dib

dib.

A new term that means to do it big.

I'm ditchin this place, it's been nice and there's no particular reason I am either.

ywam 3

2 dollar breakfast for a week.

To Daniel Lu: I'm sorry I've ever doubted any of your ideas. Everything I've ever laughed at that you have came up with have developed into big hits. I encourage you to delve on anything you feel is awesome...

ywam 2

The man on the right, through his manliness has produced overwhelming testosterone which in return has taken his hair, is Martin. One of my new heroes... He is one of the many 'foreigners' in YWAM Taipei. He is British, and has a doctorate from Japan, in Japanese and knows over eight languages. As you guys know all our classes and activities are dual language, so there is alwaysa translator.

There are quite a few white people here that are on staff that have better Mandarin than I do, humbling and discouraging at the same time. I think as a Taiwanese American there are some advantages of that... There are so many times the translators translate things different on purpose for jokes that just leave me incredulous. All of the translators just do it without flinching as if that was really what they were saying.

For Example: Every time any speaker would compliment Martin, he would always leave it out, or just use a pronoun in place of himself. People have caught on when they hear the speaker say his name and he just omits it.

One of my team members freshly baptized, at the once-a-month-large group The Rock Church.

Rejoice with the heavens!

I go to a cell church, that is produced by The Rock(coffee bar owned by YWAM) with a target at native Taiwanese.

ywam 1

I am usually one of the haters. But whether because of age or the staff of YWAM being cool, I really appreciate them, particularly the ones that teach.

Cathy was teaching us for a few days on Evangelism. She probably spends at least 10 hours a week evangelizing talking to and meeting strangers. Her heart for the lost was so inspiring. She had a Power Point presentation and talking about her sisters... and I thought she was just sharing her life with us...But as the story went on, it was about her visiting her sisters at Taipei 101, one of the kids went missing. And how they searched and searched from each floor...and then finally found him.

Then she was like, do you think our Family would've been the same if we lost him?

If we could continue to have a good time in the future?

--At first I was like...this a trick question? Then she surprised us(me) all when she was like,

No. Like when the shepherd loses his sheep, he will leave the 99 others and rejoices even more when he finds the lost one. That's what Evangelism is. We are finding our family. And she was just crying as she said these things...

Then as my Principal went up to close, her voice wavered heavily as she finished crying... Then they played a video, Thank God...cause I was about to lose it, as well.

That's when it hit me. For many of these brothers and sisters in Christ, they are the first believers in their family. And they take on a great burden with Jesus, I often am too even scared to look at...their own blood family.

généreux

Recently and often I hear statistics quoted about America that really makes me wonder.

Family sizes have shrank by 50%, but houses have increased in size by 40%. The world actually has enough food to provide all the people living on it...but many die each day from starvation. It'd only take 10 billion dollars so that clean water is easily accessible...yet Americans spent more than 450 billion on Christmas this past winter.

Lately, I've been having a humanitarian/philanthropy phase. I think about how God would think of America as a whole and me individually. As children we have all the best toys and clothes. Yet our brothers, in Africa, India, and China have the best broken glass bottles and burning tires. When we hoard most of the wealth in the world, how will he hold us accountable for what we do or don't do...

Thinking about this has kind of made me despise myself and others... and reminds me of good works, legalism, pride, and what I can do, what I can bring...When it should be how does God feel about this; how does God want me to respond...

I find myself trying not to judge others with what God has blessed them with. When I see people spending a lot of money on things I don't feel particular important it's easy for me to think they have committed a heinous crime. I think of them as people who would go on vacation and harpoon dolphins with giant rusty pitch sporks. Or people who pariticipate in the competitive eating of puppies and kittens. Or those who dislike the grilled stuffed burrito.

It's not about how much we give, but how we worship Jesus through our giving and praying. How we give until we are satisfied, whether it sacrifices much or little of us. A giving not just out of obedience but of joy and contentment.

fierté

Chronological snobbery a term coined by C.S. Lewis, is describing the erroneous argument that the thinking, art, or science of an earlier time is inherently inferior when compared to that of the present.

Something which I never understood... When you look back at the Romans, and Mayans... They probably did more with what they had, than we do today with what we have. The Romans and Mayans even had indoor plumbing when today, there are some places that don't even know what that is. So, how is it that people today think that those of old are people that enjoy to roll in their own feces and wear helmets? Just because we improve on the comfortableness of life, with bidets?

And that's when it occurred to me. The moment during my hot shower where it felt a bit cold and my hair stood up. Why is chronological snobbery so prolific today? The first sin, ever committed, pride. If angelic beings fell prey to sin, how much more likely are we to be eaten alive by it.

In today's society, which I am just as much a part of and guilty with... We have fallen into an illusion of our own abilities and knowledge. We hide behind our innovations and engineered marvels of comfort and security. It has puffed us up with knowledge and fed our egos.

Beside what the Bible says on pride (1, 2, 3), there is a lot more to it. What is so powerful about it, is how it slowly creeps up on us, and then finally averts and creates in us, a fruit of destruction. We don't even know how proud we are, that's how crazy it is! When you think about why you sometimes say what you say, or do what you do, you may realize you're trying to bring glory or attention to yourself.

Or the opposite...we try so hard not to do things we see others do that exhibit folly, but inadvertently use that, to let others see the contrast from others to ourselves to make ourselves once again, look great. Or maybe how you are so quick to correct others, and be a critical Chris... I am guilty of that often.

There are so many layers, different depths and craziness to it, that C. J. Mahaney continually calls himself in his book, Humility,...

" a proud man pursuing humility by the grace of God. I don’t write as an authority on humility; I write as a fellow pilgrim walking with you on the path set for us by our humble Savior. "

The way we respond to situations and people, becomes different and endangered when our hearts are hardened and necks are stiff. Above all, the greatest damage it does is prevent us from repenting. One of the greatest things Jesus pursues in us, a repentant heart.

au-delà

After many late nights in the shower as I was debriefing myself and letting my mind wander with God, I wondered. Why do people think it's so crazy to believe in the Bible, literally. One specific instance, such as the Giant Humans (Goliath and his brothers). When you look at the world..

1. Dogs, to Wolves...
2. Cats, to Cougars/Jaguars/etc...
3. Dik-diks, to Deers...
4. Guinea Pigs to Capybaras...
5. Snakes to Anacondas
6. Dolphins to Whales

and probably tons of others that I'm ignorant about. Is it that far of a stretch that there could've once been Giants, with possibly one brown eye? Often those giant races were commissioned by the Jews to utter destruction... After they killed the entire population they'd burn everything they owned, all of their livestock(sometimes) and bodies. Is it so shocking that 3,500 years later we can't find much hard evidence on Giants? We don't even know what happened at Roanoke, almost 410 years ago!

There are people that even refute the Holocaust, now... only about 70 years later from when it happened...imagine how many people would refute it 3,500 years from now...