My Favorite Foods (in no particular order)

-Togos #9 Hot pastrami
-Porterhouse steak at Claimjumpers
-Seafood alfredo at Olive Garden
-Maguro and Sake sashimi from Japanese market eaten with hot rice and lot's of soysauce and wasabi
-Mary's Gori Gomtang (oxtail soup)
-Mary's Spaghetti
-Hot links from Top Dog
-Spicy pork over rice at Steve's Barbeque (Berkeley)
-Fat Slice Pizza cheese/pepperoni (Berkeley)
-Vietnamese sandwiches from Banh Mi (El Cerrito)
-Cheeseburger and fries from Big Al's (El Cerrito)
-Big Mac and filet o fish sandwiches from McD's chicken nuggets too
-Carnitas plate from Gordos with extra jalapenos
-Vermicelli noodles with porkchops and spring rolls from Huong Tra (El Cerrito)
-Bul go gi (Korean bbq) sandwich from Espresso Experience (Berkeley)
-Fried Chicken sandwich from Bakesale Bettys (Oakland)
-Shrimp (any)
-Spicy scallop rolls from Ichiro's (Oakland)
-Super Burrito Famoso from La Pinata (Alameda)
-Dok Bosom from Shik Do Rak (Anaheim)

1 Corinthians

I've probably read 1 Corinthians like a thousand times, but I got something different out of it today.

Often times I will judge people in our congregation because they are different, they don't do the normal things that the rest of us do. They don't come to the normal fellowships, bible studies, group outings, are clickish and only hang around certain people, etc.

God not only gives us different gifts, but he gives us different personalities. Those unique traits that are individual makes us repulsive to some, yet attractive to others. Churches need all of those different people, in order to become a thriving community. Some people will never want to meet up one on one with a pastor but may open up and share with someone else in the church, someone you would least suspect.

I think the term leader gets thrown around at church too often and too flippantly. We all are and can be leaders in diffrent ways. You don't have to belong to a designated group to display leadership, even in the church environment.

God has defintely made me unique, many bad traits but some good. I have to use my gifts or personality to reach out and affect my sphere of influence.

Wang Nguyen

Like most typical 1.5 generation Asian Americans, it was instilled in me at an early age by my father that I should become a doctor when I grew up. There was no other option for him, it was doctor or I was a failure. The only problem is that I never enjoyed science and never really excelled in the subject.

I was actually talking to Mary this morning about how I hated my primary physician at Kaiser. Just because someone is good at science and wrote memory doesn’t necessarily translate into them becoming a good doctor.

Now to what I originally wanted to write about…Ed Wang has become the first Chinese American drafted into the NFL. Dat Nguyen was the first Vietnamese American drafted into the NFL, and they are the only two full blooded Asians to have been drafted into the NFL to date.

I believe that in the next 10-15 years you will begin to see a lot more Asians entering into professional sports. Parents around my age/generation are no longer instilling this eastern mystical garbage into our kids, that a career in Medicine or Law is the only respectable career. I feel a lot more parents our generation will encourage our kids to follow their passion and support them no matter what they want to do, especially if they want to become a professional athlete.

Perhaps some of the reasons are that we don’t want to suffocate them the way our parents did, but a lot of it has to do with financial stability. Unlike our parents who often had to grind it out every day in their stores or multiple jobs, we have careers. We don’t feel the financial burden and impress upon our kids fear tactics of becoming rich and successful so they can help the family out.

Dr. Harry Edwards a sociology professor at Berkeley argued that African Americans dominated professional sports not because they were genetically gifted, but rather very much like the whole Asians becoming doctors phenomenon, most African Americans were channeled into that career as an only option.

I don’t completely buy into his theory, but I do believe there is a sociological aspect to explain why there are less Asians in professional sports. And as I mentioned before, in the next 10-15 years you will see more and more news of 100% Asian Americans playing in American professional sports, including the NFL and NBA which is currently dominated by African Americans.

