Ladies and Gentlemen, This picture is very real and authentic. Never have I eaten something so fresh and THICK! Thank You Lord for the creativity that You've given to the Japanese people!
Then God said, "Let us make man in our image, in our likeness, and let them rule over the fish of the sea..."
Now I finally have a deeper appreciation and understanding of this verse =P
Aren't they adorable? However they only got 48 points in one minute! Lord I really thank You for the most amazing parents in the whole wide world! They work wholeheartedly, and they sure can play hard too!
Lord, I know You are working and moving Your hand within my family.
Parents are the pride of their children. -Proverbs 17:6-
Below me is a part of Taipei City on a big screen. I am on 88th floor of the Taipei 101 looking down. The size of a car to me is like the size of an ant, then we are definitely much, MUCH smaller than an ant to the Almighty!
I am looking over the English homework (and making corrections, of course) which people from Visualtech & MPD turned in tonight. I asked them to create a dialog between themselves and a customer--either in-store or over the phone. I have to say I am very impressed with what they have come up with!
It's actually quite fun teaching them English, I have to say. Moreover, because of these lessons and homework practices, they want to speak more English so they practice with me! My goal is to, before I leave for the States, make sure each one of them CAN and KNOW how to deal with English-speaking customers. Serving these people has always been one of our advantages in the field of Opticianry/Optometry here in Taipei.
And also through the English teaching, I would like to share some good Word of the Lord to them! Lord, I want to glorify You in all that I do!
After doing a little GOOGLE-ing, I found out that Typhoons are actually named by numbers, and their names are simply for the sake of memorization.
Guess what? Typhoons are all girls in the northern hemisphere and guys in the southern hemisphere! Why? Go GOOGLE it then. I think they're named after some animals/mythological names also. Anyhow, their names are usually pretty and good to the ears. Their names do not represent what they are.
But our names do, and God's name does too.
A name for just about everything what if bottle is called water? what if river is called bucket? Everything has to have a name Or the world can never be in balance
L-I-G-H-T was spoken and named into place A-D-A-M spoke and named thousands of creatures M-E-T-H-U-S-E-L-A-H named for the sake of the blue planet
If He did not name LIGHT from the beginning of everything What would J-O-H-N-N-Y be called? Who knows? Just feeling real glad for the power of NAME
We cannot help speaking about what we have seen and heard. -Peter & John-
Jesus, thank You for today. I got to hang out with my parents for late lunch / early dinner. I lay bare before You and ask You to cleanse me once again white as snow. I love You Lord. Please don't take this love away from me. I nee You more and more every day.
Come and do what only You can do. I trust in You, Jesus!
Johnny
ps. Went up to Taipei 101 today. Felt the smallness of myself indeed. Man...I praise the Lord that this building is not the tower of Babel! It's really cool to be up there and look down. Is that what You see, Lord?
These are my Grandma's stones inside of her gall bladder, which got removed completely (and successfully) two days ago. Look at these tapioca-looking stones; they look more like blueberries or mulberries to me! The diameter of the coin is about 1cm.
In the future when your descendants ask their fathers, "What do these stones mean?" Tell them, "Israel crossed the Jordan on dry ground." For the Lord your God dried up the Jordan before you until you had crossed over... He did this so that all the peoples of the earth might know that the hand of the Lord is powerful and so that you might always fear the Lord your God.
Was it a coincidence that there are 12 stones in my Grandma's gall bladder? Actually there were seven, and then two of them crumbled into seven smaller stones. These stones cannot do any good to our body. They cause some severe problems!
Nonetheless, God got me reading through Joshua 4 once again and I really see that the hand of the Lord is powerful and I gotta be in awe all the time and fear Him because He is just THAT BIG and POWERFUL!
Also pray for the Laurie family. Christopher Laurie, son of Pastor Greg Laurie of Harvest Christian Fellowship in Riverside, CA, died yesterday morning in a car accident in Riverside. He and his wife are expecting another daughter this November. He's only 33 years old.
