As many know the famous manga Full Metal Alchemist has ended recently. It is one of the best series I have read, and talking to some friends we have concluded that we are slightly sad that it ended.
The very last page of the series shows this text:
A lesson without pain is meaningless.
For you cannot gain something
without sacrificing something else in return
But once you have overcome it and made it your own
You will gain an irreplaceable fullmetal heart
I won't say much, but the main characters went through a lot of pain, but in the end they realized that the suffering led to a greater lesson and a stronger inner character.
I started to link this to Christianity. I think of these following verses:
"Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance. Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything." - James 1:2-4
"In this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials. These have come so that your faith—of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire—may be proved genuine and may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed."
- 1 Peter 1:6-8
It is really hard to share about Christianity to others because it is not an easy life. I remembered telling my home church pastor that "life is tough with much suffering" and he replied "you are a man of wisdom".
God does not promise a life full of comfort because we are so weak that we will take Him for granted. So we are given a life of trials because we will have no choice but to rely on Christ who gives us strength and joy to endure. The beauty of this is that even though God puts us in difficulties, He is the one who gives us what we need to go through them. There will be moment of sadness, but God's joy will fill your heart. There will be perplexing moments, but God's peace will be with you. There will be moments of persecution, but God will never abandon you.
Taking a step back, it is really "grace" that we are suffering. Because we are objects of wrath by nature (Ephesians 2), and we deserve not suffering, but the wrath of God. So, God taking His time to care for us and planning trials in our lives is really part of His pouring of grace on us, so that we can be molded into a more beautiful person by conforming into the image of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Going back to the quote from FMA: you cannot gain something without sacrificing something, this reminds me that we are to die to ourselves everyday and follow Christ. Because if I want to gain Christ, I have to declare that He is Lord of my life and that means that I have to let go of the control of my life.
Why is that I get motivation to continue walking in this life of a Christian that entails trials and tribulations? Because of Christ, our hope of glory. I know that this life is temporal and that the troubles here are so little comparing with the greatness that awaits for those who trust and follows our hope of glory, Christ.
"Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal." - 2 Corinthians 4:16-18
Wednesday, July 28, 2010
Wednesday, July 21, 2010
Joy in the Simplicity
I recently finished an anime named ARIA. I find it hard to watch many episodes in one sitting because the mood and pace is way too relaxing. It is about three girls who are training to become professional gondola rowers, and it focuses a lot in character development and interactions. It doesn't seem that exciting. But after finish watching it, I find that this series is one of my top favorites because it presents a very simple yet meaningful message.
The main character often marvels at the simplest of the things and is able to enjoy whatever she is doing no matter what the circumstances are. For example, she was waiting for hours to meet up with someone in a bridge (turns out that the meeting was supposed to be next week) but she got entertained by just looking at the people around her, and pondering where they are going. Well, that is an extreme example I guess.
I find that it is a very important lesson for me. I find myself in a society that pursues immediate gratification, entertainment, wanting to do big exciting things, etc. It is easy for me to get bored when nothing is going on. For me particularly, I always like to do things, and when I am not doing anything, I get quite bored. I start to think what people in the past did, when there were not many sources of entertainment, what did they do to pass the time? There are probably many other ways, but I think one big thing is to have appreciation for the simple things. For example, the weather, food on the table, having a roof, scenery, flowers, cool breeze, birds singing, sunrise, sunset, etc.
I find it very challenging to pay attention to these little things and often take them for granted. In my 3A work term (Summer 2008), I was working in Ottawa, a very cozy and beautiful city during summer. I started to learn a bit about how to appreciate the little things that God has given to me. I will spend a lot of time walking in the parks, contemplating the scenery and nice weather (appreciating His creation), and thinking of how satisfied I am with knowing that life is good because God loves me. This realization accompanied by constant prayer definitely edified me. It's wonderful because I realized that God is already blessing me so much with these simple little things in my life, and how can I keep from singing His praise??!!
I learned to be joyful, and that rejoicing in the Lord comes hand in hand with glorifying God, because all the joy I experienced is because and for the praise of His glory.
Life is full of difficulties and we often get stressed out, but we are to rejoice always:
"Be joyful always; pray continually; give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus." - 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18
Life is a gift from God. We should already be thankful because we are alive in Christ, and it is to be lived at the fullness. Sometimes we like to expect big things from God, that He can use us to do powerful and exciting things. I agree that is good, we must have faith that the Spirit can do great things through us. But we also have to take joy when life seems simple and even monotonous. Because God is constantly pouring our His grace to us.
