reunion NTU1980

I was "drafted" to help organize a 30-year college reunion event about a year ago.

Right at our first committee meeting, we decided to have a multiple-day mini cruise instead of the traditional one-day hotel banquet that's been done by many before us for such an event, as we thought a cruise trip would be more fun and offer more time and better setting for alumni to enjoy.

After one year of planning (cruise selection/negotiating, flyer/registration/website design, promoting, programming..) and partying (in the name of committee meetings), about 90 alumni and their family and friends from all over the US and Taiwan gathered and boarded the Carnival Paradise cruiseliner in Long Beach for a 3-day-2-night trip to Ensenada, Mexico starting last Friday afternoon.

The ship set sail almost right after all 2000+ guests had checked in while we sat and enjoyed our first luscious dinner on board, sensing no ship movement at all if not for the departing shoreline and the setting sun against the ocean waves we saw through the panoramic window pane..

It had arrived and "parked" at Ensenada pier the next moring when we woke up. It's a free off-board excursion day for everyone. After taking some group pictures in front of the cruise ship--an army of orange polo shirt (a reunion souvenir everyone got at the boarding) that made up a most conspicuous group among all cruise attendees, we set out to downtown Ensenada, and then decided to take a tour to the "Blow Hole" scenery point for the excursion.

It took us about an hour to arrive at Blow Hole. It is a seaside hill spot where as the ocean tide surges in, the water shoots up a spectacular splash against the cliff. After taking some pictures and drinking a whole ball of coconut juice of the most natural kind from a street vendor, we headed back to Ensenada downtown and returned to the cruise ship for our reunion program of the day.

It was a session of remembering the old and discovering the new--seeing a collection of old campus pictures, group pictures, and yearbook photos makes you marvel how young and handsome we looked 30 years ago (and of course the girls all look as beautiful today as 30 years ago), and how so many old campus buildings and much scenery had been replaced and transformed by new ones throughout the years.

I checked out the gym room after the reunion program and was pleasantly surprised by the ample and quality exercise equipment it had there. So I took advantage of it and did a 40 minute bike ride that burned off 320 calories, getting all ready for the coming big meal dinner.

Besides the usual high grade entrees (lobster tail and shrimps is what I ordered this time), it's a formal dressing night too. So I slung on the suit I brought to look my best, took some pictures with my ever more beautiful wife, as well as all the other perfect looking ladies and gentlemen at and around our table, and enjoyed the wining and dining and happy conversations with my college pals and their family through a 2-hour dinner course.

After dinner, we went to one of the nightly shows presented by the cruiseline. It was 50 minutes of great dancing and singing, energetic, ebullient fun and enjoyment through and through. Probably inspired by it, many of us went to the disco lounge after the show and danced like those 20 something around us for over two hours, till midnight. I thought I might have triggered my old foot injury again when I lay down on my bed and felt the sore of my both feet..

Luckily I woke up the next moring feeling pretty darn good, and went for an early breakfast buffet while my wife was still at sleep, met a couple of reunioners and had a good chat with them, took a stroll on the deck and found a great jogging runway and a nice mini golf course on the very top deck, and with the early morning sunshine and the mountainous coast in the background, it probably made for the best looking outdoor scene of the whole cruise I'll say. I then went back to the cabin to pick up my wife and up to the cafeteria for another, lighter session of breakfast again, and a pleasant chat with another group of friendly reunioners.

The second session of our reunion program started right after lunch that day. By now we all knew each other better through two days of dining, chatting, outing, or even just passing each other by on ship, and besides the usual old-song karaoke singing, the program hostess threw some interesting games and quizzes at us. For example: who among us has the youngest kid right now (the winner was a girl from the History department with a 12-year-old); who's moved most times so far (winner: a Econ dept. graduate turned professional gambler who had been to casinos over 58 different countries). I was in particular touched by a "testimonial" by a girl from History department: Her family moved so often when she was growing up she learned to avoid becoming part of a group for fear of losing friendships she just established when she would have to move again. She was then very touched and thrilled when one of her old calssmates, a committed member of ours, went through all the trouble to locate and invite her to the reunion, that made her feel she's part of some permanent group again, now and forever.