Lord, I pray that You will pour our Your love and comfort and peace upon the Laurie family. I know that Christopher is right now with You in heaven. Bless his soul and keep him safe in Your arms, Father. Thank You. Last but not least: click here. A great prophetic message by Wendy Alec--founder of GOD TV--concerning the revival in California that is yet to come! I hope that every one of you will be going to USC this Saturday and Sunday night for the meeting with Todd Bentley concerning the revival in Southern California!
It's the inside outside upside down Kingdom Where you lose to gain and you die to live
I want to be with You Where You are You're the Servant of all
Burn us up We give up O King, O would You burn us in the furnace of Your desire Won't You throw me in the fire
This certainly is a Kingdom without logic and beyond understanding. But I want to grasp that idea and peek into that wondrous land of honey and milk. Just one glance. Make me a kid, Jesus.
FIRST OF ALL, ALICE IS ON THE IHOP ad FOR THEIR UPCOMING CONFERENCE!!! WOOHOO!!!!
Grandma is doing very well after the removal of her gall bladder yesterday morning. I'll post a picture of these 6 HUGE STONES inside of her gall bladder (OMG those are pretty big!). Dad, Mom, and I gathered together before we left home to pray together for GMa who was in the surgery I used Psalm 91 in the prayer -- the Lord is our Refuge. Lord, activate the hunger for more of You in my life and in my family's lives! I don't want to live a stupid and boring life that's not what you've planned for me! I confess that my body is weak but my spirit is super willing! I want to die daily and just let You take over my day.
A-Ma (my grandma) is so brave and strong that she started to get out of bed by herself!! I believe the Lord is speeding up her healing process from the surgery! Come on! Every day after work I get really tired. And over the past month I can really feel the stress, or the weariness rather, that my parents have almost every day! And certainly the body can be so weak and tired after 12 hours of work! But I know the more tired I am, the more I should come before You and hang out. Lord, I don't like to be ignored and neglected; therefore, I don't want You to feel ignored. I want to hang out and spend more time with You even though I am tired. I want to love You, Jesus!Johnny
One of my favorite cakes from Hua-Lian made from Taro and Sweet Potato. I was so excited to eat them!!!! Whoever likes this can certainly be my best friend! The softness of the cake plus the sweetness of taro and sweet potato..... MMmmmmmMMMmmm~~
I think I can eat this stuff for eternity! That makes me think about whether I can eat the Bread of Life for eternity like these amazingly delicious snacks! Lord, help me to develop a huge desire and apetite for Your word more and more so that I can be filled and not be hungry!
I am the living bread that came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever. This bread is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world. - Jesus
Hanging out with all these college kids brought me back to middle school again. We started to reminisce all the stupid and fun stuff we all did together individually and as a class such as: imitating teachers, cheating (Lord have mercy!), got cut by a knife, reading comics during class, being smacked by Bio teacher, and math teacher's unforgettable action--cheek pinching (ouch). Hopefully we'll get together and go back to school and say hi to all those amazing teachers (they are still teaching fervently I suppose!). I have so much respect for them.
Therefore, my dear brothers, stand firm. Let nothing move you. Always give yourselves fully to the work of the Lord, because you know that your labor in the Lord is not in vain. -1 Cor 15:58-
Thank you Brian Cheung for the verse! You are a great brother to me and I am going to miss seeing you on campus, having meals, sharing lives, and of course, praying for people together! I know that God's got a path made just for you and you just gotta obey Him and walk on that glorious path of life. You are a great encourager and a person who is so in love with Jesus that you don't care what other people think anymore!
1. Love my God with all my heart, soul, mind, and strength 2. Love my neighbors as myself 3. Repeat 1 & 2 over and over and over again
Dad's not home tonight. He's in Tainan and will be back tomorrow. I had a wonderful time with my middle school classmates. So many awesome and funny memories kicked us all back to TunHua Middle School. I felt young once again (haha)! These are really some good friends of mine and I really thank the Lord that this reunion was pretty successful! Pictures will be posted tomorrow prob!
