8/11/03, 1945 EST - Considering that I'm in South America... I've decided to update my Verse of the Week in Spanish for the near future... I think it's fitting to start with Jeremiah 29:11 as I spend these next 4 months waiting on God to reveal the next step of His Plan for my life. =)

I think I'll keep the links to my Updates in this News / Comments sections as they accumulate... I should start working on Update 2 as I've been here nearly a month now... =)

8/18/03, 2055 EST - Worked on and finished my 5 page paper for my Contemporary Chilean Culture class that was due today... wonderful thing that the grade for that class transfers to my transcript while the credit doesn't... =)

Anyway, I will get working on Update 3 pretty soon... in the meantime... keep entertained with my previous updates! =P

8/26/03, 2120 EST - Had a chance to briefly meet up with fellow brothers and sisters in Christ for bible study on campus today between classes. It was encouraging to hear a short message on 1st Peter 3:15-16 (this week's verse) about always being ready to share about my faith. =)

Have posted Update #4 which was supposed to be a shorter and quicker read than my previous essays. Turned out not to be though, maybe next time! =) I've also posted my Council paper which tells a slightly different tale than that of my first update... but in Spanish. =)

Hope you enjoy it! =D

9/1/03, 2330 EST - Update #5 is here! About an awesome experience with Un Techo Para Chile. Check it out!

10/3/03, 1930 EST - Wow. It's been over a month since I updated... crazy. Anyway, finally got around to re-doing Update #6... so it's here! Renamed it from "Desert Adventures" to "The Northern Expedition - Part I". Parts II & III coming soon!

10/7/03, 1930 EST - The full trilogy of "The Northern Expedition" has finally been completed and posted. Update #9 will be arriving soon!

10/9/03, 2330 EST - Sorry for the flood of updates this past week... promise not to do it again. =) Anyway, Update #9 covers the time since the events of The Northern Expedition (6-8).

10/22/03, 1745 EST - Finished my last exam of the semester earlier today! Additionally, posted the latest update on my Eastern Excursion. =)

10/28/03, 2320 EST - Latest update on some thoughts and our Council trip to Pucon.

10/31/03, 1820 EST - Put up some photos from the Pucon trip to share. Check in the Photo Gallery! Meanwhile, my Update #11 is still the latest one. =)

11/12/03, 1012 EST - Finally got around to a long overdue update... final papers and more final papers to write... anyway, more exciting updates coming soon! As for now, Update #12 will sum up the past 2-3 weeks!

11/21/03, 0717 EST - Taking a break from my 5 final papers that I need to finish in the next 5 days before I head up to hike the Inca Trail on November 27th. Hard to believe my teen years are ending. Crazy. Anyway, Update #13 has been posted on my solo trip to Region X.

12/05/03, 2105 EST - Somehow managed to finish and upload Update #14 from Punta Arenas, Chile. Update #14 spells out my past weekend's adventure in the Peruvian Andes. Next series of updates will arrive in about 2 weeks about my Journey to the End of the World. Meanwhile, I think the image quality is a bit low for Update #14 and I will try to fix it when I get back.

12/17/03, 2321 EST - Got back today from my trip to the far south of Chile. Finished a quick update on the first 2-3 days of the trip. I figure there'll be 20 updates for my entire Chile experience so expect another 5 more in the next 2 weeks. =D I'll probably post them here for those of you who want to see them while I won't actually send out the e-mails for a few days/weeks at a time so as not to flood your inboxes.

12/21/03, 1200 EST - The last few days have been pretty crazy. I'm currently in Mexico City where I arrived early this morning from Santiago and from where I'll leave tomorrow morning to return to Los Angeles. Four days until we celebrate the birth of our Savior so I felt it was appropriate that the verse for this week be about the reason for the season. =) Anyway, I've worked around the clock to finish up the series of updates on my past two weeks traveling through Patagonia. I hope it's not too overwhelming, but you should have lots of time now that the holidays are here! =)

12/23/03, 1700 EST - The last of the Chile Update Series is complete... I haven't sent out the e-mails for the past 5 so here are #16 through #20!

1/17/04, 1455 EST - Happy belated New Years everyone! Since my last update on the 23rd of December, I've been back to Mexico, Los Angeles, and finally to Philadelphia, where I've been the past 10 days. After an amazing time at the OIL conference on January 7-10th, I finally moved onto campus this past Monday because of a housing fiasco. Anyway, I'm all settled in now in HRE 402 so come visit!

I've finally figured out a way to post all my pictures so in the next days/weeks, I'll be working on posting EVERYTHING for your viewing pleasure. All of my Study Abroad Pictures have been posted and older files are being worked on! =)

I'll also be trying to update daily, as a way to keep myself accountable by means of my Verse of the Day. Help me out please! =)

That's all for now then and have a blessed weekend!

1/18/04, 1315 EST - Today's message from God presented through Pastor Matt was about the mission statements of our lives. Can we honestly say like Apostle Paul, "To live is Christ and to die is gain"? It's great to be alive living for Christ but even death can't get us down because of the treasures waiting for us in heaven! Makes me wish I could go home that much sooner! =)

Welps, my picture galleries are slowly getting posted so take a look here! Otherwise,  I'm all settled in now in HRE 402 so come visit!

1/19/04, 1121 EST - Happy MLK Day! =)

This day is really saving me because otherwise, there would've been no way that I could've caught up with the tremendous amount of work that we have as American college students. It was so great to "study" abroad for the very reason that we only "studied" not studied. =) Yeah... for instance, most of my classes began with the prof saying, "Here is the list of books. Just read them sometime before the exam," or "Your grade will be based entirely on your final paper which is worth 100% of your grade." Then again, they don't give good grades in Chile... oh well. =)

Thank you God for this day of rest and the opportunity to catch up so that I can be a diligent student! =)

Alrighty, back to work. =)

1/25/04, 0030 EST - Just got back from GCC Congregational Retreat which was an incredible time of just hearing God's Word and praising our most wonderful Savior! Wish it could've been longer but God really just spoke tremendously even through the short densely packed retreat. Awesome hearing Bishop Robert Oh from OIKOS Ministries International again after so many years... he spoke at my home church Light of Love years ago when I was but a teenager in high school. =)

Hard to believe that January is nearly over but I'm devoting each and every day to be an exciting day for Jesus! =)

Have a wonderful week and remember who you are in Christ! =)

1/26/04, 1820 EST - Just finished reading a book entitled Anointed for Business by Ed Silvoso which really encouraged me and refocused my attitudes towards my future in terms of the marketplace. =) You really ought to read it if you think you're called to serve God in the marketplace!

Anyway, God's been tugging at my heart to really just trust Him and dedicate myself to spend authentic quality time with Him each and every day. I want to be sensitive to His voice and have faith to obey when He calls. =)

2/1/04, 1909 EST - While all the Super Bowl happy guys are watching the silly game on TV, I figured it's time that I updated my site on what's been going on with me in the past week. =)

Anyway, this week has been a pretty awesome week with God placing 2nd Chronicles 7:14 on my heart. I've really felt a need to spend more time in prayer and I know that I've been lacking since I got back to Penn with all the chaos of readjusting to being back. I think I must've had a prayer meeting every single day this week and God fed me from Chronicles this week. It was pretty crazy and awesome! =) This 2nd Chronicles 7:14 week was also marked by the song Send Revival, Start With Me by Matt Redman that we sang so many times this week. =)

We're looking to Your promise of old
That if we pray and humble ourselves
You will come and heal our land
You will come, You will come

We're looking to the promise You made
That if we turn and look to Your face
You will come and heal our land
You will come, You will come to us

Lord, send revival
Start with me
For I am one of unclean lips
And my eyes have seen the King
Your glory I have glimpsed
Send revival
Start with me

Have a blessed week!

2/8/04, 2131 EST - Can't believe that it's been over a year since I started this website... (well, according to my News Archives, the "Preliminary *new* website" was "designed and implemented" on 2/4/03)... anyway, I must've just spent a good portion of the past half hour just reading through my posts in the past year and just thinking about how God's been working in me since that time. =)

On the one hand, I feel that I was so much closer to God a year ago today (fasting and depending solely on God does that to you. =D), but on the other hand, I know that God's still working in me and that in this next year and a half, He'll be preparing me to go out into the world and do big things for Him. =) I guess I want to start this week off with Philippians 1:6 trusting in God to finish what He's started. Since last year, I know I've experienced a lot, and hopefully, have matured more while at the same time keeping alive the youthful passion and fire for God that characterizes so many of our early Christians years.

Yeah, I'm also committing to update this site each evening and re-implementing the Verse of the Day from my personal time with God each day so that I don't get lazy as I know we can all tend to at times.

I wish I could remember everything that happened this week because I really enjoyed going through my Archives and reading about what my life was like a year ago. =) Haha, I also realized some things about my schedule this semester that I hadn't been able to figure out before too!

Welps, I guess to summarize last week: it was good. =) Haha, it's what I've been saying about my Study Abroad experience but we all know that there's so much more to it than can be said in a simple sentence or paragraph. I guess highlights of the week were the three meals I shared with different freshman brothers. I hope I was able to bless them and was thankful for the opportunity that I could spend time with them. Living in the High Rises definitely makes it more difficult to interact with freshmen, especially since we don't have any in our family group.

Yesterday was a night spent with lots of old folks. =P The evening started with a joint family group bowling outing. Haha. It was all seniors (or older) + me. =) When we got back, we went up to the 22nd floor Senior Sisters suite to wish Jeanie Happy Birthday and I found myself to be the youngest of all again. Thank you God for making me so young! =P It's all good, I love our seniors and praise God for their maturity and passion for God and His Kingdom and for really being examples for me. I hope I can be like them one day! =)

Made some changes to the structure of the site... Also, added a new section of Picture of the Week... we'll see how that works out and if I should change it to a picture of the day. =)

2/9/04, 2357 EST - Monday has come and gone and I'm trying to settle into a new routine. =)

I finished up Leviticus this morning and I was surprised at how easily I was able to read it! For some reason, I always remembered thinking that Leviticus is the book where everyone's New Years Resolutions to read the bible collapsed so I'd been putting it off... yikes. =) Anyway, although Leviticus talks about a lot of the rules and regulations that the Israelites had to follow that may not be so relevant in this day and age and also in light of the New Testament, God just reminded me of who He is. Well, I guess I just wanted to share the context of today's verse... God pretty much tells us that if we obey His commands, He will bless us abundantly, live and walk among us, be our God, and we will be His people. =)

So... one thing that I really feel God has been calling me to for the past few weeks is to start each day by spending time with Him. In my laziness, I tried to resist by saying "God, I'll spend time with you in the afternoon after classes because I just want to sleep in the morning!" But God just keeps waking me up day after day and telling me He wants to spend time with me. So, I give in. =) From this day forth, I will wake up and feast on spiritual food from His Word before going out into the cold world to deal with my daily duties. =) I think it's going to be a good semester!

Additionally, I'm also changing up my exercise routine. =) Well, I don't really exercise... I just try to swim... and in the past month, I've only managed to make it out to the pool maybe twice or three times. I hadn't really been able to place why my schedule seems to be off this semester but I finally discovered it. In prior semesters, I overloaded on Mondays and Wednesdays leaving Tuesdays and Thursdays free for swimming and studying. Now that I have Tuesdays/Wednesdays/Thursdays packed, I can't seem to really fit in much swimming or people time, even! So... since I'll be waking up early to spend time with my Heavenly Father first thing in the morning, anyway, I'll be heading out to Pottruck to flop around in the pool on Monday and Wednesday mornings from 9:30AM to 10:30AM. =) I actually succeeded in getting in my 1.25 miles today and it felt great. Oh yeah, I keep seeing people I know at the pool... it's weird, I didn't know that all these people swam! Not sure whether or not I'll keep swimming Tuesdays (12-1PM) but I think I just might... and Saturdays (12-1PM) if I can squeeze it in. =P

On another note, I've been really blessed getting to meet up with so many people in the past few weeks. Thanks for putting up with me! =)

I should probably wrap up here before I get carried away... other thoughts on my mind that I'll try to put to words for tomorrow. Hope your week is going well and press on!