After the reunion program, we moved on to the deck area to continue chatting and joking around and taking some pictures. Then it's dinner time again, more dining and wining and happy talking, and then another great show of the night, and then some went dancing, while others went shopping, or watching other night shows..

Then when we woke up the next morning, it's Monday back in Long Beach again. It's just a short weekend getaway, after all, but funnily it felt like coming back from a long vacation, having met so many people and done so many things in such a short time..

No doubt we have pulled off a successful reunion event this time, as I can see everyone enjoy it whole-heartedly at the end. A cruise does offer great setting for people to mix and mingle aplenty as they wish, with not only old friends, but new ones as well.

And I have to tip my hat to the girl members of our committee, for the tremendous passion and devotion they show to the reunion cause and their superb people skills. We guys tend to be grand scheme planners and talkers, but these girls are the real hardy doers, and the sweet gel that tie all things and people together. I am humbled by these girl powers I saw!

And we all need reunion from time to time--even though I sat with a couple of my college classmates who I have occasional contacts with throughout the years here in Southern California so I thought I knew them relatively well, I still found out a lot more things about them and their family that I didn't know that well before, and plenty of interesting new subjects to talk about too, as I spent 3 long dinners with them throughout the cruise, not to mention meeting and getting to know many new friends with interesting backgrounds and life experiences from all over.

I am glad I got drafted to help and participate in the reunion. 

my utmost for his highest

"My Utmost for His Highest" by Oswald Chambers is my favorite daily devotional book. I must have gone through it 3 or 4 times by now, but still find it intriguing and inspiring every morning. Some passages to share with you...

*     *     *    *    *    *     *    *    *    *    *    *    * 

Have you ever sought God with your whole heart, or have you simply given Him a feeble cry after some emotionally painful experience?

*     *     *                                             

God does not give us overcoming life— He gives us life as we overcome. The strain of life is what builds our strength. If there is no strain, there will be no strength.

 *     *     *                                                    

Choosing to suffer means that there must be something wrong with you, but choosing God’s will— even if it means you will suffer— is something very different. No normal, healthy saint ever chooses suffering; he simply chooses God’s will, just as Jesus did, whether it means suffering or not.

*     *     *                                                      

We have the idea that we can dedicate our gifts to God. However, you cannot dedicate what is not yours. There is actually only one thing you can dedicate to God, and that is your right to yourself (see Romans 12:1)... Never try to make your experience a principle for others, but allow God to be as creative and original with others as He is with you.

*     *     *                                                     

The spiritual life is the life of a child. We are not uncertain of God, just uncertain of what He is going to do next. If our certainty is only in our beliefs, we develop a sense of self-righteousness, become overly critical, and are limited by the view that our beliefs are complete and settled. But when we have the right relationship with God, life is full of spontaneous, joyful uncertainty and expectancy. Jesus said, ". . . believe also in Me" (John 14:1), not, "Believe certain things about Me". 

*     *     *                                                  

Jesus Christ was always consistent in His relationship to God, and a Christian must be consistent in his relationship to the life of the Son of God in him, not consistent to strict, unyielding doctrines. People pour themselves into their own doctrines, and God has to blast them out of their preconceived ideas before they can become devoted to Jesus Christ.

*     *     *                                                 

While being tested, we want to use prayer and Bible reading for the purpose of finding a quiet retreat. We use God only for the sake of getting peace and joy. We seek only our enjoyment of Jesus Christ, not a true realization of Him. This is the first step in the wrong direction. All these things we are seeking are simply effects, and yet we try to make them causes.

*     *     *                                                      

Simple active work and spiritual activity are not the same thing. Active work can actually be the counterfeit of spiritual activity. The real danger in spiritual laziness is that we do not want to be stirred up— all we want to hear about is a spiritual retirement from the world. Yet Jesus Christ never encourages the idea of retirement— He says, “Go and tell My brethren . . .” (Matthew 28:10).

