curse of the champion

It has been one week since the start of the World Cup, and I am definitely feeling its effect as my productivity at work is slightly compromised =P

There has been quite a few surprising scores, especially having the defending champion, Spain, losing its first two matches and been eliminated from the tournament.

Was this really unexpected? Well, not totally, Netherlands got second on last tournament and they have strong individual players in the offense, while Chile has a good set of players that play on important European clubs, so it was not an easy group to begin with.

Was this unprecedented? Nope, Italy was the reigning champion from 2006, and they got eliminated on the first round in 2010. Same occurred with France in 2002.

What are the reasons of the Spanish defeat? Futbolisticamente speaking, Spain have a very talented midfield but they lack the surprisingly factor on the offense, so it is not too hard to predict their game. Also, none of their forwards are on top shape (Villa is getting old, Torres barely scored this season, and Costa is too new on the team). Plus their defense has grown weaker and vulnerable to fast breaks. Another thing to add is the stubbornness to change, even when they needed two goals on the game against Chile, they never considered putting more forwards or consider other options of attack.

Outside of the "futbol aspect", there are factors why a champion has a tough time repeating a success. First, many teams want to beat the champion, so the opposing teams will have extra motivation to play well. Second, the thirst for victory might be absent, since they already experienced the climax of getting the most important title in futbol, it is hard to get that motivation to do it again. Third, it is easy to be complacent and not wanting to improve.

In a sense, this is a bit similar to our spiritual walk. When things go really well, it is easy to have the tendency of wanting to be complacent, and a tendency on relying on God less. As well, the enemy is waiting for opportunities to put us down with lies and deception. Hence it is really important to not lose sight of the precious things of God even when we are doing quite fine.

world cup

So this week, specifically on Thursday, the World Cup 2014 will begin, and it will be a one-month party of the most important futbol tournament of the world. I honestly have not caught up to the excitement due to the busy-ness of life, but yeah, this is one of the most favorite events to watch. So I foresee a lot of "coffee breaks" at work.

This post is just a random "dump" of thoughts about the different teams participating.

Top teams

Germany - well rounded

If there is a team that is reliably good on all its lines (goalkeeper, defense, midfield, offense), it will be Germany. They have the base of one of the best club at the moment (Bayern Munich) that won the UEFA Champion League last year. Plus they have a team hungry for victory, since this generation of German players have not won any international cups with the national team, and now they have acquired a great deal of experience and maturity.

Brazil - double edge

Home team advantage can be a great factor. Being accustomed to the climate and food, and having the support of the fans can potentially make a difference. But the pressure is also great, as there is a extremely high expectations for them to win, so a key point will be whether they can master this pressure and use it to their advantage. They have the young start Neymar who is not in his best shape with his season in Barcelona, but if he focuses well, he can make defenders go crazy.

Spain - defending champion

It's not unknown to people that does not follow futbol that Spain is a beast. They have won the last 3 international tournaments they participated (1 World Cup, 2 Euro Cups). They are still good but many of their key players are getting older and are not on their prime (Xavi, Villa). They do play very beautiful with nice passes since their midfield is still all-star, but I think they will have trouble scoring since none of their forwards are in their best (maybe Costa is ok). Another factor is that they already won a lot, so they might not have the same hunger for victory as before. I doubt they can make it pass the Quarterfinals.

Argentina - the dream

I might slightly biased, since Argentina is my all-time favorite team. I have been disappointed at their performance on the last couple of world cups since they do have a team that looks fantastic on paper, but they were not able to play as one team. Now, I think their current coach is good that he is down-to-earth, and he has been working hard in making this team as one, and maximizing the game of the best player at the moment, Lionel Messi. They have an arsenal in their offensive (Messi, Aguero, Di Maria, Higuain), but there are concerns on the defense and the goalkeeper, so a key point will be maintaining a balance in their midfield to ensure their defense do not get exposed. If they can achieve this balance, they can fulfill the dreams of a nation that has not lifted the world cup since 1986.

Surprise teams

Usually there is a surprise team will exceed people's expectations, especially because they are not well-known. Bulgaria (1994), Croatia (1998), Turkey (2002), Uruguay (2010) were teams that went to the top 4 without anyone expecting it.

