Cool experience at church today

I had a pretty cool experience at church today. God has been especially gracious to me recently, and he confirmed his pleasure to me today at church. During worship, the sun shined directly through an upper window in the back of the sanctuary right through to me, making me suddenly warm. It was as if the sun was shining a beam directly at me, like a spotlight pointed at me. It was pretty cool because the sun was behind me, so it didn't mess with me trying to look at the screen for the lyrics for worship, but when I turned around the light was so intense, forcing me to squint. (I wonder what the people behind me were thinking, as I looked forward, then turned around and squinted, and repeated this a few times.) The feeling was just awesome. In addition to the intensity of the light, the warmth I felt physically really felt like an embrace from God, and I immediately thought of "This is my son whom I love; with him I am well pleased" (Matthew 3:17), and felt that God was saying that directly to me, that God was pleased with me. I remember thanking God for bringing me into the light and out of the darkness that was referred to previously in the service from Jeremiah 3. I imagine that looking at God in all of his glory must have been something like what I experienced, warm and intense. It was awesome.

...yeah, it was a lot cooler than it sounds. I know it sounds quite ordinary and a coincidence, but God uses the ordinary things in our lives to speak to us, as he did today for me. So for all you haters out there, I'm not one who is superstitious, very easily moved, or charismatic, but I am certain of God's presence with me this morning! I really felt the blessing of God that we normally hear during the benediction:

The LORD bless you and keep you; the LORD make his face to shine upon you and be gracious to you; the LORD lift up his countenance upon you and give you peace.

My Sermon/Message Notes!!

In a somewhat unrelated note, I've started taking notes during church on my phone, and I'll be uploading all of my sermon notes to Google Docs, and anyone can view them. If you want to format or contribute anything to my notes, just ask me and I'll give you permission to edit the document.

Here are all of my sermon notes.

Enjoy.

Winter Break 2010

Every time I come home, my spiritual life either improves a lot (as it did over the summer), or just takes huge steps back (as it did this winter break). Being home over winter break, I just feel so lazy all the time, which translates to my spiritual life as well. The praise night at LBC was a needed revival for me, so thanks to all of you whom I convinced to come  (and miss dinner) even though you didn't want to. I'm also happy to say that my spiritual life is back on track, as my earliest class is at 1:30, so I can spend a lot of time just reading the Word and spending time with God. Woot.

That all said, I don't think I've been punished more horribly in a span of 3 days as I did this break. A total of 6 bites of green banana, and more water that I've ever drank in an hour...probably more than a gallon.


Darren starts eating at 2:15. I start eating at 5:40.

Bonus Video: Wisconsin player hits a Minnesota player so hard that the logo comes off of his helmet.

Why Vick isn't the future of the Eagles

...So much for keeping this thing updated. (This post is dedicated to Eric Huang, my most loyal visitor).

I've said it all year: Michael Vick can't lead a team to a Super Bowl. I hope he proves me wrong this year, but the recent collapse against the Vikings supports what I've believed all along.

A primarily running quarterback can't take the beating of the regular season and the long playoffs to get to the Super Bowl without getting hurt.

Michael Vick has not been durable, and though it's no fault of his, it's hurting the team. In the first 6 games Vick started, he had 0 turnovers. In the last six, he has 9. Vick has become much better passer than he has ever been, but I would still like to see him throw the ball away sometimes, and learn to slide!! If he keeps on taking a beating, he's not going to make it to the Super Bowl.

The Eagles need to run shorter routes (and Vick needs to hit those receivers).

Vick needs a faster release so he stops getting hit. This is probably a combination of the play-calling and Vick's inability to read the defense or lack of confidence throwing the ball. Is it just me, or do the Eagles not run any more slants? It seems like every play is either a long bomb, a check-down to McCoy, or a Vick scramble. As a result, Vick is holding the ball very long for each play, which heightens the chance that he's going to take a nasty hit.

Here are some photos from the Eagles-Lions game earlier this year. Ford Field was SO nice...and surprisingly very loud as well.



I was really surprised at how small the sidelines are. When we watch NFL games on TV, it always seems like theres a ton of people on the sidelines, but in reality, there isn't that many! This is the Eagles bench.