*     *     *                                                      

If we love someone, but do not love God, we demand total perfection and righteousness from that person, and when we do not get it we become cruel and vindictive; yet we are demanding of a human being something which he or she cannot possibly give. There is only one Being who can completely satisfy to the absolute depth of the hurting human heart, and that is the Lord Jesus Christ...  Our Lord trusted no one, and never placed His faith in people, yet He was never suspicious or bitter.

*     *     *                                                

What is my vision of God’s purpose for me? Whatever it may be, His purpose is for me to depend on Him and on His power now. If I can stay calm, faithful, and unconfused while in the middle of the turmoil of life, the goal of the purpose of God is being accomplished in me. God is not working toward a particular finish— His purpose is the process itself.

smart you

Can you read this

I cdnuolt blveiee taht I cluod aulaclty uesdnatnrd waht I was rdanieg. The phaonmneal pweor of the hmuan mnid, aoccdrnig to a rscheearch at Cmabrigde Uinervtisy, it dseno't mtaetr in waht oerdr the ltteres in a wrod are, the olny iproamtnt tihng is taht the frsit and lsat ltteer be in the rghit pclae. The rset can be a taotl mses and you can sitll raed it whotuit a pboerlm. Tihs is bcuseae the huamn mnid deos not raed ervey lteter by istlef, but the wrod as a wlohe. Azanmig huh? yaeh and I awlyas tghuhot slpeling was ipmorantt! 

  

What does this picture look to you

Physiological illusions, such as the after-images following bright lights or adapting stimuli of prolonged alternating patterns are the effects on the eyes or brain caused by a prolonged stimulation of a specific type, such as brightness, tilt, color, movement … etc. The above is just one example, the horizontal lines look tilted a little bit upwards or downwards, but in reality they're straight.

                                                           *       *       *    

Now I know my brain is Aleck smart and manipulably dumb!!

prodigal god, elder brothers

A parable in New Testament (Luke 15:11-32) goes like this:

A man had two sons. One day the younger one asked him to divide up his property and gave him his share. The father agreed and the young son took his share and went away. He then squandered all his fortune and ended up working in the pig field eating pig feed, then he repented and headed home feeling totally ashamed and was ready to accept the lowest position his father would give him, when, surprisingly, his father came running to him with open arms and started a great feast of celebration for him.

Now the elder brother was coming home from work and heard the music and dancing, and learned it was all for his wayward brother's homecoming celebration set up by his father. He was angry, and said to his father, "For years I have slaved for you and you gave me nothing, and yet this other son who squandered your fortune away you throw him such an extravagant party (at my expense)!"

"'My son," the father said, "you are always with me, and everything I have is yours. But we had to celebrate and be glad, because this brother of yours was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found."

So, this is the well-known "prodigal son" parable, the focus traditionally being on the repenting son and the forgiving father, representing the lost people and the all loving God, respectively.

But how about that very disgruntled elder son... Who does he represent?

He represents the moralistic church-goers who think they are behaviorally superior to the unchurched, the self-righteous ones who think they are entitled to having more from God because they have given Him more, the insecure ones who think they have to work hard for God lest He should take things away from them...

How does such great disconnect come into play?

Misunderstanding the true meaning of salvation is certainly one cause of it, but another more egregious cause probably comes from the spiritual laziness that puts us in a default "religious mode" that treats our Godhead just like a Figurehead: adorned, respected, but not conversed, praised, loved, day in and day out, intimately. Worships and rituals then become acts and formality, duties without pleasure. The joy disappears, the resentment sets in. Soon we become the elder brothers.

