Tuesday, March 29, 2005

Therefore I, the prisoner of the Lord, implore you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling with which you have been called, with all humility and gentleness, with patience, showing tolerance for one another in love, being diligent to preserve the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. There is one body and one Spirit, just as also you were called in one hope of your calling; one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all who is over all and through all and in all.

- Ephesians 4:1-6

Way too much to share in such a little blog. Starting 3 weeks ago... a new beginning for RCCF. New committee for next year and new visions and developments in God's ministry on campus. My continued desire to see discipleship develop more strongly at TCBC has so far only resulted (officially) in one presentation during sunday morning service. Then came TC (non-TDSB) followed by the second TC (TDSB), and sandwiched between the two TCs was my weeklong training with Intervarsity at Pioneer Camp. Of course there was a wonderful inter-TO-CCF meeting (minus YorkCCF because they had a coffeehouse). Easter weekend just finished and had a chance to go back to Waterloo and see many old friends. I'll just share a few things that I have been thinking about, praying about, and even discerning about life, love, and purpose: 1) I took the Myer Briggs test at the IVCF conference and I am a INTP - Introvert, Intuitive, Thinking, Perceiver. So basically, I get my source of energy from times of solitude. I take in info by an intuitive manner, rather than just sensing the various things around me. I primarily make my decisions based on thinking (yet I can flip-flop towards emotional decision making). And lastly, I organize my life based on spontaneity rather than rigorous organization. They say these 4 traits never change in your lifetime - most interesting. 2) In preparation for Campus Challenge, I'm reading and re-reading Ephesians. I've been doing an exercise to trace out how God blesses us in the first chapter... and seeing exactly what our positions are in Christ. I get the sense that Paul is greatly excited about God and Jesus... to the point where he has amazingly long, run-on sentences of pure adoration (mixed with theology). I've also been looking at/reading about various church services, and I believe I can be a good stuard of CC if I can help craft an experiential equipping conference. What will CC look like this year? A bit different from other years - so please keep this ministry in your prayers. 3) Upon reflecting on UWCCF Grad Dinner, I have mixed thoughts and emotions. Catching up with old friends, I'm happy that many of them are moving on with their lives. But having seen the pictures of past memories, there is definitely a part of me that longs for those good old times again. It doesn't help that I'm a student worker and am constantly reminded of my time as a student back in UW. Ah.. to think of the future and the plans that God holds for us. And having the ability to remember the past, this too is a wonderful gift. Life is good. I'm going to stop blogging before I start rambling more with story after story.


Yu-Ling posted at 3/29/2005 12:43:00 AM

Wednesday, March 16, 2005

Back from TC, off to training with IVCF at Pioneer Camp. Will share next week.


Yu-Ling posted at 3/16/2005 01:38:00 PM

Thursday, March 10, 2005

The last word and the word after that: a tale of faith, doubt, and a new kind of christian

- Brian McLaren, NKOC ending trilogy

I'm so excited. Last night was elections for RyersonCCF. My mind's already thinking about the possibilities for next year. Lots of things to pray for... and this school year's not even over yet. The new committee looks great, and I'm sure God has great plans with the other members of CCF. Of course, I'm doubly excited for something else. No, I didn't have a earth-shattering dream about my future. No, I didn't get a raise at AFC. No, I'm not involved in a dating relationship. BUT, the last book in the 'New Kind of Christian' trilogy is coming out this month! I've been blessed by reading through McLaren's books and I'm sure this latest one will help me a lot. So call me a nerd, but I definitely think I draw closer to God when I struggle through how I understand and relate to Him. Tune in again after the insanity which is known as TC.


Yu-Ling posted at 3/10/2005 04:44:00 PM

Monday, March 07, 2005

Whether or not what we experienced was an 'According to Hoyle' miracle is insignificant. What is significant is that I felt the touch of God. God got involved.

- Jules, Pulp Fiction

I've been thinking a lot about what it means to be a Christian in this increasingly postmodern world. More and more, I'm being met with the opinion that Christianity is a irrelevant/unjust religion that results in developing a prejudice mindset in people. People want to see that a belief/commitment to Jesus can result in an abundant life... and I completely agree that this important component is missing in mainline Christianity. Think about this: we all know at least one Christian who is just naturally a person who we can't get along with. This person's just naturally grumpy, or maybe a spreader of gossip, always discontent with what the church is doing, hardly smiles, constantly quoting Bible verses for personal gain, etc. C'mon, I know you can think of at least one (and some of us, can think of so many people Christians, that it's quite scary). See, the problem isn't that there are such people in the world, rather, it lies in our assumption that this is natural. Wouldn't a life that's dedicated to follow Christ demonstrate an abundance in life that will be markedly different from any feel-good programs of the world? I know that God did not want his children to solely focus on the life beyond this one, at the cost of neglecting our current life. At the same time, I know that the way we have been teaching 'christian living' is a weird deficit-based system based on the removal of sin. The gospel that Jesus preached can't just be about managing sin. I think a lot of these ideas have been popping up due to my experiences with my church, my small group, and even my personal spiritual journey. Thank goodness there are some great Christian writers who have been struggling with the same thing, so I feel like I'm being mentored by them when I read their books. I think it's been especially a blessing to read 'divine conspiracy' by Dallas Willard and 'the life that you've always wanted' by John Ortberg (go check them out). I'm a week away from TC and IVCF training. It's the quiet before the storm so please pray that I'll have the strength to persevere. Tune in again for updates after RCCF elections.


