glenNice's Xanga

Thursday, November 16, 2006

Thu, 16 Nov 2006 04:02:55 GMT

I find this amazing...One of the students I serve with built a Gingerbread Replica of Columbia University!

If they can do things like this with some free time, gingerbread, and candy in their hands...just imagine what they can do with the Bible, the Holy Spirit and passion for God in their hearts?

The Engagement Story

Wed, 01 Nov 2006 02:43:29 GMT

Hey All!

Sorry I've totally dropped off the face of Xanga-land. But I know y'all want to hear the story, and Sunny (my fiance!! love saying that) did such a great job on writing about it on his own blog so I'm ripping it off his site. I'm sure he won't mind. Here it is:

I was driving down from Albany the night before in the rain, wondering just how am I gonna do this. The nice warm days are well behind us, and it's just going to get colder from here on. I had always hoped to propose by the water, under nice weather... but it didn't seem like a possibility. The weather report was very bad for the weekend. Then I thought to myself, doing this indoors might be just as nice. When I arrived at her house that night, I left a dozen roses and a small box on her porch. The box was just big enough to hold a ring... (it actually was the box the ring came in). When she found it, I told her to open it. To her surprise, it was full of Hershey's kisses. [Side note: He didn't mention that the box had a sweet little note inside that said, "Hi Glennis! I hope you enjoy these Hershey's kisses. Now come and get a real kiss! I love you." Hee hee]

I thought it might be more special to propose somewhere other than her house. Since the plan was to do this indoors, I had planned to take her to a nice museum in Manhatten. God had other plans.

DATE: October 28th, 2006. TIME: approx. 3:15pm. LOCATION: Central Park, New York City.
The rain ended in the morning, and it turned out to be a beautiful autumn day with a nice breeze. We never made it to the museum. Instead we went for a walk in Central Park, something I've never really done before. And we came across bow bridge, one of the most beautiful cast iron bridges in the world. [Side note: We were actually looking for this spot because its my favorite place in the park! It took awhile for us to find it...]. It was overlooking the lake, with the 5th avenue skyline in the background. I thought to myself.. this has got to be the place. So I said "Glennis, I want to ask you something". I pulled out the ring, held my breath, got down on one knee and said... "Will you marry me?" ... And she said "Yes! I will marry you". This is all very special to me... the right place, at the right time, under the right conditions... and most definitely, the right girl. :)

Glennis and I have known each other since childhood. We have been good friends for many years. I spent a good 7 years of my life praying for her... just praying. She has been, and always will be the most special girl in my life.

We started dating on August 13th this year, after some careful thought and prayer. Yes, after only 11 weeks, we got engaged. Dear friends... when you know, YOU KNOW. It does not require a set number of years of dating to know that someone is the one. The formula for a successful marriage includes... 1)having your lives focused on God; 2)being best friends with each other; 3)and being totally in love with each other! ... Everything else is secondary.

So, there's a wedding coming up, but I'm not sure when. I've never been engaged before, so this is all very new to me. But I do feel blessed. There are some things that I can only dream of happening... this is one of them... yet it's not a dream. God has been faithful in so many things. It is He who orchestrated everything, and it is He who deserves all the honor and praise. May it be so... for as long as we live.

Guess what?

Sun, 29 Oct 2006 04:54:59 GMT

I'm engaged! Details to come...

It's 3:30 and I can't sleep.

Sun, 06 Aug 2006 07:36:38 GMT

It's 3:30 in the morning and I have all these thoughts running through my head. So I figure writing them down somewhere will help me fall asleep. If none of the following makes sense, at least now you know why...

For those of you who prayed for my evangelism workshop this past weekend, thank you!! It went (in my humble opinion) phenomenally well. I showed a clip of the Evangelism Linebacker and now the kids are going around tackling each other (oops). Despite two students falling asleep (both were in the first row too) and a major typo in my handouts (instead of the title of the workshop being "Got Jesus?" I had written "God Jesus?" which sounds like I'm questioning the divinity of Christ!), in general I felt that people got the gist of why its important to share our faith, and the basic knowledge of how to do so. Plus, we got into some great discussion, and I just had fun sharing my thoughts/experiences and hearing theirs too. PTL

So part of the reason why I can't sleep is I've been thinking of this question: What is racism? Awhile ago, I was hanging out with a friend and I mentioned that I was attracted to Asian guys, specifically ABC's. And he responded, "that's so racist." I was a bit taken aback, because I never thought of it as a racist comment or feeling. I always figured that being ABC myself, someone who wasn't one may not totally understand where I'm coming from or be able to connect with my family and such.

