On Jim Tressel's Resignation

The coach of my most hated rival, who has kicked our butts for the last decade, has self-destructed to the point of resignation in a torrent of accusations and suspicions. I should be wagging my finger, jumping for joy, and gloating, but I can't but feel sad through this all. Here's why.

Reason #1 - I'm a Christian first, Michigan fan second

First, here are two must-read snippets from the SI Article that sealed his fate:

"[The community] took equal pride in Tressel. He wore his Christian values on his sweater vest and founded a chapter of the Fellowship of Christian Athletes. Tressel was especially skilled at taking troubled kids and molding them into a team. "A lot of [players] came from broken homes," Cochran says. "They'd see [Tressel] as a fatherly model.""

"One of Tressel's duties then was to organize and run the Buckeyes' summer camp. Most of the young players who attended it would never play college football, but a few were top prospects whom Ohio State was recruiting. At the end of camp, attendees bought tickets to a raffle with prizes such as cleats and a jersey. According to his fellow assistant, Tressel rigged the raffle so that the elite prospects won -- a potential violation of NCAA rules. Says the former colleague, who asked not to be identified because he still has ties to the Ohio State community, "In the morning he would read the Bible with another coach. Then, in the afternoon, he would go out and cheat kids who had probably saved up money from mowing lawns to buy those raffle tickets. That's Jim Tressel.""

The second quote in there about the raffle is probably going to become extremely well-known, and it is really sad to see the fall of another big Christian leader. Even though Tressel isn't known for being a Christian as are Ted Haggard, Pat Robertson, or the many others that have given Christianity a bad name, it certainly doesn't help our cause. It's sad to see the fall of whom many have considered a man of faith and a man of integrity. It's sad to see Jim Tressel being added to the list of "Christian hypocrites" that critics of our faith like to keep and remind us of.

Reason #2 - Even as a Michigan fan, I feel betrayed

For years, I have held Jim Tressel with the highest respect. He deeply cared about the rivalry, but even defended Michigan against the whole practice-time scandal. I believed he was above all the recruiting scandals and coaching drama of the SEC. I believed that he was a really classy guy and that he treated the Michigan program with the highest respect. Above all, I believed he was a worthy opponent.I always spoke highly of him, and often defended his program against critics (often for the sake of the Big Ten).

Then this all came out. I'm far from any loyalty to the OSU football program, but I can't help but feel betrayed. The critics of the Big Ten have more material than they ever have, and the nation is bashing the man I can no longer defend.This all said, I still see Jim Tressel as a classy guy , and I still believe in the general integrity of the man, with his one downfall being ignorance and inaction.

Reason #3 - I would rather lose to an honest opponent rather than a cheater.

It's unclear whether or not the cheating at Ohio State translated to success on the football field, but I would rather lose to an honest opponent rather than a cheater. Some Michigan fans point at OSU's problems and rejoice that the OSU football success has been all a sham, as that somehow nullifies all of the wins that OSU has had. However, the scandal only frustrates me more and makes me wish OSU hadn't been stupid and gotten themselves in trouble.

Imagine: you play cards with your friend every week, where he beats you 90% of the time. After 10 years of playing with him, he tells you that he's been cheating the whole time when he's been playing against you. Would you be mad at him for breaking the integrity of the game or would you be happily pointing your finger at him and say "All those games you won are now invalid and nullified!"? If it was me, I would be mad. I would rather lose fairly than lose unfairly.

Wrap-up

Even though I'm excited for the future of Michigan's football program, it's sad to see Tressel go down like this.  Like many of the Ohio State players and fans have said these last few years, the rivalry between Michigan and Ohio State is the most meaningful and the most fun when both are programs are successful. I don't just want to beat a downed Ohio State team. I want to beat them at their best. Hopefully all this will soon pass, and we'll see in the near future creation as God meant it to be - Michigan and Ohio State at the top of the national rankings.

Lloyd Carr and Jim Tressel midfield before the 2006 "Game of the Century"

Mothers - Ordinary But Dearly Loved

[Disclaimer: I've worked on this post for a while, but I can't seem to communicate my thoughts very clearly...so I give up. I also don't mean to offend anyone by insulting their mother. This is just my perspective. Also, there are obviously many exceptions to every rule. I just try to point out a general observation I made.]

The unconditional love of the mother for the child is well-known, but we don't always talk about the surprisingly unique love a child has for his mother. What makes a mother lovable?

Outside Perspective: Ordinary and Unspectacular

Ever meet a mother that you've heard a friend talk about a lot, who you've heard has a heart of gold and is very interesting, and all you see is a usual, ordinary Asian lady standing in front of you?

From an outside perspective, there's really nothing surprising or exceedingly special about most mothers. Most of the mothers of my friends I've met are wildly unspectacular. Few are memorably funny or witty. Few have cool jobs or awesome hobbies. Few have physical features or attire that stick out in your mind. Few are particularly attractive to me (which is probably a good sign). If someone asked me to describe someone else's mother, I would probably respond with something like, "She's a really nice lady. She's kind of short, has short hair, and talks with a funny accent. She's a good cook/singer/artist. She lets us come over to play every so often and is extremely hospitable." [*I don't think we think about fathers the same way.]

And then I think, "This is the woman that [my friend] loves with all of his heart. This is the woman that [my friend] would die for without hesitation. This is a pretty usual woman, and he loves her unconditionally? Crazy."

I'm not saying that all of your mothers are the same in my head or don't mean something to me, it's just that from an outside perspective, your mother doesn't really have any traits or qualities that deserve unconditional love. The mother that you've talked about so much, that you love with all of your heart, that you would die for - she just looks like a normal lady to me.

Inside Perspective: Dearly Loved

Now this is obviously only half the story. The amount of work and love our mothers put into our lives are pretty amazing, even though it isn't immediately apparent. However, we love our mothers not because of any of their personality traits, career accomplishments, or memorable characteristics. We don't even love our mothers for being good mothers (because this often isn't the case, anyways). The only reason we love our mothers is because they are our mothers.

