rick's tweets

I am not a big fanatic of social networking sites--yes I have Facebook, LinkedIn accounts, but I rarely use them, only in response to people's "invites" or for some topical news. So when a few months ago Pastor Rick Warren encouraged people to follow him on the Twitter site (http://twitter.com/RickWarren), I signed it up with some doubt and curiosity, wondering why a pastor would think so highly of this latest cyber age fad if it indeed was one. Well, I heard Twitter's growth rate and popularity have dipped a bit lately, but am I glad I signed up and followed Pastor Rick's tweets ever since! The following are gathered from his tweets in the past few months to share with you:

Pastors should wash their own clothes, dishes and change diapers. You may be anointed but you're just human. Acts 14:15a

Thermometers copy the climate. Thermostats CHANGE it! What are you?

Jesus died for people, not principles. Pharisees care about keeping rules. Jesus cares about healing hurts. Luke 13:14-15

The myth "I can't say I'm humble" misunderstands humility. Humility is admitting I'm helpless without God. It's dependence!

People who shine from within don’t need the spotlight. Phil 2:15

When you die, you won't regret your unfulfilled dreams, just your unattempted ones. The 1st is reality; the 2nd is tragedy. Matt 9:29

Sinful inclinations AREN'T your identity! Don’t say “I’m an alcoholic (or whatever),” say “I'm a Believer who struggles with...”

Heresy-hunting lets you ignore the mess in your own life. God is more concerned about your hypocrisy than other's heresy.

For every book on serving, there's a 100 written on leading. Which have you read more of and what does that tell you? Matt 20:26

Fear-based evangelism lasts as long as the fear. You need Jesus not because you'll die tonight but because you must live tomorrow.

Some people are so open-minded their brains fall out. Prov.14:15 "Only fools believe everything they hear."

Anytime you teach about giving, the generous will smile, and the stingy will squirm. That’s what makes it fun!

Deeper levels of Fellowship: 1 Sharing together (shallowest). 2 Studying together. 3 Serving together. 4 Suffering together.

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You don't fully understand a thing 'til you can explain it in a simple way. Confusing people is easy. You must THINK to be simple!

You can give without loving, but you cannot love without giving. "God so loved the world that he GAVE his only son." Jn. 3:16

Advice of the First Consultant: "BUILD A TEAM! This is too much work for you, Moses. You can't do it by yourself." Exodus18:18

In every culture, profession and religion, the pros have always tried to lock out amateurs. It's why innovation happens at the fringe.

Some subgroups of Christians will be shocked when they see who is in heaven. "I have sheep that aren't of this fold"--Jesus

The greatest gift you can give someone is your time, because you'll never get it back. Your time is your life. You spell love "T.I.M.E."

Vision is NOT predicting the future. No one can. Vision is the ability to see opportunities around you NOW and jump on them!

Make the decision THEN solve the problems. "If you wait for perfect conditions you'll never get anything done." Eccl. 11:4

When Kennedy said "We're going to the moon" it was still impossible. Never confuse decision making with problem solving.

Your Life Purpose comes in three stages: 1 WHAT God wants you to do; 2 HOW & WHERE; 3 WHEN (timing). Delays between stages test your faith.

Humility isn't thinking less of yourself. It's thinking of yourself less. If you focus on others, you forget you.1 Cor. 10:24

Following Him when your heart is breaking is greater faith than praising Him when your heart is singing. Ps. 34:18

Billy Graham's counsel on false attacks: "Rick, if you wrestle with a pig, both of you will get dirty, but only one of you will like it." Pr. 26:4

My definition of success: Having those who know me best respect me most.

When a plane goes thru violent turbulence at 35,000 ft, you don’t bail out. You remain calm and trust the Pilot! Ps. 56:3

The source of a criticism doesn’t invalidate its truth. Even a broken clock is right twice a day. Discern and learn.  Prov.12:15

To insist on being “original or nothing” ensures you'll be both. Refusing to learn from models is pure and simple ego. Pr. 14:6

When I hear "I didn't get anything out of worship today" I say "Sorry but our worship wasn't done for you. It was for God." 1 Chr. 16:29

Doubts are meant to be doubted and beliefs meant to be believed. Don't get it backwards. Doubt your doubts! Believe your beliefs! Mk 9:24

"God ONLY expects me to be FAITHFUL" is a lie. He also expects you to be FRUITFUL! That proves TRUE discipleship. Jn 15:8

First Saddleback sermon on 4/4/1980: "We buy things we don't need, with money we don't have, to impress people we don't even like."

