1998

1998. It’s a year worth celebrating. If you can’t recall what took place in ‘98, much less understand why I’m celebrating it, here’s a quick trip back in the time machine:

In 1998, as we all prepared for the pending crisis of Y2K, we also witnessed the Chicago Bulls win their 6th NBA Title and Michael Jordan play his last game as a Bull. Hong Kong’s fancy new International Airport opened, which meant the chances for a fiery death from your plane crashing into a high rise building (like at the old airport) dropped dramatically. In politics, our country’s attention was (unfortunately) fixated on the Monica Lewinsky scandal and the impeachment of Bill Clinton. The film Titanic won 11 Oscars that year, including Best Picture…and forever ruined the phrase, “I’m king of the world”. Frank Sinatra passed away that year, at the age of 82. Meanwhile, in Menlo Park, CA, two Stanford PhD students started a little company called Google, which would soon change the way we experience the internet.

1998 was also the year that Carita and I got married. Yes, it’s been 10 years. This was, of all the momentous and trivial events of that year, the most significant one for us. We were both 24 in 1998, young and not quite sure of how this “life” thing was supposed to work. A total of almost 900 people attended our wedding. I recall feeling overwhelmed by it all, as I walked in and took my position at the end of the aisle. So many expectations, so many dreams…anxious and nervous. I hardly remembered to breathe. But then, the string quartet started playing Purcell and those doors at the back of the church opened and there she was. And as I watched her walk towards me, I knew then, in a deeper way than I had ever known before, that this woman was my life and that I wanted no future apart from her.

Our ten years of marriage have been ten years of laughter, tears, joy, and heartache. I am challenged by this woman that I married, just as I am encouraged and frustrated and confused and loved and accepted. It has been ten years of God’s sanctifying work in both our lives. I could not have dreamed of more. To celebrate, I’ll give you ten ways (one for each year, although there are so many more) that my life has been impacted by what happened on July 25, 1998. After all, a woman who fears the Lord, she shall be praised.

1. Generosity: Whether it’s being generous with time or resources, Carita’s generous spirit serves as the standard in this area for which I strive each day. She and Jesus. Really.
2. Simplicity: I used to have pretty strict standards for what I considered fun. Carita, meanwhile, takes enjoyment at some of the simplest things…like people watching, for example. She can do it for hours. Oddly enough, I find myself making “observations” about people when we’re out and about. I never used to notice, much less feel any interest for people watching.
3. Patience: Love is patient…never more so than when I find myself at the outlet mall on a shopping excursion with my wife.
4. Silliness: Generally speaking, I am a pretty serious guy. I like to joke around, but I have never been called silly. Except by Carita. When I sing commercial jingles in her ear as she’s waking up in the morning, that might be part of the reason why. I am never as free as when I am around her.
5. Cleanliness: I like having a clean house, now that I’m married. In contrast, my college living room furniture consisted of a love seat I found by my apartment’s dumpster and a $10 chair I bought from an old lady who owned 6 cats. I didn’t bother to have either of them cleaned. Now, I pick lint off of the couch and dust from the corners of the rooms.
6. Teamwork: I’m a lone ranger, by personality. Introverted and self-reliant to a fault. I think that’s part of the reason why God has arranged it so that every assignment and every role since we’ve been in ministry has been done together. Now, I can’t imagine doing it without her.
7. Positive: Her positivity is infectious. I love her for it.
8. Endurance: This would never have been on my “list” of qualities to look for in a wife. But we couldn’t have made it thus far without it. No other area do I see more of the true strength of my wife’s character than in how she’s endured our struggle with infertility.
9. Hope: She is quick to hope because she is quick to trust the Lord. It’s not really a quirk of personality, but something from Him and rooted in Him. I find myself drawn to hope, too, because I see her trusting Him and hoping in Him.
10. Love: Carita’s love for me is gracious and lavish. She really does love me the way that God commands her to. In this, I see each day a picture of how He loves me. Say one thing about Dennis Chen, say that he is loved by God.

Echo

I think I have a pretty strong cynical streak. Now, I don't say that proudly and it's something that I'm trying to be more aware of these days. I didn't always see this issue as a problem, though. For example, I could never understand the attachment that people have with their pets...especially their dogs. When people would talk about that scene in Old Yeller, I'd roll my eyes and think, "There go those crazy dog lovers again." I just couldn't understand it and I secretly viewed these "dog lovers" as just a notch or two on the Weird Scale below Tom Cruise - Scientologist.

This was true, of course, until I became a dog owner myself. Now I understand...even if I still can't explain it. So, keep that in mind when I tell you about a Pedigree Dog Food commercial I came across. It's about a dog named Echo. Check it out and consider me Scientologist-weird if you must, but know that I gave my dog a hug after I watched it.

Land of the Rising Sun

I took a trip to Japan in October and, even though it’s been a while since I went, I take every chance I get to talk about travels. I just can’t help myself. Anyway, Campus Crusade is trying a collaborative strategy called City Focus, which aims to bring injections of resources to existing ministries in major cities, in order to be more effective in impacting the whole city. One of the 10 cities that we’re targeting is Tokyo, so I went on the initial vision trip as the representative for Epic.

Tokyo is an active city, full of kinetic energy. There are 1.1million college students in the Greater Tokyo area. The analogy used during our trip as to why we’re hoping to infuse Tokyo with resources was: If we were Starbuck’s and wanted every one in Tokyo to have a chance to sample our delicious coffee, we would need to think about starting multiple Starbuck’s in this place because, frankly, opening one or two stores would see those efforts literally swallowed up by the sheer size of Tokyo.

It was an eye-opening experience. I realized how little I knew about the specific spiritual climate in Japan and in Tokyo, especially. Without getting into comparisons about where/who has greater spiritual need than another, it was abundantly clear how much of a need exists in this place. I loved Tokyo and it wouldn’t be a stretch to say that this was one of my favorite trips! Good food + Good people = Good trip. Here are some pictures (try to put more up later) of my time there…

Conveyor Belt Sushi...much sushi for not much yen.

