Christmas Timeeee

So Christmas is over, 

Sad. Yet only like… 360 some odd days until the next one!

It's starting to get cold in Taiwan, that cold that isn't about the temperature, but about the humidity. The cold that goes straight to the bones. I love it. It reminds me of the crisp Seattle mornings where mist rolls over the hills and for some reason even the suburbs.

Anyways, Christmas.

Christmas to me smells like Apple Cinnamon, Pine, Snow (Does snow smell? I swear it does), tape, presents, and various spicy sugar things like cake and tea. Apple Cinnamon also smells like Harry Potter to me but that's an entirely different thread and topic, also one of controversy not to be delved into. Alas, Christmas morning Dale and I arose like lofty sparrows in the morn. Or possibly noon, I can neither confirm or deny our sleep habits. We had prepared all the ingredients the night before, but I'll say fortnight because it just sounds more poetic. A fortnight ago we prepared all the ingredients to a wonderful Christmas feast. The luxury item being Krusteaz pancake mix, hailing from the native local region of Seattle. It was purchased at Costco and then used as the basis for our meal.

The plan was thus, (Nix the spoke Zathustra)

1 Plate of pancakes

2.Some foreign Syrup for said pancakes (In this country, syrup counts as an individual item)

3. Homemade, nonalcoholic, Egg Nog

4. Hot cocoa

So around noonish we set off for the kitchen and began to work like the little Christmas elves that we were. I put the pan on the gas-burner and began to let it simmer, at which point Dale said "Hey Jake, we need butter or something." So he poured milk into the pan. We also did not have measuring instruments and had to convert from American measurements to metric. So we used a water bottle. Regardless some sort of moist pancake mix began to grow. Then the pan caught fire. The milk also began to burn. Smoke poured forth like the gates of the great abyss had opened and I stood crying and making pancakes from the intense burning sensation in my eye spheres…

Mmm Pancakes. While I was busy having a pyrotechnic display in the kitchen, Dale decided that he would make the eggnog. Only he read the recipe wrong and put far too much milk in. No buggy, we just there more eggs in, and sugar. And Nutmeg. When all was said and done though we didn't have what one would call a "Whisk"

So the eggnog was very egg like. More egg than nog as they say. It was like the protein shake Rocky drinks, and dribbled about like it was a somewhat sentient life form. Regardless it didn't taste too bad.

So with that I set the table. The Cocoa was a little watery but chocolate water never hurt anyone. Then we poured the cold syrup from the fridge over the moist pancake thingy. You see I never had actually managed to make a pancake, I just made some sort of gooey lump dough. After a moment of reflection, in a house too hazy to see in from all the smoke, Dale and I bit into our pancakes. 

They tasted like brick and charcoal. I gagged and dry heaved while Dale tried to eat his. After the first bite we knew defeat had found us and ushered us under her wing. With that, Dale and I decided to eat cereal.

Presents:

Fruit flavored mentos

Silly String

2 different 30 NTD Airsoft guns

Panda Cookies with a plastic flavor

Christmas!!!!!!!

I love Christmas lights.

Anyways In the end it was a wonderful time. We even had out fits! And Christmas Moustaches!

Christmas

Today was a day of reflection and while I had fun, I thought a lot about just life. It's strange to know that life is so out of our control and yet something we still have to claim and conquer. I am thankful today, as I sit in the SYME office, we have pizza.

This is a rarity. Wonderful rarity as it is.

I am thinking about life and am so grateful. I  have so much.

This week we start making phone calls to our alumni students. It's incredible to see what students have caught and managed to keep spiritually, and which ones are still coming around before they get it.

Taiwan is cold this time of year, well, actually its like 63 degrees, and everyone has scarves on, winter coats and jackets, and gloves. Dale and I have t-shirts.

Dales mom sent us a christmas tree with some lights, there is something about having a christmas tree that just makes me happy.

This will be my first Christmas away from America, although not away from home. What's strange is the thought that Christ came in the form of a child. I know it's the status quo to hear about three or four sermons a December on that but it's something to engage. To really engage. God could have joined our world in so many different ways, He could have flown down from space. He could have been this intimidating super-powerful entity.

Yet He wrapped Himself in flesh. I am 8000 miles away from home and I still see Christmas lights. That type of action impacts people. It impacted this world. So today I have to wonder, if Christ wrapped Himself in flesh, how am I wrapping myself in Christ?

It's 2000 years later, I'm on an island, and His actions are being seen here. What actions in my life will even reach beyond the walls of my office?

So today I'm thinking, and thinking, and wondering who I can write, who I can encourage, and how I can wrap myself in Christ to reach a world that is so in need.

ADHD

So pretty much I don't focus very well, but I have just got insurance.

It's pretty awesome!

Break a bone? X-RAY!


