Pain

On friday night a bunch of us from vcf fellowship went downtown to UT to hear Ken Fong speak. He's a pastor in L.A. and was one of the speakers at Urbana 2000. He's very good at what he does. But after 5 days, i only remember a few things. The theme of the night was that we are univeristy students for 'a time such as this'. He talked about how christians has lost credibility to the secular world. He talked about how our generation smells a big rat- what is preached is not what is reinforced in our churches (espeically for chinese christians). We are called to be 'radical christians'; to be kingdom seekers; to live without compromise yet in our families and churches, all is good as long as we honor our parents, get those nice university degrees, find a well paid job, have the 2.5 kids, a big house ...all is good...as long as we tithe. Although this stigma is more true for some circles than others, this generation nontheless smell a big 'RAT'. Have we been lied to? Have we been gyped?

So the main point this guy was trying to get across is to be kingdom seekers. He gave an example of a student from his church asking him if he should go to Stanford or Harvard. His response was whether this person should go to university at all- was he ready?

I enjoyed the night. It was one of those messages that required a response. Although it was very 'moving, it is just as easy to go back to that old school thought.
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Saturday and Sunday was spend at circle square ranch with about 17 other individuals. I'm glad i went on this retreat. Although i froze the entire night (while wearing 4 layers + winter jacket + mits + 2 pairs of socks + sleeping bag), i'm really glad i was there. Saturday was mostly chilling: we got there, went to grab lunch, played some card games, horse back riding (i didn't) , "session", dinner, hayride, bonfire + worship. I was quite tired, i went back to the teepee around 12 but some of them stayed out there til 3am singing and chatting.

Sunday began with breakfast and a 3hr "session"- reading, writing, discussing, coffee break, discussion, more discussion..
The retreat "sessions" were not what i was use to. I got out my notebook and bible, expecting someone to preach at me. But instead we did hardcore manuscript style bible study. It was my frist time doing someting like that. I wasn' t use to it at first but caught on. I think i got more out of it than the traditional bible studies where you read the passage and answer a bunch of questions.

And yes, it was also a good opportunity to have fellowship. I was thoroughly encouraged by those i met. After the bonfore, 3 other ppl and i got together to share and pray. VERY VERY encouraging. It reminded me of ol high school days.
And no, no boys =)
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I went to work out at school for the first time yesterday. Did some cardio stuff. Then later in the day i had my spinning class. Goodness....i realized that i have absolutely NO upper body strength. When we were doing intervals standing up, i kept collapsing cuz my arms killed. My legs are fine today but my shoulders are killing (hence the title of this entry). Yea....no upper body strength :(
The instructor came up to me after class and asked me if i was okay.. lol that's how bad it was. This 60yr old lady was doing better than i ....ha haa....oi

Looking forward to this weekend =)