant help but feel like I'm just riding those flat escalators and just trailing along as it moves on its own.

I count today as my "day off"-- because I took the longest break ever. I didnt really do anything crazy. but I just got to sit and rest for a while.. and it was nice. But now I'm excited for this new busy week. Hopefully I'll be able to "redeem the lost time". I'm tired. What am I doing up..

You might be wondering why I posted a picture of the UCI schedule/reference in the beginning of my post.. well, its because today I was trying to see when my summer session ended, and came to find it to be inaccurate with my summer school syllabus. I checked the calender in my computer, I re-checked the syllabus, and I checked my personal scheduler and found that it was completely wrong.

Why?





I
cant
believe
I
used
this
all
year....









Give thanks-- family time, my day off, relaxing, a messy room to clean later, church tomorrow, praying with sisters

I miss xanga.

Do you remember these?

Human Physiology, Wikipedia and the Bible

Ever since I was in high school, Wikipedia was the forbidden red button that I was never allowed to touch. My teachers always used to warn us that if they caught any of our work containing information or quotes from this forbidden website-- we would be severely punished. It wasn't even a plagerism issue-- it was more of an accuracy issue. Wikipedia is trash, they would say. Which is true, sometimes I guess. Giving anybody in the world the option of changing any page is a stretch and would not be considered a safe haven for information. I can go in and change anything I want on that page right now-- to test out how easy it was, I tried it! I searched for my name and I was going to write a biography about myself (HAHA), but I got scared cuz it records ur IP address, so this was all I could do:

What can I say..I got nervous!

So, my Physio teacher for summer school told me that we could use any source we wanted, including Wikipedia. Say whaaaaaat? ...and so I've been using it like madstylez and I have grown to appreciate the abundant and clear explainations that website provides. It makes me want to go back to my middle and high school and ask them why in the world they were cruel enough to forbid us from such treasure...now I can join in with the rest of the world and wear this shirt after I graduate,


So I started reading this other book yesterday, and I just wanted to share a part that I really liked. This is a really good book by the way, I wish I could have a book club and read it with a few people cuz there's so much stuff I want to talk about and questions I want to ask. Shucks. It's pretty cool; It gives "biblical responses to today's hot issues" including environmentalism, online dating services, immigration, homosexual marriage, entertainment, abortion, God and the problem of evil. Interesting huh?

This is from the first chapter; It was about The Bible and Real Life.
I'm only gonna be posting tidbits, because if I wrote everything I wanted to share, this next paragraph will be left unread by every single person who reads this blog (all two of you) haha

"The fact is that far too many professing Christians live their lives, day in and day out, on the basis of something other than the Bible. As a result, their priorrities reflect the world's priorities, not God's. Their patterns of behavior and their plans for the future differ only slightly from those of their unsaved friends and neighbors... Biblical Christianity is not primarily concerned with external behavior modification, but with a change of heart that subsequently manifests itself in a changed life... Our response to moral questions is not determined by politics, economics, personal preference, popular opinoon or human reasoning. It is, instead, grounded in what God has told us is true about ourselves and our world... The Scriptures are our authority because God is our authority, and His Word stands forever." (p. 8-14)

Give thanks-- Studying times, DWYS, K's I, The gift of Scripture and the extended amount of time in the summer to grow in love with it.