2/11/04, 0306 EST - Today, or rather, yesterday was a pretty long day. =) Still, I can gladly say that the new routine is going pretty well and that God's giving me all the strength that I require to get through each and every day. Thank you Jesus!

Just got back from "studying" in Van Pelt... or Rosengarten or something or other. Can't even remember what it's called. Haha, I hadn't been in there since... most likely freshman year. Perhaps I set foot inside during sophomore year but it's highly unlikely. So yeah, I had this research paper that I needed to go find books for, so I found myself in the library. Never again. Well, until I need to return these books and possibly find new ones. doh! =)

Yesterday (since it's no longer today), was great! =) Started off the day with some of Psalms and the book of Esther. Today's Verse of the Day (Psalm 105:19) pretty much reminded me that I just need to be patient and await God's timing so that He can use me to my fullest potential. I'm 99% sure that the time hasn't come yet for God to reveal the next steps He has for the wonderful plan of my life and that I'm still being tested, disciplined, molded and slowly being transformed into the man of God that He desires me to be. =) And then, the story of Esther tells me that God uses circumstances and provides opportunities for His people to act. So, I guess I just need to be alert for those opportunities that God provides when I need to step out in faith and DO something! =)

Well, I'm almost all caught up with my academics, my swimming experiment is going well (I got my second 1.25 miles in on Tuesday to make a total of 2.5 miles so far this week!), and tomorrow will be another packed day. =)

Time to sleep because in just a short while, my heavenly Father shall wake me up to spend the morning hours with me. =) Have a wonderful Wednesday!

2/12/04, 0015 EST - Wednesday marked the third day of my new routine and I'm still going strong. =) Even though I went to sleep the night before around 0330-0400, God enabled me to wake up nice and early (before my alarm clock, as usual) to spend time with Him. =)

Even though I've probably read through Job several times (in both the NIV and NKJV), it never ceases to amaze me that I discover new words from God through re-reading familiar passages! In Job 33:14-17, I was just reminded of Bishop Oh's message from the Congregational Retreat about how God speaks to His people. I just need to learn to hear and recognize his voice each and every day. =)

Starting each day with Jesus makes the whole day so different. =) Got my 1.25 miles in at the pool (for a total of 3.75 so far this week!) and had a full day of classes starting at 1030 and finishing at... 1930! I'm currently taking this history seminar on U.S. Empire, Globalization and World Regions that meets Wednesdays from 1630 to 1930... now, it's an interesting class and all, but we're supposed to have a break about halfway through the three hours! But... somehow, we manage to discuss for three straight hours until the professor lets us go. =) It's all good though since it's interesting. =)

I finally got around to doing my laundry... I'd run out of clean socks and underclothes very recently and today was my first chance to restock my closet. =) Anyway, while I was folding and putting away my fresh clean clothes, I realized something. Given that I live in the high rises in a single apartment and all, I'm kind of forced to be independent and self-sufficient. I'm also retaining my room next year which somewhat shows that I'm thriving in my new environment. I feel as if I could be living "young adult" life because of how un-dormish my place is. Anyway, I guess I realized how great it is to be single! =P With all the hype and craziness going through most people's minds these days with "V-day" (sounds so similar to D-day, doesn't it? =P), I'm so blessed to not have to concern myself with such things and that I can just focus on living wholeheartedly for God! For a brief period of time, I must've started getting impatient now that the Twenty Plan has come into effect, but I've come to my senses and am going to enjoy my freedom until God tells me otherwise. =) Haha, anyway since I've got my own kitchen and stuff, apparently I'm expected to cook something for our Class of '05 Valentine's potluck. I hope other people can cook too, so that we have some actual food and not all utensils and drinks. =P

Random comment: I discovered something interesting today! Guess what comes up as #1 when you search for "you will come and heal our land" on Google! Isn't that weird? =)

Welps, I think I'll head to sleep early and get some rest tonight. =) The week is almost over so hang in there and finish strong!

2/13/04, 0249 EST - Every day's a wonderful day that begins with Jesus. =)

After meeting with my Heavenly Father, I eventually headed off to class with this old Geoff Moore song in my head... =)

(Verse 1)
Wasn't it yesterday I was eight years old
A pocket full of rocks
That I knew were made of solid gold
There were girls to be hated
Trees to be climbed
Forts to be built, There was so much time
It's good to be alive, It's good to be alive

(Verse 2)
There's nothing in the world like being fifteen
Your pockets are empty, but your head is full of dreams
Of girls to be loved
Of places to see
It's the best and the worst
Just my friends and me
And we're anything we want to be

(Chorus)
And it's good to be alive
To feel the wind in my face
See the blue in the sky
It's days like this I realize
What a gift it is
It's good to be alive

(Verse 3)
Well I wonder, what this day will see
Will I find my dreams or stare in the face of tragedy
Whatever may come
Whatever may be
Of this I am sure, I'm forgiven and free
And I will live like I believe

- It's Good to Be Alive, Geoff Moore & The Distance

Anyway, classes were uneventful... I'll save my spiel for another day but share about an awesome evening. =)

Operation Cookie Blitz as I've decided to call it was a complete success. =) I'm a bit impulsive at times and while I'd been thinking about doing care packages in recent days/weeks, I hadn't really been active about it... anyway, while I was at Fresh Grocer, I saw the sale so I knew it had to be tonight. =D Baked up dozens of cookies and after searching for the right verse (Thanks Chadwick for the suggestion!), I settled on James 1:2-5 which shall be today's Verse of the Day. =) Yeah, I know for sure that God's still developing my character so that I'll be ready for ANYTHING. And I'll continue to seek wisdom from my Heavenly Father and listen for Him to tell me what He wants me to do. =) But yeah, it was great meeting a lot of freshmens that I'd never met before and trying to show them some of Jesus' love in me. Couldn't have done it without You! Thanks Jesus! =)

Anyway, I was surprised to find out that a lot of the freshmen had NEVER been out to Large Group! It was mindboggling that for a whole semester and part of one, they'd never been to the BEST party going on Friday nights!

I hope I see ALL of them at DRL A-1 at 7PM to fellowship and worship God together. =)

Alrighty, have a wonderful Friday and see you at Large Group! =)

2/14/04, 0001 EST - Happy Valentine's Day? =)

Friday was awesome. =) My favorite day of the week is Friday and I love GCC Large Group! Woohoo! Blessings galore! =)

Anyway, apparently a lot of people are really tired by Friday so I hope you were able to get blessed and receive your strength from God tonight! =)

Gotta keep things short since the junior guys'll be are at my place tonight. Thank you Lord for my bros!

Yeah, today's verse is from Job again. =) Pastor Matt talked about it tonight as he spoke on striving for godliness and contentment. Basically, we entered the world with nothing, and we will leave with nothing! So we should just be content and live for God joyfully! =)

Alrighty, have a nice V-Day. G'luck silly senior guys! =P Hopefully, our Class of '05 Potluck will go well. =)

2/15/04, 0300 EST - Wow, a long but pleasant day has come to an end and I'm preparing to head to bed before the sun comes up and I have the privilege to go meet my Heavenly Father in our sanctuary at DRL A-1!!! =P

Haha, our Class of 2005 Valentine's Day Potluck was a blast and we definitely had WAAAY too much food. =) Check out the pictures here!

Anyway, as I printed and posted some pictures on my wall... it struck me that I've been so encouraged to have had the honor of running this race w/ you guys! Looking back at the past 2.5 years of our college days, I'm so blessed to know that you've been faithfully running after Jesus with me and that I've never been alone in pursuing God. =) Thanks for all the fun times and memories and I'm looking forward to these next 1.5 years that we have left together. Who knows where God will scatter us to after we graduate but let's definitely make the most of our remaining time and seek after godliness with contentment as Pastor Matt taught us yesterday. =) Yeah, and maybe one day... some of you will end up being each other's valentines, huh? =P <wink wink> =D

Well, that's enough for now and have a blessed Sunday! =)

2/16/04, 0109 EST - It's pretty crazy how time seems to just fly these days! =)

Anyway, after Saturday's Class of 2005 Valentine's Potluck, the rest of the weekend was pretty uneventful. =)

Thank You Lord for being so good to me! Saturday night, after all was said and done... I somehow discovered that it was already 3:30AM and figured I should get to sleep because I'd be waking up at 7:00AM to prepare for first service. =) Anyway, as I was getting ready to go to my bedroom, I noticed the sheet of poster board that I had bought earlier in the week. Suddenly I was reminded of the Family Group board that I was supposed to make for Welcoming. Haha, so since I was feeling pretty awake, I got to work and finished the task by 5:30AM. I hope I didn't do too bad a job! I'm not a creative artsy person, sorry! =) Anyway, after my 1.5 hour nap, I went to service to spend time with my Heavenly Father. =) Yeah, today was another reminder that my strength comes from Jesus alone!

Anyway, today's verse from my time spent with God is again from Ezekiel. We are all sinners but God forgives us and forgets our past sins if we turn to Him! There's hope!

Oh yeah, invite all your friends to come watch Mel Gibson's The Passion of The Christ at The Bridge with Grace Covenant Church on Thursday, March 4th! =)

That's all for now and have a wonderful week!

2/17/04, 0100 EST - Though class-wise, Monday's are my shortest days, turns out that this Monday was jam-packed and I finally got home a short while ago to eat some food and get ready to finish up stuff before I go to sleep. =)

Yeah, I was just reading in Psalms the other day when God reminded me to just find rest in Him and not to be anxious about day to day life. =) Not that I worry much or stress out in general... I don't. Haha, but yeah, it's always good to trust Him. =)

Swimming Update! Haha, so my complex 4 days a week plan of last week fell apart on Saturday *again*. So, going to make it nice and simple. Monday through Thursday, 9:30AM to 10:30AM, you'll find me at Pottruck Pool doing my 1.25 miles daily. =) That should make a nice even 5 miles a week. Not bad, eh? =P

Welps, midterm on Wednesday and next Tuesday... and I'm going home on Friday and returning Monday... time to trust God! Please pray for me! =)

2/18/04, 0037 EST - International Finance midterm at 6PM today. Woohoo! =P

Wow, this week is flying by... going home on Friday. =)

Today's verse is from my last day through Ezekiel... I'd forgotten how scary Ezekiel was... yeah, everyone getting doomed on by God for there sins. =) But God is merciful and promises His Spirit... whom I will need for guidance during my exam'ing. =) I don't know if I remember how to take midterms. =P

Yeah, keeping it short... need to sleep/study. =D

2/19/04, 0015 EST - One down, two to go. =)

I think I was reminded today that even though God gives wisdom and understanding, I still need to put in my part. =) I'm thankful that God created me in such a way that I hardly ever stress out and stuff... but I think I've let it go just a bit too far. In that, while most people have a problem with the one extreme of putting way too much emphasis on studies and grades that they get so wrapped up about academics and stressed about performance that they lose sight of God, I seem to have let learning fall from my priorities thinking that it's not about what I learn in college but rather who I become... it does matter what I learn and I believe God wants me to learn so that He can use me... so I need to learn not just study to get studying done and out of the way. =)

Yeah, in the book of Daniel, God gave an "aptitude for learning" to Daniel and his friends... So, like Daniel and his friends, if God gave me an aptitude for learning, I want to put it into practice so God can use me. =) I also want to be like Daniel and receive special abilities from God. =)

Well, that's all for now. Hope you have a blessed Thursday! =)

2/20/04, 0310 EST - Friday is here at last! =) Catching the 9:15 flight back home to spend the weekend celebrating my mom's birthday. =)

For those of you in Philadelphia, don't miss the 2004 Spring GCC Praise Night! It's going to be this Saturday, February 21st, at Meyerson B-1 at 6:30PM!