I'm sometimes (strangely) surprised by how much you guys love your moms, especially for those of you whose mothers I haven't met yet. Hearing your words drip of compassion, love, and respect about someone I've never met before is interesting. It's even more interesting, as said before, meeting the subject of this love in person.

Though our mothers may seem ordinary and unspectacular on the outside, we love our mothers dearly. Even though I may not find your mother to be particularly interesting, I know that you love her with all of your heart. And that's enough. That's enough for me to hold your mother in the highest respect and to love her as an Ah-Yi (or as a Comrade/Party Member Auntie, for all of you Mainlanders).

Mandatory Gospel Plug
Similarly to how we love our mothers (and other mothers) without much of a worldly justification or objective analysis, Jesus loves us without looking at who we are on the outside. He loves us despite our sin and despite our lack of spectacular-ness. Usually the analogy is used in the reverse sense - that God loves us like a parent loves a child, but unconditional love is unconditional love, and we should stay amazed and grateful for the undeserving unconditional love that we receive.

*Aside: I don't think we think about fathers the same way.

When we think about fathers, we think about their job, their physical features, the car they drive, their expertise in hobbies and profession. We think about their personality traits, their humor, and their funny quirks and habits. As an example, when I think about Michael's dad I think about him playing tennis. Justin's dad = tall and used to be a sniper. Eric's dad = has a boat and goes fishing and smokes fish. Tom's dad = retired early and Thomas claims he has like 10 patents and invented the router (also, "hold on, please"). Sang's dad = hilarious and outgoing.  Nathan's dad = pastor at CBC.

[Sorry all you Michigan people for not knowing your dads to include in the above segment. But for fun, you should think about the parents that you know well, and think about what pops into your head when you think of them. Go through all of the mothers, then all of the fathers. My theory is that the mothers will be like what I described before, and the things that pop out about the fathers will be more "interesting"]

TL;DR - Yeah this post really isn't about much. It's just crazy how much we love our mothers without much of a "reason", I guess. Also, we think about mothers and fathers differently.

Iris (a potential mother, as John Heald would say), our mother, and our mother's mother!

Iris' Taiwan Documentary - Dinosaur Cruise + Great Discovery!

We're not sure yet, but I might not have internet for the next few days, so I'll just post these videos up because I don't have any other post finished. However, these are two videos that I've been saving because they are probably the funniest videos I've taken so far, both revealing a little of Iris' deepest personality - her fear of dinosaurs and her occasional awkwardness in front of a camera (see this). These are must-watch videos!!!

Iris is hilarious. These videos are hilarious. I leave you with one of Iris' quotes of the trip:

"Whales are so scary. Even pictures of whales are so scary. They are so big!" - Iris Tseng

Iris' Taiwan Documentary - Dinosaur Cruise

[Setting: We are in this theme park and this is a kiddie dinosaur ride. The beginning is a little dark, but you should be able to see some other stuff later in the video]

Iris' Taiwan Documentary - Great Discovery


Thank you Iris for this material!!

Amazed - Sun Moon Lake

Lord, I'm Amazed by You

I'm not someone who's usually moved by nature. I think it's cool and awesome, but in general, nature just doesn't do much for me. Even though I usually see God's glory more clearly through other means, visiting the famous Sun Moon Lake in Taiwan was a really cool experience.

Before getting to Sun Moon Lake, we were stuck in the car for a long, long time driving up and down the mountains by Puli. [Aside: whereas before Taiwan, an hour in the car was a painfully long amount of time to be sitting in one spot, we've grown accustomed to long car rides, and 45 minutes in the car now is like a short trip to Meijer (or Shoprite, for my NJ peeps).] On the car, I've been listening to Iris' iPod Touch (because 1. my phone doesn't work and 2. Iris doesn't like sleeping to music...yay), and one the song I woke up to was Amazed sung by Desperation Band (not my favorite version, but whatever). It's an old worship song, with a super-simple, catchy chorus that was stuck in my head for most of that day and the next, when we were at Sun Moon Lake.

The Lake was cool, and the stuff we did was fun, but I wasn't falling down in tears because of how beautiful it was. But when I started getting bored, I heard the chorus of the song in my head.

Lord I'm amazed by You
Lord I'm amazed by You
Lord I'm amazed by You
How You love me

It was like God was saying to me: Caleb, screw you and your own little preferences. I made all of creation and it all screams my glory, so you can not be amazed and be cocky and think "I've seen cooler things than this" or "I could be doing funner things right now" OR you could try to understand how awesome I am and how awesome my creation is. Your choice.

I've never really tried to be awe-struck by nature before. I thought it to be contrived and fake. But I think it's our calling to try and discover all the glory of all of creation and to really try to give God all the glory for it. Otherwise, we're just playing with God's stuff without giving him the credit for it.

Kind of a stretch, but this all reminds me of my life verse:

1 Corinthians 10:31 - So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do [include visiting a supposed landmark lake in Taiwan], do it all for the glory of God.

Iris' Taiwan Documentary...continued

Unlike the previous Nature Adventures at TaiCheng Park, most of the stuff Iris says is actually true, tidbits learned from tour guides and our family friends.

Iris' Taiwan Documentary - Taking a Boat Ride on Sun Moon Lake


Iris' Taiwan Documentary - On a Cable Car over Sun Moon Lake

[We haven't even gotten to the top, in this video. I stopped filming cuz my mom was freaking out about it]

Iris' Taiwan Documentary - An Awesome Japanese-designed Building by Sun Moon Lake

[This video really doesn't do the building justice. The acoustics were awesome.]

