MandarinStudent's Xanga

Tuesday, December 28, 2004

Tue, 28 Dec 2004 08:53:46 GMT

Here's a quick blog from one of the world's most inconsistent bloggers. (Thank you to those who subscribe to mandarinstudent for putting up with this inconsistency).

I wasn't going to put in a donation at first. But then, after hearing and seeing the news regarding the earthquake and tsunamis that hit Indonesia, India, Sri Lanka, and other East Asian/African countries on Dec. 26, Shar and I felt compelled. So weput in a donation with World Vision Canada in their effort to raise $1.5 million to help the children and families whose lives have been turned upside down by the recent disasters. With all the shopping and investing talk that pervades this time of year, fellow xanga-ers, let's please think about East Asia and do what we can to help.

Friday, November 26, 2004

Fri, 26 Nov 2004 09:31:42 GMT

Yeah! It's Shar's birthday today! Check out her xanga site or better yet, e-mail her to send her a note. :)

Thursday, July 01, 2004

Thu, 01 Jul 2004 04:35:24 GMT

What keeps a person hanging onto faith in God in a season when God seems silent, indifferent, absent, even hostile? I think about characters in the Bible, the likes of Abraham and David, who went through circumstances that could encourage one to question God's goodness, God's trustworthiness, or even God's existence, and yet continued to trust in, relate with, and hang on to God.

An adolescent David is anointed king of Israel and promised that one day God would make him ruler over his people. Yet for the next 10 to 15 years of his life he finds himself running for his life like a fugitive, more like a runaway prisoner than a king. When given opportunities to take the throne into his own hands, he refuses and insists on letting God do it. On what basis does he have reason to trust that God will do it, after "not doing it" for the past 10 to 15 years? If I were him, I would be very tempted to just start a new course, on my own, without the help or the promises of some God. Yet David trusts God despite it all.

An elderly Abraham is promised that he will one day be the father of many nations. He puts it all on the line for God. One day God commands Abraham to sacrifice his only son, a child he and his wife had waited decades to conceive and the very person through whom God promised to make Abraham this "father of many nations". If I were Abraham, upon being told that now I must sacrifice my only son, I would think to myself: "Forget this. This God is messing up my life. How can I trust in someone so unpredictable and unreliable. I can't count on him to give me anything that he won't later take away, and for reasons beyond me." And yet Abraham obeys God.

It's easy for one to say "It just takes faith." But when disappointment, unexpected misfortune, or unanswered prayer are experienced sequentially or all at once, faith in a God who loves, cares and hears prayer becomes harder to hang on to. And yet guys like Abraham and David hung on.

I'm not writing this because my life is in the crapper. (Long footnote: In fact, at the time of writing, life could hardly be more enjoyable. Today Shar and I are celebrating our 10th month anniversary - 10 months of being married to this beautiful, intelligent, fun, God-loving young woman called Piao Liang Dan. In addition to work that is challenging and enjoyable, I've had the chance to do things I enjoy: like going rollerblading 3 days in the row, reading a good book, learning mandarin and playing online chess.)

I'm writing this more out of awe that guys like Abraham and David would continue to trust in God, despite evidence that could easily be used in favor of rejecting God. I don't know what to say in the face of that kind of faith. Perhaps these guys know something about loving God that I need to learn.

Tuesday, May 25, 2004

Tue, 25 May 2004 07:22:22 GMT

There's something great going on in the red, white and blue. Sorry, dear American friends, this time I'm not talking about the red, white and blue of the United States, but the other red, white and blue. I'm talking about Taiwan, and the great things God is doing here.

Situated on an island of 23 million seeped in political confusion, pollution and congestion, and the occasional stench of "stinky tofu", there stands a church in the town of Xindian [pronounced: "Sheen-Dee-En"]. In case you're trying to imagine a building, I'm not talking about a building. I'm talking about 1500 strong, spirited, passionate, diverse, talented, ambitious, beautiful people who call themselves Xindian New Covenant Church. Here, God is doing awesome things, and my wife and I are privileged to be witnesses to it.

What do I mean by "awesome things". I'm talking about a church where the youth are on fire for God, where they sit, stand or dance in the first row of the sanctuary with a passion to worship Jesus, where the intensity of their prayers, their facial expressions and their body language when they pray is so apparent you feel like some of them are ready to break bricks with their bare hands.

I'm talking about people who are hungry to know God, where 1 of every 3rd person is using the pew in front of him/her as a note-taking desk while the pastor preaches.

I'm talking about prayer meetings that are as worshipful and intense as the Sunday services.

I'm talking about pastors who don't hide behind a pulpit and recite a computer-printed script, but who so own their message that it flows from their hearts and mouths like water from a fountain.

I'm talking about a church where God has produced so many quality people who are learning to love God in the context of ordinary, normal lives, where pastors are flanked by multiples of strong staff and lay leaders.

Here, God has come to live in the hearts of a foreign people who, by prayerful, passionate and persistent invitation, have asked God to come. And He has made a home here.

I would be sorely amiss to say that God has not provided well for us here in Taiwan. He has embraced us with a community that we are growing in and that we, in our own small way as two parts of a bigger body, are helping grow.