Just reminiscing about the past year... at about this time last year, I was preparing to go home for The Call Los Angeles. =) Look what I discovered on Google! =P

2/21/04, 0120 EST - GCC Praise Night today at Meyerson B-1 at 6:30PM! Don't miss it! =)

Resting up at home and enjoying the weather. =)

Had lots of fun just spending time with my mom today. Haha, lots of stories to share for both of us. =)

Welps, it's way past my bedtime... have a wonderfully blessed weekend! =)

2/22/04, 0315 EST - Restful rather uneventful day in rainy SoC-al (soak all... yeah, haha =P). Winter is the rainy season here on the West Coast and we haven't had much rain in the past few years so it's good that we're finally getting some. =)

Looking forward to worshipping with my MFX brothers and sisters at LOLMC for Sunday morning. =)

Today's verse is from Psalms... my best friend can do whatever He wants, anywhere He wants and anytime He wants. =)

2/22/04, 2155 EST - Less than an hour left to pack and eat dinner and head to the airport...

Red-eye back to Philly... please pray for no crying babies behind me! =)

Monday's verse is from Numbers again... who is our God? He definitely ain't no fickle man but He is always faithful and fulfills all His promises! =)

Have a blessed week!

2/23/04, 0705 EST - It's a beautiful morning with the sun shining brightly back here in Philadelphia... I always feel like I have so much stuff I want to write about but when it comes down to writing it... I just can't remember anymore!

I guess one thing to rant about... Lady Liberty Airport Shuttle... unless you like to be left waiting around 30-60 minutes twiddling your thumbs as EVERYONE else leaves (when you were the first one to make the call), be my guest and take them... I need to learn from my mistakes. I keep falling into the sunk cost fallacy of thinking... "oh, I've already been waiting 25 minutes... what's another 5?" So, yeah, forget them! Take a cab! I would've gotten back to campus AND BACK had I taken a cab from the start as I should have... However, if your 30-60 minutes of impatiently waiting around isn't worth $10 though, I guess you can just wait around. =)

2/25/04, 0215 EST - Yikes, one weekend of freedom has undone 2 months of getting back into the academic groove... haha =) 2 of 3 midterms done. Woohoo!

Countdown till Spring Break... 10 days left? Crazy!!! Oh what fun it shall be! =)

Doing pretty well in my walk with Jesus. =) Hopefully, will be able to complete the NLT before Spring Break... or March at least. =) I've started the NASB to read Mark to take part in the GCC Bible Reading Campaign. =) NASB has a different feel than the NLT, NIV or NKJV... maybe it's just Mark, but in the past few days, its felt like almost every other verse starts with "And..." =) NASB's supposed to be a more literal translation of the original language than the others, so... we'll see how that works out. =) I've been getting used to the NLT... it's a lot easier to relate to because a lot of things are translated to make sense to us... for example, Noah's ark was "450 feet long, 75 feet wide, and 45 feet high." =) Or, the full armor of God in Ephesians 6 contains the "body armor" of "righteousness" as well as shoes. =) It's all good though. =)

Today's goal... to deny myself and live for Christ. =) Practical application? Stop being selfish and stop wasting time doing stupid things that don't matter for anything!

2/26/04, 0148 EST - Can't deny that Jesus loves me oh so very much! =)

Two verses for today because I couldn't pick! =) Firstly, I want to LOVE the LORD my God with ALL my heart and ALL my soul and ALL my strength. =) Secondly, I want to PRAY and have FAITH that I've already received what I seek as long as I'm within the Will of my Heavenly Father! =)

Tomorrow night is the my favorite time of the week! Large Group at Grace Covenant Church at DRL A-1 at 7PM! Be there or miss out! =P

In other news, I've finished posting almost ALL of my photos since I got my first digital camera back in 1999! Check it out! Yeah, I just spent the past 2 hours revamping the design of my picture pages and relinking back to my homepage... =) Enjoy!

Countdown till Spring Break: 9 days!!! =)

2/27/04, 0219 EST - Had an awesome day ending with visits to Quad, VP & KCECH peoples. =) Haha, I think I visited more people in the library than in their rooms! =P

Anyway, Friday is upon us again and it's going to be an awesome day! I can already sense it. =) I'm back in the groove... and have the ability to just devote more time to trying to love people, meeting up w/ them, eating with them, visiting them and stuff. =)

Today's verse is about wealth and success. Early in the chapter, the bible talks about being wary in times of success and riches because oftentimes, we tend to forget God when we're doing well. Need to remember that it is God who gives wisdom and knowledge and the ability to gather wealth in order to do good for His kingdom! =)

To close, just thought I'd share parts of a random IM conversation that blessed me today. =) I'm pretty sure I get more hits to my site from people I don't know than people I do... But yeah, I'm glad God's using my site in strange and wonderful ways. =) (BTW, in case you didn't notice... I changed the SN to protect my visitor's identity.)

WEB_VISITOR (1:38:56 AM): Hello!
Marine516 (1:39:08 AM): hi
Marine516 (1:39:16 AM): who is this?
WEB_VISITOR (1:39:36 AM): im someone who found your website and just wanted to say hello!
...
WEB_VISITOR (1:42:24 AM): I dont really know what i want to do in my life but i was wondering if it should be something in the church...and so i'm just looking around for resources
Marine516 (1:42:48 AM): ohh
...
Marine516 (1:43:00 AM): what year are you?
WEB_VISITOR (1:43:19 AM): i think so .. i am only 15!
Marine516 (1:43:43 AM): oh wow
Marine516 (1:44:10 AM): and you're already thinking about what you want to do with your life? possibly in the church?
...
WEB_VISITOR (1:45:24 AM): i have lived in San diego for my whole life but am moving to washington state next year,...yeah and i have thought about devoting my life to something like that........i have gone to mexico with groups from my church and it has changed me
Marine516 (1:47:47 AM): it's really encouraging to hear that you're just 15 and already thinking about how you can serve God! i can promise you that if you keep seeking Him with all your heart and soul and mind and if you ask Him to guide your paths, He'll be faithful and reveal to you how you can serve Him best during your time here =)
...

I hope I was able to encourage and bless my anonymous brother from San Diego as much as he did me. =) God uses the internet in wondrous ways and I'm just reminded of the two comments left to me by another believer almost a year ago. Thanks for the encouragement "Stranger from Seattle"! =)

Praise God and have a blessed Friday!

Countdown till Spring Break: 8 days!!! =)

2/28/04, 1505 EST - Just got back to my room for the first time in like... 22 hours. =)

Today's verse is from Deuteronomy again. =) I know it's something that I've always struggled with and I'm sure I've written about it in my News Archives in the past year... and God has been working in me to overcome this. But yeah, I shall continue to try to bless people through the giving of meals and such. =)

Anyway, time for a nap... have a great Saturday and see you at FIRST service at DRL A-1 at 9AM tomorrow! =)

Countdown till Spring Break: 7 days!!! =)

2/29/04, 0034 EST - Oh wow, I didn't even notice that this year was a leap year. =) Can't believe that February is coming to an end that we're already almost into March!!

Less than a week left until there'll be seven guys sitting on a secluded Mexican beach enjoying the sun... haha, fun stuff. =P

Updated the Picture of the Day... that lil boy is turning 21 in about a week! It's ridicu-malous! Once upon a time... we were young, impressionable freshmen... in HIGH SCHOOL seeking God passionately while serving our church an hour from home in Pasadena... now we're juniors in college thinking about graduation and life in the real world... haha, had lunch last weekend after church... and talking about all these years that have past! But God is too good to us. =) So, remembering God's promise that God will be with us and that He will never fail nor forsake us!! Press on bro! =)

And lastly, I finally got around to updating the About Me page! Haha, let me know what you think. =)

Countdown till Spring Break: 6 days!!! =)

3/1/04, 1018 EST -Happy 1st Day of March! =P

Wow, these past two months have just flown by and I can't believe that I'll be packing up my stuff for summer pretty soon... I just finished unpacking!

Sunday was a beautiful day and it was great to worship the Lord with my brothers and sisters in Christ. =)

Spring is approaching quickly and spring break is approaching quicker still. It's going to be a great time with some of the guys. =)

Food for thought for today... God feels compassion for ALL people. Even the worst sinners in the world who want nothing to do with God! Even though God is holy and can't tolerate our sins, if we repent, He forgives and won't punish us as we deserve to be punished. I guess sometimes we tend to think like Jonah (Context of today's Verse of the Day is that Jonah is complaining to God that He forgave Nineveh and so easily "canceled" his plans to destroy it. God provides a plant to give Jonah shade and then allows it to die to teach Jonah this lesson.) and don't think that others deserve the mercy and grace that God gives so freely. What an awesome God that we serve!

Packed week of fun and studies and projects and other miscellaneous things to do. =)

*Are you my 5,000th Visitor? =P* My other website that's been around for less time than this one currently has... 62,721 hits while this one has... only 4,971 as I'm updating this... anyway, just thought I'd throw out something to encourage you to visit more often! =P My 5,000th visitor will receive a free home cooked meal from me. =) Haha, you gotta prove that you were visitor #5,000 though, so take a screen shot! =) (I suppose this only applies to those of you who visit my site from Philly... not from other places in the U.S. or even from Canada, Mexico, Chile, Australia, Hong Kong, Spain or the U.K. Sorry! =D) After the 5,000th visitor, maybe the next one will be at 6,000 or 7,500... haha =)

Countdown till Spring Break: 5 days!!! =)

3/2/04, 0257 EST - March is ridiculous. =) Only the second day and I'm already losing sleep. Haha, next week will be plenty of time to catch up. =P

Started reading Table Talk in addition to my regular scripture reading to join in the GCC Bible Reading Campaign...

I wonder if I'm going to sleep tonight... haha, we shall see. =) But God is gracious and He will give me the strength I need as I seek Him! =)

Countdown till Spring Break: 4 days!!! =)

3/3/04, 1133 EST - Another crazy long day... I haven't had a peaceful night of sleep in a few days. =) That's ok though because God is my strength. =)

Midterm coming up at 1300 and then... freedom? Almost. We shall see. =)

I think one thing that's been a blessing to me is a new commitment I made to myself and God a week or so ago is that I don't let myself have physical food before I've had my spiritual food. I don't want to starve my spirit while my body gets nice and fat, right? =) God's been good.

Anyway, today's verse comes directly from Habakkuk... anyone know where that is? =) Yeah, just a reminder from God that He'll fulfill His plans but in His time... just be patient! =) So I will be patient!

Countdown till Spring Break: 3 days!!! =)

3/3/04, 1404 EST - It is finished! Haha, first final is about a month from now! Dang, this year is flying by, ain't it? =)

3/4/04, 0138 EST - Welps, just got back from hanging out at Diana Chan's place on our way back from watching Les Miserables at the Academy of Music. =) Check out the photos here! I was going to put the last one up as the PoD but I don't think it deserves to be up for an entire week while I'm gone for spring break. =P

Looking forward to The Passion of The Christ tonight! =)

Hope you have a blessed Thursday!

Countdown till Spring Break: 2 days!!! =)

3/5/04, 0331 EST - Long awaited Friday is here!

The Passion of the Christ movie was very intense. A welcome reminder of what Jesus went through so that you and I might have life... so often we forget and trivialize it. =( But Jesus was 100% man like us and suffered more than we could ever imagine to bring us salvation. Thank you Jesus!

Spring break is right around the corner! Flying out Saturday at 7AM from Philadelphia. It should be exciting and a good time of growing closer with my '05 brothers. Hope you have a wonderful and safe spring break wherever you may be going!

Countdown till Spring Break: 1 day!!! =)

3/5/04, 1319 EST - Updated the Picture of the Day... Seven Guys, Seven Days in Acapulco, Mexico... We leave tomorrow!

3/15/04, 0935 EST - Had a great time relaxing and having loads of fun throughout Spring Break 2004. =) It wasn't a disaster and we didn't starve to death. =) Check out the pictures here!

