$400 haircut

so i heard someone talking about how john edwards (presidential candidate) paid $400 for a haircut. apparently it's true. & he did it twice. he hired a celebrity hairstylist from beverly hills, who charges $150 for a men's cut. but the price goes up when he needs to travel to meet his clients.

dog the bounty hunter

For several years I’ve been a fan of the reality show, Dog The Bounty Hunter. In fact I’ve talked about the show several times in my Sunday Sermons. Unfortunately few people share my enthusiasm. In our church we have one police officer. He is the only one who “gets it” when I talk about Dog.

Lately I’ve been reading the blog of a well-known pastor named Mark Driscoll. I was thrilled to see that he blogged about this show. He said that this show & The Ultimate Fighter are the best reality shows. And he said that he watches this show religiously w/his three sons.

Dog is a tough guy w/a big heart. He is able to intimidate & subdue his suspects. But after he catches them, he counsels them to reform their lives. The show often shows Dog praying w/his family. And they occasionally show him meeting w/his pastor to receive counsel & prayer.

On one episode he went to city hall to receive an award. Dozens of reformed druggies & prostitutes came out to honor him. When he saw them, he was moved to tears & said to his wife, “Beth, these are our people”. That really reminded me of how Jesus reached out to the lowly.

On one episode his wife bought him a shirt w/a designer label. He told her that he doesn’t wear clothes w/another person’s name on it, unless the name is “Jesus Christ” or “Harley Davidson”.

lunch

i just had lunch w/a local pastor. he is a fifth generation japanese-american. at his church, the english ministry is a lot bigger than the japanese ministry because there are very few recent japanese immigrants. i'm curious to see what the future holds in terms of korean immigration to the states.

breastfeeding

Last weekend Suhee & I took an infant care class. I learned some interesting things about breastfeeding. Breastfeeding provides many health benefits for the baby & the mom, & it also provides a financial benefit. To feed a baby on formula costs three thousand dollars per year. The U.S. recommends mothers to breastfeed for one year. They are in the process to changing it to two years, in order to match the WHO (World Health Organization). The worldwide average is 4.5 years. Which means that many children are breastfeeding beyond 4.5 years. Interesting...

images of sinful nature

I was preparing a sermon today & I went to google images to find these two pictures which illustrate the effects of sinful nature.

The Virginia Tech Shooter was a Korean Student

Yesterday, 33 people were killed in what's being called the "deadliest shooting rampage in modern U.S. history". This took place on the university campus of Virginia Tech. What a senseless & unexpected tragedy for the victims & their families. I just hope that others will not copy this incident on other college campuses.

I was shocked to hear that the shooter was a Korean student. This is what I learned from various news articles. He was a 23-year-old senior majoring in English. His name is Cho Seung-Hui. He immigrated to the U.S. in '92 & grew up in the suburbs of Washington D.C. He was an extreme loner & rarely responded when people talked to him. In his writing classes, his work was so violent & disturbing that he was referred to the university's counseling service. Before the shooting, he left in his dorm room a rambling note that was several pages long. In the note he spoke harshly against women & rich kids. In the note he even said, "You caused me to do this".

I know that Virginia & the Washington D.C. area is saturated with many large Korean churches & campus ministries. I wonder if other Korean people tried to reach out to this obviously-troubled person. And I wonder if there wasn't more that people could have done to help him.

baby names

Lately I’ve been obsessing over baby names. Suhee & I are expecting our first child on June 7. It’s a boy.

Here is a picture of the married couples at our church & some of their babies.

And their baby names are…
Girls: Lauren, Rachel
Boys: Christian, Noah

Actually, Noah is missing from the picture. I think he’s in a stroller behind us. Aren’t those names so Christian & so biblical?

From the beginning I wanted to name our son, Gideon Wisdom Chu. Suhee is slowly agreeing to Gideon, but she does not like Wisdom. So here are the other suggestions I gave for middle names…

Jaden: Hebrew roots, it means “God has heard”

Martin: Reminds me of Martin Luther, Martin Luther King Jr., Martin Smith of Delirious, & Martin Guitars

Porter: It just sounds cool

(We’re still waiting for my parents to give us his Korean name.)