Meaning

After a great time at Grace and the Fountains today, I decided to keep spoiling myself with a cup of coffee and a book at Starbucks for the rest of the evening.:) The book I was reading is called "FISH", in which there is a quote about "Meaning" that I really like. So I'd love to share it with everyone.

Meaning
Meaning is not something you stumble across, like the answer to a riddle or the prize in a treasure hunt. Meaning IS something you build into your life. You build it out of affections and loyalties, out of the experience of humankind as it is passed on to you, out of your own talent and understanding, out of things you believe in, out of the people and the things you love, out of the values for which you are willing to sacrifice something. The ingredients are there. You are the only one who can put them together into that pattern that will be your life. Let it be a life that has dignity and meaning for you. If it does, then the particular balance of success or failure is of less account.
--- John Gardner

Since all the ingredients are here, why should I (or any of us) hesitate/pause?! Let's (regardless of ages) start/continue to build the meaning of life not around us, but around the Provider of Life!

5:27

5:27am in the morning and I am sitting in the office - last night of overnight shift this month.I took a 2-hour nap and now Yvonne is asleep a few desks from me. A peaceful night tonight - no horrible email attack from "L",not even one. (Praise GOD!) I think "L" has somehow turned into an unpredictable tornado that sweeps the office at nights - we are all afraid. Anyways, Yvonne is going to travel to play with her friend after work and I am going home to sleep till 3pm for tutoring. So glad that I'm gonna have 3 days off in a row to rest and breathe. I'm not excited about catching up with over 400 emails after I come back to work next Thursday though.

I have been asking the Father a lot about His direction for me next year. I know He has got something. My heart is so stirred these days - trying to hear His voice more clearly and find a confirmation from Him. Being patience is hard. Even harder is to submit once we hear Him. But we all know we will never regret trusting and following Him! I want to thank all my friends who hear me talk about my dream, pray with and for me, and actually encourage me to pursue my dream. Yal are precious!!!

Gonna see some cool girls for study and fellowship tonight.Mel has me translate "How Great is Our God" into Chinese so we might sing it tonight.:-)

Just a random song recommendation - Inside Your Heaven by Carrie Underwood. Love it!!

Amazing Passion Hong Kong!

It’s 11:40pm Monday night of Oct. 20, 2008 now. Chris’ “Hello Love” CD is playing on my computer. I am sitting in bed and typing, trying to put together all my thoughts and feelings from and after Passion Hong Kong…For a long while, I couldn’t type a word because I think I can hardly express what has been stirring my heart. Every minute of worship to God at Passion HK was so rich and heart-touching that I will never forget in my life! The shout for Jesus, eyes closed from which grateful tears streaming out, smiling faces of different skin colors, thousands of hands lifted up, beautiful/rocking music filled the boiling stadium – that is the glimpse/taste of heaven, I truly believe it is. There in heaven We (whichever nations we come from) worship the Lord every day as freely, as loud and as joyfully as this glimpse showed. And it is for that, we want to live for Jesus and make His name famous in the city of HK, in China and all over the world!!! Praise Him for His love and mercy!

I am glad I could get my days off work to go to Passion HK with 12 of my friends. When we try to be drawn near to God, Satan is always at work. We had difficulties looking for inexpensive accommodations, making travel plans to suit everyone’s schedule and budget and many other uncertainties were going on. One of my friends almost couldn’t make it. But the Bible says, “Blessed are those who trust in the Lord,” and YES – nothing can stop Him from doing what He wants to do. The last day before we set out to HK, everything just came to place and we boarded the bus to HK. What’s more amazing, we met 5 mainland students who were studying in HKU and their HK leader on our bus. It turns out that leader was a girl who partnered with my friend Mel at a Sichuan ministry 2 years ago! (See!! God connects His children wherever we go! ) Later, we invited them to Passion HK. They went, with hearts wondering how good Jesus was. After the event, several of them said now they believed in Jesus! How COOL!!! 2 more of my friends from Guangzhou joined us in the exciting queue outside of QE Stadium 30 mins before doors to the event were open. They were successful college entrepreneurs and have been seeking Jesus for a few years. I only managed to talk to them briefly on phone after the event, but I can’t wait to hear more from them. In a word, we are grateful to the Lord!

Louie shared Ashley’s story with a message that we need to understand God’s grace and live for the most important thing of life – not to live for success, not for accomplishment, not for wealth (as many people in HK and China do) etc, but to live for Jesus and His fame! That is the only thing that counts in life and that is why Ashley’s life meant so much!!!