One form of Tokyo rush hour: sprinting to catch the subway...at 6 am!

View of downtown Tokyo from atop the Tokyo Government building.

Shibuya District at night...people everywhere.

Jimmy V Week

This week is "Jimmy V Week" on ESPN, featuring week-long initiatives on multiple ESPN platforms to raise awareness for the V Foundation. Stuff like this normally kick starts my cynicism, knowing some of ESPN's self-promoting ways. But the V Foundation raises money for cancer research and that's something that is worthy of our attention.

Jim Valvano, many of you know, was famous for coaching the North Carolina State basketball team to a National Championship over the University of Houston in 1983. By 1993, he was out of coaching and fighting for his life against stage 4 cancer. The clip above is of his acceptance speech for the Arthur Ashe Courage Award, given to him at the ESPYs that same year. Valvano died less than 2 months after giving this speech.

Since 1993, the V Foundation has raised over $70 million dollars for Cancer Research. In 2005, Jim's own daughter, Jamie, was diagnosed with breast cancer. More importantly, she was diagnosed with a rare form of genetic breast cancer that was only found due to advancements in cancer research, research whose funding was aided by the money raised from her father's Foundation. And because they caught it early, she's since recovered and been declared cancer-free.

But back to that night at the ESPYs in 1993...

It was, quite simply, a fantastic speech. I remember watching that broadcast live in my dorm room that night and being moved to tears. Everyone who watched him that night, whether on TV or at the awards show, knew that he was losing his battle. I recalled then what it was like for my family when Mom had breast cancer. I made special note of what Jim said in that speech, that each day he aims:

1. To laugh each day
2. To spend time each day in thought and reflection
3. To allow his emotions to be stirred and moved to tears

Those just seemed to be wise words to me then. They seem to be much wiser words to me today. Now that Dad also faces his own battle with cancer, not to mention that our good pal Jocelin (even though I wasn't able to run the fundraiser on your behalf, Joce, you know I'm with you) walks that road, too...I am glad for Jimmy V Week on ESPN and for the ways that it is bringing meaningful assistance to this important work.

Where have you gone, Vince Young?

"Where have you gone, Vince Young? The Longhorn Nation turns its lonely eyes to you."

I can hear the haunting voices of Simon & Garfunkel, singing this line in my mind every time I think about Texas football lately. Okay, so it's back to the Holiday Bowl for the Longhorns. Is this supposed to be inspiring? Uh, no. Is the fact that Texas, despite looking beatable every week except for the Iowa State game, still has a shot at a 10 win season impressive? Not unless you're Texas A&M...oh, the same scrub team that beat us down again (and proceeded to ruin Thanksgiving for me).

Texas football these last 2 years is a cautionary tale. There should be a Warning Label with the Longhorn logo on it, given to every coach in America. The label, quite simply, is this: Don't Blow Your Chance.

When you are presented with the opportunity to seize the fruits of a once-in-a-lifetime victory (like, say, the 2005 Rose Bowl), you better take advantage because the window closes fast. Two years later, Texas is back in the "underachieving" category again. I dare say that the UT football program is securely in the rear-view mirror of Oklahoma (again) and fighting to stay #2 in the conference. The program is not in a better place today than it was on any year in the last 5 leading up to the 2005 Rose Bowl (aka "The Vince Young Show").

I originally intended on writing more of my "thoughts" on the Longhorn football program, but it's kind of making me depressed. Besides, it wouldn't be all that insightful. If interested, you can check out Barking Carnival for your fix on Texas sports, including perspective on the football program. As for me, I might need to go watch my commemorative 2005 Rose Bowl DVD in order to feel better.

Grace Sublime

It was a little more than two weeks ago when I received a call from Mom concerning Dad's cancer. I now type this blog entry while sitting in Dad's hospital room at the MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston. He had a very successful surgery this morning, according to the doctor, and the doctor feels really good about the prognosis and upcoming treatment. I am so grateful for the news...for the hope that Dad can soon be cancer-free and for the idea of a shared future with him. Even as I sense God's grace in Dad's life and in mine, I struggle to grasp the extent to which that grace abounds. It is humbling to acknowledge.

The context is that, when I found out Dad was sick, I was in the midst of the busiest season of ministry I have ever experienced. I'm still in the midst of it. I have been consumed and preoccupied with my various responsibilities. For me, deadlines are the kryptonite to reflection and yet reflection is the life-blood of growth in my life. Reflection leads to meditation and meditation leads to, by God's grace, transformation.

Getting the ill news was like slamming on the brakes of the car while driving at a very fast speed. There was the jolting, the screeching, the skidding, and the jarring. I know God intends much more through this than simply getting my attention, yet I felt compelled for the first time in months to consider life beyond the urgent.

Since then, I find myself drawn to prayer, drawn to more dependence on Him. I want Dad to be okay and, still, the possibility that he won't be frightens me sometimes. Dad knows in Whom he has believed, he knows Who his Savior is. Of that I have no fear. I struggle, then, to put a name to this fear. I think it revolves primarily around the image I have of the future and of that image being shattered. It feels oddly similar to the frustrations that I still struggle with in regards to infertility. My vision for the future involves children for Carita and I and a grandfather for those children, afterall. Fear and frustration ensue when that vision is threatened. God has been gracious as I try to find my place in His plans and His place in mine.

Since then, I have seen Mom and Dad live and speak with a clarity of purpose that seems to graciously come to those who must consider their mortality. As I have heard them share the ways in which God has soaked their days with His mercy and love...the ways in which He is teaching them, I find myself drawn towards those same themes and lessons.