Why Asians are Bad Drivers

Leave your pride and your political correctness at home, and you have to admit, many Asians are bad drivers in the US. And when I say "Asians", I mean "people of yellow and brown color", even though it is not Asian-Americans (for the most part) who are at fault for being wild on the road….just their parents. [Sure, there are probably as many bad drivers of other races, but there's no denying we have our share of crappy drivers]

Here's my theory why:

Asians are accustomed to both reckless driving and extreme defensive driving, driving styles that are common in Asia but are considered "bad driving" in the US.

Asians Driving in Taiwan

Drivers in Taiwan don't care much for driving laws and have care even less for right-of-way rules and other unspoken/sometimes-spoken rules we have in the US. This disregard for rules and the general well-being of others on the road is embodied in my grandmother (my mom's mom).

My grandmother is a terrible driver (and a terrible person, but that's another story for another day). She stomps the brake when the car ahead of us brakes because she doesn't leave enough room between the two. She makes such slow and crazy left turns on big roads that oncoming traffic needs to come to a near halt to not run into her. She used to be worse. She used to go the other way on one-way streets and always go on red lights. Thank God she doesn't anymore.

I can't really speak for the rest of Asia, but I know that Taiwan is filled with these sort of drivers. Some of my relatives say that people don't stop for red lights but slow down for green lights, because when they are crossing a green light, they are afraid of other people running red lights. But when they are running a red light, they know that other people are also scared of people running red lights and that the other drivers slow down on greens, allowing them to drive full speed through a red. Road rage is pretty common and crazy in Taiwan, and people yell and scream at you if you make a mistake or don't get out of the way in time.

There is an expectation in Taiwan that you are prepared for reckless drivers, driving to accommodate their crazy driving (if you aren't one of the reckless drivers, that is). There's no use in pouting and being righteous about right of way or traffic laws. You just need to slow down when other a car decides to cut in front of you, look both ways when crossing a green light, and be extremely careful when making turns. Even when it's your right of way, it's almost always safer to just assume that the other driver is crazy and selfish and will go anyways (like my grandmother). This results in an extreme sort of defensive driving.

Asians Driving in the US

Both reckless driving and extreme defensive driving make a lot of sense (kind of) in Taiwan, but it would be madness in the US. We see less of the Asian reckless drivers in the US (most of them don't make it over here...), but we see a lot of extremely slow, overly cautious Asian drivers. Sure, it might be because the poor Asian lady is too short to see over the wheel, but it could also be that she's accustomed to motorcycles jumping out of nowhere and cars seemingly intent on crashing into her. Our Asian parents seem to also hold this view of the dangerous, car-eat-car roads and highways. Anyone have your Asian mom scream at you to look left a million times before making a right turn? Yeah, me too. (Maybe white moms do it too, but I wouldn't know. I don't have a white mom.) They still imagine cars stopping randomly and motorcycles cutting you off, and they aren't yet used to the relative calm and safety of the American road.

So there it is, my theory of why Asians are bad drivers. This could, of course, all be completely wrong and the reason we are bad drivers is just that God made us that way.

Say what you want, but I love Carlos Mencia. Moment at 1:40, priceless.

The Future of Driving - Automated Driving

I've talked to some of you about my ideas of the future of driving, but I'm going to "publish" these here, just so we have a record of them. I also have a new idea about street signs that I lightbulbed just a few days ago. Sorry there are no pictures. If there were, I would have created them using MS Paint anyways, so yeah.
 [Disclaimer: I have done no research on these topics, so if what I'm saying has already been done or is proven to be impossible, oops.]

Automated Driving

We already have cars that can park themselves. We have airplanes that fly themselves. We have vacuums that vacuum themselves. What is holding us back from having cars that park themselves? In my opinion, the widespread use of automated driving is almost inevitable.

Motivations and Benefits:

Safety
The main cause of car crashes is the driver (as the human is the weakest link in most systems built today). There will come a point when a computer driver will be more safe than the average human driver. The computer driver would always stay focused at the wheel, follow traffic laws, never fall asleep , and stay sober. If designed and implemented efficiently and effectively, an automated driver would have a significantly faster reaction than any human being and would handle unexpected obstacles and hazards faster than any human.

Once the use of automated automobiles is widespread, the cars would be able to avoid most traffic accidents by communicating with other cars over some network. For example, if a car wants to turn left on some hill where it can't see the oncoming cars, it can broadcast to cars in the immediate area that it desires to turn left. If there is a car that is speeding along, coming from the other side, that car would be able to receive the message and respond a split second later, "Don't turn yet! I'm coming!". There are a myriad of other scenarios where this type of communications would be beneficial, such as car breakdowns, yellow lights, turn on reds, backing out of driveways, etc.

Awesomeness
Just think about it. You will never need to drive that 11-hour trip to Michigan from New Jersey to visit Caleb. You could just sleep or eat or watch a movie or play video games. You will never need to worry about getting a speeding ticket again. You will never need to find directions anywhere, and you'll never get lost. You will never need to look for a parking spot again. You may never even have to find your car in the parking lot, because, with the push of a button, it will drive to you. You won't need anyone to pick you up from the airport because your car will do it itself. You won't need to have a designated drive r for parties, because your car will be doing the driving. Just think about it. The possibilities are endless.

Traffic / Time on the road
Automated cars can help avoid this [must-watch video if you haven't learned about this stuff before].


Obstacles

Public Acceptance
The trust of the public will need to be earned, and this could take as long as a decade. It won't be easy for humans to hand over their lives to a computer, and the passengers of the car will probably spend more time nervously watching the road instead of sitting back and relaxing. Strategic marketing and emphasis of government certification will be key towards surmounting the inevitable public skepticism. Needless to say, the first priority of car manufacturers will be safety, as any sort of accident on the road will be a huge setback for the acceptance of automated driving.

Car companies will need to figure out some way to make the transition smoother for people who find it difficult to hand over control of driving. I'm not sure what this will look like, but perhaps this will include some sort of intermediate step between total automation and human driving.

