Church, a Birthday and a Party

Sunday...it was pretty fun. I woke up late for church as usual and drove there at a leisurely pace. Luckily there's always parking. Got to service in time to hear the message.

The message was the last message based on the book of Acts. Basically our pastor talked about how Paul gave thanks to God for the community that he experienced on his way to his trial. He mentioned that it is kind of hard to see anyone giving thanks for anything on their way to see Nero, (the emperor of Rome at the time).

He talked about how we should try to find what fits us best in our ministries (maybe outreach, or inreach), but still even if you do one or the other, you should not forget the community that is so important to both your spiritual growth and well being. The brothers that met Paul on his way to his trial encouraged Paul and were there for him, even though they had never met him before, they had heard of him and because of the bond in Jesus, they came out to see him.

My pastor talked about how one of the miracles of the Holy Spirit is loving our neighbor as ourselves. How different personalities can get along with one another.

Granted not all the churches are free of problems of people not getting along. In fact, I'm sure that there are lots of people who don't get along in churches. But, if God is present in you, you should try to get along with everyone, by loving them as yourself and treating them as you would want to be treated. (Love your neighbor as yourself can be found here
and, treating others the same way you want them to treat you can be found here). Granted it's not possible to get along with everyone, but at least pray for them, because they need God's blessings too! And they are also loved by God! check this out here Anyway, enough preaching from me. My goal is not to convert people over the web, but to really tell this to those who may be having problems in the church.

Anyway, church was good in that sense, that I've caught a message to build part of my life upon. I still don't know where God wants me to move. I still think Japan, but I'm still not sure.

It was someone's birthday coming up, so we celebrated a little early and ate lunch with her. It was good to just hear how things were going through her past year. We ate at a pizza joint and watched Zoolander afterwards.

I had never seen Zoolander before, but it was pretty funny. If you go along with the humor, it is pretty darn funny. If not, then it's probably really stupid. But, I thought that it was hilarious. =)


I left in the middle to go to my Japanese party. I got there 30 minutes late, but they had not started yet because they were waiting for people.

I had my apprehensions in going to the party, because I didn't know the people that well. But, the people that are in my class are definately a lot of fun! It was nice to meet people outside of class and when they didn't have as much time constraints. My teacher is such a nice guy and I hope that he'll be teaching many more years.

I didn't drink anything, but for some reason, I felt shaky driving home. Like my faculties weren't all in order. I wonder if there was something in some of the things that I ate. Some of this type of vegetable was kind of damp, but maybe it's just my imagination. Anyway, I got home alright obviously. Instead of driving all the way home, Mel and I got bubble tea and I hung out at the apartment for an hour to let some of the side effects pass.

The guys at the party drank quite a bit. It wasn't too much, but one guy looked really red. I kind of worried that someone might get pulled over or maybe not make it home in one piece. If they did get pulled over, it's better that they get pulled over than get into an accident though.
However, if it were me, then I wouldn't be too happy.

Overall, it was a pretty good day. I can't say that I'm feeling well right now, but it was definately a lot of fun.

I can't say that it was a perfect day, being that I have a bad headache right now, but it was definately one of the highlights of the quarter.

Well, it was a good day, despite the headache.

When the adrenaline is running, it is hard to write a paper. So, I decided to actually try to write out what’s been going on instead.

Anyway, reading over Judges in the Bible, a book of the old testament, I was amazed at how messed up things were in that book. Back then, it seems like things were a lot worse than they are today. But if you look at today, there are a lot of messed up things happening.

Seeing just how bad the oppressors were to the oppressed makes me feel like there can’t possibly be a God in this world. But, as I know, there is a God in this world, and He knows what happens, and He feels the pain of all the people in this world.

Anyway, I realized that so much of the world is suffering compared to my life in the States. Picking up a newspaper around 3 weeks ago, I saw an article about a medical team in Libya. That really didn’t make sense, as it was pretty messed up what happened.

A medical team went to Libya from some place in Europe to give medicine and shots to children. The government arrests them and charges them with spreading AIDS to the kids. From the way the paper made it sound, it looked like the government was finding their scapegoat for their unsafe hospital conditions. They were found guilty and are appealing. (This was about 3-4 weeks ago.)

