my birthday

well technically the anniversary to my birthday is this week. i don't much care about it. heck there are some religious ppl who don't even celebrate it. i find this time of year to be a time to renew, reflect and move forward. school starts, church begins a new year in some sense. for me getting older is another page of turning wise. so much has happened since i graduated high school . i'm not married yet and some ppl are pushing me to find the right person. for me it's difficult with the job i'm in, the inflexible schedule to go out. so if anybody is reading this, there is certain things that i'm looking for. just someone who shares the same belief as i do and like anything to do with arts, whether it's music, films, paintings etc. and another on october 6th a monday, bruce cockburn is coming to edmonton and i would like to go. if there's anyone interested in joining me, email me.
anyways, it's going to be an interesting week i think.

back from japan

well i spent friday through sunday in osaka. i enjoyed my time there. i spent the first night at the youth hostel which was really clean and big. spent saturday watching rakugo, a japanese style of comedy and story telling. i was surprised with it being packed. i had some great food too. monday i spent sometime in tokyo. the things i've noticed is the amount of people everywhere. i've also noticed that there seems to be lots of foreign ppl too. overall i would say this was a great trip. so much i've learned, and it was enjoyable. would i like to live there? maybe if it's in osaka or some smaller town. but i would like to go back from time to time.

spending time on trains

it seems that's what i have been doing the last 2 days. on wednesday i went to kyushu which is the southern island in Japan. anyways i spent 2 days on two different prefectures. one in a big city and the other a small hot spring area. i enjoyed my times at both place. everywhere i go there are people. the thoughts that have gone while i travel is this. even though i understand and speak the language, this place is a foreign country to me. traveling around on a train does takes its toll. however since i enjoy train, it was enjoyable. the hot spring city was just wonderful. the mountains was beautiful, it's nothing like the rockies but there is something spectacular of the views. walking around tired me so the last couple nights i've been just relaxing, doing not much. starting friday i am looking forward to my time in osaka, a place i haven't visited n 16 years.

day 2 of japan

well day 2 of japan is now at end. arrived on monday the 3rd with little incident. had some problem getting contact with my brother but did manage to meet up with him. had a late supper with brother and cousin. slept at their place. in the morning caught a train to nagoya, which is 2 hours south of tokyo.(where i stayed the night) met up with my uncle and went to my cousin's place. saw her baby and spent much of the time there. afterwards went to a shopping centre which had many rows of interesting shops. next morning i will try to get a train early to go south. hopefully i get up early. i'm getting sleepy so i will just end it here.

happy new year

happy new year to all. wow i can't believe a year has gone by again. this year there's one day extra making it 366 days. anyway, there was so much going on in my life. work was busy. on personal side not much. i hope that this year i start to make some difference. as well the focus in my life to be God always. i hope to live day by day. living to the best i can. and i hope for everyone the same. as well to enjoy life.

in the middle of the evening...

as i was heading off to a local supermarket, last night i was confronted by a man. this young man asked if i could spare him a nickel. (i realized later i have to call security or the police. however being a christian i did what i thought was the right thing.) anyways, i talked with him, first i offered to buy him something at the supermarket. he told me he was banned from the store for trying to shoplift. so then i suggested i let him eat at the restaurant. he said that he wanted to go to west edmonton mall. i decided to drive him there. as i was driving, he told me he came from b.c., had a job, cashed his paycheck and then got robbed. got evicted for not being able to pay his rent. (i'm not sure if it's all true, but it could be) he then lost all of his stuff while at a shelter downtown. i had to be back at the restaurant so i dropped him at the mall. worried, i went back to the mall after work, seeing if i could find him. i didn't find him. so i'm worried, i wish someone nice took him in or found him a place to stay. i'm reminded how Jesus said, that we will always have the poor. we here in this north america, most of us christians are rich, not just monetarily but rich in our heart. (or so i tend to believe) i'm always wondering if there is anything i could do for the poor, than just buying the street paper, buying a coffee here and there. maybe that is all i could do and God probably sees it and is just glad someone is doing something, at least. so if there is anyone could help me in knowing what is should i have done with this young man, please talk to me. i am ever grateful and thankful for any good suggestions.

first sunday of 2007

this sunday became one of the fullest for me. i started off this sunday by going to holy trinity anglican church for the early service. i was planning to go to the 1030 service, but decided to go earlier. the reason is that sean who is the assistant at holy trinity was recently ordained as a priest. and this sunday was his first time celebrating and leading communion. i was impressed and looking foward to him leading in the future.
second, after the service, i rushed to st. timothy anglican. for at this church, my friend joseph walker started his ministry as newly appointed rector to this parish. i wanted to see what kind of church this was, and it served as a good opportunity for me to attend. i noticed that the reading was different from holy trinity in that st. timothy had readings for epiphany. wheras holy trinty focused on the baptism. i need to reflect later on these readings. anyone wanting to read any of the readings, could find on holy trinity website, and also on sol cafe. what i enjoyed was how joe lead children time. i can still recall his daughter, sarah-joy saying, daddy i am going to pray for you. that in itself is a reminder of all of us to pray for our leaders, spritual and of other.
so after this service, i went home. i was planning to have a relaxed afternoon before heading to sol cafe. however i decided to forgo the plan and head to the japanese church. i was not disappointed the church has added some new ppl. personally i probably will not attend the church if it continues the way it is in regards to the message. aside from it, i have not much problem. i discovered it is harder to attend a church where everybody knows you. it is harder to escape.
finally my church pilgrimage led me to sol cafe. a church i enjoy and love. today was more relaxed and it was what i needed after the journey. it started with the reading of lectionary. and kevin mentioning prayer for our leaders. bethany spoke on communion to reflect how the communion has been celebrated over hundreds of years. this was my fourth communion. and probably the only one where everyone was under 40 years of age. we finished by writing letters. most ppl did write, i am putting it off for later. maybe tomorrow or tuesday, probably tuesday when i could really sit down and read back on the readings.
well the rest of night was okay. i relaxed and just went to sleep after midnight.