Got home and walked home with mom. Grandma's gall bladder removal surgery will take place this Wednesday (please keep her in prayers!). Mom, once again, asked me to pray for Grandma, and added something like: "You haven't been praying a lot." I did not understand why she said that, so I said to her, "I know I haven't been praying a lot, but I know that God does not only answer my prayers, but also yours."
She never wants to talk about Jesus. She just wants ME to pray. And whenever I ask her "Why don't you want to pray" or "Why don't you want to believe in Jesus", she always said, "I don't want to discuss this, OKAY?" or she will change the topic in a snap. I don't know what to say or what to do. She talks to NO ONE about what's deep inside because she basically lives a life of work. No heartfelt talks with girlfriends. No intimate talks with dad either. She has no friends to talk with, and she is not searching for friends because she thinks that she cannot trust anyone. I don't know why she has this attitude toward the world.
A big spiritual warfare's in my family. Dad's baptism has caused the enemy to intensify its attacks within my family. I hate you and you can just go die forever and burn in hell, satan. You have no place in my family. Leave right now in the Name of Jesus!!!!
I don't even know what to type right now. Thinking about this is giving me headaches and I do not know why. There have been too many incidents like this, and tonight was especially special because I got to spent some one-to-one time with her. Lord, I need You so much. I pray to You that You would tear down all the walls of doubt, insecurity, loneliness, and low temper within my family. Jesus, come and shake what can be shaken and rebuild Your temples within Dad, Mom, and myself. Lord my desire is to see my family to be saved during this trip! I know You are moving and You have used me to speak words of love to mom more and more. You have given me the greatest mother in the world and she is the greatest mom in the world in my eyes! Jesus, 我全家就是你家 (I give You my entire family)! What should I do, Jesus? I love my mom so much. She can be real harsh and pierce my heart her words, attitude, and actions, but I still love her. Jesus, if I cannot even love my mom, how can I love people outside of my own family?
Do what only You can do, Jesus. It's nice to tear up reading Song of Songs 2. I am a lily of the valleys.
After dinner at 鼎泰豐 with the family and Jennifer (did I mention that she came up to Taipei?) and Isrella from TOD, I took Jen to go to Taipei Main Station to meet up with her cousin to go back south. I really love the metro system in Taipei. I spent almost 1 hour in the metro system--going to the train station and heading back to the station next to my parents' optical shop to get Debbie's glasses (someone met me at the station) and then back to TOD for the night session--and I only spent NTD$35 which equals to $1.15 USD! Praise the Lord for this amazingly organized metro system!
Got back to TOD and I was right on time for Mark's sharing -- Why Do We Pray? I've always loved hearing Mark speak. So smooth and fathering and tenderizing -- that I kinda dozed off for a sec =)
Anyhow, here's the awesome part: After Mark's message, we started a fire tunnel-y thing-y and I was up there singing/worshiping with the entire family (man it was such an honor). The atmosphere was being stirred up and some people are being filled by the Holy Spirit. And then the Lord turn the heat up for another big notch: all congregation was in groups of 6~10 holding hands and making circles--they were pressing wine!! Guess what? The joy of the Lord hit the place so hard that everyone started laughing, shaking, and rolling on the floor! One girl told Mark afterwards that she was having a huge headache until the joy of the Lord hit her and healed her from the pain! Hallelujah! I took so many pictures and video recorded for many minutes, and I was laughing pretty hard too -- most of it because of the Lord, and the rest of it bceause Luke and John were just having so much fun doing some fillers.
Debbie told me that TOD has never encounter something like this before! I was surprised -- a night and day prayer room without any Holy Spirit Laughing Party? Nah....!! I was so happy for TOD and whoever came to that night session!
That's the short story of that night. So much to say and tell!
Thanks so much and I will miss you all, Mark, Debbie, Luke, John, and Lydia! Come to California soon!!
Rejoice in the Lord always! Again I say, "REJOICE!"
We are merely human, still learning to love and forgive.
