Sunday, March 30, 2003

If he was that perfect, Rose, he would've risen on the third day.

- Alice Hyatt, Alice

Recently, I've been struggling a lot with purity. My struggle lies specifically in my motivations and how I view people. I have thankfully maintained a consistent devotional life through my readings of My utmost for His highest. Chambers (on march 26) states that "purity is not innocence - it is much more than that. Purity is the result of continued spiritual harmony with God." I believe I am so quick to judge people who have "impure motivations" because I see a reflection of my own attitude. It is out of sheer disgust at my own sinful nature that I feel so much bitterness towards this type of temperament. I am challenged by the advice that is offered by Chambers: A practical help in keeping your personal purity unblemished in your relations with other people is to begin to see them as God does. Say to yourself, "That man or that woman is perfect in Christ Jesus! That friend or that relative is perfect in Christ Jesus! Can I see my peers, my family, my church, my fellowship as being perfect in Christ Jesus? I pray that I can develop that mentality. Man, and I thought trying to figure out "how women think" was a tough one... =) (one final note: if you were expecting a blurb about prank master Jiffy, I will post that as soon as I get the picture that goes with the blog) Tune in again as the entire Westcourt gets quarantined due to excessive CS homework.


Yu-Ling posted at 3/30/2003 11:39:00 PM

Wednesday, March 26, 2003

Christian work can actually be a means of diverting a person’s focus away from Jesus Christ.

- Oswald Chambers, My utmost for His highest

I'm glad to say that I have finally caught up to a sense of normality in my schedule. After sleeping 12 hrs on sunday and another 12 hrs on monday night, I am now very well rested and I am nearly over my cold. My thoughts have been directed towards the future as I greatly anticipate the fall term. Although CCF elections have not started (and I don't want to assume that I will be nominated), I am filled with visions about next year. Yet, upon examining my motives again, I'm very much afraid that I can travel down the road towards pride... even worse, that I may cast judgment upon my brothers and sisters who I claim to have a similar pride. Let me explain: As I read today's devotion in 'My utmost for His highest', I am reminded about how easily it is for someone to serve God for the wrong reasons. Certainly, this person may be good and pure and filled with knowledge of the Word. Yet for all his good traits - these things only point to how wonderful this person is. There is no direct connection to Jesus Christ, only one of reference that may be casually uttered at times in order to maintain the humility that is required of this fine specimen. ”A person who is a beautiful saint can be a hindrance in leading people to the Lord by presenting only what Christ has done for him, instead of presenting Jesus Christ Himself.” Oswald Chambers suggests that even a christian honestly seeking to do the right thing may inadvertently lead people the wrong way. “Others will be left with this thought – ‘What a fine person that man is!’ That is not being a true ‘friend of the bridegroom’ - I am increasing all the time; He is not.” We should be careful that we do not become “amateur providences of God to someone else”. By providing so much “love and support” for someone else, we may unintentionally position ourselves to be their god. Chambers follows by giving a warning to actively pursue a moral and vital relationship with Him above everything else. We have to spend our life consciously maintaining the relationship with Christ – being the “friend of the bridegroom” (John 3:29). I find God speaking to me through this devotion. I know full well that my motivations can very well lead to impure, manipulative ideas. Yet it has never occurred to me that even my best intentions can also lead someone to stumble. Now more then ever, I ask that you who know me best will keep me in your prayers. Keep me accountable to myself and to God. I know this is the road less traveled, but I believe it is the one God has given to me. Tune in again for a full detailed account about Jeff the mastermind prankster.