Security
Software and hardware security will be of the utmost importance, as any successful attack on an automobile could easily result in the death of the passengers. In addition, if a compromised automobile sends false status updates into the communication network, it could seriously stall traffic by causing other cars to make wrong or even dangerous decisions. Even if the car's driving system can be hijacked (as it will probably be), there must be safeguards in place to identify and isolate these rogue agents. This will probably be the most technically difficult of this whole automated car business, as it is effectively impossible to implement the many different components needed to autonomously drive a car without any bugs or security vulnerabilities.

Jerkiness
Most driving robots now drive really herky-jerky, and it's important that an automated driver would be able to be a smooth driver, even smoother than human drivers. This really isn't as easy as it sounds, and it could give developers quite a headache.

Predictions:
Likelihood of automated driving being widely used sometime in the future - 90%

Estimated time until widespread use - 50 years (prototype in 15 years, government-certified 10 years after that, prices drop enough for consumers after another 10 years, 5 years before it's common to see them on the road).

Smart Street Signs

The street signs in Taiwan can be pretty horrible. They can have multiple road names on the same sign, and signs are often horribly placed. It can often be pretty hard, even in the US, to see which road we are supposed to take, even if our directions are correct.

Overview
Street signs, in the future, will be like the electronic billboards that are becoming more and more common. The will electronically display their street names, along with any other necessary information, like if there is a traffic jam there, or if the road is a dead end, etc.

Giving Directions
My vision for street signs is that they would partner with the automobile's GPS and would alert the driver when it is the correct road for the driver to take. [My assumption is that in the near future, you'll just sit in your car, say where you're going, and the correct location will automatically appear on your GPS. Speech recognition is getting better and better, and it won't be long before that happens.] The street signs would probably flash or give some sort of visual signal for the driver, but then there's the problem of having many cars pass by the same intersection in a small amount of time. How would you know if the turn signal on the street sign is meant for you and not the car behind you? Every car could have some sort of a symbol and color chosen by the driver, and though a similar symbol and color may be chosen by someone else, the probability of error may be low enough to maintain a relatively high accuracy.

Just imagine. You are driving to a restaurant you've never been to in a town you are unfamiliar with. You get into your car, say "Panchero's in Ann Arbor", and head off. Your GPS takes you down some familiar roads, but then you start reaching unfamiliar territory. Your GPS tells you that you need to turn right in 500 feet, but there are a few roads, one right after another. One of the street signs begins to blink purple with a black heart on it - your symbol. You turn on that road. You approach the highway that you need to get on. You aren't sure if you're supposed to go north or south. A portion of it  displays your purple background with the black heart. You get on the highway. You drive a little bit, and then see a road sign that has been slightly changed to say "Construction Ahead" below the usual "Exit 23 - Browntown". Your GPS reroutes you to the nearest exit, which displays your emblem. You get off there, and continue your journey to the legendary restaurant Panchero's that you've heard so much about.

Difficulties
Street signs are becoming increasingly irrelevant because of GPS turn-by-turn directions, would be made nearly obsolete with automated driving. Having directions and choices projected onto windshields would also make these smart street signs useless. The cost of erecting these smart street signs and then the energy consumption needed for maintenance would probably be too much for the small return.

I actually don't think this will happen, but it's just a little idea that I had.

Predictions:

Likelihood of smart street signs being widely used sometime in the future - 10% (It will just be too costly for 

Estimated time until widespread use - 15 years (if it happens at all)

Another of my big ideas that apparently is already invented:

Automatic Car Cooling System

Some Thoughts on Backsliding and Evangelism

Some stories

Recently we visited one of my mom's close friends in college who is now a professor at Hsing-Chung University (we did those nature adventures when we visited her), who she hasn't seen for 20 years. They used to go to church together in college, and she was actually the first person to bring my mom to church.

Now, she is completely separate from the faith. She hasn't been to church in years, hasn't talked to God in years, and actually leans towards Chinese traditions of idol worship. It's actually quite sad. Before we went to see her, my mom expressed the desire to evangelize to her while we were with her, and evangelize she did. She did it shamelessly, plugging Christianity into every hole she could find, even if it was obvious and awkward. My mom made us pray together at every meal. I think all she wanted to do was familiarize her friend with the faith that she once had. The day after we did all those nature adventures, we went to go find another of my mom's close college friends who she hasn't seen for 20 years, and we had lunch with both of these college friends. We prayed at this meal too. I don't think this friend was ever Christian, but from their conversations, it was clear that it became well-known that we were "pious Christians". This may not seem like a big deal to us, but I think that in Taiwan (especially being in a rural area), just being a good testimony as a Christian was important, as having good experiences with Christians is probably more rare than it is in the US.

Last night, we got to my grandmother's house (mom's side) in Kaoshung. We had dinner with my grandmother, and my mom's oldest younger brother and his family, who are extremely Buddhist. They are as Buddhist as we are Christian. My mom is the oldest child in the family, so I guess they are all subject to her will, and when my dad told my mom to say grace, we all did it (even though my two cousins were totally confused at what was happening, I think).

Thoughts on Evangelism

I've got to admit that there were points where I wish my mom wouldn't say anything about God. The plugs weren't always that unnatural, but I just felt ashamed that my mom was trying so hard. Looking back on these few days, I'm the wrong one and my mom is the right one.

Romans 1:16 - "For I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God that brings salvation to everyone who believes."

In the US, it's so easy to grow ashamed of the Gospel. Soapbox preachers and Westboro Baptist Church make it seem like when we talk about God intentionally, we're being like street preachers who are trying to beat the Bible into other people's heads. We are to be bold in our evangelism, not hesitant. We are afraid of what people think instead of what God thinks. We're concerned with our reputations and not with their souls. If I really believe that it is only through the power of the Gospel that anyone's soul can avoid eternal damnation and enter the eternal presence of God, it sure seems that a little bit of awkwardness is a small price to pay for that chance to share the Gospel.