Stargazing is one of my favorite activities, because I think of Psalms 8. God formed the stars and heavens, and He still takes care of little human beings. Our God is so wonderful!
God does not control only the big things, but also the little things, and we will see that even the simple little things can become meaningful and be reasons of joy because of God.
Everything is for the praise of His glory!
The main character often marvels at the simplest of the things and is able to enjoy whatever she is doing no matter what the circumstances are. For example, she was waiting for hours to meet up with someone in a bridge (turns out that the meeting was supposed to be next week) but she got entertained by just looking at the people around her, and pondering where they are going. Well, that is an extreme example I guess.
I find that it is a very important lesson for me. I find myself in a society that pursues immediate gratification, entertainment, wanting to do big exciting things, etc. It is easy for me to get bored when nothing is going on. For me particularly, I always like to do things, and when I am not doing anything, I get quite bored. I start to think what people in the past did, when there were not many sources of entertainment, what did they do to pass the time? There are probably many other ways, but I think one big thing is to have appreciation for the simple things. For example, the weather, food on the table, having a roof, scenery, flowers, cool breeze, birds singing, sunrise, sunset, etc.
I find it very challenging to pay attention to these little things and often take them for granted. In my 3A work term (Summer 2008), I was working in Ottawa, a very cozy and beautiful city during summer. I started to learn a bit about how to appreciate the little things that God has given to me. I will spend a lot of time walking in the parks, contemplating the scenery and nice weather (appreciating His creation), and thinking of how satisfied I am with knowing that life is good because God loves me. This realization accompanied by constant prayer definitely edified me. It's wonderful because I realized that God is already blessing me so much with these simple little things in my life, and how can I keep from singing His praise??!!
I learned to be joyful, and that rejoicing in the Lord comes hand in hand with glorifying God, because all the joy I experienced is because and for the praise of His glory.
Life is full of difficulties and we often get stressed out, but we are to rejoice always:
"Be joyful always; pray continually; give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus." - 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18
Life is a gift from God. We should already be thankful because we are alive in Christ, and it is to be lived at the fullness. Sometimes we like to expect big things from God, that He can use us to do powerful and exciting things. I agree that is good, we must have faith that the Spirit can do great things through us. But we also have to take joy when life seems simple and even monotonous. Because God is constantly pouring our His grace to us.
Stargazing is one of my favorite activities, because I think of Psalms 8. God formed the stars and heavens, and He still takes care of little human beings. Our God is so wonderful!
God does not control only the big things, but also the little things, and we will see that even the simple little things can become meaningful and be reasons of joy because of God.
Everything is for the praise of His glory!
Friday, July 9, 2010
Domination vs Efficiency
Besides the great goals, favorite teams, surprises, excitement, controversies, it is very interesting to analyze the playing style from different teams. There is a lot of tactical decisions behind every game and it is not just the good players who determine the outcome of the game. That's why whenever failure occurs, the coach is the first one to go home.
The World Cup final is between two historical big teams that have never won before. Netherlands went to two finals (74 and 78) but lost. Spain was only able to go to semifinals in one occasion.
Netherlands
The dutch were considered among the favorites. They sweep every team during the qualifiers and they have killer players in great shape like Robben, Sneijder and Van Persie. All of them are coming from a great season in their respective clubs. They are the only team able to win all of their games in this World Cup.
But the dutch are not playing that wonderfully considering the quality of their players. I was watching the semifinal (Uruguay vs Netherlands) and I saw that Van Persie barely gets any balls. Even though Sneijder has been scoring a lot, he is playing a bit disconnected from the rest of the team. Only the lightning-paced plays by Robben entertains me.
The goalkeeper surely showed some insecurity (especially in Forlan's goal) and the defenders seem slow. I personally think that they got lucky in the quarterfinals, because Brazil should have kill the game. Netherlands tied thanks to a free Brazilian meal (own goal + goalkeeper mistake), and then Brazil self-destructed, and Netherlands did what they have to, score. That is commendable about the dutch, that they are efficient in scoring. They might not played too wonderfully, but in simple ways they score and win the games.