I'm planning to write a short blurb in the style of my Chile Updates for my own records and memories... so check back here occasionally if you're interested. =)

Too many pics from Acapulco so... today's picture of the day is either the "Before" or "After" picture that we took... =) Can you tell which?

And to conclude, today's Verse of the Day comes from the NASB and from Hebrews. If you've been following Table Talk with GCC, you might've noticed that it stops at Hebrews 4:13 and then moves elsewhere today. Anyway, an encouragement from God's Word today to confidently draw near to God's throne of grace because Jesus knows our weaknesses and can help us in our times of need!

Hope everyone had a wonderful and restful spring break and that you're first week back won't be too harsh! =) Seeking warmth in Jesus in this cold Philly spring! =)

3/17/04, 1610 EST - Spring Break 2004 Pictures available here!

Haven't had time to update... yikes, gotta head off to class too though. =)

But yeah, hanging onto God's Word and trying to through faith and patience, inherit God's promises for my life! =)

3/18/04, 0007 EST - Wow... it's just barely past midnight and I can't seem to keep my eyes open... I'm getting old... haha. =) Yeah, last time I was talking to my dad, he kept saying "You're 21 and still young, you have your whole life ahead of you!"... and I kept saying "I'm not 21 yet! I'm not *that* old!"... maybe I am... maybe I am... being around old people all the time has old-ened me. =)

Anyway, seems like lots of us are so tired after just having gotten back from break... God has a way of leading me to the verses I need to hear when I need them most. Anyway, today's verse is just a reminder to hold fast to Jesus because He is faithful in all His promises... and in the meantime, we can encourage one another on as we run this race together. =)

Thinking about Easter and preparing my heart, mind, soul and body to devote myself wholly to knowing God and His purposes for my life. It's going to be a much needed time of extensive prayer in my life as I lay all of my hopes and dreams (or lack of) and concerns to my Heavenly Father in the upcoming 3 weeks beginning this weekend. Jesus come back and take us home soon!!!

3/19/04, 0001 EST - I can't even make it into tomorrow to make this update for March 19th... oh well, you'll just have to accept that it's for the 19th. Actually, if I just wait another few minutes... it'll be the 19th... =)

Prayer meeting tonight was just what the doctor (Jesus) ordered for me. =) Actually, I've been physically ailing the past few days as well, so if you're reading this, please just lift up a quick prayer that God would take my pain away.

Looking forward to spending some quality time with God and my brothers and sisters in Christ at GCC after Large Group at our annual Prayer Vigil to start off the Easter season. I feel weak and not ready for the upcoming three weeks... but even though I don't feel that I want to be doing this... I know I need to and that God'll give me the strength that I need...

Jesus, what lessons are you teaching me this year? Must I revisit the valleys every year...? Teach me to follow your ways and to have FAITH that You are using these experiences to mold me into the man you are calling me to be...

3/20/04, 0418 EST - Just got back a short while ago from our 2nd Annual GCC Prayer Vigil to kick off our Easter prayer and fasting and preparing our hearts in remembrance of Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior.

Yeah, it was a much-needed time of prayer and reflection for me and God's been showing me an awful lot these past few days...

Anyway, I'm going to depend fully on God starting today to be my strength and I want to be like the man in Psalms 1:1-3 who delights in God's law and who is like a tree firmly planted by streams of water... I want to have a eternal focus for my life! Jesus tells us to pray the Lord's Prayer in which the third line is "Thy kingdom come"... YES! Jesus, I want you to return! Come back quickly! What's life on this earth compared to heaven? Just want to sing...

I can only imagine what it will be like, when I walk by Your side...
I can only imagine, what my eyes will see, when Your Face is before me!
I can only imagine. I can only imagine.

Surrounded by Your Glory, what will my heart feel?
Will I dance for you, Jesus? Or in awe of You, be still?
Will I stand in Your presence, or to my knees will I fall?
Will I sing 'Hallelujah!'? Will I be able to speak at all?
I can only imagine! I can only imagine!

I can only imagine, when that day comes, when I find myself standing in the Son!
I can only imagine, when all I will do, is forever, forever worship You!
I can only imagine! I can only imagine!

- I Can Only Imagine, MercyMe

Yeah... these next three weeks are going to be awesome... I can just feel it. =) Thank you Lord for giving me a hope and a future! I want to devote myself to You knowing that You're waiting to reveal the best plans for my life to me one day. Can that day be soon, please? =)

3/21/04, 0001 EST - Day One has passed and God continues to be so faithful to me. =)

I just want to return to my first love... to re-experience that first excitement that came from knowing Jesus... the passion and the joy that came from knowing my Lord and Savior. So I want to boast only of this... that my God is the most loving, just and righteous Being in the whole universe and I want to understand and know Him so much more!

Oh yeah, as the next three weeks lead us into Easter, I want to invite you to join me in reading one chapter of John per day to remember Jesus. (This is in addition to whatever else is satisfying your daily spiritual bread! =P)

3/22/04, 0043 EST - Wow. Today was an awesome day and I think I've just rediscovered something about myself. =)

One of the things that I thrive on is visiting people... and apparently, I just haven't been doing it enough! Today was the first chance I've had in weeks (I hope it hasn't be a month!) to actually take time to do my "rounds". =) I got to spend some time talking to lots of people who I hardly ever see throughout the week and some who I haven't seen in the past three/four weeks! Anyway, I guess I realize that one way that I can express God's love that I experience daily to others is by just dropping by to say "Hi! =)" and spend a moment just catching up and seeing how things are going in their lives. So, thank you to those of you who contributed tonight to helping me come to this realization. =) So yeah, I plan to and want to and hope to be able to visit lots more during the remaining 6 or so weeks we have this semester. Please pray for me so that I can get my work done so I have time to visit! =) And while you're at it, can you pray that God'll show me where my future is? I'm kind of all over the place right now. =)

Another thing I realized today is that I actually spend more time praying than I realize. =) I was getting down on myself that I just don't pray enough and that I don't spend enough time with God! When you think about it, most of us probably spend between 2-4 hours each day in eating (think about the time it takes to go get the food or prepare it and clean-up times as well!)... whereas, how many minutes (dare I ask hours?) do we actually spend with God? So while I know God's been slowly transforming me over the course of the past couple years, and that through the grace of God, I've been able to spend time with Him on a pretty regular, consistent basis, I still felt that it was inadequate... but! today, as I was walking back to my room in the faraway kingdom known as the Highrises from the Sansom Grad Towers, I realized that I wander around just talking to God and tossing up random prayers on a pretty regular basis... when I'm studying, walking down Locust Walk, listening to people as I visit or sometimes even sitting in class, I'm singing praise songs and talking to Jesus. Call me weird or a freak, but He's so worth it. =)

Wow. That was a mouthful but I guess I just wanted to share than that since God has given us the right to be called His Children, we should be like the little child who longs to run to his/her father and tell Him about everything that is going on in our lives every moment of every day! Yeah... God is soooo GOOD to me!!! =)

So, here's a song to sing today as you go to classes and work and whatnot...

Every move I make, I make in You
You make me move, Jesus
Every breath I take I breathe in You
Every step I take, I take in You
You are my way, Jesus
Every breath I take, I breathe in You

Waves of mercy
Waves of grace
Everywhere I look
I see Your face
Your love has captured me
O my God, this love
How can it be?

- Every Move I Make, David Ruis, © 1996 Mercy/Vineyard Publishing

Oh yeah, and, considering these new revelations that I've had today, I've also decided to change some of the things I had intended to try to do over the next three weeks... yeah, I have no idea what I was thinking, and if you do (psst, BP) you may have figured out according to what I've just shared what and why I've changed. =)

Lastly, today is Day Three so read John 3. Have a blessed day! =)

3/23/04, 0052 EST - Haha, I love today's verse. =) Mmm, God's word is yummy! And His words are a joy and delight of my heart! I'm so greatful to know that God has called me (and you!) by name!!! Praise God! =)

Day 3 was awesome. Huh, 3... and today is the 3rd month... and it's the twenty-3rd day... and there's five+3 months left until the digits of my age add up to 3... haha, ok, I'm delusional. It's late and way past my bedtime, please excuse me. =)

What did I want to share from today... oh yes! Come swim at Pottruck with me! Swimming is most awesome! It's such a great opportunity to pray. =) Once you get your body going into auto-swim mode, you just pray pray pray and talk to God as you glide through the water. =) Oh it was such a great time and I missed it. I haven't swam in like... well, not counting spring break... nearly a month! So I got my first 80 laps in for March... I think. Haha, I don't think I'll be able to make it tomorrow though... maybe Wednesday and/or Thursday... we shall see. =)

Hope you've had a chance to read John... today we shall continue into John 4 and read about Jesus as He continues His ministry back in the early first century. =)

Have a blessed Tuesday!

3/24/04, 0950 EST - So much to do... but desiring to worship my Heavenly Father in spirit and in truth. =)

Have a blessed Wednesday. =)

3/25/04, 0232 EST - Just got back from EH Labs where I was trying to get a case write-up completed... I must work on that now because if I don't get it done before I go to sleep... I will not survive this upcoming two weeks. =P

Freshman/Junior Prayer Meeting was much blessing and the turnout was greater than expected. God is good! =)

REALLY REALLY needing to hear God's purpose for this life of mine. Feelin' the heat as my college years seem to be approaching an end and as I'm supposed to be thinking about a job where I will succeed... I need God-given motivation and confirmation that the path I'm headed down IS the ONE that HE has prepared for ME. =) And WOW. God speaks through His Infallible Word. Today's verse is a promise I will cling to. Please make known to me my path of life, Jesus!!!

3/26/04, 0128 EST - I think I'm going to get used to the nice brisk cold walk from EH, my study place, to my dorm in High Rise East... Check out the distance on MapQuest or you can see the buildings more clearly on the Penn Campus Map. Basically, it's from 36th and Sansom to 39th and Locust. So... three blocks west, two blocks south. =)

Anyway, I'm amazed that it's already Friday and I'm thankful that God has gotten me through this week. One week down... two to go. =) It just gets sooo much better... haha, this week may determine the outcome of whether I survive the next! But I trust that God will carry me through. =)

Anyway, I feel a bit more at ease than yesterday but still a lot of thoughts going through my head at 1,000 rpm's regarding my future... where am I headed, God? Please show me the way!

3/27/04, 0010 EST - Not much to say... it was warm today. =)

I want to work for the food which endures to eternal life from Jesus. Might that work be in the field of consulting? Maybe? Please tell me God! =)

Meanwhile, papers/projects/finals/craziness going down this week. Much to do this weekend. A little prayer for me please. =)

3/28/04, 1120 EST - God speaks to me daily through His Word, in times of prayer, through other people... and today He spoke again through Pastor Young. =)

God's Timing. Wait for it. In this world of picky, want-it-now consumerism, we can't be picky and impatient with God. Just keep in mind "two". Well, according to Pastor Young, even though it's two, it's three. =)

Trust God
Wait on God
Obey God

Pretty cool, huh? =) And today's verse goes right along with that from Jeremiah... God declares that He knows the plans He has for us and so when we call on Him and pray to Him, we will find Him when we seek Him with all our hears!

Have a blessed Lord's Day and don't forget to spend time with your Heavenly Father who loves you sooo much! =)

3/29/04, 0051 EST - Thinking about TWO again. Just to refresh your memory from yesterday, I mentioned how God speaks to me through other people, specifically Pastor Young, who shared on "God's Timing."

Trust God
Wait on God
Obey God

Anyway, I realize how faithful God has been to me even these past few days and I know I couldn't have gotten through these days without God. I'm going to TRUST God this week and for the rest of my life to fulfill His Plans for me. =)

Today's verse was doubly awesome. Pastor Young shared it with us during Sunday's Sermon... and it came up during my own personal time with God... remarkable, huh? God just wanted to remind me to TRUST Him and to place my times in His Almighty Loving Hands! =)

Additional News: I've put up a bunch of new pictures so go check it out! =P

Thinking I want to head out and be a fish this morning so I'm off to bed. Have a blessed Monday and a beautiful start to Jesus Week! Don't forget to go to www.pennforjesus.com for this week's activities!

