Olympics and Following the will of God

Tonight, the good o’ Irishman at my church preached on what it means to follow the will of God.  It was a very honest sermon, where he went as far as telling us that, in fact, he did not want to be at our church.  But because he knows clearly that it was by the will of God that he came here, he absolutely loves every moment of it.

A few moments afterwards, our senior pastor got up to do the announcements and mentioned that a good number of churches in Richmond, including the white churches, are going on a prayer walk at the Richmond Olympics Oval this Saturday to intercede for our city and for the upcoming sporting event.

At first I was quite “meh” about it.  I mean, I don’t give a toss about the Olympics, in fact I want to piss all over it, and going to a prayer walk on an early Saturday morning is about the last thing I want to do these days.

But my friend, who is filled with the Spirit, brought to me the conviction that I have been consciously avoiding for far too long.

“I just want to go see if there are any pretty girls there”, he said.

You know the feeling you get when you know clearly that God is calling you to do something worthy?  Something that glorifies His name?  Something that brings a wee little tear to your eye?

I don’t give a toss about the Olympics, I don’t feel like going to a prayer walk, but I do care so very much about following the will of God, and seizing every opportunity to meet some nice, devout Christian girls is a big part of that.

Oh, I am SO going to this prayer meeting!

No commitment

What’s wrong with the current generation?

The ‘Gen Y’ers, I mean.

Such a lack of commitment!

There is nothing to fear but fear itself!

You don’t know what I mean?

Just look at my FB wall.  All these people wish me Happy Birthday and wish that I’d find a wife this year, but none of them are able to take the slightest step of faith and say “I will be your wife today, on your birthday”.

What’s the point of wishing me a wife if they can’t uphold their end of the bargain?

It’s frightening, really.

A tribute to Trevor Linden (not really, more like another girl post)

So after having seen all those images of Vancouverites in their #16 jerseys, and hearing all about how great the tribute to Linden before the Oilers game went , I decided to spend a few moments pondering on the memories I have of this supposedly great inspiring man.

The only memory I have of Trevor isn’t of him on the ice – as you know how I’m like when it comes to hockey – but it was of the fine early morning in the summer of 2003 up at Grouse mountain, where a couple of my friends and I bumped into Trevor Linden and Dan Cloutier (totally coincidental, mind you).

That was by far the best summer of my life (not because of this encounter with Linden though, mind you).  It was the summer right after high school graduation, and right before entering into university. It was by far my whitest summer, where I did a lot of white things (like playing soccer barefoot, going hiking, etc.).

You see, we decided to go up for a hike on the Grouse Grind at 7AM that morning, because one of our friends (who’s actually in med school right now, brilliant gal) had to volunteer at some kiddies centre at 11AM in Richmond on the same day.

And as we finished our hike and headed for the tram to get down the mountain, we saw Trevor Linden and Dan Cloutier in there as well.  Apparently it only took them 30 minutes or so to finish the whole hike.

My friends got their autographs, I observed that Trevor drove a Ford Explorer (how down to earth), and that was that.

But you see, as you could probably have guessed, there’s no way I am going to dedicate a whole blog on some athlete who plays a sport I have no fancy for.

Many times I have explained explicitly that I only like girls who aren’t girly.  And I thought that this was the perfect example of what I mean.  This is important because several of my friends have started questioning my sexual orientation (because of statements like ‘I don’t like girly girls’, ‘I love Beckham’, ‘Banning gay marriage is just dumb’, etc.)

So, look back at that girl I just mentioned.

The girl who had to volunteer at 11AM but was invited by the rest of us to the hike so decided to compromise by getting all of us to hike early in the morning.  That girl.

Now, if you substitute in any regular girl instead, what you would end up getting is “ewww, I hate hiking”, or, “sorry I am busy that day, I have to volunteer at 11AM, have fun though”, or, “awww I am going to be so tired if I went, plus I still have to work after”, or, “we can go another time”.

But no, this girl didn’t act like any regular girly girl.

She analyzed the situation, found her heart’s desire, and made a radical adjustment to her (and our) original plan of action to accomodate for this whole thing.

That’s the sign of a leader.

That’s the sign of a not-so-girly girl.

And that’s the new sexy, baby.