O God, my heart is steadfast. I will sing and give praise, even with my glory.
My heart is steadfast, O God. I will sing and make music with all my soul.
LOVE is what the world's been singing for thousands of years. Therefore love is so essential to a human being -- it's something we talk, read, hear, discuss, and learn about in all areas of life. What's my definition of love?
Christ in me, the hope of glory. Gotta linger on that for a while.
Yup...me teaching english during the weekly meeting! It's actually really fun -- everyone has to repeat after me! I teach some practical words about selling glasses, duh.
Got 4 baby swallows right outside of the optical shop. This swallow nest has been up there for years! Unfortunately one of them fell off the nest to the ground, and when we picked it up and set it back into the nest, the swallow mom kicked it off the nest! It was really sad >"<
So we adopted it in our shop and fed it with some food, however, without the care-taking of the mother, it soon died after a couple days. Real sad =(
A swallow heaven maybe? I know that my Heavenly Father will never kick me out.
My friend Tommy's band--PA PUN--got 3rd place in one of the biggest (probably the biggest) indie band competition in Taiwan just tonight and I had the honor to be on stage with him to help him out with some awesome dance moves!
Ho-Hai-Yan is the name of the sea given by the Native Taiwanese People, and therefore it has become the name of this Music Festival for the past 9 years on the shore!
Got more tanned again and had a chance to be on a stage with Pa Pun. It was really tiring yet very fulfilling! I've never thought I'd had a chance to do some like this -- doing the goofiest dance in the world with a broom in front of thousands of people and on TV! Playing keyboard might be fun, but nothing compares to awesome dance moves, babay!
Jesus I thank You for today and I really had seom fun with friends!
Johnny
ps. Shinny, I said hi to HAVENS for you! They are really awesome peeps, and I think that they should be in top three!
pps. Tommy asked me to pray that we get into top 3, and I did a little teeny prayer, and guess what?! Thank You Jesus! You are simply awesome!
Passed by a lotto scratching ticket gentleman on the sidewalk. He had a crutch with him. He showed me that he had a wooden left leg and how he still needs a crutch to walk better.
Offered prayer and told him "Jesus loves you", "Thank you, I know."
He did not look at me, but I said to him, "There's a God who loves you and heals!"
Just by walking around for 10 minutes running errands, I saw at least 4 injured people. I felt really compelled to just tell them that Jesus loves them and that they can really be healed and set free, no matter what pain they are going through!
Yes, it's the beginning of the 4th week in Taiwan!!! Lots of fun stuff planned ahead of course.
Signed up for Carnegie courses, I believe it's going to give me a boost in leadership and organizing area of my life. I hope that I can really be consistent at my parent's shop and be at their side. Just to be with them makes me happy. They are simply wonderful!
Saturday I'll be going to a huge music festival in Taiwan where 10 underground bands will compete on the last day. My friend Tommy's band, PAPUN, is one of the 10! I'll be on stage with him to support him by doing some of their "famous" funny dance moves haha. Pictures next week!
Spent more than three hours with my cousin Kevin washing, scrubbing, and cleaning this huge range hood from my parent's organic restaurant, which they closed down a month ago. Gosh was it dirty and filthy! We just kept on spraying and scrubbing and spraying and scrubbing. It was pretty nasty for real; moreover, this ventilator is from an ORGANIC RESTAURANT that uses little oil and cooks ORGANIC VEGETABLE ONLY! I wonder how many hours would it take for us to clean a range hood from a stir-fry restaurant in a night market that cooks meat?
I grow tired as I clean that hood, and I realized that Jesus NEVER grows tired cleaning the filth out of this world! I might get frustrated because some filths are extremely hard to be cleansed; on the other hand, the Lord rejoices more as the cleansing process goes on. He NEVER grows weary.