3/30/04, 0140 EST - How the time flies. =)

God promises to instruct and teach me in the way I should go. Placing my life into His hands and trusting Him completely day by day. These next two weeks are going to be the first test of my trust. =)

Have a blessed Tuesday!

4/2/04, 1142 EST - Wow, my entry for the last day of March was ridiculously long! =)

Anyway, my nap the night I would've updated for April 1st turned into a much-needed deep slumber. So, I didn't get to put up my April 1st edition NEWS that I had intended to... haha, maybe next year. =P

Today begins the end to the finish line. Papers, finals, projects, problem sets, cases, etc. I will prevail! But only with the help of my Father in Heaven!

So if you've been following in reading a Chapter of John everyday... today you should be on Day 14, hence John Chapter 14. Today's verse comes from John 12... Jesus tells us that we need to die to ourselves in order to gain it all. In other places in the bible, we are asked... what good is it for a man to gain it all here in this world but to lose our souls? Yeah, live for the ETERNAL. Live for HEAVEN. This world sucks because of sin and I HATE it. But I'm called to LIVE as a LIGHT in this world until the day JESUS comes back to take us HOME!!!! Woohoo! Looking forward to that day. =)

Oh yeah, Left Behind #12, The Glorious Appearing is out! I shouldn't be reading it but I am... haha, we want to see JESUS lifted HIGH!!!!

Another comment... www.thefacebook.com is evil!! haha, thanks for wasting my time <you know who you are! grr! =P> Haha, so, be my friend! =D

Alrighty, have a blessed Friday and see most of you at Large Group tonight at 7PM at DRL A-1! =)

4/3/04, 1225 EST - Updates this week will be short and simple. Pressed for time and seeking Jesus. =)

Let's love one another throughout this week and always. =)

And to those of you participating in the last week of the Daniel Fast... press on! God will be your strength!

4/4/04, 0010 EST - Daylight Savings Time today. Hopefully, you managed to change your clock and lost an hour... this is a very bad week to be losing an hour... but it can't be helped, huh? =)

I'm still not realizing that it's already April and that school will be over in less than a month... ridiculous! After this week, I'll be completely done with 1/3 of my classes... isn't that crazy? But that's why this week is going to wreck me. =) Haha, sooo much to do. But my strength comes from Jesus and I know it'll be alright.

As we go into the Passion week, let's try to remember Jesus in all that we do all week long. =) Don't forget that Jesus is the WAY and the TRUTH and the LIFE. =) He's worth it ALL. Let go of your worries, concerns, selfish ambitions, and LIVE life for the PURPOSE you were created for!

Last week of the 21-day fast... press on and seek God for strength each day! He will provide! I guarantee it! =)

Just a random thought: My Driver's License doesn't lie about my weight anymore. =P I don't feel any different though... weird, huh? =)

4/5/04, 0241 EST - Just got back from EH computer lab... It's ridiculously cold and windy for APRIL!!!!

And thus begins the Passion Week. =)

God is good! Wanted to start by sharing one of the verses that I'm clinging to as I face this week... "Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance. Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything. If any of you lacks wisdom, he should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to him." James 1:2-5 =) Trials? Too much to do? Think "Happy Happy Joy Joy!" (anyone remember where that's from? =P) It's going to be a great week of developing perseverance! =)

Haha, anyway, I *finally* managed to finish my paper for HIST431 that I've been working on since last Tuesday...? Spent 6-7 hours sitting in the EH computer lab typing away... dang, this was one of my slowest papers EVER written... 20 pager to follow in the next two days.

LGST Presentation is looking pretty impressive. I'm looking forward to it.

LGST Final... shouldn't be that bad... it's *only* worth 40%... =)

Enough with school though. I think God's been telling me lately to ASK... I seem to have read "Ask whatever you wish and God will answer" in one form or other at least 4 times in the past few days. =) Maybe the reason I don't have answers to some of the questions I've been asking of God is that I haven't really been asking in faith? Is it right to ask God for a career and a wife and a happy family and to know what I'm doing with the rest of my life right now? =P Haha, yeah yeah, I can ask all I want and God will answer... the question then is... when? Obviously not today. =)

Ok, time to dive into this week with Jesus by my side every step of the way. Have a blessed Monday! =)

4/6/04, 0029 EST - Once again returned from EH... it's mad cold. Haha, left my paper stuff back there... I'll be up ALL night long writing Tuesday to Wednesday... mmm... need to sleep tonight when I have a chance. Today's verse is along the lines of yesterday. So I'm leaving the post up. =) LGST220 Final today from 3-430PM. Please pray. =) Ok, have a great day! Thank You Jesus for this opportunity you give me to trust in You and for this education I'm receiving! =)

4/7/04, 1900 EST - I'm back in my room... after 21 hours of having been out. =)

I was in EH Library from 10PM yesterday till about 1PM today... (well, I took some breaks in between =P) writing papers and whatnot. Dang. God is SOOO GOOD. =)

Feels good. I'm almost free. Looking forward to tomorrow's Thursday service... Passion Week has definitely been a tough week but Jesus suffered so much more than anything I ever will so that I could know my Heavenly Father and have a relationship with Him! Thank you Jesus!

Praising God as I prepare to head out again for another evening of workin' hard to be a good student for my Lord. THERE IS NO ONE LIKE MY GOD!!!! =)

4/8/04, 0929 EST - Oops. Apparently I forgot to upload my update yesterday. Haha, I've been so out of it. I even forgot what day it was! =) (So that's why I'm leaving it up. =P)

Anyway, if anyone else has been having a rough week/day/month/semester(?), just take heart and be joyous of the testing that is going on in our lives! Why? Because tribulations bring perseverance; and perseverance, character; and character, hope! We have HOPE because God gave us His LOVE through the Holy Spirit! =) Whenever I read this, I somehow think of Yoda... except his was a warning..."Fear leads to anger, anger leads to hate, hate leads to suffering
and suffering leads to the Dark Side." No fear but joy in our tribulations! Haha. =)

Ok, time to go get ready for classes. LGST Final Presentation today!

And see you all at 7:00PM at Ralston House (37th and Chestnut) for our Thursday service in remembrance of the Last Supper and Jesus' last week on this earth!

4/9/04, 0112 EST - Today is Good Friday. Let's remember the sacrifice Jesus made for us on the cross. He took upon Himself all of OUR sins so that we could know God and be reconciled to Him.

Thinking about the suffering Jesus endured (think of the Passion movie) for us, all our sufferings pale in comparison! Paul tells us that our present sufferings are not worthy to be compared with the glory that will be revealed to us on that day when we can stand/kneel/worship before the Father and hear Him say "Well done, good and faithful servant"! I'm excited. Jesus is coming back soon and I can't wait to hear Him beckon us home. =)

Thank you Jesus for everything, even the trials and struggles that I face every day.

4/10/04, 0057 EST - Twenty One days of deriving my strength from God has come to an end... I've found that the best times of my life have been in times of fasting and being totally dependent on God for everything! God has proven himself faithful to me year after year after year since the beginning of this century! Crazy, huh? This year, as the three weeks prior to Easter approached... I was really dreading the fast. Why? Because I'm a weak sinful foolish man. But on the other hand, I'm living at my best when I'm not relying on myself. I'm wondering what's approaching next year... Next year is going to be a major decision point time in my life... and in the Bible, so many Men of God have sought God for 40 days in fasting and prayer before making a decision or starting ministry. Another reason why I dread next year... haha. If it's God's Will, what can I say? I hope it's not though. I like food. =)

Anyway, Romans is full of so much wisdom. I wish I could be more like Apostle Paul... But yeah, I totally agree that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor any created things, will be able to separate me from the LOVE of God, which is in Jesus! =)

Random Comment: While searching for something to do for this summer, I came across a question on an application asking me about my typing speed (Words Per Minute). Not having any idea, I googled "typing speed test" and came up with this site. Anyway, my results surprised me!

Gross Speed: 146 WPM
Net Speed: 139 WPM
Accuracy: 95%

Haha, that was my best attempt... which puts me in the top 10 typists of the week. =P I averaged about 110-120 WPM throughout my attempts. I guess if all else fails, I can always get a job somewhere as a typist, eh? =)

Off to read the Glorious Appearing... (Left Behind #12) about Jesus' return at the end of time! Come Lord Jesus Come!! =)

4/12/04, 0214 EST - It's good to be alive!

I'm so blessed to know that Jesus came, He died, and He rose again so that I could approach my Heavenly Father and be reconciled with Him.

I have a living hope of an inheritance in heaven thanks to my Savior! =)

Resurrection Sunday was an amazing day... started off bright and early (well, it was still dark, actually =P) to head out to our joint Sunrise Service at Emmanuel where Pastor Matt gave the morning message. Because of Christ's resurrection, we can have a living hope for both eternity and for today!

Our Sunday Service at Meyerson B-1 was packed and we had more people than seats! Praise God! All the testimonies and Pastor Young's message were ultimately powerful and I hope that if there were any seekers in the congregation, that God stirred something in their hearts that they might come to know Christ for themselves and know true joy and peace!

We have an awesome God who is NEAR us, wants to SPEAK to us, wants to be INTIMATE with us, wants to OPEN our eyes, and ultimately, to TRANSFORM our lives. =)

I've been reading The Glorious Appearing (Left Behind #12) and it's been making me long for heaven so much more! I can't wait to experience the fullness of Jesus and to be in His presence for all eternity! =)

4/13/04, 0854 EST - Want to be like a baby. =) Need to long for the pure milk of the Word of God that nourishes me and gives me strength... I think that's why I'm sick.

Exam-time coming up. Off to study some. =)

Have a wonderful Tuesday!

4/14/04, 0034 EST - After having slept 18 hours yesterday... I'm still tired and sick and wanting to sleep... however, I'm completely out of clothes so I need to stay up waiting for my laundry to finish up... which makes me wonder... why are all the machines taken on a Tuesday night? So my laundry is on the 8th floor tonight... =)

Yeah, yesterday was rather interesting... I started feeling unwell on Monday and had a hard time staying awake in class... which doesn't usually happen to me. I came home after my class ended at 2PM and after taking care of some stuff, I decided to take some Nyquil and take a nap around 3PM... I must've woken around 7PM, made/ate dinner, and immediately went back to sleep thinking I'd get up at midnight. My alarm rings, I shut it off because I still don't feel well. So I go back to sleep. I finally wake up at 9AM and force myself out of bed and into the shower even though I don't feel too well. Why? I had an exam at 1:30PM that was worth about 30% of my grade. =) Yeah, So I study for about an hour after I shower and then head to my 10:30AM class... hard time staying awake and feeling not-so-well. So class ends, and I study some more from noon to 1:30PM. Exam rolls around and it goes by. We'll see how that went next week. =)

Haha, some praises... I got back 80% of my grades for one class... I'm actually doing pretty well in at least one class! Praise God! =P

I'm back to eating normal foods. =) My freezer is overflowing with good food! Call me, IM me, e-mail me and come help me finish it!!! =P

Today's verse(s) are from about a week or so ago... So many good verses from the past three weeks that it didn't get a chance to be posted. =P Just looking through my notes today reminded me of an interesting conversation I had a while back... can you guess what on? =) Haha, yeah, gist of it was along the lines of: it's God's Plan, not my plan nor my parents' plan, so don't fuss and let God handle it the way He knows best. =) Hey, I've only just recently turned 20, and have a whole century of life ahead of me (iff Jesus doesn't come back before that!) so what's the hurry, right? =) It's great to be young!! =P

New Pictures of the Day. Lots of food. =)

Wow, this is a long entry. I guess I'll stop right here and save the rest of my thoughts for another time. =)

Have a wonderful Wednesday and don't forget to come help me eat my food! =D

4/15/04, 0120 EST - Wow. Hard to believe that we're already halfway through April!!!