Judges, Not Those Type

In the Old Testament, God raised up judges to preside over the Israelites because they became so corrupt. Whenever God raised up a judge, he was with that judge and the Israelites followed God. But each time the judge died, the Israelites returned to their corrupt ways and became even worse than before.

This passage stood out to me because I was having a conversation recently with a group of friends about how Christians need clear guidance in their lives and they need somebody to tell them what to do. It might seem childish for us to be told how to live as Christians, but isn’t that what we are most times?

We are children, and like children when we go unsupervised by an adult, we become like The Lord of The Flies. We run amock with corruption and our own sense of right and wrong.

Men do it all the time, when their wife is away, they return to their bachelor ways of old, eating fast food only, drinking too much, messing up the house, pizza boxes and beer cans everywhere, socks on the floor, and then quickly cleaning everything up and returning the house to the way it was right before your wife comes home. We all do it.

The Israelites are a representation of man kind. Left to our own wits we return to sin, again and again. Often times even adult Christians need someone to spank them, and show them what’s right and what’s wrong. Maybe not in the same way our parents did when we were children, but we need God apointed judges to show us how to live right with God.

I'm Fat

So my wife thinks I'm fat. Not that I disagree with her, but I don't completely describe myself as fat.

I guess one of my icons that I can fall back to is the "Rock". In my opinion I thought he looked better "big ' back than he does "now".

Okay fine he's more ripped. But in my opinion he looks anorexic. I guess there are different opinions on what is considered fat. But I definitely don't consider myself fat. Big yes, but fat no.

Vengeance is Mine

I'm still chewing on Total Forgiveness and as I read on today I had some more thoughts. Often times in our lives when we see injustice, we want retribution immediately, and often times we take it on ourselves to be the judge or punisher if you will.

But that angers God. He said, “Vengeance is mine and mine alone”, we don’t have the authority to be a judge because we are flawed people. Kendall said in his book, What if every time you judged someone an angel of God came down and told the person you were accusing all of your sins? Would we feel so bold to point the finger then?

David was considered to be a man after God’s own heart. Yet even David could not escape the justice of God. He would have to answer for his sin of sleeping with Uriah’s wife and then having him killed so no one would find out about it.

You read in 2 Samuel the harsh punishment that God gives to David through the voice of Nathan the prophet, “The sword will never depart from your house!” Wow what a sentence! You see later on in David’s life his sentence being carried out in 2 Samuel, David’s illegitimate son with Bathsheba dies, later his other sons rise against him, his closest friends die by the sword, one of his sons sleeps with David’s wives on top of a roof in public for all to see.

What I am getting is that God doesn’t need our help in being a judge; he does just fine by himself. Nobody needed to carry out vengeance on behalf of Uriah’s honor. God saw everything and even though he loved David, David needed to be corrected. My conclusion is not very good, but I think I got more glimpses at God’s character and also mine through today’s little bathroom study of Total Forgiveness.

Do Not Judge, or You Too Will Be Judged

So I am still working through this book my pastor gave me called Total Forgiveness.

It takes me a while to finish a book because I only read when I'm on the John. Oh I also got distracted with this other book I bought Fedor.

It's an MMA book about Fedor Emelianenko, arguably one of the best mixed martial arts heavy weights out there. I know I'm such a dork.

Anyways, yesterday I was reading through a passage about Jesus' command "Do not judge, or you too will be judged."

I am one of the most hateful and critical people I know. I love to hate, and I love judging and criticizing people. But when I do judge and criticize, I am essentially saying that person needs to change, that person needs to be more like me...I am better than that person.

I really need to look at it from this perspective the next time I want to judge someone harshly. I should be the last person to say I am better than you because I am a terrible person. My friend often jokes that some people come with baggage, but you come with one of those immigration bags! It's true.

Jesus is saying if you judge, others will judge you. There are probably a lot of people I know that don't like me for one reason or another. People might think or say, I'm a punk, insensitive, mean, angry, who does he think he is. More importantly I think Jesus is saying don't judge or God the ultimate judge will also judge you.

I already know he has given me so much grace, why can't I afford the same grace to others???