Sneezy? Antibiotics!


So I started going to the doctors to prepare for Taiwan... in one session they gave me a Hepatitis A shot, Whooping Cough Vaccine, and Tetanus, as well as a spinal x-ray and a blood test. I have sore arms now.


The plus side though is I finally got on ADHD medicine/may be able to get adenoids removed... why is that important?

See that little green thingy there?


Well when it is too big it blocks the air canal, keeps one from breathing during sleep, and shunts all the oxygen going to the brain into some random place like Manchuria. Why is this important? Especially for returning to a blog after a millennium? Well... Lack of brain oxygen is remedied a couple ways, one through ADHD pills, and as such my focus today quadrupled times a billion. I can focus now, which helps me with blogging, writing, making phone calls, learning Jewish dance moves. Ya know, the usual! I'm trying to get the little green guy scraped out though so I can have natural super human concentration. Plus people won't throw shoes at me if I snore.



Anyways I'm getting ready for Taiwan (I embark in 12 measly days) so I am spending a lot of time hitting up doctors and such. It's strange to be getting this close to leaving, getting random shots, talking to doctors about foreign medical care of which I have no idea. It just makes Taiwan seem that much realer. Monday they send my passport. And then... Bon Voyage... I'm preparing my final stuff, thus I will have tons to write about! SYME, plane flights, cultural differences. I'm excited! Soon, soon my minions. So for now I'm getting into the habit of writing and updating on life often cause pretty soon I'll be able to daily.


Now I just gotta practice my Chinese :p



P.S. Here's my mostest recent prayer letter!

Foreign Policy

Somethings have been on my mind recently. I'm gonna be updating this blog regularly now as I get ready for Taiwan, I've been thinking how to approach blogging and I think I will focus on Taiwan often but I will also use this as an outlet for free thought, discussion, and such on everything from religion and politics to Ramen noodles and Halo...

I was watching the news tonight and started thinking.

Life is highly mathematical. We ignore it obviously, otherwise we would see the wave formations in bathtub water, the light wave patterns, the way atoms and protons move. Even more so these patterns can be observed in large frameworks like economies and societies. We see society, popular culture, history, and science go through phases. Interestingly enough I find most Americans, most people, are rather ignorant of things such as fiat currency, wikileaks, world reserve currency, the federal reserve. They even call people who study such data crackpots or intellectuals depending on whether or not they follow the common flow of the herd.

We brush over events like the mystery missile in LA around thanksgiving to watch Dancing with the Stars, which when held in light of China's 2004 missile practices is rather scary.

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2010/11/09/national/main7036716.shtml

This is the discovery

http://www.wired.com/dangerroom/2010/11/mystery-missile-is-probably-a-jet/

This is them thinking it's a jet a day later

http://www.thefirstpost.co.uk/71719,news-comment,news-politics,la-vapour-trail-mystery-was-it-a-chinese-missile

This is ten days later finally wondering if it's a Chinese Missile

And this is 7 years ago…

http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2004/dec/2/20041202-115302-2338r/

And this is more recent...

http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2004/dec/2/20041202-115302-2338r/
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-01-05/china-s-ballistic-missile-stealth-fighter-advances-draw-attention-of-u-s-.html

http://www.helium.com/items/1915068-chinese-dong-feng-missile-capable-of-sinking-every-us-supercarrier

If we search the internet we find China has satellite destroying missiles, new technology, and whatnot as well as recently visited the U.S. for the first time in quite awhile.

We brush over weird laws such as Obama enabling the assassination of U.S. citizens and think "It'll be fine, he's not targeting Christians, I'm gonna watch Opera", then brush over the ceasing of militia groups in the U.S.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5qzs-57av0s The Policy

Granted we need to protect out country and not all this stuff is inherently bad nor unwise… I just find it so interesting how much we ignore these trends and pieces of a puzzle. I think if you logically put all this stuff together you end up with quite the interesting conundrums. You see how the world is moving, like a giant beuracratic monster we can see the trends of it turning and going. It is incredibly important to perk our ears up and know. I'm not spitting conspiracy theories about China, nor trying to breed fear. I just find it something important to understand… That we can see trends, patterns, and directions and wisdom says we should listen up...

If… Satan exists…

If he wants to destroy humanity as well as Christendom…

Should not we pay attention to the news? The world movement? Everybody knows that to take over a country you don't attack the people you attack the leadership, everybody knows that leadership influences, wealth oft corrupts. So I think it is very important, not in an obsessive way, but in a wise way of stewardship to understand what is going on in the world, foreign policy, and how that affects our daily choices in life, government, and engaging the culture.

World War II didn't happen overnight.

The holocaust wasn't sudden.

It happened in political discussions and beer halls.

I was just thinking about that today, how the people who prepare and engage culture can make quite an impact.