In the game against Uruguay, Netherlands converted the goals even though Uruguay was attacking more and getting more chances. I have to say that Uruguay played a very good game. Even though the "charruas" (Spanish slang word for Uruguayans) don't have that many world-class players like Netherlands, they played a man-to-man game without fear. I like that. Some of their key players were suspended or injured, but they managed to make this game challenging for the dutch. But that does not take out any merit from this dutch team.
Spain
Spain was considered the top favorite team to win because of the great shape of most of their players and for the recent success in the Eurocup. But they started shaky by losing their first game against Switzerland. Perhaps Spain was affected by the pressure of favoritism and the so famous "curse" that has been depriving them from a World Cup success. In many past world cups, Spain usually had a very strong team but they tend to fail in the key moments. But after the first game, Spain seems to be improving.
Spain is a fearsome team because like 70% of their players are from Barcelona. That means, these players have been playing together for a lot of years, and also Barcelona has been doing great in the recent seasons. Their midfield is really scary, and is commanded by Xavi who is the engine of this team. He pretty much dictates the pace and flow of how Spain plays. Adding to that, there is the great form of David Villa who has been scoring almost every game. Moreover, the goalkeeper and the two central defenders are high-hands (Chinese for high level).
Since there is so much quality in the midfield, Spain plays a lot with short passes, always retaining ball possession (they usually get 65-70%) and dominating the rival. They kind of "suffocate" the rival by passing the ball so much, that the rival might just get desperate or have no choice but to defend and wait. Through passing they can unlock the rival's defense, but I think Spain tend to "abuse" of passing too much that leads to predictability in their offense.
It is interested to note that Spain has been winning 1-0 in their last three games, and it shows that even though they can dominate the game, the percentage yield is low. The toughest game they had so far was against Paraguay (quarterfinals). Paraguay came so close to win the game if they didn't miss the penalty shot. They played a very courageous game against Spain to the point that the local press qualified the Paraguayans as "dying standing up".
During the semifinals, I was thinking that Spain would probably dominate the game, but Germany will win because they are more dangerous. But Spain didn't let Germany do much, at the same time Germany seems to have chosen to defend and wait instead of imposing their game and pace as they did against England and Argentina. It is interested to note that the Spanish goal didn't come from passing and passing, but it came from a corner kick (made in Barcelona from Xavi to Puyol).
Spain vs Netherlands
Definitely it is a clash of styles between domination and efficiency. I think Spain is better as a team. I historically like Netherlands because of their past team in 1998 (Bergkamp, Kluivert, Overmars, Davids) played a beautiful soccer. I historically dislike Spain because I had this futbol-rivalry in elementary school with two Spanish friends, haha. I personally think Spain should win it. Spain needs to continue playing as they have been doing, but needs to be more assertive in the offense. Netherlands needs more collaborative play among Robben, Sneijer, and Van Persie, and needs to somehow stop Xavi as much as possible.
In the Uruguay vs Germany game for the 3rd place, it is more psychological because losing the semifinals can be very demoralizing. Germany seems a bit more affected because at some point they were considered the favorite to win the cup. While for Uruguay it is already a success getting to semifinals. This game can be attractive because usually there is less tension (since for some, 3rd and 4th place doesn't really matter) and more fun.
At the end of the day it is very hard to predict the outcome of a soccer game because there are so many unpredictable factors that make this game so beautiful and exciting. El futbol es bello.
The World Cup final is between two historical big teams that have never won before. Netherlands went to two finals (74 and 78) but lost. Spain was only able to go to semifinals in one occasion.
Netherlands
The dutch were considered among the favorites. They sweep every team during the qualifiers and they have killer players in great shape like Robben, Sneijder and Van Persie. All of them are coming from a great season in their respective clubs. They are the only team able to win all of their games in this World Cup. But the dutch are not playing that wonderfully considering the quality of their players. I was watching the semifinal (Uruguay vs Netherlands) and I saw that Van Persie barely gets any balls. Even though Sneijder has been scoring a lot, he is playing a bit disconnected from the rest of the team. Only the lightning-paced plays by Robben entertains me.
The goalkeeper surely showed some insecurity (especially in Forlan's goal) and the defenders seem slow. I personally think that they got lucky in the quarterfinals, because Brazil should have kill the game. Netherlands tied thanks to a free Brazilian meal (own goal + goalkeeper mistake), and then Brazil self-destructed, and Netherlands did what they have to, score. That is commendable about the dutch, that they are efficient in scoring. They might not played too wonderfully, but in simple ways they score and win the games.
