Holidays = Gnirob??

During the exam period, everyone is frantically trying to finish their exams as soon as possible so they can go home and relax. It is true that once you arrive home, everything seems so much better. After a few days of this relaxation though, it starts to get...gnirob. That is the reason why I'm not that big of a fan of holidays. It's good for catching up on rest, taking a break from school, seeing some friends and family and getting together. But once it passes a certain number of days, it just becomes really gnirob.

Holidays for me so far has been both eventful and uneventful. Eventful meaning I've done some cool stuff and of course uneventful means I've done nothing special. The eventful things I've done include: watching movie with sisters and dinner with my family. Yeah, that so far is all I can really thing of. Uneventful things include: watching tv for most of my time here, reading ahead for Physio, napping the other times of the day if I'm not watching tv.

The following days should be more eventful. Parents are holding a dinner with friends from work and other friends. Going to game all night at my friends house until the sun shines again. Hang out with friends at dessert places and wherever we end up going after. Some stuff to look forward to at least! But I'm guessing this will last about a week. That means I still have another week to kill before heading back into London.

Maybe because I've been in London for too long and grown to like it more than Toronto. Yes, Toronto has so much more appealing things, but London has it's good side. Oh well, that or I just miss going to school which keeps killing me in every subject I take.

Anyways, I hope all your Christmas shopping goes well and no one gets trampled by the angry mob trying to get the last pair of that special shoes everyone wants. I know I'll be dodging everyone but if you happened to see a tall boy disappear, look on the ground.

MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE!

In Christ,
Jeff

PS: Gnirob...read it backwards. Thanks Ernie, hahaha!

ROCK LEE!!!!!
(Note: This is a long post, and might not make sense near the end because it is late)

Today (meaning yesterday) I was at Einsteins studying with Simon, Hiram and Shelby. Simon had his laptop and started to watch old episodes of Naruto during his break. He was watching the Chuunin Exam where Rock Lee and Gaara were fighting. The episode where Rock Lee just so happens to open 5 gates was the one which I missed. So I decided to watch it when I got home starting from the first fight leading up to that episode. It was so awesome and so touching too!!! *cry-worthy!!!*

The touching moments started with Hinata vs. Neji fight. It was obvious that Hinata was no match for Neji but she still fought with everything she had. Even though she was looked down on, she fought because she wanted to change. She didn't want to be the carefree and shy girl that always wanted to avoid violence. So she fought, she fought all out. Even after being insulted not by Neji and having flashbacks of her father not caring, she pushed on. She ended up losing the fight, but she proved her point. She changed.

Next was the one I've been waiting for, Rock Lee vs. Gaara. I only wanted to see the amazing moves Rock Lee could do, but I totally forgot about the story behind it all. While being super amazed by Rock Lee's gate opening and super duper butt-kicking, there were flashbacks of his childhood as well where he would train so hard. He set goals after goals after goals for himself if he couldn't achieve the first one. His heart and spirit were one.

Rock Lee isn't one of those ninjas who could use ninja and illusionary techniques, but only hand-to-hand combat. Because of this, he trains day and night trying to perfect it. He was always called a drop out but he didn't let that get to him. He continued to train hard and never gave up.

After the match where he lost and was beat up pretty badly, the medic pulls his sensei away and told him that Rock Lee cannot live as a ninja anymore. THAT'S SO HEART BREAKING!!! All his training and mastering of all those moves and his sweat and blood gone to waste!!!

But if you keep watching to later episodes, someone comes in and heals Rock Lee back to health and he's okay again! Yahoo!!

So, there must be some sort of reason why I am posting this other than because I loved this episode. Yes, there is another reason. This episode reminded me of a verse I read.

And we rejoice in the hope of the glory of God. Not only so, but we also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope. And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom he has given us.
- Romans 4: 2-5

During exam periods, we all tend to be stressed, depressed and angry. We also feel like giving up. We feel like we are suffering and don't understand why we put ourselves through this torture of studying. It's like Rock Lee opening all those gates even though he knows it will pretty much kill his body. He did it to stick to his words and his goals/beliefs. We do it to glorify God's name. In the end, we both end up on the ground. But all this does not kill us. What does not kill us, makes us stronger. Rock Lee gets healed, so do we. By the love of God, we are healed, we have hope, we become stronger. We get back up and get back into the fight because we know that God is behind us.

It is easy to forget this because all we think about is studying studying studying. We worry about our marks (at least I am) and our future when we don't need to. If we are to pass, we will. If we are to fail and become drop outs, then we will (hopefully not). Whatever happens, God has plans for us that are waiting to be unwrapped like Christmas presents.

So....STOP BEING SO STRESSED AND SMILE EVERYONE!!! EVERYTHING WILL TURN OUT FOR THE BETTER!! YOU JUST NEED TO WAIT AND HAVE FAITH!!!! TRUST IN THE LORD!!!! WAHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

In Christ,
Jeff

Scary

11"There is no one righteous, not even one;
there is no one who understands,
no on who seeks God.
12All have turned away,
they have together become worthless;
there is no one who does good,
not even one."
13"Their throats are open graves;
their tongues practice deceit."
The poison of vipers is on their lips."
14"Their mouths are full of cursing and bitterness."
15"Their feet are swift to shed blood;
16ruin and mistery mark their ways,
17and the way of peace they do not know."
18"There is no fear of God before their eyes."