I know we are also to be wise and as sly as snakes, but the problem with our generation is boldness, and I have yet to see a person in our fellowship so shameless in evangelism that I would need to go over and say, "Hey, you probably need to evangelize a little less. Sharing your faith with your study group was probably cool, but standing up after class and giving a sermon was probably a little over the top."

Thoughts on Backsliding

This is for all my 2011 seniors, and those guys in AIV that I have been in accountability relationships with these last few years.

One of the purposes of writing this post was just to let you know that if at any point our paths meet again and you have backslidden, I will annoy the crap out of you (probably) and talk about God and church and tell you to go to church again. It may turn out that we don't talk for years. Maybe there will be 20 years that we don't see each other, like my mom and her friends. But when we do, let's make sure we are all still going to church and talking to God. Let's keep each other accountable.

The sad reality is that a lot of people who were strong Christians in college drop off after they go into the real world. As I mentioned in a previous post, life is just beginning right now. We haven't experienced the lowest lows or the highest highs in life yet, and those valleys and peaks are often where our faith is tested the most. I don't think my mom could have imagined in college that her friend would have completely broken her relationship with God, and I don't think I can imagine the same for any one of you, but we really have to face the fact that it might happen. For all of you young people, think about the person you may have led you to faith, and think about meeting him in 5 years, and he has become a complete atheist. It's sad, but possible. It may have even happened to some of you. For my 2011 class, can you imagine talking to Cory or Ann in 20 years and having them tell you they don't go to church anymore and don't believe in God anymore? It could happen to any of us.

Things to do:

Pray for each other - We need to constantly be praying for each other, that we can stay strong in the faith. This isn't actually something that I've thought of much before this year, but our prayers matter. Prayer is also an avenue through which God moves us to actually go out and keep in touch, however infrequent that communication may be.

Encourage each other (aka annoy each other when backsliding) - Most of us will probably go out of touch, but in those rare moments that we do interact, please ask me, "Are you still going to church?" I will try to do the same. It's a short question, but the answer could be very telling of where a person is spiritually. Then ask me "What has God done in your life recently?", and hopefully I would be able to tell you of all the things happening in my life, and we could catch up on all the things we missed in each others lives.

[Sorry to pictures/videos this post. We are at a McDonald's with only one computer, so Iris + Dad are going to need the account]

Nature Adventures at Taichung City Park

We left Taipei today for Taichung and one of the most fun days of our trip so far. We stopped at Taichung City Park, which is famous for being really, really old and having a giant pond that you can row boats on. What also makes the park cool is that there are a lot of turtles and fish in the water and ducks walking around and old people sitting around. I trust Iris will upload pictures sometime soon, so you can look at most of the pictures then.

For now, sit back, relax, and let Iris be your tour guide to take you on an exciting journey around the park:

Nature Adventures with Iris Episode 1 - Vegatation

[Iris didn't know I was zooming in for closer shots for the plants, and she kept on jumping in front of the camera...]

Nature Adventures with Iris Episode 2 - Wildlife


Bonus Videos:

Tai-Chi in the park

[My father has a very powerful kick.]

Iris' Taiwan Documentary - Chung-Hsing University

[This was the first video we did, it is a little bit more crude, as you can see.]

Eslite (and why I don't like dressing up)

Eslite: Shopping for the elite.

Eslite

We went to a "mall" called Eslite today. The moment we walked in, I knew it was stuffy. And by stuffy, I meant for extremely wealthy people who had nothing better to do. Everything in the entire mall was grossly overpriced. We saw a crappy, broken wooden chair for 22,000 NT ($800 USD), a set of chopsticks for 8,000 NT ($280 USD), and basically every male T-shirt being sold was about 3,000 NT ($105 USD). Pretty ridiculous. But of it all, this takes the cake:

Giant, expensive doll. 

The price tag on this giant plastic doll is…wait for it…300,000 NT. That's $10,500 American dollars, ladies and gentlemen. For a big plastic doll.

Eslite was the first shopping mall I've visited where no one seemed to carry shopping bags, as it seemed like no one bought anything. [It was more like a museum, because you couldn't touch anything and you really couldn't buy anything either.] I just don't understand why anyone would 1) open stores like that or 2) visit a mall like that. For the vendors, how can you sell these unspectacular objects for such exorbitant prices with a clear conscience? For the shoppers, why would you shop at a place where you can't buy anything and subject yourselves to a shopping experience that will only leave you discontent?

The Ferrari Store.

Why I don't dress up.

The thoughts that ran through my head as I walked through Eslite revealed to my why I don't like dressing up, and hopefully I can do a good job of explaining a little bit of myself and a little bit of why I don't like dressing up when expected to.

I've always been bitter against the rich. I hate the snobby "I'm better than you because my parents make more money than your parents" attitudes. I detest the pretentiousness of flaunting wealth, especially when you did nothing to earn it. I can't stand wasting money on mere status symbols, and buying things just because you can.

My family wasn't always the most well off, and growing up in Marlboro meant that I was surrounded by a lot of very rich kids, kids that would tease me for not wearing the right clothes or not having the cool stuff. I remember in 6th grade a white kid named Mike (who was very nice to me) explaining what Abercrombie and Fitch was and why it was popular. He introduced me to the wonderful world of zip-off pants, which were hip at the time, I guess. I grew up with kids that looked down on you for not having certain things, so naturally I rejected the idea of needing to wear certain things or look a certain way just because other people want me to.

I don't dress up not only because it's annoying, but many times, dressing up is a submission to the desire of others forced upon me. Why should I look a certain way just for you? Why do I need to dress a the way you want me to for your acceptance? Do you feel better than me because you are dressed a certain way? Why do you think you're all that when you put on a tie or wear a dress, when it really doesn't change anything?

Bonus Pictures:

We went to the National Palace Museum today, and they were selling these nice little souvenirs in the gift shop. I bought 5 of each.