At the retreat I just came back from, there was a korean speaker (this was a Taiwanese-American retreat, btw) who was simply fantastic: totally funny, engaging, and gospel-centered. One of the reasons why he was so great was because he used so many culturally-relevant illustrations...talking about "parents who embarass you on vacation by their outfits" and "the deadly combination of stinky tofu and kimchi." At one point he was doing a pretty good "white guy" impression (coincidentally just as the white pastor of one of the participating churches walks in). We were all rofl. I can't do him justice, but he was hilarious and his jokes reminded me of this Russell Peters clip.

So it brings me back to the question of racism. Was it racist for the pastor to tell jokes about "hokey white churches" or for me to have a general affinity for ABCs (don't get me wrong, if a guy looks like Matt Damon, I'll be taken!)? Personally I don't think so, but I can't explain why. But maybe I'm wrong, and if so I'd like to change....

I'll write more on this topic when I get some sleep...but first, any thoughts?
Ok, back to bed.

Useless Triva Knowledge Finally Paid Up

Thu, 13 Jul 2006 19:57:42 GMT

My brother got into a Cash Cab today!! How cool is that?? He and a friend won $800....

Double or Nothing Question: The moon Io revolves around what planet?
(My brother got this question right, by the way)

Service Announcement

Wed, 07 Jun 2006 02:09:34 GMT

Tonight I watched The Break-up. If you'd like to watch a fun, romantic comedy, do not watch this movie. It was one long, painful experience. I kept waiting for the movie to have a turning point, to have something good happen. But the only good that happened was when the movie finally ended. The interesting thing is that it's directed by Peyton Reed, someone I had met and had a really great conversation with a couple years ago in California. He actually directed one of my favorite films, Bring It On (so you can see, I'm typically easy to please!).

This made me think of the question: What are some of the worst movies you've ever watched at the theater? I feel like when you rent a movie, you can fastforward or stop the movie. But at a theater, you've already invested so much time and energy to the experience, you have to sit through it, no matter how painful it is. So to save you guys from rental regrets, here are some movies I've watched at the theater that you should avoid...

    To Die For (had to walk out of the theater, granted I only paid $2)
    Excess Baggage (another movie I walked out of...sooo boring!)
    Two Weeks Notice (an okay rental, but a waste of a $10.75 ticket)
    Lady Killers (the stellar cast deceived me)

My brother also suggested, Leaving Las Vegas. Any other warnings of more bad movies to avoid?

In Remembrance

Mon, 05 Jun 2006 00:28:18 GMT

June 4th, 1989

"I would never have imagined that in China where the government boasts, 'the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) army is an army for the people' and 'the army are the people's brothers and sons,' that the army itself would open fire on the people of China. My heart trembled as I witnessed the truth about the immeasurable tragedy and violence occurring on Tiananmen Square."

"One after another, I stitched up the wounded. Later, I helped make arrangements for those recovering from surgery. Throughout the night the sound of gunshots never ceased. Tears kept rolling down my face."

"The people of China paid an extremely heavy price on June 4. It was then that we all began to realize the truth. What the CCP said all sounded too good to be true. They used all the nice words that had ever existed but what they did was the opposite in the extreme. They said things one way and then did the other. How could the people continue to believe in the CCP? It was during this time that the Chinese people gave up the faith they at one time had in the CCP. They saw that the CCP could not save China and could not change people's hearts. People abandoned the CCP. Many people began attending churches and became believers in God."

--Excerpted from the article, Church Leader Talks about Tiananmen Massacre

Jesus Day '06

Thu, 25 May 2006 14:32:54 GMT

Yesterday, the NY Times reported about Jesus Day at my alma mater, Stuyvesant Highschool. It's so amazing reading and watching about it (check out the video of it on nytimes.com). The last Jesus Day I attended was 10 years ago, when I was a senior at Stuy. A lot has changed since then. This year, it was held in the school cafeteria and about 200 students showed up. Back then, we weren't even allowed on school property, and I think only about 20 some students attended. I remember having it outside, a couple blocks away. One of my favorite quotes from the video was shared by David Seok, 18, a senior and a co-president of Seekers: "Going to a public school, you get so caught up with what the world wants of you or what the world expects of you. I mean, especially coming to Stuyvesant Highschool, people expect you to be the best. Seekers for me was definitely a turning point in my life where I realized Jesus isn’t about just one day of the week, but really a part of every day. " Its just so refreshing and encouraging to hear about these young students boldly sharing their faith and standing up for what they believe in, especially in a pressure-cooker place like Stuy. Thanks m1sa1gon for telling me about this article! Check it out for yourselves:

May 24, 2006

A Christian Group Finds Its Place in the Public Schools

By MICHAEL LUO

On a recent sunny afternoon at Stuyvesant High School, the track team warmed up in the lobby. On the sixth floor, the school newspaper staff assembled to listen to a speaker. Outside, a cluster of students gathered to pray.

