macro lens

i borrowed a fancy camera lens from david song. it's a macro lens which enables close-up photography. this lens costs more than my camera-body.

youth retreat

today i got back from the youth retreat & i had a really great time. the students were so sincere & real in their pursuit of God. i've spoken at many korean youth retreats & i think that so many korean kids are so jaded & phony in their spirituality. but the kids i met this past weekend (mostly vietnamese, some chinese) were so innocent & genuine in their faith. it was like a breath of fresh air. i felt so honored to be entrusted with sharing God's word with them this past weekend.

youth retreat this weekend

this weekend (friday-sunday morning) i'll be giving the messages for a youth retreat in the santa cruz mountains. it will be a gathering of one chinese church & a handful of vietnamese churches from the bay area. for those of you who pray for me, please pray for this retreat. i'm really excited & i hope that God will use me to make an impact in their lives. at the retreat center i won't have internet access & i heard that there is no cel phone reception either. so i guess i'll be "retreating" from technology & communications. :>

American vs Chinese Justice

This past week, two news stories caught my attention. Here is an excerpt about the former head of China's FDA...

China executed the former head of its food and drug watchdog on Tuesday for approving untested medicine in exchange for cash. During Zheng's tenure from 1998 to 2005, his agency approved six medicines that turned out to be fake, and the drug-makers used falsified documents to apply for approvals, according to previous state media reports. One antibiotic caused the deaths of at least 10 people.

Here is a excerpt about Scooter Libby...

Breaking news reports late on Monday showed that President George W. Bush had commuted the sentence of I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby, a former top aide who also served as Chief of Staff to Vice President Dick Cheney. An appeal by Libby to stay out of jail pending an appeal of his conviction for committing perjury and other offenses was rejected by a federal court this morning.Libby did not receive a pardon, but he did have his 30 month jail sentence commuted by President Bush. He remains guilty of the felonies of perjury, obstruction of justice, and making false statements in the federal investigation of the outing of covert CIA agent Valerie Plame Wilson. He will also pay a $250,000 fine.

Although Libby's crimes were not as severe as Zheng's, I am still amazed at how differently the American government and Chinese government handled these cases. At first I thought that America has become too "soft" as a society. Soft in our morals and in our ability to execute justice. But on a more positive note, I believe that America is a country that has embraced the concepts of mercy and grace. Even if all of us don't agree with this kind of forgiveness, I think we can all understand the heart behind it. Despite all the political reasons for "commuting" Libby's sentence, I believe that the main reason was a simple desire to forgive.

Jin & Mary feeding their son a lemon

7-7-07

today is 7-7-07.
this date occurs once a century.

i think that most people are superstitious.
& many people consider 7 to be a lucky number.
it's even an important number in the Bible.

i heard that there are a record number of marriages today. something like three times the usual number.
& many women have scheduled to have their c-sections today, so that their babies could be born on this day.

studies show that successful athletes tend to be very superstitious.
& highly-successful people in various fields tend to be very superstitious too.

in china, 8 is considered to be a lucky number. so the opening ceremony for their summer olympics will begin on 8-8-08 at 8pm.

interesting