These are some points I take from the book "Prodigal God" by Timothy Keller, a great book Ivan picked and guided for the group for the past few meetings. Two other things I think the book explains beautifully well at the end are on the meanings of "Homecoming" and "Feasting," that I'll leave for my buddies to share with me when we meet again this Saturday :)

father

My father, a fairly healthy 84-year-old, all of a sudden got struck down by severe jaundice (黃疸) symptoms about 3 months ago. A quick exam and open stomach surgery found his bile duct and part of his liver were infested with cancerous tumor that blocked the normal flow of bile secretion and caused the vomiting, loss of appetite and all other jaundice symtoms. The doctors inserted a tube to his stomach to divert the bile liquid out of his body to bring his physical condition back to normal, which was eventually achieved after the initial surgery, treatment of internal bleeding, an unexpected but necessary surgery to remove a blood clog that was the result of an accidental fall earlier this year. Then the doctors and we (my sisters and brother and I) weighed the option of whether to do a major surgery that would cut off almost half of his liver, for the hope of removing all the cancerous organs in his liver and bile ducts. It was an agonizing decision to make, mostly due to his old age: the doctors were concerned such major surgery would cause complications during and after the operation, with no guarantee of removing all the cancerous cells in the first place. Without surgery, on the other hand, the doctors estimated he has about 3 to 6 months to live.

At the end, we (including Father) decided not to have the surgery, and the doctors put internal tubes through the tumor in his liver and bile duct to replace the external one, and sent him home.

I flew back to Taipei in mid July to stay with and help care for him, along with my two sisters and one brother, who have been living around him there for their adult lives.

Father actually looked pretty good when I saw him, better than a month ago when I was with him in the hospital. In fact according to my sisters he's been eating, sleeping, and walking fairly well after he got out of the hospital, to their great relief.

They rearranged their daily lives to take turn to come over and accompany him during the day, and hired a care giver for the night, while I stayed in the same apartment with him during my 2 week stay there.

Father has been quite a disciplinarian since young: He's been waking up at 3:30 AM and taking a hike over to a neighboring hill park, where he does exercise and enjoys time with his buddies, for the past 40+ years, rain or shine, without disruption, until now. So starting the 3rd day after I got there, seeing that he really could eat, sleep, and walk quite well, I asked him and he complied, to take a stroll in the neighboring park in the early morning. Thus began our daily routine together for the next 11 days while I was there.

We didn't talk much, as usual, while we walked, though an additional factor getting into play now was the fact that he is very hard on hearing so it would take me extra effort to speak to him and that I sense sometimes makes him uncomfortable, so I elected to keep quiet most of the time with him.
  

At the end of our walk, when coming back home, I would stop by some breakfast joint and have an "eat-out" with him. It's a traditional Chinese soymilk place with open counter selections of delicacies. I'd ask him to pick what he likes to eat, and watch with some amazement that he spiritedly asked and picked things he wanted to try, like a kid in a candy store, then ate and finished them neatly, leaving not a shred of crumbs on the table.

One day when we walked by a corner of streets in the neighborhood, he broke the silence: "This piece of land used to belong to XXX..." whom I know was an old friend of his. He then told me how as young partners they bought and developed the land together... "How about Brickman Tiam," I took the opportunity to mention another old friend of his whose name I could still remember, for the sake of more conversation. "Oh, he passed away long time ago... He's the person we all bought bricks from for our construction work..." Yup, lots of things and ages have passed here... I remember when I was a kid, these busy street corners and store fronts and apartment buildings were all just rice paddies and dirt roads with ox carts roaming around... To father, a duck farm boy with elementary school education, went apprenticing at his uncle's construction firm, then made it out and built his own land development/real estate career; from the days running from US air raids during World War II when Taiwan was under Japanese rule, to Kuomintang era, to this Internet age... He must have lots of memories to reminisce now...

What is he thinking now, I sometimes wondered. We never intentionally shielded him from knowing his own physical plight--the doctors discussed and explained their diagnosis and prognosis with us in front of him, and he had to be informed and agree on any surgeries he went through, so he must know, or at least had a hunch about the seriousness of the "disease" he has now. But still, we doubt if anyone ever mentioned to him that there was estimate that he could only live a few months more, in the worst case scenario. None of us wants to do that.

He seems to still keep quite a keen mind, though. Every afternoon, he'd pull out an old ledger of his, and start writing and checking the numbers from bank statements against those on his book, with full diligence and focus, for the properties he owns. He's not a miser or a bean counter of any sort, but rather I think this is his own way of keeping things organized and himself mentally occupied every day.