Yu-Ling posted at 3/07/2005 11:05:00 PM

Tuesday, March 01, 2005

A book is not only a friend, it makes friends for you. When you have possessed a book with mind and spirit, you are enriched. But when you pass it on you are enriched threefold.

- Henry Miller, The Books in my Life

I missed my weekly update last week, so hopefully I can squeeze in a double entry today. I came back from RCCF retreat 2 weekends ago (Feb 18-20) and it was a wonderful experience. I believe it was a good experience for many people, and a casual browsing of people's blogs indicate that they were really touched by the HS and other people. I was especially pleased/surprised to see 3 seekers join our retreat and I'm hopeful that they can continue to come out more often. Need to press our members for more intentional follow-up. A few little tidbits about the retreat and I'll move on: - these kids nowadays are getting weaker. Can't stay up til late anymore. Ah well. - snowjobbed most committee members: my personal highlight ;) - conversations til late at night are always great - cooking pasta for 40+ people on four stovetops takes a long time It's been brought to my attention that I'm involved with an insane amount of ministries (CCFs, AFC stuff, TCBC EMC, TC, CC, etc) and there's a fear of burnout. This fear is even greater because I serve in various leadership capacities and a burnout for me would directly affect the ministries that I serve. Right now, I have monday's as my day off, so I do get lots of rest. To be honest, I'm still looking for a non-profit organization where I can commit to serving out of my comfort zone: serve the poor, the underpriviledged, the delinquents, the elderly... something. I definitely feel like I'm being confined too much in this evangelical sub-culture. With regards to my future, I'm thinking/praying about whether to apply as a full-time seminary student in the upcoming fall term. So with these things in my life, if you can offer any friendly advice, an ear to listen, or even keep me in your prayers, that'll be great. Now what have I been reading and learning about? Well recently, for the purposes of my leadership class, I partnered up with Alan to interview 3 people re: postmodernism. We basically got all our interviews done on a weds, and the 3 people had fairly different views about ministry/leadership in pomo context. We had to interview 3 different church leaders and ask them about how postmodernity will affect the church, and specifically their personal ministries. Very interesting stuff. When I'm done my report, I'll share some of my findings here. I finished 2 books: refining your style by dave stone and the great divorce by C.S. Lewis. Refining your style is a book written by a preacher (Dave Stone) who has labelled 13 different speakers for the purposes of explaining their unique communication styles. Dave Stone interviews each speaker and asks them insightful questions about how they prepare for their speeches, etc. There's even a CD with brief tracks featuring each communicator. This book gave many practical hints as to how you can improve your communication style. In the end, it kept on emphasizing that you should remain true to yourself and build on your unique speaking style that God has given you. For myself, I gravitated towards the styles of 'creative storyteller' (Max Lucado), 'scholarly analytic' (Tim Keller), 'relevant illustrator' (Gene Appel), and 'unorthodox artist' (Rob Bell). Looking back, I remember the few times recently where I had to communicate in the context of teaching/preaching - and all I can say is "D'OH!" One speaker in the book mentioned that it would be good to look at yourself speaking (ie. by means of a recorded video) and you'll be lucky if you can watch the whole thing without puking. I definitely have a long way to go, and this book has help with it's practical tips and inspiring stories. I need to flip through it again to jot down notes. The second book being C.S. Lewis' "The Great Divorce" was a very quick read. It took me 3 days of casual reading - a short little book that allegorizes the concepts of heaven and hell. Basically (to quote the back of the book), 'the writer, in a dream, boards a bus on a drizzly afternoon and embarks on an incredible voyage through Heaven and Hell. He meets a host of supernatural beings far removed from his expectations and comes to significant realizations about the ultimate consequences of everyday behavior.' It's pretty interesting, and I would challenge people to read this - you'll come out with more ideas and questions about good and evil. After reading this book, my previous impression of C.S. Lewis as being a strict-fundamental-modern-christian-scholar was deconstructed. He still carries much of his typical logical approach in this book, however, there were hints of great questioning in certain conversations between characters. Go read it, and let's talk about it. Tune in again when I hope to resist the temptation of the Knox book sale.


Yu-Ling posted at 3/01/2005 01:56:00 PM