International Graduate Student Ministry – Gracepoint Berkeley

I was thinking of trying to write up another post on the retreat, but the Qinghai earthquake has been on my mind a lot as so many of our students are from China.  (and I myself am Chinese)  To think of a second tragedy hitting the nation just two years after the big Sichuan quake is pretty overwhelming.  The tolls are currently at 1484 dead, 312 missing, and 12,088 injured (as of 4/18 midnight), not to mention the destruction.  Even President Hu Jintao had to emphasize that children be saved from school building rubble and dug out at any cost.

There is so little to do but to pray for the people there to seek God in this sort of tragedy.

Read more »

We had a wonderful time last weekend at the Sierra Lodge for our IGSM Annual Retreat.  It’s taken me a week to recover from the very packed time that we had over those 2 days, but it was a really memorable time.

Dr. Zhu gave three messages in Chinese: “Be Wholly”, “Be Real”, and “Be Wise”.  A brief recap of the three: in Be Wholly, he talked about his personal journey and how he had experienced tough times in his personal life.  And yet it was meeting Jesus that made him whole and brought such joy to his life, changing him forever.  In Be Real, Dr. Zhu talked about how we miss out on the big picture of life and reality because we get so focused on our present issues: research, publishing, school, and daily life.  As a result, we don’t see the world around us, which is so much bigger, and should make us more humble.  Finally, in Be Wise, he talked about how true wisdom comes from knowing God, not knowing more information.

Read more »

On Valentine’s Day, our group visited the residents of the Rounseville Rehabilitation Center to share with them a kind of love that is not always recognized in this age of heart-breakingly sappy Korean dramas. To stress this point, Jisup delivered a message on our one true Love, God, whose greatest act of love was to send His one and only Son to the cross. While the world reserves romance for the beautiful, for the rest of us including you and me, God desires that we experience His unconditional love, which is made available to us no matter how undeserving we are. Following the message, we had a chance to interact with the residents and offered decorative flower pots for their rooms before several of the brothers closed with a rendition of the song “Amazed.” The first two stanzas of the song go like this:

You dance over me
While I am unaware
You sing all around
But I never hear the sound

Lord I’m amazed by You
Lord I’m amazed by You
Lord I’m amazed by You
How You love me

In sum, it was a joy to share this message of God’s love with the residents and to see their excited responses. No doubt, we look forward to doing this all over again next year! Check out the photos.

Christmas- that is, the birth of Jesus Christ. While many  were busy buying gifts for family and friends, Mia and I, along with forty people from  Gracepoint Berkeley, went to Hsinchu, Taiwan to tell the people about Jesus’ birth and purpose of his life. He became human to be “God with us” and to tell the good news about God’s salvation. We were trying to do the same thing- go to other people and tell the good news of God’s salvation. We ate at the dining halls, did cheers to spread the news about the Christmas Celebration, and ate yummy food at the night market to spend time with the people we met. What broke my heart was the numbing way in which people at the dining halls would constantly be watching tv and also an encounter with a student who was raised in a Christian family, but started to be swayed because there are so few Christians around her.

We were also able to witness the baptism of five of the Christians at the Tsing Hua swimming pool, and one moment that I would never forget is praying for them to be bold Christian witnesses on that campus. We also saw Hubert and toured Taipei.

This past weekend was Baptism Sunday at Gracepoint Berkeley.  Brothers Allen and Eric (not biologically related) were baptized, and Eric gave his testimony (again) during the worship service.  Hearing once again at how God worked in his life, bringing him to Berkeley for 1 year for a masters, and how he learned about sin and his need for the cross in that period of time was really powerful.  Indeed, it validates everything that we are striving for at IGSM: impacting international students with the gospel in the short window of time that they are studying here at America.  We also had a chance to celebrate with them by taking photos, presenting them with gifts–flowers from the sisters and NIV Life Application Study Bibles from the brothers, and giving them a warm hug was a very special time.

