Weblog
Wednesday, May 14, 2008
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let's dig the wells of this city... 'til the water flows.
i was introduced to this song (video below) when dave sang this song with the japan missions team at service. this is such an intercessory song for our city and for the cities of this world. i feel like so many of my xanga entries are about this but really, there is so much brokenness in this city, in whole communities. there is so much more to do.. so much more wells to dig. not just here in nyc but all over the world.
i came across the blog of the band who originally wrote this song and i liked what they wrote. here goes:
I'd love it if church started being more proactive, people getting their hands dirty. I'd love to have more opportunity to get my hands dirty. Still not sure what that looks like, if you know, do tell.
The song God of this City was written in a bar in Pattaya, Thailand. We went there as part of a missions trip to Thailand. Our expectations were none, we hadn't done this sort of thing before - I'd personally never been to Asia before that time. Did we have some 'heart' for Thailand prior to the trip? Not particularly! Sorry, no offence Thailand! We just hadn't experienced it.
The truth is, when you worship in a place, you start to see God's heart for a place. One of the most revelationary moments of my life to date has been playing a worship set in a strip club and hearing God say "I'm the God of this city". These people are oppressed and exploited, they're sold and forced to do the most derogatory acts - and in the midst of them God says 'I love these people'.
We look with our eyes and we see the wrong, but when we look beyond the situation and we see the true beauty and value in someone's existence, we see what God loves without condition. The things I've seen, I've been helpless to change - that's the truth, I am totally powerless to change anything by my own strength. In spite of all this - God, give me the opportunity to be part of the change, to resound your voice that says 'I love you, without clause or condition'. To renounce condemnation of the world and say that despite the dirt, despite your history, there is a new way - there is a banquet and you are invited.
That's my God.
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Sad to say, but I've grown accustomed to the idea of digging with a few faithful, sometimes even alone, when it comes to ministry to the poor or the marginalized. Where are the people who would not only talk about the issues of this world but will arise and get their hands dirty with the heart of Christ that beats with jealous love for whole communities of people-- mothers, brothers, fathers, sisters, children? How I long to see the day when the Church as a whole would unite and arise to dig the wells together-- how much of an impact we would make! There is SO much to do... SO many wells to dig. Let's DO this!
Tuesday, May 13, 2008
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what's goin on with the world today mama?
(so many people dying.)
last week's cyclone in myanmar resulted in an estimated 62,000-100,000 deaths.
the earthquake in china yesterday resulted in an estimated 10,000 deaths with a many under the rubble.
a volcano in chile erupted last week, evacuating thousands.
the worldwide food shortage is still going on.
"Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be earthquakes in various places, and famines. These are the beginning of birth pains... 28"Now learn this lesson from the fig tree: As soon as its twigs get tender and its leaves come out, you know that summer is near. 29Even so, when you see these things happening, you know that it is near, right at the door. 30I tell you the truth, this generation[e] will certainly not pass away until all these things have happened. 31Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will never pass away." - Jesus quoted in Mark 13
Saturday, May 03, 2008
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ok so i'm kinda calmed down from the last entry.
i think.
still frustrating but my supervisor told me really kind words and gave me a thank-you gift so i feel a little bit better.... hahaha.
anyways, so i cannot wait until everything is over. graduation is so close yet kinda far. just have to get over the hump of neuroscience final (it's an ONLINE final if anyone's good in neuroscience and wants to help me! haha-- i need to get at least an A- on the final since i didn't do so well on the paper....), finish up an independent study, apply for licensing and the national board test, and my last 2 days of mt sinai. and then.... it'll be over. and then i have to job-search, haha. but i'm glad i don't have to wake up at 6:45am every morning!!! holler!
btw, i really liked the movie 'juno'. i know that some christian circles are really promoting 'bella' as a movie of redemption and life but i feel that 'juno' may do a better job at it. it was really well-crafted and it was a story or redemption in a 16 year old girl's quest for perfection and redemption in a broken world.
Wednesday, April 30, 2008
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SO PEEVED!!!
i RARELY get angry... but like REALLY.
#1. one of the interns doesn't have a supervisor. she didn't since the 2nd week of our internship there since her supervisor left on maternity leave, leaving her to cover her supervisor by herself. her supervisor, upon leaving, didn't even say "bye" to her or leave a note or anything... she just left.
#2. we've been doing slave work this past month or two- running the speech department on our own while our supervisors gossip or talk on the phone or to each other or email.
#3. i was prescribed "bed rest" by the doctor. i told my supervisor and she didn't suggest that i take off or anything.
