the best service

In the middle of my trip to Hong Kong, I took a side trip to Tokyo with my dad. At first I really didn't feel like going to a country that did not speak a language I am comfortable with, as I just wanted to chill comfortably without having to plan much. But discussing it with my dad, we decided that Japan was a good option due to the fact that its currency value is low now. So I spent quite a bit of time planning and ensuring I could get around despite the language barrier. It was kinda stressful actually.

But this trip to Tokyo was actually much more fun that I expected, and now I wish I could spent more time there. There are many fascinating things there, like this is the place where anime is originated from, this is also the place of consumer electronics, and the food is really amazing, like intensely amazing (it seems that every restaurant you go to, you are guaranteed to get good food). One thing that caught my eye was how clean the streets were, especially since I did not see trash cans on the streets (so people would just carry his/her own trash and dump it after).

One thing that I actually enjoyed was to take subway trains because it is very convenient to go from one place to another. At first I was quite intimidated by the subway system as the map looks pretty chaotic, but once I understood the system it was actually pretty easy. I really appreciate the "efficiency" of the system.

Perhaps one of the things that amazed me the most was the service that I received in Japan. It's just outrageous, people are super nice and polite, There was a lot of bowing, I was pretty overwhelmed. 

The quality of service was just spectacular. I took the train from airport to the hotel, and I decided to order coffee (bit expensive) during the train ride. And when the train hostess was giving me the cup of coffee, she gently said with a smile (with very decent English) "be careful, it is hot", and then she bowed. I never been treat as nice in Tim Hortons or McDonald's.

This type of good service is very common in Japan as it is part of their culture, they are brought up and taught to treat customers like this.

Two thoughts came in mind when I think about this.

One is, are they genuinely bowing to you out of gratitude, or they just do it because they get paid and it is so ingrained in their culture? This is hard to tell, but I do think some do this genuinely. This does makes me reflect on how my attitude should be when I serve at the church. Sometimes, it is easy to get caught by the "routine" of things, and do things mechanically instead of genuinely wanting to serve out of gratitude to God.

Second thought is, I felt very welcome on the establishments I went to due to this warm service. Often I find it hard to feel welcomed when I visit a church. Many times I have seen that people who already know each other will congregate in their own, making it hard for newcomers to feel welcomed. But I also  have seen churches where the welcoming is quite good, like even the pastor will spend some time with the newcomers, and that is nice. My thought here is that, if a worldly establishment can make someone feel so welcomed, shouldn't a church make people feel even more welcomed as we are broken people coming together with joy to worship our gracious God. 

These thoughts seems slightly random, but yeah.

best cha chaan teng

There is a type of restaurant that are common in Hong Kong named "cha chaan teng" (usually known as HK cafe) that offers a variety of Hong Kong style western food and other pearls at a very affordable price. The Hong Kong style milk tea is one of the staple drinks. The egg-sandwich with the milk tea is one affordable and excellent breakfast that it is offered.

There is a very famous restaurant in Hong Kong called "Australian Dairy Company" and it is famous for the superb smoothness of its eggs dishes: scrambled eggs, egg-sandwich, steam eggs.

There are probably many (a couple of thousands of them) that serves this type of food in Hong Kong (most of them probably pretty decent) but this restaurant is considered by many the best in Hong Kong. During peak hours, there is usually a line to get in.

Though the food is intensely good, the service is bad and sometimes rude. Though this is a typical characteristic of Hong Kong cha chaan tengs, this restaurant seems to have worse service overall.

The reason for such bad service is because its workers are very efficient and focused on getting work done. Since the lines are long, and environment is chaotic, all the workers (waiters and kitchen staff) are non-stop working to ensure food is made and served fast, and that people are eating (no idle waiting).  So they have no reason to provide good service. There is definitely an atmosphere of pressure to eat fast and order more food or leave right away before getting scolded haha. Despite this, people go eat there and it is a great experience.

In my small group, we have been studying the book of Nehemiah, one great book about Christian leadership! And recently we covered Nehemiah 5, where we see him dealing with some serious internal affairs. Many of the Israelites during that time were poor and had to mortgaged their property and even sell their children for food. It was pretty tough times, and to make it worse some rich Israelites were taking advantage of them by charging them interest in loans. Nehemiah was angry and had to rebuked them, and led by example by caring for the needy. This is on top of his main responsibility, which was to lead the task of rebuilding the walls of Jerusalem.