In the game against Uruguay, Netherlands converted the goals even though Uruguay was attacking more and getting more chances. I have to say that Uruguay played a very good game. Even though the "charruas" (Spanish slang word for Uruguayans) don't have that many world-class players like Netherlands, they played a man-to-man game without fear. I like that. Some of their key players were suspended or injured, but they managed to make this game challenging for the dutch. But that does not take out any merit from this dutch team.
Spain
Spain is a fearsome team because like 70% of their players are from Barcelona. That means, these players have been playing together for a lot of years, and also Barcelona has been doing great in the recent seasons. Their midfield is really scary, and is commanded by Xavi who is the engine of this team. He pretty much dictates the pace and flow of how Spain plays. Adding to that, there is the great form of David Villa who has been scoring almost every game. Moreover, the goalkeeper and the two central defenders are high-hands (Chinese for high level).
Since there is so much quality in the midfield, Spain plays a lot with short passes, always retaining ball possession (they usually get 65-70%) and dominating the rival. They kind of "suffocate" the rival by passing the ball so much, that the rival might just get desperate or have no choice but to defend and wait. Through passing they can unlock the rival's defense, but I think Spain tend to "abuse" of passing too much that leads to predictability in their offense.
It is interested to note that Spain has been winning 1-0 in their last three games, and it shows that even though they can dominate the game, the percentage yield is low. The toughest game they had so far was against Paraguay (quarterfinals). Paraguay came so close to win the game if they didn't miss the penalty shot. They played a very courageous game against Spain to the point that the local press qualified the Paraguayans as "dying standing up".
During the semifinals, I was thinking that Spain would probably dominate the game, but Germany will win because they are more dangerous. But Spain didn't let Germany do much, at the same time Germany seems to have chosen to defend and wait instead of imposing their game and pace as they did against England and Argentina. It is interested to note that the Spanish goal didn't come from passing and passing, but it came from a corner kick (made in Barcelona from Xavi to Puyol).
Spain vs Netherlands
Definitely it is a clash of styles between domination and efficiency. I think Spain is better as a team. I historically like Netherlands because of their past team in 1998 (Bergkamp, Kluivert, Overmars, Davids) played a beautiful soccer. I historically dislike Spain because I had this futbol-rivalry in elementary school with two Spanish friends, haha. I personally think Spain should win it. Spain needs to continue playing as they have been doing, but needs to be more assertive in the offense. Netherlands needs more collaborative play among Robben, Sneijer, and Van Persie, and needs to somehow stop Xavi as much as possible.
In the Uruguay vs Germany game for the 3rd place, it is more psychological because losing the semifinals can be very demoralizing. Germany seems a bit more affected because at some point they were considered the favorite to win the cup. While for Uruguay it is already a success getting to semifinals. This game can be attractive because usually there is less tension (since for some, 3rd and 4th place doesn't really matter) and more fun.
At the end of the day it is very hard to predict the outcome of a soccer game because there are so many unpredictable factors that make this game so beautiful and exciting. El futbol es bello.
Saturday, July 3, 2010
Not a good day to talk about soccer
So today my favorite national soccer team, Argentina, lost very badly against Germany by a score of 0-4 in the World Cup quarterfinals. It was quite a humiliating defeat, and of course I am sad. I remembered that I was almost crying when Argentina was disqualified in the first round in the 2002 World Cup when they were the top favorite. But yeah, I am not in the border of crying now. Not yet haha.
It is frustrating because "on paper" Argentina definitely has one of the best teams. If you look at the list of players, there are 5 top class forwards who are shining in the European leagues (Messi, Milito, Tevez, Aguero, Higuain). Only teams like Spain and Netherlands portray similar power in that aspect.
What about Brazil, England, Germany, Portugal, Italy, and France? Brazil has 3 fantastic players (Kaka, Robihno, and Luis Fabiano) but Kaka is not in his best condition after a so-so season with Real Madrid. England has two pillars in the midfield (Gerrard and Lampard) but their soccer relies on Rooney who wasn't able to do much. Ronaldo has good skills but besides his good free kicks, Portugal didn't transcend much. Italy definitely needs some new talented younger players, and France has to deal with its internal turmoil.