This rainy-ness is maddening. =)

Praying and waiting to hear back from this and that place regarding internships for this summer.

Study abroad grades are apparently in. I need to go get my credits transferred.

Finished reading The Glorious Appearing. Can't wait till Jesus returns! =)

Lots of short random thoughts today.

Where'd the Spanish department move to? And where're the LTAM, Sociology, and Music departments?

Didn't get all the classes I had intended to take next semester. Do I even want to pursue that course of study? =)

Need to spend more time with my best friend... Jesus, I need more of you!

Summer is nearly upon us! Looking forward to the Six Flags Magic Mountain trip!

8 days till Hey Day? Does that mean I only have eight days left of being a Junior?!

Less than a week and a half of classes left.

Just printed my resume. Thinking I'm going to mail a hardcopy with a cover letter that I need to think up to an office in LA... maybe that'll get their attention?

Ooh, this is nice paper. And it was free, too! =)

Time flew tonight as I visited... I thrive on visiting people... I'll definitely miss that during the summer... and after I graduate?! <gasp!>

Dinner tonight was awesome. =D Steak cooked to perfection (as always!) and tonkatsu (pork cutlet) with a bit of rice, of course. =) Mmm. There is still way too much food in my fridge... if only people would help me eat it! <hint hint> =P

Still a bit sick... stuffy nose. It's time to get well!

I wonder who you are... yeah you... you're reading this right now and I want to know who you are! =P

Jesus is life. Jesus is awesome. So, by the transitive property of equality... Life is awesome!! =)

I don't want to move out... Gotta pack up all my stuff and then move it back in again in the Fall??

Looking forward to going home... I miss cruisin' along the Cali coastline watching the sun fade away into the ocean... the beauty of God's marvelous creation!

Now, if only the passenger seat weren't always empty... =P

I should do the dishes... they're piling up. =)

I'm glad to have clean clothes... It just takes so long to fold and put everything away after it comes out of the dryer!

I'm wet. Rain, rain, go away! =)

Shine. Make 'em wonder what you've got! Hey! That goes along with today's verse! Just gotta live life so that others may see that my hope is in Jesus! =)

Ok, this list is getting too long. Time to go to bed. =)

Have a wonderful Thursday! =)

4/16/04, 0124 EST - Happy Spring Fling? Be safe and stuff!

Praise God for beautiful weather!

Quick blurb to add to yesterday's ramblings which will stay up another day. =)

God is love and commands us to, above all, cover one another in love... Have a blessed Friday and come on out to Large Group at 7PM at DRL A-1 to experience the fellowship of the body of Christ and lots of agape and phileo love! =)

4/18/04, 0235 EST - The weather has been beautiful and spring/summer approaches rather quickly...

Haksu, punk, look what you did to me!! Haha, you'll probably never see this... but grrr.... I can't believe you. <sigh>

Spring Fling... rowdy, noisy, drunk and obscene people congregating everywhere being... lost. They need Jesus... and unless someone tells them, how will they ever know that they need Him? Hrmmm. So let's be active in our faith! =)

Yeah... it's too warm... I can't sleep... and if I keep the fan on... I'll get sicker... agh!!! It's a dilemma!

Let's remember the Lord today and all that He has done for us! And let's be witnesses of His grace everywhere we step foot throughout the day!

4/18/04, 1513 EST - Two conflicting trains of thought traveling through my head... on collision course? Tearin' me in two different directions! It's a ridiculously warm day and I'm running on low sleep so maybe I'm not myself and I need to sit down and pray (and sleep? =P). =)

Anyway, I guess I'm once again questioning what/where my calling in this life lies... there's only one thing for certain, and that's that I will live this life for Jesus and wherever He leads, I intend to follow. =) And I guess I should be open to the fact that maybe where He leads me will not coincide with what my parents expect of me.

So, I thought I was pretty sure that I'm called to serve God in the marketplace and to provide financial support to the work God is doing around the world through churches and missions organizations. Doctor Steve spoke today about giving freely and joyfully from Exodus 35:10-36:1 in which the Israelites gave and gave and gave until Moses had to command them to stop giving! Isn't that ridiculous? =) I know that I want to be part of God's community in giving as I get older, eventually getting a job in which I have income so that I can give more to God's work. =) I've read about business men who have devoted to giving God more than the "tithe" and opened back accounts that were for the sole purpose of giving. Putting 20-30% of pre-tax income into these accounts to be used for God's work, they found themselves being blessed more and more abundantly such that they were able to give even more and more of their total income to God! I want to do that! =) When Pastor Young shared about the total pledges from our church leadership, I almost wept (I don't cry, but since Jesus wept, I'm allowed to weep =P). I don't know... something about just hearing how God has provided so much for this church and my small part in being able to participate in God's work really moved me.

So while that train charges forward giving me some sort of purpose in my business education and hope for some kind of future after graduation (which seems to loom closer and closer every day!), I've had missions on my mind. I guess with the barrage of missions presentations, church plants and whatnot going on at our church these days, maybe it's also on everyone else's minds, too? But it's just interesting that today's Verse happened to be one on how will people know God if someone doesn't go and tell them about Him? And Doctor Steve shared about how there are hundreds of thousands of willing people who don't have anyone to disciple them... And then, thinking about my background... growing up in Mexico... being somewhat fluent in Spanish... having had an opportunity to see the need in Latin America during my semester abroad... what to do? what to do?? God, what am I doing here? Where do you want me to go? What's the next step in my life? You've always been so faithful in preparing me from one stage in my life to the next... can you tell me sometime, soon?

4/19/04, 0001 EST - Shortly after my previous entry in which I spelt out some of the concerns on my mind, my Heavenly Father proceeded to remind me that I just need to humble myself before Him and cast all my anxiety on Him... that He may exalt me at the proper time because He cares for me!! God is awesome!! =P

4/20/04, 0438 EST - Just got in from a ridiculously long Marketing Research meeting. Final Presentation in... 9 hours? =)

Anyway, God reminded me today that He is too great and beyond my understanding. =) Who am I to demand of God? Yeah. =) Just waiting on Him for His perfect timing. =)

4/21/04, 0004 EST - Marketing Research is completely over today. =) I think our Final Presentation went pretty well. =) I think I'm discovering that God has given me this weird gift of being able to give presentations...?

Anyway, I was going through my e-mail and cleaning up my mailboxes (because I couldn't send any messages because I exceeded my quota of 35MB and had over 45MB worth of files in my account!)... and discovered this old message that I had sent out back in the days when I was a young 18 year old sophomore wondering what was going on in my life. =) (New picture of the day from around that time period =P)

Looking back at how I was nearly 1.5 years ago as my 2nd year of college was just beginning, I can see how God has really been working in my life. Moreover, I notice that it's always the same concerns that get me in a shambles year after year after year! Some day I need to learn that it's not worth it to fret about what God's doing, because, hey, we gotta admit that we can't understand His perfect timing!

So yeah, I was just encouraged by how faithful God is 1.5 years after I shared this with my Family in Christ and I thought I might share it again. =) (It's really long, eh? I get wordy sometimes, don't I? =P) And you know what's even crazier? Today's verse is all about offering up ourselves as living sacrifices to God, being transformed by the renewing of our minds and not conforming to this world so that we may prove what the will of God is!... topics which are present in this message from my past...

"-----Original Message-----
From: Park, Daniel
Sent: Sunday, October 27, 2002 5:27 AM
Subject: To my Family in Christ =)

GREETING
Dan, a servant of Jesus Christ,
To the saints and faithful brethren in Christ who are in… =)

Yeah… I wish I were able to write as eloquently as Paul as I write this e-mail to my brothers and sisters in Christ who are back home in Los Angeles as well as those who are here in Philadelphia with me and others who are scattered across the world. =P

I haven’t really been in touch with some of you and I haven’t really made an effort to know others and for that I apologize. =( I wish I could get to know so many more of you and hopefully throughout the years, God’ll give me that opportunity. =)

I originally intended to just write to the MOGs (Men of God) and WOGs (Women of God) in my MFX (Martyrs for Christ) family back at LOL (Light of Love) who are my fellow SOGs (Servant of God) to share about how I’ve been doing out here and share praise reports as well as prayer requests. (we like acronyms back home =P) And then again I also wanted to write to all my brothers and sisters in Christ who’re scattered across the world. And just Thursday I decided I wouldn’t because it would’ve been an unpleasant thing to read. And tonight, I feel that I just want to share what’s been going on in my life with you. =)

I don’t really know where to start so I’ll just start with the past few days and just go from there. (sorry if this ends up really long and wordy and hard to read and hard to understand but I hope that I can make sense to most of you) =)

I suppose that it’s Sunday morning now and since I have an extra hour tonight, I’ll just use it to write this message. =)

Anyway, the last few nights were our Passion Revival Conference and I feel so refreshed and alive right now! =) I really feel that God wants to speak to me and I just need to slow down and really really listen for his voice.

Gosh. This e-mail really isn’t flowing as easily as I had thought it would, huh?

Hmm. Ok. I think I’ll try something different.

Praise Reports:

-          I’m here and alive at Penn studying hard and learning a lot at school. =)

-          God’s really been changing my heart the past few weeks. Especially the last few nights. I really want to live a radical life out here on the not-so-radical-as-California East Coast. =P

-          I have two “home” churches where I have so many brothers and sisters who love me (right? =P) and care for me!

-          God really spoke to me through Pastor David the last three nights at Passion Revival

-          It’s amazing how awesome God is and how much grace He has for me. It’s hard to be sad and depressed when you know that God loves you and cares so much about you!

Prayer Requests:

-          I’m usually a very patient person (I like to think anyway) but after Passion last Thursday I felt so impatient and dissatisfied with things in my life. Kinda stopped. Looked around. And wondered… “what am I doing with my life?” and my answer was… “not much.” Really. Yeah, so what that I’m here at Penn? I know God brought me here but for what purpose? Felt like I wasn’t living for God and that my Christian life was becoming very routine… that I was conforming and blending in with everyone else… and that I really wasn’t doing much to further God’s kingdom. Like… where is my sense of urgency? =) if we don’t do God’s work, who will, right? So what if I got my dual-degree with a double/triple/quadruple/quintuple concentration and minors left and right if I didn’t live my life for God? Only when all nations have heard the name of Jesus will he return, so what am I doing here sitting around and living a “Christian” life that consists of going to church and reading the bible because “I’m supposed to” instead of going out and doing something about the fact that there are people who don’t know Christ?? Anyway, to make a long story shorter, right now is the time when God is working in my life and molding me and changing me into the Man of God he wants me to be. And my calling right now is to study hard and grow in discipline because when the time is right, God can do so much more with me AFTER he’s prepared me than if I were to quit school now and go running around trying to preach God’s word on my own strength. (Thanks PT!) So I guess this boils down to a couple different prayer requests then:

o        That God will make me into who He wants me to be.

o        That He would give me a clearer vision of my purpose here as I seek him daily.

o        That I *would* seek him daily and not just because “I’m supposed to” but because I have a unquenchable hunger in my heart to know and understand God’s word and his promise for my life.

o        Missions stuff. I don’t know how God wants to use me. I think I do and when I think I know what God is going to do, I’m writing my own version of what God wants to do and that doesn’t really work. So once upon a time, I thought I was called to study hard, do business, and finance missions. =) Yep, I’ll make money and I’ll send other people out for God. Then… when I learned about how God can use business as a method of spreading the Gospel into countries that reject Christians but embrace businesses bringing money (and secretly the Gospel!)… I thought, “oh! Maybe I can do that then!”… and lately, I’ve been feeling that God’s actually already equipped me to be a field agent. Take NIKO for instance. I like to think of it as a 5-day out-in-the-wilderness, learn-to-meet-God-trust-God-surrender-to-God missions training experience that I’ve come to love. So during the Missions Presentation we had at GCC (Grace Covenant Church not Glendale Community College)… I really felt that God’s been preparing me when I heard of how the team in Peru climbed up this mountain to share the gospel with a small village at the top. Wow. Yeah, we climbed lots of mountains in NIKO but we never got to share the gospel… our reward was something different… =P (Yeah, so I just realized that half of you will understand maybe half of what I write and the other half will understand the other half of what I write… yeah… maybe it’ll make sense though…) =) Anyway, yeah, so more specifically, please pray for me that God would show me if/where I can serve him through short-term missions during the summer of 2003.

