Life is so good!

Life is so exciting and good. Maybe because the God that we serve is so Good. God is ever so gracious and merciful. I cannot help but praise Him. I cannot help but worship Him. Whoah...

Driving to "work," I was overwhelmed by the beauty of God, who He is and what He stands for. Looking up at the bright and awe-strucking sunlight streaming down at me... I felt a sense of God's affirmation in knowing that I'm in the right place at the right time. This is the best feeling in the world. There is no other place that I would rather be than here. We always try to box our God in... putting and fitting Him into a shape, structure, "thing", that we want Him to fit neatly into. God needs to bust out, overturn the state of how our world is currently functioning, and make all things Bad into Good (recall, "See... I make all things New"). Only God can do it... and it is our utmost privilege to be used by Him to do these "good" things. Can we ever concoct out of our own will (and sinful nature) to do Good? NEVER! It is only by His Grace that we can ever do Good.

For anyone reading this and want to share about your expressions of praise and adoration to our God ... do comment :)

Debriefing...

The "Taste of Japan" event was really good. Though it's always difficult for the person (who is involved in it) to assess the "success" of the event (whatever that means), I really believe that God was ultimately glorified through it all. Let me tell you... I was stressed prior to the event. Melissa was cooking and baking up a storm at my house (there were times when I left my house to pick up ingredients from T&T and also to pick up Shisuka from Yorkdale). She seems to be fairly familiar with my kitchen now :) She made Japanese cheesecake, red bean filled mini-pancakes, fried pastry thingys, potato snacks, etc. I wish I knew the authentic names for each snack, but I guess my description has to do for now... It was nearing 6:15pm and I hadn't left my house yet. After picking up Shisuka, we headed to my house, so that she could grab a bite to eat before heading out to the church. Because I was setting up for the church, I had to leave my house pronto, so I left Mel and Shisuka alone at my house (them meeting for the first time that day!). What could I do...

Driving to the church, I got a phone call from Kev saying that the church was still locked and that they were all waiting outside. I was seriously sweating by this point. I told the church secretary to have the church opened by 6pm, and it was 6:40pm and the church was still locked... what are we going to do!!! I was panicking. Kenny called my cell phone and I told him of the situation and he said that he was almost at the church and he'll figure out what to do. He then called me back like 5 min. later saying that they opened the church... thank God! By the time I got there, it was 6:45pm and I had to set up all the displays, powerpoints, books, etc. Since I've never been to the church before and didn't know their facilities too well, it was also challenging to figure out where everything was. People were coming up to me asking me what to do and when we were going to start and why this, where that... I was going to scream at all of them to leave me alone! I couldn't think properly... But somehow, everything worked out. I was grateful to Kenny and Mindy for helping to set up the books, CD, displays and the brochures. They were even creative putting up the posters using the coat hangers ;) Kev set up the sound systems and got the technical aspects working properly. The church secretary was gracious to help set up the tables and put cloths on them. Josh' parents were awesome in putting up the Japan posters and the flag, making the place look more authentic. Mel and Shisuka arrived and had the delish Japanese snacks set up. By the time we started, it was 7:30pm... not too bad :)

The most significant time was our threesome prayer before we started. It really helped us to get calm and still before the Lord, asking Him to work and be glorified by all of this. We knew that the pressure wasn't on us to "perform," but that we were servants for His ongoing work. It really puts one to ease, knowing that God is in control and not us :) The rest of the event was a blur. We showed some clips on the OMF ministry in Japan (including the Ghents' ministry), Josh shared about his goals to reach people with disabilities and Kev got the chance to share about how God has been leading him to embark on this venture to Aomori, Japan. Though there were some technical problems, the prayers uttered and the awareness of what God is doing in Japan was clearly evident throughout our time. I thought about all those people praying for this event and knew that God was answering each prayer, because many sitting there were blessed and challenged. The best part about the event was the fellowship at the end. People lingered around enjoying the many Japanese dishes and talking away... it was awesome to see. One guy came up to me and showed a desire to join the Japan Kids Gospel Music Team. That was neat.

Driving Shisuka home, we had a really good heart-to-heart talk... (can't really mention on this blog what we talked about). Getting out of the car, she prayed for me. The two words that stuck out during her prayers were: Righteousness and Holiness. These two things have been sticking out to me the last couple of weeks (is it because of the calendar?)... Anyways, just a random side thought :)

What a joy to be a part of God's team (as Pastor Sean preached this Sunday)! Even though I am not technically "going out longer term" myself to the "mission-field," I am the sender, encourager and empowerer to those that are called to go out and spread the love to those who so desperately need it. I am part of the link, piece in the puzzle, cord to the plug, ... ok... I'm getting carried away... I'll stop now ;) ... You get the gist...