Since then, I have seen Mom and Dad's ministry to the Body of Christ increase in significant ways. I have seen the Body of Christ surround them with prayers, affirmation, and consideration in ways that leave me speechless. I see the ways that they have impacted those around them because people are lining up and begging for the opportunity to minister to them. They bring flowers, drop by with meals, constantly pray. They plead for their turn to be by Dad's bedside and consider it their privilege to stay with him through the night. It makes me teary-eyed to see how much people care for my parents.

And, as I sit here in Dad's room, keeping him company through this first night of recovery, I see the ways in which God's grace is sufficient for all of our needs. What challenges tomorrow will bring, I do not know, but I see that His grace is abundant for every minute and that I never need to hoard up His grace, as if there won't be enough for the next minute or day or month. I see that we are overwhelmed by His goodness and I count it a blessing to be known and so loved by Him.

Bay Area Update 3: Northings

With the first weekend of Project having come to a close, it's appropriate to note what some of our objectives are and the vision that drives them. Our Project vision still remains to:

Establish a community of Christ-centered and Christ-incarnate disciples, organically planting spiritual movements on the campuses and communities of the Bay Area.

This is the same vision as last year's Project, so I'll just refer you to my explanations from a year ago.

Along with our vision, we are developing another theme. The purpose behind us using the name "Epic" is as a reminder of the Spiritual Journey. It's a reminder of the struggle within the Journey. Annie Dillard once wrote a meditation on the pursuit of God called, " to help round out the meaning behind the words.An Expedition to The Pole". In it, she compares the Spiritual journey to that of a Polar expedition, stating that in both there is but one goal...measured by northing. A 'northing' is the distance traveled or measured northward. That goal is the destination and the explorer's proximity to that goal is the only measure of progress. Likewise is the journey towards God. She writes:

"These northings drew me, present northings, past northings, the thought of northings. In the literature of polar exploration, the talk is of northing. The explorer might scrawl in his tattered journal, 'Latitude 82 + 15' N. We accomplished 20 miles of northing today, in spite of the shifting pack.' Shall I go northing? My legs are long."

I like this description of our spiritual journey. I like that this reminder of the determination and the single-minded focus on destination that characterizes successful exploration is also what characterizes a drawing near to God. I like how the Epic Movement draws inspiration in its name from similar themes of an epic journey. Lastly, I like how all of us on Project have committed to the same thing. Shall we go northing, then?

Bay Area Update 2

It's late Saturday night of our first weekend of Project. We've had a full schedule so far. After our Welcome Orientation on Friday morning, we all went for a tour of downtown San Francisco. The weather (which, you may have noticed, is something that I closely observe) has been very cooperative so far. Normally, San Fran can get chilly when the fog rolls in from the Bay, but Friday was sunny...the kind of day that the Chamber of Commerce loves because it makes the city seem so great. On the tour (conducted by our friend Keoke), we saw various parts of Chinatown and got some of the history of the area. Keoke commented about what a strange sight our group must be: a white guy giving a tour of Chinatown to a bunch of Asians. We also asked the students to take pictures of things they saw in downtown SF that spoke to them concerning God's heart for the city and the people. We asked them to try and capture, on film, what might break God's heart or signs of His redemptive plan at work. We're going to share our results tomorrow (Sunday) night at our Family Time.

Today (Saturday), we took another trip into San Francisco for our first Mercy Ministry event. Partnering again like last year with City Team Ministries, our group travelled to Sixth Street in SF to pass out bags of food to homeless and near-homeless residents. It is said that by the time a person hits Sixth Street, they've burned all of their bridges and have nowhere else to go. They've lost their families, jobs, homes...they often are in the grips of multiple addictions and far, far away from a life of meaning. City Team does some incredible work in these hard places, giving structure, guidance, and assistance to those who want to get back on their feet. Most of all, they give out HOPE found in the truth of the Gospel and an environment by which the most broken and marginalized people in the city can experience the redeeming work of the Cross. Carita and I both teared up at the testimonies of the volunteers, who themselves are going through City Team's addiction recovery and Re-education Program. It's sometimes hard to imagine all of the various circumstances and poor choices that would finally land these people where they're at, but it's equally hard to imagine the amount of courage and faith it would take to climb out of that hole.

I think the impact of entering into another's world can change lives...certainly, it can change perspectives. We passed out the bags, but more importantly, we offered to pray for people. We listened to their stories, shook their hands, gave them hugs. For many who find themselves on Sixth Street, this is more than they have received in years. As the director of the City Team center, Rashida, said, "this is the worst kind of poverty...to not only have nothing materially, but relationally, either." I pray that God would truly help us to not only Proclaim the Gospel passionately, but Demonstrate the Gospel compassionately this summer.

Epic Bay Area Project 2007

Summer Projects are cool. I know that I'm biased by the fact that these are a part of my job, but I really think these Projects are some of the best things that we offer to students and staff. The true indicator of what I really think about Projects is the fact that I'd be willing to pay to participate in one (oh wait, I am paying already...hmm). Last year, the Project checked in at a not-so-whopping 8 student participants. Crusade doesn't normally conduct Summer Projects with so few students. But with committed staff and committed leadership, we got the thing up and running. When all was said and done, it was an incredible experience and one that I am so glad we didn't give up on. One major lesson for me was that God accomplishes His purpose...every time. He can't be thwarted by our disobedience, our lack of faith, our sins, our issues, our uncertainty or fear. He can't be swayed from His purpose by a lack of resources or a lack of people. What a privilege, then, for us to step into the redemptive plan that He has always been executing and will continue to do so until it bears its fruit.

This year, we have 16 students coming on Project. Amazingly, we prayed that God would double the numbers from last year and that's exactly what He's done. Those of you who aren't familiar with Crusade, one of the biggest challenges to starting a new Summer Project is the recruiting of students/publicity to get your name out. There are dozens of Projects available for students and it can be difficult to gain recruiting momentum for a new one. The fact that God answered our prayers exactly...not one more and not one less reminds us of who is actually running the show.

