Story Time: Chris and Kenny

A few evenings ago, I was studying at the library for my finals with a group of friends. They asked if I could watch their stuff as they went to eat, and I agreed. I wanted to go eat too, but someone had to stay and watch our table. Long story short, I waited longer than I anticipated and became a bit grumpy. When they got back, I left and headed towards McDonald's on my way home (don't judge me). Chris As...

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Graduations, Photography, and Finals.

It's finals week here at the University of Texas at Austin. You know what that means. It's a mixture of stress, anxiety, self-actualization, epiphanies, screaming, crying, laughing, etc. I've seen it all. And no, I'm not going through any of these problems (thankfully). I'm quite relaxed for this round of finals. Honestly, you just do the best that you can do and leave the rest up to God. It's out...

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I lean not on my own understanding.

"Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways submit to him, and he will make your paths straight." - Proverbs 3:5-6 It's been a while since I wrote, and there were many reasons for it. I feel like many of you have been feeling the same way that I've been feeling. Empty. Confused. Blank. For me, I came to think about what I'm doing in college. Of...

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Repenting.

The past week hasn't been so spiritually great. I felt myself becoming more and more distant from others and, especially, God. I tried praying, and I didn't know how to start or what to say. That's how empty I felt. But I asked for guidance in prayer and slowly began to repent. It's always been a struggle for me to understand repentance. How much of a balance of repenting is "guilt" or "feeling remorse",...

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Self-Reminders.

I tend to be forgetful. Not so much on promises or plans that I make with other people, but I tend to forget the Truth about myself and God. Listening to PC's sermon served as a great reminder of who I am and who He is. We all get caught up in the busy-ness of life. The world doesn't revolve around you or me. I know we hear it a lot, but it's a true fact that I tend to forget. In my case, I'm busy...

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Thank you all...

for your prayers and support. As pathetic as it may sound, last week was one of the most difficult weeks of my life. It could have arguably been the most difficult week of my life. And for that, I am very thankful that I somehow survived it. This school year, I've seen so many people going through hardships. It's as if this is the year that my friends and I have been hit with a wave of confusion/chaos/conflicts....

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I Am Weak.

Before I start, I want to apologize to everyone who I promised to meet up with. Since I haven't been able to meet up and share about my past weeks, this will be my way to communicate that to you. For the time being, at least. For the past week or so, I've been very busy. I wish I could say that I'm exaggerating, but I'm not. For example, today was a long day. I woke up at 8:30AM, had class until...

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A Slap in the Face

This semester, I've been spread thin with my time commitments. I didn't know what to prioritize in. I didn't know how to plan out my schedule in terms of studying, meeting with people, coordinating IM volleyball, etc. And the number 1 thing you DON'T want to do is think about everything all at once. I made that mistake. So of course, I began to think too much about things. I began to feel stressed....

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You're Not Alone.

No I'm not talking about that Saosin song. Although I did like them a lot in middle/high school. But I want to let everyone that's reading this know that you're not alone on this journey of life. After talking with a lot of individuals today, I came to realize how much we are going through in our own lives. A lot of us are in college. We have a lot of studying to do. We have commitments in organizations....

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How to Not Be Stressed Out.

For the past few days, I've been a bit anxious about school. I just entered the iMPA program. It stands for the "integrated Masters in Professional Accounting" program. And it's the #1 accounting program in the nation. I'm now a part of that. I have to live up to that reputation. No pressure. I applied to this program on somewhat of a whim. I didn't know which direction to take in my business career,...

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Greenbelt.

It was a long day today. Woke up at 7AM to go hiking and shopped all afternoon. I'd say that today was very adventurous, and I learned a something about myself. First, the hiking trail was... okay. Let's just say that I won't be going back again. If you like hiking in the forest and not reaching the top of a majestic cliff to see the wonderful view, then don't go here. In my...

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Camp Buckner.

These past three days have been a crazy journey, but it felt like a week long. I volunteered at a youth retreat in Austin. More specifically, I was invited to play keyboard in a praise band called "Awakening". I didn't have any other obligations except for worshiping at the evening sessions. It was a great experience to lead worship and relax. But I'll be honest, I learned just as much, if not more,...

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ISIS.

