forreal this time
"If you have been a Christian for any length of time, the same is true for you individually. Your first rush of emotion at how God wonderfully saved you from sin has faded. Your desperate early days when you cried out to the Lord because you didn't know what you were doing (as I had to do back on Atlantic Avenue) have given way to a degree of confidence and assurance. You and I have learned a lot, seen and heard a lot, built a track record, and accumulated a fair storehouse of 'wisdom.'

That's why we are at great risk."

that's an excerpt from jim cymbala's book, fresh wind, fresh fire. let me tell you right now, that book has transformed my prayer life. i've decided that it's time to be a real prayer warrior. i can't just sit here and expect my faith to grow if i don't even know how to pray and call out to this wonderful God that i think so highly of. i don't know about you, but i'm ready to see God truly work. i'm eager to see His awesome power and see the fulfilling of His promise that "You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart" (Jeremiah 29:13).

"Anything and everything is possible with God if we approach him with a broken spirit. We must humble ourselves, get rid of the debris in our lives, and keep leaning on him instead of our own understanding. Your future and mine are determined by this one thing: seeking after the Lord. The blessings we receive and then pass along to others all hang on this truth: 'He rewards those who earnestly seek him' (Hebrews 11:6)"

seek after Him -- it's just that simple.

from now on, i'm gonna be "forreal" about prayer. i don't want it to be just a daily habit of muttering a few rehearsed lines before i plunge my face into a meal. i want it to be more than just a habit; i want to have a passion for prayer. i want to pray and know that He is listening and that He will answer. i want to be able to call out His name with all my heart and feel His amazing presence around me.

if i say i'm going to pray for you, i'm really going to do it. it's not just gonna be a phrase i throw out there anymore to make myself and whoever i'm talking to feel better and more "spiritual."

on the left column you'll find 2 links. PRAYER REQUESTS and ANSWERED PRAYERS. whatever is on that "prayer requests" page is stuff i'm going to pray for every single day, and when, not if, but when God answers them, they'll go on the "answered prayers" page. feel free to let me know how i can pray for you because it's time for me to get serious about praying and this whole "faith" thing.

"But the Bible teaches that we are always either drawing nearer to God or falling away. There is no holding pattern."

pick a direction.

Jonathan Mok,

Congratulations! You have been admitted to the Professional Program in Accounting ("PPA"), an honors program designed for future leaders in the accounting profession. I am delighted to welcome you into what, I firmly believe, is the nation's best program in accounting.

it's confirmed. i'm (most likely) graduating in 2008.

carpenter4lyfe
so my new shoes came in the mail the other day, and i was sitting up one night, i looked around my room and saw several pairs of shoes with no place to stay -- quite a predicament. it was about 1:30 in the morning, but i went over to my brother's adjacent room, slid open the door, and his sleepy eyes peered up at me.

me: so, what are you doing?
jason: ..uh, about to go to sleep..?
me: you wanna build something tomorrow?
jason: ..a potato gun?
me: a shoe shelf!
jason: ...
me: ...
jason: ...sure...
me: okay good night.

i mean, how hard could it be? Jesus was a carpenter, and hey, if He could do it..

so we started on our project 12 hours later. when i told my brother we were gonna go build it, he went upstairs to get changed. then he went up to his room to get changed and runs back down the stairs.

jason: okay let's go.
me: ..where we going?
jason: aren't we gonna go buy supplies and stuff?
me: no, we're going into the freakin' garage!

so we got all our supplies from the deepest darkest corners of our garage. made use of every tool we could get our hands on, including a hammer, hand saw, electric drill, circular saw, you name it we probably tried to use it.

that was the hardest day of work in my life. you can ask my brother to confirm, i was sweating more than shaq. we could have filled up maybe 10 buckets and used it as emergency firewater or something. even the fan that we dragged in there didn't make much of a difference. BUT 10 pounds lighter and a sore arm later, it was done, and boy was it worth it. it might be stinkin' ugly to you, but beauty is in the eye of the beholder, so to me, it is f'n b-e-a-yootiful.


if it looks like the shoe shelf is leaning to the right and about to collapse, it's because it is. HOWEVER, it has been 4 days and the shelf is still up and running, mind you.

oh, and no, the shelf is NOT for sale.

P.S. that pikachu is holding up that 2nd rack of shoes. literally.