Find My Way Home

Collectively By. ZaWorldWide - Zaworldwide http://bit.ly/17mufEY

Wisc beats vandy. Swt 16. knicks and dodgeball team won 3 straight. I just dropped a ton of dimes on this $8 bus fair

This past Saturday, the a Capella group that I’m a part of, After 80s, had a concert. With over 250 people in attendance, we sang we had a 90 minute set. 

I attempted to rap some lyrics to a remake of John Legend’s Ordinary People. Here are my lyrics:

We just the ordinary
After 80s sound is pure extraordinary
I just can’t afford to marry
an idol that is less than the only one God

He’s more than a God to me
True love, I’m not so blind to see
Jin’s rhymes are not hip hop to me
Just like Jeremy Lin I rep the N-Y-C

My man ALau be rocking them strings
Ladies in the house want to hear him sing
So let him take the show
Come on bay bro, take it slow… 

Excerpts from an article about Jeremy Lin

“I’m not playing to prove anything to anybody,” Lin said. “That affected my game last year and my joy last year. With all the media attention, all the love from the fans (in the Bay Area), I felt I needed to prove myself. Prove that I’m not a marketing tool, I’m not a ploy to improve attendance. Prove I can play in this league. But I’ve surrendered that to God. I’m not in a battle with what everybody else thinks anymore.”

It took some time, some rough nights, long prayers and countless Bible studies. Lin confided in his pastor, Stephen Chen.

“It was hard. I could make him no promises,” Chen said. “To trust what God is doing is definitely a lesson that Jeremy is continuing to learn and not to trust in his results.”

“There is so much temptation to hold on to my career even more now,” Lin said. “To try to micromanage and dictate every little aspect. But that’s not how I want to do things anymore. I’m thinking about how can I trust God more. How can I surrender more? How can I bring him more glory?

“It’s a fight. But it’s one I’m going to keep fighting.”

And we know that in all things, God works for the good of those who love Him, who have been called according to his purpose. — Romans 8:28

I had a long talk with Amie last month, as we were talking about how to best use our talents. Our talk was struck up after I had re-read the parable of the talents (Matthew 25:14-30).

And so here goes:

God has put you in certain positions for certain reasons despite your wants, desires, “needs,” and those around you. That is a mystery of God. With that said, you have to ask yourself, “Why?” Whatever you choose, God will use you to do great things…eventually.

But along this journey ask yourself, are you making the best of the situation you’ve been given and taking advantage of every opportunity that is right in front of you? Are you making things too complicated by forcing things to happen and not doing the best with what is available? Opportunities will arise naturally as long as you are doing the best and being the best at what’s been given. 

Yes, always play to win. Dont’ force yourself into a losing battle. If you think it’s wrong and know it’s wrong, it’s a losing battle because despite/no matter what you do, there’s no winning outcome (seems pretty obvious, huh?). There will have been no redeeming factor from your effort. 

So in every situation, you need to ask yourself, what are the redeeming factors? What are the factors that will make the ffort of your actions worthwhile? What is the potential and, when fulfilled/executed, will be the outcome that ultimately, Glorifies God in all of His righteousness (not yours…). 

Serve the Lord in everything you do. Not only give thanks and praise, but be a slave to a  master that is above all else. Be in full service to God. Be in any position. Don’t ask how you can get out of your situations. Just ask how can you serve God in a better way.

⁸ And there were shepherds living out in the fields nearby, keeping watch over their flocks at night. ⁹ An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. ¹⁰ But the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid. I bring you good news that will cause great joy for all the people. ¹¹ Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is the Messiah, the Lord. ¹² This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger.”

 ¹³ Suddenly a great company of the heavenly host appeared with the angel, praising God and saying,

 ¹⁴ “Glory to God in the highest heaven, 
   and on earth peace to those on whom his favor rests.”

