Psalm 103

The Lord is merciful and gracious,
slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love.
He will not always chide,
nor will he keep his anger forever.
He does not deal with us according to our sins,
nor repay us according to our iniquities.
For as high as the heavens are above the earth,
so great is his steadfast love toward those who fear him;
as far as the east is from the west,
so far does he remove our transgressions from us.
As a father shows compassion to his children,
so the Lord shows compassion to those who fear him.
For he knows our frame;
he remembers that we are dust.
-Psalm 103:8-14 

Birthday Musings

So it's my birthday today. And it's also Good Friday. Birthdays are generally very self centered days. It's all about me. Thank you Jesus for reminding me that it really isn't all about me. Even on my birthday.

Regarding Jeremy Lin, and Asian Bandwagonry

Firstly, I want to start off saying that Jeremy Lin is probably super talented and all (I don't actually know, considering I don't watch basketball because it is super boring) and I don't intend for what follows to take anything away from him. What I really want to discuss is a phenomenon I've seen over and over when it comes to Asian Americans and professional sports, and Jeremy Lin just happens to be the most recent example of this.

I have no problem with Jeremy Lin, but what I do have a problem with, and what I've seen Asians do over and over again, is to latch on to Asian players with any small amount of success in professional sports. These players seem to suddenly become a "Great Yellow Hope" for some inexplicable reason, in order to somehow demonstrate the superiority of the Asians. There seems to be a weird sort of Asian inferiority complex (not just in sports but I'm just going to stick to sports for this post), and these Asian sports figures seem to become "evidence" for what all Asians have known all along: "We're just as good, if not better, than white people."

The biggest problem I have with this line of thought is that people become "Jeremy Lin fans" instead of NY Knicks fans. They become fans of the individual player, within the contexts of a team sport. It doesn't matter what team these players play for, and it doesn't matter how that team does. All that matters is how this one player does. And that makes me sick. Stop it with this whole "x is representing the whole country of y" nonsense. He is representing the team that he plays for. Stop it. Who cares what ethnicity somebody is, where they grew up, what color they are. All that matters is the team. Root for your team, and wish bodily harm against everybody else. No matter their race.

If you are a "fan" of a team you have no business being a fan of because of one player, stop it.

Is this thing on?

My cycle with this blog: Every couple of days I'll go to start writing a new post. "I have something meaningful to say!" I think to myself. I type a couple words, a sentence maybe at most. Then I erase it all. Then I stare at the blank box. Then I write some more words. Then I erase those. Then I stare at it some more. Then I go check my fantasy baseball team.

I don't have anything meaningful to say.

p=mv

I've been feeling real restless recently. I wouldn't say unhappy, but more dissatisfied. I feel like I'm losing my forward momentum. Curse you friction.

Some Updates

Thank you everyone for all the kind words, the prayers, and the support. I haven't been able to update as much as I wanted because of various reasons, but here's the latest. There's some good news and bad news.

The good news is, the tumor in my dad's stomach hasn't spread anywhere else, and is only about an inch in size. It isn't very advanced either, so they are going to just cut it out in surgery. For little while the doctors were concerned that it may have spread to some of the lymph nodes around it but further tests showed that it hasn't, so my dad is scheduled for surgery Wednesday, December 15th. They'll cut out about half of his stomach and some lymph nodes, but hopefully that will be the end everything.

Now for the bad news. Recently, my mom went for a routine mammogram and they found two lumps in her breast. We don't really know much more, and she's scheduled for a biopsy soon, so we'll know more soon.

So I ask, please keep my family in all your prayers. It's tougher because all this stuff is happening at once, but in the midst of it all, we've been finding our hope in God.

Not that I am speaking of being in need, for I have learned in whatever situation I am to be content. I know how to be brought low, and I know how to abound. In any and every circumstance, I have learned the secret of facing plenty and hunger, abundance and need. I can do all things through him who strengthens me. - Philippians 4:11-13

Behold, we consider those blessed who remained steadfast. You have heard of the steadfastness of Job, and you have seen the purpose of the Lord, how the Lord is compassionate and merciful. - James 5:11

if we are faithless, he remains faithful - 2 Timothy 2:13

PRS? – The one where I break things

So this past weekend, I spent a bunch of time working on PRS? and I'm happy with the progress I've made so far, even though it isn't much. This whole thing has me pretty excited and I'm spending most of my free time on it. My first step was to disassemble the car to get to the good stuff inside, and attempt to figure out how it works so that I could figure out where to go from there. Read on for pictures! And words!

Introducing Project Remote Scout

So recently, I was talking to Graham and we were both lamenting the lack of intellectual stimulation in our lives. Me being stuck a boring job all day, and Graham being stuck in class. We both wanted to do something with our hands, to build something for the sake of building something, not for homework or class or anything else. Soon enough, we decided to build something cool.

You never think it could happen to you

May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that by the power of the Holy Spirit you may abound in hope. - Romans 15:14

Heal me, O LORD, and I shall be healed; save me, and I shall be saved, for you are my praise. - Jeremiah 17:14

Indeed, none who wait for you shall be put to shame; they shal be ashamed who are wantonly treacherous. - Psalm 25:3

Interns

This is what bored Fire in the Night interns do after the prayer room.