Personally, it was very impactful for me because I’ve gotten a front row seat to see God change these two brothers’ lives and hearts in the 1 year they’ve been here.  I remember going on an SF outing with them 1 year ago.  I had no idea then that these two would be taking Course 101: Christian Foundations (you can sign up here!) with me and Jesse.  During C101, I saw them think about their lives more seriously and conclude that the gospel is true–and in the process, they had personal encounters with God.  I was so thankful to see them up there Sunday, and I can testify that God is good.  If you missed Baptism Sunday, be sure to congratulate them when you see them!

Many of you know Hank, a former staff in the International Graduate Student Ministry. He was married to Joy in the Praxis department in Gracepoint Fellowship Church. It was an indeed a very joy-ful occasion (I cannot resist the pun). Various ministry groups and peer groups showed their support to the couple by performing singing and dancing on the stage at their wedding reception.

Due to the high average age of the IGSM staff, we figured that we would not look good to dance. Jisup came up with the brilliant and daring idea of doing a Doo-Wop song, using “Come Go With Me” as the prototype. With the help from Paul breaking down the parts in the song and from Jesse/Jisup/Sara rewriting the lyrics, we were able to pull off a fine performance and received a good reception from the audience.

If I can find the recording of our performance, I will post it up later.

Baby Emily had her one month party last week… I can hardly believe that she is already well within her 5th week of life, though at the same time, I can tell she’s already growing and changing. It’s scary to think that time flies so quickly, and life would be much harder if we had to try to raise her alone. We’re really thankful that we don’t have to go at this alone–that we can do life with all of you, and that Emily has a bunch of uncles and aunties who really care about her, and want to help raise her into a godly and faithful woman. Not everyone has been given this blessing of community from God in the way that we have received it, and it really makes parenting so much easier. I cannot imagine how we’d get through this time without everyone, except to say that I myself would be anxious, paranoid, and stressed. And I’d end up like a parent in the book Nation of Wimps, which some of our members at Gracepoint Berkeley read some time ago.

Meowmeow and my families were also here to share the celebration, as well at Shufei’s parents. (who will be our baby’s caretaker extraordinaire!) I think they had a good time as well, and we’re glad that they could spend some time with our friends (brothers and sisters) who have made such a difference in our lives. For those of you who sacrificed an evening to be with us, we’re truly grateful. And for those of you who weren’t there, please feel free to drop by any time. We could use the babysitting help!

Christopher doesn’t like to be held by me that much because he likes to play on his own and he doesn’t like to my warm body to be near his. I don’t mind this kind of rejection because it makes him very easy to take care of.

Yesterday afternoon, Karen and I took Christopher to the get 3 immunization shots, one on the right thigh and two on the left. The doctor told us that he might be in discomfort for awhile, but it’s okay. We just need to watch out for fever. In the evening after dinner, Christopher started to really cry. So far, he has been a happy baby, crying only when he was hungry. But this time, we knew that he was in pain because his tears came out. We discovered that his right thigh was red and swollen from the shot. We gave him a warm bath to sooth the swelling, but he still cried. Karen tried to put him down to calm him, but he would cry all the more. Finally, I tried to hold him to see if he would find comfort from me. I didn’t expect it, but he calmed down. And I recall that whenever he was in pain (circumcision and blood test for jaundice), I was there to be with him. Maybe, I speculate, he knew that things would be okay when daddy was around. I don’t know what he was thinking, but I was really pleased that he could find comfort and rest in me.

This incident helped me realize how much God, my Heavenly Father, would be pleased if I were to go to him when I was sick or feeling down or struggling emotionally, physically and/or spiritually. Prophet Isaiah declares: “Comfort, comfort my people, says your God” (Isaiah 40:1). Jesus says in Matthew 11:28-29: “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.” If I, an imperfect earthly father, can have so much compassion for my child, then how much more God, my perfect Heavenly Father, would desire to love me, to have compassion on me, and to hold my hand in the metaphorical and spiritual sense. I want to please Him more by finding rest and comfort from Him.