no te vayas Lio

In the recent weeks there have been much football, and the season of international tournaments is coming to an end soon. Throughout these couple of weeks, there have been 3 major "calamities" in the world of football:

1) England getting beaten by Iceland

After surprising vote for "Brexit", the nation of England got a second calamity by losing in the round of 16 against the underdog team of Iceland. Many of the English players are considered superstars and they played on the prestigious Premier League, but Iceland has only 330,000 people on the whole country (for reference, I went to a football stadium that fits 85,000 people, so it's like 4 times that on a whole nation), and most of them do not play at a professional league, and they managed to put a team to win. Funny thing is that the Icelandic football coach is a full time dentist, who is on a sabbatical coaching the team.

English commentators state that this is "their biggest shame in football history".

2) Spain's dominion coming to an end

Spain has gifted us with a great generation of players who delights us with their skills and talent. They have been impressive in winning major tournaments back to back: Euro 2008, World Cup 2010, and Euro 2012. Keeping many of the key players, they could not pass the first round in World Cup 2014, but people still have hope that they would do well in Euro 2016. They started well by defeating Czech Rep, and then dominating Turkey, but looked tired when facing Croatia, and lost against them. That lost was critical as it set them to face Italy, which ultimately eliminated Spain from the competition. Pretty much this lost marks an end to this glorious Spanish generation.

3) Argentina losing another final

Argentina was the great favorite team to win the Copa America 2016, with Lionel Messi as the commanding star. They were second in the World Cup 2014, and second in the Copa America 2015, and they are experiencing a 23 year "drought" of not winning a major football tournament. So all hopes from the Argentine nation were placed in this team to win the Copa America, and they reached final to play against Chile (the current champion).

I am a big Argentina fan, so I actually drove with New Jersey to watch the final game. I wore the Argentina jersey, and was very hopeful that they would win this time. It was a neat experience to enter the stadium to see the Argentine players that I admire, especially Messi. The game started, and the ambient was festive, and whenever Messi touched the ball, the audience's mood would warm up. When he was about to take a free kick, everyone was ready with their smartphones to record a video in the case that he was to score. Unfortunately, the game was rough, and the referee expelled a player from each side, so it became very defensive and tight, so very little opportunities for good plays. Consequently, it went to penalty kicks, where Messi would missed, and Argentina would lose a 3rd consecutive final at a major football tournament in the last 3 years.

This event shattered me emotionally, but a few hours after, Messi announced that he would retire from Argentina national team, and this is a tragic news for the nation and for myself. He is still 29, which means he can play the next World Cup at a high level. With him, Argentina can be a title contender, without him, Argentina looks fragile. This news has led to a social movement in Argentina where many fans and even the president of the nation are asking Messi to reconsider his position.

Anyways, I don't want to over-dramatize my emotions on football.


Just how Argentina have been fruitless on winning major tournaments, sometimes living as a Christian, we might experience seasons of dryness where perhaps we feel it is harder to find joy in God, or that the labor of our work seems fruitless. For some reason this happens, and the fact that we are sinful by nature is major factor, as well God might be teaching us an important lesson. It is hard to find an answer of the why these seasons of dryness can occur. Though they can be very discouraging and painful, there are major truths that we need to be reminded by:

• God is never going to abandon you
• Even though I am not faithful, God is faithful, and His promise to deliver me will stand
• God is never changing, no matter what season, and He is our reason to live and worship

There are times when this song the "Desert Song" by Hillsong speaks volumes:

"This is my prayer in the desert
When all that's within me feels dry
This is my prayer in my hunger and need
My God is the God who provides

And this is my prayer in the fire
In weakness or trial or pain
There is a faith proved
Of more worth than gold

So refine me, Lord, through the flame

...

And this is my prayer in the battle
When triumph is still on its way
I am a conqueror and co-heir with Christ

So firm on His promise I'll stand

All of my life
In every season
You are still God
I have a reason to sing
I have a reason to worship"

breakfast of champions

Breakfast is such an enjoyable meal!

And there are many types of breakfast that I enjoy:

Traditional Chinese - congee with deep fried dough rolls:

HK style - very runny eggs with milk tea

Another HK style - Pineapple bun with a "thin" layer of butter and milk tea

Classic - McDonald's Sausage McMuffin with double hash browns and coffee

The picture from McDonald's breakfast was taken recently, as I was a groomsman of a good brother of mine, and we decided to eat this on the wedding day. Actually, McDonald's breakfast has always been a choice in my experience as a groomsman. Meaning my friends are real champions as they select the best breakfast possible!

I have been groomsman six times (one for a cousin, and five for brothers who I have met in university). And I will be a groomsman again in September. Some friends were joking that I am now a professional groomsman, and some work colleagues were telling me that I will be bankrupt soon. 

(Having a hard time coming up with right words here on how I feel...)

I feel very honored that these men of God considers me a close brother and I feel very privileged that I can witness their very wedding day as a groomsman. I am very blessed that I have met many brothers who I can just be myself and enjoy fun moments together, go to challenges and struggles together, study the bible together, serve together, confide in them whatever is on my heart, and pray together. We are all appreciative of each other in this "brotherhood". Now that we  are spread around different parts of Canada, we don't get to see each other that often, but still it is very easy for us to pick up from where we left.

Life is a difficult thing, and God has placed these brothers in my life to make it easier for me. 

I have quoted this verse many times, but will do it again:

"I thank my God every time I remember you. In all my prayers for all of you, I always pray with joy because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now, being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus." - Philippians 1:3-6

- I thank my God every time I remember my brothers

- I always pray with joy when I pray for them because we shared a special bond on partnering together in the gospel

- I am confident that God will continue working powerfully in their lives even they live far away and I don't get to see them often

what's amazing about spider-man 2?