I think special attention will be placed towards the South American team as they are playing close to home, and I specially like Chile (since they have one of the most complete players, Vidal) and Colombia (plays very well, but their best player is injured).

African teams can always give good surprises, and a team to be careful is Ivory Coast, as they have very good players like Gervihno and Yaya Toure (definitely a big factor on why Man City got the Premier League), and they do have a veteran striker who can make a difference (Drogba).

I could go on, but I think this is enough for now.

In the end it is really hard to predict what will happen, so I will have to sit back and relax.

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. 

on waiting

Recently I had to go to Toronto downtown to apply for a Peruvian visa as I am going to a South American trip this summer. I originally thought this should be a fairly simple task that might take me a couple of hours. 

So I went on a Wednesday, and told my manager that I will make up the hours later in the evening. I had to:

• wake up earlier than usual to take the bus to the Charles St. Terminal
• take the greyhound to downtown Toronto, 
• take the subway to Young/Bloor. 

As I arrived to the consul...

• 10:30 am - I arrived,  there was only one person before me
• 11:00 am - attendant called me, so I submitted the paperwork for the visa application, and I was told to sit and wait. 
• 12:25 pm - attendant was saying that everything looks good, but that the "person in charge" wants to interview me (I was not sure if this is a required thing or whether it is a just formality or I was just randomly selected). So he asked me to come back the next day, but I told him that I am out of town and that it takes me at least 3 hours to commute from my place in Waterloo to the consul. But there was nothing he can do, so I had to come back on Friday (I didn't want to take back-to-back days off at work).

On Friday, the same routine happened, but a bit different...

• 10:30 am - here was at least 10 people before me
• 11:30 am - there was at least 20 people in the room and there was only one attendant available, so it was very very very slow.
• 12:30 pm - I had the interview with the "person in charge", and she did not find anything sketchy about me. Then I was asked to come on another day to pick up the visa, and I reacted hesitantly, so they told me that they will try their best and asked me to come back in 2 hours. 
• 1:00 pm - went to Hero's burger
• 1:30 pm - went to Starbucks, and burn most of the time reading a good Christian leadership book, while chatting on whatsapp with a friend who recently got married.
• 2:30 pm - I came back and waited 
• 3:45 pm - I finally got the Peruvian visa! 

So it took me almost triple the amount of time than I originally thought, and I was fairly frustrated with the process of waiting. I realized I am not as patient as I thought I would be.

So I came across this article about waiting (in the Christian context): http://theresurgence.com/2014/05/21/7-ways-to-follow-god-s-will-for-your-wait

I have spoken with many peers, and in general I find a similar struggle in my life stage where most of us are working, but we are not fully convinced that this is what we are gonna do for the rest of our lives. And then we start exploring about other possibilities (other work industries, other cities, or working on more ministry-related work) and it is really hard to find a clear answer. So we rely on prayer and waiting, and hoping that God will reveal to us an answer, eventually. 

It's hard because we don't know how long the wait is, and I easily can either grow impatient or not paying attention to my current present, because I focus too much on the future stuff. But in reality I should be paying more attention on the opportunities God is giving me in the present!

After reading the article, I was encouraged, because even if we don't see much "progress" in the waiting, there are undeniable facts about God's goodness and greatness:

• God is sovereign, and I have little control of my situation, so I should not have to worry
• God is faithful, so He will not abandon me
• God does not waste the experiences that He is making you go through, so it is a good time to focus on areas of my spiritual growth that is lacking, and find opportunities to serve
• God is unchangeable, and He has done so many good things to me in the past, and even now, so I should constantly be reminded of how He carried me through in the past

At this point, I still do not fully comprehend the periods of waiting, but I can rest assured that God is working, and I have to put my faith on Him.

"Out of the depths I cry to you, Lord;

     Lord, hear my voice.

Let your ears be attentive

    to my cry for mercy.

If you, Lord, kept a record of sins,

    Lord, who could stand?

But with you there is forgiveness,

    so that we can, with reverence, serve you.

I wait for the Lord, my whole being waits,

    and in his word I put my hope.

I wait for the Lord

    more than watchmen wait for the morning,

    more than watchmen wait for the morning."