What I learned from that chapter is that Nehemiah truly a leader who cares for those under him, despite having to deal with many other issues (external enemies) and logistics (takes a lot of planning to coordinate effort to rebuild the walls, to put guards, etc). I am often in charge of planning activities because I like logistical work, and like being efficient at it. But one of the struggles I have is that when I am very submerged in my planning mode, I tend to not care about the people (who are part of the event I am planning) causing leadership to be planning-focused and not people-focused, very similar to the restaurant above.

Definitely, the book of Nehemiah challenges me to know that leadership involves impacting people to challenge them to move towards the direction of Christ.

the best "char siu bao" in the world

I came back from a trip to Hong Kong and Tokyo not too long ago. It was a great time of relaxation (much needed) and good food! There were many great moments, and as well insights that came into mind. I hope I can share some of those here in the blog.

Almost without noticing, the first month of 2015 is gone! Definitely looking forward on the exciting adventures and challenges that 2015 will present.

So most people I know love to eat "char siu bao" (Chinese BBQ pork bun) which is served on Chinese dim sum restaurants. I have been liking it a lot since I was a kid.

I went for lunch with an old friend from Waterloo at a pretty good Shanghainese restaurant, and after lunch he took me downstairs (it was on a mall) to a dim sum restaurant to buy a pack of "char siu bao" to go. He basically said this is the best "char siu bao". Of course I was very skeptical. After we got the box, he opened it and gave one to me. To my surprise, this "char siu bao" looked different from the traditional ones, as the outer layer looks like a baked Mexican bun (instead of the typical steamed Chinese white buns). Excited, I took a bite and I could not help but to submit to the great sensation of biting into a perfectly baked crispy bun combined with the tenderness and sweetness of the BBQ pork. Oh man, this is good, it's excellent. Definitely I agree that this is the best "char siu bao" in the world.

Another friend came later, and we offered her a bite of this "char siu bao", and told her that this is the best "char siu bao" ever. She skeptically asked, "how can you be sure that this is the best, if you have not tried all the 'char siu bao' in the world". After she took a bite, she just nodded and was convinced, hehe.

This is very similar to the question, "how do you know Christianity is the true religion, if you have not tried all other religions?" It seems a very daunting question, and I find it difficult to answer it when talking to non-believers.

A famous apologist Ravi Zacharias explains that Christianity is the only religion that can coherently answer these four questions:

• Origin
• Meaning of life
• Morality
• Destinity

Something interesting to dig into more.

you have my axe

"Aragorn: If by my life or death I can protect you, I will. You have my sword...
Legolas: And you have my bow.
Gimli: And my axe.
Boromir: You carry the fate of us all, little one. If this is indeed the will of the Council, then Gondor will see it done." 
       - from "Lord of the Ring - Fellowship of the Ring" by Tolkien

This is one my favorite quotes from the Lord of the Ring series (to the point that I almost memorized it). This takes place when the main representatives of each "tribe" (elf, dwarf, hobbit, man, wizard) meets up to decide upon the fate of the one ring. The general consensus is that this should be destroyed, but who is willing to carry the burden to take this ring to the fire of Mordor? So Frodo steps up as the one willing, such powerless creature taking upon a heavy burden. Soon after, powerful allies join in his quest and they form a solid fellowship (of the ring).

Recently, a group of 15-20 people from my university fellowship (CCF) met up for a Christmas gathering. And it was a pretty sweet time as I don't get to see most of them often. It is very nice to catch up with them, to chill with them, and to hear how God is working in them. I vividly remembered how we served together in the CCF in our undergrad times, and definitely the time we spent together serving has really solidify the bonds of friendship into something deeper, a relationship that transcends time and geographical location - no matter how little we see each other, or whether we live in different cities, I know for sure my fellow brother or sister is faithfully standing firm for the work of Christ, and that when we meet up we can easily pick up the relationship from where we left.

This is only possible because we are united under the same faith and love in God, and we are all redeemed by the same Christ, and empowered by the same Spirit, and entrusted for the same gospel, and hence we partner together in this great thing called fellowship.

