Thoughts

DAVID AND VELINA'S WEDDING
I have to admit that I was worried as the days counted down toward David and Velina's wedding. After all, they had asked me to be an usher and the emcee for the evening.
I was excited to usher with Luong again. We're good friends, we work well together, and we've ushered together a million times. So, that part went fine.
But I was really worried about the emcee duties since the crowd would be full of people I didn't know and I was afraid I wouldn't come up with something funny to say. See, as an emcee, it's easy to make fun of the groom to get laughs. Those are free laughs. But since I didn't really get to know David until more recently, it was harder for me to do that.
But as is my style, I made an early mistake by forgetting to announce the Maid of Honor and Best Man. And after making a mistake, I realize the night isn't going to be perfect and I can relax and just let go. I played off the mistake and everything went fine after that.
But that night, after getting home, I was no energy left.
I've been tired ever since and got about 7 hours of sleep last night and took a 2 hour nap just now.
I guess that means I gave it my all on Saturday as emcee. Now, my wedding emcee duties shift to my cousin Tammy's wedding in June. I better get some sleep to power up now . . .

WEEK 1 OF ADVENT: HOPE

I didn't think I'd ever see the day when Karena would stand in front of the entire congregation and share. But that's exactly what happened on Sunday. We had the privilege of sharing for the first week of Advent on Hope.

Romans 5:2b-5:
"And we rejoice in the hope of the glory of God. Not only so, but we also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance, perseverance, character; and character, hope. And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom he has given us.”


Here is what Karena shared:

"As many of you know, my dad has been quite sick over the past 16 months. It began when he started having difficulty controlling his legs while walking, then noticed weakness in his arms, and then progressed to where he was falling and barely able to walk.

Since then, he has gone to the ER 3 times, undergone neck fusion surgery, suffered from pneumonia and multiple other infections, almost died from an acute diabetic incident, and been in congestive heart failure. He ended up spending more than 7 months in various hospitals.

When I think back over all that he and our family has gone through, it’s hard to believe that we made it through. But God has been good to us. Though my mom isn’t a believer and my dad just became open to it while in the hospital, there is no way that we could’ve survived this time without God’s strength, His endurance, this church’s faithful and continued prayers, and the hope we have had in God. He got us through going to the hospital every day for 7½ months. He carried us through our fears, our worries, and especially our fatigue. He comforted us and my dad to the point that my dad prayed to Him for the 1st time after 50 years of not having maintained a relationship with Him.

My dad has been home from the hospital for 4 months now. But while we are so thankful and praise God for this, life is still as hard as ever. My dad now requires our constant help 24 hrs/day, and my family has had to make drastic dietary changes and also several modifications in the house.

But I thank God for His many provisions – of the physical nature: the medical care my dad has received at the hospital, and at home: a helper and special medical equipment. Of an emotional nature, God has provided my aunt who has been so comforting in providing medical explanations and good advice. And He has provided Victor who has lent amazing family support – never complaining even once all those nights at the hospital. And of the spiritual nature, my aunt’s, Victor’s, and this churches prayers and encouragement.

I continue to hope in the Lord that He will give us the strength, patience, endurance, and love that we need for each other each day. I pray that God will continue to strengthen and restore my dad, and give rest and assurance to my mom and my sister. And I have hope that God will continue to work in our family’s relationships with each other -- and that we with learn to trust in God for all things – for I know that 'hope does not disappoint us.'"

NOT MY BEST BUY
Some of you may recall that I've always loved waking up early to shop on the Friday after Thanksgiving. Now, I wasn't crazy enough to camp out all night for electronics, but I did go to the now-defuct Robinsons-May to get some great deals.
And last year, Karena and I, along with Sandra and Gabe, made the mistake of going to Camarillo's Midnight Madness sale where we waited for nearly 3 hours just to get IN to Banana Republic and waited another hour and a half to pay. By the time we got home, I jumped in the shower, got dressed, and went to work. After that I decided: No more Friday after Thanksgiving shopping.
But there I was, waking up at 2 am, getting ready to go to Best Buy after getting temped by a $350 laptop and some other amazing deals. I figured, if I got there well ahead of the 5am opening time, I'd be assured of getting some of these good deals.
Well, again, I learned that I should just stop doing the Friday after Thanksgiving shopping. I did not get any of the Best Buy best buys because they were all gone, even though I stood in the blistering cold for nearly three hours before going to work.
So, please help me. If I tell you I want to go shopping on the Friday after Thanksgiving, I give you permission to smack me upside the head. Thanks.

