A unknown path...but an known destination

In my last post, i asked you a question... where are you traveling to? I've been asking myself this question everyday since i entered the realm of adulthood. The day i left my comfortable home on 3800 antelope trail packed in tight in a purple minivan with my parents headed to iowa state university. The events of that day aren't very memorable but that decision has guided me down a path.. i path that i have loved. Just thinking about how i have changed since that very day brings both tears as well as a smile to my face. Too often do i not reflect on the good parts of the past instead my thought linger on the bad.. the most disappointing of days. Today, however i reflect on the path that God has taken me thus far. It was at iowa state that i felt the sense of community and true Godly fellowship for the first time in my life. a fellowship that can only be described as enchanting, exhilarating, and motivating. At iowa state, i found the fire to follow Christ wholeheartedly. God has truly captivated me. I've seen the beauty of a group of people my own age that desires to love God and follow him. like many of them, i'm still learning what is means to let God direct my steps in the choices i make. Everyday i question if i'm making the right choice in my major of study. is chemical engineering really my best fit? perhaps not since frankly i'm not much of fan of math or physics. The true questions is.. is there something that suits me better? If there is that something.. i have yet to feel a pull towards it. So instead i will pursue God while pursuing chemical engineering. I know i desire to honor God in this field and also i desire to help people. For know i lay in wait to see what God is going to do with me with hands wide open. I know my ultimate destination is going to be with my heavenly Father and i guess that is all that matters...

"But our citizenship is in heaven. And we eagerly await a Savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ" Philippians 3:20

"For this God is our God for ever and ever; he will be our guide even to the end."Psalm 48:14

Where are you traveling to?

Having just returned today from a 10 day stay in Vietnam, my mind is stuck on reflection of the trip. As i was flying back to singapore today, i was thinking about the concept of traveling and what it means to my life. I've seen parts of the world that many will not or will even have a privilege to see. First there is ukraine, which will always hold a place in my heart. I often think about ukraine bc of a photo that i have framed in my room. Her name was diriyna and she was the most adorable little girl i think i have ever known. I pray that she along with her two sisters will continue to grow and become more like their heavenly father each and everyday. I've been on many other trips some close and some far. one to haiti after the earthquake where God not only used me as an encouragement but also taught me about how the devil plots against us. i found shelter in the body of Christ. i've seen so many things, so many cultures. Most recent as i mentioned vietnam. Normal people working to live and pass the time.Traveling down a road that is dictated by the amount of money they can make selling whatever they get their hands on. In many respects, traveling just like me. You see i chose to travel down a path of education in hopes of getting a job in hopes of well i'm not really even sure. But what i was really thinking about is whether or not God looks at me and is pleased to see me traveling the direction i am. I don't just mean in a physical sense but in a mental sense. Are my thoughts and actions leading me to the best destination? Am i actually being productive with the time He has given me?I dare you to ask yourself the same question... More tomorrow... 

Wait, stay here and have a drink of time

Wait, before you split yourself in two

There's time for you

If you travel here, you will feel it all

The brightest and the darkest

If you travel here, listen to your heart

And take with you what lasts forever

Sleep, and dream the dream of when you fly

See through traveler's eyes who want to give

To live and give

If you travel here, you will feel it all

The brightest and the darkest

If you travel here, listen to your heart

And take with you what lasts forever

Future of Forestry "Travelers Song" 

SO much to do...

Too much to do now. why does school have to pick up and make me stress out? in less than a week i will be Vietnam with my three traveling buddies. Can't wait but first this week will kill me with a four hour lab tomorrow, a five hour lab on wednesday, class all day thursday, two group meetings, physical therapy, and normal class times, and probably many other things that i haven't even thought about. Ohh not to mention i should probably do some studying seeing as how when i return from vietnam i have a midterm. let the games begin. solution=drink lots of Coffee! Ole!

Love your neighbor

Mother Teresa once said, "If you judge people, you have no time to love them." In honor of valentine's day, i challenge you to love someone tomorrow simply because God loves them. 