How this entire world needs Jesus and we have to work hard to offer Him, as well as be wary of the enemy out there seeking to destroy. So some crazy stuff is happening in Egypt right now. We NEED to pay attention.

Soooo pretty much life rocks!

Ok, so I've been having a tough time being able to get stuff done these last two months as my computer is old and fragile, having survived off of a diet of Metamucil and oatmeal for it's last 6 months. It is a geriatric friend with an aging motherboard, a slipped hard disk, and a broken power switch. I still love him though. Anyways my friends of the awesome persuasion got me a sweet new cpu that can destroy planet with it's glory so that when I go to Taiwan I can function. Just imagine having no internet, a non-functioning cpu, and no car trying to survive for three months as an online college student. THIS IS TRULY A GREAT DAY FOR HUMANITY!

Anyways! So I have this blog, and as of Friday, I'll be in Seattle, one of the top Wifi cities in the nation. Thus I can update my blog, write to people about how awesome God is and why I'm bad at Spanish. For now I have to catch up on a kaboodle of things, but I'll have a massive life update in a few days. A ministry update. My sweet prayer letter... and such!

I am also dating the prettiest girl in the world now. Crazy that out of 6 billion options, roughly 3 billion possible, the prettiest one chose me. Eh... life is sweet.

Somebody wanted to kill meee

“I’m gonna smash that [Expletive Deleted] piece of [Expletive deleted] over his [Expletive deleted]. I’m gonna kill that [Expletive deleted] cop!”

I sat in the lower floor of the cramped EMC pregnancy center lifehouse. A full size bunkbed, table, and couch took up the majority of the narthex sized living room. I sat on the couch thinking, mulling over life in a world of my own. Apparently walking back and forth with a megaphone, an unmarked white van, and casual conversation had lead the drug dealer next door to believe I was a police officer. A black, angry, ghetto thug. He gathered a small group that fluctuated between 2-4 people over the course of an hour and a half. I had no idea the cop reference was about me
until a somewhat excited and speedy Dave came downstairs.

“So Jake, that black guy out there thinks you’re a cop and is saying he’s going to smash you over the head when you come out.”

“Oh… uh…”

“Come upstairs Jake, we gotta go.”

“Dave… doesn’t that guy wanna kill me?”

“You’ll be allright!”

I thought to myself… the black man doesn’t want to kill Dave. So I feel as if his feeling of safety and motivation is more warranted than mine. I much rather would stay inside, we had bars on the window and uh… light bulbs? So I’m not gonna lie. I hesitated. Dave went upstairs, and I sat there. I’ve never really been afraid for my life or anything like that.

I guess I wasn’t afraid for my life. I just didn’t want to be annoyed. Like knowing you have to take the trash out, your mom’s screaming to hurry up, and you are on the phone with a really attractive girl making progress toward understanding her heart. Yet in the background is a piercing call to empty the trash receptacle sounding forth louder and louder. The concept of getting into a bloody street brawl was like an annoying nag. The screams had gone on for awhile, violent and angry

I listened.

“That piece of [Expletive delted] cop is gonna [Expletive deleted] die…” screamed the angry lover of Tupac, hater of Faith Hill into my bedroom window.

“I don’t wanna get stabbed right now, that’s kind of exhausting, like fighting for my life is kind of obnoxious.” I thought to myself.
Let alone it was rude to let the drug dealer perpetuate a sterotype, he certainly could do something like hug Mr. suspected police officer. It would help public relations a ton. Truth was I did have to go outside and up the stairs to the second floor. There was a very low gate offering pathetic piece of mind. A midget could comfortable see over it, and respectably the late Gary Coleman would have stood a head taller than Mr. Wilson from Home Improvement at this gate.

Yet, I wasn’t called to be a wuss. I was called to be a Christian. Work to do, shanks to dodge, ya know? So I walked up the stairs, didn’t make eye contact with the official spokesperson for Haterade. A friendly Mexican gang member stood next to him, also discussing the latest trends in Cop management, and how much they love government spending. I quickly entered the main floor, where most of our makeshift staff and several others from EMC made plans.

“So that guy out there wants to kill me.” I said…

“ Yeah it’s true.” Affirmed Dave, lending his strong moral support.

Then everybody left for the van.

I know it might seem strange of me to hesitate to walk out to the van. Something was just plain uninviting  between the Mexican and the angry drug dealer. Yet once again, I had to go out for ministry. So I made my peace with God, walked outside. Nervous, even a little shaky, I walked out through the small uncomforting gate, down the sidewalk, and between the two rageaholics.     

I now know Exodus a little better.

Strange to stand between two forces, two people who have a vendetta to end me. Pulled in absolution to end my life.