THANKSGIVING
The plans for Thanksgiving were completely changed after Sandra went into labor.
I was really trying to be in four places at once: (1) Up north to see my nephew face to face; (2) With Karena's family for Thanksgiving dinner; (3) With the Shens for Thanksgiving dinner in Anaheim; (4) With my mom's side of the family for Thanksgiving dinner.
We managed to make 2 out of the 4. I guess that's not bad, although I still felt a little incomplete having not been able to go up north or drive down to be with the Shen extended family.
Still, I was very thankful for being able to cut the ham and carve the turkey since Karena's dad couldn't do it. That was very stressful! I've never been given the honor of carving the turkey and I began to sweat because everybody was watching me. But it turned out fine.
Later, we swung by Tammy and Kimmy's house for a brief visit. We were full of food and good family time. We looked at old photographs and acted silly. It was a lot of fun.
Yes, I DO regret not being able to see Caleb while still in the hospital. And yes, I DO regret not being able to make the drive to Anaheim.
But I am so thankful for the family and friends I DID get to see on Thursday.

CALEB IS COMING

I got a call early this morning from my parents saying that they were driving up to be with Sandra and hopefully witness the birth of their first grandchild.
When I got to work and checked my email, I found that Gabe and Sandra were true to their Northern California/computer roots by sending an email about it. Here it is:

My water just broke about 20 mins ago :) No contractions yet, so I'm supposed to
rest for a few hours before going in to the hospital, but it looks like little Caleb might be on his way soon! please pray that caleb finds his way into the world safely! happy thanksgiving :)

I just think it's weird to feel happy about a family member being in the hospital. Usually you feel sad about something like that. FYI, as of this moment, 6:21pm, Caleb had not been born yet. I'll keep you posted.

SERMON
I've been thinking a lot about sermons lately. I was so impressed with Richard Lew a few weeks ago when he literally put together an entire sermon on Jonah in 5 minutes, while pinch hitting for our guest speaker who was ill. I'm very thankful for the way he organizes his thoughts and gets God's message out there simply and eloquently.
Then, this past Sunday, Pastor Rich spoke about knowing the Bible better. Every time he speaks, I thankful that he's our Youth Pastor because he's able to simplify many passages into some practical, easy to understand life lessons. And that's great for youth and great for everybody else too!
He convicted me to read my Bible more regularly. I'm not sure if it's just backlash from last year, where I read the entire Bible over the course of the year, but I'm just not as diligent this year. It's been much harder to read it on a consistent basis.
So, my verse for today is:
2Tim 3:16: All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness

IF I DID IT

What is up with this? How is it that O.J. Simpson can write a book and have a Fox interview entitled "If I Did It" and not get in trouble from it? I guess the "double jeopardy" laws prevent him from ever being tried for the murders of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ron Goldman ever again. So, technically, he can write and say whatever he wants, as long as he's only talking about how he (would have) killed the two of them and not anybody else.

This is downright repulsive and exploitive. He's again trying to make money off their deaths. And that just sickens me.

Maybe the guilt has finally eaten away inside of him to the point where he had to make a confession, because this is bascially what "If I Did It" is. A confession to the murders. He's going to tell the world how he did it and then walk away and laugh all the way to the bank.

What kind of a human being is that? But somehow, the majority of the world doesn't see him as a revolting guy, trying to make a quick buck off getting away with murder. All they remember is all those touchdowns he scored and how funny he was in movies.

Please don't let sports and movies ever cloud MY judgment like that.

BABY BASH
A few week ago at church, we ended up sitting next to Patti and Danny and their new baby daugher Abigail. Instead of listening to the sermon, I kept looking over at them, marveling how beautiful she was. And this past Sunday, we ended up sitting next to Nathan and Sinath. With apologies to the pastoral staff, I again ended up focusing my attention on their baby girl Taylor. How is it possible that she already has more hair than me? Hmm, on second thought, let's not answer that question.
Sundays have become the day for all the newborns to come out. Eden has been spotted chillin' in his crib on Sundays with Pastor Rich and Connie close by. Audrey was recently born to Charles and Lisa. Ko and Charice's twins will be here soon. As will Caleb, Sandra and Gabe's son (I can't wait! Oh, and by the way, everything with them is fine after the car accident . . . well, except for the car). Victoria will start showing soon.
This is quite a baby bash!