Maybe the person you need to love most or even the person who needs your love the most is someone you dislike or can only stand for a few minutes. However it may be your love that person needs most. love them for who God created them to be. Love them because we were called to love one another as Christ loved us. love them and see the joy that comes from following one of the greatest commands God ever gave us. Not convinced here's the scripture to back this up...
John 13:34-35
“A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.”
Romans 12:10
"Be devoted to one another in brotherly love. Honor one another above yourselves."
Romans 12:16
"Live in harmony with one another. Do not be proud, but be willing to associate with people of low position. Do not be conceited."
Romans 15:7
"Accept one another, then, just as Christ accepted you, in order to bring praise to God."
Ephesians 4:32 
"Be kind and compassionate to one anther forgiving each other, just as Christ God forgave you."
Ephesians 5:19 
" Speak to one another with psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs. Sing and make music in you heart."
1 Thessalonians 5:11 
"Therefore encourage one another and build each other up, just as in fact you are doing."
1 John 4:12 
"No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God lives in us and his love is made complete in us."

Looking through a telescope

The view is nice but it's never complete... it never is when you are looking through a telescope or a window or even your own eyes. do you ever wish that you could see what God sees? The that fact he can see everything, every instant. God has attended every wedding, every funeral, every birth, every death. Actions speak louder than words at times and God had seen everything that you do. I often wish i could see what God sees even for just an instant. I think my whole perspective would change then.

imagination > knowledge ?

"Imagination is more important than knowledge. For knowledge is limited to all we now know and understand, while imagination embraces the entire world, and all there ever will be to know and understand.” If your mind can conceive it then believe you can achieve it. Have the tenacity to create the extraordinary."

albert einstein 

what do you think? do you believe this to be true...?

I've often wondered about what God finds more pleasure in when we simply follow his commands or when do something that is good that is out of ordinary for ourselves. When we take bold steps of faith or walk dangerously in the light. Society would say that knowledge is supreme to imagination simply because knowledge makes money or at least teaches you how to not lose your money. I think at the same time we can all agree that imagination is an integrated part of knowledge. I wouldn't be quoting albert einstein if it wasn't. Einstein was one of the worlds greatest minds, a man praised for his knowledge. yet with everything he did a great deal of imagination was involved. With every theory came a thought that by any standard would be considered abstract... 

Without imagination we would essentially be robots...without imagination i think we would not be able to truly believe in something... that is why after much thought i think einstein might have been correct in his evaluation. We are told in the Bible that faith is believing without seeing (Hebrews 11:1). How can someone believe without seeing if they don't use their imagination? it is true that God tells us to meditate on this word and store his word in our hearts but ultimately what good is this if we can never imagine ourselves living out the promises he wrote Bible to tell us about.If you can't imagine God's love will you ever attain it or even understand it? 

Trying to Rest in Him

I wish i could turn off my mind... 

I wish i could lay in my bed and feel relaxed... 

I wish i could stop thinking about the future and just dwell on the present... 

I wish i could stop making the same mistakes... 

I wish i didn't think about things i know i can't control...

I wish i felt comfortable in my own skin...

I wish i would stop trying to rely on myself 

I wish...wish i would just rely on you fully... 

Psalm 62:1-2 

"My soul find rest in God alone; my salvation comes from him. He alone is my rock and my salvation; he is my fortress, I will never be shaken."

Longing for something

So I didn't know what to write about tonight because frankly my thoughts have been everywhere today... so instead of trying to put all of those thoughts into something that is even meaningful...I like to share a photo with you

just the other day i can across this image.....

There is something so beautiful about this painting..... oddly enough i remember that my grandmother had a print of this hanging on her wall for many years. Just looking at it shows such longing... a desire to be somewhere where one isn't at that moment...a hope.

The name of this painting is called "Christina's World". It was painted by Andrew Wyeth. The woman suffered from polio and her only means of getting around was my crawling due to the inability to use her legs. Beyond this i know nothing of Christina. Perhaps for christina her greatest desire was to walk. What is your greatest desire? To see the world? or perhaps get married and have children? To graduate from college and find a job that you can be passionate about? or maybe you wish for the opposite to never have to work a day in your life? Maybe you just desire to be loved and to love someone? Just think about it what do you TRUELY desire. Often what we desire most we surrender all our time to... what is consuming your time? Is it really worth it? 

