International Graduate Student Ministry – Gracepoint Berkeley

The Pharisees caught a woman in the act of adultery and brought her to Jesus in order to test Jesus. Jesus doesn’t answer their accusation of the woman—instead, he points to each Pharisee’s sinfulness, and the Pharisees walk away. God can deal with different types of people, but not proud, self centered people. How can we break out of our own pride so that God can relate to us? By having enough courage to admit our own wrongs and confessing our sinfulness. Only then do we discover that God’s forgiveness has been waiting for us all along.

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Wow to start the year, we attended the Gracepoint Fellowship Church Winter Retreat to hear Bible studies and testimonies. The theme was freedom from fear.

We went to see the newly openned Cal Academy of Science in SF and saw alligators, penguins, and strange fish, oh my.

Before the semester started, we wanted to have an outing with everyone: so we went to San Francisco and the new California Academy of Sciences museum.  They have a very nice rain forest exhibit with poisonous frogs, lots of fish and the deepest coral reef aquarium in the country (I think), African penguin colony (and a fun feeding), and an albino alligator.  Sadly, the albino was getting medical treatment while we were there, so we missed it.  If you go, I highly recommend you skip the Swamp Talk and just go and watch the alligator(s).  They don’t move much!

It was a lot of fun as we divided into smaller groups in an attempt to see everything.  Chul’s group somehow got tickets to see the 3D bugs movie, which tracks the life of a few unfortunate insects trying to survive in a cruel world.  Others of us barely got into the Planetarium show, which took us on a journey through outer space.

We were all tired afterwards, and really hungry.  All we had beforehand was a nice Vietnamese sandwich, so we went to Banana Island in Daly City for some delicious Malaysian/Thai/Singaporean food.  Too bad our president Chin-Long had to miss the Malaysian food.  It was great!

The burning bush, when God called Moses to become the deliverer of Israel, was the event that changes Moses’ life forever. Yet when we think of our lives, the will of God and God’s plans seem so fuzzy to us. Perhaps that’s because there are things in our lives that we don’t want to give up to God. To learn about God personally, we must surrender our desires to him… because God cannot have second place in our lives.

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Cain and Abel are perhaps 2 of the most famous brothers in the Bible because the first murder ever recorded was Cain killing Abel. And in Cain, we get a glimpse of a man who wanted to feel good about himself and was true to his emotions—to the point where he compartmentalized his heart and life. Unfortunately, we get a good picture of ourselves in Cain. And so the question: how do we deal with our emotions? That answer makes a world of difference.

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As you may or may not know, baby Joshua was born to Joseph and Carolyn on December 20, 2008.  (the day of our ISM Christmas Party)  He was a hefty 8lbs and 1oz, and is officially the smallest and youngest member of ISM Berkeley!  He is the result of many prayers and we are thankful that God has protected the family so far.

Of course, the parents are at home resting…  but various people at ISM have been keeping them company.  They are quite happy…  and when we’re there, Joshua has been such a good baby.  (he’s really cute)

If you get a chance, you should drop by.  Or just wait until he is old enough and healthy enough to start making cameo appearances at Friday Forum or ISM outings.  Either way, please join us in welcoming this precious child to our family!

ISM celebrated the New Year by gathering at Chul and Sharon’s to make dumplings, eating rice cake soup and dumplings, and playing a rousing game of yut. Look at the pics to see which team won.

Just wanted to wish everyone a Happy New Year!  (Xin nian kuai le!)  Can’t believe 2008 is over and 2009 is here.  Time really flies!

Before we leave 2008 in the past, I know that not everyone has seen our Year in Review video.  (It’s the same one that we produced for our Thanksgiving Celebration in Gracepoint Fellowship Church Berkeley)  Jesse and others put in many many hours to produce it, so we wanted to make sure you had a chance to see it if you missed our TC.  The link is here.  Enjoy!

Anyone have fun New Year’s Resolutions to share?