                   - Psalm 130:1-6

kingdom

Recently I stumbled upon a manga called kingdom, and it is crazily excellent. It reminded me of the old feeling of reading epic series like FMA and Rurouni Kenshin. The story takes place on the 6 warring estates in China (not on the 3 kingdom, but the period before that), and it tells the story of the king of Qin that will eventually unite China under one dynasty.

There are so many positive traits of this series including the manly battle scenes, fine character development, strategic battles, unexpected plot twists, very good pace in storytelling, like-able characters, powerful villains, and I can go on... I actually spent way too much on it, so I need to exercise some self-control.

One thing I really like is that what unites the two main characters, that both of them have a strong vision that fuels their desire to move forward no matter what opposition they face, and helps them persevere through the tough time. And its because they hold dear to this vision that they are able to overcome all sort of struggles and excel on who they are.

I remembered the very first bible study I ever help prepare in CCF was during a Fall leadership retreat in 2007. It was on the book of Nehemiah. And since then I have always loved Nehemiah for the valuable leadership lessons. Nehemiah exhibits so many great leadership characteristics: taking action, gathering comrades, planning well, good foresight, courageous, man of prayer, dependence on God, persevere in struggles, not afraid of opposition. All started in chapter 1, when he heard of the depressing state that Jerusalem was in, and God gave him a vision about the restoration of the walls, and he took action upon receiving the vision.

Now that I am in the work life stage, it is really easy to live life by following the routine and lose sight of the things that God has burdened me with. It is so easy to become complacent about life. My prayer is that I will hold dear whatever God has put in my heart, and that this will fuel me to live a life that is pleasing to Him.

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

gospel: resurrection

Recently, we did a bible study on 1 Corinthians 15:1-21 in small group, just before Easter. This passage includes a condensed version of what the gospel is:

"For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures, and that he appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve." - 1 Corinthians 15:3-5

A major part of the discussion revolved around the verses 12-17, where Paul speaks about the importance of the resurrection in our faith (if the resurrection did not happen, then our faith is futile). So we were trying to determine why was the resurrection of Jesus so essential to our faith, and we came up with several points:

• we have faith in a living Christ
• Christ is our mediator (it does not make sense if He is dead)
• Christ overcame death (wages of sin is death) to makes us free
• Christ is supreme, even over death, so that proves He is God
• Christ resurrected with a living body, to give a foresight that we will also have resurrected bodies in the restoration

Then an interesting verse came to play:

" It will be counted to us who believe in him who raised from the dead Jesus our Lord,  who was delivered up for our trespasses and raised for our justification." - Romans 4:24-25

So the main question we struggled about was, how does the resurrection of Christ leads to our justification (to declare us righteous in front of God's eyes)? Many of us, understand that the death of Christ was necessarily as propitiation (taking away the wrath of God) for our sins. Christ is sinless, hence His sacrifice is perfect and sufficient to pay for our sins. The great exchange happens so that the Christ suffers the punishment of our sins, and His righteousness is imputed into us, making us righteous (justification).

But then, how does resurrection leads to our justification? Shouldn't the death of Christ be enough to accomplish this?

So we have to do some readings from theologians to understand more:

• Wayne Gurdem in Systematic Theology, points out that "When Christ was raised from the dead, it was God's declaration of approval of Christ's work of redemption. Because Christ 'humbled himself and became obedient unto death, even death on a cross' (Phil. 2:8), 'God exalted him..' (Phil. 2:9). By raising Christ, from the dead, God the father was in effect saying that he approved of Christ's work of suffering and dying for our sins."
• R.C. Sproul writes an article "Resurrection and Justification": stating that the resurrection serves as a demonstration (so to assures us that He is God) but also as a vindication that God the Father validates the authenticity of Christ. And also that God the Father approves of the work of Christ.
• John Piper states on his book "50 reasons why Jesus came to die" on page 100-101: "The resurrection of Jesus is God's gift and proof that his death was completely successful in blotting out the sins of his people and removing the wrath of God. You can see this in the word "therefore". Christ was "obedient to the point of death, even on a cross. Therefore God has highly exalted him" (Philippians 2:8-9). From the cross the Son of God cried, "It is finished" (John 19:30). And by means of the resurrection, God the Father cries, "It was finished indeed!". The great work of paying for our sin and providing our righteousness and satisfying God's justice was finished in the death of Jesus."

Pretty awesome stuff, glory to God!