Taste of Japan

Josh and Kevin will be sharing their testimony at the TASTE OF JAPAN happening on February 17, 2006 (Friday!). I'll be helping to coordinate the event and perhaps MC-ing it too! If you're interested in coming out, please do contact me: jess.han@gmail.com


It'll be held at Fellowship Baptist Church from 7~9 pm... Josh Grisdale will be working with the disabled in Tokyo and Kevin will be ministering in Northern Japan up in Aomori. All are welcome!

High School... Again?!

So many coincidences and encounters have been happening in and through my life... I feel like everyday is an adventure of some sort (so exciting!). This past Saturday, Steph, Christine and I ventured out to look at some bridal stuff (wedding dresses, bridesmaid dresses, etc) for Steph's wedding (October 21, 2006!).

It was fun. We drove downtown and went to this one place called Veronica's and I was able to try on a fantastic strapless dress (long)... Such a pretty pink! It was great to try on all sorts of pretty things... made me realize how much I miss dressing up and going someplace fancy! ... such a girl I am ...

Anyways, we stopped by this place at Queen street called "Le Gourmand." It's a brilliant place (Great food. Great coffee. Great people.) and Christine was able to pick out a mug for Debbie. We dashed across the street to a wedding dress shop and went in to get Steph to try on some gorgeous dresses. It was absolutely insane seeing all these wanna-be brides looking for the "perfect dress." Anyways, there was this girl there with her mom, browsing along the endless varieties of white dresses... she looked so familiar. She also glanced at me, but didn't say anything, so I just moved on. Steph tried on around 20 dresses (one of them looked absolutely stunning!) and decided to come back with mom, who will make the "final decision." Christine asked us whether Steph found anyone to play music for the ceremony. Steph and I both thought of Susanna. She majored in the Cello and plays concerts... she's absolutely awesome in that instrument. But since high school, we've lost touch (she went to McGill and we stayed in Toronto) and it would've been difficult to get her phone number again. We then went over to Christine's place and lounged a bit, looking at pictures and watching TV. Her and Jamie drove us home and I got ready to pick up Sara from work (Yorkdale Mall). We went into Yorkdale (I wanted to browse a bit) and I went into Jacob and bought myself a sweater and some tank tops. When I came out of the store, I saw at a distance Susanna and her friend Irene (whom I saw at the Bridal shop some hours earlier)!!! It was insane... pretty crazy. We hugged and I asked her what she was doing on the 21st of October and if she wanted to play for Steph's wedding. She agreed and was so happy to know that Steph was engaged. It was one of those moments. Anyways...

I came home that night and was just reflecting on these past couple of weeks and realized that there were many high school friends/acquaintances who were coming back into my life. It's a bit weird... All throughout University, it was always difficult to keep in touch with my high school mates, but these days, it seems that fellow high school-ers are coming back into my life.

Steph and I were talking about this on our way to work this morning and she also mentioned some peeps from high school coming into her life as well... Is there a purpose and a reason for this? Who really knows... All I know is when one set of relationships seem to be coming to a close (not in a bad way), God opens another set of relationships to focus on. I was going through my high school yearbook and it's funny to know how young we all were...

Addicted... to lip balm...

One of my favourite things of all time is (and will always be) lip balm. I really love it. It just soothes and glides over your lips and makes your face smell delish and lovely! I love lip balm. There are so many different kinds to choose from and I always relish every one... (what a loser I am!). Currently, I'm using the Vaseline Lip Therapy, as well as the Kiehl's baby lip balm.
Hmmm.... I also really love the Bigalow one by Bath and Body Works... smells like vanilla, tastes like honey!!! Anyways, this is such random blog entry... I love it! Tomorrow, I'm supposed to try on bridesmaid dresses with Christine and Steph. I feel fat and bloated, but I guess I can lose some pounds before the wedding in October. Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh........ no more sweets, cookies, chocolates from now on! "diet starts from tomorrow"... Just got off the phone with Melissa... can't believe the way that God's been orchestrating her life. It almost seems to be pre-destined or something (ah the dreaded controversial word). There are so many people around that's been changing and it's like unbelievably awesome to see (and be a part of). Life feels good and living (truly living) feels even better!

... this is like the most random-est blog ever!

Birthdays galore...

There are so many birthdays this time of year... For someone who hates shallow relationships, I really want to be there for people's b-days whenever I can, but I've been finding it more and more difficult to keep up the social contacts. I didn't realize how hard it really is to maintain a social life...regardless of how non-existent it can be!

Oooohhhh... this jazz music that I'm listening to is sooooo sooothing!

Anyways, back to the birthday thing... Yes. Birthdays for others... Hmmm... right. Let's get focused... (I can't concentrate with this music playing in the background). I realized recently that there are friends and contacts that I totally don't keep in touch with anymore. It's really sad that at one point in your life, you seem inseparable to certain people and then... nothing. It's sad how relationships don't always seem to last and we move on to the next group of people that share in what you're doing at the moment. Moving churches when you haven't really moved locations has been a bit difficult for me. I'm such a relational person that I get attached to people easily (yet I don't open up easily...which is a bit ironic). Ah well... that's life I guess.

What a drama queen I am... :(