Germany gave a very good "leccion futbolistica" (soccer lesson) because they destroyed Argentina in every aspect of the game. Germany was very compact as a team, very collaborative and systematic, and their players were very focused. This led to a strong defense and good-paced midfield which allows them to use the gunpowder they have in the forwards. While Argentina was seeking to rely on their star players Messi and Tevez, who weren't able to surpass the Germany defense.
What is encouraging is that most of the key players in Germany are so young, not even reaching the 1/4 century. More so, the veteran forward Klose is about to break the record in becoming the top all-time scorers in the World Cup. They have improved in their game after a shaky first round, and was able to beat two "big" teams like Argentina and England scoring 4 goals each time. Definitely they have become a serious candidate to win the World Cup. Even if they don't win, I think Germany can rest assure that they have a formidable team for the 2014 World Cup, when their younger players will become more seasoned.
Also, Argentina lost the game in the technical sense (from the coach point of view). Diego Maradona is considered one of the best players in all history, but his coach career and experience is very limited. He wasn't able to make good tactical judgement in this crucial time. This is something that has been seen at least a year ago when Argentina struggled to qualify to the World Cup. But still people like him because of his charisma, after all he is like an idol in Argentina and perhaps he is able to relate better to the players and transmit the courage to them.
This match clearly says that you will need more than good star players and a charismatic coach to win the World Cup. Germany shows that you need to have good team play and good tactical judgement from the coach.
2 lessons to extrapolate:
Team work over individualities:
Importance of applied knowledge (wisdom):
But yeah, today is not a good day to talk about soccer.
It is frustrating because "on paper" Argentina definitely has one of the best teams. If you look at the list of players, there are 5 top class forwards who are shining in the European leagues (Messi, Milito, Tevez, Aguero, Higuain). Only teams like Spain and Netherlands portray similar power in that aspect.
What about Brazil, England, Germany, Portugal, Italy, and France? Brazil has 3 fantastic players (Kaka, Robihno, and Luis Fabiano) but Kaka is not in his best condition after a so-so season with Real Madrid. England has two pillars in the midfield (Gerrard and Lampard) but their soccer relies on Rooney who wasn't able to do much. Ronaldo has good skills but besides his good free kicks, Portugal didn't transcend much. Italy definitely needs some new talented younger players, and France has to deal with its internal turmoil.
Germany gave a very good "leccion futbolistica" (soccer lesson) because they destroyed Argentina in every aspect of the game. Germany was very compact as a team, very collaborative and systematic, and their players were very focused. This led to a strong defense and good-paced midfield which allows them to use the gunpowder they have in the forwards. While Argentina was seeking to rely on their star players Messi and Tevez, who weren't able to surpass the Germany defense.
What is encouraging is that most of the key players in Germany are so young, not even reaching the 1/4 century. More so, the veteran forward Klose is about to break the record in becoming the top all-time scorers in the World Cup. They have improved in their game after a shaky first round, and was able to beat two "big" teams like Argentina and England scoring 4 goals each time. Definitely they have become a serious candidate to win the World Cup. Even if they don't win, I think Germany can rest assure that they have a formidable team for the 2014 World Cup, when their younger players will become more seasoned.
Also, Argentina lost the game in the technical sense (from the coach point of view). Diego Maradona is considered one of the best players in all history, but his coach career and experience is very limited. He wasn't able to make good tactical judgement in this crucial time. This is something that has been seen at least a year ago when Argentina struggled to qualify to the World Cup. But still people like him because of his charisma, after all he is like an idol in Argentina and perhaps he is able to relate better to the players and transmit the courage to them.
This match clearly says that you will need more than good star players and a charismatic coach to win the World Cup. Germany shows that you need to have good team play and good tactical judgement from the coach.
2 lessons to extrapolate:
Team work over individualities:
- Once in a while or for a short-term you can rely on key individualities to win, but for a long-term you need a team
- In the body of Christ, we cannot rely only on the leaders that they will do all the work. They are the ones who encourage and drive the vision, but we also need workers who can support and do the background work. Everyone has to take ownership so that we can see the body of Christ further God's Kingdom with the full potential.
Importance of applied knowledge (wisdom):
- Being a leader, you are to be influential to the people under you. It is important that you can relate to them as a person and encourage them. But you also need to be grounded in the knowledge.
- There are many influential Christian leaders today, and some of them are very good in captivating the audience with the way they preach. It is important for us to test everything (1 John 4) and to discern whether what they are preaching is aligned with the truth (Bible).
But yeah, today is not a good day to talk about soccer.
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