New question

I had a good chance to breakdown, shed some tears, pray with friends, and recover last week; and since I have a million ideas I want to blog about since then, I think I am allowed to come on here(?).

Funny thing is, a couple of months ago I decided that I am going to host this party thing, really as an excuse to see the cute lady that I fancy. But it turns out she can’t make this thing anymore, and so the joke is that maybe I should cancel the whole thing.

I think I will go along with it, but man……it will definitely feel very weird. Another night of being a hopeless romantic.

Just like every other night, I suppose.

Anyways, my latest question is:

Is it theologically wrong to say “Beggars can’t be choosers”?

It seems to me to be a statement that shows a real lack of faith.  But then again, does our Father in heaven ever promise us a good wife in the Word?  Can’t seem to find it anywhere.

That big, big question

“So, what do you look for in a wife-candidate?”

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Those of you who know me would know that I have always had the reputation of being a wife-hunter, and with that often came this question above.

I never really gave anyone a firm answer, because, quite frankly, I didn’t believe in coming up with a list.

Coming up with a list seemed to me more like a practice needed for getting the right car, getting the right laptop, getting the right soft-synth for your recording studio, etc.

However, when it comes to finding a wife, I thought I could just rely on that instinctual feeling – that feeling you get when the person you meet is the right one.  Only problem is, this would mean risky business because I hypothetically could have that very same feeling for 3 people at once.

And so I thought about it some more.

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If I really were to give you the list say, back 2-3 years ago, it would probably look something like this:

- worships Jesus as God;

- tries to love people;

- leads a couple of youth groups and what not at her home church;

- loves kids;

- has at least 2 siblings;

- supports a football team;

- knows what a flat9 13 chord is;

- reads her Bible daily, prays daily;

- knows her 20th century world history

- is not overly girly (does not wear makeup, does not stand still and expect the guys to do all the lifting, etc.);

- likes me;

There were some other things, too.  But I think you get my point.

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Today, I still have not come up with a list.  In fact, I still do not believe in coming up with a list.  BUT, I have come to become very attracted to one big attribute: being able to sing Mark Schultz’s song, “He Will Carry Me”.

Before I go on to explain what I mean by this (and I obviously do not mean being physically able to sing it), here are the words to the song:

I call, You hear me
I’ve lost it all
And it’s more than I can bear
I feel so empty

You’re strong
I’m weary
I’m holdin’ on
But I feel like givin’ in
But still You’re with me

And even though I’m walkin’ through
The valley of the shadow
I will hold tight to the hand of Him
Whose love will comfort me
And when all hope is gone
And I’ve been wounded in the battle
He is all the strength
That I will ever need
And He will carry me

I know I’m broken
But You alone can mend this heart of mine
You’re always with me

And even though I feel so lonely
Like I’ve never been before
You never said it would be easy
But You said you’d see me through the storm

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Now ain’t that a beautiful song.

You see, I think many random people can somehow fit into the list I have up there.  I mean, I just need to move to England or something like that, then I’m sure there would be plenty of Christian gals who support a football club and serve at church and what not.

But I only know of a handful of gals who can really sing the words of this song out from the bottom of their hearts.  I only know of a handful who can really say that they are not afraid of walking through the valley of the shadow and darkness because they know that God is right there along with them.

Now isn’t that kind of faith and strength (which comes only from Him above) seriously attractive?

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I must admit though that much of this definitely comes from all the Mark Driscoll talks I have been listening to.

The common theme throughout all his talks is simply this: how can we claim to follow after Jesus Christ – God who became man, and as if that wasn’t bad enough, who suffered the kind of death and betrayal that got Him sweating drops of blood simply thinking about it – and then at the same time pray for an easy way out of life?

“I am a Christian.  I place all my faith in Jesus Christ, so that I don’t have to live like Him.”

How ridiculous does that sound?

So, anyways, this is what I find most attractive right now.

That’s a woman with character.

I should host an audition and get the ladies to sing this song.

Vicky Beeching would probably sing it very well…….HAHAHA just kidding there.

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Romans 5 (NIV)

Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand. And we rejoice in the hope of the glory of God. Not only so, but we also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope. And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom he has given us.

You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly. Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous man, though for a good man someone might possibly dare to die. But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.