And he walks fast, sometimes even faster than I and the care giver. He eats well too, and seems wanting to try things he never tried before--I once took him to a McDonald's for breakfast--or things he remembers well in his younger days--he once asked my uncle who accompanied him in a late afternoon walk to buy some fatty stewed pork for him on the way back, a food he had avoided in his healthy diet for decades.

But about a couple of days before I left, he told my sister that his appetite is down and is feeling occasional nausea again, and the care giver noticed his skin is turning yellowish too.

On the day I left, I went with my sister for his second follow-up exam. After we told the doctor that my father was feeling nausea and losing appetite and showing yellowish skin, he shook his head and said "The tumor is growing, the tube is blocked somewhere (by the tumor)," and showed me the result of the blood test my father took last time that indicated his liver bile index is higher than normal again. "He needs to get back to hospital as soon as possible," he said.

On the evening I left, my father stayed a bit over his usual bed time, just to see me off. When the time came, I walked up to him, gave him a hug, told him to take care of himself, and that I will be back again soon, and left.

I then realized that was the first time I ever hugged my father in my life.

secrets of silk road

As a history buff, and person who's always fascinated by how ancient peoples and cultures moved and evolved, I went to the Bowers Museum in Santa Ana the other day when I heard they are exhibiting "Secrets of Silk Road," mummies and artifacts from Urumuqi (烏魯木齊) Museum that for the first time are allowed to travel outside Asia. It was a great treat--I spent 3 and a half hours there when my original thought was for a 2-hour street parking at this very access friendly little museum of Orange County. 

Among the more notable exhibits I saw there are:

* The Beauty of Xiaohe: Some of you may have heard of "The Beauty of Loulan" (樓蘭美女) in history classes growing up, this is not it, but very close. Xiaohe (小河)  is 110 miles west of the Loulan ruin, and this "beauty" is a woman mummy that looks in her 30s when she died, with fair skin, round eyes, long eye lashes, high cheek bones, and lush reddish hair surrounding her shoulder; in other words, totally Caucasian looking. It is dated about 3800 years old.

* The Yingpan Man: Found near Lop Nor (羅布泊, the Chinese nuclear test site), dated about 1900 years old, this is a 6 foot tall man who was buried with a gold foil mask (a Greek tradition) that covers his blond bearded face, a robe that features Roman-Greco symbols, a necklace and a Roman glass bowl. According to Dr. Victor Mair, a professor of Chinese Studies at the University of Pennsylvania who had organized and visited the excavations a few times, the Yingpan man probably was a rich trader from an Iranian-speaking people whose homeland was in what is now Uzbekistan who died relatively young in a place far from home.

* A wool wall-hanging cloth, found at a city near the southwestern edge of the Tarim Basin (塔里木盆地), dated between 2nd century BC and 2nd century AD, depicts a blue-eyed soldier with a headband that symbols the kingship in the Hellenistic world as often seen on Greek coins. Also on the upper half of the cloth is a centaur, a half man and half horse creature that is a mythological being of Greek origin.

* An official paper that describes the cities travelled and permissions granted for traveling/passing-through these cities by military garrison officers in Chinese; a contract outlining the sale of a female slave in ancient Iranian (Persian). Documents like these are dated between 7-9 centuries AD, when the silk road commerce between East and West was at its height.  

* Also, if you ever wonder when and how Christianity was first brought to China in historic record--It was during mid 7th century, through the Silk Road: After the Tang (唐) dynasty conquered Turkestan (突厥), Christianity, known as Jingjiao (景教), or the Luminous Religion, was introduced to China by the "Church of the East," or Nestorian Church. The Nestorian Stele (大秦景教流行中國碑), erected at the Tang capital of Chang'an (長安)  in 781, describes the introduction of Christianity and the subsequent flourishing of Christian communities throughout China. (It was banned later, however, by Emperor Wuzong 唐武宗 in 845, and gradually declined and disappeared from China).