Anyway, the point here is that there are a lot of messed up things in this world, and they won’t get solved unless someone does something.

As a Christian, I do believe that prayer does help this world. God can change the hearts of men, which is way more powerful than killing them. The only thing that I need to be ready is for when God will send me out. Where, I don’t know.

This world is in desperate need of something good. As I look at my own life, I see little good coming out of it. I go to school, learn, and will try to get a good job, but really, I feel like I’m doing very little as compared to what I could be doing.

I guess what I need to do is pray and do something about it. Anyway, if you haven’t noticed, I do a lot of my thinking on this page. This is not necessarily meant to be entertaining, but just what has been on my mind.

Anyway, one good thing that I heard this past quarter was from a missionary to Iraq. He goes, because probably most of the Iraqis have not heard about Christ. People from other countries are also going to Iraq to spread the gospel. His reason for going was, “Every Iraqi soldier that dies, is another person who died without hearing about Jesus.” God is good in that He cares for all people and all mankind. Most of the missionaries to Iraq will never come home, because they will be killed. But, the foundation that they build will last. That’s one good thing that I can say that I’ve heard this quarter. People are putting their goals and their lives to God’s goals and desires.

I ask myself, what is the purpose of my life? And, what can I do? The real question is, “Am, I willing?”

Missions

Well, I forgot about this mission thing for awhile. But when I did pick up the packet, I found that the due date was a couple days before today. I'll email the guy in charge tonight though.

Anyway, I'm still not sure if I should go on a mission right now when my relationship with God is not the best. I know that God could use me if I went, but there's always the chance that I could be used by the other side.

Seeing how Jesus prepared for His ministry, I think that a lot more preparation is going to be needed if I do go. Time is something that I don't have right now though. Anyway, more on this later.

Playstation 2

I am really looking forward to getting a Playstation 2. I told myself that I'd buy one when it went down to $150. Anyway, I probably won't buy it until I beat all my PSone games.

Heh, yeah, not too interesting. But hey, this journal is mainly for me.

randomness
Walking home after class, I decided to go to a burger joint and met two people that I haven't seen for awhile. They are awesome! They were some guys in my Japanese class. Very smart and very fun to be around. Anyway, we talked a lot about Japan, ultimate fighting, Pan Kress (I have no idea how to spell it), Anime and a whole bunch of other things related to school. Overall, one of the most interesting conversations I've had in awhile. Mainly because I didn't do most of the talking, but just listened.

It kind of makes me sad that they've never heard the gospel. I'm sure that most people in this world have not heard the gospel. One reason why I need to get get my relationship with God on track.

Two things that I think matter most in the world. However, I've strayed a little bit from both, but yeah, I'm slowly getting back.

1. God
2. People

As of lately, I haven't been too much of a people person. But yeah, given the time constraints, it's just not possible to do everything.



Anyway, not too much happened today. Just the usual, class, work, hw. More later

Well, there's only 3 weeks left of school. I'm happy to be graduating. But also sad that my time in college is now at an end. I wonder what I'll be doing in the future.

This past Sunday, I asked my Pastor to pray for me as to what God wants me to do in terms of my career and such. I still have no idea, and personally I think that I need to spend more time reading the Bible and praying to find out God's will.

Anyway, I'm sure that I'll just have to go out and look for a job somewhere. But I do have hope that there is a plan for my next step.

Also, about the last post. I have had a hard life. Easier than some people I know. But still, pretty hard. We all have hard lives, because life is hard. I deleted the post, because I felt that it could be used in the wrong way. But yeah, I was being kind of overzealous I think.

Anyway, when I see a person in need, I tend to identify with that person, because I was a person in need at one time.

Anyway, life is tough, and it's tough for everyone. No matter how easy you think someone else's life is, they've got their own struggles that you don't see. That's part of life, and getting past those struggles is part of growth.

Anyway, I'll end here.

2 weeks left


Man, it's saturday. This week has been pretty bad. After Men's Meat Night, I pretty much crashed throughout the whole week. I stayed up almost the whole night on Monday working on an outline draft for Japanese, and ended up missing all my classes on Tuesday. Well, except for work, which I'm pretty much obligated to go to.

