Hopefully, I’m Not Prophetic

January 25th, 2006 Entries

I drew this during Chinese class today. I started just drawing the glasses at first. And then i figured it would be cool with a head. And then a mouth. And then eyes and eyebrows. And well, everything else just started coming out.

Unfortunately, this will be me in 20 years.

WR ‘05 “Endurance”

January 9th, 2006 Entries, Noteworthy

So even though the retreat was over last week…I never got around to writing about it, even though I’ve been thinking about it so much recently.

“A Life of Joy Because…”: Pastor Jojo Ma’s messages made me feel uncomfortable with how I’ve been living my life. And I needed that. I think I came into the retreat thinking that the messages would all be about pressing on, persevering, and giving it all you got. I was wrong. It wasn’t so much that we were surrounded by suffering and hardship and had to endure them, but that we had “A Life of Joy.” The very first night, he questioned who and what our delight was in. “You can be happy with other things, but not IN them.” It’s not that I delight in ungodly things, but I find myself wanting to be happy with other things too much. Like my grades, relationships, music, and other things. “We exchange the truth of God for OTHER things.” Is Christ your HAPPINESS? Your ALL in ALL? Your JOY? Your TREASURE? Are you so CONSUMED by him that everything else is small and trivial?

“Has this world been so kind to you that you should leave with regret? There are better things ahead than any we leave behind.” C.S Lewis

Small Groups: Even though I’ve lead small groups before, this was quite a different experience. It’s so hard trying to get to know 5 strangers, especially guys, because guys don’t open up much. But regardless, it was pretty amazing. Somehow, for our small groups, we talked about the stuff that would be spoken on at the next message. I think my favorite part was just them asking questions and all of us trying to answer them together. Eighth grader kids sure know a lot!

A Stuck Bus: When we were leaving, it started snowing up there at Pine Summit/Big Bear. And man, you could see the worried look on leadership. But anyway we started on our way back down even though it started snowing even heavier. And so we had to stop by the side of the road to put on snow chains. SNOW CHAINS. I had no idea of what they were. I mean, it’s snow! All you do is slow down, maybe shift gears into 1 or 2… but that’s all that’s needed! Apparantly, Cali people need chains on their tires to help them drive.

Anyway, without going into too much detail, the bus drivers didn’t know what they were doing and put the snow chains on wrong. Way to go Pastors David and Eddie and Joe for putting on THEIR snow chains correctly. But yeah, later on, those badly-put-on-chains came back to bite us in the butt… as my lucky bus got stuck halfway down the mountain for about 6 hoursish. And even though my mom called me during this ordeal, I did not want to tell her what was happening. Because I knew she would freak out and not sleep and wake up cranky for work the next day. But now it is safe to tell her because it is all over.

On that stranded bus, while the other HLA bus sped down to EFCLA, I have never felt such an outpouring of love. And it’s really amazing just how God works. When I was packing for the retreat, I was putting chocolate in my bag to give to my small group. And I saw my box of pao mien, and was like, HEY! why don’t I bring some pao mien too! I don’t know what I was thinking, because this pao mien needs bowls and hot water to cook. Regardless, I brought it, along with some granola bars. I didn’t touch any of that stuff during the actual retreat itself, and when it was snowing, I made sure I put all that food into Eliott’s backpack instead of leaving it in my luggage. So we were stranded, and the first food we shared… was gan mien! I crushed the pao mien, opened the seasoning packs and started walking up and down the aisles to share that, along with the rest of the chocolate and granola bars and some apples I took from the retreat lunch.

And as I was walking up and down, people kept handing me food to share with others. Yvonne had some cookies and some tangeries. Vincent had a pack of gum. Christina had a pack of candy her mom had put in her bag. It seemed like everytime I walked up and down the aisle, more and more people were finding more and more food tucked away somewhere. Johnny even found some jelly beans in his pocket. It was an amazing time in that bus. Angel brought out here mini-Taylor and we sang and played worship songs. Ryan taught people how to play the drums. I read the beginning of “The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe” out loud to the bus. We found ways to keep each others’ spirits up, even talking about childhood TV shows and such. Ben and I even took a poo outside in the snow.

When it was all over and our bus was fixed, we were all relieved, but I was kind of sad that it had to end. Thanks to leadership for all their sacrifices in the ordeal! And thanks to Terry and the guys for the cereal and water later on. We had a great “dinner.” And thanks to all you younger ones who never complained, were patient, and showed me what it meant to be content with my surroundings, whatever they may be.

I don’t have many pictures, but lots of other people took pictures from the retreat: Annie, Ben, Me, Janet, Jessica, Joan, Rhoda, and Sandy.

And remember, Cabin 12, “HEART!”