Back to the Future Part III

Okay, goofy post time. The past couple of days I have been sick. During this time of being sick and laying in bed for hours and hours I have had the opportunity to watch some movies. Today on tv, Back to the Future Part III came on. Cool movie by the way. Well I believe I noticed an inconsistency in the movie and if any of you guys are familiar with this movie or want to go watch it please check if a flaw has been made. I would love feedback.

So here it is. How is it that the ravine that Marty and Doc saved Clara Clayton from, was named Clayton Ravine, in memory of her falling into that ravine and dying. And yet at the same time on Doc’s tombstone it said he was survived by his beloved Clara. I mean, their relationship started because he saved her from falling into the ravine. So how was it still named after her for falling into it if he saved her life? Feel free to comment. Did I just miss something or did the writer make a booboo? Yes I said booboo.

Back to the Future Part III

Okay, goofy post time. The past couple of days I have been sick. During this time of being sick and laying in bed for hours and hours I have had the opportunity to watch some movies. Today on tv, Back to the Future Part III came on. Cool movie by the way. Well I believe I noticed an inconsistency in the movie and if any of you guys are familiar with this movie or want to go watch it please check if a flaw has been made. I would love feedback.

So here it is. How is it that the ravine that Marty and Doc saved Clara Clayton from, was named Clayton Ravine, in memory of her falling into that ravine and dying. And yet at the same time on Doc’s tombstone it said he was survived by his beloved Clara. I mean, their relationship started because he saved her from falling into the ravine. So how was it still named after her for falling into it if he saved her life? Feel free to comment. Did I just miss something or did the writer make a booboo? Yes I said booboo.

Pics from Christmas at home.

Above:Wade doing his thing by the Christmas tree.
Below:Me covered in snow after sledding.


Picture time with the fam and some of the grandparents.
It snowed a lot in New Mexico. It was really pretty.

Now you might ask why I posted this last picture. Well, this is my friend Michael trying to hide behind a pillow because he doesn't want his picture taken. Well I thought it appropriate to post this picture and let everyone see his pretty face. Your welcome Michael. Haha.

I'm back and I'm back.

Hello all. I am now back in Beijing and start back at work tomorrow. It was soooo good to be home for a while and see everyone that I saw. Thanks to everyone that I saw. Thank you for your questions and just being a friend. You are greatly appreciated.
I am also back in the since that I now writing again on my blog. It's been a while since I have posted anything and I appoligize for not doing that. In these last 4 months that I am here I will try to keep you guys posted on what's going on.
I want to talk a little bit about something God has been teaching me lately. Since being in china, I have had some very hard times. Through those times though, I have come to understand the following passage more and more.
2 Cor. 1:3-7
"Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our affliction, so that we may be able to comfort those who are in any affliction, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God. For as we share abundantly in Christ's sufferings, so through Christ we share abundantly in comfort too. If we are afflicted, it is for your comfort and salvation; and if we are comforted, it is for your comfort, which you experience when you patiently endure the same sufferings that we suffer. Our hope for you is unshaken, for we know that as you share in our sufferings, you will also share in our comfort. "

I have come to know the comfort of God experiencially here in china and then through this passage, have come to know that through this comfort I have the ability and responsibility to comfort other people in their afflictions with the comfort that God comforted me with. So a question I have been pondering lately is how do I comfort people in their sufferings and afflictions the way God comforts me in those? Feel free to lend your ideas or points God has taught you.

Through this whole passage I feel I understand and identify with Paul and can actually feel what he is saying and can feel the emotion behind what he is saying. This next set of verses, I also identify with.
2 Cor. 1:8-11
"For we do not want you to be ignorant, brothers, of the affliction we experienced in Asia. For we were so utterly burdened beyond our strength that we despaired of life itself. Indeed, we felt that we had received the sentence of death. But that was to make us rely not on ourselves but on God who raises the dead. He delivered us from such a deadly peril, and he will deliver us. On him we have set our hope that he will deliver us again. You also must help us by prayer, so that many will give thanks on our behalf for the blessing granted us through the prayers of many. "

It's kind of amusing that he specifically says asia in this section and then basically explains a lot of what I have felt in the past 7 months and even now. Maybe there is just something about asia that brings this out. haha.