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BENGIE MOLINA

We were fortunate enough to get a photo of former Angel and current Blue Jay catcher Bengie Molina and have him autograph it. Although only Karena got a chance to meet him, it's still fun to hear about meeting professional athletes off the field and doing "regular people" things.

A funny interaction took place when Karena met him. She believes most guys will shake hands with other guys. But it's much less like for a guy to shake hands with a woman. So, when she met him, he shoook all the guys hands and didn't end up shaking Karena's. Still, Karena was considering extending her hand out anyway just so she could say tell me she shook the hand of a professional baseball player.

Despite his tough play on the field, he seems to be a very gentle, loving guy. And the word on the street is he's not so fond of Toronto and misses Southern California.

THAT HURT
As guys, one of the main way we interact with each other is through teasing and joking at each other's expense. It's probably not the best way to communicate with each other, but we all understand that the more we make fun of you, the more we like you.
But the other day at work, we were poking fun at each other like we always do. But then, out of nowhere, somebody jokingly said, "What, somebody else does the come-over hairstyle the way you do?"
Ouch. That one hurt.

QUICK THOUGHTS
1. I always end up getting a little disappointed after the elections. Like life, things just don't turn out the way you expect them to sometimes. I tend to focus on the people I didn't want to win and the propositions I didn't want to pass.
2. Seeing the Democrats take over Congress was a given to me. People were just too upset about the war in Iraq to let the Republicans have the majority again. So, I'm not surprised. And now that Donald Rumsfeld has resigned, I can definitely see the winds of change blow in Iraq.
3. On a lighter note, I'm also not surprised to hear about the break-up of Britney Spears and Kevin Federline. As much as I can't stand Britney, I can't the so-called K-Fed even more. I'm happy that Britney is finally ridding herself of that parasite loser. But I'm most saddened about their two kids.

TICKET OR WARNING?

After visiting my parents Sunday afternoon, I was hurrying back to the Glendale area so Karena can go visit her parents.

But to my dismay, a Montebello police car pulled me over for a rolling stop and for speeding down a hill.

I saw the cop and before he even turned on his lights, I knew I was sunk. So, I pulled over and was prepared to take my lumps like a man.

But after showing him my license and registration, he asked where we lived and where we were coming from. After answering him, he said, "Okay, you're getting off with a warning today. Slow down and stop completely at the stop signs."

I was so shocked, I don't even think I said "thank you" or anything else to him.

So, this made me wonder why cops decide to issue tickets versus just a warning. In any case, I'm glad he chose a warning for me this time.

TRIATHALON
After seeing so many people participate in the triathalon, including some men and women more than twice my age, I leaned over to Karena and said, "I feel fat and out of shape."
I laughed it off with Reuel and his friends by joking, "Wow, I'm so tired from all that standing and picture taking." But the truth was that I was really disappointed in myself.
So, that kind of inspired us to get back to the gym and start working out again. We've had a layoff of probably over a year now.

CATALINA RECAP
I have to admit that when my alarm went off this morning at 4:00am, I was sad we were going to Catalina.
And after Jennifer Chow and I got sick off the back end of the boat on the way there, I was even more sad.
But once I got there, everything changed. We had a great time cheering Reuel on to the finish line of his triathalon. And the highlight of the whole day was renting golf carts and having Reuel try over and over to "drift" the golf cart like in "Fast & The Furious: Tokyo Drift." The crazy part, he was finally able to do it twice on his last two attempts. It was hilarious!
Of course, the thing with Catalina is that you can really do and see everything in just a few hours. And so, by 3:00pm, we were done. And we still had to wait 2 more hours for the boat ride home. That's when we started taking pictures on the buffalo and with the Indian. And while we were doing that, Jenn grabbed some cardboard boxes and took a nap on the beach. Too bad 'cause I thought she was going to break dance.

I FORGOT TO POST THIS ON HALLOWEEN
Did you know that the girl in "The Sixth Sense" who gets killed by her mother by poisioning her food is none other than former O.C. star Misha Barton?
Amazing, but true.

LEADERSHIP
One thing I feel God always is trying to teach me is leadership. I feel especially weak in this area, so God keeps putting me in situations of leadership so that I can learn and hopefully step up.
Most recently, as one of the senior PTs at work, there was a situation amongst the other seniors that required addressing. As the unofficial lead senior, I knew it was my turn to step up and speak out.
And I choked.
I clammed up.
And that's killing me.
Now, I'm trying to do my best to fix the situation, despite my mistake.
I guess there's still much more for me to learn.