"If I had a thousand souls, if they were worth anything, I would give them all to God: but I have nothing to give, when all is done. It is impossible for any rational creature to be happy without acting all for God. God himself could not make me happy any other way. I long to be in heaven, praising and glorifying God... There is nothing in the world worth living for, but doing good, and finishing God's work, doing the work that Christ did. I see nothing else in the world that can yield any satisfaction, besides living to God, pleasing him, and doing his whole will." 

Johnathan Edwards from "True Saints, when Absent from the Body, Are Present with the Lord" 

Lack of Pure Joy?

Today i was talking to a very dear friend of mine. A couple months ago i had explained to her that i felt that i had a lack of joy in my life and although i deeply desired to have joy, i was struggling to find it. Joy in my opinion does not equal happiness but instead is something much greater and something much harder to attain. Joy is a much deeper and much more fulfiling than happiness thus is why i have such a desire to possess it. Everyone can find something that makes them happy. Happiness for me comes in the form of a good cup of coffee, watching a movie with close friends, receiving a good grade on an exam, or thrift store hunting. But utter joy cannot be found in the temporary nature of these things. To be joyful is to be content but not just content for a moment or even a day but to satisfied in your soul....Was C.S. Lewis right when he said" I sometimes wonder whether all pleasures are substitutes for joy."


How does one achieve Joy? or if you believe you have attained Joy..how does one keep it?

I think everyone can be happy but not everyone can be joyful simply because it is clear that joy comes from God alone through the Holy Spirit (Galatians 5:22). Even though being baptized in the Spirit allows us to be filled with Joy... this doesn't mean that we are always good at recognizing or even allowing Joy to be seen in our lives. There is no question in my mind that joy is attained in heaven and kept forever their in us. But i find it hard to recognize the joy in my life even today. Often i find that my only source of joy comes solely from knowing that i have been saved from death (Psalm 51:12) but to me this isn't enough simply because i'm commanded to "Be joyful always; pray continually; give thanks in all circumstances, for this is is God's WILL for you in Christ Jesus." (1 Thessalonians 5:16-18)

Much easier said then done... but we must strive to live in this way. I know that the presence of God in my life is more than enough to satisfy my heart.

"The sovereign God wants to be loved for Himself and honored for Himself, but that is only part of what He wants. The other part is that He wants us to know that when we have Him we have everything -- we have all the rest."
A.W. Tozer

95 birthday candles down and eternity still awaits

What is an age anyway? An integer. A classification. Meaningless? It has always been said that with age comes wisdom. Today yet again validated this for me....

Today i met a man who has figuratively blown out 95 candles. This man a member of the church i have been attending here in singapore is not only still walking but he is still driving to the market near his home on a regular basis. How does one live to be this old? Im not sure since the average life expectancy for men is 71 and 80 for women in singapore and for the united states it is 75 for men and 80 for women. Clearly this man who's name is Lau Kheng Yong has lived a full life in the sense of number of days. What struck me most about him was that not only has he traveled the world but he has also compiled these books that contain words of wisdom that have been handed down from generation-to-generation. This quotations come essentially from a life full of traveling and countless countries and people groups.

One quote i think describes his life very well....

" Life is measured by thoughts and actions not by time." At the age of 95, not much time is left for him yet he has lived a life as far as i can tell glorifying to God. The great thing is that his soul will never die. Eternity waits for those who believe....always.

Philippians 3:20-21
²⁰ But our citizenship is in heaven. And we eagerly await a Savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ, ²¹ who, by the power that enables him to bring everything under his control, will transform our lowly bodies so that they will be like his glorious body.

Being taught Unbelief

Isaac Newton once said if reference to the Universe that

 "This most beautiful system could only proceed from the domination of an intelligent and powerful being." For me this seems both appropriate and precise evaluation but for many this idea is unspeakable. To say that there is a God is to say that you believe in something or in this case someone. Today i meant a chinese girl whose english name is Quincy. It was her that told me a story of isaac newton and his belief in a creator. She identified with Newton perhaps due to the respect that she had for his scientific mind. In China, she has been taught unbelief. To never believe in anything but science and that science alone can explain the smallest and most intricate organism and its origin or at least that one day science will. It was through her that i saw something else... a desire to believe. It seems as though many people are unsatisfied with no belief at all yet many will not take the task to go searching. For many a few unanswered questions seems to be better than what could turn into a hunt for truth that might be accompanied with even more questions. I wish they taught would it means to believe... all they can believe must have proof and this really isn't belief at all.

