sjamesho.v3

okay… this is the last post of the three posts that had gotten away from me. even though it was ten days ago there hasn’t really been anything major going on between then and now so don’t worry, you’re not missing much… or maybe its me who is missing things to blog about? argh! oh well… here it goes.

11 Dec. the party/Bible study thing that i’m involved in, if you haven’t caught on already, is really model of sorts of small groups. so if you check out Acts 2:46-47, you’ll see the correlation. so this particular sunday of this month, it was time to throw yet another party. i like the word “party” but i think in the coming months we’re going to shift the event to a less frivolous tone in terminology but keeping the formula the same: food, fellowship, and the Word. but in my mind, the joy of “party” will still be alive.

sweet potato, watercress, and pear salad. i found this recipe as well as the combination interesting so i decided to try it out. it was okay, but i think it would have been a lot better had i given the pears enough time to ripen. also, this is the first time that i worked with watercress. i’ve had watercress before but only in small quantities. but since this recipe uses watercress as one of its three main ingredients, the flavor was strong and sharp. its not a bad flavor and had the pears been sweeter it and the sweet potatoes would have complemented the watercress nicely but since it wasn’t as ripe the balance was off. i had enough watercress left over to make it again which was better but i think that, unlike the “cranberry, apple and jicama salad”, its broad appeal index is not as high. i did notice that the flavors of this salad seem to be better the next day. it makes better as a leftover? go figure.

the bread was made and brought by Melinda Fletcher. quite tasty and quite photogenic! not only do i like eating bread but i like looking at their textures.

Left to right: Danette, Brian, Nana.

Left to right: Melinda, Heidi.

Left to right: Aiko, Michelle, Brittany. this time around Aiko presented the study. it’s a December month and typically the focus would be a Christmas theme… as in nativity and the like. but we’re not typical. so we took the theme of “Peace”, like “peace on earth” or “peace to all”, and examined how the world offers it against how Jesus offers it. there were many facets that were covered also but the bottomline is that Jesus came to this earth to bring us peace and provide deliverance from the chaos we bring upon ourselves. that deliverance is not that we are taken out of the chaos but we now have a Peace going through it… and that’s mind-blowing or as King James would say “passeth all understanding”.

Left to right: Nikki, Andrea. while we were eating, Nikki and Andrea was going over some childhood memories in grade school. there was a story about busted teeth and another about Heinz 57 that was very, very amusing. we had a very good laugh. i guess i can relate to you what i remember of the stories but it’s one of those “you-had-to-have-been-there” moments. ahhh… good times, good times.

so that’s it, i’m “caught” up. and like i said before, there hasn’t been anything major going on in the ten days between then and now so unless i feel really compelled to turn some small thing like a mole hill into a mountain, i’m just going to do my best to be more current.

this month went as fast, if not faster, as i predicted at the start of November. in a mere two blinks, i had let 21 days go by without making a blog entry. so i’m going to quickly compress everything in two entries because i know December will be definitely coming fully loaded with happenings one right after the other.

last month’s Un-Halloween Party was so fun, that on 19 November we decided to do another party with a twist to Thanksgiving. well… not necessarily a twist but went with the importance of thankful attitude and the privileges and opportunities that arises in the Christian experience as opposed to the Pilgrim/American Indian theme.

i wish i had some food preparation photos to show you. i had to run errands most of the day with only about an hour to spare to get a haircut and make two dishes. so most of the other food was basically set to go by the time i arrived at Heidi’s house (which really the Gapasin’s house that Heidi is staying in). we moved it to this location since we were expecting more people this time around and my place isn’t that big for that capacity.

there’s a lot of things happening on my plate: rice, salad and a cranberry, apple, jicama salad on the left that i made for the first time. normally i try out my first attempts with my immediate family before releasing it to a larger group so i was a little nervous… and i guess a little brave… to share my discovery. thankfully (hehe), it turned out well as evidenced in a later photo.

with a couple of turns we see the delicious bread that Aiko brought and the stuffed shell pasta that Heidi’s mom made.

this time Heidi led out in the Bible study. i really like this party format where everyone gets together to eat a great meal and then having a different person lead out in facilitating.