I missed class on Friday too, being that I was so tired. And again, I was late to work and only got up because of work.

My counselor suggested that I drop my Greek and Roman Mythology class, being that I haven't done too much of the readings. I haven't gotten my midterm back because I wasn't there on Tuesday, so I don't know how I'm doing in the class.

Part of me wants to stay in the class, because I think that I can do it, do well, and get my GPA above a 3.0. (It's at a 2.97 right now). However, from the past, I always think that I can do stuff, and it turns out that I don't have enough time to do it. I'm capable, but I just need enough time.

Anyway, I would like to finish my school year strong, but being that I have all this other stuff on my back to carry, I might not finish as well as I'd like to. I guess school isn't everything, but still, I don't know if I'll even be able to get a good job if I don't work at it.

Anyway, enough about this subject.

My Judo outline has been coming along. I'm 70% done with the outline. Only 70% done with it, as opposed to being done with it last week being that it's for Japanese class and that I have trouble expressing myself in Japanese. It has been interesting though. All this information about Judo that I never really learned by taking Judo.

I knew that Judo came from Jujitsu (Actually pronounced "Jujutsu". Meaning pliable art or soft art.) It was an unarmed fighting style of the Samurai. Jigoro Kano, the creator of Judo, learned Jujutsu from Fukuda Hachinosuke, then Tsunetoshi Iikubo. Then learned other forms of Jujutsu from other schools.

Jujutsu at that time was rapidly disappearing because of the Meiji Restoration where (as the website says) the ways of the Samurai were being looked down upon in favor of new ways of the state. (I'm not totally sure about this, because I have not gathered that much information.) But, well established Jujutsu schools were having trouble because of the Meiji Restoration.

Jigoro Kano is credited with preserving Jujutsu through what is now called Kodokan Judo. He took what he considered the best forms from the different schools of Jujutsu and implemented them into something that could be used as a sport. He got rid of techniques that would cripple or permanently damage the opponent and also got rid of kicks and punches, forcing the contestants to grapple with the opponent. Kicks and punches were taught to the high ranking Judoka (people who practiced Judo) only as a way of preserving some of the techniques. (I think).

According to one website, Jigoro Kano adapted Jujutsu to the changing times of Japan by making it into a sport. However, he not only made it into a sport, but into a philosophy and a way of life also. Whereas before, Jujutsu was seen as a collection of techniques by some, Jigoro Kano made the goal of Judo to make the individual a better person and one who would benefit society.

Men's Meat Night

This past night was Men's Meat Night for AACF. I and two other people lead it.

Basically, what we did was provide the food for it and just invite people. The people that we invited were mainly the people that already went to AACF, but there were some new people that came.

Being that the day was a totally horrible day to choose (the day before Mother's day), most people didn't come. It was fun, but still, I think that if I had chose a better date, more people would have come. oh well...next time, I've got to look at a calendar before I choose the date.

We played x-box on two x-boxes, mainly Halo. We also played the Typing of the Dead, which is House of the dead (a shooting game) made into a typing game.

Some guy kept on trying to hack into my computer all throughout that time, but I don't think that he got in. Thank goodness for firewalls. =)

Overall, I think that the night went pretty well. I just wish that more connections were made with the new people that did come. They didn't stay too long. One had another barbecue to go to, and the other two, I don't know if they had another engagement to go to, but I'm not worrying about it.

The main point was to bond the guys in AACF already, and to invite new people and get them plugged into AACF too. The latter part seems unlikely, being that we played video games most of the time and didn't talk, but the former was a good one that happened.

Mother's day is tomorrow, and I have a whole bunch of school work to do. I guess I'm not worried about it, as I usually am. However, I always tend to stay up late on Sunday nights into the late evening. Sometimes I don't get it done, because I have to go to sleep.

The night was worth it though. Even though I don't really bond that well with people in general, I think that it went better than I expected.

We went over budget by a little bit, but that's okay. Anyway, thanks AACF core for putting up with me and my ranting and irritations. I guess I do tend to worry too much.

I sometimes wonder exactly what the lessons out of tonight are. I need to reflect about this.

About the earlier posts, and bible quotes, I don't know when I'll be able to get to them. I have a lot of work to do.