Ramblings
Haven't updated in a while, so here's a memory dump...
- The Gospel message inherent in the celebration of Good Friday and Easter Sunday always reminds me of the two questions I wrestled with back before I came to the Christian faith:
1) Is there a God?
2) Is Jesus who he said he was?
I thought, if I could answer "yes" to those two questions... I'd have to make some crucial decisions about my life. It was an intense wrestling process for me... in short, to the first, in studying science even throughout college, I came to believe it to be even more of a leap of faith to believe that creation is not intelligently directed and intentional than it is to believe in a Creator God. To the second, I took a look at the evidence of Jesus' teaching, his prophecies, and the circumstances surrounding his execution and the formation of the early Christian church, and I believe that he is indeed who he said he is - the very Son of God and Savior of the world.
Of course, it's not just reason that leads to Christianity - it just so happens that it played a part in helping me get to a point where I could begin exploring faith.
- Memorable parts of Easter Sunday:
Jamie wrote a song
Testimonies from all the baptizees - Sherry, Justin, Sam H, and Sebastian and Tsolmon (the international students we're hosting)
Brunch with good food and gawking at Byron and Maria on the cover of the "Chinese Focus on the Family" magazine
Hoops - trying mostly in vain to guard Vincent. He just has a remarkable talent to create space from the defender and then make shots once he gets the room.
- Recent movies... saw "Lost in Translation" a week ago at Byron and Maria's, "Shaolin Soccer" with coworkers last Thursday, and "Intolerable Cruelty" Saturday night again at B&M's. LiT reminded me strongly of "About Schmidt" in that it was less of a traditional movie plot and more of a glimpse into the lives of two Americans in a totally foreign culture in Japan... very artsy, and I think it did a good job of capturing the feeling of displacement. It definitely wasn't a traditional movie though... Byron had a funny comment: "This is in Japan... where are the ninjas?" SS was a riot... a live-action comic book. IC was a clever semi-dark comedy about marriage and divorce... the funniest thing about it though, was probably that most everyone watching thought that it would be a romantic comedy. There was definitely no romance about it, but plenty of very funny scenes and memorable characters.
During IC, the gals watching the movie kept commenting on how gorgeous Catherine Zeta-Jones was. I've noticed this during other movies as well (girls commenting on actress' beauty). I suppose I found this somewhat surprising because stereotypically, it's the male gender that is typically entranced with the female appearance. Is this normal? Or is this one of those things I never learned because I didn't have a sister growing up?
- Used stuff rules! I found out after seeing Shaolin Soccer that there's a Rasputin's Music store in Campbell about 6 miles from my house, so on Saturday after praise band practice, I stopped by and spent an hour or two flipping through the extensive used music section. I ended up purchasing 5 CDs for $23, among them Four by Blues Traveler, Ghosts by Sleeping at Last (the opening band for Switchfoot at the concert a bunch of us saw a while ago), This Beautiful Mess by Sixpence None The Richer, and Films for Radio by Over the Rhine.
- Quote of the day
Hideyo, on readjusting to the United States after 2.5 years in Japan on missions:
Hideyo (10:41:13 PM): dude everything changed
Hideyo (10:41:21 PM): i was watching tv in my hotel in la
Hideyo (10:41:27 PM): tv programming changed
Hideyo (10:41:32 PM): but then i flipped to espn
Hideyo (10:41:37 PM): watched a warriors game
Hideyo (10:41:43 PM): good to know that somethings stay the same
Hideyo (10:41:46 PM): warriors lose
Hideyo (10:41:54 PM): need that stability
Haven't updated in a while, so here's a memory dump...
- The Gospel message inherent in the celebration of Good Friday and Easter Sunday always reminds me of the two questions I wrestled with back before I came to the Christian faith:
1) Is there a God?
2) Is Jesus who he said he was?
I thought, if I could answer "yes" to those two questions... I'd have to make some crucial decisions about my life. It was an intense wrestling process for me... in short, to the first, in studying science even throughout college, I came to believe it to be even more of a leap of faith to believe that creation is not intelligently directed and intentional than it is to believe in a Creator God. To the second, I took a look at the evidence of Jesus' teaching, his prophecies, and the circumstances surrounding his execution and the formation of the early Christian church, and I believe that he is indeed who he said he is - the very Son of God and Savior of the world.
Of course, it's not just reason that leads to Christianity - it just so happens that it played a part in helping me get to a point where I could begin exploring faith.
- Memorable parts of Easter Sunday:
Jamie wrote a song
Testimonies from all the baptizees - Sherry, Justin, Sam H, and Sebastian and Tsolmon (the international students we're hosting)
Brunch with good food and gawking at Byron and Maria on the cover of the "Chinese Focus on the Family" magazine
Hoops - trying mostly in vain to guard Vincent. He just has a remarkable talent to create space from the defender and then make shots once he gets the room.
- Recent movies... saw "Lost in Translation" a week ago at Byron and Maria's, "Shaolin Soccer" with coworkers last Thursday, and "Intolerable Cruelty" Saturday night again at B&M's. LiT reminded me strongly of "About Schmidt" in that it was less of a traditional movie plot and more of a glimpse into the lives of two Americans in a totally foreign culture in Japan... very artsy, and I think it did a good job of capturing the feeling of displacement. It definitely wasn't a traditional movie though... Byron had a funny comment: "This is in Japan... where are the ninjas?" SS was a riot... a live-action comic book. IC was a clever semi-dark comedy about marriage and divorce... the funniest thing about it though, was probably that most everyone watching thought that it would be a romantic comedy. There was definitely no romance about it, but plenty of very funny scenes and memorable characters.
During IC, the gals watching the movie kept commenting on how gorgeous Catherine Zeta-Jones was. I've noticed this during other movies as well (girls commenting on actress' beauty). I suppose I found this somewhat surprising because stereotypically, it's the male gender that is typically entranced with the female appearance. Is this normal? Or is this one of those things I never learned because I didn't have a sister growing up?
- Used stuff rules! I found out after seeing Shaolin Soccer that there's a Rasputin's Music store in Campbell about 6 miles from my house, so on Saturday after praise band practice, I stopped by and spent an hour or two flipping through the extensive used music section. I ended up purchasing 5 CDs for $23, among them Four by Blues Traveler, Ghosts by Sleeping at Last (the opening band for Switchfoot at the concert a bunch of us saw a while ago), This Beautiful Mess by Sixpence None The Richer, and Films for Radio by Over the Rhine.
- Quote of the day
Hideyo, on readjusting to the United States after 2.5 years in Japan on missions:
Hideyo (10:41:13 PM): dude everything changed
Hideyo (10:41:21 PM): i was watching tv in my hotel in la
Hideyo (10:41:27 PM): tv programming changed
Hideyo (10:41:32 PM): but then i flipped to espn
Hideyo (10:41:37 PM): watched a warriors game
Hideyo (10:41:43 PM): good to know that somethings stay the same
Hideyo (10:41:46 PM): warriors lose
Hideyo (10:41:54 PM): need that stability
posted by Bob at
12:01 AM
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