Left to right: Thea, Nikki, Aiko, Moises.

as we were cleaning up the kitchen after the Bible study, Andrea thought the dressing of the salad i brought was too good to waste. so here she is sipping the remains out of the bowl as Aiko and i take her picture with Michelle and Danette looking on.

then on 21 November, i had Thanksgiving Dinner at Banana Leaf with some friends whom i’ve known since high school… that’s like 17 years and counting! in the past we’ve patronized Maggiano’s but having Malaysian food was a nice alternative. its always nice to mix things up.

roti prata

tofu salad

veggie pineapple fried rice

banana granite

my family likes coming to Banana Leaf because for one thing, its cheaper than flying back to Malaysia for Malaysian food. for the most part their food is closer than other restaurants claiming to be Malaysian cuisine. they have a substantial selection for vegetarians which is most often not the case for a Malaysian restaurant. the owners are Christians and play Christian instrumental music. though this is not apparent to most patrons, its a delightful surprise to those that know the tunes. and of course by being regular customers, we’ve established a rapport with the owners and manager. like Cheers, “sometimes you want to go where everybody knows your name / and they’re always glad you came / you wanna be where you can see / our troubles are all the same / you wanna be where everybody knows / your name”.

Halloween is so~ pagan. that’s the short of it, and i don’t have the time to get into the whole thing right now, but shouldn’t there be some alternate celebration that could be experienced instead that is more uplifting and wholesome? my friend Tammie Lindsey had given me the idea about two years ago referencing the Jewish celebration of Purim. and after studying into it over the last month or so, i really saw that there could be something to that idea. so last Sunday i had a un-Halloween Party this year at my house.

(photo taken by Andrea using Aiko’s camera)

me, Aiko, Thea, and Moises doing last minute dinner preparations. i think was cutting some Italian parsley for my eggplant and lentil salad and Aiko was finishing her salad while Thea was helping Moises cut the persimmons.

there was a lot of food or i should say enough food for everybody because in the end there was just some leftovers as opposed to a lot. there was bread, bruchetta, fruit, persimmons, egg rolls, eggplant and lentil salad, chili garlic roasted brocolli, salad, and baklava. here are some close-up pictures of the food.

fruit salad

bruchetta

(photo taken by Aiko)

after dinner we sang some songs. i don’t know why Andrea and Heidi are giving amused smiles at me.

(photo taken by Aiko)

i had forgotten how funny looking i get when i play guitar. maybe that’s it. anyways, after singing we went into studying the Jewish celebration of Purim by going directly to where it started… in the Book of Esther. for me it was quite an interesting study over the past month and as always there is always much more to learn and much more deepness to go.

(photo taken by Aiko)

for those of you who don’t know, Purim is celebrated in the 14th and 15th month of Adar which is around early spring. the upcoming Purim is March 4-5, 2007. so why have a party around Halloween? well, not only is the overall theme of Purim the “hiddeness of God revealed” but two principle social commandments of Purim are: 1) sending food gifts to friends, and 2) giving charity to the poor. Thanksgiving is just around the corner as well as the upcoming food drive that the youth and young adults will be participating in. so in the spirit of Purim and the timing of giving to charity i figured why not? this year’s Bible study was an overview, however i think it would be cool to continue this tradition next year where we can break the story down in its elements.

i have more photos and will post them in a gallery when time permits.

i was going to do a super post since i had quite the weekend. but after i got home from work, i was unusually fatigued. i don’t know why since the night before i had a good 8-9 hour sleep. at first i was thinking that the time-change had something to do with it but since it’s only an hour difference i shouldn’t have been sleepy at 5:00p. where my health is concerned i didn’t want to take any chances by going to Bible study earlier this evening so i took a nap till about 8:30p. i feel much better now and will start off this post with last Saturday.

it has been a very, very, very long time since i’ve done special music. i was happy to help even though i was approached by Heidi and Nikki (Nikki is the one on the left) the evening before (Friday). i just strummed while Heidi plucked. it was different and nice not having to sing for special music although some church members thought that we should be a trio. i don’t know… we’ll see where the Lord leads.

i think it has been about the second or third year in a row that my family will be missing out on International Sabbath which is going to be this coming Saturday. however, i took the opportunity this Sabbath to wear my new Chinese-styled jacket which even though it was thin it was warm. i will just have to find out how true this is as the temperatures begin to decline in the coming weeks.

later in the evening, my family went to Banana Leaf for dinner. i had forgotten what the vegetarian spring rolls were like. so i had to order them and of course take pictures. now i won’t forget. hehe.

vegetarian curry laksa

cendol

when i drove up to the park entrance of Coyote Point last Sabbath morning, i expected what some might come to expect when having worship in the outdoors–a stronger connection with my Creator, a refreshing experience of the Spirit, a re-dedication to the God i serve. of course, this is all well and good and i experienced what i expected to experience. however, i would be a fool to completely confine my experience to just that. for another thing that i left open to learn was the thing and/or things that God wanted me to learn today that i did not expect to learn. that’s one of the reasons why i love God–He’s surprising that way. and today was no different because there was one other thing that i expected in the outdoors… well i guess in my Christian experience as a whole but especially on an outdoors Sabbath… and that is that God would teach me things and show me things about Himself, about life, about eternity that are surprising and unexpected. and that is a gift–surprising and unexpected.