After it's clean and shiny, I felt accomplished. Every person is undergoing a cleaning process. We may need to buy a lot of spray for the hood, but He bought the filthy one and cleans it with His own hand. Cause after all, Jesus' blood is the most effective spray for all filth! *****GOTTA READ THIS***** Taiwan is undergoing a cleansing process. Today as I passed by a Buddhist temple tonight at around 11:30pm, I saw so many people there holding incense and burning those paper "money". I think it's that time of the year again--the seventh month of the lunar year--the month that the gate of hell is opened up for a month. Therefore all these people were making offerings to those bad ghosts to tell them not to disturb them in this month. So I started to praying tongue and rebuke the spirit of idol worshiping in Taiwan and ask the blood of Jesus to fall upon this place. And then, SUDDENLY my left wrist started to hurta lot as if I just played piano for 10 hour straight! I was shocked for a moment, but the Lord reminded me that I was in a serious war zone. After walking for some distance from that temple, the pain went away. I really believe it was the enemy trying to trip me or shun me as I was passing their "camping base". I hate the enemy more than I hate cockroaches and rats. Here's a warning for ya, you filthy little scum, you know who you're messing with, and He is going to burn you for eternity. Satan, is that all you can do? That's simply despicable. You are despicable.
Jesus, thank You for the Holy Spirit protecting me! Cleanse me and this country!!
Johnny
ps. I think I'll be going to a Dale Carnegie training course in the next months or so! I hope that I can be back in L.A. as planned! Pray for me!
Lord, I so believe that Mom will be changed by Your love! Use me to influence my mom and would You soften her heart! Be her friend and lover! Draw my parents closer to one another and use my dad to influence my mom!
Jesus, would You come into this household and wash us white as snow. We want to be a blameless and holy family before Your eyes and the world.
This is the day the Lord has made. Let us rejoice and be glad in it! -Psalm 118:24-
As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord. -Joshua 24:15-
You are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus. All you have baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. If you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham's seed. -Galatians 3:26~28-
Mom, you are next!! I know that day is coming very soon!! Break the chains of idol worshiping in my family, Jesus! Thank You for daddy today. He is in one with You =) This is one of the big reasons that You brought me back! You always surprise me, and I love it XD
Salvation is the sweetest miracle. Blood of Jesus is so awesome =) I love You Lord!
Johnny
ps. I got Joshua's latest album -- SUPERNATURAL (I love this word!) -- for free! It's not even in the market yet!! Moreover, this album will be in the mainstream record stores all over Taiwan! I believe the Lord will use this album to change hearts! I am the first person from out of Taiwan to get it =)
pps. Talked with Ming-Chi from Vision Production House (the production company of Joshua, Sien, and many other artists) about the CAN I PRAY FOR YOU movement. She is so awesome! I started to share many many testimonies and how we hopped on the train with Jesus Culture a year ago and the whole thing started to kaboom! She was so amazed at what the Lord is doing through this movement! I even shared with her what is going on in Lakeland still! It's been 3 months now! I then showed her the 90 second presentation and gave her a sample t-shirt; she will make a proposal at their staff meeting sometime next week after their annual summer camp! I'll post some pictures soon! God is so good!
HE ASKED ME SUDDENLY TODAY TO GO WITH HIM TO CHAT WITH PASTOR LIU from Taipei Revival Church because HE WANTS TO BE BAPTIZED TOMORROW!!!
That's like the best gift on July 4th!
SOMEONE SHOUT HALLELUJAH!!!!
JESUS, YOU ARE SIMPLY AMAZING! I love You!!
Johnny
ps. Please pray for mom. She is kinda "nehhh..yeek" when Dad and I invited her to the baptism ceremony! I really hope that she would be there to support Dad. Lord, soften my mom's heart!
For He shall give His angels charge over you, To keep you in all your ways. -Psalm 91:11-
Lord right now I come before you once again and you to heal my Grandma and that there is not even one stone in her gallbladder when she goes to the doctor tomorrow morning. Lord I want to be so faithful and come before You and pray to You and praise You. I believe You are a supernatural God who does great things. God I am believing for a miracle upon my Grandma's life that she will encounter You!