If you haven't already heard, there are some terrible things going on in the Middle East. Basically, all hell has broken lose. Literally. I can't imagine what trauma people are facing. There are bombings, airstrikes, gun shots, rubble, and blood everywhere. It's quite the opposite of what we see in America. And this is nothing new. There has been conflict going on in that part of the world for quite...

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Summer School.

So I finally finished summer school, and it taught me a lot about myself. Honestly, I learned nothing more about our government. But I did somehow grow in a spiritual sense. As I was taking this online government course, I complained. A lot. I can get pretty arrogant and prideful. The entire time, I complained about how I'm overqualified to be taking this course, how useless this course will be in...

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Back in Austin.

It's been three days since I've been back in Austin. While it's been exciting and fun, everything has been fast-paced. And each day feels really long. Even though I've only been here for three days, I feel like I've spent my entire summer here. So much has happened. My first day was spent moving in, eating with friends, and playing basketball until midnight. The second day, I spent time rearranging...

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Childlike.

Last week, I spent a day taking my niece and nephew to watch How to Train Your Dragon 2. I want to share how a 9 and 7 year old challenged me to re-evaluate myself. During the car ride, these two kids would not stop singing. And I don't mean that in a negative way. It was really nice to hear them sing praise songs. They were actually in tune most of the time. But what intrigued me was how they sang...

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When I Worship.

Up until these past few years of my life, I never truly understood what it meant to "worship God". And we all know that the most common form of worship is singing songs of praise with a band. But of course, worship can be in any form: prayer, dancing, singing, etc. I believe worship is anything and everything that points to the glorification of God. However, I felt like writing about worshiping through...

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East to the West.

Last night, I had a very strange dream. I cried in my dream. I know, that's a huge surprise for many of you. And in case you were wondering, yes I have cried before. But let me explain what's more strange than me crying in a dream. I can't quite explain what was happening in my dream. I don't know where I was, and I don't know what was happening. The only thing I remember is that I was crying and...

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Re-evaluating Grace.

I have a confession to make. I can be a prideful person, and I found myself becoming very prideful/arrogant/self-righteous over the past year or so. I'm not a perfect person. There is nothing that's righteous about me. Sure I may do some nice things here and there, but I'm still a sinner. With that being said, I came to re-evaluate what grace is. I was challenged by Judah Smith's book titled, "Jesus...

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"Live a life that demands an explanation."

That sounds like a deep, inspiring quote doesn't it? Unfortunately, I didn't think of it. I recently heard it from Francis Chan. As a fellow brother in Christ, I wanted to encourage you all with that quote. I don't think the purpose of our life is to: "fit in", "be normal", "follow the crowd", etc. And I'm not saying we should constantly live in an outspoken manner either. As Christians, there should...

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Numbers - The 12 Tribes.

A few weeks ago, I finished the book of Numbers. And as you know, it's pretty dull. For example, all of chapter 1 is a census of the 12 tribes of Israel. I'll be honest. I skipped all of it. However there was something unique about chapters 2 through 4. In the first few chapters of Numbers, God tells Moses to take a census, assign land to each tribe, and give roles to each tribe. All 12 tribes of...

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Neverland.

There's this rap artist named Andy Mineo, and one of his songs is title "Neverland". If you haven't heard of him, then you should check him out. He is a rapper who is also a Christian. Don't be so quick to judge him, though. Just because he's a Christian doesn't mean he's a boring, bible thumping rapper. He speaks applicable truth in his raps. Here's an example from his song "Neverland". Verse 1: Everybody...

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The Worth of a Human Being.

On Sunday, I was reminded of the beginning of our existence. The sermon mentioned the days of creation. As I was listening, I was reminded of other aspects that I learned about creation We all know the story of creation. God created everything in 6 days and rested the 7th day. But if you think about it, creation is broken down into two categories. There is nature, and there is mankind. God created...

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An Unordinary Haircut

So I went to get my haircut today. I know what you're thinking. "Cool story bro." And actually, it turns out to be a pretty cool one. My day was normal until I walked out into the parking lot to leave from the barbershop. As I was walking to my car, a man calls out to me. I look up from texting, and see an older African American man and a younger man. The older man asks if I could spare any money....

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