You can be a THINKER without ever DOING anything, but you'll burn out as a DOER if you don't schedule time to think. Ps. 77:12

Churches built on shaky foundations don't last. Build on The Word, not the world; on Truth, not trends; on Theology, not psychology.

To become like Jesus you must go thru all Jesus went thru: loneliness, fatigue, temptation, hurts. No shortcuts to maturity! Rom. 8:17

When morality is determined by popularity, depravity becomes normality and the death of that culture becomes an inevitability.

only god knows

Out of many things evangelical Christians say to non-believers when proselytizing, I suspect one that "pisses off" them most is the claim that those who don't believe shall not go to heaven but are doomed for life in hell.

"Who do these 'holier-than-thou' clowns think they are," they probably snap when turning their backs on these "Jesus freaks."

God only knows a true Christian is one who knows he's the lowest of the low, been to the abyss of his misery, therefore seeks refuge from the almighty at the end of his rope with utmost humility.

And not all self-professed "Christians" are guaranteed to go to heaven, anyway, says Jesus himself in the Bible. "Many will say to me on that day, 'Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and in your name drive out demons and perform many miracles?' Then I will tell them plainly, 'I never knew you. Away from me, you evil-doers!'" (Matt. 7:22-23). He could not have put it any more blunt than this, could He?

So the real question to ask, if you want, is "who is a true follower of God?"

Only God knows.

For all that much postulation and theorizing done by the Predestinationist theologians, this is basically all they can come up with: Yes, some of us are pre-elected by God for salvation, and some are not, but we don't really know which ones are which--God alone holds the ultimate authority and knowledge to this. Really, it's not our place to even ask such question--just like the pot has no right to question the potter why it was made a particular way (Rom. 9:21).

Once for some unexpected reason I was talking about "everlasting life after death" in a social occasion (God knows I am not the proselytizing type) to some people, and one guy interjected, with honest curiosity, "I don't think I ever want an everlasting life, really. I just live my life one honest day at a time, work hard, do the best I can, and when I die, I die." I had to explain, then, "I am not looking forward to an everlasting life after death per se either.. but since the day I realized I have a spiritual life in me that's everlasting in nature, I made up my mind to cultivate it, and when I die, it just disengages from my earthly body and continues its journey into eternity.. It's like a higher standard I set for myself to pursue even while I am on earth."

Some who know me might know I have a strong mystic bend in my Christian belief. Indeed I have explored and read some books on Christian and Eastern mysticisms and practiced "contemplative prayer" for years. But lest some of my Christian friends should worry I go astray 😄 I'll echo what is concluded by an Irish Jesuit who went all the way to Japan to study and practice Zen Buddhism there for 50 years and analyzes and compares each and every elements of these two religions and explains them with perfect sense, and yet at the end he admits there is still one thing he cannot explain or compromise his Christian faith with. It is "the feeling of being loved by God," the sense of His presence even when he is in the depth of his Zen meditation. "For Zen Masters, sentiments of love for God, even for a God who is my deepest being and my truest self, are a species of illusion or makyo (魔鏡).. yet I regard these sentiments as--yes, imperfect and inadequate to express the reality, but nevertheless as true and valid and valuable religious experiences," said the Jesuit.

Christ is the reality behind these "religious experiences" that I believe in.

* 莊子與惠子游於濠梁之上。莊子曰：「鯈魚出游從容，是魚之樂也。」惠子曰︰「子非魚，安知魚之樂？」莊子曰：「子非我，安知我不知魚之樂？」惠子曰「我非子，固不知子矣；子固非魚也，子之不知魚之樂，全矣！」莊子曰：「請循其本。子曰『汝安知魚樂』云者，既已知吾知之而問我。我知之濠上也。」

I know it right here.