So, tomorrow, the students arrive to join the 9 of us staff. We have people from Texas, Oregon, California, New York, Virginia, North Carolina, and Rhode Island who will come together in this place. Our prayer and desire is for nothing less than life-transformation...of ourselves and those we come in contact with. I'll keep a running diary of our days here, so if you're praying with us, check back for updates.


This is a picture of our staff team (minus me), taken during our afternoon trip to Half Moon Bay, CA.

Arizona: The Land of Hotness

We're on a road trip from Texas to California for this year's Epic Bay Area Project. On our way, we stopped for a few days in Arizona. The reasoning behind this, of course, is that whenever you find yourself on a multi-day road trip through the harshest temperature zones in the country, you should always stop and stay a few days at the absolute hottest places. It only makes sense that way because you aren't really vacationing until you face the threat of severe heat exhaustion. The Phoenix/Scottsdale area hit temperature highs of 115 while we were there. Overall, it was great to see some of the sights and I mean that sincerely. I'd never ventured out to this part of the country before. Three of the highlights were:

The Grand Canyon: awe-inspiring in scale, beautiful in the most striking vistas, and humbling in what it says about God...that He could simply speak and wonders such as this would come to pass. The second picture is taken from Hopi Point, right before sunset.




The Red Rocks of Sedona: very interesting sight, those red rock formations jutting out from an otherwise brown desert...a little bit too overrun by tourists and new-age hippies touting the virtues of crystal energy cleansing, though.



Taliesin West, the winter home of architect Frank Lloyd Wright: historically significant work from perhaps the most influential architect in American history. No better place to see Wright's vision for various design principles, including Organic Architecture, Building for Democracy, and Deconstructing the Box. The first picture is a view of Wright's office (where he would sit at that desk and meet with clients) and the second is of the back of the home.

So What Happened to the Last 8 Months?

If you’re reading this, you may have also noticed that the Blog has taken an 8 month break. Unlike the previous extended hiatus, however, there was actually a reason for this break. I originally planned on transitioning the Blog to a full-fledged website and suspended the Blog updates until I worked that out. This was what I was working on until I ran into some trouble securing an affordable host (by ‘affordable’ I mean ‘free’).

So, the Blog is back in this format until I work up the motivation to try again later. Just wanted to state this for the record.

Magic Time Machine

(We're in Houston this week, so not much time to sit and reflect...which means no serious post this time.)

When I was young, I dreamed of inventing a time machine. Much like Marty McFly (talking Back to the Future, for the young readers), I would use my magic time machine to travel throughout history. Unlike Marty (who is kinda short and wears acid-washed jeans), I wouldn't waste my time with Chuck Berry impersonations and high school dances. I probably wouldn't even bother with the DeLorean. I would use it strictly to make money (nevermind that this was also the plot for the forgettable Back to the Future 2). I would travel back in time and invent something cool or buy the rights to something...cool. Then, I'd sell it for a lot of money. I really did spend quite a bit of time as a kid dreaming up of stuff like that.

So, when I read this week that Google bought out Youtube for 1.67 billion dollars (that's about £833 million...or, as we say in my house, a buttload of money), I couldn't help but regret not applying myself just a little bit more as a kid in order to invent a time machine. I'm imagining what it must be like to be those two dudes (Chad Hurley and Steve Chen) who started it all. Few years ago, they were a couple of drones, working at Paypal. They probably complained about the ridiculous rent prices in Silicon Valley and ate instant noodles for dinner. At some point, they ask themselves, "Wouldn't it be cool if there was a website where people could upload clips of exploding mentos, crazy dances, and dorm room renditions of the Backstreet Boys videos by adolescent Chinese kids...and watch them all for free?!?". Then, in 2005, they start this little website called "Youtube" and it becomes one of the fastest growing websites on the web. Now they have lots of money. But as soon as I figure out how to make the flux-capacitor work, I'm taking my time machine back to 2005...

Second Airplane Dialogue

This is the second conversation I had on the flight between Denver and Houston...

The Image Consultant

There was some bad weather in Houston and, due to the overflow of passengers from delayed flights, our flight was full. One particular guy was especially upset at not getting his first class seat, booked for the original flight. He wound up sitting next to me. After he'd had about 30 minutes to stew over the injustice of having to sit in coach class, he seemed to calm down. I noticed, as I often do, what type of watch he was wearing (it's a weakness of mine). Panerai Luminor Marina. I comment on how nice his watch is because, at a little over $4k, it really is quite nice. In fact, he had the full metrosexual uniform going on, as if the entire Kenneth Cole Fall line just sat down next to me. I make no judgements on that, by the way. Turns out he's an image consultant that works with politician and pseudo-celebrity types.

He notices that I'm reading a copy of Machiavelli's The Prince and we talk about whether it is better to be loved than feared, or the reverse:

Me: So, I'm reading here in this book about being loved versus being feared...or respected. How do you advise your clients on this question?

Consultant: I almost always advise them to work towards being respected. The effort it takes to be "loved" is enormous. People love you when they believe that you love them back. That means you have to care about their sh**. Plus, it leaves your sh** open for them to see.

Me: And I guess that's a bad thing...

Consultant: Look, in the real world, what matters is perception. Ideally, we all would like to believe that who we really are is attractive to others and will help us get ahead. We both know that's not true, at least for most people. My job is to help people show off their positive sides and hold back their negative. It's not about putting on false fronts, like some people think. It's about simply managing what parts of you people see. We do it naturally, but I help them do it better. So, yeah, I almost always advise clients to work towards respect, not love.

Me: You said "almost always". When would you advise love?

Consultant: When it comes to your spouse...there's no amount of image management that can save you there!