before i continue, i have to go back to last night at the Mountain View Japanese Seventh-day Adventist Church where this two-day experience began. using Taj Pacleb, “Righteousness by Faith” was the message and theme that God wanted us to more fully understand during the Sabbath hours. for the last week or so, the Holy Spirit has been speaking to me about purging the things that aren’t necessary. i suppose this is the residual effect of the previous month’s seminar and last night it made me think about how much garbage i still have around that i have procrastinated in getting rid off. it was on the list “to do” but never done. well when i got home that night it was resolved, like the prodigal son i came to myself and with quick prayer for strength allowed God to free me from the things that seemed so important but in reality made Him less important. i thank God for helping me follow through with the words that claim that He’s the most important.

so this Sabbath morning, i came to nature. though i know that sin has marked itself all over God’s creation, i know that God is here and can speak to me in a place that still tells of His wonder (Ps 104) and that doesn’t have the distractions that i may find elsewhere. Taj said many things, but God impressed me with the imagery of Jesus crushing… yes CRUSHING… the head of Satan at Calvary (Gen 3:15, Matt 27:33, 51). and if i truly want that victory over Satan, then i will have to truly allow Christ to live in me fully. i know that this process is not something that can happen in an instant, but the decisions that i make daily… that i make at each moment… are opportunities for me to choose Christ, to choose to tap into His infinite power, to allow Him to overcome through me.

i want to be one of those people in Revelation 2 & 3 who overcomes. and the overcoming thought is to overcome without His power, but that’s not how it’s supposed to be. overcoming is easy because it’s Christ in us who gives us the power. truly wanting to overcome… truly desiring to overcome… truly deciding to let Him overcome for us is the struggle (Rom 7:14-25). because in the process of renewing the mind (Rom 12:2) to that of the mind of Christ, we’re letting go of all the ideas and patterns of thought that aren’t Christ-like. but you know what? as long as your heart is humble and that you yearn to be taught of God… as long as you want to stay at the feet of Jesus and want to honor Him with your life… He will cultivate the faith needed to make that decision easier and easier. His delight is that we delight in obeying Him because we love Him… in fact to the point where we love Him so much that obeying Him is an impulse. i want to take this one step further if possible. “Thy word have i hid in mine heart, that i may not sin against Thee” (Ps 119:11). in knowing the Word we know the things that we do that show our obedience (or disobedience) to Him. but in a relationship that’s a rather awkward setup. in the beginning i suppose that how it is, but as our relationship with Jesus grows more and more, prayerfully His character is more and more becoming infused with ours and displacing the parts that aren’t like Him. i want to get to the point when just “being” is naturally obeying Him. to do that, i will have to actively starve the sinful man and feed the spiritual man.

after worship we had a delicious lunch and fellowship. i believe spiritual food isn’t only obtained at a sermon or homily but even during eating physical food with others. look at the many opportunities Jesus took to share himself when food and festivities were present. the wedding at Cana, feeding the 5000, Zacchaeus, and the shore of Galilee are just some of the recorded instances. i’m sure that there’s a lot more. eating is an opportunity to connect with each other, to edify each other, to learn about each other.

when our stomachs were full, some of us went around the park to pass out books and to witness to the other people at the park. a few of us stayed behind for Bible study and personal sharing. i decided to start this blog and then go around the park to take pictures of the beautiful details, colors, and textures in God’s nature.

we all gathered back and relaxed a bit before we had vespers. although some people had to leave earlier, we were happy that others joined us to close out the Sabbath. when the worship was over, we had to quickly pack up our stuff and relocate to the Mountain View Japanese Seventh-day Adventist Church before the park closed. it was there where we had dinner from the food left over from lunch. in fact, there was such an overabundance of food i would safely assume that we could at least go one more meal but instead we distributed the rest amongst ourselves the items which couldn’t be stored long-term.

the rest of the evening was spent hanging out, building friendships old and new for this is what the body of Christ is all about. for in a society that is headed more and more to isolationism and with the growing spirit of dispute and disharmony, Christ’s body indeed shines bright. last weekend, i have been refreshed in the community of God’s people that works together, eats together, loves together, and someday soon will live together forever. amen!