In the next couple of days I will be posting more pictures from when I was home over the break. This picture at the top is from when my family and I went to new mexico over new years to visit some family friends. It snowed a lot while we were there and this day we had been sledding down a hill. Also, thank you so much for anybody that prays for me while I am over here. I sincerely appreciate it because I know that our God answers them.

He walks on the wings of the wind.

"He walks on the wings of the wind." Psalm 104:3
A couple of years ago a friend of mine was going through a hard time in her life. Her dad had died suddenly while she was at college. He had become a Christian a couple years before that, but this was a still a hard time in her life. A week or so later after she had returned to school, I saw her on campus sitting on a bench reading her Bible. I walked up to her and asked her what she was reading. She said "He walks on the wings of the wind." And then asked me, "Do you feel that wind today?"
I came across this verse again just now and was reminded by my friend again that Jesus walks on the wings of the wind. He is all around us. He is near. That is a comforting statement to me. Next time you go outside and feel the breeze hit you, I hope you think of this verse and find joy in that truth.

Pure faith.

A couple of weeks ago I was reading in 1 Peter and this passage stuck out to me.

"Thank God, the God and Father of our Lord, Jesus Christ, that in His great mercy we men have been born again into a life full of hope, through Christ's rising again from the dead! You can now hope for a perfect inheritance beyond the reach of change and decay, reserved in Heaven for you. And in the meantime you are guarded by the power of God operating through your faith, till you enter fully into the salvation which is all ready for the denouement of the last day. This means tremendous joy to you, I know, even though at present you are temporarily harassed by all kinds of trials and temptations. This is no accident, it happens to prove your faith, which is infinitely more valuable than gold, and gold as you know, even though it is ultimately perishable, must be purified by fire." (J.B. Phillips version)

I read the part about our faith being like gold and that is must be purified and it hit me that that is what Jesus is doing in me in this season. He is purifying my faith. Taking out the impurities and then molding it into what He wants it to be. It was so awesome. And not only that, but also that it earlier talks about how it is no accident that I am where I am. Jesus's hand is all over what is going on in my life and it is for my good and so that I may know Him more and have a purer faith. I love that. PTL.

Poem

Hey guys,

Here is a poem that a friend of mine wrote that I thought was awesome. It conveys really well what I think we as Christians, at least me anyway, have touble saying. Enjoy.

Inspiration

There lies in me a longing deep
To praise, to laugh, to mourn, to weep.
My spirit, from its core, seeks out
Some way, some how to let it out.
Flowing from the heart the mouth speaks,
But will this fulfill what my soul seeks?

This burning love, how to describe
Was shown to me first, it will not hide.
I want so much for all to see
The rich elation that’s now in me.
But I can’t begin to think of how
To convey the love that’s in me now.

Can words, in essence, be so bold
As to tell of dreams and thoughts untold?
And to the heart can they be true
To somehow express emotions new?
How can one possibly convey
The depths of the soul in any way?

Not from my mind, but something more
The words come from the One I adore.
Just like the Psalms of David’s time,
He gives the words for beautiful rhyme.
My Savior, my Lord, my Friend
Expresses Himself through me to the end.

Labor Day Weekend

Yo guys. This past weekend was labor day weekend and we got 3 days off to celebrate. My friend Nathan and I got to go to northern China to go visit some people there that I knew. It was a really cool trip. We rode a train for ten hours through the night to get there and on the way back. It was fun experience. Here are some pics of the weekend.This is me on top of a small mountain outside of the city we were visiting. I was freezing!!
This is Nathan drinking his milk tea, and James and I in our grass eating poses. This was taken at a Mongolian restaurant. It was awesome. I love the food over here more and more.
This is me in a kind of market in the city we were visiting. It was in the Hui(pronounced Way or Wei) part of town. The Hui are chinese muslims who are spread all over China. We got to see one of there mosques while we were there.

Please pray for me as I'm over here. I love it here more all the time but it's also hard being here sometimes. The Lord is teaching me so much but at the same time stretching me, and as you know stretching is uncomfortable. I don't know about you guys but I like being comfortable. Maybe that is why I am over here. Haha. Well one of the things that I know now more than ever is that I can totally trust where Jesus has me and where He is taking me and what He is teaching me, and I can do this because He is good and He loves me. I hope that does not sound shallor because in the last 3 months that has become so real to me. That I am His son and He is a good Father. I love that.
Thanks guys. Later.