Heh. At least the last statement was funny. That guy was a pretty cynical dude. But I don't fault him for his perspective because he articulated, honestly, how I usually tend to operate with people. I manage my image. I put my best qualities on display, hoping that all will see what a great guy I am. I keep others at arms length away...close enough to see those "positives" and be slightly impressed, but not too close. Any closer and it would mean that they see everything else, too. I just don't like people seeing my junk. If I were to ask Jesus the same question, I wonder what He'd say? Originally, I planned on finishing this off with a WWJD moment, but I think I'll write about that next time.

Airplane Dialogue

I did some traveling two weeks ago for my job. When on the road, a little "game" I play to pass the time between long layovers is to see what kind of conversations I can have with strangers. Some people do it because it's natural to them, I do it precisely because it's unnatural. So, on my flight back from Denver, I had a couple of interesting conversations which I will share with all of you lucky readers.

The Lobbyist

To my left sat a lady, on her way back to Washington, D.C. and her job as a political lobbyist on Capitol Hill. One of the default topics of conversation with strangers revolves around our jobs. To help her understand more clearly what I do, I explained that I worked for a non-profit Christian organization and that my specific job was to figure out ways to ethnically diversify our membership. I then told her that I had spent the week in strategy meetings on how to do that. The conversation then made its way to topics of political correctness and the following exchange:

Lobbyist: What do you think about political correctness?

Me: I just spent a week in meetings where everybody was so conscious of "ethnicity" and so afraid to offend. Am I ethnic because I'm Asian? Isn't everybody of some ethnicity or another? Should I be asked my nationality? Doesn't that imply that I'm not "American"? It's all a bit forced.

Lobbyist: I think it's important, though. Labeling matters. One of the things I'm working on right now is animal rights legislation. Changing animal ownership laws, for example. We don't own our dogs...they are their own beings. We refer to dogs as "Canine Americans" in order to acknowledge that.

I laughed as if she just told a fine joke, until I realized that she was serious. Then I was just plain stunned. Awkwardness ensues and the conversation dies off. I come home and google the term and this is what comes up. Apparently, there is real effort being expended and real work being done to accomplish this. Wow...simply stupefying. Apart from its importance (or lack thereof) when compared to all the other issues society faces, the term "Canine American" is still not correct enough. In order to properly address my purebred Scottish Terrier, for example, I should refer to her as a Canine Scottish-American. That term acknowledges her American identity as well as her Scottish roots. Now, that would bring us all a small step closer to solving the troubles that confront us.

Ganja, Gladwell, and Rhett Bomar

What is it with the University of Texas football team and marijuana? Specifically, what is it that makes 20 year old guys like UT's starting cornerback, Tarell Brown, do stupid stuff like get caught with ganja in his back pocket and a handgun on his lap? Actually, the better question would probably be the broader, "What makes all 20 year old guys stupid?". Back to Brown, though...I don't get it, really. It's being reported today that Tarell passed his drug test and didn't actually smoke the weed. Not sure why else a person would have marijuana with him if there wasn't a plan to smoke it at some point. And the gun thing is still a problem. The kid has/had a bright future in football and...we're playing Ohio State this week! C'mon, guys, couldn't the reefer run wait until next week?!?

Malcolm Gladwell, whom I always enjoy reading, blogged about former OU quarterback Rhett Bomar recently. Gladwell seems like a pretty smart fella and he usually writes about stuff so above me that I am too ignorant to disagree with him. But then, he blogs about college football, the NCAA, and Rhett Bomar...which is weird because that's the type of stuff that my friends and I talk about. Draw whatever conclusion you want from that. Back to Gladwell, though. The background story is that a local car dealership "employed" star OU quarterback Rhett Bomar and paid him thousands of dollars over a period of time for work he never did. Bomar got busted and eventually kicked off the team. Gladwell's point is that it is ridiculous for the NCAA to regulate what Big Red Imports chooses to pay to Rhett Bomar for however much or little work he did for them:

Was that sleazy? Of course it was. Was it an underhanded way for a booster to get money to a star player? Totally. But working at a car dealership is not playing football, and football is the only thing over which the NCAA rightfully has jurisdiction.

That's where I have to disagree with my 'fro-headed hero. So long as it exists, the NCAA has every right to regulate how it's member schools compete in it's sports. Bomar's illegal salary directly impacts how OU competes in college football. That's why there are scholarship limitations, to prevent the big, wealthy, attractive state schools from monopolizing top players...thereby making it impossible for the poor, unattractive agricultural schools located in the backwoods from competing.

That's why there are rules that make paying college athletes illegal. It's not just the desire to maintain an "amateur" status (I agree with Gladwell that this is a total sham). It's also to preserve as level of a playing field and a sense of competition that would cease to exist if there weren't rules to prevent payment of college athletes. That's also somewhat laughable, as the term "competitive balance" is as far from what we see on the field each Saturday as can be. But the situation would be even worse without these rules. We'd see schools like Ohio State and UT (whose athletic departments last year brought in over $100 million and $94 million respectively) "hiring" the best players. It then becomes a battle of budgets, not one of skill, training, coaching, and desire. That would be bad. Incidently, I do think that the NCAA is the greediest organization in sports and that it NEEDS to adopt some sort of rule change to share some of its multi-million dollar revenue with the athletes. Abolising the NCAA is not rooted in reality, either. Instead, we should be talking about some form of monthly stipend given to athletes. Then again, when all is said and done, I'm still an idiot and Malcolm Gladwell did write Blink.

By the way, here's an interesting article from the Indianopolis Star about this issue.

Football Nirvana

Thoughts on the weekend of college football can be summarized with one word..."overrated". No, not the sport. I love college football. This term, when applied specifically to Notre Dame, covers the biggest story of the weekend. If there is such a thing as a human equivalent to Notre Dame football, I want to be that person. Let's use work as an example. How great would it be if everyone thought of you as CEO material, even though you struggle with simple skills that you've supposedly mastered, such as reading and writing? You would show up at the office after lunch, put in just enough work to count it as a half day's effort. At the end of the day, everyone pats you on the shoulder and complitments you on how "gritty" you were to overcome your own lack of ability and actually make it to work at all, not to mention all the way until 5 o'clock. Everyone would also forget that you spread that email virus through the company network when you forwarded the "Lower Intrest Rates NOW" email to everyone or that you mistook the company's biggest client for the pizza delivery boy and forcefully demanded the free packets of parmesan cheese. I'd love that.

