The Best is Yet to Come

You've shown Your love in a mysterious way
on a very random, seemingly-unspecial day
in a way I still don't fully understand
and definitely not according to what I had planned

I'm at lost for words to explain what's inside me for real
because I don't know how I am to feel
cuz even when I've revealed my sin to someone
does that mean the fight is done? Have I won?

In this instance, yes.
the battle in my mind, to share or not to share, yet...
the fight is not done done.
cuz only for this One instance, this One battle was won.

There will be many more Mind battles to come still,
especially when I'm alone, in the dark, unseen to others, with some time to kill
That's when those thoughts crawl in and grab hold of my heel.
Not even so.
cuz even when I'm around others, they don't know what's going on inside my head.
God, I hope they never will cuz If they do, I'd be dead
from my own shame, and drowning in my guilt while laying in my bed.

But you know what,
I'm glad I've shared cuz this burden is SO much lighter
Just as You've said, Confess your sins to one another and Pray for one another
So what?! SO THAT YOU MAY BE HEALED!!!

What more can I say now, but praise be to God!
for His light overcomes darkness
He draws near to us in our times of brokenness.
He is our hope, in our desparity
He is our rock, in our uncertainty.
We can never stray too far out of His sight.
AWAY from here, Satan! you have no place in the light!

Thank You, Lord, for this random, seemingly-unspecial, blessed, tearful, and joyous night. Amen.

Prayer Walk

Minnie and I went on a prayer walk today for our LCG even though it was windy and cold outside. I must have walked around campus at least 3 times. haha. The cool part was we ran into a lot of our Life Group members: Inhae, Hyung Seo, Peter, and Jay. We prayed for each person that we saw, plus Hannah and Jennifer, for ACW, for an awakening for this campus, breaking down of divisions, for broomball and ppl we know who are coming by name, learning to be a living sacrifice in our daily decisions, our LCG, for the Grad Life Group, HMCC leaders, school's admins for wisdom and direction, for us to dream bigger, to see more of God's vision for this campus and his ppl, for our hearts to break when we see the homeless or just the brokeness of this world and not become numb to them, .... i know there was more, but I can't remember =P Minnie, help!

One thing I realized during the prayer walk was that I kept looking down at the ground when I walked. it wasn't just bc it was cold. but I think I walk looking down most of the time. I was reminded many times to look up, look around campus, look at the people you're walking past. God was telling me, "LOOK UP! these are all people that NEED ME!" I was reminded to pray bigger prayers, knowing and trusting in God's mightiness and faithfulness. reminded through Exodus that God WANTS to dwell amongst His people. He desires to be intimate with us. and He accomplishes that through the Holy Spirit in the NT. Thank you, Lord.

Lord, You desire to break down racial/class/gender barriers. You are mighty to save. Amen.

Downtown to Yorktown

I missed the 8:30 train to go home this morning. dang they leave on time. I ran into the station at exactly 8:29:57. it JUST turned 8:30 when I got to the gate when the train was departing. I stood by the train, as passengers inside stared at me, and its engine started. I was literally talking to the train and asking God to have mercy on me for being late 30 SECONDS (cuz the next train would be in 2 hrs). However, the train began to leave. I just stood there, panting from running, and my head down. BUT THEN, the train came to a HALT. i thought it was going to open its doors to let me in..... but nope. the wheels started to role again and it left for good this time. This was the consequence I had to pay for waking up late. but THANK GOD that He isn't like the train or the conductor in that He is ABUNDANT in His mercy and His Grace is sufficient. Amen!

I decided to go to Corner Bakery inside Union Station for breakfast and to read Exodus (I've been going through Exodus with my friend Minhee). I ordered "Honey Banana Oatmeal." It had dried cranberries, skim milk, and granola in it as well. It was delicious! but it better be delicious since it cost $4.45 for oatmeal (O.o). but in any case, I also received a free bread thingy cuz I had to wait 10 minutes. so the oatmeal was fresh, too! free food = extra blessing =)

My dad picked me up from the Downtown Downers Grove station and brought me to Yorktown, where he works. I told him last night that I went home that I wanted to go to work with him. So right now, I'm sitting inside the food court of Yorktown Mall, next to the garbage bin, watching my Dad work. It's actually kinda fun, watching him in a suite and tie, wearing his "old man" glasses, working the cashier, smiling and greeting the customers, watching the steady stream of customers to his store, seeing the many drinks of the people around me with a "Sarku Japan" labeling. I'm proud of him. For 20+ yrs he's been working in the foods department, he's been in the back, cooking, never actually seeing the people he was serving. Not receiving their "thank you's" and "this is delicious" comments. never really able to practice his English. up until now. I feel like he's always been gifted in interacting and relating to people. he's just never really had the chance to do that in America. He's definitely a people person. He's one of those guys that brings life to the party with his outgoingness and jokes. especially in Taiwan. He had a TON of friends. He lost a lot of that part of himself living in America all these years. So, it's good to see him able to interact with people, use his English, smile at customers. He looks good! I'm happy.