-          People – That God would continue to fill me with a heart and love for people. I can’t love with my own strength but I need God’s love to work though me. And I guess that God would use people to really encourage me in this race of Christian life, would rebuke and correct me when I need to be, would show me God’s love and grace, and would be the family that I can depend on while I’m out here at Penn. I do so miss the close-ness of everyone at LOL. There are blessings in having a small church as well as blessings in having a big church

-          The Call LA!! 40-day Revolution. What more is there to say? (www.thecallrevolution.com)

-          Prayer – God’s been calling me to pray more. A *lot* more. Yeah, but I want to and I’m trying to. Please pray for me that I won’t get discouraged.

-          Spiritual attacks – The more radically we want to live for Jesus, the more spiritual assaults we encounter. Satan doesn’t care about “Christians” who’re living complacent lives since they don’t threaten his kingdom. I know that the more I seek God, the harder it’ll be but I know I need to press on and continue seeking his grace in my life. And I can know that I’m living for Jesus when I come under attack.

God is awesome. I can’t help but smile because of the joy I have in my heart. I’m still jumping up and down inside and smiling because of everything that God’s done in my life these past 18 years. I gotta learn to be patient, not try to figure out my whole life at once… and just follow wherever and *whenever* God leads me. =)

Yeah… if I’m faithful in the little things, God’ll use it to build me up each and every day. =)

Hmm… it’s getting late and I need to be up in a little bit over 2 hours to meet with God again.

I hope I’ve been a blessing and encouragement to you in this e-mail… in any case, let’s live this life to the fullest giving all the glory to God! =)

See you in the morning Philadelphia… and can’t wait to see everyone else, whenever that day may be. =)

Your brother in Christ,

Dan"

Just out of curiosity... did you actually make it all the way down here? If so, let me know and I'll make you dinner! =P

4/22/04, 0024 EST - Int'l Fin & US Empire presentations completed today. Time to catch up on some sleep. =P

Today is my LAST day of classes as a JUNIOR... can't believe how quickly these past years have gone... but I know God has a lot in store for me for next year and beyond, so we'll see what happens. =)

4/23/04, 0207 EST - I can't believe that my classes are over. Junior year is nearly done. I just moved in! What the hey! =P

Yes, that's right. Today is Hey Day. That means that us juniors shall become seniors. Wow, does that mean we're old? Siiick! I can't believe I'm a *senior*!! It's ok though. I'll never be as old as some people... haha, it's good to be 20. =P

God has a sense of humor. =) So for today, I have been reminded that I place my trust in God. =) Even though I might be anticipating with fear the events that might unfold today, I know that I can place my trust in God... cuz hey, what can mere man do to me? =P Haha, check out the Picture(s) of the Day from last year's chaos. It reminded me of the tear gas and craziness of clashes between protestors and police while I was in Chile. =P

And then another thought... the psalmist asks what can mere man do to me... but what if it's woman who will cause the fear? Haha. It's fun to read God's Word and to listen to Him. =) What did He tell you today? =)

4/24/04, 0242 EST - Hey Day and Grad Nite have come and gone and I'm already thinking about what I might be saying as I stand before my brothers and sisters who've run this race with me so faithfully next year... wow. God has been so good and faithful to me and I hope I'll be able to express it in words... =) But I shan't cry... that wouldn't be me... haha, but maybe I might weep... =D

Anyway, I finally got around to posting tons of new pics, so go check 'em out! =)

It's been a long day and I'm tired... but I think God's telling me lately that I need to just trust God alone. I really enjoyed tonight and I just want to keep singing...

When I Think about the Lord,
How He saved me, how He raised me,
how He filled me, with the Holy Ghost.
How He healed me, to the uttermost.

When I Think about the Lord,
how He picked me up and turned me around,
how He placed my feet on solid ground

It makes me wanna shout,
Hallelujah,
Thank you JESUS,
LORD, your worthy, of all the glory, and all the honor,
and all the praise...

- When I Think About The Lord, Hillsongs

Thank you Lord for your faithfulness and grace! I know you're in control and I just want to place my hope in You!!! =)

4/25/04, 0216 EST - Wow that was a pleasant surprise... =)

I guess one thing that's changed about me since I came back from abroad is that I'm a bit less reserved than I used to be... =) Haha, back in Santiago, I ended up having to go out to check out the nightlife in order to make friends... come to think of it, my second night in Santiago was spent roaming Avenida Suecia, one of Santiago's main tourist bar/club districts. Anyway, since I didn't drink or what not, I went to hang out w/ my new Council friends and we had fun "dancing" and what not. =) Haha, it was a bit weird at first given that I've never danced in my life but I loosened up over the course of 5 months to the point that I finally felt comfortable looking foolish and not caring by the time my time abroad ended. Well, one of the drawbacks to all this going out was that I had a set of clothes from which I could never get the smell of cigarette smoke out. All the clubs/discos were always so smoky and gross.

So where is this going? I guess to say that I had a lot of fun tonight at Esperanza. (Check out the new pics!) Considering that I've always been one of those guys who refused to dance and would sit and eat the free food or whatever... (haha, I still remember that time the suite dragged Tom and me to some random dance... Tom and I had a nice fun time sitting outside wondering when we'd go home... =P), I had a great time! Thanks Josh and Steve (and Samir for threatening to hurt me if I didn't =P) for coercing me to go. =) Haha, it was a blast and I had a lot of fun making a fool of myself and tremendously enjoyed the fact that the air was clean and breathable and that there weren't people spilling drinks all over the place. =) It was also great worshiping God in the whole process! If you stayed till the end, you know what I mean. I wish we could worship like that EVERY day! =) Still singing aloud:

When we sing, hear our songs to You
When we dance, feel us move to You
When we laugh, fill our smiles with You
When we lift our voices louder still
Can You hear us, can You feel?

Chorus:
We love You Lord, we love You, we love You (repeat)

When we sing LOUD, hear our songs to You
When we dance ROUND, feel us move to You
When we laugh ALOUD, fill our smiles with You
When we lift our voices louder still
Can You hear us, can You feel?

Bridge:
And our love is big, our love is loud
Fill this place with this love now (4x)
(Fill our lungs, we sing it now) (last time)

We lift our voices louder still
Our God is near, Our God is here (repeat)

- Our Love Is Loud, David Crowder

Anyway, it's time for me to head to sleep... and worship God in a couple hours. =) Don't forget that whether we live or die, it's for the Lord and that our live are in His hands! =)

Have a blessed Lord's Day!!

4/26/04, 0149 EST - Just like I got sucked into theFacebook, it looks like I've been sucked into Xanga as well... but just like I hardly ever use Facebook, I doubt I'll use Xanga much... the only reason I signed up was that I've been pestered to join so that my faithful few who visit this website could comment if/when they wanted to... =) So, comment away! Haha, debating whether to copy my posts to Xanga whenever I update this site... but that would be almost daily... and it's too much work! I think something is in the works to update Xanga automatically every time my website gets updated but we'll see... =)

Anyway, today was a relatively unproductive but peaceful day. =) Sunday morning's message was very powerful and relevant given by missionary Hannah from China. God speaks through people to remind us of who He is so often... and today's message on eternal perspective reinforced many of the thoughts I've been having lately. =) Where is my eternal perspective? What am I really living for? It's all for Jesus and I just want to get home to my Father and hear Him say, "Well done, good and faithful servant!" =)

God promises that He will be with me and keep me wherever I go and that He will not forsake me! I know He's working in me to do His work and that He's far from being done with me... doh! That much longer before I can go home! =)

Heading into Reading Days and needing to get some stuff done to finish up this semester... looking forward to all the things God's going to do in me, through me, and for me in this upcoming year!

Living for God one day at a time! Life's an adventure and so exciting with Jesus leading the way! =)

4/27/04, 0203 EST - I am so unbelievably and ridicumously sore. I may be one of the younger soon-to-be-seniors that I know, but this twenty year-old body of mine is getting old... haha, I don't know how it's going to survive for the next century of life I'm anticipating if Jesus doesn't return before then... =) Why am I sore? My body definitely was not used to the demanding nature of Esperanza... haha, the physical toll was too great for me... =D That on top of all the physical activity I've done over the weekend. Frisbee throwing (where I nearly killed several innocent bystanders in the Quad) and playing catch after I bought a couple of baseballs in Center City when I went with Richard on Saturday. =) Need to recuperate! =D

In other news, I think all I've done in the past few days is eat and sleep. =) Thank you God for the food You provide and the rest that you give. It's nothing compared to what I'm anticipating in Heaven but it'll have to do for now. =) So yes, I plan to wake up tomorrow and study diligently.

Exams and papers coming up... Praising God for watching over me and keeping my feet upon His path and keeping me from slipping. =)

Three weeks to go until I'm back home... starting a countdown... Have a wonderful Tuesday of Reading Days all you Penn people! =P

Countdown till I'm back in Los Angeles: 21 days!

4/28/04, 1123 EST - Sleep. Eat. That's seem to be all I'm capable of doing these days. =)

So the plan for yesterday was to wake up around 8-9AM and study hardcore all day... yeah. did it happen? Not quite. I woke up around 9:30AM and Jen came over so that we could study International Finance (a class in which everyone I know is thoroughly confused...). Anyway, we decided to study in the living room and I promptly sat on my other bed to read... and promptly fell asleep. =) Haha, I must've dozed on and off because I recall reading a bit... but then I looked at my watch and it was 11:45AM and so I suggested we order lunch. Mmm... Papa John's... =) So I manage to study until the pizza arrives... and after we ate, it was pretty much over. I think I must've fallen asleep again till maybe 1 or 2PM... after which I decided, "enough!" and moved myself to the floor in front of my "office" area. =) And, since the floor is hard... I needed a sleeping bag... and a pillow... and fell asleep again till like 4PM. Man, I was ultra-unproductive. I've always said my room is the worst place to study as of this year and it was proven again yesterday! Sorry Jen! Hope you managed to be more productive than me! =)

Anyway, after that, I don't recall what happened the rest of the afternoon/evening. I don't remember being productive. By around 10PM, we headed over to EH to try to be productive there... I was. Somewhat. =) Finished up one paper, thought tons about another which I will finish up in a few hours, and finally, read through most of my finance notes. I guess I still have a lot ahead of me for today and tonight... but yesterday, I also discovered that I can sleep any and everywhere. =) PDR table, PDR floor, to begin with... and then, I finally spent the night in a KC lounge because it was the most efficient way to get what I needed to get done. So, I woke up this morning and discovered one of my eyes had fallen out and had gotten very dry... so I had to spend 10 minutes coaxing it back to life before putting it back in. That was interesting.

And why am I sitting here when I should be out studying? =) I don't know. But I am wrapping up now as the tasks my computer is currently performing are finishing up and I need to head out to print a paper, turn it in, and return some library books before heading back to my studyage. =)

In the meantime, I need God's grace and strength to finish up these next two days... after that, it's easy cruisin' w/ one last final next Wednesday and packin' up and thinkin' about headin' home...

Countdown till I'm back in Los Angeles: 20 days!

4/29/04, 0105 EST - Good morning! The next 15 hours promise to be crazy. =)

As we go through this Finals period, I guess I just wanted to remind all my brothers and sisters in Christ to not forget to spend time with God and meditating upon His Word! It's our source of power and wisdom because of God's grace towards us even while the world looks upon us as foolish for "wasting time" being "religious" when we could be more productive studying... haha, yeah right. My God is bigger than they are! =)

So, as the countdown to my exams continues, I shall trust in my Lord and Savior for continued strength and not in caffeine or other substances to keep me going! =)

Jesus, You're all that I need!

