Free Veritas Forum event tonight!

SPEC and Year of Proof Event:

Atheist and Christian professor engage one another on science and epistemology, featuring Dr. Ghrist as moderator.

| 730PM | Irvine Auditorium | Penn ID preferred seating |

Best man

I'm going to try to write this in the tone of +Edward Suh's (@Eagersuh) tweets. Running into my friends who are with their significant other makes me so happy. Like really really happy. The guy's embarrassed grin can scarcely be contained, and the girl's eyes glint with a joy I just don't see in other contexts. Like PDwight's groomsman/best man analogies, in those moments I dwell not on myself and instead cherish that window I can peer into their shared joy.

It remains indefinite who is to be my object of affection, the apple of my eye. But the thrill of expressing those emotions (for which there will be no lack, this I promise) will give me deeper appreciation of the passion Christ sees his bride, the church. In any case, I'll gladly use this time to take the role as humble groomsman to please Jesus and his wife, me in the background and them in the foreground.

The art of losing myself is the art of joy

It could be hard to fathom, but I was ostensibly more prideful when I was younger. One clear example was my refusal to learn Chinese properly. As I sit here and prepare to go to Chengdu in hopes of showing God's love to a people I can barely communicate with, the regret is palpable.

The main reason that I hated learning Chinese was that it forced me to lose myself. Sardonic quips, mocking snark - these things I saw as precious facets of my personality. Chinese sarcasm (hyperboles, rather) is more to be mean than to be funny. It infuriated me to "condescend" to a language where sarcasm as I knew it didn't exist, and the extent of humor was cheesy puns. Our flesh naturally wants to make much of ourselves, but if only God helped me to see that people could really use less of my sarcastic personality anyways, much less the people I will minister to in the future.

And that is why - better late than never - I am now loving every second of learning Chinese. +Brendon Wu said once that if you find that your interests are not constantly changing, you should really question whether your love is genuine. We touched upon this in CG too (+Rachel Miao +Gloria Kim): we must love people in the way they feel loved. Their interests must become ours, in the same way Jesus condescended himself in human form to walk alongside us. My love for God and his people, and my desire to forget myself to make much of him, is now giving such education divine purpose and passion, to which there is much joy.

Pennkindness

Was randomly blessed by dude who held the elevator for me at Harnwell then proceeded to make heartfelt conversation about the week for what the 20 floors were worth. What a nice guy! How easy would it be for me to not be so insecure and brighten someone's day? Worth thinking about.

Disciple turned coleader...

• me: REALNESS
• 1 corinthians something about judging in the church
• Sam: im going to do that
• me: ...what?
• Sam: doe jk
• next year
• me: ...
• ??
• Sam: doeeee
• hopefully next year this time
• it'l be a bet
• me: WHAT ARE YOU SAYING
• Sam: doe
• hopefully itll be +1
• me: i honestly cant follow what youre saying
• Sam: i know
• im being cryptic

He makes me lie down in green pastures. He leads me beside still waters.

Weekend takeaways

• Legalism is not obeying God when you don't feel like it. Legalism is obeying God and feeling more loved by him or self-justified. Obeying God when you don't feel like it (for the moment) is faith.
• +Albert Chu running jokes, e.g., you don't even go here, the immersive video-game/chips and fries eating/walking experience, providential events

Week #7

• Babysitting/Harlem Shake with +Joon Y. Lee 
• 2013 Sisters' Appreciation with +Rachel An +Elena Lee +Jenny Kim +Samantha Shen +Elizabeth Park +Collin Lyou +Timothy Kim +Kun He Lee 
• Philly chilling with +Albert Chu +Cheryl Tam +Teddy Zhang +Thanat Owlarn +Nop Jiarathanakul 
• Church chillin' with +Megan Lui +Rachel Lim 

Week #6

• Superbowl +Steven Chen +Vivian Chow +Khoi Vo +Matthew Ku +Zehua Li +David Zhang +Muyi Li +Harry Subramanian 
• Misc +Kent Chen +Gloria Kim +Hon Lui +Joon Y. Lee +Dan Whang +Kun He Lee 
• 2015 brothers +Curtis Lee +Ernest Tam +Samuel Yang 
• Friday with brothers +Alex Nguyen +Collin Lyou +Thomas Hong +Wenda Ye +Richard Lee +Joseph Oh 
• Parenting101 with +Charles Shin 

Week #5

• Wine superstore +Hon Lui +Megan Lui 
• Misc +Sheng Ng +Alan He 
• CG +Alex Nguyen +Samuel Yang +Jeremy Chang +Christopher Chi +Richard Lee 
• 12+ filming +Susie Ahn +Kristine Fu +Esther Eunjin Kim +Curtis Lee +Ernest Tam +John Yun 
• Nova jam +Edem Attikese +Danny Wu 

Flippant

It's a word I've been using a lot recently, more often than not in an effort to warn others not to have this attitude. In communicating, this has been one of the most severe ways I really discourage people. Mark 9:42 gives an accurate depiction of what has already happened and the due discipline deserved for me.

I can remember such cases so vividly. A relationship quickly fell into shambles when I made a smart remark about a preacher's sermon content that I felt was lacking. Passive aggressive online statements aggravated another relationship, resulting in much hurt. Recently, I had the nerve to sarcastically put down a loving sister through some self-perceived higher understanding of theology, and crazy still I made an offbeat comment during Bible study about how a brother felt towards some other members.

This sinful behavior stems from the ugliest form of pride: thinking I am like God. Thinking I know as much as he does. Thinking "been there, done that, pishposh boring, moving onnn." But oh, how dissimilar we are! God is compassionate, and he expects gentleness and respect within his church.

LORD, I ask you now to humble me. Your grace gave me a new spirit, new eyes to see truth and love it. I had nothing to do with that. Instead of using that knowledge to make much of myself, purpose it for the sake of emptying myself for the benefit of my neighbor.