My Awesome, Busy, and Blessed Day!

7am- I woke up to do some unfinished hwk
8:30-9:45am- met up with P.Jimmy for coffee hour
10-10:30am- went to Dominick's to buy chocolate cake (for a NK Peace bake sale) and Arizona Iced tea (for my friend)
11-11:30am- had a conference with my teacher over a really crappy paper I wrote
11:30-12:15 I made a care package of arizona iced tea, bakery from Chinatown, and peach gummies for my friend who is going through a VERY tough week of midterms. AND i wrote a poem for her in the card! =)
12:30-1:45pm- went to my South Asian Literature Studies class
1:45-2:30pm- studied for my Spanish Exam at 3pm
3-4pm- took my Spanish chapter exam
4-5:15pm- went to my "Social Problems" class
5:30-6pm- David Dolvio treated me to "Mango something Toppler" at Jamba Juice. We went with Tito and Kristine.
6-6:30pm- dropped off the care package to my friend
6:30-7pm- went to McDonald's in Union Station to redeem a free Big Mac from a coupon I received from the Bulls game I went to this past tuesday. but as I stood in front of McD's I realized I don't need this free Big Mac, so why not give it to someone who does. I walked around Union station to look for a person asking for money to give the coupon to. The woman was standing on Jackson right before crossing the bridge.
7:05pm- As I was waiting for the 60 bus on Clinton, I ran into Carthic, who is a grad student that came out to Life group a few times. We got into a nice conversation and he said he'll try to make it out to Service this Sunday!
7:15pm- went to my school's cafeteria for dinner: roast beef sandwich
7:30-8:30pm- met up with Rinnie (sp?), Katharine, and Angela to decide shirt designs for All Campus Worship. Angela is gifted in Photo Shop.
9-10pm- watched America's Best Dance Crew in Cordova's room.
10:30-12:30am- had an awesome conversation with Jessica Hwang about many topics, but mostly about what I've been learning at HMCC.
12:30-now (2:018am)- AIM and facebook and blogging! XP
next... shower and homework...
welcome to the life of a college student! (O.O)

Bulls Win!

I went to a Bulls game today with my relatives and met up with the Grad. Life Group for the last quarter of the game. BULLS BEAT PISTONS (sorry Sandy and Joanna)!!!! 107 to 105. the bulls were still down 10pts. with 5min. But somehow, they came back! and with 16sec. left, Gordan scored a 3 pointer (plus a foul!) taking the Bulls to the lead (with Rose assist). It was SOOOO exciting! I was going crazy!!

ANNNNDDD.... WE SAW MICHAEL JORDAN AND SCOTTIE PIPPEN!!!!! They were here for the Johnny "Red" Kerr dedication which occurred at half time. It was quite exciting! And, Obama also appeared on a video congratulating Kerr on his achievements.

Is Chop Suey "Real" Chinese Food?

I went to the Hull House Rethinking Soup presentation today. They served Won Ton Soup. The speaker was Monica Eng, who is the writer of the foods section in the Chicago Tribune. She spoke about the history of Chinese food in Chicago. I found the presentation fascinating because I always wondered how Chop Suey and other "Chinese foods for Caucasians" came to be. I learned that the various types of Chinese food is intricately linked with our political and economical history. For instance, the Chinese Exclusion and the various waves of different Asian immigrants had a huge effect on the types of Chinese food being served, from the city out to the suburbs. She also shared about some of the other projects she's working on, just looking into the conditions of the CPS lunch program and possible ways to improve it. As she was talking and sharing her stories, ideas, places she's eaten, and answering questions, it made me really want to pursue a career that somehow deals with food and nutrition and education. Oh, and I went to my honors class late purposely so I could hear her presentation. My fascination with food and Asian American history kept me there, even though I knew I had an in class essay that I would miss. I felt like this was something important. I don't know how to describe it, but I just felt like I really had to be there because I knew it would impact me in some way. But yeah, a career that combines food, nutrition, education, and various cultures really interests me. I'm gunna look into that. =)

I wanna say something

... but i don't know what to say. I feel like I have a lot of things on my mind lately. but I can't seem to talk about them. You kno sometimes when a bunch of things go on in your mind, they stay there for a few seconds, and then some other thought buds in. and a few seconds later, the first thought comes back. Here are thing that keep coming in and out of my thoughts: my sister, my mom, my major, Kevin, HMCC membership, home cooked meal, Owls, Chem Exam tomorrow, Eric, my dad, Sakura Terryaki Chicken, summer missions, how much I miss Taiwan, Life Group people, Remedy, Exodus, chocolate, meeting up with P. Jimmy, my legs are sore, how do I want to impact others, cooking, blogging, facebooking, God, people I've been trying to reach out to.... I think those are the main things as of now.