Note: there will many spoilers of the movie "The Amazing Spider-Man 2" so read it at your own risk

Summer is always a nice time to go to the movie theaters because many blockbuster movies come out. In the recent years, there have been a huge number of superheroes movies.

Among all the Marvel superheroes, Spider-man is my favorite. That's why Spider-man movies will have a special place in my heart (haha). I remembered watching the cartoon as a teenager, and I really liked it. One of the reasons why I like Spider-man is because he is easier to relate to when comparing to other heroes. He is a college student that struggle with girlfriend, earning money, job stress, family stress... so very realistic stuff.

I really enjoyed the "old" movies with Tobey MaGuire. So watching the reboot of the movies is kinda strange. I did enjoy the first movie from the newest series, and I recently watched the second one.

Most people criticized this last movie because of the overload of the plot line (there are 2 major villains, and 2 pseudo plot lines happening). In some sense I agree that the plot could have been simplified, and perhaps should have invested more time in the friendship between Peter Parker and Harry Osborne, and develop the Green Goblin better. I feel that Electro was way too over-powerful, but he lacks the character of a good villain.

Still I liked it. It was a pretty enjoyable movie to watch. Ok, I will try not to be biased, but these are the 2 major reasons why I like it:

1. The death of Gwen Stacy
1. Ok, let me explain. It's not that I dislike her. On the contrary, it was very painful to watch her die. Mainly because both actors had a great chemistry portraying the relationship between Peter Parker and his first love, Gwen Stacy. Even the non-romantics would have been cheering for this couple. This follows the comics pretty closely, because Gwen Stacy did fell from the Brooklyn bridge after been captured by Green Goblin, and then on a desperate attempt to save her, Spider-man shoots the web... but it was not enough, and our heroin dies. It's not that I like this outcome because it follows the comics, but because it takes boldness to have a major character die in a series. And this moment will mark Peter's life, and will strengthen his character for the future.
2. The dilemma of Peter Parker
1. For his lifetime, Peter/Spider-man will always have this dilemma: being Spider-man to do good is great because "greater the power, greater the responsibility", but it will also put Peter's  dear ones on great danger if his identity is exposed. This is the inner battle that he will always face, and that will test his resolve whether he should continue doing good at his expense. Being Spider-man also means that he gets to spend less time doing less stuff: working on normal hours, spending time with the dear ones, play games, etc. There is a cost for being Spider-man. And I think the movie did a decent job bringing this theme up.

In a similar way, there is a cost of being a follower of Christ. Perhaps many of us don't face the challenge of having our dear ones being in danger because of our faith but the reality is that when we choose Christ, we give up our personal desires, ambitions, plans. This is a struggle because it is not easy to give up our "things", but by faith we know that there is something better, and hence we persevere. 

vegetables overload

So I was reading this post from desiring God about the battle against pornography: http://www.desiringgod.org/blog/posts/jesus-is-better-than-porn

A couple of thoughts:

And there are many "things" or "methods" a guy can do in order to fight over this struggle: having accountability partners, software that can block the sketchy sites, have someone lock your computer, etc... These are good methods to help for sure. But really the key is to focus on God, on His goodness and how He fills us with love and satisfaction. And that by the exceeding abundance of His grace displayed on the gospel, we should be overwhelmed.

And in general it is easy to point out that sins we commit are bad, and we are encouraged to flee from these temptations, but we should also encourage each other to run towards what is good and awesome. Running towards God, and understanding that His love is enough, that never fails, and that we based our identity as a child of His.

And there are some of us that struggle with just reading the Word consistently, and so we set up daily devotional time, a reading plan, or memorizing verse challenge, etc. Once again, I think these are great things to do (I am not trying to discredit them), but the key is to really understand and be convicted that we need God and His goodness. And sometimes, we might need some of these "methods" to get us started to run after God, but ultimately it is not these "methods" that will sustain our fervor for God, but it is the conviction that His love is all we need.

Similar with eating vegetables, some people don't like it, and sometimes it is forced upon them to eat because it is good, or blend the vegetables into the meat dish somehow. But it is really when someone understands the exquisite firmness of a well cooked "gai lan", then the love for vegetables will grow.

So our fridge is in chaos, and it has a unprecedented high amount of vegetables (and some of them are huge) haha

An offer you cannot refuse

So I recently re-watched the movie series "Godfather" which is considered one of the greatest movie films. There is a famous quote which is "I gonna make an offer you cannot refuse", which is what the head of one of the mafia family (the Godfather)  says to accomplish what he wants. The Godfather has so many power and influence that he can make anything happens. He does that via intimidation and threats. So people will yield to his wishes.

This makes me think about what compels people to follow their "religion". What motives people to follow the "god" they believe in? Some might do it because of fear (if I don't meet the requirement then I cannot make it), some might do it just because of family tradition, some might do it because of physical rewards, etc. What makes Christianity unique (in my opinion) is that we don't obey God because we are forced to or by fear or threats, but we do so because we are willing.

We follow Jesus because we have received a precious offer that we cannot refuse, which is the gift of eternal life that is available to us through faith in Christ because of His death on the cross as an atonement for our sins, and His resurrection. This offer is so gracious that we don't do anything to deserve it, but it's freely given to us. This offer restores us to live in the way that we were meant to live, in our original purpose, which is to glorify our Creator!

However, to follow Jesus is not an easy task, as there will be many struggles since Jesus Himself suffered and was rejected, and as His followers, we should not expect anything different. But the joy to walk with Christ, the sweetness of fellowship, and the constant bombardments of God's grace keeps me motivated to follow Him.

"For Christ’s love compels us, because we are convinced that one died for all, and therefore all died. And he died for all, that those who live should no longer live for themselves but for him who died for them and was raised again." - 2 Corinthians 5:14-15