The kingdom of heaven is like a treasure hidden in a field. When a man found it, he hid it again, and then in his joy went and sold all he had and bought that field. Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant looking for fine pearls. When he found one of great value, he went away and sold everything he had and bought it. - Matthew 13:44-46

It's an awesome thing to be part of an awesome church.

Friday, May 21, 2004

Fri, 21 May 2004 07:59:34 GMT

A big THANK YOU to all those who so kindly sent me a birthday wish. I feel very blessed by my wife, my family and friends, and my xanga community. As a result, I feel like I owe it to my xanga friends to be a more faithful blogger.

As you can tell from my xanga name, I am learning mandarin... very slowly, but surely. I am your proverbial asian banana -- the guy who looks Chinese and loves Chinese food but who still needs his hand to be held whenever mandarin is spoken.

A few months back my sister sent me a few pointers to help me with my mandarin. I'm still debating whether I should try them in public - they sound more like Cantonese.

>1) That's not right ........................ Sum Ting Wong

>2) Are you harboring a fugitive?............. Hu Yu Hai Ding

>3) See me ASAP................................ Kum Hia Nao

>4) Stupid Man ................................ Dum Gai

>5) Small Horse ............................... Tai Ni Po Ni

>6) Did you go to the beach? ................. Wai Yu So Tan

>7) I bumped into a coffee table ............ Ai Bang Mai Ni

>8) I think you need a face lift ............ Chin Tu Fat

>9) It's very dark in here .................. Wao So Dim

>10) I thought you were on a diet ............ Wai Yu Mun Ching

>11) This is a tow away zone ................. No Pah King

>12) Our meeting is scheduled for next week ... Wai Yu Kum Nao

>13) Staying out of sight .................... Lei Ying Lo

>14) He's cleaning his automobile ............ Wa Shing Ka

>15) Your body odor is offensive ............. Yu Stin Ki Pu

Thursday, April 29, 2004

Thu, 29 Apr 2004 10:05:33 GMT

A sad day in Taipei

This morning, for the first (and maybe last) time in my career, I had to accompany a client on her way to filing a divorce. (Working mostly in the corporate area, this was the first time I've had to deal with a divorce matter. Whether I as a Christian should be dealing with a divorce matter is another issue, one you should feel free to ask me about separately if you want my thoughts.) The distrust and hostility between my client and her former husband were so intense that they needed three lawyers to accompany them to the place where they would have their divorce registered. From the castigating remarks my client made about her husband over the phone, I was expecting both my client and her husband to be unusually difficult, "abnormal" people. But when I met both of them today for the first time, I was struck by how "normal", even pleasant these people were.

The process of registering the divorce wasn't comfortable. Everyone else seemed okay; the one having trouble was me. Why did 10+ years of sharing life together, having a baby together, being so much in love at one time that they would promise the rest of their days to each other, and spending the best of their years honouring that promise -- why did all of that have to end this way? It was heart-breaking. I could definitely sense that both parties had hardened their hearts, at least toward one another -- how else could two people reach this point of divorce without hardening their hearts. It made me think about what Jesus said about divorce, how this was never the way God intended it to be, and how Moses had only allowed divorce because people's hearts were hard. It also made me think how difficult and scarred their lives have been and would be, but even more so how confused and painful would be the life of their son. Amid the flurry of activity that was going on at the Registration office this morning, I felt like God was weeping for this couple and for their son.

The whole process ended off undramatically at a 7-11 where we had to use the photocopier to photocopy some documents. In front of the 7-11 everyone shook hands. After showing a hint of softness toward his now ex-wife, the husband and his lawyer walked away in one direction. The wife and her two lawyers walked away in the other.

Father, please have mercy on us.

Tuesday, April 06, 2004

Tue, 06 Apr 2004 09:27:52 GMT

Beautiful Shar and I are now into our sixth month in Taiwan. It's amazing how time flies. I could go on and on about the wonders we've experienced living here. But right now something else is pressing: it's NHL playoff time!!!!

Yes, these next two months, throughout Canada and in bubbles throughout the rest of the world, eyes will be glued to the TV, ears to radios, and hearts to their respective favourite hockey teams as 16 NHL clubs vye for the Stanley Cup!!! Like so many who have grown up in Canada, hockey is very much a part of my cultural fibre, much in the same way that soccer is to the Spanish, kim-chee is to the Korean, and being blue is to the Smurfs. Unfortunately, hockey is basically nowhere to be found in Taiwan, and so I've been reduced to checking NHL.com daily, sometimes twice or three times a day. (I admit, I might be a little obsessed.) And ironically, I am now more up to date on hockey news now than I ever have been in Canada!

Monday, March 29, 2004

Mon, 29 Mar 2004 04:49:18 GMT

These past two weeks I've been working through a book called Experiencing God, and it's a solid study. With such timeliness, I believe with all my heart that God is reminding me through this study that loving God is the most important thing.

"Jesus said, 'Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your mind and with your soul. This is the first and greatest commandment.'" (Matthew 22:7,8)

"Now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love. Follow the way of love..." (1st Corinthians 13:13-14:1)

"Do everything in love" (a passage in the New Testament the reference to which eludes me right now. A prize to the first person who finds it.)