#4. one of the interns has jury duty next week and is moving back to long island. she still has to make up the days she missed, next week (supervisor told her to tell the jury duty people that she's a "student" so she can't)- the days that she missed because she had CLASSES.
#5. we're there 4 days a week (full-time) for over 3 months now with no spring break. whatever days we missed, we're expected to make up at the end of the semester. basically, no sick days.
#6. our supervisors have been gone for a total of more than 2 weeks each during the whole time we were there - a.k.a. we've received no supervision for weeks straight (which is a no-no according to national board).
#7. we're graduating soon and need to find jobs- no grace there! no days off to do this while we're taking classes and stuff.
anyways, just REALLY unfair and not ethical and not cool. but nothing can be done because they're my recommendation/reference. argh i hate hierarchy and this culture!!!!!!
Monday, April 21, 2008
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The Vision
[i hardly blog on this xanga anymore but i stumbled upon this just now and wanted to share it with y'all. kinda long but totally worth the read. it's by pete grieg.]So this guy comes up to me and says, “What’s the vision? What’s the big idea?”
I open up my mouth and the words come out like this…
The vision?
The vision is Jesus:
obsessively, dangerously, undeniably Jesus.
The vision is of an army of young people.
You see bones?
I see an army.
And they are free from materialism—
They laugh at nine-to-five little prisons.
They could eat caviar on Monday and crusts on Tuesday.
They wouldn’t even notice.
They know the meaning of the Matrix, the way the West was won.
They are mobile like the wind.
They belong to the nations.
They need no passport.
People write their addresses in pencil and wonder at their strange existence.
They are free yet they are slaves of the hurting, dirty and dying.
What is the vision?
The vision is holiness that hurts the eyes.
It makes children laugh and adults angry.
It gave up the game of minimal integrity long ago to reach for the stars.
It scorns the good and strains for the best.
It is dangerously pure.
Light flickers from every secret motive, from every conversation.
It loves people away from their suicide leaps—their Satan games.This is an army that would lay down its life for the cause.
A million times a day, its soldiers choose to lose that they might one day win the great “well done” of faithful sons and daughters.
Such heroes are as radical on Monday morning as Sunday night.
They don’t need fame from names.
Instead they grin quietly upwards and hear the crowds chanting again and again: “COME ON!”
And this is the sound of the underground, the whisper of history in the making, foundations shaking, revolutionaries dreaming once again.
Mystery is scheming in whispers, conspiracy is breathing…
This is the sound of the underground.
And the army is disciple(in)ed—
Young people who beat their bodies into submission.
Every soldier would take a bullet for his comrade at arms.
The tattoo on their back boasts “for me to live is Christ and to die is gain.”
Sacrifice fuels the fire of victory in their upward eyes.
Winners.
Martyrs.
Who can stop them?
Can hormones hold them back?
Can failure succeed?
Can fear scare them or death kill them?
And the generation prays like a dying man with groans beyond talking, with warrior cries, sulfuric tears and great barrow loads of laughter!
Waiting.
Watching.
24-7-365.
Whatever it takes they will give:
Breaking the rules,
Shaking mediocrity from its cozy little hide,
Laying down their rights and their precious little wrongs,
Laughing at labels,
Fasting essentials.
The advertisers cannot mold them.
Peer-pressure is powerless to shake their resolve at late-night parties before the cockerel cries.
They are incredibly cool, dangerously attractive on the inside.
On the outside?
They hardly care!
They wear clothes like costumes: to communicate and celebrate, but never to hide.
Would they surrender their image or their popularity?
They would lay down their lives, swap seats with the man on death row, guilty as hell: a throne of an electric chair.
With blood and sweat and many tears, with sleepless nights and fruitless days, they pray as if it all depends on God and live as though it all depends on them.
Their DNA chooses Jesus.
He breathes out.
They breathe in.
Their subconscious sings.
They had a blood transfusion with Jesus.
Their words make demons scream in shopping malls.
Don’t you hear them coming?
Herald the weirdoes!
Summon the losers and the freaks.
Here come the frightened and forgotten with fire in their eyes!
They walk tall and trees applaud.
Skyscrapers bow.
Mountains are dwarfed by these children of another dimension.
Their prayers summon the Hound of Heaven and evoke the dream of Eden.
And, this vision will be.
It will come to pass.
It will come easily.
It will come soon.
How do I know?
Because, this is the longing of creation itself, the groaning of the spirit, the very dream of God.
My tomorrow is His today.
My distant hope is His 3-D.
And, my feeble, whispered, faithless prayer invokes a thunderous, resounding, bone-shaking, great “AMEN!” from countless angels, from heroes of the faith, from Christ himself.
And He is the original dreamer, the ultimate winner.
Guaranteed.