Yu-Ling posted at 3/26/2003 10:29:00 PM

Tuesday, March 25, 2003

You know what we should do? We should play that game where everybody says what they're thankful for. The last few weeks have been truly remarkable. I’m just sad that I have not been able to faithfully blog it everyday. My mind’s a jumble of thoughts right now so I will try to write down everything major thing that happened recently. In spite of the overwhelming busyness, I still have one prevailing thought: God is Good. Chivalry Blog I apologize if I will be popping anyone’s bubble… however, I did not write this blog. I was rather busy throughout March and I let a friend take over my blogging. That being said, I must admit that I completely agree with the plea for more chivalrous gentlemen. Whether or not chivalry is a necessity in christian living, or even if the argument for males to be as initiators is valid (although I do believe it is), I believe in my heart that I can actively demonstrate my love to my sisters by being chivalrous. Now, understand that this admittance of needing chivalry is a very tough subject amongst men… especially amongst the brothers in CCF. I believe we get a rather large amount of criticism for our coarse words and rough attitudes (sometimes the complaints are valid, other times the protests are repetitive dribble). One has to wonder why there is so much active condemnation about men when we in turn hardly put a critical eye to the woman’s femininity (except for the occasional utterance of: “girls are stupid”). I challenge the women to walk the talk. It seems like you would like all the privileges of being a woman and none of the responsibility. Please, I beg you, to actively seek to be women of God. Seek not after certain pleasing temperaments and attitudes in your brothers while condemning the rest of us for not being up to par. We at the bottom rung of the gentlemen ladder also need encouragement and understanding in order to better strive to be a man of God. I promise you that I will take to heart the command in 1 Timothy 6:11 – to pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, endurance and gentleness. Puzzle Nearly 2 years in the making, I am finally on the verge of finishing 1/3 of my 12000 piece puzzle. Yes, it is not an amazing feat; rather, it might seem pretty sad. I think back to the proposed date of finishing the entire puzzle, and I am now nearly 1 year pass my self-imposed deadline. Well, I am sure that I will finish the puzzle eventually… perhaps not by the end of university, but soon after. I find that working on a puzzle is one of the greatest peace-inducing activities. I have spent many nights fellowshipping with friends while putting pieces together. Other times, as I work alone, I find joy in putting in one piece at a time… ultimately working to finish the entire puzzle. I believe that puzzles are a model of my own life. As I look for that next piece to fit along with the rest, I will eventually fit everything together and finally appreciate the puzzle in its entirety… the big picture is worth the effort. School This term is coming fast to an end. I have been in Waterloo for 3 terms and it has taken its toll on me. I love my life in school, however, the endless amount of require studying is tiring at times. Don’t misunderstand me… I love studying, however, studying things that I do not enjoy is a different thing altogether. This is truly a struggle of mine - I have never demonstrated integrity in my studies, yet the last 3 terms have shown me that I can work towards living a life of academic integrity. Truly, I pray to God that I can recognize the importance of this form of integrity and that I can make it a part of my faith. Fellowship Perhaps my biggest decision in the last month was the choice to run for committee. I cannot explain the amazing sense of peace I feel knowing that I have followed the call given by God. I am tremendously excited about next year and I hope that God may use me to further His kingdom with the people on campus. Campus Challenge Many different people have a vision for greater fellowship amongst all the CCFs and ACFs, and I believe that it is wonderful that we are striving to help each other even though we’re stretched all over Ontario. It is such a blessing to be a part of the CC planning committee and I hope that through our collective sharing, prayer and fellowship, that we can build a future where the university ministry will be a new movement that is deep in worship, founded in the Word, and totally reliant on prayer and accountability. Grad Dinner The recent busyness and tiredness was due to all the work spent on Grad Dinner. Grad Dinner is a time when I feel I can show appreciation to my grad friends. I always treasure the night where we can celebrate how God has used these people to affect the lives of the rest of the people. I believe that God has used the night to pass on a vision for CCF. Although I did get sick due to working on both the grad skit video and the powerpoint presentation, I also treasure the time spent doing these things. It is honestly very inspiring to hear what the grads have to say in their interviews. It was a sheer delight going through countless pictures for the powerpoint presentation. It was fiendish fun to film the grad skit video. In any case, all the time and preparation was well worth it. The grads have profoundly affected my life in so many different ways that I can clearly say that I am a changed man because of many of them. Thanks has to be given to my co-conspirator of film – Dennis. He had the audacity to share my vision for a lewd and crude skit where we can make the grads jump through our own little hoops. It was an awesome time; we have to do it again. Grad Dinner Central – how can we go through a week living at 252 Westcourt without a few choice memories about God’s love? I see His kindness demonstrated by so many people – Waiki for letting us stay over every night, for feeding us and supporting us in every way, Alexis for the last minute powerpoint help and general encouragement, Patty (King) for the untiring effort and object of all the jokes and laughter, Pearl for running the whole thing and spending the time with us to help prepare our little show…truly to everyone that helped out in the house, for taking care of me when I was sick, for running around doing mindless tasks that I ordered. God has blessed me with friends like you and I pray that I can be devoted to you in brotherly love and that I can love you at all times. Overall, the last few weeks have been a time of happiness and thankfulness. What can I say? God is Good. I thank my God every time I remember you. In all my prayers for all of you, I always pray with joy because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now, being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus. Tune in again for updates about the pranking symposium.


Yu-Ling posted at 3/25/2003 04:28:00 AM

Friday, March 14, 2003

Breakdown? Breakthrough.

- Jerry McGuire

For the last month, I've been praying the same prayer every night. I've been seeking the advice of my friends, my parents, my elders. Now, I have come to a decision about next year: I'm running for committee. 'cause you're all i want you're all i need you're everything. God is Good.


Yu-Ling posted at 3/14/2003 04:09:00 AM

Wednesday, March 12, 2003

God's Wheel God says to me with kind of a smile, "Hey how would you like to be God awhile And steer the world?" "Okay," says I, "I'll give it a try. Where do I set? How much do I get? What time is lunch? When can I quit?" "Gimme back that wheel," says God, "I don't think you're quite ready yet."

- Shel Silverstein

I am constantly in awe of God's faithfulness in our lives. We are so fickle, full of pride, given to anger, constantly in pursuit of our own heart's desires; yet, God is always there for us - patiently waiting, always loving. When we place our hope, trust and reliance on things of this world (people, technology, etc), they are bound to fail us and disappoint us sooner or later. But God's love & faithfulness never ceases. He knows our every need and He provides in abundance. We worship an awesome God.


