I’m sitting at dchi’s place in the OC. It’s another beautiful day in SoCal.
I wanted to blog a bit about Thanksgiving. It was relatively simple in terms of actual events, but it is also in the simplicity that it was somewhat notable for me. I guess most of my Thanksgivings have been simple, especially the last couple of years as we have either bought food, or have eaten out.
I love Thanksgiving with the family, but I also find pleasure the morning of, as I have tried to volunteer with some mercy ministry, whether it be with the homeless or the elderly. It’s nice to see Thanksgiving as something not just for me, or my family, but also more inclusively for others. It correlates with the loving God and loving others summation of God’s ten commandments.
Plus, I’m getting a better grasp of mercy ministries: God’s heart for the poor and how His ppl should respond. Unlike the world, it’s not to strictly derive a good feeling from helping others, but to see it as an expression of a Loving God who offered His mercy to us, that we may offer His mercy towards others; whereby we don’t offer it as somebody handing something down, but passing something along. (Big distinction)
This year, a group of us went to the Rescue Mission as “servers”, delivering food to the poor who attended the outdoor service. While the ppl were in line, we got an opportunity to pass out snacks and converse with them. I had a good time chatting with Tom, Patricia, Katherine, Cowboy something, and this person from Ireland. I also enjoyed my conversation with Ban, one of the young adults considering the pastorate. He definitely exuded humility. The Rescue Mission brought out a band, “Above the Noise,” from Oregon. It was like a rock concert in the middle of the Tenderloin.
As always, it’s great to have ppl come out together. I was encouraged by the ppl who came out, to make themselves available. I was especially encouraged by ckam, who I asked last minute, but made himself available to do whatever he could. I know he’s not always comfortable in those situations where he has to connect with the folks in an extrovert way….which provided even more encouragement to me that he came out.
Besides that, we had thanksgiving at a Chinese restaurant. Pretty simple and straight-forwarded. Overall, I’m thankful for the Lord and how He instructs me in those various ways.
gear
gosh. i just got fitted for some running shoes at fleet fleet. it was a good experience. it was pretty fun, to allow the professionals to provide consultation, and watch me and my friend run to ensure we got the right shoes. we both ended purchasing a pair of shoes.
the shoes are extremely comfortable, but are bit lacking in the area of style. if somebody needed a shoe to be camouflaged in snow, this would be the model. it is so white! hopefully, i'll get a chance to get it dirty. i prefer the trail look, but i hear those shoes are horrible to run in. actually, i don't really run at all, but i figure i get a better understanding of the shoes i ought to wear.
yeah, white, white, white. i'm wearing them now, but i hope i don't get mugged going home b/c i gots these whities on. i look like jerry seinfield from the bottom down. (hmm..i hope you guys get that.)
btw, i don't understand why the girls shoes look so much better. the guys got shafted with design. the girls shoes are pretty cute. the guys shoes are white looking, edgeless, and makes you look slow and boring. k..i hope i didn't set myself up.
gear
i finally succumbed to peer pressure and switched over to flickr. i took gw's advice, though his advice about not using a flash is giving me bad pics. :( anyhow, here's the link to the photos, though i made some of the pics (family ones) available only to family and friends. i guess this "nowgear" is going to stick even though it has such a stupid beginning.
http://flickr.com/photos/nowgear
an example of cognitive dissonance (one's perception of reality is
incongruent with reality):
though my tolerance of milk has diminished over the years, i continue to
insist that i'm not lactose-intolerant. in fact, to combat this
reality, i insist or believe on drinking as much milk as i please
without any adverse effects. yet the effects are at times clearly
pronounced, not in the extreme form of lacking lactose, but in the minor
forms, which is offensive to everybody but me, the perpetrator. yeah, i get
bloated, and sometimes, i get gas. confronted with a better glimpse of
this reality, i rationalize things with yet another gary-centric
reality, believing that the more milk i drink, the more tolerant i will
become of lactose. i will buffet my body to be as it was, but the only
thing that is as it was is my own blindness.
i find a striking parallel of cognitive dissonance in my own
subconscious perception of who i am, and how good or bad i actually am.
sometimes i subconsciously pat myself on the back for being a relative
good person, helping and treating ppl relatively well. at the same
time, sometimes i condemn myself for things that directly hurt others,
or negatively impacts people as a whole. recently, i've been thinking
about neutrality, how indifference or inaction perhaps speaks more about
the fallness of man than actions taken to hurt others. it's not to
discount the latter, but indifference makes the majority, everybody
guilty. many of us may not have murdered someone, but we have all been
indifferent about the pain and sufferings of others: of the homeless, of
the poor, and of the forgotten. we certainly are more wretched than we
realize, more fallen than we confess, and more lost than we
acknowledge.
yet the beauty of the gospel news, the grace of God as expressed by Tim
Keller. "But in the gospel we discover that we are far more wicked than
we ever dared believe, yet more loved than we ever dared hoped." Dang!
Amen to that brother!
in light of having such a love, perhaps we no longer need to be blinded
by the reality of our own wretchedness...b/c reality also speaks of His
brokenness for us in order that we would become whole; that indeed, we
are more than conquerors - we are loved!
Romans 7:18-24, 8:37-39
For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out.
19For what I do is not the good I want to do; no, the evil I do not want
to do—this I keep on doing...24What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue
me from this body of death? 25Thanks be to God—through Jesus Christ our
Lord!.
37No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who
loved us. 38For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither
angels nor demons,[m] neither the present nor the future, nor any
powers, 39neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation,
will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus
our Lord.
gear