The Israelites walked through the dead sea thousands of years ago. I think I’ve missed that. I don’t stop to think about it often. I read through Exodus like a VHS set on fast forward. Maybe that’s why God tells us to meditate. To dwell on the fact that millions of people crossed in haste a sea. Waves parted into walls on the left and the right. Maybe the Israelites could see massive fish, old sunken ships, fossils, rocks, sea shells, coral. It would have been foreign, alien. They escaped danger to enter into this new world and leave Egypt, through an unexplored foreign path, only to arrive on the other side in a wilderness.

Shocking. World shattering. As a little child you could have seen your imagination lived out, conch shells bigger than heads, sea anemones, urchins, crabs. Then I remember that the sea parting was the relieving part! Pharoh’s armies pursued behind them…
This all reminds of a psalm that means a lot to me… It says in Psalm 77:19-20

                “Your path lead through the sea, your way through the mighty waters, though the footprints were not seen. You led your people like a flock by the hand of Moses and Aaron.”

Psalm 77 talks about all the incredible accomplishments of Exodus, and ends by telling us that God  knew what He was doing.

I safely arrived at the white van. Looking back at the violent hoodlums. Wondering what to do about them. Thurstin our body guard, and Chandler the brave cameraman took cupcakes and gave them to the two guys. They promptly ate them. So Chandler gave them more. The yelling faded. The drama over. The night went on and we traveled to Times Square once more. Ministry went on. No shanks were used.

In the dark moments of life it’s easy to get caught in fear, to believe in a terrible future, where pain and suffering have rigged the path. Yet God kicked up the dust, crushed some footprints into the ground, and marked a path beautiful and poetic. The most dangerous place is safe when in the hand of God. As the waves of life surround us we can firmly, and confidently remember, that God has a plan. Sometimes it is so crazy, so risky, so epic… it is underwater. It is where we last look. It is when we are at the precipice of hopelessness a way will open up. That… that is glorious. I hope those two guys get saved. They were a little offset by cupcakes. Maybe that act of love will win the day.  

Holocaust

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JFxylUv3mVk

Leave - By Glen Hansard, read this to that song for extra kicks and giggles...


I feel like a moron. Insensitive really.

My generation of Christianity is known for either associating with social justice or ignoring it. This week in New York City, my heart was crumbled and softened as I saw the finality of abortion.

I will never forget walking around the corner of a worn down building in Brooklyn to see David Pomerantz on his knees pleading with a young mother. Desperate, frantic even as he told the mother he would help her adopt the child, help her pay for it, help her choose life. Pleading for her to get a free sonogram with us and see her child. To know how important this decision she is making is. How final. He pleaded and pleaded trying everything and as her hardened heart stood unbreakable amidst the pleas Dave eventually just tried to tell her the harder truth.

He told her about abortion, how they do something so unnatural, so horrid. How they begin by scraping around in the womb of a woman with a round blade to remove her child, the life inside of her. He told her about how the doctors take the cut pieces of the fetus and reassemble them on the operating table just to make sure that they didn’t leave anything behind. Tears began to pour down the mother’s eyes. Her heart softening to the strong intense message. Yet she couldn’t hear anymore, stopped her ears, and ran in.

Dave got up and looked at us, tear brimmed eyes. Dave said he would remember that the rest of his life.

All I know is for the rest of her life. She will remember that.

It’s haunting.

Haunting to know that every girl who walks into that clinic could be a life lost.

It hit me. The severity of it all. The reality of it all. Abortion is a holocaust.

My friend saw a bag of dead babies being carried out the back. Surreal that it is even possible. It seems so barbaric, murderous, like John Wayne Gacy Jr., Ted Bundy, and Jeffery Dahmer made a family business. It is the haven of serial killing. It is death, it is brutal, and I knew it was evil.
My entire life, I knew abortion was wrong, I believed it. I talked about how it was wrong, knew facts, loved the sinner but hated sin… yet the gritty New York City Streets showed me firsthand the horrors of this generation. Sanctioned government murder. Millions.
MILLIONS.

These babies aren’t just an inconvenience, as we would be told, if given the chance we would see them by the identity they inherently have. Dave was an infant once, I was an infant once, your best friend was an infant once.

Suddenly the words social justice seem less like a sterile attempt to save the world as the life of a human being DOES depend on this.

Yet we didn’t just offer help to mothers. We offered the gospel. New Life.

And my heart was broken time and time again. This week 25 woman decided to get a free sonogram, to keep the child. That is incredible. It’s beautiful. I can’t help but shed tears though for the empty. For the mothers that toss and turn at night divest of the one bright spot in a dark painful life.

That is heartbreaking.

And for not ever really seeing that. For it not being real. For not praying for mothers to keep children with fervor. I feel like a moron.

It's like seeing the holocaust, and not doing anything.