How could their be no creator......if this is true..

"More than thirty separate parameters require precise calibration to produce a life-

sustaining planet."- Robert Collins, physicist philosopher

“If we nudge one of these constants just a few percent in one direction, stars burn out within a million years of their formation, and there is no time for evolution. If we nudge it a few percent in the other direction, then no elements heavier than helium form. No carbon, no life. Not even any chemistry. No complexity at all.” - Dr. David D. Deutsch, Institute of Mathematics, Oxford University

“If the universe had not been made with the most exacting precision we could never have come into existence.” - John A. O’Keefe, Harvard-educated astrophysicist of NASA

“Most scientists speculated that the deeper they delved into the cell, the more simplicitythey would find. But the opposite happened.” - Michael Behe, biochemist

So many of the brightest men in this world saw a need for a creator to explain the utter complexity of life and our ecosystem. A beautiful and complex system of matter made only by God....

If the beauty of the world won't captivate people and question them to believe what will? Let's teach our children to believe..... and thus give them a hope

A lack of inspiration, a challenge, and a concern

So to be honest, i haven't been blogging simply because every time i sit down to i can't think what to write. Blame it on being distracted or just the lack of inspiration  but i have decided to return. daily. that's right i said it daily. even if its short and sweet. well as daily as possible considering sometimes i might be in a different country in southeast asia. but today marks day one.

What usually inspires me you may ask?
This does.......

Recently, it has been the subway or mrt as we call it here in singapore. perhaps it is because there is no subway in iowa. Something about it makes me feel as though i have become truly independent as if i could navigate this country although it is small. all the same, it gives that big city feeling and feeling of accomplishment as well as being entertaining and yet at times lonely. . I think some of my best thinking has occurred on the mrt. Riding around on this piece of steel, has not only transported me to the majority of singapore but it has also gave me a perspective of the people here. it is on the mrt where i see the singaporeans as well as what make up a million of other people that are not native to this country but have come from india, the middle east, china, vietnam, and countless other countries. Here is where i see the people of the world that up until now i had only seen on tv. They are just like us or maybe perhaps in some ways better than us. they sleep at whatever chance they get even if that means a little shut eye between two mrt stops, they give up their seats to those with children or a child on the way, they laugh, they get entranced by their iphones, they sing along to their ipods. they are just like me yet they are so very different. sounds impossible right? how can they be like me yet be not like me? the truth is that many of these people are still very lost. lost is what seems to me to be the day to day. They are caught up in the things that are meaningless only because they don't have the greatest piece of knowledge. the piece about Christ being their hope and salvation. I hope one day they all hear and believe. For now to me they are just a face, a person i will see for only a short ride to the next destination but to God, He knows each one of them by name and everything about them. perhaps we will meet again and if we do i hope it is somewhere eternal. I hope i see them in heaven up there. i hope that one day they take the trip of a lifetime to see God and bask in his glory.

Until then God will remember them one by one even the smallest of ones....

Psalm 139:1-18

O LORD, you have searched me and you know me. You know when I sit and when I rise; you perceive my thoughts from afar. You discern my going out and my lying down; you are familiar with all my ways. Before a word is on my tongue you know it completely, O LORD.

You hem me in--behind and before; you have laid your hand upon me. Such knowledge is too wonderful for me, too lofty for me to attain. Where can I go from your Spirit? Where can I flee from your presence? If I go up to the heavens, you are there; if I make my bed in the depths, you are there.

If I rise on the wings of the dawn, if I settle on the far side of the sea, even there your hand will guide me, your right hand will hold me fast.

If I say, "Surely the darkness will hide me and the light become night around me," even the darkness will not be dark to you; the night will shine like the day, for darkness is as light to you.

For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother's womb. I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well. My frame was not hidden from you when I was made in the secret place. When I was woven together in the depths of the earth, your eyes saw my unformed body. All the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be.

How precious to me are your thoughts, O God! How vast is the sum of them! Were I to count them, they would outnumber the grains of sand. When I awake, I am still with you.