-- 《莊子‧秋水》篇  

paradoxical commandments

“The Paradoxical Commandments" were written by Kent M. Keith in 1968 as part of a booklet for student leaders:

1.      People are illogical, unreasonable, and self-centered.  Love them anyway.

2.      If you do good, people will accuse you of selfish ulterior motives.  Do good anyway.

3.      If you are successful, you win false friends and true enemies.  Succeed anyway.

4.      The good you do today will be forgotten tomorrow.  Do good anyway.

5.      Honesty and frankness make you vulnerable.  Be honest and frank anyway.

6.      The biggest men and women with the biggest ideas can be shot down by the smallest men and women with the smallest minds.  Think big anyway.

7.      People favor underdogs but follow only top dogs.  Fight for a few underdogs anyway.

8.      What you spend years building may be destroyed overnight.  Build anyway.

9.      People really need help but may attack you if you do help them.  Help people anyway.

10.  Give the world the best you have and you'll get kicked in the teeth.  Give the world the best you have anyway.

The version found written on the wall in Mother Teresa's home for children in Calcutta:

People are often unreasonable, irrational, and self-centered.  Forgive them anyway.

           

If you are kind, people may accuse you of selfish, ulterior motives.  Be kind anyway.

           
If you are successful, you will win some unfaithful friends and some genuine enemies.  Succeed anyway.

If you are honest and sincere people may deceive you.  Be honest and sincere anyway.

What you spend years creating, others could destroy overnight.  Create anyway.

If you find serenity and happiness, some may be jealous.  Be happy anyway.

The good you do today, will often be forgotten.  Do good anyway.

Give the best you have, and it will never be enough.  Give your best anyway.

In the final analysis, it is between you and God.  It was never between you and them anyway.

someday we'll get there

This is the story of two elderly people living in a Florida mobile home park. He was a widower and she a widow. They had known one another for a number of years.

Now, one evening there was a community supper in the big activity center. These two were at the same table, across from one another. As the meal went on, he made a few admiring glances at her and finally gathered up his courage to ask her, "Will you marry me?"

After about six seconds of 'careful consideration,' she answered. "Yes, Yes, I will."

The meal ended and with a few more pleasant exchanges, they went to their respective places. Next morning, he was troubled. Did she say 'yes' or did she say 'no'? He couldn't remember. Try as he would, he just could not recall. Not even a faint memory.

With trepidation, he went to the telephone and called her. First, he explained to her that he didn't remember as well as he used to. Then he reviewed the lovely evening past. As he gained a little more courage, he then inquired of her, "When I asked if you would marry me, did you say 'Yes' or did you say 'No'?"

He was delighted to hear her say, "Why, I said, 'Yes, yes I will' and I meant it with all my heart." Then she continued, "And I am so glad that you called, because I couldn't remember who had asked me."

the other 9/11

September 11, 2001 undoubtedly was a historical day for the world and the US in particular. What happened that day and its aftermath effects were tragic and mostly negative, you may say. That same date, in a different year, however, registered another history breaking event that carried quite a different tone for the world. The following is abridged from an LA Times article I read a couple weeks ago (http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/la-oe-meyer13-2009sep13,0,6751343.story):

Twenty years ago, on Sept. 11, 1989, the plug was pulled on the bathtub of Soviet empire.

At the stroke of midnight, tiny communist Hungary threw open the gates to freedom and the West. Tens of thousands of people surged across the suddenly unguarded border. It was the straw that broke the Soviet camel’s back, that started a chain of events leading to the fall of the Berlin Wall on November 9, 1989, and eventually the end of the Cold War.

How did all this get started?

The date was Aug. 19. The place: Sopron, a sleepy provincial town in western Hungary. In Moscow, Mikhail Gorbachev was at work, shaking up the old Soviet sphere. In Poland, the famous trade union known as Solidarity faced off against its communist masters.

In Hungary, a new generation of reform-minded communists had taken charge. Almost overnight, they wrote a US-style constitution and began speaking openly of a free press, free markets and free elections. Emboldened, a small group of local Sopron activists decided to celebrate the new spirit. Their modest aim: put up some tents, hire a brass band and let the beer and good vibes flow. One of the organizers came up with an especially inspired idea -- to briefly open a gate through the barbed-wire frontier to Austria, allowing people to casually stroll back and forth across the border for the first time in four decades. They called it the Pan-European Picnic.

Because anything involving the border was a matter of extreme sensitivity, their request for a permit came to the attention of Hungary's young prime minister, Miklos Nemeth, the man behind so many of the Gorbachev-like changes taking place. Immediately, a light bulb went off in his head.

