Feel good/bad stories of the week

Feel Good Story #1

Gotta be my birthday this Monday. It was a blast, and I have to say what topped it all off was the letter that my bro sent me from Western. Very thoughtful and touching. I can't write the stuff here because it is personal, and also I can't write this because it'll make me sound super girly or whatever, so I'll just leave it like this. Very thoughtful and touching. Amazing brother. God really blessed me by providing him in my life.



Feel Bad Story #1

Went to ball tonight at church and I got a major leg cramp (chau gun!) where I couldn't even walk properly for the next while. That literally knocked me out of action for the rest of the night. Pretty disappointing, but I see it as a sign that I really have to stretch because my body is getting old...sighhhhhhhh



Feel Good Story #2

FRIDAY TOMORROWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW (ok, today!)



Feel Bad Story #2

This weekend:
MIE439 Report
BME510 Project (write research paper/essay)
MIE439 Problem Set
Find and read medulloblastoma research papers
Find and read brain window chamber model research papers

It's "so busy" time again!!!

Overwhelmed and Thankful

So today was my 21st birthday and I'm just so happy for all those who wished Happy Birthday to me. Even the little and simple saying meant a lot for me today and I'm just thankful for all the wonderful people I've met in my life. A birthday is always great to reflect on what you've done in your life, but it's also great to reflect on what God has done in my life, and one thing for sure is the people that He's brought me to meet and it's so rewarding to know these people in my life!

Anyway, this year's birthday was quite different. I actually nerded up and went to school early in the morning to study, but fear not, I did take a "break" later on in the day as I got the chance to eat lunch with a wonderful friend downtown and just talk! I also got the chance to go to Sam's house to just chill, hot pot, watch PB, watch heroes, play pool, and just chat about random stuff with Dan and Freddy. Good times indeed. Another birthday to remember for the rest of my life!

Dinner Dance 2008 - Why it was one of the best nights I've ever had!

I've never been to a Dinner Dance before. I almost did last year because I bought a ticket, but many of my friends backed out, so I backed out as well. But this year was different. It was 4th year. Last chance to go to EngSci Dinner Dance. Last time to party with my fellow Biomeds!!! So off we went....and man, this night was so amazing. So here's my attempt on recapturing what just happened the past 12 hours.

So 3pm was when the last class of the day ended, and a bunch of us decided to go eat some Viet food to fill our stomachs in preparation for a super late and disgusting dinner (as expected for any kind of banquets you attend). That "snack" was fun as it kinda set the stage for the night because we talked alot about how the night will be and what we will do, among the many other random stuff we always talk about. So after the "snack", we went to change and get ready for the 6pm bus. So being who I am, I was lazy and decided to wear my nice clothes for the whole day so I wouldn't have to worry about any clothing changing, so all I pretty much had to do was wear contacts. So that was fast, but my friends took so long! Either way, we got ready and headed off to Suds to drink some pre-party beer. I literally took one sip and concluded that the beer was pretty average-bad. Not really good, but I guess you can't expect more from free beer. We headed off to "The Liberty Grand" via coach bus and when we arrived, we literally walked around the place to check out the drinks they had and for some reason, some of us guys went to the other side of the building to see what other parties were around. A couple of us went in and actually said hi to bewildered middle aged people and their party before being promptly escorted out. Anyway, it was a long wait until dinner. Note: it was now around 8pm, and no official drinking yet. Stupid we didn't have Open Bar...and stupid how each drink was $5 minimum. We sat down at 8:30pm and had our appetizers and dinner came at around 9pm, and we watched the somewhat average annual EngSci video. Anyway, time passed as we ate and took pictures and by 10:30pm, the real fun began! The dance floor was ready, the DJ was ready, and so we stormed the dance floor and started partying! At first I was a bit uneasy because...well, I don't dance, but when the music came on, the dancing feeling just happened! It was DEFINITELY time to dance!!! They played all these hip-hop and dance pop songs and the place was banging. The funniest were the people dancing (ok, it was more like clubbing) who were already smashed from the drinking beforehand. Note: I only had 3 glasses of wine at dinner, so I was totally fine! Anyway, so the clubbing began, and man, they were good times. Note: it was definitely a great decision to wear contacts! The songs I enjoyed the most were "Low" (Flo Rida ft. T-Pain) and "Yeah" (Usher ft. Ludacris and Lil Jon). Man, those songs are mad fun to dance to...especially getting low!!! =) So from 10:30pm, we literally danced until closing (1am), with a few breaks in between to rest and hydrate (it was during these moments when I realized that I actually can't handle THAT much....getting old, you know). Anyway, 1am came and basically everybody got kicked out. We almost missed the last bus, but we got on and got back to UofT at 2am, and then got a ride back home and now it's like 3am and I'm still up blogging!