The students were members of Seekers, the elite school's Christian club. Like Joshua marching around Jericho before the walls came tumbling down, they were walking around their building and praying in preparation for an event called Jesus Day.

"Our main goal for Jesus Day is evangelism," said David Seok, 18, a senior and a co-president of Seekers. "We try to reach out to our school and our friends who don't believe."

About 30 public high schools in New York City have Seekers clubs like Stuyvesant's. Loosely affiliated with the Urban Youth Alliance, an evangelical Christian organization based in the Bronx, the Seekers clubs, which date to at least the 1980's, comprise the largest and most established network of Christian student groups in New York City public schools. For most of them, Jesus Day — actually a series of outreach-oriented rallies that were held on different days last week in schools across the city — is their capstone event of the year.

"It's a day to tell everyone what we're about," said Regina Chan, 17, a senior and the other co-president of Stuyvesant's Seekers club.

But evangelism in a public high school, especially in New York City, can be complicated. In a school like Stuyvesant, full of people with different beliefs and some with none at all, belonging to an evangelical group like Seekers can make members the objects of scorn from classmates and even teachers.

"There are a lot of people who respect that you're religious and you're involved in Seekers," Miss Chan said. "And there are also a lot of those who just kind of see you as someone who's a religious fanatic, that we don't care about science, that we're ignorant."

School administrators must also wrestle with difficult questions about where the right to religious expression ends and the separation of church and state begins. Some school officials have discouraged their Seekers clubs over the years from having Jesus Day, while others have imposed strict limitations on advertising for the event, including prohibiting groups from using the name "Jesus" in any literature.

At the Bronx High School of Science last year, Michael Zhou, 18, the Seekers club president, said, the group got around restrictions placed on them by leaving out the letter "u" from Jesus, putting up posters reading, "Jes s," and the message, "All that's missing is U."

At Townsend Harris High School in Flushing, Queens, the Seekers club was not even allowed to meet on campus until several years ago. The school's principal barred members of the faculty from advising the club, making it impossible for it to become an officially sanctioned student organization, said Ellen Fee, a math teacher and assistant principal who is the club's current adviser.

Ms. Fee agreed to become the club's adviser after coming to the school in 2003 — she also advises the Muslim students group — paving the way for Seekers to become official. Today, it is the school's second-largest club, she said. But the school's principal, Thomas Cunningham, asked the members not to take part in Jesus Day.

"That's one of the criteria that the principal laid down," said Vivian Shibata, the club's president. "He preferred that we didn't have Jesus Day. We didn't want to push the limits."

At Stuyvesant, Stanley Teitel, the school's principal, has given the group wider latitude, saying he trusts other students at the school to be able to make up their own minds about Jesus Day. The school also has Jewish and Muslim clubs. The members of Seekers were free to post fliers for Jesus Day around the school and hold their event in the cafeteria after school.

"It's your decision as to whether or not you want to go," Mr. Teitel said. "I'm not forcing you. It's not part of your instructional day. They're just advertising this event is occurring. We do many after-school events."

Several years ago, after receiving a directive from the New York City Board of Education, the school reversed its policy of prohibiting students from holding Jesus Day on campus, he said. Before that, the students held the event on a street corner near the school, off school property.

"We were told we had to give everybody equal access," he said.

As a result, about a hundred students gathered last Tuesday in the Stuyvesant cafeteria for Jesus Day 2006. A colorful poster explaining "How do U get saved" covered one window. A poster in the middle of the cafeteria was decorated with pink hearts containing prayer requests. "Get into Yale. Get love," one read. "Stepmom, stepdad get saved," another read.

A book table offered Bibles and tracts. "The Atheist Test," was the title of one; another explained evolution, "The Evidence: For and Against."

Stuyvesant's is one of the largest and most active Seekers clubs in the city. During the school year, about 30 students meet every Thursday after school in a classroom, where they worship and study the Bible together, or just talk. At its essence, the group provides students, Christian or not, a spiritual and social refuge in the midst of what can be a difficult time, high school, members say.