Merry Christmas Everyone! Here is my Christmas playlist for this year. Highlights of this year’s Christmas playlist:

• Justin Bieber - Fa La La (f/ Boyz II Men)
• Justin Bieber - Mistletoe
• Glee - Extraordinary Merry Christmas
• Louis Armstrong - Christmas in New Orleans
• The Maine - Ho Ho Hopefully
• Vince Guaraldi Trio - Christmas Time is Here (from Charlie Brown Christmas)
• Squirrel Nut Zippers - Carolina Christmas
• Ella Fitzgerald - Baby, It’s Cold Outside
• *Extra* Glee - Santa Claus is Coming to Town

Enjoy! Blessings and Peace to one and all. Merry Christmas and may God’s grace be upon you all.

¹⁴ “Glory to God in the highest heaven, 
   and on earth peace to those on whom his favor rests.” - Luke 2:14

While it’s holiday time, I’m not quite ready to put up my holiday music playlist yet. I’m still in the “let’s rock out and party” mode. With that said, here’s my playlist For the ultimate pre-holiday party:

• Usher - DJ Got Us Falling in Love Again
• Maroon 5 f/ Christina Aguilera - Moves Like Jagger
• Rihanna - We Found Love
• Timbaland f/ Katy Perry - If We Ever Meet Again
• Jay Sean - Do You Remember
• DJ Khaled f/ Akon and T.I. - We Takin’ Over
• DJ Khaled f/ Ludacris, Rick Ross, T-Pain & Snoop Dogg - All I Do is Win
• Far East Movement - White Flag (in honor of last Monday’s concert. Props to Jon for the hook up)

As I was leaving the yacht club, I was saying goodbyes to everyone where my parting words were:

“ok. I’ll see you later Dutchie, Viking, grouch, beast, singaling, nine, monster…”

I write updates to my family every so often over email. figured, that I should post it for my buds too… And so here’s the email:  

I have decided to push the dates of my trip back to December 30 - January 12th. I will be going to Thailand and Cambodia to help out at some orphanages.  This past week was insane. I had a lot of friends come into town. After Dad left on Saturday, my friend Nick (from NY) came to HK and stayed with me. The Tuesday after, Stan (his brother) came and stayed at my place. We went to this place called Mr. Wong’s with a group of friends. It was a $50 all you can eat dinner with all you can drink beers. It was pretty amazing and funny. We sat out on the street. Last time, my friends said they saw rats run passed them. HAHA!  The day after, I met up with my friend Evelyn, who was also from NY. So now, I have Stan, Nick, and Evelyn from out of town visiting me…It was another late night.  Thursday, Ami and I had dinner at the peak. A lot of holiday parties that night. It’s pretty nice to have dinner up there. Very relaxing. And very close to my apartment. A couple of weeks ago, we went to the Peak Cafe with a bunch of friends. It’s one of the oldest restaurants in HK. Over the weekend, Christine from Shanghai arrived into HK and stayed with me. So now, I have stan, nick, evelyn, and Christine from out of town visiting me…And to top it off, Edwin was here. I didn’t get a chance to meet with him because I was just TOO busy. It was insane. Sunday, I went to the prison and spent time with the prisoners. It was a very blessed time. Every time I visit them, I learn so much about faith and learn so much about life. One of the guys, has been praying for an early release because his son is graduating next May. I will be praying for him. He used to be Hindu, but became a Christian during his stay in the prison. He has an interesting story. He’s a very nice man. Some of the inmates are being released soon. Hopefully, we will have a chance to meet and hang out outside of prison walls over the next few months. Some of them live in Hong Kong. After Prison, I went to service, and then we went to Chung King Mansion (a ghetto building where people do drugs and sometimes die) for Indian food. It was dirty, but fun, and delicious.  This week, it’s Dodgeball, dinner with Jackie, dinner with Ami, and hopefully a day of rest on Wednesday. This weekend, we might be having dodgeball playoffs. If not, then a capella practice, a 12.5 mile charity walk, teaching kids, a baptism, and more work… Currently, I’m working on throwing the launch party for our new incubator space. We just signed a 10,000 sq. ft space that can house 100 people, and hopefully new startups. It’s going to be a pizza and beer keg party, if I can find the kegs. Should be a lot of fun.