Item: Jade Bak Choy
Price: 1,080,000 NT = $37,713 USD

Item: Jade Necklace
Price: 760,000 NT = $26,539 USD

My Lack of Suffering

As we all know, suffering permanently changes a person. With regards to Christianity, we hear stories of how people have come to faith because of suffering and how people have grown closer to God because of suffering, but also stories of people turning away from Jesus because of their suffering. Suffering has the ability to separate genuine faith from phony faith, and even the power to strengthen formerly phony faith into genuine faith. Suffering can make or break a person and their faith.

Here are some nice quotes and passages about suffering that I reference in my post. Read them because they are gooood.

"People who have never suffered in life have less empathy for others, little knowledge of their own shortcomings and limitations, no endurance in the face of hardship, and unrealistic expectations for life. As the New Testament book of Hebrews tells us, anyone God loves experiences hardship (Hebrews 12:1-8)." - Tim Keller

"You don't realize Jesus is all you need until Jesus is all you have." - Tim Keller

Bible passages (linked, so the length of this post doesn't explode):
Ecclesiastes 11:7-12:8
The Beatitudes

I have never suffered before, and it bothers me that I haven't.
Elaboration ahead.

I have never suffered before.

I have never suffered deeply before. I've experienced my share of hardships, just like the next guy, but I don't think I've ever experienced deep sorrow before. I've gotten bad grades before, been betrayed by friends, gotten rejected by girls, and argued with my parents, but that's about it. I've never suffered any meaningful physical ailments, the death of close friends, or abuse from my parents. I've never been cheated on, rejected by society, or extremely taken advantage of. I can't say I'm radically oppressed, underprivileged, or broken. I've never faced deep anger with God, deep sorrow from losses, deep hurt resulting from sin, or deep pain from the flesh. I've never fully experienced the "You don't realize Jesus is al you need until Jesus is all you have" quote, because even though I hate to say it, I've always had more than Jesus. God has been gracious and has always provided me with prosperity, comfort, and potential. All in all, my relationship with God is very much like my relationship with my parents (as most of you know is pretty great) - strained at times, but for the most part, great and without conflict.

Although it may seem that my life really has been a walk in the park, God's grace in my life really can't be understated. Though my problems are relatively insignificant, God has prepared me for everything life has thrown my way, helping me avoid pain that is deeper than it could be. It is when I am closest to God that crap is thrown my way, and my strong relationship with God at the times of these hardships have really mitigated their negative impact in my life and have helped me grow as a person. God has braced me from all the storms that arise in my life, and for that I am extremely grateful. [If you want to know more about this, ask me about my adventure with women in college.]

Question for the reader: do you consider yourself as someone who has suffered before? I know there's probably no one that really reads this thing besides young people (except for Shawn…that guy is ancient). Despite your age, a lot of you have gone through a lot of family issues and have lost loved ones and have suffered deep physical ailments and all the other stuff that I say I haven't experienced. But I still don't know if you guys consider yourselves people that have suffered. Shoot me an email sometime or IM me (or comment, if you want to). Let's talk about it!

It bothers me that I haven't suffered.

A fear and anticipation of suffering.

If you skipped the Ecclesiastes passage I posted, go back and read it. To paraphrase, Solomon is saying that suffering is inevitable, and you better build a relationship with God before the sh** hits the fan.

I'm not going to lie, I'm not looking forward to the many "days of darkness" that are going to come, when "the sun and the light and the moon and the stars grow dark, and the clouds return after the rain." It's not really a surprise that it seems like all older folk have gone through deep suffering, whereas us younguns continue to frolic in the bliss of ignorance. I know these dark days are going to come, but I wish they wouldn't…at least not yet. This knowledge of suffering has me in anticipation, waiting for the problems to hit me so I can just get it all over with and be done with the dark days and be closer to Jesus and more empathetic and all those other things that Tim Keller says. I know this mindset is foolish and that suffering will come when it chooses to do so, but not knowing when the suffering is going to come can be maddening.

I've heard somewhere that God takes away the things that we hold onto most dearly (or as Tim Keller might say, the things we idolize) to force us to center our lives around Him. It's no coincidence that I'm supremely fearful of God taking away the things I value most, like reputation and good grades and a stable life. I've asked myself many times if I can still be faithful if He chooses to do so, but I can never know until it happens. But I don't want it to happen. Even though I may come out on top and have a more amazing relationship with God, I still don't want to pay the price for it.

A barrier in ministry

As Tim Keller says, not having gone through suffering keeps me from deeply empathizing with others, a necessary component of effective ministry. In many of the conversations I've had these past years, I've wanted to be able to say "I've been through the same thing" or "I know how you feel", but couldn't. I want to be able to model Jesus, who went through every trial and temptation so that he could intercede on our behalf. I want to truly understand the problems of others and understand their crises of faith. Not having gone through the refining fire of suffering also reduces the credibility of my faith, as people who have suffered more than I can accuse me faith of immaturity, saying "You may believe this now, but you've never gone through…" or "You have no idea what real life is like.".

I wish I've suffered more in my life to able to improve my witness, but as I previously said, I'm unwilling to go through the pain of suffering. Yeah, I know. I'm retarded.

My response

Remember my Creator

The call of the Teacher in Ecclesiastes is to remember our Creator. I'm not 100% sure what is meant, but I'm pretty sure that it is along the lines of knowing God more and more deeply, that when the dark days come, we can be sure of who God is.

Give more.

I've been blessed with a stable life and a loving family, and I need to use the things that God has given me for his glory. We all know that here in America, our wealth far exceeds that of most of the world, and it is our calling to share with those that have less than us. Similarly, I need to make the most of not being plagued by suffering to share love with others, especially to those that are struggling. This isn't some "holier than thou" sort of mindset, but one of giving back to the one who gave it all to me. I'm not exactly sure what this looks like, but hopefully I can figure some things out given some time.