- Romans 3: 11-18

SCARY!!!!!! While reading this, I thought that to myself. And also sadness.

On a funnier note, I have become very cautious of the time I wake up now. Since I have 4 9:00am exams this semester, I have to get up early to prepare for the exam. But looking back at the last few days and possibly last week, I haven't been able to get up early and missed my last two morning classes. So to make sure I got up early, I set up 3 alarm clocks. First one was my gigantic korean clock, second was my cell phone and lastly my computer which was set to blast Linkin Park's Faint which would have probably woken everyone up. But thank God, I woke up to the first alarm clock and didn't result in using the last one. Geo exam went alright, didn't write much for one or two questions because we never discussed about it in class. So all the things that my hand was writing were pretty much God at work. The only one I would take credit for was the last question which I was perfectly prepared for (because the prof told us the question in class).

Next exam is Biostats, which so happens to be tomorrow morning at 9:00am again. I guess I will do the same thing with the clocks again just in case. This exam hopefully will go smoothly because it feels like it might. PTL that there is a formula sheet given or else I'd cry.

Crabby's for food tonight! DOTA breaks are awesome!

In Christ,
Jeff

Crazy Beautiful

Haha, stole "Crazy Beautiful" from Ernie who stole it from the actual movie to describe outside. I woke up yesterday to find outside to be filled with the white pure snow. Some areas still untouched by our dirty shoes and hands, but for those that have been are already being covered. Reminds me of how Jesus "covered" for our sins [ie. our dirty shoes and hands (sins) have been covered (taken away) by the white pure snow (Jesus)]. Even though I'm not that big of a fan of snow, the beauty of it makes me want to jump in the snow and forget about all my troubles. But I didn't do that, instead I tried to work. Somehow that didn't work out as planned.

I started off the day at around 10:00am and ate + watched anime until 12:30pm. After that, I tried to buckle down and get some serious work done. But instead of doing that, I popped in a dvd full of anime and started to watch it. In between I got some work done, some naps in and some food down as well. I would say: 55% anime, 30% sleep, 5% eat, 10% work. I felt kind of bad for doing so little work. But around 10:00pm, J.Liu adds me to a large conversation and we all decide to go tobagganing down UC Hill. This was the chance for me to jump in that wonderful snow, and so I did. J.Liu was right, I would have regretted it if I didn't go. IT WAS AWESOME!!! One of the most fun I've had in years. It was cold but it was worth it.

So Ernie comes around to Summit to pick people up for the fun. He shows up at my house with his new rain pants which he just ripped when putting them on. He parks his car and I helped him clear the snow off his car while he gathered people. I went around the car at least 5 times and it was still covered by snow! We had some trouble with vision but we still arrived safely on campus. We had to use the trays Ken had to dig a parking spot for Ernie, that was a new experience. After that, off we went to the Hill. Met up with J.Liu where he tackled everyone almost to the ground except Tiff and me. Started to make our own slide down the hill and it was hilarious. All the different things we did was so funny and fun. Backwards, Superman and Torpedo. We even got a race going since we had two slides. By the end of the night, we were all cold, freezing and happy. Ernie's rain pants turned into a skirt, Mike was frozen stiff, and the rest of us were just cold and tired. It was all worth it though.

It really was crazy beautiful. How amazing that something this beautiful and crazy was created by Him. Ah, just thought of something. The falling snow = Jesus coming down! Awh, so many representations snow can make, hahaha.

Stay healthy and have fun in the snow! But also do your studies as well! Good luck everyone and +oil!

Bump Bump

*Running*...ouch cramps...*continues to run*. Cramps are like the bumps in our lives that make us miserable. But after we get through it, it becomes all better because we can continue our run. We just need to never forget and never give up.

It may seem sometimes that God is not there but actually, He is always there. He is with you when you are happy, sad, angry, worried, depressed, excited, crying, etc. He was there when you got your first A, He was there when you were learning to ride your bike. He was there when you cried, He was there when you lost someone close to you. He was there and He still is there.

So why do we sometimes think that He isn't there? Is it because things do not go the way we want it to be and see it as that He has left you there to suffer? But in truth, God allowed this to happen so our trust in Him is built to an even greater height because if we trust in Him, then we would know that everything will turn out for the good. We also learn from these ups and downs in our lives. If we never fail then we would never learn.

"Lord, You said that once I decided to follow You, You'd walk with me all the way. But I have noticed that during the most troublesome times in my life, there is only one set of footprints. I don't understand why when I need You most You would leave me."
The Lord replied, "My son, My precious child, I love you and would never leave you. During your times of trail and suffering, when you see only one set of footprings, it was then that I carried you."
- Footprints by Unknown Author

Thank You Father for Your love, Your blessings and thank You for carrying me during the times when I needed You the most. Even though I am a sinner, Your son Jesus Christ died on the cross for me to take them all away. What more can I ask for already but yet You continue to bless my life with friends and family. You truely are great and awesome.

Hang on to God and never let go because He will never let you go. The only things that pull you away are Satan and yourself.