lions and tigers and bears

today was great. football practice at 9:45 then can00bq at 12:30.

football: we will win tomorrow. if we don't, i will cry.

can00bq: pretty good. got to meet some more people and catch up with some old friends. hehe it was funny seeing so many clements people there. hahah i looked around, and out of the 50 or so freshmen there, about 15-20 were from clements. haha of course bea and jon-erik added to that ratio =P

anyhow, woke up an hour ago after a nice 5 hour nap. *yawn*

random thought: isn't it interesting how the small things can make your day?

oh wait, back to my main thoughts.

n/m, one more digression.

so i woke up at 10:30, discovered that i had slept through dinner time, realized jester city limits was closed, which means one and only one thing: it's time to order pluckers. AGAIN.

so i call the number, which, now that i think about it, i should put on speed dial on my phone. after saying that i wanted to make an order for delivery...

pluckers girl: is this jonathan mok?
me: yep.
pluckers girl: room 800?
me: yep.
pluckers girl: you realize you order from here a LOT?
me: *chuckles* yep.
pluckers girl: i recognize your voice now.

hehe just thought that was quite interesting.

anyways, lately ive been feeling quite distant. iono what it is. not only from various people, but even myself at times. i talked to a couple people about it, but it didn't seem to help how i felt too much. then today i saw that same sticky note that peter put on the mirror in our room months ago when we first moved in: I SURRENDER ALL. i couldnt help but smile to myself. even the biggest of my problems is not a problem at all for God. i just have to remember that surrendering is something i must do DAILY for the rest of my life. cuz i mean, when i think about it, what days do i NOT need God in control of my life?

MY GOD REIGNS

There's nowhere else that I'd rather be
than dancing with You as You sing over me
There's nothing else that I'd rather do
Lord, than to worship You
So rejoice, be glad, rejoice, oh my soul
for the Lord, your God, He reigns forevermore
and I rejoice, for my God reigns

So rejoice, be glad, your Father and your friend
is the Lord, your God, Whose rule will never end
and I rejoice, for my God reigns

My God reigns, and I dance the dance of praise
My God reigns, with a shout I will proclaim
My God reigns, and I worship without shame
My God reigns, oh I will rejoice...
for my God reigns

dexim snoitome

for all you basketball fanatics who have been yearning for the start of the 2003-2004 NBA season ever since the san antonio spurs won the championship against the new jersey nets in june...

for all you baseball fanatics who will be converted to basketball fans after the end of the baseball postseason..

for all of you football fans who will have to juggle your attention between the NFL and the NBA..

i got a poll up top just for you.

this NBA season has as much hype as ive seen in all my..18 years of life. or so it seems, at least. with the addition of so many promising rookies and the collection of so many amazingly talented teams, the NBA's highest crown is seemingly up for grabs.

so which team's gonna win it all?

DaRacer321: sup mock
BAM warrior: mok
BAM warrior: lol
DaRacer321: sorry haha
BAM warrior: not like chance mock

God listens.

yesterday i asked, "where is the love?"

God answered.

with so many thoughts going through my mind yesterday, i finally got some time to really get some quiet time with just me and the Big Fella. and man, what an awesome time it was. so im still reading Rick Warren's "The Purpose Driven Life," and yesterday i read a chapter entitled "What Matters Most."

No matter what I say, what I believe, and what I do, I'm bankrupt without love.
- 1 Corinthians 13:3b (Msg)

Love means living the way God commanded us to live. As you have heard from the beginning, his command is this: Live a life of love.
- 2 John 1:6

Life is all about love.

Because God is love, the most important lesson he wants you to learn on earth is how to love. It is in loving that we are most like him, so love is the foundation of every command he has given us: "The whole Law can be summed up in this one command: 'Love others as you love yourself.'"

Learning to love unselfishly is not an easy task. It runs counter to our self-centered nature. That's why we're given a lifetime to learn it.
...
Love should be your top priority, primary objective, and greatest ambition. Love is not a good part of your life; it's the most important part. The Bible says, "Let love be your greatest aim."

Warren goes on to explain the "why" behind why life is all about love. basically, he sums it up to say:
1. life without love is really worthless
2. love will last forever
3. we will be evaluated on our love.

some may ask, "what's with all this mess about love?"

sadly, the world as we know it has influenced our minds to such a degree that oftentimes the concept of "love" loses its magic. and yes, i believe with all my heart that it is indeed magical how we can love one another. why? Jesus maintained that it is our love for each other that is our greatest witness to the world. what a statement. our love for others reflects our love for God.

want proof? in John 13:34-35, Jesus says, "A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love on another. By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love on another."

in Jesus's name, I love you.

where is the love?

after these past couple of weeks, with several incidents hitting so close to home, i must ask the simple question: where is the love?

assault. robbery. gunshots. car chase. theft. even murder? after hearing various news stories for who knows how long, you would think that i would be somewhat calloused towards any of the above by now. thank God i still have some emotions left. recently, with so many things happening all at once, many people are feeling overwhelmed with feelings of doubt. it's times like these when there truly is no one else to turn to but God.

it's tough sometimes. i know. you're convinced that things happen for a reason, and yet, fighting through your pain and your tears, you fail to see any sense behind it. God works in mysterious ways. sometimes He allows things to happen so that we grow closer to Him. sometimes He tests our faith so that we can grow stronger. James 1:2-4 says "Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance. Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything."

when the world seems out of control, you can always rest assured knowing that it's AlWAYS in His control.