Seek suffering for the Gospel

Luke 14:26-27 - “If anyone comes to me and does not hate father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters—yes, even their own life—such a person cannot be my disciple. And whoever does not carry their cross and follow me cannot be my disciple."

We've all heard that it is impossible to be a disciple without suffering and sacrifice, but I think we all shy away from discomfort and true sacrifice. I remember hearing at Urbana: "Offering isn't sacrifice until it hurts." I need to give until it hurts. I need to embrace hurting for God. I need to be okay with losing sleep for the sake of the kingdom. I need to be okay with talking to people I don't want to, and loving people who I hate. I need to be willing to pray my butt off and fast my stomach off. I need to engage people about God, even when it is awkward.

God calls us farther out than the brink of our comfort zone. He calls us to suffering for the gospel, and I need to answer this call.

2 Timothy 1:8 - "So do not be ashamed of the testimony about our Lord or of me his prisoner. Rather, join with me in suffering for the gospel, by the power of God."

Taiwan 2011 - Currently Reading

Defending Your Faith: An introduction to apologetics
by R.C. Sproul

Two quick quotes on why apologetics is important:

"Justification is by faith alone, but not by a faith that is alone." - Calvin or Luther

"Apologetics is not merely about winning an argument. It is about winning souls." - R.C. Sproul

This is a brain book, and its awesome! Right now I'm about a third of the way through the book, and I absolutely love all of what I've read so far. The book provides a Biblical basis for both the why and the how of apologetics. Sproul uses language that is easy to understand to describe concepts that are significantly harder to understand. He not only presents the Christian worldview, but pits it against the arguments of opposing thinkers of the highest caliber, using both traditional Christian arguments and the works of famous secular philosophers.

My only objection to his book (so far) is the seemingly arrogant tone that occasional appears in the book when addressing opposing worldviews. Maybe I've read too much into it, but to me, Sproul often doesn't give opposing arguments as much respect as most people probably do, which results in a hand-wavy, easy answer to some of the big questions people have about the faith. (I realize this is a pet peeve of mine in general - when Christians disregard and disrespect the concern of the unbeliever too quickly.)

That said, the confidence with which Sproul writes is encouraging and empowering. He writes, "Apologetics, however, does not just entail defense. It also involves offense, the positive task of constructing a case for Christianity that shows itself to be applicable to every culture, as well as being the only (and therefore the best) alternative to the world's philosophical and theological systems of thought." Often when we think about apologetics, we think of ourselves as the underdogs, as the ones on our heels that need to fight back. The picture that I get from reading the book is that we are actually pushing forward and that the arguments for Christianity are so strong that it is actually the opposition on their heels, being forced to push back! Too often do we as Christians treat our faith as something that seems false but is actually true. The more correct view is that our faith is something that immediately sounds true and actually is true. This should free us from the intellectual inferiority and the heavy burden of proof that we often carry as Christians and give us strength to witness powerfully, knowing without a doubt that what we believe is true, and that this truth is obvious, apparent, and available to all, even the non-believer. [I don't know if this point is clear. Sorry if it's not.]

Counterfeit Gods: The Empty Promises of Money, Sex, and Power, and the Only Hope that Matter

by Tim Keller

My mom is translating this book into Chinese, so she gave both Iris and me Tim Keller books to read over the break (Iris is reading Prodigal God). I'm only one chapter in (or two, if the introduction counts...because it was actually really freaking long), but as expected, it's a very easy read. Unlike Defending Your Faith, Counterfeit Gods screams for a personal response to all that is presented, and the book has challenged me in a few ways I hope to talk about soon.

The book is about idols, both cultural and individual. Even though I'm learning new things through this book, I feel fairly well-schooled on most of the concepts about idolatry being presented, as Bijan really focused on it last summer in our Bible studies and Pastor Chuck (or maybe Pastor Bob?) talks about it a lot at Knox. Maybe it's just a Reformed thing. It's the hip thing that all of them Presbyterian ministers be talkin about.

Hopefully I'll post another thing about some thoughts I've had while reading this book, but here are two quotes that I really like from the book. FOOD FOR THOUGHT:

"We think that idols are bad things, but that is almost never the case. The greater the good, the more likely we are to expect that it can satisfy our deepest needs and hopes. Anything can serve as a counterfeit god, especially the very best things in life."

"You don't realize Jesus is all you need until Jesus is all you have."

Just FYI: I'm also reading Mark for my quiet times (hoping to familiarize myself for small group next year), and studying Colossians a little bit more in depth.

A Game of Thrones (A Song of Ice and Fire, Book 1)
by George R.R. Martin

This book series was recommended to me by Justin Chen and Jonathan Chen (thinking about it, their names are extremely similar. Coincidence? I THINK NOT). I started watching the new HBO TV series and really liked it, so I picked it up at Barnes and Noble for this trip to Taiwan. Having watched a few episodes of the show, I feel like watching the show has really hurt my experience reading the book. One of the great things about reading books is that you create the characters in your head, but after seeing the TV show's interpretation of the characters, my imagination is bridled to the imagery portrayed on television. Despite my mental efforts otherwise, the show always wins for the differences that exist between the book and the show. [An example is that Jon Snow is actually only 15 in the book, even though he looks around 25 in the show. Huge difference.] I'm also surprised at how much one episode of the show covers, as I'm 5 or 6 chapters in, but still far from the end of the first episode. I'm really looking forward to reading parts of the book that I haven't seen yet on TV so I can let my imagination go wild creating characters and landscapes and predicting the future (because I kind of know what's going to happen in the next few chapters anyways).

I don't normally read this much, but we get a lot of grief from our relatives for using the computer too much, so books it must be!!

First Day in Taiwan!

The bad (so far)

It is humid, very humid. Sweat everywhere. Stickiness everywhere.

I miss the internet. Like I said before, it's really like going to Amish country here.