Every summer, tourists from East Germany descended on Hungary, where the mixture of Marxist industrial planning with a measure of free enterprise provided things such as nice restaurants, ample food, good wine for the East German vacationers to enjoy. A mutual treaty obliged the Hungarians to ensure that East Germans did not escape to the West, though.

Earlier in 1989, however, before the seasonal onslaught of East German tourists, Nemeth had very publicly ordered the electricity in the barbed-wire border with the West turned off. Border guards began ceremoniously cutting down large swathes of the barrier -- filmed by Western TV crews summoned for the occasion. Nemeth intended this as a clear message to Hungary's East German guests: Look folks, he declared in effect, a hole in the Iron Curtain. There's nothing to prevent you from "escaping" through it to freedom.

Nemeth hoped to unleash a flood. He believed that a mass escape of East Germans from Hungary would pose an existential threat to the regime of Erich Honecker, the dictatorial boss of East Germany. He also believed that if Honecker fell, it would bring down the Berlin Wall -- and with it the entire communist bloc. Amid the chaos, he could realize his true goal. Hungary too would gain its freedom.

The problem was, Hungary's East Germans didn't seem to be getting the message. Despite Nemeth's televised border-snipping, only a handful had mustered up the courage to cross the border. And so he seized on the Pan-European Picnic.

As the day of the picnic approached, Nemeth and his team put their secret plan into action -- in cooperation with the West German intelligence service. Fliers began appearing in camps where East Germans were staying, emblazoned with the iconic image of a dove soaring in flight across the barbed-wire frontier. Come one, come all, they read. Eat, drink and be merry. Snip a piece of the Iron Curtain as a souvenir. But be careful not to stray. The border is unguarded. Why, you might just stumble into Austria and no one would notice!

Behind the scenes, buses were arranged to transport would-be escapees. Hungarian border guards were ordered to withdraw. As this new D-day dawned, the official organizers expected a few hundred people. Imagine their shock when the same scene played and replayed throughout the afternoon. Buses would arrive. East German tourists would get off, blink in confusion at the bizarre spectacle -- then dash toward the open border gate to Austria.

Fewer than 700 East Germans left that day, but it was enough. In the days after the Pan-European Picnic, what had been a fearful trickle quickly became a flood. As for Nemeth, he was proved a prophet. Within weeks, Honecker was ousted in a Politburo putsch. Within three months, the Berlin Wall fell. East Germany collapsed, revolution swept Eastern Europe and the Soviet empire was no more.

neighbors

My next door neighbor of 21 years just disappeared out of thin air.

Starting a few months ago, I commented to my wife one day that I haven't seen a shadow of our nice fellow neighbor Kent (Mr. Chubby, as my wife likes to nick-name him) or his wife around their backyard or house front for quite a while. She said she noticed the same and felt strange too. Maybe they are on a long vacation, we thought. But then another month passed, and there was still no signs of Mr. & Mrs. C. in or around their house. So one day I walked up my backyard slope and took a peek at their backyard. What I saw surprised me: the swimming pool was totally drained, and some weeds were coming out around the yard. The next day I walked up to their front door, the front yard lawn was pretty much browned out, which up to that moment I thought was because they were conserving water usage like everyone else here, maybe more extreme than others, per the water district's instruction, but then when I peeked into their front window after ringing the door bell and no one answered, I was surprised again, the room was all empty, all furniture were gone, only the curtains were left hanging. Mr & Mrs. C were indeed gone.

Looking back, for all those 21 years, all I know about Mr. C was he used to work for McDonnell Douglas, the big defense company that later got merged with Boeing, before he retired from the job and moved into this house, and started running a chemical storage monitoring business of his own. He invited me once into his house, showing the nice stone floor, living room cabinets that he built himself. He took care of his yard meticulously and once suggested (and I did) use the same gardener he used who was much more expensive but did a fine job for him (not for me though, in my opinion, so I fired him later). We also used the same pool service man for quite a few years. I also remember once he commented the smell of the barbeque we had at our backyard party was very tempting, so the next day I barbequed some for him and handed it over the backyard fence to him and his wife and they were flattered..

Other than that, it was just occasional hellos and waves and smiles when we happened to see each other while picking up mails or pulling our cars in or out of the driveways, the standard friendly but superficial howdys of suburban USA.