Wow! Wow! Wow! Passion Hong Kong is just AMAZING!!! I want to thank everyone for your prayers and love for me! Your prayers, encouragement and kind words have been “energy pumps” for me and my friends in China. Now let’s pray for Passion Sydney. Can’t wait to hear about Passion Sydney tomorrow!

I am gonna close this post with some lyrics of the song “I will Rise” from “Hello Love” album.
Jesus has overcome
And the grave is overwhelmed
The victory is won
He is risen from the death

Just Chilling at Midnight

A tranquil night finds me chilling at 00:45a.m. with my laptop and some beautiful French music. I don’t know French, so I have no clue what she is singing. But I love the music because of the way it makes me feel – surreal and calm.

A long day of work today (definitely not just today.) Thomas gave me a long excel file to translate and Luke is waiting for his marketing materials to be translated next Monday. Cindy is trying to push for Demos (presentations) of the software portion I have learned so far – I have to do a Demo and take a test each time I finish learning a portion of the software system developed by the company. I work in the customer support team of a software company. It’s challenging for me to learn the complicated system, sometimes it could drive me crazy. But generally, I am excited about this job as it gives me the opportunity to learn something I am not familiar with and some management skills. Plus, I get Sundays off for church, so that is nice!

I am kinda lazy with carrying my camera around lately, so no recent picture posted with this note. But hopefully some nice pics coming up soon. I actually should ask Melody to send me the lovely picture we took the other night. Melody and I met through Facebook (Amazing!!! 6 degree theory again!) and she is going to leave in GZ for a year with her team. We actually live close to each other around Zhong Da, so we can hang out quite often. She is SO encouraging and fun! Praying for her team to settle down really soon and loving life in GZ. Also, can’t wait to see what great things the Lord will do through them!

Passion HK is coming up pretty SOON- Oct.16th !!! For those of you who want to attend and haven’t got tickets yet, plz don’t hesitate. (You can buy tickets on http://passionhongkong.com or email your name and email address to Passion if you are from the mainland and can’t afford tickets- YES, you will get in FREE!!!)

In fact, I have more update to write. But I am falling asleep…So I will stop here and say good night. Breakfast with Yuan tomorrow before church – Sweet! Hope you have a great weekend too, my friends!  Hasta luego!

P.S. BIG THANK YOU to all of you who have been praying for me and encouraging me! That means A LOT to me!

Psalm 71: 14-15,21

Hey, friends! I am finally back blogging. I thought I wouldn’t write a new post till June, but I kinda felt a force pulling me, so here I am. The last three months ran like a current, yet every spot it splashed left a deep trace in my head. All that I can say is “WOW”.

To pick up from where I left in my last post, God did say the drama wasn’t the end and so He miraculously took me to Passion DC. The experience of worshipping God with 3,000 students, hearing the fruitcake story, meeting Louie, Chris Tomlin and others from Passion Team is indescribable! Meanwhile, God let me speak on stage and do a Podcast, which He used in an AMAZING way to change lives for His glory. I just want to thank everyone for your love and prayers and all your encouraging messages on facebook. If I haven’t replied, I will soon.

Lots of things happened in March and April – some joyous, some heart- breaking, others calm…
Walking on the same campus having a different feeling; loss of a tutor job and then regaining two;
on my knees sobbing and praying for Yuan’s father in the ward for God’ strength in him; wondering if the two girls would be available for Bible study again and ending up with two more girls to join in; getting to know Mandy and her salvation story; job hunting; keeping my heart with the Passion Movement; knowing my two great friends are getting married in May… WOW! It is God who is saying, “ Look, Sam, here is a portion of the picture I created and put you in, please don’t run around to do stuff to prove you love me; BUT be still and understand My love for you and those around you first!”

I am praying earnestly that God will open the door for me to attend Mag and Adam’s wedding in LA in May. Walking together with them in Christ for the last three years makes their beautiful union moment SO important to me. And I SO want to witness that!!! Now with the crazy May schedule still intangible for the moment, I have no idea if that would happen. Yet, I don’t want to fight God on this-He does what He pleases. I don’t want to wrestle with Him like I did last summer about the Beijing trip with the team. So, today I opened my Bible and came across
Psalm 71:14- 15, 21, then I cried. It is a good cry! To conclude this post, I would like to type these verses as a reminder.

Psalm 71: 14-15, 21
But I will hope continually,
And will praise You yet more and more.

My mouth shall tell of Your righteousness
And your salvation all the day,
For I do not know their limits.

You shall increase my greatness,
And comfort me on EVERY SIDE.

Not This Time

So I don't think I can make it to Passion's Regional this time... "Oh, did't you say that already last time?" you may ask if you have read my last post. Well, yeah, but as I said, things are always changable as the weather.