I can talk about how I worship Him, serve Him, or obey Him, but if someone were to ask me, "Do I love God with all my heart, mind and soul?", I'd be fishing for words. Honestly, even after all these years, how easy is it for me to forget that in the end it's all about loving God.

In a time of important decision-making, I need to keep this in mind, above all else: that in the end, everything about my life as a Christian, everything about knowing God, experiencing Him and knowing His will, all of this hangs on my love relationship with Him. Whatever decision I make, let the decision be rooted and fueled by this: that love (not the airy-fairy, come-and-go feelings that infatuation, temptation and chick flicks bring, but the giving of oneself for the benefit of another, even if such giving is painful) is the most important thing.

Friday, March 26, 2004

Fri, 26 Mar 2004 12:00:11 GMT

It's 8:33pm on a Friday night and I'm at the office. This place is rockin'!

Just kidding. This place is actually dead, almost empty, but for me and one other person.

It always seems to be at the tail end of the workday on Friday, when you'd like nothing more than to go home and ring in the weekend, that an assignment comes in around 5-plus pm and you're supposed to get it out before the week is over (i.e. that night)! And it's usually in that same situation that the printer starts to mal-function, or for some odd technical reason that I can't understand the e-mail refuses to get sent, or the fax stops working. It's like someone's playing a trick or something!

But I mustn't complain. There are so many others whose work situations I've seen are much, much worse. The bus driver who takes Shar and me to the subway station works 7 days a week, 6am to 11pm! I asked him how often he gets to rest. He says once every 2 weeks or so. My co-worker Ms. Lian, a very hard worker, comes in every day as well (works from about 9am to 9pm), even on Sundays, and so most of us at the firm can't wish her "Have a good weekend" because (1) there's no weekend; and (2) it's not good.

All these people work very hard, and I am privileged just to have a weekend, or even one day off in the week. And on the other hand, it's a privilege and a gift just to have a job. Gotta keep it in mind next time I'm inclined to complain.

Wednesday, March 24, 2004

Wed, 24 Mar 2004 05:34:37 GMT

Heard the cutest story from none other than my lovely wife the other day. She was telling me about how when she was a child, she hated going to ballet class. (me too!...just kidding. i never took ballet.) And every time before ballet class little Sharleen would pray, "God, if I don't have to go to ballet class today, I'll give you a cookie." Sometimes, God would "answer" her prayers and little Sharleen wouldn't have to go to ballet, at which point little Sharleen would grab a cookie from the cookie jar, walk over to the window and lift the cookie up above her shoulders to offer the cookie to God. And then... she'd eat the cookie!

What a cute girl! Thank God I married her. And talk about seeking God's kingdom first and having all other things added, eh?!

Shar's story has gotten me thinking about favourite memories as a child. Being the luckiest guy in the world, I probably have too many memories to count, but here are some memories that defined my life from age 0-13, divided into the five senses.

Sound:

the background music to Super Mario Bros. 1, especially levels 1-1 and 1-2. Level 1-2 is where Mario goes down his first pipe and finds himself in a dark, underground sewer world and the music is a low, suspenseful "Doo doo doo doo doo....doo doo doo doo doo..." For those who played Super Mario Bros., you know what I'm talking about!)
the theme songs to Punky Brewster, A-Team, Different Strokes, Silver Spoons, and Golden Girls (Can't get enough of that Bea Arthur! ;))
the voices of stuffed animals, 90% of whom had the same voice - a nasal, nerdy male voice

Taste:

I once had a big blue rain jacket that I wore everywhere. I would zip it up to the top so that it covered everything but my eyes. I became so used to having the jacket against my nose and mouth that I began to breathe through the material quite easily. This led to the jacket (at least the mouth part of it) incurring a taste that I, and only I, was willing to subject myself to. I can now say, after 20 years of sober second thought later, that that is completely GROSS!
I loved to eat. Anything, but especially sweet things. I thought my gluttony was innocent until one time my dad had to stop me from eating an oreo.

Smell:

the smell of my favourite stuffed animal, Earth. He was a winnie-the-pooh bear but you wouldn't know it if you saw him, reason being he was so old and raggedy by the time I reached 5 that his shirt had faded, he looked green and most of his fur had fallen off. But as for smell, his body odour was like nothing I've ever smelled. His smell came from the fact that I would take him literally everywhere I went and would use him as a napkin whenever I drank apple juice. I loved the fragrance of his face, and would claim that by smelling him I grew more powerful. One time my mom had Earth washed and the smell disappeared. I was so distraught. If I was a priest in the Old Testament at the time, I would have torn my clothes and proceeded to weep with sackcloth and ashes. My mom, in a desperate attempt to console my restless soul, poured apple juice on the newly washed bear and rubbed his face into the ground, and then gave him back to me to smell. I was happy again.

Sight:

the multi-rolls of flab that enveloped the circumference of my belly, shamefully hiding the six-pack that would never be.

Touch:

holding my dad's hand
mom's kisses
piggy-backing my sister
the feel of a plastic floor hockey stick against a gym floor