I will miss the rest of the NBA playoffs.
I'm going to miss all of the finals. I'm going to miss watching the Heat self-destruct in close games. I'm going to miss watching the Grizzlies stun the Mavs. I'm going to miss it all. In fact, it's 10 in the morning here, and I just went on ESPN and the Grizzlies are playing. Weird. Time difference really can make you go crazy.

Man. I can't believe I'm going to miss all of the playoffs. Wah.

**EDIT: According to Wikipedia, I should be home in time for the Finals!!

This is so exciting. I should have looked it up before. But wow. I'm going to be here for three weeks, and the Finals won't even start until I'm back home? Praise God!

Also, my phone won't charge for some weird reason. Hope it's not broken, and hopefully I'll get a chance to upload some pictures.

The good

The food.
Needless to say, the food here is amazing and cheap. We've only had breakfast here, but it's just a taste of how amazing it's going to be. Lunch is in half an hour. I can't wait.

The language.
I love Taiwanese Mandarin. It's really beautiful to me, especially because all the Mando here is correct, without any of the unnecessary "R"s that poison the Mando of the Evil Country. I love listening to people speak Chinese that hasn't been contaminated with American accents or Communism.

Family Bonding!
When we're here, we always bond, just because we really don't have anyone else to turn to. I love making fun of Asian people with Iris and having our parents scold us for not behaving. I like the feeling of relying fully on our parents again, as Iris and I don't carry around cash. We get to ask our parents to buy things for us, which they usually do, and we don't need to spend our own money! It's like we're little children again!

Iris is Skyping with James right now. NEVERENDING GIGGLING.

Summer Purposelessness

Loneliness?!
I often struggle with a sense of purposelessness when I'm at home (and by home, I mean in my house when I'm not hanging out with my home friends). I don't really talk to people much, and I'm not really attached to people anymore. I don't really go out of the way to IM people anymore. I think it's because I don't really talk to people online anymore, and I'm just scared of the awkwardness from the unfamiliarity. It's actually kind of sad thinking about it.

[Thinking about it, people would probably call this loneliness. But I don't like that word. It is much too pathetic for someone as awesome as me.]

"I just need someone to love." - Justin Bieber (video below...lolz)
It's not really that I need someone to talk to. It's that I need someone to care for. We are created to love. God created me with a purpose, which is to display Jesus's love to others, and when I'm at home, I don't really get a chance to do that. At school, I pour out my love and sacrifice into AIV. In the past, I spent a lot of time sharing my life with a few certain individuals, and I just haven't developed those types of relationships. I love hanging out with friends on the weekends, but when I'm sitting at home after work every day, what do I do? I usually just spend a lot of time watching TV and playing games, just basically not doing anything at all. (I think this is why last year was so good for me spiritually. I met with Bijan on Tuesdays, had college Bible studies on Thursday, then went to Joywok on Fridays. Having things to do helps get rid of some of that purposelessness that I feel during the week.)

I think much of the purposelessness is from the consequent selfishness that I feel about my lifestyle. I wake up, make some money, then go home and just spend alone time doing things I want and then go to sleep to repeat it all over again. I don't really do anything for anyone else. Man. Life as a working bachelor is going to be tough. Thinking about my life as a working person, the question of "How can I advance God's kingdom while working?" has constantly been on my mind, and I have no idea.

Maybe I need to develop closer friendships. Maybe I need to be a better friend and start caring for other people more. Or maybe I need to get more involved with serving in ministries at church.

Apologies for rambling.

That's right. I'm embedding a Justin Bieber song. Kill me later.

Pre-Taiwan 2011

We are going to Taiwan tomorrow. Yay(sort of). Elaboration:

I usually don't look forward to going to Taiwan.

I usually don't look forward to going to Taiwan with the family (even though I usually end up enjoying it anyways). It's not just the little annoyances like the long flights and the humid weather, but it's mostly that to me, my time spent in Taiwan is time I can't be having fun with my friends. It's not that I don't like spending time with my family, but that's basically all we do in Taiwan. We don't really do "exciting" things, but we basically just sit around all day with relatives, and it kills me to think about all the fun all my friends back home must be having without me. I hate the thought of going on vacation and coming back and not being part of the inside jokes or hearing about memorable experiences that I missed out on. I can't stand that I didn't spend as much time with friends as I could have, and all I can think about is the great fun that I must have missed out on.

This lost connection with my friends is only magnified by the fact that we rarely have internet access in Taiwan. I know that Taiwan's all modern and everything now, but our family always just lives with our grandparents, who have never really used the internet and don't have internet set up in their homes. Add that to the inability to call and text friends back home, we basically are completely cut off from our own worlds for nearly a month. It isn't easy. My dad says that when we go back to Taiwan, it's like going to Amish country. It sucks.

I'm not really dreading going to Taiwan this year.

That all said, I'm not dreading going to Taiwan as much as I normally do. Most of the kiddies that I normally hang out with over the summer are still in school, and there isn't that one person that I need to talk to every day, if you know what I mean (so I guess this year might be harder on Iris). Even though internet access will probably only be periodic, hopefully we can still kind of see what's going on in everybody's lives via Facebook or Twitter, and hopefully some of the kids back home will be online at crazy hours in the night for us to talk to. The only thing that kind of sucks is that I just got home, and I won't be home for very long, so having to leave immediately is sort of a bummer. But that's okay. I'll be with the family anyways!

Random statement that may or may not be true: Becoming a little less attached to hanging out and being more comfortable without constant communication with friends is just part of growing up.

Random note: I want to tell the story of our crazy trip up to Cedar Campus, so hopefully I can do that in Taiwan with all the spare time that I have.

Prayer Request: That our spiritual lives won't just crash and burn in Taiwan. Iris and I are going to bring some Christian books to Taiwan, but it's hard to get alone time, and especially because we are living with family that is very anti-Christian, it may be hard to spend quality time with Jesus.