I may not know what the future holds, but I know who holds the future

so i don't know what im gonna major in. so i don't know what i want to do after i graduate. so i don't know where im gonna be in 10 years. so i don't know what im gonna do with my life.

so what?

to put it simply, im tired of hearing all this talk about different majors and career paths. i mean, for everyone who already knows precisely what they want to do with their life in their freshman year in college, more power to you. but as for me, i have no idea why anyone would think that i would already know which area of business i would be interested in without having even taken a single real business class.

is there something wrong with me? am i not doing something i should be doing?

i don't think so. i've been praying for God to give me a direction in my life ever since stepping foot on UT campus, and i will continue to do so until i receive an answer. there is not a single doubt in my mind that He will reply, cuz i mean, our God is a faithful God, is He not? and plus, only His timing is perfect, right?

right.

we sang the songs; now let's live the lives.

got back to sugar land safely yesterday at bout 9 pm and enjoyed my 1st homemade meal in 2 weeks. man, i couldn't even remember the last time i had ribs. *drool*

anyways, saturday was packed with activities. finally got a chance to sleep in until 11, when i woke up to go to kim son for what? THAT'S RIGHT! DIM SUM, BABY!! haha and wow the food tasted so good i wanted to order another $100 worth of food to bring it back up to UT.

after brunch was PASSION. whoo! met at jeff's house at 1:45 and embarked on an adventure (and yeah, i DO mean ADVENTURE) known as "driving to first baptist church" in downtown houston. so we took 2 cars -- i drove one while deborah "followed" behind me. holy crap i don't remember the lat time being so scared. seriously. the only incident that could have compared to today was when i saw this random picture of cher without any make-up on. *SHUDDER* yeah it was that bad.

so we're driving down sweetwater blvd. everything's fine and dandy until we exit onto highway 59 and try to get onto the freeway. i was driving in front, so i switch lanes to get ready to board the freeway. im staring at my rearview mirror the entire time to make sure deborah switches lanes too, so i see the ENTIRE incident take place. she saw me switch lanes, so she turns on her blinker and starts to veer towards the left lane. here's the predicament: there's another car in the space that she wants to get into. yes, quite a big problem indeed, dontcha think? she musta came to within a foot of the car before the car backed off to let her in. aah too scary. we end up missing the freeway entrance anyways, by the way.

SPEAKING of missing entrances, let's move ahead in the story a couple of minutes, shall we? after driving along highway 59 for say, 5 minutes, i switch lanes to take 59 north, cuz, yeah, that's what the directions said. so i switch lanes. to my surprise, i looked behind me, and deborah did not. so we're coming up on the sam houston tollway exit, and she still hasn't switched lanes yet. i start to panic and flash my left blinker lights, trying to indicate that she should switch lanes. hm, that didn't work. so finally jonathan lai gets the bright idea of giving her a call. as he calls someone in her car, i get the bright idea to slow down to let her cut in front of me. so as she passes next to me, everyone in my car tries to signal to her to tell her to switch lanes. i thought she got the picture, but again, deborah's just full of surprises, isn't she? so she stays in the lane and exits sam houston tollway.

right then, i was dumbfounded. i decided to just leave her and go on my way to 59 north and get to the passion matinee. ok j/k. so i follow her onto sam houston tollway. of course, the story concludes with a happy ending, as we arrive at first baptist church at 2:25 all in one piece. PTL! =)

passion was awesome. God was really moving in that room. it was simply awesome being able to worship with chris tomlin and david crowder and the other 2,000 or so people in that room. the speaker's message was also quite mind-boggling. you know that old children's song that goes "this little light of mine, im gonna let it shine, won't let satan blow it out, NO! IM GONNA LET IT SHINE"? God really spoke through the speaker (i forget his name) to reveal that in a way, we, as christians, are putting a bowl over our light, instead of letting it shine. and to my amazement, he said that our "bowl" was the church. i was confused at first to what he was trying to say, but then he made it crystal-clear. amazing things happen in church. things like passion. things where you can just feel God's presence. but other people don't know about what happens in church. so if we don't let our light SHINE outside of church, how will they know?

the ride home from passion was uneventful, so PTL again for that =)

hung out at deborah's house at night. had a little "surprise" cake(thanks gloria)/mini-party/bday song thing for me and justine. hehe thanks everyone! reminded me just how old i am...again. *weak smile* hehe also wanna give a quick thanks to ophelia for the gift..haha i seriously laughed out loud when i opened it..

so this old man has got to get some sleep..focus tomorrow!