Oh, look everybody, that's Notre Dame football! Voted AP #2, yet couldn't tackle and couldn't block for most of the game, trails unranked Georgia Tech at the half and barely wins 14-10. Then, the national media can't stop talking about how good and underrated Georgia Tech was while conveniently forgetting to note that Notre Dame sucks. Wake up the echoes...

Beirut: No Reservations

I was watching late night television one evening, when a familiar thought confronts me. Before anyone assumes incorrectly, it was not the, "My life would be so much more productive if I didn't watch TV," conviction. What was the thought? The writer of Proverbs 30 stated:

There are three things which are too wonderful for me, Four which I do not understand: The way of an eagle in the sky, The way of a serpent on a rock, The way of a ship on the high seas, And the way of a man with a woman.

If this was written today, the author surely would have included a fifth thing which he does not understand...namely, how, with over 100 channels of cable TV, can there be nothing to watch? While flipping through reruns of Law & Order: SVU on TNT and USA while carefully avoiding Bravo's Project Runway (lest Carita wrestle the remote away from me...which I'm not ashamed to admit has happened before...don't mess with her when it comes to Project Runway), I stumbled upon Anthony Bourdain: No Reservations on the Travel Channel.


This is a hidden gem of a show. Bourdain is the host of this part-travelogue, part-cooking show, whose motto is "be a traveler, not a tourist." We find him often sampling local delicacies like sheep testicles in South America, cobra hearts in India, and seal's eyeball amongst the Eskimos. Don't think that this is an attempt at some kind of Fear Factor gross-out, though, because he truly does try to immerse the viewer into the local culture. He's a cranky, cynical, chain-smoking Rachael Ray (who he apparently doesn't like..."Anyone can eat on $40 a day if they stiff the waiters!"). He's also the chef at some fancy French restaurant in New York City, the name of which I can't pronounce. I wouldn't necessarily want to be his roommate or have him as my brother-in-law, but he seems like the kind of guy who would be fun to travel with.

Just this past week, No Reservations aired an episode recently shot in Beirut. They managed one day of regular filming before all hell breaks loose. Hezbollah had just caputred Israeli soldiers, prompting Israeli airstrikes in southern Beirut. So, for the next 9 days, the crew gets shuttled from one location to another and try to navigate the absolute chaos that descends on the city. It wasn't some hard hitting journalistic piece from the frontlines, but it was really good TV nonetheless. These guys do a cooking/travel show, for crying out loud. This isn't supposed to be part of the bargain. Here are some more impressions:

1) Surreal image #1: The first night of fighting, many locals are still partying...footage of young, rich locals drinking and dancing at the Sky Bar while bombs are going off in the distance. Beirut is apparently a very cosmopolitan city and the locals are very westernized...and apparently very used to exploding bombs. Totally cavalier attitude displayed by the people there was surprising. The party must go on, no matter what, I guess.

2) Surreal image #2: Many foreigners and a few locals with connections manage, after much effort, to find shelter in the northern part of the city...at a 5-star hotel situated on a hilltop. The airport has been bombed and there are no flights out. The best that most can do is wait for alternate means of evacuation. So there are the foreigners, lounging by this fancy pool, which offers a panoramic view of the southern skyline. Each day, people gather by the pool to drink beer, work on their tans, and watch more Israeli airstrikes. It's not like they could have been doing anything else. Given the circumstances, I'd be doing the same things. But the imagery was striking in its paradox. A city being ripped apart, people dying, homes and lives torn apart...with little kids as witnesses from a hotel swimming pool.

3) Anthony Bourdain's local guide, "Joe", upon hearing the initial gunfire and subsequent Hezbollah demonstrations, is quoted as saying, "They'll destroy the country and we'll all pay for this." The fact that he was so resigned to it was heartbreaking. It was a hard climb back from the civil war for Beirut, so it must have been terrible for those who went through the carnage of that war to see what was happening.

4) Eventual evacuation from Beirut was maddening. Disorganized, chaotic, stressful, and a bit dangerous. The crew secures passage, by virtue of their U.S. passports, on the USS Nashville out of Beirut. The way Bourdain described it, the chaos ended the minute they passed the security checkpoints and were put into the hands of the U.S. Marines. From that point on, there was order, calm, and a humanizing effect felt by the entire crew. He was very complimentary of the Marine corps, which may or may not have been the case under "normal" circumstances. But they were his ticket out of Beirut. In light of their experience those past few days, the relief was obvious. He had one interesting observation, though. While he and the crew were overjoyed to be getting out, what was clearly written on the faces of many who were also being evacutated was confusion. The difference was that they had left behind some clothing items, some equipment...these other people were leaving behind loved ones, homes, their entire lives. Big difference.

5) On a much smaller, yet more positive note...I'd like to visit this place someday. It is a beautiful and vibrant place. The food looked incredible, too.

Gentrification and Social Justice

I live in a quaint (realtor code for "small"...also synonymous with "cute" and "charming") two-bedroom house in Central Austin. It's a quiet neighborhood with old, modest homes built in the 40's and 50's. Despite the humble homes, it is a relatively expensive place to live, with property values rising fast. My immediate neighbors include a divorced musician, a documentary filmmaker in his late 60's, a middle-aged couple that works on special effects for Quentin Tarantino films, a pair of female graduate students...and a dude who works as an engineer for Dell. I, of course, work in Christian ministry. In that sense, it's a fairly diverse neighborhood and if you were to ask any of us, "How do you feel about living in Central Austin?", we'd all say that we wouldn't want to live anywhere else in town. The neighbors all proudly describe it as a place for the free-thinker, the iconoclast (except for the Dell guy and me, the Christian guy). The prevailing thought in Central Austin, where snobbery of this sort is not only accepted, but applauded with every "Keep Austin Weird" sign, says that this is the edgy, hip, cool part of town. Truth? Other parts of Austin are much "cooler". But I'm never one to turn from a sentiment that paints me as "cool" (even if untrue), so I bought fully into how great this area is, in large part because of its diversity.