At first, I got Passion's invitation to Dallas on Feb 15-16.I didn't have a passport so I applied immediately. Then I was told it would take 15 workdays to get the passport. Combined with the visa interview wait time at the embassy,I would say two words for sure," No way!" I looked at my calenda and cried for like a few mins, it's kinda hard not to cry cos I missed such a good opportunity! But I wasn't really disappointed.Oh, well...I emailed Pasion back and told them I probably couldn't make it in time.That was the end of the story when I post last time.

As there is an encore to every concert, there is an encore to this drama.In the next few days, I told a few friends that I am not gonna make it in time. But they said it was unusual that I got the invitation and I probably shouldn't give up
that early. "I don't know" is all that I had in mind. So I prayed and waited for God's answer. Ha...the next day, the drama did take a turn. In the morning at about 8,I called the emabssy to see when the earliest interview time would be - Feb 13. No,thanks! I didn't have my passport yet anyway. Then at 10:30, my father called and said my passport arrived. Wow! He told me my passport numbers and then I immediately called the embassy again. The interview time - still Feb. 13! "I can't book the time for you now. I am afraid you gave a wrong passport number. A Chinese citizen can't have a passport number that starts with a J",said the lady over the phone. "Oh, ok, thanks, I will check again!" I hung up and called my father again to check. Oh, it was actually a G and not a J. But at this momnet, my embassy calling card ran out of mins (54RMB for 12 mins - crazily expensive!) Then I went to the CITIC Bank to buy another phone card and called again. " The ealiest interview time is Feb 4..." said the lady. "WHAT! Feb. 4!" I couldn't believe my ears! I thought God made the miracle happen! After reserving the interview time, I sat down with a little relief and then emailed Passion again and also told a few friends I might make it this time. They were all very happy for me. Later, Passion emailed back and said they might change my trip to Washinton DC on Feb 22-23, but they hadn't decided. So, I crossed my fingers and wished "Please, NO!" Well, last night they emailed again with a final decision that they decided to want all their guests to attend DC regional instead of Dallas. School schedule contradiction + my father's concern= No way! At this point, I think I can draw the closing curtain to this drama - Not this time!

Honestly, I can't fake and say I am happy about this, but I am OK! After all, Passion is coming to HK in Oct. Trusting that God always knows the best,I am trying to be patient...it is not easy though.

Thanks to all my friends (esp. Jesse, Chao,Jade and Amber!)who have given me so much support thus far! Love yal!:)

Never Go Down - 张学友

Listening to this English song "Never Go Down" by 张学友, I just have to say "OH-SO-GOOD!". It is the kind of Jazz song that I would play over and over again. It protraits a person walking alone at night and ...Hmmm...I'd better not sketch the whole picture yet, and let you draw your own as you listen to it. Enjoy!:)

I found a link to this song: http://music.360quan.com/u/f6f47/play/2868

Never Go Down

Alone in the city Ain't no streets of gold
Wallowing in self pity In a world so hard and cold
Walking the streets in vain To a find a friendly face
But all I got was pain
And I was lost without a trace
Scared and alone I didn't have the strength to carry on
I thought that I would never win this fight
Took solace in my loneliness
But now I see the light
Cozoh l I'm never going down again
I said I-Oh-I
I'm never going down again
I've danced with the devil I have prayed to the Lord
Drewned in a sea of sorrow
My joie da vivre was overboard
Too many broken hearts
So much gone undone
But I'm trying to find the spark
And all the darknee overcome
Looked to the sky
I was searching for salvation from on high
But hope springs eternal like true love
And I made a vow somewhere somehow
That I would rise above
Coz ll I'm never going down again
I said I-Oh-I
I'm never going down again

Changable As Weather

How is the weather forecast made on BBC? Is greenhouse effect the only cause of global warming? What is the trend of the changes of global climates. Whose responisblity it is to tackle the climate problems?

I found out all the answers last night. Anna and I attended the Cafe Scientificque Night hosted by the British Council at the Green Island Cafe. They invited Bill Charles to give a speech and it was amazing! Bill was a meteorologist from the U.K. and the Editor in Chief of the BBC weather forcast program before he retired. He has taught us so much last night. It is intersting to learn that the weather man we see on BBC is actually a meteorologist himself and he has to be, because there is very limited time between recieving datas and broadcasting. Once the weather man receives the data, he must analyze them, draw the weather map and then think about how he can put it into simple language so that anyone can understand(In Bill's word, it is called "bus-stop" language). The whole process is mainly done by the same man.So he must be a meteorologist and a broadcaster at the same time.