Wing Wong, 17, a senior, who described himself as still searching spiritually, joined Seekers about two months ago after enlisting in the Marine Corps. He did it, he said, because he was looking for people who would genuinely care for him. "I wanted to look for a new group of friends who would always be there," he said.

The program last week got off to a shaky start. The group had scheduled several performances and "testimonies" by Mr. Seok and Miss Chan on what Jesus Christ had done in their lives. But the acoustics in the cafeteria made it difficult to hear. Many of the students appeared to be there just for the free food, goofing off, while others tried to hush them. Many started trickling out after the event began.

But the guest speaker, Yei Jong Ahn, who works with a youth group at the United Korean Church of New York in Brooklyn, managed to hold the attention of most through a half-hour-long message about Jacob wrestling with an angel of God.

"No matter what you've done in your life, no matter where you are, you will never be alone," he said. "God is there with you, struggling with you."

Afterward, the Rev. Frank Meyer, a pastor at the Church of Living Grace in Livingston, N.J., offered quarters to students who asked him a "tough question about God."

Soon, he had them going: Is evolution true? What does God think about premarital sex? If God loves us, why is there so much suffering in the world?

The event drew to a close with a final musical number. But by then there were mostly only Seekers members remaining. Gone were the unbelieving friends many had invited. Gone were those on the fringes of the group who had come. The people left were family. They danced and sang together.

Answered Prayers

Tue, 09 May 2006 03:06:05 GMT

My dad's getting really old. He has this terrible habit of losing things. The other day when his friend was visiting, I created a "tourist" schedule for him to follow for entertaining his friends. The morning he was to take his friend out, he kept misplacing the schedule. Right after pointing out where it was (usually on his desk right where I gave it to him), he'd ask again a few minutes later. Then after dropping him and his friends at the subway station, I realized that he forgot to bring the schedule. *sigh*

Tonight he lost his passport. Not good considering he's flying out of the country tomorrow. So we spent most of the night looking for it. Finally, after 3 hours or so of looking, I said to him, "Let's pray." My dad is an avowed agnostic, so I didn't think he'd agree to it. But he did, and I simply prayed that he'd find his passport before he went to bed tonight. I began to worry what he would think if he didn't find his passport...but really, I didn't have to worry too long. 15 minutes later, he calls out my name. He found it! When I asked him how he found it, he said, "right after you prayed, all of a sudden I thought I should check this black bag...." And there it was.

I'm so thankful for answered prayers...but I know that it'll take more than praying for my dad for him to believe. If you guys remember him tonight, please pray that his heart would be softened and that we would have more opportunities to talk about faith. Also, pray that I would have wisdom to know what to say and the boldness to say it! And, finally please rejoice with me for answered prayers.

Far Above Cayuga's Waters

Mon, 24 Apr 2006 03:28:18 GMT

Fun times visiting my alma mater this weekend. Highlights:
* An extra long sharing time at CBS' large group meeting
* Having my first sandwich from Louie's lunch truck
* Celebrating new engagements
* Learning how to play Napoleon from Class of '98
* Celebrating my 2(ahem!)th birthday at the new Apelle's (sp?) dining hall
* Catching up with old friends/meeting new ones
* Seeing the new North Campus
* Hearing how God has faithfully continued to work on this campus through changed lives...

(Semi?) Lowlights:
* Typical Ithaca weather (and getting caught in it without an umbrella)
* Realizing I can't stay up very much past midnight anymore.
* Being asked, "So, was Plum Tree (...Boba place...New Frosh dorms...etc.) around when you were here? What about ...?" "Wait, what was around when you were here?"
* Missing friends
* Regretting the hours of needless stressing-out I spent at Cornell instead of enjoying the friends and opportunities there
* Seeing the new North Campus (not as bad as I thought it'd be though!)
* Recognizing the harvest is still plentiful (and the workers still few). Keep praying...

Perhaps more thoughts to come.

Far above Cayuga's Waters,
With its waves of blue,
Stands our noble Alma Mater
Glorious to view.

Lift the chorus, speed it onward,
Loud her praises tell.
Hail to thee, our Alma Mater,
Hail, all hail, Cornell!

Happy Birthday also to ToisanMui (4/21), Aznaccord99 (4/22), Ronnie (the frosh who tried to bonus me into the dining hall today), Shyguy_says (4/24), Shirley Temple Black (4/23/1928!), William Shakespeare (4/23/1564! He also died on the same day in 1616 when he turned 52) and Debbiedrinksdecaf's mom. "Zhu nimen sheng ri kuai le!"