Except...we're the only ethnic people in our neighborhood. Not that I have a problem with white people...in fact, I love white people. :) And the diversity that we celebrate? Well, it took some gentrification to get us all here. Some decades ago, this was a predominantly Hispanic neighborhood. Forced out of Central Austin due to rising property values and higher taxes, most moved back to Latino East Austin. The pattern repeats itself, according to USA Today, in those same neighborhoods today:

In the predominantly Latino working class barrio of East Austin, the new Pedernales Lofts condominiums have raised adjacent land values more than 50% since 2003. Last fall, someone hung signs from power lines outside the lofts saying, "Stop gentrifying the East Side" and "Will U give jobs to longtime residents of this neighborhood?"

There are positives that come with a gentrified neighborhood. Safer streets, better schools and services, Starbuck's. Also to be fair, gentrification remains an issue not easily nor quickly resolved. It is a major challenge to urban development all across the country. But after a summer in San Francisco (where the problem is even worse), engaging in some social justice initiatives...well, I came back burdened and looking for opportunities to serve the community more deeply (you can read more about our SF exploits here).

It didn't take me long to see that those types of opportunities are severely limited in my area (was hoping for more, since we are near the heart of the city). Lack of ethnic diversity, as well as economic diversity. While initially disappointed, I now see that opportunities exist in other parts of town and am still eager to serve. I still like where I live.

Something else that I realized while talking to one of my neighbors (the filmmaker, who has been estranged from his adult children for decades)...serving the physically and economically poor is a key component of social justice, but poverty exists on deeper levels, as well. True social justice (the type that Jesus perscribed, at least) calls for the feeding of the hungry, the caring of the orphans and widows, the clothing of the naked...but also for the healing of the broken-hearted and the setting free of the captive.

Poverty of spirit exists apart from money or food or shelter. It exists in broken family relationships, in eating disorders, in pornography addictions, in workaholism, in narcissim and self-centeredness. When Jesus said, "Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven," did He not mean that there are none in heaven who were not also once poor in spirit? We see how needy we are without Him and it drives us towards gratitude, as well as compassion. Not a compassion born out of simply having more or being more fortunate, but one born of also knowing what it means to be poor and needy. If we are to truly follow the lead of our Savior, we must see poverty in all of its forms and our task must encompass all that Jesus, Himself, set out to do in order to address them.

Hoops Jones

Okay, I admit it, I was looking forward to catching the USA Men's Basketball team play in some exhibition games against Puerto Rico and China. I didn't really care who they were playing...it could have been Athletes In Action, for all I care. No, it was not a morbid desire to witness another basketball trainwreck like we saw in Greece. Two reasons why I stayed up a couple nights to watch the broadcasts: 1) The sports landscape has been pretty barren for me (college football still weeks away and the NL is atrocious this year) and 2) I wanted to hear Bill Walton wax philosophical about the direct relationship between hoops and world peace. Here were some of the highlights for me...

1) Bill Walton: Hearing the broadcast duo of Jim Durham and Bill Walton butcher up the pronunciation of Guangzhou, China, where the games were played. Guang-JEW, Guang-JAO, Guang-ZOO, Guang-ZOW...all within the first 5 minutes of the broadcast. It was priceless. Equally amusing were the predictions of USA dominance and superiority of this team versus previous USA teams. Good ole Bill was single-handedly trying to revive comparisons between this USA team and the '92 Barcelona Dream Team...the absolute gold-standard of hoops dominance. Then, there are the general Walton-isms that we're treated to throughout a game. Bill drops this gem of a statement for us at the start of the 2nd Half:

Jim Durham: "When this team gets Kobe Bryant back, look out world!"
Bill Walton: "...and he (Kobe)...(after a pause to figure out what to say) is a really good player."

That's the genius of Bill Walton! With one sentence, he will overstate the obvious to such an extreme and then, with the very next sentence, make the most outlandish statement that stretches the definition of hyperbole..."Yao Ming will usher in a new age of peace to the Middle East, with his soft touch and incredible basketball IQ!!". Nobody knows what's coming next. You gotta love the guy.

2) Speaking of who is a really good player, that would be Lebron James. I scoffed when Lebron, coming out of high school, was compared to Magic Johnson. The comparisons continued through his first few years in the league and I was still skeptical. But he's pretty close...close enough to warrant a comparison. I wish he wouldn't chuck it from the outside as much as he does, but his ballhandling, vision, and passing (at 6'8") is Magic-esque. If he had James Worthy, Kareem, and Byron Scott to pass to in Cleveland, I think we'd all be on the bandwagon. Dwyane Wade personifies quick, but he got called for traveling on his patented 3 step spin move at least 4 times against China. Elton Brand is the most efficient player in the NBA. I love that guy, even though he went to Duke. Chris Paul's PG play is inconsistent. He's going to have to get better at running the team against the zone...not just excel at running the break. Carmelo Anthony is just a scorer. But he does that one thing extremely well.