I bought a book "The Mummies of Urumuchi" at the museum gift shop after I finished the exhibits. The book's author is Elizabeth Wayland Barber, an archaeologist, linguist, and world authority on ancient textile who was on Dr. Mair's team to Xinjiang to examine and study the mummies and the artifacts in 1994. (Her narratives, as well as Dr. Mair's, appear in the self-guide audio that describe many of the exhibits as you tour along). It is such a fascinating story telling as well as serious academic work I couldn't help but finish reading it in fast and furious fashion a few days after I bought it. 

According to Dr. Barber, and based on archaeological finds, linguistic analysis, collaboration with Chinese history records, the earliest settlers of Tarim (in Loulan around 2000 BC) are probably Indo-Iranian coming from the southern Russian prairie, with their domesticated horses and spoked wheel technology, looking for water and grassland for farming and herding, hopping oasis after oasis along the northern edge of the Tarim Basin; followed around 1200 BC by a branch of Indo-European who were culturally and linguistically next-of-kin to Celtics, ancestors of Irish and Scottish people of today. The Turkic people (Uyghurs, 維吾爾族人) were relatively late comers to this region, appearing in Tarim in the 10th century AD, as were the Mongoloids and various nomadic peoples from the northern steppe, and the Han Chinese from the East. It is a region in constant ethnic and cultural mix and flux, summarily speaking. Paintings dated 600-1000 AD of Indo-European speaking people in Tarim show Buddhist devotees of all races--Chinese, Indian, Mongol, and Turkic types, as well as fair-haired, blue-eyed, white-cheeked Caucasians...

Kind of like what we have here today in California, isn't it?

rick's tweets ii

Sharing some of Pastor Rick's tweets I collected in the past few months with you:

Love people. Use things. If you love things, you'll end up using people to get more of them. 

When I’m tempted to be prideful I just remind myself that I cannot even guarantee my next breath.

The fact that someone LOVES TO LEAD never impresses me. I want to know, Do you love THE PEOPLE you lead? 

Leadership without love quickly becomes manipulation.

  

If you insist that anyone who disagrees with you is intolerant, judgmental, or has a phobia, you're really revealing yourself.

Genuine love is unself-conscious--the opposite of how people act in dating when they're worried about making an impression.  

One of the big lies of our culture is that sex is only physical & has no spiritual, emotional & relational consequences.   

Nothing unmasks our innate self-centered sinfulness as a long-term marriage. Many would rather divorce than admit it & change.

If you spend more time defending the truth than actually sharing it, you'll missed the point of the Gospel.

My daily time alone with God doesn't unclutter my schedule. It unclutters my mind & calms my heart even on my busiest days.

"God plunged me into darkness"--Job19:8. In darkness the picture develops & negatives turn positive as the Light shines thru.

The teacher is always silent when the test is given. When God is silent in your life, you are being tested.

It takes no faith to trust God when He is obviously moving. Real faith is holding on & believing when God SEEMS absent. 

So much stress comes from our inability to be still. The greatest faith is often revealed by waiting & watching in silence.

"Anyone who claims to know all the answers doesn't really know very much." 1 Cor. 8:2 (NLT)

“While knowledge may make us feel important, it is love that really builds up the church.” 1 Cor. 8:1b (NLT)

Any effort to create heaven on earth will fail. God calls us to get people into the real heaven, not to build our own.

Life is cheap to those who think they're god. Mao,Stalin & Hitler (God-deniers) caused 110 million deaths without remorse.

How you treat others exposes your view of God. The higher you view God, the more respect you show TO EVERYONE! 1 Pet.2:17

Jesus didn't shed his blood on the Cross for programs, property, or principles. It was his RADICAL love for people.

Leaders take the blame & give away the credit. To lead you must often do the opposite of what you FEEL like doing. Pr.14:12

Never fear criticism. Fear conformity, which stunts the soul. You can't have everyone’s approval & God’s anointing at same time.

God gives you just enough time to do His Will. If you always feel behind, you're trying to do more than he intended.