OK, so basically, the conclusion I had for the night was that this was definitely a memorable night, especially because it was a great time to chill with my fellow Biomeds and other EngScis! Seriously, when you get to 4th year, you treasure the friendships you have and you want to spend as much time possible with them! It was loads of fun clubbing with them, even though it did feel weird when there were moments when the girls took a break and it was just us guys dancing. All in all, NO GRINDING! We're all friends, and so overall, we were all cool with each other. But dang, this was one night to remember.

Before you all think this post had nothing really "substantial", I have to say that I did have one reflection from God (surprisingly). When we were all on the dance floor clubbing and dancing to the music and waving our arms in the air and just having a blast, I did wonder how easy it was for all of us to be into the secular music and just going crazy. I wondered how cool it must be if people were all so hyped up and so into worshipping God! In the moment of this crazy secular party, I had this realization that it would be so awesome if we were all jumping and dancing and praising for God...and that this is exactly what heaven would be! Dang, it would be so much fun! SO MUCH FUN! I really hope one day everybody, especially my fellow Biomed friends will one day see Christianity and Jesus and really be in love with God in the same way we were all in love with the dancing and music at the moment. We'll see what happens, but this night was definitely one to remember.

So for all you curious people, in summary: 1 sip of pre-party beer, 3 glasses of wine (2 red, 1 white), 2.5 hours of clubbing/dancing (with breaks), 1 realization from God, and definitely 1 night to remember for the rest of my life.

John 6:37-40 (New Jerusalem Bible)

