I’ve been wont to complain about how it sucks to be doing my training in the gym. Ever since I tweaked my foot I’ve been feeling caged on the treadmill and elliptical machines. On the machines I can’t think about anything, it’s too stuffy and hot and I’m always dripping with sweat. I’m always staring […]
My grandfather (ah gong, or 外公, but we call him gong gong), driven by winds of Communist change, arrived in Taiwan in the 1940s. He was a Fuzhou businessman, 26 at the time. He was a businessman, relatively wealthy and educated, and fled from the incoming Communists. He met my grandmother (ah ma, or 外媽 […]
On the days when the weather is right, I swear I can feel the tickle of young love: the kind that’s radiant, inviting, and easy to fall into. It’s simple and charming and as light as goosefeathers. On some odd days, I can vaguely remember the approach to the precipice of old love, woolen, worn […]
There was some sort of relief, I decided, in having set foot in the Occupy camp and finding it quiet. Wednesday, Oakland was paraded across the global consciousness as national news media displayed scenes of urban warfare, with ghostly images of terror-stricken faces sent helter-skelter across the airwaves. Zach showed me the frontpage of the […]
I smelled it coming last week, but it didn’t arrive until today. It smelled like autumn, it was warm rain, ticklish; it was musty with diamond dew and faded memories of running through these trees at our old church camp site, redwood trees tickling the clouds and the sweet fragrance of pine cones and the […]
If you lean too hard, you’ll go tumbling out of shadows, into the lake. Look, like how the leaves strain against their cuffs in the wind, leaning into the goldenrod breeze. Look at the lovers lean into each other, racing against sundown, lips brushing freckles, freckles brushing blades tickling toes. There is no time for thinking […]
On the heels of that post and in a different spirit, I also want to say that I’m thoroughly enjoying this trip to Portland with some friends. Good eats, good company and a lot of coffee, food trucks, walking, cooking, good beer, beautiful runs, downtime, and trees. That, plus like 30% of our waking time has […]
The Regeneration interns and I are wrapping up our year here at church. What have I learned? This was the year I stopped romanticizing urban ministry. I honestly came in with the idea that I was going to be really warmhearted and be an amazing rescuer and friend of the poor who could really see […]
My favorite photo, a photo by andrewhao on Flickr. Hey Dad, I think I’m only starting to realize that I’m lucky to be your son.
I’m wrestling a lot these days with the idea of Justice and what it looks like to be a Christian–and a human–in the midst of it. This week, the interns and I have been at the Not for Sale Academy receiving training on human trafficking before we head out to the Philippines in April. I’m feeling […]