3) Overall, I think this team has a better chance of coming out on top than the team in Athens. But, please, I'm not buying in to a return to dominance. Sorry, Bill. This group still needs better perimeter defense and outside shooting. There are 14 players still on roster, with two cuts coming. Those two cuts need to be Bruce Bowen and Antawn Jamison. Having those two on the roster is redundant, in terms of what skills they bring. Bowen is old and will be in the twilight of his career (read "ancient") by the time 2008 comes around. Shane Battier, although from Duke, plays that role better for this team anyway. Jamison's problem is that he doesn't do anything well except shoot, but he's still not the answer for the outside shooting need and doesn't do enough as a Power Forward to keep a spot. Chris Bosh, without the shotblocking. I feel pretty strongly about those two. Also, I'd replace Gilbert Arenas with a shooter. I like Gilbert, but he's a volume shooter (meaning he shoots a lot of shots at a low percentage) that is incredibly streaky from the outside. Replace him with Michael Redd or (I can't believe I'm going to say this)...JJ Redick. Alright, that's it, I know it's time to wrap this up when I start recommending Duke players. By the way, I'm not going to write anything about how Team USA almost lost and barely squeaked out a 4-point win against the Brasileiros. I don't want to get too negative. Good luck, guys...it's a good start, but there's a lot of work ahead.

Convergence

I realize that all of my posts recently have been about ministry. One of these days I'll get around to writing something about the college football season, a movie I watched, or some book that I'm reading...but today is not that day! I will say that the inspiration for this post did come, ironically enough, from yet another viewing of Band of Brothers.

At the risk of confirming my "history geek" status, let me say that what fascinates me about studying history is seeing the convergence of the various elements to produce an event so significant as earn the right to be recorded as "history". Me doing the dishes last night will never be considered "historical"...just not significant enough, no matter what my wife says. Okay, back to my point: (bear with me if you don't like history)

The D-Day Invasion (part of the Band of Brothers story) was this incredible convergence of Need (Hitler was bullying his way through Europe), Opportunity (Allied deception succeeded in misleading the Nazis and lead to significant portions of German forces deployed away from Normandy), and Timing. The original invasion was to be on June 5th, but heavy storms were forcasted for the coast of France and Eisenhower decided to postpone the invasion for at least a day. On June 6th, the weather cleared up just enough, for about a 36 hour window, that the invasion was allowed to proceed. If they miss the window, the Germans would likely have discovered the Allied charade and redeployed troops back to Normandy. If the Allied forces would have tried landing in the middle of the storms, it could have spelled potential disaster for the troops. There's much more to it, but you get the idea. If the weather hadn't cleared, who knows what would have happened. Maybe all of Europe would be speaking German now and the movie that I just watched would be called "Band der Brüder" instead of Band of Brothers. Weather was a pretty key factor. The idea, though, is that timing is key...not the weather. Otherwise, I say we go with Hillary's suggestion and kick Donald Rumsfeld out as Secretary of Defense and replace him with Al Roker.

Finally, here's my point. I've felt, for several years now, the convergence of those 3 things in the context of Asian American student ministry. I've known in my heart, through my own and through stories of others' experiences, that this is true. But sometimes the heart wonders if it's seeing what it wants to see, not what really is. Maybe I'm not alone. Well, here are a couple of reports to consider:


NEED: This is what The Barna Group had to say in 2004...

"The group that was the least likely to be active in Christian-oriented behaviors was Asians, who generated the lowest scores for all eight religious activities measured. Asians were the least involved in attending church, reading the Bible, praying to God, attending Sunday school, participating in a small group for religious purposes, watching Christian television and who gave the least average amount of money to churches. They were also the group most likely to be unchurched...Asians were not only the least likely to believe any of the traditional Christian perspectives tested but they were also the most likely to be either atheist/agnostic (20%) or aligned with a non-Christian faith group (at 45%, more than four times the national norm)."

Part of me is shocked by this (the part that recalls growing up in a Chinese Christian bubble) but another part of me is completely unsurprised. Where is the hope for this culture and this community?


OPPORTUNITY: Christianity Today's April 2006 issue featured an article about the growing number of Asian Americans populating Christian ministries on campuses all across the country. The author cites UC Berkeley as an example:

"Tonight, three of the largest Christian fellowships at the University of California, Berkeley, have arrived at First Presbyterian for a joint meeting. Hundreds of students, dressed in running shoes, jeans, and sweatshirts, spill into the sanctuary. A band warms up while students slap hands and hug. InterVarsity Christian Fellowship has invited Campus Crusade for Christ and Asian American Christian Fellowship to hear a special speaker.

Excitement like this would characterize a large Christian gathering at Berkeley during any era. One fact, however, would certainly startle earlier generations. About 98 percent of this gathering is Asian American.

At Berkeley, California's premier public university, "evangelical Christian" and "Asian American" are almost interchangeable descriptions. Three trends come together. One is California's demographics: It is 11 percent Asian compared to 4 percent for the nation as a whole. Two is academic prestige: As the oldest and most selective campus of the University of California, Berkeley has an undergraduate population that is 42 percent Asian. (As a general rule, the more selective the school, the higher the percentage of Asian students.) Three is a national fact: Asian students are more likely to show Christian commitment than other ethnic groups, including whites."

One article says Asians are "most likely to be unchurched", while another says they are "more likely to show Christian commitment than other ethnic groups". What's up with that? The key word here, of course, is students. While the first statement may accurately reflect the deep spiritual need within the Asian community as a whole, the second points to the surprising, counter-cultural spiritual openness of Asian American students.


TIMING: Asian American college students are more open to spiritual truth than they have ever been or perhaps ever will be again. What the CT article hints at is the tendency for Asians (Asian Christians, in particular) to congregate because it's safe. I believe this is true. The result is often a group that is significant in size but lacking in impact. This needs to change, but will it? After a bad day on campus, I wonder that sometimes. But then, I see what God is doing through our Epic Bay Area Project, what He is doing through our Epic Hawaii Project, through the Epic Movement...what He is doing in some Asian churches and ministries. I see God raising up a generation of Asian Americans that are passionate for His Kingdom, who undersand that the Kingdom suffers violence and it is the violent that take it by force, just like it says in Matthew 11:12! Then the heart knows that what it sees is not only the glory of God being revealed, but the hope for an entire culture and community.