God I ask for conviction in my spirit to pray whenever I have time -- whether it is 30 seconds or 30 minutes, I want to pray!
Hung out with these awesome NMH friends @ kareoke! I sang lots of Harlem Yu and Mayday (all those oldies of course), and I found out that I still can sing after all!! They are all great singers back at school and it was pretty awesome to have hung out with them and share life and fun. Thank You Lord! I hope to plant some seeds inside of them as summer goes along!
A: To have not only FAITH but also DEEDS. (James 2)
Show me your faith without deeds, and I will show you my faith by what I do. -James 2:18-
That's my verse during this trip, I believe. Be faithful in small things and big ones. To know. To Believe. To Act.
Did a faith booster today at 台北地下街 - the Taipei underground metro mall - lots of stores to shop and get food. This auntie was just sitting there just about when we, my friend Tommy and I, were leaving the mall! So I had a 5 second "inner war" (you know those kind of thing....I never liked it), then I told my friend that we should "stop and rest for a sec" (haha) since we just bought some drinks. Then, I started to take action! Praise the Lord!
As you can see from the picture, her right wrist was really CRAZILY wrapped up because she broke her wrist and TWO NAILS are in that little wrist! Those little metal sticks are keeping her wrist stable. She cannot use a cast. We talked a lot (she talked mainly...and really talked quite a lot!) and after a while, I cut to the chase because SHE REALLY CAN GO ON & ON FOR HOURS!
Found out that she's a believer too (the last thing I would think about really cuz she was wearing a Buddhist amulet given by her daughter. "I used to wear a cross all the time, and my daughter was just worried about me so she got me this, and I am now wearing this more because it has my daughter's love in it. I used to wear both, and my daughter said, 'which one do you believe then?' so right now I am wearing this."
I never liked the enemy. Never will. But as I was talking with this auntie, I felt like she needs to encounter Jesus herself and pray for her daughter & daughter-in-law who are both Buddhists. She let me pray for her broken wrist; even though she did not feel less painful, she was so delighted because I prayed for her! I totally believe that little Buddhist thingy cannot stop God's invasive love even a bit in that auntie's life!
"Cool man," said Tommy after the 15-minute CIPFY. Faith without action in dead. And I believe that action stirred something up inside of him. Lord I believe You will encounter Tommy and save him!
That totally boosted my faith today. I love to pray for other people. Lord, You know I do. I love You Jesus.
Johnny
ps. I get to attend the practice of Joshua (the worship band of our GMother church). They are practicing for their annual summer camp coming up next week! I get to meet all of them!!! Pray for me I will be sharing some CIPFY vision with them and hope that they will take some T-Shirts to their camp and sell them (woohoo)!
pps. Ate a lot today and got to see 4 great friends back in middle school. Pretty awesome!
Below me is a part of Taipei City on a big screen. I am on 88th floor of the Taipei 101 looking down. The size of a car to me is like the size of an ant, then we are definitely much, MUCH smaller than an ant to the Almighty!
YHWH
Yup...me teaching english during the weekly meeting!
Spent more than three hours with my cousin Kevin washing, scrubbing, and cleaning this huge range hood from my parent's organic restaurant, which they closed down a month ago. Gosh was it dirty and filthy! We just kept on spraying and scrubbing and spraying and scrubbing. It was pretty nasty for real; moreover, this ventilator is from an ORGANIC RESTAURANT that uses little oil and cooks ORGANIC VEGETABLE ONLY! I wonder how many hours would it take for us to clean a range hood from a stir-fry restaurant in a night market that cooks meat?
Lord, I so believe that Mom will be changed by Your love! Use me to influence my mom and would You soften her heart! Be her friend and lover! Draw my parents closer to one another and use my dad to influence my mom!
Hung out with these awesome NMH friends @ kareoke! I sang lots of Harlem Yu and Mayday (all those oldies of course), and I found out that I still can sing after all!! They are all great singers back at school and it was pretty awesome to have hung out with them and share life and fun. Thank You Lord! I hope to plant some seeds inside of them as summer goes along!
