22.3.10

Healthcare

I was really gonna go to sleep, but I noticed that some brothers and sisters are actually happy about the new healthcare implementation. But does the healthcare plan REALLY help anyone?

This plan was originally to implement a system of universal healthcare. This means, it's very similar to the system used in the UK, Canada, and wherever else the British Commonwealth is. It's very legalistic, and kinda goes against the ideas of a capitalist economy. The media might tell you otherwise, but this new plan is actually about first come first serve. What does that mean for you? It means that if someone's having a heart attack and needs immediate attention, hospitals now have the right to put you on hold (even if the person in front of you only has a minor cold). No one will be allowed to pay any amount to get immediate attention, no matter how severe the illness may be.

And if you chose to stick with your private insurance company, by 2014, you may see your insurance bill increase tremendously.

The most "evil" part of this scheme is that the president and ALL of congress is EXEMPTED from this law. That means that if Obama should (God-forbid) need an immediate liver transplant by next week, he'll get it by next week (no questions asked and NO WAIT!) They're basically saying with this that "our lives come before yours." But they make this plan sound so good! Why don't they go by the same law if it's so great?

This disturbing plan exists in Canada as well and is the reason many Canadian residents put aside savings so that if a family member gets severely ill, they would come to the United States to get IMMEDIATE attention. Guess what? TOO BAD, THAT'S NOT HAPPENING ANY LONGER!

Many Americans these days complain that we're the only industrialized nation that doesn't guarantee health care. Wake up guys! We shouldn't guarantee it.. having health care is a PRIVILEGE, NOT A RIGHT. Your health is personal. Leave the government out of it.

Here's my take on the recent and biggest headlines. Feel free to comment. I know I usually post Christian based things up on here, but I think this matter is really important for Christians as well to engage in, argue for or against, and further investigate. We're called to shine the light of Jesus in ALL aspects of our lives.

21.2.10

T-shirt design

hey guys,

I've created a t-shirt design that focuses on Matthew 22:37-39. I really did it because I had nothing to do, and creating t-shirts is a hobby of mine. But I really took it into consideration if I sold these t-shirts to my church in Syracuse, back home, to people in CRU, Seekers Christian Fellowship in NYC, and to friends and giving a portion of the money to help Haiti, or support missions, or something like that. I'm still looking to hear from God on what he wants or who to give to.

But here's the t-shirt design:









So the pricing really depends on how many people buy it. My initial goal is to sell to 50 people. If that's reached, the shirts will be 13.58 each. I will charge 15, because the rest will be funded elsewhere (tba..) I make absolutely no profit from doing this.

That means, 50 shirts will raise up to 71 dollars. But in addition, I may be asking for additional voluntary donation from anyone willing to give more. For example, if the money would go towards Haiti relief, it would go to The American Red Cross, and requested specifically for Haiti relief.

More info to come.

24.1.10

Just a thought.

For those of you who use AIM (AOL instant messenger), you know that feeling when you're on the computer and you're so bored that you just start reading what people have to say on their statuses. These days, It's either about "I'm out hanging with friends" or "I just lost my iPod. FML". We all respond to certain things that people may write in a totally different way. But what if we all took just a few quick seconds to write something positive on our statuses, something that would please God, something that would show a sense of who we are as Christians. Maybe it's an encouraging statement, or a bible passage you really like, or something along those lines. I don't know about you, but back home, most of my non-Christian friends hang out most often with their "Christian" friends. If one of these friends were to see a bunch of their friends talking about God's goodness, aren't we, in a sense, presenting God's goodness? Hence, the gospel?

(def.) Gospel: Good news.

I've written very random things on my status before. Many, many times, people actually respond to me, saying, "Are you okay?" or "what's that about?" So if people could so easily get themselves concerned in others' business just by reading a AIM profile status, how much more might a person wonder if everyone was lifting up God?

This is indeed, not to say that we don't have to go up to our friends and family and actually present the gospel to them, but don't you guys realize? Your AIM, twitter, Facebook statuses... they are for the whole world to see. If it's this easy, and we're still not using it to tell people the greatest news of all time, what makes you think that you'll actually go out to your community, your family, your friends, or the world to tell people? What makes us think we have the audacity to do so, if we fail to even present it in the simplest of ways.

None the less, we're weak without God. He's here to help, in every circumstance.

This went on for much longer that the "just a thought" I had imagine before writing this.

I got class tomorrow so I'll end here. ___

2.1.10

Urbana09

My new favorite Bible verse is Revelations 21:23.

v. The city does not need the sun or the moon to shine on it, for the glory of God gives it light, and the Lamb is its lamp.

Going to Urbana was honestly just more inspirational and motivational to do the things that I already had in mind. Didn't learn a lot of "new" information honestly. But this is just a personal thought of course. I'm sure it was much more informational for many other people.

But honestly, I strongly encourage anyone reading this post to attend Urbana 2012. (Flying there from might be a wiser choice, however.) Although you might hear a lot of the same things you've heard in the past, hearing it from different cultural and personal perspectives, it can be really motivational and even life-changing.

During the 4th night of Urbana, there were decision cards for all of the attendees to fill out and I marked down that I would commit to short-term missions. As of now, I have my mind set on missions in Japan. But even though we were encouraged to act now upon our decisions, my heart has to be fully set on God first, and must agree with what my mind is set on.

So why Japan? Well I'm glad you asked! Here are a bit of statistics first. (Just because Asians love it.) Japan is the 2nd most unreached people ground in the world. 0.2% of Japan's population claims to be Christian, and 0.15% are evangelists. 9% of teenage girls make themselves prostitutes. (Japan is one of the most wealthy countries in the world. Most teenage prostitutes don't need the money. They simply want extra money to indulge in materialism.)

I've always been fascinated by the culture in Japan. The way people behave, the foods they eat, their creativity, and their success in business. That's even the reason why I'm taking Japanese in college right now. I really hope to be fluent in a few years. (I know I know, watching anime will help me learn some new vocab, but I'm honestly not that interested in anime.)

But when I heard the negative side about Japan's culture, it made me even more eager to go there.

** I originally planned to write more, but my mind has just shut down for the day and I need some sleep. If Greg ever reads this, he'll probably nag me about giving this as a testimony sometime in the near future so expect to hear the rest soon.