Smart and famous as Bill was, he wasn't snoppy but very nice. He answered our questions patiently even after the event ended. Anna and I were honored to take a picture with him. :)



Changable as the weather is my plan to attend Passion's Dallas Reginal in Feb. My mind was blown when I got their invitation, but I am sad to find out I can't make it in time for the conference because it takes over a month to get a visa. It's a pity but I am certainly not disappointed cos God took me through so many last-minute dramatic changes last summer that I've learned to trust His plan. At least, I have applied for a passport which I probably wouldn't get if it were not for this invitaion. If God wills, I am sure there will be a future opportunity. :)

A for "Apple", B for "Boy"...I for :)

I went out of the classroom after study tonight and headed back for my dorm. The night greeted me with cold fresh air and tranquility. I looked through the redbud trees waggling in the wind, and saw pieces of lamp light sparkling like gold. Another charming winter night to embrace...

Just when I stopped trying to breath in the night, I heard a woman's voice from behide, " Aaaaa is for ?" Silence... "Bbbbb is for ?" Silence... "Cccc is for?" "C is for Cat,Babe!" a man said in a soft voice. "Ahh...C for Cat" a cute voice followed. I turned back and saw a man holdinhg a little girl (about 3 years old,I think)on his shoulder and a woman was walking beside him. I smiled and watched them walk past me, with my memory brought back to my childhood -I used to sit on my father's bicycle rack and followed him as uttered those few English words he knew -"I am a worker." I heard that again in my head and repeated...

"Iiii is for?" the woman's voice took me back to the winter night. " I...i...I is for Ice-cream!" the girl shouted cheerfully. Hahaha...laughters and applauses.

Good job,girl! :)

P.S. With that in mind,I'd like to share a song that keeps me smiling this week. - 摇瑶(a song written by 张学友　for his daughter.)
http://www.tudou.com/programs/view/fRidtWb9HWg/

M-E-R-R-Y Christmas!

This Christmas is really and unexpectedly MERRY! I got great gifts, saw great friends and heard great news…Haha, here I am to count all those merriness with a grateful heart.

Christmas Eve on Shamian

So this year is actually my first time to attend the Christmas Eve Service in Shamian Church. I used to avoid that before cos church was always packed that day. But since I got some precious girls going, I decided to fight for a seat this year. I arrived 45 minutes before the service and the ushers were already blocking people from entering for the church was way packed. So I kinda sneaked in with the assurance that Jade had already saved me a seat. (Thanks,sis!) The service started at 7 and it was AMAZING from the beginning to the end! Choir, solos, story telling, sharing, brief sermon…all combined together in a beautifully decorated church where warmth and joy mellowed and overflowed. Aww…and all those praises and worship were given to the Holy One – Jesus Christ! After the service, policemen had to help keep the order outside of church for people were still trying to flood in. The night time on Shamian Island was pretty charming, except that it was way too crowded that night. (I wish all people would know the true meaning of Christmas.)

I’ve posted a photo album on facebook so that you may see more of what the church and service were like. If you still aren’t on facebook, you really should get on!

A Talk with Amber!
I think the greatest gift I got for this Christmas was a long talk with Amber on phone!! She got me an international phone card this summer so that I could call her. It was so refreshing to hear her sweet voice!!! We were both excited...

Magan and Adam Got Engaged!
This is the greatest news of the year!! I am sooo excited for them. I am trying every effort to go to America to attend their wedding. Pray that everything would work out.

Passion Worship Coming to HK
Yeah…there will be no Passion Worship events in Atlanta or LA or anywhere in the States in 2008, cos they will be touring the world. AND they are coming to Hong Kong in October!! I hope I will get to experience it. More infor will be launched out on their website later in January. Get pumped, people!

Chao Visiting Guangzhou



Chao came back to China to see his family for the first time in a year and a half after he has been to LSU. I was happy to finally meet him. He came all the way from Hunan province to visit Guangzhou yesterday. I met up with him at the train station and showed him around Shamian. We had a great time talking and visiting. He told me what life of Chinese students was like at LSU and I told him what being a Christian was like in China. Oh, and he got me a whole box of Ferrero chocolates! So happy! Thanks, bro! :)

Zhang Xue You Concert
Here he comes – Zhang Xue You, the greatest singer! He is having two concerts in Tianhe Sport Stadium both last night and tonight to conclude his 2007 world concert tour. I am glad he selected Guangzhou as the final spot. Tickets were usually sold out a month before his every concert wherever he went. So I was lucky to get a ticket for tonight, although it was expensive. Can’t wait!!

I’d like conclude this long post with a link to my favourite Christmas song of this year by Zhang Xue You. It’s called Lost Christmas. I think you will find a peace in it. Enjoy!

http://video.baidu.com/p?word=lost%20christmas&pos=1&s=1