Countdown till I'm back in Los Angeles: 19 days!

4/30/04, 0136 EST - It's good to be finished for a short while. =) For those of you studying hardcore, keep pressing on and trust God and let me know if you need anything! I'm here for you!

Just thinking about how God uses us sometimes... He's so good. =)

Anyway, new PoDs from last year's Freshman/Sophomore Retreat! Oh, it was so much fun... hope all ya'll frosh/sophs can go! =)

Have a wonderfully blessed Friday! I know I will! =)

Countdown till I'm back in Los Angeles: 18 days!

5/1/04, 1049 EST - Wow. It's been an incredible past 24 hours... =) and what the?! How is it MAY already?! It can't be! I just moved in like... less than 4 months ago! It's not time to move-out yet, is it? Crazy!!!! =)

After the brain/body-draining past week that I've had, I had a chance to recover yesterday. God is so good. =) Anyway, just got back in my room a short while ago, so I apologize for the later than usual update. =)

So what'd I do on Friday? Woke up early as usual, around 0830 after having gone to bed around 0230... I seem to function great on 6 hours of sleep (two cycles for me!) and God just wakes me up to spend time with Him. It's been awesome. Thank you Lord! Oh yeah, Chadwick was also over last night and so I've added another place that I've slept over the past few days. =) I think I twitch at night... cuz I kept waking up when I would hit my head against my bed frame time and time again! It was ridiculous! I finally rotated 180 degrees on the floor so that my head was facing the other direction and I had no problems after that. =)

After my morning dwelling in His Word and presence, I had an interesting phone interview that I thought was hilariously ironic... let's just say that they kept asking "Can you hear me now?" and I really couldn't... guess who it was? =P

After my first ever interview, I had the rest of the day to... yeah, exactly! I had nothing to do! I spent the rest of the morning doing directory maintenance until lunch w/ a Cali freshman brother that I'd been meaning to meet up with for a while... that doesn't tell you much cuz there's so many Cali bros this year! West Coast!! SoCal!! Haha, I don't know why there's so many of them here this year... and why they're not Stanford rejects like me... so much for bonding over that! =P

After lunch... spent the afternoon playing catch w/ Andy in the Quad. Had a good time just throwing the ball around and realizing how bad we are. =P After that, we went back up to the Magee suite where one of our '05 sisters got caked... It was time and there was no escaping it... we let her off last year, when we just pretended we were going to... but she caked herself! Haha, that was great. =P

After that, had to run back to my room because we had famgroup stuff to take care of... =) Amidst the craziness of my papers and final this past week, I've also been conducting two covert operations that have both successfully complete and have now been declassified. =) On the one hand, our servants team wanted to bless our famgroup members with care packages but also with something that they could have to remember this past year by... so, we decided on making a photo bookmark... and while that was going on, I guess I realized that I'd better organize something to get gifts for our seniors... even though our family group has 5 seniors, we kinda dropped the ball and didn't even get 'em flowers for Grad Nite... =) But we made up for it. Eric and I brainstormed and brainstormed trying to decide what we could get/make that would be personal and something that our seniors could take with them after graduation... and we eventually settled on T-shirts because, our family group doesn't have any photos!!! (So, my goal for next year... my family group will have 200 pictures taken of it during the course of next year... minimum. And at least 3 of those will be complete group pictures from different events/occasions. A bit ambitious? Perhaps. But it shall get done! =P)

Yes, so after much debate and consideration, we settled on a photo yearbook-type frame gift thing... haha, I had fun w/ pictures and trying to keep both operations hidden from the other group. =) Complete and utter success throughout and I hope everyone got as blessed as I was in trying to express God's love in us to each other. =)

Yeah, getting off that tangent, we needed to finish wrapping up the gifts and signing the cards. After which... WORLD BUFFET!! Haha, we ate and ate. Roy, wow. I'm speechless. =)

Then... awesome prayer meeting with the brothers... thank you Lord for blessing me with so many brothers with whom I'm running this race!! Even as we go into the summer and into next year, watch over us, bless us, and keep us in Your awesome will!! =) After we wrapped up around 0430, I headed back to Quad where I spent the night at Haksu's.

So, tallying up the places that I've slept in the past 4 days... (sleep meaning both extended sleep and short naps):

1. My bed (in the bedroom)
2. My other bed (in the living room)
3. My couch
4. The floor between my "office" and the kitchen (I have 4 sleeping bags here... my entire floor space is a giant sleeping area! =P)
5. EH's PDR - On the table
6. EH's PDR - Under the table
7. EH's PDR - Next to the table
8. Beds in the Magee Suite
9. KC Lounge - Sleeping bag and couch
10. On the floor in my bedroom (when I kept waking up to hit my head against my bed frame!)
11. Floor of Haksu's

I thought there were more... but I'm blanking right now... must be that I slept about 4-5 hours last night I'm guessing... but God is my strength! Which leads into today's verse. =) It's the power of God that transforms people and not the persuasive words with which we try to convince people that we're "right". We need to live our lives in such a way that our unbelieving friends can see God in us and experience God's power for themselves. =)

Lastly, allergies. Grr! Since when have I had allergies?! But yeah, I've been sneezing at like 30 spm (sneezes per minute) and have literally sneezed the entire contents of my brain out... it's a good thing my difficult finals are over! =) So, bought some Loratadine to fight the sneezing. Feeling a lot better right now actually! (Loratadine is the active ingredient in "Claratin" but I didn't feel like coughing up an additional $5-10 for the brand name so I got the cheaper CVS brand. =P)

Ok, this has been a really, really long entry... last random thought: What am I doing, God? I need more of You. Thank you for your never-ending faithfulness!!!

Have a blessed Saturday and let me know if you need anything as you finish up your finals! I'm here at your service! =)

Countdown till I'm back in Los Angeles: 17 days!

5/3/04, 0237 EST - Sincerest apologies for not posting anything yesterday. =) I've been pretty good about posting something every day, eh? =) Unfortunately, in less than a week, my daily updates will cease to be... as I'll be moving out of my dorm and be in limbo until I settle back in Los Angeles on May 18th.

Anyway, the weekend was one packed with crazy eating. After World Buffet on Friday night, I cooked galbi for lunch... stuffed after being stuffed. And then... dinner with Pastor Matt and the Class of 2005 at Vinny T's... ridiculous mountains of food! Pictures are up if you wanna go check it out. =)

The rest of the weekend is a blur... eating and sleeping seems to be all I did... Thank you Lord for the rest you've provided! =)

Last Final approaching on Wednesday and packing up and moving out sometime by the end of this week...

Today's verse is again from Psalms... God is my hope and He's been my confidence since the day I was born and will be until the day Jesus returns or I die... whichever comes first. =) I want to praise Him continually (meaning every moment of every day!) and acknowledge His awesome presence in my daily life!

Countdown till I'm back in Los Angeles: 15 days!

5/4/04, 0314 EST - Two weeks until I get home. I'm so excited. I can't wait. Haha. Need to spruce it up with some "!"s! =P I can't wait to get home!!!!! =D

Also, one more exam and I'm done with my Junior Year... I can't believe it's over but I'm anticipating all the great things God'll bring into my life in the upcoming months/years. It's an adventure living for the Lord! =)

Anyway, now that I've gotten the happy bubbly stuff out of the way... I just wanted to note some deeper stuff that's been on my mind lately. I'm sure it's surfaced here and there but it's been coming to the forefront of my thoughts more and more as the end approaches...

I've been pretty chill about my plans for this summer and I'm trusting that God'll work things out somehow and that no matter what happens, it'll be within God's Plan for my life... but as I consider that in a few short months, I'll not be looking for a summer internship... but a real job for when I graduate from this place, I can't help but wonder what purpose there is in what I'm doing!

It's just that I know that this life is short and I want to do His work... But how short is short? And how long is long? In the eternal perspective, life here is but a moment, but looking forward from this moment, the next 100 years could be a very long time! What's my purpose here? Yes, I'm in business school studying business thinking that I want to do business when I graduate... and I've felt lead to serve God through my work... but is it enough? Can I be content with that?

I feel at conflict both within and without... I know that I'm not driven by worldly aspirations that seek after the American Dream... God's blessed me enough in my youth that I know that the author of Ecclesiastes is so right proclaiming that everything is meaningless! Been there, done that. Don't need all the material things that everyone wants... there's more to life than the here and the now!

Today's verse talks about our work... Will what I do, when it's tested by fire, remain in eternity? Based on the foundation of Jesus, what am I doing towards God's kingdom? What will I be doing?

What's the point of this education? My degrees from Penn... will they last? No, not likely. Will a job in management consulting? Probably not. Yeah, yeah, maybe I'll be able to impact people in the workplace... and partake in God's work indirectly through financial support... but sometimes I feel so restless and just want to go out there and be a freak for Jesus!

Yeah... the future lies ahead of me. Not only do I need a clearer vision for how I can work for the eternal things that last... but also for discernment in another that'll run this race with me. Sometimes it seems so clear... and at other times not. I suppose the only real thing that matters is a common vision and purpose in living for the Lord during the short time that we're allotted on this earth. Does anything else matter? Not really. But why can't I convince myself of that? Hrmm... interesting. =)

Mmm... my entries get longer and longer... and take longer and longer to write as time progresses... =) My entries a year ago were such short blurbs.

I wonder if I'm ready for everything that's coming my way next year. Can't do it alone. Help me Jesus!

Studyage and restage for Tuesday... last Final at 830AM on Wednesday... in Meyerson B-1... gross, isn't it? and then... packing and moving out. Can't believe it's already over.

Countdown till I'm back in Los Angeles: 14 days!

5/5/04, 0012 EST - Happy Cinco de Mayo! =) For some reason, I can't remember what it is... and I'm too lazy to look it up. =P Umm, yeah, so I looked it up... and I didn't really bother reading the entire thing... so maybe you want to read about it and let me know what it is? =P

Anyway, considering that I'm too lazy to read about the short history of today's significance... Cinco de Mayo that is... how am I supposed to study for my history exam that I have approaching in 8.25 hours? Brian, you were right, the countdown begins. =)

I've a funny feeling inside... maybe it's that my junior year will officially be over in about 10.25 hours... crazy, huh?

Anyway, I guess I just wanted to undo what I said yesterday. =) Haha, I guess my post sounded worrisome or what not... it's not that I'm worrying about my future, but that I wish I knew how I could really live more radically for God. =) No matter what happens, I'm trusting in Him and I know that He is the only one I can hang onto and that He is the only one that I desire. =) As the psalmist says today, "My flesh and my heart may fail, But God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever."

So, a new PoD to represent the beginning of the next chapter of my life that God is writing. =)

Also, all my photo galleries will be down for the duration of the summer... I *may* be able to get them back online after May 20th or so... but no promises. All my photo galleries will be back online beginning September 3rd, 2004 through May 2005 when I graduate. =) So enjoy them while you can! =P

Countdown till I'm back in Los Angeles: 13 days!

5/5/04, 1223 EST - As of 10AM this morning, my junior has been over and it's time to realize that I'm a senior now and that it's time to step up and live up the life that God wants me to live. =) Looking forward to the next century of living for the Lord. =) It's a beautiful day to start off the next chapter of my life! =P

5/6/04, 0036 EST - It's over. Packing and cleaning up. =)

6 days till Toronto, 12 till Los Angeles. It's gonna be a wonderful summer. =)

Photo galleries will go offline in about 24 hours or so... may or may not return in late May depending on whether I'm able to get the server back up and running from home.

For those still finishing up: Press on! It's almost over!

5/6/04, 0324 EST - I just realized that I need to make this my last post for at least the next two weeks. I'm moving files around and thinking of packing up the computer tomorrow anyway...

I'll be around for a little while so hopefully, I'll see ya'll before the summer hits off. If not, have a wonderful summer wherever you may be and see you again in the fall! =)