Yu-Ling posted at 3/12/2003 08:56:00 PM

Saturday, March 08, 2003

Not all knights were great men, but all great men were knights.

- Unknown

Alright, I'm back in the blogging business. After much neglect, I am back with a lengthy blog. Lately, I've been thinking about our society and how it has deviated much from that of Biblical times. Our God is a God who doesn't change; yet, it seems as if our societal values and social norms have been in rapid transition - especially over the past few decades. I ponder, is chivalry dead? Chivalry has its roots when Christianity influenced the knights of the Middle Ages to live their lives with moral and social distinction. The key virtues of chivalry were piety, honour, valour, courtesy, chastity, and loyalty. Chivalric ethics represented a fusion of Christian and military concepts of morality - they form the basis of gentlemanly conduct. During those pagan days, knights were expected to protect the weaker ones in society at all costs – the weak being women, children, the sick and the poor. However, in our modern society, those once considered weak are no longer fully dependent on the “strong male for protection” . . . has chivalry died? This has been a long-debated question for the past few decades. Many argue that chivalry died in the late 1960’s when women’s liberators across the continent grew in popularity - to the extreme of creating the feminists movement. However, it seems that men in today’s society have embraced equality to the point that they forget the original design of the opposite sex. Elisabeth Elliiot in her book Let Me Be a Woman says “God might have given Adam another man to be his friend, to walk and talk and argue with if that was his pleasure. But Adam needed more than the companionship of the animals or the friendship of another man. He needed a helper, specifically designed and prepared to fill that role.” I couldn’t agree more. From very beginning, God had designed woman to play a significantly different role than that of man and he brought the two together so their strengths and weaknesses could complement each other. “But for Adam no suitable helper was found . . . Then the Lord God made a woman from the rib he had taken out of the man, and he brought her to the man.” (Genesis 2:22). Again, Elisabeth reiterates this fact in her book Passion and Purity and writes “By the grace of God we have not been left to ourselves in the matter of who is to do the initiating. Adam needed a helper. God fashioned one to the specifications of his need and brought her to him. It was Adam’s job to husband her, that is, he was responsible – to care for, protect, provide for, and cherish her. Males, as the physical design alone would show, are made to be initiators . . . It was not arbitrarily that God called Himself Israel’s Bridegroom and Israel His Bride, nor Christ the Head and the Church the Body and Bride.” Later on, she continues to state “Adam and Eve made a mess of things when they reversed roles. She took initiative, offered him the forbidden fruit, and he, instead of standing as her protector, responded and sinned along with her. It’s been chaos ever since.” For the past few months, I have been struggling to understand why chivalry is on the verge of extinction. True, it does exist to varying levels, but it is a far deviation from that which was experienced by our grandparent’s generation. I was reminded by Elisabeth’s writing that men need to be the ones who initiate and act with chivalry towards our sisters. God’s design for man and woman have been revealed to us; yet, we often neglect to strive for those standards. It is clear that Eve had a part in the fall of man; however, Adam fell short of God’s glory when he neglected his role and succumbed to greed, pressure and irrational thinking. What happened to chivalry? Was it that women entered the work force and were able to pay for themselves? Do our standards and expectations of etiquette change with each generation? Have men gotten lazier? Do we, both men and women, even know what it meant to be chivalrous? For your own viewing pleasures, I looked up some tips on how to be chivalrous and these were the ones that came up the most often. The first five I think are fairly important, but the other ones are perhaps a tad “old fashion”; however, I know some people who still follow them. 1. Always be on time for your date. Don’t keep your date waiting. Perhaps the greatest sign of respect, which is what a gentleman is all about, is being on time. Having people wait for you is the equivalent of telling them that you don't care about them. 2. Always open doors for all ladies and allow them to enter first. Whether she is about to enter your car, restaurant, house, or anyplace with a door, you should always hold it open. 3. A gentleman does not always need to pay but he should always offer. The courtship and beginning of a relationship indicates how your lives could be together later on, and if he can't invest in you now while things are new, then why would he invest in you later? 4. Always walk between a lady and a street. This courtesy has its roots from medieval times when a gentleman walked closest to the houses to keep a lady out of danger from chamber pots being emptied. Later, they walked nearest to streets to protect ladies from being soiled by passing horse buggies. 5. Always offer to carry her packages or bags. Whether they are grocery bags, shopping bags or any kind of bag with weight, make the genuine offer to assist her. If she is carrying heavy luggage or the like, insist on helping her. 6. Help her put on, as well as remove, her coat. Carry her coat if the need arises. 7. Always stand when a lady enters or exits the room or rises from her seat. This rule has been somewhat relaxed, so you can stand upon entrance but remain seated upon exit. Nonetheless, if you can do both, you should. 8. Give up your seat. If a lady arrives at a table with no available seats, stand up and offer your seat. 9. Always lead the way unless being escorted to a dining table. In that case allow her to follow the host while you follow in the rear. 10. Lastly, Never make a lady feel uncomfortable either through your actions or words. Tune in again for more tips on chivalry.


Yu-Ling posted at 3/08/2003 03:31:00 AM