"I thank my God in all my remembrance of you, always in every prayer of mine for you all making my prayer with joy, because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now. And I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ." - Philippians 1:3-6

the end of Naruto

So the very first Japanese manga that I consistently followed has come to an end recently. And I was hoping the end will come soon because I felt the story in the last year or so was barely progressing and really dragging quite a bit.

Naruto started with a lot of potential, and the first few arcs of the series was pretty spectacular with memorable exciting moments:

• Battle against Zabuza (this is where it really starts to get serious, and also the first time to see the sharingan!)
• Chunin Exam (one of the best arcs ever in terms of character development and battle strategy)
• Sasuke leaving Konoha (many epic battles, specially Gaara vs. Kimimaro)

Unfortunately, it is hard to reach top-ness, but it is even harder to maintain top-ness. After the three year leap, the series of Naruto went through periods of decline in its quality, to the point where plot holes and lack of innovative ideas were obvious.

Regardless, as a committed reader, I continued to follow it.

The ending was not bad, but it was not great. In a way I was looking forward to a great ending that could "fix" the series overall, but that did not happen. 

Now, I will stop about my rant about Naruto (I actually wrote an email to my Naruto co-readers and created a script for my ideal ending).

In a way, the challenge to be consistently good is very hard. I want to draw parallel comparison with our spiritual walk with God. There are times when it is at its "highs", and times when it is at its "lows". There are times that is so easy to stay complacent and avoid doing the right thing.

The cool thing is that God is gracious and it is really because of Him that we can persevere in our daily struggle with our own self. It is because of God that we can recover from our "lows" and walk towards Him, because He is faithful.

As we run this race, we are encouraged by Paul's example to finish the race well, fighting the good fight for the sake of Christ.

"For I am already being poured out as a drink offering, and the time of my departure has come. I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. Henceforth there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, will award to me on that Day, and not only to me but also to all who have loved his appearing." - 2 Timothy 4:6-8

how to decide on job

As we grow older, the magnitude of the decisions we make are also bigger with greater consequences. Life can definitely go into many states of uncertainty.  As a kid, my parents decide on where I should live, what school to go, what to eat, etc. There is no such thing as choosing a course in the school I went, so I didn't really get to make decisions on courses. Probably the first big decision that I had to make is about which university to apply and if got accepted, which one to go to.

I was good in Math and Physics, so I went for Engineering, and by process of elimination, Electrical Engineering became my first choice. Somehow I ended up coming to the University of Waterloo, kind of far from home, with different culture and language, and with very cold winters. So far, this is one of the best decisions made so far.

Once in University, things are still pretty structured, I have courses, then I have to apply for coop jobs, and then so on, until I school is done. Though Engineering was a pretty tough degree, it never crossed my mind to switch. Once undergrad is done, the next big decision is to apply for a full-time job, and here is where I think life gets slightly more complicated because there are so many options and there is no longer a "curriculum".

What type of job to apply? How long should I work in this job? What career options should I pursue? Should I consider other job industries?

I have been working more than 4 years since I graduated, and it has been a very challenging experience. There is less flexibility at work than school, and the magnitude of pressure and stress from work seems to be a couple of notches above school; well the good thing is that there is usually no homework.

I feel that it is easy for years to pass without noticing, and these last couple of years I feel it has been a blur. So, I think it is important to constantly reflect and review on what's going on, and decide whether to keep going at the current job or to consider other options.

Here are a couple of questions or points that I am reflecting upon to help me determine what should I do with my current job situation:

• Finding fulfillment at my job
• Many times people ask me if I enjoy my work, and to be honest I like part of my job, but I cannot say I enjoy it always, because there are bad days and there is no perfect job where we will enjoy every single characteristic of it. Hence I am gravitating toward the word "fulfillment". Do I find satisfaction on what I do at work? Am I using the full extent of my capabilities at work? Am I causing a positive impact? (this is very linked to the next point)
• Glorying God at my job
• The classic example is to be an active witness of Christ at work, to find opportunity to share the gospel, and to make the work place a better place 
• There is also the intrinsic value of doing an excellent work at what you do. This is not for gaining praises to feed our pride, but this is to utilize the gifts God had given to us, and to gain a good reputation so that God can use us to influence our work place.
• How your job affects the other aspects of your life
• Does your job takes away time from you to do other things that are important to you? Does your job affects your health? Does my job hinder my personal growth. Sometimes work can drain you quite a bit, or causes you very high level of stress. It might not be the job itself but lack of a personal balance, and this likely will impact your spiritual health.