Everyone whom the Father gives me will come to me; I will certainly not reject anyone who comes to me, because I have come from heaven, not to do my own will, but to do the will of him who sent me. Now the will of him who sent me is that I should lose nothing of all that he has given to me, but that I should raise it up on the last day. It is my Father's will that whoever sees the Son and believes in him should have eternal life, and that I should raise that person up on the last day.

~~~

Jesus came to "do the will of him who sent" him. Now if we are to be faithful Christians and to be like Christ, likewise, we should do the will of Him who sent us. That should be our only goal. Ponder upon that and really ask if you are truly doing the will of God or are you doing whatever you please. Just a small thought in light of all the missions thoughts in my head. Is it in His will that I am to "go, and make disciples" and take part in missions? Hmm...

Mission Conference 2008 - Part 2

So today was the concluding day of Mission Conference 2008. I must say I've heard a lot from God these past few days and there's just so much to absorb and sink in and just ideas and thoughts to really pray about to see what God is really trying to tell me. It might take a while, but I'm excited to really feel God leading me and guiding me through this stage of random ideas. I'm excited that God is teaching me day by day and hopefully, I'll be a faithful servant to continually seek His answers and obey His commands for me.

There was one point that Dr. Franklin Pyles mentioned in his sermon today that really struck me. Evidently, it was his last point, and it was roughly these words: "To make Jesus famous, it has to be the desire of our hearts". We need to have this fame of Christ to grow in our hearts before we are able to show and declare how amazing Jesus is to the world. That struck me because it led me to ask myself: Do I really have that desire to make Jesus famous? i.e. to tell everybody how amazing Jesus is? I really question my personal commitment whether or not I truly believe that I am a Christian that has been changed by the wonderful saving grace and His amazing personal sacrifice for me. Like truly understand that. It's hard because I feel like it's there, but it's just sitting there. It should be my DESIRE to really tell the world how amazing Jesus is. I feel this is truly something I need to work and grow on....to have the desire to really pour it out to everybody the fame of Jesus Christ, our Lord and Saviour who has saved us and blessed us with joy and peace.

Mission Conference 2008 - Part 1

I know it's late, but I have to blog about this before I sleep. Today I attended the Saturday portion of the 2008 Mission Conference and so I attended the 2008 Uganda STM sharing as well as the night program led by Rev. Jim Foster's message. I've been waiting for this day for the past couple of weeks or so because I've felt God tugging at my heart regarding missions these past few weeks (Please look at the previous post for more of my thoughts...). So anyway, I came in today ready to just hear what God has to tell me, and now that I reflect on today, I feel that God has shown me so much....He has challenged me to really step out of my boundaries and really take missions seriously. I've never felt like I was ready for missions. Ever. Even throughout my high school years! PCA always had mission trips, and I never felt I was ready. Now that I think back on it, maybe I was just afraid to step out and see what I can do for God. I feel that I've always been worrying about not being able to do everything when God only asks ordinary people to do His work, and usually they turn out extraordinary because even though we each can't do everything, we all can do SOME thing. Pretty amazing. I guess the highlight of the Uganda STM sharing was when Peter read this Bible verse:

"I hope in the Lord Jesus to send Timothy to you soon, that I also may be cheered when I receive news about you. I have no one else like him, who will show genuine concern for your welfare. For everyone looks out for their own interests, not those of Jesus Christ."
Philippians 2:19-21

Pretty amazing passage, eh? It felt like God talking directly to me about how even if I think I can't do anything, the least I can do is to have that "genuine concern" to look out for Jesus' interests! I still have lots of thoughts in my head, but I do think missions is something to really pray hard about. Just like what Rev. Foster said tonight....you need to have the Spirit in you when you are serving, and I still think I need to grow in that respect. I need to continue to grow closer to God via growing in His Spirit so that my service would be purified and sanctified and fully God working in me!

Those are my thoughts for now. More to come after tomorrow as Mission Conference 2008 concludes. I need to sleep now!

Feel good story of the week

Just one story to tell this week. So this past Saturday was Praise & Prayer at church, and it was quite an interesting program. Among all the people I asked, the common response was that the P&P was different than the usual ones. With "the way to pray" being "assigned", it felt a bit pushy, but it also made me feel that we were all praying together collectively, which is GOOD! Also, I felt that God is leading me to think more and more about missions and what I can do. Lots of thoughts regarding this topic....I can't wait until this coming weekend: Mission Conference! Hopefully God will reveal more to me, but either way, I need to pray more about this...

Feel good/bad stories of the week

Feel Good Story #1

So there was a non-Halloween outreach event for kids at church this past Friday to purposely provide an alternative for kids to get candy and have fun instead of the usual Trick-or-Treating. My mom decided to ask two of our neighbours to attend. Initially the 8 year old and 3 year old agreed to go, but somehow on that day, they were tired and said no. Since my mom already bought them Happy Meals, she just went next door to give them the food. Inside, my mom was praying that somehow the two kids would change their mind. Then a phone call came and the kids' dad said they changed their minds! My mom told me that the two kids had so much fun at church playing those mini games and eating the snacks and the 9 year old even rose his hand to "accept Christ"! Whether or not it was for real, I have no clue, but I'm just amazed and happy at how God can suddenly change how things go and use a simple outreach event at church to plant seeds into little hearts. We just need to trust in God, even when things look bleak and just let His perfect plan reveal itself instead of getting too caught up and worried about it.


Feel Bad Story #1

As I was mowing the lawn yesterday morning (surprisingly, the weather was somewhat warm on a November morning!), I felt a sharp sting on my knee. I was wondering what it was because I didn't see anything on my track pants. I lifted up my pant-leg and was shocked to see a bee had stung my knee! Why are these little yellow and black critters still alive in November?!?! It was super annoying because I had to run inside to put on antibiotics. Good thing my knee didn't swell up.


Feel Good Story #2

Had an opportunity to meet up with some university friends for a birthday dinner last night AND old high school friends for birthday bubble tea last night! Good times chilling and catching up and just enjoying good food and drinks! Sometimes you need that to take your mind off of studying, marks, school, and that sort of stuff. Birthday celebrations are the best!


Feel Good Story #3

So last night was Jason's last night at home without his parents, so it was perfect opportunity to pull a prank. Mysterious window-banging and ring-the-doorbell-and-run-away acts were so jokes, especially for people who get freaked out easily when home alone. Having Alden as a crossfire casualty was a bonus! Anyway, all in all, good laughs and good scares really made the night one to remember! Good job, yodel partner in crime! =)