often times people forget that God whooped that devil guy 2006 years ago and that we have nothing to fear from satan. yea, we should be worried about letting our guard down and being open to his attacks, but we have God on our side, what the heck do we have to fear? on music ministry we got hit on all sides from the devil, from personality conflicts to low morale to people getting sick to bad scheduling to people not being able to sleep, it goes on and on. i'm not saying that all this stuff is irrelevant cuz this devil dude should be taken seriously and dealth with, but we shouldn't let these things dwell on our minds. the pastors on our trip continually pounded into our heads this very point, but i think people continued to be hindered by the constant barrage of crap that came at us.
i'm a really chill dude, picture a nice green plump cucumber just chillin' in the fridge, waiting to be chopped up and put into a salad...now personify that, and you got me. but i'd be lying if i said i didn't get frustrated quite a few times during this trip at random things that hindered my performance on this trip, but i'd say that's where God spoke to me the most. yea, i roll with the punches just fine, but i still had my moments on this trip where i lost sight of the goal and what we had accomplished on this trip. the official count of people who recommitted is fifty, but i saw way more than fifty hands going up on this trip from my perspective at the soundboard during this past month. furthermore, we had four people accept Christ.
i dunno about you, but that is a very gnarly thing, in fact, i could describe it as gnarmax (gnarly to the max, a word i picked up from a guy we met in sd). the biggest thing i've learned from this missions trip is just keep running the race that God's given us, and to keep chuggin' along no matter what has happened, what's happening, or what's gonna happen, cuz God's grace and power allows us all to keep moving along no matter what the circumstances are. my own personal theme for the trip would be "tuning in...and chuggin' along".
thanks to all you guys who made this trip possible with your prayer and support, and especially to those who read my boring blog entries.
God bless!
07/16/2006
Houston, We Have a Problem
"houston, we have a problem. see, i promised my baby girl that i'd be..." i'm retarded, quoting bruce willis and armaggedon like that. but yea, music ministry is kickin' it here at houston. actually, not really chillin', cuz yesterday we had our first on the road performance, which went pretty well in general, and before that, we spent two whole days driving out here. i never realized texas was so fat that it required that much driving to get from one side to the other.
uh, so yea, i thought i was being smart by going on music ministry and that i'd be able to avoid the whole taiwan thing with the weather and mosquitoes but God is a tricky dude. we might as well be in taiwan with the weather here in houston, there are these nasty little rain storms that just show up at these random times of the day so it kicks up the humidity to +70%, not cool at all, and it's already stinkin' hot as heck here and the mosquitoes here are having a field day with me. but it's been awesome being here, our team clicked really well with the youth here at efc nasa cuz it's a small english congregation of about 60 so we get to know everyone here personally and make a lot of new friends. we're staying at the efc nasa church, which is a good deal, cuz they have a pretty new church with showers, a kitchen, and everything, and just a overall general home-y feeling. another awesome thing is that our team just continues to grow closer and closer and our group chemistry steadily improves every day, which is a must on a month long missions trip. one more gnarly thing has been the soundboard that we bought this year and all the sound equipment we got. it's such a blessing from God cuz we have enough equipment and power to sound pretty hot at a decent sized church with a congregation of maybe up to 100 on our system. it is definitely a lot less stressful than last year's music ministry performances, but i suppose part of it is just really learning to depend on God more and more, and of course having roy sher, aka the luckiest man alive watching my back.
so yea...that's it for now, take care peoples. as ange would say, peas outside!
07/08/2006
i'm too tired to think of title so this will have to do
i'm pretty pooped but happy. last night's performance at harvest la, our second performance, was much improved from our first performance in pretty much every aspect. the group was a lot more relaxed and you could see the confidence on everybody's faces after we had a light practice and prayed. people really stepped up in the drama and worship and yea, i'm a happy guy right now.
it was also sweet to see so many respond to our program, especially kids that i've seen grow up in the church, along with my peers, and to also really see them getting into the worship, being able to forget those around them and to totally focus on God and nothing else. hearing feedback from people we knew, including parents, was a definite encouragement. another bonus was having a successful car wash today, saturday, and seeing more people support us financially by letting us wash their cars.
James Chen
at a glance
- Home church
- EFC San Diego, EFC Los Angeles
- Instruments
- iPod and soundboard
- School
- 2nd year at UCSD, majoring in molecular biology
- Hometown
- San Diego/Los Angeles, CA
- Hobbies
- makin' out with my pillow, cracking jokes, watching the clouds go by, doing manly things at the gym or playing sports, anything involved food, kickin' it with friends, being random
- Bible verse
- I eagerly expect and hope that I will in no way be ashamed, but will have sufficient courage so that now as always Christ will be exalted in my body, whether by life or by death. Philippians 1:20
- Movies
- Legends of the Fall, Armageddon
- Favorite Quote
- "There is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose."
my story
Uh, I’m a good ol’ fashioned Taiwanese guy born in the gnarly town of San Diego and I was quite the mischievous boy who gave my parents plenty of white hairs. I loved playing soccer and tennis as a little kid and I still love playing these sports, along with football, ultimate, and Tae Kwon Do. In 6th grade, my family moved up to Los Angeles and through my junior high advisors at church I really grew, not only spiritually, but mentally and emotionally as well. In 7th grade at a winter conference, I just felt really convicted during a worship session to seriously accept God as my Savior and no longer fool around with my faith.
Since then, I’ve come a long way in my walk as a Christian, and my most powerful experiences with God are normally when I’m doing sound during worship. You know that feeling where you just hear the congregation roaring at the top of their lungs in one voice praising the big guy upstairs and you get chills cuz it’s just so intense? Yea, that’s what I imagine heaven to be like, all the angels and saints singing so loud that it rocks the very heavens. It is my desire to share this experience with fellow brothers and sisters on this trip, which is why I am participating in Music Ministry ’06. That and I’m good at packing and moving equipment.
i confess...
- I've frozen up on stage.
- I don't read my Bible everyday.
- There are times when I tune out from God.
- I've fallen asleep during sermons.
- Sometimes I choose other things over quiet times.
- I peek during prayer sometimes.