John Piper wrote a pretty helpful article about this topic: http://www.desiringgod.org/blog/posts/how-to-decide-about-your-next-job

the one true King

Recently I participated at a wedding as a groomsman, and it was truly an honor. On the Thursday before the wedding, I went to pick up another groomsman on my way to the wedding rehearsal. He is a very good friend who lives outside of the country so we don't get to talk a lot. And as he sat into the car, he asked me about my opinion on the protests in Hong Kong, which caught me a bit off guard as I was not expecting a heavy question as our first conversation haha.

This is a topic I have been thinking about for a while, as I want to understand how a Christian should respond to this situation. I lived 2 years in Hong Kong when I was in kindergarten, and my dad and his family lives there right now, so in a way I am connected with this city. To be truly honest, I am not 100% engaged or invested with the situation in Hong Kong as I don't live there and don't have a good understanding of the people's situation to make a stand.

But I do want to learn on how we as Christians should respond because this type of situation could happen in the places where we live in. The question that comes to mind is, whether we Christians should participate in this type of protests. Here are a few points for discussion:

• Submission to authorities, are Christians to always obey authorities?
• Romans 13 is very clear on that we should be subject to authorities, and that God has put these people in power for a reason. We could ask ourselves whether this "command" was only for the people that the letter of Romans was addressed to, or whether it is for everyone. 
• We also know that not everyone in authority in the world will adhere to Christian principles, so we are bound to be in conflict with those in power. I like how Paul speaks about praying for those who are in power, so that the can grow in godliness and holiness (1 Timothy 2:1-2). 
• I think Daniel is a good example on how a Christian should behave when the authorities are imposing something that is not compliance to our faith. He did not revolt or make a big deal out of it. He did disobey the decree (of not praying to any gods other than king Darius), but he readily  accepted this punishment to be thrown to the lion's den, and God saved him!
• How to respond when there is injustice?
• I don't have a good grasp of all the injustices that people in Hong Kong go through, I do know of some like the increasing gap between the rich and the poor, the crazily expensive housing prices (that most common people cannot afford), and since the "governor" of Hong Kong is selected from a list of people chosen by the government in China, then there is little probability that this governor will strongly adhere to the interest of the people in Hong Kong. 
• Is it rightful to protest (and in the process disobeying the authorities) until demands are met? I cannot recall any bible passages where it deemed to be rightful to protest against the authorities. Instead I can think of passages where people in influential positions were able to convince kings to do something good for the Israelites (Nehemiah convinced king Artaxerxes to allow him to go rebuild the walls, similar examples with Ezra and Esther). 
• What is the "right" government system?
• I am not an expert of government systems, but many people in the western world do believe that democracy is the way to go. I know that democracy allows people's interests to be represented instead of giving full power to a central political body (or in some situations to a single person). From a biblical perspective, I think the ideal government is a theocratic one, where a king is selected by God to govern by God's statutes. But then, even the closest godly king, David, did very bad things. This is part of the human sinful nature, when given so much power, we can easily be corrupted.

I don't think I am providing any answers as I write, but I am finding more questions without answers.

My current stand is that I would participate in the protest with the aim to express my opinion that I disagree with the injustices people are going through, but I would not incite in violence or have a defiant attitude when engaging with authorities (e.g. police force). I don't think there will be a perfect government system here on earth, and I think there will continue be injustices regarding of the government system, but I think that this is part of God's sovereignty and that there is hope that God will impart justice on His proper timing. As well, I also think that this is a great opportunity to tell others about the gospel, because we have a true King that is just, and He is the savior of our lives. 

During this Thanksgiving, I am really thankful to Christ because:

• Christ is a servant king (Matthew 20:25-28) who came to earth to serve
• Christ is our role model (1 John 2:6) who exemplified how we should live
• Christ is a king who died to saved His people (Matthew 27:42, Jews were mocking Him, but really Christ chose not to save Himself from the cross, to save the world)
• Christ is a victorious king (1 Cor. 15:20-28) who has dominion over enemies and authorities and even death.
• Christ is also a compassionate king and his legacy carries on even now