This kid has a gold ring on his finger and a green grape in his mouth. He's wearing about 500 different colours and is waiting for everyone to watch him so that he can bust a move.  Haha!  Who is this kid, anyways??  o__O;;

     This was in 1980, when I turned "1".  Now it's 2004, and I find I've somehow managed to rack up *25* big ones.  No such pimpin' duds today, and no cake the size of a wagon-wheel, but I did wake up to my Dad singing "Happy Birthday" over the phone, drawing out his vibrato like Placido Domingo, my Mom laughing in the background.  My heart was toasty and warmed over like a sweet potato in an oven.

     LORD!  How did I make it this far, and manage to have it this good?  To see that "25" did not bring with it a dreary sentence, but rather, renewed promise for everything that I thought was passing me by at 20, everything I thought I had irretrievably lost and forfeited at 21 - I can only wonder ( ! )

     When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child.  When I became a man, I put childish ways behind me.  Now we see but a poor reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face.  Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known.  1 CORINTHIANS 13:11, 12  

     Shamefaced, I realize that "childish ways" might very well constitute about 80% of my social life and daily activities...  U_U;;  But I read on, and find that Paul's exhortation is more than a reprimand, something infinitely more sublime and gracious than a stern rebuke - the Word tells us that we are known.  As the psalmist says in the 139th Psalm:

     O LORD , You have searched me and You know me.  You know when I sit and when I rise; You perceive my thoughts from afar.  You discern my going out and my lying down; You are familiar with all my ways.  Before a word is on my tongue You know it completely, O LORD...  My frame was not hidden from You when I was made in the secret place.  When I was woven together in the depths of the earth, Your eyes saw my unformed body.  All the days ordained for me were written in Your book before one of them came to be.  PSALM 139:1-4, 15, 16

     Which segues nicely into this, my current favourite Sufjan Stevens song, "VITO'S ORDINATION SONG":

     I always knew you / In your mother's arms / I have called your name / I've an idea / Placed in your mind / To be a better man / I've made a crown for you / Put it in your room / And when the bridegroom comes / There will be noise / There will be glad / And a perfect bed... 

     And when you write a poem / I know the words / I know the sounds / Before you write it down / When you wear your clothes / I wear them, too / I wear your shoes / And the jacket, too / I always knew you / In your mother's arms / I have called you "son" / I've made amends / Between father and son / Or if you haven't one / Rest in my arms / Sleep in my bed / There's a design / To what I did and said...

     BIG LOVE going out to everyone, family and friends all over the world.  =)

     I'm not gonna write too much about the week-long trip to Pic Mobert lest I become unduly sentimental and maudlin, so suffice to say that God is faithful - His faithfulness stretches to the back and to the front, more expansive and intricate than we could ever hope to comprehend, or even imagine.  Beautifying and mollifying the rough history of the places we come from, showing us His place and purpose in the shadow of our pain and suffering - He fills our future with hope. 

     Everything and anything worth preserving in this broken world, all things good and lovely, speak of His beauty. 

     Thank You, LORD, that our final hope and destination is in You, but thank You, also, LORD, that You see fit to enrich and ornament the passing of our short lives - the blink of an eye - with such people, such places, such experiences that speak whispers of the glory with which they will be fulfilled upon Your return.  Hasten Your return to this world, LORD JESUS, but not before all Your children, these precious brothers and sisters, have made their return to You in each their hearts.  In Your name we pray, AMEN.

     Pastor Paul An probably has more energy and vitality in his left pinky than I have in my entire right bicep.  The man runs like a generator and on the podium, he's ON and IN THE ZONE before most people have had a chance to tuck their highlighters back into their Bibles.  I was sufficiently challenged, inspired and occasionally exhausted.  Which was exactly what I needed.  In all honesty, I really love too much to rest and feel rested.  God help me. 

     Aaron, Allbright, Arthur, Chris, Eddie, Jenny, Julianna, Jun, Michelle and Sarah.  Three days of of living and surviving in the bush with nine other guys and girls and you learn and see (and hear   ) some things that you just wouldn't get eating sushi and sipping bubble tea in Yorkville.  I'm tempted to disclose a lot of details since I myself was always careful to refrain from passing wind in mixed company.  About the girls, though, I could spin some choice anecdotes, evoking some pretty interesting sounds and smells.    My lips are sealed.    (Click over to eejenee's page for more pictures and lovely descriptions.)

      

     When school started last September, I resolved to only update my Xanga page when every other area of my life was up-to-date and in working order - essays, assignments, exams, laundry, overall hygiene, etc.  Today, almost seven months later, at 4:00 in the morning, trying to finish a final essay that is coming three sentences at a time, I break down and make my first update since - HA! - the beginning of September.  Technically, with an unfinished essay and two weeks left of exams, this is an illicit update, but what can I say?  God is good.  

 

     So, that's how it went down.  Mario Tennis until 1:30 in the morning and a whole lot of leftover food, even with some 30-odd people in attendance.  Best of luck with exams, good people.  Arthur signing off now to put this Chinese Cinema essay to death once and for all.  I'm gonna KILL IT!!!!   

     (In spite of a course reader roughly the size of a phonebook, and some killer assignments, the Chinese Cinema half-year course was Grade-A material from start to finish.  The first week of classes, we got participation marks for watching PROJECT A and ENTER THE DRAGON, prompting the voice of my third-grade inner-self to silently cheer: "SCHOOL IS COOL."    I'll post my Hong Kong movie top ten in the near future.  Wait for it with bated breath.)