Still, it feels sad to see (or not see) a neighbor of 21 years disappear without a trace like this. To think, how many people have I lived next door to for over 21 years in my life? Not too many. In a way it feels like a part of my personal history was taken away all of a sudden.

Then I think of my other neighbors: The one across the street right opposite to our house. They have been here as long as we did, as the original home owners of this housing tract, for 23 years. What do I know about them? Even less than I know about Mr. & Mrs. C. For one thing, I don't even know their names. All I know is they have 3 kids that were all born after we moved here and now they are all grown up. And the other next door neighbor, they are probably the 3rd or 4th owner of the house, a middle-aged couple, that I once heard the husband is a school principal and I actually bought a book from him when they had a garage sale a couple years ago, with very little exchange of words, though.

So I told my wife it's time we got to know our neighbors better: Let's invite them over for a little backyard barbeque, say, over the Labor Day weekend? She used to drag her feet on proposals like this, due to her discomfort or unfounded fear of socializing with Caucasian people in pure English environment, but this time she agreed.

So I went over to my neighbors to give out the invitation. You should see the look of their face when I knocked on their door and they appeared. They all looked puzzled at first, as if wondering if they had done something wrong that I came over to report and discuss with. Once they heard my intention, though, they all relaxed and gladly accepted my invitation and asked if they need to bring anything.. I got their first names and phone numbers and even stepped into their houses for the first time.

     

On Sunday evening they appeared on time. Though I told them no need to bring anything, the couple next door, Joel and Paula, brought a small vase of roses picked from their own rose garden which I can see from my backyard every day. The couple across the street, Kent and Kathy, didn't come with their kids as we would like them to--the two boys were at a camp and the teen-age daughter had her own holiday plan. They toured a little of our living room and then went outside to the yard where I was finishing up my cooking at the barbeque island and sat and chatted with each other at the patio. We then ate--my wife prepared some salad (I didn't know she can make good tasty salad as she can cook good Chinese) and chow-mein and I barbequed some pre-marinated beef short ribs we bought at a Korean supermarket--and chatted under the beautiful pre-dusk sky. It turns out Joel is an elementary school principal in a neighboring city, and Kathy teaches at an elementary school just nearby our neighborhood, and Paula (Joel's wife, a retired educator herself) knew Kathy already through work but probably never gets to know each other socially like today. Kent, who me and my wife suspect is Kathy's new husband, used to work for Nortel but is now out of work, and is considering changing career path to culinary and gardening where his true passions lie..

We went inside for dessert after the meal and continued our conversation in the dining room. We talked about parental care (Joel is from Chico, a Northern California town where his 91-year-old Dad is still living in his own farm), children's education (Kathy's two boys are both computer wizards but are going to local community college and have to pay their own tuition unless they meet the grade standard Kathy sets, her 3rd kid Melanie is turning out to be a mature young woman and is considering going to medical school after high school; Joel & Paula have two grown-up sons, one is managing a restaurant business in San Francisco and the other pursuing an art career in LA), our jobs ("What's the biggest headache for an elementary school principal," I asked Joel, "The parents," he said, with a grin), and our missing neighbors (yes, everyone notices their disappearance, and according to Kathy who heard it from another neighbor, Mr. C used his house to finance a new business venture in Hawaii that went south, and as a result lost their house; they were too embarrassed to let everyone else know when they moved).

They left around 8:30. It was a pleasant little 3 hour "getting-to-know-you" party with our neighbors after living here for 23 years, finally. But better late than never, as they say. And now my wife says we should invite Kathy's 3 nice kids to dinner someday..

computers

What are computers?

Computers are like women because... 
No one but the Creator understands their internal logic.

The native language they use to communicate with other computers is incomprehensible to everyone else.

Even your smallest mistakes are stored in long-term memory for later retrieval.

As soon as you make a commitment to one, you find yourself spending half your paycheck on accessories for it.

You do the same thing for years, and suddenly it's wrong.
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.
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Computers are like men because... 
They are supposed to help you solve problems, but half the time they are the problem.

They have a lot of data but are still clueless.

As soon as you commit to one, you realize that, if you had waited a little longer you could have had a better model.

They hear what you say, but not what you mean.